Lahore, Feb 10 (ANI): Former cricket captain Saeed Anwar has said that he is ready to coach Pakistani batsman particularly the opening pair.

Talking to Geo News here on Tuesday, the star opener said that our batsmen need to work more on their mentally toughness instead of physical training.

Salman Butt and Nasir Jamsheed are good opening batsman, Anwar said.

He added that he always advised Butt to play with open heart and don’t try too hard on his batting flaws.

“I used to play Wasim Akran and Waqar Younis without helmet during the training camp which helped me a lot in batting,” he commented. (ANI)

Mandalay (Myanmar), Feb.8 (ANI): India has asked Myanmar to act on the information provided by it about the activities of the insurgent groups having their bases along the India-Myanmar border.

Minister of State for Defence M. M. Pallam Raju on Saturday told reporters in Mandalay that the military junta of Myanmar had been asked to cooperate on combating insurgents.

“It is strategically important in terms of trading potential that exists with Myanmar and also our own security implications. Because lot of insurgent groups operating in the northeast have their bases on the Indo-Myanmar border and they keep coming in, causing havoc. We are getting the government (Myanmar) to cooperate on those things,” said Raju who accompanied the Vice President, Hamid Ansari as a member of the delegation that concluded its four-day visit to Myanmar on Sunday.

The Minister of State for Defence informed media that New Delhi had bee giving arms and ammunitions to Myanmar to fight insurgents despite the fact that both the nations were not having any formal defence tie-ups between them.

“No defence tie-ups but we do give them lot of aid in terms of arms and ammunitions and things like that but apart from that there is no formalised Defence tie-ups,” Raju added.

Indian delegates said economic ties were in focus during Ansari’s talks with the Myanmar leadership.

“Basics are the economic ties. We have to strengthen in terms of economic (ties) that we share with Myanmar. I think we have to focus that and the port is also open, so it’s a good thing,” said Agatha K. Sangma, a member of the India delegation.

India shares a 1,645-km (1,000-mile) border with Myanmar.

India says around 3,000 rebels, live and train in the camps inside the jungles of Kabaw Valley of Myanmar’s Sagaing Division.

India has a pact with Myanmar to share intelligence, but officials say it is not enough to stop the insurgency. By Ravi Shankar (ANI)

Washington, Jan 17 (ANI): White supremacists across the United States are closely being watched by hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials as Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in as the first Black president of the United States next week.

So far, there is no known organized effort to express opposition to Obama’s rise to the presidency — other than a call by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for its members to wear black armbands and fly the US flag upside down on Inauguration Day and Obama’s first full day in office, the Daily News reported.

“The level of vitriol, I expect, will go up a bit more around inauguration time,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino.

There “is concern” about White supremacist groups during the inauguration, said Joe Persichini, the assistant FBI director who is helping to oversee security during the inauguration.

The inauguration of the nation’s first minority president increases any potential threat, “particularly stemming from individuals on the extremist fringe of the white supremacist movement,” said a recent intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

But law enforcement has the appropriate resources to respond if needed, Persichini said. “We have seen a lot of chatter. We have seen a lot of discussions,” he said.

“We have seen some information via the Internet. But those are discussions. We look at the vulnerabilities and whether or not the groups are taking action. You have freedom of speech,” he added.

Anger, violence and interest in racist ideology did increase in the hours and days after Obama was elected president in November, hate groups experts said.

Three New York men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights — accused of targeting and attacking African-Americans in a brutal crime spree soon after Obama was declared the winner on November 4. (ANI)

London, Jan 17 (ANI): World number four Andy Murray has said that he has the stomach to cope with being favourite to land the Australian Open title, and becoming Britain’s first men’s champion at a Slam for 73 years when he takes on Romanian Andrei Pavel in the first round.

Murray is the bookies’ choice to land the first Grand Slam of the year after a sensational start to 2009, FOX Sports reported.

Murray, whose best performance here was reaching the fourth round two years ago, said: “You have to find a way through the conditions, particularly if it is very hot. Conditions do not vary as much at any other Slam. At Wimbledon and the French it can rain but here, you never know what it will be like.”
“Due to the improvements I have made, I’m confident I can do well here. But I have not studied the draw too much – I just have to think about winning my first match. Getting to the US Open final gave me a lot of confidence. But if I get to another final, I’m sure that I will do a lot better than I did against Federer,” he said.

Murray, 21, insisted: “Being favourite makes absolutely no difference at all. “Once I play the first match, I might be a little nervous but if I can come through that one, I will be on my way in the tournament.

“With more strength in your upper body, you can maintain that consistency. It gives you peace of mind,” he added.

