The Pentagon will send hundreds of additional spies overseas as part of an ambitious plan to assemble an espionage network that rivals the CIA in size, U.S. officials said.
The project is aimed at transforming the Defense Intelligence Agency, which has been dominated for the past decade by the demands of two wars, into a spy service focused on emerging threats and more closely aligned with the CIA and elite military commando units.
LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet national newspaper editors and owners next week to urge them to agree a timeframe for setting up a new press watchdog, a government spokesman said on Saturday.
The meeting follows proposals set out by judge Brian Leveson in a major report into press ethics in Britain, conducted in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, which was published on Thursday.
The meeting, on Tuesday, will be hosted by Maria Miller, the culture minister who has responsibility for the media.
Miller will appeal to the powerful group not to "drag its feet" in establishing a new regulator, the culture ministry spokesman said. Cameron hopes the new body will help quash claims that a new law is needed to make it truly effective.
The main agenda will be trying to "set a timeframe for a response" from the newspaper industry to Leveson's recommendation for independent self-regulation of the press, the spokesman added.
Britain's press currently regulates itself through the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), a body staffed by editors.
Its critics say it is toothless and partly responsible for a failure to punish journalists for harassment, invasion of privacy and the hacking of voicemail messages.
Parliament will debate Leveson's proposals on Monday afternoon when Miller will make a statement to fellow lawmakers, the spokesman added.
Miller's special adviser Joanna Hindley told AFP that Miller would press the newspaper industry figures to come up with a timetable for setting up a new regulator "within a few weeks".
"She will be holding their feet to the fire," Hindley said, adding that Miller would tell the industry "that the status quo is not acceptable."
Hindley confirmed that Richard Desmond, proprietor of the mid-market Daily Express and Daily Star tabloid, would be at the meeting.
Desmond, one of Britain's most controversial media barons, owns a media empire that also includes celebrity magazine OK!, Channel 5 television and several adult channels.
Hindley said Miller will lead further cross-party talks on the Leveson recommendations on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
Cameron's government is divided on the future of the press. The Liberal Democrats, junior partners in the Conservative-led coalition, said they would join forces with the opposition Labour party and support a new law.
The rift was sparked by the publication of Leveson's report which proposed a new independent self-regulatory body backed by law.
Leveson proposes a beefed-up watchdog staffed by independent members, with the power to fine newspapers up to US$1.6 million.
While Cameron warned that legislation could threaten press freedom, his deputy Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, insisted statutory oversight was essential to guarantee the independence of the new watchdog.
"Hacked Off", a group for victims of press intrusion, says over 89,000 people have signed its online petition which calls on Cameron, Clegg and opposition leader Ed Miliband to work together to implement Leveson's findings in full.
The petition was launched on Friday.
- AFP/xq
BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working for international interests.
"The government feels that their responsibility is to safeguard the interest of international market mafias instead of national interest and for saving the interest of international market mafias, the government is ready to compromise with national interests. Now, the parliament will decide as to who is in support of international market mafias and who are supporting national interests," said Naqvi.
The government's decision to allow foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart had triggered protest not only from opposition parties but also from some of its allies.
BJP had sought debate on the issue of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, under the rule that entails voting after discussions.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), V Narayanaswamy said the government would answer all the queries raised by the opposition parties in the parliament and will explain the benefits of allowing FDI in retail sector.
The lower house of parliament has set December 04 and 05 as the date to vote and debate on FDI. The dates for the upper house are yet to be decided.
Narayanaswamy said the government is confident of becoming victorious in the debate.
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, sending up plumes of steam as it made contact with the waves.
Though lava can still be viewed from Kalapana near the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, ocean entry is no longer occurring, according to the National Park Service.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
The lava traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Kilauea’s Pu'u O'o vent to the ocean. When lava reaches the water, it cools and hardens, forming a lava delta that can be dangerous to nearby onlookers, according to Reuters.
The news service reported that no communities on the Big Island were threatened by the lava flow.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A burst of volcanic activity erupts from Kilauea’s crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on November 27.
The volcano has been erupting continuously for nearly 30 years. No major damage has been suffered by a town since 1986, according to Reuters.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
“Ocean entries are beautiful but dangerous,” said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in a statement reported by Reuters. She warned that the steam could be more hazardous than it appears.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Matt Northam, My Shot
A plume of smoke billows where lava from Kilauea meets the sea in this aerial photo taken November 27.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Peter Vancoillie, Your Shot
Published November 30, 2012
Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said.
"We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio.
The victim was identified Kasandra Perkins, 22. Snapp said the couple had lived together and had a 3-month-old daughter.
A woman first alerted police this morning that her daughter had been shot by her boyfriend, who was a Kansas City Chiefs player, Snapp said. Police initially believed the woman was Perkins' mother, but later learned she was Belcher's mother, who lived with the couple to help care for their daughter and according to family members felt extremely close to Perkins.
It is believed Belcher drove to Arrowhead Stadium shortly after the shooting and police were called.
"When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot," Snapp said. "As officers pulled up, and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life."
Snapp said the coaches told officers they didn't feel they were in any danger from Belcher.
"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."
Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the league has told the Panthers to go ahead with their travel plans because the game will be played as scheduled.
In a statement posted on their website, the Chiefs said they are "cooperating with authorities in their investigation" and did not mention Belcher by name.
The 6-foot-2, 228-pound linebacker joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, and had spent all four seasons of his career with the team. He has played every in game since joining the team.
Originally from West Babylon, N.Y., where he was a three-time all-America wrestler in addition to playing on the football team, Belcher went undrafted out of the University of Maine, where he started all 45 games in which he played.
Maine Head Football Coach Jack Cosgrove described Jovan as a "tremendous student-athlete."
