Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said the solution to the menace of terrorism and global warming will be found through education only.

“The time has come when all Education Ministers put their heads together to assure the country that they will bring a solution to terrorism through education,” Sisodia said while addressing the 65th meeting of Central Advisory Board for Education at Vigyan Bhavan here.

He said the Ministers should assure the country that they will impart such education to children that ensure that no educated individual under any circumstances chooses terrorism.

Sisodia lauded the central government for focusing on ‘learning outcomes’ across the country.

At the same time, he said that learning outcomes cannot be achieved by merely drawing up such lists.

He asked on National Council of Educational Research and Training, Central Board of Secondary Education and all state governments to promptly reduce syllabi in all subjects by 50 per cent so that teachers shift their attention to learning outcomes.

“As long as the sword of syllabi completion hangs over teachers they can never shift their attention to learning outcomes,” he said.

Sisodia said the Delhi government was speeding up the process of installing closed-circuit televisions in every classroom of state-run schools and to provide all teachers with tablets.

At least 10 people were killed on Monday when a bridge under construction in central Colombia collapsed.

Another two people were missing and four others were injured when the structure fell along a tract of a highway that links the capital Bogota with the nearby city of Villavicencio, officials said, Xinhua reported.

Jorge Diaz, director of Civil Defense for the department of Meta, said the victims were construction workers who fell from a height of approximately 280 meters. Some 20 workers were on the bridge at the time of the accident.

“Ten people are dead. Nine died at the site of the accident and one was taken to a hospital, where he died,” Diaz told local media.

Video footage posted to the Caracol News website showed what appeared to be half of the bridge still standing, while the other half had plummeted into the gully below.

The bridge was just 20 meters away from completion, a Caracol News anchor said.

The CBI on Monday said it has registered a case against an Agriculture Ministry official and private individuals on a charge of importing agricultural produce without proper tests and using fake papers.

The Central Bureau of Investigation conducted searches at 26 locations, including Delhi and Kolakta, in connection with the case and seized around Rs 2.15 crore, post office deposit documents pertaining to investment of Rs 32 lakh, documents showing investment in properties in Delhi, Jharkhand, Bihar and Kolkata, gold and silver jewellery worth around Rs 30 lakh, bank balance of Rs 44 lakh and fixed deposits totalling around Rs 5 lakh from the government official’s residence.

The CBI lodged the case against Plant Protection Officer R.K. Shashihar posted at Kolkata’s Regional Plant Quarantine Station under the Ministry, Tanweer Anwer Rahman of ITT Shipping, Sanjay Choubey of Innovative Pest and Property Management Sciences and Anurag Tulshan — all based in Kolkata — and other unidentified persons.

The agency seized incriminating documents, including “fake and fabricated phyto-sanitary certificates of different countries”, hard discs and laptops.

“The accused, in connivance with various importers and shipping agents, were allowing agricultural and plant produce to be imported without proper test and on forged phyto-sanitary certificates of various countries, after obtaining huge illegal gratification,” an official said.

“Searches were conducted at 26 locations at residential and office premises of certain officials of the quarantine station, premises of shipping/clearing agents, importers based in Kolkata and employees of other private entities. Further investigation is on,” he added.

At least 32 militants were killed in two separate airstrikes in Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.

In one raid conducted by Afghan National Army (ANA) Air Force on Sunday against a Taliban’s position in Khaki Safed district of western Farah province, 28 insurgents were killed and 10 others injured, the ministry said in a statement.

Those among the killed militants’ were Sardar Ashkon Bakwahi, Taliban’s deputy shadow governor of Farah, and two Taliban ‘divisional commanders’ Abdul Shokor and Hawaz Gulistani, according to the statement.

Also on Sunday, four Taliban militants were killed following an airstrike in Nahri Saraj district of southern Helmand province.

Three vehicles and six motorcycles together with amount of ammunition and weapons were also destroyed after the air operations, the statement noted.

Afghan security forces and the NATO-led coalition troops have beefed up security operations and airstrikes as militants are attempting to take territory and consolidate their positions during the winter in the mountainous country.

The Taliban militant group, which has been waging an insurgency of more than 16 years, has yet to comment on the report.

The owner of the Mojo’s Bistro pub Yug Tulli, who had been evading arrest in the Kamala Mills compound fire case, on Tuesday, surrendered before the Mumbai Police, officials said.

“We have arrested Yug Tulli, after he surrendered himself before police today morning at N M Joshi Marg Police Station,” S Jaykumar, Additional Commissioner of Police ( Central ) told PTI.

