The 2008 Asia Cup takes place in Pakistan in June 2008. The six teams which take part in the tournament are Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UAE. This will be the first Asia Cup hosted by Pakistan; previously political tensions between India and Pakistan did not permit Pakistan to host the event. It will be broadcasted in India by Star Cricket and ESPN and in Pakistan by Geo Super. Read more…
A lawyer in Madhya Pradesh has filed a case in Bhopal against tennis star Sania Mirza for allegedly dishonouring the national flag during her visit to Australia.
Sania, representing India at the Hopman Cup in Australia, has been caught on camera watching a match putting her feet right in front of the national flag of India. Read more…
Matt Damon has been named the ‘’sexiest man alive'’ by People magazine, an honor that has been bestowed twice on his pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The 37-year-old actor is featured on the cover of People’s annual issue, on newsstands Friday. Damon, who is married to Luciana Bozan, said the honor came as a surprise.
‘’You gave an aging suburban dad the ego boost of a lifetime,'’ he says in a letter published in the magazine. ‘’My 9-year-old stepdaughter now thinks I’m cool - well, cooler.'’ Damon, who has a 1-year-old daughter, Isabella, with Bozan, says ‘’all the campaigning'’ by Clooney and Pitt had finally paid off.
‘’Unfortunately, after all those years out on the trail, the meet and greets, the fundraisers, the stump speeches, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that this is a mantle I wasn’t meant to hold,'’ he says in the letter, which was signed ‘’Matty.'’ ‘’Don’t get me wrong, though. I was really shocked and happy (Lucy said I actually blushed) when I heard the news. So I can’t thank you enough for that.'’
People’s ‘’sexiest man alive'’ list began in 1985 with Mel Gibson. Others on the list: Clooney (1997 and 2006), Pitt (1995 and 2000), Denzel Washington (1996) and Johnny Depp (2003).
Damon won a screenwriting Oscar with Ben Affleck in 1998 for ‘’Good Will Hunting.'’ Both Damon and Affleck starred in the movie.He has also starred in ‘’The Departed,'’ ‘’Syriana,'’ the ‘’Ocean’s'’ franchise with Clooney and Pitt, and ‘’The Bourne Identity'’ and its two sequels.
Chile Earthquake
strong earthquake measuring 7.7 rocked arid northern Chile Wednesday sparking panic and triggering a tsunami warning for the region, officials said.
“It is a major quake,” said the director of Chile’s National Emergency Office, Carmen Fernandez.
There was no immediate information on any casualties from the quake which struck at 12:43 pm (1543 GMT) in the Chile’s dry north where fishmeal and mining are key industries.
The epicenter of the quake was said to be some 101 kilometers (63 miles) west north west of Calama, Chile and 1,260 kilometers (783 miles) north of the Chilean capital Santiago. It was felt as far away as Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, high in the Andes to the northeast.
Images on CNN from Santiago showed frightened, weeping people running onto the streets, while a massive concrete awning over a building entrance had collapsed, crushing at least two cars underneath.
An airport in Antofagasta, 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) north of Santiago, had to evacuate staff when the cement cracked, Radio Cooperativa de Santiago reported.
Damage was also reported in the northern cities of Calama and Arica which lost electrical power.
The US Geological Survey said the quake measured 7.7 Movement Magnitude.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the Antofagasta area warning issued earlier had effectively expired with no major or damaging waves arriving within two hours of the quake.
However, “danger to boats and coastal structures can continue for several hours due to rapid currents,” it said.
Meanwhile a separate earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale hit the western Argentine city of San Juan on Wednesday, with no injuries immediately reported. There were no initial reports of injuries or damage but panicky residents of San Juan poured into local streets, the National Earthquake Office said. Its epicenter was in western Argentina, the office said.
Earlier this year, a quake measuring 8.0 on the scale hit southern Peru, killing some 540 people and leaving another 200,000 homeless.
The Peruvian region of Ica region was hit the hardest in the August 15 quake, with the Pisco, a city of some 130,000 people, 80 percent destroyed.