"His move to the NFL was in keeping with his dreams," Cosgrove said in a statement released by the university today. "This is an indescribably horrible tragedy. At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Jovan, Kasandra and their families."
Belcher signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent, started 15 of 16 games his second season and last year started all 16 games as left inside linebacker.
Belcher expressed gratitude for his NFL career in an article posted on Nov. 21 on the Chiefs' website that has since been taken down.
"First and foremost, God. Family and friends just keeping me focused, coaches and just everyone," he said.
The three Republican senators emerged grim-faced from a basement meeting room in the Capitol on Tuesday and took turns before a bank of televisions cameras, blasting away at the Obama administration for its handling of the deadly attack on an American outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
The first two were prominent national security heavyweights, Arizona’s John McCain and Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina. Then the third senator, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, stepped forward. A freshman in her second year and ranked 99th in seniority, Ayotte said she had not been swayed by the administration’s efforts to explain how and why U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice had initially suggested the attack was the result of a spontaneous street protest, instead of a coordinated terrorist attack.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday criticized Israel's decision to build 3,000 settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, in a speech attended by top Israeli officials.
"In light of today's announcement, let me reiterate that this administration -- like previous administrations -- has been very clear with Israel that these activities set back the cause of a negotiated peace," Clinton said.
Clinton was speaking at a forum in Washington hosted by the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defence Minister Ehud Barak were in the audience when she made her remarks.
In a wide-ranging speech also tackling the conflict in Syria and Iran's suspect nuclear program, Clinton highlighted the troubled Middle East peace process, calling on Israelis and Palestinians to get back to negotiations.
"The most lasting solution to the stalemate in Gaza would be a comprehensive peace between Israel and all Palestinians, led by their legitimate representative, the Palestinian Authority," Clinton said.
Israel revealed the settlement plans in response to a historic vote in the UN General Assembly on Thursday to recognize Palestine within the 1967 borders as a non-member observer state -- one which the United States opposed.
"This week's vote should give all of us pause. All sides need to consider carefully the path ahead," Clinton said.
"We all need to work together to find a path forward in negotiations that can deliver on the goal of a two-state solution. That remains our goal.
"If and when the parties are ready to enter into direct negotiations to solve the conflict, President (Barack) Obama will be a full partner to them."
- AFP/xq
Speaking at the 49th All-Member Convention organized by KEB Engineer's Association at JK grounds here on Friday, he said though the government has sanctioned 60,000 employees, there are 15,000 vacancies. "As many as 1,500 engineers' posts are vacant, which need to be filled at the earliest. KEB requires quality personnel," he said, and added: "Employees must be willing to work anywhere in the state, rather than sticking to a particular place."
In spite of implementing advanced technology, KEB has not been able to tackle certain situations, he said, adding that people continue to target it in cases of power failure and technical issues.
Speaking on power shortage in the state, Karnataka is passing through power shortage mainly due to sudden spurt in demand from the irrigation sector and reduction in power generation.
"KEB is trying to cut losses in transmission and distribution (T&D). Unlike neighbouring states, Karnataka has not been equipped with latest machineries," he claimed.
At present, the state is unable to meet the demand, which would rise in the coming days. KEB is unable to generate sufficient capital too, Selva Kumar said.
!KEB Engineer's Association president V Venkatasivareddy said the Association has rejected Shunglu committee report on power distribution which speaks of franchise system. The report has said that franchise model is a preferred mode for reduction in T&D losses given the issues in the sector. The committee does not see meaningful reduction in T&D losses in the foreseeable future. "Franchise system gradually leads to privatization of the power sector," he said.
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, sending up plumes of steam as it made contact with the waves.
Though lava can still be viewed from Kalapana near the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, ocean entry is no longer occurring, according to the National Park Service.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
The lava traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Kilauea’s Pu'u O'o vent to the ocean. When lava reaches the water, it cools and hardens, forming a lava delta that can be dangerous to nearby onlookers, according to Reuters.
The news service reported that no communities on the Big Island were threatened by the lava flow.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A burst of volcanic activity erupts from Kilauea’s crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on November 27.
The volcano has been erupting continuously for nearly 30 years. No major damage has been suffered by a town since 1986, according to Reuters.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
“Ocean entries are beautiful but dangerous,” said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in a statement reported by Reuters. She warned that the steam could be more hazardous than it appears.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Matt Northam, My Shot
A plume of smoke billows where lava from Kilauea meets the sea in this aerial photo taken November 27.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Peter Vancoillie, Your Shot
Published November 30, 2012
Parents of children who have died or been injured while being manhandled, held down or locked up in America's public schools are fighting back.
Dozens have filed lawsuits and many are speaking out publicly to end what they say is an epidemic of harsh measures being used in schools to subdue unruly or aggressive children – many of whom suffer from autism or other disabilities. They are mothers like Sheila Foster, whose 16-year-old son died after being restrained, allegedly for refusing to leave the basketball court at his school in Yonkers, just outside New York City.
"I know I won't feel him hug me anymore, or say, 'I love you, mommy,'" a tearful Sheila Foster, Corey's mother, told ABC News. "Someone has to be held accountable for this because my son is dead. And this shouldn't happen anymore to another child, to another family."
WATCH 'Nightline': Students Hurt, Dying After Being Restrained
Foster has sued Leake & Watts, a special needs facility for students with behavioral and learning disabilities. The school has defended the actions of its staff, despite the tragic outcome. Surveillance video made public earlier this month shows the teenager playing basketball in the school gym alongside other students and staff members. Minutes later he is surrounded by school staff in a corner of the gym where it appears he is pushed against the wall and then restrained face down by four staff members. Nearly 45 minutes later he was removed from the gym on a stretcher.
