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DESK REPORTONTARIO - Star ting Sunday, January 3, the TTC fares were increasedadding fur ther to the woes of residents fighting against rising taxes.According to new rates, an adult will pay $3.25 per trip while a token'scost rose to $2.90. The rise was also seen in day/family passes thatwill now cost $12.00; adult weekly passes and Downtown expressstickers will be available for $41.50.

LONDON, (IANS) British Prime Minister David Cameron on Mondaycondemned a new execution video by Islamic State (IS), calling ita "desperate stuff" from an organisation that is "losing anybody'ssympathy". In the video released on Sunday, a masked IS execu-tioner with British accent threatened to invade the UK and calledBritish Prime Minister David Cameron an "imbecile," before ex-ecuting five men who appeared shackled and dressed in orangeboiler suits. They were accused of spying against the IS for theUK. "It's desperate stuff from an organisation that really does dothe most utterly despicable and ghastly acts and people can seethat again today," Cameron said during a visit to east London onMonday. "But this is an organisation that's losing territory, it 'slosing ground, it's, I think, increasingly losing anybody's sympa-thy, and this again shows what an appalling organization we' reup against," he added."They hate us not for what we do but for what we are - the fact thatwe are a successful, tolerant, democratic, multi-faith, multi-eth-nic nation," the prime minister continued. Cameron also said that"Britain will never be cowed by this sor t of terrorism. Our valuesare so much stronger than theirs. It may take a very long time but theywill be defeated."

MUMBAI, (IANS) Son of anauto-rickshaw driver inKalyan, 15-year-old Mumbaischool cricketer PranavDhanawade had one goal --to be a hard-hitting batsmanand score a lot of runs. OnTuesday, the dream finallycame true as K.C. GandhiHigh School student scoreda world record-shattering in-nings of 1,009 not out in anH.T. Bhandari Cup Under-16inter-school tournament match. Pranav's epic 323-ball knock consistedof a staggering 59 sixes and 129 fours. His team, K.C. Gandhi High School,declared their innings at 1,465 for 6 with Pranav remaining unbeaten at1,009. He batted for 395 minutes and had a strike rate of 312.38. Theyoungster broke a 116-year-old record after surpassing 652 on Monday,thus taking over the reins of the highest individual score (including minorcricket) from A.E.J. Collins of England.The wicket-keeper batsman started playing cricket at the tender age offive at Modern Cricket Club under coach Mobin Sheikh and currentlyidolises India's limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Class10 student also participated in the Mumbai selection trials and accompa-nied his teammates from Kalyan to Churchgate for the matches.Following his feat, the teenager received congratulations from all quar-ters, star ting from batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni and AjinkyaRahane among many others. Tendulkar wrote: "Congrats PranavDhanawade on being the first ever to score 1000 runs in an innings. Welldone and work hard. You need to scale new peaks."

Sharif promises Modi prompt actionagainst Pathankot attackers

I CONTD. ON PAGE 5

NEW DELHI, (IANS) Dialling Prime Minister Narendra Modi from SriLanka, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday promised"prompt and decisive action" against terrorist groups linked to the attackon the air base at Pathankot in Punjab.Sharif gave the assurance after New Delhi provided "specific and action-able information" to Islamabad regarding the terrorists who mounted theattack, and Modi underlined the need for Pakistan to take "firm and imme-diate action" against organisations and individuals responsible for it.The Sharif-Modi telephonic conversation followed the killing of all sixterrorists believed to be from Pakistan after they sneaked into and at-tacked the Indian Air Force base early on Saturday, leaving seven secu-rity personnel dead. The United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella group-ing of Kashmiri militant groups based in Pakistan headed by SyedSalahuddin, on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack. An officialstatement said Modi got a call Tuesday afternoon from Sharif "regarding

the terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base"."Modi strongly emphasised the need for Pakistan to take firm and imme-diate action against the organisations and individuals responsible for andlinked to the Pathankot terrorist attack," the statement said. It said spe-cific and actionable information in this regard has been provided to Paki-stan. "Sharif assured Modi that his government would take prompt anddecisive action against the terrorists," it added. This was their first knownconversation since Modi dramatically flew into Lahore on Christmas Daywhile returning home from Kabul and spent some two hours with Sharif.Radio Pakistan reported that Sharif telephoned Modi "and conveyed sor-row and grief on the losses in (the) Pathankot terror attack". It quotedSharif as saying that terrorists always tried to derail the process of peacebetween the two countries. "Pakistan will investigate in detail on theleads and information provided by the government of India," it said.

I DETAILS ON PAGE 5

Prime ministers show resolve to battle terrorismtogether through mutual cooperation

WE ARE WITH INDIA IN THIS HARD TIME AND WILLASSIST IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE... WE WILL INVESTIGATEACCORDING TO INFORMATION GIVEN BY INDIA."PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER NAWAZ SHARIF

PAKISTAN MUST TAKE FIRM AND IMMEDIATE ACTION AGAINSTTHE ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBLE FORAND LINKED TO THE PATHANKOT TERRORIST ATTACK."INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI“ “

2 MidWeek MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016

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MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


Kareena, Arjun get intensefor 'Ki and Ka' first look

PAGE 3 HRITHIK ROSHANDARES TO TAKE RISKIN 2016

AMITABH BACHCHAN, FILMMAKER VIDHU VINOD CHOPRA AND FARHAN AKHTAR DURING THE PRESS CONFERENCE FOR THEPROMOTION OF FILM WAZIR IN MUMBAI (IANS).

VINAY SUBRAMANYAM, CATEGORY MANAGER, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES AND ACTRESS SONAKSHI SINHA DURING THEANNOUNCEMENT OF 61ST BRITANNIA FILMFARE AWARDS 2015 IN MUMBAI (IANS).

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Why should we worryabout Oscars? Bhansali

MUMBAI, (IANS) Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whosefilm "Devdas" was India's entry for Best Foreign LanguageFilm at the Oscars in 2003, believes that the Indian film indus-try shouldn't worry too much about the coveted US award."Why should we be so worried about the Oscars and why dowe want an acknowledgment from foreign (film industry)? Whyis that? Do they ever say that they need a National Award,"Bhansali asked. Bhansali, who is enjoying the success of hislatest film "Bajirao Mastani", said he has "no idea" about hisnext project. "I have no idea and that's the fun of it. I want to gointo the New Year discovering new ideas. At the moment I amenjoying the success of 'Bajirao Mastani'," the celebrated film-maker-director said.

MUMBAI, (IANS) The wait to get the first glimpse of "Ki and Ka" isover and it is all about intense romance and mushy things. The firstlook unfolds romantic page of the R. Balki's directorial by showing itslead pair - Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Kapoor - striking a roman-tic pose against a train.The poster tries to capture the chemistry of Kareena and Arjun, whoare coming on the silver screen together for the first time. Balki's wifeGauri Shinde shared the first look on Twitter. She posted: "Here is to afantastic 2016 to all of us! Looking forward to a super year for films#KiandKa @arjunk26 & Kareena."The "Gunday" actor will be seen essaying the role of a house hus-band, while the "Jab We Met" actress, who is starring opposite the 30-year-old, will essay an ambitious career-oriented woman in themovie. In the image, the duo seems to be comfor table. Arjun alsoreacted to the image by saying that it was a pleasant surprise for him.He tweeted: Â"So I wake up to a surprise myself...Let Kia & Kabir'sromance begin...#kiandka this summer we shall make you smile."The film, which follows the relationship of the married couples, alsofeatures megastar Amitabh Bachchan and wife Jaya in special ap-pearance. It is slated to release on April 1, 2016.

KAPIL SHARMA HOSTS 22NDSTAR SCREEN AWARDSMUMBAI, (IANS) Kapil Sharma infused a comi-cal element into the 22nd Annual Star ScreenAwards as its host. For the past three years,the event was anchored by superstar ShahRukh Khan. Viewers this year sawKapil step-ping into the shoes of the “Dilwale” actor whilebringing in his own “fresh” style to increase the en-tertainment quotient of the event.“He (Kapil) has been attending meetingsand has been going through a lot ofscripts of late. The comedian is notleaving anything untouched to makehis act as the host one of the mostmemorable one. In fact, Kapil istrying to re-tune his patent styleof comedy and is working onsomething new and fresh,” saida source earlier talking to media.The 22nd Annual Star Screen Awards,which honoured the best of films andfilm talent from Bollywood, took placein the first week of the New Year here. The show will be aired in the lastweek of January on Star Plus.

KATRINA'S RED TRESSES ADDCOLOUR TO FIRST LOOK OF 'FITOOR'MUMBAI, (IANS) A broken bridge, leafless trees and snow ladenhouses -- the first look of "Fitoor" captures a scene out of a cold winterevening in Kashmir. And, in the midst of it stands actress Katrina Kaif,who is only recognisable due to her tresses, which she has dyed red forthe movie.The first look of the film was unveiled by filmmaker Abhishek Kapoor onTwitter. Kapoor shared the poster, which features Katrina with her backtowards the camera, and waiting on a broken bridge near what looks likea lake. "Yeh Ishq Nahin Asaan," reads the tagline on the poster. It translatesto 'This love is not easy'.Kapoor, who has helmed movies like"Rock On!!" and "Kai Po Che", cap-tioned the poster: "Been a fab yearfor us and to sign off before 2016,here's a brief intro to our labourof love #Fitoor#guyinthesky #utv. "Fitoor brings actor AdityaRoy Kapur and Katrinatogether for the first timeon the silver screen. The film,which is said to be an adapta-tion of Charles Dickens' novel"Great Expectations", isslated to hit the the-atres on February 12next year.

JACKIE CHAN GIFTS JACKET TO SONU SOODMUMBAI, (IANS) It seems Sonu Sood has star ted the new year with some 'Kung Fu' love! The Bollywood actor has got a gift from his "bro"and legendary actor Jackie Chan in the form of a jacket. The actor, who is shooting with the Chinese Kung Fu star in the Indo-Chinese

production "Kung Fu Yoga", took to Twitter to share his happiness over getting a gift from the actor."And the New Year begins with my bro #jackiechan...thank you for this lovely jacket #Beijing #kungfuyoga,"

Sonu posted. The "Dabangg" actor also posted an image with the international icon, in which both are allsmiles for the camera. "Kung Fu Yoga" is a par t of the three-film agreement signed between the twocountries during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India. Directed by Stanley Tong, the action comedyfilm is shot in Dubai and Beijing. It will also be shot in India.

HRITHIK ROSHAN DARES TO TAKE RISK IN 2016MUMBAI, (IANS) Hrithik Roshan has come up with a New Year resolution plan for everyone and it is to

"get curious". The actor says it's time to look at the path less-travelled this year, and come out of thelazy mode. "This year GET CURIOUS! Find out what happens if you do all the things

you were too afraid or lazy to do! Don't you wonder what's on the otherside?" Hrithik tweeted. On the professional front, the actor is busy shoot-ing for "Mohenjo Daro", which also stars debutant Pooja Hegde.



PATHANKOT ATTACK SHOULD NOTDERAIL PEACE TALKS, SAY EXPERTS

SAUDI ARABIA: THE VITAL FACTOR INTHE MIDDLE EAST CAULDRON

BY ANJALI OJHA

NEW DELHI, (IANS) The terror attack at the Pathankot air base mayhave raised questions on the about-to-be-resumed official dialogue be-tween India and Pakistan, but experts say the best response to suchincidents would be to continue the peace process that has just begun.India has long maintained terror originating from across the border shouldstop for the peace talks to deliver. However, the recently resumed dia-logue process, and the surprise visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi toPakistan on his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif's bir thday, appeared to writenew chapters in the annals of bilateral diplomacy.The attack at the frontline Indian Air Force (IAF) base in northern Punjab,around 30 km from the international border, coming within days of Modi'smaiden visit to Pakistan, might have made a dent, but the balancedresponse from both the countries have raised hopes. The five terroristswho staged the attack were killed in a gunbattle that lasted for 15 hours.Three Indian security personnel were also killed.Pakistan immediately condemned the attack and expressed its commit-ment to partner with India to eradicate terrorism. Indian Home Minis-ter Rajnath Singh, while stating that terror will be given a "befit-ting reply", added that India wants peace. Former Indian Armychief, General V.P. Malik, described the attack as "minor" andsaid it was unlikely to disrupt the dialogue process. He also saidthat following Prime Minister Modi's visit to Lahore, the stakes

are high as the blame or credit will go completely to him."We must look at the prime minister's visit as a strategic engage-ment; with one engagement everything cannot fall in place," GeneralMalik said, adding: "The second thing is that this par ticular event is aminor one; so its impact on the dialogue process will not be much."The former army chief also said that the attack could not have beenplanned following Modi's Pakistan visit. "Such attacks are plannedmonths in advance..." he said. Stressing on the requirement of thedialogue process, General Malik said: "At the moment what has hap-pened is that the prime minister's personal involvement is at stake...Earlier we could blame the foreign policy, but now fingers will only bepointed at him."Happymon Jacob, Associate Professor of Disarmament Studies inDelhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said that the talks shouldbe continued not only along the formal lines but also through backchannels to counter the menace of terrorism. "Every time a dia-logue process is star ted between India and Pakistan somethinghappens, and th is t ime is no except ion . I t shows mi l i t an torganisations on that side are not happy with the dialogue," Jacobtold IANS. "India should respond to this attack by enhancing sur-veillance and defence capabilities and at the same time not call-ing off the talks," Jacob said. Stressing on the need for back chan-nel talks, he said: "There should be back channel talks with thePakistan Army and ISI as well... Now that they have taken up this

ambitious dialogue, it should be concluded."From the other side of the border, Yaqoob Khan Bangash, a historyprofessor at Lahore's Information Technology University, spokeon similar lines, adding that India accepts that the Pakistani stateis not behind terror attacks."I don't think the Indian side is going to withdraw from the dia-logue process. The Indian side has accepted Pakistan's argumentthat all terrorist attacks are not from the Pakistani state. If Indiahad not recognised this argument, they would not have gone for-ward with the talks," Bangash told IANS on the phone from Lahore.Bangash said the Pakistan Army is largely on board the peacetalks, adding that continuing the dialogue will be the best reply tothe terrorists. "There is a constituency in Pakistan that does notwant India-Pakistan peace, but the two governments should notbow down to these entities. If we stop talking, it will encouragethem"."The government of India should strengthen the hand of Pakistan infighting terror. The Indian government knows the political govern-ment is in suppor t of peace with India," Bangash said, adddingthat the two countries should share intelligence. Bangash alsosaid that Modi's Pakistan visit had a huge positive impact. Thatwill be one of the factors pushing forward the talks. "Modi's visitto Lahore changed the scenario quite a bit. He has shown he is astatesman," Bangash added.

