PANCHKULA (Haryana): Manohar Lal Khattar, mentored by RSS and known for his organisational skills and clean image, today took oath as Haryana Chief Minister, leading the first BJP government in the state since it was created 48 years ago.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom 60-year-old Khattar shares proximity, BJP president Amit Shah, Union Ministers, veteran leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and Chief Ministers of four BJP-ruled states were present as the ten-member ministry was sworn in at a ceremony here by Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki.

A first-time MLA, Khattar, who has a four-decade-long association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP, is the first Punjabi to become the Chief Minister of the state.

Khattar is also the fifth non-Jat Chief Minister of the state and the first in last 18 years.

Six Cabinet Ministers, including a woman MLA Kavita Jain (Sonepat), and three Ministers of State (Independent Charge) were also sworn in at the event attended by a large number of people.

The five other Cabinet Ministers sworn in are Haryana BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma (MLA from Mahendargarh), Capt Abhimanyu (Narnaund), Om Parkash Dhankar (Badli), Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt) and Narbir Singh (Badshahpur).

Three Ministers of State (Independent Charge) — Vikram Singh Thekedar (Kosli), Krishan Kumar Bedi (Shahabad SC) and Karan Dev Kamboj (Indri) — were also sworn in.

A number of Union Ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Harsh Vardhan, Maneka Gandhi, V.K. Singh, Ram Bilas Paswan, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, Krishan Pal Gujjar, were present at the ceremony held at the Sector-5 HUDA Ground.

The Opposition INLD was represented by Abhay Chautala. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, whose party SAD had opposed the BJP and backed INLD during the Assembly elections in Haryana despite being an NDA constituent, also attended the ceremony.

On October 21, Khattar was elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party, two days after the party created history in Haryana storming to power for the first time on its own in the state.

In a departure from past, when swearing-in ceremonies were held in Chandigarh, this time the event was held in Panchkula. 

Born in Rohtak district, Khattar, a bachelor who once wanted to become a doctor, had contested the first Assembly election from Karnal where he won by a margin of 63,736 votes.

He joined RSS as a full-time 'Pracharak' in 1980 and after 14 years of service to the Sangh, Khattar was moved to BJP as party General Secretary in Haryana in 1994.

Apart from his crucial role in the party's success in states like Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh, he was given prominent roles in various elections in different states where he always delivered results.

Bhajan Lal was the last non-Jat Chief Minister who held office from 1991 to 1996. After his exit Bansi Lal, Om Parkash Chautala (twice) and Bhupinder Singh Hooda (twice) were the Chief Ministers.

Earlier, B.D. Sharma, Rao Birender Singh, B.D. Gupta and Bhajan Lal were the other non-Jat Chief Ministers of Haryana, which was carved out as a separate state on November 1, 1966.

In the October 15 Assembly polls, the saffron party won 47 seats, while the rest were shared by INLD (19), Congress (15) and HJC-BL (2). BSP and SAD got one seat each, while five were won by Independents. — PTI

MUMBAI: Officials of the Protocol Department in Mantralaya here are in a quandary over seating arrangement for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he attends the swearing-in of the BJP government here later this week.

"It is not common for the PM to attend swearing-in ceremony of state government and the Protocol Department is trying to figure a way out regarding seating arrangement for him," a senior BJP leader told PTI.

"We suggested them that they should watch where PM sits during the swearing-in ceremony of the Haryana government today and accordingly make seating arrangements here," he said.

Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states are also expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony, planned at the sprawling Wankhede stadium in south Mumbai.

Union Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP's central observer for election of the Legislature Party Leader, is expected to arrive here tomorrow and the election is likely to take place the next day, a top BJP leader said yesterday.

Back-channel talks were said to be on between BJP and estranged former ally Shiv Sena for forming a coalition government.

BJP, which has emerged as the single largest party in the 288-member Assembly with 122 seats, has already been offered outside support by 41-member NCP.

With its 63 MLAs, the Shiv Sena is the second largest party in the House. — PTI

Nine killed in road accident in Assam

NAGAON: At least nine persons, including five women, were on Sunday killed and 24 injured when a bus fell into a roadside ditch at Uluani in Nagaon district.

The incident occurred when the bus ferrying passengers from Lakhimpur district to Guwahati for a train journey to Delhi hit the railing of a small bridge before rolling down into a ditch at around 1.30 am, Superintendent of Police Arabinda Kalita said.

Eight persons, including the bus driver, died on the spot, while a woman succumbed to her wounds in hospital, he said.

Five critically injured persons were referred to Gauhati Medical College Hospital,  Kalita said. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious projects such as the Clean India campaign and the MP Model Village scheme will be taken up during the high tea for NDA MPs this evening with a view to seek their support and participation for its success.

