LIVE! Why didn't these people vote: Trump on protesters

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Sun, 22 January 2017

Why didn't these people vote: Trump on protesters

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21:21 Why didn't these people vote: Trump on protesters

US President Donald Trump today took a swipe at the millions of protesters who demonstrated across the country against his alleged divisive and anti-women policies, saying "why didn't these people vote", even as he asserted that he recognises people's right to express views.

"Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognise the rights of people to express their views," Trump said in a tweet.

His tweet came a day after several million people in cities and towns across the country came out on streets against his alleged divisive and anti-women policies.

In another tweet, Trump said he watched these protests.

"Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly," he said.

Former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu's cross over to the Congress could be the fallout of the "hurt" he might have felt in his parent party, former Union minister Shatrughan Sinha said today.

"Sidhu is not a bad man. He was with BJP earlier and now he is in Congress party. He might have felt hurt in the BJP and joined Congress. We have affection for him. Siddhu will continue to remain ours," Sinha told reporters after taking darshan of Saibaba.

Sidhu recently quit the saffron party to contest on Congress' ticket from Amritsar (East) seat for next month's assembly elections in Punjab.

Meanwhile, Sinha refused to offer comments to a query on RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya's remarks on reservation.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu got support from a predecessor Mamata Banerjee in the aftermath of the train mishap in Andhra Pradesh, with the West Bengal Chief Minister saying he is "earnest in his efforts" but railways is now being "neglected" and given less priority.

Expressing grief over the loss of lives in the Hirakhand Express accident, Banerjee said "Sadly, today also many people lost their lives. My condolences to their loved ones." However, the Trinamool Congress chief who is at loggerhead with the Centre over demonetisation and arrest of her party MPs in chit fund cases, said, "We don't blame the minister. He is earnest in his efforts. But government needs to address issues urgently."

In a statement, she said, "Railways carries crores of people everyday. It is the lifeline of the nation. We are proud of our Indian Railways employees. However, now Railways is neglected and being given less priority. The Budget is being curtailed. Safety and security are being compromised." Banerjee held the Railway portfolio during previous NDA government and UPA-I.

Desi girl Priyanka Chopra has come out in the support of Women's March, organised in Washington DC, a day after Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th president of the United States of America.

To show her support PeeCee took to her Twitter and tweeted, "So proud of all my sisters and the men that are at the #WomensMarch I'm so upset I couldn't go. #girllove #womensrightsarehumanrights."

Many celebs including, Nargis Fakhri and Salman Khan's 'Tubelight' co-star Zhu Zhu too supported the march via social media.

Scores of people participated in this 'Women's March' in an attempt to unify masses against issues concerning women's rights.

19:56 Kamal Haasan hits out at PeTA over Jallikattu

Actor Kamal Haasan hits out at PETA, asks it to ban bull riding in "Trump US first".

In a series of tweets, the superstar wrote, "PETA go ban bull riding rodeos in Mr.Trump's US. You're not qualified to tackle our bulls. Empires have been made to quit India.

"People at long last are getting a taste of true democracy. Gone are the days of leaders. We need humble pathfinders & social reformers.

"American aerated drink makers might be tempted to sponsor Jallikattu. Beware."

This is not the first time when Kamal Hassan has been vocal in his support for Jallikattu, saying that people should not confuse it with the bull-fight of Spain.

The 62-year-old actor had said that people hurt the animal in Spain and it would die, but in Tamil Nadu bulls are treated like "gods, as part of the family".

Kamal Haasan says that Jallikattu is a sport. "It is about taming the bull and not creating physical harm by breaking its horns or other parts," he had said.

When US President Trump took the oath of office, his administration hit the reset button on the Whitehouse.gov website, replacing former president Barack Obama's policy goals with new priorities.

But one page remains: the petition feature that allows the president's administration to respond to issues raised directly by the people.

And the people, apparently, want to see Trump's tax returns.

Less than a day after the petition was started, it eclipsed the 100,000-signature remark enough to elicit an official response.

The Executive Office of the President didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The petition asks the administration to immediately release Donald Trump's full tax returns and says it wants Trump to not be in conflict with the emoluments clause of the Constitution.

