Kolkata, 7 February : Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly retired from all forms of cricket after being overlooked for the fourth edition of so-called Indian Premier League.
Ganguly's hopes of playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) suffered a huge blow on Friday after three franchisees opposed the move to include unsold Indian players back in the IPL. The snub came after Kochi team who were reportedly interested in buying Ganguly wrote to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and the BCCI in turn sought the view of the franchises on allowing a team to buy one of the Indian players left unsold in the auction.Ganguly played his last One Day International (ODI) against Pakistan at Gwalior in November 2007. He played his last test match against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008. Ganguly played his last IPL game against Mumbai Indian in April 2010.
The left-handed Ganguly was a prolific One Day International (ODI) batsman, with over 11,000 ODI runs to his credit. Bengal tiger, Dada Ganguly was an aggressive captain, and credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him.
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BNP's issueless hartal causes economic loss, public misery
Dhaka, 7 February : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday said BNP has caused huge loss to national economy, sufferings to public life and tarnished nation’s image abroad by enforcing an "issueless illogical hartal."
Hasina made the remarks during the cabinet meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat, said PM’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad at the press briefing after the meeting.
Dhaka, 7 February : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday said BNP has caused huge loss to national economy, sufferings to public life and tarnished nation’s image abroad by enforcing an "issueless illogical hartal."
Hasina made the remarks during the cabinet meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat, said PM’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad at the press briefing after the meeting.
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Eminent folk singer Utpalendu Chaudhury deadKolkata, 7 February : Eminent Bengali folk singer Utpalendu Chaudhury, who followed the inimitable music style of hiscelebrated father late Nirmalendu Chaudhury in spreading theand popularising the spirit of Bengal''s traditional folksongs abroad, died at a hospital here of pneumonia.
His family said that the artiste, who was 62, had beenrecuperating from cancer, but was recently attacked withpneumonia and succumbed at a hospital this morning.
Utpalendu took upon himself the cudgel of preservingand spreading Bengal''s rich treasure of traditional folk songin the country as well as abroad where he travelled with histroupe.
After the death of Nirmalendu, considered the pioneerof Bengal''s ''Lok sangeet'' (folk song), Utpalendu took pains topreserve his father''s rich contribution to popularise thetype of Bengali music.
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Maoists set ablaze three trucks in West Midnapore district
Jhargram, 7 February : The helper of a truck sustained burn injuries when suspected Maoists set three trucks on fire on NH-6 at Jhargram in West Midnapore district for allegedly violating "Bharat Bandh" called by them.
The police said Maoist cadre set ablaze two iron ore-laden trucks coming from Orissa at Purnapani. They also set on fire a truck going from Kolkata at Guptamani on the same highway, the police said. The helper of a truck - Ajay Kumar Giri - received burn injury and was admitted to a nearby government hospital.
The police said Maoist cadre set ablaze two iron ore-laden trucks coming from Orissa at Purnapani. They also set on fire a truck going from Kolkata at Guptamani on the same highway, the police said. The helper of a truck - Ajay Kumar Giri - received burn injury and was admitted to a nearby government hospital.
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Somdev Devvarman jumps to his career best '80' ATP rank
PTI, New Delhi, 7 February : Somdev Devvarman jumped 30 places to reach career best singles ranking of 80 in the ATP charts following his stupendous show at the SA Tennis Open, where he ended runner-up yesterday.
Somdev lost the summit clash to local favourite Kevin Anderson but earned 150 ranking points, that helped him climb the ranking ladder up. Somdev had broken into top-100 in August last year but kept floating inside and outside that bracket in the next few months.
PTI, New Delhi, 7 February : Somdev Devvarman jumped 30 places to reach career best singles ranking of 80 in the ATP charts following his stupendous show at the SA Tennis Open, where he ended runner-up yesterday.Comeback boy Karan Rastogi is the next best Indian at number 328. Meanwhile the re-united partners Mahesh Bhupathi (5) and Leander Paes (6) kept their rankings intact in the doubles chart.
In the WTA ranking, Sania Mirza's ranking was unchanged in both singles (135) and doubles (66). Poojashree Venkatesha was second best ranked Indian at number 514, a gain of 20 position, in the singles chart.
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Climate shifts spur fish bonanza on Bangladesh coastAlertNet, Dhaka, 7 February : Fishermen are finding unexpectedly large quantities of Bangladesh's national fish Hilsa in coastal estuaries out of season, a trend scientists believe is caused by the impacts of climate change and pollution on their breeding patterns.
The silvery Hilsa fish, popular for its tasty flesh, normally migrates from the Bay of Bengal into Bangladeshi rivers between June and October, where it breeds. READ FULL STORY
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8.6% for current fiscal satisfactory : FM Pranab MukherjeePTI, New Delhi, 7 February : Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the 8.6 per cent economic growth estimated for the current fiscal was satisfactory in the wake of the rising inflation and trade imbalances.
"A 8.6 per cent is quite encouraging despite all these difficulties. Now the other issue is inflation, trade balance.. these are to be addressed," Mukherjee told reporters here. Mukherjee said despite challenges "it is quite encouraging that it (GDP) is not deteriorating."
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Total landless families 15,04,876 in Bangladesh: Khandakar
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban, 7 February : The number of total landless families (khana) in Bangladesh is 15,08,876.
Planning Minister Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandakar said this in the house in reply to a question from treasury bench member Abdul Latif (Chittagong-10).According to Agri Census of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2008, the minister said highest number of 8,90,226 landless families live in Dhaka while Narayanganj district is second with 1,25,468 families.
Number of landless families in Chittagong is 95,311, Comilla 18,140, Gazipur 49,917, Munsiganj 10,914, Narsingdi 14,457, Kishoreganj 11,460, Jessore 21,966, Rajshahi 10,254, Bogra 33,837, Sirajganj 12,477 and in Sylhet 18,067.
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