2008 April

Archive for April, 2008

Smith leads steady start

Friday, April 11th, 2008

Graeme Smith capitalised on his good fortune at the toss and led a confident start on a sluggish pitch that started assisting the spinners as early as the first session. South Africa survived a few nervy moments but their ability to put away the loose balls steered them to 80 for 1 at lunch. The pitch didn’t throw up the demons that were predicted but there was enough good news for the spinners early on. India surprisingly went with just two specialist spinners, partly forced by Anil Kumble’s absence owing to injury. Both Harbhajan Singh, who came on as early as the ninth over, and Piyush Chawla extracted turn and bounce from the first-day surface. Chawla snapped up a wicket in his very first over, beating McKenzie with a ripping legbreak and offering Mahendra Singh Dhoni a regulation stumping. Dhoni became the first wicketkeeper to captain India in a Test but he saw his opening bowlers squander the new ball. Sreesanth had a perilously close lbw appeal turned down in the fourth ball of the match - against McKenzie, who shouldered arms to one that came in - but didn’t go on to make the batsmen play enough. Ishant Sharma cranked up close to 140kph but his loose balls, especially those on the pads, were clattered away. His six-over spell cost 35 and played a big part in South Africa easing in. This was only the seventh Test Kumble had missed at home and India could well feel his absence as the game wears on (it was also the first time since 1990 that India went into a home Test without both Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar). Harbhajan beat the bat on a few occasions, and managed both turn and bounce. But Smith made sure he cashed in on every chance to score, using the quick outfield to his advantage. He clipped the leg-side balls effortlessly and also showed his preference for the sweep. With such a long stride forward, he also negated the chance of being given out lbw. Smith will no doubt understand the importance of batting first, on a strip that may only get slower and lower. While South Africa didn’t make any changes from the side that pulled off an emphatic innings win in Ahmedabad, India decided to change three personnel. RP Singh and Irfan Pathan made way for Ishant and Yuvraj Singh, the extra batsman. Ishant returns after a two-Test break, owing to injury, while Yuvraj got a chance after being jettisoned after the infamous Sydney Test earlier in the year. source: google news http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.commonwealthtv.tv Tags:blogs: cricket captain COMMON WEALTH CURRENT NEWS dhoni INDIA injury sydney test wicket keeper

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Ewing to Join His Coach and a Rival in the Hall

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Patrick Ewing, who rescued the Knicks from their malaise in the 1980s and made them an Eastern Conference power in the 1990s, has been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He will be inducted this fall, along with one of his most beloved coaches, Pat Riley, and one of his greatest rivals, Hakeem Olajuwon . , who rescued the from their malaise in the 1980s and made them an Eastern Conference power in the 1990s, has been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He will be inducted this fall, along with one of his most beloved coaches, , and one of his greatest rivals, .Four others round out the Hall’s class of 2008, which was announced on Monday: Adrian Dantley, a dominant scorer for seven N.B.A. teams; the Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson; the television announcer Dick Vitale; and Cathy Rush, a former coach and a force for women’s basketball in the 1970s. Ewing played for the Knicks from 1985 through 2000 and remains the franchise leader in points, rebounds, blocked shots, steals and field goals. He scored 24,815 points in 17 seasons, ranking him 15th in N.B.A. history. In a poetic twist, Ewing — now an Orlando Magic assistant coach — was at Madison Square Garden on the day before the Hall’s announcement. He drew a standing ovation after a video tribute played on the scoreboard Sunday. “I’ve been to the Hall of Fame many times, in grade school and high school,” said Ewing, who grew up in Cambridge, Mass., less than two hours from the Hall’s home in Springfield. “I had field trips to the Hall of Fame and taking tours of it. I just never thought about that one day I possibly might be in it. I think it’d be great.” Ewing called Riley, his coach from 1991 to 1995, “one of my best coaches” and said, “It would be an honor to go in with him.” Ewing and Riley led the Knicks to the 1994 finals, where they lost to Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets . The Knicks returned to the finals in 1999 and lost to the San Antonio Spurs (Ewing missed that series with an injury). Olajuwon, Riley and Ewing were elected in their first year of consideration. Riley has won five N.B.A. championships as a coach, four with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s and one with the Miami Heat in 2006. He ranks third, behind Lenny Wilkins and Don Nelson, in career victories. Olajuwon led the Rockets to championships in 1994 and 1995, after helping the University of Houston to three straight Final Four appearances, from 1982 to 1984. He holds the N.B.A. career record for blocked shots with 3,830, and ranks seventh on the career scoring list with 26,946 points in 18 seasons. Dantley, a Hall finalist on six previous occasions, was elected 17 years after playing his last N.B.A. game. He averaged 24.3 points in 15 N.B.A. seasons, including seven with the Utah Jazz . Dantley averaged more than 30 points for four straight seasons with the Jazz, from 1980 to 1984. He was also the leading scorer for the 1976 United States Olympic team. Rush, considered a pioneer in women’s basketball, was a finalist for the sixth time. She led Immaculata University to three straight A.I.A.W. titles, from 1972 to 1974, and posted a record of 149-15 in seven seasons. In 1975, Rush’s team played Maryland in the first nationally televised women’s game. source: nytimes http://www.commonwealthtv.tv http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:basketball hall blogs: conference power championship coach houston scoreboard university

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Green tea helps beat superbugs

