SRINAGAR: Army on Monday destroyed a mortar shell in Mendhar sub-division in Poonch district, officials said.
Reports appearing in media said that a 120-mm old mortar shell was destroyed by the Army in Basoni area of Balakote sector of Mendhar, sub-division of Poonch district. There was no loss or injury to anyone or damage caused to any property in the incident.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy was injured in a mine blast while grazing sheep and goat near Line of Control in Poonch. Identified as Mahroof, 15, son of Jamaal Din of ward No 4 Pawaan, stepped accidentally on an anti-personnel mine near Qasba village close to his native village, leading to injuries to him. He was later shifted to hospital.
Hyderabad: In the absence of price control mechanism in the Telangana state, the prices of commodities, especially rice, have started recording a huge increase and it is being said that the price of rice has increased by about 10 percent this month.
According to the traders, they are selling rice by keeping their profit on the price they are getting from the mill and with the arrival of new rice in the market after Sankranti, the up-trend of price is becoming a new normal and it is not being stopped or fixed.
Due to a lack of mechanism, arbitrary price increases are being recorded by the mill owners. Retail traders say that customers are asking them about the reason for the increase in rice prices, to which they are not in a position to answer as there are no valid reasons like crop failure or price rise during the last year, but despite this, mill owners have increased the prices of new rice which is resulting in rise of the prices of old rice as well.
Despite repeated reminders to the State Government on taking measures to control commodity prices, no steps have been taken to check the increase in prices of commodities, especially rice and pulses, which is forcing citizens to buy essential commodities by paying extra money.
Several claims are being made by the State government regarding the increase in rice cultivation in Telangana and it is being said that the demand for rice produced in the state has started increasing, but the people are facing difficulties due to the steep increase in the prices of rice recorded in the state itself. The price of Sona Masoori No. 1 rice has increased by Rs 6 to Rs 8 during the last month and it is now being sold at Rs 46 to 48 per kg, as well as the price of new rice has been increased by 4 to 6 rupees.
Should Cruz ultimately bow out of a GOP presidential primary, he’ll likely have plenty of company among fellow senators. Both Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), also seen as potential 2024 White House contenders, say they plan to run for reelection in their states. And Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he’s also taking a pass.
It’s a notable divergence from 2016, when four Republican senators jumped into the primary. As GOP lawmakers contend with the tricky dynamics of a polarizing former president’s third White House bid, many in their party are also eager to see an alternative candidate — and there’s a growing awareness that a crowded GOP field could clear the way for Donald Trump. Potential presidential candidates are also watching what other prominent GOP figures like Ron DeSantis will do, letting the Florida governor absorb Trump’s early attacks.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who recently endorsed Trump and attended a South Carolina campaign rally with him, suggested that Cruz may be among the crew of potential candidates who will make a call after more deeply assessing the former president’s strength, especially among the party base.
Cruz “has a lot of support, he’s a strong conservative voice in the body,” Graham said. “I think he’d be one of the people who will sort of look and see how Trump does and see what happens.”
Cruz’s focus on his Senate bid follows a tough 2018 reelection fight against former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who lost by 2.6 points. Combined, the two candidates raised close to $115 million, with O’Rourke bringing in more than $80 million. And Cruz may face another fight in 2024, with Texas and Florida the only conceivable pick-up opportunities for Democrats in a cycle that will have them mostly on defense — 23 of the party’s seats are up next year.
O’Rourke did not respond to a request for comment on whether he was considering a second Senate run against Cruz. After losing his gubernatorial bid against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022, he told the audience in his concession speech that “this may be one of the last times I get to talk in front of you all.”
But plenty of others are considering a Cruz challenge. A person close to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro said that he is weighing a run. Democrats in the state are also watching Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas); state senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, the town devastated by a school shooting; and state Rep. James Talarico, who sparred with Fox News host Pete Hegseth in 2021, according to a Texas Democratic strategist.
A senior adviser to Cruz, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said he plans to make his formal Senate run announcement within the first half of the year. They added that Cruz would make additional staff hires during that period and that he’s already started raising money, including “revamping completely the small-dollar operation.” Cruz currently has $3.4 million cash on hand.
Democrats acknowledge that Texas has not been an easy state for the party. But they argue that Cruz is more vulnerable than his other GOP counterparts, citing the close 2018 race and his castigated 2021 trip to Cancun while Texas underwent a power-grid emergency due to a winter storm.
“We look forward to our Democratic nominee retiring Ted Cruz from the U.S. Senate and finally allowing him some time to finally relax at his preferred Cancun resort,” said Ike Hajinazarian, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party. “That is, of course, should he even choose to run for reelection, which would be strange considering his newly-introduced legislation to limit U.S. senators to two terms.”
Cruz, who would be running for a third term, told reporters this week that he doesn’t support unilateral term limits, but would “happily comply with them if they applied to everyone.”
