A day before polling, Arvind Kejriwal performs yoga, Kiran Bedi prepares langar

New Delhi: A day before polling begins in the city, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, chief ministerial aspirants of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party respectively, took to unwinding after a hectic campaigning spree.

While Kejriwal started his day by performing yoga and later visiting his local saloon for a haircut, Bedi prepared a ‘langar’ at a Gurudwara in Krishna Nagar, from where she is fighting the polls this time.

She also stated that she would celebrate with her party’s workers later in the day.

“I will spend my entire day with BJP workers, have worked a lot for the campaign, will celebrate today evening,” said Bedi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended its campaign for the Delhi polls yesterday with a flourish, holding road shows in all assembly constituencies of the national capital.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on their part held a press conference, speeches and various road shows to convince the voters that they would give a stable government this time.

The polls, which are believed to be a direct fight between the BJP and AAP, have witnessed a fractiously divided support base for the two parties.

While the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, headed by controversial spiritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, pledged its support to the BJP, the All India Imam Association (AIIA) decided to back the AAP this time.

The AAP, which has come up with several promises this time for the betterment of Delhi, also got the support of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat.

A total of 673 candidates are in the fray for the 70-member Delhi Assembly. Delhi goes to polls on February 7, while the results will be declared on February 10.

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Aberrations don't alter India's history of tolerance: Jaitley on Obama criticism

New Delhi: The ruling BJP on Friday responded to US President Barack Obama's criticism of religious intolerance in India when finance minister Arun Jaitley pointed out that no less a person than the Dalai Lama had found it comfortable to make a home in the country.

"India has a huge cultural history of tolerance. Any aberrations don't alter that history," Jaitley told a news conference in Delhi when he was asked about Obama's critical remarks about religious intolerance in the country.

"And the best example of (that) tolerance was sitting next to President Obama when he made the statement. That is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is part of that tolerance that he found it comfortable and India found it comfortable to absorb him in the society here."

Obama has expressed his concerns about religious intolerance in India twice since last week.

On Thursday, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event, he said: "Religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs - acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation."

The US president first raised the issue shortly before he wound up his visit to India on January 27. Addressing a town hall meeting at Siri Fort, he had said, "India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith - so long as it's not splintered along any lines."

Radical Hindu groups said Obama's sharp parting shot was aimed at pleasing Christian missionaries and Islamic clerics. Union home minister Rajnath Singh was the first BJP leader to publicly comment on the issue on Monday, when he endorsed Obama's warning that an India divided on religious lines would not progress.

Singh also condemned the Sangh Parivar's conversion campaign, saying there is "no scope for any activity like ghar wapsi in the nation".

During the news conference, Jaitley too acknowledged the importance of tolerance in society. "That any society should be a tolerant society is a fact that each one has to accept. It is good to be tolerant," he said.

Following the strong reaction in India to Obama's remarks at the town hall meeting in Delhi, the White House had insisted that the comments had been "misconstrued".

Obama starker and more direct criticism at the National Prayer Breakfast, however, left no room for misinterpretation.

Mark Stroh, National Security Council spokesperson, clarified that Obama's message was that "freedom of religion is a fundamental freedom, and that every nation is stronger when people of all faiths are free to practice their religion free of persecution and fear and discrimination".

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Both TransAsia plane engines lost power before Taiwan crash

Taiban: One of the engines on TransAsia Airways Flight 235 went idle 37 seconds after takeoff, and the pilots may have shut off the remaining engine before attempting to restart them, but the plane crashed before that could happen, Taiwan’s top aviation safety official said on Friday.

The details were presented at a news conference in Taipei by Aviation Safety Council Executive Director Thomas Wang as preliminary findings from the flight data recorder.

Wednesday’s crash into a river in Taipei minutes after takeoff killed at least 35 people and left eight missing. Fifteen people were rescued with injuries after the accident, which was captured in a dramatic dashboard camera video that showed the ATR 72 propjet banking steeply and scraping a highway overpass before it hurtled into the Keelung River.

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Nitish Katara murder case: Vikas, Vishal Yadav get life term

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday enhanced the life imprisonment terms of Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav, convicted of the 2002 murder of Nitish Katara, to 25 years without remission but rejected a plea for them to be given the death sentence.

A special bench of Justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha gave both men five more years in prison for destroying evidence. It also imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh each on Vikas, the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, and his cousin Vishal for the murder.

The court also increased the jail term of another convict in the case, Sukhdev Pehelwan, to 25 years. The judges said all the men will have to undergo rigorous imprisonment without any remission except for the additional five years.

The bench turned down a plea by Katara's mother Neelam and Delhi Police seeking the death sentence for the three men.

Neelam, who was in court when the judges announced their verdict, expressed disappointment at the rejection of her plea for the death penalty but said she was happy with the prison sentences of the trio being enhanced.

"I will appeal against the order in the Supreme Court," she said. Neelam said she did not require the compensation awarded by the court as she believed no monetary value could be put on the life of her son.

The judges, in their judgement running to more than 700 pages, said the time spent by Vikas in hospital (from October 10, 2011 to November 4, 2011) should not be counted as part of his prison term.

