Wayne Rooney's desire to leave Manchester United confirms Sir Alex Ferguson

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND : Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson on Tuesday confirmed Wayne Rooney's desire to exit the club, after several days of speculation and media rumors.

After Ferguson announced that Rooney would not be playing in the upcoming Champions match against Bursaspor because of an injured ankle, the international striker went on to publicly deny he was unable to play because of an injury.

"That was my intention, that was my idea, to galvanize him," Ferguson said. "Take a break from the games, get the training done, get his fitness back. Get rid of the traces of the ankle injury away and play for England. So why he's come out and said that, I've no idea," he added.

As the transfer period of January approaches, rumors have been circulating in sports media about Rooney's future. Some say the two have not spoken to each other for several weeks, but Ferguson explained that they "never had an argument, not a bit."

"I think you have to understand the mechanics of these situations when people want to leave the club. It's an easy one to say he's fallen out with the manager, a very easy one to say. I think there are traces of that too," Ferguson explained.

Despite Manchester United's initial rejection of Rooney's possible departure, the international star has made it clear that he has no intention of signing a contract extension, to the surprise of both Ferguson and the striker's agent.

Ferguson said to be "disappointed," but he was quick to say that if Rooney changes his mind, the door will be open for him at Manchester United.

"Wayn''s been a beneficiary of this help, just as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and all the players have been. That's what we're there for," he added.

"We're dealing with agents who live in the pockets of players. We live in a different world now and we have to deal with it in a different way. It's a pity but it's there and we have to deal with it," Ferguson stated.

Rooney has been linked to several clubs, including Manchester City, who reportedly could offer him twice his current salary.

British media urges Wayne Rooney to learn from Sachin Tendulkar

The British media has lavished praise on iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar and according to a column written by former England cricketer Ed Smith, Manchester United star Wayne Rooney should learn how to turn expectations into inspiration.

In an article headlined 'Sanctuary of crease lets Tendulkar reveal genius,' Smith had written, "Twice last week, sportsmen have proved me spectacularly wrong. First, Sachin Tendulkar reached 14,000 Test-match runs. And that's not the amazing part.

"It took him fewer innings to get from 13,000 to 14,000 than any other 1,000-run chunk of his career. A case could be made that he is at his best now, at 37," the newspaper noted.

The article said Tendulkar and Rooney were destined for rare greatness, even from teenage. Tendulkar has gone on and done it.

A year ago, Rooney looked placed to do the same. But now, as never before, there are real doubts that he will become the player we once assumed he would be.

"Make no mistake, Tendulkar's career has not been as serene as it might look, there have been arguments with coaches and match referees, an unsatisfactory spell as captain and long phases when the muse has deserted him.

"Tendulkar has had countless moments when frustration could have overwhelmed him. He has never blown his top, never lost his dignity. Instead,frustration has inpired him."

"Above all, his career has been played out under the shadow of phenomenal expectation. Footballers in England have to deal with being heroes. In India it is even worse: they are meant to be Gods."

"According to the report 'Tendulkar has come to the conclusion that there is one place where he is free from the hassles of fame. There is one realm where he cannot be pestered. It is called the crease.

"With the bat in his hands, Tendulkar is the conductor of his own life, not just a participant in a soap opera. There, out in the middle, no one can stop him being himself - not a restless media, not overly demanding fans, not intering coaches or greedy agents."

"It is the ultimate irony: the greatest actors are never freer than when they're on the stage. That is the way for Rooney to find the way out of his present difficulties - he must have the bravery to express himself on the pitch, to make it his sanctuary."

"If he allows himself to become embittered and resentful, he will not only become estranged from his fans, but also from his talent. No wonder the ball is bouncing off him at the moment; he probably would like to repel the whole game.

"Instead, he must learn to love it again. Shamed by alleged events off the pitch and embarrassed by events on it, Rooney could be forgiven for feeling sorry for himself," the report said.

"It would be a normal thing to feel. But he doesn't aspire to normality, but to greatness. And greatness, as Tendulkar has showed demands a superhuman degree of resilience and emotional dexterity. Rooney must locate his inner Tendulkar, a genius who got even with his critics by scoring hundreds."

"For Rooney, in every sense, it's time to turn the pressure into goals."

ponting said after the loss to india in mohali

 Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted that his side's worst fears that VVS Laxman could spoil their chances came out to be true and said it would be a difficult job for them to bounce back in the series after the heartbreaking loss in the opening Test.

