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Scars of Bangladesh independence war 40 years on   By Shahzeb Jillani South Asia Editor, BBC World Service Indian army soldiers attacking Naya Chor in Sindh in support of Bengali rebels of the liberation army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 I was born in the middle of a cold winter night in December 1971 in Sindh, Pakistan. There was a blackout and bombs were falling. Pakistan was losing a war and it was also losing its eastern half, separated from the rest of the country by more than 1,600km (990 miles) of India. After nine months of internal strife and a military crackdown against Bangladeshi separatists, the full-scale war with India was swift and decisive. It lasted just 13 days. The defeat of the Pakistani army on 16 December 1971 was a triumph for India and the Bengali insurgents it had assisted. For Pakistan, it was perhaps the darkest moment in its history and the ultimate humiliation. The army stood ac...

What is a rating agency? By Rebecca Marston Business reporter, BBC News   A high score from a credit rating agency means cheaper borrowing - a low mark carries a heavy price AAA, Ba3, Ca, CCC... they look like some kind of hyper-active school report. They are, indeed, a marking system, and one that is designed to inform interested parties. The letter formations are given to large-scale borrowers, whether companies or governments, and tell the buyers of this debt how likely they are to be able to get it back. The score card also affects the amount that should be charged by way of return on that borrowing. These letters have been all over the coverage of the financial impact of the crisis besetting the eurozone. A change to the score means a change to the amount a borrower must pay its debt-holders, something that can make it more expensive to borrow as investors demand a higher rate of return for taking on more risk...

India and China, the new Great Game By Andrew North BBC South Asia correspondent   China is to open its first military base in the Indian Ocean in the Seychelles "Beware India!" shouts the headline in one Indian paper. "China to open first military base in Indian Ocean." Nothing to worry about, says the defence ministry in Beijing. The base - in the Seychelles - is just for supplying passing Chinese navy ships. But seen from Delhi, it is another move in what a former Indian defence minister has called China's policy of "strategic encirclement". Even as Indian diplomats insist they want "cordial ties", tensions are rising everywhere between the two giant Asian neighbours, in what looks increasingly like a new "great game" - with the US and other powers upping their stakes. Willliam Burns, America's number two diplomat, is in Delhi this week to try to rekindl...

HP donates WebOS system code to open source developers The fate of WebOS had been uncertain after HP decided to abandon its tablet computers in August The code behind the mobile operating system, WebOS, is being released to open source software developers by Hewlett Packard. The tech company acquired the software when it bought the smartphone maker Palm for $1.2bn (£767m) last year. HP used the code to power its short-lived range Touchpad tablet computers before it abandoned the product line. The firm said it would continue investing in the project to help third parties add enhancements. "By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices," said the firm's president and chief executive, Meg Whitman. Investment A statement from the company said it would make the underlying code behind WebOS available under an open source licence. It said ...

Nick Clegg warns European veto 'bad for Britain'   Nick Clegg says he is 'bitterly disappointed' by Mr Cameron's veto Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says David Cameron's veto of EU treaty changes was "bad for Britain" and could leave it "isolated and marginalised". But he blamed French and German "intransigence" and pressure from Eurosceptic Conservatives for putting the PM in "a very difficult position". Initially Mr Clegg said the coalition was united over the use of the veto. But he told the BBC he had "made it clear" to Mr Cameron it was "untenable" for him to welcome the move. Sources close to Mr Clegg have told the BBC he "couldn't believe it" when he was told the summit in Brussels had "spectacularly unravelled". The prime minister blocked changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty at an EU summit...

Russia election: Medvedev Facebook promise draws ire Russian Facebook users have poured scorn on a promise by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate reports of electoral fraud. At least 4,000 comments appeared under his post a day after the biggest anti-government protests since Soviet times. A random sample showed two-thirds of the comments were hostile. Mr Medvedev, who prides himself on the use of social media, recently suffered an embarrassment when an obscenity was sent from his Twitter account. Having already conceded that some violations of electoral law had taken place at the parliamentary elections last Sunday, he went on Facebook to say he had issued instructions for all official reports on the conduct of the polls to be checked. But it was his comments on Saturday's election protests - some 50,000 people turned out in Moscow alone - which drew particular anger. 'Pathetic liar' "I do not agree with either the slogans or ...

Skywatchers enjoy lunar eclipse Refracted sunlight can turn the Moon a spectacular shade of red Skywatchers have been enjoying the last total lunar eclipse until 2014. The spectacle, which occurs when the Earth casts its shadow over the Moon, has been watched from Australia, Asia and North America. At some points, indirect sunlight still illuminated the Moon, turning it a dramatic shade of red. The shadow started to fall at 11:33 GMT and ended after 17:30 GMT. The moon was totally eclipsed for The action began unfolding on Saturday night (local time) in Australia and Asia. Viewers in the western half of the US had the best views on Saturday well before dawn (Pacific and Mountain Standard Time). The further west they were, the better. This was the second total lunar eclipse this year; the first occurred in June. Stargazers will have to settle for partial eclipses of the Moon until 2014, say astronomers. With Courtesy of BBC