They asked the central and Delhi governments to conduct an inquiry into the visits to hospital by Vikas and Vishal after they were sent to jail.

Vikas, Vishal and Pehelwan are serving life terms for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and son of a railway officer, in February 2002. They killed him as Vikas was opposed to Katara's relationship with his sister Bharti because they belonged to different castes.

Katara had fallen in love with Bharti while they were both studying at the Institute of Management Technology in Ghaziabad. 

The High Court had been hearing arguments on the punishment given to the three men since April last year. The convicts had sought leniency and exemption from the death sentence on the grounds that they could reform. They had also claimed their actions were not so brutal or gruesome that they deserved capital punishment.

Neelam Katara and Delhi Police had demanded death for the trio, saying their offence was "the rarest of the rare".

The High Court had in April 2014 upheld sentences awarded to the three men by a lower court and described Katara's murder as an "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in the caste system.

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Delhi elections: AAP rejects Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Bukhari's support

New Delhi: The Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, on Friday appealed to people to vote for the AAP in the election to the Delhi Assembly but the offer of support was swiftly rejected by Arvind Kejriwal’s party.

"We don't need the support of a man who did not invite India's prime minister but invited Pakistan's prime minister for his son's anointment. One has to respect the prime minister of the country," senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh told a news conference.

During his sermon at the Friday prayers, the controversial Shahi Imam had called on people to vote for the AAP in the polls on Saturday. The AAP and the BJP are the main contenders for power in the elections.

But AAP leaders described Bukhari's politics as “regressive and communal” and condemned the ideology he represents.

"AAP wants to finish off communal politics. We want to finish off what the imam stands for. We want the support of every common man," said AAP leader Ashish Khaitan.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley too reacted to Bukhari’s remarks by saying: "Shahi Imam Bukhari's diktat to support the AAP may backfire." 

Last year, Bukhari had sent an invitation to Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif for a ceremony to appoint his son as his successor. He had also said he was not inviting prime minister Narendra Modi as he had “no place” in his heart for the BJP leader.

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Modi put Natarajan against me: Rahul

New Delhi: Breaking his silence, Rahul Gandhi today said his former party colleague Jayanthi

Natarajan had been pitted against him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he had been fighting for the poor and other weaker sections of the society.

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Rajnath Singh summons Home Secretary and CBI Chief over Matang arrest row

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday summoned Home Secretary Anil Goswami in connection with reports that a top Ministry official had allegedly made attempts to stall arrest of Congress leader Matang Sinh by CBI in connection with the Saradha scam.

The Home Minister called Goswami soon after he came to office on Wednesday morning. They discussed the issue for nearly an hour.

It is believed that he might have been asked about attempts by a senior ministry official on Saturday when the CBI decided to place Sinh, a former Union Minister of State for Home, under arrest. After the meeting, Goswami refused to take any questions from the media.

This meeting was immediately followed by Singh calling CBI Director Anil Sinha, who apparently briefed the Minister about the sequence of events that unfolded ahead Sinh's arrest. Sinha also refused to take any questions from the waiting media outside the office of the Home Minister. The Director held a separate meeting with Goswami.

The CBI is believed to have sent a report to the Prime Minister's Office in this regard, sources in the agency said. The Home Minister was briefed by officials about reports suggesting that a top ministry official had allegedly attempted to stop the arrest of Sinh who was picked up by CBI in Kolkata on Saturday.

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TransAsia crash: Death toll rises to 23

Taipei: A TransAsia Airways plane with 58 passengers and crew on board careered into a river shortly after taking off from a downtown Taipei airport on Wednesday, killing 23 people and leaving 20 missing, officials said. Fifteen people somehow survived the crash after the plane lurched between buildings, clipped a taxi and an overpass with its port-side wing and crashed upside down in the shallow water.

Dramatic pictures taken by a motorist and posted on Twitter showed the plane careening over the motorway soon after the turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft took off in apparently clear weather on a domestic flight for the island of Kinmen.

"I've never seen anything like this," a volunteer rescuer surnamed Chen said of the most recent in a series of disasters to hit Asian carriers in the past 12 months.

Television footage showed survivors wearing life jackets wading and swimming clear of wreckage. Others, including a young child, were taken to shore in inflatable boats. Emergency rescue officials crowded around the partially submerged fuselage of flight GE235, lying on its side in the river, trying to help those on board.

The plane missed apartment buildings by metres, though it was not clear if that was luck or whether the pilot was aiming for the river. Footage showed a van skidding to a halt on the damaged overpass after barely missing the plane's wing, with small pieces of the aircraft scattered along the road.

The chief executive of TransAsia, Peter Chen, bowed deeply at a televised news conference as he apologised to passengers and crew. TransAsia's shares closed down 6.9% in heavy trade, its biggest percentage decline since late 2011.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said his government had offered Taiwan any help necessary following the crash.

The last communication from one of the aircraft's pilots was "Mayday Mayday engine flameout", according to an air traffic control recording on liveatc.net.

A flameout occurs when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion, resulting in an engine failure. Twin-engined aircraft, however, are usually able to keep flying even when one engine has failed.

