Titans crowned champions as Cobras draw
Northern Titans were crowned South Africa SuperSport Series champions Sunday after lone rivals Western Cape Cobras could only draw at Highveld Lions.
Pretoria-based Titans crushed Coastal Dolphins by an innings and 325 runs — a record winning margin for a South African four-day championship match — at SuperSport Park in Centurion early Saturday.
But they had to wait until Cobras were all out for 420 Sunday in their first innings at Wanderers 30 kilometres away before the champagne corks popped and the players and coach Matthew Maynard celebrated a second title in four seasons.
Cape Town-based Cobras needed to score at least 538 first innings runs and defeat the Lions to retain the title after leading by 0.68 of a point going into the final round.
Lions, who trailed by 10 runs after the first innings, declared at 164-4 second time round and a match featuring a stellar knock from Cobras number four Yaseen Vallie (167) was drawn.
Titans finished with 129.28 points, Cobras 116.90 and Central Knights from Bloemfontein 112.52 with the Lions fourth, Eastern Cape Warriors fifth and the Durban Dolphins last after winning only one of 10 matches.
Mali finished third in Africa Cup of Nations
Cheick Diabate scored in each half as Mali defeated 10-man Ghana 2-0 in a play-off Saturday to finish third at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
The big Bordeaux striker poked in a rebound midway through the opening half and tapped home a cross with 10 minutes left after Ghana defender Isaac Vorsah had been red carded for a second caution.
It was fourth time lucky for the Malian Eagles as they lost three previous third place matches in the African football showpiece while the Ghanaian Black Stars were suffering a second loss in three play-off appearances.
Striker Asamoah Gyan, who missed a penalty in the semi-final loss to Zambia, was a notable omission as Ghana made four changes with suspensions ruling out defender John Boye and midfielder Derek Boateng.
Mali also had four new faces compared to the side that took Ivory Coast to the wire in the other semi-final with goalkeeper Oumar Sissoko, defenders Ousmane Coulibaly and Abdoulaye Maiga and striker Garra Dembele coming in.
Mohsin expects Afghan players to do well
Pakistan is charged up and in high confidence coming off an historic first whitewash of England in a test series.
This one-dayer is serving as a warmup game for Pakistan before it takes on England in four ODIs and three Twenty20s.
Pakistan coach Mohsin Khan believes non-test teams like Afghanistan are a threat in ODIs and Twenty20s.
“I ve always been saying this, that you can t take any opposition lightly in shorter formats of the game,” Khan said on Wednesday.
“We have to play against them with full concentration and we can t take them easy. I am very happy for them and it s good that they are playing at a neutral venue and I hope it will be a good game.”
Afghanistan is ranked ninth in Twenty20s, and did well against South Africa and India in the 2010 World Twenty20.
Afghanistan has won 11 and lost seven one-dayers against affiliate and associate teams since it was awarded ODI status in 2009.
In 2010, Afghanistan defeated Pakistan in the Twenty20 semifinals at the Asian Games before winning the silver medal at Guangzhou, China.
Last year, Afghanistan became the first foreign team to tour Pakistan since 2009 when it played three one-dayers against Pakistan but was comprehensively beaten 3-0.–Agencies
Chinese hostages freed in Egypt
China has developed strong economic ties in volatile nations in Africa and elsewhere, in large part to meet its growing needs for energy and other raw materials. At the same time it is facing growing pressure at home to protect citizens who fall into harm s way abroad.
In Egypt, 25 cement factory workers were grabbed Tuesday on their way to work in the northern Sinai city of Arish but were freed in good condition, China s official Xinhua News Agency reported. Their captors, Xinhua said, were Egyptians who had blocked the road outside Arish for days to demand the release of relatives detained for attacks in the Sinai years ago and to demand an end to natural gas sales to Israel.
Meanwhile, while another group of workers remained captive for a fifth day in Sudan, in separate incidents that show the dangers China faces as its worldwide presence grows.
In contrast to the quick resolution of the Egypt hostage-taking, the ordeal of 29 Chinese workers from dam and engineering firm Sinohydro Group has dragged on since their kidnapping by rebels in the Sudan s South Kordofan region on Saturday.
Their plight has drawn heavy media attention in China, and Beijing has sent a crisis team to Sudan, where Chinese companies have investments in oil and construction projects.
