The missing deadline, T-Congress leaders to face heat

HYDERABAD: While AICC general secretary Gulam Nabi Azad's re-iteration on going back on Telangana deadline did not come as a surprise for them on Sunday, the T-protagonists including Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) sought to step up the pressure on Telangana Congress leaders and yet again urged them to quit the party.

Even as TRS Chief K Chandrashekar Rao has already called upon the T-Congress leaders to leave their party to join hands with him, his son and Sircilla MLA K Taraka Rama Rao, reacting to Azad's Sunday-statement, said the onus now was on the Congress leaders from Telangana.

"Now that it is even more clear that the Congress is not to respect democratic principles and honour its self-declared deadline on Telangana. But, this would test the sincerity of Telangana Congress leaders. We have already urged them to quit the party to strengthen the movement, if they are honestly committed to the cause of Telangana. If they don't do it, then the TRS and T-JAC would intensify the agitation mainly targeting the Congress ministers, MPs, and MLAs," said KTR.

However, the T-Congress MPs sought to place the blame on chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for sabotaging the process of the formation of Telangana state. In a scathing attack on the CM, Peddapalli MP G Vivekanand said, "The main culprit is the chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. He has misled the Congress high command saying there was no mass support for the demand of Telangana. Unless we overcome such elements, we cannot achieve the separate statehood for Telangana."

Reacting to the demand of the Telangana activists that the T-Congress must quit the party, Vivek said they would take an appropriate step after assessing the situation. He said the T-Congress MPs would meet on Monday to deliberate on the future course of action and they would consider writing to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

While speculations are rife on the T-Congress MP's quitting the party either to form their own political outfit or join TRS, senior Congress leader K Keshava Rao said they would take some more time before taking a final call.

"It is very unfortunate that the Congress high command allowing people like Azad to speak so irresponsibly on a sensitive issue like Telangana. But, we still trust the high command, and hope that the Centre would announce the process for the formation of Telangana state. We would wait for a week so before deciding on the further course of action," KK said.

Seeking to assuage the grimness of the situation, panchayat raj minister Jana Reddy said there was no need for the Congress leaders to think of extreme step, as he still believed that the party high command would initiate a forward movement on Telangana.

"The Congress high command is never against Telangana, and I hope a positive announcement would be made very shortly. It is the time for us to be patient, and co-operate with the government to take appropriate steps," Jana Reddy said.

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty Images

If you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders.

Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns of snow wider at the base than at the tip and can range in height from 3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 meters). The picture above shows the phenomenon in central Chile. (See pictures of the patterns in snow and ice.)

Nieve penitente tend to form in shallow valleys where the snow is deep and the sun doesn't shine at too steep an angle, said Kenneth Libbrecht, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena who studies ice crystal formation.

As the snow melts, dirt gets mixed in with the runoff and collects in little pools here and there, he said. Since the dirt is darker in color than the surrounding snow, the dirty areas melt faster "and you end up digging these pits," explained Libbrecht.

"They tend to form at high altitude," he said. But other than that, no one really knows the exact conditions that are needed to form penitent snow.

"They're fairly strong," Libbrecht said. "People have found [the spires] difficult to hike through."

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 25, 2013

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Brazil Nightclub Fire: 232 Dead, Hundreds Injured

A blaze raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing 232 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that officials counted 232 bodies that had been brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

Another 117 people were being treated at hospitals, he said, and President Dilma Roussef arrived to visit victims after cutting short participation at a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

Bastianello said the recount lowered the toll from 245 earlier believed killed.

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless, young male partygoers joined firefighters in wielding axes and sledgehammers, pounding at windows and walls to break through to those trapped inside. Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately trying to find help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

Germano Roratto/AFP/Getty Images

Silva added that firefighters and ambulances responded quickly after the fire broke out, but that it spread too fast inside the packed club for them to help.

