Andhra CM bats for Telugu in state judiciary

HYDERABAD: Promotion of Telugu in the judiciary would benefit common people in a big way, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said here on Sunday.

"Increased use of mother tongue in the judicial system would enable the people to understand the proceedings better," Reddy said while speaking at a convention jointly organized by the state official language commission and Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy on the use of Telugu in judiciary.

He hailed the judiciary for taking a keen interest in enhancing the use of Telugu in courts, an official release said.

Recalling that the state government had recently organised the 4th World Telugu Conference, the chief minister said that the government is taking several steps to promote the language.

Andhra Pradesh high court Chief Justice PC Ghosh, who inaugurated the convention, said one can express himself better in his mother tongue, the release said.

The use of Telugu in judiciary would make it easy for people to understand the proceedings, he said.

AP Judicial Academy chairman Justice N V Ramana said the use of English in judgements made it difficult for rural people to understand them.

Official language commission chairman M Buddha Prasad said the use of Telugu in the judiciary would make it easy for people to understand and also enhance their confidence in the judicial system, the release added.

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Paternos Issue Report, Challenge Freeh's Findings













Former FBI director Louis Freeh is standing by his conclusion that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and three top administrators concealed child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky.



Freeh responded Sunday to a new critique released by Paterno's family that called Freeh's report last July inaccurate and unfounded, resulting in a "rush to injustice."






Patrick Smith/Getty Images|Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo











Jerry Sandusky Insists Innocence Before Sentencing Watch Video









Jerry Sandusky Sentencing: Why Did He Release Statement? Watch Video









Jerry Sandusky Claims Innocence in Audio Statement Watch Video






Freeh says in a statement he respects the right of the Paterno family to conduct a media campaign in an effort "to shape the legacy of Joe Paterno" but the coach should have done more to stop Sandusky.



Freeh cited grand jury testimony in which Paterno said a graduate assistant relayed to him a 2001 allegation against Sandusky of a "sexual nature" with a child.



He said Paterno's attorney was contacted for an interview with the coach, who died in January 2012.



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Horsemeat 'contamination' could date back to August: Findus






LONDON: French frozen food supplier Comigel told the Findus brand that "the contamination" of processed beef products with horsemeat could date back to August 2012, Findus said in a statement Saturday.

"Findus want to be absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year," it said in a statement.

"They were only made aware of a possible August 2012 date through a letter dated 2 February 2013 from the supplier Comigel.

"By then Findus was already conducting a full supply chain traceability review and had pro-actively initiated DNA testing."

The opposition Labour lawmaker Tom Watson earlier claimed he had been shown by a retailer a copy of a letter that Findus sent to them on Monday.

He published an extract on his website.

"Investigations have led one of our suppliers based in France to inform us in writing on 2nd February 2013 that the raw materials delivered since 1st August 2012 are likely to be non-conform and consequently the labelling on finished products is incorrect," it said.

Britain's Food Standards Agency regulator announced Thursday that 11 of 18 samples of Findus beef lasagne were found to contain between 60 and 100 per cent horsemeat.

Asked by AFP to comment on Britain's food minister fearing a criminal conspiracy, a Findus spokesman said: "That's part of our investigations. We need to understand how the meat got into the supply chain. That's something we are working on with Comigel, as the supplier."

He did not know how long the investigation would take.

The spokesman said it was "still uncertain... where the meat exactly came from".

"The supplier has asked us to withdraw the raw material batches."

Findus said it was not taking part in the emergency food industry meeting taking place Saturday at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

"Findus did not receive an invitation to this summit. However they are aware that the Food and Drink Federation, of which they are a member, will be attending."

Sweden-based Findus has withdrawn various frozen meals from the market in France and Sweden.

- AFP/ck



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Tihar Jail witnesses hanging after 24 years, Afzal Guru was hanged for eight minutes

NEW DELHI: The Tihar Jail, the largest prison of India, witnessed a hanging on Saturday after 24 years, when the 2001 parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was executed early morning, an official said.

Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh, assassins of then prime minister Indira Gandhi were hanged inside the jail in 1989.

Afzal Guru is the seventh man hanged inside the prison since 1981, a Tihar Jail official told IANS. Guru was hanged at 8am on Saturday.

In 1982, Ranga and Billa were executed for kidnapping and murdering two minors, Geeta Chopra and her younger brother Sanjay.

Maqbool Bhat of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was executed in 1984 while Jugar Singh was hanged inside the jail in 1985 in the murder case of Vidya Jain.

In 1989, both the assassins of Indira Gandhi were executed by the famous hangman, "Kalu", a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. He was paid Rs 150 for carrying out the execution process.

'Hanged for 8 minutes'

Guru was hanged at 8am on Saturday in front of eight people in the Tihar Jail in a procedure that took eight minutes, prison sources said.

They told IANS that Guru was informed about his hanging late Friday evening after a death warrant was issued by a Delhi court.

