Perth, Australia - Hospital scans have revealed that German Nicolas Kiefer suffered ligament damage during a match injury on Thursday at the Hopman Cup but could still pull up fit for the Australian Open beginning January 19.

Doctors who treated the 31-year-old expressed cautious optimism that the former number four might just be able to make it to the first Grand Slam date of the 2009 season from January 19.

Munich - Cologne have moved closer to meeting Bayern Munich's transfer fee demands for unsettled striker Lukas Podolski, Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is reported as saying Thursday.

"Everything is looking good. I am confident it will work out," Rummenigge is quoted as saying in the daily tz newspaper.

Bayern want a fee of 10 million euros (13.5 million dollars) for Podolski who would like to return to his former club after failing to establish a first-team place at the German champions.

London, Jan. 8 : Former England cricketer Ian Botham has said that in the last 24 hours, the incidents related to England cricket and its immediate future, are probably the most embarrassing that he has seen, both as a player and as a commentator on the sport.

In an article for the Sunday Mirror, Botham squarely blames the fiasco relating to the Pietersen-Moores disagreement on the "chinless wonders who rule Lord''s from behind a desk".

New Delhi, Jan 8 : Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma today said that New Delhi is looking at what action Pakistan will take against the Mumbai terror attackers and whether it will dismantle the terror infrastructure on its soil.

Cairo - Archaeologists have discovered a massive sarcophagus, along with mummified remains and golden finger coverings, in the burial chamber of a recently discovered pyramid near Cairo.

According to Egyptian officials, archaeologists used an entrance carved out a thousand years ago by grave robbers to access the 16 square metre burial chamber. The original entrance to the tomb, believed to be that of the mother of Pharaoh Teti (2318-2300 BC), had been sealed shut with huge granite blocks, said chief archeologist Zahi Hawass.

New Delhi, Jan. 8 : US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia, Richard Boucher, is arriving here today and will meet with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

Sources said that the two officials are likely to discuss the progress made in the probe into the Mumbai terror strikes, and how its perpetrators can be brought to justice.

The two sides are expected to discuss how Pakistan can be made to cooperate in pursuing the leads submitted to it by India.