It was Zaheer Khan’s dismissal of Windies opener Devon Smith that opened the gate for India’s win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.Chasing 269, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Smith were batting with ease, rotating the strike at will and milking away at India’s bowling. But, Zaheer got the better of Smith on 81 with his slower ball in the 31st over bringing an end to their 63-run partnership.The opposition lost their third wicket on 154 and that’s where the slide actually began for the West Indies.Man-of-the-MatchEarlier, India posted 268 against the West Indies and it was Yuvraj Singh’s maiden World Cup ton that proved to the highlight of the batting.But that wasn’t all, he came back to deliver the goods with the ball taking two important scalps in the match.Yuvraj Singh earned the Man-of-the-Match award for his all-round performance.
Mumbai, Nov 9 (PTI) Children will take over the National Stock Exchange (NSE) here on November 14 as part of UNICEFs spotlight on the most pressing challenges faced by the young generation.The KidsTakeOverNSE event is being organised as part of the UNICEFs initiative to celebrate the Childrens Day by making them essay high-visibility roles in media, politics, business, sport, and entertainment to highlight challenges faced by them.”At the November 14 event, children will ring the NSE bell and take a round of the NSE building accompanied by senior UNICEF and NSE officials,” a UNICEF representative said.Meanwhile, in a release the UN agency said, “This Children?s Day, the UNICEF is inviting children around the world to take the centre stage in a week-long activity to help save childrens lives, fight for their rights and help them fulfil their potential.””From November 14 to 20, children will `take over high-visibility roles in media, politics, business, sport, and entertainment to shine a spotlight on the most pressing challenges faced by their generation,” it said.”This is a day for children, by children, all over the world. In India, the #KidsTakeOver will start on Childrens Day with the National Stock Exchange,” the release said.The event will start at 2 pm at the NSE in suburban Bandra.Present on the occasion will be Henriette Ahrens, Deputy Representative – Programmes, UNICEF India, and Vikram Limaye, MD & CEO, NSE, along with top business leaders, it said. PTI VT RSY
Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik nearly pulled off a memorable chase for India but the hosts eventually fell short by 4 runs to lose the first T20I against Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday.Chasing a revised target of 174 in 17 overs, India put in a spirited effort thanks to superb knocks from Dhawan and Karthik to come close but the dismissals in the death overs led to India’s downfall in the end.India were restricted to 169 for 7 with Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinish finishing with two wickets each while Jason Behrendorff, Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye picked up a wicket each.India vs Australia 1st T20I: Report | Highlights”Lot of Indians came in to support us which is always the case anywhere we play. It was a close game, exciting one for the crowd to watch and for the players as well. Was a see-saw battle.”Started well with the bat, fumbled in the middle overs, in the end we thought we’ll win with Pant and Karthik but it changed again with Pant’s dismissal,” India captain Virat Kohli said at the post-match presentation.India vs Australia: Powerful Maxwell shot damages spider camera in BrisbaneShikhar Dhawan set India up in its run chase with a 42-ball 76 that included 10 boundaries and two sixes before he upper cut a short ball from Billy Stanlake to Jason Behrendorff on the third man boundary and India slipped to 105-4 from 11.4 overs.”He’s (Dhawan) a very strong player at the top of the order. Hasn’t got a T20 hundred yet, but the way he plays it really benefits the team. That’s how it goes in the game.advertisementIndia vs Australia 1st T20 at Gabba: As it happened”What we can do is learn from the mistakes and get back better. On the day, if we can have three-four guys to stand up for the team, that’s what we want. Don’t have much time to think of things, which can be a good thing as well as a bad thing,” Kohli added.Earlier, Australia posted 158 for 4 in a rain-interrupted 17 overs with Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn each belting four sixes.Also Read – Kim Hughes wants Australia to get under Virat Kohli’s skin and not be ‘pussycats’The rain delay brought the Duckworth-Lewis rules into play, and India had a revised target of 174 from 17 overs.Australia were going hammer and tongs in the last few overs as Maxwell smashed 46 runs off just 26 deliveries and received equal support from Marcus Stoinis, who took 19 deliveries to clobber 33 runs.Also Read – BCCI CEO Rahul Johri given clean chit in sexual harassment caseChinaman Kuldeep Yadav bagged a couple of wickets for 24 runs, however, Krunal Pandya, who remained wicketless, was hammered for 55 runs in his four overs.Also, pacer Khaleel Ahmed was expensive, leaking 42 runs in his three overs but took one wicket.The second T20I between the two sides will be played in Melbourne on November 23.
