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Latest UpdatesCentury's longest and darkest lunar eclipse
The moon's bright white glow turned crimson brick red when it delved into the dark centre of the earth's shadow during the century's longest and darkest lunar eclipse on Wednesday night.
The awesome spectacle was visible all over the country, including the national capital.
The full moon appeared much dimmer than usual, but sunlight passing through the earth's atmosphere gave the lunar surface a deep reddish hue.
This was the century's longest and darkest total lunar eclipse as the moon immersed deeply inside the umbral (darker) shadow of the earth, Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnasree told PTI.
The total phase lasted 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000.
The next such eclipse will only take place in 2141.
The penumbral lunar eclipse began at 22:54:34 IST and will end at 04:30:45 IST (on Thursday), she said.
The total lunar eclipse began at 00:52:30 IST and will end at 02:32:42 IST, while the partial eclipse began at 23:52:56 IST and end at 03:32:15 IST.
As the earth came in between the sun and the moon, its shadow first began sweeping across the moon, blocking out much of its bright light and as the shadow descended gently, the moon's face turned red.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth, in the course of its orbit around the sun, comes between the moon and sun in such a way that the moon is hidden in the shadow cast by the earth.
This can occur only when the sun, earth, and the moon are aligned in a straight line, C.B. Devgun from the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) sai
Early partial solar eclipse for 2011
People standing across a great swathe of the Earth's surface saw the Moon take a big bite out of the Sun.
For north Africa and much of Europe, the event began at sunrise, whereas in central Russia and north-west China, the spectacle occurred at sunset.
North-east Sweden had the best sight. From 0850 GMT, near the city of Skelleftea, the Moon covered almost 90% of the Sun's diameter.
To get that view, however, Swedish skywatchers would have needed a high vantage point, as both celestial bodies were skirting the horizon at that time.
Viewing the Sun's harsh light should only be done through protective equipment As is always the case for solar eclipses, the public was warned to take great care.
Viewing the Sun's harsh light should only be done through protective equipment - proper solar glasses and solar telescopes, or through a pinhole projection system.
In many places, professional and amateur astronomy groups set up safe observing systems. In the UK, for example, there were a series of events tied into the BBC's Stargazing Live programmes.
Partial solar eclipses occur when the Sun and Moon do not quite align in the sky as viewed from Earth, and the deep shadow cast by the smaller body passing across the bigger one just misses the planet.
Nonetheless, the phenomenon resulted in a dip in light, depending on how big a chunk of the solar disc the Moon was seen to obscure.
The Moon was seen to take a big bite out of the Sun This effect varied from place to place and in time.
Northern Algeria was the first location to experience the eclipse at 0640 GMT.
In European cities like London and Paris, the eclipse was already under way as the Sun rose, and the Moon covered up almost 70% of our star by 0812 GMT in the British capital, and 65% of the solar disc by 0809 GMT in the French capital.
Gunshots in Islamabad market
Gunfire has been heard at a market popular with foreigners in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Police had few immediate details about the apparent shooting, at Kohsar market.
Latest reports say the governor of Pakistan's most politically important province, Punjab , was wounded.
Kohsar market is popular with wealthy Pakistanis and foreigners and has long been seen as a potential target for militants.
Sachin Steady as Dhoni Departs
India: 247/6 (84.3) RR:2.92 India trail by 115 runs with 4 wicket(s) remaining In the 1st inn.
Sachin 104*
United States is Partnering Emerging Powers to Contain China
WASHINGTON: Ahead of the State Visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao, an influential American think-tank has said that the United States is partnering with emerging powers like India to contain the Communist nation.
"The United States has already started partnering with an emerging power that shares a long border with China as it moves to open a special relationship with India," said Jessica Mathews, president, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
"The biggest motivation for Washington's engagement with New Delhi -- even though it's not talked about -- is the hope that India can help balance China's rising power," she said.
A day earlier, The New York Times reported that China has quietly expanded its area of influence in Central Asia. Several of China's neighbors in recent past have expressed concern over recent aggressiveness in Chinese behavior.
"The ultimate answer of whether the United States will try to contain or cooperate with China is mostly up to Beijing. One year ago, Washington was looking at the Sino-American relationship very differently and more positively," Mathews said.
"In 2010, the world witnessed a series of moves by China that seemed to suggest a 180-degree turn -- certainly in tone, but also in real political choices. China's assertiveness in the South China Sea and its bullying behavior after the Japanese arrested a Chinese trawler captain in disputed waters in the East China Sea were particularly notable," she said.
"Most importantly, China has been totally unwilling to deal with North Korea's provocative behavior. This was clear both after Pyongyang was implicated in the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, and more recently when tensions flared on the Korean peninsula after North Korea carried out a deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island in November. China is not stepping up to its responsibility," Mathews said.
Despite the assertions made by eminent American experts like Mathews and others, both India and the United States have strongly refuted observations that New Delhi and Washington are joining hands to contain Beijing.
Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama have said that there is enough space in the world for a peaceful rise of China and India.
