Pranab's son Abhijit Mukherjee sorry for remarks on anti-rape protesters, daughter Sharmistha 'shocked and anguished'

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KOLKATA: President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit stoked a major controversy by describing women participating in Delhi protests against gangrape of a student as 'highly dented and painted', triggering angry backlash.

"Those who are coming in the name of students in the rallies, sundori, sundori mahila (beautiful women), highly dented and painted," Abhijit Mukherjee, an MP from Jangipur seat which the President had vacated before his election, told a vernacular news channel.

"Giving interviews in TV and showing off their children. I wonder whether they are students at all," he said, adding, "what's basically happening in Delhi is something like pink revolution, which has very little connection with ground realities."

As his "insensitive" remarks sparked outrage with even his sister Sharmistha expressing "utter shock and anguish" and apologizing on his behalf, Abhijit "withdrew" his comments and said they were not meant to hurt "any particular section or any particular sentiment".

"I express my utter shock and anguish. I really apologize to every women, man and every sensitive person in this country ... I am utterly shocked and only thing I can say is that I really apologize on his behalf ... I am quite surprised with what my brother said," Sharmistha said.

Asked whether Abhijit should apologize for his words, she said, "I completely agree. He should immediately apologize.

"Not only as a President's son, but as any sensitive man, he should not have made this kind of statement. Forget about being a political leader, it shows a certain degree of insensitivity ... My family is not like that," she said.

On whether her father would be embarrassed with Abhijit's remarks, Sharmistha said, "I am sure he will be. I can say that he also shares my view ... One thing is for sure that he (Pranab) does not agree with his (Abhijit) views. I am sure. He (Pranab) has made a statement and during our personal interactions, he expressed his anguish."

Soon after Abhijit said, "I apologize to all the people whose sentiments who got hurt because of these sentences and these sentences are withdrawn" but the women activists and political leaders were unimpressed.

CPM leader Brinda Karat said political leaders cannot be allowed to get away with a mere apology after making such "outrageous and highly condemnable" remarks "demeaning women" and there should be a code of conduct for elected representatives.

Jaya Jaitley said the women will not be "cowed down" by such comments and it will only add strength to the movement. She said the comments have revealed the true mindset of the people.

"If it is what he has said, it is truly regrettable. I think that is so far away from reality. As a representative of the people, obviously this is an insensitive statement ... That is why the suffering is increasing," former IPS officer and social activist Kiran Bedi said.

Terming the remarks as unfortunate, Smriti Irani, chief of BJP' women wing, said it was especially distressing as they had come from the President's son and that too at a "challenging time" when not only women but men have come out on streets demanding justice and safer environment for women.

"I think this is exactly the kind of mindset that the youths are fighting against," she said.

Her party said the comments reflect the Congress mindset of not addressing the problem and instead attacking peaceful protesters.

"To criticize the common people who are taking out candle light march peacefully is not fair. Congress leaders should avoid such comments," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told PTI.

"Mukherjee should not have given such a statement. These comments show the Congress mindset of not addressing the crisis and criticising the protesters," he added.

Abhijit had said, "Walking in candlelight processions, going to discotheques, we have also led student life, we have been students. I well know what the character of a student should be."

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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star

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Newtown Shooter's DNA to Be Studied

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Geneticists have been asked to study the DNA of Adam Lanza, the Connecticut man whose shooting rampage killed 27 people, including an entire first grade class.


The study, which experts believe may be the first of its kind, is expected to be looking for abnormalities or mutations in Lanza's DNA.


Connecticut Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver has reached out to University of Connecticut's geneticists to conduct the study.


University of Connecticut spokesperson Tom Green says Carver "has asked for help from our department of genetics" and they are "willing to give any assistance they can."


Green said he could not provide details on the project, but said it has not begun and they are "standing by waiting to assist in any way we can."


Lanza, 20, carried out the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., just days before Christmas. His motives for the slaughter remain a mystery.


Geneticists not directly involved in the study said they are likely looking at Lanza's DNA to detect a mutation or abnormality that could increase the risk of aggressive or violent behavior. They could analyze Lanza's entire genome in great detail and try to find unexpected mutations.


