Omar welcomes Jaishankar's appointment as Foreign Secretary

"If the reports about Indian Ambassador to US Jaishankar being appointed Foreign Secretary are correct it's an excellent decision," Omar, who had also served as Minister of State for External Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, said.

"Remember him from my days as MoS MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) & he was Amb (Ambassador) in Prague. He's a top notch diplomat & will make an excellent FS no doubt about it," Omar wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.

S Jaishankar on Thursday took charge as Foreign Secretary, replacing Sujatha Singh whose tenure was abruptly "curtailed" late last night.

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History will judge former Prime Minister kindly: Omar Abdullah

"Obama - 'Millions have been lifted out of poverty in recent years'. Dr Manmohan Singh is right - history will judge him more kindly," Omar wrote on microblogging site twitter.com soon after US President's address at the Siri Fort Auditorium in the Union capital.

When India and the United States agreed upon operationalising the nuke deal, Omar, whose National
Conference was part of the UPA-II led by Singh, had said "I wonder if Dr Manmohan Singh is sitting back feeling vindicated today or watching the proceedings disappointed about what could have been!".

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PDP appears disinclined to accept NC offer

"The people have voted against the National Conference in the elections and with just 15 seats, they (NC) cannot decide on the government formation," PDP Chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar said.

Akhtar was commenting on the letter sent by NC's Working President Omar Abdullah to Governor N N Vohra on Tuesday to inform him about his party's support to the PDP and asking him not to take any decision on government formation without consulting his party.

Soon after, Akhtar had said last night, "Our agenda is not just to come to power but use it as a means to bring peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir."

He said if cobbling up a government had been the sole aim of the PDP, it would have staked its claim by now.

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Paris attack is disservice to Islam: Omar Abdullah

"Nobody does a bigger disservice to Muslims & Islam then the those who go around murdering people in the name of my religion(sic)," Omar wrote on micro blogging website Twitter.

At least 12 people were killed when gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher opened fire in the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, said sources close to the investigation.

The government raised its alert level to the highest possible in the greater Paris region.

A source close to the investigation said two men "armed with a Kalashnikov and a rocket-launcher" stormed the building in central Paris and "fire was exchanged with security forces."

The source said a gunman had hijacked a car and knocked over a pedestrian while attempting to speed away.

However, Two policemen were gunned down on Thursday near Porte de Chantillon, south of Paris. According to media reports, they were seen lying on the ground.

A suspect has been arrested, a police source said. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve quit his emergency inter-ministerial meeting in the Elysee Palace and is on his way to the scene. Some other reports said one officer was seriously wounded. There is no link confirmed with Wednesday's attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine.

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Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madan Mohan Malviya to be conferred with Bharat Ratna

The Centre's announcement came ahead of Vajpayee's birthday, who will turns 90 on Thursday and 153rd birth anniversary of Malviya.

"The President has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya (posthumously) and to Atal Bihari Vajpayee," a press communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2004, and has faded from public life due to age-related illness, is lauded as a statesman and has been often described as the moderate face of BJP.

Vajpayee has been credited with taking bold initiatives, notable being the attempt to bridge Indo-Pak differences.

India's longest serving Prime Minister outside of Congress party, Vajpayee's detractors called him the "mask" of RSS but still always had good words for him.

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Assembly elections: Voting begins in Jharkhand and J&K amid tight security

Amid tight security, nearly 13 percent of the electorate exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in 17 constituencies spread across eight districts of Jharkhand on Tuesday.

While Koderma recorded the maximum 16.90 percent voting in the first two hours, Barkagaon constituency witnessed the minimum at 7.60 per cent, polling officials said.

Some faulty EVMs were immediately replaced on receiving complaints from a few polling booths, they said. Voters were seen standing in queues in front of the booths from 7 AM and were keeping themselves warm by lighting small fires by the roadside near booths.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi, ex-Assembly speaker C P Singh and three incumbent ministers are among the candidates whose fate will be decided in today's election.

There are as many as 2,713,65 voters in the 18/19 age group in the electorate of 50,16,657, including 23,55,728 women.

The constituencies going to the poll in the third phase are Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Barkagaon, Ramgarh, Mandu, Hazaribagh, Simaria (SC), Dhanwar, Gomia, Bermo, Ichagarh, Silli, Khijri (ST), Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke (SC).

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News in Hindi: Jammu Kashmir never merged with India: Omar

जम्मू [जागरण ब्यूरो]। मुख्यमंत्री उमर अब्दुल्ला का कहना है कि विशेष दर्जे वाले जम्मू-कश्मीर का भारत से विलय संपूर्ण नहीं है। चार शर्तो के साथ राज्य का देश से विलय जरूर हुआ था, लेकिन अन्य प्रदेशों की तरह वह पूर्ण रूप से देश से नहीं जुड़ पाया। यही कारण है कि राज्य का अपना अलग संविधान और ध्वज है।

श्रीनगर में बुधवार को एक बैठक के दौरान यूरोपियन यूनियन के प्रतिनिधिमंडल में शामिल विभिन्न देशों के राजदूतों से बातचीत में उमर ने कहा कि जिन चार शर्तो पर विलय हुआ था वे मुद्रा, संचार, विदेशी मामले व सुरक्षा हैं। यूरोपियन प्रतिनिधिमंडल इन दिनों कश्मीर के हालात का जायजा लेने के लिए राज्य के दौरे पर है। उमर ने कहा राजनीतिक पृष्ठभूमि वाली समस्याओं का हल राजनीतिक फ्रेमवर्क में संभव है। पैसे से या जोर जबरदस्ती से समाधान नहीं होगा। कश्मीर समस्या वर्ष 1990 में आतंकवाद के साथ नहीं बल्कि विभाजन के समय शुरू हुई थी, जब जम्मू-कश्मीर को छोड़ अन्य सभी राज्यों का फैसला कर दिया गया था।

मुख्यमंत्री ने कहा कि कश्मीर समस्या के समाधान के लिए जरूरी है कि इसके आंतरिक व बाहरी पहलुओं को देखते हुए केंद्र सरकार, अलगाववादियों व भारत-पाकिस्तान में बातचीत की प्रक्रिया शुरू हो।

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