"Django Unchained" producers under fire

LOS ANGELES: The producers of Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" on Friday ordered a halt to the production of action figures based on the Oscar-nominated slavery movie after criticism that they were offensive to African-Americans.

The eight-inch (20-cm) dolls, which were intended for people 17 and older, included gun-slinging freed slave Django, his wife and cruel, white plantation owner Candie.

Renowned singer Mehnaz Begum no more

KARACHI: Renowned Pakistani singer Mehnaz Begum has passed away in Bahrain while enroute to the United States.

Geo News reported that the singer had been suffering from respiratory problems and was heading to the US for treatment when she died during a short stay in Bahrain.

Mehnaz, who was the daughter of celebrated sub-continental singer Kajjan Begum, sang a number of popular songs for films and television.

She has sung a variety of genres but specialized in ghazal, thumri, dadra, khayal, drupad and reciting salam, noha and marsiya.

Humara Arshad to train singers

LAHORE: Prominent Singer Humara Arshad has signed an agreement with a music company to train the new talent in singing.

Talking to APP, she said there was no proper arrangements of training of new artists and singers in the country.

Humara said "She will be proud of it to do the job."

McClenaghan impresses on debut for Kiwis

PAARL, South Africa: Left-arm opening bowler Mitchell McClenaghan took four wickets on his debut as New Zealand bowled out South Africa for 208 in the first one-day international at Boland Park on Saturday.

McClenaghan took the key wickets of Graeme Smith and captain AB de Villiers and followed up with two lower order wickets to finish with four for 20 in his ten overs.

Part-time off-spinner Kane Williamson took four for 22 as the South African batsmen failed to master some steady bowling on a slow pitch.

Faf du Plessis made a dogged 57 off 71 balls to top-score for South Africa, while tailender Rory Kleinveldt hit three sixes off four balls from Kyle Mills in making all 26 runs in a last wicket stand with Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Brendon McCullum's decision to send South Africa in to bat paid dividends when the home side's three most experienced batsmen, Smith, Hashim Amla and de Villiers were dismissed within the first 12 overs.

All three senior players were dismissed leg before wicket and paid the penalty for playing across the line on a slow pitch.

Amla was the first to go against the bowling of Mills. He used up South Africa's only available challenge when he sought a review of the decision by umpire Shaun George.

Smith and De Villiers both fell to the impressive McClenaghan, leaving Du Plessis to repair the innings. He shared partnerships of 46 with Colin Ingram (29), 36 with Quinton de Kock (18) and 59 with Ryan McLaren (33).

India take lead crushing England by seven wickets

RANCHI: India recorded an easy seven-wicket victory over England to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match One-day International series here on Saturday.

Chasing an easy target of 156, India completed their win in just 28.1 overs losing three wickets in the third ODI at the HEC International Cricket Stadium Complex on Saturday.

The main scorer was Virat Kohli who made an unbeaten 77 off 79 balls with nine fours and two sixes.

He made 67 runs with opener Gautam Gambhir (33) for the second wicket partnership after India made a disastrous start losing Ajinkya Rahanne (nought) for 11 runs.

Then he added 66 with Yuvraj Singh (30) for the third wicket stand before Dhoni joined Kohli for steering India to a comfortable victory.

Earlier, India bowled England out for 155 in 42.2 overs after putting them into bat

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bagged three wickets for 19 runs while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and fast-medium bowler Ishant Sharma claimed two wickets each.

Joe Root top scored with 39 while Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan made 25 each for England.

The remaining two One-day Internationals will be played between the two teams at Mohali on Janusry 23 and Dharamsala on January 27.

Australia add Bird to one-day squad

SYDNEY: Australian selectors have added fast bowler Jackson Bird to their one-day squad for Sunday's crucial clash against Sri Lanka in Sydney.

Sri Lanka lead the five-match series 2-1 after a four-wicket win in Brisbane on Friday, bowling out Australia inside 27 overs for just 74 runs.

"Jackson Bird will join the squad as cover for the fourth Commonwealth Bank Series match in Sydney," Cricket Australia said in a statement late Friday.

Bird, 26, yet to play in a one-day international, has made an impressive start to his Test career, taking seven wickets in his second Test against Sri Lanka earlier this month in Sydney to be named man of the match.

Sattar stresses for national policy on counter terrorism

KARACHI: Deputy Convener MQM, Dr Farooq Sattar has said that the MNAs and MPAs are not safe in this country let alone the common people, stressing formation of a counter terrorism policy at national level to put an end to the scourge of terrorism.
Talking to mediamen after the Soyem of the slain MQM, MPA, Manzar Imam, he said that extremism and terrorism could only be curbed through the collaboration of political and religious parties at government level.
He was of the view that countering terrorism was a challenge that the ongoing political activities and the upcoming elections face.
He also said that Manzar Imam was a senior worker of the party and demanded of the Prime Minister that the killers of the provincial assembly member and other workers of MQM should be arrested immediately.
The Quran Khwani of Manzar Imam was attended by a huge number of people including leader of the PML(Q) Haleem Adil Shaikh, MQM’s Rabta committee, and other members of the party.