It's a day of upsets! World Number 1 in women's tennis Angelique Kerber has been stunned by the American Coco Vandeweghe.

The American stunned the German world number 1 in straight sets -- 6-2, 6-3.

Earlier, the Men's number 1 seed Andy Murray lost to Germany's Mischa Zverev.

At a joint presser at a neutral venue, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party announced its alliance for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav.

The Congress will contest from 105 seats while the SP will have 298 candidates, said SP leader Naresh Uttam.

Earlier, Akhilesh had released the party's manifesto and taken the opportunity to slam the opposition parties.

The Congress-SP alliance was on the verge of breaking even before it began on Saturday, but it was thanks to Sonia Gandhi's intervention that the alliance was restored.

18:15 Next hearing in 26/11 trial on January 25

The next hearing in the Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan has been scheduled for January 25, an official said today.

Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum have been facing charges of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attack.

Next hearing of the case is scheduled for January 25, a court official said.

People who deposited huge amounts of cash in their bank accounts after the Centres demonetisation exercise may get multiple notices from the Income Tax department through the rest of the year.

The department which has started sending notices to those who deposited currency over Rs 2 lakh after November 9 directed its officials to ensure that genuine cases are dissolved at the earliest. Probes would then be undertaken against those found to have fuzzy sources of income. The mammoth exercise could go on till the next financial year, sources said.

The first set of notices from the department will be sent out by the end of the financial year. Based on the response, taxmen will decide if they should conduct further investigation into the case. Several banks -- public as well as private -- will also receive queries about suspicious transactions.

The political drama refuses to die down in the Samajwadi Party as Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh on Sunday alleged that he received death threat from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's uncle and mentor Ram Gopal Yadav.

In a shocking remark, the expelled Samajwadi Party leader claimed his life is in danger and added that Ram Gopal has openly threatened to kill him.

"I am on Ram Gopal's target. He is openly issuing murder threats against me. Ram Gopal Yadav has said that Mulayam Singh considers Amar Singh as his brother...he should come to Uttar Pradesh and return safely," Singh told the media.

The expelled Samajwadi Party leader also hit out at Akhilesh for ignoring him post expulsion.

Ruling out the much-talked about US-China trade war under the Trump presidency, founder of Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba Jack Ma said the poor plight of American economy was due to the costly wars waged by Washington and has nothing to do with trade ties with Beijing.

China and the US will not start a trade war as President Donald Trump is an open-minded person who needs more time, Ma said.

Ma, who has met Trump promising to create a million jobs in the US and market a million American products, said it is wrong to ascribe Americas economic problems to China.

It is the US that is responsible for its sluggish economy, given that $14 trillion was wasted on waging war over the past 30 years rather than investing in infrastructure. China did not steal American jobs, Ma said, adding that the loss of jobs is a strategic mistake on the part of the US, state-run Peoples Daily reported today.

A tribute to Lokmanya Tilak on his 160th birth anniversary, art and lifestyle of Kutch, model government schools of Delhi, Skill India and Beti bachao beti padhao are among the themes for the Republic Day tableaux this year.

A total of 23 tableaux would be on display at the ceremonial parade with 17 of them belonging to various states and Union Territories.

States registering their presence this year include Goa, Odisha, Delhi, Tripura, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.

Despite protests against holding the government-sponsored Jallikattu in Madurais Alanganallur, the bull-taming event was held at several other places across Tamil Nadu on Sunday.

It has been reported that two people have died, 83 injured during an unregulated Jallikattu event held at Raapusal village in Pudukottai district.

Additionally, the chief minister said the ordinance will be replaced by a law after bringing in a bill in the assembly session, beginning at Chennai on Monday.

Over Rs 83 crore cash, 7 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 12.65 crore and narcotics valued at Rs 10.30 crore have been seized, maximum from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, by EC-appointed surveillance and expenditure monitoring teams in the five poll-bound states.

UP has witnessed the maximum seizure of Rs 79.13 crore (Rs 31.65 lakh in old notes) followed by Rs 4.05 crore from Punjab, Rs 33.27 lakh in Uttarakhand and Rs 6.95 lakh in Manipur.