Michele Pereira, another survivor, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage and that the fire broke out after members of the band lit flares.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward. At that point the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak but in a matter of seconds it spread," Pereira said.

Most of the dead apparently suffocated, according to Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria who raced the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

He said survivors, police and firefighters told him a flare set off by a band member set the ceiling's soundproofing ablaze. "Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told The Associated Press by telephone.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom. Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

"In the hospital I saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information. It was one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed," he added.

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Beltrame also said he was told the club was filled far past its capacity during a party for students at the university's department of agronomy. The event featured a group called Gurizada Fandangueira, which plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. It was not immediately clear if the band members were among the victims.

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10 police killed in Afghanistan suicide attack: official

KABUL: At least 10 policemen were killed and 18 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in a suicide attack Saturday in a crowded area of the northeast Afghan city of Kunduz, provincial authorities said.

The attacker, who was on foot, detonated his explosives next to a group of police officers, according to several sources.

"We have 10 dead, including the counter terrorism police chief and head of traffic police and their bodyguards," Sayed Sarwar Hussani, Kunduz police spokesman told AFP.

Thirteen civilians and five policemen were wounded in the blast, Hussani said, adding that the final death toll may rise.

The attack was "the work of the enemies of Afghanistan", he said, using a phrase common among Afghan officials to describe Taliban insurgents.

AFP could not immediately reach the Taliban for comment on the attack, which has so far not been claimed by any group.

Afghanistan's interior ministry and the provincial governor spokesman Enayatullah Khaleeq confirmed the toll.

According to the head of the Kunduz health department, Saad Mukhtar, 19 people in total were wounded in the attack, which police officials said took place around 5:20 pm, 12:50 GMT.

Such attacks have in the past been blamed on Taliban insurgents who are leading an 11-year insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Taliban militants have stepped up their fight against Afghan troops as the country's forces are increasingly taking over security responsibility from US-led NATO troops.

Earlier Saturday, a suicide attacker on a bicycle killed two civilians in southeastern Afghanistan's Ghazni province, and on Friday a suicide bomber in a car attacked a NATO convoy in Afghanistan's strategic Kapisa province, killing at least five civilians and wounding 15 others.

Also this week a squad of Taliban suicide bombers attacked Kabul traffic police headquarters in the heart of the city, killing three police officers and wounding dozens others.

The attacks come at a crucial juncture for Afghanistan as US-led NATO troops are preparing for their withdrawal from the country by the end of 2014. Afghan and international observers have predicted a civil war could grip the country once foreign troops have pulled out.

- AFP/jc

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At his Republic Day reception, President Pranab gives tradition a break

NEW DELHI: As a pleasant winter sun shone on the manicured lawns of the magnificent Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Pranab Mukherjee mingled with dignitaries at a reception he hosted here Saturday, and in a break from tradition, walked up to the guests and exchanged greetings with them.

At the traditional reception, or " At Home", the President hosts on the occasion of Republic Day, Mukherjee did away with protocol as he ambled along among the guests on the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan, exchanging "namastey" and even shaking hands with some.

"Sir, your speeches are really nice," the IANS correspondent told the President, to which he smiled, and said "Thank you!".

Many guests introduced themselves and their spouses to the President, who smilingly accepted the greetings from the excited gathering as his splendidly liveried guards tried politely to keep the people from coming too close.

In another break from tradition, the reception saw Bangla tunes being played by the band.

Two of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's compositions "Anondo Loke Mongola Loke" and "Gram Chara Oi Ranga Mati" formed a delightful background music as President Mukherjee chatted with his special guests — the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his young and beautiful wife Jetsun Pema.

Maroon dahlias, pansies and roses were in full bloom in the neat beds bordering the lawns, while gladioli were bunched together in bouquets in huge brass pots, adding colour to the serene surroundings as the President chatted with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur and former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

The President's wife, Suvra Mukherjee, who was brought in a wheel chair, appeared to enjoy the Bangla tunes, tapping her fingers to "Anondo Loke, Mongola Loke", and chatting with Gursharan Kaur.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani and his wife among others exchanged greetings with one another. They also went on to mingle with the dignitaries, including foreign envoys and their spouses.

