Muralitharan, Chanderpaul top ICC Rankings

DUBAI: Riding on the match-saving hundred against New Zealand in the second Test, Indian batsman VVS Laxman on Tuesday returned to the top-20 of the VVS Laxman celebrates after scoring a century against New Zealand. In the rankings for Test bowlers, Indian pacer Ishant Sharma’’s 3-95 in the drawn match helped him leapfrog Jacques Kallis of South Africa, Pakistan’’s Danish Kaneria and England’’s Monty Panesar to a career-best 17th spot. Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was the highest-ranked India batsman in fifth place and his knock of 137 in the second innings has not only strengthened his current position but has put him within striking distance of fourth-placed Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka. The table is still headed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies who leads Pakistan captain Younis Khan by a very small margin while Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara is in third position. Sri Lanka’’s iconic spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is the still the number-one ranked bowler with South Africa’’s Dale Steyn in second spot and Mitchell Johnson of Australia in third place. In the ICC Test Championship table, India will retain its third position behind Australia and South Africa irrespective of how the Wellington Test pans out.

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Pakistan Taliban behind police academy attack (AP via Yahoo! News)

The top Pakistani Taliban commander said Tuesday that his group had carried out the deadly assault on a police academy in eastern Pakistan, and he vowed to launch an attack on the U.S. capital.

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Obama tells carmakers to survive on their own

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has told car companies General Motors and Chrysler to revive their businesses or be forced into bankruptcy.Mr Obama has bluntly told the carmakers he is unwilling to continue the government financial support that has been keeping them in business. He has given General Motors two months to show it can operate on its own or the company will face bankruptcy. The government has already forced out the company’’s long-serving chief executive, Rick Wagoner. Chrysler has 30 days to complete a proposed merger with Italian carmaker Fiat or it, too, will be declared bankrupt. Mr Obama says there are likely to be more job losses in the car industry.

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KSE budget proposals given final shape

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has given a final shape to their budget proposals for the next financial year, which included the demand for the abolition of capital value tax.A KSE director told Geo News that KSE has finalized its budget proposals, which the Board meeting slated April 14 would approve. KSE director said that the budget proposals also demanded ending capital value tax and exempting dividend from income tax. Besides, the bridging of gap between the corporate tax and tax on public sector companies has also been proposed.KSE Board after approval of the budget proposals will send it to SECP and finance ministry.

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Pakistan court suspends ban on opposition leader (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Pakistan Tuesday suspended a court ban on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and reinstated his party’s government in a key province, in a move likely to ease political tensions in the troubled country.

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KSE recomposes 100-Index

KARACHI: The Karachi Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited has recomposed KSE 100-Index effective from April 1, 2009.According to KSE here Tuesday, the five companies namely Allied Rental Modaraba, Balochistan Wheels Ltd, Dreamworld Ltd, Engro Polymer Chemicals Ltd have been included in the Index. These incoming companies will replace First Habib Modaraba, Agriauto Industries Ltd, MyBank Ltd, JS Investments Ltd and Pioneer Cement Company Ltd.The recomposed Index, based on the prices of February 27, 2009,will capture the market capitalization to the extent of 87.10 % of the total market capitalization as compared to 86.38 % of the current Index. It may be noted that KSE had carried out the re-composition exercise 100-Index companies for the review period from September 2008 to February 2009 as per re-composition Rules of KSE 100-Index.

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Pakistan Taliban claim responsibility for Lahore raid (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud said on Tuesday his group had carried out an assault on a police academy in the city of Lahore in retaliation for U.S. drone attacks on militants in Pakistan.

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65 suspects arrested in DI Khan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Sixty-five suspects have been arrested during raids in Dera Ismail Khan.Police sources said those arrested during joint raids of security forces and police have been kept in different police stations. The operation has started on Tuesday morning. The operation has launched to curb the incidents of target killing.

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Rampage in Pakistan Shows Reach of Militants (New York Times)

Pakistan?s inability to quell violence will complicate the President Obama?s efforts to bring order to Afghanistan.

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New Zealand squad for third India Test

WELLINGTON: The 13-man New Zealand cricket squad named Tuesday for the third and final Test against India, starting here on Friday:Daniel Vettori (captain), Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Tim McIntosh, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Iain O”Brien, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

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