New Delhi, May 03: S Sreesnath may have irked Mahendra Singh Dhoni on quite a few occasions with his on-field antics, but Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardene is at ease with his behaviour so far in the IPL, and said the temperamental pacer sometimes need to be left to his aggressive self.
Jerusalem, May 03: Tel Aviv refuses to comment on a Media report about Israeli warplanes conducting military drills in Iraq in preparation for attacking targets on Iran.
Earlier on Monday a source close to prominent Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sader’s group said Israeli jet fighters had conducted drills at a military base in Iraq in order to strike targets inside Iran, the English-language Media reported.
According to the report a considerable number of Israeli warplanes, including F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22, and KC-10 jet fighters, were seen at al-Asad base in Iraq.
Hyderabad, May 03: YSR Congress Party leaders on Monday lodged a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission alleging that ruling party has been misusing the police forces and has foisted 9,300 bind-over cases against YSR Party activists in the run-up to the by-elections in Kadapa district.
This was being done with the sole motive to discourage and threaten them, the petition said.
Khammam, May 02: In a shocking incident, a woman tried to kill her granddaughter by placing on railway tracks at Peddapalli in Khammam district on Monday.
According to Sub-Inspector Prashanth Reddy, Ijjagiri Lakshmi (45), a resident of Ratnapur village in Khammam, used to tend to her granddaughter Sandhya Rani (10 months), since the past four months after her daughter Shoba Rani (25) committed suicide.
Islamabad, May 03: A 2007 Benazir Bhutto interview in which she says the al-Qaeda leader was ‘murdered’ years ago contributes to the uncertainty surrounding US claims about Osama bin Laden’s death.
On Monday, US President Barack Obama announced that the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US forces after he was found hiding in a compound in Pakistan.
This is while in an interview following a failed assassination attempt on Pakistan’s former premier in October 2007, Bhutto says bin Laden has already been killed.
Hyderabad, May 03: Three years ago, when she was just 12 years old, Nikhat Zareen accompanied her uncle to the Sports Authority of India centre in Nizamabad to learn boxing. She was the only girl there.
“She was very young when she wanted to box,” recalls Nikhat’s uncle, Samsamuddin, who is also the Nizamabad district boxing coach. The family tried to stop her at first, but when her cousins, Etheshamuddin and Itishamuddin, both international pugilists, encouraged her, they eventually gave in.
Beijing, May 02: China on Sunday expressed concern over the NATO air strikes in which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son and three grandchildren were killed.
Gaddafi and his wife escaped the NATO missile strike at the residence of his youngest son in the capital Tripoli yesterday.
“The Chinese side has noticed reports that Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Arab, and others were killed in the raids,” said Jiang Yu, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
Kabul, May 02: U.S. and NATO officials sought to reassure Afghans on Monday that Osama bin Laden’s death will not weaken their mission in Afghanistan, even as the Afghan president said the successful strike in Pakistan shows that the fight against terrorism should focus more outside his country’s borders.
The conflicting statements underscore the confusing nature of the war in Afghanistan, where Afghans alternately chafe under and need international forces.
New Delhi, May 02: Congress President Sonia Gandhi is likely to formally launch the party”s preparations for next year”s Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh at a meeting of the state leaders in Varanasi on May 18 and 19.
While Gandhi will be present on the second day of the conference, party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is likely to be the key speaker on the opening day.
Indications to this effect were given by AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge of the party”s affairs in the state.
Cairo, May 02: Muslim clerics said Monday that Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.
Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial — as with many issues within the faith — a wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.
Ranchi, May 02: A state-wide shutdown called by Left parties protesting the demolition drive affected schools and transport services in Jharkhand Monday while police booked social worker Medha Patkar for violating ban on gathering of five or more people in Ranchi.
Medha Patkar Monday visited Islamnagar where hundreds of houses were demolished during the state-wide drive against illegal buildings last month. She laid the foundation for a make-shift house for Devki Devi, a displaced woman, at a place where illegal houses were demolished under the state high court directive.
Kabul, May 02: President Hamid Karzai has urged the US-led forces to refrain from bombing Afghan civilians in the name of the so-called war on terrorism.
Karzai said on Monday that Afghan civilians have been killed on a daily basis and are the victims of terrorism.
He called on NATO to target the hiding places of terrorists instead of launching attacks on civilian areas.
Karzai also underlined the Afghan people’s patience and sacrifice during the United States’ so-called “war on terror.”
Itanagar, May 02: Braving inclement weather, security forces on Monday focussed their search operations at three pin-pointed locations along the Indo-Bhutan border to trace the helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others.
The ground and aerial search was stepped up at the Eaglenest Bird Sanctuary and Nagajan area in West Kameng district bordering Tawang besides Mobi village in Tashi Yangshi district of neighbouring Bhutan, CMO sources said.
