Sachin Tandulkar batting on day 2. PHOTO: Neeraj Nanda/SAT

By Shobhit Nanda

Melbourne: Sachin Tendulkar again missed a golden opportunity to get his 100th international century after being bowled by Peter Siddle in the final over of the day. Tendulkar looked fluent and aggressive during his knock of 73 runs and was involved in a 117 run partnership with Rahul Dravid which left India in a strong position to overtake Australia and take a lead on day 3 of the boxing day match.

Earlier in the day, Virender Sehwag made 67 runs in quick time to give India a good start. Gautam Gambhir missed out with catch in the slip for 3 runs. Rahul Dravid remains at the crease on 68 not out having survived a Peter Siddle no ball taking his stumps after tea. India ended the day on 214 for 3 wickets trailing Australia’s first innings score of 333 by 177 runs.

- SAT News Service

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From Shobhit Nanda

Melbourne: Australian debutante Ed Cowan was one of the twin victim of India’s day 1 bowling attack which would have been overturned had Decision Review System (DRS) was being used in the current India vs Australia test series. The struggling Michael Hussey copped a golden duck with replays suggesting the balls clipped his shirt rather than the edge.

India none the less had a good day at the office taking 6 Aussie wickets although resistance later in the day by Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle helped Australia achieve a respectable day 1 score. Play ended with Australia at 6/277 with India’s fast bowling sensation Umesh Yadav taking 3 wickets.

Umesh Yadav facing the media after the days play said he was happy with his performance but would have preferred to have bowled more economical. His three wickets included the scalps of Warner, March and Ponting which kept Australia in check. Ishant Sharma was the unlucky having been the pick of the Indian bowler but not taking any wickets. Zaheer Khan also made a steady comeback taking the wickets of Hussey and Clarke, which Ashwin took the wicket to dismiss Cowan caught behind.

Ed Cowan, who made an impressive century in the preceding tour game against India in Canberra, was unlucky to have been given out caught behind with hotspot replays not showing any contact with the willow. Cowan commented that he wanted consistency in the use of DRS by the ICC and no doubt feels he has missed out on a century on debut. India was also at the receiving end of their decision to not use DRS when a close LBW shout late on the day against Brad Haddin was turned down by the umpire.

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Anti-corruption rally in Melbourne supports Anna fast. PHOTO: Neeraj Nanda/SAT

By our correspondent

Melbourne, 21 Aug., 2011: Hundreds of Indians including students today held a solidarity rally here in support of the anti-corruption movement in India. Waving the Indian flag and singing ‘Hum honge kamyab ek din…’, they supported the fasting Gandhian Anna Hazare’s fast for a Lok Pal in Delhi.
Carrying banners and Indian flags the gathering shouted slogans in support for establishing a Lok Pal in India. The crowd was joined by many from different communities who had come to the Federation Square to enjoy a sunny day. Some Indian tourists joined in and later the gathering ended with the Indian national anthem.

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By Neeraj Nanda

Melbourne: India’s Foreign Minister has said the country was engaging China and its foreign policy was not Pakistan centric. He said India wanted a strong and democratic Pakistan and certain bilateral issues are held up because Pakistan was not cooperating in the Mumbai terrorist attacks issue. Mr. Krishna was replying to a question by South Asia Times (SAT), leading South Asian paper in Australia.
Mr. Krishna also told SAT he had raised issues related to Indian overseas students in Australia and was assured by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd of full cooperation in the matter.

Meanwhile, Australia said it will “continue to discuss” with India its “differences” on whether to export Australian uranium for India’s civil nuclear purposes. The decision will take place “within the framework” of the “strategic partnership” that Australia established with India in 2009, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told a media conference after talks with the External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in Melbourne on Thursday.

The two leaders reviewed bilateral ties and discussed international issues under a bilateral “framework dialogue.”

Mr. Krishna was assisted by Secretary (East) Latha Reddy, High Commissioner Sujatha Singh and Adviser Raghavendra Shastry.

The Australian Foreign Minister also raised the issue of the non-payment of bills to its companies by the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee (OC).

“It has been brought to my notice and I will go back to India and take it up with the sports ministry,” Krishna said and the Australian minister expressed satisfaction over the assurance.

“We are comfortable about the Indian government’s response… These matters are well in hand,” Rudd said.

