Junior Digest

“What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy.”

The House of Representatives voted along party lines, 232 to 196, to pass a resolution that lays out guidelines for the next stages of the impeachment process.

All Republicans opposed the measure, despite agitating for weeks for such a vote that could end the secretive depositions and bring the process into the open.

Democrats are seeking to learn whether Trump abused his presidential power by pressuring a foreign government to investigate a domestic political rival.

Trump has repeatedly branded the inquiry as illegitimate and politically motivated, and he was true to form in his instant reaction to the vote.

“The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!” he boomed on Twitter.

The White House accused opposition Democrats of being “fundamentally un-American” in their “unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment.”

“Democrats are choosing every day to waste time on a sham impeachment — a blatantly partisan attempt to destroy the President,” Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in the statement after the vote.

Trump meanwhile called on his fellow Republicans to rally behind him even as he faced the embarrassing likelihood of becoming the third president in history to be impeached and placed on trial for removal in the Senate, over an alleged scheme to extort Ukraine’s help to get him reelected in 2020.

The embattled president retweeted a rallying cry from Fox News host Laura Ingraham that called on Republicans to “stand together and defend the leader of their party against these smears.”

Trump is accused of withholding military aid to compel Ukraine to mount a corruption probe against his Democratic election rival Joe Biden — effectively using US foreign policy in an illegal shakedown for his personal political benefit.

Trump and loyal Republicans dismiss the case as a “sham,” but congressional investigators have heard a steady flow of corroborating evidence from government officials testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.

The landmark resolution did not have unanimous Democratic approval. Two Democrats joined all Republicans in opposing the measure, although former Republican Justin Amash, now an independent, supported it — and offered a searing warning to his former party.

The inquiry now moves into the public eye — giving Americans the chance to hear on live television the evidence against Trump.

The House Intelligence Committee, which has led the inquiry so far, will host open hearings, presenting witnesses and documentary evidence and allowing Republicans to challenge the case against Trump.

New Delhi, Oct 26: The BJP on Friday announced its alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party, where the Chief Minister will be from the saffron party while the Deputy Chief Minister will be from the JJP, which has won 10 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.
Addressing reporters at his residence, BJP president Amit Shah, who was flanked by JJP chief Dushyant Chautala and incumbent Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Kattar, said a meeting was held by leaders of both the parties and keeping in view the spirit of people’s mandate both the parties have decided to form the government in Haryana.
Several Independents have given their consent to support, Mr Shah stated.
Mr Shah said senior leaders of both the parties will meet Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya on Saturday and stake their claim to form the government in the state.

‘Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will work for the progress of Haryana for next five years,’ he said.
He said while the chief minister will be from the BJP, the deputy chief minister will be from the regional party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Shah have lauded Mr Khattar making it clear that the saffron party would continue with him only.
Mr Khattar is likely to be elected leader of BJP legislature party in Chandigarh on Saturday and Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Singh will be central observers at the meet.

ISLAMABAD: Thousands of anti-government demonstrators were due in the Pakistani capital on Thursday to demand that the government step down, piling more pressure on Prime Minister Imran Khan as he strives to get the faltering economy on track.

The protests are organised by Fazl-ur-Rehman, the leader of one of Pakistan’s largest religious parties, who says the government of cricketer-turned-politician Khan is incompetent and illegitimate and was installed by the military after a rigged election last year.

Schools and some offices were closed in Islamabad as the protesters made their way from the eastern city of Lahore. They were due to arrive later in the day.

Police have reinforced checkpoints and brought in extra barriers, including shipping containers to block roads and seal off the administrative and diplomatic heart of the city.

Rehman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl party, has billed his protest as an Azadi, or freedom, march.

“This movement will not stop if we don’t get the desired results after reaching Islamabad,” Rehman told reporters in Lahore late on Thursday.

“We want the prime minister’s resignation, the entire assembly is fake, we want to dissolve it.”

Khan won last year’s election on a promise to end corruption, help middle-class families and get the economy on track.

But the honeymoon has come to an end as the economy runs into headwinds with the fiscal deficit ballooning to about 7% of gross domestic product and a balance of payments crisis is looming.

