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Sania Mirza officially becomes No.1 in WTA doubles rankings

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Sania_mirza

Charleston: Sania Mirza was elevated to the No.1 spot in the women’s doubles rankings, according to the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) list released on Monday.

Sania leapfrogged to the top spot after winning her third consecutive WTA title – Family Circle Cup – with new partner Martina Hingis here on Sunday.

According to the latest rankings, Sania has 7,660 points to claim the summit spot, closely followed by Italian doubles pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, both with 7,640 points.

Sania’s doubles partner Swiss Martina Hingis occupied the fourth spot with 6,465 points.

Zimbabwen Cara Black was at the fifth position with 5,990 points.

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won their third successive doubles title together, securing the Family Circle Cup tennis title on Sunday, enabling the Indian to create history by becoming the first woman from her country to become the World No.1 in the doubles ranking.

The No.1-seeded Swiss-Indian duo beat Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak in straight sets for the title, 6-0, 6-4, missing two match points at 5-3 in the second set but closing it out a game later.

Sania is the first Indian woman to reach No.1 in tennis, in either singles or doubles, and just the fourth Asian woman to do it, after Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, China’s Peng Shuai and Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei.

Sania and Martina are already No.1 on the doubles leaderboard for the season-ending Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) finals to be held in Singapore from October 25 to November 1.

(IANS)

Hindu Mahasabha leader calls for forced sterilisation of Muslims, Christians to restrict growing population

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Jind: A leader of Hindu Mahasabha on Saturday stoked a controversy saying Muslims and Christians must undergo sterilisation to restrict their growing population which was posing a threat to Hindus.

“The population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day. To rein in this, Centre will have to impose emergency, and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilisation so that they can’t increase their numbers,” vice president of All India Hindu Mahasabha, Sadhvi Deva Thakur said.

She also exhorted Hindus to have more children and increase their population so as to have an effect on the world. In another controversial remark, she said idols of Hindu gods and goddesses should be placed in mosques and churches.

(PTI)

No voting right if people do not go for family planning: Sakshi Maharaj

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Sakshi Maharaj

Unnao: Known for making controversial statements, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj has demanded that a strict law for family planning be brought in for all to check population growth and those who do not follow it should be stripped of their voting right.

“When Hindus go for sterilisation, Muslims should also opt for it. There should be one law for everyone. There will be no appeasement of any section in our regime,” he said on the sidelines of a function here.

“I don’t say Muslims and Christians should be sterilised. But there should be family planning and a uniform law for all. When we talk of four-child issue, there is a lot of hue and cry, and when they have 40 children from four wives no one says anything,” the saffron-robed MP said last evening.

Stressing that population growth was a major challenge before the country, he said the issue has to be addressed through family planning.

“There should be family planning. When the country gained independence, the population was only 30 crore. Today it is 130 crore. Who is responsible for it?…There should be one law for everyone be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians.

“Whether for one, two, three or four kids… unless we have a common law for everyone, the country will not benefit…So both the government and the opposition should come together to bring a strict law and those who do not follow it should be stripped of their voting right,” the 59-year-old MP from Unnao said.

“You cannot discriminate between women of different communities,” he said.

His remarks come after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in an editorial demanded scrapping of voting rights of Muslims, saying they are used as vote bank.

“Balasaheb had once said withdraw Muslims voting rights. Owaisi brothers are doing politics of Muslim votes. They are threat to the nation,” wrote Raut in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

Asked about Raut’s statement, Sakshi Maharaj said he had not gone through his statement.

Sakshi was earlier at the centre of a controversy when he asked Hindu women to have at least four children, sparking condemnation from the opposition which alleged that the ruling party was trying to polarise the atmosphere.

BJP on its part had distanced itself from the remarks of Maharaj, who was also served a show cause notice, and urged its workers and public representatives to refrain from making such comments.

Sakshi had also drawn flak for describing Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a “patriot” and was forced to apologise in Parliament.

(PTI)

Owaisi hits out at Sena, seeks action against 'Saamana' editor

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asaduddin-owaisi

Hyderabad: Hitting out at Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for demanding revocation of voting rights of Muslims, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi today said the BJP cannot dissociate itself from his statement and asked it to take action against him.

