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The Assam government has decided to acquire and restore music maestro Bhupen Hazarika's three-storey house in Kolkata, where the bard had lived for around four decades.
A woman in Assam was convicted for murder of her husband and spent five years behind bars while undergoing life imprisonment.
An allegedly abus-ive Facebook post on PM Narendra Modi has landed Abu Taleb, a schoolteacher from Assam's Goalpara district, in trouble.
The fifth accused in the Nalbari gangrape case, Meerazul Ali, was nabbed from Nalbari district's Arikuchi village on Tuesday.
Following one reported swine flue death in neighbouring Meghalaya, the state is on high alert against the H1N1 virus.NEW DELHI, October 30 (Reuters): Global card payments giant Mastercard is storing its new Indian transaction data locally, the company said on Tuesday, as it starts to comply with a regulatory directive which U.S. companies unsuccessfully lobbied hard to dilute.
The Indian central bank in April said companies such as Mastercard, Visa and American Express will from October need to store their payments data “only in India” so that the regulator could have “unfettered supervisory access”.
The directive sparked an aggressive lobbying effort from U.S. companies who said the rules would increase their infrastructure costs, hit their global fraud detection platforms and affect planned investments in India where more and more people are using digital modes of payments.
The companies had sought dilution of the central bank directive, requesting they be allowed to store data both locally and at their offshore offices, a practice widely known as “data mirroring”. But their requests were declined.
Mastercard has started storing all its new payments transaction data in India at its technology centre in the western city of Pune, the company said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday. It did not specify whether a copy of that data was still being stored abroad.
The company said it has submitted a proposal with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for “storage of data only in India within a specified timeframe”. It did not give a timeline.
Visa too has started storing a copy of its new transaction data locally and had sought time from the RBI to comply with the requirement to store Indian data only within the country, two industry sources said.
Visa and American Express did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The RBI directive was part of a wider push by India to ask companies to store more of their data locally at a time when governments globally are enforcing more stringent rules to protect user data.
Government sources have previously told Reuters that stringent data localisation measures were essential for gaining easier access to data during criminal and other investigations.
Two U.S. senators this month called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to soften India’s stance on data localisation, warning that measures requiring it represent “key trade barriers” between the two nations.
Other than the RBI proposal, India is working on an overarching data protection law that calls for the storing of all critical personal data in India. E-commerce and cloud computing policies are also being developed.
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Mumbai, October 30 (IANS) Moved by the plight of a farmer who made it to the ‘hot seat’ of game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is doing his bit to help the farmer community, has urged the public to step forward and help pay off their loans.
A farmer named Anantkumar Khanke made it to the show, and spoke about his struggle to survive. This led Amitabh Bachchan to urge people to come forth and help the farmers in whatever way possible.
Khanke said his annual income is around Rs 60,000 if they face a good rainy season. When there is a shortage of water, he pays Rs 100 per gallon for farming.
Big B, who himself does a lot for the farmers in his own way, narrated an incident which sensitised him to the farmers’ plight, read a statement.
He narrated: “When I was shooting in Visakhapatnam around a decade back, I read in the newspaper then, that farmers are committing suicide for amounts like Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. I felt very bad reading this. When I came back, I contacted an NGO here and asked them if I could be of any help in saving the lives of farmers and that’s how I got a list of 30-40 people whose loans I could pay off.
“A few years ago, there was distress in Vidarbha due to shortage of rainfall and I cleared loans of around 100 farmers and recently in Maharashtra, I have ensured that the loans of around 360 farmers have been paid off to the banks. My next step is to help clear loans of approximately 850 farmers in Uttar Pradesh.”
He said that by mentioning this, he is hopeful that even if around 10 or 12 people, who find it within their capacity and capability, step forward and help in saving the lives of farmers, they would have “set an example for many more and in turn so many farmers’ lives would be saved”.
