The incident comes at a sensitive time for Malaysia after protests by minority ethnic Indians against policies they say benefit majority Muslim Malays. Indians say the policies rob them of jobs, education and other opportunities.A march in the capital last November by more than 10,000 ethnic Indians to protest against racial discrimination upset authorities and many ordinary Malaysians."The teacher was actually enforcing the rules which forbade the wearing of accessories," education director of the northern Malaysian state of Perak, Hussain Harun told the Star newspaper."But in fact, he was being insensitive to the students' religious and cultural practices."Four parents complained to the police on Saturday after the discipline teacher ordered the secondary school students to shave off their facial hair, stop wearing religious wristbands and spoke to them harshly when they tried to explain, the paper said.Islam is the official religion of multi-racial Malaysia, where Muslims make up just over half the population of 26 million, while large numbers of ethnic Indian and ethnic Chinese minorities follow the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian faiths.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
mortgages
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Monday, January 28, 2008
FC Barcelona opens academy
The academy, which started on Monday, is the first of its kind in Asia and the third in the world after Senegal and Ecuador. It has been set up in collaboration with Fundacion Vincente Ferrer, the Spanish arm of the Rural Development Trust (RDT), an Anantapur-based NGO.It will train 103 boys and girls aged between 11 and 13 years primarily in football. At the suggestion of RDT’s Associate Programme Director Moncho Ferrer, training will also be given in hockey, kho-kho and kabaddi.Set in a four-acre campus, the facilities include a playing field, two changing rooms, two class-rooms and a computer class-room with the objective of comprehensive education.Though not a residential scheme, there will be two-and-half-hour sessions in the morning and evening, and some nourishment provided to the participating children.To the RDT estimate of 70,000 Euros, the European club added another 10,000 Euros for the three-year duration of the scheme that totally converts to Rs 44 lakh.
Friday, January 25, 2008
england in trouble
Saturday's surprise six-wicket defeat in Wellington was followed by Tuesday's humiliating 10-wicket mauling in Hamilton, which was only the fourth time in England's one-day history they had lost by such a margin.
The desperate displays with the bat, ball and in the field at Seddon Park prompted Moores to temporarily drop the relaxed approach he has introduced to the England set-up since taking over from Duncan Fletcher at the start of last summer.
Instead, Moores spelt out his disappointment at their performances in no uncertain terms as England attempt to plot a way back into the five-match series, which continues at Eden Park on Friday.
"We had honest words and they can come across as hard, but you've got to be fair," stressed Moores. "There's a time and a place to say things and I think yesterday was a time for a reality check for everybody about what's required and we've done that.
"We had a decent talk, let's put it that way, and things needed to be said and the key for me is to use two tough days as a watershed to move on.
"We need to find why it happened, discover if there are some lessons to be learned, however tough they are, learn them and become a better team for it."
The last few days have been the toughest test of England's young team since they were assembled at the end of last summer and exceeded expectations by beating India at home and then triumphing in Sri Lanka last October.
They are, Moores admits, still a work in progress and may even have to have changes in personnel - possibly as early as Friday - before they are able to improve their level of performance.
But Moores believes there is enough talent there to still believe they can triumph in the remaining three matches of the series and complete a notable hat-trick of successive one-day series wins.
"We know the side is young and we know there is a chance they are going to be inconsistent," he conceded. "That is in no way trying to excuse the last two performances, but you are assessing people all along.
"We've got nine players in the squad under 25 so they will go through different things and we've also got some guys who have played quite a lot of one-day cricket who have to deliver as well.
"We're still in this series and we have to give it a real go to try and win three series in a row - that is important for this team.
"They've won two very tough series and been behind the eight ball before and they have to learn and show they can go out and fight. If they do that then they'll have won something else as a team together."
If they are to achieve such a stunning turnaround, however, they will need greater contributions from their senior players, none of whom have really fired in the opening two matches of the series.
Kevin Pietersen is yet to reach 30, Ian Bell has scored only five runs in the two matches and captain Paul Collingwood has contributed only 13 runs to the cause.
Monday, January 21, 2008
inda is a very god side
We meet India in Canberra, which is not among Australia's best known venues, but it's a good place to play cricket. The pitch that we will play on looks flatter and truer than the one on which we played our warm-up game against the Prime Minister's XI, so hopefully we will witness a high-scoring game. India will certainly be on a high after their win over Australia, and their young players certainly adjusted to the conditions in Melbourne extremely well.
