With less than a month to go for Delhi Assembly elections, various local parties of Bihar are eyeing votes of the people of Purvanchal in Delhi and are ready to enter the electoral fray in the national capital. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which is part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, has announced to contest the elections alone in Delhi. The main opposition party in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has also said that it will contest the elections in Delhi. It, however, is hoping to fight in alliance with the Congress on the lines of…
Author: Our Correspondent
The UN Security Councilhas re-authorized cross-border aid mechanism for Syria after heated discussion. The 15-member council adopted a resolution on Friday night, prepared by Belgium and Germany, which re-authorized two of the existing four crossings on the Syria-Turkey border under the mechanism for six months, reports Xinhua news agency. The meeting to hold the vote was postponed for about three hours, as “the text might be still being worked on” till the last minute, according to British Permanent Representative to the UN Karen Pierce. Since 2014, the Security Council has authorized the delivery of aid through four border crossings, two…
Iran has agreed to allow Canadian investigators to travel to Tehran to investigate the cause of the Ukraine International Airlines plane crash that killed all 176 people on board, including 63 Canadians, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said. “Representatives from Global Affairs Canada’s Standing Rapid Deployment Team and the Transportation Safety Board are currently stationed in Ankara. To date, Iran has granted us two visas,” Champagne tweeted on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. “We are hoping the other visas will be approved soon so that we may begin to provide consular services, to help in the identification of victims and…
Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the Arab world’s longest-serving ruler, has died aged 79, state media reported on Saturday. “The Diwan of Royal Court announces mourning and disrupts the official work of the public and private sectors for three days and flags at half-mast in the next 40 days,” Xinhua news agency quoted the state TV public channel as saying on Twitter. The Sultan, who ruled Oman for almost half a century, was unmarried and had no heir or had designated successor, according to media. Last month he returned home after undergoing medical checks and treatment in Belgium.…
Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to protest against the recent attacks by the US and Iran on their territory and demanded a new government to help regain autonomy. Amid strong security measures and despite the deployment of troops across several cities, demonstrators on Friday chanted slogans against Washington and Tehran for turning Iraq into an arena for settling their scores, reports Efe news. Protesters slammed the “corrupt” Iraqi politicians who they consider to have allowed this to happen. Organiser Sabah Nabil told Efe news that the demonstrations in which thousands of people participated across the country were a…
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu discussed the situation in the Middle East with US Defence Secretary Mark Esper during a phone conversation, the Russian Defence Ministry said. “The situation in the Middle East region was discussed,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday, Xinhua news agency. Tensions soared in the Middle East after a US airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3 killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. Iran fired missiles on Wednesday in retaliation, striking military bases which house US troops in Iraq’s western province…
Aparna Madireddi, an Indian-American entrepreneur, has announced here bid for the mayoral seat of California’s San Ramon town, replacing incumbent Bill Clarkson who will step down after four terms, a media report said. Madireddi is the first person to launch her campaign for the seat. Earlier, the Indian-American entrepreneur had made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the San Ramon city council, the India West newspaper said in a report on Thursday. Madireddi has served in several volunteer positions in San Ramon, situated in Northern California’s East Bay. She is currently the chair of the Open Space Advisory Committee,…
US President Donald Trump said that the “imminent threat” from Iran might involve planned attacks on four US embassies, US media reported. “We will tell you that probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Friday when asked about what had been specifically targeted by Iran. “I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies,” Trump added, Xinhua news agency reported. Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, was killed last Friday in US drone strikes near Baghdad airport.…
Goa should see a new state BJP President by Sunday, the state unit’s returning officer for organisational elections, Govind Parvatkar, said on Friday. Even as former MLAs and current general secretaries Damodar Naik and Sadanand Shet Tanavade are tipped as possible successors to outgoing President Vinay Tendulkar, Parvatkar said that as per indications, the election of the next president will be unopposed. “As per my observation, I do not think there will be an election. It will be unopposed,” Parvatkar told a press conference on Friday. The new President will be unveiled at a meeting of party workers on Sunday…
There is likelihood of a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday notwithstanding the sharp verbal volleys they have exchanged over the CAA issue in recent times, sources said on Friday. If the meeting comes through on Saturday night, it would be the second face-to-face interaction between the two seasoned politicians after the Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee had called on Modi in New Delhi on September 18, a meeting that had also generated much controversy as it came against the backdrop of then state police Criminal Investigation Department…