KARACHI: Mohsin Hasan Khan began his stint as Pakistan’s new chief selector by calling for Pakistan’s Twenty20 set-up and thinking to be divorced from the Test and ODI line-ups, arguing that cricket’s newest format had played havoc with Pakistan’s skills in the longer formats.

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Mohsin was appointed yesterday, taking over from Iqbal Qasim, who handed in his resignation after Pakistan’s winless tour of Australia. He becomes the third full-time chief selector in less than a year and though his first assignment will be to pick a squad of 15 for the World Twenty20 defense in the Caribbean in April, his real work, he said, will begin after that.

“My personal opinion is that Test cricket and ODI cricket should have no relation to Twenty20 cricket,” Mohsin said at the National Stadium in Karachi, echoing the belief of Mohammad Yousuf who said during the Australia tour that the format would “destroy” cricket in Pakistan.

“Twenty20 cricket should be totally separate apart from some outstanding players like Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul who fit into every format. But apart from these players, I would request the chairman to have a totally different set-up for the format. Twenty20 cricket has messed up our Test cricket skills and in ODIs we cannot bat even 50 overs.”

The terms of reference for his role and its parameters appear broad and flexible currently; no time limit is set on the job and the former Test opener even insisted that he would be more than willing to help out in a coaching capacity, an option he was initially keen on in his negotiations with the chairman.

“For two to three months I had been in direct talks with the chairman,” Mohsin said. “I said that if I do come back to the board then in two fields am I capable of giving something back to cricket, coaching or selection. The chairman called me yesterday and said he wants me to start with the selection committee right now.

“Coaching is still my first choice and I have told the chairman, I still feel physically fit enough to do it. I have said whenever you need my services in coaching department it is always there. In our top order batting we do have a problem, so I have said whenever you need my services I am ready.”

Pakistan’s chief selectors in recent years have had to deal constantly with problems over the ambit and nature of their role. The post has become, essentially a full-time, professional one, barring Qasim’s recent stint, which was in an honorary capacity.

But both Abdul Qadir and Salahuddin Mulla in recent years have faced issues over the apparent undermining of their authority and say in selection by the captain and coach. “The chairman has given me total authority,” Mohsin said.

“In selecting a team, there are three pillars and all have to take blame or credit: the selection committee, captain and coach. All three have to take responsibility. I want the captain and coach in the process, because they have to fight on the field.”

These issues will be discussed in a meeting with Ijaz Butt later in the week but Mohsin said he is more than happy to have no set time limit on his role.

“I have not asked for a specific time period. I will start and do the work and keep doing it until the board is satisfied with me and I am satisfied with them. People have had tenures before which they didn’t finish so I said to the chairman let’s not set a fixed time. Until I am doing well, until the board thinks I am doing well, fine. I don’t want to be a burden anywhere. You clap with two hands, not one. We will work together, how long for I don’t know.”

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The International Olympic Committee will investigate the actions of Canadian women’s hockey players who celebrated their gold medal victory Thursday night by swigging beer and smoking cigars on the ice in Vancouver.

Number of players, including 18-year-old superstar Marie-Philip Poulin, were drinking alcohol on the ice following the team’s 2-0 defeat of the United States. (The legal drinking age in British Columbia is 19.) Players lingered for more than 70 minutes after the awards ceremony reveling in the arena, which was empty except for media and arena staff.

To be sure, the Canadian women’s hockey team should have acted with more class and been a little more discreet with its celebration. But to do something drastic like ban the team from the Closing Ceremony or force them out of the Olympic Village would be an overreaction. In past Olympics we’ve seen steroids, political boycotts, cheating and judging scandals. A few puffs of a cigar hardly seems to be in the same league.

The players stormed back onto the ice half an hour after beating the United States 2-0 on Thursday and staged a raucous celebration — smoking cigars and swigging beer and bubbly.

Haley Irwin poured champagne into the mouth of Tessa Bonhomme, gold medals swinging from both their necks. Meghan Agosta and Marie-Philip Poulin posed with goofy grins.

Goalies Charline Labonte and Kim St-Pierre posed at center ice for Poulin, lying on their stomachs with a giant bottle of champagne resting just above the Olympic rings.

Rebecca Johnston actually tried to commandeer the ice-resurfacing machine.

Poulin, who scored both goals for Canada, doesn’t turn 19 — legal drinking age in British Columbia — until next month. The drinking age in Alberta, where the Canadian team trains, is 18. Photos showed Poulin on the ice with a beer in her hand.

Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director of the Olympic Games, said the antics were “not what we want to see.”

“If they celebrate in the changing room, that’s one thing,” he said, “but not in public.”
In a statement released late Thursday, Hockey Canada apologized.

“The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone,” the statement said. “In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn’t have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment.

“Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view this situation as a learning experience.”

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said earlier that the players were asked to return to the ice to have photos taken. “We understand that some people may have felt that their behavior was over-exuberant,” he said.

Steve Keough, a spokesman for the Canadian Olympic Committee, said it was “quite an emotional moment for our team” and added: “It was not our intention to go against any IOC protocols.

“In terms of the actual celebration,” he said, “it’s not exactly something uncommon in Canada.”

Not even uncommon at these Olympics. After Jon Montgomery won a gold medal for Canada in skeleton, he walked through the streets of Whistler guzzling from a pitcher of beer that he gripped with two hands.

