Harish Rawat asks Uttarakhand CM for CBI probe into 2010 Mahakumbh scam

DEHRADUN: Union minister for water resources Harish Rawat on Wednesday asked chief minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna to recommend a CBI probe into the alleged misappropriation of Rs.500 crores released by the previous BJP state government for preparations of the 2010 Mahakumbh in Haridwar.

Talking to reporters in Haridwar, Rawat said an impartial probe by CBI will help bring the culprits to light.

Rawat also accused senior office-bearers of VHP of reviving the Ayodhya temple issue for political mileage in view of upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"But as voters are fully aware of such political tricks, they no longer can not be misled," Rawat said.

He also asked Bahuguna to ensure Roorkee and Udham Singh Nagar civic bodies are upgraded from municipal board to municipal corporations at the earliest.

Rawat said timely upgradation of these civic bodies will help boost industrial and other development activities considerably in the two tarai districts.

"It is always good for a chief minister to announce sops for development but these announcements should be implemented in a right spirits," Rawat said.

Referring to Bahuguna's announcement to convert Piran Kaliyar in Roorkee into a tourist destination, Rawat asked him to ensure that an order is issued at the earliest. Rawat said once an order is issued, development activities will pick up.

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions


NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.


Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland.


"It's quite intriguing. It's the first time we've seen this here," said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


The U.S. cases are detailed in a brief report from the CDC and other researchers in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.


Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. It was once common, but cases in the U.S. dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.


An increase in illnesses in recent years has been partially blamed on a version of the vaccine used since the 1990s, which doesn't last as long. Last year, the CDC received reports of 41,880 cases, according to a preliminary count. That included 18 deaths.


The new study suggests that the new whooping cough strain may be why more people have been getting sick. Experts don't think it's more deadly, but the shots may not work as well against it.


In a small, soon-to-be published study, French researchers found the vaccine seemed to lower the risk of severe disease from the new strain in infants. But it didn't prevent illness completely, said Nicole Guiso of the Pasteur Institute, one of the researchers.


The new germ was first identified in France, where more extensive testing is routinely done for whooping cough. The strain now accounts for 14 percent of cases there, Guiso said.


In the United States, doctors usually rely on a rapid test to help make a diagnosis. The extra lab work isn't done often enough to give health officials a good idea how common the new type is here, experts said.


"We definitely need some more information about this before we can draw any conclusions," the CDC's Clark said.


The U.S. cases were found in the past two years in patients at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. One of the study's researchers works for a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which makes a version of the old whooping cough vaccine that is sold in other countries.


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JournaL: http://www.nejm.org


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Armstrong May Testify Under Oath on Doping













Facing a federal criminal investigation and a deadline that originally was tonight to tell all under oath to anti-doping authorities or lose his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban, Lance Armstrong now may cooperate.


His apparent 11th-hour about-face, according to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), suggests he might testify under oath and give full details to USADA of how he cheated for so long.


"We have been in communication with Mr. Armstrong and his representatives and we understand that he does want to be part of the solution and assist in the effort to clean up the sport of cycling," USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart said in a written statement this evening. "We have agreed to his request for an additional two weeks to work on details to hopefully allow for this to happen."


The news of Armstrong's unexpected possible cooperation came a day after ABC News reported he was in the crosshairs of federal criminal investigators. According to a high-level source, "agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation" for allegedly threatening people who dared tell the truth about his cheating.


The case was re-ignited by Armstrong's confession last month to Oprah Winfrey that he doped his way to all seven of his Tour de France titles, telling Winfrey he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career and then lied about it. He made the confession after years of vehement denials that he cheated.








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If charges are ultimately filed, the consequences of "serious potential crimes" could be severe, ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said -- including "possible sentences up to five, 10 years."


Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.


Armstrong was previously under a separate federal investigation that reportedly looked at drug distribution, conspiracy and fraud allegations -- but that case was dropped without explanation a year ago. Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.


"There were plenty of people, even within federal law enforcement, who felt like he was getting preferential treatment," said T.J. Quinn, an investigative reporter with ESPN.


The pressures against Armstrong today are immense and include civil claims that could cost him tens of millions of dollars.


Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, and today was the deadline he was given to cooperate under oath if he ever wanted the ban lifted.


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ABC News' Michael S. James contributed to this report.



