World

A top rung Congress party leader and former Indian minister, Shashi Tharoor, has been charged with abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2014. Tharoor has also been charged with cruelty in his marriage.

But Tharoor described the 3000-page charge sheet as “unbelievable”. The Congress party spokesman said that it is the BJP’s conspiracy to defame Tharoor and that it is nothing but the ruling party’s “revenge machine at work.”

Sunanda (51) was found dead in a suite of a five-star hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she publicly accused her husband of having an affair with Meher Tarar, a well-known Pakistani journalist and one of the editors of Daily Times based in Lahore.

Tharoor reacted to the filing of the charge sheet by the Delhi Police, in two tweets, Tharoor said: “I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet and intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of the investigation it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Office made a statement in the Delhi High Court that they have not found anything against anyone and now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!”

While addressing the media, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “We won’t cow down or bow down. This is a conspiracy to defame Shashi Tharoor. We reject the charges totally. This is being done on instructions from the BJP and Narendra Modi-led government. BJP’s revenge factory is at work”.

Police first claimed that Sunanda was poisoned, and registered a murder case in January 2015, without naming any suspect.
The Congress minister of state for Human Resource Development and MP from Thiruvananthapuram married the Dubai-based entrepreneur in August 2010.
 
Source : Newsin.asia

Najib Razak, chairman of Malaysia's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional and the prime minister since 2009, said Thursday that he accepted the result of the general election, which saw his coalition lose to the opposition led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

"I accept the verdict of the people," said Najib, without conceding defeat outright.

The opposition Pakatan Harapan and its allies won a simple majority in the lower house of parliament on Wednesday's election, potentially putting an end to BN's rule for more than 60 years.

However, Pakatan Harapan and its allies were not contending under one united banner like BN, so Najib said that since no party won a simple majority, it will be up to the ceremonial Supreme Head of State to make the decision to appoint the new prime minister.

Source :  Xhinua

At least 61 people have died in fierce dust storms across four Indian states since Sunday evening, with officials warning of more bad weather to come.

High-speed winds and lightning devastated many villages, bringing down homes and leaving dozens injured.

The northern state of Uttar Pradesh reported the highest death toll - 38. More than 70 people had died in dust storms in the state earlier in May.

According to officials casualties could go up further.

Twelve people were reported dead in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which was also severely hit by the storms. Nine people were killed in the eastern state of West Bengal, while two people have been confirmed dead in Delhi.

All four states remain on high alert as officials warn of more thunderstorms over the next few days.

India's Meteorological Department had issued a warning on Sunday before the storms hit, warning people to stay within their homes. Wind speeds were around 109 km/h (67mph) accompanied by thunder and lightning, officials said.

Air travel in Delhi was also affected, with around 70 flights being diverted from the city's international airport on Sunday night.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he "prayed" for the speedy recovery of those who were injured and he asked officials to provide assistance.

Large parts of India have been struck by deadly storms in the past month. More than a 100 people died in northern India on 4 May due to intense dust storms and heavy rains.

Authorities at the time said they were shocked by the ferocity of the storms, adding that it was one of the worst they had seen.
 
Source : BBC

Millions of voters in Malaysia are heading to the polls in an election that will see the country's leader take on his 92-year-old former mentor.

Opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad will face off against PM Najib Razak's ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Such an opposition victory would be unprecedented in Malaysia, where BN has ruled for 61 years.

But critics have raised concerns the election will not be free and fair.

In the last election, in 2013, the opposition made unprecedented gains - winning the popular vote - but failed to win enough seats to form a government.

The government has insisted the election will be free and fair, with Mr Najib saying that the EC acted "for the good of all".

Voters will elect 222 members of parliament as well as state assembly members in 12 of the 13 states.

Malaysia uses a first-past-the-post electoral system, where the party that gets the most seats in parliament wins even if it does not win the popular vote.
 
Source : BBC

Suicide bombers have attacked three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya, killing at least nine people, police say.

Dozens of others were injured in the attacks, which occurred within minutes of each other. No group has so far said it carried them out.

TV pictures showed debris scattered around the entrance of one church.

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, has seen a resurgence of Islamist militancy in recent months.

The bombings took place around 07:30 local time (00:30 GMT)

The country's intelligence agency said it was most likely to have been carried out by an Islamic State-inspired group, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah.

Days earlier, five members of the Indonesian security forces were killed during a standoff with militant Islamist prisoners at a high-security prison on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta.

Source : BBC

Tycoon Vijay Mallya lost a U.K. lawsuit filed by Indian banks seeking to collect more than 1.15 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) amid allegations that he committed massive fraud.

Judge Andrew Henshaw in London on Tuesday said the lenders, including IDBI Bank Ltd., can enforce an Indian court ruling that relates to allegations that Mallya willfully defaulted on about $1.4 billion in debt for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. Henshaw also refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya's assets.

The 62-year-old is fighting numerous lawsuits in the U.K. and his native country over fraud and money-laundering allegations. He was arrested in London more than a year ago and is waging another fight to block extradition in a different court about three miles across town.

Lawyers for Mallya declined to comment after the hearing. Henshaw refused permission to appeal Tuesday's ruling, meaning his attorneys will have to directly petition the Court of Appeal.

Attorneys at law firm TLT in London, who are representing the lenders said the ruling will allow them to enforce the underlying judgment by the Indian debt recovery tribunal immediately.

The asset freeze order had forced Mallya to live on 5,000 pounds a week, but his allowance was increased to roughly 20,000 pounds a week earlier this year, lawyers for the lenders said after the hearing.
Allegations

Mallya was arrested in London April 18 on a warrant issued by Indian authorities accusing him of conspiring to defraud India's IDBI Bank through a 91 billion-rupee ($1.4 billion) loan to Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. -- a premium airline he founded in 2005 and shut down seven years later.

