Page 933 - Politics
Veterans complain to President against misuse of military
Over 150 military veterans have complained to President Ram Nath Kovind against political leaders who they claim are taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes and repeatedly using the armed forces for political gains.
Choose between honest 'chowkidar' and corrupt 'naamdar': Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi, asking voters to choose between 'Imandar Chowkidar' and 'bhrashtachari naamdar". Addressing an election rally here to campaign for Ahmednagar and Shirdi Lok Sabha candidates, Modi also said the world has recognised India as a super power in the last five years. "Do you remember the previous ten years of the earlier remote-controlled government? Scams and delays in decision- making were the order of the day. You need to now choose between Imandar Chowkidar and Bhrashtachari Naamdar," Modi said. Reaching out to first-time voters, Modi said,"those born in the 21st century will be voting for the first time. Do you agree with the weak approach of previous governments of compromising national security. Is this acceptable to you?" Modi hit out at Congress ally National Conference's demand for prime minister's post for Jammu and Kashmir. "I have no expectation from the Congress since it has stopped ...
Discord among Cong, JD(S) workers in Mandya will help actor-politician Sumalatha, says son
There is growing discord among grassroots level workers of Karnataka's ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance in Mandya constituency and this could benefit Independent candidate, actor-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, says her son Abhishek. Sumalatha, the wife of the late Kannada superstar Ambareesh, is hoping to ride to victory on the legacy of her husband, a long-time Congress member who won from Mandya thrice and is a household name in the district. She is up against the ruling alliance's candidate, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil, and Abhishek, also an actor, has been vigorously campaigning to get his mother elected from the constituency. He is confident of his mother's chances in the seat that was held by his father -- and the Congress. "At the top level, whatever alliance Congress and JD(S) may have had, on the ground, day by day, the discord among grassroots workers is growing over Nikhil's candidature. This is benefiting my mother's electoral prospects," Abhishek told PTI ..
Kim Jong-un re-elected as chairman of State Affairs Commission
Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader, has been re-elected as chairman of the State Affairs Commission, the communist state's highest decision-making body, reported Yonhap News Agency."The election of the Supreme Leader as chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK is the great political event of crucial historical significance," said the government in a statement on Thursday.Kim was elected as Chairman first in June 2016, when the commission was formulated through an amendment in the country's constitution.Meanwhile, Kim Jae-ryong, a senior member of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, has been appointed as the country's Premier, who replaced Pak Pong-ju.Notably, North Korea's top denuclearisation negotiator Kim Yong-choi, who was involved in February's second summit with the United States, was also elected as a member of the State Affair Commission.The parliamentary meeting in North Korea coincides with South Korea' President Moon Jae-in state visit to the United States.
Electoral bonds: SC asks political parties to submit details of donations to ECI by May 30
The Supreme Court on Friday asked political parties to submit in a sealed cover to the Election Commission of India (ECI) details of the donations received through electoral bonds.In an interim order, the apex court directed the parties to furnish details of donors and amounts received through the bonds to the poll watchdog by May 30.The order was passed by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and CPI(M).Petitioner Jagdish Chokkar told the media, "This is an interim order, not the final judgement. The Supreme Court has asked all political parties to submit in a sealed cover to the ECI details of donations received. The last date for purchase of electoral bonds is May 15. By May 30, every political party has to submit the details of the bonds to the ECI. The ECI will keep details will it."The NGO has sought a stay on the electoral bonds scheme or to make it mandatory to disclose the names
BJP's Lekhi sues Rahul over 'chowkidar' comment
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday filed a contempt petition against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his "Chowkidar Chor Hain" comment against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale fighter jet case.