He will be produced before a court on Tuesday, said Jayakumar.

After the arrest of Tulli — who had been evading arrest since last two weeks — all the owners of the Mojo’s Bistro and ‘1 Above’ have been arrested, another official said.

On Sunday, Tulli was spotted at the Hyderabad Airport with his wife but disappeared before the police could arrest him, he said.

The deadly fire, which had engulfed Mojo’s Bistro and the adjacent 1 Above pub, at the Kamala Mills compound on December 29 last year had claimed 14 lives.

Tulli, a Nagpur based businessman, and his partner Yug Pathak, the son of former Pune Police Commissioner K K Pathak, were booked under sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The action was taken on the basis of the Mumbai Fire Brigade’s report which had said the fire possibly started at Mojo’s Bistro due to the flying embers of a hookah and spread to 1 Above, he said.

Initially, this offence was registered against the three owners of the ‘1 Above’ pub, managers, and staff, he said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned “in the strongest terms” Monday’s twin terrorist attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Guterres expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured, said the spokesman, Xinhua reported.

“The secretary-general reiterates that the United Nations will continue to stand by the government and people of Iraq in their efforts to fight terrorism and rebuild their country.”

Two suicide bombings within minutes rocked an open-air market in Baghdad, killing more than two dozen people early Monday morning.

At least five security personnel were killed and six others injured in a gun attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan province late on Monday.

According to the reports, some unknown gunmen opened fire at a vehicle carrying security personnel in Shapok area of Turbat, a district in Balochistan, Xinhua reported.

Following the ambush, the driver could not keep control over the vehicle and it overturned and skidded off the road.

The injured were rushed to the hospital in Turbat city. However, there are no reports about their condition yet.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and started a search operation to arrest the attackers.

Ethnic violence has claimed thousands of lives in the province. Militants belonging to nationalist groups have been killing and kidnapping government officials and pro-government elders in the province.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s international working president Pravin Togadia was found unconscious in a hospital in Shahibagh locality in Ahmedabad late on Monday after being reported “missing” earlier.

The police said he was brought by people to a private Chandra- Mani hospital in an unconscious state, which the doctors claimed was caused by low level of sugar.

He was admitted in the hospital around 9.20 p.m. and later his condition was stated to be stable, the police said.

The police, however, still have no idea how the VHP leader reached Sardarnagar which was about 15 kilometres away from the VHP office from where he reportedly left in an autorickshaw. It was also not clear why he fell unconscious as he had no past history of sugar levels falling so alarmingly.

The details would emerge after the police could speak to Toghadia on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch said it had constituted a special team to look for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Pravin who went missing amid allegations that the Rajasthan Police took him away.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the umbrella body of all saffron outfits, in a one-line statement also expressed concern over the “goings-on around Togadia” and hoped the state government and the police would initiate immediate action.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani on Monday vowed “proportional reaction” to the new US sanctions on Iranian entities and individuals.

Larijani, who is also among the individuals sanctioned, said that the sanctions against the judiciary chief of a country is “crossing all international red lines,” the Tasnim news agency reported.

Larijani said that Iran would not remain silent on such measures. But he did not disclose what Iran’s response will be.

“The US should know that every hostile action will draw proportional reaction from Iran,” he said, adding that he does not care about the US sanctions against him.

On Friday, while US President Donald Trump agreed to extend the waivers for sanctions on Iran, the US Department of Treasury imposed new sanctions on 14 Iranian individuals and entities over Iran’s alleged human rights abuses and ballistic missile programme.

Larijani said that the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), could by no means be changed or linked to other issues.

Under the nuclear deal, signed by Iran with six major powers including Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US, Iran agreed to halt its nuclear weapons development program in exchange for the lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions.

The US President has to decide whether to continue the waivers for the sanctions on Iran every 120 days.

Trump on Friday said he decided to extend sanctions waivers on Iran for the last time, threatening to withdraw from the pact unless US Congress and European allies can fix the alleged “disastrous flaws”.

Calling it “a last chance,” Trump said the US “will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal.”

More than 1,000 young people have been charged by police in Denmark with distributing sexually explicit material.

They are accused of using Facebook Messenger to share indecent video clips of two 15-year-olds having sex, BBC reported.

Police said it could amount to distribution of indecent images of children, as the two people filmed are under 18.

Facebook tipped off the US authorities, who notified police in Denmark.

One thousand and four young people from across the country are facing charges after allegedly circulating the material via the messaging app in autumn last year.

Some suspects are over 18 and were called to police stations to be interviewed.

Suspects under 18 were contacted through their parents. A Danish police superintendent said the charges come as a warning to young people never to share sex videos.

