karhi keyan's Open Salon Blog

Dhoni as the captain of Herald Test team of the year

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:12:50 -0500

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been elected as the captain of Sydney Morning Herald newspaper’s
Test team of the year, which also features India opener Gautam Gambhir.

Apart from Dhoni and Gambhir, no other Indian features in the team which is picked entirely on the basis of performances in the year gone by and has specialists in all positions.

Talismanic wicket-keeper batsman, Dhoni, who led India to series victories over Australia and England, will also guard the stumps.Gambhir, who scored 1134 runs at an average of 70.88 from eight Tests this year, will have South African captain Graeme Smith as his opening partner.

The squad also features England skipper Kevin Pietersen, and new found Sri Lankan spin sensation Ajantha Mendis among others.Interestingly, Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds have been named 12th man of the side.

Test team of the year: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper, India), Graeme Smith (South Africa), Gautam Gambhir (India), Hashim Amla (South Africa), Kevin Pietersen
(England), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Ryan Sidebottom (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka).

Reliance Petro makes biggest fuel complex

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:12:47 -0500

Reliance Industries Ltd began processing crude oil at a new refinery in western India, almost doubling company output and creating the world’s biggest refining complex just as global oil demand retreats.

After reaching full capacity of 580,000-barrels-per-day (bpd), the $6 billion project will make the oil complex in Jamnagar in Gujarat the world’s single biggest supplier of fuels to the global market, pumping out 1.24 million bpd of ultra-clean fuels to Europe, Africa and the United States.

“The secondary processing units are now under synchronization and commissioning. The entire refinery complex is expected to attain full capacity shortly,”.The project is the creation of Chief Executive Mukesh Ambani, who helped break India’s heavy reliance on imported fuel a decade ago with Reliance’s first 660,000 bpd plant, a cash cow for the firm during a profit boom over the past four years.

Trade and industry sources earlier told Reuters that for tax reasons the new plant was not expected to begin significant exports until April, when the new fiscal year begins in India.

While the new refinery’s low cost, high sophistication and global reach mean it should turn a profit by crowding out less efficient export-oriented rivals in Europe or Asia, it enters a market utterly different from the one Ambani might have envisioned three and a half years ago when he unveiled the project.

“We will leverage our competitive advantages of scale, complexity and capability to process a wide range of crude oils and flexibility to produce high quality transportation fuels and create significant value for all its stakeholders,” Ambani said.

Run by subsidiary Reliance Petroleum, in which Chevron Corp holds a 5 percent stake, the refinery will at a stroke more than satisfy the world’s additional oil product demand next year, if indeed the International Energy Agency’s current forecast is not further cut by a deep global recession.It is not a circumstance Ambani will relish, but it is also not one that will be unfamiliar.

Iraqi police shootout with Qaeda prisoners

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:12:48 -0500

Al-Qaeda militants launched a pre-dawn breakout from a police station in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, triggering a shootout that left 13 people dead.

“During an exchange of fire between prisoners trying to escape and police officers in the station, six policemen and seven prisoners were killed,” provincial police chief Tareq al-Dulaimi said.

Three prisoners managed to flee but one was re-arrested, Dulaimi said, adding that another four policemen were wounded in the shootout that occurred at 0730 IST at Forsan police station in the centre of Ramadi.

Ramadi police have imposed a curfew in the city following the incident, an interior ministry source said, adding that three fugitive Al-Qaeda militants were “emirs” or local chiefs.The ministry source said that a prisoner wanting to go to the toilet was escorted from his cell by a policeman, kicking off what appeared to be a well-planned operation.

“The policeman was overpowered by the inmate who seized his weapon and shot him,”.”He then opened up the other cells and and he and his fellow prisoners grabbed weapons from the police station’s armoury, opening fire on the policemen.”

The predominantly Sunni Arab city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, was a key Al-Qaeda stronghold in the aftermath of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime by US-led forces in 2003.

‘Saif Ali Khan is fine now, undergoing treatment’

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:12:06 -0500

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was on Thursday admitted to Leelavati Hospital in Mumbai after he complained of abdominal pain.Hospital spokesperson Mohan Rajan said 38-year-old Saif was undergoing treatment but refused to reveal more details.

However, actor’s mother Sharmila Tagore told,” He has been admitted for stomach infection for some drips, he will be there for 24 hours or so for obversation. But, he is completely out of danger.”

Coming out of the hospital last night, actress Karishma Kapoor also said that the actor was out of danger.”He is absolutely fine. He had an acute case of stomach infection…he will be out in a day or two,” she said.

Saif had spent a week in a Mumbai hospital last year after complaining of chest pain.The actor had undergone an emergency appendectomy surgery after complaining of abdomen pain during a shoot in Kuala Lumpur in early 2006.

Pakistan moves troops to India border

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:12:36 -0500

Pakistan has recalled troops on leave and deployed its armed forces to border areas with India where ground incursions are likely, a military source said.The country’s military has been on high alert in anticipation of a possible conflict with India following the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

In New Delhi on Friday, three military chiefs briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the security situation.Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India on Thursday to refrain from launching any strikes against Pakistan.

“I would like to give a message to Indians that we are flag bearers of peace and want peace. but don’t ever commit the mistake of surgical strikes,” the paper quoted him as saying. “Our nation and Army will give matching response in case of any aggression as we’re not oblivious of our defense.”

On November 26, militants killed 160 people in a coordinated strike on targets in Mumbai, including luxury hotels and a Jewish center. India believes the 10 men who carried out the action were trained at a terrorist camp in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir.

India has criticized Islamabad for not doing enough to counter terrorism, and it has accused elements within the Pakistan government and military of complicity in fueling terrorism in the region.

Indian and Pakistan, who have nuclear weaponry, have clashed over the disputed territory of Kashmir, wracked by an 18-year, bloody separatist campaign that authorities say has left at least 43,000 dead. The two countries have fought three wars since 1947.