The Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to "fight a limited conflict" with China, said a top US intelligence official who added that "a major Sino-Indianconflict is not imminent".

"India is increasingly concerned about China's posture along their disputed border and Beijing's perceived aggressive posture in the Indian ocean and Asia-Pacific region," US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"The Indian Army believes a major Sino-Indian conflict is not imminent, but the Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean," he added.

The official also said that India has expressed support for a strong US military posture in East Asia and US engagement in Asia.

On Iran, Clapper said that Tehran is still undecided on whether to make a nuclear bomb though it has the ability.

"There is dissension and debate in the political hierarchy of Iran (over whether to build a nuclear weapon)," Clapper told the hearing.

While weighing the pros and cons of making a nuclear weapon, Iranian politicians have not yet reached "unanimity" on the issue, he said, adding that though Iran is capable of producing a nuclear weapon, the Islamic Republic is not building one right now, reported Xinhua.

Clapper also said Iran is more likely to respond with an attack on the US.

The new US sanctions would have a great impact on Iran, but they were not likely to result in the fall of its regime, he said.

CIA Director David Petraeus, who testified at the same hearing, said new sanctions on Iran "have been biting much, much more in recent weeks", but it remained to be seen whether this could force Iran to change its behaviour and policy on its nuclear programme.

On Dec 31, US President Barack Obama signed a bill with provisions asking for new sanctions on Iran, targeting foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank, the main conduit for its oil revenues.

The move, aimed at choking off Iran's critical oil income, prompted furious reactions from the Islamic Republic, which has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical oil routes.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Washington would "not tolerate" the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's production of a nuclear weapon. He stressed that they were two "red lines", and the US would respond if Iran crossed them.

Amid threats in Bawana near Delhi, this girl and her stunned family bravely tell us what happened. Video

A 12 year old gets raped in Bawana, a place on the outskirts of Delhi and her parents discover the only after she gets 4 months pregnant.

3 men gang rape minor girl for 5 months, 1 held

A 20-year-old man was arrested for sexually exploiting a 12-year-old Class 5 girl student at Bawana Industrial Area in outer Delhi, police said on Saturday. Two other persons also joined in exploiting her.

Five months ago, they gang raped her at a factory owned by one of the accused. They continued to force themselves on her.

“We have arrested one of the accused, Deepak Shah, who was labourer at the factory,” said a senior police officer. His friends, Vicky and Lucky, both in their thirties, are still at large.

Lucky was the owner of the factory. The incident came to light on Saturday morning when the minor, a student of a government school at Shahabad Dairy and resident of Bawana Industrial Area, was not feeling well. Her parents took her to hospital, where during treatment doctors found that she was four-month pregnant.

Then the parents heard everything. They went to Shahabad Dairy police station, where the girl told police that she has been sexually exploited for the last five months.

She said a few months ago, she used to go to her father’s tea stall at the industrial area to help him, as her mother was unwell. “During that time, she also used to visit some factories to deliver tea to workers,” said a police officer.

When she went to a factory at C-106 in Sector 5 to give tea, the plant owner, Lucky, along with Deepak Shah and Vicky gang raped her. They threatened her that they would kill her parents if she complained to anyone.

Traumatised, she did not tell anyone and she was exploited repeatedly.

“We have filed a case of rape against the three. Deepak Shah has been nabbed, and we will find the rest soon,” said the officer.

Read more: http://www.spicyindia.in/2012/01/12-year-old-gang-raped-and-now-pregnant.html#ixzz1l3VXAOs3

Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor M.O.H. Farook Thursday died in a private hospital in Chennai due to multiple myeloma - a cancer of plasma cells - at the age of 75, officials said. A seven-day state mourning has been declared in Kerala.

Farook was recently granted leave to go for medical treatment to Chennai.

"He was admitted for multiple myeloma at Apollo Hospital in Teynampet (cancer speciality hospital). The end came today (Thursday) at 9.20 p.m.," an Apollo official told IANS.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was on an official trip to Thrissur, cancelled his programme and would leave for Chennai Friday morning to pay his respects.

The Kerala government has declared a holiday for all state government offices and the central government offices in the state capital will not function as well.

Farook, a three-time chief minister of Puducherry and also a former union minister, was sworn in as Kerala governor Sep 8 last year.

A graduate in economics, Farook was born in Karaikal, Puducherry, and was a Member of Puducherry Legislative Assembly between 1964-1991. He was twice the speaker of the assembly.

Between March-December 1990, he was the leader of the opposition.

