Mohan Bhagwat should apologise, Modi should clarify stand: Opposition
The Opposition has latched on to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s reported remarks on the Army, demanding that he apologise to the nation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi clarify if he was in favour of a “private militia” guarding India’s borders. The parties charged Bhagwat with “insulting” the armed forces and the country by claiming that in the eventuality of a battle to be fought, the RSS could mobilise itself in three days while the Indian Army would take six to seven months to do so. Leading the charge, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted that Bhagwat’s remark insulted the Indian tricolour.
PM Narendra Modi visits Shiva temple in Oman
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he felt extremely blessed after praying at the 125-year-old Shiva Temple in Muscat, one of the oldest in the region. PM Modi, who arrived here from Dubai on the last leg of his three-nation tour, visited the temple located in the Matrah area. “Feeling extremely blessed to pray at the Shiva temple in Muscat,” the prime minister tweeted. “PM @narendramodi performed Abhishekam at the historic Lord Shiva temple at Muscat and interacted with the members of the Temple Management Committee,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong ends Olympic visit, leaving South to mull offer
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister has headed home after a whirlwind three days in South Korea, where she sat among world dignitaries at the Olympics and tossed a diplomatic offer to the South aimed at ending seven decades of hostility. Kim Yo Jong and the rest of the North Korean delegation departed for Pyongyang on her brother’s private jet last night, a day after they delivered his hopes for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace. It was a sharp, but possibly fleeting, contrast with many months of rising tensions connected to the North’s continued development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Civilian houses adjacent to Army camps’ boundary wall a problem: Nirmala Sitharaman
Construction of civilian houses adjacent to the boundary wall of Army camps is a problem across the country, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. The minister was here to visit the people injured in Saturday’s terror attack on the Army camp in Sunjuwan. “Civil constructions are taking place near the boundary walls (of army camps across the country) and it is getting difficult to remove these constructions because these are taking place with permission. “I am studying the scenario in the entire country and will definitely come out with a solution,” she told reporters. Asked about her stand on the state government’s amnesty for stone pelters, Sitharaman said, “I think first-time offenders were given amnesty and I am aware of that”.
Good news for Airtel users! Customers to view Hotstar content via app for free
Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a strategic partnership with Star India-owned video streaming platform Hotstar, thus enabling its prepaid and postpaid subscribers to view the latter’s content via its Airtel TV app for free. Airtel is the second mobile operator to have signed such a pact with Hotstar after Reliance Jio, which signed the agreement way back in 2016. However, customers will have to pay for viewing premium content. In effect, there’s not much of exclusivity in terms of pricing in such tie-ups and they only help mobile operators to build their TV apps by aggregating content.