Narendra Modi to visit Kumbh Mela on Feb 12 to take holy dip

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will attend the Kumbh Mela being held in Allahabad on February 12.

"Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Allahabad on February 12 to take a holy dip in the river Ganga during the Kumbh Mela," sources in the Chief Minister's office said.

There were reports that VHP and some Hindu religious groups close to the Sangh Parivar might discuss Modi's candidature at a conclave during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.

Modi's visit comes at a time when the chorus within the BJP for declaring him party's prime ministerial candidate has grown loud, making NDA members like JD(U) nervous and resulting in a gag order on the issue by BJP president Rajnath Singh.

Even VHP leader Ashok Singhal had aired his opinion that Modi should be declared as the prime ministerial candidate.

BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, reacting to the opposition on sadhus discussing the name of prime ministerial candidate, had said, "If saints will not discuss the name of prime ministerial candidates, will Hafeez Saeed (Pakistan based terrorist heading Laskhar-i-Toiba) decide about it.

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.

It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility.

"Terrestrial 3-D printing technology has produced entire structures," said Laurent Pambaguian, head of the project for ESA, in a statement.

On Earth, 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, produces a three-dimensional object from a digital file. The computer takes cross-sectional slices of the structure to be printed and sends it to the 3-D printer. The printer bonds liquid or powder materials in the shape of each slice, gradually building up the structure. (Watch how future astronauts could print tools in space.)

The ESA and its industrial partners have already manufactured a 1.7 ton (1.5 tonne) honeycombed building block to demonstrate what future construction materials would look like.

Jane J. Lee

Published February 4, 2013

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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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How budget baselines affect claims of deficit savings




(JUSTIN LANE/EPA)


“The bipartisan deals we made in 2011 have cut discretionary spending by almost $1.5 trillion for fiscal years 2013 to 2022”


—memo to her colleagues from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Jan. 24, 2013


“Over the past two years, I’ve signed into law about $1.4 trillion in spending cuts.”



—President Obama, remarks at news conference, Jan. 14, 2013

As Washington begins another round of torturous budget talks, much of the discussion will be on how much deficit reduction has already been achieved—and how much is needed in the years going forward.

In order to even begin that discussion, all sides need to agree on the “baseline,” or the starting point. Amazingly, just adding or subtracting a few months from the baseline will result in a difference of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Democrats like to start the clock in August 2010, but Republicans argue that is a high point for discretionary spending, thus inflating the actual savings.

In a report last week, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CFRB) used the August 2010 yardstick, since that’s when the “deficit reduction conversation” began. But it pointedly noted that this “is by no means the only way to measure past savings” and “there is no simple answer to the question of how much deficit reduction has been enacted so far.” As the report put it:

It is worth noting that the discretionary savings in this number are in fact calculated from the high point of discretionary spending. Measuring either from a year later or from a year earlier would result in a smaller savings number because base discretionary spending (excluding the effects of the stimulus) actually increased between 2009 and 2010 due to larger-than-projected appropriations.

Some readers may regard this discussion as a bunch of Washington funny numbers, but stakes are high. The more lawmakers believe they have already cut spending, the less compelled they will be to cut more in the future.

The CRFB, in its report, argued that $2.35 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years has been enacted so far, including tax increases, but that another $2.2 trillion was needed to reduce ratio of debt-to-gross-domestic-product to 70 percent by the end of decade. The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities makes the case instead that $1.4 trillion is needed to achieve a 73-percent ratio. The difference in those numbers could have real world consequences for government programs.

The Congressional Budget Office this week will release a new economic and budgetary forecast, which will result in a new set of spending and debt projections that could upend all of these calculations, particularly if it forecasts higher economic growth.

To further educate readers, we will take a look at the arguments for and against using the August 2010 baseline—and then what happens when we use a different yardstick. We have consulted with various budget experts around town, on both sides of the issue, and thus summarize the argument below.

Why the August 2010 baseline?




Arguments for

■The deficit reduction commission headed by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson relied on the August 2010 baseline, with adjustments, in crafting their report and thus this is a logical starting point for measuring progress since the release of their report in December 2010.

■Later baselines include substantial cuts in discretionary spending demanded by Republicans, starting in December 2010, and thus minimize the savings that began to be achieved with the election of a Republican-controlled House. (Senate Republicans, for instance, threatened to filibuster appropriations in December 2010 unless they were frozen in a continuing resolution.)

■The 2010 actual level of non-defense discretionary funding, excluding war costs, was 3.84 percent of the gross domestic product, virtually identical historical average from 1976 through 2010. Thus it is not a high point but close to the norm—and the baseline projected a decline by 2022 to the lowest percentage on record.



