US hopes Pak will bring 26/11 perpetrators to justice

United States on Friday expressed hope that Pakistan will bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack to justice.

“We would hope that the Pakistani authorities will continue their investigation and bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice,” Assistant secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley said.

The visiting Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, during his four-day trip to Washington and New York, had expressed his concern to the top US leadership about Pakistan’s lackluster approach against terrorists responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Mr. Chidambaram, among others met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser General (Rtd) James Jones.

“Among the topics discussed were ongoing cooperation on terrorism, following up on the Mumbai attacks and deepening our cooperation between the two countries,” Crowley said when asked about the meeting between Clinton and Mr. Chidambaram.

Mr. Chidambaram left for India on Friday, following his four-day trip to the US during which he appraised the US leadership about the ground realities about terrorism in South Asia, had a first-hand experience of the steps being taken by the US with regard to counter-terrorism, and discussed various issues of mutual interest.

Keywords: Mumbai terror, Pakistan, India, perpetrators, United States, Chidambaram, Hillary Clinton,

source : The Hindu

Pak forces fire rockets at India, BSF retaliates

Pakistani forces on Friday night fired two rockets towards Indian territory which fell in agriculture fields in two adjacent villages, drawing retaliation from BSF using machine guns.

There was, however, no casualty on the Indian side in the Pakistani action, BSF Inspector General Himmat Singh said.

Mr. Singh said Pakistan fired rockets which landed in an open area at villages Modhey and Dhoneya Khurd at around 10 pm IST after which the BSF troops hit back by opening fire from machine guns.

He said BSF authorities got in touch with their Pakistani counterparts for a flag meeting where India would lodge a strong protest against the action.

The attack happened on a day when the BSF deployed its first batch of women constables at the border to facilitate frisking of women going for work in fields.

Sixteen of a batch of 178 women constables of the force were deployed at Rorawari village near Attari border in Punjab on Friday.

Keywords: Pakistan forces, rockets, Indian territory, BSF, retaliation, machine guns, Inspector General, Himmat Singh, villages, Modhey, Dhoneya Khurd

source :The Hindu

Jet cancels 260 flights, as pilots’ strike enters 5th day

Jet Airways cancelled 260 domestic and international flights, including 32 from the national capital, on Saturday as the strike by the pilots entered the fifth day after nine-hour long conciliation talks between them and the management ended in a deadlock.

The pilots maintained that they were "hopeful" of a breakthrough as negotiations will continue on Saturday.

"A total of 235 domestic and 25 international flights remained cancelled for the fifth consecutive day today," the airlines said in a statement.

Jet tried to accommodate some of its passengers in its low-cost arm JetLite by combining the flights on Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Vadodara, Mumbai-Kochi, Mumbai-Mangalore, Kolkata-Bangalore, Kolkata-Guwahati, Mumbai-Mangalore and Kolkata-Agartala sectors.

The airlines also merged their Chennai-Mumbai and Bangalore-Mumbai to fly on Bangalore-Chennai-Mumbai sector.

The airlines run a total of 380 flights to domestic and international destinations.

The strike by the pilots has caused huge loss of revenue for the airlines. Jet’s ticketing and check-in counters at the IGI airport here wore a deserted look.

On Friday, the pilots and the management representatives sat for face-to-face negotiations for the first time since the stir started on Tuesday, but the marathon talks before Chief Labour Commissioner here ended inconclusively.

Keywords: Jet Airways, flights, cancelled, pilots’ strike, union

Source : The Hindu

Centre urged to name BHEL-NTPC project after YSR

HYDERABAD: The State government has urged the Centre to name after Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy the proposed Rs.6,000-crore BHEL-NTPC power equipment plant in Chittoor district.

This was stated by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah at an all-party condolence meeting on YSR organised by the State government here on Friday. He wrote a letter to the Centre on Thursday proposing that the project be named after the late Chief Minister. He said YSR had given a new definition to politics and ensured that every assurance given by him was implemented.

Paying rich tributes to YSR, leaders of various political parties as also Legislative Council Chairman A. Chakrapani and Assembly Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy called for implementing all the developmental and welfare schemes initiated by the former Chief Minister.

Mr. Chakrapani, recalling his association with YSR, said that the latter had brought lot of glory to Telugus. Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy said the former Chief Minister, in spite of his hectic schedule, used to greet everyone affectionately. It was hard to even imagine how the Assembly would function without a smiling YSR.

Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu said that he had lost a good friend in the death of YSR. Though they fought politically, there was no personal animus between them. Both of them served as Ministers in the Cabinets of three Congress Chief Ministers.

APCC president D. Srinivas said YSR was a “decisive and aggressive leader.” A decision taken by him would have to be implemented irrespective of the consequences.

He and YSR used to run the party and government in a coordinated manner and the same trend should be continued without thinking that he was no more. Praja Rajyam leader K. Chiranjeevi said that he drew inspiration from YSR and recalled the personal warmth exuded by the late leader while interacting with him and others.

MIM president and MP Asaddudin Owaisi said Muslims would never forget what he had done for them — ensuring 4 per cent reservation in employment and education. He lauded the late leader for announcing Rs.2,000-crore package for development old city.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhar Rao said YSR had left an indelible imprint while serving in whatever capacity, be it as leader of the Opposition or Chief Minister. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandaru Dattatreya, CPI(M) leader B.V.Raghavulu, CPI State secretary K. Narayana, Lok Satta leader, Jayaprakash Narayan and Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, brother of YSR spoke.

sourse: the hindu

ICC mulling on Tendulkar's ODI-splitting idea

When Sachin Tendulkar speaks, the world listens and International Cricket Council is now planning to split one-day matches into two innings of 25 overs each, an idea mooted by the Indian batting great earlier this month.

In order to spice up the one-day format, Tendulkar had proposed that every team should play two innings of 25 overs each and ICC Cricket Manager Dave Richardson said the governing body might soon conduct a trial.

"I quite like that idea. I believe South Africa may try something along those lines," Richardson told BBC Sport.

"This might work in day/night cricket where one team has to bat in the day and the other at night. It provides something different and reduces the effects on the team who loses the toss and has to bat first on a damp wicket, for example," he said.

Even though Tendulkar aired his views earlier this month, Richardson said the idea had popped up in the past as well and came up for discussion at the annual ICC Cricket Committee meeting in May.

One-day cricket is already facing a tough challenge from Twenty20 and the England and Wales Cricket Board scrapped Friends Provident trophy, the only 50-over domestic tournament, in favour of a Twenty20 event.

Richardson, however, is concerned that splitting a match into two innings would mean less centuries, as batsmen would have less overs to bat.

"I don't necessarily like the idea of playing two matches of 25 overs each with the openers batting again. The charm of one-day cricket is seeing someone batting at four and scoring a good hundred," Richardson said.

"If you bat in the middle order of a Twenty20 or a new 25-over innings, you're not going to get much of an opportunity to hit three figures, one downside of the Twenty20 game," he said.

He, however, made it clear that such an experiment should be conducted at the domestic level before pushing it into international cricket.

"If it has been tried successfully at domestic level, it may be possible to give it a go-ahead at international level," he said.

"The ICC has been proactive with ideas and innovations, like the powerplays. The idea of the 'super-sub' wasn't as successful and got rid of quite quickly. One of the criticisms was that we trialled things at international as opposed to domestic level.

"Our tactics going forward are member countries trial changes first domestically and if they are successful, then we can take them on board at the international level," Richardson said.

The ICC Cricket Committee will discuss the result of the experiment when it meets next year.

Source; Rediff