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 23: GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit is seen during ESPN’s College GameDay show at Times Square on September 23, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has reacted to Clemson’s dominant College Football Playoff national title game performance over Alabama.The Tigers blew out the Crimson Tide in Monday night’s championship game.Clemson crushed Alabama over the game’s final three quarters, going on to win, 44-16, to give Dabo Swinney his second national championship.Herbstreit, unsurprisingly, was impressed.“Congratulations to @ClemsonFB on winning their 2nd National Championship in 3 years! What a year for a team w/ tremendous leadership & focus. This squad was on a mission & it paid off tonight w/ a complete effort-coaching/preparation and execution by the players. Congrats Tigers!” he tweeted.Congratulations to @ClemsonFB on winning their 2nd National Championship in 3 years!What a year for a team w/ tremendous leadership & focus. This squad was on a mission & it paid off tonight w/ a complete effort-coaching/preparation and execution by the players. Congrats Tigers!— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) January 8, 2019Clemson has become, clearly, one of the country’s top two programs. The Tigers, along with the Crimson Tide (yes, still) are in a class of their own in the college football world.Swinney’s program isn’t slowing down anytime soon, either.Clemson will likely start the 2019 season ranked No. 1 in the country.
Governor-General, His Excellency, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, has reiterated his call for more Jamaicans to provide mentorship for boys across the island.At the Jamaica Teaching Council’s Boys’ Mentorship Training Programme, which took place at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston on June 20, the Governor-General said mentorship can save the lives of many of the nation’s boys who are at-risk.He emphasised that for more at-risk lives to be saved, more Jamaicans are needed to become mentors.“I am particularly interested in mentorship, as it is something very personal to me. All my life I have been mentored, and I have been mentoring young people, whether through teaching, pastoring or administrative leadership,” the Governor-General said.He noted that the age group nine to 25 accounts for 50 per cent of the population of Jamaica, and that successive governments continue to grapple with the chronic problem of the at- risk young men, aged 16 to 25, who are unemployed and unemployable.“Although many intervention programmes have been introduced, these have only scratched the surface of how to treat with these young people. The sociologists will tell you that there is a direct link between these unattached youth and crime,” he added.The Governor-General said the Jamaica Teaching Council has set a good example by hosting the three-day Mentorship Training Programme, where educators and others who work with boys participate, with the objective of training them to better reach youth who are at-risk across the island.“I am pleased that the Jamaica Teaching Council has recognised, and is doing something tangible about improving boys’ education in Jamaica. As you build on this base, and conduct this mentorship programme, I hope that more young men will become involved and will benefit,” he said.The Governor-General had words of encouragement for the young men who were present.“Young men, you are in this mentorship programme because people care about you and want you to be the best that you can be. In spite of the challenges faced by young men your age, you also have the greatest promise and potential for Jamaica. I see here, young men who will be the leaders of tomorrow. We could have among us a Councillor, Member of Parliament, Pastor, PrimeMinister, or even a Governor-General. Your mentors want you to become good citizens, efficient professionals, caring husbands and responsible fathers,” he said. “I am particularly interested in mentorship, as it is something very personal to me. All my life I have been mentored, and I have been mentoring young people, whether through teaching, pastoring or administrative leadership,” the Governor-General said. Governor-General, His Excellency, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, has reiterated his call for more Jamaicans to provide mentorship for boys across the island. Story Highlights At the Jamaica Teaching Council’s Boys’ Mentorship Training Programme, which took place at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston on June 20, the Governor-General said mentorship can save the lives of many of the nation’s boys who are at-risk.
The Council is deemed pivotal to Jamaica’s engagements in the post-IMF era, which is anticipated will follow when the current US$1.7-billion Precautionary Stand-By Arrangement concludes in November 2019. He pointed out that this has been manifested by the Government’s engagement of wide-ranging stakeholder groups who have been “active” participants in policy discussions. Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says multi-stakeholder acceptance and ownership of Jamaica’s proposed independent Fiscal Council will be key to its success. Story Highlights Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says multi-stakeholder acceptance and ownership of Jamaica’s proposed independent Fiscal Council will be key to its success.Fiscal councils are permanent, independent, non-partisan institutions that are created by legislation and staffed by competent, experienced and technically proficient persons who help to promote economically sustainable fiscal policies across political cycles.Dr. Clarke, who was speaking at a recent Caribbean Policy Research Institute public forum at the University of the West Indies, Mona, St. Andrew, noted that a key feature of Jamaica’s recent economic success “is the extent to which there has been broad ownership of our economic reforms”.He pointed out that this has been manifested by the Government’s engagement of wide-ranging stakeholder groups who have been “active” participants in policy discussions.This, the Minister added, has contributed to engendering a degree of social cohesion which is “enviable”.“That’s why the emergence of this institution (Fiscal Council) has to represent Jamaica’s own evolution. We have to be true to how we got to this position of success… and (that is) because we had broad ownership and engagement,” he argued.As such, Dr. Clarke said the Council’s success must embody those principles, adding that “finding a way for (that) kind of engagement… is going to be important”.The proposed Fiscal Council is consistent with the Government’s plans to secure Jamaica’s gains under successive economic reform programmes with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and build on the success of domestic partnership initiatives.The Council is deemed pivotal to Jamaica’s engagements in the post-IMF era, which is anticipated will follow when the current US$1.7-billion Precautionary Stand-By Arrangement concludes in November 2019.