“I would urge people to understand the plight of our ‘anna-data’ (farmers) and the kind of hardships they are facing. I do not want to boast about myself but I want everyone to help our farmers who face the shortage of even having basic necessities.
“If anyone of you, individually or collectively can pay off their loans, I join my hands to request you to please help them. This will be the biggest contribution you can make to the farmers of our country.”
“Kaun Banega Crorepati” is aired on Sony Entertainment Television.
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JUBA, October 30 (Reuters): South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar will return to the capital Juba to celebrate a peace deal on Wednesday, his group said, more than two years after he fled the country after the collapse of an earlier accord.
Machar’s office said he would hold joint peace celebrations with his long-time rival, President Salva Kiir, in Juba – though there was no immediate confirmation from the government
The world’s youngest nation plunged into civil war in late 2013 when troops loyal to Kiir clashed with forces loyal to Machar, the former vice president.
Ethnically charged fighting soon spread from the capital across the impoverished state, shutting down oil fields, forcing millions to flee and killing tens of thousands of people.
“Machar will lead a delegation of the SPLM/A-IO members for the peace celebration in Juba but the programme in Juba is entirely in the hands of the regime,” group spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel said.
Under pressure from the United Nations, the United States and other Western donors, Machar and other insurgent factions signed a peace deal with the government in August after a string of failed talks and accords.
Machar fled to neighbouring Democratic republic of Congo in 2016 months after an earlier peace deal collapsed. He later travelled to South Africa where he was held under house arrest until peace talks started again in June, sponsored by regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 after decades of north-south war fueled by oil, ethnicity and religion.
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GENEVA, October 30 (Reuters): Asia could reap massive benefits in health, environment, agriculture and economic growth if governments implement 25 policies such as banning the burning of household waste and cutting industrial emissions, according to a U.N. report.
Air pollution is a health risk for 4 billion people in Asia, killing about 4 million of them annually, and efforts to tackle the problem are already on track to ensure air pollution is no worse in 2030, but huge advances could be made, the report said.
The report’s 25 recommendations would cost an estimated $300 billion-$600 billion annually, a big investment but loose change compared with a projected $12 trillion economic growth increase.
The publication of the report, “Air Pollution in Asia and the Pacific: Science based solutions”, on Tuesday coincides with the World Health Organization holding its first global air pollution conference in Geneva this week.
The recommendations also included post-combustion controls to cut emissions from power stations, higher standards for shipping fuels, ending routine flaring of gas from oil wells, and energy efficiency standards for industry and households.
The biggest gains would come from clean cooking, reducing emissions from industry, using renewable fuels for power generation and more efficient use of fertilisers.
Huge improvements in post-combustion controls and emission standards for road vehicles were already anticipated because of recent legislation, although both could be improved further.
Indeed, India may halt the use of private vehicles in the capital New Delhi if air pollution, which has reached severe levels in recent days, gets worse, a senior environmental official said on Tuesday.
Authorities in the capital have already advised residents to keep outdoor activity to a minimum from the beginning of next month until at least the end of the Hindu festival of Diwali on Nov. 7, when firecrackers typically further taint air choked by the burning of crop stubble in neighbouring states.
Helena Molin Valdés, head of Climate and Clean Air Coalition Secretariat at U.N. Environment, said there was increasing political openness to taking action on air pollution and the report reflected three years of discussions with governments.
“What the governments were saying in the region was: ‘Don’t tell us we have a problem, we know there is a problem, how can we deal with it and what will it take to do it?’,” she said.
The report estimates its recommendations would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent compared to a baseline scenario, potentially decreasing global warming by one-third of a degree Celsius by 2050, which would also be a contribution in the fight against climate change.
One billion people would enjoy high air quality, while the number exposed to the worst pollution would be cut by 80 percent to 430 million. Premature deaths would fall by a third.
Crop yields would benefit because of a reduction in ozone, which is estimated to have cut 2015 harvests by 10 percent for maize, 4 percent for rice, 22 percent for soy and 9 percent across Asia, a total of 51 million tonnes.