President Mukherjee went up to Advani and spoke with him.

Matar aaloo samosas, chilli paneer, plum cake, patties, pastries, Caribbean delight made of fish were among the snacks on offer, as women, mostly attired in elegant saris, and men in suits, tucked in and watched the proceedings.

Red liveried Presidential guards, with their gold-red turbans brought tray loads of the snacks for the President and the other dignitaries, including the Bhutan king, who were seated under an umbrella-shaped marquee. All around the massive garden, snack stalls were set up for the other guests.

President Mukherjee, a few months after he was sworn in last July, had issued an order doing away with the colonial era of addressing the President as "His Excellency".

He had also directed authorities to organize government functions for him within Rashtrapati Bhavan premises in order to avoid inconveniencing the public.

Last month, in an effort to make Rashtrapati Bhavan more accessible to the public, Mukherjee directed that it be opened for public viewing on Sundays and for increased hours.

An online system of booking for tours of Rashtrapati Bhavan has also been launched.

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Pictures: The Story Behind Sun Dogs, Penitent Ice, and More

Photograph by Art Wolfe, Getty Images

If you want the beauty of winter without having to brave the bone-chilling temperatures blasting much of the United States this week, snuggle into a soft blanket, grab a warm beverage, and curl up with some of these natural frozen wonders.

Nieve penitente, or penitent snow, are collections of spires that resemble robed monks—or penitents. They are flattened columns of snow wider at the base than at the tip and can range in height from 3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 meters). The picture above shows the phenomenon in central Chile. (See pictures of the patterns in snow and ice.)

Nieve penitente tend to form in shallow valleys where the snow is deep and the sun doesn't shine at too steep an angle, said Kenneth Libbrecht, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena who studies ice crystal formation.

As the snow melts, dirt gets mixed in with the runoff and collects in little pools here and there, he said. Since the dirt is darker in color than the surrounding snow, the dirty areas melt faster "and you end up digging these pits," explained Libbrecht.

"They tend to form at high altitude," he said. But other than that, no one really knows the exact conditions that are needed to form penitent snow.

"They're fairly strong," Libbrecht said. "People have found [the spires] difficult to hike through."

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 25, 2013

Read More..

Cops Using More Private Cameras to Nab Suspects

Philadelphia detectives were able to quickly make an arrest in the murder and burning of a female pediatrician by viewing surveillance video of nearby stores and a hospital that captured the suspect entering the doctor's home and later getting into his truck.

In the hours after Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's body was found strangled and burning in her basement, city's Homicide Task Force collected surveillance footage from a coffee shop, drug store and hospital overlooking Ketunuti's block. It was footage taken from Ori Feibush's coffee shop that allowed cops to identify Smith.

The suspect, an exterminator named Jason Smith, soon confessed to detectives, police said.

Lately a range of crimes have been solved by the seemingly ubiquitous security videos maintained by private companies or citizens, and investigators have been able to quickly apprehend suspects by obtaining the video, deftly turning private cameras into effective police resources.

Philadelphia Police Arrest Suspect in Doctor's Killing Watch Video

Pa. Doctor Killing: Person of Interest in Custody Watch Video

Private surveillance cameras have become so pervasive that the face of a suspect who allegedly shot a Bronx, N.Y., cab driver in a botched robbery on Jan. 14 was splashed throughout the media within days because the cabbie had rigged his vehicle with a camera.

The New York Police Department arrested Salvatore Perrone after he was caught on surveillance video recorded near two of three shopkeeper slayings in Brooklyn, N.Y., in November. He has since been charged with murder.

And in Mesa, Ariz., surveillance footage taken in November by resident Mitch Drum showed a man rolling on the ground trying to extinguish flames that had engulfed his shirt, which had caught fire while he was allegedly siphoning gas from a car by Drum's house. The man was arrested.

