Make Modi BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Yashwant Sinha says

NEW DELHI: Senior leader Yashwant Sinha on Monday fired the first shot openly pitching for declaring Narendra Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections, saying it will benefit the party hugely.

Contending that he was reflecting the mood of the country and BJP workers, he advised JD(U), which has reservations on Modi because of the 2002 Gujarat riots, not to target the chief minister but take a decision after careful consideration.

"A debate has been taking place for many days now. When I travel, there is a strong demand from common people and workers that Narendra Modi should be declared as the PM candidate as this will benefit the party. After careful thought, I have concluded that if BJP declares Modi as its PM candidate, then BJP will benefit hugely in the elections. It will have a big impact on voters. I have no doubt on this," Sinha told reporters here.

The former external affairs minister, who had once claimed to be qualified for the top job, said the decision on the prime ministerial candidate has to be taken by the party but this is the sentiment of workers and public.

Sinha became the first senior BJP leader to openly pitch for declaring Modi as PM candidate although the party and the leaders have been evasive on the issue.

Modi, who held "elaborate" discussions with new BJP chief Rajnath Singh here on Sunday on the 2014 elections, himself has been parrying the question.

On JD(U) having reservations on Modi's name, Sinha said if the ally does not support, it will be a wrong decision. "JD(U) is the oldest ally of BJP ... and it should remain in the alliance," he said. However, he took exception to JD(U) targeting Modi, saying "to target one particular person is not fair. Either the entire party is secular or the entire party is communal. Within the BJP, you cannot pick and choose. That is a flawed argument."

He went on to add that, "within a party, you cannot say XYZ is secular and ABC is communal and we will go with XYZ and not with ABC."

When asked about the possibility of JD(U) quitting the NDA if Modi is declared as PM candidate by BJP, Sinha said, "if any party goes, a number of parties will come ... JD(U) is absolutely free. "It is another party, it is an ally. If they take a position, they should take it only after careful consideration."

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West


New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.


Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.


There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.


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CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/


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Victims' Cellphones Ring After Nightclub Fire













Coffins lined a gymnasium in Santa Maria, Brazil, today as family members tried to identify their loved ones after a fast-moving fire tore through a crowded nightclub Sunday morning, killing more than 230 people and injuring hundreds more.


A community gym near the popular Kiss nightclub has been converted to a temporary morgue were family members were led in one by one Sunday night and early this morning to identify the dead. Outside the gym police held up personal objects, including a black purse and blue high-heeled shoe, as people seeking information on loved ones crowded around, hoping not to recognize anything they were being shown.


"Doctors from other parts of Brazil were flown in to assist the medical side of this," BBC reporter Julia Carneiro told ABC News this morning. "One hundred people are injured and in hospital. Some have been flown to other cities that have better hospital capacity."


PHOTOS: Santa Maria, Brazil Nightclub Fire


Flames and smoke outraced a terrified crowd at the Kiss nightclub, located in the southern city of Santa Maria, shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Panicked partygoers tried to outrun flames and black, thick smoke, but the club appeared to have only one open exit, police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello told The Associated Press.


Police confirmed that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim.


Hours after the fire, cellphones on the victims were ringing inside the still-smoldering nightclub as family members tried to contact their loved ones, Brazilian radio reporter Sara Bodowsky told "World News" anchor David Muir.






JEFFERSON BERNARDES/AFP/Getty Images











Brazil Nightclub Fire: Nearly 200 People Killed Watch Video





"It's really like a war zone in here. We have 232 bodies laid down, side by side, so the families go inside one by one. They look at the bodies," Bodowsky said.


The first funerals for the victims were scheduled to begin later today for those families who have identified their loved ones.


"It was terrible inside. It was like one of those films of the Holocaust, bodies piled atop one another," police inspector Sandro Meinerz said Sunday. "We had to use trucks to remove them. It took about six hours to take the bodies away."


Investigators believe the blaze began when a band's small pyrotechnics show ignited foam sound insulating material on the ceiling, releasing a putrid haze that caused scores of people to choke to death.


Survivors and police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club in the mass confusion and chaos moments after the fire began.


