State funeral held for former Indian PM Gujral

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NEW DELHI: Former Indian prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, who engineered a thaw in India's relationship with arch rival Pakistan, was given a funeral with full state honours on Saturday.

Gujral's body, draped in the tricolour Indian flag, was brought to the cremation site from his New Delhi home in a flower-laden gun-carriage accompanied by military personnel who fired a 21-gun salute.

India's President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the ceremony held amid prayers on the banks of the Yamuna River.

Gujral, who served as prime minister in a coalition government from April 1997 to March 1998, died on Friday aged 92 from a lung infection.

India's newspapers were full of praise for Gujral on Saturday with the Indian Express calling him a "gentleman-politician" for his intellect and diplomacy.

The Hindustan Times hailed him for going "the extra mile to bring peace" in South Asia's troubled neighbourhood.

As premier, Gujral sought to improve India's strained ties with Pakistan, saying it was time for the two nations to leave the past behind and forge a new relationship.

He was famous for propounding the "Gujral Doctrine", a foreign policy approach based on peaceful accommodation that argued India should treat its neighbours with generosity.

Gujral, whose brother Satish ranks among India's most prominent artists and architects, is survived by two sons, Naresh, who is a member of parliament, and Vishal. His wife, a poetess, died last year.

Gujral was born in the city of Jhelum, Punjab (now a part of Pakistan), into a family of Congress party workers.

He began his career in politics as a student leader and member of the underground Communist Party of India. Gujral was arrested in 1942 and jailed for his involvement in the anti-colonial Quit India movement.

He joined the ruling Congress party after India won independence from Britain and rose through the ranks to become minister of information and broadcasting under prime minister Indira Gandhi from 1969-71 and 1972-75.

But Gujral ran foul of the party when he refused to censor radio broadcasts during the state of emergency imposed by Gandhi in 1975.

Gujral left the Congress party in the 1980s and joined the socialist Janata Dal, serving twice as India's foreign minister before being appointed prime minister in a coalition government in 1997.

Singh said as premier Gujral had set an example of "grace under pressure, of composure in difficult circumstances and of steadfastness to principles".

- AFP/ck



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FDI in retail to safeguard international market mafias' interest: BJP

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NEW DELHI: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said retail reform is a step taken by the Congress led-federal government to safeguard the interests of the international market mafias at the cost of national interest.

BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working for international interests.

"The government feels that their responsibility is to safeguard the interest of international market mafias instead of national interest and for saving the interest of international market mafias, the government is ready to compromise with national interests. Now, the parliament will decide as to who is in support of international market mafias and who are supporting national interests," said Naqvi.

The government's decision to allow foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart had triggered protest not only from opposition parties but also from some of its allies.

BJP had sought debate on the issue of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, under the rule that entails voting after discussions.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), V Narayanaswamy said the government would answer all the queries raised by the opposition parties in the parliament and will explain the benefits of allowing FDI in retail sector.

The lower house of parliament has set December 04 and 05 as the date to vote and debate on FDI. The dates for the upper house are yet to be decided.

Narayanaswamy said the government is confident of becoming victorious in the debate.

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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

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Wild West: Calif. Braces for More Stormy Weather

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Northern California is bracing for more stormy weather this weekend after heavy rain and strong winds knocked out power to thousands, delayed flights, tied up traffic and flooded some roadways.



After the second in a series of storms slammed the region Friday, scattered showers are expected Saturday before a third storm strikes Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.



A flash flood watch will remain in effect for most of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Santa Cruz Mountains throughout the weekend. The storms could cause rock and mud slides in areas already saturated and affected by wildfires this summer, said NWS forecaster Diana Henderson in Monterey.



"It's not a super storm by any measure, but this is pretty significant," Henderson said. "We should see periods of moderate to heavy rains."



Friday's stormy weather may be behind the death of a Pacific Gas & Electric worker in West Sacramento who was killed after his truck crashed into a traffic signal pole during the stormy weather.



