Page 2796 - Politics

No question of joining hands with BJP in LS poll: TRS leader

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi would not ally with the BJP or support it in the next Lok Sabha election as the regional party was secular and the two parties had "very strong differences of opinion", TRS leader and IT Minister K T Rama Rao said. Rao, son of caretaker chief minister and TRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao, also dubbed as "maha ghatia bandhan" (weak combine) the proposed grand alliance of Congress, TDP and some other parties for the coming assembly election in the state. He made the comments during an interaction on social media platform Twitter Thursday. "We are an extremely secular party which carries people of all hues and shades and all sections of society. We don't believe in polarising based on community and based on any other criteria that divides us. So, the question of joining (hands with) BJP or aligning with them does not arise," Rama Rao said. He was replying to a question if the TRS would support BJP in next year's Lok Sabha elections. "We don't see eye-to-eye ..

Key senators undecided as Senate poised to vote on Kavanaugh

The Senate is poised to take a crucial vote Friday on whether to advance Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court as key Republican senators remain undecided amid allegations of sexual misconduct and intense protests that have divided the nation. Ahead of Friday's voting, Republicans emerged confident that an FBI investigation into the allegations unearthed no new corroborating details, they said. But a level of uncertainty lingered as Collins and Flake spent hours Thursday pouring over confidential FBI documents in the secure basement briefing room long after others had left seemingly satisfied with the findings. Even without locking in support, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed ahead with trying to move Trump's nominee forward in what would be an election year win for his party. The Republican leader has little room for error with his party's slim 51-49 hold on the Senate, even if Vice President Mike Pence is called in to break a tie. A final vote is expected ...

EU negotiators see Brexit divorce deal 'very close': sources

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's Brexit negotiators see a divorce deal with Britain as "very close", diplomatic sources said, a signal that a compromise might be in the making on the most contentious issue of the future Irish border.

Japan to skip South Korea fleet event over 'rising sun' flag

Japan has announced it won't send a warship to an international fleet review hosted by South Korea next week after Seoul requested the removal of the Japanese navy's "rising sun" flag. Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Friday that Japan notified the South Korean government of its decision. Many South Koreans see the flag as a symbol of Japan's World War II aggression, and protested its use during the Oct. 10-14 event near Jeju island. Japanese officials say the flag, portraying a red sun with 16 rays extending outward, is mandatory under Japan's laws and is recognized as identification for the Japanese military under an international maritime convention. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha had urged Japan to consider how South Koreans remember its brutal 1905-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

No deadline for submitting details for loan-waiver, don't panic: HDK tells farmers

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Friday asked farmers to submit requisite details to avail of Rs 45,000 crore farm-loan waiver announced by the government and said there is no need to panic as no deadline has been fixed to submit the forms. Kumaraswamy said misinformation was being spread in the state that there is a deadline to avail of the benefit, "causing panic among farmers". The chief minister said his cabinet has approved a 'debt relief act' that aims to protect farmers from harassment at the hands of private lenders and appealed them not to take extreme steps like committing suicide. The state is now awaiting approval from the Centre to roll out the legislation. "We will be successful in implementing the loan waiver scheme, if farmers provide all details properly. There is no deadline for this. No need to fear. Don't pay heed to misinformation," Kumaraswamy told reporters after meeting the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the debt relief law and flood aid. Under ...

Financial Times says Hong Kong denies editor visa renewal

The Financial Times says Hong Kong's government has refused to renew the work visa of its Asia news editor, in what human rights activists say shows the human rights situation in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory is deteriorating. The newspaper said in a statement Friday that it was given no reason why Victor Mallet's application was rejected. Mallet is vice president of Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club. It recently drew criticism from the authorities for hosting a talk by the leader of a now-banned pro-Hong Kong independence party. Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch's senior China researcher, said in a statement that the rejection of Mallet's visa was "shocking and unprecedented" and showed growing intolerance for views unpopular with authorities. Hong Kong officials could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

DR Congo's Dr Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Murad win Nobel Peace Prize

Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work in fighting sexual violence in conflicts around the world. The pair won the award for their "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war," Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in unveiling the winners in Oslo. Both have come to represent the struggle against a global scourge which goes well beyond any single conflict, as the ever-expanding #MeToo movement has shown.