Mallya left India in 2016, saying he was moving to England to be closer to his children. He has refused to return to India and said he fears an unfair trial amid the "media frenzy and hysteria" over unpaid dues. Mallya has also said government agencies are pursuing a "heavily biased investigation" and holding him guilty without trial.

Source : NDTV

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of PM Narendra Modi is expected to win the most seats in the southern Karnataka state, exit polls suggest.

But they say it will fall short of winning a majority in the 224-member assembly. The opposition Congress party, which until Saturday's election controlled the state, is in second place.

The poll is significant for both of India's major parties ahead of general elections next year.

More than 49 million people were eligible to vote in Karnataka - the last major bastion of the Congress party. Karnataka is the hub of India's information technology industry and has a population of 64 million.

The official results of the election will be announced on 15 May.

Source : BBC

Nigeria’s military says it has rescued more than 1,000 people held captive in northeastern Nigeria by the jihadist group Boko Haram.

Brig Gen Texas Chukwu said Monday the hostages were rescued from four villages in the Bama area of Borno State.

He did not say when the rescues took place but said the military and the Multinational Joint Task Force helped with the release of mostly women and children. He said some men who had been forced to become Boko Haram fighters were among those rescued.

Boko Haram is responsible for thousands of abductions, especially of young girls and women, during its nine-year insurgency in Nigeria and surrounding countries.

Nigeria’s army has staged rescues before, but many victims, including some girls abducted from Chibok in 2014, remain missing.

Source : Time

Oil prices look set to temporarily hit $90 a barrel during the first half of next year, if not sooner, and risk spiking to as much as $100 a barrel, depending on geopolitical events and other factors, say Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

But they do not see an immediate major jump in prices. For this year, they forecast an average price of $70 a barrel for Brent crude, the international benchmark. They forecast $75 for next year. Their previous forecast was $60.

Prices could climb significantly next year, however. The analysts have a target of $90 a barrel during the second quarter of 2019, with a risk it could go to $100 a barrel. Futures on Brent were trading as high as $78 Thursday.

"Looking into the next 18 months, we expect global oil supply and demand balances to tighten driven by the ongoing collapse in Venezuelan output. In addition, there are downside risks to Iranian crude oil exports. Plus we see a high likelihood of OPEC working with Russia in 2019 to set a floor on oil prices," they wrote. 

The report says OPEC and Russia could gradually reduce the amount of oil they are holding off the market by 450,000 barrels a day next year. But if they do not step back from their current agreement to withhold 1.8 million barrels a day, the market will get tighter and prices will be higher.

They also expect Venezuela's output to drop by 500,000 barrels a day over the next 20 months, but they did not include a major drop in Iranian exports in their forecast. If a new nuclear deal is not reached within six months, global oil markets could tighten further. They factored in Iran's current production of about 3.8 million barrels a day.

As for the U.S., they forecast West Texas Intermediate crude prices will be about $5 below Brent this year and $6 below next year, due to bottlenecks in transporting shale crude to market and because of capital constraints at drillers. WTI was trading just above $71 a barrel on Thursday.

Infrastructure limitations in the U.S., such as the lack of pipeline capacity, means shale drillers may not ramp up as much production as they otherwise might. The analysts expect some of those issues involving long-haul pipelines to be solved in the second half of 2019. They also see U.S. drilling constrained by pressure on companies to exercise capital discipline in the face of rising costs.

World oil consumption should grow by 1.5 million barrels a day this year and 1.4 million barrels a day next year.

OPEC and Russia cut back on output beginning in 2016 because of a massive supply glut. Bank of America now sees a deficit of 630,000 barrels a day this year and 300,000 next year. They expect that will drive down OECD oil stocks below their five-year average, a metric watched by OPEC and Russia as they monitor the progress of their production agreement to balance supply and support prices.

Vladimir Putin is due to be sworn in for a fourth term as president of Russia on Monday after winning the election in March.

He has been in power for 18 years, whether as president or prime minister, and opponents have likened his tenure to the reign of a tsar, or emperor.

Riot police confronted protesters against his rule in Moscow and other Russian cities on Saturday. There have been fears of new unrest on Monday as he takes office. 

The inauguration at the Kremlin in Moscow is likely to be lower-key than in 2012, AFP news agency reports.

Source : BBC

US President Donald Trump has welcomed home three American detainees released by North Korea.

Trump said it was a "special night for these really great people" as they arrived at the Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

The White House said the trio had been freed as a gesture of goodwill ahead of the planned meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump says the venue for the summit will be announced: "within three days".

The president said he appreciated that Kim had allowed the men to leave as "frankly we didn't think that was going to happen before the meeting". The three men, Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-chul, were smiling and waving and appeared in good health.

They said little in an impromptu chat before the media with Trump but released an earlier statement saying: "We would like to express our deep appreciation to the United States government, President Trump, Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo and the people of the United States for bringing us home.
 
Source : BBC

Afghanistan’s first-ever female airline pilot, who was lauded as a mark of progress in the battle for progress on women’s rights there, has been accepted for asylum in the United States.

Niloofar Rahmani travelled to the US in 2015 to receive training. She said she and her family were facing threats from the Taliban, the militant group that has waged a decades-long war against the Afghan government.

The US paid for her travel and her training. Now, Washington says it remains too dangerous for her to return to her home country.

She applied for asylum in 2016, but only received the news on Monday. Her family remain in Afghanistan.
 
Source : The National