This seems to be the first time a study of this nature has been conducted, but it raises concerns in some geneticists and others in the field that there could be a stigma attached to people with these genetic characteristics if they are able to be narrowed down.








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Arthur Beaudet, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, said the University of Connecticut geneticists are most likely trying to "detect clear abnormalities of what we would call a mutation in a gene…or gene abnormalities and there are some abnormalities that are related to aggressive behavior."


"They might look for mutations that might be associated with mental illnesses and ones that might also increase the risk for violence," said Beaudet, who is also the chairman of Baylor College of Medicine's department of molecular and human genetics.


Beaudet believes geneticists should be doing this type of research because there are "some mutations that are known to be associated with at least aggressive behavior if not violent behavior."


"I don't think any one of these mutations would explain all of (the mass shooters), but some of them would have mutations that might be causing both schizophrenia and related schizophrenia violent behavior," Beaudet said. "I think we could learn more about it and we should learn more about it."


Beaudet noted that studying the genes of murderers is controversial because there is a risk that those with similar genetic characteristics could possibly be discriminated against or stigmatized, but he still thinks the research would be helpful even if only a "fraction" may have the abnormality or mutation.


"Not all of these people will have identifiable genetic abnormalities," Beaudet said, adding that even if a genetic abnormality is found it may not be related to a "specific risk."


"By studying genetic abnormalities we can learn more about conditions better and who is at risk and what might be dramatic treatments," Beaudet said, adding if the gene abnormality is defined the "treatment to stop" other mass shootings or "decrease the risk is much approved."


Others in the field aren't so sure.


Dr. Harold Bursztajn, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is a leader in his field on this issue writing extensively on genetic discrimination. He questions what the University of Connecticut researchers could "even be looking for at this point."






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Democrats push for tax cuts they once opposed

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Democrats seeking a deal to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” are trying to etch into stone the signature economic achievement of Republican President George W. Bush by permanently extending tax cuts enacted during his tenure.


President Obama has put the extension of the tax cuts for most Americans at the top of his domestic agenda, a remarkable turnaround for Democrats, who had staunchly opposed the tax breaks when they were written into law about a decade ago.




With Obama leaving his Hawaii vacation for Washington Wednesday evening and lawmakers returning Thursday, the main dividing line between Republicans and Democrats has come down to whether tax rates should increase for top earners at the end of the year, when the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire. While Republicans want to extend all the cuts, Democrats are pushing to maintain lower rates on household income below $250,000. Those lower rates significantly reduce the taxes of nearly all American households that earn less than $250,000 — and many who earn more, even if tax rates are allowed to increase on income above that figure.

While it is increasingly unlikely that the two parties will reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff before Jan. 1, it is all but certain that their ultimate deal, whenever it comes, will make permanent the lower rates for most Americans.

R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and an architect of the Bush tax cuts, said it is “deeply ironic” for Democrats to favor extending most of them, given what he called their “visceral” opposition a decade ago. Keeping the lower rates even for income under $250,000 “would enshrine the vast bulk of the Bush tax cuts,” he said.

Democrats say they have reconsidered their opposition to the Bush tax cuts for several reasons. The cuts were written into law from 2001 to 2003 after a decade in which most Americans saw robust income growth. Over the past decade, by contrast, median wages have declined, after adjusting for inflation, amid a weak economy. Allowing tax cuts for the middle class to expire would further reduce take-home pay.

“We’ve had these tax cuts in place since 2001. The world changes, and the economy is where it is,” said Steven Elmendorf, who was chief of staff to former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), a primary opponent of the Bush tax cuts. “With people’s economic status, we should not be raising taxes on people earning under $250,000.”

What’s more, income inequality has been growing. Sparing the middle class higher taxes while requiring the wealthy to pay more would tip the scales slightly in the other direction.

“The reason there’s been this movement toward broad consensus on renewing the tax cut for working- and middle-class families is that will give us a sharper progressivity in the tax system that is very much desired by Democrats and progressives who’ve seen an income distribution more and more distorted toward the wealthy,” said Betsey Stevenson, former chief economist in Obama’s Labor Department and a professor at the University of Michigan, who added that taxes may have to rise even more than currently contemplated to meet the country’s needs.

