Word: premiers
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...willing to go to preserve a "harmonious society," in President Hu Jintao's oft quoted catchphrase. Whereas previous leaders like Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin have taken risky steps such as opening the country to economic reform and joining the World Trade Organization, the administration of President Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao seems "paralyzed by fear of the downside," as Bequelin of Human Rights Watch puts it. He says the state's level of control has always oscillated, but with a long period of heavy repression having already past and no prospect of relief in sight, the risk of serious...
After weeks of playing sudoku with match schedules and wrangling with the Indian government over scheduling clashes with the upcoming general election, the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Sunday it would hold its billion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) outside India. The decision marks an unexpected climax to a weeks-long dispute between the BCCI and the Indian Home Ministry. Dates for the IPL, which features the best players from around the world, had long been set for April and May, the only time available for a 45-day tournament during the 2009 cricket calendar...
...Commentators have already dubbed the IPL the "NRIPL" - Non-Resident Indian Premier League and fans are outraged that the games will be played off shore. "Imagine an 'Indian' Premier League in South Africa," says self-confessed cricket diehard Nikhil Lodaya, a Mumbai-based public relations executive, "It's just too desperate!" Lodaya says he planned to watch the matches on television, so it doesn't matter if the matches are played in Mumbai or London. "But for a sport I love, it's painful to see what has happened." (Read a TIME story on the worst sporting attacks...
...Indian Premier League is bringing in South African security firm Nicholls, Steyn and Associates to manage safety for the entire tournament. Company director Bob Nicholls knows just what he's up against - he was in Mumbai at the time of last November's attacks. The Indian government has also offered to provide paramilitary forces if required, even though the country will be holding general elections over six weeks coinciding with the tournament. IPL president Lalit Modi has been in a running tiff with the government over dates and venues for his tournament, and it is a measure of the importance...
...India, the answer for now seems to be no. Though there was talk of canceling the second season of the Premier League, the IPL looks set to start on April 10 per the original schedule. Security has been beefed up. Players - the teams feature the best in the world from Australia and South Africa to Sri Lanka and the West Indies - will be restricted to the ground and their hotels. Fans will have their bags checked more thoroughly. But the game will go on. "I think we don't have much of [a] choice in this," says Kumar Sangakkara...