Month: March 2011

Syrian president blames ‘conspirators’ for unrest

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Damascus, March 30: President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday blamed the widening unrest in Syria on foreign conspirators, in his first address to the nation since the protests began March 15.

“Syria today is subjected to a conspiracy from outside,” Assad told parliament in a speech that was frequently interrupted with cheers and applause.

He said the objective of the conspirators, who make up a minority, was to “fragment and bring down Syria” and “enforce an Israeli agenda”.

Sehwag, Dhoni complete 1,000 ODI runs against Pakistan

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Mohali, March 30: Indian opener Virender Sehwag and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today completed their 1,000 runs against Pakistan in One-day Internationals during the high-octane second semi-final of the World Cup here.

Sehwag hit the third ball of the semifinal off pacer Umar Gul to the cover boundary to touch the 1,000-run mark at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium.

The ball was a touch too full outside off and Sehwag brought his bat down swiftly to crash the ball through the in field.

India set a 261-run target for Pakistan

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Mohali, March 30: India set a 261-run target for Pakistan in the second 2011 World Cup semifinal at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium here Wednesday.

Sachin Tendulkar top-scored with 85 while his opening partner Virender Sehwag smashed 38 off 25 balls. Suresh Raina added an unbeaten 36 towards the end, with India finishing at 260 for eight.

Pacer Wahab Riaz was the most successful bowler for Pakistan, taking five wickets for 46 runs. Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal picked up two for 44.

—IAns

Two held for cricket betting

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New Delhi, March 30: A cricket betting syndicate was busted here with the arrest of two men who were accepting bets on Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, police said Wednesday.

“Total bets received by the syndicate was more than Rs.2 lakh. Virender Kumar, 46, and Pushkar Raj, 49, were apprehended from Sriniwaspuri (in south Delhi) Tuesday night following a tip-off,” Additional Commissioner of Police Virender Chahal said.

“A constable was sent as a decoy customer. He placed a bet on the match after paying the duo Rs.500,” he added.

Seminar on “Shamsher Bahadur Singh”

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Hyderabad, March 30: Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Dept. of Hindi in collaboration with Dakshin Bharat Hindi Parchar Sabha, Madras (Hyderabad Centre) is organizing a 2-Day National Seminar on “Shamsher Bahadur Singh” on 30th & 31st March 2011.

Hajj aspirants face difficulties in obtaining passports

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Hyderabad, March 30: Hajj aspirants are facing lot of difficulties in obtaining passports. Central Hajj committee has made Hajj aspirants to suffer, by deciding not to assist aspirants in preparation of passports. Hajj committee has made it mandatory for the applicants to enclose the copy of passport or the receipt of application of passport along with the Hajj application.

The central Hajj committee is probably unaware of the fact that people face lot of difficulties in obtaining passport.

Thackeray objects to Pak players’ ‘namaaz’ at Mohali stadium

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Mumbai, March 30: After attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for inviting his Pakistani counterpart to the Cricket World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has now objected to the Pakistani team performing ‘namaaz’ in Mohali stadium.

“The Pakistani team could have performed namaaz in their rooms, but by doing so on the greens (of the Mohali stadium), they gave a clarion call for a holy war,” Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

Qatar admits falsity of claims on Iran

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Tehran, March 30: Following Qatar’s dismissal of reports about the capture of two arms-laden Iranian boats, Iran’s Ambassador to Doha Abdollah Sohrabi says Qatar reaffirmed that such claims are “sheer lies.”

“Qatari officials understood that claims by certain spiteful media about the seizure of Iranian boats which were carrying weapons en route to Bahrain are sheer lies,” Sohrabi told to media on Tuesday.

Saudi prince seeks to stop Mubarak trial

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Cairo, March 30: Saudi billionaire Prince al-Walid bin Talal has reportedly offered an exorbitant sum of money in an attempt to collapse the trial brought against Egypt’s toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The Saudi mogul has recently met with a number of authorities in the new Egyptian government and proposed to pay them some USD 4 billion. In return, he expects the officials to dismiss charges leveled against the 83-year-old Mubarak,

Prince al-Walid bin Talal also sought immunity from the prosecution of Mubarak’s family.

Karzai chides US for Afghan deaths

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Kabul, March 30: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has denounced the killing of Afghan civilians by US forces for fun, saying he is shocked by the recently published photos of US forces posing with dead Afghans.

The Afghan chief executive described the killing of a teenager by US military as a tragedy on Wednesday.

“It is a tragic story and reading it hurts our feeling. This crime committed by those soldiers,” Karzai noted.

The comments followed the release of videos and photos that show US soldiers’ killing of civilians in war-wrecked Afghanistan.

Andhra chief minister rejects minister’s resignation

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Hyderabad, March 30: Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Wednesday rejected the resignation of his cabinet colleague Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, who attacked opposition legislators in the assembly two days ago.

A couple of hours after the agriculture minister submitted his resignation, the chief minister said he had rejected it and that Vivekananda Reddy would continue as minister.

Vivekananda Reddy, younger brother of the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, put in his papers a day after his term as member of the legislative council ended.

The Collapse of Globalization

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The uprisings in the Middle East, the unrest that is tearing apart nations such as the Ivory Coast, the bubbling discontent in Greece, Ireland and Britain and the labor disputes in states such as Wisconsin and Ohio presage the collapse of globalization. They presage a world where vital resources, including food and water, jobs and security, are becoming scarcer and harder to obtain. They presage growing misery for hundreds of millions of people who find themselves trapped in failed states, suffering escalating violence and crippling poverty.