Consumer inflation increased to 11.37% year-on-year in September from 10.49% in August largely on food price rises, while the rupee has fallen more than 50% against the dollar since the end of 2017.

The government agreed in July to a $6 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Khan rejects his critics’ accusations that he is backed by the military, which has a long record of intervention in politics. The military also denies any involvement in civilian politics.

Election authorities rejected opposition complaints of rigging in the 2018 vote.

Rehman is a veteran politician who heads an alliance with several seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies.

But his real influence comes from his ability to mobilise support, particularly in numerous religious schools, or madrasas, across the country.

Pakistan’s two main opposition parties have both said they would back Rehman’s campaign against Khan, though have also said they would not support any unconstitutional action.

The government has said it wants negotiations with the opposition while vowing that no one would be allowed to paralyse life in the capital.

Chandigarh , Oct 27 : Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday took oath as Haryana Chief Minister for the second term after the recently concluded polls in the state.
While BJP-ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana at the Raj Bhavan here.
Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya, BJP working president JP Nadda, former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badalamong others were also present there.
In the Assembly polls, BJP fell short of six seats to get a majority in 90-member Haryana Assembly. Later, the party stitched an alliance with Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) which has 10 seats and managed to get the support of seven independent MLAs.
Khattar along with JJP chief Chautala met Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya on Saturday and staked the claim to form the government with the support of 57-MLAs.

New Delhi, Oct 30: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde of the Supreme Court as the next Chief Justice of India with effect from November 18.
Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde has been a Judge of the Supreme Court since April 12, 2013. Earlier, he served as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court for about six months since October 16, 2012. He has also been an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court from March 29, 2000 and a Permanent Judge from March 28, 2002.
Justice Bobde, born on April 24, 1956, was enrolled as an Advocate on September 13, 1978. He started his practice at the High Court Bench at Nagpur and the District Court at Nagpur and occasionally at the High Court at Bombay and the Supreme Court of India in civil, constitutional, labour, company, election and taxation matters.
He specialised in constitutional, administrative, company, environmental and election laws, according to a Ministry of Law & Justice statement here.

LONDON: The European Union agreed to a Brexit delay of up to three months on Monday, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would push on with his bid to end Britain’s political paralysis with an election on Dec. 12.

With the United Kingdom’s scheduled Oct. 31 departure from the EU now virtually certain to be postponed, Brexit hangs in the balance, with British politicians still arguing over how, when or even whether the divorce should take place at all.

Johnson, who had loudly promised to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31, “do or die”, has repeatedly demanded an election to end what he casts as a nightmare political deadlock that is sapping public trust by preventing any Brexit outcome at all.

Hours after the 27 countries remaining in the EU backed his reluctant request for a delay, Johnson attempted to force a snap election on Dec. 12 in the hope of finally winning a majority to pass the divorce deal he has negotiated with Brussels.

But his third attempt to call such an election gathered only 299 votes in parliament, short of the 424 – or two-thirds of the house – that he needed.

After the vote, Johnson said he would try again, by a legislative route that would only require a simple majority.

To follow this route, Johnson will need the support of opposition parties such as the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats.

“We have pioneered several space milestones, including sending our chief astronaut trainer as the first passenger to space on a commercial spaceship,” Virgin Galactic said on Twitter.

“Today, we tick off another first — now anyone can invest in the future of space.”

The company, which will trade under the initials SPCE, ended down 0.34 percent at $11.75, with a valuation of $969 million.

Virgin Galactic joined the NYSE after merging with Social Capital Hedosophia, which was already listed. This allowed it to skip the formal IPO process and bring in $450 million.

The client-astronauts will be able to float around the ship’s cabin and look out of portholes to see the curvature of the Earth, all while surrounded by the blackness of space.

More than 600 people have already signed up for the journey.

Branson is joined in the new space race by Blue Origin, founded by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, which wants to offer clients a few minutes of weightlessness aboard a small rocket that takes off vertically.

Tesla’s Elon Musk has founded SpaceX, with an eye on long-range space travel.

“It has become necessary for us to make a great shock to fix the crisis. I am going to the Baabda Palace to submit the government’s resignation,” said Hariri, who had already stepped down twice from the same post.

