UPA to meet same fate as that of PPP: Sharad Yadav

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Sun, 12 May 2013

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19:42 UPA to meet same fate as that of PPP: Sharad Yadav

Predicting downfall of the Congress-led UPA government in the Lok Sabha polls, NDA Convener and Janata Dal-U President Sharad Yadav today said that it (UPA) would meet the same fate as PPP in Pakistan.

"The Congress-led UPA's fate in the coming Lok Sabha polls will be like that of Pakistan Peoples' Party (which suffered humiliating defeat today)," the NDA Convener told mediapersons.

Yadav arrived in Jabalpur to take part in a meeting of JD-U workers in the city. He said that like the people in Pakistan who were tired of Asif Ali Zardari-led PPP government's misrule, the people in India were tired of inflation, corruption and misrule of the UPA government.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh extended his congratulations to Nawaz Sharif and his party for their emphatic victory in Pakistan's elections

Th PM also congratulated the people and the political parties of Pakistan for braving the threats of violence and voting in large numbers. He expressed India's desire to work with the new government of Pakistan in charting a new course for the relationship between the two countries.

He invited Sharif to visit India at a mutually convenient time.

Queen Elizabeth II should step down from the British throne and allow her son Price Charles to become king if ill-health prevents her from performing her public duties, a survey has revealed here today.

While a majority 53 per cent of voters still believe the 87-year-old monarch should rule for life, only a minority of 43 per cent said she should continue even if she was too ill to continue. The Queen has been ruling since 1952. Significantly, a solid 48 per cent believed she should stand down in those circumstances and allow the throne to pass to her heirs, the Sunday Times survey conducted by YouGov this week found.

The latest figures mark a turnaround from March when 51 per cent thought she should carry on even if she were ill and other members of the royal family had to take over many of her duties.

The poll comes in the wake of an announcement earlier this week that the Queen's son and heir, Prince Charles, will take her place at this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka '" a biennial conference she has not missed since 1973.

16:16 Army destroys IED in Srinagar, averts tragedy

A major tragedy was averted today when the army detected and destroyed an improvised explosive device planted by militants in Handwara area of north Kashmir Kupwara district.

Troops of 47 Rashtriya Rifles detected the 15-kilogram IED planted by suspected militants but the roadside in Handwara, 85 kms from Srinagar, this morning, officials said.

They said a bomb disposal squad was rushed to the spot and the explosive was destroyed through a controlled explosion. This is the second IED detected by militants in the past fortnight.

A five-kg IED was detected and destroyed by army at Shalteng on Srinagar-Baramulla road on April 30.

15:48 Clashes in Rohtak, 1 dead in police firing

CNN-IBN reports: An angry mob clashed with the police and set two buses on fire during a violent protest against the opening of an ashram of a controversial godman near Rohtak on Sunday.

One person has been killed in police firing that took place near Satlok Ashram at Karontha village.

Read the full story here

15:14 Pak expels New York Times reporter

Pakistan today expelled The New York Times' Islamabad bureau chief after accusing him of "undesirable activities".

"Here I go. Hard to believe this is happening," New York Times Islamabad bureau chief Declan Walsh tweeted after filing his last report on the country's landmark general elections.

"Brought me to the airport, in convoy with various men in jeeps who refused to say hello. That's the job, I guess," Walsh said before leaving. "72 hours, wheels up. To all friends, especially in Pakistan, who offered overwhelming support in recent days, thank you so much," he tweeted.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry had ordered the expulsion of Walsh on the eve of national elections, the newspaper had said. The Times has strongly protested the move and is seeking his reinstatement.

15:09 Race Course Metro station re-opened for public

Anticipating protests outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence, Delhi Metro today closed the Race Course station for nearly three hours on police instruction.

"The Race Course Metro station has been reopened for public at 1:51 pm," a Metro official said. The station at Race Course Road was closed to the public from 11 am after BJP youth wing activists announced a march and gherao of the high-security area.

The BJP Yuva Morcha activists, led by its president Anurag Singh Thakur, had announced that they will gherao Singh's residence.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Haider, kidnapped by gunmen while campaigning for Pakistan's landmark general elections, has lost the polls from his Multan constituency. Haider was beaten by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Shaukat Khan.

Khan emerged victorious from a Multan seat by securing 11,868 votes, Geo News reported. According to unofficial results, Shaukat secured 11,868 votes, while his rival candidate Haider secured 5,386 votes and stood second.

14:01 US town has a four-year-old mayor!

A four-year-old US boy, who hasn't even passed kindergarten yet, is calling the shots as the Mayor in a small town in Minnesota. Robert Tufts was selected mayor last year of Dorset, a town in Minnesota, with a population of mere 22 people.

Residents say Tufts is a "ball of fire" and while the kid may not have the academic credentials for the job, they claim he's got the chops -- and the mouth -- to run the town, 'New York Daily News' reported.

"He's amazing. He's just completely amazing," said Kathy Schmidt, whose family has lived in the area for four generations. "He's right in your face and well-spoken. You can't imagine what a ball of fire he is," said Schmidt.

According to WCCO, the mayor can sing and dance with the best of them, he guides his citizens safely across the street, big stick in hand. He's also an expert fisherman and knows how to dole out advice about the best bait to use.

13:59 Siddaramaiah, 2 dy CM's to take oath tomorrow

Vicky Nanjappa reports from Bangalore: Two deputy chief ministers along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah are set to take the oath on Monday. Siddarmaiah will be sworn in at 11.40 am at the Kanteerva stadium on Monday.

