Budget 2013-14 would focus on cutting wasteful expenses, hints Chidambaram

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Oct 13, 2012, 04.45PM IST

TOKYO: After announcing a slew of reform measures to revive growth, finance minister P Chidambaram has indicated that the Budget for 2013-14 would focus on cutting wasteful expenses and promoting investments.

"We must have a budget that emphasises fiscal consolidation and incentivises savings, promotes investment and cuts out wasteful expenditure," he told Bloomberg Television here on Friday.

However, he added the government's key social welfare programmes will be fully protected.

Chidambaram and Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao are here for the IMF-World Bank meeting.

In the face of rising food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies, containing high fiscal deficit is a key challenge for the government.

Though the fiscal deficit target for 2012-13 has been pegged at 5.1 per cent of the GDP, economists feel that it may be difficult for the government to stick to the Budget estimates.

On the warnings by global agencies about the possibility of the country's rating being downgraded, Chidambaram said, he was "absolutely certain" that India's credit rating won't be downgraded.

Earlier this week, Standard and Poor's (S&P) had warned that India's sovereign credit rating may be cut to junk grade within two years if steps are not taken to check fiscal deficit and improve investment climate.

In the backdrop of a slowdown and demand for cut in interest rates, the finance minister said: "Rates must come down and if the fiscal policy steps that we are taking encourage the central bank to take monetary policy action which will result in lower interest rates, I think that will be good".

The RBI is scheduled to unveil its second quarter review of the credit policy on October 30 amidst expectations of cut in the benchmark interest rate.

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Iranian authorities detain 29 fishermen from TN, Kerala

KANYAKUMARI: Twenty-nine fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Kerala were today detained by Iranian authorities for allegedly violating maritime boundary while fishing near Qatar.

"Due to the rough weather, they crossed the Qatar border and entered into Iran. The 29 fishermen were detained in IKKISH island of Iran," P Justin Antony, founder-president, Tamil Nadu Fishermen Development Trust, said in a statement here.

Listing out the names of those detained by the Iranian authorities, he said, Indian Embassy officials had met the detained fishermen in jail.

He appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee to take necessary steps for the release of the fishermen.

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Fourteen monks were lynched by an angry crowd in 1611 beatified in Prague

PRAGUE: AFP Fourteen monks of the Order of Friars Minor, lynched by an angry crowd in 1611 after coming to then-Protestant Prague to preach Catholicism, were beatified in Prague on Saturday.

Vicar Frederic Bachstein and his 13 companions were given the honorific of "blessed" in St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In a letter, local clerics described the killing as "a memento which, even after four centuries, can help understand more deeply certain historic rifts between the Catholics and Protestants and heal them."

Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree to beatify the Italian, German, Czech, Spanish, French and Dutch monks on May 10 in the first such ceremony to be held in the Prague archdicese.

The 14 friars came to the monastery of Our Lady of the Snows in Prague, where nine in ten people were Protestants, in 1604.

They were killed on February 15, 1611, when a crowd invaded the monastery at a time of religious clashes in the run-up to the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).

Before the ceremony, their bones were lifted from their graves in Our Lady of the Snows church in Prague to be analysed by scientists.

The beatification process was launched soon after their deaths but was only finished four centuries later, largely for political reasons including the totalitarian Communist rule in former Czechoslovakia from 1948-1989, which banned all churches.

"Our brothers came to a destroyed and desecrated place" in 1604, Jeronym Jurka, minister provincial of the order, told reporters this week, adding his order had found the monastery in a similar state after Communism had been toppled 20 years ago.

"Like four centuries ago, we live in an environment where we are a minority... and which is no longer hostile but rather indifferent," he said, referring to the fact that the Czech Republic ranks among Europe's least religious countries.

A 2011 census showed Roman Catholics were the strongest religious group in the Czech Republic with more than a million believers.

But almost five million Czechs or half of the population left the religion column empty, while 3.6 million said they were non-believers.

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Christian girl blasphemy case: Pak court frees cleric on bail

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani cleric, who falsely accused a minor Christian girl of blasphemy, has been freed from jail after he was granted bail by a court here.

Khalid Chishti, who planted evidence that was used against the girl Rimsha Masih, was detained on September 1. He was held after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two other men gave statements that Chishti had framed Masih.

Subsequently, two of the witnesses withdrew their statements and a court accepted Chishti's application for bail. He was freed yesterday on a bond of Rs 200,000.

Masih spent three weeks in jail following her arrest on August 16.

After being freed on bail, she and her family were taken by authorities to an undisclosed location for security reasons.

The girl's case has also been transferred to a juvenile court after a medical board concluded that she was 14 and that her mental development did not correspond with her age.

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Private buses to be off roads in Kerala from Oct 29

KOCHI: Private bus operators in Kerala would withdraw services from October 29 midnight demanding hike in bus fares.

The All Kerala Bus Operators Co-ordination Committee, comprising eight organisations, which met here today, took a decision to this effect.

Briefing reporters, T Gopinath, Coordination committee general secretary, said there is need to urgently hike the bus fares in the light of increase in diesel price.

The committee had on September 25 held discussions with Transport minister, Aryadan Mohammed on increasing fares. Government had sought time till October 10, he said.

"We are giving 15 more days to the government to take a decision on bus fare hike. Due to hike in diesel prices, the per day expenditure of each bus has gone up by Rs 600."

The committee has demanded raising the minimum fare to Rs 7 from Rs 5 and increasing student fares.

