ontario - prime minister stephen harper announced...

CIRCULATED THROUGH : TORONTO, MARKHAM, SCARBOROUGH, RICHMOND HILL, VAUGHAN, WOODBRIDGE, ETOBICOKE, NORTH YORK, MALTON, REXDALE, BRAMPTON, MISSISSAUGA, OAKVILLE, HAMILTON, MILTON, STONEY CREEK, BURLINGTON

FOR MORE DETAILS SEE PAGE 27

Sania wins US Open women'sdoubles title; Leander Paes US

Open mixed doubles

I CONTD. ON PAGE 4

PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER ANNOUNCED HIS PLAN TO LOWER TAXES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARSAS PART OF HIS LOW-TAX, BALANCED BUDGET PROGRAM OF ECONOMIC GROWTH (PHOTO BY JASON RANSOM).

MULCAIR AND HARPER TIED ASPREFERRED PM, TRUDEAU

CLOSELY TRAILS: NANOS POLL

SONIA SIDHU, FEDERAL LIBERAL CANDIDATE FROM BRAMPTON-SOUTH WITH THE MEMBERS OF CONTAINER TRUCKING ASSOCIATION AT DIXIE GURDWARA WHO ARE ON STRIKE.

NEW YORK, (IANS) Women's doubles top seeds Sania Mirza andMartina Hingis defeated four th seeded Casey Dellacqua and YaroslavaShvedova 6-3, 6-3 here on Sunday to claim the US Open title. TheIndo-Swiss pair took only 69 minutes to conquer the Australian-Kazakhpair at the Ar thur Ashe stadium. It was Sania and Mar tina's secondwomen's doubles Grand Slam tit le together after winning theWimbledon earlier this year and they played with supreme confi-dence to win the tournament without dropping a set. It was Sania'sfifth success at the Majors (two women's doubles and three mixeddoubles crowns). I CONTD. ON PAGE 22

ONTARIO - The latest figures by Nanos Research show that Mulcairand Harper are virtually tied on the preferred PM measure (29.6% and 29.4%respectively) while Trudeau is close but trailing at 25.6% of Canadians. Fiveper cent of Canadians would prefer May as PM while another nine per centwere unsure who they would prefer. (Percentages were not rounded in thiscase to illustrate the proximity of the Mulcair and Harper numbers.)Nanos Party Power Index - The NDP scored marginally higher than theLiberals on the Nanos Party Power Index which is a basket of political goodincluding questions on ballot preferences and leadership impressions. TheNDP scored 56 out of a possible 100 points while the Liberals scored 55points, the Conservatives 49 points, the Green Party 31 points and the BQ 29points (QC only). A national random telephone (land + cell) survey using liveagents of 1,200 Canadians is conducted by Nanos Research throughout thecampaign over a three day period. Each evening a new group of 400 eligiblevoters are interviewed. The daily tracking figures are based on a three-day rolling sample comprised of 1,200 interviews. To update the trackinga new day of interviewing is added and the oldest day dropped. The margin of errorfor a survey of 1,200 respondents is ±2.8%, 19 times out of 20.

WILL CONSERVATIVES BENEFIT FROMTHE LIBERAL AND NDP FIGHT?

BY SHAMEEL

BRAMPTON - A few election analysts have described them 'promis-cuous progressive voters' as they are shifting loyalties almost ondaily basis. They are a section of the progressive-minded Canadianswho don't want to see Harper's Conservatives back in power. Theyare constantly changing their preferences to see who is the alterna-tive-the Liberal par ty or the NDP. Trends seemed to be going in favorof the Liberals till Friday. Three news polls were released over theweekend suggesting a decline in the Liberal suppor t and gains for theNDP.Poll trackers give 32 per cent polling average to the NDP and 29.8 percent to the Liberals. The Conservatives are in the third place with 29.8per cent polling average. How this suppor t percentage translates intoseats is a complex arithmetic.Recent Nanos Research polls have put the NDP in the first place with31.3 per cent suppor t, the Liberals at 30.3 per cent, and the Conserva-tives at 30.2 per cent. EKOS research survey gives the Conservatives31.8 percent, the NDP 29.6 and the Liberals 26.9 percent suppor t.Forum research survey gives the NDP 36, the Liberals 29 and theConservatives 28 percent. All new polls are suggesting some move-

ment in favor the Conservatives. For three weeks, the Liberals wereconsistently showing gains and the NDP was losing ground. This alsomarks the NDP's comeback after days of negative trends.However, it is still a very tight three way fight.A few pollsters see this three-corner fight as an advantage for Con-servatives. They believe that the race between Liberals and NDPmight split anti-Conservative votes in many ridings and end up ben-efiting Conservatives. Harper's traditional constituency seems to beintact and a fluid group of progressive voters will keep going backand forth between the Liberals and the NDP in search of an antidote to theConservatives. Community activist and political observer Manan Gupta seesit as a contradiction between ideology and ground realities. "It may look finein the world of ideology and political theories, but in practical reality of elec-tion contests, there cannot be two alternatives to the Conservatives today.Presence of equally strong Liberals and NDP is actually confusing manyprogressive voters who want to change the Harper government." This dy-namic was evident in some GTA ridings in the past federal electionstoo. The common goal of the Liberals and the NDP to displace theConservative government has actually put them in a situation whereeach begins to see the other as the 'real enemy'.

3 Canadian universities in top50 but no Indian varsity

DESK REPORTTORONTO - According to the latest repor t published by the QuacqurelliSymonds (QS) three Canadian universities have made it to the list ofworld's top 50 universities but sadly no India varsity is there. The 14Indian institutes that are mentioned are among the global 400 list. Two IndianInstitutes hitting the top 200 list are the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and theIndian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D). Though several world class universitieshave been added to the list, UK has maintained its reputation for offering the best inhigher education with the maximum number of British universities in the list withfour in the top 50. But the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USAretains its top position. I CONTD. ON PAGE 3

2 MidWeek MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

MidWeek 3MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012

MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


PAGE 3 SALMAN BEATS SRKAS 'ATTRACTIVEPERSONALITY'

SHAHID KAPOOR, ALIA BHATT AND FILMMAKER VIKAS BAHL DURING THE SONG LAUNCH OF FILM SHAANDAAR IN MUMBAI (IANS).

Kim Kardashian not feeling'great' during second pregnancyLOS ANGELES, (IANS) Real-ity TV star Kim Kardashian"doesn't feel great" during hersecond pregnancy. "Shemight look amazing, but shedoesn't feel that great," a fam-ily source told eonline.com."She is often uncomfor table.That being said, she feelsmuch better this time aroundthan she did with North," thesource added. Kim, who hasworn a number of stylish ma-terni ty looks in recentmonths, and Kanye are ex-pecting a baby boy, who willjoin big sister North West, 2.The reality star is due to givebir th in December. Kim hadcontracted laryngitis towardthe end of her first trimester.

SALMAN BEATS SRK AS 'ATTRACTIVE PERSONALITY'MUMBAI, (IANS) Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has topped a list of the most attractive personalities, leaving behind the likes of AmitabhBachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. The "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" star is "India's Most Attractive Personality", according to a 16-city surveyconducted by TRA (formerly Trust Research Advisory), a Comniscient Group company which has diversified interests in communication,media and brand analytics. The company conducted a report based on what it called a "36 Trait Matrix" to measure "brand attractiveness".Following Salman in the "attractiveness quotient" are Amitabh, 72, and Shah Rukh, 49. Actress Deepika Padukone came fourth in the listdethroning Katrina Kaif, who was at the top among females when the list last came out. Following Deepika in this year's list are Mahendra SinghDhoni, Rahul Dravid, Ranbir Kapoor, Hema Malini, Sachin Tendulkar, Aamir Khan and Virat Kohli.

Sonam, Sonakshi, Priyanka speak up againt cyber bulliesMUMBAI, (IANS) Actresses Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha andPriyanka Chopra have spoken again social media users whomock celebrities for their views and ideas on socio-politicalissues. Sonam, who earlier this week got into a Twitter trollover a four-day meat ban here by terming it "misogynistic", onThursday called upon the victims of internet bullying to stand upfor themselves. In the past, actresses including Alia Bhatt,Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone have been judged fortheir views on Twitter."To everyone out there please have the courage to stand up tobullies, trolls and people who generally put youdown...#wearyourcourage," she tweeted. Sonakshi too was avictim to Twitter troll earlier this week, when her opinionagainst the meat ban annoyed some users. "This is a freecountry! Welcome to BAN-istan... I meant India... Stupidautocorrect. (sic)," the "Dabangg" actress tweeted.

This tweet was followed by remarks directed against the 28-year-old actress. She then gave out a strong reply, saying:"Welcome to Twitter. Where only trolls are allowed to have theirsay. Yep, the only space they should be taking up in life is the140 characters here! And the best par t is, trolls think they arerelevant, while we carry on with our happy and positive lives.God bless you all!" Sonam lauded Sonakshi's stand by tweeting:"I'm super proud of @sonakshisinha for having the courage tohave an opinion and not backing down.. #whattagirl#wearyourcourage #bulliessuck."Priyanka, who is shooting in the US for the American TV series "Quantico",expressed support for her tinsel town colleagues. "People hide behind what theywant the world to see them as cause it's easier! Standing up for yourself takesOVARIES! Go @sonakshisinha #TweetTweak," she tweeted on Thursday. Thisis not the first time that actreses have been targeted on socialmedia platforms.

BHARTI SINGH CALLS ATHIYASHETTY A 'HOCKEY STICK'

MUMBAI, (IANS) Comedian Bhar ti Singh, who appears on new TVshow "Comedy Nights Bachao", poked fun at actress Athiya Shetty'ssleek physique by calling her a "hockey stick".Daughter of actor Suniel Shetty, Athiya, whohas made her Bol lywood debut alongwith Sooraj Pancholi with "Hero", willbe seen in the for thcoming episode of"Comedy Nights Bachao" along withBol lywood superstar Salman Khan,who is co-producing the film along withveteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai.Bhar ti, along with her co-starKrushna Abh ishek , wasseen pok ing fun a t theguests.When she went around tomeet Athiya and Sooraj, shesaid: "For the first time onColors, a hockey stick and afootball are seen together." Itwas clearly a joke on her ownrotund frame. After that ,Krushna cal led Bhar t i andAthiya a "per fect 10", withAthiya being the one and Bhartithe round zero. The episode fea-turing the "Hero" stars was airedon Saturday.

QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKING


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015f e d e r a l e l e c t i o n s

CAMPAIGN OFFICE CONTACT :100 Kennedy Road South, Brampton, ON, L6W 3E7

[email protected], 905-512-6664

Mulcair's job killing one-two punchwill hurt auto sector: John McCallumTORONTO - Thomas Mulcair's corporate tax hike andcuts to the economy will kill jobs in the auto sector, saidLiberal candidate for Markham-Thornhi l l , JohnMcCallum. "Thomas Mulcair is proposing job killing taxhikes on local business and deep cuts to the economyin order to eliminate the deficit at any cost, just likeHarper," said McCallum.He added: "It amounts to a devastating one-two punchthat will damage the auto sector and set Canada's al-ready struggling economy even fur ther behind. ThomasMulcair pretends he suppor ts the auto sector, while at

the same time he's silent on his policies that will dosignificant harm. It's just the latest example thatThomas Mulcair will say whatever people want tohear." Liberal candidate for Niagara Falls, RonPlanche said: "Liberals will create jobs with the mostsignificant infrastructure investment in Canadianhistory. We'll invest in families, so Canadians canmake ends meet; in roads and bridges, and in cleanenergy. Only Justin Trudeau is promising to investin our economy to suppor t jobs and growth. That'sreal change from Harper."

Canada's economy needs investment, notHarper's and Mulcair's cuts: Scott BrisonNEW MINAS - The Bank of Canada's decision tokeep the interest rate frozen shows the economy - andgrowth for the middle class - remains weak, said Liberalcandidate for Kings-Hants, Scott Brison."The bad economic news keeps on coming. Lastweek, StatsCan confirmed Canada entered reces-sion this year and today the Bank of Canada frozeinterest rates again. It's clear that the economycontinues to struggle under Stephen Harper," saidBrison. "We need to make smar t investments thatwill grow the economy and strengthen our middle

class. Now is not the time for cuts that willslow our economy fur ther.""Both Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair areplacing cuts ahead of jobs and growth forCanadians. Mr. Harper's plan has failed,leaving him with the worst growth record ofany Prime Minister since the Great Depres-sion," said Brison. "And Mr. Mulcair has noanswers on the economy and will cut billionsof dollars in public investment. He'll eliminatethe deficit at any cost just like Harper."

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1According to trends from provinces, NDP is the dominant playerwith a good margin in Quebec as the Bloc Quebecois has losttheir initial momentum. The Conservatives seem safe and strongin Alber ta and Saskatchewan while Liberals have the winningedge in Atlantic Canada.It is difficult to predict which way the trends will move in the fewweeks before the election day. Last week, analysts pointed outrecent Liberal gains and NDP losses. "The NDP seems to belosing traction with seniors, while the Liberals are clawing backsome of the university vote they lost to the NDP. In shor t, the NDPis no longer a rallying point for disgruntled voters," said anEkospolitics analysis. And just few days after the analysis, wehave a different scenario to analyze.We are not sure how steady is the trend in favor of any par ty andhow far it goes. Some analysts attribute it to the shifting prioritiesof voters in the wake of a deepening economic crisis. Theseanalysts believe that at this point recession is the main concernthat has eclipsed all others issues however impor tant they were.Yet, while the latest polls indicate splitting of votes between pro-gressive par ties would definitely benefit the Conservative Par ty,they don't seem to be getting the 35 per cent suppor t --- thethreshold for a majority government.The first week of September was good for the Liberals and nowthe conservatives are gaining some grounds and the NDP seemsto be in strong position. Yet, we still don't know what picture willemerge on October 19th. Maybe next few days will show thedirection the country is headed for.

WILL CONSERVATIVESBENEFIT FROM THE LIBERAL

AND NDP FIGHT?

Liberals unveil strategy tocreate jobs for young

Canadians in BramptonDESK REPORT

BRAMPTON - A Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau will investin young Canadians entering the workforce, helping them acquirethe skills and experience to gain meaningful employment and con-tribute to the local economy, said Brampton's Liberal candidatesRuby Sahota and Kamal Khera in two separate press releases.Kamal Khera is the candidate from Brampton West and Ruby Sahotafrom Brampton North. "You don't have to look far to find stories ofbright young local kids going off to college or university, being un-able to find work, and having to move home. Thousands of youngCanadians are unemployed or underemployed, and jobs are so hardto come by that many young people have stopped looking altogether.Liberals have a plan to invest in our shared future by creating jobsand opportunities for young Canadians." said Sahota. Ruby Sahotais challenging sitting Conservative MP Parm Gill in a three wayfight. Martin Singh is the NDP candidate in the riding.Highlighting some main components of the plan, the press releasesays that a Liberal government will invest $1.3 billion over threeyears - 13 times more than the NDP. The plan will create 40,000 youth jobseach year for the next three years through a new, annual investment of $300million in a renewed Youth Employment Strategy. It will also create 5,000 newgreen jobs for youth, as part of the renewed Youth Employment Strategy, byhiring more guides, interpreters, and other staff at Parks Canada, aswell as partnering with environmental organizations to create pro-grams that help young people tackle environmental challenges whilegaining valuable work experience.

PRIME MINISTER HARPER PLAYS ROAD HOCKEY WHILE IN WATERLOO (PHOTO BY JASON RANSOM).



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

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SONIA SIDHU MEETS SENIORS IN BRAMPTONBRAMPTON: A Trudeau-led Liberal government will make sure thatCanadian seniors get the secure and dignified retirement they de-serve, said Sonia Sidhu, Liberal candidate for Brampton South."With record levels of household debt and an economy in recession,it is no wonder why Canadians in Brampton - and across the country- are worried about their retirement," said Sidhu. "Right now, onaverage, a retired person receives just $618 per month from the CanadaPension Plan - hardly enough to live on. Our seniors have workedtheir entire lives, and should not have struggle to make ends meet.

Justin Trudeau has a plan to ensure that all Canadians get the digni-fied retirement they have earned. "Every day, I speak with people who tell me that they are struggling -that they are working longer and harder just to make ends meet, thatthey have to choose between saving for their kids' education orfortheir own retirement. That's just not right," said Sidhu "Only Liberalshave a plan to ensure that all seniors are able to retire in security anddignity, and that all Canadians have a real and fair chance at suc-cess."

KAMAL KHERA ON STRATEGY TO CREATE JOBSFOR YOUNG CANADIANS IN BRAMPTON WEST

BRAMPTON - A Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau will invest inyoung Canadians entering the workforce, helping them acquire the skills andexperience to gain meaningful employment and contribute to the local

economy, said Kamal Khera Liberal candidate for Brampton West."Over the last ten years under Stephen Harper, people in Brampton West - andright across the country - are struggling to make ends meet. This couldn't betruer of young workers trying desperately to break into the job market," saidMs Khera. "You don't have to look far to find stories of bright young local kidsgoing off to college or university, being unable to find work, and having tomove home. Thousands of young Canadians are unemployed or underem-ployed, and jobs are so hard to come by that many young people havestopped looking altogether."Unfortunately, the shortage of good jobs for young people has become com-monplace under this Conservative government. There are 170,000 feweryoung people in the workforce now than before the 2008 recession. Parentsare feeling the crunch, and are forced to dip into their savings to support theirkids," said Ms Khera. "We can and must do more to help young people enterthe workforce and launch their careers. Liberals fundamentally believe thatall Canadians deserve a real and fair chance at success, and we're commit-ted to helping young people in communities just like Brampton West."

LIBERAL PLAN TO INVEST $300M ANNUALLYIN YOUTH EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY

" Invest at least an additional$100 million this fiscal year to in-crease - without reducing standards- refugee processing, as well assponsorship and settlement servicescapacity in Canada; and

OTTAWA - Prime Minister StephenHarper commemorated the 14th anni-versary of the terrorist attacks on theWorld Trade Center, and in particularthe 24 Canadians who died that day.He initiated the following:" In 2013, there were almost 10,000terrorist incidents repor ted in 93countries." In 2014, the Government was awareof 80 individuals who had returned toCanada after engaging in terroristactivities and training." Canada joined the global coalitionagainst ISIS led by US PresidentObama in 2014. Other members ofthe military mission include Austra-lia, the United Kingdom, the Nether-lands, France, Belgium, Denmark,Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and a number ofother Middle Eastern countries." As a result of the coalition's militaryintervention, ISIS has lost a quarterof the territory it previously controlled." The Harper Government has intro-duced and enacted a series of counterterrorism initiatives at home to stemthe flow of foreign fighters and to pre-vent their travel to ISIS-controlled re-gions and back to Canada, to stopterrorist recruitment and financing, andto provide law enforcement with addi-

tional powers to investigate and dis-rupt terrorist plots.Saving lobster industryPromoting and ensuring the long-term competitiveness of this indus-try is vital to Prime Minister StephenHarper's economic plan:" Lobster is Canada's most economi-cally important fishery, with annuallandings valued at $620 million andexports generating over $1 billion,supporting 35,000 workers in Atlan-tic Canada and Quebec.Payroll Tax Cut For Canadian Work-ers And BusinessesHarper has also announced that a re-elected Conservative governmentwill cut payroll taxes by over 20 percent in 2017. Payroll taxes currentlyare low and 780,000 job-creatingsmall businesses have been benefit-ting from the Small Business JobCredit, which has reduced their Em-ployment Insurance payroll costs by15% since January 1, 2015, the PMhas claimed. Prime MinisterHarper's plan would see the Employ-ment Insurance premium rate dropfrom $1.88 per $100 in 2016 to anestimated $1.49 per $100 in 2017,resulting in real, substantial savingsfor the Canadians.

