Shujaat sworn in Pak PM

          Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was on Wednesday sworn in as Prime Minister. President Pervez Musharraf administered him the oath of office. Later, cabinet ministers and ministers of state also took the oath. The ceremony held in Awan-i-Sadr was attended by members of the federal and provincial assemblies, senators, chief ministers of four provinces, governors and senior military and civil officials. Chaudhry Shujaat was elected leader of the house on Tuesday after securing 190 votes whereas his opponent ARD's Makhdoom Amin Fahim got 76 votes.

Shaukat Aziz incapable of running Pak: Cohen (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Shaukat Aziz, who is expected to take over as Pakistan's next prime minister from Shujaat Hussain in a few weeks from now, will not able to run the country as he was a technocrat and not a politician, Stephen Cohen, a noted writer on South Asia, has said. "Shaukat Aziz, being a technocrat, can't run Pakistan on sound and secure lines and that he would not be able to deal with complex issues like sectarianism. Aziz is a fine economic manager ... he is not a skilled politician, and obviously military would remain behind the throne, despite the change of former Prime Minister Jamali," The Nation quoted Cohen, a former US assistance secretary of state, as saying here Tuesday in a TV interview. Stephen Cohen, who is writing a book on Pakistani politics and is due to be published in Pakistan later this year, reportedly said: "Military leaders during the course of their training and teaching are not taught how to run the government and that Army Generals cannot run Pakistan for ever".

           He added: "I do not think people of Pakistan want any technocrat or any General to rule them, they want some politician who could negotiate and make compromises and address issues of their country. The reforms introduced in Pakistan were misdirected as military has been tilting its sides," he said while commenting on the level development in the country. He further said that there can be some betterment if long term policies were evolved and politicians enjoying full backing of the people were allowed to run the affairs of the country, and military went back to its original job.

ICC to launch cricket's Oscars this September (Go To Top)

          Lahore: Outstanding international teams and cricketers will be honoured with ICC (International Cricket Council) awards, which are termed as equivalent to Hollywood's Oscars, later this year, a Council's press release said Tuesday. The gala event, to be staged at London's prestigious Alexandra Palace on September 7, will become an annual feature on the international cricket calendar. All international players will be invited to attend cricket's equivalent of the 'Oscars', with the ceremony to be telecast around the world. The ICC has established the awards in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA), the Daily Times reported. As many as seven player-related awards will be presented in two categories: individual and team awards. A voting panel of up to 50 cricket luminaries, including present captains, match officials and former prominent players, is being established to vote on the individual awards. According to the paper, the awards will see the announcement of official ICC World XI teams in both Test and ODI cricket.

        The individual awards are: Cricketer of the year, Test player of the year, ODI player of the year, and Emerging Player of the Year. The team awards are: Test team of the year, ODI team of the year, and spirit of cricket award, it added. The awards will be decided on the basis of performance during past 12 months, the report added.

         Meanwhile, leading international cricketers, including a few captains, have hailed the idea of launching such awards. According to an ICC release, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the awards held special meaning for the players by recognising and honouring the cricketers on an international stage. South African captain Graeme Smith said that peer recognition was highly valued by players. Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was quoted as saying that several players would be in contention for the awards after performing consistently over the year. Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said creating the different award categories meant that all international players had the chance to be acknowledged and recognised for their performance at the highest level.

Sharapova getting too close for comfort for Kournikova (Go To Top)

          London: A recent German poll has found that Russian tennis player, Maria Sharapova is fast climbing up on Anna Kournikova in the popularity charts. The new girl on the court was second to Kournikova, who won the vote, with a majority of just 51.5 per cent. "I'm not the next Anna, I'm the first me," Maria was quoted by Hello magazine. She insists that her on-court skills far outweigh her beauty.