Sania Mirza's ups & downs

Sania Mirza had watched silently as the ugly spat between Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi unfolded. But in a no-holds-barred assault after her wild card came through, Sania lashed out ITA and the male players for humiliating her by using her as a bait in the Lee-Hesh row.

 

Source : AP Success finally smiled on Sania Mirza after a long time when she clinched the French Open mixed-doubles title this year. Here's hoping she can replicate the same at Wimbeldon. However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the Hyderabadi lass. We take a look at her career highs and lows...Photo: AP

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  Source : Getty Images

Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina suffered a crushing 2-6, 1-6 defeat against top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the doubles final at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open. Photo: Getty Images

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Last year, Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina's defeat to the unseeded Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hredecka in the French Open final may have come as a disappointment to the Hyderbadi's fans, but it's also a matter of pride that she got this far. Photo: Getty Images

Sania broke into the competetive league in 2003 when she was made part of the Indian Fed team and won all the games she played . In the same year, she went on to create history when she took part in the Wimbledon Girls Championships and won the doubles title with her partner Alisa Kleybanova. She earned the Arjuna award for her achievements in 2004.

Sania made her Grand Slam debut in 2005 in the Australian Open. Her skills were put to test and Sania made it to the third round, only to then be beaten by top-seed Serena Williams who ended her run in the singles event. Photo: Getty Images

She then took part in the 2005 US Open and made an entry into the record books when she entered the quarterfinal round. It took 51 years for an Indian girl to get so far, the last being Rita Daburr, who had finished runner-up in the singles event in 1952. Photo: Getty Images

The following year, Sania's playing career reached its peak as she defeated biggies like Martina Hingis, Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova and earned a place in the top 30 world rankings. She became the highest-ever ranked Indian woman tennis player. She was aptly awarded the Padma Shri for her achievements. Photo: Getty Images

Sania also had a fair share of controversies to deal with. For starters, she upset some sects of the Muslim community for wearing short skirts during her games. A fatwa was issued against her on grounds of indecency by a Muslim cleric.

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Petrol prices set for a Rs 4 slash

The oil marketing companies are likely to slash the petrol prices by up to Rs. 4 a litre from July 1.

The trigger: The steep fall in global prices of crude oil as well as petrol on which the companies base the domestic prices every fortnight. The price cut will come as a big respite for the consumer after the recent increase of Rs. 7.54 a litre on May 23 - the highest so far.

But senior officials in the oil companies said the price cut would come only if the global petrol prices and the rupee-dollar exchange rates hold for the rest of this month.

The officials said the price cut could have been higher had the rupee not gone through a freefall against the dollar in recent times in the currency market.

With every one-dollar decline in global prices, the domestic price declines by around Rs. 0.34 a litre, while every one-rupee fall against the dollar leads to a price rise of 75-to-80 paise a litre.

The average global petrol price has come down to $99 a barrel from $115 at the time of the last price cut of Rs. 2.02 on June 2.

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Ek Tha Tiger: New stills of Sallu-Kat

 

 

 

 

The movie stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles
 

 

 

 
Ranvir Shorey also is part of the cast of the film.

The cinematography is by Ravi K Chandran.

This is the third time Kabir Khan is collaborating with Yash Raj Films after Kabul Express (2006) and New York (2009).

The story of the film is written by Aditya Chopra.

The music of Ek Tha Tiger has been scored by Sohail Sen.

'Ek Tha Tiger' will be released on August 15

The first look of Ek Tha Tiger was released in April this year

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Chennai: Bus falls off a flyover, 30 injured

Chennai: At least 30 passengers were injured injured when a crowded bus fell of a flyover in Chennai on Wednesday afternoon. The accident happened on the Gemini flyover on arterial Anna Salai when the driver of the state-owned Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus was taking a blind turn.
The incident occurred at around 1.40 PM when the bus driver on route No. 17M from Parrys to Vadapalani tried to take a left turn on the diversion on Anna flyover towards Nungambakkam, police said. But they refused to confirm eyewitness accounts that the driver was talking on his mobile phone at the time.
According to MTC officials there were 39 persons on the bus, including the driver and conductor. Traffic was badly hit and there was a massive jam following the accident on the flyover, forcing police to divert traffic.

The injured have been admitted to Royapettah Government Hospital and a nearby private hospital.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister VS Vijay, Social Welfare Minister B Valarmathy, Chennai Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy, City Police Commissioner JK Tripathy, along with top police officers and senior MTC officials visited the spot.
The bus was removed from the spot around three hours later with the help of a crane.

