Abhishek, Aishwarya to Marry on April 20

Putting all the rumors and speculations into rest, final date of the much-awaited wedding of Abhishek and Aishwarya has been announced. It will be held in Mumbai on April 20, 2007. The wedding will be a small family affair with the attendance of 15-20 guests. No big film stars have been invited to the wedding. According to sources, the couple might plan the honeymoon later since Amitabh's mother is unwell.

The wedding will take place in Amitabh Bachchan's mumbai residence, 'Prateeksha'. The wedding rituals will be spread over three days from April 18 to April 20. Let's wish the couple all the best for a happy and prosperous married life.

India's World Cup Dream is Over

The dream of more than a billion people was dashed by some reckless Indian batting performance, as India lost to Sri Lanka by 69 runs in a crucial world cup group encounter and bowed out of the World Cup. It was a real shock that Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would make it to the Super 8 stage from the same group while India would be heading for home.

Today's match witnessed worst Indian batting performance with Ganguly scoring just 7 runs and Sachin and Dhoni failing to open the account when the team needed them the most. Yuvraj made an error of judgment and ran himself out for 6. Chasing a victory target of 255, India failed to play 50 overs and bowled out for 185. This is the worst ever performance by a team, which was fancied to win the World Cup. It could win only one match, that was against Bermuda. Let's see how the BCCI would react to it. Dravid and company must be ready for the public backlash.

It's Official; Bob Woolmer was Murdered

Putting the rumors and speculations into rest, the Jamaican police revealed that Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was murdered by strangulation. According to the police, more than one person was involved in the murder and there were no signs of forcible entry into the hostel room. That clearly suggests that Woolmer knew the assailants very well. This shocking revelation pushed the World Cup into a deep crisis. The immediate reason behind the murder was not known. However, more skeletons will be tumbled when the investigation reaches its final stage.

According to sources in the Jamaican police, the Scotland Yard will help them to probe the incident and reach a final conclusion. The brutal murder of Bob Woolmer left many questions unanswered. It exposed the security lapse even during an all important event like the World Cup cricket. It is well known that the sub-continent players and officials are vulnerable against terrorist and mafia attacks. Still, Woolmer was not given adequate security, which led to his murder.

Just imagine if a similar incident had occurred with Inzamam, Sachin or Ganguly, what would have been the consequences? The whole cricket world would have gone into chaos. It is not clear whether any cricket players or officials are involved in this ghastly incident. The hand of the betting racket or D-gang cannot be ruled out.

The latest police reports reports revealed that some pages from the manuscript of Woolmer's autobiography are missing. It strengthens the feelings that the cricketeer-bookie nexus could have been behind Woolmer's murder. According to Pakistan's GeoTV, the Jamaican police have arrested one person with the connection of Bob's murder and the identity of the real culprit will be revealed within 10 - 12 hours. Let's hope that the truth will come out and the guilty will be brought into book soon.

Carnival of Sports #5

Greetings! Welcome to the fifth edition of the Carnival of Sports. This time around, our readers will get a variety of sports news and tips. The World Cup cricket is under way. I decided to put my post about World Cup cricket on the forefront. Here are the posts that made the cut for this edition of the Carnival of Sports.

Sagar Satapathy presents "World Cup Cricket: Grief, Chaos and Ecstasy in the Sub-continent" at "Breaking News". The post is all about the series of events that took place in the sub-continent because of the ongoing world cup.

Suldog presents Suldog-O-Rama: Blood, Sweat, No Tears posted at Suldog-O-Rama. Well, fast-pitch softball really, not baseball. How the softball season of my 49th year ended, which is one of the many good reasons for the upcoming season (when I'll be 50) being my last.

Ajanta Phatak presents Cricket and Baseball..Is there any similarity at all? posted at CricDigs - The Community of Cricket 'fan'atics!. This article discussed the similarities and differences between the 2 sports - cricket and baseball.

Bruce Bauld presents Tuffey recalled to NZ Cricket team for World Cup posted at Bruce's Sports & Fitness Blog. Update about the New Zealand World Cup squad.

Matt LHeureux presents Great Tecmo Super Bowl Debates - Part 1 posted at RotoPro.com. Most will agree that Tecmo Super Bowl was one of, if not THE best sports video game of all time. While this can not be debated, there are a plethora of things about the game that can be.

Jon Swift presents Tim Hardaway Makes Homophobia Look Bad posted at Jon Swift. Jon says, "I don't want to hear what athletes think of the War in Iraq, global warming, nuclear proliferation or gay rights. To tell you the truth, I don't even want to hear what they have to say about sports, either, but sportscasters insist on interviewing them".

