India hungry for England revenge

The series will be further spiced up by Kevin Pietersen’s return. -Photo by AP

NEW DELHI: England jet into Mumbai on Monday under new captain Alastair Cook, striving to win their first Test series in India in 27 years against a home team desperate to make amends for last year’s 4-0 drubbing.

The four-Test series, starting in Ahmedabad on November 15, will be further spiced up by Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England fold after his exile and hints that Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar is on the brink of retirement.

The series gives the home side an opportunity to make amends for the humiliating 4-0 whitewash in England last year that saw them dethroned as the number one Test side – and their replacement by England.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team then suffered another 4-0 defeat in Australia, capping a miserable six-month period that took the shine off India’s 50-over World Cup triumph in 2011.

But with the series against England followed by four Tests against Australia in February-March, India, ranked fifth in the world, will look to take advantage of familiar conditions to haul themselves back up the rankings.

Dhoni has urged groundsmen to prepare wickets that suit spin bowling and selectors refused to pick a spinner for England’s three-day opener in Mumbai from Tuesday, denying the tourists early exposure to the turning ball.

“When we go to England, we get wickets that help the seamers and in Australia you get tracks with bounce,” said Dhoni.

“In the subcontinent, spin is what matters and we should stick to that.”

England, who last won a Test series in India under David Gower in 1985 and lost their number one status to South Africa in August, will receive a boost from the return of the dangerous Pietersen.

Pietersen, who has hit more than 7,000 Test runs at a shade under 50, smashed a brilliant 144 in England’s last Test on Indian soil in 2008 and knows the conditions well as a player for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

And the 32-year-old will be keen to impress after he was dropped in August for sending text messages to touring South Africa players that contained criticism of then skipper Andrew Strauss.

Numerous meetings with England team bosses and players eventually saw him added at the last minute to the Indian tour party and Cook said Pietersen was “contrite” over his actions and would be welcomed back into the squad.

India, who began their busy home season by winning both Tests against lowly New Zealand in August and September before being ousted in the second round of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, are facing a future without Tendulkar.

The plans of the 39-year-old superstar are in the spotlight after the admitted earlier this month that the clock was ticking on his run-filled 23-year career.

“I don’t think I have plenty of cricket left in me,” said Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer in Test and one-day cricket history – and the only batsman to notch 100 international centuries.

Tendulkar, who has scored a record 51 Test centuries, has now gone 25 innings without a hundred in the five-day format since making 146 against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2011.

He was bowled in all three innings against New Zealand with a top score of just 27, raising fears that age may finally be catching up with him.

England have the rare luxury of two three-day games and one four-day match to acclimatise to Indian conditions before the series starts in Ahmedabad.

Further Tests are scheduled for Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur.

The tourists, who also play two Twenty20 matches following the Tests, will go home for Christmas before returning in the New Year for a five-match one-day series.

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South Africa aim to consolidate ranking in Australia

The Proteas won an eventful three-Test showdown 2-0. -Photo by AFP

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa fly to Australia Sunday aiming to consolidate the position of No 1 Test team earned mid-year with a series triumph in England.

The Proteas won an eventful three-Test showdown 2-0 with then England skipper Andrew Strauss retiring after the series and Kevin Pietersen being temporarily banned for texting messages critical of his team-mates to South Africans.

Many of the triumphant South Africans were furious at the Pietersen drama, believing it diluted the media attention they deserved, and they became even angrier when the England batting star alleged he was set up by unnamed Proteas.

But South Africa skipper Graeme Smith says any lingering thoughts of England and Pietersen must be packed away as Tests in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth loom with the first starting on November 9 at the Gabba.

“We knew tours to England and Australia were coming this year and both were going to be tough,” Smith said as the squad completed preparations for the trip down under.

“The first hurdle has been overcome and, obviously, we would like to do the same in Australia. We know we have got a quality team that has proved its ability to win away from home.

“I believe we have earned the right to go there with the mantle of being the No 1 Test team through the way we have played this year,” added the South Africa opening batsman.

