Golf: Sterne, Fisher extend Joburg Open lead






JOHANNESBURG: South Africans Richard Sterne and Trevor Fisher stretched their lead to five shots on Saturday, after three rounds of the 1.3 million euros Joburg Open.

They held a healthy advantage at the event being played at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club which is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the local Sunshine Tour.

Playing together, each fired a third-round 68 to share first place on 196, with compatriots George Coetzee, tournament favourite Charl Schwartzel, Jaco van Zyl and Chilean Felipe Aguilar on 201, the nearest challengers.

American Peter Uihlein is alone on 202 and the group a shot further back includes South Africans Thomas Aiken and Garth Mulroy, Tommy Fleetwood of England, David Drysale of Scotland and Lorenzo Gagli of Italy.

Mulroy and Aiken posted the best third rounds -- 65 and 66 respectively over the par-72, 6942-metre east course at the north-eastern Johannesburg club -- but bridging a seven-stroke gap on the leaders is asking a lot of the pair.

The chances of the trophy staying in South Africa for a fourth consecutive year after two wins by Schwartzel and one by Branden Grace are good with seven locals among the top 12 contenders.

Sterne, runner-up to Stephen Gallacher of Scotland in the Dubai Desert Classic last weekend, had three birdies on the outward nine to make the turn one shot behind Fisher, who was four-under-par over the first nine holes.

But Fisher had an inconsistent inward nine with three birdies and three bogeys while 2008 Joburg Open champion Sterne displayed greater stability with two birdies and a solitary bogey.

"It was pretty good going out there," said Sterne as he admitted feeling the mental and physical pressure of being a title chaser for the second consecutive weekend.

"I feel quite drained at chasing first prize twice within eight days, but I would rather be at the top of the leaderboard than in the middle of the pack. My heart was pumping quite fast out there today."

Fisher admitted to back-nine nerves: "A few set in -- you try not to think about the lead, but the board is there in front of you. I was jumpy with the swing and not waiting at the top, so I hit a few bad shots.

"But I came back nicely on the second nine with a few birdies. It is all about feeling and you have got to try and feel comfortable out there on the course as much as possible."

- AFP/jc



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Afzal Guru's execution: Security agencies unfazed by likely spurt in J&K militancy

NEW DELHI: Terror outfits from across the border are likely to leverage the hanging of Md Afzal Guru and the resulting resentment against Indian state in the Valley to revive militancy in Jammu & Kashmir. Indian security establishment, however, is not perturbed as it believes the sentiment for militancy among the youth in the Valley is dead and even the emotional connect of the Afzal issue is largely limited to the state's urban centres.

Intelligence agencies, however, believe there will be wide protests and stone pelting in the Valley in days to come with situation likely worsen coming Friday.

Outside the state, trouble is being anticipated from front organizations of the Maoist movement who, say sources, have been trying for the past few years to find a common cause with Kashmiri separatists to ramp up their political strength.

According to sources in the security establishment, outfits such as LeT, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed are likely to get a boost from the developments in Afghanistan where they are likely to find safe havens following drawdown of US forces from the region next year. With Pakistan becoming a major player in the region, the spillover from Af-Pak borders is likely to head towards the Valley aided and abetted by ISI. Given the resentment against Indian state over Afzal's hanging, these outfits might find the mood ripe for revival of militancy in the Valley, said sources.

Indian security agencies, however, say these attempts will not have a major impact as the Valley youth is looking to be part of the nation's growing economic boom and is practically tired of militancy, one of the reasons why it has been on the wane for the past one decade. "Youth in the Valley today want jobs and are looking at ways to make their life better. The rising aspirations of a young nation have caught on the imagination of Valley youth too. They are not going to pick up guns now," said an official from the security establishment.

The official also pointed out that the Afzal sentiment has been amplified, thanks to social media which restricted to urban centres in the Valley. For militancy to get some significant foothold, the sentiment has to capture the imagination of rural youth who have traditionally fed the outfits. "So there will be stone pelting and rabble rousing in urban centers but things will be back to normal after people have vented their anger," said the official.

Not surprisingly, except for general alerts of possible law and order disruptions within and outside the Valley, no specific terror alert has been issued by the Intelligence Bureau.

Politically too, sources said, the Omar Abdullah government may not face too much trouble save the initial few days as none of the political or separatist outfits have shown signs of leveraging the issue to create long-term problems and their reactions to the development have been largely moderate.

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull








































































































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After Blizzard, Northeast Begins to Dig Out













The Northeast began the arduous process of cleaning up after a fierce storm swept through the region leaving behind up to three feet of snow in some areas.


By early this morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm: three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.


The storm dumped snow from New Jersey to Maine, affecting more than 25 million people, with more than two feet falling in areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery today in New England.


As the storm waned, officials in the hardest hit areas cautioned residents to remain indoors and off the roads to ease the clean-up.


Massachusetts was hard hit by the storm, with more than two feet of snow in Boston and even more in coastal areas. State police and national guard troops helped rescue more than 50 stranded motorists and even helped deliver a baby girl, according to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.


Patrick enacted the first statewide driving ban since the 1978 blizzard, which left 27 inches of snow and killed dozens. The ban was to be lifted at 4 p.m. today, the governor said.


However, Patrick cautioned residents to act with extreme caution even after the ban is over.


"Stay inside and be patient," Patrick said.


In Massachusetts a boy reportedly died of carbon monoxide poisoning as he helped his father shovel snow on Saturday, according to ABCNews.com affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston.


For residents along the coast, the waning snowfall didn't mean the end of the storm. Storm surges along the Massachusetts coastline forced some residents out of their homes Saturday morning.


"We've got 20-foot waves crashing and flooding some homes," Bob Connors on Plum Island told WCVB. "We have power and heat and all that. We just have a very angry ocean. In my 33 years, I've never seen the seas this high."






Darren McCollester/Getty Images











Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video









Blizzard 2013: Power Outages for Hundreds of Thousands of People Watch Video









Blizzard 2013: Northeast Transportation Network Shut Down Watch Video





FULL COVERAGE: Blizzard of 2013


In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy declared a state of emergency and closed all roads in the state. The state police responded to more than 1,600 calls over the last 24 hours and the governor called up an additional 270 National Guard members.


"If you're not an emergency personnel that's required to be somewhere, stay home," Malloy said.


Overnight, snow fell at a rate of up to five to six inches per hour in parts of Connecticut. In Milford, more than 38 inches of snow had fallen by this morning.


In Fairfield, Conn. firefighters and police officers on the day shift were unable to make it to work, so the overnight shift remained on duty.


PHOTOS: Blizzard Hits Northeast


The wind and snow started affecting the region during the Friday night commute.


In Cumberland, Maine, the conditions led to a 19-car pile-up and in New York, hundreds of commuters were stranded on the snowy Long Island Expressway. Police and firefighters were still working to free motorists early this morning.


"The biggest problem that we're having is that people are not staying on the main portion or the middle section of the roadway and veering to the shoulders, which are not plowed," said Lt. Daniel Meyer from the Suffolk County Police Highway Patrol.


In New York, authorities are digging out hundreds of cars that got stuck overnight on the Long Island Expressway.


Bob Griffith of Syosset, N.Y., said he tried leave early to escape the storm, but instead ended up stuck in the snow by the side of the road.


"I tried to play it smart in that I started early in the day, when it was raining," said Griffith. "But the weather beat us to the punch."


Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said the snow had wreaked havoc on the roadways.


"I saw state plows stuck on the side of the road. I've never seen anything like this before," Bellone said.


However, some New York residents, who survived the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, were rattled by having to face another large and potentially dangerous storm system with hurricane force winds and flooding.


"How many storms of the century can you have in six months?" said Larry Racioppo, a resident of the hard hit Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, New York.


READ: Weather NYC: Blizzard Threatens Rockaways, Ravaged by Sandy


Snowfall Totals


In New York, a little more than 11 inches fell in the city.


By this morning, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said nearly all of the primary roads had been plowed and the department of sanitation anticipated that all roads would be plowed by the end of the day.


"It looks like we dodged a bullet, but keep in mind winter is not over," said Bloomberg.






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US stocks end higher on sharply narrowed US trade deficit

 





NEW YORK: The S&P 500 punched to a new five-year high on Friday and the Nasdaq to its best since 2000, as stocks regained footing helped by a sharply narrowed US trade deficit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also reached a post-crisis high above 14,022 during trade, but slipped back to end up 48.92 points (0.35 percent) at 13,992.97.

The S&P 500 index rose 8.54 points (0.57 percent) to 1,517.93, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 28.74 points (0.91 percent) to 3,193.87.

- AFP/de




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Super Bowl Blackout: Was It Caused by Relay Device, or Human Error?


A device designed to bolster the Superdome electrical system instead caused it to shut down dramatically during Super Bowl XLVII, officials said Friday, but the equipment maker blames the settings keyed in by system operators in New Orleans.

Amid the volley of competing conclusions today, there was only slightly more clarity on the cause of the partial blackout of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome that halted action for 34 minutes Sunday night in the Baltimore Ravens 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. (See related story: "What Caused the Super Bowl Blackout at the Superdome?")

Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the venue, said testing traced the source of the problem to an "electrical relay device" it had installed in December to protect Superdome equipment in case a cable failure occurred between the company's switchgear and the stadium.

At an emergency meeting of the New Orleans City Council utility regulatory committee, the power company had no answer to why the relay failed. Though there was some discussion that an independent probe might be needed, council members laced their questions with civic pride.

"The reason that you've identified is not a reason that was the fault of Entergy, or the Superdome or anyone here in New Orleans, is that correct?" asked city council member James Austin Gray II.

"As best as we can tell, the partial outage was due to a device that was manufactured in Chicago," said Charles Rice, president and chief executive of Entergy New Orleans.

But the manufacturer, S&C Electric, a 102-year-old designer of switching and protection products for electric power transmission and distribution, says the problem Sunday was caused by human error by system operators, not a fault with the device.  (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Electricity.")

"In working with those involved, we found that the electric outage at the Super Bowl was a result of the electric load current exceeding the trip setting for the switchgear relay as set by the system operators," said Michael Edmonds, S&C's vice president for strategic solutions, in an email exchange with National Geographic News. "Based on the onsite testing, we have determined that if higher settings had been applied, the equipment would not have disconnected the power.

"S&C continues to work with all those involved to get the system back online, and our customers can continue to rely on the quality and performance of our products," he added.

Root Cause?

Relays are devices that sense electrical current, voltages, and power and tell the circuits to operate. "Relays don't fail on their own, or it's relatively rare," says Helmut Brosz, director of the Institute of Forensic Electro-Pathology and former chair of the engineering sciences section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He explains that there are alarm relays, which simply provide an alert if there is a problem, and protective relays, which actually trip breakers in the event of a problem, causing power to stop flowing.

One of the most notorious power outages traced to a relay was the 1965 blackout that plunged 30 million people in the Northeastern United States and Canada, which was caused by a protective relay outside of Toronto tripping a circuit. The U.S. regulators traced that problem to human error: System operators had input an incorrect setting into the backup protective relay, and when the load on the line exceeded that set point, the relay took a big 230-kilovolt line out of service, redistributing the flow on other lines, which tripped out in a cascading failure in a matter of seconds.

S&C, maker of the relay device used at the Superdome, markets a variety of "smart grid solutions." Although those are typically meant to improve efficiency and performance of large utility power systems, outside experts stress that the extent of an electrical system like that in Superdome should not be underestimated. "The stadium electrical system would be similar in size and complexity to a small town," said David Bassett, a retired senior staff engineer for PPL Electric Utilities of Pennsylvania and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

In New Orleans this morning, some city council members expressed concern that there was not a more detailed explanation of what caused the relay device to fail at the showcase game before 108.4 million television viewers. "We've told the public we're going to have an investigation by a third party, and we have an obligation," said Council Vice President Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson. "What assurance do we have on this test? Was it an overload?"

Rice said Entergy would discuss the need for a third-party investigator with Superdome management, but said the utility was "certain" the cause of the outage was the device, which was taken out of service. New equipment is being evaluated, he said.

"Currently that piece is offline, and the Superdome is fully functional," Rice said. "What we will do is continue our analysis, and we are in the process of obtaining replacement equipment, and we are working very closely with the manufacturer of the equipment to ensure that never happens again."

At the end of the hearing, Clarkson said she still believed there should be a third-party investigation of the incident "to reassure the public... and defy the naysayers rising up around the country." She noted that there had been outages in football stadiums in the past. "This is not a one-of-a-kind event," she said. "But I think we have to take the attitude that we've handled it better than it's ever been handled before." In an unusual structure, the New Orleans City Council regulates the local subsidiary of parent company Entergy, while the Louisiana Public Service Commission regulates its operations outside of Orleans Parish.

The hearing revealed the extraordinary measures that had been undertaken in advance of the Super Bowl to upgrade, bolster, and maintain the electrical systems.

Entergy started evaluating the stadium electrical systems two years ago, and decided to add a protective relay system. "The purpose was to provide a newer, more advanced type of protection to the Superdome," said Dennis Dawsey, Louisiana vice president for transmission and distribution operations for Entergy. On the night of the Super Bowl, Entergy had nine people at the stadium to monitor the electrical systems, two at the substation and two at a distribution facility. "We were prepared for this event," he said. (See related photos: "Super Bowl Caps Banner Season in NFL Green Drive.")

The Superdome management, meanwhile, last year had replaced some aging electric feeder cables that bring power into the stadium, said Doug Thornton, senior vice president, Stadiums and Arenas for SMG, which manages the operations of the Superdome. "I never even heard of a relay device until Monday," he told the council. "But we did take steps to ensure that those feeder cables were 100 percent reliable."

Black Box Data

Just as investigators search for the "black box" that stores flight data after a plane crash, probes on electrical outages initially center on a similar device that records electrical flow and circuit trips, experts say. But the black box of electrical systems—known as the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system—"has its limits," says B. Don Russell, distinguished professor of electrical engineering at Texas A & M University, who has 30 years of experience as an electric power forensic engineer. "It's not very accurate, but will give a general idea of the time when the power went off—if it occurred as a disruption on the utility system. It will tell them if the breaker at the utility system went off, but it will tell them nothing about what happened inside the facility."

For that part of the puzzle, examiners would need to start at the main service panel, where the electricity supply enters the facility and look at the entire system between that point and the lights. The fact that the stadium lights came back on relatively quickly suggests "there's probably not anything broken," Russell says. "They will want to reconstruct what lights went off and why, asking questions and testing equipment tracing back the power" until they find the piece of equipment that was responsible.

Much like a medical examiner conducting an autopsy, a forensic electrical engineer is an expert in the field whose determination of the cause of an electrical event can withstand scrutiny in a court of law. "If you've got a problem that involved engineering and it's in the legal system, we probably have somebody you could hire," says Marvin Specter, Executive Director of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers. "The process is no different from the case of the car hit the pole hit the bicycle: gather information and analyze with competence."

In the past, forensic electrical engineers have investigated the causes of events such as the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and the widespread blackouts across the Northeastern United States and Canada in the 1960s and in 2003. They also work on smaller scale incidents such as an individual being electrocuted by her toaster. They are usually called in when death or injury has occurred, or a large sum of money is at stake.

For New Orleans, which is preparing to host its annual Mardi Gras celebration next week, the city's reputation as an event venue is clearly on the line. "More than anything else we want to get rid of the speculation," said Councilmember Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, chair of the utility committee. "Let's get rid of the conspiracy theories and get down to nuts and bolts facts. Then we can make sure it won't happen again." Like other council colleagues, she mentioned New Orleans' bid to have the Super Bowl return for the city's tricentennial in 2018.  "After all, we would love to welcome the NFL back for our 300th anniversary," she said.

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.


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Blizzard of 2013 May Bring More Than 2 Feet of Snow













A blizzard of possibly historic proportions is set to strike the Northeast, starting today and could bring more than two feet of snow and strong winds that could shut down densely populated cities such as Boston and New York City.


A storm from the west will join forces with one from the south to form a nor'easter that will sit and spin just off the East Coast, affecting more than 43 million Americans. Wind gusts will reach 50 to 60 mph from Philadelphia to Boston.


"[It] could definitely be a historic winter storm for the Northeast," Adrienne Leptich of the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y., said. "We're looking at very strong wind and heavy snow and we're also looking for some coastal flooding."


The snow began falling in New York City shortly before 7 a.m. ET. The snow is expected to mix with some sleet and then turn back into snow after 3 p.m.


Airlines have started shutting down operations between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. at major airports in the New York area as well as in Boston, Portland, Maine, Providence, and other Northeastern airports. More than 4,000 flights have been cancelled on Friday and Saturday, according to FlightAware. Airlines hope to resume flights by Saturday afternoon.


New York City is expecting up to 14 inches, which is expected to start this morning with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts of 55 mph are expected in New York City and Cape Cod, Mass., could possibly see 75 mph gusts.


PHOTOS: Northeast Braces for Snowstorm








Weather Forecast: Northeast Braces for Monster Blizzard Watch Video









Winter Storm to Hit Northeast With Winds and Snow Watch Video







Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other New England cities canceled school today. Boston and other parts of New England could see more than 2 feet of snow by Saturday.


Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon and announced a ban on all traffic from roads after 4 p.m. It is believed that the last time the state enacted such a ban was during the blizzard of 1978.


Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible from New Jersey to Long Island, N.Y., and into New England coastal areas. Some waves off the coast could reach more than 20 feet.


"Stay off the streets of our city. Basically, stay home," Boston Mayor Tom Menino warned Thursday.


Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, including Hartford, New Haven, Conn., and Providence. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.


To the south, Philadelphia was looking at a possible 4 to 6 inches of snow.


Thousands of flights have already been canceled in anticipation of the storm. Amtrak said its Northeast trains will stop running this afternoon.


Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service says travel conditions will deteriorate fairly rapidly Friday night.


"The real concern here is there's going to be a lot of strong winds with this system and it's going to cause considerable blowing and drifting of snow," he said.


Parts of New York, still reeling from October's Superstorm Sandy, are still using tents and are worried how they will deal with the nor'easter.


"Hopefully, we can supply them with enough hot food to get them through before the storm starts," Staten Island hub coordinator Donna Graziano said.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000 tons of salt were being put on standby.


"We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," Bloomberg said Thursday.


Residents of the Northeast have already begun to hit stores for groceries and tools to fight the mounting snow totals.


The fire department was called in to a grocery store in Salem, Mass., because there were too many people in the store Thursday afternoon trying to load up their carts with essential items.


"I'm going to try this roof melt stuff for the first time," Ian Watson of Belmont, Mass., said. "Just to prevent the ice dam. ... It's going be ugly on that roof."


ABC News' Max Golembo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Brennan defends drone strike policies



Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Brennan also rebutted accusations that he did not follow through on his concerns about harsh interrogation techniques by taking his reservations to superiors in the CIA.


In response to questions from Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), the top Republican on the committee, Brennan disputed the suggestion that it was “better to kill [terrorists] with a drone” than for the CIA to detain them. “I never believe it’s better to kill a terrorist than to detain him,” Brennan said. He said he did not want the CIA to be in the detention business but that detaining and interrogating terrorists could produce valuable information to prevent further attacks.

As Brennan began testifying Thursday, he was repeatedly interrupted by antiwar protesters, who were escorted out by guards. One protester carried a sign that read, “Stop CIA murder.”

After several such disruptions, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the committee, ordered the hearing room cleared.

Brennan, 57, a 25-year veteran of the CIA who currently serves as Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, appeared before the panel after submitting written testimony in which he defended drone strikes and warned of continuing threats from al-Qaeda, cyberattacks and nuclear proliferation.

Brennan told senators that drone strikes against terrorist targets meet “rigorous standards” and that no new legislation is needed to govern them.

In opening the hearing, Feinstein said it was important to “ensure that drone strikes are carried out in a manner consistent with our values.”

She said she planned to ask about civilian casualties from drone strikes — one of strongest criticisms of the program by opponents. While Brennan once said he had no “confirmed” reports of civilian casualties, he later revised those remarks in the face of widespread reports on the ground, especially in Pakistan.

According to the New America Foundation, which tracks drone strikes, the number of civilian casualties has dropped fairly dramatically in Pakistan, with no civilian deaths reported yet this year and only five last year in 48 strikes, compared to between 56 and 64 in 73 strikes during 2011. Other trackers have placed the figures somewhat higher, and new criticism about civilian deaths has risen in Yemen, where the number of drone strikes is fast increasing.

In written responses to questions from the committee, Brennan said that drone strikes “are conducted in full compliance with the law” to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and save American lives.

“We must, however, use these technologies carefully and responsibly” he wrote in answering the “prehearing questions,” which the committee released Wednesday. “Consequently, we apply rigorous standards and a rigorous process of review.” He added that “we are working to refine, clarify and strengthen this process and our standards.” But the government currently has the authority to conduct drone strikes “against al-Qaeda and associated forces” without “geographical limitation,” he said. “Consequently, I do not believe additional legislation along these lines is necessary.”

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Tennis: Injured Li Na out of Qatar Open






DOHA: China's Li Na has pulled out of next week's $2.3 million Qatar Open after failing to recover from the ankle injury she suffered in her Australian Open final defeat to Victoria Azarenka.

"Li Na has withdrawn from QatarTennis due to her ankle injury from the Australian Open final. #WTA #tennis," the WTA said on its Twitter account.

The Qatar Open starts on Monday.

- AFP/de



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Rahul Gandhi says Akhilesh has failed UP on development

LUCKNOW: On his first visit to his parliamentary constituency since becoming Congress vice-president, Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi blamed the Akhilesh Yadav government for failing to put Uttar Pradesh on the path of development and generating enough job opportunities for the youth.

"There is a complete lack of employment opportunities here," he told a gathering on Thursday. "The development that should have taken place in Uttar Pradesh is not there."

The 42-year-old Gandhi scion later laid the foundation for development works worth Rs 30 crore at Tiloi, including the construction of over two dozen roads. The project will be carried out using Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme funds.

"I have to travel [around] the whole country, but when I come to Amethi it feels like I have come home," he said. "Amethi is my family and home. So, I feel extremely delighted when I come here. I know the youth here have a lot of problems."

Gandhi also held closed-door meetings with party functionaries and leaders.

On the second day of his trip on Friday, the Congress leader will visit the Bhetya area, where he is scheduled to meet party workers and office-bearers before returning to Delhi.

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