Archive for: April 2010

 Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday warned his teammates against taking unheralded Afghanistan lightly in their Twenty20 World Cup opening match here on Saturday, saying any slip-up can put his side out of contention for the Super Eights.

“If you ask me, I would not consider our opening match against Afghanistan as a practice game. I don’t take my opponents lightly. At the end of the day you have to win whichever team you play,” said Dhoni, ruling out complacency in the Indian camp.

“I don’t know much about them. It is good in a way because if we know too …

IS Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council and the ICC’s chief adviser, has called for a fair trial for Lalit Modi, suspended on charges of financial impropriety, and criticised the BCCI and the media for the manner in which Modi was targeted. Modi was suspended by the Indian board shortly after the IPL final on April 25, and was given 15 days to respond to the charges levelled at him.

Bindra while claiming he was not defending Modi, referred to him as the “hero of the IPL” and credited him for India’s envied …

Ashok Leyland has registered a sales turnover of Rs. 7,244.71 crore during 2009-10 as compared to Rs. 5,981.07 crore in the previous fiscal. The net profit shot up to Rs. 423.67 crore from Rs. 190 crore.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, said that though the year just went by began sluggishly, the second-half had been a very impressive story. “The market turned around. We were able to take advantage of the traction in the market to double our sales in the second-half compared to the first,” he added. “While it helped us finish the year …

News of the Federal Government’s tax hike on cigarettes sparked widespread panic buying of tobacco before the price rise took effect at midnight.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed the Government will raise taxes on cigarettes by an extra 25 per cent, adding another $2.16 to a pack of 30 cigarettes.

www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/29/2886330.htm

India and Pakistan agreed on Thursday to the resumption of high-level dialogue, which has been disrupted since the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008.

Meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, decided to ask their Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries to first discuss the modalities of restoring trust and confidence in bilateral ties. That would pave the way for talks on “all issues of mutual concern,’’ Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told newspersons here.

In an hour-long interaction without aides, the two Prime Ministers “focussed on the renewal of dialogue and …

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about his government’s plans to reach a political settlement with the Tamil ethnic community, which will include the setting up of a panel of eminent persons to examine all issues of discord.

In a 30-minute meeting here on Thursday, Mr. Rajapaksa also detailed the move to set up an Upper House in Parliament that would ensure greater representation to all ethnic communities and add weight to the move towards a political settlement, senior Foreign Ministry officials said.
www.hindu.com/2010/04/30/stories/2010043063211700.htm

AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Wednesday called for the dismissal of Union Minister for Communications A. Raja from the Cabinet for, what she called, causing wrongful loss to the government in 2G spectrum allotment, and for the reinstatement of Vineet Agarwal as the head of the CBI team investigating the scam.

Referring to the transfer of Mr. Agarwal, she said in a statement: “The implications are obvious. The Union government has succumbed to pressure from the DMK to give the case a quiet burial.” The law should be allowed to take its course.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said it was a “great credit to …

In a big relief to actor Kushboo, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Madras High Court judgment directing the chief metropolitan magistrate, Egmore, to conduct a joint trial of the 23 defamation complaints filed in various places in Tamil Nadu for her alleged remarks on pre-marital sex.

A Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B.S. Chauhan allowed Ms. Kushboo’s appeal against the April 30, 2008 judgment, which ordered consolidation of all cases for a joint trial and disposal of the complaints filed by Kanniammal and others in six months.

Ms. Kushboo said that in a …

A fine unbeaten 61 from Chamara Kapugedera was in vain as Sri Lanka slumped to a five-wicket defeat to South Africa with three balls to spare in a World Twenty20 warm-up.

Kapugedera and veteran Sanath Jayasuriya helped Sri Lanka post 137 for 8 before a 61-run partnership between Mark Boucher and Johan Botha allowed South Africa to squeeze home in the final over yesterday.

Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara opted to bat first after winning the toss at the Kensington Oval but Tillakaratne Dilshan fell first ball to Rory Kleinveldt.

Charl Langeveldt then struck twice to remove Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene as Sri …

While the Greece debt imbroglio tripped the global stock markets and the European currency, euro, to a one-year low against the U.S. dollar, domestic stocks dipped as the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index, Sensex, lost more than 310 points.

“Portugal and Greece downgrade issue made US markets nervous ahead of rate issue to be decided by the U.S. FED on Wednesday tonight. As a result, Asian markets were down and in the afternoon session and the weak European market added more pressure, which has resulted in position unwinding ahead of expiry of derivatives on Thursday,” said Kishor P. Ostwal, Chairman …