Obama to host tripartite meeting with Israeli PM and Palestinian President

Jerusalem, Sep 20 (ANI): In an effort to renew the peace process in the Middle East, President Barack Obama will host a tripartite meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the meeting would take place after Obama meets separately with each of the two leaders.

“These meetings will continue the efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Special Envoy George Mitchell to lay the groundwork for the relaunch of negotiations, and to create a positive context for those negotiations so that they can succeed,” the Jerusalem Post quoted a White House statement, as saying.

The meetings will take place in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly conference.

The White House announcement of the meeting comes as something of a surprise, since both Israel and the PA until Saturday continued to blame each other for the current stall in peace talks

And recently, Mitchell had failed to make progress in talks with the two leaders.

On Saturday, Mitchell said: “It is another sign of the president’s deep commitment to comprehensive peace that he wants to personally engage at this juncture.” (ANI)

2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre discovered in Israel

Washington, September 19 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has discovered a 2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre near Tiberias in Israel.

According to a report in the Haaretz newspaper, Archeologist, Doctor Valid Atrash, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, said that the remnants of the Roman amphitheatre peaks from 15 meters below ground.

The 1990 findings came as a surprise to the archeologists digging near Mount Berniki in the Tiberias hills as there are no references to such a place anywhere in scriptures.

Only at the beginning of 2009, 19-years after the primary discovery, did the uncovering of the theatre in its entirety begin.

The late Professor Izhar Hirshfeld and Yossi Stefanski, the archeologists heading the excavation, initially assessed the remains to belong to the 2nd or 3rd century CE, but quickly realized that they go all the way back to the beginning of the 1st century CE, closer to the founding of Tiberias.

“The most interesting thing about the amphitheatre is its Jewish context,” said Hirshfeld upon the discovery.

“Unlike Tzipori, which was a multi-cultural city, Tiberias was a Jewish city under Roman rule. The findings demonstrate the city’s pluralistic nature and cultural openness, a fact uncommon in those days,” Hirshfeld added.

According to Atrash, in light of the findings, Tiberias appears as particularly liberal for a city that was established over 2000 years ago.

He added that “the theatre was enormous, and being so it attracted a lot of attention. It seated over 7000 people, and appears to have been a prominent landmark for the entire area.”

Zohar Oved, Mayor of Tiberias, said that the discovery of the amphitheatre is undoubtedly “one of the most important findings in the history of the Jewish people” and is planned to open to the public as part of Tiberias archeological gardens in the near future. (ANI)

Lap dancing, a routine part of British workplaces

London, Sept 18 (ANI): Lap dancing has become a part of British working life, a campaign group has said.

According to The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, companies in the UK are turning a blind eye to the use of sex clubs by workers.

The group found that some firms knowingly authorise the use of staff expenses for entertaining clients in lap dancing and strip clubs, reports The Telegraph.

After studying lap dancing clubs’ websites and contacting them directly to ask about their work with corporate clients, Fawcett researchers identified more than 300 such clubs in the UK.

Some 41 per cent of UK lap dancing clubs directly target employers through marketing on their websites, the researchers found.

Kat Banyard, the Fawcett Society researcher who wrote the report, described the sex industry as “a major threat to women’s equality at work”.

She said: “The sex industry is increasingly targeting the corporate market, with lap dancing clubs marketing themselves as ideal venues to host meetings and client entertaining. Yet lap dancing clubs are a form of commercial sexual exploitation and fuel sexist attitudes towards women. Their use in a work context discriminates against female employees and undermines women’s status at work.

She added: “For too long, employers have engaged with the sex industry without due regard for the impact on female employees, and have failed to prevent the illicit use of the sex industry by employees in a work context.” (ANI)

Workshop on use of textiles in agriculture to begin today

New Delhi, Sept 18 (ANI): The Ministry of Textiles and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will jointly organise a workshop on use of textiles in agriculture here today.

Over 100 delegates from various sectors like agriculture, the State Governments, agricultural universities, forest departments and institutes will attend the workshop.

