Panaji:

Meanwhile, organisers are gearing up for the festival, which is now less than 10 days away.”The traditional float parade is to be held Feb 18 in Panaji and will see beautiful floats wind their way along the streets culminating with King Momo getting his key to the city,” organising committee chairman Francisco Martins said.”Leading the magnificent parade will be the main float bearing King Momo and his companions. The floats will depict facets of our beautiful state and will be accompanied by music and dancers,” he added.

Carnival processions are symbolic of Goa`s colonial Portuguese legacy and are held every year before the holy season of Lent.The festival, which involves a public celebration in form of long continuous parades of gaily coloured floats, with masquerade dancers, is led by King Momo or king of the carnival, who is a locally chosen secretary.

The increasing popularity of the festival had led the Goa government to include the event in its tourism itinerary.

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Iron exports ban in Goa

The Union Commerce Ministry will take a final call on banning iron ore export from Goa soon, Union Additional Mining Secretary, S K Srivastava, today said.”Commerce Ministry will take the final call on the issue soon as it enjoys administrative powers,” he told PTI.

 Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry, which went into illegal mining of iron ore and manganese ore, had advocated ban on export of these minerals running into billions of rupees and warned that such activities could influence state policies besides promoting illegal mining.

 Referring to a remark by a senior official of China Minmetals Corporation that China had begun exploring alternate markets to source its requirement of iron ore following a decline in iron ore exports from India due to a crack down by the government to check illegal mining, Srivastava said India is not worried about the scenario.

India would be able to find good alternative markets for exporting iron ore, Srivastava said.Moreover, the country’s consumption of iron ore is increasing, he said said.China Minmetals Corporation Assistant Chief Representative Shi Ming Li had in November last said India’s iron ore supply “was not very stable”.”Who can tell what is the policy about the iron ore? Chinese companies are looking for alternatives,” he had said.

China, which has been sourcing iron ore from Australia, Brazil and South America besides India is also looking at countries like South Africa, Iran, Ukraine, Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Venezuela for the steady supply of the iron ore.

Asked about the demand of some business bodies to allow companies not guilty of irregularities to start mining operations in Karnataka, Srivastava said a final call would be taken by the court in consultation with those concerned. “We cannot say anything at this stage,” he added.

However, the Mining Ministry was a strong subscriber of allowing mining under the legal framework of the country, he said.Reacting to the demand of industry body ASSOCHAM for removal of import duty on iron ore, Srivastava said there were sufficient reserves in the country to meet the needs of the steel sector.”Right now there is a problem because of the mining ban in some areas of the country … In long term we have sufficient reserves,” he said.

ASSOCHAM had urged the government to remove the 2.5 per cent import duty on iron ore as the steel industry continued struggling for availability of raw material.

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Joint Chief Electoral Officer Narayan Navti told reporters that the money being brought to Goa during election is not ruled out. Income Tax Department is thoroughly probing whether the seizure is related to poll, he said.The election machinery is on alert at State’s borders, railway stations and airport to ensure that money does not flow into the State, which can be used to influence voters.

The authorities are investigating the major haul involving one K Shivanna, hailing from Sawantwadi, who was carrying this cash. He was apprehended while landing in Goa.Navti said that there are no clues as to from where the cash had arrived.Election Commission has mentioned that an amount of more than Rs 2.5 lakh would be under scanner of Income Tax Department to avoid possibility of using money power.

Instructions have also been issued to the banks to monitor transactions above Rs 2.5 lakh.In yet another development, flying squad of Election Commission searched Aruna, wife of BJP’s St Andre candidate Vishnu Wagh. An anonymous caller had complained that Aruna, who is campaigning for her husband, was distributing money.

Navti said that there was no cash found with her except for Rs 1,000. Aruna was in the Agassaim area when she was searched.

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Of the total of 10,12,465 voters registered in Goa there are 5,06,605 female voters and 5,05,068 male voters. There is no single voter in the ‘other category.’

Interestingly there are just eight non-resident Indians registered on the voters list and as many as 784 service voters registered.North Goa with 5,72,246 voters has 2,86,146 male voters and 2,85,916 voters indicating that there are more male voters in North Goa, whereas it is in South Goa that the 2,20,689 female voters change the overall male female voters ratio since males constitute only 2,18,922 of the total 4,40,219 voters of South Goa district.

Canacona is the most populous constituency with 3,1771 voters Dabolim being the smallest with 19,385 voters.

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PANAJI:

The Trinamool, in its election manifesto released ahead of the March 3 Goa polls, states that they want to make the beach tourism state into a banking hub on the lines of Hong Kong.”Invite international banks and financial institutions to set up business in Goa (Hong Kong model),” the manifesto released by the Trinamool’s state president Wilfred de Souza says, underlining the party’s pitch to create a “financial district” in Goa, to facilitate the banking hub dream. De Souza said the creation of a financial district here and turning Goa into a banking paradise on the lines of Hong Kong was in sync with Banerjee’s economic policies.”It is in sync with Mamata Banerjee’s policies,” de Souza said.

Banerjee has in the recent past been in the news for opposing foreign investment in civil aviation and retail sector. Her opposition to Tata’s Nano manufacturing project in Singur, West Bengal over forcible acquisition of farmlands for industrial development, resulted in the manufacturing hub of India’s smallest car being shifted to Gujarat.

