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Washington: President Donald Trump has said that he was looking forward to being with his "great friends" in India as he retweeted a video in which his face was superimposed on the hit movie-character Bahubali , showing him as a great saviour. Trump will arrive in India on Monday for a two-day visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including First Lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a galaxy of top American officials. "Look so forward to being with my great friends in India!" Trump tweeted on Saturday. Along with the tweet, Trump shared an 81-second video by a Twitter account identified as "Sol" with the handle Solmemes1 . Look so forward to being with my great friends in INDIA! https://t.co/1jdk3AW6fG — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2020 "To celebrate Trump's visit to India I wanted to make a video to show how in my w

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia are unlikely to be present when US First Lady Melania Trump visits a Delhi government-run school in the National Capital on 25 February, according to sources. As per the original schedule, both Kejriwal and Sisodia were to accompany Melania Trump during her visit to the school, people familiar with the matter said. The Delhi chief minister and his deputy were also to brief Melania about the "happiness curriculum" introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, sources said. When contacted, a US embassy spokesperson referred the query on the matter to the Delhi government. There was no immediate reaction from the Delhi government. US President Donald Trump, accompanied by wife Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner and a high-level delegation, will arrive in Ahmedabad around noon on 24 February for a less than 36-hour-long trip to India. From Ahmedabad, the delegation will travel

More than 500 people, mostly women, sat on a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) near Delhi’s Jaffrabad metro station. The protest began hours after a road, closed since two months due to the Shaheen Bagh protest, was opened for vehicular traffic. The protest in Jaffrabad began on Saturday night on Road number 66, which connects Seelampur with Maujpur and Yamuna Vihar, prompting the Delhi Metro authorities to close the entry and exit gates of the station. The women, carrying the tricolour and raising slogans of 'aazadi', said they would not move from the site till the Centre revokes the CAA. #WATCH Delhi: People continue to protest in Jaffrabad metro station area, against #CitizenshipAmendmentAct . Security has been deployed there. As per the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, entry and exit of Jaffrabad have been closed. Trains will not be halting at this station. pic.twitter.com/gOLTj9MUnG — ANI (@ANI) February 23, 202

A meal, for which the menu was set over five thousand years ago, and a crash course on the continuity of the food in this menu in South Asian kitchens is the latest offering at the National Museum, New Delhi. Tracing the food culture of the Indus Valley Civilisation (also known as the Harappan Civilisation), an ongoing week-long exhibition titled Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience  will include a walk and food tasting experience. Serving as an extension of the museum's 8000-unit strong display from the civilisation, it is an attempt to keep up footfalls through innovative offerings for public consumption. For this, the institution has collaborated with a private start-up company of architects and conservationists, One Station Million Stories (OSMS). While the museum is playing host, the company has set up the exhibits and food stalls based on their research. “The Indus Valley is one of the world’s most ancient civilisations and India’s pride, so we want to raise

New Delhi: Over 200 women gathered near the Jaffrabad metro station in Delhi on Saturday night in protest against the new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). #WATCH Delhi: People continue to protest in Jaffrabad metro station area, against #CitizenshipAmendmentAct . Security has been deployed there. As per the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, entry and exit of Jaffrabad have been closed. Trains will not be halting at this station. pic.twitter.com/gOLTj9MUnG — ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2020 The women, raising slogans of 'aazadi', said they would not move from the site till the Centre revoke Citizenship (Amendment) Act. URGENT MOBILIZATION NEEDED #ZAFRABAD The police tried to run the detention van into the protestors, women came right in front and stopped it. @PinjraTod @kavita_krishnan @BDUTT @NabiyaKhan11 @naukarshah @UAH_India @MirchiSayema @ThePeopleOfIN @_YogendraYadav @ReallySwara pic.twitter.com/UzezDdOcne — Shaheen Bagh Official

