Thursday, June 18, 2009 LONDON: India and New Zealand will face each other in the first ICC Women's World Twenty20 2009 semi-final at Trent Bridge on Thursday.The White Ferns, who were losing finalists in the ICC Women's World Cup in March in Australia, start favourites to make the final at Lord's after carrying their good form to Taunton with three convincing wins. New Zealand, who had arrived in England on the back of a three-Twenty20 series with Australia, beat an undercooked India comfortably in Taunton ahead of the tournament.Though India eased into the semis with two wins - its sole defeat was to favourite England - Mithali knows that its batting has been shaky and has relied on individual performances such as Anjum Chopra's 37 not out against Pakistan, and her own unbeaten 32 against Sri Lanka.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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