Author Archives: Gunjan Priya

Posted on by

Democrats gear up to strengthen position in Georgia

Georgia’s Democrats are strengthening their farm team, stated the party president Jane Bradshaw. The party has some newly elected representatives –Abrahams, D smyrna and Stacey Evans.

Georgia Democrats have started their new session in General Assembly and facing challenges from defection issues.

Young Democrats which had dominance in Georgia with 85 seats out of 236 once is now in its lowest strength after Reconstruction.

The Democrats have lost power giving 9 legislatures to Republicans in the November elections. The party is trying to cope with their strategies in the new scenario in Senate. They are also confused over selection of right candidate to compete with Republicans for next polls.

Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta who is the newly elected leader of House Minority stated that the party is focusing on giving competition to Republicans majority. She also considers herself responsible for fulfilling Democrats’ promises of job creation, improving transport facilities and school education.

The Democrats are discussing over new strategies to represent themselves once again as best political alternative in Georgia.

Former president Jimmy Carter Sen’s grandson –Jason Carter, D-Decatur stressed on finding out the problems lying underneath while building up plans for future.

Abrams cited Gov. Nathan Deal’s new plan to reduce corporate income tax as part of the steps to let Georgian voters be aware of their welfare   strategies.

Posted on by

US celebrates New Year eve amidst blizzard

The tornadoes following the Christmas blizzard in USA have completely spoiled people’s mood for festivity in the Midwest and northern belt. There were several people reported with injuries in the snowstorm and a woman died in Missouri.

The National weather Service’s warning for watch period expecting a Tornado in Mississippi and Alabama is over now, however Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois witnessed many thunderstorms throughout Friday. Two people were found dead in Missouri and three in Arkansas due to storms. So far, blizzard has taken 7 lives in different part of the United States.

Jay Nixon, governor of Missouri checked the area himself and visited victims. He expressed his gratitude to warning system for making people prepare for the storm in advance and saving lives.

Rolla town of Missouri received maximum damage due to blizzard affecting 18000 people living here. However, the residents cooperated with each other in the hours of emergency, the governor stated.

Further warning was issued expecting a snowstorm on Saturday in South Dakota.

In south Dakota, the capital city—Pierre, snowstorm brought a cover of  13 inches snow leading to a temperature around  minus 5 degrees.

Midwest and Chicago had a mild temperature on Saturday in comparison to other parts of Midwest.

The experts stated that the violent storms originated from the clash between warm wind and cold air in the Midwest.

Posted on by

Egypt faults foreign elements for New Year bomb blasts

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak claims involvement of foreigners in the blast that killed 21 people. The statement has ignited criticism from all over the Middle East.

The attack on Coptic Church on New Year in Alexandria caused a dispute between riot police and agitated Christians in Egypt. The bomb was kept in a car that exploded at the Saints Church last night when a huge gathering of Christians were celebrating New Year leaving around 79 people injured. People threw stones on police when cops tried to control the agitated crowd at the Church.

Police has surrounded the area and scattered the crowd by using tear gas. Priest of the Church tried to calm down people and requested them to stay in the church.

This was the worst attack on Christians in Egypt since 2006. There have been similar attacks recently in Iraq too.

Egyptian health ministry also confirmed that all victims of the Saturday bomb blast—both dead and injured—were Christians. No terrorist group has claimed for the attack so far, however, the way the attack had been staged to kill maximum people suggests a hand of Al Qaeda behind it.

Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian President suspected foreign militants’ role in the attack. He further stated that the attack was an indication of entire Egypt being targeted by some group, while giving condolence to people.

Posted on by

Travel agencies remove American Airlines from online listings

Expedia Inc. (EXPE) removes American airlines tickets from its latest list. The company stated that the travelers need to check other websites now to compare prices of tickets for American airlines with other service providers. The move and statement came following a dispute between the airlines and online travel agencies.  Fort Worth, a part of American airlines suggested Kayak.com or priceline.com Inc. (PCLN)  for alternatives.

