Thousands of Sri Satya Sai Baba’s followers flocked to Puttaparthi where public mourning will continue until Tuesday
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Thousands of mourners have been visiting the south Indian ashram where the body of revered guru Sri Satya Sai Baba is being put on display.
The body of Sai Baba, who died in hospital of multiple organ failure at 84, is being kept in a transparent box at the temple complex in Puttaparthi.
He enjoyed wide support in India and had followers around the world.
But he was also dogged by controversy including allegations, unproven, of sexual abuse and charlatanism.
Many devotees – who included senior politicians, business leaders, sporting heroes and Bollywood stars – considered him a living god and credited him with mystical powers including the ability to conjure objects out of thin air.
His trust financed health and education projects, among them hospitals and clinics that claim to cure illnesses beyond the capabilities of mainstream medicine.
The late guru attracted followers across India’s religious divide
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their last respects in Puttaparthi, Sai Baba’s home town, where a funeral with state honours is planned for Wednesday morning.
Andhra Pradesh state has declared four days of mourning, with its top official calling Sai Baba a “symbol of love, affection and passion”.
Indian television ran non-stop news coverage on Sunday of the guru’s death, while officials and celebrities grieved for an “irreparable loss”.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement that Sai Baba was a spiritual leader who had “inspired millions to lead a moral and meaningful life, even as they followed the religion of their choice”.
It is unclear who will run the trust set up by his devotees in 1972, now believed to be worth nearly $9bn (£5.4bn).
Sai Baba rose to prominence as a youngster after announcing to his family he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, a 19th Century Indian holy man equally venerated by Hindus and Muslims.
By 1950 he had built his first ashram, and in the following decades he built up a global following.
While his following spread worldwide, with ashrams in more than 126 countries, the guru was accused of faking some of his so-called miracles in which he conjured jewellery and Rolex watches.
Some former followers also accused him of sexually abusing young male followers.
The allegations were denied and he was never charged with any offence.
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Yevgeny Kaspersky is one of Russia’s leading internet entrepreneurs
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Police in Russia have freed the son of software entrepreneur Yevgeny Kaspersky unharmed, ending one of Moscow’s most high-profile kidnappings in years.
Five people including the suspected ringleader, a former convict, were arrested during the operation in the Moscow region, police said.
Russian media say officers posing as middlemen lured the kidnappers to a meeting with the promise of a ransom.
Mr Kaspersky’s company is a leading developer of anti-virus software.
The kidnappers were reportedly demanding 3m euros (£2.6m; $4.3m) for his son Ivan’s safe return.
Sunday’s statement on the successful police operation was the first official comment on his abduction, though FSB secret service police were said earlier to be working with regular colleagues on the case.
Reports said last week that the mathematics student had been snatched on Tuesday while on his way to his work experience job as a programmer in the Russian capital.
Kaspersky Lab is regarded outside Russia as one of the country’s few business success stories not related to the energy sector.
The US business magazine Fast Company recently ranked it among the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies worldwide.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The body of Piotre Plonski was found in his flat in Browney Path on Friday
The partner of a man found dead in a flat in Bedford has been accused of his murder.
The body of Piotre Plonski, 34, originally from Poland, was found in his flat in Browney Path on Friday.
Bedfordshire Police said his partner Marie Gavin, 39, who lived at same address, has been charged with murder. She will appear at Bedford Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
A post-mortem examination found Mr Plonski had died from a stab wound.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Unlike this ring necked parakeet which is the UK’s only naturalised parrot, monk parakeets are at risk
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A species of parakeet that threatens wildlife and crops is to be removed from the wild, the government has said.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the monk parakeet, originally from South America, was an invasive species.
It announced control measures to either rehouse the birds, remove their nests, or – as a last resort – shoot them.
Defra estimates there are around 100 of the green-and-yellow birds in the UK, mainly in the south east of England.
Although the species had not yet caused any damage, Defra said they had the potential to threaten “national infrastructure”.
It said extensive damage to crops had been reported in both North and South America, and the birds could cause power cuts when their nests were built on electricity pylons, particularly when they become wet from rain.
A Defra spokesman said it would try to rehouse the birds in aviaries and if that fails their nests would be moved.
“In extreme cases, it could mean we have to shoot some, but we haven’t tried that yet,” he said.
Unlike its relative, the ring-necked parakeet, which is already common in parts of the UK, the 1ft (30cm) tall monk parakeet builds huge communal nests.
The birds can be identified by their green body, yellowish belly, pale grey face and breast and pale bill, and they make raucous calls.
“Control work is being carried out as part of a Defra initiative to counter the potential threat monk parakeets pose to critical national infrastructure, crops and native British wildlife,” a Defra spokesman said.
