Big day tomorrow: Railway minister Mamata Banerjee will announce the rail budget and the Sabarmati special court will decide the quantum of punishment for the 31 guilty in the Godhra case.

Stay with us tomorrow.

The Home SecretaryU N Behera says abducted Malkangiri collector will be released tomorrow.

The two mediators who had left for Koraput, a Maoist stronghold to get Krishna free, had a marathon discussion with state government officials including Tripathy and Home Secretary U N Behera and explored various options for safe return of the 30-year-old IAS officer, who was abducted on February 16 along with junior engineer Pabitra Majhi.

Turkey has already begun evacuations from Libya.

It said it has brought more than 7,000 people from Libya since the weekend, among them nationals of other countries who requested help, as its large-scale evacuation operation continued today.

Some 3,000 people arrived at the Mediterranean port of Marmaris early today aboard two ferries that Ankara sent to Libya to collect Turks caught in deadly unrest sweeping the North African country.

A total of 25,000 Turks were based in Libya prior to the eruption of deadly unrest last week, most of them employees of Turkish construction companies active in the country

Two ferries braved rough seas Thursday to evacuate 4,500 Chinese workers from Libya's eastern port of Benghazi, but high winds to the west left hundreds of Americans stranded on a docked ferry in Tripoli.

The Seattle Times reports that as tens of thousands of foreigners sought to flee the turmoil in Libya, Britain pondered whether to send in its military to evacuate oil workers stranded in remote sites by fierce fighting in the North African nation.

Those who made it out of Libya described a frightening scene - with bodies hanging from electricity poles in Benghazi and militia trucks driving loaded up with the dead. In the capital of Tripoli, witnesses said the airport was a madhouse, crammed with desperate people who stampeded any open door.

We told you a couple of hours ago of that the two Maoist chosen mediators had left for Koraput for talks to ensure the abducted district collector's release. Some more details...

Mediators Prof G Hargopal and Dandapani Mohanty left by a chopper to the southern district of Koraput, a Maoist stronghold adjoining Malkangiri, Panchayati Raj Secretary, S N Tripathy said.

Official sources said the two mediators could proceed to Malkangiri from Koraput, if necessary, to be present as demanded by the Naxals.

Before their departure, the mediators had a marathon discussion with state government officials including Tripathy and Home Secretary U N Behera and explored various options for safe return of the 30-year-old IAS officer, who was abducted on February 16 along with junior engineer Pabitra Majhi.

Not sure if this is the Jammu and Kashmir state website, but if it is, there is a beautiful irony there.

Look

The Sensex tumbled the most in nine months as food-price gains accelerated and surgingoil pricesstoked concern inflation will lead to higher interest rates.

This comes from Bloomberg.com: Tata Motors Ltd sank 6.4 percent, the most since Feb 1; Larsen & Toubro Ltd, slid 5.3 percent.

Oil surged to the highest in 30 months inLondonas Libya's violent uprising cut supplies from Africa's third-biggest producer.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden. The judgement was delivered at the Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south London, following a two-and-a-half-day extradition hearing earlier this month. Assange denies three allegations of sexual assault and one of rape during a trip to Stockholm last August. The 39-year-old says the claims are politically motivated because of the work of his whistle-blowing website.

Assange will have seven days to appeal ruling.

Also read:The world after WikiLeaks

On the Parliament proceedings today.

R RAJAGOPALAN Mamta Banerjee sat with the Trinamool MPs and not in treasury bench. Before Mamta TMC MPs sit too quiet do not move an inch either sides.

T R Baalu taken papers from Kapil Sibal file, in LS, in public glare, obviously it must be to defend A Raja in TN election campaign.

Kapil Sibal in LS taken George Fernandes name,Sonia too happy, while Mulayam and Lalu faced went red, Old Lohiates-Karpuri Thakur chelas.

Former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie is likely to appear before the CBI for questioning tomorrow in connection with the agency's probe into possible criminal aspects in the telecom policy since 2001.

The CBI had approached Shourie, a senior BJP leader, early this month asking him to appear before it in connection with the Preliminary Enquiry registered by the agency following a direction from the Supreme Court. Shourie had held the telecom portfolio between January 2003 and May 2004 in the NDA regime.

Just in: Omar Suleiman, VP under Egypt's ousted Hosni Mubarak, survived an assassination attempt, the country's foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on satellite channel Al Hayaat TV yesterday that he had witnessed the shooting attack on Suleiman's vehicle in an area near the presidential palace in Heliopolis in Cairo.

He said the gunmen were inside a "stolen ambulance vehicle." One of Suleiman's bodyguards was killed, while another bodyguard and the driver were injured.

CWG OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot and former director general V K Verma get five-day police custody. The two were called in by the CBI for questioning in the CWG scam yesterday and then arrested.

