3rd Test, Day 1 Live: India Eye Win And WTC Final Berth Against Australia

IND vs AUS, 3rd Test Day 1 Live Updates: India will take on Australia in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Wednesday at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. Leading 2-0 in a four-match series, Team India  will now be playing for a record-extending 16th straight series win at home and a guaranteed spot in the World Test Championship final in June. In the absence of pacer and skipper Pat Cummins, Australia will be led by Steve Smith. (LIVE SCORECARD)

Here are the Live Updates of Day 1 of the 3rd Test between India and Australia from the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore

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"It's My Girlfriend": Peru Man Found With 800-Year-Old Mummy In Bag

Police in Peru have seized a mummified human, between 600 and 800 years old, from a former food delivery man who claimed to have had it at his home for three decades.  

The mummy was in the isothermal bag the man had once used to deliver food to people's homes.  

The man, 26-year-old Julio Cesar Bermejo, will remain in detention while investigators look into the case, a government official told AFP on Tuesday.  

Bermejo told local media the mummy, who he called "Juanita," was "like my spiritual girlfriend."   

"At home, she's in my room, she sleeps with me. I take care of her," he said in a video that went viral on social media.   

Bermejo said his father brought the mummy home almost 30 years ago.   

According to the Ministry of Culture, the pre-Hispanic relic was a "mummified adult male individual, presumably from the eastern area of Puno", a region in the Peruvian Andes some 1,300 kilometers (more than 800 miles) southeast of Lima.    

"It's not a Juanita, it's a Juan," a specialist at the ministry affirmed, adding the mummy was of a man at least 45 years old.   

The body was wrapped in bandages in the fetal position.   

Police found the remains in Bermejo's bag on Saturday while patrolling a park in the city of Puno, where he had been hanging out with friends.   

He denied he was trying to sell the mummy and said he was carrying it around because "my friends wanted to see it."   

The culture ministry said it had taken possession of the mummified remains "with the aim of protecting and preserving this heritage."   

Peru is rich in archaeological sites and objects. Its most visited tourist destination is the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, built in the 15th century near Cusco.   

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Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia

The K-pop superstars are among major acts that have returned as pandemic restrictions ease.

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West Indies Fight Back After Aiden Markram Century For South Africa

Aiden Markram hit a century on his return to Test cricket but the West Indies mounted a strong fightback on the first day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Tuesday. Markram made 115 in a South Africa total of 314 for eight. Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph spearheaded the West Indian bowling attack, taking three for 60. South Africa looked set to take full control when they reached 221 for one after new captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and decided to bat.

But they lost seven more wickets before the close while adding another 93 runs, with the West Indian bowlers finding swing, lateral movement and more consistency with the old ball.

An opening partnership of 141 between Markram and former captain Dean Elgar (71) was followed by a stand of 80 between Markram and new cap Tony de Zorzi. The left-handed De Zorzi was looking comfortable before he was run out for 28. 

De Zorzi punched a ball from Joseph through the covers and completed a confortable two runs.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul made a good sliding stop and De Zorzi was sent back after setting off for an unlikely third. 

Chanderpaul's throw was off target but wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva cleverly flicked the ball into the stumps.

Bavuma, on his first appearance as South Africa's first Black African captain, was leg before wicket for nought to a full ball from Joseph two balls later and Joseph struck again when he yorked Markram.

Markram was dropped last year after a poor run of form in which he went 15 innings without a half-century, with only two scores above 30. He had not made a hundred since scoring 108 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in February 2021.

After a watchful start, he was soon into his stride, hitting 18 fours in a 174-ball innings, studded by his trademark cover drives and powerful pull shots.

Elgar, who was stripped of the captaincy after South Africa were heavily beaten on tours of England and Australia, made 71 off 118 balls.

Two of Elgar's 11 fours were ramp shots over the slips but in trying to hit a third boundary in that fashion he fell to a leaping catch by Jermaine Blackwood at third man off Joseph.

Blackwood earlier put down a sharp chance at third slip off Kyle Mayers when he was on 10.

The South African team showed five changes from the side that played in the third Test of a losing series in Australia in January with De Zorzi and fast bowler Gerald Coetzee both handed their first caps.

The West Indies made one change from the side that beat Zimbabwe by an innings and four runs in Bulawayo earlier this month.

Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, who took 13 wickets in the win in Bulawayo, had a back injury and was replaced by fast bowler Kemar Roach.

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Imran Khan Gets Non-Bailable Arrest Warrant Over Gifts Case

A Pakistani court on Tuesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case but he was granted bail in three other cases, amid high drama outside the court premises where thousands of his supporters converged to support their leader.

Mr Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief, travelled from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore to Islamabad, his first appearance here in the federal capital after being shot at a public rally in November last year.

The four cases include prohibited funding at a banking court located at the judicial complex, a terrorism case at the anti-terrorism court in the same complex.

The third was related to the Toshakhana, which was scheduled at the sessions court in F-8 Kachehri, situated half-an-hour drive from the judicial complex.

The fourth case was an attempted to murder case at the same sessions court.

Additional sessions judge Zafar Iqbal issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the 70-year-old former prime minister in the Toshakhana case.

The court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Imran Khan and adjourned the hearing till March 7 for his repeated failure to appear before the court.

His indictment, in this case, was earlier postponed twice due to his failure to appear in court.

Khan has been in the crosshairs for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.

The former cricketer-turned-politician was, however, granted bail in all the other three cases, even as thousands of his supporters thronged the judicial complex here in his support, prompting security officials to beef up security.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in October last year filed a case in an Islamabad-based banking court against Khan and other PTI leaders over allegedly receiving prohibited funding.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last year found the party guilty of concealing that it had received the money and also disqualified Khan.

The prohibited funding case was filed by estranged PTI founding member Akbar S Babar in the ECP in 2014.

Khan has not attended any hearings since November last year when he was injured in an assassination attempt at his rally in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province.

He has since received extensions on his bail due to medical reasons.

Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.

The PTI chief, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

Since his ouster, Khan has been clamouring for immediate elections to oust what he termed was an "imported government" led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Sharif has maintained that elections will be held later this year once the parliament completes its five-year tenure.

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Wave Of Poison Attacks On Hundreds Of Schoolgirls Alarms Iranians

Hundreds of Iranian girls in different schools have suffered "mild poison" attacks over recent months, the health minister said, with some politicians suggesting they could have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls' education.

The attacks come at a critical time for Iran's clerical rulers, who faced months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young Iranian woman in the custody of the morality police who enforce strict dress codes.

The poison attacks at more than 30 schools in at least four cities started in November in Iran's Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom, prompting some parents to take their children out of school, state media reported.

Social media posts showed some hospitalised schoolgirls, who said they had felt nauseous and suffered heart palpitations.

More than 300 school girls in Iran were intentionally poisoned with organophosphate chemical as an revenge who protested against forced hijab and also with a motive to stop them from going to schools .Nothing scares the Islamic regime more than a liberated woman.#WomanLifeFreedom pic.twitter.com/03OgIZwuiz

— Doctor Thalamus (@Neurochauhan) February 28, 2023

"Investigating where this mild poison comes from ... and whether it is an intentional move are not within the scope of my ministry," Health Minister Bahram Einollahi was quoted as saying by state media.

His deputy, Younes Panahi, said on Sunday "it was found that some people wanted schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed", according to IRNA state news agency.

One boys' school has been targeted in the city of Boroujerd, state media reported.

Lawmaker Alireza Monadi said the existence of "the devil's will" to stop girls from going to school was a "serious threat", according to IRNA.

He did not elaborate, but suspicions have fallen on hardline groups that operate as the self-declared guardians of their interpretation of Islam.

In 2014, people took to the streets of the city of Isfahan after a wave of acid attacks, which appeared to be aimed at terrorising women who violated the country's strict Islamic dress code.

"If operatives of the acid attacks had been identified and punished then, today a group of reactionaries would not have ganged up on our innocent girls in the schools," reformist politician Azar Mansoori tweeted.

Several senior clerics, lawmakers and politicians have criticised the government for failing to end the poison attacks and giving contradicting reasons for them, with some warning that frustration among families could ignite further protests.

"Officials are giving contradictory statements ... one says it is intentional, another says it is security-linked and another official blames it on schools' heating systems," state media quoted senior cleric Mohammad Javad Tabatabai-Borujerdi as saying.

"Such statements increase people's mistrust (towards the establishment)."

A judicial probe into the poisoning cases is under way, state media reported.

