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Shehzad, Azhar score gritty fifties as Pakistan chop deficit

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shehzad-azhar

by Dawn

Colombo: Gritty half-centuries from Ahmed Shehzad and Azhar Ali steered Pakistan to 171 for two against Sri Lanka when bad light ended the third day of the second Test on Saturday.

Shehzad fell for 69 to the first ball after tea having shared a 120-run second-wicket partnership with Ali (64) who was unbeaten after registering his 20th Test fifty.

Veteran Younis Khan was on 23 not out at the close as Pakistan trailed Sri Lanka by six runs with eight wickets in hand at the P Sara Oval.

Earlier, Pakistan had claimed the last Sri Lankan wicket in the morning session to bowl out the hosts for 315 with leg-spinner Yasir Shah (6-96) dismissing Dushmantha Chameera 15 minutes after a rain-delayed start.

Younis held a good running catch to send back Chameera as Sri Lanka, pressing for a series-levelling victory, took a 177-run first-innings lead.

Shot out for 138 in their first innings, Pakistan did not make a great start in their second either as a leaden-footed Mohammad Hafeez (eight) poked at an Angelo Mathews delivery to be caught by Kumar Sangakkara in the slips.

Shehzad and Ali proved there were no demons in the pitch and they frequently used their feet to negate the threat posed by Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.

Shehzad overcame a blow on his helmet by a Chameera bouncer to bring up his fifty in the 35th over.

The opener, however, perished straight after tea when he edged a pull shot against Dhammika Prasad through to keeper Dinesh Chandimal.

Congress leader who complained against Pankaja Munde gets death threats

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Pankaja Munde

Mumbai: Congress leader Sachin Sawant who filed a complaint of corruption against Maharashtra’s Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde on Friday claimed to have received multiple death threats.

“Since Thursday evening, I have got around 40 anonymous threats, mostly threatening to kill me,” said Sawant, the spokesman of the state unit. Mumbai police have provided him security.

“Police have temporarily posted two constables from the local police station at my residence. I shall lodge the detailed written complaint tomorrow morning,” said Sawant, who had on Wednesday filed a formal complaint with the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) accusing Munde of irregularities in awarding contracts worth Rs.206 crore (Rs.2.06 billion).

The ACB has sought a report from the state government on the complaint.

The ACB complaint pertains to the minister — daughter of the late union minister Gopinath Munde who was killed in a road accident in New Delhi last year — allegedly sanctioning contracts for buying food-items, water filters, medical kits and books for children without inviting e-tenders, as is mandatory.

Besides Sawant’s complaint with the ACB, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the issue.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that there is no “prima facie evidence” of any wrongdoing by his cabinet colleague, but was open to a probe after examining the issue in detail.

Dismissing the allegations against her, Munde said she was prepared to face any probe or enquiry and accused vested political interests of attempts to dislodge her from the ministry and end her political career.

(Agencies)

Maggi will not be banned in Karnataka

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maggi-noodles

Bengaluru: Maggi will not be banned in Karnataka for now, declared minister for health and family welfare U T Khader during a press meet on June 26.

The decision follows a test by a private lab commissioned by the state government that found lead within permissible limits in the noodles.

The government is awaiting the result of a test for monosodium glutamate (MSG) content in Maggi to decide its further course of action, informed the minister.

Speaking on ban on Maggi in the state minister said the Union Government has asked the state government to ban the product. But, it will decide only after monosodium glutamate (MSG) content test in Maggi. The department has sent samples of six products including Maggi to Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), West Bengal. The reports may come in a week, he added.

However, he claimed that Food Safety and Standards Authority of India have not mentioned anything about MSG. There will be no ban on Maggi without justification, he said.

(Agencies)

CBI probe ordered against Teesta Setalvad's company

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Teesta Setalvad

New Delhi: A CBI probe has been ordered against social activist Teesta Setalvad-owned Sabrang Communications and Publishing Pvt Ltd (SCPPL) for receiving foreign funds from Ford Foundation in violation of the law, a home ministry official said on Friday.

“The CBI has been asked to complete the probe as soon as possible,” the official told IANS, adding that the bank accounts of SCPPL have also been frozen.

“The IDBI bank’s Khar west branch has been asked to freeze the company’s accounts,” he said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI( has also been asked to give status report of the probe to the ministry on monthly basis.

