ISLAMABAD : At least two policemen were killed and 13 others injured today in a bomb blast which hit a police van in Karachi, the financial capital of Pakistan.
Senior police official Munir Sheikh said the explosives were planted on a motorcycle and exploded near Murghi Khana bus stop in Quaidabad area of Karachi as the bus of Sindh Police’s Special Security Unit was passing by.
“Two policemen were killed and about 13 injured in the attack,” he said.
The injured were shifted to the government-run Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Dr Seemi Jamali, spokesperson of the hospital, said that 12 wounded persons had been brought into the hospital for treatment and at least one injured was critical.
Nobody has taken the responsibility of the attack but Karachi has a large number of Taliban militants and criminals who often attack the security officials.
The government launched an operation in 2013 to eliminate them but they are still active in certain areas.
At least two soldiers of paramilitary Rangers were killed in a suicide attack their vehicle in the city on March 20. (AGENCIES)
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi today appealed to the well off people to give up subsidised cooking gas, and expressed his government’s resolve to reduce dependence on energy imports by 10 per cent by 2022.
Sharing oil companies’ plans to increase piped cooking gas connection to one crore households from 27 lakh currently in the next four years, Modi said the decision to surrender LPG subsidy by 2.8 lakh consumers would result in a savings of Rs 100 crore.
“I had made a small mention about giving up LPG subsidy. As many as 2.80 lakh people has responded positively…And this will lead to a saving of at least Rs 100 crore. This Rs 100 crore can be utilised for the welfare of poor”, Modi said while speaking at the ‘Urja Sangam’ here.
Since the government started the new scheme of direct benefit transfer (DBT) for cooking gas, several persons opted out of the subsidy scheme.
Modi said that 12 crore bank accounts opened under the Jan Dhan scheme are being used for transferring subsidies directly to the consumers which has helped in plugging the leakages and effectively fighting corruption.
“To fight corruption, if institutional mechanism, transparent mechanism, policy driven system can be put in place then we can prevent leakages. And this has been proved by cash transfer,” the Prime Minister said.
Referring to India’s 77 per cent dependence on energy imports, Modi said the effort should be to reduce it by 10 per cent by 2022, when India will celebrate 75 years of Independence.
“We can reduce this import by at least 10 per cent in 2022. This 10 per cent we will produce ourselves and this should be our dream.
“If we become successful in reducing import by 10 per cent in 2022, by achieving 10 per cent growth in domestic production, then I can assure you that by 2030 we can reduce this import to 50 per cent,” he added. (AGENCIES)
DUBAI : Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena and England’s Richard Kettleborough were today appointed on-field umpires for the ICC Cricket World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand on Sunday in Melbourne.
“Kumar Dharmasena and Richard Kettleborough will be the two on-field umpires,” the ICC said in a statement.
Sri Lanka’s Ranjan Madugalle was named the match referee for the high-octane clash between the trans-Tasmanian rivals. While Australia beat India by 95 runs in their semifinal clash, New Zealand got the better of South Africa in their last-four stage match.
The match official appointments are as follows:
March 29: Australia v New Zealand, Melbourne.
Ranjan Madugalle (match referee), Kumar Dharmasena and Richard Kettleborough (both on-field umpires), Marais Erasmus (third umpire), Ian Gould (fourth umpire). (AGENCIES)
MELBOURNE : A staunch critic of the ICC’s four-fielder theory which has led to regular run-riots in one-dayers, India cricket captain Mahendra Singh feels the current rule should be changed as it heavily favours batsmen.
With lack of a seamer-all-rounder, Dhoni’s struggle was evident yesterday when his fifth bowler — left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja — failed to check the flow of runs in the lost World Cup semifinal against South Africa.
Dhoni has time and again made it clear that India’s bowling has been affected by this rule of not having more than four fielders outside the 30-yard circle.
“It’s my personal opinion, I would like them to change it. In the history of cricket, we have not seen double hundreds in ODIs and now in three years’ time you see three double hundreds (actual number is six) being scored,” the Indian captain said.
From India only, there are four double hundreds in ODIs with Rohit Sharma being the owner of two, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag having one each. Among others, Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill have scored a double ton each.
“A lot of people might say that a lot of dot balls that are being bowled because of that extra fielder inside. If that’s the case (logic), rather than having the option of keeping fielders outside, you might as well bring all 11 inside the circle to have more dot balls,” Dhoni said taking a dig at the ICC rule with straight face. (AGENCIES)
DHAKA : At least 10 people were killed in a stampede during a Hindu ritual attended by thousands of devotees on the banks of a river near the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, police said today.
