16-29 February 2020 The Asian Independent

10 16-02-2020 to 29-02-2020 ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Bengaluru women's
anti-CAA/NRC protest
enters second week
Bengaluru : A peaceful protest
demonstration in a park here by about
100 women against the CAA/NRC
entered its second week on Sunday,
police said. "The protest by about 100
women at Bilal Bagh against the
CAA/NRC has been going on peacefully
since a week. About 50 more joined
them on the weekend as they were free
from other work," Bengaluru Deputy
Commissioner of Police, East,
Sharanappa told IANS here.
As Bilal Bagh is adjacent to a
mosque in a dense locality, additional
police personnel were deployed at the
venue to prevent any untoward incident.
"Just attended an inspirational peaceful
protest against CAA/NRC at Bilal
Bagh, off Tannery Road in Bengaluru. It
is now in its second week," tweeted
noted historian Ramachandra Guha
after visiting the spot on Saturday.
Though the number of protesters has
been far less in comparison to hundreds
of their counterparts at Shaheen Bagh in
Delhi, the women have been drawing
attention of the authorities and the
media, as they are present round-theclock,
with about 50 of them staging
demo in turns. "The number of women,
including many from the minority community,
has gone up on the weekend,
with more of the fraternity joining them
from other parts of the city as well,"
K.G. Halli police inspector Ajay Sarathi
said. The Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA), passed by Parliament in mid-
December, grants Indian citizenship to
Hindu minorities allegedly persecuted
in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan. The National Register of
Citizens (NRC) is an exercise conducted
on the Supreme Court directive to
identify and weed out illegal immigrants
in Assam.
Though the Central government clarified
that NRC would not be extended to
other states and it is a one-off exercise
in Assam, sections of the people across
the country fear they could face a similar
exercise.
Key NASA science, cargo
head to space station
Washington : A
Northrop Grumman
rocket carrying the
Cygnus resupply spacecraft
has been successfully
launched from
NASA's Wallops Flight
Facility in Virginia in
the US. The spacecraft,
launched on Saturday, is
on its way to the
International Space
Station (ISS) with about
7,500 pounds of science investigations
and cargo after launching at 3:21 p.m.
EST, according to NASA.
The spacecraft is scheduled to
arrive at the space station at about 4:05
a.m. on Tuesday. According to the
space agency, astronaut Andrew
Morgan of NASA will use the space
station's robotic arm to capture
Cygnus, and NASA's Jessica Meir will
monitor telemetry during rendezvous,
capture, and installation on the Unity
module's Earth-facing port. The spacecraft
is scheduled to stay at the space
station until May. This is Northrop
Grumman's 13th cargo flight to the
International Space Station and an
Antares rocket was used for the launch
and will support dozens of new and
existing investigations.
Cong leader Acharya Pramod
says Kejriwal not anti-Modi
New Delhi : Congress
leader and spiritual Guru
Acharya Pramod
Krishnam alleged that
Kejriwal is not anti-
Modi. Taking on Twitter
Acharya Pramod wrote
"The way Kejriwal spoke
today, one thing is clear
that he might not be a Modi supporter
but he is not anti-Modi." Kejriwal in his
speech said that he wants to work in
coordination with the Union
Government. In his speech, Kejriwal
said, "All parties should forget the past
things and support this
government for the
progress of Delhi. We
want to work in coordination
with the
Central government. I
invited the Prime
Minister for my swearing-in
ceremony. I also
urge the Prime Minister to help us in the
development of Delhi." The Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener
took oath as Chief Minister at the
Ramlila Maidan for the third time in
presence of a huge gathering.
Kim Jong-un makes FIRST
public appearance in weeks
Pyongyang : North Korea's leader
Kim Jong-un made his first public
appearance in three weeks on Sunday to
take part in a ceremony marking what
would have been the 78th birthday of
his late father Kim Jong-il.
Kim paid tribute to his predecessor at
the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in the
capital Pyongyang. After his death, Kim
Jong-il was made "Eternal General
Secretary" of the secretive communist
nation. Kim Jong-un laid flowers before
the embalmed bodies of his father and
grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who founded
the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea in 1948, Efe news reported.
Kim paid the "highest tributes" to his
father. He was accompanied
by several senior
North Korean officials
but the news
agency did not reveal
the date of the event. It
did, however, publish
images of the ceremony,
which showed that
Kim's entourage was
smaller than in previous
years. On several
occasions, the birthdays
of North Korea's
former leaders have
been celebrated with
huge public events and
fireworks. It was Kim's
first public appearance
since January 25, an
absence that has given
rise to rumours that his
withdrawal was linked
to the outbreak of
COVID-19 in neighbouring
China. North
Korea has already
closed its borders to
tourism and requires
any citizen returning
from China to enter
into quarantine. As of
yet, the so-called hermit
kingdom has not
reported any cases of the new coronavirus,
which has killed over 1,600 people
in China. The outbreak is concentrated
around the city of Wuhan in
Hubei province. More than 70,000 people
have now been infected with the
virus, the vast majority of them in
China. Kim Jong-un, officially the
Marshal of the Republic, inherited his
role after his father's death in 2011.
Little is known of the leader, who is
thought to be around 36 or 37.
North Korea has been a communist
family dynasty since its founding and
its border with South Korea, known as
the Demilitarized Zone, is one of the
most heavily guarded in the world.
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