The plane was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW127M engines. Pratt & Whitney is part of United Technologies.

The head of Taiwan's civil aviation authority, Lin Tyh-ming, said the aircraft last underwent maintenance on January 26. The pilot had 4,916 hours of flying hours under his belt and the co-pilot had 6,922 hours, he said. Taipei's downtown Songshan airport, the smaller of the city's two airports, provides mostly domestic flights but also connections to Japan, China and South Korea.

A statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office said 31 of those on board were tourists from the southeastern city of Xiamen, which lies close to Taiwan's Kinmen island.

The crash is the latest in a string of mishaps to hit Asian carriers in the past 12 months. An AirAsia jet bound for Singapore crashed soon after taking off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya on December 28, killing all 162 people on board.

Related read: Indonesia will not make public full preliminary AirAsia crash report

Also last year, a Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared and one of its sister planes was downed over Ukraine with a combined loss of 537 lives.

TransAsia is Taiwan's third-largest carrier. One of its ATR 72-500 planes crashed while trying to land at Penghu Island last July, killing 48 of the 58 passengers and crew on board. Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record in recent years, including the disintegration of a China Airlines 747 on a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong in 2002, killing 225.

In 2000, a Singapore Airlines jetliner taking off for Los Angeles during a storm hit construction equipment on the runway, killing dozens.

The plane involved in Wednesday's mishap was among the first of the ATR 72-600s, the latest variant of the turboprop aircraft, that TransAsia received in 2014 as part of an order of eight aircraft two years earlier. The 72-seat aircraft are mainly used to connect the capital, Taipei, with smaller cities and islands.

ATR is a joint venture between Airbus and Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary of Italy's Finmeccanica.

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Delhi Polls: Former AAP leaders apologise for joining party

New Delhi: Four members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who left the party, on Wednesday apologised to the general public for joining hands with Arvind Kejriwal.

Rabindranath Tiwari, a former AAP member and an independent candidate from Janakpuri, along with the three others, including Mohit Singh, held their ears before the camera and regretted their earlier decision.

This move takes place just three days before the high-voltage Delhi Assembly polls.

The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held in a single phase on February 7. The counting of votes will take place on February 10. The last day of campaigning is February 5. 

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PM Modi trashes opinion polls, targets AAP on funding issue

New Delhi: Singing the development mantra in his last rally three days ahead of Delhi assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday tried to woo voters by highlighting central welfare schemes and trashed the opinion polls which gave an edge to AAP, saying BJP will get majority.

Attacking BJP's main rival AAP on recent allegations of "dubious" donations, Modi said he was asked by his friends whether he has also given donation to AAP and when he got it checked, "I was surprised to know that even Mahatma Gandhi and (US President Barack) Obama have donated to them." "What kind of people are they (AAP)? In public life there should not be any place for such lies," the Prime Minister, who has been holding rallies for three consecutive days in Delhi, targetted AAP without naming it.

Trashing opinion polls which have predicted majority for AAP, he asked people not to get swayed by these "lies" and said last time during last assembly elections they (AAP) claimed that they will win more 50 seats but could not even manage the highest tally. "Even when I contested from Varanasi in Lok Sabha, they (surveys) said Modi will lose by three lakh votes. I don't know who (pollsters) are they," Modi said, adding he was wondering how someone who could not win his own Lok Sabha seat was being projected as someone big, in an apparent reference to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.

Talking about various welfare schemes undertaken by his government to help the poor, Modi, during the rally in South Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar, said his politics was all about development without which no state can progress.

"My politics have only one style, only one mantra and only one focus and that is development. And it means that there should be change in the lives of the poor people. Their children should get education, their parents should get medicine. And there should be concrete house in place of jhuggis," he said.

He referred to 'Jandhan' and direct benefit transfer for gas cylinder subsidy as pro-poor measures taken by his government. In an apparent attack on Congress, he said his was neither a "ghotala sarkar (government of scam)" nor was a government run with the help of "ghotalebaaz (scamsters)". 

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Live Video Metro-North train hits car in Valhalla, NY, 6 Killed

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As U.S. faces new threats, Pentagon seeks bigger defense budget

Washington: Facing new security challenges in the Middle East and Ukraine, the Obama administration on Monday proposed an increased $534 billion Pentagon base budget plus $51 billion in war funds as it urged Congress to end cuts it says erode U.S. military power.

Defense officials said the higher spending level was necessary to carry out President Barack Obama's national security strategy, including the planned stationing of more forces in the Asia-Pacific in response to the rise of China.

The proposed base budget exceeded the $499 billion federal spending cap for fiscal year 2016, forcing a debate with Congress over whether to continue deep cuts to federal discretionary spending or to amend the limits set in a 2011 law that sought to narrow the U.S. budget deficit.

Defense officials acknowledged the request exceeded federal spending limits, but General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the budget "represents the minimum resource level necessary to remain a capable, ready and appropriately sized force able to meet our global commitments."

Defense officials said the budget included funding for additional P-8 submarine-hunter aircraft and development of a new long-range strike aircraft seen as necessary for the Asia-Pacific region.

