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ICC
Panel to Review Zimbabwe for World Cup Venue LONDON: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has formed a standing committee to monitor whether or not games at the forthcoming World Cup can be played in Zimbabwe. The African nation is due to host six of the 54 World Cup matches when the tournament gets under way next month, but food riots in Harare and Bulawayo have raised safety concerns.(Details) N Korea Threatens Counter-measures SEOUL: North Korea threatened "stronger self-defensive measures" on Sunday if any sanctions were imposed over its decision to pull out of a key anti-nuclear pact. "If the US and its followers come to challenge the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) over its withdrawal from the NPT (nuclear non- proliferation treaty) with another pressure and sanctions, the DPRK will counter them with a stronger self-defensive measure," said an editorial in the ruling Communist party's Rodong Sinmum newspaper. "No formidable enemy can be safe before the arms of the DPRK." Sonia Sees Reign of Terror in BJP Rule(Go To Top) CHAPRA (M-P): Congress president Sonia Gandhi says the ruling BJP has brought in a reign of terror and fear. Addressing a rally here on Saturday in the run-up to the Assembly elections due in November this year, she alleged that parties like the BJP had promised to remove fear, hunger and corruption but the ground reality today was different. "In their rule there is fear, people of different communities are looking at each other with a sense of mistrust," she said. The Congress chief's statements were an obvious reference to riot-torn Gujarat where her party was battered in the Assembly elections and the BJP, which also heads the federal ruling coalition, swept on a Hindu revivalist plank. Critics accuse the BJP of exploiting religious tensions after more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in widespread violence in Gujarat last year after a mob torched alive 59 Hindus. Taking BJP head-on over its claims at protecting people's Dharma (religion), Ms Gandhi said that while the party talked of patriotic fervour its acts were geared towards dividing the society. "We are not against 'Dharma' (religion) but communalism. No religion divides people or makes them hate each other. Religion is a personal right for every citizen but the Government has no religion of its own. The only religion for a Government is to work for its people," she said. Nine States are due to go to the polls this year, four of which will vote on February 26. The Congress is in power in the major States slated to vote and analysts say that besides the BJP, it also has to counter the "anti-incumbency factor," the traditional antipathy to the party in power. Tunnel Near Pak Border in Punjab Found (Go To Top) FEROZEPUR: The Border Security Force has discovered a 20-metre tunnel close to the international border with Pakistan in Ferozepur district of Punjab, a BSF spokesman said here on Sunday. The tunnel with a diametre of two feet was discovered near border pillar number 183 between Kasoke and Mohidiwala Border Observation Posts (BOPs). It was hidden beneath Sarkanda grass, which had grown all along the border, the spokesman said. The wild grass is normally set on fire every year but due to landmines in the area the exercise was not undertaken this year. The spokesman also said that intelligence agencies had tipped off BSF about digging of a tunnel near the border by smugglers for carrying out their narcotic activities. Sixth International Kite Festival Off to Flying Start in Jodhpur(Go To Top) JODHPUR: The 6th International Desert Kite Festival literally got to a flying start in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Kites of all exotic shapes, sizes and hues filled tge sky. (Details) Illinois Governor Spares Death Row Inmates (Go To Top) NEW YORK: Denouncing the death penalty system as broken, the governor of Illinois commuted the sentences of all the State's death row inmates on Saturday, granting clemency to more than 150 people in a dramatic move likely to fuel the national debate about capital punishment, said a Chicago report. Gov. George Ryan - a Republican who leaves office Monday after one term - reduced the prisoners' sentences to a maximum of life in prison without parole. "How many more cases of wrongful convictions have to occur before we can all agree that this system in Illinois is broken?" Ryan told a cheering audience at North-western University Law School that included several wrongfully convicted former death row inmates. "I realize that my decision will draw ridicule, scorn and anger from many who oppose this decision," he said, acknowledging the feelings of relatives of crime victims, many of whom fought clemency. "I'm going to sleep well tonight, knowing that I made the right decision," he said. The move follows an examination of the State's capital punishment system ordered nearly three years ago after investigations found 13 prisoners on death row were innocent. There are 156 inmates on death row, and another person has been sentenced to death but is not yet in State custody. -ANI |