Adults in Washington state will be able to smoke marijuana legally when it is officially decriminalized Thursday, even though the Justice Department has offered no guidance on the conflict with federal drug laws.
Prosecutors throughout the state have begun dismissing hundreds of misdemeanor marijuana cases, according to authorities there, and state and local police are being retrained to arrest drivers who are high and allow adults to light up in their homes.
WASHINGTON: Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee, wanted by authorities in Belize, has come out of hiding to insist he did not kill his neighbour or hire someone to do the crime.
"I will certainly not turn myself in, and I will certainly not quit fighting," McAfee told CNN on Friday in his first on-camera interview since going on the run from Belizean authorities.
"It hasn't been a lot of fun. I miss my prior life. Much of it has been deprivation. No baths, poor food."
Police say they simply want to question the 67-year-old about the murder of fellow American Gregory Faull, a Florida native who was found dead at his home last month in a pool of blood on the Caribbean island of Ambergris Caye.
A police report said that Faull, 52, was shot in the back of the head. There were no signs of a break-in, and a laptop and cell phone were missing.
McAfee says he fears for his life and is fleeing authorities with whom he has been at odds ever since refusing to make a donation to a local politician's campaign.
The Internet security guru only agreed to the CNN interview after a series of cloak and dagger steps that involved middle-men, telephone calls with different numbers and a meeting at a safe house that required a secret phrase and response, according to the television network.
McAfee said he is so fearful that he carries up to a dozen disposable cell phones at a time, and estimates he has gone through 200 of the devices since fleeing nearly a month ago.
He has launched a blog, whoismcafee.com, to counter what he sees as erroneous claims by the media or authorities about him.
"I'm going to fight until something changes," McAfee said, declining to indicate how long he would remain in hiding.
McAfee predicted the saga would only end with his arrest or if he manages to elude corrupt officials.
"Get away doesn't mean leave the country," he said. "It means they will, number two, find the murderer of Mr. Faull and, number two, the people of this country -- who are by and large terrified to speak out -- start speaking out."
McAfee claims that someone poisoned four of his dogs, and that he shot each in the head to put them out of their misery and buried them on his property. On his blog, McAfee said that another one of his dogs was poisoned while police raided his home.
The dogs' barking and aggressive behaviour are said to have been a cause of friction between McAfee and Faull.
McAfee, who made millions when he sold his anti-virus software company in the early 1990s, has been living in Belize for the past four years.
In a separate investigation, police searched McAfee's mansion earlier this year looking for weapons and drugs, and detained him for several hours.
- AFP/fa
BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working for international interests.
"The government feels that their responsibility is to safeguard the interest of international market mafias instead of national interest and for saving the interest of international market mafias, the government is ready to compromise with national interests. Now, the parliament will decide as to who is in support of international market mafias and who are supporting national interests," said Naqvi.
The government's decision to allow foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart had triggered protest not only from opposition parties but also from some of its allies.
BJP had sought debate on the issue of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, under the rule that entails voting after discussions.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), V Narayanaswamy said the government would answer all the queries raised by the opposition parties in the parliament and will explain the benefits of allowing FDI in retail sector.
The lower house of parliament has set December 04 and 05 as the date to vote and debate on FDI. The dates for the upper house are yet to be decided.
Narayanaswamy said the government is confident of becoming victorious in the debate.
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, sending up plumes of steam as it made contact with the waves.
Though lava can still be viewed from Kalapana near the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, ocean entry is no longer occurring, according to the National Park Service.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
The lava traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Kilauea’s Pu'u O'o vent to the ocean. When lava reaches the water, it cools and hardens, forming a lava delta that can be dangerous to nearby onlookers, according to Reuters.
The news service reported that no communities on the Big Island were threatened by the lava flow.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A burst of volcanic activity erupts from Kilauea’s crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on November 27.
The volcano has been erupting continuously for nearly 30 years. No major damage has been suffered by a town since 1986, according to Reuters.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
“Ocean entries are beautiful but dangerous,” said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in a statement reported by Reuters. She warned that the steam could be more hazardous than it appears.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Matt Northam, My Shot
A plume of smoke billows where lava from Kilauea meets the sea in this aerial photo taken November 27.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Peter Vancoillie, Your Shot
Published November 30, 2012
Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said.
"We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio.
The victim was identified Kasandra Perkins, 22. Snapp said the couple had lived together and had a 3-month-old daughter.
Perkins' mother first alerted police this morning that her daughter had been shot by her boyfriend, who was a Kansas City Chiefs player, Snapp said.
It is believed Belcher drove to Arrowhead Stadium shortly after the shooting and police were called.
"When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot," Snapp said. "As officers pulled up, and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life."
Snapp said the coaches told officers they didn't feel they were in any danger from Belcher.
"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."
Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the league has told the Panthers to go ahead with their travel plans because the game will be played as scheduled.
In a statement posted on their website, the Chiefs said they are "cooperating with authorities in their investigation" and did not mention Belcher by name.
The 6-foot-2, 228-pound linebacker joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, and had spent all four seasons of his career with the team. He has played every in game since joining the team.
Originally from West Babylon, N.Y., where he was a three-time all-America wrestler in addition to playing on the football team, Belcher went undrafted out of the University of Maine, where he started all 45 games in which he played.
Maine Head Football Coach Jack Cosgrove described Jovan as a "tremendous student-athlete."
"His move to the NFL was in keeping with his dreams," Cosgrove said in a statement released by the university today. "This is an indescribably horrible tragedy. At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Jovan, Kasandra and their families."
Belcher signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent, started 15 of 16 games his second season and last year started all 16 games as left inside linebacker.
Belcher expressed gratitude for his NFL career in an article posted on Nov. 21 on the Chiefs' website that has since been taken down.
"First and foremost, God. Family and friends just keeping me focused, coaches and just everyone," he said.
President Obama is seeking an Aug. 1 deadline for overhauling the tax code and making changes to expensive federal health programs, the final pieces of what the administration conceives as a far-reaching plan to rein in the national debt, senior administration officials said Friday.
The proposed deadline was included in a plan Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner delivered to Capitol Hill on Thursday as Obama’s opening bid in talks with congressional Republicans to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff.”
MEXICO CITY: Mexico's incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto named his cabinet Friday, picking close advisors for key posts managing the drug war and the economy on the eve of his inauguration.
