The first sight for anyone flying into India’s richest city is a sea of corrugated and tarpaulin-covered roofs beside a narrow, filth-choked river. It is an aerial view of Dharavi, considered Asia’s biggest shantytown, two square kilometres of open sewers, muddy lanes and ramshackle tenements that is home to almost a million people.
India’s newly-appointed cricket coach Graham Ford flew back to England on Sunday facing delicate negotiations with his current employers over switching jobs. South African Ford (46) who is contracted with English county Kent as director of cricket, was on Saturday selected as coach of the Indian national team
Fast bowler Dilhara Fernando grabbed four wickets as Asia clinched the Afro-Asia cricket series with a 31-run win over Africa in the second one-day international in Chennai on Saturday. Asia restricted their rivals to 306 under lights after posting a challenging 337-7 to gain an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Shaun Pollock struck his maiden one-day international century on Wednesday but failed to prevent Asia XI from scoring a 34-run win over Africa XI in the first of three matches. Pollock (33) one-day cricket’s top-ranked all-rounder, lashed 130 to lift the innings from 87 for seven in reply to Asia XI’s 317 for nine,
Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan hit an unbeaten 47 to guide Asia XI to a six-wicket victory over Africa XI in the one-off Twenty20 cricket match in Bangalore on Tuesday. The Asian team were struggling at 34-3 before surpassing their opponents’ modest total of 109-8 with more than four overs to spare in the day-night game on a seamer-friendly pitch.
The Indian cricket board short-listed South Africa’s Graham Ford on Monday for the job of national coach and eliminated Australian Dav Whatmore from contention. A board official said the former South Africa coach and another unidentified candidate would be called to meet its coaching committee on Saturday.
The Afro-Asia series in India will go ahead as scheduled next week after the ESPN-Star network stepped in to save the beleaguered event, the Asian Cricket Council said on Thursday. The series, featuring three one-dayers and a Twenty20 match between Asia and Africa from June 5 to 10, was in jeopardy after the original rights holder pulled out.
India’s one-day series with South Africa in Ireland next month is in doubt following the cancellation of a deal between the Indian cricket board and the broadcast rights holder, a report said on Wednesday. Private broadcaster Zee Television pulled out of the five-year deal they signed with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
A network of HIV-positive people in India has launched a campaign against illegal clinics and quacks who cheat patients with the promise of curing Aids. Patients often end up going to quacks who use fake herbal treatments because the health system is widely seen as offering poor treatment while private care is costly.
A wild elephant in India’s eastern state of Orissa has been waylaying motorists who complain that the animal refuses to let their vehicles pass unless they give it food, a media report said on Monday. Witnesses told the Hindustan Times daily that the elephant has been scouting for food on a highway in the northern Keonjhar district.
As ski resorts go, Kashmir’s Gulmarg must rank as the most militarised on earth. The mountain road is peppered with security checkpoints and a High Altitude Warfare School lies nearby. Troops squeeze into a cable car with rifles between their legs. On the slopes, some tourists openly worry if mines are buried under the snow.
Former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh has been arrested for possessing 1,5g of cocaine, a police spokesperson said on Wednesday. Singh (41) was arrested at his New Delhi residence after a police raid on Tuesday and would be produced in a city court on Wednesday, the spokesperson said.
Indian police defused four home-made bombs found on a train in the eastern city of Kolkata on Monday, police said, three days after a blast at a mosque killed 11 people in the south of the country. The train was headed for Tarakeshwar, a Hindu holy town, about two hours west of Kolkata.
An uneasy calm prevailed in India’s southern city of Hyderabad on Saturday as thousands of police patrolled the streets a day after a bomb blast in a mosque and subsequent clashes killed at least 14. Ten people died in the explosion that took place during Friday prayers at the sprawling 17th century Mecca Masjid.
There were no positive dope tests at the recent Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday. A total of 68 players were tested during the 47-day event, which ended on April 28 with Australia clinching an unprecedented third successive title.
Indian MPs demanded protection on Wednesday from hordes of monkeys that have invaded the Parliament building, ministries and departments in the national capital. The debate coincided with court orders on Wednesday to transport captured monkeys from New Delhi to a nearby wildlife sanctuary.
