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Tag: January

  • Mike Pence testifies to grand jury about Donald Trump and January 6

    Mike Pence testifies to grand jury about Donald Trump and January 6

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    Mike Pence testified before a federal grand jury on Thursday in Washington about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the matter, a day after an appeals court rejected a last-ditch motion to block his appearance.

    The former vice-president’s testimony lasted for around seven hours and took place behind closed doors, meaning the details of what he told the prosecutors hearing evidence in the case remains uncertain.

    His appearance is a moment of constitutional consequence and potential legal peril for the former president. Pence is considered a major witness in the criminal investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith, since Trump pressured him to unlawfully reject electoral college votes for Joe Biden at the joint session of Congress, and was at the White House meeting with Republican lawmakers who discussed objections to Biden’s win.

    The two interactions are of particular investigative interest to Smith as his office examines whether Trump sought to unlawfully obstruct the certification and defrauded the United States in seeking to overturn the 2020 election results.

    Pence had privately suggested to advisers that he would provide as complete an account as possible of what took place inside and outside the White House in the weeks leading up to the 6 January Capitol attack, as well as how Trump had been told his plans could violate the law.

    His appearance came the morning after the US court of appeals for the DC circuit rejected an emergency legal challenge seeking to block Pence’s testimony on executive privilege grounds, and Trump ran out of road to take the matter to the full DC circuit or the supreme court.

    The government has been trying to get Pence’s testimony for months, starting with requests from the justice department last year and then through a grand jury subpoena issued by Smith, who inherited the complicated criminal investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in power.

    The subpoena came under immediate challenges from Trump’s lawyers, who invoked executive privilege to limit the scope of Pence’s testimony, as well as from Pence’s lawyer, who argued his role as president of the Senate on 6 January meant he was protected from legal scrutiny by the executive branch.

    Both requests to limit the scope of Pence’s testimony were largely denied by the new chief US judge for the court James Boasberg, who issued a clear-cut denial to Trump and a more nuanced ruling to Pence that upheld that he was protected in part by speech or debate protections.

    Still, Boasberg ruled that speech or debate protections did not shield him from testifying about any instances of potential criminality.

    The former vice-president’s team declined to challenge the ruling. But Trump’s legal team disagreed, and filed the emergency motion that was denied late on Wednesday by judges Gregory Katsas, Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins.

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    Starting weeks after the 2020 election, Trump tried to cajole Pence into helping him reverse his defeat by using his largely ceremonial role of the presiding officer of the Senate on 6 January to reject the legitimate Biden slates of electors and prevent his certification.

    The effort relied in large part on Pence accepting fake slates of electors for Trump – now a major part of the criminal investigation – to create a pretext for suggesting the results of the election were somehow in doubt and stop Biden from being pronounced president.

    The pressure campaign involved Trump, but it also came from a number of other officials inside and outside the government, including Trump’s lawyer John Eastman, other Trump campaign-affiliated lawyers such as Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and dozens of Republican members of Congress.

    Pence was also unique in having one-on-one discussions with Trump the day before the Capitol attack and on the day of, which House January 6 select committee investigators last year came to believe was a conspiracy that the former president had at least some advance knowledge.

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    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

  • Proud Boys leader a scapegoat for Trump, attorney tells January 6 trial

    Proud Boys leader a scapegoat for Trump, attorney tells January 6 trial

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    A defense attorney argued on Tuesday at the close of a landmark trial over the January 6 insurrection that the US justice department is making the Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio a scapegoat for Donald Trump, whose supporters stormed the US Capitol.

    Tarrio and four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a plot to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

    In his closing argument, the defense lawyer Nayib Hassan noted Tarrio was not in Washington on 6 January 2021, having been banned from the capital after being arrested for defacing a Black Lives Matter banner. Trump, Hassan argued, was the one to blame for extorting supporters to “fight like hell” in his cause.

    “It was Donald Trump’s words,” Hassan told jurors in Washington federal court. “It was his motivation. It was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6 in your beautiful and amazing city. It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.”

    Seditious conspiracy, a rarely used charge, carries a prison term of up to 20 years.

    Tarrio is one of the top targets of the federal investigation of the riot, which temporarily halted certification of Biden’s win.

    Tarrio’s lawyers have accused prosecutors of using him as a scapegoat because charging Trump or powerful allies would be too difficult. But his attorney’s closing arguments were the most full-throated expression of that strategy since the trial started more than three months ago.

