Pakistan, Afghanistan set for historic one-dayer

 

Pakistan and Afghanistan play a historic first-ever one-day international between the two countries here on Friday with both captains vowing to make the game a memorable one.

 

“It is a very important game for both countries and we will try to make the occasion memorable with some quality cricket,” Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said.

 

“It is important for countries like Afghanistan to play a top team which will help them improve and we are going to play with our full strength team as they have some good players.”

 

Friday s match in Sharjah Stadium — which holds the world record of staging the most one-day internationals with 201 — is fitting because most of the Afghan players learnt the game in Pakistan while staying as refugees after the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979.

 

Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal thanked Pakistan for giving them chances.

 

“We thank Pakistan for allowing us to play this one-day and also giving us opportunity to play in their domestic competitions which raised our confidence,” said Mangal, who led Afghanistan to one-day status.

 

“It is a history making match against a top team like Pakistan and we will try our best to put up a good fight in a contest which is a big challenge for us,” said the 27-year-old Mangal, an off-spin bowler.

 

Mangal said his team had prepared well for Pakistan s spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman who were behind the 3-0 destruction of England in their three-Test series: Ajmal finished with 24 wickets while Rehman took 19.

 

“We have prepped well for Pakistan s spin duo and I am confident my batsmen will do their best,” said Mangal, adding that paceman Hamid Hassan, who has 24 wickets in 14 one-day internationals, will miss the match through knee injury.

 

They still have Mohammad Nabi, an off-spinner who took five wickets while playing for an ICC Combined XI against England last month and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad who scored 51 and 74 in the same match.

 

Pakistan will be further boosted by the return of all-rounder Shahid Afridi who will add variety to team s spin attack.

 

Mangal hoped a sell-out crowd of 15,000 largely Afghan and Pakistan expats, enjoying the weekly holiday here, will show their support.

 

“We want the public to share this historic moment with both the teams,” said Mangal.

 

War-ravaged Afghanistan gained a notable foot up on the world cricket stage by finishing fifth in the 2011 World Cup qualifiers which earned them the right to play one-day internationals.

 

They also won the right to play the third edition of World Twenty20, held in the Caribbean in 2010, by winning the qualifying tournament and then finished with a silver medal in the Asian Games in China in November that same year.

 

Afghanistan, one of the 59 associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), are also the title holders of the Inter-Continental Cup meant for the Associate nations.

 

The ICC, which contributes approximately 700,000 dollars a year to help Afghanistan s development in cricket, has shown great delight in their progress, terming it as “a success story in cricket”.
 

Tom Cruise’s biggest global hit ever – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

By Scott Mendelson

TrendPK.com: As of yesterday, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol has earned $594 million worldwide, meaning that it has surpassed the $591 million earned in 2005 by War of the Worlds to become the biggest worldwide grosser in Tom Cruise’s career. Domestically, the film sits at $203 million, or behind the $215 million grossing Mission: Impossible II and the $234 million-grossing War of the Worlds. On the domestic front, it’s still ninth in terms of inflation, but the Tom Cruise films of the 1980s and 1990s didn’t have to deal with losing 1,600 screens in two weeks despite strong legs. It is beyond unfortunate that even a film as ‘leggy’ as Mission: Impossible IV has to contend with arbitrarily losing screens due to the 2-5 new releases that drop each and every weekend. The jam-packed schedule of mainstream movie releases, as well as the absence of a viable second-run market, has kneecapped any number of films over the last 5-10 years and resulted in screen-bleed and depressed total grosses even if the films didn’t exhibit the usual ‘quick-kill blockbuster’ behavior.

But, if I may be a bit more positive, we have a film that has grossed $200 million in the US from an $12.7 million opening weekend. There are just a handful of movies that have posted lower wide or even semi-wide opening weekends which still ended up with $200 million on their initial release in record history, and it’s pretty prestigious company. They are Jaws ($7 million semi-wide release opening weekend), The Empire Strikes Back ($10.8 million wide release opening), Raiders of the Lost Ark ($8.3 million), Back to the Future ($11.1 million), Ghost ($12.1 million), and My Big Fat Greek Wedding (wide release opening – $3 million). Heck, if you don’t want to count the IMAX sneak preview as the film’s opening, you still have a mere $29 million Fri-Sun debut, the kind of figure that, even in the holiday season, often isn’t enough to get a film to $150 million, let alone $200 million. This is an uncommon feat in a front-loaded era, and a real win for all parties, and a divisive strike for the idea that opening weekends don’t need to be the be all/end all of domestic box office.

