Slovenia PM formally resigns post 

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Slovenia’s prime minister has resigned and is urging early elections in the small EU nation next month, which is grappling with an acute banking crisis.

Alenka Bratusek handed in her resignation on Monday to the parliament’s speaker after losing the leadership of her party.  The 44-year-old financial expert has steered the country, which is one of 18 European Union countries that uses the euro, through the region’s debt crisis but resigned after losing the leadership of her Positive Slovenia party to Mayor Zoran Jankovic of Ljubljana, the country’s capital.  Lawmakers must convene to acknowledge the resignation and the country’s president will then have 30 days to appoint a new prime minister, or lawmakers can try to thrash out a new government.  However, coalition partners have threatened to leave the government because Jankovic faces a corruption probe.  Bratusek has said snap legislative elections in June would be the best way forward.  Her centre-left government has cut public spending and helped shore up its ailing banks.  However, more economic reforms lie ahead before Slovenia can safely say it has got its economy back into shape.  Bad bank loans are at the center of the crisis in the Alpine nation, which was once considered a model as to how to transition a centralized East European economy to the free market.

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NCP, Nat Conference oppose inquiry into snoopgate

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Putting Congress in a fix, two key UPA allies, NCP and the National Conference, on Sunday opposed Centre’s decision to appoint a judge by 16th May to probe ‘Snoopgate’ allegedly involving Narendra Modi, saying such an action in Govt’s dying hours is wrong.

Sharad Pawar, who heads the second-largest member of the Congress-led coalition government, called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and expressed his opposition to appointment of a judge at this juncture to probe the issue.  Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference also participates in the government, tweeted, “Was talking to my dad last night & he felt the same way – setting up a commission of inquiry in the dying hours of UPA 2 is just wrong”. Modi came in the line of fire after it was alleged that illegal surveillance was carried out on a young woman in Gujarat in 2009 at his behest as Gujarat Chief Minister, as also Amit Shah, who was then the state’s Home Minister.  Government announced on Friday that a judge would be appointed by 16th May to probe the issue, drawing the ire of the BJP.  Notwithstanding the opposition by NCP and NC, Congress made it clear that the judge will be appointed, asserting that there will be no compromise as the issue involved women of the country.  The BJP on Sunday welcomed the stand taken by the two UPA allies, saying even coalition partners are refusing to be part of Congress’s politics of vendetta.  “It shows that UPA allies have found sense. They are seeing the truth. This is the politics of vendetta which is the specialty of Congress. Political parties do not want to get involved in it,” BJP national spokesperson M J Akbar told reporters in New Delhi on Sunday.  Union Minister and senior NCP leader Praful Patel said, “When the results of the Lok Sabha elections are due in two weeks’ time, where is the need for such an enquiry.”  Striking a similar note, Omar said if the decision to appoint could not be taken in December then it was wrong to appoint a judge five months later.  “If the decision to appoint a commission was taken in Dec it should have been implemented. To appoint a judge 5 months later is wrong,” he tweeted.  The statements came close on the heels of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Law Minister Kapil Sibal insisting that government planned to go ahead with naming a judge for the enquiry before 16th May, the day on which Lok Sabha election results will be out.  Unfazed by the opposition from its two allies, Congress spokesperson and Mahila Congress chief Shoba Oza asserted that there will be no compromise on going ahead with the probe as the matter concerns women of the country who constitute half of the population.  The party also came out with 10 questions to BJP including Modi, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley on snoopgate controversy, asking them to come clean on the issue.  Union Minister Salman Khurshid said the allies’ views can be discussed within the government.  “This is something which we can discuss within the government. There can always be different points of view and at the end of the day you take a call,” he said.  BJP slammed the Congress for alleging that the girl involved in the case had been bought by the Gujarat government to stay silent, and said “no one is in the market to purchase Congress’s lies anymore”.  “When lies become a habit, then you can just keep on spinning off lies. All I am trying to say and there is evidence before you that no one is in the market to purchase Congress’s lies anymore. Not even those who have been with the Congress for 15 years,” Akbar said.  He said that those who kept the UPA alive too are asking the Congress to stop politics of filth and get back to the politics of issues.

