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IPL 5 2012: Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders

It will be the battle of the Delhi boys as Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils take on Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2nd match of IPL 2012 on Thursday, April 5, at Eden Gardens. The start of this match is 8 pm Indian time. After a disastrous IPL 4 where they finished last, Delhi have made wholesale changes to their squad and are looking more up to date this time round. Sehwag will be glad that he has a lot more support in the batting department this time in the form of Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene and Ross Taylor. However, he will be without their services for the first few games as they fulfill their international commitments, and it will be a challenge to find suitable replacements in the meantime. He will have the services of upcoming West Indian all rounder Andre Russell who was one of the smartest buys at this years players auction. The bowling department looks solid for Delhi with the likes of Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel. Kolkata on the contrary do not have any such unavailability problems as most of their overseas stars will be available for selection. They had their best season in the IPL last year under Gautam Gambhir, making it to the knockout stage, and they will look to go one better this year. With players like Jacques Kallis, Brendom McCullum, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine and Shakib al Hasan all available for selection, besides Indian players like Yusuf Pathan, Gambhir, Manoj Tiwary , Iqbal Abdulla they look like a very strong team. Teams: Delhi(probable)-1 Virender Sehwag(c), 2 Colin Ingram, 3 Aaron Finch/van de Merwe, 4 Venugopal Rao, 5 Naman Ojha(wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Irfan Pathan,  8 Ajit Agarkar/Varun Aaron, 9 Vikas Mishra, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Morne Morkel Kolkata(probable)- 1 Jacques Kallis, 2 Brendon McCullum(wk), 3 Gautam Gambhir(c), 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Rajat Bhatia, 7 Brett Lee, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Iqbal Abdulla, 10 Laxmipathy Balaji, 11 Jaydev Unadkat  

IPL 5 2012: Mumbai Indians beat Chennai By 8 wickets

South Africa T20 specialist Richard Levi made an instant impression with his six-hitting prowess as Mumbai Indians thrashed defending champions Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets, in the opening match of the fifth edition of Indian Premier League. Chasing a modest target of 113, Levi who has recently scored the fastest T20 International century set the tone as he clobbered the CSK bowlers to race away to a fine 50 with six fours and three sixes on IPL debut. He added 69 for the first wicket with Sachin Tendulkar before being caught in the deep but by then Mumbai Indians had the match in their pocket. They finally won with 19 balls to spare as he slashed Doug Bollinger over third-man for a six. Predominantly an on-side player, all the three sixes Levi hit were in the arc between deep mid-wicket and long-on. Levi doesn't have much of a backlift and footwork is minimum but that doesn't deter him from hitting big shots although he mistimed a few today. Tendulkar (16 retd hurt), despite playing second fiddle to Levi also entertained the crowd as he smashed Albie Morkel over extra cover for a huge six. But he got an ugly bouncer from Doug Bollinger which hit his gloves. The senior batsman then left the field as he seemed to have  hurt a finger on his left hand. Earlier, captain Harbhajan's decision to bowl first seemed to be spot on as Mumbai Indians bowled out defending champions Chennai Super Kings for a paltry 112 in only 19.4 overs. The newly-laid 22-yard strip which had some patches of grass on either side turned out to be a nightmare for strokeplayers as most of the home team batsmen failed to check their shots as they were bundled out for a negligible score. While MI bowlers stuck to their task, CSK batsmen helped their cause as three of them including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni were run-out. Lasith Malinga (2/16), Pragyan Ojha (2/17) and Kieron Pollard (2/15) all got vital breakthroughs.  

