This Walter Reed controversy lives on, two days after Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez declined to join their teammates in a visit to the military hospital. This is actually a fascinating event, and it has blown up because it touches on so many hot issues related to sports and the Mets.

Looking at all the implications, it is clear why we’re still talking about this. It’s amazing how much there is to unpack from one little missed bus. You have.

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Ijaz butt adds a lot to the mockery of Pakistan cricket. Pakistan cricket has never been in so many controversies, as it has been in Ijaz Butt’s tenure. It has been a string of failures. The PCB chairman, Ijaz Butt, is living in the world of bureaucracy, nepotism and egoism. He still feels that he is breathing fresh air, in the world of Stone Age. He will easily change any statement he made, and will say that it has been misinterpreted by the media. Ijaz butt said, “Pakistan’s domestic teams will not be taking part in the champions league T20. Our players will not play the IPL.” Afterwards, he said, “I didn’t say this. I would want my domestic teams to play in the champions league T20. It has been the media, who has interpreted my statements.

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The menace of match fixing and the alleged influence of bookies have not spared other teams besides Pakistan. Sri Lankan team players were also approached by the illegal bookies more than once over the last year. The news was revealed by source close to Srilankan team. The source, however, denied involvement of any specific player in the issue. According to the source, team members immediately informed the management about suspicious characters trying to interact with them. The Sri-Lankan team management immediately reported the matter to the ACSU.

The anti-corruption unit formulated an investigation team headed by Alan Peacock, senior investigator ACSU. Alan Peacock recorded statements from the players, who had complained about the issue. The incident with Sri Lankan team players occurred in 2009, during the Twenty20 world cup in England. The bookies and their links made several attempts to convince different team members of Sri-Lanka for fixing matches. Team players were offered huge amount in return for a favourable response.

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Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif have been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following last week’s allegations in the News of the World newspaper.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s high commissioner to Britain, has been one of the trio’s most vocal supporters. On Friday, he accused the ICC of trying to “play to the public gallery” with the suspension, adding they had “no business” to impose it.

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The Legislature has until the end of the month to pass or reject several key health bills, making this week a turning point for some reforms related to the new federal health law. Among the measures heading for a final floor vote are bills that would regulate health insurance rates and set up an "exchange" through which consumers would buy insurance under the federal law. The legislative session is set to end Aug. 31, so lawmakers must act on the pending legislation, or the bills will die.

"I've not seen a year with such a combination of significant health care legislation that could be potentially passed and signed," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide consumer and labor advocacy coalition.

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Ace Indian shuttler and brand ambassador of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Saina Nehwal on Saturday evening regretted for describing preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2010 “not being up to the mark in comparison to the games held in Melobourne and Beijing on previous occasions.”

Talking to mediapersons in Hyderbad in the evening, Saina said: “I am one of the good sports persons of the country and I want to do well in front of my home crowd and I am very proud that the Commonwealth Games are being held in India.

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Gambling controversies have cast a shadow over cricket for many years, with the 1990s seeing several proven cases of match fixing crop up, while countless other rumours surfaced without being proven. The problem seemed to have halted after the International Cricket Council set up an Anti Corruption and Security Unit in 2000. But, with the emergence of spread betting, the issue seems to have reared its ugly head again.

Here Press Association Sport looks at some previous high-profile examples:

Mark Waugh/Shane Warne

Waugh and Warne were questioned after being given money by 'John the bookmaker' for information on pitch and weather conditions. The players received fines from the Australian Cricket Board after an independent enquiry by Rob O'Regan QC concluded the duo were not fully informed of the dangers of interacting with bookmakers. They were warned that future misdemeanours could result in bans.

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Controversies In The Indian Premier League: Lalit Modi vs. N Srinivasan, Round 2: Season three of the Indian Premier League was concluded some months back, but its controversies still haunt many in the Indian cricket fraternity. Allegations and counter allegations are on the rise. Corruption charges are rampant and every day some new accusations surface in the media. The recent allegations by the former IPL’s chairman Lalit Modi against Secretary N Srinivasan fuelled the already controversy strife IPL management. In the blame game between Lalit Modi and the senior officials of IPL, BCCI had a dominant role to play. In this controversy of a serious nature, the BCCI has now supported Secretary N Srinivasan against Lalit Modi. BCCI repudiated Lalit Modi’s accusation against Srinivasan. The allegations leveled by Lalit Modi involved senior officials of IPL for fixing the 2009 players’ auction. BCCI President Shashank Manohar regarded the allegations as baseless and false lies. He rebuffed the former Chairman for accusations against the Secretary. The BCCI president offered his comments after the working committee meeting. It is pertinent to mention that Secretary IPL Srinivasan owned the Chennai Super Kings.

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With controversy deepening over alleged corruption in Commonwealth Games projects, the Congress on Wednesday virtually backtracked from its remarks giving a clean chit to two Union Ministers and the Delhi Chief Minister, and distancing itself from IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi.

“We have neither given any clean chit nor any unclean chit to anybody. We are neither holding any brief for anybody nor indicting anybody,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said at the AICC briefing.

Mr. Tewari’s comments were significant as they were at variance with those of his colleague Shakeel Ahmed, who had told the party briefing on Tuesday that.

The integrity of two Union ministers M.S. Gill and S. Jaipal Reddy, who are looking after Games-related works, is “beyond any doubt”, while that of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit “is also of very impeccable integrity”.

He had also said Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi is not there as a party representative but as the Chairman of the Indian Olympic Association.

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Those who follow beauty pageants have witnessed a remarkable number of controversies in recent years, some of them political. In general, the increase in the level of controversy probably reflects the growing interest in pageantry around the world.

This year's Miss Universe contest will take place on August 23. Whereas in recent years the big international pageants have been staged in exotic locations.

This year's Miss Universe will be at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Which means, I guess, that it is not too late to get tickets if you are so inclined. The first controversy of the season has already erupted; it is in the entertaining rather than political category.

Australians are up in arms because the "national costume" their contestant, Jesinta Campbell, will be required to wear is a "travesty:" An outlandish outfit designed to represent Australia at the Miss Universe beauty contest has been branded "a national joke" and "a travesty".

The costume, which will be worn by Jesinta Campbell at the competition in Las Vegas next month, features high-heeled Ugg boots, a brown one piece swimming costume hand-painted by.

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