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Search for MH370 with new equipment

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Australia, China and Malaysia on Monday held trilateral talks to map out the next steps in the search for the missing Malaysian jet with officials saying it may take up to two months before new and more sophisticated sonar equipment is deployed in the hunt.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and head of the search operation Angus Houston met Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Chinese Transport Minister Yang Chuantang in Canberra to chart out the future course of action in the underwater search, which will focus on a 60,000 square kilometre patch of Indian Ocean seabed.

Truss admitted the hunt for the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that has been on for almost two months will take time with the seabed in the prospective search zone several kilometres deep and largely unmapped. He said a tender process would be started soon to acquire new and more advanced equipment to scour the seabed. “We are optimistic that we can do most of this in the space of one to two months so we will actually have more hardware in the water within a couple of months,” he said. “In the interim we’ll still have the Bluefin-21 working and we’ll get going on the oceanographic work that needs to be done so they’ll be no long interruptions in this search,” Truss said.

Houston said it was “sensible” to take stock of the situation and analyse the data gathered after scouring more than 4.6 million square kilometres of the ocean to make sure the deductions and conclusions in the search are right.

The data gathered so far will be re-analysed and all the information assessed starting Wednesday.

“We’ve got to this stage of the process where it’s very sensible to go back and have a look at all of the data that has been gathered, all of the analysis that has been done and make sure there’s no flaws in it, the assumptions are right, the analysis is right and the deductions and conclusions are right,” Houston said.

Truss stressed that detailed mapping of the seafloor will be a key focus of the next phase of the search. It is not known how deep the water in the search area is. “I don’t know that anyone knows for sure, because it’s never been mapped,” Truss said of the depth of water. He said he had “no idea” about when the plane wreckage would be found. “So far our very, very best leads, and on days when we were quite confident that it was going to be the day, have all proved fruitless so it would be unduly optimistic to name a day or time,” he said.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 plane – carrying 239 people, including five Indians, an Indo-Canadian and 154 Chinese nationals – had mysteriously vanished on 8th March after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

The Bluefin currently scouring the Indian Ocean seabed has been limited by the fact that it can dive only to depths of 4.5 kilometres. The Bluefin’s data can be downloaded only once it returns to the surface after each of its 16-hour dives.

Therefore, equipment with deeper diving capabilities and capacity to send information back to crews in real time is required in the search.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday expressed Malaysia’s resolve to continue the search for MH370.

He said the country would carry on with the search for the aircraft with the assistance of several other countries despite having nothing to show after 59 days.

“Although we have yet to come up with results until now, the government is determined to continue with the search with the co-operation of friendly countries, particularly Australia which has shown extraordinary commitment to help Malaysia find our aircraft,” he said in Putrajaya.

The mystery of the missing plane continues to baffle aviation and security authorities who have so far not succeeded in tracking the aircraft despite deploying hi-tech radar and other gadgets.

The search for the jet has been exhausting and expensive with estimates suggesting it may cost nearly USD 60 million.

Malaysia believes the flight was deliberately diverted by someone on board and that satellite data indicates it crashed in the Indian Ocean, west of the Australian city of Perth.

The Malaysian government has so far been tight-lipped about its investigation into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines jet, adding to the anger and frustration among relatives of the passengers.

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Categories : Business, CSR, Science, Uncategorized, world News

Modi dares CEC to act against him 

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Complaining of booth rigging in West Bengal, Bihar and western Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission was not acting impartially and dared it to take action against him.