He said his decision comes “in response to the will of many Lebanese who took to the streets to demand change”.

The move, the demonstrators’ most significant win yet, will trigger the complicated task of parliament forming a new government — if the president accepts it.

Hariri’s announcement came after days of apparently unfruitful efforts to reshuffle posts within his uneasy coalition, as tension mounted on the ground between protesters and security forces bent on re-opening the country for business.

It also followed clashes between protestors and counter-demonstrators, which sparked fears of deeper civil strife.

In his speech on Tuesday, Hariri said he had reached a dead end, urging the political class to protect the country.

“Hariri is opening the door to a solution because the resignation is the only way for a decent exit from the current crisis,” said Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs.

After Hariri’s announcement, protestors across the country erupted in applause.

Hundreds gathered in the northern city of Tripoli — a stronghold of the Sunni prime minister — as well as the southern city of Sidon, from where his family hails.

In Tripoli — home to festive protest raves — large crowds gathered in the main al-Nour square waving the Lebanese flag.

Shouting: “Occupation forces, out!” and “The Spanish flag, out!” they hurled hundreds of multicolour plastic balls and marbles at the riot police guarding the building, who did not respond despite the rising tension.

Catalonia has been gripped by unrest since the October 14 Supreme Court verdict which unleashed a wave of protest that quickly turned violent, with masked demonstrators clashing nightly with riot police.

More than 600 people have been injured in the protests, 367 of them civilians and 289 police, official figures show.

The crisis began two years ago when the region staged a banned referendum on October 1 that was marred by police violence, then issued a short-lived declaration of independence, trigging Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Saturday’s main rally was called by the ANC and Omnium Cultural, the region’s two biggest grassroots pro-independence groups that have organised some of the largest separatist protests in recent years.

GENEVA : A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruled on Thursday that Indian export subsidies are prohibited and should be removed, upholding a complaint brought by the United States.

The panel largely agreed with U.S. claims challenging export subsidies granted in the form of exemptions from customs duties and a national tax, while rejecting some U.S. arguments. It called on India to withdraw the export-contingent subsidies within periods varying from 90 to 180 days.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, in a statement, said that the panel had agreed that India provides prohibited subsidies to Indian exporters worth more than $7 billion (£5.4 billion) annually, including to producers of steel products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, IT products and textiles.

The authors found insufficient evidence that the products were safe and effective in treating six common disorders: depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis.

Cannabis and cannabinoids are increasingly being made available for medicinal use in North America, Britain and Australia without being subjected to the standard process that includes testing and scrutinising by government regulatory bodies, lead author Louisa Degenhardt told AFP.

“One of the most striking things about the spread of legislation in multiple countries permitting cannabis/cannabinoids for medicinal purposes is that this is in many instances happening outside of the regulatory frameworks that medicine development typically occurs within,” said Degenhardt, from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

The study found that after chronic non-cancer pain, mental health is one of the most common reasons for using medicinal cannabinoids.

But no reviews have considered the varying effects of the different types of cannabinoids or their safety, and the only studies into long-term effects were conducted on individuals using cannabis for recreational use.

In most randomised-controlled trials of the effects of cannabinoids on depression and anxiety, the use was related to another condition, like chronic pain or multiple sclerosis.

Some studies showed improvement in anxiety symptoms, but it was unclear if that effect was due to improvements in the primary condition.

In one small study of patients with psychosis, pharmaceutical THC — the active substance in cannabis — actually worsened symptoms.

– Safety risks –

There are safety concerns as well.

“There are risks of developing dependence upon cannabis,” said Degenhardt. “There are also risks if someone drives while intoxicated, and there [is] evidence that people who use cannabis regularly may be at increased risk of developing depression and psychotic symptoms.”

Also, getting the drugs via the illicit market “carries risk of prosecution as well as unknown product content, quality and safety,” added Tom Freeman, of the Addiction and Mental Health Group at the University of Bath.

Medications that are proven to be effective and aren’t addictive already exist for many of the conditions for which cannabis is being used, said Deepak Cyril D’Souza, of Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, who wrote a commentary on the study.

A large study — with a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial — is the gold standard for determining the balance between a drug’s efficacy and its side effects, D’Souza told AFP.

