London, October 04: While rumours of his future career moves continue to swirl, Andrew Flintoff has admitted that he is one injury away from calling it quits.
Flintoff is to spend the next three months in Dubai to aid his recovery from the latest operation to his right knee and make a return to England’s one-day team as their star allrounder, but did not mince words when assessing himself.
Johanesburg, October 04: Brett Lee has set his sights on regaining his Test spot and becoming the first Australian bowler to take 400 wickets in both major forms of the game. In his last ten ODIs, Lee has taken 16 wickets to move to 321 overall and he felt the form was good enough to merit a recall to the Test side.
London, October 04: The ECB’s proposed plan to host the first floodlit Test next year has been ditched after two counties refused to experiment with the pink ball, according to a report in the Sunday Times. The ECB had requested Bangladesh to appear in the first-ever day-night Test during the team’s tour of England in May-June next year, but the lack of successful testing has dashed that.
Johanesburg, October 04: Monde Zondeki, whose last trip to India was when he replaced Charl Langeveldt in South Africa’s Test squad in 2008, is back in the country and set to share the ball with his fellow Cape Cobras fast bowler.
The format and stakes have changed but Zondeki, after a successful season with the Cobras, is looking to lead the attack and leave an impact this time around.
London, October 04: Kevin Pietersen believes that the ECB and other boards might have to take a re-look at central contracts after the financials of the cricket world were shaken up by cash-rich domestic leagues such as the IPL.
Pietersen said that even if it wasn’t for the IPL, a system that was put in place seven years ago (referring to the England contracts), probably needs to be relooked at because circumstances are bound to change over such a long period, and the rationale applied behind decisions then, may not be valid now.
Tehran, October 04: Amid wide-ranging talks between Tehran and the P5+1, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warns of ‘the Western desire to dominate and demand’.
Larijani, who was formerly the chief nuclear negotiator before taking up the top seat in the Parliament (Majlis), said world powers have been setting the stage to continue their “unwarranted demands” on Iran’s enrichment activity.
Tehran, October 04: After a series of breakthroughs in space research and technology, Iran sets the wheels turning on plans to send its first astronaut into orbit.
Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Reza Taqipour, said Wednesday that scientists are exploring ways to implement preliminary plans to launch a manned mission into space.
“We have a clear outline of the plans, but at the same time we are aware that implementing our plans depend on a broad national participation,” Taqipour told Mehrnews on Saturday.
Cairo, October 04: The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum is facing legal action for exporting natural gas to Israel over the past four years, without having parliament’s approval.
The Supreme Administrative Court of Egypt started its new judiciary year by looking into the case filed against the Ministry of Petroleum for exporting gas to Israel, Press TV correspondent in Cairo reported.
The ministry has appealed against the court’s ruling, which annulled a 2005 Egyptian-Israeli agreement for export of natural gas to Israel.
The court has postponed the verdict until November 7th.
Pyongyang, October 04: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrives on an official visit in Pyongyang amid signs that North Korea may be willing to restart dialogue over its nuclear standoff
North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, greeted Wen at Pyongyang’s airport on Sunday.
London, October 04: David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, says that he will soon finalize a new contract for a second loan period with AC Milan.
“It is close to being finalized,” Beckham said in an interview with The Mail on Sunday.
“There are other options available but none that will stop me going to Milan,” said Beckham who aims to move to the San Siro in January.
The midfielder made the decision after England manager Fabio Capello urged him to return to a top European side in order to have chance for the 2010 World Cup.
Tehran, October 04: Iran’s consulate in Kuwait has demanded an explanation from the Arab Emirate about the suspicious death of an Iranian woman in police custody, a report says.
Several days ago, Kuwaiti media reported that a 40 year old Iranian woman had taken her life by hanging herself from the roof of the Misdemeanor Department in Salmiya.
The report said that the woman was arrested when her work sponsor registered an absconding case against her, which could have resulted in her deportation.
Cairo, October 04: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called on Israel to reconsider its policies towards Arabs and to “choose the path of peace”.
“Israel must reconsider its policies and its way of treating the Palestinians and Arabs,” Mubarak said in an interview with the armed forces magazine, on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1973 Israeli-Arab war.
“If (Israel) chooses the path of peace… this will encourage the Arabs to have confidence in its intentions,” AFP quoted Mubarak as saying.
Gaza, October 04: The Palestinian Authority has come under fire from other factions including Hamas over its request from the UN Human Rights Council to defer a UN vote over Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Taher Al-Nouno, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said the PA’s request constitutes “a serious crime against our people, a betrayal to the blood of our martyrs and collaboration with the Zionist enemy and cooperation with it in the war and aggression on Gaza.”
Jerusalem, October 04: Israel has closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil (Hebron) to Muslims for two days under the pretext of a Jewish holiday.
