L A T E S T      N E W S

SM Krishna resigns ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna resigned on Friday ahead of the reshuffle of the Union Cabinet scheduled on Sunday.

The 80-year-old leader from Karnataka is believed to have sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the afternoon, sources said.

Indications are that with the Assembly elections due before next May in Karnataka, the former Chief Minister may be given a party assignment in the state.

The resignation is also a clear indication that the Union Council of Ministers is set for a revamp on Sunday with the induction of new faces considered close to Rahul Gandhi and elevation of some young Ministers of State.

Whether Gandhi himself would join the government or not was still a matter of speculation though sources say that sometime back he was inclined towards such a possibility.

Krishna was made the External Affairs Minister immediately after the elections in 2009 when the UPA came back to power for the second time. His name has been part of the speculation whenever there was speculation about a Cabinet reshuffle. — PTI

Gadkari, Vadra must declare their business interests: Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Activist Arvind Kejriwal on Friday demanded that BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and Robert Vadra declare all their business interests and where all they own land in the country.

He said the probe against Gadkari by IT Department was an “eyewash” as the Congress and the BJP were “hand in glove” trying to save each other.

“Vadra should publicise where all he owns land. What are his business interests? When did he buy this land and at what cost? Gadkari and Vadra should publicise all their business interests in the country and abroad,” he said.

On the Income Tax Department launching a probe to trace the source of funding of various firms that invested in Gadkari’s company Purti Power and Sugar Limited, he said government has said that the IT Department would submit a report in a month.

“IT Act has no provision for such a probe. Is the government fooling people? Under the IT Act, you can raid under Section 132, or survey under Section 133-A or scrutinise under Section 143. What is the government doing?

“Will IT find anything if it conducts raids or surveys? Raids are conducted in secrecy. This is how the CBI conducts raids after grand announcements. And what happened to Robert Vadra? Does any agency have guts to even summon him or investigate him? He is so right. It’s a banana republic,” he said.

He also asked if the IT Department is probing Gadkari, why it was not investigating Vadra. “Are all these probes merely eyewash? Time will tell. It would further prove that the Congress and the BJP are hand in glove,” he said.

He said media reports claimed that Haryana officers gave clean chit to Vadra.

“That was expected. Country would be surprised if it were otherwise. In Haryana, all good officers are shunted out. Those in key positions crawl when asked to bend. Now the Congress will protect Gadkari and the BJP will protect Vadra,” he said. — PTI

Substance in allegations against Nitin Gadkari: Shinde

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said there seems to be "substance" in the charges levelled against BJP president Nitin Gadkari for alleged dubious funding of companies owned by him. 

"Whatever things are coming up. You people are showing it on TV. It seems there is some substance in it (allegations)," Shinde told reporters on Friday on the sidelines of a function here. 

Shinde, leader of Congress party in the Lok Sabha, declined to elaborate on it further. 

Gadkari is facing charges of impropriety over funding of Purti Power and Sugar Limited (PPSL) with media reports claiming that major investments and large loans to the company were made by Ideal Road Builders (IRB) group, which had won contracts between 1995 and 1999, when the BJP chief was PWD Minister in Maharashtra. 

Both Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Income Tax Department are looking into the alleged irregularities involving Gadkari. — PTI

Suicide bomber kills 41 in Afghan mosque

KABUL: A suicide bomber killed at least 41 people, including five children, when he struck at a mosque in northern Afghanistan after Eid al-Adha prayers on Friday, officials said. Dozens more were wounded as the bomb ripped through the crowd of worshippers in Maymana city in Faryab

province and there were fears the death toll could rise.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suicide bombings are a favourite weapon of Taliban Islamists trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The attacker was wearing a police uniform when he blew himself up at the entrance to the city's packed Eid Gah mosque, deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez told AFP.

"Our latest death toll shows 41 deaths, and that might rise," he said.

"Nineteen were members of the security forces, including police, army and intelligence agents. Seventeen were civilians and five children are also among the dead."

Barez, like many other provincial officials, was at the scene at the time of the bombing and described the horror of the blast in the midst of a religious celebration.

"We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other," Barez said.

"Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion."

One eyewitness, Sayed Moqeed, described the bomber as appearing to be in his early teens.
 