In other illegal inducements suspected to be used to lure voters in these states, a whopping 7.36 lakh litres of liquor and over 500 bottles of canned beer worth Rs 12.65 crore has been seized by Election Commission appointed police and state excise teams in these states.

In UP, these seizures were recorded at 3.95 lakh litres worth Rs 10.7 crore followed by 3,09,351 litres spirits worth Rs 1.14 crore seized in Punjab, over 25,907 litres worth Rs 72.91 lakh in Uttarakhand, 4,605 litres worth Rs 7.5 lakh in Manipur and beer and other hard spirits worth Rs 1.35 lakh in Goa.

Drug seizures by the anti-narcotics agencies and police teams was seen maximum in Punjab as the total haul was recorded at 1,485 kg valued at Rs 10.30 crore, with Punjab accounting for 1,134 kgs worth Rs 9.06 crore followed by Rs 286.65 kg worth Rs 83.58 lakh seized in UP, Rs 17.22 lakh in Goa, Rs 15.36 lakh in Uttarakhand and Rs 7.62 lakh in Manipur.

Chennai's Marina beach was flooded with protesters demanding a 'permanent solution' for Jallikattu on Sunday. The traditional bull-taming sport which is a part of Pongal celebrations, failed to take off in Madurai on Sunday, a day after the state government passed an ordinance or executive order for its resumption.

The protesters have threatened that they will not allow the Republic Day functions to be held on the Beach Road - the road running beside the beach on which the parade is held every year on January 26.

The police, which made an appearance at the beach today at the beach - a first since the protest started - have not commented on the resolve of the protesters. While arrangements for the parade are on, holding it on Thursday with the protesters assembling in the backdrop can mean a loss of face for the state government.

Two soldiers from the Assam Rifles lost their lives today in an encounter with terrorists belonging to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Khaplang NSCN-K near Jairampur in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

There was a heavy exchange of gunfire between the two groups and multiple grenades were also blasted by (NSCN-K).

A Toyota Fortuner bearing no. AS06L 0033 was damaged in the blast. None of the passengers were injured.

Further details of encounter casualties are awaited.

14:18

JUST IN: Star shuttler Saina Nehwal wins Malaysian Masters GrandPrix Gold tournament. She beat Thai Pornpawee Chochuwong 22-20, 22-20

13:29 Trump can legally hire son-in-law: US Justice Department

US Justice Department has said that President Donald Trump's decision to hire his son-in-law as a senior White House adviser does not violate federal anti-nepotism laws.

The Office of Legal Counsel issued a 14-page memo, saying that the president is not barred from appointing Jared Kushner because federal law grants the president special hiring authority that exempts him and his hires from anti-nepotism laws.

Anti-nepotism laws prevent appointment of family members to government positions. The statute, from 1967, reads: "A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official."

The law specifically identifies the president as one of the "public officials" the law applies to and a "son-in-law" as a prohibited relative.

But federal law also authorises the president "to appoint and fix the pay of employees in the White House Office without regard to any other provision of law regulating the employment or compensation of persons in the government service", CBS News reported.

"The most natural and straightforward reading of the President may appoint relatives as employees in the White House Office 'without regard to' the anti-nepotism statute," the OLC concluded.

Describing journalists as the most dishonest human beings on Earth, US President Donald Trump has said he has been "running a war" with the media and warned them of consequences for falsely reporting that less number of people attended his inauguration.

"We had a massive field of people. You saw them. Packed.

I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field," Trump said.

"I say, wait a minute, I made a speech. I looked out, it looked like a million, million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there.

12:56 Andy Murray ousted from Australian Open

World Number 1 Andy Murray has been ousted by German Mischa Zverev in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Zverev won 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a scintillating match.

Samajwadi Party chief and UP CM Akhilesh Yadav releases the manifesto ahead of the assembly polls. Interestingly enough, Akhilesh's father Mulayam and uncle Shivpal are noticably absent from the event.

Here are the highlights of the SP's manifesto:

-- Focused development of carpet and handloom industry

-- Ensuring conducive atmosphere for Muslims and protect their right to religious practices

-- Air ambulance at Lucknow airport

-- 24-hour power supply in rural areas

-- 1 crore women to get Rs 1,000 monthly pension

-- Women to pay 50% fare while travelling in buses

Samajwadi Party and Congress have sealed an alliance for upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. As per initial inputs, Congress has got 105 seats out of the 403 assembly seats in UP.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is expected to announce the alliance at press conference, which will also declare partys manifesto, later today. Earlier, it was reported that alliance between two parties was on verge of collapse, after Congress became adamant on demand of 120 seats.

