UPA running away from vote on FDI in Parliament: Badal

AMRITSAR: Congress led UPA government was running away from vote in Parliament on the crucial issue of 'Foreign Direct Investment' in Retail sector as it was fearing threat that even its allies would not support the government , said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal while talking to media persons here on Monday.

He said that NDA as well as all opposition parities had been demanding a vote under section 184 on the issue impacting the economy but Center government wanted to rush through this procedure. He said that Shiromani Akali Dal as well as NDA was of firm view that on the issue of FDI in Retail all stake holders including retailers, farmers, all political parties, traders should have been taken into loop but the Center government wanted to impose this decision like a dictator.

He said that NDA would not allow UPA-II to fiddle with the economy of the country. He said that Shiromani Akali Dal had supported FDI in wholesale as it felt that it would be beneficial to the retailers, farmers and traders removing the middlemen from the cycle but in the case of FDI in retail there was a question mark on the life and death of crores of retailers dependent on their neighborhood shops.

Badal junior said that he had already ordered review of security of all protectees after the incident of shoot out in New Delhi farm house. He said that the concerned committee would soon meet and would re-tune the security according to the threat perception of each protectee.

He also added that the security cover would not be allowed to use it as ornamental showoff. While denying the reports of shortage of coal Badal said that Powercom was reviewing the situation on day to day basis and he had already requested the Railway Minister to allocate more wagons for bringing coal from Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

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President Obama Prepares for Cabinet Shuffle

Nov 26, 2012 6:45am

Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

As President Obama prepares for his second term, preparations have begun for the traditional shuffling of the Cabinet.

Top priority for the president: filling slots for those top officials heading — if not running — for the door: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner.

To replace Clinton, Democratic insiders suggest that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice is the frontrunner, with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also a viable candidate.

Rice has been harshly criticized by Republicans for the erroneous comments she made on Sunday news talk shows after the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, comments that were based on intelligence reports that falsely blamed the attack on a protest against an anti-Muslim video. When the president, during his recent press conference, offered a vociferous defense of Rice, many of those close to him began to suspect he was tipping his hand as to what he might decide.

To replace Geithner at Treasury, White House chief of staff Jack Lew is thought to have the inside track if he wants it, with other possibilities including Neal Wolin, the current deputy secretary of the Treasury and Lael Brainaed, current under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs.

Other informed sources suggest that there is consideration being given to a business/CEO type such as investor Roger Altman, former Time/Warner chair Richard Parsons, and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.

Those are the two most pressing jobs to fill, with Clinton exhausted from a long stretch in government — eight years as first lady, eight as senator, and four as secretary of state — and the president having personally promised Geithner’s wife that he could leave as soon as possible after the election.

Any of the business/CEO types being discussed for treasury secretary could also serve as secretary of commerce, a position that for the Obama administration has proved as troublesome as the role of drummer in Spinal Tap. Jeff Zients, the acting director of the Office of Management & Budget, is said to be under consideration.

It’s too flip to refer to it as a consolation prize, but informed sources say that — with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also planning on leaving — Kerry could be offered the position secretary of defense if he wants it, though the Massachusetts senator has suggested he only wants State. Another option, Michelle Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense for Policy, would be the first female to serve in that position. There was some discussion of National Security Adviser Tom Donilon moving across the river, but it seems clear, sources say, that he’s staying where he is.

If Lew leaves to take the position at Treasury, some possible replacements for him as chief of staff include deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough or Vice President Biden’s current chief of staff Ron Klain. Tom Nides, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, has also been discussed.

President Obama’s senior adviser David Plouffe has also long discussed leaving the White House. There are many options to fill his shoes, including the elevation of communications director Dan Pfeiffer. Also possible: bringing back former press secretary Robert Gibbs, or former deputy chief of staff/campaign manager Jim Messina. Another option might be to bring in some of the people who were part of the messaging shop in the campaign — David Simus, who served as director of opinion research for the campaign, or Larry Grisolano, who did ads for campaign.

– Jake Tapper

SHOWS: World News

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Russia, France to tackle Syria during Medvedev visit

PARIS: Russia and France will tackle disagreements over how to deal with the Syria conflict this week when Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits Paris for talks.

Medvedev will head a delegation of ministers and meet French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday.

Diplomats say the talks with Hollande are expected to focus on the Syria conflict, which has sown deep discord between Western powers and Russia and China.

"It is an issue where, there can be no doubt, we have some disagreements with France, but also some common views. Russia like France wants to find a political solution, the disagreements are over how (to do it)," said Russia's envoy to Paris, Alexander Orlov.

After 20 months of conflict and more than 40,000 people dead, the international community is making no progress on finding a political solution to the conflict, with Russia and China blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to ratchet up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

"There is a major disagreement," Orlov said. "The West says it (a solution) must start with the departure of Bashar al-Assad, and we say this is where it must end."