Mulcair announces infrastructure planfor jobs; reduce commute times

OTTAWA - NDP Leader Tom Mulcaircommitted to helping Edmonton withneeded investments to infrastructureand transit aimed at reducing con-gestion.The NDP will:" Launch its Better TransitPlan to reduce gridlock and commutetimes across Canada by investing$1.3 billion per year over 20 years tosupport municipal needs." Increase direct transfers tomunicipalities to build and repairroads, bridges and transit with anadditional $1.5 billion annually by theend of the NDP's first mandate." Work with, not against,provinces and territories to ensureeffective investments while rigor-ously respecting their jurisdiction.By year four, the NDP's plan will cre-ate 54,000 construction, manufactur-ing and transit operations jobs acrossthe country and add $4.5 billion toCanada's GDP annually.

"Our plan will let Edmonton imple-ment its entire light rail transit planby investing an estimated $2 billionin new funding in the Edmonton Capi-tal Region over the next 20-years,"said Mulcair.Opportunities for 40,000 youth" In partnership with smallbusiness, industry, NGOs and govern-ment, help 40,000 young Canadians getjobs, paid internship or coop place-ments;" Create apprenticeshipspaces through federal infrastructureprojects, in federally regulated air-ports or Port Authorities, and withcrown corporations, while establish-ing firm apprenticeship ratios;" Partner with municipali-ties and Indigenous governments tohire apprentices for infrastructureprojects; and" Protect the safety of youngworkers and crack down on the useof unpaid internships.

Affordable, quality childcare" The NDP plan funds123,000 in 2016-17; and fully imple-mented will ensure one millionspaces." The par ty will deliver aCanada-wide program where parentspay no more than $15 a day.Home care to support 41,000 moreseniorsAn NDP government will provide thelong-term stable funding provincesand territories need to deliver qualityhealth care and seniors' care. Work-ing with the provinces and territoriesNDP will:" Invest in home care for an additional41,000 seniors that offers patient-fo-cused care from their own homes, bythe end of our first mandate;" Help provinces build 5,000 morenursing home beds;" Improve access to palliative careand end-of-life care for Canadians'loved ones.

BURNABY - A Liberal governmentwill invest $1.3 billion over threeyears - 13 times more than the NDP- to, among other things:1. Create 40,000 youth jobs each yearfor the next three years through a new,annual investment of $300 million in arenewed Youth Employment Strategy;2. Create 5,000 new green jobs foryouth, as part of the renewed YouthEmployment Strategy, by hiring moreguides, interpreters, and other staff

at Parks Canada, as well aspartnering with environmental orga-nizations to create programs that helpyoung people tackle environmentalchallenges while gaining valuablework experience;3. Invest $40 million annuallyto help employers create new co-opplacements for science, technology,engineering, mathematics, and busi-ness students; and4. Restore a modernized Youth Ser-

vice Program, providing $25 millionper year to help young Canadians gainvaluable work and life experience whiletravelling the country, participating incommunity building projects.Syrian refugee crisisA Liberal government will:" Expand Canada's intake to 25,000 refu-gees from Syria through immediate,direct sponsorship by the Governmentof Canada. We will also work with pri-vate sponsors to intake even more;

HARPER RENEWS SUPPORTFOR KANISHKA PROJECT

CONSERVATIVE PLAN TO LOWERSMALL BUSINESS TAX RATE

BRAMPTON - Stephen Harper announced are-elected Harper Government will deliver onits plan to further lower the small business taxrate from 11 per cent to 9 per cent over the nextfour years. This tax cut - the largest tax rate cut forsmall businesses in more than 25 years - willprovide $2.7 billion in tax relief to nearly 700,000small businesses over this period."We understand that small businesses are of vitalimportance to Canada's economic future," the Prime Minister explained. "Theirsuccess is linked to Canada's success, and this new tax relief will help smallbusinesses support economic growth and job creation now and in the future.""Small businesses are the life blood of our economy," said Naval Bajaj, Con-servative party candidate from Brampton East . "Our plan provides the supportthey need to continue to build on their successes, hire additional staff and growtheir business." "During this long campaign, I've been able to discuss issueslike the economy, crime and infrastructure throughout Brampton East," saidBajaj. "I'm proud to be running as a Conservative candidate because the PrimeMinister has a proven track record of managing the economy and standing upfor families from coast-to-coast-to-coast." Under Stephen Harper's leader-ship investments in infrastructure in Ontario has tripled from $3.4B to$12.3B for building roads, bridges and public transit.

" Provide an immediate$100 million new contribution to theUnited Nations High Commission forRefugees to support the critical re-lief activities in Syria and the sur-rounding area.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015community

MPP Dipika Damerla's BBQ a Huge Success

Province sets Oct. 31 deadline for LRTDESK REPORT

Brampton- The Ontario government has set an October 31 dead-line for the city of Brampton to make a final decision on the proposedLight Rail Transit project on Hurontario-Main Street. The province hasalso ruled out the possibility of working on any alternate routes.The strong message was delivered by Steven Del Duca, Minister ofTransportation at townhall meeting held in Brampton on Tuesday. "Itcan't go on forever, I have sent a letter back to the mayor confirming thatby October this year, we need an answer."The townhall was hosted by Harinder Malhi, MPP, Brampton-Springdale.Regional councilors Gael Miles and Michael Pallechi and City Council-lor Pat Fortini were also in attendance. Minister Duca said that if thecouncil rejects the proposed route through the downtown core, the Prov-ince will move forward with the project, but will not build the transit linebeyond the Gateway Terminal at Steeles Avenue.Just last week the council decided to hire a facilitator at a cost of morethan $50,000 to help ease tensions on council as the mayor proposed areferendum on the LRT if they failed to reach a consensus. The ministeralso said that $1.6 billion in funding is tied to the 23-kilometre longHurontario-Main LRT. If the city is not able to make any decision theProvince will build up to Steeles and rest of the money will go back to theMoving Ontario Forward Plan. "It is important for the government to startwork on these projects as soon as possible", said the minister.

MISSISSAUGA- MPP Dipika Damerla's Four th Annual Community BBQ,held recently, attracted close to 2500 people despite the rain. Theattendees were treated to a variety of cultural per formances,games, ar ts and craf ts, spor ts, and delicious food.MPP Damerla thanked the community for the huge turnout and theincredible amount of suppor t that she has received over the years.She said that her doors are always open for the constituents andwould be happy to speak to them and address their issues andconcerns. She also thanked the large contingent of volunteerswho worked hard to make the event a success.

Television personality Sarabjit Rana served as the emcee for theevent and ensured a smooth functioning of the enter tainment pro-gram. Ar tists from the following groups performed at the event: The LiraTrio (Ukrainian singing group), Marie Ann Longlade School of Dance, VychodnaSlovak Dancers, Barathanatyam Dancers, Silayan Seniors, Radosc-Joy(Polish Vocal and Dance Ensemble), and Xin Tian Di Senior Association.The clowns, a bouncy castle, and ar ts & craf ts were a big drawwith the kids. A cricket match was also held. Five lucky attend-ees were chosen from a draw and received tablets, cordless phone,Bluetooth, and a gift cer tificate.

ONTARIO - Bazm-e-Ahbab Canada (Friendly circle), true to itsreputation in staging some highly successful events, organizedyet another memorable and successful poetry concer t (Mushaira)in which notable and popular poets from India and Pakistan par-ticipated. Asif Jamie welcomed the gathering and highlighted thevaluable services by the organization in conducting Free Week-end Urdu classes.Nazimuddin Maqbool, a popular poet, writer and radio broad-caster conducted the proceedings in his usual fascinating style.It was presided by senior Urdu icon Sahar Ansari. Muneeef Ashhar,Rahman Khawar, Zakia Ghazal represented Pakistani side. FromIndian side Dr Taqi Abedi, Rajesh Reddy some of his popularghazals sang by great late Jagjit Singh, Tahir Faraz, (BahutKhubsoorat ho tum fame), and Sunil Kumar Tang who is veryfamous for his witty and humorous poetry presented their bestselection to the delight of the audience. Poetry touched the hear tsand souls and its enchantment mesmerized the poetry lovers.

INDO PAK MUSHAIRA ASUCCESSFUL EVENT

NAVAL BAJAJ CELEBRATES KRISHNAJANMASTHAMI, NAND-UTSAV

BRAMPTON - The auspicious day of Janmasthami is thebirthday of Lord Krishna and it was celebrated with love, joyand devotion at Naval Bajaj’s residence in Brampton-East onSeptember 6th, 2015. Lord Krishna is the finest philosopherknown to human kind, who narrated the Bhagwad Gita toArjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. He is also known asBal-Gopal, the god-child, the natkhat prankster who capti-vated the hearts of all in Vrindavan. Naval and Rashi Bajaj,surrounded by friends and family including prominent mem-bers of the BramptonEast-GTA community counted down tillmidnight and welcomed the Bal Krishna with joyous festivi-ties. Various performances based on the theme of KrishnaLila and the bond of Radha Krishna were presented, alongwith engaging question answer sessions regarding LordKrishna. The highlight of this celebration at Naval Bajaj’sresidence was the chappan bhog, which comprised of over156 types of dishes offered to the natkhat Bal-Gopal.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 community

31 new recruits join Peel policeDESK REPORT

BRAMPTON - Justice of Peace His Worship Stephen Budacisworn in 31 new constables today in a graduation ceremonyattended by their families and friends. Peel Regional chair LaurieWilliamson and Peel police chief Jennifer Evans and other of-ficer were also in attendance. The graduation ceremony held atEmil V Kolb Centre for Police Excellence in Mississauga. Thenew officers have successfully completed a total of 20 weeksof training at the Ontario Police College and the Peel RegionalPolice Training Bureau.Chief Jennifer Evans presented Badges to the officers. Officerswere assigned to Field Training Officers at operational divi-sions after the graduation where they will enter the final phaseof their training. New officers like Manikosh Pathak,Rahi Chaudhary,Latshman Raghunath and Sukhraj Gill come from different culturalbackgrounds and reflect Peel's cultural and ethnic diversity.

DESK REPORTMISSISSAUGA - The University of Toronto is in preliminary discus-sion to explore the possibility of establishing a presence in Brampton.According to a statement released by Professor DeepSaini , v ice president and pr incipal of UofT 'sMississauga campus, the university has operated acampus in Mississauga for almost 50 years and isinterested in expanding to Brampton.University of Toronto officials are also scheduled tomeet with members of a panel established to ex-plore options for bringing a university campus toBrampton. Recently the Ontario government an-nounced its intention to invite proposals in 2016 formajor capacity expansion to meet the growing highereducation needs in the Halton and Peel regions. "Asthe leading university serving the western GTAthrough its Mississauga campus, the University ofToronto is well placed to respond to these community needs", saidProfessor Deep Saini.

Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey said during last year's election cam-paign that she would like to see a university campus established inBrampton and after assuming the office she created a panel to re-

search on options for bringing a university to thecity. Professor Saini said that we would like to ex-plore if there are any other par tners we can have inthe city as we have an ongoing relationship withSheridan College. According to some repor ts, about1,630 of the 14,000 students studying at UTM livein Brampton.And Ontario's former premier and Brampton resi-dent Bill Davis has also joined the push to bringuniversity to the city. Bill Davis is the chair of acity panel to explore the possibilities of havinga university campus in the city. Lack of a uni-versity campus in the city became an electionissue during last year's municipal elections and

politicians and community leaders have been clamoring for a uni-versity campus in the city.

Truckers strike enters second weekDESK REPORT

MISSISSAUGA - After several rounds of talks, representativesof trucking companies and Container Trucking Association ofOntario are repor tedly close to an agreement. Truckers with-drew their services on September 8. They are upset with lowservice rates, long working hours, long unpaid wait time andrising costs of operation and maintenance.According to the association sources, truckers' major demandsare met in the final offer given by company representatives andtalks are on to sor t out some remaining issues. " We are tryingto get a deal that will revive our industry in the region", saidJawinder Singh Brar, vice president of the association.Container Trucking Association of Ontario has more than 500members and is the largest body of the container truckers. Truck-ers are not unionized and they are also demanding from thefederal government to be classified as skilled workers so thatthey could have union representation.Striking truckers are picketing in the parking lot of Dixie Gurdwaraand CP/ CN rail yards in the region. Majority of the truckers arefrom South Asian community and trucking is one of the biggestprofessions in Peel's Punjabi community.

TORONTO WILL NOT BID FOROLYMPIC GAMES

DESK REPORTTORONTO- Toronto will not bid for the Summer Olympic Games2024. City Mayor John Tory announced Tuesday morning thatToronto will bid for these games one day but not this time."Let me be clear, I'm not saying no to the Olympics, I'm sayingnot this time." said John Tory in the press conference. Talk ofToronto potentially making a bid was going on in the city for lastfew days and Mayor Tory had been consulting the stake holderson what was involved in bidding for the games."In the end it is not my job to be rash. It is my job to make the bestdecision for Toronto," Tory said, adding that while the feedbackhe received was largely positive, he had to make his decision ina very shor t period of time. Toronto made two unsuccessful bidsin 1996 and 2008.According to news reports, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Budapest,Hungary and Hamburg, Germany have said they would be in therunning for an Olympic bid.

Campaign to create awarenessabout umbilical cord

DESK REPORTMISSISSAUGA - Amar Karma Organ Donation Society, a not forprofit organization, will launch a new campaign ‘The Cord ofLove’ to create awareness about donating umbilical cord at thebir th of a baby. First information seminar on the campaign willheld on October 4 , 1PM to 5PM, at Chinguacousy WellnessCentre in Brampton.The Karma Society, Canada's first South Asian organization tohighlight the need for organ and tissue donation in GTA, B.C andIndia for past 6 years is now stepping up to educate people aboutdonation of Umbilical Cord Blood in coordination with CanadianBlood Services.The speakers from Canadian Blood Services will be present toshare detailed information about how the umbilical cord blooddonation works.Today, cord blood stems cells are used in the treatment of nearly80 diseases, including a wide range of cancers, genetic dis-eases, and blood disorders. In a cord blood transplant, stemcells are infused in to a patient's bloodstream where they go towork healing and repairing damaged cells and tissue. Detailedinformation on the campaign is available on Amar Karma’swebsite: www.amarkarma.org

Punjabi book festival in MaltonDESK REPORT

MISSISSAUGA- Chetna Prakashn, a leading Punjabi publicationhouse based in Ludhiana, India has opened a Punjabi book festi-val at Malton’s Greater Punjab Business Center. Launched onSeptember 16, the festival will remain open till October 4 at Unit137 in the plaza. “ Chetna Prakashan is taking Punjabi books to differ-ent parts of the world at affordable rates and trying to revive readinghabits in the community”, said Satish Gulati, owner of the publication.He said that the publication has joined hands with some othercommunity groups to promote this festival and create aware-ness about book culture in the community. Satish Gulati can bereached at 778-680-2551

Brampton Fall Fair on Sept. 20DESK REPORT

BRAMPTON - Annual Brampton Fall Fair will take place on Sep-tember 20 and several cash prizes are up for grabs at the event.Par ticipant will compete in two different divisions. Junior Divi-sion is for kids 13 or under and Senior Division is for 14 andolder. There are three prizes of $ 1000, $500 and $200 in singingand dance competitions. The Junior Division will also awardseveral prizes for children in different categories. Interestedcandidates can contact director Sherry Hunt.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO EXPLORINGEXPANSION TO BRAMPTON

Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown Sworn-in as Legislature Resumes

ONTARIO - Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown was sworn-in at Queen’s Park as MPPs return for the fall sitting.“As MPP for Simcoe North and Leader ofthe Official Opposition, I look forward to representing the best interests of the residents of Simcoe North and all Ontarians at Queen’s Park,” said Patrick Brown.“The PC Caucus is committed to holding the Liberal government to account on province’s skyrocketing electricity rates, their mandatory job-killing payroll tax,numerous credit rating downgrades, and why Ontario has become a have-not province.” The Ontario PC Party believes the province needs sensible, pragmaticsolutions to building a better business climate in Ontario: more affordable hydro, less red tape and better transportation corridors. Brown concluded, “I amexcited for this new chapter of the Ontario PC Party. The PC Caucus and I are united in our commitment to ensuring a strong Official Opposition in theLegislature. This marks the beginning of our journey towards building a Progressive Conservative majority government in 2018.”

LET'S TALK MONEYICCC MEMBERS LEARN ABOUT BDC'S PROGRAMS

Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce organised an interactive sessionwith the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) on 10 Sept2015 at the ICCC headquar ters in Toronto.In a joint presentation Nav Saini, Senior Account Manager, and NinaJain, Business Centre Manager, Nor th York Business Centre, informedthe par ticipants comprising small entrepreneurs and professionalsabout the bouquet of BDC's offerings to small businesses. "Ambitiousand innovative entrepreneurs are the engine of our economy and it isour role, as Canada's development bank, to help them succeed," thepresenters said.BDC's offerings include business loans, consulting services for Ca-nadian companies for expansion both in the local and the global mar-ket. Through its subsidiary BDC Capital, the financial institution alsooffers a full spectrum of specialized financing, including venture capi-tal, equity and capital for growth and business transition.BDC is a financial institution owned by the Government of Canada. Itsuppor ts over 30,000 small and medium-sized enterprises acrossCanada, complementing services available from private-sector fi-nancial institutions.ICCC President Sanjay Makkar in his remarks said that small busi-nesses and professionals were the core strength of the Chamber. The

program with BDC was aimed at catering to the specific needs of thatsection of the membership. He fur ther informed the par ticipants thatas a par t of transforming the ICCC and align it with emerging socio-economic demographics of the Indo-Canadian community, the Cham-ber would soon be embarking upon a membership drive.He said that if the members have realised that they are getting benefitof the ICCC events then they should share such experiences withothers so they can also benefit from Chamber's membership. Makkaralso said that ICCC will lead India Mission 2016 in January and thefinal dates will be declared soon. He thanked all the members of thechamber & sponsors for coming to the event. Haren Sheth of Sur tiSweet Mar t and Raman Chad of R-CHAD General Contracting sharedtheir experiences of working with BDC.Shivani Sharma Gupta, Director Events introduced the evening to themembers. Arun Srivastava, Vice President Finance & Sponsorship;Kanwarjit Dhanjal, Director SME & Trade; Sanjay Brahmbhatt, ChairSME & Trade; and Sameer Sharma, Chair Young Professionals & En-trepreneurs were also present at the program. Over 70 members ofthe ICCC par ticipated in the program, which was followed by a pro-longed Q&A, reflecting the heightened interest of the par ticipants inthe subject.

