And the week belongs to letter "B"....

What’s with the letter “B” in this week’s big news around the world?

I am talking about the Bush Fires in Australia, BAFTA for A.R. Rehman, Brotherly Acts of Husseys and Pathans, Barack Obama’s Bailout stimulus plan etc.

The deadliest bush fires in Australia which started last weekend continued to blaze the Victoria State. At least 191 are confirmed dead and the death toll could touch 300 very soon. As of last night, there were 30 blazes still burning in Victoria and so far more than 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of land has been destroyed. Australian Police is probing an Arson attack after Prime Minister Mr. Kevin Rudd going on record emotionally saying that the act was nothing but a mass murder hinting towards Arson attack. The blistering heat with soaring temperatures of 46 degrees in the state is adding difficulties to the catastrophe. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s office said the federal government is planning a memorial service for the bushfire victims. “The whole nation stands with Victoria during this time of national tragedy,” it said in a statement.

In Entertainment News, the week began on a high note for Indian musicians with the prodigal Music Director A. R. Rehman bagging a BAFTA for his Music score in the rags to riches movie Slumdog Millionaire, making his claims much stronger for the much awaited and coveted Oscar. The legendary Indian Tabla Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain was conferred a Grammy for Global Drum Project - nominated under the Best Contemporary World Music Album category. Hussain worked with Mickey Hart of the rock band Grateful Dead, Nigerian percussionist Sikiru Adepoju and Puerto Rican jazz percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo for the album. Apart from Zakir Hussain, there was an interesting line up for Indian nominees at this year's Grammy Awards. There was Louis Banks, who got nominated under the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category. Besides Banks, there were two more Indian musicians competing against each other in the Best Traditional World Music album category; Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya and Lakshmi Shankar.

In Cricket, this week saw two teams, Australia and India winning their respective ODI and T20 match against NZ and Sri Lanka mainly because of brotherly heroics. Australia went on to equal the ODI series against NZ 2-2 taking the series to the Brisbane decider. India won their lone T20 match against Sri Lanka to end the tour of Emerald Isle on a high. In both matches it was the brothers who played their hands in shaping their team’s victory. With Australia, it was the partnership between Hussey brothers which kept NZ away from winning the game and with India; it was the Pathans who joined hands to clinch the win away from Sri Lanka in an exciting T20 game.

This week also saw US Lawmakers agreeing on a $789 billion economic stimulus plan that President Barack Obama said is urgently needed to keep the country from sliding into a deeper recession. The big question on everyone’s mind is whether The plan bails the country out of recession or not? The year ahead is very tough and all we can hope is that Barack Obama’s plan turns out to be a miracle.

-Anil Kumar