Werder Bremen produced a rousing fightback at the San Siro to eliminate favourites AC Milan from the UEFA Cup on Thursday and heap further pressure on coach Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian shrugged off fresh speculation this week that he could be sacked in May but will face further calls for his head after Claudio Pizarro scored twice as Werder hit back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and reach the last 16 on away goals after the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.

Having recorded a second successive victory over India in as many Twenty20 matches, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori heaped praise on his bowlers for restricting the visitors to 160 in Wednesday's match in Christchurch. New Zealand, who had beaten India by 10 runs at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, inflicted a seven-wicket defeat on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team in the opening match of the 47-day tour.

Brendon McCullum smashed an unbeaten half-century to steer New Zealand to a seven-wicket win over India in their first Twenty20 international in Christchurch on Wednesday. The Kiwis overhauled India's total of 162 for eight with seven balls to spare.

Younis Khan got his name into the record books by becoming only the 20th batsman (on the 23rd occasion) to score a triple century in Test cricket. He is only the sixth Test captain to score a triple century, while his 313 is the third-highest score by a Pakistan batsman behind Hanif Mohammad's 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq 329.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to field against India in the first Twenty20 international at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Wednesday. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh returned to the Indian team, replacing all-rounder Ravinder Jadeja, who featured in India's last Twenty20 match against Sri Lanka.

The 81st Annual Academy Awards, if trends are anything to go by, seem to be more or less on the same page with me this season, which is a peculiar feeling indeed since I'm used to ranting about the results. However, this year the Academy's likely winners and my who-should-win picks are uncannily mirroring each other, a fact displayed in this list of the nominees. The Academy picks are marked by the [A] sign, my picks are marked by the [R] sign.

Premier League sides Manchester United and Aston Villa reached the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday after seeing off lower league opponents Southampton and Gillingham.

Ever wondered how terrorists make their exit after their operations? There is a clear-cut plan for terrorists to make their way to Pakistan after their operations, say the police after interrogating Sabahuddin, who is being grilled by the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad.

UEFA Cup favourites AC Milan missed the chance to progress to the knockout stages as group winners when a late Mahir Saglik equaliser handed VfL Wolfsburg a 2-2 draw at the San Siro on Wednesday. As Group E's top side, Wolfsburg are guaranteed a tie against a third-placed side from another group in Friday's last 32 draw while seven-times European champions Milan must face a third-placed finisher from the Champions League group stage.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced that Hugh Jackman will be the host of the 81st annual Oscars, to be held February 22.

M S Dhoni has now won his first four Tests as captain - first Indian to do so.

India's 387 for four is the fourth highest successful chase in Test history and the highest ever on Indian soil. Before this match, no side had ever won a match on Indian soil while chasing a fourth innings target of 300 or more.

In-form skipper Diwakar Prasad scored a brace as India rallied to draw 4-4 with Argentina in their final Under-21 hockey Test to clinch the series 1-0 at Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires in on Saturday. Apart from Diwakar, Danish Mujtaba and Jay Karan scored a goal each to help the team, which trailed 1-3 at half-time, draw parity. India won the first match, while the other three ended level.

Mumbai FC held a depleted Dempo Sports Club to a 1-1 draw in the final group A league match of the 30th Federation Cup football championship in Barasat on Tuesday night.

Hamburg led a trio of former European champions into the UEFA Cup knockout phase on Thursday and previous winners Valencia also secured a last 32 place. Aston Villa and Ajax Amsterdam progressed from Group F along with Hamburg, whose 2-0 victory at Slavia Prague meant Villa qualified despite a 2-1 home defeat by Slovakia's Zilina.

Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey scored half-centuries to put Australia in a strong position in the second Test in Adelaide on Saturday. At close on Day 2, Australia, replying to New Zealand's 270, were 241 for 3, with Hussey unbeaten on 69 and Michael Clarke on 43.

Mitchell Johnson claimed his maiden five-wicket haul as Australia beat New Zealand by 149 runs in the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane on Sunday morning. Johnson finished with five wickets for 39 runs to claim his maiden five-wicket haul. His impressive match figures of 9 for 69 earned him the man-of-the-match award as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.