zoom The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains as much as sixteen times more plastic than previously estimated, with pollution levels increasing exponentially.1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 metric tons are currently afloat in the area which is rapidly growing, according to a three-year mapping effort conducted by an international team of scientists affiliated with The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, six universities and an aerial sensor company.The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), located halfway between Hawaii and California, is the largest accumulation zone for ocean plastics on Earth. In order to analyze the full extent of the GPGP, the team conducted the most comprehensive sampling effort of the GPGP to date by crossing the debris field with 30 vessels simultaneously, supplemented by two aircraft surveys.Although most vessels were equipped with standard surface sampling nets, the fleet’s mothership RV Ocean Starr also trawled two six-meter-wide devices, which allowed the team to sample medium to largesized objects. To increase the surface area surveyed, and quantify the largest pieces of plastic a C-130 Hercules aircraft was fitted with advanced sensors to collect multispectral imagery and 3D scans of the ocean garbage. The fleet collected a total of 1.2 million plastic samples, while the aerial sensors scanned more than 300 km2 of ocean surface.The results reveal that the GPGP, defined as the area with more than 10 kg of plastic per km2, measures 1.6 million square kilometers, three times the size of continental France. These figures are four to sixteen times higher than previous estimates. 92% of the mass is represented by larger objects, while only 8% of the mass is contained in microplastics, defined as pieces smaller than 5 mm in size.“We were surprised by the amount of large plastic objects we encountered,” Dr. Julia Reisser, Chief Scientist of the expeditions, said, adding that they used to think most of the debris consists of small fragments.By comparing the amount of microplastics with historical measurements of the GPGP, the team found that plastic pollution levels within the GPGP have been growing exponentially since measurements began in the 1970s.“To be able to solve a problem, we believe it is essential to first understand it. These results provide us with key data to develop and test our cleanup technology, but it also underlines the urgency of dealing with the plastic pollution problem. Since the results indicate that the amount of hazardous microplastics is set to increase more than tenfold if left to fragment, the time to start is now,” Boyan Slat, Founder of The Ocean Cleanup and co-author of the study, concluded.
Nova Scotia’s video lottery terminals (VLTs) do not need moredistinctive clocks or a feature that would let players set theirown time, a new pilot study shows. The gaming corporation today, Nov. 15, released results of thepilot study, which looked at the effectiveness of six enhancedresponsible gaming features recommended by Focal ResearchConsultants Ltd. in 2002. “This type of research is part of the corporation’s on-goingcommitment to seek out evidence-based information to support ourresponsible gaming initiatives,” said Marie Mullally, presidentand CEO of the gaming corporation. The six suggested enhancements — which included making thepermanent clock more distinctive and letting players set theirown time — had been included in a 2002 study of the impact offour responsible gaming features that had already beenimplemented. The new research, also conducted by Focal Research ConsultantsLtd. showed that the enhanced features had little additionalbenefit over the existing four features. As a result of the research findings, the gaming corporation will not have the additional features installed on Nova Scotia’s VLTs. “We feel that this decision is the right one based on theresearch findings,” added Ms. Mullally. “We’re also veryencouraged with the researcher’s recommendations since they areconsistent with the direction in which the corporation wasalready headed.” The pilot study report recommends that responsible gamingresources be focused on a card-based solution that will allowplayers to keep track of the amount of money they spend. This recommendation fully supports the initiative that the gamingcorporation has been actively pursuing over the last year. The full pilot study report is available on the gamingcorporation website at http://www.gamingcorp.ns.ca .
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court asked the Railways on Tuesday as to what steps it has taken, and proposes to take, to ensure availability of clean and safe drinking water on its trains as well as stations. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued the direction after the Railways told the court that it has set up chlorination plants to treat the water it was getting from several sources. It said it was also periodically sending samples of water collected from its stations to accredited laboratories for testing for the presence of bacteria like E.coli.The bench asked the lawyer for the Railways to file an affidavit indicating the steps it has taken and proposes in future for ensuring clean drinking water on its trains and stations. The court was hearing a PIL by NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, which has sought “an independent and preferably court-monitored probe into the neglect of the quality of the drinking water supply and the manipulations in the award of contracts for supply of chlorination plants for past several years”. During the hearing, advocates Prashant Bhushan and Govind Jee, appearing for the NGO, said the railways was neither adhering to the standards laid down for drinking water by the Bureau of Indian Standards nor following the Indian Railway Medical Manual. The lawyers said that water being provided on stations and trains ought to be tested at reputed laboratories as not all accredited labs have the facilities to properly test the water samples. They said the Railways should set up water testing labs at regional and zonal levels. The plea has claimed that “the water treatment infrastructure for disinfection of water by chlorination has almost completely collapsed and level of contamination in the entire supply network from the source to the top is alarming”.
