Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wanted to visit New Delhi along with his trip to Pakistan this weekend but India has politely asked him to reschedule it, highly placed sources said on Wednesday. Wang is scheduled to visit Islamabad on September 7 amid the hue and cry raised by Pakistan over the Indian government’s decision to end special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August. After his visit to Islamabad, the Chinese Foreign Minister wanted to travel to New Delhi but India saw it as an attempt to hyphenate the India-Pakistan relationship and hence asked him to reschedule it, the…
Author: Our Correspondent
The Indian High Commission in London was once again attacked and vandalised by Pakistani protestors agitating against the scrapping of Article 370 and the restrictions imposed in Kashmir. Media reports in London said the police arrested four people in connection with the incident. A dagger was also recovered from one of the protesters, the police said. As per media reports, the Pakistanis and Kashmiris living in Britain had taken out a march on Tuesday to protest against the situation in Kashmir. The march started peacefully, but turned violent on reaching the Indian High Commission with the protesters pelting stones and…
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Tuesday arrested former Karnataka minister and senior Congress leader and troubleshooter D.K. Shivakumar in a money laundering case, while the party cried foul and accused the BJP of indulging in political vendetta. Shivakumar was arrested after questioning for the fourth time, a senior ED official told IANS. He will be presented at a city court where the ED is expected to seek a five-day remand. Soon after his arrest, he was taken for medical examination at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Following his arrest, many party supporters gathered outside the ED headquarters and raised…
India’s first moon lander Vikram is all set to land on the moon on September 7 with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) completing the second and final de-orbital operations successfully on Wednesday. According to the Indian space agency ISRO, Vikaram’s second de-orbital operations began at 3.42 a.m. using the on-board propulsion system and was completed in nine seconds. The orbit of Vikram Lander is 35 km x 101 km. With this operation the required orbit for the Vikram to commence it descent towards the surface of the Moon is achieved, ISRO said. According to the Indian space agency, Vikram is…
Noting that a section of the media especially in the US has peddled half-truths and incorrect information about the situation in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said that 91% of the Valley has been opened to normal traffic and people are freely talking to their relatives. “It is only 9% of the Kashmir Valley that has certain (traffic) restrictions. At the same time, 26,000 landlines have been opened up in Kashmir Valley. People can talk to their relatives, people have communication. There is no communication gap whatsoever between people…
The Jammu and Kashmir cricket team is set to have its camp in Baroda from Thursday as they prepare for this year’s domestic season. The move comes in the light of the developments in Srinagar which saw the players being asked to leave the Valley due to security reasons. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan who is now the mentor-cum-coach of the side confirmed the development. “By today all the boys have assembled in Jammu. There are 27 of them, half from Jammu and half from Kashmir. We had a meeting and decided we would give an advertisement on television, on…
In a major decision in the first meeting with a delegation from Jammu and Kashmir after removal of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday assured of providing Rs 2 lakh life insurance cover to each panch and sarpanch in the newly-created Union Territory. The Home Minister also assured the delegation of restoring communications in the region according to the situation and full statehood when normalcy returns. Shah met the delegation of panches and sarpanches around 1 p.m. at his North Block office, almost a month after the Centre scrapped the Constitution’s Article…
An alert has been sounded in Rajasthan after two suspected cases of the deadly Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo fever, were reported in Jodhpur. According to state Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma: “Two suspected patients of Congo fever have been found in Jodhpur and have been referred to a Ahmedabad hospital. Their samples have also been sent for thorough investigation and an alert has been issued by the Medical Department in the state.” “A letter has been issued to all health centres to remain alert about this. The medical officials have been asked to collect samples if…
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will remain in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) custody till September 5 despite the investigating agency informing the court that it does not want to question him further. Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Chidambaram, assured the court that they will not press for his interim bail plea in the trial court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the top court that the agency does not want further custodial interrogation of Chidambaram and the judiciary must allow the law to take its own course.…
Award-winning and internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdies new novel “Quichotte” is in the race to win this year’s 50,000 pound Booker Prize for Fiction. The news of the shortlist broke on Tuesday afternoon with an announcement from the organisers of one of the leading literary awards in the English-speaking world. “Quichotte” is published in India by Penguin Random House India, making it the only nominee by an Indian publisher in this year’s shortlist. This book is published under the Hamish Hamilton imprint in India, and was simultaneously released in the UK and India on August 29. Inspired by the classic…