The young bowler Ishant Sharma has particularly impressed me, and I'm not the only one. He is one of the few right-arm fast bowlers currently playing who can bring the ball in and from what I have seen of him during the recent Test series against Australia and now the One-Dayers, he seems to have a very good work ethic and hits the deck hard, which is always a good thing for a quick. For the sake of healthy competition in world cricket, such youngsters are always welcome.
Our youngsters, too, have to work on taking some of the load off the team's senior players. A perception seems to be growing that this team is over-dependent on certain individuals, whereas our focus has always been on a team game. The nature of cricket is such that exceptional individual performances will always come to the fore, but ultimately, the team that plays consistently as a unit wins consistently too.
This is a tough tournament, but it presents all the youngsters with an excellent opportunity to prove their mettle. Like India, Australia too are going through a period of transition of sorts, and this is a good opportunity to prevail over them in their own backyard. Make no mistake, they are still tough opponents, but with their newer plyers settling in, this is a good time to exploit the weaker links.
Discussing plans 'a waste
The Singapore-based businessman, who is president and chief executive of World Sport Group, said it was pointless to debate the matter without the sanction of the national associations and regional confederations."Discussing this now is a complete waste of time," he told PA Sport. "Firstly, before they go anywhere, they would have to get the sanction of the national association, they would have to get the sanction of the confederation and, because it's a league outside national boundaries, I believe they have to get the approval of FIFA."So any discussion is totally premature and a long way from now."O'Brien has been a major player on the sports marketing scene in Asia since the mid-90s and his company owns the commercial rights to a number of football events around the region, including the Asian Football Confederation's flagship event, the Asian Cup, and the Asian Champions League.WSG also acted as promoter for the Premier League's Asia Trophy matches in Hong Kong last summer, which featured Liverpool, Portsmouth and Fulham.But while O'Brien admits that the Premier League's idea is a good one, he feels that there are a lot of complex issues that must first be addressed."It's a nice idea and if you're asking me what I think, I'd say 'great'," "But this isn't like the NFL getting out of bed and saying 'let's have a game in London at Wembley' because nobody cares about that. That's just a bit of fun on a Sunday afternoon."Football is a different game. It's a global game played in every country and everything everybody does affects somebody else. That's why they have rules and regulations."On the face of it, what the Premier League is trying to do is a good idea. They're actually building their brand and I would be thinking along the same lines.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Discussing plans 'a waste of time' - marketing expert
The Singapore-based businessman, who is president and chief executive of World Sport Group, said it was pointless to debate the matter without the sanction of the national associations and regional confederations.
"Discussing this now is a complete waste of time," he told PA Sport. "Firstly, before they go anywhere, they would have to get the sanction of the national association, they would have to get the sanction of the confederation and, because it's a league outside national boundaries, I believe they have to get the approval of FIFA.
"So any discussion is totally premature and a long way from now."
O'Brien has been a major player on the sports marketing scene in Asia since the mid-90s and his company owns the commercial rights to a number of football events around the region, including the Asian Football Confederation's flagship event, the Asian Cup, and the Asian Champions League.
WSG also acted as promoter for the Premier League's Asia Trophy matches in Hong Kong last summer, which featured Liverpool, Portsmouth and Fulham.
But while O'Brien admits that the Premier League's idea is a good one, he feels that there are a lot of complex issues that must first be addressed.
"It's a nice idea and if you're asking me what I think, I'd say 'great'," he said.
"But this isn't like the NFL getting out of bed and saying 'let's have a game in London at Wembley' because nobody cares about that. That's just a bit of fun on a Sunday afternoon.
"Football is a different game. It's a global game played in every country and everything everybody does affects somebody else. That's why they have rules and regulations.
"On the face of it, what the Premier League is trying to do is a good idea. They're actually building their brand and I would be thinking along the same lines.
Friday, January 18, 2008
ishant sharma
The process of having a team in place for the 2011 World Cup seems to have taken a proper course. There is lot of time for the selectors to identify and groom the possible players and it is nice to see the likes of Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and S. Sreesanth performing consistently.
I remember the time when Zaheer Khan had arrived with a bang in 2000. I was coach of the Kenyan team then and had watched Zaheer from close quarters. He had promised so much and most of us were impressed with his speed and accuracy. But down the line he lost pace and his accuracy. It was strange because he had looked so good. I remember Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath, two fine examples of bowlers who did not lose their speed as time progressed.