BY AMITAVA MUKHERJEE

The scenario in the Middle East is changing fast and at thecentre of it is neither the United States or the coalition ofcountries it leads nor Russia but Saudi Arabia, the Wahabbicountry which had so long acted as the source and ultimateprop of many Islamist activities in the Arab world. Continuouscrash of oil prices and the rise of the Islamic States (IS) haveforced Riyadh to move away from the US sphere of influenceand star t char ting out its own course.Notwithstanding the recent execution of Sheikh Nimr-al-Nimr,the opposition Shiite cleric, it can be said with a fair amount ofcer tainty that Riyadh is now trying to come out of its self-created cocoon.Two recent developments point out that Saudi Arabia is pre-pared to give Russia a space in Middle Eastern affairs. First,preparations are on for Saudi King Salman's visit to Russialater this year. Secondly, the Saudi deputy crown prince anddefence minister, Mohammed Bin Salman, visited Russia lastJune. Following closely on this, Turki-al-Faisal, the formerintelligence chief, stated that Russian actions in Syria weremore effective than those of the US and that Russia's viewsmerit attention and respect.But it would be wrong to presume that Saudi Arabia is aligningwith Russia on the Syrian question. Riyadh is worried aboutIranian expansion in the Middle East and the US taking a softline on the country af ter the nuclear agreement with Tehran.Saudi Arabia will now try to dominate the Middle East scenarioon its own and in keeping with this line, Turkish President

Recep Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia on December 30, 2015.Riyadh has also built up a strong coalition comprising the oilrich Arab countries.But, will Saudi Arabia be really able to dominate the MiddleEastern scenario? Objective conditions preclude such apossibility. There are unmistakable signs that willy-nilly it istilting towards Russia although that may not be the wish of theSaudi Royal household. Two principal reasons for it are themilitary fatigue in Yemen and a resource crunch due to Syria.There will be a $100 billion deficit in Saudi Arabia's budget for2016. Last year, the budget deficit was 21.6 percent of the GDPand the country barely managed to survive by earlier petrodollar savings.What will, however, affect the Middle East scenario the most isthe decision by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency to withdraw$70 billion from foreign investment fund assets last summer.This will cer tainly cut down on siphoning of money to terrorrelated organizations through official channels. Moreover, thefinancial health of Saudi Arabia's friends in the region are alsonot good. Reliable estimates put the budget deficits of MiddleEastern oil expor ting countries in the next five years around $1tri l l ion.It is difficult to predict how long Saudi Arabia can keep uppressure in Yemen or Syria with such a shaky financial condi-tion. It may not go bankrupt in the near future but the Saudiroyal family must look for avenues to push up prices of oil,which came down to less than $50 a barrel last September, asharp nose-dive from $103 in September 2014.Here lies the raison d' etre for Saudi over tures to Russia for

cooperation. Riyadh is now looking for an "alliance for oil"par tnership with Russia which will also give it a foothold in theEurasian Economic Union. With this end in view Prince Salmanhad talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the side-lines of the Sochi Olympics in 2014. This was followed by theRussian energy minister's talks with his counterpar ts in SaudiArabia and Iran.Three consecutive IS attacks on Saudi mosques have repor t-edly convinced King Salman about the need for fashioning anew security strategy that puts a premium on choosing anindependent course of action, away from US tutelage. Even onYemen, Saudi Arabia is now open to negotiations. AlthoughRiyadh still demands removal of Bashr-al-Assad as a precondi-tion for ushering in of peace in Syria, yet Brigadier General AliMamlouk, head of the Syrian National Security Bureau, washosted in Riyadh by no less than the deputy crown prince lastJuly.Russian military intervention in the Middle East has induced anew type of assessment among all the stakeholders. The US ledcoalition's attack on the IS has undergone a qualitative change.The US attacks are now hitting the IS really hard. Meanwhile, toestablish its credibility with international powers King Salmanhas fired Prince Bandar, a former intelligence chief, who hadhis fingers in many CIA-orchestrated operations. Now, a secretSaudi Arabian document has sur faced which shows that theKing Salman-led administration has instructed its MiddleEastern embassies not to fund Syrian rebels any more.Does this really por tend a fundamental shif t in terror-relatedMiddle Eastern politics?

s p e c i a l r e p o r t



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016 s p e c i a l r e p o r t

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1The two prime ministers also showed a resolve to battleterrorism together through mutual cooperation, RadioPakistan added. The Nation, a Pakistani newspaper, quotedSharif as saying: "We are with India in this hard time and willassist in any way possible... We will investigate according toinformation given by India."Sharif and Modi also discussed other strategic issues, itadded. Modi's Lahore visit came after a series of diplomaticengagements between New Delhi and Islamabad. The twoleaders had a seemingly impromptu meeting on November 30on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit. On December6, Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and hisPakistani counterpar t Naseer Khan Janjua met in Bangkok.

SHARIF PROMISESMODI PROMPT ACTIONAGAINST PATHANKOTATTACKERS

NIA QUESTIONS PUNJAB POLICE OFFICER'ABDUCTED' BY TERRORISTSNEW DELHI, (IANS) The role of the Punjab Police officer, who claimed he was abducted by the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase, was put under the scanner on Tuesday, as a team of NIA officials questioned him at his residence here. Sources said Superintendentof Police Salwinder Singh, his cook Madan Gopal and businessman friend Rajesh Verma, who were allegedly abducted by the terrorists inhis vehicle, were being questioned by National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials at his official residence here on Tuesday evening.The police superintendent, who was transferred from here last week only, had earlier claimed that he, along with Verma and the cook, werestopped and abducted by 4-5 heavily armed terrorists near Kolia village, 25 km from Pathankot, on the night of December 31. Under fire andsuspicion about the entire incident, Salwinder Singh told the media on Tuesday: "My information was 100 percent true. There is no doubtabout it."After untying myself, I went to a nearby village Golpur Simbli and told them who I was. I called up my officers and gave them theinformation. My information prevented a major incident. They (terrorists) could have done big damage to the public if I had not informed."The police superintendent's seniors did not take his version seriously for many hours. "I informed senior officers immediately. I don't knowwhy the delay took place," Salwinder Singh said.The police officer has said his car was stopped around 11.30 p.m. on Thursday (December 31), while the attack began early on Saturday(January 2). Punjab Police and security agencies did nothing till the terrorists entered the Pathankot Air Force Station (AFS). "Only I knowwhat happened with me. I have got a new life. The truth has come out. Only I and god know how I returned," Salwinder Singh said.He claimed that the terrorists came back in his car, which had a blue beacon on top, to find him, where he and his cook had been dumpednear a drain in a forest area on Thursday night. The counter offensive against the terrorists by security forces inside the Pathankot base sawsix terrorists being killed. Security forces lost seven personnel.


TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016c o m m u n i t y

New rules atpedestrian crossoversand school crossings

A stunning New Year party

MILTON - The Indo CanadianClub organized its first NewYear's Eve par ty at theHoliday Inn Express, Miltonrecently. The theme of theevent was 1970s Bollywoodand everyone came dressedlike the legendary DanceDiva Helen, majesticJitendra, mesmerizing AshaParekh and many more. Theevent was sold out with over60 families dancing to greatmusic and some tasty food.The Indo-Canadian Club inMilton has been organizingcommunity events with a lotof success for some time tobring the Indian communitytogether with an IndianRepublic Day Potluckcoming up on January 24.

OAKVILLE COUNCILAPPROVES 1.66%OVERALL TAX INCREASEOAKVILLE - Oakville Council unanimously approved a 2.4 percent increase to the town's portion of the tax bill. When com-bined with the expected regional increase and estimatededucation tax rates the overall proper ty tax increase is1.66 per cent or $14.14 per $100,000 of assessment. Thismeans a home assessed at $400,000 would pay an addi-tional $56.56 per year or $1.09 per week."Once again, we have kept our promise to keep tax in-creases in line with inflation while providing the programs,services and infrastructure suppor t expected by our com-munity," said Mayor Bur ton. "Oakville has become one ofthe best municipalities at keeping its tax increase low."The approved $371 million combined operating and capi-tal budget provides a wide range of programs and ser-vices including winter road maintenance, parks and trails,harbours, transit, emergency services, recreation andculture, senior services, libraries, and to keep the town'sroads and community facilities in a state of good repair.Some program enhancements recommended for 2016 in-clude funding for the first year of a multi-year transit ser-vice plan, the introduction of the Radio Frequency Identi-fication (RFID) system in town libraries, and increasedresources to meet recreational program demands. There'salso an additional $3,600 for the Oakville Ar ts Councilgrant funding and $3,600 for Spor ts Oakville grant fundingfor local groups. In addition, Council agreed to the BudgetCommittee's recommendation to cut $83,900 in Councilrelated costs from the budget.The Capital Budget and 2016-2025 Capital Budget and Fore-cast sees $99.4 million of funding in 2016 and just over $1billion for capital requirements over the next 10 years witha focus on transpor tation, infrastructure renewal and otherelements related to growth. Nearly half of the Oakvil lepor tion of the increase is related to infrastructure mainte-nance and repair.Some of the key capital projects for 2016 include:" Road Resur facing and Preservation Program - $7.8 M" Cornwall Road Widening Char twell to Morrison - $7.3 M" Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital Demolition - $4.2 M" Emerald Ash Borer Management Program - $3.7 M" Bridge Road Improvements between Warminster and Four thLine - $3 M" Sixteen Mile Creek West Shore Landscape Rehabilitation -$2 M" Speers Road widening from the GO Station west of ThirdLine to Four th Line - $2 M"Many municipal increases are 50 per cent higher thanOakville's overall increase. We are providing programs andservices our residents want in a fiscally sustainable mannerand are investing in our infrastructure at the same rate that itdepreciates," said Budget Chair Tom Adams. "Overall, this isa responsible and proactive budget. We are keeping taxes inline with inflation, debt under control, and infrastructure ingood working order."

NEW WAY TO MEASURE GRAVITYCAN SPOT ALIEN LIFETORONTO, (IANS) In a bid to determine whether distant stars with planets orbiting them can harbour life, a global team of astronomershas discovered a new way to measure the pull of gravity at the surface of distant stars. Knowing the surface gravity of a star is essentiallyknowing how much you would weigh on that star.If stars had solid surfaces on which you could stand, then your weight would change from star to star. The new method allows scientiststo measure surface gravity with an accuracy of about four percent, for stars too distant and too faint to apply current techniques.Since surface gravity depends on the star's mass and radius (just as your weight on Ear th depends on its mass and radius), thistechnique will enable astronomers to better gauge the masses and sizes of distant stars."If you don't know the star, you don't know the planet. The size of an exoplanet is measured relative to the size of its parent star," said studyco-author and professor Jaymie Matthews from University of British Columbia.If you find a planet around a star that you think is Sun-like but is actually a giant, you may have fooled yourself into thinking you've founda habitable Ear th-sized world."Our technique can tell you how big and bright is the star, and if a planet around it is the right size and temperature to have water oceans,and maybe life," Matthews added. The new technique called the "autocorrelation function timescale technique" or timescale technique forshort, uses subtle variations in the brightness of distant stars recorded by satellites like Canada's MOST and NASA's Kepler missions.Future space satellites will hunt for planets in the 'Goldilocks Zones' of their stars. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right for liquid wateroceans and maybe life. Future exoplanet surveys will need the best possible information about the stars they search, if they're to correctlycharacterize any planets they find."The timescale technique is a simple but powerful tool that can be applied to the data from these searches to help understand the natureof stars like our Sun and to help find other planets like our Ear th," explained lead author Thomas Kallinger from University of Vienna.It will play an exciting role in the study of planets beyond the Solar System, many so distant that even the basic proper ties of the stars theyorbit can't be measured accurately. The new method is described in a study published in the journal Science Advances.

BRAMPTON - With inspirations, ideas andadvice from over 100 different wedding vendorsand a show-stopping fashion show featuring thetop South Asian bridal trends from around theworld, The MustBeKISMET Wedding Show is theper fect day out for planning your dreamwedding!In 2016, after 13 years as one of Canada's mostsuccessful South Asian wedding shows,KISMET rebrands itself as MustBeKISMETWedding Show under new ownership. OnJanuary 17th at the International Centre inMississauga, everything that the bride andgroom need to make their special day per fectcan be found under one roof for a one-stopwedding planning experience. Along withvendor displays of Canada's top weddingapparel designers, fabulous venues, DJs,florists and decorators, the 100,000 square feetof space will also include a DestinationWedding seminar as well as a round tablesession with Toronto's most coveted photogra-

phers.After visiting our wide selection of exhibi-tor displays, our guests are treated tospectacular Fashion Shows on the MainStage, showcasing beautiful bridal wear &formal wear from Toronto's foremostdesigners and leading retailers. Brides willsee the debut of bridal wear for the NewYear - a chance to see bridal lehengas thathave never been seen before. Betweenseminars and fashion shows, brides arewelcome to relax in the mywedhelperlounge with some refreshments andsnacks."Our vision is to cater to the savvy bridewith a flair for fashion, luxury and designthat wants to showcase her unique person-ality on her special day." says PunjiPanicker, Managing Director atMustBeKISMET Get your tickets beforethey sell out at mustbekismet.com or findus on Facebook for more information.

MustBeKismet Wedding Show a must for all thoseplanning best day of their lives - the perfect wedding!



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016 c o m m u n i t y

GRANT OF $162,250 FROMTHE GREEN MUNICIPALFUND FOR BURLINGTONBURLINGTON - Jim Carr, Canada's Minister of Natural Re-sources, and Raymond Louie, President of the Federation ofCanadian Municipalities (FCM) and Acting Mayor of the City ofVancouver, BC, have announced a grant of $162,250 from theGreen Municipal FundTM (GMF) for the City of Burlington. Thegrant suppor ts a study that will determine whether an inte-grated district energy system (DES) - a centralized heating andcooling facility serving the community - would be more energyefficient and effective in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions than using individual systems for each building. Addi-tional study costs will be covered by the city and BurlingtonElectricity Services Inc."The Government of Canada is working with FCM to help com-munities become more energy efficient by investing in cleanand sustainable projects that will reduce GHG emissions," saidMinister Carr. "We are proud to support initiatives like the oneannounced today that contribute to our national effor t to fightclimate change." The feasibility study is aligned with prioritieslisted in Burlington's Community Energy Plan and its 20-yearroadmap to improve energy efficiency, reduce GHG emissionsand increase economic competiveness."The Green Municipal Fund offers a range of resources andservices that specifically addresses the sustainable commu-nity development needs of municipal governments," said Mr.Louie. "The financing and knowledge provided by the Fund sup-por t the development of communities that are more environ-mentally, socially and economically sustainable." Experienceacross Canada and elsewhere shows that there are many ben-efits to implementing district energy systems, but careful plan-ning is required for success. Burlington's study will considerwhich energy options (renewable energy, district energy andcogeneration, waste heat capture, energy storage and smar tgrid technologies) are best for the local context, including po-tential facility locations."Burlington is working hard to become a smar t energy commu-nity, with the suppor t of our local community par tners and agen-cies. We are looking forward to seeing the results of this study,"said Rick Goldring, Burlington Mayor. "We are very apprecia-tive of GMF and the funding they are providing so the city canexplore sustainable energy systems for our community."

Milton Transit Fare Changes,Effective Monday, January 4MILTON - To help balance the cost of service operations andimprovements, Milton Transit cash fares, tickets and day pass/monthly pass prices have changed, effective January 4. Janu-ary monthly passes were made available for purchase in mid-December 2015 at the new pass prices.

TURBULENCE INJURES 21 ON AIRCANADA FLIGHT FROM CHINAOTTAWA, (IANS) A total of 21 passengers, including three chil-dren, on an Air Canada flight from China were injured in a se-vere turbulence and taken to hospital, the media repor ted onThursday.Flight AC088 was en route to Toronto from Shanghai PudongAirpor t on Wednesday but was hit by violent turbulence andforced to stop in the city of Calgary in west Canada's Alberta province totreat the injured, Xinhua news agency reported. The Boeing 777-300ERcarrying 332 passengers and 19 crew members landed at 3:23 p.m. atCalgary, Air Canada said in a statement. Passengers and crew have beenexamined by medical personnel and the injured, most of whom wereChinese, have been transferred directly to local hospitals. Calgary Emer-gency Medical Services (EMS) spokesperson Stuart Brideaux said masscasualty protocol was enacted as 15 ambulances were dispatched to treatthe injured passengers. None of injuries were life-threatening. The Trans-portation Safety Board of Canada was alerted about the incident by theairline and is deploying an investigator to the Calgary airport.

