Todaycollections

*NDA goes all-out against PM,(JPC issue)

Delhi: Dec 22 (PTI) Targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the BJP-led NDA today demanded that he should resign if does not want a JPC on the 2G spectrum issue and answer charges before it, saying he cannot wash his hands off the corruption that has taken place.
*Chaos eases but pain remains to Europe travel;

Airline and international train services were limping back towards normal in parts of Europe on Wednesday, but the lingering effects of ice and snow that caused widespread chaos still weighed on schedules.
The disruptions to airlines and high-speed trains in continental Europe, and linking Britain to the continent, created travel chaos for tens of thousands of travellers in the busy Christmas period following heavy weekend snowfalls.
They also brought calls for legislation to force airports to deal more effectively with snow and other bad weather.
European Union transport chief Siim Kallas said he was considering forcing airports to provide a minimum level of infrastructure support during severe weather.
London's Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, and Frankfurt Airport, the biggest on the continent, said on their websites that operations were returning to normal after severe disruptions.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive of airline BMI, owned by Lufthansa, accused BAA of being unprepared for the heavy snow at Heathrow.
"What is really incredible is that 10 cm (4 ins) of snow closed the airport down for two days and then it operated at one-third capacity," he told the Times newspaper.
"BAA was not prepared. It did not have enough de-icing fluid."
A spokesman for BAA, which is owned by Spain's Ferrovial, denied there had been a de-icer issue at Heathrow and said lessons would be learnt.
But he added: "This was unprecedented weather which closed most of northern Europe's airports."
Heathrow was scheduled to operate 70 percent of a normal day's service, about 800 flights, but it was still advising passengers not to come to Heathrow unless they had confirmed flights, the spokesman said.
"We're hoping by the end of the day we'll be up to full operation," he said.
Heathrow reopened its second runway on Tuesday, offering a ray of hope for thousands of passengers stranded in departure halls, some for days in scenes that British newspapers said resembled refugee camps.
"Airlines are currently operating a significantly reduced schedule while they move diverted aircraft and crew back into position," BAA said on its website.
British Airways said that, in line with a directive from BAA, it would operate only a third of its normal flight schedule at Heathrow until 6 a.m. on Thursday.
"It will take some time to rebuild an operation of our size and complexity at our hub airport, Heathrow," the airline said on its website.
"We ask you not to travel to the airport unless you have a confirmed booking on one of the flights that is operating."
"CATCHING UP"
Frankfurt international airport was open and running at full capacity on Wednesday after heavy snow shut it down on Monday for several hours and 400 flights were cancelled.
An airport spokesman said there was a backlog of about 3,500 stranded passengers, including some 600 who spent the night on emergency cots at the airport.
"The airport operation is getting back to normal," airport spokesman Thomas Uber said . "But it will take a while to catch up."
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said it would add extra train services from Wednesday to cope with a surge in demand due to air travel disruptions. Deutsche Bahn board member Berthold Huber said the added service would stay in place until Dec. 31.
Eurostar, operator of the high-speed train between London and Brussels and Paris, said it would resume normal check-in service, but asked passengers not to show up until an hour before departure "to avoid congestion and an unnecessary wait".
On Tuesday, thousands of people were forced to queue in frigid temperatures for hours around St. Pancras station in north London as every available Eurostar seat was snapped up by travellers bounced from airlines.
Eurostar said nine of its 52 trains would be cancelled on Wednesday but that passengers for those services would be "reallocated onto one of the next available trains".
Although the logjam of travellers was starting to ease, many passengers were irate.
"This was our holiday of a lifetime," a man at Heathrow who'd been planning to travel with his wife told Sky News. "And it's a nightmare."
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*Obama weighs review process:(Guantanamo detainees):

