Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party and Jammu State Morcha on Monday boycotted Governor N N Vohra's joint address to the state assembly protesting the Omar Abdullah-led government's 'anti-national act' of stopping BJP leaders from hoisting the tricolor on January 26, among other issues.

The eleven members arrived on foot in the assembly, sporting the national tricolor on their chests, protesting 'the Omar Abdullah government's anti-national act' of stopping party leaders from hoisting the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on January 26.

They entered the Central halls of Legislature and started shouted slogans like 'Apmaan nahi sahain gay (we will not tolerate insult to tricolour) and Vande Mataram' when Governor N N Vohra was about to begin the joint address.

"We are here to protest strongly against the insult to national flag, shabby treatment meted out to the leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley by Omar government by keeping them hostage and not allowing them to address public rally in Jammu against their constitutional and democratic rights," leader of BJP legislative party Chaman Lal Gupta told Vohra.

Gupta also attacked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his comment on accession of the state to India.

After five minutes, BJP members walked out and boycotted the Governor's address. Lone JMM Member Ashwani Kumar also boycotted the session.

Later N N Vohra began his address at 10:30 hours and ended without disruption at 11:20 hours. JKNPP also boycotted the speech and sat on dharna in front of the assembly in protest against the alleged failure of the state government on "all fronts".

One person was killed and nine others were injured when a passenger train collided with an earth excavator at an unmanned crossing in Pakistan's Punjab province on Monday, police said.

The Quetta Express train hit the heavy vehicle near Feroza, about 20 km from Khanpur, DSP Chaudhry Mahmood Ahmed told the media.

As the train reached the crossing, the excavator hit a coach and caused the death of a passenger, he said. The driver of the excavator fled, Ahmed said.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital in Liaqutpur. Three persons, who were in a serious condition, were later shifted to a hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.

China might have celebrated the onset of its new year with a massive display of fireworks in the mainland but it has enforced a strict ban on pyrotechnics for Tibetan capital Lhasa during the upcoming Tibetan New Year.

The municipal government of Lhasa has promulgated a ban of fireworks during the Tibetan New Year which falls on March 5.

According to a decree of the municipal government, production, storage, sales and setting-off of fireworks in all urban areas in Lhasa are restricted, while an absolute ban is enforced in the old town areas near schools, hospitals and ancient buildings, and sites of public gathering, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The city decided to restrict fireworks through a government decree, the first ever in Lhasa, to prevent pollution, protect state and private property and maintain social order, the secretariat of the municipal government said.

Violators will be fined from 50 to 2,000 yuan in accordance with situation or face other punishment, the announcement said.

Early this month, China celebrated its new year of rabbit with a colourful display of fireworks all over the mainland for a fortnight.

The sound and fury of the fireworks made many in Beijing and other cities to call for a ban as they resulted in several casualties.

A five star hotel was completely gutted due to an accident caused by shooting fire crackers.

Earth is worth 3,000 trillion pounds, according to an astrophysicist who claims to have created a formula to calculate the value of a planet.

In fact, the astrophysicist, Greg Laughlin, came up with the figure by calculating the sum of the planet's age, size, temperature, mass and other vital statistics -- and Earth came out as the most expensive.

"The formula makes you realise just how precious Earth is and I hope it will help us as a society safeguard what we have," the 'Daily Mail' quoted him as saying.

Mars was only valued at 10,000 pounds, while Venus is said to be worth less than a penny.

There are about 1,235 other planets in the universe, most of which weren't given a high price tag because of their inhospitable climates.

Professor Laughlin from the University of California invented the equation, which he used to evaluate the discoveries made by US space agency NASA's 600 million pounds Kepler spacecraft.

The planet-hunting spacecraft went into orbit two years ago and a year later Laughlin decided to create price tags for the terrestrial planets that Keplar was to discover.

At the time, the exoplanet Gilese 581 c was considered the most Earth-like world known to scientists, but the equation only valued it at 100 pounds, while KOI 326.01 is said to be worth 150,000 pounds.

After all, we are obsessed with comparing ourselves with China all the time, rain or sunshine. Let us see how the Chinese are coping with the repatriation of its nationals from the burning inferno called Libya.