Dhinakaran claims Paneerselvam wanted to meet him in bid to 'oust' CM Palaniswami

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T T V Dhinakaran on Friday claimed that Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam wanted to meet him in September in a bid to "oust" Chief Minister K Palaniswami. The ousted AIADMK leader claimed that Panneerselvam had met him in July last year and again wanted to meet him in September-end this year, and he had sent in word through a common friend for this purpose. Dhinakaran said that he had, however, refused to attend the meeting and claimed that Panneerselvam had sent in a word that he was ready to "oust" Palaniswami and promote the AMMK leader to a 'significant' post. "He (Panneerselvam) wanted to meet me to oust the chief minister," Dhinakaran told reporters a day after his close aide Thanga Tamilselvan had made similar remarks during a TV debate. Dhinakaran said he was revealing the information now since Panneerselvam was being critical of him in public fora, even while making efforts to mend fences. He also claimed that ...

Going solo is opportunity to assess strength in Telangana: BJP

BJP believes the go-it-alone strategy in Telangana Assembly elections would give it an opportunity to assess its actual strength on the ground as it seeks to draw inspiration from the great strides the party has made in states such as Maharashtra and Assam. The BJP fought the 2014 elections in alliance with N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP in Telangana and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. But the BJP snapped ties with the TDP a couple of years ago in Telangana, seeing the party more of a "liability and burden". The ruling TRS, which rode to power on pro-Telangana statehood sentiment, has repeatedly dubbed the TDP as an "Andhra party". BJP's Telangana unit spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said the party did not have an opportunity to field its 'Karyakartas' as candidates because of the "continuous alliance burden" on it, for decades in undivided Andhra Pradesh and now in Telangana. "And our real strength was never exposed and even the party could not assess its real strength in ...

Haryana bureaucrats may have to pay more for office vehicle use in future

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said that the government would charge more in future from bureaucrats for using government vehicles for personal use.The statement from the Chief Minister came following criticism for allowing bureaucrats to use their government vehicles for non-official purposes at Rs 1 per kilometre considering the high prices of petrol and diesel."Let them (bureaucrats) pay this first, then we will start taking out more from them. Is it easy to take out money from them?" Khattar told media in a lighter vein.The Haryana government on Thursday announced that all the state officials can now use their government allotted vehicles by paying Rs 1000 per month."Administrative secretaries, Managing Directors of Boards/Corporations, Head of Departments, OSD to Chief Minister and other officers can now officially use government vehicles for a maximum of 1,000 kilometres upon a payment of Rs 1,000 each month," the official statement issued on Thursday ...

Fuel rate cut came 'too late', govt mopped up Rs 1 trn so far: Shiv Sena

The decision by the Centre and the Maharashtra government to reduce fuel prices has come too late, said Shiv Sena

US building stronger bonds with nations like India for free and open Indo-Pacific: Pence

The Trump administration is building new and stronger bonds with countries like India to advance its vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, US Vice President Mike Pence has said, amidst China flexing its military muscles in the region. The US recently renamed its oldest and largest military command - the Pacific Command - to Indo-Pacific Command, in a largely symbolic move to signal India's importance. "To advance our vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, we're building new and stronger bonds with nations that share our values, across the region - from India to Samoa. Our relationships will flow from a spirit of respect, built on partnership, not domination," Pence said Thursday in a major foreign policy speech at the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank. "We're forging new trade deals, on a bilateral basis, just as last week, President (Donald) Trump signed an improved trade deal with South Korea, and we will soon begin negotiating a historic bilateral free-trade deal with .

Mongolian minister sacked after official murdered

Mongolia's transport minister has been sacked after an official was beaten to death inside his ministry's building in an alleged job dispute, highlighting the graft and cut-throat culture in government employment. The parliament voted on Thursday to dismiss Bat-Erdene Jadamba, the minister of road, transportation and development, in the wake of the August 9 killing. Gombosuren Tumurkhuyag, the 38-year-old head of the internal audit department, was beaten to death inside the ministry. A day later, the head of the state administration and management department, Makhbal Badam, was arrested in connection with the death. Late last month, the victim's father told reporters his son had been under pressure to resign since February and was killed because people wanted his job. The suspect was appointed by Bat-Erdene after the minister took office last year. Members of parliament said Thursday the killing was related to a job dispute. "A life was brutally taken because of a government position.

