Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will use Akhtar book in court case

Karachi, September 28 (AFP): Pakistan cricket authorities said on Wednesday they would use confessions made by retired paceman Shoaib Akhtar in his autobiography in court to justify disciplining the former international.

In the book, launched last week in India, Akhtar confessed to ball-tampering and other violations of conduct during a 14-year career that was marred by injury and discipline problems before his retirement in April this year.

The book, "Controversially Yours", has riled Indian fans and media alike with harsh comments on batting greats Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, claiming the duo were not "match winners."

Akhtar's appeal against a record seven million rupee (then $82,400) disciplinary fine imposed three years ago is pending in the Lahore high court.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) legal adviser Taffzul Rizvi said excerpts of the book will now be used in court against the one-time world's fastest bowler.

"In a writ case it is important for someone to have clean conduct and in his autobiography Akhtar has confessed to breach of discipline and has not come out clean, so we will use them in the court case," Rizvi told AFP.

Akhtar was banned for five years after he criticised the PCB for axing him from the central contracts in early 2008.

His suspension was later reduced to 18 months, and although the fine was imposed, he was allowed to play international cricket.

In October 2007, Akhtar was banned for 13 matches and fined 3.4 million rupees for hitting teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat just days before the Twenty20 World Cup in September in South Africa.

"Akhtar has confessed to all breaches of contract which justifies PCB's action of 2008," said Rizvi. "He has also violated his central contract which remains intact until year after a player's retirement," said Rizvi.

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt also took a swipe at Akhtar.

"Akhtar is talking nonsense and we will take action officially once we get the book," Butt said earlier this week. "His comments can hamper our efforts of reviving cricket series with India."

Former captain Shoaib Malik, who Akhtar described as "a stooge of former PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf," said no one should take the book seriously.

"We should not take him seriously and his allegations are not worthy of response," said Malik.

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Sun TV shares tumble as CBI set to file FIR against Dayanidhi Maran

 

Mumbai, Sep 29 (IANS) The shares of media major Sun TV, promoted by Kalanithi Maran, tumbled in Thursday's trade a day after the CBI told the Supreme Court that it would take a decision on bringing formal charges against his younger brother, Dayanidhi.

The younger Maran, who was the communications minister from May 23, 2004 to May 15, 2007, is alleged to have arm twisted former Aircel promoter Sivasankaran into selling his stake in the company to Malaysia-based Maxis group owned by T. Ananda Krishnan.

The Sun TV Network shares, at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell as much as 8.44 percent to touch an intra-day low of Rs.240.60. It later pared some losses and was trading 5.61 percent down at Rs.248.05 in noon trade.

Since last month, the Sun TV Network scrip, has lost about 14.5 percent and a whopping 100 percent compared to last year's levels.

The CBI Wednesday told the apex court that a preliminary inquiry against the former communications minister has been completed and a first information report (FIR) would be registered in a few days after a decision is taken by Sep 30.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly that the conclusions drawn on the basis of the initial inquiry were being looked into by its officials.

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Finally, UPA tries to end crisis over 2G note

New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) The government Thursday sought to bury a flaming row over a finance ministry note that linked Home Minister P. Chidambaram to the 2G scandal, with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee denying the note reflected his views on the controversial 2008 spectrum allocation.

In a bid to show that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was united, Mukherjee read out a prepared statement outside his North Block office. He was flanked by a visibly sullenChidambaram and cabinet ministers Salman Khurshid and Kapil Sibal.

'Apart from the factual background (on spectrum allocation), the paper (note) contains certain inferences and interpretations which do not reflect my views,' Mukherjee said.

The note sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by the finance ministry in March suggested that the spectrum allocation could have been auctioned had Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, insisted.

Since the note became public, Chidambaram has come under attack for alleged links with the spectrum scandal, which has landed a former cabinet minister and several others in prison.

Chidambaram also faced opposition calls that he should quit.

After Mukherjee spoke, the home minister said the controversy triggered by the note was now over.

He added he was happy with the statement read out by his 'senior and distinguished colleague'.

Mukherjee's statement came on a day after he again met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who were desperate to end a crisis that seemed to pit Mukherjee against Chidambaram.

In his statement, Mukherjee said the government had sought to prepare 'a harmonized note based on facts ... for use by various representatives of the government.

'A group of officers prepared an inter-ministerial background paper which was sent to PMO on March 25,' he said.

He said the inferences in the note -- which is what caused the problems for Chidambaram and the government -- did not have his approval.

Mukherjee had until now taken no such categorical stand. He had met Manmohan Singh once in New York and Sonia Gandhi twice but did not divulge the details of their discussions.

The prime minister had already declared that he stood by Chidambaram.

Mukherjee also linked 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 to the earlier National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

'The policy of the government in 2007-08 was continuation of the policy adopted in October 2003 and as reiterated by the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India,' he said.

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Anna Hazare turns blogger; joins Facebook, Twitter….