Courtesy of the Foster Family
PHOTOS: Kids Hurt, Killed by Restraints at School
"They circled him like thugs or a gang," said the family's lawyer Jacob Oresky in response to the surveillance video. "The staff members at Leake & Watts exercised a lot of force on Corey Foster and they killed him." An autopsy ruled Corey's death an accident, saying he suffered "cardiac arrest during an excited state while being subdued."
Steps taken in other schools to restrain misbehaving children, like the use of locked, padded cell-like rooms sometimes called "scream rooms," have also brought outcries. The mother of a seven-year-old boy in Phoenix, Arizona secretly videotaped the padded room in her son's school after he had been left there for the better part of a school day. She says she later learned he had been held in the room 17 times – though the school disputes that number, saying he was there three times.
"I was disgusted," said Leslie Noyes, the boy's mother. "There was one time that I know he was placed in the room a little after 10 a.m. He was there until the school day ended at 3:30 p.m. They brought him lunch in there. He ate it on the floor. He had urinated on the floor. They wouldn't let him out to use the bathroom."
Officials from the Deer Valley Unified School District said that, because of the pending lawsuit, they could not respond to questions about the case. But in general, spokeswoman Heidi Vega said, seclusion is "the last method of behavior management schools use with a student. Our staff is fully trained on non-violent crisis intervention and puts student safety first at all times. The safety of all students is important and remains a top priority."
In Kentucky, Sandra Baker said she was terrified when she showed up at school to find her son being restrained in what looked like a duffle bag. "Outside the room was the aide and [my son] was completely inside the bag, rolling around in it in the middle of the hallway with other kids around," she told ABC News. "I just kind of stopped and was stunned."
Baker brought her outrage to the local news media.
WASHINGTON: Global food prices have eased from their July records but remain very high, putting more people in danger of hunger and malnutrition-related disease, the World Bank said on Thursday.
"A new norm of high prices seems to be consolidating," said Otaviano Canuto, the World Bank's Vice President for Poverty Reduction.
"The world cannot afford to be complacent to this trend while 870 million people still live in hunger and millions of children die every year from preventable diseases caused by malnutrition."
Drought and soaring temperatures in the United States and Eastern Europe in the spring and summer savaged some of the key grain crops that feed much of the world, sending prices for corn (maize) and soybeans to record levels.
Prices soared 10 per cent in July alone, as the US food belt drought intensified, causing heavier crop losses.
Prices have since eased from the peaks, slipping especially in October, the World Bank said,
But they are still seven percent higher than a year before, and key grains were much higher -- corn prices were 17 per cent more than they were in October 2011.
The World Bank said 870 million people around the world live with chronic hunger and nourishment deprivation.
"Although we haven't seen a food crisis as the one of 2008, food security should remain a priority," said Canuto.
"We need additional efforts to strengthen nutrition programs, safety nets, and sustainable agriculture, especially when the right actions can bring about exceptional benefits."
- AFP/xq
The shortlisted entries span five sectors — education, health, livelihoods , environment and advocacy & empowerment. Within each sector three awards will be given, one each for an NGO, corporate and government entity.
Twenty experts will closely review the shortlist, bringing their vast experience into the evaluation process. Most of these experts have two to three decades of experience in the field, and have been associated with the voluntary sector.
"Some exciting work is being done and that must be brought to the knowledge of as many as possible," says Major Sabyasachi Chatterjee, one of the experts in the livelihood sector. Chatterjee is a scientific consultant at the office of the principal scientific advisor to the Government of India. He was earlier associated with developmental work in the department of science and technology.
"As it is, institutions of higher learning offer little recognition for socially-relevant research in rural areas, and therefore, this is one mechanism to highlight contributions of a few torch-bearers ," he adds. Commenting on this year's entries, Kartik Shanker, professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, felt that this year's entries are much better.
"I feel these things take time to catch on in terms of both applications and the prestige, and that is, of course, inter-related ," he said. The experts will evaluate the entries on seven key criteria: scale of impact, replicability, sustainability, finances, people's participation, innovativeness , and promotion of equity . The same criteria were used for the first shortlist by three Mumbai -based organizations, Dasra, GiveIndia and Guidestar India.
This year's Awards process has been marked by several new features which includes a simplified initial online application form, recommendation of worthy entities by a National Search Panel comprising eminent people from the developmental field and a more interactive set-up for entrants. Major Chatterjee felt that the process has "definitely improved compared to last year".
The shortlist after Phase 1 consists of 75 entries distributed over the five sectors as follows: Education (16), Health (15), Livelihoods (18), Environment (14), and Advocacy & Empowerment (12). Some entities have been shortlisted in more than one sector. There are 23 entries from corporate-backed organisations, 12 from government agencies or institutions , and 40 from NGOs.
The experts will grade each entry after evaluation on a grading matrix. The graded entries will be ranked and the top three from each category in each sector will constitute the second shortlist. Field visits will be made to each of the 45 final shortlisted entrants to cross-check various aspects such as the impact on the ground and involvement of people in field areas. Finally, a sevenmember jury will meet in the first week of January to scrutinize the final short list and select the 15 winners : for the three awards in each of the five sectors. The jury will be guided by the experts' evaluations as well as the field reports. The awards ceremony is scheduled for January 28, 2013 in Delhi.
Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNL
Looking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).
Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.
The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand challenges"—igniting hydrogen fusion fuel in the laboratory, according to the NIF website. Nuclear fusion—the merging of the nuclei of two atoms of, say, hydrogen—can result in a tremendous amount of excess energy. Nuclear fission, by contrast, involves the splitting of atoms.
This July, California-based NIF made history by combining 192 laser beams into a record-breaking laser shot that packed over 500 trillion watts of peak power-a thousand times more power than the entire United States uses at any given instant.