Odisha MLA, Italian Kidnap: Govt Offers Release of 27 Prisoners

A day before the deadline 5 April set by the maoists, the Odisha government has offered to release 27 maoist prisoners from its jails in exchange for the abducted BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka as well as Italian Bosusco Paolo. Shortly after a crucial cabinet meeting, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said in assembly, "Considering the safety of Jhina Hikaka, the young MLA of Laxmipur, it has been decided by the state government to facilitate the release of 15 members of the Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangha and eight Left-wing extremists in Koraput and Malkangiri jails." Eight Maoists and 15 activists of the Sangha are being offered for a swap for Hikaka's freedom while four Maoists will be freed for the safe passage of Paolo. The Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee of CPI (Maoist) had demanded the release of all "political prisoners" (around 70) in jails of Koraput and Malkangiri districts for Hikaka's release. The state's offer to free eight Maoists came hours after the government resumed talks with Maoist-named mediators B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty for freeing Paolo, who was kidnapped along with his compatriot Claudio Colangelo on March 14. While Colangelo was released on March 25, Paolo has been held captive by the insurgents for nearly three weeks. The names of the prisoners to be released will be announced today.  

Telangana JAC Deadline to Congress, TDP

The Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC) convened a meeting today and have fixed a deadline for Congress and TDP parties to come out with their stand on separate Telangana issue by 24 April, 2012. Speaking in the meeting, TJAC convenor prof. Kodandaram said that if both the parties fail to clear their stand by the deadline, TJAC would take the issue to the public and will teach a fitting lesson to these parties. Anti-propaganda against these parties will be taken up between 10-20 April to to build up people's support for the Telangana cause. Kodandaram  made it very clear that the foremost responsibility of achieving separate state lies on central minister S Jaipal Reddy and former home minister K Jana Reddy, who hail from the Telangana region. He said, "All we want is a '10 districts separate Telangana State', nothing more or nothing less."  

Tara Chowdary Hearing Posted For Saturday

The Banjara Hills police investigating the Tara Chowdary case, have filed a petition before the court seeking seven-day police custody for a detailed probe. The court, however, posted the matter to Saturday for further hearing. Police sources said Tara has been using flesh trade and extortion for film financing. She lured the girls offering roles in films and forced them into prostitution. She then shot video clips of her VIP clients in a compromising position with the sex workers she used to supply them. She used the clips to blackmail the VIP clients including politicians, businessmen and even some police officials to extort money or get certain works done, the sources said. According to the sources, her clientele include a Lok Sabha member, a retired additional director general of police, a working DSP with whom she has taken a photograph, an industrialist from Kurnool town and some other influential politicians from different political parties. It is now speculated that the names of several other politicians and other VIPs would come out with her interrogation in the police custody.

Who is Sunny Leone?

Sunny Leone is an Indo-Canadian porn actress, actress, businesswoman and model of dual Canadian/American nationality. Named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010, she has also played roles in independent mainstream films and television shows. Leone was born in Sarnia, Ontario to Sikh Punjabi parents from India. Though she was raised as a Sikh, her parents enrolled her in a Catholic school. Before working in the porn industry, she first worked at a German bakery, a Jiffy Lube and later a tax and retirement firm. In 2003, she was declared the Penthouse Pet of the Year and also starred in the video Penthouse Pets in Paradise alongside Tera Patrick and Kyla Cole. In 2005 Adam & Eve appointed her as their West Coast Internet Sales Representative. That same year, Leone signed a three-year contract with Vivid Entertainment with which she transitioned into the world of hardcore pornography, stating that she would only do lesbian scenes. In addition to her film career, Leone has been part of the Vivid Comedy Tour, and has modelled for the Vivid Footwear collection. She has also participated in events like the Vivid/ClubJenna Lingerie Bowl and Vivid's Hot Rod Night. Leone's first mainstream appearance was in 2005, when she was a red carpet reporter for the MTV Awards on MTV India. She has also had a cameo in the film The Girl Next Door, performed in Ja Rule's video "Livin It Up" and a video for Kidd Skilly. In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality series Bigg Boss. During her stay in the Bigg Boss house, Leone was approached by Mahesh Bhatt who entered the house briefly to offer her the lead role in Jism 2 (the sequel to the 2003 film Jism starring Bipasha Basu). Leone was voted 13 on Genesis magazine's "Top 100 Porn stars" list, 34 on Desiclubs.com's Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2004, and one of the "40 under 40" ranking on AVN Online magazine. Source:indiatoday  

