Saturday, May 29, 2010

Daily Latest News

Daily Latest News

No more stripping clothes, says Kim Cattrall

Posted: 29 May 2010 12:20 PM PDT

London, May 30 (IANS) Hollywood actress Kim Cattrall has vowed not to shed her clothes for sex scenes in future.

The “Sex and the City” star, who plays Samantha Jones in the movie, became famous as she undressed for many sex scenes in the film, reports express.co.uk.

The 53-year-old who continues to play the character in the sequel “Sex and the City 2″, says fans hoping to see her strip on-screen in the movie will be disappointed.

“When I turned 50, I decided that I didn’t want to be photographed nude anymore, so you don’t really see me nude (in the new movie), you see me doing maybe a physical, a sexual act, but there’s no part of my body that is exposed,” Cattrall said.

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Heartburn pills may cause osteoporosis

Posted: 29 May 2010 12:19 PM PDT

London, May 30 (IANS) Drugs used by millions of patients to treat indigestion and heartburn have been linked to an increased risk of the bone disease osteoporosis.

Research shows that long-term use of indigestion drugs, called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), is linked with broken bones later in life, reports express.co.uk.

Osteoporosis affects an estimated three million people in Britain. One in three women and one in 12 men develop it at some point.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends patients use PPI drugs for two to four weeks for indigestion. They work by blocking the action of cells called proton pumps, which produce stomach acid.

Although they are very effective, they should only be used for a short time to get the condition under control. But patients with chronic heartburn have to take them daily for up to two months.

The problem is many patients end up staying on the drugs permanently to keep symptoms at bay.

It is not clear how the drugs might damage bones. But one theory is that by blocking acid production they stop the body from absorbing calcium.

Two studies have raised fears over the drugs’ effects.

~ Rest Continues Below ~

In 2006, experts at the University of Pennsylvania found patients taking PPIs for more than a year were 44 percent more likely to suffer a hip fracture.

In 2008, a team at the University of Manitoba in Canada found a similar increase in risk among those taking the drugs regularly for five years.

Train tragedy toll 138, all bodies extricated

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:35 AM PDT

Jhargram (West Bengal), May 30 (IANS) The death toll in Friday’s train accident in this West Bengal town shot up to 138 late Saturday as the extrication of dead bodies from the wreckage of the Gyaneshwari Express was completed after 44 gruelling hours of rescue operations.

“The toll is 138. The job of extricating dead bodies from the derailed coaches is complete,” a South Eastern Railway spokesman said.

The last body was brought out from the devastated second class sleeper coach S 5 at 9.45 p.m., ending almost two days of search operations, a large part of which was conducted amidst the putrefying stench of decaying corpses.

In Kolkata, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the train disaster, terming it her political rivals’ conspiracy ahead of Sunday’s civic polls in West Bengal.

The number of the injured stood at 146, of whom 38 were said to be in a serious condition.

The wounded were under treatment in hospitals in the nearest towns of Kharagpur and Midnapore – the headquarters of the West Midnapore district. Twenty-three of them are admitted in various hospitals in Kolkata.

With many of the bodies mutilated beyond recognition, the authorities have decided to conduct DNA tests for identification before handing them over to their relatives.

West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee said blood samples of the bodies will be collected Saturday at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital and sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Kolkata by Sunday.

The minister appealed to those looking for their missing relatives to give their blood samples at the CFSL – one of the premier forensic labs in the country – by Sunday.

A relief train carrying the survivors of the train reached Mumbai at 9 p.m. Special barricaded sections were made on the platform number 5 of Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla where the train arrived.

Family members surrounded their kin as they got down from the train. The atmosphere became emotional as many broke down in tears while some thanked god for saving their kin.

Meanwhile, the driver of the train filed a police complaint saying he heard a “blasting sound” and felt a jerk before the derailment.

B.K. Das, who lodged the complaint against “unidentified miscreants” at the Jhargram Government Railway Police (GRP) station, claimed that he saw smoke billowing out before applying the emergency brakes.

The complaint was filed under sections 150 (maliciously wrecking or attempting to wreck a train) and 151 (damage to or destruction of certain railway properties) of the Railways Act.

The train went off the track between Sardiha and Khemasuli railway stations, after suspected Maoists removed 1.5 feet of rail track, at 1.30 a.m. Friday, rudely shaking the hundreds of sleeping passengers. Five coaches fell on a parallel track.

