Barack Obama accepts PM Modi's invite, to be chief guest at Republic Day celebrations

New Delhi: In a major diplomatic victory for the NDA government and a massive boost to Indo-American ties, US President Barack Obama on Friday accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invite to be the chief guest at India's 66th Republic Day Parade on January 26 next year.

Conforming this the White House tweeted - “At the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, the President will travel to India in January 2015 to participate in the Indian Republic Day celebration in New Delhi as the Chief Guest. This visit will mark the first time a U.S. president will have the honor of attending Republic Day, which commemorates the adoption of India’s constitution. The President will meet with the Prime Minister and Indian officials to strengthen and expand the US-India strategic partnership.”

Obama will be the first US President to be the 'Guest of Honour' on January 26.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke the news on Twitter, saying, “This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over…invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest.”

Obama's acceptance on PM Modi's invite is seen as an effort by the United States to forge new global partnership with India.

Former US diplomat Nicholas Burns gave a quick reaction over this development saying that 'Obama's India visit will start a new chapter of Indo-US ties', as quoted by an English news channel.

As per sources, the decision to invite the US Prez was taken by PM Modi himself who decided to go beyond the MEA's list of potential invitees to seek to scale up the Republic Day celebrations by turning the event into a major diplomatic outreach.

Later, government officials confirmed that the invite to Barack Obama was the idea of the PM, who felt that the presence of the leader of the oldest democracy on the day to commemorate the foundation of the largest democracy would mark a celebration of the spirit of democracy besides giving a fillip to his effort to restore the warmth in bilateral ties.

Terming PM Modi's US visit as "extraordinarily successful", a top official in the Obama administration had said that US-India relationship has come "a remarkable distance".

"We've just had the extraordinarily successful visit of Prime Minister Modi here to the United States, and an agenda that is working across virtually every issue of importance to us with India that we're carrying forward," Anthony Blinken, nominee for US Deputy Secretary of State, told Senators during his confirmation hearing today.

The invitation to Obama comes weeks after PM Modi's hugely successful visit to the US. Modi and Obama also met on the sidelines of G20 summit in Brisbane on Nov 14. Obama had called Modi a "man of action."

This will be Obama's second visit to India. He had visited India in 2010 at the invitation of then prime minister Manmohan Singh and had addressed a joint session of Parliament.
Obama had earlier on September 29 hosted a private dinner for Prime Minister Modi at the White House during the latter's US visit.

India-US bilateral relations have developed into a global strategic partnership, based on increasing convergence of interests on bilateral, regional and global issues.

Regular exchange of high-level political visits coupled with wide-ranging dialogue architecture has enabled sustained momentum to bilateral cooperation and helped establish a long-term framework for India-US global strategic partnership.

The bilateral cooperation is now broad-based and multi-sectoral, covering trade and investment, defence and security, education, science and technology, cyber security, high technology, civil nuclear energy, space technology and applications, clean energy, environment, agriculture and health.

Sujatha Singh removed as foreign secretary, S Jaishankar appointed in her place

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Wednesday curtailed the tenure of foreign secretary Sujatha Singh with an immediate effect.

1977- batch IFS officer S Jaishankar will replace her as the new foreign secretary. He will have a tenure of 2 years.

The surprise announcement was made after a meeting of the appointments committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Singh's two-year tenure was to end in August this year.

Jaishankar played a key role during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US in September and US President Barack Obama's just concluded visit here.

A terse official statement issued here late night said the tenure of Singh, who took over as the third woman foreign secretary in August, 2013, has been "curtailed" with immediate effect. She had eight more months to serve.

Official sources indicated that Singh was not being given any other assignment by the government.

Paris attacks: PM says France must not lower guard as police hunt suspected accomplice

Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, is speaking in Evry, in the southern suburbs of Paris:

They wanted to demolish the paper Charlie Hebdo, which must carry on. Its special edition next week will be an exceptional moment.

All who said ‘Je suis Charlie’, everyone has understood this symbol …

They [the terrorists] also wanted to attack the strengths of the republic: the police. A police officer who was doing his work was, in very cowardly fashion, killed.

They wanted to attack tolerance. The Jews of France, once again. Four dead yesterday. Without the professionalism of the forces, the figures would have been much higher.

No doubt yesterday we did feel relieved but there is a risk we could forget all this – this will not be the case. We mustn’t lower our guard … it’s essential for the security of the French people.
The forces are going to continue searching to apprehend the accomplices … we want to dismantle these networks. This is our greatest challenge.

Valls mentions French intervention in Mali, saying there are as many Malians in Evry as French people:

This country that is a friend of ours was being attacked … It was Muslims who were being attacked through this terrorism.

On Tuesday parliament is going to have to decide whether we are going to pursue our mission in Iraq.

We have to carry on … of course we have to draw lessons from what has happened … There are always ways for the terrorists to slip in … there are so many people involved in jihadism, in Syria and Iraq.

There are also internal threats … we must never lower our guard, and we have to be really strong, really tough, where the enemies of freedom are concerned.

Turning to tomorrow’s unity march in Paris, Valls goes on:

The rally will be unbelievable, it will remain in the annals of history … It will show the dignity of the French people … do come.

He says transport from Evry to the march will be free tomorrow. Representatives from Arab and Muslim countries will be there, he says, along with representatives of various religions. Secularism is the freedom to believe or not believe, Valls adds:

Terrorism tried to create splits and damage us. Tomorrow we have to give the best response we can possibly give.
Tomorrow’s rally will be a cry for freedom … to the values of 1789.

After three days of bloodshed that has left 17 people dead, French security forces are desperately searching for the former partner of one of the three Islamist gunmen killed by police.
Hayat Boumeddiene, described by police as armed and dangerous, is the ex-girlfriend of Amedy Coulibaly, who died on Friday evening when heavily armed elite forces stormed a Jewish supermarket in northern Paris where he was holding at least 15 people hostage.

