Emphasis will be on quick decisions, investments: Oil minister Veerappa Moily

NEW DELHI: Stepping into a ministry that had in recent times become notoriously indecisive, the new oil minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday promised quick decisions and creating an environment conducive for investment to flow in. Moily, 72, who replaced S Jaipal Reddy, said his priority would be to intensify domestic oil and gas exploration to reduce import dependence that had played havoc with inflation.

"Emphasis will be on quick decision making and innovation. Decisions should not be delayed. Delaying decisions will cost the nation. We do not want any delay in decisions," he said after taking charge.

Lauding his predecessor, under whom the ministry was accused of being indecisive and almost halting oil and gas exploration, Moily said Reddy had done "wonderful job, setting highest standard of probity in administration".

"Many a times it happens (that) you avoid taking decisions. That is not a solution. Avoiding or delaying decision is not a solution. And this is where we need to very seriously work on," said Moily, who was previously Minister for Power and Corporate Affairs.

Decisions, he said, would be taken keeping the national interest in mind and not to be "benefit one or two individuals or companies."

Laying out priorities, Moily said a conducive environment would be created for domestic and foreign companies to explore for oil and gas so as India's import dependence, which is at an alarming level of 80 per cent, is reduced.

Also, the vexed issue of losses state retailers suffer on selling fuel below cost will be addressed by bringing in efficiencies and not by cutting subsidies.

"Investment will have to be attracted through conducive policy environment... We need to create that kind of confidence with the investors that this is the country that (should be their) investment destination," Moily said.

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SC refuses to hear pleas against Sachin Tendulkar's nomination to Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: A plea for transfer of two petitions pending in different high courts to the apex court against nomination of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha was dismissed on Monday by the Supreme Court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said, "This is not a fit case to be entertained."

The bench also comprising justices S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar expressed its displeasure that the matter has been brought to the apex court.

"We are dismissing it," the bench said. The apex court's order came on the plea of former Delhi MLA Ram Gopal Singh Sisodia for transfer of the two petitions pending in the Delhi and the Allahabad high courts against nomination of Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha.

Sisodia had moved the apex court saying there is likelihood of conflicting judgements from the two high courts.

Sisodia had earlier challenged Sachin's nomination before the Delhi high court on the ground that the cricketer does not have any of the qualifications prescribed under the Constitution for being nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

He had contended that Constitution allowed the government to nominate people to the Rajya Sabha only from four categories - arts, science, social science and literature. The selection of a sports person was unconstitutional, he had said.

While refusing to restrain Sachin Tendulkar from taking oath as Rajya Sabha member, a division bench of the Delhi high court on May 16 had asked additional solicitor General A S Chandhiok to get instructions from the government as to whether the sports category was covered under the Constitution for nominating a sports person to the Rajya Sabha

Earlier on May 14, the Supreme Court had refused to quash 39-year-old batting maestro's nomination to the Upper House and had asked Sisodia to rather approach the high court with his plea.

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Former Punjab MLA Malkit Singh Keetu shot at, dies on way to hospital

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab MLA Malkit Singh Keetu on Monday died after he was shot at allegedly by his nephew in Moga district over a property dispute, a senior police official said.

67-year-old Keetu died while being taken to hospital, Moga's senior superintendent of police, Surjit Singh told over phone.

The incident occurred at Bilaspur village under Nihalsingh Wala in Moga on Monday morning, he said.

The SSP said that Keetu, a former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA from Barnala, used to live in his house in Bilaspur and in Barnala.

He said that Keetu's two nephews Harpreet and Jaspreet arrived at his Moga house on Monday morning.

"Keetu had just come out after taking a bath. He had a towel wrapped around him when his two nephews reached there and entered into altercation with him. The two were accompanied by three more accomplices.

"In the altercation over some property dispute, Harpreet pumped bullets from a .315 bore pistol. Keetu died while he was being taken to hospital," he said.

A case has been registered and further investigations were under progress, the SSP added.

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Protest erupts in Tamil Nadu over Kudankulam nuclear power plant

CHENNAI: Thousands of anti-nuclear activists thronged to the streets in Chennai on Monday in an attempt to lay siege to the state assembly as mark of protest against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

Protest against the power plant has only intensified over the past year, while nuclear fuel has already been loaded in the plant that is awaiting approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for commissioning.

Activists from various political groups and anti-nuclear bodies shouted slogans against the federal and state government, urging them to shutdown the plant permanently.

"Throughout Tamil Nadu, the state government has arrested hundreds and thousands of people to prevent them to come to Chennai to stage this programme. Inspite of that thousands of people have gathered here. We want that the Kudankulam nuclear plant should be closed, once and for all.

"The 144 applied in the area the surrounding places should be lifted. All the false cases forged against the people who are protesting against Kudankulam nuclear plant should be taken back and all those who are arrested should be released," said a protester.

The Kudankulam plant will provide 2 gigawatts of electricity-enough to power millions of Indian homes and relieve a power crisis in Tamil Nadu. More nuclear plants are planned.

The Kudankulam power plant is the first nuclear project to near completion after the Fukushima disaster.

Unable to rely on a coal sector crippled by supply shortages and mired in scandals, India is pushing ahead with constructing nuclear reactors despite global jitters over safety.

Hundreds of millions of Indians still live without power and factories suffer frequent blackouts - an embarrassment to India's aspirations as an emerging economic powerhouse.

The plant was first agreed in 1988, in the twilight years of the Soviet Union, in a deal between then-President Mikhail Gorbachev and India's prime minister of the day, Rajiv Gandhi.

