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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Thursday released their new jersey ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. The Hyderabad-based franchise took to their official social media accounts to reveal the new kit. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was featured in the post wearing the brand-new kit. "Fire kit. Fire player. All set for a fiery #IPL2024," Sunrisers Hyderabad wrote on X. The Kavya Maran-owned franchise parted ways with West Indies legendary batter Brain Lara and brought in former New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori as the team's head coach for the much-awaited IPL 2024. Recently, they replaced Aiden Markram and handed over the captaincy to Pat Cummins for the upcoming season.

The SRH franchise has won only one title in IPL so far and that was in 2016 under the leadership of star Australia opener David Warner. After that, they reached the finals of the 2018 edition under the leadership of star New Zealand batter Kane Williamson where they went down to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Fire kit. Fire player. All set for a fiery #IPL2024#PlayWithFire pic.twitter.com/DCPpfVkUas

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 7, 2024

The Hyderabad side released players like Harry Brook, Kartik Tyagi, Adil Rashid, Akeal Hossein, and Samarth Vyas before the IPL 2024 auction and traded Mayank Dagar to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and took Shahbaz Ahmed from them. In the IPL 2024 auction, SRH bought Cummins for Rs. 20.50 Cr., and Travis Head for Rs. 6.8 Cr., Jaydev Unadkat for Rs. 1.6 Cr., Wanindu Hasaranga for Rs. 1.5 Cr., Akash Singh and Jhathavedh Subramanyan for Rs. 20 Lakhs.

On the other hand, five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) also unveiled their new kit for the upcoming season.

https://x.com/mipaltan/status/1765634697940414470?s=20

Earlier in December last year, MI announced that all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who returned to the Mumbai franchise after guiding the Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in its debut season and the final in the subsequent edition, will be leading the team in the 2024 edition of the league. This meant removing Rohit Sharma as the skipper, who had led the franchise to five titles since starting his reign in 2013.

In November last year, Pandya moved back from Gujarat Titans (GT) to his former franchise as part of a trade between both franchises. The star all-rounder spent two momentous years with GT, spearheading their campaign in the cash-rich league with aplomb. In GT's debut season in 2022, Hardik got them off to a fairytale start, with the team lifting the coveted trophy.

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US Power Firm Admits It May Have Sparked Texas' Largest Wildfire Ever

A US power company admitted Thursday that its equipment may have sparked the largest wildfire in Texas' history.

Xcel -- the parent of Southwest Public Service Company, which provides electricity to part of the state -- said it was working with officials investigating the cause of the blaze that charred more than a million acres (over 400,000 hectares).

"Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire," the company said.

Hundreds of homes are thought to have been destroyed in the fire, which is known to have killed at least two people and over 3,000 farm animals.

Xcel, which is facing at least one lawsuit, denied its equipment was improperly maintained.

"However, we encourage people who had property destroyed by, or livestock lost in, the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process," the statement said.

The Washington Post reported the admission came after it saw evidence the grid in Texas was under stress in the hours before the blaze broke out in strong winds on February 26.

The paper said Whisker Labs, a firm that monitors electricity supply grids recorded 50 faults in the system.

These are typically logged when a power line has been toppled, or has touched trees -- events that typically result in the kind of sparks that can start fires in dry countryside.

It is not uncommon for US power companies to be blamed for destructive wildfires.

Hawaii's Maui county last year began legal action against the island's electricity provider over the deadly fires that leveled the historic town of Lahaina.

Videos taken before the blaze ripped through the town, killing 100 people, apparently showed downed cables setting light to vegetation.

In California, the almost 1-million-acre Dixie fire of 2021 began after power lines owned by Pacific Gas and Electric touched a tree.

A year earlier, the company pleaded guilty to more than 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over the horrific Camp fire.

US infrastructure is frequently old and increasingly not fit for the growing demands placed on it.

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

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Rohit Sharma once again showed his class during the ongoing England Test series, this time in the fifth and final game in Dharamshala. The India captain scored runs at a brisk pace during the hosts' first innings in the match after they bowled out England for a below-par total of 218. Rohit raced to his 18th Test fifty in 77 balls and en route for the milestone, he took the England bowlers to the cleaners with some sensational strokes. One of them included a superb pull shot.

On the fourth ball of the 4th over of India's innings, Mark Wood bowled a 151.2 kmph short ball but Rohit's response to it was even better. He quickly transfered his weight on the backfoot and brought out his trademark pull shot to see the ball sail over the fine leg fence for a six.

Watch it here:

When Rohit pulls, there's only one result #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/6ozWGrj9u0

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 7, 2024

Kuldeep Yadav, who grabbed five wickets, and 100th Test man Ravichandran Ashwin helped India bundle out England for a woeful 218 in their first innings on Day 1 of the fifth Test on Thursday.

Kuldeep (5/72) and Ashwin (4/51) ran through the England batting line-up as the visitors lost eight wickets for 118 runs across post-lunch and post-tea sessions.

