Timeline Refresh
It's one of the RBI's regional offices that had reported on December 11, 2015, that it had received some banknotes of 1,000 denomination of some particular series without any security thread, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said today in the Rajya Sabha.
File pic of a Rs 1000 note
-- I am proud of my fragile body and sharp mind. Why should I use my body if I can use my mind.
-- If a woman is super successful, she is called a psychopath
-- My success is my sweet revenge against controversy
-- I am a self-pleaser, not a people-pleaser.
-- We as women have been defending ourselves way too long.
-- I don't find it humiliating when they call me a psychopath, witch or whore.
-- If a woman is sexually active, she's called a whore.
-- Women can kill with success and sarcasm, why use hands?
-- Sometimes you have bad days, but then you have cupcakes
-- I am not entitled to give my views on something which will be decided in court.
-- I don't know how to be anybody else than who I am.
-- It's been a roller coaster ride but I feel I am on the right track.
-- It's unbelievable that women have been treated like objects.
-- Every attempt is being made to embarrass me.
-- I wasn't prepared for what happened (with Hrithik).
-- I wasn't prepared for the name calling.
-- Easy to call a woman a psycopath, a whore.
-- Can't pretend to be sorry for what I have done.
-- Can't explain why I went into certain relationships.
-- Not ashamed about anything I have done in my life.
-- Unacceptable that people discussed my periods and called it gross. There is nothing gross about menstruation.
--The mentality is if I cannot get you I will destroy you.
"When IS took over Sirte, they seized many properties, including farms, and some of these are very large chicken farms," a former resident told Middle East Eye, an online news portal.
According to former residents from the ISIS stronghold of Sirte, militants have implemented rental and taxation systems, with a side-line in poultry. "Relatives tell me IS people can now be seen standing in the streets in their black outfits with their faces covered, selling both the eggs and the chickens. And they are selling the chickens for a very cheap price of just one or two dinars," the source was quoted as saying.
Another indication that IS finances were stretched was a series of demands for rent, he said. Shopkeepers were being forced to pay, despite owning their shops, as well as 10 Libyan dinars (USD7.35) per week was being charged for street cleaning and rubbish collection services.
The CBI on Monday began the questioning of the former Indian Air Force Chief in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal scam. The former IAF chief has also been issued summons by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The CBI is examining Tyagi on the various meetings he had with Agusta's parent company Finmeccanica.
Tyagi will be summoned for questioning tomorrow again.
Pic: The former air chief in a file picture.
Mallya, who faces a case of loan default of over Rs 9,400 crore, resigned from the Rajya Sabha Monday, a day before the Ethics Committee of the House was expected to recommend his disqualification.
The Ethics Committee move had only symbolic value, as the liquor baron had less than two months of his six-year tenure left. He had been elected from Karnataka for a second time.
Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari will decide on Mallya's resignation.
"He has expertise of a certain kind. It's wrong to presume that he
has been assigned the political role of reviving the Congress."
"Some people in the party may be uncomfortable with the novelty of this idea but there is nothing wrong in taking professional assistance."
What the Congress rank and file think of master strategist Prashant Kishor. Read
"Italy and India shall cooperate, including in proceedings before the Supreme Court of India, to achieve a relaxation of the bail conditions of Sergeant Girone so as to give effect to the concept of considerations of humanity, so that Sergeant Girone, while remaining under the authority of the Supreme Court of India, may return to Italy during the present arbitration," the order said.
Girone, along with another Italian marine, Massimiliano Latorre, is facing charges of murdering two fishermen in 2012 off the Kerala coast. Latorre is back in Italy after suffering a stroke in 2014 while Girone is staying in Italian embassy at The Hague. The two countries have agreed to arbitration by the UN court.
It did not specify the victim's nationality, but Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed that an American serviceman died near the Iraqi city of Irbil.
"It is a combat death," Carter told reporters in Germany, according to The Associated Press.
Dino and Bipasha were in a relationship in the late 1990s but called it quits over 10 years ago. The two have remained friends.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the eight men, who were migrant workers in Singapore, were detained in April under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and were members of a secret group called Islamic State in Bangladesh that was set up in March this year.