The proposed budget included $5.3 billion to fund operations against  militants in Syria and Iraq, including $1.3 billion to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters.

To reassure European allies worried about Russia's actions in Ukraine and elsewhere in the region, it proposed $789 million to bolster U.S. military rotational deployments and increase military exercises and training with partners in Europe.

"The geopolitical events of the past year only reinforce the need to resource DoD (Department of Defense) at the president's requested funding level as opposed to current law," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The budget follows several years of deep cuts, also known as sequestration. Projected defense spending was supposed to be reduced by about a trillion dollars over a decade but defense officials say the cuts are eroding military capabilities after 15 years of war.

"As the budget makes clear, a return to sequester-level funding would be irresponsible and dangerous, resulting in a force too small and ill-equipped to respond to the full range of potential threats to the nation," the Pentagon said.

The proposed budget would enable the U.S. Army to fund an active-duty force of 475,000 soldiers, down slightly from its plan to retain 490,000 after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon has warned that if the 2011 budget limits remained in force, it would have to cut the Army to about 420,000 troops.

The Pentagon again sought approval for several reforms hotly opposed in Congress, including retirement of the A-10 "Warthog" close-air support aircraft, conducting a new round of U.S. base closures and curbing the rising cost of military pay and benefits. 

(By: Reuters)

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Barack Obama budget includes $2T in tax hikes

WASHINGTON: President Obama has packed more than 20 new tax increases into his proposed 2016 budget, which Republicans roundly blasted Monday as a tax-and-spend agenda that won't get their support. 

Together, the tax increases total more than $2 trillion over the next decade. The president plans to use much of that to fund new middle-class tax cuts, as well as ambitious spending programs for highway construction, education benefits and more. 

The biggest money-maker for the federal government would be a change allowing top earners to take tax deductions at the 28 percent rate, even if their income is taxed at the top 39.6 percent rate. This is projected to bring in $603.2 billion in revenue over the next 10 years. 

In addition, top earners would see an increase in capital gains rates -- to 28 percent, up from the current 24.2 percent rate. The change would raise nearly $208 billion. 

Some of the biggest tax hikes in the budget also include a 14 percent, one-time tax on previously untaxed foreign income (raising $268.1 billion); a 19 percent minimum tax on foreign income (raising $206 billion); and a fraction-of-a-percent fee on the 100 financial firms with assets of over $50 billion (raising $111.8 billion). 

The budget plan, while gearing tax hikes toward the wealthy and tax benefits toward the middle class, wouldn't exclusively hit the top tier. It would also hit smokers of all kinds, who under the president's plan would see the per-pack tax rise from $1.01 to $1.95, bringing in an additional $95 billion in revenue. 

In a message accompanying the massive budget books, Obama said his proposals are "practical, not partisan." But even before the books were delivered, Republicans found plenty to criticize. 

"The president is advocating more spending, more taxes and more debt," said House Speaker John Boehner. "A proposal that never balances is not a serious plan for America's fiscal future." 

Boehner and other GOP leaders said that the budget they produce this spring will achieve balance within 10 years, curb the explosive growth of government benefit programs and reform the loophole-cluttered tax code. 

Of Obama's $4 trillion proposal, Boehner said: "Like the president's previous budgets, this plan never balances -- ever." 

The budget shows a $474 billion deficit for fiscal 2016. Obama's budget plan never reaches balance over the next decade and projects the deficit would rise to $687 billion in 2025. Administration officials say their goal is to hold the deficit to a small percentage of the total U.S. economy -- but not necessarily to eliminate it. 

"President Obama promised in the State of the Union to deliver a budget filled with 'ideas that are practical, not partisan.' Unfortunately, what we saw this morning was another top-down, backward-looking document that caters to powerful political bosses on the Left and never balances-ever," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. "We're asking the President to abandon the tax-and-spend ways of yesterday and join us in this practical and future-oriented approach." 

As part of his budget, Obama is proposing a six-year, $478 billion public-works program for highway, bridge and transit upgrades, with half of it to be financed with the one-time, 14 percent tax on U.S. companies' overseas profits. 

The tax would be due immediately. Under current law, those profits are subject only to federal taxes if they are returned, or repatriated, to the U.S., where they face a top rate of 35 percent. Many companies avoid U.S. taxes on those earnings by simply leaving them overseas. 

The tax is part of a broader administration plan to cut corporate tax breaks and increase taxes on the country's highest wage-earners to pay for projects to help the middle class. 

Members of the GOP-controlled Congress and other fiscal conservatives have dismissed the overall plan since elements of it were announced several weeks ago. 

The administration contends that various spending cuts and tax increases would trim the deficits by about $1.8 trillion over the next decade, leaving the red ink at manageable levels. Congressional Republicans say the budgets they produce will achieve balance and will attack costly benefit program like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 

Obama's budget emphasizes the same themes as his State of the Union address last month, when he challenged Congress to work with him on narrowing the income gap between the very wealthy and everyone else. 

Higher taxes on top earners and on fees paid by the largest financial institutions would help raise $320 billion over 10 years which Obama would use to provide low- and middle-class tax breaks. 

