FEDERAL VOTING .COM

Washington, Feb 8 (IANS) This capital city of the world’s most powerful nation and the areas around were still trying hard Monday to dig themselves out of what President Barack Obama called a “Snowmaggedon” and a local daily a “historic mess”.

With Saturday’s record-setting blizzard piling up over two feet of snow across the Washington-Baltimore belt, federal workers were asked to stay home Monday except for emergency employees. Most schools and colleges in the nation’s capital also got a snow day off.

Many residents who spent the weekend gleefully making snowmen and hurling snowballs grumbled as they painfully shovelled hip-high snow from parking lots and driveways, and the weatherman promised to dump more snow this week.

Just a few cars ventured out from their homes to replenish supplies as the prospects of staying cooped up at home for several days loomed large with the National Weather Service predicting a new storm could bring more than five inches of snow and winds up to 25 mph (40 kmph)in the Washington and Baltimore region as early as Tuesday.

Crews worked around the clock to clear roads and repair power lines, warning that it might take days to restore electricity to some customers from Pennsylvania to Virginia, CNN reported.

A record 32.4 inches of snow fell on Washington’s Dulles International Airport over two days, breaking a January 7-8, 1996, record of 23.2 inches. The airport reopened to limited service Sunday but asked travellers not to arrive at the airport without confirmed flights.

The Reagan National Airport is expected to remain closed until later Monday. At Baltimore-Washington International Airport, some flights began arriving after two runways opened Sunday night. However, airport officials expect delays and cancellations Monday because of the backlog.

Amtrak said it cancelled several trains Sunday after downed trees and power lines fell on its tracks. Dozens of Greyhound routes in middle Atlantic states also were cancelled, the company said on its website. And officials across the region advised drivers to stay off slick roads.

New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Monday asked aloud if the government’s decision to start foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan was the “upshot of a powerful nudge from Washington”.

“The question people have been asking in a more straightforward manner is … is its (India’s) latest U-turn on dialogue the upshot of a powerful nudge from Washington?” the former deputy prime minister wrote in his blog.

The offer of dialogue, he pointed out, came despite the government’s earlier insistence on “steadfastly refusing to resume talks with Pakistan until Islamabad brings those behind the Mumbai attacks to justice.”

“New Delhi’s sudden announcement last week that India was willing to hold foreign secretary level parleys with Pakistan has naturally made many political analysts in the country ask: is this the consequence of (Barack) Obama’s assertion being put into action?” writes Advani.

Advani, an advocate of tough posture towards Pakistan, was alluding to an pre-election interview by Obama in which he hinted at appointing a special envoy for the Kashmir issue to resolve the India-Pakistan tensions.

During the presidential campaign in 2008, Obama had said that “working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir crisis in a serious way” would be among the critical tasks of his administration if he was elected.

Advani contended that India’s change of stand had led to gloating in Pakistan. He referred to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s remarks boasting “gleefully that it was international pressure that had forced India to return to the negotiating table!”

He reminded the government of the Feb 22, 1994 parliament resolution on Jammu and Kashmir that condemned Pakistan’s support to subversive activities in the state.

“The country, the government as well as the world would do well to keep the above resolution in mind,” Advani said.

Washington, Feb.8 (ANI): US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that Al Qaeda has grown more “creative and flexible” since 2001.

“I don’t see them as stronger. I see that they are more creative, more flexible, more agile. They evolve,” said Clinton while appearing as the first guest of Candy Crowley, the new host of CNN’s “State of the Union.

“The biggest nightmare that any of us have, is that one of these terrorist member organizations within this syndicate of terror will get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction,” she added.

She also said nuclear-armed countries like North Korea or Iran, pose both a real or a potential threat to the world and the United States in particular.

She said that Iran’s behavior in the recent past was certainly evident of their intention to launch a missile test or a missile at their perceived enemies.

Asked if Iran and North Korea have responded to Obama’s offer to “extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist,’ Clinton flatly said “no.”

But, she said, “engagement has brought us a lot in the last year,” and that Obama’s “election, and his persona combined with the approach we took of seeking to find the basis for engagement on mutual respect, and mutual interest has really created a much more open, receptive atmosphere.”

Clinton also gave a tepid endorsement to Afghan president Hamid Karzai, saying that the United States works with leaders it does not agree with all the time, based on what’s in America’s best interest.

