Month: March 2013

Dhawan to miss Sunrisers Hyderabad first game

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Sunrisers Hyderabad, the new IPL outfit, have suffered a blow ahead of the tournament with star player Shikhar Dhawan being ruled out due to injury for at least their opening tie against Pune Warriors, to be held on April 5.

“Shikhar Dhawan at this stage will not be available for the first game. We are obviously working closely with the BCCI and the medical team with regard to his progress,” Sunrisers coach Tom Moody told reporters here today.

“We are hoping that within a couple of weeks he will be available to join the team,” he added.

Chidambaram and Akhilesh talk business over coffee and idli

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Over cups of steaming coffee and idli, union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Friday talked business as speculation mounted over the future of the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress equation.

The meeting comes amid speculation that the SP and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) are headed for a split.

Indian players ruling the roost in IPL

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While the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisees may splurge on recruiting foreign imports, it’s the Indian players who are ruling the roost — from topping the batting charts to being the most successful captain.

The top four run getters since the cricket jamboree began in 2008 are all from India. Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) batting mainstay Suresh Raina tops the chart with 2254 runs at an average of 33.64.

Lucky to act and sing in my films: Ayushmann

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Actor-singer Ayushmann Khurrana says he is lucky to be a rare breed of actors in Bollywood who act as well as sing in their films.

“I would say that I am fortunate that I am getting an opportunity to sing in my films. There are hardly any singer-actor or actor-singer in Bollywood,” the 28-year-old said here Thursday in an interview.

After singing “Paai da rang” in his debut movie “Vicky Donor”, Ayushman has sung two songs in his second film “Nautanki Saala” – “Saadi Galli” and “Tu Hi Tu”.

Madonna first billionaire pop star

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Singer-songwriter Madonna has become the first billionaire female pop star.
A successful world tour and a string of business deals last year pushed her net worth past 650 million pounds ($1 billion), reports thesun.co.uk.

The 54-year-old joins an elite club of super-rich celebrities, including director Steven Spielberg and chat show host Oprah Winfrey.

Last year was the most successful of her career, as she raked in an extra 200 million pounds.

Drugs case: boxer Ram Singh dismissed from Punjab Police

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Punjab Police has dismissed two officials from service – including international boxer Ram Singh – following their alleged involvement in a drugs racket busted in the state recently.The other person dismissed Thursday is sub-inspector Sarabjit Singh.

Ram Singh, a head constable in the force, is a fellow boxer with Olympics bronze medal winner Vijender Singh, whose name also figured in the drugs controversy. He is being questioned in the case.

Pak court extends Musharraf’s bail as lawyer hurls shoe at him

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A Pakistani court today extended by 15 days the pre-arrest bail period of Pervez Musharraf in a series of cases in some of which he was a proclaimed offender, but barred the former military ruler from leaving the country.

A single member bench of the Sindh High Court accepted 69-year-old Musharraf’s request for extension of bail, which was granted before he arrived back in the country.

The court, however, ordered the former president not to leave the country without taking its permission. The pre-arrest bail serves to prevent his arrest for past charges.

KJP syndrome ails BJP ahead of assembly polls

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Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is at its wit’s end as it prepares for the May 5 assembly polls. The party does not seem to have a clue on how to shake off the KJP (Karnataka Janata Party) syndrome that threatens to shatter its hope of retaining power in the polls.

The BJP rightly diagnoses that the Congress is its main opponent across Karnataka with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) posing a challenge to both the parties in some parts of the state.

The BJP’s actions however show that its main worry is the KJP, headed by the party’s former leader B.S. Yeddyurappa.

No plans now to withdraw support to UPA: Mulayam

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SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been breathing fire against the government, today said he has no plans now to withdraw support to UPA, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged such a possibility.

“Relations have not soured. I do not know on what basis the Prime Minister made these remarks. Right now withdrawing support has not been discussed in the party. Now there is no question of SP withdrawing support to the UPA government.

“Why withdraw support and make the government fall when it’s a matter of just eight-nine months,” Yadav told CNN-IBN.

British woman faces jail for dinning with married man in Abu Dhabi

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A British woman teacher has been jailed for having lunch with a married man in Abu Dhabi.

She was accused of breaking Muslim laws that ban couples who are not wed or related being alone together.

According to the Sun, the teacher faces a year in prison in the strict Arab emirate plus more time for drinking alcohol without a licence, after cops who burst into her dining companion”s house found her enjoying a glass of wine after their meal.

Pak eunuchs fancy chances in free-for-all polls!

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Eunuchs in Pakistan have obtained nomination papers to take part in the upcoming general elections.

Under the slogan ‘don’t try the tested ones shake hands with eunuchs’, Bindya Rana, the provincial president of one of their organizations ‘Jayya’ is planning to contest polls from PS-115 Sindh while Mazhar Anjum alias Anju is aiming for PS-130.

According to the News, talking to media persons, a group of eunuchs said members of their community will get into the electoral arena from across Pakistan.

‘Beleaguered’ Misbah turns down calls to quit ODIs

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Under pressure Pakistani captain Misbahul Haq has turned down calls to quit one-day cricket, insisting from now on he would be batting with a much more positive intent in the fifty-over format after getting the stick for batting slowly in limited over cricket.

Misbah said he has discussed this with all his players and they all agreed that overall they all needed to be more positive

while batting and put aside fears of losing our wicket, the Express Tribune reports.

