Royal wedding: Muslim group's Abbey protest blocked

Scotland Yard says it has rejected an application by a radical Islamist group to protest outside Westminster Abbey on royal wedding day.

The group, Muslims against Crusades, was behind a poppy-burning protest on Armistice Day.

Officers said talks were continuing on whether protests at other nearby locations would also be blocked.

The English Defence League had said it would hold a counter- demonstration if permission were granted.

Five thousand police officers will be on duty on the day.

Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens said that negotiations with the groups were "on-going", but pledged that the wedding would not be disrupted.

She said there would be 70-80 close protection teams for VIPs on the day, 29 April.

Police have already begun searching central London for explosives.

Scouring route
Officers are scouring every inch of the route to Westminster Abbey, while dogs have also been checking bins and lamp-posts for bombs.

At a briefing on security arrangements, Ms Owens said 60 people currently on bail from prison would be banned from Westminster on the day of the wedding.

Criminal activity would be dealt with "quickly, robustly and decisively so that it's a happy event for everybody else who intends to be there", she added.

As well as the Royal Family, 50 heads of state are attending the ceremony, which it is anticipated will be watched by up to two billion people on television.
Scotland Yard said it had no intelligence of a specific terrorist threat to the wedding so was not currently in a position to impose anti-terrorism stop-and-search powers, said the BBC's Danny Shaw.

Police have powers to ban any major protests along the main route that Prince William and his bride-to-be, Kate Middleton, will take.

But they are unable to rule out "static" protests taking place at other nearby locations in central London.

Officers at Scotland Yard were contacted by the ultra-nationalist English Defence League, which said it wanted to protest if the Muslims Against Crusades' proposed action went ahead.

Poppy-burning
In March this year a member of Muslims Against Crusades was fined £50 for burning poppies at an Armistice Day ceremony.

Emdadur Choudary, 26, burned two large plastic poppies during a two-minute silence in west London on 11 November.

The group's website calls on Muslims to disrupt the wedding, describing senior members of the Royal Family as "enemies to Allah and his messenger".

Sgt Richard Brandon explains how a police helicopter will provide security and surveillance
Ms Owens told the BBC police saw the wedding as a "day of celebration".

"What we will be doing is making sure that no protest disrupts that celebration for the Royal Family.

"What we have to do whenever we're deciding about whether there can be a protest, if they're asking to protest in the area around Parliament, it is defined by a very set definition of law - we have to authorise a demonstration but we can put conditions on that demonstration.

Helicopter cameras
"It's that negotiation process that we're engaged in at the moment. But [people] should be absolutely reassured that it won't disrupt the day and we'll have a very safe and happy celebratory event."

The London Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit has said it will deploy a helicopter fitted with high definition video cameras to provide support to police on the ground.

Quilliam, a counter-extremism campaign group, dismissed both Muslims against Crusades and the English Defence League as "publicity-hungry fanatics" with few followers.

Ghaffar Hussain, Quilliam's head of training and outreach, said they were "extremist" groups, "whose only aim is to divide our society and to sow suspicions and hatred between Britain's different peoples".

Last week, more details of the royal wedding were released by Clarence House, including the exact timings of the event and the route of the carriage procession.

UN warns of blurring aid and military operations

The UN's aid chief has warned against blurring the lines between military operations and relief work in Libya.

Valerie Amos said there was no need yet to accept an EU offer of military escorts to protect aid deliveries.

Meanwhile, Oscar-nominated Tim Hetherington was one of two Western photojournalists killed in a mortar attack in the besieged city of Misrata.

Another journalist said they were among a group pulling back from the front line when they came under fire.

Spanish photographer Guillermo Cervera, who was with the group, told the BBC that he and the other reporters "were coming backwards because we were scared of the fight" when they were caught in the attack along Tripoli Street.

Hetherington, 41, a photojournalist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker with dual British and American nationality, died instantly. He had covered a number of conflicts, including the war in Afghanistan.

Chris Hondros, an American photographer for Getty Images, died of his wounds several hours later.

'Impartial aid'
Inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, Libyan rebels have been fighting Col Gaddafi's forces since February.

The rebels, based in Benghazi, hold much of the east, while Col Gaddafi remains in control of Tripoli and most of the west.

Ms Amos spoke after Britain, France and Italy said they would send small teams of military advisers to rebels fighting to topple Col Gaddafi.

"Our responsibility, all the time, is to ensure that our aid is offered on an impartial basis," she said.

Military escorts could put aid workers and the delivery of their aid at risk, she said.

"We have to be extremely careful about that and make sure the lines are not blurred."

Humanitarian supplies were reaching both sides in the conflict, she said.

