12:40 Naroda Patiya riots: SC grants bail to 4 convicts: The Supreme Court has granted bail to four convicts — Umeshbhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Harshad and Prakashbhai Rathod — in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riots case.
A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Ajay Rastogi granted them bail on Tuesday.At least 97 Muslims were reportedly killed in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patiya area on February 28, 2002, during communal riots. The Gujarat High Court had convicted the four individuals on account of arson and rioting. They were serving a 10-year jail term.
— ANI
12:34 Kanakadurga forced to stay at shelter home after finding house locked:
Facing stiff opposition from relatives for offering prayers at the Sabarimala temple, Kanakadurga was forced to take shelter at a One Stop centre in Perinthalmanna after she found that her house was locked and her family members had shifted to another building, police said.
A police official said the 44-year-old also filed a petition in a court in Perinthalmanna under the Domestic Violence Act, stating she had the right to stay at her husband’s home.
Police sources said Kanakadurga went to her husband’s house when she was discharged from the Kozhikode medical college, where she was treated after allegedly being assaulted by her mother-in-law for entering the temple. When she reached there, she found the house locked, the sources said.
Her husband and other relatives had shifted to a rented building, the police said, adding Kanakadurga then took refugee at the One Stop Centre in Perinthalmanna.
Kanakdurga, an employee of the Civil Supplies Department, had scripted history along with Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(M) ML activist, on January 2 by offering prayers at the Ayyappa shrine, where traditionally women in the 10-50 age group were barred from entering.
The Supreme Court had in a historic verdict last year lifted the centuries old ban and allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers at the temple.
The two were the first women of menstrual age to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine after the SC verdict.
Perinthalamanna Circle Inspector T S Binu said she was being provided round-the-clock security as directed by the apex court. At least 10 police personnel have been posted for her security. CCTV surveillance has also been provided at the shelter home.
One Stop Centres (OSC), launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.
Women facing physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture are facilitated with support and redressal at such centres. PTI
12:32 Kanakadurga forced to stay at refuge centre after finding house locked: Facing stiff opposition from relatives for offering prayers at the Sabarimala temple, Kanakadurga was forced to take shelter at a One Stop centre in Perinthalmanna after she found that her house was locked and her family members had shifted to another building, police said.
A police official said the 44-year-old also filed a petition in a court in Perinthalmanna under the Domestic Violence Act, stating she had the right to stay at her husband’s home.
Police sources said Kanakadurga went to her husband’s house when she was discharged from the Kozhikode medical college, where she was treated after allegedly being assaulted by her mother-in-law for entering the temple. When she reached there, she found the house locked, the sources said.
Her husband and other relatives had shifted to a rented building, the police said, adding Kanakadurga then took refugee at the One Stop Centre in Perinthalmanna.
Kanakdurga, an employee of the Civil Supplies Department, had scripted history along with Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(M) ML activist, on January 2 by offering prayers at the Ayyappa shrine, where traditionally women in the 10-50 age group were barred from entering.
The Supreme Court had in a historic verdict last year lifted the centuries old ban and allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers at the temple.
The two were the first women of menstrual age to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine after the SC verdict.
Perinthalamanna Circle Inspector T S Binu said she was being provided round-the-clock security as directed by the apex court. At least 10 police personnel have been posted for her security. CCTV surveillance has also been provided at the shelter home.
One Stop Centres (OSC), launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.
Women facing physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture are facilitated with support and redressal at such centres. PTI
12:00 Nine held in Maharashtra for links with ISIS: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested nine people from Thane and Aurangabad for their alleged links with banned terror outfit ISIS, police said Wednesday. The nine terror suspects, all part of a group, were nabbed by ATS teams over the last two days, an ATS official said.
The ATS, acting on specific inputs, kept a watch on the nine men for several weeks and gathered relevant information about them, he said. They were arrested when it came to light that they were likely to “swing into action”, the official said.
The arrests followed searches in Amrut Nagar, Kausa, Moti Baug and Almas Colony areas in Thane’s Mumbra township and in Aurangabad’s Kaisar Colony, Rahat Colony and Damdi Mahal areas on Monday late night and Tuesday early morning.
During the searches, the ATS sleuths seized certain chemicals, acid bottles, sharp knives, mobile phones, hard disks and some SIM cards from the group, the official said. The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code’s Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act, the official said. — PTI
Representational image.
