The annualized growth rate of the Westpac/Melbourne Institute Leading Index, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity three to nine months into the future, was 2.3 per cent in December, up from 1.8 per cent in November, reported Xinhua.

However, the index remains below its long-term trend of 3.0 per cent.

“Despite a slight up-tick in December, the growth rate in the Index remains relatively subdued after dropping back sharply from a 4.6 per cent pace recorded in August,” Westpac Senior Economist Matthew Hassan said in a statement Wednesday.

“There was a loss of momentum over the second half of last year, with the growth pulse heading into 2012 materially below trend,” he said.

“That said the index is pointing to sub-par growth rather than a more pronounced weakening.”

Hassan said the weaker economic outlook would increase the chance of rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) by 50 basis points (bps) in 2012. “Overall, we expect a further 50 bps in easing with the next 25 bps cut likely to come in May,” Hassan said.

India ended up scoring 238 in 45.1 overs in response to Sri Lanka’s 289 for six as the efforts of Virat Kohli (66) and Irfan Pathan (47) failed to get the team past the line. Though Thisara Perera bagged four wickets, Nuwan Kulasekara (3-40) was the most impressive of Sri Lanka’s bowlers after skipper Mahela Jayawardene (51) and Liharu Thiramanne (62) starred in an all-round batting display.

The second loss in a row has pushed India (10 points) to third place in the standings behind Sri Lanka (11) and leaders Australia (14). India lost both the matches at the Gabba, having been beaten by Australia Sunday.

The first of the Indian wickets that fell at regular intervals was that of stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag (0) in the second ball of the innings.

Predictably, he cut chasing a wide rising Lasith Malinga (2-55) delivery that flew straight to Kulasekara at third man.

Tendulkar (22), who has not been amongst the runs in the series, looked in good touch before Kulasekara made him attempt a half-hearted heave, getting him bowled off an inside edge.

Gautam Gambhir (29), Suresh Raina (32) were also dismissed after getting their eye in, leaving India at 146 for four in the 31st over, needing another 144 off 117 balls.

Kohli, who was dropped twice by Dinesh Chandimal, was eventually caught at mid-on as a quick one from Perera got big on him.

Pathan tried his best while batting with the tail. The left-hander looked well-balanced playing from the crease, smashing seven boundaries in a 37-ball cameo. He was the last man to get out with Perera taking a sharp reflex-action catch off his own bowling.

Earlier, Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan (45) set the tone for a big Sri Lanka total while Thirimanne (62) and Angelo Matthews (49 not out) in the middle-order provided a good finish to the innings. Irfan Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets each as India leaked 81 runs in the last eight overs.

Jayawardene and Dilshan made most of the good batting conditions at the Gabba, sharing 95-runs at the top of the order. It seemed Sri Lanka lost their way when they lost the openers and Kumar Sangakkara (8) in quick time to make it 124 for three but the young middle-order came to the party.

Besides Thirimanne and Mathews, in-form Dinesh Chandimal contributed 38 to the total.

While the southpaw scored at a run a ball, Mathews took India’s spinners and part-timers to the cleaners.

India, captained by Virender Sehwag in the absence of the suspended Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, tried eight bowlers, including Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli, who went for 24 in two overs.

Umesh Yadav proved expensive again with batsmen making full use of his extra pace. He conceded 58 runs in eight overs.

The diamond will be cut and polished by the company’s expert diamond cutter Richard How Kim Kam, media reports said Tuesday.

The 12.76 carat gem, which will be known as the Argyle Pink Jubilee, was unearthed at the Argyle open pit in the east Kimberley region of Western Australia, reported Xinhua.

“I’m going to take it very carefully,” How Kim Kam told the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

“I know the world will be watching,” he said.

The finished gem will be graded by a team of international experts and shown around the world before being sold under a tender process later in 2012.

Argyle Pink Diamonds manager Josephine Johnson said a diamond of its level was extraordinary.

“It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again,” Johnson said.

Rudd’s decision comes amid leadership tensions within the Labor Party as there were speculations that Rudd was threatening Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s authority, reported Xinhua.

Rudd said the decision came as he no longer felt he has the Labor leader’s support.

“The truth is I can only serve as Foreign Minister if I have the confidence of Prime Minister Gillard and her senior ministers,” he said, making the announcement in Washington on Wednesday.

He added he will return to Australia on Friday and will make a full statement on his future.