Speaking at the UN in New York after a visit to Libya, Ms Amos said the Libyan authorities had agreed to secure aid workers in conflict zones and ensure they got through government roadblocks.

But without agreement on a ceasefire, access to places such as Misrata would be determined by the intensity of the fighting, she said.

Continue reading the main story

Chris Hondros: The last pictures
If the security situation became impossible, Ms Amos said, then the UN would call on the EU for military support for its aid deliveries.

She did not directly address the decisions by Britain, France and Italy to send teams of about 10 military advisors each to the rebels.

The British team will provide logistics and intelligence training in Benghazi. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said it complied with the UN mandate authorising "all necessary measures short of occupation" to protect civilians.

UN Security Council resolution 1973 also authorised Nato to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.

Late on Wednesday, Libya's official Allibiya TV reported that Nato forces fired several missiles at the Khallat al-Farjan district of the capital, Tripoli.


'International crime'
Ms Amos's comments came as fighting continued to rage in Misrata, the only major rebel-held city in western Libya.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the reported use of cluster bombs by Col Gaddafi's forces trying to retake the city "could amount to international crimes".

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Misrata said the city's hospital had received more than 100 casualties on Wednesday, the vast majority of them civilians. The hospital said five civilians had been killed.

Ms Pillay said there were reports of a cluster bomb exploding "just a few hundred metres from Misrata hospital, and other reports suggest at least two medical clinics have been hit by mortars or sniper fire".

Obama to Supporters: I Understand Your Frustration Over Compromise With GOP

SAN FRANCISCO -- Easing into his 2012 campaign, President Obama is telling his supporters he understands their frustration over the compromises he's made with Republicans, while preparing them for more to come.
It's a timely warning given the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling and the ongoing debate over long-term deficit reduction, both issues Obama says can only be solved if Republicans and Democrats work together. But further compromises could prove a tough pill to swallow for many of Obama's liberal backers, who have grown tired of watching the president cede ground to the GOP on spending cuts and tax breaks for the wealthy.
During a raucous fundraiser focused on young people in San Francisco Wednesday night, Obama said his supporters are not alone in their frustration.
"There are times when I've felt the same way you do. It's a big, complicated, messy democracy," he said. "We knew this wouldn't be easy."
Obama's three-day West Coast swing -- his most extensive travel since announcing his re-election bid -- offered a glimpse of how Obama will seek to reenergize the independents and first-time voters who carried him to victory in 2008. Obama's rallying cry is that more work needs to be done in order to make the vision of America he promised a reality, and he is the only one who can see those hopes through.
"It is going to take more than a couple of years," Obama said. "It's going to take us more than one term to finish everything that we need to do."
Obama senior adviser David Plouffe offered a more sobering political forecast to the hundreds of young supporters gathered for the nighttime rally.
"This is going to be a close campaign," Plouffe said. "The one thing we better assume is that it's going to be closer than the last one."
After a third fundraiser here Thursday morning, Obama was to make stops in Reno, Nev., and Los Angeles. The president was scheduled to return to Washington Friday afternoon.
Obama was coupling his fundraising efforts with a series of town hall meetings aimed at selling his plan for cutting deficit spending directly to a wary public.
"The deficit is real, our debt is real. We've got to do something about it. But how we do it is going to make a huge difference," Obama said during a smaller, high-dollar fundraiser Wednesday night.
The president and Republicans have both offered plans for bringing down the deficit, but vast differences exist over how to do so. The president is calling for $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 12 years, through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes on the wealthy, while House Republicans have passed a plan that would reduce the deficit by nearly $6 trillion in a decade, in part by overhauling Medicare and Medicaid.
The president and Republicans have accused each other of pitching "radical" plans.
"I think it's fair to say that their vision is radical," Obama told a town hall gathering Wednesday at the headquarters of Facebook, the huge social network company.
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, returned fire. "What's radical is piling up $9 trillion more in debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids," he said, echoing a GOP criticism that Obama's plan would accomplish too little.
Obama's mixing of politics and policy on this West Coast swing is a harbinger of things to come as he balances campaigning with the duties of the presidency.
White House aides insist the president is only involved in the reelection campaign from a distance at this point. But with fundraisers and campaign-style town hall meetings quickly becoming staples in his schedule, it's clear Obama is already in re-election mode.

Bhushan CD not tampered with: Sources

New Delhi:  It threatens to be another day drenched in controversy for the civil activists who are leading India's anti-corruption movement.

A government forensic lab has reported that a CD that allegedly has Shanti Bhushan stating that a judge can be bribed for four crores is not doctored. The report was submitted to the Delhi Police today. However, sources say that the same lab has said that it needs more material for a conclusive finding.