But Arigony said the guards didn't appear to block fleeing patrons for long. "It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he told the AP.


Police Maj. Bastianello told the AP by telephone the death toll was likely made worse because the nightclub appeared to have just one exit through which patrons could exit.


A security guard told the newspaper Diaro de Santa Maria that the club was filled to capacity, with 1,000 to 2,000 people inside.


Meanwhile, people outside tried to break through walls to get in to save those trapped inside.


Michele Pereira told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit some sort of flare.


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


Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning."


"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it," he said. "When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."


He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.


Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was attending a summit with European Union leaders and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Chile, cut her trip short and returned home to Brazil Sunday.






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Egyptian youths, police clash in fourth day of violence


CAIRO (Reuters) - Police fired teargas at dozens of stone-throwing protesters in Cairo on Sunday in a fourth day of street clashes that have killed at least 42 people and compounded the challenges facing President Mohamed Mursi.


In the worst violence, security sources said 33 people died in Port Said on Saturday when protests erupted after a court sentenced 21 people, mostly from the city, to death for their role in a deadly stadium disaster last year.


Thousands of mourners joined funeral processions for the dead in Port Said on Sunday, a witness said by telephone, adding that he heard gunshots and the sound of emergency vehicle sirens. But there were no immediate reports of new casualties.


Mursi's opponents have also taken to the streets across Egypt since Thursday, accusing him and his Islamist allies of betraying the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in 2011.


"None of the revolution's goals have been realized," said Mohamed Sami, a protester in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday.


"Prices are going up. The blood of Egyptians is being spilt in the streets because of neglect and corruption and because the Muslim Brotherhood is ruling Egypt for their own interests."


On a bridge close to Tahrir Square, youths hurled stones at police in riot gear who fired teargas to push them back towards the square, the cauldron of the uprising that erupted on January 25, 2011 and toppled Mubarak 18 days later.


The latest protests were initially timed to mark Friday's anniversary of that revolt.


The U.S. and British embassies, both close to Tahrir, said they were closed for public business on Sunday.


The violence adds to the daunting task facing Mursi as he tries to fix a beleaguered economy and cool tempers before a parliamentary election expected in the next few months which is supposed to cement Egypt's transition to democracy.


It has exposed a deep rift in the nation. Liberals and other opponents accuse Mursi of failing to deliver on economic promises and say he has not lived up to pledges to represent all Egyptians. His backers say the opposition is seeking to topple Egypt's first freely elected leader by undemocratic means.


DIVISIONS


The army, Egypt's interim ruler until Mursi's election in June, was sent back onto the streets to restore order in Port Said and Suez, another port city on the Suez Canal where at least eight people have been killed in clashes with police.


In Port Said, residents had reported gunshots overnight and shops and many workplaces were shut on Sunday. Residents said the city had been tense ahead of the funerals amid fears the burials could set off further violence.


Many Egyptians are frustrated by the regular escalations that have hurt the economy and their livelihoods.


"They are not revolutionaries protesting," said taxi driver Kamal Hassan, 30, referring to those gathered in Tahrir. "They are thugs destroying the country."


The National Defence Council, headed by Mursi, has called for a national dialogue to discuss political differences.


That offer has been cautiously welcomed by the opposition National Salvation Front. But the coalition has demanded a clear agenda and guarantees that any agreements will be implemented.


The Front, formed late last year when Mursi provoked protests and violence by expanding his powers and driving through an Islamist-tinged constitution, has threatened to boycott the parliamentary poll and to call for more protests if a list of demands is not met, including having an early presidential vote.


Egypt's transition has been blighted from the outset by political rows and turbulence on the streets that have driven investors out and kept many tourists away, starving the economy of vital sources of hard currency.


Egypt's defense minister who also heads the army, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, called for the nation to stand together and said the military would not prevent peaceful protests. But he called on demonstrators to protect public property.


Clashes in Port Said erupted after a judge sentenced 21 men to death for involvement in 74 deaths at a soccer match on February 1, 2012 between Cairo's Al Ahly club and the local al-Masri team. Many of the victims were fans of the visiting team.


