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BJP blocking six anti-corruption bills: Rahul

BELGAUM: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the BJP of blocking passage of six anti-graft bills by Parliament, which form part of the government’s anti-corruption framework.

“Who is standing against those bills? We want to pass them. We are being stopped in Parliament. Who is stopping it? BJP is stopping it. They don’t allow functioning of Parliament,” Rahul Gandhi, who has been making a strong pitch for the six legislations, said at a public rally here.

“Today in Parliament six anti-graft bills are pending. The bills which are of help to you. The bills that give power to you,” the Congress Vice-President said as he attacked the BJP which has made corruption its main weapon of attack against the UPA government.

Rahul Gandhi said, “They (BJP) only talk, we bring progress.” He also told the gathering that it was the Congress which gave power to the people through legislations like RTI.

“Who brought RTI? Who gave powers to your hands. Congress party did it. Whatever was happening behind closed doors are getting known to you because of RTI. Who brought the Lokpal Bill? BJP did not bring it. Congress brought it,” he said.

Pushing for creation of a framework to fight corruption, Rahul had recently appealed to Opposition parties to support the passage of six bills in the ongoing Parliament session, whose functioning has gone haywire on Telengana and other issues.

“My request is also to the Opposition parties that they should not stop such bills -- the bills related to (fighting) corruption and the bill related to the rights of the street vendors. Everybody should join hands to pass these bills,” he had said recently. - PTI

LS polls are about safeguarding national ideals: Sonia Gandhi

KOCHI: In a virulent attack on BJP, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the Lok Sabha polls are vital to safeguard cherished national ideals such as “unity and secularism” which were under threat.

“2014 is the most important election because it’s about what kind of India you want. The idea of India is under threat by those who don’t just seek to rule but to change India’s very heart and soul,” she said addressing a special convention of Congress workers from across Kerala.

“The choice is between India of all or India of some serving the interest of few. We want unity, they want uniformity. Our idea joins India together, their idea divides,” Sonia Gandhi said.

“Our principal Opposition will argue that after 10 years of the UPA rule, it is time to change. I want to ask a change to what? Do the people of India really want to give up the long-cherished values for lies and untested promises?” she asked.

Calling upon the workers to toil hard for victory of the party, she said “you have a choice to build India of 21st century or an India confined to prisons of an ideology.” Launching the poll campaign of the United Democratic Front (UDF) it heads in Kerala, she also had some sharp comments against the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front.

In Kerala, the choice will be between a party that stands for 21st century and one whose ideology is irrelevant, she said. She also berated the CPI (M), though without naming it, as a party that does not believe in non-violence. This, she said, was in contrast to the Congress, which had always stood for consensus and dialogue without deviating from its basic principle of non-violence.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and newly-appointed KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran were among the leaders who addressed the convention attended by functionaries from the booth level upwards. - PTI

Nightmare is over, says Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Dubbing the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi as the “worst ever”, BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday said its decision to step down over the Jan Lokpal issue was like a “nightmare” finally getting over.

“The nightmare is finally over. The worst ever state government that Delhi has ever witnessed has resigned...Thank God, the nightmare is over,” Jaitley wrote on his website.

Claiming that “clever politics and no governance” appeared to be the motto of the AAP government in Delhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said the past 49 days witnessed an unconventional government.

“It was a government without an agenda and without an ideology. It was a government committed to populism and demagogue,” he said. - PTI

AAP to contest LS polls under Kejriwal’s leadership

NEW DELHI: A day after Arvind Kejriwal stepped down as Delhi Chief Minister, Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday made it clear that it would contest the Lok Sabha polls under his leadership.

”...It is clear that Aam Aadmi Party will contest general elections under Kejriwal’s leadership across the country,” senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav told reporters in New Delhi.

Arvind Kejriwal on Friday resigned as Delhi Chief Minister shortly after his government was defeated on the issue of tabling of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly in the face of a united resistance by outside supporter Congress and BJP.

Congress and Opposition BJP said Kejriwal was never serious about governing and was looking for an excuse to “run away” to cover up his “failure” to deliver on his commitments.

The BJP also made it clear that the party would seek fresh elections in Delhi and was ready for it rather than form an alternative government since it did not have the required numbers in the State Assembly. - PTI

No point staying in power after Jan Lokpal setback: Bhushan

NEW DELHI: Holding BJP and Congress responsible for the fall of Arvind Kejriwal government, AAP leader Prashant Bhushan on Saturday said the party was left with no option but to quit as implementing Jan Lokpal was their top priority.

“From the beginning, Congress and BJP were against this bill and that is why they didn’t support the government. Both party leaders don’t want the country to be corruption-free,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

Prashant Bhushan maintained that Aam Aadmi Party was not formed to get power, but for making India a corruption-free country.

“AAP has been formed to root out corruption from the country. Passing Jan Lokpal in the Assembly was the first priority of the AAP government. As we were not allowed to pass this bill, we did not have an option but to get out of the government,” he said.

