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68 killed in Venezuela prison fire

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At least 68 people were killed in a fire at a prison in Venezuela’s Carabobo state, according to a government official.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office informs the public that in the face of the terrible events that took place at the General Command of Carabobo, where 68 people died in the wake of a fire, we have appointed four prosecutors to clarify these dramatic events,” Chief State Prosecutor Tarek Saab tweeted on Wednesday.

The Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation Service Corps (Cicpc) as well as the Prosecutor and the director of the Carabobo Police Jose Aldama, are investigating to identify the cause of the incident, reports Efe news.

The blaze reportedly started after prisoners set fire to mattresses in an attempt to break out on Wednesday.

Relatives surrounded the station after news of the fire broke.

The situation soon turned violent, leading the 20 state police officers who were guarding the station to launch tear gas.

Last month inmates at a different prison in Carabobo took a number of prisoners and guards hostage in another riot.

(IANS)

‘Modi govt playing with sentiments of people’

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Attacking the Narendra Modi government over its alleged failure to fulfil promises made to Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused it of playing with people’s sentiments.

“You are playing with people’s sentiments. It may give you temporary political benefits, but will cause permanent damage to the nation. We may differ in politics, but if it causes damage to the nation, it is not good,” the Andhra Pradesh CM said.
Making a suo-motu statement in the Assembly on the all-party meeting held on Tuesday, the CM flayed the Modi government, vis-à-vis fulfilment of the promises made to AP post-bifurcation.
“The Centre cannot arm twist the states. It cannot happen and we will not let it happen,” he asserted.
The Chief Minister displayed video clips of Modi’s speeches, made on different occasions, promising not only to honour the promises made in the AP Reorganisa- tion Act, 2014 but also ‘do much more’ to the state.
Chandrababu questioned if it was co-operative federalism or Team India spirit to not honour promises made to a state.
The Prime Minister owed an explanation to five crore people of Andhra Pradesh on this, he said, adding the centre “cannot discriminate between states.”
Noting that he had called for peaceful protests, seeking justice from the Centre, CM Naidu said the Centre would be happy if there was any violence “because it does not want Andhra Pradesh to develop”.

Family of Woman Killed by Self-Driving Car Settles with Uber: Report

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The family of the woman who was killed in a fatal accident with Uber’s self-driving vehicle in the US state of Arizona has reportedly reached a settlement with the ride-hailing company even as the police continued to investigate the crash.

“The attorney with the firm of Bellah Perez in Glendale, Arizona, said ‘the matter has been resolved’ between Uber and daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg who died after being hit by an Uber self-driving SUV,” The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

However, the terms of the settlement between Herzberg’s family and Uber have not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey suspended the ride-hailing giant’s self-driving vehicle tests earlier this week following the fatal collision.

“As Governor, my top priority is public safety. Improving public safety has always been an emphasis of Arizona’s approach to autonomous vehicle testing and my expectation is that public safety is also the top priority for all who operate this technology in Arizona,” Ducey wrote in a letter to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Uber has already suspended its self-driving operations in other cities including Tempe, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto following the fatal accident.

A self-driving Volvo SUV from Uber travelling at 64 km per hour killed the woman in Arizona earlier this month, triggering a heated debate on whether autonomous cars are safe enough and who is to blame for the death.

According to the police, the victim was walking outside of the crosswalk when she was hit by the car, which was in autonomous mode at that time although a vehicle operator was behind the wheel.

(IANS)

After Karnataka fiasco, faith in EC’s ‘neutrality’ vanishes: Shiv Sena

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Ruling NDA ally Shiv Sena on Thursday questioned the “neutral or unbiased” functioning of the Election Commission after the Karnataka Assembly elections date allegedly leaked out before the official announcement.

“It was felt the ECI would remain neutral or unbiased. The country had already lost faith in ECI following the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) controversy. After the Karnataka episode, the bare minimum trust in ECI has vanished,” the Sena said.

An editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ and ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’ said: “Some Amit Malaviya of the BJP IT Cell announced the Karnataka poll dates (May 12) and punctured the ECI’s scheduled press conference where it was to be officially declared. What does this mean?”

When T.N. Seshan was the Chief Election Commissioner, he had shown that the poll panel had a ‘spine’. But before and after him, that backbone was missing, it said.

The reason for this is the persons heading the Election Commission were joining politics, were appointed to to Rajya Sabha, become ministers or Governors. Ditto was the case with judges of the Supreme Court or High Court chief justices.