Mr Bhushan, who has served as the country's law minister, was picked by civil activist Anna Hazare as the co-chairman of a new committee that is drafting an anti-corruption bill.   Earlier this month, Mr Hazare went on a hunger strike to demand that the government get down straight away to the business of introducing the new Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill).  Because the bill will target politicians, Mr Hazare said they cannot have sole charge.  With lakhs of Indians throwing their weight behind Mr Hazare, the government agreed to the 72-year-old's demands.  The Lokpal Bill's Drafting Committee now includes five ministers and five non-elected representatives, including Mr Hazare, Mr Bhushan and his son, Prashant.

Since then, the Bhushans have stared at a series of allegations that suggest they are ill-placed to be anti-corruption crusaders.  Civil activists like Mr Hazare have backed the Bhushans , accusing some within the Congress party among others of launching "a smear campaign" to damage their credibility and to thwart the role of civil activists in the drafting of the Lokpal Bill.  Others-  mainly politicians like Amar Singh and Digvijaya Singh - have said that the Bhushans must be held accountable to the same standards of ethics that they apply to politicians.  Amar Singh today suggested that Shanti Bhushan should exit the drafting committee based on the lab

That CD was sent anonymously to media houses last week and has a conversation that is purported to be  between Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh, and Shanti Bhushan.   A voice resembling Mr Bhushan's says that a judge can be bribed and that his son can handle this; the assignment he says will cost four crores.

Prashant Bhushan has said that two different labs- one in Hyderabad and another in the US -have said the CD consists of spliced conversations.

The report by the government's forensic lab, today, however says that the CD is not doctored but that the entire conversation is needed  - as opposed to the excerpt that's on the CD- for more information.  The CISF lab has also said that voice samples of the three people on the CD would help provide conclusive evidence of whether it's genuine. 

The CD and the new report have been handed to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. 

Swami Agnivesh -who like Mr Hazare has been at the forefront of the India Against Corruption Campaign - said the lab report handed to the police today "is absurd" and "should be verified." 

What Forensic Lab Report Says About Bhushan CD

• The recorded conversation is in contextual continuity
• No abrupt change in the phase of speech signal could be detected
• No change in background noise pattern throughout the recording could be observed
• Hence, the recorded conversation in the CD marked exhibit 'Q' could not have been tampered. However, complete examination for authenticity of the recorded conversation can be carried out, if original recording is made available for examination.

Who is Jeffery Sean Lehman?

New Delhi: Jeffery Sean Lehman is extremely busy these days as he has enormous task in hand these days. He works day and night to complete his job. His job is really huge as he has to announce the successor of N.Naranyana Murthy,the founder chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited. In fact, he is heading the search committee that is to find the replacement of Murthy.

Lehman is an American scholar, lawyer and academic administrator. He is the chancellor and founding dean of the School of Transnational Law at Peking University, in south China's Shenzhen city. He is best known for serving as the 11th president of Cornell University from 2003 until 2005. A native of Bronxville, New York, Lehman is a member of the Cornell class of 1977, the first alumnus of that institution to serve as its president. 

While a student at Cornell , Lehman was active in the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity and co-wrote the book 1000 Ways to Win Monopoly Games on the way to earning his undergraduate degree in mathematics . He went on to receive a J.D. and a M.P.P. from the University of Michigan. After receiving his law degree, he served as law clerk for Chief Judge Frank M. Coffin of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and later clerked for Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court .

After practicing law in Washington, D.C. , Lehman returned to the University of Michigan in 1987 to serve on the faculty of the law school. He also served as a visiting professor at Yale Law School and the University of Paris . Named Dean of Michigan Law in 1994, he, along with then University President Lee Bollinger , received national attention in the 2003 Supreme Court case of Grutter v. Bollinger , in which the University largely succeeded in defending the law school's affirmative action admissions policies. 

He was named the 11th president of Cornell University on December 14, 2002 and assumed the duties of that office on July 1, 2003. As president of Cornell, he oversaw effective large-scale fundraising efforts. In 2004, Cornell ranked third in the nation in university fundraising (behind only Harvard and Stanford ), raising over US$375 million that year alone. Lehman was also known for prominently promoting his "three themes": "life in the age of the genome," "wisdom in the age of digital information" and "sustainability in the age of development."

These themes arose from intensive engagement with faculty, students and Cornellians during his first year, a process that won him great respect across campus. Lehman pioneered the concept of a "transnational"university, by opening a medical campus in Doha, Qatar and cooperative education and research arrangements with universities in China, India and Singapore.

During his tenure, Cornell and Lehman were criticized for plans to build a parking lot in " Redbud Woods," drawing particular fire from Cornell and Ithaca environmentalists .