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China radar-lock on Japan ship 'dangerous': PM Abe






TOKYO: The radar-lock that a Chinese frigate put on a Japanese warship was "dangerous" and "provocative", Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday, as tensions in a territorial row ratcheted up.

"It was a dangerous act that could have led to an unpredictable situation," Abe told parliament. "It is extremely regrettable. We strongly ask for their self-restraint in order to avoid an unnecessary escalation."

The hawkish prime minister, who took office late December following a landslide win in elections, described the radar-locking as "unilateral provocative action by the Chinese side".

Abe's comments come a day after Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera announced weapon-targeting radar had been directed at the Japanese vessel in international waters of the East China Sea last week.

The move marks the first time the two nations' navies have locked horns in a dispute that has some commentators warning about a possible armed conflict.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was "concerned" over the incident.

"With regard to the reports of this particular lock-on incident, actions such as this escalate tensions and increase the risk of an incident or a miscalculation, and they could undermine peace, stability and economic growth in this vital region," she said.

Onodera said a Japanese military helicopter was also locked with a similar radar on January 19.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a news conference that Tokyo lodged a protest against Beijing over the radar-locking on Tuesday and asked for an explanation, but was yet to receive any reply.

Radar is used to precisely determine a target's distance, direction, speed and altitude. Weapon systems linked to the radar can be fired immediately, Japan's government said.

The move is a ratcheting-up of an already tense situation in the East China Sea, where Asia's two largest economies are at loggerheads over the sovereignty of an uninhabited island chain.

On Tuesday Tokyo summoned China's envoy in protest at the presence a day earlier of Chinese government -- but not military -- ships in the waters around the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

Beijing has repeatedly sent ships to the area since Japan nationalised some islands in the chain in September. The move triggered a diplomatic dispute and huge anti-Japan demonstrations across China.

Beijing has also sent air patrols to the archipelago and recently both Beijing and Tokyo have scrambled fighter jets, though there have been no clashes.

- AFP/ck



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15 dip hands in hot oil to prove loyalty in Gujarat

SABARKANTHA (Gujarat): Fifteen persons received burn injuries after they dipped their hands in hot oil to convince a candidate, who lost in panchayat elections, that they had voted for him, police said.

The candidate, identified as Girish Parmar, has been detained, police said.

The incident took place at Derai village of Bayad taluka this evening after counting of votes for the district panchayat, gram panchayat and nagarpalika elections got over.

"Fifteen persons received injuries after they dipped their hands in hot oil to prove to the lost candidate of their community that they had voted for him. We have already nabbed the candidate," Sabarkantha superintendent of police Chirag Koradiya told PTI.

"We will lodge a complaint against the candidate though none of the persons, who received injuries, is coming forward to register the complaint as they all belong to one community," he said.

"This is a superstition followed in the village to convince a candidate of their community that they voted for him," he added.

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation













Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.


The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.


Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.


Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."


According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."






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An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.


Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:


Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --


Birotte: (Off mic.)


Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?


Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.


The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.


Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.


Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.


Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.



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Syrian opposition chief says offers Assad peaceful exit


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government on Monday to start talks for its departure from power and save the country from greater ruin after almost two years of bloodshed.


Seeking to step up pressure on Assad to respond to his offer of talks - which dismayed some in his own opposition coalition, Alkhatib said he would be ready to meet the president's deputy.


"I ask the regime to send Farouq al-Shara - if it accepts the idea - and we can sit with him," he said, referring to Syria's vice president who has implicitly distanced himself from Assad's crackdown on mass unrest that became an armed revolt.


Speaking after meeting senior Russian, U.S. and Iranian officials, Alkhatib said none of them had an answer to the 22-month-old crisis and Syrians must solve it themselves.


"The issue is now in the state's court...to accept negotiations for departure, with fewer losses," the Syrian National Coalition leader told Al Arabiya television.


The moderate Islamist preacher announced last week he was prepared to talk to Assad's representatives. Although he set several conditions, the move broke a taboo on opposition contacts with Damascus and angered many in its ranks who insist on Assad's departure as a precondition for negotiation.


Alkhatib said it was not "treachery" to seek dialogue to end a conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed, 700,000 have been driven from their country and millions more are homeless and hungry.


