Andrew Symonds is congratulated by captain Ricky Ponting after he dismissed India's Rahul Dravid. Photo: Reuters

The tourists were dismissed for 161, earning the home side a 337-run victory in extreme conditions at the MCG.

The home side were halfway towards completing the job of bowling India out a second time this match at tea, when the tourists were precariously placed at 5-134, still needing another 365 runs to win.

Even Sourav Ganguly, the last of the specialist batsmen, found the going tough as he needed attention for heat distress towards the end of the session on another dry, hot day.

In another disciplined bowling effort by Australia, they gradually broke down the tourists through accuracy and relentless pressure from the fielders.

India were comfortably placed at 1-55 just before lunch and looking capable of batting out long periods but Andrew Symonds chose the perfect time to bowl offspin and trapped Rahul Dravid (16) in front in the last over of the first session.

Then in the middle session, Brett Lee snared the key wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (15), VVS Laxman let himself down after a determined 42 with a soft shot to cover off Stuart Clark's bowling, and Brad Hogg made it more misery for Yuvraj Singh just before tea.

Hogg fired through a quicker delivery which beat Yuvraj for pace and hit him plumb LBW, for five.

That left Ganguly (36 not out) and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (one not out) with a massive job to do just to take the match into a fifth day.

By the time tea was taken, the home side's bowlers were performing like they expected a wicket every ball, even on a slow pitch.

Lee's (2-43) dismissal of Wasim Jaffer in the eighth over of the day earned Adam Gilchrist Australia's wicketkeeping record from his predecessor Ian Healy, and Gilchrist's catch to remove Tendulkar took his tally to 397.

Clark again proved the master of control in claiming 1-20 from 15 overs, while Hogg again troubled Ganguly, as the former Indian skipper twice edged just out of reach of first slip.

Hogg finished the session with 1-38 and Symonds 1-25.

Source – SMH

Aussies thrash tourists is a post from: worldwormweb

Sales of rear-projection TVs had been declining recently as LCD TVs gain in popularity and get bigger, Sony spokesman Shinji Obana said.

In October, Sony lowered its global sales forecast for rear-projection TVs – which uses a projector to create images on large screens – to 400,000 from 700,000, which is down from 1.1 million the previous fiscal year.

By contrast, Sony expects to sell 10 million LCD TVs this fiscal year through March, up from 6.3 million the previous year.

Sony sells 85 percent of its rear-projection TVs in the US, and about 10 percent in Europe, according to Obana. Production at the three plants that make the rear-projection TVs in Japan, Mexico and Malaysia, will be halted, Obana said.

The decision to abandon rear-projection TVs underlines Sony's strategy of focusing on LCDs and OLEDs at a time when competition is heating up in flat TVs.

In the fiscal half-year through September, Sony lost 60 billion yen ($US526.3 million) in its TV operations, partly because of losses tied to rear-projection TVs. Diving prices of LCD TVs also contributed to the red ink, Obana said.

The world's electronics makers are all working on LCD technology for TVs, as well as another technology called plasma display panels, or PDP.

Earlier this month, Sony began selling a small 11 inch TV that uses a relatively new but expensive flat-panel technology called OLED. Sony's XEL-1 measures just 3 millimeters, or 0.12 inches, thick and delivers clear, vivid images.

Earlier this week, Matsushita Electric Industrial, which makes Panasonic brand products, Hitachi and Canon forged a tie-up in their liquid crystal display businesses – another sign of how Japanese electronics makers are being forced to work together to compete globally.

Sony has an alliance with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in LCDs.

Sharp Corp, another major Japanese LCD maker, formed a partnership with Toshiba Corp last week. Under the deal, Toshiba will buy LCD panels from Sharp for its TVs.

AP

Source – SMH

Sony abandons rear-projection TVs is a post from: worldwormweb

Bhutto Killed

“She has been martyred,” party official Rehman Malik said.

Ms Bhutto, 54, died in hospital in Rawalpindi. Ary-One Television said she had been shot in the head.

Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Ms Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up.

“The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up,” police officer Mohammad Shahid said.

Police said 16 people had been killed in the blast. Earlier, party officials said Ms Bhutto was safe.

A Reuters witness said he saw about eight bodies on a road.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said initial reports suggested it was a suicide bombing and more than 10 people had been killed.

A suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people in an attack on Ms Bhutto on October 18 as she paraded through the southern city of Karachi after returning home from eight years in self-imposed exile.