Later during a media conference with the South Asian/Indian media Mr. S. M. Krishna on a question by South Asia Times (SAT) said India was engaging China and its foreign policy was not just Pakistan centric. He said India wanted a strong and democratic Pakistan and certain bilateral issues are held up because Pakistan was not cooperating in the Mumbai terrorist attacks issue.

Mr. Krishna also met a large number of members of the Indian diaspora in Melbourne.

Earlier, Mr. S. M. Krishna has arrived here on a three- day visit today. Mr Krishna is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson. His talks with Mr. Kevin Rudd will be the seventh round of the framework dialogue between the two countries.

- With inputs from other media also.

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Pakistani newspapers have admitted they were hoaxed after publishing reports based on fake Wikileaks cables containing anti-Indian propaganda.

US diplomatic cables were reported on Thursday as confirming many right-wing Pakistani views and conspiracy theories about their regional arch-foe.

They claimed US envoys thought one Indian general was “rather a geek”, and accused India of genocide in Kashmir.

The fake cables are believed to have been planted by Pakistani intelligence.

The Guardian, a British newspaper which has all of the 250,000 leaked Wikileaks cables, said that an extensive search of the database had found nothing to match any of the claims in the Pakistani media.

‘Deep regret’
A spokesman for the Indian High Commission in Islamabad said they were “appalled” such a baseless story had attracted such wide exposure.

According to the fake cables, Indian spies were said to be supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan’s north-western tribal region of Waziristan and the south-western province of Balochistan.

US diplomats were also said to believe the Indian Army was faction-ridden; a “Bosnia-like genocide” was happening in Indian-administered Kashmir; and the Indian military was supporting “Hindu fanatic groups”.

On further inquiries, we learnt the story was dubious ”

The bogus messages also referred to the confession of Ajmal Qasab, the only surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, calling it funny and “shockingly immature”.

US diplomats were said to have referred to former Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor as “an incompetent combat leader and rather a geek”.

“His war doctrine, suggesting eliminating China and Pakistan in a simultaneous war front, was termed as ‘much far from reality’,” reported the News, a daily newspaper.

Another army chief had apparently been described as “an egotist, self-obsessed, petulant and idiosyncratic general, a braggadocio and a show-off, who has been disliked (and barely tolerated) by all his subordinates”.

‘Without verification’
The report also said that US diplomats had compared yet another Indian general in Indian-administered Kashmir to “General Milosevic of Bosnia with regard to butchering Muslims through war crimes”.

The News said on Friday: “On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted.”

The English-language Express Tribune newspaper, a Pakistani affiliate of the International Herald Tribune, published a front-page retraction.

The daily said it “deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience”.

But Jang, which had reported the fake Wikileaks story on its front page, did not mention it on Friday.

And the Nation newspaper still appeared to believe the story, claiming in an editorial that the report had exposed “India’s true face”.

The hoax is said to have originated from the Islamabad-based Online wire agency.

The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says Online is known for its close links to the Pakistani intelligence services.

The agency gained notoriety in 2002 when one of its correspondents tried to sell a video of US journalist Daniel Pearl’s murder to US diplomats.
- BBC

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Buyline Ravi V.Chhabra

Lakhs of smokers die of cancer in Mother India. Sad. Most people do not take the surgeon general’s caution seriously. Sadder. Smoking is banned in public places and bars, pubs, clubs, bistros et al. Ridiculous/farcical. Smoking causes death. Factual. Reason: Every smoker who reads it, regrets having read it and furthermore, ignores reading it the secondtime. Brilliant! The Government is cold-eyed. (Guaranteed).

According to a 2008 report in dancingwithshadows.com, “A study has revealed that there are currently about 120 million smokers in the country and the rate of tobacco-linked deaths is increasing at about 3% a year. The study, conducted by Dr Prabhat Jha, of the Centre for Global Health at the University in Toronto and his groupies, said that in 2010 alone, smoking will lead to nearly 1 million deaths in India. Further, 70% of those deaths will occur in men and women aged between 30 to 69. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study was conducted on a nationally representative sample of 1.1 million Indian households. Dr. Jha and his colleagues studied the prevalence of smoking among 33,000 deceased women and 41,000 deceased men. This was then contrasted with the prevalence of smoking among 35,000 living women and 43,000 living men.