11:38 Bovine rhapsody:
Stray cows and bulls have become quite a menace in large parts of northern India, particularly Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi, the venue of this year’s Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, has always had its share of stray cows.
In the run up to the event, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had instructed the local administration to prevent stray cows from sauntering inside the sprawling venue.
However, a cow entered the makeshift venue on Tuesday afternoon when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inside the auditorium for the opening ceremony of the event. Fortunately, the cops could chase the docile animal away without much effort. — Business Standard
11:36 Election season is open, folks: As the gathering of non-resident Indians, persons of Indian origin and foreign nationals at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Varanasi waited for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrive, the emcee of the event welcomed the foreign delegates and urged them to be seated. In one of her announcements, she also urged visitors to download the NaMo app — a mobile application handled by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The app, she said, could be downloaded from special digital booths at the venue, which in turn stood beside a photobooth to click selfies with a virtual cutout of the prime minister. Election season seems to be officially open.
— Business Standard
11:28 Nine men arrested from Maharashtra for alleged links with terror outfit ISIS.
11:27 Himachal snowed under amid power outage, road blocks : Fresh snowfall was reported in the major tourist towns in Himachal Pradesh, the Meteorological Department said. MeT Shimla director Manmohan Singh said Shimla received 44.5 cm snowfall, Manali 30 cm, Kalpa 39.6 cm and Seobagh 1 cm.
These areas received snow from 5.30 pm on Tuesday to 8.30 am Wednesday. Dalhousie recorded 60 cm snow, Kufri 55 cm, Keylong 33 cm and Kalpa received 39.6 cm snowfall during the period. Several places in the state recorded rainfall from 2 mm in Chamba to 53.2 mm in Dharamshala, he added.
The minimum temperatures in Dalhousie, Kufri, Manali and Chail were minus 2.9 degrees Celsius, minus 2.7 degrees, minus 1.6 degrees and minus 0.7 degrees Celsius respectively Wednesday, he added. Tribal district Lahaul and Spiti’s administrative centre Keylong continued to be the coldest place in the state, recording low of minus 11 degrees Celsius, the director said, adding the minimum temperatures in Kalpa was minus 2.8 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in Shimla was zero degree Celsius, he said adding that it was minus 1 degree Celsius in Mandi and Seobagh each.
In Kinnaur, power supply has been disrupted since Tuesday evening due to failure of 220 KV and 66 KV grids, a district official said. Kinnaur was witnessing heavy snowfall since Tuesday due to which all link roads were blocked, the official said, adding even the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) buses were going only to Tapri. PTI
11:13 Remembering Bal Thackeray on his 93rd birthday: Aditya Thackeray shares this throwback picture with his grandfather Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena founder and the man, who will forever be synonymous with the word ‘supremo’. Aditya is the president of the party’s Yuva Sena. Bal Thackeray would have been 93 today.
10:42 Why Narendra Modi needs to be on Ranveer Singhs Instagram feed: Almost every Indian is interested in at least one of these three things: cinema, sports and politics.Very few are interested in all three. A cursory look at Google Trends India will tell you that on most days, between political news and sports updates, the online Indian is more interested in the latter.
Very few people closely follow what their chief minister or prime minister is up to. A surprisingly large number of people don’t know who their Member of Legislative Assembly or Member of Parliament is. Try asking around.
Political junkies think everybody else is a political junkie, just as Bollywood fans presume everyone has watched the latest blockbuster, and cricket fans assume everybody has followed that latest cricket series. Cinema, sports and politics may be very large bubbles but they are bubbles nevertheless.
When Narendra Modi gets selfies taken with Bollywood stars, he is making use of a bubble outside the one that TV news watchers fall in. He is entering another world, exposing himself to a vast audience that doesn’t necessarily know the Bharatiya Janata Party’s vote-share in Chhattisgarh.
10:32 Rupee spurts 29 paise against US dollar in early trade: The rupee rose 29 paise to 71.15 against the US dollar in early session Wednesday on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid a positive opening of the domestic equity markets.
At the Interbank forex market, the rupee opened higher at 71.19 and advanced further to quote 29 paise higher at 71.15 against the dollar. Besides, the dollar falling against other currencies overseas on lingering worries about a global slowdown and continuing US-China trade tensions, supported the Indian rupee, forex dealers said. However, sustained foreign fund outflows capped the gains, they added. — PTI
10:24 Another rainy day in Delhi, trains running late : It was a cold Wednesday morning in the national capital with rains in the past 24 hours bringing down the minimum temperature to 8 degrees Celsius, a MeT department official said.
