What Lionel Messi doing pictured in Las Vegas with mystery blonde?

An Argentinean magazine has published a photograph of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi with a blonde woman in Las Vegas

'Pronto' splashed the picture on their front page with the headline 'Night of chaos in Las Vegas.'

It went on to claim the picture is threatening the relationship between Messi and girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo, who is the mother of his nine-month-old son Thiago.

It claims Messi, 26, 'travelled to the City of Sin and participated in a party next to a blonde stripper' after playing in an exhibition match in Chicago on July 6.

FC Barcelona's Double Attack

Lionel Messi and Neymar walk down the players tunnel during a Pre Season Friendly match between Lechia Gdansk and FC Barcelona on July 30, 2013 in Gdansk, Poland.

Italy Bus Crash Sunday July 28,2013

A Bus has plunged off a flyover in southern Italy leaving at least 38 people dead in the country's worst road accident for decades.The bus dropped 30m (98ft), coming to rest in heavy undergrowth after smashing through the guard-rail

The Bus hit several vehicles before smashing through a barrier and toppling down a steep slope near the town of Avellino, in the Campania region.

At least 10 people were injured, some of them seriously.TV footage showed smashed vehicles on the flyover and shrouded bodies lined up by the side of a road.
The Bus was taking about 50 people, including children, back to Naples following a pilgrimage.
The cause of the accident is not yet known. Some reports say the vehicle was travelling at speed.

Mass funeral held for the victims

 

A funeral has been held near the southern Italian town of Pozzuoli for the 38 victims of Sunday's bus crash. 

Families and friends of those killed in the accident crowded around the flower-draped coffins, lined up in front of the altar.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta was among about 4,000 people at the service, which was held in a sports hall.

Uli Hoeness, President Bayern Munich Charged for Tax Evasion

German prosecutors have charged Uli Hoeness, president of European football champions Bayern Munich, with tax evasion after a lengthy inquiry

Lawyers for Uli Hoeness have one month to respond to the charges before a court in Munich decides whether the case should go to trial

The former footballer reported himself to the authorities earlier this year over an undeclared Swiss bank account.Neither he nor officials have disclosed how much money is involved, but German media suggest he deposited millions of euros in a Zurich-based account over 10 years.

News of the secret bank account caused a stir in Germany with even Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman saying she was disappointed in the former West Germany international.

Irish President Signs Abortion Bill Tuesday July 30,2013

Irish President Michael D Higgins signed the bill into law on Tuesday July 30,2013.

A meeting of the president's advisory body, the Council of State, was held on Monday to consider the bill.
President Higgins held four hours of talks with the council before making his decision.
The President had until Wednesday to either sign the bill into law or refer it to the Supreme Court to assess its constitutionality.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act will allow terminations to be carried out where there is a threat to the life of the mother.
It will also be allowed where there is medical consensus that the expectant mother will take her own life over her pregnancy
President Higgins' signing of the bill into law, means it does not have to be forwarded to the Supreme Court to determine whether it is constitutional

BSP Leader Mayawati welcomes Telangana, renews demand to divide UP into 4 states

Taking a cue from the Telangana statehood announcement, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has reiterated her demand of dividing Uttar Pradesh into 4 smaller states -

• Purvanchal (Eastern UP)

• Harit Pradesh (Western UP)

• Bundelkhand and

• Awadh Pradesh (Central UP)

Welcoming Telangana, Mayawati on Wednesday July 31,2013 said, "We welcome this decision of making Telangana, the BSP always advocates smaller states and governance units."  
She also urged the MPs from Uttar Pradesh to put pressure on the government to take a prompt decision on the state's division.  

She also urged the MPs from Uttar Pradesh to put pressure on the government to take a prompt decision on the state's division. 

What does Mayawati's proposal of diving the state mean for Uttar Pradesh?

 
Purvanchal or Eastern UP will have 32 districts and home town of seven Prime Ministers of India, Allahabad could be its capital. The holy city of Varanasi or Gorakhpur have also been proposed as the capital city.

