LIVE! Pak trip like visiting home of 'own brother': Xi Jinping

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Sun, 19 April 2015

Pak trip like visiting home of 'own brother': Xi Jinping

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21:27 Pak trip like visiting home of 'own brother': Xi Jinping

President Xi Jinping today said his first trip to Pakistan is like visiting the home of his "own brother" as he vowed to firm up China's strategic ties with its all-weather friend by making progress on various fronts, including the $46 billion bilateral economic corridor.

"This will be my first trip to Pakistan, but I feel as if I am going to visit the home of my own brother," Xi said in an article for the Pakistani media ahead of his visit.

"I look forward to working with Pakistani leaders during the visit to explore the general framework for bilateral cooperation, make substantial progress in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and practical cooperation in other fields and push for the furtherance of bilateral ties at a higher level," he said in the signed article carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Pakistan is the first stop of Xi's first overseas trip this year.

French customs officers say they have seized more than 2 tons of cocaine aboard a sailboat that was falsely flying an American flag in the Caribbean.

The drugs, whose value is estimated at more than $105 million, are the biggest cocaine seizure ever carried out by French authorities, said Michael Lachaux, director of customs operations in Martinique.

Read this story HERE

Four associates of gangster Ravi Pujari have been arrested for allegedly making extortion calls to a businessman and builders, the police said.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Kailas Bheem Pradhan, 45, Kashinath Muniram Pashi alias Kashi Pashi, 49, Gaurav Yogendra Sharma, 34, and Hanuman Rajaram Mhatre, 50.

They said that, based on a tip-off, Pradhan, 45, who is a resident of Ambernath in the district, was the first to be arrested last week and it was his interrogation which had led to the arrests of the remaining three from different places in the district.

After two days of violent protests, Kashmir Valley today remained tense with stray incidents of stone-pelting in Budgam district over the killing of a teenage boy in police firing yesterday.

"There were minor incidents of stone-pelting in Narbal area in Budgam to protest yesterday's firing incident in which a boy was killed but no one was injured in the intermittent clashes through the day," a police official said.

Most of the shops in and around Lal Chowk in the city remained shut fearing law and order problems. Police said the situation across the rest of the Valley remained peaceful and security forces were keeping a close vigil.

An uneasy calm prevailed in the Valley as authorities placed Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and several other separatist leaders under house arrest to foil their plans for holding protests against the killing of 16-year-old Suhail Ahmad Sofi at Narbal in Budgam district in central Kashmir.

Leaders of Left parties today welcomed CPI-M Rajya Sabha Parliamentarian Sitaram Yechury's election as his party's General Secretary, hoping the move will help strengthen the Left movement in the country.

Terming Yechury as a 'dynamic' leader, they said his experience, both inside Parliament and outside it, will help the CPI-M implement party programme effectively and that the Left parties will be more active now. "I congratulate him for getting elected unanimously as the (general) secretary.

I know comrade Yechury for the last few decades and I hope under his leadership, the Left parties can work more unitedly.

"Yechury is a dynamic comrade, a good Parliamentarian. Naturally, the parties will become more active having joint activities and all that," CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said.

Islamic State militants have released a video purportedly showing the killing of up to 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.Footage shows one group of men being beheaded on a beach and another group being shot in the head in a desert.

The victims are believed to be members of the Ethiopian Church seized in Libya by IS-linked militants.The video is similar to previous ones posted by IS, including the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in February.

Read this story HERE

19:13 Khaps want strict law against female foeticide

The influential Khaps or caste councils from three states have vowed to work to end female foeticide and demanded a provision for 10-year jail to the guilty, arguing that if such strict law can be framed for cow slaughter why not for protecting girl child.

Breaking from tradition, two women were among those who presided over the largely male-dominated Mahapanchayat (grand assembly) of about 100 khaps from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi yesterday, which decided to promote the Narendra Modi government's flagship 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme.