The city received 27.8 mm rains till 8.30 am. The minimum temperature was 12.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. Relative humidity was 100 percent this morning, he said. Partly cloudy skies with possibility of very light rains and thundershowers are forecast for later part of the the day. Maximum temperature is likely to be around 19 degrees Celsius. Twenty-one north bound trains including Mahabodhi Express, Lichchvi Express, Brahmputra Mail, Rewa Express, Shiv Ganga Express and Vikramshila Express were running late due to bad weather conditions, Northern Railways said. – PTI
10:24 Another rainy day in Delhi, trains running late : It was a cold Wednesday morning in the national capital with rains in the past 24 hours bringing down the minimum temperature to 8 degrees Celsius, a MeT department official said.
The city received 27.8 mm rains till 8.30 am. The minimum temperature was 12.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. Relative humidity was 100 percent this morning, he said. Partly cloudy skies with possibility of very light rains and thundershowers are forecast for later part of the the day. Maximum temperature is likely to be around 19 degrees Celsius. Twenty-one north bound trains including Mahabodhi Express, Lichchvi Express, Brahmputra Mail, Rewa Express, Shiv Ganga Express and Vikramshila Express were running late due to bad weather conditions, Northern Railways said. – PTI
10:05 Serena Williams crashes out of Australian Open:
Serena Williams knocked out of the Australian Open after losing 4-6, 6-4, 5-7 to Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals. Pliskova advances to meet Naomi Osaka for a place in the final.
09:58 Rahul to begin 2-day Amethi visit today : Congress president Rahul Gandhi will arrive on a two-day visit at his parliamentary constituency Amethi today. His visit comes in the aftermath of the Congress party wresting Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi will land at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow at 10 am and then travel to Fursatganj in Amethi chair a meeting with the pradhans of the villages that fall under Amethi district. He will also address a ‘nukkad sabha’ at Haliyapur.
Rahul Gandhi will stay at the Bhuemau guest house where he will meet the district party leaders and workers. On Friday (January 25) morning, he will meet Congress workers and people belonging to his constituency.
He will also take part in the swearing-in of newly elected Bar members in Gauriganj, his representative Chandrakant Dubey said.
Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to visit Amethi on January 4 but it was cancelled due to the Winter session of Parliament. His visit would have clashed with Union Minister Smriti Irani’s Amethi trip, which was also scheduled for the same day and was being seen as the first major political face-off ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
His mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was also scheduled to come along with him for a visit to her parliamentary constituency Raebareli, but she has cancelled her visit.
09:43 Accused hangs himself after raping, killing 7-yr-old girl: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered in Pimpri-Chinchwad city in Maharashtra. DCP Pimpri-Chinchwad, Smartana Patil told ANI,: “We received a call that a body has been brought to the hospital on Tuesday. The girl was declared dead and there was suspicion of rape.”
She further said that the accused allegedly committed suicide when police tried to track him. “During the investigation, it was found that a man had threatened the mother of the victim a day before the incident. When we tried to track the accused, we found him hanging in a forest, he allegedly committed suicide,” the DCP said. Investigation in the matter is underway. — ANI
09:24 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sanjita Chanu’s ban lifted:
The International Weightlifting Federation on Wednesday revoked the ban imposed on India’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu.
The sport’s apex body informed the India Weightlifting Federation and Sanjita of the development.
“On the basis of the information at its disposal the IWF has decided that the provisional suspension of the athlete (Khumukcham Sanjita) shall be lifted as of today (22 January 2019),” the IWF legal Counsel Eva Nyirfa said in a letter.
“The IWF Hearing Panel will render its decision on the athlete’s case in due course,” it added.
Sanjita, who had won a gold in the women’s 53kg category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, had tested positive for anabolic steroid testosterone as her urine sample was taken prior to the World Championships in November 17.
The 25-year-old Indian lifter was then put under provisional suspension in May last year.
In Gold Coast, Sanjita had set a new Commonwealth Games record with a lift of 84 kg in snatch and 108 kg in clean and jerk, to finish with a total of 192 kg. — PTI
09:10 Trump going ahead with plans to deliver State of the Union Address: Report:
United States President Donald Trump is going ahead with his plans to deliver the State of the Union Address — either before a joint session of the US Congress or somewhere else in the country — a media report said Wednesday.
