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The American embassy said its staff were in “lockdown” and travel had been suspended as thousands of people expressed fury over the burning, a public relations disaster for US-led NATO forces fighting Taliban militants ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

The US government and the American commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan apologised after Afghan labourers found charred copies of the Quran while collecting rubbish at the sprawling Bagram Airbase, about an hour’s drive north of Kabul.

The apologies failed to contain the anger. Thousands of Afghans took to the streets again, chanting anti-American slogans and some raising white Taliban flags in the capital.

Winning the hearts and minds of Afghans is critical to efforts to defeat the Taliban. Similar incidents in the past have caused deep divisions and resentment among Afghans towards the tens of thousands of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Seven foreign UN workers were killed during protests that raged across Afghanistan for three days in April 2011 after a US pastor burned a Quran in Florida.

A senior Afghan security official, citing reports from police, told Reuters that Western security

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“My political esteem is in your hands.You don’t have to only keep it intact, but also strengthen it further,” this emotional statement of Mulayam at a rally in Mainpuri a couple of days ago did explain the importance of making it big in the region for the SP.

Mulayam had held the maximum number of public meetings in Mainpuri, Etah, Etawah, and Kanpur Dehat as compared to the rest of the districts. Even SP state president Akhilesh Yadav has kept the region on the top of his campaign engagements in the state. Both have addressed four to five public meetings in each of these districts. One particular constituency that may influence the party’s political esteem and Mulayam’s personal stature as a politician is the Kahral seat in Mainpuri where Urmila Yadav is contesting on a Congress party ticket against SP’s Shobharan Singh. That Urmila happens to be a close relative of Mulayam and switched loyalties to Congress after she was denied a ticket by the SP has

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Akhilesh Yadav: The inheritor

One Yuvraj has hogged the media attention, the other oozes easy confidence. Akhilesh Yadav appears disconcertingly like what his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, looked like 30-35 years ago. The same nose, eyes, high cheek bones and smile. When we met him late at night, he had done a dozen meetings and was still happy to talk – about the BSP, the Congress and the SP’s “impending victory” . How many seats? “At least 207 seats (the majority mark is 202),” he said with a grin broad enough to indicate he isn’t completely serious.

Next morning we saw him in action at Salon, 40 km south of Lucknow. He reached the qasba in erstwhile Amethi district (now a mouthful Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj district) at 12.10pm, 10 minutes late, his chopper raising a storm of dust and cheers from around 15,000 people. The speaker before him was comparing the two ‘yuvrajs’ : “One yuvraj (Rahul) has a cup of tea and jalebi with villagers. The media talks about it for a month. Our yuvraj eats and stays with us. No one writes about it.” It’s difficult to deny the charge.

Akhilesh’s message was direct. If the SP wins,

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A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya requested the counsel for parties to keep in mind the evolving social ethos as the key words in the HC judgment — “consenting adults committing a sexual act in private” – could have a bearing on several other sexual offences enumerated in the IPC.

“Though the focus of our judgment would remain on Section 377, but keep in mind that it could have bearing on provisions relating to other sexual offences. Obscenity could be one such provision,” the bench told senior advocate Amarendra Saran, who was arguing against the HC verdict on behalf of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR).

The court was possibly hinting at offences like adultery and obscenity in public, mostly misused by police to harass couples in parks.

Section 497 defines adultery. According to it – “Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the

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“The GoM has approved the Public Procurement Bill. It will now go to the prime minister (for approval) and then to the Cabinet (for final clearance),” minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy said after the meeting.

The GoM, chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, did not discuss the controversial proposal to give statutory backing to the model code of conduct which in effect would have taken away its enforcement from the Election Commission.

Narayanasamy said some controversy had erupted over the model code and despite his ministry’s denial on the issue, “some confusion persisted”. He said, “I would like to say that the terms of reference of the GoM on corruption does not include the MCC… since it is not in the ToR, it was not discussed. Therefore, the question of the issue of the model code of conduct being deliberated in the GoM does not arise.”

When pointed out that the note circulated to GoM members clearly specified the issue of model code, the minister said the suggestions came at the time of discussions. He said, “Suggestions are there. But it is not part of the terms of reference.”

It is learnt

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