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YouTube Down For Thousands Of Users: Report

Alphabet Inc's YouTube was down for thousands of users on Monday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

Downdetector, which showed there were more than 8,000 incidents of people reporting issues with YouTube, tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform.

YouTube did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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"COVID-19 Likely Came From Chinese Lab": Nikki Haley

US Republican Party Presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday said that COVID likely came from a Chinese lab and asked to cut US aid to China.

"COVID-19 likely came from a Chinese lab. Cut US aid. Not a cent to Communist China," Haley tweeted on Tuesday.

Haley recently said that if voted to power, she will cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate the US. This includes China, Pakistan and other adversaries as "a strong America doesn't pay off the bad guys".

"I will cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us. A strong America doesn't pay off the bad guys. A proud America doesn't waste our people's hard-earned money. And the only leaders who deserve our trust are those who stand up to our enemies and stand beside our friends," Haley, the Former Governor of South Carolina and former US ambassador to the UN, wrote in an op-ed for New York Post.

According to Haley, America spent USD 46 billion on foreign aid last year. That's more than any other country by far. Taxpayers deserve to know where that money is going and what it's doing. They will be shocked to find that much of it goes to fund anti-American countries and causes.

Grand Old Party (GOP) leader Haley formally launched her 2024 campaign for the White House on February 15 (local time), pitching herself to voters as part of a "new generation" of Republican leaders who can win at the ballot box.

Haley is now the first Indian American woman from the Republican Party to run for the presidential bid. As the former governor of South Carolina and US ambassador to the United Nations, took the stage, Haley introduced herself as the proud daughter of Indian immigrants pitching a new future for the Republican party.

Haley in the Op-ed, while citing examples said that the US has given Iran more than USD 2 billion over the last few years, even though its government is getting closer to the murderous thugs in Iran who shout "Death to America!" and launch attacks on our troops.

"The Biden administration resumed military aid to Pakistan, though it's home to at least a dozen terrorist organizations and its government is deeply in hock to China. Team Biden restored half a billion dollars to a corrupt United Nations agency that's supposed to help the Palestinian people but in fact covers for deeply anti-Semitic propaganda against our ally Israel," she said.

The US has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Zimbabwe, a country with one of the most anti-American voting records in the UN.

American taxpayers still give money to Communist China for ridiculous environmental programs, despite the obvious threat China poses to Americans. We give money to Belarus, which is Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's closest ally. We even give money to Communist Cuba -- a country our own government has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, Haley stated in her Op-ed for the New York Post.

Earlier this month, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said that the organization will continue pushing until it finds an answer to how the Covid-19 pandemic started, following a report suggesting it had abandoned the search.

"We need to continue to push until we get the answer," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, referring to the search for the origins of the virus that first began spreading in China in late 2019.

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After US, Canada Bans TikTok On Government Devices Over Data Concerns

The Canadian government on Monday banned TikTok from all of its phones and other devices, citing concerns about data protection.

TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is Chinese, has faced increasing Western scrutiny in recent months over fears about how much access Beijing has to user data.

Effective Tuesday, "the TikTok application will be removed from government-issued mobile devices. Users of these devices will also be blocked from downloading the application in the future," the government said in a statement.

It added that Canada's chief information officer had "determined that it presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security."

Although there's been no evidence of breaches of government data linked to the app, it warned that "TikTok's data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone."

The European Commission banned the app from its equipment last week, following similar moves in the United States.

A TikTok spokesperson said the Canadian decision to block TikTok was "curious" as it was taken "without citing any specific security concern" or consultation with the company.

Relations between China and Canada have deteriorated sharply in recent years, particularly after Canada's arrest on a US warrant of a Huawei senior executive in 2018 and China's retaliatory detention of two Canadian nationals.

Last week, Canada's privacy commissioner launched an investigation into TikTok over its collection and use of users' personal information.

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Musk's Plan For A Cheap Tesla Car Is What Fans Hope To Hear This Week

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has for years teased the world with his dream of an affordable electric car. This week, fans hope, he will explain what he has in mind - and perhaps how he can afford to build it.

Mr Musk said last year he shelved the plan for a $25,000 car, known as Model 2, and he hasn't mastered the new battery technology that he has stated would be crucial to the cheap cars.

Expanding into the mass market is critical to meeting Tesla's goal to increase vehicle deliveries 15-fold - to 20 million - by 2030. Tesla cut prices in recent months to boost sales, which were pressured by a weak economy and growing competition.

Its shares are up about 60% year to date but are still at half their November 2021 peak.

The low-priced car is expected to be the centerpiece of Musk's 'Master Plan Part Three', which he will offer at an 'Investor Day' on Wednesday, along with plans for factory expansion and capital spending.

Whatever he says about timelines, though, investors will be wary, since he has missed his most prominent deadlines while building the world's most valuable car company.

"The formula for decoding Musk is pretty simple. Take whatever time frame he has, and multiply it by two," said Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Deepwater Asset Management, which owns Tesla shares.

He expects the new car platform to be rolled out in 2025 at the earliest, which would still be years faster than the typical auto industry development of a new vehicle.

Tesla did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

IT'S ALL ABOUT BATTERIES

Clues offered by Mr Musk about the Model 2 leave much to the imagination. Making a compelling $25,000 electric vehicle "has always been our dream from the beginning of the company," he said at a presentation about batteries in 2020.

Last year, Mr Musk announced a plan to roll out a robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals by 2024, though it was not clear if it was the same inexpensive car.

A recent Tesla engineering video showed a small car with typical Tesla curves that was assumed by company watchers to be a Model 2 sketch.

Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid said Tesla might announce a cheaper car with short driving range for the Chinese market, but a long-range, affordable car that would appeal in the U.S. market will probably take some time due to slow ramp up of its own batteries.

Mr Musk said last year in a podcast about minerals, titled 'Getting Stoned', that the new master plan, building on earlier ones for vehicle launches and developing solar and energy storage businesses, is about how to "scale" and get all the materials needed to make batteries for vehicles and energy storage systems.

The fundamental determinant "of the rate at which we can transition to sustainability is the rate at which we can grow the output of lithium ion batteries," he said in the interview.

Although there is some sign sky-high lithium prices may be easing, Mr Musk has said lithium costs could force Tesla to make its own supply of the electric vehicle battery metal.

Battery production also is an issue.

Mr Musk in 2020 forecast his company in 2022 would produce 100 gigawatts of newer generation, lower cost batteries, enough to power about 1.3 million Tesla Model Ys, but the December production rate of the batteries, called 4680s, was enough for just over 50,000 vehicles a year.

Mr Musk has also said Tesla will continue to use battery suppliers to scale up fast. Tesla counts Panasonic, CATL, LG Energy Solution and BYD as cell suppliers.

Batteries are also likely to figure in Mr Musk's plans for a "fully sustainable energy future" outside the car.

He may also discuss solar power generation and battery energy storage - which he has said are two other pillars to a sustainable energy future.

Investors will look out for any hints of demand, plans to ramp up production of the Cybertruck, which Mr Musk said will start volume production next year, and locations of new Tesla factories, with Mexico, Canada, Indonesia and South Korea all cited as potential candidates.

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New Zealand vs England, 2nd Test, Day 5, Live Score Updates

New Zealand vs England, 2nd Test Day 5 Live Updates: England will begin the final Day of the second Test against New Zealand at 48/1 with the visitors needing 210 runs more to win. Ben Duckett (23*) and Ollie Robinson (1*) are standing unbeaten at the crease. Earlier, Record-breaker Kane Williamson stroked a superb century Monday to steer New Zealand to 483 all out in their second innings and set England a target of 258 runs to win the second Test in Wellington. Former captain Williamson hit 132 and Tom Blundell was last man out for 90 as the hosts fought back after being asked to follow on. (LIVE SCORECARD)

Here are the LIVE Updates of Day 5 of the 2nd Test Match between New Zealand and England straight from Basin Reserve, Wellington

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Bunkers Built 70 Years Ago Proving Lifeline In Devastated Ukraine Village

For a Ukrainian village devastated by war, Cold War bunkers built to withstand a nuclear attack that never happened have proven a lifeline for residents who have spent much of the past year living in them.

Luch, a southern village, about 40 km (25 miles) northwest of Kherson, was hammered by Russian fire almost from the start of the war when it ended up close to the frontlines.

There, Svitlana Gynzhul is one of five people who reside in a concrete-and-turf bunker, accessed via a door on the side of a grassy mound that leads to a steep, dingy staircase underground.

