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Saturday, December 20, 2014

Brisbane Test- Aussies win by 4 wickets after Indian batting collapse

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Brisbane: A listless India crashed to a four-wicket defeat in the second cricket Test against Australia at Brisbane with an inept batting display by the top-order on Saturday. Resuming at the overnight score of 71 for one, the visitors lost four wickets in quick succession with an addition of only 16 runs and were eventually bowled out for 224 in 64.3 overs.
     
Chasing a paltry victory target of 128, Australians lost as many as six wickets but were always in control as they knocked off the required runs with more than a day to spare in what turned out to be a miserable fourth day for the Indians at the Gabba. Nothing seemed to go write for the visitors when play started morning with regular opener and overnight unbeaten batsman Shikhar Dhawan (81) not coming out to bat.
     
Dhawan, apparently suffered an injury to his right wrist during the morning practice session which led to Virat Kohli (1) coming out with Cheteshwar Pujara (43). Kohli's early departure virtually triggered off the collapse as Mitchell Johnson ripped through the top-order and finished with figures of four for 61 while Josh Hazlewood (2/74), Mitchell Starc (2/27) and Nathan Lyon (2/33) also chipped in.
     
Had it not been for 60-run eighth wicket partnership between Dhawan and Umesh Yadav (30), India wouldn't have been able to set a three-figure target. Australian run-chase was marked by two early jolts with David Warner (6) and Shane Watson (0) and though they continued to lose wickets, the target was never beyond reach.
     
Mitchell Marsh's cover drive brought about the victory triggering off scenes of celebrations in the Australian camp as the players hugged each other. The defeat also brought to the fore India's dismal record outside the sub-continent with their 15th defeat in the last three and half years.
     
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's poor track record as Test captain in overseas conditions continued as he lost his 14th Test match outside the sub-continent. Dhoni has now lost seven Tests in England, four in Australia, one in New Zealand, one in South Africa since 2011. Australia now have an invincible 2-0 lead in the series. The two teams will travel to Melbourne for the 'Boxing Day' Test with Australia needing a win or atleast a draw to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat pitches for anti-conversion law After Amit Shah

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New Delhi: Mohan Bhagwat Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief jumped into the religious conversion controversy, calling on those who oppose conversion to bring a law to ban it on Saturday .
“Bring law against conversion in Parliament if you don't like conversion,” Bhagwat was quoted as saying by PTI

Shah too however today pitched for an anti-conversion law in the country. "BJP is the only political party in the country that opposes forceful conversion and the so called secular political parties should come forward to support an anti-conversion legislation," he stated.

Meet the most hated man in 'Pakistan'

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Dera Ismail Khan: The most hated man in Pakistan is a 36-year-old father of three and volleyball enthusiast nicknamed "Slim". His real name is Umar Mansoor and the Pakistani Taliban say he masterminded this week's massacre of 132 children and nine staff at a school in Peshawar - the deadliest militant attack in Pakistan's history.

A video posted on Thursday on a website used by the Taliban shows a man with a luxuriant chest-length beard, holding an admonishing finger aloft as he seeks to justify the December 16 attack. The caption identified him as Umar Mansoor. "If our women and children die as martyrs, your children will not escape," he said. "We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take revenge on innocents."

The Taliban say the attack, in which gunmen wearing suicide-bomb vests executed children, was retaliation for a military offensive carried out by the Pakistani army. They accuse the military of carrying out extrajudicial killings. The accusation is not new. Many courts have heard cases where men disappeared from the custody of security services. Some bodies have been found later, hands bound behind the back and shot in the head, or dismembered and stuffed into sacks.

Some security officials say privately the courts are so corrupt and afraid, it is almost impossible to convict militants. "You risk your life to catch terrorists and the courts always release them," said one official. "If you kill them, then they don't come back." The country is so inured to violence that the discovery of such bodies barely rates a paragraph in a local newspaper. Despite this, the school attack shocked a nation where traditionally, women and children are protected, even in war.

