Former Australia coach Buchanan will be on the opposite side this summer

Prospective England coach John Buchanan has been sacked by Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders.

Buchanan is due to take up a short-term role with the England and Wales Cricket Board later this month, working with the under-19 and England Lions teams.

But he has been sacked by the Riders after the team finished at the bottom of this year’s IPL competition, losing 10 of 14 matches in South Africa.

“He has not achieved everything that he set out to,” said part-owner Jay Mehta.

“Buchanan had a vision for Knight Riders. Unfortunately, it has not brought the results that are so necessary to this franchise.”

Former Australia coach Buchanan’s theoretical coaching style and innovations, such as using multiple captains during a match, brought some criticism during the IPL this year, including from former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

Ganguly was Kolkata’s captain in 2008, but was replaced by New Zealander Brendon McCullum this year. McCullum led the team throughout this year’s IPL and the multiple captaincy experiment seemed to have been abandoned.

And Buchanan has also been criticised by legendary Aussie spinner Shane Warne, saying his decision to work with England ahead of the Ashes is “a great move because that means we (Australia) have got more of a chance.

“Hopefully he will be doing his stuff and overcomplicating things.”

Buchanan coached Australia for eight years, overseeing Australia winning a world record 16 consecutive Tests and claiming the 2003 and 2007 ODI World Cups.

The cartoon Green Dam Girl has been used to mock the filtering plan.

Protests have forced China to clarify whether net-filtering software has to be used on every new PC.

From July, every PC sold in China was supposed to be supplied with the Green Dam Youth Escort software.

The software was created to stop people looking at “offensive” content such as pornographic or violent websites.

But widespread disapproval inside China, legal challenges and overseas criticism have forced the Chinese government to clarify its policy.

“The use of this software is not compulsory,” an official with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) told the AP news wire.

The state agency that created Green Dam has said it was possible to uninstall the program. But it was unclear whether those that did so would face prosecution.

In its ruling this week, China said anyone removing or refusing to use it would not face official sanctions.

Green Dam busters

The change comes thanks to growing criticism from Chinese people about Green Dam. A legal challenge has been filed to MIIT demanding a public debate on the legitimacy of making computer firms put the software on PCs.

Petitions calling for Green Dam to be scrapped have circulated widely and analysis shows that it does a piecemeal job of stopping pornographic sites and inadvertently blocks sites dealing with sexual health issues.

A website set up to challenge Green Dam has gathered tens of thousands of comments from those who say the filtering system is crude and blocks many legitimate sites.

The China Daily newspaper, which typically backs the government, has written stories critical of the filtering policy and reported that many PC makers were refusing to install it.

Some critics have drawn a manga-style cartoon of Green Dam Girl to mock the software’s aims.

China has the largest net-using population in the world and many have turned to the web to publicise issues such as corruption that would otherwise go unreported.

Tests carried out on Green Dam outside China also showed that it left PCs open to many different security risks.

Analysis by Scott Wolchok, Randy Yao, and J. Alex Halderman at the University of Michigan found weaknesses in the URL, text and image filtering system and vulnerabilities in the software that makes machines susceptible to being hijacked.

“Green Dam makes frequent use of unsafe and outdated programming practices that likely introduce numerous other vulnerabilities,” they wrote in a paper placed online.

Despite the bright outlook, many migrant workers do not have jobs

The World Bank has raised its forecast for growth in China this year from 6.5% to 7.2% amid signs that the economy is doing better than expected.

Bank analysts say the government’s four trillion yuan ($585bn, £358bn) stimulus package has helped the economy.

But it says the country’s exports are still down, as the rest of the world struggles with the global recession.

The World Bank believes the global economy, excluding China, will shrink by about 3% this year.

“Developments in the real economy [in China] have been somewhat better than expected three months ago,” says a report published by the bank.

‘No meaningful increase’

It predicted in March that the Chinese economy would grow by 6.5% in 2009, several percentage points down on last year’s growth.

But the government stimulus package, and increased bank lending, has protected the economy from the worst effects of the global recession, leading the bank to raise its growth forecast.

“Growth in China should remain respectable this year and next, although it is too early to say a robust, sustained recovery is on the way,” said Ardo Hansson, the bank’s leading economist in China.

But it is not all good news. China’s export sector has been one of the hardest hit parts of the economy and has still not recovered.