The technical textiles are used in agriculture to fabricate shade-nets, crop-covers, mulch-nets, anti-hail nets, bird protection nets, fishing nets and greenhouse covers. The use of these items is very limited in the context of Indian agriculture.

The objective of the workshop is to sensitize stakeholders about myriad applications of technical textiles in agriculture and environmental engineering.

It will also create awareness amongst the stakeholders about the benefits of these items.

The workshop will also focus on various rules/legislations that need to be amended to facilitate the use of these textiles in various applications.

Technical textiles products used in the agriculture are known as Agrotech and those used for environmental protection are called Oekotech.

The major applications of Oekotech are for landfill waste management. It includes products used to prevent leakage of municipal or hazardous waste in landfills and suitable use of waste.

The consumption of these technical textiles products remains limited despite their perceived benefits.

With rapid urbanisation, the waste management has become major issue in India and Oekotech applications provide an effective way of managing the waste in an environment friendly manner. (ANI)

Railway employees to receive bonus

New Delhi, Sep 17 (ANI): The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 75 days’ wages for all eligible non-gazetted Railway employees.

The move will benefit 13.05 lakh employees and it will cost the xchequer Rs 889 crore

The salient features of the PLB scheme evolved as a result of review of the scheme and approval of the cabinet on September 23, 2000.

Railways were the first departmental undertaking of the Government of India wherein the concept of PLB was introduced. The main consideration at that time was the important role of the Railways as an infrastructural support in the performance of the economy as a whole.

In the overall context of Railway working, it was considered desirable to introduce the concept of PLB as against the concept of Bonus on the lines of ‘The Payment of Bonus Act – 1965′.

The PLB scheme for the Railways came into force from the year 1979-80 onwards and was evolved in consultation with the two recognised federations viz. All India Railwaymen’s Federation and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen and with the approval of the Cabinet. The scheme envisages a review every three years. (ANI)

Archaeologists discover gemstone carrying portrait of Alexander the Great

Washington, September 16 (ANI): An archaeological team, during excavations in Israel, has discovered a gemstone that has a portrait of Alexander the Great engraved on it.

The excavations at Tel Dor were carried out by an archaeological team, which was directed by Dr. Ayelet Gilboa of the University of Haifa and Dr. Ilan Sharon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“Despite its miniature dimensions – the stone is less than a centimeter high and its width is less than half a centimeter – the engraver was able to depict the bust of Alexander on the gem without omitting any of the ruler’s characteristics,” said Dr. Gilboa, Chair of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

“The emperor is portrayed as young and forceful, with a strong chin, straight nose and long curly hair held in place by a diadem,” he added.

The Tel Dor researchers have noted that it is surprising that a work of art such as this would be found in Israel, on the periphery of the Hellenistic world.

“It is generally assumed that the master artists – such as the one who engraved the image of Alexander on this particular gemstone – were mainly employed by the leading Hellenistic courts in the capital cities, such as those in Alexandria in Egypt and Seleucia in Syria,” according to the researchers.

“This new discovery is evidence that local elites in secondary centers, such as Tel Dor, appreciated superior objects of art and could afford ownership of such items,” they added.

The significance of the discovery at Dor is in the gemstone being uncovered in an orderly excavation, in a proper context of the Hellenistic period.

This tiny gem was unearthed by a volunteer during excavation of a public structure from the Hellenistic period in the south of Tel Dor, excavated by a team from the University of Washington at Seattle headed by Prof. Sarah Stroup.

Dr. Jessica Nitschke, professor of classical archaeology at Georgetown University in Washington DC, identified the engraved motif as a bust of Alexander the Great.

This has been confirmed by Prof. Andrew Stewart of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert on images of Alexander and author of a book on this topic.

Alexander was probably the first Greek to commission artists to depict his image – as part of a personality cult that was transformed into a propaganda tool. (ANI)

Cracks on Mars a result of evaporating lakes in ancient times

Washington, September 16 (ANI): Networks of giant polygonal troughs etched across crater basins on Mars have been identified as desiccation cracks caused by evaporating lakes, providing further evidence of a warmer, wetter Martian past.

