Height of England bowlers not a factor, says Dhoni

PTIA file photo of M.S. Dhoni.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday rubbished suggestions that the height of England pacers could pose problems to the the star-studded Indian batting line-up during the four-match Test series, starting here tomorrow.

“Their fast bowling attack is pretty similar (as in 2007).

They had (Chris) Tremlett, (James) Anderson and (Ryan) Sidebottom who all are very tall. It’s not a big factor,” said Dhoni about the bowling attack whose height is said to give the home team a major advantage.

Anderson, at 6’2”, is the “smallest” among England’s fast-bowling unit that has Stuart Broad (6’6“) and Chris Tremlett (6’7“) among others.

India have long shed the tag of poor travellers thanks to their consistent record over the past few years, and Dhoni attributed this to the team’s ability to enjoy the game and situations rather than worry about results.

“In the last 4-5 years, what we wanted was to enjoy the game and situation. Every condition is different, every country is challenging. As long as you look to improve as a cricketer, learn to enjoy the game more and not take it as pressure, it would be alright.

“The expectations with Indian cricket is pretty high — it’s not easy to satisfy 1.2 billion people. It’s better not to focus on result. You could play to your best and still be outplayed,” Dhoni said on the eve of the first Test at the Lord’s.

Parts of south Somalia suffering from famine: U.N.

APA malnourished child from southern Somalia sits in Banadir hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia on Wednesday.

Parts of southern Somalia are suffering from famine, a U.N. official said Wednesday, and tens of thousands of Somalis have already died in the worst hunger emergency in a generation.

The Horn of Africa is suffering a devastating drought compounded by war, neglect and spiralling prices. Some areas in the region have not had such a low rainfall in 60 years, aid group Oxfam said.

The U.N. needs $300 million in the next two months, said Mark Bowden, the U.N.’s top official in charge of humanitarian aid in Somalia. The last time conditions were this bad was in 1992, when hundreds of thousands of Somalis starved to death. That famine prompted intervention by an international peacekeeping force, but it eventually pulled out after an American Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.

The southern Somali regions of Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions are suffering from famine, Bowden said. Across East Africa, more than 10 million people need aid.

“Somalia is facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years,” Mr. Bowden said. “This desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives.”

Famine is officially defined as when two adults or four children per 10,000 people die of hunger each day and a third of children are acutely malnourished. In some areas of Somalia, six people are dying a day and more than half of children are acutely malnourished, Bowden said. Prices of staple foods have increased 270 percent over the last year.

“If we don’t act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious diseases,” Bowden said. “We still do not have all the resources for food, clean water, shelter and health services to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somalia.”

He said it was unlikely there would be any respite from the drought until the end of the year.

The drought has killed up to 90 percent of livestock in some regions, Oxfam said. But poor governance is also to blame.

Most of Somalia has been wracked by civil war since its last government collapsed in 1990. Islamist rebels currently hold most of southern Somalia. They banned most aid agencies from working there two years ago but rescinded the ban earlier this month. The weak, U.N.—backed Somali government regularly comes last in the world in the annual corruption rating by watchdog Transparency International.

Neighboring Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya have also been badly affected. Oxfam says the drought there has been exacerbated by poor governance and neglect, war in Somalia and land policies that restrict grazing land for nomadic communities.

Oxfam criticized those policies in a report released Wednesday, but also said several rich European countries should do more to provide emergency aid. The aid agency says there is a $800 million shortfall in funds. They say $1 billion is needed to fund relief efforts through January.

Oxfam Regional Director Fran Equiza released a statement Wednesday saying it was “morally indefensible” that countries have only pledged $200 million in addition to long—running programs. Mr. Equiza singled out Italy, Denmark and France for failing to contribute and said Germany and Spain could do much more.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. will give another $28 million, on top of the $431 million in emergency assistance it has given to the Horn of Africa this year.

