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Tokyo: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova thrashed Chinas Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang in straight sets to clinch the Pan Pacific womens doubles title here on Saturday.
In a lop-sided affair, the Indo-Czech pair defeated the Chinese 6-1, 6-1.
This is Sania’s 40th doubles title. She had earlier won the same title with Zimbabwe player Cara Black twice.
(IANS)
Officials say bodies of 162 people have been pulled from the Mediterranean, amid fears death toll could rise further.
![The military said that it had rescued 163 survivors [Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/nasheman.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/refugee.jpg)
The military said that it had rescued 163 survivors [Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]
The death toll from a refugee boat sinking off Egypt’s coast has risen to 162, as rescuers recovered more bodies from the Mediterranean Sea.
Survivors have said up to 450 people were on board the overcrowded fishing vessel that was heading to Italy from Egypt when it capsized off the port city of Rosetta on Wednesday.
The bodies of 162 people had been pulled from the waters off the Egyptian coast, Mohammed Sultan, the governor of Beheira province, where Rosetta is located, told the Associated Press on Friday.
An earlier official toll on Friday had put the number of dead at 148.
The military said that it had rescued 163 survivors, and recovery attempts were continuing.
There are fears the death toll could rise further, with rescuers focusing their efforts on the boat’s hold where witnesses said around 100 people had been when the vessel flipped over.
In a new report on Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that “as many as 240 [people are still] unaccounted for or presumed missing” from the shipwreck.
“Normally in such situations, ‘missing’ migrants are presumed drowned, their remains never recovered,” it said.
The IOM said most of those rescued were Egyptians, but also included Sudanese, Eritreans, a Syrian and an Ethiopian.
Authorities arrested four suspected people traffickers on Thursday over the incident, the latest in what the UN refugee agency expects to be the deadliest year on record for the Mediterranean.
The accident comes months after the EU border agency Frontex warned that growing numbers of Europe-bound refugees were using Egypt as a departure point for the dangerous journey.
People-traffickers often use barely seaworthy vessels and overload them to extract the maximum money in fares from desperate refugees.
The IOM reported on Friday that 300,450 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 21 September, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy. Some 166,050 people have arrived in Greece and 130,567 in Italy during 2016.
Total arrivals for the entire month of September last year were 518,181 – nearly 50 percent higher than 2016’s totals, with slightly over a week remaining before the start of October.
Deaths, however, are considerably higher than last year’s total of 2,887 on this date.
According to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, this year’s deaths stand at 3,501, including the people who died in the latest tragedy off Egypt.
In a country captivated with cinema, INDIA IN A DAY directed by Richie Mehta & filmed by Indians across the country is all set to reach a larger audience, scheduled to release on 23rd Sept, 2016. This unique film will release in Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore initially and was born out of a unique partnership between Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Films UK & Google. The film is crowd-sourced, 90-minute feature-length documentary shot on a single day – 10th Oct, 2015. Enlisted to capture a moment of the day on camera, thousands responded by submitting more than 16,000 videos, comprised of over 365 hours of deeply personal, heartfelt & joyfully honest moments & insights.
The footage submitted by participants was uploaded on a website set up by Scott Free Films & Google. This marks the 1st ever India film where footage has come from all over India; from Rajasthan to Kerala to the far – reaching Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The resulting film, which is India’s largest crowd-sourced documentary, offers a remarkable insight into the lives, loves, fears & hopes of people living in India today. To enable this colossal project, director Richie Mehta reached out to noted Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap to help spread the word about the film as widely as possible.
Additionally filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, R. Balki & Shekhar Kapur all gladly supported the project with call out videos and by spreading the word through social media. Having premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016 & the Sheffield Festival 2016, this one of a kind film, saw Anurag Kashyap supervising a theatrical release in the country.
Hyderabad: Two Telugu teachers, who were rescued last week after over a year-long captivity by Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Libya, returned home on Saturday.
T Gopikrishna and C Balram Kishan reached Hyderabad from New Delhi in the early hours.
They merely said they were happy to reunite with their families, but declined to answer any queries from the media or share their experiences in captivity.
The two teachers of the University of Sirte were abducted by IS terrorists on July 29, 2015 while on their way to Tripoli airport to return to India.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had announced on September 15 that they had been rescued.
Gopikrishna (35), an Assistant Professor at the University of Sirte, belongs to Tekkali in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, while Balram Kishan (52), a Professor at the same university, hails from Telangana’s Karimnagar district.
“I am very happy to reunite with my family. I don’t have any words to express my happiness,” said Gopikrishna talking to media persons at his residence in Nacharam, Hyderabad.
He thanked the Libyan Army and the Government of India, especially the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). “Thanks to their efforts, I could safely come back and reunite with my family,” said Gopikrishna flanked by his wife and daughter.