The duo were arrested for purchasing scoring and result equipment from a Switzerland-based firm for a whopping 107 crore. According to sources the two had been instrumental in causing a loss of Rs 57 crore by accepting highly over-priced tenders.

MV Scotia Prince will reach Benghazi in Libya to evacuate Indians stranded there, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed today. The ship reached Port Syed in Egypt yesterday and will reach Libya late this evening or tomorrow morning.

Sources in the shipping ministry said that the exact timings would be known only to the Ministry of External Affairs who were coordinating with the Indian Embassy in Libya as to what time it could dock at Benghazi.

The ship has a capacity of a 1000 passengers.

More details on this story by Ganesh Nadar on rediff.com soon.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party has decided in principle to part ways with the Pakistan People's Party in the politically crucial province of Punjab, where the two parties have been uneasy partners in a coalition government for nearly three years.

The PML-N, which is the main opposition party at the centre, is expected to announce its decision to part with the PPP in Punjab and to expel PPP ministers from the provincial government on February 25, when a deadline set by Sharif to implement a 10-point reforms agenda will expire.

In Parliament right now: Sushma Swaraj finishes speaking on the JPC. Telecom minister Kapil Sibal takes over, hints Sushma is a liar. House in chaos. Sibal retracts. What Sibal basically says is that Sushma Swaraj is capable of proving the truth to be a lie and vice versa. Then he withdraws his statement.

What a fun.

Speaker says Baith Jaiye. Aap Baith Jaiye.

Amid a tense US-Pak standoff over the arrest of American Raymond Davis for double murder in Lahore, the White House has demanded his immediate release, insisting that he has diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention.

The Obama administration remained focused on the release of Davis, who was arrested in Lahore on January 27 after he shot and killed two Pakistanis he claimed were trying to rob him.

"We believe that the principle that every country in the world that participates in the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations has a responsibility to honour the provisions of that treaty. And that's our starting point in dealing with this issue," White House press secretary said.

The government today sidestepped the claims of former CWG OC chief Suresh Kalmadi that all approvals for projects were given by the Sports Ministry, saying the matter was under investigation.

"I don't need to respond (to Kalmadi's claims) as enquiries by various agencies are on," Sports Minister Ajay Maken told reporters outside Parliament.

He said various agencies, including the CBI and CVC, were looking into the matter it would not be appropriate for him to speak on the issue. "I would not like to comment on what Kalmadi has said. We have done whatever we had to. The investigations are going on and the results are before people. Let us wait for the investigation to complete," he said.

The CBI will file its final chargesheet on Rs 14,000-crore Satyam fraud after receiving responses to the Letters of Rogatory seeking information in this regard from six countries, Parliament was informed today.

The CBI is reported to have sent LORs -- a formal request sent from the court of one country to a foreign court for judicial assistance -- to six countries: the USA, the UK, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Mauritius and Singapore.

Another of those juicy interviews that make such a good read; this one by cnn.com's Jonathan Mann on Muammar Gaddafi. Mann writes...

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is the strangest head of state I've ever met. When I asked him about Libyan democracy he threatened to sue. "If you or someone else says that Libya is not a democracy then it would be considered an insult," he said. "We could go to court to redeem honor from that insult."

Read more

This is one of those lovely tabloid stories that ensure an audience.

The bbc.co.uk reports that a woman in Brazil was shocked to find an alligator hiding behind her sofa after heavy rains flooded her house in the town of Parauapebas.

She said she was alerted to the reptile's presence by her three-year-old son, who was patting its head. The woman snatched the child away and called the fire brigade, who trapped the 1.5m-long (5ft) alligator.

The firefighters said the family was lucky the reptile was not hungry.

The JPC on the 2G issue is being debated in Parliament. Sushma Swaraj as Leader of the Opposition stresses that demand for the JPC is neither extra-constitutional or unconstitutional.

Not a peep from the Maoists who are still holding the Malkangiri collector hostage.

The Orissa government today held fresh talks with the two mediators chosen by the Maoists as part of the ongoing efforts to facilitate the early release of the Malkangiri district collector R V Krishna.

"We are making all efforts ... Talks are on with the three interlocutors to secure safe and early release of the collector from the Maoists," Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters as the 30-year-old IAS officer of 2005 batch spent the ninth day in captivity.

Patnaik said the mediators have informed the abductors about the agreement reached between them and the Orissa government and made a fresh appeal to the Maoists to release Krishna by this evening.

Indian ship to evacuate citizens stranded in Libya on its way to Tripoli.

Meanwhile, several of the most senior leaders of the US military, the Afghanistan War, and the Pakistani armed forces held a daylong secret meeting yesterday at a secluded luxury resort along the Omani shores of the Persian Gulf. One US official in attendance described the meeting as "very candid and cordial, and very productive discussions.'

