INDIAN POLICE SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE IN BOMB ATTACK

BY OMER FAROOQ

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Indian police are investigating whether a shadowy Islamic militant group was responsible for a dual bomb attack that killed 16 people outside a movie theater and a bus station in the southern city of Hyderabad, a police official said Friday.

The group, the Indian Mujahideen, is thought to have links with militants in neighboring Pakistan. India's recent execution of an Islamic militant is being examined as a possible motive for the bombings, said the official, an investigator who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal details of the probe.

Police have not detained anyone in connection with Thursday evening's attacks, the first major terror bombings in India since 2011.

According to a New Delhi police report, two suspected Indian Mujahideen militants who were arrested last year said during questioning that they had done reconnaissance of Dilsukh Nagar, the Hyderabad district where the blasts occurred. They had also visited various spots in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

In a statement in India's Parliament, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that in response to the "cowardly terror attack," the government will "make all efforts to apprehend the perpetrators and masterminds behind the blast and ensure that they are punished as per the law."

Earlier Friday, as he toured the site of the bombings, Shinde said there had been a general alert about the possibility of an attack somewhere in India for the past three days. "But there was no specific intelligence about a particular place," he said.

The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in Hyderabad's Dilsukh Nagar district, Shinde said. He said in addition to the 16 dead, 117 others were injured.

The bombs exploded minutes apart in a crowded shopping area. The blasts shattered storefronts, scattered food and plates from roadside restaurants and left tangles of dead bodies. Passersby rushed the wounded to hospitals.

Top state police officer V. Dinesh Reddy said improvised explosive devices with nitrogen compound were used in the blasts, which he blamed on a "terrorist network."

Pakistan strongly condemned the blasts.

"Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. All acts of terrorism are unjustifiable regardless of their motivation," the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Friday morning, Indian police with cameras, gloves and plastic evidence bags used pointers to gingerly look through the debris in Hyderabad. Officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards arrived from New Delhi to help with the investigation.

India has been under a heightened state of alert for nearly two weeks since Kashmiri militant Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged for his involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five of the gunmen.

Since the execution, near-daily protests have rocked Indian-ruled Kashmir, where many people believe Guru did not receive a fair trial. Anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep was further fueled by the secrecy with which the execution was carried out.

Hyderabad, a city of 10 million in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.

"This (attack) is to disturb the peaceful living of all communities in Andhra Pradesh," said Kiran Kumar Reddy, the state's chief minister.

The explosions were the first major terror attack since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.

Thursday's attack occurred in the same Hindu-dominated area where a blast outside a Hindu temple killed two people in 2000. In 2007, a twin bombing killed 40 people in two other Hyderabad districts.

The United States, whose secretary of state, John Kerry, met Thursday in Washington with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, condemned the attack.

"The United States stands with India in combating the scourge of terrorism and we are also prepared to offer any and all assistance Indian authorities may need," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a news briefing.

Rana Banerji, a former security official, said India remains vulnerable to such attacks because there is poor coordination between the national government and the states. Police reforms are moving very slowly and the quality of intelligence gathering is poor, he said.

"The concept of homeland security should be made effective, on a war footing," he said.

---

Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Tens of millions of Indian workers join general strike

By Arun Kumar
21 February 2013

On the first day of a two-day general strike, tens of millions of Indian workers joined stoppages yesterday to protest against rising prices and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s accelerating agenda of pro-market restructuring.

The strike affected road transport, the banking and insurance sectors, industrial production and educational institutions in many parts of India, despite threats of disciplinary action by the national and state governments. Workers from private industries, including in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), participated alongside public sector workers.

The widespread support for the strike indicates the anger felt by broad layers of workers over deteriorating living standards and widening social inequality. Large numbers of public sector bank and finance employees participated because they are facing restructuring and privatisation that will lead to sweeping job losses. Workers are also incensed over the frequent violation of labour laws and the undermining of job security through the increased use of low-paid contract workers.

Read more

Italian Newspaper Links Pope Resignation To Vatican’s ‘Gay Lobby’

Stephen: I doubt very much this is the reason the Pope resigned, but I suppose when the wider truth isn’t far from coming out (pun intended) you may as well float a wide range of ‘alternate’ theories.

By Adam Taylor, Business Insider – February 21, 2013

http://www.businessinsider.com/pope-resignation-linked-to-gay-lobby-2013-2

Following Pope Benedict’s surprise resignation earlier this month, it didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to come out of the woodwork.

To a certain extent, this is expected — a Pope hasn’t resigned in centuries, and certain aspects of Benedict’s time at the top of the Vatican have been controversial — not least the damaging ‘VatiLeaks’ scandal.

