London, Feb 7: Former England cricketer Graham Gooch has said that left-handed batsman Alastair Cook must put scoring runs before captaincy as he leads the team to Bangladesh.

Cook has endured a difficult time with the bat in recent months and has been given the added pressure of captaining the side in the absence of Andrew Strauss.

Gooch, who watched Cook develop into one of the country’s most accomplished opening batsmen during their time together at Essex,” said: “Cook’s priority is to score runs, then the captaincy comes after that.”

London, Feb. 7 : If David Cameron wins the UK General Election, he will have one glamorous incentive with the keys to 10 Downing Street, as Carla Bruni may join Nicolas Sarkozy in greeting the Conservative leader.

The French ambassador has disclosed that Nicolas Sarkozy is to visit London shortly after the expected polling day amid rumours that he will be accompanied by his alluring wife, Carla Bruni.

“The president is going to come for the anniversary of De Gaulle''s appeal in June,” The Telegraph quoted French Ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, as saying.

Islamabad, Feb. 7 : Denouncing the Taliban for Wednesday’s suicide attack in Lower Dir, in which three US soldiers were killed along with nine others, including four girl students, a senior North West Frontier Province
(NWFP) has said that doors for peace talks with the banned extremists group has been closed following the attack.

“The doors of negotiation have closed for the Taliban and there will be no talks with them as they are still killing innocent people,” Bashir Ahmad Bilour said.

London, Feb. 7 : After his disagreements with Milan-based Internazionale over lack of transfer funds, Jose Mourinho is set to pay the 5.5million pound buy-out clause in his contract this summer and return to the Premier League.

“The club and I signed a very objective contract until 2012, because we want to work together. But there is a cancellation clause that Inter will pay me if they want my departure and another that I will pay Inter if I want to leave,” News of the World quoted Mourinho, as saying.

Inter won Serie A in his first year and they are currently preparing for a Champions League knockout clash with Mourinho’s former club Chelsea this month.

London, Feb 7: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly keeping an eye on AC Milan’s David Beckham after the star midfielder hinted at his desire of returning to Old Trafford.

Ferguson had seen Beckham in the recent Milan derby against Inter, and now will fly to Italy on Friday night for a Champions League spying mission – labeling him “a Manchester United great.”

The pair will be reunited this month when the Red Devils take on AC Milan in the Champions League.

London, Feb 7 : It may soon be possible to transform communication among speakers of the world’s 6,000-plus languages – all thanks to Google which is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages instantly.

A basic system will be ready in couple of years, as Google is building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, reports The Times.

An automatic system for translating text on computers has already been created by the giant.

London, Feb 7 : Tennis superstar Serena Williams desperately wants to have kids with her rapper/actor boyfriend Common.

However, Williams is not sure if she’ll be a responsible mother as she once accidentally left her pet pooch behind after a training session on the tennis court, reports The Daily Star.

She says, "I would love to have a baby... But I have two little dogs I take care of and they''re so cute, but sometimes I forget them. One time I was in the locker room... I was busy and I left and I was in the car driving home and I was like, ''Oops!'' I definitely don''t need any kids because I forgot my dog."

London, Feb. 7 : Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has found an unlikely fan in Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, who has termed the England star as the “best footballer in the world”.

“Manchester are using Rooney very well right now. He improves his quality with every game and I am surprised his level never drops. Instead he always improves his performance,” News of the World quoted Ancelotti, as saying.

“It''s not just good for United but also the national team. To have him in this condition is important for the World Cup. At this moment he is the best in the world,” he added.

Karachi, Feb. 7 : Pakistan has announced its 18-man squad for the Hockey World Cup, which is scheduled to begin in New Delhi on February 28.

The selectors have tried to blend in a perfect mix of youth and experience in the team for the coveted tournament in which Pakistan shares the group with countries like India and Australia.

Coach Shahid Ali Khan expressed confidence in the team, saying it would give other teams of the group a run for their money in the tournament, which would conclude on March 13.

Melbourne, Feb 7: Former Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson has expressed his admiration of Shaun Tait’s bowling performance in the Twenty20 game against Pakistan, but has cast doubts over the accuracy of the speed gun that clocked his 160.7km/h delivery.

Lawson felt the delivery, reportedly the fastest ever recorded in Australia, was not that fast, and some of Tait’s other deliveries on the night looked quicker.

“That 160.7 ball didn’t look that quick. It got through to [Brad] Haddin at about knee height and it was dying off the pitch,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Lawson, as saying.

Melbourne, Feb : Retired Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie will captain a group of Australian cricketing legends to play against some of the country’s best indigenous players in Alice Springs this week.

Gillespie, with the help of fellow all-stars Matthew Elliot, Greg Matthews and Len Pascoe, will open the 17th Lord’s Taverners Imparja Cup on Sunday night, before conducting a clinic for local schools at Traeger Park on Monday.