"This was a quantum leap for laser technology around the world," NIF director Ed Moses said in September. But some critics of the $5 billion project wonder why the laser has yet to ignite a fusion chain reaction after three-and-a-half years in operation. Supporters counter that such groundbreaking science simply can't be rushed.
(Related: "Fusion Power a Step Closer After Giant Laser Blast.")
—Brian Handwerk
Published November 29, 2012
Private First Class Bradley Manning, the American soldier accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified and confidential military and diplomatic documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, took the stand in a military court today to make his first public statements since his arrest in 2010.
Manning appeared confident and animated at a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade in Maryland as he described the mental breakdowns and extreme depression he suffered during his first year in detention, from cells in Iraq and Kuwait to the Marine base at Quantico in Virginia. Within weeks of his arrest, Manning said, he became convinced he was going to die in custody.
"I was just a mess. I was really starting to fall apart," the 24-year-old former Army intelligence analyst said. Manning said he didn't remember an incident while in Kuwait where he bashed his head into a wall or another where he fashioned a noose out of a bed sheet as his civilian attorney, David Coombs, said he had, but Manning did say he felt he was "going to die... [in] an animal cage."
"I certainly contemplated [suicide]. There's no means, even if the noose... there'd be nothing I could do with it. Nothing to hang it on. It felt... pointless," he said. Manning had been on suicide watch since late June 2010, a month after his initial arrest in Baghdad.
Brendan Smialkowski/AFP/Getty Images
Manning faces 22 charges related to his alleged use of his access to government computers to download and pass along a trove of confidential government documents and videos to WikiLeaks, including the 2010 mass release of 250,000 State Department cables detailing years of private U.S. diplomatic interactions with the governments and citizens the world over. The unprecedented document dump became known as "Cablegate."
Earlier this month Coombs wrote on his blog that Manning was willing to plead guilty to some lesser offenses. On Thursday the military judge in the case said eight lesser charges could be reviewed by Manning's defense attorneys for a potential plea deal, but a response likely won't be determined until December.
The most serious charge Manning now faces, aiding the enemy, could bring a penalty of life in prison should he be found guilty.
Manning's defense has argued for all charges to be dropped, citing a perceived breach of Manning's right to speedy trial and his "unlawful pretrial punishment" while in custody at the Marine brig in Quantico.
But in today's hearing, Manning described his time in custody prior to his stay at Quantico as an ordeal of its own.
He recounted an incident in Baghdad when he fainted from the heat in his cell. Later in Kuwait, Manning said he was initially given phone privileges he used to call an aunt and friend in the United States, but that privilege was taken away a short time later.
After his alarming breakdown in June 2010, Manning told a mental health specialist that he really "didn't want to die, but [he] just wanted to get out of the cage," saying he believed his life had "just sunk."
Manning was given medication that improved his mood to the point that the young soldier felt he "started to flatten out" and resigned himself to "riding out" whatever was coming his way.
After he had been held in Kuwait, Manning said he was "elated" when he learned he was being transferred back to America. He had feared being sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or to a U.S. facility in Djibouti in Africa.
"I didn't think I was going to set foot on American soil for a long time," he said.
80 years
●Starting Dec. 4, we’ll run an old column from each of the eight decades. Over the course of two weeks, Dec. 4-7 and Dec. 11-14, one column will be online at washingtonpost.com/
federaleye.
YANGON: Riot police fired water cannon to disperse people protesting against a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine in northern Myanmar, an activist told AFP on Thursday.
"While we were sleeping riot police came to the site and fired water," said Yaywata, a monk who was among hundreds of people demonstrating against the mine, which has seen months of protests over complaints of alleged land grabbing.
Several monks were arrested and around 30 others "suffered burns to their body" after police also fired an unknown gas at the group, Yaywata, who goes by one name, added without speculating what the gas was.
"We are now gathering at a monastery nearby. We haven't decided what to do yet," he added.
Villagers, monks and students had been warned to vacate protest camps near the mine -- a joint venture between military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings and Chinese group Wanbao -- by Tuesday, but had vowed to defy authorities.
Protesters are demanding the company stops work until it releases environmental and social impact studies.
During a September protest activists said some 8,000 acres (3,200 hectares) of land had been confiscated from local farmers without consultation, and in some cases without compensation.
- AFP/xq
BANGALORE: The Congress led by Indira Gandhi fostered a generation of hero worship and dynasty politics after 1969. This inspired many others like Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who started off with noble intentions to fight against caste discriminations, to do the same and has led to a centralization of politics in present India, said Ramachandra Guha, on Wednesday.
He was speaking during the launch of his latest book, Patriots and Partisans.
The 54-year-old historian went on to add that Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the most charismatic leaders of Indian politics, has been slowly losing his popularity because of the Congress's dynastic politics.
"Sins of seven successive generations have been bestowed on Nehru," he said light-heartedly.
The highest paid non-fiction writer of the country also slammed the phenomenon called the 'Congress chamchagiri'. "I saw a long queue of Congress party members waiting outside Rahul Gandhi's house during his birthday, a couple of years ago, braving scorching sun. Nevertheless, Rahul didn't come out to greet them while the 100 kilogram cake they had brought for him disintegrated leaving a trail from the Congress general secretary's house till the Indira Gandhi circle," he said.
He said that scientific institutions in Delhi couldn't achieve the success of ones in other parts of the country as officials chosen in the capital-based institutions are often selected on the recommendation of politicians.
Guha went on to add that massacre of Muslims in Hyderabad during the annexation of the state by the Indian army happened before the constitution came into being in 1950, but it is sad that the perpetrators of 1984 Sikh massacre and 2002 Muslim massacre in Gujarat, which were initiated by Congress and BJP, respectively, haven't still been punished.