Friday's storm delayed flights at San Francisco International Airport and knocked down a large tree that smashed a car and blocked a busy street for hours in the city's affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood.






AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Kent Porter








The North Bay was seemingly hit the hardest, as parts of Sonoma County received more than 7 inches of rain and areas in Napa County received nearly 6 inches, Henderson said.



With rain expected all weekend long, Tony Negro, a contractor from Penngrove, Calif., in Sonoma County, said he is worried about water flooding his workshop.



"I'm on my way to get some sand bags," he said.



Thousands of people were without power in that area after an outage that also affected the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The suspension span of the bridge was briefly in the dark as traffic was backed up longer than usual because of rain and strong wind gusts.



Also, a mudslide shut down a stretch of Highway 84 east of Fremont, the California Highway Patrol reported. There was no estimate on when it would reopen.



In Sacramento, an empty big-rig jackknifed in the southbound lanes and struck the median divider on Interstate 5 south of downtown Friday morning, the CHP said.



"I would definitely say it's weather-related. The reports came in that he hit a water puddle and hydroplaned and couldn't correct," CHP Officer Mike Bradley said. "A lot of high-profile vehicles, especially the lighter ones, are getting windblown and having some problems maintaining their lane."



No one was injured in the crash on I-5, California's main north-south highway. But a second vehicle also was damaged and had to be towed, while workers cleaned up diesel fuel spilled from the tractor-trailer.



In West Sacramento, police say wet conditions may have been a factor when a PG&E worker died after he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a traffic pole. PG&E workers at the scene told KCRA-TV that the driver had been working overtime and was returning from Clarksburg in Yolo County.



In Los Angeles, conditions were wet and gloomy as downtown skyscrapers disappeared in low-hanging clouds.





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Badminton: Olympic scandal prompts rule revamp

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BANGKOK: The Badminton World Federation on Friday announced changes to Olympic doubles rules following a match-throwing scandal at the London Games, but said it would take no further action against coaches.

It said the new system, which will be introduced for the Rio Olympics in 2016, would "ensure such a regrettable spectacle is never witnessed in badminton again".

The BWF said that in the future, following the group stage, all pairs finishing second in their groups would be placed into a second draw to determine who they face in the knockout phase.

But pairs topping their group stage would have fixed positions equivalent to seeded placings in the knockout stage.

"This will eliminate any player's thoughts about actively trying to lose a match or matches, irrespective of other match results. Such a draw process can easily and effectively be made just after all group matches have been concluded," the federation said in a statement released in Bangkok.

Eight women's doubles players from South Korea, Indonesia and China were disqualified for trying to lose matches at the London Olympics.

The scandal prompted Chinese badminton star Yu Yang to say she was quitting the sport, although she resumed playing at the Super Series Premier event in Shanghai earlier this month.

In its statement, the federation said that the BWF Council had concluded it was "not legally feasible" to take further action against any coaches or entourages over the London Olympics case.

The federation noted that some of its member associations had already taken their own action, and said it had strengthened its own code of conduct.

The Korea Badminton Association initially banned two coaches for life but after an appeal reduced the suspension to two years.

The BWF also said its council had approved the trial early next year of an instant-replay line call system using cameras to show the exact place where a shuttle lands on the court.

- AFP/fa



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Hate speech case: Court frames charges against Varun Gandhi

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LUCKNOW: After three years of legal process, a local court in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh framed (UP) charges against Varun Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Pilibhit, in the 2009 hate speech case. Varun had allegedly made inflammatory comments against Muslims in his speeches at public meetings in Pilibhit during 2009 Lok Sabha election campaign.

Framing of charges by the court means that Varun will have to face the trial. The development has come amid speculation that the UP government may withdraw cases lodged against Varun during the previous Mayawati regime.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Abdul Qyaum took cognizance of the charge sheets filed by the police in two criminal cases lodged against Varun for making hate speeches. The court took cognizance under Section 505(2) and 295 of the Indian Penal Code.

Great-grandson of the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Varun has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the People's Representative Act for promoting enmity and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. While two FIRs were lodged against Varun for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches, one was lodged in connection with the violence when he was taken to jail after his surrender.

