Pranab Mukherjee congratulates Indian team

Kolkata, April 03: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today congratulated the Indian cricket team for their victory in the World Cup yesterday and even praised the Sri Lankans for displaying “exemplary sportsmanship” during the match.

“Both the teams did exceedingly well. My congratulation to the Indian team. My congratulation equally to Sri Lankan team who fought bravely and everyone displayed exemplary sportsmanship which should be emulated in other spheres,” Mukherjee told reporters.

Mamata Banerjee congratulates Indian cricket team

Kolkata, April 03: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today congratulated the Indian cricket team for their triumph in the World Cup and said the men in blue have proved that if one had the will, any goal can be accomplished.

In a letter to World Cup winning skipper Dhoni, Banerjee said, “It was Swami Vivekananda who said that if one had the will, one could do anything…even drink an ocean. You and your team have done just that.”

Banerjee said the Indian Railways was always passionate about sport and the triumph had reaffirmed their commitment.

Fans might have to wait until 2012 to see ‘Dabangg 2’

Mumbai, April 03: Salman Khan’s ‘Dabangg’ was 2010’s undisputed blockbuster that gave a new dimension to the star’s career. And the super success of the desi flick made the filmmakers think of making its sequel. But here’s some bad news for all those who were desperately looking forward to seeing ‘Dabangg’s’ franchise.

Buzz has it that ‘Dabangg’ 2’ might get delayed. Salman Khan’s brother Arbaaz Khan will be directing the film.

Omar shown black flags in Ajmer

Jammu, April 03: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was greeted with black flags in Rajasthan’s Ajmer city where he had gone to pay obeisance at Dargah of Hazrat Khwaja Moin-Ud-Din Chisti.

Omar was shown black flags by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supporters, according to his tweets.

After landing in Ajmer, he tweeted that he was in Ajmer to offer prayers at the “Ziarat” or the shrine. Immediately thereafter, was another tweet by him, saying: “Yeyyyy, I got black flagged by 20 ‘nikkar wallas’ (men in shorts) in Ajmer. I feel really important now.”

Iraqi minister survives assassination attempt

Baghdad, April 03: Iraqi Minister for Industry and Minerals Ahmed Nassir Al Karbuli survived an assassination attempt by unidentified gunmen, an official said Sunday.

The incident occurred in the western province of Anbar, which was for a long time a major stronghold of Al Qaeda.

The attack was launched early Sunday on the road leading from Baghdad to the Syrian border, a source in the country’s security forces said.

Japan struggles to cool n-reactors, toll crosses 12,000

Tokyo, April 03: Japan’s attempt to cement a cracked concrete pit at a damaged nuclear reactor has failed as the toll in the earthquake that spawned a giant tsunami crossed 12,000.

The nuclear complex at Fukushima was damaged March 11 in a magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami. Its cooling system was damaged, causing the reactors to overheat.

On Saturday, the crippled nuclear plant was found to have been discharging highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, Xinhua reported Sunday.

Dhoni is an excellent and levelheaded captain: Pawar

Mumbai, April 03: ICC president Sharad Pawar today heaped praise on India’s World Cup winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, describing him as an excellent and levelheaded cricketer who leads the team from the front in crisis.

Dhoni cracked an unbeaten 91 under pressure to guide India to the World Cup title after 28 years at the Wankhade stadium last night and Pawar hailed the teamwork and Dhoni’s crisis management skills.

“India and the Indian cricket team has done miracle.

Congress counts on Rahul Gandhi in state poll campaign

New Delhi, April 03: Having recovered from a fractured leg, Congress star campaigner Rahul Gandhi is all set for hectic electioneering as elections in five states get under way Monday.

Gandhi, informed sources said, is determined to lift the morale of the Congress whose shocking defeat in Bihar last year led critics to question the vote pulling ability of the party’s general secetary.

Foreign funds pumped in over $1.5 billion in March

Mumbai, April 03: Foreign funds were a key to the March rally of key benchmark indices at Indian equities markets as they lapped up stocks worth over $1.5 billion during the month, compared to a paltry $18.97 million in February.

According to the data available with the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of equities to the tune of $1,540.36 million (Rs.6,897.80 crore), fuelling an over 9 percent increase in the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex).

IED explosion derails goods train in Assam

Tezpur, April 03: A powerful IED explosion derailed a goods train carrying cement bags in Assam’s Udalguri district, a senior police official said today.

Ten wagons of the train, moving from Rangiya to Tezpur, derailed after the Improvised Explosive Device, planted by unidentified militants, exploded on the rail track near Doipang late last night, Udalguri Deputy Commissioner, Thaneswar Malakar told PTI.

Eight wagons were badly damaged and a rescue team from Rangiya was sent to the spot to repair the tracks.

There was, however, no loss of life or injury to any person, Malakar added.

I wanted to win this Cup for Tendulkar, says Yuvraj

Mumbai, April 03: After playing a major role in India’s World Cup title triumph, a feat that fetched him the man of the tournament award, swashbuckling batsman Yuvraj Singh revealed that he wanted to win cricket’s most coveted title for senior teammate Sachin Tendulkar.

“Very sorry to disappoint you, guys. It was not for my girlfriend or my fiancee, but for Sachin Tendulkar,” he said at the packed post-final media conference with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sitting by his side.

Tension in Dehradun after India?s victory

Dehradun, April 03: Tension erupted here soon after India?s win in the world cup cricket with frenzied crowd clashing with police that left over scores of people including policemen and media persons injured, police said.