Along with refreshments, the MPs will be given Ministerial presentations on Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) at the tea party organised as part of Modi’s “Diwali Milan”.

“The MPs will be given presentations on Swacchh Bharat Abhiyan and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana by the ministers concerned for their support and participation in making them a success. It will be followed by high tea,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told PTI.

Union Minister for Rural Development Nitin Gadkari will give a presentation on SAGY and seek active participation from the MPs for the success of the programme which was launched by Modi on October 11, 2014.

The presentation on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will be given by Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

The “Diwali Milan” get together hosted by the Prime Minister is significant as it comes ahead of government formation in Maharashtra, amid speculation of a possible BJP-Shiv Sena tie-up.

Union Minister Anant Geete said all Shiv Sena MPs will be present at Modi’s tea party but clarified that party chief Uddhav Thackeray will not attend as the get-together was only meant for NDA MPs.

Some of NDA allies will not be attending the “Diwali Milan” as they do not have a single leader elected as MP. These include the BJP’s Tamil Nadu allies the MDMK and the DMDK. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Over 400 incumbent Lok Sabha members, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh, have not yet declared their asset and liability details, according to an RTI reply.

Lok Sabha Secretariat said in an RTI query that the asset details of 401 members of Lok Sabha are still awaited.

According to the Members of the Lok Sabha Declaration of Assets Rules 2004, a member is supposed to declare his assets within 90 days of taking oath.

The Lok Sabha MPs who have not yet submitted the asset and liability details include Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, Nitin Gadkari, and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Lok Sabha Secretariat said no communication in this regard was sent to the members until September 26, when the RTI was received.

According to the RTI reply, there are 209 BJP MPs who have not yet submitted their details. There are 31 members from Congress, 27 from TMC, 18 frm BJD, 15 from Shiv Sena, 14 from TDP, 9 from AIADMK and 8 from TRS. 7 members are from YSR Congress, 6 from Lok Janshakti Party and 4 from NCP, CPI (M) and SP each, 3 members from Akali Dal, RJD, and AAP each, and 2 each from JD(U) and Apna Dal.

Action against the members who have not submitted their asset details are taken under the Assets and Liability Declaration Rules 2004, Provisions 5 and 6, and the Representation of the People Act 1951, Section 75 (A).

Other MPs who have not yet submitted their asset details include Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Radha Mohan Singh, Anant Geete, Anant Kumar, Ramvilas Paswan, Capt Amarinder Singh, Veerappa Moily, Mehbooba Mufti, Upendra Kushwaha, Kiren Rijiju and Supriya Sule.

The members also include Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda, Kalyan Banerjee, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Arjun Charan Sethi. Yogi Adityanath, S.S. Ahluwalia, Meenakshi Lekhi, Vinod Khanna, Kirron Kher, Hema Malini, Paresh Rawal, Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Jayant Sinha, Poonam Mahajan, Udit Raj, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Kalraj Mishra, Vishnu Dev Say and Tariq Anwar are some other members who have not submitted the details.

The list also includes TMC's Sudeep Bandhyopadhyay, Kalyan Bannerjee, Ratna De, Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, BJD's Pinaki Mishra, LJP's Chirag Paswan, And Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's kin, namely, Akshay Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav, Dimple Yadav feature in the list.

The list includes Congress' K.C. Venugopal, Anto Antony, K.H. Muniyappa, Ranjit Ranjan, Mousam Noor, Sushmita Dev, Gaurav Gogoi, K. Suresh, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party'S Upendra Kushwaha, BJD's Brithari Mahtab, AAP's Bhagwant Maan, LJP's Ramchandra Paswan, RSP's NK Premchandran, PMK's Anbumani Ramdoss, RJD's Pappu Yadav and Raju Shetty.

PDP's Muzaffar Hussain Beg, AIUDF's Badrudin Ajmal,IUML's E. Ahmed, TMC's Shishir Kumar Adhikari, Dinesh Trivedi, Prasoon Bannerji, Shatabdi Rai, Kakoli Gosh Dastidar and BJD's Kalikesh Narayan Singh. BJP's Babul Supriyo, Jitendra Singh, Kirti Azad, Ramesh Bidhuri, Rama Devi, Ajay Nishad, Sanjay Jaiswal, Ramtahel Chaudhary, Manoj Tiwari, Ramkripal Yadav, Colonel Sonaram, Bandaru Dattatreya, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Kariya Munda, Jagdambika Pal, CPI (M)'s PK Biju, Jitendra Chaudhary, RJD's Tasleemuddin, Dharamvir Gandhi (AAP) are other leaders who have not submitted their asset details. — PTI

US strikes pound ISIS militants as Iraqi Kurds
prepare to join fight

MURSITPINAR (Turkey): United States-led warplanes have bombarded the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, or ISIL) group with new air strikes as heavily armed Iraqi Kurdish fighters were on Sunday readying to reinforce the besieged Syrian border town of Kobane.