"Suddenly I heard a very big explosion," he said. "Everywhere were pieces of bodies, hands and limbs. The suicide attacker was in police uniform, he looked to be around 14 or 15 years old."The four-day Eid al-Adha holiday is a celebration in which Muslims slaughter animals for feasts and distribute a portion of the meat among the poor, and the first day draws large crowds to mosques around the Islamic world.

Karzai strongly condemned the attack, calling the perpetrators "the enemies of Islam and humanity".

"Those who take the happiness of Muslims during Eid days cannot be called human and Muslim," he said.

Northern Afghanistan is relatively peaceful, with the Taliban, who were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001, concentrating their operations in the south and east of the country.

But they have recently stepped up their activities in the north, despite the presence of more than 100,000 NATO troops in the country.

Last week, a huge roadside bomb ripped through a minibus carrying guests to a wedding party in the northern province of Balkh, near Faryab, killing 19 people and wounding 16 others.

The United Nations says 1,145 civilians were killed in the war in the first six months of this year, blaming 80 percent of the deaths on insurgents.

Last year as a whole, a record 3,021 civilians died in the war, according to UN figures.

But Afghan police and government officials have increasingly become targets as local forces take on more responsibility for the fight against the insurgents as NATO prepares to pull out.

The foreign combat troops are due to withdraw by the end of 2014 and there are fears that the Taliban will extend their activities across wider swathes of the country against ill-prepared Afghan forces. — AFP

Ashwin replaces Harbhajan in top bracket of BCCI contracts

NEW DELHI: Rising off-spinner R. Ashwin on Friday replaced out-of-form senior tweaker Harbhajan Singh in the top bracket of BCCI’s list of central retainership contracts, while struggling pacer Ishant Sharma was also demoted from Grade A to B. 

Harbhajan and Ishant have spent the better part of this year out of the team, struggling for form in whatever chances they have been handed. 

The 26-year-old Ashwin, on the other hand, has played eight Tests since making his debut in November last year, grabbing 49 wickets. In the recent home series against New Zealand, he had taken 18 wickets in two Tests. 

In the ODIs, he has scalped 56 wickets in 40 matches. The Chennai-bowler has 12 wickets from his 15 Twenty20 International appearances. 

The elite Grade A features nine players this year, three down from the last season, according to a press release issued by the BCCI. 

With the retired duo of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman out of the equation, Ashwin was only new name in the top bracket, the players in which are paid an annual retainership of Rs 1 crore. 

The likes of veteran Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the struggling opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan retained their Grade A contracts. 

The in-form Virat Kohli, middle-order batsman Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh completed the top category, all three retaining their contracts. 

In Grade B, the BCCI has offered contracts to eight players, three more than last season with batsman Rohit Sharma being the only one to have retained his contract. 

Pacer Irfan Pathan, who is on a comeback trail after quite some while in the wilderness, has been given a contract along with young players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, all of whom have been elevated from Grade C. 

The players in Grade B are entitled an annual retainership of Rs 50 lakh. 

In the Grade C list, a demoted Ravindra Jadeja has replaced off-colour pacer S. Sreesanth. All-rounder Yousuf Pathan, pacers L. Balaji and Ashok Dinda have come in replacing the likes of Jaydev Unadkat. 

In all, the BCCI has offered contracts to 37 players, which is the same as last year. 

The list of BCCI contracted players: 

Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin. 

Grade B: Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav. 

Grade C: Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, Manoj Tiwary, S. Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund, Ashok Dinda, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, L. Balaji. — PTI

Obama becomes first US President to cast his vote early

Washington: Barack Obama created history when he went to a polling booth in his home town of Chicago to cast his vote, over 12 days ahead of the November 6 elections, thus becoming the first US President to vote early.

Amidst his hectic electioneering schedule, Obama flew in from Richmond in Virginia to cast his vote at the Martin Luther King Community Center in his home town of Chicago.

As Obama entered the voting he greeted everybody and said it is exciting to get to vote early. After he shook the hands of all the poll workers and handed forms to one of them.

"I think I've got paperwork I need to sign in front of you," he told an elderly woman handling his forms.

"This is the first time a President ever going to be early voting," he said while waiting. "That's pretty exciting," Obama said.

After that the woman election official asked for his driver's licence for identification purposes. "Oh, you're right," he said, reaching into his pocket.