Mamata to decide on voting over FDI

KOLKATA: With the Congress likely to garner a majority in Parliament over the FDI issue, the Trinamool Congress is yet to carve out its strategy in Parliament, in case Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allows the debate under rule 184.

Trinamool leaders have left it to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to decide whether the party will stage a walkout along with parties such as Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party or record their dissent during voting with the BJP and the Left.

"We still believe that no-confidence motion is the only way to remove this minority government and stop this unethical political charade being played out. Even now this can be done.

Only one MP is required to move this motion. It doesn't matter which political party it is. Let those, who're so vocal on price rise, FDI in retail and removal of subsidy cap on domestic LPG, come forward and vote on it. If one is convinced that these are anti-people policies, what stops them from nudging the government out of power. Why resort to rules to save them?" said Trinamool all India general secretary Mukul Roy.

Roy was more keen on nailing down Left Front chairman Biman Bose's recent argument that the Left didn't support the Trinamool's no-confidence notice because parties reluctant to bring down the government would vote against the government if the debate is allowed under rule 184. Roy, however, didn't want to foretell the party's strategy in the fast changing situation.

While Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray held that the party will fight FDI tooth and nail, senior party MP Sultan Ahmed said, "Whether to vote or not will be decided later by the Trinamool parliamentary party and the party supremo Mamata Banerjee, let the Speaker decide it first. The government will never agree to a discussion under rule 184 without majority. Our leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, has already cleared our stand on the matter. There is nothing more to add to it." Domestic compulsion is also weighing heavily on Trinamool Congress before it is seen aligning with CPM and BJP.

Left parties, on the other hand, have dumped the number game getting a whiff that the Congress might gather the numbers. Asked whether the CPM is heading towards a situation similar to the confidence debate on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, CPM Rajya Sabha MP Shyamal Chakrabarty said: "Not at all. We have been trying to forge the broadest possible unity against FDI entry in multi-brand retail. I am confident that we will be achieving our target to a great extent. The Trinamool's no confidence move would have given the government a leeway to continue with their anti-people policies on all fronts for a period of six months instead," Chakrabarty said.

Trinamool leaders, on the other hand, believe that a debate under rule 184, will give Trinamool an opportunity to expose the Opposition "double-speak." "Biman Bose had argued if the government survived our no-confidence motion, they will get a parliamentary mandate to introduce FDI in retail. So if a vote under rule 184 does take place and the government wins it, would it be any different? The CM had made it clear that we believed in moving a no-confidence for it wasn't a half-measure. What is happening now only vindicates her belief," a Trinamool MP said.

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Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation India

A young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.

Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian authorities.

"They have taken it very well. They've not been defensive," Sreenivasan said.

"You're not dealing with national property, you're dealing with international property, which helped us put pressure on [them]." (Related: "Asia's Wildlife Trade.")

According to Conservation India, the same day the group filed their report with the government, a fresh order banning Amur hunting was issued. Local officials also began meeting with village leaders, seizing traps and confiscating birds. The national government has also requested an end to the hunting.

Much remains to be done, but because the hunt is so regional, Sreenivasan hopes it can eventually be contained and stamped out. Authorities there, he said, are planning a more thorough investigation next year, with officials observing, patrolling, and enforcing the law.

"This is part of India where there is some amount of acceptance on traditional bush hunting," he added. "But at some point, you draw the line."

(Related: "Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa's Animals, Poor?")

Published November 27, 2012

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Petraeus Scandal: Socialite Jill Kelley Fighting Back

Tampa socialite Jill Kelley is fighting back. Today, sources close to the woman who was caught in the media crossfire during the David Petraeus sex scandal have released new letters aimed at reclaiming her reputation.

In one, Kelley's attorney goes after a New York businessman who claimed Kelley was using her connections to Petraeus to broker a deal with the South Korean government.

"It is impossible to overlook your attempt to get your '15 minutes of fame,'" attorney Abbe Lowell wrote to Adam Victor, the president and CEO of TransGas Development Systems. "…You have the right to do that to yourself, but you do not have the right to defame our client.

"This letter is notice to you that statements you have made are false and defamatory and are intended to portray Ms. Kelley in a false light," the letter continued.

Victor has claimed that Kelley asked for $80 million in commissions to arrange a deal between Victor and the South Korean government. Kelley was an honorary consul for the Republic of South Korean.

"While it is certainly true that Ms. Kelley communicated with you about a potential business deal, it has nothing to do with General Petraeus or other military," Lowell wrote Victor.

David Petraeus Affair: Woman Who Blew the Whistle Watch Video

Petraeus' Closed Door Benghazi Attack Testimony Watch Video

Inside the Petraeus Scandal: Did Broadwell and Kelley Profit? Watch Video

The dealings between Jill Kelley and Adam Victor were detailed in a series of emails between the two made public earlier this month. The emails appeared to confirm the New York businessman's claim that Kelley wanted a huge fee for brokering a transaction with the South Korean government.