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Green tea can help beat superbugs according to Egyptian scientists speaking today (Monday 31 March 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The pharmacy researchers have shown that drinking green tea helps the action of important antibiotics in their fight against resistant superbugs, making them up to three times more effective. Green tea is a very common beverage in Egypt, and it is quite likely that patients will drink green tea while taking antibiotics. The medical researchers wanted to find out if green tea would interfere with the action of the antibiotics, have no effect, or increase the medicines’ effects. “We tested green tea in combination with antibiotics against 28 disease causing micro-organisms belonging to two different classes,” says Dr Mervat Kassem from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Alexandria University in Egypt. “In every single case green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of the antibiotics. For example the killing effect of chloramphenicol was 99.99% better when taken with green tea than when taken on its own in some circumstances.” Green tea also made 20% of drug-resistant bacteria susceptible to one of the cephalosporin antibiotics. These are important antibiotics that new drug resistant strains of bacteria have evolved to resist. The results surprised the researchers, showing that in almost every case and for all types of antibiotics tested, drinking green tea at the same time as taking the medicines seemed to reduce the bacteria’s drug resistance, even in superbug strains, and increase the action of the antibiotics. In some cases, even a low concentration of green tea was effective. “Our results show that we should consider more seriously the natural products we consume in our everyday life,” says Dr Kassem. “In the future, we will be looking at other natural herb products such as marjoram and thyme to see whether they also contain active compounds which can help in the battle against drug resistant bacteria”. source: google news http://www.commonwealthtv.tv http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:antibiotics bacteria beverage blogs: tea COMMON WEALTH CURRENT NEWS green health super bugs

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Stocks soar as global financial woes ease

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Equities shot up at the open triggered by a rally in markets across the globe after a Lehman Brothers share offering triggered hopes that the worst of the credit crisis may have ended. At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was up 539 points or 3.45 per cent at 16,165.41. Biggest Sensex gainers were ICICI Bank (up 6.4%), HDFC Bank (5.39%), DLF (4.94%), Wipro (4.89%), Larsen & Toubro (4.84%), HDFC (4.67%) and BHEL (4.18%). There were no losers in the 30-share index. Market breadth on BSE showed 789 advances and 25 declines. The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was up 152 points or 3.21 per cent at 4891.60. “The outlook is positive today following cheerful global cues. Sensex faces resistance at 15,874 and while support comes at 15,338. The Nifty faces resistance at 4,817 and support lies at 4,645,” Networth Stock Broking said in a note. Asian stocks advanced the most in seven weeks, led by banks and technology companies, on speculation financial companies will be able to overcome a freeze in credit markets and shore up global economic growth. The Nikkei 225 rose 3.72 per cent, the Hang Seng increased 4.22 per cent and the Straits Times added 2.59 per cent. US stocks on Tuesday celebrated the start of a new quarter, rallying as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s equity offer drew a warm reception, fueling the Dow Jones to its 8th-biggest point jump ever. The index gained 3.19 per cent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 3.59 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 3.67 per cent. source: google news http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.commonwealthtv.tv Tags:blogs: stock exchange bull COMMON WEALTH CURRENT NEWS Economy financial INDIA markets sensex share triggered

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New slogan for party by rahul

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

The Congress has fastened its belt to regain lost ground in Uttar Pradesh. It has now launched a Hisaab Maango campaign against the Mayawati government, asking for an account of work done by the state government. Congress president Sonia Gandhi remained silent on the rising prices, while Rahul Gandhi unveiled the new slogan of the party, from ‘Congress’s hand is with the common man’, to ‘both the congress’s hands are for the poor’. Sonia Gandhi has said that she is ready to allow her son Rahul Gandhi to go to jail with the rest of the party workers in UP for the jail bharo campaign. ‘’I think nothing can happen in Uttar Pradesh until our workers are ready to go to jail. Are all of you ready to go to jail? If need be, Rahul will go with you when you go to jail,'’ said Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in an attempt to evoke the enthusiasm among the party workers in UP. The Congress president means business and she made that clear to party workers in Kanpur. Her target, certainly, is Mayawati and the Bahujan Samaj Party. The plan is simple. The party is to ask the state government to give an account of its work during the Hisaab Maango campaign. And then the workers are to court arrest in the jail bharo campaign, wherein, Rahul may accompany the party workers. ‘’I have a new slogan that is usually kept in my mind. I want to say that both the Congress’s hand is with the poor,'’ said Rahul Gandhi, who is the general secretary of the Congress. Conspicuously absent in the speeches was any mention of the rising prices. The Gandhis believe that leading from the front is the best way to revive the party. However, How they deliver on this promise remains to be seen. source: google news http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.commonwealthtv.tv Tags:blogs: rahul campaign COMMON WEALTH CONGRESS CURRENT NEWS Economy ELECTIONS GANDHI government INDIA mayawati party POLITICS slogan uttar pradesh

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Smokers suffer from heart problems.

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Young smoker who keep on smoking after heart attack are more likely to have three times more heart problems than survivors. Those who smoke in young age leave this world with mire heart attacks mostly.

Smoker have to clean up there blocked arteries by future treatments as, compared to those who stopped smoking after heart attack.

http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.commonwealthtv.tv Tags:blogs: smoking COMMON WEALTH health heart attack heart problems young smokers.

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Common Wealth TV

Archive for April, 2008

Smith leads steady start

Ewing to Join His Coach and a Rival in the Hall

Green tea helps beat superbugs

Stocks soar as global financial woes ease

New slogan for party by rahul

Smokers suffer from heart problems.

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