Kurdish forces, backed by US air power, have been holding out for weeks against an Islamic State (IS) offensive around Kobane, which has become a high-profile symbol of efforts to stop the advance of the jihadists. 

The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq unveiled plans on Friday for up to 200 well-trained peshmerga to join Syrian Kurdish forces defending Kobane in the coming week.

Kurdish news agency Rudaw said the first contingent could head to the town as early as Sunday, but there was no immediate confirmation of that timetable.

Since Turkey conceded to US pressure to allow vetted reinforcements into Kobane to prevent IS winning the prominent battle for the town, the jihadists have made repeated attempts to cut the border before any help can arrive.

Before dawn on Saturday, IS fighters hit Kurdish forces defending the Syrian side of the border crossing with mortar and heavy machinegun fire, an AFP correspondent on the Turkish side reported.

The heavy mortar fire around the Mursitpinar crossing prompted the Turkish army to order the evacuation of nearby hilltops from where the world's press has been watching the battle for the town.

The US-led military coalition fighting IS launched 22 air strikes in Iraq and one in Syria on Friday and Saturday, the Pentagon said.

Eleven of the bombings in the heavy barrage targeted IS units, buildings, positions and vehicles near Iraq's strategic Mosul Dam.

Kurdish forces backed by US air strikes on Saturday retook the town of Zumar northwest of Mosul from IS after weeks of fighting, a senior officer said.

IS still holds significant areas in northern Iraq and elsewhere in the country, as well as swathes of neighbouring Syria.

The Kurdish news agency said an initial peshmerga contingent of 150 was ready to leave for Kobane and would be headed by Sihad Barzani, brother of Iraqi Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani and head of its artillery brigade.

It cited peshmerga officials as saying that an additional 1,000 Iraqi Kurdish fighters would follow.

Rudaw quoted a senior peshmerga officer as saying that the Iraqi Kurdish forces would deploy with heavy weapons, but that undertakings had been given to both Ankara and Washington that they would not be handed over to Syrian Kurdish forces.

"Our enemies in Kobane are using heavy weapons and we should have heavy weapons too," he said.

The main Syrian Kurdish fighting force in Kobane has close links with the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

Ankara has been adamant that no heavy weaponry should fall into its hands.

Turkey has tightly controlled the flow of both fighters and weapons to Kobane, and has accepted only Iraqi Kurdish or Syrian rebel reinforcements for the town.

Washington delivered light weapons to the town's Kurdish defenders last weekend, but was forced to do so by air after Ankara refused deliveries by land.

The Turkish government has been one of the leading supporters of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) in its more than three-year civil war with the Damascus regime, and has proposed allowing in 1,000 of its fighters into Kobane.

But Syrian Kurdish officials inside the town have expressed reservations about the Turkish plan, saying that any deployment must have their approval and that FSA forces would be better used opening new fronts against IS elsewhere.

Washington has expressed new confidence that Kobane's fall to IS can be averted, but has cautioned that in neighbouring Iraq a major fightback against the jihadists is still months off.

Iraqi government forces have come under renewed attack by IS south of Baghdad, with troops battling on Saturday to secure the route used by hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims headed for the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala.

Eight soldiers were killed in the assault by IS militants which began in the Jurf al-Sakhr area on Friday, officers said.

Senior US administration officials and military commanders acknowledged in recent days the Iraqi army is months away from any sustained counter-offensive that could roll back the IS from its strongholds in Iraq's western and northern provinces.

Pilgrims taking part in Ashura commemorations, which mark the death of Imam Hussein, one of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam, are often targeted with bombings during the annual rituals, which take place this month.

But this year's march to Karbala is set to be more dangerous than most, with militants from IS holding territory along the way. — AFP

NEW DELHI: East Delhi’s Trilokpuri area remained tense but no fresh violence was reported, the police said on Sunday, a day after five persons were shot at during a communal clash.

“The situation is tense but under control. No fresh violence or clashes have been reported from the area,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ajay Kumar told IANS.

The police have detained around 70 people, while Section 144 (joining unlawful assembly) has been imposed in the area following late Thursday’s clash between two communities over Diwali rituals in Trilokpuri’s B-Block.

The two groups on Friday pelted stones at each other. After a brief period of calm, clashes erupted again and five persons were shot on Saturday evening.