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Mild tremor felt in parts of Andhra Pradesh

HYDERABAD: A mild intensity earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter Scale jolted parts of Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

"It was a 3.8 magnitude earthquake and its epicentre was 20 km west of Narasaraopet in Andhra Pradesh or 25 km east of Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir," CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) chief scientist R K Chadha told PTI.

The tremor were felt for some seconds in the districts of Prakasam, Nalgonda, Guntur, Khammam and Krishna at around 11 AM, Chadha said.

There were no immediate report of any casualty. "This kind of moderate earthquake in the Indian Peninsular Shield can go up to magnitude of 5," he said.

"Now we are passing through a seismically active period globally. Throughout the world we are seeing an increase in earthquakes of magnitude of 8.5 and above. Clustering of large earthquake is happening at global scale," Chadha said.

"When you are in a seismically active period globally you will also observe an increase in smaller magnitude earthquake activity," he added.

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Manish Tewari becomes minister after 31-year association with Congress

NEW DELHI: Though a first time MP, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari has a long association of nearly 31 years with Congress since joining its youth wing in 1981.

The 47-year-old leader was seen as a strong defence line of the Congress in JPC on 2G to counter BJP onslaught.

Tewari, who was the president of Indian Youth Congress from 1998 to 2000, lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls but successfully contested the 2009 general elections from Ludhiana by defeating Shiromani Akali Dal's candidate Gurcharan Singh Galib by a margin of over one lakh votes.

During his pre-university days, he joined youth wing of Congress and rose to become its All India Youth President before becoming the Secretary of AICC and was appointed as its Spokesperson in 2008.

Tewari comes from an eminent Punjabi family. His father V N Tewari, a professor of Punjab University, was part of the freedom movement and was killed by terrorists in 1984, few months before Operation Blue Star.

Tewari's grandfather Sardar Tirath Singh too was an advocate and Minister in the Congress government in Punjab.

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Two suicide bombers attack north Nigeria Catholic church

KADUNA: Two suicide bombers drove vehicles packed with explosives into a Catholic church in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing and wounding several, witnesses said.

The bombers both managed to get inside the packed St Rita's church, in volatile ethnically and religiously mixed Kaduna, said witness Linus Lighthouse, who survived the blasts.

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Three killed in bomb blast near Sufi shrine in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: At least three people were killed and 25 others injured when a bomb planted in a bicycle exploded outside a Sufi shrine in northwestern Pakistan today.

The police said the remote-controlled bomb was planted in the bicycle near Kaka Sahib Shrine in Nowshera city.

A large number of people were present at the time of the blast a fair was organised near the shrine.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti have strongly condemned the bomb blast.

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Earthquake jolts Kashmir Valley, no casualties reported

SRINAGAR: An earthquake of modern intensity today shook Kashmir Valley sparking panic among residents but there were no reports of any damage or casualties. The quake, measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale, struck at 1741 hours and lasted nearly 10 seconds, officials said. Terrified residents rushed out of their houses but there were no reports of any damage to property or casualties, they said.

The epicentre of the tremor was in Hindukush region of Afghanistan.

On October 8, 2005, a devastating earthquake flattened vast swathes of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and many hamlets in the Valley along the LoC, killing thousands of people.

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Obama, Romney change campaign plans as US braces for superstorm

Hurricane Sandy is seen on the east coast of the United States in this NOAA handout satellite image taken on October 28, 2012. Hurricane Sandy could be the biggest storm to hit the United States mainland when it comes ashore, forecasters said.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney changed their campaign plans as millions of Americans along US east coast on Sunday braced themselves for possibly the worst "superstorm" in 100 years.

Local and state officials across the eastern seaboard have warned people to prepare for Hurricane Sandy that is expected to hit the US with its full might on late Sunday, and in some cases Monday.

At 5am (2.30pm India time), the US National Hurricane Center put the storm at about 260 miles (over 416km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The storm was moving parallel to the southeast US coast at about 13mph with 75mph sustained winds.

As the storm headed towards the national capital, Obama planned to leave Washington Sunday before the storm begins and reach rallies in Florida and Ohio, the Washington Post reported.

Romney's campaign too said that instead of hosting three events in Virginia Sunday, he would fly to the battleground state of Ohio.

Officials have blamed Sandy for at least 45 deaths as it spun northward from the Caribbean, according to CNN. That figure includes 29 people in Haiti, 16 more in Cuba, Jamaica, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Computer models predict portions of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia could see up to a foot of rain, according to the CNN weather unit. And even though it's still October, communities in and around the Appalachian Mountains could be socked by heavy snow.

The impending storm disrupted the rhythms of an otherwise warm fall on Saturday, as utility crews up and down the East Coast worked overtime to prepare, and hordes of anxious shoppers crowded into supermarkets and supply stores, according to the Post.

Federal officials said that they expected the storm to create damaging flood and wind conditions across a vast and densely-populated portion of the US, from Virginia to New England, and as far west as the Great Lakes.

In the Washington region, the Post's weatherman expected the worst of the storm to begin on Monday, bringing as much as six inches of rain and causing wind gusts of as high as 60mph.

Washington DC mayor Vincent Gray and the governors of Maryland and Virginia already have declared states of emergency.

In New York City, mayor Michael Bloomberg advised residents and visitors to stay out of the parks. Construction sites also were ordered shut down.

In New Jersey, governor Chris Christie declared a pre-emptive state of emergency and ordered evacuation of most barriers islands south of Sandy Hook, including Atlantic City and its 12 casinos, according to the Star-Ledger.

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