subhan

Navy ‘won’t tolerate’ sailor sex contests

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Melbourne, July 05: The Royal Australian Navy says it will not tolerate misconduct from its members, following allegations of a sex betting ring operating onboard an Australian Navy vessel.

The Navy has confirmed four members of the HMAS Success’s company were removed from the ship in Singapore in May after female crew members made complaints about the alleged sex game.

The sailors from HMAS Success reportedly ran a contest to see who could sleep with the most female crew members.

India Will Take On West Indies In Final ODI

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St Lucia, July 05: India Will Take On West Indies In Final ODIAfter taking a lead by 2-1 in the series India will now take on West Indies in the fourth and last ODI at the St Lucia today to end the series on a winning note.

In the previous rain interrupted match, the heroic inning of Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni led them to win by six wickets in a thriller, which went to last over of the match with India needing to score 11 runs from the last over of their inning.

IDB allocates 91m euros to water project in Iran

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Tehran, July 05: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to allocate 91 million euros to help implement a project to carry drinking water to the central city of Qom.

The loan offered by the IDB is part of a 325-million-euro budget needed to carry out the water project, Iran’s Finance Ministry declared.

The project, which aims at building a 175-km pipeline to carry water from Kouchari Dam to the city and surrounding villages, will take an estimated five years to complete.

The loan is to be repaid to the IDB over 15 years.

—–Agencies

Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran

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Jerusalem, July 05: The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.

ICC announces World Twenty20 venues

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London, July 05: Pakistan will begin its title defence in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 against Bangladesh at St. Lucia on May 1. The tournament will be staged at four venues – Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts and St Lucia – and the final will be played at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on May 16.

The 2007 World Cup, the premier 50-over tournament, was held in the West Indies and the World Twenty20 will present an opportunity to the island nations to set right some of the criticism directed at the 2007 tournament.

Pietersen is best: Aussie players

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Melbourne, July 05: Australia’s players have described England’s star batsman Kevin Pietersen as the best in the business outside Australia.

Pietersen, with 50 percent of the vote, was by far the most popular choice, according to reports in The Age. Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Kumar Sangakkara were nowhere close to the South Africa-born batsman.

Pietersen has made 963 runs at 53.50 against Australia, but it is the 29-year-old’s attitude that attracts just as much admiration as his record.

‘Stage set for Iran to retake Qolhak Garden’

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Tehran, July 05: A senior Iranian commander says much of the groundwork has been laid to retain the ownership of the Qolhak Garden in Tehran which is now ‘illegally’ under British control.

“Effective measures have been taken to materialize this legitimate right of the Iranian nation and retake the compound,” Head of the Foundation for the Remembrance of the Holy Defense, Brigadier General Mir-Faisal Baqerzadeh, commented on Saturday according to the Fars news agency.

Hariri vows ‘Lebanese-made’ cabinet, Syria ties

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Beirut, July 05: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Saad Hariri rules out rumors that his cabinet will be formed under foreign influence, reports say.

“The cabinet will be 100 percent Lebanese-made, anything else is not true,” Hariri said after a Saturday meeting with President Michel Suleiman in the presidential palace on the outskirts of Beirut, stressing that ‘things are moving on the right track’, local Elnashra website reported.

Last week Suleiman tasked Hariri with forming a new cabinet, after his party won a majority of seats in the June 7 parliamentary elections.

Iraq future in its own hands: Obama

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Washington, July 05: US President Barack Obama says Washington will remain a strong partner to Baghdad in the face of the ‘difficult days’ awaiting Iraq.

Obama, who was speaking to military families at the White House on Saturday, hailed Iraq’s independence adding that “Iraq’s future now rests in the hands of its own people.”

He made the remarks days after US combat troops pulled out of Iraqi cities as part of an interim security pact, which also calls for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

Italians protest US base expansion, G8

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Rome, July 05: Several thousand Italians, protesting against a planned expansion of an airport and a US military base in Vicenza, have clashed with police forces.

A 500-million-dollar expansion plan would make the US military base one of the biggest in Europe.

Riot police fired teargas at protesters who were trying to cross a bridge leading to the US military base at the Dal Molin airport in the northern city of Vicenza.

Iran urges more Pak efforts to release Niyaki

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Tehran, July 05: Iran has urged Pakistan to speed up its efforts for the release of its kidnapped commercial attaché Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niyaki.

During a meeting with Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik, the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan Mashaallah Shakeri expressed concerns over the slow progress made by Pakistani security agencies for the release of the missing Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped some seven and a half months ago from the provincial capital Peshawar of troubled north western Pakistan.

27 pro-Taliban militants killed in Pakistan

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Islamabad, July 05: At least 27 pro-Taliban militants have been killed when Pakistani fighter jets pounded the hideouts of the militants in north western Pakistan.

The Saturday air strikes hit three suspected militant positions in the Orakzai region, part of the rugged, lawless tribal belt along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, killing at least 12 militants, Press TV has learned.

Sources said various hideouts of militants were destroyed during the air assault, just a day after a helicopter crash that had claimed the lives of at least 26 soldiers in the Orakzai agency.

Roll-your-own cigarettes more dangerous than factory smokes

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Wellington, July 05: Roll-your-own cigarettes, favoured by some smokers who think they are safer than the factory-made products, could be more dangerous, even when filters are used, according to research released in New Zealand on Sunday.

