Nikitha

Maya’s party expels ‘messiah of poor’ Mukhtar Ansari, his brother

The Bahujan Samaj Party has expelled jailed legislator Mukhtar Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari, a former MP, from the party after having discovered that Mukhtar is still involved in criminal activities.

The party has also decided “not to take support” of another Ansari brother, Sibgatullah Ansari, who is a legislator from Muhammadabad constituency in Ghazipur district.

In a statement issued by the BSP on Friday, party spokesperson said the Ansari brothers, who had joined the party in 2007, have been expelled with immediate effect.

Mukhtar, who is facing 30 criminal cases including those of murder and kidnapping, is an accused in the case involving the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. 

Source : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Maya-s-party-expels--messiah-of-poor--Mukhtar-Ansari--his-brother/607660/

Congress worried over Tharoor issue

The Congress leaders are worried over the electoral fallout of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's alleged role in the IPL controversy.

Senior leaders, on conditions of anonymity, maintain that even if Mr. Tharoor were to survive the crisis, which has stalled Parliament proceedings, this would hardly come as a relief to the party in his home State of Kerala, where panchayat elections are round the corner.

They feared that the slogan coined by the CPI(M) that while the Congress was for the IPL, the CPI(M) stood for the BPL (below poverty line) was already having its impact and threatened to mar the party's image and stake in the panchayat elections.

Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Tharoor met party chief Sonia Gandhi, leaders underscored that none in the party was willing to walk that extra mile for him and that the final decision on his continuation in the Council of Ministers would be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after his return on Saturday from his foreign tour. 

Source : http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article399244.ece

ISI used LeT against India

A United Nations report on Friday said the Pakistan’s powerful military-backed spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence has used militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba’s services to foment anti-India passion in Kashmir and elsewhere.

“The Pakistani military organised and supported the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan in 1996. Similar tactics were used in Kashmir against India after 1989,” said the much-awaited report by the UN-appointed independent panel which probed the killing of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto in an endorsement of India’s long-held stand. Such a policy of the Pakistan military was at the expense of national secular forces.

Source : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/64316/isi-used-let-against-india.html

Poland set for memorial service for plane crash victims

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in a memorial service in Poland for the 96 victims of last weekend's plane crash.

The crash killed Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, and several key public figures, including the heads of all three of Poland's armed forces.

Each victim will be represented by a huge photograph at the outdoor service.

There are fears the Icelandic eruption may stop foreign leaders from flying in for Mr Kaczynski's funeral on Sunday.

Huge crowds are expected for the four-hour service in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square - Warsaw's largest open-air square - due to begin at noon (1000 GMT).

The city authorities have banned alcohol sales on Saturday and laid on free transport and parking to make it easier for people to attend.

Pilsudski Square is the traditional location for such public events. It is where Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass service during his first pilgrimage to his homeland in 1979.

Volcanic ash

Large TV screens have been set up in the square and an adjacent park which is expected to be full of people as well.

A mass on a specially designed stage in the shape of a staircase will be celebrated by Polish bishops and the Vatican envoy, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

After the mass in the square on Saturday, the coffins of Mr Kaczynski and his wife Maria, who have been lying in state in the presidential palace since Tuesday, will be taken to nearby St John's Cathedral, before being taken to Krakow after an overnight vigil. 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8626683.stm

Centre bans SMS in J&K, then backtracks

Within hours of banning the SMS service for post-paid subscribers and restricting the facility for pre-paid users in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre on Friday withdrew its order following a strong protest by the state which charged the telecom and the home ministries with `goofing-up' on the entire issue due to poor understanding of the matter.

Earlier in the day, citing security reasons, the telecom ministry had asked service providers in J&K to ban SMS for post-paid subscribers and restrict the facility to 10 messages per day per pre-paid subscriber with effect from Friday midnight.

State chief minister Omar Abdullah, however, immediately lodged a protest with the Union home ministry, which, in turn, asked the telecom ministry to withdraw its order.

It is now learnt that the telecom ministry will come out with a fresh directive on the SMS service in due course. This will be done only after a thorough discussion of the issue among officials of the state government and the telecom and home ministries. 

Source  : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-bans-SMS-in-JK-then-backtracks/articleshow/5822540.cms

RIL takes stake in cargo carrier Deccan 360

While the quantum of investment could not be ascertained immediately, RIL said that a wholly-owned subsidiary would provide "growth capital" for the new cargo airline.

"We believe that our collaboration with Deccan 360 will see a transformation in the logistics domain in India," RIL's chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.

RIL's investment would help Deccan 360 increase its air and surface network coverage across the country, the company said.

Deccan 360 is developing a 50-acre hub at Nagpur in Maharashtra and currently has eight freight aircraft covering 15 airports and a fleet of over 300 trucks and 850 vehicles nationwide.