“This is no sign of neutrality. These are the rewards for ’tilting the scales’ when in authority. Right from the ECI to the courts now, suspicions are being raised on people who are appointed, with preference being given to candidates from a particular state. Its detrimental to the country’s integrity,” the Sena said.

“After this government has taken over, it has been imposing like-minded persons without capabilities on the country’s legal machinery, education sector and the election departments, playing havoc with their credibility,” the Sena pointed out.

“Demonetisation was a total flop as it failed to unearth black money and the Reserve Bank Of India Governor’s credibility was finished. But as the (demonetization) news had already leaked out, industrialists and politicians managed to successfully convert several tonnes of Rs 500-Rs 1,000 bundles to white while the common man suffered,” the Sena said.

(IANS)

Pakistan PM frisked at US airport as visit was private: US official

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was frisked at an airport in the US as he was on a private visit to that country, a US official said here on Thursday.

“My understanding is that if the head of state chooses to travel privately without diplomatic passport, then they are travelling as a private citizen, then he would have to go through the same security screening that you and I will have to go,” Alexander McLaren, deputy spokesperson of the US Embassy here, said during a media interaction.

“Obviously, an official visit is a different story,” he said.

A video that has gone viral on social media shows a casually-dressed Abbasi being frisked at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York earlier this week.

He was seen putting on his belt after clearing security, picking up his coat and bag and walking away moments later.

According to Pakistani media reports, Abbasi travelled to the US to visit his ailing sister.

(IANS)

Everywhere There is Leak, The Chowkidaar is Weak’ : Rahul Gandhi

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Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday listed the various information leaks that have come to light recently. From the Facebook data breach by a UK firm to influence election campaigns to Karnataka election date leaks and CBSE questions papers’ leaks, the Congress leader said there’s leak everywhere and that the country’s “chowkidar” (watchman) — read PM Modi — is “weak”.

After news surfaced that UK data firm Cambridge Analytica was involved in harvesting data to influence US presidential elections, it was found out that the firm has worked in India in the past. As per Cambridge Analytica’s website, its services were used in the Bihar Assembly Elections in 2010 and the India partner of CA’s parent company allegedly worked with three political parties – BJP, Congress and JD(U).

SC/ST Act: Social Justice Ministry gets Law Ministry’s consent to challenge SC ruling

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The Union Law Ministry on Thursday consented to the Social Justice Ministry’s proposal to challenge the Supreme Court’s recent order on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Atrocities (Prevention) Act, 1989, sources told The Indian Express. The Dalit MPs in the NDA have been mounting pressure on the government to file a review petition against the ruling.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad at Parliament House on Wednesday. Express Photo by Praveen Jain


The apex court, on March 20, observed “instances of abuse” of the Act by “vested interests” for political or personal reasons. In light of this, the SC laid down stringent safeguards, including provisions for anticipatory bail and a “preliminary enquiry” before registering a case under the Act.
Read | In Uttar Pradesh, a BJP Dalit MP speaks up: We need to save Constitution, Bahujans
“To avoid false implication of an innocent, a preliminary enquiry may be conducted by the DSP concerned to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and that the allegations are not frivolous or motivated,” ruled a bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit.
A delegation of Dalit MPs had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday to discuss the judgment and voice their concerns. Following the meeting, Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale had stated, “The PM said the government is in the process of filing a review petition once the Law Ministry finishes studying the matter. Our government is doing the most work for welfare of Dalits, unlike other governments who were all talk.”
Express Explained | Rising pendency, falling convictions: what data on SC/ST Act trials show
The BJP has more than three dozen SC MPs.
Athawale’s Republican Party of India (A) – a BJP ally – meanwhile is filing its own review petition in the SC to challenge the judgment. “…our lawyers feel we should take a stand as a party. In the review petition, we will state that it was after detailed discussions in Parliament that offences under this Act were made non-bailable. By diluting it, atrocities against Dalits will increase,” the Dalit leader from Maharashtra had said.

Malala returns home for first time since Taliban shooting

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Pakistani education and rights activist, targeted by Taliban, arrives in capital Islamabad amid tight security.

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has arrived home in Pakistan for the first time since being shot by Taliban gunmen in an assassination attempt five years ago.

The 20-year-old, the youngest person ever to win the Nobel prize, landed in the capital Islamabad early on Thursday morning.

Television footage showed her sitting alongside her parents in an airport waiting lounge and, later, travelling in a security convoy into the city.

