Page 950 - Politics
US looks for options as embattled Venezuelan leader hangs on
US officials have been predicting for months that embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would soon give up power in the face of economic sanctions and a coalition of more than 50 nations calling for him to step down. But it hasn't worked out that way. Despite the sanctions, Maduro clings to power with help from Russia, China and Cuba. The international coalition that supports the opposition stands at 54 nations, although some longtime US allies have refused to join the Trump administration in recognizing the head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as interim president. "We are continuing to push," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. "We are trying to bring more to the coalition of 54, and we are trying to get those 54 to impose sanctions that match the ones that the United States has imposed." Pompeo is scheduled to take that message on the road starting Thursday as he visits Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia. All four .
Netanyahu looks to form rightwing government after victory
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to form a rightwing governing coalition on Thursday after securing victory in a high-stakes Israeli election despite a strong challenge from a centrist alliance. The results from Tuesday's vote came despite corruption allegations against the 69-year-old premier and kept him on course to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister later this year. His close ally President Donald Trump, who has swung US policy sharply in Israel's favour and openly backed Netanyahu, said the incumbent's victory for a fifth mandate gives the White House's long-awaited peace plan a "better chance". Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party looked set to finish with a similar number of seats in parliament to his main rival, ex-military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance. But the results showed that Likud together with other rightwing parties allied to the prime minister would hold around 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Gantz conceded defeat on ...
Ram temple will be built when God wants: V.K. Singh
Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Ghaziabad V.K. Singh said a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya will be built when the God himself wants it.
Nearly 21% voter turnout in 2 hours in Meghalaya
Voting is underway in Shillong and Tura Lok Sabha constituencies in Meghalaya on Thursday amid reports of technical snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Pence asks UN to expel Venezuelan representative (2nd Lead)
US Vice President Mike Pence has called on the UN to expel the representative of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, while warning that Washington was open to using all options to oust the country's leader.
18% votes cast in Bengal in two hours
Amid stray violence and EVM glitches, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar constituencies in West Bengal polled 18 per cent votes in the first two hours of polling on Thursday as the Lok Sabha polls kicked off in the country.
11.40 pc polling till 9 am in eight LS seats of western UP
The eight Lok Sabha constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh, where polling is being held in the first of the seven-phase general elections, registered 11.40 per cent voter turnout till 9 am, an official said. The electoral fate of three Union ministers -- V K Singh (Ghaziabad), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) and Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddha Nagar) -- will be determined in this phase. The BJP is making all-out effort to retain all the eight seats while the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance too is going whole hog to upset the saffron party's applecart. In the first phase, 1,50,65,682 voters, including 68,39,833 females and 1,014 third genders, will decide the fate of 96 candidates. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the BJP had won all the eight seats--- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar -- that figure in the first phase of this election. While the Muzaffarnagar seat will see a clash of titans with RLD .
18pc cast votes till 9 am in West Bengal
Around 18.12 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the first couple of hours of polling in two parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal on Thursday, an election official said. Polling began at 7 am in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, where a total of 34,51,883 electorate will decide the fate of 18 candidates. Around 50 per cent of the polling stations in the two Lok Sabha constituencies are under the watch of paramilitary personnel, besides an adequate number of state forces, to ensure a free and fair elections. However, Trinamool Congress leader and North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh alleged that in several booths, EVMs are malfunctioning. Ghosh claimed that it could be part of a conspiracy to manipulate votes. "I have never seen such an election process ever in my life. Jut within two hours, there were so many EVMs which have been malfunctioning. It can be a part of a conspiracy. I have been calling the observers and nobody is picking up my ...
Republicans slam FB, Twitter over conservative bias
Republicans in the US have slammed Facebook and Twitter saying that conservative speech was being censored on both the platforms.
Treasury declines request for Trump's tax returns
The US Treasury Department said that it would not immediately comply with a congressional request to hand over President Donald Trump's tax returns.
Vote for soul of India, Rahul tells voters
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday urged voters to vote for the soul of India and its future while slamming the Modi government for lying to the people in the past five years.
Harris gets 1st Iowa endorsement from Democratic activist
White House hopeful Kamala Harris has nabbed her first Iowa endorsement from a major state Democratic activist. Jean Hessburg, a former Iowa Democratic Party executive director and the current chair of the party's Women's Caucus, told The Associated Press that she's endorsing Harris because "she's tough, she's got heart. She's quick on her feet, she's sharp as they come and great on all the issues." The senator from California said in a statement she was proud of the endorsement. "Women will be a deciding voice in the 2020 Iowa Caucuses and I will do all I can to earn their support," Harris said. Hessburg hadn't spoken to Harris before she endorsed her she saw the senator during a televised town hall and was impressed that she seemed "quite at ease with her positions ... and unflappable, which I think someone has to be against Donald Trump." She reached out to the Harris campaign and offered her support, which turned into an endorsement. Hessburg also works as a public relations ...