Anyone found guilty of these charges faces a possible conditional prison sentence of about 20 days. If found guilty of distributing indecent images of children, they would be listed for ten years on a register of child pornography offenders.

There have been calls in Denmark for more to be done to prevent so-called revenge porn.

The UN on Monday expressed concern over press reports that the US government may significantly cut financial aid to a UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

It is important to understand that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees was mandated by the UN General Assembly to support humanitarian and human development work for Palestinian refugees, and that it serves some of the most marginalised population in the Middle East, UN chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, Xinhua reported.

“Its presence through its activities and through health, education and humanitarian (work) is a force for stabilization in a very volatile area.”

The US has been a major funder of the agency, whose official name is United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

UNRWA’s work is critical. If any donor significantly cuts its contributions, the United Nations will have to find alternative sources of funding, said Dujarric.

It is reported that US President Donald Trump is planning to withhold tens of millions of US dollars for UNRWA, which was created in 1949 as a relief and human development agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. It currently helps about five million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.

The Security Council has concluded a secret fact-finding mission to Afghanistan in a show of support for the war-torn nation where it denounced the activities of terrorists there, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced Monday.

UNAMA said that the Council members “expressed concerns about the security environment in Afghanistan, including the presence of Al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIL (Islamic State)-Khorasan Province-affiliated fighters, as well as about the nexus of terrorism and organized crime.”

“All parties reiterated the need for greater international and regional security cooperation,” it added.

The three-day visit that began Saturday was lead by Council President Kairat Umarov, who is also the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan. All the 15 members of the Council participated in the mission. They included US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley and the Netherlands Permanent Representative Karel van Oosterom, who is the Council member responsible for Afghanistan.

Umarov announced last Tuesday that a mission was forthcoming, but when it took place the visit was kept a secret because of the security situation in Afghanistan and was disclosed only after it ended.

During meetings with the Council members, Afghan officials expressed satisfaction with the development by India of the Chabahar port in Iran, which provides a sea link for Afghanistan, UNAMA said. It also has the potential to give other Central Asian countries a link to the warm waters.

India has already sent the first consignment of 1.1 million tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan using the port and roads it has built to connect it to the country.

The officials also said they hoped projects like the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (TAPI) for transporting gas would be implemented rapidly.

Council members met Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, other officials, NGOs, representatives of political parties and the leaders of the US-let NATO mission there.

This was the first visit of Security Council to Afghanistan in about seven years. The last visit was in June 2010.

The latest visit came ahead of a high-level Council meeting on Afghanistan on Friday to be presided over by Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov. Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and ministers of other countries are also expected at the meeting.

Members of the Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission briefed the delegation on the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections in 2018, UNAMA said.

Council members emphasised the need for electoral reforms and the importance of increasing the participation of women in elections, it added.

“Both Security Council members and Afghan officials called for improved cooperation and coordination in the region, underscoring the need for the international community, particularly neighbouring countries, to support and cooperate with Afghanistan, especially in countering terrorism,” UNAMA said.

The Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Monday said it had constituted a special team to look for Acting President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Pravin Toghadia who suddenly went missing amid allegations that the Rajasthan Police took away the Hindu leader.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the umbrella body of all saffron outfits, in a one-line statement late on Monday expressed concern over the “goings-on around Toghadia” and hoped the state government and the police would initiate immediate action.

The Ahmedabad and Rajasthan police both later denied that the VHP leader, once known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had been arrested, while the former said it would search for Toghadia if he had gone missing.

It all began on Monday morning, 10 days after the Hindu leader had alleged that a “higher up in the BJP” was trying to implicate him in a murder case, when the VHP activists stormed the Sola police station in Ahmedabad alleging that Toghadia was missing and that he had been taken away by Rajasthan Police.

Around 50 Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers created ruckus at the police station, alleging that the police, in connivance with their Rajasthan counterparts, had taken Togadia into custody in connection with a 10-year-old murder case.

They claimed that the Sola police helped the Rajasthan Police arrest the VHP’s President from Paldi area in Ahmedabad, the workers demanded to know his whereabouts.

“We are pretty sure the Rajasthan Police has arrested our leader. They were in the state searching for Togadia in connection with the murder in Rajasthan that took place 10 years ago.

“We ask the Gujarat Police to tell us where he is if he has not been arrested,” said Raju Patel, the Ahmedabad city VHP General Secretary. “We fear that Toghadia might be killed by the police in a fake encounter.”

