Beckham makes spectacular come back

David Beckham returned for England and did just about everything but score.

Beckham marked his first appearance in the lineup since resigning as captain at last year's World Cup by setting up the team's goal in a 1-1 friendly draw with Brazil on Friday.

Although Steven Gerrard was named man of the match in the first international at rebuilt Wembley Stadium, it was Beckham who drew the loudest cheers from a crowd of 88,745.

Back wearing the No. 7 shirt after 10 months out of the side, Beckham was one of the best performers against the five-time world champion and provided the 68th-minute free kick that captain John Terry headed to put England ahead.

Only an injury-time goal by Brazil substitute Diego denied England victory.

"Football's a cruel game and sometimes you don't get what you deserve - and we didn't deserve that," England coach Steve McClaren said. "We deserved to win the game."

Preparing for Estonia

McClaren was using the game as preparation for Wednesday's European Championship qualifier at Estonia, and was now sure to include Beckham for a match England must win to boost its hopes of reaching next year's tournament.

The Real Madrid midfielder's famous deliveries were as accurate as ever, he tackled fiercely but fairly, and covered ground on the right of midfield to stymie Brazil's attacks and set up England's.

"He was good and he took advantage of his best feature - the dead balls," Brazil coach Dunga said.

Beckham was slower than at his peak five years ago, but he set up Michael Owen for three chances, and put a curling free kick just wide in the first half.

Standing ovation

The crowd at the stadium, which was hosting England for the first time since September 2000, cheered each time he touched the ball and gave him a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 77th.

"I brought him back because he was playing well," McClaren said. "David Beckham is a player who, when he's playing well, there is no better right-sided player in the world.

"He showed that tonight."

Terry's goal and Beckham's performance roused the crowd after an uneventful first half in which neither goalkeeper had to make a save.

England benefited from the 63rd-minute introduction of substitutes Stewart Downing and Kieron Dyer and improved on its recent performances, but was still disjointed.

"We couldn't get through the middle of them and we tried to move it wide," Terry said. "We did that a bit better in the second half."

But even a Brazil containing Ronaldinho and Kaka struggled to put together passing moves on a pitch that broke up from the start.

Gilberto Silva scored in the 20th minute but had his header ruled out for offside by two other players.

"The players need to have more physical training," Dunga said. "They are a little bit tired but we still had six chances for goals and we only trained 30 minutes."

Each tackle and stumble seemed to create a new divot in the turf. Heavy rain last month and three games in three days last weekend for the English league playoffs left the new field in poor condition.

That meant defenders could slide into tackles and Gerrard made a crucial one on the edge of the area to deny a chance for Kaka, who won the Champions League last week with AC Milan.

Ronaldinho drew the game's first save from Paul Robinson five minutes into the second half with a shot that deflected off defender Ledley King.

Beckham then curled a free kick onto Owen's head, but the ball went just over the bar. Owen shot straight at the goalkeeper from another pass by Beckham, before the midfielder set up Terry for his header goal at the far post.

"David was in a different class today," Terry said. "His delivery is superb. It was a great ball from Becks and it was about time I scored again."

Beckham was one of six players taken off as McClaren tried to rest them for Wednesday and England thought it had beaten Brazil for the first time since 1990 when, with less than one minute of added time left, Diego beat the defense to a cross and headed past Robinson.

KISS boys win U-14 rugby

India's recent triumphs on the world stage aren't limited to the world of cricket, by the looks of it.

The Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga School of Social Sciences, or KISS, has won the under-14 Rugby World Cup in London.

The Jungle Crows, as the KISS rugby team is called, outplayed South Africa 19-05 in the Final.

They had started off as underdogs in the tournament, playing as they were on foreign turf. But soon stunned teams from Zambia, Swaziland, Kenya and Romania, to top Group 'B' and set up a title-clash with the South Africans.

All 12 members of the KISS rugby squad are in fact tribals hailing from different backward regions of Orissa.

Jayawardane, Murali join IPL

The Indian Premier League, the ambitious cash-rich Twenty20 venture launched by the BCCI, on Monday announced the signing of eight current Sri Lankan cricketers, including captain Mahela Jayawardene and spin wizard Muthiah Muralitharan, for its inaugural edition.

Barely three days after the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) released its second list of 18 players, the IPL responded by coming out with the names of its first high-profile signings, intensifying the recruitment battle between the two rival groups.

Apart from Jayawardane and Muralitharan, the dashing Sanath Jayasuriya, wicketkeeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara and pacemen Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Fernando were the other players to play in the inaugural season.

The IPL had already roped in the likes of spin great Shane Warne, former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and Aussie speedster Glen McGrath for the Twenty20 tournament, seen as a counter to the Subhash-Chandra owned Essel Group's breakaway League.

Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of IPL said, "We at the IPL are committed to enticing an entire new generation of sports fans into the grounds by showcasing some of the best cricketing talent on offer from the world over.

"It is in line with this philosophy that we have signed eight of the current Sri Lankan squad. We are also in talks with some of the finest players in the International cricketing arena. I promise Indian fans that the IPL will truly be one of the finest cricketing leagues anywhere in the world," he said.

The BCCI had recently launched the IPL to be played in the globally popular Twenty20 format, offering a whopping $ 3 million as prize money.

The Champions League, which will feature the two top teams from the four participating countries, has a prize money of $ 5 million.

In stark contrast, the ICL has a winner's purse of $ 1 million with West Indies batting great Brian Lara and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq being the star recruits.

"T20 cricket is an exciting new format for both cricket players and fans. We are all thrilled to be joining the IPL, an innovative venture that has the potential to fuel crickets growth around the world during the coming years. We are looking forward to making our mark in the league," Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene was quoted as saying in a press release.

The IPL, scheduled for an April 2008 launch, will feature eight franchises in the first season, with each team playing seven home and away games against one another.

Shoaib may face six-month ban

The Pakistan Cricket Board has charged Shoaib Akhtar with five counts of indiscipline, including the one involving his brawl with teammate Mohammad Asif, which may lead to a six-month ban on the mercurial pacer.

A PCB official said the five charges also include violating a probation period of six weeks, going to England to play a charity match without board's permission, making accusations against teammate Shahid Afridi and addressing an unauthorised press conference after being sent home from South Africa.

"Shoaib has to respond to these charges when he appears before the disciplinary committee on October 6," the official said.

He said a fine of Rs 300,000 was now automatic for violating the probation period of six weeks while he could be banned for up to six months if he did not come up with a satisfactory reply before the committee.

After being sent back from South Africa before the Twenty20 World Cup, Shoaib held a press conference and accused Afridi of instigating the brawl with Asif.

He also claimed that he accidentally hit Asif with the bat.

But the fast bowler faces a tough time ahead because when the incident took place in South Africa, he was already on probation for six weeks after he was fined for leaving the training camp here without permission.

"The problem is that though an appeals panel later accepted his plea that he informed Shoaib Malik before leaving the camp but the probation period remained and secondly he didn't tell anyone he was going to England to play a charity game in August," the official said.

The disciplinary committee will also question Malik, Afridi, Asif along with some other players about the incident in South Africa.

Shoaib has a history of problems with the establishment and of violating regulations.

The mercurial bowler was not invited for a reception in honour of the Pakistan team last night, a clear indication that he is not very high on the popularity list of the board at the moment.

Team India gets an attitude makeover

The Indian team was never known to be mentally tough or aggressive, but all that seems to be changing.

In fact, in recent times when it comes to Team India, the bat and ball are not the only ones doing the talking.

At heart, they are still boys, but in the tough nonsense world of sledgehammer cricket, Indian cricket's Generation X has learnt the art of stares and glares.

If the T20 World Cup was indication, the Indian team knows how to put on the war paint.

From Munaf Patel to Yuvraj Singh and even the mild-mannered Irfan Pathan - the son of a cleric - proved that pumping fists could do as much as prayers on a cricket field.

But what stood out most was S Sreesanth's ground-pumping celebrations after dismissing Mathew Hayden in the semifinals, which was almost like a war cry.

"It was Australia and they are the world champions, and there was an opportunity given, and it was a great opportunity to test yourself. The Australians really intimidate you with their looks and the way they talk and I thought why not, they may be huge and they stare at your eyes."

"So I thought why not give them a stare back and if they talk why don't you talk back and I think it worked. I can get anyone out. I don't have to get scared just because someone is huge but off the field, no I'll just say, 'Hi what's up?'" said Ssreesanth.

But it was not just the bowlers who took the mantle of being aggressive. The batsmen too were not politely backing off or looking the other way if a bowler tried to browbeat them.

Andrew Flintoff and England got a first hand demonstration of the new Team India, as Yuvraj Singh gave back as good as he got and with a little extra as he unleashed his wrath smashing six sixes off Stuart Broad.

NDTV: In that England game what set you off was that chat with Flintoff that set you off?

Yuvraj Singh: Whenever you have a chat it's always when both teams are competing you want to say a few things to each other.

NDTV: So what did he say?

Yuvraj Singh: I can't say what happened over there. So I got fired up and made me play a good innings. So I was happy about it.

However, this new attitude has led to several discussions with match referees around the world.

Sreesanth, for instance, was docked half his match fee on the recent England tour, and the veterans have already called for caution.

"Aggression is fine. But you have to be careful of the match referee. Performance is all important," said Dilip Vengsarkar, Chairman of Selectors.

