Colombo, March 02: Australian leg-spinner Steve Smith knows the Sri Lankan batsman would come hard at him when the two teams clash in a World Cup match here Saturday.
The 21-year-old Smith said that it would be tough for the Sri Lankan batsmen to score runs off the lively Australian pace battery and they would reserve their power for the spinners.
New Delhi, March 02: The Delhi High Court will pronounce its verdict Thursday on a petition by private bus operators seeking a stay on the Delhi government’s decision to phase out Blueline buses from the city.
Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Suresh Kait had reserved the order after hearing arguments from both parties.
The Blueline buses in Delhi invited public wrath for long after causing a number of accidents that claimed several lives.
New Delhi, March 02: Despite battling a string of corruption scandals, the Congress is hopeful of doing well in upcoming state assembly elections.
“Political situation in each state is different. However, on the balance, we will come out as winners,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said Wednesday.
Two of the five states listed to go to the polls in April-May are governed by the Congress: Assam and Puducherry.
The Congress is also hopeful of dislodging the Left Democratic Front in Kerala and to be on the winning side in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal though the contests would be tough.
Colombo, March 02: Sri Lanka’s coach Trevor Bayliss feels Australia’s dependence on a pace attack is the right decision for the World Cup.
Bayliss, an Australian, feels that Australia’s pace trio of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait can give his team a tough time during their March 5 encounter at the Premedasa Stadium.
Varanasi, March 02: Bollywood star Sunny Deol returned here after 15 years to shoot for director Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s new movie “Mohalla Assi” and said the experience is “refreshing” and “unique”.
“This film brings me back to the city after 15 years and I am sure that I will have a wonderful time shooting,” Sunny told reporters here. “Even though I have come here after a gap of 15 years to shoot, the experience on the banks of river Ganga is so refreshing and unique.”
Tripoli, March 02: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said that he is not a president and so cannot resign his position, and that power is in the hands of the people, during a televised public rally in the capital, Tripoli.
“Muammar Gaddafi is not a president to resign, he does not even have a parliament to dissolve,” Gaddafi said on Wednesday, surrounded by dozens of supporters in a large ballroom for a ceremony to mark 34 years of “people power.”
“Attacks on me are seen by Libyan people as attacks on their symbol and dignity.
Paris, March 02: Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has predicted in an interview Wednesday that the regime will regain control of the country “within two days”.
In an interview with the French Le Figaro, al-Islam admitted the regime had been rattled in the east.
“It’s true that it’s a bit messy in the east,” he said. “A few hundred people died there,” he said.
“Within two days, everything will be back in order,” he predicted.
The 38-year old flatly rejected allegations of crimes against humanity as foreign media “propaganda”.
Hyderabad, March 02: The ongoing movement for a separate Telangana state has not only affected normal life in the region and almost paralysed the administration, but has also delayed the February salaries of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, his cabinet colleagues and other state officials.
The chief minister, 39 ministers, top bureaucrats and other government employees in the state secretariat and other offices did not receive their salaries on the first day of March.
Kolkata, March 02: Trinamool Congress chief and union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said she will not contest the coming West Bengal assembly polls as she will be concentrating on campaigning.
Banerjee, a top contender for the chief minister’s post, said if her party comes to power, she can always become a member of the state assembly within six months.
New Delhi, March 02: Lean and petite Sara Khan has been asked to put on weight to look like a well-fed Punjabi girl, while her co-star Nishant Malkani has been asked to shed extra pounds for a special scene in “Ram Milayee Jodi”.The actress is required to look healthy rather than a delicate darling in the show that is telecast on Zee TV and the makers have asked Nishant to cut down on his high-on-proteins-and-carbohydrates diet to look a little leaner, so that the duo look the perfect couple for the special sequence depicting their “big night” on the show.
Bangalore, March 02: The buzz is missing from the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Frenzied fans who created a lively atmosphere during India’s dramatic tie against England Sunday were not present in large numbers to witness England take on minnows Ireland in a Group B World Cup match here Wednesday.
Only a few hundred die-hard fans in the eastern stands around the sprawling stadium were cheering for the two teams on a hot afternoon.
Colombo, March 02: In their bid to avoid intimidating Indian crowds in Ahmedabad and Mohali, venues of the quarterfinal and semi-final matches, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi appealed to his team mates to give their best so that they top Group A and play their knock-out World Cup matches in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan, champions in 1992, have made a good start in the tournament with two comprehensive wins against Kenya and tournament favourites Sri Lanka.
New Delhi, March 02: With the announcement of poll schedule for five states, the Election Commission has directed the authorities to enforce the model code of conduct strictly and also asked parties in power to ensure that there is no cause for complaint.
