Portrait News

Sultan Qaboos of Oman, Arab world’s longest-serving ruler, dies aged 79 The sultan deposed his father in a bloodless coup with British support in 1970 and set Oman on a path to development, using its oil wealth. Widely regarded as popular, he was also an absolute monarch and any dissenting voices were silenced. No cause of death has been confirmed. His cousin Haitham bin Tariq Al Said has been sworn in as his successor. A family council had three days to choose a successor as Qaboos had no heir or publicly designated successor. Instead they opted for opening the sealed...

Sweety Kumari: Rugby player from Bihar hailed as ‘international young player of year’ The 19-year-old women’s rugby player Sweety Kumari was named as the “international young player of the year” by popular women’s rugby website Scrumqueens. Sweety was earlier declared by Asia Rugby as the “continent’s fastest player”, according to Scrumqueens. Sweety, who hails from Nawada village in Barh tehsil of Patna, plays as a winger in the team, and is nicknamed India’s “Scoring Machine” by teammates. “She impressed from the start, but it was this year that she started making a big impact in Asia, at both sevens and fifteens....

ICC should not mandate four-day Tests ‘for the sake of it’, warns Andrew Strauss Andrew Strauss, the former England opener and ECB director of cricket who now sits on the ICC’s cricket committee, has warned that any move towards making four-day Tests mandatory “should be an easy sell or we shouldn’t be doing it”. As revealed by ESPNcricinfo, cricket’s governing body is mulling the possibility of stipulating that World Test Championship matches be played over four days – with a minimum of 98 overs per day – from 2023 onwards. However, while conceding that efforts had to be made to...

Sachin Bansal buys DHFL General Insurance MUMBAI: Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal has acquired DHFLNSE -0.58 % General Insurance from Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC) for around Rs. 100 crore, people in the know of the deal said. The transaction is seen as a distress sale for WGC, which used to run bankrupt home financier Dewan Housing Finance, one of the persons said. Bansal’s bet on the insurance firm is part of his broader ambition in financial services industry, and comes on the back of multiple investments he has made to bulk up his portfolio of firms in the sector. Source: The...

Cyrus Mistry’s Irish citizenship was a sore point for the Tatas Mumbai: One of the peeves that some Tata group directors held against Cyrus Mistry, the ousted chairman of Tata Sons, was about not honouring his stated intention to relinquish his Irish citizenship that he expressed while being considered for the top job, people aware of the matter said. In an interview held in the first week of Sept 2011 to shortlist a chairman candidate for Tata Sons, the selection committee comprising of N A Soonawala, R K Krishnakumar, Lord Bhattacharyya and Shirin Bharucha had raised a question on Mistry’s...

Priyanka Chopra makes bold statement in Rs 1 lakh thigh-slit dress on day out with Nick Jonas Whenever Priyanka Chopra steps out for a casual stroll on the streets of Los Angeles, she ends up making it her personal red carpet moment. And last night was no different. The Sky Is Pink actress was seen walking hand-in-hand with her husband Nick Jonas in a gorgeous Versace dress. Priyanka wore a Barocco rodeo print sleeveless dress that had a white base and the statement Versace print. Source: India Today

Ananya Panday says struggle is not appearing on Koffee with Karan, dad Chunky wants her not to take his name Actor Ananya Panday was recently at the centre of controversies and heavy trolling when she compared success with appearing on chat show Koffee with Karan and talked about her own struggles. Her father, actor Chunky Pandey has now said he just wants to ask her to stop taking his name. Talking with Mumbai Mirror in an interview, Chunky said, “The two times she really got trolled was when she called me Tony Stark and the second was this episode. I want to tell...

ED summons Edelweiss Group chairman Rashesh Shah in alleged forex scam Edelweiss Group founder and chairman Rashesh Shah was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (January 9) in connection with an alleged forex scam. The ED in its summon asked Shah to be present before it to “give evidence and to produce books of account or other documents” in a forex case involving a company called Capstone Forex Pvt LTD The ED’s probe documents, accessed by BusinessToday.In, claim Shah’s “front entities” gave the lead about his involvement in the alleged scam. Source: Business Today

Wasim Akram Loses ‘Family Heirloom’ Watch on Flight, Trolls Ask Him to Buy a New One As former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram tweeted about a treasured watch he lost on a flight on Wednesday, trolls had a lot of time on their hands to mock the veteran. Tweeting from his official Twitter handle, @wasimakramlive wrote: “Lost my watch on flight EK 605 seat 10a KHI-DXB. I am now following @emirates. “Please have someone contact me ASAP as I have exercised all customer service points in Dubai and do not feel comfortable that enough has been done. This watch is a...

Imran Khan Says Pakistan Will Never Participate in Anyone Else’s War Again, Hopes to Set ‘Example’ for Other Muslim Nations Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that Pakistan will “never get involved” in other countries’ wars again and will serve as an “example” for other Muslim countries and “lead” them. Khan made the comments a day after he directed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to visit Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US as part of Pakistan’s efforts to defuse the tensions in the Gulf region following the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike and...