Shashank

Australia still a force to reckon with in ODIs

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New Delhi, February 07:Once undisputed as a cricketing superpower, Australia will be out to re-establish their credentials during the upcoming Cricket World Cup-2011 by winning their fourth successive World Cup, fifth overall and second in the subcontinent.

Though they are no longer feared, their resounding 6-1 success over England in the One-Day Internationals (ODI) series that ended Sunday certainly makes them favourites for the Feb 19-April 2 mega event.

2 labourers washed away in flashfloods, 7 rescued in JK

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Jammu, February 07:Two labourers were washed away in flash-floods and seven persons, including two children, were today rescued by police in Ramban and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Two labourers, working with the railway construction project were washed away in flash-floods in Nulla river in Banihal belt of Ramban district today, officials said, adding that another person was rescued in Sangaldan belt of the district today.

Police and locals have launched a search operation to trace the duo, they said.

Boy brutally assaulted for not serving tea on time

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Islamabad, February 07: An 11-year-old Pakistan boy was hung upside down from the ceiling fan and brutally beaten with a cricket bat for delaying after being asked to serve tea to the owner of a shop where he worked.

Mohammad Nassir, 11, was saved by passersby who heard his agonising cries.

Nasir “was screaming when we took him down”, the Express Tribune qouted an eyewitness as saying.

More than 10,000 police officers may lose jobs in UK

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London, February 07: More than 10,000 police officers in England and Wales are to be cut over the next two years in what the Labour party said yesterday was an example of the “shocking and brutal reality” of the government’s spending cuts.

According to Labour’s research, the job losses would be a consequence of cutting the police budget by a fifth by 2014-15.

“Far from protecting frontline policing as ministers promised, over 10,000 police officers are being cut in the next few years alone,” said Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary.

Cameleer only wanted to end protests so he could feed kin

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London, February 07:A camel driver, who last week charged into protesters at Cairo’s Tahrir Square leading to his beast being beaten to death, said: “I have never been interested in politics – I just want the protests to stop so I can feed my family.”

Mohammed Presht, 27, was among 100 horsemen and camel drivers who left their homes near the pyramids at Giza Wednesday to go to Cairo as he blamed the protests for his dwindling income and family facing starvation.

Floods in Sri Lanka displace more than 1.2 mn

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Colombo, February 07:Ongoing heavy rainfall in northern and eastern Sri Lanka raised the number of displaced people to more than 1.2 million as flooding caused widespread damage, the Disaster Management Centre said Monday.

Flooding caused by a week of rain has left 11 people dead and three missing, the centre said. The death toll could be higher, the centre added, because it had yet to receive reports from some of the affected areas.

Centre denying us funds, says Tripura

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Agartala, February 07:The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government in Tripura Monday accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of depriving the state of central funds.

As the state was not following the Congress-led UPA government’s economic reform policies, the central government is depriving the state of financial assistance, the state’s Finance Minister Badal Chaudhury said.

Fire at 1,000-year-old temple in China

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Beijing, February 07:A fire in a 1,000-year-old temple in China is believed to have destroyed a building of the temple.

The Fahai Temple, built in 945 and located in Fuzhou, the capital of east China’s Fujian province, houses a large number of ancient Buddhist scriptures that are recognised as national treasures, Xinhua reported Monday.

The fire prevention arm of Fuzhou’s public security bureau pressed into service 21 fire engines and 147 firefighters to the scene, and the flames were put out at 4:11 a.m., Xinhua quoted a spokesman of the bureau as saying.

Worker denies molesting two-year-old girl

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Dubai, February 07: A worker denied in court on Sunday sexually molesting a two-year-old girl in a building while her parents were looking at a flat for rent.

Prosecutors accused the 21-year-old Indian worker of molesting the Jordanian child by removing her clothes and groping her on the sixth floor of the building on Oud Metha Road.

“I am not guilty… I did not do that,” 21-year-old N.P. said when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

He contended before Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout that he had obtained a written waiver from the girl’s father.

Rishi, Madhuri set the stage on fire

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New Delhi, February 07:What would happen if two of the Bollywood’s dance legends come together on one stage? The stage would indeed be on fire. Something similar happened on the sets of Sont TV’s “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4” when veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit danced together.

Rishi, who was on the sets of the dance show to promote his new film “Patiala House”, and Madhuri set the stage on fire as they both performed to the popular song “Ek mein aur ek tu” from the movie “Khel Khel Mein”.

Rahul travels to Banda village to meet rape victim

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Lucknow, February 07:Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who planned to visit Kanpur to meet the Dalit girl disfigured by attackers because she resisted gangrape, could not land in the Uttar Pradesh industrial town Monday and instead went to Banda to call on another minor allegedly raped by a ruling BSP legislator, officials said.

Saif strikes the right chord with fans in Bhopal

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Mumbai, February 07:While shooting in Bhopal for Prakash Jha’s next “Aarakshan”, Saif Ali Khan goes out of his way to oblige his fans who come to the sets to catch a glimpse of their favourite star.

Saif also takes time out to interact with his fans while working out by the poolside of the hotel he’s staying at.

“A huge crowd of over a hundred people gathers almost everyday to watch Saif while he works out by the poolside of the hotel in Bhopal… Saif’s a pretty relaxed guy and minus starry airs talks to his fans in between his workouts,” a source said in a statement.