The call was given from Haryana, which has the most skewed gender ratio in the country due to dwindling population of girls. Notably, the Union government's ambitious 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign to improve the child sex ratio was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Panipat in January this year.

"Like the cow protection Act, the Haryana government should also frame a law giving 10 years punishment for those caught in acts of female foeticide, besides hefty fines too should be imposed.

IAS and IPS officers will now need to take prior permission from the Union government before accepting gifts, including free transportation, boarding and lodging, worth more than Rs 5,000.

According to the recently amended all-India services rules, they also need to inform the government if they accept gifts of over Rs 25,000 from their relatives or friends.

No member of the service shall accept any gift without the sanction of the government if the value of the same exceeds Rs 5,000, the new rules say.

They may accept gifts from near relatives or personal friends with whom they have no official dealings on occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, funerals and religious functions when the making of gifts is in conformity with the prevailing religious and social practice but they have to make a report to the government if the value of such a gift exceeds Rs 25,000, the rules state.

A British Muslim couple along with their four young children have gone missing and are feared to be on their way to join Islamic State terrorists in Syria.

The family of six from Slough in the south-east England county of Berkshire were last seen on April 7 and were reported missing on April 16. Police have appealed for information for Asif Malik, 31, Sara Kiran, 29, their daughter Zoha, seven, and three sons Essa, four, Zakariya, two, and one-year-old Yhaya.

Thames Valley Police acting Deputy Chief Constable John Campbell said: "We are reaching out to Asif and Sara in the hope that they hear our messages, and we encourage them to make contact with us so we can return them safely to their families, who are extremely worried about them.

Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh today slammed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for "misleading" peasants at the Kisan Maha rally and made an appeal to the community to not get misguided by rumours spread against NDA government's land acquisition ordinance and other policies.

Addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in his native district here, the Home Minister said, "Rahul Gandhi (or Sonia Gandhi and his Congress party) holding a Kisan Maha rally will not help them in misleading farmers against the land acquisition policy."

"Modi-led NDA government is committed for improving the lives of the farmers, who have become hopeless because of the Congress rule and its faulty policies," he said.

In his over 30 minutes speech, speaking mostly in Bhojpuri, Singh said his government was making all efforts to save farmers from taking extreme steps like committing suicide for which the NDA government was framing up new policies which would completely be farmer friendly.

The AAP government today kicked off its first "participatory budget" exercise amidst much fanfare and enthusiasm at a function attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in his deputy Manish Sisodia's Patparganj constituency.

As the ruling party sought to take the government closer to the people, the event also witnessed an odd officer being threatened with action over grievances aired by the locals.

Top Delhi government officials, including Chief Secretary KK Sharma, DM (East) Kunal and the AAP MLAs of the 11 constituencies that are being covered at the launch of the exercise were present at the meeting organised for the residents of West Vinod Nagar's E-block.

Other senior AAP leaders, too, attended the meet, which was described by Kejriwal as the "Parliament of the public".

At least two women were killed and five others injured in an arson attack on a night club allegedly by a disgruntled customer in central China's Hunan province.

The attack took place at 'Night Shanghai' club in Shaodong County last night, killing two waitresses.

The fire was apparently set by Zhao Hu, 29, a local seeking vengeance after he believed he had been overcharged at the venue in January, the Shaodong police said today.

BSP supremo Mayawati today asked her party MPs and MLAs that instead of donating to the government, they should give as relief their one month salary directly to farmers affected by recent unseasonal rains and hailstorm in their respective constituencies.

"The farmers are going through a bad phase due to unexpected rain and hailstorm, but despite reports of suicides the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government were involved only in paperwork," Mayawati alleged in a statement here.

She directed the BSP MPs and MLAs that instead of donating their one month salary through government medium, they should provide the same directly to the families of such farmers as relief in their respective areas.

"The MPs and MLAs have been directed to distribute relief immediately so that farmers are not forced to commit suicide in lack of assistance by the Centre and the state government," she said.

