Nitish belittles attack by RSS, is firm on stance - deccanchronicle.com
After RSS mouthpiece Organiser criticised his views about “secular prime ministerial candidate” as “Muslim-centric thinking,” Bihar chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar on Monday made it clear that his party had nothing to do with the RSS and what it thinks.
In statements that would cause further heartburn in the BJP, with which the JD(U) has been running a seven-year-old alliance government in Bihar, Mr Kumar reaffirmed his unwavering stand that the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general elections must have secular credentials.
“If it were a statement from the BJP, I would be reacting on it. We (JD-U) do not have either any relationship or any alliance with the RSS. We have a political alliance with the BJP and there is a political base for it. Even in Bihar we run an alliance government on a common minimum programme,” said Mr Kumar to journalists after the janata durbar programme at his residence.
Indicating that the JD(U) neither considers the RSS’ views seriously nor does it see any harm to its political base in Bihar from an indifferent RSS in future, Mr Kumar added: “They (RSS) are airing their opinions and we ours. This is all very good. If there is a debate in the country now after just an interview I gave, it is all very good.”
The ruling JD(U), which highly values its Muslim support base in Bihar, has earlier faced frequent criticism from the Opposition parties for facilitating two national-level conventions of the RSS in the state in recent years and for continuing the alliance with the BJP. Outlining the three basic agreements behind its alliance with the BJP — Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Ayodhya dispute — Mr Kumar said that he would allow no compromise on those issues.
Digvijay asks RSS to define Hindutva - zeenews.india.com
Bhopal: With Nitish Kumar's pitch for a "secular" face as NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate evoking strong reaction from RSS, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday posed five questions to the Sangh asking it to define Hindutva.
Finding fault with the Sangh's response to the Bihar Chief Minister's remarks, Singh said it places on the RSS the burden of clearly defining Hindutva to all those Hindus, who believe and practise Sanatan Dharma.
In an article on "Hindutva" mailed to the media here, Singh said the RSS has come out very strongly against Nitish Kumar.
In the five questions posed to Bhagwat, Singh asked whether "destroying Babri Masjid or any other religious place is Hindutva? Is Planting bombs to kill innocent people Hindutva?
Singh also asked Bhagwat to explain the rationale behind opposing the word secularism when it is said that Hindutva is synonymous with the term.
"RSS chief must tell what was the difference between the ideals of Hindutva and the ideals of Sanatan Dharm," he said.
The Congress general secretary said there are nine temples at his ancestral house at Raghogarh in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, where Pooja is performed each day as per the traditions of his religion.
While posing the questions, Singh also said that although he did not expect them to be answered, he would be grateful if they were replied to.
PTI
RSS Launches Drive Against J&K Panel Report - Outlook India
Removal of Modi baiter further adds to fissures in Gujarat's saffron parivar - indiatoday.intoday.in
By announcing the retirement of Bhashkarrao Damle along with Narendra Panchasara and Ramesh Gupta, two other senior pracharaks, the Sangh sent a strong signal that it is in no mood to brook any dissent so far as Narendra Modi is concerned.
The RSS, however, denied any rift within Sangh and pointed out that octogenerian Damle has only been retired from his active role due to his age. But the argument is not cutting ice with the observers. Damle of late has been openly siding with rebel BJP leader Keshubhai Patel, who has upped the ante against Modi in Gujarat.
Sangh, according to analysts, has been the last monolithic bastion which has developed visible chasm.
As it is, the other entities of the saffron brigade including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh has for long been divided in Gujarat over Narendra Modi. While VHP heavyweight Pravin Togaia has not been subtle in airing his disapproval of Narendra Modi, another VHP leader and riot accused Jaideep Patel did not shift his allegiance so far, leaving VHP a divided house in Gujarat.
It is this division that Modi utilized to the hilt to cut the outfit to size in the state, which otherwise had immense political clout within the state. Modi brandished his ruthless power in 2009, when the state government demolished hundreds of illegal temple structures across the state and even arresting a VHP leader from North Gujarat just ahead of Diwali and keeping him behind the bars for a long time.
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh too is a divided house in Gujarat as obvious fallout, as many of BKS leaders close to Togadia chose to oppose Modi while others toed his line.
