Guinean soldiers 'lost control'

Guinean soldiers 'lost control'

Some Guinean soldiers lost control at an opposition protest in the capital, Guinea's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has admitted.

He said in an interview on French and Senegalese radio that the security forces had been provoked by a stampede.

At least 87 people died when soldiers opened fire to disperse the rally sparked by rumours that Capt Camara wants to run for president next year.

There has been worldwide condemnation of the violence.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Guinean authorities to exercise maximum restraint, while the West African regional body Ecowas is reported to be pursuing sanctions against Conakry.

Three of four opposition leaders arrested after the unrest have been released.

The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in Conakry says Cellou Diallo remains in hospital.

On Monday, a doctor at a government hospital in Conakry said his wards looked like "a butchery".

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Querrey out at Bangkok after arm injury

Querrey out at Bangkok after arm injury

American Sam Querrey will miss the next four to six weeks of the ATP season after cutting his right forearm in an accident at Bangkok, according to the US Tennis Association.

Querrey, seeded third at the Bangkok event and ranked 25th in the world, suffered the injury after practising for the Thailand Open when he sat on a glass table and fell through it, requiring emergency surgery.

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Depleted New Zealand "desperate" for success

Depleted New Zealand "desperate" for success

The last thing New Zealand ever need, given the relatively limited size of their cricket-playing pool, is an injury crisis. It is somehow in keeping with the way the cookie often crumbles for underdogs, though less than a week ago, calling anyone the underdogs in a battle with England could only mean an associate nation was playing.

But an outbreak of injury is precisely what Daniel Vettori finds himself dealing with, as he heads into what is, for his side, a quarter-final with England at The Wanderers. Jacob Oram has already gone home, another disruption in a desperately curtailed career; Daryl Tuffey has broken his hand and heads back home for surgery; Ian Butler is recovering from an intestinal infection which has seen him lose 7-8 kgs and he may or may not be ready for tomorrow; and of course Jesse Ryder, who took out the anger and frustration of his injury in a wildly entertaining and destructive 74, to set New Zealand up, is also out; Aaron Redmond, his replacement, will only arrive on the morning of the game, his flight from Hong Kong delayed by hours. You couldn't have found this script in ER.

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India set for last-chance saloon

India face holders Australia in the Champions Trophy at Centurion on Monday needing a victory to retain realistic hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

Captain Mahendra Dhoni admitted every game is a knockout after they lost their opener by 54 runs to Pakistan.

"If we don't play well, we can pack up and go back home," he said.

Australia beat the group outsiders West Indies by 50 runs but skipper Ricky Ponting said: "We know we need to play better when we take on India."

Dhoni admitted the absence of Yuvraj Singh, who like star opener Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the tournament because of injury, was difficult to cover, with ball as well as bat.

"Yuvraj bowls six or seven useful overs and I missed that option," he said. "It's all about adapting to conditions. We should have adapted to the conditions. We could have done a lot better.

"Frankly speaking, I thought I was short of three bowlers. I didn't know who to turn to."

The Indian bowling will be put to the test once again by a strong Australian batting line-up, which demonstrated its depth against West Indies as fast bowler Mitchell Johnson smashed an unbeaten 73 from 47 balls.

"It was particularly hard work early on," Ponting admitted. "It was a difficult wicket, so to get that sort of total was good going.

"The batsmen did a pretty good job and Johnson finished things off pretty well for us and those runs proved vital in the game."

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It is all about state of mind: Owais Shah

It is all about state of mind: Owais Shah

England and Middlesex middle-order batsman Owais Shah has vowed to stay with his carefree attitude for the rest of the Champions Trophy tournament.

Shah has said that the team couldn't have done any worse in the one-day series thumping against Australia - and having hit rock bottom, the only solution was to throw caution to the winds.

That is exactly what Shah, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan [ Images ] have done in the tournament and it has paid off in spades, with Lady Luck now smiling on them rather than kicking them when they were down.

"It is all about state of mind," The Mirror quoted Shah, 30, as saying as he prepared for their final group game against New Zealand .

He added: "Sure, we got thrashed by Australia 6-1 and when you are quite low in confidence, you start a tournament like that and you have nothing to lose. You can play with freedom and you can be dangerous when you play like that. You don't worry about the opposition, you say ''Let's express ourselves''.

"The England team is a very dangerous place at the moment. As a batting unit, we are definitely - like Straussy said - not going to die wondering,"

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Miandad calls Champions Trophy pitches 'dangerous'

Miandad calls Champions Trophy pitches 'dangerous'

Javed Miandad, the former captain and current director of the Pakistan board, has termed the pitches used in the ICC Champions Trophy as "dangerous" and said they will adversely affect interest in one-day cricket.

"[With] the sort of scary pitches they have prepared for such a big event it is not going to help the ICC or its members keep interest in one-day internationals alive," Miandad said. "Some of the pitches they have played on can be ranked as dangerous. The bounce is inconsistent. Balls are kicking up from a good length. All this is not good for the survival of ODIs.

"People want to see fast-paced cricket and lots of runs and excitement and that is lacking generally in this tournament because of the inconsistent nature of pitches."

Miandad called for ICC's intervention when it came to pitches and ground conditions for big events. "The ICC is quick to monitor the pitches in member countries, but they also need to talk to their curators about the pitches in the Champions Trophy.

"Even the length of boundaries is varying at the two grounds. They should have more venues for the tournament. Too many matches at one venue is adding to the problems," he said.

Miandad said the toss at the venue gave an unfair advantage and made the matches one-sided. However, out of the eight completed matches so far, the sides winning the toss have won only four times.

Before the start of the tournament, there was a lot of debate over the sustainability of one-day cricket, with Sachin Tendulkar suggesting the format be altered to have two innings of 25 overs each. The general response to Champions Trophy was expected to play a major role in deciding the future of ODIs.

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Sex not important: Drew Barrymore

Twice divorced Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore, who is rumoured to have rekindled her romance with actor Justin Long, says that sexual love is secondary to her.

"I have spent a lot of time in my life dedicating myself to love or the pursuit of love or the understanding of love. But for the last few years, my life just hasn't been about that for me," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Barrymore as saying.

"Sexual love is secondary to me right now. My life is very refreshing without it and I am trying to understand and relish it....

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