The findings were presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by PhD student M. Ramy El Maarry of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

The polygons are formed when long cracks in the surface of the Martian soil intersect.

El Maarry investigated networks of cracks inside 266 impact basins across the surface of Mars and observed polygons reaching up to 250 meters in diameter.

Polygonal troughs have been imaged by several recent missions but, until now, they have been attributed to thermal contractions in the Martian permafrost.

El Maarry created an analytical model to determine the depth and spacing of cracks caused by stresses building up through cooling in the Martian soil.

He found that polygons caused by thermal contraction could have a maximum diameter of only about 65 meters, much smaller than the troughs he was seeing in the craters.

“I got excited when I saw that the crater floor polygons seemed to be too large to be caused by thermal processes. I also saw that they resembled the desiccation cracks that we see on Earth in dried up lakes,” said El Maarry.

“The stresses that build up when liquids evaporate can cause deep cracks and polygons on the scale I was seeing in the craters,” he added.

El Maarry identified the crater floor polygons using images taken by the MOC camera on Mars Global Surveyor and the HiRISE and Context cameras on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The polygons in El Maarry’s survey had an average diameter of between 70 and 140 kilometers, with the width of the actual cracks ranging between 1 and 10 meters.

Evidence suggests that between 4.6 and 3.8 billion years ago, Mars was covered in significant amounts of water.

Rain and river water would have collected inside impact crater basins, creating lakes that may have existed for several thousand years before drying out.

However, according to El Maarry, in the northern hemisphere, some of the crater floor polygons could have been formed much more recently.

“When a meteorite impacts with the Martian surface, the heat can melt ice trapped beneath the Martian crust and create what we call a hydrothermal system. Liquid water can fill the crater to form a lake, covered in a thick layer of ice. Even under current climatic conditions, this may take many thousands of years to disappear, finally resulting in the desiccation patterns,” said El Maarry. (ANI)

Too much being attributed to Centre’s affidavit on Ishrat Jehan encounter: Chidambaram

Washington, Sep.11 (ANI): Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who is currently on a four-day visit to the United States, said on Thursday that too much was being attributed to the Centre’s affidavit on the 2004 Ishrat Jehan encounter case.

“To the best of my knowledge the affidavit says that intelligence inputs were shared with the Gujarat government. That affidavit must be read in context. You cannot read into it what it does not say. I think it is self evident that Intelligence inputs are not evidence, much less conclusive proof. They are just inputs. They are shared with governments on a regular basis. That is not evidence or conclusive proof. It gives leads to investigators for further enquiry. If a state government acts as though intelligence inputs are evidence or conclusive proof I am sorry for that government,” Chidambaram told a press conference.

“Certainly no one suggested that based on an intelligence input you should kill someone. I think too much is being attributed to that affidavit as if it is meant to defend the government of Gujarat against the excesses that may have been committed by its police. I am sorry for the government of Gujarat and the manner in which it runs its police administration,” he added. (ANI)

Brain’s face processing ability does reduce with age

Washington, September 9 (ANI): A British study suggests that the ability to identify a face, when it is shown for only a fraction of a second, reduces as people age.

Lead researcher Guillaume Rousselet, from the University of Glasgow, came to this conclusion after analysing electric activity from the brains of young and old people as they watched pictures of faces with cloud-like noise.

He said: “Very few studies have attempted to measure the effect of ageing on the time-course of visual processing in response to complex stimuli like faces. We found that, as well as a general reduction in speed in the elderly, one particular component of the response to a face, the N170, is less sensitive to faces in the elderly.”

The N170 occurs 170 milliseconds after a stimulus is presented.

The researchers revealed that it was more closely associated with the appearance of a face among the young subjects.

However, in older subjects, the researcher said that it occurred also in response to noise, perhaps implying reduced ability to differentiate faces from noise.