China is twice as far away from Libya than India is. Yet, MFA in Beijing says as of today, China has pulled out from Libya 29000 nationals. Vow! That's 11000 more than the entire Indian expatriate community in Libya, writes M K Bhadrakumar.

Read the full blog here

What a curious twist to the 'Chindia' tale that the day after our annual Economic Survey appeared underscoring in red link the ballast of the Manmohanomic strategy to push India into 'sprint growth', China goes in an opposite direction, writes M K Bhadrakumar.

Read the full blog here

Two judges have been kidnapped in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan days after the abduction of four senior lawyers, triggering protests by lawyers' associations.

District and Sessions Judge Jan Mohammad Gohar Yasinzai and Civil Judge Mohammad Ali Kakar were travelling to Usta Mohammad by road to attend a wedding when they were reported missing in Jaffarabad district on Sunday.

Officials told the media they believed the two judges, who were accompanied by a police guard, had been kidnapped. The car in which the judges were travelling was found in Nasirabad district.

Jaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ayub Jaffar told the media that a search operation had been launched to trace the judges and their guard.

Lawyers' associations on Monday boycotted courts in Balochistan and warned they would organise protests if the kidnapped judges and lawyers are not traced.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the judges or lawyers.

Four people were killed when a small passenger aircraft heading to Riyadh crashed shortly after taking off from Al Ain airport in the United Arab Emirates.

The plane 'Grumman 21T' enroute to Saudi Arabia crashed shortly after takeoff at Al-Ain airport on Sunday.

The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire, 'Khaleej Times' reported.

The airport fire and rescue services responded immediately and the accident site was secured by the Al Ain Police, the paper said.

Emirates 24/7 news website reported that the four dead were all Americans.

A number of students were on Monday injured when the police resorted to lathicharge to prevent them from 'gheraoing' Vidhan Bhawan to demand their appointment as teachers in primary schools.

The B.Ed and B.PEd passed students from across the state gathered near Vidhan Bhawan to hold protest demanding their appointment as teachers in primary schools.

Raising slogans against the Uttar Pradesh government, when the students tried to move ahead they were prevented by the police leading to stone pelting by them and subsequent lathicharge by the police injuring a number of students.

England fast bowler Tim Bresnan has been officially reprimanded for breaching the International Council of Cricket Code of Conduct during his side's tied match against India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Bresnan pleaded guilty to contravening Level 1 offence (Section 2.1.2) of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Team Officials which relates to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings".

The incident took place on the last ball of the 48th over when Bresnan, after he was clean bowled by Piyush Chawala, hit the stumps with his bat.

As Bresnan accepted the decision without contest, there was no need for a hearing.

Commenting on his decision, Roshan Mahanama of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, said: "While giving my verdict, I took into account that Bresnan admitted his mistake, apologised for his action and that it was his first offence."

Meanwhile, the England team was also fined for maintaining a slow over-rate in the same match.

The ongoing spat between the Inter-Services Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency, fuelled by the Raymond Davis saga, now threatens to further sever ties between Washington and Islamabad, the Dawn reported.

It was never easy going between the two spy agencies, but ties hit a new low after a section in the media reported that Davis was a CIA agent operating in Pakistan.

"We feel betrayed by the CIA operations behind our back," said an ISI official, requesting anonymity.

According to the ISI, more than 50 CIA agents are still active in the country and are involved in intensive intelligence gathering without the knowledge of the ISI.

"The Davis affair is just a tip of the iceberg," commented a senior officer.

Read the full report here..

High ranking Chinese officials declared that there can be no limit to the expansion of Beijing's nuclear arsenal, amid growing regional fears that it will eventually equal that of the United States, with profound consequences for the strategic balance in Asia, The Age reported

Read the full report here

The contentious Telangana issue triggered uproar in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for the eighth day forcing its adjournment twice on Monday morning.

No business could be transacted as the Telugu Desam Party MLAs from the region rushed into the well of the House demanding that a bill for creation of a separate Telangana state be immediately tabled in Parliament.

The ruling Congress legislators from Telangana too joined the issue, holding placards and raising slogans.