“I am really excited to return home after long captivity. I have already given all information to the MEA as to what happened during my 414-day captivity,” he said.
Gopikrishna declined to speak on how they were freed and how they were treated in captivity.
“I can’t reveal all those details to you. I have given the information to the ministry,” he said.
The two teachers had reached New Delhi on Friday, after which officials of the MEA met and debriefed them.
Balram taught English and Gopikrishna Computer Science at Sirte University. They were among the four Indians kidnapped by IS the same day. Two of them were released a few days later.
Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar, hailing from Karnataka, had returned safely following their release earlier.
(IANS)
Bengaluru: After the Karnataka CID gave a clean chit to former minister KJ George and two senior police officers in connection with the alleged suicide of Deputy Superintendent of Police M K Ganapathy, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will reinstated KJ George as minister in the Karnataka Cabinet on Monday.
After his reinstatement, George might be re-allotted the Bengaluru Development portfolio.
The Bengaluru MLA was forced to resign as Bengaluru minister after an FIR was filed against him.
Before hanging himself to death, Ganapathy (51) had given an interview to a local TV channel alleging that George and senior IPS officers Pranob Mohanthy and AM Prasad had harassed him, and that they were responsible for his impending suicide.
The incident had kicked up a huge storm in the state.
Although the government ordered an investigation, George had not stepped down as minister.
Ganapathy’s son Nehal then lodged private complaint with a court in Madikeri, which ordered an FIR to be filed against George. It was after this, that George resigned.
Congress Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao maintained that there had been no need for George to resign. However, George had done so as he did not want to embarrass the party.
Eventually, the CID had filed its B Report to the Madikeri Court stating that there is no clear evidence against three who were named in the case and a clean chit was given.
(Agencies)
Kanpur: Tom Latham and Kane Williamson struck half-centuries to take New Zealand to a comfortable position before heavy rain forced match officials to call off the final session’s play on the second day of the first cricket Test against India here on Friday.
Latham (56 batting) and Williamson (66 batting) were the two New Zealand batsmen holding fort in the middle at the Green Park Stadium with the visitors on 152/1 in their first innings in response to India’s first innings total of 318 runs.
The duo held the Indian bowlers at bay and steadied the visitors’ innings following the early departure of the dangerous Martin Guptill (21).
New Zealand now trail the hosts by 166 runs with nine wickets remaining.
Latham had hit five boundaries so far during his patient 137-ball stay in the middle while Williamson had managed to find the ropes seven times in his 115-ball knock.
Fast bowler Umesh Yadav (1/22) was the only Indian to bag a wicket, trapping Guptill leg before.
Rain played spoilsport just as the players were about to leave the field for tea with a steady drizzle forcing the groundsmen to bring the covers out.
Resumption of play was subsequently postponed for an indefinite period.
With the rain continuing to lash the ground more than an hour after the tea interval, the match officials eventually decided to call it a day.
The ongoing Test is the 500th for India and the hosts will be eager for a win in order to make the occasion even more special.
India, who made their debut as a Test cricket playing nation against England in 1932, are also be targeting the top spot in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings by clinching the three-Test series.
A 1-0 or 2-1 win will take India to 111 points, similar to current top spot holder Pakistan but ahead of them on decimal points while a 2-0 win margin will see India surge ahead at 113 points.
A 3-0 win will move India to 115 points. New Zealand, which is currently on 95 points, will remain at the seventh position with any of these margins with the maximum drop to 91 points in case they lose all the three matches.
A 1-1 series draw will result in India dropping to the fourth position on 108 points and New Zealand rising to fifth on 97 points.
If New Zealand is able to beat India by 1-0 or 2-1, they will move to the fifth position at 100 points with India one slot ahead on fourth with 104 points. New Zealand can overtake India to take the fourth position only with an improbable 3-0 win.
Should India go to the top of the rankings, it would be the third time this year and fourth overall.
Earlier on Friday, with the pitch beginning to show signs of wear and tear, the Indian bowlers got a fair amount of turn and movement off the wicket.
But despite the challenging conditions, the New Zealand batsmen still managed to maintain a decent scoring rate.
Except for Yadav, the rest of the Indian bowlers — Mohammed Shami (0/26), Ravindra Jadeja (0/47), Ravichandran Ashwin (0/44) and Murali Vijay (0/5) — were unable to bag any wicket although there were quite a few close calls.
The visitors suffered their first blow in the 10th over with Guptill, who seemed to be in good form, beaten by an in-swinger from Yadav.
The ball moved very slightly after pitching around the off-stump before hitting Guptill’s pads plumb in front of the middle stump.
Guptill smashed three boundaries during his 31-ball knock.
Williamson then joined Latham in the middle and the duo ensured that the visitors lost no more wickets before lunch.