An Egyptian court today sentenced 11 youths to death for their involvement in the deadliest sport- related incident in the soccer-crazy nation, the 2012 football riots in Port Said in which 74 fans were killed.

The sentencing was referred to the Grand Mufti -- the country's most senior religious authority who according to Egyptian law must review all death sentences although his decision is not binding.

The court fixed May 30 for the final verdict in the deadly riots that broke out following an Egyptian Premier League between Cairo's El-Ahly and home team Al-Masry in February, 2012.

Today's sentencing came following a retrial of 73 defendents after an appeals court rejected a lower court's verdict that sentenced 21 people to death for their involvement in the incident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all praise for Gen (retd) VK Singh, who has faced attack from a section of the media over his "presstitutes" remark, as he hit out at the media for not highlighting the "good works" of his government.

"I salute Gen (retd) VK Singh," Modi said as he hailed the "unprecedented" rescue mission led by the minister for evacuating Indians out of Yemen, for which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, too, came in for praise from the Prime Minister.

Modi was critical of the media for ignoring Singh's work at a time when newspapers worldwide highlighted the Indian rescue mission. He said that the Indian media took note of it, but due to other reasons -- a reference to the criticism of Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, for his use of the term "presstitutes".

16:00

Last week, 400 migrants were presumed dead in the sinking of another ship near the Libyan coast.

The deaths have raised calls for a more robust search and rescue of the seas between Libya and Europe amid a surge in migration between the Middle East and Africa toward Italy.

15:19

Italian ships, the Maltese navy and commercial vessels are all involved in the rescue operation in Libyan waters, 210 km off the coast of Lampedusa and 27 km from the Libyan coast.

The Times of Malta newspaper reported that the migrants fell overboard when they rushed to draw the attention of a passing merchant ship.

15:17 700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwreck

Up to 700 people are feared to have drowned when a fishing boat capsized off Libya, in what could prove to be the worst disaster yet involving migrants being smuggled to Europe across the Mediterranean.

Only 28 people survived the capsize, UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami told the Skytg24 news channel in Italy on Sunday. The survivors indicated there had been more than 700 on board, she said.

Read this story HERE

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra-starrer "Mary Kom", directed by Omung Kumar, has been named best film at the Stockholm International Film Festival Junior in Sweden.

The biopic, based on the life of Olympic medal-winning Indian boxer Mary Kom, was awarded the Bronze Horse award, the highest honour of the festival.

"'Mary Kom' was selected for the Stockholm International Film Festival Junior in Sweden, and we have won the best film award and been given the Bronze Horse award, the highest honour in this festival. The jury was made up of kids ranging from the age of nine to 17 years," Omung said of the win.

"Mary Kom" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and released on September 5 last year to positive reviews from both critics and audiences.

Some may say it is behaviour unbecoming of a prime minister. Others have applauded it.

Footage has emerged of the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, knocking back a large glass of beer in only seven seconds.It is certainly not something Abbott's political hero, Winston Churchill, was ever filmed doing.

But the incident is not a first in Australian politics - and is not all that unusual for Abbott.

Read this story HERE

The Supreme Court will hear on April 21 afresh the issue relating to the removal of special public prosecutor, who is arguing before Karnataka High Court the matter relating to the appeal of AIADMK chief Jayalalitha in the disproportionate assets case.

A new bench comprising justices Deepak Mishra, R K Aggarwal and P C Pant has been set up after another bench of justices M B Lokur and R Bhanumati gave split verdict on April 15. DMK leader K Anbazhagan had filed a petition seeking removal of the special public prosecutor from appearing in the appeal filed before the high court.

On October 17, the apex court had granted conditional bail to Jayalalithaa who was sent to jail by a trial court on September 27.

14:14 Burdwan blast suspect arrested in Jharkhand

A Burdwan blast suspect,who is a member of the banned Bangladesh-based terror out fitJamat-ul-Mujahideen, was arrested near Tilbitha Railway station in this district, the police said today.