American airlines ignited the dispute with travel agencies by removing its listing from OWW- Expedia competitor Orbitz Worldwide Inc. to divert traffic to their own websites.

The American airlines own website do not charge passengers for online booking in addition. Expedia, in retaliation to American airlines’ actions removed the airlines from lists.

American removed Orbitz when they could not get a deal for encouraging online sellers for establishing a direct connect system with travelers instead of going through different agent sites.

At present, Expedia’s existing agreement with American airlines is about to expire. Through the new deal, the airlines wanted to reduce their cost on what they are obliged to pay to the global distribution services and make their tickets more lucrative to passengers.

However, the airlines reported that there was no decrease in their sale of tickets due to these disputes and travelers continued buying tickets through other alternative sites like Kayak and priceline.com.

Posted on by

Obama warns Ivory Coast president to resign

Gbagbo not ready to resign yet

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo pledged for not leaving despite US warnings to resign.

The US administration stated him to resign before it was too late, however Gbagbo has insisted upon staying in power.

Gbagbo has defied all the constitutional rules by denying his rival candidates win in the presidential polls. The polls were already delayed due to Gbagbo’s interruptions and were held only after the agreement with UN for restoring peace in Ivory Coast.

However Gbagbo did not agree with the November election results that declared his rival Alassane Ouattara a winner.

Gbabgo called on his supporters to not to give up and defend the country from foreign attacks.

Obama administration has been trying to solve Ivorian crisis with peaceful efforts yet and officials have even tried to convince Gbagbo to resign by luring him for getting a position in some international organization. Gbabgo has also being given an offer to settle in the United States if he liked or anywhere in Europe or Africa.

The international community has so far tried to pressurize Gbagbo by imposing travel sanctions on him and his family.  The US officials have also clarified that the offers given to Gbagbo might also be withdrawn if his supporters continued to suppress Ouattara’s supporters and attack UN officials and peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.

Posted on by

New York appoints Andrew Cuomo as new governor

New York appoints its 56th governor –Andrew Cuomo– on Friday.

Andrew Cuomo was sworn in front of his family members in the governors’ mansion in Albany. His father Mario Cuomo is a former governor.

Cuomo’s powers as a governor are effective from last midnight and he has started working from today with the morning cabinet meeting. The Democrat is ready to face the challenging issues lying to be resolved that include fiscal crises and ethical issues.

Cuomo was born in New York City. His family has Italian and American origin. His parents Andrea Cuomo, an Italian and mother Immacolata belonged to Tramonti, owned a store in south Jamaica in New York City.

Cuomo got his bachelor’s degree in 1953 and a law degree from St Johns University in 1956. He always aspired to be a trial lawyer in the beginning of his career. He was also sent to work as a clerk with a judge Adrian P. Burke who served in an appeal court in New York.

Cuomo also played baseball and he was playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league before he got injured. After then, Cuoma started scouting the same team.

Cuomo was working as attorney general for New York As a governor he has replaced now David Paterson. Paterson had took the post when Eliot Spitzer was obliged to resign after being hooked in a scandal with a call girl.

Posted on by

Tornado leaves Cincinnati destroyed with jam roads, power cuts and roofless houses

The National Weather Service has stated that there might be a dangerous storm that had worn out entire Cincinnati, Arkansas. The storm spread in seconds over the entire area and caused the death of 3 people also rooted out many homes, and buildings.

Many house lost there roofs due to high speed winds. And power lines were also cut off. There has been a feeding center set up by the American Red Cross in church in Cincinnati. More than 20,000 people had to live without electricity during the blizzard. All power poles were crashed in the stormy winds.

There is an immediate need of electricians and reconstruction work to repair for the damages. People hope power supplies will be resumed by today. An old age couple was found dead in Washington County in their home.