On Saturday, two days after the Congress and the Samajwadi Party had announced a pre-poll alliance, reports emerged that the tie-up has failed over the issue of seat-sharing. The SP offered 99 seats to the Congress while the latter demanded at least 115 seats, said sources.

11:19 Train derailment saddening: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today condoled the loss of lives in the train derailment in Andhra Pradesh, terming the mishap as "saddening".

He also wished for speedy recovery of all those injured. "My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones due to derailment of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express. The tragedy is saddening," he said a tweet.

"I pray for a speedy recovery of all those injured due to the train accident," he said in a tweet. He said the railway ministry was monitoring the situation closely. "The Railway Ministry is monitoring the situation very closely and is working to ensure quick rescue and relief operations," he said.

One would think that all is well with the ordinance being approved to resume Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, but the locals in Alanganallur in Madurai, where Chief Minister O Panneerselvam is set to inaugurate the sport today, are determined to not go ahead with the event as they feel that the ordinance is a step simply to pacify them temporarily, and they want a 'permanent' solution.

"We won't allow this to happen as we don't need just any temporary solution. We need a permanent solution to the problem and it has to be non conditional. Today we will not let Jallikattu happen .All villagers including youth, elders and others have all been sitting here in protest," said a demonstrator.

Another equally agitated protestor said that the Tamil community is firmly against this temporary fix and will not allow the sport to continue unless a more lasting and concrete step is taken.

"People must understand our feelings & why we are struggling so hard to safeguard our culture & tradition. Politicians have been playing with our sentiments and we have realised that. All the villagers here have shunned the event," she added.

Yesterday, Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao promulgated an ordinance paving way for resuming Jallikattu game in the state.

10:10 India, UAE hold strategic dialogue

Rajeev Sharma tells us: India and the United Arab Emirates held their first-ever strategic dialogue in New Delhi on Friday, January 20, signifying how close the two countries have come to each other and taken their bilateral relationship to a new level.

The India-UAE relationship thus far had revolved around two issues mainly: Oil and the Diaspora.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in August 2015 the India-UAE relationship has acquired a strategic hue as during that trip the two powers upgraded their relationship to a 'strategic partnership.'

Friday's first India-UAE Strategic Dialogue is the first demonstration of the two countries' foreign offices taking a giant step in redefining their bilateral relationship.

New issues which have emerged between the two countries and came up for intensive discussions at the Strategic Dialogue were a. trade and investment, b. defence and security and c. cooperation in counter terrorism and intelligence sharing.

In view of such a rich agenda at the first India-UAE Strategic Dialogue, which comes five days ahead of the Abu Dhabi crown prince's State visit to India, Pakistan needs to worry a lot.

10:06 Amritsar is sharing most child porn, Delhi 2nd

The arrest of American linguistics expert James Kirk Jones last week for possessing and sharing nearly 30,000 files of child pornography had jolted Hyderabad.

Recent government data shows the rot runs deeper: alongside metros, many of India's tier-II cities are among the worst lot on surfing and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Amritsar, Lucknow, Alappuzha and Thrissur were among the 10 worst cities where CSAM was shared on multiple occasions in the past six months.

Amritsar took top place with more than 4.3 lakh "files of interest" -- code for child porn -- shared between July 1, 2016 and January 15, 2017. Delhi was second, followed by Lucknow.

Read more HERE

10:03 Jallikattu protests continue

Protests against the ban on Jallikattu showed no signs of weakening on the sixth day across Tamil Nadu, despite promulgation of an ordinance which paved the way for the traditional bull-taming sport to be held in Madurai and other parts of the state on Sunday.

On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao promulgated the ordinance but failed to resolve the standoff as protesters stuck to their demand for an amendment in the Central law.

