Flamboyant Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh, who retired last year, is eyeing a stint in the Big Bash League and Cricket Australia is trying to help him find a team, a media report has said.
No Indian player has ever featured in the BBL as the country’s cricket board (BCCI) doesn’t allow active players to take part in overseas league.
The 38-year-old Yuvraj had retired from international and domestic cricket last year, clearing the decks to ply his trade in foreign leagues across the globe.
According to a report in ‘Sydney Morning Herald’, Yuvraj’s manager Jason Warne of W Sports & Media has confirmed that Cricket Australia was trying to find a franchise that would be interested in the former Indian all-rounder.
“We’re working with CA to try to find him a home,” Warne said on Monday.
Yuvraj, the 2011 World Cup player of the tournament, last played for India in 2017.
The left-handed batsman has scored 8701 runs in 304 ODIs, besides taking 111 wickets for India. He has also played 40 Tests and 58 T20Is for the country.
However, as per the report, “interest in Yuvraj from BBL clubs had been modest to date.”
Australian Cricketers’ Association president Shane Watson, who plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, feels inclusion of Indian players to BBL would be “incredible”.
“It would be incredible for them to be able to play in these tournaments. That is the ideal situation. There are so many world-class T20 players in India that aren’t playing for India that could be potentially available to play in the Big Bash and other tournaments around the world,” Watson said.
“If that’s able to happen, that would make a massive difference.
Wildfires have burned a record 2 million acres in California this year, and the danger for more destruction is so high the US Forest Service announced on Monday that it was closing all eight national forests in the southern half of the state.
After a typically dry summer, California is parched heading into fall and what normally is the most dangerous time for wildfires. Two of the three largest fires in state history are burning in the San Francisco Bay Area.
More than 14,000 firefighters are battling those fires and dozens of others more around California.
A three-day heat wave brought triple-digit temperatures to much of the state during Labour Day weekend. But right behind it was a weather system with dry winds that could fan fires. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, was preparing to cut power to 158,000 customers in 21 counties in the northern half of the state to reduce the possibility its lines and other equipment could spark new fires.
Randy Moore, regional forester for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region that covers California, announced the national forest closures and said the decision would be re-evaluated daily. Campgrounds at all national forests in the state also were closed.
The wildfire situation throughout California is dangerous and must be taken seriously.” Moore said. Existing fires are displaying extreme fire behavior, new fire starts are likely, weather conditions are worsening, and we simply do not have enough resources to fully fight and contain every fire.”
Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said it’s unnerving” to have reached a record for acreage burned when September and October usually are the worst for fires because vegetation has dried out and high winds are more common.
The previous high was 1.96 million acres burned in 2018. Cal Fire began tracking the numbers in 1987.
While the two mammoth Bay Area fires were largely contained after burning for three weeks, firefighters struggled to corral several other major blazes ahead of the expected winds. Evacuation orders were expanded to more mountain communities on Monday as the largest blaze, the Creek Fire, churned through the Sierra National Forest in Central California.
It was one of many recent major fires that has displayed terrifyingly swift movement. The fire moved 15 miles (24 kilometres) in a single day and burned 56 square miles (145.04 square kilometres).
Debra Rios wasn’t home when the order came to evacuate her hometown of Auberry, just northeast of Fresno. Sheriff’s deputies went to her ranch property to pick up her 92-year-old mother, Shirley MacLean. They reunited at an evacuation centre.
I hope like heck the fire doesn’t reach my little ranch, Rios said. It’s not looking good right now. It’s an awfully big fire. Mountain roads saw a steady stream of cars and trucks leaving the community of about 2,300 on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters working in steep terrain saved the tiny town of Shaver Lake from flames that roared down hillsides toward a marina. About 30 houses were destroyed in the remote hamlet of Big Creek, resident Toby Wait said.
The Creek Fire had charred more than 114 square miles (295 square kilometers) of timber after breaking out Friday. The nearly 1,000 firefighters on the scene had yet to get any containment. The cause had not been determined.
On Saturday, National Guard rescuers in two military helicopters airlifted 214 people to safety after flames trapped them in a wooded camping area near Mammoth Pool Reservoir. Two people were seriously injured and were among 12 hospitalised.
On Monday night, a military helicopter landed near Lake Edison to rescue people trapped by the Creek Fire, the Fresno Fire Department said on Twitter.
Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Rosamond, the pilot of a Chinook helicopter, said visibility was poor and winds increasingly strong during the three flights he made into the fire zone. His crew relied on night-vision goggles to search for a landing spot near a boat launch where flames came within 50 feet of the aircraft.
The injured, along with women and children, took priority on the first airlift, which filled both helicopters to capacity, he said.
