Asian Cup 2011 Qualifiers, The AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ Finals jigsaw puzzle was completed Wednesday after Australia, Kuwait and Jordan took up their places for next year’s continental footballing extravaganza.

The trio’s qualification ticked off the final 16 names in the hat for the April 23, 2010, draw in the host city of Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The Socceroos were the first to breast the tape yesterday with a 1-0 defeat of Indonesia at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

That left Kuwait needing a point off Oman in Muscat later and this was duly accomplished, thanks to a goalless draw.
Jordan beat Singapore 2-1 and their victory combined with the other group match result in which Iran beat Thailand by a solitary goal saw the West Asians rejoice at the packed King Abdullah Stadium in Amman.

The group standings were also finalised after the match day 6 action.

QUALIFIED TEAMS FOR AFC ASIAN CUP QATAR 2011™ FINALS

Direct bye to the Finals
AFC Asian Cup 2007: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic
AFC Challenge Cup 2008: India
AFC Challenge Cup 2010: DPR Korea
AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ hosts: Qatar

Eligible through qualifying
Group A: Japan, Bahrain
Group B: Australia, Kuwait
Group C: UAE, Uzbekistan
Group D: Syria, China PR
Group E: IR Iran, Jordan

Asian Cup 2011 Qualifiers, The AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ Finals jigsaw puzzle was completed Wednesday after Australia, Kuwait and Jordan took up their places for next year’s continental footballing extravaganza.

The trio’s qualification ticked off the final 16 names in the hat for the April 23, 2010, draw in the host city of Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The Socceroos were the first to breast the tape yesterday with a 1-0 defeat of Indonesia at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

That left Kuwait needing a point off Oman in Muscat later and this was duly accomplished, thanks to a goalless draw.
Jordan beat Singapore 2-1 and their victory combined with the other group match result in which Iran beat Thailand by a solitary goal saw the West Asians rejoice at the packed King Abdullah Stadium in Amman.

The group standings were also finalised after the match day 6 action.

QUALIFIED TEAMS FOR AFC ASIAN CUP QATAR 2011™ FINALS

Direct bye to the Finals
AFC Asian Cup 2007: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic
AFC Challenge Cup 2008: India
AFC Challenge Cup 2010: DPR Korea
AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ hosts: Qatar

Eligible through qualifying
Group A: Japan, Bahrain
Group B: Australia, Kuwait
Group C: UAE, Uzbekistan
Group D: Syria, China PR
Group E: IR Iran, Jordan

Dubai’s police chief plans to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel’s spy agency over the killing of a Hamas leader in the emirate.
Dahi Khalfan Tamim said that he would ask the Dubai prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the head of Mossad, a news channel reported. Tamim has said he is almost certain that Israeli agents were involved in the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel in January, calling for Mossad’s boss, Meir Dagan, to be arrested if it is proved responsible. Tamim said that Mossad had “insulted” Dubai and Western countries whose fraudulent passports were used by suspects in the assassination. Dubai has asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into prepaid cards issued by the Meta Financial Group’s MetaBank which the suspects used, a United Arab Emirates newspaper said. Citing an FBI source, The National newspaper said the investigation would look into any Israeli involvement in the killing. Thirteen of the 27 suspects used prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank, a regional American bank, to purchase plane tickets and book hotel rooms, the newspaper said, quoting Dubai police. The UAE, a US-allied Arab state that backs the Palestinian drive for an independent state and an end to Israeli occupation, has no diplomatic relations with Israel. But it has established low-level political and trade links in recent years, with some Israeli officials attending events in the Gulf Arab state. Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer competed in the Dubai Championships last month. Members of the hit squad used fraudulent passports from Britain, Ireland, Germany, France and Australia. Residents of Israel with the same names as the suspects, holding dual nationalities, have said their identities appear to have been stolen. The passport abuse has drawn criticism from the European Union, and some of the governments involved have summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries to protest.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen expressed his concern over the ‘unintended consequences’ of an attack on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Speaking during a joint press conference with Defence Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Adm Mullen said Iran’s path towards building of a nuclear weapon was an overarching concern from all the countries he visited. Those countries include Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “I worry a lot about the unintended consequences of any sort of military action. For now, the diplomatic and the economic levers of international power are, and ought to be, the levers first pulled.” Both the men said that though the Afghan war is going on a slow pace, however, they added that it was not affecting the US Afghan policy.
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has delayed awarding annual central contacts to its players until until the release of a report into the team’s defeats in all matches on their tour of Australia.