FROM L TO R: SAMEER SHARMA, SHIVANI SHARMA GUPTA, NAV SAINI, KANWAR DHANJAL, SANJAY MAKKAR, NINA JAIN, ARUNSRIVASTAVA & SANJAY BRAHMBHATT.


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OROP: Demand or redress of injustice?BY C UDAY BHASKAR

MODI'S PRAISE OF MULAYAMSTOKES RUMOUR MILLS IN UP

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For the BJP, parliamen's upper house has becomean Achilles heel as many bills are stuck in wakeof an adamant Congress, which enjoys a majorityin the Rajya Sabha. Other than that, the BJPneeds Mulayam Yadav to further electorally dentthe 'maha-gathbandhan' in poll-bound Bihar.Many see it not as a mere coincidence that a dayafter Mulayam Yadav and his cousin Ram GoaplYadav drove into 7, Race Course Road for ameeting with Modi that SP broke ranks withNitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav and announced thatit would contest all 243 seats in Bihar.While Mulayam's Samajwadi Party does not enjoymuch support in Bihar, his walking out of theSamajwadi umbrella group has definitely givenan edge to the NDA in matters of perception, andthe ruling party of Uttar Pradesh, with its pastbase of 2-3 percent votes, will certainly eat intothe Yadav-Muslim combine that would haveotherwise voted for Nitish Kumar (JD-U) and LaluPrasad (RJD).

“BY MOHIT DUBEY

LUCKNOW, (IANS) In middle of last year's high-octane Lok Sabhacampaign, Narendra Modi had thumped his "chappan inch ka seena"(56-inch chest) and had taken pot shots at Samajwadi Par ty (SP)chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying he did not have it in him to makeUttar Pradesh a developed state like Gujarat.On Friday, at a public rally in Saharaswa in western Uttar Pradesh,Prime Minister Modi called the Yadav chieftain a "respected leader"and vouched for his credentials as a champion of democracy! Whilethe wholesome praise by its tallest leader left BJP leaders present onthe stage and even in the state capital squirming in their chairs, theunderlying political message was not missed by any.While it is almost impossible that the two forces would ever cometogether in the future, political observers here say that for now"aag dono taraf se barabar lagi hui hai" (it's a romance from bothsides). For the BJP, parliamen's upper house has become an Achil-les heel as many bills are stuck in wake of an adamant Congress,which enjoys a majority in the Rajya Sabha.Other than that, the BJP needs Mulayam Yadav to fur ther electorallydent the 'maha-gathbandhan' in poll-bound Bihar. Many see it notas a mere coincidence that a day af ter Mulayam Yadav and hiscousin Ram Goapl Yadav drove into 7, Race Course Road for ameeting with Modi that SP broke ranks with Nitish Kumar andLalu Yadav and announced that it would contest all 243 seats inBihar.While Mulayam's Samajwadi Par ty does not enjoy much suppor tin Bihar, his walking out of the Samajwadi umbrella group hasdefinitely given an edge to the NDA in matters of perception, andthe ruling par ty of Uttar Pradesh, with its past base of 2-3 percent

votes, wil l cer tainly eat into the Yadav-Muslim combine thatwould have otherwise voted for Nitish Kumar (JD-U) and LaluPrasad (RJD).A l itt le af ter a year, Uttar Pradesh wil l go to polls and in alllikelihood, the SP might not return to power. With poor law andorder, the power crisis, growing crimes against women, debt-ridden farmers and communal riots, Mulayam Yadav needs a'shoulder' post-2017 when his par ty might be caught in the politi-cal doldrums. Adding to his woes is the CBI probe into the al-leged corruption of tainted Noida chief engineer Yadav Singh.Only recently it has been found that Ram Gopal Yadav's son andpar ty MP from Firozabad Akshay Pratap held over 9000 sharesin a company co-owned by the tainted engineer. The SP desper-ately needs suppor t from the centre to keep the premier investi-gative agency off its back.By praising Mulayam Yadav, Modi has also succeeded in con-fusing the Muslim voters. "He has once again tricked many. NowMulayam will be accused of hobnobbing with the BJP and theminority vote would split between SP-BSP and Congress, givingan edge to the saffron camp," a par ty veteran said.For the BJP, Modi has only set the agenda of "fur ther isolating theCongress" in parliament and also "ensuring that the so called'maha-gathbandhan' secular formation in Bihar crumbled fur ther".By heaping praise on the Yadav chieftain, Modi was neither walkingdown on his earlier attack on the former Uttar Pradesj chief min-ister but was only "cosying up with him for potential floor man-agement in the Rajya Sabha", a par ty leader said sheepishly."Mulayam Singh did a good thing in parliament so Modi-ji praisedhim. We however, have ideological differences as a political en-tity," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said. Asked if thiscould confuse its traditional voters, he answered in the negative."The people of UP are wise enough. Every day Mulayam Singh istearing into the government run by his son....eventually the SPwill be packed-off bag-and-baggage in 2017," Pathak told IANS.

Samajwadi spokesman and cabinet minister Rajendra Chowdharysaw it is an "individual reference" and "nothing beyond (that)".While one would have to wait for some time to see if the bonhomie was a 'one-night political stand' or a long-term political strategy, for now, Modihas succeeded in stirring up the rumour mills in Uttar Pradesh.

The long festering OROP (one rank-one pension) issue that goes backto 1973 has acquired disturbing visibility in recent months due to theprotest mounted by the retired veterans at Jantar Mantar and the igno-miny of the Delhi Police manhandling the country's retired soldiers aday before Independence Day.The matter found mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's addressat the Red For t on August 15 and to his credit he made a solemncommitment to resolve the matter at the earliest.This decision has now been taken and after some ambivalence. De-fence Minister Manohar Parrikar confirmed that the budgetary sup-por t to the OROP is now in place and the uncer tainty about whetherthose veterans who had opted for premature retirement would qualifyfor OROP has been clarified by Modi at a public rally.The OROP provision will be available to all military veterans - whetherthey retire after superannuation or have opted for the premature route.Some other aspects including the annual review are awaiting clarifi-cation and it is expected that by the time the government issues thenotification, these points of dissonance with the expectations of theveterans will be accommodated in a consensual manner.However, since the assurance by Modi at his rally in Faridabad -which has gone a long way in assuaging the bruised sensitivities ofthe military - there is a growing perception that the Modi government'sOROP decision is fiscally imprudent. Selective leaks to the media byone par t of the government cannot be ruled out.A major business daily opined editorially under the title: 'Fiscal timebomb' that "In effect the government's hand has been forced" andfur thermore that the government must "limit the spread of this de-mand....". The choice of word and phrase, the embedded interpreta-tion and the perception it engenders in the national collective merits afactual review. The military veterans are not making a 'demand' -whose sub-text is that it is inherently unreasonable - and the chargethat the hand of a civilian government has been 'forced' by an obdu-rate military goes against the facts of the OROP narrative.The reality is that in 1973 a unilateral executive decision was takenby the Indira Gandhi government through the Third Pay Commissionto rationalize pensions and hence the military which was pegged at70 percent of last pay drawn was brought down to 50 percent - and thecivilian pension then pegged at 35 percent was brought up to thisbenchmark.Thus a practice that was in vogue for 26 years - from August 1947 to1973 (wherein the military pension was reviewed annually so that theOROP principle was respected) which was an equitable provision forthose citizens who voluntarily took up the profession of arms in thedefence of country and flag was radically altered to the detriment ofthe soldier.If the 1973 decision brought the military pension down in a substan-tive manner, subsequent Pay Commissions through bureaucraticsleight of hand increased the benefits that would accrue to the civilianemployee of the government while shrinking these benefits to the'fauji' (soldier).The Sixth Pay Commission under UPA II introduced yet another provi-sion wherein the military officer was placed in a lower category thanthe officers in the civil services and the police. As par t of this tweak,civilian officers of the government were accorded the NFU (non func-tional upgrade) and an assured career progression that allowed for afiscal benefit both while in service and in the fixing of their pension.As a consequence of all these post 1973 machinations, a trainedsoldier was placed below a semi-skilled worker in the fiscal ladder

and as many servicemen have bemoaned even those deemed to be inthe Class IV category of the government served till age 60 and thenretired with a higher pensioner package than the soldier who servedon Siachen! The Government of India and successive defence ministers,including AK Antony who has the distinction of having the longest unbroken tenureas cabinet minister holding this onerous portfolio, abdicated their responsibilitiesand did not acknowledge or attempt to review and redress this gross injusticedone to the Indian soldier.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 c a n a d a

Funding Education, Healthy Living Programs for Seniors in Ottawa CentreBY YASIR NAQVI

ONTARIO - Ontario is again invest-ing in seniors in Ottawa Centre byproviding programs and supportsthat will help them live safe, activeand healthy lives in their communi-ties. By partnering with local non-profit organizations, the Seniors Com-munity Grant Program is directlyfunding $55,730 to front line supportsand services in Ottawa.We all know that reduced social con-tact, or social isolation, has been asso-ciated with a lower quality of life forseniors and can also lead to diminishedhealth. Our government believes in theimportance of helping seniors stay con-nected, active and involved in theircommunities. That's why through theSeniors Community Grant Program, weare supporting nine local projects inOttawa Centre:

" $8,000 to Club Casa de los Abuelosto partner with local health organiza-tions to deliver health educationclasses." $3,000 to Ottawa Sui Yi MulticulturalArts Academy to organize culturalwalking tours and art classes focus-ing on local scenery." $10,000 to the Active Jewish Adults50+ to provide an interactive musictherapy program to build social andcognitive well-being." $10,000 to the Canadian OrganicGrowers Inc.to deliver therapeuticorganic gardening programs to se-niors in residences." $9,730 to the Domestic Pioneers:Senior Volunteers Learning and Shar-ing in Community to initiative volun-teer opportunities for local seniors." $10,000 to the Jewish Youth Libraryto deliver a conference on personalhealth and well-being.

" $3,000 to the Ottawa Chinese Com-munity Service Centre to provide in-formation to Chinese speaking se-niors of available health related re-sources in their community." $3,000 to Yet Keen Seniors DayCentre to administer five field tripsfor seniors with an emphasis on beingactive in the outdoors." $10,000 to Artswell to deliver a pro-gram that will allow seniors to expressthemselves through a variety of artforms.Developing services and supports forseniors is part of the government's eco-nomic plan for Ontario. The four-partplan is building Ontario up by investingin people's talents and skills, buildingnew public infrastructure like roads andtransit, creating a dynamic, supportiveenvironment where business thrives,and building a secure savings plan soeveryone can afford to retire.Ontario is helping Ottawa seniors stayconnected to their communities throughthe Seniors Community Grant program.This grant directly funds front line sup-ports and services for seniors in Ot-tawa Centre. As a result our seniorsare more connected, engaged andable to pursue healthier lives. AnaMaria Cruz-Valderrama, ExecutiveDirector Club Casa de los Abuelossaid: "Since March 2004, Club Casade los Abuelos has dedicated effortsto address social isolation amongSpanish-speaking seniors living inthe National Capital region by offer-

416-907-4420

ing structured low-cost social, rec-reational and educational programsyear after year. This grant will sup-

port projects and activities led by se-niors, all committed and compassion-ate volunteers, dedicated to improve

the quality of life and well-being ofseniors within the target population."Source: yasirnaqvi.onmpp.ca

Canada Posts Budgetary Surplus of $1.9 Billion in 2014-15OTTAWA - The Department of Finance today released the Annual Financial Repor t of the Governmentof Canada for 2014-15. The Government posted a budgetary surplus of $1.9 billion for the fiscal yearthat ended on March 31, 2015. The budgetary surplus exceeds the fiscal projection for 2014-15presented in the 2015 budget, which forecasted a budgetary deficit of $2.0 billion.Quick Facts" Revenues totalled $282.3 billion in 2014-15, $10.7 billion more than 2013-14, representing anincrease of 3.9 per cent." Expenses totalled $280.4 billion in 2014-15, $3.6 billion more than 2013-14, reflecting increases inmajor transfers to persons and other levels of government, offset in part by decreases in direct program spending andpublic debt charges." The federal debt-to-GDP ratio (the difference between total liabilities and total assets as a percentage of gross domesticproduct) stood at 31.0 per cent at March 31, 2015, down from 32.3 per cent the year before.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015c a n a d a

Bank of Canada keeps overnightlending rates at 0.5%

PREMIER WYNNE MET WITH THE MAYOR OF TORONTO, JOHN TORY, AND HELD A JOINT MEDIA AVAILABILITY (PREMIERPHOTOS).

OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada recently announced that it was keepingits trend-setting target overnight lending rate at 0.5 per cent.Little has changed since the Bank's previous announcement andrevised economic forecast published in July. Its September announce-ment serves as a placeholder as the Bank awaits more economic dataprior to the release in October of its Monetary Policy Repor twhich will be published two days after the federal election.Previously, the Bank said it expected most of economic damagefrom the oil price shock would be "front loaded", with the hit toeconomic growth being sharp but contained mostly in the firsthalf of the year. However, in its September announcement, theBank said that the adjustments stemming for the oil shock "arecomplex and are expected to take considerable time".This suggests that the Bank may soon revise its economicforecast in October to reflect how ongoing weakness in the oilpatch may continue to offset strength in other sectors of theeconomy and lead to weaker than currently projected economicgrowth over the second half of the year.At this point, the Bank is unlikely to be concerned with the need

to fight inflation by raising interest rates. Headline inflationcontinues to trend near the bottom of the Bank's target rangebetween 1 and 3 per cent, mostly because of oil prices. Coreinflation is hovering near two per cent. Underlying inflation islikely somewhere slightly below two per cent.The Bank's September announcement was shor ter than usualand acknowledged increased uncer tainty while highlightingboth upside and downside risks to growth. The Bank now hasuntil October to gauge how it thinks the economy will evolveover the rest of this year. In the meantime, interest rates willremain very suppor tive for household spending and the housingmarket.As of September 9th, 2015, the advertised five-year lending ratestood at 4.64 per cent, unchanged from the previous Bank rateannouncement on July 15th, and down 0.15 percentage points from oneyear ago. The next interest rate announcement will be on October 21st,2015, and will be accompanied by an update to the Monetary Policyreport.Source: crea.ca

Ontario Pilot Program Provides WorkExperience and Career Coaching

Experience Ontario WillHelp Students Transitionfrom Secondary Education

ONTARIO - The Ontario Government is helping more studentsmake the transition between secondary and postsecondary edu-cation and training with Experience Ontario, a new pilot programdesigned to help young people identify and work towards theirfuture goals.Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement today at Cen-tral Toronto Academy. Experience Ontario is a two-year, $20-million pilot program that will give approximately 600 studentsacross the province valuable work experience, career coachingand mentorship in its first year. The program will encouragegraduating high school students to choose the appropriatepostsecondary educational path for them, and will help themsucceed once they enrol.Each Experience Ontario par ticipant will have access to a careercoach to guide them throughout the nine-month program. Par-ticipants will attend a three-day career exploration conference,visit a postsecondary education institution or training facility,have their college or university application fee paid for and takepar t in up to three paid work placements in sectors related totheir interests.Helping more students succeed is par t of the government's planto build Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills,making the largest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario'shistory, creating a dynamic, innovative environment where busi-ness thrives, and building a secure retirement savings plan.Quick Facts" In 2015-16, approximately 600 students from acrossthe province will take par t in the nine-month Experience Ontarioprogram, which includes up to three paid work placements insectors related to their interests." Ontario's five-year high school graduation rate was 84per cent in 2014, which is 16 percentage points higher than the2004 rate of 68 per cent. The percentage of students graduatingin four years is 76 per cent, an increase of 20 percentage pointssince 2004, when it was only 56 per cent." 66 per cent of Ontar io adul ts have completedpostsecondary education, higher than any country in the OECD.Source: kathleenwynne.onmpp.ca

A $300,000 additional fund for Syrian refugees:Minister Michael Chan

ONTARIO - Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan has released the following statement on the Syrianrefugee crisis. In a press release he has said: "With the Syrian refugee crisis escalating and tragediesmounting, Canadian leaders need to coordinate at all levels of government to help more Syrians enterCanada as refugees."Ontario is ready and willing to accept more Syrian refugees and help them resettle here. This is whywe provided funding to Lifeline Syria in April. Last Friday, were able to increase our support for thecritical work it is doing by contributing an additional $300,000 in funding."Additionally, the Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade will work to identifynear-term actions we can take to suppor t organizations and individuals who want to sponsor Syrianrefugees and to best suppor t refugees when they arrive here."We are exploring ways to provide suppor t to organizations who want to sponsor Syrian refugees asprivate sponsors. While Ontario cannot directly sponsor refugees, we will work with par tners toidentify how best to suppor t those groups who are trying to bring Syrian refugees to Ontario, includinga potential provincial fund to contribute to the costs. We expect to have more details on this in the nearterm."We will play a leadership role in promoting multi-lateral par tnership to address the Syrian refugeecrisis. As Provincial Co-Chair of the Federal-Provincial Forum for Ministers Responsible for Immigra-tion, we are requesting an emergency call this week to identify how provinces can work with thefederal government to deliver on the goal of bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada and our call tobring 5,000 to Canada by the end of the year. Ontario is offering to accept and resettle 2,500 of theserefugees.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 i n d i a

MP BLASTS TOLL REACHES 88,IRS 5 LAKH EX-GRATIA ANNOUNCED

POLICE CHARGE BATONS ON CIVIC VOLUNTEERS DURING AN AGITATION IN MALDA DISTRICT OF WEST BENGAL (IANS).

