Abbas sworn in as new Palestine President

     Ramallah: The newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was today sworn in as the President at a ceremony here. According to the BBC, Abbas used his inauguration speech to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants. The ceremony took place a day after Israel broke off contacts in the wake of a militant attack on a Gaza Strip crossing that killed six Israelis. Israeli officials say Abbas must act swiftly to halt militant attacks. After his election, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Abbas to congratulate him and said he hoped to meet the new leader "soon".

Pak tour to begin Feb 25, clears BCCI (Go To Top)

    Islamabad: Pakistan cricket team will arrive in India on February 25 for a one-and-a-half month tour to play three Tests and five ODIs. But the venues of the matches are yet to be decided. This would be Pakistan's full fledged tour to India in six years. According to the Daily Times, the BCCI last evening announced dates for the series. It said that venues of the matches would be announced sometime next week. The schedule announced by the BCCI for the forthcoming Test and ODI series is: Feb 27-March 1: warm-up game March 4-8: 1st Test March 12-16: 2nd Test March 20-24: 3rd Test March 26: warm-up game March 28: 1st ODI March 31: 2nd ODI April 3: 3rd ODI April 6: 4th ODI April 9: 5th ODI.

Appointing Rach was a mistake: Gill (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Indian Hockey Federation president KPS Gill today dismissed the allegations made by former hockey coach Gerhard Rach as "absolute nonsense" and admitted that hiring him was a "mistake". Gill was flanked by IHF Vice-President Narinder Batra, who has also raised his voice against the former super cop, at a press conference here but the IHF chief refused to answer the questions raised by his deputy in the last couple of days. While Batra towed Gill's line on Rach, he also made it clear that he would contest against Gill if he chose to stand for another term. Admitting that the Federation had made one or two mistakes, Gill said IHF was "forced" to appoint the German but now it would not take any decision under compulsions or "media pressure". "The Federation has made a couple of mistakes... appointing Rach was one of them. It was an error of judgement, our assessment of his character was wrong." Asked about Rach's statement that IHF was like a "madhouse", he said, "his knowledge of English is very poor, his choice of words leave a lot to be desired... I don't respond to such triviliaties. "Rach was in Chandigarh for 15 days. In such a small time he seems to have gathered a lot of knowledge or probably those who interviewed him briefed him too well," he added sarcastically.