Feels good to be back at cricket: Brad Haddin

A couple of days after Hughes' funeral, the home team finally started preparations for the first Test against India starting December 9 and the seamers were seen bowling a barrage of bouncers in the nets.

   

"Yesterday was a very good day. We went back to cricket training. As simple as that," said the ... year old wicket-keeper. "We all went back to the game we loved. And it was a good day," Haddin said ahead of  Saturday's practice session.

   

"We just got back to cricket," he replied, when asked if the training session felt normal. "We can try to complicate it as much as we want, but we went back to cricket training.

Everybody did what he needed to do yesterday. We needed to feel that cricket hurt in our legs again.

   

"The next two days are about getting back to training. Getting that cricket feel back in your legs and getting that soreness that you get from miles from out training. From that point of view, the next two days are important to get that feel. On Sunday will be a big cricket day leading into the Test match on Tuesday."

   

Skipper Michael Clarke had put in some work at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday before he flew to Adelaide to join the team. Still uncertain about his fitness, Clarke practised with the team on Saturday.

   

"No, I haven't," said Haddin when asked if he was thinking about having to lead the team on Tuesday. "Michael had a good hit today. He is going to back up this afternoon, and be involved in our session. So I haven't thought about it to be honest."

   

"Michael's been strong for the team for a long time. I think he's a tremendous captain and we want our captain out there playing. All signs are that he's going in the right direction, and like everyone else, we want Michael out there leading our team in the first hour of play here in Adelaide," he added.

As much as cricket needed to be the central theme, talk did shift back to the events of November 24, when in the Sheffield Shield game between New South Wales and South Australia in Sydney, Hughes was hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer.

He died two days later, sparking an emotional outpouring  across the country. The Test series was rescheduled afterwards.

   

Haddin, along with David Warner, Shane Watson and Nathan Lyon, were all part of that match and witnessed the incident first-hand. Naturally he was asked about the fateful day and how the players were trying to move on.

   

"We get back to playing the game we love. I don't think we need to complicate it any more than that: you get back to playing cricket," he replied calmly.

"We all love the game. That's why we're all here now. It's a great game and been good to so many of us. Our job is to go and play cricket, and to enjoy that. We need the support of the Australian public and everyone leading into this first Test. We're looking forward to playing and we need the help of everyone to enjoy the moment and just enjoy the game of cricket."

   

On Friday, Warner had excused himself from the Australian team's training, although he had taken part in some team-bonding activities before the work-out began.

When asked about the opener's state of mind, Haddin said, "There was no pressure on anyone on Friday. There were no expectations on anyone regarding what you had to do or what you needed to get out of the net session. If you needed to take half an hour or ten minutes or five minutes, there were no expectations. It was all individualised and I didn't count how guys were in the nets."

Source:  Latest News  and  Cricket News

Robust Sino-India ties in the interest of United States: Richard Rahul Verma

"Much like the United States, the Indian relationship with China has elements of cooperation and elements of competition. But Prime Minister Modi himself has said that he wants a strong and healthy relationship with China," Richard Rahul Verma said at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
  
"It's very much in our interest to see these two countries have a healthy relationship," he said. The Indian-American noted that "although there will be disagreements from time to time between the countries but again, to the extent these are resolved peacefully...I would say the Prime Minister has set out on a very positive footing in reaching out to China".
  
Commenting on the border issues between India and China, Verma said, "There is a dialogue on border issues when they occur. And again, the economic issues are important to both countries. So anything that we can do to ensure that the dialogue remains open, that trade and connectivity remain strong."
  
"Premier Xi's visit to meet Modi after he became the Prime Minister coincided with the flare-up along the India-China border and there was a lot of confusion about why the incident took place when such an important meeting was underway," he said.
  
The Indian American told lawmakers at the Senate that it has been "fascinating to watch" over the last year when India's Look East policy has become Act East policy.

Source: News and World News

Dubai to invest USD 32-billion to build world's largest airport

The proposed new airport will become the world's largest aviation facility on completion and will have five runways which all will be simultaneously operational, all A380-compatible with a length of 4.5 km each.

"We are planning a USD 32-billion brand new airport at the Dubai World Central at Al Maktoum, 30 km off the present Dubai facility. In the first phase, the new airport will be able to handle 120 million passengers, which will go up to 200 million by 2020, when the project is completed," Dubai Airports Corporate Communications Head Julius Baumann told.

"On completion, the new airport will be the world's largest airport, with each concourse the size of seven football fields and have five runways which all will be simultaneously operational, all A380-compatible," Baumann said.

