Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf was today named as an accused in an interim chargesheet filed by prosecutors in an anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of suspects charged with involvement in assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf, who has been living in self-exile in Britain since early 2009, was named as an accused in the interim challan or chargesheet filed by the federal investigation agency in the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.

A report by a UN commission that probed the Bhutto assassination had blamed Musharraf for failing to take adequate steps to provide security to former premier. Bhutto was killed by a suicide attacker in Rawalpindi in December 2007 during an election rally in Rawalpindi. Musharraf was then President of Pakistan.

Ironical, that Dalit women are not safe in Mayawati's UP.

In the backdrop of the brutal attack on a Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas today slammed the state administration and police for their handling of the rape and abduction cases.

Vyas said there were no signs of justice being delivered to the victims and also blamed the police for conducting "shoddy" investigations and implicating innocent persons.

In Bindaki, UP, a 16-year-old Dalit girl had her nose, ear and part of her arm chopped off after she resisted a rape attempt by three men.

Two bomb explosions outside two police stations in Karachi have left two people injured. The two blasts went off outside two police stations situated in the city's busiest area Lee Market and Malir.

Details come in of what's happening between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistan countrapart Salman Bashir.

A day after their meeting here aimed at restoring the dialogue process, Rao and Bashir today struck a note of optimism and talked about taking the engagement process forward through a "vision" for the bilateral relationship.

Both described their 90-minute meeting as useful and expressed satisfaction over their discussions which covered a broad range of issues. "We had a good meeting, useful meeting. We were able to discuss a number of issues of relevance with the (Indo-Pak) relationship," Rao said.

She said her discussions with Bashir were not dominated by any one issue "but we talked about the (dialogue) process and charting the way forward, what the best modalities would be" in this direction. "I'm satisfied."

Asked about the next step, she said, "we need to wait and see." "We have to wait for this process to mature. We should be optimistic, cautiously optimistic because there are many issues that remain to be resolved," she said.

The Pakistan Foreign Secretary separately told reporters that "there was a broad meeting of minds" during his meeting with Rao and he had "every reason to be quite satisfied". "We have had very productive exchange of views. We will be reporting to our governments and then take it from there," he said. Asked whether 2007 Samjhauta Express blast issue came up during the meeting, Bashir was evasive.

Just in: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashirin an echo of his Indian counterpart's statement from the talks on at Thimpu, said, "There was a broad meeting of minds. I have every reason to be satisfied."

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had said that India is "cautiously optimistic" on charting a way forward in the dialogue process with Pakistan and would like to see the process to mature keeping in view ground realities. "We had a good meeting, useful meeting. We were able to discuss a number of issues of relevance with the (Indo-Pak) relationship," Rao told reporters in Thimphu, a day after meeting her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.

Dr Subramanian Swamy, president of the Janata Party, says he wants sanction from the Tamil Nadu governor to prosecute the state chief minister in the 2G scam and a multi-crore land scam. He said he had 23 files of proof against Karunanidhi.

Swamy's attack came a day after Tamil Nadu chief minister K Kaurnanidhi filed a notice against Swamy dragging his name in the 2G scam.

Reacting to the notice, Dr Swamy said, "I have not received the legal notice so far. I have only read about it in newspapers and newsmen are more worried about it thanI am. Let his legal notice reach me and I will throw it in the dustbin," Dr Swamy toldrediff.com's Omkar Singh.

Finally, news of the Google Inc executive who mysteriously disappeared from Cairo on January 27.

Egyptian television reports that after participating in anti-government protests, Wael Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa,was taken into custody. He will be released today.

Rediff.com's Omkar Singh reports that Dr Subramanian Swamy, president of the Janata Dal, has ridiculed the statement of Tamil Nadu chief minister K Kaurnanidhi that he should withdraw his comments on the CM in 24 hours or face the consequences.

"I have not received the legal notice so far. I have only read about in newspapers and newsmen are more worried about it then me. Let his legal notice reach me and I will throw it in the dustbin," Dr Swamy toldrediff.com.

Read the full story on rediff.com shortly

Concerned over the reports of detention and harassment of journalists and human rights activists in strife-torn Egypt, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked the Egyptian authorities to ensure that no such action is taken against them.

Clinton conveyed this tough message in a telephonic call to Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik. Clinton emphasized the need to ensure that the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people are met, and that a broad cross-section of political actors and civil society have to be a part of the Egyptian-led process.

During the 14-day old uprising against Mubarak's rule several foreign journalists, including Indians, were detained, beaten up and harassed. Later in an interview to the CNN, Shafiq assured that international journalists or human rights activists in the country would not be harassed.

Bryan Adams will be the only western artist to perform at the Opening Ceremonies for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in Dhaka Bangladesh.

The February 17 performance will fall near the end of Adams' tour of India that begins February 11th in Pune. Also on the itinerary will be Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, thecity of Bryan's first concert in India in January 1994 at the Brabourne Stadium.

The dailymail.com reports on the story of a British schoolgirl who ran away to Pakistan with her father more than four years ago, but has now returned to her mother in the UK.