Even before the trapped passengers could realise what had happened, a speeding goods train coming from the opposite direction rammed into the five coaches, crushing some of them.

Police found two posters put out by the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities at the accident site, claiming responsibility for the sabotage.

It was the third worst train accident this year blamed on Maoist guerrillas and the worst bout of killings by the rebels since they massacred 76 security personnel in Chhattisgarh April 6.

Zimbabwe to challenge Howard’s ICC nomination

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:30 AM PDT

Melbourne, May 29 (IANS) Despite the backing of incoming International Cricket Council (ICC) president-elect Sharad Pawar, former Australian prime minister John Howard may still find it difficult to take his place the next time around.

The Australian reported that after Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe is also against Howard’s nomination and the former prime minister may suffer for the deeds of ex-ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

Speed was sacked two years ago because he instituted what became a damning investigation into the Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s (ZCU) finances.

The ICC still refuses to release the report and accoring to the daily is financing a ZCU administration which has such close links to the Robert Mugabe regime.

ZCU president Peter Chingoka, who has close links with Mugabe, and is banned from travelling to Australia, the UK and the EU. And next month’s annual meeting, which needs to ratify Howard’s position, is being held in Singapore instead of the traditional location of Lord’s in London so Chingoka can attend.

The ZCU has now mounted an unprecedented behind-the-scenes campaign to block Howard’s candidacy, fearing his strident opposition to the Mugabe regime and, by extension, the ZCU administration, will be brought to the ICC board table.

Chingoka motivated South Africa, which often acts as proxy for the discredited Zimbabwe, to challenge Howard’s nomination.

The unexpected impasse became yet another embarrassment for cricket when last month’s ICC meeting failed to automatically ratify the proposal. Instead it was taken off the table to avoid a damaging split among leading cricket nations.

The ICC is divided into five regions of two cricket nations, with each region in turn nominating a vice-president who, after two years, becomes president for another two years.

Australia is grouped with New Zealand, which rightly expected that its highly respected and long-serving former president, John Anderson, would be the regional nomination given Australia’s Malcolm Gray held the ICC presidency a decade or so ago.

Candle light vigil against Maoist attack on train

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:10 AM PDT

Kolkata , May 29 (IANS) A section of intellectuals Saturday held a candlelight vigil protesting the suspected role of the Maoists in the derailment of the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express that left 131 dead in West Bengal.

The intellectuals – comprising film makers, actors, singers and writers close to West Bengal’s ruling Left Front – gathered at the city’s cultural hub Rabindra Sadan complex Friday and sang Rabindranath Tagore’s songs of peace.

Among the several hundred people present were singer Usha Utthup, film director Tarun Majumdar and actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty.

The train went off the tracks between Sardiha and Khemasuli railway stations after suspected Maoists removed 1.5 feet of rail track, at 1.30 a.m. Friday rudely shaking the hundreds of sleeping passengers. Five coaches fell on a parallel track.

Unfortunately, even before the trapped passengers could realise what had happened, a speeding goods train coming from the opposite direction rammed into the five coaches, crushing many of them.

Debt crisis in EU states will impact Indian exports

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:07 AM PDT

Brussels, May 29 (IANS) The current debt crisis in some European Union member states will have a negative impact on Indian exports and the Indian stock market, a top official said Saturday.

At least 27 percent of India’s trade is with Europe and the crisis will impact India’s export to the region, Sunil Prasad, the Europe India Chamber of Commerce (EICC) secretary general, said here Saturday.

The chamber has become the “first port of call” for those doing or wanting to do business with India, Prasad said, adding that the EICC will help anyone “looking to build business in India or Indian companies in Europe”, EuAsiaNews reported.

Skulls, bones found in Uttar Pradesh pond

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:07 AM PDT

Lucknow, May 29 (IANS) At least 10 human skulls and a number of bones were recovered from a dried-out pond in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah town Saturday, police said.

The skulls and bones surfaced after the pond in the Kotwali area dried up due to the heat, police said.

“A postmortem centre is near the pond and the skulls and the bones could be of unclaimed bodies. Still it needs to be probed whether the unclaimed bodies were disposed off properly,” district police chief R.K. Chaturvedi told reporters in Etah.

District Magistrate Balkar Singh has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the matter.

