close encounter

During the recent visit of Defence Minister A K Antony to Beijing,an almost conscious effort was made by the hosts

Close encounter

During the recent visit of Defence Minister A K Antony to Beijing,an almost conscious effort was made by the hosts to ensure that there was no clash of events involving him and the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif who was also on a state visit on the same dates. While the delegations were put up in different hotels and had well spaced meetings with the top Chinese leadership,there was one occasion in which they crossed paths. The cavalcades of the two delegations passed each other briefly on Friday near the famous Tiananmen Square. There was only time enough for both sides to see the national flags on the vehicles to realise who they had just passed by.

Putting on track

Two years after Mamata Banerjee announced in her last Rail Budget that the Railways would develop 20 stations in partnership with the Tourism Ministry,the latter has finally woken up to the proposal. After countless reminders,the latest by the just retired chairman of Railway Board,Vinay Mittal,the Tourism Ministry this week reverted to the Railways informing that it had decided to meet its end of the deal and pay 50 per cent of the project cost. Interestingly,the railway station at Rae Bareli Sonia Gandhis constituency figures on top of the five stations selected for the first phase even though the place itself is hardly known for tourism attractions. The list of 20 stations approved by Mamata has more surprises. It lists places like Dooars and Furfura Sharif in Bengal,which do not even have stations yet.

House in order

Story continues below this ad

While Rajasthan Congress leaders were,for long,cribbing about the party being undermined by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who paid no heed to state leaders,they may have some reasons to cheer after AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik,who was AICC general secretary in charge of the state for over nine years,was divested of the charge in the recent organisational reshuffle. Wasniks successor Gurudas Kamat has gone about reversing the trend. At a recent PCC meeting,he invited all Union ministers from the state and also two AICC general secretaries C P Joshi and Mohan Prakash who hail from the state. Joshi as also Union ministers like Sisram Ola and Girija Vyas are known Gehlot detractors. An astute politician that he is,Gehlots next move is being keenly awaited.

Top of mind

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,who was in the capital to attend BJP Parliamentary Board meeting,called on senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi at his residence on Monday. While the meeting was believed to be an attempt by Modi to reach out to Joshi,who had met RSS chief recently,the issue of Bodhgaya terror attack came up for a discussion. Joshi was said to be concerned about the target of the terror attack because another Buddhist pilgrimage site Sarnath falls in his Lok Sabha constituency.

Donald Trump may replace H-1B lottery with wage-based selection process

World10 hr ago

Days after hiking the fees for new H-1B applications to $100,000, the Donald Trump administration has proposed to overhaul the visa process for high-skilled non-immigrant workers. The Trump administration has suggested a wage-based selection process for the H-1B programme, instead of the current lottery system.

View all shorts

Live Blog