09:56 Bulandshahr violence: BJP youth wing leader arrested:
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha member Shikhar Agarwal, a key suspect in the mob violence in Bulandshahr’s Siyana, was arrested early Thursday, police said.
Agarwal was held from the adjoining Hapur district by the Bulandshahr police, a senior official said.
“He was arrested this morning. We are interrogating him and produce him in the local court later today,” Additional Superintendent of Police (Bulandhshahr city) Atul Kumar Srivastava told PTI.
Police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, 44, and civilian Sumit Kumar, 20, were killed of bullet shots during the mob violence on December 3.
An FIR against 27 named people and 50 to 60 unidentified people was registered at the Siyana Police Station for the violence that was witnessed at Chingrawathi police post after cattle carcasses were found strewn outside nearby Mahaw village.
On January 3, the police had arrested local Bajrang Dal leader Yogesh Raj, also a key suspect in the case.
So far, over 35 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, including Army jawan Jeetender Malik, Prashant Nat who allegedly shot the inspector dead and Kalua who had attacked him with an axe, the police said.– PTI
09:44 No trust between US and Russia: Russian minister:
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said there was no trust between Russia and the US and that Washington has not expressed any willingness to solve the election-meddling issue through an “inter-agency process”.
“Because there is no such thing as trust between Moscow and Washington, we cannot just take as something granted of what we hear from Washington on these issues,” he said during a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue 2019 in New Delhi.
“And like Mueller’s investigation, we haven’t seen anything during these two years that underpin claims of US officials that Russia is ‘guilty’,” he added.
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s one-time presidential campaign chairman, admitted in a court filing in the US on Tuesday that he provided 2016 campaign’s polling data to a Russian, who has ties with intelligence agencies.
“I understand that many in the US strongly believe in Russia’s wrongdoing with regards to election meddling, hacking or whatever,” Ryabkov said.
“We have offered countless times to this (Trump) administration and a dozen of times to the Obama administration to deal with it in a very pragmatic manner, to go through inter-agency process, to deal with IP addresses with individuals and institutions. The answer is no. Or, alternatively, there is no answer” he said.
The findings of the US special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election are yet to come out.
While discussing matters related to Iran and Syria, Ryabkov on Wednesday said that notions of “regime change” and “unilateral action” should not be discussed lightly.
“It’s striking for me to be present in this room and kind of listen to a debate where notions of regime change and imposition of unilateral sanctions are being kicked around as something generally acceptable, very normal, very usual, very standard,” Ryabkov said.
“The chances for yet another regime change are being discussed by think-tankers, politicians, in a sober quiet and cold manner. Something is wrong in the mindset of the people today. But let’s limit my comments to this,” he added. — PTI
09:34 World’s richest couple Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie to split :
Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, are getting a divorce after 25 years of marriage.
The two published a joint statement on Wednesday on the Amazon CEO’s Twitter account stating that the two will get a divorce but continue to cherish each other as friends
“After a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends,” the couple said in the statement.
Expressing their gratitude, the two further wrote, “We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other. If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again.”
The couple also said that they are looking forward to working together as “parents, friends, partners in ventures and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures.”
Jeff and MacKenzie have four children. — ANI
09:10 SC’s 5-judge Constitution bench to hear Ayodhya title suit today:
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute in Ayodhya today.
The bench will be headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprise of Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud.
A three-judge bench of the top court had on September 27 last year, by 2:1 majority, refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench for reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgement that a mosque was not integral to Islam. The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.
When the matter was last taken up on January 4, there was no indication that the case would be referred to a constitution bench as the apex court had simply said that further orders in the matter would be passed on January 10 by “the appropriate bench, as may be constituted”.
The newly set up five-judge bench comprises not only the incumbent CJI but the four judges who are in line to be CJI in the future.
Justice Gogoi’s successor would be Justice Bobde followed by Justices Ramana, Lalit and Chandrachud.
As many as 14 appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad high court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land be partitioned equally among the three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
The apex court on October 29 last year had fixed the matter in the first week of January before the “appropriate bench”.
Later, an application was moved for according an urgent hearing by advancing the date, but the top court had refused the plea, saying it had already passed an order on October 29 relating to the hearing of the matter.
The plea for early hearing was moved by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha which is one of the respondents in the appeal filed by legal heirs of M Siddiq, one of the original litigants in the case.
