NEWS
DIGEST, MID-DAY
18 OCT. 2018: 08 Safar 1440:
Vol: 11, No:35
INDIA
In UP, orphan girls with Muslim names married
to Hindu boys as per Hindu rituals by administration
Lucknow:4 orphan girls with Muslim names were
married to Hindu boys as per Hindu rituals along with 27 other Hindu couples at
a mass wedding organized by the district administration at Kalyan Mandap in
Mahanagar on Wednesday under UP govt's mass marriage scheme. All the couples
had first tied nuptial knots on Tuesday in the court under the Special Marriage
Act as part of the programme held in coordination with social welfare and women
welfare depts.31 orphan girls, 4 Muslims and 27 Hindus, belonged to the Govt
women shelter home where they were living since the age between 6-10 after
being declared orphans. They were selected for mass marriage by the district
administration officials. Around 11am on Wednesday, all 31 couples took 7
rounds of the sacred fire and exchanged garlands under the mandap while pundits
recited shlokas. 4 Muslims girls who were married to Hindu boys were Rizwana,
Noori, Seema and Saba. Rizwana tied knot with Raj Kumar who was from
Shahjahanpur district, Noori wedded with Bablu from Aligarh, Seema with Umesh
Kumar Dixit and Saba with Vijay Singh, resident of Hardoi. District probation
officer Sudhakar Pandey said: "Orphan girls were brought to shelter home
when they were 6-10 years old. When they turned 18 and became eligible for
marriage, the administration decided to wed them with eligible boys. So an
advertisement was floated in newspapers. Hundreds of boys responded and applied
for marriage but only a few were selected. After their selection, we contacted
girls of shelter homes. After receiving their approvals, the mass marriage event
was organised." When asked why Muslim girls were married to Hindus and
that too with Hindu rituals, chief development officer Manish Bansal said,"You
are raising an 'unfortunate question' about religion of these orphan girls.
They have Muslim names but they had no religion while they were in shelter
home. They did not follow or performed any religious traditions or rituals.
They were first married under the Special Marriage Act before performing
rituals here at the mandap. Now after their marriage, they will follow their
husband's religion. Also Govt helped them by providing them financial help and
some essential. Couple were gifted with Rs 35,000 in their bank accounts along
with silver jewellery and other gifts." When TOI asked Seema, one of the Muslim
brides, whether she was informed about the marriage with a Hindu boy with Hindu
rituals or not, she said "Acceptance was taken for marriage after
providing backgrounds of the groom, but were not informed about the mandap
ceremony."TOI
No evidence of love jihad: NIA probe into
interfaith marriages in Kerala ends
New Delhi:NIA “examination” of interfaith
marriages in Kerala has not unearthed any evidence of coercion that can result
in prosecution in these cases, officials familiar with the matter said. One of
them added that while there may have been efforts to facilitate the conversion
of either the man or the woman involved, there was no evidence of a larger
criminal design.“NIA is not supposed to file any further report in this regard
in the Supreme Court. As far as the NIA is concerned, the matter stands closed
as the agency has not found any evidence to suggest that in any of these cases
either the man or the woman was coerced to convert,” said a senior agency
official who spoke on condition of anonymity.NIA picked 11 cases of interfaith
marriages in Kerala for examination as part of its probe into so-called cases
of “love jihad” at the instance of the SC. These 11 cases were picked up from a
list of 89 interfaith marriages that were already before law enforcement
authorities (usually because of complaints by parents) and which were referred
to the federal anti-terrorism agency by the Kerala police.The investigation
happened in the context of the celebrated Hadiya case. “At least one among 11
marriages under examination was purely a matter of relationship gone sour. In
most of the other cases we found that a similar set of people and outfits
associated with PFI were involved in helping either the man or the woman
involved in a relationship to convert to Islam, but we didn’t find any
prosecutable evidence to bring formal charges against these persons under any
of the scheduled offences of NIA, like UAPA,” added official. The official said
the Constitution of India had provided freedom to practice and promote religion
in a peaceful manner to all citizens as a fundamental right. PFI’s legal
advisor KP Muhammer Shareef labelled the concept of love jihad a “sinister
design cooked up by right wing forces” to “target the Muslim community at
large” and claimed the effort was aimed at portraying the PFI and (its
political arm), SDPI, as conduit pipes for love jihad.“Umpteen investigations
and enquiries conducted by various agencies have now found the allegation of
love jihad is obnoxious, fictitious and without any scintilla of evidence,” said
Shareef.Still, results of this investigation should not be construed as a
“clean chit” for PFI, NIA official said.HT
NIA finds no evidence of Love Jihad after probe
Bhagwat: Govt should make law for construction
of Ram temple in Ayodhya
Nagpur :Calling for early construction of Ram
temple in Ayodhya, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today demanded ‘an appropriate and
requisite law’ for it. “Govt should clear the path for construction of the Ram
temple in Ayodhya through an appropriate and requisite law. The temple
construction was necessary from the ‘self-esteem point of view’ and it will
also pave way for an atmosphere of goodwill and oneness,”he said in his annual
Vijayadashmi address in Nagpur.Bhagwat blamed politics for the delay in
construction of the temple.“This matter of national interest is being
obstructed by some fundamentalist elements and forces that play communal
politics for selfish gains.Politics is delaying the construction of Ram Mandir.
