10:59 Have swallowed pain of coalition govt: Kumaraswamy breaks down:
Indications that all may not be well between JD-S and Congress despite showing BJP the door in Karnataka, an emotional H D Kumaraswamy broke down at a public event as he highlighted pains of leading a coalition government.
Without giving out details of possible differences with Congress, Kumaraswamy said that he cannot accept bouquets and garlands for becoming CM of the state because he is unhappy. “While you may be happy thinking that your Anna or Thamma has become the chief minister, let me tell you that Im not. I know the pain of coalition government. I became Vishkanth and swallowed pain of this government,” he said, wiping tears from his face.
Kumaraswamy had taken oath as the state CM on May 23 after a bitter battle for power in Karnataka. His party had emerged third — behind the BJP and Congress — but when BS Yeddyurappa quit just before a show of strength on the floor of the assembly, Kumaraswamy took the mantle with support from Congress. Things have not been too well since.
While reports of rift have been aplenty, Kumaraswamy himself admitted last month that JD-S and Congress have differences over presenting the state budget. “Some have suggested that let the budget be presented after the parliament election, so there are issues,” he had said while also asking Congress president Rahul Gandhi to intervene in the matter.
Kumaraswamy had previously also said that he is at the mercy of Congress. “The people of the state rejected me and our party. I had sought an absolute majority. Today, I am at the mercy of the Congress. I am not under the pressure of the 6.5 crore people of the state,” he had said before clarifying that he meant no disrespect to people of the state.
10:50 Mumbai may face highest tide of the season today, BMC on alert:
Mumbai is likely to face the highest tide of the season at 4.97 metres on Sunday at 1.49 pm. It is likely to be coupled with heavy rains, raising fears of waterlogging and flooding in low-lying parts of the city.
In view of the forecast, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has put its officials on alert. The BMC closes the flood gates to prevent seawater from entering the city during high tides. However, rainwater also gets stuck as it has no way of getting out adding to the problems of waterlogging.
As per a report in the DNA, the BMC has for the first time identified seven days when there will be neap tides when the disaster management team will be put on high alert. The seven neap tide days are June 7, July 7, August 19 and 20, September 17, 18 and 19.
Neap tide days are when the difference between the high tide and low tide is very less and the Arabian Sea’s water level is above the city’s storm water drains. This rain water does not flush out in to the sea, thereby flooding the city.
As per the BMC’s report on August 29 deluge last year, the neap tide was the only reason for the severe flooding, which halted the city for almost two days, claimed 14 lives and another 12 were missing. The rain water receded only the next morning. On these seven days, BMC’s disaster management has informed all agencies like traffic police, fire brigade, BEST, etc, to be on high alert.
10:20 Trump says will run for re-election in 2020, discussed Brexit with UK’s Queen:
US President Donald Trump said he intends to run for re-election in 2020 because everybody wants me to and there are no Democratic candidates who could defeat him.
Asked by British journalist Piers Morgan in an interviewwhether he was going to run in 2020, Trump was quoted by the Mail on Sunday as saying: Well I fully intend to. It seems like everybody wants me to.
Trump said he did not see any Democrat who could beat him: I dont see anybody. I know them all and I dont see anybody.
Before leaving Britain for a summit in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump breached British royal protocol by publicly disclosing the details of a conversation he had with Queen Elizabeth about the complexities of Brexit.
When asked if he discussed Brexit with the monarch when they met for tea at Windsor Castle on Friday, Trump said:
I did. She said its a very – and shes right – its a very complex problem, I think nobody had any idea how complex that was going to be… Everyone thought it was going to be Oh its simple, we join or dont join, or lets see what happens.
Speaking of the 92-year-old queen, Trump was quoted as saying: She is an incredible woman, she is so sharp, she is so beautiful, when I say beautiful – inside and out. That is a beautiful woman.
Asked if Trump felt the queen had liked him, he said: Well I dont want to speak for her, but I can tell you I liked her. So usually that helps. But I liked her a lot.
Just very elegant. And very beautiful. It was really something special, Trump said of the meeting. She is so sharp, so wise, so beautiful. Up close, you see shes so beautiful. Shes a very special person.
