Page 2707 - Politics
Joe Biden admits age would be an issue in presidential bid
Democratic former US vice president Joe Biden has conceded that his advanced years would be an issue if he ran for president in 2020. At 75, Biden is three years older than Republican President Donald Trump and would be 77 by the time his party's primary contest got underway. "I think age is a totally legitimate thing to raise," said Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama, during a speech in Michigan on Tuesday. "It's totally appropriate for people to look at me and say if I were to run for office again, 'Well God darn you're old,'" he said in remarks carried by CNN television. "Well, chronologically I am old." Biden is often cited as a potential Democratic candidate who packs a solid resume and has some of the common touch needed to lure voters from Trump's populist movement. Among other big Democrat names seen as potential candidates are populist leftist Bernie Sanders, 77, and media mogul Michael Bloomberg, who is 76. Trump was the oldest American in history to begin a ...
Akbar's quitting belated, Modi must speak up: Congress
The Congress on Wednesday called the resignation of Union Minister M.J. Akbar over charges of sexual harassment "belated" and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on the issue.
Akbar exits Modi goverment over allegations of sexual harassment (Roundup)
The #MeToo campaign claimed its first political scalp on Wednesday when M.J. Akbar quit as Minister of State for External Affairs ten days after several women came out with allegations of sexual harassment and molestation by him during his days as editor in the media.
Delhi BJP leader urges Puri to take over phase IV project of Delhi Metro
BJP leader Vijender Gupta Wednesday suggested his party-led central government to "take over" implementation of Delhi Metro Phase-IV project, which has become the bone of contention between the Centre and the AAP government. The suggestion from Gupta, the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, comes at a time when the BJP government at the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi are engaged in a tussle over funds for the Metro project which many anticipate can be delayed by many years. "The central government must directly takeover responsibility to implement Delhi Metro Phase IV and Delhi-Meerut Rapid Transit System projects, in view of public interest. Any role of Delhi government in it must be done away with for its non-cooperation," Gupta said. The AAP government said Tuesday it "assumed" that the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry would fund the project as asserted by its minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Puri on several occasions in the past, asserted that if there is
DMK sets ball rolling to face LS, Assembly polls in TN
DMK Wednesday said it has set in motion internal deliberations beginning with its executive panel meet to face the eventuality of both Lok Sabha and Tamil Nadu Assembly elections being held together. DMK chief M K Stalin said the party took stock of the political situation at its high level executive committee meeting. "We discussed the Lok Sabha polls next year and the stand to be taken in case the Assembly election is to be held alongside the Parliamentary polls," he told reporters. The party also looked at its ties with its allies, he said. Congress and Indian Union Muslim League are among the allies of DMK. "We had a broad discussion about all electoral issues. Soon, a meeting of party's top functionaries will be held to be followed by the general council meeting and ahead of elections we will reveal our stand," Stalin said. To a question on the number of seats the DMK would contest, he said such things cannot be disclosed now. On the proposed unveiling of a statue of
Lanka rejects reports on President Sirisena's assassination plot
Sri Lankan government on Wednesday rejected as "baseless and false" the media reports that President Maithripala Sirisena accused India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of plotting his assassination and he opposed awarding a key port project to India. The media reports came ahead of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to New Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up India-backed projects, including the East Terminal project, in the island nation. Sirisena accused his senior coalition partner, the United National Party (UNP), of not taking seriously an alleged conspiracy to kill him and former secretary to the ministry of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the economynext.com reported quoting a ministerial source after a heated Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The minister, who declined to be named, claimed that the president said that India's external intelligence agency RAW was behind the plot. The Lankan Foreign Ministry termed the report as "baseless
India urges United States to lift ban on import of pomegranate arils
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday requested the United States to immediately lift the sanction on the import of pomegranate arils from India.
Public meetings to be organised in Hry to mark 4 yrs of Khattar govt
On the completion of four years of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government later this month, public meetings would be organised in all 22 districts of Haryana, a state minister said Wednesday. The first such public meeting will be held on the occasion of birth anniversary of former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Mangal Sein at Rohtak on October 27, Minister of State for Cooperation Manish Kumar Grover told reporters here. Khattar was sworn in as the chief minister of BJP's first government in Haryana on October 26, 2014. To mark four years of the Khattar-led government, Grover said public meetings would be organised across the state, and Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar would be the coordinator of the meetings. During these meetings, people would be informed about the four years' achievements of the present state government, Grover said. The public meetings would be completed in the month of November, 2018, he added. Replying to another question, he said that compensation would be ..
Pak SC disqualifies 2 PML-N senators for holding dual nationalities
Two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz senators - Haroon Akhtar and Sadia Abbasi - were disqualified by the Supreme Court on Wednesday for holding dual nationalities at the time of filing their nomination papers for the upper house of the parliament. Akhtar and Abbasi, the sister of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, are members of the upper house of the parliament. A seven-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar gave the orders of their disqualification under Article 63 (1)(c) of the 1973 Constitution, Dawn reported. The article pertains to a person's disqualification from Parliament due to holding the nationality of a country other than Pakistan. The bench said that both the senators possessed dual nationality at the time of submission of their nomination papers for the Senate election held in March this year. The chief justice also told the counsels of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar and PML-N's Nuzhat Sadiq to furnish their clients' verified ...
Brief hiatus in U.S.-China trade talks, commerce secretary tells CNBC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday trade negotiations with China appear to have taken a brief pause, and he damped expectations that the countries would make substantial progress toward an agreement at an upcoming G20 meeting.