“This invasive species has caused significant damage in other countries through nesting and feeding activity and we are taking action now to prevent this happening in the UK.”
A spokesman for the RSPB, the bird conservation group, said: “Our understanding is that they are going to be brought into captivity; we don’t see it’s necessary for them to be culled.
“We’re happy action is taking place in that they’re being removed from the wild.
“It’s a small population at large, as the birds are colonial and are concentrated in one or two sites, so it will be possible to deal with as we think it could be a problem.”
He said in Spain and the US there were now large populations that had caused problems, and praised Defra for taking “prudent” action.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
William Hague says many accusations are directed at the No campaign rather than the Conservatives
Senior Liberal Democrat minister Chris Huhne has threatened legal action over “untruths” told by Conservatives opposed to the Alternative Vote system.
Mr Huhne said Tory ministers backing the No campaign undermined their credibility by making false claims about the costs of introducing AV.
He warned the row could damage the coalition government.
Foreign Secretary William Hague denied Tories had told “untruths”, and said the coalition could still work well.
The 5 May referendum was a Liberal Democrat condition for entering coalition with the Tories. But with all Lib Dems in the Cabinet backing the change and their Tory colleagues speaking against it, the two parties making up the coalition have been increasingly pitted against one another during the campaign.
Chris Huhne, who refused to rule out resigning as energy secretary over the tensions, said arguments between the Yes and No campaigns would make it a lot more difficult for the coalition to work together in the future.
“It is frankly worrying if you have colleagues who you’ve respected, and who you’ve worked well with, who are making claims which have no foundation in truth whatsoever,” he said.
He threatened legal action over the “extraordinary allegation” by Chancellor George Osborne that expensive new voting machines would be needed to count the votes after an election held under AV rules.
“It’s a great shame that this debate degenerated in the way it has”
David Blunkett Former Labour Home Secretary
“Australia’s used [AV] for 80 years without ever using voting machines. If they can’t substantiate that, there’s simple legal redress,” he said. “They had better come clean pretty fast.”
But Foreign Secretary William Hague said “there was no doubt” that having a more complicated system “would cost more” and that it was a legitimate issue to raise in a campaign.
The official No campaign also includes trade unions, sports stars and some senior Labour figures.
Former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett, who is campaigning against AV, agreed the system would cost more in the long term, although he refused to specify a figure.
“It’s a great shame that this debate degenerated in the way it has,” he said, “because this was an opportunity… to lift people’s horizons out of the mire of simply slinging mud at each other.”
Earlier, Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes said he would complain to the Electoral Commission about the Conservative party chairman, Baroness Warsi, “inventing facts”.
She has said changing the UK voting system to AV would mean more legitimacy for the BNP, and would see politicians “pandering to extremist votes”.
THE REFERENDUM CHOICE
At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.
On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.
Under the Alternative Vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.
If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers’ second choices allocated to those remaining.
This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.
Q&A: alternative vote referendum AV referendum: Where parties stand
But William Hague said the baroness had been right to discuss the effect of the change on minor parties.
“Will the candidates in marginal seats have to think about how they’re going to get the second, third and fourth preferences of people who have voted for the BNP?”
He added: “These things are therefore not disputed facts, they’re matters of opinion about the implication of AV and they should be understood as that.”
The row about switching to the Alternative Vote has grown more fierce and more personal over the past couple of days.
Nick Clegg described those campaigning for a “No” vote as “a right-wing clique who want to keep things the way they are,” in the Independent on Sunday.
William Hague insisted that, despite the row over AV, the coalition was working well.
“Yes, we all have strong feelings but at the end of it the coalition will work very well together as it is at the moment.
“We’re used in general election campaigns to accusations flying back and forth and I think a lot of these accusations are directed at the No campaign rather than the Conservative Party.
“In a referendum campaign feelings run high, people get excited. The important thing for people to know is that the coalition is working well together.”
Both Mr Hague and Mr Hughes agreed that despite having differing views on whether to change the voting system, the coalition would survive the referendum.
But Chris Huhne said the row made life harder.
He said: “It’s going to undermine the credibility of colleague ministers, both the prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer – and the foreign secretary – if they use, repeatedly, allegations which have no foundation in truth whatsoever.”
He added: “That is inevitably going to undermine their own credibility and that is not good for the coalition.”
A spokesman for the No to AV campaign said senior Lib Dems were getting “more and more desperate”.
He said: “We will continue to make the case for one person, one vote and urge the British people to vote against the unfair and expensive alternative vote system.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A doctor said Mr Mubarak could be moved without endangering his health 
