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JD-U chief says auction of cricketers a "national shame"
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) JD(U) today dubbed as "vulgar display of wealth" the auction of cricketers for the Indian Premier League and demanded recovery of all cash assistance to them so that the money could be utilised for promotion of other games.
"It was a day of national shame when cricketers were put on auction. It is a vulgar display of wealth and shameless demonstration of money power," JD(U) President Sharad Yadav told a press conference here.
Blaming the sports policy of the government, he said cricket and its players have been promoted at the expense of other games and sports as a result of which the country figures at the bottom of the medal tally in all world events, including Olympic Games.
Yadav demanded withdrawal of all medals, honours, citations and freebies given to all Indian cricketers who have offered themselves for auction.
Pointing out that the Centre and state governments have given them crores of rupees in the past, he said "such cash assistance given to them must be recovered and it should be utilised for promotion of other games".
Describing BCCI as "just a money spinning organisation which has become den of conspiracy and intrigues", the JD(U) leader demanded that the government should take over the sports body and hand it over to the sports ministry.
He also suggested that cricket should be promoted as sports and not as tool of market forces. PTI
Lanka face a daunting task against Australia tomorrow
Melbourne, Feb 21 (PTI) Faced with the stiff task of winning at least two more matches to secure a place in the cricket tri-series final, Sri Lanka will need a spark of inspiration when they take on Australia in a crucial game here tomorrow.
Languishing at the bottom of the point table, Sri Lanka just cannot afford yet another defeat tomorrow and as outlined by their captain Mahela Jayawardene, every match is a semifinal for the islanders, who have been lacklustre in the tournament so far.
Despite their fierce on-field rivalry with the world champions, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his teammates would love to see Australia win tomorrow, an outcome that would ease India's passage to the final of the tournament.
As of now, the hosts lead the table with 17 points from five matches, while India is a distant second with 12 from six games.
The Lankans languish at the bottom with six points from five games and they need to win two of their remaining three games to reach the final.
The Jayawardene-led side has not live up to the expectation with both the batsmen and bowlers failing to make much of an impact in the series so far.
The batting order looked brittle and the attack, despite having the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, lacked teeth. PTI
Symonds stunned by IPL offer
Melbourne, Feb 21 (PTI) Andrew Symonds' popularity in India since the racism row is anybody's guess and the Australian himself admitted he did not expect to land a staggering USD 1.35 million deal in the Indian Premier League.
Symonds shares a stormy relation with the Indian crowd and was subjected to monkey chants when Australia toured India for a one day series last year.
Things subsequently turned worse in the Sydney Test where Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of racially abusing him, an allegation that threatened to rip apart the cricket world with the Indian Cricket Board threatening to pull out of the tour.
The all-rounder, however, was taken aback after learning that the Hyderabad franchisee of the IPL has bought him for a huge USD 1.35 million, higher than any of his teammates and second only to Mahendra Singh Dhoni (USD 1.5 million).
Quite amused by the deal, Symonds said, "If I could tell you why that would probably be quite a good news story, but there is no sort of logical sense to what each player's worth ... I can't see a pattern." Incidentally, his captain Ricky Ponting went for much less, USD 400,000, to Kolkata, while Brett Lee, arguably the most popular Australian cricketer in India, managed USD 900,000 from the Mohali team.
Symonds admitted he had no clue as to what drove the bidders and could offer no explanation for the huge difference between his deal and that of Ponting.
"That's quiet amazing how that's unfolded. Unfortunately it's got nothing to do with me but that just the way things turned out," Symonds was quoted as saying by 'Herald Sun'.
He also refused to call himself a cricket mercenary.
"That's what they offered to pay for me, I didn't ask for it," he said. PTI
Ponting disappointed at his low price at IPL auction
Melbourne, Feb 21 (PTI) Australian captain Ricky Ponting is disappointed at the low bid price he attracted at the Indian Premier League auction which saw him being sold for much less than the likes of compatriots Cameron White and David Hussey.
Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata team bought Ponting for USD 400,000, which is USD 300,000 and USD 100,000 less than Hussey and White, who are not even regular members of the Australian team.
"I thought I might have been able to attract a little bit more than that," Ponting said in his first reaction after yesterday's high-profile auction.