The visit of the Chinese President to Washington comes within two months of India visit of both Obama and Hu Jintao.
Read more: 'US partnering with India to contain China' - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-partnering-with-India-to-contain-China/articleshow/7216229.cms#ixzz1A3tcDCjz
India Vs South Africa 3rd test
Laxman falls, India four down
India: 235/4 (79.5) RR:2.94 India trail by 127 runs with 6 wicket(s) remaining In the 1st inn.
Sachin 94*
Pujara 0*
India Posted a Great win in Nail Biting Finish
India won The 1st One Day Inter National Match at Rajkot Beating Sri Lanka By 4 runs.
I did not put pressure on the pilot to land aircraft: Rahul Gandhi
LUCKNOW:
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday sought to nip in the bud a possible controversy when he made it clear that he did not force the helicopter pilot to land in zero visibility conditions in Sitapur on Monday evening.
"I am a pilot and I am absolutely aware of the dangers of flying in low visibility conditions. I will be the last person to do it," he told a press conference, dismissing UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi's comments that he had forced the pilot to land in bad conditions.
"The PCC president is not a pilot. I have not put any pressure on the pilot. The pilot called me aside this morning and told me that the media was creating a controversy and putting my job in trouble. He has not broken any rule. You are making a story and destroying their career. This is not fair," he said.
To questions on Joshi's remarks, 39-year-old Gandhi said that she is not a pilot and she is also not a weather expert. There was plenty of visibility when the helicopter landed, he said.
Joshi had earlier said Rahul had asked the pilot of the helicopter to land in "zero visibility" just to fulfil his commitment of meeting people.
Asif Strikes leads New Zealand in Trouble
Mohd.Asif Strikes Eairly Leading New Zealand In Big Trouble.
They Still need 335 Runs To win the Test.
Peter Fulton * --13
Ross Taylor * --15
50 for Sehwag on 2nd day of 3rd test
Virender Sehwag Scores 53* on 2nd day of 3rd test against Sri Lanka as he reaches to 6000 runs mark in test cricket.
Virender Sehwag ---- 50* (As Last reported)
Murli Vijay ---- 38* (As Last reported)
No To Gay marriage Says Lawmakers of New York
ALBANY, New York:
New York lawmakers on Wednesday rejected a bill that would have made their state the sixth to allow gay marriage, stunning advocates who suffered a similar decision by Maine voters just last month.
The New York measure needed 32 votes to pass and failed by a wider-than-expected margin, falling eight votes short in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Gov. David Paterson, perhaps the bill's strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it.
Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. A New Hampshire law takes effect Jan. 1.
After the vote, Paterson called Wednesday one of his saddest days in 20 years of public service and he criticized senators who he said support gay marriage but "didn't have the intestinal fortitude to vote for it."
Senate sponsor Thomas Duane, a Manhattan Democrat and the Legislature's first openly gay member, expressed anger and disappointment. "I wasn't expecting betrayal," he said.
During debate, Sen. Ruben Diaz, a conservative minister from the Bronx, led the mostly Republican opposition.
"If you put this issue before the voters, the voters will reject it," Diaz said. "Let the people decide."
But Democratic Sen. Eric Adams challenged lawmakers to set aside their religious beliefs and vote for the bill. He asked them to remember that once even slavery was legal.
"When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out," Adams said.
"That's the wrong statement," Diaz countered later. "You should carry your Bible all the time."
Others told personal stories of friends and relatives who are gay and unable to marry.
Supporters had been hopeful they could eke out a narrow win, or a much closer vote. But afterward, they said private assurances were broken. In the end, a half-dozen Democrats opposed the measure when it was expected only two or three would vote no. While no Republicans supported the bill, most advocates expected it would attract as many as four or five Republican senators.
"This is a loss for every family in New York," said New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "This is a loss for every lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender New Yorker."
A fight in the election year next year might be more difficult. New York also doesn't allow civil unions, but has several laws, executive orders and court decisions that grant many of the rights to gays long enjoyed by married couples.
A Marist College poll released Wednesday showed 51 percent of New Yorkers support legalizing gay marriage, while 42 percent opposed the measure. The poll questioned 805 registered voters November 12-16, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.
Death Toll Raises to 52 in Election Violence in Philippine
MANILA :
The death toll in Monday’s election violence rose to 52 on Wednesday, the Philippine authorities said, as six more bodies were recovered.
The regional police commander in Maguindanao Province, Josefino Cataluna, said the bodies were dug out from a shallow pit near a grassy hilltop where police and troops earlier found 46 other corpses after Monday’s attack, The Associated Press reported. He said the 52 victims included the family of a gubernatorial candidate and 18 Filipino journalists who accompanied his relatives in filing his election papers.
The government declared a state of emergency Tuesday in two southern provinces in an effort to head off further bloodshed.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency in the contiguous provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat and in the city of Cotabato on the southern island of Mindanao. The measure gives the police and army the authority to apprehend and detain those who carried out the slaughter.