Arguments against

■This baseline picks the high point of spending in all possible recent baselines, thus making it easier to show progress. For instance, the one-year surge in spending for the 2010 Census adds, over the course of 10 years, some $80 billion in spending. (That’s because CBO takes that year’s spending numbers and assumes they continue at that level, adjusted for inflation.) Moreover, four supplemental appropriations bills were passed between March and August, such as disaster relief for Haiti and more money for customs and border agents.

■The baseline emphasizes the discretionary side of the ledger, and ignores increases in spending that have occurred in other areas, such as extending unemployment insurance ($69 billion) and emergency relief for Hurricane Sandy ($55 billion). So it allows lawmakers to pat themselves on the back without looking at the broader picture of government spending.

What difference does the baseline make?


It is worth remembering that these 10-year baselines are only crude estimates into the future. Lawmakers have a tendency to describe savings as money in the bank, when in fact just about anything can be changed according to the whim of Congress.

The infamous $5.6 trillion surplus that George W. Bush inherited in 2001, was just a long-term prediction (which included the misguided assumption that capital gains revenue would continue to flow into government coffers), but that did not stop Congress for passing a massive tax cut.

The CFRB report makes this point in arguing for greater budget savings. The group says that just focusing on supposed deficit savings, not on reducing the level of debt to gross domestic product, could result in not enough deficit savings. “Settling for a stable debt path this decade would leave no margin for error in the case that economic or technical budget projections are off or policymakers enact future deficit-increasing policies,” the report says.

A GOP staff member for the Senate Budget Committee produced the following numbers at our request. For budget wonks, we have embedded the full year-by-year numbers below, along with a description of how 2010 Census funding affects the baseline over 10 years. Essentially this shows the difference in claimed deficit reduction depending on the budget baseline; the August 2010 figure is highlighted.

Reduction in non-war discretionary budget authority


March 2010 baseline: $1.029 trillion



August 2010 baseline: $1.472 trillion

January 2011 baseline: $1.055 trillion

May 2011 baseline: $812 billion

Comparison of budget baselines by Glenn Kessler

The Bottom Line


As the CFRB put it, there is “no simple answer” to how to calculate deficit savings, which is why we will not offer a Pinocchio rating. We respect the different, and often passionate, views of the budget experts we consulted.

For better or worse, the August 2010 baseline has become the metric of choice for determining recent budget savings. It certainly has been a useful comparison for comparing recent budget progress with the goals outlined in the Simpson-Bowles report. (Simpson-Bowles, however, was a 9-year plan, and some experts argue that it is a misnomer to claim that Simpson-Bowles used CBO’s August 2010 baseline because claimed deficit savings are compared to Obama’s budget request. We understand the case each side has made but decided ultimately it is a bit in the weeds.)

As the debate unfolds, readers should be aware that different politicians will draw their numbers from the source that makes their policy position look the most attractive. Moreover, the 10-year window makes the numbers sound more impressive then they probably are.

Just as lawmakers a decade ago were wrong to assume the government had a surplus in the bank, it is also wrong to assume spending cuts are banked for the next 10 years. It will take diligence and patience in the coming years to shrink the ratio of debt to the size of the nation’s economy.

(About our rating scale)


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India's anti-rape ordinance draws mixed reactions






SINGAPORE: There have been mixed reactions to the Indian government's hurriedly enacted ordinance to amend the country's anti-rape laws.

The president has also given his approval to the ordinance.

But the move has not gone down well with the women's rights groups who feel the emergency measure is rather a betrayal and not a breakthrough.

They allege that the government has dropped some of the key recommendations made by the Justice Verma Committee that had suggested an array of provisions to tighten the country's rape laws.

The ordinance proposes the death penalty or life imprisonment for rapists in extreme cases, but ignores suggestions that marital rape be included, as well as amendments to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Advocate and women's rights activist Vrinda Grover said: "This ordinance being made into law means that they only show complete bad faith. And this is a trick to put the (Justice) Verma Committee report away. We are not going to allow the Verma Committee report to be killed in this manner."

Some left-wing political parties too rejected the ordinance, saying the government could have waited till Parliament had debated the proposals.

Brinda Karat, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said: "When parliament is meeting just three weeks away, it is undemocratic in fact to bring in ordinance like this and the content of the ordinance is doing injustice to the Justice Verma recommendations because it is highly selective."

While most rights groups rejected the ordinance, it did however succeed in winning partial support from a few corners.

Social activist Kiran Bedi said: "I think this is a beginning. I hope this is not with an intention for people to say we have done it and that is it. I think what this country is demanding is a holistic response."

