Daily News (In Short)-26-May-2015

#* The crowds have stopped roaring in Mathura: Has PM Modi lost Candidate Modi's mojo?
It was the Narendra Modi of 2014 who was present in Mathura as he listed his government's achievements and took on the Congress for attempting to rain on his parade. There were jibes about power brokers, damaads, and bure din for those who were attempting to loot the nation, with little left to the imagination on whom he was referring to.In 2014, the crowds roared, they cheered and hooted on cue, and Modi had to frequently tell people to stop trying to push forward. On Monday, they were muted, replying to the frequent questions but there was little of the madness that was seen a year earlier. The mikes also seemed to have been adjusted at points so that at least television audiences would hear responses from the crowds, but perhaps they were turned up enough or weren't at the right places because it wasn't as raucous as in the past . People waved at the camera, they shouted replies and Modi had to once tell people to remain shaant, as he tried to talk about his government's achievements but it just didn't have the magic dust of 2014.

#* Armed With Court Order, Arvind Kejriwal Reassigns 9 Bureaucrats
NEW DELHI:  Its confidence renewed by a court order, Arvind Kejriwal's government has transferred or reassigned nine bureaucrats, a reward for their out-of-the-box suggestions to improve the supply of water and power in what's turning out to be a scorcher of a summer.The Delhi High Court yesterday came down heavily on the side of Mr Kejriwal who has been in combat with the central government over his powers. The court describe as "suspect" a notification issued last week by the Centre marking out a limited area of operation for the Chief Minister.AAP Says BJP Has Now Taken a U-Turn on Statehood for Delhi
Opinion: AAPs 100 Days Limited To Shrill Confrontation Arvind Kejriwal Chairs Cabinet Meeting With Delhi in Attendance: Highlights Mr Kejriwal declared the verdict a "huge embarrassment" for the Centre, which is today reportedly consulting with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on how to proceed.Mr Kejriwal, who won a spectacular victory in February's election, says that the Centre is trying to run Delhi through Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who had announced that the appointment of bureaucrats was his sole prerogative. The Centre endorsed that stand heartily in the notification now tagged as questionable by the Delhi High Court.

#* CBI asked me to implicate Tata, Shourie: Former Trai Chairman Pradip Baijal 

NEW DELHI: After former coal secretary P C Parakh slammed the CBI in his book last year, former Trai chairman Pradip Baijal has alleged in his book that the agency forced him to implicate industrialist Ratan Tata and former Cabinet minister Arun Shourie if he wanted to save himself. Probed in several enquiries and FIRs since 2010 including the 2G spectrum scam, disinvestment of Hindustan Zinc and Laxmi Vilas Hotel, the retired bureaucrat ripped into the CBI and claimed that it "harasses upright civil servants and political opponents of the government in power".He made a special mention of the UPA-2 government, alleging that the previous regime gave "unrestrained powers to the CBI to deal with their political opponents, hoping to cover up their own sins by forcing CBI directors to make choices in their favour. I too suffered in many cases", he claimed. 

#* UN: Donor Fatigue Hits Nepal One Month After Mega Earthquake
NEW DELHI —The international community's response to devastating earthquakes in Nepal has been disappointing, a United Nations official said on Monday, adding that donors were focusing more on reconstruction than much needed aid such as food and shelter.The impoverished Himalayan nation is reeling from a 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck on April 25, disrupting the lives of almost a third of the 28 million population.A second quake of 7.3 magnitude struck on May 12, worsening the situation and further hampering efforts to get aid to survivors in remote regions. Over 8,600 people have died."I am disappointed in the sense that there was such an impressive response in terms of search and rescue — all the teams that came in to do the work, they did very impressively and comprehensively - and maybe they think that's the job done," said Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. resident coordinator in Nepal.

#* Karnataka cabinet will decide on appeal against Jayalalithaa acquittal today: Chidambaram
New Delhi: The Karnataka Cabinet will meet by Tuesday to take a decision on filing an appeal against the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Monday."The issue is in the domain of the Karnataka government. The Karnataka Cabinet is meeting today or tomorrow to take a decision," Chidambaram said, refusing to comment further on the matter.The former Union Minister, who hails from Tamil Nadu and is a senior Supreme Court advocate, was asked at the AICC briefing about his view in the matter.The legal cell of the ruling Congress in Karnataka earlier in the day advised the state government not to file an appeal against the acquittal of Jayalalithaa.The role of Karnataka was administrative and not judicial and the state was not an aggrieved party in respect of the High Court judgement acquitting Jayalalithaa and three others of all charges, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Legal and Human Rights Department said.

#* Taliban kill 26 Afghan cops, soldiers in 'on-going' siege
Taliban militants have reportedly surrounded a police compound in the southern province of Helmand in Afghanistan, post slaughtering 19 policemen and seven soldiers in an ongoing siege, a senior police officer said.Napas Khan, the police chief in Naw Zad district, said that the militants had moved within 20 metres of the compound after seizing police vehicles, weapons and blocking roads out of the area. He called for an "immediate response" from the government, reported ABC News.The assault began before dawn on Monday after Taliban insurgents attacked several police checkpoints across the Sangin district.The offensive came after NATO and U.S. forces ended their combat role in the country at the end of last year, leaving the responsibility of fighting the Taliban solely on the local Afghan troops.

#* Migrants Flooding Into Malaysia and Indonesia Trade One Nightmare for Another
GELUGOR, Malaysia — The more than 3,000 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar who recently landed in Indonesia and Malaysia ended weeks of a nightmare at sea only to fall into an administrative limbo that could last years, even decades.In a potential breakthrough in a crisis across Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed last week to shelter the migrants, and thousands more who may still be at sea, on the condition that they be returned home or resettled in third countries within a year.If the past is any guide, that goal may be hard to attain.Few countries seem willing to accept the migrants, even those who qualify as refugees deserving asylum; there is already a tremendous backlog of applicants seeking resettlement; and the agencies that deal with them are overwhelmed.

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