The Big Bash League (BBL) was launched in style on Tuesday as four of the League’s stars were seen at Bellerive Yacht Club, Hobart after a short ride on the ‘HMAS BBL’.
Sydney Sixers’ Carlos Brathwaite, Adelaide Strikers’ Peter Siddle, Hobart Hurricanes’ Ben McDermott, and Melbourne Renegades’ Beau Webster enjoyed a morning on the Derwent River before alighting at Bellerive, a short drive from Blundstone Arena where the BBL|10 seasons will commence this Thursday, December 10. The players shared thoughts on the season ahead, including the influx of international stars who have arrived or are on their way to Australia plus the three new rule innovations introduced this year.
Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s Head of Big Bash Leagues who was also present at the launch, and said that the anticipation was at unprecedented levels for the biggest BBL season yet.
“Without doubt, the build-up to the BBL|10 season is the biggest since the League launched a decade ago. We know our fans are going to love what this season will bring. We’ve got more overseas stars than ever before, new innovations, and a bold fixture that will see every club host matches in their home markets,’ said Dobson.
“It was great to see the smiles on the faces of the players this morning who jumped off the HMAS BBL to share their thoughts on the season. Now it’s time to let the cricket do the talking,” he added. The first match of the tournament will be played on Thursday between Hobart Hurricanes and the Sydney Sixers.
Defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis has signed a contract extension with Manchester City, keeping him at the club until 2024.
The central defender has been part of Manchester City’s Academy set-up for a decade. He had made his first-team debut in September 2019 in City’s Carabao Cup win away at Preston. He has since gone on to make six senior appearances for City thus far and he scored his maiden first-team goal during City’s FA Cup win over Port Vale in January this year.
“This is a dream come true for me and my family. I’ve been at City since I was young and I love this football club. To have played for the first team was the culmination of so much hard work, and this new contract feels like the next big step in my career,” the official website of City quoted Harwood-Bellis as saying.
He’s here to stay! 🙌@bellis_taylor has signed on until 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ 💪
“The club has given me so much and I want to thank them. So many coaches across the Academy have helped me become the player I am today and now Pep and his staff are helping me to improve. The confidence Pep has placed in me makes me feel like anything is possible, and the work he and his staff do on the training field is making me a better defender,” he added. Manchester City is currently at the seventh position in the Premier League 2020-21 standings with 18 points from 10 matches.
The side will take on Marseille on Wednesday in the Champions League and then Pep Guardiola’s side will return to Premier League action in a match against Manchester United on Saturday.
Farmers at Burari’s Nirankari Samagam ground started their day with the morning prayers as usual
New Delhi –
Amid a Bharat bandh call on Tuesday, the farmers’ protest against the three recently enacted agricultural laws entered its 13th day on Tuesday with demonstrations continuing on Sant Nirankari Samagam ground in Burari on the outskirts of Delhi and at borders.
Farmers at Burari’s Nirankari Samagam ground started their day with the morning prayers as usual.
The day ahead is expected to be busy with the protesting farmer unions observing a nationwide bandh today as they are not satisfied with the amendments to the agricultural legislation being proposed by the government during several rounds of talks.
Farmers, however, have informally assured police that the protest will be peaceful and participation is voluntary.
While many mandi’s in the national capital like Azadpur have supported the Bharat bandh call, several big market associations like Chandni Chowk, Connaught Place, Sadar Bazar and Sarojni Nagar have decided not to be part of it.
As per Delhi Police, security deployment at market areas has been increased to make sure that nobody puts pressure on shopkeepers to shut shops.
In view of the bandh, a huge force of security personnel was deployed at Singhu border between Haryana and Delhi.
The police said their focus will be between 10.00 am and 3.00 pm when farmers are proposing Chakka Jam (traffic blockade).
Farmers are protesting against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
PM Modi said India emerging as the most preferred destination for mobile manufacturing
New Delhi [India]: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India is emerging as the most preferred destination for mobile manufacturing.
Addressing the India Mobile Congress via video conferencing, he said that every village in India will have high-speed optical fiber data network connectivity in three years. “India is emerging as the most preferred destination for mobile manufacturing. We have also come up with a production linked incentive scheme to promote telecom equipment manufacturing in India. Let us work together to make India a global hub for telecom equipment, design, development, and manufacturing,” he said. “We need to work together to ensure a timely roll-out of 5G to leapfrog into the future and empower millions of Indians,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that the country will embark on one of the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive with the help of mobile technology. “Today we are a country with billion-plus phone users, we have a billion-plus people with unique digital identity, we have over 750 million users, the scale and speed of internet penetration can be seen by following facts,” he said.
We’ve achieved much success in mobile manufacturing and India is emerging as one of the preferred destinations for mobile manufacturing: PM @narendramodi
“Half of the total internet users in India were added in the last 4 years, half of the total internet users are in rural areas, our digital size and digital appetite are unprecedented. We are in a country where the tariff is the lowest in the world. We are one of the fast-growing mobile app markets in the world. The digital potential of our nation is unparallel,” he added. PM Modi said that the government is able to provide benefits worth billions of dollars to millions of Indians due to mobile technology.
“Because of mobile technology that we were able to help the poor and vulnerable quickly during the pandemic. Because of mobile technology that we are seeing billions of cashless transactions which boost formalization and transparency. Because of mobile technology that we will enable smooth contactless interface on toll booths,” he said.
