Real National News

Jaipur: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Saturday defended External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj and said that the search operation of 39 missing Indians in Iraq`s Mosul is underway and the Centre is not misleading the nation. "The search is underway to locate 39 missing Indians in Iraq`s Mosul. The Government is not misleading the nation," he said, while addressing the media on the second day of his three-day Rajasthan tour. The BJP has organised Akhil Bharatiya Pravas Yojana - Shah`s 110-day visit to all states in the nation - with an aim to take "party`s ideology to booth," he said. Shah also asserted that India has become the fastest growing economy in the world, due to the saffron party`s decisive and the transparent ideology. "India has become the fastest growing economy in the world due to the party`s most decisive and transparent ideology," he added. Amit Shah added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajastha...

Jaipur: BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday said his party wants the Ram temple in Ayodhya to be constructed in a legal manner after mutual dialogue. "The party's stand is clear and mentioned in the last four Lok Sabha election manifestos. The temple should be constructed in a legal manner and there should be mutual dialogue," he said at a press conference here. On suggestions that the creamy layer among SCs/STs should be excluded from reservation benefits, the BJP supremo said a decision can only be taken after discussion with all parties in Parliament. Shah, who is a on a three-day visit to the state, said that all political parties should discuss the issue of holding Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously and take it up with the Election Commission. "We definitely want that Lok Sabha and state assembly elections should be held together. "The BJP believes in the concept and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed his desire with ...

Jaipur: BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday said the party was in favour of holding Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously. Shah, who is a on a three-day visit to Rajasthan, said all political parties should discuss the issue and take it up with the Election Commission. "We definitely want Lok Sabha and state assembly elections to be held together. The BJP believes in the concept," he said at a press conference here."Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also raised the issue with all political parties for discussion," he said when asked about the party's stand on holding the polls together. Shah said his party wants the Ram temple in Ayodhya to be constructed in a legal manner after mutual dialogue. "The party's stand is clear and mentioned in the last four Lok Sabha election manifestos. The temple should be constructed in a legal manner and there should be mutual dialogue," he said at a press conference here. On sugges...

HONOLULU:  Hawaii  is the first state to prepare the public for the possibility of a ballistic missile strike from North Korea. The state's  Emergency Management Agency  on Friday announced a public education campaign about what to do. Hawaii lawmakers have been urging emergency management officials to update Cold War-era plans for coping with a nuclear attack as North Korea develops nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can reach the islands. Starting in November, Hawaii will begin monthly tests of an "attack-warning" siren the state hasn't heard since the end of the Cold War in the 1980s. The wailing siren will be tested on the first working day of each month, after a test of an "attention-alert" steady tone siren with which residents are already familiar. Informational brochures, along with TV, radio and internet announcements will help educate the public about the new siren sound and provide preparedness guidance. "If they're not educat...

NEW DELHI: Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday hit back at  Congress  vice-president  Rahul Gandhi  for his remarks accusing the BJP-led NDA government of attempting to "strangulate reality" like the Nazi regime. On Friday, Rahul had likened PM  Narendra Modi  to  Hitler  and said the government was trying to "paint a lie" over India  while oppressing the poor +  and marginalised. "Hitler, once wrote: Keep a firm grasp on reality, so you can strangle it at any time. This is what is happening today - strangulation of reality...  BJP  wants to paint a lie over India so that they can return it to an age of kings and no questions, where people were humiliated by power, where people's voices were crushed, where the poor and weak were trampled upon," Rahul had said at the 'Quest for equity' event in Bengaluru.                                   ...

BENGALURU: In yet another bizarre trend, tobacco companies in Bengaluru are adopting unhealthy ways to lure young people into smoking. According to the police, the tobacco companies are accused of distributing free cigarettes to college going students, women and young smokers. "With the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) tax and rising cost of tobacco products in India, many cigarette companies are engaging in unhealthy strategy to hook youth to smoking," a senior police officer said. The police, based on complaints, raided many tea stalls and cigarette sellers near Sudguntepalya's Christ college area. "Based on complaints, a team from Madivala police station raided the area (Christ college area). Many sellers were offering free cigarette with a cup of tea," the officer said. He said many parents had complained that  Marlboro brand cigarettes  are being "distributed free of cost" to their children. The police official said the team also ...

NEW DELHI: Former India captain  Rahul Dravid  "will not be available" for the senior Indian team's overseas tours owing to his commitments with the India A and Under-19 sides, the Committee of Administrators (COA) chief  Vinod Rai  said on Saturday. While Rai admitted that they are trying to sort out  Zaheer Khan 's contract issues as he is still associated with  IPL  franchise  Delhi Daredevils , CEO  Rahul Johri informed that the former speedster is likely to be available for India's tour of South Africa. " Dravid 's contract issues are all sorted. He has two-year full-time contract (India A and U-19). He has said that he is not available for tours abroad (senior team). He does not want to hang around," Rai said after his meeting with BCCI officials. It is learnt that with the Under-19 World Cup next year and some A series also lined up, Dravid will be available if chief coach  Ravi Shastri  wants him when the senior team camp...