Despite such machinations, the decision on ownership of the land should be
expedited and the Govt should clear the path for the construction of the ‘grand
temple through an appropriate and requisite law’,”he said.Asserting that
construction has much to do with the sentiments of crores of people in the
country, he said, “Sangh has been associated with the sentiments of Bharatiyas,
in the efforts of constructing a magnificent Ram temple at the birthplace of
Sri Ram, the personification of the life energy of the nation.” he further
said,“Place of janmabhoomi is yet to be allocated for the construction of the
temple although all kinds of evidence have affirmed that there was a temple at
that place. There is an obvious game plan of a few elements to stall the
judgement by presenting various newer interventions in the judicial process, he
said, adding that it is nobody’s interest to test the patience of society
without any reason.”indianexpress
Bhagwat says Centre should bring ordinance to
build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya
Bhagwat on Sabarimala verdict: Premise of
tradition not taken into consideration
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today said that
“premise of the tradition that has been accepted by society and continuously
followed for years together was not taken into consideration” in the Sabarimala
case. “The version of heads of religious denominations and faiths of crores of
devotees was not taken into consideration,” RSS chief said while delivering his
speech at a Vijayadashami event in Nagpur.indianexpress
Sabarimala Protests: RSS has been intolerant
of temple’s uniqueness, says Kerala CM
In the
wake of the 24-hour hartal which was called Wednesday midnight,Section 144 of
CrPc has been imposed in 4 places across Kerala today and tomorrow. District
Collector of Pathanamthitta P.B. Nooh said the primary concern of the police is
safety of children. A day after intense protests and violence over Supreme
Court’s verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple,
doors to which opened for the first time on Wednesday since the court’s
judgment, two right-wing outfits ‘Antharashtriya Hindu Parishad’ led by ex VHP
chief Pravin Togadia and the ‘Sabarimala Samrakshana Samithi’ called for the
hartal. Outfits have been protesting against the Kerala Govt abiding by the top
court’s judgment.Women devotees and journalists along the road to Ayyappa
shrine were attacked by protesters on Wednesday. As protests intensified,
police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse agitators blocking roads
leading to Sabarimala.indianexpress
Hindu brothers don’t call me for campaigning,
there is fear: Ghulam Nabi Azad
Lucknow :Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi
Azad said that the number of Hindu candidates inviting him to campaign for them
in elections has reduced drastically in the last 4 years citing that that
people were “afraid”. “Since the days of Youth Congress, I have been
campaigning across the country from Andaman to Lakshadweep and 95% of those who
used to call me were Hindu brothers and leaders, and just 5% were Muslim
brothers,” said Azad. “But in the last four years, I have been observed that
the figure of 95 has dropped to just 20%. This means that there is something
wrong… Today people are afraid to call me… wondering what effect would I have
on the voter.”Azad was speaking at an event in Lucknow where AMU alumni were
observing the 201st birth anniversary of the University founder Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan.He said that the University was being defamed by a certain group of people
from a particular party.“People of a particular party and of a particular
thought are fomenting trouble for Kashmiri students and AMU through
controversies,” said Azad.indianexpress
Inside story of Akbar’s resignation: women
ministers told PM ‘his position has become untenable’India
New Delhi: MJ Akbar tendered his resignation
as the Minister of State for External Affairs, which was later accepted by
PM Narendra Modi. In his statement,
Akbar claimed that he had decided to quit the Govt as he had sought justice
from the court in his personal capacity and would fight the "false
accusations" in his personal capacity as well. Here’s the inside track of
what led to MJ Akbar quitting from the Govt : As per sources, PM Narendra Modi took an informed decision
regarding the matter after giving time to Akbar, who had returned from an
official trip to Nigeria on Sunday, to present his side of the story. Contrary
to expectations, Akbar’s statement on Sunday did not hint at him quitting his
post in wake of the charges. Instead, he attacked his accuser for raising the
allegations.However, it was his decision to file a defamation case against
Ramani that supposedly did not seem to have gone down well with a few ministers
of the Govt. Sources told Times Now’s Managing Editor (Politics) Navika Kumar
that in a meeting with PM Modi, 3 senior ministers – including two women
ministers- disagreed with Akbar’s decision to file the case against the
journalist and told PM that Akbar’s position had become “untenable.” Following
this, Akbar was nudged out of his office, with his resigning.timesnownews
MJ Akbar defamation case against Priya Ramani:
Matter to be heard on Oct.31
New Delhi :A Delhi court today took cognisance
of the criminal defamation complaint filed by former minister MJ Akbar against
Priya Ramani, first woman journalist to publicly accuse him of sexual misconduct.