Earlier, gunmen opened fire on supporters of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from an office of the party that supports President Pervez Musharraf, killing four Sharif supporters, police said.

Mr Sharif was several kilometres away from the shooting and was on his way to Rawalpindi after attending a rally.

Mr Sharif, who was overthrown by Mr Musharraf in a 1999 coup and allowed back into the country just last month after seven years in exile, blamed supporters of the pro-Musharraf party for the violence.

But a spokesman for the party denied that its workers were involved.

The shooting occurred near an office of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q).

“Somebody from inside the election office opened fire,” senior police official Shahid Nadeem Baloch said.

“But I can't say they were Q [pro-Musharraf party] people. It's an election office and lots of people sit there during election time.”

The United States has condemned the bombing attack in Pakistan that reportedly claimed the life of Ms Bhutto.

Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey could not confirm that Ms Bhutto had been killed in the bombing.

“We obviously condemn the attack that shows that there are people out there who are trying to disrupt the building of democracy in Pakistan,” he said.

- Reuters/AFP

Source – abc.net.au

Bhutto Killed in attack is a post from: worldwormweb

India also chose two spinners with Harbhajan Singh joining Anil Kumble on a pitch Ponting expected to be very slow and which displayed a few small cracks on the first morning. After a week of unseasonal heavy rain that washed out India's only warm-up match Melbourne turned on a sunny Boxing Day and the forecast did not indicate any showers over the next five days.

Australia decided against choosing a four-man pace attack and instead handed Brad Hogg his fifth Test cap, more than 11 years after he made his debut. Hogg waited an Australian record of 78 games for his second Test but then stalled on four, spending another 45 Tests watching on before being called up for Boxing Day in Stuart MacGill's absence.

Mitchell Johnson won the third fast-bowling position, which he held during the Sri Lanka series, despite a strong push for Tait to rattle India with his extreme speed. The selectors may have been swayed not only by Johnson's impressive Test entry last month but also by his form against India – he was the leading wicket-taker on Australia's recent ODI tour there.

The visitors could not find a spot for Virender Sehwag, who etched his name into MCG history with 195 the last time India played a Test at the ground. Sourav Ganguly became the seventh India player to reach 100 Tests and depending on which authority one believes the MCG might also have reached triple-figures – or its 101st Test.

Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Phil Jaques, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Stuart Clark.

India 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 RP Singh, 11 Harbhajan Singh.

Source – www.baggygreen.com.au

Australia win the toss and bat first is a post from: worldwormweb

Webber was happy with his driving form but frustrated at the RB3's habit of breaking during races.

The Australian comprehensively out-qualified teammate David Coulthard but the Scot edged ahead in the points chase as finishing became a lottery for the pair.

Coulthard finished tenth in the championship and Webber 12th, although the Aussie finished ahead of the Scot in the annual AutoSport magazine rankings.

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has promised reliability will be the main target for 2008.

While the team finished fifth in the manufacturers' championship, Red Bull suffered a a rash of race-ending gearbox and hydraulics problems.

“We learnt many lessons during 2007 and obviously reliability is a key topic that the design and development groups are fully focused on,” Horner told the official F1 website.

“In 2007 we gave away approximately 24 points as a result of poor reliability, without which we would have been much closer to Renault and ahead of Williams.”

The team has raised its sights for 2008 and is now looking at challenging Renault which has re-employed former dual world champion Fernando Alonso, who fled McLaren after a messy season.

“With the same engine as the factory Renault team they, more than any other team, are our barometer,” Horner said.

Red Bull will debut its new RB4 car during the first major test of 2008, at Jerez in mid-January.

With a stable driver line-up and former Honda technical chief Geoff Willis working with design guru Adrian Newey, Horner is confident the team has a good platform to build on its 2007 progress.

“For the first time in our short history, there is continuity within the design group, with our engine partner and with the drivers,” he said.

Horner praised Webber and Coulthard, saying “they did an excellent job for the team in 2007 and remain one of the strongest driver line-ups in F1.”

Red Bull Renault made a big step forwards in 2007 in terms of pure pace, securing 24 championship points, 11 points clear of the heavily-funded Toyota.

But gearbox, clutch and hydraulic failures proved to be ongoing issues with the RB3 as both Webber and Coulthard notched up seven retirements each from the 17 races this year.

Webber's season was highlighted by a third place at the European Grand Prix but the low point was being taken out by Torro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel while running second in the wet Japanese GP.