"He was told about his hanging yesterday (Friday) by the jailor," a source said.

The source said Guru was hanged about 20 metres from his cell where he spent 12 years in solitary confinement.

"There were eight people, including a doctor, a magistrate and some jail officials, present when he was hanged. He was hanged for eight minutes," the source told IANS.

Guru was buried quietly soon after the hanging.

After he was woken up at 5am, he offered prayers before calmly approaching the noose, officials said. A Muslim cleric was also present during his hanging.

Guru was convicted for his role in plotting the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament House, in which 10 people were killed when five armed terrorists stormed into the complex when 100 MPs, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Cabinet ministers were inside.

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull








































































































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Great Energy Challenge Blog













































































































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Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast













A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast overnight, where more than 650,000 homes and businesses in the densely populated region lost power, roads were impassable and New Englanders awoke Saturday to more than 2 feet of snow.



More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut, and an 82-mph wind gust was recorded in nearby Westport. Areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched at least 2 feet — with more falling. Airlines scratched more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and the three major airports serving New York City as well as Boston's Logan Airport closed.



Flooding was also a concern along the coast, and the possibility led to the evacuation of two neighborhoods in Quincy, Mass., said Fire Deputy Gary Smith. But it did not appear to create major problems in New York and New Jersey, states hit hardest during last October's Superstorm Sandy.



Snow piled up so high in some places Saturday that people couldn't open their doors to get outside. Streets were mostly deserted throughout New England save for plow crews and a few hardy souls walking dogs or venturing out to take pictures. In Boston's Financial District, the only sound was an army of snowblowers clearing sidewalks. Streets in many places were inaccessible.








Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video









Blizzard 2013: Power Outages for Hundreds of Thousands of People Watch Video









Monster Blizzard: Northeast Braces for 2 plus Feet of Snow Watch Video






Some of the worst of the storm appeared to hit Connecticut, where all roads were ordered closed Saturday. The snow made travel nearly impossible even for emergency responders who found themselves stuck on highways all night. In the shoreline community of Fairfield, police and firefighters could not come in to work, so the overnight shift was staying on duty, said First Selectman Michael Tetreau.



"It's a real challenge out there," Tetreau said. "The roads are not passable at this point. We are asking everyone to stay home and stay safe."



In the Hartford suburb of South Windsor, residents used snowblowers to clear driveways that ended in huge snow drifts, with the roads still clogged with roughly 2 feet of undisturbed snow. Some cars were buried to the point they were nearly invisible. Snow had stopped falling, but the swirling wind was blowing fine, powdery snow from trees and rooftops.



Several state police cars were also stuck in deep snow in Maine, where stranded drivers were warned to expect long waits for tow trucks or other assistance.



Road conditions were awful in New Hampshire, said Jim Pierce, who works for the state transportation department and plows driveways in Concord and surrounding towns as a side business. He started plowing about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.



"It takes quite a bit to push this back," he said. "It's fluffy, but there's a lot of it."



Even the U.S. Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery Saturday in New England.



The wind-whipped snowstorm mercifully arrived at the start of a weekend, which meant fewer cars on the road and extra time for sanitation crews to clear the mess before commuters in the New York-to-Boston region of roughly 25 million people have to go back to work. But halfway through what had been a mild winter across the Northeast, it also could mean a weekend cooped up indoors.



A little more than 11 inches fell in New York City, where carpenter Kevin Byrne was using a scraper to dig out his car Saturday and was relieved the storm hadn't hit the city more strongly. He said he'd taken his shovel out of his car and left it at home.





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White House faith office head leaving; more waterboarding jokes in the Senate; lawmakers try for laughs at dinner (read-this roundup)


Here’s what the Loop is reading Friday:





(Jacquelyn Martin - AP)

Guard-changing — More second-term shifting at the White House: Josh DuBois, the man heading the office that coordinates with faith-based organizations is leaving — and word is, some hope the president picks a more “senior” replacement.



Knock, knock — In Jerry Seinfeld-speak, what’s up with waterboarding? Sen.Richard Burr (R-N.C.) cracks a torture joke during the hearing on John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA. (Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has used the same material during the confirmation hearings for Secretary of State John Kerry.)



Congressional chuckles — Speaking of humor, at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual congressional dinner, the two performers — Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) tried for some yuks.



Think twice, tweet once — A tasteless tweet takes down another House staffer.

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DPM Teo issues correction to footnote in Population White Paper






SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday issued a corrigendum to the Population White Paper in Parliament to delete a segment of a footnote that classified nursing as a low-skilled job.

Mr Teo said, in the Notice of Corrigendum, that he intends to delete the part of Footnote 12 on Page 40 of the White Paper, which said: "Certain low-skilled jobs like personal services, retail, and nursing are hard to offshore. They will still be needed even as the economy upgrades."

"This classification of low-skilled jobs is not correct. I would like to apologise to those whose professions have been unintentionally misrepresented," said Mr Teo.