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US helicopter pilots train in Rocky Mountains before Afghan deployment

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FORT CARSON, Colorado: Rugged cliffs with sudden spikes in elevation, shifting wind patterns, and thin air - those are the rough Rocky Mountain conditions that are ideal for preparing US helicopter pilots heading to similar terrain in Afghanistan.

Nearly 300 pilots and crew are undergoing a training session at Colorado's Fort Carson Army Base, preparing for deployment to a war in which US public support is rapidly dwindling.

Bitterly cold winds whip off the mountains that surround the Fort Carson Army Base in Colorado.

The climate and terrain there are a lot like Afghanistan.

Chief Warrant Officer Dwayne Williams, a Blackhawk pilot, said: "Flying at 12,000 feet in Colorado is much different than flying at 1,000 feet in Kansas. You're much more limited on power, and the weight you can have, in the mountains. So we come here to get that realistic training up in the mountains, to make us better pilots."

A total of 290 soldiers and 29 helicopters are there from Fort Riley, Kansas, preparing for deployment to Afghanistan in 2013.

Their usual base is at sea level, but Fort Carson is located at over 6,000-feet altitude, and the training missions take them up to 12,000 feet to simulate battlefield conditions.

Chief Warrant Officer Dwayne Williams added: "The altitudes that I'm told we could be flying at, we went above and beyond them here, and matched them…"

At the top of a mountain pilots face blowing snow, frigid temperatures and thin air - making helicopters hard to fly.

Many of the service personnel there could be deployed within the coming months, and the training they receive in Colorado's rugged Rocky Mountains could prove invaluable in combat zones like Afghanistan.

The training is as much for the machines as it is for the men.

Chief Warrant Officer Jereme Leason, a Kiowa pilot, said: "It's reduced power, reduced performance… It's a little bit easier to break an aircraft, just to put stresses on the engine and things like that - so we have to be very very careful."

The pilots say the Rocky Mountain training has been rough, but has given them critical experience as they rotate out to Afghanistan.

Chief Warrant Officer Jereme Leason added: "As we've become qualified, it's become exponentially easier to fly and manage our systems. I honestly feel much more confident."

About 67,000 US troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan, alongside some 37,000 coalition forces.

In the US, public support is declining for the war that's now in its 12th year.

- CNA/de



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India needs to cultivate its food security and plan for 2020: ASSOCHAM study

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KOLKATA: Having done very well in raising foodgrains production in the last decade, India will have to do 'out-of-box' and adopt a fresh strategy to ensure food security for its growing population in the next 10 years, an ASSOCHAM study has pointed out.

The country's food grain production, comprising mainly rice, wheat, coarse grains and pulses, increased from 197 million tones in 2000-01 to 257 million tones in 2011-12.

However, to raise the production in the same proportion to something like 320 million tones in the next eight to 10 years to feed our growing population will be a big challenge, given the fact that land resource is limited and the country needs to go in for urbanization at an increased pace, the chamber said.

It goes to the credit of the 'Green Revolution' and efforts of our farmers that the country harvested rich crop of foodgrains without much increase in the acreage. For instance, the acreage under foodgrains cultivation in 2000-01 was 122 million hectares while the total production was 197 million tones.

The area under cultivation went up by four million hectares to 126 million hectares but the production jumped upto 257 million tones.

It said India needs to constantly raise its foodgrains production and food security, first because our population in 2020 would be about 140-145 crore and secondly, most of our population is young.

It goes without saying that youngsters are better eaters. And then, as a country we also need to improve on the nutrition scale as we strive to reduce the ratio of people below the present poverty level of about 30%.

"In fact, finishing the poverty level should be the first priority," the study emphasized, fully supporting the UPA government's flagship programme 'Food Security Bill' under which rice and wheat would be sold to the BPL families at Rs three and Rs two per kg respectively.

The study pointed out that while the next level of revolution in pushing up food production is a challenging task, it is not impossible. However, it would require huge investment in raising the facilities for irrigation. As per World Bank report, only 35% of India's agricultural land has irrigation facilities and the rest depends totally on Monsoon rains.

As much as 60% of India's land of 2973190 square kilometer comprises agricultural land (1797090 Sq km) and only 35% of it is under irrigation.

"The productivity of irrigated land is almost double than the dry land. Besides, we can have at least double crop in a year on irrigated land whereas harvesting even a single crop would depend on the Rain God," reveals the ASSOCHAM study on "The next food security challenge".