Ted Reimers presents The Longest Home Winning Streak Ends posted at CampusGrotto. The Gonzaga University basketball team held the longest home winning streak in the NCAA. Unfortunately the streak came to an end at 50 games.

Kapil Handa presents Basics of Golf posted at The Sum. Golf is a sport and recreation. This is one sport where you can find people of all ages and background. So is it right for you - of course, it is right for you. There is no age too late or too early for golf.

Elizabeth McClung presents The fight of women athletes: "not appropriate for ladies" posted at Screw Bronze!. A look at the struggle women have had and continue to have, particularly with the IOC in regards to equal participation and being seen and equal competitors; referenced to the recent IOC decision excluding female ski jumpers.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents I?m Not Bowled Over By Bowling posted at MAD KANE'S HUMOR BLOG. Don’t ask me to bowl. I’m the worst.When I try to, I’m bound to be cursed.Other bowlers complain:“You must aim for your lane!”No more bowling, unless I’m coerced.

Rohit presents CRICKET FEVER posted at darpan. Rohit is a cricket fan and he wishes to promote the world cup.

Michael Emilio presents Ray Lewis Lists His Highland Beach Florida Home for 10.9 Million posted at Michael Emilio. How Baltimore Ravens linebacker is selling his Highland Beach, Florida home for 10.9 million dollars!

Erik presents Gators End Regular Season And Now Focus On The Post Season posted at Gator Champions. The Gators looked like themselves again after going through a slump of losing 3 out of 4. It might have been some lag from clinching the regular season SECT title so early, but there was still no excuse for their play.

Baiguai presents Beefing Up Your Mental Focus posted at Kung Fu Artistry. Tips on how to improve mental focus with pointers from runner, weight lifters as well as the martial arts.

Rad presents Roger Clemens Worth $4 Million a Month? posted at Financial Zero to Hero Husband and Dad. Roger Clemens not worth the money.

The Monk presents SU gets SCREWED posted at The Key Monk. SU filled much of its nonconference slate with decent teams: Holy Cross (Patriot League champ), Penn (Ivy champ), Drexel and Hofstra of the CAA, Oklahoma State, and Wichita State (a preseason top-25 team).

David Culpepper presents Pete Rose Bet on Reds Every Night posted at SportingLink.com. Pete Rose gives details of gambling addiction while manager of the Reds.

Dr. Hal presents Perfect Practice Makes Perfect Performance posted at North Star Mental Fitness Blog. Perfect practice makes perfection is the essence of mental fitness training!

Sean Cash presents 3/16 Mock Draft posted at NFL Draft Notebook. Chris Houston is looking like he has a higher upside than Leon Hall right now.

Mike presents Alford and New Mexico rumors posted at Talk Hawkeyes. The New Mexico job is going to go to somebody other than Alford.

Ben presents Personal Finance for Sports Fans posted at Money Smart Life. If you don't very excited about personal finance but love talking sports then this page is for you. Personal Finance for Sports Fans talks about financial concepts from a sports point of view. Learn about money from March Madness!

Ted Reimers presents Top 10 Greatest College Basketball Rivalries posted at CampusGrotto. Learn more about top 10 Greatest College Basketball Rivalries.

Matt Blake presents Bet on black *and* red? posted at az Sports Hub - Arizona's Destination for Sports - Blogs - Podcasts - Forums. You know, this blogging isn't just a carefree lark, entirely without responsibility. People's lives are in our hands here, dammit!. Well, kinda, as shown in this email which was received at SnakePit Towers a couple of days ago:

Francois Gendron presents Oilers are suffering. posted at Overtime!. Since trading Ryan Smyth to the New-York Islanders at the trade deadline, the Edmonton Oilers have yet to win a single game.

That concludes the fifth edition of the Carnival of Sports. Keep sending your posts to the future editions of this carnival. A link back to the carnival post would be greatly appreciated.

World Cup Cricket: Grief, Chaos and Ecstasy in the Sub-continent

The World Cup fever has gripped the world with fans rooting for their teams' victory. The current world cup have had a great impact on the sub-continent cricket after a few matches. There are chaos in India and Pakistan when these great cricketing powers lost their matches to the minnows like Bangladesh and Ireland.

With two defeats from as many matches, Pakistan bowed out of the World Cup. India is facing the similar fate after the shocking defeat against Bangladesh. Fans across the country vented their ire against the heroes and market expressed concern on the potential loss if India fails to make it to second stage.

