Melbourne, Feb 18 : Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has been assured that his career is not at risk with a knee injury, which flared again last week.

Symonds visited a Melbourne specialist after spending long periods off the field during Queensland's Sheffield Shield loss to South Australia in Adelaide.

There were fears that Symonds could need further surgery to the right knee he that had been surgically repaired on New Year's Eve after Australia's MCG Test loss to South Africa, FOX Sports reported.

Melbourne, Feb 18 : Amid concerns over New Delhi's preparations to stage the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Australian officials have laughed off suggestions that Melbourne is on standby to host the event.

The possibility of Melbourne, host of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, stepping in again next year has been mooted with the event now just over 18 months away.

But it was news to Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) chief executive Perry Crosswhite, The Age reported.

Melbourne, February 18 : Kylie Minogue has taken up the spotlight following claims made by an expert that she may have had cosmetic surgery.

The singer sparked the reports after her "peculiar appearance" at the recent BAFTA film awards ceremony.

Cosmetic surgeon Dr Alex Karidis suggested that the Oz pop princess showed signs of having used Botox, and perhaps even some work on her cheeks and lips.

"Kylie''s brows look a little higher than usual, which suggests she''s having regular Botox to lift them," the Couriermail quoted Karidis as telling the UK''s Grazia magazine.

Sydney  - A second Australian was charged Wednesday with arson following forest fires north of Melbourne that claimed over 201 lives, razed 1,830 homes and left 7,500 homeless.

Police allege the 38-year-old man was spotted Tuesday throwing lighted cigarettes into dry grass near Myrtleford, where two people died in the February 7 blazes.

The fire brigade extinguished the fire and the man, whose name was withheld, was charged with two counts of arson.

Earlier this week a Melbourne court identified Brendan Sokaluk as the 39-year-old man charged over a forest fire in his hometown of Churchill that killed 21 people and burned out 36,000 hectares.

Sydney/Johannesburg, Feb. 17 : Australian captain Ricky Ponting wanted to learn all he could about the youngest member of the touring squad, Phillip Hughes, and would have been most surprised to hear that Hughes loves to breed and show chickens.

For Hughes, this activity is a passion, but he rarely talks about it.

"He used to show chooks, and he used to help me breed them. It is something he keeps very close to him, and it is something he can''t do in the city, but it was one of his hobbies," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted his father, Greg, as saying.

Melbourne, New Delhi 17 : South Australian batsman Callum Ferguson on Tuesday said he is determined to be in the squad for the one-day internationals in South Africa.

Australia and South Africa will play five One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 encounters from the second half of February to mid-April.

Ferguson, who has come in for praise from skipper Ricky Ponting, is keen to make the grade, Fox Sports reports.

Ferguson was dismissed once in four innings making 102 runs during the Chappell-Hadlee Series against New Zealand, which caused skipper Ponting to comment on the