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Cauvery row: Vaiko, MDMK workers arrested for trying to picket NLC office

NEYVELI: MDMK leader Vaiko was arrested here on Friday when he and party workers tried to picket the Neyveli Lignite Corporation office here, demanding that the public sector unit stop power supply to Karnataka, which has stopped release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

Police said Vaiko and about 1000 party workers took out a procession and were arrested while on their way to the NLC office.

Speaking to reporters later, Vaiko slammed Karnataka for not releasing the required quantum of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as per the September 19 directive of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA), which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

"The Union government has not taken proper action against Karnatka," he said.

Karnataka had said it would not accept the Cauvery Monitoring Committee's decision on Thursday that Tamil Nadu should get 8.85 tmc of water between October 16 and 31.

The "award" of the committee is based on findings of a central team that visited Karnataka and Tamil Nadu last week.

In September, the CRA, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had directed Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu between September 20 and October 15.

Karnataka has urged the prime minister to review by October 12 the order of the CRA.

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UPA govt has become symbol of heartless govt: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: The UPA government has become a symbol of "heartless government" as it has failed to understand the pains of inflation borne by the common man, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

"The UPA government was brought to power by the common man but today it has failed to understand their pains. The government is hiking prices of petrol, diesel and has put a cap on LPG cylinders to six. This shows that it has become a symbol of heartless government," Jaitley said, addressing a demonstration by Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha on the issue of price hike of LPG and power tariff.

The leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha said the decision of putting a cap on the number of subsidised LPG cylinder to six per family shows that the Manmohan Singh government was far removed from reality.

The BJP leader also criticised the Delhi government for hiking power and water tariffs. He alleged that the government was looting the common man to provide benefits to private companies.

Asking people to root out the UPA government in the next general elections, Jaitley said as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that money does not grow on trees, now the electors will tell him that votes also does not grow on trees.

At the same venue, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the allies of the government were slowly leaving them and it is not going to last after winter session of Parliament.

There were no problem of supply of LPG cylinders during the NDA regime, she said.

Common man had got reprieve from rising inflation only twice -- first during Morarji Desai government and during the NDA regime, Swaraj said.

"They have CWG scam, 2G spectrum scam and scam in coal block allocation. The government is not worried about rising inflation and its effect on the common man," she said.

Among those who addressed the gathering include Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta, BJP leader Vijay Goel and leader of opposition in Delhi assembly V K Gupta.

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Indo-Bangla talks on for Agartala-Kolkata direct bus via Dhaka

AGARTALA: India is taking up with Bangladesh for a direct bus service From Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka, a top bureaucrat said today.

"We have proposed at the diplomatic level for a direct Agartala-Kolkata bus service via Dhaka considering the geographical isolation of many north eastern states including Tripura," Secretary of Ministry of Surface Transport and Highway, A K Upadhyay said.

The 1800 km distance between Agartala and Kolkata through Assam and Meghalaya would be reduced to 350 km by bus or road transport and could be covered in a day.

At present there were bus services from Agartala to Dhaka and Dhaka to Kolkata and vice versa, but no direct bus service.

Meanwhile, India completed the final survey for the 11.5 km railway line to link Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala, a project which New Delhi planned to implement for linking railways of the two countries, official sources said.

The Railway Ministry has started making the Detailed Project Report for the project and the central government has sanctioned Rs 2.52 crore for laying the railway track to connect West Bengal and Tripura through Bangladesh.

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, India and Bangladesh had agreed to lay railway lines between Akhaura and Agartala.

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India-Bangla talks on for Agartala-Kolkata direct bus via Dhaka

AGARTALA: India is taking up with Bangladesh for a direct bus service From Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka, a top bureaucrat said today.

"We have proposed at the diplomatic level for a direct Agartala-Kolkata bus service via Dhaka considering the geographical isolation of many north eastern states including Tripura," Secretary of Ministry of Surface Transport and Highway, A K Upadhyay said.

The 1800 km distance between Agartala and Kolkata through Assam and Meghalaya would be reduced to 350 km by bus or road transport and could be covered in a day.

At present there were bus services from Agartala to Dhaka and Dhaka to Kolkata and vice versa, but no direct bus service.

Meanwhile, India completed the final survey for the 11.5 km railway line to link Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala, a project which New Delhi planned to implement for linking railways of the two countries, official sources said.

The Railway Ministry has started making the Detailed Project Report for the project and the central government has sanctioned Rs 2.52 crore for laying the railway track to connect West Bengal and Tripura through Bangladesh.

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, India and Bangladesh had agreed to lay railway lines between Akhaura and Agartala.

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106 soldiers killed as Syrian rebels go on attack: Watchdog

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels killed 14 soldiers in an attack on an army post in Daraa province today, a watchdog said, a day after the army suffered 92 losses, the highest daily total of the 19-month conflict.

Six rebels were also killed in today's attack on the army checkpoint at Khirba in the southern province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that fighting also raged in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.

The Britain-based watchdog said yesterday had marked one of the deadliest days of fighting since an anti-regime revolt erupted in March last year, with at least 240 people killed across the country, including the 92 soldiers, 67 rebel fighters and 81 civilians.

Of the soldiers killed yesterday, 36 died in fighting in Idlib province, where much of the fiercest clashes have taken place over the past three months.

Regime war planes today attacked two buildings in the Idlib town of Maaret al-Numan, where intense fighting has raged since rebels overran it on Tuesday after a fierce 48-hour gunbattle, the Observatory said.

