England to return to India this week for Test Series

The English cricket team is set to come back to India later this week for the two-Test series starting Dec 11, the media reported here Monday.

According to a report in The Guardian, the team is expected to be back in India either Thursday or Friday to fulfil their engagement. England had cut short their visit and cancelled the two one-dayers after the Mumbai attacks.

The matches are likely to take place in Ahmedabad and Chennai, which was selected in place of Mumbai after the terror attacks in the city.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will present the players with a safety report Monday and the resumption of the tour is likely to be officially confirmed Tuesday.

The daily also reported that ECB is in touch with the Indian and British governments, consulates in Indian cities, security advisers and other risk assessment experts in order to give the cricketers a thorough dossier on safety issues.

The ECB has also spoken to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).

But England team could be without some of their biggest names — Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Jimmy Anderson.

Lalit Modi, vice-president of the Indian cricket board, suggested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would not press for compensation if England remained at home.

‘I really do believe that it (the tour) will happen. It’s just that we need to take it to another city, which we’ve agreed to do. We can’t allow events around the world to deter us, to be afraid to play,’ Modi was quoted as saying by the media

Britney Spears – Circus [Video Teaser]

 

I really hope she does some cool dancing like she use to do!!

She looks amazing in this clip! This video looks like it’ll be even better than Womanizer!

Waiting for the Full video premier. Britney is back!

Aamir Khan: Reply with 1000 roses

‘If terrorists are showering their bombs of violence, let’s reciprocate with roses of love in thousands and more’, says Aamir Khan.

It’s been a black week all throughout the globe with various locations of Mumbai stuck in terror. Mumbai ? The commercial capital of India turning into a War Zone has broken down the hearts of ours and Aamir Khan seems to be more desperate. Remember this! The actor has been more keen on his words ‘If terrorists are showering their bombs of violence, let’s reciprocate with roses of love in thousands and more’.

Bollywood Star seems to have been undergoing insomniac ever since last night as he has got his eyes fixed on news channels. In his blog, Aamir has penned the following statements

“My heartfelt condolences to the families of persons killed and taken hostage. I was feeling sick in the stomach when the fire broke out at the Taj. What would the people caught inside be going through. The fire fighters were doing their best but my imagination was running wild and I was feeling helpless watching other people trapped in the rooms adjoining the fire. 

My heartfelt condolences to the family of the brave officers of the Mumbai Police who lost their lives leading from the front to take on these terrorists. Especially Hemant Karkare of the ATS who in the recent past was being targeted by various political parties for the work that he was doing. When will these politicians realize and admit that terrorists HAVE NO RELIGION. Terrorists are not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. They are not people of religion or God. They are people who have gone totally sick in their head and have to be dealt with in that manner. Hemant Karkare is an example of a brave officer who gave his life in the line of duty. 

At this moment I pray that the brave officers of the Mumbai Police, the Indian Army, Navy, the NSG and the various other security forces dealing with the situation are able to end this crisis as soon as possible. 

If it had just been a matter of simply fighting the terrorists the security forces would have dealt with it sooner, but here of course the situation is extremely complicated with many innocent lives at stake. The fact that the locations are huge hotels with multiple floors, hundreds of rooms, many corridors, staff quarters, work spaces, entries, exits etc, and have innocent guests still in there, have made the task very difficult and delicate. 

I dread to think of how various political parties are now going to try and use this tragedy to further their political careers. At least now they should learn to not divide people and instead become responsible leaders. An incident such as this really exposes how ill-equipped we are as a society as far as proper leaders go. We desperately need young, dynamic, honest, intelligent and upright leaders, who actually care for the country”.

Maharashtra Deputy CM RR Patil resigns

 

Maharastra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who was in the cross hairs in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, resigned on 1 December.

“We have taken our own decision. It is for them to take their decision,” the NCP supremo said when asked whether the chief minister, who belongs to Congress, had also quit. 

A Congress leader, who declined to be named, said if either the CM or the deputy CM goes, “the other will have to go because the issue is the same”. 

A beleaguered Deshmukh landed himself in a fresh controversy yesterday as he visited the terror-hit Taj Mahal hotel along with film producer Ram Gopal Varma and Deshmukh’s actor son Reitesh. 

The issue was raised at the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night which was also attended by Sonia Gandhi with some parties criticising the CM for his “casual” attitude. 

Deshmukh recently completed four years in office. The names of union ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Sushil Kumar Shinde are doing the rounds to replace the chief minister and sources say a decision on the successor’s name was delaying Deshmukh’s resignation. 

“I have submitted my resignation letter to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. I have gone by my conscience and decided to take this step,” Patil told PTI.

“I pondered over the issue the whole night yesterday. Finally, I have decided to quit as per my conscience,“ Patil said.

Patil’s resignation follows the exit of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who put in his papers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, after the Congress Working Committee spoke disapprovingly of the Home Minister, in light of the Mumbai carnage and other terror strikes in the country.

The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, who was also in charge of the state Home Ministry, was under severe criticism following the terror attacks with opposition Shiv Sena and BJP demanding his resignation alleging that he failed to handle the situation.

Patil belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and hails from Sangli district in western Maharashtra.

Who are these people? Patils, Modis, Thackereys, Deshmukhs etc etc. We need a tough person to lead the state and country at this time, someone who stands tall and proud under extreme pressure and give it back as good as it gets. Someone like Kiran Bedi or KPS Gill should be the home minister and not these next to nothing politicians who are just crooks and know only how to divide India on the basis of region or religion..

The problem will not be solved tendering resignation by RR Patil. Mere resignations/change of guards will not solve the problem. They should be made held accountable for the present chaos. In my opinion, the best solution at present is, that President should dismiss the present Government and put the state under President’s rule and hand over the Mumbai City administration to security forces with clear mandate to hunt down the terrorists and their local sympathizers, if any. I am tired of seeing people shouting and screeming in front of the TV cameras and bashing the politicians. Who is responsible for these chaotic conditions? We the people are responsible for having elected such leaders. Now the time has come that people should think and collectively force the Government to bring changes in the People’s Representation Act according to the present requirement and make the politicians accountable for their misdeeds.

Politicians like these selfish people should be Shutdown