But in his letter to Victor, Lowell denies that Kelley wanted anything close to $80 million, and says the full chain of emails reveal that "it was you (Victor) who were trying to capitalize on her contacts, and not the other way around."

Kelley and Victor were introduced at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August by Kelley's friend, Tampa real estate developer Don Phillips. In an interview with ABC News, Phillips said he suggested that Kelley and Victor should meet because Kelley could help Victor land a deal for a coal gasification plant in South Korea.

Phillips claimed that Kelley said that Victor tried to "proposition" her "almost immediately," and said he had to cajole her into flying to New York for a second meeting with Victor.

After she met with Victor in New York, Phillips said, Kelley reported that she was no longer interested in pursuing the deal. According to Phillips, she said, "As a result of my personal investigations and business intelligence this is just not going anywhere, Don, and you just don't want to associate with this guy."

Victor, who denies propositioning Kelley, claimed she continued pushing for the deal after their meeting in New York. But sources close to Kelley say that telephone voice messages Victor left for Kelley reveal that he was the one who continued to seek Kelley's involvement, even after the Petraeus affair came to light.

Victor also claims that Kelley told him Petraeus arranged for her to be named honorary consul, and that she could use her connections with high-level Korean officials to help land the coal plant deal.

None of the emails that Victor showed to ABC News mention Petraeus. Kelley's friend Don Phillips told ABC News that Kelley has not "in any way tried to profit" from her relationship with Petraeus.

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Rethinking rocker in Bahrain

It seemed like a pretty neat idea when rocker ­Andrew W.K. posted on his Web site last week that the State Department was sending him as a cultural ambassador to Bahrain to help folks in that deeply unsettled country.

Just Monday, the government used tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators and street battles flared, the Associated Press reported.

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Oscars buzz for Bigelow's Osama bin Laden film

LOS ANGELES: Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow's long-awaited movie about the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden is generating Academy Awards buzz, even before its release next month.

The director, who won Academy Awards in 2010 for Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker", had extensive access to classified material in the making of "Zero Dark Thirty", a process that began long before bin Laden's death in May 2011.

The movie centres on a female CIA analyst - played by Jessica Chastain - credited as a key force in the hunt for the Al Qaeda chief, killed by US Navy SEALs in an audacious dead-of-night raid on his hiding place in Pakistan.

"'Zero Dark Thirty' could well be the most impressive film Bigelow has made, as well as possibly her most personal," commented the Hollywood Reporter, after initial screenings of the movie.

"The film's power steadily and relentlessly builds over its long course, to a point that is terrifically imposing and unshakable," it added.

Variety said the movie was "far more ambitious than 'The Hurt Locker', yet nowhere near so tripwire-tense", hailing it for "rejecting nearly every cliché one might expect from a Hollywood treatment of the subject."

The Los Angeles Times said "Zero Dark Thirty" - military-speak for half past midnight, when the bin Laden raid was scheduled for - entered its Oscar best picture league table at number five.

Entertainment Weekly tipped it as a possible nominee for best film, best director, best screenplay and best leading actress for Chastain, who was Oscar nominated for her supporting role in last year's civil rights drama "The Help".

The two-and-a-half-hour long docudrama follows the CIA analyst over her decade-long quest to track down bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

It includes graphic torture scenes, including depictions of waterboarding and sexual humiliation, used to obtain information from detainees which ultimately help pinpoint bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

"I wish that it wasn't a part of history, but it is and was," Bigelow was cited as saying after a weekend screening in Los Angeles, adding that the torture scenes were the most difficult for her to film.

The film's screenplay was written by reporter-turned-screenwriter Mark Boal, who also worked with Bigelow on "The Hurt Locker", which starred Jeremy Renner as a soldier defusing bombs in war-scarred Iraq.

"Zero Dark Thirty" opens in limited release in the United States from December 19, qualifying it for next February's Academy Awards show even though its general release is not until January.

-AFP/fl

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Green tax on diesel cars: Auto sector slams cess proposal

NEW DELHI: The automobile industry has come out against any proposal to impose an additional tax on diesel cars over environmental issues.

"Diesel is not as polluting as it is made out to be. How can you tax a technology that is very clean and more fuel efficient?" said Vishnu Mathur, DG of industry lobby group, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. While diesel is not a big polluter, there are other industries that need to be checked into, he said, adding, "What about power producers, the industry and gensets?" P Balendran, VP at General Motors India, also countered the stand that diesel is more polluting. "It is energy saving and is more fuel efficient than petrol," he said.