Lucknow: Congress workers sat on a fast on Wednesday in Lucknow, demanding that the BJP expel the rape-accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar from the party as his mere suspension will not deter him from influencing the probe in the cases against him.Sengar, a four-time MLA, represents the Bangermau constituency in the UP assembly. A woman has accused him of raping her at his residence in 2017 when she was a minor. The rape case against him was filed after she tried to immolate herself outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence in April last year. On Sunday, her car was hit by a truck when she was going to meet her uncle Mahesh Singh in Rae Bareli jail. Two of her relatives died and she and her lawyer are critical and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Lucknow. Also Read – Uddhav bats for ‘Sena CM’The rape victim’s family has alleged the road accident was a result of a conspiracy. The CBI has taken over the accident case and booked Sengar and 10 others in this connection. On Wednesday, Congress party workers and members of associated groups sat on a fast at the GPO park. “The ‘upvas’ is in support of our demand for expulsion of the MLA from BJP as mere suspension will not serve the purpose and he will continue to influence police and administration,” Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said. Also Read – Farooq demands unconditional release of all detainees in J&KThe opposition party is also demanding the best treatment available to the rape victim and her advocate, who are battling for life at a hospital after the accident on Sunday, Lallu said. “We have also demanded that all those belonging to the family of the rape survivor who have lost their lives in their battle for justice be given an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore each and one month parole to Mahesh Singh, her uncle, so that he can take care of the family,” he said. The victim’s uncle is in Rae Bareli jail in connection with an old case.Lallu said his party has sought time from Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel to hand her a memorandum in this connection. The CLP leader visited the rape victim in the hospital and said her condition is stated to be still very critical, the advocate has improved slightly. On Tuesday too, Congress workers staged a ‘dharna’ for Sengar’s expulsion from BJP and later courted arrest when they were stopped from moving towards the saffron party office.
TV presenter turned novelist, Judy Finnigan, will be the face of a new BBC Lifeline appeal for Fight for Sight, the main UK charity that’s dedicated to funding pioneering eye research to prevent sight loss and treat eye disease.Judy was keen to support the charity after seeing her mother lose her sight to Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the most common form of sight loss in the over 60’s, when she was in her mid-seventies. Judy’s greatest fear is losing her own sight and she has already received emergency eye operations to prevent her sight from deteriorating.In 2010 Judy had a detached retina in her right eye and had to have several eye operations to correct this. On top of this she has had to have an operation to close a hole that had opened in the macula, as a result of the first procedure.Judy said: “I’ve witnessed first-hand the devastation that sight loss can cause, seeing my mother lose her confidence was heart-breaking. My own experience was extremely difficult and it makes you fully appreciate your sight. It’s something I will never take for granted.“There are some great support charities helping people living with sight loss but Fight for Sight is unique. It’s the main one out there funding research to prevent future generations from losing their sight. I would encourage people to dig deep and help support this worthy cause.”Fight for Sight is currently investing £8m into eye research at 35 universities and hospitals across the country.Michele Acton, Fight for Sight’s Chief Executive said: “I’m grateful that Judy is the face of the appeal. With her first-hand experience of sight loss, she can fully relate to our supporters. Due to the lack of research funding, Fight for Sight can only support one in six research applications and we’re having to turn down key projects.“Thank you to Judy and the BBC for choosing Fight for Sight for their Lifeline appeal. I can not stress how important your money will be in making a difference, allowing us to continue funding pioneering eye research.”The appeal will also feature some of the research Fight for Sight is funding and the people that this research will benefit.Belinda Wilkinson, 78, from Suffolk who like Judy’s late mother and Dame Judi Dench has AMD. In Belinda’s case, her sight is blurred in her left eye and she has lost her central vision in her right eye.Professor Steve Moss at the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology is leading one of these research projects. His research explores AMD and the complement proteins that alter the characteristics of the retinal cells.The Salisbury family, from Kent, is also taking part including Emma Salisbury and her 14-year-old son, Tommy. Tommy was diagnosed with Choroideremia, an inherited condition that affects one in 50,000 people worldwide when he was five years old. This will lead to progressive loss of vision. There is currently no cure.Professor Robert MacLaren from Oxford University will be featured talking about leading the world’s first gene-replacement clinical trial for Choroideremia. Without initial funds from the Salisbury family via Fight for Sight the trial wouldn’t have been possible. The findings have already shown promising results.The appeal will be shown on BBC One, Sunday 20 April at 5pm and is repeated BBC Two Thursday 24 April at 9.45am.Donations for the BBC appeal will open immediately after airing via phone, online, and post. For donations in the meantime, please contact Fight for Sight directly on 0207 264 3900 or visit www.fightforsight.org.ukSource:Fight for Sight
