Robert Kubica is enjoying life at his new team Renault, saying everything "has been just as I expected".

The Pole, who swapped BMW Sauber for the Anglo-French outfit after the German manufacturer's withdrawal from Formula One, also said that everyone at Renault is determined to improve this year after a disappointing 2009 season.

"It already feels like home and it's a nice group of people to work with," Kubica told the team's website. "I had an idea of what Renault would be like before I joined and it has been just as I expected.

"The team is very motivated and looking forward to the big challenge we have ahead of us to bring Renault back to the front of the grid. Everybody is working hard and it was nice to see such a quick response from the guys in the factory to make the changes we needed after the Valencia test in time for Jerez."

Kubica also said that Renault made good progress during last week's test in Jerez and predicted further improvements upon their return to the Spanish circuit this week.

"Although the bad weather has affected our track time, we've made a lot of progress, particularly last week in Jerez where we found some good performance," he added.

"What is important is that the car is not too sensitive and that makes it easier to find a good set-up. There are a few things still to come for the other tests that will make me feel even better in the car and which will also make it quicker, but we're definitely moving in the right direction."

Colors, one of the leading television channels in India, has been launched in the UK with none other than Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan as its ambassador.

Viacom 18 Media, a joint venture between Network 18, an Indian entertainment group, and American media conglomerate Viacom, has launched Colors, its first Asian TV channel in the UK.

The launch of the 24-hour channel, which will be free-to-air at launch and then be added to Sky's View Asia platform, follows Colors' success in India.

Rajesh Kamat, chief operating officer of Viacom 18 and the chief executive of Colors, said, "I have no doubt that we will be able to replicate our success in key international markets like the US and UK."

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been chosen to be the face of the TV channel.

The first Bollywood couple to share their mutual admiration on Twitter, superstar Hrithik Roshan has been joined by wife Sussanne on the micro-blogging site.

The couple who are known guard their privacy closely, however, has been quite expressive with their love on the website.

Welcoming Sussanne to the social network, the 36-year-old actor wrote, "Friends, please welcome my wife, my friend, my lover, the coolest, the purest, the exotic SUSSANNE to twitterland !! Give LOVE tweeple!!!(sic)"

After being praised so profusely by her husband, the mother of two wrote back, "so inspired whn I c my Hrithik working.. has the eye of the tiger..no stoppin till he gets it perfect n only becoz he loves u all 2 much!!(sic)."

To which Hrithik replied, "stop it sussanne, stop complimenting me in twublic!! (but thanks, felt good) (sic).


Source: PTI

 In reply to South Africa's 296 all out, India declared their first innings at 643 for six during the post-tea session on the third day of the second and final cricket Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens here today.

VVS Laxman and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained unbeaten on 143 and 132 respectively as India took a lead of 347.

Brief Scores:

South Africa 1st Innings: 296 all out

India 1st Innings: 643 for six in 153 overs (Virender Sehwag 165, Sachin Tendulkar 106, VVS Laxman 143 not out, M S Dhoni 132 not out; Morne Morkel 2/115).

VVS Laxman (143) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (132) slammed sparkling unbeaten centuries to compound South Africa's misery as India took a stranglehold of the second and final cricket Test with a mammoth 347-run first innings lead here today.

Laxman notched up his 15th Test ton while Dhoni recorded his fourth as the hosts piled up a monumental 643 for six, their highest total against South Africa, before declaring their first innings about half an hour before close of play on the third day.

The visitors got to face just five balls and were six for no loss before bad light forced play to be stopped early on a day completely dominated by the home team.

Source: PTI

Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of Deccan Chargers skipping this year's IPL and assured that all eight teams would be in the fray when the Twenty20 event begins on March 13.
"Reports that DC will not play or x y z may not -- please ignore such news. All IPL teams will participate. You have my assurance on that," Modi wrote on his Twitter page.
Modi's assurance comes a day after the Chargers slapped a legal notice on the IPL and threatened to skip the Twenty20 league if its home matches are not re-allotted to Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
The IPL governing council had shifted the Chargers' home matches out of Andhra Pradesh citing the ongoing Telengana agitation as the reason.
The Chargers' solicitors said the decision to shift the matches have been taken "arbitrarily, unilaterally, without our client's consent and in complete breach of the Franchise Agreement dated April 10, 2008 pursuant to which the rights and obligations of both the parties i.e. BCCI-IPL and the Franchisee, i.e. our client are governed".

Source: PTI

The Sehwag storm struck South Africa with full force and pretty much blew everything in its way to a 13th 150-plus score. Amid the mayhem, it was easy to forget the cool, pleasant breeze that was Sachin Tendulkar's 92nd international century - his fourth in four Tests. They added 249 runs for the third wicket and kept South Africa wicketless for 57.4 overs but, once the two quietened, South Africa struck back with three quick wickets to retrieve some of the momentum in the match.

Sehwag rattled them with a vicious assault on the new ball, put behind him the Gautam Gambhir run-out and, after a brief quiet, punished them some more. His 87-ball hundred would have been even faster but for a relative lull of 10 off 21 balls. Tendulkar enjoyed playing in the shadow of Sehwag's strike-rate, kept scoring at an even pace and, unlike Sehwag, didn't give South Africa a single chance.

