ALL News Headlines 2019 December 18TH

Bangladesh: Gauhar Rizvi, advisor of international issues to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said in Kolkata that the country will take back any citizen of the neighbouring nation staying in India illegally if evidence is provided. He further said that the issue of amended Citizenship Act is an internal matter of India.

Kashmir-China: The Beijing had called off the issue for discussion on Jammu and Kashmir in the 15-nation Council on Tuesday stipulated by a letter written by Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to the council on December 12 on the situation in the region. The matter was expected to be discussed in the Security Council Consultations Room under “other matters” during closed consultations Tuesday afternoon.

Muslim Violence: Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi on Tuesday said that he has asked authorities to ‘shoot at sight’ anybody who causes damage to Railway property. “If anyone is destroying railway property, then I ask the chief minister of the particular state to initiate stringent action just as Sardar Vallabhai Patel had taken to merge Hyderabad with India,” he said at Hubballi. He was referring vandalism of Railway properties by the protesters in the name of the Citizenship Act.

Terrorism: A special court in Jaipur on Wednesday found four accused guilty in connection with the 2008 Jaipur serial bomb blasts on May 13, 2008, and acquitted one person that had left 70 people dead and 185 injured. The four accused — Mohammad Saif, Mohammad Sarwar Azmi, Mohammad Salman, and Saifurrehman — were convicted under IPC sections 302 (punishment for murder), 307 (Attempt to murder), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons, means), 326 (causing hurt by acid attack), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121-A (Conspiring to commit certain offences against State), 124-A (sedition), 153-A (promoting disharmony) and sections of Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, public prosecutor Srichand said.

China: China on Tuesday launched its second aircraft carrier from a key base in the South China Sea. The ship was launched from Sanya, located in the South China Sea coast by President Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the country’s military.

Madras University: Police enter Madras university campus as students continue the protest. While police personnel who entered the campus said they were for the ‘safety of the students’, the protesters alleged two of the students were picked up by police. A senior police official told reporters: “We arrived here following a representation from the varsity authorities and for the safety of students.” However, police denied the entry of  Makkal Needhi Maiam founder and actor Kamal Haasan to enter the main campus and spoke to the agitating students from behind the main gate of the university, opposite Marina Beach.

Supreme Court– The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to examine the constitutional validity of the amended Citizenship Act, but refused to stay its operation. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant fixed 59 petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, for hearing on January 22, next year. The bench also agreed the view of Government that common people should be made aware about the aim, objects and contents of the CAA and asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to consider using the audio-visual medium to make citizens aware.

Nirbhaya case: The Supreme Court on Wednesday “confirmed” the capital punishment awarded to one of the four convicts in the gruesome Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case by dismissing his plea which sought review of its 2017 judgment upholding his death penalty. However, Patiala House court on Wednesday adjourned the matter for January 7 on the issuance of death warrants against the four convicts in the Delhi gangrape-and-murder case.