His proposals: a credit of up to $500 for two-income families, a boost in the child care tax credit to up to $3,000 per child under age 5, and overhauling breaks that help pay for college. Obama also is calling for a $60 billion program for free community college for an estimated 9 million students if all states participate. It also proposes expanding child care to more than 1.1 million additional children under the age of 4 by 2025 and seeks to implement universal pre-school. 

Obama's budget also proposes easing painful, automatic "sequester" cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies with a 7 percent increase in annual appropriations, providing an additional $74 billion in 2016, divided between the military and domestic programs. 

Many Republicans support the extra military spending but oppose increased domestic spending. 

(BY: The Associated Press)

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Israel welcomes resignation of war crimes' inquiry head

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday welcomed the resignation of the head of a UN inquiry into the alleged war crimes committed during last summer`s conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.

Netanyahu said that William Schabas "was biased against Israel" and that the inquiry`s as yet unpublished report was written at the behest of the UN Human Rights Council, which the prime minister described as "an anti-Israel body", CNN reported.

He said the report, due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March, should be shelved. "This is the same council that in 2014 made more decisions against Israel than against Iran, Syria and North Korea combined," he added.

Netanyahu said Israel acted in accordance with international law during Operation Protective Edge and that it was "Hamas, the other terrorist organisations and regimes around us that need to be investigated, not Israel".

On 8 July 2014, Israel launched a military operation, which it designated Operation Protective Edge in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel`s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also accused Schabas of bias - saying his nomination was "like appointing Cain to investigate who murdered Abel" - and welcomed his resignation, describing it as "another achievement of Israeli diplomacy".

Schabas, a Canadian-born professor of international law based in London, was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to head the three-person inquiry commission in August.

The UN has said more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed in the conflict in Gaza. According to UN estimates, at least 70 per cent of the Palestinians killed were civilians, but Israel reports a higher number of militants among the dead.

On the Israeli side, there were 68 casualties, 65 of them soldiers and three civilians.

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RBI keeps key rate unchanged, cuts SLR

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank today left interest rate unchanged saying there was no substantial

development on inflation or fiscal fronts to warrant a fresh reduction.

This stance follows a surprise rate cut by RBI on January 15 to tackle disinflationary pressure.

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There is limit to shamelessness; Modi tells AAP

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today mounted a shrill attack on AAP over allegations of

the party receiving "dubious" donations, saying it has exposed its claim of being more honest than others and questioned whether AAP can run Delhi with "dishonesty and lies".

In an election rally, Modi also had a swipe at Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, calling them "Maa-beta", and said nobody was listening to them except when they make statements against him.

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'Immigrants' from Northeast: BJP's vision document sparks massive outrage

New Delhi: BJP's vision document for the Delhi assembly polls on Tuesday stirred up a controversy by referring people from north eastern states in the national capital as "immigrants", after which Congress demanded an apology and removal of the words.

The 24-page document that entails the party's roadmap in taking Delhi forward by making it a world-class city and steps in public welfare includes a section on "North Eastern Immigrants to be Protected". The section talks of special cells in all police stations and 24-hour helpline numbers to be set up "for protection of north-eastern migrants".

"Special cells in all police stations and special 24-hour helpline numbers to be set up for the protection of the NorthEastern migrants. To safeguard the students of NE origin, special guardianship will be arranged with local families for them," the document says. Congress was quick to react, with its leader Ajay Maken questioning "is BJP trying to say the people from the North East are not Indian citizens?."

"BJP's vision document has a pointer called 'north-eastern immigrants to be protected'. The word immigrant is used when people move from one country to another, so does BJP consider people from the North-Eastern states as residents of some other country or the north-eastern states according to them are not part of India? "We demand that they remove that line from the manifesto and apologise to public," Maken said.

He said the document with such reference to people from north east comes at a time when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is on a visit to China. "If the ruling party is saying such things in its manifesto then on what basis Swaraj is talking to China about how its force enters the state of Arunachal Pradesh and other areas, we need to understand that," he said.

The national capital has witnessed a spate of racial attacks and discrimination against people from north east in the recent past and a NE student Nido Taniam, son of of an Arunachal MLA, died after being badly beaten by shopkeepers at a Lajpat Nagar market here. The Centre had formed a special committee headed by North Eastern Council member M P Bezbaruah to recommend steps to address the concerns of people from NE region living across the country. 

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Cheap MPV may not be the + Datsun needs to GO ahead in India

Nissan Motor Co Ltd hopes to boost its low-cost Datsun car brand in India with a new compact multi-purpose vehicle, or MPV, but the Japanese automaker might need to make inroads into smaller cities and the countryside if it wants to revive sales.

Last month, Datsun unveiled its second offering, a seven-seater, in a country where three generations often live under the same roof and spacious sports utility vehicles are pricier.

The minivan’s base variant is priced at 379,000 Indian rupees ($6,148), making it around 219,995 rupees ($3,569) cheaper than Maruti Suzuki’s seven-seater Ertiga. And Nissan thinks the GO+, the only MPV in the market with a length short of four metres, could be a “trend setter”.

