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Panneerselvam sworn in as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam was on Tuesday sworn in as Chief Minister after the death of J.Jayalalithaa.

Within hours of Jayalalithaa’s passing away, Panneerselvam was elected AIADMK legislature party leader.

He was then sworn in as Chief Minister at Raj Bhavan by Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao. Thirty-one ministers were also sworn-in along with him.

This is the third time Panneerselvam becomes the Chief Minister.

Unlike the last time when he turned emotional, Panneerselvam this time was calm and composed while being administered the oath.

(Agencies)

Jayalalithaa’s final journey begins, funeral procession heads to Marina beach

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jayalalithaa

Chennai: Cries of “Amma” rent the air as a sea of humanity thronged the Rajaji Hall grounds today to pay their last respects to AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, whose body lay in state in Chennai where normal life virtually came to a grinding halt.

As tributes poured in from far and wide after the actress-turned-politicians’s death last night, the body of Jayalalithaa, which was draped in her favourite green colour saree, was taken from her Poes Garden residence early this morning to Rajaji Hall where tens of thousands of people queued up to have a last glimpse of their ‘Puratchi Thalaivi Amma’ (Revolutionary Leader Amma).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among scores of political leaders who were headed to Chennai to pay tributes to the 68-year-old AIADMK chief.

As the casket carrying the body of six-time chief minister was placed on the steps of Rajaji Hall, in the heart of the city off arterial Anna Salai, four Army men covered it with the national Tricolour.

Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his ministerial colleagues, MPs and MLAs and senior state government officials were among the first to pay homage to Jayalalithaa, who passed away at the Apollo Hospitals here at 11.30 last night after waging a grim battle for life since her hospitalisation on September 22.

Jayalithaa’s long time confidante Sasikala Natarajan stood close to the casket. Security has been beefed up at the venue where people lined up to bid a tearful adieu to their ‘Amma’ (mother) as Jayalithaa was fondly called.

Cries of “Amma” rent the air as the public filed past taking a last glimpse of their beloved leader from a distance away from the stairs, where the Tamil Nadu Ministers were seen seated.

Jayalalithaa’s body was first taken to her Poes Garden residence in the early hours and then brought to the Rajaji Hall.

The funeral will take place at 4.30 pm at the Dr MGR Memorial site off Marina beach, the state government said in an official communication.

All roads leading to Rajaji Hall grounds were bustling with crowds of people who did not mind taking a long walk with public transport, barring trains, remaining off the roads.

After Jayalalithaa’s body was brought to the Rajaji Hall, the crowd could be seen swelling by the minute and the heavy posse of police personnel deployed there were finding it very difficult to control them. Emotional scenes were witnessed as several women were seen wailing and thumping their chests.

The Centre declared a one-day state mourning today in view of the demise of ayalalithaa. National flag on all government buildings across the country was flown at half-mast.

Public transport services, including autorickshaws, were off the roads while some private vehicles were seen plying in various parts of the city where police personnel kept a tight vigil at vantage points.

A near total shutdown like situation prevailed in the city and several several other parts of the state since last evening itself.

(Agencies)

Karnataka suspends bus services to TN after incidents of stone pelting

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karnataka

Bengaluru: In the wake of tense situation in Tamil Nadu over CM Jayalalithaa’s critical health, Karnataka State Road Transport has stopped all 470 bus services between the two states from Monday morning.

 

Officials in the corporation said they will wait and watch the law and order situation on the border and for a green signal from the police to send their buses to Tamil Nadu.

The services from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka has also been put on hold.

Private bus transport operators from Karnataka are also not willing to take chances and will decide whether to ply the routine night services. Only few private buses that ply between Salem and Hosur to Bengaluru are still operating.

Last time during the Cauvery crisis between the two neighbour states, victims were the bus operators. KSRTC lost revenue of more than Rs55 crores in 55 days when bus services were stopped. Buses were enabling people to reach Hosur border and get back.

(Agencies)

Saudi Arabia muzzles journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he criticises Trump

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(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

by Al Bawaba

Saudi Arabia is infamous for cracking down on journalists and media freedom. But the latest controversy over press control has raised eyebrows after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was banned from writing in newspapers after making disparaging remarks about US President-elect Donald Trump.

After Khashoggi voiced criticism of Trump at a Washington think-tank on 10 November, an official Saudi source was cited by the Saudi News Agency as saying that Khashoggi did not represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in his interviews or statements.

Khashoggi had suggested that Trump’s Middle East stance was often contradictory, especially regarding Iran. While Trump is vocally anti-Iranian, he supports President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian conflict. This ultimately bolsters Iranian regional control, making Iran’s long-standing emeny, Saudi Arabia, nervous, Khashoggi was reported as saying.

However, the Saudi government did not react well to the critique of the future US president and was quick to distance themselves from the statement: “The author Jamal Khashoggi does not represent the government of Saudi Arabia or its positions at any level,” said a ministry source quoted by the Saudi Press Agency.

