Ahead of Madhya Pradesh bypolls, one more Congress MLA resigns
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rahul Lodhi resigned from the party and his Assembly membership and joined the ruling BJP on Sunday, ahead of the November 3 state bypolls.
With this, 26 MLAs have quit the Congress in the state since March this year.
"Lodhi has resigned and his resignation was accepted today," MP Assembly's Protem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma said.
"He gave his resignation on Friday, but I asked him to rethink over it for two days. He called me last night saying he was firm on it and wanted his resignation to be accepted on the auspicious day today," Sharma said.
BJP state spokesman Rajnish Agrawal later said Lodhi has joined his party. Lodhi represented Damoh seat in the state Assembly.
There are speculations that one more Congress MLA may also quit the party. By-elections to 28 Assembly seats in the state are scheduled on November 3.
Twenty-five of these seats fell vacant after sitting Congress MLAs resigned and joined the BJP, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led state government.
Most of these rebel Congress MLAs were considered close to Jyotiraditya Scindia, who also walked out of the Congress and joined the BJP.
Besides, three seats fell vacant due to the death of their sitting MLAs.
The BJP at present has 107 MLAs and it needs to win just nine more seats to reach the magic figure of 116 - the simple majority mark in the 230-member house.
The Congress's strength in the House has now been reduced to 87.
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US warns shipping firms they could face sanctions over paying Iranian tolls in Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The alert posted Friday by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
About a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in peacetime.
Iran effectively closed the strait to normal traffic by attacking and threatening to attack ships after the US and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28. It later began offering some ships safe passage by detouring them through alternate routes closer to its shoreline, charging fees at times for the service.
That "tollbooth” effort is the focus of the US sanctions warning.
The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also “digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments,” including chartibale donations and payments at Iranian embassies, OFAC said.
“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn US and non-US persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method,” it said.
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The US responded to Iran's closure of the strait with a naval blockade of its own on April 13, preventing any Iranian tankers from leaving and depriving Iran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
The US Central Command said 45 commercial ships have been told to turn around since the blockade began.
Trump rejects Iranian proposal
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The warning came as US President Donald Trump swiftly rejected Iran's latest proposal to end the war between the countries.
“They want to make a deal, I'm not satisfied with it, so we'll see what happens,” Trump said Friday at the White House. He didn't elaborate on what he saw as its shortcomings but expressed frustration with the Iranian leadership.
“It's a very disjointed leadership,” Trump said. “They all want to make a deal, but they're all messed up.”
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Iran handed over its plan to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night.
The shaky three-week ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be holding, though both countries have traded accusations of violations. The standoff is increasingly putting pressure on the global economy, driving up prices and leading to shortages of fuel and other products tied to the oil industry.
Negotiations continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys' trip to Pakistan last week, the president said. Trump this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America's Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has briefed many of his regional counterparts on the country's initiatives to end the ear, according to his social media. He also held talks Friday with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who is in contact with the EU's Gulf partners.
China's UN envoy urges Iran to lift restrictions
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Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassdor to the United Nations, said Friday that maintaining the ceasefire is “the most urgent issue" as well as bringing together the sides to resume good faith negotiations “to make sure that the ground is laid for reopening of Hormuz.”
Foreign Minister Wang Yi “has been on the phone almost constantly” with representatives from all sides, Fu said, adding that China supports Pakistan's efforts to mediate between the parties.
Fu stressed the root cause of the tremendous suffering in Iran and neighboring countries and the growing turmoil in the global economy, especially in developing countries, “is the illegitimate war by the US and Israel.