Pena Nieto takes the oath of office on Saturday, marking the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a 12-year absence from the presidency. The PRI ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century.
His 20-member cabinet includes only three women, a few independents from the left and one holdover from the administration of President Felipe Calderon of the conservative National Action Party (PAN).
The cabinet was presented by Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, a 48-year-old former Hidalgo state governor and friend of Pena Nieto's who will become interior minister, one of the most high-profile jobs.
Pena Nieto wants to bestow more powers to the interior ministry, giving it the responsibility of coordinating a drug war that has left more than 60,000 people dead in the last six years.
The congress, however, must still approve changes that will transfer the responsibilities of the public security ministry, including the scandal-plagued federal police, to the interior ministry.
The new finance minister will be Luis Videgaray, a 44-year-old economist who is considered the "brain" of the new president's circle. Videgaray managed Pena Nieto's campaign and headed the transition team.
His tasks will include steering structural reforms that the next president wants to implement in order to boost the economy.
Pena Nieto also decided to bring on board Calderon's finance minister, Jose Antonio Meade, who will become foreign minister, handling ties with the world, especially the United States, Mexico's powerful neighbor and drug war partner.
-AFP/ac
High stamp duty discourages property registration at actual or market value and thereby increases scope of black money in the realty sector.
As per JNNURM norms, stamp duty was to be brought down to 5% or less, including surcharges by local municipal bodies, during implementation of the programme. "It was expected that a reduction in the rate would help develop a healthy real estate market, by providing a boost to the economy, and reduce black money. It was expected that reduction in stamp duty rates would lead to an increase in revenue both for the states and urban local bodies," the report said.
The CAG found that out of 30 states/UTs selected for scrutiny, only 16, including Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had either 5% or less as stamp duty.
The report mentioned that in the case of Uttarakhand, stamp duty was reduced to 5% for men and 3.5% for women. On the contrary, in Haryana, stamp duty is 7% (5% plus 2% as local body surcharge) for men and 5% for women, including 2% surcharge for local bodies
Photograph courtesy Héctor Montaño, INAH
Sporting an elaborate headdress and shield, the Palenque king named Kan Bahlam, or Snake Jaguar, is depicted on one of the tomb walls.
Eight other figures are depicted as well, "each probably a different royal ancestor of the tomb occupant," said Stuart.
"The imagery of nine ancestors seems to have been a theme repeated in other Palenque royal tombs, such as Pakal's own huge one in the Temple of the Inscriptions."
The region's most famous king, Pakal, came to power in A.D. 615 at age 12 and ruled until he was in his 80s. He turned Palenque into a thriving, world-class city. Because Pakal built over much of what existed before him, little is known about the time prior to his ascension to power.
If this tomb predates the famous king, as INAH and Stuart suspect, its contents could offer clues about life in pre-Pakal times.
It's unclear yet what might be found inside, but it's "cool enough," said Stuart, that there's now "firm archaeological evidence of a Palenque ruler from the years before Pakal's reign."
(Read about the rise and fall of the Maya in National Geographic magazine.)
Published November 30, 2012
President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks at the Rodon Group, which manufactures over 95% of the parts for K' NEX Brands toys, Nov. 30, 2012, in Hatfield, Pa. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)
HATFIELD, Pa. — President Obama today accused Republicans of putting Americans at risk of a “Scrooge Christmas” if they fail to extend middle class tax cuts, telling workers in Pennsylvania that a tax increase would be like a “lump of coal.”
“This is not some run-of-the-mill debate. This isn’t about which political party can come out on top in negotiations. We’ve got important decisions to make that are going to have a real impact on businesses and families all across the country,” the president said.
Obama made his remarks about the negotiations to avert the impending “fiscal cliff” as he stood before piles of toys at the Rodon Group factory, which manufactures Lincoln Logs, K’Nex and Angry Bird toys.
“I’ve been keeping my own naughty and nice lists for Washington. So you should keep your eye on who gets K’NEX this year,” he quipped. “There are going to be some members of Congress who get them, and some who don’t.” One day after the fiscal cliff talks between the White House and House Republicans took a turn for the worse, the president admitted there are going to be “some prolonged negotiations” to get the deficit under control because “you know, in Washington, nothing’s easy.”
“We’ve got some disagreements about the high-end tax cuts, right?” he said of his insistence on raising taxes on the top 2 percent as part of a broader deficit reduction deal. “That’s a disagreement that we’re going to have and we’ve got to sort out. But we already all agree, we say, on making sure middle-class taxes don’t go up. So let’s get that done. Let’s go ahead and take the fear out for the vast majority of American families so that they don’t have to worry about $2,000 coming out of their pockets starting next year.”
For a Different Take on Politics Try OTUSnews.com
Shortly after the president spoke, House Speaker John Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill, “There’s a stalemate. Let’s not kid ourselves. I’m not trying to make this more difficult. If you’ve watched me over the last three weeks, I’ve been very guarded in what I had to say, because I don’t want to make it harder for me or the president or members of both parties to be able to find common ground.”
As Americans head out to shop for the holidays, the White House has warned consumer spending would take a hit of $200 billion in 2013, or roughly 1.4 percent of the GDP, if Congress could not reach a budget deal by the end of the year. As he did earlier this week, the president enlisted the help of Americans to pressure lawmakers to act on middle class tax cuts and said he’s ready to do his part. “If we can just get a few House Republicans on board, we can pass the bill in the House, it will land on my desk, and I am ready. I’ve got a bunch of pens ready to sign this bill… There are no shortage of pens in the White House,” he joked.
On Thursday, the White House put forth a proposal of $1.6 trillion in tax increases over the next 10 years, $50 billion in new stimulus spending, $400 billion in unspecified Medicare cuts, and a measure to effectively end Congress’s ability to vote on the debt limit. The offer, which closely mirrors the president’s previous deficit-reduction plans, lacked concessions to Republicans including detailed spending cuts and was strongly rejected.
Get More Political Analysis from ABC’s The Note
Factories like the Rodon Group’s will see a tax increase if a deal is reached in Democrats’ favor. But K’Nex CEO Michael Araten told ABC News his third-generation company wouldn’t be forced to change practices and had planned several years in advance to compensate for any tax increase.
