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Another shocker from Bengaluru : Men on scooter molest woman on New Year

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shame

Bengaluru: In yet another shocking incident of molestation in Bengaluru, two men on a scooter blocked a young woman’s path off Kammanahalli 5th Main Road, and then groped her, just hours into the New Year.

The CCTV footage of the video shows the accosted woman getting off an auto rickshaw and walking towards her home, when one of the two men suddenly appears in her way and begins to molest her.

As she resists, her molester forces her to the side of the road where his companion is sitting on a scooter. The two men then molest her again before she flees.

The incident is said to have taken place around 2:30 am on Sunday and was recorded by a camera installed at a house. The residents of the area brought the footage to the notice of some media houses and informed the police.

On New Year’s Eve, several men molested women celebrating on MG Road and Brigade Road in the presence of 1500 policemen, in an incident which has now sparked outrage from the political fraternity, filmstars and the general public.

(Agencies)

Poll schedule for five states announced, UP votes in 7 phases

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Nasim Zaidi- Chief Election Commisioner. File photo: PTI

Nasim Zaidi- Chief Election Commisioner. File photo: PTI

New Delhi: The high-stakes assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases between February 11 and March 8, while Punjab and Goa will go to polls together on February 4, Uttarakhand on February 15 and Manipur in two phases on March 4 and 8, with counting to be held on March 11.

Announcing the poll schedule for five states, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said the seven-phased UP Assembly polls for 403 constituencies will be held on February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, March 4 and 8.

He said over 16 crore people will participate in these polls for a total of 690 constituencies in five states, for which the Commission has set up 1.85 lakh polling stations, which are 15 per cent more than those set up in 2012 polls.

The CEC flanked by the two Election Commissioners A K Joti and O P Rawat announced that the poll process will commence with the issue of notification on January 11 for Punjab and Goa polls where candidates can start filing their nominations.

“The Model Code of Conduct will come into immediate effect and will apply on political parties and state governments concerned, besides the Central government in terms of announcements in these states,” Zaidi told reporters.

The CEC said candidates will have to open a fresh bank account for all election expenses and all expenses above Rs 20,000 will be made through cheques from their respective accounts. He added that all donations will also be accepted through cheques.

The maximum limit for expenses for each candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand is Rs 28 lakh, while that in Goa and Manipur is Rs 20 lakh, he said.

The first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections covering 73 constituencies in 15 districts will be held on February 11, while 67 constituencies spread over 11 districts will go to polls on February 15 in Phase II.

Similarly, for Phase III covering 69 constituencies in 12 districts of the states, polls will be held on February 19 and Phase IV and Phase V will be held on February 23 and February 27, covering 53 and 52 constituencies respectively.

Phase VI of UP polls covering 49 will be held on March 4 and the last phase covering 40 seats will be held on March 8.

The assembly polls in Punjab and Goa with 117 and 40 constituencies respectively, will be held in one go on February 4, with the poll process being set rolling on January 11 with the filing of nominations.

Uttarakhand with 70 assembly constituencies will go to polls in one go on February 15, while Manipur will have polling in two phases on March 4 and 8.

The poll process will start in Uttarakhand on January 20, while that for Manipur will commence on February 11 with the issue of notification, where the nominations will start.

Zaidi said the use of black money in these elections is expected to reduce post demonetisation, but use of other illegal inducements in different forms may see an increase.

He said for the first time the EC will issue Standard Operating Procedures for the first 72 hours of poll process after announcement of polls and for the last 72 hours before polling to ensure that the poll machinery is set rolling and activated.

The EC has also for the first time made it mandatory for every candidate contesting these polls to file another affidavit in the form of a “No demand certificate” declaring any pending electricity, water, telephone bills and rent for government accommodation in their possession in last ten years.

The CEC said candidates will also make a declaration while filing their nominations on their being a citizen of India and having not possessed citizenship of any other country.

The affidavit is in compliance with a Delhi High Court ruling in this regard and failure to file it will lead to defects of substantial nature during scrutiny of nomination papers, Zaidi said.

As part of another first of its kind initiative, the EC will accept online the service votes of defence, para-military personnel and those posted in missions abroad. This comes after the success of an experiment in Puducherry.

Zaidi said VVPAT machines will be used in increasing number in select areas during these assembly polls and Goa will be saturated with VVPAT.

While Electronic Voting Machines will be used in all polling stations, the ballot paper on EVM machines will for the first time carry photographs of candidates along with their names and poll symbols.

The Commission will issue photo voter slips to voters ahead of polls and will for the first time also distribute a colourful booklet that will guide the voters on date and time of polls and location of polling stations, besides Dos and Don’ts for them.

To encourage more participation of women in election management, the EC will also have some all-woman polling stations this time around, besides making all polling stations disabilities-friendly.

The tenure of Punjab, Goa and Manipur assemblies are ending on March 18, while that of Uttarakhand will end on March 26 and Uttar Pradesh Assembly on May 27.

Of the total 690 constituencies going to polls in these five states, 133 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 23 for Scheduled Tribes.