“It can modify actually the perspective of the Indian market. It can be a market breaker and I think, yes, it could also change the Datsun position in the market.” Guillaume Sicard, President–Nissan India Operations, said in an interview.

Nissan resurrected Datsun, a budget brand which began production in the 1930s, in India last year with the GO to tap the growing middle class in emerging markets. It sold only 12,000 cars, below analysts’ estimates.The Renault-Nissan hatchback 'Datsun Go' is pictured after its launch in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi July 15, 2013. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/Files

In comparison, India’s top car maker Maruti Suzuki sold 309,845 mini hatchbacks, which include WagonR, a car favoured by taxi drivers, and its best-selling Alto, in the first nine months of fiscal 2014-15.

Even as the GO+ could bend the scales in Datsun’s favour in a price-sensitive market like India, the lack of an expansive dealership and service-centre network in small towns and country areas could hurt sales.

“It’s a seven-seater which will find usability in certain markets,” said Deepesh Rathore of consultancy EMMAA. “The problem is that Nissan doesn’t have the reach in those markets.”

Nissan wants to change that. Sicard said he planned to double dealerships to 300 from around 150 at present in another two years, increasing their footprint in tier II and tier III cities.

The company is also likely to set up Datsun-only showrooms once it gains a foothold in the Indian market. Most Datsun showrooms are combined with parent Nissan’s.

Until that happens, some customers remain skeptical about buying a car brand that lacks recognition and is just a year old in India.

“I’m from Garhwal and I don’t know if they have an after-sales service network there. I once took a Ford to Himachal, and we had to get the car towed [after it broke down],” said Sukhdev Rawat, 38, who works at a packaging company and often travels to his hometown in the northern mountainous state of Uttrakhand.

The looks of the car have also left some wanting.

“It has got so many design elements shared with the Go, the hatchback counterpart, that people might not really be that much interested in owning an MPV which has got underpinnings and the design elements common with a hatchback,” said Anil Sharma, a senior analyst with IHS Automotive.

But not all prospective car buyers are unhappy. Its affordable price and promotional blitzkrieg have attracted buyers like Satya Prakash to the Go+. The promised mileage of 20.6 kilometres to the litre is a plus too.

“It has seven seats, its average is good and is within my 5-lakh budget. This is my first choice,” said Satya Prakash, 26, who chose the Datsun as his first new car ahead of his wedding.

(All prices are ex-showroom Delhi)

($1 = 61.6477 Indian rupees)
(Reuters)
(Editing by Robert MacMillan. Follow him on Twitter @bobbymacReports and Sankalp @sankalp_sp )

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Bomber Blows Herself Up After Nigeria President’s Rally

Explosion occurred near a stadium where Nigeria's President had held an election rally

(MAIDUGURI, Nigeria) — A female suicide bomber killed herself Monday when she exploded a vehicle packed with explosives near a stadium where Nigeria’s president had just held an election rally in the northeastern city of Gombe, police said. They said there were no other casualties.

The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, published a warning urging U.S. citizens not to travel to 17 of the country’s 36 states “due to the risk of kidnappings, robberies, and other armed attacks.” The list encompasses every state in the far north, central Plateau state and Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers in the oil-rich south.

Monday’s explosion occurred about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the venue, which President Goodluck Jonathan had just left, said Deputy Superintendent Fwaje Atajiri.

Two other suicide bombings in Gombe city on Sunday injured a few people but killed only the bombers, he said. A couple sharing a bicycle blew themselves up at a central traffic circle and a man blew himself up at a timber market. All three bombers died, Atajiri said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility. Most suicide bombings are blamed on Boko Haram Islamic extremists who are against democracy and have vowed to disrupt the Feb. 14 elections for the president, state governors and legislators in Nigeria, Africa’s richest and most populous nation.

The attacks come as the International Criminal Court prosecutor urged participants to refrain from violence before, during and after the vote, with analysts saying the presidential contest is too close to call.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would send a team to Nigeria before the election, noting: “Experience has shown that electoral competition, when gone astray, can give rise to violence and in the worst-case scenarios, even trigger the commission of mass crimes that shock the conscience of humanity.”

Front-runners are President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner and Muslim northerner Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator. Some 800 people died in protests in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria after Buhari lost the last election to Jonathan in 2011.

Prosecutors at The Hague-based court already are conducting a preliminary probe into alleged war crimes committed by Boko Haram and by Nigerian security forces that could lead to a full-blown investigation. (AP)

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RSS journal admits: Worried BJP chose Bedi after adverse feedback from field: indianexpress

An article in the RSS mouthpiece Organiser has said that the BJP is not “in a comfortable ground at present” in Delhi, and that the party had inducted Kiran Bedi and projected her as candidate for chief minister after receiving “adverse feedback from field against the Delhi BJP”.

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Delhi Cab Rape Victim Sues Uber In US

A passenger who said she had been raped by an Uber driver in New Delhi sued the online car service in US federal court on Thursday, claiming the company failed to maintain basic safety procedures. In the lawsuit, the woman, who resides in Delhi and was not named, called Uber the "modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking."  "Buyer beware - we all know how those horror movies end," the suit stated.