Revealing the findings of the study, Rousselet said: “Our data support the common belief that as we get older we get slower. Beyond this general conclusion, our research provides new tools to quantify by how much the brain slows down in the particular context of face perception. Now, we need to identify the reasons for the speed reduction and for the heterogeneity of the effects – indeed, why the brains of some older subjects seem to tick as fast as the brains of some young subjects is, at this point, a complete mystery.”

The study has been published in the journal BMC Neuroscience. (ANI)

A docudrama plays a story of women cricketers’ struggle and triumph

Kolkata, Sep 9 (ANI): A docudrama titled ‘Indian Women’s Cricket team Poor Cousins of Million Dollar Babies’ highlights the disparity between men and women cricket players in India.

As the title suggests, the docudrama shows how while men cricketers hog all the limelight and bask in the glory of success and money, women cricketers are way behind their male counterparts though they have been able to carve a name for themselves in the international sport arena.

The 25-minute audio-visual commentary narrates a story of the triumph of women’s cricket despite the disparities and differential treatment.

Former Indian Skipper Anjum Chopra said the docudrama has been able to mirror the women cricketers’ struggle, hard work and determination to reach the milestone they have achieved despite receiving far less attention of sports authority, sponsorship and media coverage as compared with their male counterparts.

“I really liked it. I think it’s very nice. It covers a lot of angels into the lives of women cricketers on and off the field. It’s a true depiction of the lives and struggles of Indian women cricketers go through,” Anjum Chopra added.

The The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI ) spends millions of rupees on men’s cricket and its stalwart players but women’s team, which has consistently done well in the context of world tournaments, has not received the same attention and promotion.

Sunil Yash Kalra, who has directed the documentary, said it’s time to tell the story of players engaged in the most popular and fast growing game in India despite their gender.

“It’s a sport which is a nerve centre of India, the subcontinent. And, it’s also included in the Asian Games next year. So, basically if you were to look at it… A, it’s the fastest growing game. B, there is a story that needs to be told about each individual member, that’s what the idea is to showcase the best to the rest of the world,” Kalra added.

The film also reveals interesting facts about women’s cricket in India. For example, women’s cricket in India can be traced back to early 20th century when an Australian school teacher Anne Kelleve made cricket a compulsory game at the Baker Memorial School in Kottayam, Kerala, in 1913.

The Women’s World Cup was initiated in 1973, two years before the men’s World Cup. And, Indian eves played T20 international cricket in 2006 while Indian men played their first match in 2007. (ANI)

Demi Moore threatens to sue blogger Perez Hilton over daughter’s pics

Washington, September 4 (ANI): Hollywood actress Demi Moore has threatened to sue celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, after she spotted a link on the latter’s site directing viewers to a set of “inappropriate” pictures of her teen daughter Tallulah.

The 15-year-old is the youngest of Demi’s three daughters with ex-husband Bruce Willis.

According to reports, the snaps Demi is angry at show the teen baring her chest in a revealing top, and wearing a tiny pair of shorts.

Moore has expressed her disgust about the pictures on her Twitter.com page, accusing the blogger of flouting child pornography laws.

“Expect another letter from my attorney, kitten,” Contactmusic quoted her as having written.

Moore goes on to rage about Hilton’s “exploitation” of teens in a series of furious posts.

She wrote: “Clearly Perez Hilton isn’t taking violating child pornography laws very seriously. He might not but there are a lot of people who do! Anyone who advertises follows or supports Perez supports violating child pornography laws!”

She further wrote: “Let me ask all of you, what is it called when someone is telling people to look and focus on a child’s ‘boobs and ass’ while providing photos? (It’s) child pornography! Or just being a general pervert/creep. Disgusting! This is not a game. Children should not be exploited. They must be protected.”

Hitting back at Morre, Hilton called her comments “libellous, defamatory, inaccurate and stupid.”

In a post on his own Twitter.com page, he writes: “Thanks for drawing MORE attention to your daughter’s behaviour and your parenting skills (or lack thereof). U r (sic) real smart! That is CLEARLY not child porn. And I didn’t even post those on my site! I would not let my 15 year old daughter dress like that under ANY context. You are delusional and slightly senile!” (ANI)

Wenger to get Man U dug out sending off apology

London, Aug 31 (ANI): Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will receive an apology today from referees chief Keith Hackett over his dismissal during the Gunners’ 2-1 loss to Manchester United.