Dehra Dun, May 02: A local court today rejected the case filed against Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and two others on alleged irregularities in conduct of the Mahakumbh mela at Haridwar in 2010.
Dehra Dun Chief Judicial Magistrate Kunwar Amanendra Singh rejected the case on the ground that Governor”s permission was not sought for initiating trial against the chief minister which is mandatory under section 197 of CrPC, said senior advocate and complainant J D Jain.
Motihari, May 02: Five policemen, including a station house officer (SHO), were injured in a landmine explosion triggered by Maoists near Siwaipati, on the border of Bihar”s Muzaffarpur and East Champaran districts, today.
ADG (Headquarters) Rajbardhan Sharma said the militants, who had planted a landmine, detonated it through a remote device as a police jeep was passing by.
The SHO of Rajepur police station in East Champaran district and four constables got injured in the explosion, he said, adding they were rushed to hospital.
Heavy reinforcements rushed to the spot, he said.
Lucknow, May 02: The BJP today announced to launch a state-wide agitation on the issues related to the farmers, including procurement of wheat by Uttar Pradesh government from May 7.
“Proper arrangements of wheat procurement have not been made in the state, the party will launch an agitation between May 7 to May 15 on the issues related to the farmers,” BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi said here.
He alleged that due to poor arrangements farmers were being forced to sell their produce at a lower price.
Vijayawada, May 02: The First Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Vijayawada, on Monday ordered the Satyanarayanapuram police to register a case against Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao for trying to create a wedge between Brahmins of Telangana and Seemandhra regions.
The Court ordered that KCR should be booked Indian Penal Code Sections 153, 153(A), 153(B), 500 and 506.
Hyderabad, May 02: Reiterating that he would never compromise on the Telangana state formation, Telugu Desam Telangana Forum convener Nagam Janardhan Reddy on Monday called upon all Telangana leaders to make concerted efforts by sinking differences among themselves.
Talking to media persons at Telugu Desam Legislature Party Office, Mr Janardhan Reddy said “I will compromise on any other issue except on Telangana. I have a clear agenda on separate statehood issue. Whoever supports me or not, I will continue my fight till the goal of a separate state is achieved.”
New Delhi, May 02: The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea for utilising the services of retired apex court judges to dispose of 54,612 pending cases in the country”s highest judiciary.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha dismissed the PIL filed by an advocate Manoharlal Sharma who cited Article 128 to say that the provision empowered the apex court to appoint retired judges to dispose of pending cases.
“It is these type of petitions which have contributed to the pending cases in the courts,” the bench remarked while dismissing the petition.
Tripoli, May 02: Libyan government forces bombarded the port of rebel-held Misrata with rockets and shellfire on Monday, disrupting operations to bring supplies in by sea to the besieged city.
A rebel spokesman complained that NATO forces, charged with protecting civilians caught up in the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule, had failed to act in defense of Misrata.
“The port is under heavy shelling today too, they have fired around 100 rockets so far. The shelling on Misrata has not stopped in the past 36 hours,” the spokesman, who identified himself as Hassan al-Misrati said.
Karachi, May 02: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan feels there needs to be a “revolution” in the country’s cricket to rid it of corruption, favoritism and nepotism.
During the opening of the Moin Khan academy, Imran said drastic steps were needed to put things straight in Pakistan cricket.
“If a democratic system is the best way to govern Pakistan cricket than it should be implemented as soon as possible,” he told reporters.
Imran said Australia had the best cricket system because of intense competition in their domestic league.
New Delhi, May 02: Former India batsman Ravi Shastri agreed with Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne that the Jaipur pitch was not a “90-run wicket” even though he felt Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar was also not off the mark in stating that “it was a two-paced, difficult track to bat on”.
Mumbai Indians lost to Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match on Friday last week and Tendulkar was critical of the pitch on which his team’s batting collpased.
Washington, May 02: Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was buried at sea, apparently over fears that his land burial may become a site to attract his extremist followers.
The body of world’s most wanted terrorist, who was killed today by US special forces in Pakistan, was handled in Islamic tradition and given a burial at sea, US officials said.
“We are ensuring that it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. This is something that we take very seriously. And so therefore this is being handled in an appropriate manner,” a senior administration official said.
Hyderabad, May 02: The condition of MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi,, who is under treatment at Care Hospital here, continues to be critical.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday asked authorities to requisition, if needed, specialist doctors from Mumbai, Delhi or abroad to provide better treatment to Akbaruddin.
Akbaruddin, who was shot at Barkas, was shifted to Care from Owaisi Hospital on Saturday night.
Kadapa, May 02: Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi on Monday said that the state has been belittled and has lost respect due to involvement of YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy in large-scale corruption.
Addressing a road show during the by-election campaign at Yerraguntla in Kamalapuram mandal in Kadapa district, the PRP chief lashed out at Mr Jaganmohan Reddy and said that he has no moral right to seek votes from the people of the district.