Thomas Buergenthal, former judge at the International Court of Justice, said that former Vice President Dick Cheney could possibly be tried as a war criminal before the International Criminal Court (ICC), reported RawStory.
“Some of us have long thought that Cheney and a number of CIA agents who did what they did in those so-called black holes should appear before the ICC,” said Buergenthal. “We [Americans] could have tried them ourselves. I voted for Obama, but I think he made a great mistake when he decided not to instigate legal proceedings against some of these people.”
Buergenthal mentioned that he didn’t know if former British Prime Minister Tony Blair could face war crimes. Knowing that Cheney was the real ringleader behind the Iraq War, Buergenthal said George W. Bush was “insignificant.” He describes Bush as an “ignorant person” with mommy and daddy issues.
Dick Cheney going before an international tribunal for war crimes would be perfect. Cheney deserves be to be tried for wrongfully creating a war on false pretences.
“The hate, violence and petty mindedness is being unleashed as part of a pre-determined plan,” said Sonia Gandhi. (PTI Photo) In an attempt to seize the ongoing protest by writers, artists and filmmakers who have returned prestigious awards expressing their anger over rising intolerance in the country, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will lead a delegation of her party to meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday.
Sonia along with son and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and senior party leaders will meet President Mukherjee in the evening to discuss the “current political situation”. Also read: According to Congress insiders, Sonia is expected to talk to the President about the growing concern over intolerance and urge him to advice the government to act firmly. Speaking during a function in New Delhi on Saturday, Sonia expressed her concern over rising intolerance in the country. “Organisations and people of a particular ideology are spreading it to divide people. We are under no illusion that it is an accident. The hate, violence and petty mindedness is being unleashed as part of a pre-determined plan. We will not allow such a diabolical design to succeed. It will shake country’s foundations. We are ready to fight the battle,” Sonia had said. Also read: In the past, President Pranab Mukherjee has also spoken over the issue.
“The core values of diversity, tolerance and plurality of Indian civilisation must be kept in mind and cannot be allowed to be wasted,” he had said in the backdrop of the Dadri lynching incident. “These core civilisation values keep us together over the centuries. Many ancient civilisations have fallen. Despite aggression after aggression our civilisation has survived because of our core civilisation values. If we keep those core values in mind, nothing can prevent our democracy from moving ahead,” the President added. Also read:
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Jantar Mantar here today demanding One Rank One Pension (OROP) benefits and other privileges under the ex-servicemen category. “Our major demands to the government are the granting of OROP to paramilitary veterans like military personnel, exemption of serving troops from contributory pension scheme and extending full benefits to these forces under the ex-servicemen category,” said Ex-servicemen Welfare Association national general secretary P.S. Nair. “The association has already sent a memorandum to the government in this regard and failing to get any reply we have decided to begin the protest here,” he added. Nair said that they have been waiting for over a decade for implementation of their demands.The association claims to have the support of a maximum number of state chapters in this regard and has even met senior government leadership for the same.
(2 Nov) Gonda (UP): Rangilal, a Panchayat election candidate who died three days before polling day, has been elected as a member of Ksetra Panchayat after defeating his “alive” opponents in Dharmai village here. Rangilal who was one among the four candidates in fray for the Panchayat seat in Mujehna development block died three days before the October 13 polling, District Magistrate and Returning Officer Ajay Kumar Upadhaya said today. But since there is no provision of cancellation of voting in the event of death of a candidate in Panchayat elections, polling was held as per the schedule, Upadhaya said.
PATNA: Voting will be held in 55 seats tomorrow in the penultimate phase of Bihar election, with stakes high for BJP as it had along with its then ally JD(U) bagged majority of seats in last Assembly polls. BJP had won 26 out of 55 seats spread across seven districts of Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Gopalganj and Siwan in 2010 Assembly polls. Its then ally JD(U) had emerged victorious in 24. RJD had won 2 seats and Independents 3. But the scenario has changed this time. From the grand secular alliance camp, RJD has now fielded candidates in 26 constituencies followed by JD(U) in 21 and Congress 8. From NDA on the other hand, BJP fielded its nominees in 42 seats in this phase, LJP in 5 and Hindustanti Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) in 4 seats each.