Banks Not to Work on 5, 6 April 2012

Banks will remain closed on April 5 on account of Mahavir Jayanti and again on Good Friday day on April 6. In effect, banks are closed for public dealings for three days this week, inclusive of Monday, 2 April. In view of three holidays this week, public sector banks have been directed to function full day on Saturday, April 7. The Finance Ministry has asked all public sector banks to function full day this coming Saturday instead of working half-day, official sources said. Usually, banks are open for public dealings between 10 am and 1 pm on Saturdays. Confirming the development, a senior official of Indian Bank said the Finance Ministry has issued a circular in this regard. According to the official, lenders are taking adequate measures to ensure that cash withdrawals from ATMs are not hit during the holidays. However, transaction through bank branches cannot take place in these two days, the official added. There would not be much of activity on corporate side either as they are also likely to observe holidays, the official added.  

Swine Flu Claims 2 Lives in Hyderabad

Unusually the swine flu, which is caused by H1N1 virus has surfaced in summer this year and has claimed 2 lives in Hyderabad. According to district health officials, a 50-year-old woman from Jeedimetla who was treated and discharged from Gandhi Hospital for fever on April 2 complained of breathlessness on Tuesday morning and died while being shifted to a nearby hospital. In another incident, a woman aged around 40 years and a resident of Hyderguda died while undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital on April 2. While she was kept on ventilator support, she died of respiratory failure and breathed her last in the evening, hospital officials informed.

INS Chakra Nuclear Submarine Inducted

Defence Minister AK Antony formally commissioned the first operational nuclear attack submarine INS Chakra into the Indian Navy at the Ship Building Complex Visakhapatnam. Earlier the submarine was called Akula II class Nerpa and now it has been rechristened as INS Chakra. Speaking on the occasion, Defence Minister said that the INS Chakra will ensure security and sovereignty of the country. India has earlier leased and operated Charlie Class Russian nuclear submarine from 1988 for training its personnel on such submarines. With INS Chakra and the indigenous INS Arihant expected to start operational patrols soon, India will soon have two nuclear submarines guarding its vast maritime boundaries. The Nerpa has been taken on lease from Russia for ten years and would provide Navy the opportunity to train and operate such nuclear-powered vessels.  

Yanam Violence: Puducherry CM Agrees For CBI Probe

The Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy has agreed to hand over the investigation into the Yanam violence to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Chief minister accepted the demand of the opposition Congress members and Yanam MLA Malladi Krishna Rao and ordered CBI probe into the large-scale destruction in February, which led to a loss of property worth Rs 300 crore. An unprecedented violence took place in Regency Ceramics when thousands of workers went on a rampage and allegedly killed company vice-president Chandrasekhar Reddy after the death of a trade union leader in police custody. The workers torched the properties and main plant of Regency and private properties as well. The mayhem continued for several hours. Presently, the case is being investigated by the CB-CID under the supervision of Puducherry collector. Forty attackers were arrested and 36 of them let off on bail recently.  

Sam Pitroda Next President of India?

India has to elect its 16th President in July 2012. Among a plethora of other stronger contenders, Gujarati techie Sam Pitroda has emerged as a dark horse in the race to become India's next President. A native of Tikar village in Halvad taluka of Surendranagar district and a physics graduate of M S University, Satyanarayan Gangaram Panchal, alias Sam Pitroda, would be the first Gujarati to adorn the country's highest post, if he makes it. Sam Pitroda was born in Orissa and speaks Oriya fluently. An OBC, he is the son of a carpenter who had migrated to Orissa in search of work. The front-runners include vice-president Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and statesman Dr Karan Singh. Ansari is considered to be the obvious choice for this position. Since the last couple of weeks, the name of Pitroda is being discussed in political circles. His emergence was noticed when he accompanied Rahul Gandhi for the release of the Congress manifesto in Uttar Pradesh in the recently concluded five-states assembly elections. Pitroda returned to India from the US on an invitation by Rajiv Gandhi and it was with the former PM's full support that he brought in telecom and computer revolution to ready the country for the 21st century. At present, he is the advisor to PM on information infrastructure and innovation. During UPA-1, he was chairman of the Knowledge Commission. Interestingly, he is also an advisor to Mamata Banerjee for the 'Resurgent Bengal' campaign and has very good relationship with Sharad Pawar and Naveen Patnaik. After the debacle in the recent assembly polls, the Congress has got weakened and allies are in a mood to bargain hard in return for support on this vital issue. The Congress leadership thus would feel safer with a candidate with maximum acceptance. While it is felt that candidates from minority, Dalit and OBC sections would serve a political purpose, there is also a desire to find someone who is above politics, a statesman and a global ambassador for the nation.  