OAKVILLE RECOGNIZED FOR 2015CULTURE DAYS CELEBRATION

Town places third among top 10 municipalities with similar populationOAKVILLE - Oakville's celebration of ar ts and culture held on Saturday, September 26, 2015 was among the best Culture Days events inthe country according to the annual Top Ten Cities and Towns list released by the Culture Days non-profit organization. The town rankedthird within the group with populations of 50,000 to 499,999. Richmond, BC took the top spot followed by London, ON in second place."On behalf of Council, I'd like to congratulate everyone involved in organizing such a successful and widely recognized event," MayorRob Bur ton said. "Oakville Culture Days is a great oppor tunity for residents to immerse themselves and learn more about our vibrantar ts and culture community." Rankings were based on the number of activities held in each community. Oakville's Culture Days atQueen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre (QEPCCC) featured 62 activities, including theatre per formances, ceramic andwoodshop workshops, exhibitions and more. Culture Days is a grassroots, nation-wide movement that aims to raise awareness,par ticipation and engagement in the ar ts and cultural life of Canadian communities.

NEW YEAR'S EXTRAVAGANZA - MINDBLOWINGPERFORMANCE BY DJ MALAK AT SAGAN BANQUET HALL

A stunning New Year’s event was organized at the Sagan Banquet Hall with DJ Indy and DJ Vijay who played melodious Hindi Bollywoodsongs. Both DJs played nonstop songs from the 1970s era making each and every guest zoom on the floor.

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) sets upIndia Development Foundation of Overseas IndiansONTARIO - Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) has set upIndia Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDF-OI) a Not-for-Profit Trust to facilitate philanthropy and contributions by Over-seas Indians towards the social and development projects in India. Attention of Indian Diaspora in Canada is specially invited onthe following projects in the State of Punjab:1) Construction of Classrooms - 983 units @ Rs. 6.5 lakhs each2) Providing Safe Drinking Water through Reverse Osmosissystems - 2205 units in Government Primary schools @ Rs. 30,000/-each - 881 units in Government Upper Primary Schools @ Rs.50,000/- each

Detailed information about these projects, including specificlocations (as per village/school) can be seen at IDF-OI website http://www.idfoi.org/documents/punjab.pdf. All the members of the Indiancommunity are requested to go through the information and contrib-ute to either one unit of these projects, as per preferred location andchoice of schools or multiple units of projects. In addition to indi-vidual contributions, Indian Diaspora Association can also make acollective contribution to any of these projects in Punjab.The website of IDF-OI www.idf.org has details about these projects.The Government of India urges all the Indian Diaspora Associations in Ontario togive wide publicity and promote these projects amongst its members, especiallythe prominent Indian Origin Persons from Punjab, to come forward and contrib-ute generously towards this noble cause.

Liberal government committed to doubling familyreunification applications: John McCallum

DESK REPORTOTTAWA - Immigration Minister John McCallum has once again reit-erated the Liberal government's resolve to remain committed anddouble the number of applications from 5,000 to 10,000 for familyreunification. He said the government will process more applicationseach year to unite people with their parents and grandparents. However, theCitizenship and Immigration website still flags the number of applications is cappedat 5,000. It is worth noting here that this was one of the promises Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau made during his election campaign and is even mentioned in theprime minister's briefing books as one of the "key commitments for action in first100 days" of the government in office.

ONTARIO PENSION PLAN TO BELAUNCH IN 2017: KATHLEEN WYNNE

DESK REPORTONTARIO - Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has an-nounced that the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan will belaunched on January 1, 2017 adding as a large number ofOntarians do not have workplace pension plans, it isimperative to enhance retirement benefits to the elderly. She hasalso shown the intend to move ahead with the plan even if no decisionin this regard is taken at the federal level.According to the plan, all companies with 500 employees ormore must put in 0.8 per cent of a worker's pay towardan ORPP contribution. Matched by employers, thisamount should be increased to 1.9 per cent by 2020. Fora worker earning $90,000 annually, it should be capped ata combined 3.8 per cent. Medium-sized companies willbe asked to star t implementation from 2018 and smallerones from 2019. Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau, apension exper t who advised Wynne on the Ontario planhowever is not sure how to go forward with it saying anumber of things are under consideration for now.

TORONTO - Toronto is reminding residents to keep a safe distance fromraccoons after 10 cases of rabies in raccoons have been confirmed inHamilton, the first cases in Ontario since 2005. Although no cases of rabiesin raccoons have been reported in Toronto, residents are advised to do thefollowing:o do not feed or touch wild or stray animalso ensure that pets have up-to-date vaccinations;o keep pets on a leash at all times;o do not leave pets outside unattended; ando prevent contact between pets and wild animalsThe raccoon population in Ontario is also experiencing elevated incidents ofDistemper, a virus that can symptomatically mimic rabies. Distemper is nottransmissible to humans. Toronto Animal Services will pick up sick orinjured wildlife. If residents see animals that are in distress, they shouldcontact 311. Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in NorthAmerica, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It isa global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistentlyranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emer-gency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businessesand visitors can visit toronto.ca, call 311, 24hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us

@TorontoComms.

City of Toronto reminds residentsto be cautious with raccoons


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Year of see-saw relations ends in thaw betweenIndia and Pakistan - 2015 In Retrospect

FALLING OIL PRICES RENEWED HOPESFOR INDIA'S ENERGY ECONOMY, SECURITY

BY AADIL MIR

BY BISWAJIT CHOUDHURY

NEW DELHI, (IANS) Bilateral ties between neighbours Paki-stan and India swung wildly in 2015 -- from a breakdown intalks to resuming the interrupted dialogue at the highest levelof government. The year began on a chilly note when ZakiurRehman Lakhvi, said to be mastermind of Mumbai terrorattack, managed to secure bail after six years of incarcera-tion. Since then, bilateral relations have been through ups anddowns -- more downs than ups.But as the year drew to a close, there was a dramatic thaw inthe frosty relations, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modistopping over at Lahore, on his way home from Afghanistan,to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the latter'sbir thday. Earlier, the two south Asian leaders had had animpromptu meeting in Paris on November 30, on the sidelinesof the Climate Summit. The Paris meet was followed by theNational Security Advisers of the two countries -- Ajit Doval ofIndia and Naseer Khan Janjua of Pakistan -- holding talks inBangkok on December 6.Two days later, India's External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj par ticipated in the Hear t of Asia conference inIslamabad where she also met the Pakistani prime minister'sAdviser on Foreign Affairs, Sar taj Aziz. The conference turned

out to be a game-changer for the two South Asian nuclearneighbours. India and Pakistan agreed to a comprehensivebilateral dialogue, which had earlier got stalled.The ties between the two countries hit turbulence this yearwhen the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi invitedHurriyat leaders for a reception on August 23 and Sar taj Azizplanned to separately meet Hurriyat Conference leader SyedAli Shah Geelani, before his scheduled talks with Indiancounterpar t Ajit Doval.But New Delhi rejected the move and, after a series of flip-flops, the cur tains came down on proposed talks, a daybefore the then National Security Adviser Sar taj Aziz wasdue to land in New Delhi -- with bitter accusations andacrimony marking the exchanges.India said Pakistan was using firing at the Line of Control(LoC) and terror attacks to "run away from the talks" afterPakistan it of "concocting terror incidents and keeping theLoC hot". Sharif used the UN General Assembly platform topropose a four-step peace plan in October.The Indian External Affairs Ministry, however, did not respondto Sharif's proposal that was peppered with swipes at Indiafor alleged rights violations, for firing at the LoC, and forrejecting the composite dialogue process agreed to in 1997.On April 20, Pakistan and China signed 51 agreements for

cooperation in diverse fields and visiting Chinese PresidentXi Jinping unveiled a $45-billion investment plan that wasaimed to help Pakistan tackle its chronic energy crisis.India voiced its concern over the proposal for a corridorwhich it said would pass through Pakistan-held Kashmir.Apar t from the diplomatic stand-off with its neighbour,Pakistan in 2015 was in the grip of terror attacks withhundreds of people, including women and children, beingkilled in various attacks, mostly led by Pakistan Taliban andits splinter groups.Pakistani minority communities were the main targets of theextremists. On June 15, the ongoing Pakistan Army operation"Zarb-e-Azb" (Sharp Strike) completed its first year with themilitary claiming success in the operation with nearly 3,000militants killed while over 300 soldiers also lost their lives.Also in 2015, according to Amnesty International, Pakistanhanged over 300 people on capital charges, mainly terrorism, withthe latest hangings being of four terror convicted of killing over 150people, mostly children, in an army-run public school in provincialcapital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar. Observors say that2016 is likely to see major step up in exchanges betweenthe two feuding neighbours, as the course had been set byModi's surprise visit to Lahore and the subsequent dovishstatements issued by Sharif.

NEW DELHI, (IANS) For India's energy sector, the past year held prom-ise, thanks to a commendable fall in electricity shor tage, a globalrecognition for the country's focus on renewables, a grand plan toshore up the finances of state-run utilities and a sharp fall in the costits oil impor t basket to the lowest level since 2014.At the same time, there were some misses as well, notably on the oilexploration front which still awaits the new policy for auction of oiland gas blocks and the announcing of the premium to be paid onnatural gas for all new discoveries in difficult deep-sea areas.The government, late in the year, did manage to circulate a consulta-tion paper inviting comments, about easing doing business in explo-ration that proposed to free domestic natural gas pricing and replacethe existing production sharing contract by the revenue-sharing modelfor all future hydrocarbon acreage auctions.The price of domestic natural gas fell this year on applying the NDAgovernment's new formula for calculation, and was cut 18 percent,from $4.66 per unit to $3.82 per unit, for six months star ting October 1.What defined India's petroleum sector in 2015 was the plunge in glo-bal crude oil prices driven by a supply glut that saw the Indian basketof crude oils fall by over 60 percent from levels of well over $100 abarrel to less than $35. While this reduced foreign exchange outflowand improved the country's current account deficit position, produc-ers piled up major inventory losses.In the second half of the fiscal, the government approved auction of 69small and marginal oil and gas fields on a new revenue sharing model,where bidders will quote the revenue they will share with the govern-ment at both low and high ends of the price and production band. Thenew revenue sharing model will replace the controversial productionsharing contracts (PSCs) - by which oil and gas blocks are awardedto those firms which show they will do maximum work on a block -that has governed bidding under the earlier nine New Exploration Li-censing Policy rounds.Domestic gas producers continued the wait for a decision pendingfrom the year before. While approving a new gas pricing formula inOctober 2014, the government had decided that new gas discoveriesin deep-water, ultra-deep sea or high-temperature and high-pressureareas will be given a premium over and above the approved price.The year also saw Reliance Industries, which had made four con-secutive gas discoveries with close to 500 billion cubic feet of in-place reserves, surrendering its Krishna Godavari basin gas discov-ery block, KG-D3, owing to operational restrictions placed by thedefence ministry. Moving to the wider energio scenario, the country'selectricity shor tage also fell to its lowest level ever from 8.5 percentin 2011 to 2.4 percent in October, while the peak shor tage dipped to3.2 percent from 10.6 percent, as per official data.The focus, nonetheless, was in the renewable energy space. At thebeginning of 2015, the Government has up-scaled by more than doublethe targets set for renewables at 175 GW by 2022 -- which includes100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5GW from small hydro-power."India is graduating from megawatts to gigawatts in renewable en-ergy production," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. India also madea commitment that 40 percent of its cumulative capacity will be fromnon-fossil fuel based resources by 2030 if it gets low cost technologyand international financing. At the UN climate change talks in Parislast month, Modi launched an alliance of 120-odd nations to tap solarenergy better and asked the rich nations to shoulder their responsi-bilities in protecting the environment, with funding and transfer ofclean technology to poor and emerging economies without fur therdelay. Oil continued to slide, stepping up pressure on India to acquireassets abroad and build its strategic petroleum reserves at home.The year closed with India signing major deals last week with itstime-tested ally Russia, where the former returned after six years fora slew of oil deals wor th around $2-3 billion. Rosneft, the world'slargest publicly-traded oil company, formalised sale of 15 percentstake in its subsidiary Vankorneft to ONGC Videsh (OVL) for $1.3

billion. The deal gives OVL access to Rosneft's Vanko, Russia's larg-est onshore field developed in the past 25 years. This was followedby agreements for giving OVL par tnerships in other onshore fields.In December, the government allowed Oil and Natural Gas Corp.(ONGC) to conver t Rs.5,000 crore of existing loans to its overseasarm OVL, into equity in order to expand the exploration and productionbusiness abroad, including by acquisition of oil and gas assets. Thecompany is currently running 36 projects in 17 countries and has 13producing blocks. The year closed also closed with the realising of amajor milestone for the wider region by star ting construction of thelong delayed 1,735 km-long gas pipeline from Turkmenistan throughAfghanistan and Pakistan to India (TAPI).Along with India's Vice President Hamid Ansari, others present at theground-breaking ceremony earlier this month in Mary in Turkmenstanwere Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, AfghanistanPresident Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.Highlights:* Global crude oil prices plunge from well over $100 to below $35* Nod for auction of small and marginal oil and gas fields on a newrevenue sharing model* Government proposes replacing production sharing contract by therevenue-sharing model for future hydrocarbon acreage auctions* Electricity shortage falls to lowest level, from 8.5 percent in 2011 to2.4 percent in October* Target for renewable energy production more than doubled at 175GW by 2022* Modi launches "solar alliance" of 120 nations to tap solar energybetter* ONGC signs oil deals potentially wor th around $2-3 billion withRussia's Rosneft* Construction star ted in December of the long delayed TAPI gas pipeline fromTurkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016 c a n a d a

416-907-4420

Canadians on Liberal handling of Syrianrefugees and Trump's Muslim musings

MISSISSAUGA MAYOR BONNIE CROMBIE DURING THE CITY OF MISSISSAUGA_S 2016 NEW YEAR_S LEVEE.

OTTAWA - A new CTV News/Nanos survey suggests that Canadianshave positive impressions of the Liberal government handling ofthe Syrian refugee crisis. Canadians are more likely to thinkthat accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees is about the right numbercompared to those that think there should be more or fewer than25,000 and that the pace of Syrian refugee intake is about right.Asked about presidential hopeful Donald Trump's commentsabout banning Muslim immigrants to the US, Canadians arequite uncomfor table on that front.o Number of Syrian Refugees - Thir ty-seven per cent of Canadi-ans believe that accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees is about rightwhile 28% think that Canada should accept fewer or more than25,000 refugees. o Pace of Intake - A majority of Canadians(51%) think that the current pace of intake of Syrian refugees is

about right, while 40% say it is too quick and four per cent sayit is too slow (five per cent were unsure).o Donald Trump and Muslims - Almost eight of 10 Canadianssay they are either uncomfor table (68%) or somewhat uncom-for table (10%) if the US adopted a policy to ban the immigrationof Muslims to the United States as proposed by Donald Trump.These observations are based on a hybrid survey commis-sioned by CTV News and conducted by Nanos Research.Individuals were randomly recruited (land- and cellline sampleusing live agents and the survey was administered onlinerandom survey completed between December 18th to 21st,2015. It was comprised of 1,000 Canadians. A random survey of1000 Canadians is accurate 3.1 percentage points plus or minus, 19times out of 20.