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Key dates in EU antitrust action against Microsoft

 
FILE - This set of flagpoles sits at one of the entrances to Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Wash., in this Oct.19, 1998 file photo. The General Court of the European Union has upheld most of a massive fine against Microsoft Corp. by the European Commission's competition watchdog in 2008. In a ruling Wednesday, June 27, 2012, it rejected Microsoft's appeal but did cut the fine by €39 million to €860 million ($1.1 billion). Photo: Joe Brokert / AP 

Brussels (AP) — A European appeals court on Wednesday upheld most of a massive penalty levied against Microsoft Corp., ending the company's 14-year legal struggle with the continent's competition regulators.
The EU probe was triggered by a 1998 complaint that Microsoft wouldn't give Sun Microsystems some technical information needed for Sun's server software to communicate with Microsoft's Windows desktop operating system. The EU looked more broadly into whether Microsoft had abused its near-monopoly over Windows to corner other markets, including server software, internet browsers and streaming media software.
Here's how the case developed:
— March 24, 2004: The European Commission finds Microsoft guilty. It fines the company €497 million ($613 million). It also orders Microsoft to share technical documents with rivals and market a version of Windows without a media player.
— June 15, 2005: After losing an appeal, Microsoft makes Windows XP N — without Media Player — available. There are few takers. The same month, EU also raises concerns about usability of Microsoft's technical documents.
— July 12, 2006: EU decides Microsoft isn't obeying the 2004 decision and penalizes it an additional €280.5 million ($357 million).
— March 1, 2007: EU threatens Microsoft with even more penalties as it accuses the company of further noncompliance by setting royalty fees too high for technical documents.
— Oct. 22: Microsoft agrees to slash fees for the technical documents. It also offers access to open source developers and others for a one-time fee of €10,000. Though this resolves key parts of the dispute, the EU says Microsoft is still subject to penalties for noncompliance until then.
— Jan. 14, 2008: Following a complaint by Web browser developer Opera Software ASA, the EU announces it is investigating Microsoft again. This time, it's on suspicion of abusing its market position by squeezing out other Internet browsers and software rivals dependent on Microsoft programs.
— Feb. 27: EU regulators impose a €899 million penalty ($1.3 billion) — a record at the time — for failing to fully comply with the 2004 antitrust order. This is on top of the fine imposed in 2004 and the penalty of 2006 and brings the total to nearly €1.7 billion.
— May 9: Microsoft announces it has appealed the penalty.
— Jan. 16, 2009: The European Commission orders Microsoft to untie its Internet Explorer browser from Windows.
— July 24: Microsoft agrees to offer a choice of rival Web browsers on Windows to ward off new European Union antitrust fines.
— Dec. 16: The European Union drops the browser case after Microsoft after the company agrees to give Windows users in Europe a choice of up to 12 other Web browsers. This ends all of the EU's active cases against Microsoft, though the appeal of the 2008 fine remains pending.
— Wednesday: The General Court of the European Union rejects Microsoft's appeal of the 2008 penalty, but reduces it to €860 million, ending the case.

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Jindal case: India's charge of Pak institutions involved in 26/11 rubbished

The Pakistan Government on Wednesday dismissed India’s charge of Pakistani state institutions being involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Addressing media in Islamabad, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Advisor in the Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik, termed New Delhi’s charges as “baseless”, and added that Islamabad would not investigate the Mumbai terror attack on the basis of evidences provided by New Delhi, as they were “not reliable”.
Defending Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Malik rubbished 26/11 Mumbai terror attack plotter Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jindal's claims of the ISI being involved in the 26/11 attacks.
He said the ISI protects Pakistan and is not involved in carrying out terror strikes.
Malik squarely blamed Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram of "unnecessarily targeting the ISI", and claimed that all the allegations against Pakistan have been proven to be false till now.
He pointed out that Jindal was an Indian citizen (a resident of Beed in Maharashtra), and therefore, could not be said to be working on behalf of state or non-state actors from Pakistan.
"On previous occasions, when India accused the ISI of being behind the attacks, they were later proved to be wrong. Blaming someone is very easy, but proving is very, very difficult," claimed Malik.
Chidambaram had on Wednesday said that India had been on Jindal’s case for over a year, and the latter had admitted during interrogation by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police to the involvement of Pakistani state agencies in the 26/11 attacks.
Reacting to Malik's note on Tuesday, Chidambaram said that India was willing to share information about Jindal with Pakistan
Jindal was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on June 21 after being brought from Saudi Arabia, and is now in the custody of Delhi Police till July 5.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has now produced a production warrant in Delhi's Tis Hazari court for Jindal's interrogation.
The ATS wants to question him regarding the Aurangabad arms haul case of May 2006 and the German Bakery blast case of February 2010.
The ATS also wants to question him regarding the sleeper cells active in Maharashtra and about his alleged connections with the Indian Mujahideen.
The Indian Mujahideen was allegedly behind the 13/7 serial blasts in Mumbai in 2011 and the ATS had filed a charge sheet in the case last month.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau are also interrogating Jindal. He has reportedly given inputs about the Lashkar-e-Toiba's sleeper cells in the country to the police, based on which, police teams will be carrying out raids across Maharashtra.
Police say Jindal used different names in each incident that he was involved in over the past six to seven years.

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One in eight women return expensive clothes after wearing

Clever dames! A UK survey has found that one in eight women bought expensive clothes, wore them on a night out and returned them to the shopkeeper the next day. And experts believe the true figure may be far higher as many shoppers are too ashamed to admit to the practice. Nearly half of those who did confess said they were motivated by money because they couldn't afford to keep the clothes given the present economic climate. But 18 per cent said they did it because they enjoyed the 'buzz'.