But for skipper MS Dhoni, who leads the brave new brat pack, it's all in the game.

If fear was the key earlier, this band of boys epitomizes the freedom from it.

NDTV: We have never seen the Indian team so charged. You were talking back to the Australians, giving attitude to the South Africans?

Robin Uthappa: I think we got to fight fire with fire. And that's going to be the attitude from hereon. You are going to see a very aggressive Indian team from hereon.

Clearly Team India has found a new aggressive streak which they believe will now propel them to greater heights.

UN envoy's meet with Myanmar junta chief delayed

Myanmar's leader stalled a UN envoy for yet another day on Monday, delaying until Tuesday his chance to present world demands for an end to the junta's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy who has been in Myanmar since Saturday, has finally been given an appointment to meet with Senior General Than Shwe on Tuesday in the junta's remote bunker-like capital, Naypyitaw, an Asian diplomat said.

Instead of the meeting that he had hoped for on Monday, Gambari was taken on a government-sponsored trip to attend a seminar in the far northern Shan state on EU's relations with Southeast Asia, said other diplomats.

The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

Gambari is expected to return to Yangon on Tuesday to catch a flight out of the country, the diplomats said.

In a two-line statement, the UN said Gambari ''remains in Myanmar. He looks forward to meeting Senior General Than Shwe and other relevant interlocutors before the conclusion of his mission.''

While the junta stalled Gambari, a show of force over the weekend in the country's main cities virtually snuffed out protests.

On Monday, the troops pulled back, removing road blocks and appearing to ease their stranglehold on Yangon, the country's biggest city.

Public anger, which ignited August 19 after the government hiked fuel prices, turned into mass protests against 45 years of military dictatorship when Buddhist monks joined in.

Crushing dissent

Soldiers responded last week by opening fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing at least 10 people by the government's account.

A Norway-based dissident news organization, the Democratic Voice of Burma, said pro-democracy activists estimate 138 people were killed.

''Our own estimate is about 6,000 people detained, not killed, but detained,'' including about 2,400 monks, said DVB chief editor Aye Chan Naing in Oslo.

He said they are being held in at least four places - the infamous Insein Prison, a pharmaceutical factory, a technical institute and a disused race course.

He said his reporters had spoken to one family whose son was wounded by gunfire in Yangon, brought to a hospital on September 28 and disappeared on September 30.

In Yangon, there was a clear sense that the anti-democracy protests had once again failed in the face of the junta's overwhelming military might, which was last used in 1988 to crush a much larger uprising.

''The people are angry but afraid - many are poor and struggling in life so they don't join the protests anymore,'' Thet, a 30-year-old university graduate who is now driving a taxi, said Monday.

''I think the protests are over because there is no hope pressing them,'' said a 68-year-old teacher.

In the afternoon, trucks full of police and soldiers arrived in downtown Yangon. Small vendors immediately packed up and left, while other stores hurriedly closed their windows, fearing trouble.

Some monks were allowed to leave monasteries to collect food donations, watched by soldiers lounging under trees.

Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the two main flash points of unrest, were also reopened, but there were few visitors.

Monks appeared to be paying a heavy price for their role in spearheading the demonstrations.

Another Asian diplomat said on Monday that all the arrested monks were defrocked - stripped of their highly revered status and made to wear civilian clothes.

Some of them are likely to face long jail terms, the diplomat said, also on condition of anonymity.

In Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, security forces arrested dozens of university students who staged a street protest on Sunday, a witness said.

Orange allies poised to win

Ukraine's Orange Revolution allies made a strong combined showing in parliamentary elections and looked poised to win a majority that could unseat the prime minister and steer the country more firmly onto a pro-Western course, an exit poll showed.

Sunday's election was called early in an attempt to end a standoff between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and President Viktor Yushchenko and shake sense into the ex-Soviet nation's politics after years of infighting.

The independent poll showed Yanukovych's bloc was the top vote-getter with 35.2 per cent, but Yulia Tymoshenko, the fiery Orange Revolution heroine, followed closely with 31.5 per cent.

Yushchenko's party was trailing a distant third with 13.4 per cent.

Tymoshenko, smiling triumphantly after the exit polls were announced, said she would meet with Yushchenko on Monday to quickly formalize their new alliance.

Their coalition could mend a rift in Orange Revolution forces that had thrown the nation into political turmoil.

''In one or two days we will announce the coalition,'' Tymoshenko told reporters.

Yanukovych draws his support from the Russian-speaking east and south and is considered more Russia-friendly, though he has increasingly underlined his push for Ukraine's integration into Europe.

The exit poll was conducted by a team of Ukraine's three leading polling agencies and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points. Other exit polls had similar results.

About 60 per cent of the 37.5 million eligible voters cast ballots, according to the Central Election Commission.

Critical election

The vote - the fourth in three years - will either boost Ukraine's hopes to integrate more closely into Europe or stir more infighting.

Forging a coalition with Tymoshenko could take weeks of bargaining, and Yanukovych is unlikely to give up power easily.

Yuriy Lutsenko, the leader of Yushchenko's party, said it was ready to back Tymoshenko as prime minister after the coalition is formed.

Tymoshenko, clad in immaculate white, pledged that the new government would push strongly for Ukraine to integrate more closely into Europe and quickly join the World Trade Organization.

At the same time, she said Ukraine would seek to develop good relations with Russia and hold talks shortly on imports of Russian gas and its transit to Europe.

''We will guarantee a balanced, harmonious relationship with Russia,'' she said.

While Tymoshenko's headquarters celebrated the results with champagne, a gloomy silence hung over Yanukovych's campaign office.

A somber-looking Yanukovych made a brief statement in which he tried to present the results as his party's victory, saying it would now start talks with potential coalition partners.

However, exit polls suggested those parties, including the Communists, would not get enough seats to overcome an Orange alliance.

''We consider the election results as a carte blanche for our party to form a new government,'' Yanukovych. He took no questions and left.

Earlier, Yushchenko dismissed concerns about tensions worsening amid coalition talks.

''There will be emotions, but these will be just episodes. I'm sure that the political community will find mutual understanding,'' Yushchenko said.

Ukraine's political fortunes seemed firmly determined after hundreds of thousands of protesters paved the way for Yushchenko's victory in the Orange Revolution protests against Yanukovych's fraud-tinged win in the 2004 presidential vote.

But the Orange camp plunged into infighting shortly after the victory, with Yushchenko firing Tymoshenko in 2005 as prime minister after only seven months on the job.

And the party of Yanukovych, a 57-year-old former metal worker, made a stunning comeback in the March 2006 parliamentary elections, propelling him back into the premiership.

Yanukovych sought to change his image, casting himself as a democrat, preaching compromise and stability and easing his affiliation with Russia.

Unlike the 2004 vote when the Kremlin backed Yanukovych, Russia is staying away from the parliamentary election.

Yanukovych resisted Yushchenko's April decision to dissolve parliament and call new elections after the president accused him of seeking to usurp power.

Yanukovych grudgingly agreed to Sunday's vote, but has hinted he would accept only one outcome: his victory.

Yanukovych has accused Yushchenko and Tymoshenko's parties of preparing widespread falsifications, and warned he could organize protests similar to those during the Orange Revolution.

He said that his party would not accept an ''unlawful'' outcome.

In the Orange camp, Yushchenko, 53, has struggled with disillusionment and a loss of support among many voters now backing Tymoshenko, 46, who wears a flaxen braid wrapped on her head and is known here simply as Yulia.

''I'm sure that Yushchenko and Yulia won't repeat their mistakes. I want to live in Europe, and only the Orange forces can take us there,'' said Oleg Kileiko, a 46-year old businessman who voted for the president's bloc.

Left rules out immediate withdrawal

The CPI(M) dismissed on Monday the possibility of immediate withdrawal of support by Left parties to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Party's General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the Manmohan Singh government should choose between Left support and its endeavour to have a strategic alliance with the US.

''The Americans will ask us to snap relations with Iran and scrap our gas pipeline project. This is an attack on our sovereignty. The Left will not allow the US to shape Indian foreign policy,'' said Karat.

''As long as Left parties support the UPA, US demand for privatisation of the bank, insurance and agriculture sectors will not be allowed,'' he added.

Karat emphasized that the Left parties were not against nuclear energy but Indo-US deal, which would ''affect'' India's indigenous nuclear programme. ''We have a self-reliant nuclear energy programme.''

He also said ''the deal does not have majority support in Parliament. ''All non-UPA political parties are against the deal but the government it seems places it word given to the US President George Bush above Parliament.''

Stating that the Left would not compromise on its stand, Karat said the UPA government instead of addressing the problem of price rise and strengthening PDS, was ''wasting'' time with its ''pro-America'' stand.

Speaking about the Sethusamundram project he said that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi's daughter's house was attacked in Bengaluru and BJP's office was attacked in Chennai.

''All these are happening. They should not make it a political football and the project must go forward. Now, there is a DMK government in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, it was AIADMK and the stand of both governments is the same. The NDA had earlier initiated the project,'' he said.

He said BJP had also given consent to the project during the AIADMK government and it should not be scrapped.

Karat said, the government should consult technical experts and consider environmental aspects to take the project forward.

Asked whether the Sethusamundram project has not given leverage to BJP, he said ''Let us see. Let the people decide. As far as I know, all political parties, including BJP in Tamil Nadu, are of the opinion that the project should go ahead.''