The southern Philippines has been plagued for years by secessionist and Islamist insurgencies. The United States sends $1.6 billion annually in military and economic aid to the Philippines, with much of it aimed at a shadowy Islamist group, Abu Sayyaf, which has ties to Al Qaeda.
The authorities said that this week’s election violence had nothing to do with those groups, but that it was rooted in rivalries among local clans that the government had empowered as a way of combating the insurgents. One clan, the Ampatuans, is considered the closest political ally of Mrs. Arroyo in that part of the southern Philippines.
There are at least 250 political dynasties scattered throughout the Philippines, according to the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, a nonprofit group. For many of them and particularly those in the south, politics is literally a blood sport, with the clans’ power and income riding on the outcome of elections. As a consequence, violence has become a fixture of elections here; at least 126 died in the 2007 elections and 189 in 2004.
Opponents were quick to accuse the Ampatuans of engineering Monday’s attack. Esmael Mangudadatu, the vice mayor of Buluan, a town in Maguindanao, whose family is the chief political enemy of the Ampatuans, said on national television that survivors had implicated supporters of the Maguindanao governor, Andal Ampatuan. The Ampatuans have not made any public statement since the killings.
Mr. Mangudadatu said about 100 armed men had abducted the group, which included his wife, Genalyn, and other female relatives. They were on their way to the election office on Monday to file candidacy papers for him.
Mr. Mangudadatu attributed the attack to his decision to challenge the Ampatuans for the governorship. Andal Ampatuan is the patriarch of his clan, which has dominated politics in the province for decades.
50 for yuvraj sing as india move's towards a grand total
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After VVS Laxsman Yuvraj singh slam's Half Century as india reaches to 600+ mark in Day 2 after lunch in 2nd test Between India and Sri Lanka
VVS Laxsman --61* (Last Reported)
Yuvraj singh --50* (Last Reported)
After Years of Delay Britain opens Iraq War Inquiry
LONDON :
After years of delay and dispute, Britain formally opened an official public inquiry on Tuesday into the Iraq war — a conflict that stirred deep opposition here as former Prime Minister Tony Blair broke ranks with major European allies to join the United States in the 2003 invasion.
The probe seemed likely to illuminate hitherto unpublicized aspects of the relationship between London and Washington that led critics to depict Mr. Blair as a slavish junior partner in his alliance with President George W. Bush.
That close relationship does not seem to have been mirrored on the ground, according to official Defense Ministry documents leaked to a British newspaper Monday on the eve of the inquiry’s opening.
The documents, published in The Daily Telegraph, revealed a climate of stark animosity among senior British officers toward American military commanders, in sharp contrast to Mr. Blair’s support for the war as President Bush’s principal international partner.
Britain was the second-largest troop provider, and thus the Bush administration’s principal ally among about 30 nations constituting the occupation force.
The inquiry which opened Tuesday is led by a retired official, Sir John Chilcot, formerly the highest-ranking civil servant in the Northern Ireland Office.
Critics have said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s choice of a Whitehall insider to head the inquiry has doomed it to becoming a “whitewash,” but Mr. Chilcot has vowed to investigate all aspects of Britain’s involvement.
The conflict led to charges that Mr. Blair and his supporters misled the public into believing that Saddam Hussein controlled an armory of weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found after the invasion.
The unpopularity of the war — and its impact on Mr. Blair’s once glittery image among British voters — contributed to his ouster by Mr. Brown two years ago. British troops withdrew from Iraq in July.
The inquiry is expected to last at least 18 months, beginning with testimony from some of the most powerful figures involved in Britain’s decision to join the invasion, including Mr. Blair. It was not clear when Mr. Blair would testify.
Some of the most explosive revelations are expected to come from the inquiry’s power to summon, and to publish where it chooses, official documents like those disclosed by The Telegraph, based on confidential interviews with British officers returning from Iraq in the first year after the invasion.
Partial transcripts of the interviews in the paper suggested that strains between the two allies, though known to some degree at the time, were more severe than previously acknowledged.
The Telegraph’s report revealed that British officers’ refusal to carry out American orders resulted in a formal State Department rebuke in 2004 to Britain’s ambassador in Washington, Sir David Manning.
The newspaper quoted the British commander in southern Iraq at the time, Maj. Gen. Andrew Stewart, as saying he spent “a significant amount of my time ‘consenting and evading’ U.S. orders” to take military action against a powerful Shiite militia in the south, and engaging in negotiation instead.
Col. J. K. Tanner, chief of staff to General Stewart until June 2004 in the British divisional headquarters in the southern city of Basra, was quoted in the transcripts as saying that British commanders found that the Americans then in overall command in Baghdad, led by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, were resistant to dialogue and negotiation over military strategy and other issues, to the point of “arrogance” and an insensitivity the colonel compared to “dealing with a group of Martians.”
“The whole system was appalling,” Colonel Tanner said. “We experienced real difficulty in dealing with the American military and civilian organizations who, partly through arrogance and partly through bureaucracy, dictate that there is only one way: the American way.”
He added, “Despite our so-called ‘special relationship,’ I reckon that we were treated no differently to the Portuguese.”