On two personal questions at the end of the interview, Clinton said she doesn’t follow football and can’t predict the winner of the Super Bowl today, and that Chelsea Clinton, who recently got engaged, doesn’t yet have a dress picked out for the wedding. (ANI)

Washington, Feb.8 (ANI): New assessments of al-Qaeda by the top U.S. counter-terrorism experts offer grounds for both optimism and concern a year after President Obama took office.

The Washington Post quotes officials, as saying that al-Qaeda’s ability to wage mass-casualty terrorism has been undercut by relentless U.S. attacks on the network’s leadership, finances and training camps. But it also warns that despite this weakened state, the group has shifted tactics to focus on small-scale operations that are far harder to detect and disrupt.

The deadly November shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, and the failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb an airliner are both examples of the low-tech approach.

The paper says this has raised the fear level in Washington and across the country.

Some terrorism experts say the worst could be still to come as a wounded jihadist movement thrashes about in search of a victory.

‘The noose is tightening, and al-Qaeda’s leadership is accelerating efforts that were probably in place anyway,’ said Andy Johnson, former staff director of the Senate intelligence committee and now national security director for the Washington think tank Third Way.

In testimony before two congressional panels last week, top U.S. intelligence officials said the campaign has shaken al-Qaeda’s core leadership.

‘Intelligence confirms that they are finding it difficult to be able to engage in the planning and the command-and-control operations to put together a large attack,’ CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

But intelligence officials also warned lawmakers of worrisome new evidence of al-Qaeda’s ability to adapt.

In an annual ‘threat assessment’ to Congress, spy agencies described the emerging threat as more geographically dispersed and also low-tech, favoring lone operatives and conventional explosives.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, who presented the assessment to House and Senate panels, said the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit is emblematic of an evolving threat.

Blair testified that he thought another attempted strike by terrorists was ‘certain’ in the next six months.

Terrorism experts and administration officials have described the Dec. 25 bombing attempt as a wake-up call that helped expose gaps in security that are now being addressed. (ANI)

Nashville (Tennessee, US), Feb.8 (ANI): Former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republic Party vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has revealed that she may run for US President in 2012.

She said she would if she believed that that is the right thing to do for the country and for the Palin family.

“It would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country,” Palin told Fox News Sunday in an interview recorded a few hours before she gave the keynote address at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.

“I won’t close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future,” she added.

Palin, who has given her support to the National Tea Party by describing it as a viable political alternative to both the Republic Party and the Democratic Party, on Sunday declared the primacy of the Tenth Amendment in limiting government powers, complaining about the bailouts and the “generational theft” of rising deficits and urging the audience to back conservative challengers in contested primaries.

“America is ready for another revolution!” she told the crowd, prompting the first of several standing ovations.

Palin approved of President Obama’s strengthening of the American military force in Afghanistan, but was dismissive of his decision to try some high-profile terrorism suspects in civilian courtrooms in the United States.

She called on Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who formally made that decision, to resign.

Asked if she was more knowledgeable on domestic and foreign matters now than during her run in 2008 as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, she said: “I would hope so.”

“Now that my focus has been enlarged, I sure as heck better be more astute on these current events, national issues,” she added.

She left Nashville for Texas, where she spent part of Sunday on the stump with Gov. Rick Perry. (ANI)

Washington, Feb 8 (DPA) Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia were digging out Sunday from a massive snowfall that paralysed the Mid-Atlantic region and left hundreds of thousands without power.

At its heaviest, the blizzard dumped 97 centimetres of snow from Friday morning to Saturday evening in Elkridge, Maryland, just south of Baltimore.

Washington recorded 45 centimetres at Reagan National Airport, the city’s second-largest snowfall ever. Philadelphia registered its second-biggest total at centimetres. Baltimore-Washington International airport had 63 centimetres.

Dulles International Airport, which had more than 75 inches of snow, had “limited operations” Sunday, the Washington airport authority said. Reagan National remained closed for snow removal.

Washington’s Metro transit system continued Sunday to serve only below-ground stations, and its bus system remained closed. Amtrak cancelled 18 trains Sunday between Washington and New York.

“This was an epic storm,” said Andrew Ulrich, a meteorologist for AccuWeather.com Inc, in State College, Pennsylvania. “The sheer amount of snow was amazing.”

Snow fell for more than 24 hours, ending by early evening Saturday and leaving clear skies and a crisp, cold, starry night.