Kerjriwal on Friday resigned as Delhi Chief Minister shortly after his government was defeated on the issue of tabling of the Janlokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly in the face of a united resistance by outside supporter Congress and opposition BJP.

After the CM’s resignation, the ball is now back in the court of BJP and Congress and both parties can stake claim to form the government in the national capital, Prashant Bhushan said.

“If Congress and BJP don’t want to stake claim to form the government, LG has no option but to dissolve the Assembly,” he said.

Asked if AAP leaders are running away from their responsibilities, he said, “Our government also wanted to implement Mohalla Sabha in Delhi. As Congress and BJP leaders were also against this model, the party cannot run government.”

“Getting official posts in the government was not the motive of our party. Our party’s motive is to change the system, but we are not being allowed to implement our motive, there is then no benefit to run the government,” he said.

Replying to his former ally Kiran Bedi’s tweets — “Did Delhi CM resign for Lokpal or Loksabha?” — Bhushan said she has become a BJP supporter. - PTI

Fourteen killed in mishap near Jodhpur

JODHPUR: Fourteen people were killed and four others injured when two SUVs collided head-on in Khariberi village near Jodhpur, police said on Saturday.

The mishap took place last night when 17 members of a family were returning to Jodhpur from Kalau village on the Jodhpur-Jaisalmer Highway.

While four of them died on the spot, 10 others succumbed on way to hospital.

Hearing the sound of the collision, the villagers from nearby areas rushed to the spot and informed the police.

“Four of them had died at the spot including the drivers of both the vehicles and 10 others succumbed before they reached hospital. Four others are undergoing treatment, of which one has been put on ventilator”, a police official said.

“All of them except the driver of the other vehicle, belonged to one family”, the official said - PTI

US snow storm leaves over 25 dead

WASHINGTON: A winter storm that brought snow and ice to the U.S. East Coast moved off-shore on Friday, leaving at least 25 people dead and hundreds of thousands without power and causing a large pileup in Pennsylvania that injured 30 people.

The deaths included a pregnant woman struck by a mini—plow in New York City whose baby was then born by cesarean section and two people killed when they tried to aid a truck driver on a snow—covered interstate in North Carolina.

Across the U.S., this is shaping up as one of the snowiest winters on record. As of early this month, Washington, Detroit, Boston, Chicago, New York and St. Louis had gotten roughly two or three times as much snow as they normally receive at this point in the season.

The snow, sleet and ice that bombarded the South-east on Wednesday brought its ferocity into the North-east on Thursday and Friday.

Numerous traffic accidents involving multiple tractor—trailers and dozens of cars completely blocked one side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Philadelphia on Friday morning and injured 30 people, none seriously. The crashes were reported about five hours after snow ended. Speed restrictions enacted during the storm had been lifted, but motorists say the roadway was coated with ice.

By the time it stopped falling, 22.5 inches of snow was reported in one Pennsylvania County. Parts of upstate New York got up to 27 inches. Washington, D.C., received 9 inches of snow Thursday, while New York City got nearly 10 inches.

The sloppy mix of snow and face—stinging sleet grounded more than 6,500 flights nationwide on Thursday and about 2,100 more on Friday. About 1.2 million utility customers lost power as the storm moved from the South through the Northeast, dropping to about 450,000 outages by Friday morning, mostly in South Carolina and Georgia.

Many schools remained closed Friday in eight states from Virginia to Maine. - Agencies

U.S., China agree to work on climate change

BEIJING: China and the United States, the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases, pledged on Saturday to work together to attenuate the effects of global climate change. "China and the United States will work together to collaborate through enhanced policy dialogue, including the sharing of information regarding their respective post-2020 plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions," according to a U.S.-China joint statement issued at the end of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's whirlwind Beijing visit. 

The two sides "commit to devote significant effort and resources to secure concrete results" by the Sixth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue later this year, the statement added. "Both sides reaffirm their commitment to contribute significantly to successful 2015 global efforts to meet this challenge," the statement said. 

International talks to try to agree on a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first and only international agreement to tackle climate change, are due to be held in Paris next year.

The United States never ratified the Kyoto deal. A new global pact might include pledges on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and measures to enable the poorest nations to adapt better to climate change. 

Kerry welcomed Chinese cooperation. "This is a unique, cooperative effort between China and the United States and we have hopes that it will help to set an example for global leadership and global seriousness on the issue of next year's climate negotiation," Kerry told reporters before departing for Jakarta. "China and the United States will put an extra effort into exchanging information and discussing policies that will help both of us to be able to develop and lead on the standards that need to be announced next year for the global climate change agreement," Kerry said. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a report last September they were more convinced than ever that humans are the main culprits for global warming, and predicted the impact from greenhouse gas emissions could linger for centuries. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the study was a call for governments, many of which have been focused on spurring weak economies rather than fighting climate change, to work to reach a planned U.N. accord in 2015 to combat global warming. 