Elsewhere in the transcript, the colonel pressed the point. Speaking of the Americans, he said: “They need to reintroduce dialogue as a tool of command because, although it is easy to speak to Americans face to face and understand each other completely, dealing with them corporately is akin to dealing with a group of Martians. If it isn’t on the PowerPoint slide, it doesn’t happen.”
The documents obtained by The Telegraph show that the strains in Iraq reached a peak in April 2004 when General Sanchez, the American commander, ordered the arrest in Baghdad of a powerful follower of the Shiite leader Moktada al-Sadr.
Mr. Sadr responded by staging an uprising against American troops in Baghdad and Najaf, a Shiite holy city 100 miles south of the capital, that led to one of the most violent chapters in the war.
In the south, the documents show, American commanders ordered the British to launch “offensive operations” against the Sadr militia, but British commanders responded instead by negotiating with local Shiite leaders.
This led to a showdown in Basra between General Sanchez and British commanders, who argued that Britain’s colonial experience had taught that occupying powers had to govern restive populations “as they found them,” not to try to eliminate popular leaders like Mr. Sadr.
The confrontation between the two nations’ militaries was etched out starkly in the Telegraph documents. Brig. Bruce Brealey, Britain’s chief of operations support in Basra in the second half of 2003, was quoted as telling debriefers that when American orders reached the British, “we noted the intent but tended to ignore the detail.” He added, “We would follow the ‘what,’ and often ignore the ‘how.’” General Stewart, in a similar vein, said that when he evaded American orders to take military action, it was because he believed that using negotiation could “achieve the same result using different means.”
The bitterness persisted deep into the war, with American commanders accusing the British of appeasing the Shiite militias that ultimately took control of Basra, and the British accusing the Americans of resorting too readily to force in cities like Falluja.
The recriminations eased only after 2007, when American commanders under Gen. David H. Petraeus adopted new counterinsurgency tactics that British officers saw as drawing partly on lessons Britain had learned in earlier conflicts, leading British officers to say that the Americans had finally grasped lessons missed at the outset of the war.
Emergency Declared in Philippines After Violence
MANILA —
The president of the Philippines on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the southern region where gunmen kidnapped and killed at least 46 people, military officials and news agencies reported.
In one of the worst episodes of election-related violence in the Philippines, about 50 lawyers, journalists and relatives of a local politician were kidnapped Monday in Maguindanao, a province on the southern island of Mindanao.
Josefino Cataluna, the chief superintendent of the national police, said 22 bodies had been recovered from mass graves on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. Searchers earlier had found the bodies of 24 other victims.
Fourteen of the dead were women, according to the military.
Relatives of some of the victims said many of them had been beheaded by a group of about 100 men.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sent military and national police units to the area and promised a full investigation to hunt down the killers.
Jesus Dureza, her adviser on Mindanao, had recommended the state of emergency, saying that “everyone should be disarmed” in the region, which has often been wracked by election violence.
“Anything less will not work,” he said.
The filing of candidacy documents for local and national elections, scheduled for next May, began Friday. The victims were stopped on their way to an election office to file papers for Esmael Mangudadatu, the deputy mayor of the town of Buluan, who plans to run for governor of Maguindanao.
Mr. Mangudadatu said on ABS-CBN television that his wife, his sister and several other female relatives had been in the group. He said they had been filing his candidacy documents in the hope that women would not be attacked.
Ten journalists were reportedly among the group, and two of the victims were identified by the national police on Tuesday as reporters.
“Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement from Paris.
“We have often condemned the culture of impunity and violence in the Philippines, especially Mindanao. This time, the frenzied violence of thugs working for corrupt politicians has resulted in an incomprehensible bloodbath. We call for a strong reaction from the local and national authorities.”
Attacks on candidates and supporters during campaign periods are common throughout the Philippines. In the 2007 local elections, nearly 100 people were killed in such attacks.
Election violence can be extreme in Maguindanao, where an Islamist insurgency and longstanding clan wars complicate the security situation. Access to firearms by criminal groups and political warlords has worsened the situation in this and other areas.
Mr. Mangudadatu’s uncle, Pax Mangudadatu, the governor of Sultan Kudarat Province, said the deputy mayor’s supporters had been attacked by backers of Andal Ampatuan, the current governor of Maguindanao. The families, from rival Muslim clans, are bitter political enemies.
Colonel Brawner, the military spokesman, told the Philippines Inquirer on Tuesday that the Ampatuans and their associates would be investigated.
“The suspects are bodyguards of Ampatuan, local police aides and certain lawless elements,” he said.
India has growth like china but with lots of values-Manmohan Singh
WASHINGTON:
Bull in a China shop is not an expression one would normally use to describe India’s mild-mannered Prime Minister, but at a Washington think-tank on Monday evening Manmohan Singh was anything but delicate on India’s newly nettlesome neighbor before an audience that is largely in thrall of the Middle Kingdom’s meteoric rise on the global stage.