The Arsenal boss was forced to stand among Manchester United fans for the final 30 seconds after fourth official Lee Probert complained that he had kicked a water bottle.

Wenger was sent to the stands by referee Mike Dean in the dying moments of Saturday’s match at Old Trafford. Probert moaned to referee Mike Dean and he sent Wenger off to the delight of 75,000 United supporters.

League Managers Association chief Richard Bevan has been told by Hackett that Wenger will receive an apology.

Referees’ chief Keith Hackett admitted last night that Dean and Probert had goofed outrageously and promised furious League Managers’ Association chief Richard Bevan an apology was on its way.

“Although correct in law, it was completely out of context in the game and it was followed by the nonsense over where Wenger should sit,” The Sun quoted Bevan, as saying.

“I’ve spoken to Keith Hackett and he fully recognises the situation was an error and an apology will follow to Wenger. Lee Probert totally failed to manage the situation,” he added.enger, angry after Robin van Persie’s late effort was ruled offside, said: “It was weird, spectacular. I didn’t even know where to go.” (ANI)

Our relation with BJP is that of mother and child: Bhagwat

New Delhi, Aug 28 (ANI): Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday that the relation between the RSS and the BJP is like that of a mother and a child.

Addressing a press conference at the Sangh headquarters here, Bhagwat said, “Our relation with BJP is like mother and child. Now, the child has become elder, and it is capable of taking its own decisions.”

Bhagwat said if the BJP asks for any suggestion of the RSS, it will give, ” If they want any help to reconstruct the party, we will certainly help them, but they have to ask for that.”

Responding to a question, Bhagwat said that the Sangh’s commitment’s to the building of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is intact.

“In 90s, we assured Ram Mandir Andolan leaders that the Sangh will stand with it in building a temple in Ayodhya, and we are still committed on it, we will take the Andolan till we construct the temple at the same site,” he said.

Rejecting the formation of two streams of thoughts in RSS ranks, Bhagwat said: “I don’t see any such deviation.”

” We expect our swayamsevaks (volunteers) to be committed to one nation and one culture, if any one goes beyond this thinking we will not consider him as Swayamsevak,” Bhagwat said.

“Sangh never considered power as ultimate way to achieve the ideological commitment, but power is also a mean to achieve it,” he said.

Bhagwat said it is for the BJP to decide on their way forward, and RSS will not dictate it.

Regarding RSS -Muslim relations, he said there are many Muslim workers who are also regularly attending Shakhas (Branches) and we haven’t stopped or restricted any one from coming to shakhas, “But I agree that the number is not visible at the higher level.”

Comparing the views of Sangh ideologue H.V.Sheshadri and the recent statement of former RSS chief Sudarshan on Jinnah, Bhagwat said, “They (Sheshadri and Sudarshan) did not praise Jinnah at all, they were evaluating a particular context in history with a scholarly touch.”

He also said that the banning of books represents a bad trend,

“We cannot stop others from having different thoughts. The RSS believes in taking all thoughts together in achieving national unity, Bhagwat said. Shreeraj Gudi (ANI)

Molecule having anti-fat, anti-cancer abilities found to be a turnoff for fat genes

Washington, Aug 28 (ANI): Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have found that a small molecule, earlier found to have anti-fat and anti-cancer abilities, has the potential to put off fat-making genes.

Such action in mice genetically prone to obesity causes the animals to become leaner, they say.

The researchers have also found the molecule to lowers the amount of fat in the mice’s livers, along with their blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

“We are frankly very excited about it. It goes to the origin of [fat synthesis] – all the way back to gene expression,” said Salih Wakil at Baylor.

Unlike cholesterol-lowering statins in use today, which block a single enzyme in the pathway, the chemical the researchers call fatostatin, “hits fat from the very beginning,” said Motonari Uesugi.