"The regime must take a clear stand (on dialogue) and we say we will extend our hand for the interest of people and to help the regime leave peacefully," he said in separate comments to Al Jazeera television.


Assad announced last month what he said were plans for reconciliation talks to end the violence but - in a speech described by U.N. Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as narrow and uncompromising - he said there would be no dialogue with people he called traitors or "puppets made by the West".


Syria's defense minister said the army had proved it would not be defeated in its confrontation with rebels but declined to say whether it would respond to an Israeli air strike last week.


Security sources said the Israelis bombed a convoy of arms destined for Assad's ally Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel, in neighboring Lebanon. Syria said the attack struck vehicles and buildings at a military research center near Lebanon's border.


Syria's uprising erupted in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests, escalating into a civil war pitting mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad, who is from Syria's Alawite minority. His family has ruled Syria for 42 years.


ANGER AT IRAN


The violence has divided major powers, with Russia and China blocking U.N. Security Council draft resolutions backed by the United States, European Union and Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states that could have led to U.N. sanctions isolating Assad. Shi'ite Iran has remained his strongest regional supporter.


Alkhatib met Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at a security conference in Germany at the weekend.


"Iran's stance is unacceptable and I mentioned to the foreign minister that we are very angry with Iran's support for the regime," Alkhatib said.


He said he asked Salehi to pass on his offer of negotiations - based on the acceptance of the Assad government's departure - to Damascus. The two men also discussed the need to prevent Syria's crisis spreading into a regional conflict between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, he said.


"We will find a solution, there are many keys. If the regime wants to solve (the crisis), it can take part in it. If it wants to get out and get the people out of this crisis, we will all work together for the interest of the people and the departure of the regime."


One proposal under discussion was the formation of a transitional government, Alkhatib said, without specifying how he thought that could come about. World powers agreed a similar formula seven months ago but then disagreed over whether that could allow Assad to stay on as head of state.


Activists reported clashes between the army and rebel fighters to the east of Damascus on Monday and heavy shelling of rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs. The Jobar neighborhood, on the southwestern edge of Homs, was hit by more than 100 rockets on Monday morning, an opposition activist said.


The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 90 people were killed by dusk on Monday.


It said 180 people were killed across the country on Sunday, including 114 rebel fighters and soldiers. Sunday's death toll included 28 people killed in the bombardment of a building in the Ansari district of the northern city of Aleppo.


Assad has described the rebels as foreign-backed Islamist terrorists and said a precondition for any solution is that Turkey and Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states stop funding, sheltering and arming his foes.


The majority of the insurgents are Islamists but those affiliated with al Qaeda are smaller in number, although their influence is growing. For that reason, Western states have been loath to arm the rebels despite their calls for Assad's ouster.


Rebels and activists say that Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite militant movement Hezbollah have sent fighters to reinforce Assad's army - an accusation that both deny.


ECONOMIC SUPPORT


"The army of Syria is big enough, they do not need fighters from outside," Iran's Salehi said in Berlin on Monday.


"We are giving them economic support, we are sending gasoline, we are sending wheat. We are trying to send electricity to them through Iraq; we have not been successful."


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said later on Monday that Syria's crisis could not be solved by military means and he called for a national accord leading to elections.


"War is not the solution...A government that rules through war - its work will be very difficult. A sectarian war should not be launched in Syria," he told Al Mayadeen television.


"We believe that (deciding) whoever stays or goes is the right of the Syrian people. How can we interfere in that? We must strive to achieve national understanding, and free elections."


Another Iranian official, speaking in Damascus after talks with Assad, said Israel would regret an air strike against Syria last week, without spelling out whether Iran or its ally planned a military response.


Salehi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden all met Alkhatib in Munich at the weekend and portrayed his willingness to talk with Syrian authorities as a major step towards resolving the war.


But Alkhatib is under pressure from other members of the exiled leadership in Cairo for saying he would be willing to talk to Assad. Walid al-Bunni, a member of the Coalition's 12-member politburo, dismissed Alkhatib's meeting with Salehi.


"It was unsuccessful. The Iranians are unprepared to do anything that could help the causes of the Syrian Revolution," Bunni, a former political prisoner, told Reuters from Budapest.


(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai and Stephen Brown in Berlin; Editing by Mark Heinrich)



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Mexico oil firm blast caused by gas build-up: official






MEXICO CITY: The explosion that killed 37 people at the headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil firm was caused by a gas build-up, officials said Monday, ruling out a bomb attack.