Record-breaking temperatures were driving the highest power use of the year, and transmission losses because of wildfires have cut into supplies. Throughout the holiday weekend, the California Independent System Operator that manages the state’s power grid warned of outages if residents didn’t reduce their electricity usage. But none had occurred by late Monday afternoon.
In Southern California, crews scrambled to douse several fires that roared to life in searing temperatures, including one that closed mountain roads in Angeles National Forest and forced the evacuation of the historic Mount Wilson Observatory.
Cal Fire said a blaze in San Bernardino County called the El Dorado Fire started Saturday morning and was caused by a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender.
In eastern San Diego County, a fire destroyed at least 10 structures after burning 16 square miles (41.44 square kilometres) and prompting evacuations near the remote community of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest.
California has seen 900 wildfires since August 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes in mid-August. There have been eight fire deaths and more than 3,300 structures destroyed.
Marking the sixth anniversary of the ‘Jan Dhan’ scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the initiative has been a “game-changer” and served as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives.
After he led the BJP to power in 2014, this was one of his government’s first major projects under which bank accounts of crores of people, mostly poor, were opened.
“Today, six years ago, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched with an ambitious aim of banking the unbanked. This initiative has been a game-changer, serving as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives, benefitting crores of people,” the prime minister tweeted.
“Thanks to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the future of several families has become secure. A high proportion of beneficiaries are from rural areas and are women. I also applaud all those who have worked tirelessly to make PM-JDY a success. #6Years Of JanDhan Yojana,” he added.
The graphics shared by him showed that more than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened so far with more than 63 per cent of the beneficiaries belonging to rural areas. Over 55 per cent of them are women.
The government has said that it has been able to directly transfer welfare benefits to the needy due to the scheme.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
Comedian Kapil Sharma is back with The Kapil Sharma Show post the lockdown but the host says he misses recording the episodes of the show without the live audience.
The production on the show, a comedy chat show with celebrity guests, had come to a halt due to the coronavirus-led lockdown in March with the producers making do by airing old episodes.
The team, including Sharma, Bharti Singh, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda and Sumona Chakravarti, resumed shooting amid strict safety guidelines from July 18 and the show went on air from August 1 on Sony Entertainment Television.
Sharma, who calls his show a “congregation of likeminded artists”, said the new format does not have a live audience due to the safety concerns.
They have replaced the live audience with the cutouts of people behind the show’s permanent guest, Archana Puran Singh.
“We are not shooting with live audience, that’s something we all miss. However, Archana ji makes up for it she and her laughter are equal to 100 people on set,” Sharma told PTI in an email interview.
Given the rising number of COVID-19 cases, there was some apprehension about resuming production but they decided to begin work cautiously, he said.
“With the kind of news coming in and the information available, one does feel apprehensive. I am no different. We are taking all preventive measures in our capacity while shooting. Personally, we are all very careful and conscious. Our show gives us an opportunity to make people smile during these grim times. So, it’s worth it.”
The 39-year-old comedian-actor said there are challenges while shooting especially with a limited number of crew as the responsibilities double up.
“It has been our conscious effort to bring laughter into people’s lives. We get so many messages and posts from people saying if they were stressed, watching the show helped them overcome certain situations…
Comedy has that effect on people. After a long and tiresome day, all one wants is to forget about whatever has happened, even though it’s for a little while. Maybe we help people relax, and to me, that’s the least that we can do,” Sharma said.
The first guest on the show post the lockdown was actor Sonu Sood, who has been hailed for his work in helping migrants reach their homes in these tough times.
“Sonu paaji is a very nice human being. He has done such commendable work and tirelessly worked towards uplifting people’s lives. This is the kind of positivity we all need to see and experience in such challenging times. He is an inspiration to many, and it was an honour to host him,” he said.
Worli Charity Commissioner’s Office Serial Part 1
Mumbai Correspondent / Editor-in-Chief Anil Mahajan
The Office of the Charity Commissioner is an important place for the common man. This office registers all the temples, trusts, societies, institutions, circles and many more in the state. Lawsuits against all these registered institutions are also conducted here. However, the picture is getting better in the office of the Charity Commissioner at Worli. On the contrary, we can see the plight of the citizens here. The team of Garja Maharashtra News Channel personally visited the office and inspected the picture.
The office of the Charity Commissioner at Worli is functioning smoothly. As per the rules, this office should have a total of 13 Assistant Charity Commissioners and 1 Deputy Commissioner Charity Officer. However, at present only 3 Assistant Charity Commissioner officers are working here. Insufficient manpower in the office, so it has become a habit to delay the work of the citizens. Not only that, instead of working on quality, there are ways of working in the office with interest in mind. Doubts like that? Creating. There have been several complaints from RTI activists. However, no action is taken on the complaints. All the mismanagement is on.