He slammed right and left wing politicians, saying that the citizens have allowed the Hindu rightists' claims to be truly patriots of the country because the left is often considered anti-patriotic because their fatherland has always been a different country - depending upon the prevalence of Marxists movements in these countries, like China, the USSR, Cuba and currently Venezuela - and also due to the high decibel levels and angry outbreaks of the saffron brigade.
"Violence unleashed by left ( Naxalites) and right (Hindu fundamentalists) is against democracy, liberalism, religious plularism and tolerance, the idea that our Constitution promotes. Citizens should protect the country from these extremisms," he said.
TOO EARLY
Guha had a word of advice for the Arvind Kejriwal-launched Aam Aadmi Party, saying that it's too early for them to participate in the 2014 general elections. "Their current economic policies are a bit naive," he added.
In the Tibetan mountains, a fungus attaches itself to a moth larva burrowed in the soil. It infects and slowly consumes its host from within, taking over its brain and making the young caterpillar move to a position from which the fungus can grow and spore again.
Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? But for ailing Chinese consumers and nomadic Tibetan harvesters, the parasite called cordyceps means hope—and big money. Chinese markets sell the "golden worm," or "Tibetan mushroom"—thought to cure ailments from cancer to asthma to erectile dysfunction—for up to $50,000 (U.S.) per pound. Patients, following traditional medicinal practices, brew the fungal-infected caterpillar in tea or chew it raw.
Now the folk medicine is getting scientific backing. A new study published in the journal RNA finds that cordycepin, a chemical derived from the caterpillar fungus, has anti-inflammatory properties.
"Inflammation is normally a beneficial response to a wound or infection, but in diseases like asthma it happens too fast and to too high of an extent," said study co-author Cornelia H. de Moor of the University of Nottingham. "When cordycepin is present, it inhibits that response strongly."
And it does so in a way not previously seen: at the mRNA stage, where it inhibits polyadenylation. That means it stops swelling at the genetic cellular level—a novel anti-inflammatory approach that could lead to new drugs for cancer, asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular-disease patients who don't respond well to current medications.
From Worm to Pill
But such new drugs may be a long way off. The science of parasitic fungi is still in its early stages, and no medicine currently available utilizes cordycepin as an anti-inflammatory. The only way a patient could gain its benefits would by consuming wild-harvested mushrooms.
De Moor cautions against this practice. "I can't recommend taking wild-harvested medications," she says. "Each sample could have a completely different dose, and there are mushrooms where [taking] a single bite will kill you."
Today 96 percent of the world's caterpillar-fungus harvest comes from the high Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan range. Fungi from this region are of the subspecies Ophiocordyceps sinensis, locally known as yartsa gunbu ("summer grass, winter worm"). While highly valued in Chinese traditional medicine, these fungi have relatively low levels of cordycepin. What's more, they grow only at elevations of 10,000 to 16,500 feet and cannot be farmed. All of which makes yartsa gunbu costly for Chinese consumers: A single fungal-infected caterpillar can fetch $30.
Brave New Worm
Luckily for researchers, and for potential consumers, another rare species of caterpillar fungus, Cordyceps militaris, is capable of being farmed—and even cultivated to yield much higher levels of cordycepin.
De Moor says that's not likely to discourage Tibetan harvesters, many of whom make a year's salary in just weeks by finding and selling yartsa gunbu. Scientific proof of cordycepin's efficacy will only increase demand for the fungus, which could prove dangerous. "With cultivation we have a level of quality control that's missing in the wild," says de Moor.
"There is definitely some truth somewhere in certain herbal medicinal traditions, if you look hard enough," says de Moor. "But ancient healers probably wouldn't notice a 10 percent mortality rate resulting from herbal remedies. In the scientific world, that's completely unacceptable." If you want to be safe, she adds, "wait for the medicine."
Ancient Chinese medical traditions—which also use ground tiger bones as a cure for insomnia, elephant ivory for religious icons, and rhinoceros horns to dispel fevers—are controversial but popular. Such remedies remain in demand regardless of scientific advancement—and endangered animals continue to be killed in order to meet that demand. While pills using cordycepin from farmed fungus might someday replace yartsa gunbu harvesting, tigers, elephants, and rhinos are disappearing much quicker than worms.
Nov 28, 2012 1:02pm
Can money buy happiness? If you’re clutching several Powerball tickets in one hand as you thumb through yacht and pony catalogs with the other, you’re probably betting yes.
We’re all told the odds of winning are abysmal — about 1 in 175 million — but let’s assume you win the $500 million jackpot. Experts say the initial euphoria will wear off relatively quickly and you’ll be left with pretty much the same dismal outlook on life you’ve always had.
“Winning will release some pleasurable chemicals in your brain over the short term,” said Scott Bea, a clinical psychologist with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “Unfortunately, your brain will likely revert back to the same old same old before too long.”
Bea conceded that the extra bushels of cash would ease any anxiety over paying the bills, and you’d probably get an additional rush of those joy-boosting neuro-hormones when you went on a shopping spree, but ultimately the basal ganglia, the part of your brain that tends to dwell on the negative, will kick in and you’ll be back to your usual miserable self in no time.
Why? Because in its dark little heart, the brain is a pessimistic organ. Studies show bad memories tend to be far stickier than pleasant memories. And as Bea pointed out, complaints are the topic of nearly 70 percent of all conversation. So according to this logic, you’re less likely to relive the glory of your jackpot moment than you are to grouse about all the fifth cousins suddenly friending you on Facebook to ask for a handout.
Bea also said big winners who aren’t careful to cultivate happiness skills such as optimism, a charitable attitude and savvy money management habits often wind up in more wretched circumstances than where they started. History is certainly littered with such examples.