Today, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper added fuel to the fire, alleging that Benedict’s resignation was prompted by a report prepared by three Cardinals on conflict and corruption in the Vatican — including what it says is the “inappropriate influence” of a gay lobby within the Holy See.

The newspaper — which has the largest circulation within Italy — says that Benedict asked three Cardinals, Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, to conduct an internal report after the VatiLeaks scandal. When the 300 page report was delivered to Benedict in December, it reportedly cemented a decision that he had already been considering — it was time to resign.

What was so damning in the report? While La Repubblica doesn’t quote directly from the report, it contains details reportedly passed on by a senior Vatican source, which points to financial and sexual lobbies that have split the church.

The report allegedly stated that various lobbies in the Vatican were exerting influence on day-to-day-life in the Vatican, and routinely breaking two of the ten commandments — “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”. The former refers to the controversies about the Vatican Bank, one of the key aspects of the VatiLeaks Scandal.

The latter commandment is apparently a reference to a “gay lobby” that reportedly exerts influence within the Vatican, La Repubblica alleges. The report infers that this group were the subject of blackmail attempts, detailing an “external influence” from those with a “worldly nature”.

Reports of financial corruption and homosexuality in the Holy See are far from uncommon, of course — the Vatican became embroiled in a gay prostitution scandal in 2010, for example, which La Repubblica highlights. However, this report is the first sign that these controversies could have played a role in Benedict’s resignation.

Curiously, the Guardian’s John Hooper has a statement from the Vatican’s press spokesperson, Father Federico Lombardi, who doesn’t confirm or deny the report exists. However, Lombardi suggests the interpretations of the report are making a “a tension that is the opposite of what the pope and the church want”.

France ready to start Mali withdrawal despite attack: army chief

OTTAWA (Reuters) - France is still ready to start pulling its forces out of Mali next month despite arebel attack on the key northern town of Gao, the French head of the armed force said on Friday.

Admiral Edouard Guillaud, chief of the defense staff, told reporters after a speech in Ottawa that he was not surprised by Thursday's attack in Gao, when 15 Islamists were killed by French and Malian troops.

France's defense minister had earlier said Paris could start pulling out troops in early March.

Asked whether this was still the plan, Guillaud replied: "This is obviously conditions-based, that's obvious. But yet, I don't see any reason not to begin some drawdown."

France sent troops last month to fight Islamist rebels who had captured the northern half of Mali. There are now around 4,500 French soldiers stationed in the country.

Guillaud, in initial comments to Reuters, blamed Thursday's attack on the MUJWA group that had held Gao until French forces liberated it late last month. MUJWA is a splinter faction of al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM.

"It's simply the continuation of attacks by MUJWA which will probably want to try more attacks in the coming days. It was sadly predictable and the next attacks will fail just like they did yesterday," he said.

Separately on Friday, five people were killed in two car bomb attacks by Islamists on pro-autonomy MNLA Tuareg rebels in a remote Malian town bordering Algeria, an MNLA spokesman said.

Violence in the north reinforces the risk of French and African forces becoming entangled in a guerrilla war as they try to help Mali's weak army counter al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Pressed on whether he was worried the attacks meant France would be staying in Mali longer than anticipated, Guillaud replied "No."

Canada has provided a transport plane to help the mission but says it will not send troops, citing the risk of Mali turning into a prolonged counterinsurgency like the ones seen in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Guillaud said the French operation was going as planned.

"The first phase is nearly finished and that was reconquering Mali on behalf of the Malian government and the international community. The second phase is handing over to the African forces and this is being done," he said.

The U.N.-backed African military force (AFISMA) has about 3,800 troops on the ground in Mali.

Obama administration urges justices to overturn anti-gay marriage law

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration outlined its argument on Friday why the U.S.Supreme Court should strike down a federal law that defines marriage as between a man and woman.

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli filed a brief with the court saying that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, expanding on the administration's approach to the controversial 1996 law, which it has formally opposed since February 2011.

Section 3 defines marriage under federal law as being between a man and a woman.

The law denies federal benefits to same-sex married couples that are granted to married heterosexuals.

The administration's position is that the law violates the guarantee of equal protection under the law.

In the brief, Verrilli said there was a history of discrimination against gays and lesbians that required the Supreme Court to take a careful look at any law that specifically targets them as a group.

He therefore urged the court to take an approach to analyzing the law known as "heightened scrutiny," which, if adopted by the court, could make it more likely the court would find the law unconstitutional.

"The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite sex couples," he wrote.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the case on March 27, the day after it weighs the constitutionality of a California law, Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in that state.

The administration has until Thursday to decide whether to weigh in on Proposition 8.