Dr Murray Laugesen, a public health specialist based in Christchurch, said a study found that smokers of roll-your-owns inhaled 28 per cent more smoke, even though they contained less tobacco than factory-made cigarettes, because they tended to suck more intensively.

Sudan to contact aid workers’ kidnappers

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Khartoum, July 05: Sudanese authorities are trying to establish contact with kidnappers who snatched two foreign aid workers from their offices in the Darfur region.

Gunmen kidnapped an Irish and a Ugandan woman from the office of the Irish aid group Goal in the North Darfur city of Kutum on Friday night. A Sudanese watchman was also seized before being released later.

“We have not established contact yet,” said Ali Yusef, Director of Protocol at the Foreign Ministry. “Normally in this situation they move away from the scene before making contact.”

Strauss confident about England’s chances

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London, July 04: England captain Andrew Strauss has said his team will take the field this summer and go “blow for blow” against Australia. Strauss, whose first Ashes series was in 2005 when England regained the urn, chose not too delve too far back into that epic summer when chalking up the home side’s chances.

News 5 Public Beta of Norton Internet Security 2010 and AntiVirus 2010 unveiled by Symantec

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Washington, July 05: Recently, Symantec rolled out its beta versions of the upcoming 2010 releases, to the public. A novel protection model codenamed Quorum is featured in the new version, which will put a heavier focus on reputation-based malware detection.

Going by a Norton statement, the reputation model can detect zero-day malware that’s never been seen before, although it won’t replace the existing signature-based detection for known threats.

Cut power costs by dimming laptop display

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Hanover, July 05: Simply adjusting the brightness of your laptop’s display can go a long way toward conserving battery life.

It’s just one of the simple steps computer users can take to get the most battery life out of their laptop, since the portable computers can use a lot of power.

The tip comes from German computer magazine, c’t. Drawing on advice from experts, it also suggests doing without a screen saver, since they also use up unnecessary energy.

—–Agencies

Clean your PC’s fans to combat overheating

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Munich, July 05: PC users should clean out the fans on their computers before the summer really heats up. The dust that collects on the fans over time can reduce their effectiveness in cooling, leading to computer crashes from overheating.

The easiest option is to simply vacuum the dust away from areas like the air intake grille on the rear of the PC, reports Munich- based Gamestar magazine. The vacuum head shouldn’t be held too close to the fans, however. Otherwise, the rotor bearings could be damaged.

—–Agencies

Computer and internet briefs

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Washington, July 04: Sliding windows and menus might look cool, but in Windows, they’ll slow you down.

You can turn off animation effects in Windows to get some snappiness back. Right-click My Computer and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

In Vista, select Advanced System Settings, and in XP, click the Advanced tab. Click Settings in the performance box, and remove the check mark next to anything that says animation, slide, or fade.

Chandrayaan-II to be launched by 2013

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Kolkata, July 04: India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-II is likely to be launched by 2013, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said Saturday.

“Chandrayaan-II should take place by 2013. Our first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-I, has given us a substantial understanding about entering the moon’s orbit. But ensuring the safe landing of the rover on the lunar surface is still an obstacle,” Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony here.

Authorities arrest 35 in northern Iran

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Tehran, July 04: Up to 35 people have been detained in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran over their role in the post-election unrest in the country, says an official.

“Twelve of the detainees are among the ringleaders of the unrest. These individuals were carrying out their activities in the guise of students at Mazandran universities,” the chief prosecutor of the provincial capital of Sari, Asadollah Jafari said on Saturday.

According to the Etemad daily, Jafari added that the 35 detainees were among 200 people who were originally arrested and later released.

Abhishek Bachchan’s rocking grand finale act at IIFA Awards 2009

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Mumbai, July 04: Abhishek Bachchan has performed the grand finale act at the IIFA 2009, held at Macao. Those who have missed out watching it live at The Venetian, Macao shall now get a chance to watch it during the telecast of the IIFA Awards 2009 on Sunday.

A source present at the awards nite told us, “Abhishek began his dance performance with the super hit track Genda Phool from his last release, Delhi 6. He followed it up with three back to back Dostana songs – Maa Da Laadla, Jaane Kyu and Desi Gal.”

Iran asks new IAEA head to stay impartial

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Tehran, July 04: An Iranian nuclear official says the country expects Japan’s Yukiya Amano, who will soon take on as the new UN nuclear watchdog chief, to stay impartial.

“Iran expects the new director general to help countries use peaceful nuclear energy and increase their cooperation according to the guidelines of the agency’s charter, independently and without bias,” Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, said in a Friday interview.

Mumbai take on Punjab in Ranji opener

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Mumbai, July 04: Mumbai will open their Ranji Trohy title defence in the 2009-10 season by taking on Punjab in the Elite Division Group A tie at Mohali from November 3-6.

Mumbai had clinched the Ranji Trophy for the 38th occasion defeating Uttar Pradesh in the final in Hyderabad last season.

Elite division groupings:

Group A: Mumbai, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Railways, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa

Group B: UP, Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Karnataka, Bengal, Delhi and Baroda

Elite division schedule:

We didn’t handle Lee well: Hilditch

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Melbourne, July 04: Cricket Australia bungled in its handling of Brett Lee after his divorce and should not have sent the “under-prepared” pacer to last year’s tour of India, where the slump in his form started, concedes CA selection panel chief Andrew Hilditch.

“The situation with Brett was extremely difficult, there is no doubt about that and in hindsight I think a lot of people would have handled that differently,” Hilditch was quoted as saying by the ‘The Daily Telegraph’.