Impeachment motion was brought to make Deepak Karki Chief Justice: Rana
Suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana said that the impeachment motion was filed against him to make Deepak Karki the Chief Justice. In a statement given to the Parliamentary Impeachment Recommendation Committee on Wednesday, Rana said that he had to face false accusations while trying to strengthen the judiciary. “The impeachment motion was brought to make Deepak Karki the Chief Justice,” he said. While recording his statement, Chief Justice Rana said that he came to the Impeachment Recommendation Committee to respect the Parliament. He further said that some elements are trying to weaken the judiciary. Meanwhile, he expressed his dissatisfaction over the impeachment motion registered against him. “Why did the ruling coalition bring the impeachment motion proposal?” he questioned, “The CPN-UML should have brought the proposal.” Rana said that the impeachment motion should be filed against five other incumbent justices of the Supreme Court, not only him. On top of that, he said that the Parliament should maintain power balance with the judiciary. Rana reached Singha Durbar to give his statement this morning. The Parliament has formed an 11-member committee to look into the case. One-fourth of the members of Parliament had tabled an impeachment proposal against Rana as per Article 101 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal. As many as 98 lawmakers of the ruling coalition on February 13 had registered the motion against Rana. The then Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Whip Pushpa Bhushal, Maoist Center Chief Whip Dev Gurung and Unified Socialist Party Whip Jeevanram Shrestha were the proposers. The proposal was supported by 95 lawmakers. Earlier, the Nepal Bar Association had staged protests for 109 days demanding resignation of Rana.
Suspended CJ Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana in Singha Durbar to give statement
Suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumshar JB Rana on Wednesday reached Singha Durbar to give his statement on the impeachment motion filed against him. The Impeachment Recommendation Committee of the Parliament had summoned Chief Justice Rana today to record his statement. The Parliament has formed an 11-member committee to look into the case. One-fourth of the members of Parliament had tabled an impeachment proposal against Rana as per Article 101 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal. As many as 98 lawmakers of the ruling coalition on February 13 had registered the motion against Rana. The then Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Whip Pushpa Bhushal, Maoist Center Chief Whip Dev Gurung and Unified Socialist Party Whip Jeevanram Shrestha were the proposers. The proposal was supported by 95 lawmakers. Earlier, the Nepal Bar Association had staged protests for 109 days demanding resignation of Rana.
New York to restrict gun carrying after Supreme Court ruling
Amid the bright lights and electronic billboards across New York’s Times Square, city authorities are posting new signs proclaiming the bustling crossroads a “Gun Free Zone,” Associated Press reported.
The sprawling Manhattan tourist attraction is one of scores of “sensitive” places — including parks, churches and theaters — that will be off limits for guns under a sweeping new state law going into effect Thursday. The measure, passed after a US Supreme Court decision in June expanded gun rights, also sets stringent standards for issuing concealed carry permits.
New York is among a half-dozen states that had key provisions of its gun laws invalidated by the high court because of a requirement for applicants to prove they had “proper cause” for a permit. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that she and her fellow Democrats in the state Legislature took action the next week because the ruling “destroyed the ability for a governor to be able to protect her citizens from people who carry concealed weapons anywhere they choose.”
The quickly adopted law, however, has led to confusion and court challenges from gun owners who say it improperly limits their constitutional rights.
“They seem to be designed less towards addressing gun violence and more towards simply preventing people from getting guns — even if those people are law-abiding, upstanding citizens, who according to the Supreme Court have the rights to have them,” said Jonathan Corbett, a Brooklyn attorney and permit applicant who is one of several people challenging the law in court.
Under the law, applicants for a concealed carry permit will have to complete 16 hours of classroom training and two hours of live-fire exercises. Ordinary citizens would be prohibited from bringing guns to schools, churches, subways, theaters and amusement parks — among other places deemed “sensitive” by authorities.
Applicants also will have to provide a list of social media accounts for the past three years as part of a “character and conduct” review. The requirement was added because shooters have sometimes dropped hints of violence online before they opened fire on people, according to Associated Press.
Sheriffs in some upstate counties said the additional work for their investigators could add to existing backlogs in processing applications.
In Rochester, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said it currently takes two to four hours to perform a pistol permit background check on a “clean” candidate. He estimate the new law will add another one to three hours for each permit. The county has about 600 pending pistol permits.
“It’s going to slow everything down just a bit more,” he said.
In the Mohawk Valley, Fulton County Sheriff Richard C. Giardino had questions on how the digital sleuthing would proceed.
“It says three years worth of your social media. We’re not going to print out three years of social media posts by everybody. If you look at my Facebook, I send out six or 10 things a day,” said the sheriff, a former district attorney and judge.
The list of prohibited spaces for carrying guns has drawn criticism from advocates who say it’s so extensive it will make it difficult for people with permits to move about in public. People carrying a gun could go into private business only with permission, such as a sign posted on the window, Associated Press reported.
Mikhail Gorbachev: Last Soviet leader dies aged 91
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who brought the Cold War to a peaceful end, has died aged 91, BBC reported.
Mr Gorbachev, who took power in 1985, opened up the then-USSR to the world and introduced a set of reforms at home.
But he was unable to prevent the slow collapse of the Soviet Union, from which modern Russia emerged.
Tributes have been paid worldwide, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying he "changed the course of history".
"Mikhail Gorbachev was a one-of-a kind statesman," UN Secretary General Mr Guterres wrote in a Twitter tribute. "The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace."
The hospital in Moscow where he died said he had been suffering from a long and serious illness.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen praised him as a "trusted and respected leader"who "opened the way for a free Europe".
"This legacy is one we will not forget," she added, according to BBC.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he admired Mr Gorbachev's courage and integrity,adding: "In a time of Putin's aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all."
Mr Gorbachev became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, and de facto leader of the country, in 1985.
His policy of glasnost, or openness, allowed people to criticise the government in a way which had been previously unthinkable.
But it also unleashed nationalist sentiments in many regions of the country which eventually led to its collapse.
Internationally he reached arms control deals with the US and refused to intervene when eastern European nations rose up against their Communist rulers.
He is seen in the West as an architect of reform who created the conditions for the end of the Cold War in 1991 - a time of deep tensions between the Soviet Union and Western nations, including the US and Britain.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 "for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations".
Mr Gorbachev made one ill-fated attempt to return to political life in 1996, receiving just 0.5% of the vote in presidential elections.
His divisive legacy is reflected in the tributes that followed his death.
Henry Kissinger, who served as US Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon, told the BBC's Newsnight programme that Mr Gorbachev will be "remembered in history as a man who started historic transformations that were to the benefit of mankind and to the Russian people".
James Baker, who negotiated the reunification of Germany with Mr Gorbachev's government, told the New York Times that "history will remember Mikhail Gorbachev as a giant who steered his great nation towards democracy".
But many Russians never forgave him for the turmoil that followed the collapse of the USSR.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in occupied Ukraine, said Mr Gorbachev had "deliberately led the (Soviet) Union to its demise" and called him a traitor, BBC reported.
He will be buried in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery, the resting place of many prominent Russians, next to his wife Raisa who died of leukaemia in 1999, Tass news agency said.