CM Panneerselvam is holding talks with Chief Secretary, suggesting her to invite protestors for a final talk, reports Arun Janardhanan

The Indian Express is reporting that Alanganallur village, the centre-stage of the Jallikattu controversy, will not conduct Jallikattu today; roads have been blocked there.

09:59

Just in: TN Govt files caveat in SC over Jallikattu issue; asks court not to pass any order relating to Jallikattu ordinance without hearing them, reports NDTV

09:53

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu along with the Chairman Railway Board rushing to train accident site.

09:36 Railways suspect foul play, tampering of track

Railways on Sunday suspected that tampering of the track near Kuneru station led to the derailment of nine coaches of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh.

"There is a strong indication of tampering with the track as the area is known to be a Naxal-prone zone and as Republic Day is approaching. Foul play cannot be ruled out," sources said.

"The Commissioner Railway Safety will conduct a thorough inquiry to ascertain the cause of the mishap," the sources said. According to the sources, "A goods train had safely passed the same track. The patrol man had also checked the track. However, the driver of the train heard a big cracker-like sound just before the derailment and there appeared to be a big crack on the track which caused the derailment".

09:29

PM Narendra Modi tweets:

"My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones due to derailment of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express. The tragedy is saddening."

"I pray for a speedy recovery of all those injured due to the train accident."

"The Railway Ministry is monitoring the situation very closely and is working to ensure quick rescue and relief operations."

08:51 We have no choice but to get rid of radical Islamic terror: Trump to CIA

The United States has no choice but to get rid of ISIS and 'radical Islamic terrorism', the new US President Donald Trump has said.

"We've been fighting these wars for longer than any wars we've ever fought. We have not used the real abilities that we have. We've been restrained. We have to get rid of ISIS. Have to get rid of ISIS. We have no choice. Radical Islamic terrorism," Trump told members of the CIA community at its headquarters in Langley.

Reiterating his remarks on the inauguration day, Trump said, "it has to be eradicated" just off the face of the Earth.

"This is evil. This is evil," he said in his maiden address to the CIA officials.

"I can understand the other side. We can all understand the other side. There can be wars between countries, there can be wars. You can understand what happened. This is something nobody can even understand. This is a level of evil that we haven't seen. You're going to go to it, and you're going to do a phenomenal job," he said.

"But we're going to end it. It's time. It's time right now to end it," he added.

Trump's nominee for CIA Director Mike Pompeo has not been confirmed by the Senate yet.

08:27

Express derailment: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announces Rs 2 lakh for kin of deceased people, 25,000 for injured, 50,000 for seriously injured

08:25 Alanganallur ready for Jallikattu today

People have been gathering in large numbers at 'vadi vasal' in Madurai's Alanganallur, from where the bulls will be released on the arena.

After consultation with officials and members of Alanganallur jallikattu committee, an eight-foot double barricade has been erected around the Jallikattu arena as a safety feature.

Registration of bulls began at night and the event will last long as long as the last bull is released through vadivasal, he said.

Every bull will undergo a thorough medical test by 17 teams of veterinary doctors from the Department of Animal Husbandry. Their health status will be certified before they are let into the arena.

All efforts would be taken to ensure that the animals are not be subjected to cruelty.

The entire event would be closely monitored by representatives of Animal Welfare Board of India.

08:19

Helpline numbers: Rayagada: BSNL LAND LINE NO. 06856-223400, 06856-223500; BSNL MOBILES: 09439741181, 09439741071, AIRTEL: 07681878777. Help line nos at Vizianagaram: RLY NO. 83331, 83332, 83333, 83334; BSNL LAND LINE: 08922-221202, 08922-221206

08:17 23 killed as Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express derails

At least 23 people were killed and over 100 were believed to be injured after Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express derailed in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, officials said on Sunday.

The incident took place around 11pm on Saturday when the train was on its way to Bhubaneswar from Jagdalpur.

"Seven coaches and the engine of the 18448 Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express derailed near Kuneru station. Besides the engine, the luggage van, two general coaches, two sleeper coaches, one AC three tier coach and an AC two tier coach derailed," Chief PRO of East Coast Railway J P Mishra said.

23 passengers were killed, said Mishra. Rayagada Sub-collector Muralidhar Swain said that the number of injured could be around 100. The casualty figure may go up as many people are trapped, he added.

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