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Naidu was behind police attack on me in 1999: Owaisi

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 MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was behind the police attack on him in 1999 as he was to campaign for the Congress party.

With both Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Naidu and Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeting Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) during their joint campaigning for Telangana polls, the Hyderabad MP hit back at them.

Terming Rahul’s remarks against MIM as his show of arrogance, Owaisi said the Congress president should know that he took the police blows for his party.

Addressing a MIM election rally in Hyderabad on Monday night, Owaisi recalled that Task Force personnel badly assaulted him on September 22, 1999 in the old city of Hyderabad.

He said former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Vijay Bhaskar Reddy had revealed to his father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi that the police attacked him on the orders of then Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu as he was to leave for Guntur to campaign for the Congress party.

Taking strong exception to Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that he had secret deal with BJP, Owaisi wondered how he was nice for Congress when he supported it from 1998 to 2012.

The MP also reminded the Congress president that he personally went to jail to meet YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to seek his party’s support for the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential election.

Owaisi also revealed that in 1996 when a man was killed in police firing in Hyderabad and he wanted a debate in Assembly, Chandrababu Naidu deliberately kept the debate a day after his (Owaisi’s) marriage so that he could not participate in it. The MIM chief still rushed to Assembly the next day at 7 a.m. to participate in the debate.

IANS

Modi terms minority reservation a betrayal of nation

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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said attempts to provide reservation to minorities amounted to betrayal of the nation and were an insult to framers of the Indian Constitution.

Addressing an election rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he called for efforts to defeat any such move in order to protect the country’s unity.

Hitting out at the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for its move to increase reservation for minorities to 12 per cent, Modi said he was surprised how the power-hungry were pushing for religion-based quota for the sake of remaining power.

Pointing out that the issue of religion-based reservation was discussed in the Constituent Assembly, the Prime Minister said the great personalities decided against it in the interest of the country’s unity.

Modi wondered from where the reservation for minorities would come when the Supreme Court had already fixed the upper limit of total reservation at 50 per cent.

“They will take away the rights of Dalits, STs and OBCs from backdoor. Will you allow this crime,” he asked the participants in the rally held at L.B. Stadium.

Telangana Assembly had last year passed a resolution to increase reservation for minorities in jobs and education from 4 per cent to 12 per cent and the same was sent to the Central government.

The TRS had blamed Modi for the delay in implementing its poll promise made in 2014.

Modi also came down heavily on TRS, saying it destroyed Telangana the way Congress destroyed the nation.

Countering Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that TRS was the ‘B’ team of BJP, Modi said TRS and Congress had common nature, character, thinking and policies, making them the natural allies.

The Prime Minister recalled that during the Karnataka Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi used to the dub JD (S) as ‘B’ team of BJP but after the elections, his party formed the government with JD(S) to keep the BJP out of power.

Modi claimed that TRS and Congress had already started planning to prevent the BJP from coming to power in Telangana.

He described dynasty politics as a threat to the democracy.

He pointed out that barring BJP, all major parties in fray in Telangana elections were parties with dynasty politics and family rule. He said Congress, TRS, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) all were family-centric parties.

IANS

Nepalese women train to join elite British Army Gurhka forces

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 Dozens of young Nepali women who hope to join the elite Gurkha regiment of the British Army took part in a rigorous training and exercise session in Kathmandu on Monday.

Until last summer, such a sight would have been impossible, due to a ban on women serving with elite Gurkha regiments.

But since British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced in July 2017 that training centres would start welcoming female applicants, hundreds of young women had signed up in the hopes of serving in the elite Gurkha squads.

“Since then, we have been receiving a significant number of young women in our training centre,” Ramesh Pandey, manager of Salute Gorkha Training Centre, told Efe news.

“Currently, we are training around 30 women and the numbers are expected to rise,” he said.

The British Army has been recruiting 250 men every year, with hundreds of hopefuls competing to join the elite ranks.

The first women recruits will arrive in Britain for training in 2020. The decision to recruit female aspirants from Nepal for the Brigade of Gurkhas’ infantry regiment followed the British Army’s plans to expand the ranks of 3,000 troops by 800.

The rigorous recruitment process will begin in Pokhara in central Nepal next year and training programs will last up to eight months.

Each male hopeful must be able to perform 14 heaves to the high beam, 75 bench jumps in one minute and 70 sit-ups in two minutes.

The toughest task is “Doko”, in which candidates must run a three-mile race uphill carrying 25 kg of sand in a wicker basket (known as a “doko” in Nepali) strapped across their head in under 48 minutes.

Asked whether the British government will set the same criteria for the selection of female candidates, Pandey said that the centre had not yet been advised of any changes.

“It could be different, as there are two criteria for selecting men and women cadets all over the world,” he said.

“That’s why many women aspiring to join the elite army have started joining the training programmes two years prior to the selection”, he added. “They know it’s difficult and are preparing themselves to become stronger to compete with the men.”