When he first came to the Senate in 2013, Cruz quickly started causing trouble for GOP leadership. That year, he infuriated his Senate colleagues over a joint effort with House Republicans to defund Obamacare, which led to a government shutdown. More recently, he supported Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) challenge to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell amid frustration over the GOP’s disappointing midterm performance.
This Congress, his allies say he’s focused on his role as the incoming top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, his first stint as a panel’s party chief. His Democratic counterpart, Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), said Cruz will be “hopefully productive.”
As the Texan hones in on his Senate race, his adviser indicated Cruz still has the infrastructure — if needed — for a future presidential run. Under Texas’ so-called LBJ law, the senator could technically run for both reelection and the White House at the same time.
“Unlike some names that are being floated, he has a built-in organizational strength, national name ID and the conservative bona fides where” he doesn’t need to be one of the first names to enter the race to be competitive, the adviser said.
Still, Cruz’s colleagues say his approach to a White House run is notably different than eight years ago, when he rolled out his first presidential bid in March 2015. Cruz campaigned as a political outsider and invested heavily in his ground game in Iowa. He went on to win the Iowa caucus and stayed in the GOP primary until May of 2016, after it essentially became a two-person race with Trump.
While Trump and Cruz had a bitter rivalry during that campaign, with the New Yorker nicknaming his foe “Lyin’ Ted” and Cruz calling Trump a “pathological liar,” they eventually became allies.
Trump campaigned for the Texan during his 2018 Senate race; Cruz challenged President Joe Biden’s win in 2020 and later was among the senators who advised Trump’s lawyers during his second Senate impeachment trial.
“We haven’t heard a lot from him,” said one Senate Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly about a colleague. “By this point, in 2015, I think he was fairly open about what he was doing. But there are a lot of things about this time that are different.”
With Biden widely expected to seek reelection, all eyes are on the GOP primary. Senate Republicans aren’t sure how many members of their conference will end up running, with many noting that it’s still early in the cycle. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is widely seen as the most likely of them to run.
Cruz, for his part, only observed that the 2024 presidential cycle is “unusual” because “neither side has any idea who their nominee will be.”
“I don’t think Joe Biden’s going to run,” Cruz said. “Donald Trump has announced he’s running. I think it’s clear there are a number of people who are preparing to jump in, and I don’t know what will happen in that race. I feel confident it won’t be boring.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
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It is built on a vast 230-acre site, with a total cost put at more than £100m, and has space for 1,700 heavy goods vehicles. Security staff are on patrol at several checkpoints around its 12-foot-high perimeter fence. Inside are new state-of-the-art buildings and equipment for inspecting imports from Europe.
But more than six months after completion, this heavily guarded supposed showpiece of a newly independent Britain lies all but deserted. It is labelled by people who live nearby as the great white elephant of Brexit, spanking new but largely redundant. The only imports being inspected are a few pets from Ukraine.
Talk to local people about the Sevington inland border facility (IBF) in Kent, and they are beyond despair. No one knows when, or even if, this giant testament to the UK’s increasingly costly and chaotic exit from the EU will ever be used for its intended purpose.
Locally, the word is that the IBF will soon be turned over for development into warehouses or housing. Rachel Brown, who lives a stone’s throw from the perimeter, said what had happened was “horrendous”: “If they are not using it what is the point? It will be a housing estate in a few years. It is a complete disgrace.” Another Sevington resident, Terry, who did not want to give his surname, added: “It is a farce, a white elephant. It is quite obvious no one knew how Brexit was going to turn out or what to do. The result is we are left with this on the doorstep.” IBFs at Ebbsfleet and Warrington have already been closed.
Empty lorry parking spaces at the Sevington inland border facility, built to accommodate 1,700 HGVs. Photograph: Antonio Olmos
On Friday the odd lorry trundled in for HMRC customs checks which are now handled in a small section of the site.
Sevington was built in little over two years mainly to conduct import inspections on goods of plant and animal original from the EU, a responsibility of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
But the regime of rules it was built to administer has never come into force because of U-turns forced on government by the dawning realisation that trade operates better without friction.
The Kent site, just off the M20 near Ashford, is the biggest of seven such depots constructed across the country away from busy ports – in this case Dover.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, when minister for Brexit opportunities, delayed the start of checks on EU imports. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
But when building work was nearing completion in 2021, ministers started having doubts about the effect of burdensome checks, as trade with the EU declined. Last spring Jacob Rees-Mogg, then minister for Brexit opportunities, delayed the start of checks for the fourth time, fearing they would be too bureaucratic and costly for businesses, and cause more tailbacks on Kent’s roads.
An announcement on what regime will now be introduced is scheduled for early this year. A government spokesperson said Sevington would still play a key role in “creating a seamless, digital border”. But it is certain to be a lighter touch one than that previously envisaged, putting Sevington’s suitability for purpose further in doubt.
Defra told the Observer on Friday that it now had “no current operations” at Sevington “except a small presence” which “was temporarily available for holding pets during the Ukraine response”.
Richard Ballantyne, chief executive of the British Ports Association, said the Sevington site was a costly mistake caused by the rush to “get Brexit done” and a failure to foresee what it would entail.