Melbourne: Polling companies in Australia are facing the heat after the forecast debacle, with data analysts putting the blame on unrepresentative samples, inability of pollsters to keep up with technology and inadequate monitoring of real-time sentiment on social media. Defying exit poll prections, the ruling Liberal-National conservative coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed a shock victory in Saturday’s general election. It was a stunning turnaround after every opinion poll over the campaign predicted a Labor Party victory. A Galaxy exit poll had put Labor Party led by Bill Shorten at 52 per cent of the vote compared to 48 per cent for the Liberal National coalition, according to Nine News. The Federal opinion poll aggregate BludgerTrack 2019 – which draws from Newspoll, Galaxy, Ipsos, YouGov, Essential Research and ReachTEL polls – also had Labor at 51.7 per cent and the Coalition sitting at 48.3 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis when it was last updated on Friday. In the wake of the Labor Party’s shocking loss, many on social media have railed against the results, Australian news site news.com.au reported. Political scientist Dr Andy Marks, who said earlier in the campaign that a Labor victory was “virtually unquestionable” based on polling, told SBS News that the result shows how “worthless mainstream polling has become”. “I think this is really a cataclysmic era of polling in this country,” he said. “We’ve seen surprises with Brexit (in the UK) and with (Donald) Trump (in the US) in recent years, but generally Australia, due to compulsory voting and other more stabilising factors, hasn’t really been exposed.” Tasmanian electoral analyst Kevin Bonham also described the events as a “massive polling failure”. “Pollsters will have to look at whether their sampling was unrepresentative.” He said he suspected that polling companies tinkered with the raw numbers and made adjustments to stop polls swinging wildly from poll to poll. “I don’t have direct evidence of that … nobody wants to be pushing polling that bounces around too much,” he was quoted as saying by the Financial Review. As of Sunday, Bonham said there seemed to be a three per cent error across every poll in the past two weeks, which is far outside the usual margin for error. “It’s like one poll can be three per cent out and that’s what you would sort of expect now and then by random chance. But all the polls being out by that amount in the same direction and getting all the same results is something that absolutely cannot happen by random chance,” he said. According to Bonham, a number of factors might have been at play, including unrepresentative samples, oversampling people who are politically engaged and herding (when polling firms adjust their results to more closely match competitors out of fear of being wrong). And while compulsory voting may have protected Australia against inaccurate polling in the past, some experts believe it was also a contributor to what happened this time. Writing in The Conversation on Sunday, University of Melbourne statistician Adrian Beaumont said people with higher education levels are more likely to respond to polls, potentially skewing the results. When it comes to voluntary voting systems, this factor does not have as much of an effect as educated people are also more likely to be vote, he argued. Political scientist Dr Andy Marks, however, said the issues were largely due to the fact mainstream polling companies have not been able to keep up with technology. The mobile age has affected pollster ability to generate random samples, he said. “The old idea of ringing up somebody on the landline and asking them who they’ll vote for is redundant and has kind of been redundant, I think, for the last three or four years,” he said.
Carolyn McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said all sectors must work together to respond to the tragedy of HIV/AIDS and its impact on humanitarian emergencies.Moderating the ECOSOC panel held yesterday, Ms. McAskie said of particular concern were populations torn by conflict, which had the capacity to further the spread of HIV/AIDS through violations of human rights, including rape and sexual abuse.Communities in complex emergencies were particularly vulnerable to communicable diseases due to displacement, overcrowding, malnutrition, poor water and lack of sanitation, said David Nabarro, Executive Director for Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments at the UN World Health Organization (WHO). He said national and local capacity to respond was reduced due to the breakdown of public health systems.Michel Sidibe, Director of the Country and Regional Support Department at the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said the interplay between the pandemic and emergency situations makes it paramount to bridge the artificial divide between humanitarian and development work. Of primary concern, is rebuilding the capacity of institutions weakened by AIDS – which means targeting highly affected communities – and integrating the disease into standard humanitarian assessment tool books.Jean-Jacques Graisse, Deputy Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said his agency was now devoting a sizeable amount of its attention to the relationship between food security and HIV/AIDS. The international community is witnessing a large-scale emergency fuelled by disease, such as in southern Africa crisis were a deadly convergence of HIV/AIDS, chronic poverty, poor policy environments and food shortages had left millions of people in need of urgent assistance.Massimo Barra, President of the European Red Cross Network on AIDS, said no organization could defeat AIDS on its own, nor would politically correct speeches and debates change the course of the epidemic. Instead, changes in the policy environment among the governments of affected and donor countries and a collaborative approach among implementing agencies were needed, he stressed.
