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/ 9 December 2006
Has the International Monetary Fund (IMF) become completely irrelevant? Is this world body, set up more than six decades ago to foster global economic stability and help countries facing financial crises, really reforming itself? And will it become more responsive to the aspirations of developing countries?
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/ 9 December 2006
India coach Greg Chappell and former captain Saurav Ganguly have settled their differences and reached a working relationship, it was reported in the Indian media on Saturday. ”Let me make it clear that whatever happened had nothing to do with personalities. It was not about Greg Chappell or Saurav Ganguly,” Chappell was quoted in Saturday’s edition of national broadsheet Times of India.
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/ 30 November 2006
Police in India filed charges on Thursday against 28 suspects over the Mumbai train blasts in July that killed 185 people, and alleged the attacks were linked to Pakistan’s spy agency and militant groups. The police charges claim that Pakistan’s intelligence agency and outlawed pro-Pakistan militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba were behind the blasts.
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/ 30 November 2006
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Former United States President Bill Clinton announced an agreement on Thursday to cut prices of HIV/Aids treatments for children, making the life-saving drugs far more accessible worldwide. Two Indian pharmaceutical companies have agreed to supply antiretroviral formulations for HIV-positive children at prices as low as 16 US cents a day.
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/ 30 November 2006
Indian selectors have recalled former captain Saurav Ganguly for next month’s three-Test series in South Africa. India’s poor batting form in one-day cricket and uncertainty over skipper Rahul Dravid’s availability for the opening Test in Johannesburg due to a finger injury prompted Ganguly’s recall on Thursday to bolster the brittle middle-order.
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/ 29 November 2006
Former India captain Saurav Ganguly is likely to be recalled for next month’s Test series in South Africa when the selection committee meets in New Delhi on Thursday. The move has been prompted by uncertainty over skipper Rahul Dravid’s fitness for the opening Test in Johannesburg due to a finger injury and a string of poor batting displays by the team in one-day cricket.
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/ 29 November 2006
The once low-budget tourist haven of Goa is facing a crisis, environmentalists say, as developers force up land prices and a tourism boom threatens the delicate coastal ecology. Environmental groups in this former Portuguese enclave, which became part of India in 1961, have joined ranks in an effort to slow the building boom in sleepy towns and remote villages dotting the edge of Arabian Sea.
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/ 24 November 2006
India’s cricket authorities on Friday asked chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar to fly to South Africa following the team’s crushing defeat in the second one-day international in Durban. Rahul Dravid’s Indians were widely criticised in the cricket-crazy country following their 157-run defeat on a pacy Durban track on Wednesday.
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/ 24 November 2006
The Indian cricket board asked chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar on Friday to travel to South Africa amid stinging criticism following the team’s bad start to the tour. South Africa crushed India by 157 runs in the second one-day international on Wednesday after skittling them for 91 on a bouncy Durban pitch.
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/ 20 November 2006
A powerful explosion ripped through a train in eastern India on Monday, killing five people and wounding 25 seriously, police said. The explosion hit two crowded coaches near a remote railway station in West Bengal state, about 665km north of state capital Kolkata, Raj Kanojia, a top police officer, told the media.
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/ 13 November 2006
India leave for South Africa on Monday night praying their key cricketers deliver on the tough tour, after a string of below-par performances in recent one-day internationals. ”I think we need to get performances from a lot of our key players,” India captain Rahul Dravid said before the team’s departure for the two-month tour.
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/ 10 November 2006
Dancing and singing eunuchs are knocking on doors in the Indian city of Patna in a bid to embarrass shopkeepers into paying their taxes. The new shock strategy, in which sari-clad and heavily made up eunuchs accompany officials on their rounds of crowded shopping areas in a country notorious for tax evasion and non-payment, has been declared a success.
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/ 7 November 2006
The International Cricket Council has paved the way for securing a billion-dollar marketing deal after ending a dispute with its commercial powerhouse India. The board of control for cricket in India not only agreed to sign up with the ICC for major events for the next eight years but also withdrew a controversial move to bid for the sport’s global TV and marketing rights.
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/ 7 November 2006
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said on Tuesday he had not lost hope of playing in next year’s World Cup after returning to form with a century in a domestic tournament. The 34-year-old reminded national selectors that he had plenty of cricket left in him when he hammered an unbeaten 118 for East Zone against North Zone in a first-class Duleep Trophy match at Guwahati on Monday.
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/ 5 November 2006
Zimbabwe will return to Test cricket in November 2007, almost two years after they volunteered to withdraw from tests because they were not competitive. Zimbabwe coach Kevin Curran announced in September the team will be ready in November next year, and that is ”realistic”, International Cricket Council president Percy Sonn said on Saturday.
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/ 4 November 2006
Captain Ricky Ponting emerged as the star of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) awards ceremony on Friday as Australia dominated by claiming four prizes. Ponting was adjudged the year’s best player and the most outstanding Test cricketer of the season.