The SCPPL was not entitled to receive foreign funds as a private limited company which did not have Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) registration, he said.

(IANS)

Ready to tie up with JD(S) for a non-Congress government in Karnataka: BJP

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Bidar: KS Eshwarappa, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party would not hesitate to form an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) to bring a non-Congress government to power in Karnataka.

Mr Eshwarappa, who was here on Friday to inaugurate an executive committee meeting of the BJP Slum Morcha, said that his party would do anything to dethrone Congress in the State.

“The Congress is getting the jitters just because JD(S) leader H.D Kumaraswamy and BJP leader B.S. Yeddurappa met in Hubballi. This shows the insecurity of the Siddharamaiah government and his party,” he said. Mr. Eshwarappa said the people were disgusted with the government and wanted it to go.

The BJP would start a campaign seeking the removal of Shivaraj Tangadagi from the State Cabinet as he was facing allegations of supporting rowdy elements who killed Yallalinga, a college student in Koppal district. The Minister who had no time for the victim’s family, went to the jail to console the accused, Mr. Eswarappa said.

“That is because the accused is the Minister’s supporter,” he alleged.

He challenged Mr. Siddharamaiah to settle dues of sugarcane growers before attending the Assembly session on July 29. “Otherwise, we will stall the proceedings,” Mr. Eshwarappa said.

BJP leaders would lead a protest rally from the house of a farmer who committed suicide in Badal Ankalagi village in Belagavi taluk to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, the venue of the Assembly session, he said.

The BJP leader alleged that the children of Congress leaders were involved in illegal sand extraction. He also wondered whether the sugar lobby was controlling the government.

“BJP workers and leaders will stage a State-wide protest against the government if it did not issue land ownership rights to slum dwellers in 100 says. We will protest outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Bengaluru,” he added.

(Agencies)

Modi praises Modi: Ex-IPL chief seeks to mend fences with PM

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New Delhi: The man who is instrumental in inviting the wrath of the opposition on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader Narendra Modi now appears to be seeking to make amends, after the party said it would seek an interpol ‘red corner notice’ against him.

Lalit Modi, sitting in London, tweeted on Saturday that Prime Minister Modi was a “most savy (sic) man”.

The former chief of the Indian Premier League, embroiled in several controversies and whose passport was revoked by the Indian government, said that “when he (Modi) bats, he will hit the ball out of the park”.

Lalit Modi, who has been putting out reams of information through tweets and other media, was apparently helped by External Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, at a time when he was being sought by the Enforcement Directorate during the previous United Progressive Alliance regime.

Modi’s tweet praising the prime minister came on the day Raje was in Delhi, for an official meeting, but was planning to meet the BJP brass to give her side of the story. According to sources, she was expected to meet the prime minister, but latest reports said that the meeting had not come through.

Raje has accepted that she had signed a document supporting the application of Lalit Modi for a residence visa in Britain. The opposition parties say that at best this points to an impropriety by a leading BJP leader when the IPL chief was wanted by the authorities in India.

Lalit Modi, who has been staying in London for several years, is sought by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged financial irregularities when he was the IPL head.

He has been tweeting regularly, often implying nothing more than a meeting with political figures.

On Friday he said that he and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had chatted over three days during a wedding in Istanbul.

Earlier the same day, Modi tweeted that he “bumped into” Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra in a London restaurant last year.

He did not imply any wrongdoing or impropriety on their part. But the BJP, under attack for “supporting a fugitive”, immediately reacted asking the Congress president to explain what the meeting between the three was all about.

(Agencies)

Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde accused of Rs 206 cr 'scam'

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Pankaja Munde

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde was in trouble today following allegations that she cleared purchases worth Rs 206 crore through 24 Government Resolutions on a single day instead of inviting tenders.

The alleged purchases relate to a host of items including snacks and books for children in institutions across the state.

Dubbing it as a “big scam”, Congress and other opposition parties attacked the 8-month-old BJP-led government headed by Devendra Fadnavis.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan demanded a CBI inquiry and said the scam exposed the “true colours” of the government.

Asked if he would demand Munde’s resignation, Chavan said “Be it Pankaja Munde or Vinod Tawade (education minister caught in a row over educational qualification), this government would not remove anyone. After all, this the policy of the Modi government to brazen out all allegations.”

“The scam has exposed the real character of this government. The Minister (Munde) must give an explanation on the issue”, Chavan said.