In candid remarks that were keenly scrutinized in the context of New Delhi’s niggling troubles with Beijing and US overtures to the country, Dr Singh offered an Indian perspective on rising China that included an admission that lately, ''there is but a certain amount of assertiveness on the Chinese part. I don't fully understand the reasons for it."
Singh prefaced that comment by telling his audience that India recognized that it has a long standing border problem with China which it was trying to resolve it through dialogue. In the meanwhile both countries have agreed that pending the resolution of the border problem, peace and tranquility should be maintained in the border line. ''Having said that I should say that I have received these assurances from Chinese leadership from the highest level,'' he added, suggesting that Beijing was not entirely sticking to the script.
But for that one discordant, complaining note vis-à-vis Beijing, Singh indicated that India was on the same page as the rest of the world on China, wanting to prepare for its peaceful rise as a major power. ''So, engagement is the right strategy for India as well as for United States. We ourselves have tried very hard to engage China in the last five years and today China is one of our major trading partners,'' he said.
Singh remarks came against the backdrop of President Obama’s own visit to China last week in course of which some Indian analysts felt he (Obama) was sub-contracting or outsourcing oversight of South Asian peace and security to the East Asian giant and accepting it as a rising if not equal partner, to the detriment of India. That episode came on the heels of India’s renewed tensions with China on the border issue, and over the travels of Dalai Lama to regions Beijing regards as disputed.
Singh was also unexpectedly tetchy about comparisons between Indian and Chinese economic growth, saying while there is no doubt that Chinese performance is superior to India's, ''there are other values which are important than the growth of Gross Domestic Product.''
''I think the respect for fundamental human rights, the respect for the rule of law, respect for multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious rights, I think those have values. So, even the Indian perforce with regard to the GDP might not be as good as the Chinese, certainly I would not like to choose the Chinese path," he said in unusually blunt remarks that constituted a criticism of the Chinese model.
Singh’s candid public statements on China, Pakistan (no purposeful talks till it abjures terrorism and acts on 26/11), and Afghanistan (insisting India will stay the course against Taliban and asking US and international community to do the same militarily) set the stage for his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday following a ceremonial state welcome on the South Lawns of the White House.
Govenment to Produce Liberhan Commission Report Today In Parliament
NEW DELHI:
The government decided to table in Parliament today the report of the Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, a day after the leakage of the findings set off a political storm.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is away in the United States.
Cabinet sources said that the report is expected to be tabled in either House of Parliament at 12 noon after the Question Hour.
Publication of excerpts of the report had sparked a furore with the main opposition BJP accusing the government of "selectively leaking" the report which is believed to have indicted top BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and other functionaries for the demolition of the structure.
Congress had hit back saying the whole nation knows that the BJP had shed "crocodile tears" after its senior functionaries had watched people causing destruction and mayhem.
Justice M S Liberhan had submitted his findings to the government on June 30 this year after an inquiry spanning nearly 17 years.
BJP Top Guns Involved In Babri Masjid demolition-Liberhan Commission
NEW DELHI:
A senior official of the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry said he was "astonished" at a media report linking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the 1992 Babri mosque razing.
Anupam Gupta, counsel for the commission that was set up soon after the mosque was demolished in 1992, told a TV news channel that Vajpayee was the only BJP leader who was not connected to the mosque razing and what came to be known as the Ayodhya movement.
"Of all the top ranking leaders of the Sangh Parivar who were summoned and examined...Vajpayee was not one of them," he said.
"A conscious decision was taken (that) since there is nothing to connect Vajpayee with the demolition proper or with the entire Ayodhya movement, whose culmination the demolition was, the Commission should not call Vajpayee," he said.
In such circumstances, Gupta said, he was "astonished" that Vajpayee had been named in the leaked portions of the report published in the Indian Express as one of those "indicted" for the mosque razing.
Gupta said this "central fact must be placed before the nation today now that a national newspaper has disclosed certain parts of the report".
Gold Continue's to glitter in indian Market
NEW DELHI:
Continuing the record setting spree, gold hit yet another high of Rs 17,605 per 10 gram for April contract in the futures market today.
All the three running contracts -- December, February and April -- were trading at new highs.
At the MCX counter, gold for far-month April contract rose by Rs 138 or 0.79% to hit a new record high of Rs 17,605 per 10 gram with a business turnover of 13 lots.
The yellow metal for delivery in February month contract also traded higher by Rs 124 or 0.68% at Rs 17,571 per 10 gram in a turnover of 250 lots, while December month contract gained Rs 110 or 0.56% at Rs 17,499 per 10 gram, in a turnover of 1,173 lots.
Meanwhile, gold spot in Asia touched a record high of $1,162.22 per ounce, up one% in early trade supported by continued weakness in the US currency, raising the metal's appeal as an alternative investment.
"Gold prices globally have been mainly influenced by the weaker US dollar and recent central bank purchases of the precious metal", said an analyst.
Market analysts said the trading sentiment in the domestic futures market got a boost after the precious metal surged to a record high in Asian trade.