09:34 Cops saving accused cow vigilantes at behest of Yogi govt: Hapur lynching survivor:
The police are trying to weaken the Hapur lynching case at the behest of the BJP and the Yogi Adityanath government, said the witness and survivor of the June 18 murder allegedly by cow vigilantes after he was discharged from a hospital on Saturday.
Samiyuddin also sent his first statement detailing about the incident to IG Meerut Range Ram Kumar, expressing his distrust on local police and asking for a judicial investigation into the murder of cattle trader Qasim in Hapur district.
On the fateful day, as he intervened to save Qasim, Samiyuddin was thrashed and is yet to recover from several injuries including fractures of both arms, right leg and ribs.
Samiyuddin recalled how he was mercilessly beaten up by the group that lynched Qasim at Bajhera village in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh, 75 km east of New Delhi.
09:05 2 BSF jawans killed in encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh:
Two Border Security Force jawans were killed and another was injured in a gunbattle with Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district today, police said.
The gunfight took place in a forest near Mahla camp of BSF under Partapaur police station limits when a team of BSF’s 114th battalion was returning after carrying out an anti-Maoist operation, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operations) Sundarraj P said.
When the patrolling team was advancing through forest of Barkot village, located around 250 km from the state capital Raipur, it came under heavy fire from a group of Naxals leading to the gun-battle between the two sides, he said.
After a brief exchange of fire, the ultras fled into core forest, he said.
Two constables identified as Lokender Singh and Mukdhiyar Singh, belonging to Rajasthan and Punjab respectively, were killed while another constable, Sandeep Dey, sustained injuries in the gunfight, he said.
Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the bodies of the deceased were brought to the headquarter of BSF’s 114 battalion in Pakhanjore, he said.
The injured jawan was being airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, the DIG said.
On July 9, two BSF jawans, belonging to the 121st battalion, were killed when Naxals had triggered an IED blast while they were on a bike patrol in the Chhotebethiya area of Kanker.
— PTI
08:47 Cops parade Bhopal hostage crisis accused, women hit him with slippers:
Police paraded a man through the area in Bhopal where he had held a woman captive at gunpoint for more than 12 hours demanding that she marry him, as women bystanders angry over the hostage crisis assaulted him with slippers.
Rohit Singh, 30, on Friday, barged into the fifth-floor apartment of the 26-year-old woman in Misrod area of Bhopal. He had held the woman, a professional model, hostage at gunpoint. She was rescued by the police 12 hours later.
Today, the woman told reporters that she did not want to marry the man and urged authorities to put him in jail fearing he would again attempt to harm her.
Misrod Police Inspector Sanjeev Chouse said that Singh was presented before the court of judicial magistrate Ashish Parsai, who remanded him to one-day police custody.
Before being produced in the court, Singh was paraded in Misrod area, where the hostage crisis took place, Chouse said.
Witnesses said Singh was also assaulted by women as he crossed the area under police custody.
Chouse said Singh, who claims to be an assistant casting director, has been charged with attempt to murder and other offences under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The woman is undergoing treatment at a hospital for injuries suffered during the crisis. She told reporters that she wanted him to be given the death penalty. “Rohit should be hanged,” she told reporters.
— PTI
08:30 Maryam Nawaz issues statement refusing ‘better facilities’ in jail:
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam, who has been sentenced to jail along with father in connection with Avenfield property case, has refused to apply for better facilities in jail.
The development comes a day after the father-daughter duo was arrested. In her, statement she said that she refused the better facilities offered by the superintendent of the jail by her own will.
Maryam is presently lodged in Adiala Jail in Rawlpindi.
According to earlier reports, Nawaz Sharif and his daughter were being given ‘B’ class facilities inside the jail which include permission to get home-cooked food, attached washrooms, bed, mattress, table and chair, a room cooler, a 21-inch television. They will also be allowed to meet each other.
As per the rules, Class ‘B’ consists of prisoners who by social status, education or habit of life have been accustomed to a superior mode of living. Habitual prisoners can be included in this class by order of the government, Geo News, a news channel from Pakistan, said in a report.
The former PM and his daughter spent their first night inside the prison on Friday after officials of the National Accountability Bureau took them into custody, immediately after they landed at the Lahore airport from London.
After being taken into custody on Friday, they were flown to Islamabad on a special aircraft and then taken to the Adiala Jail in separate armoured personnel carriers escorted by police convoys.
Source: Rediff