Tag: Political controversy

Udhayanidhi Stalin’s ‘Sanatan Dharma’ Remark: SC Lawyer Files Complaint With Delhi Police, Seeks FIR Against DMK Leader

DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday (September 2) kicked up a storm for his controversial comments on Sanatan Dharma.

Udhayanidhi Stalin | X

New Delhi: Senior Supreme Court lawyer Vineet Jindal on Sunday (September 3) filed a complaint against Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for the DMK leader’s remark on Sanatan Dharma. The lawyer took to X (formerly Twitter) and posted that he filed a case with Delhi Police against Udhayanidhi Stalin and termed the Tamil Nadu minister’s comment as “provocative,inciting & defamatory statement against Sanatan Dharma.”

The case has been filed under sections 120B,153A, 295, and 504 of IPC and the IT act, said the Supreme Court lawyer in his X post.

Udhayanidhi Stalin kicks up a row with comment on Sanatan Dharma

Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday (September 2) kicked up a storm for his comments on Sanatan Dharma. The Tamil Nadu minister said that Sanatan Dharma should not only be opposed but also abolished. Udhayanidhi Stalin, speaking at an event in Chennai, also equated Sanatan Dharma with diseases like “malaria, dengue and corona” in his speech.

BJP protests against Stalin’s remark

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took strong objection to Stalin’s remarks on Sanatan. BJP national spokespersons took to X and said that Stalin’s remark was nothing short of “genocidal call.”

Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa wins second term, opposition rejects result

Elections commission says Mnangagwa won 52.6 percent of the vote compared with 44 percent for challenger Nelson Chamisa.

Supporters of President Emmerson Mnangagwa celebrate his victory [Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Photo]
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has won a second and final term in office in an outcome rejected by the opposition and questioned by observers.

Mnangagwa, who took over from longtime leader Robert Mugabe after a 2017 army coup, was widely expected to secure re-election despite the country’s continuing economic crisis, with analysts saying the contest was heavily skewed in favour of the ZANU-PF party, which has ruled the country since independence and the end of white minority rule in 1980.

Mnangagwa won 52.6 percent of the vote compared with 44 percent for Nelson Chamisa, his main challenger, according to official results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) late on Saturday.

“Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo of ZANU-PF party is declared duly elected president of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” ZEC chairwoman Justice Chigumba told journalists.

The elections were marred by delays that fuelled opposition accusations of rigging and voter suppression but a small group of ruling party supporters celebrated the outcome on Saturday.

But Promise Mkwananzi, a spokesman for the Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) said the party had not signed the final tally, which he described as “false”.

“We cannot accept the results,” he told the AFP news agency, adding the party would soon announce its next move.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is known as ‘The Crocodile’ for his ruthlessness [AP Photo]
The vote was being watched across southern Africa as a test of support for Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF, whose 43-year rule has been battered by its disastrous management of the economy and charges of authoritarianism.

Foreign poll monitors said on Friday that the elections had failed to meet regional and international standards.

The head of the European Union’s observer mission on Friday said the vote took place in a “climate of fear”. Southern African regional bloc SADC’s mission noted issues including voting delays, issues with the voter roll, bans on opposition rallies and biased state media coverage.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/27/zimbabwes-president-mnangagwa-wins-second-term-opposition-rejects-result

Supermodel Bella Hadid clashes with Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir

The 26-year-old star condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir’s views on Instagram after he expressed that the right to life and movement for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank trumped the right to movement for Palestinians.

US supermodel Bella Hadid has clashed with Israel’s national security minister over his remarks about Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

During an interview with N12 News on Wednesday, Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed the view that the safety and mobility rights of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank held more weight than those of Palestinians.

The Palestinian population has persistently opposed travel restrictions, including checkpoints, imposed by Israel in the West Bank – a region where they exercise partial self-governance.

Mr Ben-Gvir, who resides in the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba close to the West Bank city of Hebron, claimed that these restrictions were crucial for safeguarding his family’s security.

He said: “The privilege for my family, including my spouse and children, to travel through Judea and Samaria takes precedence over the mobility rights of Arab residents,” alluding to the West Bank by its ancient Hebrew name.

Hadid, 26, whose paternal roots are Palestinian and who has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights, voiced her criticism of Mr Ben-Gvir’s statement on Instagram, where she has nearly 60 million followers.

In a post shared on Thursday, she wrote: “In no circumstance, at no time, particularly in 2023, should one life be considered more valuable than another’s, particularly due to their ethnicity, culture, or unfounded animosity.”

Pic: AP
Bella Hadid posted a statement on her Instagram stories

Hadid branded an ‘opponent of Israel’

In response, Mr Ben-Gvir issued a statement on Friday labelling Hadid as an “opponent of Israel” and alleged that she selectively posted a portion of the interview on her social media to depict him unfairly as a bigot.

He later appeared to double down on his remarks, saying: “Not only do I not take back what I said, I say it again: our right to return home in peace, to wander around Judea and Samaria and to not get killed is greater than the right to freedom of movement of residents of the Palestinian Authority.”