Source : http://beta.profit.ndtv.com/news/show/ril-takes-stake-in-cargo-carrier-deccan-360-35136

Four mowed down by train in Uttar Pradesh

Four persons were killed when they were run over by the Guwahati-Delhi Sampark Kranti Express at Kotgaon railway crossing here, police said today.

The mishap took place when the four victims - two on a scooter and three on a rickshaw - were crossing the track and failed to see the approaching train last night. Two other persons were injured and have been hospitalised.

The bodies have been sent for postmortem.

Though the railway crossing at Kotgoan remains closed due to heavy rail traffic, many people use it as a shortcut.

Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_four-mowed-down-by-train-in-uttar-pradesh_1372021

Thai "red shirts" gather after botched arrests

One protest leader slid down a rope from a hotel balcony to escape riot police, while others were rescued by hundreds of "red shirts," who heavily outnumbered security forces at a Bangkok hotel owned by the family of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The three leaders later joined around 10,000 of their supporters at a shopping center in the middle of the city, now the main site of month-long protests in the Thai capital.

"If they use force to disperse us, we will flatten the entire neighborhood," said Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader who was not among the three escapees, on a red shirt stage at the intersection of posh shopping malls and luxury hotels.

The government, which had previously said it would not directly confront the protesters, also stepped up the rhetoric,

although there were no troops on the streets of Bangkok.

"We will arrest and suppress the terrorists. We have set up special task forces hunting for the terrorists," Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said.

The move against leaders of the red shirts on Friday follows a failed attempt by troops to eject protesters from one of their encampments in the city last weekend. At least 24 people were killed and more than 800 injured in Thailand's worst political violence since 1992.

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63F0CX20100416

India pitches for UN reforms, global anti-terror treaty

India has got an endorsement of its role in Afghanistan at the fourth IBSA summit in Brasilia, that also favoured a peaceful, diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear issue.

The Brasilia declaration adopted at the three-nation meet on Friday, attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazil President Lula da Silva and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma expressed concern at the continuing deterioration of the military and political situation in Afghanistan.

And in consistence with Delhi´s stand the leaders underlined the "centrality of regional aspect" in the reconstruction o and development process in Afghanistan. More importantly, the declaration also condemned the "terrorist attacks targeting Indian humanitarian and development workers" in Kabul on February 26 this year. The attack had the imprints of Pakistan-based LeT. The declaration also stressed the "centrality of regional aspect" in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Even as Washington has been gathering steam for sanctions against Iran, the summit had advocated the need for a peaceful diplomatic solution of the issue. "The leaders recognized the right of Iran to develop nuclear programmes for peaceful purposes in keeping with its international obligations," the declaration said. The leaders also called up on Iran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and comply with the relevant UN security council resolutions.

The Ieaders have also decided for the development of satellites in the areas of space, climate and earth observation. The satellites aims to address challenges in climate studies, agriculture, food security and the space programme among the countries. 

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/news/India-pitches-for-UN-reforms-global-anti-terror-treaty-at-IBSA-summit/Article1-531860.aspx

Ash Spreads Across Europe, Closing More Airports Friday

A vast, high-altitude cloud of volcanic ash continued to spread over northern Europe on Friday as airspace and Europe’s busiest airports remained closed and thousands of flights and millions of passengers around the world — from North America to Asia — were affected.

Passengers were stranded at Arlanda Airport outside Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday.

Eurocontrol, the European air navigation agency, said the cloud’s impact “will continue for at least the next 24 hours,” The Associated Press reported. British aviation authorities said there would be no flights over British airspace until early Saturday morning. In the latest restrictions, Germany’s civil aviation authority said Friday that at least 12 of the country’s 16 airports were closed — including Frankfurt, a major hub for Lufthansa; as well as Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Dortmund, Cologne, Leipzig, Münster-Osnabrück and Berlin.

News reports quoted German air traffic controllers as saying it was difficult to predict when normal flights would resume. The massive plume, caused by the eruption Wednesday of a glacial volcano in Iceland, drifted slowly eastward on Friday over central Europe and western Russia.

While satellite photographs from above showed the cloud to be dark and menacing, it remained largely invisible for many people on the ground in Europe. Made up of minute particles of silicate that can disable jet engines, the cloud forced the closure of some of the world’s busiest airports on Thursday and Friday, including Heathrow and Gatwick in Britain, Charles de Gaulle and Orly in Paris, as well as hubs in Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Finland. 

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/world/europe/17ash.html

Tharoor's statement in Parliament

NDTV has a copy of the two-page statement that Shashi Tharoor tried to make in Parliament. In it, Tharoor states that he lobbied for a franchise for Kerala because he has been " a passionate cricket fan" since his childhood. He also repeats that as an MP for Kerala, he believed an IPL team would be " a triumph for Kerala."

