Digvijay asks RSS to define Hindutva - dayandnightnews.com
With Nitish Kumar’s pitch for a “secular” face as NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate evoking strong reaction from RSS, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today posed five questions to the Sangh asking it to define Hindutva.
Finding fault with the Sangh’s response to the Bihar Chief Minister’s remarks, Singh said it places on the RSS the burden of clearly defining Hindutva to all those Hindus, who believe and practise Sanatan Dharma. In an article on “Hindutva” mailed to the media here, Singh said the RSS has come out very strongly against Nitish Kumar. Snubbing Kumar over his “secular face-for-PM” pitch, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had asked why a Hindutva face should not lead the country.
In the five questions posed to Bhagwat, Singh asked whether “destroying Babri Masjid or any other religious place is Hindutva? Is Planting bombs to kill innocent people Hindutva? Singh also asked Bhagwat to explain the rationale behind opposing the word secularism when it is said that Hindutva is synonymous with the term. “RSS chief must tell what was the difference between the ideals of Hindutva and the ideals of Sanatan Dharm,” he said.
Singh found it “strange” that the Sangh Parivar calls him anti-Hindu although he is a practising Hindu who prays for half an-hour each day. The Congress general secretary said there are nine temples at his ancestral house at Raghogarh in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, where Pooja is performed each day as per the traditions of his religion. While posing the questions, Singh also said that although he did not expect them to be answered, he would be grateful if they were replied to.
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Ten seriously smart RSS readers, social magazines and aggregator apps - Journalism.co.uk
The past few years have seen the creation of some fantastic apps to make the user experience of reading around your subject a highly pleasurable one.
Here are 10 smart RSS readers, social magazines and aggregators that can help in newsgathering. This list can also guide you to some of the places where readers are consuming your content so that you can test the reading experience of your work within the apps.
1. Zite (Android, iPad, iPhone)
Zite allows you to create a "personalised magazine" based on people you follow on Twitter, Google Reader, bookmarking site Delicious and Pocket (formerly Read It Later).
You can then add sections (such as "technology", "politics" and "world news") and Zite will surface content you may not even know existed.
Zite's algorithm means that the longer you use the app, the better it gets at knowing what you are interested in.
If you feel swamped by too many RSS feeds, the amount of information shared on Twitter and want to read a few choice pieces a day that are relevant to your beat, Zite is for you.
2. Flipboard (Android, iPad, iPhone)
Flipboard is a "social magazine" that involves connecting your Twitter, Google Reader, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram accounts and more, and allows you to flick through personalised news. You can add specific news outlets (including Journalism.co.uk) which can also be a handy way of reading news from that provider if they do not offer a free native app.
Flipboard offers a beautiful page-turning experience. It is worth checking when you need a solid fix of news shared by your Twitter contacts, to browse your RSS Google Reeder feeds or want to have a magazine-like experience of reading one of your favourite digital sites.
3. Google Currents (Android, iPad, iPhone)
Google Currents allows you to follow "your favourite content" by hooking up news outlets that push out stories via Currents. You can also add feeds from your Google Reader account.
You can then follow sources from the personal "library" you create and click on "trending" stories. (You can find Journalism.co.uk on Google Currents by following this link.)
4. Taptu (desktop, Android, iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, Nook)
Taptu gets you to "DJ your news" by "curating your own stream by mixing and merging your favourite blogs and websites".
This social reader also works by by connecting your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google accounts and allows you to add feeds from Google Reader.
5. Pulse (iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire & Nook)
Pulse "takes your favourite websites and transforms them into a colourful and interactive mosaic".
It allows you to add feeds from news outlets by selecting from the "catalogue" of providers. It also has a video category and is a great way to hunt down and consume videos from news outlets. It also recently launched a new "premium sources" service, which enables users of the app to subscribe to select content from the Wall Street Journal.
6. News360 (iPhone, iPad, Windows, Playbook, Android, web browser)
News360 is a "personalisation and aggregation service" that allows you to connect up various services (Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Evernote and Google Reader).
The app also gives you a "360 degree view" of news, allowing you to see how various news outlets have reported the same story.
They are currently US focused but the push notifications are also a great way of keeping up with breaking news.
7. Subpug (browser)
Subpug is an RSS reader that allows you to add feeds and set up filters. For example you can choose to exclude stories about "sport" from a news provider.
Rather than being an app, Subpug is based in the browser. It has a simple email option so you can email yourself a link and access your subscriptions from any device.
8. Trapit (browser)
Trapit allows you to organise "the best, most relevant content into individual topic-based 'traps' for easy consumption".
You can create "traps" by entering a keyword, phrase or URL. You save the "traps", which are then updated with news 24/7.
9. Reeder (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Reeder is a paid-for app that allows you to take RSS feeds from Google Reader, Fever and Readability.
If you do not want to add feeds from social sources, such as Twitter and Facebook, and want to go through your RSS feeds on your iPad, Reeder is a great option.
10. Niiiws (iPad)
Niiiws launched a UK edition last month and offers "the most important news of the national press on your iPad".
It takes news feeds from mainstream outlets only and is a great way to keep up-to-date with major stories.