- CNA/xq



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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, AP

The magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.

Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg below the knee. With the help of a prosthetic leg, Exantus is able to dance again. (Read about his comeback.)

Why We Love It

"This is an intimate photo, taken in the subject's most personal space as he lies asleep and vulnerable, perhaps unaware of the photographer. The dancer's prosthetic leg lies in the foreground as an unavoidable reminder of the hardships he faced in the 2010 earthquake. This image makes me want to hear more of Georges' story."—Ben Fitch, associate photo editor

"This image uses aesthetics and the beauty of suggestion to tell a story. We are not given all the details in the image, but it is enough to make us question and wonder."—Janna Dotschkal, associate photo editor

Published February 1, 2013

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Ravens Defeat 49ers in Historic, Unusual Super Bowl













The Baltimore Ravens emerged Super Bowl champions after one of the strangest and most incredible Super Bowl games in recent memory.


It's the second championship for the Ravens, who pulled out a 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome in New Orleans.


The Super Bowl is the biggest spectacle in American sports, and each year becomes the most watched television event in history. This year, Jennifer Hudson kicked things off with a touching performance of "America the Beautiful" with a choir of students from Sandy Hook Elementary School.


RELATED: Super Bowl XLVII: Top 6 Things to Know


Alicia Keys accompanied herself on the piano for a long, jazzy rendition of the national anthem, before the coin toss which resulted in San Francisco receiving to start the first half.


Although the game looked at one point like it was going to be a completely unexpected blow-out, with the Ravens leading 28-6 at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the 49ers got some unusual help that turned the showdown into a much more exciting battle.


About a third of the way into the 3rd quarter, right after a record-tying Ravens rushing touchdown, the power went out at the Superdome, knocking the lights and air conditioning out in the indoor stadium. The crowd of more than 71,000 strong, along with a lot of antsy players, coaches, and staff waited for 34 minutes for the power to fully come back on and the game to resume.






Chris Graythen/Getty Images











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In a statement, the NFL said authorities were "investigating the cause of the power outage," and law enforcement sources told ABC News it was just an issue with the building.


That didn't stop many people on Twitter from jokingly blaming Beyonce, the energetic halftime performer who surprisingly reunited shortly with her former band Destiny's Child, for shutting down the power. After her performance, even her husband Jay-Z got in on it, tweeting "Lights out!!! Any questions??"


VIDEO: Super Bowl 2013: Beyonce Rocks the Halftime Show


The 49ers quickly followed the long delay with a touchdown, getting themselves right back into the game. Then just a few minutes later, they found themselves in the end zone again, and it appeared the power outage had flipped the momentum towards the 49ers.


With a score of 31-29 with more than 7 minutes left in the game, San Francisco looked poised to make the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, but the team, trying for its 6th title, wasn't able to overcome the Ravens lead.


Baltimore was able to run out the clock, and the game ended with a final score of 34-31. Purple and gold confetti fell as the Ravens rushed onto the field and celebrated -- with some colorful language from quarterback Joe Flacco audible on the live broadcast, who was caught saying, "f***ing awesome" on CBS' cameras.


The game was already historic thanks to the match-up for John and Jim Harbaugh, the first head coach brothers to ever face each other on football's biggest stage. It was also the final game for the future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis, who is, as of the conclusion of the game retired from football.


This is the fifth season in a row that the Ravens have made it to the playoffs, led by Coach John Harbaugh, and SB XLVII MVP Quarterback Joe Flacco. It's the team's first Lombardi trophy since 2000. Their victor tonight made them the only team left in the NFL to have never lost a Super Bowl in multiple appearances.






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Along the U Street corridor, her honor finds all the comforts of home



When Sotomayor, a former federal judge in New York, lived in Manhattan’s West Village, she seized on her neighborhood’s offerings, going twice a week to a bakery on Bedford Street for coffee and breadsticks and hosting friends at her apartment for Spanish or Thai take-in.


Now, Sotomayor is trying to re-create some of those rhythms in Washington.

Near her sleek U Street area condo building, where prices for units range from $350,000 to a little more than $1 million, the staff at the “green eatery” chicken place knows whom to expect when the name on the take-out order is “Sonia.” At The Greek Spot, the owner says that Sotomayor sometimes swings by on her way home from work for the $9.75 gyro platter.

Other Supreme Court justices — who live in Fairfax and Montgomery counties, Georgetown, near Adams Morgan or at the Watergate building — have been fairly involved in their neighborhoods, too.

The court’s proceedings are not televised, so they can maintain some level of anonymity when they venture out. The big exception: Clarence Thomas, who’s been a recognizable figure ever since his contentious 1991 confirmation hearings.

