RAFA IN DA HUNT
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
India cruise to seven-wicket victory
Cheteshwar Pujara has not been part of India's rise to the No. 1 Test ranking but he could help determine how long they stay there, after his outstanding 72 on debut set up a seven-wicket win. Guided in the end by Sachin Tendulkar, the hosts cruised to their target of 207 to confirm the 2-0 series triumph, while Australia slid to fifth of the ICC rankings for the first time, courtesy of another toothless bowling display.
When Virender Sehwag fell early in the chase, the match seemed to be heading for similar drama to the final day in Mohali, where the wounded 114-Test veteran VVS Laxman dragged his side over the line. That there was no similarly tense finish was due to the work of Pujara, who was in his first Test but showed the kind of confidence expected from an old hand.
Unexpectedly promoted to No. 3 following a first-innings effort that lasted three balls, Pujara betrayed no nerves and drove his third delivery handsomely to the cover boundary off Mitchell Johnson. The introduction of Nathan Hauritz brought out the best in Pujara, who used his feet brilliantly to the spinner and drove him through the gaps in a field that an apoplectic Shane Warne felt the need to tweet about from the opposite hemisphere.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
First trial of embryonic stem cells in humans
US doctors have begun the first official trial of using human embryonic stem cells in patients after getting the green light from regulators.
The Food and Drug Administration has given a license to Geron to use the controversial cells to treat people with spinal injuries.
The cells have the potential to become many of the different cell types found in the body, including nerve cells.
The trials at a hospital in Atlanta will check if the treatment is safe.
Pivotal research
Geron, a biotech company based in "silicon valley" south of San Francisco, has spent $170m on developing a stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury.
The research will use cells coaxed to become nerve cells which are injected into the spinal cord.
In animal trials of the treatment, paralysed rats regained some movement.
But it is not yet known if it will offer any benefit to people with spinal cord injuries.
Every year around 12,000 people in the US sustain spinal cord injuries. The most common causes are automobile accidents, falls, gunshot wounds and sports injuries.
In the trial, patients who have sustained such an injury within the last 14 days will be given the experimental stem cell treatment.
Geron president Dr Thomas Okarma said: "When we started working with human embryonic stem cells in 1999, many predicted that it would be a number of decades before a cell therapy would be approved for human clinical trials.
Gerrard defends Torres and Hodgson
Torres has scored just once while Hodgson, who took over from predecessor Rafael Benitez on 1st July, has overseen one Barclays Premier League victory which has contributed to the side slumping to 18th in the table.
But Gerrard, who has performed well this season, believes it is wrong to single out either player or manager.
BODY LANGUAGE
"It's all completely over the top," he said.
"It's easy to watch a football match and if the centre-forward doesn't score or pull a rabbit out of a hat, say his body language isn't right.
"If a player's form isn't there or he's fighting for full fitness after injuries it's normal that their body language isn't perfect.
"If I'm not playing at the levels I know I can, or if I'm struggling with an injury, people say the same things about me.
"The only time a centre-forward's body language is 100 per cent right is when they're scoring in every game, that's the way they are.
Wilshere backing Arsenal's title bid
Arsene Wenger's side are currently sitting in fourth position in the table and are seven points behind leaders Chelsea.
The Gunners' 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge before the international break has left them with some catching up to do.
However, Wilshere believes the champions will eventually slip up and he is confident Arsenal can take advantage when they do.
DEFEND WELL
Wilshere said: "It's still early days, we're definitely still in it.
"I know we are seven points behind, but I think Chelsea will definitely drop points and we've just got to capitalise when they do.
"Hopefully there aren't too many injuries (ahead for us) but if there are we've got a big squad and we can cope."
The 18-year-old disagrees with suggestions that Wenger's side only have one way to play against physical teams such as Chelsea.
"I don't think that's true (that Arsenal cannot beat Chelsea)," he said.
"You saw we dominated the game for long periods but we just didn't take our chances.
"A couple of games before that we scored six, so it was just one of those days.
"In football it's what you do on the ball, but also make sure that when you haven't got the ball that you defend well.
"Obviously Chelsea have got some good players and they showed that on the day."
Ferguson: Chat helped Berbatov
The Manchester United striker has started the season in fantastic form with six goals in his first seven league matches.
The Bulgarian arrived in the summer of 2008 from Tottenham Hotspur, but struggled to live up to expectations prior to the current campaign.
Now he is starting to deliver Ferguson maintains that he had little doubt that Berbatov just needed time to find his confidence.
"I just had a word with him at the start of the campaign," said Ferguson.
"I told him: 'Look, only you can solve this conundrum. You're the one in control here. You've got fantastic ability and you need to realise that ability and make the most of it. We'll be here to support you'.
"And he's started the season in terrific form for us. Dimitar has been, without doubt, our star forward."