Interestingly, it is not just the "apolitical" saffron outfits, but the BJP in Gujarat too has its own share of divides. While veterans like Keshubhai Patel and Kashiram Rana have become the face of anti-Modi sentiment in Gujarat BJP, chasm is widening within the pro-Modi camp as well though with different agendas.
Two of the most powerful leaders of Gujarat BJP are now entangled in a bitter rivalry over succession post Modi’s elevation to the national arena. BJP’s national vice president Purushottam Rupala and Gujarat’s revenue minister Anandi Patel have been trying their best to extend their support base to stake their claims to the top slot vacated Modi.
Interestingly, prior to his arrest in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, it was Gujarat MoS Amit Shah, who was at logger heads with Anandi Patel for the same reasons.
Iran says it test-fires missiles in war of nerves - Reuters UK
DUBAI |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had successfully tested medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel as a response to threats of attack, the latest move in a war of nerves with the West.
Israel says it could attack Iran if diplomacy fails to secure a halt to its disputed nuclear energy programme. The United States also has military force as a possible option but has repeatedly encouraged the Israelis to be patient while new economic sanctions are implemented against Iran.
The Islamic Republic announced the "Great Prophet 7" missile exercise on Sunday after a European embargo against Iranian crude oil purchases took full effect following another fruitless round of big power talks with Tehran.
Iran's official English-language Press TV said the Shahab 3 missile with a range of 1,300 km (800 miles) - able to reach Israel - was tested along with the shorter-range Shahab 1 and 2.
"The main aim of this drill is to demonstrate the Iranian nation's political resolve to defend vital values and national interests," Revolutionary Guards Deputy Commander Hossein Salami was quoted by Press TV as saying.
He said the tests were in response to Iran's enemies who talk of a "military option being on the table".
On Sunday, Iran threatened to wipe Israel "off the face of the earth" if the Jewish state attacked it.
Analysts have challenged some of Iran's military assertions, saying it often exaggerates its capabilities.
Senior researcher Pieter Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Iran's missiles were still relatively inaccurate and of limited use in conventional warfare. With conventional warheads, "their only utility is as a tool of terror and no more than that", he said by telephone.
He added, however, that they could be suitable for carrying nuclear warheads, especially the larger ones.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in a 2010 report that all Tehran's ballistic missiles were "inherently capable of a nuclear payload", if Iran was able to make a small enough bomb.
Iran denies Western accusations that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons capability. The world's No. 5 oil exporter maintains that it is enriching uranium only to generate more energy for a rapidly growing population.
OIL MARKETS ON EDGE
Iran has previously threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which more than a third of the world's seaborne oil trade passes, in response to increasingly harsh sanctions by the United States and its allies intended to force it to curb its nuclear research programme.
Fars said dozens of missiles involved in this week's exercises had been aimed at simulated air bases, and that Iranian-built unmanned drones would be tested on Wednesday.
Iran repeated its claim to be reverse-engineering the sophisticated U.S. RQ-170 drone that it says it brought down during a spying mission last year.
"In this drone there are hundreds of technologies used, each of which are valuable to us in terms of operations, information and technicalities," General Amir Hajizadeh was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying.
Wezeman said Iran had a large standing armed force, but that its weapons were generally outdated. "And those weapons only get older and older and they don't have access to new technology because they are under a United Nations arms embargo."
In his first comments since the European Union oil ban took force, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said sanctions would benefit Iran by lessening its dependence on crude exports.
"We must see the sanctions as an opportunity ... which can forever take out of the enemy's hands the ability to use oil as a weapon for sanctions," Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
Negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme continued in Istanbul on Tuesday with a meeting of technical experts from Iran and six world powers.
The discussions follow a round of political talks in Moscow last month at which the sides failed to bridge differences or agree on a further round of talks at that level.
The experts have no mandate to strike agreements but the six powers - the United States, China, Britain, Germany, France and Russia - hope that by clarifying technical aspects of Tehran's work they can open way for more negotiations in the future.