In a statement, Uber did not directly address the lawsuit but said it is cooperating fully with the authorities to ensure the perpetrator is brought to justice. "Our deepest sympathies remain with the victim of this horrific crime," the company said. India is Uber's largest market outside the United States by the number of cities covered, and the country's radio taxi market is estimated to be worth $6 billion to $9 billion. The rape allegation triggered protests and reignited a debate about the safety of women in Asia's third-largest economy, especially in New Delhi, which has been dubbed India's rape capital.

India banned Uber in New Delhi last month following the allegations and arrest of the driver. But the company restarted services there last week and applied for a radio taxi license. The San Francisco-based company said it would not take any commission from its drivers in New Delhi until uncertainty over how it can operate in the country's capital city is cleared up.  The woman, who reported being raped and beaten in early December after hailing a ride with the Uber driver, asks for an overhaul of Uber's safety practices, including localized 24-hour customer-support centers and in-car video cameras. She is also seeking unspecified damages from the US-based company. Her attorney, Douglas Wigdor, has represented high-profile plaintiffs, including a hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault.

Uber, valued at $40 billion last month, said last week it would introduce additional safety measures including more stringent driver checks and an in-app emergency button. The Delhi case is one of several around the world, including one earlier this month in Chicago, in which passengers have accused their drivers of assault. 

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Condom Shortage In 6 States, HIV Fears Rise

At least six states are facing a severe shortage of condoms distributed under the government's AIDS control programme, giving rise to a public health concern over the risk of HIV infections spreading. 

These shortages have been continuing for around eight months in states such as Haryana, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, which have relatively high HIV prevalence. Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan also face a supply crisis, which, sources said, stemmed from bureaucratic delays in procurement. 

Target intervention groups, which distribute condoms as part of public health programmes, have written to the State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (SACS) and other bodies, urgently seeking supplies, sources said.

Times Content

The matter was recently raised with the Union health ministry, following which the health secretary met senior officials from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) on Thursday. 

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'India, China taking solid steps for new momentum in ties'

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here and said China and India have taken "solid steps" to make new progress in bilateral ties besides implementing the agreements reached between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I have full confidence in India-China relations and I believe that new progress will be achieved in growing this bilateral relationship in this new year," Xi told Swaraj, who called on him at the cavernous Great Hall of the People here on her maiden visit to the communist nation after she assumed charge last year.

Xi said that since his visit to India in September last year, relations between the two countries have entered into a new stage of growth.

"The positive side of India-China relations has been growing and momentum of our cooperation has been strengthening and solid steps are being taken to implement agreements reached between Prime Minister Modi and I," he said as he welcomed the 62-year-old senior BJP leader.

One such solid step taken was yesterday's exchange of notes on modalities for opening the second route for the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet via Sikkim by June, that will allow more Indians to undertake the pilgrimage.

Xi had promised opening the new route to Modi during the former's maiden visit to New Delhi last year.

Recalling fond memories of his India visit, Xi told Swaraj: "Last September I visited India and cherish fresh memories about the gracious hospitality extended to me by government and people of India.

"In particular, I cherish the memories of Prime Minister Modi's home province Gujarat and Prime Minister himself accompanied me on that trip."

The 61-year-old Chinese President, who is also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party, conveyed his best wishes to the Indian leadership.

"Please convey my best regards and greetings to President (Pranab) Mukherjee and Prime Minister Modi when you go back," Xi said in a rare meeting with a visiting Foreign Minister.

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Feel sorry for Kiran Bedi, BJP has 'gagged' its CM candidate: Kejriwal

New Delhi: Exuding confidence that his party will come to power in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday the BJP had pressed the "panic button" and was now resorting to "politics of poison" to avoid a defeat.

Five days ahead of the voting to the 70-member Delhi assembly, Kejriwal predicted that the Congress will not win even a single seat which will obviate the need for him to take that party's support as he had done in 2013 to form his short-lived 49-day government.

The significance of election in Delhi went far beyond its borders and that was why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was fielding its "big guns" for the campaigning, the former Delhi chief minister told PTI in an interview.

"They have pressed the panic button and that is why you see all these big guns campaigning for the party," he said, and accused them of resorting to personal attacks against him, his family and the community he belongs to. "This shows their (BJP's) desperation and frustration."

Referring to an attack on a South Delhi church Monday morning, he said this was in keeping with the pattern adopted by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh where the electorate was polarised at the time of last year's Lok Sabha elections and bypolls.

"This is what is the politics of BJP. They will try to polarise the society... We do politics of love and affection and they (BJP) do politics of poison," he said.

Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's argument that it would be good to have a BJP government in Delhi which will work in tandem with BJP-led government at the Centre, he said he would work with Modi in a "constructive" spirit if his party comes to power.

On his rival chief ministerial candidate BJP's Kiran Bedi, with whom he worked closely during Anna Hazare's anti-graft agitation, Kejriwal said if she becomes chief minister, she will be like Manmohan Singh in the Congress party without a voice.

He also said that the former IPS officer was fit for police and not for chief minister's post. Kejriwal said he was sorry for Bedi as she has been "gagged" by the BJP.