Canada Pension Plan and OldAge Security benefit amountseffective January 1OTTAWA - Employment and Social Development Canada todayannounced the benefit amounts for the Canada Pension Plan(CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) effective January 1, 2016.CPP benefits will increase by 1.2 per cent for those alreadyreceiving CPP benefits. For 2016, the maximum CPP retire-ment benefit for new recipients age 65 will be $1,092.50per month, an increase of $330 for the year compared tothe 2015 maximum CPP retirement benefit.The new CPP rates will be in effect until December 31,2016. CPP benefits are revised once a year, in January,based on changes over the 12-month period (November2014 to October 2015) in the Consumer Price Index (CPI),which is the cost-of- l iv ing measure used by Stat ist icsCanada. OAS benefits, which consist of the basic OAS pen-sion, the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Al-lowances, will increase by 0.1 percent for the first quar terof 2016 (January to March). As of January 1, 2016, the ba-sic OAS pension will increase from $569.95 to $570.52 permonth.OAS benefits are also based on the CPI, but are reviewedquar terly (in January, April, July and October) and revisedas required to reflect increases in the cost of l iving asmeasured by the CPI. Although OAS and CPP benefits arenot indexed at the same time, they are both adjusted withthe cost of living over a given year.Quick Facts" The Old Age Secur i ty (OAS) program and theCanada Pension Plan (CPP) enhance the quality of life ofCanadian seniors by providing a modest base upon whichto build additional income for retirement." The OAS program is funded through general taxrevenues and provides a basic monthly income for Cana-dian seniors. For 2014-15, $44.1 billion in OAS benefitswere provided to 5.6 million individuals." The CPP (or the Quebec Pension Plan in Quebec)is funded through contributions by Canadian workers, theiremployers and the self-employed and through investmentearnings on the Plan's funds. In addit ion to ret irementbenefits, the Plan provides disability, death, survivor andchildren's benefits."I would like to reiterate the government's commitment toimprove the income security of seniors, which includesincreasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniorswho live alone, indexing Old Age Security and GuaranteedIncome Supplement payments to a new senior's price index,and cancelling the increase in the age of eligibility, from 65 to67 years, for Old Age Security." -The Honourable Jean-YvesDuclos, Minister of Fami l ies, Chi ldren and SocialDevelopment.

Minister Dion congratulatesGovernment of Iraq onraising Iraqi flag in RamadiOTTAWA - Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, hascongratulated the Government of Iraq on raising the Iraqi flagin Ramadi, Iraq. He said: "Canada commends the Iraqi gov-ernment and armed forces for their perseverance in liberatingRamadi. This advance is the latest in a series of losses forISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]. ISIL has been drivenout of territories and cities across the country by Iraqi forces,with suppor t from the global coalition, including Canada."Canada will suppor t the Government of Iraq as it continues toclear Ramadi and other ISIL-held areas. This remains a longfight, but the coalition's strategy to build up capacity in Iraq'sarmed forces is succeeding. We will continue to stand withthe Iraqi people until ISIL is defeated."

CANADIAN MUSEUMENCOURAGESHANDWRITTEN LETTERSOTTAWA, (IANS) A museum in Canada's British Columbiaprovince has introduced a programme in an attempt toencourage people to write letters by hand, the mediarepor ted on Sunday. In doing so, the Royal BC Museum inVictoria, the provincial capital, reminds people of thearchival material they are forgetting in an age of emailingand texting, Xinhua news agency repor ted.The museum has set up letter writing stations as par t of itsCommunity Days event until January 9. Lamenting the factthat only a few write letters nowadays, Angel Williams, themuseum's chief operating officer, said that unless people"star t writing letters again, we won't have that sor t ofmaterial in the archives". Williams said letters makehistory, "whether it's soldiers writing home during WorldWar I or public figures expressing their views. So it's one ofthose things that we're trying to encourage people to sitdown, slow down a bit and handwrite a letter to somebody,"she added.

Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Fredericton deploys on Operation REASSURANCEOTTAWA - Media are invited to attend the depar ture ceremony of Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Fredericton on January 5 as theship deploys to the Mediterranean Sea on Operation REASSURANCE. Operation REASSURANCE refers to the military activities under-taken by Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to suppor t NATO assurance measures and promote security and stability in Central and EasternEurope through the provision of military capabilities for training, exercises, demonstrations and assigned NATO tasks. The CAF responsein support of NATO's request for enhanced assurance measures demonstrates the readiness and professionalism of the CAF.

PM urged to create gender-equal SenateTORONTO, (IANS) Over 80 Canadian women have signed a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to work to ensure that thenew process of selecting nominees to the Senate of Canada could produce a gender-equal Senate."We applaud you for appointing women to hold half of your cabinet positions, thereby, creating the first gender-equal federal cabinet inCanadian history. We call on you to extend this principle to appointments to the Senate of Canada," Xinhua cited the letter as saying onTuesday. Signers of the letter included former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps and activists.When Prime Minister Trudeau was sworn in on November 4, he appointed 15 women to his 30-minister cabinet.In Canadian politics, the Governor General of Canada holds the power to make senatorial appointments on the advice of the primeminister. The seats in the Senate are assigned on a regional basis, with each of the four major regions receiving 24 seats and theremainder of the available seats being assigned to smaller regions. Senators hold their seats to the age of 70.The federal government announced earlier this month that it would fill in vacancies of the Senate by applying a new process, stating ina document issued that "nominees will be considered with a view to achieving gender balance in the Senate," yet stopping shor t of apledge as for how to achieve gender equality.

PEOPLE ENJOYING SUNSHINE IN TORONTO BEFORE AN EXTREME COLD WEATHER ALERT WAS RELEASED FOR THE CITY (IANS).


TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016c a n a d a

CORRECTIONAL SERVICE OF CANADA'S NEWTRAINING ACADEMY OFFICIALLY OPENS

REGINA - Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, joined Don Head,Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)representatives recently to officially open CSC's new Training Academy at the RCMP Academy DepotDivision in Regina, Saskatchewan.The event included a ribbon cutting ceremony and a tour of the 3rd floor of the Academy featuring mini-mum-, medium- and maximum-security simulation areas. These areas allow CSC new recruits to learnthrough hands-on experience using state-of-the-ar t equipment, such as metal detectors, x-ray machinesand electronic door systems. The CSC Training Academy provides recruits with a comprehensive pro-gram that focuses on developing and evaluating the broad range of behavioural and technical competen-cies a CSC Correctional Officer needs. It also prepares the recruits to uphold CSC's standards, marked byprofessionalism and excellence. "The official opening today of the new CSC training facility is a tribute to the solid working par tnershipsamong all the agencies that make up the "Public Safety" portfolio - in this case, the CSC and the RCMP. Ourapproach to the safety and security of Canadians needs to be comprehensive, integrated and seamless,and that's what we're working to achieve." - Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and EmergencyPreparedness"We are delighted to open CSC's new Training Academy within the RCMP Training Academy Depot Divi-sion. It is impor tant to have a dedicated place to learn, train and connect with others - a place that fostersconfidence, pride and teamwork." - Commissioner Don Head, Correctional Service of CanadaSource: http://news.gc.ca



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016 i n d i a

CONGRESS WORKERS STAGE A DEMONSTRATION AGAINST CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN KOLKATA (IANS).

Pathankot attack: Sushma meets ex-diplomats, former envoys to Pakistan

India, Pakistan exchange list ofnuclear installationsNEW DELHI, (IANS) India and Pakistan on Friday exchanged lists ofeach other's nuclear installations based on an agreement signed in1988. "India and Pakistan on Friday exchanged, through diplomaticchannels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the list ofnuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement onthe Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear installations between Indiaand Pakistan," an external affairs ministry statement said. The agree-ment was signed on December 31, 1988, and came into force onJanuary 27, 1991. According to the agreement, the two countries mustinform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be coveredunder it on January 1 of every calendar year. "This is the 25th consecu-tive exchange of such list between the two countries, the first onehaving taken place on January 1, 1992," the ministry statement added.

NITISH KUMAR'S SON ISRICHER THAN HIM(IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar isricher than him as far as movable and immovable assets are con-cerned. According to details of movable and immovable assets de-clared by the chief minister and his cabinet ministers on Friday for2015, Nitish Kumar's son Nishant has cash and movable/immovableproperties worth over rupees two crore, making him over three timesricher than his father.Nitish Kumar has assets including cash, deposits in banks and mov-able/immovable properties worth Rs.58 lakh in contrast to his son'sproperties worth about Rs.2.14 crore comprising deposits in banksand investment. Nitish Kumar has Rs.40,566 in cash and his sonNishant has Rs.7,034 in cash. The father has two vehicles also. BiharDeputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, however, has no vehicle. Hiselder brother and Bihar health minister Tej Pratap has a bike worthRs.15 lakh and a four wheeler worth Rs.29 lakh. Tejaswi and TejPratap are sons of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad. BiharFinance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui has four vehicles. The chief min-ister had made it mandatory for himself and his ministers to declaretheir assets annually by December 31 since 2010.

Seven dead, 100 injured asquake hits Manipur, northeastIMPHAL/SHILLONG, (IANS) At least seven people were killed andover 100 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richterscale rocked Manipur and other northeastern states before dawn onMonday. West Bengal too was hit, as was neighbouring Bangladeshwhere five deaths took place. The toll in Manipur could rise even asrescue operations were on, officials said. The quake snapped powersupply across the state, felled multi-storeyed buildings in state capitalImphal and damaged many vehicles. Those killed included four women,Manipur's Inspector General of Police Clay Khongsai told IANS. "Thetoll has risen to seven and 69 people have been injured," principalsecretary in-charge of home Suresh Babu told IANS in Imphal."There has been a lot of damage in Imphal. It is difficult for us to assess thetotal damage at the moment but the district administrations are on the job,"he said. The quake, with epicentre in Manipur's Tamenglong district, tookplace at 4.35 a.m. It was also felt in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura besides Myanmar and Bhutan. InTamenglong, Babu said four people were seriously injured at Noney vil-lage. Officials said there were 14 aftershocks on Monday morning. TheIndian Air Force flew a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teamfrom Guwahati to Imphal, and to Silchar in Barak Valley of Assam with 3.5tonnes of rescue equipment. "We have stationed an NDRF team at Imphaland Tamenglong to deal with the rescue and search operation," an officialsaid. Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who chaired an emer-gency cabinet meet, said the government has taken all steps to deal withthe disaster. The government would pay an ex-gratia of Rs.5 lakh each tothe families of those killed and pay for the medical treatment of the injured,Education Minister M. Okendro said. All schools will be closed for sevendays to assess damage to the buildings in order to ensure safety of thestudent community. The Ima Keithel -- the day market for mothers inManipur -- would be renovated as it was badly damaged, the minister said.Telecommunication and electricity services were badly disrupted in theaffected areas.

NEW DELHI, (IANS) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here onSunday met two former foreign secretaries and five former envoys toPakistan as the government sought wider consultation over its policytowards Pakistan in the wake of the terror attack on the Indian AirForce base in Pathankot that claimed 13 lives, including those ofseven Indian security personnel.Sushma Swaraj met Shiv Shankar Menon, former foreign secretaryand national security adviser; Shyam Saran, former foreign secre-tary; Satinder Lambah, former envoy to Pakistan and former specialenvoy to the prime minister who conducted back channel talks withPakistan; and four former envoys to Pakistan, T.C.A. Raghavan, SharadSabharwal, Satyabrata Pal and G. Par thasarathy.Raghavan, who retired as India's high commissioner to Pakistan onDecember 31, was present when Prime Minister Narendra Modi madehis surprise stopover in Lahore to greet Pakistan Prime Minister NawazSharif on his bir thday. Ministry officials refrained from giving detailsof Sunday's meeting. Modi's surprise visit to Lahore had signalled athaw in India-Pakistan relations but Saturday's Pathankot terror at-tack is seen as an attempt by forces across the border to derail theproposed foreign secretary-level talks in Islamabad in the middle ofthis month.Modi's visit was the culmination of a series of diplomatic engage-ments between the two South Asian neighbours star ting from No-vember 30 last year when he had a seemingly impromptu meeting

with Sharif at the Paris climate summit. Following this, on December6, Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Pakistani coun-terpar t Naseer Khan Janjua held a meeting in Bangkok which wasalso attended by Foreign Secretaries S. Jaishankar and Aizaz AhmadChaudhry. Two days later, Sushma Swaraj landed in Islamabad toattend the Hear t of Asia conference which engages "hear t of Asia"countries for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.On December 9, she told the media there that Modi would visitIslamabad next year to attend the South Asian Association for Re-gional Cooperation (Saarc) summit. Then, after a cour tesy call onSharif, she held a bilateral with his advisor on foreign affairs, Sar tajAziz. The two then came out with a joint statement in which Pakistanassured India that all steps were being taken to expedite the earlyconclusion of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack trial."Both sides, accordingly, agreed to a comprehensive bilateral dia-logue and directed the the foreign secretaries to work out the modalities andschedule of the meetings under the dialogue, including peace and security, CBMs(confidence buildins measures), Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, WullarBarrage/Tulbul Navigation Project, economic and commercial cooperation, counter-terrorism, narcotics control, humanitarian issues, people-to-people exchangesand religious tourism," the statement said. Even as the stage was being set for theforeign secretary-level meeting between the two sides came the Pathankot attackthat is being deemed as an attack on the softening of ties between NewDelhi and Islamabad.

MODI COINS NEW 'FIVE ES' MANTRA AT SCIENCE CONGRESSMYSURU, (IANS) The 103rd Indian Science Congress (ISC) began here on Sunday on a high note, with Prime Minister Narendra Modicoining a new mantra of "five Es" for enquiry and engineering by the scientific community."Impact of science will be most when scientists and technologists will keep principles of what I call 'Five Es' at the centre of their enquiryand engineering," Modi said after inaugurating the five-day annual science fair, about 140 km from Bengaluru. The five Es are Economy,Environment, Energy, Empathy and Equity."Economy is when we find cost effective and efficient solutions, environment -- when our carbon footprint is lightest and its impact onecology is least possible, energy -- when our prosperity relies less on energy and energy we use keep sky blue and earth green," Modisaid in his inaugural address. Elaborating the other two Es, the prime minister said empathy would be when effor ts were in tune withone's culture, circumstance and social challenges."Equity is when science advances inclusive development and improves welfare of the weakest," Modi told a galaxy of distinguishedscientists, five Nobel laureates and hundreds of students at the semi-circular amphitheatre in the sprawling Mansagangotri campus ofUniversity of Mysore.The five Es coincide with the centenary of Alber t Einstein's general theory of relativity - E=mc2, the world famous equation andmathematical formula published in 1916. "We must recall the humanism that defined Einstein's thought -- concern for man and his fatemust always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours," Modi said in his 30-minute address in English.


TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016i n d i a

GUWAHATI SIKH SANGAT SHOWERING FLOWER PETALS AT HOLY GURU GRANTH SAHEB TO USHER IN NEW YEAR (IANS).

FIRST PILGRIMAGE TRAINFLAGGED OFF FROM PUNJAB

AMRITSAR, (IANS) A train carrying pilgrims to a Sikh shrine inMaharashtra was flagged off from here on Friday under a schemerecently announced by the Punjab government. Punjab Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Singh Badal flagged off the first 'Tir tha Yatra' (pil-grimage) train from the Amritsar railway station to Takht SachkhandSri Hazoor Sahib, Nanded.Devotees will be provided food, accommodation, transpor tation, boardand lodging facilities free of cost during the pilgrimage, organisedunder the 'Mukhya Mantri Tir tha Yatra' scheme. The train can accom-modate 1,080 pilgrims in 18 coaches. It will commence its returnjourney on January 6. Seven more similar trains will be flagged off forNanded Sahib from Maur (Bathinda), Anandpur Sahib, Tarn Taran,Patiala, Batala (Gurdaspur), Muktsar Sahib and Beas this month.Two trains to Varanasi from Ludhiana and Jalandhar and one to Ajmer

Sharif from Malerkotla will also be flagged off in January, an officialspokesman said here. Eleven more pilgrimage trains would be flaggedoff in January and February. Trains will also be flagged off for pilgrimswho wish to visit Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra in Jammu and Kashmirand Basilica of St. Thomas in Chennai. Free Buses for pilgrims willply under this scheme from January 4 for Salasar (Rajasthan) andChintpurni (Himachal Pradesh).The state government's pilgrimage trains scheme has been launchedjust over a year ahead of the Punjab assembly polls in early 2017.Approximately Rs.187 crore has been earmarked for the scheme.Under the scheme, about 1,000 persons from each of the 117 assem-bly constituencies in Punjab have been shor tlisted for the pilgrim-ages. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday deniedany political motive behind the scheme.

