CURRENT AFFAIRS
USA Economy
American International Group Inc., the insurer under fire for handing out bonuses after its $173 billion government bailout, budgeted $57 million in “retention” pay for employees who will be dismissed. AIG disclosed the payments, part of a larger $1 billion program meant to retain staff. “Spending a billion dollars on retention payments while the company is on its deathbed is ludicrous, particularly when some of those payments are going to employees the company plans to terminate,” said Representative Elijah Cummings. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said that American International Group (AIG.N) will be taken to court if it does not provide details Thursday of bonus recipients that were requested under a subpoena. The Obama administration moved on Thursday to stabilize the American auto industry by creating a $5 billion fund to support troubled parts suppliers. The Treasury Department said the program would guarantee payments to suppliers for products shipped to ailing car companies. The supplier fund is the first direct action taken by President Obama’s auto task force to prop up the auto industry, which has suffered big losses from the steep decline in new-vehicle sales.
Pakistan under Taliban
The prisoners, who were presented to a peace committee, were released a day after Taliban officials demanded a total of 210 prisoners be freed. Since the peace agreement was reached, more than 30 Taliban militants have been released from custody in Pakistan.
Israel – Hamas
Talks between Israel and Hamas – taking placing through Egyptian mediators in Cairo came to a halt after Israel said that Hamas was asking for too much in return for its one captive soldier Gilad Shalit, seized by Palestinian militants who tunnelled into Israel from the Gaza Strip in 2006. Hamas demands to release all 450 long-serving Palestinian prisoners who were directly involved in planning suicide bombings during the intifada – a request that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said went beyond Israel’s “red lines”. Israeli forces arrested 20 Hamas operatives in the West Bank on 19th March, including at least seven politicians and parliamentarians affiliated with the Islamist group, in what some observers say is an Israeli crackdown aimed at putting more pressure on the Hamas leadership in Gaza to reach a prisoner-exchange deal.
Varun Gandhi
BJP nominee from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi's debut in electoral politics has seriously embarrassed the party and could well invite a serious rap on his knuckles if the charge of his making a communally inflammatory speech deriding Muslims is proved. The Election Commission left no room for the son of late Sanjay Gandhi and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi as it asked UP chief electoral officer Anuj Bishnoi to file an FIR against Varun. Election Commission came down heavily on Varun Gandhi, making it clear that his speech violated the model code of conduct and ordered that his movements be video tracked, the young leader was calculatedly defiant.
With Jai Sri Ram as Varun Gandhi's rally call, the BJP on Friday decided in a significant shift from their initial position to back the young Gandhi. After first stating that Varun did not have the official party candidature yet, on Friday the party said he will be their candidate, though they maintained they did not agree with his comments. In a severe indictment of Varun Gandhi, the Election Commission said his communal speeches were an unpardonable act and asked the BJP not to field him as a candidate for the Lok Sabha elections.
Seat Sharing
Hours after snubbing the Congress by offering merely three seats to it in Bihar on Tuesday, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav sought an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, expressing his desire to hold seat-sharing talks and reportedly offering two more seats. However congress — which had demanded no less than 10 of the 40 seats in the state — will contest more than 26 seats in Bihar. The Congress also sewed up a seat-sharing agreement with the JMM in Jharkhand on Wednesday, leaving the RJD only the two seats it had won last time.
After reports of differences between the Congress and the NCP in their seat sharing talks for Maharashtra, Congress on Friday said that the alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led party was in the process of being finalised. 22nd mar:
Meghalaya Government
The Union cabinet on 18th March decided to bring Meghalaya (which saw a controversial confidence vote in the state assembly on Tuesday) under President’s rule.
Satyam Case
At least two bidders said 20th March that they were in the race for India's Satyam Computer Services as a deadline expired for suitors to show they were serious about buying the scandal-tainted outsourcer. Potential bidders had until late Friday to show they had at least 15 billion rupees (300 million dollars) to back up their interest in the software services export giant whose finances were left in shambles by its founder. Indian tycoon B.K. Modi's Spice Group and telecom software firm Tech Mahindra Ltd (TML) said they were in the running for Satyam while engineering giant Larsen & Toubro said it would file a formal expression of interest. Larsen & Toubro has already built up a 12 percent stake in Satyam.
Aravali hills - court case
Haryana undertook before the Supreme Court that it will follow every recommendation of the Central Empowered Committee and will undo some of the damage to the ravaged Aravalis.
IPL Story
IPL – Sony talks fail; search on for new broadcaster. After weeks of suspense and intense negotiations, the second season of the Indian Premier League will finally go ahead — but it’s going to be a non-resident Indian league, taking place in either England or South Africa.
WORLD NEWS
1. U.S. President Barack Obama offered Iran a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement on Friday in an unprecedented videotaped message, after decades of U.S. hostility to the Islamic Republic.
2. South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from attending a peace conference this week in Johannesburg. Activists for Tibet say China, one of South Africa's major trading partners, pressured the government into denying a visa to the Dalai Lama.
3. The US ambassador to Kabul said that America would be prepared to discuss the establishment of a political party, or even election candidates representing the Taliban, as part of political strategy.
NATIONAL NEWS
4. The trial has begun in India of Kasab. India has blamed a Pakistan-based terror group for the attack which killed some 170 people. The suspect told a court Monday that he is from Pakistan, and asked for legal counsel.
BUSINESS NEWS
5. Hemendra Kothari, leading investment banker and chairman of DSP Merrill Lynch, sold his remaining 10% stake in the company to Bank of America, which bought Merrill Lynch globally in 2008.
6. Russia has set aside 23.7 billion Rubles "for acquiring shares in the joint venture Shyam Telelink," now known as Sistema Shyam TeleServices, in its draft budget for 2009
7. Reliance had earlier brought in Chevron as an international strategic investor in Reliance Petroleum. Reliance Industries is planning to form a joint venture with another oil marketing firm to operate its existing 1,400 odd petrol retail outlets in the country.
8. Indian shares Thursday closed above the 9,000 mark for the first time in a month, helped by a rally in global markets following a Federal Reserve decision to inject $1trillion into the recession-hit U.S. economy. Inflation rate eased to 0.44% in the week ended March 7. The currency gained 1.7 percent in the five days ended March 20.
9. IDBI Bank will provide Air India a loan of $1 billion to help the airline acquire 12 aircraft mainly for domestic operations. IDBI Bank had recently extended Rs 300-crore loan to the beleaguered Satyam Computer, helping the IT-firm's newly appointed board to fulfil its near-term requirements.
10. The Tata Nano is all set to steer India into automotive history as the world’s cheapest car is launched on Monday, promising an affordable vehicle to millions of Indians.
SPORTS NEWS
11. India registered their biggest Test win in New Zealand, a convincing 10-wicket triumph in Hamilton on Saturday. Dhoni and his men also ended a 33-year wait — India last won a Test in New Zealand way back in 1976.