Thrice elected to the Lok Sabha from Puducherry in 1991, 1996 and 1999, he served as a minister of state for civil aviation and tourism from June 1991 to December 1992 in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government.

In 2004, he was appointed as the Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and held that post till December 2009.

Between January 2010 and September 2011, he was governor of Jharkhand.

In his younger days, Farook had participated in the struggle for the liberation of Puducherry when it was a French colony.

He also took part in the struggle for the maintenance of an independent Puducherry when the late Morarji Desai was the prime minister. Farook was arrested and lodged in jails in Puducherry and Cuddaore, Tamil Nadu.

A widower at the time of his death, Farook was married to S.A. Kadhija Nachiyal in 1960 and they had one son and two daughters.

Panasonic donated a unit of Life Innovation Container (LIC) to the Millennium Promise Alliance Inc.(MP). It is the first donation of LIC to Africa and aims to contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through our corporate citizenship activities. This is to be used by the people living without electricity in Mbola village, which is located in the heart of Tanzania, in cooperation with the Millennium Villages Project operated by several organizations including the MP. 

Tape-Cutting at the Handing-over Ceremony

LIC is a stand-alone power system from Panasonic's "energy creation" and "energy storage" technologies packaged into the 20ft container to provide electricity to non electrified regions all over the world for a better living and sustainable society. 
18 solar panels (includes 6 panels on the roof) generates about 9.9kWh of power a day, and 48 storage batteries　inside the container enables to keep supplying electricity even if it's not sunny for 3 or 4 days. It can be installed easily and is very portable. 

Watching a Video Letter from Japanese Kids (electricity Supplied by Life Innovation Container )

Life Innovation Container Carried into the Site
Panasonic donated 1,000 solar powered LED lanterns to the Millennium Village in March, 2011, which stores electricity that can be generated in daytime and illuminates light at night time. These lanterns are used widely in non electrified regions. They are eco eco-friendly products which don't produce CO2 while in use. 

Tanzania is a special country for Panasonic, as we have been operating dry cell battery business for 43 years there since 1968. As a stand-alone power system for a community in a non electrified area, LIC is expected to be used for audio-visual education, internet kiosk to improve villagers' access to information, or small businesses. Furthermore, we hope that it will be useful to realize sustainable society in the future. 

Panasonic will strengthen the efforts to contribute towards achieving sustainable development and accomplishment of MDGs in both businesses and corporate citizenship activities. The objective is to realize our vision to become No.1 Green Innovation Company by 2018. 

Mr. Hidetoshi Osawa, Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation Shakes Hands with Head Teacher of Mbola Primary School

A wild crocodile swallowed a 10-year-old girl while she played in a river with her father in eastern Indonesia, the second death in the same place in two months, a local official said Friday.

The girl was swimming in Wailolong river on Thursday when the large crocodile suddenly appeared, swallowed her instantly and disappeared into the water, said Viktor Mado Waton, Lembata district head in East Nusa Tenggara province.

"They only found the girl's clothes three hours after the incident, some 200 metres (650 feet) away from the attack site," he said, adding that her family members were still trying to find the body.

"Her father saw this shocking scene as he was only five metres away in the water."

He said the father and the girl's teenage brother were hunting turtles in the river while she was playing.

A 12-year-old boy was killed and eaten by a crocodile in the same river in early December when he was playing with his friends, Waton said.

The district head said he has warned locals of the danger and he will work with police to shut the area off to prevent another incident.

MAUMERE, Indonesia (AP) — Officials say a crocodile swallowed a girl in Indonesia as her father looked on helplessly.

District official Victor Mado Waton says the 10-year-old girl was searching for turtles with her father and brother in East Nusatenggara province when a giant saltwater crocodile sprang from a river and pulled her in.

Waton said Saturday that villagers found pieces of her clothing several hours later but there was no sign of her body.

Waton said the girl's father was a few yards (meters) away when the crocodile attacked Thursday but there was nothing he could do.

Last month, a boy was killed by a crocodile in the same river.

Villagers living near the river have reported a loss of livestock in recent weeks as well.

Kabul: The Afghan Taliban say they have reached a preliminary deal with the Gulf state of Qatar to open a liaison office there that could have a key role in peace talks to end more than a decade of war. 

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said on Tuesday the liaison office will conduct negotiations with the international community. He did not say when it would open. 


Mujahid's statement says the Taliban held negotiations with Qatar's government and other "relevant parties" about the office's opening. 