Newly Engaged Lalitha Jain Attacked With Acid

In a shocking incident, some unidentified person threw acid on a 24-year-old woman at Lalitha Apartments on Mandapala street here, late on Sunday night. According to III Town SI Nageswar Rao, Lalitha Jain (24) was residing in the ground floor of Lalitha apartments along with her mother and brother, after her father Parusuram Jain passed away recently. She is engaged to one Kapil Jain from Guntur and the wedding was slated for April 16. She was betrothed a week ago and after the ritual, her mother had gone to Rajasthan to invite relatives and friends for the wedding, while Lalitha along with her 15-year-old brother Vikram was staying in the apartment. Late on Sunday evening, two persons, reportedly a young man and a middle-aged-woman wearing masks came to the apartment and asked Lalitha to met them on the terrace of the apartment. When she reached there they threw acid on her and fled. Lalitha, who suffered burn injuries on her right shoulder was immediately rushed to Ramachandra Reddy’s clinic, where she was provided first-aid, before being shifted to Narayana general hospital. Her condition is stable, police said. On Monday the victim’s relatives from Guntur rushed to the hospital to take care of her. The victim told the police that she could not identify her attackers, as they were wearing masks. Cpps are baffled as to why Lalitha responded to the request of unknown people to met them on the terrace and that too during night time. A case has been registered and investigation is on.

IPL 5 2012: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians Today

IPL 5 2012: Sights firmly set on a hat-trick of titles, defending champions Chennai Super Kings will open their campaign against last year`s Champions League Twenty20 winner Mumbai Indians in the inaugural match of the Indian Premier League on Wednesday. The dynamics of the battle have, however, changed quite a bit, especially with the Little Master relinquishing his Team Mumbai captaincy. He is a free man yet again, relieved of the shackles of leading a side that always goes into the tournament as the most-hyped team, and that makes him a different proposition altogether. Defending champions Chennai, too, know how dangerous Sachin can be. They have made their preparations for him, which the team management obviously won't divulge at the moment. But skipper MS Dhoni made it clear that Mumbai would be very tough to beat under Bhajji as well. "Harbhajan is a feisty player and has the right attitude. He loves challenges and can take adverse conditions in his stride," Dhoni said, looking ahead to Wednesday's game. Chennai is an extremely well-drilled unit and the skipper gave the impression that they were not too perturbed by Mike Hussey's absence. Teams: Chennai Super Kings (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Ganapathi Vignesh, Joginder Sharma, Kuthethur Vasudevadas, Murali Vijay, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Srikkanth Anirudha, Subramaniam Badrinath, Sudeep Tyagi, Suresh Raina, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Wriddhiman Saha, Albie Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Francois Du Plessis, George Bailey, Michael Hussey, Nuwan Kulasekara, Scott Styris, Suraj Randiv. Mumbai Indians (from): Harbhajan Singh (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, Pawan Suyal, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Tirumalasetti Suman, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rudra Pratap Singh, Aiden Blizzard, Clint McKay, Davy Jacobs, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Herschelle Gibbs, Mitchell Johnson, Robin Peterson, Thisara Perera, Amitoze Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Shukla, Sujit Nayak, Apporv Wankhade, Jaydev Shah, Richard Levi. Match starts at 8 PM on SET MAX

IPL 5 2012 Star studded Opening Ceremony

IPL 5 2012: The opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament will see a lot of fireworks in Chennai on Tuesday. From American pop icon Katy Perry's performance to Indian dancing sensation Prabhu Deva's act to Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan's poetry recitation. If that is not enough, Bollywood stars Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and music band Colonial Cousins are geared up to set the stage afire.Amitabh Bachchan will be opening the night. He will render a poem written by Prasoon Joshi. And Salman Khan will give the show a fitting finale...all performers will bring something unique to the show,' said Joseph. A rare sight would be dancing sensation Prabhu Deva on stage. Other attractions include performances by Bollywood beauties Priyanka and Kareena, whose performances have been choreographed by Shiamak Davar and his team.    