The BJP leader has made the charge in his memoir, Chaireveti, Chaireveti (Keep Moving), written in Marathi and released in Mumbai on April 25, reports the Times of India.
A Union minister between 1999 and 2004, Naik says in his book that despite being a three-time MP and having contributed so much to Mumbai, he was unable to digest his defeat by a margin of 11,000 votes.
Going into the 'bitter truths', he wrote that Govinda was friends with Dawood and Thakur and he (Govinda) used them to terrorise voters.
Govinda, however, said people ensured his victory. "I did not need anyone's support at that time. By saying such things, does Ram Naik mean that the people of the constituency were sold into the hands of the underworld? Please do not insult anyone by saying such things," he said.
Govinda said it was not expected of a man of Naik's stature and age to oppose him in such a manner."At this juncture, when I am coming back into films, I humbly request Ram Naik not to damage my name and create hurdles in my work," he said.
India's Goodwill Ambassador meet
Abhinav Bindra: I shoot targets.
Sachin: I shoot TVCs.
Salman: No comments. The matter is sub judice.
The two districts have witnessed for some years agitation for separate states.
While it has been led by the Greater Coochbehar People's association in Coochbehar, that in the Darjeeling subdivision is spearheaded by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha. "The BJP is trying to break Coochbehar and Darjeeling for narrow political gains. It always tries to fuel separate statehood movements in the state," Banerjee told an election rally. Banerjee took the credit of settling the 68-year-old border enclave issue with Bangladesh.
The US Congress-formed federal body on international religious freedom said religious freedom in India was on a "negative trajectory" in 2015 as religious tolerance "deteriorated" and religious freedom violations "increased".
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2016 annual report also suggested that the Indian government publicly rebuke officials and religious leaders that make derogatory statements about religious communities.
It has also appealed to the Obama administration to designate Pakistan among nations listed as worst violators of religious freedom due to the current state of minorities in the country.
The feud between Hrithik and his "Krrish 3" co-star turned nasty after they slapped legal notices on each other. When asked about her views on the topic, Jacqueline told reporters, "I hope it just finishes and ends because I know how difficult (it is)... what they must be going through right now. I hope it comes to an end soon."
The "Roy" actress was speaking at an event. Actor Sidharth Malhotra, who was also present, said it was a personal matter between the two actors.
"It is somebody's personal matter and I have no knowledge. It is not right for me to comment," he said. Hrithik, who was the first to send the legal notice, has demanded that Kangana apologise in a press conference and clear the air about their alleged affair which he firmly refutes.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today sought to brush aside BJP's attempts to drag him into the CWG and VVIP chopper scams, saying he is "happy to be targeted".
"I am always being targeted, happy to be targeted," he told reporters while entering Parliament House. He was asked about BJP MP Kirit Somaiya's letter to ED and CBI asking them to check Gandhi's links with a real estate developer allegedly involved in the CWG scam and also the alleged connections of his political aide with a middleman in the AgustaWestland deal. Somaiya had said that Guido Haschke, an alleged middleman in the chopper deal is common in both the scams and that he is linked to Christian Michel, an accused in the VVIP chopper scam.
Shabana has won the prestigious National Award five times.
Tendulkar today joined Salman Khan and ace shooter Abhinav Bindra to become the third Goodwill Ambassador for India at the Rio Olympics this year. The Indian Olympic Association had invited Tendulkar to come on board on April 29 and they heard from the Master Blaster today. Tendulkar said he would be happy to accept the honour and added that he would do whatever he could to promote sports in the country.
Pradip Bhattacharya, the Chairman of the Standing Committee said security agencies were ill-prepared to anticipate the threats in time and to counter them swiftly. "Something is seriously wrong with the country's counter-terror security establishment," the Parliamentary Standing Committee said on the Pathankot terror attack.
"The committee is unable to understand how terrorists managed to reach the Pathankot airbase in spite of terror alerts being sounded well in advance. The security agencies were ill-prepared to anticipate the threats in time and counter them swiftly," Bhattacharya claimed.
"We had a long interaction with officers at the Pathankot airbase. They said they had no information that their airbase would be attacked. He got information early in the morning, that too not from Punjab, but from the Delhi Air Force. How did it happen? Who gave this information to Delhi Air Force? These are remarkable things to search out," he added.