As a result, fatostatin influences many of the genes involved in fat production and in various aspects of metabolic syndrome – a collection of risk factors including obesity, high cholesterol and insulin resistance – in one go.

Studies in cell culture showed that fatostatin, previously known only as 125B11, significantly lowers the activity of 63 genes, including 34 directly associated with fatty acid or cholesterol synthesis.

Many of these genes were known to be under the control of SREBP – a transcription factor which act as a well-known master controller of fat synthesis.

After more detailed analysis, the researchers found that the drug candidate blocked SREBP by preventing it from becoming active and entering the nucleus, where it would otherwise switch on the fat-making program.

According to them, it operates by binding another protein (called SCAP), which serves as SREBP’s escort into the nucleus.

It was found that obese mice injected with fatostatin show noticeable reductions in their weight despite little difference in their eating habits, the researchers report.

After four weeks of treatment, the animals weighed 12 percent less and had 70 percent lower blood sugar levels.

Their cholesterol levels (both LDL and HDL) were down too. The concentration of fatty acids in their blood was actually higher- a sign of their greater demand for fat to burn.

While the livers of the obese mice were heavy and pale with fat, treated animals’ livers were more than 30 percent lighter and were a healthy-looking red.

Although less obvious, the SREBP-blocking ability might also explain the molecule’s earlier reported effects against prostate cancer cells in culture as well.

They explained that cells need fatty acids and cholesterol to build their cell membranes and continue growing.

Researchers are optimistic that fatostatin could prove to be clinically useful in the context of obesity, and perhaps cardiovascular disease and diabetes as well.

“Hopefully down the road, fatostatin or a derivative of fatostatin may be helpful. It could have a broad impact on the key diseases we all suffer from,” said Wakil.

Uesugi said that fatostatin or its analogs may also serve a tool for gaining further insights into the regulation of SREBP and fat metabolism.

The study has been published in the journal Chemistry and Biology. (ANI)

Naked women are acceptable on daytime TV in UK, rules watchdog

London, Aug 25 (ANI): Television watchdog Ofcom has ruled that a Channel 4 life-drawing programme, which features naked female models, is acceptable for lunchtime viewing.

The Channel 4 programme drew dozens of complains from its viewers over the content of ‘Life Class: Today’s Nude’, which had been broadcast daily at 12.30pm over a week in July.It was adult viewing, not for screening in the middle of the day,” the Telegraph quoted one viewer as saying, after tuning in to the programme in which artists guided students through various drawing techniques.

But Ofcom rejected the 37 complaints, and ruled that the channel did not breach broadcasting guidelines, and it even wrote to every complainant explaining that the nudity was justified.

“Life drawing is a well-known and respected form of art. In Ofcom’s view, although the images of nudity were broadcast for long periods of time, they were not presented in a sexualised manner and were clearly justified by the context, given the editorial purpose of the series,” the letter read.

The programme was broadcast during school term time, and was not aimed at children, the watchdog said, adding that each episode was prefaced by a warning about its content.

Clips from the show are still available on the Channel 4 website, but viewers must click a box to confirm they are over 16 before they can watch the footage.

Channel 4 declined to comment on Ofcom’s decision. (ANI)

RSS irked by Jaswant’s mention of India being a country of many nationalities

New Delhi, Aug.21 (ANI): It is learnt that the Sangh leadership has revisited Jaswant Singh’s controversial book — Jinnah – India, Partition, Independenc-and has raised severe objections to many of its contents other than the eulogizing of Jinnah and the denigration of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

“The RSS is badly irked by mention of India being a country of many nationalities,” sources said.

The RSS believes that such talk is in itself contradictory to the BJP’s famous slogan of “One Country, One Constitution”, which the party has often used in the context of removing the special status allocated to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The RSS also believes that Jaswant’s argument of India being a country of many nationalities is similar to the ideology of the Left parties.

The RSS has also trashed Singh’s contention that Sardar Patel banned the Sangh, and therefore, he had done no harm to the core ideology of the BJP by writing against the iron man.

RSS sources told ANI that the RSS has deep respect for Patel despite the fact that he banned the outfit.