Central UP or Awadh Pradesh, which is so far not in the demand list of any political party, will get 14 districts with the present capital Lucknow, city of nawabs as its proposed capital.

Harit Pradesh, comprising 22 districts in west UP has Meerut as its proposed capital.

Jhansi or Banda is the proposed capital of Bundelkhand, which has been the demand for the Congress party and it gets 7 districts.

 

Southern California Open

The Southern California Open is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament held at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad,California,USA 

The tournament achieved Tier I status only in 2004 and it became a draw to the heavyweights in women's tennis since its inception in the 1980s, being a crucial warm-up tournament leading to the US open

Sponsor Details -

• Virginia Slims of San Diego: 1971, 1985–1988
• Wells Fargo Open: 1979–1982
• Ginny of San Diego: 1984
• Great American Bank Classic: 1989–1990
• Mazda Classic: 1991–1993
• Toshiba Classic; 1994–1998
• TIG Classic: 1999
• Acura Classic: 2000–2007
• Mercury Insurance Open: 2010–2012
• Southern California Open: 2013–

Tracy Austin has won won the title 4 times in 1979-82 andSteffi Graf has won the title 4 times - in 1989,1990,1993 and 1994
Venus Williams has won the title thrice in 2001-02

Dominika Cibulkova(Slovakia)won the 2012 Southern California Open Title defeating Marion Bartoli(France)6-1,7-5

Citi Open Tennis July 29 - Aug 4,2013

The City Open (known as such for sponsorship reasons) is a joint professional Tennis Tournament played on Outdoor Hard Courts and held annually in late July at the William H G FitzFerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., United States

 The Citi Open is part of the ATP World Tour 500 Series on the Association of  Tennis Professionals on the  (ATP) World Tour, and of the WTA International Tournaments on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour

The tournament was first held on the men's tour in 1969 -

• known as the Washington Star International between 1969 and 1981

• as the Sovran Bank Classic from 1982 to 1992

• as the Washington Open in 1993 and

• as the Legg Mason Tennis Classic  from 1994 to 2011

The women's event was first held in 2011 in College Park,Maryland  as the Citi Open and for the 2012 season, the ATP and the WTA decided to merge their Maryland and Washington spots into a men and women joint tournament, with the women's event moving to the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, and Citi taking over Legg Mason as title sponsor of the joint event


2013 Citi Open Final Sunday Aug 4,2013
Juan Martin del Potro(Argentina) Defeats John Isner(USA)3-6, 6-1, 6-2 

Previous Years Winners of Women's Singles Title

Year	Winner	Runner-Up	Score
2011	Nadia Petrova(Russia)	Shahar Pe’er(Israel)	7-5,6-2
2012	Magdalena Rybarikova(Slovakia)	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(Russia)	6-1,6-2

Last Date For Filing Income-Tax Returns Extended to Aug 5,2013

The GOI on Wednesday July 31,2013 extended the last date for filing of income tax returns by five days to August 5,2013

The due date, which was Wednesday, has been extended in wake of “unprecedented surge” in number of I-T returns being filed electronically

“As a measure of taxpayers convenience, it has been decided to extend the due date of filing of returns from July 31, 2013 to August 5, 2013,” the Finance Ministry said

As per the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), there has been an unprecedented surge in number of returns being e-filed

This year till July 30, about 92 lakh returns have been electronically filed, which is 46.8 per cent higher than the returns e-filed during the corresponding period last fiscal

Massive rally in Vijayawada opposing Andhra Bifurcation Tuesday July 30,2013

A Massive Rally led by Student Joint Accreditation Council and Youth Congress leader Devineni Avinash was taken out on Tuesday July 30,2013 on M.G. Road in Vijayawada from Benz Circle to IGMC Stadium opposing carving out of Telangana

Police and special forced deployed in Vijayawada kept a close watch on the rally. There was, however, no violence and people in entire city went about doing their routine work normally with all shops open.

Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal reiterated his pro-United Andhra Pradesh stand on Tuesday from New Delhi and stuck to his stand to quit politics if the state was divided. He was invited to AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s house hours before the UPA coordination committee meeting in New Delhi.

Bandh in Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra Against Telangana Formation Wednesday July 31,2013

Normal life was disrupted in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions on Wednesday July 31,2013 as a shutdown began in the two regions against the decision of the Congress and the UPA to create Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.

Educational institutions, commercial establishments remained closed and the services of state-run Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) were suspended in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra districts such as Kadapa, Chittoor, Visakhapatnam and Krishna.

Different outfits supporting united Andhra have called for a shutdown in the region against the decision of Congress to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

The supporters of united Andhra took out rallies and planned to organise other forms of protest during the day in the districts

Supreme Court of India's Ruling on 69% Quota in Tamil Nadu Monday July 29,2013

The Supreme Court on Monday July 29,2013 while deciding to examine the constitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu law providing for 69 % quota in employment and educational institutions, directed the State government to create additional seats in the first year MBBS for meritorious students affected by the quota law

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri gave this direction on a petition filed by R. Harshini, who could not secure admission in MBBS despite securing 911 rank

Petitioner R Harshini contended that she could not get into medical colleges due to the 69 per cent quota law, which has been challenged on the ground that the quota exceeds 50 per cent contemplated in the Mandal Commission judgment

After hearing senior counsel K.M. Vijayan for students and senior counsel Rakesh Diwedi for the State, the Bench extended for the academic year 2013-2014 its earlier order directing the Tamil Nadu government to create extra seats in medicine and other courses in educational institutions to accommodate those meritorious students in ‘open category’ affected by the 69 per cent reservation policy. 

Mamnoon Hussain Elected As Pakistan President Tuesday July 30,2013

India-born Mamnoon Hussain, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawqaz Sharif, was elected as the 12 th President of Pakistan and will replace the incumbent, Asif Ali Zardari, in September following the July 30,2013 presidential election victory(Pakistan has so far had 11 Presidents, out of which five were military generals. Four of them illegally got powers through coups, whereas the first President, Major Sikandar Mirza was elected in 1956 after the first Constitution was adopted)

Mamnoon Hussain(73)a businessman-turned politician, will replace Asif Ali Zardari of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), whose five-year term expires in September 2013

Legislators from both houses of the national parliament and four provincial assemblies voted on Tuesday in the two-man race for the largely ceremonial post as president

The only other candidate was retired Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, nominated by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the third largest party in parliament and led by cricket-turned politician Imran Khan

Votes Polled in the Presidential Election
Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim said Mamnoon Hussain received a total of 432 votes from the two houses of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies

Mamnoon Hussain required 263 votes to win, a target comfortably achieved with the 277 votes cast in the National Assembly and Senate

A total of 77 votes were polled in favour of Justice Retd Wajihuddin Ahmed, the competing candidate backed by the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), while nine votes were declared invalid 

PPP‚ ANP and BNP Awami did not participate in the election in protest against the Supreme Court's decision of advancing the polling date from Aug 6,2013 to July 30,2013


About Mamnoon Hussain

• a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)
• A long-serving member of the ruling PML-N party, he briefly served as governor of the southern province Sindh under Sharif's last stint as prime minister in 1999

Telangana will be India’s 29th State Tuesday July 30,2013

Andhra Pradesh consists of 3 regions-

• Telangana
• Coastal Andhra and
• Rayalseema

 

The ruling UPA on Tuesday July 30,2013 decided to split Andhra Pradesh and create Telangana, acceding to a 45-year-old demand for statehood 

 

 

The process in the creation of the new state will be -

 

• The Central Govt would send the CWC resolution to the State Assembly to seek its views (its approval is not required), after which it will go to the Union Cabinet

• A Group of Ministers to address all the issues of Telangana and Seemandhra — the sharing of waters, revenue, land, power, assets and liabilities — will then be set up

• The Union Cabinet will then ask the Union Law Ministry to draft a bill that will be sent to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for its comments