This has led to millions of migrant workers - farmers who leave their villages to find work in China’s factories - losing their jobs.

“We have not had a meaningful increase in exports since last year’s plunge,” said World Bank economist Louis Kuijis, speaking at a press briefing to launch the bank’s latest China predictions.

Some migrant workers who lost their jobs late last year told the BBC they had still not been able to find new jobs.

Patrick Farrow won several awards for his sculptures

The artist brother of actress Mia Farrow killed himself by a single gunshot wound to the head, according to police in the US.

Patrick Farrow “sadly chose to take his own life”, said a family statement issued by the star’s spokeswoman.

The 66-year-old’s body was found in his Vermont studio on Monday night, and his death was initially thought suspicious.

But police later said a medical examiner’s finding of suicide matched evidence that was found at the scene.

Mia Farrow’s manager added that the actress’s family is “grieving the tragic loss of their beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle.

“They greatly appreciate the support of their friends during this difficult time.”

Mr Farrow was a noted sculptor and had received several national awards for his art.

He owned and operated the Farrow Gallery, close to the state border with New York, with his wife and fellow artist, Susan.

Mia Farrow’s screen credits include Rosemary’s Baby and Hannah and Her Sisters, directed by her former partner Woody Allen.

Brown could face a four-year jail term if convicted

The California Supreme Court has refused a request to delay the preliminary hearing in R&B singer Chris Brown’s assault case.

The 19-year-old’s lawyer requested the delay last week to gain access to police records. An appeals court had already rejected a similar request.

The singer is due in court on 22 June for the hearing.

Brown has pleaded not guilty to assaulting and threatening his singer girlfriend Rihanna in February.

The preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Barbados-born singer Rihanna, 21, has been requested to appear as a witness. It is thought she is likely to testify in the case.

Brown faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the charges.

The singer is best known in the UK for the top 10 hits Run It, Forever and his duet with Jordin Sparks, No Air.

A passenger who was flying to Sicily noticed the island was not on the map

Italian airline Alitalia has apologised after its in-flight magazine printed a map leaving off the Mediterranean island of Sicily.

The magazine’s editor blamed the error on a printing mistake, and pledged not to let it happen again.

A passenger told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that she noticed Sicily was missing - while she was on a flight to the island.

Tourist chiefs say the damage to Sicily’s image is serious.

Smaller islands, such as Sardinia, were in the right place on the map.

Alitalia was re-launched earlier this year under private ownership.

It had been a state-run company for more than 60 years before going bankrupt.

One Italian Senator, Riccardo Villari, said it was unfortunate the big advertising campaign surrounding the re-launch had been followed by “unpleasant” errors.

The magazine editor, Aldo Canale, said: “We have run lots of editions on the beauty of Sicily and we would never dream of eliminating it from maps of Italy.”

Alex Clay says he realised he had no choice but to let go

An American window cleaner who fell from the outside of a building six floors up has survived the “surreal” tumble with minor injuries.

Alex Clay, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, told the BBC he was forced to hold on with bare hands after colleagues had trouble connecting his harness.

But as they tried to repair the line Mr Clay said he became overcome with tiredness and was forced to let go.

A safety line failed, but his fall was broken before he hit the pavement.

An overhanging roof on the first floor broke his fall, and he hit the cement roof before he bounced onto the pavement.

Mother’s concern

“It doesn’t make much sense, but it was very slow - it was very very dream like,” Mr Clay told the BBC World Service.

“It all just felt very surreal. It was very, very dream-like.”

The problem started when Mr Clay noticed his harness was not properly connected to the cleaning rig.

His partner and another window cleaner tried to reconnect the harness correctly, but while they were doing it Mr Clay, who was holding on with his bare hands, said he started to slip.

“I was so tired, I started slipping and my hands were sweaty and my arms were sweaty,” he explained.

“[My co-workers] tried to pull me up but I knew that they weren’t going to be able to, I just knew so I had to make a really hard decision, I just had to drop and see what happened with the safety line that was connected to my back.”

And drop he did.

Mr Clay said he had expected his safety line to engage shortly afterwards, but nothing happened.

It was only then that he began to fear for his life.

“I started thinking about my family and my friends, and just thought to myself: well, is this going to be the end? And if it’s not, what kind of state am I going to be in for the rest of my life?”