Emphasising that it was "lives of Delhiites" who were facing corruption, high prices and issues of security which were at stake in this election, the 46-year-old bureaucrat-turned politician assured that like previous time, his party will reduce power tariff by half and come down hard on bribery.

Asked whether he will again resort to dharna if he becomes chief minister, Kejriwal said, "If need be I will do it again."

"Depending on the requirement of the situation, I will do anything -- discussion, debate or struggle," he said.

On the criticism that both he and Bedi used Hazare's movement as "political launchpad", he said it was for people to see that "one left chief ministership for Lokpal while the other one left Lokpal for chief ministership," in an apparent dig at Bedi.

Kejriwal said there has been a groundswell of support for AAP as people of Delhi want the party to be back at power to address their problems and grievances.

"We are very confident of coming to power. People of Delhi want us to serve them. We have a clear roadmap to make Delhi a truly global city and ensure welfare of all sections of the society," he said.

Asked about number of leaders including Shazia Ilmi leaving the party, Kejriwal said party has become stronger since the last elections as around 30,000 new volunteers have joined it in the last few months.

The former chief minister said if he comes to power, then his government will order through probe into finances of the private power distribution companies and initiate reform in the power sector.

He said enhancing women's security and coming down hard on corruption will be his immediate priorities if he comes to power.

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Romney not running: Former GOP nominee out of 2016 race

Mitt Romney's exit from the presidential campaign has unleashed a frenzy of fresh fundraising and set off a new race for the backing of donors who had remained loyal to the 2012 Republican nominee.

Big dollars were said to flow immediately on Friday to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who already had won over several of Romney's past donors. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie claimed the support of others who were waiting on Romney to make a decision about whether to seek the White House a third time.

Tony Carbonetti, a Christie supporter and top aide to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a 2008 GOP candidate, said every major Republican donor got at least two calls on Friday — one from Christie's people and one from those promoting Bush.

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New video purportedly shows beheading of Japanese journalist by ISIS

TOKYO:  The Islamic State released a video Saturday purportedly showing the beheading of Kenji Goto, a Japanese journalist being held hostage by the extremist group, after negotiations for a prisoner exchange stalled.

Japan strongly condemned the killing, saying an “atrocious act of terrorism” had been committed and that the country was “outraged by the horrific act.”

Japanese and Jordanian authorities had been negotiating for days to swap Goto and another hostage, Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, for an Iraqi woman who is on death row in Jordan for her role in a 2005 triple bombing attack in Amman.

 

The Islamic State had said that if the woman, Sajida al-Rishawi, was not returned by sunset on Thursday, it would first kill Kaseasbeh, who was captured when his plane crashed in Syria last month, then Goto.

The negotiations appeared to have broken down over Jordan’s insistence on receiving proof the pilot was still alive. Yasuhide Nakayama, Japan’s deputy foreign minister, said late Friday that they were “in a state of deadlock.”

There was no mention of the fate of Kaseasbeh in Saturday’s video, which showed Goto kneeling in the desert wearing an orange outfit, with a black-clad man known as “Jihadi John” standing beside him.

“To the Japanese government: You, like your foolish allies in the Satanic coalition, have yet to understand that we, by Allah’s grace, are an Islamic caliphate with authority and power, an entire army thirsty for your blood,” the man said in English, according to the Site Intelligence group.

“Abe, because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin,” the man said.

The video shows Goto’s beheading, then a body lying on the ground with a head on top of it.

The Japanese government condemned the gruesome video.

“I cannot help feeling strong indignation that an inhuman and despicable act of terrorism like this has been committed again,” said Yoshihide Suga, Abe’s chief cabinet secretary, on Sunday local time.

In Washington, White House officials said they were trying to authenticate the video.

“The United States strongly condemns ISIL’s actions, and we call for the immediate release of all the remaining hostages,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, using an acronym for the Islamic State. “We stand in solidarity with our ally Japan.”

Goto, a 47-year-old father of three, including two daughters under the age of 2, was a freelance video journalist who had been captured by the Islamic State late last year while trying to secure the release of his compatriot, Haruna Yukawa.

Yukawa, a man who had suffered a series of setbacks in his life and had gone to the Middle East on a voyage of self-discovery, appeared to have been beheaded last week. Goto was shown in a previous video holding a photo of an executed man who appeared to be Yukawa.

The two met while traveling in the region. After Yukawa’s capture in August, Goto went back to Syria to try to find him, only to be captured himself in late October.

The men appeared in a hostage video earlier this month while Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, was on a tour of the Middle East. In Cairo, he pledged $200 million in aid for countries who were taking in refugees from the Islamic State, which has taken over swaths of Syria in particular. The Islamic State initially demanded the same amount as a ransom for the two men. Then, after Yukawa’s execution, changed its demand to the prisoner exchange.

On Friday, Goto’s wife, Rinko, issued her first statement. “I fear that this is the last chance for my husband, and we now have only a few hours left to secure his release and the life of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh,” she wrote. “I beg the Jordanian and Japanese Government to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands.”

Their youngest daughter was only 3 weeks old when Goto left to try to rescue Yukawa, she said.

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