My Blog

Moment of reckoning for Indian cricket?   India have suffered seven overseas Test defeats in a row India lost the third Test against Australia on Sunday inside two-and-a-half days, going down to a 3-0 series defeat. It was their seventh consecutive overseas Test defeat stretching back to the tour of England last year. Sports writer Suresh Menon, who has written books on Sachin Tendulkar and Bishan Bedi, on why India's cricket authorities cannot be silent spectators any longer. American mathematician Sam Saunders has a lovely analogy about how certain truths creep up on us. A frog placed in hot water will struggle to escape, he points out, but the same frog placed in cold water that is slowly warmed up will sit peacefully until it is cooked. Indian cricket is in hot water, but it has become hot so slowly that no one has noticed. After six away defeats in a row, it is time to shed sentiment and wield the axe. At least since 2008, when Sourav Ganguly retired, t...

جی ایم سید: پاکستان کے صوفی بھی باغی بھی حسن مجتبیٰ بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، نیویارک پاکستان میں شاید وہ واحد بوڑھا شخص تھا جس کے عاشق صادق زیادہ تر نوجوان تھے۔ غلام مرتضٰی شاہ باالمعروف جی ایم سید جو ہر دم سچل سرمست کی اس سطر ’سچو عشق بڈھا نہ تھیوے بانہویں چٹڑی تھی ونجے ڈاڑھی‘ کی جیتی جاگتی تصویر ہو کر رہے۔ آج سندھ میں کئی سندھی قوم پرست اور نوجوان سندھو دریا کے اس پار ایک چھوٹے سے شہر سن کی طرف جا رہے ہیں جہاں جی ایم سید ایک کھلی کتاب کی شکل کی سنگِ مرر کی قبر کے نیچے دفن ہیں۔ سترہ جنوری انیس سو چار کو سن میں پیدا ہونے والے جی ایم سید جب پچیس اپریل انیس سو پچانوے کو سپردِ خاک ہوئے تو ان کے جنازے کے ساتھ قرآن، گیتا، انجیل، توریت اور شاہ جو رسالو بھی ساتھ سفر کرتے رہے تھے۔ جی ایم سید شاید پاکستان میں وہ پہلے سیاستدان تھے جنہوں نے اپنی تحریروں اور تقریروں کے ذریعے کئی برس قبل ہی مذہبی انتہا پسندی کے ملک اور خطے میں خطرات سے متنبہ کر دیا تھا۔ جی ایم سید وہ پہلے سیاستدان بھی تھے جنہوں نے سرد جنگ کے خاتمے سے قبل کہا تھا کہ سرمایہ...

Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa Act protest   Wikipedia joins others, including the Cheezburger Network of websites, in planning to go offline Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US. The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing have also said they will take part in the "blackout". The sites' webmasters are opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress. However, Twitter has declined to take part in the shutdown. Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, told the BBC: "Proponents of Sopa have characterised the opposition as being people who want to enable piracy or defend piracy. "But that's not really the point. The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it's going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don't have an...

How globe-trotting executives manage travel demands By Rebecca Marston Business reporter, BBC News     Sir Martin Sorrell's company operates in more than 100 countries with 2,400 offices Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the advertising and communications giant WPP, does have a home - but he does not see it very often. "I would say I rarely spend a week in one place. I am away for about six months of every year. I keep two passports and I don't know how much time I spend in airports." WPP has operations in 107 countries, 150,000 employees and a turnover of almost £10bn ($15.5bn) so he does have a lot of ground to cover. So much so, that London and New York act as local hubs for, respectively, Asia and Europe, and the United States and South America. When not travelling, Sir Martin's day is a long one. "A typical day means getting up at about 6am. I usually turn on CNBC or Bloomberg, th...

Australia enjoys China-fuelled boom   By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Sydney, Australia   Australia has been selling its minerals to China, making its people rich in the process At an Australian house auction, it does not take long for the numbers to reach and then pass seven figures. Edwin Montoya does not know this yet, but he is just about to experience this bizarrely compelling phenomenon first hand. Part business transaction, part theatre, an auction is where the strong stick to their budgets and the weak succumb to their underfunded impulses. Edwin has his eye on a neat, architect-designed bungalow in Sydney's Western suburbs and decides it is the one for him. So, in the back garden with its parquet flooring-styled pavements, he joins battle with four other suitors for this comfortable, but less-than-grand, dwelling. 'Concerned about the future' The auctioneer rattles off the dollars quicker th...