Britain began recruiting Gurkhas in 1815 during the Anglo-Nepal War. Following the Partition of India in 1947, an agreement between Nepal, India and Britain meant four Gurkha regiments from the Indian Army were transferred to the British Army, eventually becoming the Brigade of Gurkhas.

At present, there are around 3,000 Gurkhas in the British Army, mostly in the infantry.

IANS

Indian fleet draw appreciation on Navy Day

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New Delhi The Indian maritime forces on Tuesday was celebrated for their role in the 1971 India-Pakistan War as leaders from across party lines hailed its men and women on Indian Navy Day.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the firsts on Twitter to pay their tributes to the naval force.

“On Navy Day, my good wishes to all men and women of the Indian Navy. Nation is proud of your commitment to protecting our maritime frontiers, securing our trade routes, and providing assistance in times of humanitarian emergencies,” their Commander-in-Chief tweeted.

“Navy Day greetings to all valorous personnel of the Indian Navy and their families. India is grateful to our Navy for protecting the nation and the commendable role the Navy plays during disaster relief,” Modi said.

In the attack in 1971, the Indian Navy sank four Pakistani vessels and ravaged the Karachi harbour fuel fields killing over 500 Pakistani Navy personnel.

Three missile boats of the Indian Navy, INS Nipat, INS Nirghat, and INS Veer played a pivotal role in the attack. Navy Day is celebrated annually on December 4 every year to honour that maritime operation.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Navy Day “serves as a reminder to our enemies, of our strength and valour when the hour beckons”.

“Navy Day is celebrated to honour the victorious, martyrs and veterans of the Indian Navy. This day also serves as a reminder to our enemies, of our strength and valour when the hour beckons. My best wishes to all ranks of the Indian Navy. Jai Hind,” he tweeted.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also paid their tributes to the Navy.

(IANS)

Chinese province Yunnan wooing Indian tourists By Aroonim Bhuyan

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Kunming (China) The southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan has got down to actively wooing Indian tourists, the inflow of whom has been limited till now, showcasing its scenic beauty, natural wonders and salubrious climate.

With Yunnan’s capital Kunming hosting the 65th convention of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) last week, Director General of Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism He Ligui said that his office is now focusing on Indian tourists.

“Yunnan is very close to India, particularly to northeastern India,” He said in an interaction with a group of visiting Indian journalists here.

“Indian tourist flow to Yunnan has been very limited but now we are focusing on this,” he added.

Kunming is just a four-hour flight away from Delhi and two-and-a-half-hour flight from Kolkata.

Stating that India and China are entering a “golden period” of tourism, He said: “India has become a very important source country for tourism in China and China too has become so for India — and Yunnan would like to play a leading role in this.”

Li Bijian, Minister in the Chinese Embassy in India, said that this is coming in the backdrop of the informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan in China in April this year during which the two leaders agreed to enhance people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

“We think that India and China are the largest neighbours, the largest developing countries and the largest emerging economies,” Li said.

“The decisions taken during the Wuhan summit are described as the Wuhan Spirit by your side while our side calls its Wuhan Consensus.”

Stating that two-way exchange of people stands around 1.08 million people annually, which is very low, Li said: “Educational, sports and cultural tourism are what we are looking.”

To increase the inflow of Chinese tourists to India, he said that there should be more Mandarin-fluent Indian guides holding official permits.

“Though there are many five-star and four-star hotels in India, there are very limited business hotels in India,” Li said.

“Also, there should be more Chinese restaurants in places like Kerala, Goa, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya.”

According to He, there are plans to launch more flights to Kolkata and other Indian cities to boost two-way flow of tourists.

Stating that Yunnan is expecting around 700 million tourists this year, he said: “In the first 10 months, the number has touched 601 million, out of which 595 million were domestic tourists and the rest seven million were from neighbouring countries like Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore. Yunnan is earning around 700 billion yuan (over $100 billion) annually through tourism, making it a strategic pillar of the provincial economy.”

Extolling what Yunnan has to offer to tourists, He said that the province is a great variety of weather — “not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter” — due to its unique geographical location.

“Kunming enjoys spring-like weather throughout the year,” he said.

Yunnan is home to 26 ethnic Chinese groups with a population of over 47 million.

Stating that Yunnan has become a very important tourism destination in China, He said that the province now has 856 star-rated hotels, 958 travel agents and 65 tourist bus companies.

The Yunnan official also said that a mobile app has also been developed to help people travelling in Yunnan.

“The app was launched on October 1 and we are working to further develop it,” he said. “We will make better use of WeChat, Facebook and Google to boost tourism in Yunnan.”

He also stated that Yunnan is a very important region for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as it is the only province that can link China with South Asia and Southeast Asia.

(IANS)

3 astronauts set to launch to space station on Monday

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Washington Three space travellers, including two astronauts on their first flight, are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday for a six-and-a-half month mission, NASA said.

The launch comes less than two months after a booster failure forced a Soyuz spacecraft carrying Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague to make an emergency landing.

The incident became the first failure of a manned space launch in modern Russian history.