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday emerged as the "most potential candidate" to replace beleaguered Prime Minister  Nawaz Sharif  if he is disqualified by the  Supreme Court  for alleged graft and money laundering in the sensitive  Panama Papers  case. Asif is most likely to become the interim prime minister for 45 days till 67-year-old Sharif's wife Kalsoom or brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is elected on a National Assembly seat to lead the government for the remaining term, according to a top PML-N leader. He said it was discussed during back-to-back consultative meetings held by Sharif with his legal team and close aides after the apex court reserved its verdict yesterday. During a high-level meeting, it was decided that one of the three PML-N leaders could be made premier for '45 days'. The other two candidates shortlisted are National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Petroleum Minister ...

The incident took place allegedly after a team of armymen in civilian clothes, returning from the Amarnath Yatra on Friday night, was stopped at a barricade in Gund by policemen as no pilgrims were allowed to travel at night At least eight policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector, were injured after army men allegedly barged into a police station in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district late Friday night and beat them up. Sources said the injured policemen was admitted to a hospital and an FIR registered against the army. The incident came to fore after pictures of the policemen with severe injuries went viral on social media. Director General of police S P Vaid told HT that the police and army shared a good relation and one incident shouldn’t be given too much importance. “We have taken the matter up with the core commander, it has been sorted,’’ he added. The incident took place allegedly after a team of armymen in civilian clothes, returning from the Amarnath Yatra...

Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli are facing trial over the killing and disappearances of many women including minor girls in Nithari in 2006. A trial court on Saturday convicted businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli of murdering a 20-year-old woman, one of the several cases known as the Nithari serial killings of 2006. Pandher, who was out on bail, was taken into custody after the CBI court in Ghaziabad pronounced the judgment. CBI special judge Pawan Tiwari held Pandher and Koli guilty of murder, attempted rape and destruction of evidence. Koli has already been sentenced to death in seven out of 16 cases probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Nithari came into the limelight in 2006 following disappearances of many women including minor girls.Pandher was earlier convicted by the trial court in another case in 2009 but was acquitted by the Allahabad high court. He is, however, facing trial in three o...

Even as the Congress tries to play peacemaker in the feud between the RJD and the JD(U), Nitish Kumar’s party insists that his deputy Tejashwi Prasad must come clean on the graft charges. Patna The feud in Bihar’s ruling Grand Alliance shows no sign of ending with the Janata Dal (United) questioning the silence of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on the corruption charges he was facing. “Silence is no solution,” JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told a regional TV news channel on Saturday and asked Yadav - the younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad - to come clean on the corruption case filed by the CBI in the land-for-hotels case earlier this month. “In fact, silence generally conveys two things. Either, one has accepted his guilt or has nothing to explain to the public on the charges levelled against him,” Kumar said in a clear indication that the party hasn’t budged from its original demand that Tejashwi must explain the source of hi...

Nitish Kumar drove to Rahul Gandhi’s Tughlaq Lane residence and is understood to have discussed graft charges against Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasdad’s son, Tejashwi Yadav. Amid speculation over a rift in the ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday and is learnt to have discussed the current political situation. Party sources said Kumar drove to Gandhi’s Tughlaq Lane residence and discussed about graft charges against Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasdad’s son, Tejashwi Yadav. Kumar is in the national capital to attend a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in honour of outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee. His meeting with Rahul Gandhi comes at a time when there are differences over the continuation of Tejashwi in the state cabinet, thus posing a “threat” to the grand alliance between the JD(U), RJD and Congress in Bihar. While the RJD supremo has rejected d...

Police arrested 32-year-old Tarun Kumar from Haryana after the doctorate scholar accused him of masturbating while she was walking her dog in a public park on Friday afternoon. A chauffeur was arrested on Saturday after a German woman accused him of masturbating in front of her in an upscale New Delhi neighbourhood, police said. Police arrested 32-year-old Tarun Kumar from Haryana after the doctorate scholar accused him of masturbating while she was walking her dog in a public park on Friday afternoon. The 33-year-old woman, who is studying at a premier Delhi university, chased after accused before taking pictures of his car as he fled the scene. “The woman provided us pictures of the registration number of the car and we tracked the owner before swooping in on the accused,” Anil Kumar, investigating officer with Delhi police, told AFP. The driver had dropped off his employer’s wife at a shopping complex before going to the park, the officer said. The country’s sexual ...