Modi says he has nothing to apologise for

New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said he has nothing to apologise vis-À-vis the Godhra riots.
“I have nothing to apologise for,” he said in an interview to a news channel.
Defending himself against allegations of being callous to the plight of Gujarat after the post-Godhra riots, he said, “why are you being generous? Do not forgive Narendra Modi, if he has done anything wrong. Hang him publicly if you find him guilty.”
Throwing down the gauntlet at the Congress-led government, he said: “nobody will be happier than the government at the Centre to see Modi in a tight spot. So why haven’t they acted against me.”
The Chief Minister attacked the media for its “uni-dimensional” view of him, the channel said in a release.
On the release of terrorists during the Kandahar plane hijack, he said, “why was the Congress silent then? They should be put in the dock over their silence. There was an all party meeting and that party too attended it. There was a consensus on the issue.”

Rajapaksa ‘receptive’ to India’s concerns

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was “receptive” to India’s concerns about the civilians trapped in the no-fire zone, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said here on Friday after returning from Colombo along with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
The two senior officials were sent to Colombo on the directions of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to articulate the Indian viewpoint on the crisis triggered by the fighting between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in an area in northern Sri Lanka, where civilians have been trapped.
In a statement, Mr. Narayanan said they had conveyed the concerns of the Government of India at the evolving situation in the north, especially over the casualties among Tamil civilians as a result of the ongoing operations.
“We also expressed the Government of India’s concerns about the humanitarian situation as a result of nearly hundred thousand Tamil civilians coming out of the conflict zone since early this week. The President of Sri Lanka was receptive to our concerns. We are hopeful of a positive outcome,” he said.
Sources said Mr. Narayanan and Mr. Menon had a 90-minute meeting with Mr. Rajapaksa at his official residence. They arrived in Colombo by a special aircraft and were flown by helicopter to the President’s residence. Sri Lanka described the meeting as “very cordial,” while there was no word from the Indian side.
Meanwhile, the second consignment of humanitarian relief sent by India will reach Sri Lanka on Saturday morning. Comprising 40,000 packets of relief material, the consignment will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Confabulations
The decision to send the National Security Adviser and the Foreign Secretary was taken after several high-level meetings over the past two days. One of them was chaired by Dr. Singh and attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
Dr. Singh had convened a series of top-level interactions which also included discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi after the party changed tack. It felt that the perceived inaction by the Centre on the plight of civilians turned into a major poll issue in Tamil

Army was planning coup, say media

KATHMANDU: At a time when political parties are raising concerns about the clarification issue of the Chief of the Army Staff, reports say a coup was being planned by the top Generals of the Nepal Army.
Nepal’s national dailies Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post on Friday carried reports that said the Army Chief, General Rookmangud Katawal, was told by his colleagues to solve the problem by staging a soft coup. The reports are based on a recent meeting of the Generals.
“This is how the plan was,” The Kathmandu Post writes, “Maoist leaders, Ministers and other selected individuals would be arrested. Former king would be put in Nagarjun Palace. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and a number of other leaders would be cut off from the public.” However, there was no plan of military coup but only a soft coup which would have taken place on Wednesday morning. The reports concluded that it was fear of this that put the Maoists on the back foot.
The Defence Ministry had asked General Katawal to submit a clarification on three issues. There have been talks that the Maoists wanted to promote Lieutenant-General Kul Bahadur Khadka, who is close to their party, to the post of Chief of Army Staff ousting General Katawal, and the first step was to ask for clarifications.
“The plan was to get rid of Katawal by any means. Even by killing or abducting him, or putting him under house arrest,” said the paper.
As per the report, General Katwal had received enough support from India. “….He had received strong backing from India and he felt emboldened. For our part, we gave him a lot of moral support,” it quoted a senior officer. “We told him ‘don’t worry. We will get the support. We proposed a coup. We had no time to lose. Losing time meant the Maoists would get Katawal.” According to Kantipur, Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood’s meeting with President Ram Baran Yadav made the Maoists step back from ousting General Katawal. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday called on the political parties to work together. Speaking at a function organised to mark the third Loktantra Diwas, he expressed concern whether “the misunderstandings” seen in the current political scene would “invite some kind of conflict” in the future.