(Agencies)

Police question Israeli PM Netanyahu as part of corruption probe

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Investigators quiz prime minister over whether he was offered gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars from businessmen.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu © Sebastian Scheiner / Reuters

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu © Sebastian Scheiner / Reuters

by Al Jazeera

Police have grilled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours on suspicion of receiving gifts from businessmen, as part of a corruption probe that has shaken the country’s politics.

Investigators quizzed Netanyahu on Monday at his residence in central Jerusalem “on suspicion of receiving benefits”, a police spokesman said afterwards, adding there were no further details to give.

Ahead of the questioning, Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing and told his political opponents to put any “celebrations” on hold.

The justice ministry said in a statement that officers from a police anti-corruption unit carried out the questioning, adding that Netanyahu was “suspected of having received gifts from businessmen”.

The long-running corruption inquiry has looked into whether wealthy Israeli and foreign businessmen have offered gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars as well as another unspecified issue, according to media reports.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reportedly decided to upgrade the inquiry to a criminal probe, although he has yet to confirm this.

Months-long inquiry

Earlier on Monday, screens were mounted at the entrance to the compound in central Jerusalem in an apparent bid to shield the investigators’ arrival.

“We hear all the media reports. We see and hear the festive spirit and atmosphere in television studios and in the corridors of the opposition,” Netanyahu told lawmakers from his Likud party on Monday, according to a video posted to his Facebook page.

“I want to tell them to wait for the celebrations. Do not rush. I told you and I repeat: There will be nothing because there is nothing. You will continue to inflate hot air balloons and we will continue to lead the state of Israel.”

Police have carried out the probe in secret over some eight months and recently made an important breakthrough, reports said. About 50 witnesses are said to have been questioned.

In July, Mandelblit said he had ordered a preliminary examination into an unspecified affair involving Netanyahu, with no details given.

US billionaire and World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder has been among those questioned in the probe over gifts he allegedly gave Netanyahu and alleged spending on trips for him, Israeli media reported.

Lauder, whose family founded the Estee Lauder cosmetics giant, has long been seen as an ally of Netanyahu, who in the late 1990s put him in charge of negotiating with then Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.

Netanyahu has acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was sentenced to eight years in prison over a scam amounting to 283 million euros ($297m) involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and taxes on them.

Netanyahu’s office said he had received $40,000 in contributions from Mimran in 2001, when he was not in office, as part of a fund for public activities, including appearances abroad to promote Israel.

He has also come under scrutiny over an alleged conflict of interest in the purchase of submarines from a German firm.

Media reports have alleged a conflict of interest over the role played by the Netanyahu family lawyer, David Shimron, who also acts for the Israeli agent of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp.

Beyond those issues, Israel’s state comptroller released a critical report in May about Netanyahu’s foreign trips, some with his wife and children, between 2003 and 2005 when he was finance minister.

Syria rebels freeze negotiations, saying truce violated

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Free Syrian Army and other groups pull out of discussions about Kazakhstan peace talks due to assault on Wadi Barada.

wadi-barada

by Al Jazeera

Syria’s main rebel groups say they have frozen their participation in preliminary peace talks planned for Kazakhstan later this month due to several “violations” by the regime of a five-day-old truce.

Sources told Al Jazeera the groups were freezing their participation in negotiations being prepared by Russia due to a government-led assault on Wadi Barada, a rebel-held area near Damascus that is key to the capital’s water supply.

The groups suspending their participation included the Free Syrian Army, one of the biggest coalitions fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, and the Army of Conquest, another coalition of anti-government groups.

“As these violations are continuing, the rebel factions announce … the freezing of all discussion linked to the Astana negotiations,” they said in a joint statement.

“The regime and its allies have not stopped shooting and have launched major and frequent violations, notably in the regions of Wadi Barada and Eastern Ghouta.

“Any [advance] on the ground goes against the [ceasefire] agreement and if things don’t return to how they were before, the accord will be considered null and void,” the statement added.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syria border, called the FSA’s announcement a “significant setback”.

“The rebels say they signed the ceasefire in good faith but that the Syrian regime and its ally Russia have failed to live up to their end of the deal,” he said.

“They say fighter jets have continued to pound rebel-held areas across the country with barrel bombs, particularly Wadi Barada.”

For the last two weeks, Syria’s air force, backed by Hezbollah and Shia militias, have launched almost daily bombing raids on Wadi Barada, some 15km from Damascus.

The Assad government is trying to seize control of the region which supplies the main drinking water for roughly four million inhabitants of the capital and surrounding areas.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said supplies had been cut since December 22 because “infrastructure was deliberately targeted and damaged”, without saying who was responsible.

Water is now being rationed in Damascus as the government is relying on reserves.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 1,000 civilians – all of them women and children – fled the fighting in Wadi Barada over the weekend, moving to other parts of the province.

Wadi Barada has been surrounded by government forces since mid-2015, but the siege was tightened in late December as the army piled on pressure seeking to secure a “reconciliation” deal.

It has won several of these deals in opposition areas around the capital, offering safe passage to surrendering rebels in return for retaking territory.