A spotlight will be shone on Australia’s annual indigenous cricket carnival, when Gillespie and his fellow all-stars take on members of the indigenous development squad, with retired opening batsman Matthew Hayden making a special appearance.

London, February 7 : Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are reportedly due to pour cold water on break up rumours by putting up a ‘still together show’ at the upcoming Academy Awards.

The couple is allegedly tired of the reports of an imminent split and wants to put an end to them with the massive PR exercise.

“Brad and Angie will take their time to smile, hold hands and pose for the cameras as if they were teenage sweethearts. They want to prove that far from being over, their relationship is rock solid,” the Daily Star quoted a source close to them as saying.

London, February 7 : Prince Harry was said to have become a gay pin-up after pictures of him showing off his six-pack emerged online.

The 25-year-old royal was said to be one of Google’s most searched-for male celebrities with his washboard stomach and strawberry-blond good looks as contributing factors.

“Red hair is getting very, very trendy in the gay scene,” the Daily Express quoted QX magazine as saying.

Harry previously added more male admirers to his list when he kissed a fan in exchange for a beer last November.

London, Feb. 7 : New England skipper Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have been paying secret visits to a specialist sports clinic to save their Manchester United careers.

According to The News of The World, the defensive duo have been making regular trips to the Blackberry Clinic in Milton Keynes.

Ferdinand has a mystery back injury, while Vidic has been struggling with a calf problem and has not played for the club since December 30.

The pair has been travelling to Milton Keynes together by train for weeks.

United turned to the Buckinghamshire clinic for help after club physios struggled to find a solution to Ferdinand''s long- standing back problem.

Melbourne, Feb 7 : The divorce capital of Australia is Brisbane.

And it is so because more than 190 marriages are dissolved every week in the city''s Federal Magistrates Court, reports The Courier Mail.

According to figures, the busiest divorce court Down Under processed almost 10,000 divorce applications last financial year.

The Family Magistrates Court 2008-09 annual report showed Queenslanders filed 11,311 divorce applications with 11,065 divorces finalised.

Queensland had 25 applications per 10,000 residents, ahead of Victoria (22) and New South Wales (20).

Social demographer Bernard Salt said: "The Queensland divorce numbers I think is reflective of a more transient community.”

Melbourne, Feb 7: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has backed his fast bowlers to contain West Indies captain Chris Gayle and his team in the one-day series starting at the MCG from Sunday.

Ponting also claimed to have assembled the best fast-bowling group in the world after the West Indies captain coolly tipped his team to thump Australia in the series.

Gayle has predicted said that the West Indies would win the series 4-1 despite Australia taking a stranglehold on the 50-over format in recent months and the Calypso outfit being weakened by injuries to experienced players.

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 7 : Actress Christy Yow, who played the legendary striptease Rose Chan in her new movie Mei Gui Xiang (The charming Rose) and acted in several Singapore Chinese dramas, has posed nude for a magazine in Singapore.

Courtesy the daring act, the stunner has become the first Malaysian nude cover girl, reports The Daily Chilli.

She appears on the cover of the first issue of a movie magazine called F*** (Film, Fame & Frank) that hit the streets last week.

"The cover look amazing! I certainly look amazing - awesome," she said.

London, Feb. 7 : In a bid to participate in the largest military offensive against the Taliban since the Afghanistan invasion in 2001, 4,000 British troops have begun preparing alongside Americans and Afghan troops.

The strike force will storm into some of the most dangerous areas of central Helmand in a series of daring raids, the start date of which is being kept secret.

The offensive, aimed to “break the back” of the Taliban, will dwarf last summer’s Operation Panther’s Claw in which 10 British soldiers were killed and more than 100 injured.

Senior British officers have warned the public to “steel itself” as the casualties could be the highest of any operation in the eight-year war.

Lahore, Feb. 7 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt dropped another bombshell on board’s director general Javed Miandad saying that the former captain was paid 8.4 million rupees for a week’s work in an year.

“Miandad has cost the board 8.4 million rupees for just seven days of work,” Butt said during a function at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Butt also accused Miandad of violating the board’s code of conduct.

It may be noted that days ago Butt had said that Miandad was being paid 7.5 lacs, and if his other expenditures were to be included, he was costing the board almost 10,00,000 rupees.

New York, Feb 7 : Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin''s baby daddy, has stripped off for sexy Playgirl cover.

The tastefully done cover shows Johnston, ex-beau of Bristol Palin and father of her son Tripp, naked but hiding his ‘man parts’.

In the past, Johnston has graced the pages of Vanity Fair and Entertainment tonight, reports The New York Daily News.

Johnston and Palin welcomed son Tripp in December 2008, but split shortly after his birth. (ANI)