IPL rejects Pakistan's plea on Asif ban



NEW DELHI // The Indian Premier League (IPL) rejected today a request from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to backdate the pace bowler Mohammad Asif's ban for a positive dope test during last year's Twenty20 tournament. The IPL's drug tribunal last week announced a one-year ban on Asif for testing positive to the prohibited substance nandrolone, and said the ban would run from Sept 23, 2008 until Sept 22, 2009.

The Pakistan board asked the IPL to backdate the ban to July 15, 2008, the date of the positive test. He has not been allowed to play representative cricket since then. "We've received a request from the Pakistan Cricket Board to advance the ban on Asif from Sept 23 to July 15, 2008, but we cannot do so," the Press Trust of India quoted the IPL chairman Lalit Modi as saying in Mumbai. Asif "could have appealed against it and then the Appeals Tribunal would have looked into it. He did not do so. The ban stays from Sept 23, 2008."

Asif has been involved in a series of controversies, including his 19-day detention at Dubai international airport last year for possessing a small amount of opium when he was returning home after playing in the IPL. *AP

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Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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  • Animals
  • Fireworks/ flares
  • Radios or power banks
  • Laser pointers
  • Glass
  • Selfie sticks/ umbrellas
  • Sharp objects
  • Political flags or banners
  • Bikes, skateboards or scooters
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Based: Gaza
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A State of Passion

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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

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Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

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- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18

- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued

- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket

- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200. 

- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200

- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300

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