New Delhi : Eminent football writer and former Delhi University professor Novy Kapadia has been rendered bedridden and is not being able to avail pension benefits, according to a section of teachers. Executive Council member Rajesh Jha on Saturday claimed that the university had meted out "shabby" treatment to Kapadia, who has served it for more than 40 years. "In a sudden turn of events, he has been confined to a wheelchair and bed for life. Delhi University is sitting over a bunch files relating to pensionary benefits of superannuated teachers," Jha said. Kapadia is one such victim of "apathy" and indifference, and has been denied regular pension since he retired almost two years ago, Jha alleged. "His critical medical condition owing to autoimmune disorder has rendered him partially disabled and confined him to the four walls of the small rented apartment," Jha said. The well-known sports commentator is currently surviving with the help of

New Delhi : Several scholars under the banner of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Mahmood Madani faction) denounced the National Population Register (NPR) and urged people to not give their details to enumerators. Representational image. PTI A brainstorming session was jointly convened by Maulana Mahmod A Madani, General Secretary of the Jamiat, and Kamal Faruqi. At the end of the session, a unanimous resolution was adopted which "unequivocally" rejected NPR on the grounds that it was a "gross violation of article 14 of the Constitution", a statement by the Jamiat's Mahmood Madani faction said. "NPR is the first stage of data collection to prepare NRC as per Citizenship Act 1955 and Citizenship Rule 2003. It is patently discriminatory, divisive, exclusionary and unconstitutional and targets communities on the basis of religion, class, caste and gender," the statement said. "We must politely decline to co-operate or make available any details to them (d

Cuttack: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first-ever Khelo India University Games in Cuttack on Saturday and said the event marks the next step in the country's sporting revolution. As many as 3400 athletes from 159 universities across the country will vie for top honours across 17 disciplines, including rugby which is among the six team events. The prime minister launched the multi-disciplinary sporting event through a video conference facility. He called it a historic moment for Indian sports."It marks the next step in the country's sporting revolution,"  Modi said in his address. "A new history has been made in Odisha today. This is not only a historic moment in Indian sports but also a big step for the future of Indian sports," he added. Present at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, among others, were Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, union sports minister Kiren Rijiju and Dharmendra Pradhan, who holds the petroleum and natural gas p

New Delhi: Terrorists and corrupt people have "no right to privacy" and these people should not be allowed to abuse the internet, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday. Speaking at the inauguration of the International Judicial Conference 2020 - 'Judiciary and the Changing World', Prasad said it needs to be acknowledged that people who abuse the finest creations of humankind, one of which is the internet, pose the biggest threats. He said the right to privacy has been held to be a fundamental right and the government appreciates that but "terrorists and the corrupt have no right to privacy because the right to privacy has acquired critical proportion in the wake of digital landscape expanding globally". "This is the age of information and information is power. This is the age of communication and communication is power," he explained. The minister said the right to privacy verdict of the Supreme Court has become a beacon glo

After weeks of speculation, it is now clear that no trade deal would be signed during US president Donald Trump's first visit to India next week. However, during negotiations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump are likely to make a commitment to a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A senior diplomat privy to trade negotiations said, "We do not want to rush into a trade deal during this visit. Any deal between India and the US will have a long-term impact. We would rather look to the future and seek win-win solutions". File pic of Narendra Modi and Donald Trump at India-US bilateral meet in New York. Twitter @NarendraModi India and the US have been negotiating a trade pact for over a year now and sources say that United Stated Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and commerce minister Piyush Goyal have developed a good understanding. Sources confirmed that in the ongoing negotiations, India has asked for the restoration of Generalised System of P

New Delhi: A road, which was closed for over two months in Shaheen Bagh due to an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest, was opened by a group of demonstrators, only to be closed immediately, on Saturday, police said. "Around two hours ago, road number 9 in Shaheen Bagh was reopened by a group of protesters, but later it was closed by another group," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said. The protesters have opened a small portion of a road leading to Kalindi Kunj so that locals can pass through it with their two wheelers, police said. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/37ORkDt Press Trust of India

New Delhi: In furtherance to the travel advisory issued earlier in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the government on Saturday advised citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore. It also said screening at airports is now being planned for flight passengers coming to India from Kathmandu, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia from Monday. Currently, passengers from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan are screened at 21 designated airports in the country for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus. The decision was taken during a review meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary to take stock of the status, actions taken and preparedness of states and UTs regarding the management of novel coronavirus (COVID19) here on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said. "In furtherance to the travel advisory issued earlier, citizens are advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore," the ministry said in a statement. As on date,