Britain has pledged $145 million in the past two weeks -- about 15 percent of what is needed -- and the European Union pledged around $8 million, with more expected in coming days. Spain has promised nearly $10 million and Germany around $8.5 million but Oxfam said France has so far not pledged any more money and Denmark and Italy have said no significant new sums are available.

“There is no time to waste if we are to avoid massive loss of life,” Mr. Equiza said in a statement. “We must not stand by and watch this tragedy unfold before our eyes. The world has been slow to recognize the severity of this crisis, but there is no longer any excuse for inaction.”

Oxfam said U.N. humanitarian appeals for $1.87 billion for the region this year are only 45 percent funded, leaving a gap of over $1 billion -- $332 million for the U.N. appeal for Kenya, $296 million for the U.N. appeal for Somalia, and $398 million for the government—run appeal in Ethiopia.

Some donors, like the U.S., have expressed fears that aid might be diverted by Islamist groups. But Bowden said the U.N. had done its utmost to minimize the risks that aid might be diverted
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ATS claims ‘very good’ leads from sketch of suspect

People look at the blast site at Opera House on Monday. Photo: Vivek Bendre

Claiming it has got “very good” leads from the sketch of the suspect of July 13 serial blasts, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday indicated that the suspect hails either from central or northern parts of the country even as the agency has scanned whooping one lakh phone calls so far for the clues.

“We have got very good leads from the sketch of the suspect. We have information that the suspect is from either central or northern parts of the country. That is the reason why we have spread our teams in these areas to trace the suspect,” said a senior ATS official.

The teams of Maharashtra ATS and Mumbai Crime branch had been fanned to various states including Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat in a bid to get “solid leads” in the case, he added.

The suspect was allegedly involved in the blast at Zaveri Bazaar.

Twenty people were killed and over 130 injured in the triple blasts at Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House on July 13.

The sketch was circulated only to select investigators, who are part of the 12 core teams formed to probe the blasts, besides a few top informers.

The ATS has so far verified incoming and outgoing records of over a lakh phone calls, the official said, adding some numbers are under their scanner and their veracity being ascertained.

Asked if these suspicious calls were either made to Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata or Gujarat, where ATS teams are working in a full swing for leads, the official refused to comment.

The sketch was prepared on the basis of eye witnesses’ account after police showed them the footage pertaining to the blast at Zaveri Bazaar.

A joint team of Mumbai Police and Maharashtra ATS has also questioned suspected IM operative Danish Riaz in Gujarat in connection with the Mumbai triple blasts.

Danish was arrested from Vadodara railway station on June 21 in connection with the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts.

U.S. wants IAEA to vet Indian liability law

APU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton just before the joint press conference with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna (not seen) in New Delhi, on Tuesday

Adding a new element to the ongoing Indo-U.S. nuclear saga, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday “encouraged” New Delhi to “engage” with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure that the Indian nuclear liability law ”fully conforms” with the international Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for Nuclear Damage.

Indian officials told The Hindu that any suggestion that Indian law would have to be adjusted on the basis of the IAEA's opinions was not acceptable. The Agency was only the depository of the CSC -- essentially a clearing house for countries filing their ratification of the treaty -- and can have no role in vetting a sovereign law.

New Delhi considers the Indian liability law to be in conformity with the CSC and is committed to ratifying the Convention before the year is out. The U.S., on the other hand, thinks section 17(b) of the Indian law, which expands the scope of the operator's right to compensation from nuclear suppliers in case of an accident due to faulty equipment, violates the CSC. US companies have also opposed section 46 of the Indian law, which implicitly allows accident victims to file tort claims.

Indian officials maintain the CSC cannot proscribe the operation of ordinary tort law in India and that the only forum which can pronounce the Indian law incompatible with the CSC is the Indian Supreme Court and not the IAEA.

However, with US nuclear firms wary of entering India because of the tough liability law, Ms. Clinton said she expected the Indo-US nuclear deal to be “enforceable and actionable in all regards.’’