When the team of Garja Maharashtra Vahini reached the Worli Charity Office, it was seen that the work of many citizens was stalled. Citizens’ work is not done on time. Citizens have to stay here for a day, even if it is a simple task like registering an organization.
When the representative of Garja Maharashtra Vahini contacted the office superintendent Seema Gadgil about the mismanagement in the Charity Commissionerate, he refrained from speaking and said that the senior officers would not give a byte. Various types of scams run in the Charity Commissionerate will be carried out in various programs in the next part of Maharashtra. Relevant officials will also be informed about the incidents in the office.
Meanwhile, information on various issues related to property, including the office at Palghar, will be disseminated to the public. The formal complaint will be lodged with the Principal Secretary, Lawn Judicial Ministry, Mumbai. Also, there is a demand from the public for a relevant inquiry at the senior level
Actor-filmmaker Ben Affleck is set to direct a movie that will explore the making of Roman Polanski’s crime classic “Chinatown”.
The film, set up at Paramount, is based on author Sam Wasson’s book “The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood”, which was published in February this year, reported Variety.
The non-fiction book tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1974 film, starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
“Chinatown” followed a private detective (Nicholson) who is hired by a woman (Dunaway) to expose her cheating husband, only the investigation throws the PI into a proverbial web of deceit.
Cinema aficionados still remember the movie for its twist ending, which had quite the impact on audiences at the time.
Affleck, 47, will also produce the movie along with Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels.
The actor will next star in psychological thriller “Deep Water” and Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel”.PTI
Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will be sworn in as the country’s new prime minister for the fourth time at a historic Buddhist temple on Sunday, consolidating the hard-line political dynasty’s grip on power.
The 74-year-old Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) leader, who polled over 500,000 individual preference votes — the highest ever recorded by a candidate in the history of elections — will take the oath of office for the ninth Parliament at the sacred Rajamaha Viharaya in Kelaniya, a north Colombo suburb, according to an official statement.
The SLPP, led by Mahinda, registered a landslide victory in the general election, securing two-thirds majority in Parliament needed to amend the Constitution to further consolidate the powerful Rajapaksa family’s grip on power.
It won in 145 constituencies, bagging a total of 150 seats with its allies, a two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament. It polled 6.8 million votes (59.9 per cent).
The Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn-in on Monday, followed by the swearing-in of the state and deputy ministers, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
The new government has decided to restrict the size of the Cabinet to 26, though it can be increased up to 30 in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
The Rajapaksa family — including SLPP founder and its National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa, who is the younger brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with the eldest being Mahinda — has dominated Sri Lankan politics for two decades. Mahinda previously served as the president for nearly a decade from 2005 to 2015.
President Gotabaya had won the November presidential election on the SLPP ticket.
In the parliamentary election, he was seeking 150 seats mandatory to execute constitutional changes, including to repeal the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which had curbed the presidential powers while strengthening the role of Parliament.
Reacting on the prospects of amending the Constitution, SLPP Chairman G L Peiris on Friday said it would only be carried out after much thought and consideration.
Clearly, some amendments are required. It cannot continue in this manner when it comes to governing the country, he told reporters.
After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected, the 19A Amendment prevented him from dissolving Parliament to make way for a government which could support his programme of work while former opposition MPs urged that the dissolved Parliament be re-convened, he said.
From the results of the general election, it is evident that the government, people needed after the new President was elected, was quite different to that of the previous Parliament.
These things should be changed. If needed, the new government has the power to amend the Constitution, Peiris said.
When asked whether the Independent Commissions would be abolished, he said there was no such need.
“The intention of the Independent Commissions is to maintain apolitical institutions with appointments made by the Constitutional Council which should also be independent. Anyone can see that these purposes had not been served. To achieve these targets, some reforms are necessary, Peiris added.
Activists, already alarmed by the diminishing space for dissent and criticism in the island nation, fear such a move could lead to authoritarianism.
The biggest casualty from the election outcome was the United National Party (UNP) of former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe which managed to win only one seat. The country’s grand old party failed to win a single seat from any of the 22 districts.
Its leader and four-time prime minister was unseated for the first time since he entered Parliament in 1977.PTI
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday defended the use of the Rapid Antigen tests for diagnosis of COVID-19 in the national capital, saying the false reading rate for it is almost the same as that of the-PCR.
Sisodia said the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), over which the experts have expressed reservations due to high false negative rate, has its own merits, one of which is giving immediate results that can help in early isolation of a patient to contain the spread of the virus.
“I don’t think there is a problem with antigen tests. The false reading rate for antigen is almost same as that of-PCR which is around 30 per cent,” Sisodia told PTI in an interview.
He was responding to a question on why the Delhi government was not increasing the PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) — a laboratory technique widely used in the diagnosis of genetic diseases as well to measure gene expression in research and considered more reliable due to its sensitivity and — despite the High Court’s observations in this regard.
