Police exonerate Ronaldo, say he committed no crime

Brazilian star Ronaldo has admitted he's embarrassed and ashamed about his highly publicized encounter with three cross-dressing prostitutes last week and has called it the biggest mistake of his life.

In an interview on Brazil's Globo TV, the AC Milan striker on Sunday denied claims by one of the prostitutes that he had sex with them and used drugs, but admitted the incident will haunt the rest of his career.

Ronaldo said he wasn't aware the prostitutes were cross-dressers until he got to a motel with them, discovered they were men and decided not to have sex with them because he is heterosexual.

"I'm completely heterosexual, I don't have any doubt on that. But, to be honest, I don't care what she (the transvestite) says or not. The important thing is that my mistake became very big, and took on international proportions," he said.

Police are investigating to determine whether an extortion attempt was made against Ronaldo, but have said he committed no crime.

Three dead infants found in freezer, mom arrested

A 44-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of killing three of her babies after their bodies were discovered in the family freezer by her grown children looking for pizza, police said Monday.

Police confirmed the grisly find Sunday night in the town of Wenden, near Olpe, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia after the woman turned herself in, officials said.

The three infants are believed to have been born alive, but authorities were awaiting autopsy results to determine how they died, said Johannes Daheim, a spokesman for prosecutors investigating the case.

The woman, her 47-year-old husband and three adult children, two sons, aged 18 and 22, and a 24-year-old daughter have lived in the town in a single-family home since 1984.

The children discovered the frozen babies on Saturday afternoon while their parents were away for the weekend, investigator Martin Feldmann said.
The 18-year-old and his sister had been looking for a frozen pizza and came across a lot of expired food so decided to clean out the freezer.

The teenager then found three identical packets on the bottom of the freezer and opened one and saw the head and arm of an infant that was wrapped in a hand towel, police said.

The children confronted their parents when they returned home Sunday, and the couple and their daughter then went to police together to tell authorities, said Herbert Fingerhut, head of the police investigation, at a news conference.

The corpulent woman apparently concealed the three pregnancies, believed to have been in the 1980s, not only from neighbors but also her own family, Fingerhut said.

''It sounds unbelievable, but there are examples showing such things are possible,'' he said.

The news of the discovery took other residents aback.

''I've been mayor for 14 years, and this is definitely the worst day I've seen,'' said Peter Brueser. ''We will need a long time here to work through this.''

It was the latest in a string of similar cases in Germany.

In the worst case, a woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison for killing eight of her newborn babies and burying them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the German-Polish border.

More recently, police in February were called to a home in northern Germany where a dead infant was discovered in the cellar.

In January, a 28-year-old German woman was charged with manslaughter after the remains of three babies were discovered in her house and the home of a relative. That woman has denied killing the babies.

Cong MP quits, blames Rahul's coterie for party mess

n the first revolt against the ascendancy of Rahul Gandhi in the Congress, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Das, resigned from the party on Tuesday.

Das resigned saying Rahul Gandhi and his coterie was running the party. He also said that Rahul was the in-charge of the entire country.

"There is an unconstitutional power coterie. They don't have any knowledge, they are not Congressmen and they are all surrounding the 'Yuvraj' of the Congress party. It is unfortunate that only that coterie has an access to him, nobody else can tell him anything. He is controlling the entire Congress part and he is controlling the entire nation. If he is not happy with you, I mean specially if his coterie is not happy with you, you cannot be in party," Das claimed.

The senior Congress MP also alleged that the old leadership is being ignored.

He also resigned from the membership of the Rajya Sabha.
When the Rajya Sabha met in the morning, Das went up to Chairman Hamid Ansari and handed over his resignation letter saying, "I have no faith in the Congress party."

However, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Women & Child Development Renuka Chowdhary said that there is no need for anyone to be feeling sidelined.

Das is known as the Congress party's Man Friday in Lucknow and has been one of the main fund-raiser of the party. He owns hotels and other businesses in the city.

He was miffed after he was replaced by Jitin Prasada as the Minister of State for Steel in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.

