Daily Bulletin: SC to decide on appointing mediator for Ayodhya case; UN rejects Hafiz Saeed's appeal for removal from terror list; day's top stories

Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on whether to refer Ayodhya case for mediation The Supreme Court will decide on Friday on whether to refer the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case to an officially-appointed mediator or not. A five-judge Supreme Court Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday had reserved the order after hearing various contesting parties. Hindu bodies except Nirmohi Akhara have opposed the suggestion of the apex court to refer the issue for mediation, while Muslim bodies have supported it.

[caption id=“attachment_6075511” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Supreme Court of India. PTI[/caption] On Wednesday, after the top court asked the contesting parties in title dispute case to suggest the name of a mediator or panel of mediators,  Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha  (ABHP) suggested three names for mediators— former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, former CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar and former SC Judge AK Patnaik.

UN rejects Hafiz Saeed’s appeal to remove name from banned terrorists’ list The United Nations has rejected Hafiz Saeed’s appeal to have his name removed from its list of banned terrorists. The Punjab government in Pakistan has claimed that it has taken control of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation in Lahore. Pakistan turned down the visa request of a UN team which wanted to interview the Mumbai attack mastermind on his application for removing his name from the UNSC sanctions list, according to UN sources. Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008 after the Mumbai terror attack in which 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed 166 people. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017. Lok Sabha 2019: Congress announces first list of candidates; Narendra Modi goes on inauguration spree While retirement rumours around Sonia Gandhi have effectively been quashed with the Congress releasing first list of candidates to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election and Sonia is contesting from Rae Bareli, there is no mention of daughter Priyanka Gandhi in the fray. The Congress on Thursday released its first list of 15 candidates . Party president Rahul Gandhi, who will contest from Amethi, will tour Odisha and speak at rallies in Koraput district. He will also meet party workers in Goa. BJP, meanwhile, is set to hold its parliamentary board meeting where strategy for upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to be discussed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay foundation stones for various projects cumulatively worth over Rs 1 lakh crore in Uttar Pradesh. Modi will visit Kanpur and Ghaziabad. On a pre-poll inauguration frenzy, the prime minister will also unveil several projects in Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi. Delhi courts to hear key cases today The Delhi courts will hear several important cases.  The Enforcement Directorate will file a reply to Rajeev Saxena's statement , which was recorded by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. Saxena had moved to turn approver in the AgustaWestland case. The ED will now tell the court if it will allow him to turn approver or not. Former cabinet minister MJ Akbar’s plea before the court, against journalist Priya Ramani for defaming him with allegations of sexual harassment will be heard. The court had given her bail on the last day of hearing. A cross-defamtion case filed by Smriti Irani and Sanjay Nirupam against each other will come up for hearing.  The 1984 riots case against Jagdish Tyler will also be heard at the Karkardooma court. The Aircel-Maxis case lodged against former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son will come up for hearing. On the last date of hearing the court had extended their interim protection till 8 March. Paul Manafort sentenced to ‘shockingly lenient’ 47 months in jail Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, 69, has gotten away with what legal pundits are describing as a “shockingly lenient” sentence of 47 months in jail for eight criminal counts of tax and bank fraud in the only case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller that has gone to trial so far. Robert Mueller is investigating possible Russian collusion in the Donald Trump 2016 campaign. Manafort also faces up to 10 years in another Mueller-led case next week. The breadcrumbs in the Manafort case from Day One have been this: An extraordinary level of connections and information sharing with Russian and Ukrainian political operatives. Users leaving Facebook in droves, says report Even as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries to turn things around for his embattled empire, new research suggests that Facebook is losing users by the millions. A report by the Edison Research group indicates that the platform has lost some 15 million US-based users since 2017, this despite the fact that more than 80 percent of Americans regularly share content on social media platforms. India eye series win in 3rd ODI against Australia at MS Dhoni’s home ground India will look to attain an unassailable 3-0 lead with a win in the third ODI against Australia on Friday at Ranchi. A 3-0 lead in the five-match series will be a perfect parting gift for Ranchi’s favourite son, who, in all likelihood, will be seen wearing the India Blues for the last time at his home ground. Despite Shikhar Dhawan having gone off the boil with only two half-centuries in the last 15 ODIs, India are unlikely to tinker with the winning combination of the first two encounters. India won the first match by six wickets and clinched the second game by eight runs. Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth face uphill task at All England Championships Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth are the only Indians left at the All England Championships. Nehwal will take on her nemesis and two-time champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, an opponent who defeated her in their previous 12 outings. Twenty-six-year-old Srikanth will face World no. 1 Kento Momota of Japan, who beat the Indian five times last season. Both Saina and Srikanth qualified for the quarter-finals on the back of hard-fought wins. Fewer than 70 out of Jet Airways’ fleet of 119 currently operational Jet Airways on Tuesday evening informed BSE it had grounded three more planes “due to non-payment to lessors”. Earlier in the day, a senior DGCA official had said only 70 planes out of Jet’s fleet of 119 were operational. The evening announcement brought that number down to 67 out of 119 or just over half of the fleet is now flying and 52 grounded. While 28 planes have been grounded since last month due to non payment to lessors, the other 24 can’t fly due to a severe cash crunch that is not allowing getting spares and engines. Singtel, promoters, GIC commit to participate in Bharti Airtel Rs 32K-cr fund raiser Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on 7 March received commitment from its single-largest shareholder Singtel, promoters and GIC Singapore to participate in its Rs 32,000 crore capital raising programme. Singapore telecom major SingTel said it will infuse Rs 3,750 crore in Bharti Airtel by subscribing to the proposed Rs 25,000 crore rights issue of the company. GIC Private Limited, on behalf of Government of Singapore and Monetary Authority of Singapore, has made a commitment of Rs 5,000 crore in the proposed programme. Human Rights Campaign to honour Christina Aguilera The largest LGBTQ civil rights organisation in the US is honouring Christina Aguilera with its Ally for Equality award. The Human Rights Campaign announced on Thursday the six-time Grammy-winning singer is a true “LGBTQ icon” who uses her platform to “share a message of hope and inspiration” to those who have been marginalized. The group says the 38-year-old has raised money to fight HIV/AIDS, advocated marriage equality and spoken out against LGBTQ bullying.