For the US and its allies, the idea of a Taliban political office in Doha has become the central element in efforts to draw the insurgents into peace talks. 

Chandigarh/New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ask its officials in the state "to act within the parameters of their constitutional brief" ahead of the Jan 30 assembly elections.

Reacting to this, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said he would write to the chief minister giving his views on the issue. 
In a strongly worded statement, Badal said: "(The election officials in Punjab) should treat the observance of the model code of election conduct as their primary task. No should over-step their constitutional mandate." 


"There is a difference between enforcing the model code of conduct for a free and fair poll on the one hand, and bringing the whole state to the brink of an administrative paralysis and developmental standstill, on the other. I have to appeal to the CEC to issue necessary directions to its officials to respect this crucial line," Badal said. 


Badal's spokesman said in Chandigarh that the chief minister "politely reminding the Election Commission officials" noted: "Even during the election code period, there is a democratically elected and constitutionally accountable government in the state, whose primary responsibility it is to maintain peace and law and order and to ensure smooth good governance for the benefit of the state and its people." 


Badal said that "unfortunately the manner in which the EC officials were taking their decisions is causing confusion about the lines of administrative control in the state and this can have negative impact on the morale and efficiency of the law enforcing machinery. And that can be dangerous for peace and law and order". 

In New Delhi, Quraishi said: "We will write to the chief minister and tell him what our views are." 

"We are writing to them explaining what exactly is we should be doing and what they should be doing" he said to a TV news channel. 

Badal also pointed out that "mischievous and irresponsible elements can take advantage of the prevailing confusion to create conditions of violence in the state. This must not be dismissed lightly and the EC officials must respect its own duty to refrain from doing anything that affects the morale of the administrative machinery. It (EC) must respect that the responsibility for maintenance of law and order and routine governance rests with the government of the state." 

The chief minister said that he believed that the CEC would understand and appreciate the concern of the state government. "There is need for the EC officials to act with constitutional restraint," he said. 

Showing his "extreme concern", Badal said that he had been "forced to point this out because the persistent interference of these officials even in the day to day affairs of governance, which was causing major and needless inconvenience to the common man". 

He pointed out to the decision of state election officials on the issue of carrying legitimate cash as "a decision which they themselves had to partially revoke within 48 hours". 

New Delhi: It seems that all is not well between Congress and Trinamool Congress as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal to rename Indira Bhavan, a guest house named after the former Congress Prime Minister, has now snowballed into a major controversy. 

Reports, Tuesday, claimed that Mamata’s decision to rename the building located in Kolkata's Salt Lake has irked the Congress party and its youth wing is holding a demonstration in the city to protest the move. 

The Trinamool leader wants the building renamed as Nazrul Bhavan after the legendary Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul. 

The building was the official residence of the late West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. But controversy erupted after the CPM vacated the building last week. The Trinamool has since withdrawn the proposal but the Congress wants an official notification about it. 
Hitting back on the Congress party, Banerjee said, “I never criticized PM Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Its all created by media." However, she added, "Congress is creating a needless issue over renaming of a guest house which briefly served as the residence of late prime minister Indira Gandhi and later Marxist stalwart Jyoti Basu.” 

The fire-brand leader also alleged that Congress had secretly joined hands with the Left leaders to settle scores with Trinamool Congress over her party’s tough stance on several key issues including the retail FDI and the Lokpal Bill. 

A statement earlier issued by the Trinamool Congress also blamed Congress for unnecessarily politicising the issue. 

'No effort has been made so far to give any honour to Nazrul Islam. When we have now taken the initiative, the Congress is trying to create a needless issue by protesting the move. It is highly unwarranted and we criticise it,' state Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim said at the state secretariat Writers' Buildings.

He also accused the political parties of being opportunist and thinking of minorities only during the elections. 

'The parties remember minorities and iconic figures from the community only during the elections. Once the polls are over, they just forget them. But our government is unlike others and we want to honour Nazrul Islam for his contributions. We condemn any move by the parties to oppose this move,' Hakim added. 

Congress activists last week protested the renaming move outside the state secretariat and demanding withdrawal of the decision. The Left Front also has slammed the decision.

Bollywood actress reported missing by manager last week, has received death threats over magazine photos

A Bollywood beauty whose racy magazine cover photo sparked outrage in Pakistan was reported missing Friday, but has turned up safe and sound in a hotel in India.

Veena Malik, who posed nude for the latest issue of the India version of FHM magazine, apparently vanished last week, causing her manager, Pratiek Mehta, to report her missing, according to London's Daily Mirror.