The meeting, planned several months ago, is the third such gathering of high-level American and Pakistani officials since August 2008 to discuss the war.

Read more

Tata chief Ratan Tata has told the Supreme Court that he was not satisfied with the "lackadaisical approach" of the government in investigating the leakage of the tapes of telephonic conversation of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with him and others.

"There has to be a comprehensive inquiry into it. My concern is that government is not giving serious consideration and attention to the issue ," senior advocate Harish Salve told a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly.

He said the government should have been concerned when the transcripts of the recorded conversation between Radia and others were published in the media for the first time on April 28, last year.

Parliament has reconvenend after a break for lunch.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee moves motion in Lok Sabha for setting up of the Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the telecom policy pursued from 1998 to 2009. He says it wasn't arrogance that the Congress had refused to agree to a JPC on the 2G scam.

It was just that the party thought it had taken all measures to look into 2G andneither was there lack of interest in resolving the 2G issue. The 2G JPC report to be submitted by the end of the monsoon session of Parliament.

WikiLeaks could have one foot in the online grave.

It's been months since its last major leak, and its staff members -- former and current -- say it's so thinly staffed and broke that it can't dissect a massive file a whistle-blower handed over, allegedly naming rich and influential global players guilty of tax crimes, reports cnn.com.

Details

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is ready to split with the CIA because of frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert US operation involving hundreds of contract spies, reports the dawn.com.

According to a statement drafted by the ISI, supported by interviews with officials, an already-fragile relationship between the two agencies collapsed following theshooting to death of two Pakistanisby Raymond Davis, a US contracted spy who is in jail in Pakistan facing possible multiple murder charges.

Read more

After Paul the Octopus, who predicted the World Cup results, now comes a cross-eyed possum in Germany that predicts the top Academy Awards winners.

Heidi the possum gives her verdict of the winners by sniffing and touching fake Oscar statuettes that have pictures of squinty-eyed actors pinned on them. Each day she is released in a pen where the statuettes are, and whichever statue she touches with her paw first signifies the winner in that category.

So far she has picked 'Black Swan' star Natalie Portman to take home the Best Actress award.

The Oscars are on Sunday.

If you haven't seen Heidi yet, take a look

A day after the arrest of two of his close aides, sacked Commonwealth Games OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi today accused the investigating agencies of "targeting" only the Organising Committee when government officials were also part of the entire decision-making process.

He expressed shock and displeasure over the way the entire matter has been handled by the investigating agencies when all the documents pertaining to the conduct of the Games were with them.

We aren't shocked any more at his amazing attitude.

Some may suspect the whiff of jasmine flower in the eastern air near to where the sun rises may have prompted India to view the Arab revolt in Libya as holding promise. But if you are in doubt as toWho overruled our PM, don't look east. Look west. And if the western information order is not particularly helpful to clarify matters, turn to good old Fidel Castro.

That's our venerable MK Bhadrakumar's blog. Read more

Exactly an hour since the PM began speaking.

On J-K: Parties shouldn't disturb peace. We want to strengthen the hand of the state government.

Rahul Gandhi is talking to himself.

Wish the camera in Parliament would pan the benches.

Alright, speech has ended. Opposition up and ranting.

A very polite Rajnath Singh asks the PM to explain on China incursions.

Speaker adjourns the House till 1.15 pm.

PM:Security of the country faced with many challenges.

-- Positive ULFA will give up violence.

-- J&K: Situation has improved. Keeping fingers crossed

-- Have to deal with Left-wing extremism with extreme sensitivity.

Priya Dutt sniffs (not at what the PM is saying, obviously)

PM: We will clean system of black money. It is not a product of four to five years. It has been there for a long time(A pointer that it also happened during the NDA tenure).

-- Less scope of tax evasion now, but we have a long way to go.

How is it that the Opposition benches are listening in so quietly. Not a murmur of protest.

PM says the government will cooperate with all investigating agencies. Why does LK Advani look like his stomach is cramping?

PM: No wrongdoer will escape penalties. When we got credible evidence, action was taken.

-- Nothing wrong with UPA's telecom policy.

-- CWG was a success despite initial problems.

-- India has not lost its way. Govt committed to achieving growth rate of 9 to 10 per cent. We recognise our obligation to the poor.

(Sonia nods in acquiscence)

This comes from the business desk. An interesting story on why China will overtake the US to become the largest economy in the world by 2020, but will then be overtaken by India by 2050. This is on the basis of a report filed by financial services group Citi.

Read about it

A disturbed, or so he seems, PM goes on about how the government is committed to controlling inflation.

Sonia Gandhi looks tired and wan.

PM says he will do everything possible to clean up public life, as Jaswant Singh scratches his palm.

PM says nothing wrong with UPAs telecom policy. He says if there is a scam [why is it still if], it must be dealt with.

And this should draw cheers from the Opposition: Says govt is open to JPC, PAC.

