AAP throws its hat into the ring for Lok Sabha polls the Aam Aadmi Party

on Saturday declared it would contest as many seats as possi ble in every possible State in the coming Lok Sabha elections Positioning itself as an alternative to mainstream corrupt politics, the AAP asser ted that it was not looking at forming a third front alliance with any party, alth ough it welcomed mergers. Only candidates who are not facing criminal or personal charges will be considered . Family waits for body of city youth working in Saudi Arabia Hakim was working for Aramco, the State-run petroleum major of Saudi Arabia He was killed when the oil platform, which was under maintenance, sank No licences for new liquor shops: Jarkiholi The State government would not issue licences for new liquor shops, Minister for Excise Satish Jarkiholi said here on Saturday. Motorcycle for `man of the match' at `jallikattu' The organisers of `jallikattu' (bull taming sport) at Alanganallur near here plan to give away two motorcycles under the categories of `man of the match' to be awarded to the best bull tamer and `bull of the match' to be awarded to the owner of the bes t bull during the event scheduled for January 16. Kerala seeks review of Ghats order, LPG norms State submits 12-point memorandum to Prime Minister Kerala has submitted a 12-point memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urgi ng the Centre to exclude plantations, agricultural settlements, and human settle ments with population density higher than 100 persons a square kilometre from ar eas to be categorised as ecologically sensitive. In the memorandum submitted on Saturday, the State also sought six months to com plete transit to the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG Consumers (DBTL) scheme, ea rly commissioning of the Palakkad coach factory, grant of exemption to the upcom ing Vizhinjam Seaport from cabotage law and approval for the Thiruvananthapuam-C hengannur suburban railway project. The State government sought special financial package of Rs.485.33 crore to enab le the State to provide compensation to endosulfan victims as directed by the Na tional Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Security at Deralakatte to be reinforced After the incident involving kidnap and filming of forced sex between two medica l students at Deralakatte, the three medical institutions have, in principle, ag reed to bolster security in the area by installing CCTV cameras and by providing a patrolling vehicle to the police. No business in both Houses The State legislature is expected to commence the debate on A.P. Reorganisation Bill on Monday even as the two Houses remained paralysed for the second consecut ive day on Saturday due to the clear-cut regional divide among the legislators. Gang-rape victim family members to meet President The family members of the 16-year-old gang-rape victim will meet President Prana b Mukherjee on January 7 to express their dissatisfaction with the investigation into the case and demand a CBI probe Rapist teacher' arrested The Nalgonda police have arrested Ramavath Harish Nayak, accused of sexually ass aulting 12 minor tribal girls and nabbed N. Srinivas, the caretaker of the DAWN 132 Hostel, run by Village Reconstruction Organisation, an NGO. Polish woman raped, search on for cab driver A 35-year-old Polish woman, who was on her way to Delhi from Mathura on Thursday , was raped allegedly by a cab driver in front of her two-year-old daughter and then dumped at Nizamuddin in South-East Delhi in the early hours of Friday. While a zero FIR has been registered by the Delhi Police, the accused is abscond ing. Violence in Bangladesh ahead of polls Opposition activists on Saturday allegedly torched over 100 polling centres acro ss Bangladesh in a bid to foil Sunday's polls, which are taking place amid unprece