AAP

Source – SMH

Webber banking on better Bull is a post from: worldwormweb

A 17-year-old P-plater was driving the Nissan Navara on Oxley Drive at Mt Colah at about 12.10am, when the vehicle crossed to the wrong side of the road, mounted a kerb and hit a tree.

There were six passengers in the ute, including two in the rear tray.

An 18-year-old male travelling in the front seat was taken to Westmead Hospital with lower back injuries.

An 18-year-old female in the rear seat sustained a fractured right shoulder and was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.

Two 18-year-olds travelling in the rear tray were taken to hospital, one with lacerations and the other with neck pain.

They were later released.

A 19-year-old and another 18-year-old travelling in the rear seats were also assessed at hospital and released.

The driver was uninjured.

Source – SMH

P-plater with six passengers hits tree is a post from: worldwormweb

In front of a record crowd of 17,514, Sydney twice came from behind in their postponed round 15 match.

The visitors recovered from an early two-goal deficit and again fought back late to grab an injury time penalty to Ufuk Talay to catapult them past Adelaide United into fourth spot.

Sydney trailed 3-2 after 63 minutes, led 4-3 after 76 when replacement Brendon Santalab volleyed home and finally grabbed the winner after the Mariners had levelled with just four minutes remaining.

After leading 2-0 after 15 minutes, the Mariners lost goalkeeper Danny Vukovic when he hand-balled under pressure from striker Alex Brosque.

Source – SMH

Sydney move into top four is a post from: worldwormweb

“Yeah, no worries, mate. Do what you like,” came the drawl from the other end of the line down on the farm in Wagga Wagga.

Kelly had just been told that after five years in moth balls, the club had decided to bring his famous No.14 jumper back out and present it to rookie Craig Bird.

The No.14 is significant at the Swans, having adorned the back of two of the club's legends – Kelly and Bob Skilton. Skilton spent 237 games in the jumper, 165 of those as captain, winning nine best and fairests and three Brownlow medals. Kelly played 234 games in No.14, was captain in a club record 182 of those games, won four best and fairests and the 1995 Brownlow medal.

It hasn't been seen since Kelly retired at the end of 2002, with some thinking it may have been retired permanently.

“I spoke to both Kell and Bobby Skilton and they are both excited about seeing the jumper running around again,” Roos said.

“If you're a guy who played in it and you don't see it running around it almost leaves a bit of a void. Bobby was just extremely happy to think: 'Gee, it's great I'm going to have a young kid to follow who's going to be wearing my jumper'.

“Kell was down in Wagga: 'What do you want, Roosy? Yeah, no worries, mate, do what you like'. He wanted to know a bit about Birdy as a player and I told him … they are both rapt and happy for the club to make the decision, but out of respect for them I wanted to call and make sure they were both comfortable with it.”

Roos said he felt it was significant that Bird – from Nelson Bay – take the jumper, as he was the club's first recipient of the AFL's NSW Scholarship (a program focused on developing NSW talent) and, like Kelly, is also a NSW youngster.

He said the club believed that Bird's “pedigree” is very good.

“It's a pretty big honour to be given the No.14, and I'm really excited to be given the opportunity, but I was pretty stunned, to be honest,” Bird said of being told the number could be his.

“I didn't think I'd be given the chance to wear it. It took me a few days to decide whether I wanted to take it or not. I knew there was a lot of history behind it but I got my head around it and decided to take it.

“I spoke to a lot of the coaches to see what they thought about it, and I spoke to my dad and a few of the other players and they thought it was a good idea and about time the jersey got brought back out.”

Roos said that there would naturally be some pressure with the jumper, but the longer you wait, the more that pressure builds. He added that he needed to check to see if there was a reason why he couldn't bring the No.14 back onto Sydney's list.

“I went to Andrew [Ireland, general manager of football] and said, 'Are we allowed to use that jumper?' and Andrew said, 'I think so', so then I went to the board and the board said I don't know why you couldn't use it,” Roos explained. “It's probably one of those things where certainly for the first 12 months-two years, it was a conscious thing [not to use it], then I think everyone got a bit scared about bringing it back out and no one spoke about it.

“But everyone, the board, Andrew, all said let's get it back out there.

“Obviously it's a bit daunting if you're aware of the history of the jumper, but once he's out on the field and once he's running around and people see it [the jumper], then it becomes a number and it's his number and he's got to make his own name.”

Rookie Swan to fly high in jumper No.14 is a post from: worldwormweb