New Delhi: United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon left for Saudi Arabia from Palam Air Force Base in New Delhi after his India visit which lasted for a little over two days. Obama was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the chief guest at India’s 66th Republic Day parade.
Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle, folded his hands in a traditional ‘Namaste’ and waved before boarding Air Force One at the Palam airport where Union Minister Piyush Goyal and, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, were among those present.
During his visit to India that started on Sunday morning the US President attended various events and ceremonies including President’s Banquet, CEO’s roundtable and Town Hall event apart from the Republic Day parade.
In his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, both the leaders managed to remove the hurdles to operationalise the civil nuclear deal besides deciding to jointly produce military hardware and stepping up economic engagement.
During the visit, the two sides sealed a clutch of deals to unlock billions of dollars in nuclear trade and deepen defence ties, and Obama pledged $4 billion in investments and loans to release what he called the “untapped potential” of a partnership between the world’s largest democracies.
Most significant was an agreement on issues that, despite a groundbreaking 2006 pact, had stopped US companies from setting up nuclear reactors in India and had become one of the major irritants in bilateral relations.
Obama and the US First Lady had planned a visit to the Taj Mahal but cancelled their trip to the world heritage site and instead decided to visit Saudi Arabia to pay condolences to the Royal family following death of King Abdullah.
Earlier it was speculated that PM Modi will be present at the Palam Air base but it did not happen.
Traditionally, America’s First Ladies have always been under sartorial scrutiny but not since Jackie Kennedy’s Balenciaga days has the public loved a FLOTUS wardrobe as much as now.
American President Barack Obama took the official presidential oath in 2008, and First Lady Michelle Obama has been by his side making transformative decisions both in campaign strategy and wardrobe. Not one to shy away from bold pops of colour, prints and (toned) arm-bearing outfit choices, Michelle Obama had our vote since the day she donned that chartreuse Isabel Toledo number at the President’s swearing-in ceremony.
Her enviable, fit physique allows her to pick looks from an array of labels. From floral Naeem Khan shifts to flowing Tom Ford gowns, there’s no doubt Michelle Obama shows her support for American designers.
Today’s Republic Day celebrations were perfect, but for this… we felt that our PM, our VP and other Ministers present on the dias were not respectful towards the widows of our fallen brothers, who died defending our nation.
Here at TheDC we have admins with very strong military heritage, and all of us felt that the Prime Minister, the Vice-President and the Defense Ministers should have shown respect towards the widows of our brave hearts, by standing up when they came to receive Ashok Chakra on behalf of their martyred husbands.
Both Major Mukund Varadarajan and Nk Neeraj Kumar Singh died defending this country and the least our politicians could have done was to stand up in honour of their sacrifice, when their wives were receiving the medals.
We believe that from the next year onwards, everyone present in that dias must get up when a war widow walks in.
Do you guys agree?
(Courtesy Darjeeling Times)
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Danny Denzongpa, Rana Daggubati, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon, Taapsee Pannu
Direction: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: ****
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Danny Denzongpa, Rana Daggubati, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon, Taapsee Pannu
Direction: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: ****
Noted cartoonist R K Laxman’s health has taken a turn for the worse and he has now been put back on mechanical ventilator support, news reports said this morning.
“Laxman took a turn for the worse after he slipped into a ‘very critical state’, following which he has been put back on mechanical ventilator support,” medical sources told The Hindu.
Last week, there was a slight improvement in the condition of Laxman, who has been undergoing treatment since last week, the Pune-based Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital said in a statement issued. “Laxman’s medical condition has marginally improved. He is breathing on his own and doesn’t require mechanical ventilatory assistance,” it had said.
“His blood pressure and cardiac function have also improved but he still needs dialysis as his kidney function remains suboptimal,” it added.
The hospital had further said that the eminent cartoonist was not yet able to communicate, though “there is some improvement in his level of consciousness”.
Laxman, 94, was admitted to the Mangeshkar hospital last week after suffering from a urinary infection that led to a multi-organ failure.
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – The first journalist to report on the death of a Argentine state prosecutor, who was investigating the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, said on Saturday that he had fled Argentina fearing for his life.
“I’m leaving because my life is in danger. My phones are tapped,” Damian Pachter, a journalist with the Buenos Aires Herald, told the website Infobae.
The website carried a photograph of Pachter, wearing a cap and carrying sunglasses, at the airport before he boarded an Aerolineas Argentinas flight.
Telam, an Argentine state-run news agency, reported that the flight was bound for neighboring Uruguay.
“I’m going to come back to this country when my sources tell me the conditions have changed. I don’t think that will be during this government,” Patcher told Infobae.
State prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment late on Jan. 18, a gunshot wound to his head and a 22 caliber pistol by his side along with a single shell casing.
He had been scheduled to appear before Congress the following day to answer questions about his allegation that President Cristina Fernandez conspired to derail his investigation of the attack.
His death and a storm of conspiracy theories around it have rocked Argentina.
Argentina suspects rogue agents from its own intelligence services were behind Nisman’s death.