Andhra Pradesh: Naidu, son Lokesh cast vote in Magalagiri
Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday cast his ballot at a booth here for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections.Naidu, along with his wife Bhuvaneswari, son and IT minister Nara Lokesh and his wife, cast their vote.After exercising his franchise, Lokesh told reporters, "It'll be a decisive win for TDP in Mangalagiri and also across the state. I have convinced the electorate here that I am a meaningful and worthy candidate."Lokesh is making his political debut from Magalagiri Assembly seat which is currently held by YSR Congress Party's Alla Rama Krishna Reddy.Polling is underway for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.On Thursday, voting began in 91 constituencies spread across 18 states and two Union territories for the first phase of the general elections.
Over 6.5 per cent voters exercise franchise in two hours of voting in Baramulla
Over 6.5 per cent of the 13.12 lakh electorate cast their votes Thursday in the first two hours of polling in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. The seven assembly segments in Baramulla district registered a turnout of 5.8 per cent in the first two hours of polling which began at 7 am, the officials said. They said Bandipora district, which has three assembly segments, recorded a poll percentage of nearly six per cent during the corresponding period while Kupwara recorded a turnout of eight per cent so far. Baramulla constituency will send a first time parliamentarian to the Lok Sabha as none of the nine candidates in the fray have earlier been elected to either Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. Those in the fray include Muhammad Akbar Lone of National Conference, Farooq Ahmad Mir of Congress, Raja Aijaz Ali of People's Conference, Mohammad Maqbool War of BJP, Jahangir Khan of NPP, Abdul Qayoom Wani of PDP and independent candidates Javid Ahmad ...
LS polls: Gadkari casts vote in Nagpur
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is the BJP candidate from Maharashtra's Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, cast his vote here on Thursday. Gadkari arrived at the polling booth at Town Hall in Mahal area along with his family members, including wife and two sons, around 10 am. After casting his vote, the minister told reporters that he was happy to see people coming out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. "India is the biggest democracy in the world. The entire world is looking at us. I am very happy that people have come out in large numbers to vote," he said. Appealing voters to ensure a big turnout, Gadkari expressed hope of winning the seat with an even better margin this time than in 2014. "I went to people with the development works done by the BJP-led government in these five years. People have supported me immensely. I feel that I will win with a better margin than the last election," he said. Gadkari's main rival in the seat is Congress' Nana Patole, a former BJP
AP: Vote without fear, says Jagan after casting vote
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief and Pulivendula Assembly candidate YS Jaganmohan Reddy cast his vote along with his family members here on Thursday morning.Jagan, who is the leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, is seeking re-election from Pulivendula Assembly seat."I'm very confident, people are looking for a change, vote without fear," Jagan, an aspirant for the Chief Minister's post, said after exercising his franchise.Jagan is the son of former Congress chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a chopper crash in 2009.YSRCP is contesting all of the 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Elections for the lower house of the Parliament and state Assembly are being held in the state simultaneously.In the 2014 Assembly elections, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party won 101 seats, while the YSR Congress Party got 68. The Bharatiya Janata Party won just 4 seats.The YSRCP has promised Rs 12, 500 per annum to farmers and Rs 15,000 per ..
US AG Barr claims FBI spied on Trump campaign
US Attorney General William Barr has delivered a counter-punch to the Democrats with the explosive assertion that he thought the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had spied on President Donald Trump's election campaign.
Modi urges people to vote in record numbers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged voters to turn out in record numbers as polling for the 91 seats in first phase of parliamentary elections began across 18 states and two union territories.
Congress to suffer 5-0 whitewash: Uttarakhand CM
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Thursday said he was expecting a 5-0 whitewash of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.
Lok Sabha elections: Polling underway in Jammu, Baramulla
People in Jammu and Kashmir are coming out in large number to cast their votes in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. Jammu and Baramulla are going to polls in this phase.More than 13 lakh voters will decide the fate of nine candidates for the Baramulla constituency, which has 15 assembly segments including Kupwara, Bandipora and Uri.Voters formed long queues outside polling booths as voting began at 7 in the morning amidst tight security.Men and women, young and old, wearing pherans, trousers and T-shirts, made serpentine queues to exercise their franchise."This time we want to vote for someone who would raise our specific issues in the Parliament, we want harmony in the region and as you can see voting is underway smoothly and in a peaceful manner," said Ghulam Mohammed, a resident of Bandipora in the Kashmir Valley.Fool-proof security arrangements have been put in place to ensure smooth polling. Extra barricades and checkpoints have been erected at several places in north ...