American Scotty Lago, who won a bronze in halfpipe, voluntarily left the games after a photo surfaced of a woman kneeling below his waist to kiss the medal.

At Canada Hockey Place on Thursday, the celebration started much earlier. As time expired and the team skated into a massive pile-up near their goal, cheering fans threw flags over the glass to the players, who wrapped them around their shoulders like capes.

“I looked up in the stands and saw a sign that said, ‘Proud to be Canadian,’ and that’s what I am today,” said goalie Shannon Szabados, who made 28 saves.

American Chopper Final Episode : The American Chopper series finale is now upon us. American Chopper airs its series finale on Thursday night as TLC bids good-bye to one of its longer running series. American Chopper actually got its start over on the Discovery Channel, but made the move to TLC during the 2008 television season.

Now American Chopper will come to an end after six seasons, 147 original episodes, and quite a few brand-new (and flashy) bikes leaving their garage. The show survived for quite a while on the network, but ended up coming under the ax recently when TLC decided to go in a different direction.

The American Chopper series finale will air at 9 p.m. PST/EST (8 p.m. CST) on TLC, Thursday, February 11th. This is the end of the line for the Teutul family, but there have also been rumors going around that Paul Teutul Jr. may end up getting a brand new show for himself. Fans would be happy to hear that, asAmerican Chopper has had many loyal viewers through the years.

Abc News 9 11 Photos, The ABC News 9 11 photos is a hot topic today. ABC News has released 13 photos of the 911 attacks that were never seen before. These photos are mostly aerial view, taken from an NYPD plane. Looking at the images can give you another side of the horribleness of that happened that very sad day. It is like living the horror again from another angle.

Federal Government Closed Thursday, The federal government will be closed again Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010, according to a new status update from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), after three days of being closed due to snow.

The Washington Post notes that “four consecutive snow days is unheard of,” and the possibility of the federal government being closed the whole week with a Friday off day could mean “uncharted territory.”

To provide this latest update, the OPM also gave its Web site a server boost, after it had been crashing each of the last three days due to surges in traffic.

Lady Gaga Purdue! Lady Gaga’s Purdue concert tonight has been temporarily canceled. The Purdue University show has been rescheduled for 7:20 p.m. on January 26 at Elliott Hall of Music. All those with tickets for Thursday’s show can still use them for January 26.

Lady GaGa is reported to have suffered a sudden illness that has caused concert officials to cancel it.

Loleini Tonga Pics, Myspace Latest updates :- Loleini Tonga is the fiancee of NFL star Chris Henry. She was involved in an argument with the player that left him with life-threatening injuries.

Chris Henry’s car crash is confirmed, with Henry said to have fallen out of the back of a pick up truck following a domestic dispute. Local reports suggest that his injuries are life threatening and that he is in a coma, although we don’t have more recent news confirmed by the hospital.

Free Shipping day 2009 updates :- Today ( Thursday )  is free shipping day 2009. Free shipping day 2009 is the last day you can order online for delivery for Christmas.  Many merchants offer free shipping day 2009 to encourage you to make those purchases you put off.

Free shipping day 2009 started at 12:00 AM and will continue until midnight tonight.  More than 500 major merchants are participating in free shipping day 2009 on December 17.

Oscar winning actress Jennifer Jones dies at 90 Breaking news :- Jennifer Jones, the American leading lady who won an Oscar for playing Saint Bernadette in the 1943 movie “The Song of Bernadette”, died at her home in Malibu on Thursday at age 90.

Jones enjoyed a critically-acclaimed career in the 1940s and 1950s, including being controversially cast as a bi-racial woman in “Duel in the Sun”. Her leading men included Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, Humphrey Bogart and Rock Hudson, with whom she starred in the 1957 war movie “A Farewell to Arms”.

Jones was married three times, including to influential “Gone With the Wind” producer David O. Selznick and industrialist Norton Simon whose art collection became the basis for the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. A spokesman for the museum announced Jones’s death of natural causes.

The actress made her last screen appearance in “The Towering Inferno” in 1974, where she danced with Fred Astaire before a fire engulfed party-goers in a skyscraper.

She spent the last 20 years of her life in quiet retirement in southern California.

Chris Henry Funeral news updates :- Chris Henry’s funeral appears to be Tuesday in Gretna, La., near New Orleans. It is believed the Bengals plan to charter a plane to the service, but on Thursday they were still trying to come to grips with his death.

Through their fiancée and girlfriend and kids, Henry and Domata Peko became close friends. Word that Peko’s friend died in a pickup truck accident that police have described as part of “a domestic dispute” with fiancée Loleini Tonga didn’t sound right to Peko and Henry’s other teammates. They praised her Thursday for the order she brought to his life.

“Loleini had been a very steadying force in Chris’ life, since she came into his life,” said head coach Marvin Lewis, who thought that Charlotte had been a good place for Henry when he wasn’t required to be in Cincinnati.

“He was with (her) family down there, which has been a very comfortable environment and really has been a great spot for him to be,” Lewis said. “And he spent a lot of time down there once he was able to do that, so we were very comfortable with him in that environment.”

“It’s a curveball to everybody,” said Peko, the defensive tackle and a captain. “I just pray for his mom and his family and for Loleini’s family, and hope everything works out. Only they know what really happened. All I know is we lost Chris and when you lose a good friend like that it’s going to hurt.”