The CPI MLAs as well raised the issue, disrupting proceedings of the House. The main separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti legislators boycotted the proceedings on Monday.

Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu appealed to the members to let the House transact business. He took exception to the TDP members' protest, saying it was their party that blocked the creation of Telangana state during the NDA regime, recalling L K Advani's statement on the issue.

Two NATO containers were torched by unidentified armed men in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

The containers were carrying goods for alliance's forces stationed in Afghanistan.

According to the Daily Times, the containers were going to Chaman from Karachi when unidentified persons set them on fire in Kalat district and managed to escape.

Personnel of the Levies Force and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot soon after the incident, and have cordoned off the area.

A case has been registered against the unidentified persons, and investigations are underway.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Air India's Chief Operating Officer Gustav Baldauf resigns, an airline spokesperson said.

Baldauf had in a recent interview attacked the government alleging interference in operations following the Mangalore air crash.

The civil aviation ministry was irked by Baldauf's 'gross indiscipline' and considered it a 'violation of code of conduct.'

The Pakistan government has ordered three investigations into 'delays' in raising timely objections over India's efforts to secure international credit incentives to construct hydropower projects 'in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960.'

A senior Pakistani government official told Dawn on Sunday that the ministry of water and power had taken up with the Union ministry of environment as to how New Delhi secured carbon credits from the United Nations for two hydropower projects -- Chutak and Nimoo-Bazgo -- which it believes are being built by India in violation of the treaty.

Read the full story here.

Australian government is trying to track down on any possible assets of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his family or cronies in the country, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said today.

Foreign Minister Rudd said the government was working on every resource to trace down any assets belonging to Gaddafi.

"I'm not advised as to whether there are such assets or not, but such an examination is now under way," Rudd was quoted as saying by the Australian news agency AAP.

"The critical thing is to cause the regime to know that, whether it's in Australia or any other part of the world, their assets are now being frozen, and this hopefully brings a further item of focus to the mind of this entirely despicable regime," Rudd he said.

The Sun-Herald newspaper had reported that Gaddafi's sons, Seif al-Islam and Saadi Kadhafi, may have salted away millions of dollars in oil money in Australian investments during a series of visits here over the past nine years.

Australia on Sunday announced sanctions against Libya, placing a travel ban and an arms embargo on Gaddafi and his close supporters, and banning the leader and his entourage from engaging in financial transactions with Australians.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday welcomed the United Nation's decision to refer the ongoing violence to the International Criminal Court.

American spy agency Central Intelligence Agecn has opened direct negotiations with its Pakistani counterpart, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, in an effort to secure the release of one its contractors Raymond Davis who is standing trial in Pakistan for double murder.

Officials familiar with the discussions told TIME that the negotiations began on Wednesday when Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the director-general of the ISI, received a call from CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Read the ful story here

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget speech begins in the Lok Sabha

The morning hours were dominated by the Oscar buzz. Here's a look at the winners of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards:

1. Best Picture: 'The King's Speech'.
2. Best Actor: Colin Firth for 'The King's Speech'
3. Best Actress: Natalie Portman for 'Black Swan'
4. Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale for 'The Fighter'
5. Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo for 'The Fighter'
6. Best Director: Tom Hooper for 'The King's Speech'
7. Best Foreign Language Film: 'In a Better World' from Denmark. 8. Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin for 'The Social Network'
9. Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler 'The King's Speech'
10. Best Animated Feature Film: 'Toy Story 3'
11. Best Art Direction: 'Alice in Wonderland'
12. Best Cinematography: 'Inception'
13. Best Sound Mixing: 'Inception'
14. Best Sound Editing: 'Inception'
15. Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for 'The Social Network'
16. Best Original Song: Randy Newman "We Belong Together" from 'Toy Story 3'
17. Best Costume Design: 'Alice in Wonderland'
18. Best Documentary Feature: 'Inside Job'
19. Best Documentary (short subject): 'Strangers No More'
20. Best Film Editing: 'The Social Network'
21. Best Makeup: 'The Wolfman'
22. Best Animated Short Film: 'The Lost Thing'
23. Best Live Action Short Film: 'God of Love'
24. Best Visual Effects: 'Inception'