Mayank Parek, COO at Maruti Suzuki, said that while pollution levels certainly need to be controlled, taxing diesel cars is not an answer. "It is not only cars that pollute. In fact, their contribution to pollution is very low when compared to other industries."

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Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

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  High Horse

  Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot
  

  The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.

  Taken from the New Forest Observatory in the United Kingdom, the image shows how the nebula's horse head is part of a larger cloud of dust. Situated about 1,500 light-years away, the Horsehead Nebula is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against another, brighter nebula, according to NASA.

  (See "'Soccer Ball' Nebula Discovered by Amateur Astronomer.")

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  











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  Green Lit

  Photograph by Jeremy La Zelle, My Shot
  

  Green curtains of aurora stretch over the sky in the Alaska Arctic in a picture submitted to National Geographic's My Shot on November 17.

  "The constantly changing kaleidoscope of colors are reminiscent of a fireworks display—but without sound," photographer Jeremy La Zelle wrote with his submission.

  "All we hear is the quiet peaceful sounds of a freezing Alaska night."

  (See "Aurora Pictures: Best Fall Photos of Northern Lights.")

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











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  Martian Vista

  Image courtesy Caltech/NASA
  

  NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this picture after moving 83 feet (25 meters) eastward on November 18—the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission to study whether life once existed on Mars.

  The view shows Yellowknife Bay, part of the Glenelg area of the Gale Crater, which is located near the base of a three-mile-high (five-kilometer-high) mountain rich with layered sediment deposits laid down over hundreds of millions of years.

  (Read more about the Gale Crater.)

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











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  Gilded Mountains

  Image courtesy ESA

  The sands of the Sahara appear like golden brush strokes around the Tibesti Mountains in a March 2012 satellite image recently released by the European Space Agency.

  Located in Chad and Libya, the mountains' highest peak is Emi Koussi-pictured above as a circular structure in the lower-right portion of the dark area.

  Lava flows can be seen extending from the westernmost volcano, Toussidé.

  (See volcano pictures.)

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  











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  Photograph by Quang Nguyen Luong and F. Motte, Herschel SPIRE/ESA

  Published November 26, 2012

  
  

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Rx OD Risks: Grapefruit-Meds Warning Expanded

Nov 26, 2012 5:48pm

Image credit: Johner/Getty Images

ABC News’ Ben Maas reports:

It has long been known that grapefruit juice can pose dangerous — and even deadly — risks when taken along with certain medications. Now, experts warn the list of medications that can result in these interactions is longer than many may have believed.

Check below to see whether your medication appears on the list.

In a new report released Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers at the University of Western Ontario said that while 17 drugs were identified in 2008 as having the potential to cause serious problems when taken with grapefruit, this number has now grown to 43.

“The frequency of these reactions may be small, but the risks are not worth it, especially for drugs which could cause sudden death,” said lead study author David Bailey, a professor of pharmacology and one of the first to report the interactions between grapefruit juice and certain medications 20 years ago. “Physicians need to know that this affects a number of new drugs and apply this information to their practice and patients.”

So how does a common breakfast fruit cause these problems? Grapefruits contain chemicals called furanocoumarins that interfere with how your body breaks down drugs before they enter the bloodstream. By preventing this normal breakdown of a drug, these chemicals in grapefruit can effectively cause a drug overdose and more severe side-effects.

Among the side effects sometimes seen with grapefruit-induced overdoses are heart rhythm problems, kidney failure, muscle breakdown, difficulty with breathing and blood clots. Atorvastatin — commonly known by the brand name Lipitor and taken by millions of Americans — is one of the drugs that have been linked to serious cases of drug toxicity when combined with grapefruit products. Other common heart medications — including verapamil and amiodarone — have also led to serious interactions when consumed with grapefruit or grapefruit juice.

While there have been many reported cases of serious side effects attributable to this problem, the total number of Americans who have been affected is not known.

As little as one grapefruit or one 8-ounce glass of grapefruit juice can cause an effect that may last more than 24 hours.  Other fruits including Seville oranges, limes, and pomelos can have the same effect, although sweet orange varieties do not produce this interaction.

“People know that drugs react with drugs, but fewer are aware of drug-food interactions,” said Professor Paul Doering of the University of Florida Pharmacy Department. “Health professionals need to learn as much as they can about this.  Undetected there are very serious adverse effects.”

For consumers, the best advice may be to ask a doctor or pharmacist when they are prescribed a new drug whether there are foods or other medicines that they should avoid.