AFP/Getty Images

Veena Malik attends Indian Bollywood actor Ashmit Patel's birthday party in Mumbai.

He was concerned because he said she told him she was feeling depressed and had received several death threats over the photos.

FHM Magazine

Alternate version of the FHM Magazine December 2011 cover with Pakistani actress Veena Malik.

The report led to rampant speculation in the Indian media, including claims that she had snuck back into her home country of Pakistan garbed in a burqa because her visa in India had expired.

PHOTOS: COVER CONTROVERSY? CELEBRITY NAKED COVERS

The 33-year-old - who is in India filming a movie - has since emerged and her spokesperson said she was safe in a hotel in Mumbai.

"Touched base with Veena this morning, she is fine," the spokesperson said, according to the Mirror.

Malik, a Muslim, posed for the men's magazine topless with a tattoo on her shoulder of Pakistan's dreaded intelligence agency, ISI. Conservative clerics in Pakistan called the photos an insult.

The model, who gained fame on the Pakistani version of "Big Brother," said the images were doctored and is suing the magazine.

"I agreed to a photo shoot and having an ISI tattoo in a humorous way but I did not have any nude photos. My pictures have been morphed," she told a Pakistani television station.

FHM denies her claims.

"Maybe she is facing some kind of backlash, so maybe that's why she is denying it," FHM India editor Kabeer Sharma told Agence France-Presse. "We have not photoshopped or faked the cover."

With Phil Caulfield

msheridan@nydailynews.com; or foll

http://www.fhmindia.com/images/big.jpg

December 1, 2011New Delhi

 The Prime Minister has written to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms J. Jayalalithaa replying to her letters on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue.The text of the Prime Minister's letter is as follows:"I have received your letter of 29th November, 2011 as well as your earlier letter on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue.I have made a note of the points raised by you and also heard the issues raised by a delegation of Ministers from the Government of Kerala. I have pointed out to them that the matter is currently before the Supreme Court Empowered Committee. I believe that nothing should be said or done to create undue alarm among the people. I am sure that, given goodwill on both sides, an amicable and mutually acceptable solution can be found through a process of dialogue and communication. I have accordingly advised the Ministry of Water Resources to arrange an early meeting between the officials of the two sides to sort out outstanding issues and allay genuine concerns.I look forward to you cooperation in this matter."

December 9, 2011
	The Prime Minister is grieved to learn about the loss of life in the fire accident at the AMRI hospital, Kolkata. The Prime Minister has sanctioned ex- gratia of rupees 2 lakh each to the kin of the persons diseased and rupees 50,000 each to those seriously injured in the accident, from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

Pathanamthitta 12-12-2011: Kerala wishes an amicable solution to the Mullaperiyar issue as early as possible M blamed attempts of vested interests to create a rift between Kerala and Tamil Nadu citing the Mullaperiyar issue. These kinds of attempts are unfortunate..

Kerala is united in giving water to Tamil Nadu. There are no different opinions on this. Kerala is showing utmost restraint in these provocative situations.

Pathanamthitta 12-12-2011: CM has instructed to allot revenue land for construction of a Garbage Treatment Plant at Aranmula so that the waste from the Aranmula temple and that of the Aranmula Vallasadya can be effectively treated. The decision was taken at the Mass Contact Programme here.

CM has also decided to give sanction for the Upper Kuttanad Drinking Water Project thereby bring in a permanent solution to the scarcity of drinking water faced by the people of Kadapram, Niranam, Nedumbram and Peringara panchayaths.

CM also distributed financial aid to 15 SC/ST families residing at Adichipuzha colony for constructing houses under the Indira Aawas Yojana.

CM also gave title deeds for 18 SC/ST families. Financial aid of Rs 24.85 lakhs were given to 497 youths under the project of Agricultural Department. Rs 41 lakhs have been sanctioned for the project implemented at the Thottapuzhasseri Panchayath based on the Vadakancherry model project. Pampa labour group secretary received the amount form CM. Rs 9.44 lakhs has also been sanctioned for the paddy farmers of Niranathidam who incurred loss.

02-12-2011 :CM has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention for an early solution to the Mullaperiyar dam row. The Chief Minister, who met Prime Minister, described Tamil Nadu's stand of dismissing fears over the dam's safety as unfortunate.

Earlier, Chief Minister met  Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Yesterday, CM wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, asking her to reduce the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam, mainly for safety reasons - the structure is more than 100 years old and the region where it is located has seen several tremors lately, since July.