Dark side of Indian entertainment clubs,Dubai
DUBAI:
What do Miss Seema, Miss Ritu, Miss Kareena and Miss Sonam have in common, other than standing in a cavern in one of Dubai’s most successful Indian entertainment clubs? All of them are young, dressed in provocative mini skirts or diaphanous lehngas and condemned to moving their hips to tuneless renderings of Hindi film songs for seven hours each night, seven days a week
After that, if you believe the goody-goody accounts provided by the girls and their employer, they are bussed demurely home to shared accommodation, where they sleep the sleep of the just. Next quarter, next month or next week, Miss Seema, Miss Ritu, Miss Kareena and Miss Sonam might give way to Miss Anjali, Miss Rita, Miss Sonali and Miss Divya. It doesn’t matter much. ‘‘These aren’t their real names, new girls in the 19 to 27 age group are always available and change keeps everything fresh,’’ explains Sadanand Shetty, the 30-something owner of Dhamaal, which is expanding as an Indian entertainment club chain despite the recession.
Could Shetty’s clubs and the half-dozen or so other such be the dark side of Indian commerce in Dubai, where prostitution is illegal but the police themselves report deporting 4,300 prostitutes in 2006? It would hardly be surprising even though pimping and the sex trade has, till now, been linked with other nationalities, notably Chinese and Russian. Shetty and the girls insist they do nothing more titillating than dancing in skin-tight clothes. But insiders are sceptical. ‘‘I think there is something happening there that isn’t widely spoken about. I do think the girls ply the trade,’’ says a young man who has worked for the club for years.
Another, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he knew the girls sold their bodies or what would be their incentive to dance well? ‘‘They are not allowed tips on stage.’’
Add to that the Indian population math. The Indian embassy in UAE says about a million Indians live in Dubai and the northern Emirates, ie Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah. An estimated two-thirds of this million are lone men because UAE allows workers the luxury of family only if they earn over 4,000 dirhams or $1,100 a month. This sum is beyond the means of most Indians in Dubai because they are overwhelmingly unskilled construction, agricultural or domestic workers, or engaged in skilled and semi-skilled work.
These lone men keep the Dhamaal chain throbbing, so much so that on the weekday night TOI visited, one club was packed with at least 150 enthusiastic customers at 2am. Shetty claims he pays the girls anything between Rs 40,000 and Rs 2 lakh a month as well as full board and lodging ‘‘to dance, do shows, nothing more...they can’t have contact with customers, they can’t even go off with boyfriends because it will damage their reputation — and ours.’’
But some of the girls appeared to be breaking all of Shetty’s stated rules and openly flirting with and signalling to favoured regulars.
Whatever they do — or don’t — India’s female exports to Dubai are hardly unique. With its 180 nationalities, the city-state is brimming over with ethnicity-specific ‘entertainment clubs’. And Shetty says it’s not unusual in seeing the Indian ‘entertainment club’ as a sunshine sector, where each bottle of whisky is priced at 1,000 dirhams or five times its cost.
He insists he acquires a performer’s visa for each of the 14-strong contingent of girls in each club. ‘‘The performers are drawn from different Indian states,’’ says the Mumbaikar with pan-Indian pride, adding ‘‘we have agents looking out for likely candidates”.
Singer Miss Roshni from Kolkata, whose role appears roughly equivalent to that of Mother Superior at a convent, says the girls are looked after tenderly. There is general agreement — and some proof at least — of this. Backstage, the girls are encouraged to snack on home fare such as fresh parathas, dahi, subzi, pickles and gallons of hot tea. Hani, who runs a small business that keeps Shetty’s girls’ hairdos immaculate throughout the evening, says the Dhamaal founder is almost unique in the Dubai entertainment sector. Clearly, even the dark side of Dubai may have its silver lining and hearts of gold.
Two Pakistani's arested in Italy involved in 26/11
ROME:
Italy's ANSA news agency reports that police in the northern city of Brescia have arrested two Pakistanis accused of logistical support for last year’s terror attacks in Mumbai.
ANSA cited police sources as saying the two men arrested on Saturday used a money transfer agency they managed to send funds for the attacks. The money was used to pay for an Internet phone account used by people in contact with the attackers.
The agency said the two are accused of aiding and abetting as well as illegal financial activity.
Is David Coleman Headley Doosra Daood ?
When Federal agents detained him at Chicago's O' Hare airport on October 3, just as he was to board a flight for Philadelphia, David Coleman Headley, a Pakistan-born American national of mixed parentage, would have experienced a sense of shock. Not just at his detention, but at what he had thought was an elaborate cover, strewn with codes and dead ends, being blown moments before he was about to set out on his most important journey.
At the end of a flight that would eventually take him to Pakistan, he would have met up with Illyas Kashmiri, a highly-wanted jihadi with a $ 50 million-reward on his head. This was a rendezvous Headley had been looking forward to with barely-controlled anticipation. He would have also met a senior Lashkar-e-Toiba leader, widely thought to be Sajid Mir, who looks after the Lashkar's overseas operations, and had previously dispatched a French jihadi of Caribbean descent, Willy Brigitte, to target a nuclear plant in Australia in 2003. Mir is understood to have even met Richard Reid, the man who concealed explosives in his shoes in an attempt to set off a mid-air plane explosion. He failed, but the plot changed the rules of air travel drastically after that, with fliers being asked to take off their footwear thereon.