Russia has accused Western powers of escalating the conflict by backing armed rebels and said plans pushed by Paris to provide the rebels with "defensive weapons" would violate international law.

Moscow has also criticised Turkey's requested deployment by NATO of Patriot missiles on the border with Syria, warning that the move raises the risk of expanding the conflict.

Outside of Syria, the talks are expected to focus on economic and cultural cooperation, including, Orlov said, the possible purchase by Russia of French navy boats after its agreement to buy two Mistral-class warships from Paris.

Plans to build a Russian Orthodox church and cultural centre near the Eiffel Tower are also expected to be on the table.

Russia recently suspended its request for a construction permit to build the church and cultural facility on the banks of the Seine River following criticism by Paris officials that the five-domed building was inappropriate for the city's skyline.

- AFP/xq

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Kasab’s execution will not affect Sarabjit’s release: Advocate

JALANDHAR: The execution of 26/11 terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab will not affect the ongoing trial of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan, his advocate Awais Sheikh has said.

"Sarabjit and Kasab's cases are different. Kasab's case was related to terrorism in which many were killed. Whereas Sarabjit's case is one of mistaken identity," Mr. Sheikh told PTI.

"Pakistan has officially accepted in court that Kasab was a Pakistani national. Kasab was responsible for the killing of many people in the Mumbai terror attack," he added.

"Sarabjit's case if one of mistaken identity. The most important point in this case is that he has spent 22 years in prison. I hope the President will consider Sarabjit's mercy petition and he will be released soon."

However, the Pakistan government had said that Sarabjit's case will not be viewed in terms of Kasab's execution.

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur said, "I want to thank Pakistani officials on behalf of my countrymen...Awais Sheikh met Sarabjit on November 11. I have full faith that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will hear my plea and definitely release Sarabjit."

Sarabjit is on death row for the last 20 years following his conviction for alleged involvement in a series of bombings in Pakistan in 1990.

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

Read More..

After Sandy, World Hopes to Hear New US Voice on Climate Change

During a year with a monster storm and scorching heat waves, Americans have experienced the kind of freakish weather that many scientists say will occur more often on a warming planet.

And as a re-elected president talks about global warming again, climate activists are cautiously optimistic that the U.S. will be more than a disinterested bystander when the U.N. climate talks resume Monday with a two-week conference in Qatar.

"I think there will be expectations from countries to hear a new voice from the United States," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate and energy program at the World Resources Institute in Washington.

The climate officials and environment ministers meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha will not come up with an answer to the global temperature rise that is already melting Arctic sea ice and permafrost, raising and acidifying the seas, and shifting rainfall patterns, which has an impact on floods and droughts.

They will focus on side issues, like extending the Kyoto protocol — an expiring emissions pact with a dwindling number of members — and ramping up climate financing for poor nations.

They will also try to structure the talks for a new global climate deal that is supposed to be adopted in 2015, a process in which American leadership is considered crucial.

Many were disappointed that Obama didn't put more emphasis on climate change during his first term. He took some steps to rein in emissions of heat-trapping gases, such as sharply increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. But a climate bill that would have capped U.S. emissions stalled in the Senate.

"We need the U.S. to engage even more," European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told The Associated Press. "Because that can change the dynamic of the talks."

The world tried to move forward without the U.S. after the Bush Administration abandoned the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 pact limiting greenhouse emissions from industrialized nations. As that agreement expires this year, the climate curves are still pointing in the wrong direction.

The concentration of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide has jumped 20 percent since 2000, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, according to a U.N. report released this week. And each year, the gap between what researchers say must be done to reverse this trend, and what's actually being done, gets wider.

Bridging that gap, through clean technology and renewable energy, is not just up to the U.S., but to countries like India and China, whose carbon emissions are growing the fastest as their economies expand.

But Obama raised hopes of a more robust U.S. role in the talks when he called for a national "conversation" on climate change after winning re-election. The issue had been virtually absent in the presidential campaigning until Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast.

The president still faces domestic political constraints, and there's little hope of the U.S. increasing its voluntary pledge in the U.N. talks of cutting emissions by 17 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.

Still, just a signal that Washington has faith in the international process would go a long way, analysts said.

"The perception of many negotiators and countries is that the U.S. is not really interested in increasing action on climate change in general," said Bill Hare, senior scientist at Climate Analytics, a non-profit organization based in Berlin.

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Crisis over president's powers exposes Egypt divisions

CAIRO (Reuters) - Youths clashed with police in Cairo on Saturday as protests at new powers assumed by President Mohamed Mursi stretched into a second day, confronting Egypt with a crisis that has exposed the split between newly empowered Islamists and their opponents.

A handful of hardcore activists hurling rocks battled riot police in the streets near Tahrir Square, where several thousand protesters massed on Friday to demonstrate against a decree that has rallied opposition ranks against Mursi.

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of teargas hung over the square, the heart of the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011.

More than 300 people were injured on Friday. Offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Mursi to power, were attacked in at least three cities.