As Indian Cricket captain M S Dhoni hit the winning six, thousands of people riding on bikes and cars rushed to the Clock Tower late last night to participate in the celebrations marking Team India?s second world cup win.

Army recovers huge cache of arms, ammunition in Reasi

Srinagar, April 03: A militant hideout was busted by the security forces and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered in it in Reasi district here, defence officials said on Sunday.

In a joint operation, troops of Counter Insurgency Force (Uniform) and J&K Police busted a natural cave hideout near Nala in vicinity of Malhas village in the district last night, they said.

The forces recovered a huge cache of arms hidden by terrorists, which were very potent, lethal and capable of causing lot of damage of life and property, the officials said.

CAG auditing role of armed forces in Adarsh scam

New Delhi, April 03: Government auditor CAG has started comprehensive audit into the role of armed forces, Coast Guard and Colaba administration in land allotment to the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society.

The land allotment to 31-storey highrise in Colaba, Mumbai, has come under scrutiny of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which would look into the land management by the defence department, official sources said.

Japan struggles to cool n-reactors, toll crosses 12,000

Tokyo, April 03: Japan’s attempt to cement a cracked concrete pit at a damaged nuclear reactor has failed as the toll in the earthquake that spawned a giant tsunami crossed 12,000.

The nuclear complex at Fukushima was damaged March 11 in a magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami. Its cooling system was damaged, causing the reactors to overheat.

On Saturday, the crippled nuclear plant was found to have been discharging highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, Xinhua reported Sunday.

Cyberspace abuzz with Dhoni, World Cup searches

New Delhi, April 03: India’s World Cup triumph against Sri Lanka has created ripples in the virtual world as well, with ‘World Cup 2011 photos’, ‘India world champions’, and ‘Dhoni family’ being the top three most searched terms in India Sunday morning, according to data by Google Trends.

The web facility, that ranks the most searched topics on the Internet, showed the cricket-related terms as the top three searches between Saturday 10 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.

Afghan Quran protest resumes in Kandahar

Kabul, April 03: Hundreds of people took to the streets of Kandahar today to protest against the burning of a Quran in the US, an official said, a day after 10 people died during similar demonstrations in the southern Afghan city.

Praise for Mumbai Police

Mumbai, April 03: The Mumbai Police Sunday earned praise from union Minister of State for Home Gurudas Kamat for keeping the city safe and ensuring an incident-free World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka.

In a statement here, Kamat congratulated Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik, all the police officers and other security forces involved with the policing of the grand finale.

‘Al Khalifa monarchy doomed to failure’

Tehran, April 03: An Iranian lawmaker has denounced the Bahraini government’s brutal crackdown on protesters, saying “defeat and humiliation” will be the fate of Al Khalifa family.

“Every government that suppresses its people, will face no fate but defeat and humiliation,” a member of Iran-Bahrain Parliamentary Friendship Group, Mahmoud Hosseini Dolatabadi, told Majlis news agency (ICANA) on Saturday.

Winslet’s nude sketch to go under hammer

Los Angeles, April 03: A nude sketch of actress Kate Winslet that featured in blockbuster movie “Titanic” is expected to fetch $16,000 at an auction.

The illustration, which showed the 35-year-old, reclining on a sofa wearing nothing but a diamond necklace, was drawn by director James Cameron, reports imdb.com.

“This is a wonderful piece of memorabilia (from) one of the biggest grossing films of all time,” said a spokesperson for the Premiere Props’ memorabilia.

–IANS

Happy next-door-brother India has won: Pakistan

Lahore, April 03: It would have been wonderful if Pakistan had won the cricket World Cup but the Indian team deserved to win, said many Pakistanis who avidly watched the final between India and Sri Lanka and cheered their “next-door-brother”.

Unlike India, there were no firecrackers or euphoric crowd running on the streets of Pakistan’s cultural city, but the people supported the Indian team in their grand victory in Mumbai Saturday night.

Congress and TDP indulged in match-fixing to target me says Jagan

Hyderabad, April 03: Former Congress MP, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy today said that the decision of the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh to appoint a House Committee to probe the alleged irregularities in land allotments was an attempt to corner him.

TDP had stalled the Assembly proceedings for several days seeking Joint Legislature Committee to probe land allotments since 2004.

The ruling Congress and opposition Telugu Desam had indulged in “match-fixing” to take on him, he claimed in an open letter.

Delhi CM announces Rs 2 cr reward for Dhoni

New Delhi, April 03: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Sunday announced an award of Rs 2 crore for Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni and Rs 1 crore each for four Delhi players after their historic victory in the World Cup.

“The Chief Minister has decided to honour the Indian captain MS Dhoni by awarding him Rs 2 crore and also decided to give Rs 1 crore each to Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Ashish Nehra for winning the coveted World Cup after 28 years,” a Delhi government official said.

Twenty killed in under 24 hours in Mexican city

Ciudad Juarez, April 03: Authorities said that 20 people were killed in less than 24 hours in Mexico’s most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, which borders the US state of Texas.

The first of three separate attacks by armed groups was late Thursday when five people were killed at a bar called La Barritas.

Witnesses described several armed men opening fire from outside the building before Molotov cocktails were thrown inside, according to local press reports.

Click here..

Crack leaks radioactive water into sea off Japan

Tokyo, April 03: More highly radioactive water spilled into the sea from a tsunami-disabled nuclear plant and authorities struggled to seal the leak, as frustrated survivors of last month’s disaster complained that Japan’s government was paying too much attention to the nuclear crisis.