13:27 Ahead of monsoon session, LS Speaker to meet all party leaders :
Ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will hold discussions with leaders of various political parties at a dinner meeting tomorrow.
The monsoon session of Parliament will start on July 18.
According to the Lok Sabha secretariat, the speaker will seek the support of the parties in ensuring smooth functioning of the session and passage of various pending bills.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to attend the dinner though he will not participate in the meeting.
The meeting will take place in the Parliament Library Building and will be preceded by another meeting of the government with opposition parties.
Opposition parties will meet today to formulate a joint strategy to corner the government on various issues during the session. Topmost on the agenda will be to finalise a joint candidate for the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman’s post which fell vacant after the end of the term of P J Kurien from the Congress on July 1.
Leaders from the Congress and various other parties will meet this evening in the office of the Leader of the the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad in Parliament House. — PTI
13:20 Ensure passage of women’s reservation bill in Parl: Rahul to PM:
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking his government to take up the long-pending women’s reservation bill in the upcoming monsoon session of the Parliament.
“I write to you to request your support to ensure the passage of the women’s reservation bill in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament,” he said in the letter.
According to sources, Rahul has told the PM that his party would support the bill in the House.
The letter comes amid recent controversy over Modi’s allegation that Rahul has claimed the Congress is a party of Muslim men.
In a rally in Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi on July 14 had said, “I have read in a newspaper that Congress president has said that Congress is a party of Muslims. I am not surprised as when Manmohan Singh was PM, he had said that Muslims have the first right over natural resources.”
“But I want to ask the Congress whether it is a party of Muslim men alone,” he added.
13:01 Convicted Sharif family file appeal against Avenfield verdict :
Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law today filed an appeal in the Islamabad high court against the verdict in one of the corruption cases and seeking their release on bail, according to media reports.
Sharif, 68, and his daughter Maryam, 44, were arrested in Lahore on Friday on their arrival from London after an accountability court found them guilty on July 6 over his family’s ownership of four luxury flats in London.
The appeal highlighted the legal flaws in the Avenfield verdict and pleaded to nullify the Islamabad Accountability Court’s verdict. Moreover, it (the appeal) further sought the release of three convicts on bail, The Express Tribune reported.
A appeal was also filed against conducting the proceedings of the remaining two corruption cases within the Adiala jail premises, it added.
A separate appeal was filed to request the transfer of the case to another accountability court as the defence counsel argued that Judge Mohammad Bashir of the accountability court had already made public his opinion on multiple aspects of the case. The same appeal had been filed earlier and were instructed by the court to pursue the matter in the relevant high court.
The Islamabad Accountability Court had sentenced Sharif to a total of 11 years in prison and imposed a fine of 8 million pounds (USD 10 million) in the corruption case. His daughter Maryam was sentenced to eight years in prison along with a 2 million pound (USD 2.6 million) fine.
In addition, Sharif’s son-in-law Captain (retired) Safdar was given a one-year sentence without any fine.
Maryam’s legal counsel Amjad Pervaiz stated that the accountability court’s verdict in the Avenfield case was not in compliance with the law. — PTI
12:43 June wholesale inflation surges to 5.77% against 4.43% in May:
Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to 5.77 per cent in June on increasing prices of vegetables and fuel items.
The Wholesale Price Index based inflation stood at 4.43 per cent in May and 0.90 per cent in June last year.
According to the government data released today, inflation in food articles stood at 1.80 per cent in June 2018, as against 1.60 per cent in the preceding month.
Inflation in vegetables jumped to 8.12 per cent in June, from 2.51 per cent in the previous month.
Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ basket too rose sharply to 16.18 per cent in June from 11.22 per cent in May as prices of domestic fuel increased during the month in line with rising global crude oil rates.
Potato inflation was at a peak of 99.02 per cent, against 81.93 per cent in May. Price rise in onion was 18.25 per cent during June, as against 13.20 per cent in the preceding month.
Deflation continued in pulses at 20.23 per cent in June.
The WPI inflation for April was revised upwards to 3.62 per cent from the provisional estimate of 3.18 per cent.
