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LAHORE: Pakistan cricket left for Sri Lanka on Saturday to play Test and one day series against Sri Lanka.Talking to media at Lahore International Airport, cricket team coach Intikhab Alam said batsmen should perform well to get better results. Fitness of players will play key role in the series, as the weather in Sri Lanka will be hot which makes playing conditions difficult.Replying to question about Shoaib Akhter, Intikhab said Shoaib should focus on his fitness if he wants to join national team.Wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal at this occasion said cricket fans would get quality cricket because both teams have world-class players. Abdul Razzaq termed Pakistan as favorite for the series and vowed that he will contribute for team.Nine players left for Sri Lanka today. Captain Younis Khan, Umer Gul, Fawwad Alam, Khurram Manzoor, Faisal Iqbal will leave from Karachi whereas Danesh Kaneria will join the team from London.Pakistan team will play three Test matches, five one-days and one ...

Saturday, June 27, 2009 MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid from Manchester United has been finalised, the Spanish club confirmed, with the Portuguese set to officially join the Spanish giants on 1 July. The £80m fee breaks the previous world-record of £56m, set earlier this summer, which Real Madrid paid for Milan's Brazilian forward Kaka."Real Madrid and Manchester United have signed a final agreement for the transfer of the rights of Cristiano Ronaldo from 1 July," a statement on Real's ­website said.Ronaldo, who joined United in 2003 for £12.2m, is set to earn a reported €13m (£11m) a year in Spain, making him the highest paid footballer in the world. He will be presented at the Santiago Bernabeu on 6 July.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 JOHANNESBURG: A goal by Dani Alves before the end of regulation time gave Brazil a 1-0 victory over host nation South Africa and a spot in the Confederations Cup final against the United States, the surprise of the tournament.The South African squad put up a valiant effort and was just one well executed play away from making its dream of victory a reality against a rival that seemed out-of-sorts for much of the match.The win sends Brazilians into the final against the United States, a team they handily defeated 3-0 in the round-robin phase of the tournament.The United States advanced to the final with a stunning 2-0 victory over Spain, ending the Iberian nation’s long winning streak dating back to last year’s Eurocup.Brazil is the defending champion of the Confederations Cup, which is played every four years and is held in the same country that will also host the following year’s World Cup.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 LONDON: Ana Ivanovic powered into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a straight sets defeat of Australia's Samantha Stosur on Saturday. The Serbian 13th seed beat the 18th seed 7-5, 6-2 in an hour and 10 minutes on Court 2. The 2007 Wimbledon semi-finalist, and former world number one, faces either defending champion, and third seed, Venus Williams or Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro for a place in the last eight.

Sunday, June 28, 2009 LONDON: Britain's Andy Murray made the Wimbledon last 16 on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia's Viktor Troicki. The third seed faces Switzerland's Stanilas Wawrinka for a place in the quarter-finals.Murray, bidding to end Britain's 73-year wait for a home men's Wimbledon champion, had won both his previous matches with the 23-year-old Serbian and was never in trouble on Saturday. Despite the dark clouds over Centre Court, which heralded the end of a day when temperatures had smashed through 30 degrees, Murray brightened the proceedings with a convincing display of serving. He broke in the sixth and eighth games of the first set to take the opener and carved out another break in the second game of the second set. With rain threatening, Murray hurried through the decider with a break in the first game and wrapped up victory after just 96 minutes with his 17th ace.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 BEIRUT: Saad Hariri, son of slain billionaire ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, was named Lebanon's new prime minister on Saturday, a presidential statement said. "According to the constitution and after the president consulted with the speaker of parliament and parliamentarians, he (Lebanese President Michel Sleiman) summoned Saad Hariri and tasked him with forming a new government," the statement said. In total, Hariri was proposed by 86 of Lebanon's 128 deputies -- the 71 from his own majority alliance, plus pro-Syrian parliament speaker Nabih Berri and his bloc of 12 MPs and two Armenian MPs, the various groups said. Berri's allies in the Hezbollah-led minority coalition said they abstained from naming anyone for the top post, reserved for a Sunni Muslim under Lebanon's complex sectarian political system. Hariri, who heads the Sunni Future movement, has urged his supporters to refrain from firing celebratory shots after his expected designa...

Saturday, June 27, 2009 TRIESTE: The Group of Eight leading powers turned their attention Saturday to stabilising Afghanistan and Pakistan in talks aimed at shoring up faltering efforts with 40 regional players. With just two months to go before a presidential election, Afghanistan is battling a Taliban insurgency and has been flooded with massive waves refugees fleeing a Pakistani army offensive in the Swat valley. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said talks focussed on "the development of economic infrastructure and enhanced regional connectivity -- open trade corridors, improving rail and road links." "We were discussing how important it is for these people to return home as soon as possible," Qureshi said while talking to a French news agency. "It's a huge challenge. Obviously we need more help, international help, because if we win on the military front and we lose hearts and minds, then it will come to naught," he said. The foreig...