Starting in March and through the autumn, she used the village's strategic location to organize spying on Russian troop movements when soldiers were as close as 2 km away.

Some younger villagers mounted a cell communications tower on the village's outskirts to train their binoculars on the Russians from a high vantage point. Gynzhul said she passed the reports to Ukrainian armed forces. Reuters could not independently verify her account.

Now she cares for the few neighbors who have remained in Luch.

The need to take shelter in a bunker built 70 years ago for a different threat underlines the desperate measures many Ukrainians have employed in the last year to stay alive.

In April, with their village caught between Russian and Ukrainian forces, Gynzhul, her husband Dmytro and their son moved into a warehouse basement, just before their second-storey apartment was shelled.

Then in August, they moved into one of Luch's two abandoned Soviet-era nuclear bomb shelters, built in the 1950s for soldiers who at the time trained in Luch.

The heavy metal doors, bunk beds and gas masks had long been stolen.

"Nobody thought it would be useful," said Gynzhul, 55.

Her group has made it their refuge, outlasting the Russian army's occupation of parts of Kherson region. Ukrainian soldiers pushed the Russians south away from Luch last autumn and by early November had recaptured Kherson city.

By that time, Luch was devastated and most homes destroyed, with roofs caved in, windows missing and rocket holes punched into walls.

UNDERGROUND

The village, population 935 before the invasion, is now home to around 50 people. Up to 30 of them live underground in Luch's two nuclear shelters and a basement.

Gynzhul and the others in her bunker live off humanitarian aid and her 4,000 hryvnia ($109) per month salary from her administrative job in the village.

After the Russians retreated, the bunker's residents found an electrician to connect it to power lines. A wood stove heats the two-room bunker, furnished with a double bed and three single beds lined side-by-side.

A generator allows them to pump water. Rugs on the floor and colorful blankets pinned to the walls add comforting touches.

War has exacted a heavy price for some survivors.

Bunker resident Iryna Sichkar said her son was captured early in the war in Mariupol. She does not know if he is alive.

"I only pray my son will come home," she said, in tears.

A Russian strike killed two people in Luch and wounded eight, including Gynzhul, when shrapnel passed through her foot.

Her son is now preparing for deployment to Bakhmut, scene of some of the war's bloodiest battles.

Some families didn't feel safe underground, where shelling sent vibrations through the bunker.

Irina and Viktor Okhnal lived there from March until April, when they left with their two children to live with her parents in Chernivtsi region 800 km northwest of Luch.

The couple and son Slavik, 6, returned to Luch in November, where they are back among friends. Slavik is the only child left in the village

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Adam Lambert: 'I didn't think I'd have a shot'

The star says the music industry has changed dramatically since he was "outed" while on American Idol.

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Czech Foreign Minister, Delegation Arrive In India For 3-Day Visit

Czech Republic Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky on Sunday arrived in India for a three-day official visit which is supposed to provide further momentum to India-Czech Republic bilateral relations.

"Welcoming the Czech Foreign Minister @JanLipavsky as he arrives in India on a 3-day official visit. This visit will provide further momentum to India's bilateral relations with the Czech Republic," MEA official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted on Sunday.

Jan Lipavsky is visiting India from February 26 to March 1.

A Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release said that Lipavsky will during his India visit, attend the inaugural session of the India-EU Business and Sustainability Conclave on February 28.

During his visit to India, Jan Lipavsky will be accompanied by Czech Republic's Members of the Parliament, the Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation and a high-level official and business delegation, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a recent release. Lipavsky will also hold a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The two leaders are expected to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues.

"During the visit, Foreign Minister Lipavsky will hold bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar where the two leaders are expected to discuss the entire range of bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest," read the MEA release.

It further read, "Foreign Minister Lipavsky will also be attending the inaugural session of the India-EU Business and Sustainability Conclave organized by CII on 28 February 2023. He will then travel to Mumbai on the same day and will depart on 01 March 2023 from Mumbai."

The visit of Lipavsky to India follows EAM S Jaishankar's visit to the Czech Republic in June 2022 where the two held delegation-level talks. In January this year, the two leaders held a meeting in Vienna during Mr Jaishankar's visit to Austria.

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Elon Musk Accuses Media Of Racism After Newspapers Drop 'Dilbert' Cartoon

Billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday accused the media of being racist against whites and Asians after US newspapers dropped a white comic strip author who made derogatory comments about Black Americans.

The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and USA Today were among newspapers that canceled the cartoon "Dilbert" after its creator Scott Adams said Black Americans were a hate group and posted racist comments on his YouTube channel on Wednesday.

In replies to tweets about the controversy, the Tesla and Twitter chief executive said the media had long been racist against non-white people but are now "racist against whites & Asians."

"Maybe they can try not being racist," Musk tweeted.

In response to an account that said white victims of police violence get a fraction of media coverage compared to Black victims, Musk said the coverage is "Very disproportionate to promote a false narrative."

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk's views on social issues have been increasingly under the microscope since he took over Twitter in October.

He has sparred with civil rights groups over Twitter's level of protection against hateful content and the reinstatement of some accounts that previously had been suspended. Some advertisers have left the platform over concerns about brand safety, and Twitter has rolled out some new controls for ad placement.

Musk's latest tweets come after the Dilbert creator suggested white Americans "get the hell away from Black people". Adams, the cartoonist, was responding to a poll by the conservative Rasmussen Reports that said 26% of Black respondents said they disagreed with the statement "It's OK to be white."

The move to drop the cartoon was "not a difficult decision", the Plain Dealer newspaper in Ohio told its readers on Friday.

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SpaceX Crew To Take Off For International Space Station On Monday

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is to blast off early Monday for the International Space Station carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the second Emirati to voyage to space.

The SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission is set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:45 am (0645 GMT). Weather conditions are expected to be near perfect.

The Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Endeavour, is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 2:38 am (0738 GMT) on Tuesday if all goes as planned.

NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia's Andrey Fedyaev and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates are to spend six months on the orbiting space station.

Neyadi, 41, will be the fourth astronaut from an Arab country and the second from the oil-rich United Arab Emirates to journey to space; his countryman Hazzaa al-Mansoori flew an eight-day mission in 2019.

Neyadi described the upcoming mission as a "great honor."

Hoburg, the Endeavour pilot, and Fedyaev, the Russian mission specialist, will also be making their first space flights.

Fedyaev is the second Russian cosmonaut to fly to the ISS aboard a SpaceX rocket. NASA astronauts fly regularly to the station on Russian Soyuz capsules.

Space has remained a rare venue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the Russian offensive in Ukraine placed the two capitals in sharp opposition.

Such exchanges have continued despite those tensions.

Bowen, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, said politics rarely come up while in space.

"We're all professionals. We keep focused on the mission itself," the mission commander said. "It's always been a great relationship we've had with cosmonauts once we get to space."

While aboard the ISS, the Crew-6 members will conduct dozens of experiments including studying how materials burn in microgravity and researching heart, brain and cartilage functions.

The current crew is the sixth to be transported by a SpaceX rocket to the ISS. The Endeavour capsule has flown into space three times.

NASA pays the private SpaceX company to ferry astronauts to the flying laboratory roughly every six months.

The space agency expects Crew-6 to have a handover of several days with the four members of the SpaceX Dragon Crew-5, who have been stationed on the ISS since October. Crew-5 will then return to Earth.

Rescue Capsule

Also currently aboard the ISS are Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio.

They had been scheduled to return home on March 28 but the cooling system of their Soyuz MS-22 capsule was damaged by a tiny meteoroid in mid-December while docked with the ISS.

An uncrewed Russian Soyuz capsule, MS-23, took off on Friday from Kazakhstan to bring the three astronauts home. They are now scheduled to return to Earth in September.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following the Cold War space race.

Russia has been using the ageing but reliable Soyuz capsules to ferry astronauts into space since the 1960s.

But in recent years, Russia's space program has been beset by a litany of problems that have led to the loss of satellites and vehicles.

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Olaf Scholz Asks More Indian Techies To Consider Working In Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, wrapping up a two-day visit to India, urged the country's IT specialists and other skilled workers to consider working in Germany.

Looking for ways to tackle labor shortages in Europe's largest economy, Scholz said his coalition government was planning to reduce immigration hurdles and introduce a point-based system that would grant visas even to specialists who don't yet have a firm job offer in hand.

He offered no specifics on how many workers Germany hopes to attract from India.