Mumbai:  Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare seems set to take the virtual world by storm. He Thursday became a blogger and even joined social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

The blog, with posts in English, Hindi and Marathi, is titled 'Anna Hazare Says' and can be accessed on: https://annahazaresays.wordpress.com.

In his inaugural post, Hazare wrote: 'It is after a long time that I am directly communicating with you. So it is from this blog that I will be constantly in touch with you.'

'We started a movement demanding that Janlokpal Bill be passed in India and slowly the crusade spearheaded into a full-fledged non-violent revolution spilling on to the Ramlila grounds,' he added.

The activist said he found the support of the people and his young friends as overwhelming as they came forward from every corner of the country and their cries awakened India from its deep slumber.

'Their cries not only shook the very roots of our country but people from world over who had fallen prey to injustice, corruption took active part in the movement.

'The entire movement was infectious. This was the beginning of a revolution. It was the beginning of India's second struggle for independence,' Hazare said.

The 74-year old leader pointed out that parliament gave an assurance that it would put forward some of the demands from the Jan Lokpal Bill and get them approved.

'But assurance doesn't necessarily mean law. A bigger fight awaits us,' Hazare urged.

The activist warned that the movement still 'has a long way to go and very soon it will acquire a non-violent, but intense flavour of a nation-wide revolution'.

'To enable a one-to-one conversation with you I will soon embark on my journey throughout India. I will address problems faced by people at every step of life... Interactive communication on this blog will start very soon. You can share your queries, problems thoughts and emotions with me,' Hazare appealed.

 

           

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Developers see no fireworks this year

This festival season is not bringing the cheer in the country’s Real Estate sector  as the property/building  prices are increasing ver high day-by-day and the interest rates are also on their peak and these factors are keeping the sales under pressure.

As compared to the last year, this year the festival sales will remain moderate due to the interest rate and high property prices.

According to property brokers, general queries from customers have dropped considerably.

"We were expecting sales to pick up around the festive season. But this year there is hardly any excitement in the market. Buying queries have dropped by almost 40 per cent compared to last year," a senior executive at Axiom Estates, an international property brokerage firm, said.

"The drop in sales volume is seen across the country. However, smaller cities are performing better than the metros. Compared to last year, sales in Delhi and Mumbai are very disappointing. We expect volume will pick up next week," he added.

From the realtors' side there are no exciting cash discount offers to lure the customers. Developers say they are hamstrung by the interest rate hikes and high cost of construction, which are already keeping their margins under pressure.

The few discount offers that are doing the rounds of the market pertain to the luxury offerings. For the mid- segment, realtors have rolled out the less interesting lucky draws.

So, there is hardly any scope for any big ticket discounts this season," he added.

Builders are compensating it with increased advertisement budgets. According to ad agencies, the ad spent of realtors has gone up by 20- 25 per cent this year. For instance, Amrapali Developers plans to triple its ad budget to ` 3 crore while rival Raheja Developers is planning to raise its ad spend threefold compared to last year.

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Amazon’s Kindle fire launched for $199

Bangalore: Amazon launched its much awaited Kindle fire tablet for $199, the latest--and possibly biggest--challenger to Apple Inc.'s dominant iPad.The $199 device that will run on modified version of Google's Android operating system has a 7-inch screen nd can access Amazon's app store, streaming movies and TV shows.

The tablet will go on sale from Nov 15 and the pre-orders will start from today.

Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos said, "We asked ourselves, Is there some way we can bring all of these things together [web service, Prime, Kindle, instant video and its app store] into a remarkable product offering customers would love. Yes there is Kindle Fire," during the launch.

The cheapest new Kindle will cost $79, and dispenses with the keyboard the Kindles have carried since the first model launched in 2007. Previously, the cheapest Kindle cost $114.

Amazon is also bringing out the first black-and-white Kindle with a touch screen. It will cost $99 and is reminiscent of Barnes & Noble's latest Nook. A version with access to AT&T's cellular network for book downloads will cost $149.

said that most of the content is backed up in the cloud, and that the device features wireless synching. The specifications are however lower when compared to higher end tablets in the category. Though it has a dual core processor and is 3G enabled, it lacks other features like camera and a microphone. Fire includes an IPS display, an ultra-wide viewing angle, and fast dual-core processor.

On the e-reader front, Bezos said the Kindle Touch e-book includes an advanced E Ink display, infrared touch interface, extra long battery life, access to millions of e-books, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Audible integration, and more, including a feature known as X-Ray, which shows the "bones" of a book, or details Amazon thinks a reader would find interesting.

would be interesting to see how it survives in an already crowded tablet market. So far Apple's iPad has been the most popular tablet for its ease of use, elegant design and selection of over 90,000 apps. The iPad has sold 29 million versions since its introduction, owning more than two-thirds of the market.

So far, iPad rivals like HP's touchpad, Research in Motion's Playbook, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s Galaxy Tab and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s Xoom have failed to attract mass audiences.

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