• Next, the Union Home Ministry will make adequate provisions, incorporating the suggestions

• After this, the Govt-approved draft bill will be sent to the President; Parliament will then have to pass the bill in both the Houses by a simple majority

• The final step: it will go back to the President for notification

Telangana will be India's 29th state

 

 The decision was unanimously cleared this evening Tuesday July 30,2013, first by the different members of the prime minister's coalition, and then by the Congress's most senior decision-making agency, its Working Committee(CWC)

 

PM Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi during the CWC meeting on Telangana in New Delhi

 PM Manmohan Singh, UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and other leaders during the UPA meeting on Telangana at PM's residence

 UPA meeting being watched live by Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhara Rao, party's secretary general K. Keshava Rao along with senior leaders, at Telengana Bhavan in Hyderabad on Tuesday

The bill to create Telangana is expected to reach Parliament in the next four to five months, probably in the winter session. Before this it will go to President Pranab Mukherjee and the Andhra assembly.

 

What's Telangana about:

1. Telangana would be the 29th state of Independent India.

2. The Telangana region comprises 10 districts: Hyderabad, Adilabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy, and Warangal.

3. Apart from Telangana, Andra Pradesh consists of two other parts namely Coastal Andra and Rayalaseema.

4. According to sources, violence that came along with the Telangana merger demand has consumed more than 1000 lives over last three years, which includes numerous cases of self immolation.

5. The sharing of the capital city Hyderabad had long been the bone of contention in the separation struggle.

6. Pro-Telangana people put forward a notion that 45% of the state income comes from Telangana but when it comes to utilization of funds, its share is only 28%.

7. Proponents of a separate Telangana state cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs

 

Telangana Timeline

1948: The Indian Army annexed princely state of Hyderabad, which had different regions including Telangana.

1950: Telangana became Hyderabad State with appointment of a senior administrator M.A. Vellodi as the chief minister.

1952: First elections were held in Hyderabad State. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao became the first elected chief minister.

Nov 1, 1956: Telangana was merged with Andhra State, which was carved out of Madras State, to form Andhra Pradesh, a united state for Telugu-speaking people.

1969: 'Jai Telangana' movement for separate statehood to Telangana began. Over 300 people killed in police firing.

1972: 'Jai Andhra' movement began in coastal Andhra for separate Andhra state.

1975: Presidential order issued to implement Six-Point Formula, providing some safeguards to Telangana.

1997: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supported demand for Telangana state and in 1998 elections promised 'one vote two states'.

2001: K. Chandrasekhara Rao floated Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to revive the Telangana movement.

2004: TRS fought elections in alliance with the Congress, won 5 Lok Sabha and 26 assembly seats. The UPA included the issue in its common minimum programme and formed a three-member committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee.

2008: TDP announced support for Telangana demand.

2009: TRS contested elections in alliance with TDP but its tally came down to two Lok Sabha and 10 assembly seats.

Sep 2, 2009: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in helicopter crash, triggering political uncertainty.

Oct, 2009: Chandrasekhara Rao began fast-unto-death for separate Telangana state.

Dec 9, 2009: Centre announced its decision to initiate the process for formation of Telangana state.

Dec 23, 2009: Following protests in Rayalaseema and Andhra regions and en mass resignations of MPs and state legislators, the centre put the process on hold, citing need for consensus.

Feb 3, 2010: Centre set up five-member Srikrishna Committee to look into Telangana issue.

Dec, 2010: Srikrishna Committee submitted its report, suggested six options.

Dec 28, 2012: Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced after an all-party meeting that a decision will be announced in a month.

July 1, 2013: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh announced that a decision on Telangana is in final stages.

July 12, 2013: Congress core group met on Telangana to discuss reports by the chief minister, deputy chief minister and state Congress chief.

July 26, 2013: Congress core group held another meeting, Digvijaya Singh said Congress Working Committee (CWC) and UPA will take a final decision.

July 30, 2013: UPA coordination panel and CWC met and decided to carve out Telangana state.