NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

DYNASTY POLITICS IS UNFORTUNATELY A UNIVERSAL PHENOMENON. KULSOOM NAWAZ’S NOMINATION FROM THE SEAT VACATED BY HER HUSBAND NAWAZ SHARIF IN PAKISTAN IS A PROOF TO THIS. IT IS NOW FOR THE PARTY WORKERS AND VOTERS TO FIGHT THIS TREND.

ABHINAV MUKUND

Cricketer Abhinav Mukund has slammed racial abuse on social media, saying that he has himself been at the receiving end of insults and ridicule for his skin tone. Mukund, who featured in the first Test against Sri Lanka in the ongoing series and scored 81 in the second innings, expressed disappointment at some of messages sent to him targeting his skin tone.

RAFAEL MARQUEZ

The US Treasury on Wednesday accused Rafael Marquez, captain of Mexico’s national football team and a former FC Barcelona player, of being a “front person” for a major drug trafficking organisation. Marquez was one of the 22 people and 43 entities the US placed on a sanctions list in relation to a drug trafficking group controlled by businessman Raul Hernandez.

MEDHA PATKAR

Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was arrested on Wednesday when she was on her way to Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh to meet the Sardar Sarovar Project oustees. Ms Patkar (62) and 11 others were forcibly removed from Chikhalda in Dhar on August 7, where they were staging an indefinite fast demanding a proper rehabilitation of the oustees, and were admitted in different hospitals.

KULSOOM NAWAZ

Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz was on Friday fielded by the ruling PML-N party as a candidate from the seat vacated by her husband who was disqualified by the Supreme Court last month. Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz party members Asif Kirmani and Captain Safdar filed the nomination papers of Ms Kulsoom, who is in her late 60s, for the upcoming bypoll for the NA-120 seat at the Election Commission of Pakistan’s Lahore office.

S. SREESANTH

In a major relief to cricketer S. Sreesanth, the Kerala High Court on Monday lifted the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI in the wake of the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal saying there was no incriminating evidence to pinpoint his involvement in match fixing. The court also set aside all proceedings against Mr Sreesanth initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.