In a set of ‘dos and dont’s’, it has said that no advertisements should be issued in electronic and print media highlighting the achievements of the government at the cost of the public exchequer.
Cairo, March 02: Contradictory to official statements, Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak is undergoing cancer treatment in Saudi Arabia, an Egyptian newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Al-Akhbar daily said Mubarak, 82, was at a military base in Tabouk where he received chemotherapy for pancreas and intestinal cancer every five days, and his family was there with him.
The newspaper said Egypt’s long-time leader left for Saudi Arabia two days after he was forced to step down by two weeks of protests.
Hyderabad March 02:
Blasphemy means “Action Concerning God or Sacred Entity”.
Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was killed after gunmen opened fire on his car in the capital Islamabad. He was travelling to work through a residential district when his vehicle was sprayed with bullets, police said.
Mr Bhatti, the cabinet’s only Christian minister, had received death threats for urging reform to blasphemy laws.
In January, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who had also opposed the law, was shot dead by one of his bodyguards.
Cairo, March 02: A state-owned Egyptian newspaper said Wednesday that former President Hosni Mubarak was being treated for cancer in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.
The interim military government could not be reached for comment. It had imposed a travel ban on Mr. Mubarak, 82, and his family on Monday, but he has not been seen publicly since he was ousted from power on Feb. 11.
The newspaper Al Akhbar quoted “sources informed about the news” as saying that Mr. Mubarak was in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, receiving chemotherapy for colon and pancreatic cancer. It said his family was with him.
Patna, March 02: This was a wedding with a difference! A Japanese woman married a Muslim man in a village in Bihar’s Gaya district in Islamic style.
A nikah was solemnised in the presence of villagers and sweets distributed in a simple function according to Islamic rituals.
Ricko, in her mid-20s, Tuesday married Noor Ain, a resident of Dharhara Kala village in Gaya, about 100 km from here.
The marriage was solemnised with the bride and groom reading the ritualistic selected verses of holy Quran and accepting each other as husband and wife during nikah.
Gangtok, March 02: A team headed by Director General, Department of Economic, Statistics Monitoring and Evaluation, S D Tshering along with Project Coordinator T Gelek, and Enrolment agency called on Chief Minister Pawan Chamling at his residence yesterday for the enrolment of the Chief Minister under the Unique Identification Number (UID).
The enrolment drive will soon commence after the issue of UID or “Aadhaar Number” of the Chief Minister.
Cairo, March 02: Tension ran high in the Libyan capital Tripoli Wednesday as protesters undergoing military training in the east of the country said they would march on the city and the possibility of foreign intervention loomed.
A fuel tanker also exploded in Tripoli early Wednesday. Amidst the panic, residents clashed with foreign reporters at the scene, forcing some of them back to their hotel, Al Jazeera reported.
It was not yet clear whether the fuel truck’s explosion was an intentional act or an accident.
Islamabad, March 02: Pakistan is hopeful that the upcoming talks with India will lead to a “meaningful and sustained process of engagement” that will bridge the trust deficit between the two countries and help resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
Reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech in the Indian Parliament on February 24 in which he said dialogue was the only way to resolve differences between the two countries, Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said Pakistan “desires good neighbourly relations” with India.
Washington, March 02: Believe it or not — the more honest and humble an employee is, the better is his or her job performance, according to a new study.
“This study shows that those who possess the combination of honesty and humility have better job performance,” said study leader Wade Rowatt, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University in the US.
Baylor researchers surveyed 269 employees in 25 companies across 20 states in the US who provide health care for challenging clients, the journal Personality and Individual Differences reports.
Cairo, March 02: Members of the Coalition of the Jan. 25 Revolution Youth have voiced concern over plans by Egypt’s ruling Supreme Military Council to hold parliamentary and presidential elections within the next six months.
Young activists believe that after 30 years of autocratic rule under former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt needs a longer transitional phase to a mature political climate, where newly formed parties have a fair chance to compete.
Washington, March 02: For years, they have been one of the most formidable lobbying forces in town: the elite band of former members of Congress, former diplomats and power brokers who have helped Middle Eastern nations navigate diplomatic waters here on delicate issues like arms deals, terrorism, oil and trade restrictions.
Washington, March 02: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an international treaty to bar production of plutonium and uranium for use in nuclear bombs, saying it was a crucial step to fulfilling President Barack Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons.
Guantanamo Bay, March 02: One Sudanese prisoner is filing his hours until release reading Decision Points, George W. Bush’s memoir on why he quit alcohol, ran for president and approved waterboarding war on terror captives.
Another is being home-schooled every other week inside a cell, learning the astronomy, math, grammar, Shakespeare, even elocution, he never got as a child of al Qaeda.