NEW DELHI, (IANS) Accusing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalof making false statements against him, Finance Minister ArunJaitley on Tuesday recorded his statement in a court here in con-nection with a criminal defamation case he has filed.Jaitley has filed a complaint against Kejriwal and five otherAam Aadmi Par ty (AAP) leaders. Chief Metropolitan Magis-trate Sanjay Khanagwal recorded the statement of Jaitley asthe complainant witness in the case, who appeared before thecourt amidst tight security.The proceeding was held in-camera for security reasons. Accord-ing to court sources, Jaitley told the court that Kejriwal and the fivepeople had given "false" and "defamatory" statements against him,harming his reputation. "The statements are made by accused witha malicious intention in order to lower my reputation among myfriends, supporters and in eyes of the right thinking members of thepublic at large," said Jaitley while recording his statement.He said: "The statements were made with the intention to deflectattention from a CBI investigation against a particular civil servantwho was working with Kejriwal, in relation to a complaint filed bya third party." Jaitley requested the court to initiate proceedingsagainst Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, RaghavChadha and Deepak Bajpayee for defaming him."The six accused named in the complaint by me have between theperiod December 15 and December 20, 2015, made/published inclose cooperation and co-ordination with each other and with acommon intention and knowledge a series of statements whichare ex facie false and defamatory and towards me and my mem-bers of my family," said Jaitley.He added since the accused are in public life and are educatedjournalist and others professional these statements are false totheir knowledge. "During my entire tenure I have not received di-rectly or indirectly a single rupee from DDCA on any account what-soever (sic.)," said Jaitley.

Jaitley tells courtKejriwal defamed him

BUREAUCRATS INDULGING IN CORRUPTIONWILL GO TO JAIL: KEJRIWAL

NEW DELHI, (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Fridaysent out a stern message to senior bureaucrats, saying IAS officerswho had issues working with his government were welcome to jointhe central government. "No hooliganism by bureaucrats will be tol-erated in Delhi. The IAS officers played politics... we will not toleratethis... If you indulge in corruption, then you'll go to jail," Kejriwal saidin an interview to CNN-IBN."If you don't agree with cabinet decisions, then you'll be suspended.All those IAS officers who have problem with our government shouldleave Delhi," he added. The chief minister said that never in thecountry's history had IAS officers gone on mass casual leave."They have gone on a strike for the first time. Those who haveproblem with us should give us their names. I'll write to the (union) homeminister to send them out of Delhi or they should join the central govern-ment," he added. The Indian Administrative Service Association did not com-ment on the remark, though one officer said if Kejriwal had issues regardingadministrative control over senior officers, he should sort it out with theCentre. "Why embroil officers?" a bureaucrat told IANS on thecondition of anonymity. "He should be the one who should go. Hewas an Indian Revenue Service officer and he quit. The kind ofstatements he is making are very bad," he said. "He should not

run roughshod over off icials," another off icer said. SubhashChandra, special secretary (prisons), and Yashpal Garg, specialsecretary (prosecution), weresuspended by the Delhi govern-ment for allegedly refusing tosign two cabinet notes relatedto hike in salaries of public pros-ecutors and prison staff. Followingthe order, officers belonging toDANICS (Delhi, Andaman andNicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre- to which Chandra and Garg belong- decided to go on a strike. The cen-tral government, however, de-clared the suspensions as in-valid. The Delhi government ear-lier suspended three officers afterthey failed to provide relief mate-rial to slum dwellers in Shakur Bastiwhose shanties were demolishedby Railways authorities.

SGPC DISMISSES FOUR OF THE 'PANJ PIARAS'AMRITSAR, (IANS) In a move likely to aggravate the religious crisis in the Sikh community, theShiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Friday dismissed four of the 'PanjPiaras'(five chosen ones of the Gurus) from their posts.The decision to dismiss Satnam Singh Khanda, Satnam Singh Jajianwali, Tarlok Singh andMangal Singh was taken at an emergency meeting of the SGPC, the mini-parliament of theSikhs, in Amritsar on Friday. The fif th 'Panj Piara', Major Singh, retired on Thursday. TheSGPC said the four could not hencefor th take any decision related to the Sikh high priests.SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, who chaired the meeting, later confirmed to the mediathat the services of the four 'Panj Piaras' have been terminated.The dismissal came on the day (January 1) set as the deadline by the 'Panj Piaras' for theremoval of Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbhachan Singh and chiefs of four other 'Takhts' (religiousseats) of the Sikhs. The 'Panj Piaras' were scheduled to hold a meeting here on January 2 todecide on the removal of the Sikh high priests. Makkar said Saturday's meeting, if held,would be illegal as the services of the four 'Panj Piaras' have been terminated. "Theyviolated service rules and defied orders. They tried to damage the Sikh institutions, includ-ing the Akal Takht," Makkar said, justifying the dismissal orders."They will not be allowed to hold the meeting. There is no question of the meeting since theycan't do so after their dismissal. Their work was to do 'dharam prachar' (spreading religion).But they went beyond that," Makkar said. Reacting to the developments, the 'Panj Piaras'said on Friday that they will discuss the issue and respond recently. The SGPC, with anannual budget of nearly Rs.1,000 crore, manages the Sikh shrines in Punjab and HimachalPradesh, including the holiest of Sikh shrines Harmandar Sahib or the Golden Temple inAmritsar.The 'Panj Piaras' recently called for the removal of the Sikh high priests after they pardonedcontroversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in September 2015. The'pardon' order was later withdrawn in October, following pressure from various Sikhorganisations and the community. Af ter the 'Panj Piaras' sought the removal of the highpriests, the SGPC transferred them but two of them refused to obey orders.

NEW DELHI, (IANS) The Indian economy is stuck in a groove and thegrowth of the Gross Domestic Product in 2015-16 is not likely to be higherthan 7.3 per cent, former finance minister P. Chidambaram said. There wasacute distress in rural India since promised jobs were not created andpeople were not impressed by Modi's numerous visits to foreign countries,he said at a press conference here.The Congress leader said the BJP-led government had confidently predictedthe growth of Indian economy at 8.1 to 8.5 per cent in 2015-16 at the beginningof 2015 and that many of its promises, including on more jobs, were pre-mised on a high growth of GDP. "I am afraid none of the promises hasmaterialised. For the whole of 2015-16, GDP growth is not likely to be higherthan 7 to 7.3 per cent, which means it will be the same as - or lower than - in2014-15. The economy is stuck in a groove," Chidambaram said.He said the mid-year economic analysis has pointed out that private invest-ment and exports - two of the four drivers of demand - were languishing. "TheIndian economy is like a car running on two wheels. Corporate balancesheets are stressed, net sales have fallen by 5.3 per cent, and profitafter tax is flat. Non-food credit growth at 8.3 percent is the slowestin 20 years. Growth of credit to industry is 4.6 per cent while creditto medium enterprises has actually shrunk by 9.1 per cent," theCongress leader said.

Economy stuck ingroove: Chidambaram



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016 w o r l d

A PALESTINIAN HURLS STONES AT ISRAELI SOLDIERS DURING A PROTEST AGAINST THE EXPANSION OF JEWISH SETTLEMENTS IN KUFRQADOOM VILLAGE NEAR NABLUS (IANS).

INDIAN CONSULATE IN AFGHANISTANATTACKED, TWO TERRORISTS KILLED

'ANTI-IS GROUP' CLAIMS BBCWEBSITE ATTACKLONDON, (IANS) A group that says it targets online activitylinked to so-called Islamic State (IS) has claimed it was behindan attack on the BBC's website. All the BBC's websites wereunavailable for several hours on New Year's Eve after what aBBC source described as a "distributed denial of service" at-tack. The problems on the BBC sites began on Thursday, andmeant visitors saw an error message instead of the intendedcontent. The attack hit the main BBC website as well as associ-ated services including the iPlayer catch-up service and iPlayerRadio app. The group, calling itself New World Hacking, said ithad carried out the attack as a "test of its capabilities". The BBChas not confirmed or denied such an attack caused the prob-lems. The corporation's press office said on Saturday that theBBC would not be commenting on the group's claim.

BRITISH IRAQ VETERANS'MAY FACE PROSECUTION'LONDON, (IANS) British soldiers who fought in the Iraq Warmay face prosecution for war crimes, the media repor ted re-cently. According to Mark Warwick, head of a unit investigatingalleged abuses, there were "lots of significant cases" and thatdiscussions would be held over whether they met a war crimesthreshold. "We would look at the credibility of the allegation inthe first instance and, when we've looked at a lot of these extracases coming to us, some of them are duplicates of cases,some of them we've already identified as par t of our own inves-tigation process, and some are multiple allegations, where wewould investigate as a single allegation," Warwick said.Lawyers are continuing to refer alleged abuse cases by sol-diers to the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT). The ministryof defence said it took such allegations "extremely seriously".Two public inquiries have already looked at claims against Brit-ish troops in Iraq.

KABUL, (IANS) A group of armed men late Sunday attacked the Indian consu-late in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, the provincialgovernor spokesperson told media. Officials said attackers have taken uppositions inside a residential home located in front of the Indian mission andare firing on the consulate. "The number of attackers were 4, two of themkilled but not confirmed by police yet," Afghan news agency Pajhwok AfghanNews said in a tweet. "Two attackers were killed in fighting after insurgentsattacked Indian consulate in Mazarisharif city," it said in an earlier tweet.Sources told Xinhua news agency that there were no casualties on the Indianside. "Two of the four militants, who targeted the three-member consulate,have been gunned down by Afghan special forces," the sources said. In aseries of tweets, Pajhwok Afghan News earlier said: "Police confirmed blastin gun fires in PD4 near to #Indian consulate in #Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city." "Balkh governor spokesman told Pajhwok that attackers entereda house and firing on Indian Consulate in Maza-i-Sharif city. Police says, nocasualties were reported yet from attack on #Indian Consulate in Maza-i-

Sharif city. Gun fires resumed after armed people attacked #Indian Consu-late in MazairSharif city." BBC also said explosions and gunfire were heardnear the Indian consulate.The report said it was not immediately clear whether the consulate wasdirectly targeted, as the area also hasa building belonging to a local politi-cian. Indian diplomatic missions inAfghanistan have come under mili-tant attacks earlier too. In 2008and 2009, the embassy in Kabulwas attacked, leaving dozensdead. In May 2014, gunmen at-tacked the Indian consulate in Herat,while in August 2013, nine civiliansdied when the consulate in Jalalabadwas targeted.

Riyadh cuts ties with Tehran after embassy attackRIYADH, (IANS) Saudi Arabia's foreign minister announced on Saturday to cut diplomatic ties with Iranand asked all Iranian diplomats to leave within 48 hours, local media repor ted. Saudi Foreign MinisterAdel al-Jubeir said he informed the UN Security Council of the attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission inIran late Saturday, adding that those Saudi diplomats reached Dubai, the UAE, safely. He accused theIranian authorities of not taking any measure to prevent the attacks against the embassy in Tehran and theconsulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad. On Saturday, angry Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi diplo-mat mission against the Saudi execution of 47 individuals over terrorism charges, including a Saudi Shiacleric, Namir Al Namir, a member of Saudi Shia community. The attacks were a violation to the interna-tional agreements, the minister said, also referring to the Iranians' previous attacks on the US and Britishembassies. He also accused Iran of providing protection for Al-Qaeda through weapon trafficking.



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



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


India beat Afghanistanto win SAFF title

Gujarat players after winning the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Delhi in the finals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru (IANS).

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FARHAN'S 'WAZIR'AVATAR IMPRESSES

IPS OFFICER

Wish I could work with today'sactresses when I was young: Big BMUMBAI, (IANS) Superstar Amitabh Bachchan on Saturday regretted notgetting to work with today's actresses when he was young. Bachchan hadplayed a romantic role opposite late Jiah Khan in Ram Gopal Verma's"Nishabd". Asked if he wished to act opposite current actresses, hereplied: "We tried it once in 'Nishabd' and it was a failure because theydidn't accept the fact that a 60-year-old gets involved with an 18-year old.""I'm not going to get a leading lady from the younger generation to play mylove interest, that period is over. I regret it because I wish that I had theselovely ladies when I was playing the leading man. But it won't happen now.So there'll be more character roles and more character oriented roles andwhich is what I'm doing."Bachchan worked in another love story opposite a relatively younger Tabuin R. Balki's "Cheeni Kum". His teacher-student relationship with RaniMukerji in "Black" also had romantic moments where they had shared akiss. He also had a flir tatious bond with actresses Raveen Tandon andCharmy Kaur in "Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap".

MUMBAI, (IANS) Farhan Akhtar's look and per formance as anATS officer in "Wazir" has received a thumbs up from an an IPSofficer, who was the actor's role model for his character in theforthcoming film.After watching the premiere of the Bejoy Nambiar-directorial, IPSofficer Vishwas Nangre Patil took to Facebook to laud Farhan. Thefilm, which will release on Friday, narrates a story of how twoofficers join hands for revenge, and how they accomplish themission despite several hurdles. Megastar Amitabh Bachchanplays the second officer.Patil posted on Facebook: "Mr. Bachchan and Farhan both have putlife into the characters and the director has succeeded to carve outworld class epic. The plot is so intriguing and dramatic that evenbeing police officers we could not anticipate the shock and sus-pense at the climax." He added that though there's some sem-blance of Farhan's character to his life, the role is quite different."Yes, somewhat Farhan's moustache, hairstyle and sleeves stylematches with mine, but the character has no connection with mylife or personality, except being an IPS officer. In all the roles in themovie as a husband, father, police officer, friend and patriot with amission, he is so intense and outstanding."At the interval, Farhan was kind to introduce me as his role modelto his friends... I have seen his passion for every minutest detail.He is a perfectionist... A must watch 'this game of shatranj and twogreat Wazirs of Bollywood playing together."

'Killing Veerappan' full of false information: PetitionerCHENNAI, (IANS) A petition seeking to put on hold the release of Ram Gopal Varma's multilingual film "Killing Veerappan" has been filed inMadras High Cour t. The petitioner claims the film is full of false information on the forest brigand. In her statement, petitioner Paneerselvi ofSalem said: "The film is filled with false information and will create law and order problems in Tamil Nadu if allowed to release." She also requested the CentralBoard of Film Certification's (CBFC) regional office to revoke the original 'U' certification of the film. In her complaint, Paneerselvi added that the film portrays onlyKarnataka Police solely responsible for the killing of Veerappan in 2004, and belittles Tamil Nadu Police and politicians in the process.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, (IANS) Skipper Sunil Chhetri struck in ex-tra time as India staged a superb comeback to claim their seventhSAFF Championship title by defeating a spirited Afghanistan 2-1in a hard-fought final at the Trivandrum International Stadium hereon Sunday.Chhetri (101st minute) scored the decisive goal for India when hecapitalised on a defensive lapse by the visitors in the first half of extratime. Earlier, the two teams were locked 1-1 after the regulation 90minutes in a match which saw fast, end to end action with plenty ofchances at both ends. Zubayr Amiri (70th) put Afghanistan in frontbefore Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd) put India back in the game, and thenChhetri finally sealed the matter.The Indians thus avenged their 2-0 loss to the defending champions inthe final of the last edition in Katmandu in 2013. The best chance of thefirst half fell to Jeje in the 14th minute. He did well to win the ballunder pressure and played it for Narzary whose cross struck thetrailing leg of Zubayr Amiri and came off Afghanistan goalkeeper OvaysAzizi. Jeje's header on the rebound came off the crossbar, and he hitthe crossbar again in the 56th minute with a powerful shot from out-side the box. The Afghanistan strike force comprising captain FaysalShayesteh, left winger Noraollah Amiri and right winger Mustafa Zazaicaused the hosts plenty of problems throughout the match. The Indiandefenders did themselves no favours by some shoddy defending on severaloccassions. Faysal got a superb chance when he was fed a through in thebox after a nice exchange of passes with Amiri. But his powerful shot wasblocked out for a corner by Gurpreet at the near post.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 22

ADITYA ROY KAPUR AND KATRINA KAIF DURING THE TRAILER LAUNCH OF FILM FITOOR IN MUMBAI (IANS).


TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016b o l l y w o o d

SHREYAS TALPADE AND RAKHI SAWANT DURING THE MUHURAT OF FILM AJAB SINGH KI GAJAB KAHANI IN MUMBAI (IANS).

It's educative for kids to havea working mother: Kajol

'SINGAM 3' TO ROLLFROM NEXT WEEK

CHENNAI, (IANS) Actor-producer Suriya's third instalment inthe "Singam" franchise will finally go on the floors next weekin Vishakhapatnam. The film, which was originally slated toget rolling in December, had to be postponed on the accountof floods in Tamil Nadu. "We're all set to star t shooting fromthe second week of January. Now that most of the work on myother project '24' is almost over, we can totally focus on'Singam 3'," Suriya told IANS. To be directed by Hari, the filmalso features Shruti Haasan and Anushka Shetty in the leadroles. Suriya is bankrolling the project under his home ban-ner 2D Enter tainment. He currently awaits the release of Tamilthriller "24", which is directed by Vikram Kumar and featuresSamantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menen in impor tant roles.

BIPASHA LOOKS BACKAT 'SPECIAL YEAR' 2015MUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Bipasha Basu says the year goneby was special to her as it made her more patient and happy.The actress didn't have many film releases in 2015, but she'sstill content. "2015 has been a very special year. It's made memore content, patient, understanding, loving, trusting and aboveall happy," Bipasha, who last featured in "Alone" with KaranSingh Grover earlier this year, tweeted on the New Year'seve. Actor Tusshar Kapoor also found 2015 exciting and more."2015 you were exciting, adventurous, sexy, busy, inspiringand enlightening. But you've been a test at every step! 2016 Iwant results now."

HAVEN'T DONEANYTHING ASEMOTIONAL AS 'JAIGANGAAJAL': MANAVMUMBAI, (IANS) Actor Manav Kaul, whose performance wasappreciated in "Kai Po Che!", will now be seen playing a greycharacter in "Jai Gangaajal". The actor says it is one of themost emotional characters that he has played so far. "In 'JaiGangaajal' I have an emotional grey character. I haven't doneanything as emotional as this character in 'Jai Gangaajal'. If Imay say so, then this is one of the most emotional charactersthat I have played. It's the most difficult role for me so far,"said Manav.Directed by Prakash Jha, "Jai Gangaajal" also featuresPriyanka Chopra and Rahul Bhat. The film is slated for March4 release. The actor, who is often seen playing grey shades,says now the "industry has changed so much that we haveheroes playing grey shades. People are writing with suchconviction that the motivation to do such roles is very strong."

JAYA, SHWETA APPLAUDBIG B'S 'WAZIR'

MUMBAI, (IANS) Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who will beseen as a paralysed chess grandmaster in the for thcomingaction thriller "Wazir", has received a thumbs up from hiswife Jaya and his daughter Shweta for the film. While film-maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is co-producing the BejoyNambiar directorial, along with Rajkumar Hirani hosted ascreening of the film for the entire cast, another specialscreening was held for Bachchans on Thursday.Amitabh attended the screening along with Jaya and Shweta.Later on, he sent a text message to Chopra saying his familyhas applauded the film, read a statement. "Sir ji, family wasclapping after the film ended. Such things don't happen muchfrom their side," read the message. "Wazir", which is slatedto release on January 8, also stars Farhan Akhtar, Aditi RaoHydari, Neil Nitin Mukesh and John Abraham.

SOMEDAY, I'LL MAKE 'MADAMJI': PRIYANKA CHOPRAMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Priyaka Chopra, who was excited to turn producer with her ambitious project "Madamji", says she will makethe movie someday. Asked about the status of "Madamji", she said: "'Madamji' is on hold and this film is very close to my hear t. For thisfilm, I have to give 70 days for shoot but since my show ('Quantico') got extended, I couldn't do it. Hopefully, someday I will make it. Butright now I am not doing it."The project is to be directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, who directed Priyanka for her National Award winning role in "Fashion". As of now,she is riding high on the plaudits earned for "Bajirao Mastani", in which she has played Kashibai, Bajirao's wife. Priyanka says she findsno competition in the film industry. "I don't have time to see others' career. I'm setting my own milestone. I am thankful to filmmakerswho write characters for me," said the actress, for whom 2015 turned out to be immensely successful with an international project like"Quantico" coming her way.

MANOJ BAJPAYEE EXCITED FOR 'MISSING', 'ALIGARH'MUMBAI, (IANS) Manoj Bajpayee will soon be seen questioning about gender identity in the society with "Aligarh" and will explore thehorror arena of cinema with "Missing". And the actor says he is excited to bring forward both the worlds to the audience and is eager toknow their response."'Missing' and 'Aligarh' - two films which gave me immense creative satisfaction. Eager to show it to the audience," Manoj tweeted.Hansal Mehta's reality drama film "Aligarh", which will release on February 26, is based on the real life incident of doctor ShrinivasRamchandra Siras, who was suspended from his job as a professor because of his sexual orientation, stars Manoj and Rajkummar Raoin lead roles.On the other hand, "Missing" promises to bring the chills and thrills with the film, which also stars Tabu. Manoj star ted his career witha television serial "Swabhimaan" and went on to do small roles in films like "Dastak" and "Bandit Queen". He got his big break in the1998 crime film "Satya". He even won a National Film Award for his role as Bhiku Mhatre. He again received a National Film Award forhis role in the film "Pinjar". He is also appreciated for his roles in "Shool" and "Gangs of Wasseypur".

Prakash Jha shuns reports over 'Jai Gangaajal' voluntary cutsMUMBAI, (IANS) Filmmaker Prakash Jha has refuted "misleading" repor ts of his for thcoming film "Jai Gangaajal" getting stuck in theCentral Board of Film Certification (CBFC) swirl over cer tification. He says he never made any voluntary cuts for a "UA" cer tificate.According to some repor ts, Jha locked horns with the censor board, which wanted to grant "A" cer tificate to the Priyanka Chopra-starrerwith minimal cuts. But the director was not on the same page as he insisted on "UA" cer tificate with cuts in view of the restrictiveaudiences' profile and par ticipation that comes with 'A' cer tificate. "Inaccurate and Misleading Repor t! Censor Board cuts violence,abuses to facilitate UA rating for 'Jai Gangaajal'," Jha tweeted on Saturday. He added: "Misleading and inaccurate! Never made voluntarycuts...We are going in appeal against the CBFC's decision". The director, who is bringing the sequel to his popular 2003 film "Gangaajal"with the movie, also shared the link of the incorrect story with his fans and followers on the micro-blogging site. With Priyanka donningthe khadi for the film, "Jai Gangaajal" aims to examine the society-police relationship on the big screen. Jha will also be seen playingthe role of a police officer in his directorial. It will hit the screens on March 4.

BY RADHIKA BHIRANI

NEW DELHI, (IANS) She reduced her film appearancesout of choice when motherhood happened as shenever believed in "dumping off my childrenand going off to work". But after spread-ing her magic on the screen again with"Dilwale", actress Kajol is enthused totake on more work in the film world nowtha t he r daugh te r and son a re o ldenough."I hope I will be seen on screen more...I'd like to work more now. I took a breakright after 'My Name Is Khan' (2010) be-cause my son was born and then he wasstill very young. Now my son is five yearsold," Kajol told IANS here."I will be star ting a film in the mid-2016, but no, I am not planning to dothree f i lms a year l ike Shah RukhKhan, in any way. I can't work as hardas him," added the actress, whoseeffervescence is intact at 41.Kajol and Ajay, who got married in1999, are parents to two children -daughter Nysa and son Yug. Af terthe bir th of her daughter in 2003,she did few films like "Fanaa", "UMe Aur Hum" , "My Name I sKhan" , "We Are Fami l y " and"Toonpur Ka Superhero" . Andagain, af ter Yug's bir th, Kajol de-c ided she would devote her

time to motherhood. In fact, in a previous interview to IANS, shehad confessed that the only reason she gave up films

was her children."I have not given bir th to them to just dump

them and go off to work. I am not that kindof a person,Â" Kajol said back then. But

when "Dilwale" came her way, Kajol,a Padma Shri award winner, said it

was her daughter Nysa who urgedher to step out of the house and

return to face the arclights." I honest ly th ink i t ' s veryeduca t i ve fo r ch i ld ren tohave working parents, andto have a working mothermos t l y, because tha t ' swhere the i n f l uencecomes on the girl child.When I was a child, I didresent sometimes that mymother went to work, and Iused to tell her, 'Mom, why can't

you be like other mothers whoare at home and cooking?' She used

to be like 'No, I have to work. I need towork'. At that point in time, maybe Ifelt a resentment towards herwork, but when I star ted working,I realised that the work ethic I have,the way I work, the amount ofhard work that I did was onlybecause I had seen my motherdo that all my life."



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2016 b o l l y w o o d

hollywood

STILL FROM UPCOMING FILM DICTATOR (IANS).

MARIAH CAREY SPARKSENGAGEMENT RUMOURSMELBOURNE, ( IANS)Singer Mariah Carey hassparked engagementrumours with her boy-friend James Packer, whois an Australian business-man and investor. The"Hear tbreaker" singer wasspotted wearing a spar-kling jewel on her left ringfinger when walking hand-in-hand with her beau athis casino here, repor tsdailymail.co.uk.Carey was al l smi leswhen entering the venuealong with Packer. Shespor ted a plunging blackdress and brown sun-glasses with her hairstraightened. She pausedto lock lips with her boy-friend in front of the crowdoutside the casino. Someonlookers noticed a pieceof silverware glittering from Carey's left hand. But it lookedfar more likely to be the "We belong together" hitmaker'sfavourite butterfly ring which she's worn for nearly a decade.One of Carey's fan pages on Facebook claimed the suspi-cious ring was indeed her butter fly band. "Mariah Carey'sbutterfly ring is NOT an engagement ring. She has been wear-ing it for over a decade.... Please stop with the ill-informedspeculation," Mariah Carey Australia fan page wrote.

DWAYNE JOHNSON 'PASSEDOUT' AFTER TRAININGLOS ANGELES, (IANS) Actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnsonhas jokingly admitted that he "passed out" after striking apose for a post-workout photograph he shared on Instagram."Tonight we trained 'the beefs' aka legs. I passed out after wetook this pic from holding my breath and trying to look cool#IronParadise#ABeefyKindaJoint," Johnson wrote alongsidea photograph of him flaunting his muscular thighs in a gym,repor ts aceshowbiz.com.The "Hercules" actor wore a black workout gear and put awhite towel on his shoulder. He gasped as he looked at thecamera. The post-workout image came just a day after Johnsonannounced on the social media that he would make appearance at WWEflagship event WrestleMania 32 in April. The 43-year-old was seem-ingly very excited about his upcoming appearance at the wrestlingevent. He also shared the good news to his fans on Twitter. "I can't wait.We have a big and history making night planned. And a fistful offun," so he tweeted, adding the hashtag "Electrifying."

KRITI PRAISED FOR DANCING SKILLSMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress Kriti Sanon, who is basking in all the appreciation coming her way for

her latest film "Dilwale", says dancing is very close to her hear t, and is elated by the responsefrom her fan and well-wishers post her first stage performance.After making her place in "Dilwale" despite starring with big stars Shah Rukh Khan andKajol, Kriti has given yet another reason to rave about her talent. The actress, who hailsfrom Delhi, performed for the first time at an award function - Star Guild Awards, whichwas shot in December last year and telecast on Friday."I have always been very fond of dancing and this was my first performance on stage. I

was nervous and excited at the same time. I did four different dance forms for the performance -contemporary, belly dance, hip-hop and salsa. After the telecast, a lot of my friends and family calledto say that they really enjoyed it," Kriti said in a statement.

Kriti, who made her debut in showbiz along with Tiger Shroff in "Heropanti", won accolades afterthe event was aired on television. She danced to the tunes of "Aa raat bhar", "Manma emotion

jaage" and "Afghan jalebi". According to a source, Kriti's family, relatives and friends fromDelhi have been calling her and sharing their positive feedback.

'SARDAAR GABBAR SINGH' TORELEASE ON APRIL 8

Chennai, Jan 2 (IANS) Actor Pawan Kalyan's much delayed Telugu actioner "SardaarGabbar Singh", which is nearing completion, will hit the screens on April 8. "The final

month-long schedule kicks off in Hyderabad next week. As soon as it's done, the projectwill get into post-production. The makers are planning to release the film on April 8th," a

source from the film's unit told IANS. A sequel to 2012 blockbuster "Gabbar Singh", the film is beingdirected by K.S. Ravindra and features Kajal Aggarwal in the lead role. The film,

which has music by Devi Sri Prasad, is jointly produced by Kalyan andSharrath Marar.



Movie Review

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ATRANGI YAARI WAZIR

SANAM RE SANAM RE

SOCH NA SAKE AIRLIFT

TU MERE PAAS WAZIR

WAJAH TUM HO HATE STORY 3

GERUA DILWALE

JANAM JANAM DILWALE

TU ISAQ MERA HATE STORY 3

NEENDEIN KHUL JAATI HEIN HATE STORY 3

HIT OR FLOP MIDWEEKDILWALE BLOCKBUSTERBAJIRAO MASTANI BLOCKBUSTERTAMASHA HITHATE STORY 3 HITKAJARYA AVERAGE

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FILM

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FILM:TERE BIN1

'MAALAI NERATHU MAYAKKAM'PARTLY GOOD, PARTLY REGRESSIVE

BY HARICHARAN PUDIPEDDI

An incompatible couple - Prabhu (Balakrishna) and Manoja(Wamiqa) - get into an arranged marriage cour tesy theirparents and one's expected to believe that they've fallen inlove by the end of the film.While that remains the goal of this story, we never get thefeeling, especially from Manoja's side that she's in love withPrabhu. So when they finally come together in the mostintimate, yet romantic and happy ending, you're not reallyconvinced.The only time Manoja realizes she misses Prabhu is whenthey're separated and she has trouble sleeping, so she findscomfor t in listening to his snore, which she had recorded toirritate him when they used to stay together.We get the point that sometimes even the smallest thingsabout our par tners make us miss them, but this is slightlyawkward. Does this brief moment really prove that Manoja isinto Prabhu, par ticularly af ter getting raped by him for notallowing physical intimacy between them?It reminds me of those cases in some Indian villages where,when a man rapes a woman and is eventually caught, he'sforced to marry her. How convenient, right? This is exactlywhy this is such a regressive love story, even though thereare some good moments.Originally written by filmmaker Selvaraghavan, and directedby his wife Gitanjali, one wonders why all his heroes have to

be losers and social outcasts. Prabhu, here, is an introver t,who dances to the tunes of his father and absolutely has noclue about how to behave with women.He works in a call centre, has a decent sense of dressing,but makes a mess of the toilet when he uses the tissuepaper. Although Selvaraghavan had said on several occa-sions that most his stories are a reflection of the society andwe truly appreciate the effor t, but mind moving on to othertype of stories? What we get in "Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam"is what we've already seen in Selvaraghavan's films - atleast most of it, like, love, sex, stalking and additionallyarranged marriage.We also get to see a variety of men - a boyfriend who wantsto sleep with his par tner to know if she's wor th beingcommitted to, a husband who wants to know (with details)the distance his wife has gone with her ex par tners and afather-in-law who doesn't like that his daughter-in-law drinks andconveniently blames her parents for the way she's raised - in thisstory where the fulcrum revolves around a heroine.It's a shame that we live around such men who are judgmen-tal, selfish and lack the minimum trust one needs to have intheir par tner. Among some of the film's best moments, thisone will cer tainly stay with you along with the sporadichumour that's used, not forcefully, but very smar tly to evokea chuckle or two. The film was originally supposed to featureDhanush, and with them in the lead it would've worked outextremely well.

