Tehran, February 28: The Iranian free-style wrestling team has been crowned as the champion of the 31st Takhti Cup international wrestling tournament.
Iran won five gold medals and clinched the championship with 69 points on the Iranian Persian Gulf Island of Kish on Sunday.
Kyrgyzstan stood second with 47 points, and the United States finished third with 42 points.
Cairo, February 28: Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa says he will run for presidential election in his homeland Egypt.
Moussa announced his candidacy for the post on Sunday following the announcement of constitutional amendments, the Associated Press reported.
The new constitution limits presidency to two terms and allows for more competition. These elements had been denied under Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian regime for three decades.
The former Egyptian foreign minister enjoys wide popularity in the country, mainly on account of his strong criticism of Israel.
Washington, February 28: The American middle class is being attacked by an oligarchy, who wants to control economy, as Wisconsin protests the plan to constrain public sector unions, a US expert says.
The demonstration against the controversial move to curb power of labor unions and lay off thousands of public servants in the US state of Wisconsin has been driven by the middle classes who say they are witnessing a dramatic decline in unions and are outraged by an attack on public sectors, Jennifer Loewenstein, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Media on Sunday.
Tehran, February 28: Iran’s Foreign Ministry has sent an airplane to the Libyan capital Tripoli to repatriate Iranian nationals residing in the North African country.
The Iranian Airbus will land in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of Monday, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Saturday Tehran supports the Libyan people’s movement and expressed the Islamic Republic’s readiness to send humanitarian aid to the country.
Jerusalem, February 28: No criminal offense has been committed by the Israeli military over the assassination of a senior Hamas leader and more than a dozen other Palestinians, Tel Aviv says.
The probe — carried out by Israel — has concluded that the Israeli army acted on faulty intelligence and the assassinations were justified and did not constitute a criminal act.
On July 22, 2002, Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on a house in Gaza City, killing Hamas leader Salah Shehade along with 16 other Palestinians, including nine children.
Khartoum, February 28: Sudan has decided to reopen its border crossings with Libya to facilitate the return of thousands of Sudanese nationals from the unrest-hit country.
The interior ministry took the decision Sunday, Xinhua reported.
On July 1, 2010, Sudan closed its borders with Libya to prevent rebels from crossing over from Libya. The borders have remained closed since then.
The Sudanese government has so far evacuated some 1,000 Sudanese nationals stranded at the Egyptian border area of al-Salum.
Cambridge, February 28: Grammy Award-winning singer and philanthropist Shakira has been honored by Harvard University. The Harvard Foundation, the university’s center for intercultural arts and science initiatives, gave Shakira its 2011 Artist of the Year award on Saturday.
Riyadh, February 28: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Tuesday received princes, Islamic scholars and a group of citizens who came to greet him following his safe return after a three-month-long medical trip abroad.
In an extempore speech, King Abdullah thanked all those who prayed for his quick recovery. “May Allah bless all of you,” he said, and asked his well wishers to excuse him for not shaking hands with them.
Tunis, February 28: Tunisia’s interim president Fouad Mebazaa has named former minister Beji Caid-Essebsi as the country’s new prime minister shortly after Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned from the position.
Ghannouchi resigned from the prime minister’s position earlier Sunday, after being accused by protesters of “being too close” to the toppled regime of Ben Ali, Xinhua reported.
“I have decided to quit as prime minister. This resignation will serve Tunisia, and the revolution and the future of Tunisia,” Ghannouchi told a press conference.
Cairo, February 28: Egypt’s former interior minister Habib el-Adly, accused of money laundering, will be the first minister of the regime of toppled president Hosni Mubarak to face trial before a criminal court.
El-Adly will be tried March 5. He was arrested Feb 17 along with former tourism minister Zuheir Garana and a senior member of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Ahmed Ezz, Xinhua reported citing Egyptian state TV.
Punishing corrupt officials was one of the main demands of protesters in Egypt’s 18-day nationwide demonstration that brought an end to Mubarak’s 29-year rule.
London, February 28: Actress Christina Applegate says she will not force her daughter into showbiz.
“She’s allowed to study, and if she wants to take acting or dance classes she’s allowed to,” showbizspy.com quoted Applegate as saying.
“But I have a very strong ‘no’ when it comes to monetary exchange for your talents until she’s 18.”
The actress became a first-time mother when she welcomed little Sadie Grace with her musician fiance Martyn LeNoble in January.
Applegate was then asked if she plans to expand her brood.
Bangalore, February 28: England captain Andrew Strauss, who won the man of the match award for his brilliant 158 in Sunday’s World Cup match against India, said Australian legendary leg spinner Shane Warne was a “genius” to have said that the clash would end in a tie.
“I think Warne is a genius to have predicted that way (a tie). What more can I say,” a disappointed Strauss told reporters late Sunday, after the group B league match ended in a dramatic tie at the Chinnaswamy stadium in the heart of this technology hub.