Alongside this, Saudi authorities banned the journalist from writing in newspapers, appearing on TV and attending conferences. However, the decision has provoked backlash, with many taking to Twitter to condemn the muzzling of Kashoggi:

Jamal Khashoggi, agree or disagree with him, he is a great journalist and the decision to ban him from media appearances or writing is wrong… The people who are happiest with the decision are Iranians who speak Arabic.

Where are you Jamal? @JKhashoggi Silencing the voices of freedom will not make them go away or make the truth go away.

Khashoggi is a well-established Saudi writer and journalist. He has extensive political and media experience and has held the position of editor in chief of a number of Saudi newspapers, including the Arab Times and Al-Watan.

It is unclear why Saudi authorities reacted so harshly to Khashoggi’s comments on Trump.

Saudi Arabia and America have historically close ties, although these were strained during President Barack Obama’s presidency due to disagreements over policy. The election of Trump has generally pleased the Kingdom, as they see his conservative, Republican views as more in line with their own.

However, Trump has previously made threats to cut off US oil purchases from Saudi Arabia, striking fear into the hearts of Saudi oil companies. With Trump’s foreign policy approach unclear, it appears the Saudis are making every attempt to appease the new President and maintain their powerful alliance with the US.

Suspected Russian warplanes bomb Idlib, dozens killed

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Monitoring group says air strikes hit several places across Syrian province, killing at least 73 people.

Eighteen people were killed in Maarat al-Numan, the Syrian Observatory said [AFP]

Eighteen people were killed in Maarat al-Numan, the Syrian Observatory said [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

At least 73 people have been killed in suspected Russian air strikes on several areas of Idlib province in northwest Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as government forces advanced in fierce clashes with rebels in east Aleppo.

The Britain-based monitor said on Sunday at least three locations were bombed in the northwestern province and most of the casualties were civilians.

At least 26 people, including three children, were killed in the town of Kafr Nabl, and another 38 people were killed in the town of Maarat al-Numan.

A witness told AFP news agency “six strikes hit houses and a crowded local market” in the village of Kafr Nabl.

In Maarat al-Numan, an AFP photographer saw local residents and White Helmets rescue workers trying to reach survivors in the rubble at a vegetable market hit in the strike.

The monitor also reported two additional deaths, one in an earlier strike on Maarat al-Numan and another in al-Naqir, also in Idlib.

And it said six civilians, five of them children, had been killed in a government barrel bomb attack on the town of al-Tamanah in the south of Idlib.

Russia began a military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September last year, saying it was carrying out strikes against “terrorists”.

In November, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian forces had begun a “major operation” targeting Idlib and Homs provinces.

The northern Idlib province is mostly controlled by a powerful rebel alliance known as the Army of Conquest.

Most of Homs province is controlled by the Syrian government, but small parts of the countryside are controlled by a range of rebel groups.

More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests before spiralling into a bloody civil war.

Meanwhile, government forces advanced against rebels in east Aleppo, taking two small neighbourhoods and pushing into a third, state media said.

The army and allied forces are nearly three weeks into an operation to recapture all of Syria’s second city, divided between regime and rebel forces since 2012.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the offensive, which has made steady gains and threatens to deal Syria’s opposition its worst defeat of the country’s five-year civil war.

State television said on Sunday evening that the army had captured the districts of Karm al-Tahan and Myessar and advanced into the Qadi Askar neighbourhood.

State news agency SANA said the air force was dropping leaflets over rebel-held areas urging “militants to abandon their weapons and… allow civilians and the sick and wounded to leave”.

At least 311 civilians, including 42 children, have been killed in east Aleppo since the government began its assault, according to the Observatory.

Syrian army spokesman Brigadier General Samir Suleiman said the military had regained control of 45 to 50 percent of east Aleppo, and he accused rebels of hiding among civilians.

Union Govt reduces e-payment limit of Govt payments to Rs 5,000

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New Delhi: In order to attain the goal of complete digitization of government payments, the union finance ministry has again reviewed the existing limit of Rs. 10,000 prescribed regarding e-payment to suppliers and others. It has now been decided to lower this threshold limit from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 5,000.The last review in this regard was made in August, 2016.

Accordingly, all the ministries, departments of the union government have been now directed by the ministry of finance to ensure with immediate effect that all payments above Rs. 5000 to suppliers, contractors, grantee, loanee institutions and others are made by issue of payment advises only, said Ministry of Finance in a release.

(Agencies)

Union Min. Giriraj Singh advocates ‘sterilisation’ after demonetisation

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giriraj-singh

Patna: Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday said after notebandi (demonetisation), there is an urgent need to make laws for nasbandi (sterilisation) in the country.

Singh, who is the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, is the second senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader who has advocated sterilisation after demonetisation.

Last week, former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Sanjay Paswan said sterilisation will help control population of the country.

Singh said all sections of society should adopt this practice to control population in the country.

Singh said India has 16 percent of world’s population and adds population equal to Australia every year. “The country is facing population explosion, it has to be controlled soon.”

In October this year, Singh had said Hindus should seriously think of increasing their population in the country by producing more children.

“There is a need to increase population of Hindus in the country. They should take this issue seriously as their population has been decreasing in eight states in the country,” Singh said.