The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced Mr Ben-Gvir’s comments on Thursday, describing them as “repugnant and prejudiced,” and contended that these remarks further underlined Israel’s system of apartheid and Jewish dominance. Israel, however, refutes any allegations of maintaining an apartheid framework over Palestinians.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/supermodel-bella-hadid-clashes-with-israeli-minister-itamar-ben-gvir-12947345

‘Absolute lie’: Russia denies role in Yevgeny Prigozhin plane crash

Allegations that Moscow was behind aircraft explosion presumed to have killed Wagner Group boss are untrue, Kremlin spokesman says.

Western suggestions that the Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed on the Russian government’s orders are an “absolute lie”, the Kremlin says.

It declined on Friday to definitively confirm Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash, citing the need to wait for test results.

Russian investigators have recovered 10 bodies and flight recorders from the scene of Wednesday’s crash northwest of Moscow, and investigations are under way.

Prigozhin, who conducted a brief but shocking mutiny in Russia two months ago, hired fighters who are feared in Africa and Syria and played a crucial role in the war in Ukraine.

Some unidentified officials from the West quoted in the media have suggested the plane explosion appears to be vengeance for the Wagner mutiny in June, which posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov flatly rejected the allegations.

“Right now, of course, there are lots of speculation around this plane crash and the tragic deaths of the passengers of the plane, including Yevgeny Prigozhin,” Peskov told reporters in a conference call. “Of course in the West, those speculations are put out under a certain angle, and all of it is a complete lie.”

Prigozhin was listed among those on board the plane.

When asked whether the Kremlin has received an official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death, Peskov referenced Putin’s remarks from a day earlier. “He said that right now all the necessary forensic analyses, including genetic testing, will be carried out. Once some kind of official conclusions are ready to be released, they will be released.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin who mediated the deal that ended the mutiny, said he “can’t imagine” the Russian leader ordered Prigozhin’s assassination.

“I know Putin. He is calculating, very calm, even slow,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state media. “I cannot imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame. It’s too rough and unprofessional work.”

‘I’m not surprised’
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the presumed death of Prigozhin could destabilise his Wagner Group of private military contractors.

His “exceptional audacity” and “extreme brutality” permeated the organisation “and are unlikely to be matched by any successor”, it said in a statement.

The private jet crashed soon after taking off from Moscow for St Petersburg, carrying Prigozhin, six other Wagner members and a crew of three, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency.

US President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said he believed Putin was likely behind the crash. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised. There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov took offence at that remark. “It is not for the US president, in my opinion, to talk about certain tragic events of this nature,” he said on Friday.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/25/absolute-lie-kremlin-denies-role-in-yevgeny-prigozhin-plane-crash

Pakistan President denies signing controversial bills, begins political slugfest: What is happening?

President Arif Alvi denied approving changes to the Official Secrets Act and the Pakistan Army Act, claiming that he was undermined by his own staff. The law ministry, however, asked him to “take responsibility for his own actions”.

Pakistan President Arif Alvi gestures as he arrives in a horse-drawn carriage to attend the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad, Pakistan March 23, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File)

“As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 & Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 as I disagreed with these laws,” Pakistan President Arif Alvi posted on X Sunday (August 20).

With these words, Alvi triggered one of the most absurd political controversies of all time in Pakistan.

The bills he was referring to, were approved by the Pakistan National Assembly and the Senate a few weeks ago and sent for presidential assent. Alvi was deemed to have given his assent to both of them – the Of­­ficial Secrets (Amend­m­ent) Bill, 2023 with effect from August 17 and the Pakistan Army (Amend­ment) Bill, 2023 from August 11. But their legal status is now up in the air, in light of the President’s latest comments.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/pakistan-prez-denies-signing-bills-explained-8902491/

Trump says he will surrender Thursday on Georgia charges tied to efforts to overturn 2020 election

FILE – Former President Donald Trump is escorted to a courtroom, April 4, 2023, in New York. Donald Trump’s aggressive response to his fourth criminal indictment in five months follows a strategy he has long used against legal and political opponents: relentless attacks, often infused with language that is either overtly racist or is coded in ways that appeal to racists. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Former President Donald Trump says he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday to face charges in the case accusing him of illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.

“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED,” Trump wrote on his social media network Monday night, hours after his bond was set at $200,000.

It will be Trump’s fourth arrest since April, when he became the first former president in U.S. history to face indictment. Since then, Trump, who remains the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has had what has seemed like an endless procession of bookings and arraignments in jurisdictions across the country. His appearances in New York, Florida and Washington, D.C., have drawn enormous media attention, with news helicopters tracking his every move.

Trump’s announcement came hours after his attorneys met with prosecutors in Atlanta to discuss the details of his release on bond. The former president is barred from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses or victims in the case — including on social media — according to the bond agreement signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Trump’s defense attorneys and the judge. It explicitly includes “posts on social media or reposts of posts” made by others.