Here, I would like to mention two superb bowlers_Ashish Nehra and L. Balaji_who faded because of injuries. Looking at them, I think it becomes important that we handle someone like Ishant with care. Suddenly, everyone finds him to be the solution to all our bowling problems. That can't be the case because we need to give Ishant some more time and see how consistently he can deliver. I don't want the youngster to be loaded with needless pressure.
I remember Munaf Patel arriving with a similar promise but gradually struggling to match the expectations. Now, Ishant should be protected from a similar fate. It will also be too early to say that Rohit has class. He has promise but I would like to wait before judging his class. He must be careful with his shot selection because he tends to play casual at times. It is quite the same problem that I had. The support staff has a role to play here. How to make the best use of these gifted players and stop them from getting carried away.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Benitez guards against Cup upset
The non-league side twice went ahead at Anfield in the previous round before Benitez's men belatedly clicked into gear and ended up avoiding any further embarrassment with a 5-2 victory.
But Benitez is adamant his side's experience today underlines the fact that his Barclays Premier League stars can afford to take nothing for granted against lower division outfits with nothing to lose.
Benitez said: "We have some experience of how difficult these games can be. Everybody says we will beat Barnsley but we must be careful and do the right things.
"Against Havant & Waterlooville we were thinking about scoring goals and we conceded. If you concede first goal against whoever you are playing, you will start to get anxious.
"We knew of the dangers before that game but it still happened. Clearly this is a cup final for them, so we must be careful and give them a lot of respect. If we score first everything will be okay."
Benitez has admitted he has one eye on next week's Champions League clash with Inter Milan, and must decide whether to risk any of the returning Fernando Torres, Fabio Aurelio, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sami Hyypia.
A deeper defensive crisis, with calf injury victim Martin Skrtel joining Daniel Agger on the sidelines, means Benitez's hand could be forced, although it would be a surprise to see Spaniard Torres in the starting line-up.
"You need to make sure you have the right team and the right player for both games. Playing some players might be a risk, so we have analyse each one and decide because of the Inter game.
"We are thinking about both games but we are talking about just one. We are very positive and we want to make the most of both these opportunities, but first it is important to think about Barnsley.
"The passion of this competition is fantastic and for some teams it is the most important game of their lives. Sometimes you see smaller teams whose players have more passion and commitment, and that is what creates upsets."
Despite his side's virtual elimination from the Barclays Premier League title race, Benitez will head into the tie in buoyant mood following a gutsy goalless draw at Chelsea last week.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Spinner Peterson called-up
Harris is expected to be sidelined for around three weeks after undergoing surgery for an abscess, prompting the selectors to reward Peterson for his fine domestic form with a call-up.
"Robbie has shown excellent form in the SuperSport Series competition," said selection convener Joubert Strydom.
"He was the leading wicket-taker among South African spin bowlers with 24 wickets with the only spin bowler to do better being Imran Tahir of Pakistan and the Nashua Titans who claimed 31 dismissals.
"It is also important to maintain consistency in selection. Robbie and Johan Botha were our two spin bowlers in the South African A side that played the West Indies, so we have the same combination again.
"It is also important to have the variety offered by having a left-hander and a right-hander in our spin attack."
Peterson is expected to leave for Bangladesh later this week along with batsman Neil McKenzie, whose departure was delayed for personal reasons.
The first of two Tests on the tour gets under way in Mirpur on February 22.Sunday, January 13, 2008
Milan close in on European places
The match was postponed back in December to allow the Rossoneri to play at the Club World Cup - a competition they won by beating Boca Juniors 4-2.The Rossoneri go into the encounter on the back of a 1-0 triumph against Fiorentina, which marked their fourth win in a row and saw them cut the deficit with the Viola to just two points.A win against the Amaranto will see the Rossoneri leapfrog the Tuscan giants and hold the last Champions League qualifying spot with 16 games left to play.Moreover, it will be a big boost in confidence for the Rossoneri players in view of the challenging calendar that awaits them.Milan make the journey to Parma this weekend before travelling to London to meet Arsenal in the knockout stages of the Champions League."We have to recover some injured players but overall we are well and hence, I am confident for the games that await us," said Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti."Our aim this season in the domestic front is to finish fourth and it's a task that we hope to achieve by beating Livorno on Wednesday."With regards to the European competition, we want to go as far as possible even if Arsenal will prove a big obstacle."The Rossoneri go into the encounter at the San Siro having to do without Alexandre Pato, Kaka and Gennaro Gattuso, all unavailable through injury.However, Ancelotti will be hoping for more of the same from Alberto Paloschi.The 18-year-old striker came up with the goods on Sunday by firing into the back of the net just 18 seconds after entering the pitch in what was his debut with the Rossoneri in Serie A.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Driscoll still has the blues
For players and coach Eddie O'Sullivan the display has provided welcome refuge from the unceasing criticism that began during their abysmal World Cup.
