BJP renews demand for PM's resignation

New Delhi: Proceedings in both houses of parliament were disrupted for the second consecutive day Tuesday as the BJP-led opposition renewed its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the official auditor's report on coal block allocation. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned repeatedly with not much business transacted as the opposition took up its demand following the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report that lack of transparency in allocation of coal blocks to private players resulted in a notional loss of Rs.1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) to the exchequer as on March 11 last year. The audit report does not directly indict the prime minister or his office. But during the time these mining blocks in question were allotted, the coal portfolio was held by him -- between July 2004 and May 2009. Question hour could not be taken up in either house. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon soon after it met at 11 a.m., and the Rajya Sabha adjourned in quick succession twice till noon. When the two houses met again at noon, the morning scenes were repeated with BJP members trooping towards the presiding officers' chairs, raising slogans demanding the prime minister's resignation. With the BJP determined not to let the houses function until the prime minister resigned, the chairs in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were forced to adjourn the house till 2 p.m. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal defended the coal block allocations, saying: 'There is no wrong doing on the part of the government. The coal block allocation was done in the nation's interest and country's development.' BJP leader Arun Jaitley was not impressed. 'The prime minister must accept his culpability in this matter and the reason is very obvious. In the five out of eight years only 142 coal blocks were allocated. This means public revenue suffered and private parties gained. He himself was the coal minister,' Jaitley told a news channel. 'In the 2G spectrum allocation scam, the minister concerned resigned and when he resigned, others tried to escape from their responsibility. This is a case where the prime minister was the coal minister and the government is putting a brave face and saying they are ready for a debate. But why do you require a debate,' the BJP leader asked. 'If in December 2010, we had not held up the winter session (A.) Raja would not have resigned... Our pressure in parliament did work in the 2G scam and I hope it does work even now.' BJP leader Balbir Punj told IANS: 'The prime minister is the prime accused in this case. How can we have a debate on the issue unless he resigns. We are ready for discussion only after he resigns.'

Inflammatory messages: PFI under scanner

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala-based Popular Front of India has come under the scanner of intelligence agencies for its suspected role in spreading inflammatory SMSs and MMSs following Assam violence, that triggered exodus of northeastern people from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Taking note of reports in this regard in local media, state Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan has asked ADGP (Intelligence) to cross-check the matter with Central authorities. 'We have taken note of the reports. The intelligence head of state police has been asked to cross-check the matter with Central agencies to find out the facts,' Radhakrishnan told PTI. He said so far there had been no reported incident of panic fleeing by migrant North Easterners from Kerala as had happened in some other states. Only an isolated case of some unidentified persons intimidating migrant workers in a hollow-brick unit in Malappuram district had been reported and cases had been registered against 12 persons, he said. Meanwhile, rejecting reports that it was involved in creating scare among the labourers from North East states, PFI general secretary Abdul Hameed said the organisation was ready to face any inquiry. 'This is not for the first time that PFI is being targetted. In all earlier cases, PFI has proved the allegations wrong and come out clean. But, unfortunately, our innocence never used to get published in media,' Hameed told PTI.

Facebook to remove content that incites violence or hate speech

WASHINGTON: In the backdrop of appeals by India to remove hate posts, world's largest social networking website Facebook on Wednesday said it will remove content, block pages or even disable accounts of those users who upload contents that incite violence or perpetuate hate speech. Comprehending the gravity, Facebook's stern warning to its users comes in the wake of the Indian government bringing to its notice the posting of contents, including inflammatory matters and doctored pictures and videos to create social unrest in the country. 'Facebook will remove content which breaches our terms as set out in our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Content or individuals can be removed from Facebook for a variety of reasons including issuing direct calls for violence or perpetuating hate speech,' a Facebook spokesperson said. 'We have received requests from Indian authorities and agencies and are working through those requests and responding to the agencies. We encourage people to continue to use our tools to report content they are concerned about so that we can investigate and take action fast,' the spokesperson said when asked about the actions being taken by the company. Given the gravity of the situation, which the social networking site officials term 'an emergency situation' a large number of Facebook employees are working round the clock in both India and the US to review and monitor the content and take necessary action, which the company says is part of its social responsibilities. In fact, Facebook has already removed quite a significant number of such 'inflammatory' and 'hate' contents from its website and in some cases blocked pages. However, because of the company policy and privacy reasons, its official would not quantify the number of such actions. If any user repeatedly tries to upload such hateful content, Facebook can even disable the account, said an official requesting anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to the press on this issue. Expressing serious concern over the current situation in India wherein people have tried to use Facebook as a tool to incite violence or spread hate, the official said Facebook has taken a number of measures to prevent this. The company is taking a cue from its 2010 experience of riots in London wherein it closely worked with local police to prevent its website being used by hatemongers for either gathering purposes or spread rumors. The Facebook, the official said, is 'pretty aligned' with the views of the Indian government on this and have 'not run into any issues' with the government. 'We understand the gravity of the situation,' the official said, adding that the company has intensified the monitoring of such content related to India. Facebook has some 50 million users in India. Company officials urged users to remain alert on any such inflammatory or objectionable posting and keep it informed. PTI

Vikas Gowda in Olympics discus throw final

London: India's Vikas Gowda became only the seventh Indian to qualify for the finals of the track and field event at the Olympic Games when he hurled the disc to 65.20 metres for an automatic selection. Gowda, who trains in the United States, breached the 65m mark in his second attempt, having managed a throw of 63.52 m in his first throw. The automatic qualification standard for the discus final was set at 65m. The finals will be held on Wednesday Gowda is also only the second Indian to make the finals in track and field at the ongoing Games after Krishna Poonia, who eventually finished seventh in women's discus throw. The other five Indians to make it to the final round of Olympic Games' track and field events are Milkha Singh (400m), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (110m hurdles), Sriram Singh (800m), P T Usha (400m hurdles) and Anju Bobby George (Long Jump).