In the summer of 1999, a young United States diplomat found himself inside a safe house in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, face-to-face with the patriarch of Afghanistan’s Islamist jihad. The Taliban’s minister for borders, Sirajuddin Haqqani turned out to have a well-developed sense of irony: it was, he said, “good to meet someone from the country which had destroyed my base, my madrassa, and killed 25 of my mujahideen”. “Haqqani’s assistants glared sullenly,”  a diplomatic cable records. Less than a year earlier, Al-Qaeda had bombed the United States’ embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 200. The United States responded by firing cruise missiles at jihadist camps in eastern Afghanistan. The diplomat warned that more strikes could follow unless the Taliban expelled Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Even though the Taliban would not expel Bin Laden, Haqqani responded that they had him under control. William Milam, the United States Ambassador in Islamabad, exulted: his

Aligarh: Members of the AMU students' coordination committee has begun a three-day hunger strike, seeking action against police personnel for alleged brutality during an anti-CAA stir on the campus last December and withdrawal of cases against protesters. Announcing that their 10-week-long peaceful agitation has entered a new phase, twelve students started the 72-hour hunger strike on Friday night. The panel said if their demands were not met, a group of students would launch an indefinite hunger strike at the Bab-e-Syed gate of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). They have sent a notice of their proposed strike to the authorities concerned at the university as well as the district authorities. The panel also copies of their notice to the President, prime minister and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The spokesman of the committee, Faizul Hasan, told media persons that their main demand was that an FIR be registered against the members of the police force who "indulged

Bhadohi (Uttar Pradesh): Police on Saturday gave a clean chit to local BJP MLA Ravindra Nath Tripathi in a gangrape case as "no evidence" was found against him and arrested his nephew, officials said. "Five others, who had also been named in an FIR lodged on Wednesday, were also absolved of rape charges by the district police," they said. The FIR was lodged against Tripathi and his kin on a complaint by a 40-year-old woman who had alleged that they had raped her in 2017. "During investigation, no evidence was found against the Bhadohi MLA and five others. They have been given a clean chit," Superintendent of Police (SP) Ram Badan Singh told newspersons. "Tripathi's nephew Sandeep Tiwari has been arrested on charge of rape," he said. Another member of the family, Neetesh, who had been named in the FIR, has been booked for manhandling and abusing the woman, he added. The officer said that after the woman's statement was recorded bef

New Delhi : The rule of law is probably the "most fundamental feature" of modern constitutions and its success depends on how judiciaries across the world respond to emerging challenges, Chief Justice SA Bobde said on Saturday. The CJI, while speaking at the International Judges' Conference on the subject of 'Judiciary and the Changing World' at the Supreme Court, also stressed on the need for citizens to perform their legal duties. "Probably the most fundamental feature of most modern constitutions is the idea of the rule of law," he said, adding, "Undoubtedly, the success of the rule of law in our countries depends on how the judiciaries respond to such challenges and how they emerge." Referring to Constitutional provisions, Bobde said it was often implicit in law that "legal rights have correlatives of legal duties." "A feature often neglected is a chapter on fundamental duties imposing on every citizen the duties to abid

New Delhi:  Tihar jail authorities Saturday termed as a "bundle of distorted facts" the claim by one of the four death row convicts in the Jyoti Singh gang rape and murder that he is suffering from mental illness. The authorities told Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana that CCTV footage established that the convict, Vinay Kumar Sharma, had inflicted "superficial" injuries on himself and was not suffering from any psychological disorder. The court has reserved its order on Sharma's plea seeking relief on grounds of mental illness and is likely to pronounce it shortly. "These (convict's claims) are all a bundle of distorted facts. Doctor attended to him and found there was an injury. They gave him medicine. All injuries are self-inflicted and superficial in nature," the public prosecutor representing jail authorities said. "The medical records say he is not suffering from any such mental illness and his checkup in any hospital is not