Two critical moments in the first session determined the flow of the game. Sehwag - 43 off 21 then - had the fastest Test fifty and a few other records in sight when he ran Gambhir out, and he chastised himself by playing disciplined cricket for a while. Around the same time Morne Morkel indulged in some reverse-rattling, took out M Vijay, troubled Sehwag with accurate bouncers and induced an edge only to see JP Duminy - at first slip because of the finger injury to Graeme Smith - drop him on 47. Sehwag could have gone at an even more frenetic rate but for the run-out. South Africa could have been in control had Sehwag fallen then.

Sehwag's onslaught started when Dale Steyn failed to get any swing. Somehow the ball didn't come out right, the seam wobbled, and Nagpur was a distant memory. When there is no swing, Steyn's pace is his biggest enemy so today the faster they came the faster they went. Nor did he get the Morkel's bounce, which meant that when Steyn went for the ribs, Sehwag could easily flick it past midwicket.

The storm started with that gentle little flick and then came three boundaries in three balls in the third over: placed over point, whipped to square leg, and slashed past point. Morkel got the treatment in his third over too: three boundaries through the off side, one off a delivery that clocked 152.6kmph. Wayne Parnell replaced Morkel immediately, and immediately he was carved for a four and a six into the rubble of a stand under reconstruction.

The next ball Sehwag faced he hit an off-drive for four, and then came the run-out. It was time for drinks and Sehwag threw away his protective gear in disgust. That was when Morkel came back but his charged-up, accurate burst seemed to have ended with that dropped chance.

When Sehwag came back from lunch, the cautious approach had been thrown out and he was blazing away again. For company he had Tendulkar. If you were a bowler, there was nowhere to hide.

Sehwag showed that to Steyn early in his second spell. Punch, whip, steer, 10 runs off three deliveries. Steyn to Sehwag then: 11 balls, 25 runs, five boundaries. Tendulkar joined the fun, defending everything full but steering Steyn for two boundaries. Paul Harris, meanwhile, didn't have the luxury of a big score, bowled round the stumps, and was slog-swept and hit inside out by Sehwag for a six and a four.

Back came Morkel, the best bowler on the day, to be given the worst sort of treatment a best bowler can be given. This time Tendulkar took the lead. Two fullish deliveries, two clips to the on side, one to the left of square leg, one to the right. In his next over, he gave Sehwag width with three deep fielders on the off side. One to the left of deep point, and one to the right. Sehwag 89 off 72, Tendulkar 38 off 61. India were 165 for 2 in 30.2 overs, with the bonus of South Africa's two best bowlers negated.

In between the hard-hitting there was some toying, with paddles from outside off, reverse-sweeps, clips past midwicket as Sehwag reached his hundred and Tendulkar his fifty without further incident. Harris eventually started bowling over the wicket, and was called wide 12 times because, unlike in Nagpur, he was not looking to get wickets here.

The runs slowed down post tea. When Sehwag was 128, AB de Villiers, the replacement keeper, missed an easy stumping. By the time Duminy made good his mistake, getting Sehwag in his first over, it might just have been too late. Not quite. Harris went round the wicket in the next over - inexplicably it took him until the Sehwag dismissal to do so - and got a false shot out of Tendulkar.

Steyn came back right away, got his swing back, and beat S Badrinath in the man-versus-boy contest. VVS Laxman struggled to fight the momentum and edged Harris in the next over. It flew wide of slip, the light deteriorated and India ended the day retaining the upper hand despite that late South African surge.

Lotus Racing today unveiled its 2010 challenger, the Lotus Cosworth T127, at a glittering event in London’s Royal Horticultural Hall. Team Principal Tony Fernandes was joined on stage by Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne and drivers Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy to take the wraps off the car in front of a 500 strong live audience.

Lewis Hamilton ended this week's Jerez test on a high note as the Briton powered his McLaren to the top of the timesheets with a string of blistering late laps.
The McLaren team were happy to bide their time over the previous three days of the rain-affected multi-team test as they concentrated on aero-mapping runs conducted at slower speeds.
But they took the shackles off the MP4-25 on Saturday afternoon, allowing Hamilton to pump in a succession of hot laps and finish half a second clear of second-placed Adrian Sutil in the new Force India VJM03. Hamilton's best lap of one minute 19.583 seconds was also the quickest of the four-day test.
Hamilton was one of three drivers to pass a century of laps on Saturday, along with the Sauber of Pedro de la Rosa (150) and Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who amassed a mammoth 160 laps at the wheel of the F10.
Rubens Barrichello completed 90 tours on his way to third place for Williams but the veteran Brazilian saw his day cut short by a gearbox problem on the FW32.
Robert Kubica underlined the steady progress made by Renault as he put up 85 laps on his way to a best time of 1min 20.358secs, good for fourth place.
Michael Schumacher was three-tenths further back in fifth place at the wheel of his Mercedes, and the seven-time champion was content with his efforts this week.
The Red Bull Racing RB6 of Sebastian Vettel was sixth ahead of marathon man Massa, who racked up the equivalent of two grands prix distance for the Prancing Horse.