An AFP reporter said that the rebels, by gaining control of a stretch of highway near Maaret al-Numan, were on Thursday able to cut off the route linking Damascus to Aleppo, choking the flow of troops to battlefields in the north.

In Aleppo province, rebels attacked a large air defence battalion on the highway connecting Aleppo to Raqa province, further to the east, near to the Kweris military airport, according to the Observatory.

"The rebels attacked the air force battalion after midnight and the clashes went on until dawn, but the rebels definitely did not gain control of the post," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by phone.

Rebels suffered a number of casualties, but immediate figures were not available.

Military airports have been a key target for the rebels as the army has increasingly deployed war planes and helicopter gunships to launch devastating strikes.

In Aleppo city, regime forces pounded the districts of Haidariyeh in the northeast and Sukari and Fardoss in the southwest at dawn, as fierce fighting broke out in Sakhur, Suleiman al-Halabi and Sheikh Khodr in the northeast.

More than 32,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, according to the Observatory, which compiles its data from a network of activists, medics and lawyers on the ground.

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Farmers call off Jan Satyagraha protest march after deal with Jairam Ramesh

AGRA: Thousands of poor farmers have ended their march to Delhi after the government agreed to formulate a new reform policy, providing land rights to them and fast tracking settlement of their land disputes.

The protesters or Jan Satyagrahis from nearly a dozen states set out on a 320-kilometre (200-mile) march from Gwalior nine days ago under the banner of "Ekta Parishad," or "Unity Council," and planned to reach New Delhi at the end of the month.

On Thursday, their leader, P V Rajagopal, said he had signed an agreement with rural development inister Jairam Ramesh, giving the government six months to implement their demands.j

Rajagopal called off the march at a public rally in Agra.

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Congress targets Bhushans over land in Himachal Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday targeted India Against Corruption (IAC) member and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan and his family members over land in Himachal Pradesh allegedly acquired by an educational society linked to him at a concessional price.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajeev Shukla said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Himachal Pradesh had given away the land in Palampur worth several crores of rupees to the educational society for just a few lakhs. Some members of the Bhushan family are part of the trust.

"But no work has taken place on the land, which is a garden land. It was given away to the educational society at a cheap rate. If this is not corruption, what is?" Shukla asked.

He told reporters here that the matter was raised by Congress legislators in Himachal Pradesh, but no action had been initiated by the state government.

Reacting to Shukla's allegations, Prashant Bhushan's father Shanti Bhushan said his family had committed no wrongdoing. The allotment was made after due legal processes were adhered to, he said.

"Let the government order a probe and investigate the matter thoroughly. We are ready to be probed," Shanti Bhushan, also a senior lawyer, said. The father and son are key members of the IAC.

The Congress has come under attack in recent days from IAC, whose member Arvind Kejriwal has targeted party chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra over his business deals with realty major DLF.

Kejriwal suggested there was a quid pro quo in the Vadra-DLF deals for land allotted to the company by the Congress-ruled Haryana government.

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Mob ransacks house of Pak Christian boy accused of blasphemy

KARACHI: A mob led by Islamic clerics ransacked the home of a teenage Christian boy in Pakistan's Karachi city and set fire to furniture and some other household articles after he was accused of sending text messages with blasphemous content, a media report said on Thursday.

The incident occurred in the staff colony of the Sui Southern Gas Company, a middle-class neighbourhood in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, on Wednesday.

The mob ransacked the Christian boy's home and set furniture on fire.

Police said the boy was accused by local residents of sending text messages containing blasphemous content to employees and officers of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) at the residential-cum-office compound, the Dawn newspaper reported.

After the news circulated among residents of the colony, a mob attacked the quarter of 16-year-old Ryan Stanten.

His mother, Rubina Bryan, works as a superintendent in Sui Southern Gas Company.

The boy and his mother were unharmed as they had left the quarter the previous night due to tension in the area.

The SMS was allegedly sent to local residents on Tuesday night.

"Had they not left the house, the situation could have been really bad," a senior police officer told the daily.

The mob ransacked the house and set fire to household articles, including a washing machine and a fridge, after bringing them out on the road.

The protesters shouted slogans against the Christian family.

The SMS was allegedly passed on by the teenager on his cell phone on Tuesday. After receiving it, some local residents had gone to the boy and asked him about it.

He told them that he had forwarded the SMS after he had himself received it, according to DIG Shahid Hayat.

"Ryan told complainant Khursheed Alam and Pesh Imam Qari Ghulam Qadir of the SSGC Jamia Mosque that someone sent him this SMS and he forwarded it to all Muslim friends without reading it," said Hayat.

After the mayhem, police reached the scene and tried to appease the protesters by assuring them that a case would be registered.

"We reached the scene and talked sense to some clerics who were leading the protest," a police officer said.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered against the boy under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 25 of the Telegraph Act.

Section 295 of the PPC is part of the harsh blasphemy law.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chief Zohra Yousaf described the incident as "very dangerous" as Christians were being targeted.

"At least 22 blasphemy cases have been reported in the country this year alone, in which Muslim accused are more in number compared to the Christians," she said.

In August, teenage Christian girl Rimsha Masih was falsely accused of blasphemy by a cleric in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Islamabad.

She was released by the court and moved to an undisclosed location for security reasons after witnesses told a magistrate that the cleric had planted evidence to implicate her.