Ted Baillieu, premier of Australia’s Victoria province who is visiting India, said that the number of Indian students in Australia saw a rise and the southern nation was totally safe for Indian students.

“We have started to see an increase in number of students again. The state has taken steps to ensure safety of the students and we are very serious about it,” Baillieu said, replying to a query.

He was talking to reporters at a function to award 10 scholarships for Ph.D. students from India going to various Australian universities. Seven agreements for association between Australia and India were also signed.

Talking on the sidelines of the press meet, Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese said around 30 per cent increase had been noticed, as compared to last year, in the number of student applications for Australian universities so far.

“There has been a significant increase in number of applications received and the number of students applying for universities in Australia. The increase is almost 30 per cent compared to last year,” Varghese said.

A major decline was noted in the number of Indian students going to Australia in 2010-11.

“Compared to the peak years of 2008 and 2009, there was a nearly 40 per cent drop,” Varghese said.

Varghese, however, said the incidents were not the main reason behind the decline.

“There was decline not just in the number of Indian students but in the number of students from all countries. It was because of the overall economic scenario, and high (Australian) dollar value,” he said.

Baillieu informed reporters that vigil had been increased to ensure safety of students there. “There is more patrolling, more police presence. We have taken it seriously,” he said.

More than 100 incidents of attacks on Indian students were reported in 2009 and 2010 in Australia, mainly in its Victoria province.

Varghese said new visa rules were attracting more applications. “The new visa rules allow students to stay for a few years after completing their degree and work, so more students are applying,” he said.

The new visa rules announced last year allow students to stay back from two-four years after getting degrees and also allow them to work.

Canberra had earlier tightened visa regime for Indian students, stating that a number of them come to Australia to settle down by taking admissions in non-skilled vocational courses like cookery and hair-cutting. It had implied that this was one of the reasons for a series of attacks on Indian youths here.

“Amitabh’s health is improving. Doctors will take a call regarding his discharge from the hospital by Monday evening. He should be discharged in a day or two,” a source said.

The 69-year-old, who was admitted to the hospital Febuary 11 for the surgery, has shown signs of improvement — he is going through hunger pangs, and also walked around a bit in his room.

Amitabh underwent two abdominal surgeries, after which he developed acute pain. Doctors contemplated another surgery, but the plan was shelved after his condition began to improve.

Now he seems to be in a much better position, and should be home soon to play with his granddaughter — son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai’s daughter, nicknamed Beti B — soon.

Big B’s health condition stems from his near-fatal accident on the sets of his Hindi movie “Coolie” in 1982. Ever since, he has been frequently admitted to hospitals for treatment.

After his “Coolie” accident, he was reportedly attacked by the life-threatening disease Myasthenia Gravis, a neuromuscular ailment that causes muscle weakness.

In November 2005, he was back in the hospital — first he was admitted to Escorts Hospital in the capital and later shifted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital with diverticulitis of the small intestine – when the walls of the large or small intestine tend to get weaker leading to an inflammation.

On Nov 30, 2005, he was operated on for the problem and he had to be in the hospital for two months.

Three years later, on his birthday, October 11, he complained of pain and was rushed to hospital. He was suspected to be suffering from incisional hernia, a recurring problem that has been troubling him for the past 30 years.

Tests by a University of Connecticut (UConn) lab showed that it didn’t matter if a person had just walked for 40 minutes or was sitting at rest – the adverse effects from mild dehydration were the same.

Mild dehydration is defined as an approximately 1.5 per cent loss in normal water volume in the body, the British Journal of Nutrition reports.

The test results affirm the importance of staying properly hydrated at all times and not just during exercise, extreme heat or exertion, says Lawrence E. Armstrong, study co-author and professor of physiology at UConn’s Neag School of Education.

“Our thirst sensation doesn’t really appear until we are one (per cent) or two per cent dehydrated. By then, dehydration is already setting in and starting to impact how our mind and body perform,” says Armstrong, an international expert on hydration, according to a UConn statement.

“Dehydration affects all people, and staying properly hydrated is just as important for those who work all day at a computer as it is for marathon runners, who can lose up to eight per cent of their body weight as water when they compete,” concludes Armstrong.

Ponting’s ODI career might be nearing its end after the 37-year-old was dropped from the squad for the remainder of the ODI tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka.

Ponting, who made 18 runs at an average of 3.6 in five innings, makes way for current captain Michael Clarke, who has recovered from a hamstring injury.