All the victims were aged over 50 years, and seven were women. Around 30 people were injured in the incident at Narayanganj, around 20 kilometres away from Dhaka, police official Mohammad Jakaria told reporters. (AGENCIES)
CHENNAI : The stage is set for the launch of India’s satellite IRNSS-1D tomorrow from Sriharikota onboard workhorse PSLV-C27 that would pave the way for the country’s own navigation system on par with the GPS of US.
The 59.5-hour countdown for the launch scheduled at 5.19 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 90 km from here, is progressing smoothly, Indian Space Research Organisation said today.
“The countdown (which began at 5.49 AM yesterday) is progressing smoothly. The mixed oxides of nitrogen oxidiser filling operation of fourth stage has been completed,” ISRO sources said.
The launch originally scheduled for March 9 was deferred after an anomaly was found in a telemetry transmitter.
IRNSS-1D is the fourth in the series of seven satellites, planned by ISRO to put in place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), currently under development.
The IRNSS system, targeted to be completed by this year at a total cost of Rs. 1,420 crore, will be targeted at South Asia and is designed to provide accurate position information services to users in the country as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary.
IRNSS’ applications include terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, navigation aide for hikers and travellers, visual and voice navigation for drivers.
While four satellites would be sufficient to start operations of the system, the remaining three would make it more accurate and efficient, ISRO said.
The first three satellites in the IRNSS series were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013, April 4 and October 16 last year respectively.
Similar to the previous three launches, ISRO would use the “XL” version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), its most reliable rocket, for IRNSS-1D which will have a mission life of 10 years.
This is the eighth time XL version is being used after Chandrayaan-I, GSAT-12, RISAT-1, IRNSS-1A, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1C.
The 44.4 metre tall PSLV-C27 which has a lift off mass of 1,425 kg PSLV-C27 will put the satellite in Geosynchronous orbit at 111.75 degree east longitude with 30.5 degree inclination.
The system would provide two types of services — Standard Positioning Service, which is provided to all the users, and Restricted Service that is an encrypted service provided only to authorised users. (AGENCIES)
NEW DELHI : Home Minister Rajnath Singh today described former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as an international icon who is respected and loved by one and all.
“Our former Prime Minister Vajpayee is not only just an Indian statesman but an international icon who is respected and loved by everyone,” Singh told reporters here.
Vajpayee is being conferred country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna today by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The Home Minister said it is a matter of immense happiness for the whole country that the former Prime Minister is being bestowed with the Bharat Ratna.
“His personality, his oratory skill, his honesty and humility signify his greatness. His is a great human being,” he said.
Setting aside protocol, the President will visit Vajpayee’s Krishna Menon Marg residence here and will confer him the Bharat Ratna later today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior Cabinet ministers will be present on the special occasion. (AGENCIES)
SYDNEY : Restrained in their criticism of the Indian cricket team, the usually aggressive Australian media was in celebratory mode as it focussed on lavishing praise on Michael Clarke’s men for ousting the World Cup defending champions with a comprehensive semifinal triumph.
Chasing a stiff target of 329, India were all out for 233 in 46.5 overs and the media here restricted its criticism to the the opportunities that the tourists failed to grab in the clash yesterday.
“If India were going to have any chance of chasing down Australia’s target, it was going to come down to one of Dhoni or Kohli to go the distance but neither managed to,” a report in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ said.
“There was hope for India for as long as MS Dhoni was still at the crease, but in the semi-final of the World Cup the Indian skipper simply gave up. Dhoni, possibly playing in his last ODI after his shock retirement from Test cricket recently, top-scored for India with 65 before being run out by Glenn Maxwell.
“It was a superb throw, but Dhoni seemed to retire halfway down the pitch. There was no dive, no last-ditch attempt to make his ground, he simply ran straight down the tunnel. And with him vanished India’s last sliver of hope,” the report said.
The report quoted former England captain Kevin Pietersen as having expressed surprise to Dhoni not even sliding his bat to reach to his crease.
“I don’t know what Dhoni was doing here — he could have made it. Absolutely he could have made it,” Pietersen said.
Another newspaper ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ also described Dhoni’s innings as “bizarre”.
