The Tripura government will increase the number of women police personnel to one-third of the total strength, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said on Monday.
“Currently, 13 percent of the total police constables and ten percent of the total police force are women. Our government’s target is to raise the percentage to 30,” Sarkar said at the passing out parade of 300 newly recruit women constables.
Masked Islamic State (IS) executioner, Jihadi John, is believed to have lived in a state of paranoia due to fear of MI5 spies and considered committing suicide, reveal emails from the IS militant.
According to the Daily Star, he wrote these mails before he went to Syria to become the infamous IS executioner.
Jihadi John whose real name is Mohammed Emwazi admitted in the emails that MI5 persecution drove him to consider suicide.
Jihad John wrote in the mail that he would have an overdose of pills some day so he can sleep forever.
He also described himself as a “dead man walking”.
Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for offending Islam in May last year, may now be handed down death penalty.
Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, said that judges in Saudi Arabia’s criminal court wanted him to undergo trial for apostasy again. She added that if found guilty, he may face a death sentence, reported The Independent.
Haidar said that she received the “dangerous information” from “official sources” inside the conservative kingdom.
Australia’s deputy prime minister has reportedly said that the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 “cannot go on forever,” adding that discussions are already underway between Australia, China and Malaysia to decide whether to call off the search operation within weeks.
The search team has not found any trace of the Boeing 777 aircraft, which disappeared a year ago this week along with 239 passengers and crew members. It has become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Iranian government has said that they can allow internet firms like Google to operate in the country if they accept their “cultural rules”.
According to the Guardian, Iran’s deputy telecommunications and information technology minister Nasrollah Jahangard said that the country is not opposed to any entities operating in the global market that wish to offer their services in the country.
He said that they are ready to negotiate with Google or any other company and provide them facilities to enable them to provide services in Iran.
A demand for relieving Health Minister JP Nadda from his charge pending a probe into his alleged interference in working of the vigilance administration of AIIMS was made in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Raising the issue during zero hour, TK Rangarajan (CPI-M) said Nadda, as an MP between May 23, 2013 and 2014, had sought dismantling of the vigilance section of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that was probing corruption in the purchase of machinery and medicines.
Roald Dahl’s ‘ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ has topped the list of kids’ all-time favourite book.
Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice In Wonderland’ was the runner-up in the research conducted by Sainsbury’s to -celebrate World Book Day, the Daily Express reported.
CS Lewis’s ‘The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe’ came third in the list of 50 books, while ‘Winnie The Pooh’ and ‘Black Beauty’ rounded off the top five.
A year after Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 went missing along with 239 passengers and crew members while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia have decided to put to trial a new system for tracking planes.
The new system will track a plane’s location every 15 minutes, an increase over the current 30 to 40 minutes, reported the BBC.
The report said that it will use a system that is already installed on most long-haul jets.
It is expected to increase the tracking rate to five minutes or less if there is any deviation from a plane’s expected route.
Newly appointed Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken on Monday said that he would be advising Arvind Kejriwal on policy making during his tenure as Delhi chief minister as he was a more experienced politician than the latter.
“Kejriwal when he was taking oath, he himself had said that he would be seeking advice from me on policy matters because of my experience on policy making. I am willing to advise him on any of these policy matters wherever he wants,” Maken said.
India has named Indian Foreign Service officer Arun Singh as its next Ambassador to the United States.
Singh, who is currently the envoy to France, will be replacing S Jaishankar, who was named Foreign Secretary in January.
The 1979-batch IFS officer, however, will begin duties only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming trip to Paris, which is scheduled for April this year.
According to reports, Indian Ambassador to Bahrain Mohan Kumar will take over from Singh’s responsibilities in France. (ANI)
The Government on Monday will introduce six bills to replace a set of six Ordinances on different issues, in the Lok Sabha.
The Coal Bill, the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill and the Andhra Pradesh re-organisation Amendment Bill will be placed later in the day, while the Insurance Bill will be placed on March 3.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2015 and the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Amendment Bill, are also scheduled for introduction in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Bill to replace the land acquisition ordinance was introduced here last week. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday will meet Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn in the national capital.
Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin took to twitter to share the information.
“India-Luxembourg Foreign Minister s to meet today. Minister @Sushma Swaraj to discuss higher level of investments with Jean Asselborn,” he posted.
The Congress party on Monday appointed its chief ministerial candidate for the recently held assembly elections in the national capital as the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president.
“Congress President Sonia Gandhi has appointed Ajay Maken as the new president of the DPCC. Maken will take charge immediately and work will start very soon under his leadership,” Senior leader PC Chacko told ANI.
