Melbourne, Mar 6: Security has been beefed up around the Australian cricket team ahead of the second Test after the attack by terrorists on the Sri Lankan team in Pakistan, South Africa has deployed National Intervention Unit guards armed with machine guns.

NIU guards, who watched the players as they trained, replaced the normal police. The unit participates in intelligence-driven operations, according to a Government website.

Sydney, Mar 6 : Sri Lankan batsman Thilan Samarweera, who sustained the worst injuries among Lankan cricketers during a terrorist attack on team bus near Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday, is happy to be in Colombo and will resume playing in June.

Samaraweera, who scored successive Test double-centuries in Pakistan, was admitted to a private hospital in Colombo with a bullet injury.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said the decision to remove the bullet was made to protect Samaraweera's long-term playing career.

Melbourne, Mar 6 : Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants answers from Pakistan after claims surfaced that Pakistani security forces abandoned travelling Sri Lankan cricketers and Australians umpires during a terrorist attack in Lahore on Tuesday.

Australian officials claimed they were abandoned in their van for some eight minutes in the middle of a gunfight, as security forces transported the Sri Lankan players to safety.

Melbourne, Mar 5 : Think your references and qualifications are more than enough to help you land a job? Well, you’re certainly mistaken, for your ears too may play a key role in the process– at least as far as a Chinese firm is concerned.

A Wuhan-based building materials firm in China has said that it makes it a point to ensure that aspirants’ appearances won''t have a negative effect on customers.

One applicant, Li, of Wuhan, who was interviewed for a job as a secretary, said she was amazed at the request.

Sydney, Mar 5 : With fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus doubtful to participate in the second cricket Test against South Africa commencing from March 6, Australia has needed to shore up its fast-bowling stocks by calling up yet another new boy to their squad.

Australian Cricket Team led by Ricky Ponting began their tour of South Africa without injured Test pace regulars Stuart Clark and Brett Lee. Fast-bowling all-rounder Shane Watson was also on the sick list.

Sydney, March 6 : A group of scientists in Sydney have achieved a breakthrough in using adult stem cells to re-grow damaged muscle tissue in mice, and thereby moved a step closer to realising a potential new therapy for incurable diseases like muscular dystrophy.

Peter Gunning, the head of the Oncology Research Unit at the University of NSW, has revealed that the study involved mice engineered to have an injured skeletal muscle.

He, however, said that the concept could also be applied to human diseases like lung disorders, chronic liver disease, and types I and II diabetes.