Since the day Urban Meyer arrived in Columbus to coach the Ohio State football team, fans have been preparing for this season as they would any other, despite the team’s bowl ban. I’m warning you now, Buckeye Nation is going to regret that in the end. OSU finished 2011 with seven losses, but the Meyer-led Buckeyes still earned placement in the Associated Press’ preseason top 25 poll. The No. 18 Buckeyes then made short work of Miami (Ohio) to begin the bowl-less, postseason-less campaign. The opening win against the RedHawks was throttling – Meyer showed no mercy and sent the Scarlet and Gray marching up and down the field on touchdown drives up until the final minute of the 56-10 pounding. Fans cheered louder still, increasingly hopeful that OSU can upset the rest of the Big Ten Conference and throw a scarlet-colored wrench into the postseason picture for the rest of college football. The ranking increased too – OSU jumped to No. 14 when the AP released its second poll of the young college football season Tuesday. Now, the Buckeyes are heavy favorites against Central Florida, a team most figure will put up far more fight than the RedHawks did before limping out of Ohio Stadium. Meyer’s squad could very well make good on the 17 1/2 pointline put to OSU, according to vegas.com. Should OSU beat a formidable UCF team, the cheers of the fans will grow louder. The hands bearing wrenches will cock back even farther in anticipation of the Buckeyes upsetting the rest of the Bowl Championship Series-eligible teams. How high can the Buckeyes climb in the rankings? Will they win the Leaders Division and therefore assign an asterisk to the team that advances to the championship game in their place? And, as I suspect many OSU fans would like, will Buckeye Nation forever be able to stamp a permanent “What if?” on this college football season? As in, “Sure, Team X won the national title, but what if the Buckeyes had been eligible?” The rhetorical debate about whether OSU would have beaten the eventual national champion would serve as the ultimate taunt to the NCAA and opposing fans that relished in this university’s bowl ban. The Buckeyes may well mount a case as the best team in the Big Ten by season’s end. Sure, OSU could also run the table. And with Meyer at the helm, the team is that much less likely to falter during one of those tricky night games on the road later this season, such as the contests in East Lansing, Mich., and Madison, Wis., this fall. Then Buckeyes fans can go to the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis and have their fun – taunt both the winner and the loser of the game because, hey, what if the Buckeyes had been around for it? No one can say OSU wouldn’t have won. Yes, I can hear it now: “What if we were eligible?” My caution to each Buckeyes fan is that this very mindset is the real taunt. It’s the Scarlet and Gray-clad fans of Columbus that will suffer, not the fans in Ann Arbor, Mich., or Baton Rouge, La., or Tuscaloosa, Ala., or even Los Angeles for that matter. If OSU has the best record in its division or goes undefeated or loses only a single game as so many Buckeyes fans hope and then ascends to the top of the AP poll, well, there will be misery in the end. Everyone will walk out of Ohio Stadium on Nov. 24 after the Buckeyes beat Michigan, high-fiving and “what if-ing” the whole damn nation. But after the Buckeyes fans go their separate ways after that game, they won’t be reconvening in a tropical location where the team will play for a new addition to the trophy case. That’s it. All that’s left, really, will be speculation. All the “what if’s” will be rebuked by the college football fans of the world, and rightfully so. After all, you won’t even be sitting on the sidelines during bowl season – you and I will be sitting at home in frigid Ohio on our couches. “What if?,” an Alabama fan might say to a Buckeyes fan prior to the national title game. “What if Jim Tressel ran a clean program? Then you could join me in the stadium and we could find out what OSU’s really made of.” Then, the Alabama fan, ticket in hand, would smirk and turn to begin the final walk into the stadium in the tropical locale where he or she will meet his postseason destiny. Not Buckeye Nation, though. Not this year. You can “what if” and taunt all you like – the fact is that the rest of the country will proceed to the bowl games with all the pageantry and sparkly souvenirs. By no means does the postseason ban mean we should root against the Buckeyes or pray for a loss or two just so we aren’t tortured by the thoughts – the what if’s – of how we might have fared in the national title game, or some other BCS game. I don’t know what the alternative is. For my friends and readers numbered among those that are hoping OSU upsets the national postseason picture, maybe I’m hoping there’s an opponent lurking on OSU’s schedule that undoes all the potential “what-if’s” and puts to bed the notion that this team has national title potential. At least this would help prevent the inevitable heartache that will accompany theorizing about what OSU could have done. Can’t say I’m not looking out for you. All I’m saying is that Columbus is going to be pretty quiet and pretty unhappy as bowl bids are handed out in late November. ESPN won’t be talking about the Buckeyes anymore; the focus will inevitably shift to those teams left standing. No all-access TV specials. No flights to Miami or Pasadena. You couldn’t even go back to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl if you wanted to, not that many of you went back in January when you had the chance. No new T-shirts. No pep rallies. It will all be over. But doesn’t this sound like an empty fate to be actively rooting for? Think hard – is a would-have-been-BCS-bowl-eligible OSU team really what you want from the 2012 season? If so, you could be regretting that while you’re sitting on your coach watching the bowls in December and January.