Jessica Simpson flashes in restauran

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:04 AM PDT

London, May 29 (IANS) Singer-actress Jessica Simpson stunned diners in a restaurant when she almost flashed her breasts while trying to retrieve a morsel of food that had fallen down her top.

Simpson was eating a meal with friends at a lounge when a morsel of food accidentally flew off her fork and disappeared down her low-cut top, causing her to scream out in surprise, reports contactmusic.com.

Then Simpson dug around to retrieve the food stuff, “ruffling up” her top in such a way that fellow diners in the restaurant had to look away.

“She not only dug down into her top, ruffling through bra and cleavage, she even tried burrowing out from beneath, wriggling and digging diligently for the lost tidbit,” a source said.

Railways, police chief spar over cause of derailment

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT

Kolkata, May 29 (IANS) Contesting the West Bengal administration’s claim that fishplates were found removed at the site of the Gyaneshwari Express disaster, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday claimed the tracks there did not need fishplates.

“In that area we have a long-welded rail line. So there are no fishplates there,” Banerjee told media persons at her residence here.

Senior state government officials, as also Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh, Friday claimed that fishplates were found removed for over 50 m at the site near Jhargram in West Midnapore district.

Banerjee has claimed that the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express was derailed following a bomb blast. The train driver B.K.Das also filed a police complaint claiming he had heard a “blasting sound”, saw smoke coming from underneath the engine and felt a jerk which prompted him to apply emergency brake.

However, Bhupinder Singh said there were no visible signs of a blast at the spot between Sardiha and Khemasuli railway stations of South Eastern Railway.

“We did not find visible signs of big explosions at the site. Our forensic team has seized some samples. From that they can give their view on whether there was any explosion.

“But even if an explosion did occur, it must have been of minor nature. That is not sufficient for derailment,” he said.

On the driver claiming to have heard a blasting sound, he said: “Well, it can be the sound of a cracker also.”

According to the police chief, about 1.5 feet of the railway track at the spot was found cut and the pandrol clips (used to fix the rail to the sleeper) were open for over 50 metres.

Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper dies

Posted: 29 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT

Los Angeles, May 29 (DPA) Legendary screen actor and Hollywood rebel, Dennis Hopper, has died at the age of 74, local media reported Saturday.

Hopper was best known for his role in the epoch-defining late 1960s film “Easy Rider”, although he also starred in “Apocalypse Now”, and “Blue Velvet”.

His death was reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, saying the actor died at home in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, with his family in attendance.

Former central minister’s car stolen from his house

Posted: 29 May 2010 10:52 AM PDT

Karnal (Haryana), May 29 (IANS) Former union minister of state for home I.D. Swami’s car was stolen from his house in this Haryana town Saturday, police said.

According to police, unidentified men stole a silver-coloured Qualis parked in front of Swami’s home.

“Police have registered a case against unidentified persons. We are raiding various places to arrest the thieves,” said a police officer.

Swami, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, condemned the state government for its failure to maintain law and order.

“The Haryana government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government at the centre have failed to maintain law and order situation. This incident is very shameful. It proves that nobody is safe in the country,” said Swami, who was a minister in former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government.

Maid, three others arrested for robbery

Posted: 29 May 2010 10:28 AM PDT

New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) A maid has been arrested for masterminding a robbery earlier this week at the house where she worked in north Delhi, police said Saturday. Three others, including her husband, were also arrested.

Kanima, 27, her husband Ajay, 30 and Sonu, 25, and Ganga, 28, were arrested Friday for the robbery in Shakti Nagar Wednesday, a senior police officer said.

Two masked assailants barged in the house of Monica Aggarwal while she was alone with her infant son and Kanima. “The assailants asked about Monica’s brother-in-law, Dr Rajkumar, who was not present at the house. Thereafter, one of them pointed a knife at her son and told Monica to keep quiet,” the police officer said.

Monica, however, started screaming for help and Kanima came forward to help but the assailants locked her in a room before ransacking the house and and fleeing with cash and jewellery.

While investigating, police noticed that an electronic lock was installed at the house’s main gate and entry of an outsider was possible only when someone opened it from the inside.

“During investigation, certain activities of Kanima were found suspicious. Later on she disappeared from her residence,” the officer said, adding this increased suspicion of her involvement in the crime.