Until that is completed, “one cannot have confidence in attributing any beneficial effects observed in a clinical trial to cannabis.”

New Delhi , Oct 29: Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari on Monday said the Assam government’s two-child policy was not against any “particular community” as it was being made out by certain people.
“The decision taken by the Assam government should be taken positively. The rule is not against any particular community,” Tiwari told ANI here.
Reacting to AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal’s opposition to the new policy, Tiwari said the former was trying to stall a “good thing”. “There are some people who try to stop each and every good thing, but the Assam government should be praised for this rule,” he said.
“Why is Badruddin thinking that this (the policy) is only for his community? It has been done for all castes, religions and the people of entire state of Assam,” he said.
The AIUDF chief on Sunday alleged that the state government was not providing jobs to Muslims and told members of his community to continue to produce children. “Islam doesn’t believe in the concept of having only two children. No one can stop people who are bound to come into this world. The government is not giving us (Muslims) jobs anyway. We don’t even expect jobs anymore,” he told ANI.
In a latest decision, the Assam government has approved a proposal to render people having more than two children as ineligible for government jobs from January 1, 2021.

Uruguayans will also be electing all 99 deputies and 30 senators in parliament.

The vote comes on the same day as a general election in Argentina and against a backdrop of regional strife following massive street protests in Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia, the latter over alleged electoral fraud.

Uruguay has long been considered a bastion of peace and stability in an often turbulent region but security has been declining, with a sharp rise in some violent crimes reported last year.

In 2018, South America’s second-smallest country registered a record 414 murders, up 45 percent on the year before.

The alarming hike fueled a debate over proposed constitutional changes meant to improve security.

Those include the creation of a military National Guard, the establishment of life terms for the most serious offenses — 32 years is the current maximum — and authorizing police to conduct nighttime raids on the homes of suspected drug dealers.

The vote is expected to be tight.

Security has been a major issue as the governing Broad Front seeks a fourth consecutive term.

In power since 2005, the Front faces a tough test, with voters angered by a stagnant economy, inflation of 7.5 percent and a nine percent unemployment rate.

Former senator Luis Lacalle Pou of the center-right National Party has 28 percent, but he is considered likely to win backing from two historic rivals in an eventual runoff on November 24.

Analysts say Lacalle Pou, 46, could count on the liberal Colorado Party, led by economist Ernesto Talvi, and new right-wing party Open Cabildo, headed by former army commander-in-chief Guido Manini Rios.

In the last three elections, the Front didn’t need alliances because it commanded an absolute majority, but this time “the second round is completely open,” said political scientist Eduardo Bottinelli.

The Broad Front is a coalition of leftist movements that in 2005 broke a near monopoly on the presidency shared by the National and Colorado parties since 1830, two years after Uruguayan independence.

Vazquez, the Front’s first president, was succeeded by former left-wing guerrilla Jose Mujica, who became a cult figure known as “the world’s poorest president” — he gave away most of his salary and drove an aging Volkswagen Beetle.

The next president will take office on March 1, 2020.

It is a gamble for Johnson, who leads a minority Conservative government, but he had nowhere left to turn after MPs rejected the Brexit terms he struck with Brussels less than two weeks ago.

His Conservatives are currently well ahead of the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, and he hopes to win a majority in the lower House of Commons in order to push through his Brexit plan.

But his failure to keep to his “do or die” pledge to leave the EU on October 31 risks a backlash.

The election outcome could have huge implications for Britain’s tortuous Brexit process, which began with the 2016 EU referendum.

Labour is committed to a new “people’s vote”, while two smaller opposition parties want to reverse Brexit and remain in the European Union.

Many Labour MPs are wary of an election, fearful of defeat under their leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn, but he swung his support behind the poll.

The other 27 EU member states earlier formally adopted Monday’s decision by envoys to delay Brexit by up to three months until the end of January, with an option for Britain to leave early if it ratifies an exit deal.

“To my British friends, The EU27 has formally adopted the extension. It may be the last one. Please make the best use of this time,” European Council President Donald Tusk said on Twitter.

The election bill will now go to the unelected upper House of Lords for debate on Wednesday, but peers are expected to back the plan, paving the way for parliament to be dissolved early next week .