The police said 14 persons, including 13 police personnel, were injured in the stone-pelting. They were admitted to the Lal Bahadur Shastri and the Guru Teg Bahadur hospitals in east Delhi.

Police, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and CRPF personnel along with over 30 police vans, water cannons and riot control vehicles have been stationed in the area. — IANS

Sania-Cara win doubles title at WTA Finals

SINGAPORE: Sania Mirza and Cara Black cruised to the doubles title at the WTA Finals with an authoritative 6-1, 6-0 win over defending champions Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-Wei on Sunday.

For Black, it was the third time she had won the doubles crown at the WTA Finals, while for Mirza it was her first victory at the season-ending championships.

It was a surprisingly one-sided final, given Peng and Hsieh entered the match with a 12-0 record in doubles finals, including this year's French Open and Wimbledon in 2013.

The winning pair received $500,000 in prize money. — AP

MOSCOW: Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a 750-year-old city, founded by the descendant’s of Genghis Khan, along the River Volga in Russia.

Two Christian temples, one of which has stone carvings and fine ceramics, are among the discoveries.

The city named Ukek was founded just a few decades after Genghis Khan died in 1227.

After Genghis Khan’s death, his empire split apart and his grandson Batu Khan, founded the Golden Horde, Live Science reported.

The Golden Horde kingdom stretched from Eastern Europe to Central Asia and controlled many of the Silk Road trade routes that connected China to Medieval Europe.

Ukek was built close to Khan’s summer residence along the River Volga, something which helped it become prosperous.

Archaeologists from the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore found the Christian quarter of Ukek, shedding light on the Christian people who lived under Khan’s rule.

“Among other things, there is a Chinese glass hairpin, with a head shaped as a split pomegranate, and a fragment of a bone plate with a carved dragon image,” said Dmitriy Kubankin, archaeologist with the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore.

One of the temples was built around 1280 and was destroyed in the early 14th century. — PTI

Poor health systems in Asia cause for Ebola alarm 

SINGAPORE: The longer the Ebola outbreak rages in West Africa, the greater chance a traveler infected with the virus touches down in an Asian city.

How quickly any case is detected, and the measures taken once it is, will determine whether the virus takes hold in a region where billions live in poverty and public health systems are often very weak.

Governments are ramping up response plans, stepping up surveillance at airports and considering quarantine measures.

Still, health experts in the region's less developed countries fear any outbreak would be deadly and hard to contain.

"This is a non-treatable disease with a very high mortality rate. And even a country like the United States has not been able to completely prevent it," said Yatin Mehta, a critical care specialist at the Medanta Medicity hospital near New Delhi.

"The government is trying. They are preparing and they are training, but our record of disaster management has been very poor in the past."

More than 10,000 people have been infected with Ebola and nearly half of them have died, according to the World Health Organisation.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the largest ever outbreak of the disease with a rapidly rising death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There have also been cases in three other West African countries, Spain and the US.

Early symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, body aches, cough, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, and patients aren't contagious until those begin.

The virus requires close contact with body fluids to spread so health care workers and family members caring for loved ones are most at risk.

Asia, home to 60 per cent of the world's population, scores higher than West Africa on most development indexes and includes emerging or developed countries like Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

But countries like India, China, the Philippines and Indonesia have vast numbers of poor, many of whom live in crowded slums, and underfunded health systems.

Sujatha Rao, a former Indian Health Secretary, said India's health system kicked into overdrive when confronted with a health crisis, as was seen during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. "In India we're very good at crisis management, but we are hopeless at routine care," Rao said.

The Philippine government estimates there are up to 1,700 Filipino workers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, plus more than 100 peacekeeping troops in Liberia. — AFP

HOUSTON: In a breakthrough, a team of Harvard scientists led by an Indian-American researcher has discovered a novel way to fight deadly brain cancer with toxin-resistant stem cells.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital led by Dr Khalid Shah, who hails from Kashmir, experimented on mice and used genetically-engineered stem cells that released cancer-killing toxins while leaving healthy cells unaffected.

The modified cells, most importantly, were able to release the tumour killing poison without succumbing to its effects.

"A few years ago, we recognised that stem cells could be used to continuously deliver these therapeutic toxins to tumours in the brain, but first we needed to genetically-engineered stem cells that could resist being killed themselves by the toxins," Shah an HSCI Principal Faculty Member said.

"Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs," he said.

During the tests, the main brain tumour was surgically removed before the stem cells were placed at the site of the tumour in a biodegradable gel to eradicate the remaining cancerous cells.

"Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they don't work as well in solid tumours because the cancers aren't as accessible," added Shah.

The work, considered a breakthrough in cancer treatment by experts, has been published in the Stem Cells journal. — PTI