IRAN’S ROUHANI ROLLS OUT CABINET
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani put forward a new cabinet line-up on Tuesday that again included no women, despite criticism of their absence from his reformist allies.
First Vice President
Es’haq Jahangiri
Head of Presidential Office and Chief of Staff
Mohammad Nahavandian
Vice President for executive affairs
Mohammad shariatmadari
Vice President and Head of Plan and Budget Organization
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht Haghighi
Vice President for Legal Affairs
Majead Ansari
Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
Hossein-Ali Amiri
Vice President for science and technology affairs
Sorena Sattari
Vice President for women and family affairs
Shahindokht Molaverdi
Head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization
Zahra Ahmadipour
Vice- President and Head of Atomic Energy Organization
Ali Akbar Salehi
Vice- President and Head of Martyrs and self sacrifice’s Affairs Foundation
Seyed Mohammad-Ali Shahidi
Vice- President and Head of Environmental Protection Organization
Masoumeh Ebtekar
Vice President and Head of Administrative and Recruitment Organization
Jamshid Ansari
.
Minister of Education-Fakhroddin Ahmadi Daanesh Ashtiani
Minister of Information and Communications Technology
Mahmoud Vaezi
Minister of Intelligence
Mahmoud Alavi
Minister of Economy
Ali Tayebnia
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mohammad Javad Zarif
Minister of Health
Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi
Minister of Labor, Cooperative and Welfare
Ali Rabiei
Minister of Agriculture
Mahmoud Hojjati
Minister of Justice
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi
Minister of Defense
Hossein Dehqan
Minister of Road and Urban Development
Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi
Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade
Mohammad Reza Ne’matzadeh
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
Seyed Reza Salehi Amiri
Minister of Interior
Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli
Minister of Science, Research and Technology
Mohammad Farhadi
Minister of Oil
Bijan Namdar Zanganeh
Minister of Energy
Hamid Chitchian
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
Masoud Soltanifar
There were no major changes to Rouhani’s government, which is expected to continue his push for greater foreign investment and a technocratic approach to reviving the country’s stagnant economy. He did replace the defense minister, Major General Hossein Dehghan, with his deputy, General Amir Hatami – the first time in more than two decades that the post has been filled by someone from the regular army rather than the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Key names in Iran’s efforts to rebuild ties with the West – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh – retained their positions. Media agencies
UN BACKS ITALY BID TO CLOSE MIGRANT ROUTE FROM LIBYA
The UN’s new envoy to Libya on Tuesday endorsed Italy’s drive to stem the flow of migrants leaving the north African state for Europe, despite misgivings among human rights groups. Rights campaigners fear Italy’s focus on strengthening the Libyan coastguard to ensure boatloads of migrants are intercepted before reaching international waters could place thousands of people with a right to asylum at serious risk. But Ghassam Salame, a former Lebanese culture minister appointed in June to head UN operations in Libya, described the cooperation between Tripoli and Rome as a “very constructive” way of dealing with an acute problem. More than 600,000 refugees and other migrants have reached Italy from Libya since 2014.
‘REGIONAL CONSULTATION ON ELECTORAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS – NORTHERN REGION’
Dear friends,
It gives us immense pleasure to invite you for the ‘Regional Consultation on Electoral and Political reforms – Northern Region’ being organised by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), on 17th August, 2017, Thursday, at 09:30 AM at the Lecture Room -2, India International Centre (Annexe), New Delhi.
Hon’ble Election Commissioner, Shri O P Rawat, Shri Chandra Bhushan Kumar, CEO-Delhi, representatives of the National Election Watch from Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh state chapters, members of political parties, civil society organisations and media will be present to deliberate on issues related to electoral and political reform in the country.
The Consultation will be followed by a Press Conference to release a report titled, ‘Analysis of Donations from Corporates & Business Houses to National Parties – FY 2012-13 to 2015-16 (Known donations above Rs 20,000 only)” between 03:00 PM & 04:00 PM at the same venue.
Please find attached the Agenda for the Consultation and the Press Conference, for your reference and perusal.
We look forward to hosting you on the 17th August, for what we trust will be an interesting and informative discussion.
Excerpt from the report to be released during the Press Conference:
Political parties are required to submit details of donors who have made donations above Rs 20,000 in a financial year (between 1st April and 31st March) to the Election Commission of India, every year. Parties provide details of the name, address, PAN, mode of payment and amount contributed by each donor who has made donation above Rs 20,000 in their submission.
- Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), in its earlier report dated 8th January, 2014, specified that various sectors of business houses in 8 years, between FY 2004-05 & 2011-12, donated a total of Rs 378.89 cr to National Parties, constituting 87% of the total contribution from known sources of political parties.
- This report analyses the donations from corporates to National Parties between FY 2012-13 and 2015-16.
- Political parties considered for the report are BJP, INC, NCP, CPI and CPM. Though a National party, BSP has not been considered for analysis in this report as the party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor between FY 2012-13 and 2015-16.
Venue: Lecture Room -2, IIC (Annexe), New Delhi
Date: 17th August, 2017, Thursday
Time: Registration at 9:30 AM, Press Conference at 03:00 PM
Yours sincerely,
Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd.),
Head – NEW & ADR
011-4165 4200,
+91 88264 79910
|
Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar
IIM Ahmedabad (Retd.)
