World (146)
North Korea fails in new missile launch as US vice president Pence heads for South
A North Korean missile "blew up almost immediately" on its test launch on Sunday, the US Pacific Command said, hours before US Vice President Mike Pence was due in the South for talks on the North's increasingly defiant arms programme. The failed launch from the east coast came a day after North Korea held a military parade in its capital, marking the birth anniversary of the state founder, in which what appeared to be new long-range ballistic missiles were on display.
'No, I'm not joining the BJP', says Shashi Tharoor
In the face of several people asking him this question, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor wants to let everyone know once and for all that he's not joining the BJP. It's unclear where this conjecture emerged from, but perhaps it was because last month he wrote an essay about the merits of a Presidential system of government versus a Parliamentary system.
34 injured as gas explosion flattens several buildings in UK
At least 34 people were injured, including two critically, after a massive gas explosion flattened several buildings, in Merseyside area of north-west England last night. A Chinese restaurant, which had about 15 people inside, and a dance studio for children, which was unoccupied at the time of explosion, were among the buildings destroyed in the blast at Bebbington town. Merseyside fire and rescue service said the explosion was a major incident. "It's what we would describe as a total collapse, or the explosion has blown the walls out, which has caused the roof to collapse. It's a very significant debris field and (there is) lots of structural damage to the surrounding buildings," said Dan Stephens, chief officer at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. There was a huge police and ambulance response with at least 10 ambulances seen at the scene.
Adityanath’s rise marks the end of a 100-year-old battle
There comes a moment in some lives when a sudden, unexpected event makes you look at the world with greater clarity than before. It could be a happy moment: a childhood friend proposes to you, or you stumble into parenthood. It could be a sad one: you are diagnosed with cancer and told you have six months to live. It makes you look at the world differently, and some things seem so clear that you wonder why you did not notice them before. In the life of our nation, the rise of Yogi Adityanath to the chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh+ might well be one such unexpected yet clarifying moment. I was stunned when it was announced; and yet, it makes so much sense that any counterfactual now seems absurd. It was, I have come to believe, a decisive and inevitable event in a conflict that has been simmering in India for at least a century. The great battle that took place on our peninsula was not between the natives and our colonial overlords, but between a new way of thinking and an old way of existing. While the Enlightenment swept its way across Europe and the US in the 18th century, its influence was felt in India only in the 19th. Liberalism, however one tries to spin it, was an import from the West, and it is ironic that many of our finest freedom fighters were influenced by British thinkers. The great early figures of our resistance — heroes of mine such as Naoroji, Ranade, Agarkar and Gokhale — were essentially British liberals.
If not for PM, BJP would have been wiped out: Akhilesh Yadav
The hurly burly of campaigning is over. Samajwadi Party chief and UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has just come back from Ambedkar Nagar after addressing a rally for the by-election to Alapur constituency be held on Thursday and has addressed a press conference in Lucknow. After days of hectic campaigning - addressing almost seven rallies a day over a month - Akhilesh settles for a quiet lunch on Tuesday with wife and Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav.
Britain limits lone child refugees to 300, sees criticism
Britain's Conservative government has placed a limit on the number of lone child refugees it will accept into the country, citing fears that people traffickers were exploiting the system. Some 350 children will be allowed, far less than the 3,000 originally expected under the law that had been aimed at helping some of the tens of thousands of migrant children across Europe. Some 200 children have been brought in thus far. Home secretary Amber Rudd said on Thursday the decision was made after France raised concerns that UK government actions were acting as a draw to encourage children to make the perilous journey to the continent. "We are not saying we are closing the door, we are putting up the drawbridge," she said. "We are not saying that."
Nepal to hold first local elections in 20 years
Nepal will hold its first local elections in two decades in May, the government has announced, a key moment in the country's fraught transition to democracy. The impoverished Himalayan nation emerged from a brutal decade-long civil war in 2006, which brought the end of the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy and transformed it into a secular republic. But deep political divides have prevented it from implementing a new constitution that paves the way for elections, but which the minority Madhesi community says leaves them politically marginalised. "The government has taken a historic decision. The election will be held in a single phase across the country," Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said following a late night cabinet meeting on Monday.
Sasikala praises 'loyal brother' Panneerselvam; says 'opposition hopes of AIADMK split dashed'
VK Sasikala who was on Sunday elected as the leader of the AIADMK legislature party, said the development in the party had shattered the hopes of the opposition parties in the state. "The development has come shattering the expectation of our political opponents that there will be a split in the party after the demise of our Amma (Jayalalithaa)," Sasikala said after party MLAs unanimously elected her as their leader. The development paves the way for her becoming the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and she is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday. Sasikala had a special word of praise for Panneerselvam, stating "whenever the party faced tough times and whenever there were difficulties in Amma becoming the chief minister, it was our dear brother Panneerselvam who has been loyal." "It was Panneerselvam who had first persuaded me to become the Chief Minister and General Secretary as well when Jayalalithaa passed away," Sasikala told party legislators in her acceptance speech.
May-Trump meeting to test UK-US 'special relationship'
British Prime Minister Theresa May has won the race to be the first foreign leader to meet President Donald Trump in Washington. But her trip to the US capital is anything but a victory lap. May's staff worked feverishly to secure the two-day trip, which includes a meeting with the president Friday at the White House. British officials hope it will help cement the UK's place as a pre-eminent American ally and provide proof of what Britons more often than Americans call the trans-Atlantic "special relationship." But May faces the challenge of persuading a president who has vowed to put "America first'' of the benefits of free trade with Britain and the vital role of the 28-nation NATO military alliance. And she must build a working relationship with a populist president whose protectionist outlook and loose way with facts have alarmed many European politicians, including some of May's own allies.
Hit hard by uncertainties, will Modi's Budget help FIIs regain faith in Indian equities
Foreign investors’ renewed interest in domestic equities faces a big test as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prepares to present the federal budget. Investors say the first stock inflows from overseas in more than a month could accelerate if the Feb. 1 budget unveils steps to boost spending to stimulate growth that’s forecast to slow to a three-year low.
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