The Tribune – Sonia to address rallies today

Tribune News Service

Moga, January 18. Electioneering is likely to pick up pace in Punjab with Congress President Sonia Gandhi set to address rallies at Moga and Kapurthala on Thursday. Gulchain Singh Charak, in-charge, party affairs for Punjab, and Vijendra Singla, Sangrur MP, claimed that Sonia’s visit would boost the morale of the candidates.

“Campaigning by Sonia will also attract the attention of the voters and will finally steer the wave in favour of the Congress in the state,” they said.

Meanwhile, the EC on Wednesday made a video of the rally site to count the number of chairs, sound systems, flags and other material being used to set up the dais etc.

Returning Officer Chander Gaind said all the expenditure of the rally would be divided equally among the Congress candidates of 11 constituencies of the region. The Moga rally is being held for 11 constituencies including Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga, Zira and Jagraon.

The local administration has made adequate security arrangements for the visit of Sonia Gandhi. It has set up a helipad adjoining the stage in the New Grain Market so that the Congress president need not have to travel by road. A contingent of National Security Guards has also arrived here to review and take over the security arrangements at the venue.

Meanwhile, local MLA Joginder Pal Jain also claimed that Sonia’s rally would change the mindset of the floating voters to turn in favour of the Congress party. “She is a charismatic woman who has the ability to the poll prospects of the party in the state,” he claimed.

He expressed confidence that the Congress would definitely get a comfortable majority in the state assembly.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120119/punjab.htm#9

The Tribune – Chautalas descend on Punjab to campaign for friend Badal

Geetanjali Gayatri, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 18. Even though Haryana’s Congressmen are keeping their date with the Punjab election at a personal level with no takers for them at an official level, its main opposition party, the INLD has begun campaigning for the SAD in all earnestness.

INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala, a close friend of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, kicked off campaigning from Dera Bassi, seeking votes for SAD candidate N K Sharma while his MLA son Ajay Singh Chautala spent the day campaigning in Sardulgarh for Dilraj S Bhunder.

Party sources said while no itinerary for the campaign of the father-son duo had been chalked out, they would campaign in the constituencies as and when the SAD invites them, depending on their availability.

Interestingly, the INLD has put its weight only behind the SAD in the Punjab election and is even campaigning for the party candidates given the long-standing friendship between the Badals and the Chautalas. The support does not extend to the SAD-BJP alliance for the simple reason that the INLD is at daggers drawn with the BJP in Haryana where the party is in alliance with the HJC.

Meanwhile, the Congress leaders of Haryana are campaigning for party candidates in Punjab at a personal level rather than being officially assigned duties. Sources in the Haryana Congress office said they had received no requests for leaders from any of the states going to polls.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120119/punjab.htm#8

The Hindu – Lithuanian man charged with Birmingham murders

London, 19 January 2012. A 37-year-old Lithuanian national, who was arrested on Monday, has been charged with the murders of Indian-origin Avtar Singh Kolar and his wife Carole in Birmingham last week.

The West Midlands Police said that the suspect, named as Rimvydas Liorancas, will appear before magistrates in Birmingham on Friday morning.   The bodies of Avtar Singh, 62, and Carlole, 59, were found by their police officer son, Jason, from their house last Wednesday in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham.

Of the other two people detained in connection with the murders, a 41-year-old man has been released without charge, and a 24-year-old man is on police bail.

The police said that forensic post-mortem examinations have been conducted, which confirmed that both the deceased died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.   Both had been struck a number of times. (PTI)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2813526.ece

Sint-Truiden – Hasselt – Antwerpen – Rotterdam – Den Haag vv 26 and 27 November 2011

26/11 – Voorburg ‘t Loo, HTM Tram 2 (low level), Randstad Rail HTM Tramtrain 3 and 4 and RET RandstadRail E

26/11 – Voorburg ‘t Loo, Randstad Rail HTM TramTrain 4
I changed here from RET Metro E to HTM TramTrain 4

 26/11 – Spui, HTM Randstad Rail Tramtrain 4
I changed here from HTM TramTrain 4 to HTM Tram 6

 26/11 – Spui, HTM Trams 2, 6, 2 and 6 are expected

To see more Belgium/Netherlands Public Transport pictures go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622685920411/

More Belgian/Netherlands pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Cold bridges North-South divide, Mysore sees coldest day in 120 yrs

Vibha Sharma, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 18. While people in the northern part of the country are quite used to battling cold wave during winters, the season this year sprung a surprise for the south, with an unprecedented cold wave sweeping the region, breaking more than a century-old temperature record for several places.