Varun, however, had strongly denied the charges and termed the case as an attempt to malign his image. He had claimed that in one instance he was referring to bad elements and in the second one, the tapes have been doctored.

In 2009, Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was in power in the state. Varun was arrested in March 2009 for alleged hate speeches. The state government had then also slapped National Security Act (NSA) on the 32-year-old BJP leader but it was revoked in May 2009 on the direction of the Supreme Court. Now, Akhilesh Yadav Samajwadi Party (SP) is at the helms of affair in UP.

Significantly, Varun had in September this year written to the SP government requesting to withdraw cases against him while describing them as 'politically motivated'. On his request, the state government had sought a report from the Pilibhit district administration on whether the cases could be withdrawn or not in public interest.

The first FIR against Varun was lodged on March 17, 2009, at Barkhera police station for delivering inflammatory speech during a public meeting on March 8, 2009. The second FIR was lodged on March 18, 2009, again for allegedly making an inflammatory speech with communal overtones at Dal Chand locality. The third FIR was lodged against Varun on March 28, 2009, when his supporters attacked police after the court sent him for judicial custody. However, Varun won election from Pilibhit.

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Pictures: Inside the World's Most Powerful Laser

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Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNL

Looking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).

Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.

The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand challenges"—igniting hydrogen fusion fuel in the laboratory, according to the NIF website. Nuclear fusion—the merging of the nuclei of two atoms of, say, hydrogen—can result in a tremendous amount of excess energy. Nuclear fission, by contrast, involves the splitting of atoms.

This July, California-based NIF made history by combining 192 laser beams into a record-breaking laser shot that packed over 500 trillion watts of peak power-a thousand times more power than the entire United States uses at any given instant.

"This was a quantum leap for laser technology around the world," NIF director Ed Moses said in September. But some critics of the $5 billion project wonder why the laser has yet to ignite a fusion chain reaction after three-and-a-half years in operation. Supporters counter that such groundbreaking science simply can't be rushed.

(Related: "Fusion Power a Step Closer After Giant Laser Blast.")

—Brian Handwerk

Published November 29, 2012

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2 Towns Hint at Powerball Winners

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The $587 million question on the identity of the winners in the historic Powerball jackpot is still a mystery, but residents in Missouri and Maryland say they already know who the two lucky winners are.


Employees and customers at Marlboro Village Exxon in Upper Marlboro, Md., said a tall, black, bald man held the winning ticket purchased in Arizona, according to ABC News affiliate WJLA-TV.


Meanwhile, speculation began running wild in the small town of Dearborn, Mo., when a factory worker named Mark Hill updated his Facebook account late Thursday, writing, "We are truly blessed, we are lucky winners of the Powerball."


Within hours, his family began celebrating, telling ABC News Hill is one of the two big winners.


"Just shocked. I mean, I thought we were all going to have heart attacks," Hill's mother, Shirley, said Thursday.


Hill's mother says her son and his wife, Cindy, have three grown sons and an adopted daughter from China, but the family has been struggling financially.


Hill works in a hot dog and deli packaging factory, but it was unclear whether he showed up for work Thursday night.


"I'm very happy for him. He's worked hard in his life; well, not anymore," Hill's son Jason said. "Well, I hope we all stay very grounded, stay humble and don't forget who we are."










Powerball Numbers: Two Winners Take Record Jackpot Watch Video









Powerball's Half-Billion Dollar Prize: Lotto Success Stories Watch Video





Missouri Lottery official Susan Goedde confirmed to ABC News Thursday that one of the winning tickets was purchased at a Trex Mart in Dearborn, about 30 miles north of Kansas City.


Lottery officials won't confirm whether Hill is the winner but family members offered another clue: Some of the winning numbers turned out to be the jersey numbers of some all-star Kansas City Royals baseball players, Hill's favorite team.


Hall of Fame third basemen George Brett wore 5; Willie Wilson 6; Bo Jackson 16.