The scam first came to light on June 15, when the office of Pankaja Munde received a letter from Ahmednagar Zila Parishad president Manjushree Gund complaining about the quality of chikki (a popular snack) distributed to tribal students under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Gund said the chikki was contaminated with clay.

This is the first time that an alleged scam of this magnitude has come to light after the BJP-Shiv Sena government took office.

All purchases were cleared by Munde, daughter of BJP stalwart late Gopinath Munde on a single day on February 13 through 24 Government Resolutions (GR).

As per norms, all government purchases above Rs 3 lakh have to be done through e-tendering. Fadnavis has banned purchases through the rate contract system, in which material is purchased after rates have been negotiated.

Pankaja Munde was unavailable for comments. An official in her department said the minister was out of India and was expected to return on June 28.

Munde said her decision to check corruption had “troubled” some “money-minded” people and that she was not scared of such accusations.

For years the women and child development department had been neglected and was taken “less seriously”, she said, adding that “I as a minister (have) taken some dynamic decision to reduce currption…has also troubled some money minded bunch of ppl (sic) involved…I hv not broken any rules as far I m concerned n also not feared any allegations”.

Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse, while responding to the allegations, said,”Opposition keeps on levelling charges. We don’t take them seriously until they submit proof.”

BJP spokesperson Shaina NC said the opposition had levelled allegations “to be in news”. “The opposition wants to be in news. If Munde has done anything, it should be substantiated with proof.”

Accusing BJP and the Centre of double-speak, Congress’ media department chief Randeep Surjewala said,”We hope that BJP and its government will seriously investigate the way they used to say ‘na khayenge, na khane denge’ and will provide a corruption-free government.

“We hope that they will, before 1.25 crore people of India, prove that they do what they say,” he said, adding “as layers and layers of corruption get unveiled, one leader after another of BJP is getting exposed. First it was the External Affairs Minister helping a fugitive of law and a black money hoarder, we also saw forged degrees of Irani and now….Pankaja Munde.”

(PTI)

Palestine Delivers 'Evidence' of Israeli Abuses to ICC

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Israel's 2014 invasion of Gaza devastated the coastal enclave and left over 2,000 people dead. | Photo: Reuters

Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza devastated the coastal enclave and left over 2,000 people dead. | Photo: Reuters

by teleSUR

Palestinian leaders say they have solid evidence Israel has committed widespread human rights abuses.

Palestinians will hand evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes to the International Criminal Court Thursday as part of a preliminary investigation into the 2014 invasion of Gaza.

“The files to be presented to the court refer to war crimes and crimes committed by individuals of the Israeli leadership,” the Palestinian Liberation Organization said in a statement.

Prominent peace activist Mustafa Barghouthi, head of the Palestine National Initiative, said the files include hundreds of pages of evidence against Israeli forces.

“Our aim is to establish war crimes in order that an investigation by the chief prosecutor’s office is carried out and to remove immunity from Israel and its leaders, achieve justice, apply human rights conventions, protect Palestinians and hold criminals accountable for their crimes,” he said, according to Ma’an News Agency.

The ICC case is still in its early stages, but could potentially lead to indictments against Israeli officials if the court finds evidence of human rights abuses.

The Palestinian submissions to the ICC are unlikely to speed up the court’s preliminary investigation, but could reinforce United Nations allegations of Israeli war crimes during its assault on Gaza last year. Earlier this week a damning U.N. report accused both Hamas and Israel of human rights abuses stemming from the 2014 conflict that left over 2000 people dead – almost all Palestinian civilians.

Israel has disputed the U.N.’s findings and argued Palestinians shouldn’t be entitled to petition the ICC for an investigation, as Palestine isn’t universally recognized as a state. Israeli officials have argued any international investigation into alleged Israeli human rights abuses will undermine peace talks – a stance widely dismissed by both Palestinian leaders and human rights groups.

Yet allegations of Israeli abuses don’t just stem from the Gaza invasion. Many of the documents set to be handed over to the ICC reportedly include details of allegations of Israeli violations of international law in the West Bank. One document alone from the think tank Applied Research Institute includes nearly 500 pages of concerns stemming from Israel’s controversial West Bank settlements. The settlements have been labeled illegal by the U.N., while Palestinians say they are a major hurdle for peace talks.