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/ 3 November 2006
Indian authorities want to stop the daytime airing of a television advertisement promoting flavoured condoms saying it is obscene and in bad taste, a newspaper reported on Friday. The advert promotes DKT’s ”XXX” strawberry, chocolate and banana flavoured condoms with the catchline ”What is your flavour of the night?”.
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/ 2 November 2006
Chris Gayle smashed 133 not out to power holders West Indies into their third Champions Trophy final with a six-wicket victory over South Africa on Thursday. The 27-year-old Jamaican stroked his third hundred of the tournament after a 154-run opening partnership with fellow left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul to guide West Indies to 262-4 in 44 overs in reply to South Africa’s 258-8.
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/ 2 November 2006
All-rounder Andrew Symonds led Australia to their first ICC Champions Trophy final on Wednesday with a 34-run victory against a never-say-die New Zealand in the first semifinal. Symonds smashed a run-a-ball 58 in Australia’s challenging total of 240-9 off 50 overs and then took the vital wicket of Jacob Oram (43) as the world champions bowled out a fighting New Zealand for 206 in 46 overs.
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/ 1 November 2006
The glow from burning jatropha seed torches has often saved Maruti Chindu from treading on snakes, but now he carefully nurtures them for a use that he never imagined before — running cars and trucks. On the hilly grasslands of the western state of Maharashtra, near the village of Malegaon, Chindu and his tribe of about 40 men and women busily plant jatropha saplings.
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/ 1 November 2006
South Africa skipper Graeme Smith said on Wednesday adaptability would be the key to success against an unpredictable West Indies in the Champions Trophy semifinal. ”The unpredictable nature can count against them, but it can also be a major bonus for them. The key for us is to adapt to the conditions better than the other team,” Smith said ahead of Thursday’s match.
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/ 31 October 2006
South Africa go into the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal on Thursday hoping their batting line-up will back up their fast bowlers against a resurgent West Indies. Fast bowlers spared South African blushes in the last two games against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock playing key roles in their team’s wins.
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/ 31 October 2006
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has urged his team to go flat out to make their first Champions Trophy final when they clash with New Zealand in Wednesday’s semifinal. ”There are no excuses now for us,” Ponting said ahead of the day-night clash against their trans-Tasman rivals at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium.
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/ 31 October 2006
India’s dashing middle-order batsman, Yuvraj Singh, has been ruled out of next month’s one-day series in South Africa, the cricket board said on Tuesday. Yuvraj suffered a tear in his left knee during a warm-up ahead of Sunday’s Champions Trophy clash against Australia and was rushed to Mumbai to see the board’s medical consultant, Anant Joshi.
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/ 30 October 2006
Veterans Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan were on Monday recalled to the under-performing Indian team for five one-day internationals in South Africa next month. Leg-spinner Kumble (36) has not been considered for limited-overs cricket since August, 2005, despite being the most successful Indian bowler in both forms of the game with 533 Test and 329 one-day wickets.
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/ 30 October 2006
West Indies player Dwayne Bravo was on Sunday found not guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct after his controversial catch in the Champions Trophy match against England. Bravo was charged with failing to ”conduct play within the spirit of the game,” after his running catch to dismiss Michael Yardy on Saturday.
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/ 29 October 2006
A sparkling unbeaten 90 by Kevin Pietersen led England to a thrilling three-wicket victory over holders West Indies in their final Champions Trophy Group A match on Saturday. Pietersen helped England chase down a difficult target under lights, finishing on 276 for seven with nine balls remaining to record their first win of a disappointing tournament.
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/ 29 October 2006
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting praised his team’s complete display and said the six-wicket Champions Trophy victory over hosts India on Sunday had been ”reasonably easy”. ”It was a pretty complete game for us,” Ponting told reporters. ”To lose the toss on that wicket and to get to the total was great.
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/ 27 October 2006
Makhaya Ntini grabbed 5-21 as South Africa conjured a great escape to advance to the Champions Trophy semifinals with a dramatic 124-run win over Pakistan on Friday. The Proteas recovered from a disastrous 42-5 within the first hour to post 213-8 before Pakistan were themselves reduced to 27-6 and bowled out for 89 in the eventful day-night international.
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/ 27 October 2006
Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit a solid 51 to build on Ian Bradshaw’s superb effort as the West Indies qualified for the Champions Trophy semifinals with a tense three-wicket victory over India on Thursday. Left-arm fast bowler Bradshaw carved out a rosy opening for his team when he grabbed three big wickets in his disciplined 10 overs to restrict India to a modest total of 223-9 in the Group A league match.
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/ 26 October 2006
Confident South Africa clash with mercurial Pakistan in an explosive Champions Trophy match on Friday that will take the winner into the semifinals and send the loser home. New Zealand’s win over Pakistan on Wednesday night gave Stephen Fleming’s Black Caps one of the two semifinal berths from Group B, leaving South Africa and Pakistan to scrap for the other spot.
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/ 25 October 2006
The International Cricket Council (ICC) used a chemical spray to reduce the impact of dew on Wednesday’s Champions Trophy match between Pakistan and New Zealand, saying it was in the interests of a fair contest. Excessive dew late in the evening often tilts the balance in favour of teams batting second in day-night matches.