“If on an individual basis we have some taxes we’ll deal with that,” he said. “But we don’t think that an incremental difference of 2 or 3 percent will meaningfully move our budgets in a way that impacts our hiring or investment plans. Everyone who has a job is going to have a job on Jan. 1 whether we go over the cliff or not.”
Striking into the Obama tour’s territory, today Majority Whip. Rep. Kevin McCarthy circulated a video of another Pennsylvania small business owner, Jerry Gorski of Gorski Engineering, explaining how the tax increase on the top 2 percent of income earners would harm his establishment.
LONDON: Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday blasted the controversy surrounding world champion Sebastian Vettel's Brazilian Grand Prix overtaking manoeuvre as a "joke".
Ferrari had contacted Formula One's governing body, the FIA, concerning the move by the Red Bull driver during last weekend's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix that won him a third successive title.
There had been speculation that the manoeuvre could have been illegal and, if so, Vettel could have been sanctioned and thereby stripped of his title in favour of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who missed out on the championship by just three points.
But Formula One ringmaster Ecclestone said it was a shame that the climax to the season had been overshadowed by the row.
"It's a shame because everything had gone so well," he told the Daily Telegraph.
"It was a super race, a super championship. Now everyone is talking about this. The problem is that no-one knows what is going on."
Earlier Thursday, the respected Autosport magazine said there was "no doubt" at the FIA that Vettel had overtaken legitimately on lap four of the race because a green flag had already been displayed in the yellow flag sector, allowing drivers to resume passing.
No team had asked for a review of the incident, it added.
"In the rules and regs normally you have to protest," added Ecclestone.
"They (Ferrari) missed that time. Then there is the fact that a green flag was shown, which nobody seems to dispute. It's a complete joke. What they are saying in that letter is wrong. I don't think there needs to be any action taken. It's completely and utterly wrong."
On Wednesday, footage emerged on YouTube which appeared to show Vettel, the youngest triple world champion in history, overtaking Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne under yellow flags.
Overtaking under caution is outlawed and is usually punished with a drive-through penalty.
But in cases where the infringement is not spotted, the sanction is a 20-second penalty handed out retrospectively.
Vettel was sixth in Sunday's rain-lashed race, while double world champion Alonso was second behind McLaren's Jenson Button.
Ferrari said they had wanted the FIA to clarify the rules.
"Ferrari asked, by means of a letter, for a clarification from FIA regarding VET's (Vettel's) overtaking move on VER (Vergne) during lap 4 of the Brazilian GP," the Italian team said on its Twitter account @insideferrari.
Vettel's victory had already been overshadowed by claims from Ferrari that Alonso should have been crowned champion, pointing to controversial races in Belgium and Japan to support their argument.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said that Alonso paid a heavy price for first lap exits in Belgium and Japan where he was shunted out of contention by Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen respectively.
The Italian giants had been further aggrieved when Vettel, accused of blocking Alonso in qualifying in Japan before going on to win the race, escaped with just a reprimand.
Vettel refused to get involved in a war of words although he did allude to his rivals' controversial decision in Texas to change the gearbox on Felipe Massa's Ferrari in order to allow Alonso to enjoy a starting advantage on the grid.
"A lot of people tried to play dirty tricks but we did not get distracted by that and kept going our way and all the guys gave a big push right to the end," Vettel said.
-AFP/ac
Addressing a news conference on Thursday night, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the two-volume report, which was not discussed in the cabinet meeting — with observers saying it was part of a Congress strategy — will be uploaded on the state government's website by Friday. The first volume addresses issues pertaining to land brought under irrigation, while the second sheds light on big and medium projects executed by five state irrigation corporations.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who resigned as deputy chief minister last September following a series of exposes in TOI, is believed to be desperate to make a comeback in the government based on the findings of the white paper, which many in official circles described as a "whitewash". Pawar was the state's water resources minister between 1999 and 2010, when most of the dubious contracts were awarded to select contractors. Political sources said infighting between rival groups in the NCP may scuttle Pawar's re-entry plans.
According to an estimate, as much as Rs 35,000 crore may have been siphoned off by the politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus in dud irrigation projects in the past ten years.
Government sources said only a criminal investigation will unravel the extent of the scam, described as the largest in Maharashtra's history.
"If there is an independent judicial inquiry, the Democratic Front government will collapse, considering the involvement of powerful politicians and officials," they said.
As reported by TOI on Thursday, the white paper has justified irrigation project cost escalations, blaming them on delays in relief and rehabilitation, land acquisition and environmental clearances. It says the escalations were commensurate with hikes approved for similar projects in other states.
Debunking the claim that Rs 70,000 crore was spent on irrigation projects in the past ten years, the document puts the figure at just Rs 42,000 crore. The paper, prepared by the state water resources department, claims that of this amount, Rs 30,000 crore was spent towards relief and rehabilitation; Rs 5,000 crore is shown under administrative expenses. The paper adds that over 30% of the relief and rehabilitation cost went towards projects that are yet to be completed. It is pertinent to note that departments controlled by the Congress are responsible for relief and rehabilitation and land acquisition.
The paper says 69 ongoing mega projects and 189 medium projects were taken up under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) and bore approvals of the Central Water Commission and the Planning Commission. It says the central agencies ratified the cost escalations.
The paper says the scheduled rates for materials used by the department while awarding contracts (department scheduled rates) were lower than those used for similar projects in other states and also less than rates used by other agencies in Maharashtra like the public works department and the MMRDA.
The paper claims that the scope of project work was often increased on account of demand from local politicians. The document gives status reports for mega projects, including details like original cost, escalations and their reasons.
Of the state's 226 lakh hectares of cultivable land, the white paper says irrigated land stood at 48.5 lakh hectares in 2010, which it says is a 28% increase from 2001 when the area was 37 lakh hectares. The paper says the cropped irrigated area (the ratio of irrigation potential generation to land under irrigation) grew by 5.17% during the ten-year period.
According to the economic status report (ESR), the cropped irrigated area only rose by 0.1% during this period (from 17.8% in 2001 to 17.9% in 2010). The chief minister had cited ESR data while asking the department to prepare the white paper in May this year.
The paper also refuted allegations that the department had created liabilities worth Rs 70,000 crore. It said that while projects worth Rs 80,000 crore were in the pipeline, liabilities had been booked only for Rs 35,000 crore.