He and other industry experts had been warning about problems of operating a hard border for years before Brexit. “The reason for building these places was that policymakers wanted to leave (the EU) quickly to get something done but the actual arrangements, the nuts and bolts we needed, were not clear. Policymakers have now realised there are some consequences to having a hard border which we don’t like, which are costly inspections and delays, which harm business. I think they have realised we probably don’t need to have these checks because we have very similar standards to the EU. We simply don’t need to do these things. But there is a big cost to the exchequer.”
He added: “I think it would have been better for us if we had decided what our departure would look like. You have got to understand what the costs and consequences are. There has been a lot of wasted money.”
Defra says it will announce a new programme of controls and inspections in the next few weeks. But the tune has changed. There is less talk now of hard borders, more of reducing friction – the whole idea of the EU single market.
Industry experts say the change of mind runs deeper, and suggest ministers are even considering moving back to closer alignment with EU rules for certain traded products, including those of plant and animal origin.
Sevington is just one piece – albeit probably the biggest – in a post-Brexit jigsaw of new inland and port infrastructure, much of which may never be used. In July 2020, the government announced a £705m funding package for border facilities, jobs and technology. About £200m of this was made available for ports to develop their own facilities, which they did, but many now find they cannot use what they’ve built.
Loading bays at Portsmouth’s border control post, built to carry out import checks which are no longer required. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Next to the container terminal at Portsmouth International Port, is a new hi-tech £25m border control post, the cost of which was met jointly by Portsmouth city council and the taxpayer. Like Sevington, it was supposed to carry out checks on imports of animal and plant products arriving from the EU.
Ballantyne says places such as Portsmouth now have their own “white elephants”. They had hoped to fund the running and staff costs from charging for inspections which they now cannot do. “They are stuck. Government will not compensate the sector for the operating costs. They will not finance the demolishing of such infrastructure. We are very frustrated by this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the port of Dover received a £45m investment last week from the government’s levelling up fund (originally envisaged to help deprived parts of the UK) to improve the flow of traffic from the UK to the EU and reduce congestion on local roads post-Brexit. The levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, who, like Rees-Mogg, had insisted that Brexit would be all good news for the UK economy, has found that in reality it comes at a very heavy cost to his own budget as well as to British taxpayers.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Hyderabad: Indian Police Service (IPS) probationers toured the state-of the-art Telangana State Police Integrated Command & Control Centre(TSPICCC) and Hyderabad City Police Commissionerate to get awareness and functioning of the facility and to understand how technology plays a key part in policing.
As many as 195 IPS probationers of the 74th RR, visited TSPICCC which was recently inaugurated.
The probationers on arrival at TSPICCC were briefed on the engineering features of the building and given an overview of the technology fusion centre, crisis management centre, CCTVs and analytics features of the Command Control Centre. The trainees got an exposure to police operations, technical, administrative and other coordination aspects.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand explained the history of city police, the kotwal system since 1847 and the challenges being faced by Hyderabad City Police (HCP) and outlined the importance of adapting IT technologies in policing.
The commissioner touched upon sensitive communal and the social issues as well which police have to tackle. Through a powerpoint presentation, he explained how the state government has paid special attention to the paradigm of “peace and law and order brings about economic growth” and given such facilities for the Telangana Police to show results.
He explained the novel initiatives such as H-NEW, SMASH, Operation ‘ROPE’, Bharosa and recited the modernisation of police department post formation of Telangana.
He asked the probationers to remember the significance of the time they are entering their career when policing is undergoing transformation at all levels. He asked them to keep pace with the developments in the world of cyber crime and the threat of narcotics to our future generation.
The teams of HCP also explained the concept of war room, integration of IT applications and how all government agencies work in tandem to deliver public service and offer swift response during calamities.
Anand said that the overall impact of the TSPICCC, which is the brainchild of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is being realised across multiple facets of policing, internal security, crisis management and urban development.
The probationers were enthused by the grandeur of the iconic structure. The trainee officers thereafter visited the museum, helipad and other wings in the building.
DRDL team HCP command and control centre, Bnajara hills.
Hyderabad: A six-member delegation of the Defence Research and Development Lab (DRDL) visited the HCP (Hyderabad City Police) commissionerate and the Integrated Command and Control Centre here at Banjara hills on Friday.
The officials of DRDL were briefed on how the facility aggregates information across multiple applications, CCTVs, and traffic sensors deployed across the state.
The tech team of HCP also explained how the application smartly works in the backend to trigger alerts on crowd gathering, geo-fence alerts, un-attended baggage, traffic congestion etc.
The delegation was then taken on a tour of the premises, which included the helipad, and auditorium.
They have explored other key sections in the building state emergency operations centre (Dial 100), multi-agency operation centre and the technology fusion center.
While touring the building, the delegates were briefed on the evolution of city police functioning and the modernisation of police organisation after the formation of Telangana.
Later they called on the city police chief CV Anand and presented a memento who welcomed the delegation and said he was happy to have them at their workplace.
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