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LIVE! Modi government authorises 10 agencies to monitor computers, phones

10:50  Sajjan Kumar has to surrender by Dec 31, says court dismissing delay plea :  1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Delhi High Court dismisses Sajjan Kumar’s plea which sought more time to surrender. The HC says it sees no ground for granting extension of time to Sajjan Kumar to surrender.

Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar had approached the Delhi High Court Thursday seeking time till January 31 to surrender in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which he was recently sentenced to life imprisonment.

Kumar, who was directed by the high court on Monday to surrender before authorities by December 31, sought more time saying he has to settle family affairs.

Advocate Anil Sharma, representing Kumar, said they need some more time to file appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the high court’s verdict and Kumar has to settle his family matters relating to his children and property.

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10:43  Here’s what Rahul did in Shimla :  Congress President, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the Institute for Children with Special Abilities in Shimla yesterday.  Rahul is on holiday in Shimla. 


10:32  Pakistan man deported from US for human smuggling :  A Pakistani citizen has been deported from the US for his role in smuggling individuals from South Asia, some with suspected ties to terrorist organisations, into the country. Sharafat Ali Khan, 33, was the Brazilian-based facilitator of an alien smuggling organisation.

On Monday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations officers removed him from the country following an investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the FBI, into the alien smuggling scheme. He was turned over to Pakistani authorities Wednesday. — PTI

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09:56  No interest in being 2019 PM face: Gadkari :  “No there is no chance. I am happy where I am right now”, said Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari while responding to a question on probability of him becoming the Prime Ministerial candidate face in the 2019 elections, replacing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to media reports, the head of a government organisation in Maharashtra has written to the RSS, demanding Gadkari be allowed to lead the BJP if it wants to win the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In an exclusive interview to ANI Gadkari said, “No there is no chance. I am happy where I am right now. I have to complete Ganga work first, building of Express Highway Access Control in 13-14 countries and I also want to make roads for Chaar Dhams and other works. I am happy doing these works and want to complete it.”


09:51  Sensex, Nifty turn choppy on weak global cues:  Benchmark indices opened on a choppy note Friday on negative global cues amid fears of a potential US government shutdown and rising tension between the US and China. After falling over 100 points in opening session, the 30-share Sensex was trading 14.82 points, or 0.04 per cent, higher at 36,416.85.

The index had finished 52.66 points, or 0.14 per cent, lower at 36,431.67 Thursday. The NSE Nifty, too, was trading 2.25 points, or 0.02 per cent, lower at 10,949.45. Domestic and other Asian stocks followed Wall Street that fell sharply after US President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funds pushed the federal government closer to a shutdown.

The White House said Trump will not travel to Florida Friday for the Christmas holiday if the government is shutting down. More than 8,00,000 federal workers will be facing furloughs or forced to work without pay if a resolution is not reached before funding expires at midnight Friday. — PTI

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09:34  Mahagathbandhan is ‘majboori’: Gadkari:  

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the reason behind Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) of opposition parties is their “majboori” (helplessness), while adding that such an alliance is a game of compromises, compulsions and limitations.

Gadkari asserted that it is the might of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has compelled political rivals “those who used to avoid each other to hug each other.”

Gadkari’s statement comes on a day when disgruntled RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha joined the Bihar mahagathbandhan with Congress and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD as its partners. Kushwaha accusing the BJP leadership of being arrogant severed allies with the NDA on Thursday.

“The meaning of Mahagathbandhan is – politics is a game of compromises, compulsions and limitations. When a party comes to know that they alone cannot defeat the other party, then they forge an alliance. No one comes in an alliance with happiness, they come due to helplessness,” he said.

“The strength of the BJP and Modi ji is big, hence, the Opposition is thinking of an alliance. Those who earlier used to avoid each other are now hugging each other. The reason behind their friendship is our (BJP) strength. We are going ahead on the basis of our strength,” he added.

A similar remark on the grand alliance was passed by BJP national president Amit Shah, who referred to ‘Mahagathbandhan’ as an ‘illusion’.

— ANI

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09:10  Modi government authorises 10 agencies to monitor computers, phones:  

The ministry of home affairs has issued an order authorising 10 central agencies to intercept, monitor, and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer.

The agencies are the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation; National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat (R&AW), Directorate of Signal Intelligence (For service areas of Jammu & Kashmir, North-East and Assam only) and Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

According to the order, the subscriber or service provider or any person in charge of the computer resource will be bound to extend all facilities and technical assistance to the agencies and failing to do will invite seven-year imprisonment and fine.

The MHA gave the authorisation under 69 (1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 which says that the Central government can direct any agency after it is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above or for investigation of any offence.