Karat was present in Ranchi in connection with the party's nation-wide campaign against the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Flashpoint for Karnataka coalition

As October 3, the agreed date for the handover of the Chief Minister's post in Karnataka from the JD (S) to the BJP gets closer; the two parties seem headed for a confrontation.

Twenty months of a JD (S) Chief Minister followed by 20 months for the BJP - that was the agreement.

And the BJP says that in Karnataka's political version of Twenty-20 cricket, it is now the BJP's turn to bat.

''We have fielded and bowled for 20 months, now it is our time to bat. There is no scope for negotiation. October 3 is our deadline and the Chief Minister must resign by the evening of October 2,'' said Yashwant Sinha, BJP Leader.

But as political meetings followed, speculations flew around and not everyone in the JD (S) was in the mood to meet the BJP's deadline.

''What deadline, what agreement was there between the two parties? There was an agreement between Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa. He now has to listen to the party,'' said Meerajudin Patel, State President, JDS.

October 3 was the agreed upon date for H D Kumaraswamy to hand over the CM's post to the BJP.

The BJP says this has to happen even as the JD (S) says there was no agreement between the parties, only between individuals.

Politics in Karnataka looks all set for a confrontation.
Story Finder 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

Rajasthan: Gujjars on war path

The Gujjars in Rajasthan are resuming their agitation on Tuesday to demand ST status for the community.

Huge security arrangements have been put into place in Rajasthan as lakhs of Gujjars are expected to court arrest.

Around 235 makeshift jails have been set up across Rajasthan and hundreds of trucks and buses readied to take into custody, thousands of agitating Gujjars who plan to court arrest, demanding ST status for their community.

After an agreement in June this year, the Rajasthan government had set up the Chopra Committee to look into their demands but with the Chopra Committee asking for more time, the Gujjars are once again on the war path.

''More than five lakh Gujjars will court arrest. But if the government does not give in to our demands by the October 11, another two lakh women will start filling the jails in the state,'' said Prahlad Gunjal , Gujjar Leader.

Incidents of violence had marked the Gujjar agitation in June this year and this time around the government is taking no chances.

More than 70,000 police personnel have been deployed across the state and additional forces from the centre have also been called in.

''We are ready. We will take into custody all those who court arrest and keep them in jail for as long as they want. But we will treat them as prisoners,'' said Gulab Chand Katariya, Home Minister, Rajasthan.

Since the Gujjars launched their agitation, the sizable Meena community has been opposing any move to give them ST status and with thousands of Gujjars marching across the state, the government will also be at pains to avoid caste tension between these two politically volatile communities.

China criticises Taiwan resolution

China has condemned a resolution passed by Taiwan's ruling party, which asserts the island's separate identity and calls for a referendum on its sovereignty.

''Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and has never been a country,'' an unnamed official with the ruling Communist Party's Taiwan Work Office said. ''We firmly oppose any 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities in any form.''

The comments were posted on the Chinese government website and printed in many state-run newspapers on Tuesday, highlighting the sensitivity of the issue.

While the resolution, which passed on Sunday after heated debate, will likely ratchet up tensions between the rivals, its contents also appear to be carefully worded so as to not provoke Beijing into responding militarily.

The two sides split during civil war in 1949, but the mainland still considers the democratic island part of its territory, and has threatened to attack if it moves toward formal independence.

Calls for referendum

The resolution by the Democratic Progressive Party calls for a referendum on Taiwan's sovereignty, and making the island's formal name ''Taiwan.'' It also calls for the enactment of a new constitution.

But it appears to lack teeth because it does not demand that the current official title of the ''Republic of China'' be abolished and offers no timetable for the enactment of the constitution or the holding of the referendum.

The Chinese official said he hoped that ''DPP members recognise the trend of future development of cross-Strait relations ... and prevent the risky separatists from pushing the Taiwan people into a disaster.''

The resolution is the latest in a series of steps taken in the waning months of President Chen Shui-bian's final term aimed at strengthening Taiwan's de facto independence.

His campaign this year to try to get the island to rejoin the United Nations under the name of Taiwan for the first time has been unsuccessful.

For the past decade it had tried without success to rejoin the world body as the Republic of China, the name it used in the UN before being expelled in 1971.

Pak suicide attack kills 15

At least 15 people, including four policemen, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a market in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province this morning.

Defence spokesman Wahid Rashid told reporters that 11 civilians along with four policemen were killed in the bombing at the local market in Bannu, a garrison town.

The militant apparently blew himself up when the police tried to intercept him, local reports said.

Bannu has been witnessing a spate of suicide attacks by Pakistani Taliban since the military raid on Islamabad's Lal Masjid in July in which nearly 100 extremists were killed.

Putin suggests he may run for PM

President Vladimir Putin suggested on day that he could become prime minister, the strongest indication yet that he will seek to retain power after he steps down as president early next year.

Putin is barred from seeking a third consecutive term in the March presidential election. But he said on Monday that he has agreed to head the ticket of the dominant United Russia party in December's parliamentary election.

It could open the door for him to become a powerful prime minister - leading in tandem with a weakened president.

Putin, who had already strongly indicated he would seek to keep hold of the reins of power, called a proposal that he become prime minister ''entirely realistic,'' but added that it was still ''too early to think about it.''

He said that, first, United Russia would have to win the December 2 vote and a ''decent, competent, modern person'' must be elected president.

Putin's announcement sent an ecstatic cheer though the crowd at a congress of United Russia, which contains many top officials and dominates the parliament and politics nationwide.

The move will likely ensure that United Russia retains a two-thirds majority in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, enough to change the Constitution.

Significant influence

Leading the party's ticket does not mean Putin will take a seat in parliament; prominent politicians and other figures often are given the top spots to attract votes, but stay out of the legislature after elections.

The 450 seats in the Duma will be distributed on a proportional basis among parties that receive at least 7 per cent of the votes.

The popular Putin has repeatedly promised to step down at the end of his second term in May, as the constitution requires, but has suggested he would maintain significant influence.

He offered some initial hints of his strategy last month when he named Viktor Zubkov - a previously obscure figure known mainly for his loyalty - as prime minister.

With no power base of his own, Zubkov would likely play his preordained part in any Putin plan. If he became president and Putin prime minister, Zubkov could be expected to cede certain powers to Putin or step down to allow him to return to the presidency.

If he becomes prime minister, Putin would be first in line to replace the president if he is incapacitated.

Putin has amassed authority as president, but as he prepares to step down he has been setting up a system of checks and balances that would weaken his successor by putting him at the mercy of rival centers of power.

By leading the United Russia party list, Putin instantaneously creates the strongest such rival power, with himself as its head.

The move means that Putin's successor ''will not be a czar,'' Kremlin-connected analyst Gleb Pavlovsky said on Ekho Moskvy radio. ''There will be a new center of influence outside the Kremlin.''

Sponsors keen on ICL

It seems that the Indian Cricket League is on the fast track and a number of companies have expressed their interest in investing in it.

According to reports, at least six major companies have expressed interest in investing by way of sponsorships and contracts.

This level of interest comes quick on the heels of the league announcing the names of some of the players who have joined them.

"People are constantly looking for opportunities; advertisers buy audiences and they buy experience. The ICL format takes away the uncertainty of the game like in English football, i.e., the sponsors never lose out."

"Unlike in the World Cup, when we had crores of money riding and we lost, the ICL format takes away the pressure of India not doing well," said Sashi Sinha, CEO, Lodestar Universal.

While it is still early days, advertisers are looking for that little bit extra for their buck, and that even includes Team India sponsor Sahara. In fact, Sahara chairman Subroto Roy told NDTV that he would back the ICL.

NDTV: If you had your way would you back it (ICL)?

Subroto Roy: If it comes to me that we can support it for the good, we will do that.

NDTV: Sahara could be the sponsor of the National cricket team and the ICL?

Subroto Roy: It may happen in the future.

This could cause the biggest ripples with the BCCI because the buck won't stop with them.

"I wouldn't worry about advertising coming my way, that will happen since the product is good. We have the right names, and a lot of advertisers are in touch with us. But our priority now is to put the processes in place," said Ashish Kaul, VP, Indian Cricket League.

In cricket, it is money that makes the ball go round, and it now seems that the ICL will be hurting the BCCI where it is likely to hurt the most, i.e., its coffers.

MPs raise concern over rising prices

Members in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday expressed concern over rising prices of essential commodities with Left members accusing the Government of failing to check inflation despite repeated assurances.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Gurudas Das Gupta (CPI) said prices of pulses had crossed Rs 50 per kg and that of potato Rs 15 per kg and edible oil Rs 60 a litre.

He said that there had been an unprecedented price rise for more than a year and despite Finance Minister P Chidambaram's assurance that the Government would take all steps to tackle inflation, things have not helped.

Members belonging to the Left, the Samajwadi Party and the BJP supported him.

Das Gupta said the poor had been hit hard. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee promised a discussion on the matter observing the entire House wanted it.

Wall Street closes mixed

Wall Street ended another erratic session mixed on Tuesday as investors, waiting for the Federal Reserve's next move to steady the markets, made few big commitments to stocks.

Comments from policymakers and government officials tugged at a market looking for any evidence the Fed will cut rates to help contain the credit crisis that began with the failure of subprime loans.