The court said that it has taken cognisance of the offence under Section 500 of
the Indian Penal Code.The court will record the statements of Akbar and other
witnesses during the next hearing on Oct.31.Senior advocate Geeta Luthra,
representing Akbar, referred to Ramani’s tweets in her arguments before
additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal. Luthra alleged that they
have caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the former minister. Akbar
has resigned due to these allegations and they show the damage caused to his
reputation, his lawyer argued.indianexpress
#MeToo beingused to divert attention from
petrol price rise, unemployment: Raj Thackeray
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj
Thackeray has said that the ongoing #MeToo movement is a ploy to divert
attention from the skyrocketing petrol prices, dip in rupee value against
dollar and unemployment in the country.Speaking at an event in Amravati, he
discussed the #MeToo movement in India that was sparked by allegations of
sexual misconduct against Nana Patekar by Tanushree Dutta. During his speech, Thackeray
made several controversial statements. He said that if any woman faces
something unwarranted, she can approach the MNS for help, and they'll teach a
lesson to the accused. He alsoadded that women should raise their voice as and
when they face oppression and not after ten years."It seems it's being
done to divert attention from petrol price, rupee value and unemployment. If
anything like #MeToo happens, women can come to MNS. We'll teach a lesson to
accused. Women must raise their voice when they face oppression, not after 10
years," he said.IndiaToday
Assam teacher arrested for 'cooking beef' in
school kitchen
Guwahati: A teacher in lower Assam's Darrang
district was arrested for allegedly cooking beef inside the school kitchen
meant to prepare midday meal for students. The accused, Nasiruddin Ahmed, is
the head teacher of Dakhin Duliapara Lower Primary School in the
minority-dominated Dalgaon area of the district. Based on an FIR lodged by district
elementary education officer (DEEO), Ahmed has been charged with trying to
promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion intended to
outrage religious feelings. An order issued by Darrang DEEO J Tabassum said,"He
has been put under suspension by the district elementary education office with
immediate effect for violating school norms, as well as social ethics, willfully."Tabassum
said, "After preliminary investigation, it has been found that beef was
cooked on the school campus on Monday on the occasion of a management committee
meeting. Such an act not only violated the school norms, it is also not
socially healthy. There was no official permission for such a party and
students were deprived of their midday meal. So, we had no other option left
but to suspend him." Education dept. officials said police have been
informed about the matter in written as it is a sensitive issue which could
have sparked communal tension. TOI
Panjab University instructs departments to
profile Kashmiri students, PUCSC protests
New Delhi: In an order issued to its
departments and centres, Panjab University in Chandigarh has demanded that they
begin profiling Kashmiri students.An email from the Dean of University
Instructions, Professor Shankarji Jha, to all the departments of Panjab
University stated, ‘You are requested to provide information on Kashmiri
students admitted to your department/ centre/ institute to the office of the
undersigned latest by Oct.11 till 4 pm positively.’The email further stated,
‘This may be treated as most urgent/ time bound.’ The administration has asked
for the name of the student, their father’s name, class, address and contact
number.The move follows reports of the arrest of 3 Kashmiri students from the
CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology in Jalandhar.Local
authorities had alleged that the students were ‘associated with’ the militant
outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH).The Citizen spoke to Kanu Priya, the
president of the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC), who said,
‘Such details have never been sought from any department before.University
authorities have created an environment of suspicion and constant surveillance.’thecitizen
Security forces allegedly thrash some
journalists covering Srinagar encounter
Srinagar :Security forces allegedly thrashed some
media personnel who were covering an encounter with militants in the city here,
a journalist present at the spot said Wednesday. Though the police refused to
comment on the alleged incident, a PTI photojournalist present there gave a
first-hand account.There were several media personnel who were covering the
encounter when some police personnel asked them to leave, he said.However, the
media personnel stood their ground, leading to an altercation between 3-4
scribes and police, following which they allegedly thrashed three
journalists.Kashmir Press Club (KPC) condemned the incident, alleging that some
of the journalists were injured in the security forces action.KPC expressed
shock over the behaviour of the security forces and hoped that the state administration
will take note of the incident and act accordingly.PTI
J-K civic elections: 69% of 598 wards in
Kashmir Valley did not witness polling
Srinagar:The just-concluded urban local body
polls in Kashmir recorded a poor voter turnout but it will perhaps be
remembered for nearly 70% of wards not witnessing any polling as there was no
candidate at all or some of them winning unopposed.According to data compiled
by the election department of J&K , of 598 wards spanning across 40
municipal bodies in 10 districts of the valley, polling was held only in 186
wards. The remaining 412 wards - constituting 68.89% of the total - did not
require any voting. Govt had made elaborate security arrangements to secure
polling staff and polling stations but kept the identity of candidates, who
dared to defy militant threats, a secret for security reasons.As a result,
there was no campaigning for these elections and in most cases the candidates
chose to remain anonymous. Over 30% of wards in these 40 urban local bodies
across Kashmir valley will remain unrepresented.No nomination papers were received
from 181 wards (30.26%) for the elections. Most of these wards were in the
third phase of polls - 62, followed by 56 in the second phase, 44 in the last
and 19 in first phase.PTI
Bhima-Koregaon case: Gautam Navlakha moves
Bombay HC to quash FIR
Civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha,
arrested in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima case and his alleged links with
Maoists, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash the case lodged
against him by Pune Police.In his petition filed earlier this month, Navlakha
urged the high court to quash FIR lodged against him, claiming there was no
evidence against him and that he was being falsely implicated.His petition will
be heard Friday by the high court's division bench of Justices Ranjit More and
Bharti Dangre.Navlakha, prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Arun
Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves and trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj were
arrested in August this year by the Pune police.PTI
Where is my husband? Gujarati Muslim woman
asks Modi
New Delhi/Bhuj:For the last three months,
23-year-old Asiyana has been running from pillar to post in search of her
husband, Majid Adam Theba. She claims that Majid was badly assaulted by police
before being taken away from their residence in Bhuj, Gujarat. When she had
intervened, she was also assaulted by the cops even though she was
pregnant.Asiayana was in Delhi on Monday to stand in solidarity with missing
JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s mother and also to raise her own issue. It was her
first visit to Delhi, near the Parliament and call for help and
justice.Addressing an event held in solidarity with Najeeb’s mother Fatima
Nafees near the Parliament House, an angry Asiyana said,“When I heard of other
cases quite similar to mine, I came over to raise a collective voice. It is
unimaginable to feel the emotions of a mother who has been spending sleepless
nights as her son has mysteriously disappeared without a trace or and that of a
wife, whose husband has been taken away from her without any reason. I want to
ask our PM Narendra Modi ji, who also
hails from Gujarat. Where is he? Why is he not taking note of such cases? I am
also failing to understand why Sonia Gandhi is also silent? I have come Delhi
for the first time to fight for my husband’s case. My husband was brutally beaten
up, thrashed and taken away from our home, in front of me. Does the
Constitution give certain people the right to beat others in such a way along
with his wife? Has Modi ji given such right to his Govt (BJP Govt in Gujarat)
to beat up a woman, about whose rights he keep pledging?”Her voice quivered as
Asiyana took on to speak for the first time in public. During her debut speech
she raised questions about the whereabouts of her 27-year-old husband, a daily
wager, who had been taken away by a group of policemen to not return till date.