What Headley did not realise was that his terror links were by then fairly well known to FBI sleuths who were tracking him for more than a year. For, even while ensuring an elaborate cover, he had attracted the FBI's attention for more than one reason. In 2006, he suddenly dropped his original name Daood Ghilani - given by his Pakistani father - to embrace one derived from the side of his American mother. Obviously, this was done to dodge the profiling that Muslims have been subjected to in the US after 9/11.
The identity feint failed because Headley, quite uncharacteristically for someone drafted for a high-value mission by leaders of Lashkar, left holes in the cover for the FBI to develop an interest in him. He had no job except the one that he pretended to be doing for First World Immigration Service, a concern owned by fellow Lashkar jihadi Tahawwur Hussain Rana. His home, in fact, even his cell phone, was leased in the name of deceased persons. And, for more than a year, Headley had frequently left his Chicago home to make multiple trips to Pakistan, India, UAE and various other countries in Europe. His flights to Pakistan and from India invariably went through the UAE.
Their surveillance soon convinced the FBI that the job with First World was a poor alibi as Headley hardly did any work for Rana's concern . He travelled twice to Denmark to stake out the office of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten - which had enraged Muslims by publishing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in 2005 - pretending to inquire how he was to place advertisements of a First World office planned in Copenhagen. A search of his luggage by the Customs and Border Patrol would reveal no documents needed to back up his claim of being on a genuine business trip.
Moreover, his multiple trips to Pakistan - a 'radioactive' entry on anyone's passport in terror-wary Western capitals - would itself have deepened the FBI's suspicions. These slip-ups and his contacts with Pakistan-based jihadis showed up in counter-terrorism intercepts that the FBI monitors so carefully, particularly telephone and email communication . Though Headley, Rana and their handlers used heavily-coded language, their allusions became apparent to operatives eavesdropping on the conversations. The references to "projects" (targets), "marriage" and "heart attack" (death of a militant), "investments" (targets), "business and action" (strikes), "doctor" (Rana or Kashmiri), and frequent use of the Islamic terms for reward (ajr), good deed (amal), oaths of allegiance (baaith) were dead giveaways.
On top of all this, he went and posted an angry message on a Yahoo! group called Abdalians - named after a military school in Hasan Abdual, Pakistan - calling for violence against Danish newspapers and others "slandering" Islam. This did not fit in with his new nomenclature. No wonder, by the time he returned to the US after his visit to Copenhagen , the FBI was firmly on his trail and had identified him as a Lashkar link and conduit to Kashmiri. Though Headley's involvement in a terror attack is not known - not as yet - he was regarded as a key player in the plan that was going on against Jyllands Posten.
Headley made optimum use of his English name and US passport, which helped dramatically lower his profile as a likely terrorist, while he was on the loose. His Caucasian appearance too helped a lot. On top of all this, his social skills allowed him to move into exclusive circles as his friendship with Rahul Bhatt would indicate. With all these advantages , plus his innate qualities as a meticulous planner, Headley became a key Lashkar operative for assaults on foreign targets. Before visiting the Jyllands Posten office, for instance, he had made a checklist of factors that would be vital for those launching an attack on the newspaper. The list he stored in his own email account mentioned "complete area coverage, counter surveillance (magic eye), lunch + coffee spots, security (armed?) zoom, foreman residence, entry and exist method in the house, uniform" .
It's precisely these attributes of Headley, plus his long stay in Mumbai, that has made Indian intelligence suspect that he might have supplied the 26/11 attackers with graphic details of targets such as the Taj Hotel, Chabad House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminal . For a group which had not visited Mumbai at all, Kasab & Co. seemed remarkably familiar with the city's topography and layouts of the targeted buildings. Headley himself had stayed at the Taj between March 28 and 30, in room no. 1809, and returned on May 2, 2007 to stay in room no. 314. He remained at the hotel till
Nothing to fear from india-Manmohan Singh to Pakistan
WASHINGTON:
Terming as "tragic" Pakistan's use of terror as state policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India is ready to resolve all outstanding issues with the country on the condition that it will not allow its territory to be used against its neighbour.
In an interview to the Washington Post ahead of his state visit to the US, Singh said India has been a victim of Pakistan-aided terrorism, and intelligence reports still suggest that terrorists based in that country are planning attacks in India similar to last year's Mumbai carnage.
"Every day I receive intelligence reports saying that terrorists based in Pakistan are planning other similar acts," Singh said in the interview that would be carried in the daily's print edition on Sunday - the day of his arrival here.
He, however, asserted that Pakistan has "nothing to fear" from India, and it was a "tragedy" that Pakistan has come to the point of using terror "as an instrument of state policy".