JHABUA (MADHYA PRADESH), (IANS) The toll in Madhya Pradesh'sJhabua blasts reached 88 on Sunday as one of the injured died, andChief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced an ex-gratia of IRs 5lakh as well as a job for the next-of-kin of each of the dead.Over 100 people were left injured in the incident on Saturday, when acylinder burst at a hotel in the district's Petlawad town, followed by amassive blast that ripped through an adjoining building. The chiefminister, visiting the victims at hospitals and the site of the blasts toassess the situation on Sunday, also announced a reward of IRs 1lakh on the head of the main accused Rajendra Kaswa, the owner ofthe godown where the blast occurred."This is the saddest day of my life. Stringent action would be initiatedagainst the culprits ... though the death could not be compensated, arelief of IRs 5 lakh would be given to the next of the kin of the de-ceased and one job would be arranged for them," Chouhan said. Po-lice said an FIR has been registered against the house-owner whohad allegedly stocked explosives and his warehouse and house havebeen sealed.Jhabua's Additional Superintendent of Police Seema Alwa told IANS:"So far, 88 people have died in the incident. The house and godown of

explosives' stockist Rajendra Kaswa have been sealed. A case hasbeen filed against him under the Explosives Act and for causing unin-tentional death. A search has been launched to locate him."As Chouhan was heading towards the blast site after visiting the hos-pital, protestors blocked his path to demand arrest of the owner of thehouse and action against the "irresponsible" officials. Chouhan alightedfrom the car and sat with the protestors, assuring them government'sfull cooperation was for them. The protestors said some of the localresidents had repeatedly brought to the notice of the administrationthe fact that explosives were stocked in the house in the thickly popu-lated area, but no action was taken.The chief minister told the protestors at the blast site that he hasalready announced a judicial probe into the blasts, in which over 100people have been left wounded. Chouhan assured the crowd that thejudicial probe would be conducted fairly, and even if it took Rs.10 lakhto get the injured treated, the funds would be provided. He said noguilty person would be allowed to escape. "I will go among the af-fected families and have a look at their condition. They would beprovided anything they need. I will return from Petalwad town onlyafter solving the problem," the chief minister said.

India's quest for SecurityCouncil permanent seat

progresses with UNGA decisionBY ARUL LOUIS

UNITED NATIONS, (IANS) Boosting India's effor ts for a perma-nent Security Council seat, the UN General Assembly Mondayendorsed a document that will be the basis for negotiations on reform-ing the Council and allowing the stalled process to make progress.The Assembly adopted a decision by Assembly President SamKahamba Kutesa that sets out a negotiating text for the Coun-cil reform and calls for continuing the negotiations in thenext session in a process known as Intergovernmental Ne-gotiations (IGN).This marks a breakthrough in the long-stalled reform pro-cess because of a lack of negotiating text that can be thebasis of discussions.India's Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar Mukerj i ,welcoming the Assembly's endorsement by consensus ofKutesa's decision, said this was the first time the body hasadopted a substantive document on reforming the Council.He said that the reform process is now "irreversible" andthe adoption of Kutesa's decision has changed the dynam-ics of the Council reform process.Mukerji said that Council reforms were essential if the Agenda2030 development goals that are to be adopted at a global summit thismonth are to be reached because peace and stability were its pre-requisites and that can only be possible with an effective and repre-sentative Council.Without a negotiating text so far, discussions on reforms hadnot been able to proceed realistically.

India's 2015-16 GDP growth toexceed 7.5 per cent: OfficialNEW DELHI, (IANS) With the government committed to ensuringthe country remains a "bright spot" in the world economy, India'sgrowth in the current fiscal will exceed 7.5 per cent as there are"silver linings" in the global financial turmoil, a senior official saidon Monday."This year we are targeting about 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent growth.We are quite confident that upwards of 7.5 per cent is what we canreasonably expect," Secretary, Economic Affairs, in the financeministry, Shaktikanta Das said at the Indian Council for Researchon International Economic Relations (ICRIER) here."There are silver linings and while we recognise that world economytoday has become volatile, which many people say has becomethe new normal, there are also opportunities, there are also silverlinings," he said.He listed the events that hold promise for the global economy asbeing the US-Iran deal, the shale gas revolution, the expected inno-vation in solar energy and developments around combating blackmoney and terror funding.He said India the view of India being one of the very few brightspots in the global economy, has been voiced by the InternationalMonetary Fund as well, and noted this was because its currentaccount and fiscal deficits are under control, and forex reservesare fairly comfortable."But that is no cause for complacency and government is commit-ted to continue to take necessary measures to retain that positionfor India," he added.The Indian economy grew 7 per cent in the first quarter of thisfiscal, slower than the 7.5 per cent expansion in the quarter before.But the growth was much higher than 6.7 per cent registered in thefirst quarter of the last fiscal, earning it the description of currentlybeing the fastest growing among major economies.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at an event here on Monday also saiddeclining oil and other commodity prices in this phase of globalfinancial turmoil have helped India as the country is a net importerof commodities. In this connection, changing the base year to2011-12 from 2004-05 in January, the Central Statistics Office (CSO)said that India's real GDP, that is adjusted for inflation, grew 6.9 percent in 2013-14 instead of the earlier projected 4.7 per cent, and by5.1 per cent in the year before compared to 4.5 per cent under theprevious system.

GUJARAT TOPS IN EASE OF DOING BUSINESS IN INDIAWASHINGTON, (IANS) World Bank has ranked Gujarat as the top state in ease of doing business in India with a 71.14 per cent score,followed by Andhra Pradesh (70.12 per cent), Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh among the top five states.Sponsored by the Department of Industry Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the "Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reformsrepor t was prepared by World Bank in association with KPMG, CII and FICCI.Among the major states, West Bengal occupied the 11th slot, Tamil Nadu (12th), Haryana (14th), Delhi (15th), Punjab (16th), HimachalPradesh (17th), Kerala (18th), Goa (19th), Bihar (21st) and Assam (22nd).Arunachal Pradesh is ranked the last with 1.23 per cent.The ranking of the states was based on eight specified parameters which include setting up of business, allotment of land, labour reformsand procedure for environmental clearance.Other parameters included infrastructure, procedure for registration for tax purposes and inspections for compliance of various norms.India is a difficult place to do business and concer ted action and reforms are needed on several fronts to improve its ranking in the global'Doing Business Index', World Bank country director Onno Ruhl said."... the need of the day is reform, and the reforms must be led by the government at both central and state levels," he said in a forewordto the repor t.India is ranked 142nd among 189 nations in the World Bank's Doing Business 2015 study."The growth of business in India requires concer ted action on several fronts - infrastructure, capital markets, trade facilitation and skills- but the stark reality is that India remains a difficult place to do business."India, he said, does not feature in the top 100 countries on eight of the 10 indicators of the World Bank study.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015i n d i a

CONGRESS MP CAPT. AMRINDER SINGH AT A PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER MEETING WITH THE AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OFINDIA AT SRI GURU RAM DAS JEE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN AMRITSAR (IANS).

CONGRESS ACCUSES BJP OF U-TURNON QUOTA IN PROMOTIONS

NEW DELHI, (IANS) Accusing the Narendra Modi government of U-turn on the issue of reservation in promotions for weaker sections inpublic sector banks, the Congress on Friday said it will "expose" theBJP during the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar.Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the government issued a notificationin 1997 that there will be reservation in promotions for ScheduledCaste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST). He said a petition was filed inthe Madras High Cour t to implement that the notification and the cour tsaid that in Scale 1 to Scale 7 in government jobs as well as in banks,there will be reservation for Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.He said the central banks went for an appeal against this decision inthe Supreme Cour t.The apex cour t, he said, gave its verdict that there shall be reserva-tion for SCs and STs for Scale 1 to Scale 6 (Dy. GM scale) and there-fore dismissed the appeal of the banks. Sibal said the central banksfiled a review petition and the central government also did so. "It maynot be surprising because the people who consider 'Manu Samiti' andplay double politics say that the next decade will belong to SCs andSTs but file review petition."We would like to ask Modi Ji whether he is not sympathizing with theSCs and STs. The BJP had suppor ted us earlier on an constitutionalamendment. Why has it taken a U-turn today," Sibal asked. "We are

judging this government by its policies which is anti-reservation andanti-SCs and STs," Sibal added. He demanded that the governmentshould withdraw its review petition.

CONGRESS RALLY ON SEPT 20OVER 2013 LAND ACTNEW DELHI, (IANS) The Congress has decided to hold a 'KisanMazdoor Samman' (farm labourers' respect) rally on September20 at Ramlila Ground here to mark the par ty's success in com-pelling the NDA government to retract its move to amend the2013 Land Act.Par ty spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the rally would beaddressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and par ty vice-president Rahul Gandhi. He said the two Congress leaders havebeen in the forefront of the struggle for rights of farmers and farmlabourers, and lakhs of farmers from across the country wouldpar ticipate in the rally.He said the Narendra Modi government had been unable to"whittle down" the 2013 Land Act passed by the United Progres-sive Alliance government due to the "committed and sustainedstruggle" of lakhs of farmers in every par t of the country. "Work-ers of the Congress, social and farmers' organisations, and like-minded political par ties all protested vociferously and decisivelyagainst the attempts to kill the soul and spirit of the 2013 LandAct," Surjewala said. The Congress had strongly opposed anychanges to the 2013 Land Act. The Modi government finally al-lowed the ordinance aimed at amending the law to lapse. Thenew land ordinance draft is being examined by the joint commit-tee of the two houses of parliament.

OROP AGITATION CONTINUESFOR 93RD DAYNEW DELHI, (IANS) The protest by ex-servicemen over 'OneRank One Pension' (OROP) continued for the 93rd day onTuesday, with 32 veterans and women observing a relay hun-ger strike.The veterans are now demanding that the government removethe anomalies in the OROP scheme that has been announced.On Monday, they decided to take the battle to the social media."We have decided to take the battle to the social media. We arealso getting a lot of youth suppor t and many organisations andgroups have come for th to suppor t us," a spokesperson for theUnited Ex-Servicemen Front told IANS.The OROP scheme announced by Defence Minister ManoharParrikar will take 2013 as the base year to calculate pen-sions and the date of implementation will be July 1, 2014.The period for review is five years, a major point of differ-ence between the government and the ex-servicemen.The veterans say this will make it 'one rank five pension'and differences will pile up every year.Another major point of contention was the government's de-cision to keep those who take voluntary retirement out of theambit of the scheme. However, both the defence ministerand Prime Minister Narendra Modi later assured that peopleopting for premature retirement will not be left out of thescheme.

DENGUE CASES RISE NEARLYTO 200 IN GURGAONGURGAON, (IANS) The number of people suffering from denguefever in Gurgaon has risen to around 200, health authorities saidon Monday. "In our knowledge, the number of dengue patients inthe city is 196. Only 13 such patients were admitted to the civilhospital...," the hospital's chief medical officer Pushpa Bishnoitold IANS. Samples of around 680 suspected dengue patientswere tested in the last one month at the civil hospital.Officials said over 2,000 suspected dengue patients were beingtreated at various private hospitals, while three people have dieddue to the viral disease.A 16-year-old boy, a resident of Farukhnagar near Gurgaon, diedlast month at a private hospital, while a woman from Delhi and aman also succumbed to the disease in private hospitals.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 i n d i a

NITISH KUMAR WAS KEEN TO END ALLIANCEWITH BJP IN 2010: SUSHIL MODI

BJP CHIEF AMIT SHAH AND PARTY LEADER ANANTH KUMAR ARRIVE TO ADDRESS A PRESS CONFERENCE REGARDING SHARING OFSEATS IN UPCOMING BIHAR POLLS IN NEW DELHI (IANS).

PATNA, (IANS) Bihar's former deputychief minister Sushil Kumar Modion Friday said Chief MinisterNitish Kumar was keen to breakhis party JD-U's alliance with theBharatiya Janata Par ty (BJP) in2010 itself. "Nitish Kumar wantedto break or end his par ty JD-U's

alliance with BJP after Biharassembly polls in 2010. Itwas not materialised due

to the factthat JD-U

fai led to getmajor i ty of i ts

own and BJPwon 91 as-

sembly seats, it was much more than what Nitish Kumar expected

(from BJP)," Modi, the senior BJP leader, said at a function organisedby a news channel here.Modi is widely seen as the potential chief ministerial candidate of theBJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), if voted to power. TheJanata Dal-United (JD-U) and the BJP contested the last assemblypolls together under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and the JD-U won115 assembly seats. The BJP-led NDA has not officially named itschief ministerial candidate so far. Modi said Nitish Kumar ended 17-year old alliance of the JD-U with BJP for his personal arrogance in2013. "After that Nitish Kumar has pushed Bihar into political instabil-ity and derailed development process."Modi said how could people forget the jungle raj of 15 years. "NitishKumar can forget it to join hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)chief Lalu Prasad for the sake of power. People cannot forget jungleraj." Modi said that if people would give a chance to BJP-led NDA torule in Bihar, things would be changed for good and positive. Modi,however, admitted that once he had also described Nitish Kumar asthe Prime Ministerial material.

NDA FINALISES SEAT-SHARING,BJP TO FIGHT 160 SEATS IN BIHARNEW DELHI, (IANS) The National Democratic Alliance on Mondayfinalised the seat-sharing arrangement for the Bihar assembly elec-tions, with the BJP keeping the lion's share of 160 seats and leaving83 for its allies LJP, RLSP and HAM.The maximum of 40 seats were given to Ram Vilas Paswan's LokJanshakti Par ty (LJP), followed by 23 seats to Upendra Kushwaha'sRashtriya Lok Samta Par ty (RLSP) and 20 seats to former chief min-ister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).Bharatiya Janata Par ty president Amit Shah announced the seat-shar-ing agreement at a press conference here following consensus afterManjhi again met him at his residence on Monday morning.Shah said that as per the agreement, some HAM candidates will fighton BJP tickets.Paswan, Manjhi and Kushwaha were also present at the press meet.Shah ruled out any differences among the NDA par tners over seat-sharing and expressed confidence of winning two-thirds majority inthe state."There is no differences among us over seat-sharing. We will fight theelection under the leadership of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi jiand hoping to win two-thirds majority," he said.Before announcing the seat-sharing deal, Shah held parleys on Mon-day morning with Manjhi, who was repor ted to be extremely upsetwith allotment of seats to his HAM.On the issue of the chief ministerial candidate, Shah said it will bedecided after the polls."We will contest the polls under Modi ji's leadership and as far as thechief ministerial candidate is concerned, it will be decided by NDAMLAs after the polls," Shah said.

Shah also slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for allying withthe Congress and Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal."The alliance under the leadership of Nitish Kumar has joined handswith the Congress that has been involved in scams wor th Rs.12 lakhcrore. With such an ally, Nitish Kumar is promising a corruption-freeBihar," Shah said."Lalu Prasad has been a symbol of 'jungle raj'. With such an ally, he(Nitish Kumar) is promising a crime-free Bihar," he added."All development figures that Nitish ji is citing are those till the timethe BJP was a par t of the state government. Since then, it has changeda lot. Bihar is now moving again towards 'jungle raj' under NitishKumar," the BJP chief said.Shah appealed to the voters to give the NDA a chance to rule the state."The people of Bihar have given power to the Congress, the RJD andthe JD-U. I appeal to them to give a chance to the NDA," he toldrepor ters."It's time Bihar votes for development, for which voting for NDA isessential."Shah also took a dig at the Janata Dal-United, the RJD and the Con-gress combine."Here we have a united NDA, whereas their 'grand alliance' is withouta leader," he said.The Samajwadi Par ty recently walked out of the grand alliance ac-cusing the JD-U and the RJD of not consulting with it in seat distribu-tion and humiliating the par ty by doling out just five seats.The JD-U and the RJD have decided to contest 100 seats each for the243-member Bihar assembly, while the Congress has been given 40seats.

Jaitley urges US firms to investin India towards $500 bn tradeNEW DELHI, (IANS) Ahead of the first India-US Strategic andCommercial Dialogue (SACD) in Washington later this month,Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday invited American busi-ness to invest in India towards realising the target of quintuplingbilateral trade."Today, our ambitions are very high, to increase of bilateraltrade five-fold over the current levels," he said at the 11th eco-nomic summit here organised by the Indo-American Chamberof Commerce."Both India and the US are natural allies, both democracies.While the US has the financial capital and advanced technology,India has a large body of trained manpower, natural resourcesand a large market," he added.India is the second largest source of foreign direct investmentin the US, and the largest in Britain, the minister added. India-UStrade currently has an annual turnover of $100 billion.Jaitley said that ensuring a predictable taxation regime in Indiaand improving ease of doing business "are works in progress",while effor ts have been made to evolve a very "fair" taxationregime.The minister said declining oil and other commodity prices inthis phase of global financial turmoil have helped India as thecountry is a net importer of commodities.US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's for thcoming visit to the US, especially to SanFrancisco and the Silicon Valley, has generated a lot of excite-ment as he will be the only second Indian prime minister to visitCalifornia after Jawaharlal Nehru.Modi will also visit Facebook headquar ters in California, thesocial networking site's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerbergannounced on Sunday.Noting that a decade ago, the US and India did very little defencetrade, the envoy said his country has signed around $10 billionwor th defence sales contracts with India."Our defence cooperation has helped promote India's role as asecurity provider in the Indian Ocean region, with direct benefitto third countries," he said.

Non-bailable warrant issuedagainst Somnath BhartiNEW DELHI, (IANS) A cour t here on Monday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against former Delhi law ministerSomnath Bhar ti, who has been booked for domestic violence.Metropolitan Magistrate Manika issued the warrant against theAam Aadmi Par ty leader after police informed the cour t that hewas not cooperating in the probe.Meanwhile, Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg on Mondayrefused to grant anticipatory bail to Bharti, the legislator fromMalviya Nagar constituency.Bharti was last week named in a first information repor t (FIR)filed under many sections of the Indian Penal Code, includingdomestic violence and attempt to murder, at Dwarka Nor th po-lice station in west Delhi.Police said they filed the FIR following the June 10 complaint byBhar ti's wife Lipika Mitra, who said the AAP leader has beenabusing her ever since their marriage in 2010. She also claimedthat Bhar ti beat and tor tured her and once even tried to kill her.

India easing law to allow specialcargo ships between its portsNEW DELHI, (IANS) In an effor t to decongest roads and rail-ways, the Indian government on Monday announced it waseasing cabotage law for a period of five years to allow specialvessels like Ro-Ro ships for transpor ting cargo between dif-ferent por ts along its coast."With this relaxation, vessel operators will be allowed to bringforeign flagged vessels of this category to ply on the coastalroutes," the shipping ministry said in a statement.Prior to this move, it was essential under the cabotage law touse Indian ships for carriage of goods between local routes,and foreign ships could be allowed to operate only when do-mestic vessels were not available."Such special vessels are in shor t supply in the country butsince they cater to specific class of cargo, their availabilitywill make it possible to shift cargo movement for these com-modities from road and rail to coastal shipping," the statementsaid. The availability of Ro-Ro vessels, designed to carrywheeled cargo like automobiles and trucks, is "essential" todevelop coastal shipping and decongest roads and railways, itsaid. It would also enable a green mode of transpor t reducingfuel intensity and reduce carbon emissions.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015w o r l d

80 PERTOSA DRIVE, UNIT 12,BRAMPTON ONT., L6X 5E9

IS APPLE FINALLY MOVING OUTOF STEVE JOBS' SHADOW?