Ibrahim Sheikh alias Lal Mohammand, who had come from Mushidabad in West Bengal, was arrested yesterday,Superintendent of Police Anup Birtheray told reporters.

A CID team from West Bengal would shortly reach here to interrogate him for his alleged link with the Burdwan blast in October last year, he said.

Opposition parties launched a quick attack on the Congress after's Rahul's speech at Ramlila grounds:

The nation has seen how many empty seats were there in that rally, said Nalin Kohli of the BJP after the event.

"Seems that Rahul Gandhi is searching for new adventure after his vacations, quipped Kumar Vishwas, of the AAP.

"The Congress should do some homework; the BJP govt is pro- farmer, we dont need a certificate from the Congress, said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Rahul Gandhi&Sonia Gandhi speech

Reacting strongly to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's speech at the kisan rally at Ramlila grounds in New Delhi, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Did the Congress introspect at all? And even if they did, they couldn't come up with a new speech?"

13:13

The new polit bureau of CPI-M has 16 members: Sitaram Yechury; Prakash Karat; S Ramachandran Pillai; Biman Basu; Manik Sarkar; Pinarayi Vijayan, B V Raghavulu; Kodiyeri Balakrishnan; M A Baby; Surjya Kanta Mishra; A K Padmanabhan; Brinda Karat; Mohammad Salim; Subhashini Ali Hannan Mollah; and G.Ramakrishnan.

13:09 It's official: Sitaram Yechury is new CPI-M general secretary

Just in: The Communist Party of India has elected Sitaram Yechury as the new general secretary.

Yechury is the fifth general secretary of the 50-year-old party.

He replaces Prakash Karat who has stepped down after three terms.

Image: Former CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, Manik Sarkar and Brinda Karat at the party's 21st National Congress in Visakhapatnam. Photograph: PTI Photo

13:01

Yechury's name was suggested by Karat and S R Pillai.

13:00

"The Central Committee unanimously chose Sitaram Yechury as our new general secretary," confirmed former general secretary Prakash Karat.

12:48 LIVE! Modi govt trying to salt the wounds: Sonia@kisan rally

She starts off, "We have come together today to tell the Modi government that this is enough, we won't let the farmers be ignored.

"Rights of industrialists have been secured, not yours, she thundered in halting Hindi, "Thats a big hit to your economical stature. The same PM who loudly said sabka saath sabka vikas, has totally abandoned the poor, farmers, labourers, " she added.

12:37

And now Sonia has taken the stage.

12:36

"He did that in Gujarat, takes away from farmers and labourers to construct gleaming buildings, gets on top of that to claim victory,' he said.

"The BJP did away with the consent clause, which enabled farmers to give consent before their land is taken away from them," he added.

12:35 PM wants to make you weak and grab your land: Rahul tells farmers

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "Insulting the nation abroad doesn't become the dignity of the position of a prime minister. Modi ji doesn't know the real strength of the nation.

"Talking about cleaning 'kachra' (trash) of the nation doesn't befit the PM. Let me tell you how Modiji won the election; he borrowed money from industrialists. Now he will grab your land and give it to them: Rahul G

12:19

Rahul has taken the stage now.

12:18

"Today when farmers go to sleep, they don't know what is going to happen when they wake up the next morning, he said.

"Whenever we could help the farmers, we did, he added.

12:17 Rahul makes his comeback speech at 'kisan rally', attacks NDA govt

"Farmers think that the the government has forgotten them. They are scared. They think the government only works for the rich," he starts off.

Farmers strengthen the nation, before the IT and the industrialists, They feed the nation: Rahul

12:16

"I welcome you all, thank you for coming in such large numbers and encouraging us," Singh said.

12:14

"Today, we have gathered here to oppose anti-farmer policies of the Modi government," he said.

12:11

And, in a rare moment, Manmohan Singh has taken the stage.

12:11 Rahul, Sonia arrive at Ramlila ground for 'kisan rally'

Congress president Sonia Gandhi along with her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi has arrived at the venue.