Bhuj police had allegedly rampaged the couple’s residence in Sanjognagar, a
semi-slum area in Bhuj and beat up both of them before taking Majid away with
them on the night of July 19, earlier this year.She alleged that without
stating any reason the police beat them. She was pregnant at that time. Since
then she never got to see her husband.Caravan Daily
SIM cards issued via Aadhaar verification
won’t be disconnected, re-verification of KYC voluntary: UIDAI-DoT
New Delhi :Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI and Department
of Telecommunication (DOT) issued a statement today clarifying that
re-verification of mobile numbers done through Aadhaar is not needed and is voluntary.
Telecom providers will not delete authentication logs already done via Aadhaar
eKYC before the Supreme Court judgement that prohibited enrollment through
Aadhaar-based authentication for issuing fresh SIM cards, the statement
said.Refuting claims of a news report that 50 crore mobile users are at the
risk of disconnection, joint statement by the UIDAI and DoT said mobile number
issued via Aadhaar eKYC will not be disconnected and those who wish to replace
Aadhaar eKYC may request the service provider for delinking of her/his Aadhaar
by submitting fresh officially valid documents (OVDs) as per earlier DoT
circulars on mobile KYC. The statement assured that re-verification of mobile
subscribers is voluntary and biometrics obtained via Aadhaar eKYC prior to the
judgment will not be deleted.The (UIDAI) had given time till Oct.15 to telecom
operators for complying with the apex court order and asked them to close
Aadhaar-based verification for their services. Reliance Jio has almost its
entire subscriber base enrolled through Aadhaar-based authentication and other
telecom operators too started following the process in 2017.indianexpress
Didn’t get permission to interrogate
Prajapati: Retired policeman to court
Mumbai:Retired Gujarat policeman VL Solanki,
who had conducted the preliminary enquiry in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged
fake encounter case in 2006, told the court on Wednesday that he had attempted
to seek permission from his seniors to interrogate Tulsiram Prajapati, but he
did not get a go-ahead.“I had made an attempt to seek permission from IGP CID
(Crime) Geeta Johri, to visit Udaipur Central prison to record the statement of
Tulsiram, but could not get permission,” Solanki told the special
court.According to Solanki’s statement recorded by CBI in 2010, he had said
that he had written a letter to Johri – earlier named as accused in the case but
discharged in 2015 – on Dec 18, 2006, requesting permission to examine
Prajapati, Sohrabuddin’s associate and eyewitness to his alleged abduction in
Nov2005.Prajapati was, however, killed 10 days after this letter was written,
in an alleged fake encounter, the CBI claims. In his statement in 2010, Solanki
had said that Johri was convinced about giving him the consent to examine
Tulsiram. indianexpress
Jaswant Singh’s Son Manvendra Joins Congress
in Setback to BJP in Poll-bound Rajasthan
Jaipur:Manvendra Singh, son of veteran BJP
leader Jaswant Singh, joined Congress in a significant political development
ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan.He met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi
before joining the party in the presence of leaders, including Ashok Gehlot,
Sachin Pilot, Avinash Pande and Randeep Surjewala. The party announced the move
at a press conference."I met Rahul Gandhi in the morning and he welcomed
me into the Party.I have confidence that my supporters will continue to support
me," Manvendra said. Congress leaders believe his joining the party will
help bring in Rajput votes in the assembly polls. The move came after Manvendra
declared he would quit BJP in his 'Swabhiman Rally' held in Barmer last month
where he had said "Kamal ka phool, badi bhool".BJP said that the decision
will not have any impact on the party's prospects in western Rajasthan."It
is a politically wrong decision of Manvendra which will have no impact on BJP.Rajput
votes have been with BJP and will remain with us,"Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Rajendra Rathore said.News18
RSS asks BJP to drop 78 MLAs weeks ahead of
polls
Bhopal: Feedback from RSS has left BJP
concerned barely 6 weeks ahead of MP assembly polls. Sources say RSS has
suggested dropping 78 sitting MLAs and even advised that CM Shivraj Singh
contest from Govindpura seat in Bhopal rather than Budhni. Govindpura is a BJP
bastion where ex CM Babulal Gaur has had an undefeated eight terms since 1980.