The polar ice sheets are indeed shrinking—and fast, according to a comprehensive new study on climate change.
And the effects, according to an international team, are equally clear—sea levels are rising faster than predicted, which could bring about disastrous effects for people and wildlife.
Rising seas would increase the risk of catastrophic flooding like that caused by Hurricane Sandy last month in New York and New Jersey. Environmental damage may include widespread erosion, contamination of aquifers and crops, and harm to marine life. And in the long term, rising seas may force hundreds of millions of people who live along the coast to abandon their homes.
By reconciling nearly two decades of often conflicting satellite data into one format—in other words, comparing apples to apples—the new study, published in the journal Science, made a more confident estimate of what's called ice sheet mass balance.
That refers to how much snow is deposited on an ice sheet versus how much is lost, either due to surface melting or ice breaking off glaciers.
Between 1992—when polar satellite measurements began—and 2011, the results show that all of the polar regions except for East Antarctica are losing ice, said study leader Andrew Shepherd, a professor of earth observation at the University of Leeds in the U.K.
In that 20-year span, Greenland lost 152 billion tons a year of ice, West Antarctica lost 65 billion tons a year, the Antarctic Peninsula lost 20 billion tons a year, and East Antarctica gained 14 billion tons a year. (See an interactive map of Antarctica.)
"When we did the experiments properly using the same time periods and same maps, the riddles did all agree," Shepherd said.
According to glaciologist Alexander Robinson, "We've had a good idea of what the ice sheets are doing, but it seems this study really brings it all together in one data set that gives a much clearer picture.
"It's one more piece of supporting evidence that shows there are some dramatic changes happening, and we know that's being driven mainly by a warmer climate and warmer ocean—but there's still a lot we don't know about these regions and how they're changing," said Robinson, of the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain, who was not involved in the research.
(Read "The Big Thaw" in National Geographic magazine.)
Shrinking Ice Consistent With Warming
For the study, Shepherd and his team took data from three fields of satellite research: Altimetry, which measures the shapes of ice sheets and how they change over time; interferometry, which tracks the speed of ice sheets; and gravimetry, which calculates the weight of ice sheets by measuring Earth's gravitational field.
"Up until now there have been more than 30 studies that have each produced their own estimates of changes in ice sheets," Shepherd said.
"What we did was try to take the strengths of each approach and combined all the satellite technology together to get a better estimate of how ice sheets are changing," he said.
The results are also consistent with observations of climate change at the poles, Shepherd noted.
For instance, Greenland is shedding five times as much ice as 20 years ago, which fits with a trend of rising air temperatures in the Arctic.
(Pictures: "Changing Greenland" in National Geographic magazine.)
In West Antarctica, glacier loss is accelerating in an area where the ocean is getting warmer. East Antarctica is experiencing a slight increase in the amount of ice stored there, but that dovetails with higher rates of snowfall expected with climate change.
However, the growth isn't enough to compensate for the larger losses in the rest of Antarctica, the researchers say. (Related: "Why Antarctic Sea Ice Is Growing in a Warmer World.")
"The fact that Antarctica is definitely losing ice is a novel conclusion when we compare it to the last IPCC report in 2007, when scientists weren't sure if Antarctica was growing or shrinking," Shepherd said.
"Our data are now two to three times as accurate as those that were available at the time of the last IPCC report." The IPCC, or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is the leading international body for the study of climate change.
Rising Seas
Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research, who was not involved in the study, said the new study's "evidence is very compelling that global warming is playing a role in massive ice losses on land that contribute to sea level rise."
(Also see "Sea Levels Rising Fast on U.S. East Coast.")
Overall, polar ice loss has contributed about 11.1 millimeters to global sea level since 1992—roughly 20 percent of the total global sea level rise during that period, according to the study.
What's more, a study published earlier this week in Environmental Research Letters shows that sea levels are rising at a rate of 3.2 millimeters a year. That's 60 percent faster than the latest estimate of 2 millimeters a year projected by the IPCC. (See sea level rise pictures.)
"These results should be a major concern for politicians and climate talks in Doha, as they show that global warming is real and having major consequences that will only get bigger over time," Trenberth said by email.
As the World Meteorological Organization put it in a report released Wednesday during this week's UN climate change talks in Doha, Qatar, "climate change is taking place before our eyes." (See a map of global warming impacts worldwide.)
In addition to displacing millions, sea level rise may also supercharge large storms. For example, when a storm like Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, higher seas may boost storm surges that can strip away everything in their path and create damaging floods.
Sandy left at least 157 people dead and caused up to $80 billion in damage in hard-hit New York and New Jersey alone.
Predicting Future Climate Change
Study leader Shepherd hopes that climate modelers will be able to use this new data to better predict these consequences.
Until now, a modeler had to "choose an estimate of sea level rise from a pot of 40 ones with some uncertainty," he said.
Such a reconciled data set has been sorely needed, agreed Walt Meier, of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.
"You have this huge range of estimates of ice mass loss from Antarctica and Greenland—they're such a large range that you get to the point of you don't know what to trust," said Meier, who was not involved in the new study. (See pictures of shrinking ice sheets.)
The new study is in "a much more manageable range, and provides much better guidance in terms of future projections."
What's more, the study may even usher in a stronger model of another kind—scientific cooperation, Meier noted.
Instead of myriad groups working quasi-independently, the new study's co-authors "came together and sat down—at least figuratively—and came to a consensus for the best estimate that they can," he said.
"It's a great example," he said, "that in climate science and science in general, you can't do these kind of big things on your own anymore."
President Obama and Mitt Romney met face to face today for the first time since the election, breaking bread at the White House as talks over the looming "fiscal cliff" appeared to be faltering on Capitol Hill.
"I bet it was and is quite tasty," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said of the lunch as it was underway, "because [the chefs] know how to prepare very fine meals."
The menu included white turkey chili and Southwestern grilled chicken salad, the White House said in a written statement following the meal. The discussion was said to center on "America's leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that leadership position in the future."
The former rivals concluded their 70-minute encounter with a visit to the Oval Office, the symbolic center of American power to which Romney has long tried to accede, shaking hands before the iconic "Resolute" presidential desk.
"Governor Romney congratulated the President for the success of his campaign and wished him well over the coming four years," the White House said. "They pledged to stay in touch, particularly if opportunities to work together on shared interests arise in the future."