dented security. The main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies are boycotting the polls. The 10th parliamentary election will be held for just 147 out of the 300 seats i n 59 out of 64 districts In the other constituencies, 153 candidates have won uncontested because of the Opposition boycott. CID may probe Jalpaiguri blast Even as the stage is set for handing over the probe into the Jalpaiguri blast to the Criminal Investigation Department, Trinamool Congress general secretary Muk ul Roy said on Saturday that separatist forces would not be allowed to disrupt p eace in West Bengal. The police suspect that divisive forces like the Kamptapur Liberation Organisati on, which demands a State to be carved out of some north Bengal and lower Assam districts were responsible for the December 26 blast. Fishermen call off strike The country boat fishermen in Pamban, who had launched an indefinite strike on D ecember 31 in protest against the arrest of 18 fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, called off their stir and resumed fishing on Saturday. On the other hand, the Lankan authorities have remanded the fishermen in judicia l custody, he said. Kejriwal declines to move into duplex flats After a controversy over the allotment of two five-bedroom duplex flats as his o fficial residence, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday he would not use the accommodation on Bhagwan Dass Road in Delhi. Brigadier booked in VVIP chopper scam In an offshoot of the VVIP helicopter deal scam, the CBI on Saturday registered a case against Brigadier V.S. Saini, of the Army Aviation Corps for allegedly fu dging trial flight records of the copters. The case was registered after the CBI received documents from the Italian police. Mass grave found in Nagaland Will hold talks with unions on strike: Kharge Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge said the channels for the discussions wit h the recognised and other unions in the Railways have been opened for averting the indefinite strike call given by the Railway unions opposing, among other thi ngs, the new pension scheme for the railwaymen. `Number of cylinders will not be raised' Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on Saturday said that the number of subs idised cooking gas cylinders would not be increased from the existing limit of n ine in a year. Ministry keen to restore AICTE regulatory powers Though there is very little time left for the end of the Lok Sabha term, the Uni on Human Resource Development Ministry is going ahead with its plans to move an amendment to reverse the Supreme Court judgment curtailing the All India Council for Technical Education's powers to approve MBA and MCA courses. The draft Bill has already been cleared by the Law Ministry, according to Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur. It seeks to restore the AICTE's regulatory powe rs. The court had said the role of AICTE vis--vis universities is only advisory, r ecommendatory and one of providing guidance and it has no authority empowering i t to issue or enforce any sanctions by itself. Centre `soft-pedalling' on enforcing Western Ghats report The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's back-pedalling on the implement ation of the Western Ghats report by Kasturirangan panel was confirmed by the Pr ime Minister on Friday when in his interaction with media he said, As far as the Kasturirangan report is concerned, it is still in the stage of being discussed w ith various State governments. No final decision has been taken. the Kerala government conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh its apprehension s over the K. Kasturirangan Committee report on Western Ghats and asked the Cent re to correct flaws in identification of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) unde r the Environment Protection Act, 1972. That Kasturirangan panel had recommended and the Union Environment and Forests M

inistry earlier accepted that 37% of Western Ghats area would be declared as ESA , restricting environment-damaging activities such as mining, thermal power plan ts and heavily polluting industries in the declared zone. LPG distributors rap oil companies The Marketing Discipline Guidelines are being used by the oil companies to arm-t wist and blackmail us into doing things we don't want to do or shouldn't be doing, al leged P.V. Rao, who was chairing the meeting called by the federation to discuss their issues. TCS to set up world's largest training centre The global learning centre to be set up by the software services firm, Tata Cons ultancy Services, on the Technocity campus near here will have facilities to tra in 50,000 professionals every year. The company claims that it will be the world's largest corporate learning and deve lopment centre. Addressing the function, the CEO and Managing Director of TCS, N. Chandrasekaran , said the new facility would be a new benchmark for corporate learning worldwid e. Diamond studded Taj Mahal to be auctioned Authorities in Surat have made a magnificent miniature replica of Taj Mahal ador ning it with diamonds and gold. It will be auctioned for charity. French honour for Rahul Vohra The French government has bestowed the prestigious award of Chevalier des Arts e t des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) on Indian actor-director Rahul Vohra for his contribution to cinema and theatre. Vohra, 48, a Delhi University graduate, is the founding member of the theatre gr oup `Chingari.' He also works in other theatre, television and film productions. Banker Meera Sanyal quits job to join Kejriwal's ranks She is not new to politics but India Inc's Meera Sanyal has now taken the plunge, quitting her job as chairperson of the Royal Bank of Scotland (India) to join th e Aam Aadmi Party Their policies are pragmatic. They favour enterprise and education and focus on decentralised local governance and grass-roots accountability.