Trump has repeatedly used social media to attack people involved in the criminal cases against him as he campaigns to reclaim the White House in 2024. He has been railing against Willis since before he was indicted, and singled out Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — a Republican who rebuffed his efforts to overturn the election — by name in a social media post Monday morning.

The agreement also prohibits the former president from making any “direct or indirect threat of any nature” against witnesses or co-defendants, and from communicating in any way about the facts of the case with them, except through attorneys.

The order sets Trump’s bond for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations — or RICO — charge at $80,000, and adds $10,000 for each of the 12 other counts he is facing. Bond is the amount defendants must pay as a form of collateral to ensure they show up for required court appearances.

Willis set a deadline of noon Friday for Trump and his 18 co-defendants to turn themselves in to be booked. The prosecutor has proposed that arraignments for the defendants follow during the week of Sept. 5. She has said she wants to try the defendants collectively and bring the case to trial in March of next year, which would put it in the heat of the presidential nominating season.

A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing. A phone message seeking comment was also left for an attorney for the former president.

Trump’s appearance in Georgia will come a day after the first Republican primary debate, which he has decided to skip.

He is expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail, which has long been plagued with problems. The Department of Justice last month opened a civil rights investigation into conditions, citing filthy cells, violence and the death last year of a man whose body was found covered in insects in the main jail’s psychiatric wing. Three people have died in Fulton County custody in the past month.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Monday afternoon that when Trump surrenders there will be a “hard lockdown” of the area surrounding the jail.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/trump-bond-georgia-election-indictment-79dbb26a14b5a4ccfc1472d6d3eacd2b

Auction Notice To Sunny Deol’s Bungalow Withdrawn, Congress Has Questions

Mr Deol’s property was put on the block on Sunday by Bank of Baroda to recover ₹ 56 crore through an e-auction to be held on August 25.

Mumbai: The auction notice for actor and BJP MP Sunny Deol’s bungalow in Mumbai’s Juhu has been withdrawn, the state-owned Bank of Baroda said in a statement today.
Mr Deol’s property was put on the block on Sunday by Bank of Baroda to recover ₹ 56 crore through an e-auction to be held on August 25. The Gurdaspur MP has been in default on a ₹ 55.99 crore loan from Bank of Baroda since December 2022.

“Corrigendum to e-auction notice with regards to sale auction notice in respect of Mr Ajay Singh Deol alias Mr Sunny Deol stands withdrawn due to technical reasons,” the Bank of Baroda said in a statement today.

The bank had said on Sunday that the auction of the Juhu property known as Sunny Villa would commence at ₹ 51.43 crore. The minimum bid amount was set at ₹ 5.14 crore.

Additionally, the 599.44 square metre property, which houses Sunny Villa and Sunny Sounds, was also set to be auctioned off. Sunny Sounds is a company owned by the Deols, and it is the corporate guarantor for the loan. Dharmendra, Sunny Deol’s actor-politician father, is the personal guarantor.

The notice on Sunday stated that the Deols can still settle their outstanding debt with the bank to prevent the auction from being held under the provisions of the SARFAESI Act of 2002.

Reacting to the bank’s notice, Congress today asked who triggered the “technical reasons” for the withdrawal.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bank-of-baroda-withdraws-e-auction-notice-for-actor-sunny-deols-juhu-bungalow-cites-technical-reasons-4314570

Money trail can expose Biden family coverup

Follow the money.

It’s the first lesson of white-collar prosecution 101 — yet there are serious questions whether David Weiss, the recently appointed “special prosecutor” in charge of the Hunter Biden corruption probe, performed that simple task.

If Weiss failed, it could be a greater crime than anything Don­ald Trump has done. In fact, white-collar attorneys tell me it suggests one of the biggest coverups since Watergate at the highest levels of the US government.

The most damaging stuff on Hunter’s laptop weren’t all those photos of Hunter doing drugs and hanging out naked with hookers.

Instead, it’s the paper trail of his manifold business entities that served as vehicles for his influence-peddling with shady foreign partners.

Hunter made a lot of money representing himself to these people as an expert in oil or whatever else he was touting.

As we all know, his real value was his last name and access to one of the most powerful people in the world, his dad, Sleepy Joe Biden.

It should be a prosecutor’s wet dream: The target, a ne’er-do-well son of a big-name politician, is running a string of suspicious, multimillion-dollar outfits and taking in bundles of cash from China, Ukraine, Russia and God knows where else.

A federal judge in Delaware dismissed tax misdemeanor charges against first son Hunter Biden.

The sordid mess caught the attention of the FBI after the target’s laptop was turned over to the feds.

Joe Biden, VP to Obama at the time, was investigating corruption in Ukraine, while Hunter was working with the Ukrainian oil company Burisma, itself investigated for bribery.

Emails from the target suggest he needs to pay off his old man, aka the “Big Guy,” when deals are done.

Banks, meanwhile, are always suspicious that money is being laundered and/or used in nefarious schemes.

In this case, the target’s activities left a paper trail miles long because he’s dealing in big bucks.

Transactions above $10,000, particularly those with overseas entities, are closely monitored by major banks under a variety of laws.

Suspicious deal

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