Dubai/Karachi, Feb. 16 : The ICC has briefed the Pakistan and Sri Lanka players, backroom staff and officials on the new ICC Anti-Doping Code (2009) which came into effect on January 1,2009.

The code has several changes from the ICC's previous anti-doping regulations, including the adoption of the International Registered Testing Pool (IRTP), made up of the leading players (according to the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings) from each of the top eight ranked ODI teams.

Dubai, UAE  - Israeli Shahar Peer lost her chance to make a political point as the Dubai government denied her a visa to play in the Barclays Championships starting on Sunday.

The 21-year-old ranked 48th, was to have travelled to the Gulf after a semi-final at the weekend in Pattaya, Thailand, and had been drawn to face 15th-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

But tensions in the Middle East after Israeli's bombing campaign last month of Palestinians in the region ended any hope of a former Israeli soldier being admitted to the moderate Arab emirate.

Dubai, UAE  - World number one Serena Williams withdrew with a right knee injury before a Saturday Paris semi-final but said she hopes to be fit for next week's appearance in Dubai.

The Australian Open champion was to have faced Russian Elena Dementieva at the GDF tournament in Paris. But Williams said she felt something in her knee and withdrew as a precaution.

"I didn't feel well during the warm-up this morning, my knee hurt," said the American. "I'm extremely disappointed."

Williams said the first noticed the problem during her Friday quarter-final win over Emilie Loit.

Baghdad- Two blasts in Baghdad killed at least 16 people and wounded at least 43 more, in the most deadly of a series of attacks that rocked Iraq on Wednesday, the Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite network reported.

The twin Baghdad blasts followed an attack in the northern city of Mosul, some 400 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Dubai, Feb. 11 : Shortly after the Indian Premier League (IPL) slapped a year long ban on Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif , the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday said that it would not tolerate doping scandals in the sport.

ICC's Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said the apex international cricket body maintains a zero tolerance on doping.

The ICC also confirmed that it had received notification about Asif's ban from IPL, and it expects other members of the Council to respect it.

Dubai, Feb. 11 : The second annual two-day ICC Broadcaster and Sponsor Forum was held in Dubai this week.

The forum brought together all ICC's major commercial partners - ESPN STAR Sports, Reliance Mobile, LG Electronics, Pepsico, Yahoo!, Emirates Airline and Reebok - as well as the ICC's main suppliers and service providers.

The theme of the forum was partnerships and ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat told the meeting that it was incumbent on the ICC to forge successful partnerships with the commercial sector.