Traditional foods of Cyprus will be on the menu at he Cypriot Community of WA annual dinner dance on Saturday 22 September. The feast will include lamb and chicken souvla as well as other delicacies and Greek mezethes along with wines from Cyprus. The dinner dance will be an opportunity to enjoy good food and company, traditional dancing and Greek music as well as all things representing the Cypriot culture. The event will be held at Alexander the Great Hall on Homer St, Dianella and we are starting at 6:30 pm and finishing late. Tickets are $50 for adults and $30 for children aged 5-16. Children under 5 years of age are free. To reserve a table email: admin@cypriotcommunitywa.com or call Andy 0405 300123 or Zak 0404 264812. Facebook Twitter: @NeosKosmos Instagram
Facebook Twitter: @NeosKosmos Instagram Premier Daniel Andrews joined Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan and AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan to announce a six month extension to Victoria’s Night Network of trains, trams, buses and regional coaches. All night public transport will continue to run through Summer and Autumn, ensuring people out for the night or working late continue to have access to public transport on Friday and Saturday nights. “People will be able to enjoy the world’s most liveable city for longer this summer, and shift workers will continue to have access to the trains, trams and buses they need to get home,” the Premier said.“Whether you’re kicking on after the footy, heading out for a show or working late on the weekend, Night Network is there to get you home safer and sooner.”Meanwhile, the measure will allow services to be assessed over a full 12 month period and help organisers plan for the massive line up of events between January and June, including the Australian Open, Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Comedy Festival. It will also ensure all night public transport is on offer for the start of next year’s footy season, so fans who have kicked on after the game can get home safer and sooner. “We’re the only state in the country that offers all night public transport on weekends, and one of only two cities in the world to offer all night transport across trains, trams and buses,” Minister for Transport, Jacinta Allan added.“The six-month extension will give us a chance to properly assess the trial over a full year, and give certainty to event organisers and passengers in the lead up to the new year.”To promote Night Network services on offer in the lead up to footy finals, a glow-in-the-dark mural will be on display for Friday night’s clash at the MCG, and Saturday’s match at Etihad Stadium. “We encourage our fans to make use of these extended public transport services until Grand Final Day,” AFL CEO, Gillon McLachlan said. “The services are great not only for our matches, but also for our AFL live site activity which will be situated again in Yarra Park in Grand Final week.” An average of 35,000 people use Night Network to get home safer and sooner every weekend – and more than 20 per cent of passengers are shift-workers, in hospitality, essential services or other industries operating overnight. These workers previously had no choice but to drive or catch a cab home, or wait around for the first service in the morning. Now they can jump on one of 300 overnight train services, 250 tram services or around 500 bus and coach services to get home when their shift ends. For timetables and more information, visit ptv.vic.gov.au/night-network. 
Police said the armed robber fled the hotel with $600.While the security video doesn’t capture a clear picture of the robber, Sarmiento said she will never forget his face. “He had a tattoo on the right side of the eye. Dark eyes and a little mustache right here,” she said as she pointed above her lips.Miami Beach Police described the subject as armed and dangerous. “Not only did he point [the gun] at the cashier, he also made statements that he would kill her if the victim did not provide the money,” said Miami Beach Police Officer Ernesto Rodriguez. “Thankfully, she cooperated and provided the $600 in the register. Now what we’re looking for is the public’s help in identifying this subject.”Days later, Sarmiento said, she is still shaken. She has a message for the man who held her up and took off running. “Think about your actions. You can ruin your life. You can ruin somebody’s life,” she said.If you have any information on this robbery, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.Copyright 2019 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – Police are searching for a man who was caught on camera robbing a Miami Beach hotel cashier at gunpoint, Sunday night.According to surveillance video and police, the subject held up employee Becky Sarmiento at the Ocean Surf Hotel at gunpoint, at around 8:30 p.m.The victim told 7News the robbery will haunt her for years. “I barely sleep. I see his face everywhere,” she said. “I thank God nothing happened to me. I could have been dead.”Sarmiento, 28, said she was working the weekend shift at the hotel, located at 7436 Ocean Terrace, when all of a sudden, a man rushed through the front door and aimed a gun at her.“He said, ‘Nobody move or I’ll shoot,’” she said. “He came up to me and put the gun in my face, saying, ‘Give me all the money.’”Acting fast, Sarmiento said, she reached back and grabbed cash from the drawer. “He did seem very scared, nervous,” she said, “but I saw that if I didn’t rush, he seemed mad. He would definitely shoot me.” 
