Harry Potter's Not Opening, and They're Not Over It

Joal Ryan

Los Angeles (E! Online) – The fan petitions are still growing. The movie is still not coming out.

Friday was supposed to be the day Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened. Instead, over the summer, Warner Bros. rescheduled the franchise's latest adventure for next July, a move that caused a fan upset that hasn't entirely settled.

"I think most fans are disappointed more than angry, and definitely skeptical of the real motive behind the delay," said Sara Greer, editor of the Harry Potter fan site MuggleNet.

A fan identifying herself as Jen Stewart said in an email she felt the studio was "pandering" when it pointed out the reschedule, attributed, in part, to fallout from the writers' strike, meant a shorter wait between Half-Blood Prince and the first part of the two-part finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

"I don't know about everyone but I am still just as upset as I was over the summer," Stewart said.

Interestingly, the recent release of the new Half-Blood Prince trailer doesn't seem to have appeased the most seriously aggrieved. Dozens and dozens of new names are still being added to one popular online petition that's more sounding board, than call to action.

"Ahhh. I can't wait until next year! I want it this year," one signer wrote Thursday.

The post's emoticon tag—:(—left no doubt as to how bad the signer wanted it.

Greer even compared the new trailer to a "bit of torture."

"The new trailer was a treat, sure, it just made a lot of us more impatient to see the film," she said in an email. "Especially since all the Twilight fans will get their fangirl on instead!"

Ah, yes, Twilight…

In one more painful twist, the Half-Blood Prince trailer is attached to prints of Twilight, the based-on-a-best-seller movie that is opening Friday because Half-Blood Prince isn't. (Originally, Twilight was going to hit theaters in December.)

"A former MuggleNet editor commented she was probably going to see Twilight just for the new trailer in all its big screen glory," Greer said. "I think I'll just reread the books and wait for summer."

At least her emoticon tag—;)—was upbeat.

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Pakistan v West Indies, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi

'This win is a big boost' - Malik

Pakistan's 3-0 whitewash of West Indies in Abu Dhabi has primed them for the upcoming series against India, their captain Shoaib Malik has said. Younis Khan hit 101 and Rao Ifthikar Anjum took 4-59 in Pakistan's 31-run win in the last game, a win which Malik praised as a solid team effort.

"Before the start of this series, I had asked the players to play to potential and show commitment," Malik said. "They have done that quite well and I am pleased they have given their best here.

"In the second match, our total was small but we knew that they heavily depend on Chris Gayle. We planned to get Gayle out early and did it. We also did well in saving boundaries as planned. We have not played international cricket in a long time, but that hasn't deterred us. This win is a big boost to our confidence ahead of the series against India."

Pakistan have been starved of international cricket this year with several teams refusing to tour the country due to security reasons. India are scheduled to play three Tests and five ODIs in Pakistan in January and February next year. There are doubts over the tour due to security worries, but Malik was hopeful of a tough series.

"The way India are playing we would need to be at our best and do extra work to beat them," Malik said.

Younis, Man of the Match after his hundred, said India could be beaten. "This is pretty much the same team we played and beat last year. The only difference is they have an aggressive captain in [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni. But Dhoni has been very lucky as his changes and decisions have all paid off. His real test will come when luck deserts him."

© Cricinfo

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Mystery solved: How bleach kills germs

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Bleach has been killing germs for more than 200 years but U.S. scientists have just figured out how the cleaner does its dirty work.

It seems that hypochlorous acid, the active ingredient in bleach, attacks proteins in bacteria, causing them to clump up much like an egg that has been boiled, a team at the University of Michigan reported in the journal Cell on Thursday.

The discovery, which may better explain how humans fight off infections, came quite by accident.

"As so often happens in science, we did not set out to address this question," Ursula Jakob, who led the team, said in a statement.

The researchers had been studying a bacterial protein called heat shock protein 33, which is a kind of molecular chaperon that becomes active when cells are in distress, for example from the high temperature of a fever.

In this case, the source of the distress was hypochlorous acid or hypochlorite.

Jakob's team figured out that bleach and high temperatures have very similar effects on proteins.

When they exposed the bacteria to bleach, the heat shock protein became active in an attempt to protect other proteins in the bacteria from losing their chemical structure, forming clumps that would eventually die off.

"Many of the proteins that hypochlorite attacks are essential for bacterial growth, so inactivating those proteins likely kills the bacteria," Marianne Ilbert, a postdoctoral fellow in Jakob's lab, said in a statement.

The researchers said the human immune system produces hypochlorous acid in response to infection but the substance does not kill only the bacterial invaders. It kills human cells too, which may explain how tissue is destroyed in chronic inflammation.

"Hypochlorous acid is an important part of host defense," Jakob said. "It's not just something we use on our countertops."

(Editing by Maggie Fox and John O'Callaghan)

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Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan Won a battle out of the shell in the 2nd ODI against West Indies.

Unlike the first one-dayer, which was full of manic fireworks, the second one was more of a slow-burning scrap. Like the first one-dayer, Pakistan were second-best at the halfway stage but came out on top in a tight finish, this win sealing the series. Like in the first one-dayer, there was a dogged century from a senior West Indies batsman - Shivnarine Chanderpaul this time - but there wasn't enough support for him from the rest.

Sohail Tanvir's menacing opening spell helped Pakistan fight back after a disciplined West Indies bowling had kept them down to a less-than-average total. He was the star performer but each member of the Pakistan attack played his part: Umar Gul hounded the batsmen with a mix of bouncers and yorkers, Iftikhar Anjum kept probing away just outside off stump and was unlucky to not get more than one wicket, Shahid Afridi provided the crucial breakthrough by removing Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Saeed Ajmal confounded West Indies with his doosras.