Johnson took office in July promising to end the wrangling over Brexit which has bitterly divided the country, but a rebellion over his hardline strategy left him without a majority in parliament.

He introduced a bill to legislate for an election — a method which required only a simple majority, and this passed by 438 votes to 20.

A newly elected parliament would have a “new mandate to deliver on the will of people and get Brexit done”, he said.

The Ukrainian army and Moscow-backed separatists said Tuesday they had begun to withdraw their troops from a key area in the war-torn east ahead of a high-stakes summit with Russia.

The long-awaited pullback is a precondition for the first face-to-face talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, to be mediated by the leaders of France and Germany.

“Today the sides have just resumed the withdrawal of troops and arms in Zolote,” Martin Sajdik, an OSCE special representative, told journalists.

The rival forces also need to withdraw troops from the village of Petrivske in the Donetsk region for the high-profile summit to go ahead.

Since coming to power in May, comedian-turned-president Zelensky has sought to revive a peace process to end a five-year-old separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives.

But those efforts have stalled as Kiev’s forces and the Kremlin-backed separatists have repeatedly failed to pull back troops from the frontline because of exchanges of gunfire.

Zelensky’s peace plan including the troop pullback has been strongly criticised by many in Kiev, especially war veterans and nationalists.

Various nationalist organisations even deployed their own troops to Zolote in an effort to prevent a retreat of Ukrainian forces.

Last week the 41-year-old Ukrainian president was forced to personally travel to Zolote in an effort to convince his nationalist critics not to stand in the way of the peace process.

And an unnamed US military dog became a unlikely hero of the raid, incurring injuries as it chased Baghdadi down a dead-end tunnel underneath his northwestern Syria hideout before he blew himself and three children up with a suicide vest.

The US military basked in success Monday after the eliminating the founder and spiritual guide of the Islamic State (IS) group, capping a years-long campaign to crush the Sunni Muslim extremist organization that had at one point created a “caliphate” straddling the Euphrates River that rivaled the size of England.

The blaze, which is burning in remote steep terrain, threatens tens of thousands of structures and had already forced the evacuation of the small community of Geyserville and nearby vineyard operations.

By Saturday evening, a total of 77 structures, among them 31 residential buildings, had been destroyed by the blaze, as more than 2,800 personnel were called to the scene, according to Jonathan Cox, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Thunberg had been nominated for her efforts by both Sweden and Norway and won the organisation’s annual environment prize.

But after it was announced, a representative for her told the audience that she would not accept the award or the prize sum of 350,000 Danish kroner (about $52,000 or 46,800 euro), the TT news agency reported.

She addressed the decision in a post on Instagram from the United States.

“The climate movement does not need any more awards,” she wrote.

“What we need is for our politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science.”

While thanking the Nordic Council for the “huge honour,” she also criticised Nordic countries for not living up to their “great reputation” on climate issues.

“There is no lack of bragging about this. There is no lack of beautiful words. But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita… then it’s a whole other story,” Thunberg said.

Still only 16 years old, Thunberg rose to prominence after she started spending her Fridays outside Sweden’s parliament in August 2018, holding a sign reading “School strike for climate”.

New Delhi, Oct 29: Having told the US and other global players including China that that the government’s move in Jammu and Kashmir was strictly an internal matter of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday decided to give an extra ordinary push to its Kashmir policy by reaching out to visiting European lawmakers delegation by inviting them to visit the state.
Some countries have in the last three months raised concerns regarding the ‘detention’ of local residents and political leaders and also snapping of internet connections in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, from the very top level, the Modi government gave a nod for first major visit by a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir after August 5 when the special status for the state was abrogated and militancy-hit J&K was bifurcated.
A statement from Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday that Mr Modi while welcoming the European delegation to India expressed the hope that they will have a “fruitful visit to various parts of the country, including to Jammu and Kashmir”.
“Yes we are going there tomorrow. The Prime Minister explained to us about it (abrogation of Article 370) but I want to see on the ground how it actually is and talk to some local people,” BN Dunn, a member of the visiting delegation, later told reporters.
The visiting team also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy opposed the delegation’s visit saying allowing their tour would be “a perversion of our national policy”.
PDP chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is also detained, in a tweet said that the visiting lawmakers from European countries should “get chance” to talk to the local people.
“Hope they get a chance to speak to the people, local media, doctors and civil society members,” Ms Mehbooba tweeted.
She also said, “The iron curtain between Kashmir and the world needs to be lifted and the Government of India must be held accountable for pushing J&K into turmoil”.
The government sources have maintained normalcy in the valley but there have been sporadic incidents of violence with ‘non-Kashmiri’ truckers having been targeted in some pockets.
During his visit to the US in August, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar articulated well the government’s stance, “For many years India sought a solution while Pakistan was comfortable with continuing cross-border terrorism. The choice (when Modi government) came back to power was clear. Either we had more of past policies and the prospect of further radicalization or we had a decisive change in the landscape and a change of direction towards de-radicalization”.