A total of 1,46,93,294 electorate will be able to cast vote on 14,139 polling stations on November 1 to elect their representatives from 776 candidates of which 57 are women. On the basis of assessment of security situation, polling will be held from 7 AM to 5 PM in 43 constituencies, while it will be shortened by one hour in 8 seats and voting would end at 3 PM in four seats, Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshamanan said. He put the number of polling stations in LWE (Left Wing Extremist) affected areas at 3043. Altogether 1163 companies (each comprising 100 personnel) of Central Paramilitary Force and state police will be posted to ensure free and fair elections. A total of 38 motor boats will be pressed into services for riverine patrolling tomorrow. Balloting has already completed on 131 seats in the earlier three rounds. After completion of fourth phase, voting would be over in 186 seats. The last phase of polling is scheduled on November 5 on the remaining 57 seats. Counting of votes is on November 8. The fourth phase saw high voltage campaigning with both BJP-led NDA and JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance accusing each other of trying to polarise voters on communal lines. “If BJP loses Bihar elections even by chance, though victory or defeat will happen in Patna, there will be bursting of firecrackers in Pakistan,” BJP chief Amit Shah had said at a rally at Raxual in East Champaran district on Thursday, three days before the fourth phase polling. Rivals JD(U), Congress and RJD saw the comment as an attempt to communalise voters for the next two rounds on 112 seats and approached the Election Commission.
Acting on the complaint, the state Election Office has sought report from District Magistrate of East Champaran and West Champaran on the remark. Lalu Prasad slammed Shah linking the controversy with the pride of the state alleging the remark was an affront on the citizens of Bihar particularly backwards, EBCs, dalits and minorities who are “firmly rooting” for secular alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two rallies at Gopalganj and Muzaffarpur before the campaign ended last evening. Continuing with his earlier attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, the PM again alluded to the alleged “sinister plan” of Nitish and Lalu to carve out 5 per cent quota from OBC, SC and ST to give to a particular community. Prominent personalities whose fate would be decided in this phase are senior minister Ramai Ram (Bochaha, SC seat), Ranju Geeta (Bajpatti) and Manoj Kushwaha (Kudni). Lakshamanan said 191 arms/weapons, 56 explosives, 595 cartridges and 17 bombs were seized. A total of Rs 5.32 crore of unaccounted cash and 1,58,246 litres of illegal liquor valued at Rs 2.90 crore were seized, he said.
(28 Oct) The Central government is going very slow over deporting underworld don Chhota Rajan back to the country. In fact, the Centre is yet to make a decision on Rajan’s deportation and could delay the procedure for the time being. Mr K.P. Bakshi, additional chief secretary for home, also admitted that they have not received any official confirmation from the Centre about the arrest of the fugitive don so far. Meanwhile, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government would provide all the documental evidences to the Centre for making the deportation of Chhota Rajan possible.
The chief minister also emphasised on the arrest of Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted fugitive don, after Rajan. Ending a 28-year-old global manhunt, one of the country’s most wanted gangsters Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan was arrested in the Indonesian resort island of Bali on a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police on Monday. The Central government has said that Rajan would be deported to India soon. He had been hiding in Australia for over a year, and got in touch with Indian authorities four-five months ago. However, according to highly placed sources in the Maharashtra government, the Central government is going very slow on the issue of deporting Chhota Rajan. “The government and its agencies – Intelligence Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation is yet to take a call whether to deport the underworld don immediately or not,” revealed a senior Mantralaya official. The sources added that the government could also delay the procedure for deporting Rajan for the time being as it might want to make a full-proof case against him.