"I am quite sure that many will want to take advantage of the opportunities to work as skilled workers in Germany," Scholz told reporters during a visit at software company SAP Labs India in Bangalore, where he held a roundtable discussion with workers.

"We need this in all areas of employment, but of course especially when it comes to skills such as those we have seen today in the area of software and IT development," Scholz said.

The German leader's trip to India was aimed at deepening economic ties as well as discussing Russia's war in Ukraine with PM Modi, who'll host the next leaders summit of the Group of 20 nations in September.

Scholz, who traveled with a large business delegation, said Saturday he would personally make an effort to advance talks between the EU and India for a trade and investment agreement.

PM Modi and the German chancellor also discussed closer defense cooperation, including a possible joint venture to build six submarines in India to help the Asian nation modernize its maritime forces.

#Indien ist eine Hightech-Nation, mit enormer Kompetenz in der Digitalisierung. Das hat mich beeindruckt, etwa bei SAP in Bengaluru, der zweiten Station meiner Indien-Reise. Als starkes und offenes Land kann DEU vom Austausch - insbesondere auch von Fachkraften - sehr profitieren pic.twitter.com/BRlhu58OxF

-- Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) February 26, 2023

During his meeting with workers at the SAP Labs, Scholz said he was "determined" to reduce bureaucratic hurdles to immigration for skilled workers, and "make it easier to come to Germany as a specialist, including with your own family."

Scholz said he wants to "establish a new system that allows people to apply for a visa to Germany who still have not signed a specific job contract, but who come with a lot of talent and skills, and then find a job in Germany."

The coalition government is putting the finishing touches on a draft law to ease immigration barriers, Scholz said. The new system is planned to work on a points basis, comparable to those in countries such as Canada.

A command of the German language would be an advantage, he added.

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"Greatest Team Ever": Australia's 6th T20 WC Triumph Sends Floors Fans

Australia added a new feather to their cap on Sunday as the Meg Lanning-side lifted their sixth Women's T20 World Cup title after defeating South Africa in the summit clash on Sunday. This was Australia's third title on the trot and Meg Lanning's fifth ICC trophy as a captain. Opting to bat first, Australia posted a total of 156/6 in 20 overs after Beth Mooney plays an unbeaten knock of 74 off 53 balls. Later, South Africa fell short of 19 runs despite a powerful knock of 61 off 48 balls by Laura Wolvaardt. As Australia created a new record in Cape Town, fans took to Twitter to congratulate the team on their spectacular win.

6th Title it is for the Aussies in #T20WorldCup

Their dominance is unmatched!

SA did put up a fight #AUSvsSA #T20WorldCup2023 pic.twitter.com/agCckayv4T

— Shreyas Srinivasan (@ShreyasS_) February 26, 2023

I am proud to be a fan of the most dominant Sports Team in the World @AusWomenCricket #AUSvsSA #T20WorldCup #T20WorldCup2023 pic.twitter.com/am3YQkknpb

— Cricket Fan in Toronto (@HabsFanInTO) February 26, 2023

Aus womens team when it comes to winning World cups #AUSvsSA pic.twitter.com/sDfmk0s5x2

— ً (@SarcasticCowboy) February 26, 2023

Meg Lanning Now has 5 ICC Trophies as a Captain#ICCWomensT20WorldCup #SAvAUS #AUSvsSA pic.twitter.com/VOct1M2me4

— Pandu Raj (@CricketPanduRaj) February 26, 2023

Australia won their 6th Women's T20 World Cup.

The greatest team ever.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 26, 2023

Coming to the match, riding on Beth Mooney's unbeaten 74 off 53 balls, Australia first posted a competitive 156 for 6 and then restricted the home team to 137 for 6.

Mooney's knock proved to be the deciding factor as she single-handedly carried the Australian innings with nine boundaries and one hit over the fence.

Chasing, opener Laura Wolvaardt (61 off 48 balls) played a valiant lone hand while wickets kept tumbling at the other end for the hosts.

Wolvaardt hit five boundaries and three huge sixes during her knock. 

(With PTI Inputs)

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Five key takeaways from the Berlin Film Festival

The Berlinale is showcasing films on violence, sexual freedom, and unconventional love.

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6.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Papua New Guinea

An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale hit Kandrian, Papua New Guinea on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania.

The earthquake occurred at 21:24:48 (UTC 05:30) and hit Kandrian, Papua New Guinea on Saturday, at a depth of 38.2 km, the USGS informed.

The earthquake's epicentre was 6.111°S and 149.793°E, respectively.

No casualties have been reported yet. Further details awaited.

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Thousands Protest In Berlin Over Arming Ukraine Against Russia

A demonstration against supplying Ukraine with weapons for war with Russia attracted 10,000 people on Saturday, drawing criticism from top German government officials and a large police presence to maintain order.

Organised by a prominent left-wing German politician, the protest comes a day after the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which drew promises of more weapons from western allies, fresh sanctions against Russia and shows of support for Kyiv across the globe.

"We call on the German chancellor to stop the escalation of arms deliveries. Now!...Because every day lost costs up to 1,000 more lives - and brings us closer to a 3rd world war," the protest's organizers said on their website.

The "Uprising for Peace" was organised in part by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of Germany's left-wing Die Linke party.

Germany, along with the United States, has been one of the biggest suppliers of weapons for Ukraine.

"Negotiate, not escalate" one sign held by a demonstrator said, while a banner in the crowd read "Not our war".

A police spokesperson said 10,000 people gathered around Germany's symbolic Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin.

Police mobilised 1,400 officials to keep the peace and to enforce bans on military uniforms, Russian and Soviet flags, Russian military songs and right-wing symbols.

The police spokesperson said there was no sign of right-wing groups attending and that the protest, which German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said must be "clearly opposed", was peaceful.

"Whoever does not stand by Ukraine is on the wrong side of history," Lindner said on Twitter.

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Pakistan's Weekly Inflation Crosses 40 Percent For 1st Time In 5 Months

Consumer prices rose significantly in the outgoing week on the back of onions, chicken, eggs, rice, cigarettes and fuel, official data showed on Friday, driving the weekly inflation to over 40 per cent for the first time in over five months, the Dawn reported.

Though week-on-week inflation eased slightly, it still remained high as bananas, chicken, sugar, cooking oil, gas and cigarettes became costlier, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

As a result, short-term inflation, measured by Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), jumped to 41.54 per cent on a year-on-year basis for the week ended on Feb 23, rising from 38.42 per cent in the previous week.

The hike in prices is the highest annual rise since the week ending September 8, 2022, when the SPI inflation was 42.7 per cent. And it was above 40 per cent for the first time since Sept 15, when the reading was 40.58 per cent.

Prices of onions, chicken, eggs, cigarettes and fuel see the highest increase, the Dawn reported.

The week-on-week inflation eased to 2.78 per cent from 2.89 per cent a week ago. Of the 51 items tracked, the prices of 33 items increased, six items decreased, whereas those of 12 items remained stable.

The previous week-on-week reading of 2.89 per cent reading was the highest since October 27, when the change in SPI was 4.13 per cent, official data showed.

During the week under review, the items whose prices increased the most compared to the same week a year ago were onions 372 per cent, cigarettes 164.7 per cent, gas 108.38 per cent, chicken 85.7 per cent, diesel 81.36 per cent, eggs 75.81 per cent, Irri 6/9 rice 75.41 per cent, broken basmati rice 74.16 per cent, bananas 72.22 per cent, washed moong pulse 70.39 per cent, and petrol 69.87 per cent.

In contrast, the highest year-on-year fall was recorded in the prices of tomatoes -67.93pc, chilli powder -7.42pc, and electricity charges for the lowest-income group (-6.64pc).

On a week-on-week basis, the biggest change was noted in the prices of gas 108.4pc (for the lowest-income group), cigarettes 76.45 per cent, bananas 6.67 per cent, chicken 5.27 per cent, sugar 3.37 per cent, cooking oil five-litre tin 3.07 per cent, vegetable ghee 2.5 kg pack 2.79 per cent, vegetable ghee 1 kg pack 2.2 per cent, and prepared tea 1.09 per cent.

The products whose prices saw the highest decline compared to the previous week were onions -13.84 per cent, eggs -5.5 per cent, tomatoes -4.23 per cent, garlic -3.03 per cent, LPG -0.81 per cent, and gram pulse -0.21 per cent.

Meanwhile, the headline inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was recorded at 27.6 percent in January. However, the government has been taking strict measures under IMF conditions that are likely to further cool the economy and stoke inflation.