The Obama administration is considering the creation of a review process for Guantanamo Bay detainees who are deemed too dangerous to be released but who cannot be tried in either civilian or military courts.
An administration official confirmed that an executive order had been drafted that would establish "periodic reviews" for prolonged detentions. But the official said the order had not yet gone to President Barack Obama.
The order may be greeted warily by human rights groups. While the administration sees the process as a way to provide clear standards for cases of indefinite detentions, many rights groups oppose any formalization of such detentions.The Obama administration is considering the creation of a review process for Guantanamo Bay detainees who are deemed too dangerous to be released but who cannot be tried in either civilian or military courts.
An administration official confirmed that an executive order had been drafted that would establish "periodic reviews" for prolonged detentions. But the official said the order had not yet gone to President Barack Obama.
The order may be greeted warily by human rights groups. While the administration sees the process as a way to provide clear standards for cases of indefinite detentions, many rights groups oppose any formalization of such detentions.
The Washington Post, which first reported that the draft order was under consideration, said it would create a system that would allow detainees and their lawyers to challenge incarcerations, possibly every year.
It would also establish a more "adversarial" process for reviews than the system put in place by former President George W. Bush's administration, the newspaper said.
There are still 174 detainees at the Guantanamo prison and about three dozen were set for prosecution in either U.S. criminal courts or military commissions. Republicans have demanded that the trials be held at Guantanamo.
In a May 2009 speech in which he underscored his pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Obama said there was a need for "prolonged detention" for some terrorism suspects who could not be tried but posed a threat to security.
U.S. officials say trials are not possible in some cases because evidence was obtained through torture or is classified.
"We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall in this category," Obama said in the speech. "We must have fair procedures so that we don't make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified."
POLITICAL RESISTANCE
Obama has vowed to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay amid international condemnation of the treatment of detainees, but he has run into political resistance at home.
The formalization of the policy on prolonged detentions comes as the Obama administration struggles with how to prosecute other terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the Sept 11 attacks.
The administration has had to scramble to lobby against legislation pending in Congress -- surprisingly put forward by some of Obama's fellow Democrats -- that would ban bringing suspects to U.S. soil for prosecution in criminal courts.
Attorney General Eric Holder has pushed for criminal trials for many terrorism suspects and has urged lawmakers to not interfere with the administration's powers to decide how to prosecute them.
Elisa Massimino, head of Human Rights First, said an executive order "limited to certain Guantanamo cases" was preferable to broader legislation on prevention detentions.
But she added that preventive detention policies, whether by the administration or Congress, "pose a serious threat to fundamental rights and are no substitute for criminal justice."
"Reliance on indefinite detention as a path of least resistance is part of how we ended up in the Guantanamo mess in the first place," Massimino added.

The Washington Post, which first reported that the draft order was under consideration, said it would create a system that would allow detainees and their lawyers to challenge incarcerations, possibly every year.
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*Bangladeshi govt 'death squad'(Trained by UK counter-terrorism):

Rapid Action Battalion members have been taught "interviewing techniques" and "rules of engagement" by the UK authorities, said the leaked cables.
One message says the US would not offer tactical training to the RAB because of its alleged human rights violations.
UK officials told the BBC the focus of the training was on human rights.
Set up in 2004, the 9,000-strong RAB is accused of more than 550 killings.
The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has obtained a cache of about 250,000 US diplomatic cables, which it has released to several newspapers, including the Guardian.
In a cable dating from May 2009 published by the Guardian, the US ambassador to Dhaka, James Moriarty, writes: "The US and UK representatives reviewed our ongoing training to make the RAB a more transparent, accountable and human-rights compliant paramilitary force.
"The British have been training RAB for 18 months in areas such as investigative interviewing techniques and rules of engagement."
In another cable, Mr Moriarty notes it would be illegal for the US to offer anything other than human rights training to the RAB because of the force's alleged crimes.
He also notes that despite its record, the RAB had become Bangladesh's "most respected police unit".
However, Human Rights Watch says the force is a government death squad.
In a report last year, it said the paramilitary unit had an "operating culture" of extrajudicial killings, which its members perpetrated with impunity.
British High Commission officials in Dhaka told the BBC that the UK training programme for the RAB had begun in early 2008 and was due to finish in March 2011.
"The focus is on human rights. It concentrated on providing the RAB with the skill-set to conduct law enforcement duties in an ethical manner," said an official, who did not want to be named.
"The areas covered basically include basic human rights training, interview skills, investigation skills, basic scene of crime skills, inclusion on a range of legal and human rights focused events."
The official declined to comment on whether this training was part of any counter-terrorism effort in Bangladesh.
The Guardian reports that the UK's National Policing Improvement Agency provided training to the RAB on crime scene management and investigation, via officers from West Mercia Police and Humberside Police
*Italian Students Protest Reform

Thousands of students are demonstrating in Italy ahead of a Senate vote on controversial education reforms.
Rome police have sealed off the area around parliament after last week's violent protests when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a no-confidence motion.
Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini says reforms will save billions and create a more merit-based system.
Critics say universities are already severely under-funded.
On the march