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Ajit Tyagi, the cold wave phenomenon in parts of the South is “unusual” but not something that has not been experienced before.

“The cold wave in Karnataka and adjoining areas is in sync with persistently low temperatures in the North and owing to lack of cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal, which, otherwise, would have brought warm oceanic waves to the region,” he explains.

So while Tyagi calls the chill sweeping across the southern parts of the country “unusual” and also acknowledges that a 120-year-old temperature record has been eclipsed at a particular place, he stops short of attributing the phenomenon to climate change.

“The very fact that a record has been broken means that a temperature this low was registered before,” he asserts.

Meanwhile, up in the North, people may get some temporary respite from the bone-rattling chill but cold weather conditions are likely to persist till almost the end of this month.

The IMD chief says Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir can expect temporary respite around January 22, 23 and 24, but long-standing relief from cold will come only in the first week of February.

“However, the chill in the North is quite normal for the month of January…it is nothing unusual,” he says.

The Met office has predicted that the minimum temperatures will fall by 2 to 4 degree C in parts of north-west and adjoining Central and East India till January 21, leading to cold wave conditions in parts of these regions during the next two-three days.

On the other hand, maximum temperatures will see an increase of 2 to 5 degree C in parts of North-West and Central India during the next two to three days.

During the past 24 hours or so, the minimum temperatures fell by 2 to 3 degree in some parts of the north-west and adjoining central India. They are currently below normal by 2 to 4 degree C in parts of Rajasthan and south peninsular India. At 7.7 degree C, Mysore recorded its coldest day in 120 years while Bangalore registered its coldest day of January in 19 years with minimum temperature touching 12 degree C.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120119/main4.htm

Dawn – Snubbed by Pakistan, US envoy goes to India

Washington, 19 January 2012. A US envoy on a mission to discuss post-war Afghanistan will head on a previously unscheduled trip to New Delhi after India’s rival Pakistan refused his visit, officials said on Wednesday.

US officials said Pakistan informed them that it did not want to receive special envoy Marc Grossman until Islamabad completes an ongoing review of relations with Washington, which have sunk to rock-bottom in recent months.

The State Department said Grossman would head on Friday to India, whose support for Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzai is deeply resented by many Pakistanis who accuse New Delhi of trying to use the issue against Islamabad.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the United States was not trying to send any message to Pakistan through Grossman’s trip to India and reiterated that he would have liked to visit.

“We made clear that we would welcome a stop by Ambassador Grossman in Islamabad on this trip,” she told reporters.

“The Pakistanis are looking hard internally at our relationship. They asked us to give them time to do that, so he will not be going there on this trip,” she said.

Nuland said that the United States welcomed efforts by India, which has given more than $2 billion in aid to Afghanistan and plans to take a larger role training Afghan troops and security forces.

“We believe that India has a role to play in supporting a democratic, prosperous future for Afghanistan,” she said.

Pakistan has launched a review of its relations with Washington amid a drastic deterioration of ties, particularly after US forces killed Osama bin Laden during a unilateral raid in the garrison town of Abbottabad last year.

Islamabad has demanded an apology and curbed cooperation after a Nato air strike near the Afghan border on November 26 killed 24 Pakistani troops.

President Barack Obama has voiced regret but stopped short of a full apology.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that Grossman would seek to advance reconciliation in Afghanistan and talk to President Karzai about a resumption of preliminary talks with the Taliban.

The United States wants to withdraw most forces from Afghanistan in 2014, ending more than a decade of war.

But many US officials have deep concerns about the role of Pakistan, believing its intelligence services maintain ties with Islamic extremists inside Afghanistan.

After New Delhi, Grossman heads to Afghanistan on Saturday for talks with Karzai.

He is also visiting Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on his nearly two-week trip. (AFP)

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/19/snubbed-by-pakistan-us-envoy-goes-to-india.html