Mumbai Indians looking to stop Deccan Chargers

Mumbai Indians will have to pull out all the stops when they face table-toppers Deccan Chargers, who will look to maintain their hot form in
the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Kingsmead on Saturday. Mumbai Indians made a thumping start to the tournament, beating last year's runner-up Chennai Super Kings before rain forced them to split points against Rajasthan Royals. Deccan Chargers' has been the story of the tournament so far. The last year's bottom placed team is now leading the points table with two sweeping victories from two matches. Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians Points Table Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings They have ruthlessly crushed Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers. With the kind of arsenal at their disposal, Chargers have certainly worn the favourite tag a week into the tournament. Captain Adam Gilchrist has led the team from the front with a smashing 45-ball 71 against Royal Challengers. Rohit Sharma has been a revelation with his clean strikes. The side also boasts of power-hitters like Herschelle Gibbs and Scott Styris. Sharma, who has been out-of-form in the last couple of months, is happy to be back among runs. "I was not in good touch, so I wanted to perform in the IPL. It is very important for me to play well here and I am happy to have made the right start," he said. Sharma also feels they have enough experience in the ranks to guide them in the tournament. "I think we can be one of the top teams this year. Because we have seasoned campaigners who have played here before and they know how to adjust to the conditions." The bowling attack of the Chargers has also come good. The express-pace of Fidel Edwards and the swing of RP Singh have not allowed other teams to explode in the powerplay. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has shone in the middle overs with crucial wickets. Ojha is not afraid of giving air to the ball and that has given him three important wickets, all stumped. Mumbai Indians will be a bit rusty as they will be playing after a full week. Their last match against Rajasthan Royals was washed out. The Sachin Tendulkar-led side will be eager to take the field, having started the tournament with a big win against Super Kings. They are third in the table with three points from two matches.
var zz=0;var sldsh=0;
var bellyaddiv = ' ';
var stindex=100;
var stp=150;
var taglen=0;
var tmp;
var tagcheck = new Array("div","span","br","font","a");
var storycontent = document.getElementById("storydiv").innerHTML;
var firstpara = storycontent.substring(0,storycontent.toLowerCase().indexOf("")).toLowerCase();
function findptt(cnt){
zz++;
if(zz == 10)return;
var xxx=-1,yyy=-1;
var ccnt = cnt;
for(ii=0; ii ");
if(yyy != -1){
taglen += yyy;
stp = stp + yyy;
yyy+=1;
}
break;
taglen = taglen + tagcheck[ii].length + 3;
}
}
if(xxx == -1 xxx >= 150){
return;
}else{
var tmp2 = ccnt.substring(0,xxx);
tmp2 += ccnt.substring((yyy+xxx),ccnt.length);
findptt(tmp2);
}
}findptt(firstpara);
if(firstpara.length ")){}
else{ tmpminus = tmpcon.length - tmpcon.lastIndexOf("
var RN = new String (Math.random());
var RNS = RN.substring (2,11);
var b2 =' ';
if (doweshowbellyad==1)
bellyad.innerHTML = b2;

U.S. clears way for bailout to begin

The government has cleared the way to ship out $125 billion this week to the largest U.S. banks, beginning the biggest government bailout in history.
Not only is the money ready to be sent to nine major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase, but the government is reaching preliminary agreements with a group of more than a dozen major regional banks, who will share a part of an additional $125 billion the government hopes to pump into the banking system.
Before the end of the year, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson intends to spend $250 billion of the $700 billion bailout package buying ownership stakes in U.S. banks. The goal is to improve their balance sheets so that they will resume more normal lending practices and prevent the country from sliding into a deep recession.
Another $100 billion is earmarked to be spent buying troubled assets from banks such as bad mortgage loans as another way to spur banks to resume lending.
A long line of other industries are hoping the government will decide to help them as well. Insurance companies, automakers, hedge funds and foreign-owned banks are all making appeals to be included in the rescue package, contending that they need assistance as well.
The rescue programme is just one of the efforts the government is making to combat the worst financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s. The Federal Reserve began a programme on Monday to purchase the short-term debt of businesses. This market has been frozen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers spooked credit markets last month. Major change
That programme has undergone a major change in emphasis since it was passed by Congress. After global markets imploded, forcing other countries to rush to the aid of their banks, Mr. Paulson decided that it was urgent to get assistance to U.S. banks more quickly. He earmarked $250 billion for the stock purchase plan and only $100 billion for what had originally been the centrepiece of the proposal, the purchase of troubled bank assets.
Treasury has given the go-ahead for stronger banks to use the money to acquire troubled banks. That has prompted criticism the government could be getting into the position of picking winners and losers. —

Panel to integrate Maoists’ army formed

The Maoist-led government of Nepal has finally formed the special committee to integrate and rehabilitate Maoist combatants.
The five-member committee formed on Tuesday comprises leaders of the major allies of the government with Mr. Bam Dev Gautam (Deputy Prime Minister and a senior UML leader) as the coordinator. Other members are Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa (Maoists), Peace and Reconstruction Minister Janardan Sharma (Maoists) and Mohammed Habibullah of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.
The government had earlier announced that a special committee would be formed to conduct the process. However, a dispute over leadership of the committee had delayed its formation. As per the government’s programmes and policies, the Maoists’ army would be “managed” by March 2009.
The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) is monitoring the cantonments where the Maoist combatants — the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — are sheltered.

I will not give in to blackmail: Livni

Israel appeared headed for polls early next year as leader of Kadima Party Tzipi Livni is set to announce her inability to form a stable coalition government.
The attempt to form a coalition has proved futile mainly because the Kadima and the ultra-religious Shas Party failed to arrive at a compromise. The Shas had demanded a pledge from the Kadima that it would exclude discussions on Jerusalem in talks with the Palestinians. It also sought additional social welfare spending by the new government, once it was formed.“I’m not willing to be blackmailed, either diplomatically or in terms of the budget, and therefore, I will go to elections,” the Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Ms. Livni as saying. “The other possibility was for me to capitulate to extortion. But a government is supposed to advance processes and represent the good of the country, not just to survive in this or that coalition. I promised to exhaust efforts to form a government, and that’s what I did.”
Ms. Livni was elected leader of Kadima following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to step down in the face of multiple corruption scandals. She had 90 days to form the coalition after assuming the party leadership.
Ms. Livni said the Shas Party had on Thursday rejected her “very good offer” for joining the coalition.
Analysts point out that after the Shas Party’s exit from contention, opinion within ruling circles favouring fresh elections began to gather momentum. Efforts to form a narrow coalition minus the Shas were apparently abandoned after talks with the smaller United Torah Judaism and the Pensioners Party failed to make headway.
The Labour party headed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak was also disinclined to form a government with a razor thin majority.
Elections are expected in February or March 2009. Till that time, Mr. Olmert’s government would continue to perform a caretaker role