The government has already taken a string of measures, including adopting a market-based exchange rate; a hike in fuel and power tariffs; the withdrawal of subsidies, and more taxation to generate revenue to bridge the fiscal deficit.

As per the Dawn news, officials say the lender is still negotiating with Islamabad over power sector debt and a potential rise in the policy rate, which currently stands at 17 per cent.

The country's economy has been in turmoil and desperately needs external financing, with its foreign exchange reserves dipping to around USD 3 billion, barely enough for three weeks' worth of imports.

China this week announced refinancing of USD 700 million, which was received by the State Bank of Pakistan on Friday.

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New Zealand vs England, 2nd Test Day 3, Live Score Updates

New Zealand vs England, 2nd Test Day 3, Live: On Day 2, James Anderson validated his elevation to top spot in the world Test bowling rankings with a lethal opening spell as England took full control of the second Test against New Zealand on Saturday. Veteran seamer Anderson snared 3-37, sending the Black Caps crashing to 138-7 when rain forced an early end to day two in Wellington, after England declared their first innings at 435-8. Spinner Jack Leach also took three scalps, leaving New Zealand staring at a 297-run deficit with three days remaining. (LIVE SCORECARD)

Here are the LIVE Updates of Day 3 of the 2nd Test Match between New Zealand and England straight from Basin Reserve, Wellington

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Russia Accuses West Of "Destabilising" G20 Talks In India

Russia on Saturday accused the West of destabilising the G20 finance ministers' meeting in India by trying to force through a joint statement on Ukraine that stalled because of disagreements.

"We regret that the activities of the G20 continue to be destabilised by the Western collective and used in an anti-Russian... way," the foreign ministry said.

Moscow accused the United States, the European Union and the G7 nations of having "disrupted the adoption of collective decisions" by trying to impose their "diktat" by what they said was "clear blackmail".

Their aim had been to impose their interpretation of the Ukraine conflict in the joint statement by means of lobbying and "ultimatums", said the ministry statement.

The ministry called on the West to "renounce its destructive policy as soon as possible, to acknowledge the objective realities of a multipolar world".

"The G20 must remain an economic forum rather than encroaching on the security sphere," it said.

G20 finance ministers failed Saturday to agree a joint statement on the global economy at talks in India, after China sought to water down references to the Ukraine conflict.

Instead, current G20 president India issued a "chair's summary" which said "most members strongly condemned" the conflict and that there were "different assessments of the situation and sanctions" at the two-day meeting in Bengaluru.

A footnote said two paragraphs in the summary about the conflict, which it said were adapted from the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration in November, "were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China".

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EU Imposes 10th Round Of Sanctions On Russia

The EU agreed a new round of sanctions on Russia on Friday, the one-year anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the bloc's Swedish presidency announced.

The package -- the 10th the EU has imposed since Russia's February 24, 2022 invasion -- contain, it said, "targeted restricted measures against individuals and entities supporting the war, spreading propaganda or delivering drones used by Russia in the war."

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"Highly Value" China's Efforts To Settle Ukraine War, Says Moscow

Russia said Friday it appreciated Beijing's efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict but insisted any solution to the crisis should recognise Russia's control over four Ukrainian regions.

"We highly value the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine through peaceful means," the foreign ministry said, but added any settlement must recognise "the new territorial realities".

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Israeli national killed in an elephant attack in Nepal: Report

An Israeli national was killed in an elephant attack in a forest in Nepal's Sauraha village, a media report said on Friday.

Nepal police confirmed the nationality of the victim after recovering his driving licence, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported, quoting Inspector Subas Bhatta from the District Police Office.

The Israeli national's body was found in a forest in Ratnanagar Municipality-6 in Sauraha on Friday, the report said.

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"Need A Just Peace" In Ukraine: Turkey's Erdogan On Call With Putin

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Friday for "a just peace" in Ukraine during a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the presidency announced.

"President Erdogan stressed the need for achieving a just peace to prevent further loss of life and destruction," it said in a brief statement.

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New Zealand vs England, 2nd Test Day 2, Live Score Updates

NZ vs ENG, 2nd Test Day 2, Live Updates: England will begin Day 2 of the 2nd Test against New Zealand at 315/3 with Harry Brook (184*) and Joe Root (101*) standing unbeaten at the crease. Red-hot Harry Brook made a majestic 184 not out to put England firmly in control against New Zealand in Wellington on Friday in the second Test. Joe Root was unbeaten on a classy 101 as the tourists rampaged their way to 315-3 before rain ended the opening day of the series decider early. (LIVE SCORECARD)

Here are the Live Updates of Day 2 of the 2nd Test Match between New Zealand and England straight from Basin Reserve, Wellington 

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Russia Might Provide Iran Fighter Jets, Missiles: US

Russia is considering sending fighter jets to Iran as part of an expanding military cooperation that has seen Tehran ship growing quantities of weaponry to Moscow for use in the invasion of Ukraine, the White House said Friday.

"We believe that Russia might provide Iran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defense. We believe that Russia might provide Iran with fighter jets," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Kirby said Iran, which is deeply isolated by Western sanctions aimed at halting its disputed nuclear program, was seeking to bolster its military with Russian help in exchange for sending armaments used in the year-long onslaught against Ukraine.

"Iran is also seeking to purchase additional military equipment from Russia, including attack helicopters, radars and combat training aircraft. In total, Iran are seeking billions of dollars' worth of military equipment," Kirby said.

"We were concerned it was going to go both ways, and those concerns are certainly being realized," he said.

According to Kirby, Iran has already sent hundreds of drones, as well as artillery and tank ammunition, to Russia and that "Iran's support for Russia's war has expanded."

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Succession: Show's creator announces show will end after fourth season

The Emmy-winning show's creator Jesse Armstrong says it feels like the right time for it to end.

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North Korea Test Fires 4 Strategic Cruise Missiles: Report

North Korea has test-fired four strategic cruise missiles during a drill designed to demonstrate its ability to conduct a nuclear counterattack against hostile forces, its state media said on Friday.

The exercise on Thursday involved an apparently operational strategic cruise missile unit of the Korean People's Army, which fired the four "Hwasal-2" missiles in the area of Kim Chaek City, North Hamgyong Province, towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, state news agency KCNA said.

Other units conducted firepower training at hardened sites without live firing, it added.

The four strategic cruise missiles hit a preset target after traveling the "2000km-long (1,242.7 miles) elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10,208 seconds to 10,224 seconds," the English-language report said.

The drill demonstrated "the war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force bolstering up in every way its deadly nuclear counterattack capability against the hostile forces," said KCNA.

The missiles were not announced by South Korea or Japan, which often detect and publicly report North Korean launches.

US and South Korean officials took part in a tabletop, or simulated, exercise that focused on the possibility of North Korea using a nuclear weapon, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

North Korea has forged ahead steadily in developing and mass producing new missiles, despite sanctions imposed by United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the nuclear-armed country's missile activities.

Many launches, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Saturday, have been reported by state media as drills designed to improve the capabilities of the troops operating the weapons.

"These demonstrations might be considered missile exercising rather than developmental testing," the US-based Center for International and Strategic Studies said in a report this week.

North Korea could test-fire ICBMs on a lower, longer trajectory and conduct its seventh nuclear test this year to perfect its weapons capabilities, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday, citing intelligence officials.

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R. Kelly gets extra prison time after latest sex abuse conviction

The disgraced singer is sentenced to 20 years, but 19 will be served alongside an existing term.

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6.8-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Eastern Tajikistan

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Tajikistan on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake struck around 5:37 am local time (0037 GMT) at a depth of about 20.5 km (12.7 miles).

USGS estimated that "little or no population" will be exposed to landslides from the quake.

Its epicentre appeared to be in Gorno-Badakhshan, a semi-autonomous eastern region that borders Afghanistan and China.

A 5.0-magnitude aftershock hit the area about 20 minutes after the initial quake.

The sparsely populated territory is surrounded by the towering Pamir Mountains.

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India Gives Me Hope For Future, Says Bill Gates

India gives hope for the future and proved that the country could solve the big problems at once even when the world is facing multiple crises, Microsoft cofounder and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates said in his blog "Gates Notes".

In his blog, Bill Gates said that he believed that with the right innovations and delivery channels the world is capable of making progress on lots of big problems at once, even at a time when the world is facing multiple crises and usually he received the response like, "There isn't enough time or money to solve both at the same time."