    Trump has denied inciting violence on January 6 and has argued that he was permitted by the first amendment to challenge his loss to Biden. The former president faces several civil lawsuits over the riot and a special counsel is overseeing investigations into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election.

    A prosecutor told jurors on Monday the Proud Boys were ready for “all-out war” and viewed themselves as foot soldiers for Trump.

    “These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it,” said Conor Mulroe.

    Tarrio, a Miami resident, is on trial with Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described organizer. Rehl was president of a chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola was a member from Rochester, New York.

    Attorneys for Nordean and Rehl gave closing arguments on Monday.

    Tarrio is accused of orchestrating the attack from afar. Police arrested him two days before the riot on charges that he burned a church banner during an earlier march. A judge ordered him to leave Washington after his arrest.

    Defense attorneys have argued that there is no evidence of a conspiracy or a plan for the Proud Boys to attack the Capitol. Tarrio “had no plan, no objective and no understanding of an objective”, his attorney said.

    Pezzola testified he never spoke to any of his co-defendants before they sat in the same courtroom. The defense attorney Steven Metcalf said Pezzola never knew of any plan for January 6 or joined any conspiracy.

    “It’s not possible. It’s fairy dust. It doesn’t exist,” Metcalf said.

    Mulroe, the prosecutor, told jurors a conspiracy can be an unspoken and implicit “mutual understanding, reached with a wink and a nod”.

    The foundation of the government’s case is a cache of messages Proud Boys leaders and members privately exchanged in encrypted chats and publicly posted on social media before, during and after the deadly January 6 attack.

    Norm Pattis, one of Biggs’s attorneys, described the Capitol riot as an “aberration” and told jurors their verdict “means so much more than January 6 itself” because it will “speak to the future”.

    “Show the world with this verdict that the rule of law is alive and well in the United States,” he said.

    The justice department has secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the founder and members of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers. But this is the first major trial involving leaders of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group that remains a force in mainstream Republican circles.

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    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

  • House rents in Hyderabad surged by 4.9% since January 2023

    House rents in Hyderabad surged by 4.9% since January 2023

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    Hyderabad: The city witnessed an increase in rental demand by 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2023, from January to March, says a recent study.

    Magicbricks, an online real estate platform, released its latest ‘Rental Housing Index’ highlighting a 4.1 percent QoQ and 15.3 per cent YoY surge in average residential rents across the country.

    Hyderabad stood the third highest with 10 percent of the increase in demand after Chennai (14.3 percent) and Bengaluru (12.2 percent).

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    The city saw a slight decrease in the number of available rental spaces by 0.6 percent, when compared to the last quarter of 2022.

    The report also observes that the rents in the city have surged by 4.9 percent in the last three months.

    “The Indian rental housing market is demonstrating a buoyant revival and the macroeconomic trends affirm that this is expected to persist through the coming quarters. It is noteworthy that major southern cities have exhibited resilience as they continue to attract talent from across the country,” said Sudhir Pai, Magicbricks’ chief executive officer.

    The report also revealed that while 2-bedroom, hall and kitchen (BHK) houses continued to be the most preferred rental properties, the demand for 3BHKs grew by almost 6 percent QoQ, indicating an increasing preference for spacious homes.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • 220 People Bitten In Ladakh in January, HC Initiates Suo Moto Action

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    SRINAGAR: In an unusual development, Ladakh is witnessing massive rise in dog bites. This led the Jammu, Kashmir Ladakh High Court to take suo moto action asking the administration to submit response within a fortnight.

    A division bench comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Sanjay Dhar noted that the registered dog bite cases in Ladakh have drastically increased from 854 in 2017 to 2229 in 2022. In January 2023 alone, dog have bitten 220 people.

    The court expressed its concern that this drastic surge in the cases has not only created fear among the local population but also among the tourists visiting Ladakh.
    Now the street dogs are attacking wild herbivores, which is of grave concern for the local people and cattle owners.

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    #People #Bitten #Ladakh #January #Initiates #Suo #Moto #Action

    ( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

  • China granted visas to over 18,000 Indians since January: Diplomat

    China granted visas to over 18,000 Indians since January: Diplomat

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    Kolkata: China has issued visas to over 18,000 Indians in the last three months, a Chinese diplomat said.