He also said that during the visit to the Pathankot airbase, the committee found that the airbase security was not robust.
"We urge upon the Government of India to take this report seriously and take appropriate steps. Even today, there are very unsafe conditions at the Pathankot airbase," he said.
The Pathankot air base was attacked by heavily armed terrorists reportedly having allegiance to the Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in which four terrorists and three security forces personnel were killed.
A five-member Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT), comprising Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP), a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), two Lt. Colonels and one inspector, from Pakistan had visited India between March 27-31 to collect, review and document physical evidences and to interview key witnesses and victims through the NIA in connection with the Pathankot attack.
Just a few days after the Pakistani JIT probing the Pathankot attack admitted that the four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base were from Pakistan, the JIT had said that the attack had been staged by India, according to a Pakistani media report.
The JIT "says the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan," according to a report in Pakistan Today. It further said that the JIT report, which was submitted to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the next few days, had even concluded that Indian authorities had prior information about the terrorists.
Meanwhile, on April 28, the Centre had told told the Rajya Sabha that Pakistan had been clearly told that it should allow an Indian probe team to visit that country in connection with Pathankot terror attack as reciprocity was the principle on which Pakistan's JIT was allowed to visit here.
At the time of writing, India and Pakistan maintain their differences on the sequence of events related to the attack.
Traffic on the Delhi-Noida Direct flyway came to a near standstill on Tuesday morning, as Delhi faced its second straight day of crippling traffic jams.
Traffic was brought to a grinding halt by taxi owners who are protesting a Supreme Court order that made it illegal to operate diesel vehicles as taxis.
The protests near the toll plaza on the busy DND, one of Delhi's key links to the residential and office hub of Noida meant traffic was bottlenecked. Motorists headed towards Delhi then started driving in the opposite lane as well, restricting traffic heading towards Noida and making the jam worse.
There are also views within a section of the party that a turnaround in Uttar Pradesh is possible only if either of the Gandhis -- Priyanka or Rahul -- takes the lead in the state polls.
However, there has been no indication from the party so far that it is inclined to field any of the two Gandhis in the assembly polls in the state where Congress is considered to be on a weak wicket.
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor is learnt to be in favour of either of the Gandhis taking the lead in the state election and, if they do not agree, a well-known Brahmin face should be projected as the chief ministerial candidate.
Sources close to the leadership indicated that key decisions about the rejig are likely to be announced after May 19, the day counting of votes for the assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry takes place.
The pradesh Congress committee chief, the Congress legislature party leader and even those managing the state affairs at the AICC level could be changed, the sources say.
Making a serious attempt to stage a comeback in the state to which most of the Congress Prime Ministers belonged and where it has been in wilderness after the surge in Mandal-Mandir poitics, the party has roped in Kishor, who is learnt to have strongly favoured a Brahmin as the party's face in the polls due next year.
The name of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has also been considered, sources said.Kishor, who had managed the hugely successful election campaigns for Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance in the Bihar assembly elections last year, has been drafted by the Congress to draw up a campaign strategy for the key cow belt state.
There is a thinking in the party that since Brahmins, who constitute 10 to 12 per cent of the electorate, are the only vote bloc Congress can hope to make inroads into, projection of a person from the community as chief ministerial face would help the party regain their support. With the advent of mandal-mandir politics, Brahmins, who had traditionally voted for Congress, shifted allegiance to the BJP.
There has also been a buzz that the Congress could field its top guns in the assembly polls, including some of its MPs, especially those who had been Union ministers in UPA I and II governments.Kishor, who is known for building his campaign strategy around strong personalities, is learnt to be keen that Congress should project a face in the state as it could galvanize the cadres.
Hersh's most recent break threatens to blur the boundary between investigative reporting and conspiracy theory. The story, published last May in the London Review of Books, alleges that Pakistan caught Osama bin Laden years ago and then kept him under house arrest in Abbottabad. Eventually, Hersh writes, a walk-in leaked bin Laden's whereabouts to the CIA. The SEAL raid that killed bin Laden was military theater, staged in cooperation with the Pakistani government. Read
Today, the BJP's Kirit Somaiya said that that the Congress vice-president will be asked in Parliament to explain why one of the Agusta middlemen was employed as Director by a firm linked closely to his aide, Kanishka Singh.