The VHP workers tried to block traffic on the busy Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway in western Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad and the Rajasthan police admitted that police indeed arrived here from the neighbouring state but maintained that they left the city without making any arrest.

Superintendent of Police from Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan Maman Singh told the media that the police from his state were in Ahmedabad to look for Toghadia in case relating to violation of Section 144 under 188 of the Indian Penal Code of 2001 in Gangapur city but returned empty-handed.

Ahmedabad Crime Branch’s Joint Commissioner of Police J.K. Bhatt said that “it is a not major case. The Sola Police accompanied their counterparts from Ganganagar who had come with an arrest warrant from a local court to Bhagwat Bungalows. But he was not there at his home and the police returned.”

Bhatt said despite this a special team had been constituted to search for Toghadia.

“The CCTV footage around his (Toghadia’s) and office were being checked and he would be traced soon,” Bhatt said.

Asked how could the powerful Hindu leader go missing despite being provided with a Z-plus security cover, the police officer replied, “He (Toghadia) had asked the guards to let him rest since it was late night then and come back the next afternoon.”

Bhatt said a police constable Vikram Singh had claimed to have been the VHP leader around 11 a.m. going out with someone in autorickshaw. He added that all aspects were being investigated.

On January 5, Toghadia alleged a conspiracy had been hatched against him by a “higher up in the BJP” to implicate and jail him in a 1996 murder case by ensuring he did not get the summons issued against him.

The Metropolitan Court on Friday cancelled a non-bailable warrant issued against Toghadia, once a powerful figure in the Hindutva camp.

Declaring that the current $5 billion annual India-Israel trade required to be boosted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invited Israeli companies to invest in India to help boost its development.

Addressing an India-Israel Business Summit here in the presence of visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Modi said that increaisng bilateral trade with a hi-tech economy like Israel was not only diplomatic but also economic necessity for both the countries.

“India’s developmental agenda is huge. It presents a vast economic opportunity for Israeli companies. I invite more and more Israeli people, businesses and companies to come and work in India,” Modi said.

“Given the scale of the Indian economy and the relevance of cutting-edge Israeli technologies for us, even sky is not the limit for what we may achieve together,” he said.

Noting some of the major reforms undertaken by the government in recent times like the Goods and Services Tax and liberalisation of foreign investment rules, the Indian Prime Minister promised all support to Israeli investors, saying India wants to do more for improved ease of doing business in the country.
“It is your combined efforts that will add real value to our interaction and produce concrete successes,” he said.

We are on the cusp of new India-Israel relations. Given India’s market and Israel’s technology we will go far together,” Modi added.

Before addressing the business forum, both the Prime Ministers held a meeting with the CEOs from companies in India and Israel, which was the second such meeting after the one in Tel Aviv last year during Modi’s visit there.

Netanyahu’s entourage includes the largest-ever delegation of Israeli business, consisting of 130 members representing over 100 companies.

In his address, Netanyahu noted how the world is now being reshaped by the “confluence of big data, connectivity and artificial intelligence” and suggested some important areas of Israel-India cooperation such as rail and cyberspace, automobiles and digital medicine, precision agriculture and water management.

“I believe in India because I know your heritage, your culture, your creativity, your humanity. I came here to say Prime Minister, Mr Modi, thank you for believing in Israel the way we believe in India,” he said.

“There are brilliant people in India and also in Israel, and together we can shape the world,” he added.

On the occasion, the two leaders gave a call for proposals for joint research and development (R&D) projects under the “India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund – I4F”. India and Israel will make an annual contribution of $4 million each for five years.

The India-Israel Innovation Bridge was also launched earlier which will act as a link between the start-ups of both countries.

The Israeli Prime Minister arrived here on Sunday on a six-day visit to India to step up growing trade as well as military and strategic ties between the two countries.

At the India-Israel Business Innovation Forum here earlier on Monday, seven memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed to increase economic cooperation between the two sides.

Among these were MoUs signed by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) separately with the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.

Besides, the DIPP-sponsored Invest India entity exchanged an MoU with Israel’s Foreign Investments and Industrial Cooperation. Tata Projects also signed an MoU with Israeli company Water-Gen.

This is the first visit to India by an Israeli Prime Minister since Ariel Sharon came in 2003.

Delhi Sultans cup of woes was filled to the brim as they crashed out of contention after suffering their third successive defeat, going down to UP Dangal 3-4 in the Pro Wrestling League season at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in Delhi on Monday.

The rampaging unbeaten UP Dangal on the other hand moved a step closer to seal a spot in the knock-out stages of the league.