The Fed has taken a number of steps to prop up the nation's financial institutions ahead of its scheduled September 18 meeting, including injecting more liquidity into the banking industry and cutting the discount rate.

But many on Wall Street want the Fed to do more, including lowering the more important federal funds rate, and to do it before next month's meeting.

Shrinking credit

Traders reacted positively to comments from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd who said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke isn't satisfied with Wall Street's response to his efforts to stabilize markets torn by anxiety about shrinking credit.

Dodd, after a meeting with Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, said policymakers plan to use "all tools available" to complete its mission.

But that bullishness cooled after Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said the central bank's policy must be guided by fundamentals, rather than market swings, indicating that a cut in the fed funds rate cut might not be among the tools the Fed plans to use.

The 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.49, or 0.23 per cent, to 13,090.86 after moving in and out of positive territory throughout the day.

Broader market indexes were slightly higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.57, or 0.11 per cent, to 1,447.12, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 12.71, or 0.51 per cent, to 2,521.30. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies added 0.93, or 0.12 per cent, to 788.38.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3-to-2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.35 billion shares.

Bonds rally

Bonds continued to rally as more investors moved money from stocks to the safer haven of the Treasury market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.59 per cent from 4.63 per cent late Monday. Bond prices move opposite yields.

The day's trading session echoed the erratic pattern seen Monday, when the Dow changed course several times and swung in a 200-point range before closing only slightly higher.

However, Wednesday's volatility was much more mild, free from triple-digit swings, as investors took a more cautious tone.

Trading also reflected speculation that the global credit crunch is nowhere near over. Countrywide Financial Corp. was said to be a takeover target due to losses linked to distressed subprime mortgages.

Investors expected more layoffs after Capital One Financial Corp. said it was shuttering its GreenPoint Mortgage unit and slashing 1,900 jobs. Capital One shares rose $1.75, or 2.6 per cent, to $68.47; Countrywide spiked $1.98, or 10 per cent, to $21.79.

Oil prices dip below $70

Crude oil prices dropped below $70 a barrel to an eight-week low on Tuesday, after Hurricane Dean weakened and it appeared the storm would have no lasting effect on Mexican oil production.

Gasoline and natural gas prices also extended their sharp losses, with traders betting that demand is falling and supplies are safe.

"It's good news for consumers certainly. There's really not much short-term support for natural gas prices in the absence of hurricane activity," said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost $1.65 to settle at $69.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest close since June 27.

September natural gas, which dropped more than 13 per cent on Monday, fell another 22.3 cents, or 3.7 per cent, to settle at $5.817 per 1,000 cubic feet.

September gasoline futures, which fell 5 per cent Monday, extended its losses by 7.28 cents, or 3.8 per cent, to settle at $1.8637 a gallon. September heating oil futures dipped 2.89 cents to settle at $1.9520 a gallon.

October Brent crude fell $1.16 to $68.69 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.

Wall Street movement

In addition to hurricanes, energy traders are also closely following the stock market's moves.

Wall Street's plunge appears to have been stanched for now, following the Federal Reserve's discount rate cut that made it cheaper for commercial banks to borrow from the central bank. But trading has been choppy, reflecting ongoing credit worries.

Because of the rocky stock market, the energy market is betting that energy demand will keep declining, especially as the driving season ends.

Also causing energy prices to drop, speculators, those looking to make fast money, as opposed to commercial investors who use the market to hedge their interests, have exited their positions to free up cash.

Putin opens Russian air show

Russia opened its largest air show in post-Soviet history, showing off its growing military footprint and global assertiveness while seeking lucrative deals as it seeks to boost sagging aircraft development and production.

President Vladimir Putin, who last week announced that his country's long-range bombers had resumed patrols over the word's oceans, stressed Russia's prominence in production of military aircraft but said it must be more competitive in creating passenger planes.

The International Aviation and Space Show, held at a former secret military airfield outside Moscow, is an international trade fair showcasing Russia's latest military and civilian planes.

But reactions to the Russian hardware - both planes parked in hangers and others whizzing overhead - were mixed.

While the commander of US air forces in Europe expressed admiration for advanced Russian MiG and Sukhoi fighters, one military analyst characterized the same jets as ''flying toys.''

Putin, meanwhile, conceded nothing to critics of Russia's military aviation industry.

''The task stands before us of maintaining our leadership in the production of military aviation technology,'' he said Tuesday at the start of the six-day show at Zhukovsky military airfield.

Russian manufacturers ''must more actively enter the world market for passenger and transport aircraft with competitive production,'' he said.

After the 1991 Soviet collapse, the Russian government drastically cut spending on its aircraft manufacturing industry.

Though factories producing military planes fared better than those building civilian aircraft - in part because they benefited from arms sales abroad - Russia fell behind the West in designing advanced warplanes.

Today, Russian passenger planes are so outdated that airlines flying to European and US destinations must use Western-made planes to meet noise and pollution restrictions.

But the Kremlin is determined to revive the heyday of Soviet aviation, and the government - bolstered by oil and gas revenues - has invested in a new S-400 missile defense system and enhanced its MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets - all on exhibition at the show.

Nearly 800 companies from about 100 countries participated in the biannual show, state arms trader Rosoboronexport said, up from 70 at the last show.

The largest foreign delegations were from China, Latin America and Arab countries.

Venezuela constitutional reforms approved

Venezuela's National Assembly, dominated by allies of President Hugo Chavez, gave unanimous initial approval to constitutional reforms that would allow him to run for re-election and possibly govern for decades to come.

Assembly President Cilia Flores said Chavez's proposed changes to the constitution, including the lifting of presidential term limits were approved on Tuesday by all 167 lawmakers after about six hours of debate.

Final approval is expected within two or three months, and voters will then decide whether to approve the changes in a referendum.

The assembly has been solidly pro-Chavez since the opposition boycotted a 2005 vote and had been expected to sign off on the changes proposed by Chavez in Tuesday's first reading.

Extend presidential term

The reforms, if approved, would extend presidential terms from six to seven years and allow Chavez to run again in 2013.

Government opponents have attacked the reforms, saying they will weaken democracy by permitting Chavez to become a lifelong leader like his ally Fidel Castro of Cuba.

Chavez, a former paratroop commander who was re-elected by a wide margin in December on promises to steer the country toward socialism, says the changes will give Venezuelans greater decision-making power.

He also says that it will aid the transfer of billions of dollars from Venezuela's foreign reserves into social programmes.

Opposition against it

Ismael Garcia, one of the assembly's few dissenting voices, criticised pro-Chavez lawmakers for excluding opposition groups from the discussion, arguing that Venezuelans of all political leanings must be included in the debate before the proposed reforms are put to a national vote.

Garcia, who voted for the initial approval despite his criticism, said issues ''such as the economic path of a new society'' must be discussed. ''This isn't just any debate,'' he said.

Other reforms would create new types of property to be managed by cooperatives, give neighborhood-based ''communal councils'' administrative responsibilities usually reserved for elected officials and create ''a popular militia'' that would form part of the military.

The workday would also be reduced to six hours.

Flores said government-friendly lawmakers have the right to approve the reforms without changing the proposal that Chavez presented last week.

''We are not imposing anything,'' she told state television.

Earlier on Tuesday, former Chavez mentor Luis Miquilena urged Venezuelans to reject the proposed constitutional changes.

Miquilena, who headed a popularly elected, pro-Chavez assembly that drafted Venezuela's existing constitution, called his former ally's new reform proposal ''a constitutional fraud'' aimed at giving him ''perpetual power.''

Miquilena, an 88-year-old former labour leader, once was commonly referred to as Chavez's closest adviser.

But he quit his Cabinet in 2002 and has periodically criticized the president since then.

UN releases report on Sudan rapes

The UN's top human rights office released gruesome new details of rapes of Darfur women, reportedly by soldiers and government militia.

It also accused the Sudanese government of failing to investigate.

''The abuses may also constitute war crimes,'' said the report by the office of Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Members of the Sudanese armed forces and allied militiamen allegedly subjected around 50 women to multiple rapes and other forms of violence in an attack on the village of Deribat in late December, it said adding that they abducted many children.

Systematically raped

Deribat was one of nine villages attacked in the eastern Jebel Marra region of Darfur at the time, it said, adding that 36 civilians were killed and many people were driven from their homes.

''Interviews indicate that the abducted women were systematically raped,'' said Tuesday's report, which was compiled by a team of UN human rights investigators.

''Some children were beaten by their abductors and they were exposed to the traumatic scenes of rape,'' it said.

Testimony from victims indicated that the attacks were committed by members of the Sudanese armed forces and affiliated groups, the report said.

Independent investigation

Arbour's office urged the Sudanese government to ''establish an independent body to investigate abduction, rape and sexual slavery committed in the region.''

It further said the suspects should be brought to justice.

The office said in a report last April that the military and its allies have been using rape as part of a wider assault on people belonging to the same ethnic group as some Darfuri rebels.

The report said UN representatives presented the initial findings to local authorities in Darfur, but ''no investigations were carried out by the authorities,'' it said.

No reaction

Sudanese government reaction was not immediately available.

Rahma Slih Elobied of the Sudanese mission to the UN in Geneva told the AP that she was unable to comment because she had yet to see the report.

The report said a woman who had been abducted from Deribat with her 16-year-old daughter described how the women were raped in front of each other.