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OLDENBURG, Germany, October 30 (Reuters): A German nurse admitted in court on Tuesday to being post-war Germany’s deadliest serial killer, murdering 99 patients with lethal injections so that he could play the hero by trying to revive them.
When judge Sebastian Buehrmann asked 41-year-old Niels Hoegel if the charges against him were valid, he responded in the affirmative, adding: “All that I have admitted to is true.”
Hoegel hid his face behind a blue plastic folder as he was ushered into the courtroom in the northern city of Oldenburg by police and his attorney.
He had already been sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2015 after he was found guilty of killing two patients with lethal injections. In January, prosecutors brought new charges against him for killing another 97 people.
His admission will not end the trial, at which families of the victims hope to uncover more information about the crimes.
“We want him to get the sentence that he deserves,” said Frank Brinkers, whose father died in an overdose allegedly administered by Hoegel. “When this trial is over we want to put this whole thing behind us and find closure.”
Prosecutors in the northern German city of Oldenburg say an investigation and toxicology reports showed that he injected 35 people at one clinic, in Oldenburg, and 62 at another in nearby Delmenhorst, with drugs that could kill them.
Ten years ago, a German nurse was convicted of killing 28 elderly patients. He said he gave them lethal injections because he felt sorry for them. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In Britain, Dr Harold Shipman was believed to have killed as many as 250 people, most of them elderly and middle-aged women who were his patients. Known as Dr Death, Shipman was sentenced to 15 life terms in 2000; he died prison in 2004, apparently a suicide.
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New Delhi, October 30 (IANS): Chinese tech giant Huawei Consumer Business Group on Tuesday announced it was ready to bring its wireless charging capabilities with the launch of premium Mate 20 Pro smartphone in India next month.
The wireless charger is developed on the Qi standard for universal compatibility, thus, allowing it to identify smartphones, earbuds and other devices and adjust output power automatically to charge them safely.
With a 10-minute 15W wireless charging session, the wireless charger tops up the battery 12 percent, while a 30-minute charge gives the battery 31 per cent juice, the company said in a statement.
“With the launch of the flagship Mate 20 Pro slated next month, wireless reverse charging is also a feature that the device is capable of, thus, enabling users to take maximum advantage of the large battery inside the device to charge other Qi-enabled devices,” the company added.
The Mate 20 Pro would be the first device from Huawei’s stable which is powered by the world’s first 5G-ready 7nm (nanometre) chipset Kirin 980, equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, to launch in India.
Other notable features of the wireless charger include comprehensive safety protection features through which the device detects foreign objects such as keys, coins and other metal objects and automatically powers off.
The Huawei wireless charger also has a built-in chip that can adjust the output power automatically according to the ambient temperature and real-time battery percentage.
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MALE, October 30 (Reuters): The Maldives’ Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed’s 13-year jail sentence on terrorism charges, allowing him to go home this week.
Nasheed has said he will return on Thursday.
The move comes days before newly elected President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is scheduled to take his oath of office. Solih, a close ally of Nasheed, unseated former pro-China leader Abdulla Yameen in the Sept. 23 poll by a 16.8 percent margin.
Nasheed was sentenced to jail for ordering the abduction of a judge after a rushed and widely criticized trial in March 2015. He went into exile during a medical trip to Britain.
The Muslim-majority tourist paradise has been in political upheaval since February, when a state of emergency was imposed by Yameen to annul a court ruling that quashed the convictions of nine opposition leaders, including Nasheed.
The Maldives, located near key shipping lanes, has become a battleground for China and India as they compete for influence in the region.
The Supreme Court also reinstated 12 opposition lawmakers who were stripped of their seats when they defected to the opposition in 2017.
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LONDON, October 30 (Reuters): U.S. sanctions against Iran will have “severe consequences” for the world order, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday, days before new sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports take effect.