Down 2-3 in the seven contest duel, UP’s icon player Vinesh Phogat and Abdurakhmonob Bekzod won the last two bouts of the day to maintain UP’s unbeaten run.

Vinesh, the 2017 Commonwealth champion who came into the tie without dropping a single point continued buoyant run and steamrolled Maroi Mezien 15-0 in the 50 kg competition via technical superiority to make it 3-3 for Dangal.

Then Asian championship gold medalist Abdurakhmonob Bekzod then hammered Vinod Omprakash 9-0 in the 74 kg competition to complete the rout for UP.

In the fifth bout of the day, Jamalladin Magomedov (Azerbaijan) registered a comfortable 6-2 victory through pinfall over Hitender in the super heavyweight clash of the day, to keep UP stay afloat in the tie.
Earlier UP won the toss and forced World Champion Haji Aliev out of the equation; Delhi Sultans, on the other hand, decided to block Geeta Phogat. Delhi logged in the first win of the day, with Sandeep Tomar beating Nitin Rathi who flattered to deceive.

Nitin started on a strong note as he raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening period but the former Asian Championship gold medalist, who came into the bout undefeated, launched a great comeback to tie the score 8-8 at the end of regulation time in the 57 kg competition.

However the referees awarded the match in Sandeep’s favour, thanks to his big-scoring move in the second period.

Commonwealth champion Sangeeta Phogat caused the biggest upset of the tournament, getting the better of World Champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya 7-4 in the 57-kg women’s contest.

Vanesa started off on expected lines and blitzed to a 4-2 lead. But Sangeeta showed great tenacity and turned the tables on her more fancied rival.

Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Monday finally gave the green signal to the AAP government’s “Door Step delivery of Public Services” whereby over 40 government services ranging from grant of water connection to marriage certificate will be available at the people’s doorstep.

Welcoming the LG’s decision, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal assured him that the government will simultaneously work to strengthen the system for ‘online’ delivery of services and both systems of providing services to the public by ‘Mobile Sahayaks’ and through ‘Internet Kiosks’ will be complementary to each other.

The scheme had become a point of contention between the AAP-led Delhi government and the LG. The decision was approved at a Cabinet meeting in November, but Baijal sent the file back to the government for reconsideration in December.

After Monday’s nod, the LG advised the administrative department concerned to finalise the proposal for setting up ‘internet kiosks’ within a month.

“As of now, people have to go to SDM offices for various services like marriage, income, caste certificates among others. As per the proposal, people won’t be required to visit SDM offices for the same. Such services will be provided at the doorstep of people,” said a senior government official.

The 40 services include issue of OBC, SC and ST certificates, motor vehicle registration certificate, driving licence, handicapped and old age pensions as well as sewage connection. A nominal fee would be charged from people and a private agency would be hired to carry out the service.

If a person wants a certificate from the government, he would have to phone a call centre. Then a ‘Mobile Sahayak’ would go to the residence or office of the applicant and collect the necessary documents, take photos and biometric details and process the application. Applicants can pay the application fee to the ‘Mobile Sahayak’.

Although the government is currently providing e-district services, applicants are required to visit district offices for the verification of documents.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led municipal corporations of “extorting money” in the name of ongoing sealing drive in the national Capital.
Speaking during the discussion over the sealing drive in the Assembly, Sisodia said the BJP’s intent behind the drive is to “extort money” and blamed it for the inordinate delay in notifying the roads under commercial or mixed-use category. Blaming the BJP legislators for disrupting the proceedings of the House, he said that the BJP is running away from discussion because it has “cheated the traders” and is “minting money” in the guise of sealing drive.

“We will answer your every question and let the people of Delhi know who are actually behind the sealing of shops and properties in the city, but you are only disrupting the House to get away with the discussion,” Sisodia said in response to the oppositions demand for a discussion on 351 roads which are to be notified under commercial and mixed-use category.

AAP legislator Saurabh Bhardwaj said that in the past 12 years, the municipal corporations have collected a whopping amount of Rs 1,000 crore in the name of “conversion charge” from the traders and businessmen in the city.

Bhardwaj , who is also chairman of Petitions Committee, said that the commissioners of the three municipal corporations should be called to the Assembly on Wednesday and asked to give details of the conversion charges collected over the past 12 years.

Bhardwaj said that if the commissioners were not able to pull all the data in the next two days, then they should be given a 15 days time to come up with details.

The sealing drive, which started last month, has been undertaken by the BJP-led municipal corporations on the instruction of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. More than 50 commercial units in the Defence Colony market were sealed for allegedly not depositing conversion charges under provisions of city’s Master Plan 2021.