SC directs political parties to furnish receipts of electoral bonds, donors' identity details to EC
The Supreme Court Friday directed all political parties to furnish receipts of political funding received through electoral bonds and details of identity of donors in a sealed cover to the Election Commission. In an interim order, the apex court also directed all political parties to provide details of the amount of the bond and bank account of donors by May 30 to the poll panel. The apex court said it would examine in detail changes made in Income Tax law, electoral law and banking laws to make them in consonance with the electoral bond scheme and ensure balance does not tilt in favour of any political party. It also directed the Finance Ministry to reduce the window of purchasing electoral bonds from 10 days to five days in April-May and said it would fix a date later for final disposal of the petition filed by an NGO. The NGO has challenged the validity of the scheme and sought that either the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or names of donors be made public to ensure ...
Khattar feels Congress was running a 'BBC ki Sarkar' (Poll Trivia)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar never spares an opportunity to draw comparisons between his four and a half-year-old government in the state and the nearly one decade long rule of the Congress.
BJP won't reform, EC must act strongly against ruling party: Yechury on letter by veterans
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday asked the Election Commission to act strongly against the ruling BJP for its "despicable attempts" to politicise and misuse the armed forces during the ongoing election campaign. Over 150 armed forces veterans have written to President and Commander-in-Chief Ram Nath Kovind to complain about the manner in which political parties have been repeatedly using armed forces for political gains ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The letter, signed by three former army chiefs, four former navy chiefs and a former air force chief, draws the president's attention to the "unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes and even going so far as to claim the armed forces to be 'Modi ji ki sena'." "We are at a stage where Military veterans, also ex-Chiefs, have to come together to tell off BJP-Modi's despicable attempts to misuse our brave Forces for elections. BJP ...
Kim re-elected chair of highest decision making body
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was re-elected as chairman of the highest decision-making body in the country at a major parliamentary meeting during which members of the team that manages talks with the US were also reappointed, state media said on Friday.
Junagadh: BJP banks on devpt; Congr upbeat post 2017 poll show
The Junagadh Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat has been a BJP bastion since 1991, but the saffron party is not going to have it easy this time going by the results of the 2017 assembly polls. The Congress has won the Lok Sabha constituency in the Saurashtra region only once in the last 28 years - in 2004 - but the opposition party is banking on its performance in the assembly polls to snatch the seat from the BJP. In the 2017 elections, the ruling party had lost all the seven assembly segments that are part of the parliamentary constituency to the Congress in the backdrop of issues like rural distress, water scarcity and low prices of agriculture products. The BJP has renominated its sitting MP Rajesh Chudasama, who will take on Congress MLA Punja Vansh. The two were pitted against each other in 2014 also, with Chudasama emerging the winner by a margin of over 1.35 lakh votes. Chudasama seeks to improve the 2014 victory margin this time on the ground that he helped set ..
Modi biopic: SC to hear producer's plea on Monday
The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a petition filed by producers of biopic 'PM Narendra Modi' against the ban imposed by the Election Commission.
North Korea bolsters diplomatic lineup amid stalled US talks
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has retained his most important leadership post as his rubber-stamp parliament made a slew of personnel changes that bolstered his diplomatic lineup amid stalemated nuclear diplomacy with the United States. Some observers say the personnel appointments could show Kim's desire to keep nuclear diplomacy alive rather than returning to a policy of ratcheting up tensions. In Washington, President Donald Trump and visiting South Korean President met Thursday and agreed on the importance of nuclear talks with North Korea. The North's Korean Central News Agency reported Friday that Kim was re-elected as chairman of the State Affairs Commission at the first session of the Supreme People's Assembly on Thursday. It said the assembly re-elected Kim because of "his outstanding ideological and theoretical wisdom and experienced and seasoned leadership." The 35-year-old Kim holds many government, military and ruling party leadership titles, but he officially rules the
WikiLeaks set 21st century model for cyber-leak journalism
Using cryptography and virtual drop boxes, Julian Assange's WikiLeaks created a revolutionary new model for media to lure massive digitized leaks from whistleblowers, exposing everything from US military secrets to wealthy tax-dodgers' illicit offshore accounts. Assange's arrest in London Thursday on a US extradition request to face charges of computer crimes could spell the end of 13-year-old WikiLeaks. But his legacy will live long in the world's media. News outlets and journalists everywhere can now offer to potential sources encrypted apps and secure virtual mailboxes to receive secrets that were once divulged by discreet whispers, furtive phone calls and unmarked manila envelopes. Skilled at hacking and cryptography -- and motivated by a deep distrust of traditional institutions -- Australia-born Assange took a cypherpunk's libertarian streak to the challenge of government secrecy. In 2006 he built an online platform that offered an anonymous, encrypted path to leak computerized .
