Harrowing historical drama 12 Years a Slave won the coveted best picture Oscar on Sunday, while 3D space thriller Gravity was the top prize winner with seven. Slave ’s win marks the first time a film directed by a black filmmaker has won best picture.True-life AIDS activist drama Dallas Buyers Clubwon three Oscars including best actor for Matthew McConaughey, while Australia’s Cate Blanchett won best actress for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine . But 1970s crime caper American Hustle and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street went home empty-handed from the Oscars, the climax of Hollywood’s annual awards season.



2)156 urban local bodies go to polls on March 30

The State Election Commission on Monday issued notification to hold simultaneous polls to 146 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations on March 30.The model code of conduct came into force immediately across the State, including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation where elections are due only in November. Elections to about 20 municipalities will be held later in view of legal disputes and others concerning the merger of surrounding villages were not yet completed.The elections, to be held on party basis, had been postponed for the last three-and-a-half years for various reasons after the term of the elected bodies expired in September 2010. Announcing the schedule, State Election Commissioner P. Ramakanth Reddy told media persons that nominations would be accepted for municipal corporations from March 10 to 13 and in municipalities from March 10 to 14.The last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 18. Election will be held on March 30 (Sunday) from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., re-poll, if required on April 1 and counting would be taken up on April 2. After the State Government sent the final list of reservations in all the 156 municipalities and corporations on Saturday night, the Election Commission identified several errors and sent it back.The revised list was made available on Sunday after which the State Election Commission swung into action and prepared the election schedule on a war-footing.He said the notification for general elections would not have any impact on the municipal polls as the SEC was an autonomous and constitutional body.The municipal election results would be announced on April 2 before the first phase of general elections.Mr. Ramakanth Reddy said that about one crore voters would directly elect ward/division representatives in 4,503 wards in the urban local bodies and the indirect election for the Mayor, deputy Mayor, chairperson and vice-chairpersons would be held on April 7.Replying to a question, Mr. Ramakanth Reddy said teachers involved in the SSC and Intermediate examinations would be exempted from election work. About 11,000 electronic voting machines would be used in 9,015 polling stations to be manned by 49,583 personnel, including teachers, lecturers, revenue and municipal administration staff.The Election Commissioner would soon hold meetings with the Director-General of Police, vigilance, finance, MA&UD, Home Department, Education Department officials for smooth conduct of the elections and a meeting with District Collectors, SPs and municipal commissioners would be held on March 6.On including the feature of None of the Above (NOTA) in the EVMs, Mr. Reddy said they sent a proposal to the government for its approval.



3)Judge, 10 others killed in Pak. terror attack

An additional sessions judge and 10 others including three lawyers were killed on Monday morning in a suicide attack and firing in the district and sessions court complex in the capital. Over 29 were injured in the attack which began a little after 9 a.m. when the courts opened. The narrow lanes of the congested complex were full of blood and body parts as policemen wearing plastic gloves picked up pieces of flesh, some even stuck on the electric wires above.Inspector General (IG) Islamabad Sikandar Hayat said there appeared to be two or three gunmen who fired at people and threw grenades, one of which did not explode. Two suicide bombers detonated themselves, one outside the chamber of additional sessions judge Rafakat Ahmed Awan and the other outside a senior lawyer’s office, killing both. The head of one of the bombers was found and two legs said to belong to another person were lying outside Mr. Awan’s chamber. A policeman was among those killed.There was shattered glass everywhere and a small crater where a bomb exploded. After the firing, pandemonium swept the court complex with people running helter-skelter. Nadeem Hassan, a lawyer told The Hindu that he knew Mr. Awan and he was made a judge last year. “I saw a leg in one of the offices of the lawyers, and heard gun shots and explosions.” This was not the first time the district court was targeted, he said. There was a suicide blast some years ago and a politician had lost his legs. Blood-stained walls, and body parts lying in pools of blood and shattered glass bore testimony to the mayhem that was caused by the armed gunmen. Eyewitnesses said there were four to six gunmen who fired at random.Murad, an advocate, said there were more than 10 attackers and they got out of two Land Cruisers. “It was around 9.15 a.m. I was standing near the bar room which was targeted with a grenade. Another bomb blast killed Mr. Awan and a woman,” he said. “They had AK-47s and grenades in their hands and we ran to hide in one of the chambers,” he added.The court has virtually no security and the scanners were out of order. There were one or two policemen with pistols and it was 30 minutes before the security forces came and by then it was too late, he pointed out. “We took the injured and put them in private cars to rush them to hospital. There were no stretchers even and we used tin carts.” It was later that two ambulances turned up.Mr. Murad was going to meet Mr. Awan as he was dealing with a case in his court. “I was saved because I had to drop my sister off and I reached a few minutes late. He was a nice jolly man and we used to often joke with each other. Another judge Adnan Jamali was also shot at. This seems to be a planned terrorist attack and there was no security anywhere,” he said.Official sources at the site said that there were two suicide bombers who were killed and two of the gunmen managed to escape. However, eyewitnesses said there were many more gunmen. Rana Abid Farooq was sitting in another lawyer’s office when the gunmen fired through the glass windows. He saw three gunmen wearing belts with bullets and wearing jackets. “We ran to the library and saw the gunmen from the top,” he added. Another lawyer Abdul Ghaffar lay on the ground under a chair to escape the firing. “I was saved but four others in the office were badly injured,” Mr. Gaffar said.“The attackers came from three sides and there must have been more than eight of them. In 10 minutes they managed to create hell. I saw two of them firing very calmly and at random,” he said. Every lane in the court complex had blood and no office was intact.



4)Insurers can invest in equity ETFs

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), on Monday, allowed insurance companies to invest in equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) with certain conditions, a move which would help boost inflows into the country’s stock market.Only passively managed schemes of the mutual funds, which are registered with SEBI and governed by SEBI are eligible, the IRDA said in a notification.ETF is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets such as an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange.“These schemes are benchmarked and tracked to publicly available index,” it said, adding, these instruments would be listed on at least one exchange, which is having connectivity with nationwide terminals.“Investments ETFs may mitigate the concentration risk and ETFs also offer management of funds with operational convenience,” it said.Exposure to stocks through ETF would not be reckoned for the overall exposure norms prescribed for individual stocks, it added.The valuation of ETFs shall be in line with the equity shares.ETFs were introduced in India in 2001. At present, there are about 33 ETFs with assets under management of close to Rs.11,500 crore held by 6.2 lakh investors. Gold ETFs dominate the market in India. — PTI



5)Oriental Bank raises fixed deposit rates

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), on Monday, raised the interest rates on fixed deposit of three maturities by up to 3.25 percentage points. The new rates are effective from Tuesday.Meanwhile, Allahabad Bank raised the Base Rate or the minimum lending rate by 0.05 percentage point to 10.25 per cent.The new lending rate would be effective from Tuesday. — PTI



6)Former TRAI chief Sarma passes away

Former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman J. S. Sarma, an advocate of telecom sector reforms, has passed away after an illness. He was 65. “Sarma, who presided over as Chairman, TRAI, from May 14, 2009, to May 13, 2012, passed away in Hyderabad on February 28, after a brief ailment,” a TRAI spokesperson said on Monday.During Sarma’s regime, mobile number portability was introduced. — PTI