China hopes Sudan will “keep in mind the overall situation of bilateral friendship” and ensure their swift release, Xie told Sudanese Charge d Affaires Omer Eisa Ahmed, according to the statement.
The kidnappings and Beijing s energetic response highlight what tempting targets Chinese have become as they grow richer and travel the world for work and for pleasure. Ensuring the safety of Chinese lives and assets has become a litmus test for the authoritarian government, which wants to prove to the public that China is powerful and respected around the world.
The public has increasingly expected an effective and at times muscular defense of Chinese rights, and social media have given vent to these expectations. In recent months, scuffles between Chinese fishermen and South Korean coastal patrols and the killing of Chinese boat crews along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia have brought calls for retaliation.
An estimated 60 million Chinese went abroad in 2010 and a projected 75 million likely did so in 2011, putting a strain on China s diplomatic corps to track them and provide protection, the state-run Guangzhou Daily reported this week on its website. The report quoted a scholar with a Foreign Ministry think tank who listed five potential trouble spots where China has significant investments: Sudan, Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan and Myanmar.
Many commentators say Chinese workers are vulnerable because Chinese companies searching for energy and other natural resources are often forced to operate in volatile parts of the world because safer areas are monopolized by Western firms.
When Libya began splintering in the civil war that eventually overthrew Moammar Gadhafi last year, some 30,000 Chinese were working in the country. The Chinese military orchestrated a large-scale evacuation, sending ships and planes.
Xinhua said the 29 people kidnapped in Sudan were among 47 Chinese workers were caught in an attack in South Kordofan. The other 18 workers fled, and one of them remains missing, the agency said. The attack took place near Abbasiya town, 390 miles (630 kilometers) south of Khartoum.
Sudanese officials have blamed the attack on the Sudan People s Liberation Movement-North, a branch of a guerrilla movement that has fought various regimes in Khartoum for decades. Its members come from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world s newest country six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.
Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan says the accusations are a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.
Beijing has tried to maneuver through the dispute, building ties with South Sudan, where many of the oil fields are located, while maintaining its long-standing relations with Sudan, through which pipelines run for export.
Rehman relishes bowling with Ajmal
Pakistan has put England in a spin in their test cricket series.
The left-arm spinner Rehman joined offspinner Ajmal in the test bowlers world top 10 rankings this week after they claimed a combined 12 and 17 wickets respectively from the matches at Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“We support each other so much that we always think that anyone can get a wicket,” Rehman said on Tuesday.
England will face both again in the series finale beginning on Friday in Dubai with Pakistan eyeing its first ever whitewash of England.
Rehman, who has moved to No. 9 in the rankings with Ajmal at No. 2, was man of the match in Abu Dhabi last week with a career-best 6-25 to help skittle England for 72 in the second innings.
Rehman s eight wickets in the test were his most since his test debut in 2007 against South Africa at Karachi. He played once more against the Proteas, then was dropped for three years until Pakistan opted for a two-spinner attack.
He reached 50 wickets in his 11th test last month, and offers no sign of slowing down with his 32nd birthday approaching on March 1.
The 34-year-old Ajmal has been a regular for Pakistan since his debut in 2009, and he claimed his 100th wicket when he dismissed Matt Prior, the second-to-last wicket of England s brief innings.
Ajmal promised before the series to reveal a mystery ball, but he might not require it after seeing England struggle against his doosra which spins away from right-handed batsman.
England has been baffled on how to counter the spinners on pitches where the ball has helped slow bowlers from the outset, surprisingly.
The likes of Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell came into the series on the back of some impressive knocks last year that lifted England to the top of the world rankings.
But the capitulation of the England batsmen inside three days at Dubai and within four days at Abu Dhabi summed up their deficiencies.
“We had no idea the test matches will finish in three or four days,” Rehman said.
“The gameplan of the coach and captain was to contain them so that they make mistakes and it s worked. We have done well against the world No. 1 team and if we play like this we can become No. 1.”
Rehman said the team has not talked about a clean sweep. ”We want to play the third test in the same manner,” he said.–AP
Guinea hit six to equal African Cup record
Guinea equalled the record victory margin for an Africa Cup of Nations match by overwhelming 10-man Botswana 6-1 Saturday in Group D at Stade Franceville.