Back in the 1980s, Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery not once, but twice. She quickly gambled away all $5.4 million and today she’s flat broke, living in a trailer park. Then there’s Billy Bob Harrell Jr. a Pentecostal preacher who was working as a stock boy in 1997 when he scored a cool $31 million in the Texas lottery. The stress of winning so overwhelmed him that he divorced his wife and committed suicide.
Does this mean you should hope the odds work against you when they draw those lucky numbers at 10:59 ET tonight? According to Bea, not at all.
“For most people, purchasing a ticket and fantasizing about what life will be like once you’ve won is the most pleasant part of the lottery experience,” he said, “You could probably flush the same amount of money down the toilet and get much the same result — but then you wouldn’t have the dream.”
When members of Congress need factual information and insights into the effectiveness of the financial laws put in place after the 2008 economic crisis, they regularly turn to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Orice Williams Brown.
Initially as director and now as managing director of the GAO’s financial markets and community investment section, Brown and her staff have issued dozens of reports examining the flaws and offering recommendations to improve the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout fund, the Wall Street regulatory reform law and the initiatives to prevent housing foreclosures.
SINGAPORE: Some of the SMRT bus drivers from China involved in an illegal strike over salaries returned to work on Wednesday.
A driver from China who had completed his shift on Wednesday morning told reporters at Woodlands dormitory, where some of the drivers are staying, that all drivers from his room went to work.
He said staff from the Chinese embassy spoke to the drivers at about 11:00pm on Tuesday.
Another driver from China said most of the drivers had returned to work.
The drivers were reported to have boarded buses at about 4:00am on Wednesday to be ferried to the bus depots to start their shift.
A police car and an ambulance were at Woodlands Dormitory for about half an hour on Wednesday morning. Another ambulance is still at the dormitory.
SMRT said late on Tuesday night that 171 drivers staged a sit-in at the workers' dormitory in Woodlands. And, on Tuesday, 88 remained defiant and refused to work.
- CNA/ck
KOLKATA: With the Congress likely to garner a majority in Parliament over the FDI issue, the Trinamool Congress is yet to carve out its strategy in Parliament, in case Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allows the debate under rule 184.
Trinamool leaders have left it to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to decide whether the party will stage a walkout along with parties such as Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party or record their dissent during voting with the BJP and the Left.
"We still believe that no-confidence motion is the only way to remove this minority government and stop this unethical political charade being played out. Even now this can be done.
Only one MP is required to move this motion. It doesn't matter which political party it is. Let those, who're so vocal on price rise, FDI in retail and removal of subsidy cap on domestic LPG, come forward and vote on it. If one is convinced that these are anti-people policies, what stops them from nudging the government out of power. Why resort to rules to save them?" said Trinamool all India general secretary Mukul Roy.
Roy was more keen on nailing down Left Front chairman Biman Bose's recent argument that the Left didn't support the Trinamool's no-confidence notice because parties reluctant to bring down the government would vote against the government if the debate is allowed under rule 184. Roy, however, didn't want to foretell the party's strategy in the fast changing situation.
While Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray held that the party will fight FDI tooth and nail, senior party MP Sultan Ahmed said, "Whether to vote or not will be decided later by the Trinamool parliamentary party and the party supremo Mamata Banerjee, let the Speaker decide it first. The government will never agree to a discussion under rule 184 without majority. Our leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, has already cleared our stand on the matter. There is nothing more to add to it." Domestic compulsion is also weighing heavily on Trinamool Congress before it is seen aligning with CPM and BJP.
Left parties, on the other hand, have dumped the number game getting a whiff that the Congress might gather the numbers. Asked whether the CPM is heading towards a situation similar to the confidence debate on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, CPM Rajya Sabha MP Shyamal Chakrabarty said: "Not at all. We have been trying to forge the broadest possible unity against FDI entry in multi-brand retail. I am confident that we will be achieving our target to a great extent. The Trinamool's no confidence move would have given the government a leeway to continue with their anti-people policies on all fronts for a period of six months instead," Chakrabarty said.
Trinamool leaders, on the other hand, believe that a debate under rule 184, will give Trinamool an opportunity to expose the Opposition "double-speak." "Biman Bose had argued if the government survived our no-confidence motion, they will get a parliamentary mandate to introduce FDI in retail. So if a vote under rule 184 does take place and the government wins it, would it be any different? The CM had made it clear that we believed in moving a no-confidence for it wasn't a half-measure. What is happening now only vindicates her belief," a Trinamool MP said.
Photograph courtesy Conservation India
A young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.
Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian authorities.
"They have taken it very well. They've not been defensive," Sreenivasan said.
"You're not dealing with national property, you're dealing with international property, which helped us put pressure on [them]." (Related: "Asia's Wildlife Trade.")
According to Conservation India, the same day the group filed their report with the government, a fresh order banning Amur hunting was issued. Local officials also began meeting with village leaders, seizing traps and confiscating birds. The national government has also requested an end to the hunting.
Much remains to be done, but because the hunt is so regional, Sreenivasan hopes it can eventually be contained and stamped out. Authorities there, he said, are planning a more thorough investigation next year, with officials observing, patrolling, and enforcing the law.
"This is part of India where there is some amount of acceptance on traditional bush hunting," he added. "But at some point, you draw the line."
(Related: "Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa's Animals, Poor?")
Published November 27, 2012
Tampa socialite Jill Kelley is fighting back. Today, sources close to the woman who was caught in the media crossfire during the David Petraeus sex scandal have released new letters aimed at reclaiming her reputation.
In a letter released to reporters by Jill Kelley's spokesperson, Kelley's attorney goes after a New York businessman who claimed Kelley was using her connections to Petraeus to broker a deal with the South Korean government.