HC orders Karnataka goverment, EC to conduct BBMP polls by Aug 5

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Bengaluru: The High Court has ordered the state government and the Election Commission to conduct elections to the BBMP by August 5, recently. The court also slammed the government for filing an interlocutory application (IA) in a bid to delay the elections.

Justice B V Nagarathna said, “All IAs, except one filed by Namma Bengaluru Foundation, are dismissed with costs, as these applications are not only an abuse of the process of this court, but contrary to the principle of the finality of litigation, and have taken up considerable time of this court”, in the given judgment.

She directed the authorities to comply with the spirit of a High Court order dated March 30, 2015, and an order of the Supreme Court dated May 5, 2015, by taking steps to hold elections.

The state government, Karnataka State Commission for SC/STs and others had filed impleading applications without any further prayers. This is not only frivolous, but an instance of the court being taken for granted, the judge said.

“The IA filed by state is dismissed with a cost of 10,000, payable to each petitioner. The applications filed by the other applicants are dismissed with a cost of 1,000, payable by each of the applicants to each petitioner, on every application filed by them, other than the Namma Bengaluru Foundation,” the order said.

Further the state Election Commission had objected to the plea, saying it would be held responsible if the elections were not held in time.

(Agencies)

US domestic Terrorists more deadly than 'Jihadis': Report

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“With non-Muslims, the media bends over backward to identify some psychological traits that may have pushed them over the edge. Whereas if it’s a Muslim, the assumption is that they must have done it because of their religion.”

Last week's shooting at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina was the deadliest right-wing attack on U.S. soil since 2001. Dylann Roof, pictured, reportedly told parishioners he wanted to start a race war before shooting dead nine black men and women.

Last week’s shooting at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina was the deadliest right-wing attack on U.S. soil since 2001. Dylann Roof, pictured, reportedly told parishioners he wanted to start a race war before shooting dead nine black men and women.

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

In the 14 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, nearly twice as many Americans have been killed by white supremacists, right-wing extremists, and other non-Muslim domestic terrorists than by people motivated by “jihadist ideology,” a report by the New America research group published Wednesday has found.

Using a database that catalogs information on U.S. citizens and permanent residents engaged in “violent extremist activity,” the report, Homegrown Extremism 2001-2015, found that 48 people were killed by non-Muslim terrorists during that time frame, as opposed to 26 who were killed by self-described jihadis.

The New York Times reports:

The slaying of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church last week, with an avowed white supremacist charged with their murders, was a particularly savage case. But it is only the latest in a string of lethal attacks by people espousing racial hatred, hostility to government and theories such as those of the “sovereign citizen” movement, which denies the legitimacy of most statutory law. The assaults have taken the lives of police officers, members of racial or religious minorities and random civilians.

…John G. Horgan, who studies terrorism at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, said the mismatch between public perceptions and actual cases has become steadily more obvious to scholars.

“There’s an acceptance now of the idea that the threat from jihadi terrorism in the United States has been overblown,” Dr. Horgan said. “And there’s a belief that the threat of right-wing, antigovernment violence has been underestimated.”

Last week’s shooting at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in which nine black men and women were killed, was the deadliest right-wing attack in the U.S. since 2001, the report states. The suspect in the murders, 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof, said he had intended to start a race war through his attack.

But despite these findings, the general public and mainstream media resist the language of “terrorism” when describing so-called homegrown radicals.

As Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) editor Jim Naureckas wrote in a column published on Common Dreams this week, “Corporate media are demonstrably reluctant to use the word ‘terrorist’ with regards to Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Roof—even though the massacre would seem to meet the legal definition of terrorism, as violent crimes that ‘appear to be intended…to intimidate or coerce a civilian population’.”

Abdul Cader Asmal, a retired physician and a spokesman for Boston’s Muslim community, told the Times on Wednesday, “With non-Muslims, the media bends over backward to identify some psychological traits that may have pushed them over the edge. Whereas if it’s a Muslim, the assumption is that they must have done it because of their religion.”

Roof’s attack was “not an act of just ‘one hateful person.’ It is a manifestation of the racial hatred and white supremacy that continues to pervade our society,” wrote University of Pennsylvania professor Anthea Butler in an op-ed for the Washington Post last week, just as Roof was captured by law enforcement. “It should be covered as such. And now that authorities have found their suspect, we should be calling him what he is: a terrorist.”

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