Six Pakistani Taliban interviewed by Reuters confirmed the mastermind was Mansoor. Four of them said he is close to Mullah Fazlullah, the embattled leader of the fractious group who ordered assassins to kill schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai. "He strictly follows the principles of jihad," one said. "He is strict in principles, but very kind to his juniors. He is popular among the juniors because of his bravery and boldness."

Mansoor got a high school education in the capital, Islamabad, two Taliban members said, and later studied in a madrassa, a religious school. "Umar Mansoor had a tough mind from a very young age, he was always in fights with other boys," said one Taliban member. Mansoor has two brothers and spent some time working in the city of Karachi as a labourer before joining the Taliban soon after it was formed, in late 2007, said one commander. His nickname is "nary," a word in the Pashto language meaning "slim", and he is the father of two daughters and a son, said another commander.

"(Mansoor) likes to play volleyball," said one of the Taliban members. "He is a good volleyball player. Wherever he shifts his office, he puts a volleyball net up." The Taliban video describes him as the "amir", or leader, of Peshawar and nearby Darra Adam Khel. Mansoor deeply opposes talks with the government, the commanders said. "He was very strict from the start when he joined," a commander said. "He left many commanders behind if they had a soft corner (of their heart) for the government."

Forced conversions unacceptable, pitches for strong law: Amit Shah

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Kochi: BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday said his party was against forcible conversions and asked other political parties in the country to support a bill in this regard if they were 'sincere' in their approach to secularism.

"BJP is against forceful conversions and that is why we want to bring a law. So-called secular parties should support BJP's move," Shah told reporters here. "A public debate on the matter can be taken up only after arriving at a consensus among political parties," he said when asked if BJP was ready to talk to minority organisations on this issue.

On the 'ghar wapsi' programme reportedly carried out by a pro-Hindu outfit in Uttar Pradesh, he said "the matter is before the court. I don't want to comment." He dismissed Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's allegation that BJP was trying to divide the country on communal lines. "There is no basis for that," Shah said.

Referring to the black money issue, the BJP president said the party was committed to bringing back black money stashed abroad. On the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he exuded confidence that the BJP would form the next government in the state. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, had inaugurated a mega membership campaign programme of the party at Palakkad yesterday.

Devyani Khobragade stripped of duties, says she hasn't broken rules

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New Delhi: Diplomat Devyani Khobragade has reacted to the action against her by the ministry of external affairs saying she has not broken any service rules in talking to the media.

Speaking to the Indian Express on Saturday after the MEA action, Khobragade said she has not violated any rules under the civil services act and that she was just clarifying her stand over the charge that her children were having illegal passports.

"My statements were within the ambit of the section(9) of the civil services rules of 1964," she told the Indian Express

Khobrade's reaction came after the ministry of external affairs stripped her of her duties as director in the development partnership division of MEA for giving a statement in the media.

Devyani Khobragade was arrested and strip-searched in New York last December while serving as India's deputy consul-general on charges of mistreating her servant.

She had denied the charge and subsequently returned to India, but the incident triggered fury in New Delhi and led to the resignation of then US ambassador Nancy Powell.

Reports on Saturday said Khobragade has been removed from her current post in the foreign ministry for an unauthorised media interview and for not disclosing that her children held US passports.

"The reports are not incorrect. It is true that she has been placed on compulsory wait," a source in the ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Khobragade now faces an administrative inquiry.

'Compulsory wait' implies that Khobragade remains in ministerial service but without a specific job.

The action comes a week after the mother-of-two spoke to NDTV news channel about her arrest and strip search in New York.

During the interview, Khobragade said that her "kids were born in the US and are considered US citizens", a statement that reportedly took the ministry by surprise.

Khobragade returned to India under a deal a month after her December 2013 arrest for allegedly paying a domestic worker a fraction of the minimum wage and for lying about the employee's salary in a visa application.

The row between the two countries saw weeks of feisty exchanges that strained bilateral ties and left resentment on both sides.

Sunday, December 14, 2014