Indian-origin rookie fast bowler creates history by winning prestigious Steve Waugh medal

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Rookie fast bowler Gurinder Sandhu has made history by becoming the first Indian-origin player ever to win the prestigious Steve Waugh medal on Wednesday.

In what was a whirlwind six weeks to end the summer, Sandhu took 14 wickets in four Ryobi Cup games and 14 wickets in just two Sheffield Shield matches to clinch NSW”s top gong, News.com.au reports.

It was a remarkable effort by the giant right-arm quick, who only made his first-class debut at the start of this month, the paper said.

Union government committed to UP’s progress: Chidambaram

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Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram Friday said the central government was committed to the development of Uttar Pradesh and that it would look into the state government’s request of financial assistance in this regard.

“UP is a very important state and I would like to assure Netaji (as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh is referred to by his supporters) that the union government is committed to the development and progress of the state,” Chidamabaram said while inaugurating 300 new bank branches in the state at a function here.

FIRs registered in Dilshuknagar blast case

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed two FIRs in the Dilshuknagar bomb blast case.

The two FIRs RC – 01 and RC -02 were registered under section 120 (B) Criminal Conspiracy, 302 (Murder) and 304 (Culpable Homicide) along with two other Acts. It has mentioned that Explosive Device (ED) was used in the blasts. It held unknown persons and unknown organization responsible for the blasts. (INN)

MI begins training for IPL

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Mumbai Indians players today underwent a training session ahead of the IPL season beginning next week with captain Ricky Ponting having a feel of the team environment though he did not take part in the practice.

Ponting joined the team after arriving last night and was present at the training session at the Wankhede Stadium.

The 38-year-old, who retired from international cricket in December last, was seen chatting with team mentor Anil Kumble, chief coach John Wright and fielding coach Jonty Rhodes.

DMK firm on no support to UPA: Karunanidhi

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Dismissing reports that DMK was going soft on Congress-led UPA despite pulling out of it, party chief M Karunanidhi on Friday ruled out even outside support to the ruling coalition on the ground that it failed to accept his party’s demands on Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

Recalling DMK’s announcement on withdrawal of support to UPA on March 19 over the Tamils issue, Karunanidhi said on that day itself he had made it clear that there would be no outside support and his party would not be responsible if “communal forces” came to power.

Won’t withdraw support, no PM thoughts for now: Mulayam

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SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been breathing fire against the government, on Friday said he has no plans now to withdraw support to UPA, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged such a possibility.

“Relations have not soured. I do not know on what basis the Prime Minister made these remarks. Right now withdrawing support has not been discussed in the party. Now there is no question of SP withdrawing support to the UPA government.

“Why withdraw support and make the government fall when it’s a matter of just eight-nine months,” Yadav said.

YSRCP assures to solve weavers’ problems

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YSRCP leaders Konathala Ramakrishna and Bajireddy Governdhan on Friday said that farmers and weavers are being neglected by the State Government and they will have good days ahead.

The YSRCP delegation which went to Sircilla to assure the wearers not to lose heart and the party will take up their issues. Condemning the suicide of a weaver unable to pay the power bill, Goverdhan said the state should take total responsibility for his death.

TRS leaders held ahead of CM’s tour

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Ahead of the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s tour to Suryapet, police arrested TRS leaders at Nakrekal and other places.

Among those who were arrested include Polit Buro member Ch Sudhakar, Veresam, District president Vasantha, New Democracy leader Krishnanand and six others.

TRS has planned to hold dharna at the Chief Minister’s meeting and police foiled their bid. (INN)

Good Friday observed

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Good Friday was observed with religious fervor across the State.

Special prayers were offered at the churches by devouts and a programme on the life and times of Jesus Christ was held at a church in Abids. A massive rally was held in Secunderabad from KGR Gardens to Patny circle.

In Visakhapatnam, special prayers were held at St Peters and Bishop Prakash conducted a padayatra which was attended by many followers. The sacrifice of Jesus was remembered at the mass congregations.

Fire in AP Express

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Fire broke out in a compartment of AP Express on Friday morning.

The S-8 coach of the prestigious New Delhi-Hyderabad train was ablaze near Nagpur. Scarred passengers pulled the chain and alerted the staff. Fire tenders were pressed into service and the fire was put off.

The coach was changed at Nagpur and the onward journey went on. (INN)

Air India directed to pay Rs 50,000 compensation to flier

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Air India Ltd has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to a woman flier for causing her inconvenience by not loading her luggage in a flight from New Delhi to Abu Dhabi in 2007.

The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum asked Air India to pay the compensation on a complaint filed by Delhi-resident Sandhya Sharma, who had said that she suffered great difficulties due to loss of suitcase which was delivered to her three days after she reached Abu Dhabi.

Arrests for assault as Kiwi star Ryder improves

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Battered New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder was showing signs of improvement today and gave family the thumbs-up as police charged two men with assaulting the gifted batsman in a savage beating.

Ryder was attacked by a group of men as he left a bar in the South Island city of Christchurch early Thursday, and was rushed to hospital in a critical condition where he was placed in an induced coma.

–PTi

We don’t like to sell ourselves, says Sunny Deol

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At a time when whatever a star does becomes a headline, Bollywood actor Sunny Deol says ‘Deols’ don’t like to sell themselves and would rather be known for their work.

While many actors remain in limelight all the time, the Deol family keeps their personal life guarded.

“We like to have dignity and like to stick to what we are. We don’t like to sell ourselves.

–PTi