"VVS (Laxman) was our biggest worry, that's the way he has turned out to be," Ponting said after the match which they lost by one wicket.

"No doubt the dressing room is very quiet at the moment. But we have to bounce back. There is no hiding the fact that it is going to be a difficult task and first session of the next (Bangalore) Test would be crucial," Ponting said.

Ponting said that Laxman, who hit an unbeaten 79-ball 73 to guide India to a memorable win, showed that he is a class player.

The visiting skipper said he did not repent giving his nod for allowing a runner for Laxman who was suffering from a back spasm. Laxman batted at number 10 in India's first innings and came out at seven in the second.

Ponting said he had told his bowlers not to take things easy against Laxman as he was like a "wounded player" who had earlier batted down the order.

He informed that pacer Doug Bollinger, who did not bowl after lunch with over 50 runs still required by the Indians, had suffered an abdominal strain and "it was really disappointing to lose him at that stage".

Ponting, who made knocks of 71 and 4 in the match, admitted that the narrow loss would hurt his team but his side would look forward and move on.

"It is important for us not to go too much into the negative side of not winning the game. We should look at the positives which we have achieved," he said.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Proved That Best T20 Domestic Team In World

Some teams that are just so good, that they make even the best opposition look sub standard. The Chennai Super Kings did just that on Sunday evening when they strolled home to an 8 wicket victory against the Warriors in the finals of the Champions League T20.

The IPL Champs hammer the Warriors and bring home the Champions League crown. © AFP

The evening’s display began with Chennai’s much revered bowling attack that practically strangled the Warriors who went in to bat first. There was some early hitting which gave the home team a glimmer of hope, but as soon as Murli and Ashwin came to the party, the runs seemed to evaporate and the wickets began to tumble. Murli finished as the pick of the bowlers taking three wickets on the night while Ashwin will take home the mantle of the tournaments highest wicket taker with a haul of 13 wickets over six matches. They combined to restrict the Warriors to a score of 128 for 7 for their 20 overs.

Chennai then went into bat with an opening pair that has seen nothing but success in this Champions League. Vijay and Hussey were that pair and they carried on with their hot streak, scoring a half century each, to ensure that the game would go Chennai’s way. The half century also ensured that Murali Vijay became the highest run scorer in the Champions League taking home the Golden Bat. Of course, the runs they scored weren’t at the blitzkrieg rate you’d expect from a T 20 game, and there was a moment or two towards the end, where it looked as if the slow run rate might be Chennai’s undoing. But, it is for such occasions that Mahendra Singh Dhoni was born. He came in to hammer a quick fire 17 that carried the IPL Champs over the final hurdle.

It’s the result that every Indian cricket fan wanted and whatever your IPL allegiances, it’s a win that all of India will celebrate.

Yahoo Users Can Now Open a Google Account With OpenID

Google is now letting any Yahoo users sign in to Google using OpenID, the company announced Tuesday.

If you’re a Yahoo user and you want to try Google Docs, Calendar or Reader, this makes the sign-up process easier. Instead of filling out a web form and waiting for a confirmation e-mail when signing up for a Google account, there’s now a new button you can click on. It says “Verify by signing in at Yahoo.com.” Click it, and you’re sent to Yahoo, where you’re asked to allow Google and Yahoo to link up your accounts. All of a sudden, you’re a verified user at Google and you can start using Google’s web apps.

By using this method, you’re giving Google permission to access the data in your Yahoo profile, and you have the ability to import whatever data you’d like into Google. OpenID ensures that all you’re required to share is an e-mail address, not your password or any other information you don’t want to share.

Tuesday’s development marks Google’s first attempt to be an OpenID relying party — a website that accepts OpenID logins from third-party providers. Also, this only works for Yahoo users for now, but Google says it’s going to start offering support for other OpenID providers soon.

On the surface, this may look like an attempt by Google to poach users away from Yahoo by making it even easier for them to switch. In fact, it’s a real-world example of the type of interoperability that OpenID has been promising to bring to the open web for some time.

The more services, web apps and social networks we sign up for, the more places we have to create an account, remember a password, find friends, and build up a user profile. OpenID and the other twiddly bits in the “open stack” of social web technologies — like OAuth and Portable Contacts — make it easier for us to securely re-use this data across numerous websites and applications while only having to maintain one user account and one password at the provider of our choosing. With OpenID and OAuth, your data can easily be forklifted into other social networks with just a few clicks. OpenID currently powers the majority of third-party logins on the web.