New Delhi:  China is delaying grant of clearance to India's proposal to send an Indian Air Force flight to carry relief material for people affected by coronavirus in the neighbouring country and bring back Indians from its city of Wuhan, official sources said Saturday. India was to send a C-17 military transport aircraft to Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, on 20 February but the plane could not take off as permission was not granted for the flight. Quarantine facility set by up ITBP at Chhawla area of New Delhi. PTI "China is deliberately delaying grant of clearance for the evacuation flight," a high-level source said.  When contacted, a Chinese Embassy spokesperson said there was no deliberate delay in grant of permission for the Indian flight to reach Wuhan. "The current epidemic situation in Hubei province is complicated, and the prevention and control of Covid-19 has entered into a critical stage. There is no such thing as China deliberately

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Mishra on Saturday was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and termed him as an "internationally acclaimed visionary" and a "versatile genius, who thinks globally and acts locally". Complementing the prime minister and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for doing away with 1,500 obsolete laws, Justice Mishra said India is a responsible and most friendly member of the international community under the "stewardship" of Modi. Delivering the vote of thanks at the inaugural function of the International Judicial Conference 2020 – 'Judiciary and the Changing World' at the Supreme Court, Mishra said challenges faced by the judiciary at the national and international levels are common and judiciary has a "significant role" in the ever-changing world. File photo of Justice Arun Mishra. PTI "Dignified human existence is our prime concern. We thank the versatile genius, who thinks g

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia are unlikely to be present when US First Lady Melania Trump visits a Delhi government-run school in the National Capital on 25 February, according to sources. As per the original schedule, both Kejriwal and Sisodia were to accompany Melania Trump during her visit to the school, people familiar with the matter said. The Delhi chief minister and his deputy were also to brief Melania about the "happiness curriculum" introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, sources said. When contacted, a US embassy spokesperson referred the query on the matter to the Delhi government. There was no immediate reaction from the Delhi government. US President Donald Trump, accompanied by wife Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner and a high-level delegation, will arrive in Ahmedabad around noon on 24 February for a less than 36-hour-long trip to India. From Ahmedabad, the delegation will travel

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said 1.3 billion Indians have disregarded apprehensions and "wholeheartedly" accepted recent critical judicial verdicts which were subjects of the global discussion. Speaking at the inaugural function of the International Judicial Conference 2020 – 'Judiciary and the Changing World' at the Supreme Court, Modi spoke about recent crucial judgements, in an apparent reference to path-breaking verdicts including in the politically-sensitive Ayodhya case. The Prime Minister said no country or society in the world can claim to achieve holistic development without gender justice and referred to laws on transgenders, 'triple talaq' and on the rights of 'Divyang' (persons with disabilities). He said the government has also taken steps to give rights to women in military service and in providing paid maternity leave for 26 weeks. He also hailed the Indian judiciary for redefining environmental jurisprudence to

United Nations : The UN counter-terrorism chief has said that cheap and easily accessible small arms are increasingly becoming the "weapon of choice" for many terror groups around the world posing a serious threat to international peace and security. "Insufficient international response in countering the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, the challenges that Member States face to detect and seize them, as well as porous borders, allow terrorists and criminals to move illicit weapons from one country or region to another," UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said. "Small arms and light weapons are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice of many terrorist groups around the world as they are cheap and easy to access, transfer, hide and use," he said. Representational image. Reuters It is widely acknowledged that the connection between terrorism and organised crime, including illicit small arms and ligh

Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants have been killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Saturday. The encounter took place on Friday evening in the Sangam area of Bijbehara in south Kashmir, a police official said. "Cordon and search operation was launched in Gundbaba Sangam on Friday evening on specific input about presence of militants in area during which two militants of LeT were killed," Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Vijay Kumar said. The official said that the slain ultras were being identified. "Weapons were recovered from the site of the encounter," he added. This is a developing story, more details awaited. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/37RPEZU Press Trust of India

