A gritty innings by Ross Taylor (64) saw New Zealand romp home by two wickets off the last ball to go 1-0 up in the Commonwealth Bank series. Taylor was involved in two big partnerships – 50 odd with Kyle Mills (26) and 42 with Neil Broom  before Skipper Daniel Vettori scored the winning shot off the last ball. Nathan Bracken bowled intelligently for Australia claiming four wickets. The match entered a tense phase as 10 runs were needed off 12 balls and 5 off the last over by Bracken. The scores were tied on the fifth ball and Ponting ordered all his men inside the circle to stop the much needed single. But Vettori hit the last ball through the point region to go one up in the series.

Australia’s hopes of  regaining top spot with this victory were dashed as New Zealand outplayed the hosts in all departments of the game. — The IST

Mahesh and Sania at Mumbai airport after winning Australian Open Mixed Doubles title

Yuki Bhambri with his trophy at Australian Open Junior event

Yuki Bhambri won the junior grand slam title by defeating Alexandros 6-3, 6-1 in Melbourne.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza won the Australian Open mixed doubles title on Sunday. Sania-Bhupathi registered their first Grand Slam title together, defeating Andy Ram and Natalie Dechy in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open. The Indian pair crushed the Israeli-French duo by 6-3 & 6-1 in 55 minutes. The win also gave Bhupathi his 11th Grand Slam title and the seventh in mixed doubles. For Sania, the first Indian woman to do so,
it was her maiden Grand Slam title.

Mumbai attack heroes awarded Ashok Chakra

While Olympic medal winners wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijender Singh  are sulking for being ignored for the R-Day honours, it has been a shower of Padma Shrees on the sportsmen especially the cricketers. In the art category Aishverya Rai Bachchan heads the list of Padma Shree followed by Akshay Kumar and singer Udit Narayan. Pt. Bhimsen Joshi had been selected for Bharat Ratna on Nov 4 2008.

 Following is the list of Padma awardees. 

Bharat Ratna: Pandit Bhimsen Joshi – Hindustani classical music (announced November 4, 2008). Continue Reading

Acting Consul General Kidar Singh heading R-Day celebrations in Sydney

Sydneysiders gathered in large numbers at the Counsul General’s residence in Killara to celebrate the Indian Republic Day with the Acting Consul General Mr. Kidar Singh reading out the message by President Mrs. Pratibha Patil after hoisting the Tricolour. This was followed by refreshments and patriotic songs. The day also is Australia day and a public holiday and the roads being empty people gathered there in large numbers and took this as an opportunity to network.

On the R-Day eve, United India Association (UIA) hosted a special dinner programme on 25 January 09 at the Port Orient Restaurant, Darling Harbour. The programme included speeches and cultural performances.Federation of Australian Indian Associations Inc (FAIA) hosted the celebrations at the Harvey Lowe Pavilion, Castle Hill Showground on 25 January 2009. The programme included speeches, cultural performances, Food and community Stalls Continue Reading

Barrack Obama taking oath as 44th US President

In a defining moment in US history, Barack Hussein Obama was today sworn in as the first black president in a country hungry for change after George W Bush’s divisive wars in two distant lands and the economic troubles that shook the country and the rest of the world. Climaxing the unlikeliest of journeys to the White House, the 47-year-old African-American who has raised unprecedented expectations worldwide was administered the oath of office as the 44th president by Chief Justice John G Roberts Jr on a chilly morning at 12:06 PM (2236 IST ), 12 minutes behind schedule, on the steps of the West Front of the Capitol Hill where the US Congress sits.

Significantly before Obama, a president had never been sworn in by a chief justice he voted against. Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen was among those present at the costliest inaugurals estimated to have cost 170 million dollars. Continue Reading

Pakistan acknowledged on Saturday India’s 26/11 dossier has “proof” of involvement of the complicity of Pakistani elements. The first-ever admission that India had proof came from Pakistan’s interior ministry chief Rehman Malik who said that the newly-appointed probe panel has been asked to complete the task in 10 days. Acknowledging the veracity of the information provided in the Indian dossier, Malik said there were “leaks and good clues”, enough material to start a probe. “All actions which will be taken against the terrorist involved in the Mumbai terror attack will be carried only on the basis of proof shared by India. Now we have significant proof of the involvement of Pakistani nationals in the Mumbai terror attack and we assure of a fair justice. Pakistan’s investigation team will complete the probe into Mumbai attacks within 10 days,” he said.

