Dubai, Feb. 10 : The accreditation process for all members of the media intending to cover the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier (CWCQ) is now open.

Members of the media who wish to carry out their work at the event are urged to submit their applications before the close of business on Friday 20 February 2009 (Dubai time).

The tournament will see the world's top 12 Associate and Affiliate teams compete at nine venues in 19 days from 1 to 19 April. Three of the nine grounds - at Benoni, Potchefstroom and Centurion - are ODI-accredited venues.

Dubai, Feb. 10 : The ICC today confirmed the schedule for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2009 to take place from 1 to 19 April in South Africa.

With three ODI venues being used, including Willowmoore Park in Benoni and Potchefstroom for group and Super Eight matches and Centurion for the final on 19 April, the event will enjoy first-class facilities.

In total there are nine venues being used for 54 matches played over 19 days with 12 teams fighting it out for the four qualification places on offer in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Geneva  - Saudi Arabia had its rights record reviewed Friday at the United Nations and came under criticism for women's rights issues in the kingdom as well as the state practise of corporal punishment.

Delegates of various nations criticized Saudi Arabia's "male guardianship system," which they said took away women's autonomy, as well as other legal measures that created inequality between men and women.

Riyadh - The Saudi government has published a list of 85 men worldwide it says adhere to "deviant" ideologies, common Saudi terminology for al-Qaeda, the official SPA news agency reported late Monday.

Saudi security forces urged the men to turn themselves in to Saudi embassies abroad and "return to reason and wisdom", adding that they could be reunited with their families, depending on the charges against them.

The SPA said that 15 of the men "who had been led astray" had done so since Saudi Arabia announced an amnesty programme for militants.

Oslo- The Norwegian Foreign Ministry distanced itself Wednesday from an e-mail sent by a Norwegian diplomat comparing Israel's offensive in Gaza with events in World War II and the persecution of Jews.

"We have clearly stated that the content does not represent Norway's official view," Foreign Ministry spokesman Haakon Svane told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The female diplomat, based in Saudi Arabia, sent an e-mail from her official foreign ministry account with some 40 photos from Gaza paired with World War II images.

Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Jan. 21: Trine Lilleng, the first secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Riyadh, has sent out an e-mail to friends, equating Israel''s Gaza offensive to Nazi''s Jew Holocaust.

The e-mail includes a juxtaposition of black-and-white pictures from the Holocaust with color images of Operation Cast Lead.

"The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany," the e-mail states.

A copy of the e-mail was obtained by The Jerusalem Post.