To read more go to Mendelson’s Memo

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British PM David Cameron inspects damage in south of capital

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of a building that was destroyed by fire in a third night of rioting in the UK capital.

The House of Reeves in Croydon, south London, was a local landmark furniture store run by the Reeves family for decades.

It was torched overnight during the wave of violence and looting that has raged across London since Saturday.

Cameron met police at the site who explained what had happened.

Cameron described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows in London and several other British cities as “sickening,” but refrained from more extreme measures such as calling in the military to help beleaguered police restore order.

Instead the Prime Minister, who cut short his holiday to fly in to the capital, recalled Parliament from its summer recess Tuesday and nearly tripled the number of police on the streets.

Violence in London first broke out late on Saturday in the low-income, multiethnic northern district of Tottenham, where protesters demonstrated against the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday.

Duggan’s death stirred old animosities and racial tensions similar to those that prompted massive UK race riots in the 1980s, despite efforts by London police to build better relations with the city’s ethnic communities.

Some 525 arrests have been made in London alone and dozens were arrested in other cities. AGENCIES

Justin Bieber plays Santa to ailing Atlanta kids

What do Justin Bieber and Santa Claus have in common? No, it isn’t long, white facial hair and shakable bellies. It’s the fact that both go the extra mile for kids in need.

A story is breaking this Christmas Eve about Bieber’s efforts to assist children in the Atlanta area. Reportedly the pop star, at the urging of deejays at Q100, invited his fans to stuff his tour buss with toys that were donated to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“Within hours, the bus began to fill up with toys for the ailing children, helped by the radio station’s on air promotions and Bieber’s own publicity juggernaut: his Twitter account,” PopEater reports.

“I think that it doesn’t really matter what you do,” the pop superstar said. “As long as you’re helping other people, why not do it?”

What better message can you think to send this holiday season?

Akshay Oberoi invites cousin Vivek to see his film

Setting aside all talk of a cold war with cousin, Vivek Oberoi, newcomer Akshay Oberoi who makes his debut this week in the Rajshris’ Isi Life Mein has invited Vivek to watch his film. Vivek has promised his cousin he will make time very shortly.

Says the newcomer, “There is absolutely no stress with Vivek. I don’t know where these rumours came from. I don’t know why people are making it seem as if we’re at loggerheads.”

The truth is, Akshay Oberoi tried to downplay his family connection with Vivek because he didn’t want to seem like a clingy cousin desirous of cashing in on his more-famous family member’s name.

Says Akshay, “Vivek and I didn’t grow up together. Since I was studying acting and theatre in the US for several years and we weren’t connected constantly. So if we aren’t bumchums, we aren’t at war either. Why should we be? We are like any other family. I’m a huge fan of Vivek and will always wish him well. I hope he sees my film soon.”

Having said that, the pragmatic newcomer knows it is each on his own in the entertainment industry. “Vivek and I come from different families. We lead separate lives. He has his own career. And I will have my own now. We will always be there for one another. But we are not going to be posing for together photographs all the time to prove to the world that we belong to one family.”

Akshay’s namesake, the Kumar, also has a release, a much larger one this week. But the newbie is unperturbed.

Says the latest Oberoi on the block, “Isi Life Mein and Tees Maar Khan are two different films. We are a much smaller film. We’re hoping we’d also get some support. After all it is the holiday season.”

Heavy Snow Grounds Flights in Europe

LONDON: Europe saw little respite on Sunday from the Arctic conditions that have closed airports and disrupted travel on the weekend before Christmas, traditionally one of the busiest times of the year.

Britain’s busiest airport, London Heathrow, which was forced to close both its runways for much of Saturday because of heavy snow, was not accepting inbound flights on Sunday and said only a few planes would be leaving.

About 30 tonnes of snow was being removed from each parking stand around the planes, but ice was making it dangerous for the aircraft to be moved.

“There comes a point at which the weather has such an impact that it’s simply not safe to fly,” Andrew Teacher, spokesman for airport operator BAA, told.

The runway at London’s second busiest airport Gatwick was open but thousands of passengers were facing delays and cancellations, as they were at most other British airports.

In Germany, Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said 470 flights had been canceled on Sunday so far and a worsening of weather conditions was expected from noon onwards.

“The airport halls are packed with flight guests,” a spokeswoman said, adding that about 1,000 people were forced to stay at the airport overnight.