Molly Campbell caused an international tug-of-love when, aged 12, she walked out of school and fled with her father and elder sister to Lahore. There, she was known as Misbah Rana and attended an Islamic school.

Read the extraordinary story

From the New York Times: As Egyptians turned their anger on symbols of the state late last month, torching police stations along with the headquarters of PresidentHosni Mubarak's ruling party, they reserved a special hatred for a garish building with black tinted windows in an upscale neighborhood, setting fire to it three times.

It belongs to a steel tycoon and ruling party insider named Ahmed Ezz, a close friend and confidante of Mr Mubarak's son Gamal.

Read more

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has said that he is shocked at the 10-year ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption tribunal.

The independent tribunal, chaired by Michael Beloff, found Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif guilty of charges relating to spot-fixing in the Lord's Test match between England and Pakistan played in August last year.

In addition, Butt was also found guilty of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code by failing to report an approach made to him by British-based bookmaker Mazhar Majeed to engage in corrupt activity during The Oval Test match earlier in the same month.

The Bombay High Court will pronounce the verdict and confirmation of the death sentence on Pakistani LeT terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab on Februay 21. A Special Court had pronounced death sentence to Kasav.

Adivision bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Ranjit More of the Bombay HC reserved its order on confirming or rejecting Ajmal Amir Kasab's death sentence for February 7, but set the date for the final verdict on February 21.

Lawyers said the other option before the HC would be to order a retrial. The confirmation hearing in the 26/11 terror attack case involving the Pakistani gunman was completed in a record time of three months.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is due to begin his court battle against extradition from the UK to Sweden, reports bbc.co.uk.

He faces allegations of sexual assault against two women, which he denies. Assange is expected to argue that Swedish prosecutors had no right to issue a warrant for his arrest because he has not yet been charged with any offences.

The bbc.co.uk says that his lawyers are expected to argue that if their client is forced to return to Sweden he could be extradited to the US, or even Guantanamo Bay, to face separate charges relating to the publication of secret documents by Wikileaks.

He fears he could face the death penalty as a result.

Our New Delhi correspondent says that Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will meet the leaders of all political parties at 1 pm today. This is ahead of the budget session on February 21, which the opposition has threatened to boycott over sustained demands for a JPC probe into the 2G scam.

The New York Times reports a mega media merger -- the marriage of TheHuffington Post and AOL.Huffington Postwhich began in 2005 with a meager $1 million investment and has grown into one of the most heavily visited news Web sites in the country, is being acquired byAOLin a deal that creates an unlikely pairing of two online media giants.

Huffington said that as she began talking to Tim Armstrong of AOL, "it was really amazing how aligned our visions were.

On Sunday, Tim Armstrong said the deal fit "right into our strategy. The two companies completed the sale Sunday evening and were expected to announce the deal Monday morning.

AOL will pay $315 million, $300 million of it in cash and the rest in stock. It will be the company's largest acquisition since it was separated from Time Warnerin 2009.

Good morning and welcome to a new week. The headlines at this hour...

Egyptian protesters vow to escalate pressure on Mubarak(The Times of India)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak came under fresh pressure to quit immediately as opponents posing the biggest challenge to his 30-year rule said concessions made in landmark talks were insufficient.

Egypt accuses embassies of smuggling weapons (The Indian Express)

Egypt's foreign ministry accused diplomats of trying to bring weapons and communications equipment into the restive country, which saw looting amid anti-government protests this month.

HC to decide date for verdict in Kasab case(Hindustan Times)

The case relating to confirmation of death sentence awarded to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab for his role in 26/11 terror attacks is in its final stages with the Bombay high court likely to fix on Monday the date for delivering the verdict

India, Pak make cautious start(Hindustan Times)

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met here on Sunday night in a bid to resume the dialogue process and to try bridging the trust deficit that hit the relationship

Muslim Brotherhood joins mainstream(The Hindu)

After being shunned for decades, the Muslim Brotherhood appears set to acquire official legitimacy in Egypt with its representatives on Sunday holding talks with the government on defining the ground rules for a political transition.

Five rape 21-yr-old accountant in Ghaziabad(The Times of India)

A 21-year-old woman, sitting with a friend by the roadside at Ghaziabad's CGO Complex, was allegedly gangraped by five men on Saturday night.

Sena-BJP-MNS alliance in offing?(Indian Express)

Stressing the need to form a front of like-minded parties, former deputy chief minister and BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde on Sunday pledged to take efforts for an alliance of the Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS in the future.

IIT-Bombay may set up campus in New York(The Times of India)
The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay could soon have a second address in New York.

CAG goes after another spectrum deal(The Hindu)

According to preliminary CAG estimates, this spectrum largesse to a private customer could have caused the exchequer a loss in excess of Rs. 2 lakh crore. The Department of Space and the ISRO are under scanner

Thai, Cambodian clashes resume at disputed border(The Hindu)

Cambodia said the fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops has broken out for a fourth day along their disputed frontier