Timeline Refresh
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here today for consultations with the newly-elected government in Pakistan and nudge it to eliminate terrorist safe-havens ahead of the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan.
Kerry, who had earlier postponed his visit, will hold meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani tomorrow.
This is Kerry's maiden visit to Pakistan after becoming the Secretary of State. Bilateral relations and regional situation especially resumption of strategic dialogue between Pakistan and the United States besides the issue of drone strikes will be discussed during Kerry's meeting with the top leadership.
The two sides are expected to discuss resumption of strategic dialogue as well as cooperation in different fields including energy, the Pakistan Foreign Office officials said.
PTI: Signalling a departure from the aggressive policy to stake China's territorial claims with its neighbours, President Xi Jinping today said Beijing will adhere to the policy of "shelving disputes and carrying out joint development" in areas where it has sovereign claims.
"The country will adhere to the policy of shelving disputes and carrying out joint development for areas over which China owns sovereign rights, while also promoting mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation and seeking and expanding common converging interests with other countries," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying at a high level ruling Politburo meeting of the ruling Communist Party meet in Beijing today.
His remarks marks a significant departure from a very aggressive policy pursued by China in the last two years in asserting its claims over the South China Sea, besides maritime disputes with Japan over the islands jointly claimed by both countries.
Observers say his comments were more on the lines of China's late moderate leader Deng Xiaoping who after taking over from Mao Zedong reported to have suggested to various countries including India and Japan to shelve the disputes to pursue development.
"The people of Bihar will teach a lesson to Kumar and his party JD(U) for showing disrespect to mandate for NDA in 2010 assembly polls and they will put the ruling party in place during the next parliamentary polls," BJP legislature party leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.
He said the centre should allocate 2 to 4 lakh crore rupees to develop a new city. He demanded the government to earmark the funds in the bill it plans to table in parliament for formation of Telangana state. Read
De tweeted: Maharashtra and Mumbai??? Why not? Mumbai has always fancied itself as an independent entity, anyway. This game has countless possibilities.
The BJP, Sena and NCP have asked her to delete the tweet.
"Bihari babu (Shatrughan Sinha) should refrain from making statements at a time relations between both the parties are at an all-time low," said Yashwant Sinha, speaking to reporters at his constituency Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.-- NDTV.
"Darjeeling is part and parcel of West Bengal. There is no question of division of West Bengal. We are united, we will be united and we will be together," Banerjee said.
Apparently referring to the recent visit by a six member GJM team headed by its General Secretary Roshan Giri to Delhi with the Gorkhaland demand, Banerjee alleged "I am sorry to say ... I will write to Prime Minister whether it was a right step or not that some central ministers invited three or four Morcha leaders to Delhi some days back.
"A union territory without taking consent of the state? It is funny. Is it a lollipop in a child's hand? I request the Centre that has responsibility to see that peace is not disturbed in Darjeeling,"she said.
With its 50,000 troops and action-movie name, the new outfit might seem like the muscular response New Delhi needs to counter this summer's spate of Chinese border incursions.
'But the announcement represents another example of Indian strategic timidity in the face of Chinese aggression. Read
The students of Kasturba Gandhi residential girls school in Hafizganj area in Bareilly, claimed that the cook would not wash raw food material and grains before preparing meals and they were scolded whenever they raised their voice against it.
They said that many of them were taken ill after consuming the food following which the girls fled the premises.
The Cabinet Committee discussed the issue of compensation and rehabilitation in the state with Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna saying that his government has decided to declare the 5400 people, who are still missing after the flash flood tragedy, as "presumed dead" and give them compensation.
The missing people will, however, not been given death certificates. "5400 people are still missing. Out of these 924 are from the state. These are presumed to be dead and Rs 5 lakh cheque each will be given to their family members. The Finance Minister said that the LIC should be asked to expedite their insurance claims as was done during tsunami," Bahuguna said.
The family of the man say he was killed by the sand mafia since he was fighting them in the area and had filed a complaint against them a few days ago.
The attack comes days after the UP government suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, and the opposition alleged that she has been suspended as she took on the sand mafia.
Remember this? Sand mafia truck mows down cop
J&K chief minister, Omar Abdullah, voiced his reservations on the Telangana statehood issue said it could act as an incentive to those agitating for similar demands elsewhere in the country. "It is fine that you have to create Telangana, but don't do it piecemeal. Telangana will be created on the basis of agitations. This way the agitations are being incentivised," Omar said in Srinagar, yesterday.
He said giving in to the demand of creating a separate state in the backdrop of an agitation was a "dangerous thing".
"An impression is going out that an agitation can lead to creation of a
new state, be it in Bundelkhand, Maharashtra, Gorkhaland or in our
state. What will you tell people of Jammu -- agitate for seven or eight
years and you will get a separate state? This is a dangerous thing," he
said.
Demanding that a separate state be carved out of Assam along the lines of Telangana, the agitators belonging to several organisations gheraoed the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council in Diphu and locked its main gate.
"It is indeed a matter of concern if the UK Government actualises its plans to seek 3,000 pounds refundable bonds from Indians applying for UK visas in the immediate future... It could certainly impact the Indian industry's investment plans for the UK," industry body Ficci said.