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Mob ransacks house of Pak Christian boy accused of blasphemy

KARACHI: A mob led by Islamic clerics ransacked the home of a teenage Christian boy in Pakistan's Karachi city and set fire to furniture and some other household articles after he was accused of sending text messages with blasphemous content, a media report said today.

The incident occurred in the staff colony of the Sui Southern Gas Company, a middle-class neighbourhood in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, yesterday.

The mob ransacked the Christian boy's home and set furniture on fire.

Police said the boy was accused by local residents of sending text messages containing blasphemous content to employees and officers of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) at the residential-cum-office compound, the Dawn newspaper reported.

After the news circulated among residents of the colony, a mob attacked the quarter of 16-year-old Ryan Stanten.

His mother, Rubina Bryan, works as a superintendent in Sui Southern Gas Company.

The boy and his mother were unharmed as they had left the quarter the previous night due to tension in the area.

The SMS was allegedly sent to local residents on Tuesday night.

"Had they not left the house, the situation could have been really bad," a senior police officer told the daily.

The mob ransacked the house and set fire to household articles, including a washing machine and a fridge, after bringing them out on the road.

The protesters shouted slogans against the Christian family.

The SMS was allegedly passed on by the teenager on his cell phone on Tuesday. After receiving it, some local residents had gone to the boy and asked him about it.

He told them that he had forwarded the SMS after he had himself received it, according to DIG Shahid Hayat.

"Ryan told complainant Khursheed Alam and Pesh Imam Qari Ghulam Qadir of the SSGC Jamia Mosque that someone sent him this SMS and he forwarded it to all Muslim friends without reading it," said Hayat.

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Yemen security chief at US Embassy killed in Sanaa

SANAA, Yemen: Yemeni security officials say a gunman has assassinated the Yemeni chief of security at the US Embassy in Sanaa.

The officials say Qassem Aqlani, who was in his fifties, was shot dead while on his way to work early on Thursday. They say a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire at him and fled the scene.

Aqlani had been working for the US Embassy in the Yemeni capital for nearly 20 years.

The Yemeni officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack comes as Yemen's US-backed government is waging an offensive against al-Qaida's branch in the country, taking back territory and cities in the south that the terror group seized last year.

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India becoming more important on G20 stage: US Fed chief Bernanke

The author has posted comments on this articleReuters | Oct 10, 2012, 02.27PM IST

MUMBAI: India is becoming a more important player on the G20 stage, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday after meeting with RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao.

The Fed chief, along with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, is on a two-day visit to India to participate in the third annual US-India Economic and Financial Partnership Meeting. This is the first time a serving US Fed chief is visiting India.

On Tuesday, Geithner welcomed New Delhi's new-found appetite for economic reform, barely three months after Washington had voiced concern about India's deteriorating investment climate.

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EC gives common symbol to candidates of 2 unrecognised parties

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has accepted the demand of two registered unrecognised political parties in Himachal Pradesh and granted them the concession of allotting a common symbol to their candidates in the November 4 assembly polls.

The Commission has allotted the election symbol of 'Telephone' to candidates of Himachal Lokhit Party, which has fielded its candidates in all the 68 assembly constituencies in the state and 'Television' as symbol for candidates of Himachal Swabhiman Party, which has fielded candidates in 45 constituencies.

Unrecognised political parties are normally not allowed a common symbol for their candidates. The concession of allotment of common symbols to these new parties has been done by EC under the provisions of Para 10B of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. It has also directed concerned Returning Officers to allot the common symbol to candidates of the two parties subject to fulfilment of provisions of the Order.

In case of Himachal Swabhiman Party, a fast track court in Shimla has passed an ad-interim injunction order restraining Subhash Sharma from carrying out activities in the capacity of President of the party till October 15, 2012, which will also be considered before allotting symbols.

The Himachal Lokhit Party has been floated by BJP dissidents led by former MP Maheshwar Singh and will contest all 68 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.

The Himachal Swabhiman Party was launched by BJP's once political strategist Govindacharya in the hill state, aimed at providing a third alternative in the political scenario of the state.

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Cauvery row: Tamil Nadu files contempt plea against Karnataka CM in SC

Cauvery row: TN files contempt plea against K'taka CM in SC

NEW DELHI: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking launch of contempt of court proceeding against Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar and others for allegedly defying the court's order to supply 9,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river to the state.

In its application filed through counsel Umapathi Ganesh, Tamil Nadu contended that Karnataka has deliberately violated the apex court's September 28 directive to supply water to the state and hence has committed wilful contempt of the court.

Tamil Nadu said despite the apex court's order, Karnataka has stopped the water supply, pushing the state to a further distressed situation.

On the last date of hearing, Karnataka counsel Fali S Nariman had told the court that the state will not be able to release any more water.

"It is physically impossible to release water. There is already a surplus of 13,000 cusecs," he had said without elaborating.

The apex court's September 28 order had come after the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) meeting of September 19 had failed to produce a solution as both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had rejected the award of 9,000 cusecs of water by the PM-headed panel to save the standing crops in the delta region.

Tamil Nadu had subsequently moved the apex court for a directive to Karnataka.

The CRA, headed by the Prime Minister, comprises chief ministers of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.

In an earlier application, Tamil Nadu had said during the current irrigation year 2012-2013, though the south west monsoon is not vigorous in the Cauvery catchment of Karnataka, the state of Karnataka has received 21.9 TMCft of inflow in its four major reservoirs up to July 20.