A six-man evaluating committee had delayed its proceeding in view of Pakistan’s ongoing tour of UAE to play two Twenty20 International against England and will meet again after the team returns from Dubai.

“We will announce the central contracts only after the submission of the inquiry report so that there is no conflict between the two,” Wasim Bari, PCB Chief Operating Officer told AFP.

PCB Last year awarded annual contracts to 27 players, nine in the top ‘A’ category, four in ‘B’ and 14 in the ‘C’ category. The likely omission from the new list will be notorious fast-bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who was last year kept in the top category despite playing only four Twenty20 internationals.

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PCB delays awarding central contacts

Pakistan flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi has signed up to play for Fly Emirates XI in the T20 Arabian Cricket Challenge (ARCH) Trophy at 7he Sevens Stadium in Dubai. South Africa’s domestic T20 champion Cape Cobras, winner of England’s T20 cup Sussex and Surrey Lions will be the other parties in the four-team event.

Afridi will be lining up alongside the Emirates employees, including four members of the UAE team against some of South Africa and England’s most talented Twenty20 players. “It is going to be a tough challenge, but I am looking forward to it immensely. I always enjoy my time in Dubai and am very excited about playing in the first ever Emirates Airline Twenty20 tournament,” said Afridi. “I know there is a real passion among cricket fans in the UAE and it will be great to play in front of them.”

It is a dream come true for Fly Emirates XI skipper Nigel Fernandez, who is delighted his team will get the opportunity to learn from one of the game’s most gifted players in the tournament. “I can’t believe that Shahid Afridi will be playing for us,” said the 32-year-old batsman from India.

“He is among the best players in the world at the moment and to have him alongside us will give us great confidence. He is a player I greatly admire. He is a natural talent who can win matches singlehandedly. It will be an incredible experience for everyone in the team and a real honour to line up beside him,” added Fernandez.

Tournament director and ARCH founder Matthew Jackson said: “It is great to have Afridi on board. He is a thrilling player to watch and plays in a style which sums up the festival spirit we aim to create.”

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Afridi to play for amateur team in Dubai

Afghanistan will contest a major cricket tournament for the first time after the country qualified for the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup.
The Afghans beat United Arab Emirates by four wickets in Saturday’s 20-over match to reach the final of a qualifying tournament. The battle-scarred nation will now play Ireland or the Netherlands, but Afghanistan’s place in the World Cup in the West Indies in May is already assured as both finalists qualify.
The UAE were restricted to 100-9 and Afghanistan opening batsman Noor Ali finished unbeaten on 38 as a victory total of 101 was clinched with three balls to spare.
Afghanistan’s ascent in world cricket has been rapid since gaining affiliate membership of the International Cricket Council in 2001.

TEHRAN, Iran – A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane carrying 157 passengers and 13 crew crash landed in northeastern Iran on Sunday injuring at least 46 people, state television reported.

The broadcast quoted Iran’s civil aviation spokesman, Reza Jafarzadeh, as saying that no one was killed in the accident. He gave no indication of what might have caused the accident.

The Taban Air plane caught fire upon landing at Mashhad airport at 7:20 a.m. local time (0350 GMT). The injured have been taken to hospitals in Mashhad, the report added.

Jafarzadeh said the Tupolev plane initially took off from Abadan airport in southwestern Iran Saturday evening but landed in Isfahan, central Iran, because of bad weather in Mashhad, its destination.