Coach Gary Kirsten, who took over his native country after guiding India to victory in the World Cup last year, said the build-up for Australia was much the same as for England.

“We are going to make sure we prepare as diligently as possible, just as we did ahead of the England series. We don’t want to say too much because we would prefer our performances to speak for themselves.”

Smith rates the South African squad among the best to visit Australia, where they triumphed 2-1 three years ago in the last clash between the great sporting rivals.

Then South Africa coach Mickey Arthur now guides Australia, but Smith says he cannot afford to lose any sleep over that fact, lest it affects team preparations.

“If I lose sleep over what Mickey is telling Australia, then it is going to affect how we prepare as a team. How we adapt to the conditions will be much more important,” stressed Smith.

Much pre-series media attention has centred on the battle of the pace attacks with South Africans Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel and Australians Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle among the top 10 ranked bowlers.

“Brisbane and Perth could be quite fiery from the sound of things and how we adapt to what the conditions are going to be means a lot more than comparing coaches or teams,” said Smith.

The Proteas skipper said batsman-wicketkeeper AB de Villiers had received three weeks of treatment for a back injury and was expected to be ready for the opening Test.

After a three-day warm-up against Australia A in Sydney from November 2, the Brisbane Test begins on November 9, the second at the Adelaide Oval on November 22 and the last on November 30 at the Waca in Perth.

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Man United seal controversial win against Chelsea

Javier Hernandez celebrates his goal with Young. -Photo by AP

LONDON: Javier Hernandez grabbed a 3-2 victory for Manchester United over Premier League leaders Chelsea after the previously unbeaten hosts had been reduced to nine men in a tempestuous clash at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

The Mexican, looking suspiciously offside, tapped in the winner in the 75th minute to kill off a vibrant Chelsea side who had battled back from 2-0 down before having Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres sent off by referee Mark Clattenburg.

A David Luiz own goal gave United the lead after four minutes and Robin van Persie fired the visitors 2-0 ahead eight minutes later.

Juan Mata began the Chelsea fightback with a curling free kick in the 44th minute and Ramires hauled Chelsea level shortly after the break with a header.

However, Chelsea’s momentum was halted when Ivanovic was red-carded for tripping Ashley Young and worse followed when Fernando Torres appeared to have been felled by Jonny Evans but was instead shown a second yellow card for diving.

The home crowd roared its disapproval and then watched on as Hernandez, on as a substitute for Tom Cleverley, poked home United’s winner from close range.

Earlier Everton and Liverpool drew 2-2 at Goodison Park while Tottenham Hotspur moved into the top four with a 2-1 victory at struggling Southampton.

Newcastle United beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at home.

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British woman, held in Pakistan on drug charges, has baby

– File Photo

ISLAMABAD: A British woman, held in Pakistan on charges of drug smuggling, has been sent back to prison with her newborn daughter after giving birth in a hospital, a British legal group said Sunday.

Khadija Shah, 25, is being held on charges of trying to smuggle heroin worth nearly $5 million onto a flight to Britain.

She gave birth to her baby girl Malaika a few weeks ago but was returned from hospital to Adiala prison near the capital Islamabad. The birth was not reported until Sunday.

The baby has had no immunisations and has already had to be hospitalised when she developed severe diarrhoea in the unsanitary prison, said British legal group Reprieve.

“To keep a baby behind bars is truly barbaric. Baby Malaika is weak and suffering from terrible health problems while Khadija faces execution. No mother would wish this scenario on their worst enemy,” Reprieve investigator Sultana Noon said in a statement.

Shah has two other young children. After a period of incarceration when their mother was arrested in May this year, they were freed into the care of a relative.

Mothers are frequently imprisoned with their children while their cases are heard in Pakistan’s congested legal system.

Criminal cases can take years to complete.