The opposition criticises them as a “starve or surrender” tactic.

The violence threatens the delicate ceasefire, which has been in force since midnight Thursday, and is intended to pave the way to new peace talks in Astana later this month.

Turkey and Russia are organising the talks in Astana along with ally Iran, and say they are intended to supplement, not replace, UN-backed negotiations scheduled to resume in February.

Despite backing opposite sides in Syria’s conflict, Ankara and Moscow have worked closely in recent months on the war, brokering a deal to evacuate civilians and surrendering rebels from Aleppo last month before government forces recaptured the northern city in full.

The truce excludes the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS group) and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group former known as the al-Nusra Front.

Mithali Raj to lead India in Women’s World Cup Qualifier

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mithali-raj

New Delhi: Mithali Raj will lead a 14-member Indian squad to the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers to be held in Colombo from February 3-21.

The Indian team last played in the Asia Cup T20 in Bangkok where it defended its title with an unbeaten run.

Their two main players, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, are currently playing the Big Bash in Australia.

India’s next big event will be the World Cup qualifier.

They are in Group A alongside Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Thailand while South Africa lead Group B comprising Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland and PNG.

India will play a warm-up match against South Africa before their opening Qualifier against Sri Lanka on February 7.

Each side will play four matches in the first round, following which the top three sides from each group will progress to the Super Six stage, while also carrying forward points they earn against sides which have progressed to the Super Six stage from their group.

The top four sides from the Super Six stage, in which each side will play three matches against teams from the other group, will complete the eight-team line-up for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, while the top two sides will battle it out for the title in the February 21 final.

The World Cup will be staged in the UK from June 26 to July 23.

Team: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Thirush Kamini, Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma.

(Agencies)

CBI arrests TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Mamata dares Modi to arrest her

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sudip-bandyopadhyay

Kolkata: The CBI today arrested Trinamool Congress parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay in connection with the alleged Rose Valley chit fund scam, the second of a party MP within a week.

Bandopadhyay, who arrived at the CBI office here at around 11 am, was subjected to more than four hours of intensive interrogation by CBI, after which he was arrested.

The TMC MP had been summoned thrice earlier by the investigation agency.

His arrest in the alleged Rose Valley scam came close on the heels of the arrest of another Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal on Friday. Paul, an actor-turned politician, is now in the CBI custody in Bhubaneshwar.

On reaching the CBI office today, Bandopadhyay told waiting reporters that he had come to face interrogation and know what the charges were against him.

Mamata Banerjee called an emergency meeting on Sudip’s arrest. She also dared PM Modi to arrest her. “Modi is using CBI, ED, IT to scare those who raise voice against demonetisation” said Mamata. Trinamool Congress have decided to launch dharnas to protest against Sudip’s arrest from tomorrow.

(Agencies)

LeT militant killed in Kashmir ambush

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Jammu Kashmir

Srinagar: A Pakistani militant from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit was killed in an ambush by the security forces at the outskirts of north Kashmir’s Sopore town on Tuesday.

Abu Umar Khatab was killed after the army and police laid an ambush in Haritar Tarzoo village on Monday night, a police officer said here.

The militants opened fire as they were passing through the area early on Tuesday. But one of them was killed in the operation.

(Agencies)

BJP MP Ananthkumar Hegde thrashes doctors inside hospital

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ananthkumar-hegde

A clear case of high handedness came to light when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ananth Kumar Hegde thrashed three doctors at Sirsi in Karnataka on Monday.

Dr Madhukeshwara Jeevi, Dr Balachandra and Dr Rahul Marshakar were attacked by Hegde for not taking proper care of his ailing mother. The incident was caught on camera.

However, no case has been registered as yet by the police.

CHEQUERED PAST

In March 2016, the police registered a criminal case against him suo motu for his remarks linking Islam to terrorism.

The five-time MP from Uttara Kannada had allegedly made the remarks at a press conference at Sirsi, drawing a link between Islam and terrorism, triggering protests from Muslim organisations.

Muslim organisations in the communally sensitive Bhatkal town in the district had held protests against Hegde.

(Agencies)

Co-operation Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad found dead in resort

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hs-mahadeva-prasad

Karnataka Cooperation and Sugar Minister HS Mahadeva Prasad died on Monday after suffering a heart attack. He was 58. The five-time MLA was at a resort in Chikmagalur, where he was supposed to attend a function. He was found dead by his staff on Tuesday morning after he did not come out of his room or answer calls.

Prasad was first elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the Gundlupet constituency in the Chamarajnagar district of the state. He also served as Kannada and Culture Minister between 2005-2007 as part of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government. A Siddaramaiah loyalist, Prasad left the JD(S) and joined the Congress along with the chief minister in 2007.

The state government declared a one-day holiday on Tuesday and announced three days of state mourning. Siddaramaiah called the minister’s demise “a huge personal loss and to [the] Congress party”. “He was an able administrator and a clean politician. I have lost a close friend and a wonderful colleague,” the chief minister said. Prasad is survived by his wife and son. His last rites will take place in Gundlupet tomorrow.

(Agencies)

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