Sadio Diallo (2), Abdoul Camara, Ibrahima Traore, Mamadou Bah and Naby Soumah were on target for the National Elephant and Dipsy Selolwane from a penalty for the Zebras, who had substitute Patrick Motsepe sent off late in the first half.
NZ declares at 495-7 against Zimbabwe
B.J. Watling reached a maiden test century on Saturday before New Zealand declared its first innings at 495 for seven on the third day of its one-off test against Zimbabwe.
In his seventh test and first as wicketkeeper, Watling became the fifth New Zealand gloveman to post a test century when he took his overnight score from 52 to 102 before the declaration just before drinks in the morning session.
New Zealand resumed at 392-5 after only 15.2 overs were bowled on the rain-affected second day and added 103 runs in 18.2 overs before declaring.
Watling was 94 when he received a message that New Zealand would declare at the end of the current over. He hit a four, then survived a run out to reach his century from 148 balls.
Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor was Saturday ruled out of the remainder of the Zimbabwe series by a calf strain which forced him to retire hurt on 122 in the first innings of the Test.
Taylor was attempting a quick single early Friday as he built on his sixth Test century when he tore his right calf and was forced to hobble from the field.
Following hospital treatment, he said he would be sidelined for three to four weeks.
New Zealand are playing one Test, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches against Zimbabwe before hosting South Africa from February 19.
“While it is early days, our target is to have Ross available for the one day series against South Africa in late February,” New Zealand physiotherapist Paul Close said.
Meanwhile, a full day s play was expected in Napier Saturday after much of Friday was washed out by rain.
US raid frees two pirate hostages in Somalia
January 25, 2012 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MOGADISHU: U.S. helicopters swooped into Somalia on Wednesday and rescued an American and a Dane after a shootout with pirates holding them hostage, in a rare raid into the Horn of Africa nation to free foreign captives.
The aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were kidnapped from the town of Galkayo in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region in October while working for the Danish De-mining Group (DDG).
“This case is special … we are dealing with one of the hostages having an illness which is very serious, and this is the reason there was made a decision to go in and take action,” Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal told Denmark’s TV 2 News.
“We cannot conclude … that it is something that will be done in future cases.”
The Danish Refugee Council said Buchanan and Thisted were unharmed and at a safe location. Media reports said they had been flown to neighbouring Djibouti, home to the only U.S. military base in Africa and France’s largest base on the continent.
People involved with the hostages had said earlier this month Buchanan was suffering from a possible kidney infection.
Somali pirate gangs typically seize ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and hold the crews until they receive a ransom. The kidnapping of the aid workers in Galkayo was an unusual case of a pirate gang being behind a seizure on land.
While U.S. and French forces have intervened to rescue pirate hostages at sea, attacks on pirate bases are very rare.
Galmudug leader Mohamed Ahmed Alim told Reuters nine pirates were killed and five captured during the rescue operation near the pirate haven of Haradheere.
Alim was speaking from Hobyo, another pirate base north of Haradheere, where he said he was negotiating the release of an American journalist seized on Saturday, also from Galkayo.
“About 12 U.S. helicopters are now at Galkayo. We thank the United States. Pirates have spoilt the whole region’s peace and ethics. They are mafia,” Alim said.
MORE HOSTAGES
Pirates and local elders say the American journalist and a number of sailors from India, South Korea, the Philippines and Denmark are being held by pirate gangs.
A British tourist kidnapped from Kenya on September 11, 2011 is also still held captive in Somalia.
America’s NBC News, citing U.S. officials, said two teams of U.S. Navy SEALs (special forces) landed by helicopter and rescued the hostages after a gun battle with the kidnappers.
The freed hostages were then taken by helicopter to an undisclosed location.
U.S. President Barack Obama was overheard congratulating Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, apparently for the success of the operation, as Obama entered the House of Representatives chamber on Tuesday for his annual State of the Union speech.
“Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight,” Obama said.
Panetta visited U.S. troops in Djibouti last month on his way to Afghanistan and Iraq, in a stopover that reflected Obama’s growing focus on the militant and piracy threats from Yemen and the eastern edge of Africa.
In Djibouti, the United States has a platform to monitor, partly by using surveillance drones, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen and Somalia’s al Shabaab, a hardline rebel group with links to al Qaeda.