“He (Raut) has no right whatsoever to seek such a revocation of any Indian. He has no right whatsoever, leave aside Muslims,” Owaisi told PTI here.

“The real agenda of fascist Hindu forces is being exposed now. Their ideology is to promote hatred. Shiv Sena is not just an ally of BJP, but they are sharing power. Now does the ruling party (BJP) share the same views?” the MP from Hyderabad sought to know.

“They (BJP) cannot disassociate saying it’s an individual opinion and he (Raut) is a fringe element. They should take action. He is not a fringe element. He is the main element. When PM (Narendra Modi) speaks at a UN forum (during his ongoing foreign visit), their ally speaks like this,” he said.

Owaisi said the comments of Raut, the editor of Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, are also an embarrassment to union ministers Najma Heptulla and Muqtar Abbas Naqvi as their voting rights are also sought to be revoked if one goes by Raut’s argument.

Shiv Sena had yesterday courted controversy by demanding scrapping of voting rights of Muslims, saying the community has often been used for vote bank politics, evoking sharp reactions from several political parties which accused it of trying to inflame passions and divide people.

“Vote bank politics is being played in the name of fighting against the injustice meted out to Muslims. Their educational and health status is being used politically. This politics was once played by the Congress and now every other person calls himself secular,” an editorial in ‘Saamana’ yesterday said.

Under attack, the Sena later sought to downplay the issue, contending that the party is against “appeasement politics”.

(PTI)

Shiv Sena urges to withdraw Muslims' voting right, Congress terms it 'unconstitutional'

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sanjay-raut

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader and Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut has stirred a hornet’s nest by his article in party’s mouthpiece, Saamana, in which he has written that Muslims’ voting rights should be withdrawn to put an end to vote bank politics.

The Sena leader has also called All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leaders, Asaduddin and Akbaruddin Owaisi, a threat to the nation.

“Balasaheb had once said to withdraw Muslims voting rights. Owaisi brothers are doing politics of Muslim votes. They are threat to the nation,” wrote Raut.

When asked about his opinion in Saamana, Raut told ANI: “Even after independence, the politics over vote-bank does not seem to end,” adding, “Country once faced partition on the basis of religion. After that, we thought things would settle and Hindu and Muslim would be one. However, that did not happen. The Muslim population continued to grow and new Muslim leaders emerged.”

Meanwhile, slamming the Shiv Sena for its statement, the Congress demanded serious action against it.

“It is unconstitutional, it calls for serious action. Motive is to communalise the whole atmosphere,” Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI.

Earlier, while hitting out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for demanding reservation for Muslims in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena had said that if the minority leader wants his demands to be met on religious grounds, then he should go to Pakistan and try his antics there.

Terming Owaisi’s speeches “hateful”, the Sena said that the Devendra Fadnavis government should file a case against him and start legal proceedings.

“(Asaduddin) Owaisi is insisting that Muslims should get reservation akin to the Marathas. Such insistence had caused the separation of Pakistan from India. Hatred for Hindus compelled a section of Muslims to take control over Pakistan. Hence Owaisi may try and get his demands based on religious grounds fulfilled in Pakistan,” said an edit piece in the Sena mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’.

It added that the minority community will have to respect India as their motherland.

“They (minority community) will have to respect the Uniform Civil Code and stop demanding the continuation of Article 370 for Kashmir. Asking for reservations while continuing with religious rants will not work,” it said.

“Owaisi says ‘Muslims have suffered a lot and hence I speak up for them’. But will he give a count of the sufferings of Hindus due to the terrorist activities of extremist Muslims? If extremists start communal violence and terrorist activities after listening to his speeches… Owaisi’s speeches should be termed as hateful and action should be taken against him,” the Sena said.

Addressing a public gathering in Nagpur on Saturday night, Owaisi, the 45-year-old Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad, had demanded reservation for backward Muslims in government jobs and educational institutes in Maharashtra.

Claiming that “injustice” has been done to Muslims in Maharashtra, Owaisi had blamed the more than 50 years of Congress rule at the Centre and the Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena -BJP governments in the state for the prevailing backwardness of minority community members.

