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News Update
Ponting nominated for four ICC awards
MUMBAI: Australia captain Ricky Ponting has been nominated in four categories for this year's International Cricket Council (ICC) awards, the sport's governing body said on Sunday.
Ponting has been short-listed for the Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year, one-day international Player of the Year and the new Captain of the Year awards for performances between August 1, 2005 and August 8, 2006. The awards will be presented in Mumbai on November 3.
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who has tested positive for the performance-enhancing steroid nandrolone, is among four players nominated for the Emerging Player of the Year award.
Asif and his pace partner Shoaib Akhtar were recalled from Pakistan's Champions Trophy squad in India after the positive tests.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed told a news conference Asif was still eligible for the awards because his performances came before his doping offence.—Reuters
Australian wins Taiwan race up world's tallest skyscraper
TAIPEI: Australian Paul Crake was the fastest man up the world's best tallest building on Sunday in a successful defense of his Taipei 101 title, organisers said.
Thirty-one-year-old Crake, five-time winner of the Empire State Building run from 1999-2003, finished Sunday's race in 10 minutes 31 seconds to take 200,000 Taiwan dollars ($5,950).
In the women's event, 27-year-old Austrian Andrea Mayr won in 13 minutes 28 seconds to also take home 200,000 dollars.
Competitors run up 91 floors or 2,046 steps at Taipei 101 which is 390 metres more than the Empire State Building's 86 floors and 1,576 steps.
Thomas Dold from Germany, the 2005 Empire State Building race winner, came second at 11 minutes 16 seconds. In the women's race, Lee Hsiao-yu of Taiwan came second in 14 minutes, 51 seconds.
About 2,000 people took part in the so-called “self-challenging” race.—AFP
Harry Potter and the shut London Tube station
LONDON: Harry Potter and his sorcerer's ways were to blame for closing a busy London underground train station Sunday.
The schoolboy wizard was responsible for shutting down Westminster station, in the shadow of the iconic Houses of Parliament and close to other major tourist attractions like the London Eye ferris wheel and Westminster Abbey.
The interchange station, which serves three Underground lines, was closed to allow filming for the next instalment in the blockbuster movie series, based on J. K. Rowling's best-selling children's books.
It is likely the location was being used for shooting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the series which is due for release next year.
In the book, Potter and sidekick Arthur Weasley use the “Tube” to attend a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic.
“Westminster Tube station will be closed all day today, with trains non-stopping, for a commercial filming project,” said a Transport for London spokeswoman.
“Planned closures are timed to cause minimum disruption to passengers and commercial requests such as this are subject to an agreed fee.
“There has been advanced publicity in the area to warn passengers of any potential disruption to their journey.” The first six books in the Potter series have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and been translated into 63 languages.
The seventh novel is reportedly due to be published next year at the earliest.—AFP
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