"The fact I haven't made a lot of runs over the last couple of weeks probably hasn't helped much. But realistically, we as Australian players probably won't be able to take part in the first couple of years of the event anyway." The Australian skipper, however, said there would be no friction in the dressing room following the bidding war, rather they would have light-hearted banter among themselves.
"I'll have a bit of a laugh and joke with everybody. I've already sent Symmo (Andrew Symonds) a few messages saying that any time I go out with him from now on it's his shout, which is not always the case with Symmo either, he's pretty much the first one to dodge a shout whenever he can," he told Australian Associated Press. PTI
Zardari rules out tie up with pro-Musharraf party
Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Feb 21 (PTI) With government formation still in the works, Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has ruled out any truck with the pro-Musharraf PML-Q but appeared unenthusiastic about impeaching the President, an issue strongly pursued by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"I think the mandate is for democracy and against fundamental forces and the previous government," Zardari said in an interview to India Today magazine.
Asked if the mandate was not against President Pervez Musharraf, he replied: "Isn't he part of it (the previous government)?" Replying to a question on the demand for impeachment of Musharraf, he said the new parliament, which will be "supreme", will decide whether the President should step down. He was confident that he would be able to reach a common ground with Sharif on the issue.
With the PPP having emerged as the largest party in Monday's general election, Zardari has vowed to strengthen parliament by forming a national consensus government. He has also stopped short of endorsing PML-N chief Sharif's call for Musharraf to quit following the defeat of the ruling PML-Q in the polls.
On Musharraf's impeachment, he said "Let parliament decide. We are getting carried away by slogans rather than going to the crux of the job. The beef is in strengthening democracy." To a query on whether he would ask Musharraf to step down, Zardari said, "Why don't we let parliament decide and see if it can do it. If it can't, then let everyone cut his cloth according to his size."
Winner of Pak polls to form new govt: Musharraf tells Bush
Islamabad, Feb 21 (PTI) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today told his American counterpart George W Bush that the party that had secured a majority in the just-concluded general election would form the new government and he would "facilitate" the process.
Bush, who telephoned Musharraf from his special aircraft 'Air Force One' while on his way to the African nation of Liberia, congratulated the Pakistan President on holding free and fair elections.
During their 15-minute conversation, Bush said the US would also support Pakistan's efforts to usher in democracy and the fight against terror, official sources said.
Musharraf told Bush that the party that had a majority in the National Assembly, lower house of Parliament, would form the new government and he would facilitate the formation of governments at the centre and the four provinces, the sources said.
The PML-Q, the party that backs Musharraf, was routed in the February 18 general election which was swept by the opposition PPP and the PML-N. Musharraf faces possible impeachment if the opposition parties unite to attain a two-thirds majority in the new Parliament. PTI
Crucial Zardari-Sharif meeting for a coalition govt in Pak
Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Feb 21 (PTI) Opposition leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif were today confronted by key differences over approach to judiciary and fate of President Pervez Musharraf as they take their first big step to cobble a potential coalition government in Pakistan.
Meeting face to face tonight for the first time after the ruling PML-Q that backs Musharraf was roundly defeated at the recent parliamentary polls, Zardari and Sharif--once bitter rivals--are expected to push for a "national consensus government" that will also include smaller parties.
The crucial parleys comes a day after Zardari, the PPP co-chairman, ruled out his becoming Prime Minister or having a truck with Musharraf and in the shadow of the key differences.
PPP, which emerged as the single largest party with 87 seats and Sharif's PML-N together have 153 seats with votes counted in 258 out of 272 constituences.
The husband of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto has said it is the intent of the PPP to form a democratic liberal government -- an umbrella of reconciliation and consensus.
As Zardari and Sharif mull an alliance, there have been reports that the Musharraf camp is pressuring Zardari to develop a "working relationship" with the President whose political fate hangs in balance after he rejected calls for his resignation.
In this context, "The News" daily quoted a source close to the Presidency as saying that Musharraf had "warned" the PPP that it had no choice but to cooperate with him as otherwise the National Reconciliation Ordinance(NRO) might be scrapped and that "Zardari could be arrested".