Meanwhile, former union minister Kamal Nath said that the appointment of Maken was a ‘fresh start’ for the grand old party.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Monday condemned Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s remark crediting Pakistan for peaceful polls in the state and said that the coalition government would not continue for long as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have different thinking and policies.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the Election commission has played a prominent role in free and fair polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and added that it is not correct to give credit to somebody else for it.
The members of the opposition staged a walk out from the Lok Sabha on Monday following uproar over Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s remark crediting Pakistan and Hurriyat for peaceful elections in the state.
The opposition walk out took place minutes after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh put forward the government’s views in this regard.
Despite their impressive run in the Cricket World Cup so far, India still are bookmakers’ fourth favourite to win the title in March.
India have defeated Pakistan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their first three Pool B encounters in the World Cup and currently sit at the top of their group with 6 points. However, they remain the bookies’ fourth favourite to defend their title.
Meanwhile, despite their loss to New Zealand at Eden Park on Saturday, Australia still remain clear bookmakers’ favourites to win the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Iraq’s state TV said on Monday that government forces backed by allied Shia and Sunni fighters have launched a military operation to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit from the Islamic State terrorist group.
Al-Iraqiya television said the forces were attacking the city of Tikrit, backed by artillery and airstrikes by Iraqi fighter jets.
It said the IS fighters were dislodged from some areas outside the city, Al Jazeera reported.
Tikrit, some 130 km north of Baghdad, fell into IS hands last year along with the country’s second largest city of Mosul.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday dissociated the government and the BJP from the remarks of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who gave credit to militants and Pakistan for the smooth conduct of assembly elections in the state.
The Congress and some other opposition parties staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha demanding a resolution on the issue.
Raising the matter in the Lok Sabha after the question hour, Congress member K.C. Venugopal condemned Sayeed’s remarks. The opposition members also demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The prime accused in the murder in Dhaka last week of writer-blogger Avijit Roy has been arrested by the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) of Bangladesh, media reported on Monday.
Farabi Shafiur Rahman was earlier also arrested for inciting attacks on bloggers on the social media after blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider’s murder in 2013, bdnews24.com reported on Monday.
He had then secured bail from the Dhaka High Court.
Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins is in doubt for Wednesday’s World Cup clash against Afghanistan here after he picked up a side strain during his last match against New Zealand.
Cummins scored seven not out off 30 balls and picked up 2-38 from 6.1 overs in Saturday’s one-wicket loss to New Zealand in Auckland.
The 21-year-old fast bowler will be monitored by Australia’s medical staff this week with his availability for Wednesday’s clash against Afghanistan and Sunday’s crucial showdown with Sri Lanka to be confirmed, reports cricket.com.au.
North Korea fired short-range missiles into its eastern waters on Monday morning and denounced as “intolerable moves of aggression” the ongoing joint annual military drills between South Korea and the US.
Responding to the drills, North Korea fired two short-range missiles into its eastern waters on Monday morning when South Korea and the US kicked off the joint war games code-named “Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle”, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sent notice to the federal and district magistrates seeking their replies on the detention order of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, an alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack.
During Monday’s hearing, Lakhvi’s counsel Advocate Rizwan Abbasi contended that it was the third time his client had been issued with the detention orders, Dawn reported.
The court sought replies from the district and federal magistrates and adjourned the hearing to March 5.
The body of a young man was found hanging early on Monday in the compartment of a passenger train, police said. The body of the deceased was discovered on a train plying between Saharnpur and Moradabad.
A Government Railway Police (GRP) officer told IANS that a man had boarded the train at Saharanpur, got into the brake van (luggage carrying coach) and bolted it from inside. Some co-passengers tried to get him to open the door, but to no avail.
Cats may prefer to use their eyes rather than follow their nose when it comes to finding the location of food, according to new research by leading animal behaviourists.
Felines have a tremendous sense of smell and vision, but the new study by researchers at the University of Lincoln, UK, has for the first time investigated which sense they prefer to use under test conditions – and suggested sight may be more important than smell.
Those who are not familiar with Jawaharlal University (JNU) and feel it is only a leftist institution, here comes a book that demystifies the myth and traces the origins of one of the country’s prominent educational institutes.
The book, titled “JNU: The Making of a University” (Harper Collins, pp 459, Rs 799) launched recently by JNU academic Rakesh Batabyal, is an attempt to portray the institution beyond being perceived as a politically influential university