Switzerland votes on relaxing its citizenship rules
Will third-generation immigrants get an easier path to Swiss citizenship? Will corporations get tax breaks and highways more funding? All the results of today’s votes in Switzerland, as they come in.
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Voters in Switzerland are going to the polls to decide whether the country’s strict rules on citizenship should be relaxed.
Being born in Switzerland does not guarantee citizenship. Non-Swiss residents must typically wait 12 years before applying for citizenship.
It will directly affect those born in Switzerland, whose parents and grandparents also lived in the country permanently. Supporters of the plan to simplify the process argue that it is ridiculous to ask people who were born and have lived all their lives in Switzerland to prove that they are integrated.
Queen Elizabeth II to host spectacular UK-India Year of Culture
Queen Elizabeth II will host a spectacular UK-India Year of Culture launch at Buckingham Palace at the end of this month to strengthen the special cultural partnership between the two countries. Britain’s senior-most Indian-origin minister, Priti Patel, described it as a real demonstration of the strong ties between the two countries.
The Conservative party MP, who has completed six months in office as minister in the Department for International Development said throughout the year, people are going to see great works of art, great collaborations, all the cultural aspects coming together and a real demonstration of how strong the two countries’ cultural ties are.
The reception is expected to attract 100 of guests from across various fields in the UK and India. The Palace had officially announced the date of the reception as February 27 in the monarch’s engagements calendar earlier this week. 90 year old Queen Elizabeth II is the world’s longest reigning
sovereign and has become the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee, with 65 years on the throne.
sovereign and has become the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee, with 65 years on the throne.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier consensus canidate of President of Germany
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to be next President of Germany as the consensus candidate of the CDU, CSU and SPD parties that form the German government.
Judging by the overwhelming majority of votes he has received from the grand coalition in Parliament, no-one can be in any doubt of the outcome.
After lengthy wrangling Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), will hoist the Social Democrat politician into the country’s top office.
Steinmeier has been an established name in federal politics for many years, most recently as Foreign Minister in the grand coalition. According to polls, the majority of people see him as the face of German diplomacy. His position as Foreign Minister was the most recent in a series held by the 60 year-old in his almost 20 year political career.
When Steinmeier replaces current President, Joachim Gauck, a man who is no stranger to politics will be taking the stage.
Campaigning for assembly electionsin UK and UP second phase
Uttarakhand, both major political parties, the BJP and Congress have put all their efforts in election campaigning to woo the voters as tomorrow is the last day of electioneering for the assembly polls. Addressing an election rally in Srinagar Garhwal today, Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, SP and Congress are trying to deceive the people.
He said, Centre wants Uttarakhand to be connected with the entire country. The Prime Minister stressed the need to develop tourism in Uttarakhand. Mr Modi blamed Congress and Samajwadi party for the backwardness of Uttarakhand.
In Uttar Pradesh, campaigning has started peaking in the areas of the state where polls are slated for Wednesday in the second phase of Assembly elections. In this phase, 67 assembly seats spread over eleven districts will go to polls. In this phase, 721 candidates are in the fray out of which 69 are female, while there is also a nominee from the third gender.
As only two days are left for campaigning, top leadership of all political parties including SP, Congress, BJP, BSP and RLD have lined up to address poll rallies in these areas. Today state BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya is addressing several rallies in Bareilly, Amroha and Pilibheet. While SP President Akhilesh Yadav is in Sambhal and Amroha, BSP Chief Mayawati will address poll rallies in Sitapur and Hardoi. Congress state president Raj Babbar is in Bareilly to attend the poll meetings.
Uttarakhand, both major political parties, the BJP and Congress have put all their efforts in election campaigning to woo the voters as tomorrow is the last day of electioneering for the assembly polls.
Addressing an election rally in Srinagar Garhwal today, Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi launched a sharp attack on the Harish Rawat-led government, and promised to take the state to newer heights over the next five years. He said, three states were formed by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but the reason for lagging behind of this hill state has been the Congress party.
Defending the demonetisation move, Mr Modi said, his fight against corruption will continue. He said, SP and Congress are trying to deceive the people. He said, Centre wants Uttarakhand to be connected with the entire country. He said, the state can gain from eco-tourism. Mr Modi will address another rally in Pithoragarh in the afternoon.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has also begun his road show from Bhagwanpur assembly seat in district Haridwar.Polling will be held for all 70 assembly seats of the state on Wednesday.
