News18.com Daybreak | Rajinikanth Wants To Fill Political Vacuum; Oscar Winners & Other Stories You May Have Missed
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Barely 20 days after the Sunjawan terror attack, which claimed the lives of six soldiers and a civilian, security forces in Kashmir have ‘eliminated the mastermind who had orchestrated the attack’. According to security forces, based on specific intelligence of presence of a militant in the area of Hatwar, Awantipur, a joint specific operation was launched Monday by 50 RR in which a Jaish-e-Muhammad militant was killed.
Even as a political slugfest over the Rs 12,000 crore PNB fraud continues and CBI makes more arrests, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has proposed to move against fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and his three companies for deception, falsification of records and misdeclaration of imported diamonds and pearls. If the trial finds him guilty, Modi can face imprisonment of up to seven years, and/or fine. Here's how Nirav Modi duped the customs department and skipped duty on imported diamonds.
Meanwhile, a Special CBI court in Mumbai has sent senior executives of Nirav Modi Diamonds and Gitanjali Group and a General Manager of Punjab National Bank to Judicial Custody till March 19. The accused are: Vipul Ambani, President of Finance of Nirav Modi's Firestar Diamond; Arjun Patil, senior executive of Firestar; Kapil Khandelwal, CFO of Nakshatra Group; Niten Shah, manager of Gitanjali; Kavita Mankikar, executive assistant of Nirav Modi jewels and Rajesh Jindal of PNB.
Gary Oldman's performance in Darkest Hour and Frances McDormand's moving act in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won them Best Actor awards at the 90th Academy Awards. Guillermo del Toro swipes the Best Director award for The Shape Of Water that has also won the top honour of Best Film. Here’s the list of winners.
Superstar Rajinikanth, who is yet to announce his political party, sounded the poll bugle in Tamil Nadu and said that he is there to fill the political vacuum in Tamil politics that was created with the demise of Jayalalithaa. Addressing a massive gathering at a private medical college in Chennai, Rajinikanth said, “Jayalalithaa is no more and Karunanidhi is ill. Tamil Nadu needs a leader. I will come and fill that vacuum. God is on my side.”
In Tripura, newly-elected MLAs of the BJP and its ally, the IPFT, will meet today to elect their leader amid hard bargaining by the tribal ally, which demanded "respectable" positions in the new ministry.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has invited suggestions from the public on “rationalising school curriculum/syllabus/ subject contents for classes I to class XII” to reduce the burden on students.
The disappearance of a Kashmiri medical student from Odisha took a new turn after a handwritten poster was found claiming that he was kidnapped by Maoists. The Odisha Police, investigating the disappearance of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar student Suhail Ajjaj, said they are verifying the authenticity of the poster.
In a Twitter post, Irrfan Khan said that he is suffering from a rare disease and will share details when there is a conclusive diagnosis.
The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP on Monday demanded a probe into alleged frisking of girl students at a school run by Pune-based institute, while they had gone there to appear for class 12 examinations.
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The BSP, after reaching its pinnacle in 2007, has drawn a naught in the last Lok Sabha elections. The question is — will ‘behenji’ Mayawati finally make tactical adjustments and seek pre-poll allies to stem the downslide? Since she quit Rajya Sabha in a huff last year, Mayawati has kept a low profile. In the last one month, however, she has indicated her intent to do business with other parties and probe the plausibility of pre-poll alliances. In bypoll pact with Akhilesh, Mayawati takes a leaf out of mentor Kanshi Ram's playbook.
Six months ago, when BJP chief Amit Shah declared 'Mission 350' for 2019, the Opposition sniggered at his 'Mission Impossible'. In the wake of adverse bye-election results and a less-than-comfortable victory in Gujarat, the Opposition confidence soared. The BJP's unlikely victory in the North East, however, has shown that the Congress has yet to bridge the 'credibility gap'. The impression that the Congress is not really in the game in 2019 stems from the party itself, which has so far shown no stomach for the coming battle. One might have expected that Congress president Rahul Gandhi would be engaged in frenetic poll preparations, like stitching up of alliances, raising resources and communicating with the masses. Instead, his flash disappearances from the political scene continue.
On reel
Aditi Verma is 23 years old. She lives with Down syndrome but that has not affected her from chasing her dream. Aditi has managed to beat the odds and owns a restaurant in Mumbai’s Navi Mumbai area, called Aditi’s Corner. Here’s where she talks about her dreams.