Says there are unfortunate developments in CWG, 2G.

Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan yesterday said no one came to assist him in his hour of difficulty in India except for Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt.

He said he could have moved Indian courts to retrieve the $1,24,000 seized by the customs department under charges of possessing undeclared money at Delhi airport.

Rahat said foreign-earned money does not fall under Pakistan Tax Regulations and maintained that he regularly pays out taxes on the money he earned in Pakistan.

(There's a word for people like this -- they're called ungrateful. Rahat was released and sent back to Pakistan, even he couldwell have beenshoved into judicial custody.)

Here's the Rahat story

Dr Manmohan Singh addresses the Lok Sabha, back after a brief adjournement. Says he will address probity in public life. Puts forth the big problems or to dos before the government, which include...

-- containing inflation

-- sustaining the momentum of economic growth

-- maintaininginternal and externalsecurity

While you digest the food inflation snipped,pictures of the New Zealand earthquake the moment it happened. Hopes are fading of finding survivors beneath the collapsed buildings in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

Ninety-eight bodies have now been recovered and taken to a temporary morgue. Prime Minister John Key said that number could rise substantially. Police have said 226 people are missing - up to 120 of them at one site alone, reports bbc.co.uk.

And now, the pictures

If you're not up to speed on why the abducted Malkangiri collector has still not been release, here's why.

But first, Dr G Haragopal, the mediator who is trying to get the Malkangiri collector freed has given a 6 pm deadline to the Naxals for the release.

The hostage crisis has got complicated after the Maoists made a fresh demand for the immediate release of five key Naxals in return for the freedom of RV Krishna, taking by surprise the mediators who later made an appeal that the 30-year-old IAS officer be set free byThursday evening.

Krishna was abducted along with Majhi on February 16 from Chitrakonda, about 150 km from Malkangiri. While Naxal leader Ganti Prasadam was granted bail last evening by the Orissa High Court, the abductors demanded that five others including Padma, wife of a top rebel, be also freed from jail.

Also see the bbc.co.uk report

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, two US citizens with alleged diplomatic status were quietly withdrawn from Pakistan after being involved in a fatal car accident last month while trying to help Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor being held by Pakistani authorities on murder charges.

A Pakistani paper The International News says the two Americans who left the country worked for the CIA under contract as protective officers. This means they were employed as highly skilled bodyguards, like Davis, for CIA operations officers serving in Pakistan.

In the Rajya Sabha today, the ISRO-Devas deal up for discussion. BJP's Venkiah Naidu wants a discussion on the deal, PM says he did not know enough on the S-Band deal. PM is expected to speak to the LS at around 12 pm.

The PM also says there's no question of the PMO being asked to approve the Antrix-Devas deal on S-band spectrum. The PM has said the decision on the dealwas not taken by the cabinet -- basically he's washed his hands off the deal.

A few days ago, even as Pakistan was gripped by the Raymond Davis saga, President Asif Ali Zardari made an unpublicised visit to Dubai for a couple of hours in an attempt to steer his nation out of the economic morass, reports Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

No, not to plead for any liquidity infusion, but to get the Emirates's royal family to lean on Etisalat to cough up the $800 million it owed Pakistan government as part of the privatisation process of Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd.

The deal, under which Etisalat got 26 pc stake and management control, was worth $2.8 billion.

Etisalat had withheld the final tranche because of a dispute with the Pakistan government over legal transfer of land and property titles, Dawn reports.

The newspaper also quoted a government official as saying that the dispute has since been resolved and that 'the entire amount was expected in a few days'. Of course, to come out of the financial crisis facing it, Pakistan will have to undertake a lot of tough decisions.

Interestingly, Etisalat is also in the news in India with the arrest of its vice chairman, Shahid Balwa of Etisalat DB, over the 2G spectrum scam.

American President Barack Obama joined Ban in expressing outrage over the bloodshed in Libya and asked the world to speak in one voice against violence by the Gaddafi regime, as his administration evaluated a "range of options" to respond to the crisis.

As blood continued to spill on the streets of Libya for over a week, Obama, in his first remarks to the press over the crisis, sought to send out a tough message to the Libyan regime, indicating that strong unilateral and multilateral measures may be on their way to put it to accountability, reports Press Trust of India.

"In a volatile situation like this one, it is imperative that the nations and peoples of the world speak with one voice, and that has been our focus," Obama said.

Good morning, and welcome to today's edition of Live! For a quick dekko at what transpired during the Indian day yesterday, click here

Meanwhile, even as India is making efforts to evacuate its nationals from Libya, which is fast heading down Egypt avenue, United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has blasted Col Gaddafi and called the situation in that country "dangerous".

The Secretary General referred to his 40-minute conversation with Gaddafi earlier this week, and expressed disgust that the Libyan ruler had not responded positively to a string appeal by him.