Tharoor states that the consortium that bid and won for the IPL team, Rendezvous, approached him and that he became their "mentor and advisor." He states he was "not a part of their business decisions including their decision to bid for a franchise."

To the BJP allegations that his patronage of the team was inappropriate for a minister, he responds, "My role in mentoring was within bounds of appropriate conduct of an MP and a minister....there was no misuse of my official position or ministry...my official position gave me no advantage. It was irrelevant to the bid."

Tharoor refers to Sunanda Pushkar as "a close friend of mine". Pushkar received 70 crores of free equity from Rendezvous. Tharoor says that the allegation that Pushkar was a front for him "is particularly wounding...I've never had slightest taint of financial wrongdoing. Money has never been motivating factor for me."

He also adds that Rendezvous gave Pushkar what he describes as "sweat equity" in lieu of a salary for her contribution as a Brand and Marketing Manager for the consortium . Tharoor describes this statement as "common for such ventures all over the world."

Source : http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/ipl-tangle-tharoors-statement-in-parliament-20115.php

Indo-Pak meet to discuss release of jailed fishermen

In a first, four organisations, two each from India and Pakistan, have come together to address the plight of fishermen from the two countries arrested from each other’s territorial or disputed waters.

The National Fishworkers’ Forum India, Peace Mumbai, Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum, and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research have made a united effort to seek the release of the several hundred fishermen from both sides, who are languishing in various prisons.

They plan to bring in diplomats from both sides, members of a judiciary committee (appointed by both the countries three years ago to address this issue), and fishermen from either country, together at a meeting in New Delhi next week.

“This is for the first time that the fishermen representatives have been invited to a high-level meeting that will have diplomats from both the countries as well as the representatives of the affected communities,” said Manish Lodhari of National Fish workers’ Forum India. 

Source : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Indo-Pak-meet-to-discuss-release-of-jailed-fishermen/606560/

Modi offered us $50m to drop bid, says Kochi team

Lalit Modi called some of the members of our consortium partners (in a face-to face meeting) and asked us to take $50 million, walk out and forget about the team. He said, ‘I'm interested in another team'. We refused."

"This is what happened," Satyajit Gaikwad, spokesman for Rendezvous Sports World Private Ltd, the Kochi consortium, told Hindustan Times on Wednesday. Gaekwad is a two- time Congress MP.

With Parliament resuming its budget session on Thursday the IPL war of words escalated to a new high with the Kochi team franchise, its mentor minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor and his friend Sunanda Pushkar defending themselves and going on the offensive in the same breath.

Gaikwad, who is a cousin of Kochi franchise CEO Shailendra Gaikwad, accused the IPL chairman of "trying to create confu-sion" and "trying to undermine the team by making statements that will create doubt about us and force us to get out". He denied though, that two promin-ent Cabinet Ministers were part of any plan to force them out.

Modi called the $50m allegation "baseless" and "a figment of imagination". "I met him (the reference in this case was to Shailendra Gaikwad) at the conference and thereafter at the Maurya Sheraton hotel where all owners were present," he said.

"We also met during the signing ceremony and that is all. I want to know where I met him to make this offer."

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/cricket/Modi-offered-us-50m-to-drop-bid-says-Kochi-team/Article1-531309.aspx

Gilani says hello to PM, sings old tune

A day after US President Barack Obama nudged him to proceed against the perpetrators of 26/11 and pave the way for lowering tensions with India, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sought to break the ice by walking up to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh for a “hello” session.

That happened during Obama’s dinner in honour of 45-odd world leaders attending the Nuclear Security Summit here on Monday, but little was forthcoming on what the two talked about during the impromptu meeting that lasted a few minutes.

All that Indian Foreign Office spokesman Vishnu Prakash would say was that the two leaders “shook hands and exchanged pleasantries”.

With no formal meeting lined up between the two leaders here, speculation is now on a possible meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit in the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu on April 28-29.

Source : http://expressbuzz.com/nation/gilani-says-hello-to-pm-sings-old-tune/165145.html

Top govt meet on Delhi nuclear scare

A high-level meeting will soon discuss Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to scan and dispose of junk materials carrying radioactive waste.

The meeting will be attended by officials of the Department of Atomic Energy, Prime Ministers Office, Home and Health ministries besides representatives from various intelligence agencies.

The move comes close on the heels of radioactive leaks detected in an industrial area of West Delhi recently as officials of various ministries expressed ignorance as to whether the junk was checked for radioactive materials, official sources said here on Wednesday.

In the meeting, the SOPs would be finalised on checking the junk, which is also imported at times from different countries, before being sold off to scrap dealers.

Last week, panic was triggered in Mayapuri locality after news of a radiation leak spread, with six persons falling ill after coming in contact with a "mysterious shining object" in a scrap shop, later identified as Cobalt-60.