Malik, who was addressing a press conference in Islamabad, promised to file criminal cases if prima facie evidence was found. “Quite a lot of material was provided by India and the Pakistani investigators will work to convert this into evidence that can stand up to judicial scrutiny.” Malik, however, refused to commit himself to any time frame to complete the prosecution, saying it would depend on the judiciary.
Continue Reading

NEW DELHI: Pakistan , which is claiming it has no legal arrangement with India for handing over terror suspects following the Mumbai attacks, is forgetting one of its own Acts which provides for transfer of such people to a country with which it has not signed an extradition treaty. The Extradition Act, 1972 of Pakistan clearly specifies that Islamabad can hand over anyone accused of terrorism or any other criminal act in a foreign country to that government even if there is no Extradition Treaty.

The Act underlines that a suspect, sought for any offence by a country with which Pakistan has no extradition treaty, should be “surrendered” irrespective of whether a court in Pakistan has jurisdiction to try that offence. “Where the Federal government considers it expedient that the persons who, being accused or convicted of offences at places within, or within the jurisdiction of, a foreign state, are or are suspected to be in Pakistan should be returned to the State (country), notwithstanding that there is no extradition treaty with that State,” says Section 49(1) of the Act. Continue Reading

MUMBAI: An injured Harbhajan Singh was on Sunday left out of the Indian team while Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Uttar Pradesh seamer Praveen Kumar have been drafted in the 15-member squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka starting later this month. Delhi batsman Virat Kohli, who was part of the Indian squad for the ODI series against England late last year, was also dropped from the side.

BCCI joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale on Sunday announced the 15-member squad which has seven specialist batsmen in captain M S Dhoni, vice captain Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. The five ODIs and a Twenty20 match in Sri Lanka would also test the all-round ability of Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. In Harbhajan’s absence, Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha will lead the spin department hoping to get adequate support from Jadeja at the other end. Continue Reading

Sri Lanka’s military has seized control of the Tamil Tiger rebels’ de facto capital of Kilinochchi, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has announced. He described the taking of the northern town as an “unparalleled victory” for government forces. A pro-Tamil website confirmed the news, but said government troops had entered a “virtual ghost town” as rebel headquarters had been moved north-east.

Correspondents say the town’s loss will be a heavy blow to the rebel group.The town is of huge symbolic importance to the Tigers, who had assembled there the trappings of a separate state they want for the ethnic Tamil minority. Shortly after President Rajapaksa’s announcement, a suspected suicide bomber attacked the headquarters of the Sri Lankan airforce in the capital Colombo killing at least two people and wounding around 30. The Sri Lankan army has for months been advancing towards Kilinochchi, that has been in the hands of rebels for the last decade. Both sides have recently claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on each other in the north of the island. But there have been no independent reports from the frontline and it is impossible to verify either account of casualties. Continue Reading

In the artistic world, it is said that even two minutes are enough for an artist to give a memorable performance. Kieran Foster, Aishveryaa Nidhi, Leanne Zaccar and Susan Stapleton had ten minutes between themselves to prove the point in Mandragora and take the play to glory at the Short+Sweet Sydney 2009, the Biggest Little Play Festival at the Newtown Theatre. David Sharpe’s intriguing and thrilling Mandragora edged out equally popular Bridgette Burton’s At the Threshold to earn the Judge’s Choice as the winner in the Week 1. The two plays were neck and neck the entire week with the final count giving it to Mandragora by just a single vote. Making her directorial debut, Lisa Eismen deftly extracted moving performances from Kieran Foster, Aishveryaa Nidhi, Leanne Zaccar and Susan Stapleton.

Mandragora, which in December was runners-up at Short + Sweet Melbourne 2008, with the Best Dramatic script, becomes the second play to be invited to participate in the Gala Final of Short + Sweet Sydney 2009 at the Seymour centre on February 20th and 21st. Mandragora was pushed all the way by At the Threshold, which took a very unusual look at the path to infidelity, featuring stunning performances by Roanna Dempsey and Andrew Doyle with Dempsey also directing it. In third place in the Judge’s Choice, in what was a very strong programme, was the haunting and at times disturbing Night Vision by S L Daniels, featuring a tour de force performance by Stef Dawson with detailed direction by Stephen Wallace. In an impressive double Mandragora also won the People’s Choice for the week, voted by audience members, with 20.75 of the votes received. Continue Reading