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New York man who sued Facebook faces criminal charges

The loading screen of the Facebook application on a mobile phone is seen in this file photo illustration taken in Lavigny May 16, 2012. – Reuters (File Photo)

Fri Oct 26, 2012  - A New York man was arrested Friday on charges he forged documents in a multibillion-dollar scheme to defraud Facebook Inc and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, through a lawsuit claiming a huge ownership stake in the Internet company.

Paul Ceglia, 39, a one-time wood pellet salesman from Wellsville, New York, was charged with mail and wire fraud over what federal prosecutors and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said was fabricated evidence to support his claim to a large stake in Facebook through a 2003 deal with Zuckerberg.

Ceglia’s accusations against Zuckerberg had marked a bizarre twist to Facebook’s march toward its highly anticipated initial public offering in May. Facebook’s origins were also the focus of a separate legal challenge by Zuckerberg’s Harvard University classmates, the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, in a saga chronicled in the 2010 film, “The Social Network.”

Ceglia sued the Silicon Valley company and its chief executive in 2010, claiming that a 2003 contract he signed with Zuckerberg entitled him to a stake in the social media network. Zuckerberg had done programming work for Ceglia’s company, StreetFax.com, while at Harvard University.

This past March, as part of that case, Facebook attorneys released emails sent by Zuckerberg to show Ceglia’s claims were false. The attorneys cited work by forensic experts who found that Ceglia had typed text into a Microsoft Word document and declared it was the text of emails with Zuckerberg.

Ceglia sought “a quick pay day based on a blatant forgery,”in a statement announcing the criminal charges. “Dressing up a fraud as a lawsuit does not immunize you from prosecution.”

A lawyer for Ceglia could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Ceglia used the federal court system to perpetuate his fraud and will now be held accountable for his criminal scheme,” Orin Snyder, a partner at law firm Gibson Dunn who is representing Facebook and Zuckerberg in the civil case, said in a statement.

PARTNERSHIP CLAIMS

In his lawsuit, filed in federal court in Buffalo, New York, Ceglia had claimed that Zuckerberg shared his plans for a social networking site with him while working at StreetFax. He contended that their contract granted him part ownership in Zuckerberg’s project in exchange for a $1,000 investment.

To build his case, Ceglia submitted what he said were emails from Zuckerberg that proved the pair had discussed the project that would eventually become Facebook.

But Zuckerberg said he had not even conceived of the idea for Facebook until December 2003, and submitted his own emails to prove his version of the timeline.

Ceglia went through a string of lawyers from prominent firms, including DLA Piper and Milberg, who worked with him on the case but later withdrew.

Ceglia was arrested at his home on Friday morning and appeared in federal court in Buffalo in the afternoon. In the hearing, a federal judge set bail at $21,000 and stayed the bail order until Monday at noon to give prosecutors a chance to appeal it, authorities said.

Each of the charges against him carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Investigators for the Postal Inspection Service, which is conducting the probe, made the arrest following Ceglia’s return to the United States this week after spending time out of the country, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case.

The judge in Friday’s hearing ordered Ceglia and his family to surrender their travel documents.

Separately on Friday, Massachusetts fined Citigroup Inc $2 million to settle charges that two bank analysts improperly released confidential information about Facebook’s financials before the technology company went public.

The case is USA v. Paul Ceglia, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

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Di Matteo fearful of Cole, Lampard departures

Lampard has reportedly attracted interest from Major League Soccer outfit LA Galaxy. -Photo by AFP

LONDON: Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo has admitted that the European champions could lose Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard if the club are unable to agree new contracts with them.

Both players will be out of contract at the end of the current season and will therefore be able to sign pre-contract agreements with other clubs in January, unless Chelsea extend their current deals.

Reports suggest Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is only willing to offer one-year contract extensions to players aged 30 or over, meaning that Cole, 31, and 34-year-old Lampard could be tempted to look elsewhere.

Asked if he was worried about the pair leaving in the New Year, Di Matteo said: “Yeah, but that’s the world of football.

“That’s how you live in this world, in this industry.