TWO FACTORS
Ferguson feels any player signed by United generally needs time to adapt to the club.
"When you bring a player to Manchester United, not everybody takes to the situation straight away.
"Not all signings become hits overnight.
"(Antonio) Valencia did, of course, but he's almost an exception. Others take time, and Dimitar was a bit like that. It's just a fact.
"Nobody's ever doubted the ability of the lad, but what we're seeing now is a striker who's playing with belief and confidence.
"All strikers are massively reliant on those two factors - belief and confidence.
"And at the moment Berbatov has both."
Federer is different class to Nadal, says Bjorkman
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Roger Federer is ranked third in the world and has won only two titles in 2010 but nine-times men's doubles grand slam champion Jonas Bjorkman has no doubts about who is the best player in the world.
"There's a difference in class and Federer is a much, much better player than (world number one Rafael) Nadal at this point in time," Sweden's former world number four told Reuters.
Bjorkman's assessment may raise a few eyebrows considering Nadal has won seven tournaments this season, including the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open crowns.
However, Bjorkman was adamant that nine-times slam winner Nadal could only be compared to the Swiss maestro once the Spaniard had matched Federer's staying power at the big four events.
Not only has the 29-year-old won a record 16 majors but he also reached an astonishing 23 consecutive grand slam semi-finals -- a record many pundits believe is unbreakable.
Nadal's earning power may not match Federer's
Rafa Nadal has toppled Roger Federer from the summit of the tennis world rankings but overtaking his arch rival as the sport's number one in off-court earnings is likely to prove a much stiffer challenge.
Nadal, 24, joined the 29-year-old Federer and five other players on an elite list when he swept to victory at last month's U.S. Open and completed a career grand slam of all four major tournaments.
The Spaniard, who now has nine grand slam singles titles, has shrugged off the niggling injuries that had plagued him over the past couple of seasons and his career is very much on the up, while the Swiss, who has a record 16 major singles titles, is closer to the end of his.
However, Federer's annual earnings of $35 million from sponsorship and appearance fees are still more than double those of Nadal, who makes around $15 million, according to an estimate by Forbes Magazine.
Both players had lucrative sponsorship deals with Nike, with Federer's worth around $10 million a year and Nadal's $7 million, Kurt Badenhausen, a senior Forbes editor who compiles annual rankings of athletes' earnings, told Reuters.
Federer, who is sixth on the latest Forbes list of the world's best-paid athletes, has sponsors including Credit Suisse, Gillette, Mercedes Benz and Rolex. Nadal, who does not make the top 50, has deals with Kia Motors and Spanish financial firms Banesto and Mapfre, among others.
Nadal zips through in Tokyo to keep Messi date
World number one Rafa Nadal sped past Russia's Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Japan Open and keep a special appointment Friday.
The Spaniard revealed he wanted to go to watch Japan play Argentina in a soccer friendly in Saitama -- over an hour's drive away -- in the evening and catch up with pal Lionel Messi.
Frenchman Gael Monfils ousted second seed Andy Roddick 7-6 4-6 7-6 in a pulsating quarter-final at the $1.2 million tournament in Tokyo earlier in the day.
Wearing a canary yellow shirt, Nadal came out all guns blazing and after safely pocketing the first set, the Spaniard blitzed through the second to win in just 72 minutes.
"I want to see Japan and Argentina after I have some dinner and rest," this year's triple grand slam winner told reporters as he munched on a packet of biscuits from his native Mallorca.
"I have some friends on the Argentina team. It will be an honor to see them and watch two good teams play.
"I still have lots of work to win this tournament but it would be very positive for me and a big boost for the rest of the season," added Nadal, making his debut in Japan.
NADAL MAGIC
Single season Grand Slam sweep is impossible says Nadal
World number one Rafa Nadal has enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in tennis but the Spaniard thinks winning the four Grand Slams in a single season is beyond him.
Nadal, top seed at the Shanghai Masters, has won Wimbledon and the US and French Opens this season, plus a string of Masters and other titles over a blistering 10 months.
However, he was forced out of the Australian Open quarter-finals in January due to a knee injury.
"For me, winning the four titles is impossible," said the 24-year-old on Tuesday ahead of his first round match at the Shanghai's Masters.
"I will try to keep playing well and to try to win four titles next year. But it may not be case they are all Grand Slams. That's impossible for sure, I think," he added.
Nadal, who has already secured the yearend number one ranking with several tournaments to spare, admitted to fatigue due to a hectic 2010 tour schedule.
"I am a little bit more tired than usual. But this is because I have probably played more matches than the rest," he said.
Facebook app downloads show unique 'bandwagon effect
A study of the download rates of a set of apps for Facebook has shown how they follow an unusual "bandwagon effect".