Data released last week showed retail inflation scaled a 5-month high of 5 per cent in June on costlier fuel. RBI mainly takes into account retail inflation data while formulating monetary policy.
Rising inflation affirms RBI’s forecast. The apex bank has revised upwards its retail inflation projection for October-March to 4.7 per cent from 4.4 per cent earlier.
In its second monetary policy review for the fiscal, the Reserve Bank last month hiked interest rate by 0.25 per cent — the first hike in more than four years — due to growing concerns about inflation stoked by rising global crude oil prices as well as domestic price increases.
The price of Indian basket of crude surged from USD 66 a barrel in April to around USD 74 currently.
The next meeting of the RBI’s interest rate fixing panel is from July 30 to August 1. — PTI
12:24 Pak poll: Terrorist Hafiz Saeed campaigns while Nawaz sits behind bars:
As former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif sits behind bars, Mumbai terror attack mastermind and terror outift Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Saeed openly campaigns for the country’s forthcoming general elections.
Saeed inaugurated several offices in Lahore and canvassed for the candidates of Milli Muslim League contesting the elections, which are scheduled for July 25.
On his arrival at Iqbal Town in a huge caravan comprising motorcycles, jeeps and trucks, he received a rousing welcome from the people who showered rose petals on him.
Surprisingly, while Sharif and his daughter, Mariam, have been sent to jail on corruption charges, a designated terrorist, Saeed, is not only free but actively seeks votes for the elections while targeting India and the United States.
Saeed’s son, son-in-law and 13 women are among 265 Jamaat-ud-Dawa candidates contesting on Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek platform on national and provincial assemblies seats across Pakistan.
Saeed, who also carries a bounty of USD 10 million on his head for his role in terror activities is not contesting the election.
While addressing his supporters, Saeed praised the audience for their support to the MML.
He said, “The MML will make Pakistan country of Allama Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam Mohd Ali Jinnah. This black chapter will be coming to an end now and world will see new enlightened chapter.” — ANI
12:12 SC seeks Centre’s reply on Shia Waqf Board’s plea against ‘unIslamic’ flags:
The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to respond to the Shia Waqf Board chairman’s plea seeking a ban on hoisting green flags with a crescent and a star at buildings and religious places across the country.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked the counsel for Shia Waqf Board chairman Syed Waseem Rizvi to serve a copy of the petition to Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to enable him file a reply on behalf of the Centre.
Rizvi, in his plea, has claimed that green flags with a crescent and a star are “un-Islamic” and resemble the flag of a Pakistani political party.
He also claimed in his plea that during his visit to Mumbai and other places in the country, he saw flags on several buildings and religious structures, allegedly causing tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
The plea alleged that the flags resembled the flags of the Pakistan Muslim League, which belongs to an “enemy country”.
It claimed that the crescent star flags in green owe their origin to the erstwhile political party, Muslim League, founded by Nawaz Waqar Ul-Malik and Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 1906. In the present day, it was being used by Indian Muslims who were treating it as an Islamic flag, it added.
Such flags are being hoisted in Muslim-dominated areas with “utmost impunity”, the plea said, claiming that the crescent and star in a green backdrop have never been part of any Islamic practice and do not have any role or significance in Islam. — PTI
11:56 Sacred Games row: Actors cannot be held liable for the dialogues, says HC:
The Delhi high court today said that actors cannot be held liable for the dialogues while hearing a plea seeking to remove certain scenes from the Netflix series ‘Sacred Games’
The court said that all eight episodes of the series have already been aired and nothing new will be aired.
The HC will now hear the matter on Thursday.
The plea was filed in the high court seeking removal of certain scenes from the series, claiming that some of its content was derogatory to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Also, a police complaint has been filed by a Congress activist in Kolkata against the producers of the web series and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui over the issue.
Siddiqui, online platform Netflix and Sacred Games producers are ‘jointly responsible’ for abusing Rajiv Gandhi on the show, Congress activist Rajeev Sinha has alleged in his complaint, filed in the Girish Park Police Station in north Kolkata.