“Any questions over whether Australia’s total of 7-328 would be enough were answered, although the nerves did not subside until Dhoni’s bizarre 65 was brought to an end. Dhoni mysteriously held back a final assault on the distant victory target and it was only then that he began to put the foot down, belting Shane Watson for two sixes in a row,” a report in the newspaper said.
“However, the India captain was run out brilliantly by Glenn Maxwell soon after and in keeping with the tone of his odd innings, Dhoni did not appear to put much effort into making his ground,” it said.
The Australian media also mentioned India’s below-par performance here in the Test series and tri-series and said they must be happy to finally leave for home. (AGENCIES)
MELBOURNE : New Zealand’s cricketers grew up playing backyard battles against imaginary Australia sides and will be eager to get one over their ‘big brothers’ in the World Cup final, paceman Tim Southee said.
The trans-Tasman rivalry is fierce across all sports but will reach fever pitch on Sunday when nearly 100,000 will pack out the storied Melbourne Cricket Ground for the title-decider. ‘The rivalry between Australia and New Zealand does cover every sport and it is massive,’ Southee told reporters at the venue today.
‘We’re probably seen as the little brothers from across the ditch. We do do quite well to compete in other sports. ‘Obviously Australia have had the wood on us in cricket over the last few years but we’re slowly starting to even that picture.
‘As a kid growing up it was always Australia you wanted to play against or (if) you were playing against someone in the backyard it was New Zealand-Australia. ‘There is a massive rivalry in whatever sport you play in New Zealand and you always want to have one up over, I guess, the big brothers.’
Four-times champions Australia will enter the match favourites after thrashing India in yesterday’s semi-final but New Zealand will have no shortage of backers having waged a thrilling campaign to reach their maiden final. Led by swashbuckling captain Brendon McCullum and playing a hyper-aggressive brand of cricket, the ‘Black Caps’ have not lost a game and believe they have claimed hard-won respect from their neighbours, who they beat in a thriller during the pool phase on home soil.
‘I think in times gone by we probably haven’t played to our potential as consistently as we should have for the last two years,’ Southee said.
‘We respect Australia, they’re a quality side. They’re not number one in the world for no reason. ‘And I’m sure that they’ve gained a little bit of respect for the brand of cricket that we’ve played over the last couple of years.
‘I guess the opinion has changed a little bit.’ Sunday’s final will be New Zealand’s first match of the tournament away from home soil and their first at the MCG in since a six-wicket win over the hosts in 2009. Southee dismissed the idea his team might struggle with the ground’s sprawling dimensions after playing on smaller venues at home.
‘Although the grounds in New Zealand are small, we do have a couple of big ones,’ he said. ‘We’re not too worried about the size of the ground.’
NEW DELHI : Telecom operator Reliance Communications (RCom) today said it has gained capability to provide 4G services across the country on the back of spectrum won by it in the recently concluded spectrum auction.
“RCom becomes India’s first and only operator with nationwide footprint of contiguous 800/850 MHz spectrum. RCom operations now future-proofed across all circles for most advanced LTE technology at most optimal cost,” the company said in a statement.
It made bids worth Rs 4,299 crore and is required to make an upfront payment of Rs 1,106 crore.
The company won 800 MHz spectrum in 11 service areas but could not defend its 900 MHz spectrum holding in five out of seven circles expiring in 2015-16.
RCom retained its 900 MHz holding in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh besides acquiring 800 MHz spectrum afresh in Assam, North-East, Odisha and West Bengal where it lost 900 MHz band spectrum holding.
It already has 5 MHz of 800 MHz band spectrum in Bihar.
The mobile signals transmitted in 800 MHz and 900 MHz cover almost equal area. The area covered by signals in these bands is almost double than the area covered by signals transmitted using 1,800 MHz band frequency, widely known as 2G spectrum.
Thus, telecom operators are required to install less number of mobile towers in 800 MHz and 900 MHz band as compared to high frequencies which helps them in saving capital and operational expenses.
The auction included 900 MHz spectrum held through licences of Idea Cellular in nine telecom circles, Vodafone and RCom in seven each and Airtel in six service areas, expiring in 2015-16.
RCom holds 3G and CDMA spectrum in all 7 circles, with legacy 2G spectrum expiring in Dec 2015, the statement said.
The company acquired 1,800 MHz band spectrum in Odisha, North-East, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana which in coming days can also be used for 4G services. (PTI)