Those who resisted would be beaten with sticks, the report said.

The women suffered physical injuries and psychological trauma from the repeated rapes by many of the attackers, the report said.

''A number of women became pregnant as a result of the rape,'' posing a further health risk to them, it said.

The women were forced to cook and serve food to their abductors, but received only leftovers to eat, according to the report.

Darfur has been the scene of a bloody four-year conflict between government-backed militias and rebel forces that has so far seen more than 200,000 people killed and at least 2.5 million driven from their homes, according to UN estimates.

Flood fury: NKorea reaches out for UN aid

Reclusive North Korea is opening up to widespread international aid after devastating floods, and the main UN food agency said it will start distributing emergency food to thousands of victims.

Letting in aid under the World Food Program indicates the severity of the floods and the secretive regime's desperation.

UN food distribution is strictly monitored to ensure those in need are being fed.

The tightly controlled communist North has previously bristled at such intrusions.

In recent years it scaled back the outside assistance it allows, claiming its food crisis was over.

But this year's floods, spawned by the heaviest rain in four decades, appear to have devastated the country.

The North says recent storms destroyed more than 11 per cent of its crops. International aid officials say some 221 people were killed and 82 remain missing. More than 89,000 are homeless.

The disaster has also forced the postponement of the first summit between the two Koreas in seven years.

The planned summit, along with the easing of a nuclear standoff between North Korea and the international community, have recently relieved some tensions in the region.

Pyongyang requested more help Tuesday from the South, beyond the $7.5 million in emergency aid that Seoul has already pledged.

The South's Unification Ministry said it was considering what to offer in response to the North's plea for construction materials and heavy equipment.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday that the North sent it a letter saying it ''welcomes willingness to assist,'' and that it was asked to coordinate relief efforts.

The agency plans to send experts to the country in the next few days, spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva.

The World Health Organization said North Korea asked it to coordinate the supply of medicines and emergency health kits.

The World Food Program or WFP is already at the center of international efforts to help fight hunger in the North, which is unable to provide for its own people without outside aid.

Murder case: Delhi HC acquits Soren

Former union minister Shibu Soren has been cleared of charges of murdering his private secretary Shashinath Jha.

The Delhi High Court acquitted the JMM leader stating the CBI had failed miserably in gathering any evidence against him.

Soren had challenged his conviction for the 1994 kidnapping and murder of his private secretary.

Nuke deal standoff resonates in US

Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen is not the only casualty of the opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Indian Parliament.

The ramifications of the political impasse in New Delhi are being felt amongst experts and think tanks in Washington DC too.

In fact, in the US, even those international relations experts who have been the most fervent proponents of the deal have had no option but to agree with Sen's remark that if the nuclear deal unravels because of opposition in New Delhi, India will have ''zero credibility.''

''The fact that there has been such controversy over it and that the government is even considering slowing things down inevitably leads people to wonder whether India is a country that cannot take yes for an answer.''

''I think it is more than credibility. Obviously, any time a government agrees to something and cannot deliver that something, obviously its credibility is questioned. This would be as true for the United States as it is for India.''

''But what I am really talking about is whether India as a political society is willing to take the kinds of decisions needed to be a big player on the international scene,'' said Teresita Schaffer, Director, South Asia Program, CSIS.

Moreover, the standoff in Delhi has also strengthened the stand of critics of the deal in the US policy community.

''I think the biggest impediment to this deal from day one was Indian domestic politics. If an agreement is not consensual, if an agreement this important is not consensual, then it is not a good idea.''

''This was a mistake for the government of India and the previous government of India - whose leaders now object to the deal. It was a mistake for them to make this a litmus test for their relationship, and it was a mistake for the Bush administration to sign up to it,'' said Michael Krepon, Co-founder, Henry Stimson Center.

The nuclear deal is possibly the most ambitious chapter in India and the US's diplomatic history.

It has been hailed as the cornerstone of a new strategic partnership between the once estranged democracies.

Nearing the end of its term, the Bush administration does not have very much foreign policy success to point to and was hoping that the nuclear deal could be one.

Instead, the political developments in Delhi could mean that what was expected to be a policy success for the Bush administration now runs the risk of being another policy embarrassment.

NCW takes up acid attack victim's cause

The National Commission for Women has summoned the DCP of South Delhi who is investigating the Tarveen Suri case.

A team visited Tarveen at Safadrjung Hospital where she has been admitted with 80 per cent burn injuries. Tarveen was attacked outside her Delhi house 10 days ago.

Though police have grilled Tarveen's husband Naveen and his friend Rachna, police are yet to find anything incriminating against them.

In her initial statements Tarveen alleged she was attacked because of Naveen's relationship with Rachna.

Japan PM addresses Parliament

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has addressed a joint session of Parliament on Wednesday.

It's a visit at a crucial time for India as Japan is a key member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Despite the Left's resistance to Indo-US nuclear deal, nuclear energy cooperation is likely to dominate talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Abe.

India will be asking for Tokyo's support for the nuclear deal at the NSG which first has to agree to lift restrictions on nuclear trade.

But with the Japanese very sensitive on issues of nuclear proliferation convincing Abe may need some diplomatic manourevring.

Abe is accompanied by a 200 member business delegation from corporations like Mitsubushi, Hitachi and Toshiba - companies specialising in high tech goods.

Both countries are expected to finalise an Economic Partnership and funding for the 100-billion dollar Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project.

FRL improves army life at Siachen

The guns may have fallen silent on Siachen, the world's highest battlefield, in the past four years but the icy weather and inaccessible location remains a constant enemy and an enduring challenge for the Indian army.

But thanks to a combined effort of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the army, there is a constant effort to improve the soldiers' life in high altitude areas.

Located at Leh, the DRDO's field research laboratory has devised ways to make life comfortable for soldiers' deployed in these difficult conditions.

One of the oldest labs in the country, the Field Research Laboratory has developed techniques that allow a variety of non-indigenous crops to grow in the barren landscape of Ladakh.

It allows soldiers to get fresh vegetables locally instead of depending on supplies from the plains of Punjab. It also helps the local economy.

''We first experiment new techniques on our farms and then pass the technique onto the local farmers. This has helped us to reduce the length of the supply chain,'' said Dr Zaman, Director, FRL, Leh.

But agriculture is not the only field that the FRL deals in. After the Kargil War, it found the mules were not able to withstand the harsh weather. So now it has developed a new breed.

The FRL also plays a major part in Operation Clean and Green Siachen.

Synergy between the FRL and the army deployed in Ladakh has ensured that there is a constant improvement in the life of the soldiers deployed in these adverse conditions.

World's oldest natural mother at 59

LONDON: A British housewife has become the world's oldest natural mother after giving birth at the age of 59, breaking the previous global record for a pregnancy by two years.

Dawn Brooke gave birth to a healthy boy without any fertility treatment only 12 months before she became eligible for her old age pension, the ' Daily Mail' reported here on Monday, quoting her 74-year-old husband Raymond as saying.

In fact, her husband, a former company director, said the couple had kept the 1997 birth private for a decade to let their son grow up in peace. But, he spoke for the first time yesterday about their delight at having a child so late.

"People are generally not quite aware of the extreme good luck we had at our age. We're overjoyed to have our son. We've been hugely fortunate. He's such a fantastic boy," Brooke was quoted as saying.

The youngster has been brought up at the couple's one million pound home on Guernsey and attends school on the Channel Island.

Relatives of the boy - who is ten on Monday- said he's extremely bright and particularly enjoys maths. But like most children his age he is also a big fan of Harry Potter, a passion he shares with his father.

Brooke married his London-born wife a few weeks before their son was born by caesarean section at a Guernsey hospital on August 20, 1997.

"When we moved in they came round for a children's party, and everyone assumed that Mrs Brooke was the grandmother. But they are devoted to their son and very active. They seem far younger than their age," the couple's neighbour Marina Bourgaize told the daily.



It may be mentioned that the earlier world record for the oldest natural birth was held by Ruth Kistler, who had a daughter in Los Angeles in 1956 aged 57.

Taliban chief says Bin Laden alive: Video

WASHINGTON: A top Taliban commander said Al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden is alive and well, according to US-based analysts monitoring extremist publications.

"All praise be to Allah, he is extremely healthy and active," the commander Mansour Dadullah said in a video interview, according to a transcript of the video's English subtitled translation, released on Tuesday by the analyst IntelCenter.

Dadullah, whose brother Mullah Dadullah was also a top commander in the Afghanistan-based militants and was killed this year, said he had been contacted by Bin Laden, the man blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"I received a message from him in which he advised me 'I must follow Mullah Dadullah and continue the same activities so that the mujahideen (Islamic fighters) may not weaken," he said, according to the transcript.

The video is dated June 15, 2007, IntelCenter said. After the attacks the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime allied with Al-Qaida and believed the Saudi-born Bin Laden was hiding there. But after pounding the mountains where his den was thought to be, US-led forces failed to find him.

Report reveals CIA failures before 9/11

WASHINGTON: The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop Al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to September 11, the agency's own watchdog has concluded in a bruising report.

Completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now, the 19-page executive summary released on Tuesday finds extensive fault with the actions of senior Central intelligence Agency (CIA) leaders and others beneath them. "The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner," the CIA inspector general found.

"They did not always work effectively and cooperatively," the report stated.