Kanima was traced and questioned. During her interrogation, she broke down and confessed her involvement. She revealed that she and her husband had planned the robbery knowing that most of the family members had gone out. They roped in Sonu and Ganga, promising them a share of the looted money and jewellery, and it was these two who entered the house after Kanima opened the door from inside.

Police said they had recovered stolen articles worth Rs.300,000.

China, South Korea, Japan move to strengthen ties

Posted: 29 May 2010 10:28 AM PDT

Seoul, May 29 (DPA) The heads of three of Asia’s leading nations agreed Saturday to create a liaison office to help cement their international cooperation.

The new office, based in Seoul and focusing on the interests of South Korea, China and Japan, should “strengthen, institutionalise and facilitate cooperation among the three nations”.

The agreement was made during a three-way summit by South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The trio also agreed upon a document, dubbed Vision 2020, laying out principles and agreements for work between the three countries.

The summit is to end Sunday with discussions on regional defence, including relations between North and South Korea after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which has been blamed on North Korea. North Korea’s nuclear programme will also be discussed.

Leaders of the three countries have met regularly since 1999.

I’m hopeless at picking men, says Kim Cattrall

Posted: 29 May 2010 10:26 AM PDT

London, May 29 (IANS) “Sex in the City” actress Kim Cattrall says she is hopeless at picking up men and would never go “hunting” for them.

“God lord, no. I’m hopeless at picking up men. I’ve never gone hunting in that way. I’m no cougar. It only works for me if a relationship develops,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted Cattrall her as saying.

The 53-year-old star, who has been married twice, also claimed her previous relationships had failed because her career has always been her top priority.

“There is one central theme to the breakdown of them all – and that’s work. Acting is all consuming to me, and I realise it takes a very understanding man to appreciate that. No man likes to be stuck at home, playing second fiddle to his wife’s working life.”

“I work all hours and travel quite a lot. It’s very easy to grow apart when you are spending 12 hours on a film set, playing someone else. It eats up your time and energy,” she said.

3G auction revenue to reduce fiscal deficit: Pranab

Posted: 29 May 2010 10:24 AM PDT

Bangalore, May 29 (IANS) Revenue generated from the auction of third generation (3G) spectrum license would help the government in reducing the fiscal deficit, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here late Saturday.

“The revenue generated by the distribution of 3G spectrum license will reduce the fiscal deficit and provide elbow room to return to the fiscal consolidation path,” Mukherjee told reporters on the margins of an event here.

The federal government generated by May 19 a whopping Rs.67,719 crore (Rs.677 billion/$14.6 billion) from the month-long auction of the crucial airwaves for 3G telecom services by private operators.

In his budget presentation late February, Mukherjee projected the fiscal deficit for 2010-11 at 5.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) as against 6.8 percent (revised estimate) for last fiscal (2009-10).

Fiscal deficit occurs when the government’s total expenditure exceeds the revenue it generates excluding its borrowings.

Noting that efforts should be made to reduce the fiscal deficit as per the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, Mukherjee said he would use the funds raised in the best possible manner to ensure fiscal consolidation.

“The aim will be to reduce the fiscal deficit to 5.5 percent from 6.8 percent last fiscal,” Mukherjee asserted after unveiling the centralised processing centre (CPC) of the income tax department in this tech hub to enable faster refunds to tax payers.

“The CPC will help reduce the backlog of processing tax returns and posting refunds to the assesses at the earliest,” Mukherjee said.

The minister also announced that two more processing centres would be opened at Pune in Maharashtra and Manesar in Haryana.

“Tax payers can expect faster refunds from the income tax department, as the CPC improves the delivery of citizen-centric services in line with the international practices,” Mukherjee said, dedicating the centre to the nation.

The state-of-the-art facility will process all electronic tax returns of the country and physical returns of Karnataka and Goa regions.

As a flagship of the central government’s e-governance project, the CPC, located in Electronic City on Hosur Road, is equipped with a dedicated call centre, where tax payers can enquire about the status of their returns and refunds.

“The centre will also enable the IT department to cope with the rapid growth in the number of tax payers and consequently lower the volume of work handled by its officials,” Mukherjee noted.

The remote record storage unit at the centre reduces congestion in the IT offices, as tax payers can call 080-4345-6700 to seek information pertaining to filing their returns or seeking refunds.

The other advantages of the CPC are priority processing for e-filed returns, accuracy of data transfer, faster processing of returns, systematic and efficient processes automated printing and mailing services and centralised call centre for grievance resolution.

Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra and Central Bureau of Direct Taxes Chairman S.S.N. Murthy were also present on the occasion.

Pakistani spy arrested in Punjab

Posted: 29 May 2010 09:16 AM PDT

Mohali (Punjab), May 29 (IANS) Punjab Police Saturday arrested a Pakistani spy from near an Indian Air Force (IAF) station here, an officer said.

The accused, identified as Irfan Ulha, 29, is a native of Lahore in Pakistan, police said. He was arrested from near the IAF station in Mullanpur, neighbouring state capital Chandigarh.

“From the preliminary investigation it is revealed that Irfan was on a spy mission to India and he was collecting information about airports and IAF stations across the country,” said G.P.S. Bhullar, district police chief, at a press conference here Saturday evening.

“We have recovered a pistol, 20 live cartridges, photographs of airports and various maps from his possession,” he added.

“We have also recovered a hand-written dairy from him in which he has written various secret codes that we are trying to decode. He was getting help from terrorists of the KJF (Khalistan Jindabad Force) and Germany-based militant Gurmeet Singh Bagga.”

Bhullar said that Irfan had illegally entered India and was staying here using a fake identity.

During interrogation, Irfan told police that he had graduated in the arts and was teaching physics, english and mathematics at a school in Lahore before coming to India.

Senior Punjab Police officials have admitted on several occasions that terrorist outfits are trying to reactive themselves in the state.

This year alone, police have arrested at least seven terrorists belonging to different banned groups. Besides, they have twice recovered explosives near IAF stations in Punjab.

In January, an explosive device was found in a Maruti car near the IAF’s Halwara air base. In the same month, two grenades were discovered near an IAF station near Zirakpur town.

In the same month, a bomb was found outside a liquefied petroleum gas bottling plant in Nabha town in Patiala district.

A car with two kg of explosives was found near a busy railway station this month. The vehicle carried a fake Delhi registration number.

Last month, two policemen and two Pakistan-based militants were killed in a fierce gun battle near the India-Pakistan international border in Gurdaspur district.

Light showers in parts of Delhi

Posted: 29 May 2010 08:24 AM PDT

New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) Some parts of the national capital experienced light showers Saturday evening, bringing relief from the heat wave sweeping the city.

The showers were all the more welcome after the maximum temperature was recorded at 41.2 degrees Celsius from Friday’s 37.7 degrees Celsius, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

“Some parts of Delhi experienced thunderstorm activity followed by light rains, and the maximum recorded temperature was 41.2 degree Celsius (average for this time of the year),” the IMD official said.

Delhi saw a pleasant Saturday morning with minimum temperature a notch above the average at 29.1 degrees Celsius.

The light showers later in the day came as a welcome relief for Delhiites from the intense heat wave. People could be seen outside their houses enjoying the pleasant weather in parks and market places.

The humidity level was recorded at 70 percent.

According to IMD, Delhi can expect Sunday’s maximum temperature to hover around 41 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 26 degrees Celsius.

“Delhi can expect a partly clouded sky with possibility of thunder strom followed by rains in some parts by Sunday evening,” the official said.

European Parliament condemns railway attack in India

Posted: 29 May 2010 08:21 AM PDT

Brussels, May 29 (IANS) The European Parliament Saturday expressed shock over the train attack in West Bengal in which 131 people were killed.

“Attacking the civil infrastructure and killing innocent people is perfidious terror. On behalf of the European Parliament, I condemn this attack sharply,” Jerzy Buzek, president of the EU parliament, was quoted as saying by EuAsiaNews.

“My thoughts are with the families and friends of the many victims and I hope that those injured will recover soon and fully,” Buzek said.

The death toll in Friday’s train tragedy near Jhargram in West Bengal rose to 131 Saturday.

The Gyaneshwari Express went off the track between Sardiha and Khemasuli railway stations, after suspected Maoists removed 1.5 feet of rail track, at 1.30 a.m. Friday.

Buzek also condemned the attack in two mosques in Pakistan’s Lahore city Friday in which around 80 people were killed.

“I am very shocked that people who came together peacefully to pray were attacked and taken as hostage. I really condemn this destructive and shameful attack against the Pakistan people,” he said.