A-C
Alfentanil (oral)
Amiodarone
Apixaban
Atorvastatin
Buspirone
Clopidogrel
Crizotinib
Cyclosporine

D-F
Darifenacin
Dasatinib
Dextromethorphan
Domperidone
Dronedarone
Eplerenone
Erlotinib
Erythromycin
Everolimus
Felodipine
Fentanyl (oral)
Fesoterodine

H-P
Halofantrine
Ketamine (oral)
Latatinib
Lovastatin
Lurasidone
Maraviroc
Nifedipine
Nilotinib
Oxycodone

P-Z
Pazopanib
Pimozide
Primaquine
Quinine
Quetiapine
Quinidine
Rilpivirine
Rivaroxaban
Silodosin
Simvastatin
Sirolimus
Solifenacin
Sunitinib
Tacrolimus
Tamsulosin
Ticagrelor
Triazolam
Vandetanib
Venurafenib

Verapamil
Ziprasidone

SHOWS: World News

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‘Fiscal cliff’: Consensus on increasing tax revenue, a wide gulf on how to do it

For the first time in decades, a bipartisan consensus has emerged in Washington to raise taxes. But negotiators working to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” remain far apart on crucial details, including how taxes should go up and who should pay more.

Neither side gave ground in an opening round of staff-level talks last week at the Capitol. As President Obama and congressional leaders prepare for a second face-to-face meeting as soon as this week, the divide over taxes presents the biggest obstacle to replacing the heap of abrupt tax hikes and spending cuts, set to hit in January, with a less-traumatic debt-reduction plan.

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New eurozone talks to save Greece from financial collapse

BRUSSELS: Eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels Monday for the third time in two weeks for talks on unlocking the next slice of aid to debt-crippled Greece, which is in danger of running out of money.

Greece has been waiting since June for a loan instalment of 31.2 billion euros (US$40 billion), part of a 130-billion-euro financial assistance package initially granted early this year.

By the end of the year, Athens is also due to receive two more aid payments, worth 5.0 and 8.3 billion euros, in exchange for which it has pledged to implement a series of unpopular austerity measures.

"For once, it would seem, Greece can take none of the blame," said Carsten Brzeski, an analyst at ING bank.

The Greek government, led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pushed through a fresh wave of deeply unpopular cuts through parliament earlier this month.

The Eurogroup statement issued after failed talks last Wednesday acknowledged that Greece had done everything that had been asked of it.

Samaras made much the same point in a statement issued hours after Wednesday's failed talks ended, in which his mounting frustration was clear.

"Greece did what it had to do, and what it had pledged to do," he wrote in a statement last Wednesday.

"Whatever technical difficulties in finding a technical solution do not justify any negligence or delay."

Eurogroup ministers exchanged ideas over the weekend in an effort to clear the way to an agreement Monday.

On Sunday, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici insisted that the eurozone was very close to agreement on the issue, echoing remarks he made just after last week's meeting broke up.

"I think that in effect we are very close to a solution," he told BFM Television. "I don't know if there will be an agreement tomorrow, I know it is possible and I want one."

Failing this time around would be "irresponsible" he added, "given the efforts everyone has made".

He provided few details about how a deal could be reached, but said it could involve a combination of decreases in interest earned by lenders and profits made by central banks on Greek debt.

As well as the eurozone finance ministers, also in attendance will be International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank.

The IMF and the ECB, with the European Union, make up the troika of creditors that have insisted on it adopting the controversial austerity plan.

They have decided to give Greece an extra two years, until 2016 in other words, to balance its books. But that means Greece's international creditors would have to find another 32.6 billion euros to cover the cost of granting this two-year respite.

The meeting also needs to agree on the timetable regarding bringing down the country's massive debt levels. Lagarde wants Greece to get its debt down to 120 per cent of GDP by 2020. Head of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker would rather put that deadline back to 2022.

The simplest solution would be for the creditors to agree to write off some of the Greek debt, and indeed a "haircut" was raised as a possiblity in German press reports Sunday.

The banks swallowed this bitter pill at the beginning of the year, and the IMF has urged the ECB to accept this solution, but both the central bank and Germany have so far held out against it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel knows such a move would be unlikely to go down well with the voters.

"I'm against this debt write-off and I want to find another solution," she said Friday.

But she nevertheless remained upbeat. "I have high hopes that we can resolve the question of the tranches of aid to Greece" at Monday's meeting, she said, while acknowledging that there is still work to be done.

One source close to the talks said that progress had been made during Saturday's round of telephone consultations.

Ministers agreed to cut interest rates on loans which Athens had already signed up to, though they have yet to agree on the revised rates, said the source.

They -- and the ECB -- have also agreed to lend Greece at least some of the gains they have made on the Greek bonds they hold.

And they agreed in principle on a buyout of Greek debt using the eurozone bailout fund, said the source.

It remains to be seen however, if the IMF will go along with this: the problem is that these measures would not bring Greek debt back to 120 per cent of GDP by 2020, as Lagarde wants.

But according to one Greek ministerial source, the IMF might finally agree to move on this point, settling for a figure equal to 124 per cent of GDP.

- AFP/ck

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