India police search for perpetrators of triple Mumbai blasts

(Reuters) - Indian police searched for clues on Thursday about who was behind three coordinated bomb blasts that killed at least 17 people in Mumbai, the biggest attack since Pakistani-based militants rampaged through the financial hub in 2008.

Mumbai police blamed Wednesday's attacks on the Indian Mujahideen, a shadowy home-grown Islamist group said to have support from militants inPakistan, according to source-based media reports that could not be independently confirmed.

The government's official press office lowered the death toll to 17 from an earlier figure of 21 killed, although the number may change again.

The bombings were the biggest militant attack on Mumbai since the 2008 assaults killed 166 people, raised tensions with neighbor and nuclear rival Pakistan, and left a city on edge.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.

Newspaper headlines voiced a mix of resignation and outrage over the latest attacks on a city of more than 10 million that is home to India's mainstock exchange.

"Attacked. Again," said the Hindustan Times. "We're All Sitting Ducks," said the Economic Times.

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, who flew to Mumbai from New Delhi on Wednesday night and visited the blast sites as well as hospitals treating victims, was due to give a media briefing at 9:30 a.m. local time (12 a.m. EDT).

The blasts came as beleaguered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh struggles to get past a series of corruption scandals and a resurgent opposition that has led to policy paralysis in Asia's third largest economy. A cabinet reshuffle this week was criticized as too little, too late.

India's stock and commodity exchanges were due to open as normal on Thursday and schools were set to open, although heavy monsoon rains led to delays and cancellations of train services during the morning rush hour.

Mumbai has a long history of deadly bombings and Wednesday's attacks were unlikely to rattle financial markets.

"TERROR ATTACKS"

The bombings, centered mainly on south Mumbai's jewelry market area, were described by the Home Ministry as "terror attacks."

"This is another attack on the heart of India, heart of Mumbai. We will fully meet the challenge, we are much better prepared than 26/11," Prithviraj Chavan, the state's chief minister, told NDTV on Wednesday evening, referring to the 2008 attacks.

The blasts occurred at about 6.45 pm on Wednesday within minutes of each other. At least one car and a motorbike were used in the coordinated attacks in which improvised explosive devices were believed to have been used, officials said.

The biggest blast was in the Opera House area, a hub for diamond traders. Pakistani-based militants carried out the bloody rampage in 2008 near the same popular area.

Another blast, also in south Mumbai, was at the Zaveri Bazaar, India's largest bullion market which was hit twice in the past. The third blast was at Dadar, in a crowded street housing Muslim and Hindu shops in the center of the coastal city.

Targeting two markets that trade in diamonds, gold and silver could also suggest the near-simultaneous attacks may have been linked to the Mumbai underworld, some newspapers speculated.

There was no immediate indication any Pakistani group was involved. But any suggestion of attributing blame to Islamabad would complicate a fraught relationship with India -- with whom it has a long-running dispute over Kashmir -- and further unravel ties with the United States.

The U.S. has withheld some military aid to Pakistan to pressure it to buckle down in the war on terror.

President Barack Obama condemned the attacks and offered support to bring the perpetrators to justice. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani swiftly condemned Wednesday's blasts in a statement.

Finance ministry refuses to pay Rs 105cr to Air India

NEW DELHI: Debt-ridden Air India does not seem to be getting life-saving money in a hurry. The finance ministry has turned down aviation ministry's request to release Rs 105 crore to the Maharaja. The home and defence ministries owe this money to Air India for the VVIP flights operated by the airline. The finance ministry had earlier asked aviation authorities to work out a long-term cash requirement for AI based on some reliable plan to turn around the airline.

"AI had taken Rs 200 crore last month from a bank for 15 days to pay salaries. We had hoped payment of Rs 105 crore dues of VVIP flights would help us repay that loan. But that request has been turned down," said sources. Now a group of ministers on AI will meet next week to discuss how to keep the airline alive. With Tuesday's Cabinet reshuffle ending the uncertainty over Vayalar Ravi (who got additional charge of the ministry this January) continuing as aviation minister, AI employees are looking forward to firm steps from the veteran Congress leader.