The winning numbers were 5, 23, 16, 22 and 29; Powerball was 6.


Hill did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment.


In Maryland, surveillance cameras at the Upper Marlboro gas station captured the apparent winner walking into the store Thursday afternoon, digging into his chest pocket for his lottery tickets. After a few seconds of scanning the wad of tickets, the man began jumping up and down, pumping his arms.


The man gave the tickets to store manager Nagassi Ghebre, who says the six Powerball numbers was on the ticket, which the apparent winner said he bought in Arizona.


"And then he said, 'I got to get out of here,'" employee Freddie Lopez told WJLA.


But before leaving, the possible winner felt the need to check again to see whether he really had the ticket that millions of Americans dreamed of having.


"He says, 'Is this the right number? I don't know.' And I said, 'Yeah that's the numbers. You got them all,'" customer Paul Gaug told WJLA.


Employees and customers said the main stuck around for a few more seconds shouting, "I won," before leaving.


"He came back a minute later and said, 'I forgot to get my gas. What am I thinking?'" Lopez said.


The man drove out of the gas station in a black car and on a full tank of gas with a cash payout of $192.5 million coming his way.


"He said he lives in Maryland. I'm pretty sure," Gaug said.


The possible jackpot winner was wearing bright neon clothing and store employees told WJLA that he appeared to be a highway or construction worker.


Arizona lottery officials told WJLA that if the man does have the winning ticket, it needs to be redeemed within 180 days of the drawing in Arizona.






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US jobless claims recede, still show Sandy impact

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WASHINGTON: US jobless claims fell back to 393,000 in the most recent week, the Labour Department said on Thursday, still showing the impact of superstorm Sandy which blasted the Northeast in late October.

Claims in the week to November 24 fell from 416,000 the previous week and 451,000 in the November 10 week.

But they remained well above the 360-380,000 range held most of this year.

The three weeks of high claims, much the result of the shutdown of the economy in and around New York due to the storm, pushed the four-week rolling average to 405,250.

Many companies in the region, especially small businesses, are still struggling to get back to normal nearly one month after the storm struck.

- AFP/de



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Facebook case: Maharashtra Police to drop case against girls

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MUMBAI: Facing flak, Maharashtra Police today decided to drop charges against the two girls whose arrests over their Facebook post criticising the shutdown here during Bal Thackeray's funeral sparked a national outrage.

In a relief to the girls, the dropping of charges came on a day when the Supreme Court said it was considering to take suo motu cognisance of recent incidents of arrest of people for offences under Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act which deals with online offensive content.

In a related case, a 19-year-old boy from neighbouring Thane district, detained on suspicion of posting an "objectionable" Facebook comment against MNS chief Raj Thackeray, was let off after police found that a "fake account" was used by some persons in the teenager's name.

"No chargesheet will be filed in the case of arrest of two girls from Palghar. There will be a closure report," Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal said.

The closure report in a case is usually filed by police before the court concerned when investigators conclude that no case is made out against the accused.

Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan, both 21, were arrested after Dhada had criticised in a Facebook post the November 18 shutdown due to Thackeray's funeral. Shrinivasan had 'liked' the post. The two were later granted bail shortly after they were remanded in 14-day judicial custody.

Though Dhada did not name Thackeray, a local Sena leader complained against the girls and police arrested the duo on November 19, sparking an outcry.

Maharashtra government on Tuesday suspended the two police officers, SP (Thane rural) Ravindra Sengaonkar and senior police inspector Shrikant Pingle, for arresting the girls.

A bandh was observed at Palghar town in adjoining Thane district yesterday following a call by Shiv Sena against suspension of the two police officers. "Sunil Vishwakarma is cooperating with us in the case and was allowed to go last night after initial questioning. He is nowhere involved in the case," a senior police officer said.

Police in neighbouring Thane district had picked up the boy after receiving a complaint alleging that he had posted some "objectionable" comment on Raj Thackeray on the social networking site. The boy has not been charged.

According to police, a "fake account" was used by unidentified person or persons in the teenager's name and a case was being registered in this regard.

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