“Why are you not acting? What is your intention? If you feel wrong about what I am saying now, then you are free to lodge another case against me,” Modi told an election rally in Asansol in West Bengal . “It is your responsibility to ensure impartial polls. I am making very serious allegations,” he said accusing the Election Commission of having failed to take action.  He said poll violence and booth rigging took place in West Bengal, Bihar and western Uttar Pradesh.  “I am putting serious allegations against you. You have failed to stop rigging and violence in these areas. False cases have been filed against our candidate Babul Supriyo. Election Commission’s work is to protect people. I request you to fulfill your responsibilities in the right way.”  He said that the poll watchdog has all the government machinery at its disposal and have more powers than even the Prime Minister.  “Democracy doesn’t work like this, I know that in the elections on 30th, how much rigging took place. Will this game go on?” he asked.  Modi recalled that he had said in Uttar Pradesh also that in some areas problems are going to happen.  “But Election Commission could do nothing. Today I am saying it again that in Bengal, Bihar and western Uttar Pradesh the same thing is going to happen. Is it not the responsibility of the Election Commission that elections should be peaceful, there should be no rigging, no violence?,” he said.  Election Commission had taken serious note of the Gujarat Chief Minister’s violation of the electoral laws, under which no person can display any election matter or address a meeting in a polling booth on the day of election, and an FIR against Modi following its direction.  Modi had told a poll campaign at Tirupati that he had not committed any offence that warranted an FIR and that he only showed a lotus badge to people after casting his vote at Gandhinagar on April 30. Lotus is the symbol of BJP.

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Campaigning for 8th phase of LS elections ends

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Campaigning end Monday evening for 64 Parliamentary constituencies, spread across 7 states, which will go to polls on Wednesday in the eighth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

The constituencies going to polls are, remaining 25 in Andhra Pradesh, seven in Bihar, all four in Himachal Pradesh, remaining two in Jammu and Kashmir, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, all five in Uttarakhand and 6 in West Bengal.  175 Assembly constituencies located in the Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh will also go to polls on Wednesday.  Campaigning has reached a feverish pitch, with leaders of national and regional parties holding a series of rallies across the Seemandhra region.  In Uttar Pradesh, campaigning has reached its peak, leaders of various political parties are scheduled to address rallies and hold road-shows today.  Campaigning is also in full swing in Himachal Pradesh.  Meanwhile, BJP’s PM nominee Narendra Modi will be campaigning in the Congress-held-territory of Amethi on Monday in support of party candidate Smriti Irani, who is contesting against Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and AAP’s Kumar Vishwas for the seat.  Monday is the last day of campaigning in Amethi, which goes to polls on 7th May.  Rahul is seeking re-election for the third time from Amethi, where the Congress party has won 10 out of 12 elections.  The Congress Vice president is campaigning hard across the constituency since 3rd May, on Sunday he along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, held a roadshow in Amethi.

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EC seeks reports on Modi’s rally in Faizabad 

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Within hours of Narendra Modi’s address to a rally in Faizabad where he invoked Lord Ram, the Election Commission sought a report from the district authorities about his speech and the stage backdrop.

“I have sought a report on Modi’s speech and backdrop of the stage at the rally from District Magistrate, Faizabad,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha told a news agency.  Modi addressed a rally in Faizabad in support of party candidate Lallu Singh from a stage which had pictures of Lord Ram and the proposed Ram Temple model in Ayodhya.  At the rally, the BJP PM candidate skirted any reference to his party’s pet theme of building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, which is part of the district and epicentre of Ram Mandir movement, but made several references to Lord Ram to exhort people to defeat Congress, SP and BSP and support BJP.  Modi had earlier courted trouble when he was booked for violating electoral laws after he delivered a politically charged speech and displayed his party’s symbol ‘lotus’ soon after voting in Gandhinagar on April 30.  He was slated to address rallies in Ambedkarnagar, Faizabad, Jaunpur, Kaushambi and Amethi districts of Uttar Pradesh on the last day of campaigning for the 8th phase.