STUDENTS IN MANY PARTS OF DHAKA, BANGLADESH ARE DEMANDING WITHDRAWAL OF VALUE-ADDED TAX (VAT) IMPOSEDON TUITION FEES. (IANS)

BY ANIRBAN GHOSHALNEW DELHI, (IANS) For anyone out there who is not a par t of AppleInc.'s workforce, it would be very hard to imagine the Apple logowithout connecting the name of Apple's late founder Steve Jobs intheir heads. But the truth is that the company's latest announcements,launches and strategies are in deviation of Jobs' ideologies and think-ing.Apple on Wednesday unveiled a new stylus called the Apple Pencilalong with a 12.9-inch tablet (iPad Pro) while Jobs during a speech in2007 during the launch of the Multi Touch technology showed hisdisgust towards using styluses."Who wants a stylus?!" Jobs joked at the conference in 2007. "Youhave to get 'em, put 'em away, you lose 'em, yuck. Nobody wants astylus." He is also believed to have told his biographer Walter Isaacsonthat "as soon as you have a stylus, you're dead."Tim Cook, who took over as CEO after Steve Jobs passed away, has

always taken a different stand from Job's views which included thingslike a high degree of resistance over the idea of launching a largerscreen-sized phone or a humoungous tablet.Interestingly, Cook launched the super-size iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in2014 and it aided Apple to have the most profitable quarter of anycompany ever. Another example of the company walking away fromJobs' shadow would be the slew of services launches including AppleTV. Jobs was always against Microsoft and Apple doing any kind ofstreaming or subscription services.The Apple Watch which was launched in March was also anotherdeviation or one can say Cook's original idea to take the company tonew revenue heights. The watch was designed completely underCook's leadership with no input from the late founder.The release of 7.9-inch iPad mini in 2012 in contrast to Job's aversionto small tablets also goes to show the changing ideals of the multina-tional tech giant. Cook was also at the helm of buying Beats, the audio

engineering firm, for $3 billion which is again in direct contrast fromthe late founder's opinion that building innovation was far better thanbuying it.The change in strategies by Cook seems to have worked well asApple shares jumped from $54 to $110 since Jobs died, resulting in amarket capitalisation of over $600 billion. Another success story forApple would be that i t has gradually dominated the high-endsmartphone space globally. In China, which its second biggest mar-ket, iPhone has grown nearly 75 percent year-on-year.Interestingly, Cook in a tribute service for Jobs in 2011 had said thatthe late founder had advised him to never ask what Jobs would do."Just do what's right," he said."It's time for the rest of us to let go too,and stop asking: "What would Jobs do?" Cook had said at the service.

Indians dead in Makkah mosqueaccident: toll reaches 11NEW DELHI, (IANS) Nine more Indian Haj pilgrims have died in thecrane crash accident at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in Saudi Arabia,taking the toll to 11 so far, the external affairs ministry said on Sunday.Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in tweets that "after openingof mortuary on Sunday evening, officials working with relatives haveconfirmed that nine more Indians have unfortunately died" in the acci-dent. He said the Indian mission in Jeddah was extending all possibleassistance to the families of the 11 deceased pilgrims to complete theformalities in Makkah. He said Indian officials in Makkah were con-tinuing to provide assistance to the 19 injured Indian pilgrims. Theministry released a list of nine dead pilgrims -- Mohd Hanif, Tabassum,Hassan Kharaj, Zafar Sheikh, Zakira Begum, Mohd Abdul Khadar, FatimaBegum, Shameem Bano, Khader Bee. In Hyderabad, Telangana StateHaj Committee's special officer S.A. Shukoor told IANS that a couplehailing from Krishna district in coastal Andhra Pradesh had died. Theywere among the nine Indian pilgrims who were identified in the mortu-ary. They were Abdul Khader (38) and his wife Fatima Begum (32). Thenumber of dead in the crane crash has gone up to 111 so far, while 331people are injured. The Indian mission has published its 24/7 helpline -- 00966125458000, 00966125496000 -- and toll free number 8002477786for pilgrims within Saudi Arabia, the ministry statement said.

Sikh Americans to organisediversity festival in CaliforniaNEW YORK, (IANS) The Punjabi-American Cultural Associa-tion (PACA) in Fair field, California is set to host its annual"Diversity Festival" on September 12 -- a day after the UScommemorates the September 11 terrorist attacks, a mediarepor t said.The PACA, which was established after the events of 9/11,said the festival aims at bringing different communities to-gether and to spread awareness of the Sikh faith, US-basedDaily Republic newspaper repor ted. "The Sikhs have suffereddue to mistaken identity after the tragic events of 9/11," GurpreetDhugga of the PACA was quoted as saying. The annual eventwill be organised at the Fair field Centre for Creative Ar ts.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 w o r l d

SAUDI KING SALMAN BIN ABDULLAZIZ (C) VISITS THE SITE WHERE A CRANE FELL INSIDE THE GRAND MOSQUE IN MAKKAH (IANS).

ANADIAN STOCK MARKET REBOUNDSAFTER HIGHER OIL PRICES

TORONTO, (IANS) Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Tuesdayrebounded when higher oil prices and the US retail sales data buoyedthe trading sentiment.After a slump for the previous two days, the Toronto Stock Exchange'sbenchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index climbed 109.37points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 13,462.71 points, with all theeight major sectors moving higher, led by Utilities whose sharessoared by 2.55 percent in the day.With no stimulative macro-economic data released, the index wasmainly suppor ted by the rising oil prices when light, sweet crudefor October delivery edged up 59 U.S. cents Tuesday to settle at$44.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Xinhuanews agency repor ted.Energy was up 0.25 percent when most companies from the oil-patch rebounded higher with Encana up 1.06 percent to 9.51 Ca-nadian dollars (about 7.18 U.S. dollars) a share, and CanadianNatural Resources Ltd. up 0.92 percent to 26.33 Canadian dollars ashare.But Suncor Energy Inc., the biggest oil and gas producer in this coun-

try, lowered 0.51 percent to 33.42 Canadian dollars a share.And the equities market in Toronto was also pushed up by the newlyreleased U.S retail sales data when investors focused on the US cen-tral bank's two-day policy meeting star ting Wednesday.According to the US commerce depar tment Tuesday, the advanceestimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August increased0.2 percent from the previous month to $447.7 bn.Although it was slightly below market consensus of a 0.3-percentgain, this suggested a stronger consumer spending profile for thethird quar ter, and provided fur ther evidence that the US domesticeconomy continues to improve at a healthy pace, according to arepor t issued by TD Bank Tuesday.And Bank of Canada, the country's central bank, said last weekthat a firm recovery in the US, with par ticular strength in thesectors of the US economy, is impor tant for Canadian expor ts.Other gainers in TSX included Industrials and Info Tech, up 1.6percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Tuesday edged higherto $0.7549, when compared with $0.7543 on Monday.

AUSTRALIAN PM OUSTED IN LEADERSHIP BALLOTCANBERRA, (IANS) Senior cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull was on Monday set to become Australia's 29th prime minister aftertoppling Tony Abbott in a Liberal leadership ballot at Parliament House in Canberra.Earlier in the day, Turnbull resigned from the Cabinet in an attempt to force a leadership ballot and announced plans to contest the Liberalleadership, ABC repor ted.Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also defeated Kevin Andrews in a ballot for deputy Liberal leader.Before the vote -- which he won 54 votes to 44, Turnbull said he had been under sustained pressure to put his name forward."Now this is not a decision that anyone could take lightly. I have consulted with many, many colleagues, many Australians, many of oursupporters in every walk of life," Turnbull said."This course of action has been urged on me by many people over a long period of time.""It is clear enough that the Government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need. It is not the fault ofindividual ministers," he added."Ultimately, (Tony Abbott) has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs. He has not been capable ofproviding the economic confidence that business needs."Turnbull was expected to be sworn in after Mr Abbott writes to the Governor General and resigns.

355 INMATES ESCAPE IN AFGHAN PRISON BREAKKABUL, (IANS) Taliban militants on Monday stormed into a prison outside the Afghan city of Ghazni, freeing at least 355 inmates, themedia repor ted.According to officials, the prison housed 436 prisoners in all -- of which at least 355 escaped in the jail-break, Tolo News repor ted.At least 148 of the escapees are considered to be a serious threat to national security."One militant rammed a car bomb into the main gate of the prison at around 2:00 a.m. Shor tly after the blast six militants disguised inpolice uniform entered the jail, and assisted the inmates in leaving the complex," deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmaditold Xinhua news agency.The initial information showed that 352 prisoners, including a number of criminal inmates, succeeded in fleeing while security forcessuccessfully intercepted more than 80 prisoners, the official added.An interior ministry statement said seven security members were killed and seven others were injured. In addition, a total of fiveinsurgents died in the incident.Officials said police were hunting the prisoners who fled the area. So far, three escapees have been captured.The Taliban insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack.Sediq Sediqqi, the ministry spokesman, said an investigation was launched into the incident and details would be made public.It is the third time since 2008 that hundreds of Taliban inmates have escaped from an Afghan prison.In 2011, nearly 500 prisoners - including many Taliban insurgents - escaped from a jail in Kandahar city, after a tunnel hundreds ofmetres long was dug from the outside.

Indonesia restricts free visa for radical ideology countriesJAKARTA, (IANS) The Indonesian government on Monday said it will not provide free visa facility to any country having radicalideology or active drug business.Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Rizal Ramli made the remarks as the country announced its aim to expand the facilitiesto 47 countries by October aimed at reviving the tourism industry, Xinhua news agency repor ted.Rizal said the government expects 20 millions tourists coming into the country annually within the next five years -- double this year'starget. Currently, passpor t holders from 45 countries and territories, including the US, Britain, Russia, Canada, China, Japan andFrance, are allowed to enter and remain in Indonesia without a visa for 30 days.However, the facility does not allow the change into other permits or visa extension.

'Pakistan-China military tieswill rise to new heights'ISLAMABAD, (IANS) The military relations between Beijingand Islamabad will reach "unprecedented heights" followingtheir joint anti-terrorism exercise, Pakistan's army chief hassaid. "The everlasting relation will grow to unprecedentedheights as both countries will continue to work for eliminationof terrorism in all forms," Gen. Raheel Sharif said.The army chief witnessed joint field exercise Warrior-III whileGen. Li Fayi led a senior-level Chinese military delegation atthe closing ceremony of Pakistan-China special forces jointexercise for counter terrorism, the Inter-Services PublicRelations said in a series of tweets.Gen. Sharif lauded the young soldiers for their display ofprofessionalism and skills during the exercise and said thatthe exercise boosted military relations between Pakistan andChina. He commended the Pakistan army's Special ServicesGroup (SSG) for its outstanding performance during Zarb-e-Azb and stated that the operation would continue till theelimination of the last terrorist.The Pakistan Army and China's PLA conducted a seven-weeklong exercise with focus on counter-terrorism operations.

Carson catches up withTrump, Clinton lead erodingBY ARUN KUMARWASHINGTON, (IANS) A day before the second Republicanpresidential debate, two new polls found neurosurgeon BenCarson catching up with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton'snational lead narrowing with a rapid erosion of Democraticwomen's suppor t.Amassing considerable new suppor t from Republican voters,Carson at 23 percent is just four points behind real estatemogul Trump as their pick for the par ty's presidentialnomination, according to a new New York Times/CBS Newspoll."Far more than other Republican contenders, Carson hascapitalised on his outsider message - a mix of anti-establish-ment views, delivered in a calmer tone than Trump's, andsocially conservative positions - to draw voters away fromrivals and leap ahead in the poll," the Times said.While the propor tion of Republican voters favouring Carsonrose to 23 percent from 6 percent in the previous CBS Newspoll, taken just before the first televised Republican debate inearly August, Trump made modest gains, to 27 percent from24 percent.Establishment favourite Jeb Bush fell in the poll, to 6 percent,from 13 percent, and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsintumbled to 2 percent from 10 percent, according to the poll.The only other significant gain was made by the third outsiderin the Republican field, Carly Fiorina, the former chiefexecutive of Hewlett-Packard, who drew suppor t from 4percent of voters, compared with a minimal percentage inmidsummer.Meanwhile a Washington Post-ABC News poll saw Clintonsuffering a rapid erosion of suppor t among "Democraticwomen" - the voters long presumed to be the bedrock in herbid to become the nation's first female president.Where 71 percent of Democratic-leaning female voters saidin July that they expected to vote for Clinton, only 42 percentdo now, a drop of 29 points in eight weeks.Clinton's erosion of suppor t is largely attributed to thecontroversy surrounding her use of a private server when shewas secretary of state and her response to it amid repor tsthat the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into thesecurity of her e-mails.As a result, Clinton's once-commanding national lead overSenator Bernie Sanders, who is running to her left, and VicePresident Joe Biden, who is considering joining the race, hasbeen cut by two-thirds, the Post said.Both men are now polling in the low 20s against her."The poll suggests that the historic significance of Clinton'scampaign is being over taken by other forces," the Post said.Clinton, according to the Post, did not dispute the drop insuppor t when asked about it Monday at a news conference inCedar Falls, Iowa."I've been in and around enough campaigns to know thatthere's an ebb and flow," she said. "Polls go up and down."

Egypt ratifies execution foreight Morsi loyalistsCAIRO, (IANS) An Egyptian cour t on Tuesday ratified thedeath sentences of eight suppor ters of ousted Islamistpresident Mohamed Morsi over violence and murdercharges.Among the 119 defendants in the case, Menia CriminalCour t also sentenced 83 defendants to 25 years in prisonand 14 defendants to 15 years, among others who werehammered to five to 10 years in jail, Xinhua news agencyrepor ted.The case dates back to mid-August 2013 when Morsi'ssuppor ters, par ticularly those of the now-outlawedMuslim Brotherhood group, committed acts of violence inresponse to the dispersal of two major pro-Morsi sit-insin Giza and Cairo. More than 1,000 people were killed andthousands more arrested in those actions.The defendants have been accused of committing acts ofviolence, joining the Brotherhood "terrorist group",assaulting state proper ties, deliberately murdering twopolicemen and a guard after breaking into Samalout policestation in Menia and seizing weapons and ammunitionthere.Morsi was removed by the military in early July 2013after mass protests against his one-year rule and hisBrotherhood group.Most Brotherhood leaders, including Morsi himself andthe group' s top chief Mohamed Badie, are currently incustody. They have received appealable death sentencesand life imprisonments over various charges varying frominciting violence, murder to jailbreak.

HOW MADHURI DIXIT GOTHER BOLLYWOOD DEBUT?

SHAHRUKH KHAN'S WIFE GAURI KHAN VISITS PARIS, ANNOUNCES DECISION TO SHOW COLLECTION AT MAISON&OBJET (IANS).

Rakhi Sawant IndraniMukherjea's favourite star?MUMBAI, (IANS) Rakhi Sawant'supcoming film Ek Kahaani JulieKi is based on the Sheena Boramurder mystery, where shewill play the character of primeaccused Indrani Mukherjea.The actress and item girl saidat a media interaction hereshe was once Indrani's"favourite star. Indrania lways l ived astressful l i fe.But only nowwe've come toknow whatstress she was go-ing through. I will por-tray everything onscreen... how she was nice,a mastermind and money-minded," she added.Rakhi claims that she knewSheena and worked closely withIndrani and her husband PeterMukherjea. She also said that theirfriendship grew on the set of the tworeality shows -- "Yeh Hai Jalwa"and "Jalwa Four 2 Ka 1", whichwere aired on 9X -- under INX Me-dia, which was helmed by Peter. "Iknow all the minute and big de-tails about her. I thought no oneelse could've played this charac-ter better than me," said Rakhi, andadded: "No one knows what or whoforced her that she had to take thisdrastic step. I feel that though Indranihas confessed, but still she is hidingsomething." Ek Kahaani Julie Ki isproduced by Avadh Sharma for ChetnaEnter tainment.

MUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Madhuri Dixit, whohas carved her own niche in the enter-tainment industry by showcasingher versatility in dance and act-ing, says she landed her debutBollywood role with 1984 film"Abodh" by chance. Madhurispoke about it in an interviewwith veteran actor Anupam Kheron his chat show "The AnupamKher Show - Kucch Bhi Ho SaktaHai". Recalling how she got"Abodh", Madhuri said: "Therewas a person Govind ji, who used towork for Rajshri Productions and hisdaughter was in the same class as myelder sister. In school, he knew that I used to dance, act in plays and givespeeches. "Then Rajshri had announced that a new film production willbegin and they were looking for a young innocent face. That's when heapproached me." However, Madhuri added that her parents said 'no' forthe project as they wanted her to pursue her education. "Govind askedmy parents to meet Rajshri heads to perhaps change their mind, so wewent to their office. We felt we were in a home and not the 'filmy' kind...but they were simple and nice people. I still remember that they askedme to read a few lines from a book in Hindi to see if I had a Maharashtrianaccent when speaking, but I didn't. "Then later I had a proper screen testand they asked me to dance as well, which I did. Looking back, I feel likeI didn't have any qualms about performing and was very carefree aboutthe whole process," she added. After "Abodh", Madhuri went on to starin films like "Ram Lakhan", "Dil", "Beta", "Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!", "DilTo Pagal Hai", "Devdas" and "Gulaab Gang". The episode, featuringMadhuri was aired on Sunday on Colors.

'SHAANDAAR' SONG GETS OVER 2 MN VIEWSMUMBAI, (IANS) "Gulaabo", the much-anticipated first song from "Shaandaar", has received over 2.6 million views in less than 24 hourssince releasing on YouTube. The song's video, featuring the film's lead actors Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, went online on the official ZeeMusic Company YouTube page on Thursday -- the same day when the duo launched it with the film's director Vikas Bahl at an event here."Shaandaar" promises to be an out-and-out youthful love story focussing on two characters Alia (played by Alia Bhatt) and Jagjinder Joginder(played by Shahid). Alia's father Bipin (played by Pankaj Kapur) adds the twist to their romance as he believes there's no man who will be goodenough for his daughter. While Alia is a dreamer, Jagjinder Joginder feels he can make anything happen. Presented by Fox Star Studios,"Shaandaar", releasing on October 22, is produced by Dharma Productions and Phantoms Films.

MY ROLES IN ROCK ON 2, AZHAR ARE DIVERSE:PRACHI DESAIMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Prachi Desai says she has diverse roles to play in her new films"Rock on 2!!" and "Azhar". The former is a sequel of the 2008 Indian rock music dramawhich marked Prachi's film debut, while "Azhar" is a biopic on former Indian cricketcaptain Mohammad Azharuddin. At an event for Forevermark Diamond Jewelleryhere on Thursday, the actress shared that the "Rock On 2!!" shooting has par tly begunand that the first schedule of "Azhar" is "done"."It 's pretty exciting. I 'm doing two very diverse films and diverse roles," Prachisaid. Produced by Ekta Kapoor, "Azhar" features Emraan Hashmi in Azharuddin'srole, while Prachi is said to be essaying his first wife Naureen. She says thechallenge of doing both the films is "to bring out the distinction between the tworoles. I have been taking references as I have not done any real life characterbefore. People really don't know about Naureen (Azhar's wife), so it's going to belittle challenging to put a face to her onscreen. With 'Rock On 2!!', there ischallenge to make the film better than the first."

