New South Wales has signed a contract for the services of one of the most destructive Twenty20 batsmen in world cricket, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan.

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The signing of Dilshan is still subject to approval from Sri Lanka’s board.
Apart from New South Wales other teams including Sussex, Delhi Dare Devils and New Zealand domestic all have signed Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan for the year 2010.

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The International Tennis Federation has decided to move Pakistan’s next Davis Cup match to New Zealand because of security concerns.
The federation says it has informed the Pakistan and New Zealand teams that their Asia-Oceania Group 2 semifinal will instead be played in New Zealand in July, rather than in Pakistan or at a neutral venue.
New Zealand tennis officials have previously expressed reluctance to play in Pakistan because of security issues.
The Pakistani city of Lahore, which was originally expected to host the Davis Cup match, was hit by two suicide bomb blasts on March 12 that killed more than 50 people.
Several other sporting events have been cancelled in Pakistan since the Sri Lanka cricket team’s bus was ambushed in Lahore one year ago.

The three-member sub-committee of Senate on Sports revealed that some cricketers were involved in the match-fixing during last tour of Australia.
The committee made the stunning disclosure in front of the media after having a meeting with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials in which the performance of the national team in Australia was also discussed.
But the members were of the view that more time was required for further investigation as some non-cricketers could also be involved.
Asked if any of that players was included in the recently announced Pakistan T20 World team, the senators says:” We have given the recommendation to the PCB authorities not to select any player in the team”.

John Starks, John Levell Starks (born August 10, 1965) is a retired American  professional basketball player who gained fame while playing at shooting guard for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association  in the 1990s. Starks was listed at 6′5″ (1.96 m) and 190 pounds (86 kg) during his NBA playing career.

PAKISTAN KARACHI : Paceman Rana Naved has renewed his contract with Australian state side Tasmania just days after being slapped with a one-year ban from international cricket by Pakistani cricket board.

“They have renewed my contract for the Big Bash Twenty20 competition as the ban on me only prevents me from playing for the national team,” Naved told Reuters.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) imposed a one year ban and fined Naved two million rupees last week on the recommendations of an inquiry committee that looked into the team’s poor performances in Australia and reports of infighting in the team.

The ban bars Naved from playing for the national team but not in any other form of cricket and the 32-year-old said he was also in talks with English county Sussex to sign a contract with them for the coming season.

PAKISTAN KARACHI : People with diabetes should get regularly checked for kidney disease as they are more at risk of damaged kidneys.

Being diabetic does not mean that a person will get chronic kidney disease (CKD) but they need to control their sugar levels and follow a proper treatment plan.

Doctors shared this information while speaking at the World Kidney Day symposium at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) centred on this year’s global theme, Protect Your Kidneys, Control Diabetes.

CKD is a slow, often silent disease in which kidneys gradually lose the ability to remove waste products from the blood. One in three people with diabetes may get CKD, but, as Dr Asma Ahmed, Consultant Endocrinologist, AKUH, pointed out that controlling diabetes reduces the risk of developing kidney disease by 21 per cent.

But in Pakistan, half of all people with diabetes are unaware of kidney disease and the risks of their developing the condition.

The World Health Organization, according to Dr Ather Hussain, Consultant Nephrologist, AKUH has estimated that 175 million people worldwide had diabetes in 2003, and the figure will almost double by 2030, with developing nations at greatest risk.

Early detection of kidney disease among diabetics, strict control of blood sugar and the use of high blood pressure medication can slow the progression towards CKD. But if the disease is left undetected or untreated, people may develop end stage renal failure and be treated through dialysis or in severe case undergo a kidney transplant.

Dr Waqar Kashif, Consultant Nephrologist, AKUH, discussed the relationship between high blood pressure and kidney disease.

In 1994, the National Health Survey of Pakistan revealed that 18 per cent of adults above 15, and 33 per cent above 45, had high blood pressure, and less than 3 per cent were able to maintain normal blood pressure.

“Currently, in Pakistan, approximately one third of patients on dialysis have kidney disease as a result of long standing uncontrolled high blood pressure. Patients who have diabetes, in addition to high blood pressure, have higher chances of developing diabetic kidney disease.”

Dr Kashif suggested that the ideal blood pressure for people wishing to stay healthy should be less than 140/90, but in someone who has kidney disease or diabetes, the BP should be much lower. Also, lifestyle changes such as reducing weight, quitting smoking and maintaining a balanced, healthy, low salt diet, can benefit those with CDK.

