NEWS

:- Aam Admi Party summons its Law Minister Somnath Bharti in THE wake of demand for his resignation; Delhi court directs police to file a report on midnight raid led by Law Minister Bharti . BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav address rally in Uttar Pradesh; Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi completes two days Amethi visit. President gives seven more days to Andhra Pradesh Assembly till January 30TH to discuss State reorganisation Bill. Birbhum District Court in West Bengal remanded 14 days jail custody to 13 accused in gangrape case Sensex scales 36 points, to a fresh record closing high of 21,374 dollas. China's Li Na to clash with Dominica Cibulkova of Slovakia in Women's Singles final; Stanslas Wawrinka of Switzerland enters finals of Men's Singles. []<><><>[] A city court today directed Delhi police to file a report on last week's midnight raid allegedly led by Law Minister Somnath Bharti in South Delhi. This follows filing of a plea by a second African woman seeking registration of an FIR in this regard. Metropolitan Magistrate Chetna Singh asked Deputy Commissioner of Police, South, to file the report by Saturday on the probe being carried out by the police . Delhi police has already registered a case on 19th of this month against unknown persons on the first plea. Three foreign women have so far recorded their statements before a magistrate, in which they stated that Mr Bharti had barged into their house along with his supporters on the intervening night of January 15-16. Meanwhile, the Congress and BJP have scaled up their pressure for action against Mr Bharti. The Congress which is extending outside support to the Aam Aadmi Party government urged Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to take action against the Law Minister. A delegation of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, led by its President Arvinder Singh Lovely met Mr Jung and briefed him about the current situation in the city. We have asked that legal action should be taken whether it is arrest or imposing stringent provisions that may be taken against a common man, should be imposed against the Minister. We, have been assured by the Lt. Governor that he will ensure law takes it own course. When asked whether the party is considering withdrawing support to Aam Aadmi Party government, Lovely said the support is not blanket but is only on 18 issues. On the other hand, the BJP has demanded the removal of Delhi Law Minister for his alleged misbehaviour towards the Ugandan women. Addressing media persons in New Delhi, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said that the Somnath Bharti has violated the law and the law should be followed up to its logical conclusion to deal with such misdemeanour. Meanwhile, the Political Affairs Committee of the Aam Aadmi Party is meeting to take stock of the situation, in the wake of, Bharti's resignation demand. The Party has summoned its Law Minister Somnath Bharti in the meeting. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung. Bharti is facing a volley of criticism from various quarters for carrying out a raid along with his supporters against African nationals in connection with the alleged drug and prostitution racket in South Delhi. Aam Aadmi Party today rules out any action against Somnath Bharti even as pressure mounted on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for removal of the law minister. The party has given a clean chit to Bharati. []<><><>[] The External Affairs Ministry today said, it is in touch with the concerned authorities to get details of last week's midnight raid against African nationals allegedly led by Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti in South Delhi. The Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin said that the incident is a matter of concern and the government is committed to share the details of the case with Uganda and other African countries. The Government of India in any manner has a view which is not conducive to our relationship and therefore we have indicated that this was an incident which was condemnable and we had hope that this was a aberration and does not reflect our relationship with Africa. Mr Akbaruddin said, India has an age-old relationship with Africa. He said, the Ministry is investigating the alleged racial overtone in the comment of Mr Bharti. []<><><>[] In Uttar Pradesh, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today attacked Congress, saying its governments have failed to eradicate poverty despite repeatedly projecting it as a main plank for the last 60 years. He was addressing a rally in Gorakhpur. On the other hand, addressing a rally in Varanasi today, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and CM Akhilesh Yadav severely criticised Narendra Modi and BJP for their divisive politics. Meanwhile Congress vice president and MP Rahul Gandhi today completed his two days Amethi visit where he met people and addressed the local media. The politically important state of Uttar Pradesh was today abuzz with the political activities of top leaders of three major national parties. Narendra Modi , while addressing a well attended rally in Gorakhpur, accused Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav for allegedly destroying the state. Modi also attacked congress making an allegation of keeping the nation perpetually poor. Replying in the same token, Mulayam Singh alerted the people from communal forces. In his first visit to Amethi after being nominated as congress campaign chief, Rahul Gandhi said that he has done enough for his constituency and will keep doing it for the benefit of common and poor. Merajuddin, AIR NEWS, Lucknow." Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh ruling Samajwadi Party today announced its candidate for two assembly seats bye elections. These bye elections have been necessitated after death of incumbents. Quoting party sources our Correspondent reports that from Vishwanathganj constituency in Pratapgarh district, party has nominated Sanjay Pandey as its nominee. In Sadar constituency in Fatehpur district, Saiyyad Aabid Hasan, will be party candidate. []<><><>[] President Pranab Mukherjee today gave seven more days to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly till January 30th to discuss and debate the draft Telangana bill before returning it to the Centre. The President's decision came following a request from the Andhra Pradesh government which sought four weeks extension of the January 23rd deadline fixed by him while sending the bill to the state Assembly. Official sources said the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill now has to be returned by the state Assembly by January 30th with or without its view. []<><><>[] In West Bengal, the Birbhum District Court today remanded 14 days jail custody to the 13 accused on alleged gang raping of a 20-year old tribal girl. Police arrested all the 13 people from Lavpur last night. The girl was gang raped on Tuesday night at Lavur after which her family filed a complaint with police. In their complaints the girl’s family said that the incident happened after a meeting of community leaders who decided to punish her for having a relationship with a boy outside her community. Critiising the incident, the State Governor, Mr. M. K. Narayanan said that corporal punishment should be given to the culprits. Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee orders removal of Birbhum SP, C Sudhakar after tribal girl's gangrape. []<><><>[] All the Delhi government run hospitals and private hospitals in the city have been directed to provide immediate and free medical treatment to the rape and acid attack victims. Special Secretary of the Delhi Health Department, S B Shashank has issued a circular to all the medical superintendents of the hospitals . As per the circular, the order has to be implied by all the government, private hospital and nursing homes. []<><><>[] The probe into the death of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was today transferred to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. Sources said the high-profile case has been handed over to the Branch considering various aspects involving it. Last Tuesday, a sub-divisional magistrate, who probed Sunanda's death, had directed the police to investigate murder or suicide angles in the case after the autopsy report mentioned drug over-dose may have led to poisoning which could be the reason for her demise. []<><><>[] THE BUSINESS WORLD Rising for the fourth straight session, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 36 points, or 0.2 percent, to a fresh record closing high of 21,374, on buying in select blue-chips, today. The Nifty climbed 7 points, to 6,346. But stock markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Koreea and Singapore declined between 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent. The rupee dropped 12 paise, to 61.93 against the dollar. Gold fell 30 rupees, to 30,170 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver held steady at 44,500 rupees per kilo.And Brent crude oil futures slipped towards 108 dollars per barrel, but U.S. crude rose 10 cents, to 96.83 dollars a barrel.Pradeep Kumar, AIR News. []<><><>[] External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said India and China have decided not to allow the border issue hinder their evolving and growing bilateral relationship. In an exclusive interview to All India Radio, Mr Khurshid said it is important to make the 21st century as the century of Asia. He said the two countries have developed working arrangements and instruments of peace and tranquility on the borders to move forward. He, however, said an aspect of Beijing's strategic relationship with Pakistan is a matter of concern for India. Pakistan is a friend of China and there are certain aspects of the friendship is that we are find it little dis -concerting and from the point of view strategic dimensions something which is a matter of concern. On Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade issue, the External Affairs Minister said India and the US need to analyse the reasons behind her arrest so that such incidents do not recur. On Afghanistan, Mr Khurshid made it clear that India has no policy to exit Afghanistan. He said New Delhi is engaged in capacity building in a major way in Kabul. We are committed as a partner and as neighbur of Afghansitan. To the future of Afghanistan, we want stable, soverign, prosperous successful Afghanistan and therefore, we are looking ways and means and we have difficulty in accessing Afghansitan particularly with development assistant. The full interview can be heard in our countrywide programme from 9.30 pm on FM Gold channel of All India Radio today. []<><><>[] UN Special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met the Syrian regime and the rebel opposition delegations separately today ahead of the Second leg of the International peace conference on Syria which gets underway in Geneva tomorrow. In Davos, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the best solution is to hold a free and fair elections in Syria. []<><><>[] Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with rest of the Country, remained closed for vehicular traffic for the second consecutive day today due to snow and slippery conditions. Our correspondent reports that over 900 vehicles are stranded on the 300-km-long highway at various places . Officials said that, fresh movement of vehicles from both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar was not allowed, however some stranded vehicles are being cleared off the road. The highway was closed yesterday for the vehicular traffic due to fresh snowfall and slippery road conditions in Jawahar tunnel and Patnitop areas. The men and machines of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are working to clear the highway. Meanwhile traffic has been restored on Doda-Kishtwar road. []<><><>[] IN SPORTS : In Men's singles semifinals of Australian open, Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Tomas Berdych by 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6. Wawrinka reached his first grand slam final with this victory. Wawrinka , who defeated three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, will contest the final against either Rafael Nadal or fellow Swiss Roger Federer. Sania Mirza and her Romanian team-mate Horia Tecau today sailed into the Mixed Doubles semi-finals of the Australian Open Tennis tournament. Meanwhile, China's Li Na and Dominica Cibulkova of Slovakia today booked the Women's Singles final two berths. In the semi-finals, while Li Na beat Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-4, to advance to her third Australian Open final, Cibulkova stunned higher ranked Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-4. []<><><>[]