Musqat, February 28: Omani police fired rubber bullets on stone-throwing protesters demanding political reform in an industrial town on Sunday, killing two people, and the military moved in to secure the area, witnesses said. They said at least 1,000 protesters had gathered for a second straight day in a main square in Sohar before police tried to disperse them first with tear gas and batons before firing on them with rubber bullets.
Mumbai, February 28: The first batch of 528 Indians flew back home on Sunday from Libya with tales of horror from the strife-torn country.
“The situation is very bad. People are looting. They are even killing. There is no police. There is no safety,” Karamvir, a carpenter working for a construction company, told reporters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Bangalore, February 28: It had all the makings of a blockbuster — a Sachin Tendulkar century, a brilliant comeback from a losing position and, finally, the match ending in a tie. England’s tail-enders scored 28 runs in the last two overs after their side had lost the momentum during the batting powerplay.
Tehran, February 28: Iranian scientists have produced a vaccine that prevents the life-threatening infection commonly associated with severe third-degree burns.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common bacteria infecting victims suffering from severe third-degree burn. The gram-negative blood-borne bacteria can eventually kill the patient.
“Usually most severe third-degree burn victims die from Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections,” ISNA quoted Dr. Davoud Mehrbani from the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences as saying.
Indore, February 28: Two persons were yesterday arrested on the charge of accepting bets worth Rs 80 lakh during the India versus England match of the cricket World Cup, police said.
On a tip off, police raided a house in Ramchandra Nagar and caught Ashish Maheshwari and Kamal Maheshwari accepting the bets red-handed, they said.
The duo hail from Ratlam and were running the betting racket from a rented house here, police said.
Betting chits worth 80 lakh, a LCD TV and 8 cell phones were recovered from them, they said.
———-PTI
Vijayawada, February 28: Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa yesterday said that seven new projects at a cost of Rs 3,745 crore have been sanctioned for Andhra Pradesh in the Rail Budget 2011-12.
Another 14 projects at a cost of Rs 2709.49 crore have also been announced for the state in the budget by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, which would be taken up by the 12th five-year plan period, he told reporters here.
“In addition to the above projects, another Rs 942.38 crore was allocated for ongoing projects in Andhra Pradesh,” Muniyappa said.
Hyderabad, February 28: TRS today appealed to the people of Telangana to make the proposed ‘rail roko’ in support of the separate statehood demand on March 1 a grand success.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly E Rajender urged people all over the region to come to the railway tracks on March 1 and send across a message to the Centre on the Telangana demand.
London, February 28: Google has reengineered its search engine to relegate “low-quality” websites, in a move that will be seen as an effort to improve its relations with newspapers and magazines.
Dozens of so-called “content farms” aim to attract traffic by producing web pages designed to rank highly when users search for common or topical words,
Google says that such “shallow” material can be “not very useful” for users.
France, February 28: The French foreign minister has announced her resignation after being under fire for weeks over her contacts with the toppled Tunisian regime.
Michele Alliot-Marie stated in a handwritten resignation to President Nicolas Sarkozy that she decided to step down although she had not committed any wrongdoing,
She asked the president to accept her resignation, complaining about the harassment her family suffered from the media for the last two weeks.
Bangalore, February 28: England captain Andrew Strauss, who overshadowed Sachin Tendulkar’s century, striking a brilliant 158 to help England snatch a tie against India, said it was a privilege to be part of one of the greatest ODI contests.
Strauss said the match was a great advertisement for One-day cricket.
Asked whether he was satisfied with the result, Strauss said: “Yes and No. We were in a great position to win after 42 overs. The powerplay turned out to be shocking for us. At that stage India were favourites to win. Swann to Bresnan brought us back.”
Kabul, February 28: The Afghan government confirms that the US-led military alliance has killed scores of civilians during recent operations in the northeastern part of the country.
The Afghan arsaid its probe had found the US-led foreign forces killed 65 civilians, many of them children in Kunar Province. The report was also presented at the meeting of National Security Council on Sunday.
“Those killed during the operations including 10 women, 15 men and 40 children,” the report said.
Sources say civilians were killed in the volatile region on February 17.
United State, February 28: American demonstrators have rallied in cities across the country to protest a plan by Wisconsin governor to curb the power of public sector unions.
At least 70,000 demonstrators flooded the square around the Wisconsin Capitol on Saturday. Thousands more rallied in state capitals across the country as well as other cities,
The demonstrations protested at the Wisconsin’s State Assembly’s approval of a budget measure on Friday. The measure, proposed by Republican Governor Scott Walker, strips public sector unions of most collective bargaining rights.
Bangalore, February 28: After the dramatic World Cup tie against England, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted the team cannot improve its fielding, but can certainly do a lot in the bowling department.
“We cannot improve the fielding. There are some slow fielders. We have got the talent to improve the bowling,” Dhoni said at the post-match press conference when asked whether the team need to improve on the weaker bowling and fielding departments.