SOORAJ PANCHOLI AND ATHIYA SHETTY DURING THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF FILM HERO IN MUMBAI (IANS).


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015b o l l y w o o d

JACKKY BHAGNANI'S 'DREAM MEETING'WITH MALALA YOUSAFZAI

AMITABH BACHCHAN, RICHARD VERMA, AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO INDIA, RATAN TATA, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS TATA SONS ATLAUNCH OF TOWARDS A TB FREE INDIA INITIATIVE IN MUMBAI (IANS).

Why is SRK getting prouder?MUMBAI, (IANS) Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who has com-pleted the shooting of Maneesh Sharma's directorial "Fan",says he becomes "arrogant" every time he sees the film. The49-year-old actor will be seen essaying the role of a fan namedGaurav in the film. "Whatever anyone might say…the honesttruth is that whenever I see 'FAN' the film, I become arrogant.Thanks Maneesh and team for finding me again," SRK tweetedon Friday. Produced by Yash Raj Films, the movie will hittheatres on April 15, 2016. The "Chennai Express" actor willnext be seen in Rohit Shetty's "Dilwale", which also featuresKajol, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Boman Irani and VinodKhanna. The film is slated to release on December 18.

Who is asking for a ban on bans?MUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Pooja Bedi says this recent cultureof bans, especially in Maharashtra, is ridiculous and needs togo. "I think this banning business is ridiculous, we should allban bans. We need to ban this whole culture of shutting downand banning things. If you have to ban something, ban productswhich are actually harmful for us like cigarettes. Smokingalso affects the health of people standing around you. But wewon't ban such things. We're told don't eat fish, don't eat meat,don't wear miniskir ts and other such things," said Pooja whenasked about the recent four-day meat ban in Mumbai.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has bannedthe sale of meat for four days over a week as the Jain fastingseason of Paryushan will be underway. Recently, actrss SonamKapoor drew flak for her comments on the same issue. Otherthan this, beef is also banned in Maharashtra.Pooja said: "According to me, this is a democracy and in ademocracy, individual choice is the most impor tant thing. Ifwe feel that we're adults and adults are empowered to makeimpor tant decisions. We can cer tainly decide if we want to eatbeef, pork, fish or wear miniskir ts or drink alcohol."Pooja was present along with celebrities such as Manish Paul,Priya Dutt among others at the Asian Reincarnation and Theo-sophical Seminar. Regarding the concept of reincarnation, shesaid, "I believe immensely in past life regression. I've ven-tured into my past life and have experienced it. What I was inthe previous life and why I've taken bir th in this world, I be-lieve in all of this because I've seen it on my own." Pooja,currently seen solving the problems of people in a column in the enter-tainment supplement of a leading newspaper, has acted in films such as"Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar" and hosted her own show "Just Pooja"which was graced by leading Bollywood stars.

ANUSHKA AND SULTAN?ARE THE RUMOURS TRUE?MUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Anushka Sharma, who is currentlyin London to shoot "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", has shot down "strange"rumours about her presence in Salman Khan starrer, Sultan."Here I'm busy shooting and I read that my next film is 'Sultan'!News to me guys..sorry to disappoint... I am always suppos-edly doing more films than the ones I am actually committedto doing! Strange," Anushka tweeted. "Sultan", produced byAditya Chopra under his Yash Raj Films banner, is repor tedlybased on the life of a wrestler. While the "Dabangg" star will beseen in the lead role, his leading lady in the film is yet to beannounced. Anushka's name is said to have come up afterParineeti Chopra reportedly walked out of the movie. The film'sshooting is scheduled to commence in November, and its re-lease date has been fixed for the auspicious occasion of Eid in2016. Meanwhile, Sultan director Ali Abbas Zafar is in LosAngeles to work "set the action" for the movie with LarnellStovall, an international fight choreographer.

MUMBAI, (IANS) Bollywood ac-tor Jackky Bhagnani, who madea faux pas last year when hemisspelt Nobel Peace Prize win-ner Malala Yousafzai's name as'Masala' in a tweet, got a chanceto meet the Pakistani activist inLondon on Thursday. He consid-ered the meeting as his "dream"and called Malala his "hero".Jackky, who has appeared infilms like "F.A.L.T.U" and "Wel-come to Karachi" , ear l ierapologised to the 18-year-old bymaking a sat ir ical six-minutevideo with live video enter tain-ment platform #fame for writingher name incorrectly. The re-sponse to the video was so over-whelming that it urged Malalaand her father, Ziauddin Yousafzaito invite Jackky over to meetthem. The video went viral onsocial media a few weeks ago onthe occasion of Malala's 18thbir thday on July 12. "For methings have come a full circle.From an auto-correct mistake toa bir thday video tribute to a dreammeeting with one of my heroes.Malala is not just an inspirationbut a living example of how tofight with courage and determi-nation," Jackky, who left for Lon-don on Monday, said in a state-ment. "Her humility is touchingand her sincerity is what makes

her the leader that she is. Malalais a celebration of the humanspirit and this meeting was anoppor tunity for me to experiencethat," he added. Malala saysJackky's video was the "f irstthing" she saw on her bir thday,which "made my day.""The suppor t encourages me togo on fur ther as I know I'm not alone girl in this mission of want-ing girls to get quality education.I'm very thankful to Jackky and

the team that made this video."Malala said. Jackky also took toTwitter and shared a photographof the meeting. He captioned it:"From a mistake to a dream meet-ing! To my hero, thank you#Malala @ZiauddinY."He also shared a video messagefrom Malala in which she can beheard saying: "Hello! Namasteand As-salamu alaykum to all myfriends in India, all my brothersand sisters. I would like to say a

big thank you to all of you for yourkind suppor t and encouragementto me and my campaign for edu-cation and it's your prayers andwords that gives me strength towork even harder to ensure that ev-ery girl goes to school. "It's my ambi-tion to work for that in Pakistan, in Indiaand ensure that girls are working thathard and they will contribute to theirsociety. So I'm putting forward tocoming to India Inshallah andworking there. Thank you."

(COURTESY: FACEBOOK.COM/JACKKYBHAGNANIOFFICIAL/PHOTOS)

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan song forMeeruthiya Gangsters unveiledMUMBAI, (IANS) Renowned singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan'sNaina Tose Lage for upcoming film, Meeruthiya Gangsters'was unveiled recently. The soothing vocals of Khan lend deepmeaning to the song and a romantic flavour to the film.The video features actors Nushrat Bharucha and Vansh Bhardwajwho seem to be throughly enjoying the song which was shot whilethe actors were shopping or romancinng each other at scenic loca-tions, restaurants and boats. The tune has been composed bySiddhant Madhav while the lyrics have been written by ArafatMehmood. Two upbeat songs from the album, one being the titletrack and a club track "Mastam Mastam" sung by Mika Singh haveboth been applauded by the masses with the number of hits signifi-cantly going up day by day. "Mika Singh's voice was apt for ourprevious track 'Mastam Mastam' and similarly Rahat Fateh Ali Khanwas perfect for this romantic track. He is choosy about his projects,so we're feeling fortunate that he accepted our song," producer of thefilm Shoeb Ahmed said. "He has proved his mettle in romanticnumbers and some of his songs have been blockbuster hits. Sowe're hoping for a similar fate for 'Naina Tose Lage' as it's one ofthe most soulful songs I've heard. Madhav, too has show-cased his wide range of compositions with this song."Meeruthiya Gangsters is a quirky take on the crime of a Meerutgang directed by Zeishan Quadri also starring Jaideep Ahlawat,Mukul Dev, Aakash Dahiya, Sanjay Mishra, Brijendra Kalaamong others is releasing on 18 September.

Anushka Sharma starts shootingfor 'Ae Dil Hai MushkilMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Anushka Sharma has begun shootingfor filmmaker Karan Johar's upcoming directorial "Ae Dil HaiMushkil" in London. An "excited" Anushka asked her fans andfollowers to "wish her luck" for the film. "Sooo today we star tfilming #AeDilHaiMushkil in London. Butterflies attacking. Excitementrolling. Send me your love and wish me luck guys," the "NH10" actresstweeted. Produced by Fox Star India and Dharma Productions, "Ae Dil HaiMushkil" will be also feature Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor inkey roles. Karan was last seen working with the "Barfi!" actor and Anushkain "Bombay Velvet", which also saw him portraying a negative role. Themovie is slated to hit the theatres on Diwali next year.

'Parched' expression of every woman's desire: Surveen ChawlaMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Surveen Chawla, who essays a nautch girl in "Parched" -- ready for its world premiere at the Toronto Interna-tional Film Festival (TIFF) -- says the film is an expression of what every woman wants to say. The Leena Yadav directorial is set in theheart of the parched rural landscape of Gujarat. It traces the bitter-sweet tale of four ordinary women Rani, Lajjo, Bijli and Janaki."The film is one of the most beautiful journeys I've had in so many years of my work, transforming me to a great degree. 'Parched' is anexpression of what every woman wants to say. I play a nautch dancer in the film. It's bold superficially, but with a lot of depth," Surveensaid in a statement."It's a fantastic film and I cannot wait for its release," she added. The movie also stars Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte and Lehar Khanin other key roles. "We have had the most brilliant experiences," added Surveen, who worked on the small screen before featuring in filmslike "Ugly" and "Hate Story 2". She last featured in the "Welcome Back" song "Tutti bole wedding di". TIFF begins on Thursday and willconclude on September 20.

ACTOR AAMIR KHAN PAYS OBEISANCE AT THE GOLDEN TEMPLE IN AMRITSAR. (IANS)



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 b o l l y w o o d

MADHUR BHANDARKAR AT THE LAUNCH OF TRESSMODE STORE IN KHAR, MUMBAI ALONG WITH AVANI MODI, RUHI SINGH,SATARUPA PYNE AND AKANKSHA PURI - STARS IN HIS UPCOMING FILM CALENDAR GIRLS (IANS).

BHAGYASHREE PATWARDHAN AND SHEEBA DURING THE LAUNCH OF DAZZLING DESIRES BY DWARKADAS CHANDUMAL JEWELLERSIN MUMBAI (IANS).

Thank you for showing me wayin B'wood: Sonakshi to Salman

SONU NIGAM, ATIF ASLAMPERFORM IN DUBAIDUBAI, (IANS) Indian and Pakistani singers Sonu Nigam andAtif Aslam paired up to perform here in a five-hour concert, a mediareport said. The singers shared the stage at the World Trade Centre inDubai on Thursday night proving that art has no boundaries and de-spite their respective countries being at loggerheads, their hearts arethe same beyond borders, Gulf News reported on Saturday.To show mutual admiration, Nigam sang songs by Pakistani legendsNusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Reshma while Aslam sang songs byMohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Jagjit Singh. Moreover, Nigamperformed songs sung by Aslam and Atif reciprocated with Nigam'schartbusters. Aslam performed first and began the concert withBollywood hits that included "Woh lamhe woh baatein", "Tu chahiye"and some Sufi songs. Nigam switched gears by following him withsongs like "Mera rang de basanti" and "Don't say alvida". Nigam'srendition of "Shukran Allah" as a mark of respect for the UAE martyrswho lost their lives in Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen, wasfollowed by a two-minute silence.

KAJOL, AJAY BEAM WITHJOY AS SON TURNS FIVEMUMBAI, (IANS) As Bollywood couple Kajol and Ajay Devgn'sson Yug turned five on Sunday, the actress beamed with joy and saidthat it's a "happy and proud" moment for her, while Ajay was in awewith how fast the time flies. Kajol, who is busy in shooting for RohitShetty's upcoming film "Dilwale", took to Twitter to share: "Very happyand proud as Yug turns 5 today! Let's make sure every child has thatchance." The "Drishyam" star Ajay Devgn also thanked his fans andfollowers for their "best wishes". "Time flies, Yug turns 5 today. Thankseveryone for your best wishes. #ProudDad," Ajay tweeted.The duo got married in 1999 and have two children together. Thecouple have shared the silver screen in movies like "Ishq", "Pyaar ToHona Hi Tha" and "Raju Chacha". On the movie front, Kajol isgearing up for "Dilwale", in which she is coming back on thesilver screen opposite superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

ARJUN KAPOOR GETS AGLIMPSE OF 'DREAMY' DELHINEW DELHI, (IANS) Delhi is known for its energy and vibrancy.But a different side of the national capital was unfolded in frontof Arjun Kapoor during his shooting schedule for "Ki and Ka"here. The actor says Delhi gets "a little still, a little dreamy anda little melancholy" during night. The actor shared his experi-ence of witnessing the serene side of the city on Twitter. "Nightshoot and you get to see a different side of Delhi...a little still,a little dreamy, a little melancholy...and lots of TRUCKS pass-ing by," Arjun tweeted. Come morning, and the "Gunday" actorcame up with a way to ditch the morning blues as he shared aselfie with India Gate in the background. "Forget the morningblues...I got the morning PURPLE #Indiagate #sundayselfie#selfietohbantahai #KiandKa," he shared. R. Balki's "Ki andKa" is a romantic film about two people with contrasting ide-ologies. While Arjun essays a progressive house husband,who lovingly suppor ts his wife's ambitions, Kareena KapoorKhan por trays a super ambitious career-oriented woman inthe movie. The film is slated to hit the theatres next year.

Deepika Padukone to launchher foundation in OctoberMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Deepika Padukone, who has person-ally been a victim of depression, says she is planning to launchher foundation dedicated to addressing the issue of mentalhealth on October 10 -- World Mental Health Day. "Mentalhealth is what I'm looking at from a cause point of view. And wewill be launching next month and October 10 is World MentalHealth Day and that's the day we're looking at launching the foundationofficially," said Deepika. The actress talked about her foundation whileaddressing media persons at an event here. However, the "Piku" actressrefrained from divulging any details about her plans for her foundationwhich is named "Live Love Laugh". "But we'll meet separately for that andwe'll talk to you about the plans on what the foundation is looking at doingover the next couple of years," she said. Deepika had launched the logo ofher "Live Love Laugh" foundation on Twitter in August. She had earliersaid that her "fight against depression" prompted her to set up aninstitute to address mental health among Indians.

Sanjay Dutt not part of 'Jazbaa'MUMBAI, (IANS) Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta on Sunday shotdown "bizarre" rumours of his close friend and actor SanjayDutt doing a cameo in his for thcoming film "Jazbaa". The newsof Dutt, who is out on a 30-day parole, doing Gupta's film wentrife after the actor dropped onto the sets of "Jazbaa", whichmarks comeback of actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, on Fri-day. "BAAVLE ho gaye hain kya sab? (Has everyone gonemad?) Where do these bizarre rumours even stem from?" Guptatweeted. Dutt is out on parole to tend to his daughter, who is toundergo nose surgery. And he has previously worked with Guptafor movies like "Kaante", "Musafir" and "Jung". "Jazbaa", anaction thriller, also features Irr fan Khan and Shabana Azmi. Itis slated to hit theatres on October 9.

SUNNY DEOL IS SUCH AGENTLEMAN: TISCA CHOPRAMumbai, (IANS) Actress Tisca Chopra says she is enjoyingshooting for upcoming action drama "Ghayal Once Again", asequel to 1990 hit film "Ghayal", with actor and director SunnyDeol. The actress also feels that Sunny is a perfect "gentleman".Tisca talked about the sequel during a chat with her fans and followerson micro-blogging site Twitter. When a user quizzed the actress about howwas it working with Sunny, the actress replied that Sunny is agentleman and it was fun working with him. She responded: "Reallyfun! @IAMSUNNYDEOL is such a gentleman...#GhayalOnceAgain#AskTisca". Directed by Sunny, "Ghayal Once Again" will take off fromwhere the first version left. Reportedly, the film is based on a real-life eventin the life of a Mumbai Police encounter specialist. The film alsofeature actors Om Puri and Soha Ali Khan.

MUMBAI, (IANS) Sonakshi Sinha, who is currently busy shooting forher upcoming film "Force 2" in Budapest, has thanked superstar SalmanKhan for "showing the way" in Bollywood. The actress completed fiveyears in the Hindi film industry. The "Dabangg" actress took to Twitterto share that she "owes" her journey in Bollywood to the "BajrangiBhaijaan" star and Arbaaz Khan, the co-producer of her first film."Dabangg to Force 2.. Owe it al l to @BeingSalmanKhan and@arbaazSkhan! Thank you for showing me the way," Sonakshitweeted. Sonakshi, the daughter of actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha,has starred in 13 movies so far. She also thanked her fans and well-wishers. "10 sept - 5 years since Dabangg... Which means 5 years ofSonakshi! I am because of you, thank you for sharing this amazingjourney with me," she tweeted.

SHRUTI HAASAN OPTS OUT OF 'BAADSHAHO'MUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Shruti Haasan has repor tedly opted out of Milan Luthria's "Baadshaho" opposite Ajay Devgn due to changes inhow her character has shaped up post the narration. "Shruti and Milan had quite a few meetings. Shruti seemed happy about the film'sstory and how her role was described in those meetings. Hence she agreed verbally but also requested to see a final script before signingthe dotted line, as it is standard norm today," a source close to Shruti told IANS.The source also said that later, the character didn't seem like how it was narrated initially. "However, once the latest narration of therevised script draft was shared with her, her character didn't seem like how it was narrated to her initially as it didn't quite add as muchto the story anymore. She didn't feel like this character cut it for her even though she was really looking forward to working with MilanLuthria," the source added.In addition, the schedule of the film's shoot has also now been pushed forward by a few months which coincide with the shoot of Shruti'stwo southern projects. "Hence bearing all these factors in mind, she had to politely decline being par t of 'Baadshaho' with the hope thatshe gets another oppor tunity to work with Milan and Ajay," the source added. Shruti currently awaits the release of Tamil film "Puli". Shealso has a yet-untitled project with Ajith Kumar on the floors and "Singam 3" in the offing.

AFTER 'DHEERE DHEERE', SONAM WANTS FILM WITH HRITHIKMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Sonam Kapoor says that after the success of "Dheere Dheere", a romantic single recreated and sung by rapperYo Yo Honey Singh, she and Hrithik Roshan should team up for a movie. The actors' sizzling chemistry in the video of the song, hashelped it surpass the 20 million views mark on YouTube.Sonam expressed her interest in working with the "Bang Bang!" actor again when he took to Twitter on Friday and asked her "What shallwe do next" after the successful response to "Dheere Dheere". "Oye @sonamakapoor crossed 20 million today! http://bit.ly/DDvideosongwhat shall we do next," Hrithik wrote. To that, Sonam replied: "@iHrithik how about a movie Hrithik???" The video was published onYouTube on September 1 from the official T-Series channel. It's a recreated version of the popular song "Dheere Dheere" from the 1990film "Aashiqui". Singer Honey Singh tweeted: "Much love and respect for all of you to make #DheereDheere hit the fastest 20 Million (2Crore) views on YouTube."