Though surveillance cameras have been a staple of security since a network of government operated cameras dubbed the "ring of steel" was introduced in London in the early 1990s, police have recently launched programs to partner with more businesses.

In Philadelphia, police have launched a program for businesses to register private cameras with the department. According to the SafeCam website, businesses will only be contacted when there is a criminal incident in the vicinity of the security camera. At that point, police will request a copy of the footage for their investigation.

"Businesses are saying, 'I have a camera at this location, and it may or may not be of use to you. It's a registration to say, 'feel free to call me,'" Sgt. Joseph Green told ABCNews.com

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Court says Obama exceeded authority in making appointments

President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority when he named three members of the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was on a break last year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that allowing the president to make such appointments as a way around Senate opposition “would wholly defeat the purpose of the Framers in the careful separation of powers structure” they created.

The decision flatly rejected the administration’s rationale for appointing the board members, and jeopardizes the separate recess appointment of former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray is the subject of a different lawsuit.

The ruling acknowledged that it conflicts in parts with what other federal appeals courts have held about recess appointments. The issue is likely to be decided by the Supreme Court.

The decision came from Circuit Judges David B. Sentelle, Karen LeCraft Henderson and Thomas B. Griffith.

Senate Republicans and business groups had challenged Obama’s move to appoint Sharon Block, Terence F. Flynn and Richard E. Griffin to the labor relations board, which at the time had only one member. Because the three were not properly appointed, the court said, the board’s decisions over the past year are invalid.

Obama made the appointments of the board members and Cordray after Senate Republicans had blocked such action and warned the president not to take action while the Senate was on break in January 2012.

The president was defiant. “I will not stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people they were elected to serve,” Obama said at the time.

Obama contended that he had the authority under the Constitution’s “Rececess Appointments Clause,” which grants power for such appointments “during the Recess of the Senate,” when senators are not in session to fulfill their advise-and-consent responsibilities.

At the time, the Senate was on a 20-day holiday break.

But senators staged pro forma sessions every three business days, a tactic both Democrats and Republicans have employed in the past to keep presidents from making such interim appointments.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of 42 Republican senators who filed an amicus brief in the case, applauded the court for rejecting the administration’s “flimsy” interpretation of the law.

“Today’s ruling reaffirms that the Constitution is above political party or agenda, despite what the Obama administration seems to think,” Hatch said in a statement.

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US scholar urges dramatic rethink on Taiwan

WASHINGTON: With Beijing growing in strength, a US scholar is calling for a major rethink on Taiwan in which the island would cut its troop numbers in half and rebrand its army as a self-defence force.

The proposal marks a rare break from the conventional view of American and Taiwanese policymakers that the island needs to close the military gap with Beijing, but its author said an opposite course could strengthen Taipei.

Scott Bates, president of the Washington-based Center for National Policy, said the balance was "irretrievably shifting" in China's favor and it was politically and economically unrealistic that Taiwan would commit enough to close the gap.

Instead, Taipei can take the lead by halving the size of its army, rebranding it as a Self-Defence Force in the style of Japan and renouncing any military action on mainland China's soil, he argued.

"If Taiwan were to take a bold step like this, that would change perceptions on the mainland and perhaps win some popular support for the Taiwanese position," said Bates, a former congressional aide.

"If there were a showdown, it might make (Beijing) think twice."

Taiwan should turn the new force into a disaster response team ready to deploy throughout Asia and also highlight the island's democracy through a major initiative that supports civil society across the continent, Bates said.

And instead of waging a battle to preserve a dwindling number of nations' recognition of Taipei instead of Beijing, Taiwan can use its diplomatic resources to seek solutions on Asia's bitter territorial disputes, he said.

The new Taiwanese approach would give the island the moral high ground, winning over global opinion and ensuring that China would appear to be the aggressor if it attacked, he argued.