He then recalled that none other than RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had advised Hindus in August last year to produce more children and said no laws can prevent them from reproducing more children.

Singh is the BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Nawada constituency in Bihar. He is known as a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and champion of Hinduvta politics.

(IANS)

Jaya’s situation ‘extremely grave’, says London specialist

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(Photo: PTI/File)

(Photo: PTI/File)

Chennai: The condition of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is “extremely grave”, the London doctor who is being consulted for her treatment said today.

“Unfortunately, and in spite of the progress she had made, her underlying health conditions inevitably meant that the risk of further problems always remained,” Dr Richard Beale said in a statement.

“The situation is extremely grave, but I can confirm that everything possible is being done to give her the best chance of surviving this shocking event. She is being cared for by a highly multi-disciplinary team and is now on extra corporeal life support.

“This is the most advanced level of support available and is the approach the best centres internationally would take in this situation. That this technology is available in Apollo Chennai reflects the high degree of expertise of this centre and, that at all times, Madam has received exceptional care from Apollo and AIIMS care team, which are equal of any in the world,” he said.

He said his prayers and thoughts were with the Chief Minister, her family, her carers and the people of Tamil Nadu “at this very difficult time”.

(Agencies)

Nigeria: 400,000 children at risk of famine

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After army advance against Boko Haram in the north, many people found on brink of starvation amid humanitarian crises.

A girl displaced by Boko Haram rests at a camp for internally displaced people in Yola [Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]

A girl displaced by Boko Haram rests at a camp for internally displaced people in Yola [Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Fati Adamu has not seen three of her six children nor her husband since Boko Haram fighters attacked her hometown in northeast Nigeria in a hail of gunfire.

Two years on, she is among thousands of refugees at the Bakassi camp in Maiduguri, the city worst hit by a seven-year-old conflict that has forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

The United Nations says 400,000 children are now at risk from a famine in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe – 75,000 of whom could die from hunger within the next few months.

A push against the fighters by the Nigerian army and soldiers from neighbouring countries has enabled troops to enter remote parts of the northeast in the last few months, revealing tens of thousands on the brink of starvation – and countless families torn apart.

“I don’t know if they are dead or alive,” Adamu, 35, said of her missing relatives.

There is a renewed threat of Boko Haram attacks. The start of the dry season has seen a surge in suicide bombings, some of which have targeted refugee camps, including one at Bakassi in October that killed five people.

The World Food Programme said it provides food aid to 450,000 people in Borno and Yobe. About 200,000 of them receive $54 each month to buy food, soon to rise to $73.

At least 15 camps, mostly on the outskirts of Maiduguru, the Borno state capital, are home to thousands of people unable to return home and surviving on food rations.

At one known as New Prison, women and children visibly outnumber men, many of whom were killed by Boko Haram or are missing.

One man – Bukaralhaji Bukar, 45, who has eight children from his two wives – said the food he buys with the monthly stipend finishes within two weeks.

“We are suffering. It is not enough,” said Bukar, who begs on the street to make money.

In the centre of Maiduguri, life seems to be returning to normal. Food markets are bustling but soldiers in pick-up trucks clutching rifles are reminders of the need for vigilance.

Malnourished children

In a ward in Molai district near the Bakassi camp, the air is filled with the sound of crying babies and the gurgle of those who lack the energy to cry. Some, whose skin clings tightly to their bones, are silent – too weary to even raise their heads.

“Many of them are malnourished, which is already bad enough, but they also develop things like malaria which further worsens their illnesses because they cannot eat and start vomiting,” said Dr Iasac Bot, who works at the unit overseen by the charity Save the Children.

Children have conditions ranging from diarrhoea and pneumonia to bacterial infections and skin infections.

Hauwa Malu, 20, fled with her husband and their two-week-old daughter, Miriam, from her village in Jere after Boko Haram fighters burned the farming community to the ground and took their cattle.

Miriam, now aged 10 months, has suffered from fevers, a persistent cough, and is malnourished. Her mother said they have been left without a home or livelihood.

Tim Vaessen of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said a failure to restore their ability to farm would in the long term mean displaced people would depend on expensive food aid.

“They would remain in these camps, they would become easy targets for other armed groups and they might have to migrate again – even up to Europe,” he said.

Saina Nehwal crashes out of Macau Open

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saina-nehwal

Macau: Top seed Saina Nehwal suffered a huge upset at the hands of World Number 226 Zhang Yiman in straight games to crash out the Macau Open 2016.

The unseeded Zhang Yiman thrashed Saina, who recently jumped to the number 10 spot in the world, 21-12, 21-17, in a match that lasted just 35 minutes.

Yiman started brightly in the first game, taking a quick 9-7 lead. However, after a series of uncharacteristic mistakes by the Indian star, Zhang surged ahead and went on to clinch the first game 21-12.

Saina seemed a different athlete in the second game as she raced to a 5-0 lead early on. But the Zhang hit back strongly reducing the game to 7-9.

Saina crumbled under the pressure as gave away the lead as Zhang rallied back to take a 17-12 lead in the second game.

In the end, four match points proved too much for Saina to make a comeback, as she conceded the second game 17-21.

(IANS)

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