But India proved all the responses wrong. "There is no better proof than the remarkable progress that India has accomplished," Mr Gates said in his blog.

"India as a whole gives me hope for the future. It's about to become the world's most populous country, which means you can't solve most problems there without solving them at scale. And yet, India has proven it can tackle big challenges. The country eradicated polio, lowered HIV transmission, reduced poverty, cut infant mortality, and increased access to sanitation and financial services," he added.

Microsoft's co-founder also stated that India has developed a world-leading approach to innovation that ensures solutions reach those who need them. When the rotavirus vaccine, which prevents the virus that causes many fatal cases of diarrhoea, was too expensive to reach every child, India decided to make the vaccine itself.

India worked with experts and funders (including the Gates Foundation) to build factories and create large-scale delivery channels to distribute the vaccines. By 2021, 83 per cent of 1-year-olds had been inoculated against rotavirus, and these low-cost vaccines are now being used in other countries around the world, Mr Gates said.

While talking about its funding in India's Indian Agricultural Research Institute, or IARI, in Pusa, Bill Gates said, "The Gates Foundation joined hands with India's public sector and CGIAR institutions to support the work of researchers at IARI. They found a new solution: chickpea varieties that have more than 10 per cent higher yields and are more drought-resistant. One variety is already available to farmers, and others are currently developing at the institute. As a result, India is better prepared to keep feeding its people and supporting its farmers even in a warming world. It's no exaggeration to say that India's agricultural future is growing right now in a field in Pusa."

"One of the reasons why challenges like climate, hunger, and health seem insurmountable is that we don't yet have all the tools to solve them. But I'm optimistic that one day soon we will, thanks in part to innovators like researchers at IARI," he added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also shared Gates' blog published in one of the media publications.

In his blog, Mr Gates also informed that he is coming to India next week to see the work being done by innovators and entrepreneurs. Some are working on breakthroughs that will help the world to mitigate the effects of climate change, like the work being done by Breakthrough Energy Fellow Vidyut Mohan and his team to turn waste into biofuels and fertilizers in remote agricultural communities.

"Others are finding new ways to help people adapt to a warmer world, such as IARI's efforts to create more drought-tolerant crops. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress that's already underway by both the Gates Foundation's and Breakthrough Energy's amazing partners," Bill Gates said.

"Like every other country on the planet, India has limited resources. But it has shown us how the world can still make progress in spite of that constraint. By collaborating and trying novel approaches, the public, private, and philanthropic sectors can turn limited resources into big pools of funding and knowledge that lead to progress. If we work together, I believe we can fight climate change and improve global health at the same time," he added.

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Uproar as Fox host Tucker Carlson gets Capitol riot videos

Democrats say the Speaker's decision to give Tucker Carlson the footage is an "egregious security breach".

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Meta's Plea To Drop Verdict In $175 Million Streaming Patent Case Rejected

A federal judge in Austin, Texas on Tuesday rejected a request by Meta Platforms Inc's to throw out a $175 million jury patent verdict for walkie-talkie app maker Voxer Inc.

US District Judge Lee Yeakel's decision leaves intact the jury's finding that Meta's Facebook Live and Instagram Live live-streaming technology infringed two Voxer patents related to video streaming and messaging. Meta can still appeal the verdict to a higher court.

Representatives for Meta and Voxer did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

San Francisco-based Voxer's 2020 lawsuit said its representatives disclosed its patented technology to Meta, which was then Facebook, when the companies met in 2012 about a potential collaboration.

Voxer said Facebook cut it off from key features of the social media platform in 2013 and misused its technology in Facebook Live and Instagram Live, which launched in 2015 and 2016.

A jury found last September that Meta infringed the two patents, which relate to a method for streaming video and infrastructure for a video-messaging service, and awarded Voxer $174.5 million in royalty damages.

Meta asked the court to overturn the verdict or hold a new trial. It raised several arguments, including that a reasonable jury could not have found infringement, the patents were invalid, the damages were unjustified, and Voxer's lawyer had made "inappropriate comments" that biased the jury against Meta.

Mr Yeakel denied Meta's requests Tuesday and said there was enough evidence to support the jury's verdict.

The case is Voxer Inc v. Meta Platforms Inc, US District Court for the Western District of Texas, No. 1:20-cv-00655.

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Rapper Nipsey Hussle's killer Eric R Holder Jr gets 60 years in prison

Eric R. Holder, Jr. receives 60 years to life for the murder of the Grammy-nominated rapper in LA.

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"An Eventuality": Indian Star On Chances Of KL Rahul Getting Dropped

The entire Indian cricketing spectrum seems to be asking for a change as KL Rahul's struggles with the bat continue. Not just in Tests, the opening batter has been unproductive across formats for a while now. While there's no denying the potential he has, some former cricketers and experts are asking for Rahul to be replaced with Shubman Gill. Dinesh Karthik, who has turned into a pundit, also feels that Rahul would benefit from some time off from the game.

"I think he [KL Rahul] played the best shot possible to that ball. But he would also know that if he is going to be dropped for the remaining matches, which is pretty much an eventuality, it is not because of this one innings. It is because of what has happened and transpired over the last five or six Test matches," said Karthik in his analysis of Rahul on Cricbuzz.

Karthik continued to maintain that he holds Rahul in high regard and called him a 'very good' batter across formats. But, keeping in mind the current situation, the veteran wicket-keeper batter feels it's time for the Karnataka batter to be dropped.

"He is a class player and is very good in all formats. But at this point in time, I don't think it's the technique. I think it's because of what happens between the ears that's really troubling him. He might need some time off from the game to go back and come back fresh for the ODIs," Karthik added.

Speaking of Rahul's replacement, Karthik is of the strong opinion that Shubman Gill should come into the Indian team for the remaining two matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

"I have to go with Shubman Gill, he's just batted beautifully. There will be just one change in the playing XI. I feel very bad for KL Rahul, I think he's been under the scanner," Karthik opined.

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Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy Announces 2024 US Presidential Bid

Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has launched his 2024 presidential bid with a promise to "put merit back" and end dependence on China, becoming the second community member to enter the Republican Party's presidential primary after Nikki Haley.

Mr Ramaswamy, 37, whose parents migrated to the United States from Kerala and worked at a General Electric plant in Ohio, made the announcement during a live interview on Fox News's prime time show of Tucker Carlson, a conservative political commentator.

He is the second Indian-American to enter the Republican presidential primary.

Earlier this month, two-term former governor of South Carolina and former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Haley announced her presidential campaign. She announced that she will contest against her former boss and ex-US President Donald Trump for the Republican Party's nomination.

"We are in the middle of this national identity crisis, Tucker, where we have celebrated our differences for so long that we forgot all the ways we are really just the same as Americans bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion 250 years ago," Mr Ramaswamy said.

He calls "wokeism" a national threat "That's why I am proud to say tonight that I am running for United States president to revive those ideals in this country," he announced.

"I think we need to put 'merit' back into 'America' in every spirit of our lives," he said, adding that he will end affirmative action in "every sphere of American life." A second-generation Indian American, Mr Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and led the largest biotech IPOs of 2015 and 2016, eventually culminating in successful clinical trials in multiple disease areas that led to FDA-approved products, according to his bio.

He has founded other successful healthcare and technology companies, and in 2022, he launched Strive Asset Management, a new firm focused on restoring the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics.

"I'm all for putting America first, but in order to put America first, we have to first rediscover what America is. And to me, those are these basic rules of the road that set this nation into motion from meritocracy to free speech, to self-governance over aristocracy.

"The people who we elect actually make them run the government rather than this cancerous federal bureaucracy. That's gonna be the heart of my message," Mr Ramaswamy told Fox News in an interview.

He said the US faces external threats like the rise of China.

It "has got to be our top foreign policy threat that we've gotta respond to, not pointless wars somewhere else." "That's gonna require some sacrifice. It's gonna require a declaration of independence from China and complete decoupling. And that's not gonna be easy. It's gonna require some inconvenience," he said.

Foreign policy is all about prioritisation, Mr Ramaswamy said.

"We gotta wake up to the fact that China is violating our sovereignty and the reason, if that had been a Russian spy balloon, we'd have shot it down instantly and ratcheted up sanctions. Why didn't we do that for China?" he asked.

"The answer's simple. We depend on them for our modern way of life. This economic co-dependent relationship has to end," he said.

In a statement Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said as Mr Ramaswamy used Tucker Carlson's show to announce his campaign for president, one thing is clear: The race for the Make America Great Again (MAGA) base is getting messier and more crowded by the day.