"But it has not shared the water with Tamil Nadu. Instead it started building up the storages in its 4 major reservoirs and letting water in the canals of Krishna Raja Sagar for irrigation with the result that the state of Tamil Nadu has been deprived of its due share of water as per the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal," the application had said.

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Rs one crore donation to Sanawar school by Sukhbir Badal under HC lens

CHANDIGARH: Donation of Rs one crore to country's one of oldest and 'elite' boarding school--- Lawrence School Sanawar by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has come under the lens of Punjab and Haryana high court, which on Wednesday issued notice to Punjab government seeking their reply on the decision of releasing the said amount to the school.

Division bench of the HC comprising Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice R K Jain has issued notice to state government after hearing a public interest litigation filed by Ex-MLA, Sukhpal Singh Khaira. Petitioner has sought direction to the government of Punjab to withdraw Rs One Crore cheque given by Deputy CM to the school.

The petitioner submitted that in the annual plan for 2012-13 published by Punjab government, an amount of Rs. 1 crore was kept for 'Punjab Nirman Programme', which was to be spent on different development activities such as Municipal Corporation Roads, Installation of Tube wells, Development of Historical villages, sports stadiums, Water Supply Schemes etc.

Counsel for the petitioner, HC Arora argued that Sanawar school neither made any request for any financial assistance, nor it could be imagined that such a rich/elite school would require funds from Punjab government. However, the Deputy CM just to show his status and powers, being ex-student of the said School, doled out an amount of Rs. 1 crore, which was handed over by him to the Principal of said School, on October 4.

"Thousands of government schools in Punjab are in a pitiable condition, where students have to sit on the mats or on the floor, in the absence of furniture, they do not have money for uniforms/stationary; in some of the schools, even the teachers are arranging money out of donations from the respectable of the concerned villages for purchasing uniforms/stationary etc. In the face of the such pitiable condition of the Schools in Punjab, the releasing Rs one crore by Sukhbir Singh Badal by way of a token of his pleasure, and for enhancing his status and prestige amongst the elite students of 'The Lawrence School, Sanawar', cannot legalize/legitimize his aforesaid action," counsel argued.

On petitioner's request for restraining the encashment of said cheque, Advocate General (AG) Punjab, Ashok Aggarwal who was present during the hearing of the case suggested that he himself would ensure that if the cheque has not been encashed so far, it would not be encashed hereafter. AG also informed that the decision to give Rs one crore to the school was the decision of cabinet, not the decision of Sukhbir alone.

AG further submitted that even if the cheque is encashed before now, the funds will not be utilized by the Lawrence School, Sanawar, and those funds will be kept separately at the disposal of the High Court.

Now, the case would come up for further hearing on November 1.

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Magnitude-5.8 earthquake hits Costa Rica, no reports of damage

MEXICO CITY: Seismologists say a magnitude-5.8 earthquake has shaken Costa Rica. There are no immediate reports of damage.

The US Geological Survey says the quake occurred at 6:19 a.m. (8:19 EST; 12:19 GMT) and was centered eight miles (14 kilometers) north-northeast of the town of Nicoya. The epicenter was about 22 miles (35 kilometers) below the surface.

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Probe Prashant Bhushan's land purchase in Himachal: Congress

SHIMLA: The opposition Congress in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday demanded an inquiry into the allotment of land meant for tea plantation in the state to India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Prashant Bhushan.

It sought a probe into possible violations of statutory provisions and administrative procedures for the land transferred to him in Palampur in Kangra district, some 250 km from the state capital, by the Bharatiya Janata Party government.

"We want an independent inquiry into the land transferred to Prashant Bhushan in 2010," former state cabinet minister and senior Congress leader Harsh Mahajan said here.

The Congress' assertion came a day after the IAC asked how Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Vadra was allowed to buy property near Shimla, and which government had granted the permission.

Mahajan asked Bhushan, a Supreme Court lawyer, to clarify his motive in buying the land in the state, where land is limited and there is an embargo on outsiders buying it without government permission.

"How was Bhushan allowed to buy the property? The (state) government must clarify," Mahajan said.

A senior government functionary said that Bhushan's Kumud Bhushan Educational Society was allowed to buy 4.68 hectares of land for the construction of an educational institution on February 2, 2010.

Revenue minister Gulab Singh, in reply to a question, told the state assembly in the last winter session "from Jan 1, 2008, to Nov 30, 2011, land use change" had been allowed under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act to allow Kumud Bhushan Educational Society of Kandbari (in Kangra district) for purchasing tea gardens.

He said the society was run by Prashant Bhushan.

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president and five-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh said, "There is a violation of the norms on change of land use (from cultivating tea to constructing a school building)".

According to a judicial commission report, which probed 'benami' (illegal) land transactions in the state from 2003 to 2011, it came to notice that land use of tea estates has been permitted by the state government without invoking the provision of the land ceiling act.

Justice DP Sood, former judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, headed the commission and submitted his 147-page report to the government last April.

Revenue officials said tea gardens in the state have been given special exemption under the ceiling law.

The ceiling fixed for tea gardens is 30 acres, whereas for irrigated lands producing two crops and one crop a year it is 10 acres and 15 acres, respectively.

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Farmers' suicide a serious issue, but numbers declining: Sharad Pawar

NEW DELHI: Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday termed farmers' suicide as a serious issue, but said such cases were showing a decline.

The government is focusing on increasing investment in agriculture as well as raising minimum support price (MSP) of crops to increase farmers' income, Pawar told the economic editors conference here.

"It is true that this is a serious issue before us. However, the percentage of farmers' suicide is coming down," the minister said replying to a query on farmers suicide.