Balakrishna Kola, however, doesn't rise to the occasion inpor traying the tragedy usually associated with Selvaraghavan'sheroes. Debutante Wamiqa, who has had two back-to-backgreat debuts (including last week's Telugu film "Bhale ManchiRoju"), is here to stay and she's a talent to watch out for. "Maalai NerathuMayakkam", if not for the regressive part, works to an extent and it's tough todiscard the effort that has gone into its writing.

CAST: BALAKRISHNA KOLA, WAMIQA GABBI,

PARVATHY NAIR, KALYANI NATARAJAN

DIRECTOR: GITANJALI SELVARAGHAVAN

RATING: **1/2

RONY, NURUL EARN CALL INBANGLADESH'S T20I SQUAD

AKSHAY KUMAR DURING A PBL MATCH IN MUMBAI (IANS).

PREMIER BADMINTONLEAGUE: CHENNAI SMASHERSBEAT MUMBAI ROCKETSMUMBAI, (IANS) Chennai Smashers made the best use of the"Trump Match" to outclass Mumbai Rockets 4-3 in the third tie ofthe Premier Badminton League (PBL) here on Sunday. The tiebegan with the mixed doubles match where Pia Zebadiah andChris Adcock of Smashers beat Kamilla Juhl and Vladimir Ivanovof Rockets 15-10, 7-15, 15-11 to take a 1-0 lead."It is important to star t the League on a winning note and we aredelighted to kick star t our campaign with a victory. Our oppo-nents made a brilliant come back in the second set but we man-aged to hold our nerves in the third set and gave our team a veryimpor tant win. Also the importance of this win is because it wastheir trump match and we did not allow them to win it," Adcocksaid after the win.Next up was the men's singles match between H.S Prannoy ofMumbai and Brice Leverdez of Chennai. World No. 20 Prannoydefeated Leverdez 15-8, 15-11 in a one-sided affair to give histeam the first point of the evening. "I was in a little bit of pressurebecause I lost yesterday's match against Awadhe Warriors. Iwas determined to win this one today. This was a good matchtoday as I won it convincingly," Prannoy said after the match.This was followed by the men's doubles match which was the'Trump Match' for the Rockets.Mumbai's Mathias Boe and Vladimir Ivanov got off to a flier winning thefirst game 15-10. Their opponent Chris Adcock and Pranaav Chopra ofChennai came back sharply to win the second game 15-9 and take thematch into the decider. Boe-Ivanov used their experience to good effect totake the final game 15-13 and most importantly the bonus point (+2) to winthe match. With the win, Mumbai got a healthy 3-1 lead."After losing our first game of the match we did not fall apart and in thisimportant Trump match, we managed to get two vital points for our teamwhich will consolidate our position in the Tuesday's today. Also it's a nicefeeling to get wins for your team. We won the all important team yesterdayand today again we stood up to the team's expectations," Boe said after thewin. The penultimate match of the tie saw World No.12 P.V. Sindhu beatingHan Li 15-8, 11-15, 15-8 in the women's singles match to make it 3-2. "HanLi just showed the nerves of steel, though I easily won the first game but shewas flawless in the second game. Luckily I managed to win the last gameand earned the all important point for our team. Now we hope to win the nextgame which is our Trump match and end the Tie on a positive note,"Sindhu said after the match.

ASHWIN FINISHES 2015 AS NO.1 TEST BOWLERDUBAI, (IANS) Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday became only the second Indian, afterthe legendary Bishan Singh Bedi, to be ranked as the No.1 bowler in Tests in the latest InternationalCricket Council (ICC) rankings. Ashwin achieved the top spot for the first time in his career afterinjury prevented South African Dale Steyn from bowling more than 3.5 overs in England's secondinnings in the Durban Test.Even though the fast bowler bagged four wickets in the first innings, it wasn't enough for him to endthe year as the No.1 bowler for the sixth time since 2009, and the position went to the Chennai man.Steyn had star ted the Durban Test leading Ashwin by four points and now trails the Indian tweaker bythe same margin. The 29-year-old Ashwin has become the first Indian since Bedi in 1973 to achievethe milestone of finishing the year as No.1. In fact, Bedi, an ICC Hall of Famer, is the only Indian toever top the Test bowling table while Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble peaked atNo.2 during their careers.Ashwin finished 2015 as the most successful bowler with 62 wickets in nine Tests, seven five-wicket hauls and best figures of 7/66. This is reflected in his ranking after he star ted the year in 15thand slowly but surely moved to the top. He was instrumental in India's most recent Test series winsover Sri Lanka and South Africa with 21 and 31 wickets, respectively. He walked away with the Manof the Series award on both occasions. Ashwin also scored 248 Test runs at 20.66 during the yearwith three half-centuries. His ranking in the One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 Internationalbowlers' rankings is 10th and fifth, respectively.

PBL GREAT PLATFORM FOR YOUNGSHUTTLERS TO LEARN: SAINAMUMBAI, (IANS) Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal believes that the Premier Badminton League(PBL) is the perfect platform for the country's budding talent to learn and play alongside some of thebest in the business. The World No.2 will be representing Awadhe Warrior in the PBL which beganhere on Saturday. "I am happy that the league is star ting again. All teams are prepared well fo thetournament. Happy for Indian badminton. I think it is a great platform for the youngsters to learn fromthe top class players," Saina said here before the star t of the league."It will b good fun here and exciting matches will be played. I am looking forward to play as a teamas I never before played in a team like this. Team spirit will come into play here," the 2012 Olympicbronze medalist and 2015 World Championship silver medallist said. Besides Awadhe, the other fivefranchisees par ticipating in the PBL are Delhi Acers, Hyderabad Hunters, Bengaluru Top Guns,Chennai Smashers, and Mumbai Rockets.India's top doubles player Jwala Gutta said she is excited to be a par t of the PBL. "I am excited to bea par t of the league and most impor tantly the Hyderabad team. Lot of drama and action will be seenin these few days. We all will give our best to come out victorious," Jwala said. World No.12 P.V.Sindhu, who will represent Chennai Smashers in the PBL said, "I am looking forward to some greatmatches in the coming days.PBL is a great platform to showcase all our talent. We all will have agreat time, Mumbai has a balanced team and we will give our best to win. PBL is a great stage for usto perform well," World No.20 H.S. Prannoy who will play for Mumbai Rockets, said.

DHAKA, (IANS) Bangladesh have selected young pacer Abu HiderRony and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan for their for thcomingTwenty20 International series against Zimbabwe. Shuvagata HomChowdhury, who is yet to play a T20I match, will be in the team too.Nasir Hossain and Litton Kumar Das will sit out the first two matchesof the four-match series, a Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) sourcetold bdnews24.com. The selectors delivered the squad for the first twomatches to BCB on Sunday. The team will be officially announced followingthe approval of the BCB president as per the rules. The inclusion of left-armseamer Rony, who put up some fine performances in the Bangladesh Pre-mier League (BPL), was somewhat certain but the addition of Nurul to the foldcame as a surprise. Bangladesh have been in search of a batsman to play at

No.7 in T20Is for some time. The team management is likely to thrust Nurulinto the role with the World T20 a couple of months later. Although chiefselector Faruque Ahmed was unwilling to disclose the details of the team, hehinted at the possible changes. "Keeping the World T20 in sight, we want toplay some new cricketers. The Zimbabwe series will give us that chance. Idon't want to say anything before the team is announced but you can expectsome new faces." The BCB source said Shuvagata was selected in place of Nasirmainly for the latter's ability to deal withspin and play shots early in his innings.Nasir, however, was still very much incontention for a spot in the 15-man squadfor World T20.

15 points game will makePBL more intense: Kashyap

DHARMENDRA AND BOBBY DEOL DURING THE SEMI FINAL MATCH OF PRO WRESTLING LEAGUE 2015 IN NEW DELHI (IANS).

CONTD. FROM PAGE 17Faysal outfoxed the Indian defence again in the 40th minutewhen he found himself at the end of Amiri's cross into thebox from the left, but his left-footed shot was again saved byGurpreet. Chhetri caused a flutter in the visitors' defencewhen Narzary picked him out with a cross from the left flank.But the India captain was too slow to beat the Afghandefence and goalkeeper Azizi had no problems in gatheringhis weak shot.Chhetri had another chance soon after when he was was letloose by a defence splitting pass by Jeje just before half-time, but Azizi was quick to come off his line to aver t thedanger. The Indian defence was caught napping in the 52ndminute when a long diagonal pass from the midfield foundZazai in acres of space just outside the box. Zazai rushedinto the box before unleashing a well-placed effor t. ButGurpreet did well to dive to his left and save the blushes forthe hosts.The disappointed away fans did not have to wait too long tocelebrate. Amiri put Afghanistan in front when Faysal left theIndian defence flat-footed with a defence splitting through.Amriri's power ful run into the box was not picked up by thedefenders and he had all the time in the world to produce anexcellent finish, placing the ball through Gurpreet's legs. Jejehit back for India only a couple of minutes later. Narzary'saccurate cross into the box from the right flank found Chhetri

India beat Afghanistan to win SAFF titlewho headed it for Jeje to slot it into the net.In the 87th minute, Azizi did well to dive to to his left topunch out a curling freekick from Chhetri which seemeddestined for the top corner as the match rolled into extra-time. Chhetri finally clinched the issue for India when thehosts when Sayed Hashemi fluffed his attempt to clear a freekick from the midfield. Chhetri pounced on the loose ball anddid well to ward off the attention of Masih Saighani and Azizibefore slotting home.Bikas Jairu could have increased India's lead only a coupleof minutes later when he left the Afghans flat-footed with aspeedy run down the left flank before cutting into the penaltybox. But his shot missed the far post by mere inches. Theclosing stages saw plenty of drama and even some contro-versy as the desparate Afghans pressed for the equaliser.The visitors were unlucky not be awarded a penalty when ashot from the edge of the box struck the hand of Indiandefender Arnab Mondal. The Afghan players appealed for apenalty which was turned down by the referee.The incident prompted an agitated Afghan coach Petar Segrto rush into the field in protest and was red-carded by thereferee. The Afghans had another penalty appeal turned downin injury time. Faysal played pass for Ahmad Hatifie whowas brought down inside the box by Jairu. But the refereeturned down the impassioned pleas of the Afghan players asthe par tisan home crowd heaved a collective sigh of relief.

MUMBAI, (IANS) India's experienced shuttler Parupalli Kashyap be-lieves the introduction of a 15-point game in Premier Badminton League(PBL) will make the tournament more intense and good to watch forthe fans. In order to make it more action packed and enchanting for fans,each match will take in consideration the best of three games and each gamewill be played for 15 points and a sudden death at 14 all.In another rule modification, there will be five matches in a tie andevery team will have the option of selecting one of these matches astheir 'Trump Match', in which, a victory would give the team a bonuspoint (+2) and a loss a negative point (-1).The first match will see a clash between Awadhe Warriors, spear-headed by 2012 Olympic bronze medallist and 2015 World Champion-ship silver medallist Saina Nehwal, and Mumbai Rockets here. Be-sides Mumbai, other five franchisee par ticipating are Delhi Acers,Hyderabad Hunters, Bengaluru Top Guns, Chennai Smashers, andLucknow-based Awadhe Warriors."The 15-point games will make it more intense and small as 21 pointsin a game is too long. Most of the matches are now going for too long,more than one hour and more. And 15-point game will be better I thinkwhile seven-point game is different. Like we had to take the initiativefor a lead in 14-15 point in 21 points game, in 15 point game we haveto do this during 7 and 8," Kashyap told repor ters last week. Com-

monwealth Games 2014 champion Kashyap was bought by PBL fran-chise Hyderabad Hunters in the auction.Speaking about the combination of the team, the World No.15 and2012 London Olympic Games quar ter-finalist said, "We have a fan-tastic team. We have Lee Chong Wei in our team. Overall our team isa balanced one. He will probably get four matches to play. I am alsopar t of the team. We have also other good players who will put theirbest in the matches. We have Jwala Gutta in our team her experiencewill help all."I will surely want to play the first match. But it all depends on theteam management. I want to play all the matches," he said. The broad-casters and the referee will decide the order of the play in each tie.Speaking on it, he said, "I think it is a bit strange and how that willwork out as if one player plays two matches; the player has to begiven enough rest between those matches."A sudden calf muscle tears had put upset the 29-year-old's plans tomake it to the 2015 Dubai Superseries Finals. "I had a calf muscletear on my left leg which happened in the French Open almost twomonths back. It was a big setback. I was really upset about it. I had aclear cut chance to qualify for the Dubai Superseries Finals which Iwas aiming for the whole year. I wanted to be in the top eight andqualify for Dubai," Kashyap said.

Yuvraj, Sehwag,Ishant, Steyn released

by IPL teamsMUMBAI, (IANS) Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharmaand Dale Steyn are among the big names released by theirIndian Premier League franchises ahead of the 2016 season.Yuvraj, who was bought by Delhi Daredevils for a whoopingRs.16 crore, has been released ahead of the upcoming IPL 9edition. Yuvraj, 34, who played 14 games in the 2015 editionscored just 248 runs at an average of 19, the highest being 57.Kings XI Punjab released retired India swashbuckling batsmanSehwag. The former Daredevils batsman scored just 99 runs ineight outings in IPL 8. Star seamer Ishant Sharma, after a sloppyper formance in the previous edition where he picked up justone wicket in four matches, was released by his franchiseSunrisers Hyderabad. South Africa speedster Dale Steyn wasalso released by Hyderabad after he picked up just three wick-ets in six matches in IPL 8.The window for the franchises to retain and release players forthe IPL 2016 season closed on Thursday. The other playerswho were released by the six franchises are:Delhi Daredevils: C.M. Gautam, Domnic Joseph Muthuswamy,Jaydev Unadkat, K.K. Jiyaz, Kona Srikar Bharat, Manoj Tiwary,Angelo Mathews, Gurinder Sandhu and Marcus Stoinis.Kings XI Punjab: Karanveer Singh, Parvinder Awana, ShivamSharma, Yogesh Golwalkar, Beuran Hendricks, George Baileyand Thisara Perera.Kolkata Knight Riders: Veer Pratap Singh, Aditya Garhwal, K.CCariappa, Sumit Narwal, Vaibhav Rawal, Patrick Cummins,Ryan ten Doeschate, James Neesham, Azhar Mahmood andJohan Botha.Mumbai Indians: Aditya Tare, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pawan Suyal,Pragyan Ojha, Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, BenHilfenhaus, Colin Munro and Josh Hazlewood.Royal Challengers Bangalore: Vijay Zol, Ashok Dinda, DineshKar thik, Iqbal Abdullah, Jalaj Saxena, Manvinder Bisla, SandeepWarrier, Shishir Bhavane, Subramaniam Badrinath, YogeshTakawale, Nic Maddinson, Darren Sammy, Rilee Rossouw andSean Abbott.Sunrisers Hyderabad: Chama Milind, Gade Hanuma Vihari,Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Praveen Kumar,Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara.On the other hand, as many as 101 Indian players including 37overseas stars were retained by the franchises.Delhi Daredevils: Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Mayank Agarwal,Mohammad Shami, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, ShreyasIyer, Zaheer Khan, Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir, Jean-Paul Duminy,Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton de Kock, Travis Head.Kings XI Punjab: Akshar Rajesh Patel, Anureet Singh, GurkeeratSingh Mann, Manan Vohra, Murali Vijay, Nikhil Shankar Naik,Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Narendra Thakur,Wriddhiman Saha, David Mil ler, Glenn Maxwell, MitchellJohnson, Shaun Marsh.Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir, Kuldeep Singh Yadav,Manish Pandey, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Sheldon Jack-son, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, AndreRussell, Brad Hogg, Chris Lynn, Morne Morkel, Shakib Al Hasan,Sunil Narine.Mumbai Indians: Akshay Wakhare, Ambati Rayudu, HarbhajanSingh, Hardik Pandya, J. Suchitch, Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Rana,Par thiv Patel, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma, ShreyasGopal, Siddhesh Dinesh Lad, Unmukt Chand, Corey Anderson,Keiron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Lendl Simmons, MitchellMcClenaghan.Royal Challengers Bangalore: Abu Nechim Ahmed, HarshalPatel, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Hardev Singh, Sarfaraz NaushadKhan, Sreenath Arvind, Varun Aaron, Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra SinghChahal, AB de Villers, Adam Milne, Chris Gayle, David Wiese,Mitchell Starc.Sunrisers Hyderabad: Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Bipul Sharma, Karn Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Naman Ojha, ParvezRasool, Ricky Bhui, Shikhar Dhawan, Siddhar th Kaul, DavidWarner, Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques, TrentBoult.Team Pune: Aj inkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni ,Ravichandran Ashwin, Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith.Team Rajkot: Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, BrendonMcCullum, Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner.