While Murray is the bookies’ pick, nobody is ruling out Federer – Aussie champion in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and one away from equalling Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams. (ANI)

Washington, Jan 17 (ANI): White supremacists across the United States are closely being watched by hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials as Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in as the first Black president of the United States next week.

So far, there is no known organized effort to express opposition to Obama’s rise to the presidency — other than a call by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for its members to wear black armbands and fly the US flag upside down on Inauguration Day and Obama’s first full day in office, the Daily News reported.

“The level of vitriol, I expect, will go up a bit more around inauguration time,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino.

There “is concern” about White supremacist groups during the inauguration, said Joe Persichini, the assistant FBI director who is helping to oversee security during the inauguration.

The inauguration of the nation’s first minority president increases any potential threat, “particularly stemming from individuals on the extremist fringe of the white supremacist movement,” said a recent intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

But law enforcement has the appropriate resources to respond if needed, Persichini said. “We have seen a lot of chatter. We have seen a lot of discussions,” he said.

“We have seen some information via the Internet. But those are discussions. We look at the vulnerabilities and whether or not the groups are taking action. You have freedom of speech,” he added.

Anger, violence and interest in racist ideology did increase in the hours and days after Obama was elected president in November, hate groups experts said.

Three New York men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights — accused of targeting and attacking African-Americans in a brutal crime spree soon after Obama was declared the winner on November 4. (ANI)

London, Jan 17 (ANI): World number four Andy Murray has said that he has the stomach to cope with being favourite to land the Australian Open title, and becoming Britain’s first men’s champion at a Slam for 73 years when he takes on Romanian Andrei Pavel in the first round.

Murray is the bookies’ choice to land the first Grand Slam of the year after a sensational start to 2009, FOX Sports reported.

Murray, whose best performance here was reaching the fourth round two years ago, said: “You have to find a way through the conditions, particularly if it is very hot. Conditions do not vary as much at any other Slam. At Wimbledon and the French it can rain but here, you never know what it will be like.”
“Due to the improvements I have made, I’m confident I can do well here. But I have not studied the draw too much – I just have to think about winning my first match. Getting to the US Open final gave me a lot of confidence. But if I get to another final, I’m sure that I will do a lot better than I did against Federer,” he said.

Murray, 21, insisted: “Being favourite makes absolutely no difference at all. “Once I play the first match, I might be a little nervous but if I can come through that one, I will be on my way in the tournament.

“With more strength in your upper body, you can maintain that consistency. It gives you peace of mind,” he added.

While Murray is the bookies’ pick, nobody is ruling out Federer – Aussie champion in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and one away from equalling Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams. (ANI)

Washington, Jan 17 (ANI): White supremacists across the United States are closely being watched by hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials as Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in as the first Black president of the United States next week.

So far, there is no known organized effort to express opposition to Obama’s rise to the presidency — other than a call by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for its members to wear black armbands and fly the US flag upside down on Inauguration Day and Obama’s first full day in office, the Daily News reported.

“The level of vitriol, I expect, will go up a bit more around inauguration time,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino.

There “is concern” about White supremacist groups during the inauguration, said Joe Persichini, the assistant FBI director who is helping to oversee security during the inauguration.

The inauguration of the nation’s first minority president increases any potential threat, “particularly stemming from individuals on the extremist fringe of the white supremacist movement,” said a recent intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

But law enforcement has the appropriate resources to respond if needed, Persichini said. “We have seen a lot of chatter. We have seen a lot of discussions,” he said.

“We have seen some information via the Internet. But those are discussions. We look at the vulnerabilities and whether or not the groups are taking action. You have freedom of speech,” he added.

Anger, violence and interest in racist ideology did increase in the hours and days after Obama was elected president in November, hate groups experts said.

Three New York men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights — accused of targeting and attacking African-Americans in a brutal crime spree soon after Obama was declared the winner on November 4. (ANI)

Washington, Jan 16 (ANI): After getting caught up in the alleged Ponzi scheme run by financier Bernard Madoff, Kevin Bacon is said to have been washed off his big bucks and is therefore looking for work.

Kevin and wife Kyra Sedgwick are trying hard to adapt to his new modest lifestyle, but the sad part is Bacon hardly has any work in his kitty.

“I didn¹t see it coming, I don’t have anything lined up right now, but I need to work, for obvious reasons,” Fox News quoted Bacon, as telling Life and Style magazine.

Bacon revealed that like many others, he too did not notice the fraud until, he was washed off much of the savings.

However, he is grateful that his wife is still going steady with her job.

“There are a lot of things I’m grateful for: my health, my family, my career, my family’s health,” Bacon said.

“We’ll march on. We have to. There’s nothing you can do about it,” Bacon added. (ANI)