Unfortunately, even though thousands of crores of rupees are earmarked for development of irrigation facilities, not much attention is paid and neither the sector receives any media attention. For instance, we should monitor the progress of the Rs 14,000 crore 'Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme', Rs 2,500 crore 'Flood Management programme' and Rs 550 crore water bodies development programme.

"It is only when some scam takes place, like the one in Maharashtra that the media glare is seen on the sector," the study observed regretfully.

While the green revolution gave us the handsome dividend in terms of raising production, it depended too much on the use of fertilizers and ground water. "However, given the land degradation and imbalance in soil nutrient, such scope is limited in future", the ASSOCHAM study said emphasizing the need for repairing the soil nutrient balance.

Secondly to boost productivity and improve flood management the ambitious programme of inter-linking of rivers should be scientifically examined by a high level of committee of experts, without any political colour or bias, the chamber said.

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Photos: Humboldt Squid Have a Bad Day at the Beach

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Photograph by Chris Elmenhurst, Surf the Spot Photography

“Strandings have been taking place with increased frequency along the west coast over the past ten years,” noted NOAA’s Field, “as this population of squid seems to be expanding its range—likely a consequence of climate change—and can be very abundant at times.” (Learn about other jumbo squid strandings.)

Humboldt squid are typically found in warmer waters farther south in theGulf of California (map) and off the coast ofPeru. “[But] we find them up north here during warmer water time periods,” said ocean sciences researcherKenneth Bruland with the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

Coastal upwelling—when winds blowing south drive ocean circulation to bring cold, nutrient-rich waters up from the deep—ceases during the fall and winter and warmer water is found closer to shore. Bruland noted that climate change, and the resulting areas of low oxygen, “could be a major factor” in drawing jumbo squid north.

Published December 24, 2012

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Storms Spawn 34 Tornado Reports Across South

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Severe Christmas day weather tore across the deep South, spinning off 34 possible tornadoes and killing at least three people in its path, while extreme weather is forecast throughout today for parts of the East Coast.


The storm first pounded Texas, then touched down in Louisiana and blasted through homes in Mississippi. In Mobile, Ala., a wide funnel cloud was barreled across the city as lightning flashed inside like giant Christmas ornaments.


Bill Bunting with the National Weather Service's Severe Storms Prediction Center said that the damage may not yet be done.


"Conditions don't look quite as volatile over a large area as we saw on Christmas day but there will be a risk of tornadoes, some of them could be rather strong, across eastern portions of North Carolina and the northeastern part of South Carolina," he said.


Across the Gulf region, from Texas to Florida, over 280,000 customers are still without power, with 100,000 without power in Little Rock, Ark. alone.


The punishing winds mangled Mobile's graceful ante-bellum homes, and today, dazed residents are picking through debris while rescue crews search for people trapped in the rubble.


"We've got a lot of damage, we've got people hurt," one Mobile resident told ABC News. "We've had homes that are 90 percent destroyed."






Melinda Martinez/The Daily Town Talk/AP Photo













In the Houston area a tree fell onto a pickup truck, killing the driver, ABC affiliate WTRK reported. In Louisiana, a 53-year-old man died when a tree fell on his house, and a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla., according to the Associated Press.


At least eight states issued blizzard warnings Tuesday, as the storms made highways dangerously slick heading into one of the busiest travel days of the year.


Tuesday's extreme weather caused an 8-foot deep sinkhole in Vicksburg, Miss. Alma Jackson told ABC News that a concrete tank that was in her backyard fell into the sinkhole.


"It's really very disturbing," she said. "Because it's on Christmas day, and then to see this big hole in the ground and not have any explanation, and not be able to cover it. And the rain is pouring down."


Teresa Mason told ABC News that she and her boyfriend panicked when they saw the tornado heading toward them in Stone County, in southern Mississippi, but she says they were actually saved when a tree fell onto the truck.


"[We] got in the truck and made it out there to the road. And that's when the tornado was over us. And it started jerking us and spinning us, "she said."This tree got us in the truck and kept us from being sucked up into the tornado."


The last time a number of tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast area around Christmas Day was in 2009, when 22 tornadoes struck on Christmas Eve morning, National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told ABC News in an email.