Who is Akhilesh Das

* Akhilesh Das is the son of former UP chief minister late Shri Banarsi Das and late Shrimati Vidyawati Devi and was born at Lucknow on March 31, 1962.

* Das made his political debut in early 90s. He upbringing in politics was largely under Congress leader Pramod Tiwari.

* He became Lucknow's youngest mayor in 1992.

* He was also the General-Secretary of UP Congress Committee.

* An international badminton player from 977-83, he was also the Vice-President of the Badminton Association of India and the chairman of UP Badminton Association.

BCCI panel 'shocked' to see Bhajji-Sree slap video

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed advocate Sudhir Nanavati Commission on Tuesday began the inquiry into Harbhajan Singh's slapping of S Sreesanth after an Indian Premier League Twenty20 match between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings XI in Mohali.

After seeing the video footage Nanavati said, "I saw the tape and I was shocked."

"A player who has a BCCI contract, is getting the match fee for the whole year and then he also gets paid for the IPL for a particular period in the year. So, if he is getting paid by both the IPL and the BCCI, then he should also be punished by both," said Nanavati.

Nanavati has reportedly summouned both the players and while Harbhajan will meet him on Friday, Sreesanth is yet to confirm a date.

He had earlier met Aleem Dar and Amish Saheba - the two umpires of the match - and recorded their statements.
Nanavati recorded match referee Farokh Engineer’s statement and will also speak to Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput, who was allegedly standing behind Harbhajan when he slapped Sreesanth after the match.

Harbhajan had slapped Sreesanth and was banned by the IPL for 11 matches.

The IPL inquiry was conducted by match referee Farokh Engineer and he found the slapping incident was completely unprovoked. Harbhajan was also fined 100 per cent of his match fee.

Soon after the verdict, BCCI’s Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty told CNN-IBN, "His (Harbhajan) troubles are not over. He has a showcause notice pending against him with the BCCI and he has to answer to the BCCI independently."

"Harbahjan is a contracted player of BCCI and code of conduct for player is applicable to him also. This is a serious incident that has come up and BCCI cannot just say that there is non official complaint and since contracted player is involved, a showcause notice has been issued in his name and will be served to him when he arrives in Mumbai. There is a disciplinary committee, which will take necessary action as per code of conduct applicable in this matter. It is very unfortunate and this type of incident should be condemned in strong words and we should not think twice in dealing with such matters," Shetty said.

Bharti makes most expensive buyout bid for SA company

In what is the most expensive bid for a buyout by an Indian company, Bharti Airtel has bid close to $19 billion for a 51 per cent stake in the South African telecom company MTN.

Bharti has secured $12 billion of financing from Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered and the remaining funding will be through issue of equity to MTN shareholders.

The Financial Times, quoting sources, said Bharti's bid is at $21.8 a share but MTN is looking for $23.8 dollars a share.

MTN is a big player in Africa and the Middle-East.

The South African mobile company MTN released a statement on Monday evening, in which it said it was engaged in discussions with Bharti Artel.
"The discussions are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction. Accordingly, shareholders are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the company's securities until a further announcement is made," the statement said.

Bharti executives had stoutly denied the company’s interest in MTN when initial reports had surfaced in April.

Bharti chief Sunil Bharti Mittal had cautiously told the Financial Times, "We're delighted that they've chosen to talk to us. It confirms Airtel's standing in global telecoms, but whether it will lead to anything, I don't know."

Sources say, though, that it is unlikely that the MTN board would sell 100 per cent of the company to foreign bidders.

Top IPL players likely to earn Rs 61 crore next yr

The Indian Premier League has brought big money into cricket. Multi-million dollar auction of players were organised by the league with Indian ODI and Twenty20 skipper MS Dhoni getting the maximum bidding price of Rs 6 crore this season. That happened because the IPL had put a cap of $ 5 million for the franchises this year to prevent the rich team owners from splurging too much. But with the grand success of the inaugural edition of the IPL, the cap is all set to go. The move could see top cricketers earn as much as $15 million (Rs 61 crore approx) from next season.