Jan 16 News Live: US warns Iran that 'all options are on table' in UN meeting

52.94 pc turnout recorded in Mumbai civic polls; down from 55.53 pc in 2017 polls

A voter turnout of 52.94 per cent was recorded in the Mumbai civic polls, down from 55.53 per cent in the last elections in 2017, officials said on Friday (January 16).

Noida schools up to Class 8 to remain closed on Jan 16, 17 due to cold

Schools up to Class 8 across Gautam Buddh Nagar will remain closed on Friday (January 16) and Saturday (January 17) due to dense fog and extreme cold, the district administration said on Friday.

Venezuela's Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump on Thursday, “as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

Machado detailed having given her prize to Trump in comments to a group of reporters after the meeting, but did not provide further details. The White House did not immediately say if Trump accepted the medal.

That followed her having met with Trump to discuss her country's future, even though he has dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious US military raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Visiting Trump presented something of a physical risk for Machado, whose whereabouts have been largely unknown since she left her country last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. Nevertheless, after a closed-door discussion with Trump, she greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for her near the gates —stopping to hug many.

“We can count on President Trump,” she told them, prompting some to briefly chant “Thank you, Trump,” but she didn't elaborate.

MP: 5 expelled from central varsity over assault on Assamese student; racial angle being probed

Five students have been expelled and booked for allegedly assaulting a 22-year-old postgraduate student from Assam at a hostel of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak of Madhya Pradesh’s Anuppur district, an official has said.

An FIR was registered against the five accused students shortly before midnight on Wednesday on the complaint of Hiros Jyoti Das, a postgraduate student of economics from Assam at IGNTU, Anuppur Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Naveen Tiwari told PTI.

The accused were booked under sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 296 (obscene acts and words), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), he said on Thursday.

The incident comes close on the heels of the death of student Anjel Chakma, from Tripura in the North East, in Dehradun in Uttarakhand last month, causing national outrage and triggering calls for action and laws against such hate crimes.

“The university informed us that the five students were expelled by the disciplinary committee from the university a day earlier. We registered the FIR after receiving a complaint from Das. As per Das, when he was returning to his hostel room from the washroom, the accused allegedly asked him where he was from and what he was doing at the university. They then assaulted him around 4 pm on Tuesday," the official said.

The victim told the police that he had been studying at the university for the past three years. He has claimed he sustained injuries to his eyes, lips, nose and temples after being hit with a bracelet, the official said.

“He has named Anurag Pande, Jatin Singh, Rajnish Tripathi, Vishal Yadav and Utkarsh Singh in his complaint,” he said.

Asked whether racial slurs were used during the incident, Tiwari said the matter was under investigation.

“The motive behind the assault would be clear after questioning the students. Das’ medico-legal certificate report is awaited," Tiwari added.

BMC elections: Vote counting to begin at 10 am

Visuals from outside the counting station at BMC School in Sion Koliwada, Mumbai. Voting counting starts at 10 am across 23 counting centres.

UN chief lashes out at countries violating international law

The United Nations chief lashed out on Thursday at countries that violate international law and called the concentration of power and wealth by the world's richest 1 per cent “morally indefensible.”

At the start of his final year at the helm of the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN General Assembly that its 193 member nations are facing “a world marked by self-defeating geopolitical divides, brazen violations of international law, and wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid.” All these forces are shaking the foundations of global cooperation at a time when it is needed most, said Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on December 31.

“Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch,” the secretary-general said. “I can assure you: We will not give up.” Guterres has repeatedly criticised Russia for violating the UN Charter, which requires that every country respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, by invading Ukraine in February 2022.

He also has criticised the United States for its military operation in Venezuela to capture President Nicolás Maduro and its deadly attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that the US says are carrying drugs.

“When leaders run roughshod over international law — when they pick and choose which rules to follow — they are not only undermining global order, they are setting a perilous precedent,” Guterres said. AP

US, Taiwan sign USD 250 billion trade deal, cutting tariffs on Taiwanese goods

The United States and Taiwan reached a trade deal on Thursday that cuts tariffs on Taiwanese goods in exchange for USD 250 billion in new investments in the US tech industry.

The deal is the latest President Donald Trump has struck — such as those with the European Union and Japan — since he unveiled a sweeping tariff plan last April to address trade imbalances. Trump also has a one-year trade truce with China to stabilise ties with the world's second largest economy.

Trump initially set the tariff at 32 per cent on Taiwanese goods but later changed it to 20 per cent. The new agreement slashes the tariff rate to 15 per cent, the same as levied on other US trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region such as Japan and South Korea.

In a statement, the US Department of Commerce said the deal with Taiwan would establish an “economic partnership” to create several “world-class” US-based industrial parks in order to help build up domestic production. The department described it as "a historic trade deal that will drive a massive reshoring of America's semiconductor sector.” The Taiwanese government affirmed key details in the deal in a statement, saying that the “Taiwan model" will go to the US and help expand the global competitiveness of the island's technology industry while deepening strategic cooperation between the two nations.

Taiwan's executive branch said the island's companies would specifically invest USD 250 billion in industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence applications and energy.

In addition to cutting the tariffs on the island nation, the Commerce Department said it will exempt certain imports such as generic pharmaceuticals and aircraft components from Taiwan. Taiwanese semiconductor producers that invest in the US also will get favorable tariff treatments, including exemptions, the department said. AP

US warns Iran that 'all options are on the table' in emergency UN meeting

After weeks of escalating tension, US and Iranian officials faced each other Thursday at the UN Security Council, where America's envoy renewed threats against the Islamic Republic despite President Donald Trump's efforts to lower the temperature between the two adversaries.

The US was joined by Iranian dissidents in rebuking the government's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that activists say has killed at least 2,637 people.

“Colleagues, let me be clear: President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the UN, said in a statement. “He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.” Waltz's remarks came as the prospect of US retaliation for the protesters' deaths still hung over the region, though Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending. By Thursday, the protests challenging Iran's theocracy appeared increasingly smothered, but the state-ordered internet and communication blackout remained.

The US requested the emergency Security Council meeting and invited two Iranian dissidents, Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi, to open the session with gruesome details of their experience as targets of the Islamic Republic.

In a stunning moment, Alinejad addressed the Iranian representative directly.

“You have tried to kill me three times. I have seen my would-be assassin with my own eyes in front of my garden, in my home in Brooklyn,” she said while the Iranian official looked directly ahead, without acknowledging her. AP