MAIN HOON HERO TERA HERO

AFGHAN JALEBI PHANTOM

NACHAN FARRATE ALL IS WELL

AAJ KI PARTY BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN

SELFIE LE LE RE BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN

MEET ME DAILY BABY WELCOME BACK

NACHDA PHANTOM

SARFIRA KATTI BATTI

YADAAN TERIYAAN HERO

top

10

HIT OR FLOP MIDWEEKPHANTOM AVERAGEBAJRANGI BHAIJAAN BLOCKBUSTERDRISHYAM HITBROTHERS HITWELCOME BACK 2 HIT

SONG

songsFILM

TUNG TUNGBAJE

FILM:SINGH IS BLING

MIDWEEK BOX

OFFICE REPORT

1

BROTHERS 90 CRWELCOME BACK 74.02 CRPHANTOM 55.33 CRALL IS WELL 17.92 CRHERO 15.2 CR

Movie Review

b o l l y w o o d

BY TROY RIBEIRO

hollywood

FILMMAKER MEGHNA GULZAR DURING THE LAUNCH OF NEW PROMO OF FILM TALVAR IN MUMBAI (IANS).

'Hero' - lead pair impresseswith heroic performances

CAST: SOORAJ PANCHOLI, ATHIYA SHETTY,

ADITYA PANCHOLI, TIGMANSHU DHULIA,

SHARAD KELKAR AND VIVAN BHATENA

DIRECTOR: NIKHIL ADVANI

RATING: **1/2

"If you want this love story to work, then buy yourself some time,"warns a concerned brother to his distraught sister half-way throughthe film.This warning is probably meant for the audience too, who by nowseem to be restlessly squirming in their seats.With the premise that is spelt through the dialogue, "Ek goonda, kyaek IG ki beti se pyaar kar sakta hai kya", You expect the plot, which isa remake of Subhash Ghai's superhit film of the same name, to begripping.But director Nikhil Advani's version, is a far cry from the original.While I usually do not compare films, this one is an exception owingto its pedigree.If it was the music and songs that made Subhash Ghai's 1983 film"Hero", a superhit and a runaway success, it is the performance bythe lead cast that makes Nikhil Advani's film bearable.Sooraj Pancholi plays the mobster with a strong character, SoorajKaushik who is indebted to his godfather Pasha, whom he lovinglycalls "Baba". And Athiya Shetty plays Radha, the Inspector General ofPolice, Shrikant Mathur's daughter who is in love with Sooraj.While their onscreen chemistry is per functory, they seem earnestand promising. They make a sincerely charming and self-assuredpair. With a well-chiselled physique, Sooraj appears to be a bit reti-cent and camera shy, whereas Athiya, is poised and confidence per-sonified.While Sooraj slips into the skin of his character with ease, Athiya withher cocky dialogues seems incongruent with the character she por-trays, and the fault lies with the director.Tigmanshu Dhulia as the fraught with problems, Inspector General ofPolice, delivers as best he could, but seems grossly misfit in theensemble. Aditya Pancholi with his bearded look, lacks the aura ofthe underworld king pin Pasha. His deadpan dialogue delivery doesnot make him menacing at all.Sharad Kelkar por trays the IG's son Dheeraj with aplomb. His is aperfectly conventional character of a loving son and concerned olderbrother who plots to keep his sister happy. Anita Hassanandani as hiswife is wasted.Vivan Bhatena as the antagonist Prince Rannvijay Shekhawat, makes

his presence felt in a small, but well-defined and executed role. Hisimpish, wicked demeanour grows gradually till it explodes during theaction scenes in the climax.The fight as well as the dance sequences are well-choreographed.And the background score is perfectly synchronised with the visualsin terms of beat and tempo. But unfor tunately, the songs don't matchthe simplicity and finesse of the original and they lack the encorefactor.Also the direction, with scant regard to detailing, is careless andwithout conviction. Thus, making the entire viewing experience a sillyproposition.With excellent production values, Advani's film, though technicallyadvanced, is poorly executed in terms of writing. The characters,without much thought given into their back-stories, are shallow andunderdeveloped. And the screenplay is ridiculously flawed and con-fusing at times. While most of the scenes are superbly dramatic, theyunfor tunately do not create an emotional impact.Overall, this "Hero" is a below mediocre fare except for the lead pair'sstraight-forward performances.

SOFIA VERGARA HIGHESTPAID TV ACTRESSLOS ANGELES, (IANS) Actress SofiaVergara's numerous beauty en-dorsements have made her thehighest paid TV actress for thefour th year in a row. Vergara hastopped Forbes magazine's list ofhighest earning TV ac-tresses. She has beenjoined by actress KaleyCuoco-Sweeting atnumber one on thel ist, with bothearning $28.5million beforetax between June1, 2014, and June 1,2015, reportsfemalefirst.co.uk. Vergarahas also created two per-fumes, a self-titled scentand Love, which she designed for her upcoming wedding. The43-year-old actress is set to marry "Magic Mike" star JoeManganiello in November, and said she is planning to wearthe scent, which will be launched in October, when she walksdown the aisle because it feels "meaningful and real" to her.

Tom Cruise, Doug Liman toteam up for 'Luna Park'LOS ANGELES, (IANS) Actor Tom Cruise will team up with his"Edge of Tomorrow" director Doug Liman to make "Luna Park",a film about a group of scientists who build a spaceship in anattempt to travel to the moon and secure a much-needed en-ergy source. Cruise's involvement is a boost for the project,which Liman has long wanted to make. In 2011, he got close,but Paramount Pictures grounded the film over budget concerns. Now,it's back on at the studios, where there is new leadership in charge of theproduction slate, reports hollywoodreporter.com. Cruise will help Limandevelop "Luna Park" with an eye to star. The actor and director havepreviously worked together in films like "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Mena".Mena, now in post-production stage, is set to hit theatres in 2017. "LunaPark" centres on a renegade group of former space employees, led by anEastern European woman, who travel the world, stealing space equipmentin an attempt to go back to the moon to acquire an energy source. The lastitem to steal - or in this case, kidnap - is an ex-NASA employee. Thescript has gone through several substantial rewrites from sev-eral high-profile scribes, including, but not limited to, MarkBowden, Ken Nolan and Simon Kinberg.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


Focus on Srikanth, Kashyap,Sindhu at Korea Open

FANS OF THE GREEK BASKETBALL TEAM ARE SEEN ON THE STAND DURING A EUROBASKET 2015 GROUP C MATCH AT ARENAZAGREB IN ZAGREB, CROATIA (IANS).

KOHLI, TENDULKAR INTENNIS BANTER ON TWITTERDUBAI, (IANS) India Test skipper Virat Kohli on Friday mes-saged batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on Twitter after the lattersaid that he wanted to "play" for Kohli's co-owned franchise TheUnited Arab Emirates (UAE) Royals in the second edition of theInternational Premier Tennis League (IPTL).Kohli co-owns the Dubai-based franchise and World No.2 ten-nis icon Roger Federer on Thursday agreed to play for the teamin the second edition of the tournament. Tendulkar, who is a bigfan of the Swiss maestro Federer, and is a regular attendant atWimbledon championships every year, wanted to share a laughand so tweeted: "Hey @imVkohli, I want to play!" The wittyIndian captain shot back after sometime with a hilarious replystating: "Not sure you have what it takes @sachin_r t paaji!"Earlier on Thursday after Federer's deal was sealed Kohli hadsaid: "I am a huge fan of Roger Federer and with him joining theUAE Royals, my decision to be on board with the team was firm.The UAE Royals feature some of tennis' greatest players and Iam confident about the prospects of the team in the IPTL." The17-time Major champion was par t of the India Aces franchise inthe inaugural edition of the tournament last year. The 34-year-old will be joined by the likes of 2001 Wimbledon championGoran Ivanisevic, 2008 French Open women's singles winnerand No.7 Ana Ivanovic, doubles veteran Daniel Nestor in theteam.

GOLFER ADITI ASHOKWEARS BANGKOK CROWNBANGKOK, (IANS) India's number one woman amateur golferAditi Ashok won the women's title in the 81st Singha ThailandAmateur Championship at the Par-72 Panya Indra Golf Clubhere in dramatic style last week. Overnight leader Aditi cardedone-over 73 to finish the tournament at two-under 286, five shotsahead of Australian Gennai Goodwin and Thailand's ChakansimKhamborn.Bengaluru-based Aditi, 17, opened the final round with bogeyson second and third holes before firing birdie on the 11th andthen dropped another shot on 14th followed by a birdie on 16thto claim the title. It was the third International victory in 2015 forAditi, the current leader of Indian Golf Union (IGU) ladies orderof merit after the St. Rule Trophy at St. Andrews in June andLadies British Amateur Stroke Play Championship in Englandlast month."It feels great to add one more title to the tally this year. I was incontrol throughout the tournament which was the key for myvictory this week. I was leading on all the days, so I am happythat I kept it going to win," said Aditi. The other Indian women inthe fray, Delhi's Seher Atwal and Bengaluru's Anisha Padukonefinished 28th and 38th respectively. In the men's category, India'sSamar th Dwivedi continued his good form by shooting four-under 68 for a four-day total of one-under 287 to finish sixth,nine shots behind winner Blake Proverbs of Australia. Two otherIndians, Bengaluru's Jaibir Singh and Jaipur's HemendraChoudhary ended the tournament at 43rd and 53rd respectivelyin a field of 128 players from 12 countries.

SHUTTER KASHYAP KNOCKEDOUT OF JAPAN OPENTOKYO, (IANS) India's campaign at the $275,000 Japan OpenSuperseries came to an end as world No.8 shuttler ParupalliKashyap was knocked out in the men's singles quar ter-final onFriday. The World No.8 lost 14-21, 18-21 to Chinese Taipei'ssixth seed Chou Tien Chen in just 42 minutes at the Tokyo Met-ropolitan Gymnasium.Kashyap was the lone Indian who entered the quar ter-finalsafter Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and H.S. Prannoy andlost their respective second round matches here on Thursday.With win over Kashyap, Chou Tien Chen levelled things up 2-2in their career meetings. Chen was the aggressor right from thestar t as the sixth seed gathered five consecutive points in thefirst game compared to Kashyaps's three. Among total 35 pointsplayed in the game, Chen grabbed 21 to go 1-0 up in the matchin style.The Indian came back strongly in the second game but hisopponent from Chinese Taipei was too good for him. With sixconsecutive points the sixth seed surged ahead into the semi-finals winning 21 points out of 39 played. Chou Tien Chen willplay the winner of the other last-eight clash between seventhseed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and unseeded Korean Lee DongKeun.

Australian batsman Warnerruled out of Bangladesh tourMELBOURNE, (IANS) Australian Test opener and newly-appointedvice-captain David Warner won't be par t of the Bangladesh tourdue to a fractured left thumb, Cricket Australia (CA) confirmedon Friday. Warner sustained the injury while batting at Lord's inthe second One-Day International against England on Septem-ber 5."It's really disappointing. I never want to miss a match for Aus-tralia but I'll be doing everything I possibly can to get back asquickly as possible," left-hander Warner said in a statement.The New South Welshman was reviewed by a hand specialistin Sydney yesterday (Thursday). Although he won't require sur-gery it was determined that he will not recover in time for thetour but is expected to be fit for Australia's home series againstNew Zealand in November, according to CA.CA executive general manager of team per formance Pat Howardsaid a thorough rehabilitation plan will be put in place for thepowerful left-hander. "David has been told that the fracture willtake at least four weeks to stabilise and a fur ther two weeksbefore he can star t batting and catching again. He will be re-viewed by the specialist at the end of the month to determinewhen he can resume playing," Howard said."Ideally we'd like him to play the Sheffield Shield round begin-ning on October 27 as preparation for the New Zealand series.In the meantime he will begin a modified gym program in Sydney.

SEOUL, (IANS) In the absence of World No.1 Saina Nehwal, the focuswill be on other top Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth andParupalli Kashyap when the $600,000 Korea Open Superseries be-gins at the S.K. Handball Stadium here on Tuesday.Alongwith 2015 World Championships women's singles runner-upSaina, 2011 Worlds bronze medal winning women's doubles pair ofJwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnapa will also skip the event as Jwala isnot well. Hence, the pressure will be on double World bronze medal-list Sindhu, men's singles four th seed Srikanth and eighth seedKashyap.To make matters worse, World No.14 Sindhu, 20, has been drawn inthe first round against former World Champion and current No.5Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. The 20-year-old Ratchanok has a 3-0advantage in career meetings over Sindhu.

However, as compared to the Hyderabadi, Srikanth and Kashayp havegot relatively easier openers. While World No.4 Srikanth will open hiscampaign against World No.11 Tian Houwei of China, World No.8Kashyap will face World No.18 Wei Nan of Hong Kong.World No.12 H.S. Prannoy will, however, face a tough opponent inseventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Chen has won theonly match played against the 23-year-old Indian.Ajay Jayaram will also face the stiff task of going past sixth seedViktor Axelsen, even though the Indian has won the only match playedagainst Dane. Indian pair of Tarun Kona and N. Sikki Reddy will be upagainst top seeds Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei in mixed doubles. Sikkiwill also take par t in women's doubles with Pradnya Gadre and theywill open against Japanse pair of Mami Naito and Shizuka Matsuo inthe first round.

FORCE INDIA DRIVERS FEEL SINGAPORE GP TOUGHEST RACESINGAPORE, (IANS) Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez feel that the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix this weekend inthe toughest race of the Formula 1 calendar because of the heat, despite being held at night."The Singapore Grand Prix ranks as the toughest race of the year because of the heat. It's physically draining and you've also got themental challenge of racing so close to the walls with a small margin of error. We go there knowing we've made some good steps with thecar over the last few races and aiming for more good points," Hulkenberg said on Monday.His Mexican teammate Perez echoed the sentiments."The Marina Bay track is one of my favourites and I've scored points every time I've raced there. I always enjoy driving on street circuitsbecause you have to be aggressive and precise, and that suits my driving style," said Perez."It's quite bumpy, too, so you need a car with good stability to ride the bumps. It's also one of the most demanding races of the yearbecause of the heat and humidity."The weekend will see Formula 1 cars take to the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the 13th round of the season. The Singapore GP was thefirst and still one of the few night races of the calendar."I've always enjoyed racing in Singapore and it's one of the best events of the year. The city is buzzing and there's a great atmospherewherever you go," said Hulkenberg."When it's all lit up at night it looks stunning. I often wonder how much work is required to transform such a busy city into a racetrack. It'sclearly a huge logistical operation, but it's definitely wor th all the effor t."Four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel is the most successful driver on the 5 km circuit, winning the 61-lap floodlit race thrice, onemore than both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton."The track layout has some nice features, but the first sector stands out for me - especially the fast right-hand kink of turn six and thebraking zone of turn seven. You need a car that's able to ride the bumps, can use the kerbs and gives you confidence through the low andmedium-speed corners," added the German.Perez is in good form, finishing fifth and sixth in the last two races at Belgium and Italy which helped him over take his teammate in thedrivers' standings. "I'm heading to Singapore feeling very positive. We've shown in the last two races just how competitive we can be andI'm confident we can have a similar level of performance in Singapore. The team is pushing hard to bring performance to the car andwe've still got developments coming through which will help us a bit more this weekend," said the Mexican driver."I'm now feeling more comfor table with the updated car. I made a big breakthrough in Spa and since then I've had the confidence to pushand get the most from our package. It's a good sign for the rest of the year."

INDIA'S TEST CAPTAIN AND CO-OWNER OF THE UAE ROYALS VIRAT KOHLI AND IPTL MANAGING DIRECTOR MAHESH BHUPATHIDURING THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF ROGER FEDERER OF SWITZERLAND JOINING TO THE UAE ROYALS FRANCHISE IN THE SECONDSEASON OF THE COCA-COLA INTERNATIONAL PREMIER TENNIS LEAGUE (IPTL) 2015 IN DUBAI (IANS).

SANIA WINS US OPEN WOMEN'SDOUBLES TITLE; LEANDER PAES

US OPEN MIXED DOUBLESCONTD. FROM PAGE 1Sania's par tnership with Mar tina has helped her become the firstIndian women's player to be ranked World No. 1 in the doublesrankings. Sunday's final was Sania's first in the category here at USOpen. She won the mixed doubles title last year with Brazilian BrunoSoares here.For Mar tina, the tournament turned out to be a memorable won asshe lifted her second trophy at the Flushing Meadows this year onSunday, after bagging the mixed doubles crown on Friday with an-other Indian, Leander Paes. It was also her fifth Grand Slam title thisyear, and 20th of her career across all three disciplines (five singles,11 doubles and four mixed doubles).The Swiss now just the third active player to have 20 major trophies(after Serena Willams' 36 and Venus Williams' 22). On Sunday, thetop seeds quickly jumped to a 3-1 lead breaking the second servicegame of their opponents. But the four th seeds immediately brokeSania's serve to make it 2-3. Sania-Mar tina though remained unde-terred to bring about the third and four th successive service breaksto extend their advantage to 5-2.Sania then served out the first set at 6-3 in only 31 minutes. They hit16 winners - four more than their opponents - to claim the first set,

conver ting three of the eight break points. Dellacqua-Shvedova couldonly break their opponents once. The reigning Wimbledon championscontinued their dominant return of serves in the second set and broketheir opponents to take an early 2-0 lead. As the match went on, thetop seeds grew more confident and star ted unleashing terrific groundstrokes, both cross cour t and down the line, to march towards vic-tory.But they were made to wait for the win as Dellacqua-Shvedova con-ver ted their second break point to put up a resistance and reduce themargin to 3-5. But that only delayed the inevitable as Mar tina putaway a volley at the net to seal the fate of the match, with the pairclinching 62 of the total 108 points played.Sania and Mar tina entered the title round easing past Italian 11thseeds Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-1. Dellacqua-Shvedovadefeated unseeded German-American pair of Anna-Lena Groenefeldand Coco Vandeweghe 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-5 to reach the final."It has been a great year for us," Sania said after the win. "To winWimbledon was a great year. Then to come back and back it up to winthe US Open, we feel like we're a really solid team. And we camethrough again today. From the star t, we hit it off," Mar tina said. "Ourgames work well together."

