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Archives for December 2016

Romania could see first female Muslim prime minister

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Social Democratic Party, which won recent elections, proposes little-known Sevil Shhaideh to take key post.

If approved by parliament, Shhaideh will become the country's first Muslim prime minister [File: EPA]

If approved by parliament, Shhaideh will become the country’s first Muslim prime minister [File: EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Romania could have its first female prime minister, an economist who is a member of the country’s small Muslim community.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday he would appoint a prime minister designate after Sunday as he needed time to assess a proposal made by the Social Democrat Party (PSD), the winners of a December 11 parliamentary election.

Liviu Dragnea, chairman of the PSD, proposed that Sevil Shhaideh take the post of prime minister. The announcement was a surprise because her name is not widely known in Romania.

Shhaideh, 52, is a party member but did not run as a member of parliament in the election. She was the minister for regional development for six months in 2015, and is currently an official in the regional development ministry.

If approved by parliament, she will also become the country’s first Muslim prime minister.

Dragnea is banned from taking the role because he has a conviction for election fraud.

‘Hard-working and loyal’

On Wednesday, Dragnea called his April 2016 conviction “unjust” and said the law that stops him from being prime minister was “profoundly unconstitutional”. The new parliament could vote to change the 2001 law that bans anyone with a conviction of holding a ministerial post.

Later Wednesday, Dragnea was elected speaker of parliament’s Chamber of Deputies while the former Senate speaker, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, was re-elected.

Dragnea, who continues as head of the party, is expected to have significant influence over a government headed by Shhaideh.

“If appointed, she would be prime minister, but the political responsibility stays with me first of all,” Dragnea said, praising Shhaideh for her knowledge of public administration and for being hard-working and loyal.

The left-leaning Social Democrats easily won the December 11 parliamentary election, but did not secure a majority and will govern with a minority partner.

Libya passenger jet hijacked, diverted to Malta

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Malta prime minister tweets of ‘potential hijack situation’ involving an internal Libyan flight diverted to Malta.

The Airbus A320 was flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to capital Tripoli [Reuters]

The Airbus A320 was flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to capital Tripoli [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A Libyan aircraft with 118 people on board has landed in Malta after being hijacked, officials in Malta and Libya confirmed.

The Airbus A320 was flying from Sebha in southwest Libya to Tripoli for state-owned airline Afriqiyah Airways, Libyan media reports said.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Malta is about 500km north of the Libyan coast.

The island’s prime minister said in a tweet on Friday that had been alerted to the “potential hijack” of the plane.

Officials at Malta’s airport told Associated Press news agency that there appeared to be two hijackers on board.

The Times of Malta newspaper reported, however, that there was one hijacker who was armed with a hand grenade.

The plane was parked on the tarmac at Malta airport and was surrounded by several army vehicles and dozens of security personnel.

Hardik Patel arrested in Jaipur

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Hardik Patel

Jaipur: Patidar leader Hardev Patel was on Friday arrested here and he tweeted that a police officer told him that this was done because of danger to his life.

Patel said he was arrested on landing at the Jaipur airport.

“Jaipur Police cited threats to my life as the reason” he was taken into custody, Patel said. He quoted an unnamed senior police officer as saying that there were “orders from above” to arrest him.

(Agencies)

CM Siddaramaiah messes up on Twitter: Confuses Sichuan with Siachen

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Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah faced a lot of embarrassment after he mixed up names of two places in a tweet.

CM Siddaramaiah wanted to tweet that he had met a Chinese delegation led by a Lee Zong from the Sichuan province in China to discuss Bengaluru’s infrastructural development. But he messed up the tweet when he used Siachen (a Himalayan glacier in the Karakoram range, on the Indian side of the Line of Control between India and Pakistan) instead of Sichuan.

However, as soon as the mistake was realized, the tweet was deleted.

Ex-TN Chief Secy’s son ‘admits to Rs 17 cr unaccounted income’

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p-rama-mohana-rao

Chennai: Income Tax officials today claimed that former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao’s son has “admitted to a total unaccounted income of about Rs 17 crore”, a day after I-T raids were carried out at the top bureaucrat’s house, office and other premises linked to his kin in connection with a tax evasion probe.

“Vivek has admitted to a total unaccounted income of about [approximately] Rs 17 crore which includes Rs five crore disclosure made by him yesterday,” a top tax official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

He said disclosure of income made by Vivek happened against the backdrop of evidence gathered by tax sleuths after they zeroed in on Shekar Reddy and his associate from whose premises cash of Rs 135 crore and 177 kg gold bars were seized recently. Vivek could not be contacted for his comment.

Rao was today replaced from the top post and Additional Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan was appointed as the new Chief Secretary. Similarly, in related searches conducted by I-T sleuths at the premises of two individuals here one of them a former IFS official who headed the state’s Environment Impact Assessment Authority the duo had also admitted unaccounted money, the official said.