“The plane took off from Isfahan airport at 5:35 a.m. local time Sunday … Despite bad weather and minimum visibility, the pilot made an emergency landing because a passenger was ill. But the incident then happened during landing,” he said.

Jafarzadeh said the plane was seriously damaged. State television added that part of the aircraft had burned and the left wing and undercarriage were torn off.

Iran has about a dozen Soviet-built Tupolev airliners.

Iran has seen numerous crashes in recent years and its airlines have been plagued by maintenance problems, partly because they are chronically cashed-strapped and cannot buy new planes.

Iranian officials often blame U.S. sanctions that prevent it from refurbishing the American aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic revolution and make it difficult to get spare parts or planes from Europe.

The country has come to rely on Russian aircraft, many of them Soviet-era planes that are harder to get parts for since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Last July, a Tupolev passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed shortly after takeoff, nose-diving into a field and killing all those aboard. The Caspian Airlines Tu-154M jet had taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport and was headed to the Armenian capital Yerevan.

In February 2006, another Tu-154 operated by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran’s national carrier, crashed during landing in Tehran, killing 29 of the 148 people on board. Another Airtour Tupolev crashed in 2002 in the mountains of western Iran, killing all 199 on board.

Iran’s worst crash came in February 2003 and also involved a Russian-made Ilyushin that plowed into the mountains of southeastern Iran, killing 302 people — mostly members of the elite Revolutionary Guard.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in response to the request made by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), has given its nod for using the string ‘emarat’ as the official Arabic top-level domain for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The announcement made by ICANN follows TRA’s announcement to use of the Arabic top level domain name for the UAE in GITEX 2009, providing the approval of ICANN. The .ae Domain Administration (.aeDA) was established by TRA as the Regulatory Body and Registry Operator for the .ae domain name. aeDA is responsible for enforcement of all policies reference to the operation of the .ae country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) as well as overseeing the operation of the Registry System.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) re-delegated the UAE ENUM space (971) to TRA, which in turn entrusted .aeDA with the management of the whole issue. Since then it has proven to possess an excellent capability to manage the .ae ccTLD from both administrative and technical perspectives in compliance with International Best Practices.

The UAE successfully passed the rules set by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICCAN), an organization responsible for managing the sources of the numbers and names on the Internet. Thus, the UAE has become one of the first countries to receive approval.

The decision to introduce Arabic domain names will contribute to increasing the number of surfers to Arabic sites and further promote and strengthen the UAE’s identity. Presently, most websites in the country use the ‘.ae’ English domain address, which is regulated by the TRA’s.  Read more about Web Hosting in Pakistan

LAHORE: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt said that Pakistan had to bear a loss of 40 million dollars for not holding the Pak-India series.

He said that he had asked the ICC task force regarding series at neutral venue while he also demanded the hosting of the Champions Trophy 2013.

While giving at the Gaddafi Stadium the briefing of the meeting with the ICC task force, Ijaz Butt said that a comprehensive presentation was given to the task force regarding holding of no international cricket in Pakistan and the losses incurred as a result.

He told that now the task force would submit its proposals at the board meeting and certainly encouraging results would come before us.

The chairman PCB said that he asked for special funds to compensate the expenses incurred for constructing stadiums for holding Champions Trophy and World Cup matches in Pakistan and losses due to holding no international cricket in the country.

He said that hosting of the Champions Trophy 2013 would be offered and it is the right of Pakistan to host the event.

Ijaz Butt said that the reports are not correct that FTP showed that there would be no match in Pakistan from 2013 to 2020.

He added that England proposed to play two Twenty20 matches in the UAE before the T20 World Cup and an A team series would be held from the income generated through these matches.

The chairman PCB said that the future of Younis Khan would be decided in the meeting with chief selector Iqbal Qasimon Tuesday.

He said that he got the government approval for Pakistan players’ participation in the IPL and now the ball is in the court of the Indian government.

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