Tendulkar lucky with UDRS, Sehwag not so

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Mohali, March 30: India had mixed luck when they went in for Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) referrals very early in their World Cup semifinal against Pakistan at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here Wednesday.

Cricket mania grips Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, March 30: Cricket mania gripped Hyderabad Wednesday as India and Pakistan clashed at Mohali for a berth in the World Cup final.

Most roads were deserted and people rushed home from their work places early to catch the thrilling action that began in the afternoon.

There were fewer vehicles on the roads in upmarket Banjara Hills, Panjagutta, Begumpet, Secunderabad, Khairatabad, Basheerbagh and Charminar.

“You can’t afford to miss when India plays Pakistan. I was waiting for this match for a long time,” said Srikant Reddy, an employee of a private company.

Vivekananda Reddy resigns as MLC

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Hyderabad, March 30: Andhra Pradesh agriculture minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy has submitted his resignation to the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, as his term as an MLC has ended.

“He (Vivekananda Reddy) has submitted resignation as his term ended yesterday and I have asked him to continue,” Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy told reporters here.

Minority welfare fund not issued yet

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Hyderabad, March 30: The Andhra Pradesh state government’s claims of sympathy towards minorities and its announcement of increase in minority budget are going to be proved futile as the funds for Minority Welfare department for the year 2010-11 have not been totally issued till now consequently the budget is feared to be wasted.

Kolkata wears a deserted look for India-Pakistan clash

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Kolkata, March 30: The streets of Kolkata were deserted Wednesday as cricket-crazy Bengalis got glued to their television sets as clock ticked towards the start of the World Cup semifinal between arch rivals India and Pakistan.

Posters of Indian cricketers, however, lined up streets, and were found in every nook and corner of the city. The city streets wore a look of an unofficial shutdown as the day progressed as most of office-goers and school students decided to take a day off.

Urdu transcends barriers of faith and territory

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New Delhi, March 30: The Urdu language is representative of the enormous cultural complexity of India, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said at the Delhi University Urdu Department’s Golden Jubilee valedictory session here on Tuesday.

Maintaining that Urdu is a language which belongs to India as a whole and is not confined to any faith or region, Mr. Sibal added there are plans to start “a scheme according to which all schools should offer Urdu language as a subject of study”.

Sonam & Akshay Mett together at Dubai

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Mumbai, March 30: Calling all Bollywood fans: if you want to catch some of your favourite stars in action tomorrow then lace up those trainers and get set for a marathon Tuesday, as Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol and Suniel Shetty strut across Dubai in a blitzkrieg promotional spree for their upcoming film, “Thank You”.

Mallika & Jacqueline act together in Murder 2

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Mumbai, March 30: The lead actress of Murder 2 Jacqueline Fernandez is full of praises for Mallika Sherawat. She told reporters “I have seen Murder and I loved Mallika’s performance. I think she is extremely daring and that’s something we can all learn from her.

The actress, who belongs to Sri Lankan origin said, “As an actress, it’s so nice to see someone so bold, so daring and so brave and I think that’s what she stands for, which is great.”Jacqueline will be seen doing intimate scenes with Emraan Hashmi in the sequel of Murder.

Hindu Temple Attacked in Australia

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Melbourne, March 30: Australia’s oldest Hindu temple in New South Wales was attacked by unidentified masked gunmen who fired several shots at it, triggering panic among the community members.

Sri Mandir at Auburn, which is more than three decades old, was attacked by two men, who were wearing balaclavas or ski masks, on the night of March 19.

The attackers were caught on CCTV firing shots at the temple. No one was killed or seriously injured in the incident, which created panic among the temple’s priest and worshippers, local media reported.

Extra drinks on sixes and wickets – at pubs, restaurants

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New Delhi, March 30: The Mohali match spelt brisk business. Most popular restaurants and pubs were almost 100 percent booked Wednesday as they rolled out unlimited snacks and drinks, music and, of course, the India-Pakistan semifinal live on jumbo LCD screens.

While some had special packages costing over Rs.1,500 per person, a few decided to be generous enough to offer extra drinks on sixes, wickets, extra runs and hattricks!

Of anthems and handshakes before Indo-Pak clash

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Mohali, March 30: There is never a dull moment in an India-Pakistan cricket clash and even before the start of their World Cup semifinal, the electrifying atmosphere came alive a bit more when the two countries’ Prime Ministers walked into the stadium to greet the players.

The combined enthusiasm of a 30,000-strong crowd at the Punjab Cricket Association ground made for quite a sight during the anthems ceremony before the match.

Have a go at my ex-girlfriend, says man in email

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London, March 30: A Briton sent an email to his football buddy about his ex-girlfriend: “Feel free to pursue, yes, she is HOT!”. But, he accidentally copied her into the email exchange that has now gone viral.

Harry Fildes sent the email to his football mate Sebastian Marsh that it was fine to pursue his hot ex-girlfriend Jenni Palmer, the Telegraph reported Wednesday.

He then accidentally copied it to Palmer, who is still his housemate.

Thousands of people have seen the emails after they went viral.

Fildes said in one of the emails: “I am in so much —- it’s unreal.”

Reactor decommissioning inevitable, says Japan power company

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Tokyo, March 30: The operator of a stricken nuclear power station in Japan said Wednesday that the plant’s four troubled reactors would have to be decommissioned.

Tsunehisa Katsumata, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said he was very sorry about causing concern and inconvenience to society due to the fires, explosions and radiation leaks from the plant.

Katsumata said he was especially sorry for those living in the vicinity who “have been forced into a very severe situation” as some have had to stay indoors and others to evacuate.