BCCI reveals actual salaries of retained IPL playersNEW DELHI, (IANS) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the actual salaries of retained Indian Premier League (IPL)players on Friday ahead of the ninth season of the lucrative T20 tournament. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli is thehighest paid player with an actual salary of Rs.15 crore ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Team Pune) and Shikhar Dhawan (Sun RisersHyderabad) who earn Rs.12.5 crore each.Dhoni and Suresh Raina were the first picks by newly-formed franchises Team Pune and Team Rajkot respectively at the recent IPL playerdraft in Mumbai. The two franchises, who have replaced Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), paid Rs.12.5 crore each forthe duo. But the BCCI has clarified that the 10 players who were bought at the draft will continue to receive the salaries which they did fromtheir previous teams. As a result, Raina will continue to receive a salry of Rs.9.5 crore although Rs.12.5 crore will be deducted from TeamRajkot's salary purse. Mumbai Indians' West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard draws the highest salary among the foreign players at Rs.9.7crore. His official purse deduction is Rs.9.5 crore.There are several players who are being paid less than their official purse deductions. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma and KolkataKnight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir are the only other players apar t from Kohli, Dhoni and Dhawan to be paid Rs.10 crore or morein a season. While Gambhir receives Rs.10 crore, Rohit, who captained Mumbai Indians to the IPL title last season, receives Rs.1.15 crore.But both their official purse stands at Rs.1.25 crore. Manan Vohra is being paid Rs.3.5 lakh by Kings XI Punjab, which is less than 10 percent of the value of hisRs.4 crore official purse. Among the foreigners, David Miller, Steve Smith, Brendon McCullum and James Faulkner are receiving less than their purse deductionamounts. Each franchise is required to spend a minimum of Rs.40 crore but not more than Rs.66 crore on their squad. But when a franchise decides to retain players,the purse deduction values are taken into account to calculate the amounts they are allowed to spend.

I INSPIRE MYSELF: RONALDOMADRID, (IANS) Real Madrid andPor tuguese forward Cr ist ianoRonaldo says he inspires himselfto play better football. "Most of thetime, I inspire myself. I 'm self-mot ivated," goal .com quotedRonaldo as saying. The 30-year-old, who has grabbed the presti-gious Ballon d'Or three times, saidhe looked up to players like LuisFigo in his younger days."At that age, I was looking at a bigreference in the national team, for example, (Luis) Figo, RuiCosta, Fernando Couto. It was kind of a dream to reach thatlevel," he said. "The national team, I'd look at them and I'dspeak for myself: I want to be a professional player and I wantto play for the national team. But I don't have one specific per-son that I just follow." He added that he tries to pick up the bestskills from players from different spor ts."As I said before, I'm self-motivated. I'm always like that sincethe beginning when I was young, (up until) now. Of course, Iappreciate other players, talented players, great players - notjust in football but in other spor ts because people enjoy to see,in different specific spor ts, the best ones," he said. "You shouldbe able to understand that you don't know everything so theother guy can help you in this kind of way so I just pick the bestthings off other spor ts."

Lodha panel suggests legalisingbetting, restructuring BCCI

JISHU SENGUPTA AND ARPITA CHATTERJEE UNVEIL THE BENGAL CELEBRITY LEAGUE TROPHY IN KOLKATA (IANS).

NEW DELHI, (IANS) The Justice R.M. Lodha Committee appointed bythe Supreme Cour t on Monday made a host of far-reachingreccommendations to improve cricket administration in the country,including for restructuring the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) and legalising betting.The 159-page repor t by the three-member committee comprisingformer Chief Justice Lodha, Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice R.V.Raveendran -- former judges of the Supreme cour t -- also proposedthat the 14-member BCCI working committee should be replaced byan apex council.According to the panel, the apex vounvil should comprise nine mem-bers, consisting of BCCI office bearers, and elected representativesof the general body, two membres from the players' association and anominee from the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General ofIndia (CAG). Ministers and government officials should be barredfrom holding positions in the BCCI, the repor t added.The panel proposed that the BCCI should be brought under the pur-view of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The BCCI has opposed themove in the past, citing its autonomy.The various proposals in the Lodha Committee's repor t to the apexour t include separate governing bodies for the BCCI and the IndianPremier League (IPL) so as to par tially segregate their functioning.The Lodha panel also suggested limiting the autonomy of the IndianPremier League (IPL).According to the repor t, the IPL governing body should be of ninemembers with the secretary and the treasurer of the BCCI as its ex-officio members. Two other members of the IPL governing councilshould be nominated or elected by the full members. Two should bethe nominees of franchises, one be a representative of the players

association (that is to be formed), and one a nominee of the Comptrol-ler and Auditor General of India.There is also a proposal to impose an age limit of 70 years and amaximum of three tenures for officials. "There must be a cooling offperiod of three years between tenures," Lodha said during a mediabriefing here on Monday.The panel stressed that one representation for one state is a fair ideaas was the suggestion that each state should have only one associa-tion as a full member of the BCCI and have a right to vote. Othermembers from a state, or those without territory or competitive pres-ence -- Services, Railways, CCI, NCC -- should be relegated to asso-ciate status without voting rights in the BCCI, it said.The committee also proposed the introduction of a CEO assisted by ateam of six professional managers to handle the day-to-day non-cricketing affairs of the BCCI. They will be responsible to an apexcouncil of nine members -- five elected and two players' representa-tives.Issues related to the selection, coaching, per formance evaluationand umpiring are to be handled by cricket committees manned onlyby former players. The committee said there was lack of evidenceagainst former IPL Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sundar Raman inconnection with the 2013 spot-fixing and betting scandal.Lodha also reckoned that a robust agent registration system wouldsafeguard players. There will be a steering committee to includeformer star all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath, former India women'scaptain Diana Eduljee, and legendary leg-spinner and former Testskipper Anil Kumble. They will take up matter with the BCCI forformation of the players' association in the light of suggestionsfrom the repor t.

Court considers defamation case against Kirti AzadNEW DELHI, (IANS) A cour t here on Monday took cognizance of adefamation complaint against suspended BJP leader Kir ti Azad forhis alleged "defamatory" and "false" remarks against Delhi-basedcricketer Himmat Singh and his father Tejbir Singh.Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain agreed to hear the criminal defa-mation complaint against Azad and posted the matter for hearing onFebruary 22. The cour t will record the statement of complainant wit-nesses on the next date of hearing.The complaint was filed by Himmat Singh's father Tejbir Singh lastmonth against Azad and three other former cricketers including BishanSingh Bedi, claiming that the four made baseless allegations againsthis son Himmat Singh, saying he was selected in a cricket tourna-ment after giving a bribe of Rs.25 lakh.During the brief hearing on Monday, the complaint's counsel advo-cate Gajender Singh told cour t that in a recently hold press confer-ence by Azad, former cricketers Bedi and Surender Khanna, andSameer Bahadur, who is also associated with cricket, they defamedthe name of his client and harmed his reputation. Advocate Kumar said the allegation levelled against young cricketer has disreputed hisname. Citing the record of young cricketer, he stated that Himmat Singh was selected on the squad of under-19 Delhi cricket team due to hismerit in performance. He fur ther said whatever may be the motive of the accused in making the statement, whether due to politics or tohighlight corruption in Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), the young cricketer's name has been allegedly defamed.Tejbir Singh said the "baseless" and "concocted" story of the four accused people caused "immense damage" to Himmat Singh and theirfamily. "False and defamatory statements regarding the exchange of Rs.25 lakh for selection of the complainant's son, Himmat Singh, forsome tournament ie. Vijay Hazare Trophy, is concocted per se and the same are not only false but false to the knowledge of the accused jointlyand severally," alleged Tejbir Singh, in his complaint.

India have potential to do wellin U-19 World Cup: DravidMUMBAI, (IANS) India Under-19 cricket team coach RahulDravid believes his side has the potential and talent to do wellin the U-19 World Cup, star ting in Bangladesh on January 27.India will face rivals Australia in their opening match to beheld at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Janu-ary 28.The three-time winners (2000, 2008, 2012), India have beenclubbed in Group D alongside another three-time championsAustralia, New Zealand and Nepal."They have potential and good young talent to perform well.Hopefully, they will grow as players and people and not justlook at results. I hope they go on playing and represent thesenior team and bring laurels for the country," Dravid saidhere on Monday.Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan will leadIndia's 15-man squad. Kishan had recently led India colts to aseries win in a tri-nation tournament also involving Sri Lankaand England. Two weeks before that, India had won anothertri-nation tournament involving Bangladesh and Afghanistanin Kolkata."For me coaching and mentoring at the U-19 level is reallyhelping young people on their journey which I had experi-enced myself when I was at that age. It gives me a platform toshare my experiences, some of the learning I had over 20years in spor t," the legendary batsman said."To be able to help lot of young cricketers and fulfilling theirdreams and making their journey possibly a little bit easier, itis sometimes a difficult, competitive, tough environment. It isreally a fun par t to coach a cricket team after I have retired."

Chhetri's SAFF Cup-winninggoal mind-blowing: KohliMUMBAI, (IANS) Following India's record seventh South AsianFootball Federation (SAFF) Cup triumph, Test skipper ViratKohli heaped praise on the football team's captain Sunil Chhetrifor his title-clinching extra-time goal. India defeated defend-ing champions Afghanistan 2-1 in a hard-fought final at theTrivandrum International Stadium on Sunday.Chhetri (101st minute) scored the decisive goal for India whenhe capitalised on a defensive lapse by the visitors in the firsthalf of extra time. The two teams were locked 1-1 after theregulation 90 minutes. Zubayr Amiri (70th) put Afghanistan infront before Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd) put India back in the game,and then Chhetri finally sealed the matter."Congratulations Team India for lifting the SAFF cup for the 7thtime. That extra time winner from Chhetri was mind blowing!"Kohli tweeted after India's win on Monday. The Indians thusavenged their 0-2 loss to Afghanistan in the final of the lastedition of the tournament in Katmandu in 2013. The Delhi-born Kohlico-owns Indian Super League (ISL) football franchise FC Goa.

India eves to play practicecricket match againstAustralia on Jan 22SYDNEY, (IANS) Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgroveon Monday joined Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Of-ficer (CEO) James Sutherland to announce the introduction ofan annual Governor-General's XI match that will see some ofthe country's most talented female cricketers take on touringinternational teams.This year, the Governor-General's XI, featuring a mix of expe-rienced and talented young players, will take on the touringIndian women's team in a Twenty20 match at the DrummoyneOval here on January 22. The Indian team will be touring Aus-tralia to play three Twenty20 Internationals and One-DayInternationals (ODI) each from January 26 to February 7.The fixture has been inspired by the annual Prime Minister'sXI match for Australia's male cricketers which was institutedby Robert Menzies in 1951. The Governor-General's XI will beselected by CA in consultation with the Governor-General andwill be announced in the days before the match."Australia's women cricketers are the best in the world. TheGovernor-General's XI is an oppor tunity to showcase many ofthese experienced and up-and-coming players against formi-dable international teams," said Cosgrove. Sutherland saidthe match will become an annual celebration of women'scricket in Australia. "Australian cricket is honoured that theGovernor-General has chosen to support the game in this way.Our goal is to see cricket become the spor t of choice forwomen and girls across the nation, whether as par ticipants orfans, and this annual fixture is another impor tant step in help-ing realise that vision," said the CA CEO."Almost a quar ter of the 1.2 million Australians now playingcricket are women and girls and their numbers continue togrow rapidly. Drawing more females to the game, as playersand fans, presents as the most significant oppor tunity forcricket to become incredibly strong and enduring."

Watson, Lyon ignored as Australianame ODI squad against IndiaSYDNEY, (IANS) Veteran all-rounder Shane Watson and off-spinner Nathan Lyon were ignored as Australia on Mondayannounced their 13-member squad for the first three matchesof the One-Day International (ODI) series against India star t-ing in Perth on January 12.Australian selectors named Glenn Maxwell as the only spin-ner in the squad citing the pitches in Per th, Melbourne andSydney would assist quick bowlers. Uncappped fast bowlersScott Boland and Joel Paris are in line for their internationaldebuts after being named in the squad.Test batsmen Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns were also notincluded in the ODI squad that will assemble in Per th on Fri-day, with Australia's Twenty20 skipper Aaron Finch, formerT20 captain George Bailey and recently-dropped Test bats-man Shaun Marsh all named in the top order.

31 INDIAN GOLFERS IN FRAY FOR ASIAN TOUR QUALIFYING SCHOOLHUA HIN (THAILAND), (IANS) A total of 31 Indian golfers, including S. Chikka and Khalin Joshi, will feature in the Asian Tour QualifyingSchool that has attracted a total of 646 entries as players from across the globe vie for playing rights on the 2016 Asian Tour season.The 2016 Asian Tour Qualifying School, sponsored by the Spor ts Authority of Thailand, will be held over a two-week run in Thailand withthe first stage star ting from January 6 to 9, according to a release on Monday. Apart from Khalin and Chikka, the likes of ShubhankarSharma, Ashok Kumar and Vikrant Chopra will be part of the final stage, while the rest of them will tee off from the first stage.Ranging from over 40 countries, South Korea contributes the highest number of players with 107 entries, followed by Thailand (84),United States (77), Japan (71), Australia (61), England (38), India (31), Chinese Taipei (19), Malaysia (17), Canada (12), South Africa (12),Sweden (11), Philippines (11), Singapore (10), New Zealand (10), Indonesia (8), Spain (7) and Scotland (6).Other countries include Italy (5), China (5), France (5), Zimbabwe (5), Germany (4), Denmark (4), Finland (3), Sri Lanka (3), Austria (2),Ireland (2), Myanmar (2), Switzerland (2), Brunei (1), Columbia (1), Guam (1), Hong Kong (1), Kenya (1), Monaco (1), Pakistan (1), Wales(1), Uruguay (1), Vietnam (1), Venezuela (1) and Por tugal (1).A total of 491 hopefuls will tee it up for the first stage which will be conducted across four different courses, namely the Windsor Park GolfClub in Bangkok, Springfield Royal Country Club (Course C and B), Imperial Lakeview Golf Club (Course A and B) and Imperial LakeviewGolf Club (Course C and D) in Hua Hin. The number of players from first stage who will join 155 other players, who are already exemptedin the all-impor tant final stage, will only be decided when all players have teed off for the opening round on Wednesday.

prime ministers show resolve to battle terrorism ttc fares...

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