The announcement ended a four-day-long mystery that had sparked a wave of speculation about the cause of the blast at the complex that houses the offices of Pemex in the heart of Mexico City.

The explosion tore through an annex of the company's skyscraper in the capital last Thursday, injuring more than 120 people.

"We were able to determine that the explosion was caused by an accumulation of gas in the basement" of the annex, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam told a news conference.

The blast caused floors to collapse, killing 37 people, he said.

"We confirmed that there are no traces of explosives," he said, adding that the blast did not leave a crater and that the victims did not have the type of dismemberment caused by bombs.

-AFP/fl



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CPM urges Prime Minister to restore diesel subsidy for bulk consumers

NEW DELHI: The CPM urged the Congress-led UPA government to restore the subsidy on diesel to bulk consumers like state transport companies and railways to ease the fare hike burden on the aam aadmi using public transport.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat called the decision to charge the market rate of diesel for these bulk consumers retrograde and causing a financial crisis. "There are reports of State Transport Corporations curtailing their services and reducing the routes on which buses ply. Steps are being taken to increase the bus fares," Karat wrote expressing concern about the move crippling public transport.

Karat stressed on the need to subsidize diesel for bulk consumers in order to strengthen public transport. "The sharp increase in private vehicles and traffic is causing pollution and a major environmental problem. The only way out is to restrict the expansion of private vehicles and to strengthen public transport," wrote Karat.

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Sarai Sierra's 2 Young Boys Don't Know Mom's Dead













The two young sons of slain New York mom Sarai Sierra are under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.


Sierra, whose battered body was found near a highway in Istanbul over the weekend, was the mother of two boys aged 9 and 11.


Steven Sierra, who went to Istanbul in search of his wife after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago, told his children that he was going to Turkey to bring their mom home.


"The father will be speaking to them and it's something that's going to be hard and he's going to be talking to them when he comes back," Betsy Jimenez, the mother of Sarai Sierra, said today during a family news conference.


State Representative Michael Grimm said Steven Sierra's biggest concern is telling his children that mom's not coming home.


"It's going to be the hardest thing he's ever going to have to do in his life," said Grimm, who added that the Staten Island family isn't sure when Steven Sierra will be able to bring home his wife's body.


An autopsy was completed Sunday on Sarai Sierra, 33, but results aren't expected for three months. Turkish officials however said she was killed by at least one fatal blow to her head.


A casket holding the Staten Island mother was carried through alleyways lined with spice and food stalls to a church, where the casket remained on Monday.


Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, the Associated Press reported, according to state run media.








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Earlier this week, it was also reported that Turkish police are speaking to a local man who was supposed to meet Sierra the day she disappeared, but he said she never showed.


After an intense search for Sierra that lasted nearly two weeks, her body was found Saturday near the ruins of some ancient city walls and a highway. Sierra was wearing the same outfit she was seen wearing on surveillance footage taken at a food court and on a street the day she vanished, Istanbul Police Chief Huseyin Capkin said.


Sierra's body was taken to a morgue, Capkin said, and was identified by her husband.


It did not appear she had been raped or was involved in any espionage or trafficking, Capkin said.


Betsy Jimenez said Monday that her family has many unanswered questions such as what happened to her daughter after she left her hotel room to go and take photographs of a famous bridge.


"They're still investigating so they might think it might be a robbery, but they're not sure," said Jimenez.


Sierra, who had traveled to Istanbul on Jan. 7 to practice her photography hobby, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due to board a flight home to New York City.


Dennis Jimenez, Sierra's father, told reporters Monday that he didn't want her to go on the trip.


"I didn't want her to go. But, she wanted to go because this was an opportunity for her to sightsee and pursue her photography hobby because Turkey was a land rich with culture and ancient history and she was fascinated with that," said Jimenez.


While in Istanbul, Sierra would Skype with her family and friends daily, telling them about how amazing the culture was.


Sierra's best friend Maggie Rodriguez told ABC News that she was forced to pull out of the trip at the last minute because she couldn't afford it. That's why Sierra traveled alone.


Her husband, Steven Sierra, and brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul last Sunday to meet with American and Turkish officials and push the search forward.






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