"We are committed to resolve all the outstanding issues with Pakistan through bilateral negotiations. Our only condition is that Pakistan should not allow its territory to be used for acts of terrorism against India.
"If Pakistan really honours that commitment, we can go back to negotiation to resolve all outstanding issues between us," he said.
Noting that India has been a victim of "Pakistan-aided -abetted and -inspired terrorism for nearly 25 years," Singh said India wanted the US to use all its influence with Pakistan to ask it desist from that path.
Asked about actions being taken by Pakistan to bring to book those involved in the Mumbai terror attack, the Prime Minister said they have not done enough.
"As far as perpetrators of the Mumbai massacre are concerned, (Pakistan) has taken some steps but not enough," he said.
Singh also expressed concern about the rise of terrorism in Pakistan and said terrorists' increasing grip over several parts of the country was a threat to India's security as well.
"Now if the Taliban and al-Qaeda type of terror, which in the past was located in Pakistan's FATA, gets transferred to the mainland of Pakistan, I think it has very serious consequences for our own security," he said.
"We would not like terrorism to lead to a situation where civilian government is only a nominal government," he said.
Singh said there appears to be a mismatch between the US' and Pakistan's objectives in Afghanistan and observed that he does not see Islamabad fully committed to the war against terrorism.
"As far as Afghanistan is concerned, I am not sure whether the US and Pakistan have the same objectives," he said. While Pakistan, he said, would like the US to get out of Afghanistan soon, the US objectives are to get Pakistan to deal with the Taliban.
"Pakistan would like Afghanistan to be under its control... I don't see Pakistan wholeheartedly in support of action against the Taliban in Afghanistan," Singh told The Post in the interview posted on the daily's website.
"They are of course taking action against Taliban, but only when it threatens the supremacy of the army," he said.
Hoping that the US and the global community will stay involved in Afghanistan, Singh said a victory for the Taliban would have "catastrophic consequences" for the world, particularly for South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
"We (in India) of course have more immediate concerns. We are victims of terrorism and the extremist ideologies of the type that the Taliban represent. If this is not checked, this could destabilise our country," the Prime Minister said.
Responding to a question, Singh said al Qaeda and Taliban are chips off the same block.
Though he agreed that the regime of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is not perfect, he asked the international community to rally behind him now that he has been re-elected.
"President Karzai's regime is not perfect... But you cannot transform Afghanistan overnight. It is going to be a long-term affair. Democracy, as the West understands it, may not be introduced in a short period of time in Afghanistan," he said.
"But the very fact that millions of Afghan children, including millions of girls, are now in school, when none was in school when the Taliban was in power, shows some human freedom. One has to take a balanced view," he said.
Gautam Gambhir Slams a half Century
Gautam Gambhir Slams a half Century on 4 day 1st test between India and Sri Lanka
Gautam Gambhir--- 54* as last report came in
Rahul Dravid --- 23* as last report came in
India fighting for the test after a huge Sri Lankan Total
AHMEDABAD:
India made a confident start in their bid to save the first Test after Sri Lanka enjoyed a record-breaking run-feast on the fourth day on Thursday.
Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir saw off the first 16 overs of pace and spin as India, trailing by 334 runs on the first innings, went to tea at 77 for no loss in their second knock.
Sehwag was unbeaten on a typically robust 47 with six boundaries and left-hander Gambhir was on 28.
Sri Lanka piled up 760-7, the highest total ever on Indian soil, before skipper Kumar Sangakkara declared the first innings 40 minutes after lunch at the Motera stadium.
Mahela Jayawardene hit a monumental 275 and wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene remained unbeaten on 154 after a world-record stand of 351 for the sixth wicket.
The pair broke the 72-year record set by Australians Don Bradman and Jack Fingleton, who had put on 346 for the sixth wicket against England at Melbourne in 1937.
Sri Lanka, who have never won a Test match in India, have four sessions to carve out a win and take the lead in the three-match series on a barren track that has proved a bowlers' graveyard so far.
India had made 426 in their first innings after being reduced to 32-4 within the first hour of the match.
Sri Lanka's total surpassed India's 676-7 against the same opponents in Kanpur in 1986, which was the previous highest total in a Test match played on Indian soil.
Mahela Jayawardene batted for eight hours in his sixth double-century that was studded with 27 boundaries and a six.
He was dismissed in the third over after lunch when he shaped to drive leg-spinner Amit Mishra, missed the line and was bowled.
Sangakkara declared at the fall of Dammika Prasad's wicket, caught in the deep off Harbhajan Singh, leaving Prasanna Jayawardene stranded at the other end.
India claimed the third new ball from the start of the day's play, but it failed to contain the flow of runs.
Prasanna, who was on 84 overnight, reached his second Test century by edging Ishant Sharma to the third man fence for his eighth boundary.
Mahela, the ninth-highest scorer in Test cricket, completed 9,000 runs when he reached 253 with a single to long-on off Harbhajan.
All the four frontline Indian bowlers conceded over 100 runs with Mishra being the most expensive with 1-203 from 58 overs and Harbhajan going for 2-189 from 48.4 overs.
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