Pawar said there are various reasons for suicides such as loss of crop due to drought, disease and other factors.

"Increase in MSP and other steps will help improve the situation of farmers'. The government is focusing more on improving farm investment," he added.

In support of his comments on declining number of farmers' suicide, Pawar said in Maharashtra there were 1,035 cases of farmers suicide due to agrarian reason in 2006. It came down to 800 in 2008, 700 in 2007 and then rose to 740 in 2010 before coming down to 480 in 2011 in the state.

"So far this year, the number of farmers suicides cases (in Maharashtra) reported are 168," he added.

Similarly, In Andhra Pradesh, the cases related to suicide by farmers stood at 757 in 2006, but declined to 196 in 2011, Pawar added.

According to the latest data presented by the government in Parliament during the recently concluded monsoon session, as many as 2,90,740 farmers committed suicide during 1995-2011 due to various reasons, including bankruptcy or sudden change in economic status and poverty.

The data has been quoted from the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) latest annual report on suicides, ADSI-2011 (accidental death and suicides in India).

As many as 152 farmer suicides were reported till August 2012 as against 14,027 during the entire period of last calender year, as per the latest government data.

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Hit-and-run case: Court rejects Salman Khan's plea to sell car

MUMBAI: A local court has rejected the plea of Bollywood actor Salman Khan seeking permission to sell his Toyota Land Cruiser car which he was driving during the hit-and-run case in 2002 in which one person was killed and four others sustained injuries.

The court on Monday rejected the application as the car is an evidence in the case and the trial is not over, said a police officer.

In March this year, Khan had filed an application in the Bandra metropolitan court seeking to sell his car as he does not need it any more.

Khan's Toyota Land Cruiser had rammed into a bakery in suburban Bandra killing one and injuring four others who were sleeping on a pavement on September 28, 2002.

The actor was booked on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. However, he had maintained that it was merely an accident and he did not have an intention to kill anyone.

The Bombay high court had held that Section 304 part II of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was not applicable in the case and the actor be tried under 304 A of IPC (rash and negligent driving) and other relevant sections.

The court had framed charges against Khan under sections 304 A of IPC (rash and negligent driving), 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing minor injuries), 338 (causing major injuries) and 427 (negligence).

Earlier this year, the police had again sought that Khan be tried for more serious charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder'. The application is still pending.

The trial in the case started in 2005 and the prosecution has examined 11 witnesses. However, two witnesses, Ravindra Patil his police bodyguard and Ramasray Pandey who witnessed the incident, turned hostile.

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China rejects US accusations against telecoms firms

The author has posted comments on this articleReuters | Oct 9, 2012, 07.55PM IST

BEIJING: China rejected on Tuesday as "groundless" US accusations that two top Chinese telecoms equipment makers posed a security risk.

The US House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee urged American companies on Monday to stop doing business with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL and ZTE Corp. 000063.SZ (0763.HK), warning that China could use equipment made by the companies to spy on certain communications and threaten vital systems through computerized links.

"This report by the relevant committee of the US Congress, based on subjective suspicions, no solid foundation and on the grounds of national security, has made groundless accusations against China," Shen Danyang, a spokesman for China's Commerce Ministry, said in a statement on the ministry's website.

The US recommendation would exclude Chinese businesses from carrying out their normal operations in the United States and participating in fair competition, Shen said.

"The Chinese side expresses its serious concern and strong opposition," he said.

The urging by the US congressional committee comes at a very sensitive time for US-China relations, ahead of the US presidential and congressional elections and a transition of power to a new leadership in China. It has raised fears of retaliation by China.

The statement from the ministry came a day after the Foreign Ministry said that Huawei and ZTE operated according to market rules. Both companies have denied the allegations in the report.

The congressional report violates the rules of the free market espoused by the United States, Shen said, adding that it was not conducive to cooperation between China and the United States.

"I hope the United States will abandon the practice of discrimination against Chinese companies, act on the open principles of cooperation to earnestly create a fair and equitable market environment for the businesses of the two countries, and promote the smooth development of Sino-US bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Shen said.

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Two men charged with attempted murder of Operation Bluestar hero K S Brar

Two men charged with attempted murder of K S Brar

LONDON: Two men have been charged with the attempted murder of Lieutenant General (retired) Kuldip Singh Brar, the hero of the 1984 Operation Bluestar, British police said on Monday.

Barjinder Singh Sangha, 33, of Wolverhampton and 34-year-old Mandeep Singh Sandhu of Great Barr, Birmingham will "appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court today," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

"Two men have been charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm on Lieutenant-General Kuldip Singh Brar in Old Quebec Street," the statement said.

Sangha has also been charged with common assault of Meena Brar, wife of Lt Gen Brar.

Brar, 78, who had led 'Operation Blue Star' in 1984 to flush out pro-Khalistan militants from the Golden Temple, was on a private visit here when he was attacked by four men, suspected to be Khalistan sympathisers, while he was returning to his hotel with his wife.

He suffered a wound on his neck and cheek but his wife was not injured in the attack.

The 10 other people held as part of the investigation had been bailed earlier.

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Shootout at Kamla market area of central Delhi kills one

Shootout at Kamla market area of central Delhi kills one

NEW DELHI: One person was killed and another injured in a shootout at the Kamla Market area of central Delhi Monday, police said.

"There has been a shootout. One man has been killed and another is injured," a police official said.

The attack took place in an area behind Zakir Hussain college.