Delhi started ramping up coronavirus tests since June 18, especially after RAT was introduced. The increased number of tests proved to be an important pillar, according to experts, in containing the spread of the virus in the city where fresh infections per day had touched nearly 4,000 in June.
However, the bulk of the daily tests continue to be RAT.
Till July 30, more than 10.13 lakh tests were conducted in the national capital, according to the health bulletin of which some five lakh were conducted alone in that month.
Of the five lakh tests in July, 3.82 lakh tests were RAT while the rest were mostly PCR.
Last month, when Delhi’s case tally started showing a decline, several experts lauded the role of increased testing in curbing it. However, they expressed reservations about the reliance on RAT.
In virologist Shahid Jameel’s view, rapid antigen tests don’t have the same accuracy as-PCR tests.
“Delhi has almost completely switched to antigen based tests. A very large amount of tests are antigen tests and they have sensitivity of 50-60 per cent. It is possible that the reduced numbers (of cases) are because of the low sensitivity of the antigen test,” Jameel, CEO of the Welcome Trust/ DBT India Alliance, had told PTI last month.
Referring to lab sensitivity, he said the nasal swab, for instance, has to be put deep into the nasal cavity and maybe not everyone is trained adequately.
“It is not that PCR does not have false negative. Antigen test has its merits.- PCR test results come in two days and by then already many people are infected from the individual concerned. However, antigen test has immediate results which is effective in controlling its further spread,” Sisodia said.
On July 27, the Delhi High Court had asked the AAP government why it was going with RAT, which has a high rate of false negative results, as the primary test of COVID-19 infection.
The high court was also of the view that in light of the sero survey report and the high rate of false negatives of RAT,-PCR tests, whose numbers were plummeting, should be ramped up.
On August 4, the Delhi High Court also disapproved of the AAP government’s “resistance” to monitor its COVID-19 testing strategy, saying the administration appears to have developed “cold feet” as it was questioning maintainability of a plea for augmenting of testing numbers in the national capital on “technical” grounds.
However, in the instant matter, the focus of the court has been on ramping up testing in Delhi not just through RAT, but also through-PCR, CB-NAAT and TrueNat, it said.
Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT) is a recently introduced polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based method for detection of TB.
TrueNat is an indigenously developed portable version of CBNAAT and was also meant for detecting tuberculosis (TB).PTI
Adani Power on Thursday said its consolidated net loss widened to Rs 682.46 crore in the June quarter, mainly due to lower revenues on account of low power demand during the lockdown.
The company had posted a net loss of Rs 263.39 crore for the same period last year.
The total income of the company in the quarter declined to Rs 5,356.19 crore, from Rs 8,014.50 crore in the year-ago period, Adani Power said in a BSE filing.
The company’s consolidated net loss was Rs 2,274.77 crore for 2019-20, while total income stood at Rs 27,841.81 crore in the fiscal.
Average plant load factor (PLF or capacity utilisation) achieved during the first quarter of FY21 was 51 per cent, as compared to 78 per cent in Q1 FY20.
The PLF is lower due to the decline in power demand following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19, it said.
Consolidated units (of power) sold for the quarter stood at 12.7 BU (billion units), as compared to 16.5 BU in the same quarter previous fiscal.
Despite the lockdown, 3,300 MW Tiroda plant witnessed a good demand for power for the major part of the quarter.
Kawai plant (1,320 MW) also saw improved PLF in June 2020, after the lockdown was relaxed and power demand started to normalise.
However, it said, the Udupi plant witnessed a sharp fall in PLF due to a slump in power demand.
Mundra plant’s PLF was also affected by lower power demand and subdued short-term market tariffs.
On the other hand, all power plants were able to achieve or exceed normative availability under long-term PPAs (power purchase agreements) through diligent efforts, despite restrictions imposed during the lockdown, in fulfilment of their role as providers of the essential service of electricity generation, the company said.
“Adani Power continues to march ahead towards achievement of its vision to play an important role in fulfilling India’s growing demand for electricity. The Adani Group has a strong belief in India’s economic fundamentals and potential, and the role of the infrastructure sector in attaining long term growth.
“Achieving the Government’s ambitious targets for the infrastructure sector will call for a confluence of enabling policy actions, procedural reforms, and support from the financial sector, in order to reinvigorate investments by the private sector. We remain committed to sustainable growth and being an active contributor to nation building,” Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group, said.
As the firm continues to seize opportunities for value creation in a challenging market and a fast-changing competitive landscape, it is focusing on operational excellence and sustainability while taking long-term decisions to enhance strategic capability and resource flexibility, Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Adani Power, said in the statement.
“Having combated and overcome the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our resolve is to excel in all spheres of our activity and to meet the aspiration of millions of Indians who don’t have access to affordable power, has only become firmer,” he said.PTI
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