"Over the next few months, Republicans are guaranteed to take exceedingly extreme positions on everything from banning abortion to cutting Social Security and Medicare and we look forward to continuing to ensure every American knows just how extreme the MAGA agenda is," Harrison said.

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Mexico's Ex Security Chief Convicted In US For Protecting El Chapo

Genaro Garcia Luna, once in charge of Mexico's battle to root out illegal narcotics and vanquish drug kingpins, was convicted for secretly providing years of protection to "El Chapo" and the Sinaloa cartel. 

Garcia Luna, accused of helping cartel members import and distribute massive quantities of drugs into the US, was found guilty on Tuesday by a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, after a four-week trial that uncovered how narco-traffickers worked with the very Mexican government official appointed to go after them. 

The jury of six women and six men convicted Garcia Luna, 54, of all five counts against him, including multiple conspiracy counts for distributing and importing cocaine and the most serious charge, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. Under that charge, which carries a mandatory 20-year prison term and a maximum of life behind bars, the jury concluded that he had helped the cartel import tens of thousands of kilos of cocaine between 2002 and 2008.

He is the highest-ranking current or former Mexican official ever to be tried in the US. 

Garcia Luna is scheduled to be sentenced June 27. His lawyer, Cesar de Castro, told US District Judge Brian Cogan that his client would appeal the verdict. Cogan gave him until April 7 to file the papers. De Castro had no immediate comment on the outcome.

Closely Watched Trial

The trial was followed closely on both sides of the border. An acquittal would have been another setback for US efforts to crack down on drug-related corruption in Mexico, after former Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos was arrested in the US on charges of taking bribes in exchange for protecting cartel leaders. That case provoked a firestorm in Mexico, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn eventually dropped the charges at the request of then Attorney General William Barr in 2020. Mexico later exonerated Cienfuegos.

Garcia Luna led Mexico's Federal Investigation Agency before heading up public security as a cabinet minister from 2006 to 2012 for then Mexican president Felipe Calderon. Responsible for overseeing the nation's efforts to combat the illicit narcotics trade, he was arrested in 2019. 

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a political rival of Calderon, has repeatedly referred to the case in his daily press conference to bash his predecessors for corruption.

"The crimes against our people will never be forgotten," his spokesman Jesus Ramirez wrote in a tweet after the verdict.

On Tuesday, as Garcia Luna entered the courtroom to hear the verdict, he turned to his wife and daughter, blew them a kiss and put his hand on his heart. After the jurors filed in, he sat with his hands clasped and stared straight ahead at the judge, who read the verdict out to the court. 

Breon Peace, the US attorney in Brooklyn, called Garcia Luna a "traitor" who took "money that was stained by the blood of cartel wars and drug-related battles in the streets of the United States and Mexico."

Garcia Luna "once stood at the pinnacle of law enforcement in Mexico" and "will now live the rest of his days having been revealed as a traitor to his country and to the honest members of law enforcement who risked their lives" to take down the cartels, Peace said in a statement.

Cartel as Cop

During the trial, the US called to the stand nine former cartel members as cooperating witnesses. They described how Garcia Luna secretly placed Sinaloa members on the Mexican federal police rolls, while providing them with official vehicles, uniforms and badges. The phony officers, and sometimes real federal police working for Garcia Luna, helped cartel workers unload drugs on airport tarmacs and tipped the drug lords to imminent raids by US authorities. 

They even got the satisfaction of having the police arrest rival traffickers - and sometimes got to keep the seized drugs.

In exchange for his help, the cartel rewarded Garcia Luna with a fortune, the jury heard.

"He used his official position to make millions of dollars for himself from the people he was supposed to prosecute," Assistant US Attorney Saritha Komatireddy told the jurors in her closing argument.

SUV Stuffed With Cash

Jesus "El Rey" Zambada, who ran Sinaloa's operations at Mexico City's airport, testified that in late 2006 he stuffed bags with at least $5 million and spirited them to an intermediary for delivery to Garcia Luna at a posh restaurant in the capital. 

In turn, Zambada said, Garcia Luna agreed to shield his brother, a cartel boss, and others from law enforcement. 

One former Mexican federal police officer who went to work for the cartel, Sergio Villarreal Barragan, testified that Garcia Luna was paid as much as $1.5 million a month for his services. After he was promoted to Mexico's security chief, he and his associates were paid about $230 million more for the additional protection they were able to give the cartel, allowing it to expand across Mexico, Barragan told the jury.

Garcia Luna once helped the notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman intercept a rival gang's two-ton cocaine shipment, arriving at a warehouse with other drug bosses and agreeing to divide the drug profits evenly, Barragan testified. Mexico's former top cop was paid $14 million to $16 million from cash crammed in cardboard boxes, he said. 

"There were so many boxes they didn't fit in their SUV," Barragan told the jurors. So the traffickers lent Garcia Luna a car to help him lug away his take, Barragan said.

Best Market: New York

All told, the cartel sent an estimated 100 tons of cocaine a month into the US, worth $2.8 billion to $3 billion a year in pure profit, Zambada testified.

"The market that pays the best is here in New York," he told the panel. 

Jurors heard how the drugs were transported to the US on cargo planes, private jets, submarines and even in specially built freight trains disguised as oil transports but containing secret compartments of coke. 

The cartel's trains ran from Mexico directly to New York City, witnesses said. As a result, one narco trafficker testified, the enhanced security that corrupt officials like Garcia Luna provided helped him bring $700 million to $1 billion of cocaine into the US, Komatireddy told the jurors.

The Defense: Revenge

Defense lawyer De Castro tried to persuade the jury that the the cartel members and former officials testifying against Garcia Luna just wanted payback for his tough stance on drugs.

"What better revenge against your common enemy but to bury the man who led the war against the cartel?" he said in his opening statement.

In his closing, De Castro told the jury that prosecutors "made a deal with the devil" by giving admitted traffickers who had killed and tortured their victims a "free pass," offering them leniency at sentencing in exchange for their testimony against Garcia Luna.

The case is US v. Garcia Luna, 19-cr-576, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn). 

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PS VR2: Sony's next attempt to make virtual reality gaming mainstream

PlayStation has released its updated virtual reality headset for the PS5.

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Influencer Andrew Tate's Detention Extended By Romania

A Romanian court on Tuesday extended the detention of Andrew Tate, the controversial influencer being investigated along with his brother for alleged human trafficking and rape.

Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34, were arrested in late December. Their current detention order was to expire next week.

But the court ordered them detained for another 30 days, Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for Romania's anti-organised crime and terrorism directorate (DIICOT), told AFP.

The Tate brothers, who have denied all charges, are expected to appeal the ruling.

Tate, a British-American former kickboxer, along with his younger brother and two Romanian women are under investigation for allegedly "forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking and rape".

They allegedly coerced women into "forced labour... and pornographic acts" for "substantial financial benefits".

As part of the probe, Romanian police raided several properties connected to the Tate brothers and seized many of their assets, including a collection of luxury cars.

In 2016, Tate appeared on the "Big Brother" reality television show in Britain but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.

He then turned to social media platforms to promote his divisive views before being banned for misogynistic remarks and hate speech.

Tate was allowed back on Twitter after the South African billionaire Elon Musk bought the company, and his handle "Cobratate" currently has over five million followers.

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Nida Dar Now Leading Wicket-taker In Women's T20I, Pakistan Lose

Veteran Pakistan spinner Nida Dar became the highest wicket-taker in the history of women's T20I cricket on Tuesday. The 36-year-old accomplished the landmark during Pakistan's final Group 2 match against England in the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup. In the match, Dar ended with figures of 1/47 in four overs. She picked up the wicket of England skipper Heather Knight for just four runs. In 130 matches, she has 126 wickets at an average of 18.18 and an economy rate of 5.47. Her best bowling figures in the format are 5/21.

Other leading wicket-takers in the format behind Dar are Anisa Mohammed (West Indies, 125 wickets), Megan Schutt (Australia, 122 wickets), Ellyse Perry (Australia, 122 wickets) and Shabnim Ismail (South Africa, 117 wickets).

Coming to the match, England posted 213/5 after electing to bat first. They were reduced to 33/2 before the conclusion of the powerplay. A 74-run stand between Danni Wyatt (59 off 33 balls) and Nat-Sciver Brunt brought England back in the game. After a couple more quick wickets, England was 113/4. From that point, Brunt and wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones (47 off 31 balls) stitched a quick century stand. Brunt finished with an unbeaten 81 in 40 balls, with 12 fours and a six.