Washington reintroduced sanctions against Iran’s currency trade, metals and auto sectors in August after it pulled out from a multinational 2015 deal that lifted sanctions in return for limits on Iran’s nuclear programme.
A new set of sanctions on Iranian banking and energy sectors are to take effect Nov. 5, as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to cut oil purchases from the Islamic Republic to zero.
“Unfortunately a law-breaking country (the United States) seeks to punish a country (Iran) that is abiding by law…. This method will have severe consequences for the world order,” Zarif was quoted as saying by the Iranian state news agency IRNA during a visit to Istanbul.
However, Zarif added, “Americans have not achieved their goals by imposing illegal sanctions against Iran”.
Tehran says it has complied fully with the nuclear accord and its commitment has been repeatedly confirmed by the U.N. atomic watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Trump complained that the deal, approved by his predecessor Barack Obama, does not cover Iran’s ballistic missiles, its role in regional wars or what happens after the nuclear pact begins to expire in 2025.
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Almost 700 come daily to his house which he converted into a school in the government-held city of Taiz, which has been at the centre of a three-and-a-half-year civil war that has left millions on the brink of famine.
Both the Iranian-aligned armed Houthi movement and Yemen’s internationally recognised government have deployed forces in various districts of the southwestern city, Yemen’s third largest.
Al-Shorbagy opened the school following the outbreak of war saying he had nowhere to send his own children. However, 500 boys and girls aged between six and 15 signed up for lessons in that first year.
“All the schools closed down and we had a problem that our kids were on the street,” Al-Shorbagy told Reuters.
“We opened this building as a community initiative. It was my national and humanitarian duty towards my neighbourhood.”
Inside the house, facilities are basic, with exposed brick walls and big gaps where windows should be. Ripped curtains are used to divide up space for classrooms.
Undeterred, the eager children find any space they can on the floor, with barely any room to move, let alone write. They share donated books and follow what one of the 16 volunteer teachers writes on a broken white board.
Classes include maths, science and English, with Al-Shorbagy saying he follows the pre-war Yemeni curriculum.
Despite the ramshackle setting and lack of facilities, the school is oversubscribed in a country where education has been decimated and accessible, free school options are limited.
Some 2,500 schools have been damaged or destroyed since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government, a UNICEF report said in March.
Two million children are out of school in Yemen, including Shehab Mohamed Hazzaa, whose mother was trying to enrol him at Al-Shorbagy’s school.
“I came here to register… in the school and the principal told me that it is too crowded and rejected him,” said the mother, who declined to be named.
The only other option in the city are private schools but they cost up to 100,000 Yemeni riyal ($400) per year, putting them out of reach for many in the impoverished Arab country.
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BERLIN, October 30 (Reuters): German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts African leaders on Tuesday in a drive to tackle underdevelopment on the continent that helped to spur mass migration, shaping the later years of her long premiership.
Merkel announced on Monday she would retire from politics by 2021, sending shockwaves across Europe and starting a race to succeed her.
She needs the Compact with Africa summit to show that progress has been made in addressing the aftermath of one of the defining moments of her 13 years in power: her 2015 decision to open Germany’s doors to more than a million refugees.
The Berlin summit, attended by 12 leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, is designed to showcase the continent as a stable destination for German investment.
The aim is to create good jobs for Africans, easing the poverty which along with political instability and violence has encouraged large numbers to head for Europe.
“We have to make sure we don’t stay in aid mode,” Merkel’s Africa coordinator Guenter Nooke told public radio. “The many millions of jobs we need in Africa can’t be created with public money.”
If Merkel is to ensure the leadership of her Christian Democrat party passes to a centrist ally, such as current general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, she needs to show that she has made progress in fixing the conditions that led to her fateful decision three years ago.
Other candidates, including Health Minister Jens Spahn or her old rival, the strongly pro-business Friedrich Merz, are well to her right politically and could be expected to want to challenge much of her legacy.
