Furore over Imran Khan getting married again: 'It's like I've revealed State secrets to India,' he says

Agencies
January 10, 2018

Islamabad, Jan 10: Annoyed by the "gutter media campaign" against his plan to get married for a third time, Pakistan's flamboyant cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Tueday asked whether he had "sold" state secrets to India or "laundered" the country's wealth to deserve a bad press.

Breaking his silence over reports of his "marriage" to his spiritual guru Bushra Maneka, Pakistan's opposition leader blamed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and owner of a private media house for the "vicious, gutter media campaign" against him in recent days.

In a series of tweets, the 65-year-old former cricket captain said that he was only concerned about "his children and the very conservative family of Bushra begum."

He alleged that the "vicious, gutter media campaign" was being led by NS [Nawaz Sharif] and MSR [Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman], adding that it did not bother him. Shakil-ur-Rahman is the founder of Geo Television Network.

In another tweet, he told "NS & MSR" that their vicious campaign has only strengthened his resolve to fight them.

Attacking Sharif, Imran said: "I have known the Sharifs for 40 years and I know all their sordid personal lives, but I would never stoop to the level of exposing these sordid details."

"For 3 days I have been wondering have I looted a bank; or money laundered bns in nation's wealth; or ordered a model-town-like killing spree; or revealed state secrets to India? I have done none of these but discovered I have committed a bigger crime: wanting to get married," he said.

Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court last year in the Panama Papers case. The Sharif family is facing three corruption cases linked to the scandal.

"All I ask of my well wishers and supporters is that they pray I find personal happiness which, except for a few years, I have been deprived of," Khan added.

Khan had first tied the knot with Jemima Goldsmith in 1995 that ended in divorce after nine years in 2004. His second marriage was with Reham Khan, then a TV anchor, which lasted barely 10 months.

Khan's angry tweets came hours after Nawaz, while speaking to the media outside an accountability court in Islamabad, said that it was "sad that Khan has gone into hiding" [since the marriage rumours] and left the alleged wife's children to give explanations.

"What sort of person he is who hides like a coward while leaving an innocent family to face rumours," he said.

"If he [Khan] has done something like this [gotten married], he should come out and admit it," Sharif said.

Rumours of Khan's alleged third marriage to his "faith healer" had circulated in the media after a report surfaced in The News on Saturday.

On Sunday, Khan's political party, the Pakistan Tehreek- e-Insaf (PTI) had issued a notification saying that Khan has proposed marriage to Maneka, believed to be a respected Pir (faith healer) in Pakpattan.

However, the notification had added that Maneka has yet to accept the marriage proposal. She will make a final decision after consulting her family, including her children.

The statement insisted that the PTI chief would announce it publicly if Maneka accepted the marriage proposal.

Maneka, who is in her 40s, is from the Wattoo clan, of which the Manekas are a sub-clan. She was married to Khawar Farid Maneka, a senior customs official in Islamabad, the Dawn newspaper reported.

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News Network
April 30,2020

New Delhi, Apr 30: Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday mourned the demise of veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, called his death 'unreal and unbelievable' loss.

"This is unreal and unbelievable. Yesterday Irrfan Khan and today Rishi Kapoor ji. It's hard to accept this as a legend passes away today. My condolences to the family and may his soul rest in peace," Kohli tweeted.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan also expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
"It's shocking to hear about the sudden demise of #RishiKapoor ji. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace," Dhawan tweeted.

Earlier today, actor Amitabh Bachchan confirmed the news of the demise of the 67-year-old Rishi Kapoor. Rishi Kapoor was admitted to the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday.

In September 2019, the veteran actor returned to Mumbai after staying in New York for almost a year for cancer treatment.

He was last seen in the 2019 film 'The Body' alongside Emraan Hashmi and Shobita Sobhita Dhulipala.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Atlanta, Jan 9: Top tennis stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams will be playing an exhibition match to raise funds for Australia's bushfire relief.

Apart from these three, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas have also confirmed their availability for the match, CNN reported.

The match will be played on January 15 at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena. The Australian Open Rally for Relief will be donating the proceedings from the ticket sales to the bushfire relief efforts.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova had also announced on Wednesday that she had left 10 signed pairs of her tennis shoes in her Brisbane hotel that members of the public could buy with a donation to the Australian Red Cross.

"Brisbane, I have signed ten pairs of my tennis shoes, left them at the @BrisbaneTennis
desk at the Westin Hotel, alongside a donation envelope for fire rescue efforts.They're yours to keep,we just ask you to donate AUD 300 a pair. All money going directly to Red Cross," Sharapova tweeted.

Earlier, former Australian spinner Shane Warne on Monday had announced to auction his Baggy Green cap to raise funds for victims of devastating bushfires in Australia.

Taking to Twitter, Warne made the announcement and posted a statement.

"The horrific bushfires in Australia have left us all in disbelief. The impact these devastating fires are having on so many people is unthinkable and has touched us all. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed and over 500 million animals have died too," Warne wrote.

"Everyone is in this together and we continue to find ways to contribute and help on a daily basis. This has led me to auction my beloved baggy green cap (350) that I wore throughout my Test career," he added.

Warne joined a growing list of cricketers to raise money for the bushfire victims. Australian players Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell and D'Arcy Short have already announced that they will donate AUD 250 each for every six they hit in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) to support bushfire victims.

Athletes from other sports too joined the movement as tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic decided to donate 25,000 dollars each for Australia's bushfire relief fund.

Wildfires have been raging across Australia for months, killing 23 people, burning about 6 million hectares (23,000 square miles) of bushland and killing a billion animals.

Naval and air rescue operations were launched on Friday as mass evacuations of towns at risk of being engulfed by flames got underway.b

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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