The government says Nisman’s allegations and his death were linked to a power struggle at Argentina’s intelligence agency and agents who had recently been fired.
Argentine courts have accused a group of Iranians of planting the 1994 bomb, which killed 85 people.
Nisman had claimed that President Fernandez opened a secret back channel to Iran to cover up Tehran’s alleged involvement in the bombing and gain access to Iranian oil needed to help close Argentina’s $7 billion per year energy deficit.
Fernandez’s government called the accusation absurd.
Washington, Jan 24 (ANI): Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman bin Abdul Aziz is rumoured to be suffering from major health problems, including dementia – the loss of mental functions such as thinking, memory, and reasoning.
Simon Henderson, an authority on Saudi Arabia and succession issues at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that Salman, 79, can perform quite well for a few minutes, but then he gets muddled and goes off message, the Washington Post reported.
Salman was perceived as a fearsome and admired leader for decades, before his health problems overshadowed his performance.
Salman has been described as a devout disciplinarian who would lock up princes in his small private jail for flouting the law.
The report quoted Nasim Chowdhury, a Mecca-based business consultant as saying that Salman was an arbitrator in royal family disputes, usually between the liberal wings and the conservative wings of the family.
Chowdhury said that he is one of the most popular members of the royal family and people can identify with him. (ANI)
As Wing Commander Puja Thakur marched up to the most powerful man on the planet on Sunday morning, she was acutely aware that the eyes of the world were fixed on her — and that she must not put a step wrong.
“When I walked up to him and asked him to come and inspect the parade, he had a slight smile, a pleasing expression… he looked assured… And I kept telling myself, ‘this is the big moment, don’t mess up’,” the officer who commanded the guard of honour for President Barack Obama at Rashtrapati Bhavan told The Indian Express.
It was 3 pm — almost three hours after she was seen doing a crisp march behind the US President — and Wing Commander Thakur had only just got a chance to grab a quick lunch.
And while the historic moment at whose centre she was watched by millions of people on television, it was also a private, personal moment for the education officer of the Indian Air Force. “After the ceremony was over, I took five seconds to call my family and asked them: Did you see that?”
Her family had indeed watched her with “pride”, Thakur said — from the time she took her position to wait for the 49-odd black-and-white vehicle cavalcade of the US President to the time she marched up to him and asked him to inspect the parade.
She spoke in Hindi, she said, the official language of instructions in a parade — addressing President Obama as “Shrimaan”.
“I waited with the contingent… the vehicles were yet to arrive. The wait was long… It gave me time to think, to look around, and I thought, ‘This is a big moment… you should not mess up… It is a high standard parade of the defence forces and you have to make it impressive.’ I kept telling myself this even as I marched up to him,” said the officer.
This was the first time that a woman officer had commanded the guard of honour, Thakur said, and it was just a few days ago that she was told she was the chosen one. “We practised for a few days. I don’t know for exactly how many hours, but it took some time to get used to the word of command. After I was ready, there was the dress rehearsal,” she said.
A 2000-batch officer of the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad, Thakur, who is now posted at the publicity directorate DISHA at the Air HQ, was commissioned into the education wing of the IAF in 2001 after a year’s training.
Was she chosen to project woman power, which remains an unsaid central theme of the R-Day parade? “I was chosen not because I am a woman, but because I represent the smartly continued…
New Delhi, January 26 For the first time in the history of India’s Republic Day, women empowerment in the armed forces was showcased as an all-women contingent from the three forces-Army, Air Force and Navy- marched down the majestic Rajpath. While women officers have been participating in previous Republic Day parades, this was for the first time that an all-women contingent of the armed forces participated. While the Army contingent was led by Capt Divya Ajith, the Navy was led by Lt Commander Sandhya Chauhan. The Air Force contingent was led by Squadron Leader Sneha Shekhawat. The contingents had 148 personnel each drawn from the Army, Air Force and the Navy. “We believe we are equal and second to none. We have already marched for the first time on the Army Day and now another first would be the Republic Day parade. So, yes, we do wish to be in the combat force,” Capt Ajith, who is with the Corps of Army Air Defence, had said recently. Currently, the army does not have women in combat roles. Capt Ajith graduated from the prestigious Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai in 2010. She created history by becoming the first woman in the army to receive the coveted Sword of Honour, which is awarded to the best cadet of a course.
NEW DELHI: Multi-hued images of India’s rich cultural diversity and military might as well as achievements in diverse fields unfolded on Monday at the 66th Republic Day parade which had a US President — Barack Obama — as the chief guest for the first time.
Obama’s attendance at the Republic Day celebrations was unlike any other event he has participated in during his overseas travel as president. He spent more than two hours on an outdoor viewing platform, an unusual amount of time given Secret Service security concerns. Obama nodded in approval as tanks and rocket launchers, some of them Russian-made, rolled down the parade route and helicopters ferrying Indian flags flew overhead.
Obama was seated next to Modi, donning a multicoloured ‘bandhej safa'(turban), as the two leaders chatted and enjoyed the annual spectacle. A smiling US President was seen nodding in appreciation on several occasions.
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