Opener Zak Crawley (79, 108 balls) offered lone resistance for England.

There were two partnerships in the middle-order -- 37 between Crawley and Joe Root for third wicket and 38 between Root and 100-Test-man Jonny Bairstow for the fourth wicket -- but they were not sufficient for the visitors.

There was a point in England innings when they lost five wickets for mere eight runs as Kuldeep, Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja got into the act.

(With PTI Inputs)

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Thai Officials Discover Red Panda, Snakes In Checked-In Luggage

Thai customs officials rescued a red panda, snakes, monkeys and chameleons from checked-in luggage at the country's main airport this week after arresting six Indian nationals for attempted smuggling.

A total of 87 reptiles and mammals were found in the baggage, including chameleons, snakes, a large-beaked parrot, red-eyed squirrels, bats and monkeys.

Some animals were wrapped in paper, others in plastic containers, photos from customs at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport showed.

The six, bound for Mumbai, were arrested on Monday, authorities said in a statement.

Thailand, which borders four countries, has seen its fair share of illegal wildlife trafficking and customs officials at Suvarnabhumi often seize reptiles and small animals in luggage.

There is high demand for animal products in countries including China, Myanmar and Thailand, where they are used in traditional medicine or consumed directly.

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Nikki Haley Exits US Presidential Campaign, Has A Message For Trump

Republican former UN ambassador Nikki Haley suspended her White House campaign Wednesday, declining to endorse former president Donald Trump but calling on him to earn the support of moderates and independents who backed her in the primary.

"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that," Haley said in a televised address in Charleston, South Carolina.

Haley was in a two-person contest with Trump for the chance to face President Joe Biden in November's election but won just one state on "Super Tuesday" and never presented a serious obstacle in Trump's path to the nomination.

The 52-year-old was little known outside her native South Carolina before Trump tapped her as ambassador to the United Nations back in 2017 and used the high-profile UN post to cultivate an image as a plain-speaking conservative.

She prided herself on being the last challenger standing between the "chaos" of Trump and the 2024 Republican White House nomination.

"I am filled with gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country," Haley added.

"But the time has now come to suspend my campaign. I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard -- I have done that. I have no regrets."

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"False Claims": Hamas On UN Report On "Sexual Violence" In October 7 Attack

Hamas on Tuesday rejected a UN report claiming Palestinian operatives committed "sexual violence" during their attack on Israel on October 7, saying the findings were simply "false claims".

The report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, "did not document any testimony from what she calls the victims of these cases," Hamas said in a statement.

"She relied on Israeli institutions, soldiers and witnesses, who were chosen by the occupation authorities to push towards an attempt to prove this false accusation, which was refuted by all investigations."

The report, released on Monday, said it had found "reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred" on October 7.

The assaults took place in at least three separate locations, and "in most of these incidents, victims first subjected to rape were then killed, and at least two incidents relate to the rape of women's corpses", the report said.

The UN has faced criticism for reacting too slowly to Israel's accusations of rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas fighters during the October 7 attack and against the hostages it took.

The Hamas attack resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 30,631 people, mostly women and children, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.

Around 250 hostages were taken by operatives, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 who are presumed dead, according to Israel.

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Children Starving To Death In Northern Gaza Hospitals: WHO Chief

An aid mission to two hospitals in northern Gaza found horrifying scenes of children dying of starvation, amid dire shortages of food, fuel and medicines, the World Health Organization said Monday.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency's visits over the weekend to the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals "were the first since early October 2023 despite our efforts to gain more regular access to the north of Gaza".

The findings were "grim", he said on X, adding that "the situation at Al-Awda was particularly appalling, as one of the buildings is destroyed".

The Kamal Adwan hospital, the only paediatrics hospital in northern Gaza, was overwhelmed with patients, he said.

"The lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children," Tedros said.

In all, the Gaza health ministry has said at least 16 children have died of malnutrition in aid-deprived northern Gaza.

The United Nations warned last week that famine in the Gaza Strip was "almost inevitable" because of the war that has been raging in the Palestinian territory since Hamas operatives carried out an unprecedented attack inside Israel on October 7.

That attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

It also saw the Hamas operatives kidnap 250 hostages, of whom 130 remain in captivity, including 31 presumed dead, according to Israel.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against the Palestinian territory has killed more than 30,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

In addition to the dire lack of food at the two northern hospitals, Tedros also cautioned on X that "the lack of electricity poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in critical areas like the intensive care unit and the neonatal unit".

During the weekend mission, the UN health agency delivered 9,500 litres of fuel to each hospital, along with some essential medical supplies, he said.

"This is a fraction of the urgent lifesaving needs."

The WHO chief reiterated an appeal to Israel to "ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered safely, and regularly".

"Civilians, especially children, and health staff need scaled-up help immediately," he said, stressing though that "the key medicine all these patients need is peace. Ceasefire."

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