Dr Raziuddin Biyabani, Consultant Urologist, AKUH, spoke about kidney stones.

He said a peculiar problem in Pakistan is silent stones or neglected stones.

Stones are more likely to form when people don’t drink enough water, particularly in hot climates like in Pakistan, eat a diet rich in protein and have a family history of kidney stones.

Dr Biyabani pointed out that kidney stones are often only detected when a person has severe back pain, accompanied by fever, bloody urine, or even vomiting. Blood or imaging tests can then be used to determine the size, location and type of stone and the treatment options currently, open surgery is rarely required to treat stones.

A person with kidney stones has an up to 50 per cent chance of it recurring within 5 to 10 years, and a 75 per cent chance in 20 years. To reduce the possibility of stones recurring, Dr Biyabani suggested increasing fluids, changing diet, decreasing protein and salt intake and in some cases, medication.

Information about kidney disease in children was shared by Dr Arshalooz Rahman, Consultant Pediatrician, AKUH. Dr Rahman pointed out that paediatric kidney diseases can usually be detected by routine tests and, if treated on time, promise a full recovery.

However, to catch problems early on, community-based screening programmes that monitor high blood pressure, body mass by comparing weight and height, and urine should be made available to detect kidney disease in children, especially those that are overweight. Lifestyle changes at this stage can often lead to a full recovery.

The experts agreed that attention needs to be drawn to the early detection and prevention of CKD and its complications.

WASHINGTON : The US space shuttle fleet can continue flying beyond Nasa’s September 30 deadline if the money is made available to keep it going, a US space agency official told reporters on Tuesday.

“I think the real issue that the agency and the nation has to address is the expense,” said Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon, noting the shuttle fleet costs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 200 million dollars per month to maintain it in working condition.

“Where that money comes from is the big question,” he added.

Shannon’s briefing was about Nasa’s April 5 Discovery mission to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), one of three shuttle flights remaining before the program is shut down at the end of September after 29 years of service.

Several lawmakers have recently urged the shuttle program be extended to reduce US dependency on Russia’s Soyuz spacecrafts in order to continue building the ISS until the shuttle’s successor can take off by 2015 at the earliest.

Taking up her colleagues’ concerns, Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison last week presented a bill calling for extending the shuttle program beyond its termination deadline.

On presenting his 2011 budget plan in January, US President Barack Obama confirmed the shuttle fleet’s demise this year, as well as dropping the Constellation program his predecessor George W. Bush announced in 2004 to return Americans to the moon by 2020.

Constellation included the development of the Ares 1 rocket, and its abandonment has also put into question the feasibility of the shuttle’s successor spacecraft.

Obama also asked Nasa to partner with the private sector, using funds from an economic stimulus package to develop low-cost, primary services transporting astronauts to the ISS.

Kangna Ranaut’s movie journey is only three years old. But with a National Award already in her kitty, it looks like a promising ride ahead

Did you ever expect to get a National Award so early in your career?
I have got an award every year ever since I made my debut. But, yes the National Award was a surprise and an honour. I will always cherish it.

Is there any person to whom you would like to dedicate your award?
It would definitely be the makers of my first film, Gangster, because were it not for that film I would not have been here. Giving a break to a small-town girl with no background of films or experience was a big risk, and I am grateful to them for that.

For the first time you will be seen shaking a leg in two films, No Problem and Tanu Weds Manu. Did you enjoy matching steps with your choreographers?
In No Problem I actually danced in a saree to this very peppy Punjabi number composed by Pritam. It was more of wriggling hips like Shakira than matching steps, but thanks to choreographer Chinni Prakash I managed quite well. In Tanu Weds Manu Saroj Khan made me do the typical Bollywood jhatkas and matkas. It was fun. It will also be the first time that I will be seen in an all-Indian look in a film wherein I wear mostly kurtis and mojris.

Both No Problem and Tanu are comedies. What do you have to say to your new avatar, that of a romantic comedienne?
I know I started off with doing dark, intense roles that received critical acclaim. But an actor has to move on. I had a great time doing the light-hearted films. It brought out a side that even I did not know I had! Thanks to director Anees Bazmee and Aanand Rai.

Are you enjoying playing a cop in Crooked?
It was destined that I do the film. I had declined the film earlier because of date problems but because of a change in schedule in the shoot it came back to me. I have just started shooting for it…. Yes, it looks as if I am going to enjoy being on the other side of the law.