"It is impossible to overlook your attempt to get your '15 minutes of fame,'" attorney Abbe Lowell wrote to Adam Victor, the president and CEO of TransGas Development Systems. "…You have the right to do that to yourself, but you do not have the right to defame our client.
"This letter is notice to you that statements you have made are false and defamatory and are intended to portray Ms. Kelley in a false light," the letter continued.
Victor has claimed that Kelley asked for $80 million in commissions to arrange a deal between Victor and the South Korean government. Kelley was an honorary consul for the Republic of South Korean.
"While it is certainly true that Ms. Kelley communicated with you about a potential business deal, it has nothing to do with General Petraeus or other military," Lowell wrote Victor.
The dealings between Jill Kelley and Adam Victor were detailed in a series of emails between the two made public earlier this month. The emails appeared to confirm the New York businessman's claim that Kelley wanted a huge fee for brokering a transaction with the South Korean government.
But in his letter to Victor, Lowell denies that Kelley wanted anything close to $80 million, and says the full chain of emails reveal that "it was you (Victor) who were trying to capitalize on her contacts, and not the other way around."
Kelley and Victor were introduced at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August by Kelley's friend, Tampa real estate developer Don Phillips. In an interview with ABC News, Phillips said he suggested that Kelley and Victor should meet because Kelley could help Victor land a deal for a coal gasification plant in South Korea.
Phillips claimed that Kelley said that Victor tried to "proposition" her "almost immediately," and said he had to cajole her into flying to New York for a second meeting with Victor.
After she met with Victor in New York, Phillips said, Kelley reported that she was no longer interested in pursuing the deal. According to Phillips, she said, "As a result of my personal investigations and business intelligence this is just not going anywhere, Don, and you just don't want to associate with this guy."
Victor, who denies propositioning Kelley, claimed she continued pushing for the deal after their meeting in New York. But sources close to Kelley say that telephone voice messages Victor left for Kelley reveal that he was the one who continued to seek Kelley's involvement, even after the Petraeus affair came to light.
Victor also claims that Kelley told him Petraeus arranged for her to be named honorary consul, and that she could use her connections with high-level Korean officials to help land the coal plant deal.
None of the emails that Victor showed to ABC News mention Petraeus. Kelley's friend Don Phillips told ABC News that Kelley has not "in any way tried to profit" from her relationship with Petraeus.
Private talks between President Obama and top congressional leaders in search of a deal to avoid the year-end “fiscal cliff” are accelerating, officials said Monday, even as the president began ramping up pressure on Republicans to extend tax cuts for the middle class.
Obama telephoned House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) over the weekend, in a sign that high-level negotiations are advancing with only weeks to go before an automatic series of spending cuts and tax hikes starts to hit nearly every American.
SEOUL: South Korea announced Tuesday it was lowering the ceiling on foreign exchange forward positions by foreign and local banks, to ease currency volatility after a sharp appreciation in the Korean won.
The finance ministry said local branches of foreign banks will have to limit forward deals to 150 per cent of their equity capital, down from the current 200 per cent.
The ceiling for domestic banks will be lowered to 30 per cent from 40 per cent.
The new restrictions will come into force from December 1, but with a one-month grace period, the ministry said in a joint statement with the central bank and financial regulators.
"Korea's relatively sound economic fundamentals and ample global liquidity are raising the chances that the volatility of cross-border capital movements will increase," the statement said.
"Korea plans to preemptively take action, if needed, in a bid to prevent volatility of foreign capital flows from hitting the financial market," it added.
The Korean won has gained about nine per cent against the dollar since May -- a worrying trend for the country's export-driven economy which is already struggling with the impact of the downturn in its US and European markets.
Restrictions on foreign exchange forward positions were last tightened in July 2011 as capital inflows intensified.
Seoul fears that "hot money" coming into the country could exit just as swiftly -- as it did during the 1997-1998 East Asian financial crisis, which forced the country to seek IMF aid, and the 2008 global crisis.
- AFP/ck
"Diesel is not as polluting as it is made out to be. How can you tax a technology that is very clean and more fuel efficient?" said Vishnu Mathur, DG of industry lobby group, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. While diesel is not a big polluter, there are other industries that need to be checked into, he said, adding, "What about power producers, the industry and gensets?" P Balendran, VP at General Motors India, also countered the stand that diesel is more polluting. "It is energy saving and is more fuel efficient than petrol," he said.
Mayank Parek, COO at Maruti Suzuki, said that while pollution levels certainly need to be controlled, taxing diesel cars is not an answer. "It is not only cars that pollute. In fact, their contribution to pollution is very low when compared to other industries."
Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot
The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.
Taken from the New Forest Observatory in the United Kingdom, the image shows how the nebula's horse head is part of a larger cloud of dust. Situated about 1,500 light-years away, the Horsehead Nebula is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against another, brighter nebula, according to NASA.
(See "'Soccer Ball' Nebula Discovered by Amateur Astronomer.")
Published November 26, 2012
Photograph by Jeremy La Zelle, My Shot
Green curtains of aurora stretch over the sky in the Alaska Arctic in a picture submitted to National Geographic's My Shot on November 17.
"The constantly changing kaleidoscope of colors are reminiscent of a fireworks display—but without sound," photographer Jeremy La Zelle wrote with his submission.
"All we hear is the quiet peaceful sounds of a freezing Alaska night."
(See "Aurora Pictures: Best Fall Photos of Northern Lights.")
Published November 26, 2012
Image courtesy Caltech/NASA
NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this picture after moving 83 feet (25 meters) eastward on November 18—the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission to study whether life once existed on Mars.
The view shows Yellowknife Bay, part of the Glenelg area of the Gale Crater, which is located near the base of a three-mile-high (five-kilometer-high) mountain rich with layered sediment deposits laid down over hundreds of millions of years.