"Mainland Chinese public opinion is beginning to matter more. The Chinese Communist Party cannot ignore its own people without repercussions," Bates said.

China considers Taiwan to be a territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. China's defeated nationalists fled to Taiwan after defeat by the communists in 1949, with the island developing into a self-ruling democracy.

The United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but at the same time Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires Washington to provide the island with means to defend itself.

Bates said that his proposal would complement efforts by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who has sought to ease tensions with China by expanding economic ties, though domestic critics accuse Ma of jeopardising the island's de facto independence.

Bates supported the continuation of the Taiwan Relations Act, saying the island needed a credible deterrent. While cutting its army, Bates called for Taiwan to launch a major upgrade of its air defences and navy to show that any effort to gain supremacy over the island would be costly.

The Taiwan Relations Act enjoys virtually unanimous support in the US Congress, where lawmakers have pressed President Barack Obama to sell to the island new F-16 jets - a step that China strongly opposes.

Bates' ideas, however, are unlikely to win quick support.

Joseph Bosco, a former Pentagon official, sharply criticised the proposal, saying it went against accepted concepts of deterrence and that Taiwan already had the moral high ground.

"Taiwan does not need to disarm unilaterally in order to prove its moral or political legitimacy," Bosco said on Wednesday at an event where Bates presented his proposal.

Bates, who spoke last year at Taiwan's National Defence University and wrote an opinion piece in the Taipei Times, said he wanted to start a debate.

"It doesn't have to be my plan, but there does have to be a strategic rethink," he said.

- AFP

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Now, NIA aiming to secure access to Rana

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), satisfied with the 35-year sentence handed out to LeT operative David Coleman Headley as it virtually rules out his coming out of the prison alive, will now step up efforts to gain access to his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana to probe the case relating to the LeT's plot to target various Indian cities, including the national capital.

Rana, handed a 14-year jail term by the US court on January 17 for aiding a terror plot against a Danish newspaper office, was earlier acquitted on counts relating to abetting and providing material support for the Mumbai carnage. There is a realization here that the US may not grant India access to Rana for probing his role in the 26/11 attacks.

The NIA will rely on its investigations into activities of Headley during his several trips to India both before and after the Mumbai attacks. The Pakistani-American terror operative, whose videography of the 26/11 targets helped LeT plan and coordinate the terror assault, had in 2009 went around Chabad Houses across five cities, the National Defence College in New Delhi and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mantralaya and Air India building in Mumbai, scouting them for future terror attacks.

Rana, a Canadian-American, who ran an immigration business from Chicago, is alleged to have provided him funds for these reconnaissance trips. Though NIA has sought information from the US regarding Headley's bank accounts linked to the credit card used by him during his stay in India, the Americans are yet to share the same. The NIA believes Headley's bank statements may help probe whether Rana had been transferring money to the American LeT operative's account to take care of his credit card bills.

Incidentally, it was Rana, a Pakistani Army deserter, who had facilitated Headley's Indian visa by arranging forged documents containing false information relating to Headley's father's name and marital status, and offered him cover for his reconnaissance missions by opening a "dummy" office for his immigration business in Mumbai.

Rana is also under lens for having visited India just ahead of the 26/11 attacks. He stayed at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai for four days with his wife, and left India for the UAE six days before 10 LeT terrorists landed in Mumbai. During this stay, he also carried out "interviews" of Canadian visa-seekers across cities like Agra, Ahmedabad and Kochi, who he had invited through a newspaper advertisement. However, the Indian agencies suspect that the "interviews" may have been a cover for possible recruitment of young men for terror activities.

NIA sleuths investigating the larger conspiracy of LeT to organize terrorist attacks at places of iconic importance in India, hope to get more information regarding the trips by Headley and Rana, by questioning Rana. Given the bleak hope of laying hands on Headley and the condition agreed to by Indian investigators of not using Headley's disclosures against him, NIA is now counting on a statement by Rana to take forward its trial in the case that it had registered in 2009.

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