(Agencies)

India stun world champions Australia in Azlan Shah Cup

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Ipoh: Young striker Nikkin Thimmaiah scored a hat-trick as India produced their best performance of the tournament to stun world champions and title holders Australia 4-2 and secure a place in the third and fourth place play-off at the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament.

Already out of title race, India played without pressure and at last came up with a complete performance that had Australia on the backfoot for most part of the match.

The win gave also gave India’s new chief coach Paul van Ass his best moment of a short career with the Indian team.

India scored a goal each in all the four quarters through VR Raghunath (1st minute), Nikkin (23rd, 32nd, 60th), while Australia’s goals came from the sticks of Daniel Beale (14th) and Matt Gohdes (53rd).

By virtue of this win, India finished their league engagements with seven points from five games and will now face Korea in the third-fourth place classification match after the East Asians drew 3-3 with New Zealand on Sunday.

The Kookaburras struggled for ball possession throughout the match and their defence crumbled when put under pressure by the Indian forwards.

Barring the two soft goals which they conceded, there was no blemish in India’s performance on Saturday.

After four games, the Indians at last showed class and made a promising start to the match against a side which is way above in current world hockey.

India were by far the better side on display in the entire 60 minutes as they dominated the proceedings against all expectations.

The Indians were off to a great start as they went on the offensive from the word go and in the process earned two penalty corners in succession with the very first move of the match and Raghunath converted the second set piece with a booming flick to give the side an early lead.

The Indians continued in the same vein and had another great chance in the 10th minute which was wasted by Satbir Singh who scooped over with only the approaching Australia goalkeeper Tristan Clemons to beat.

Next minute, Ramandeep Singh’s effort was saved by Australian goalkeeper Clemons and Akashdeep Singh shot wide from the resultant rebound.

The Indian defence, however, broke down just a minute from the end of the first quarter as Australia equalized through Beale, who got plenty of space inside the Indian circle and made no mistake in pushing in Trent Mitton’s pass.

Four minutes into the second quarter, Satbir Singh hit one straight to the Australian goalie Clemons.

Minutes later, India restored their lead when Nikkin scored his first of the day after being set up by Satbir and SK Uthappa’s fine play.

Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made a double save two minutes later from Australia’s second penalty corner before Ramandeep missed another opportunity for India.

Just two minutes after the change of ends, India had another opportunity but when Raghunath’s scoop from the deep found Akashdeep Singh but the striker’s first time shot was blocked by Clemons.

From the very next move, India made the scoreline 3-1 in their favour through second strike from Nikkin, who neatly deflected in a Manpreet Singh pass from the right.

Sreejesh once again came to the fore when he denied Nicholas Budgeon from Australia’s third penalty corner.

After the start of the fourth and final quarter, both India and Australia wasted one more penalty corner each.

Australia reduced the margin in the seven minutes from the hooter when Gohdes caught the Indian defence offguard by deflecting in a Budgeon’s splitting diagonal ball from outside the circle.

Australia had two penalty corners thereafter which they squandered.

Nikkin sealed the match for India just at the stroke of the hooter scoring with a reverse hit from a counter-attack.

By virtue of this win, India avenged their 1-2 loss to Australia at the FIH Champions Trophy in December last year.

The loss snapped Australia’s unbeaten run in the tournament and gave them a wake up call before Sunday’s final.

With weapons pouring in and aid locked out, Yemeni civilians 'willfully abandoned'

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Two weeks into a Saudi-led bombardment and siege, hundreds are dead and food, water, and medical supplies are running low

The online campaign Kefaya War ("Enough War" in Arabic) has received an outpouring of support from Yemen and around the world. (Photo courtesy of #KefayaWar)

The online campaign Kefaya War (“Enough War” in Arabic) has received an outpouring of support from Yemen and around the world. (Photo courtesy of #KefayaWar)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

Two weeks of a Saudi Arabia-led bombardment and siege on the impoverished nation of Yemen has bred a profound humanitarian crisis—marked by hundreds of civilian deaths and worsening food and water shortages.