Speaking to newspersons at the end of the second strategic dialogue, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Ms. Clinton also expressed divergent views on the manner in which India should join the four export control regimes – the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

Mr. Krishna twice made the point of India gaining membership to these bodies in "tandem" while Ms. Clinton felt the process should be “phased”. Curiously, the Joint Statement, which usually reflects a consensus on phraseology, uses the word “phased.”

This word play is significant as India’s priority is membership of the NSG and MTCR, while the US would prefer India acceding first to the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

Asked about the recent tightening of NSG guidelines on enrichment and reprocessing equipment exports, Ms. Clinton stuck to an earlier State Department formulation that these did not “detract” from the clean waiver India had secured from the cartel in 2008. She also recalled her personal contribution to the Indo-US deal as a Senator and co-chair of the India Caucus.

Echoing a formulation India first made in 2008 when it issued a letter of intent promising to buy 10,000 MW worth of US reactors, Tuesday's joint statement linked the participation of U.S. nuclear energy firms in India to “mutually acceptable technical and commercial terms and conditions that enable a viable tariff regime for electricity generated”.

Not aware of News of the World hacking: London police chief

AP

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson gives evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons in central London on the News of the World phone-hacking scandal Tuesday.

London’s departing police chief revealed Tuesday that 10 of the 45 press officers in his department used to work for News International, but he denied there are any improper links between the force and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

Paul Stephenson was giving evidence to a committee of lawmakers investigating wrongdoing at the now-shuttered tabloid News of the World, and allegations of bribery and collusion between Murdoch employees and the police.

“I understand that there are 10 members of the (Department of Public Affairs) staff who have worked in News International in the past, in some cases journalists, in some cases undertaking work experience with the organisation,” he said.

Mr. Stephenson denied wrongdoing, or knowing the newspaper was engaged in phone hacking, but acknowledged that in retrospect he was embarrassed the force had hired a former News of the World editor as a PR consultant.

After being asked about his relationship with Neil Wallis, a former executive editor who was arrested last week, Mr. Stephenson said he had “no reason to connect Wallis with phone hacking” when he was hired for the part-time job in 2009.

He said now that the scale of phone hacking at the paper has emerged, it’s “embarrassing” that Mr. Wallis worked for the police.

Mr. Stephenson announced his resignation Sunday, saying allegations about his contacts with Mr. Murdoch’s News International were a distraction from his job.

He was followed out the door by assistant commissioner John Yates, who will also give evidence Tuesday, before a hotly anticipated appearance by Mr. Murdoch, his son James and the media mogul’s former U.K. newspaper chief, Rebekah Brooks,

Murdoch’s car mobbed

Mr. Murdoch’s car was mobbed by photographers as he arrived for a grilling from U.K. lawmakers about the phone hacking scandal that has swept from his media empire through the London police and even to the prime minister’s office.

The elder Murdoch’s Range Rover was surrounded as he arrived at the Houses of Parliament three hours early, and it quickly drove off. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had come back and gone through another entrance.

Politicians will be seeking more details about the scale of criminality at Mr. Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid, while the Murdochs will try to avoid incriminating themselves or doing more harm to their business without misleading Parliament, which is a crime.

Lawmakers are also holding a separate hearing to question London police about reports that officers took bribes from journalists to provide inside information for tabloid scoops and to ask why the force decided to shut down an earlier phone hacking probe after charging only two people.

Detectives reopened the case earlier this year and are looking at a potential 3,700 victims.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said Tuesday it had asked watchdog to investigate its head of public affairs over the scandal, the fifth senior police official being investigated. The Independent Police Complaints Commission will look at Dick Fedorcio’s role in hiring a former News of the World executive as an adviser to the police.

Mr. Fedorcio also was to be questioned by lawmakers Tuesday, along with Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Yates.

It was the appearance by the Murdochs and Ms. Brooks that was drawing huge public interest.

Members of the public and journalists lined up hours ahead of time in hope of a spot in the small committee room, which holds about 40 people. More will be able to watch in an overspill room, and Britain’s TV news channels are anticipating high ratings for the appearance.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a visit to Africa and is expected to return to Britain for an emergency session Wednesday of Parliament on the scandal.

