Month: September 2011

Karachi, September 30: Captain Shahid Afridi led from the front with a commanding all-round performance to inspire Karachi Dolphins to an easy eight-wicket victory over Islamabad Leopards in a day-night match in the Faysal Bank National Twenty20 Cup here at the National Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing 132, Karachi Dolphins completed the victory in 13.3 overs for the loss of only two wickets in their first match in the tournament.

Shahid Afridi, opening the innings with Sahhzaib Hasan (21), hammered 58 off 32 balls with six brilliant fours and two towering sixes.

Islamabad, September 30: Tennis star Sania Mirza and her cricketer husband Shoaib Malik Thursday met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss launching a fund-raising campaign for the flood victims in the country.

The couple expressed grief over the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan, the official APP news agency reported. They met him at Aiwan-e-Sadr (his official residence here).

They told the president that they would play exhibition matches both within and outside the country to help raise funds for the affected people.

United Nations, September 30: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has hailed the decision to grant voting rights to women in Saudi Arabia.

“The secretary-general welcomes recent announcements by the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, including notably those granting women in Saudi Arabia, for the first time, the right to vote and stand in municipal elections — as well as to become members of the Shura Council,” Xinhua reported quoting a statement released by Ban’s spokesperson Thursday.

Tokyo, September 30: Maria Sharapova twisted her ankle while serving and quit her Pan Pacific Open quarter-final against Petra Kvitova on Thursday, in a rematch of this summer’s Wimbledon final.

Kvitova was ahead 4-3 in the first set when Sharapova was injured in the eighth game. Sharapova limped to her chair and pulled out after speaking with her trainer. She went to a hospital for an MRI.

London, September 30: Pakistan has freed a senior al Qaeda commander who served as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, a media report said.

Amin al-Haq was detained in Lahore three years ago by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. He had escaped from Afghanistan with the al Qaeda leader in 2001 and went on to become a key financial aide.

The ISI had passed al-Haq on to the police before he was released earlier this month, The Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday quoting a security source in Peshawar, where he had been held.

New Delhi: The National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is slated to kick off in New Delhi on Friday.

However, the centrestage has been captured by the crack between two big names within the party – veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi is all set to give the meet a miss, after Advani skipped his two-decade old ritual of visiting the Somnath temple in Gujarat every year on September 25 to mark the Ram Rath Yatra of 1990.

New Delhi, September 30: The Telangana agitation has left all 10 districts of the Telangana region, including Hyderabad, paralysed over the last two weeks.

TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao, scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Friday evening, will seek an appointment with the Prime Minister and the President over the weekend.

The Congress state in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad will submit his report on Telangana to the party. The Telangana political Joint Action Committee (JAC) earlier demanded a stand on the issue by the Congress. The party leadership has so far been mum on the agitation.

Riyadh, September 30: Low turnout is being reported in Saudi Arabia’s second ever municipal elections where lukewarm voters are casting their ballots in the men-only polls.

Only a few voters went to the polling stations in the nationwide elections, which started on Thursday. The vote will continue on Friday, with the results expected on Sunday.

Like previous polls, women do not have the right to vote, but Riyadh has pledged that they will be able to cast ballots in the next municipal elections in 2015.

Sanaa, September 30: Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh has admitted that the United States intelligence apparatus is closely monitoring the situation in the country.

“I believe that the American intelligence is following this up and keeping a close eye on it and that they know exactly what is going on,” Saleh said on Thursday in an interview with Time magazine, referring to the developments inside the country.

He said Washington was investigating a June attack on the presidential palace that inflicted serious injury on him as well as other Yemeni officials.

New Delhi, September 30: Law Minister, Salman Khurshid met Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram in the national capital on Thursday, Sep 29. After the meeting amid a tense situation, Khurshid iterated actor Amir Khan’s famous phrase from the movie 3 Idiots – All is Well.

Khurshid rushed to meet Chidambaram when many started claiming Congress has been divided after a RTI report showed that finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee accused Chidambaram of not doing enough to prevent 2G spectrum scam in 2008.

Mumbai, September 30: Five labourers were killed and six others were injured in a building mishap here on Thursday. All the deceased and injured hailed from Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.

The incident happened at around 3.30 pm on Thursday when the labourers fell down from the 11th floor after a bamboo scaffolding of a building Siddhivinayak Towers in the Mumbai suburb of Bhayandar, collapsed.