On the issue of PPP-PML(N) differences Sharif wants the sacked chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to be restored but Zardari wants Parliament to take a decision. PTI
Markets recover partially, Sensex gains 117 pts
Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) Markets witnessed volatile trading today before staging a partial recovery on mixed cues of record crude oil prices, Indian rupee's steep depreciation and further slashing in lending rates by major public sector banks.
While a strong rally in IT shares, following the local currency breaching the 40-mark yesterday for the first time in five months, helped the benchmark Sensex surge, a fall in banking stocks after the announcement of a further cut in lending rates by banks, including the country biggest lender SBI, pared the index's initial gains.
The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange ended the day at 17,734.68, netting a rise of 117.08 points or 0.66 per cent over its previous close.
The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty also firmed up by 37.35 points or 0.72 per cent to close at 5,191.80 from last close of 5,154.45.
Reflecting volatility, the BSE barometer had moved between the days high of 17911.66 and low of 17,482.31 points.
Analysts said the market is expected to remain volatile and range-bound around current levels as global cues will continue to daunt Indian bourses in the near-term.
Meanwhile, global crude prices hit a record of USD 101.32 a barrel.
Retail investors too were cautious and avoided making any major commitments in the absence of a worthwhile trigger in view of the continued negative activity by foreign funds Barring China's Shanghai Composite, other Asian indices gained about 1.0 to 3.0 per cent. European markets also traded higher by nearly 1.0 per cent during early trade. PTI
Airtel open to sharing active infra: Mittal
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Country's top mobile service provider Bharti Airtel today said it was open to sharing active infrastructure such as antennas, transmission systems and feeder cables with other mobile operators.
"We are open to sharing active infrastructure with other mobile operators, even with the new companies," Bharti Group Chairman and CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of an AIMA event.
Telecom regulator TRAI had last year recommended sharing of active infrastructure among all operators. This recommendation, if accepted by Department of Telecom, would reduce expenditure for all the companies and may also lead to further lowering of tariffs.
It would also benefit new entrants in the mobile space by enabling them to share infrastructure of the existing operators.
The DoT has recently issued Letters of Intent to nine firms including Unitech, Datacom, Shyam Telelink.
Mobile service providers already share passive infrastructure such as towers, repeaters and shelters.
Bharti Airtel also aims to have 100-125 million subscriber-base by 2010, Mittal said. The company currently has 60 million users and is among the top 10 mobile companies in the world. PTI
US co. Forced to recall a batch, Bindi in India goes unchecked
Amit Kumar Srivastava and Diganta Biswas
New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) The 'bindi', the ubiquitous mark on the forehead of Indian women is facing a problem in the distant United States where a manufacturer has been forced to withdraw a batch along with other cosmetics products from the market owing to its high lead content.
In the land of its birth, the bindi, however, continues to be manufactured unchecked as there is no agency to monitor the usage and harmful effects of spurious products.
"The cosmetics industry is not at all regulated in India. There's no apex body to control this in India", says Dr Deepak Vohra, a cosmetologist.
"What's worse is the fact that most of the branded products in the market do not carry the mandatory label of ingredients, colouring agent (chemicals used) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark and no declaration whatsoever that that the products are manufactured from any carcinogenic or any harmful ingredients", Dr Vohra says.
According to experts, 'sindoor' or 'kumkum' readily available in market often contains high amount of lead, which heightens the risk of poisoning. Lead exposure can result in a wide range of biological effects, depending upon the level and duration of exposure.
Synthetic sindoor can cause serious dermatological disorders like irritation, skin toxicity, eczema, leucoderma. Long-term exposure to even low levels of lead can cause irreversible learning difficulties, mental retardation, and delayed neurological and physical development, doctors say. PTI
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Sensex: 17734.68, +117.08
The sensex closed at 17734.68, up 117.08
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______Forex_______
1 U.S. $ = 39.845 INR
1 Japanese Yen = 0.3684 INR
1 British Pound = 77.996 INR
1 Canadian $ = 39.392 INR
1 Singapore $ = 28.255 INR
1 UAE Dirham = 10.850 INR
1 Saudi Arabian Riyal = 10.640 INR
1 Euro = 58.712 INR
1 Qatar Rial = 10.954 INR
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