The lunch took place in an elegant private dining room in the West Wing overlooking the manicured gardens of the White House South Lawn. Romney was seen coming and going from a side entrance in a black SUV. The former GOP nominee arrived without fanfare or entourage, opening his own car door both times.
President Obama said during a news conference earlier this month that he was interested in speaking with Romney about his ideas on jobs and economic growth, noting that his rival had "presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with."
Administration officials said there was no formal agenda for today's lunch or a "specific ask" or assignment for the governor.
Romney, who has kept a relatively low profile since losing the election on Nov. 6, has not publicly addressed Obama's post-election overtures or the prospect of working together. Both men have little personal history and had a chilly relationship during the campaign.
Senior Romney campaign strategist Eric Fehrnstrom called Obama's lunch invitation "gracious" and said that Romney was "glad to accept." The governor also met earlier Thursday in Washington with former running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The Obama-Romney detente came as talks between the White House and congressional Republicans to prevent the economy from going over the "fiscal cliff" of mandatory spending cuts and tax increases set for Jan. 1 appeared to hit a snag.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the lead White House negotiator in the talks, and White House legislative chief Rob Nabors held a flurry of meetings today with congressional leaders of both parties in the House and Senate.
But following sessions, top Republicans poured cold water on what had been budding optimism of progress toward a deal.
"No substantive progress has been made over the last two weeks," said House Speaker John Boehner at a press conference.
"We know what the menu is. What we don't know is what the White House is willing to do to get serious about solving our debt crisis," he said, accusing the administration of failing to detail plans for significant spending cuts to correspond with desired tax revenue increases.
Obama and Boehner spoke by phone Wednesday night, sources told ABC News, their second conversation in four days. Boehner described it as "direct and straightforward," but suggested "disappointment" with Obama's reticence to waver on hiking tax rates on the wealthy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in advance of his meeting with Geithner, said everything the White House has put down on the table so far has been "counterproductive," and he hopes that the Treasury Secretary brings "a specific plan from the president" with him today.
LONDON: Rafael Benitez was still searching for his first win since his controversial appointment as Chelsea manager after they were held to a goalless draw by Fulham in a west London derby at Stamford Bridge.
Wednesday saw Benitez largely spared the hostile reception he received during his first game in charge against Premier League champions Manchester City -- also a scoreless draw -- four days previously.
But this was hardly a performance to win over those supporters who opposed the Spaniard's appointment as Roberto di Matteo's successor.
The final whistle was greeted with boos from the home supporters and with Chelsea now without a win in six Premier League games, Benitez must find a way to help the European champions recover their cutting edge if he is to revive the club's domestic title ambitions.
Fernando Torres suffered another frustrating night that was summed up when a second-half volley was cleared off the line and the Spaniard has now gone almost 11 hours without a league goal.
Fulham -- who have also now gone six league games without a win -- could claim to have created the better chances while Dimitar Berbatov was the game's outstanding player.
Benitez made two changes from the side the drew with Manchester City with Oriol Romeu coming in for John Obi Mikel and, more significantly, Ryan Bertrand replacing Juan Mata as one of three offensive midfielders.
The inclusion of Bertrand -- best known as a left-back -- followed on from the manager's pre-match admission his first priority was to strengthen the team's defensive foundations.
Unfortunately for the former Liverpool manager, Chelsea were much less convincing going forward.
An uninspiring start to the game did little to rouse a subdued home crowd who saved their loudest voices for the chant of "only one di Matteo" in the 16th minute, a tribute to Benitez's predecessor who wore the number 16 shirt during his playing days at the club.
Chelsea's attacking play was ponderous and it was telling their best chance of the opening half came when Branislav Ivanovic broke speedily from defence and the ball found its way to Cesar Azpilicueta on the right via Eden Hazard.
The right back's low cross found Torres who turned and shot but his effort lacked venom and was directed straight at Mark Schwarzer.
There was a smattering of boos from the home supporters at half-time and it was clear Chelsea would have to move through the gears if they were to spark life into the game.
They started the second period with more conviction although their best work was done on the fringes of the Fulham penalty area.
Instead it was the visitors who created the better chances with Berbatov at the heart of Fulham's best moves.
The Bulgarian was narrowly adjudged to be offside when he was sent clear on Petr Cech's goal.
But an even clearer opportunity came Fulham's way moments later when Giorgios Karagounis picked out John Arne Riise run beyond Luiz only for the left-back to direct a tame shot straight at the Chelsea keeper from inside the area.
Cech was the busier of the keepers, saving well from Karagounis, Chris Baird and a much better effort from Riise as Berbatov continued to out-wit the Chelsea centre-backs and holding midfielders.
Benitez introduced Mata for Bertrand in a bid to inject more creativity into the Chelsea attack but apart from a half-chance to Ramires and a mis-directed header from Ivanovic, they continued to offer only a limited threat.
-AFP/ac
BANGALORE: The Congress led by Indira Gandhi fostered a generation of hero worship and dynasty politics after 1969. This inspired many others like Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who started off with noble intentions to fight against caste discriminations, to do the same and has led to a centralization of politics in present India, said Ramachandra Guha, on Wednesday.
He was speaking during the launch of his latest book, Patriots and Partisans.
The 54-year-old historian went on to add that Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the most charismatic leaders of Indian politics, has been slowly losing his popularity because of the Congress's dynastic politics.
"Sins of seven successive generations have been bestowed on Nehru," he said light-heartedly.
The highest paid non-fiction writer of the country also slammed the phenomenon called the 'Congress chamchagiri'. "I saw a long queue of Congress party members waiting outside Rahul Gandhi's house during his birthday, a couple of years ago, braving scorching sun. Nevertheless, Rahul didn't come out to greet them while the 100 kilogram cake they had brought for him disintegrated leaving a trail from the Congress general secretary's house till the Indira Gandhi circle," he said.
He said that scientific institutions in Delhi couldn't achieve the success of ones in other parts of the country as officials chosen in the capital-based institutions are often selected on the recommendation of politicians.
Guha went on to add that massacre of Muslims in Hyderabad during the annexation of the state by the Indian army happened before the constitution came into being in 1950, but it is sad that the perpetrators of 1984 Sikh massacre and 2002 Muslim massacre in Gujarat, which were initiated by Congress and BJP, respectively, haven't still been punished.