The deadliest Christmastime tornado outbreak on record was Dec. 24 to 26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.


The last killer tornado around Christmas, Vaccaro said, was a Christmas Eve EF4 in Tennessee in 1988, which killed one person and injured seven. EF4 tornadoes can produce winds up to 200 mph.


ABC News' Matt Gutman, Max Golembo and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.



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Federal workers feel unease over potential layoffs, furloughs unleashed by ‘fiscal cliff’

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Federal employees have been skeptical for months that the biggest cuts to government spending in history could really happen. But with the “fiscal cliff” a week away, workers are now growing increasingly alarmed that their jobs and their missions could be on the line.


President Obama and members of Congress headed out of town late last week for a Christmas break without reaching a deal to avoid $110 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts, which would hamstring operations ranging from weather forecasting and air traffic control to the purchase of spare parts for weapons systems. So civil servants are bracing for the blow, wondering whether their work will be upended — and whether they may be forced to take unpaid days off.


“This could change day by day,” said Antonio Webb, 25, who works in the mail service that handles correspondence for the Department of Homeland Security. “You could come into work and the next day they say, ‘We don’t need you because we have to cut so much.’ ”

Many federal workers have become jaded after a two-year pay freeze and congressional fights over spending that keep agencies lurching from one stopgap budget to another. Until recently, few employees thought it could come to this: Budget cuts of 8 to 10 percent divided equally between military and domestic agencies. Only a few programs, like Social Security, veterans benefits and some services for the poor, are exempted.

“Sure, we continue to do our jobs,” said Carl Eichenwald, who works in enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency. “But all of this uncertainty is disruptive for our mission. A lot of time gets spent spinning wheels. We won’t know whether we can do inspections. Do we have 100 percent of our budget, or 85 percent?”

Top congressional aides said Monday that discussions of how to avert the fiscal cliff had come to a virtual standstill. Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) had not spoken since Friday.

Each side in the negotiations urged the other to come up with a way around the impasse. A senior Democratic aide said Boehner needs to return from the holiday with a “cleared head and a readiness to deal.” The aide said that there is no time for Democrats to unilaterally advance a bill in the Senate, adding that they can press forward with legislation only if they are assured by Republican leaders of GOP support.

A senior Senate Republican aide insisted, however, that it is now up to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and his fellow Democrats to figure out what they can pass in the Senate without worrying about the Republican-controlled House.

As the year-end deadline approaches, federal employees have been told very little by their bosses about how their agencies are preparing to carry out huge spending reductions.

“It seemed like we were almost immune to thinking that something real was going to come of it,” said Fernando Cutz, an analyst for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Then came an e-mailed memo on Thursday from agency heads to employees. The cuts would be “significant and harmful to our collective mission.” Furloughs “or other personnel actions” — layoffs — remain a real possibility.

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Top Philippine communist rebel arrested

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MANILA: A top Philippine communist rebel with a US$128,000 bounty on his head was arrested on Tuesday, the military said.

The arrest of Filemon Mendrez, the country's sixth most-wanted man, comes amid a Christmas ceasefire and as the government and rebels are engaged in high-level peace talks aimed at ending one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies.

Mendrez, a key New People's Army rebel leader, will be held without bail and is due to stand trial, an army statement said, but details on the criminal cases against him were not disclosed.

The interior ministry had placed a 5.25 million peso (US$128,000) bounty on his head, it added.

Major General Jose Mabanta, the army chief of the central Philippines, described the arrest as a "law enforcement" action that had no bearing on the peace negotiations and the Christmas truce, which began last week.

"Law enforcement operations shall continue even as we observe a suspension of offensive military operations and ceasefire. This is part of (the army's job) of protecting communities, government and private establishments," he added.

The Maoist rebels have been waging an armed rebellion to seize power since 1969, and more than 30,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the government.

The military estimates the current NPA strength at about 4,000 fighters, significantly down from more than 26,000 at its peak in the late 1980s.

The chief government peace negotiator met his communist counterpart in the Netherlands last week, 13 months after Manila rejected rebel demands that earlier led to the talks being suspended.

The truce lasts until January 15, and the negotiators said they agreed to meet again early next year.

- AFP/de



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