Merkel presented her decision to open Germany’s borders to refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East as well as Africa as an unavoidable necessity driven by the vast scale of the human tide.
The crisis upturned European politics, revitalising the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose demand that the country shut its borders to migrants helped to fuel its surge into parliament in last year’s election.
But officials around the chancellor believe that migration can only be slowed sustainably by removing the “push” factors of unemployment and instability in Africa, something that will only be exacerbated by climate change.
Officials hope that the summit, attended also by Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, will encourage more companies to invest on the continent, creating jobs that aid has failed to do.
A successful outcome to the summit may help to strengthen Merkel’s case for remaining chancellor even after stepping down from the party leadership, and could quieten her coalition partners in Bavaria’s conservative CSU and the Social Democrats (SPD).
All three parties have suffered punishing setbacks in regional elections this month, building internal party pressure for them to switch leaders or break up the coalition.
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ISTANBUL, October 30 (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Tuesday to crush Kurdish fighters east of the Euphrates river in Syria, announcing a major military operation against U.S. allies in an area where Washington supports them with troops on the ground.
Syria’s YPG Kurdish militia are the core of a force that has fought against Islamic State with the support of U.S. air power, arms, funds, training and an estimated 2,000 American special forces troops on the ground.
Turkey, Washington’s main Muslim ally within NATO, considers the YPG an enemy and has already intervened to sweep the fighters from territory west of the Euphrates in military campaigns over the past two years.
Previous campaigns halted at the banks of the river, in part to avoid direct confrontation with Washington. But Erdogan said Turkey was now prepared to press on.
“We will destroy the terror structure east of the Euphrates River. We have completed preparations and plans regarding this issue,” Erdogan said in a speech to lawmakers from his AK Party.
“We have started active intervention operations against the terror organisation in the last couple of days. We will soon come down hard on the terror organisation with more extensive and effective operations.”
State-owned Anadolu news agency said on Sunday Turkish forces had already bombarded positions east of the river held by the YPG.
Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support for the YPG, which it considers a terrorist organisation and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey for more than three decades.
Erdogan issued what he said was a “final warning” last week to those who would endanger Turkey’s borders. He said then that Turkey would focus its attention on the east of the Euphrates, rather than the Manbij area just west of the river, where U.S. and Turkish forces agreed in June to carry out joint patrols.
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New Delhi, October 30 (IANS) Actress Swati Semwal is also a writer and director, and her upcoming short film is a humorous journey of two sisters from a conservative family exploring their fantasy of a sex toy. She says she is fearless as a storyteller.
“Whatever I am today is because of acting, so I give respect to it as a profession and art form, but I am way too passionate about direction,” Swati told IANS over phone from Mumbai.
Swati, who has featured as an actress in films like “Bareilly Ki Barfi” and “Fanney Khan”, has made multiple short films in the past. She will also venture into feature film making, and says she is very passionate about being behind the camera.
Her short film “Abnormal” tackled the LGBT theme, and “Sameera” — which won two awards at My Mumbai International Short Film Festival — is about a unique love story of a Muslim girl. Her upcoming short is “Dildo Laa Rey”, which will come on Net Pix Short, the brainchild of First Step Entertainment Capital on Wednesday.
Starring Aanchal Sharma and Priyanka Arya, Swati’s “Dildo Laa Rey” addresses women’s sexuality and how they should be liberalised and not keep their sexual encounters secret.
Swati says she has directed around 15 short films.
“I have realised that I am a pretty fearless person in terms of direction. One of my films is about an old lady who is in love with her plant, then there is a Muslim woman in love with Shiva, there’s this new film about two girls who are in search of a dildo, and then one which is a psychological horror,” she said.
While she is trying her hand at different genres as of now, her favourite one is yet to come. She will explore the concept of a travel film with a feature film that she plans to roll soon.