Will attend flag hoisting ceremony at Red Fort on Oct 21: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join a flag-hoisting ceremony at Red Fort on October 21 to mark the 75th anniversary of the 'Azad Hind government' headed by Subhas Chandra Bose, he announced Wednesday. Modi stated this in a video interaction with Bharatiya Janata Party workers during which he spoke at length about his government's works to celebrate the contributions of many personalities who, he said, were neglected by the Congress in its rule of several decades. He also hit out at the Congress over its criticism of him and the BJP government in Gujarat over Sardar Patel's statue project, claiming that the opposition party was in fact insulting Patel as it always had contempt for the country's first home minister, credited for uniting hundreds of princely states. History knows that the Congress had a lot of contempt for Patel and it could never tolerate him being recognised for his works, Modi said, attacking the opposition party for its "Made in China" jibe at the project. The ...
Congress concocting falsehoods in MP: Modi
Accusing the Congress of concocting "falsehoods" to gain power in Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the party has three chief ministerial aspirants and they were busy pulling each other down.
Manvendra Singh's switchover to Congress selfish act: Rajasthan BJP leader
BJP MLA Manvendra Singh's switchover to the opposition Congress on Wednesday ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan is a "selfish act", Assembly Deputy Speaker Rao Rajendra Singh said here.
A good decision: Athawale on colleague M J Akbar's resignation
Union minister Ramdas Athawale Wednesday welcomed the resignation tendered by his Cabinet colleague and former journalist M J Akbar who is facing allegations of sexual harassment from several women scribes. The Minister of State for Social Justice also said the law will take its own course if Akbar, the Minister of State for External Affairs, was found guilty "in an enquiry". He also said that the charges against Akbar should be thoroughly probed. "It is a good decision that he (Akbar) has tendered his resignation. Whether he is guilty or not will come out after the enquiry is completed, and if found guilty the law will take its own course," Athawale told reporters at a press conference here. "The allegations levelled against him should be properly investigated," he added. The 67-year-old journalist turned politician quit Wednesday, a day ahead of hearing of a criminal defamation complaint filed by him against Priya Ramani, a journalist who has accused him of sexual misconduct around .
U.S.-China trade talks appear to be on hiatus, commerce secretary tells CNBC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday that trade negotiations with China appear to have taken a brief pause, and he damped expectations that an agreement would come out of an upcoming G20 meeting.
Security situation 'fragile' along LoC : Army
There has been no change in terror infrastructure across the Line of Control after Imran Khan took charge as Pakistan prime minister, the Indian Army said on Wednesday and termed as "fragile" the security situation along the LoC due to continuous attempts by Pakistan to push infiltrators into Jammu and Kashmir. General Officer commanding in chief (GoC-in-C), Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh also said that a winter strategy will be put in place along the LoC and other areas in J-K to ensure militants do not succeed in their designs. Replying to questions on controversial remarks by politicians on killing of PhD scholar turned terrorist Manan Wani and radicalisation among educated youths, he said while the Army is "cognizant of ground realities", the force "does not get perturbed" by statements "politicising or non-politicising" militancy related incidents and remains focussed on the task entrusted to it. "The security situation in Jammu and Kashmir is under control. However, the .
BJP sees Kanhaiya as potential threat: CPI
The BJP sees Kanhaiya Kumar as a potential threat, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said Wednesday while reacting to the recent attack on the former Jawaharlal Nehru University students' union leader allegedly by activists of the BJP Yuva Morcha and the Bajrang Dal. Condemning Tuesday's attack on Kumar in Bihar's Begusarai district, Reddy said it reflected the poor law and order situation in the state. "For the BJP, Kanhaiya is a threat. It is worried over his growing popularity. People are coming in large numbers to his meetings. The BJP doesn't like that. That is why they attacked him," he said. The attack on Kanhaiya occurred while he was returning from a political campaign aimed at motivating people to join the CPI's proposed massive rally on October 25 in Patna. "We will not be afraid of these attacks of Hindutva communal forcers and will fight back," Reddy said. The CPI alleged that more than 50 people attacked the convoy with weapons, beat up Kanhaiya's colleagues and ...
Akbar's decision to step down is right: Athawale
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale Wednesday termed the resignation of Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar as the "right decision" and said allegations against him should be "properly investigated". The 67-year-old journalist-turned-politician had stepped down earlier in the day due to mounting pressure following a spate of allegations of sexual harassment against him by several women scribes, who welcomed his resignation as a "vindication". Athawale, who is the minister of state for social justice and empowerment in the Narendra Modi government, said the opposition was also demanding Akbar's resignation. "Opposition was demanding his resignation. The decision M J Akbar has taken is right," Athawale, whose Republican Party of India is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government said. "The allegations levelled against him should be properly investigated," he added. Akbar's sudden announcement to quit came a day before the court
Enemy is an enemy, Afghan policy on Pak flawed: Ex-Afghan intel chief
Afghanistan's policy on Pakistan is "flawed" and it has never taken a strong political stand against Islamabad, former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh said Wednesday, asserting that "an enemy is an enemy". Saleh, during an interaction here, said Afghanistan never tried to increase the "cost of war" for Pakistan and always took a "high moral ground" in the hope that its neighbour would reciprocate, but it did not happen. Asked to elaborate what he meant by the cost of war, the former chief of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said, "There is no Afghan dossier on Pakistan in the UN Security Council. We have not presented to the United Nations with a state stamped dossier declaring Pakistan our enemy. We have always tried to leave a few bridges intact and that policy of half-heartedness has not helped us. "An enemy is an enemy. You can only reach a peace deal with your enemy only if you call him an enemy. But just to break the ice in a meeting and make it cordial, .
Vindicated, say women journalists after Akbar quits
Women journalists who hurled allegations of sexual harassment and molestation against former editor M.J. Akbar on Wednesday expressed happiness over his exit as the Minister of State for External Affairs and vowed to continue their fight.