He slammed right and left wing politicians, saying that the citizens have allowed the Hindu rightists' claims to be truly patriots of the country because the left is often considered anti-patriotic because their fatherland has always been a different country - depending upon the prevalence of Marxists movements in these countries, like China, the USSR, Cuba and currently Venezuela - and also due to the high decibel levels and angry outbreaks of the saffron brigade.
"Violence unleashed by left ( Naxalites) and right (Hindu fundamentalists) is against democracy, liberalism, religious plularism and tolerance, the idea that our Constitution promotes. Citizens should protect the country from these extremisms," he said.
TOO EARLY
Guha had a word of advice for the Arvind Kejriwal-launched Aam Aadmi Party, saying that it's too early for them to participate in the 2014 general elections. "Their current economic policies are a bit naive," he added.
Astronomers have witnessed a record-breaking blast of gas and dust flowing out of a monster black hole more than 11.5 billion light-years away.
The supermassive gravity well, with a mass of one to three billion suns, lurks at the core of a quasar—a class of extremely bright and energetic galaxies—dubbed SDSS J1106 1939. (See "Black Hole Blasts Superheated Early Universe.")
"We discovered the most energetic quasar outflow ever seen, at least five times more powerful than any that have been observed to date," said Nahum Arav, an astronomer at Virginia Tech and co-author of the study to be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Using the powerful telescopes of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, Arav and his team were able to clock the speed and other properties of the outflow.
Belching out material as much as 400 times the weight of our sun every year, the blast is located nearly a thousand light-years from the quasar and has a velocity of roughly 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) per hour.
"We were hoping to see something like this, but the sheer power of this outflow still took us by surprise," said Arav.
The central black hole in this quasar is true giant dynamo. It's estimated to be upward of a thousand times more massive than the one in the Milky Way, producing energy at rates about a hundred times higher than the total power output of our galaxy. (See black hole pictures.)
Clues to Galaxy Evolution
Supermassive black holes are large enough to swallow our entire solar system and are notorious for ripping apart and swallowing stars. But they also power distant quasars and spew out material at high speeds.
(See "Monster Black Holes Gobble Binary Stars to Grow?")
The outflows have been suspected to play a key role in the evolution of galaxies, explained Arav, but questions have persisted for years in the astronomical community as to whether they were powerful enough.
This newly discovered super outflow could solve major cosmic mysteries, including how the mass of a galaxy is linked to its central black hole mass and why there is a relative scarcity of large galaxies across the universe.
"I believe this is the smoking gun for several theoretical ideas that use the mechanical energy output of quasars to solve several important problems in the formation of galaxies and cluster of galaxies," said Arav.
While Kirk Korista, an astronomer not connected to the study, believes these claims may be a bit premature, the research is expected to shed new light on the most powerful and least understood portions of typical quasar outflows.
"The superb spectroscopic data of this quasar have allowed for a breakthrough in quantifying the energetics of what is probably a typical quasar outflow," said Korista, an astronomy professor at Western Michigan University.
"This definitely is an important step in piecing together the story of galaxy evolution, and in elucidating the role of quasars in that story."
Powerball fever is sweeping the nation.
The Powerball jackpot is at a record high of $550 million. And with the winnings so high, everyone is rushing to buy a ticket in the hope that they'll be the lucky winner.
A popular means of lotto ticket purchasing is an office pool -- in which a group of colleagues pools their money, buys a slate of tickets together and promises to share the winnings equally. It can be a fun bonding experience with your co-workers, but there are do's and don'ts to abide by, on the off-chance that your ticket(s) have the winning numbers.
Write a Contract
It may seem too serious for what's supposed to be fun and harmless, but this amount of money can make people a little crazy, so it's worth taking precautions. You don't need to draft a formal, notorized document -- a simple piece of paper with the terms of your pool and everyone's signature suffices. Make sure to store a copy of the contract in a safe place.
Make Sure Everyone Contributes an Equal Amount
Sure, if you contribute $2 and your colleague contributes $4, that's not a big difference. But if you win, that colleague will have a claim to 50 percent more of the pool than you, and that will undoubtedly create some office tension.
Photocopy the Tickets for All Participants
Yes, it's unlikely that someone would lie about the tickets outcome, say they lost when they won, claim the money, and then come into the office and continue acting like nothing had happened. But it's unlikely that you're going to win the lottery in the first place, so normal reasoning does not apply here.
Make a List of People Who Opted Out This Time
Rely on a Verbal Contract
Words won't hold up in a court of law if someone claims the winning ticket first and runs off with all of the winnings for themselves.
Let Anyone Contribute Money on Behalf of Someone Else
It's a nice idea to include all of your colleagues, even the ones who are out of the office the day you buy the tickets, or short of cash for the pool. But if you do win, those individuals who did not actually put up any of their own money for the tickets will almost certainly not be seen as having a legitimate claim to the winnings.
Trust the Tickets to the Interns
They're working for little to no money, so their loyalty is probably low.
Run Multiple Pools at Once
When members of Congress need factual information and insights into the effectiveness of the financial laws put in place after the 2008 economic crisis, they regularly turn to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Orice Williams Brown.
Initially as director and now as managing director of the GAO’s financial markets and community investment section, Brown and her staff have issued dozens of reports examining the flaws and offering recommendations to improve the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout fund, the Wall Street regulatory reform law and the initiatives to prevent housing foreclosures.
LONDON: Harry Redknapp's first match as Queens Park Rangers manager saw the Premier League basement club collect a point in a goalless draw away to Sunderland on Tuesday.
It was QPR's first point since they drew 1-1 with Reading on November 4 but the result meant the west London club, who last week sacked Mark Hughes as their manager, remained bottom of the table.
But in the day's other top-flight match Aston Villa moved out of the bottom three after Christian Benteke's goal 10 minutes from time secured a 1-0 win at home to fellow strugglers Reading.
Victory moved Villa two points clear of the relegation zone, with QPR eight from safety.
"We worked hard and we deserved a point tonight," said Redknapp, whom QPR's Malaysian owner Tony Fernandes hopes can repeat the rescue missions that helped both Portsmouth and Tottenham stay in the Premier League after poor starts to top-flight campaigns.