Controversies notwithstanding, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "My Name Is Khan" has gone on to rake in around Rs 250 million (about $5.3

million) across the globe on the opening day.

Directed by Karan Johar, "My Name is Khan" was released on Friday.

"We are delighted with the performance and audience reactions across demographics. More so, because this is only phase one of the film release," Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studios India, the Indian distributors of the film, said in a statement.

"In addition to the release across 45 countries, MNIK will be rolled out in a phased manner across 25 non-traditional markets from April onwards."

The film features Shah Rukh as Rizvan Khan who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, played by Kajol. It shows how, along the way, his personality touches the lives of many and inspires a nation.

The movie is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star in India, in the US by its sister company Fox Searchlight and in the rest of the world by parent group 20th Century Fox International.

In New Zealand, the opening day collection was about $9,727 while in the Middle-East, the movie is already 50 percent higher than any other previous film in Bollywood with the earning estimated at $300,000.

There's also a huge demand for additional prints in the existing chains across the Middle East and the print count is expected to increase to around 60 by next week.

According to Fox, the film also will be released in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman and Lebanon in the coming week.

In terms of paid previews, the movie earned about $193,000 from 89 sites in Britain, which is said to be the highest for a single-day preview there. In Australia Thursday, paid previews collected around $34,000 and it ranked number 11.

Film losses are huge and often send the producers into a state of depression because of their inability to pay debts. In extreme cases, some even commit suicide. One such producer from Kollywood attempted suicide yesterday.

Sai Prakash, a noted Kannada film director, has given many hits in the past. But luck betrayed him with “Devaru Kotta Thangi”, which didn’t fare well at the box office.

He had also put his house and five other properties under mortgage reportedly to meet the film’s liabilities. He had met some repayments but was running short of two-three crores.

That film has Shivaraj Kumar and Meera Jasmine in key roles.

Bad stroke of luck for Sai
After the film’s producer Thyagaraju urged him to make the payments he owed for the film, Parakash took a heavy dose of sleeping pills on Saturday; an obvious attempt at ending his life.

He was immediately admitted in the ICU of Global Hospitals and his condition is now stable. Doctors said that Prakash is under a 24-hour observation period till Sunday.

Thyagaraju has, however, denied pressurizing him and said that he had only asked for his repayments from Sai Prakash.

It is noteworthy that Prakash had also informed many famous film personalities about his financial trauma and the desire to end his life through SMS’s before consuming sleeping pills.

Sai was also warned with undesirable consequences by the private banks which financed Devaru Kotta Thangi.

Parakash on his way to recuperation
Jayamala, who is the current president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, told reporters that Sai was reacting well to the medicines.

A large number of film celebrities like actors Shivaraj Kumar and Nag Kiran have paid a visit to the hospital to meet Sai.

Sai’s wife Rajamma fainted upon entering the ICU and was taken to the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Hardwork of Zaheer Khan combined with Harbhajan Singh’s brilliance brought India back into the Kalcutta Test.
At stumps, the South African score stood at 266/9 after bad light ended play roughly 30 minutes before the schedule.

After Graem Smith fell cheaply to Zaheer, South Africans cruised along with debutant Alviro Petersen and Hashim Amla stroking fluent centuries.

The duo blunted Indian bowling with ease and during their 209 run-stand for the second wicket, it appeared that South Africans would take firm control of the Kolkata Test on day one itself.

Petersen was the first to fall, when having secured his maiden century was induced to a thick edge by Zaheer to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

He struck 16 fours as he made exactly 100 runs.

South Africa goes to tea at 228/2.

Post tea Amla fell in the first over. Trying to pull a delivery from outside the off-stump, Amla managed only an edge, to Dhoni again.

He made 114 runs off 166 balls, a knock that was punctuated with 14 boundaries and a six.

Amla was Zaheer’s third wicket after the left-hander had added yet another successful chapter to his domination over Graeme Smith in the morning.

This was the fourth time Zaheer got the better of Smith, having dismissed him cheaply, clean bowled, in the Nagpur Test as well.

Ashwell Prince (1) and JP Duminy (0) fell off successive deliveries off Harbhajan.

Zaheer made matters worse for the visitors with a direct hit to run-out AB De Villiers, which left South Africa reeling at 254/7.

Ishant then claimed the eighth wicket with the wicket of Paul Harris. Amit Mishra trapped Dale Steyn LBW.

Zaheer was finally rewarded for his lion-hearted efforts, ending with figures 3/77, while Harbhajan too broke away from the shacles off bad form, finishing with figures of 3/60 at close.


Meanwhile India, who need to win not only to salvage the series, but also to retain their numero uno ranking in Tests, replace Wriddhiman Saha with VVS Laxman.

Team:

India: V Sehwag, G Gambhir, M Vijay, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni*†, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Mishra, I Sharma

South Africa: GC Smith*, AN Petersen, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers†, AG Prince, JP Duminy, DW Steyn, WD Parnell, M Morkel, PL Harris