The poll of 2,000 women in UK found the most common occasion to buy and then return an outfit was for a wedding. Others did it for christenings, black-tie events and Christmas parties. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said it was 'concerned' about the practice, and warned offenders would be caught, the Daily Mail reported. Those most likely to do it were 18 to 24-year-olds, 16 per cent of whom admitted to returning worn clothes. This was followed by the 25 to 31-year-old category, on 14 per cent. Hannah Priddey, 24, a masters student at Bristol University, said she bought a glamorous outfit, and returned it, once a fortnight for four years.

According to the survey, carried out by the UK-based OnePoll.com, offenders tuck the labels inside clothes on a night out to conceal their strategy. The next day they either hang them out to air or spray them with air freshener, then return them to the store, telling the shop assistant they didn't fit.
Shockingly, seven per cent of those surveyed said they had returned an outfit after being sick on it, while six per cent had spilled a drink on one and taken it back.

Eight per cent said they had left the item they returned in a crumpled heap on the floor all night, and nearly nine per cent said it smelt of smoke. A spokesman for OnePoll.com said: "It's understandable that people are tightening their belts and are spending more cautiously during this bleak economic time, but returning clothes after wearing them is quite dishonest and high risk". Legally, shops are under no obligation to accept returns unless the goods are faulty or damaged. But in practice, many do as long as the customer has a receipt.

Sarah Cordey, of the BRC, said: "Most retailers go well beyond the legal minimum when it comes to returns policies, and the vast majority of customers use them honestly. Deliberately buying clothes to wear and then return is wrong and shop assistants are on the look out for signs of this".

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Tendulkar gets award for 100 tons

Senior Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was presented the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award for completing a century of 100 international hundreds.

Tendulkar had achieved the milestone while playing against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup in March.

The event was organised by FidelisWorld and the iconic batsman was presented with a trophy. Made from crystal, it features a cricket ball resting on the open pages of a book.

The 49 one-day international centuries that Tendulkar has made are listed on one side, and his 51 Test hundreds on the other.

Tendulkar spoke on various aspects of his career at the function such as his favourite innings - the match-winning fourth-innings hundred against England at Chennai in December 2008 - balancing play and personal life, and the influence that his late father had in shaping his career

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Moss to enter movies?

Supermodel Kate Moss may soon make her debut in movies.

She did a cameo in "Absolutely Fabulous" special charity episode and impressed the show creator Jennifer Saunders with her co-operation. Now the latter wants Moss to appear in the upcoming spin-off film.

"Kate got on so well with the team, we'd love to work with her again. I'm currently writing the movie, so watch this space," Closer magazine quoted Saunders as saying.

"Kate's great, she's lovely. She behaved so nicely and was such a sweet person. She didn't have any tantrums or any airs or graces. There was no nonsense.

"We've done stuff with Kate before and she's been wonderful so it was great to work with her again. She's really good, she's really professional and she looks amazing," she added.

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New Prez should be non-political: Hema Malini

Bharatiya Janata Party's former MP and veteran actress Hema Malini believes a candidate from a non-political background should be given preference during the country's upcoming presidential election.

"I think the president should be from a non-political background. He should be a very highly-qualified person and only a very knowledgeable person should become the president," the 63-year-old said here on the sidelines of an event on Sunday.

"It's such a high position that to handle it, a non-political person should be preferred. He'll understand everything and will not be (in favour) for any political party," Hema Malini added.

Asked if she has any special tips for actress Rekha, who has recently become a member of the Rajya Sabha, Hema said: "Everyone learns themselves. Even when I went... no one teaches you. Everyone has to learn on their own. Life is a long process to keep on learning every minute. So, she will also learn it on her own."

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Search warrant issued for Nithyananda

The police on Monday issued a search warrant for the arrest of controversial godman Nithyananda, who is reportedly absconding from his ashram at Bidadi in Ramanagara distict.

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda told reporters after a high-level meeting with top police officials, including DGP Lalrokhuma Pachau, to discuss the clash that took place between the media and his followers at his ashram last week, that Nithyananda would be arrested in two days.

He said he has directed Regional Commissioner Shambhu Dayal Meena to submit a report to the government on the incident and also asked the DC and the Superintendent of Police to secure custody of the Dhyanapeetham premises, collect evidence about its activities and seal the ashram.

The government would hold discussions with the law department to seek cancellation of bail of the self-styled godman, who was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court in connection with a case of rape and criminal intimidation.

Nithyananda is facing criminal charges, including rape, on complaints from some former disciples last year. He was arrested and later released on bail.

On June, 8 police had lodged criminal cases against him and his followers for allegedly assaulting a mediaperson during a press conference at his Ashram.

The FIRs were filed on complaints from a regional TV channel reporter and activists of Nava Nirmana Sene in connection with an altercation at the ashram the previous night.

On a counter complaint by two followers of Nithyananda, police also registered two FIRs against the reporter and Sene activists for alleged outrage of modesty, physical assault and threat to life.

The reporter alleged he was assaulted and threatened after he asked a question at a press meet convened by the godman in the backdrop of charges of sexual abuse levelled against him by a US-based woman.

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