While no BJP leader came on record on this, sources said that the Sangh Parivar
has urged the ruling party to replace 78 candidates after poor feedback on
their performance. This was among the issues discussed at a meeting of BJP
state election committee, where the party state top brass agreed that only
potential winners will be chosen and no other factor will be considered. The
party high command also said no candidate can be dubbed as ‘tainted’ before he
or she is convicted in court.TOI
Haj 2019 application process begins
Applications for next year’s Haj pilgrimage
will be accepted online from Thursday and the process will be fully digital,
the Haj Committee of India announced yesterday. Union Minister for Minority
Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the
pilgrimage will be completely free of subsidy.Subsidy was scrapped by the Union
Govt earlier this year.Haj Committee of India, which makes arrangements for the
annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, is a statutory body of the Minority Affairs
Ministry Speaking at Central Haj House, Naqvi said the online application
process for the Haj 2019 will start from today and end on Nov.17. The early
start will ensure a smoother process and better facilities for pilgrims, he
said.Mumbai Mirror
Turkey, India must spread democratic values in
world:Visiting Indian delegation
Ankara:An Indian delegation has called on Turkish and Indian
Govt s to spread the strong democratic values across the world.“India and
Turkey have to strengthen the democratic values around the world,” the
delegation said during their visit to Anadolu Agency HSRQ in capital Ankara.The
delegation -- consisting of Prof. P. Koya, managing editor at Thejas daily;
E.M. Abdur Rahiman, national executive member of PFI; M.K. Faizi, president of SDPI;
and Dr. T.A. Rehmani, secretary of SDPI -- came Turkey to attend a conference
on Palestine.Both countries feature as an example for “strong democratic
values”, they said.Indian democracy is the largest in the world and Turkish
democracy is the strongest in the Middle East, they asserted. Touching
people-to-people relations between both countries, they said: “There has been a
very strong relation between Turkish and Indian people. And the evidence is the
Urdu language itself, which is a mix of Turkish and Persian.” On the close relation between the languages of Turkish
and Indian, particularly Urdu, they said at least 10,000 or more words are
common in Turkish and Urdu.“We should have cultural centers in Istanbul and
Ankara and some big cities,” they added. They also said there should also be
Turkish cultural centers in the Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai.Anadolu Agency
Major blow to Indian IT firms in US: Donald
Trump’s planned H-1B visa rule changes to hurt Indians
Washington :Trump administration has said it
is planning to “revise” the definition of employment and specialty occupations
under the H-1B visas, a move which will have a detrimental impact on Indian IT
companies and small and medium-sized contractual firms mostly owned by
Indian-Americans. The H-1B visa, most sought-after among Indian IT
professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ
foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical
expertise.The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of
employees each year from countries like India and China.Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) said On Wednesday that the US Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) plans to come out with its new proposal by Jan, 2019.It will
“propose to revise the definition of specialty occupation” to increase focus on
obtaining the best and the brightest foreign nationals via the H-1B programme.
It will also “revise the definition” of employment and employer-employee
relationship to “better protect” US workers and wages, the DHS said. Such a
move, which is part of the Unified Fall Agenda of the Trump administration,
will have a detrimental impact on the functioning of Indian IT companies in the
US and also small and medium-sized contractual companies in the IT sector,
which are mostly owned by Indian-Americans.PTI
Urdu Newspapers Saw Bigger Cut in Ads Under
Modi Regime: Study
New DelhiIn the last four and half years of
the Modi Govt , critic papers like Indian Express have seen massive cuts in
Govt ads while RSS mouthpieces like Panchjanaya and Organizer have witnessed a
phenomenal rise in their ad spend share, says an investigative story of
Cobrapost.com. Language-wise, however, Urdu papers are at the biggest loss
under the current BJP Govt at the centre. As per the study, 54% Urdu papers have seen
cut in their ad share by almost 50% over the past 3 years. This may be because
of discrimination along communal lines.The study has also found that papers
with owners close to the ruling party have higher shares in advertising spend.
It has specifically mentioned RSS mouthpieces like Panchjanaya and Organizer
that, the study says, have witnessed a phenomenal rise in their ad spend share.
Among papers in top 10 languages, Urdu papers have been the bigger victim of ad
cut since BJP came to power at the centre.“Out of total 619 Urdu papers, 54% of
the papers faced a cut in Govt ad spend share of more than 50% over three years
after NDA Govt came to power. While across all languages, on average 42 % of
the newspapers faced more than 50 % cut in ad spend share in the same period.