In Rome, students in their thousands have been marching peacefully through the streets.
"We are in the square to protest against minister Gelmini and to show that after the 14th of December we are not divided, we are not violent, we are simply here to demonstrate and to validate our ideas," a student called Franco told Reuters TV.
But clashes have been reported in Palermo, Sicily, where some students were reported to be throwing stones at police and trying to enter a local government building.
In the northern city of Turin, protesters attacked a publishing house owned by the prime minister, while in Naples students reportedly brought traffic to a standstill.
Demonstrations are taking place in other cities across Italy, including Milan, Venice, and Perugia.
Reforming the system

The reforms will cut the number of university courses, merge some smaller universities, reduce funding for grants, increase the role of the private sector and limit the duration of rectorships.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says there is excessive power in the hands of ageing professors and teachers.
But while many agree that reforms of the education sector might be needed, there has been criticism of the swingeing cuts, thought to total around 9bn euros (£8bn, $12bn).
Italy spends less than 5% of its Gross Domestic Product on education - lower than many developed countries.
But the cuts are part of wider austerity measures that the government is introducing in order to reduce its public debt.
Job losses

Students have held a number of demonstrations in recent months over the cuts, which some estimate will lead to the loss of about 130,000 jobs in the education sector.
"We are asking for this bill to be blocked and for the whole public education system to be refinanced," the Student Network said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Ms Gelmini said she was open to talks on the reforms.
But she has insisted the measures were urgently needed to equip Italian students for employment.
"It is essential to restore dignity and usability to Italian university degrees," she said in an open letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Our correspondent says there is heavy youth unemployment in Italy and many university graduates take years to find jobs.
The education bill proposed by Ms Gelmini is being discussed in the Senate on Wednesday, although the vote may be delayed until Thursday.
If it is passed, Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano would then have to sign the bill into law.
A student delegation is expected to meet the president later to present a list of complaints.
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*French village faces influx for apocalypse believers

Jean-Pierre Delord, mayor of Bugarach, says rumours are circulating that the village offers shelter from an impending Armageddon.

Bugarach is a small village of about 200 people in south-west France.

The mayor says that in recent years the village has attracted visitors looking for alien activity.

Now it is seeing visitors who predict that the end of civilisation is due to occur in two years' time, he says.

They believe the world will end on 21 December 2012, the end of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the ancient Maya calendar.

'Esoteric visitors'

Mr Delord says he has raised the issue with regional authorities.

"I'm worried because the population of our village is only 200 people and... we risk having a flood from all the corners of the earth," he told RTL radio.

"There are already some websites in the US with some people selling tickets for trips to Bugarach. They are doing some business, and people are already organising visits and prayer and meditation workshops, etc," he added.

"A few hundred coming every year isn't a problem, is it? But we mustn't have thousands coming altogether."

Many of the visitors believe that a group of aliens is hiding in a cavern in Bugarach's 1,231m mountain who will leave when the world ends and take them with them, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Sigrid Benard, who runs the Maison de la Nature guesthouse, said she was seeing a rise in those who held the belief.

"At first, my clientele was 72% ramblers. Today, I have 68% 'esoteric visitors'," she told AFP news agency.

The myth of a 2012 doomsday originates in claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth, according to the US space agency Nasa. That theory then became linked to dates in the Mayan calendar.

However, Nasa states on its website: "Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."
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"The Prime Minister should form the JPC and answer our questions and if you (PM) cannot answer our questions, then you should step down from your post on moral grounds," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said in his address at an NDA rally here against corruption.
The BJP and its NDA partners directed their fire towards the Prime Minister, saying his offer to appear before the Public Accounts Committee was not enough and the government should agree to a JPC probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
"It has never happened that the Prime Minister would have to say that he has nothing to hide. That he would not go to a JPC but can depose before a PAC," Jaitley said.
Challenging the Prime Minister to depose before a JPC, NDA working President L K Advani said, "In India''s history, the Supreme Court has perhaps never asked the PM to give an affidavit in a case.
He said the "campaign against corruption was in a way a campaign against the Prime Minister. He should come before the JPC and say whatever he wants to say."
Addressing the rally, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said, "Government is not giving in to the demand for a JPC as it fears that this issue will be kept alive."
Holding that the Prime Minister cannot shake off his responsibility on the issue of corruption, she said, "If corruption is happening under your nose and you are not doing anything, then you are a participant in it."
Swaraj said she had only one question for the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. "Madam, why no JPC? Mr Prime Minister, why no JPC?"
BJP President Nitin Gadkari attacked the government on alleged corruption in Commonwealth Games projects and said when the budget for the games was "inflated", the sanctions were given by the Finance Minister, Group of Ministers, Cabinet and the Prime Minister.
"The Congress ministers have been involved in corruption and so the party has no right to talk about taking strict action against corruption," he said. .

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