Imphal: A mob vandalised an Assam Rifles (AR) vehicle in Manipur's Senapati district on Friday following the arrest of a cadre of the NSCN(IM), officials said. Movement of vehicles on the Mayangkhang-Senapati section of the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway was also blockaded by locals who burnt tyres in the middle of the road. AR personnel captured the cadre of the NSCN(IM) during an operation to locate culprits who had on Thursday snatched the firearm of an officer of the force in the district, officials said. Soon after news of the arrest spread, locals came out to the streets and attacked the vehicle belonging to the force. Adopting a "soft approach" to tackle the situation, the AR personnel abandoned the vehicle and left the area, the officials said. An Assam Rifles officer on Thursday came across a marked cadre of the NSCN(IM) who had violated ceasefire ground rules, leading to a hot pursuit. During the melee, the officer's AK-47 rifle was snatched but later

New Delhi : Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) students on Friday said they have called off their hunger strike against a fee hike after the administration accepted their demands. In a statement, the students said the last date for submission of second semester fees has been extended upto 31 March, 2020, or till the finalisation of the new fee structure, whichever is later. The administration has agreed to share details of the committee that will decide the new fee structure and it also ensured students' participation in the panel, they said. The suspension of nine students for organising a talk on affordable education has also been revoked, they added. The students had begun the hunger strike on Tuesday demanding an affordable fee structure. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3a5XIYP Press Trust of India

Sonbhadra: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has discovered gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes and worth Rs 12 lakh crore in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, almost five times of India's current reserve of the yellow metal. The gold deposits were found in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas here, district mining officer KK Rai said on Friday. Work on finding gold reserves in Sonbhadra was started almost two decades back in 1992-93 by the Geological Survey of India, he said, adding that auctioning of these blocks through e-tendering would start soon. The deposits in Son Pahadi are estimated to be around 2,943.26 tonnes, while that at Hardi block are around 646.16 kilograms, the official said. He added that besides gold, some other minerals have also been found in the area. As per the World Gold Council, India currently has 626 tonnes of gold reserves. The new reserves are almost five times that amount and estimated to be worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore. The Britis

In his first presidential visit to India, Donald Trump is scheduled to land in Gujarat's capital Ahmedabad on Monday and the Indian government is leaving no stone unturned in preparing the prime minister's home state to host the head of state of one of the world's most powerful nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised the US president an epic spectacle of seven million people participating in the nearly 22-kilometer roadshow from Ahmedabad airport to the newly built Motera Stadium in the city. On Thursday, Trump upped the count from seven to 10 million  lining the roads to greet him. The preparations not just include the city being scrubbed clean by government staff, fielding tens of thousands of police officers for security, but also packing the streets with Modi loyalists who will enthusiastically cheer for his guest. Trade negotiators, defence experts, diplomats, politicians and intelligence officials also have the gargantuan job to ensure the meeting between

Lucknow: One person was arrested on Friday in connection with the killing of an engineering student in the posh Gomti Nagar locality of the Uttar Pradesh capital, police said on Friday. The arrested man, Aman Bahadur, is the son of a former BSP MLA, they said, adding Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey has constituted a team to crack the case and nab the other accused. Prashant Singh (23), an undergraduate engineering student of a local college, who hailed from Varanasi, was allegedly stabbed in the chest on Thursday by five to six people at Alaknanda apartment gate in Gomti Nagar area where he had gone reportedly to meet an acquaintance. CCTV footage from the area showed a group of men stopping a car and attacking two men who are sitting in the front. A few seconds later, Singh, who was stabbed several times, was seen rushing out of the car and entering a building with his hand on the chest. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2T3WSVs Press Trust of India

Citizenship conundrum has become a leitmotif of sorts in the country's news cycle as protests, political bickering and Twitter wars over the troika of Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register, consume reams of paper and hours on prime time broadcast. While this maintains the buzz on the citizenship debate, it has also deprived the controversy of its most needed ingredient: clarity. War of documents Talk about documents and anyone in India can bury you with loads of them starting from the humble birth certificate. For instance, when an individual seeks to open a new bank account, apart from the initial amount he or she intends to deposit, the individual will need a set of documents which will be regarded as "acceptable documents as proof of identity and proof of address" anywhere in the country (except in Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Assam Service Areas.) While documents like passport, arms licence, Aadhaar among ot