At the same time, only 10 % of the Urdu newspapers saw an increase in
advertising spend share of more than 50 percent, while on average 14 % of the
newspapers saw an increase of more than 50 percent,” says the
study.caravandaily
36 children rescued from unlicensed
madrassa:TOI report
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/36-children-rescued-from-unlicensed-madrassa/articleshow/66269678.cms
Chennai: Child Welfare Committee members
rescued 36 children from a madrassa in Vettuvankeni, housed in the facility
though it had neither registration nor documents. The children, aged between 7
and 16 years, were reportedly brought to the madrassa from Bihar three months
ago. All of them hailed from families suffering from abject poverty. The
families sent the children after a Maulvi visited their houses and promised to
take full charge of their children's education in Chennai. The man, whom
officials of Kancheepuram Child Welfare Committee suspect could be an agent, is
now absconding.The children have now been moved to a registered children's home
in Karapakkam and process is under way to reunite them with their families. The
committee has also lodged an FIR against madarassa director MH Ansar at the
local police station. Following complaints about the madrassa from Childline,
members from the CWC went to the home and found the children had been kept in
cramped and unsanitary conditions. When Ansar was quizzed, he showed the
officials letters written in Hindi, obtained from their families mentioning
that they allowed their children to be educated at the Chennai facility.
"But the madrassa lacks facilities required for a school or a child care
home," said Zaheeruddin Mohamad, member of the committee. TOI
Ex- CM
ND Tiwari dies on his 93rd birthday
Former UP
and Uttarakhand CM ND Tiwari dies
in Delhi on Thursday. He was 93.He was admitted to the Max Super Speciality
Hospital in Saket.
WORLD
Saudi transfers $100m to US State Dept .as
Khashoggi crisis deepens
When US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew
into Riyadh to discuss the disappearance and likely death of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia transferred $100m to the State Department for US
efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, the New York Times reported. While
the funding was approved earlier in the summer, critics have viewed the timing
of the transfer payment with suspicion.“The timing of this is no coincidence,” a
US official told NYT.US State Dept. envoy for the anti-IS coalition said in a
statement on Wednesday that they “expected the contribution to be finalized in
the fall time frame”.“The specific transfer of funds has been long in process
and has nothing to do with other events or the secretary’s visit,” envoy Brett
McGurk said. White House has not seemed alarmed amid a barrage of questions
about Khashoggi's disappearance, what Saudi officials know about it and its
close ties to Saudi rulers and the country's powerful crown prince, Mohammed
bin Salman, in particular.US President Donald Trump has called for people to
give the Saudis the benefit of the doubt, stressing Washington's business and
geopolitical interests in staying close to Riyadh.middleeasteye
Mounting evidence points to crown prince’s
involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance
Trump administration and the Saudi royal
family are searching for a mutually agreeable explanation for the death of
journalist Jamal Khashoggi— one that will avoid implicating Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, who is among the president’s closest foreign allies,
according to analysts and officials in multiple countries. But it will be
difficult for the young ruler to escape scrutiny, as mounting evidence points
not only to the Saudi Govt ’s knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate, but also to a
connection by Mohammed to his disappearance.US intelligence reports, accounts
from Khashoggi’s friends, passport records and social media profiles paint a
picture of a brutal killing that at least had its roots in Mohammed’s desire to
silence Khashoggi, a former palace insider turned critic of Govt and the prince
in particular.The analysts and officials said it was inconceivable that such a
brazen operation as the one alleged by Turkish officials, involving a team of
15 agents sent to Istanbul,who then killed and dismembered Khashoggi, could have been pulled off by a
group of “rogue killers,”as Trump speculated this week, moments after a phone
call with Saudi’s King Salman. Even one of the president’s closest advisers,
Rudolph W. Giuliani, said many senior members of the administration concluded
more than a week ago that Saudis had killed Khashoggi. Washington Post
Saudi bars Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
from visiting Mecca
Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing pilgrimage
visas for Palestinians in Lebanon who hold refugee travel documents,
effectively barring tens of thousands of Palestinians from visiting Mecca and
Medina, the two most important religious sites for Muslims, Middle East Eye can
reveal.An official at Saudi consul's office in Beirut confirmed to MEE that
following a decision by Saudi Foreign Ministry in Riyadh, they had informed
tourism companies in Lebanon that no Hajj and Umrah visas would be issued to
Palestinians on their refugee travel documents - a decision that became
effective on 12 September."Palestinian refugees [in Lebanon] can now get
visas on a Palestinian Authority passport," official said. "There are
Palestinians who already applied for Umrah visas on their PA passports after
the decision was made and they got visas to travel [to Saudi]. I do not have an
exact number for them," the official added.Official said that Saudi
Foreign Ministry had informed the occupied West Bank-based PA of its
decision.It is not true that we will issue Palestinian passports for any
refugee in Lebanon to get a visa for Umrah or any other sort of visa. Ashraf
Dabbour, PA ambassador in Beirut told MEE that the embassy knew about the Saudi
visa decision through unofficial channels by word of mouth from Palestinian
local figures.But he denied that the PA would issue travel documents for
refugees in Lebanon wishing to travel to Saudi.middleeasteye
Former Yemen allies furious as UAE
assassination campaign exposed