Yousafzai was shot in the headby Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for speaking out against their ban on girls education in her native Swat Valley, in Pakistan’s north.

READ MORE
The fight for education in Pakistan’s Swat
Two other students were wounded in that attack.

After receiving emergency medical treatment in Pakistan, she was shifted to the United Kingdom for specialised medical procedures, where she has resided ever since due to fears for her security if she returned to Pakistan.

Following the attack, the Pakistani Taliban vowed to kill her if she ever returned.

Details of Yousafzai’s itinerary are not being made public due to security concerns, the AFP news agency reported, but she is expected to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others.

Focus on education
Since recovering from her wounds, Yousafzai has championed the cause of education across the globe, speaking out passionately at the United Nations and other fora for the right of all children, and particularly young women, to receive an education.

In 2013, she and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, a teacher and rights activist, founded the Malala Fund, which champions the right of every girl to 12 years of free and safe education. The organisation focuses on working in conflict zones, with programmes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and countries hosting Syrian refugees.

It is unclear if Yousafzai will visit her native Swat valley, where she made her name as a young rights activist, writing a series of anonymous blogs for the BBC while the valley was under Taliban rule in 2009.

Pakistan’s military fought a protracted battle to retake the scenic rural valley, eventually displacing the Taliban from Swat that year.

Attacks such as the one that targeted Yousafzai, however, continued for several years, with the Taliban exacting revenge on those who stood up to them during their reign.

In 2016, Taliban commanders attempted to extort money from local traders, sparking fears that they were attempting to launch a comeback in Swat, which was home to current Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah.

“I really miss my friends and family. But I also miss the landscape,” Yousafzai told Pakistani publication Mangobaaz in an interview earlier this week.

“When I woke up in the hospital in the UK, I looked outside and asked the doctors where are the mountains and rivers. Swat Valley is a paradise on Earth and I don’t think I fully appreciated its beauty until it wasn’t outside my window every day.”

Yousafzai currently attends Oxford University, where she is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

ALJAZEERA

Karnataka polls: Congress to announce all candidates by April 15: Parameshwara

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Bengaluru: The Karnataka Congress on Wednesday said all candidates for the 224-member state assembly polls will be announced in a single phase by April 15.

The highly anticipated state polls are scheduled for May 12.

“We will announce candidates for all 224 assembly constituencies in a single phase. As the date of the election has already been announced, we need to do it as soon as possible,” Pradesh Congress president G Parameshwara told reporters here.

Stating that the party’s central election committee will meet after the screening committee meeting on April 9 and April 10, he noted that the list of party candidates for the state polls will be out by April 15.

The Election Commission had yesterday announced that a single phase election would be conducted in the southern state on May 12 and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 15.

As part of the poll preparations, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara are holding back to back meetings with ministers in-charge of various districts and the election manifesto committee.

Explaining the process of selection of candidates, the KPCC president said the Pradesh Election Committee has already held its meeting and taken certain decisions, which has been conveyed to the leadership in Delhi.

“As part of the same process, the chief minister and myself are holding discussions with district in-charge ministers today, to gather their opinion that will help in the selection of candidates,” he said.

“In continuation of this process, there will be a screening committee meeting in Delhi on April 9 and 10 where we will put forward all the information we have gathered, following which the decisions will be taken,” Parameshwara added.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi had earlier this month constituted the screening committee for the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls. The committee is headed by senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry, which will also comprise party MPs Tamradhwaj Sahu and Gaurav Gogoi.

AICC General Secretary In-charge of the state K C Venugopal, G Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah are ex-officio members of the committee.

Parameshwara also said that the party was in the process of finalising the list of 40-star campaigners for the polls.

(PTI)

Rahul Gandhi hits out at media for ‘cunning twisting of facts’

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New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday derided the media for allegedly stirring hate against him with their “cunning twisting of facts” and said he was honoured they made their livelihood spinning lies about him.

Gandhi cited a recent sting operation by the portal ‘Cobrapost’, allegedly revealing that 17 media firms were ready to push communal reports for cash without even raising a bill for it.

“I can never hate those who try to stir up hate against me, with fake stories and their cunning twisting of facts. For them it’s just business; hate sold for a price, as the Cobrapost expose shows,” Gandhi said on Twitter.

“I’m blessed and honoured that they make their livelihoods spinning lies about me,” he added sarcastically.

His party said on its Twitter handle that the “mainstream media’s silence on the Cobrapost ‘sting’ is a telling tale on its own credibility”.

(PTI)

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