PRESIDENT, PM CONGRATULATE PAESNEW DELHI, (IANS) PresidentPranab Mukher jee and Pr imeMinister Narendra Modi on Sat-urday congratulated Indian tennisace Leander Paes and his Swisspar tner Mar tina Hingis for win-ning the US Open mixed doublestitle in New York.Four th seeds Paes and Hingistook just an hour and 17 minuteson Louis Armstrong Stadium atthe Flushing Meadows to defeatAmerican pair of BethanieMattek-Sands and Sam Querrey6-4, 3-6, 10-7 on Friday."Well done @Leander @mhingis,hear ty congratulations on win-ning the U.S Open mixed doubles#PresidentMukher jee," thepresident tweeted.The Indo-Swiss has been on a rollyear as they also won the sametitle earlier at the Australian Openand Wimbledon. They onlymissed out on the lone clay cour tMajor -- French Open -- wherethey lost in the second round."Well played again, @Leander &@mhingis. Congrats on a greatwin. We are all very delighted.@usopen," tweeted Modi.According to details the the 42-year-old legend par tnered Swissveteran Mar tina Hingis -- his 24thmixed doubles par tner -- to beatunseeded Americans BethanieMattek-Sands and Sam Querreyin the final. Paes' illustrious ca-reer, marked by high level of con-sistency, unfliching devotion andundying spirit, now includes ninemixed doubles titles and eightdoubles titles.With this title, 42-year-old Paesbecame the first man to pocketnine mixed doubles title, surpass-ing compatr iot and formerdoubles par tner MaheshBhupathi, who has eight. Paesand Hingis also first team since1969 and second in the Open erato capture three of four Majors in

a calendar year. At an age whereprofession spor tspersons look fortheir second innings, Paesseemed to be unstoppable, stillhaving the hunger of a boy whowas trained at the Britannia Ten-nis Academy run by the Amritrajfamily.Paes, whose father Vece Paeswas a member of the Indianhockey team which won a bronzemedal in the 1972 Munich Olym-pics and mother, Jennifer, was amember of the national basket-ball team, began playing tennisat the age of five and still feels hehas many things to learn and thatseems to be the key.Paes, who is known as one of thebest vol leyers and a talenteddrop-shotter, made his presence

felt in the tennis world by winningthe Wimbledon Junior title wayback in 1990 at age 17 - and thiseventually proved to be the theturning point of his career. Sincethen, the Calcutta (now Kolkata)born has been representing Indiaat various international tourna-ments.He has brought glory to the coun-try by winning many tourna-ments, of which the Davis Cupand the bronze medal at the At-lanta Olympics 1996 is wor thmentioning. One of the most suc-cessful professional Indian tennisplayers, Paes has received theRajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award,India's highest spor ting honour, in1996; the Arjuna Award in 1990;the Padma Shr i in 2001 and

India 's th i rd highest c iv i l ianaward, the Padma Bhushan, in2014 for his outstanding contri-bution to tennis in India.Despite facing several obstacleslike a parasitic infection in hisbrain which threatened his play-ing career way back in 2003, orhis controversies involving hispersonal life, Paes has marchedahead, making the country proud.In 2015, even though his doublesranking has not been up and run-ning, he has compensated for thisby winning three Major mixeddoubles titles. And, with less thana year left for the 2016 Olympics,the expressive and patriotic In-dian seems to be all set for a finalhurrah at the quadrennial extrava-ganza.

Shastri to stay team directortill 2016 World T20: BCCIMUMBAI, (IANS) Ravi Shastri will continue as the director ofthe Indian team till the 2016 World T20, the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Sunday. "Ravi Shastri tocontinue as Team Director of Indian Cricket Team till ICC WorldT20 2016," BCCI tweeted.Apar t from extending Shastri's contract, the tenures of the threecurrent associate coaches -- Sanjay Bangar (batting), BharatArun (bowling) and R. Sridhar (fielding) -- were also increasedfor a similar period. "The tenure of assistant coaches -@ImSanjayBangar, B Arun & @coach_rsridhar extended tillICC WT20 2016," BCCI said in another tweet.These extensions were decided on the recommendations ofthe advisory committee that included Sachin Tendulkar, SouravGanguly, V.V.S. Laxman, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiyaand secretary Anurag Thakur. "BCCI president JagmohanDalmiya and honorary secretary Anurag Thakur appreciatedthe work done by the coaching staff and accepted the decisionunanimously," a BCCI statement added.The extensions come in the wake of India's first away Testseries victory against Sri Lanka since 1993. The effor ts of thecoaching staff in achieving that victory was acknowledged bythe BCCI through the contract extension. Shastri took over thetask of overseeing the team's performance as director in Au-gust last year, just before the One-Day International (ODI) se-ries in England, and insisted on having the services of Bangar,Arun and Sridhar, with under-pressure Zimbabwean DuncanFletcher remaining the coach.But after India failed to defend their title in the 2015 World Cup,Fletcher's contract was not renewed and Shastri was giventhe responsibilities on a full-time basis but no duration of histenure was determined then.Thakur earlier said that a coach would be appointed beforeIndia's home series against South Africa.South Africa will play three T20s, five One-Day Internationals(ODIs) and four Test matches during their 72-day tour with thefirst competitive game scheduled on October 2 in Dharamsala.India host World T20 tournament for the first time from March11 to April 3 next year.

Australia's Haddin denies unrestpost his axing during AshesMELBOURNE, (IANS) Recently retired Australian wicketkeeperBrad Haddin on Sunday admitted that his teammates were"shocked" when he did not regain his place for the third AshesTest having opted out of the second for family reasons butdenied it caused any unrest that derailed the campaign.Haddin suggested that selectors may have erred in taking anageing team on the Ashes and Caribbean Test tours, includinghimself, but has backed Australian cricket to demonstrate itsdepth and ability to rebound strongly, reports cricket.com.au.The 37-year-old, who played 66 Tests, said he "couldn't bemore happy" to have ended his international career and dis-missed repor ts of unrest following his exclusion in favour ofPeter Nevill. "I knew once I made that decision (to miss thesecond Test at Lord's) I put myself in a vulnerable position,"Haddin said."No matter what the reason you pull out of a Test match, it's abig business these days and Australia performed outstandingin that Lord's Test. I don't think that (player unrest) was thecase at all. I think there were people that were shocked withthe decision but you're also in a professional spor t these daysand if you put yourself in that vulnerable position to walk awayyou've got to live with the consequences."

Messi rallies Barca to 2-1 winover Atletico MadridMADRID, (IANS/EFE) Argentine superstar Lionel Messi cameon as a second-half substitute and led defending champion FCBarcelona to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory here on Satur-day over Atletico Madrid in Spanish-league action.Messi star ted the match on the bench after missing trainingon Friday to accompany his girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo, whogave bir th on Friday to their second son, but the 30 minutes hewas on the field were enough to tilt the match in the Catalanclub's favour.As expected, the two sides employed the same tactics as inprevious matches, with Barca dominating ball possession andthe Colchoneros seeking oppor tunities to counter-attack. Thefirst half was all Barcelona, with Atletico barely entering thevisitors' half of the field and only keeping the game scorelessthanks in par t to help from the crossbar, which denied a goldenscoring oppor tunity from Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez.Atletico, however, finally got its attacking game in gear at thestar t of the second half, with Fernando Torres receiving a per-fect pass from Por tuguese midfielder Tiago Mendes and fin-ishing past German net minder Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the51st minute.The fans at Vicente Calderon Stadium erupted, but their joywas fleeting. Just four minutes later, Neymar executed a spec-tacular free kick that curled into the upper-left corner of thegoal past a helpless Jan Oblak to knot the match at 1-1.Barcelona then got another huge boost at the match's one-hourmark when Messi came on for Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakiticand immediately made his presence felt by making a superbpass to Neymar, whose shot appeared to be blocked by Uru-guayan defender Diego Godin's hand.No penalty was called, but there was still time left for Messi towork his magic. In the 77th minute he finished off a patentedBarcelona-type goal, dinking a shot past Oblak after being setup by a delicate touch pass by Suarez.With the win, Barcelona grabbed sole possession of first placein La Liga with nine points, two ahead of Real Madrid.Celta Vigo and Eibar, however, will both have a chance to moveinto a tie for first when they take on Las Palmas and Malaga,respectively, on Sunday.

WOMEN RACERS STORMING INDIANMOTORSPORTS' MALE BASTION

Mominul will be a future leader:Bangladesh coach StreakDHAKA, (IANS) Bangladesh A cricket team coach Heath Streakbelieves Mominul Haque is a potential leader. The Zimbabweanon Sunday said Mominul, who has been made Bangladesh Acaptain for their for thcoming India tour, has a great tempera-ment. "Definitely, he (Mominul) would be a future leader. Forhim, this (captaincy) is a good reward. Hopefully, this will be(his) launch as a leader," Streak was quoted as saying bybdnews24.com.The 23-year-old top-order batsman is called 'Mini' by others,said Streak. The national team's bowling coach explained: "Minihas a very good cricketing head. He has a very good tempera-ment. He has shown it in the Test arena. His hunger for knowl-edge in cricket is good." Bangladesh A will fly to India onMonday for a two-week tour to play three one-day matchesand two three-day games.

Ronaldo scores hat-trick asReal Madrid rout EspanyolMadrid, (IANS) Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals season asReal Madrid defeated Espanyol 6-0 in the Cornella El Prat sta-dium on Saturday afternoon. The Por tuguese striker neededjust 20 minutes to score his hat-trick and ease worries aboutpoor early season form as his side cruised to a comfor t-able win against a rival which rarely threatened, Xinhuarepor ted.Only seven minutes were on the clock when he latchedonto a ball over the top of the Espanyol defence from LukaModric before running into space and slotting the ball in atthe far post past Espanyol goalkeeper Pau. The second camefrom the penalty spot ten minutes later after Gareth Bale'space in the penalty area drew a rash challenge from Alvaroand Ronaldo stepped up to conver t the resulting penalty.Bale was at the hear t of Ronaldo's third of the game in the20th minute. The Welshman received the ball in his favouriteleft channel and curled a cross behind the Espanyol crossfor the Real Madrid number 7 to score from close range.Ronaldo then turned provider as Karim Bemzema made it4-0 in the 28th minute. Bale and Ronaldo exchanged passesand Ronaldo slid the ball across the Espanyol goal forBenzema to score a tap in. Benzema hit the woodwork be-fore half-time with a shot which rattled the post and bouncedback into Pau's grateful arms. With the points in the bag,Rafael Benitez had the luxury of being able to rest playersin the second half and Mateo Kovacic replaced Modric with35 minutes remaining.Bale set up Ronaldo for another tap in to make it 5-0 in the62nd minute before Lucas Vazquez replaced Benzema.Rafael Varene also got a run out, but only after Kaylor Navashad produced a great save from Gerard Moreno and SalvaSevilla hit the rebound wide when it seemed easier to score. Allthat was left was Ronaldo to net his fifth of the game after good workfrom Lucas to prove rumours of his demise were very muchunfounded.

BY SANDIP SIKDAR

COIMBATORE, (IANS) Motorspor t is traditionally considered a malebastion but four young women are trying to break the barrier - and thattoo in India which does not have much of a history of motor racing.Mira Erda, Sneha Sharma, Ria Dabas and Neha Dabas, who race inthe JK Tyre Racing Championship in different categories, are fourintrepid women who want to not only make a mark in Indianmotorsports but also take it beyond that. However, it has not been aneasy ride for them so far as their 'gender' has been a hindrance in oneway or another."The first few years were difficult for me because it is a male-domi-nated spor t. My competitors used to demoralise me, push me off thetrack. I was targeted because I was a female driver .... but my aimwas to prove myself and show everyone that girls can be at an equallevel," Vadodara's Mira, on the threshold of 15 years and who racesfor Meco Racing in Formula LGB 4, told IANS."But after a few years, I got used to it and they also got used to me.Then they star ted suppor ting and understanding me. Now they don'tsee me as a girl but as a competitor. Now we are friends off-track andfierce rivals on-track."Mumbai's Sneha, who also races in Formula LGB 4 for Rayo Racing,said that when she star ted in 2007, people deliberately made heruncomfor table which led to her not interacting much in the paddock."It is difficult. People do make you uncomfor table. Some people don'tlike you here but I overcame these barriers long back when I star ted.All the things that were said to me were very difficult to swallow butI am used to it now; so it no longer affects me. People were not verysuppor tive, some said that you don't belong here and some discour-

aged you," the 25-year-old Sneha, who is also a pilot with IndiGoairline, told IANS."But there were a select few who were encouraging and motivating. Idon't talk to many competitors because not all are very welcoming. Ihave made my place here. Now I am comfortable. Many a time, I wasthe only girl racer but now you see a few more coming in -- four thisyear."Rookie sisters Neha and Ria, who hail from the national capital, arein their first season of racing and are par ticipating in the VolkswagenVento Cup. They are par t of a grid for which more than 500 driversgave trials and eventually only 20 made it through, showing that rac-ing does not have much to do with gender."Racing is not so common in Delhi and people aren't really aware ofit. I and my sister have always been very passionate about cars andbikes," the 24-year-old Neha told IANS."We do get those kind of reactions but in our family everyone is chillabout it. My father is an ex-fighter pilot. We could not become thesame because the Indian Air Force does not allow women to becomefighter pilots. So this was the second fastest thing we could do."Ria, two years junior to Neha, told IANS that "it doesn't matter to me...male dominated or not. I am just here to race with the best. It isdifficult but I am trying to cope. Our parents have always been sup-por tive throughout".Mira and Erda have already earned podiums and with Neha and Riawaiting in the queue, they are giving a 'fair' warning to their malecounterpar ts.So, if Monisha Kaltenborn can be the team principal of Formula 1team Sauber, there's no reason why these four young women canalso not reach their pinnacle.

SHAMI, JADEJA GETTING READY FOR PROTEAS SERIESNEW DELHI, (IANS) Bengal pacer Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will fancy their chances of staging a comeback tothe Indian squad after being included in the preparatory camp for the upcoming home series against South Africa which gets underwaynext month.Shami has been battling injury problems since the World Cup in Australia earlier this year, where he played a crucial role in India's runto the semi-finals, picking up 17 wickets in seven matches at an average of 17.29. The 25-year-old had suffered a major knee injury afterthat tournament and had to undergo a surgery, which left him bed-ridden. Jadeja on the other hand, has been overlooked for India's lastthree series, all of which were ovreseas tours.The 30-player list for the camp also includes Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The Uttar Pradesh seamer was ignored for the recnt tour to Sri Lankaand will be raring to prove himself again in national colours.Talented medium-pacer Mohit Sharma has also been included in the camp. The right-armer impressed the critics during the World Cupand the 26-year-old will probably be justified if he considers himself a strong candidate for selection. The rest of the list comprises mostof the players who were a par t of the recent Test series win in Sri Lanka. The 72-day tour, which gets underway on October 2, will star twith three Twenty20 Internationals. They will be followed by five one-dayers and four Test matches.The probables: M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma,Stuar t Binny, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, BhuvneshwarKumar, Umesh Yadav Varun Aaron, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Shami , Axar Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, MohitSharma, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey.

Tahir back in South Africansquad against IndiaJOHANNESBURG, (IANS) Leg-spinner Imran Tahir was re-called to the Test side after a gap of nine months, as CricketSouth Africa (CSA) on Thursday announced their Test, One-Day International (T20I) and Twenty20 squads for the 72-day-long tour of India, star ting on October 2.Tahir last played in the longest format of the game againstthe West Indies at home on December 26, 2014, and wasdropped thereafter because of poor form. He was also leftout of South Africa's Test squad for Bangladesh in July. TheProteas will begin their tour with a T20 warm-up game onSeptember 29 in New Delhi. It will be followed by threeT20I, five ODIs and four Test matches. The visitors namedthree specialist spinners in their Test squad for the four-match Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series againstIndia.Along with Tahir, off-break bowler Dane Piedt is also backfollowing his successful outing against India A. The duojoins the right-arm off-break bowler Simon Harmer in athree-pronged spin attack. The 30-year-old Dane Vilas isexpected to don the wicketkeeper's gloves in Tests af terthe selectors decided to retain him at Quindon de Kock'sexpense. Speaking on the spin depar tment, CSA selectionconvener Linda Zondi said, "We want to keep all our op-tions open for the Test Series.""We also have Jean Paul Duminy as an option in this de-par tment and I believe we have covered all our bases byhaving both holding and attacking spin options in our squad.It is good to have Dane back from his injury and Imran wasour No.1 spinner for our last Test series on the sub-conti-nent against Sri Lanka," Zondi said.In the one-dayers, young wicket keeper-batsman Quintonde Kock made a comeback after being dropped for thehome series against New Zealand. "Imran is our No. 1bowler in the T20 format and we need him to play everyseries between now and the ICC tournament while EddieLeie will be our second spinner as we want to have an-other look at what he can do," Zondi said.Test squad: Hashim Amla (captain), AB de Villiers, TembaBavuma, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, SimonHarmer, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, DanePiedt, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas.ODI squad: AB de Villiers (captain), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla,Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf duPlessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Mor-ris, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, DaleSteyn.T20 squad: Faf du Plessis (captain), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla,Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, ABde Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Eddie Leie, David Miller,Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, David Wiese, Khaya Zondo.

Boxer Vijender to make pro debut on October 10NEW DELHI, (IANS) Olympic bronze medal-winning Indian boxer Vijender Singh will make his long-awaited professional debut onOctober 10 at the Manchester Arena. The 29-year-old from Bhiwani, Haryana, begins his pro career on the huge double world title showheadlined by Terry Flanagan's WBO World Lightweight title defence against Diego Magdaleno and Liam Smith's challenge for the VacantWBO World Super-Welterweight title against John Thompson.Vijender had a decorated amateur career that includes winning the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze, silver at the 2006 and 2014 Common-wealth Games, bronze at the 2006 Asian Games, 2009 World Championships and 2010 Commonwealth Games, gold at the 2010 AsianGames, and was rated the World No.1 middleweight pugilist in 2009.To make the transition from amateur to professional, Vijender has set up his training base in Manchester at the gym of trainer Lee Beard.Vijender's first fight will be over four rounds in the middleweight division against an opponent to be confirmed shor tly. He will competein the weight classes also comprising of elite fighters Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Andy Lee and Billy Joe Saunders.

Corey Anderson hopes to play against AustraliaWELLINGTON, (IANS) All-rounder Corey Anderson is hopeful of being fit for New Zealand's tour of Australia this November despite beingdiagnosed with a double stress fracture in his spine just three months ago. The Black Caps will name their 15-man squad for the three-Test series against Australia on Friday, a little less than two months before the series gets underway in Brisbane on November 5.Anderson is expected to be named in the squad, but his availability for the first Test at the Gabba is yet to be confirmed, cricket.com.aurepor ted on Thursday. The 24-year-old injured his back during the first Test against England at Lord's in May and was later diagnosedwith fractures in the L3 and L5 ver tebrae in his back. Having missed New Zealand's one-day series in England and South Africa,Anderson has returned to training with a toned down workload that is being monitored closely by the team's medical staff.

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