Source  : http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/top-govt-meet-on-delhi-nuclear-scare-20029.php

Quake in remote west China kills 589, buries more

Rescuers combed through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors Thursday, more than a day after strong earthquakes shook a mountainous Tibetan region of China, killing nearly 600 people and injuring thousands.

The series of quakes flattened buildings across remote western Yushu county and sent survivors, many bleeding from their wounds, flooding into the streets of Jiegu township. State television showed block after devastated block of toppled mud and wood homes. Local officials said 85 percent of the buildings had been destroyed.

Residents and troops garrisoned in the town used shovels and their hands to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble much of the day Wednesday.

Several schools collapsed, with the state news agency saying at least 56 students died. Worst hit was the Yushu Vocational School, where the officials Xinhua News Agency cited a local education official as saying 22 students died, 20 of them girls.

The destruction of schools was an eerie echo of the massive magnitude-7.9 quake that hit neighboring Sichuan province two years ago, leaving nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. Thousands of students among the dead were killed when their schools collapsed. Poor design, shoddy construction and the lax enforcement of building codes were found to be rampant.

However, in affected areas of Qinhai this week most of the buildings fell, unlike in Sichuan where schools collapsed while buildings around them remained standing, giving the impression that schools were built to lower standards.

Source : http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdspdDB0WaMv_An4A-NvHB_DwmCwD9F380BO0

Government faces cut motion in House

The UPA government's strength in the Lok Sabha may be put to test when Parliament resumes for the second phase of the Budget  session today with the opposition planning to move a cut motion on price rise.

While the Congress is seeing the opposition's plan to move a cut motion as its biggest threat, the UPA will have to fight the onslaught of a united opposition on several other issues as the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will move the Finance Bill today.

However, Parliamentary Affairs minister P K Bansal has appealed to the opposition to support smooth running of Parliament.

"Yes we may just have a wafer thin majority but we have a majority this is known and we can't understand why the opposition is behaving like this stalling and destabilising the government," Bansal said.

He added that, "We would appeal to every member that in view of the progress the country has made, in view of the quick recovery that we've registered after the economic downturn the world over. So all members should be supporting the government's move on that."

Source : http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/government-faces-cut-motion-in-house-20028.php

Cong in tizzy as Digvijay slams 'rigid, arrogant' PC on Naxal ops

Senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Wednesday slammed home minister P Chidambaram, saying he treated Naxalism as a "law and order problem", leading the leadership to frown upon the washing of policy linen in public on the sensitive issue.

In a newspaper article on Wednesday, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister called Chidambaram "rigid" and ridden with "intellectual arrogance" as he railed against what he called the "narrow sectarian" approach of the home minister to Maoist insurgency.

While Singh has been disapproving of Chidambaram's strong campaign against Naxalites, his comments sent Congress into a tizzy, in the aftermath of the Dantewada massacre. "Congress is a democratic party. Everyone has a right to express his views but such views should be expressed in party fora only," Janardan Dwivedi, Singh's colleague and the party's chief spokesperson.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Congress-in-tizzy-as-Digvijay-slams-rigid-arrogant-PC-on-Naxal-ops/articleshow/5805320.cms

Rethink counter-Maoist strategy

The recent incident in Dantewada wherein the Maoists killed 76 CRPF jawans has triggered a heated debate about the establishment on one side and the Naxalites on the other. One section calls for strong action against the Naxalites, even calling them terrorists and urging the use of armed forces against them, while others defend the action of the Naxalites to the extent of justifying it.

Hours and hours have been spent on the debate by many people, be it senior politicians , journalists or political analysts. I doubt if any one of them has ever been to Jagdalpur , leave alone Dantewada or Dandakarnya , which has almost come under the control of the Maoists. Both sides, I feel, are quite off the mark.

Maoists, at the most, are misguided ideologues who have lost faith in the system and feel that the only way to deliver is through the barrel of a gun. But the sheen of that political ideology appears to be wearing off when we see traders, forest contractors, industrialists and mining companies carrying on their business without a problem — in fact, quite merrily — in the Naxalite dominated areas.

The Maoists, simply, are collecting protection fees. Sometimes, we hear from Maoists sympathisers , who suspect that the real intent of the state's strong action against Maoists is to facilitate the mining giants that have signed MoUs with the state. But do we have an instance where Maoists have stopped mining operations in affected areas or have taken up the cause of the tribals for higher wages or better living and working conditions for them?

If they have done so sometimes, the issue has been resolved amicably after some deal was struck. Actually, the Maoists are thriving on collecting dues from forest and civil contractors, the mining industry and other industries in the affected zone. I am told that every state government employee posted in the affected area has to give a certain percentage of his pay to them. 

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5799305.cms