Egypt's highest judicial authority said the decree marked an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary, the state news agency reported.

Leftist, liberal and socialist parties have called for an open-ended sit-in with the aim of "toppling" the decree which has also drawn statements of concern from the United States and the European Union. A few dozen activists manning makeshift barricades kept traffic out of the square on Saturday.

Calling the decree "fascist and despotic", Mursi's critics called for a big protest on Tuesday against a move they say has revealed the autocratic impulses of a man jailed by Mubarak, who outlawed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.

"We are facing a historic moment in which we either complete our revolution or we abandon it to become prey for a group that has put its narrow party interests above the national interest," the liberal Dustour Party said in a statement.

Issued late on Thursday, the decree marks an effort by the Mursi administration to consolidate its influence after it successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August.

The decree reflects the Muslim Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days: it guards from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the Islamist-dominated assembly with dissolution.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down," Zarwan said.

"INTIFADA"

A central element of Egypt's transition, the drafting of the constitution has been plagued by divisions between Islamists and their more secular-minded opponents, nearly all of whom have withdrawn from the body writing the document.

Mursi's new powers allowed him to replace the prosecutor general - a Mubarak holdover who the new president had tried to replace in October only to kick up a storm of protest from the judiciary, which said he had exceeded his authorities.

At an emergency meeting called to discuss the decree, the Supreme Judicial Council, Egypt's highest judicial authority, urged "the president of the republic to distance this decree from everything that violates the judicial authority".

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising. "The people support the president's decisions," declared Freedom and Justice, the newspaper run by the Brotherhood's political party.

The ultraorthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind the decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Facing the biggest storm of criticism since he won the presidential election in June, Mursi addressed his supporters outside the presidential palace on Friday. He said opposition did not worry him, but it had to be "real and strong".

Candidates defeated by Mursi in the presidential vote joined the protests against his decision on Friday. Former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa was photographed linking arms with leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, liberal Mohamed ElBaradei and others.

Mursi is now confronted with a domestic crisis just as his administration won international praise for mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process, while the United Nations expressed fears about human rights.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy and Reuters TV; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Less Japanese view China positively: poll

TOKYO: A Japanese government survey has found less than one in five people feel positively towards China, a record low as the countries are embroiled in a bitter territorial row, reports said Saturday.

Eighteen per cent of people polled said they had a positive view of China, the lowest figure since the survey was first conducted in 1978, Jiji Press and Kyodo News agencies said.

It was 8.3 percentage points down from last year, the agencies said.

Japan's ties with China have soured due to a row over disputed islands in the East China Sea, which Tokyo controls and calls the Senkakus but Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

Tokyo nationalised some of the islands in mid-September, sparking a wave of sometimes violent anti-Japanese demonstrations across China that targeted Japanese businesses.

Jiji quoted the foreign ministry as saying the poor poll result was believed to have stemmed from the anti-Japan rallies as well Chinese ships repeatedly entering waters near the islands.

Japan has also been at odds with South Korea over a group of Seoul-controlled islets between the two countries, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

The survey found the number of people who feel friendly towards South Korea dived 23 points to 39.2 per cent, the reports said.

The poll, conducted between September 27 and October 7, quizzed 3,000 adults across Japan, of whom 61.3 per cent gave valid answers.

- AFP/fa

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Namdhari fired at Ponty Chadha's brother Hardeep: Police

NEW DELHI: The police on Saturday told the court that sacked Uttarakhand Minorities Commission chairman Sukhdev Singh Namdhari had fired at Ponty Chadha's brother Hardeep.

Namdhari was the main conspirator in the shootout, the police said. He has been charged with attempt to murder.

Namdhari has been sent to 5 days' police custody by the court in connection with the November 17 shootout case.

In a sudden turn of events in the Ponty-Hardeep Chadha shootout case, Sukhdev Singh Namdhari was arrested on Friday from his Bajpur home in Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand.

Namdhari carried a licensed pistol with him when the shootout occurred. He had rushed Ponty to the hospital and had also given a statement ; but after that he was not in touch with the cops.

Udham Singh Nagar SSP Anant Shanker Takwale said Namdhari, who was untraceable ever since he was sacked as chairman of Uttarakhand Minorities Commission, was arrested around 11am by a six-member team of Delhi Police.

Police said Namdhari came in contact with the Chadha brothers with the help of Uttarakhand BJP leaders such as Kashipur MLA Harbhajan Singh Cheema and Congress MLA from Kapurthala Rana Gurjeet Singh. A senior Uttarakhand IPS officer said soon after he came in contact with the Chadha brothers, he managed to become a partner in their booming real estate and stone quarrying business.

Bansal also said that of the 14 cases of heinous crimes, including murder, dacoity and kidnapping, registered against Namdhari in Uttarakhand since 1995, he had been acquitted in 12 cases while two cases are still on against him. These two cases belong to Udham Singh Nagar district.

(Inputs from PTI)

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