Fatima Sana (2/44) finished as the leading bowler for Pakistan. Dar, Sadia Iqbal and Tuba Hassan finished with a wicket each.

Chasing 214, Pakistan was never in the game and finished at 99/9 in their 20 overs, losing the game by 114 runs, the biggest margin in Women's T20 WC history. Tuba Hassan top-scored with 28 runs.

Katherine Sciver-Brunt (2/14) and Charlie Dean (2/28) were the standout bowlers for England. Sophie Ecclestone, Nat Sciver, Sarah Glenn took a wicket each.

Nat Sciver won the 'Player of the Match' award for her all-around performance.

England has finished the group stage on top of Group 2 with four wins in four games and eight points. Pakistan finishes at fourth in the group with just one win in four games and two points.

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Women's T20 WC Live: Bangladesh Opt To Bat Against South Africa

SA vs BAN, Women's T20 World Cup Match, Live Updates: South Africa has been asked to bowl first against Bangladesh in a Group A match of the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup on Tuesday at the  Newlands, Cape Town. Bangladesh have lost their all three previous matches in the group stage and have been disqualified from the race of the semi-finals. However, this clash is a crucial one for the Proteas as they will be entering the semi-finals, if they register a win over Bangladesh. South Africa's entry into the semis will close the gates for New Zealand. (LIVE SCORECARD)

Here are the Live Updates of the Women's T20 World Cup match between South Africa and Bangladesh, straight from Newlands in Cape Town

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Darkened Plane, Silent Overnight Train: How Joe Biden Got To Kyiv

President Joe Biden's surprise visit Monday morning to wartime Kyiv began in the dead of night at a military airport hangar outside Washington.

At 4:00 am (0900 GMT) Sunday -- unbeknown to the world's media, the Washington political establishment or American voters -- the 80-year-old Democrat boarded an Air Force Boeing 757, known as a C-32.

The plane, a smaller version of the one US presidents normally use on international trips, was parked well away from where Biden would usually board. And a telling detail: the shade on every window had been pulled down.

Fifteen minutes later, Biden, a handful of security personnel, a small medical team, close advisors, and two journalists who had been sworn to secrecy, took off en route to a war zone.

The US president is perhaps the most constantly scrutinized person on the planet.

Members of the press follow Biden wherever he goes -- whether to church or international summits. Every word he says in public is recorded, transcribed and published.

In this case, though, the usual pool of reporters, which for foreign trips would compromise 13 journalists from radio, TV, photo and written press organizations, was cut to one photographer and one writer.

The reporter, Sabrina Siddiqui from The Wall Street Journal, revealed -- once allowed by the White House to publish details -- that she and the photographer were summoned to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington at 2:15 am.

Their phones were confiscated -- not to be returned until Biden finally arrived in the Ukrainian capital about 24 hours later.

They flew for about seven hours from Washington to the US military base in Ramstein, Germany, for refueling. Here too, the window shades stayed down and they did not leave the plane.

The next flight was to Poland, landing in Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport. This may be a Polish airport, but since the Ukraine war it has also become an international hub for the US-led effort to arm the Ukrainians, funneling billions of dollars of weaponry and ammunition.

'Good to be back'

Up to this point, Siddiqui and the photographer, the Associated Press' Evan Vucci, had not seen Biden himself. That didn't change at the airport or when they got into a motorcade of SUVs.

Reporters traveling with Biden often go in motorcades, but something was very different about this one: no sirens or anything else to announce that the US president was headed to Przemysl Glowny -- the Polish train station near the Ukrainian border.

It was already 9:15 pm local time as they pulled up at a train. The journalists were told to board, still without laying eyes on Biden.

Running a route that has brought untold quantities of aid into Ukraine and untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians fleeing the other way, the train had about eight cars. Most of the people aboard, Siddiqui said, were "heavy security."

Biden is an avowed train buff.

He loves recounting his years of commuting by rail between Washington and home in Delaware when he was a senator, bringing up two young sons after their mother died in a car accident. One of his nicknames is "Amtrak Joe."

This 10-hour trip into Ukraine, though, was unlike any taken by a modern US president -- journeying into an active war zone where, unlike presidential visits to Afghanistan or Iraq, US troops are not the ones providing security.

The train rolled into Kyiv with the rising sun.

Biden, who had last visited the Ukrainian capital when he was vice president under Barack Obama disembarked at about 8:07 am.

"It's good to be back in Kyiv," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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HIV+ Man, Also Battling Cancer, Cured Of Both After Stem Cell Transplant

A man known as "the Duesseldorf patient" has become the third person declared cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant that also treated his leukaemia, a study said on Monday.

Two other cases with both HIV and cancer, patients in Berlin and London, have previously been reported as cured in scientific journals following the high-risk procedure.

Now the details of the Duesseldorf patient's cure have been revealed in the journal Nature Medicine.

The 53-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with HIV in 2008, then three years later with acute myeloid leukaemia, a life-threatening form of blood cancer.

In 2013 he had a bone marrow transplant using stem cells from a female donor with a rare mutation in her CCR5 gene. The mutation has been found to stop HIV from entering cells.

The Duesseldorf patient then ceased antiretroviral therapy for HIV in 2018.

Four years later, consistent testing found no trace of HIV returning in his body.

The study said that "this third case of HIV-1 cure" provides "valuable insights that will hopefully guide future cure strategies".

Celebrating 'in a big way'

The patient said in a statement that he was "proud of my worldwide team of doctors who succeeded in curing me of HIV -- and at the same time, of course, of leukaemia".

He said he celebrated "in a big way" the 10-year anniversary of his transplant on Valentine's Day last week, adding that the donor was the "guest of honour".

The recoveries of two more people with HIV and cancer, the so-called New York and City of Hope patients, were announced at different scientific conferences last year, though research has yet to be published on those cases.

While a cure for HIV has been long sought after, the bone marrow transplant involved in these cases is a severe and dangerous operation, making it only suitable for a small number of patients suffering from both HIV and blood cancers.

Finding a bone marrow donor with the rare CCR5 mutation can also be a major challenge.

One of the study's co-authors, Asier Saez-Cirion of France's Pasteur Institute, said that during the transplant, "the patient's immune cells are completely replaced by those of the donor, which makes it possible for the vast majority of the infected cells to disappear".

"This is an exceptional situation when all the factors coincide for this transplant to be a successful cure for both leukaemia and HIV," he said.

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Alec Baldwin firearm enhancement in manslaughter charge downgraded

New Mexico prosecutors drop firearm enhancement charges, lowering a potential prison sentence.

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"One Of The Toughest Innings": Mandhana After India Enter Women's T20 WC SF

Star opener Smriti Mandhana on Monday described the match-winning 87-run knock against Ireland as one of her toughest innings due to the difficult conditions at St George's Park. Thanks to Mandhana's career-best knock, India posted 155 for six after opting to bat first in their last group match of the Women's T20 World Cup. In their run chase, Ireland were 54 for two in 8.2 overs, when heavy rains stopped play. The DLS par score after 8.2 overs was 59, and Ireland were five runs short of that total.

As the match could not be restarted, India won the match under the D/L method.

"The finger is fine. One of the most toughest innings I would have played. Not the wicket but the pace they were bowling and with the wind, it got worse," Mandhana said after the match.

"We were telling each other (with opening partner Shafali Verma) to try and maintain our shape. I was batting bad and she was not timing it well," said Mandhana, who was named the player of the match for her 56-ball knock.

"But we were trying to discuss that and there was a lot of wind and we needed to get used to the pace they were bowling. Good to post some runs and go into the semis. The England match wasn't the way we wanted." India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said it was a good game for her side.

"Smriti got runs, which is very important for us. Whenever she gives us starts we get to good total." Asked why she batted at number three, Harmanpreet, who made 13, said, "Just wanted to go up and spend some time in the middle, since I haven't really got that.

"(Making to semis) Means a lot, we are working a lot and wanted to do well whenever we get the opportunities. Good to get into the semis and we will give our 100%. We always enjoy our match against them (Australia in semifinal). It will be a do or die and we want to play good cricket." Ireland captain Laura Delany was disappointed with the manner in which the match ended.

"We were preparing for wind and we just tried to build partnership but rain got in our way.

"After 2018, Cricket Ireland have invested a lot in contracts. We want to improve on our fielding, it has overall been a very positive experience. Orla Prendergast has gone from strength to strength and if we could emulate her, it will be great."

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