Hyderabad, September 30: Following rumours that the Centre would take a decision in favour of Telangana within next 10 days, the Seemandhra Forum leaders have decided to go to New Delhi on October 8 to oppose the bifurcation of the State.

According to sources, the Seemandhra leaders have decided to meet Congress in-charge of state affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and appeal them to stop the bifurcation of state. They have also decided to conduct peace rallies across the Seemandhra region stressing the importance of integrated state for development.

Hyderabad, September 30: Home Minister P Sabita Indira Reddy on Thursday called upon the Governor ESL Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan to clarify on the allegations of corruption levelled against her by Textiles Minister Dr P Shankar Rao.

Sabita reportedly told the Governor that Dr Shankar Rao’s allegations were far from truth. She is believed to have submitted documents relating to postings and transfers of police officials in the State and claimed that everything was carried out in a transparent manner.

New Delhi, September 30: Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana on Thursday claimed that the Congress High Command would resolve the Telangana issue within one month.

Talking to reporters after meeting in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad here, Botsa said that the Centre was aware of the facts relating to the on-going general strike. He said that the Congress party would be holding discussions with all the UPA constituents on the issue to find an amicable solution.

Hyderabad, September 30: Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday claimed that the process of formation of Telangana State has already begun and the same would be completed in the next two-three months.

Addressing party workers at Telangana Bhavan, KCR said that the Sakala Janula Samme has mounted the required pressure on the Centre and it was forced to initiate the process of Telangana formation. He hoped that the entire process of granting statehood for Telangana would be completed in next three months.

Hyderabad, September 30: The State Government is all set to increase the power tariff for domestic consumers.

The State Government had earlier constituted a sub-committee of ministers to study the power surcharge and the subsidies. However, the sub-committee could not submit a report to the government primarily due to the Telangana strike.

Guntur, September 30: Samaikhyandhra Students Joint Action Committee leaders on Thursday condemned the physical attacks of pro-Telangana activists on employees and elected representatives belonging to Seemandhra region.

Hyderabad, September 30: The Telangana agitation was further intensified on Thursday with the activists making their presence felt across the region on the 17th day of Sakala Janula Samme or people’s general strike by holding protests before the residences of elected representatives. The RTC strike in the region too entered the 11th day on Thursday.

Hyderabad, September 30: Handloom and Textiles Minister Dr P Shankar Rao on Thursday submitted several documents to Governor ESL Narasimhan as ‘evidence’ for his allegations of corruption against Home Minister P Sabita Indira Reddy and Excise Minister M Venkataramana Rao.

Hyderabad, September 30: Pro-Telangana activists on Thursday laid seize to the residences of several ministers, MLAs and MPs across the region.

Following a call by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee to stage protests in front of legislators who have not resigned from their posts for the cause of Telangana, the activists on Thursday staged massive protests before their houses.

New Delhi, September 29: Senior BJP leader L K Advani was not eyeing the Prime Ministerial post, party President Nitin Gadkari said today indicating that the former Deputy Prime Minister has already made it clear that he is not in the race. Gadkari held a press conference to share details of Advani’s ‘yatra’ which will be flagged-off by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at Sitabdiara, Bihar, on October 11.

Nizamabad, September 30: Several TDP MLAs from Telangana region were injured when they clashed with the police after they were prevented from entering the Banswada assembly constituency here on Thursday.

The clash took place near Basvapur of Bikanoor mandal. All 32 members TDP MLAs from the region, who submitted their resignations from the posts on Wednesday, took up bus yatra for Banswada assembly constituency where by-elections are scheduled to be held on October 13. They were demanding that all parties boycott the by-polls till the formation of Telangana.

Hyderabad, September 30: Communist Party of India state secretary K Narayana on Thursday stated that his party would opposed to the proposal of including Kurnool and Anantapur districts in the yet to be formed Telangana state.

Hyderabad, September 30: As expected, Kamareddy MLA Gampa Goverdhan on Thursday submitted his resignation to Telugu Desam party primary membership and also to his MLA’s post.

Hyderabad, September 30: The Telangana Political Joint Action Committee has called for Hyderabad Bandh on Friday as part of Sakala Janula Samme, or the people’s general strike, demanding statehood for Telangana region.

The City Police has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure that the law and order is maintained. Police Commissioner AK Khan warned of serious action if anyone indulged in violence.

Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy has asked the people of the twin cities not to be apprehensive of Hyderabad Bandh.