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Under-fire Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni got much-needed support from former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram who said the “hullabaloo” about his leadership is “ill-timed” as speculated replacement Virender Sehwag is not qualified for the job.

“The entire hullabaloo around MS Dhoni’s captaincy is extremely ill-timed. Captain-bashing is a favourite pastime of cricket pundits in the Indian sub-continent and the media just loves it,” wrote Akram in his column for a sports website.

The Indian organizers of the largest literary festival in Asia cancelled a televised speech by author Salman Rushdie just minutes before it was scheduled, due to the threat of violent protests.

Rushdie was set to address the Jaipur Literature Festival in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on Tuesday, but some Muslim groups opposed the speech.

A day after beginning talks on the boundary question, India and China on Tuesday agreed to set up a working mechanism on border management to deal with important border affairs related to maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border.

The working mechanism, mooted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, was finalised at the conclusion of the 15th meeting of the Special Representatives (SR) on the boundary question — National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo here.

The India-China boundary talks, which were called off at the last minute because of the Chinese objection to the Dalai Lama speaking at a Buddhist conference around the same dates, are set to resume next month. Beijing has indicated its willingness to hold the dialogue in mid-January, and New Delhi is now working on specific dates.

India is warning Internet companies that it will take action to remove offensive content from their sites if they do not do so voluntarily.

India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has asked representatives of Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Microsoft to screen and remove offensive user content and derogatory material. He said he has not met with any success and is accusing companies of not cooperating.

Energy-hungry India will consider acquiring Australian uranium mining assets if a controversial ban on exports to the nuclear power is lifted, according to a report.

Australia has the world’s largest reserves of uranium and senior New Delhi officials said the country could move to buy up assets if a ban on sales is removed, as favoured by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

“Once Australia comes into the fold all properties will be reviewed,” said A.K. Sarangi, deputy general manager of strategic planning at the Uranium Corporation of India, the government agency responsible for mining and purchases.