Snow blanketed northern France, delaying trains and forcing flights to be canceled.

At Paris’s main Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, where 700,000 passengers were expected, a quarter of flights were canceled and delays were running on average to at least an hour.

Britain’s Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said he had asked the government’s chief scientific adviser to assess whether the country was experiencing a “step change” in weather patterns due to climate change and if it needed to spend more money on winter preparations.

Britain traditionally experiences mild winters, but last year’s was the coldest for 30 years and this December is likely to be its coldest since 1910.

The Met Office said temperatures could hit minus 15 degrees Celsius in western Scotland later on Sunday and icy conditions were forecast across the country.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told: “As my colleague, the transport secretary, has said we haven’t been equipped over the last few decades in this country to cope with every aspect of severe prolonged cold weather. We may have to look again at that if these things are to recur frequently.”

The government and transport operators have faced criticism as the cold spells have seen trains delayed and canceled, roads closed and some drivers forced to sleep in their cars.

French Secretary of State for Transport Thierry Mariani urged the French to avoid driving after the government took considerable criticism earlier this month for not being better prepared for a snowstorm that trapped many people in their cars.

French TGV high-speed trains were running about 20 minutes late on Sunday with 2.4 million people expected to use the train system during the holiday period.

Is Mariah Carey Pregnant

Is Mariah Carey Pregnant, Is Mariah Carey Pregnant :Stars attended the taping of Christmas in Washington 2010 at the National Building Museum on Sunday (Dec 12).
Is Mariah Carey Pregnant, Mariah Carey, who is pregnant with Nick Cannon’s child, was there to serenade the Presidential family and guests of the event with some Holiday songs accompanied by a choir. A very pregnant Mariah Carey performed, along with Andrea Bocelli and Annie Lennox.

TNT will air “Christmas in Washington” at 8pm EST on Sunday, December 20.

‘TMK’ & ‘TKS’ will open in U.K. & U.S. before India release

All eyes are on the two major releases this Christmas – TEES MAAR KHAN and TOONPUR KA SUPERRHERO. The Christmas weekend, over the years, has yielded excellent returns [2007: TAARE ZAMEEN PAR and WELCOME; 2008: GHAJINI; 2009: 3 IDIOTS] and one expects a repeat of previous years’ performance, this year. Though the Christmas weekend is of immense significance in India, it’s considered the most lucrative period worldwide, since the world is in a celebratory mood, enjoying Christmas and New Year festivities [the holiday period is spread over two weekends].

In view of the fact that film business shoots up during Christmas and New Year weekends, the distributors of both, TEES MAAR KHAN [UTV] and TOONPUR KA SUPERRHERO [Eros], have decided to release the films worldwide two days before they hit the screens in India. While the two films will open on 24 December [Friday] in India, they will be released in U.S. and U.K. on 22 December [Wednesday], while Middle East will open on 23 December [Thursday] to capitalize on the festive period. Rest of the world [including India] will open on 24 December [Friday]. Fingers crossed!

Euro struggles near lows as debt crisis festers

LONDON: The euro struggled near a two-month low as the euro zone debt crisis showed signs of spilling over from Ireland to other euro zone members even after Ireland unveiled an ambitious austerity plan.

Traders say Portugal and increasingly Spain are seen as potentially in need of help while Dublin’s belt-tightening plan has come under fire for sticking to economic growth assumptions, unveiled earlier this month, seen as too optimistic.

Trade was thin, however, due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Some market players said the fall in the euro as well as the Aussie reflected short-covering in the U.S. dollar before the holiday.

“The market is being driven by position adjustments typical in November plus the euro zone problems,” said Minori Uchida, a senior analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The euro shed 0.2 percent on the day

Clash averted: We Are Family to arrive a week before Dabangg

The Eid week was supposed to witness the clash of two biggies – Karan Johar’s WE ARE FAMILY and Salman Khan’s home-production DABANGG. The promotion of the two films have already commenced with a bang. While the first promo of WE ARE FAMILY, launched with I HATE LUV STORYS, came in for tremendous appreciation, the promo of DABANGG, launched some days back, created a tehalka of sorts, with everyone calling it a Hit, even before its release.

The latest is, Karan Johar and UTV have decided to bring WE ARE FAMILY one week earlier. The film will now arrive on 3rd September, not 10th September. Which means, a solo release for both WE ARE FAMILY and DABANGG. Also, there won’t be a maara-maari for screens. Plus, the business won’t get divided. A wise move, indeed!

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