Google unveils new ultra-high speed internet

Chicago:After more than two years of anticipation, Google finally announced Thursday that the company's ultra-high speed internet service Google Fiber would become available to the residents of its test community Kansas City starting in September. Offering an internet connectivity speed of one gigabit per second, Google said the service will be about 100 times faster than the speed most Americans have with current broadband connections, reported Xinhua. Instead of a broadband connection, Google Fiber is composed of thin optical fiber lines that run directly from a person's home to a data centre, which is then in turn connected to the national internet backbone. According to Google, it is this 'direct connection' from a person's home to the national backbone that will allow users to experience such high internet speeds. Google said it was inspired to develop Google Fiber in line with the Federal Communication Commission's 2010 National Broadband Plan, which calls for making high speed internet more widely available in the US. Despite the fact that internet was invented in the US, according to content delivery network Akamai's 2011 State of the Internet report, the US ranks only 12th globally in internet connection speed, with an average connection of 5.8 megabits per second. South Korea ranks first, with an average speed of 17.5 megabits per second. In an interview on telephone, Google Fiber spokesperson Jenna Wandres told Xinhua that Google had already done advocacy work around the development of the National Broadband Plan and improving US internet connectivity, and that it set the stage for the company to do even more once the Plan was released. Wandres added Google hoped greater internet accessibility and speed could additionally lead to more technological innovation, and set the stage for the future of internet browsing. 'When we think back about the way we used to use the internet when we were still listening to a dial tone, there were all sorts of innovations that we couldn't even imagine - we were sitting waiting for it to dial in,' Wandres said, comparing how much the internet had changed since it was first developed. 'We're hoping that with Google Fiber and its higher speeds, these things will lead to new and unpredictable innovations that as a whole will move the web forward in the US,' she added. After months of laying the infrastructure and groundwork, Google Fiber will finally start home-installation after the pre-registration deadline Sep 9. The internet service is priced at $70 a month, which is competitive with most US broadband internet providers. Google also announced the new internet service could be paired with a television component, Google Fiber TV, which Google says will include regular broadcast channels and thousands of TV shows on demand. Although Google already owns video-sharing site YouTube, it will be the company's first venture into serving as a television provider. The Google Fiber project first started in February 2010, when Google announced that the company planned to build an ultra-high speed internet network in a select US city that was willing to partner with them. According to Google, the response was overwhelming. The company received invitations from almost 1,100 US communities and close to 200,000 individuals, all expressing their desire for faster internet service. Some cities even tried doing stunts hoping to attract the Google Fiber project, with one city mayor even jumping into a frozen river and posting the request on YouTube. Ultimately, the Midwest community of Kansas City was chosen as the Google Fiber launch site in spring 2011. According to Wandres, Kansas City was chosen because of its business-friendly infrastructure, community involvement, and supportive officials. MPP

Syrian PM defects to Jordan: reports media

Amman: Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected to Jordan, a Jordanian official source said on Monday, prompting Syria to announce he had been sacked and replaced by a caretaker premier. "Hijab is in Jordan with his family," said the source, who did not want to be further identified. Hijab's defection was one of the most high profile desertions from President Bashar al-Assad's political and military circles. On Sunday, al Arabiya television reported a senior Syrian intelligence officer had also defected to Jordan. Hijab, a Sunni Muslim from Syria's Sunni province of Deir al-Zor, was also a ruling Baath Party apparatchik. State television said Omar Ghalawanji, who was a deputy prime minister as well as minister for local administration, would lead a temporary caretaker government. Assad had appointed Hijab, a former agriculture minister, as prime minister in June following a parliamentary election which came after more than a year of violent protests against Assad's rule.

Sangma congratulates Mukherjee, does not rule out moving court

New Delhi: P A Sangma today congratulated Pranab Mukherjee and wished him success but did not rule out moving court on the election, saying its process was "exceptionally partisan." He alleged that non-UPA ruled states were lured with packages and inducements and even given threats. Sangma, who was backed by BJP and some other parties, said there is a compelling need for formulating an election code of conduct for the Presidential and Vice Presidential polls, as such a code did not exist. A code will ensure free and fair elections, he said. "The process in this Presidential election has been exceptionally partisan and political. "The public perception is certainly that in identification and projection of its candidate, UPA did not genuinely build consensus and that it pursuaded political parties commanding major sections of the Presidential electoral college by economic and other packages...as well as inducements, threats and promises," Sangma told reporters here. He alleged that the spirit of secrecy of ballot was "thrown to the wind". "For election to the Lok Sabha and Assembly, there is a code of conduct for free and fair elections. Such a code of conduct does not exist for Presidential and Vice Presidential elections...Rs 57,000 crore were given to UP, Rs 27,000 crore to Bihar and so many other things have happened," Sangma said. Not ruling out moving the Supreme Court on the election, he said, "We are meeting a day after tomorrow to review the whole situation where this matter will come up for discussion."