"Save Temples" Video Song released

Global Hindu Heritage foundation released a video song on their mission of "save temples". The song written by Rasaraju, sung and composed by Dr Ghazal Srinivas. Objective of the video is to educate and create an awareness about the pathetic situation of our Holy temples. GHHF is giving an appeal to all to protect the temples. GHHF is planning to release 8 video songs which are written by Sirasri and Dr Tatavarthy, told Dr velagapudi prakasha Rao, founder of GHHF. Song link is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmln-1VN3vE      

Guntur Leaders in Tara Chowdary Net

According to reliable sources, Tara Chowdary's sex racket has its branches in Guntur also. It is reliably learnt that some political leaders and industrialists of Guntur are also in the list of Tara chowdary's clientele. With the police arresting Tara and investigating the sex racket, these persons are a worried lot. There are several cases of illegal activities registered against Tara Chowdary in with the Guntur police also. After the Hyderabad police booked her in a prostitution case, Guntur police too have started probing her cases again. In this connection, task force officials raided her house in Guntur and seized number of CDs and hidden cameras. It is said that the police has found out through these CDs that an MP from Guntur and his son, who worked as top official for some time, are also among the clients of Tara. It is also learnt that Tara was blackmailing MP's son with the help of these CDs. She was also blackmailing a top industrialist from Guntur and a minister from Rayalaseema region is also said to have maintained close relations with her.      

Gulam Nabi Azad to Supervise AP Bypolls

The upcoming bypolls for 18 assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh will be supervised by AICC general secretary and state party affairs inchrge Gulam Nabi Azad. The Congress party is taking these byelections very seriously and wants to make sure that it wins at least some of the seats. For this, the party has entrusted the entire responsibility to Gulam Nabi Azad. Mr. Azad is expected to visit the state shortly in this connection. It is learnt that Azad is thinking of constituting a committee for each constituency with 1 MP, 2 MLAs and 3 PCC Members. He is also likely to pass orders to the effect that the party cadre should work according to the directions of the committee. Azad is personally coming to AP to assess the situation. There is also possibility that even Sonia and Rahul Gandhi may called in for campaigning in the state.  

Telangana Suicides: Two More Youths End Lives

Two more youths allegedly ended their lives in separate incidents on Monday in protest against the apathy of the state and the central governments towards formation of a separate Telangana state. In the first incident, Sambari Navin,18, a first year B Tech student studying in Christu Jyothi College in Jangaon town in Warangal district was found hanging from the ceiling fan at his residence. He allegedly left a suicide note in which he said that his suicide was for a separate Telangana cause. "The central and state governments should open their eyes to the Telangana state demand," he said in his letter. Ganapathi Jadav, Jangaon rural circle inspector, is investigating the case. The body was shifted to Jangaon area hospital for post-mortem. In the second incident that took place in Nizamabad district, Naveen, 18, an intermediate student, allegedly jumped into the village tank at Gannaram village in Dichpalli mandal on Monday evening. Police found a suicide note in which he said that he was taking this extreme step in protest against the apathy of the Centre to the demand of people of this region for a separate state.  

6.3 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Mexico

Earthquake mexico 2012 : Mexico was shaken Monday by what officials described as the strongest aftershock yet from a powerful earthquake that killed at least two people and destroyed thousands of homes late last month. Officials said there were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries from the quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey initially reported as a magnitude of 6.3, but later downgraded to a 6.0. Office towers rocked back and forth for several seconds in the centre of Mexico City after the quake at 12:36 p.m. (17:36 GMT) Monday afternoon and workers evacuated their buildings and gathered in the street. The quake was barely perceptible in some other parts of the city. Mexico's seismological service described it as the strongest of at least 280 aftershocks since the March 20 quake. Some were barely noticed, while others shook buildings throughout south and central Mexico.