Pakistan 232 (Misbah 52, Taylor 3-38, Powell 3-50) beat West Indies 208 (Chanderpaul 107*, Gul 3-44 ) by 24 runs

Pakistan has won the 3 Match ODI series.

Pakistan v West Indies, 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi

Akmal and Malik script a thriller

The Bulletin by Jamie Alter

49.5 overs Pakistan 295 for 6 (Manzoor 69, Malik 66, Younis 56) beat West Indies 294 for 9 (Gayle 113, Sarwan 55, Tanvir 3-42) by four wickets

Those who say 50-overs cricket has lost its ticker needed to look no further than the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi for a humdinger. In a throwback to the days of Sharjah classics, Pakistan overcame a sluggish start and a middle-order wobble to sneak the most thrilling of last-over wins over West Indies. Khurram Manzoor and Younis Khan helped Pakistan overcome a jittery start and gather some steam, but it was Shoaib Malik's whirlwind 66 and a stunning last-over assault from Kamran Akmal that pulled the carpet from beneath West Indies' feet.

After winning the toss and batting, West Indies settled for an below-par 294, which owed plenty to Chris Gayle's glorious 113, his 17th one-day hundred and second on the trot after an unbeaten 110 against Canada in August. Just 96 runs were scored since Gayle departed in the 35th over, and only 71 in the last ten overs, credit to Pakistan for sticking to their guns on a hard pitch. Ultimately, that made a big difference.

The last 15 minutes of the match were nerve-wracking. Akmal amazingly swept the last ball of the 48th off, by Jerome Taylor, for six, but a miserly penultimate over from Gayle seemed to have sealed it West Indies' way. Fawad Alam failed to put away a full toss, Gayle bowled Akmal with a no-ball, and Akmal then survived a stumping appeal. The over cost only six runs.

Needing 17 from the last over, Akmal slashed the third and fourth deliveries for six, backing away, to cue hysteria in the ground. A scampered two became three with an overthrow, and Alam clipped the fifth delivery of the final over for a single to seal victory. Akmal's 24 from nine balls, however, was the clincher.

When Pakistan struggled initially under lights in the first 15 overs, this was hard to envision. In the absence of any fluency from Salman Butt, it was left to Manzoor to keep the score ticking over. Manzoor played himself, reaching his second half-century in two ODIs played for Pakistan, one full of punchy back-foot play. Younis Khan, Pakistan's most experienced batsman after Mohammad Yousuf joined the ICL, hit consecutive boundaries in the 23rd over - one driven off the back foot, the other lapped very fine -to up the rate.

Taylor was brought back in the 28th over to do a job, and he succeeded. Taylor dropped short, Manzoor tried to run it fine, and Carlton Baugh held on to the thin outside edge (142 for 2). Younis swept his way to half-century from 50 balls, but the pressure told on Misbah-ul-Haq, way too early into a reverse-sweep against Nikita Miller's left-arm spin.

As per the new rules, the batting side can choose one Powerplay and Pakistan left the third one until the 38th over. It was a critical phase and Pakistan lost two wickets for 38. Unable to pierce the field like Malik, Younis slogged Baker into the starry night while Shahid Afridi pulled Baker to a tumbling Shivnarine Chanderpaul at deep midwicket. Malik made sure to hit the ball as straight as possible and went past 50 from 36 balls, but when Pakistan needed 33 from 18 balls, he pulled Taylor to midwicket.

Akmal's heroics, though, spoiled what should have been Gayle's party. The venue changed from Antigua to Abu Dhabi, the format from Twenty20 to 50-overs, but what did Gayle care? After five overs West Indies were 11 for 0; that's when Gayle moved up a gear, stepping outside the line of a delivery from Abdur Rauf and swinging it over midwicket for six.

Rauf, who opened the attack in the absence of an injured Shoaib Akhtar, was then taken for 17 in one over. A whip over mid-on was followed by a flick off the pads. Then Rauf pitched outside off stump and craned his neck as Gayle biffed him over his head. Shoaib Malik removed third man and Gayle smartly steered the ball past the wicketkeeper. Having hit a 33-ball half-century in the Stanford 20/20 for 20 earlier this month, Gayle enjoyed his first trip to Abu Dhabi. Sohail Tanvir was cracked past point and West Indies' fifty was up in the tenth over with consecutive pulled sixes in Umar Gul's first over. In five overs, 48 had been scored, and Gayle's half-century needed 36 balls.

Sewnarine Chattergoon contributed 33 to an opening stand of 125, the sixth-best for West Indies against Pakistan, content to play second fiddle before an attempted heave against the turn went to mid-on. Ramnaresh Sarwan partnered Gayle past his century - in a 73-run stand - and watched him get out for 113 after a series of attacking shots, the last of which went straight to midwicket (198 for 2) in an over in which he had been dropped by Gul. Sarwan used his wrists well and leapt on to anything short, hitting five boundaries before he tickled Afridi down the pads in the 38th over. But Gul came back well to take 3 for 66 and Tanvir took two in two balls during the last over as West Indies failed to build on Gayle's innings.

A cricket-starved Pakistan came to Abu Dhabi wanting to win. They've certainly started well.

Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo

© Cricinfo

Link : http://content-pak.cricinfo.com/pakvwi/content/story/377968.html