“We had the same last season with some players and, at the end of the day, we all have to be professional and try to do our best, even though maybe the contract is not sorted out.”

Chelsea saw Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou leave Stamford Bridge last summer, after both players were unable to agree new deals with the club.

Lampard has reportedly attracted interest from Major League Soccer outfit LA Galaxy, as a potential replacement for his former England colleague David Beckham.

Cole, who has won 99 caps for England, has been linked with Real Madrid and big-spending Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, and Di Matteo is in no doubt that he still has much to offer at the highest level.

“He’s a fit boy. He can play every game, so he still has many years in front of him,” said the Italian.

Di Matteo also confirmed that midfielder John Obi Mikel was in talks over a new contract, amid reports the Nigerian would be offered a five-year deal.

He also said there was no possibility of John Terry deciding not to see out the remaining two years of his Chelsea contract, branding reports linking the Blues captain with Valencia as “nonsense”.

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Khurshid: India’s illustrious new Muslim foreign minister

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed Salman Khurshid as his new foreign minister as he brought seven new faces into cabinet on October 28, 2012, in the biggest reshuffle since his 2009 re-election. o -AFP Photo .

NEW DELHI: New Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid is the latest member of India’s most illustrious Muslim family to be entrusted with one of the highest offices in the world’s largest Hindu-populated country.

The 59-year-old Khurshid, who is 21 years younger than his predecessor S.M. Krishna, was the most eye-catching appointment in a cabinet revamp designed to reinvigorate a government which has shown distinct signs of fatigue.

His appointment comes at a time when he is battling accusations that funds intended for an NGO run by his family have been misappropriated.

As he moved into his new office in New Delhi, Khurshid made clear that he would get straight to work and said that he had been briefed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 80, to bring fresh thinking to his post.

“I have a lot of home work to do … as I want to take India’s foreign policy ahead,” he told reporters shortly after he was officially elevated from his post law minister.

“In the last few years, foreign policy has vastly changed … We have to do out of box thinking and go beyond theology.

“We have to think of the great opportunities the world offers today,” added Khurshid who is India’s first Muslim foreign minister in 16 years.

While Muslims — who numbered 138 million in last year’s census — have held some of India’s most senior positions including the post of president, they are one of its most marginalised communities.

The percentage of Muslims to hold jobs and the level of literacy lag well behind those of other major religions such as Hindus, Christians and Buddhists, the census found.

As for any foreign minister in New Delhi, Khurshid’s most delicate diplomatic dossier will be relations with India’s troubled Muslim rival Pakistan.

The two nuclear-powered neighbours last year resumed their tentative peace process, which collapsed after a gunmen from Pakistan killed 166 people in Mumbai in November 2008.

The two countries have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is divided by a heavily militarised Line of Control and which both countries claim in full.

One of the most embarrassing episodes of Krishna’s tenure came in 2010 at talks in Islamabad with his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi who accused him during a press conference of having to take his orders by phone from New Delhi.

The gaffe-prone Krishna also came in for ridicule in the same year when he read out parts of the Portuguese foreign minister’s speech at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York.

Analysts said Khurshid, who served as junior foreign minister in the 1990s, was likely to demonstrate a surer footing than his predecessor.

“One thing is clear, the man knows his job,” said S.K. Jha, a professor of international relations at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.

“He has a grip on diplomacy and will not be a cause of embarrassment like Krishna,” Jha told AFP.

Labelled “Mr. Confident” by the media, Khurshid hails from a family which has been at the heart of Indian politics ever since independence.

His father, Khurshid Alam was the first Muslim to serve as a minister in the foreign office and his great-father, Zakir Hussain, was the president of India.

Khurshid junior studied at Oxford University in England before becoming a lawyer in the Supreme Court. He also worked as a teacher.

Khurshid has been in the headlines more recently over accusations that he and his wife Louise had siphoned off funds for a charity for the disabled.

The accusations were first aired in a television documentary and taken up by anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal whom Khurshid has accused of wanting to destroy mainstream parties after launching his own political career.

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