Sunday morning brought sunshine, which allowed some thawing of cleared pavements, but the high temperature was not expected to break zero celsius. Most of the snowfall came in wet, heavy flakes, which was turning rock-hard in the bitter cold now forecast to grip the region for the next several days.

In suburban Maryland and Virginia, main roads were ploughed, but most residents remained stranded on side streets that are unlikely to be cleared before Monday or Tuesday.

Most schools in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs around Washington announced by Sunday morning that classes would be cancelled for Monday, and some more outlying suburbs have already cancelled Tuesday classes.

Another storm was headed to the region, due to hit Tuesday evening and Wednesday, with 15 to 30 centimetres expected from Washington to Philadelphia.

Heavy, wet snow and fallen trees took their toll on the power grid. More than 100,000 customers were still without power Sunday in the Washington-Baltimore region. Another 160,000 customers in Pennsylvania were without power, according to Governor Ed Rendell’s office, Bloomberg news agency reported.

Washington’s mall, the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Institution museums remained closed Sunday to keep streets empty for ploughing.

The wet, heavy snow caused roofs to partially collapse on at least half a dozen buildings, including a school and a church, local broadcaster WJLA reported.

At least two people had died in a traffic accident in Virginia, local reports said.

President Barack Obama, whose adopted hometown of Chicago is used to harsh winters, has chided the nation’s capital in the past for Its fear of snow. But he called the latest storm “Snowmageddon here in DC” when addressing a Democratic Party meeting, held Saturday despite the weather.

His motorcade was not immune from the slick conditions, with two vehicles colliding on the way to the event and a tree branch falling on a press vehicle at the White House.

The storm could be the worst in 90 years in the Washington region after final snowfall is totalled, local meteorologists said.

The storm system – a result of the El Nino weather effect, meteorologists said – has been heading up from the south all week, where it dropped rain and lesser amounts of snow.

Miami (US), Feb.7 (ANI): British astronaut Nicholas Patrick and five colleagues are preparing to launch themselves into space today with the help of NASA.

They will travel in the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and have reportedly brushed up on mission procedures and exerciseat Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre, reports The Telegraph.

Dr. Patrick, a former Harrow schoolboy and Cambridge graduate, will spend 13 days in orbit, undertaking three perilous spacewalks to bring construction of the 100 billion dollar ISS close to completion with the attachment of the Tranquility crew module.

Circling Earth at 17,500mph, Dr Patrick and fellow spacewalker Robert Behnken will attach a new 15-ton crew module, Tranquility, and a multi-windowed observation chamber, known as a cupola, to the ISS to give astronauts their first 360-degree window on the world.

Mission STS-130 will be the first in a series of five final flights scheduled for Nasa’s space shuttle fleet.

Plans for a new generation of spacecraft to succeed the shuttle and take astronauts on missions to the moon, Mars and beyond have been thrown into disarray by President Barack Obama’s announcement last Monday that he plans to scrap America’s present human spaceflight programme, despite nine billion dollars having already been spent on it.

His proposal to hand the private sector responsibility for building the next generation of spacecraft to run astronauts and cargo back and forth to the space station, and send Nasa’s long-haul exploration goals back to the drawing board, has cast gloom over the Nasa workforce, which now faces vast job cuts. (ANI)

In her keynote speech on Saturday night to a gathering here, Palin said: “I am a big supporter of this movement and believe in this movement. America is ready for another revolution and you are part of this.”

“The only place the left hasn’t placed the blame on is on the their agenda. The Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda will make America less secure, more in debt and more under the thumb of big government,” CBS News quoted Palin, as saying.

She said the Tea Party movement is a ground up call to action to force both parties to change the way they do business, and “that’s beautiful.”

“It’s been a year now. They own this now and voters will make them accountable,” Palin said.

Palin also pointed out the failure of the Obama administration to prevent the Christmas Day bomber from boarding a plane, and also criticized Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s brief interrogation and treatment as a civilian.

“To win that war we need a commander-in-chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern. People who are seeking freedom wonder if Alaska (she meant America) is still the beacon of hope for their cause,” she said.

“We need a foreign policy that recognizes its friends from its enemies,” she added, and called for sanctions against Iran.

The Tea Party has been a natural fit for Palin, whose populist anti-Washington rhetoric and working mom persona have made her a movement favourite since its grass-roots activists burst onto the scene last year in opposition to the big-spending initiatives of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress.

Billed as the first National Tea Party Convention, it will be followed by appearances at recently announced Tea Party rallies in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s hometown next month and in Boston in April. (ANI)