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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wedding bells for Indian and Pakistani sports stars


Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik have got married, ending days of controversy and high drama.The high-profile wedding of South Asia’s first sporting couple was a private affair. It was attended by only relatives and close friends, said Rucha Nayak, a spokesperson for the 23-year old Sania Mirza. "The nikah (wedding) has now been performed. Please pray for the couple," Nayak told reporters in Hyderabad. There was no immediate explanation given on why the wedding ceremony had been brought forward by three days. Originally, it had been scheduled for April 15. The wedding ceremony took place after days of drama revolving around the 28-year-old groom's first marriage.Soon after the sporting couple first announced the plans of their wedding last month, another woman from Hyderabad, Ayesha Siddiqui, claimed that the cricketer had met her on the Internet and married her over the telephone under Islamic law in 2002. Siddiqui also charged Malik of infidelity, harassment and criminal intimidation. Last week, Siddiqui withdrew the charges after Malik formally divorced her. Malik had initially admitted to the telephonic relation with Siddiqui, but had claimed that the photographs Siddiqui provided to him on the net had been someone else's, adding that the wedding with her was illegal.The cross-border alliance between national sports stars Mirza and Malik has generated huge interest among the people of both India and Pakistan, long time rivals. The news about the wedding and the controversy had people in both countries glued to their televisions. After celebrations in Mirza’s home town Hyderabad this week, a reception is planned in the Pakistani city of Lahore later. The couple will be based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates but they will continue to represent their countries in their respective sports. 

US 'strongly' backs Russia entry into WTO: official


Washington "strongly supports" Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization, a top US official said Wednesday, amid renewed calls by Russia for quick admission to the global trade body. "The United States strongly supports Russia's accession to the WTO," said William Burns, US undersecretary of state for political affairs. Burns noted in remarks made at the Center for American Progress, a Washington thinktank, that Russia is "the largest economy in the world outside the WTO -- the only G20 member outside" the influential trade bloc. A former US ambassador to Moscow, he said that "it is truly is not in Russia's interest, or our interest" that Russia remain outside the WTO. The US diplomat's remarks came one day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for Moscow's swift entry into the WTO "without humiliation or new demands."

Name change stirs Pakistan protest


Eight people have been killed in northwestern Pakistan during protests against plans to rename the country's North West Frontier Province, witnesses reported. The protests erupted on Monday and continued for a second day on Tuesday, as scores of people took to the streets of the city of Abbottabad. The demonstrators were protesting against a parliamentary proposalto change the name of the North West Frontier Province, or NWFP, to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.

Poll: 91% against Obama imposing deal


A huge majority of Israelis would oppose an attempt by US President Barack Obama to impose a final-status agreement with the Palestinians, a poll sponsored by the Independent Media Review and Analysis (IMRA) organization found this week. Leading American newspapers reported last week that Obama was considering trying to impose a settlement if efforts to begin indirect proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians proved unsuccessful. The option was discussed in a meeting with current and former advisers to the White House. Asked whether they would support Obama imposing a plan dividing Jerusalem and removing the Jordan Valley from Israeli control, 91 percent of Israelis who expressed an opinion said no and 9% said yes, according to the poll of 503 Israelis, which was taken by Ma’agar Mohot on Sunday and Monday and had a 4.5% margin of error.

Different policy approaches and strategic issues divide Obama and Netanyahu


The traditionally close relations between Israel and the US have turned sour under Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu over the Middle East peace process. Israeli experts are divided whether Europe can help out. That the leadership combination wasn't exactly a match made in heaven for the special relationship between Israel and the US was evident right from the start. On the one hand, there is an Israeli prime minister, generally considered a foreign policy hawk, whose leanings would place him squarely in the conservative wing of the US Republican Party. And on the other hand, there is a reformist president who won the election by promising a new approach to foreign policy that included talking to Iran and other pariah states.

Quake in western China kills 400


A strong earthquake hit a remote mountainous area of China Wednesday, killing about 400 people and injuring thousands as it toppled mud-and-wood houses and at least one school, burying many in rubble. About 10,000 people were injured in the quake of at least 6.9-magnitude which also disrupted telecommunications, knocked out electricity and triggered landslides in the north-western province of Qinghai. Rescuers were working with their bare hands to clear debris and find survivors from the rubble, with children said to be among the casualties. President Hu Jintao called for all-out efforts to save as many as possible. About 400 people have been confirmed dead, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting Huang Limin, a top official in the Yushu prefecture, where the quake was centred. 

Scores killed by storm in India


At least 89 people have been killed in eastern India after a powerful storm demolished tens of thousands of homes and uprooted trees. Local authorities said on Wednesday that hundreds of people had suffered injuries and up to 100,000 mud hut homes were destroyed by the storm in the state of West Bengal.

Poland president's burial stirs row


Plans to bury Poland's late president in a castle where kings have been interred has triggered divisions across a nation still mourning the death of its leader. The funeral of Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, who were killed in a plane crash in Russia on the weekend, is expected to take place this Sunday at Wawel castle in the southern city of Krakow. But the choice of site has sparked anger among some groups, triggering protests on the streets and campaigns on social networking websites.