They further elaborated that Patel had banned the RSS on the orders of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru after Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by Nathu Ram Godse.

Prior to implementing the order, Patel had written a letter to Nehru appreciating the social service rendered by the RSS when the partition of the subcontinet was at its peak. Patel also wrote to Veer Savarkar about the good work done by the Swayamsevaks.

In fact, Patel gave a clean chit to RSS within a month of Gandhi’s assassination, and is said to have told Nehru that the RSS was not involved in the killing.

The RSS was banned on February 4, 1948 four days after the killing of Mahatma Gandhi. The ban was only lifted in July 1949. The right wing outfit was later banned during the emergency (1975) and after the demolition of the Babri Mosque (December 1992).

Earlier in the day, Advani also toed the RSS line in saying that Patel had banned the RSS under pressure from Nehru.

Advani also said that Patel’s task of unifying more 700 odd princely states was a “super human effort and a spectacular achievement.” By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)

Swaraj alludes to Raje’s possible expulsion from the BJP

Shimla, Aug.21 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, on Friday indirectly hinted that former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje could be removed from the party on grounds of indiscipline.

Without directly confirming plans to remove Raje, Swaraj alluded at a press conference held here that: “The BJP has removed the party’s state level leadership in those states where it performed poorly in the (state and general) elections.”

In this context, she also gave the examples of B.C Khanduri who was replaced as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by Ramesh Pokhriyal, Om Mathur who was replaced by Arun Chaturvedi as the BJP’s Rajasthan unit president and Krishnapal Gurjar coming in place of Atam Prakash Manchanda as president of the BJP’s Haryana unit.

Raje is expected in the national capital New Delhi today, and is likely to meet Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader L.K.Advani at his residence on Saturday.

It maybe recalled that last week when she was asked by the party to step down as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan State Assembly, Raje had in a show of strength sent more than 60 MLAs and MPs to the national capital to convince the BJP”s central leadership that she enjoyed the full support of the state unit, and therefore, there were no grounds for her removal as Leader of Opposition.

Swaraj also justified the expulsion of Jaswant Singh from the party, saying it was necessary to restore and maintain the party’s ideological stance.

She told reporters here on the last day of the three-day ‘Chintan Baithak’ of the BJP that Jaswant Singh, as a political leader with over three decades of experience, had deliberately sought to denigrate India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel and his achievements and had showered wholesome praise on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan in his latest book “Jinnah India Partition Independence”.

“It was very difficult, but necessary to expel Jaswant Singh. It was a very tough decision to remove a colleague of last thirty years,” she said.

Countering Jaswant Singh’s statement of Thursday evening that Patel was the country’s first Home Minister to ban the BJP’s parent organization – the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) shortly after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in January 1948, Swaraj said: “It was (Jawaharlal) Nehru’s intention to ban the RSS, and not Patel’s.”

Recalling a letter that Patel had written to Nehru, Swaraj said that Patel wrote: “I have been following the investigations, and there is no iota of evidence against the RSS.”

She also emphasized that coalition politics in India was here to stay to fight the “hegemony” of the Congress party.

Historically, she said that Shyama Prasad Moorkerjee, was the first person to initiate coalition politics in the country with the formation of the Jana Sangh in the 1950s. The aim then was to counter the Congress, and that tradition continues, she said.

She confirmed that three-day Chintan Baithak had thoroughly discussed the pro’s and con’s of coalition politics. (ANI)

India’s coastline vulnerable but security measures in place: Sureesh Mehta

Mumbai, Aug 20 (ANI): After Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s talked about a possible terror threat to the country, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta has said that the coastline was vulnerable, but adequate security measures were in place.

Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of flagging off a solo expedition of circumnavigating the globe by Commander Dilip Donde in Indian Navy’s yacht ‘Mhadei’, Mehta said, “We have a 7,500 kilometres coastline, so no doubt it will be vulnerable. But that vulnerable should be used in the right sense, that there is possibility of threat coming from here and therefore we have to take measures to ensure that that threat is taken care of.