Yet the review team led by Inspector General John Helgerson found neither a "single point of failure nor a silver bullet" that would have stopped the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

In a statement, CIA Director Michael Hayden said the decision to release the report was not his choice or preference, but that he was making the report available as required by Congress in a law President George W Bush signed earlier this month.

"I thought the release of this report would distract officers serving their country on the front lines of a global conflict," Hayden said. "It will, at a minimum, consume time and attention revisiting ground that is already well plowed."

The report does cover terrain heavily examined by a congressional inquiry and the September 11 Commission. However, the CIA watchdog's report goes further than previous reviews to examine the personal failings of individuals within the agency who led the pre-September 11 efforts against Al-Qaida.

China storm death toll rises to 36

BEIJING: A typhoon killed at least 36 people as it swept across southeast China this week, destroying crops and battering homes, Xinhua news agency said.

Typhoon Sepat, which hit at the weekend and was expected to linger as a tropical depression through Thursday, caused losses of nearly 5 billion yuan ($658 million) in the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan, Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs and local meteorologists as saying.

Landslides caused at least half the deaths.

A tornado spun off the storm in Zhejiang's manufacturing hub of Wenzhou, which produces everything from shoes to cigarette lighters, killing several people.

Disaster officials in the Philippines said three people drowned in flooding caused by Sepat and parts of the capital and surrounding provinces remained under water.

Taiwan's disaster centre said one person had died and several had been injured in the typhoon. About 2,500 people were evacuated and nearly 9,000 homes were still without electricity.

Nuke deal with India will not be reworked: US

NEW DELHI: A top US official said a controversial nuclear pact with New Delhi could not be renegotiated amid demands from Indian critics for a reworking the deal.

"We cannot renegotiate it because the agreement is done. Neither government wishes it to be renegotiated because it is now complete," US Under Secretary Nicholas Burns told a magazine in an interview published over the weekend.

The agreement will allow New Delhi to buy atomic fuel, technology and plants even though it is not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but critics say it would limit India's strategic options.

The agreement -- reached last month after nearly two years of negotiations -- has drawn heavy criticism from both the opposition parties and the government's communist allies.

Burns declined to comment on criticism by the communists, who support is crucial to the survival of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led coalition government in Parliament.

"So, I don't have any particular message for them except to say that in the 21st century we have seen the global balance of forces shifting," said Burns, the chief US negotiator of the deal.

"That it is in the common interest of India and the US to be partners, certainly on the effort to bring peace and stability in South and East Asia."

The Indian government came under mounting criticism after a US State Department spokesman said this week that the accord had provisions allowing Washington to terminate the agreement if India tested atomic weapons.

Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee have said that the negotiation will not hinder the country's nuclear testing options.

The communists say the agreement would also lead to US interference in India's foreign policy.

But Burns dismissed the suggestion. "No one is trying to challenge India's sovereignty as a country to make its own decisions," Burns said.

Tensions between the government and its allies mounted last week after Singh told the Communists the deal would not be renegotiated and dared them to withdraw support for the ruling Congress coalition.

The deal also requires the approval of the US Congress before it becomes operational.

Shoaib Akhtar fined for indiscipline

Pakistan's controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been fined three lakh rupees for indiscipline.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Shafqat Nagmi said on Wednesday that Akhtar had left a training camp in Karachi last Saturday without informing the team management.

Later when the disciplinary committee of the board summoned him he failed to show up.

The 31-year-old player, who has been facing fitness problems, left the camp complaining of a neck strain.

Lampard on a mobile TV channel

Frank Lampard is not as high profile as David Beckham or as glamourous as Wayne Rooney but he's now the first footballer to have a TV channel dedicated just to him.

It's called FRANK TV and it's actually a mobile TV channel.

What you get is clips shot by Lampard on his mobile showing him doing a variety of things.

One of the good ones no doubt shows banter shot from the Chelsea dressing room.

The England mid-fielder also shot himself chatting with Ronaldino as he collected the runner up award at the world player of the year awards.

Mohammad Hamid Ansari wins Vice Presidential poll

UPA-Left candidate Mohammad Hamid Ansari was declared elected the country's 13th Vice President on Friday.

He won by a convincing margin in a triangular contest whose outcome was on expected lines.

The 70-year-old seasoned diplomat and academician trounced NDA candidate Najma Heptullah and UNPA nominee Rashid Masood, given the numbers heavily loaded in his favour.

Ansari got 455 votes against 222 secured by Heptullah while Masood finished a poor third polling 75 votes. Ten votes were declared invalid.

In all 762 members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha cast their votes in an all-Muslim contest. In the electoral college of 788, the effective strength of the two Houses is 783.

The victory of Ansari, who will succeed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, was a foregone conclusion as the BJP-led NDA as also the grouping of regional parties - UNPA - made it known earlier that they were in the fray so as to ensure that the poll does not go uncontested.

Shekhawat had resigned within hours after he lost to UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil on July 21 in the Presidential poll.

Ansari will take oath on Saturday at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan and would assume charge as Chairman of Rajya Sabha on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi said.

BJP votes

Formally declaring the result, Rajya Sabha Secretary General Yogendra Narain, who is also the Returning Officer, said that because of the ten invalid votes, the total number of votes came down to 752 and the winning candidate was required to get at least the support of 377 MPs.

The voting percentage in the election was put at 97.31 per cent.

Narain said four members, who were in jail - Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Afzal Ansari, Mohd Shahabuddin and Babubhai Katara - also cast their votes.

Of the ten invalid votes, six were marked in favour of Heptullah, three for Ansari and one for Masood, Dasmunshi said.

He said the UPA-Left nominee got 31 votes more than expected and the bulk of which came from the BJP.

ULFA militants kill 14 in Assam

Fourteen people, all of them migrants from Bihar, were killed late on Friday night by ULFA militants at Bokajan in Assam.

Militants opened fire at a village near Bokajan killing a two-year-old child and injuring eight others.

In a third incident at Diphu in Karbi Anglong 11 people were injured in a bomb blast.

On Wednesday eight migrants from Bihar including a two-month-old baby were shot dead at Bokolia.

In the past months, ULFA's orders to its cadres have been clear - target Biharis across the state. Since January, 80 of them have been killed.

While other attacks involved IEDs and grenades, Biharis have been brutally shot one-by-one. The idea is to drive a wedge between the locals and the Bihari migrants.

But so far, it is the politicians that the locals are blaming.

''Don't we know who are the insurgents, where are the insurgents? Why hasn't the elected representative come to see us? I do not have anything against the police and the army, you are doing your job, but it is the politicians who have a nexus with the insurgents,'' said a local resident.

From Karbi Anglong to Guwahati, ULFA's striking ability is getting better, and counter insurgency measures have been grossly inadequate to contain terrorist violence.

No takers in Left for PM's challenge

The Left parties on Saturday downplayed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's challenge to withdraw their support on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The Left maintained that ''we are going to oppose it'' and ''everything should not be linked with pulling down the government''.

While senior CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury and CPI's D Raja went roundabout reacting to Singh's statement, their junior allies, RSP and Forward Bloc, were forthright saying the Left support cannot be taken for granted.

Asked whether the Left will withdraw support, Yechury, leader of the CPI (M) in Parliament, said, ''everything should not be linked with pulling down the government. Our concern is with the nuclear deal. Governments will come and go but the agreement will remain.''

Yechury, while taking to reporters in Hyderabad, noted that the Prime Minister's statement was ''not in consonance with our viewpoint'', while Raja said here that the Left was ''not in agreement'' with it and ''that is why we have asked the government not to operationalise the deal.''

Debate in Parliament

All the four parties wanted a debate in Parliament but none of them said that they wanted it under a rule, which entails voting.

Opposition BJP and the UNPA constituents want the debate to be held under such a rule.

The Left leaders were reacting to Singh's statement bluntly telling them ''it is not possible to renegotiate the deal. It is an honourable deal, the Cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it. I told them to do whatever they want to do, if they want to withdraw support, so be it''

Yechury said the Left is going to oppose the nuclear deal ''because of the reasons which we have given. Now, the Prime Minister and everybody else may think that those reasons are not valid, that is their opinion.''

He said there was ''difference of opinion'' and ''difference of perception'' between Left and government on the deal.

Heavy political price

There was no immediate comments from CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, who had warned the government that it will have to pay a ''heavy political price'' if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.

''We will oppose the deal in Parliament. The UPA is a minority in Parliament. If the government pursues the deal, we will also go to the people and it will have to pay a heavy political price,'' Karat, who is in Kerala, had said earlier.

Maintaining that the Left has always been ''positive and constructive in its criticism'' of the government, Raja said they opposed the deal as it was bound to impact the country's foreign, security and economic policies.

''Our views are based on our assessment of the international situation, Indo-US strategic relationship and in particular the nuclear deal. The Left is not in agreement with the government's position,'' he said, adding ''that is why the
Left has asked that the government should not operationalise the deal.''

Referring to the Prime Minister's statement that the Left should learn to work with the government, RSP leader Abani Roy said ''these are just threats'' and ''that does not mean that we have to surrender everywhere.''

Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan said the Left had not promised the government of its support for the entire term of five years and ''our support cannot be taken for granted.''

Jammu: Ayodhya attack mastermind killed

Security personnel gunned down a top JeM militant, believed to be the mastermind behind the 2005 Ayodhya attack, in an encounter and arrested four of his associates early on Saturday.