There were 73 defendants in the case. Those not sentenced on Saturday will face a verdict on March 9, the judge said.


Al Ahly fans cheered the verdict after threatening action if the death penalty was not meted out. But Port Said residents were furious that people from their city were held responsible.


(Additional reporting by Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Editing by Janet Lawrence)



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150 dead in Brazil nightclub fire: media






RIO DE JANEIRO: 150 people died early Sunday in a fire that broke out at a nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, local media reported.

Santa Maria fire chief Guido de Melo said there was panic after the fire started and many revellers got trampled.

According to media reports, the fire erupted after 2:00 am (0400 GMT) when the nightclub hosted a university party featuring a rock band.

The band used pyrotechnics as part of its show, O Globo newspaper reported on its site.

"We have just taken the fire under control," Colonel Silvia Fuchs of the local fire department was quoted by the G1 website as saying. "Now we are removing the bodies."

Family member are gathering outside of the burned-down building in the hope of getting news of their loved ones.

- AFP/xq



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Show evidence and ban RSS, BJP if we are terrorists, Rajnath dares Shinde

NEW DELHI: In a scathing attack on Sushilkumar Shinde over his "Hindu terror" remarks, BJP president Rajnath Singh has said the home minister had hurt India's image by his comments and dared him to ban the RSS and BJP and arrest all their leaders if there was any evidence against these organizations.

Questioning the silence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the remarks, the BJP chief made it clear that his party will continue its "Oust Shinde" campaign even in the Budget session of Parliament expected to begin in the third week of next month.

"If, as home minister, you think that the RSS and BJP are churning out terrorists, then we have also attended such training camps. Are we also terrorists? Do you consider us terrorists? Then put us also in jail," Singh told PTI in an interview while reacting sharply to Shinde's comments.

In a poser to the home minister, the BJP leader said, "If you consider the RSS and BJP to be terrorist organizations, why don't you ban them? If you have evidence against them, why don't you reveal that evidence?"

At the Congress chintan shivir in Jaipur recently, Shinde had accused the RSS and BJP of promoting terrorists at their training camps.

Singh alleged that Shinde had made the comments because of vote-bank politics.

Asked about home secretary RK Singh citing certain names in connection with the bombings in support of "Hindu terror" remarks of Shinde, Singh said the RSS is a big organization and someone may have sometimes attended a camp.

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West


New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.


Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.


There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.


___


CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/


Read More..

Obama: Gun-Control Advocates Have to Listen More













President Barack Obama says gun-control advocates have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes in the debate over firearms in America.



In an interview with The New Republic, Obama says he has "a profound respect" for the tradition of hunting that dates back for generations.



"And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake. Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas," he says.










Gun Owners Rally State Capitals Across Country Watch Video









Andrew Cuomo Signs New York Gun Control Law, Obama Readies Federal Plan Watch Video






Obama has called for a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and is pushing other policies following the mass shooting last month at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. In response, gun-rights advocates have accused Obama and others of ignoring the Second Amendment rights of Americans.



The president says it's understandable that people are protective of their family traditions when it comes to hunting.



"So it's trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months. And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes," he says.



Has Obama himself ever fired a gun?



"Yes," the president says, "in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time."



His daughters don't shoot skeet at the presidential retreat in Maryland, he adds, "but oftentimes guests of mine go up there."



The interview appears in the Feb. 11 issue of The New Republic.



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At least 16 die in Egyptian clashes over death sentences


PORT SAID/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 16 people died in a rampage by protesters angry at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, amid a wave of bloody unrest posing a challenge for Egypt's new Islamist rulers.


Armored vehicles and military police were deployed on the streets of Port Said after the violence in the Mediterranean city on Saturday. The state news agency quoted a general as saying the military was sent to "establish calm and stability in Port Said and to protect public institutions".


The latest deaths brought to at least 25 the number reported killed in three days of violence. Hundreds have been injured in clashes in which police have rained down tear gas on protesters armed with stones and some with petrol bombs.


The unrest began with rallies to mark the second anniversary of the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a revolution which the protesters accuse current President Mohamed Mursi and his Islamist allies of betraying.