Almost unbelievably, Mr Clay’s only injuries are a shattered bone in his left foot and a cut on his leg.

The 21-year-old window cleaner had only been in the job for four months before the accident.

But despite his relative health, his prospects for a swift return to window cleaning appear bleak, he says: his mother is unlikely to let him go back to his high flying job.

A lot on your plate: both bowls contain 525 calories but the spaghetti bolognese on the left is padded out with vegetables and will keep you fuller for longer

It may not be a licence for a liquid lunch exactly, but consuming foods high in water could be the key to losing weight, nutritionists say.

Dishes with a high water content, including pasta and rice - which absorb liquid - as well as soups and stews, appear to keep you feeling fuller for longer.

But don’t be fooled into thinking you can simply down a glass of water with your lunch. Studies suggest the liquid has to be a key component of the meal you are eating, scientists from the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) say.

At the same time padding out these meals with vegetables - which are high in both water and fibre - will mean you can eat more while in fact consuming the same amount of calories. And you shouldn’t feel peckish an hour later.

So be liberal while using the grater over your spaghetti bolognese, as long as its carrots you’re sprinkling.

Do the maths

ENERGY DENSITY CALORIES PER GRAM Cucumber: 0.10 Vegetable soup: 0.52 Baked beans: 0.81 Boiled egg: 1.47 Strawberries and cream: 1.6 Lasagne: 1.9 Croissant: 3.7 Peanuts: 6.0

You may need a calculator.

The BNF’s advice is to use foods low in energy density to make up the bulk of your diet. These are foods lower than 1.5 calories per gram and include baked beans, boiled eggs, or vegetable stir-fry with noodles.

You can work this out by dividing the number of calories by the weight of your food. So your 180g sandwich with 360 calories has 2 calories per gram.

As such it falls into the category of medium energy density foods, which also include lasagne, pizza steak and salmon. “You need to control the portion sizes of these foods and eat them alongside lots of lower energy density foods,” says Bridget Benelam, a nutrition scientist at the BNF.

Anyone for afters - these puddings both contain 215 calories

Meanwhile foods high in energy density such as crackers, biscuits, crisps, peanuts and chocolate should, perhaps unsurprisingly, be eaten in very small quantities.

However even when it comes to puddings, there’s room to fill up.

Instead of a couple of pieces of chocolate, try a chocolate mousse, the BNF suggests.

And while you could go for a small bowl of strawberries and cream, go for mixed berries with low fat yogurt, crunchy oat cereal and honey.

Feeling full

The suggestion that foods high in water keep us feeling fuller for longer is increasingly substantiated by research.

The idea is that the combination of food blended with water empties more slowly from the stomach than solid food on its own with a glass of water to wash it down.

Pumping food with air may also increase feelings of being full.

Catherine Collins, a spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, said “feeding yourself fuller” was an interesting concept.

“We are getting to a point now where people realise that more fruit and vegetables are the way to go and more luxurious foods should be saved for indulgence.

“But people still need to take in all the major groups - and starchy foods, meat and fish have to play a role.

“Salmon for instance is an important source of healthy fats.

“However, it’s good advice to pad out your meals with foods lower in energy.

“When you look down at dinner time, vegetables should be taking up a lot of room.”

South Africa’s government has been urged to solve the rape epidemic

One in four men in South Africa may have raped someone - with most of those attacking more than one victim, data from a new survey suggests.

The study, by the country’s Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time while in their teens.

It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.

The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.

The study found that 73% of respondents said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.

Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.

One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.

Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, told the BBC’s World Today programme the findings were “very shocking”.

“The absolute imperative is we have to change the underlying social attitudes that in a way have created a norm that coercing women into sex is on some level acceptable,” she said.

“We know that we have a higher prevalence of rape in South Africa than there is in other countries.

“And it’s partly rooted in our incredibly disturbed past and the way that South African men over the centuries have been socialised into forms of masculinity that are predicated on the idea of being strong and tough and the use of force to assert dominance and control over women, as well as other men.”

She said all the victims in the main survey were women, but the participants were also interviewed about male rape.

The survey found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.

Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.

South Africa’s government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country’s rape epidemic.

Before his election as South Africa’s president, self-proclaimed polygamist Jacob Zuma stood trial for the rape of an HIV-positive family friend. He was acquitted.