“While the former IFS official has admitted to unaccounted money an income of about Rs 1.1 crore, another person has admitted to Rs 1.75 crore,” the official said, adding such disclosures by them have come close on the heels of “evidence following the Shekar Reddy case”.

To a query if they had seized anything from the duo, the official said “some seizures,” without elaborating further. Continuing its crackdown on black money post demonetisation, the Income Tax department had yesterday searched 11 locations linked to Rao, including his official chamber and residence, besides those of his son, and claimed to have seized Rs 30 lakh in new currency and five kg gold.

The searches were also conducted in Chitoor on premises of Rao’s relatives in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. IT officials had yesterday claimed Vivek had admitted to having undisclosed income of Rs five crore.

(PTI)

Lalu Prasad Yadav backs Rahul Gandhi, demands SC-Monitored probe against Modi

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lalu prasad yadav

Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has backed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi”s assertion that corporates paid crores as bribes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2013-14 and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the same.

Lalu told ANI that Prime Minister Modi, who is now completely trapped, owes an explanation to the nation.

“Rahul Gandhi has alleged Aditya Birla and Sahara Group had given ₹40 crores to Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister is completely trapped and now he will have to give an explanation. If any BJP spokesperson comes up with justification on his behalf then that would be unfair,” he added.

The RJD chief further stated that the Congress vice-president wouldn”t have made such allegations against the Prime Minister without any proof.

“Without proof, Rahul Gandhi won”t say this…or any leader won”t accuse the Prime Minister of this. It proves that the Prime Minister was involved in corruption. I demand a Supreme Court-monitored probe in this regard,” he added.

Speaking in Gujarat”s Mehsana on Wednesday, Gandhi alleged that in the records with the Income Tax, there were nothings of Sahara officials” claims that they paid Prime Minister Modi nine times between October 2013 and February 2014 and that the total amount was ₹40 crore.

He also alleged that according to documents with the IT department, the Birla Group too paid ₹12 crore to the Prime Minister.

Seeking an independent inquiry, Gandhi said that he was raising the issue “on behalf of the country”.

(Agencies)

Nigerian with about Rs 54 L in new notes intercepted at IGIA

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new-notes-india

New Delhi: A Nigerian national was found in possession of about Rs 54 lakh in new notes today at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here.

Officials said the incident was reported at about 2:30 AM when CISF personnel intercepted the Nigerian travelling to Coimbatore from here.

“He was allowed to travel after information was shared with tax and customs sleuths. A total cash of over Rs 58 lakh was detected with the Nigerian with Rs 53.78 lakh in new currency and Rs 4.29 lakh in old notes,” they said.

(PTI)

Jerusalem: 19-year-old shot protesting home demolition

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Ahmad al-Kharoubi, 19, killed during protest against home demolition by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinian rights groups say Israeli forces operate with impunity in the occupied territories [File: Alaa Badarneh/EPA]

Palestinian rights groups say Israeli forces operate with impunity in the occupied territories [File: Alaa Badarneh/EPA]

by Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian teen during clashes that erupted when soldiers arrived to demolish the home of an alleged attacker.

Soldiers opened fire on a crowd and fatally hit Ahmad al-Kharoubi, a 19-year-old Palestinian, during clashes with youth before dawn on Thursday in occupied East Jerusalem’s Kafr Aqab neighbourhood.

Including Kharoubi, the Al-Haq human rights organisation has documented the killing of at least 107 Palestinians by Israeli security forces or settlers.

“Perpetrators include soldiers (regular and so-called border police), settlers, police, settlement guards, settler escorts, private security company personnel, light train guards, undercover units and municipality guards,” Al-Haq’s Tahseen Elayyan told Al Jazeera.

An Israeli army spokesperson said the soldiers were sent to raze the home of Misbah Abu Sbeih, a 39-year-old Palestinian who was killed by Israeli security forces after he carried out a drive-by shooting on a police station in East Jerusalem, leaving an Israeli woman and a police officer dead.

“During the activity, suspects shot and hurled improvised explosive devices at Israeli forces,” the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

“In response to the threat, forces fired toward the suspect throwing an IED, resulting in his death.”

At least nine Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian assailants between January and October of this year, according to United Nations statistics.

‘Impunity is continuing’

Al-Haq’s Elayyan argued Israeli soldiers and settlers who kill Palestinians are rarely held accountable.

“Impunity is continuing,” he said, pointing to the case of Israel Shomer, an Israeli soldier who was acquitted after he shot dead 17-year Muhammad al-Kusbeh near a military checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah in 2015.

According to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din’s most recent statistics, only 3.5 percent of legal complaints about Israeli soldiers harming or killing Palestinians led to an indictment in 2014.