Various Hindutva organisations have been demanding an ordinance on early construction of Ram temple at the disputed site.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested that any decision on an ordinance on Ram temple in Ayodhya can happen only after the completion of the judicial process. — PTI
08:56 Sidhu gets enhanced security cover, bullet-proof vehicle: Report:
The Punjab government is learnt to have increased the security cover of Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in the wake of threats issued to him, sources said Wednesday.
A bullet-proof vehicle has also been provided to Sidhu by the state government, the sources close to Sidhu said.
In November 2018, the Congress had sought the Central Industrial Security Force security cover for Sidhu citing “growing threat perception” to his life.
Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had written a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard as Sidhu was to campaign outside Punjab for the party. — PTI
08:54 Randeep Surjewala Cong’s candidate for Jind bypoll:
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Wednesday announced the names of their candidates for the by-election in Haryana’s Jind assembly constituency scheduled to be held on January 28.
Krishan Middha, the son of late Indian National Lok Dal MLA Hari Chand Middha, will be the BJP’s candidate, while Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala will be its nominee for the bypoll.
Krishan Middha, whose father’s demise in August had necessitated the bypoll, had recently joined the saffron party. He was the frontrunner to contest as the BJP candidate from this constituency.
“After discussion and taking various factors into account, the BJP’s Central Election Committee has decided that Krishan Middha, the son of late Hari Chand Middha, will be the party’s candidate for the Jind bypoll,” Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala told reporters earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, the INLD and the recently floated Jannayak Janata Party said they would announce the name of their candidates on Thursday.
After his name was announced, Middha exuded confidence about his win.
“The BJP will get one more MLA, this time from Jind,” he said.
Jind was represented by his late father, who was two-time MLA from here. The BJP is yet to taste a win from this constituency.
However, senior INLD leader and Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala said, “This seat was with our party MLA. But his son chose to join the BJP and people of the constituency know that he has betrayed them.”
“We will be announcing name of our party candidate on Thursday and he will win by at least a margin of 25,000 votes,” Chautala claimed.
The Election Commission had on December 31 announced that the bypoll to the Jind assembly seat would be held on January 28 and the results will be out on January 31. — PTI
08:30 Trump walks out of meeting with Democrats, calls it ‘waste of time’ :
United States President Donald Trump has walked out of a meeting with top Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer, after they refused to allocate a whopping USD 5.7 billion funding for his controversial US-Mexico border wall plan.
Trump was furious that Pelosi said no when he asked the Democratic leaders on Wednesday would they support the move to fund the border wall within the next 30 days if he ends the partial government shutdown that has crippled many offices.
“Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works (sic)!” a furious Trump tweeted.
The sharp differences between the Trump administration and the opposition Democrats over border security has resulted in a partial government shutdown, which entered its 19th day on Wednesday, making it the second-longest in history after the 21-day shutdown in 1995-96.
The Democrats are refusing to allocate the money, arguing that a wall would be costly and ineffective. Mexico has rejected Trump’s demand to pay for the border wall.
The president’s walkout from the meeting at the White House on Wednesday afternoon opens a new phase of political uncertainty in the US.
Talking to reporters after Trump’s walkout from the meeting, Pelosi and Schumer asserted that under no circumstances the Democrats are willing to fund a border wall.
Blaming Trump for the partial government shutdown that has badly hit the functioning of the federal government, the two leaders indicated that their party is not going to change its stand over the issue.
The Democratic party enjoys a majority in the House of Representatives.
Vice President Mike Pence, who made a rare media appearance at the White House stake out location along with the other Congressional Republican leaders, said their doors are still open for the Democratic party leaders to come up with their own proposal.
However, Trump has made it clear that there will be no moving forward without funding approval for a wall. In recent days, the president has showed signs of some flexibility by proposing a steel barrier instead of a 30-foot-high concrete wall. — PTI
00:04 India to receive S-400 in due time, without any delays, assures Russia:
Russia has said there will be no delays in the delivery of the S-400 air defence systems to India and a payment mechanism for the deal is being worked out.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the missile systems will significantly enhance India’s air defence capability.
Last week, the government informed Lok Sabha that it will start receiving the missile systems from Russia from October next year and the deliveries will be completed by April 2023.
India inked an agreement with Russia in October last year to procure a batch of the missile systems at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. India went ahead to seal the deal notwithstanding the US’ warnings against it.
There were apprehensions about the payment mechanism for the deal in the wake of the US sanctions against Russia.
“India would receive the systems as agreed upon in due time, without any delays. And, your (India’s) national security will be enhanced substantially,” Ryabkov told reporters.
— PTI
Source: Rediff