Saifullah Kari, the divisional commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, was killed in the encounter at Janipura area of the city by a joint team of the Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir Police at around 0200 hours.

Acting on information that the JeM was planning a major attack here on the eve of Independence Day, the joint police team cordoned off Ramzan colony and raided the house of Maqsooda Begum .

A sub-inspector of Delhi police, Devinder Singh, and a Pakistani militant were also injured in the encounter.

The injured militant, Maqsooda Begum and her brother H A Siddiqi, were among the four persons arrested.

The injured SI and the militant have been admitted to a hospital.

Arms recovered

A large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives were also recovered.

Kari was the mastermind behind the Ayodhya attack in which six heavily armed terrorists, who made an attempt to storm the high-security makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya, were killed before they could make it to the shrine on July 5, 2005.

The plan was jointly formulated by JeM chief Masood Azahar and Kari in Bangladesh.

Nuke deal: PM dares Left to withdraw support

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has dared the Left parties to withdraw support to his government on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

''I told them (Left parties) that it is not possible to renegotiate the deal. It is an honourable deal, the cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it.

''I told them to do whatever they want to do, if they want to withdraw support, so be it,'' he said in an interview to the Kolkata based daily The Telegraph.

The Prime Minister's virtual challenge to the Left parties, whose 64 members in Lok Sabha provide a crucial make or break support to the UPA government, comes in the context of strong statements made by CPI-M leader Prakash Karat and CPI's AB Bardhan.

The Left leaders had warned that the government may have to pay a ''heavy price'' if it went ahead with the nuclear deal with the US.

The Prime Minister also made it clear that the UPA-Left relationship could not be a one-sided affair.

''I don't get angry, I don't want to use harsh words. They are our colleagues and we have to work with them. But they also have to learn to work with us,'' he said.

On the other hand Sitaram Yechury of CPI(M) appeared to be holding fast to their opinion on the deal.

''The PM is articulating his viewpoint which is not in consonance with ours. But we will oppose the N-deal. We will discuss it in Parliament,'' he said.

On the Left's reservations about dealing with the United States, Singh said, ''Look at Vietnam, look at China (the way they are engaging with America) - out of fear of dealing with the US, we cannot become a frog in the well.'' (With PTI inputs)

Musharraf set to impose emergency: Reports

According to Pakistan TV channel reports President General Pervez Musharraf is planning to impose emergency in the country.

He has had several high-level meetings on Wednesday with leading counsel Sharifuudin Pirzada and his law secretary. Reports also said emergency can be declared on Thursday.

The meetings reviewed the political situation in the country and the options open to the government in current scenario.

According to Pakistan based news channel Geo TV, Musharraf has decided to impose emergency for one month and may extend it to three months.

Speculation mounted after Musharraf cancelled in the last minute his proposed visit to Kabul to take part in the Pakistan-Afghan tribal jirga to start on Thursday.

Pakistan Information Minister Tariq Azeem has said that emergency as an option cannot be ruled out. However, Pakistan law minister said he had no information on imposition of emergency.

No official confirmation

Reports say that all arrangements are in place but there is no official confirmation.

Reacting on the development former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto told Geo TV that she hoped emergency is not declared.

According to her emergency will not resolve situation. She also added that emergency won't reduce threats from al-Qaeda.

Ever since Musharraf sacked Chief Justice Iftekhar Mohammed Chaudhry there has been wide spread protest against him across the country.

Reinstatement of Justice Chaudhry by Pakistan Supreme Court further weakened Musharraf's position.

The Lal Masjid deadlock also complicated the situation for him and it became a rallying point for the hardliners.

The move is being considered ahead of the Supreme Court taking up the petitions of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz to return home from forced exile.

Musharraf's worry

However, the biggest worry for Musharraf is the sharp reaction that could come from lawyers, which had waged a strident anti-government agitation over Pakistan CJ's suspension.

Prominent lawyer Aitzaz Ahesan, who defended Justice Chaudhry leading to his reinstatement, said the conditions in Pakistan did not warrant the imposition of Emergency.

''Emergency, if at all imposed, should be imposed by an act of Parliament,'' he said adding any such move by Musharraf will be opposed by lawyers and challenged in the Supreme Court.

Attorney General Mallik Abdul Qayyum said he was not aware of any attempt to impose a state of Emergency and he believed that the situation did not warrant it.

Even if it is imposed, it would not affect Musharraf's plan to get re-elected as President between September 15 and October 15 by the present assemblies, he added.

Emergency was imposed in Pakistan in 1998 in the aftermath of the tit-for-tat nuclear tests carried out by Pakistan in response to Indian nuclear tests. (With PTI Inputs)

Asia's rich-poor gap growing: ADB

The gap between rich and poor in China and other Asian countries is growing, hurting anti-poverty efforts and possibly fueling unrest, the Asian Development Bank said in a report on Wednesday.

The growing wealth gap is a byproduct of globalisation, which has brought higher incomes to urban, skilled, English-speaking workers in China, India and other countries, the bank's report said.

China has had Asia's second-biggest and second-fastest-growing wealth gap since the 1990s, exceeded only by war-wracked Nepal on both counts, the bank said in an annual survey.

China has seen thousands of protests in recent years, some of them violent, over land seizures and other economic grievances blamed on the growing gap.

Social cohesion

The communist government has made improving incomes for the poor a priority, warning last year that inequality has reached ''alarming and unacceptable'' levels.

''High inequality, particularly high absolute levels of inequality, leads to a disruption in social cohesion. You could have street demonstrations which could lead to violent civil wars,'' Ifzal Ali, the bank's chief economist, said at a news conference.

Ali said it was inappropriate to speculate when asked whether China should expect worse unrest.

However, he cited the experience of Nepal, where he said a recently ended, decade-long civil war was most intense in areas with highest inequality.

Georgia, Russia tensions soar

Georgia said that Russians were trying to coerce witnesses to the dropping of a missile earlier this week to throw doubt on Russia's part in the incident, which has sorely tested relations between Moscow and Tbilisi.

President Mikhail Saakashvili, meanwhile, said his country was not seeking confrontation with Russia, but said no country should strengthen their security at the expense of Georgia's.

He said that Georgia would work swiftly to join Western organisations, like the European Union and NATO.

''The Georgian armed forces are able to repel any aggression. But we will do everything to avoid large-scale armed confrontation,'' he told a group of students on Friday.

''We should behave as a responsible partner for the United States and for the Euro-Atlantic bodies,'' he said.

Radar data

Georgia has said radar data proved Russian jets violated its airspace on Monday and fired a missile aimed at a Georgian radar.

The missile, which did not explode, landed close to a village in the northwestern Gori region near the breakaway province of South Ossetia, which is patrolled by peacekeepers.

Russian officials have vehemently denied the accusations, accusing Tbilisi of trying to provoke Moscow.

Shevardnadze speaks up

A day after the chairman of the UN Security Council signaled a reluctance to get the world body involved in the festering dispute, Eduard Shevardnadze weighed in, saying that when he was Georgia's president, Russian jets bombed Georgian forces during the wars in the 1990s when Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke from central government control.

''I won't be revealing any great secrets if I say that that such violations of Georgia's air space and bombings were common during my presidency. But Russian forces never acknowledged any of this,'' Shevardnadze said in an interview.

Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister who was president of Georgia until he was ousted in a popular uprising in 2003, said Georgian officials should ensure that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conducts an objective investigation.

He also dismissed efforts to involve the United Nations, because Russia would use its veto as a permanent member to thwart any real investigation or criticism.

''Therefore, I think that the OSCE here should be given the authority,'' he told AP.

Airspace violated

The OSCE said in a report released on Wednesday that its mission had confirmed that Georgian airspace was violated, but could not say how many and what kind of aircraft were involved.

The mission also said it could not identify the missile.

Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution David Bakradze told reporters that new eyewitness reports he said were gathered independently by Russian peacekeepers were part of a ''small spectacle'' and were a violation of the peacekeepers' mandate.

He said the peacekeepers ''used threats and pressure'' to persuade four elderly villagers not far from where the missile landed to give statements saying that they saw the aircraft flying from the southeast rather than from the north, where Russia is located.

Moreover, the village was outside of the conflict zone where the peacekeepers are restricted to under their mandate, he said.

''The Russian side is trying to turn this case around, as if there exists some ambiguity,'' he said.

The commander for Russian peacekeepers in the region did not answer repeated phone calls on Friday.

A three-sided peacekeeping force consisting of Russian Georgian troops and troops from the Russian region of North Ossetia have patrolled South Ossetia since the wars of the early 1990s.

On Thursday, the chairman of the Security Council said the council wanted to know the facts before it holds an emergency meeting on Georgia's claim.

Pascal Gayama, the Republic of Congo's diplomat who is the current council president, said he raised Georgia's request for an urgent meeting during closed consultations Thursday but members ''felt that there was a lack of adequate, accurate information.''

''We are looking ... to hear more about the facts,'' Gayama said. ''So before that, there is little we can do.''

Tbilisi has accused Moscow of trying to destabilise the country and of backing South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Saakashvili, whose efforts to integrate into the West have irked Moscow, has vowed to return the regions to central government control.

Taliban: Koreans could be released 'today or tomorrow'

A Taliban leader taking part in hostage negotiations for the lives of 21 South Koreans said on Saturday that talks are on a ''positive track.