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's personal doctor, who was with the singer when he died, is being interviewed as the coroner defers the cause of death for further tests.Dr Conrad Murray and his car being seized by Los Angeles police.Meanwhile, the Los Angeles coroner's office has said a three-and-a-half hour post mortem showed no external injuries or evidence of foul play but deferred cause of death for further tests.Spokesman Craig Harvey said exhaustive toxicology tests will take "approximately four to six weeks to complete".Jackson's body has now been removed from the coroner's office and taken to an unknown location.No funeral plans have been announced but his family say they have not ruled out a public service.LA Police Department assistant police chief Charlie Beck said the further tests would provide "key results that will steer the direction of the investigation"."We are still trying to determine whether prescription drugs were involved,...

Saturday, June 27, 2009 LONDON: The organisers of Michael Jackson's comeback tour dates in London remained guarded Saturday about refunds for ticket holders following the singer's death. Jackson fans from around the world had rushed to snap up tickets for some 50 "This Is It" performances at London's O2 Arena which were due to start on July 13. The reclusive star made his final public appearance to unveil the sellout gigs in March. Reports in Britain say about 50 million pounds (59 million euros, 83 million dollars) has been spent on 750,000 tickets. Promoters AEG Live made no comment immediately following Jackson's death, but a spokeswoman for the company said late Friday: "On behalf of the entire AEG organisation we extend our deepest condolences to Michael Jackson's family and friends during this tragic time. "Full ticket refund information and procedures will be released early next week for all Michael Jackson 'This Is It' shows. ...

Saturday, June 27, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's cause of death will not be confirmed for several weeks, officials said, as late Friday, coroners officials revealed Jackson's body had been released to the star's family and was being kept at an undisclosed local mortuary. No funeral arrangements have so far been revealed.After an autopsy lasting several hours, Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey told reporters Friday that examiners had found no evidence of "external trauma or foul play" on Jackson's body. "Those tests, we anticipate, will take approximately four to six additional weeks to complete," Harvey said. Jackson's autopsy took place amid heartfelt tributes to the singer, and as speculation mounted about the cause of the death of the icon who sold more than 750 million records during a four-decade career.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 BEIRUT: Saad Hariri was poised to be designated Lebanon's new prime minister after his Western-backed party, which along with its allies holds the majority in parliament, picked him for the post. "We have chosen as our candidate for the premiership the head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri," party official and MP Samir el-Jisr told reporters after holding consultations with President Michel Sleiman. Sleiman is expected to officially designate Hariri on Saturday. Hariri's March 14 alliance won 71 seats in this month's parliamentary election against 57 won by a coalition led by the militant group Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 CAMP LEATHERNECK: A new wave of US Marines sent to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama to turn the table on Taliban insurgents is in position and ready for action, the military has said. About 10,000 fighters of Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade have arrived in Helmand, an opium-growing southern province where the Taliban have widespread power despite being ousted from government by US-led forces in 2001. "All the Marines being deployed have now got here," Lieutenant Abe Sipe, spokesman for the brigade, said Friday. "Our overall troop number is 10,700, of which 7,000 are at Camp Leatherneck and about 3,000 elsewhere in Helmand. "These Marines form the major part of the US troop increase."A total of 17,000 US troops and 4,000 military trainers have been pledged for Afghanistan as part of Obama's new strategy to defeat the Islamist Taliban, who have been gaining in strength over the past few years.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 WASHINGTON: The primary purpose of the Waxman-Markey bill making its way through Congress is to create a framework for reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. The cornerstone of the bill would be to put a cap and a price on emitting carbon. If passed, the bill would be a giant step toward low-carbon electric power, but it would not, as many of its proponents claim, solve the grave problem of U.S. oil dependence. Like a doctor who must treat a patient for two distinct ailments, the U.S. government should address climate change and oil dependence with distinct policies.Consider that the proposed price on carbon ($15 to $20 per ton) would only increase the price of gasoline by about 15 cents per gallon. American consumers, accustomed to wild price swings at the pump, would hardly notice this blip -- it is not enough to incentivize the type of innovation and market shifts necessary to break our dependence on oil.So how should the U.S. go about breaking its nasty oi...

Saturday, June 27, 2009 LONDON: Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed has said he will put up a Michael Jackson memorial at the Knightsbridge store.He said, "I'm distraught, can't believe that this could happen, it's a total shock. He was such a great character - a legend."He said he has already discussed plans with an artist for the memorial, which will be erected in a couple of months.He famously erected a memorial to his son Dodi and Princess Diana in the foyer of his shop following their deaths in the Paris car crash.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 TRIESTE: A deal on a two-state solution in Palestine could be within reach if Israel compromises on issues such as halting settlement expansion, said envoy to the region and former British prime minister Tony Blair.Blair -- regional mediator for the Middle East peace Quartet that groups the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union -- said hardline Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu could be in a strong domestic position to deliver concessions, if he was willing to do so.A statement from the Quartet, which met on the sidelines of a G8 foreign ministers' meeting in northern Italy, called for Israel to halt all settlement activities and for Palestinians to combat violent extremism."There is a virtual consensus across the international community not just as to what needs to happen, but how...which was not the case a couple of years ago," Blair told media."If Israel were to join that, we could get an agreement and an agre...