"No amount of money pumped in the airline or plans made for AI can work without the right management in place. In the past also we have seen plans like merger and buying planes going horribly wrong and AI is now on death bed. The minister must do something about the serious mismanagement," said a union leader on condition of anonymity.

Thanks to questionable decisions like mega plane deals and AI-IA merger taken during UPA-1, AI is facing an uncertain future with the airline now not able to pay salaries or bank loans on time. A turnaround plan worked out for the airline has pegged AI's cash requirement at over Rs 44,000 crore over the next decade along with over 100 more planes for the airline to survive.

But given its gross mismanagement, whether the government does pump that kind of money remains to be seen. Long time employees including senior pilots feel a board of governance should be formed for AI so that no one individual is able to hold sway over the dying airline. "AI needs money but it also needs the right people at top to ensure that money does not go into a black hole," said a senior pilot who has seen the airline's change of fortunes in past few years.

Group seeks to recover expenses in search for Casey Anthony's daughter

(CNN) -- A search and rescue group filed a civil suit against Casey Anthony on Tuesday to recover the money the organization spent in an attempt to find her daughter Caylee during the summer and fall of 2008.
The suit by Texas EquuSearch (TES) alleges the search organization spent over $112,000 and coordinated more than 4,200 volunteers in an unnecessary attempt to locate Caylee for months after her mother knew the two-year-old girl was dead.
"Casey Anthony made ongoing misrepresentations to TES and its founder Tim Miller, and failed to correct materially false information provide to Mr. Miller in order to convince TES, its staff and volunteers to engage in extensive, costly and time-consuming searches for Caylee," the lawsuit says.
During the trial, Casey Anthony's lawyers argued that Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthony family's above-ground pool, and that Casey Anthony and her father, George Anthony, panicked and covered up the death -- something George Anthony denied on the witness stand.
The case began drew national attention in part because Casey Anthony failed to report Caylee missing for a month, during which she moved out of her parent's home, partied in Orlando nightclubs and shopped. When confronted, she accused a nonexistent nanny of taking the girl.
Caylee's skeletal remains weren't found until December 2008, six months after she was last seen alive.
The suit asks for compensatory damages of $115,00, plus interest and attorneys' fees.

Casey Anthony, 25, is set to be released Sunday after receiving credit for time served on a four-year sentence. She was convicted of lying to police during the investigation into Caylee's disappearance. She was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges in her death.

Obama urges Republicans to follow Reagan example

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama urged Republicans to draw inspiration from the hero of fiscal conservatives, Ronald Reagan, who had agreed to revenue increases to cut the US deficit.

"Ronald Reagan repeatedly took steps that included revenue, in order for him to accomplish some of these larger goals," Obama told CBS in an interview.

"And the question is if Ronald Reagan could compromise -- why wouldn't folks who idolize Ronald Reagan be willing to engage in those same kinds of compromises."

Reagan was a staunch Republican, who led the United States for two terms from 1981 to 1989, and was in power when Congress was controlled by the Democrats.

He was known for adopting aggressive tax cuts, but amid a burgeoning deficit agreed to several measures designed to raise revenue for government coffers such as closing loopholes and cutting tax breaks.

In a parallel with today's drama being played out between Democrat Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, Reagan forged a budget with Democratic speaker Tip O'Neill despite their political and ideological differences.

On the third straight of key budget talks, Obama told CBS that he was confident a deal would get done, although he denounced "the kind of brinksmanship that I think is pretty dangerous."

"If it turns out that the other side won't budge on anything, then -- we're gonna be here every day until we get this done," he added.

But he warned "we should not be leaving an issue of this magnitude that affects the world economy as well as the American economy, to the last minute."