    Interacting with a group of journalists in Kolkata, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in India, Chen Jianjun, said he was looking forward to more Chinese being given visas by India.

    “The number of visa applications for China has been on the rise. Since January, we have given visas to 18,560 Indians,” he said.

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    “Since August, 9,409 student visas have been issued to Indian students,” he said.

    However, Jianjun said, the number of visa applications is yet to reach the pre-pandemic levels.

    In June last year, China announced plans to provide visas to Indian professionals and their families stranded in India following the strict restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Separately, it also started processing visa applications of thousands of Indian students studying in Chinese universities who conveyed their interest to rejoin their colleges and universities. About 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine were stranded back home due to the restrictions.

    Jianjun said China was working with India for an early resumption of direct flights between the two countries.

    Flight services between the two countries have been disrupted ever since coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan in late 2019 and spread across the world.

    The flight disruption turned out to be a major problem for hundreds of Indian students as well as families of Indians working in China and businessmen to travel back and forth.

    Indians are currently travelling to China through Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar, and some other countries, shelling out an exorbitant amount of money on steep airfares.

    Jianjun also said that his country was looking forward to a more fair and friendly business environment in India.

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    #China #granted #visas #Indians #January #Diplomat

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Deity installation ceremony in Ayodhya’s Ram Temple in January 2024: VHP

    Deity installation ceremony in Ayodhya’s Ram Temple in January 2024: VHP

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    Ram Mandir: Mahant Dharam Das claims corruption in land purchase, lodges complaint

    Nagpur: A grand pran pratishtha’ (installation of the deity) ceremony will be organised at the upcoming Ram Temple in Ayodhya in January 2024 before it is opened for devotees, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) said on Friday.

    Addressing a press conference in Nagpur, VHP General Secretary Milind Parande said the programme of ‘pran pratishta’ at Ramjanmabhoomi in the Uttar Pradesh town will be held during the 15-day period after Makar Sankranti in January next year.

    He said preparations for the grand programme have already started and the multi-day event is likely to attended by 25 lakh to 40 lakh devotees.

    On March 15, a prominent member of the trust set up for the construction and management of the shrine said the idol of Lord Ram Lalla will be installed at its original place in the temple by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the third week of January 2024.

    Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj had said in Thane that the temple construction work was going on in full swing.

    At the press conference, Parande also informed that the VHP recently concluded its membership campaign and saw more than 100 per cent rise in enrolments.

    “We had made 34 lakh members in the last campaign and have enrolled nearly 72 lakh members this year. We are now present in more than 1.35 lakh villages in the country,” claimed Parande.

    The Hindutva outfit has its network in 29 countries and started its work in Suriname (northern South America) and the Caribbean (located between North America and South America) from this year, said the organisation’s general secretary.

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    #Deity #installation #ceremony #Ayodhyas #Ram #Temple #January #VHP

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Canada’s GDP increases in January

    Canada’s GDP increases in January

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    Ottawa: Canada’s real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry increased 0.3 per cent in January, the national statistical agency said.

    Statistics Canada said on Tuesday that increases in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, wholesale trade, professional, scientific and technical services, and transportation and warehousing sectors were slightly offset by decreases in construction and retail trade, reports Xinhua news agency.

    Real GDP by industry edged down 0.1 per cent in December 2022, following a 0.1 per cent uptick in November.

    Goods-producing industries declined, while service-producing industries remained essentially unchanged, the statistical agency said, updating its December data.

    According to Statistics Canada, GDP data showed that growth in the Canadian economy decelerated for a second straight quarter, edging up 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, the slowest pace of growth since the second quarter of 2021.

    Services-producing industries rose 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, up for a sixth consecutive quarter, while goods-producing industries contracted 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter.

    Statistics Canada also updated the country’s GDP growth in 2022 to 3.6 per cent from its previous estimate of 3.8 per cent.

    Despite the interest rate hike impact, the removal of Covid-related restrictions, the presence of favourable farming conditions, and subsiding supply-chain issues and semiconductor shortages supported growth in 2022 and the annual economic activity exceeded its 2019 pre-pandemic level, said Statistics Canada.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Retail inflation at 6.5 percent in January, worrisome, shocker: Economists

    Retail inflation at 6.5 percent in January, worrisome, shocker: Economists

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    Chennai: In a shocker, consumer price index (CPI) inflation touched 6.5 per cent in January, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation said on Monday, after being 5.72 per cent in December and 5.88 per cent in November last year, and economists termed it “worrisome”.

