In the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots and the jailing of Rajya Sabha member Rashid Masood for graft, the Congress is faced with a double whammy in western Uttar Pradesh. Party leaders admit that its equation with the Rashtriya lok Dal (RLD) hangs in “delicate and uneasy balance” as the alliance partner too seems to have lost favour among the Jats, a crucial votebank in the area.
Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad’s lawyer Thursday pleaded for a lighter sentence as he ended arguments in a special CBI court here Thursday in the fodder scam.
The lawyer said in the court of Pravas Kumar Singh that the RJD leader should get minimum punishment as he was “a respectable person” and held a “high position in society”.
Lalu Prasad, the lawyer added, also suffered from many diseases, was 67 years old and was otherwise a law abiding citizen.
RJD today alleged a political conspiracy by BJP and JD-U behind the sentencing of Lalu Prasad but ruled out the possibility of a change in party leadership, saying its chief will be out on bail soon.
At least 16 people were killed today when a chartered plane plunged to the ground and burst into flames shortly after taking off from the airport in the Nigerian port city of Lagos.
The Associated Airlines plane took off at about O9:30 (local time) from the domestic terminal at Lagos’s Murtala Mohammed International Airport with 13 passengers and seven crew on board.
At least 14 people died on the plane and six others were injured after the aircraft nosedived into the ground near an aviation fuel depot, Joe Obi, the spokesman of the country’s aviation ministry, said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tonight dubbed the Union Cabinet’s approval for the creation of Telangana, as a “political” and an “election decision”.
“Five years ago, at the time of last general election, creation of a new state of Telangana was conceived,” Banerjee wrote on her Facebook wall.
“Now, after 5 years, just when another general election is knocking the door, decision on a separate Telangana state has been taken. It is only a political decision and an election decision,” Banerjee wrote.
The Obama administration said today it would support tougher economic pressure on Iran if the Islamic republic doesn’t begin slowing the pace of its uranium enrichment activity and opening its stockpiles of nuclear material to greater inspection, and reassured its critics that the US would not be played for “suckers” by the moderate tone of Iran’s new leader.
Three hundred people were feared dead today after a boat with up to 500 African asylum seekers caught fire and sank off Italian shores in the worst recent refugee disaster in the Mediterranean.
“There are 93 victims, including three children and two pregnant women,” said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who flew to the remote island of Lampedusa near where the tragedy happened.
Rescue divers later said they had identified at least 40 more bodies in and around the sunken wreck at a depth of around 40 metres, just a few hundred metres from the shore.
A member of al-Qaida who allegedly met with Osama bin Laden in 2001 has been extradited to the United States to face charges that he conspired to carry out a suicide bomb attack against Americans in Europe.
Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian national, was arrested in Belgium on September 13, 2001, two days after the September 11 attacks in the US.
He has spent the past 12 years in custody in Belgium, where he served time on Belgian charges.
The US government has dropped its opposition to releasing a Guantanamo Bay prisoner with severe mental and physical illnesses, apparently conceding the argument that he is far too sick to keep locked up at the US base in Cuba.
In court papers filed late Wednesday, lawyers for the Justice Department said the government would not object to a judge issuing a release order for Ibrahim Idris. The native of Sudan has been held for more than 11 years as an enemy combatant despite being diagnosed as mentally ill soon after his arrival at Guantanamo.
The State Department says all non-emergency workers who were ordered out of the US Embassy in Beirut last month are being allowed to return to their jobs.
The department told all non-essential US personnel to leave Lebanon on September 6 because of fears that an American-led strike on neighbouring Syria would unleash more bloodshed in the already fragile nation.
The Obama administration threatened to launch punitive missile strikes against Syria over an August 21 chemical weapons attack, prompting a flurry of diplomatic efforts to forestall a strike.
Scores of pro-united Andhra activists, including TDP Rajya Sabha MP CM Ramesh, held a protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence here this evening against the move to create a separate Telangana state.
The demonstration came ahead of the meeting of the Union Cabinet where UPA ministers approved the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
“For 65 days now in the Seemandhra areas, a total of 10 lakh employees, including teachers, have been taking to the roads (in protest).
HRD Minister Pallam Raju today offered to resign from the Council of Ministers protesting the Union Cabinet’s approval to the creation of a separate Telangana state.
Sources close to Raju said he made the offer to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who, however, asked him to continue.
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should explain to the people of the country his recent talks with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York even after Pakistani infiltration across the LoC.
“The Prime Minister should explain to the people of the country when there is tension at the LoC, Pak infiltrators are repeatedly crossing the border and killing our jawans, still he goes and talks with Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and even after that incursions are taking place,” Naidu said.