This new Google/Yahoo system works because Yahoo is an OpenID provider. If you have a Yahoo account, you can use it to log in to any website that accepts OpenID. Google has simply started using the Yahoo OpenID API, the bit of code that makes it easier for third parties to create a simple, streamlined login experience for visitors who want to use their Yahoo ID to log in.

The same type of third-party login is possible using your Google account, since Google exposes the information necessary to make that happen in its own OpenID APIs.

So there’s no poaching happening here, just an open door policy on Yahoo’s end, and the implementation of one of Yahoo’s APIs on Google’s end.

Google is currently only offering OpenID logins for Yahoo users, the company says. The Google Code blog gives some more detail: “As [the new login feature] is based on an internet standard, we plan to use it in the future with other e-mail providers that add support for this usage of OpenID and related standards like OAuth, such as in the Microsoft Live identity APIs.”

Google is also experimenting with an OpenID/OAuth hybrid called Step2, which builds on similar community efforts to build a new system based on those two technologies. Among other things, these new hybrid systems aim to make the process less confusing for users, and to make OAuth sign-ins easier for applications that run on a phone or on the desktop rather than in a web browser.

This article originally appeared on Webmonkey.com, Wired’s site for all things web development, browsers, and web apps. Follow Webmonkey on Twitter.

Airtel Champion League T20 2010 Schedule Fixture Timetable

The Airtel Champions League Twenty20 (CTL T20)is an initiative of its three founding members, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). ESPN STAR Sports is the commercial rights holders for Champions League Twenty20 for a period of 10 years. The second season will be played in South Africa from 10-26 September 2010.
Key features of the Airtel CLT20 Format and Match Schedule

• 10 Teams divided into 2 Groups of 5
• Top 2 Teams from each Group advance to the Semi Finals
• 23 Matches in total (same as 2009)
• Group A – Chennai Super Kings, Warriors, Victorian Bushrangers, Wayamba Elevens, Central Stags
• Group B – Mumbai Indians, Highveld Lions, South Australian Redbacks, Royal Challengers Bangalore, West Indies Domestic T20 Champions (TBC)
• 5 Double Headers
• Matches evenly distributed across four venues
• Semi Finals in Durban and Centurion
• Final in Johannesburg

2010 Airtel Champions League Twenty20 Competing Teams

• Chennai Super Kings (DLF Indian Premier League – India)
• Mumbai Indians (DLF Indian Premier League – India)
• Royal Challengers Bangalore (DLF Indian Premier League – India)
• Victorian Bushrangers (KFC Twenty20 Big Bash – Australia)
• South Australian Redbacks (KFC Twenty20 Big Bash – Australia)
• Warriors (Standard Bank Pro 20 Series – South Africa)
• Highveld Lions (Standard Bank Pro 20 Series – South Africa)
• Central Stags (HRV Cup Twenty20 – New Zealand)
• Wayamba Elevens (Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Cup – Sri Lanka)
• TBC (West Indies Domestic Twenty20 Champions)

2010 Airtel Champions League Twenty20 Match Schedule and Fixture

GROUP A		GROUP B
A1	Chennai Super Kings	B1	Mumbai Indians
A2	Warriors	B2	Highveld Lions
A3	Victorian Bushrangers	B3	South Australian Redbacks
A4	Wayamba Elevens	B4	Royal Challengers Bangalore
A5	Central Stags	B5	TBC – West Indies Domestic T20

