New Delhi, July 02: Out-of-favour middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif is quietly hopeful of returning to national colours, banking on his previous international record and impressive current domestic performance.
Kaif, more popular for his agile fielding skills, had a horrid run with the bat in 2005-6, but the Uttar Pradesh cricketer refuses to believe it was his form which put paid to his international aspirations.
Hawaii, July 02: Crewmembers hooted and applauded as the last boat in Honolulu’s failed city ferry service sailed into another gorgeous Hawaii sunset to end one of the seas’ best bargains for tourists and commuters.
TheBoat, for $2 or a public bus transfer, offered flying fish, dolphins and whales against a backdrop of Diamond Head and the Honolulu skyline.
Washington, July 02: Iran’s political situation and its nuclear program will be the focus of the US president’s visit to Russia and the G8 summit, says a White House official.
Barack Obama’s visit includes diplomatic talks on the Group of Eight foreign ministers’ recent statement on Iran, said top White House foreign policy aide Denis McDonough.
The G8 statement expressed full respect for Iran’s sovereignty but condemned post-election violence in the country.
The Iranian issue will be “front and center” of the US President’s visits to Moscow and the G8 summit in Italy next week.
Karachi, July 02: Former Pakistan test captain Javed Miandad has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to resist calls for a shake-up of the traditional test match format.
The ICC is considering reducing tests to four days from the current five as part of a series of innovations aimed at keeping the oldest form of the sport exciting to spectators in the wake of Twenty20’s growing popularity.
“Any move to change the format of test cricket or the way it is played would prove very harmful to cricket in the long run,” Miandad told Reuters on Thursday.
Mumbai, July 02: The Reserve Bank today said the country’s wholesale price-based inflation and industrial production data should be improved and employment data availed for effective monetary policy management.
“There is scope for significant improvement in the construction of WPI … there is much more to data analysis than simple mathematical formulation between inflation and rate cuts,” RBI governor D Subbarao said while speaking at the statistics day conference here.
Pyongyang, July 02: North Korea has reportedly fired two short-range missiles amid high tensions and threats of war following Pyongyang’s nuclear test in May.
The communist state launched the missiles on Thursday off its eastern port of Wonsan, AFP quoted a South Korean defense military official as saying.
One was fired at 5:20 pm (0820 GMT) and the other at 6:00 pm, he said.
Baghdad, July 02: An Iraqi soldier has been killed and 10 civilians wounded when a roadside bomb exploded next to an Iraqi military patrol in central Baghdad.
According to police, the blast occurred in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood early on Thursday. Two soldiers were also among the injured.
The incident occurs two days after the withdrawal of US combat troops from urban areas.
On Tuesday, American troops handed control of towns and cities nationwide to the Iraqi forces, marking the first major step toward complete withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Bhopal, July 02: An accused in the Ahmedabad bomb blasts case has been arrested by Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) here.
Mohammed Irfan alias Kareli, wanted in connection with 17 serial blasts in Ahmedabad and other cities, was arrested from Karond area here, police sources said today.
On a tip off that Irfan would come here for setting up “sleeper cell” of the banned organiation SIMI, ATS found Irfan at Karond where he was waiting for two of his associates.
Kathmandu, July 02: Twenty-nine people, including 13 Indians and 12 Nepalis, are feared to have perished in a ship capsize off Doha Port in Qatar after searches for survivors since Tuesday yielded only five bodies.
Only two of the bodies have been identified so far, Nepal’s foreign ministry told IANS. They are Sheshnath Yadav, 33, from Mahottari in Nepal, and Tilak Bahadur Khamja, 36, from Palpa.
Seoul, July 02: North Korea appears to be preparing a new series of missile tests, including short-range ballistic and ground-to-ship rockets, a South Korean newspaper reported Thursday.
The ballistic missiles are believed to be Scud-B missiles with a range of 340 kilometres or Rodong rockets, whose 1,300-kilometre range was likely to be shortened to
400 kilometres for the upcoming tests, the JoongAng Ilbo said, citing an unnamed intelligence source.
Mumbai, July 02: For Akshay Kumar, it is the collective good run of all Bollywood biggies in the pipeline that matters most. Even though his film comes a week after New York and would be followed by much anticipated movies like Love Aaj Kal and Kaminey, he wants each of them to be a multi crore extravaganza at the box office. Reason?
Islamabad, July 02: There were 585 Indian prisoners including nine juveniles in Pakistan jails, according to a report in leading and credible daily Dawn. The paper quoted diplomatic sources to say that the list contained names of 535 fishermen, 41 civilians and nine juveniles being held in different jails of the country.
Pak hand overs list of prisoners in Pak JailClick here to Enlarge
Mumbai, July 02: A pro-SRK statement on Salman’s show? Believe it. Recently Riteish Deshmukh was on 10 Ka Dum, and for the first time after the Salman-Shahrukh fight the host actually acknowledged the other Khan on his show. Riteish stopped after winning Rs 10 lakh and gave away the money to Salman’s Being Human foundation. When Sallu asked Riteish who his favourite actor was, the former said SRK. The host, without blinking an eye, agreed about SRK being a good actor.
