Month: June 2009

Sri Lanka dump Australia from T20 Worlds

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New Delhi, June 09: Sri Lanka dump Australia from T20 Worlds Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan hit robust half-centuries as Sri Lanka sent Australia packing from the World Twenty20 with a six-wicket win.

Australia, asked to bat by Sangakkara in his first match as captain, managed only 159-9 in good batting conditions as mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and fast bowler Lasith Malinga claimed three wickets each.

Opener Dilshan then plundered 53 off 32 balls and left-handed Sangakkara made an unbeaten 55 to fire Sri Lanka home with six deliveries to spare.

Thousands take fish medicine amid swine flu scare

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Hyderabad, June 09: With seven cases of the infectious swine flu being reported from this Andhra Pradesh capital, health authorities are worried about the congregation of thousands of asthma patients from around the country and even abroad who have gathered here to take a traditional fish medicine. The Bathini Goud family, which has been distributing the free fish medicine for over 160 years, on Monday started administering it at the sprawling Exhibition Grounds. The programme will continue today.

US pushes urgent Middle East talks

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Washington, June 09: The US wants Israel and the Palestinians to hold “immediate talks” towards “a comprehensive peace and normalisation of relations”, Washington’s envoy to the Middle East, says.

George Mitchell is aiming to lay the groundwork for those negotiations as he makes his fourth visit to the region since taking the post.

Speaking to reporters at the start of a Palestinian donors’ conference in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on Monday en route to the Middle East, Mitchell said such talks would also serve “the security interests of the United States”.

Several die in Thai mosque attack

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Bangkok, June 09: At least 10 people were killed in the mosque attack in Narathiwat province on Monday.

At least 10 people have been killed and 19 injured after armed men opened fire on a mosque in southern Thailand.

Men armed with assault rifles entered the mosque in the Cho-ai-rong district of Narathiwat province during evening prayers on Monday and opened fire, the army and police said.

“They opened fire indiscriminately at about 50 worshippers inside the mosque,” a police official said on condition of anonymity. The dead included the local imam, he said.

Despite slowdown, Andhra eyes 8-9 percent growth

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Hyderabad, June 09: Despite the economic slowdown, Andhra Pradesh has targeted eight to nine percent average annual growth for the next five years.

The Congress government, which was re-elected last month, has set 4 and 10 percent growth rates for the agricultural and industrial sectors respectively.

The targets were spelt out in Governor Narayan Dutt Tiwari’s address to the joint session of both houses of state legislature Monday.

Angry Advani aides rubbish RSS feed

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New Delhi, June 09: As the RSS lumbers along examining the course for Sangh Parivar at its meet, it is facing attacks from those closely associated with prominent BJP leaders including LK Advani.
This is the latest in the acrimonious blame game in the BJP, sparked off by its defeat in the Lok Sabha election.

Israel’s Ehud Olmert convicted of USD 600,000 fraud

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Jerusalem, June 09: A former Israeli finance minister and a close aide of ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert was today convicted of embezzling USD 600,000 of public funds from a workers union.

Avraham Hirschon, finance minister from May 2006 to April 2007, was found guilty of embezzling the money while heading a workers union between 1998 and 2005.

He was a close aide of Olmert, who had himself resigned from office following a series of corruption charges against him.

After Priyanka, Shahid Kapur bows out of IIFA

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Mumbai, June 09: Close on the heels of Priyanka Chopra`s exit from this year`s IIFA, her co-star from `Kaminey`, Shahid Kapur too has pulled out from the upcoming award ceremony citing shooting commitments.

Related StoriesKareena Kapoor backs out IIFA to play arm-candy to Saif
The `Jab We Met` actor was to perform with Chopra on the title track of the Vishal Bhardwaj film, but since the schedule of IIFA was clashing with the dates committed to a producer he decided to miss the ceremony, which starts from June 11 in Macau (China).

Blind man wrongly arrested for motoring offences

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Birmigham, June 09″ A blind man who has never held a driving licence was left stunned after he was arrested by the police for motoring offences. Mr Day, 50, from Birmingham, said he initially thought the arrest was a joke.

“A friend who I was staying with phoned me at work to say police were looking for me and had a warrant for my arrest to do with driving offences,” he said.

“I thought it was an April Fools joke at first.”

The father-of-one was blinded as a child after being hit on the head by a brick, which led to cataracts forming in his eyes.

Angry Advani aides rubbish RSS feed

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New Delhi, June 09: As the RSS lumbers along examining the course for Sangh Parivar at its meet, it is facing attacks from those closely associated with prominent BJP leaders including LK Advani. This is the latest in the acrimonious blame game in the BJP, sparked off by its defeat in the Lok Sabha election.

Saudi Arabians go to movies after 30 yrs

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Riyadh, June 09: They only had a few hours’ notice, but a few hundred Saudis braved a small band of religious hardliners to take part in a historic event on Saturday night: the first public showing of a commercial film in decades in the Saudi capital.

With bags of salty popcorn and soft drinks in their laps, the men-only crowd of more than 300 in Riyadh’s huge King Fahd Cultural Centre cheered, whistled and clapped when the first scenes of the Saudi-made Menahi hit the screen and the film’s score erupted in surround sound.

Rahman in Top 50 of a new power list!

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Mumbai, June 09: Allah Rakha Rahman is one of three Indians in a just released list of ‘100 Most Creative People in Business’, published by the business magazine FastCompany. He is No. 47 on the list, which has people like Apple’s product design guru Jonathan Ive, designers Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs and artist Damien Hirst.

Last month, Rahman, who was on the Time list of ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’, found himself sitting at the same table as US First Lady Michelle Obama and TV mogul Oprah Winfrey.

