Austrian far right leader likely to be asked to form govt
Vienna, Jan 5: Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen on Sunday announced that he would meet with far-right politician Herbert Kickl as speculation grows that he will ask the Freedom Party leader to form a government. Van der Bellen made the announcement after meeting with Chancellor Karl Nehammer and others at his presidential palace. Nehammer has announced his intention to resign after coalition talks between his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the centre-left Social Democrats collapsed. Nehammer has ruled out working with Kickl, but others within his party are less adamant. Earlier Sunday, the People’s Party nominated its general secretary, Christian Stocker, as interim leader, but the president said Nehammer would remain chancellor for now. (AP)
Major winter storm threatens parts of the central US
Washington, Jan 5: A major, disruptive winter storm was sweeping across the central US on Sunday, forecasters said, bringing with it a dreaded combination of snow, ice and plunging temperatures. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from Kansas and Missouri – where blizzard conditions are expected – to New Jersey. In the two states where blizzard warnings were in effect, travel “could be very difficult to impossible,” with snow whipped around by high winds reducing visibility, the NWS said. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches. “Do not travel unless necessary!” the NWS said. The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually stays penned up around the North Pole, spinning like a top. But sometimes it escapes or stretches down to the US, Europe or Asia – and that’s when large numbers of people experience intense doses of cold. (AP)
84 Indian Hindus arrive in Pak for Sant Shadaram Sahib’s birth anniversary
Lahore, Jan 5: Eighty-four Hindu pilgrims arrived in Pakistan from India via the Wagah Border on Sunday to celebrate the 316th birth anniversary of Shiv Avtari Satguru Sant Shadaram Sahib at a shrine in the Sindh province, officials said. The issuance of visas is covered under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974. “Some 84 Hindu pilgrims led by Yushishthar Lal arrived here from India to celebrate the birth anniversary of Shri Guru Swami Shadaram, an incarnation of Lord Shiva,” Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) spokesperson Ghulam Mohayuddin told PTI. He added that ETPB Additional Secretary of Shrines Saifullah Khokhar welcomed the pilgrims at the Wagah Border and presented bouquets on behalf of the Board’s Chairman Syed Ata-ur-Rehman. The Hindu pilgrims proceeded directly from Wagah Border to Shadani Darbar Hayat Pitafi, Sindh, where the main celebrations and religious rituals would take place. During their stay, the pilgrims will also visit other religious sites. The Hindu pilgrims will spend a day in Nankana Sahib (the birthplace of Sikhism founder Baba Guru Nanak) on January 14 and return to India the next day. (PTI)