As the Saudi-led coalition blocks almost all food and medical aid from getting in, while bombing public infrastructure, residents and aid organizations warn that the worst is yet to come.

“So many of my family members are saying that if the war is not going to kill you, it’s the humanitarian crisis that will,” Rooj Alwazir, Yemeni activist currently based in Washington, D.C. and co-founder of Support Yemen Media, told the Shay wa Nana Radio Show, which aired Wednesday.

The war, which is led by Saudi Arabia and now includes the United States, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, and Morocco, is being waged against one of the poorest countries in the world.

The United Nations estimates that 16 million out of 25 million people in Yemen were in need of humanitarian assistance before the fighting began. Yemen relies on imports for 90 percent of staple food items, including 100 percent of rice.

But the Saudi-led coalition has repeatedly blocked international aid from getting through as it lays siege to Yemen, a country the size of France, including a naval blockade. Commercial shipping lines are either scaling back or completely halting all services to the country, Reuters reports.

The aid group Oxfam warned on Wednesday, “Regular imports of food and fuel have not reached Yemen since the escalation in violence began two weeks ago, due to the closure of land, sea and air routes into the country.” As a result, the organization said, food prices have doubled, fuel prices have quadrupled in some areas, and basic goods are running “dangerously low.”

“It’s getting very difficult to find wheat these days and we are not expecting anymore deliveries,” said Abdulrahman, a shop keeper in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, according to the Oxfam statement.

Some areas, meanwhile, are close to completely running out of water. The United Nationswarned on Friday that in the southern city of Aden, heavily targeted by shelling from war planes, “one million people risk being cut off from access to clean drinking water within a matter of days.”

Meanwhile, civilian infrastructure—including markets, schools, medical facilities, power plants, and warehouses—is being targeted in attacks, the UN finds. There are also numerous reports emerging that the coalition is targeting food supply buildings with its bombings.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters on Thursday that civilians in Yemen are being “willfully abandoned.” He charged, “Ordinary Yemeni families are struggling for the very basics—water, food, fuel and medicine. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Hospitals and schools are shutting down—some of which are direct targets of the fighting.”

And then, of course, there are the people dying beneath the coalition’s bombs. According to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization, since March 19, the conflict has killed at least 643 people and wounded 2,226, with 334,000 internally displaced and 8.4 million estimated to be in immediate need of health care services.

Harrowing reports of civilian deaths are emerging from on the ground in Yemen, including an account by journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous, published by The Nation magazine on Friday, which told the story of the al-Amari family, many of whom were killed when an air strike hit their home on March 31. “To see your brother, your daughter, your son burning in front of your eyes,” 32-year-old survivor Mohamed Abdu Hameed al-Amari told Kouddous. “It was the blackest day in history.”

“The situation is just getting worse and worse every day,” said Alwazir. “People are afraid, they are living day to day in constant fear they might be next, either by an air strike or getting killed in crossfire between Houthis and popular committees in Aden.”

Even with aid shut out, the United States is expeditingweapons shipments in, helping coordinate the assault, and even refueling Saudi war planes for air strikes.

Voices from Yemen and around the world are denouncing what they say is a proxy war of aggression, waged by wealthy and despotic countries at the expense of the Yemeni people.

“The Yemen war is a variation on an old theme, where despotic regimes in the Middle East call on the United States to do their dirty work,” wrote Adil Shamoo, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, in a post at Foreign Policy in Focus earlier this week. “The involvement of so many countries in the region in the war in Yemen could result in a wider war with completely unpredictable outcomes, even outside the country’s borders.”

And foreign policy expert Conn Hallinan, a columnist for FPIF, wrote on Friday, “Yemen needs an influx of aid, not bombs, drones, and hellfire missiles.”

Protests from London to Pakistan to Lebanon have called for an immediate end to the bombings and cessation of the war.

And from Yemen to the diaspora, people have taken to social media to send a message of humanity and tell the world they have had “enough” war.