The injured man has been admitted to LNJP hospital.

"The police were informed about the shootout around 11.45 a.m. The motive behind the attack or the identity of the attacker are not yet known," the official said.

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Congress, BJP leaders meet PM over Cauvery water row

NEW DELHI: Cutting across party lines, Congress and BJP leaders from Karnataka on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to voice concern over the decision of the Cauvery River Authority asking the state to provide Tamil Nadu with 9000 cusecs of water daily and sought a review.

Union ministers from Karnataka belonging to Congress and BJP MPs from the state held separate meetings with Singh where they tried to impress upon him about the "grim" situation in the state.

While Karnataka ministers, including S M Krishna, Mallikarjun Kharge and K H Muniyappa told the Prime Minister that the situation was "grim" in the state, BJP MPs demanded reviewing the order of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) which had asked the state to provide 9000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu between September 20 and October 15.

"We requested him to resolve the problem at the earliest...the situation is very grim. That is why we have asked the Prime Minister to resolve the situation," Kharge told reporters after the meeting.

He said the party leaders also explained to Singh the drinking water situation, particularly in Bangalore, Mandya, Hasan and Mysore as well as the standing crops which are facing water scarcity.

"Rainy season is over in Cauvery basin in Karnataka. Monsoon will begin in Tamil Nadu. The priority has to be drinking water, whichever is the state. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) has to place the factual situation. Based on that the Prime Minister will take a decision," Muniyappa said.

A central team is visiting the two states and will report to CMC which is meeting on October 11 to decide on the quantity of water to be released by Karnataka after October 15.

The BJP delegation comprising 16 MPs from Karnataka met Singh to inform him that the water level in the state's reservoirs was decreasing while the requirements have gone up.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, party MP Ananth Kumar said, "We have been releasing 21 tmcft of water for the last 20 days. Therefore, we urge the Prime Minister that he should review his decision and give a stay order forthwith for giving any more water from today itself."

Earlier today, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar met Krishna here amid demands by Karnataka leaders for a review of CRA's decision.

Last week, Krishna had written to the Prime Minister requesting him to stop further release of water to Tamil Nadu and to seek a report from the team that has been deputed to assess the water situation.

Krishna had said the situation was grim in Cauvery irrigation areas and also in Bangalore following depleted water levels in dams after release of water.

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Bomb explodes in Manipur, no casualty

IMPHAL: A powerful bomb suspected to be planted by insurgents exploded early this morning in Manipur's Imphal West district, official sources said.

The bomb, which did not cause any casualty, went off at 6:25 am at Moidangpok area where security and paramilitary personnel frequently passed while going to their camps at Langjing, about 20 km west of here, the sources said.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the blast.

Over 20 bombs have been set off by insurgents in different parts of Manipur in the past two months.

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Earthquake of 6.3 magnitude strikes off eastern Indonesia

JAKARTA: An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck off the coast of eastern Indonesia on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

The quake struck 100 miles (140 km) southeast of the city of Ambon, at a depth of 21.6 miles (35 km), the USGS said.

An Indonesian meteorological service official said no tsunami was generated.

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Aleppo fighting rages, rebels routed in Damascus bastion

ALEPPO (SYRIA): Aleppo was shaken on Sunday by the heaviest fighting of an almost three-month offensive against rebels in Syria's second city, residents said, as the insurgents lost ground in the capital Damascus.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in yet another broadside against Syria, meanwhile, said President Bashar al-Assad should be replaced by Vice President Faruq al-Shara, whom he said "is a man of reason."

An AFP correspondent in Aleppo said warplanes were overflying the rebel-held Bab al-Hadid and Shaar neighbourhoods, where witnesses said fierce fighting had erupted.

"This is the worst fighting we've seen here since the beginning of the Aleppo war," a Bab al-Hadid resident in his mid-20s told AFP.

"From early morning ... there has been shelling on the area and clashes between the rebels in Bab al-Hadid and the army at the beginning of Arkoub district," which is located near the Hanano barracks.

"It looks like the army is trying to push the rebels as far as it can from the Hanano (military) barracks," the resident said, asking not to be named.

The military in July launched what it vowed would be the "mother of all battles" against rebels who had taken up positions inside Aleppo, Syria's commercial capital.

But the opposition has managed to keep regime troops at bay in a number of neighbourhoods while securing territory north of the city right up to the Turkish border.

As the fighting raged in Aleppo, Syrian state television said that government forces had pushed rebels out of two of their strongholds in Damascus province, Qudsaya and Hameh, where a watchdog said the bodies of 10 men were found. "Hameh and Qudsaya in Damascus province have been cleansed from the armed terrorists," the television said, using the regime's blanket term for the rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the government had taken control of Hameh and said the bodies of 10 men, at least one of them a rebel fighter, were found in the town.

On July 18, rebels carried out a massive bombing in Damascus, killing Assad's brother-in-law, the defence minister and a general.

Since then, regime forces have pushed the rebels to the outskirts of the capital but have lost control of several border crossings and are battling to fully retake Aleppo.

The Observatory also reported that regime forces on Sunday pounded the town of Tal-Abyad in the northern province of Raqa, which sits on the border with Turkey and is held by the rebels.

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Bengal Congress to launch political attack against Mamata government

KOLKATA: The Congress in West Bengal is set for an "all-out political attack" on the Trinamool Congress by launching a campaign focussed on the all-round benefits of foreign investment in multi-brand retail and was ready to play the role of an opposition against the Mamata Banerjee-led state government.