Apps whose downloads were advertised to the Facebook community gained slowly in popularity, and rates had no evident connection to social pressures.
But at a certain popularity threshold, roughly the same across a wide range of apps, downloads began to skyrocket.
The authors of the research in PNAS say that in the offline world, no such "switch" is known to exist.
The data were gathered in mid-2007, when the site had 2,720 apps and 50 million users.
At that time, a Facebook user's apps were all visible to their friends, and the friends were notified when a new app was downloaded; Facebook has since stopped the practice.
Jukka-Pekka Onnela and Felix Reed-Tsochas examined anonymised data about the downloading of all the apps over a 50-day period.
Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7
Microsoft's Ashley Highfield shows Rory Cellan-Jones the mobile operating system's features.
Microsoft has launched Windows Phone 7, its latest attempt to break into the lucrative smartphone market.
Until now the company has failed to provide a credible challenge to rival operating systems from Apple, Google, Research in Motion and Nokia.
Mobile phone operators predict smartphones will have a 70% market share in just three years.
Microsoft says it has made Windows Phone 7 more user-friendly, rebuilding the operating system from bottom up.
The phone system's experience is built around so-called hubs that aggregate content like contacts, pictures, documents, and music and video. The content on the phone is then synchronised both with storage services on the internet and the owner's computers at home.
At launch Microsoft's new phone system will be available on nine phones, and with 60 operators in 30 countries.
In the UK the phone will launch on 21 October, while the US launch will be in early November.
Wal-Mart to start selling Apple's iPad
Wal-Mart Stores Inc will start selling Apple's iPad tablet computer this Friday.
Wal-Mart said the iPad will be available in hundreds of its stores in the United States to start, expanding to more than 2,300 outlets by mid-November.
Wal-Mart rivals Best Buy and Target are already selling the iPad, which Apple launched in April.
Demand for the 10-inch touchscreen tablet has so far been robust, and Apple initially had a difficult time producing enough.
The company sold more than 3 million iPads in the June quarter, and Wall Street expects the company to surpass that mark with ease in the September quarter.
Apple is set to report quarterly results next Monday.
Wal-Mart will sell the iPad for the same price as other retailers, starting at $499 for the more inexpensive model. The world's largest retailer already sells Apple's iPod and iPhone.
Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple were up $1.75 at $297.11 in midday trading on the Nasdaq.
Microsoft issues its biggest-ever security fix
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Microsoft Corp issued its biggest-ever security fix on Tuesday, including repairs to its ubiquitous Windows operating system and Internet browser for flaws that could let hackers take control of a PC.
The new patches aim to fix a number of vulnerabilities including the notorious Stuxnet virus that attacked an Iranian nuclear power plant and other industrial control systems around the world.
Microsoft said four of the new patches -- software updates that write over glitches -- were of the highest priority and should be deployed immediately to protect users from potential criminal attacks on the Windows operating systems.
Microsoft said it also repaired other less serious security weaknesses in Windows, along with security problems in its widely used Office software for PCs and Microsoft Server software for business computers.
Microsoft released 16 security patches to address 49 problems in its products, many of which were discovered by outside researchers who seek out such vulnerabilities to win cash bounties as well as notoriety for their technical prowess.
Intel's Q4 outlook sets upbeat tone for tech earns
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Intel Corp forecast upbeat fourth-quarter sales and margins as resilient demand from emerging markets and corporations offset weak consumer spending, raising hopes that the technology sector could end 2010 on a strong note.
Shares of Intel and rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc, which have warned about weak consumer demand for computers, climbed 1 percent in after-hours trade.
In Asia, shares of Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No. 2 memory chipmaker, rose 2.4 percent and Elpida Memory gained 2.3 percent as Intel improved the outlook for the latest tech earnings, which some have feared could spell a disappointing holiday shopping season.
After investors lowered their expectations for chip companies, semiconductor stocks surged through September in part on the belief that the worst might be over for the technology sector.
Intel's forecast for a better-than-expected December quarter gross margin of 67 percent -- plus or minus a couple percentage points -- affirmed hopes that higher-end spending on servers or data centers may help offset a loss of computer sales to a booming tablet segment.
Rhys Ifans joins "Spider-Man" as villain
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Andrew Garfield's new Spider-man will face off against Rhys Ifans.
The Welsh actor has been cast as the villain in the Spider-man reboot that Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios are mounting for release in 2012.
The studio confirmed Ifans' casting on Monday, but it's still playing coy as to which villain from the Spider-man canon he will play.
Ifans' breakthrough role came in 1999's "Notting Hill," in which he played Hugh Grant's scruffy lodger. Since then he has appeared in such films as "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "Pirate Radio," "Greenberg" and "Nanny McPhee Returns."
Ifans will appear in the upcoming films "Mr. Nice," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," "Passion Play" and "Anonymous."