“Ricky is going to consider his future over the next couple of days and he’ll talk it over with his family and with his manager,” Inverarity said.

“He made a double century in his last Test match and we are hoping that he remains available for Test match cricket, but there can be no guarantees in elite sport and in the Australian cricket team.”

Ponting is the third highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket with 13,200 runs while in ODI’s he ranks second only to Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, having scored 13,704 runs at an average of 42.03 in 375 matches.

Inverarity said that the decision to drop Ponting was due to his lack of form and there were no place for sentiment in cricket.

“You don’t put your heart to one side, but the head has got to dominate,” Inverarity said of Ponting, who captained Australia to World Cup crowns in 2003 and 2007. “In elite sport, there’s no place for sentiment.”

The airline is operating only 16 of its fleet of 64 planes and has cancelled more than 100 flights since Saturday. While its Kolkata centre is virtually shut down, the airline’s international operation is in doldrums as flights to Kathmandu, Dhaka, Colombo and Bangkok had been affected.

Officials at the national capital’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport said that the cancellations had created major problems for passengers who had booked on the airline months in advance.

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked other airlines to accommodate the stranded passengers.

More bad news came in from Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh who ruled out a bailout for the airline which saw its net loss mounting to Rs. 444 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal from Rs.254 crore suffered in the like quarter of 2010-11.

“Government is not going to give any bailout or ask the banks to bail out any private airline or any private industry for that matter,” Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh told reporters here.

The airline has been relegated to fifth place in terms of market share of 12.1 per cent.

Singh also blamed the crisis on the airline management for not paying its employees as a reason behind Saturday’s flash strike in Kolkata leading to major disruptions.

“They did not give salary to their employees for many months. People went on strike in Kolkata. Naturally, the flights got cancelled,” Singh said.

This is the second time in four months the airline has cancelled such a large number of flights without taking prior regulatory approvals. The aviation regulator has summoned the airline’s chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal Tuesday to explain the reasons behind the crisis.

“We have asked for a report from them (Kingfisher Airlines). The airlines’ CEO has been asked to appear before the Director General,” a senior official with the DGCA said.

The regulator has ordered an inquiry into the large-scale cancellations.

Meanwhile, the airline said the prime reason behind the disruption was the sudden attachment of its bank accounts by the income tax (IT) department over unpaid service taxes and that they be unfrozen.

“This has severely affected our ability to make operational payments leading to the present curtailment. We are in dialogue with the tax authorities to agree a payment plan and get the bank accounts unfrozen at the earliest,” a Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said.

This is the second time since December that the airlines accounts were frozen by IT department.

“Employee salaries can be paid and the grounded aircraft can be recovered quicker once the bank accounts are unfrozen and the schedule restored on priority.”

The airline added that it was in touch with the DGCA and would appear before it to submit details regarding cancellations and plans for restoration of a full schedule.

It is the first time after 11 years that the festival has fallen on a Monday, a day when devotees normally offer prayers to Lord Shiva.

From the crack of dawn, huge crowds visited temples big and small all over the country. The biggest and better known Shiv temples naturally attracted more people.

“This year’s Mahashivaratri has its own significance as it falls on a Monday,” a priest at Delhi’s famed Birla Mandir said.

There were mammoth crowds at the 12 Jyotrilinga temples spread acorss the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Over hundred thousand devotees visited the 11th century ancient Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar.

In Bangalore, an equal number of devotees from 60 countries participated in the festivities organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living.

In Tamil Nadu, devotion was at its peak in the famous Shiva temples of Madurai, Thiruvannamalai, Chidambaram and Thanjavur.

Shiva temples in West Bengal also drew a mass of devotees who bathed the Shivalingams with water and offered coconuts as well as flowers.

Those flocking to temples included a large number who observed fast during the day. Unmarried women prayed for husbands.

Some poured water and a concoction of milk, rose water and honey on the Shivalingams.

“On Mahashivaratri unmarried women observe fast from dawn to dusk and pray to Lord Shiva to give them a good spouse,” Shivani Khanna, 20, said.

Vendors did brisk business in many parts of the country selling milk, bhaang (hemp) and bel leaves. In many houses, special sweets were cooked on the occasion.

According to the Hindu calendar, Mahashivaratri is celebrated a day or two before the new moon in the month of Phalgun (February-March).

In Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva, one of the holy trinity along with Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, is known to have married Parvati on this day.

The week-long celebrations of the festival in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, popularly known as Chhoti Kashi, would begin when they end in the rest of the country.