Awami League president, prime minister Sheikh Hasina is seen addressing a party meeting at Ganabhaban on MondayPrime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has started playing “blame game” after being rejected by the people in the city corporation elections.“The BNP has started playing blame game after not getting response from the people in the city corporation polls and their tricks have been caught red-handed,” she said.Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, made the accusation while delivering her introductory speech at a meeting of her party’s central working committee at Ganabhaban in the city this afternoon.Her comments came as police have arrested Rajshahi BNP general secretary Matiur Rahman Montu over the bomb explosion at a meeting organised for Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, the BNP mayoral candidate for the upcoming city corporation election.Rajshahi police officials said that BNP leaders ‘planned the attack by themselves’ in an effort to ‘raise questions’ about the election environment.Montu was detained by police from his home in the Rajshahi city’s Ramchandrapur area late on Saturday after police found audio of a ‘phone conversation’ involving Montu and BNP assistant pffice secretary Saiful Islam Tipu, said Rajshahi Metropolitan Police spokesman Iftekhayar Alam.Referring to unleashing of killing, terrorism and arson attacks by the BNP in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the prime minister said the BNP has a habit to hurl bombs and ransack vehicles by themselves.“They will stage an incident and later put blame on the Awami League. They are expert in staging drama … they want to draw international attention through it,” she said, adding none can overtake the BNP in this falsehood.The premier said directives are there so that no untoward incident takes place centering the ensuing city corporation polls of Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal.“We have directed the law enforcement agencies to arrest the troublemakers whoever might be and whatever party they belong to as we want that everybody will conduct election campaign freely. We’ve maintained that environment,” she said.Then, she said, cocktails were exploded at a meeting of the BNP candidate in Rajshahi and the BNP put blame on Awami League for it. “But as per the statement of the Rajshahi BNP leader, they committed the crime,” she said.The prime minister said the BNP wanted to take this incident to the international level and it also got huge publicity in the global media. “There is no doubt that various games will start when the national election is nearing,” she remarked.Referring to the history of the country, Sheikh Hasina said the BNP killed people in the past by hurling grenades and bombs and carrying out arson attacks.In this connection, she mentioned the killings of Shah AMS Kibria in Sylhet, Ahsanullah Master in Gazipur and Manjurul Imam in Khulna, killing of journalists in Khulna, grenade attacks on Sylhet city mayor Badaruddin Qamran and Women Awami League meeting in Sylhet.‘If we see the history, throwing bombs and grenades and killing of the people are the only work of the BNP,” she said.The premier added that the BNP committed misdeeds and harboured terrorism and militancy and wanted to destroy Bangladesh through these crimes.
Dave FehlingThe dam at Barker Reservoir in February 2016Back in April when a foot and a half of rain fell west of Houston, it nearly filled up both the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs that lie along the Katy Freeway at Highway 6. Since then, millions of gallons have slowly been released through dam gates into Buffalo Bayou.Richard Long with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages the dams. We talked with him Tuesday afternoon.“Well the reservoirs are in real good condition right now. Addicks Reservoir emptied out overnight, actually, just last night, and Barker Reservoir will empty in the next couple of days. So we will be basically through with all the Tax Day floodwater and all the rains that have occurred since then,” Long said.The dams were built in the 1940s and have been deemed “extremely high risk” because of their age and the potential for billions of dollars in damage to Houston should they fail.A $75 million renovation was just getting started when the Tax Day flood hit. Construction stopped and it was only Tuesday that crews could access the site and resume their work.“Over the next few weeks and months, after the reservoirs are empty, we’ll be doing a detailed inspection of the entire dam, but at this point we don’t expect to find anything glaring that would cause us any concern,“ said Long.Long said he’s confident the reservoirs are ready for next big one, which he hopes won’t be anytime soon. To embed this piece of audio in your site, please use this code: X 00:00 /01:15 Listen Share
What is it that makes Grumpy Cat so grumpy? These days it’s because she has to go to court because some company misappropriated her image to sell coffee.Four years ago, the Grumpy Cat meme took the Internet by storm. We couldn’t get enough of Tardar Sauce and her signature frown, and marketing departments took notice. That kicked off the second wave of Grumpy Cat as officially-licensed merchandise flooded store shelves.One of those products was Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino, which was bottled and sold by Grenade Beverage. Well, technically it was sold by Grumpy Beverage, LLC — a corporation specifically set up to market a line of iced coffee drinks with the feline sourpuss on its packaging… because, let’s face it, people will buy anything, especially if there’s a picture of something they recognize on it.AdChoices广告Grumpy Cat and coffee go together like… well, any random product and an equally random famous thing.The cat claws didn’t come out until bags of Grumpy Cat roasted coffee went on sale. Grumpy Cat’s owners cried foul (or “unauthorized use,” anyway) and slapped Grenade Beverage with a lawsuit. They want Grenade punished for overstepping their bounds to the tune of $600,000 — $150,000 each for four transgressions. That’s the maximum they can seek, because Grumpy Cat Limited doesn’t mess around. You can’t when your CEO has a perma-scowl, really.Grenade has fired back, claiming that they forked over an advance payment of $150,000 without ever receiving “any continuing support” from Grumpy Cat Limited. They’ll be heading back to court next month to straighten things out, and only one thing is certain: Grumpy Cat won’t be pleased with the outcome no matter which side wins.