The online campaign “Kefaya War,” which means “Enough War” in Arabic, was founded by independent Yemeni activists, including Rooj Alwazir. It has received messages of solidarity from the Philippines to Mexico to Aden:

https://twitter.com/KefayaWar

Party leader, 13 other Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced to death in Egypt

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A final sentencing for espionage charges faced by ousted Egyptian President and Brotherhood member, Mohamed Morsi, is scheduled for May 16. (AFP/File)

A final sentencing for espionage charges faced by ousted Egyptian President and Brotherhood member, Mohamed Morsi, is scheduled for May 16. (AFP/File)

by Al Bawaba

An Egyptian count has sentenced 14 Muslim Brotherhood members to death, including the organization”s leader, Mohammad Badie, Reuters reported from a judge’s televised session Saturday.

The sentences were handed down over charges of inciiting violence and chaos, according to the judge, and can be appealed only by a the highest civilian court.

Among the Brotherhood members sentenced is Islamist preacher Salah Soltan, whose son, US-Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soltan, was also handed a life imprisonment sentence for transmiting false news and supporting the shunned Islamist group.

Egypt has imprisoned scores of Muslim Brotherhood affiliates since the the 2013 ousting of newly-elected Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi, who belonged to the party.

Morsi’s own trial, where he faces charges of estionage, will take place on May 16.

Subhas Chandra Bose's family demands judicial probe into snooping

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Subhas_Chandra_Bose

Kolkata: Expressing shock over reported revelations that successive Congress governments had snooped on family members of revolutionary leader Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for 20 years after independence, a prominent member of the clan on Friday demanded a judicial probe on the issue.

Another family member and MP said the act amounted to showing disrespect to freedom fighters.

Family spokesperson Chandra Kumar Bose demanded that the Narendra Modi government declassify the secret files related to Netaji and the clan.

“It is shocking. It is not an issue involving merely the family, but the entire nation, because several members of the family from Sarat Chandra Bose to Amiya Nath Bose as also Sisir Kumar Bose were prominent freedom fighters,” Netaji’s grand-nephew Chandra Kumar Bose told IANS.

Sugato Bose, another grand-nephew of the leader and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, said a “great wrong” has been done by snooping on the family. “This act amounts to insulting the freedom fighters. But I only hope nobody now tries to do politics over the issue.”

Chandra Kumar Bose said while it was understandable that the British government would snoop on the family because of its fight against imperialism, “that the central government in post-independence India could do it, that is too shocking”.

“It is an attack on democracy, personal liberty and the spirit of the freedom movement, a betrayal of the nation,” he said.

“A judicial inquiry commission should be constituted, and a special investigative team should be formed under the commission. The commission should report to a sitting judge of the Supreme Court,” he said.

He said the probe should cover the entire sequence of events from circumstances leading to Netaji’s disappearance to the spying on the family members after independence.

He said the Modi government has been talking of transparency all along. “If they are sincere to what they claim, then they should order declassification of over 160 files still kept secret.”

Media reports have claimed that recently declassified files of the union home ministry have revealed that the family of Netaji was placed under intensive surveillance from 1948 to 1968 by the central government.

The country had three Congress prime ministers during these 20 years – Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

(IANS)

Indian women lose 1-2 to China in Hawke's Bay Cup hockey

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india-hockey

Hastings: The Indian women’s hockey team lost 1-2 to China in the opening match of the Hawke’s Bay Cup at the Hastings Sports Park here on Saturday.

While Anuradha Thokochom scored for India in the 31st minute, Mengyu Wang (34th) and Qian Yu (38th) gave China the victory in the eight-nation tournament.

Both the teams in their bid not to allow easy goals ensured a strong defence, resulting in the first two quarters being goalless.

Real action was witnessed in the third quarter when India finally opened their account one minute into the third quarter.

Immediately into the second half, India broke the shackles and scored as Anuradha slammed the ball past the New Zealand goalkeeper.

China came roaring back to contention and equalised in the 34th minute when they earned a penalty corner that was converted by Mengyu.

Stung by the equaliser, India counter attacked immediately. But China struck again in the 38th minute as Qian scored a field goal.

The rest of the session saw India attacking and trying to look for the equaliser but failed to do so.

Centre-half Ritu Rani-led India attacked in the last quarter, maintaining a good ball possession but were unable to equalise and lost the game 1-2.

In the next match on Sunday, India will take on the United States.

(IANS)

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