It is a particularly useful app at weekends when you want a round-up of news from various outlets and are less focused on following your niche.
- Got a favourite RSS, social reader or aggregator app that we have not included? Leave us a comment below.
RSS douseS fire - Asian Age
The withdrawal of resignations by B.S. Yeddyurappa loyalists in the state ministry, was preceded by some hard talking at Sunday’s meeting between Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, party state president K.S. Eshwarappa and dissident leader Jagadish Shettar—and a generous helping hand from the RSS.
Party sources said the RSS took the initiative to call the meeting to break the ice between the two groups. BJP organizing secretary Santhosh—a RSS man—was behind the strategy to invite Mr Shettar for the crucial meeting where he was told by the CM and Mr Eshwarappa to break away from Yeddyurappa as the Lingayat leader would never allow a fellow Lingayat to become CM. They told Shettar, who has deep roots in the RSS, that many MLAs in the BSY camp were new entrants to the BJP.
Mr Shettar was also warned that the central leadership clearly favoured dissolution of the Assembly if he and his associates did not back off and withdraw their resignations. It was finally agreed that they would leave the decision to the central leadership after which Mr Shettar left the place.
Close associates of Mr Yeddyurappa however interpreted the meeting differently. They claimed that the CM in an attempt to broker peace, offered Mr Shettar the post of deputy chief minister (DCM), which was outrightly rejected by Mr Shettar who said he was annoyed with the fact that he was being ignored in the decision making process. “At the drop of a hat, you call Mr Eshwarappa and Mr Suresh Kumar for consultations. I stay next door but I am never invited for anything,” he said.
Mr Sadananda Gowda reportedly wanted Mr Shettar to get Yeddyurappa’s nod for the DCM offer to which Mr Shettar shot back that the CM himself should approach Mr Yeddyurappa who had elevated him to the top post. “I had no qualms in working under you as a minister after losing the CM election, you should have treated me with respect,” he said.
Sources said Mr Shettar and Mr Yeddyurappa seem to have made peace on the controversial August, 2011 election for the CM post when BSY backed Sadananda Gowda instead of his Lingayat colleague who lost the battle. Mr Yeddyurappa’s logic now is that when MLAs wanted Sadananda Gowda to become CM, he could do nothing to prevent them. He also tried to put to rest speculation that he preferred energy minister Shobha Karandlaje to Shettar for the CM’s post saying he always knew few MLAs would back her, said the sources.
Pistorius to make history after Olympic selection - ESPN.co.uk
Oscar Pistorius will become the first double amputee to compete at an Olympic Games after he was named in South Africa's squad for London 2012.
Pistorius was one of 12 names added to South Africa's squad when it was finalised on Wednesday - although initially only as part of the 4x400 metres relay squad.
However, having achieved the Olympic 'A' standard in the 400m twice during the qualification period, he was subsequently added to the entry list for the individual 400m as well.
"Included in South Africa's 4x400-metre relay team for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Paralympic ace Oscar Pistorius will also be permitted to run the men's 400-metre race," a short South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) statement read.
The 25-year-old had thought his chance of competing in the individual event had gone, after he failed to achieve the 'A' standard in his final race before selection was confirmed at the weekend in Benin. However, South Africa's Olympics Committee subsequently changed its mind and added him to the entry list.
"Today is truly one of the proudest days of my life," Pistorius said in a statement. "To have been selected to represent Team South Africa at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the individual 400m and the 4x400m relay is a real honour and I am so pleased that years of hard work, determination and sacrifice have all come together.
"I have run two Olympic 'A' standard times over the past twelve months and with the time I ran at the African Championships last week I know my speed and fitness are constantly improving so that I will peak in time for the Olympics.
"I have a phenomenal team behind me who have helped get me here and I, along with them, will now put everything we can into the final few weeks of preparations before the Olympic Games where I am aiming to race well, work well through the rounds, post good times and maybe even a personal best time on the biggest stage of them all."
Pistorius reached the semi-finals of the event at the World Championships in Daegu last year, while he was also part of the relay squad that claimed a silver medal - although he was controversially not involved in the final having helped the team qualify from the heats.
The SASCOC had previously been adamant that it would not select any athlete who did not fully meet their selection criteria - and Pistorius had not run an 'A' standard time twice in the current calendar year as the selection body stipulated. However, the SASCOC subsequently relented.
"As I have said many times before, we are not taking passengers to London," SASCOC president Gideon Sam said. "Everyone has met selection criteria and are genuine Olympic Games material, either now or for 2016. I wish them all the best."
In 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a decision from the IAAF that banned Pistorius using his carbon-fibre running blades - ruling that there was no conclusive evidence that the prosthetics offered him any advantage over an able-bodied athlete.
It will be the first of two trips to London for Pistorius, who is also set to compete in the Paralympics later in the summer - becoming the first athlete ever to compete in both events in the same year.
"I am also hugely excited to then be competing to defend my three Paralympic titles at the Paralympic Games," he said. "I believe we will see some amazing times posted and I am very much looking forward to what will be an incredible Olympics and Paralympics in London."