India economy to expand 8.6 percent this fiscal

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New Delhi, February 07:The Indian economy is expected to grow 8.6 percent this fiscal against 8 percent in the previous year, led by 11 percent growth in services, 5.4 percent in agriculture and 8.8 percent in factory output, the country’s chief statistician said Monday.

As per fresh estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 8 percent last fiscal and 6.8 percent in 2008-09. The latest estimate for the current fiscal is also higher than 8.5 percent forecast by the central bank.

4 children buried alive as school wall crashes

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Una (Himachal Pradesh), February 07:Four schoolchildren were buried alive and one was critically injured when the boundary wall of a village primary school caved in near this Himachal Pradesh town Monday afternoon.

Four children died on the spot when the wall of the Government Primary School at Chhatarpur Dhada, some 15 km from here, collapsed, Deputy Commissioner K.R. Bharti told IANS.

He said the accident occurred when the students were playing during the recess. The children belonged to Class IV and V.

Environment ministry clears ropeway in Gir sanctuary

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New Delhi, February 07:The environment ministry Monday gave its clearance for the construction of a ropeway in the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat, the only home to Asiatic lions, despite objections that it could lead to the extinction of Girnari vultures, a critically endangered species.

The ministry accorded the clearance to the ropeway from Bhavnath Taleti to Ambaji temple within the sanctuary in Junagarh district after imposing six conditions.

Heavy rain, snow expected in Himachal

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Shimla, February 07:The hills of Himachal Pradesh may experience heavy rain and snowfall in the next 24 hours, a weather official said here Monday.

“There are chances of heavy rain and snowfall at some places in the state till Feb 8,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.

He said the western disturbances — storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region — were again active in the region.

Don’t want to predict anything: Zaheer

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New Delhi, February 07:Unlike many of the past and present day international cricketers including his teammates, India’s pace spearhead Zaheer Khan prefers to steer clear of playing the prediction game ahead of the forthcoming World Cup.

“Personally speaking, I don’t want to predict anything,” Zaheer said when asked for his take on the best team going into the quadrennial extravaganza starting February 19 in the sub-continent.

“I just want to follow the process,” he added.

Musharraf is now an accused in Benazir killing

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Islamabad, February 07:Former president Pervez Musharraf’s name was Monday included in the list of accused in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, a media report said.

Musharraf’s name was added to the list following a statement of former Rawalpindi city police chief Saud Aziz, the daily Dawn reported.

Aziz claimed that Musharraf had given the order to change Benazir’s security in-charge. He also claimed that the murder scene was immediately washed on Musharraf’s orders.

Drugs to treat age-related blindness

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Washington, February 07:Scientists have come up with new ways to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) — the most prevalent type of blindness among the elderly — after figuring out one of its primary causes.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky, US, compared eyes donated by deceased AMD patients with those of healthy individuals. The healthy were found to have three times higher levels of dicer, an enzyme, in their retinas.

Sudan’s army clashes kill 50

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Sodan,February 07:A South Sudanese soldier stands guard outside a cultural center in Juba on January 16, 2011 at the end of a week-long vote.
At least 50 people have been killed in clashes in south Sudan as a mutiny in the army spread through towns in the oil-producing Upper Nile state.

The Sudanese military said heavy fighting with tanks and machine guns broke out in Malakal, the Upper Nile’s capital, on Thursday, Reuters reported on Sunday.

The clashes erupted when southerners in northern units refused to redeploy with their weapons to the north of Sudan.

Sensex quiet in morning trade

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Mumbai, February 07:A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Monday was subdued in early trade although broader markets saw some buying.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,135.02 points, was ruling at 18,062.65 points, up 54.5 points or 0.3 percent from its previous close at 18,008.15 points.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was trading 0.18 percent higher at 5,405.7 points.

Egypt has changed forever:Obama

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Washington, February 07:As the standoff between prodemocracy protesters and embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued, US President Barack Obama said that he believed that Egypt had changed forever.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Obama stopped short of saying when – or if – Mubarak would step down, but said he couldn’t predict what the next step was.

“Only he knows what he’s going to do,” he said adding, he couldn’t make Mubarak, who has long been an ally of the US, do anything.

Milk everyday ‘keeps cancer at bay’

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London, February 07:Children, please note: drinking milk everyday can keep bowel cancer at bay, says a new study.
Researchers in New Zealand have carried out the study and found that children who drink half-a-pint of milk daily are 40 per cent less likely to suffer bowel cancer as adults, the ‘American Journal of Epidemiology’ reported.

According to them, milk has a powerful protective effect against cancer and the key to its anti-cancer effects lies in daily consumption over long periods.

Egypt government, opposition agree to push constitutional reform

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Cairo, February 06:The Egypt government and opposition Sunday agreed to push constitutional reform after Vice President Omar Suleiman Sunday held talks with representatives of political parties including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Government spokesman Magdi Radi said after the meeting that they agreed on “the formation of a committee, which will include the judiciary and a number of political figures, to study and propose constitutional amendments and required legislative amendments, before the first week of March”, Xinhua reported.

11 injured in Pakistan bomb blast

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Islamabad, February 06:At least 11 people were injured Sunday in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, Xinhua reported.

A bomb exploded Sunday evening near the office of a local land officer in the city of Hub. The blast injured 11 people, including two children, local media reports said.

All the injured were shifted to a hospital, where they are in stable condition, doctors said.

–IANS