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-islah-members-react-outrage-uae-mercenary-report-1628186504
Sanaa:Since 2015,al-Islah, Yemeni branch of
the Muslim Brotherhood, and UAE have been fighting against Houthi rebels in an
attempt to prop up the internationally recognised Govt of President Abd Rabbuh
Mansour Hadi.But on Tuesday,Buzzfeed revealed that Emiratis had hired a team of
American and Israeli mercenaries to assassinate members of the Islahi
leadership - enraging the influential party and exposing the UAE's presence in
Yemen to fierce criticism.It has also placed Saudi Arabia, which leads an
anti-Houthi coalition and is closely allied to both the Islahis and Emiratis,
in a deeply uncomfortable position. "Although the announced aim of the
Emirates in Yemen is to support the legitimate Govt , it fights legitimacy with
all its might," Issa Qadhi, a member of al-Islah in Taiz, told MEE.Instead
of prioritising the defeat of the Iran-allied Houthi rebels, Qadhi said, "UAE
made the annihilation of the al-Islah party the first aim of its presence in
Yemen"."UAE is willing to destroy the whole country and bring
mercenaries from around the world to annihilate al-Islah," he
added."UAE is cunning but God does not help the cunning to
succeed."Abu Dhabi has long considered the Muslim Brotherhood an enemy, as
has Saudi Arabia. However, Riyadh has decades-long ties with al-Islah, with the
party an effective client throughout Ali Abdullah Saleh's 20-year rule of a
united Yemen.middleeasteye
Elite American soldiers, intelligence
operatives hired to assassinate targets in Yemen in 2015: report
Maldives opposition seeks to bar Prz from
leaving country
Opposition in Maldives asked the police to bar
President Abdulla Yameen from leaving the country hours after he announced
plans to step down in the face of a likely defeat in a court case challenging
his election loss. Yameen, who presided over a five-year crackdown targeting
opposition, media and rights activists, "must not be allowed to leave the
country" without facing justice over allegations of corruption, opposition
lawyer Hassan Latheef told reporters in the capital Male late on
Wednesday."We are receiving credible reports Yameen may leave the country
at any minute," the lawyer said outside police headquarters, urging the
police to "stop Yameen's departure given ongoing investigations into
allegations of corruption".Police could not be reached for comment
immediately.Ibrahim Muaz Ali, spokesperson for Yameen, dismissed the
opposition's claim, saying the president "will never flee and was ready to
cooperate with any investigation", according to paper Mihaaru.aljazeera
Abbas meets with liberal Zionist lobby group J
Street
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
yesterday met with the leadership of liberal Zionist advocacy group J Street at
his HQRS in Ramallah, reported the Times of Israel.Abbas welcomed the
delegation, led by J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben Ami, expressing his
“appreciation for their efforts to support the peace process within American
society”, including the organisation’s letter to the White House urging a
reversal of decision to end funding for UNRWA.“We distinguish between America
and the current American administration that has brought the peace process to a
dead end,” Abbas told the group.The meeting was attended by PLO Executive
Committee members Ziad Abu Amr and Ahmad Majdalani, PA General Intelligence
Services chief Majid Faraj, Fatah Central Committee member Hussein Al-Sheikh
and Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasma, according to reports.MEMO
HRW: Syria regime preventing return of
displaced refugees
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181018-hrw-syria-regime-preventing-return-of-displaced-refugees/
Human Rights Watch has said that Syrian regime
is preventing internally displaced people in areas which were previously held
by opposition forces from returning to their homes and properties.The organisation
quoted a resident of Qaboun town; a formerly opposition-held area as saying
that Govt forces were demolishing their properties without warning and without
providing them with alternative housing or shelter.The rights watchdog said it
has analysed satellite images over Qaboun neighbourhoods which showed extensive
demolitions that began in May 2017 after the fighting ended there. Deputy
Middle East Director at HRW Lama Faqih said:“Russia and Syria are calling on
people to return to attract reconstruction funding, but as always with the
Syrian Govt, reality is much different.”middleeastmonitor
ICC warns Israel: Destroying Khan Al-Ahmar
could be ‘war crime’
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda yesterday warned Israel against demolishing the Palestinian
Bedouin village of Khan Al-Ahmar and displacing its residents saying the action
could constitute a “war crime”.“Extensive destruction of property without
military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute
war crimes under the Rome Statute,” Bensouda said in a statement.“I continue to
keep a close eye on the developments on the ground and will not hesitate to
take any appropriate action,” she added. Meanwhile, clashes broke out on
Wednesday between dozens of Palestinian youth and foreign solidarity activists
in the village of Al-Khan Al-Ahmar and the Israeli army forces who stormed the
village.MEMO
Study: Polluted water main cause of death in
Gaza
More than a quarter of illnesses in Gaza are
caused by water pollution, a new study has said, noting that this is the main
cause of mortality in the coastal enclave that has endured an Israeli siege
since 2007.The study, which the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a copy of,
was carried out by RAND Corporation, an American NGO. It said that it reached
these findings four years ago and that “since that time these numbers have
continued to grow”. Based on the report, Haaretz said that the collapse of
water infrastructure has led to a sharp rise in germs and viruses such as
rotavirus, cholera and salmonella.Report said the situation is worsening due to
repeated Israeli operations in Gaza which started in 2008.MEMO
Chief of Israel army meets Saudi, Bahrain,
Egypt, Jordan counterparts
Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot has met
with his counterparts from several Arab countries during the Counter–Violent