Assange personifies contradictions of US politics, challenges media (News Analysis)
Once hailed by the left as the champion of transparency and reviled by the right as a leaker of state secrets, Julian Assange is now trapped between them having played a role in the rise of a right-wing president and in the spread of hidden information embarrassing to the progressives.
SC directs all political parties to furnish receipts of electoral bonds to EC
The Supreme Court Friday directed all political parties to furnish receipts of electoral bonds and details of identity of donors in a sealer cover to the Election Commission. In an interim order, the apex court also directed all political parties to provide details of the amount and bank account of donors by May 30 to the poll panel. The order was pronounced by a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. The order was passed on a plea of an NGO which challenged the validity of the scheme and sought that either the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or names of donors be made public to ensure transparency in the poll process. The government had notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 on January 2, 2018. As per provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other ..
Trump, South Korea's Moon look for way to curb NKorea nukes
President Donald Trump's meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in comes amid uncertainty over whether the leader of North Korea is considering backing out of nuclear negotiations or restarting nuclear and missile tests. Trump, in his first meeting with Moon since the unsuccessful US summit with Kim in Hanoi, said the US wants to keep economic sanctions in place to pressure Kim to denuclearize. But Trump said he retains good relations with Kim and didn't rule out a third summit or taking steps to ease food or other shortages in the repressive nation. "We want sanctions to remain in place," Trump said Thursday at the White House. "I think that sanctions right now are at a level that's a fair level." Moon, for his part, has called for an easing of sanctions, including those holding back joint economic projects between North and South Korea. But he didn't speak to the sanctions issue as he and Trump spoke with reporters at the start of their talks. Trump said he would favor easing .
Now, Prakash Ambedkar gives the jitters to Congress-BJP in Solapur
For a change, in the Solapur Lok Sabha constituency, traditional rivals - Sushilkumar Shinde (Congress) and Mahaswami Jaisiddheshwar Shivacharya (Bharatiya Janata Party) - are worried about an unexpected common political enemy in Prakash Ambedkar, the common candidate of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and the AIMIM.
Trump says 'a very, very large trade deal' reached with South Korea
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that Washington has signed a "new and very, very large" trade deal with Seoul.In a video posted by The Hill, Trump, flanked by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first ladies of both the countries, said, "We have recently completed a new and very, very large trade deal with South Korea and it will very much increase trade both ways.""It is a very important transaction and is something we have been working on from quite a while... Big difference," the US President added.The 72-year-old leader made these remarks after a meeting with his South Korean counterpart, who is on a two-day state visit to the US.Moon, arrived in Washington DC on Wednesday to discuss the second US-North Korea summit in Vietnam, which ended in a stalemate. It is the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders after the failed Hanoi Summit.During the meeting, Trump has asserted that he wanted to retain the sanctions imposed on North Korea while he worked towards
Direct political parties to stop using the services for political gains: Ex-officers to President
A group of retired officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to urgently direct all political parties to stop using the services to further their political agenda."We hereby respectfully urge to take all necessary steps to urgently direct all political parties that they must forthwith desist from using the military, military uniform or symbols, and any actions by military formation or personnel, for political purposes or to further their political agendas," the letter said on Thursday.The 156 signatories include eight former service chiefs - General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, Shankar Roy Chowdhury Deepak Kapoor, Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, Vishnu Bhagwat, Arun Prakash, Suresh Mehta and Air Chief Marshal NC Suri.The veterans expressed concern over "unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes, and even going so far as to claim the Armed ...