The three new space travellers — Anne McClain of NASA, David Saint-Jacquesof the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Russian space agency Roscosmos – are preparing to launch aboard the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft at 5.31 p.m. from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.

Following a six-hour journey making four orbits of Earth, the crew will dock the Soyuz to the station’s Poisk module to begin their mission on the orbital laboratory.

It will be the first flight for both McClain and Saint-Jacques and the fourth for Kononenko.

Less than two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open, and the current crew, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), NASA Flight Engineer Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Prokopyev, who have been in orbit since June, will greet them.

Kononenko, McClain and Saint-Jacques will officially become the Expedition 58 crew when Gerst, Aunon-Chancellor and Prokopyev depart the station for home on December 20.

(IANS)

Google brings eSIM to Pixel 3 in India with Jio, Airtel

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New Delhi Google on Tuesday announced eSIM wireless service on its Pixel 3 smartphone with Reliance Jio and Airtel telecom carriers in India.

Google was the first smartphone vendor to support built-in eSIMs with its Project Fi — now called Google Fi — network last year.

“Sprint in the US, EE in the UK, Airtel and Reliance Jio in India, and Truphone and Gigsky in various countries will also roll out eSIM support for Pixel 3 in the coming months,” Kerrie Lenhart Hogan, Director, Partnerships at Google, said in a statement.

“If you’re in Germany, look out for the ability to purchase Pixel 3 with eSIM functionality from Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone soon.”

Pixel 2 was the first major smartphone with eSIM — an embedded SIM that lets you instantly connect to a carrier network with the tap of a button.

With eSIM, users can connect across devices in the Google ecosystem — from Android smartphones to Chromebooks to Wear OS smartwatches.

“To enable a consistent and simple experience across the ecosystem, we’re also creating a programme that allows Android device makers to build eSIM-capable smartphones,” said Google.

Launched in October, “Pixel 3” costs Rs 71,000 for the 64GB variant in India and up to Rs 80,000 for the 128GB storage variant.

The “Pixel 3 XL” is available at Rs 83,000 for the 64GB variant and up to Rs 92,000 for the 128GB model.

(IANS)

Mercury dips to minus 3.2 in Srinagar

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Srinagar Minimum temperatures continued falling across Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday with Srinagar recording its coldest night of the season so far at minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, a weather office said.

The minimum temperatures were likely to drop further due to clear night sky as mainly dry weather was expected in the next seven days in the state, he said.

Pahalgam was at minus 5.5, Gulmarg minus 4.0, Leh minus 10.6, Kargil minus 9.7, Jammu city 8.9, Katra 8.6, Batote 3.4, Bannihil 2.5 and Bhaderwah 1.3 degrees Celsius.

“Drass town in Kargil district which is the second coldest inhabited place in the world had recorded minus 14 as the minimum temperature on Monday,” he added.

(IANS)

Misty Delhi morning with ‘very poor’ air

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New Delhi It was a misty morning in the national capital on Tuesday that witnessed ‘very poor’ air quality as the minimum temperature was recorded at 8.6 degrees Celsius, the season’s average, the Met said.

“The rest of the day will be partly cloudy with a haze or smoke cover later in the day,” an Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.

Meanwhile, humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 97 per cent, an unfavourable condition for pollutants to disperse.

The average PM2.5 readings at 9 a.m. was recorded at 197 micrograms per cubic metre while the average PM10 readings at the time were 383 micrograms per cubic metre, both in the ‘very poor’ category on a scale of 60-100.

The day’s maximum temperature was likely to hover around 27 degrees Celsius.

On Monday, the maximum temperature settled at 27.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season’s average while the minimum temperature was recorded at 8.6 degree Celsius, the season’s average.

(IANS)

Opposition parties to meet on Dec 10 in Delhi

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 Preparing the pitch for a ‘Mahagatbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, opposition parties will meet here on December 10, a day before Parliament opens its winter session and the results of Assembly elections in five states are known.

The driving force behind the gathering is Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has been making efforts to put together an anti-BJP front after walking out of the Modi government.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Union Minister Sharad Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and leaders of other opposition parties are likely to attend the meeting to be held at Constitution Club in the heart of Delhi.

The meeting will focus on the form and structure of the proposed opposition alliance and a course of action to take forward the initiative.

A plan of action is likely to be drafted to fight the Modi government over its alleged anti-people policies like misuse of institutions like RBI, CBI, CVC and the Income Tax department to settle scores with political rivals, an opposition leader told IANS.

He said the meeting would also discuss on the sidelines how to corner the government in Parliament on issues related to farmers, demonetisation and the controversial Rafale deal.

TDP chief Naidu has met Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, DMK’s M.K. Stalin, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Farooq Abdullah, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular chief H.D. Deve Gowda and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati.

The meeting comes a day ahead of the vote count of Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

The elections are being dubbed the semifinal of next year’s general elections.

Last week, opposition leaders gathered here at a farmers rally. The Congress President and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shared the stage together and accused the Modi government of plunging the country into an acute agrarian crisis.

IANS

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