India is very important to us: US

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Washington, June 09: The Obama administration has said it would to “work really hard” to strengthen ties with New Delhi as part of a strategic set of priorities, saying India is very important to the United States as the world’s largest democracy.

“This region of the world is very important to us. India is very important to us, as the world’s largest democracy,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Monday ahead of a visit by America’s top diplomat.

NSG centre in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, June 09: The National Security Guards hub will come up at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) land in Trimulgherry here. The NSG chief, Mr N.P.S. Aulakh, on Monday met the principal secretary (Home), Mr Ajoyendra Pyal, and discussed the issue.

A home department official said, “The CISF used to have barracks at the AAI land spread over 20 acres in Trimulgherry cantonment area. This was vacated by the CISF. There are helipads for operational use here. At least 250 NSG commandos will be staying here.”

Iraqi cops train to hunt militants with DNA, dogs

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Baghdad, June 09: At a sparkling new forensic crime office in Baghdad, trainees in white lab coats drip blood into test tubes in search of genetic clues.

The seven-month-old DNA analysis facility is an important part of efforts by Iraq to bolster its security forces as the US military hands over responsibility to locals ahead of the withdrawal of US combat troops from urban centres this month.

‘This is the first step, to analyse DNA in Iraq,’ said Shafan Khalid, a student from Arbil in the widely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, looking up from his work.

Who will Sehwag replace?

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Mumbai, June 09: Virender Sehwag isn’t fully fit yet, but it’ll be interesting to see how and where Mahendra Singh Dhoni accommodates the dashing batsman when he is available for selection. Dhoni will have a pleasant headache when Sehwag is declared match fit.

Rohit Sharma has blossomed in his new role as an opener making runs in all three games, including the two warm-up matches. Gautam Gambhir has found the sweet spot on his bat again. Sehwag should reclaim his opening spot and Sharma should bat down the order. But who will Dhoni leave out?

Visitor Jailed for Sex Out of Wedlock

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Dubai, June 09: A 43-year old Italian visitor was on Monday sentenced to six months in jail for having sex out of wedlock with a Filipina. The Criminal Court of First Instance, however, acquitted him of the charge of illegally confining the woman in an apartment. He will be deported after completion of the jail term.

In the same case, a 54-year old businessman was cleared of the charge of criminal complicity. He was accused of forcing the Filipina to have sex with the Italian defendant by holding her up in the apartment.

Fresh attack on Indian student in Australia

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Melbourne, June 09: A 23-year-old Indian student was beaten up for the second time in a fortnight by a group of youths in Melbourne, the 11th person from the community to be assaulted within a space of a month in Australia.Kamal Jit was found unconscious and bleeding by another Indian student in western suburb of the city on Sunday.

It was the second attack in two weeks on Jit, who was previously pelted with eggs by several masked men after getting off a late night train at St Albans station in western suburb.

Divorce Rate Among UAE Couples Drops

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Abu Dhabi, June 09: The divorce rate among Emirati couples who benefited from Marriage Fund grants, dropped from six per cent to two per cent last year. This was stated by Dr. Maitha Salem Al Shamsi, Minister of State and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Marriage Fund, at a press conference on Monday.

How the fashionista spent her night in jail

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Mumbai, June 09: The high-flying socialite Sheetal Mafatlal – for at least one night in her life – will have craved for the most basic of comforts as a local court on Monday sent her to jail custody. The court postponed the hearing of her bail application to Tuesday, which is why Sheetal – who is part of Mumbai’s jet-set – was forced to spend the night in prison.

The wife of industrialist and Mafatlal Mills owner Atulya Mafatlal was returning from London on Saturday night when she was arrested by customs authorities for carrying undisclosed jewellery worth Rs 53 lakh.

Sehwag, Harbhajan, Rohit skip nets; cold war with media on

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Nottingham, June 09: Three star cricketers, including vice captain Virender Sehwag, were conspicuous by their absence from the nets as Team India’s cold
war with the media continued for the fourth day.

No national cricketer came forward to speak to the huge press contingent at the Lady Bay Ground, after absence of Sehwag from the nets only added grist to the rumour mills.

Apart from Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma could not be spotted at the nets.

Younis comment on T20 lands him in trouble

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Karachi, June 09: Pakistan captain Younis Khan finds himself in trouble for his comment that Twenty20 is played just for fun and it would not be a
Younis Khan disaster even if his team fails to make the Super Eights stage of the ongoing World Cup in England.

After the team’s loss to England on Sunday night, Younis went on to say that failing to reaching Super Eights would not be a disaster.

“It would be sad if we don’t make it but I have never attached too much importance to Twenty20 cricket, as it is fun cricket,” Younis said.

24 bodies recovered from Air France crash

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Sao Paulo, June 09: The number of bodies recovered from the Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last week rose to 24, Brazilian authorities said.

Another eight bodies from the flight that had been carrying 228 people were found Monday, the Brazilian Navy and Air Force said in the northeastern city of Recife.

The teams have also discovered hundreds of large and small pieces of the Airbus A330-200 that disappeared June 1 while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris as well as personal belongings of its passengers, they said.

New Zealand develops swab test for lung cancer risk

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Wellington, June 09: New Zealand researchers have developed a mouth swab test to predict smokers’ risk of getting lung cancer, news reports said Tuesday. Associate Professor Robert Young, of Auckland University, said the test combined clinical risk factors, including age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and family history of lung cancer, with DNA obtained through mouth swabs.

He said all smokers faced an increased risk of developing lung cancer but the risk was much greater for some than others.