Lawmakers met Thursday for a fourth consecutive day and agreed to broadcast any session live, with Saeroon MPs chanting: “Adel must come! Adel must come!”

Abdel Mahdi, 77, came to power a year ago through a tenuous partnership between populist cleric Moqtada Sadr and paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri.

The kingmakers’ alliance has frayed in recent months, as Sadr threw his weight behind the protests while Ameri and his allies backed the government.

A rapprochement built on Abdel Mahdi’s ouster appeared close on Tuesday night, but disagreements over who could replace him seemed to have slowed down the process.

The United Nations’ top representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for a national dialogue to draw a roadmap out of the crisis.

New Delhi, Oct  26: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik who presided over affairs of the State when the government in August abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the border State, was on Friday night transferred to Goa Raj Bhawan.
Mr Malik was shifted from Bihar on August 21 last year to the Raj Bhawan in Srinagar, replacing the veteran administrator and bureaucrat N N Vohra who had a long and extended tenure lasting a decade as Jammu and Kashmir governor. Mr Malik was shifted to Srinagar as the government felt the need of having a political heavyweight in the sensitive border State.
New first citizens of Mizoram and Lakshadweep UT were also announced.
Girish Chandra Murmu, an IAS officer of 1985 batch of Gujarat cadre, was appointed as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Murmu, 59, is currently posted as Expenditure Secretary in the Finance Ministry. He was due to retire this month-end.
Similarly, Former Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, 65, was appointed as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Ladakh.
The new gubernatorial appointments come just six days ahead of the deadline of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh becoming two new Union Territories on October 31. Parliament had given its nod to abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the State in August.
Kerala BJP President P.S. Sreedharan Pillai was appointed as Governor of Mizoram, according to a Rashtrapati Bhawan communique.
Former Intelligence Bureau Chief Dineshwar Sharma and at present Interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir was appointed as Administration of the Lakshdweep Union Territory, the communique said here on Friday.
Mr Sharma, an IPS officer of Kerala cadre, was Intelligence Bureau Director for two years from January 2015 to 2017.
During the first term of the Modi Government, his appointment as Government’s representative for Jammu and Kashmir was announced by the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh in October 2017.
He was assigned to talk to different groups of people in militancy prone state.
Mr Sharma was instrumental in Government’s decision of non-initiation of combat operations during the Ramzan in May 2018 and withdrawal of cases of stone-pelting registered against youths of Jammu and Kashmir.

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed in a U.S. military operation in Syria, sources in Syria, Iraq and Iran said on Sunday, as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to make a “major statement” at the White House.

The United States had put up a $25 million reward for the capture of Baghdadi, who has led the group since 2010, when it was still an underground offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Baghdadi was targeted in the overnight raid but was unable to say whether the operation was successful.

He was believed to have been killed in a raid in the early hours of Sunday involving helicopters, warplanes and a ground clash in the Syrian village of Barisha near the Turkish border, according to a commander of a militant faction in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Baghdadi was long thought to be hiding somewhere along the Iraq-Syria border. His self-declared “caliphate” will be remembered for atrocities against religious minorities and attacks on five continents in the name of a fanatical interpretation of Islam that horrified mainstream Muslims.

Two Iraqi security sources and two Iranian officials said they had received confirmation from inside Syria that Baghdadi had been killed.