But while O'Driscoll has taken comfort from the final quarter heroics, inspired by a rampaging Irish pack, he admits the bottom line is they failed against Les Bleus.
"There's definitely a feeling that we've made significant progress," he said.
"Obviously in the Six Nations you only have five games and you have to get it right from the start, but we certainly improved as the game went on.
"But while a lot of the reaction to the match has been positive, we're not here to put in good performances and lose.
"We're here to win games and we're all very disappointed we didn't beat France.
"We had set out at the start of the season to win all five matches in the Six Nations and unfortunately we have lost one already."
O'Driscoll replaced the disappointing Malcolm O'Kelly shortly before Ireland staged their do-or-die assault and impressed enough to put him in line for a start against Scotland on February 23.
The return of Paul O'Connell from a back injury complicates matters with the Munster lock due to continue his comeback in Friday's Celtic League match against Edinburgh.
If O'Connell comes through unscathed, the Irish talisman may be deemed fit enough to start alongside Donncha O'Callaghan with O'Driscoll potentially settling for a place on the bench.
But if O'Sullivan decides O'Connell, who has been out since the World Cup with the recurring injury, needs one more match, O'Driscoll could be let loose against the Scots.
Successive defeats by France and Wales have put Scotland on a wooden spoon collision course with Italy but O'Driscoll refuses to underestimate Frank Hadden's side.
"People are saying this and that about the Scots, that they are probably not the best team around at the minute," he said.
"But it doesn't really matter who you play, any international team can pull off a win on any particular day.
"Losing to France was disappointing but we just have to get over that.
"Over the next couple of days we'll look back at the game to see where we went wrong and where we can improve.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Gatland to name team early
Brann bullish ahead of Everton tie
Trapattoni bullish over 2010 hopes
Trapattoni has taken up the role of Republic manager on a two-year contract, so ending the Football Association of Ireland's 112-day search for a successor to Steve Staunton who was sacked at the end of October.
But after calling a press conference for 5pm today, 68-year-old Trapattoni stole the FAI's thunder by confirming his new position from Salzburg this morning.
As current manager of Red Bull Salzburg, who are gunning for back-to-back Austrian League titles under the Italian, Trapattoni will not start work until May or possibly even June.
At this stage he is uncertain whether he will be in charge for the May 24 friendly against Serbia at Croke Park in Dublin, although it is hoped he will be there in some capacity.
Beyond that, qualifying matches for the World Cup finals in South Africa beckon, with Ireland in a group that also - somewhat poignantly for Trapattoni - includes Italy.
Trapattoni is confident Ireland can not only end their barren run of failing to reach the last three major tournaments, but even top the group.
"Ireland are not a second-rate team, they are supposed to be a first-rate team," insisted Trapattoni, who previously managed Italy from 2000 to 2004.
"Qualifying for the World Cup in 2010 will be hard, and playing against the Italian team will make me proud, but it should be possible for Ireland to come first."
Despite the number of candidates mentioned and interviewed for the post by a three-man head-hunting panel, Trapattoni has confirmed he was not approached until earlier this month.
Although his CV in club management is impeccable - featuring numerous league titles and trophies with Juventus, Internazionale, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Salzburg - Trapattoni has insisted it is for family reasons that he has returned to international football.
"This is the time in a year when football managers receive offers, and this is what has happened to me," added Trapattoni.
"In the last two weeks I received offers from various clubs, and about 10 days ago representatives of the Football Association of Ireland approached me. I found their offer very interesting.
"I am very comfortable here in Salzburg. We won the Austrian title last year and we have a great chance to win the title again this year.
"Leaving the title as a farewell present to my Bulls is now my number one aim.
"But the opportunity to manage the Irish team will give me a lot more time to spend with my family.
