Pakistan High Commissioner to Britain Wajid S Hassan on Friday gave a new twist to the spot-fixing scandal involving the Pakistan cricket team, saying the three accused players were "innocent" and Indian bookmakers were involved in the whole murky episode.

"I found that all these three players were absolutely innocent. They were not involved, they have been taken for a ride and the agent (Mazhar Majeed) was the culprit, in the sense that he was responsible for defrauding some Asian bookies," Hassan said.

President Barack Obama will next week make a new bid to stem ebbing political support over the slowing economic recovery, with visits to the struggling Midwest and a formal White House news conference. Obama's economic team is meanwhile considering a raft of new measures to inject impetus into the economy, which a report said could include tax breaks for businesses that could potentially reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

By Rajdeep Sardesai

Hypocrisy, like corruption, appears to be a subcontinental affliction. No one exemplifies this better than Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. In the wave of moral outrage following Pakistani cricket’s latest act of shame, Zardari has expressed his disgust at spot-fixing and promised to clean up the sport. That a man who is part of Pakistan’s problem now offers the solution is indicative of just why our neighbours are rapidly becoming the laughing stock of the global community.

In a first for the fashion industry, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are said to be walking the ramp as showstoppers for the Kolkata Fashion Week finale. The fashion week has also been rechristened as the India Fashion Carnival. The organisers of the show called in a press conference on Tuesday, but refused to name the high-profile VVIPs as the event’s showstoppers.

There's buzz that lovebirds Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey are finally ready to tie the knot in a private, low-key ceremony on September 3. The couple has only invited a few close friends to this extremely private celebration.

A source told Mumbai Mirror, “Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir have always believed in keeping their personal life, private. They have never spoken about each other in the media and although everyone is aware about their relationship status, they have not let the media peep into their lives.

At least 28 people were killed and over 150 injured today when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in back-to-back attacks targetting Shia processions in Lahore, even as unidentified gunmen wounded seven people in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi. The first blast, caused by a low intensity explosive device, went off near the Karbala Gamay Shah Imambargah or prayer ground after 6.45 pm where thousands of Shia Muslims had gathered to observe the Yaum-e-Ali. The suicide bombers struck in the nearby Bhatti Chowk area at about 7.15 pm.