Around five people were critically injured as they were trapped under fallen roofs and walls.

Business was hampered severely in Arkansas with cancellation of flights. Many airports remained closed throughout the storms. There also a lot of debris fallen on the runways on the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport which needed to be cleared off before resuming the flights.

There was immediate action from the emergency department started in Madison County. Two mobile homes were damaged here and many trees felt down.

Posted on by

Texas appeals against federal Gov’s authority to issue Greenhouse-Gas permits

Texas is filing an appeal challenging over the greenhouse-gas rules of the federal administration of the United States. The appeal will question US President Obama’s authority over granting permission to different states regarding green house emission.

A federal appeals court of New Orleans has rejected Texas’s request for not allowing the central administration to issue greenhouse-gas permits as the states wants an autonomy in this matter. The state’s new appeal has been made in the wake of its rejected plea.

The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States started granting permission on green house emission considering the fact that Texas officials were not ready to issue the permits.

Texas appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit citing the EPA’s actions as a violation of the Clean Air Act. The state called agency’s actions as an intrusion in the legal rights of Texas.

Texas has always opposed the environmental agency’s rules on greenhouse gas emission that oblige all units of oil refiners, power plants and other industries to reduce their greenhouse gas emission under permissible limits and obtain a compulsory permit for that prior to any construction or modification for their infrastructures.

The new rule implemented by the US Environmental Protection Agency will be effective from Jan. 2.

Posted on by

UN Warns Ivorian President’s supporters against attack on leader

The United Nations issues warning against the supporters of Ivory Coast president for attacking Alassane Ouattara. However, it is likely to ignite a civil war in the country among the supporters of Gbagbo and Ouattara.

Martin Nesirky, spokesperson of the United Nations stated that the UN chief Ban Ki-moon was “deeply alarmed” by the aggressive statements given by the supporters of Gbagbo against Ouattara.

The UN secretary general said that this attack on Ouattara’s hotel where he was staying, could provoke violence and called for immediate action to prevent such incidences, reveled the UN spokesperson.

UN had been authorized to verify the Nov 28 poll results under a peace agreement made after the civil war 2002-03. Ouattara was declared a winner by the international community but Gbagbo declared himself as winner referring to the Ivory Coast constitutional council’s decision. However, the council was headed by Gbagbo himself and he nullified the decision of one million voters to declare himself as a winner. The United Sates and other superpowers of the world have pressurized Gbagbo to resign and let Ouattara take the position of president however, Gbagbo remains aloof to all the pressure put over him. Gbagbo has already ruled in Ivory Coast much beyond the time given to an elected president to rule Ivory Coast as Gbagbo delayed the elections. .

Human rights groups have threatened president’s supporters for abducting political leaders who have been opposing Gbagbo. There have been reports of mass killing by Gbagbo supporters.

Posted on by

Republicans to fight with Obama over budget

A new scenario is waiting in Washington for US President Barack Obama after vacations. Republicans with more prominence in Senate now will prepare to make it a tough time for Obama over budget while the countdown for 2012 elections is already started.

Democrats expect Obama to deal with the new political disputes with a more confident stand.

This new phase of Obama’s administration will witness Ruling party’s bipartisanship with the Republicans that may change the tone and strategies of present government and would definitely affect ballot boxes in 2012 presidential polls.

However, despite the compromises made on tax issues, nuclear treaty with Russia and same-sex relationship in military, Obama still occupies an increasingly focal place in his party.

The President acknowledges the challenges coming ahead and expressed hopes to continue to be in tune with common Americans needs and purposes.

The status of Democrats has changed with Republicans overtaking them in the House after November polls. Obama’s land mark steps on Health care bill and $800 billion package were taken much before when the Democrats dominated so only time will tell whether the President will be able to continue with same impact in making decisions or not.

There is a strong probability of confrontations between the two parties over key issues like budget deficit of 1.3-trillion-dollar and government budget for 2011.