Lehman was a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. from 2005 to 2008. Lehman has also assumed a role as a director of Indian IT firm, Infosys Technologies Limited , whose then-chairman, N. R. Narayana Murthy , had been appointed to the Cornell Board of Trustees during Lehman's tenure as President.
 

In 2008 Lehman was named the chancellor and founding dean of the School of Transnational Law at PekingUniversity 's Shenzhen campus. The school is modeled on the American style of law school, and it is intended that graduates will be eligible to sit for the New York bar exam.

We have saved 100 crore in IPL 4: Chirayu Amin

VADODARA: He took over as the chairman of IPL after Lalit Modi's controversial exit.

One year into his job and Chirayu Amin says he is happy about his performance. Excerpts from an interview:

You took over as chairman of IPL when it was surrounded by controversies last year. How has been your one-year stint?

It has been a good stint as we have been running the league professionally. The governing council is being run like a professional company with complete transparency. Now, every decision is taken jointly after discussion which was not the case earlier. Each and every tender is opened in presence of lawyers and bidders.

What were the important steps taken in last one year and how did IPL benefit from it?

Apart from bringing in transparency, we made it a point to stop unnecessary expenditure and spent money more judiciously. These measures alone have helped us save Rs 100 crore in IPL-4.

The late-night parties during IPL have been discontinued. Did the franchises object to it?

Not at all. In fact, the franchise owners are happy that we stopped the parties. They feel that the players will now be able to maintain their focus more on cricket. IPL is more about cricket.

After all the controversies that hit IPL last year, how has been the response from the fans?

The opening ceremony of IPL-4 received maximum TRPs and the games have received more viewership than last year. Also, Volkswagen joined in as additional sponsor for IPL-4 and we hope our revenues to be higher this year which means more money for state associations.

Two teams were added in IPL-4. Any plan to add more teams in future?

There is no chance of having additional teams in IPL now. The schedule window does not allow us to have more teams and matches.

You had a long stint with Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) as president and also vice-president of BCCI. Did it help you in running IPL better?

Well, I have been at handling cricketing affairs since long so it did help. But, my experience of running Alembic Ltd helped me more in running IPL as we have to apply same principles of management used in corporate sector.

Maharaja of Jaipur Bhawani Singh passes away

JAIPUR: The last maharaja of Jaipur, Sawai Bhawani Singh, died on Sunday at a private hospital in Gurgaon following multi-organ failure.

The head of Kachwaha clan of Rajputs, Singh was admitted to hospital on March 29. The body of the 80-year-old maharaja reached Jaipur at 10.30 am on Sunday. He will be cremated with full state honours on Monday. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot announced two days of state mourning.

Government offices and schools in Jaipur will remain closed on Monday. The City Palace will remain shut for visitors for three days.

``He had served the Army. It was due to his great courage during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that he was awarded Mahavir Chakra,'' Gehlot said after paying tribute at Chandra Mahal in City Palace where Singh's body is lying in state.

Ministers Bina Kak and AA Khan, chief secretary S Ahmad, Army officers and common people were among those who paid their last respects. People can pay their respects on Monday between 8 am and 10 am. The funeral procession will begin at 11 am from the City Palace. The last rites will be conducted at Gaitor Cenotaph.

``He was a warrior and fought till the last. He did not utter a word of protest during his treatment,'' said his son-in-law Narendra Singh. He who was with the maharaja during his last days in the hospital. ``He wanted someone from the family to serve in the Army. When my son was born, he would buy him things related to the Army,'' he said.

Brigadier Bhawani Singh had adopted his grandson Padmanabh Singh. Eldest son of his daughter Diya Kumari, Padmanabh was chosen his heir on November 22, 2002. Bhawani Singh is survived by his wife Padmini Devi, daughter Diya Kumari, her son Lakshraj and daughter Gauravi Kumari.

Bhawani Singh served as the ruler of Jaipur from June 24, 1970 after the death of his father Sawai Man Singh II. The President of India had recognised him as the successor and ruler of Jaipur and issued a notification. But Singh could serve as a maharaja for only a few months as the Indira Gandhi government abolished royal titles in 1971.

Bhawani Singh was Rajmata Gayatri Devi's step son. He was 13 when his mother died. Gayatri Devi had consoled him during the mourning period and prepared him to perform his mother's last rites. When Rajmata died in 2009, he brought her body to the City Palace and performed the last rites.

Bhawani Singh, a colonel in the Army, had opted for voluntary retirement in 1974. When the Indian Army was sent to Sri Lanka for Operation Pawan, he went to that country to boost the morale of the jawans after the then President and prime minister requested him. For this, the President, in a rare gesture, bestowed on him the rank of Brigadier even though he was a retired officer.