At what stage of production is your film Actor with Amitabh Bachchan?
I believe that the makers are trying to sort out Amitabh Bachchan’s dates. Once that is done, we start shooting.

Is it true that you have no scenes with Sanjay Dutt in Sohail Maklai’s Knockout?
Yes that’s true. Knockout is a political drama and Sanjay plays a man who takes on the political system from within. I may not have any scenes with him but at I am happy being part of a very intense film.

Your character in Milan Luthria’s Once Upon A Time In Mumbai also sounds interesting.
A lot of thinking went into creating this character of an actress, who is a don’s girlfriend. She is very glamorous and influenced by Western fashion. So I wanted to create a look which is western, but suits someone Indian. It is an intriguing mix of Audrey Hepburn’s, Sophia Loren’s, Asha Parekh’s and Sadhana’s styles. There are a lot of high-waist narrow trousers and scarves. It’s a ‘70s look without being comical.

Is there any style you would like to bring back from the 70s?
Skirts! The kinds worn then were very feminine, practical and elegant. I would like to see more girls wearing them.

Are you anxious that you are not seen in the publicity of Kites?
I have a guest appearance in the film, and it is up to the producers how they want to project me. There is nothing to be anxious about.

NEW YORK : People who are obese are at increased risk of becoming depressed, and people who are depressed are at increased risk of becoming obese, Dutch researchers have found.

“There is a reciprocal association over time between depression and obesity,” Dr. Floriana S. Luppino, of Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands, told Reuters Health by email.

Obesity, Luppino and colleagues found, increases the risk of depression in initially non-depressed individuals by 55 percent and depression increases the risk of obesity in initially normal-weight individuals by 58 percent.

Luppino said the analysis was not designed to determine a given person’s risk of depression, only to figure out how much obesity increased that risk. However, for comparison, a recent study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health found that nearly one out of four cases of obesity is associated with a mood or anxiety disorder.

These findings, the NIMH notes on its website, appear to support what other studies have found – that obesity, which is on the increase in the US – is associated with increasing rates of depression and other mental health problems.

The new findings stem from pooled data from 15 published studies that looked at whether being overweight or obese is associated with depression, and vice versa.

The studies, which collectively involved more than 58,000 people, used body mass index, or BMI, to gauge how fat or thin a person is. For reference, a US adult with a BMI of 25 or more is considered overweight, while one with a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese.

Being obese, Luppino told Reuters Health, not only increases the risk of depression, but is more likely to fuel the onset of clinical depression, rather than merely depressive symptoms.

In contrast to obesity, the association between depression and being overweight (but not obese) did not run the other way, Luppino noted. Being overweight increased the risk of depression in initially non-depressed individuals somewhat, but depression did not increase the risk of being overweight over time.

The findings, reported in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, also suggest that the link between obesity and later depression is more pronounced among Americans than among Europeans.

Why? “A dose-response association — meaning the higher the BMI, the more people get depressed — might explain the association,” Luppino said. And the average American weighs more than the average European.

However, the effect of the psychological distress should not be neglected, the researcher said. “Overweight and obesity, can induce low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction,” Luppino explained, “especially in Western countries where thinness is often considered a beauty ideal. Both low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction are known to increase the risk of depression.

Actress Konkona Sen Sharma, who rose to fame with Mr and Mrs Iyer by her mother Aparna Sen, admits that having an actor-director mother has had its advantages.

“I think being Aparna Sen’s daughter definitely had its advantages since she is such a respected actor-director,” said Konkona, who won the National Award for Best Actress for the 2002 film.

Despite the headstart, the 30-year-old actress believes that she also needed to prove herself as an actor.

“But my mother is not like Amitabh Bachchan that pan India everybody knows and loves her. Star kids do get more opportunities, but there are so many whose careers haven’t worked out,” Konkona said.

The actress enjoys working with her national award winning mother the most and will soon be seen in a new movie with her. “I love working with her the most. I have completed shooting for ‘Iti Mrinalini’ which will be released in April in both Hindi and Bengali. The film has my mother playing the older version of my character,” Konkona said.

The actress was in the capital recently to promote her upcoming Bollywood film Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?. Releasing tomorrow, the film stars Ajay Devgan and Paresh Rawal and hasbeen produced by Wide Frame films and Warner Bros Pictures.