Justice Kant takes oath as Himachal Chief Justice

Justice Surya Kant on Friday took oath as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in a simple ceremony here.

Rahul ready to be PM if allies want

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he is willing to be the Prime Minister if allies want him to be.

US Senate braces for key vote on embattled court nominee

The US Senate girded Friday for a critical, too- close-to-call vote on moving ahead with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, as Republicans brushed aside complaints by Democrats that a new FBI probe of sexual assault allegations against him was rushed and incomplete. A final vote could come Saturday on President Donald Trump's embattled candidate, who if approved would seal a conservative majority on the nine-seat court for decades. It is not a done deal, however. Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the chamber and three of their members are seen as undecided on Kavanaugh, as a confirmation process that has gripped the city and the nation and aggravated already deep political divisions reaches its climax with just weeks to go before mid-term elections. Under new rules approved last year, 50 votes are needed for victory in Friday's procedural vote. It is on ending debate on the confirmation and moving to a formal and definitive confirmation vote. The vote is ...

Taiwan pardons over 1,200 'White Terror' victims

Taiwan wiped the criminal records of 1,270 victims of the island's "White Terror" purges on Friday, the first time the government has fully exonerated those who suffered political persecution under martial law. The victims, most of whom are dead, have been awarded "restoration of honour" certificates under successive governments and compensation has been paid to some families. But officials said they wanted to eliminate their criminal records as part of renewed efforts to rectify injustices. Thousands of political opponents were killed and imprisoned during the White Terror period of suppression under authoritarian leader Chiang Kai-shek, who ruled Taiwan from 1949 to his death in 1975. Official records state around 140,000 people were tried by military courts under Chiang's nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) government and as many as 8,000 executed. Many believe the actual numbers are higher. The purges only ended after martial law was lifted by Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, in ...

US names Babbar Khalsa among separatist movements that pose risk to its interests

The US has named Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa among the separatist movements that pose a risk to American interests overseas by conducting assassinations and bombings against major economic, political and social targets. Babbar Khalsa International seeks, through violent means, to establish its own independent state in India and is responsible for significant terrorist attacks in India and elsewhere that have claimed the lives of innocent civilians, according to the Trump administration's new National Strategy for Counterterrorism unveiled by the White House on Thursday. The direct reference to Babbar Khalsa, an international terrorist organisation and banned by several countries including the US, Canada and India assumes significance because its minuscule support base in North America. In recent months, the Indian government is believed to have raised with the Trump administration the issue of separatist Sikhs using United States as a platform to gain global traction. In its ...

90 pc people in J&K keen to participate in panchayat polls: Rajnath

Blaming Pakistan for the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh Friday claimed that 90 per cent people in the state would like to participate the panchayat and urban local bodies polls scheduled this month. The home minister, however, admitted that there were difficulties in bringing back underworld don and 1993 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim, currently hiding in Pakistan. Singh said approximately 6,000 terror incidents had taken place in Jammu and Kashmir in 1995 and the number has come down to about 360 in 2017. "I do agree that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir should improve. But, the problem that we face is mostly because of Pakistan. "We have always tried to improve relations with Pakistan. But the country will not mend its ways. It continues to sponsor terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir," he said speaking at the HT Leadership Summit here. Referring to the forthcoming elections to the panchayat and urban local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, the home .

Prez Moon's India visit opened new vistas of cooperation, ties more vibrant: S Korea Envoy

The recent India visit of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has opened "new vistas of cooperation" in bilateral ties and the relationship between the two countries are "more vibrant", its envoy has said. In his address at the Korea National Day function held at the embassy Thursday evening, Ambassador Shin Bongkil also said with the three Inter-Korean Summits and the US-North Korea Summit earlier, the "momentum for lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula is building". "India and Korea enjoy ties that go back to the visit of a princess from Ayodhya to Korea, who got married to a king there. With such deep relations in the past, we move to the present day relationship, as we mark 45 years of our diplomatic ties," he said. The envoy recalled the state visit of President Moon in July and asserted that India is an "important partner in all areas of historical, bilateral relations". "His visit has opened new vistas of cooperation, the relationship between the two countries is more vibrant, ..