Former NoTW reporter found dead

A former News of the World reporter, Sean Hoare, who helped blow the whistle on the scandal, was found dead Monday in his home. Police said the death was “unexplained” but is not being treated as suspicious. A post-mortem was being conducted Tuesday. Mr. Hoare was in his late forties.

Ms. Brooks’ spokesman, David Wilson, said police had been handed a bag containing a laptop and papers that belong to her husband, former racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks. Mr. Wilson said the bag did not contain anything related to the phone hacking scandal and he expected police to return it soon.

The bag was found dumped in an underground parking lot near the couple’s home on Monday, but it was unclear how exactly it got there. Mr. Wilson said Tuesday that a friend of Mr. Brooks had meant to drop the bag off, but he would say only he left it in the “wrong place.”

Non-Telangana Congress leaders push for ‘Seemandhra’

Non-Telangana MLAs, MPs, and MLCs, with K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao (2nd right in sitting row), Gade Venkat Reddy (2nd left, sitting row) and other leaders in New Delhi on Monday. The leaders are camping in Delhi for united Andhra. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar.

Stepping up pressure on the Centre, Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the Government should not bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, but were counselled patience by him.

As part of their campaign to counter the pro-Telangana protagonists within the party, the Ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior leaders from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions are camping in Delhi to persuade the Centre and Congress High Command from taking any step that would hurt the unity of the people.

The large delegation led by Higher Education Minister K. Sailajanath and senior MP K.S. Rao met Dr. Singh at his 7, Race Course Road residence for over 30 minutes and apprised him of the situation in the State.

The lawmakers said they categorically told the Prime Minister that Andhra Pradesh should be kept united and no move should be made to divide the State.

The leaders said they “clearly explained” their position to him.

Briefing reporters about the meeting, Mr. Sailajanath said the Prime Minister gave a patient hearing to them on all the issues raised and promised to “convey our sentiments” to AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is the party in-charge of Andhra Pradesh.

“The Prime Minister asked us to be patient. As disciplined Congress workers, he said everyone should wait (for a decision to be taken). He told us that he will convey our sentiments to Azad,” Mr. Sailajanath said.

The coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders want the Centre to go by the sixth option recommended by the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee, which went into the statehood issue.

The sixth option states that Andhra Pradesh should be kept united with Constitutional/Statutory powers to Telangana and formation of a regional council to ensure development in that region too.

The delegation will also meet senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony and P Chidambaram during the day to press their demand.

The delegation’s meetings comes on the heels of Congress leaders from Telangana region ignoring an invitation from Azad to come to New Delhi for talks.

The leaders are upset with Azad’s remarks in Beijing that the issue “cannot move an inch forward” unless the Andhra Pradesh Assembly passes a resolution favouring creation of Telangana.

INS Godavari foils piracy attempt

An Indian Navy warship foiled a pirate attack on a Greek merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden when it launched a helicopter and marine commandoes forcing eight Somali pirates to abandon the plan.

Indian Naval Ship Godavari, on anti-piracy patrol escort operation since May 25 in the region responded to a distress call from MV Elinakos in the early hours of July 16 while escorting four other ships in the Gulf of Aden.

“The INS Godavari was quick to launch a helicopter to locate the skiff being used by the pirates and subsequently launched marine commandos to board the pirate boat. On being approached by the naval boat, they dumped their arms, ammunition and other piracy triggers’’, Indian Navy spokesman said.

A German naval ship, the Niedersachsen, also coordinated with INS Godavari in the operation, which continued with the escort mission, on completion of the operation.

Since it deployment in May this year, INS Godavari has safely escorted 219 ships of various countries and last week, the warship escorted a Pakistani ship, the MV Islamabad, with an all-Pakistani crew of 38.

The Indian Navy has been deploying ships since 2008 in the Gulf of Aden for escorting merchant vessels and Indian Naval ships have escorted 1,665 ships successfully.