"We defended well and denied them chances," Redknapp, also told Sky Sports. "I feel more optimistic tonight than on Saturday (when QPR lost 3-1 to Manchester United).
"I saw enough tonight to think we can go on a small run and keep ourselves in the pack," the veteran English manager insisted.
Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill was left with a feeling of "frustration," saying: "I was hoping we would win the game.
"I know QPR will be buoyed by Harry Redknapp's appointment but I thought we could create enough to win. There were chances at both ends but it was a frustrating evening."
Meanwhile under-pressure Villa manager Paul Lambert, who for the second match in a row didn't even have club record signing Darren Bent on the bench, let alone in the starting line-up, was delighted with Benteke's 80th minute header that secured a valuable win at Villa Park.
"Benteke's done fantastic for me. He was up against a big lad. It was a fantastic header."
Lambert added: "Darren Bent just has to play well and train well. He has a future, everybody has.
"Nothing against anybody in the club, but I've got 25 lads to look after. Bent and Benteke can play together -- they did against Southampton.
"I've got to pick a team I think will win."
Tuesday's matches saw the Premier League welcome its 250 millionth fan through the turnstiles, over 20 years after the League launched on August 15, 1992.
Attendances at the Stadium of the Light (36,513) and Villa Park (28,692) pushed the figure beyond the 250 million barrier.
-AFP/ac
Bio-toilets developed by the Indian Railways and Defence Research and Development Organization have earned praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but IIT scientists say they are neither environment-friendly nor suitable for trains.
But Indian Railways, which has for several years been searching for a way to prevent spreading human excreta across the countryside and stop track corrosion, which costs it350 crore a year, is betting on the bio-toilets.
Officials say they tested the system extensively and, since January 2011, installed 436 bio-toilets on eight trains. The railways plans to install bio-toilets in all new coaches at a cost of 500 crore.
The bio-toilet uses 'cold-active' bacteria collected from Antarctica and other low temperature areas to treat waste, turning it into water and gas that are disinfected before being expelled from the train.
IIT-Kanpur studied the toilets when they were put on trial three years ago. "There is no magic bacteria that can treat waste fast enough for use in a train toilet," said Vinod Tare, professor, environmental engineering and management, IIT-Kanpur.
IIT-Kanpur and the Research Design and Standards Organisation developed a zero discharge toilet that the railways tried but rejected.
"Such toilets are suitable for houses not for trains because a large number of people will need to use them in a short span of time."
Tare said the whole project was based on misinformation. "With every flush untreated waste is expelled through different levels and finally on the tracks," he said.
But railways officials insist that they have fixed the problems with the system. "We have eliminated the drawbacks that IIT-Kanpur pointed out," Railway Board executive director (mechanical engineering) Shailendra Singh said. |
"We are using stronger bacteria and garbage tossed into the commode will not affect the functioning of the toilet."
A mild swipe of the bacteria on the sides of the toilet box is enough to clean the toilet once, but the railways will load several kilograms of the bacteria in each toilet box.
"The toilets will save a lot of money because they will reduce corrosion of railway tracks and the undercarriage of coaches need not need to be replaced often," said a senior official with Southern Railway, which operates the Chennai-Guwahati Express, which uses bio-toilets.
"We found more than 5 kg of gutka sachets when a box was opened during an overhaul," he said. "The garbage did not affect the bacteria and there was no odour."
The technology is effective, official said, but passengers will have to cooperate with the railways and display discipline akin to that expected of aircraft passengers. A page on bio-toilets posted on Indian Railways' website says passengers are expected not to use the toilet pan as a garbage bin.
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
Nov 27, 2012 1:33pm
Khalil Hamra/AP Photo
CAIRO – Waves of protesters poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square today to protest the far-reaching constitutional declaration made by President Mohammed Morsi last week that has essentially granted him unchecked power.
Click here for images of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square.
The new declaration frees Morsi from judicial oversight and with no parliament currently in place, many said longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak had simply been substituted with another.
“This is the first step for tyranny, he’s trying to put all the power in his hands and this is against the constitution and the law,” said Hassan Gamal, a professor of orthopaedic surgery. “No exceptions for anybody. Mubarak was tyrant because of the exceptions. We’re not going to tolerate any exceptions anymore.”
Liberal groups had called for the mass protest against Morsi, many of which have long complained of Islamists’ strength in post-Mubarak Egypt, led by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Protesters today said they were afraid of the constitution being written by an Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly, which will be put to a referendum once finished.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, they say something and then do the opposite,” said English teacher Nadine Mustafa. “We are in the 21st century, we want democracy, we don’t want a pharaoh ruining the country. This is ridiculous.”
Morsi’s office published the seven-article declaration on Thursday, the second of which states that Morsi’s laws and decrees “are final and binding and cannot be appealed by any way or to any entity” until the constitution is approved and a parliament elected.
Violence immediately broke out with clashes between Morsi opponents, supporters and police leading to more than 500 injuries and at least three deaths. To prevent more violence, the Muslim Brotherhood on Monday night cancelled their own rallies planned for today, though supporters did turn out in Alexandria.
“He’s a president that was elected to office with no constitution, no parliament and no defined powers in the state. It’s an exceptional circumstance,” argued Muslim Brotherhood senior adviser Jihad Haddad, who accused Mubarak-appointed judges of blocking Morsi’s attempts to reform the country’s institutions.
Morsi’s office insisted that the powers are only temporary. Haddad said the declaration will only be valid until a draft of the constitution is submitted.
“[Morsi] tried to do this through the only available avenue and choice,” Haddad said. “It does terrify [Morsi opponents] because the only thing they can rely on is trust and that trust was given to us during the presidential elections.”
Sen. Jim DeMint is lifting his hold on an FAA nominee.
(Jonathan Ernst - Reuters)
After a deep freeze, it looks like things might be moving again in the Senate: Sen. Jim De Mint is no longer blocking the nomination of Michael Huerta to be Federal Aviation Administration administrator.
The South Carolina Republican had put a hold on Huerta last summer, reasoning that Republicans shouldn’t appoint anyone to the five-year position before the outcome of the presidential election was known. If GOP candidate Mitt Romney had won, Huerta could have served through his first term. But now that President Obama has been reelected, DeMint has withdrawn the nominee’s roadblock.