Founder Member – NEW & ADR
+91 99996 20944;
|
Prof. Trilochan Sastry
IIM Bangalore
Founder Member NEW & ADR
+91 94483 53285;
|
—
Association for Democratic Reforms
T-95, C.L. House, 2nd Floor,
(Near Gulmohar Commercial Complex)
Gautam Nagar
New Delhi-110 049
(Near Gulmohar Commercial Complex)
Gautam Nagar
New Delhi-110 049
M: +91 8010394248
T: +91 11 41654200
F: 011 4609 4248
WANG YI : BEIJING PAY THE BIGGEST PRICE
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said, Beijing will pay the biggest price from the new United Nations sanctions against North Korea because of its close economic relationship with Pyongyang.
Speaking at a regional security forum in Manila yesterday, Wang said owing to China’s traditional economic ties with North Korea, it will mainly be China paying the price for implementing the resolution.
He said the new resolution showed China and the international community’s opposition to North Korea’s continued missile tests. Yi said in order to protect the international non-proliferation system and regional peace and stability, China will as before fully and strictly properly implement the entire contents of the relevant resolution.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday.The latest resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood.
It also prohibits countries from increasing the numbers of North Korean labourers currently working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.
M6.5 – SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
As per Xenhua reports.the death toll from a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck a remote area in southwest China’s Sichuan Province Tuesday night has risen to 13.
As of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the earthquake had also left 175 others injured. according to the information office of the provincial government.
The quake jolted Jiuzhaigou County, a popular tourist destination, at 9:19 p.m. Tuesday at a depth of 20 km.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts to rapidly organize relief work and rescue the injured people after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
During that hours five people were killed and over 70 were injured after the earthquake jolted Jiuzhaigou County in Sichuan at 9:19 p.m. Tuesday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
Authorities should check the impact of the earthquake, evacuate and settle visitors and local people, and reduce death and injuries as much as possible, Xi said.
As the earthquake took place during the flood period and tourism season, authorities should enhance meteorological early warning and geological monitoring to guard against other disasters and try their best to protect people’s lives and property, Xi added.
Premier Li Keqiang also urged local authorities to go all out in relief and monitoring work.
China’s cabinet, the State Council, has sent a national work team to the disaster-hit area to guide relief work. Local governments have activated top-level emergency response procedures.
| Magnitude | 6.5 |
| Date-Time |
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| Location | 33.217N 103.843E |
| Depth | 10 km |
| Distances |
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AHMED PATEL, AMIT SHAH, SMIRIT SAIL THROUGH TO RAJYA SABHA
Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel is able to sail through to Rajya Sabha getting 44 votes. BJP president Amit Shah too made his Parliament debut along with Union Minister Smriti Irani.
BJP National President Amit Shah, Union Minister for Textile and Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani and Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel have won the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat. After much drama overnight in the counting for the three Rajya Sabha seat, Amit Shah received 46 votes, Smriti Irani also secured 46 votes while Ahmed Patel got 44 votes.
In a tweet, Union Minister Smriti Irani congratulated Amit Shah on being elected from Rajya Sabha and also wished him on completing 3 years as BJP President. Ms Irani also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and other ground workers for instilling their faith in her.
Congress leader Ahmed Patel succeeded to be re-elected in Rajya Sabha from Gujarat for the fifth term. In his first reaction after the announcement of the result, Ahmed Patel tweeted, Satyamev Jayate. He said, it is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power, muscle power and abuse of state machinery.
Earlier, counting of votes for 3 Rajya Sabha seats had been delayed for hours following objections raised by Congress party against its two dissidents MLAs. The Congress had approached the Election Commission seeking to invalidate the votes of its two legislators who voted for the BJP. Leaders of the ruling BJP also went to the Election Commission and opposed the Congress claim.
However, Election Commission after reviewing the matter agreed with the Congress complaint and directed the returning officer to start counting of votes after segregate the ballot papers of two MLAs Raghavji Bhai Patel and Bholabhai Gohil. Election Commission termed that the vote of this two MLAs termed invalid for violation of law for showing their ballot papers to the unauthorized persons.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has said that his party, BJP, is not happy with the decision of election commission and will take legal action. Briefing the media persons at Gandhinagar after the announcement of results, Mr. Rupani said that there is no evidence in support of congress complaint for violation of rules. He said, that the Congress candidate Ahmed Patel has won by a thin margin of only half votes despite Congress had 57 MLAs in the house. Mr. Rupani said, that two votes rejected by Election Commission were also in favour of BJP and its third candidate Balwantsinh Rajput could have won by the margin of one and half votes. Criticizing the congress leadership, he said, that Congress is a sinking ship in Gujarat. Mr. Rupani claimed that though Congress had won the one seat of Rajya Sabha on the basis of false complaint, its defeat in coming assembly elections is certain.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated BJP President Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani on getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
Mr Modi also congratulated Mr Shah on completing three years as BJP President. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, during the Presidency of Mr Shah BJP has expanded its base in several areas and diligently worked towards nation building.
Mr Modi also congratulated Mr Shah on completing three years as BJP President. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, during the Presidency of Mr Shah BJP has expanded its base in several areas and diligently worked towards nation building.
This is not just my victory. It is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power,muscle power and abuse of state machinery
I want to thank each & every MLA who voted for me despite unprecedented intimidation & pressure from BJP.They voted for an inclusive India
BJP stands exposed of personal vendetta and political terror. People of Gujarat will give them a befitting reply in this year’s election
‘TOILET: EK PREM KATHA’
PRESS INVITATION
Viacom 18 Motion Pictures cordially invites you to attend the Press Conference & to share with you the uniqueness of their latest film
‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’
To be addressed by:
- Akshay Kumar
- Bhumi Pednekar
- Anupam Kher
Time: 11:00 am
Date: 9th August 2017 (Wednesday)
Venue: PVR Plaza, H Block, CP
You are requested to send correspondents/ photographers/ camera crew for the Press Conference.