Citing the ongoing partial government shutdown, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cancelled his scheduled State of the Address on January 29.
The White House has not officially responded to Pelosi’s letter to Trump seeking rescheduling of the State of the Union Address.
“President Trump is preparing two versions of the speech one that could be delivered in Washington and another that would be held somewhere else in the country, depending on the circumstance, according to a senior White House official,” The Washington Post reported.
While the Trump administration is trying to conduct advance preparation for an address in the House Chambers, according to The Washington Post, Pelosi has the power to determine whether the US President can do so.
“Nancy Pelosi does not dictate to the president when he will or will not have a conversation with the American people,” White House Deputy Press Secretary, Hogan Gidley, told Fox News in an interview.
“The President has an incredible story to tell about how far we’ve come in this country economically, in a national security capacity,” he said, as he accused Pelosi of trying to play politics with the Congressional venue for the State of the Union Address, which is done before a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“It’s unclear what options for venues the White House is exploring aside from the House chamber, where State of the Union addresses have been delivered since President Woodrow Wilson’s speech in 1913,” The Washington Post said. — PTI
08:47 After UP, Congress hopes not to meet same fate in Bihar:
The Congress Tuesday expressed hope that it would get a “respectable” share of seats in Bihar in the Lok Sabha polls from its allies and would not meet the same fate it did in Uttar Pradesh where it was dumped by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Conceding that the Rashtriya Janata Dal is the “big brother” in the state, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee’s campaign panel’s chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi, however, was “the face of anti-NDA forces” in the country.
“There is no problem. Discussions are taking place and things will be sorted out amicably,” Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, said.
The NDA has been claiming that the ‘grand alliance’, which comprises nearly half a dozen parties, was not coming out with its seat-sharing formula as the constituents of loosely-knit formation were unable to reach a consensus on the issue.
The constituents of the grand alliance included RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha, RLSP, Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal and Left parties.
“We will get respectable share in Bihar. What happened in UP will not be repeated here. We respect the RJD as the big brother of the grand alliance in Bihar. Nobody, however, denies that Congress president Rahul Gandhi is the face of anti-NDA forces at the national level,” Singh said.
Once-arch rivals, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party on January 12 announced their tie-up in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each and keeping the Congress out of the alliance.
Singh was in Lakhisarai to attend a “Mahagathbandhan Milan” programme organized by local RJD leader Vijay Samrat. — PTI
08:27 Shami becomes fastest Indian to reach 100 ODI wickets:
Seamer Mohammed Shami became the fastest Indian to claim 100 wickets in One-day Internationals, reaching the mark in the opening match against New Zealand here.
This was his 56th game in the 50-over format.
Shami’ wicket number 100 was New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, who played onto his stumps a delivery that moved in after pitching on a good length.
With his brilliant opening burst at McLean Park, the 28-year-old Shami continued his good showing in the limited overs format, having impressed in Australia prior to this five-match ODI series.
Before Shami, Irfan Pathan reached the 100-wicket mark in 59 ODIs, while Zaheer Khan (65 matches), Ajit Agarkar (67) and Javagal Srinath (68) are the other Indian bowlers to complete a century of wickets in the quickest time. — PTI
00:02 US top court allows Trump’s transgender military ban to go into effect:
The United States Supreme Court allowed US President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban to go into effect on Tuesday, dealing a blow to LGBT activists who call the ban cruel and irrational.
The US Justices did not rule on the merits of the case, but will allow the ban to go forward while the lower courts work through it.
The four liberal justices on the Court objected to allowing the administration’s policy banning most transgender people from serving in the military to go into effect.
The policy, first announced by the US president in July 2017 via Twitter, and later officially released by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis in 2018, blocks individuals who have been diagnosed with a condition known as gender dysphoria from serving with limited exceptions. It also specifies that individuals without the condition can serve, but only if they do so according to the sex they were assigned at birth.
In a statement released after the SCOTUS decision to allow the ban to go forward, the Pentagon sought to clarify that its policy is not a ban on all transgender persons from the military.
“As always, we treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity. (The Department of Defense’s) proposed policy is NOT a ban on service by transgender persons. It is critical that DoD be permitted to implement personnel policies that it determines are necessary to ensure the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world. DoD’s proposed policy is based on professional military judgment and will ensure that the U.S. Armed Forces remain the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world,” Lt Col Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokesperson, told CNN.
Source: Rediff