The Trinamool election manifesto also talks of establishing a stock exchange in Goa, which the party envisions as a financial services hub.

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Xiao Yao, a 29-year-old magazine editor in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, divorced her gay husband in 2008.“Most gay men’s wives I’ve known are silently suffering at the hands of husbands who could never love them, and like me, some even got abused by husbands who were also under great pressure,” she said.

Xiao now runs a website called “Homeland of gays’ wives”, which has 1,200 registered users and provides support and advice.Zhang said that getting their voice heard was the first step to raising public awareness.

However, some within the gay community think otherwise.Xiao Dong, a 36-year-old gay man, who heads a civil organization in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, said: “Zhang’s estimation is unsubstantiated and I even feel it’s pointless to research the issue.”

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MGP President Deepak Dhavalikar said the party has conveyed its decision to withdraw supportto the ruling alliance in writing to governor K Sankarnarayanan, Assembly speaker Pratapsinh Rane and chief minister Digambar Kamat.

Party minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar resigned from the Cabinet last week. MGP, Goa’s oldest regional outfit, currently has two MLAs in the 40-member AssemblyThe leaders of both parties later addressed a press conference here to announce the pre-poll alliance.”BJP will contest in 31 seats and MGP in 8. Both parties will support an independent candidate in Cumbharjua constituency,” BJP President Nitin Gadkari said.

Gadkari said MGP and BJP were “natural allies” and expressed confidence about the combine winning a majority.”Our sole aim is to provide good governance,” Gadkari said, adding a joint manifesto will be released soon.MGP will fight in eight seats – Thivim, Priol, Ponda, Madkai, Dabolim, Nuvem, Benaulim and Quepem. The alliance will support independent candidate Nirmala Sawant in Cumbharjua.

Gadkari said BJP leaders will meet in Delhi this evening to finalise candidates. MGP, on the other hand, has said their list would be out tomorrow.

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Speaking to STOI, Heldman also said that Goa should undertake measures to discourage “drug tourism” if it wanted to sustain itself and take on international competitors. The Germans were the first charter tourists to set foot on the soil of Goa in the season of 1985-86. Interestingly, their numbers have never been able to grow past the 5% share in the tourist market for Goa.

This despite the fact that the state government-ministers, tourism directors, staff et al-have been religiously attending ITB-Berlin in Germany ever since the 1990s. “For beaches, many Germans head to South Africa. It’s much cleaner there. Goa has the potential but it has not been put to value,” Heldman said.

The travel and tourism association of Goa informed the government last year that Goa lost one major tour operator from Scandinavia. The tour operator said that garbage was strewn all around the place, and the health, and hygiene of its clients were worrisome factors.

“Goa should also take care not to attract tourists coming here for drugs. That is not good. Goa has plenty of competition from other tourism destinations,” Heldman added.Among the other factors also affecting Germans from booking a holiday in Goa is that the summer holiday period in the European nation does not coincide with Goa’s tourism season.Heldman also said that public transport in Goa and India lagged far behind in terms of comfort of travel which turns a holiday into an exhausting experience. “Travelling around in India can really exhaust you. The travel industry needs better organization as well. I’ve had to wait for two months to get railway tickets. How does someone from so far away, in Germany, book their holiday?” Heldman said.

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Addressing a press conference here today, president of the front S M Asif said that there is rampant corruption in Goa under the Congress rule and we want to put an end to it.

“Give a clean person who has a good background and we will give ticket to him no matter which religion and caste they belong to,” stated Asif.He also said that the front is holding talks for seat sharing with other regional parties adding it would back the minority candidates fielded by the Congress.

AIMF has a MLA in Assam and will also fight elections in UP and Punjab this time, stated Asif.

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Ukraine has suffered the heaviest toll of 122 deaths, including many people who froze to death in the streets, as temperatures plunged to as low as minus 38.1 degrees Celsius (minus 36.5 Fahrenheit) in parts of the continent.

Some airports were shut, flights and trains were delayed, and highways gridlocked as emergency services raced to clear the falling snow.But as Europe huddled indoors for warmth, Russian gas giant Gazprom said it could not satisfy western Europe’s demand for more energy.

 In Italy, the Shardon ferry ran aground shortly after setting off from Civitavecchia port near Rome, causing panic among the 262 passengers who feared a repeat of a cruise ship tragedy in the area last month which killed 32 people.Coastguard spokesman Carnine Albano said the accident, which tore a 25-metre hole in the ship’s side above the waterline, was caused after the vessel was buffeted by a violent snow storm from the north-east.All passengers were evacuated to safety and no injuries were reported. Heavy snowfalls in Rome caused the capital better known for its warm sunshine to grind to a halt. Parts of the Venice lagoon also froze over.

In Poland, the death toll rose to 45 as temperatures reached minus 27 Celsius in the north-east.Snow fell in Bosnia for the second straight day, paralysing traffic, with one patient dying as the ambulance was unable to reach his village in the south of the country.Public transport was disrupted in Sarajevo, with several tramlines blocked by snow since Friday evening.

Even Croatian and Serbian Presidents Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic were forced to postpone their departure from Friday’s regional meeting, as they were blocked in the ski centre Jahorina, near Sarajevo.”I can only leave the house if I dig a tunnel with a showel, my car has become a mountain of snow,” IT worker Eldar Hajdarevic told AFP by phone.

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