Coulibaly had killed four shoppers when he entered the kosher store on the Avenue de la Porte de Vincennes carrying two Kalashnikov assault rifles, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

President François Hollande called an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday morning, having warned the night before that French people should be prepared for more violence, and urged “vigilance, unity and mobilisation”.

As the hunt intensified for Boumeddiene, wanted in connection with Coulibaly’s fatal shooting of a police officer in Montrouge on Thursday, a badly shaken France prepared for a march of national unity in Paris on Sunday. The British prime minister, David Cameron, and his German, Spanish and Italian counterparts, Angela Merkel, Mariano Rajoy and Matteo Renzi, were due to attend.

More details have emerged this morning of conversations between the terrorists and journalists during the two sieges yesterday.

RTL has published extracts of Amedy Coulibaly threatening hostages in the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. The radio station said it was able to record his words after a phone was left off the hook in the store. Condemning the French state, Coulibaly reportedly told the hostages:

They must stop attacking the Islamic State, stop unveiling our women, stop putting our brothers in prison for nothing at all.
It is you who is financing [the government]. You pay taxes.

RTL reports that a hostage then said: “We are obliged to [pay taxes]”, to which Coulibaly replied: “You do not have to. I do not pay taxes.”
You can see more of the RTL report here.

Meanwhile, Igor Sahiri, a journalist with French TV station BFM TV, who spoke to Cherif Kouachi by phone during yesterday’s siege warehouse in Dommartin-en-Goele, has given an account of the conversation to Radio 4’s Today programme. Sahiri rang the office of the warehouse and the phone was answered by the younger brother. Sahiri told the BBC:

He was really prepared. It was somebody very serene. He was very calm. It was just like a normal discussion, no rudeness.
My feeling was that this kind of man is ready to die. They way he was breathless made me feel that this guy was ready to die, was very aware of what would happen at this time.

Sahiri said Cherif Kouachi told him:

We are just telling you we are the defenders of the prophet and that I, Cherif Kouachi, have been sent by Al-Qaida of Yemen and that I went over there and that Anwar Al Awlaki financed me.

Asked if he intended to kill more civilians, Kouachi replied:

Did we kill any civilians in the past two days when you were looking for us? Come on.
We are not killers, we are the defenders of the Prophet, and we kill those who insult him.

You can hear the Radio 4 interview here.
BFM TV also received a call from Coulibaly from the kosher store, who told journalists he and the Kouachi brothers had “synchronised to do the operations”:

We just decided at the start, so they did Charlie Hebdo and I took care of police officers.

India vs Australia, 4th Test Day 5: as it happened

  
Hello and welcome to the coverage from day five of the fourth Test between Australia and India in Sydney. Scorecard

India (2nd innings):

Match over as Rahane and Bhuvneswar did well by pulling off a draw for India as Australia won the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2-0. Kohli finished with 692 runs in the series, second behind Steve Smith's 769. Australia won the first two Tests and third and fourth ended in draws. Now the action shifts to tri-series starting January 16.


Last over of the day to be bowled and looks like India have done well to fight out a draw.

Three more overs left for the day.


83.6 overs: Bhuvneshwar does well to see off the over and now India have six more to deal. Can India survive the ordeal? 

Australia have taken the second new ball.

78.2 overs: Out. Josh Hazlewood traps Ashwin infront of the wickets with Australia just three wickets away from win.

Ashwin is yet to open his account from 15 balls, India have 13 more overs to fight in order to ensure a draw.

71.1 overs: Out. The ball kept low from Lyon and wrapped Wriddhiman on the pads. Australia now four wickets away from victory.


68.3 overs: Out. Starc does the trick again for Australia by trapping Suresh Raina for second duck of the match. The left-hander gets a pair on comeback. India 5 down.


66.6 overs: Out. Mitchell Starc strikes by getting the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli (46) caught by Watson in the slips. Australia see an opening now.


63.4 overs: Four. Half-tracker from Lyon and Rahane pulls it deep square leg. India 189 for 3.


60.2 overs: Out. Murali Vijay falls going after an away going delivery from Hazlewood, edging to Haddin behind the stumps. Vijay falls for 80.


Tea: India go to tea at 160 for 2 and needing 189 runs to win from 33 overs. Will they go for it? Kohli  Vijay on 71 and Kohli batting on 26.


53.6 overs: Vijay after getting to his fifty has raised the tempo by scoring 16 off Lyon's last over, which included a six and two boundaries.


51.6 overs: Half-century for Vijay off 135 balls. This has been a fruitful tour for the opener. India 134 for 2.

The way Vijay and Kohli are batting, India don't like going for a win rather playing for a draw. India 131 for 2.


India 112 for 2 (Vijay 47, Kohli 7) with 237 more runs to win as players take a drinks break.

37.6 overs: Out. Steve Smith takes a screamer diving to his right in the slips to dismiss Rohit Sharma for 38 off Watson's delivery. Smith definitely made amends for the earlier dropped chances. India 104 for 2.


Lunch: India were 73 for 1 at lunch with Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma at the crease after Australia declared at their overnight score of 251 for 6 setting India target of 349 runs.


Day 4 round-up: Steve Smith scored a half-century and passed one of Don Bradman's milestones on Friday as he led Australia to 251 for 6 in their second innings after four days of the fourth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, 348 runs ahead of India.

Smith made 71 off 70 balls and surpassed Bradman's record of most runs in an Australia-India series as the hosts positioned themselves for a likely overnight declaration and pursuit of victory on day five. Chris Rogers made 56 - his sixth straight half century - and Joe Burns smashed 66 off 39 balls, including three sixes as Australia chased quick runs