The other features include 200 aircraft stands for wide bodied aircraft, four concourses connected via six airport trains to two terminals, which in turn will be linked to the city's metro network. When complete, the mega-hub will have total annual capacity exceeding 200 million passengers and 12 million tonne of freight.

The existing Al Maktoum International opened its doors to passengers on October 27, 2013 and three airlines are operating from here. It has one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonne and a fully operational passenger terminal building designed to accommodate 5 million passengers annually.

The Dubai International Airport is the world's second busiest airport after the London Heathrow and is on course to become the global  aviation hub, thanks to its geographical location and the availability of cheap fuel.

The first phase of the new airport includes a single A380 compatible runway, a passenger terminal with capacity of 5 million passengers which is expandable to 7 million; a cargo terminal with a capacity of 250,000 tonne per annum and expandable to 600,000 tonne and a 92-metre air traffic control tower.

The state-owned Dubai Airports already operates the Dubai International Airport in the heart of the Arabian megapolis and the Al Maktoum International Airport at the upcoming Dubai World Central (DWC).

The DWC is a 140 sq km new international city being built to de-congest the present city, Dubai Airports' Marketing & Corporate Communications Manager Zaigham Ali said, adding the work on new airport will begin early next year.

Apart from the new airport plan, the Emirate is also expanding the Dubai International Airport with a USD 7.8 billion investment to take the capacity to 100 million by 2020. This project was started in 2011 and will be completed by 2016.

The expansion of the Dubai International include a new concourse (Concourse D), expansion of Terminal 2 to twice its current capacity, refurbishment of Terminal 1, and additional aircraft stands, taxiways and aprons among others.

Dubai International, Baumann said handled 66.43 million passengers in 2013, and has being growing 15.5 per cent per annum since its launch in 1960. In 2013, it was named the
second busiest airport in the world after the London Heathrow. Ali said India is the largest source market for the airport, with an airline network that connects Dubai with 18 cities in the country.

In 2013, the airport saw a 14.3 percent increase in passenger numbers from India at 8.5 million and in the first 9 months of this year, the number has already crossed 7 million.

Ali added the company is confident of crossing the last year's mark this year. Explaining the rationale for a gigantic new airport, Baumann said the airport's forecast figures for unconstrained passenger traffic show 126 million passengers by 2020, and 300 million passengers by 2050.
  
Additionally, the Terminal 2 will double in capacity by 2015. Concourse D of the airport, slated to open by mid 2015, will provide for 100 more aircraft and taking the figure up to 80 million passengers. In all, the expansion projects will take the airport's  passenger capacity to a little over 100 million passengers, Ali said.

With a built-up area of 1,972,474 sqm, the Dubai International Airport comprises three terminals and ranks among the world's top two busiest airports for international passengers, serving over 125 airlines flying to over 260 destinations, as per the Airports Council International.
  
On the economic impact of the aviation sector in Baumann, quoting an Oxford Economics report said, aviation will contribute USD 53.1 billion to Dubai's economy, which is 37.5 percent to its GDP and will support over 750,000 jobs by the turn of 2020.

The aviation sector as a whole contributed USD 26.7 billion to the Dubai economy in 2013, which was almost 27 percent of the national GDP and supported 416,500 jobs accounting for 21 percent of the Emirates' total employment.

Passenger traffic in September totalled 5,942,628 compared to 5,407,326 recorded in the same month  last year, an increase of 9.9 percent. January-September rose 6.2 percent to 52,422,547, up from 49,379,165, while in 2013, the passenger traffic stood 66,431,533, up 15.2 percent from
2012.

Source: Latest News

China-India war ghost story in india

भारतीय सेना न सिर्फ एक भूत की सेवा ले रही है बल्कि उसे वेतन, प्रमोशन और पद की सभी सुविधाएं भी दे रही है। शायद आप इसे पढ़ते हुए थोड़ा अविश्वसनीय मुद्रा में होंगे लेकिन कुछ इंटरनेट साइटों की मानें तो यह सौ फीसदी सच है। भूत-प्रेतों की कहानियां अगर कहानियों में हों तो लोग मजे लेकर पढ़ते, देखते और सुनते हैं। सामान्य भाषा में ये कथित भूत हमारे मनोरंजन का एक बड़ा साधन हैं। पर जब-जब हकीकत में इनके अस्तित्व की बात आती है तो इन्हें झुठला दिया जाता है। हालांकि इसे पढ़कर भूतों के अस्तित्व पर एक बार आप जरूर सोच में पड़ जाएंगे। 

