Akshay to go international with Karate tournament

Last year when Akshay Kumar introduced his National Karate Tournament, it met with an overwhelming response, and this year too the entries have been pouring in from all over. The overload has been so unexpected that the organisers are apparently flooded with contestants.

Thanks to such unprecedented response and taking into consideration the fact that last year’s tournament winners went on to win a silver and three bronze medals at the Japan Karate tournament, Akshay has now decided on expanding.

Akshay, who is well pleased with the response, has since decided to take the tournament to the next level by inviting participants from across the seven seas thus providing a bigger field of techniques. For this aspect, logistically the organizers are planning on getting international talent from the US and other European countries as well as from most South Asian countries to participate in the tournament.

Whatever be the case, with Akshay’s international project Breakaway already on the anvil, this tournament just adds another feather in his already impressive hat.

PCB Waiting For IPL Response

Pakistan Cricket Board is still waiting for the response from IPL. So far there is no announcement made from IPL organizers about the inclusion of Pakistani players in the IPL. The auction of 416 players will be held in January but there is no Pakistani player in the list of 416 players.

PCB want their players in IPL they said that they have talked with IPL official about the contract with Pakistani players but so far there is no response from them. PCB is still waiting for reply from them. They also said that no player or franchise has approach them for permission relating to player inclusion in the league.

In 2008 edition of IPL there were many Pakistani players in IPL and Shohail Tanveer was the most wickets taking bowler in that year. In the next year players were waiting for the permission fro Pakistani government but due to security threat permission was not granted by Pakistan.

Mohammad Arfan 7 feet Pakistan bowler was having links with KolKata Knight Riders but no progress in his case too. Earlier it was announce that 2011 season of IPL will not include any player in it. PCB wait for reply is of no use as there will be no Pakistani player in IPL 2011 edition.

ACK to launch magazine on ‘Suppandi’

ACK Media, India’s one of the leading Entertainment and Education
Company for children, is launching Suppandi 48, a new magazine based
on its popular character – Suppandi.

Suppandi is one of the very first characters to appear in kids’
magazine – Tinkle and has been a popular figure amongst children and
adults alike, for almost three decades.

“Suppandi stories have been a regular in Tinkle. Seeing Suppandi’s
popularity and on many of his fans’ requests, we decided to launch
Suppandi 48, a magazine completely based on Suppandi” said Savita Pai,
VP, Product Management at ACK Media. “We did a test launch in July,
2010 and the response of which was stupendous. Thus, we decided to
publish Suppandi 48 as a quarterly.”

The stories in Suppandi 48 will concentrate on different aspects in
Suppandi’s life – like ‘What does Suppandi do during after hours?’
‘Who are his family and friends?’ ‘What are his hobbies and
interests?’ and the unknown life of Suppandi.

Suppandi 48 has several other sections – like brain teasers, puzzles
and senseless facts to name a few. The second issue will be available
at bookstores and newsstands around 30 Oct, 2010.

Kashmir not an integral part of India: Abdul Basit

Pakistan has asked New Delhi to introspect on its policies instead of blaming Islamabad for the violence in the Occupied Kashmir. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that Jammu & Kashmir issue was an international dispute and subject of several UN Security Council resolutions and India should not be dismissive of uprising in Kashmir.
Reacting to the Indian response to the Foreign Ministers statement on the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir, the Spokesman said the response was evidently self-serving and, to say the least, callous to be dismissive of the widespread uprising of the Kashmiri people including youth and women against Indian occupation.
Instead of stereotypically blaming Pakistan, India should undertake serious introspection of its policies that were in sharp variance to its international commitments including adherence to accepted human rights standards, he added.

Facebook-fed Aussie plant killed by kindness

SYDNEY: An Australian plant fed via Facebook has given proof to the adage “killing with kindness”, with its fans on the site literally loving it to death, researchers said.

A real plant called “Meet Eater” is watered when Facebook users become fans and post on its wall, in an interactive project at Queensland state library that aims to explore the emotions involved in using social media.

Creator Bashkim Isai said he had wanted to see whether people could care enough about a plant seen on Facebook to keep it alive, and had been overwhelmed by the response.

Since its unveiling two months ago, Isai said Meet Eater had attracted more than 5,000 fans from across the world — including a five-fold spike in the past fortnight — literally drowning it with love.

“We found that it’s been over-loved, it’s actually died two times from having too much

Outspoken Latif gets PCB notice

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former captain Rashid Latif has decided to step down as wicketkeeping coach in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after being issued a showcause notice for speaking about the raging spot-fixing and betting scandal on a television show.

Sources said that Latif would be sending his resignation to the board shortly along with his response to the notice.

“Apparently the board has taken strong exception to Latif appearing on a popular sports talk show on a local TV channel in which he made some strong comments on the spot-fixing issue,” one source disclosed.

“Latif has been asked in the notice issued by the board to explain how he appeared on the show without the permission of the board as he is a proper employee of the PCB,” the source said.

The source said the board had asked Latif to also explain his comments that the PCB

BP sees oil spill claims below $20bn: analysts

LONDON: BP believes compensation claims related to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be less than the $20 billion the oil giant has put into an independent claims fund, analysts at Citigroup said, following a meeting with incoming Chief Executive Bob Dudley.

“He added that given current estimates of claims the $20 billion Independent Claim Fund (ICF) that BP established probably exceeds calls,” Citigroup said in a research note.

Dudley added the $32 billion provision BP made for the total cost of the disaster remained a reasonable indicator of eventual cost.

Dudley also told the analysts that claims by Gulf states for lost tax revenue related to the spill “should not be too high” as any tax drops due to lower economic activity following the spill would be offset by the economic stimulus of the response effort.

Citigroup said that, following the

Qureshi happy with aid response to UN appeal

Staff Report

UNITED NATIONS: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the response to UN appeal for rescue and relief efforts in flood-ravaged areas of Pakistan exceeded over 800 million dollars amid expectations of more pledges.

Over the last two days of the UN General Assembly’s special session on Pakistan, the funding in response to a UN appeal for $460 million doubled.

Speaking to reporters in New York, he said the tremendous response to the UN appeal was led by the United States, which doubled its contribution.

The special session was called by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Aug 19 to create awareness among member states about the enormity of the disaster.

According to figures released by the United Nations, $490 million have been committed, while another $325 million have been pledged by governments around the world, leading

Tax exemption announced for flood-hit KP areas

PESHAWAR: Provincial Information Minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Saturday announced exemption of taxes for the flood-hit areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and demanded of the federal government to declare the affected areas calamity-stricken.

Briefing mediamen about damage caused by floods in the province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain also announced to donate his current month’s salary for the help of people hit by devastating floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Similarly, he added, MPA Fazalullah of Shangla has announced a donation of Rs 100,000 for the same purpose.

Information Minister urged all the parliamentarians to announce donations and contributed in the relief fund set up by Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti.

He also stressed upon people to come forward and extend physical and financial help to their brethren who lost their houses and other belongings due to natural calamity.

Information Minister also appreciated the response and spirit of President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Riaz Arshad who announced to provide machinery for opening of Motorway to restore road link between Peshawar and rest of the country.

France ready to start Iran talks at IAEA: Sarkozy

ST PETERSBURG: France is ready to start talks with Iran over its nuclear programme at the International Atomic Energy Agency “without delay”, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday.

The talks would be held “on the basis of Brazilian and Turkish efforts and the response sent out by Russia, France and the United States (on June 9)”, a spokesman for Sarkozy’s office said.

“Sarkozy reminded that we also would like a revival of negotiations with the Six (group of world powers) and with Iran on the whole of the nuclear issue,” the spokesman added.

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