London, Dec 9 (ANI): English all rounder Andrew Flintoff has admitted that he is fearing the prospect of playing cricket surrounded by large number of security personnel.

Five thousand police officers, including 300 highly trained commandos, will provide security cover ahead of first Test in Chennai to English players who arrived in India on Monday.

The Tamil Nadu police force has launched a major security operation unseen before in the world cricket.

Flintoff is agonised over whether he wanted to be protected by a ring of steel before agreeing on Sunday night to return to India.

"Wondering whether we can concentrate on the cricket is one thing I had to get right in my own mind. I cannot ever not try my best when I go on a cricket field but the environment in which we will be playing will be extremely different," The Sun quoted Flintoff, as saying.

"You're talking about commandos and armed guards looking after you, hotels being locked down and all these type of things. That's going to be a challenge for the lads. I think a few of us experienced it in 2001-02 when we came to India after the 9/11 attacks in America. We had guards with us but this is likely to be even more," he said.

"Hopefully, when you are on the field and you're bowling at Sachin Tendulkar or facing Harbhajan Singh, you won't be too worried about what's happening around the ground," he added. (ANI)

Berlin, Dec 30 (ANI): The world is gearing up to celebrate 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy.

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) has been launched by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the theme, "The Universe, yours to discover".

Thousands of IYA2009 events are described on the national websites, as well as on astronomy2009.org.

The official IYA2009 Opening Ceremony will take place in Paris on 15 and 16 January 2009.

It will feature keynote speakers, including Nobel Laureates, and live video feeds to scientists working in remote locations.

Many nations are holding their own Opening Ceremonies in January and February, showing their dedication to the Year.

The IYA2009 Solar Physics Group have been busy planning a grand worldwide campaign, with over 30 countries involved at more than 150 venues, which will see amateur stargazers set up their telescopes on pavements as well as in science centres, letting passers-by observe the Sun using special safety equipment.

The Cosmic Diary is an example of a global activity occurring during 2009, with the release of its official website on New Year's Day.

The project concerns the daily lives of full-time astronomers.

More than 50 bloggers, professionals from over 35 countries and employed by organisations such as ESO, NASA, ESA and JAXA have already begun producing content, writing about their lives, the work they conduct and the challenges they face.

IYA2009 seeks to involve the public at large in its activities, and to this end amateur astronomers have been called upon to help organize and run events.

Astronomical events to look out for during 2009 include the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, occurring on 22 July 2009 and lasting 6 minutes 39 seconds over a narrow corridor through countries including India, Bangladesh and China.

A strong shower of Leonid meteors is also expected in mid-November 2009, with forecasters predicting upwards of an incredible 500 shooting stars per hour.

In mid-October in the northern hemisphere, Jupiter will be placed at dusk, a perfect time to show public the giant planet and its moons. (ANI)

Kathmandu, Dec 30 (ANI): All 25 political parties in the Nepal Constituent Assembly (CA) have made a commitment to press freedom and asked the CPN (Maoist) not to use intimidation and violence to press its demands in future.

Speaking at an interaction at the Parliamentary Secretariat, the leaders also urged Maoists to come up with a clear-cut policy on press freedom.

Maoist Central Committee member Barsa Man Pun said Maoist unionists made mistakes by attacking Himalmedia. The attack on Himalmedia was against his party's policy.

Members of other political parties insisted that Maoists are good at making commitments but poor on delivery. In view of the party's poor track record, the leaders urged Maoists to come up with a clear-cut policy on the press.

Nepali Congress youth leader Gagan thapa said press freedom is not a thing to be curtailed by other issues. He demanded that Maoists make public their official position on press freedom.

UML senior leader Pradeep Gyawali expressed concern over the series of attacks on the press.

Leader of Janashakti Party, Prakash Chandra Lohani said all sections of society should raise their voice against the series of attacks on press freedom.

Editor of Himal Southasian, Kanakmani Dixit stressed the need for tolerance.

"The media sometimes may bring even unpopular opinions to the market, which may take time to prove true," Kantipur quoted him as saying.

Earlier this month, the Maoist affiliated All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers'' Union had attacked the staff of the Himalmedia, inflicting injuries to the journalists and vandalising the office. (ANI)

New York, Jan 8 (ANI): MTV has placed an ad looking for women who are not happy with their twin assets.

The ad featuring in Backstage is seeking "real women" for an upcoming documentary called "True Life: I Don't Like My Breasts." We are not looking for girls who just want to get boob jobs . . . mainly we are looking for girls who seek nonsurgical solutions," The New York Post quoted the ad as stating.

The ad further read: "Whether it's your breasts' size, shape, deformation, etc. - if you feel like your breasts are keeping you from having the life you want . . . then we want to hear from you." (ANI)