Mehta also clarified his earlier statement that India had neither the capability nor the intention to match China, force for force.

“The context in which I have said that is that yes they have a much larger navy, larger does not mean better. There are ways to tackle this issue. We do not go counting; we do not say if you have ten ships, I will have ten ships. But may be I have better ships which are able to do that job much better than what somebody else can do. So I have said we need to get smarter, we need to get better outputs form lesser number of platforms rather than working up to increase the strength in such number that they match number for number,” said Mehta.

He further said that building of ports in Sri Lanka and Pakistan by China would create ‘dependency’ for those countries.

“I do believe that there will be some lien on them at times that is may be required, so dependency’s do get created by these kinds of measures. But it is their policy it is in their interest to do it, so they are doing it,” he added. (ANI)

Holbrooke rejects reports about stationing Marines in Islamabad

Islamabad, Aug.19 (ANI): US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has rejected reports about the stationing of US Marines in Islamabad.

Sources said during his meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, Holbrooke clarified that the massive expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad was primarily to accommodate all US staff.

Foreign Minister Shah Ahmed Qureshi also endorsed Holbrooke’s statement saying: “‘We know that no US Marine is coming to Islamabad … Some media outlets have wrongly reported in this context.”

It may be noted that media reports, based on a US State Department document, claimed that the Obama government was constructing a Marine House in Islamabad to accommodate at least 1000 marines at a cost of 112.5 million dollars.

The Obama Administration is about to spend 405 million dollars for the reconstruction and refurbishment of the main embassy building and 111 million dollars for constructing a new complex for 330 personnel. A further 197 million dollars would be spent for construction of a housing unit for about 250 personnel.

18 acres of land has already been acquired by the US for the project for a meager one billion rupees, and a Turkish firm has already built a 153-room compound for the embassy.

The US is planning to send about 1000 additional staff to Pakistan, where 750 US officials are already stationed against a sanctioned strength of only 350 personnel.

During the meeting, Zardari told Holbrooke that early adoption of legislation in the US on Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (RoZ) was necessary to bring social and political stability in the region.

Holbrooke said the prime motive of his visit was to refocus US policy on the region and to support Pakistan.

“President Obama’s decision to preside over along with President Zardari the forthcoming meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan reflected the US government’s desire to support any initiative aimed at lending critical strategic and economic support to Pakistan,” the Dawn quoted Holbrooke, as saying. (ANI)

If reconciled, Taliban militants could turn on India: Nicholas Burns

New Delhi, Aug.18 (ANI): Expressing reservations over the idea of opening up communication channels with certain sections of Taliban, the former United States Deputy Secretary of State, Nicholas Burns, on Tuesday said that the US should resolve the problem keeping in view the regional context.

“Reconciling with Taliban is very complex and there is a risk that after the talks these militants could turn on India. We (US) should go ahead to look at the problem in the regional context,” said Nicholas Burns in the capital.

Burns, who retired from the U.S. foreign office a year-and-a-half ago, on Tuesday was here in Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) where he addressed ex-diplomats and strategists.

U S has been suffering major setbacks in combating Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and under its new AfPak policy, it is planning to hold talks with what it calls “Good Taliban” and would carry on its offensive against the ‘Bad Taliban’.

New Delhi is however skeptical about any reconciliation with militants and does not believe in the “Good Taliban theory”.

Burns further stressed that the U.S should deal with India and Pakistan singularly and there should be no ‘hyphenation’.

“The US should have independent relationship with Pakistan and India,” he added.

Calling India’s role in Afghanistan as “positive and constructive”, Burns said that Pakistan equipped with nuclear bombs and high instability is creating worries like no other country.

Burns said: “India could play an instrumental role in bringing Iran onboard as a nuclear Iran is not in the interest of India.”

On the issue of Mumbai terror attack on 26/11 last year, Burns said: “Mumbai attack had evoked lot of sympathy in the United States and we should use this to motivate the two countries in countering terrorism not only in south Asia but other parts of the world as well.”

Burns had played a key role during negotiations related to the Indo-U.S nuclear deal. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)