The Pune airport which has been shut down for the past 15 days for runway renovation works is reopened on February 27 for the passenger traffic. Since the repairs works had not been completed yet, the airport will be operational between 10.30 am and 6.30 pm in the evening. Once the renovation works are complete, the airport will function 24 hours a day. It is estimated that the airport is used by 5,000 passengers a day.
India test fired its first under sea ballistic missile, codenamed as K-15, near the Visakhapatnam coast. The successful launch leads India to join the select band of five countries equipped with the nuclear deterrence technology. Since India does not have a submarine for performing such tests, the k-15 missile having a range of 700 kms was fired from a pontoon immersed under the sea. After US, Russia, France and China, now India is the 5th country to have this nuclear deterrence technology, which will form extremely significant part of the India's nuclear defense sector.
Australian Cricketer and all-rounder Brad Hogg said that he will retire from the international cricket after the tri-series finals against India but willing to play in the Australia's domestic first-class competition for one more year. He told that his career get started against India and playing test matches against India would be more fantastic. Hogg added that he fought very well to get a position and achieved that what he wanted to achieve. The Australian Cricket team have been hit by a consecutive announcements of retirements by Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Gilchrist, Tait and now Hogg in the past 15 months.
Three former Australian Cricket players Michael Kasprowicz, Matthew Elliott and Damien Martyn have been signed up for the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL). They were joined the league a few days ago after former New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore announced his interest to play in ICL. Kasprowicz, 36, had played 38 tests and 43 one-dayers for Australia. Opening batsmen Elliott, had played in 21 tests and only a single ODI for Australia. Martyn, 36, who played 67 tests and 208 one-dayers, walked out from the international Cricket in the middle of Ashes series, 2006, had joined the ICL last year but did not attend the inaugural event. Kapil Dev, Chairman of ICL said "These Australian players will strengthen the teams, boost the quality of cricket, making the ICL showcase a competitive one".
The Percentage of votes gained by the teams are:
The Under-19 Indian Cricket team has enter into the semi-finals of the World Cup, after beating England by 7 wickets in Kuala Lumpur. Earlier India won the toss and asked England to bat first. England scored 146 runs in 46 overs by losing all wickets. Iqbal Abdullah of India picked up 3 wickets while Siddharth Kaul and Ravindra Jadeja got couple of wickets. Later the Indian team chased the target in the 40-th over. Opener Turuwar Kohli scored an unbeaten 63 with 8 boundaries. Indian team is going to play with the winner of the quarter-final match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
The BCCI has rejected the Pakistan Cricket Board's offer to play 3 ODI matches in mid March at Lahore. Sharad Pawar, President of BCCI has called up Nasim Ashraf, Chairman of PCB and conveyed that the tour was not possible as the schedule of Indian Cricket team is tight. "BCCI said that the Indian players have been on tour for the past three months and have to play a home series against South Africa from 26th March. Indian players want to take rest for one or two weeks before playing with South Africa. However BCCI promised to play the 3 matches during September-October in Pakistan before the ICC Champions Trophy" said a PCB official. PCB now wants to invite Sri Lankan Cricket team during March to play 5 match ODI series.
Sourav Ganguly, the icon player of the Kolkata IPL team said that he was happy with the players won by the Kolkata franchise. After returning from the landmark auction for the bidding of players in Mumbai, he said, "Our team was not short on batting. We dont need too many batsmen in Twenty20 matches and i get satisfied with the team we have got". The Kolkata team won the following players in the auction:
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said, they have sent a formal proposal to BCCI for an ODI series of 3 matches against India in mid March. An official of PCB said, the board was keen to host the series to fill the free time, since Cricket Australia(CA) decided to shorten their tour of Pakistan by 18 days. If everything goes well, the week long ODI series against India will start from March 12 and all the matches will be played in Lahore to reduce the stress and burden on the Indian Cricket team, he added. But a senior official from BCCI said, the proposed tour was not confirmed and the team will now focus on the ongoing tri-series in Australia to reach the finals.
The Indian Rupee (INR) has crossed the 40 mark against the US dollar for the first time in last five months with the heavy shortage of the US currency, further emphasised by the global crude oil prices which hit the fresh records. The INR value against USD has been under the 40 mark since 20th September last year when it closed at Rs. 39.89 against an US dollar. At the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market today, the INR touched a low of 40.24 against USD and finally closed at Rs. 39.95/97. Meanwhile the INR against other major foreign currencies are:
The Australian cricketers are in a trouble of losing their contracts with BCCI's Indian Premier League. The Cricket Australia (CA), the Australian Cricket board likes to promote its sponsors in the IPL matches. According to CA's rules, its players have to wear a sanctioned gear and wants coverage, if they took part in international matches. Reacting to these demands, BCCI vice president Lalit Modi said, "We are not interested in CA's stand of protecting its sponsors. If CA sticks on its demands, they are only going to be affected. We will conduct the IPL tournament without them". He added, "Personal contracts will not be affected and players can keep their sponsors and gain more personal sponsors throughout the IPL tournament".
While Cricket Australia said that BCCI has misunderstood its stand. We are ready to talk with BCCI to solve this as well as many issues and we wants to see the IPL as a success one.
Photo Source - AFP
India's leading software company Tata Consultancy Services Ltd is no more a 100% job secured company. TCS said, it asked its 500 employees to search for another job after their performance was found to be poor. Pradipta Bagchi, TCS spokesperson said "Employees who cant meet our company's performance requirements were asked to switch to another job which suits with their abilities". He added that the headcount of TCS goes to 108,229 from 83,500 last year and 4,037 employees were appointed in the 3rd quarter ended on December 31. Despite gaining huge outsourcing contracts from western countries, rising Indian rupee against the dollar and falling US economy affects its profit margin.
The recently launched Hindi entertainment channel NDTV Imagine has created waves across the country. The channel is going to air a new serial titled “Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi” on Mondays , 8.30 p.m. from today. Besides it telecasts two music shows and a dance show. India's leading news channel NDTV group owns this new channel under the management of former CEO of Star India Mr.Sameer Nair. Film Director Karan Johar serves as the creative consultant and ambassador of NDTV Imagine. Since its programme ads are being telecasting on Star Cricket and Star Sports channels on the ongoing India-Australia Cricket matches, the NDTV Imagine gains more popularity.
Lord Murugan statue infront of Batu caves, largest Hindu shrine in Malaysia.
While returning to the earth from space, the Columbia shuttle was exploded and all seven crew members were killed. On its fifth anniversary, the NASA officials, family members of the Columbia astronauts and school children were gathered together to remember the seven crews including an Indian and an Isreali. G. Madhavan Nair, the chairman of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) has also attended the ceremony to represent India, the motherland of Kalpana Chawla, one of the crew member. Mr.Nair said that the incident was not only painful to the family members of the astronauts but also to the entire world. Former shuttle commander Bill Readdy said 'Without any physical monument, the 7 crews are commemorated right here in our hearts'. Till now NASA lost 24 astronauts in such incidents.
The countdown for the Oscar awards had begun and almost all the English movie channels had started telecasting special programmes. Star Movies channel is going to air award winning movies like 'Jurassic Park', 'Ice Age', '102 Dalmatians', 'Pearl Harbor', 'Con Air', 'Pretty Woman', 'Speed' and 'The Chronicles Of Narnia' on this festive February month's nights at 11.00 p.m. (IST) . At last on February 25 at 6.30 a.m. the 80th Annual Academy Awards will be aired live on Star Movies.