“My aim is to be one of the best storytellers… After Anurag Kashyap sir, nobody brought a change (in Indian cinema) and I feel it is kind of stagnant. I want to be the next person to bring in change in terms of storytelling,” said Swati.
As an actress, Swati featured as Kriti Sanon’s friend Rama in “Bareilly Ki Barfi”, and in “Fanney Khan”, she had a role opposite Rajkummar Rao. She walked out of Kangana Ranaut-starrer “Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi” as she wasn’t convinced about the significance of her part.
“For me as an actor, it can be one scene, but I don’t want to be underused. I want to do substantial roles in which there’s scope of performance, otherwise I don’t feel satisfied. What’s the use of acting if I am not able to show my best?
“I am ready to go slow because I know I will act even when I am old,” she added.
For her, “Bareilly Ki Barfi” was a reality check.
“I am here (in Mumbai) since the past seven to eight years… I never really struggled, but I realised I was struggling during ‘Bareilly…’ That time, I realised I need much more to do. Before that film, I was in my own world, I was working in the ad industry, did about 300 ads and thought I am the best, I am the queen.
“But when I signed my first film, it wasn’t very pleasant in terms of my personal and mental satisfaction as an actor. I wanted to do much more. That time I realised I have potential, and I can do much more but I didn’t have a platform. For the first time, I realised I was such a struggler,” Swati recounted.
Her struggle, she says, began when she went on the set.
“I wanted a platform to perform, but I had restrictions. My aim is not to have those restrictions, and to be the central person on the set and perform because there’s much more in me to give out as an actor,” added the actress, who idolises the versatile Irrfan Khan.
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MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights, October 30 (Reuters): Hundreds of Druze Arabs, some carrying Syrian flags, gathered outside the gates of a polling station on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, trying to block their townspeople from voting in municipal elections.
Israeli police wearing helmets cleared a path for would-be voters outside the balloting centre in Majdal Shams. As protesters continued to prevent people from entering, police fired teargas to disperse the crowd. No one was hurt or arrested.
The town is the largest Druze community in the area of mountainous plateau that Israel captured from Syria in a 1967 war, unilaterally annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised internationally.
“The Golan’s identity is Arab and Syrian,” chanted the protesters as they put a banner on the entrance reading: “No to elections.”
Inside the building election officials sat in mostly empty rooms with blue ballot boxes bearing Israeli insignia.
Some voters made it past the protest.
“It’s my right to vote. I’m free to choose the right person,” said one man as he emerged from the polling station carrying a child. Glancing at the crowd, he refused to give his name.
The Druze are a fiercely independent Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam. Around 22,000 Druze live on the Israeli-occupied Golan.
Israel, seeking to further integrate them, has offered citizenship but most Druze rejected it. Many regard themselves as Syrian, even after more than half a century of life under Israeli rule.
After an election eve town centre meeting and march featuring dozens of rainbow Druze flags, the community’s elders issued a prohibition against candidates standing and people voting, threatening to make outcasts of anyone who took part.
“Candidates and those who come to vote will have a religious and social prohibition put upon them,” said Sheikh Khamis Khanjar. “What bigger punishment is there than this?”
Many Druze have enjoyed economic prosperity on the other side of the front line from their brethren in war-torn Syria.
“When you are in a state that is giving you all your rights, why wouldn’t you vote,” said Sahar Said Ahmed as she watched the election eve protest in a town square dominated by the statue of a Druze leader who fought French forces during the colonial era.
Outside the polling station Druze religious elders wearing their distinctive maroon and white caps urged youths not to confront the police. One concern was that the issue of taking part in Israeli elections was dividing the community.
“For more than 50 years Israel has been trying to sow disputes by divide and rule and it is happy at the differences that are surfacing,” said Moenis Abdullah.
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New Delhi, October 30 (PTI): US President Donald Trump is unable to participate as Chief Guest of India’s Republic Day celebrations next year due to scheduling constraints, the White House has said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited President Trump for a bilateral visit to India during their talks in Washington last year.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had, in July, said that Trump has received an invitation to visit India, but no decision has been taken yet.