11:49 Blocking milk supply in Mumbai: Kisan leader served notice: The Mumbai police on Monday served a notice on Ajit Navle, secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, to neither organise nor participate in any protest supporting the demands of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathna.
Swabhimani Shetkari Sangtana is a Kolhapur-based farmers’ organisation that has demanded a price hike for milk farmers and has threatened to block milk supply in Mumbai.
Navle has been served a notice under Section 149 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in the wake of protests against milk supply to Mumbai and other cities
In case of any protests, Navle will be held responsible and detained by the police.
Earlier, in March, a protest by the All India Kisan Sabha had around 30,000 farmers walking with blistered feet for about 180 km from Nashik to Mumbai to demand a loan waiver.
11:18 BJP should name Vijay Mallya as its brand ambassador: Shiv Sena:
Taking a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jual Oram for calling fugitive Vijay Mallya as ‘smart’, Shiv Sena on Monday said that the BJP should name the liquor baron as the brand ambassador for its ‘Make in India’ and ‘Startup India’ campaigns.
The party in its mouthpiece, Saamna, said that while on one side Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims to fight against corruption in his speeches, on the other hand, his party leaders consider those who are absconding in money laundering cases as their idols.
“PM Modi has asked his party leaders to keep a control on their tongue during public gathering,” Shiv Sena wrote, while adding that still some of the leaders are speaking up their mind publicly.
Further criticising Oram on his speech, Shiv Sena stated: “Oram has somehow brought BJP’s real face out in public. Those who talk about Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor’s views on Muslims should also speak up on the new ‘brand ambassador’ of the BJP, Vijay Mallya.
“PM Modi says he won’t support corruption, however, his own party leaders have started considering those who are absconding in money laundering cases as their idols. If this will remain the strategy of the BJP, then Vijay Mallya should be named as the brand ambassador of Make in India and Startup India,” the editorial said.
Shiv Sena later cited examples of DSK Group fraud case and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and said that it won’t come as a surprise if somebody starts praising them in future.
Addressing the National Tribal Entrepreneurs Conclave in Hyderabad on Friday, Oram had described fugitive Vijay Mallya as smart. He advised tribals to follow the footsteps of Mallya to avail bank loans in order to become successful entrepreneurs.
“You people criticise Vijay Mallya. But what is Vijay Mallya? He is smart. He employed some intelligent people. He did something here and there with bankers, politicians, government. He bought them. Who prevented you (from being smart)? Who asked Adivasis not to influence the system? Who prevented you from influencing bankers,” Oram said. — ANI
11:05 Suspect involved in killing of Indian student in US shot dead:
A suspect in the killing of 25-year-old Indian student Sharath Koppu in Kansas City has been killed in an exchange of fire with the police, leaving three undercover officers injured, US authorities said today.
Koppu was fatally shot on July 6 in the back during a suspected attempted robbery at a restaurant where he worked in the US state of Missouri.
The police officials yesterday found the suspect involved in the shooting, but when two undercover officers conducting surveillance approached the man, he shot them with a rifle and fled, leaving both officers injured, Kansas City Star reported.
That encounter touched off a series of gunfights between the suspect, whose name has not been released, and police. In all, three officers were injured and the potential suspect was killed, the report said.
The three officers’ wounds were not life-threatening, police said.
The attack on the two undercover officers started at a motel in east Kansas City, the shootings continued an hour later then ended after a short standoff and the suspect’s death, it added.
The homicide detectives had released the surveillance video of a possible suspect within a day. A few tips came in. Soon, police had identified the man they called a person of interest.
Detectives were looking for the man all week, Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith was quoted as saying by the report.
“This is the first time we laid eyes on him,” Smith said.
Two undercover detectives followed a car the man was riding .”That’s when the engagement took place,” Smith said.
The man shot the two undercover officers with a rifle and escaped along with a second person in a vehicle, according to police. The vehicle and the other person were soon found by police.