“It seems that the objective of the government is not only to bring Rajan back for the sake of putting him behind the bars. They must want to make a strong case against him and thus are yet to start the process for his deportation,” the senior official said. Mr Bakshi admitted that the Maharashtra government has not received any official confirmation from the Centre on Rajan’s arrest. “As of now, we have not received any confirmation or information from the Centre over Rajan’s arrest. Once the directives are received, action will be taken accordingly,” he said. Earlier in the day, chief minister Fadnavis in Sangli said the Centre is after Dawood Ibrahim now. “Rajan has been arrested and Maharashtra government would provide all the documental evidences to the Centre as the red corner notice was basically issued by us. Now, the state government also wants Dawood to be arrested and the Centre is after him,” Mr Fadnavis said.
(28 Oct) New Delhi: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today said his firm is working on an open framework and continues to ‘lobby’ for net neutrality even as its plan to provide free Internet access to people under Free Basics programme faces criticism. “We do a lot to support (net neutrality) in terms of regulations, we are working on building an open framework.” Zucerkerbg said, while speaking at Townhall at IIT- Delhi.
Buffalo meat was the most sought-after dish at Delhi’s Kerala House after it found its way back on the menu on Wednesday, a day after it was pulled off. “We have resumed selling buffalo meat in the canteen and most people are asking for the dish. It’s because of the news,” an official at Kerala House said. The state guest house was “raided” by Delhi Police on Monday after a leader of a fringe right-wing outfit Hindu Sena complained that beef was being served there. Later, it turned out that carabeef (buffalo meat) was being served in the Kerala House canteen. On Wednesday, the menu board at the canteen had the meat listed as ‘Meat Fry and Meat Curry (Buffalo)’.
FTII students who went on strike on June 12 against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman returned to their classes on Wednesday but said protests against the BJP member will go on. The Film and Television Institute of India students said they will continue to protest in a “peaceful and democratic manner” against Chauhan, who they say is not fit to head the country’s premier film institute. Ranjit Nair, spokesperson for the Students Association, told IANS that the strike was over.
We have come to realize, after our long-stretched negotiations with the government, that the government is a bully,” a miffed Nair said. He said the students will now invite people from all over the country who face similar problems. “The strike will escalate now… It’s time to register our protest all over again and take it to different heights,” Nair said. He said filmmakers and academics should come forward and take the protests forward in Mumbai. The students held multiple By
meetings with officials of the information and broadcasting ministry but there was no end to the stalemate. The government refused to buckle over Chauhan, forcing the student community to blink. Chauhan congratulated the students for ending the strike, and told IANS over telephone that it was time for them to return to their classes. The decision to end the strike followed the government’s “incongruous approach” towards the students’ cause, said another student leader, Reema Kaur.
“The 139 days of strike have not only made us stronger but more aware of the state that we today live in,” said Kaur, a final year student of editing and a part of the core committee of the Students Association that spearheaded the strike. “We voiced ourselves loud and clear but it is the government’s adamant stand and incongruous approach towards our valid demands that has made us completely lose faith,” Kaur told IANS. “Looking at the ministry’s unrelenting approach and the amount of our valuable time spent, we have decided to end the strike and resume classes. “However, our voices will not shut, but grow louder. The protests shall continue democratically and in the peaceful manner as they have,” Kaur added.
For the second time in six months, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has slapped a notice summoning Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in connection with the valuation of shares of his co-owned IPL cricket team, Kolkata Knight Riders, sources said here on Tuesday. The ED is investigating whether the shares of the team were allegedly undervalued as it could be violative of the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Earlier, the ED had served a notice to the team in May this year but Shah Rukh had not appeared before the agency.
Prior to that, Shah Rukh was quizzed in 2011 for allegations that KKR had received illegal money transferred from certain foreign tax havens. The company Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, which runs the KKR team, is jointly owned by Shah Rukh, actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta.
It is alleged that five million shares of KRSPL were sold to Mehta’s company, Sea Islands Investments Ltd, based in Mauritius in 2008 and were reportedly undervalued. Shah Rukh is away on a film shooting assignment and sought time to appear before the investigating agency which has not set any time-frame on the issue. In 2011, Shah Rukh was directed to provide relevant documents including the purchase of players, revenues, advertising details and the team’s shareholding pattern.
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