Author: Mike Harrison

It warns against external interference, backs a ‘peaceful resolution’ to the crisis China on Tuesday called for all parties to help maintain stability in Myanmar, as it refrained from criticising the military leadership for seizing power in a coup and urged the international community to not interfere.Beijing said it was not in favour of external powers “taking actions that would raise tensions”, the Foreign Ministry said, with analysts in Beijing expressing concerns over possible sanctions from the U.S., which strongly criticised the military-led coup that threatened to undo the transition to democracy that has been under way since 2011.China had…

But party denies move to merge with JD(U). Amid speculation that the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), led by Upendra Kushwaha, will merge with the JD(U), party sources on Tuesday denied such reports, terming them “wrong and baseless”.A series of meetings between Mr. Kushwaha and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in recent times, triggered rumours that the former is likely to be inducted into the State cabinet. An expansion of the Cabinet is expected “any day this week”.“The news reports about the merger of RLSP are wrong and baseless. The party will continue with its struggle in view of expectations…

Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday asserted that the three farm bills have gone through ‘threadbare’ discussion in the House as both Houses witnessed multiple disruptions over the issue.Also read: Govt’s offer best for farmers; hopeful that unions will reconsider it: Narendra Singh TomarIn the Lok Sabha, leader of the Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded an immediate discussion on the laws and the farmers’ agitation.“The entire country is watching us. So far 170 farmers have died during the agitation. It seems we have returned to British Raj going by the harassment that they are facing,” Mr. Chowdhury said shortly…

The all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday on the farmers’ agitation urged the Centre to immediately withdraw the three farm laws. It was decided that an all-party delegation will raise the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other matters of concern on the agitation, said a government statement. Condemning what was termed as “sponsored violence” in Delhi, a resolution was passed demanding appropriate judicial inquiry into the laxity and complicity of those responsible for maintaining peace and order at the Red Fort. The meeting was boycotted by the BJP but attended by Congress, AAP,…

The military backed the USDP’s allegations of fraud, without offering any evidence Myanmar’s powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing had raised doubts about last year’s election results even before the polls were held. “We are in a situation where we need to be cautious about the outcome,” he told the local media before the November 8 elections. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) swept the polls by winning almost 80% of the vote, while the Army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) suffered a humiliating defeat. The USDP did not accept the result. The military backed…

The petitions would be taken up for hearing by a bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a batch of pleas pertaining to tractor rally violence in the national capital on the Republic Day, including the one which has sought setting up of a commission headed by a retired apex court judge to inquire into the incident.Also read: Police blocks entry to journalists, others to protest site at Singhu BorderThe tractor parade on January 26 that was to highlight the demands of farmer unions to repeal three…

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Pakistani-British man acquitted of the 2002 gruesome beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl off death row and moved to a so-called government “safe house.” Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh, who has been on death row for 18 years will be under guard and won’t be allowed to leave the safe house, but he will be able to have his wife and children visit him.“It is not complete freedom. It is a step toward freedom,” said Sheikh’s father, Saeed Sheikh, who attended the hearing.The Pakistan government has been scrambling to keep Sheikh in jail since…

“The United States is concerned by Beijing’s pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate its neighbours,” said Emily J. Horne, spokesperson, National Security Council (NSC) of the White House In its first response to the China-India border standoff, the Biden administration has voiced concern over Beijing’s ongoing attempts to “intimidate” its neighbours and said it was closely monitoring the situation.Also read: A strong India would act as ‘counterbalance’ to China, says declassified U.S. documentA top official of the new Biden administration also asserted that the U.S. will stand with its allies to advance its shared values in the strategically-vital Indo-Pacific region.“We…

Police said the 52-year-old had been opposing a group that had been trying to grab government land A 52-year-old DMK functionary was hacked to death by a gang in Pallavaram on Monday night. Sankar Nagar police arrested three accused in connection with the murder. The deceased has been identified as M. Ganesh, a resident of Eswari Nagar, and a block secretary of the DMK’s local unit. Police said he was at loggerheads with a group that was grabbing a plot of government poramboke land in Nagalkeni. On Monday, the group of people led by Anbalagan, 32 uprooted stone pillars and…

Previous Hindi words of the year are Aadhaar (2017), Nari Shakti (2018) and Samvidhaan (2019) ‘Aatmanirbharta’ implying self-reliance has been named by Oxford Languages as its Hindi word of the year 2020 as it “validated the day-to-day achievements of the countless Indians who dealt with and survived the perils of a pandemic”.The word was chosen by an advisory panel of language experts Kritika Agrawal, Poonam Nigam Sahay and Imogen Foxell.The Oxford Hindi word of the year is a word or expression that is chosen to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as…