Blinken calls the retaliatory measures on U.S. officials baseless. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Saturday that China’s tit-for-tat sanctions against two Americans in the growing dispute over Beijing’s treatment of Uighurs were “baseless” and would only shine a harsh spotlight on the “genocide” in Xinjiang.“Beijing’s attempts to intimidate and silence those speaking out for human rights and fundamental freedoms only contribute to the growing international scrutiny of the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” Mr. Blinken said in a statement.He spoke out after China announced sanctions against two Americans, a Canadian and a rights advocacy…
Author: Mike Harrison
A teenager has died and at least a dozen people were injured during clashes between police and demonstrators in Bangladesh on Sunday, officials and reports said, in the third day of Islamist protests against the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The protesters — mostly from the hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam — were angry at the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Bangladesh marked 50 years of independence, accusing him of stoking communal violence against Muslims in India.Five people died on Friday, and another six the next day, after police shot at demonstrators in several major districts across the Muslim-majority…
The Election Commission said on Sunday that 56 bombs had been recovered from Narendrapur in West Bengal during a search operation based on “secret source information”. On the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, a team of Narendrapur police under Baruipur police district raided a “bamboo fenced tile shed room beside Bheri at Kantipota, Kheadaha II G.P. under Narendrapur P.S”, an EC statement said.The police team recovered 56 bombs during the search, it said. A case was lodged under sections of the Explosive Substances Act against “one Tarun and & unknown others who are involved in the racket of manufacturing,…
Dredgers working to dislodge the stranded vessel have so far shifted 27,000 cubic metres of sand, to a depth of 18 metres. Suez Canal salvage teams were alternating between dredging and tugging on Sunday to dislodge a massive container ship blocking the busy waterway, while two sources said efforts had been complicated by rock under the ship’s bow.Dredgers working to dislodge the stranded vessel have so far shifted 27,000 cubic metres of sand, to a depth of 18 metres (19.7 yards), and efforts would continue around the clock according to wind conditions and tides, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said.Egypt’s…
Party says directions for the EC’s ‘motivated and biased’ order relaxing rules for appointing polling agents came from the BJP Calling the Election Commission (EC) order relaxing the rules for the appointment of polling agents “arbitrary, motivated and biased”, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written to the Commission, urging them to withdraw the order. According to a March 2009 rule by the EC, polling agents who are appointed by the contesting candidates shall have to be electors in the same polling stations or from neighbouring polling stations falling in the same constituency.However, the provision was amended recently to allow an…
Over 200 vessels refuse to leave waters claimed by Manila. The Philippines on Sunday said it has started deploying its Air Force to carry out daily patrols over a flotilla of Chinese vessels that has sparked fresh tensions in the South China Sea.The latest dispute, Manila said, was triggered by what it described as a swarm of more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels that have refused to withdraw from waters off the Whitsun Reef, near the disputed Spratly Islands, in an area located within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone.China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, has said the ships…
ULPIN land database to be integrated with revenue court records, bank records, and Aadhaar The Centre plans to issue a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year’s time. It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis, according to a Parliamentary standing committee report submitted to the Lok Sabha last week.The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme has been launched in ten States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, the…
Delhi recorded 1,558 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the highest since since December 15 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said he will not attend any public Holi programme due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases and appealed to the people to celebrate the festival with their families and avoid crowds. The national capital recorded 1,558 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the highest since since December 15 when 1,617 people tested positive for the virus, according to official data. “Corona cases have increased in the last few days, in view of this, I am not attending Holi programs…
Announcing a slew of measures to revive water resources and agriculture in Tamil Nadu, DMK chief M.K. Stalin said on Sunday that a separate Ministry for Irrigation will be established if his party forms the next government.“A ministry will be set up for irrigation. A commission for water management will also be established,” he said in an election campaign at Kangeyan in Tiruppur district. The DMK chief said that a special project for the protection of lakes/tanks under the direct supervision of the Chief Minister at a cost of ₹ 10,000 crore and construction of 200 check dams at a…
The police used force to control the large crowd assembled at the Ekambareshwarar (Ekambaranathar) temple. Tension prevailed in the Ekambareshwarar (Ekambaranathar) temple in Kancheepuram when devotees assembled for the Panguni Uthiram festival were lathicharged by the police in the early hours of March 28.Every year, the Panguni festival at the temple is celebrated with grandeur, attracting a large number of devotees for a glimpse of the Kalyanotsavam festival held on the last day. Despite the increasing number of COVID-19 infections, a large crowd, unmindful of social distancing, assembled at the temple, prompting the police entrusted with regulating the crowd, to…