Marc Webb is directing the new Spider-man feature, from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. The film, which also will star Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, is slated for a nationwide 3D release on July 3, 2012.
Eminem, Bieber outscore Lady Gaga in AMA nods
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Rapper Eminem and country music band Lady Antebellum led nominations for the 2010 American Music Awards on Tuesday, but Lady Gaga earned just two nods despite dominating the music industry for the past year.
Eminem, back on top of music charts with a best-selling album "Recovery", and Lady Antebellum, earned five nominations each, closely followed by teen idol Justin Bieber, 16, with four.
Bieber and Eminem will compete with Lady Gaga, "California Gurls" pop singer Katy Perry, and newcomer Ke$ha for the artist of the year award -- the biggest prize of the night at a televised live ceremony in Los Angeles on November 21.
Favorite album will pit Perry's "Teenage Dream" against Bieber's "My World 2.O" and Eminem's "Recovery".
Lady Gaga challenged to $1 million singing competition
Lady Gaga has been challenged to a televised sing-off by Los Angeles recording artist Alisa Apps, with the winner taking home a cash prize at least $1 million.
The competition would take place at New York's Madison Square Garden or London's O2 Arena, with each singer performing a series of songs.
"I feel sorry for Lady Gaga -- she's just a plastic doll generated by the music money marketing machine," Apps states in a release. "This contest gives people a chance to choose which they prefer -- plastic or real."
Lady Gaga has not responded to the challenge thus far.
Apps has yet to release her debut album, but a clip of the singer performing the track "How Do I Make Right" has earned 1.2 million views on YouTube.
Christina Aguilera and husband split up
Singer Christina Aguilera said on Tuesday that she and her music executive husband, Jordan Bratman, have separated after nearly five years of marriage.
"Although Jordan and I are separated, our commitment to our son Max remains as strong as ever," Aguilera said in a brief statement.
Celebrity news website Us Weekly said Aguilera, 29, and Bratman, 33, split up a few months ago but have not yet decided whether to divorce.
"They are now living apart, and they will see how that goes," Us Weekly quoted a source close to the "Beautiful" singer as saying.
"They were very much in love. But over the last six months, it became clear they were more like friends than husband and wife," the unidentified source said.
Aguilera, who had a huge early hit with "Genie in a Bottle", and Bratman married in November 2005 and have the one son, Max, age 2. They met in 2002 while Jordan was working for Aguilera's music management company.
A former Disney teen performer, Aguilera is due to star in her first feature film -- the upcoming musical "Burlesque".
Study: Students learning abroad increase drinking
Students who go abroad while in college are likely to increase or even double their alcohol intake while they're away, a new study has found.
Drinking increased most dramatically in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the study by researchers at the University of Washington found. Students reported drinking more when they perceived their fellow travelers were drinking more heavily, and those who planned to make drinking part of their cultural immersion did so.
The study published in the current issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors looked only at drinking habits of students who went abroad from the University of Washington, but UW graduate student Eric Pedersen said he would expect to get similar results at other universities.
"I don't think this is just a UW problem," said the psychology student, who noted, however, that his study sample included more women than the national average for studying abroad and the students he looked at were more diverse ethnically than the national average.
His research did not pinpoint why students drink more while they study abroad, but the results don't necessarily indicate binge drinking. Pedersen says a drink or so each night with dinner could add up to the 10 drinks a week European visitors reported on average.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Hunger index shows one billion without enough food
One billion people in the world were undernourished in 2009, according to a new report.
The 2010 Global Hunger Index shows that child malnutrition is the biggest cause of hunger worldwide, accounting for almost half of those affected.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia were shown to have the highest levels of hunger.
The report's authors called on nations to tackle child malnutrition in order to reduce global hunger.
The Global Hunger Index is produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines hunger as the consumption of fewer than 1,800 kilocalories a day - the minimum required to live a healthy and productive life.
Despite the number of undernourished people in the world falling between 1990 and 2006, the report's authors say in that number has crept up in recent years, with the data from 2009 showing more than one billion hungry people.
The most recent figures from 2010 suggest the number may again be falling but this data is not yet complete.
Light drinking no risk to baby, say researchers
Drinking one or two units of alcohol a week during pregnancy does not raise the risk of developmental problems in the child, a study has suggested.
Official advice remains that women abstain completely during pregnancy.
A study of more than 11,000 five-year-olds published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found no evidence of harm.
There were more behavioural and emotional problems among the children of heavy-drinking women.
When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, it passes through the placenta and reaches the baby, which is less well-equipped to break it down.
Researchers have strongly linked heavy drinking to an increased risk of lifelong damage.
However, the evidence about the risks to lighter drinkers has been far less clear.
he study, led by University College London but involving three other UK universities, is the second by this group examining large numbers of children looking for signs that brain development had been affected.
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