Tamil Nadu, however, has been demanding that the dam's water level be increased to meet its growing irrigation needs.

Ms Jayalalitha sent an acerbic reply in which she referred to "unwarranted provocations from across the border" and "the fear psychosis generated in Kerala."

In the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu argued that the Kerala government "is spreading panic among the public about the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam which is not true." Ms Jayalalithaa has asked the court to stop officials in Kerala from commenting on the possible construction of a new dam.

But CM today reiterated that building a new dam was one of the options which should be considered. "We are ready to give full assurance to Tamil Nadu on water" he said.

"There are two limitations for the Centre. The matter is with the Supreme Court and this is a dispute between two states," he said, adding that his government is ready for discussions on the issue .

The lengthy and bitter hostility between the two states has already seen the PM's intervention. In a letter written to Ms Jayalalithaa, Prime Minister said that "nothing should be said or done to create undue alarm" over the dam.

"I am sure that, given goodwill on both sides, an amicable and mutually acceptable solution can be found through a process of dialogue and communication. I have accordingly advised the Ministry of Water Resources to arrange an early meeting between the officials of the two sides to sort out outstanding issues and allay genuine concerns," he further added in the letter.

The Kerala Assembly has called a special session on December 9 to discuss the dispute.

CM writes to Prime Minister

Download Letter

A spacecraft confirms the first alien world sitting in its star's "habitable zone"

NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star's habitable zone — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist — and found more than 1,000 new explanet candidates, researchers announced today (Dec. 5).

The new finds bring the Kepler space telescope's total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation.These discoveries, if confirmed, would quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.

The potentially habitable alien world, a first for Kepler, orbits a star very much like our own sun. The discovery brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet like our own — one which could conceivably harbor life, scientists said.

"We're getting closer and closer to discovering the so-called 'Goldilocks planet,'" Pete Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said during a press conference today. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

The newfound planet in the habitable zone is called Kepler-22b. It is located about 600 light-years away, orbiting a sun-like star.

Kepler-22b's radius is 2.4 times that of Earth, and the two planets have roughly similar temperatures. If the greenhouse effect operates there similarly to how it does on Earth, the average surface temperature on Kepler-22b would be 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius). 

Hunting down alien planets

The $600 million Kepler observatory launched in March 2009 to hunt for Earth-size alien planets in the habitable zone of their parent stars, where liquid water, and perhaps even life, might be able to exist.

Kepler detects alien planets using what's called the "transit method." It searches for tiny, telltale dips in a star's brightness caused when a planet transits — or crosses in front of — the star from Earth's perspective, blocking a fraction of the star's light.

The finds graduate from "candidates" to full-fledged planets after follow-up observations confirm that they're not false alarms. This process, which is usually done with large, ground-based telescopes, can take about a year.

The Kepler team released data from its first 13 months of operation back in February, announcing that the instrument had detected 1,235 planet candidates, including 54 in the habitable zone and 68 that are roughly Earth-size.

Of the total 2,326 candidate planets that Kepler has found to date, 207 are approximately Earth-size. More of them, 680, are a bit larger than our planet, falling into the "super-Earth" category. The total number of candidate planets in the habitable zones of their stars is now 48.

To date, just over two dozen of these potential exoplanets have been confirmed, but Kepler scientists have estimated that at least 80 percent of the instrument's discoveries should end up being the real deal.

More discoveries to come

The newfound 1,094 planet candidates are the fruit of Kepler's labors during its first 16 months of science work, from May 2009 to September 2010. And they won't be the last of the prolific instrument's discoveries.

"This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

Mission scientists still need to analyze data from the last two years and on into the future. Kepler will be making observations for a while yet to come; its nominal mission is set to end in November 2012, but the Kepler team is preparing a proposal to extend the instrument's operations for another year or more.

Kepler's finds should only get more exciting as time goes on, researchers say.

"We're pushing down to smaller planets and longer orbital periods," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead at Ames.

To flag a potential planet, the instrument generally needs to witness three transits. Planets that make three transits in just a few months must be pretty close to their parent stars; as a result, many of the alien worlds Kepler spotted early on have been blisteringly hot places that aren't great candidates for harboring life as we know it.

Given more time, however, a wealth of more distantly orbiting — and perhaps more Earth-like — exoplanets should open up to Kepler. If intelligent aliens were studying our solar system with their own version of Kepler, after all, it would take them three years to detect our home planet.

"We are getting very close," Batalha said. "We are homing in on the truly Earth-size, habitable planets."