India paid homage with full pomp and honour on Friday to the ”martyrs” who battled British rule 150 years ago in the country’s ”first war of independence”. Thousands of flag-waving marchers shouting ”Jai Hind”, or ”Long live India”, converged on the Mughal-built Red Fort in Old Delhi after retracing the route of rebellious soldiers.
India began celebrations on Monday to mark the 150th anniversary of an armed revolt against British colonialists, a mutiny that sparked the first Indian war of independence before being crushed. Singing patriotic songs, thousands of Indians took part in a colourful procession, retracing a march 150 years ago by dozens of mutinous Indian soldiers.
A discotheque with a condom theme is scheduled to open in the northern Indian town of Chandigarh as part of an effort to make young people aware of Aids and the need for safe sex, news reports said on Tuesday. The bar’s interior is decorated with real condoms, and it serves beer in mugs the shape of the prophylactic
India has urged Iran to honour a -billion natural-gas sales deal concluded two years ago, warning Tehran it could lose credibility if it went back on the agreement, a report said on Friday. The message was conveyed to Iran’s leadership during an unscheduled visit to Tehran on Thursday by Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
An Indian judge ordered the arrest of Hollywood star Richard Gere and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on Thursday over a hug and kiss at an Aids-awareness event. The arrest warrants were issued in the Rajasthan state capital of Jaipur following a public-interest plea filed last week by a resident accusing the pair of obscenity, court officials said.
India on Monday successfully placed an Italian astronomical satellite into orbit, marking its entry into an exclusive group of nations conducting commercial space launches, officials said. The Indian Space Research Organisation launched the 352kg Italian satellite Agile atop its rocket, the PSLV-C8 from the Sriharikota spaceport.
A giant freshwater carp nicknamed the "tiger fish" for its great fighting abilities is set to return to the fast-flowing rivers of Indian Kashmir, officials say. Scientists have built a hatchery for breeding the mahseer and hope to restock the waters of Kashmir, known as an "angler’s paradise", although few foreign fishermen venture here now due to a deadly Islamic insurgency.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter on Monday urged cricket-mad India to embrace soccer and lift the sport’s infrastructure in order to compete with other nations in the region. He said Fifa has special plans to improve soccer in India, who are currently ranked 165th in the world.
Villagers in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Friday celebrated their new year by parading and dancing with unearthed human skulls and the corpse of a baby, prompting a police investigation. The Naramundo Khela (Skull Game) is a ritual that appears only to take place in the village of Sona Palasi.
A jobless Indian devotee was admitted to hospital after he cut off his tongue and offered it to a Hindu goddess, police said on Wednesday. Doctors stitched the wound but said the man, identified as Suresh Kumar (24) may not be able to speak again.
It’s a dream holiday for anyone willing to spend as much as $500 (about R3Â 560) a day to float through the palm-fringed backwaters of India’s southern Kerala state. Traditional wooden dhows decorated like hotel rooms carry tourists on an idyll through what advertisers are dubbing "God’s own country".
Two Air India planes made emergency landings on Monday at New Delhi’s international airport, with the nose of one aircraft later hitting the ground as its front undercarriage collapsed while being towed away. No one was hurt in either incident, officials said.
India cricket board president Sharad Pawar has suggested that Greg Chappell, who resigned as national team coach on Wednesday, should continue his involvement with the sport in the country. On Friday, the board convened a meeting into the team’s first-round exit at the World Cup and Chappell was asked to present a report.
Sick of the hullabaloo over India’s dismal performance at the Cricket World Cup, a string of villages in the north of the country have banned the game. Elders from 28 villages in Jind district decided enough was enough, the Asian Age reported on Wednesday.
Nepal’s elderly Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said on Tuesday he had gambled his 60-year political career to strike a deal with Maoist rebels and bring peace to the Himalayan country. The veteran leader’s comments came after former rebels were sworn into a new interim government on Sunday, a major step in a peace process that ended a decade of civil war.
United States Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has called for the planned Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline to be abandoned, saying it could help Iran build nuclear weapons, according to a report on Friday. ”We need to stop this,” Bodman said after attending a discussion on ”Indo-US Nuclear Cooperation”.