Simon Katich's unbeaten century helped Australia take control of the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday. The left-hander was left stranded on 131 as Australia were bowled out for 268 in 81.2 overs in their second innings setting New Zealand a stiff target of 327 to win the match.

Feliciano Lopez beat an ailing Juan Martin del Potro after David Nalbandian's straight sets win over David Ferrer in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup final.

Simon Katich stayed unbeaten on a well made 67 even though he felt short of partners during Australia's second innings in the first Test against New Zealand at Brisbane on Friday. Australian batsmen struggled to stay at the wicket for long as they ended day two at a score of 131 for the loss of six wickets, scoring at an average of 3.44 runs per over.

The status quo remained the same in Europe's top leagues as Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Olympique Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen all won to remain at the top of their leagues. Lyon enjoy the healthiest advantage after a win over last season's runners-up Girondins Bordeaux gave them a seven-point cushion in France while Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen retained slender goal difference leads in England and Germany.

An American working in India is still optimistic about his country's prospects.

Obafemi Martins scored twice as Newcastle United produced a stirring second-half performance to beat Aston Villa 2-0 on Monday to move off the bottom of the Premier League.

Rohan Bopanna and his Belarussian partner Max Mirnyi overcame a second-set lapse to advance to the semifinals of $ 1,049,000 St Petersburg Open.

Udinese inflicted more misery on hapless Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-0 UEFA Cup group stage victory.

Newcastle United, playing with 10 men for 75 minutes, earned a spirited 2-2 draw with Manchester City at St James' Park.

A coalition of community organisations in the Washington, DC metropolitan area accorded a rousing farewell to the deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy, Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, who will now take charge as India's new ambassador to Turkey.

Portugal midfielder Maniche and playmaker Deco have been ruled out of the next two World Cup Group One qualifiers in Sweden and Albania.

Sourav Ganguly failed to get the match practice that he desperately sought ahead of the opening Test against Australia after being dismissed for just 14 runs but India A recovered from a shaky start to post 162 for three in their first innings on the second day of the four-day match against New Zealand A in Chennai on Saturday.

Openers Aaron Redmond (105) and Martin Guptil (80) combined for a 190-run stand to guide New Zealand A to a commanding 270 for 3 against India A on the opening day of the second and final four-day cricket match in Chennai on Friday. The visitors, who elected to bat, crossed the 250-mark for the first time since the first match, which they lost by 129 runs.

Dimitar Berbatov scored twice as Manchester United beat AaB Aalborg 3-0, while Arsenal crushed Porto 4-0 with a double strike from Robin Van Persie in Champions League matches.

Even before Capitol Hill shocked the world's financial markets this week, the global economy was already mired in difficulties. And whether or not some version of the bail-out package gets passed in the near future, extricating it will be a real struggle.

Money and power being "natural bedfellows" is not necessarily true in the British business world, except for steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal who figures right on the top of a new 'Richest Power List', compiled after combining two separate rankings of the most powerful and the most richest in the UK.

The Czech Republic squad for Euro 2008 is likely to be chosen from the following players:

Aston Villa thrashed local rivals Birmingham City 5-1 to take their goal tally to 15 in their last three EPL games.

Sunderland are still not safe after losing 2-0 at Newcastle United in the day's second derby, Michael Owen scoring twice for Kevin Keegan's resurgent side at St James' Park.

Italian Luca Toni struck twice to earn Bayern Munich a 2-1 extra-time win over Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final on Saturday. The victory gave the Bavarians a record 14th win in the competition and set up a likely domestic double.

Arsenal and Liverpool will break new ground in their 115-year rivalry when they meet in European competition for the first time.

Liverpool completed a quartet of weekend wins for the top four with a 1-0 defeat of Everton at the Merseyside derby.

Dempo Sports Club exploited the shaky rival defence scoring a 3-1 win over Lebanon's Al Ansar in the opening group match of the AFC Cup at the Nehru Stadium in Margao on Tuesday.