The Indian Association of Kansas City praised the police for pursuing Koppu’s shooting diligently and that “there is some closure” with the person of interest’s death. — PTI
10:43 Terrorist killed, 2 army men injured in encounter in Kupwara :
A terrorist has been killed in an ongoing encounter with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district along the Line of Control on Monday.
Two Indian Army personnel were also injured in the incident, which took place in Kupwara’s Safawali Gal.
An AK-47 rifle was recovered from the possession of the terrorist.
Further details are awaited.
10:30 Bar govt facilities for those converting to another faith: BJP MP: Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament MP from Bastar, Dinesh Kashyap, has said people, especially Adivasis, who convert their religion, should be barred from availing of government facilities.
“Conversion is a big problem. Those Adivasis, who have converted their religion, shouldn’t be allowed to avail the benefits from different government facilities,” Kashyap said at a rally Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh.
Later on, while speaking to ANI, Kashyap justified his statement and said, “This is my own thinking. Those who convert their religion should be barred from government facilities. I think this should be followed. The number of such cases will decrease once this rule will be brought into action.”
This comes after the Jharkhand police reportedly arrested 16 preachers for allegedly trying to convert local residents to Christianity earlier last week.
All 16 were booked under the Freedom of Religion Act, which came into force last year.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com.
09:53 Iranian deputy foreign minister in Delhi for talks: Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in New Delhi late on Sunday night to hold consultations with the ministry of external affairs.
Araghchi’s visit comes days after Iran assured India that it will maintain flexibility in its oil supply. His visit also comes after a senior Iranian diplomat Massoud Rezvanian Rahaghi warned India with retaliatory measures if India reduced its oil purchase from Iran.
Rahaghi had said that if India plans to replace Iran with countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the US and others for the 10 per cent of its oil demand, then it may lose all privileges Iran has offered to India.
However, a day later, the Iran embassy issued a clarification saying, “Iran has always been a reliable energy partner for India and others, seeking a balanced oil market and rational prices of oil which ensures the interests of both countries as consumer and supplier. Iran understands the difficulties of India in dealing with the unstable energy market and it has done and will do its best to ensure security of oil supply to India through offering various flexibility measures which facilitates our bilateral trade in particular Indian export to Iran.”
“India is a sovereign nation and taking into account many criteria including its friendly relations with supplier countries, market factors, geopolitical and geo-economical considerations and potentials and reliability of the oil suppliers chooses its energy partners,” it further added.
09:40 Will ‘Hindu-Muslim’ talk make India No 1: Kejriwal asks PM:
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the BJP government at the Centre had achieved nothing if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was talking about the “Hindu-Muslim” issue after four years in office.
Kejriwal’s remarks came a day after the prime minister, during a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh, asked if the Congress was a party for Muslim men alone.
“If Modi is talking about Hindu-Muslims even after four years, it means his government has achieved nothing,” Kejriwal said at the Aam Aadmi Party’s state-level convention in Indore.
Modi had attacked opposition parties, particularly the Congress, over what he claimed was their opposition to the triple talaq bill.
The Delhi chief minister asked the prime minister if talking about Hindus and Muslims would help India become the number one country in the world.
Modi was harping on the Hindu-Muslim issue when the US was talking about nanotechnology, and Japan, France and England were pursuing “big technologies”, Kejriwal said.
The Delhi chief minister said that education alone would make India “number one” and alleged that no government at the Centre had worked earnestly for the education sector in the last 70 years.
“Indians are the wisest people in the world. But due to dirty politics, a large number of people are being intentionally kept illiterate,” he claimed. — PTI
09:30 Express delivery: Woman gives birth to twins on train!:
A 30-year-old woman delivered twins on a Mumbai-Visakhapatnam train at Kalyan junction near Mumbai on Sunday.
It was a girl and a boy.
Shaikh Tabassum, a resident of Ghatkopar in Mumbai, was travelling with her family by LTT (Mumbai)-Visakhapatnam Express when she went into labour, a Central Railway official said.
Upon getting information about the medical emergency, the train was halted at Kalyan, 51 km from Mumbai terminus, and a railway medical team attended the woman.