Kanishka Singh responded with a statement last night.
Kanishka Singh's statement reads as follows:
Response to BJP MP Shri Kirit Somaiya's Letter and his Tweet dated 02.05.2016 in re AgustaWestland and Emaar-MGF
Mr. Somaiya's allegations about Kanishka Singh are entirely baseless, false and with an ulterior political motive. Mr. Somaiya has been making these false allegations about Mr. Kanishka Singh with malafide intent since February 2013. Mr. Kanishka Singh rejects these allegations in their entirety.
Whether officials of AgustaWestland were involved with Emaar-MGF or not, should be investigated by the agencies.
In so far as Kanishka Singh is concerned he:
(1) Has absolutely nothing to do with the matter; and
(2) Wishes for parties found to be guilty, including AgustaWestland and/or Mr. Hashke and/or Emaar-MGF if so found, to be punished in the harshest possible way. In any case, Mr. Kirit Somaiya is requested to provide material at the earliest to his own Government and its agencies, which will facilitate investigation and enable prosecution of the guilty; and
(3) Has nothing to do with and has been on estranged terms with the Rajiv Gupta family (Emaar-MGF) who, though related, fell out in 2005 when Rajiv Gupta propounded a Will of Shri Ved Prakash Gupta which Kanishka Singh and his mother say is a case of forgery and fabrication, and the matter has been pending in court since then.
However he admitted that Kingfisher Air owes money to banks. "Agree Kingfisher Air owes money to Banks. I am neither a borrower or a judgement debtor. Why am I a defaulter inspite of a settlement offer?" Mallya tweeted.
On Monday, Vijay Mallya resigned from Rajya Sabha. In his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, he said he does not want his "name and reputation to be further dragged in the mud".
"And since recent events suggest that I will not get a fair trial or justice, I am hereby resigning as a member of the Rajya Sabha with immediate effect," Mallya said in the letter.
He also referred to the letter written to him by the Chairman of the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha Karan Singh and said he had replied to Singh.
The Ethics Panel of the Rajya Sabha, which had taken up the matter, had unanimously decided in its April 25 meeting that Mallya should no longer remain a member of the House and was planning to recommend his expulsion in its next meeting on May 3.
Mallya is facing a case of loan default of over Rs 9,400 crore and is believed to be in the UK after leaving India on March 2.
Pic: Vijay Mallya at the McDowell Derby in 2013
The Khel Ratna carries a cash reward of Rs 7.5 lakh along with a citation, while the Arjuna award consists of a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh and a citation.
The USCIRF suggested that the Indian government publicly rebuke officials and religious leaders that make derogatory statements about religious communities.
Pointing out that it will continue to monitor the situation closely during 2016 to understand if India should be recommended to the State Department for designation as a "country of particular concern," USCIRF advised the US government to integrate concern for religious freedom into bilateral contacts with India, including the framework of future Strategic Dialogues.
USCIRF reports are not binding on the State Department. Interestingly the report comes a little more than a month before PM Narendra Modi's bilateral visit to Washington where he is also scheduled to address joint session of the US Congress. Read more
Yesterday, the CBI examined the former IAF chief in connection with its probe into bribery charges in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. Sources in CBI said Tyagi had visited Florence, Milan and Venice after retirement, and the purpose of these trips are under investigation.
Tyagi's cousins Sanjeev will be summoned today, while his other cousins Rajeev and Sandeep will be examined soon. Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who allegedly played a key role in moving the bribe money, is likely to be examined Wednesday.
Tyagi arrived at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi around 10 am yesterday and was examined till late in the evening for approximately 10 hours.
The State Department yesterday told reporters that it has told the Pakistani leadership that "they should put forward national funds" for the purchase of F-16s given that key members of the Congress have made clear that they have objections to using foreign military financing -- American tax payer's money -- to support. In the absence of Pakistani taking any tangible action against the Haqqani network, the Senators have said they would not let the Obama Administration use tax payer's money to give F-16s to Pakistan as notified to the Congress on February 11.