    “CPI inflation moved to 6.5 per cent in January is higher than our expectations and is worrisome. Sequentially, inflation has snapped a two-month contractionary streak as food inflation and core inflation remained firm,” Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist, CARE Ratings told IANS.

    “Today’s inflation shocker led by food as well as consistently higher core inflation momentum has depicted we are far from the ‘durable disinflation’ process,” said Madhavi Arora, Lead Economist, Emkay Global Financial Services.

    Sinha said while vegetable prices contracted for the third straight month, the momentum was not strong enough to counter the sharp rise in essentials such as cereals, meat, fish, milk, and eggs.

    “The contribution of food inflation to overall inflation rose to 44 per cent in January from 37 per cent in December. Meanwhile, core inflation has remained sticky at 6.3 per cent as inflation for housing, personal care and healthcare moved higher,” she added.

    According to Sinha, going forward, the sticky core inflation will remain a concern though the average CPI inflation is expected to moderate to 5.1 per cent in FY24 on the back of softening prices of cereals and pulses.

    The monetary policy tightening so far, and some fizzling of pent-up demand should also help ease CPI inflation.

    “This upside inflation surprise comes after RBI revised down its 4QFY23 CPI forecast by 20bps in the last MPC policy. This shows how uncertain the inflation trajectory can get, for even near-term estimates and possibly explains why they maintained the current stance of withdrawal of accommodation to keep policy flexibility ahead,” Arora said.

    According to her, 4QFY23 inflation may now be possibly 50 bps higher than the RBI’s revised estimate and could also force the RBI to further tighten their stance ahead.

    “From the policy perspective, we believe that further rate hikes are unlikely. However, we need to be cautious as RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has left the window open for possibility of another rate hike in case of a sustained rise in inflation,” Sinha said.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Hyderabad: 4,872 units of residential properties registered in January

    Hyderabad: 4,872 units of residential properties registered in January

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    Hyderabad: In the latest assessment, Knight Frank India noted that Hyderabad recorded registrations of 4,872 units of residential properties in January 2023 while the total value of properties registered in month stood at Rs 2,494 crore. There has been a moderation in registration of home sales in January to the tune of 35% YoY while collections from registration have reduced for January by 26% year on year. The Hyderabad residential market includes four districts namely Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Rangareddy and Sangareddy.

    The Hyderabad residential market has in the past demonstrated irregular trends with a few months in each year recording reduced activities. This has been for two main reasons firstly, the buyer behaviour is unpredictable due to its price sensitive characteristics. Thus, buyers flock the market when they are presented with lucrative deals, therefore months coinciding with key events like salary revisions, festive seasons that bring in rebates etc. see higher volume of activities. Secondly, sales of homes are not registered at the time of purchase, therefore if the majority sales in a month happens in under construction properties with longer lead time to delivery, the cumulative volume of registrations tend to be lower that month. The city has also seen a rise in average prices in the last few quarters which may has also contributed to the slowdown in overall sales momentum.

    Registrations in residential units in the price band of INR 2.5 – 5 Mn (INR 25 – 50 lakhs) remained highest constituting 54% of the total registrations in January 2023, which is an increase from a share of 39% in January 2022. Demand in the less than INR 2.5 mn (INR 25 Lakhs) ticket-size weakened with its share constituting 18% compared to 36% a year ago. Greater demand for larger ticket size homes remained evident as the cumulative share of sales registrations for properties with ticket-sizes of INR 5 Mn and above (> INR 50 lakhs) increased to 28% in January 2023 from 25% in January 2022.

    In January 2023, the share of registrations in unit category of properties sized 500 – 1000 square feet increased to 17% compared to 15% observed in January 2022 while share of properties sized 1,000-2,000 square feet remained highest with a total share of 71% in January 2023, slightly lower than 72% witnessed in January 2022.

    At district level, the study shows that home sales registrations in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district was recorded at 41% followed by Rangareddy district at 35%. The share of Hyderabad district in total registrations was recorded at 15% in January 2023.

    The weighted average prices of transacted residential properties have increased by 16% YoY in January 2023. Sangareddy district saw the steepest rise of 48% YoY in January 2023 indicating more higher value homes were sold in this location during this period. Price growth in the Hyderabad market has been strong in recent times.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )