Bangla Mutiny Over

Mutinous members of the Bangladesh Rifles in Dhaka surrendered their weapons on Thursday night as tanks surrounded their headquarters after a second day of gunfire in a mutiny that killed about 50 people. The mutiny had spread to other districts before petering out.

Government officials and police said the mutiny in Dhaka was under control and urged members of the BDR border guards who had mutinied elsewhere in the country over pay and command issues to lay down their arms.

After the mutiny over a pay rise had spread beyond Dhaka to other cantonment areas in the country, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanded that the mutineers in the BDR, a paramilitary force deployed on the border with India, should lay down their arms or face tough action.

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Obama: No tax breaks for outsourcers

American firms will no longer get tax breaks if they move jobs to India or elsewhere, US President Barack Obama said in his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, saying he would “restore a sense of fairness” to the US tax code.

“We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas,” he said amid loud applause by US legislators.

At least 1,000 US firms which have moved jobs abroad are likely to be affected by the proposed move to scrap a provision in the tax laws which allow them to pay lower taxes on profits repatriated from overseas. Opponents of this provision, mostly Mr Obama’s fellow Democrats, had been demanding its abolition for a long time, saying it was encouraging American companies to send jobs overseas.

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Suicide bid at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, student saved

Yet another student of IIT Kanpur allegedly tried to commit suicide on Monday night by throwing himself on the railway tracks, but was saved in time by a railway police party patrolling the area.

A Government Railway Police spokesman said the student, Durgesh Vikram, who belongs to Muzaffarpur in Bihar, was seen sitting on the tracks near platform number four of Kanpur Central station shortly before the Neelanchal Express was scheduled to move towards Allahabad from the same tracks.

According to police sources, Vikram, a Ph.D. civil engineering student, later told the police that he had been keeping poor health and was fed up with his life. Vikram had also been taking medicines for mental disorders.

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Kate triumphs on sixth attempt

British actress Kate Winslet won her first Oscar on Sunday night for her portrayal of a German woman with a secret Nazi past in the romantic drama The Reader.

Titanic star Winslet, 33, was Oscar-nominated five times in the past 13 years but had always returned home empty-handed.

Her best actress Oscar joins two Golden Globes, a Screen Actors Guild award, a British Bafta and a handful of US critics awards that Winslet has won this season.

“To the academy, thank you so much,” she said. Winslet gave credit to her fellow best actress nominees — Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie and Melissa Leo — calling them “goddesses.”

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Clashes erupt at Madras High Court

Lawyers and policemen fought a pitched battle on the Madras high court premises for almost three hours on Thursday following an altercation between them over the arrest of a few lawyers in connection with the assault case involving Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on February 17.

Besides several lawyers, the injured include a judge, some litigants, court staff and a few journalists. The police station within the court complex was also set ablaze.

Acting chief justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya convened a meeting with other judges and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate, after first consulting the state government. A formal announcement about a CBI probe is likely to be made in the Assembly on Friday.

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United States to send 17,000 troops to Afghan

US President Barack Obama approved adding some 17,000 American troops for the flagging war in Afghanistan, his first significant move to change the course of a conflict that his closest military advisers have warned the US is not winning.

"This increase is necessary to stabilise a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires," Mr Obama said in a statement.

That was a slap at his predecessor, Mr George W. Bush, whom Mr Obama has accused of slighting urgent national security needs in Afghanistan in favour of war in Iraq. "There is no more solemn duty as President than the decision to deploy our armed forces into harm’s way," Mr Obama said.

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Whole of California is hit by rain, snow

A winter storm blanketed California with heavy rain and snow, forcing the closure of a major highway and the cancellation of the final round of a national golf tournament.

The West Coast storm stretched from the Mexican border up to Oregon and Washington state and was expected to last through Tuesday afternoon, said Stan Wasowski, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego. He said rain clouds extended several hundred miles off the Pacific coast.

“This one here is hitting the entire state,” Mr Wasowski said on Monday. Heavy snow forced the closure of a 80-kilometre stretch of Interstate 5 in both directions in north of Los Angeles. The roadway is the region’s main north-south artery. “We don’t see it opening any time soon,” said David Porter, a California highway patrol officer.

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Sensex down 329 points

The Sensex tanked three percent under the weight of its own self-induced expectations. Most analysts feel that the markets overreacted considering that it was only an Interim Budget, which as HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh pointed out, was basically a vote on account.

The market opened flat on weak global cues from the Asian markets, which feared a deepening crisis in the American banking and auto sectors. The market went down around 78 points when Mr Pranab Mukherjee began reading his speech, and kept dipping further and further into the red. It paused a bit when the minister referred to tax distortions and the need to rationalise personal income-tax rates as they expected him to announce some tax sops. But it didn’t happen, and by then the punters had offloaded the positions they had taken. The Sensex closed 329.29 points down, at 9,305.45, while the Nifty closed 99.85 points down, at 2,848.50.

Dubbing the Interim Budget "the dampest of damp squibs", V.K. Sharma, director, Anagram Securities Ltd, said there was nothing for industry or the capital markets.

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F-16 tyres burst on landing

A potential disaster was averted by the pilot of an F-16 after two of the fighter jet’s tyres burst while landing at the Yelahanka air force station on Sunday, the concluding day of Aero India 2009.

Lockheed Martin demonstration pilot Paul Randall brought the jet, the same aircraft that ace shooter Abhinav Bindra flew in on Thursday, to a controlled landing after its control panel flashed a warning that the tyres were going to burst. When he felt the tyres will go out from under him, the pilot maintained speed and guided the aircraft to a shaky but safe halt on the tarmac.

The incident took place at around 2 pm, when the F16, which has come to Bengaluru from its base in the UAE, was returning after a routine sortie.

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Palaniappan Chidambaram warns Karnataka on Valentine’s Day

In the wake of threats from some outfits aiming to disrupt Valentine’s Day celebrations on Saturday, the Centre on Thursday directed the Karnataka government to take “preventive and punitive” action to ensure law and order. The right wing Sri Ram Sene, which had been involved in an attack on a pub in Mangalore on January 24, has threatened to “marry off” couples on a date or spending time together on Valentine’s Day.

The Centre has alerted states to keep special vigil on troublemakers to ensure that Valentine’s Day passes off peacefully, home ministry sources said. Some states, including Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi, have been told to be particularly alert and to keep a special watch on troublemakers. New Delhi has also offered to provide additional forces to states to maintain law and order if needed.

In a letter to Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Union home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram drew his attention to reports that the Rashtriya Hindu Sena and Sri Ram Sene were planning large scale protests across the state on Valentine’s Day.

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Tejas Lightest Combat Aircraft stars in flying start to Aero India

Speed, style and the rush of pure adrenaline. The world’s lightest combat aircraft began Bengaluru’s air show party on a steep climb. Then, Indian Navy pilot Capt. Jaideep Maolankar brought the Tejas aircraft down to 300 feet, flew inverted close to the stands, took a hard right turn to show its high angle of attack capability, looped up vertically in the distance, and finally came down to do a low-level, high-speed flypast, as if in a salute; 6,000 on people on the ground, astounded enough to ignore the scorching heat beating down on them.

The 7th edition of Aero India got off to a flying start on Wednesday as several chiefs of foreign Air Forces and Ratan Tata — he, of the Tata family, which has “aviation in their blood” — watched.

Four Tejas aircraft, led by Air Commodore Rohit Verma, principal pilot of the National Flight Test Centre, flew a formation fly-past.

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Government plans to borrow Rs 46,000 crores for revival

The government will borrow a further Rs 46,000 crores in one month to meet the extra expenditure incurred in providing a stimulus to the slowing economy.

“We had discussions with the Reserve Bank of India. The borrowing will be between February 20 and March 20 to the order of Rs 46,000 crores,” said economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla. He said the extra borrowing would be done in four tranches.

This fiscal the government deficit has worsened due to the farm loan waiver, implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission report and a large subsidy on petroleum products which has made the government borrow more from the market. While due to the economic slowdown the government’s income from taxes has slowed down, it was also forced to induce measures to boost the economy. The combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and states could be 10 per cent this year.

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Pakistan lie machine: Give more proof

Pakistan on Monday asked India to give more information on the Mumbai attacks before it can actually act against the terrorists involved.

“We have gone through the report and want some more evidence. At our end, we are trying to get hold of the suspects,” a Pakistan Cabinet member who attended the meeting of the defence committee of the Cabinet in Islamabad, told this newspaper.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram on Monday rubbished the Pakistani stand that the 26/11 plot was hatched in Bangladesh and Europe, our special correspondent reports from Mumbai. Speaking to mediapersons after a high-level security review meeting at the state guesthouse Sahyadri, Mr Chidambaram, when asked about the Bangladesh angle, simply said, “That is rubbish. The FBI helped us a lot in the investigation of the case and, if needed, they will be called to provide evidence as well.”

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Mughal Gardens to open today

The Mughal Gardens in the Rashtrapati Bhavan are in full bloom and will be thrown open to public view from February 7 to March 10. Roses are the theme this year and the garden has about 125 varieties of the flower besides the regular ones.

“This year’s theme is roses. We have over 125 different varieties of roses, ranging from usual colours red, pink, white and yellow. The attraction will be the blue rose,” Nigam Prakash, officer on special duty (OSD), horticulture, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, said.

The rectangular garden, spread over 15 acres of area, has several varieties of seasonal flowers and flowering beds, with special attraction being the variety of roses, which are in full bloom and are the centre of attraction.

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Team India in jeans gaffe, but President smiles

Indian cricketers caused a minor protocol hiccup by wearing jeans and casual team jerseys for a reception hosted by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse at his Temple Trees residence here on Wednesday as part of Sri Lankan Independence Day celebrations and also to extend the visiting team the courtesy of the head of state.

The Sri Lankan team turned up in the team’s formal wear and many of them seemed distinctly uncomfortable seeing their rivals in jeans.

However, President Rajapakse himself seemed relaxed and in high spirits, still nursing the pride of the morning’s Galle Face Greens parade of his country’s military might. He mixed well with the Indians, posed for photographs and had a special word of warmth for Sachin Tendulkar.

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Tamils stay indoors on Independence Day

Indicating that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s healers will take some time to sink into their psyche, Tamils across Sri Lanka chose to stay indoors while the rest of the society hoisted the Lion flag atop homes and offices celebrating the nation’s 61st Independence Day on Wednesday.

Tamil sources in Colombo said three reasons led to the decision to stay at home, rather than venturing out near the Galle Face Green to try catching a glimpse of the celebrations by the Indian Ocean. “We will have to pass through so many check-posts even if we step out to go to the shop and it’s going to be tougher today with heightened security. Also, we could not bring ourselves to celebrate when our people are dying in the Wanni, whether they are militants or just civilians,” said a Tamil MP, who did not want to be named.

“Besides, the TV at home was relaying the I-Day show live, so why go through the hassles of travelling there?

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United Kingdom: More snow forecast

An icy night and forecasts of more heavy snow disrupted airports and schools across Britain for a second day on Tuesday with hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled.

Millions of Britons returned to work in the southeast of England as transport systems stalled by Monday’s blizzards slowly returned to operation, but tens of thousands of children were given a another day off because schools across the country remained closed.

“I can’t believe it. I love snow,” said six-year-old Benedict Shorthose, gripped by the excitement of a prospect of a second day of snowball fights in snowy London.

But businesses angry at the failing infrastructure were counting the cost of Mon day’s snow — the heaviest in southern England since 1991.

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United Nations official kidnapped in Pakistan

A foreign official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was on Monday kidnapped from Pakistani city of Quetta after shooting his driver dead, officials said.

Mr John Solecki, head of the UNHCR office in Quetta was on his way to his office when gunmen intercepted his vehicle and opened fire, the police said.

Syed Hashim Raza, the driver of UNHCR official was killed in the terrorist act, a police official further added. “The gunmen have taken him with them after shooting his driver,” said the police official.

Witnesses said that the vehicle crashed into a house after the gunman opened fire. A UN spokeswoman in Islamabad said details are sketchy.

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Google error sends warning worldwide

Google’s Internet search service malfunctioned for nearly 55 minutes Saturday morning, upending users around the world with search results that carried false safety warnings and Web links that did not work.

The company acknowledged Saturday that all searches produced links with the same warning message: “This site may harm your computer.” Clicking on any of the links led to an error message stating that the desired site could not be reached.

“What happened?” Google explained in its blog. “Very simply, human error.”

Google said it periodically updates its list of sites suspected of carrying dangerous software that could harm computers,

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