Posts tagged sky news
Afridi apologises for match-fixing controversy
Sep 4th
The captain of Pakistans limited-overs teams has apologised to cricket fans for the controversy that erupted after three of his teammates were suspended on suspicion of match-fixing. Shahid Afridi said that the players in the squad for the remaining two Twenty20 and five one-day matches against England were upset by the allegations, which the International Cricket Council has called the most serious to hit the sport for a decade. On behalf of these boys – I know theyre not in this series – I want to say sorry to all cricket-lovers and all cricketing nations, Afridi said. Crickets ruling body suspended Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir this week while it investigates them for various offences under the sports anti-corruption code. Its very bad news, Afridi said ahead of Sundays first Twenty20 in Cardiff. Its a big challenge for me as captain but were all ready. The coach and I are not talking about the issue – we are here to play cricket. The trio were released without criminal charge after being questioned by London police on Friday but could be banned from cricket for life if found guilty. Meanwhile, England cricket Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood has urged the authorities to make strong decisions to eradicate corruption from the game.Ahead of England’s next clash with Pakistan, Collingwood told Sky News of his disappointment that the series had become overshadowed by the spot-fixing scandal.He said the players want the authorities to do whatever needs to be done to get rid of corruption from the game.Admitting that cricketers do hear rumours of fixing, he said he had never heard anything substantial enough to really think it was going on.His comments come after the three Pakistan players accused of spot fixing were released without charge after voluntarily talking to detectives in Kilburn, north London.Referring to the last game with Pakistan, Collingwood said: I think it’s fair to say that was one of the lowest points I’ve got as a cricketer, being on the pitch there and sensing the atmosphere around the ground, it wasn’t a very nice atmosphere to have.Describing the last game as a sad day he said he felt bad that the allegations detracted from Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad’s fantastic performance.However, he said the team were looking forward to playing again and concentrating on bat an ball.
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UK Polls 2010 Televised Debate: Clegg Steals The Show
Apr 16th
Labour leader Gordon Brown, Tory David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg come face-to-face in a 90-minute debate over spending cuts, tax and political reform in the UK’s first prime ministerial TV debate.
Interestingly, two opinion polls taken immediately after the debate suggested that Mr Clegg won. David Cameron came across as the relatively young, energetic and articulate individual that we know him to be; Gordon Brown tended towards waffle and repetition, often seeking refuge in reams of statistics; and Nick Clegg sought to appear relaxed, confident and the voice of sweet reason, playing the other two against each other – with some success.
The debate was the first of three over the coming weeks, in the run up to the general election scheduled to be held on May 6. The audience, which thanks to rules agreed in advance were banned from clapping, sat in silence as the three men bidding to be the next prime minister addressed questions ranging across the domestic scene, from health and education to tax and spending.
The debates are bound by more than 70 rules agreed after weeks of negotiations between the parties and the broadcasters.
The audience was asked to applaud at the start and end of the programmes, but are not allowed to respond to leaders’ answers, with questions being put to the leaders by the presenter. Most of the 200-strong audience in each debate will be picked by pollsters ICM from the local area to ensure a balance of gender, age, ethnicity, social class and voting intention.
Sky News will be showing the second debate on Thursday, 22 April, which will look at foreign affairs. The final debate on BBC One on Thursday, 29 April will focus on the economy.
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UK To Expel Israeli Envoy Over Dubai Case
Mar 23rd
LONDON NEWS : Britain will expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged British passports in an assassination in Dubai, Sky News television reported on Tuesday, without disclosing its sources.
The Foreign Office declined to comment but said Foreign Secretary David Miliband would make a statement on the matter at 1530 GMT.
Sky News said it did not know the level of seniority of the diplomat who faced expulsion.
The Israeli foreign ministry said it had no immediate comment on the report. Spokesman Yigal Palmor said he was checking the details of the report.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a military commander from the Palestinian organisation Hamas, in a Dubai hotel room in January.
Dubai authorities have named 27 alleged members of the team that tracked and killed the Palestinian, and said they used fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports to enter and depart from Dubai.
30 iPhone apps reviewed
Jan 23rd
My favourite app of the year would have to be Spotify. Don’t believe the ridiculously low review score (two out of five stars from 9,000+ reviews) in the App Store, these are left by people who simply don’t want to pay, nothing to do with the quality of the app.
£10 a month for access to a comprehensive library of music and the ability to carry it around on your phone seems like pretty good value to me. If you can afford an iPhone contract, then a Spotify subscription should be no bother.
Honourable mentions should go to the Radio Times app, which provides comprehensive TV and radio listings with an intuitive user interface, Yelp, which is very useful when looking for a decent restaurant or bar, and FT.com, which provides a great example for other news sites thinking of producing their own apps.
Shopping app reviews
The best and most effective e-commerce apps I’ve seen this year seem to have come from US retailers. The eBay app has, along with its mobile site, been a great sales driver so far. The Amazon app is also worth a mention, as is the Net a Porter app.
My pick of the shopping apps would be the Barnes & Noble’s, which provides everything a mobile user would need for buying for browsing and finding a local store, price comparison, as users can take a photo of an item and find prices from B&N’s range, and it makes it easy to buy through the app, thanks to a specially designed checkout process.
Local listings app reviews
News and media app reviews
As I mentioned, FT.com is the pick of the news apps, making the most of the iPhone’s potential to create a great user experience. The Spectator app is notable for its innovative subscription model, but fails the usability test.
Entertainment app reviews
Other reviews
This is by no means a comprehensive list of the best apps, so if you know of any I should have reviewed, let me know in the comments…