He said he was alerted to the matter by "our friends in the nursing profession and unions".

Adding that he has the "greatest respect" for the nursing profession, the DPM said it is a "noble and caring profession, which all of us and our loved ones depend on and appreciate".

- TODAY/ir



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No power cuts in Tamil Nadu from this year end, says Jaya

CHENNAI: Chief minister J Jayalalithaa today said, there will be no power cuts from 2013-end with the state set to realise 3,000 MW by then and her government expeditinga series of projects.

Replying to a discussion in the Assembly on the governor's address to the House, she blamed the previous DMK government for acute power shortage in Tamil Nadu and said, during her 2001-06 regime, various power generation projects to the tune of 3095 mw were initiated but the subsequent DMK Government did not proceed with them.

She said, the projects were put on fast track after an 'extensive' review of the power situation since she took over in 2011.

Mentioning that a series of initiatives, including different units of Vallur and Mettur thermal projects and a joint venture with Neyveli Lignite Corporation, which would start producing power at different points of time in the coming months were on, she added, some of them had started doing trial runs.

Out of the total 3,312 MW of electricity from these projects, the state was already getting 375 MW and will receive another 2175 MW by June and 762 MW by year end.

"Further, we will get electricity from the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant and the NLC's Phase-II expansion," she said, adding that agreements have also been signed to procure 900 MW from private players after June and 500 MW from other states for three years.

Further, tenders will be called for two thermal power projects for 2640 MW and the state will also focus on producing 3000 MW of solar power for its future needs, she said.

While the 2006-11 DMK government had only added 206 MW of installed capacity, the Karunanidhi government during its 1996-2001 stint, had not started any power generation project, she said.

During the final days of the erstwhile DMK regime, the state-run TANGEDCO had suffered a losses of Rs 40,000 crore as on March 31, 2011.

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Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History


Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).

Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within the orbits of many communications satellites, making it the closest flyby on record. (Read about one of the largest asteroids to fly by Earth.)

"This is indeed a remarkably close approach for an asteroid this size," said Paul Chodas, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near Earth Object (NEO) program office in Pasadena, California.

"We estimate that an asteroid of this size passes this close to the Earth only once every few decades."

The giant rock—half a football field wide—was first spotted by observers at the La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain a year ago, soon after it had just finished making a much more distant pass of the Earth at 2.6 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) away.

This time around however, on February15 at 2:24 pm EST, the asteroid will be passing uncomfortably close—ten times closer than the orbit of the moon—flying over the eastern Indian Ocean near Sumatra (map). (Watch: "Moon 101.")

Future Impact?

Chodas and his team have been keeping a close eye on the cosmic intruder, and orbital calculations of its trajectory show that there is no chance for impact.

But the researchers have not yet ruled out future chances of a collision. This is because asteroids of this size are too faint to be detected until they come quite close to the Earth, said Chodas.

"There is still a tiny chance that it might hit us on some future passage by the Earth; for example there is [a] 1-in-200,000 chance that it could hit us in the year 2080," he said.

"But even that tiny chance will probably go away within the week, as the asteroid's orbit gets tracked with greater and greater accuracy and we can eliminate that possibility."

Earth collision with an object of this size is expected to occur every 1,200 years on average, said Donald Yeomans, NEO program manager, at a NASA news conference this week.

DA14 has been getting closer and closer to Earth for quite a while—but this is the asteroid's closest approach in the past hundred years. And it probably won't get this close again for at least another century, added Yeomans.

While no Earth impact is possible next week, DA14 will pass 5,000 miles inside the ring of orbiting geosynchronous weather and communications satellites; so all eyes are watching the space rock's exact trajectory. (Learn about the history of satellites.)

"It's highly unlikely they will be threatened, but NASA is working with satellite providers, making them aware of the asteroid's pass," said Yeomans.

Packing a Punch

Experts say an impact from an object this size would have the explosive power of a few megatons of TNT, causing localized destruction—similar to what occurred in Siberia in 1908.

In what's known as the "Tunguska event," an asteroid is thought to have created an airburst explosion which flattened about 750 square miles (1,200 square kilometers) of a remote forested region in what is now northern Russia (map).

In comparison, an impact from an asteroid with a diameter of about half a mile (one kilometer) could temporarily change global climate and kill millions of people if it hit a populated area.

Timothy Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at Cambridge, Massachusetts, said that while small objects like DA14 could hit Earth once a millennia or so, the largest and most destructive impacts have already been catalogued.

"Objects of the size that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs have all been discovered," said Spahr. (Learn about what really happened to the dinosaurs.)

A survey of nearly 9,500 near-Earth objects half a mile (one kilometer) in diameter is nearly complete. Asteroid hunters expect to complete nearly half of a survey of asteroids several hundred feet in diameter in the coming years.

"With the existing assets we have, discovering asteroids rapidly and routinely, I continue to expect the world to be safe from impacts in the future," added Spahr.


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