The schism is hindering efforts by Mursi, elected in June, to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency. The polarization and lack of security that has blighted Egypt casts a shadow over a parliamentary election expected to start in April.


Mursi's opponents say he has failed to deliver on economic promises or to be a president for all Egyptians, as he pledged. His backers say his critics do not respect the democracy that has given Egypt its first freely elected leader.


Nine people were reported killed in Friday's violence, most in the port city of Suez, where the army has also been deployed.


Saturday's violence in Port Said erupted when a court sentenced 21 men, most from the city, to death for involvement in the disaster in the city's soccer stadium which killed 74 people on February 1, 2012.


VICTIMS' RELATIVES CHEER


Many spectators were crushed and witnesses saw some thrown off balconies after the match between Cairo's Al Ahly and local team al-Masri. Many of those killed were from the visiting team's supporters.


Families of victims in court cheered and wept for joy when Judge Sobhy Abdel Maguid read a list of 21 names "referred to the Mufti", a phrase used to denote execution, as all death sentences must be reviewed by Egypt's top religious authority.


A total of 73 people have been standing trial. Other rulings will be issued on March 9, the judge said.


One relative of a victim in the court shouted: "God is greatest." Outside Al Ahly club in Cairo, supporters also cheered. Fans had threatened fresh violence unless the death penalty was meted out.


But in Port Said residents rampaged through the streets in anger that men from their city had been blamed. Gunshots were reported near the prison where most are being held.


The director of Port Said hospitals said 16 people were killed and 200 wounded, state television reported. Security sources said at least two of the dead were policemen.


A witness said some men stormed a police station in Port Said, where protesters lit tires in the street, sending plumes of black smoke in the air.


Thousands took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities on Friday to protest against what they call the authoritarianism of Mursi's rule.


"NOTHING HAS CHANGED"


"We want to change the president and the government. We are tired of this regime. Nothing has changed," said Mahmoud Suleiman, 22, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the cauldron of the 2011 revolt. Nearby, youths hurled stones at police early on Saturday.


Ahmed Salama, 28, a protester camped out with dozens of others in Tahrir, said: "The protests will continue until we realize all the demands of the revolution - bread, freedom and social justice."


In a statement in response to Friday's violence, Mursi said the state would not hesitate in "pursuing the criminals and delivering them to justice". He urged Egyptians to respect the principles of the revolution by expressing views peacefully.


The president was due to meet later on Saturday with the National Defence Council, which includes senior ministers and security officials, to discuss the violence.


Unrest has been stoked by Mursi's decision to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.


Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said violence reflected the frustration of many liberal-minded Egyptians and others.


"The state of polarization between Islamists and others is most likely to continue and will have very negative impact on the state's politics, security and economy," he said.


Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that triggered bloody street battles last month.


(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Roche)



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French-led troops seize airport in Mali Islamist bastion






BAMAKO: French-led forces Saturday wrested control of the airport at the Islamist stronghold of Gao, 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) northeast of the Mali capital Bamako, a security source said.

"Malian and French security forces have secured the airport of Gao and the Wanbary bridge. The two strategic points are under their control," the Malian source said.

The airport is located about six kilometres east of Gao while the bridge lies on the southern entrance to the town, held by the Al Qaeda-linked Movement for Jihad and Oneness (MUJAO) since June.

The security source did not mention any fighting.

Other sources said the Islamists had left the town after the start of a French-led military offensive on January 11 to stop a triad of Al Qaeda-linked groups from pushing down from their northern bastions towards Bamako.

In April last year, Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal were seized by an alliance of Tuareg rebels -- who wanted to declare an independent homeland in the north -- and hardline Islamist groups.

The Islamist groups include MUJAO, Ansar Dine, a homegrown Islamist group, and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, of which MUJAO is an offshoot.

The Islamists quickly sidelined the Tuaregs to implement their own Islamic agenda. They imposed a harsh interpretation of sharia law, flogging, stoning and executing transgressors, forbidding music and television and forcing women to wear veils.

- AFP/ck



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