Ban is seeking to re-energize the global climate change debate and boost the U.N.'s role. He has appointed former New York city mayor Michel Bloomberg, former Ghana president John Kufuor and former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg as special envoys on climate change. - Agencies

Second round of Geneva II talks extend into Saturday

GENEVA: The second round of Syria peace talks will extend into the sixth day on Saturday, an U.N. official said on Friday night.

The U.N.-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will meet with the delegates of Syrian government and the opposition on Saturday morning, Xinhua quoted Corinne Momal-Vanian, spokesperson with the U.N. Office at Geneva (U.N.OG), as saying.

After the first round of Geneva II negotiations between the delegations of Syrian government and the opposition mediated by Mr. Brahimi adjourned 10 days ago without concrete results achieved, the second round resumed here on Monday morning and was originally expected to end Friday.

The current negotiations stuck in setting the agenda of discussions, witnessing the two sides not budging an inch from their positions.

The government side insisted to take stopping violence and terrorism as top priority, while the opposition focused on the establishment of a transitional governing body with full executives and without the presence of President Bashar al-Assad.

Delegates of both the sides admitted this afternoon that this round of Geneva II conference failed to achieve any progress and traded blames for the gridlock.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said that this round “did not make any progress”, while Louay al-Safi, spokesperson of the opposition delegation noted that the talks “reached an impasse”. - IANS

India stride towards rare win through Rahane ton

WELLINGTON: Ajinkya Rahane's maiden test century helped India take firm control of the second test as New Zealand lurched to 24 for one at the close of play on the second day at the Basin Reserve on Saturday. 

The hosts are still 222 runs behind India's first innings of 438 and face an uphill battle to save the match after opener Peter Fulton was trapped lbw for one by Zaheer Khan in the second over of their second innings. 

The under pressure Hamish Rutherford was on 18 while Kane Williamson was on four at stumps. Rahane had anchored the visitors' innings with a compact approach in holding up his end as he featured in productive partnerships with Virat Kohli (38) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (64) to help establish what should be a match-winning lead. He pulled Corey Anderson to the midwicket fence for his 15th boundary and raised his arms in triumph as his team mates all stood and applauded. His previous best was 96 against South Africa in Durban. 

The 25-year-old opened up after he achieved the milestone, belting two more boundaries in the over and then hitting a six shortly after before he fell to a brilliant one-handed diving catch by Trent Boult at deep cover. 

The hosts were dismissed for 192 on the first day and will need to bat until at least the fourth day to ensure they can salvage a draw to win the two-match series.

India had resumed on 100 for two and patiently built their innings throughout the day even though they had lost three wickets in quick succession in the first session.

 Nightwatchman Ishant Sharma, who took career-best figures of 6-51 in New Zealand's innings, ensured his batsmen were not exposed early in the day and was dismissed for 26, Shikhar Dhawan fell two runs short of his third century, while Rohit Sharma played on for a duck. Kohli was the only wicket to fall in the afternoon after a 63-run partnership with Rahane, who then combined for a 120-run stand with Dhoni. 

The India captain upped the run rate after tea, which allowed the visitors to rattle past 400 late in the session. New Zealand's second innings began terribly with Fulton not offering a shot to a Zaheer delivery and was trapped in front to leave them in dire straits. New Zealand hold a 1-0 lead in the two-match series after their 40-run victory at Eden Park in the first game and will need to bat well into the fourth day to at least try to salvage a draw and seal the series. - Reuters

Javed Miandad resigns as Director-General cricket

KARACHI: Former test captain, Javed Miandad has tendered his resignation to the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Miandad who is serving as Director-General cricket in the board since 2008, sent his resignation letter to the new PCB chief, Najam Sethi just four days after the government sacked Zaka Ashraf as Chairman and dissolved the governing body.

The government through a notification also appointed a managing committee to run cricket affairs.

The committee at its first meeting last Tuesday selected Najam Sethi to head the board.

“Yes we can confirm that the Chairman has received a letter from Javed Miandad in which he has offered to resign. The matter will be discussed at the next meeting of the managing committee,” a board spokesman said.

Since Ashraf was reinstated as Chairman last month by the Islamabad High Court, Miandad who played 124 Tests, took over a central role in the board affairs and was appointed to several committees. - PTI

Soon, Internet speed 1,000 times faster than yours!

NEW YORK: The next dawn of Internet technology is fast coming - at a speed you can't even imagine!

Google is exploring the next big thing - 10 gigabit per second connections that are over 1,000 times faster than the average connection in the US today.

"After one gig, it would be 10 gigs so we are already working on 10 gigs," announced Patrick Pichette, Google chief financial officer who discussed Google's 10 gigabit experiment at a conference in San Francisco.

Google would continue to push for change in the world of commercial internet services, and the timing couldn't be better. 

However, the tech giant is not expected to roll out the service any time soon.

"That is part of our DNAÂ… but we don't have plans to deliver 10 gig speeds in the near future," a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying in USA Today. - Agencies