Terming the Trinamool chief's staunch opposition to foreign direct investment in retail as a customary practice of the West Bengal government, state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya said that "whenever something new is introduced then those in the government try to block it in Bengal".

"During the preceding Left Front regime when computer was introduced, the state government opposed it, while Karnataka gained from it. Later, the Left Front government tried to rope in IT investments. Trinamool will also one day support FDI," Bhattacharya told IANS in an interview.

"When foreign investment would start flowing in other states, the people would see its benefits and pitch for FDI in the retail sector."

Bhattacharya said that big players could capture hardly 40 percent of the retail market in India even if they gained access to all the states.

"Not a single small businessman will be eliminated from the market because of this. The economic situation of farmers will improve," he said.

"We will bring up these issues before the people and tell them what Mamata is saying is wrong."

Trinamool withdrew its support to the United Progressive Alliance government on issues like FDI in retail, diesel price hike and cap on number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders, saying the decisions would hurt the country. Bhattacharya, however, says that "people don't understand what FDI in multi-brand is".

"The retail trade in the state has gone up by 10 percent after big Indian companies like Spencer's and Reliance Fresh came to the market. How many people know that".

"How many people use cooking gas in villages or have an understanding of FDI?" he asked, saying Trinamool was misleading common people with their misinformed propaganda.

The state Congress chief said the party was ready to "play the role of an opposition".

"We will point out the mistakes of the ruling party and start a mass agitation. We will oppose the wrong bills brought by the government in the assembly," he said.

Bhattacharya said the regime has "completely failed" on the law and order front. Besides, crimes against women have gone up. "The police are not allowed to function impartially. The Trinamool is trying to control the police," he said.

Flaying the land acquisition policy of the government, the Congress leader said, "This will make it very difficult for them to woo investment. The land acquisition policy should be changed immediately, as it will hurt the developmental work in the state."

Rubbishing the government's claim of drawing huge investments to West Bengal, he demanded a white paper on the investment made in the state after the Trinamool took charge.

At the same time he lauded the state government for its handling of the situation in Darjeeling and the Maoist-affected western districts.

But despite the Congress being at loggerheads with the Trinamool, Bhattacharya ruled out any floor coordination with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) in the state assembly. "Our fight is as much against the CPM as against the Trinamool," he said.

On the Congress rejoining forces with the Trinamool in future, Bhattacharya said: "It is impossible to make such predictions in politics. In the given situation, there is no chance of the two parties coming close," he said.

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The Cauvery belt kept up the tempo on a holiday by protesting the release of water to TN

MYSORE/CHAMARAJANAGAR: The Cauvery belt kept up the tempo protesting the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu on Sunday.

Notwithstanding that it is holiday, agitators took out protest marches, staged sit-ins, held a bike rally and protested in the TN border. Women formed the majority of the agitators with different communities including Brahmins, Vishwakarmas and Christians joining the issue. A rally of the members of various co-operative institutions was held that was joined by some 800 protestors. Christians gathered at historical St Philomena's Cathedral and marched through the main streets to mark their protest. It was led by bishop of Mysore Thomas A Vazhapilly with Muslim religion leaders joining him.

Women organizations too protested with activists of the Self-Help Groups holding empty plastic pots. Villagers from Kumbar Koppal led by former MLC D Madegowda held a padayatra and a bike rally.

At Chamarajnagar, Kannada activists protested at Punajanur checkpost which forms the border with Tamil Nadu. Goods vehicles are parked at the checkpost to cross over to the neighbouring state even as the cops have beefed up security. The KSRTC is operating buses from the border area which has come as a saving grace to people across the border who want to reach Chamarajnagar, Mysore, Bangalore and Shimoga. They are crossing over the checkpost and taking the KSRTC buses to reach their destinations.

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President must not attend Belgaum Vidhan Bhavan opening: Shiv Sena

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday urged President Pranab Mukherjee not to attend the inauguration of the Vidhan Bhavan building in Belgaum on October 11.

Uddhav said that the president should respect the sentiments of Marathi speaking people of "Karnataka occupied Maharashtra" of Belgaum, Karwar and other Marathi-dominated areas.

"This is a disputed area and the matter is sub judice. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan should check if inauguration of the building amounts to contempt of court. We reiterate our demand that the disputed areas be declared a union territory till the dispute is settled by the Supreme Court," he said.

Chavan should also take up the matter with the president and prevail upon him not to inaugurate the building, he said.

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Americans in Islamabad warned over possible terror attacks

ISLAMABAD: The US on Sunday warned its nationals in Islamabad to avoid several areas of the city citing an alert issued by Pakistani authorities regarding possible terrorist attacks.

Pakistan's interior ministry has "issued a general threat alert on possible terrorist attacks in Islamabad today", said a message posted on the US embassy's website.

Pakistani authorities had indicated that the possible attacks could target "key government installations in the downtown area of Islamabad known as the 'Red Zone' and the Marriott Hotel, Serena Hotel, Holiday Inn, Best Western and Margalla Motel", the message said.

The US embassy advised American citizens to "avoid these areas, remain vigilant, keep a low profile, and continue to exercise caution while in Pakistan".

There was no official word from Pakistani authorities. Last month, the US state department warned Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Pakistan.

It said protests had taken place across Pakistan against the US, International Security Assistance Force and Nato, and there had been widespread demonstrations condemning drone strikes and Pakistan's decision to reopen Nato transit routes to Afghanistan.

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