Huerta has served as the acting chief at FAA since the former agency head, Randy Babbitt, resigned following a drunken-driving arrest. The charges were later dropped against Babbitt.
Huerta’s nomination was approved by a Senate committee in July, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now hopes to add the nomination to a package that could clear the full Senate sometime before the end of the session, a spokesman says.
ROME: Napoli climbed to second in Serie A, two points behind Juventus, by defeating Cagliari 1-0 on Monday. The win moved them ahead of Inter Milan who lost 0-1 at Parma in a later game.
As Juventus had lost 0-1 to city rivals AC Milan on Sunday, a win for Inter would have moved them to within one point of the Turin side, but in Parma they were up against a side unbeaten at home in eight months.
Both teams had their chances in a tight first half with Fredy Guarin coming closest for the visitors, while a deflected Marco Marchionni cross was well saved by Samir Handanovic early on.
Inter came closest to taking the lead after 62 minutes when Guarin sent in a tremendous pile-driver of a shot from almost 30 metres out that was parried over the bar by Antonio Miranti.
Japanese winger Yuto Nagatoma was proving a handful for the Parma defence down the right and Argentine striker Diego Milito had an opening after 72 minutes but failed to get any power on his shot and it was easily saved by Handanovic.
Two minutes later, the visitors paid the price as Parma opened the scoring.
Nicola Sansone picked up the ball wide left near the halfway line and drove through the Inter defence to fire in a low right-footer that Handanovic got a hand to but could not keep out of his bottom right corner.
Inter powered forward in search of an equaliser, but it was Parma who nearly scored a second with a tremendous header from Yohan Benalouane on a free-kick from Jaime Valdes, but Handanovic reacted quickly to nudge it over the bar.
In the night's other game, a Marek Hamsik's strike after 73 minutes was enough to give Napoli a 1-0 win at Cagliari, taking them past Fiorentina and Inter into third place, two points behind Juventus.
- AFP/fa
Born in a poor farmer's family in Haryana's Chhara, Singh had seen action in the Kargil war in 1999, was a part of the United Nations Peace Mission to Congo and was later posted in strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipore. He was also one of the 26/11 heroes, having gunned down two terrorists during the Mumbai carnage.
In spite of his rustic Haryanvi accent, Surender, who is left hearing impaired after a hand grenade explosion during the attack, said, "While the jawans are sacrificing so much, the funds meant for them are being spent on parties in five-star hotels."
He also drew people's attention to the symbolism of '26/11.' Surender cited that on the same day in 1949 the Indian constitution was unveiled, but ironically the nation faced a terrorist attack in Mumbai on the same date in 2008. "Today is also 26/11. It's a very important date and is symbolic of India's journey. I am glad that the AAP is being launched on this date," he said.
Surender, who along with former India Against Corruption activists, had earlier charged the government of not honoring him and non-payment of pension. On Monday, Surender retorted, "I have not received a single penny. Whatever is in my account is from my insurance and an amount of Rs 2 lakh that I had got earlier. Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari's tweet that I have been paid is completely false," added Surender.
On being asked that he was being considered least experienced in politics, he said, "Indeed I don't have experience of corruption and crime record politicians have and I don't even wish to have such experiences."
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
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
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
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
Photograph by Quang Nguyen Luong and F. Motte, Herschel SPIRE/ESA
Published November 26, 2012
The mother of 13-year-old boy Dylan Redwine, who disappeared a week ago during a court ordered visit to his father, fears that the dad may have done something to "remove Dylan from the situation."
Dylan Redwine was last seen at the home of his father, Mark Redwine, when he vanished seven days ago.
"I was married to Mark for a lot of years, and I know the way he reacts to things," Elaine Redwine told ABC News. "If Dylan maybe did or said something that wasn't what Mark wanted to hear, I'm just afraid of how Mark would have reacted."
Elaine and Mark were divorced and live about five hours away from each other, ABC News affiliate KMGH reports. Dylan was staying at his father's home because of a court order granting his father visitation rights for Thanksgiving.
Elaine Redwine told ABC News she believes her ex-husband was upset that she was the court-mandated primary custodian of their son.
"I don't think Mark treats him very well," Elaine Redwine said. "I would not put it past Mark to have done something to remove Dylan from the situation. You know, like 'if I can't have him, nobody will.'"
Dylan had been with his dad in Vallecito, Colo., for just one day before he went missing. Mark Redwine told police that his son was in his home when he left to run some errands at 7:30 a.m. When he returned four hours later, the boy was missing.
Elaine Redwine told ABC News she was having a difficult time getting in touch with her ex-husband about their son.
"He hasn't had any contact with us. [My older son] tried to get a hold of him by texting him, and he wouldn't respond," she said. "I just find it odd that at a time like this, he would be so evasive."
Mark Redwine declined to speak to ABC News.
Police say they are considering a number of possibilities, including abduction and the possibility that Dylan ran away.
"Foul play is definitely something we are looking at, but we're hoping it's a runaway case and that Dylan will show up and will be fine," La Plata Sheriff's Office spokesman Dan Bender said. "Because we don't have any clues that point in any particular direction, we have to consider every possibility."
Dylan's mother and older brother both insist Dylan wouldn't run away without contacting them, or if he did run away from his dad's home, he would have gone to them.
"When he was afraid in any situation, he knew he could call me and I would drop everything and go out there, first thing," Dylan's brother, Cory Redwine, 21, told ABC News. "He knew that me, my mom, my step-dad, any of us, if he called us and said, 'I need your help,' he knew we'd be there."
Hundreds of people have turned up to help search for Dylan, but so far police say they are no closer to finding him.
"We had people in the air, on horseback, on ATVs, search dogs, and we got no clues from any of that," Bender said.
Dive teams are searching nearby Vallecito Lake using a high-powered sonar gun, after searches this weekend revealed nothing, according to KMGH. Search teams are also combing the shoreline around the lake.
Elaine Redwine told ABC News she thinks somebody must know something, and she hopes they come forward.
"Vallecito is a small community. If anybody has seen anything or knows anything, no matter how big or small it seems, please tell us," Redwine said. "Everything right now is crucial to bringing my little boy home."
Redwine is described as 5 feet tall, 105 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. He was last seen wearing a black Nike shirt, black basketball nylon shorts, black Jordan tennis shoes and a two-tone blue and white Duke Blue Devils baseball hat.
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