(Read more about the Gale Crater.)
Published November 26, 2012
Image courtesy ESA
The sands of the Sahara appear like golden brush strokes around the Tibesti Mountains in a March 2012 satellite image recently released by the European Space Agency.
Located in Chad and Libya, the mountains' highest peak is Emi Koussi-pictured above as a circular structure in the lower-right portion of the dark area.
Lava flows can be seen extending from the westernmost volcano, Toussidé.
(See volcano pictures.)
Published November 26, 2012
Photograph by Quang Nguyen Luong and F. Motte, Herschel SPIRE/ESA
Published November 26, 2012
Nov 26, 2012 5:48pm
Image credit: Johner/Getty Images
ABC News’ Ben Maas reports:
It has long been known that grapefruit juice can pose dangerous — and even deadly — risks when taken along with certain medications. Now, experts warn the list of medications that can result in these interactions is longer than many may have believed.
Check below to see whether your medication appears on the list.
In a new report released Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers at the University of Western Ontario said that while 17 drugs were identified in 2008 as having the potential to cause serious problems when taken with grapefruit, this number has now grown to 43.
“The frequency of these reactions may be small, but the risks are not worth it, especially for drugs which could cause sudden death,” said lead study author David Bailey, a professor of pharmacology and one of the first to report the interactions between grapefruit juice and certain medications 20 years ago. “Physicians need to know that this affects a number of new drugs and apply this information to their practice and patients.”
So how does a common breakfast fruit cause these problems? Grapefruits contain chemicals called furanocoumarins that interfere with how your body breaks down drugs before they enter the bloodstream. By preventing this normal breakdown of a drug, these chemicals in grapefruit can effectively cause a drug overdose and more severe side-effects.
Among the side effects sometimes seen with grapefruit-induced overdoses are heart rhythm problems, kidney failure, muscle breakdown, difficulty with breathing and blood clots. Atorvastatin — commonly known by the brand name Lipitor and taken by millions of Americans — is one of the drugs that have been linked to serious cases of drug toxicity when combined with grapefruit products. Other common heart medications — including verapamil and amiodarone — have also led to serious interactions when consumed with grapefruit or grapefruit juice.
While there have been many reported cases of serious side effects attributable to this problem, the total number of Americans who have been affected is not known.
As little as one grapefruit or one 8-ounce glass of grapefruit juice can cause an effect that may last more than 24 hours. Other fruits including Seville oranges, limes, and pomelos can have the same effect, although sweet orange varieties do not produce this interaction.
“People know that drugs react with drugs, but fewer are aware of drug-food interactions,” said Professor Paul Doering of the University of Florida Pharmacy Department. “Health professionals need to learn as much as they can about this. Undetected there are very serious adverse effects.”
For consumers, the best advice may be to ask a doctor or pharmacist when they are prescribed a new drug whether there are foods or other medicines that they should avoid.
A-C
Alfentanil (oral)
Amiodarone
Apixaban
Atorvastatin
Buspirone
Clopidogrel
Crizotinib
Cyclosporine
D-F
Darifenacin
Dasatinib
Dextromethorphan
Domperidone
Dronedarone
Eplerenone
Erlotinib
Erythromycin
Everolimus
Felodipine
Fentanyl (oral)
Fesoterodine
H-P
Halofantrine
Ketamine (oral)
Latatinib
Lovastatin
Lurasidone
Maraviroc
Nifedipine
Nilotinib
Oxycodone
P-Z
Pazopanib
Pimozide
Primaquine
Quinine
Quetiapine
Quinidine
Rilpivirine
Rivaroxaban
Silodosin
Simvastatin
Sirolimus
Solifenacin
Sunitinib
Tacrolimus
Tamsulosin
Ticagrelor
Triazolam
Vandetanib
Venurafenib
Verapamil
Ziprasidone
On a recent Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked with her husband onto a stage at the New York Sheraton to cheers and whoops and a standing ovation that only got louder as she tried to quiet things down.
It was a friendly crowd — the annual meeting of her husband’s foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative — and people may have been eager to hear her speech about using U.S. aid to target investment barriers such as old land tenure laws. But really, they were there to see her.
SINGAPORE: Oil prices were down in Asian trade Monday as markets awaited the outcome of a eurozone finance ministers' meeting aimed at unlocking the next tranche of aid to debt-strapped Greece.
Investors were also concerned about looming tax increases and huge spending cuts in the United States, with analysts fearing they could lead to another slowdown in the world's biggest economy.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery, was down 31 cents to $87.97 a barrel in the morning, and Brent North Sea crude also for January eased 23 cents to $111.15.
"Having just enjoyed an unexpectedly strong week, global markets remain on a knife edge with uncertainty over Greece and the US taking centre stage again," said Jason Hughes, head of premium client management at IG Markets Singapore.
Eurozone finance ministers were due to meet in Brussels on Monday for the third time in two weeks as part of efforts to decide on the next slice of aid to Greece, which is in danger of running out of money.
Greece, at the centre of a eurozone debt crisis, has been waiting since June for a loan installment of 31.2 billion euros ($40 billion), part of a 130-billion-euro financial assistance package initially granted early this year.
By the end of next month, Athens is also due to receive two more aid payments, worth 5.0 and 8.3 billion euros, on condition it implements a series of unpopular austerity measures.
Talks about the "fiscal cliff" in the United States -- a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on January 1 barring a compromise among US lawmakers -- were also keeping investors on the edge.
"Traders are likely to be bogged down by fiscal cliff talks again this week. Very little has happened in the past 10 days, partly due to the Thanksgiving break, but time is slipping away," Hughes said.
Another slowdown in the US economy will affect crude demand as the United States is the world's biggest oil consuming nation.
- AFP/ck
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