“Mumbai kisi ke baap ka nahin hai,” growled the city’s joint commissioner of police K.L. Prasad recently. He was briefing the media on the alphabetic agitation — M is for Mumbai is for Maharashtra Manoos is for Marathi — launched by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray against actress-MP Jaya Bachchan’s alleged anti-Marathi remarks, made in Hindi.

Dubai, Sep 23 (IANS) Former Australian captain Greg Chappell is looking forward to playing an “exciting” role for the benefit of his team during the four-match Test series against India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Dhaka, Sep 23 (IANS) A very different looking Bangladesh cricket team has begun training for the home series against New Zealand, a week after 13 players left the team to play in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) as the “Dhaka Warriors” team.

Johannesburg, Sep 23 (DPA) A teenage leopard with spiky green hair is the official mascot of the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa.

Hanover, Sep 23 (DPA) The German Football Federation (DFB) turned down Hanover’s application to have their German Cup match at Schalke 04 slated for Tuesday postponed after injuries and illnesses have left coach Dieter Hecking with only 14 fit players.

Toronto, Sep 23 (IANS) Just like Canadian field hockey where Indians form half of the national team, Indians are also leading the revival of cricket in this country.

Greater Noida, Sep 23 (IANS) L.K. Choudhary, the managing director of an Indian subsidiary of an Italy-based company in the industrial area of Greater Noida, adjacent to the national capital, was beaten to death by irate retrenched workers Monday.

Melbourne, Sep 22 (IANS) Australian captain Ricky Pointing said the deadly suicide attack in Islamabad justified their decision not to visit Pakistan for the bilateral series and the Champions Trophy.