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Former RSS chief Sudarshan passes away

  Raipur: Former RSS chief K S Sudarshan died in Raipur today after suffering a heart attack. Sudarshan, 81, is survived by a brother and sister.

The ex-RSS chief, who had arrived in the city two days back, died at the RSS office in Raipur at around 7 AM.

His body will be taken to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur later today and the funeral will be held tomorrow. Sudarshan hailed from Kuppalli village of Mandya District in Karnataka. He served as Pracharak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for six decades and became its Sarasanghachalak in 2000 and held the post till 2009.

In August, he had gone missing from his brother's house in Mysore in Karnataka and found after a five hour search.

Google rejects US request on anti-Islam clip

  San Francisco: Google Inc rejected a request by the White House on Friday to reconsider its decision to keep online a controversial YouTube movie clip that has ignited anti-American protests in the Middle East.

The Internet company said it was censoring the video in India and Indonesia after blocking it on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya, where U.S. embassies have been stormed by protestors enraged over depiction of the Prophet Mohammad as a fraud and philanderer.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in a fiery siege on the embassy in Benghazi.

Google said it was further restricting the clip to comply with local law rather than as a response to political pressure.

"We've restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia, as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries," the company said. "This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007."

White House officials had asked Google earlier on Friday to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube's terms of service. The guidelines can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines.

Google said on Wednesday that the video was within its guidelines.

U.S. authorities said on Friday that they were investigating whether the film's producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year old Egyptian Coptic Christian living in Southern California, had violated terms of his prison release. Basseley was convicted in 2010 for bank fraud and released from prison on probation last June.

Govt to announce spending cuts today

New Delhi: Government is likely to announce spending cuts on Saturday for the 2012/13 fiscal year to March 31, a news wire citing two government sources has said.

A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with top government economists will discuss India's five-year economic strategy and look at trimming expenditure in the light of an economic slowdown.

Ending months of perceived policy paralysis, the UPA government finally bit the bullet on Friday and pushed ahead with the boldest reforms yet by allowing 51 percent foreign investment in multi-brand retail - and opening the aviation sector - triggering expected outrage among some of its allies as well as the opposition.

India's inability in the past months to push through major reforms and ease its subsidy burden has put it in danger of becoming the first of the big "BRICS" emerging economies to see its credit rating downgraded to junk.

Government's decision late on Thursday to raise diesel prices by 14 percent, the first such move in 15 months, is aimed at shoring up a weak fiscal position, but it has already come under fire from the opposition and allies within the ruling Congress party-led coalition who see a chance to hurt the government.

The measures will add to inflation in the short term, but will ultimately make it easier for the central bank to loosen monetary policy and help revive investor confidence damaged by political gridlock in New Delhi.

India's wholesale price index (WPI) rose a higher-than-expected 7.55 percent in August from a year earlier, mainly driven by higher food prices due to deficient monsoon, government data showed on Friday.