The duo continued to bat on steadily after lunch, finding the boundaries at regular intervals.
Ashwin bowled quite well, getting the ball to loop and dip in the air. He came close to bagging a wicket on a few occasions, most notably when Williamson was beaten by the vicious turn and the ball hit the back of his helmet. One of the helmet flaps came off and hit the stumps, but did not have enough force to disturb the bails.
Jadeja too beat the batsmen on several occasions and there were quite a few loud appeals for leg before.
The left-arm spinner will consider himself unlucky not to have got Latham’s wicket when the ball got the inside edge, hit the Kiwi’s boot and went to Lokesh Rahul at short leg.
Rahul managed to hold onto the ball after some initial fumble, but the third umpire ruled Latham not out as the ball had hit the grill of the fielder’s helmet.
During the morning session, the hosts were bowled out for 318 runs early on Day Two.
The Men in Blue scored 27 runs in seven overs to get past the 300-run mark in their historic 500th Test.
Resuming the day on 291/9, Ravindra Jadeja scored an unbeaten 42 from 44 balls with seven boundaries and a six, putting on an invaluable stand of 41 runs for the final wicket with Yadav, who survived 15 balls before gloving a short ball from pacer Wagner to New Zealand wicketkeeper Bradley-John Watling for nine runs.
For New Zealand, spinner Mitchell Santner (3/94) and fast bowler Trent Boult (3/67) claimed three wickets each, while Wagner (2/42) bagged a couple. Inderbir Singh Sodhi (1/50) and Mark Craig (1/59) got one wicket each.
(IANS)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday cancelled the parole of Sahara chief Subrata Roy and two other directors and directed to take them into custody.
A bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur cancelled the “interim arrangements” of granting him parole after market regulator SEBI’s counsel Pratap Venugopal told the bench that all the properties given by Sahara to the market regulator were already under attachment by Income Tax authorities.
Apparantly annoyed over this, the Chief Justice immediately ordered the cancellation of parole and directed Roy and the two other directors to be taken into custody and they will remain so till october 3 when the matter will again be taken up for hearing.
(Agencies)
Bengaluru: Sadaa-e-Ittehad, a Karnataka-based Muslim organisation, held special prayers here today, hoping it would bring an end to the ongoing Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Sadaa-e-Ittehad also condemned the attack on the army base in Uri, which left 18 jawans dead. They appealed the union govt to take action against the perpetrators of the attack.
Mr Mumtaz Ali, Syed Zameer Pasha, Moula Tauqeer Raza, Anwar Sharief, Mujahid Ali Baba, Moulana Syed Dilwar, Azeer Mohammed Sait, Hussain Abidi and Syed Sardar were part of the event.
New Delh: Several Muslim, Christian and Dalit organisations on Friday staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar here, demanding a ban on “cow vigilantism” and sought passage of the Communal Violence Bill.
The protesters also submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee, urging him to play his role in defending the constitutional rights of the people “who are increasingly being persecuted” allegedly under the NDA government at the Centre.
“We demand the cow vigilantism be banned and people be allowed to eat the food of their choice,” All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat president Navaid Hamid said.
“A commission should be formed to report whether the recent events are part of organised crimes orchestrated by parties to polarise votes for political mileage and to suggest proper mechanism to prevent deterioration of democratic system by overuse of polarisation tactics leading to vast loss of lives and properties and displacement of people from their cozy homes,” Jamat-e-Islami Hind vice-president Nusrat Ali said.
Maulana Abdul Hameed, General Secretary of Jamiatul Ulama Hind, demanded that judicial inquiry be initiated in major cases that occurred in Dadri, Dingerhedi, Paida village of Bijnore and the killing of youth allegedly by cow vigilantes in Ahmedabad.
“The Communal Violence Bill should be made a law as soon as possible so that communal forces should be suitably dealt with for maintaining peace and law and order in the country,” he said.
The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, seeks to empower the government to prevent and control communal violence, provide for speedy investigation and trial of offences and rehabilitate victims of such violence.
The protesters also demanded that due compensation should be paid by governments concerned to the victims and their families and a standard method be evolved for equal compensation to people across the communities and proper rules be devised for immediate relief to affected families.
Other organisations which participated in the protest include Lokraj Sanghtan, Dalit Federation AMOD, All India Shia Council and Students Islamic Organisation of India.
(PTI)
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Legislative Council on Friday unanimously decided not to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, saying the water was needed for drinking purposes in the state.
A special session of the house was convened to discuss the impact of the Supreme Court’s September 20 order to Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water daily till September 27.
After the subject was discussed, the Council passed a unanimous resolution that the water in the dams would be used for drinking purposes in the state and that the water cannot be released to Tamil Nadu.
(Agencies)