Diplomats in Istanbul said discussions in the Turkish capital were "detailed" and would most likely be followed by a meeting between a senior negotiator from the European Union and Iran's deputy negotiator Ali Bagheri. Such a meeting could, at a later date, be a prelude to talks on a political level, diplomats have said.
"We hope Iran will seize the opportunity ... to show a willingness to take concrete steps to urgently meet the concerns of the international community," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said ahead of the meeting. Ashton and her team represent the six powers in dealings with Iran.
As a priority, the powers want Iran to stop enriching uranium to levels close to weapons-grade, ship out any stockpile, and close a secret facility where such work is done.
Iran denies its programme has a military dimension and wants relief from economic sanctions before it makes any concessions.
IRANIAN CALL TO SHUT OIL LANES
On Monday, Iranian parliamentarians proposed a bill calling for Iran to try to stop tankers taking crude through the Strait of Hormuz to countries that support the sanctions.
However, the Iranian parliament is relatively weak, analysts say, and the proposal has no chance of becoming law unless sanctioned by Iran's clerical supreme leader.
That is seen as unlikely in the near term given that Western powers have said they would tolerate no closure of the Strait while Iranian leaders, wedded to strategic pragmatism for the sake of survival, have said they seek no war with anyone.
"It's a gesture at this stage," said independent British-based Iran analyst Reza Esfandiari.
"They want to emphasise that Iran can make life difficult for Europe and America. I think this is more of an attempt to offset falling crude prices. Financial markets are very sensitive to such talk."
On Tuesday, the price of Brent crude, which has been on a downward trend for the last three months, broke $100 for the first time since early June.
"A lot depends on nuclear talks," said Esfandiari. "If there's no progress and the initiative is deadlocked, then these kind of actions will intensify."
(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna and Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Kevin Liffey and Michael Roddy)
Scientists to unveil milestone in Higgs boson hunt - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists hunting the elusive subatomic 'Higgs' particle will unveil findings on Wednesday that take them nearer to understanding how the Big Bang at the dawn of time gave rise to stars, planets and even life.
Physicists who have been smashing particles together near light-speed at the CERN laboratory near Geneva have already seen tantalizing glimpses of the "Higgs boson", the missing piece of the fundamental theory of physics known as the Standard Model.
The world of science now awaits a mass of evidence big enough to be deemed a formal discovery. The secrecy surrounding Wednesday's announcement has fuelled speculation that nearly 40 years of research have reached a climax.
Data harvested from CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the biggest particle accelerator in the world, could also shed light on the make-up of the poorly understood 'dark matter' and "dark energy" that make up 96 percent of the universe. It may even point the way to research into the possibility of parallel universes.
CERN is planning to beam the announcement live around the world to a physics conference in Melbourne, Australia. Related events are planned in countries involved in the project, including Britain. The unusual level of stage management has fuelled the sense that big news is on the cards.
On Monday, U.S. physicists said they had found the strongest evidence yet of the existence of the Higgs in a mass of data collected from the now-mothballed Tevatron particle accelerator, run by the Fermi National Accelerator Lab outside Chicago.
"It will be interesting to see how it lines up with CERN's results on Wednesday," said CERN spokesman James Gillies.
Some scientists working on the project have told Reuters they expect the unveiling of a formal discovery while others expect it to fall just short.
With thousands of physicists involved, divided into two separate teams called Atlas and CMS, CERN insists the full picture will not be clear to anyone until a seminar shortly before Wednesday's announcement.
"Even CERN's director general won't know much before the seminar reveals the exact results," said Pauline Gagnon, a Canadian particle physicist working on Atlas. "They are being finalized at the last minute after much scrutiny."
The Higgs particle, although crucial for understanding how the universe was formed, remains theoretical. It is the last undiscovered piece of the Standard Model that describes the fundamental make-up of the universe. The model is for physicists what the theory of evolution is for biologists.
Scientists say the existence of dark matter and dark energy suggests the Standard Model, if validated by a Higgs discovery, is just the first layer of a more complex theory that includes the vast bulk of the universe that is now poorly understood.
"The Standard Model has a few major flaws; the Higgs boson discovery would only fix one of them," said Gagnon.
"We still have no clue regarding what makes 96 percent of the content of the universe. This should keep us physicists busy for a few more decades."
(Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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