08:41  15 students admitted to hospital after commotion at fest in Mumbai college:  

Fifteen students were injured following a “commotion” during a function at Mithibai College in suburban Vile Parle on Thursday evening, a civic official said.

While initial reports suggested that there was a stampede, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said it was not a stampede but a minor incident caused by panic.

Boys from the neighbourhood thronged the college auditorium during a singing performance and some students complained of suffocation which led to people running helter-skelter, said the official from the BMC’s Disaster Management Unit.

Injured students were taken to the nearby hospital.

— PTI

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08:23  Don’t fall in love over Facebook: Hamid Ansari tells youngsters:  

Having spent almost six years in a Pakistani jail, software engineer Hamid Nihal Ansari’s advice to youth is simple: Don’t fall in love over Facebook.

He should know. It was on Facebook that he fell in love with a girl from Pakistan, went there to prevent her ‘forced’ marriage and before he could meet her, was arrested and jailed.

That was six years ago. As he reached his home in suburban Mumbai, he was in a reflective mood.

“Never hide anything from your parents. Only your parents stand by your side in testing times. And never resort to any illegal means to go to any place,” Ansari told the media.

Asked what advice will he give to people who fall in love on Facebook, Ansari said, “Don’t take (that) risk. Don’t fall in love. Don’t fall in love by trusting (what is on) Facebook.”

Ansari was arrested in Pakistan in 2012 for allegedly entering that country from Afghanistan reportedly to meet a woman he had befriended online. Pakistan slapped espionage charges against him. He was repatriated on Tuesday and handed over to India at the Wagah-Attari border.

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07:52  US Defence chief James Mattis resigns over differences with Trump:  

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will be “retiring, with distinction,” in February, President Donald Trump has said, a day after he ordered American troops to rapidly withdraw from war-torn Syria in an abrupt decision criticised by many as premature.

In his resignation letter, Mattis told Trump it was the “right time” for him to step down because the US president deserved a defence secretary “whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects.”

“The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting  in February,” he said.

The 68-year-old Pentagon chief did not mention if he was resigning specifically over the troop withdrawal decision, which has surprised US allies and several lawmakers.

Analysts say the withdrawal of troops will please US enemies by clearing the way for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, Russia and Iran. Mattis had warned that removing ground forces from the Middle Eastern country would be a “strategic blunder”.

After Mattis sent his resignation, Trump announced he will be “retiring” in February.

“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my administration as secretary of defense for the past two years,” the president said.

“During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting…,” he said on Twitter.

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00:56  Verdict in Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case likely today:  

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Mumbai is likely to pronounce on Friday the verdict in the sensational Sohrabuddin Shaikh-Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter case of 2005 in which 22 persons, most of them policemen, are on trial.

The case has attracted much attention as Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, who was Minister of State for Home in Gujarat at the time of the incidents, was one of the accused before being discharged in 2014.

During the trial, as many as 92 prosecution witnesses turned hostile.

After the final arguments were wrapped up earlier this month, Special judge for CBI cases S J Sharma had said he will pronounce the verdict on December 21.

Most of the accused are junior-level police officials from Gujarat and Rajasthan. The court earlier discharged, for want of evidence, 16 of the 38 persons charge-sheeted by the CBI.

These included Amit Shah, the then Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria, former Gujarat police chief P C Pande and former senior Gujarat police officer D G Vanzara.

According to the CBI, Shaikh, an alleged gangster with terror links, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Prajapati were abducted by Gujarat police from a bus when they were on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra from Hyderabad on the night of November 22 and 23, 2005.

Shaikh was killed in an alleged fake encounter on November 26, 2005 near Ahmedabad. His wife was killed three days later and her body was disposed of, the CBI said.

A year later, on December 27, 2006, Prajapati was also shot dead by Gujarat and Rajasthan police in an alleged fake encounter near Chapri on Gujarat-Rajasthan border.

The case was initially probed by the Gujarat CID before the CBI took over in 2010. The Supreme Court in 2013 directed that the trial be shifted to Mumbai from Gujarat on the central agency’s request to ensure a fair trial.

The prosecution examined 210 witnesses, of which 92 turned hostile.

Even as the trial has wound down to a close, two prosecution witnesses applied to the court Wednesday that they be re-examined.

One of them, Azam Khan, an aide of Shaikh, claimed in his plea that accused Abdul Rehman, a former police inspector who had allegedly fired on Shaikh, threatened Khan that if he did not depose as told, he would be framed up in false cases.

His wife was also threatened, Khan claimed. Another witness, Mahendra Zala, a petrol pump owner, has alleged that the prosecution did not furnish to the court his statement recorded before a magistrate.

The court will decide both pleas Friday.  — PTI

Source: Rediff