Unfortunately, Pakistan's early exit from the world cup took its toll on many heavyweights. The mysterious death of coach Bob Woolmer shocked the entire cricket world and Pakistan in particular. If that was not enough, Inzy quit as the skipper of test squad and announced retirement from ODI cricket. The Pakistan selection committee was dissolved and Pakistan cricket plunged into deep crisis.

Amidst the chaos and grief, there is reason for jubiliation for another sub-continent team Bangladesh, which scored a comprehensive win over favorite India. Sri Lanka celebrated with a 243-run victory over Bermuda. However, the biggest ecstasy came when India bounced back with a great victory over Bermuda. India posted a mammoth score of 413/5, the highest total in a world cup match. This was India's first-ever 400+ score in ODI cricket. Indian batsmen hit 18 sixes, thus equalling the world record of most sixes in an ODI innings. Finally, India registered a 257 run victory over Bermuda, which is the biggest ever victory margin in ODI cricket in terms of runs. Sehwag, who was under fire, scored a brilliant century to regain his confidence.

Everything is happening here. After witnessing a week's of great cricketing drama, one can easily imagine how the current world cup is going to change the fate of many cricketing greats. The cup is wide open with all the teams giving a tough fight to each other. Let's hope to see more great cricketing action over the next few weeks.

The Union Budget 2007 - 08

The India Inc., taxpayers and the IT sector had high expectations from the union budget. However, their hopes vanished when Finance Minister P. Chidambaram rolled out the budget 07 - 08 in Lok Sabha. The FM has proposed a marginal increase of Rs 10,000 in threshold tax exemption limit, while imposing an additional one per cent education cess on the taxpayers. There are benefits for farm sector, rural people, women and senior citizens. However, the overall budget is not satisfactory and the BSE Sensex crashed down immediately after the budget speech.

Here are the key highlights of the budget:

• Gross budgetary support to be increased from Rs. 172,728 crore to Rs. 205,100 crore.
• Non-plan expenditure to go up by 6.5% to Rs.435,421 crore allocation for Bharat Nirman increased by 31.6% to Rs. 24,603 crore allocation for education increased by 34.2% and for health and family welfare by 21.9%
• Mid-Day meal scheme to cover children of upper primary classes in 3,427 educationally backward blocks national means-cum-merit scholarship scheme introduced for students from class IX to XII
• 100,000 scholarships to be awarded every year under national rural employment guarantee scheme to be expanded from the current 200 to 330 districts allocation for SCs and STs substantially increased provision of Rs.108 crore for multi-sector development
• Introduction of minority-oriented programs in district level
• National agricultural insurance scheme to continue in present form
• Death and disability insurance cover through LIC to be extended to rural landless households under Aam Admi Bima Yojana
• Limit of loans under differential rate of interest scheme for weaker sections raised
• National Housing Bank to introduce reverse mortgage for senior citizens
• Allocation for defence increased to Rs. 96,000 crore
• Allocation for e-governance increased from Rs.395 crore to Rs.719 crore
• Government to support creation of about 100,000 jobs every year for physically challenged.
• For current year revenue deficit to be 2% and fiscal deficit 3.7%
• Revenue deficit for 2007-08 estimated at 1.5% of GDP and fiscal deficit at 3.3% of GDP
• Peak rate for customs duties for non-agricultural products reduced from 12.5% to 10%
• Custom duties on most chemicals and plastics reduced from 12.5% to 7.5%
• No change in general Cenvat or service tax rates
• Ad valorem component of excise duty on petrol and diesel reduced from 8% to 6%
• Excise duty exemption limit for small scale industry increased from Rs.1 crore to Rs.1.5 crore
• Service tax exemption limit for small service providers raised from Rs.400,000 to Rs.800,000
• Service tax extended to some new areas central sales tax to be reduced from 4 to 3%
• No change in personal income tax rates.
• Threshold limit of exemption in all cases increased by Rs. 10,000
• Maximum limit of deduction in respect of medical insurance premium to be increased to Rs.15,000; for senior citizens the limit is Rs. 20,000
• Corporate income tax rate remains unchanged; surcharge on income tax on all firms and companies with a taxable income of Rs. 1 crore or less removed
• Five year income tax holiday for new hotels
• Tax holiday for undertakings in Jammu and Kashmir extended up to march 31, 2012
• Rate of dividend distribution tax raised from 12.5% to 15% on dividends distributed by companies and to 25% on dividends paid by money market
• Mutual funds and liquid mutual funds banking cash transactions tax exemption limit for individuals and HUFs increased from Rs.25,000 to Rs.50,000
• Additional cess of 1% levied on taxes to fund secondary and higher education
• Employees' stock option plan to be brought under fringe benefit tax.