Extremist Organisations conference held in Washington, Quds Press reported. According
to Israel’s KAN public TV, Eisenkot met with Saudi Arabia’s Chief of Staff
General Fayyad Bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili on the sidelines of the conference
yesterday.They discussed the “common Iranian threat”, KAN reported and said
that they came out with a “conformed Saudi-Israeli vision about how to deal and
confront the Iranian threat.”Meanwhile, Quds Press reported KAN saying Eisenkot
appeared, in a photo from the dinner held during the conference, sitting on the
same table with the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Mohamed Farid,
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Jordan Mahmoud Abdul Halim Freihat
and the Chief of Staff of Bahrain Dhiab Bin Saqr Al Nuaimi.middleeastmonitor
Report:Iraq’s Shia militias partnering with IS
militants
Iraqi Shia militia is absorbing former Daesh
fighters into their ranks, US magazine Foreign Policy has claimed, citing
interviews with several Iraqi Govt officials and activists. Popular
Mobilisation Force(PMF), exclusively Shia faction that played a significant
role in the 3-year war against the Islamic State militants, has reportedly
started to join forces with some of their former opponents, in an effort to
expand their influence into Sunni-majority areas previously held by Daesh. Considered
by many as an Iranian proxy, PMF militias constitute a major force, with a
coalition of allied groups known as Fatah Alliance, securing 48 seats in 320-seat
Iraqi parliament earlier this year. PMF won an official recognition as a
national force late 2016, coming under the command of PM , who is also the
supreme commander of the armed forces.In an attempt to expand further, the PMF
has looked to broaden its recruits.Badr Organisation, one of the largest
militias is believed to have recruited some 30 ex-Daesh fighters in the town of
Jalula alone, while Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, one of the most extreme PMF factions has
initiated 40 members from the same area, a disputed region between the Iraqi
Govt and Kurdish forces.For ex-Daesh militants, the opportunity to work within
the PMF allows many to return to their hometowns from which they had been
ousted. Many locals had also joined the so-called Islamic State for financial
reasons after post-war chaos in Iraq failed to provide them with stable jobs.
When Daesh was subsequently defeated, many turned to the PMF for employment,
being unable to otherwise join official security forces or apply for other
positions.However, some senior members of Daesh are also believed to have
entered PMF’s ranks.According to Kurdish internal security forces, ex Daesh
commander Mutashar Al-Turki, who led battle against the Peshmerga in 2014, is
one such recruit.Some PMF factions have denied the existence of former Islamic
State fighters in their battalions, with others admitting that whilst some had
joined, they were dismissed after their links to Daesh became known. However
other groups admitted that militants had been absorbed and changed their
allegiances, with one citing Mutashar Al-Turki as an example of a “good man”
who was now charged with securing town of Tawuq against other militants.MEMO
UN Syria envoy to step down next month
United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura
told the Security Council today that he plans to step down at the end of
November for personal reasons after more than four years in the role.He is the
third person to fill the job during the more than seven-year Syrian conflict.
His predecessors – ex UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and veteran Algerian
diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi – both quit frustrated by global deadlock over how to
end the Syrian war.De Mistura is a veteran Italian-Swedish diplomat who has had
a 40-year career with the UN, including a number of high-profile roles.
Latterly he also served as Italy’s deputy foreign minister.MEMO
School in Russian-annexed Crimea hit by deadly
attack
A student has attacked a vocational college in
the Russian-annexed peninsula, Crimea, killing at least 19 people before
killing himself, according to authorities. Russia's Investigative Committee
said CCTV footage showed 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov entering Kerch
Polytechnic College with a rifle on Wednesday and firing at students.Sergei
Astrankin, the director of emergency medicine for Crimea, was cited by Russian
state television as saying the death toll stood at 19, excluding the killer.The
incident in Kerch, a city of 147,000 people, was initially reported as a gas
explosion and a possible "terrorist" attack. But the committee later
said it was a case of mass murder.Dozens of people were also injured in the
attack. aljazeera
Facebook 'Portal' video chat speaker to share
your data with advertisers: Report
In yet another controversy surrounding
Facebook and its users' privacy, reports surfaced, saying that Facebook's smart
video chat speaker "Portal" will share data about your calls and apps
you use to advertisers on other platforms owned by the social media giant.
According to a report in ReCode, Facebook that last week said that no data will
be collected through Portal and shared for targeted advertising has now taken a
U-turn. "Portal voice calling is
built on the Messenger infrastructure, so when you make a video call on Portal,
we collect the same types of information (i.e. usage data such as length of
calls, frequency of calls) that we collect on other Messenger-enabled
devices," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying. IANS
FLASH VIEWS & NEWS
Jamal Khashoggi: What Arab world needs most is
free expression: Jamal Khashoggi, washington post
Khashoggi case: Is Saudi-Turkish investigation
a mere formality?Linah Alsaafin
India's NRC is a Global Clarion Call for
Understanding Identity Politics:Prithvi Hirani and Mathew D. Rees
Exclusive for Cobrapost: Govt Curtails Ads to
Curtail Press Freedom
Central university teachers may now be
dismissed for speaking against govt : UGC Order: Logical Indian Crew
State vandalism:Renaming of Allahabad is an
act of erasure of history and memory. It speaks of an exclusionary politics:
Editorial, indianexpress
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Anwarulhaq (Released at: 5:17 PM)
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