He said he hopes the captives could be released ''today or tomorrow.''

Mullah Qari Bashir said that face-to-face negotiations with four Korean officials that began on Friday were going well.

He further said that the Taliban were sticking with their original demand that 21 Taliban prisoners be released from prisons in Afghanistan.

''I'm very optimistic. The negotiations are continuing on a positive track,'' Bashir said.

Asked when the hostages might be released, he said: ''Hopefully today or tomorrow.''

On July 19, Taliban fighters kidnapped 23 South Koreans from a bus traveling to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar from the capital, Kabul. Two male hostages have been executed.

UNSC to expand UN role in Iraq

The Security Council voted unanimously to expand the UN role in Iraq and opened the door for the world body to promote talks to ease Iraq's sectarian bloodshed.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the new challenge saying he hopes to organise a meeting of foreign ministers from the region at UN headquarters in late September on the sidelines of the General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting.

Facilitating discussions

The United Nations will also be facilitating discussions among different Iraqi factions, ethnic and religious groups, he said.

''A peaceful and prosperous future is for Iraqis themselves to create, with the international community lending support to their efforts,'' Ban told the council after the vote on Friday.

''The United Nations looks forward to working in close partnership with the leaders and people of Iraq to explore how we can further our assistance under the terms of this resolution.''

The resolution authorises the UN, at the request of the Iraqi government, to promote political talks among Iraqis and a regional dialogue on issues including border security, energy and refugees as well as help tackle the country's worsening humanitarian crisis which has spilled into neighboring countries.

The United States and Britain, co-sponsors of the resolution, believe the world body, which is viewed by many as a more neutral party, should be doing more to help Iraq, especially in facilitating talks.

For example, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US envoy to Iraq, has said that Iraq's top Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, will not talk to the Americans but he will talk to the UN envoy, Ashraf Qazi.

Stategic implications

Khalilzad said that despite differences with the international community over Iraq, the unanimous support for the resolution ''underscores the widespread belief that what happens in Iraq has strategic implications not only for the region, but for the entire world.''

''We hope that this resolution will be a springboard to greater international support for Iraq's government and people,'' he said.

Khalilzad stressed that the resolution is not a substitute for what the United States is doing in Iraq.

''The United States will continue to shoulder all of its responsibilities to assist Iraq's government and people,'' he said.

''We are fully dedicated to success in Iraq, and our commitments to Iraq, to the region, to the UN and to the rest of the international community remain.''

Iraq's UN Ambassador Hamid Al Bayati said his country recognises that all the challenges should be the government's responsibility.

''We, however, cannot achieve it without the assistance of the international community represented by the United Nations,'' he said.

Iraq looks forward to ''a greater role'' for the UN outlined in Friday's resolution, Al Bayati said.

Ramping up presence

For the UN, however, ramping up its presence in Iraq remains a highly sensitive issue.

The UN pulled out of Iraq in October 2003 after two bombings at UN headquarters in Baghdad and a spate of attacks on humanitarian workers.

After Friday's vote, the Secretary-General and many council members recalled the upcoming anniversary of the first bombing, on Aug 19, 2003, which killed top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others.

The UN allowed 35 international staffers to return in August 2004, but the ceiling is a low 65 because of security concerns.

Last week, the UN's top political official said the UN expects to raise the ceiling to 95 by October.

Hours later, however, the UN Staff Council called on the secretary-general to pull all UN personnel out of the country until security improves.

While Ban said on Friday that the United Nations ''cannot shy away'' from its responsibility to help Iraq because of the violence in the country, he said staff security will remain ''a paramount concern.''

He urged the General Assembly to approve additional funds for secure housing for UN staff in Baghdad.

Since he took over on Jan 1, Ban has expanded the UN role in Iraq, especially in launching and promoting the International Compact with Iraq, an initiative of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki which sets ambitious benchmarks to achieve a united, democratic Iraq within five years.

The Secretary-General indicated that the compact would play an important part in the UN's new mandate.

Khalilzad said he envisioned the UN contacting different parties, convening meeting in agreement with the Iraqi government, and proposing formulas to bridge differences if they arise.

''The United Nations has a lot of experience dealing with situations in which different groups in a country have not had an agreement with each other,'' he said.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the resolution meets Moscow's call over the last few years for ''maximum possible involvement of the United Nations'' in settling the Iraq conflict.

Russia wants to see the UN's ''independent mediating potential'' used ''to overcome the profound military and political crisis in Iraq and to push the political process forward,'' he said.

The UN mission, established in 2003, has helped organize elections, draft Iraq's constitution and develop institutions for representative government.

The resolution extends its mandate for a year and authorises it to ''advise, support and assist the government and people of Iraq on advancing their inclusive, political dialogue and national reconciliation.''

It also authorises the UN to facilitate ''regional dialogue, including on issues of border security, energy and refugees.''

It asks the UN to help develop ways ''to resolve disputed internal boundaries'' that are acceptable to the government.

The initial text was revised to focus more on human rights, humanitarian issues, protecting civilians, and promoting the safety of humanitarian personnel.

China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said ''history has shown the United Nations has its comparative advantage and abundant experience'' to meet these new responsibilities ''and it should have a lot to do.''

He urged the Iraqi government and the US-led multinational force to provide the UN with the necessary security guarantees to do its new job.

We are here to win: Dravid

Monday, May 7, 2007 (Dhaka)

Hours after landing in Bangladesh, Indian captain Rahul Dravid on Monday sent out a strong message to the rivals, saying his young team was "well-prepared" and would settle for nothing but a series win.

"We are well prepared for the series. I think we will have a good series. It is definitely like any other series, we are here to win," Dravid told reporters.

India will play three one-dayers followed by two Tests, during its 23-day tour.

Dravid did not see the current tour as a revenge series after India were upset by Bangladesh in the recent World Cup match resulting in their first round exit from the mega event. "We are not here for revenge," he said.

Complimenting Bangladesh for their recent performance in the World Cup, Dravid said the Indians were hoping to face a quality opposition.

"They are playing well. And we hope to face good opposition. (But) our team is also in good shape. We had a good camp. It was intense and successful.

"We have a blend of youth and experience some of the senior player have been rested. The players are looking forward to performing well," he added.

The team is not scheduled to play practice matches and would straightway face the home side in first ODI on Thursday but Dravid said acclimatisation would not be a problem as the weather conditions here were quite similar to India.

"We are used to the conditions here, because the weather is almost the same as in India," he said.

Team Manager Ravi Shastri said the players were ready to play "hard cricket" in the next one month.

"We have come to play hard cricket because we have experienced Bangladesh in the World Cup," he told reporters at the Dhaka airport.

The team is expected to do some practice later in the day.

Kumble hits ton as India post 664

Anil Kumble hit his maiden Test hundred as India posted a mammoth 664 on day two of the third and final Test against England at the Oval on Friday.

If India was in control at close of play on day one, on day two they completed England's subjugation.

At stumps, England was 24 for one with Alaistar Cook and James Anderson in the middle. Andrew Strauss was the man out. He was caught by S Sreesanth off a Zaheer Khan delivery for six. Defintitely, not the start his skipper would have wanted.

India's innings was reminiscient of the 2002 Leeds Test when India had posted 628 for eight and recorded an innings victory - the first against England. In that match, the three stalwarts of Indian cricket Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had each scored a century.

What was, however, keenly different this time was the partnerships that each of the wickets strung together, right from one to ten.

India started the day at the overnight score of 316 for four and added 348 runs on Friday, most of which came in fantastically entertaining fashion.

Sachin Tendulkar, overnight on 48, completed his 45th Test fifty. But it was VVS Laxman who lit up the morning with some excellent strokeplay. The Hyderabadi, who was dropped by Matt Prior on 41, made 51 before falling to Chris Tremlett.

The two were involved in a 78-run partnership.

Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni continued to torment the England bowlers. The Bombay Bomber, who had been dropped on 20 by Prior on Thursday, finally fell for 82. He was caught by Andrew Strauss at first slip off a James Anderson delivery.

Dhoni played in Twenty20 fashion as he smashed 92 from just 81 balls. He played without a care in the world and lit up the Oval with some breathtaking shots inlcuding two consecutive sixes off Kevin Pietersen before going for the third and being caught by Alastair Cook in the deep. His knock was studded with nine boundaries and four sixes.

Dhoni and Anil Kumble put on 91 runs for the seventh wicket.

The hosts would have thought that with all the specialist batsmen back in the pavillion, they would get a reprieve, but Kumble had other plans.

Kumble and Zaheer Khan put on 62 runs for the eighth wicket before the Indian pacer was caught by Anderson off a Monty Panesar delivery. Anderson then held a catch off his own bowling to send back RP Singh for 11.

But Kumble batted resolutely, hitting some excellent shots on the off side to bring up his maiden test hundred. His unbeaten knock of 110 included 16 boundaries and a six.

Kumble's prior best was 88 against South Africa, almost a decade ago. He was ably supported by S Sreesanth who hit a 32-ball 35 before being the last man out. He was caught by Michael Vaughan off the bowling of Panesar.

All the England bowlers toiled hard. Anderson was the most successful with four for 182 from 40 overs.

India lead the three-match series 1-0 and this commanding performance may just be enough to give them a series win in England in 21 years.