Swimmer Natalie du Toit and table tennis player Natalia Partyka are the only other amputees to have previously competed in the Olympics.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
RSS brooks no dissent packs off Modi 'baiter' - MSN India
Gandhinagar: The fissure within the saffron polity in Gujarat has widened further with the removal of veteran RSS pracharak Bhaskarrao Damle, a known Modi baiter, from active role.
By announcing the retirement of Damle along with Narendra Panchasara and Ramesh Gupta, two other senior pracharaks, the Sangh sent a strong signal that it is in no mood to brook any dissent so far as Narendra Modi is concerned.
However, the RSS denied any rift within the Sangh and pointed out that octogenarian Damle has only been retired from his active role due to his age.
But the argument is not cutting ice with the observers. Damle of late has been openly siding with rebel BJP leader Keshubhai Patel, who has upped the ante against Modi in Gujarat.
UPDATE 4-Spain opens fraud case on ex-Bankia chief Rato - Reuters UK
* Lawsuit accuses 33 former executives
* Accusations include fraud and price fixing
* Rato is former IMF chief, Spanish minister
* Bankia seeking 19-billion-euro bailout (Adds Bankia CEO resignation)
By Andrés González and Blanca Rodríguez Piedra
MADRID, July 4 (Reuters) - A Spanish court opened a fraud case on Wednesday against former executives of state-rescued lender Bankia, including one-time IMF chief Rodrigo Rato, as public rage engulfs a bank which is in line for the biggest share of an EU bailout.
The lawsuit was brought by one of Spain's smaller political parties and accuses 33 officials including Rato - a former government minister who stood down as Bankia chairman in May - of fraud, price-fixing and falsifying accounts.
Under Spanish law, the crimes carry jail sentences ranging from six months to six years but commentators said that while corporate corruption cases grab the headlines in Spain, they rarely resulted in convictions.
"It will be a long-running, complicated case," said Pedro Schwartz, economics professor at San Pablo University in Madrid.
Spaniards are angry with the political and business elites in general as the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has imposed austerity policies and had to seek European Union aid to save a series of banks including Bankia from collapse.
Fury is particularly directed at Bankia as hundreds of thousands of small savers were persuaded to buy shares in the lender when it was floated on the stock market in 2011, only to see their investments all but wiped out in less than a year.
Protesters have staged street demonstrations in their thousands, banging pots and pans and blowing whistles outside Bankia branches.
HOODWINKED
"There are many citizens who feel they were hoodwinked," said Joaquim Bosch, spokesman for judges group 'Judges for Democracy'. "It's too early to say whether there were crimes committed or criminal responsibilities, but it calls for a thorough investigation."
The case, brought by minority political party UPyD led by charismatic Basque politician Rosa Diez, is one of many complaints brought against Bankia, which requested 19 billion euros ($24 billion) in state aid in May.
Two sources who know the judge assigned to the Bankia case, Fernando Andreu, say he is likely to handle the probe aggressively. Andreu is friendly with human rights investigator Baltasar Garzon, best known for ordering the arrest of former Chilean military leader Augusto Pinochet in 1998.
The judge will probably group together other cases with this one, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
In the case brought by the UPyD party, the High Court is demanding that Rato and other executives appear in person. Bankia Chief Executive Francisco Verdu, the only director left at the bank since Rato stepped down in May, announced his resignation late Wednesday after learning about the probe.
The court also wants former Bank of Spain governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez to appear as a witness, alongside the partner in auditor Deloitte who was in charge of signing off on Bankia's results, and the chairman of the Spanish stock market regulator.
"It's a good sign," said a spokesman for a group of shareholders looking to launch a similar case. "We still have to be a little cautious because there aren't any formal charges yet."
SELLING TICKETS FOR THE TITANTIC
The syndicate of banks selling shares in Bankia's initial public offering was led by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch , Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS . Other banks had smaller roles in the deal.
One source at a bank involved in the IPO said it had to hand over files on the deal. A banker at one of the global coordinators of the IPO said the banks behind the listing believed they were safe from legal challenges because risks had been explained to investors in a prospectus.
"It's like attacking the people who sold the tickets for the Titanic," he said, asking not to be identified.
The government took over Bankia in May after it became clear the bank could not cope with losses on indiscriminate lending during a property boom that collapsed four years ago.
Rato, who was in a former government of the ruling centre-right People's Party which is now led by Rajoy, was IMF managing director in 2004-2007.
A spokesman for the Spanish government said: "Regarding Bankia all we can say is that one must respect an assumption of innocence and judicial independence."
Bankia holds more than 10 percent of Spanish deposits and is the biggest bank likely to receive a capital injection when European bailout funds materialise later this year.
It is unclear in what form the lender will continue trading once it receives bailout funds, but there is no doubt its image has been severely damaged by the rescue.
"The name is finished, they will have to find a new one," said a high-ranking source at the bank. ($1 = 0.7933 euros) (Additional reporting by Clare Kane, Tracy Rucinski, Nigel Davies and Fiona Ortiz in Madrid and Victoria Howley and Sophie Sassard in London; Writing by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Julien Toyer, Peter Graff and Richard Pullin)
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