DATE	TEAM 1		TEAM 2	VENUE	TIME
Fri 10 Sep	Mumbai Indians	v/s	Highveld Lions	Johannesburg	1730
Sat 11 Sep	Warriors	v/s	Wayamba Elevens	Port Elizabeth	1330
	Chennai Super Kings	v/s	Central Stags	Durban	1730
Sun 12 Sep	Highveld Lions	v/s	South Australian Redbacks	Centurion	1330
	Royal Challengers Bangalore	v/s	TBC	Centurion	1730
Mon 13 Sep	Warriors	v/s	Victorian Bushrangers	Port Elizabeth	1730
Tue 14 Sep	Mumbai Indians	v/s	South Australian Redbacks	Durban	1730
Wed 15 Sep	Victorian Bushrangers	v/s	Central Stags	Centurion	1330
	Chennai Super Kings	v/s	Wayamba Elevens	Centurion	1730
Thu 16 Sep	Mumbai Indians	v/s	TBC	Durban	1730
Fri 17 Sep	South Australian Redbacks	v/s	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Durban	1730
Sat 18 Sep	Warriors	v/s	Central Stags	Port Elizabeth	1330
	Chennai Super Kings	v/s	Victorian Bushrangers	Port Elizabeth	1730
Sun 19 Sep	Highveld Lions	v/s	TBC	Johannesburg	1330
	Mumbai Indians	v/s	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Durban	1730
Mon 20 Sep	Victorian Bushrangers	v/s	Wayamba Elevens	Centurion	1730
Tue 21 Sep	South Australian Redbacks	v/s	TBC	Johannesburg	1330
	Highveld Lions	v/s	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Johannesburg	1730
Wed 22 Sep	Wayamba Elevens	v/s	Central Stags	Port Elizabeth	1330
	Chennai Super Kings	v/s	Warriors	Port Elizabeth	1730
Thu 23 Sep	No matches
Fri 24 Sep	Semi Final 1 1st Group A v/s 2nd Group B			Durban	1730
Sat 25 Sep	Semi Final 2 1st Group B v/s 2nd Group A			Centurion	1730
Sun 26 Sep	Airtel CLT20 Final (Winner Semi Final 1 v/s Winner Semi Final 2)			Johannesburg	1730
Note: All times listed are South African Standard Time (SAST)

New Zealand Earthquake Report

New Zealand Earthquake Report - Sep 5 2010 at 5:15 pm (NZST)

Magnitude 3.2, Sunday, September 5 2010 at 5:15 pm (NZST), 20 km south-west of Christchurch.

Quake Details

Information about this earthquake:

Reference Number	3367026/G
Universal Time	September 5 2010 at 5:15
NZ Standard Time	Sunday, September 5 2010 at 5:15 pm
Latitude, Longitude	43.59°S, 172.46°E
Focal Depth	12 km
Richter magnitude	3.2
Region	Canterbury
Location	20 km south-west of Christchurch

Felt in the Christchurch area.

A state of emergency was declared in New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch today after a powerful 7.0 earthquake caused widespread damage. Christchurch residents said the walls of their homes "wobbled like jelly" when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked New Zealand's second largest city

early Saturday.

The force of the quake, one of the most powerful recorded in the country, tore jagged fissures in the ground and destroyed the facades of buildings, littering the city's streets with bricks and shards of glass.
Markham McMullen, a school principal at Darfield, near the quake's epicentre, said it felt like a train had hit his house, creating a jolt that threw him and his wife out of bed.
"It just kept coming, it went and on and on," he said.
"It was absolutely terrifying. We grabbed our daughter, Sophie, from her room and crouched under a doorway. The TV was flying around the room... it was very scary."
Old buildings were the worst affected, with entire facades of brick structures collapsing onto the street, crushing cars under tonnes of debris and leaving kitchens and living rooms exposed, many eerily untouched by the surrounding chaos.
At Castle Rock, a rugged outcrop just outside the city, the earthquake sent boulders bigger than cars tumbling down the hillside.
Only two people were seriously injured, but Civil Defence officials said the toll would have been much worse had the quake hit in daylight, when there would have been thousands of people on the streets.
"We've been extremely lucky as a nation that there's been no fatalities ... we're blessed actually," Civil Defence Minister John Carter said.
Hotelier Richard Hawes said he thought he was going to die as his 130-year-old building shook. "(It) wobbled like a jelly," he said.
Aftershocks continued to rattle the city of around 340,000 throughout Saturday, as dazed residents assessed the damage.
Police pleas for people to stay away from the city centre were ignored, with thousands of sightseers flocking to the worst-hit areas, many recording the moment on their mobile phones.
"Honestly, the scale of it is quite astonishing," Frances Adank, who lives in the suburb of St Albans, told Radio New Zealand.
"The city council I think is going to be working for days to get the water mains sorted out... There's just water pouring out of every front section."
In the same suburb, Marsha Witehira said she had a narrow escape when a friend pulled her from her bed moments before the wall of her house collapsed on top of it.
"He saved my life, no doubt about it... if I had been there, I would have smashed my head," she told the Christchurch Press newspaper.