No. 1 Ohio State holds off No. 23 Illinois 73-68

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Aaron Craft made two free throws with 15 seconds left and Jon Diebler forced an Illinois turnover with 4 seconds on the clock as No. 1 Ohio State held on for a 73-68 win over the 23rd-ranked Illini on Saturday.

Jared Sullinger had 27 points and 16 rebounds for the unbeaten Buckeyes (20-0, 7-0 Big Ten), who went on a 14-0 run in the second half in rallying for the victory.

The Illini (14-6, 4-3) made it close, though. Mike Tisdale's 3-pointer brought Illinois within 69-68 with 16 seconds left. But Craft's free throws and Diebler's strip preserved the win.

Talk in Illinois for much of the week centered on the last time the two teams met with one undefeated, in March 2005. Ohio State ended Illinois' unbeaten run that season, though Illinois went on to play in the NCAA title game, losing to North Carolina.

Cowen resigns as party leader, but remains Irish PM

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen bowed to pressure from members of the Fianna Fail party on Saturday and resigned as its leader, but said he would serve as premier until a March 11 election.

Cowen's decision to split the role of party leader and prime minister is highly unusual and crowns a week of political drama that had Irish people shaking their heads in anger.

The most unpopular premier in recent history, Cowen is blamed for mishandling the economic crisis and allowing a disastrous property bubble to develop during a previous stint as finance minister.

The meltdown that ensued forced the country to accept an 85 billion euro ($115 billion) bailout from the EU and IMF late last year.

"He should have gone months ago to preserve some kind of dignity for himself and for the office," said Tony Moore, a vegetable delivery man in central Dublin. "Just look at the country's standing abroad, we're a laughing stock."

Giffords flies to Texas rehab center

HOUSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords arrived in Texas on Friday to start the next phase of her recovery at a Houston rehabilitation center following 13 days of treatment at an Arizona hospital for a gunshot wound to the head.

Doctors told a news conference after the congresswoman's arrival that Giffords' transfer went "flawlessly." They said she would begin physical therapy on Friday but remain for now in the intensive care unit because of a drain in place to remove a buildup of fluid in her skull, which puts her at higher risk for infection.
Giffords, 40, left Tucson's University Medical Center by ambulance earlier in the day and was flown from an Air Force base in Arizona to a Houston airport aboard a private jet owned by Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta.

Haryana's landless labourer becomes oldest father at 94 Read more: Haryana's landless labourer becomes oldest father at 94

SONIPAT: Surpassing the 90 year old Rajasthan farmer, a Haryana farm labourer is claiming to have fathered a child at an age of 94. Earlier, Nanu Ram Jogi of a Rajasthan village had fathered his 22nd child at the age of 90 in 2007.

Ramajit Raghav, a landless labourer from a small town, Kharkhoda in Sonipat district, said that he had become a proud father of a son. The Haryana government's old-age pension records show that Ramajit is 94 years old. Raghav's memories of the epidemic spread in the region in 1929 and the communal riots during India's partition also substantiate the claim that he is quite old.

His wife Shakuntala who bore him the child is claimed to be in her mid fifties. The child was born in the government hospital of the town. Doctors at the hospital said that the child was delivered normally and was in good health.The couple termed their child's birth as a "god's gift" and named him Karamjit.

Besides owning two cows, the couple has old age pension and daily wages as sources of their livelihood. Raghav told the Times of India that he originally belonged to Begpur village in Uttar Pradesh and had left home about 40 years ago after a violent dispute in his family. He worked as a domestic help in Sonipat town and later shifted to Kharkhoda where he has been living and working at the farm of his landlord Bhajan Bania for the last 22 years.

When asked about the secret behind his long life, Raghav said that he had been a wrestler in his youth and his daily diet comprised of three kgs milk, half a kg almonds and half a kg ghee.

Dr Mahender Kumar, senior medical officer at Kharkhoda Civil Hospital verified that Shakuntala, wife of Ramajit, was admitted in the hospital and she gave birth to a healthy male child about a month ago. When asked whether it was possible for a 94-year-old man to father a child, a medical officer said that though it could not be ruled out, but it was a remote possibility.

 - The Times of India 

Ready to appear before panel, PM writes to PAC chairman

NEW DELHI: Following up on his unprecedented offer, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today wrote to the Public Accounts Committee probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam, expressing his readiness to appear before it.

On a day when Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai, whose report projecting a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in 2G spectrum allocation created a storm, appeared before the PAC, Singh made the offer in a letter to its chairman Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP.

The Prime Minister had at the Congress plenary on Monday last declared that he was prepared to appear before the PAC since he had nothing to hide.

"...in view of recent propaganda that the Prime Minister is unwilling to be questioned by a Parliamentary committee, I would like to inform you that I am willing to appear before the PAC should the committee choose to seek clarifications from the Prime Minister, though I believe there is no precedent of the Prime Minister appearing before a PAC," Singh said in his letter.

Under Speaker's direction 99 under the rules of procedures and conduct of business in Lok Sabha, the PAC cannot call a minister to give evidence or for consultations in connection with the examination of accounts by it.

The chairman of the committee, however, may have an informal talk with a minister on the subject under consideration by the committee.

Since the Prime Minister's offer is unprecedented in its nature, the Speaker may have to devise a procedure on how the committee could accept the Prime Minister's offer of appearing before it.

Singh said that to the best of his knowledge, the PAC takes evidence from the Secretaries of the Department concerned or the head of the department or the public sector undertakings.

He said the CAG submitted the report on the issue of licensing and allocation of 2G spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications, which was tabled in Parliament in November last and the PAC was looking into it.

"As you are aware, the PAC has sought copies of correspondence between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Communications and Information Technology as well as the Prime Minister's Office and the Department of Telecommunications on issues relating to 2G and 3G spectrum", he said in his letter and hoped that the relevant documents have been furnished to the Secretariat of the Committee.

Addressing the concluding day of the Congress plenary, Singh took everyone by surprise when he said he would be "happy to appear" before the PAC though there was no precedent and he intended to write to Joshi in this regard.

"I wish to state categorically that I have nothing to hide from the public at large and as a proof of my bonafides I intend to write to the chairman of the PAC that I shall be happy to appear before the PAC, if it chooses to ask me to do so," Singh had said.

Contending that the Opposition was "falsely propagating" that government was shying away from JPC to prevent the Prime Minister from appearing before it, the Prime Minister had said that he has "nothing to hide from the public".

The CAG report has proved to be ammunition for the Opposition, including the BJP and Left parties, to target the government and it is insisting that only a Joint Parliamentary Committee can bring out the truth in what they allege is the "biggest scam in independent India".

The entire Opposition stalled proceedings during the month-long Winter Session of Parliament on the demand for JPC into the 2G spectrum scam that resulted in a washout of the session.

A Raja, who has been questioned by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the spectrum allocation, was forced to resign on November 14 as telecom minister.