Earlier, senior Congress leaders such as former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Gulam Nabi Azad and former defence minister A K Antony also arrived at the rally venue.

12:10

And there was some commotion on stage as Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhry had a blackout. Rahul got up from his seat to help her. Then the security personnel escorted her off-stage.

11:41

He also hailed Union Minister V K Singh for successful evacuation of Indians from Yemen, saying he 'salutes' him for the unprecedented achievement.

11:40

Rahul has from his residence for the 'kisan rally' at Ramlila grounds.

11:40

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attack the opposition for trying to project the government as anti-poor on issue of land acquisition bill at the day-long workshop of BJP parliamentarians.

"Lies are being spread on land bill by 'perverted minds'. Some people have decided not to speak, see or hear anything good about our government," he said."

But those who want to hear and understand we have lot of things for them," he added.

11:37 Modi addresses BJP lawmakers at workshop on schemes for poor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing BJP parliamentarians today at a day-long workshop which aims to educate them on how to promote and help implement centrally-sponsored schemes for the poor.

The workshop coincides with a massive farmers' rally in the national capital that will be addressed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi against the government's land acquisition bill that his party dubs as 'anti-farmer'.

Congress MP Deepender Hooda on Sunday said Rahul has always championed the cause of farmers and always guided the party to fight for the rights of the poor.

"Rahul ji has always championed the cause of the farmers, and it was because of him, and on his behest, that this pro-farmer legislation was enacted in the first place in 2013, and has always guided the Congress to fight for the rights of the farmers and the poor. And his speech at the rally is much anticipated and is going to be very important," he told ANI.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi will address the rally at Ramlila grounds in Delhi today, which is expected to lampoon the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government over the controversial Land Acquisition Bill.

Farmers from across the nation, specifically from the northern parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have started arriving for the event and are expected to participate wholeheartedly in it.

The party has also launched a website called 'Zameen Waapsi ', which will aim at providing information on land acquisition.

At least 12 people were injured when a major fire broke out in an ONGC well near Olpad town in Surat district during a repair operation.

Four of the injured are in a serious condition, fire brigade officials said.The incident occurred when a blow-out preventer, which is installed on wells to prevent a fire, was being repaired at a well in OLPAD-31 in Ankleshwar basin.

Read the story HERE

10:40

An HERE is Sudhir Tailang's take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trips.

00:24 INS Tarkash returns to Mumbai after evacuation

Indian stealth frigate INS Tarkash, which participated in the Operation Rahat, returned here on Saturday.

The ship's crew along with that of INS Mumbai, which got in on April 16, was greeted by senior officers of the command.

The two warships had left Mumbai for Yemen on March 30.

INS Tarkash continued to escort passenger ships, which reached Djibouti on April 5. In a well coordinated operation, 441 people, including foreign nationals, women, elderly persons and children were evacuated, a statement said.

In all, these ships undertook a total of nine missions to various ports to evacuate over 3,000 persons including nearly 1,300 from over 30 other nations, from war torn country.

00:24 Army busts militant hideout in J-K

Army troops today busted a militant hideout in Reasi district in Jammu and Kahsmir and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition.

Acting on a tip off, troops of Samote-based Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, Territorial Army and J-K Police carried out search in Kalaban forests of Makhidhar belt in Chasana area and seized a cache of arms and ammunition, a defence spokesman said.

The cache included one AK 56 rifle, one AK 56 magazine, 60 rounds of ammunition of AK 56, 14 rounds of ammunition of PIKA and one Chinese hand grenade, he said.

The search party cordoned off the area after reaching the site and recovered the cache after a gruelling march for over seven hours in rugged mountainous terrain, he said.

Picture for representation only.

00:24 Top headlines in the last 24 hours

Kashmir protests turn violent; probe ordered after CRPF kills youth

475 evacuees from Yemen arrive in Kochi onboard 2 ships

As Kashmir burns, Hafiz Saeed cries 'Jihad'

Congress launches website to counter NDA's land bill

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