“Israeli troops have been deployed outside the structure since late Friday evening and designated the area for the exclusive use of Jewish settlers until Monday,” Head of the Endowment and Religious Affairs Department in al-Khalil (Hebron), Zeid al-Ja’bari, said on Saturday.
Washington, October 04: As the rift deepens among NATO allies over the handling of the Afghan war, US President Barack Obama has summoned his top commander in Afghanistan to a 25-minute meeting.
Obama and General Stanley McChrystal met Saturday aboard Air Force One in Copenhagen to discuss the situation in the insurgency-hit Afghanistan and Pakistan.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs noted the pair had met for 25 minutes and McChrystal left the plane before takeoff.
“The president thought the meeting was very productive,” Gibbs said, giving no further details.
Venenzuela, September 04: Thirty-eight farmers imprisoned by the coup government in Honduras begin a hunger strike, demanding the reinstatement of ousted president Manuel Zelaya.
The protest comes as representatives of Zelaya and the interim government, led by Roberto Micheletti, agreed to resume talks next week.
The talks are aimed at resolving the country’s political crisis, sparked when soldiers ousted Zelaya at gunpoint on June 28, and sent him into exile.
Syria, October 04: A military court in Beirut has sentenced two Lebanese nationals along with a fugitive Libyan man to life in prison and hard labor over charges of planning to murder Libya’s prime minister.
Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan made the ruling against Lebanese citizens Mehdi al-Hajj Hasan, his son, Haidar, and Libyan Abdel Salam Mohammed.
According to the senior judge, the convicts sought to carry out their assassination bid last June when they placed explosive charges inside a package bound for Libya.
Want to make ‘hotel type’ chilly chicken? Try out this recipe.
Ingredients
600 gms Boneless chicken
1 tbsp Ginger (minced)
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
7 Green chillies
1 Egg
1 tbsp Corn flour
2 tsp Chilly Powder
Oil for frying
2 tbsp Butter
Salt to taste
Procedure:
Cut boneless chicken into small cubes.
Add chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt to chicken. Mix corn flour and egg properly in a bowl.
Add this to the chicken and mix.
Marinate for 30 minutes.
In a pan heat oil and deep fry chicken cubes until cooked.
Drain the oil and keep aside.
Melbourne, October 04: Life in this Australian city does not live up to expectations, say overseas female students in a survey that revealed “international students have been seriously affected by the current housing situation in Melbourne”.
In a report by the Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition that involved interviews with 17 women, all but one respondent said Melbourne was a “tolerant and multicultural place”. But, 11 of them believed their ethnicity had negatively affected their “chances in life” in Australia, The Age said Sunday.
Dhaka, October 04: Over 10 million subscriber identity module (SIM) cards not registered by Bangladesh’s six mobile phone operators are being misused for criminal activities and fomenting Islamist militancy, police said.
The operators have at least 30 million subscribers of whom 35 percent use unregistered SIM cards, The New Nation newspaper reported.
“Each criminal or terrorist keeps 400 to 500 unregistered SIM cards at his disposal. A SIM card is destroyed after using it only once,” it quoted unnamed sources as saying.
New Delhi, October 04: Indian companies rank top among global peers in employee satisfaction, reflecting their successful business practices, says a study.
The findings are part of a report, ‘Driving Success Through Performance Excellence and Employee Engagement’, by research arm of leading global HR solutions provider Kenexa.
The report is based on two employee-based indicators of business success, which can be used to measure and monitor a firm’s state – the Performance Excellence Index (PEI) and the Employee Engagement Index (EEI).
Islamabad, October 04: The anti-terror law in Pakistan has been amended allowing authorities to act against members of outlawed groups that set up new outfits with different names, a move which may have ramifications for Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) whose founder Hafiz Saeed floated Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) after it was banned.
New Delhi, October 04: Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh will be leading a non-BJP, non-Congress group of MPs in Parliament, which seeks to play the role of a “critical opposition”.
“We are forming the group and will take the line of critical opposition to the government,” said Digvijay Singh, former Union Minister and convener of the group — Lok Morcha.
Former Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, MP from Chatra, is the deputy leader of the group, Singh said.
He said he was elected the all-India convener of the Lok Morcha at its meeting held in Mumbai in August.
New Delhi, October 04: Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has asked the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to assess the ecological impact of the Rs. 900 crore Neutrino Observatory (INO), the country’s most ambitious mega science project.
The project, proposed to be set up deep under the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve at Masinagudi in Tamil Nadu, has run into rough weather with the state forest department raising objections over its location citing that it is a prime elephant and tiger habitat.
Bhopal, October 04: BJP President Rajnath Singh expressed confidence that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will come to power in Maharashtra after the October 13 Assembly elections as the people in the state are against Congress.
“BJP-Shiv Sena will form the government in Maharashtra as the situation is against the Congress in that state,” Mr. Singh told reporters here last evening at the airport.
Mr. Singh was on his way to Mumbai from Arunachal Pradesh and had halted for a while at Bhopal airport for refuelling.