Four terrorists killed in Kulgam district
Jammu & Kashmir, four terrorists, two army jawans and a civilian youth were killed in an encounter early this morning in Frisal areaof Kulgam district. Three soldiers including an officer were also injured in the encounter.
Defence sources told AIR that three slain terrorists belonged to Lashkar e Toiba while the fourth one was Hizbul Mujahideen cadre. They said, Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Frisal area in the wee hours following information about presence of a group of terrorists in the area.
PRESS INVITATION
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ahmedabad
PRESS INVITATION
Dt. 12-02-2017
Union Minister of state for Labour and Employment (I/C) Shri Bandaru Dattatreya will inaugurate 100 bedded ESIC hospital at Ankleshwar at 10 AM on 13th February at GIDC, Ankleshwar.
After inaugurating the hospital Minister will take up the review meeting with state government official and all bureau heads under Ministry of Labour and Employment on the issues related to their affairs.
Date : 13-02-2017, Monday
Time : 05.00 PM
Venue : Taj Ummed Place Hotel, Near Airport,
Ahmedabad.
You are cordially invited to cover the meeting. Kindly depute your reporter/correspondent to cover the same.
———-
Press Information Bureau,
Government of India,
Ahmedabad
MANASA MANGAL & TUMHARA VINCENT STAGED : NSD
AUDIENCE MESMERISED BY PLAYS MANASA MANGAL & TUMHARA VINCENTSTAGED TODAY DURING NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DRAMA’S 19th BHARAT RANG MAHOTSAV
- Renowned author KIran Doshi gave tips to young aspirants as part of Master Class series
New Delhi, 11th February, 2017: Today during the Master Class of 19th edition ofBharat Rang Mahotsav, he gave five very important tips to aspirants who want to polish their writing skills, “Firstly, Love the language in which you are writing; Secondly, Write something that you know about; Thirdly, Characterize your characters based on the real people; Fourthly, All forms of creativity come as a born gift and one must work hard to discover it; and lastly, Find a good editor as it is true bliss.”
Kiran Doshi who was invited to National School of Drama today has won The Hindu Prize 2016 for his third work of fiction, Jinnah Often Came to our House. It is a brilliant saga of love and betrayal, pain and redemption, set amidst the long struggle for freedom and its terrible twin, the call for Pakistan. In it, we confront questions that are as relevant today as they were a hundred years ago. Kiran Doshi studied history, politics and law in Bombay before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1962. It was a career which, not infrequently, saw him tackling relations with Pakistan, always an important, exciting but ultimately frustrating task. He is also the author of Birds of Passage, a “greatly engrossing and hilarious novel set in the world of India-Pakistan-USA diplomacy, and Diplomatic Tales, short stories written in comic verse.
Today during the 19th edition of Bharat Rang Mahotsav, 5 plays were performed including Prokash Bhattacharya’s play in Bengali Manasa Mangal, Tapan Bhaatt’sHindi play Rajputana, N Amusana Devi’s play in Manipuri Holi, Rangakalpa Group of Hyderabad’s Hindi play Tumhara Vincent directed by Satyabrata Rout and NSD Repertory’s Ghasiram Kotwal directed by Rajinder Nath. Apart from this today in Ambience Performance, Dandiya, Haryanvi Phag and Lavani was performed in the NSD campus today.
Today, during the Meet the Director – face to face at National School of Drama, renowned theatre personality, Guru Gourang Barik, Director of Moghul Tamasha explained about the motive behind the play “Moghul Tamasha is a dying art form, almost extinct. We are trying to save with whatever resources we have at our disposal and we want to spread a message of communal harmony in the country through the theme of this play and at the same time keeping it entertaining by giving it a modern touch of music.” Sanjay Upadhyay, Director of Anand Raghunandan commented on the decision to present the play in Bagheli “this play was first written in Hindi in around 18th century but we decided to enact it in Bagheli because at the time when our friend introduced me to the play me and my team were in Baghelkhand for a study tour. It was quite a difficult task for the actors to get used to the language but we all worked hard on our lingual skills and it finally paid off.” Bijyendra Kumar Tank, Director of Gunda on how did he came up with the name of the play said “I was discussing the names for the play with my seniors and the name Gunda came up and it appealed to me instantly because in our society the people who oppose the establishment are labeled as Gundas, which perfectly fits the story.”
For further information, please contact:
National School of Drama Le Communiqué Consultancy
A.K Barua, PRO, NSD Shakti / Kashif / Asad
9810329401 9711118189 / 9557013982 / 9639228386
anoopbarua@gmail.com shakti/ asad / kashif@lecommunique.co.in
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