BJP on Thursday alleged the government is trying to spread disinformation that the opposition had initially supported the Bill on convicted lawmakers but did a volte face later and insisted that it has been against the move from the beginning.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said in an article posted on BJP’s website that the party is constrained to clear the air as UPA ministers are “misleading” the people.
The union home ministry has asked the states to remain alert and tighten security in sensitive places to foil any attempt to disturb peace during the forthcoming festival season, official sources said.
They said the ministry has sent advisory saying that terrorists may try to carry out attacks and all efforts should be made to prevent any such effort.
The advisory said that all efforts had to be made ensure communal harmony during the festivals and adequate security forces should be deployed at places where there was possibility of communal tension.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Thursday approved the agreement between Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways for a proposed 24 percent stake sale in the Indian passenger carrier.
“Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today (Thursday) gave its approval to the proposal of Etihad Airways for subscribing 2,72,63,372 equity shares of Jet Airways,” the CCEA said in a statement.
“The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has recommended the proposal. The approval would result in foreign investment amounting to Rs.2,057.66 crore in the country.”
Singer Demi Lovato says that more talented contestants come for US singing reality show “The X Factor” when judge Simon Cowell is not there.
Cowell, who shares the judging panel with Lovato, Paulina Rubio and Kelly Rowland, was at the receiving end of the comment from the singer when he turned up late for one of the auditions.
Incidentally, a lot of good contestants came during his absence on “The X Factor”, which airs on channel BIG CBS LOVE.
The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has lifted the one-match ban against Ukrainian fans for racist crowd behaviour, an official of Ukraine’s Football Federation (FFU) said Thursday.
“The sanctions are not removed while the FIFA is considering an appeal by the FFU against the charges,” Xinhua reported quoting Hryhory Surkis, honorary president of the FFU, as saying.
Television presenter Khloe Kardashian’s husband Lamar Odom reportedly wants to treat his drug addiction problem himself instead of getting admitted to a rehabilitation centre.
Lamar and Khloe’s marriage hit a rough patch after the news of his drug use was revealed.
Lamar, 33, is a big believer in self-healing and he aspires to get through this difficult time with sheer willpower as he has managed to do earlier, reports tmz.com.
The basketball player, who has been married to Khloe for four years, is said to be clean from past five days. He believes he can continue this.
At least 15 people lost their lives Thursday when a chartered aircraft crashed minutes after taking off from the Murtala Muhammad International Airport here, Nigerian authorities said.
A statement from Nigeria’s aviation ministry said that 27 people were on board the crashed aircraft, Xinhua reported.
“An Embraer aircraft operated by Associated Airlines with Reg No SCD 361 en route Akure from MMA, Lagos, crashed shortly after take-off at about 9.30 a.m. local time. The plane had 20 passengers and seven crew members on board,” the ministry said.
Pakistan’s top security adviser Thursday defended the government’s policy to initiate dialogue with the Taliban for peace, Xinhua reported.
The comments came hours after a group of Taliban suicide bombers attacked a rival commander in a country’s tribal region for his quest for peace and killed 15 people.
The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to begin talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan following the last month’s parliamentary leaders’ call for dialogue.
Several gunshots were fired outside the US Capitol Thursday afternoon, triggering a security lockdown of the complex, police said.
The US Capitol Police confirmed the shooting on Capitol Hill in a bulletin, and required staff in all Senate Office buildings to immediately shelter in place and stay away from external doors and windows, Xinhua reported.
The pedestrian walkway before the White House was also quickly locked down after the incident was reported.
Singer Taylor Swift and actress Kelly Osbourne recently enjoyed baking chocolate cookies together along with another friend Claire Winter.
The trio was so excited that they even posted their pictures online to update fans about their culinary skills. They took to image sharing site Instagram so share the photographs, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
Osbourne even complimented Swift’s cooking skills as she captioned the image: “Girls night baking with Taylor swift. You guys have no idea how good Taylor is at cooking! Shocked.”
Five people, including an old woman, have been killed in communal violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state over the last three days with some houses burnt down, state radio confirmed in a night broadcast Thursday.
Myanmar’s government Wednesday said a verbal dispute among local people over a car parking space sparked the riot Sunday night in Rakhine’s Thandwe town, Xinhua reported.
The government urged prompt action to be taken against the rioters, calling on people to cooperate for efforts to avoid recurrence of conflicts and rebuild the riot-torn houses.
Pakistani troops Thursday again violated the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, firing on Indian posts in Poonch district, a defence official said. No casualties were reported in the exchange of fire lasting around 20 minutes.
“Pakistani troops opened fire with small arms and automatic weapons on Indian posts in Krishnaghati sector of Poonch at around 6.30 p.m. Indian troops retaliated with similar calibre weapons. Exchange of fire continued till around 6.50 p.m.,” said defence spokesman, Capt. S.N. Acharya.
No casualties or damage was reported, he said.