Mumbai, July 02: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan believes the reason behind her great relationship with hubby Abhishek is their incredible friendship.
She says they are brutally frank with each other.
We both have an incredible sense of humour and we have the ability to laugh with each other, at ourselves and at life.
I think that is special,” Ash told a magazine. Not just the emotional bonding, the happy couple also shares a love for music. “I like only English music and popular tracks of the time and old classics both in Hindi and English,” said Ash.
Washington, July 02: A 50-year-old man on board a US Airways jet en route to Los Angeles has been arrested after he stripped naked and ran around, forcing the plane to divert and land in Albuquerque, according to media reports Thursday.
Keith Anthony Wright, a resident of New York, was being held in federal detention in New Mexico pending his appearance in court on charges of interference with a flight, FBI spokesman Darrin Jones was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.
Mysore, July 02: At least two persons were killed and many injured when people of two communities clashed over construction of a place of worship in Mysore on Thursday.
The clashes triggered over the construction on a disputed land.
Following the incident, the district administration clamped restrictions in parts of the city under Section 144 of the CrPC.
With the BJP in power, hard line Hindutva groups were being blamed for the clashes. The state government was under fire over a spate of attacks on churches in Karnataka a few months ago.
–Agencies
Mumbai, July 02: Guess who Bajaaoed Malishka? None other than Shahid Kapoor. Shahid Kapoor made his first appearance at Red FM studios on the morning show today and accompanying him was filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj promoting their upcoming movie Kaminey.
It all started with some friendly leg pulling with RJ Malishka calling Shahid, Fhahid imitating his accent in Kaminey where he plays a double role. Shahid shot right back and called her MaliFhka and the leg pulling continued with Shahid having a complete blast on air.
Gaza, July 02: The radical Islamist Hamas movement rejected Thursday accusations by Amnesty International that it had committed war crimes during last winter’s Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The 117-page report from the London-based human rights group accused both Hamas and Israel of war crimes during the 22-day conflict.
Amnesty did not talk to Hamas leaders, making the report “automatically unbalanced,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuchri told a news conference in Gaza City.
Mumbai, July 02: Trust Akshay Kumar to put a kahani mein twist even in a routine happening like a press meet.
On Thursday evening in Delhi to promote Kambakkht Ishq Akshay decided to conduct a press conference in a unique way.
He opted to join the melee of press persons at the Citywalk mall by jumpimg down from the 10th floor.
Laughs Akshay, “I think everyone was bored with just the routine questions and answers. So I decided to make the get-together exciting for both the parties at the press meet and for the onlookers.”
Hyderabad, July 01 (Siasat News): The trainee chiropractic doctors of Palmer University, US are already in Hyderabad for their week long camp and during their stay here, they have become so familiar with Urdu language and they started using a few words of the sweet language in their day-to-day conversation with patients.
Mumbai, July 02: If Shahrukh can’t come to India, his brands will follow him wherever he is.
Recently, the actor, who is shooting in San Francisco for My Name is Khan (MNIK) had two surprise guests on his sets. Says a source from the sets, “Two green, cute and cuddly characters Chouw and Mouw tried to barge into SRK’s van, which had a signage — Rizwan — SRK’s character in MNIK.
Geneva, July 02: A senior Palestinian official was quoted Thursday as saying United States President Barack Obama was the “last chance” for a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel.
“Obama is our savior. He is realistic and pragmatic. He is not a dreamer,” said Yasir Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“He is our last chance,” Abed Rabbo told the Geneva-based Le Temps newspaper, citing the growing Israeli settlements as an impediment to regional peace.
London, July 02: With the first Ashes Test in Cardiff a week away, English pacer Steve Harmison believes that Australia are suffering from a crisis of ”confidence”.
Harmison claimed three wickets for 67 from 22 overs for England Lions against Ricky Ponting’s side at New Road yesterday.
”This is my fourth time against Australia and the one thing I picked up … is that they are not as brash and confident as they normally are,” Harmison said.
Washington, July 02: Reflecting the changing face of the United States under Obama Administration, India-born Muslim American Farah Pandith today vowed to engage the Muslim world through dialogue and diplomacy so as to improve America’s image and its relationship with them.
The Special US Representative to Muslim World, Pandith has been appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to push further the Obama Administration’s agenda to improve America’s image among Muslims, which has reached a historic low mainly because of the two wars – Afghanistan and Iraq – by the Bush Administration.
New Delhi, July 02: Amid expectations of improvement in railway amenities and food served in trains, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee would present a “pro-people” budget in Parliament on Friday.
“It will be a pro-people budget, a simple budget, people’s budget,” Banerjee said.
According to sources close to her, the budget in a way would reflect Mamata’s vision for the Railways in the coming years and means of generating resources for key projects.