Then there’s Sotomayor. Last month, she took center stage, swearing in Vice President Biden during the inauguration ceremonies. Also, she’s been busy plugging her new memoir, “My Beloved World,” on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and other TV shows.

Within her condo building, Sotomayor has already engendered such affection that last month another resident e-mailed the group list to remind everyone about her upcoming “60 Minutes” appearance:

“[M]ake sure to set your DVR’s to tape or watch 60 Minutes who will have our most famous and esteemed neighbor Justice Sotomayor on, speaking about her amazing life story from the Bronx to the Supreme Court. . . . 7 PM tomorrow! CBS.”

Slav Gatchev, 39, who is an emerging-markets finance specialist, said he occasionally runs into Sotomayor in the building. One recent night, Gatchev, dressed in sweatshirt and sweatpants, dropped off items for recycling in the garage and bumped into Sotomayor on her way home from work.

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Family, community bonding can build good emotional health: Gan Kim Yong






SINGAPORE: Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that pursuing a healthy lifestyle is not just about having good physical health, but it also includes good emotional and mental health as well.

Mr Gan was speaking to reporters at Sunday's Our Singapore Conversation, which centred on the theme of healthy living in Singapore.

He said emotional health can be achieved through family bonding which can promote a happy and fulfilling lifestyle.

"It's an important message that while we want to encourage residents to stay healthy, it's not just physical health - physical health is important, if you eat moderately, sensibly, exercise regularly.

"At the same time, it is also important to make sure that emotionally, they are also healthy. And this can be done by strengthening family bonding and at the same time, community bonding as well.

"So the community can organise a lot more activities to bring these residents together, let them have friendship, build up a social network so that emotionally, mentally, they can also stay healthy and active."

The dialogue, held at Nee Soon East Community Club, follows another health-related national conversation the ministry held for healthcare professionals on Friday.

Residents had various suggestions on how to promote healthy living in Singapore such as extending the opening hours of sports facilities in schools and installing more exercise stations in the estate.

MP for Nee Soon GRC, Patrick Tay, said these suggestions will be taken into consideration for the ward's neighbourhood renewal programmes.

"I'm glad to hear one or two residents giving me ideas on some of these particular kind of exercise stations which they think there's a need.

"So I think with that, coupled with some of the suggestions we have done on the ground - because in every neighbourhood renewal programme, we do gather feedback from the ground through surveys - so this will augment the survey that we have done, so that we can tailor and customise fitness stations not just for the not-so-young, but for the various life stages, from the young as well as those preparing for National Service, all the way to the not-so-young."

- CNA/ck



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International community must support non-violent methods: Lobsang Sangay

NEW DELHI: Tibetan Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) in exile Lobsang Sangay on Saturday called for a stronger endorsement of non-violent methods by the international community. Sangay said that the projection of the recent armed uprisings in west Asia may send out the wrong idea to other similarly marginalised groups fighting against oppression.

"If non-violence is the right thing to do, we ought to be supported by the international community. Paradoxically, what you read about in the newspapers or watch on television in recent times, for example, in Syria, is the 'freedom fighters' of Syrian democracy. The media projects them as freedom fighters and heroes and they get all the support.Tibetans have been democratic and non-violent for the last so many decades, how come we don't receive similar support and attention? This is a test for the international community. Whether we get support or not is secondary because we are committed to democracy and non-violence. But if we send a message to other marginalised groups and other refugee communities around the world," said Sangay. The Tibetan PM in exile was speaking at the first annual lecture of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents. This was post the conclusion of the recent four-day long Tibetan "campaign for solidarity" in the capital.

Sangay was elected the Tibetan Kalon Tripa in April 2011. It was the very same year that the Dalai Lama renounced his formal, political role in the Tibetan struggle, and chose instead to remain only the spiritual leader.

Speaking about the " future of Tibet" Sangay said it would be a secular state, with the Indian model of secularism. "The Tibetan community has Muslims and Christians. The government already represents all religions and even non-religions," said Sangay who was born and brought up in Darjeeling.

Crediting the model of the Indian democracy and the constitution which was used as a model for the Tibetan government in exile, Sangay also went on to offer a few recommendations as a good "chela" to the "guru", since the general elections in India are around the corner. He recalled the time right before the 2011 elections, describing how he and his opponent shared a cab together from Dharamshala to Delhi, shared a hotel room together in the capital, participated in political debates, and then went back to having meals together, even exchanging campaign tips. "We are still friends and exchange emails. As a good chela of the Indian democracy, I would like to make a few recommendations to our guru. Whoever wins the elections, we wish they remain friends," said Sangay.

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