“President Trump was honoured by Prime Minister Modi’s invitation for him to be Chief Guest of India’s Republic Day on January 26, 2019 but is unable to participate due to scheduling constraints,” a White House spokesperson said, when asked about Trump’s decision on Modi’s invitation.
It is said that the annual State of the Union address to both Houses of the US Congress by Trump is likely to be around the time India will celebrate its Republic Day. The SOTU is normally delivered in the last week of January or first week of February.
The spokesperson said that the US President and Modi enjoy a strong personal rapport and Trump is committed to deepening the India-US relationship.
“The President enjoys a strong personal rapport with Prime Minister Modi developed through two meetings and several phone calls and remains committed to deepening the US-India strategic partnership,” the spokesperson said.
“The President very much looks forward to meeting Prime Minister Modi again at the earliest opportunity,” the White House spokesperson said.
Modi and Trump are scheduled to attend the G-20 Summit in Argentina on November 30 and December 1. It is possible that the two leaders might meet and discuss bilateral relationship there.
Every year, India invites world leaders to attend its Republic Day celebrations.
The heads of state and government who have attended the Republic Day celebrations include Nicolas Sarkozy, Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela, John Major, Mohammed Khatami and Jacques Chirac.
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COLOMBO, October 30 (Reuters): More than 10,000 protesting supporters of Sri Lanka’s ousted prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, brought parts of the capital, Colombo, to a standstill on Tuesday as political turmoil on the island entered its fifth day.
Sri Lanka was plunged into crisis on Friday when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and swore in ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa to replace him, breaking up a fragile coalition governing the country.
Sirisena also suspended parliament, to the fury of Wickremesinghe’s supporters, who say the president is trying to prevent lawmakers from keeping him in power.
On Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered near Wickremesinghe’s residence to hear the ousted prime minister speak, holding signs demanding that Sirisena to preserve democracy.
“He has broken his promise and taken the executive powers into his hands,” Wickremesinghe told the crowd, referring to Sirisena.
“He has sidelined parliamentary power.”
The crowd, which police estimated at more than 10,000, blocked several roads in the city-centre neighbourhood that includes embassies, high-end stores and hotels, according to a Reuters witness.
“This is a coup. It has all the characteristics of a coup,” one of the protesters, Deepanjalie Abeywardene, told Reuters, while holding a sign which read “reconvene the parliament”.
“This is a third-grade act by Sirisena. We voted him as the president to ensure democracy,” said P. Ariyadasa, a 62-year-old farmer from Mesawachchiya, 230 km from Colombo.
LEGAL WRANGLE
Sirisena maintains his sacking of Wickremesinghe without the approval of parliament was constitutional.
The government’s new spokesman, Mahinda Samarasinghe, told a news conference that Sirisena had met foreign diplomats on Monday and told them the constitution allowed for the removal of Wickremesinghe.
Sirisena named a new cabinet on Monday with Rajapaksa in charge of finance.
Rajapaksa’s crushing of a 26-year insurgency by ethnic Tamil separatists in 2009 won him support among the island nation’s Sinhalese majority, and he has a strong following.
Some of Wickremesinghe’s ousted ministers have refused to accept his sacking.
On Sunday, former oil minister Arjuna Ranatunga attempted to enter his office, leading to violence that left two dead.
The speaker of parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, has also refused to recognise Rajapaksa as the new prime minister, warning of “bloodshed” if the standoff moves to the streets.
The power struggle in Sri Lanka comes at a critical time for its economy, with credit rating agencies warning that turmoil could raise financing costs and lower foreign capital inflows as it attempts to refinance sizable government debts.
Sri Lanka is also a key state in a battle for influence in south Asia between traditional ally India and China. The Chinese government has been one of the few to congratulate the pro-Beijing Rajapaksa on becoming prime minister.
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