Two deputy CM's will also take oath although their names have not been made public yet. Two Dy CMs are being appointed keeping in mind the caste equations.

The Congress may appoint a Lingayat and a candidate from the minority community for the same. Congress chief G Parameshwar, will also be given a berth in the cabinet.

Dropping of the two ministers was joint decision of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi has said.

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar were on Friday night forced to resign by the Congress and the prime minister as the government's image continued to take a severe battering over allegations of corruption and interference with graft probe.

More details are awaited

The Supreme Court will tomorrow hear a plea of dentist couple Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, accused of killing their teenaged daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, for calling 14 witnesses to record their statements in the trial court.

A vacation bench of justices B S Chauhan and Dipak Misra will hear their plea. The Talwar couple has approached the apex court challenging the order of the special CBI court rejecting their plea for calling 14 other witnesses, including ADG (Law and Order) and the then CBI Joint Director Arun Kumar, to record their statements.

The trial court had dismissed their petition on May 6 and ordered recording of statements of Rajesh and Nupur, who are the main accused.

The Hindu says: It has, of late, been the practice for Chief Ministers to visit religious maths just after being appointed to the high post. But Chief Minister-designate Siddaramaiah broke the tradition by opting to meet senior Kannada writers first thing on Saturday morning to seek their advice.

Read the full story here

Dawn reports: The external challenges it will confront are equally daunting. The most urgent foreign policy challenges could be summed up in three words: Afghanistan, America, India.

After a decade of inconclusive war, Afghanistan is in the midst of another troubled transition. Compelled by unachieved objectives, enormous costs and domestic opposition, the US and its more despondent Nato allies are in the process of withdrawing their military forces from Afghanistan.

Read the full article here

11:57 Two persons arrested in Bangalore blasts case

Two persons hailing from Coimbatore have been arrested here for their suspected involvement in the April 17 bomb blast in front of the BJP office in Bangalore, police said today.

Sulfikar Ali, 22, and Shabeer, 24, were arrested from the house of Shabeer's relative at Kecheri near Kunnamkulam in the district yesterday, they said.

The arrest was made by a police team from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu after following the duo's mobile phone signals, they said. With this the total number of arrests in connection with the blast, that left 17 persons injured, including 11 policemen, has risen to 13.

11:55 Pakistan polls: Imran Khan concedes defeat

NDTV reports: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's party on Saturday conceded defeat to rival Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the landmark general elections in which it is set to emerge as second largest party.

"They have emerged as the largest party. I want to congratulate the party," Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vice-president Asad Umar told a Pakistani TV channel.

Read the full story here

11:51 Why is the BJP in denial over Karnataka?

Swapan Dasgupta writes for The Pioneer: It didn't require rocket science to realise that the resounding verdict in Karnataka against the BJP had everything to do with the quality of administration, the venality of those associated with the party and the vengeful conduct of those who felt that they had been unjustly treated by a cabal that drew its power from Delhi.

In short, it was a protest against bad governance and worse politics.

Read the full article here

11:24 PPP seeks Nawaz Sharif's disqualification

Dawn.com reports: The PPP submitted a petition to the chief election commissioner on Friday, demanding disqualification of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif from contesting election for violating the code of conduct by 'misusing' a photograph of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in an advertisement.

Read the full story here

Brahma Chellaney writes for the Economic Times: In a classic replay of its old game, China intruded stealthily into a strategic border area in Ladakh and then disingenuously played conciliator by counselling "patience", "wisdom" and "negotiations".

The incursion bore all the hallmarks of Chinese brinkmanship, including taking an adversary by surprise, seizing an opportunistic timing, masking offence as defence, and discounting risks of wider escalation. Occurring at a time when India has never been so politically weak, the intrusion was shrewdly timed to exploit its political paralysis and leadership drift.

What China did was to impudently violate border-peace agreements with India by employing coercive power on the ground. Then '" armed with the leverage from its encroachment into the Debsang plateau '" it embarked on coercive diplomacy by setting out military demands for India to meet.

Read the full article here

11:15 When Nawaz Sharif rushed to Kargil in 1999

American foreign policy analyst Strobe Talbot tweeted, "During '99 Kargil crisis, NawazSharif rushed to DC, learned from Clinton that Pakistani military was taking ominous steps with nukes. NawazSharif came to DC during Kargil crisis at his own initiative. Couldn't even get an official/military plane so came by rerouted PIA."

Talbott was then the US deputy secretary of state.

00:06 Why Syria's war suddenly looks more dangerous

While the world's attention was focused on Boston and North Korea, the conflict in Syria entered a new phase -- one that threatens to embroil its neighbors in a chaotic way and pose complex challenges to the Obama administration. What began as a protest movement long ago became an uprising that metastasized into a war, a vicious whirlpool dragging a whole region toward it.

Many analysts believe the United States can do little to influence -- let alone control -- the situation. And it could make things worse. Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics argues against the United States "plunging into the killing fields of Syria ... because it would complicate and exacerbate an already dangerous conflict."

Read the full article on CNN

Image: A Free Syrian Army fighter sits on sandbags in the refugee camp of Yarmouk, near Damascus | Photograph: Ward Al-Keswani/Reuters

00:05 Top headlines at this hour

Pak polls: Nawaz, Imran win seats; PML-N leads

Pakistanis vote in historic polls, 24 killed in violence

I've nothing to do with bribery allegation, says Bansal

The curious case of Pawan Bansal's private secretary

Resignation is the ONLY option for PM: BJP

Chidambaram hints at providing special status to Bihar

Cong victory good for Karnataka, says Yeddyurappa

Aspirants lobby hard for berth in Karnataka cabinet