Tobacco is still sold in its most pure/raw formats in every cranny of developing India (read hookah). An unIncredible India, where the cost of a single kings’ cigarette alone can provide for a basic meal for one. But, this is not happening. There can only be two reasons for it. One, the people(smoke addicts) are not get ting the message clearly and next, the Government has other pastimes rather than imposing a ‘rightful ban’ on tobacco at the cost of intimidating the lobbyists and tobacco companies.

“Now, smoke your cigarette and even enjoy (read Njoy) it as much because this one(a lesser known brand) comes without tobacco and is an E-Cigarette. It is actually good for health (for passives!). And, you don’t need an ash-tray to stub it either. It’s lifetime reusable”, says a lawyer-to-be Aman Thukral. Welcome to the world of virtual cigarettes or ‘Electronic Cigarette’ (EC). The tobacco-less avatars are imported mainly from Bangkok, Hongkong and the original and best-grosser NJoy – popular in the US, it is unreliably learnt is mostly of Chinese origin and costs higher. But the less famous brands can range from Rs. 6000 a pack (single rechargeable cigarette) upwards.

The fnbworld spoke with one such ‘Electronic Cigarette’ dealer, who is studying law. Aman Thukral (23), says, “An E-Cigarettes box of (1 cigarette) costs Rs 6,000 (includes free 20-puffs trial /charger and doorstep delivery). The cigarette needs 2 hours of charging and can be puffed over 500-times, before it has to be recharged and it is, indeed, without any harmful effects or toxins/ tobacco-smoke. It gives out smoke and the same sensations in the lungs! It sure-shot facilitates tobacco de-addiction”, he asserts. Let’s try it. Please.

- Reproduced with Special Permission from fnbworld.com {News for Soul}.

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By our business reporter

Melbourne, 4 August: Victoria’s Premier John Brumby here today launched the Westpac Group’s new Cultural and language Learning Program for China and India.

Mr. Brumby said the program was an exciting new way to help staff and clients better engage markets in China and India.
“China and India are two Victoria’s most important partners, and so it is vital that we continue to enrich and deepen our engagement with these dynamic and rapidly transforming economies”, he said.

Alice Wong, Westpac’s Head of Asia and Migrant Markets said, “This initiative will help our customers who wish to engage in trade flow between Australia and Asian nations”.

Chairman of Asialink, Mr. Sid Myer said “the ‘Asian century’ means different things to different people, but what it does not mean is business as usual. Asialink is honoured to partner and The Westpac Group in its creative response to the challenge of doing business differently – providing new tools for the new century.

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The analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit looked at access to services, quality of care and public awareness in 40 countries. It found the UK performed particularly well on issues such as obtaining pain killers and quality of support. Along with Australia, it received 7.9 out of 10, well ahead of nations such as Denmark, on 5.1 and Italy, on 4.4. India came bottom on 1.9.
The researchers, part of the group which publishes the Economist magazine, talked to health professionals in 40 countries as well as looking through official data.
They concluded access to drugs and carers were the two most pressing issues for all involved. They also said that most health systems, no matter how well funded, relied to some extent on charities and philanthropic bodies to offer support to patients, particularly through networks of hospices.
David Praill, chief executive of Help the Hospices in the UK and co-chairman of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, said the result was “heartening” for the UK.
But he added: “The system is far from perfect and there remains huge disparity.”
He also said urgent action was needed in those countries with the worst systems.
“Hospice and palliative care is still unavailable to many of those in need, especially in the developing world with millions of people dying in pain and distress every year.”
TOP FIVE COUNTRIES
UK – 7.9 out of 10
Australia – 7.9
New Zealand – 7.7
Ireland – 6.8
Belgium – 6.8
BOTTOM FIVE COUNTRIES
India – 1.9 out of 10
Uganda – 2.1
Brazil – 2.2
China – 2.3
Mexico – 2.7
-BBC, July 14

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The Victorian government has enlisted the support of Australian all-time spin bowler Shane Warne to turn the country’s sagging reputation around and help soothe anger in India by doing some promotional work.Warne met with Premier John Brumby in this regard behind closed doors Friday but the leg-spinner refused to speak to the media on the outcome of the talks.Brumby repeated the possibility of a “friendship cricket game” and did not rule out a taxpayer-funded ad campaign to contain the fallout over continuing attacks on Indians.
The Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) spokesman Gautam Gupta said Warne was a good ambassador and his work should be focused on tackling racism locally, rather than promoting Australia overseas.

“He’s got a lot of young followers and he sends the right message,” Gupta added.
- Oz Media

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