Moreover, grouping India, which has emerged as the fourth largest investor in UK, with countries like Ghana, Uganda, Pakistan and Bangladesh was also a matter of concern, Ficci said.
Akash and Roshni, 22, reportedly had an altercation at around 11 am in one of the classrooms in the campus. Both studied Korean in the school of language in JNU. Read
Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was ostensibly removed for ordering the demolition on Saturday of a mosque built illegally on government land, will be given 10 days to explain herself in writing.
If the state government doesn't find her reply satisfactory, then a charge sheet could be filed in 45 days. More
"There was suspected movement along IB Sidharwan Border Out Post (BoP) in Akhnoor belt of Jammu district around 0505 hours today," a BSF officer said.
The BSF troops guarding the border took positions and fired 25 rounds on the area of suspected movement, he said, adding that during search conducted afterwards, foot-prints were seen. The suspected persons apparently escaped back to the other side of the border, he said.
"Kurnool (in Rayalaseema) was the capital of Andhra state, but we sacrificed it for Hyderabad in AP. The state is being divided again. Hyderabad is developed. Now, it is not clear where the capital will be established. Our proposal is that we should get the capital, because we sacrificed," Andhra Pradesh Law Minister E Pratap Reddy said.
But one of the series of three advertisements has upset child rights' activists.
Next to a picture of a young Indian boy on one of the adverts is the strapline, "Help him learn how to chop an onion. Before someone teaches him how to chop a head." Read
Markets, offices and educational institutions remained closed, as the 72-hour shutdown continued. There were, however, no untoward incidents reported by the police.
Vehicular movement was also restricted.The GJM has called for the shutdown over a demand for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of northern West Bengal.
The police have been patrolling the highways and keeping a strict vigil to prevent any untoward incident.
Vidarbha: With the UPA government likely to concede the demand for the creation of the Telangana state, the call for carving out a separate Vidarbha state out of Maharashtra has started gaining heat.
Staunch protagonist of Vidarbha state, former BJP MP Banwarilal
Purohit, who formed a political outfit for fighting for the cause, told
PTI that his party had passed a resolution in its Bhubneshwar executive
committee in 1992 supporting separate Vidarbha.
Opponents to the creation of Telangana have stated that giving in will ensure the demands for other states to be split up as well.
Also read: IPL fixing: Sreesanth chargesheeted along with Dawood & Co.
The Punjab roadways bus plying on Delhi-Jalandhar- Amritsar route fell into the Sirhind canal near a floating restaurant on the national highway around 2 am, Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said.
While there were unconfirmed reports that the bus was carrying around 20-30 passengers, the SSP has not confirmed the same.
The divers have so far been able to recover one body from the gushing waters of the canal, he said. However, the SSP has not ruled out more casualties in the mishap.
But with the region getting separate statehood, KCR has been catapulted to the position of the most powerful political leader in the proposed new state, assisted by many members of his family. Read
What is bewildering is that the crisis mode that the Congress swung into then, having taken fright at TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao's fast, still appears to continue to grip the party and its governments at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh. Read
A notice has been issued to Akshaya Patra Foundation of International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which has been serving midday meal to 148 schools here for the last six years. Read
This is surprising since ISKCON is an exemplar for hygienic meals.
More details are awaited.
"In the spirit 'of Chardi Kla' (state of High Spirits) instilled into us by our Gurus the community is bouncing back and remembering our dear lost ones," the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin said on its website yesterday.
It announced a series of events -- prayers --beginning Friday in honor of those who lost their lives when a white supremacist went on a shooting rampage a year ago on August 5, last year.
Army Judge Col Denise Lind found the 25-year-old Army private guilty of espionage charges, which could result in a sentencing of 136 years behind prison. Manning's attorney, David Coombs said he was pleased by the verdict, but signaled that the decisive moment will come during the sentencing phase of the court-martial, which opens Wednesday and could last several weeks.
Manning had previously accepted responsibility for providing classified information to WikiLeaks, actions covered by ten of the 22 charges.
Military judge Colonel Denise Lind found him guilty of 20 of those 22 charges.
However, it would have no other option except for the "zero option", if the United States didn't successfully negotiate a security deal with Kabul that will give it a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014, said Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defence for Asia Pacific Security Affairs.
"If we don't get the permission of Afghan government in the form of a bilateral security agreement, then we will not be able to continue this job of working with the Afghan National Security Forces and then you end up with zero," he said yesterday.
He added that US wants to have its presence in Afghanistan post 2014.
The train driver in last week's crash in Spain was talking on the phone when it derailed, investigators say. The train was travelling at 153km/h (95mph) at the time, investigators at the Court of Justice of Galicia said.
Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was speaking to members of staff at the state-owned railway company, Renfe, they added. Crash investigators had opened the train's "black-box" data recorder to find the cause of the crash, which left 79 people dead.
UPA finally grants Telangana; Hyderabad common capital
Telangana bytes: 'A decision too late'
PIX: Telangana erupts in jubilation, remembers its martyrs
MAP: What Telangana state will look like
KCR to Seema Andhra: 'We are brothers and will remain together'
4 ISSUES Telangana state will need to solve first
Seema-Andhra leaders now spar over new capital
Telangana state is still 6 months away!