Somalia’s government applauded the mission and said it welcomed any operation against pirates.
U.S. special forces killed senior al Qaeda militant Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in a raid in southern Somalia in 2009. Several other al Qaeda or al Shabaab officials have been killed in U.S. drone strikes in Somalia over the past few years.
It was also U.S. Navy SEALs who killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid on his Pakistan home in May. AGENCIES
Sri Lanka govt orders probe after cricket defeats
January 18, 2012 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has ordered a probe into the national cricket team’s “crisis situation” after they fell to another defeat in their one-day series in South Africa, an official said Wednesday.
Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage asked the country’s cricket governing body to investigate and recommend remedial action to end the side’s recent poor performances, his spokesman Harsha Abeykoon said.
South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by four runs on Tuesday to take a winning 3-0 lead in their five-match ODI series.
“Carefully investigate the current crisis situation in the national cricket team and report back to me within a week,” Aluthgamage told the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket.
The probe was ordered a week after another minister slammed the side, blaming lack of team spirit for a 258-run thrashing by South Africa, the island’s worst one-day international defeat.
The Sri Lankan government is often accused of meddling in the sport and recent uncontested elections for the cricket board were mired in allegations of interference.
Sri Lanka did reach the final of last year’s World Cup but since the retirement of bowling star Muttiah Muralitharan in July 2010, the team have won only one Test match.
Skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan has blamed his side’s inconsistent results on the island’s weak domestic scene.
Some players have complained about months of unpaid wages as the cricket board struggles with debts of $69 million after building two new venues and revamping a third ground for the World Cup. AGENCIES
Emerging powers launch Syria peace bid
August 10, 2011 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
AMMAN: India, Brazil and South Africa have dispatched envoys to Syria for talks on Wednesday with the country’s foreign minister in a bid to halt the deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests.
After five months of violence, the trio of emerging powers is seeking to open up some kind of dialogue between President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and protesters demanding an end to his family’s four-decade grip on power.
The mission will highlight “the need for dialogue between the government and the people, and the need to halt the violence and respect human rights,” a spokesman from Brazil’s foreign ministry told AFP.
Paulo Cordeiro, Brazil’s subsecretary for Middle East issues, and Dilip Sinha, an additional secretary in the Indian foreign ministry, were already in Damascus awaiting a South African counterpart.
The tripartite delegation, whose countries comprise the IBSA forum of emerging economies, intend to put their case before Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Wednesday.
South Africa’s foreign ministry confirmed the “working visit” and described it as “a collective effort to further understand the situation, and to also communicate a message to the government of Syria.”
“From the South African perspective, it’s to understand what is happening in Syria but also to communicate the same position that we communicated at the UN Security Council that the Syrian government needs to open up the political playing field,” chief director of public diplomacy Kgomotso Molobi told AFP.
“They need to allow as many voices as possible to partake in the situation and possible solutions that are relevant for the Syrian people.”
The Syrian regime’s clampdown on pro-democracy protests has killed more than 2,050 people since mid-March, including some 400 members of the security forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Activists said at least 25 more people were killed on Tuesday.
Assad is under growing foreign pressure — including outrage from fellow Arab states — to end the crackdown, but on Tuesday he promised an unceasing battle against the “terrorist groups” he claims are behind the protests.
His regime has dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on a regional tour to tamp down mounting concern over the crisis.
This week Mekdad was in South Africa, where he held talks with counterpart Ebrahim Ebrahim, who called for an inclusive dialogue which “should seek to meet the genuine aspirations of the Syrians.”
On a three-day visit to India last week, Mekdad called on India not to give in to “Western propaganda” about its crackdown and to help prevent a UN resolution condemning Syria.
The UN Security Council did condemn Syria last week but was unable to agree on a formal resolution, settling instead on a statement condemning widespread human rights violations and the use of force against civilians.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that the United States would urge the Arabs and others to do more to press Syria to stop its deadly crackdown.
US officials say a lack of consensus has hampered international action in Syria, making it less robust than in Libya, where a NATO-led force has launched air strikes against Moamer Kadhafi’s forces.
India is currently chair of the UN Security Council and has expressed “concern” over the violence in Syria and called for restraint. AGENCIES