“We believe that the Israeli judicial system is not impartial when it comes to the rights of the Palestinians,” Elayyan added.

“This system is part of the occupation enterprise in general. The goal of these so-called investigations is to shield perpetrators.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented the destruction of at least 986 Palestinian-owned structures between January and October of this year. At least 1,501 people were displaced during that period.

In addition to Syrian and Lebanese land, Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the besieged Gaza Strip since the 1967 Middle East war.

More than half-a-million Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements – considered illegal under international law – throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

‘No attention on their actions’

Ibrahim Abrash, a writer and political analyst, said the wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen resulted in the international community paying little attention Israel’s killing of Palestinians and settlement expansions in 2016.

“Israel has it easy now with no attention on their actions,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The Palestinian Authority’s attempts to hold Israel accountable in the International Criminal Court have not produced results,” he explained.

“There’s no Palestinian strategy to face Israel, and they are focused on internal problems within and between Hamas and Fatah,” he said, referring the the two largest Palestinian political parties.

Abrash, who is based in Gaza, said he expects the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States to usher in a new period of relations between Israel and the US.

“The Trump stage will be very hard on Palestinians,” he said, citing president-elect’s decision to appoint right-wing lawyer and pro-settlement figure David Friedman as ambassador to the US.

“All of this says that Washington is not a neutral broker between the two sides in peace talks.”

In September, US President Barack Obama signed an agreement to give Israel $38bn in military aid despite public spats between Obama and right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Between 2009 and 2014, settlements were expanded by at least 23 percent.

Ashwin elated at being named ICC Cricketer of the Year

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Ravichandran-Ashwin

Dubai: After being adjudged the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Cricketer of the Year, India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday termed the award as a recognition of his performance both with the bat and ball in the last couple of years.

Ashwin+ , who was also named the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, said he was delighted to see the team on the right track in the longest format even after Mahendra Singh Dhoni retired from it.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to be awarded with this great honour. It feels great to follow the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in being named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year. To also win the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year makes it even better,” said the Chennai tweaker, who helped India thrash New Zealand 3-0 and England 4-0 at home recently.

“There are a lot of people to thank for this wonderful achievement I have made. It has been a great couple of years but this year has been even more special. What is very noticeable is the way I have bowled and batted and the way I have gone about doing my business. What is more important, as far as I am concerned, is the number of people who have gone behind my success.”

“I’d like to dedicate this award to my family. I’d like to thank ICC and most importantly my team-mates. I’d also like to thank the support staff for our success. We’ve had a great transition ever since Mahendra Singh Dhoni hung up his boots. A young captain has taken over, we fell on the right track, and we now have a new bunch of boys,” he added.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson congratulated Ashwin, saying: “It has been a memorable period for Ashwin, whose consistent all round and match winning performances have been reflected in the MRF player rankings. He is justifiably now being counted among the best spinners of his generation.

“To win both the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Test Cricketer of the Year awards is a major accomplishment. Ashwin’s performances speak for themselves and he is a deserving recipient of the honours. I congratulate him on behalf of the ICC,” he added.

(IANS)

Multiple deposits in KYC accounts allowed till Dec 30, RBI clarifies

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Black money

Mumbai: A day after the Reserve Bank withdrew the notification that barred people from depositing old notes in bank accounts more than once, the central bank on Thursday clarified that people are free to make more than one deposit till December 30.

The old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes can be deposited at bank branches or in cash deposit machines more than once till December 30, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in the updated Frequently asked questions (FAQ).

The customers should use separate pay-in-slips for making deposits in the mixed bunch of demonetised and legal tender notes, it said.

Anybody depositing more than Rs 50,000 in cash in their bank account needs to submit a copy of the PAN card in case the bank account is not seeded with the information.

The clarification on the part of the RBI comes a day after it took a U-turn on its notification of December 19 after widespread protests from the public.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had clarified the same evening on December 19 that one-time deposit would not attract any scrutiny by bankers. However, on Tuesday, he had insisted that only a one-time deposit would be allowed till December 30. On Wednesday, the RBI withdrew its norms on KYC deposits, but left it unclear whether multiple deposits would be allowed.

The RBI said that for non-KYC accounts, if a person deposits more than Rs 5,000 in withdrawn currencies, the account will be credited only after questioning him or her, in the presence of two bank officials, as to why the money was not deposited earlier. The bankers will also have to keep the explanatory statement on record for future audit trail.

Even if the non-KYC deposits are less than Rs 5,000 at a time but cumulatively exceed the amount, the bank officials have to get on record an explanation from the depositor of a non-KYC account.

The upper limit of deposits for such accounts is also restricted to Rs 50,000.

The above restrictions do not apply to deposits under the Taxation and Investment Regime for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

(IANS)

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