She gave birth inside the train. Afterwards the mother and the newborns were admitted to a local hospital.
All three were doing fine, the official said. — PTI
09:09 Prez, PM congratulate France on World Cup win:
President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated France on winning the FIFA World Cup.
France clinched its second World Cup title beating Croatia 4-2 in the final in Moscow today.
“Congratulations to the determined players from France for winning the FIFA World Cup! Special wishes to the gallant Croatia team #PresidentKovind,” the official Twitter handle of the president posted.
The prime minister also took to Twitter to congratulate France, calling it “an excellent match!”
“Congratulations to France for winning the @FIFAWorldCup. They played wonderfully through the tournament and during the #WorldCupFinal @EmmanuelMacron,” Modi said.
He also congratulated Croatia for playing a “spirited game”.
“I also congratulate Croatia for their spirited game. Their performance in the World Cup has been historic,” he tweeted.
08:58 Trump arrives in Helsinki for first summit with Putin :
United States President Donald Trump has arrived in Helsinki for the first summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after he lashed out at the media for being critical of his Russian policy.
Air Force One touched down at Helsinki Airport carrying Trump ahead of the historic meeting with Putin scheduled for today.
He was greeted by the US Ambassador to Finland Robert Pence, media reports said.
Earlier, he had tweeted before leaving for the capital of Finland.
“Heading to Helsinki, Finland — looking forward to meeting with President Putin tomorrow,” Trump said in a tweet as he boarded Air Force One for Helsinki.
“Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia… over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!” he said.
“Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people and all the Democrats know how to do is resist and obstruct! This is why there is such hatred and dissension in our country but at some point, it will heal!” Trump said in a series of tweets.
Trump’s meeting with Putin comes days after a federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials on charges of hacking the servers of the Democratic National Committee and that of its 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trump arrived with his wife First Lady Melania Trump and a host of other dignitaries, including White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Advisor John Bolton and his chief of staff Fred Fleitz, Policy Advisor Stephen Miller, Social Media Director Dan Scavino and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
On Monday host President Sauli Niinisto is scheduled to meet Trump in the morning before Trump and Putin sit down to a bilateral meeting first without aides and then with their teams of support staff, according to media reports.
Trump also congratulated France for winning the Football World Cup for the second time and congratulated Putin for a “truly great” tournament.
“Congratulations to France, who played extraordinary soccer, on winning the 2018 World Cup. Additionally, congratulations to President Putin and Russia for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament – one of the best ever!,” he said. — PTI
08:47 Why is Rahul ‘silent’ on his ‘Muslim party’ remark: BJP:
A combative Bharatiya Janata Party questioned Rahul Gandhi’s “silence” over his reported remarks that the Congress is “a Muslim party”, saying it has no place for Muslim women.
The BJP also hit back at the Congress for alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a “sick” mentality after he accused the opposition party of standing only for Muslim men.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “The shameful allegations made by the Congress leader against the prime minister only showed their desperation.”
He said that Gandhi has not yet given his party’s support to the government’s initiatives on instant triple talaq, despite the Supreme Court banning the practice.
Taking on the Gandhi scion over his reported remarks in an Urdu daily that the Congress is a Muslims party, Prasad said he is now “patronising” the minority community.
“When Rahul Gandhi goes to Gujarat for elections, he becomes a janeudhari (one who wears the sacred thread) and flaunts his Brahmin lineage. He does the same in Karnataka. Now when the elections are over, he starts patronising the Muslims,” he said.
“The issue is why Rahul Gandhi is maintaining conspicuous silence. Why he is not speaking, Prasad asked.
He said that Gandhi in the presence of then prime minister Manmohan Singh at a lunch hosted for Hillary Clinton had alleged that “saffron terrorism and extremism” is more dangerous than the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
This is a matter of record, he said.
“It is strange that whenever Rahul Gandhi is cornered, his party invokes his family legacy which is absolutely meaningless,” he said, adding that the Congress president has to explain his own conduct. — PTI
Source: Rediff