1963 का इंडो-चाइना वार आपको पता होगा। उस युद्ध में शहीद होने वाले सिपाहियों में हरभजन सिंह भी एक थे। 1962 के डोगरा रेजिमेंट के जवान हरभजन सिंह भारत-चीन के उस युद्ध में चीन के विरुद्ध युद्ध में शामिल हुए और शहीद हो गए. कहते हैं कि शहीद होने के तीन दिनों तक उनकी लाश भारतीय आर्मी को नहीं मिली और उनके किसी साथी जवान के सपने में उन्होंने अपने मृत शरीर की जगह बताई थी। उसके बाद पूरे सैनिक सम्मान के साथ उनका अंतिम संस्कार किया गया। लेकिन उसके बाद भी हरभजन सिंह ने अपनी आर्मी ड्यूटी से मुंह नहीं मोड़ा और बाबा बन गए, कैसे? यह भी एक मनोरंजक कहानी है। 

कहते हैं कि भारत-चीन के उस युद्ध के विषय में भी हरभजन सिंह ने अपनी साथी जवानों को पहले ही बता दिया था। शहादत के बाद युद्ध इंडो-चाइना युद्ध समाप्ति के बाद ऐसा कहा जाता है कि अपने किसी साथी जवान के सपने में आकर हरभजन सिंह ने अपनी समाधि पर एक मंदिर बनाने की बात कही। उनके कहे अनुसार हरभजन सिंह की समाधि पर एक मंदिर बनाया गया। तब से हरभजन सिंह भारतीय सेना की इस रेजिमेंट के लिए बाबा बन गए। यहां की रेजिमेंट के लिए हरभजन सिंह उर्फ बाबा आज भी सेना में अपनी सेवाएं दे रहे हैं और भारतीय सेना वेतन समेत सेना में रहते हुए मिलने वाली सभी सुविधाएं बाबा को दे रही है जिसे सुनकर कोई भी अपने दांतों तले अंगुली दबा ले। 

पूर्वी सिक्किम के नाथू ला दर्रे में हरभजन सिंह उर्फ बाबा की सेवाएं आज भी भारतीय आर्मी ले रही है और स्वभाव से कड़क और अनुशासित माने जाने वाले बाबा मरने के बाद से आज तक अपनी सेवाएं भारतीय आर्मी को पूरी ईमानदारी से दे रहे हैं। कहते हैं नाथू ला दर्रे में बाबा के नाम पर एक कमरा आज भी सुसज्जित है। यह कमरा अन्य सामान्य कमरों की तरह प्रतिदिन साफ किया जाता है, बिस्तर लगाया जाता है, हरभजन सिंह की सेना की वर्दी और उनके जूते रखे जाते हैं। कहते हैं रोज सुबह इन जूतों में कीचड़ के निशान पाए जाते हैं. माना जाता है कि बाबा सेना की अपनी पूरी जिम्मेदरी निभाते हैं. इसलिए भारतीय सेना इन्हें नियमित वेतन भी देती है, सैनिक के रूप में काम करते हुए अन्य फौजियों की तरह इनका पद भी मान्य है और समय-समय पर इन्हें प्रमोशन भी दिया जाता है. यहां तक कि ये सालाना नियत अपनी 2 महीने की छुट्टियां भी लेते हैं। इनके वेतन का एक हिस्सा जालंधर में रह रही इनकी मां के पास भेजा जाता है और इनकी छुट्टियों के लिए बाकायदा इनका सामान प्रथम श्रेणी के ट्रेन रिजर्वेशन के द्वारा इनके घर भेजा जाता है. किसी हवलदार के हाथों इनकी वर्दी समेत अन्य सामान इनके घर भेजा जाता है और छुट्टियां समाप्त होने पर उसी प्रकार उन्हें वापस भी लाया जाता है। कहते हैं कि बाबा की मान्यता सिर्फ भारतीय सेना में नहीं बल्कि बॉर्डर पर तैनात चीनी सेना में भी है। जब भी नाथू ला पोस्ट में चीनी-भारतीय सेना की फ्लैग मीटिंग होती है तो चीनी सेना एक कुर्सी हरभजन सिंह उर्फ बाबा के लिए भी लगाती है। यह एक अविश्वसनीय और अजीब सी लगने वाली कहानी अवश्य है लेकिन सच है। अभी हाल ही में जालंधर के ही किसी जवान ने एक मरे हुए जवान की पूजा करने और उसे सभी सुविधाएं देने और अंधविश्वास को बढ़ावा देने के लिए भारतीय सेना और डिफेंस मिनिस्ट्री पर कोर्ट में केस किया है। अब देखते हैं कि कोर्ट इस भूत के अस्तित्व पर क्या फैसला देता है। 

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