Stem cells from embryo sac could heal damaged hearts

Posted: 29 May 2010 06:24 AM PDT

Washington, May 29 (IANS) Stem cells obtained from a new non-controversial source – the amniotic membrane discarded as medical waste after childbirth – can heal damaged hearts and form heart muscle cells, results of preliminary lab tests indicate.

Investigators in Japan used the membrane – the inner lining of the sac in which an embryo develops – to obtain stem cells called human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal (undifferentiated) cells (hAMCs).

“The amniotic membrane is medical waste that could be collected and used after delivery,” said Shunichiro Miyoshi, study co-author and assistant professor in cardiology at the Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo.

In lab studies, the hAMCs transformed into heart muscle cells improved function of rat hearts 34 percent to 39 percent, when injected two weeks after a heart attack, while untreated hearts continued to decline in function.

They decreased the scarred area of damaged rat hearts 13 percent to 18 percent when injected after a heart attack.

The cells also survived for more than four weeks in the rat heart without being rejected by the recipient’s immune system, even without immunosuppressive medication.

The ability of hAMCs to convert into heart muscle cells was far greater than that from mesenchymal cells derived from bone marrow or fat, Miyoshi said.

That the implanted cells were not rejected is likely because the amniotic sac is a barrier between a woman and her developing foetus. To help prevent either of their immune systems from attacking the other as foreign tissue, the amniotic membrane between them does not produce the proteins that immune systems use to identify foreign tissue.

This means the usual tissue-type matching (HLA typing) needed prior to transplantation would not be needed if hAMCs were used. Drugs to suppress the immune system also might not be needed after transplant.

The findings also suggest that hAMCs can differentiate into cells of various organs, said a release of the American Heart Association (AHA).

Much work, however, remains to be done before testing hAMCs in humans, said the researchers, who are repeating their experiments in larger animals and working to boost the number of heart cells generated by the hAMCs.

The investigators “are to be congratulated for their careful work that has brought forward a cell type that may offer the real potential for off-the-shelf cardiac myocyte [muscle cell]-based therapy,” wrote Marc S. Penn, and Maritza E. Mayorga of the Cleveland Clinic, in Circulation Research, which published these findings.

Ferdinand will console those who won’t make the cut

Posted: 29 May 2010 06:22 AM PDT

London, May 29 (IANS) With England coach Fabio Capello all set to announce his final 23 for the World Cup in South Africa, captain Rio Ferdinand said he would console those who fail to make it so that they can emerge stronger from the experience.

Ferdinand, who has endured similar disappointments in the Euro 2000, said he would call the seven players who fail to make the cut to offer his own commiserations. Capello intends to confirm his selection Monday by calling all 30 members of his squad before announcing his selection Tuesday.

In 2000, the defender, then an emerging force at West Ham and 1998 World Cupper, was left out of the Euro 2000, by Kevin Keegan, who opted to include the experienced Gareth Southgate for the tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands.

“I’ve been there, I’ve had that talk, that conversation where they say you’re ‘not experienced enough’, ‘not good enough’, or however they want to dress it up. You are not getting that chance to go on the plane and to have that said to you is not a nice thing, but I’ve been there and I’ve got the experience to deal with that. When the time comes I’m sure we will deal with it in the right way but the manager is top-drawer and I’m sure he will sort it out,” Ferdinand was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“I was left out for Euro 2000 and it took me that summer to get over it. I was devastated but I went back to training, was a better professional, trained harder and became a better player and I say that for the younger players (left out this time) to probably do that as well. Being left out was probably a blessing in disguise. It made me re-evaluate myself and the way I looked at football. I probably hadn’t given the game the respect it deserved; that experience made me a better professional, so I should thank Kevin Keegan for that. The guys have to turn it into a positive,” Ferdinand recalled.

Capello will have the last opportunity to assess fringe players, in Sunday’s friendly against Japan, before trimming his squad from 30 to 23.

Ferdinand admitted that for some people, it’s going to be a nervous few days.

“It is pressure, you want to do well and you want to be on that plane to South Africa. I’ve got the experience of three World Cups previously, so nerves wouldn’t really kick in for me. But for some people it may do given they’ve not had the experience of being in that situation before.

“A few people consolidated their positions Monday. The manager will make his own decisions, but the Japan friendly is another chance to implement his thoughts and ideas. We all want to show him what we can do,” he said.
Posted by Suresh at 3:05 PM

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