PM Modi said that it was difficult to imagine the kind of impact the mobile revolution had on our country, society, and the world ten years ago. “It is important to think and plan how do we improve lives with the upcoming technology revolution. Better healthcare, Better education, Better information and opportunities for our farmers, Better market access for small businesses are some of the goals we can work towards,” he said.
“It is due to your innovation and efforts that the world was functional despite the pandemic. It is due to your efforts that a son connected with his mother in a different city. A student learns from his teacher without being in the classroom. A patient consulted his doctor from his home A trader connected with a consumer from different geography,” he added. The Prime Minister said that the new other service provider guidelines will help the Indian IT Industry achieve new heights. “It will boost the growth of this sector even after a pandemic is long gone. This initiative will help to democratize the Indian IT industry and take it to the far corners of our country,” he said.
Speaking further, the Prime Minister said: “A lot of young techies tell me that it is the Code which makes a product special. Some entrepreneurs tell me that it is a Concept which matters more. Investors suggest that it is Capital which is important to scale a product.”
“But often, what matters the most is the Conviction the youngsters have on their product. Sometimes conviction is all that stands between just a profitable exit and making of a unicorn,” he added.
The Prime Minister pointed out that due to technological up-gradation, we have a culture of replacing handsets and gadgets frequently. “Can the industry form a task-force to think of a better way of handling electronic waste and create a circular economy?” he sought to know.
It was on December 8, 2011, when Virender Sehwag became just the second batsman in the history of the sport to score a double century in ODIs.
Sehwag, went on to score 219 runs against West Indies at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. The 41-year-old smashed 41 fours and seven sixes to register the score of 219 against West Indies and this knock by the batsman enabled India to post a score of 418/5 in the allotted fifty overs. India then went on to win the match by 153 runs. In his cricketing career, Sehwag played 251 ODIs and 104 Tests for India amassing 8,273 and 8,586 runs respectively.
The Delhi-based batsman also has scored two triple hundreds for India in the longest format of the game.
The individual score of 200 has been scored by batsmen just eight times in ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar was the first man on the planet to score a double ton in ODIs as he achieved the feat against South Africa in 2008 at Gwalior. Rohit Sharma has registered a double century in ODIs three times. He scored his first double ton against Australia in 2013.
Then, he went on to achieve the feat against Sri Lanka in 2014 and 2017. Rohit also has the record of the highest individual score in ODIs as he registered a knock of 264 runs against Sri Lanka in 2014. He scored 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014 and he also registered 208 runs against Australia in 2017.
Due to Bharat Bandh ‘Rail roko’ protest in Maharashtra’s Buldhana, several detained for stopping train
Buldhana (Maharashtra) [India]: Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana staged ‘Bharat Bandh Rail Roko’ protest and briefly stopped a train in Malkapur of Buldhana district on Tuesday.
They were later removed from the tracks by police and detained. After several rounds of talks between farmers and the central government remained inconclusive, thousands of farmers protesting against the Centre’s agricultural sector laws have called for “Bharat Bandh” today demanding the immediate recall of the farm laws.
Farmer unions on Friday decided to intensify their agitation against the farm laws calling for ‘Bharat Bandh’ today stating that they were not satisfied with amendments to the agricultural legislations being proposed by the government.
“The bandh will be observed throughout Tuesday, but the ‘chakka jam’ (road blockade) will be on only till 3 pm,” said Darshan Pal, Punjab unit president of the Krantikari Kisan Union said on Monday.
The farmers’ union urged farmers not to force anyone to join the call for Bharat Bandh.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws–Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Leaders of farmer groups have held several rounds of talks with the government but all of them remained inconclusive so far. After the fifth round of talks, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called another meeting on December 9.
WhatsApp rolls out a new feature to notify users about in-app updates
Washington [US]: Instant messaging application WhatsApp has rolled out a new handy feature that will allow WhatsApp to make in-app announcements around new updates.
According to Mashable, as reported by a popular website WABetaInfo, the feature is called ‘in-app notifications’ and it will be used to make new announcements on WhatsApp. Currently, WhatsApp makes all the new announcements through its blog, however, soon users would be able to directly get these on the app. These in-app updates could direct users to a specific website or even require them to take a particular action. This feature will not be used by WhatsApp for advertising purposes.
As reported by Mashable, these announcements will not be delivered to users via chat instead these will appear as an in-app banner. The first new announcement made by WhatsApp using this feature is the new Terms of Service which states that WhatsApp is releasing their new terms and also sheds light on the main aim of the update.
A previous report by Mashable said that WhatsApp will be updating its Terms of Service in 2021 and WhatsApp users will have to accept it or they will have to delete their account. The main focus of this update is around how WhatsApp processes user data and how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats. The update will take effect on February 8, 2021.
If users don’t agree with the changes or the updated terms of service, they will lose access to their account. To delete a WhatsApp account, users will have to go to settings > account > delete my account.
West Indies pacer Kemar Roach, who lost his father Andrew Smith recently, might miss the second Test against New Zealand which gets underway on December 11.
New Zealand defeated Jason Holder-led side by an innings and 134 runs to register their biggest win in terms of runs against the West Indies here at Seddon Park on Sunday. Roach, who had played this game soon after the news of the death of his father, might return home to join his family.
The West Indies skipper said the side is doubtful of Shane Dowrich’s availability for the second Test too. Dowrich had picked up a finger injury on the first day of the opening Test while keeping and didn’t bat in either innings.
“Kemar, thankfully for us he pushed through this Test match but I think he’ll be going home after this to be with his family,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Holder as saying.
“Shane, we’re not quite sure the extent of his finger injury at the moment. He’s been complaining of a lot of pain. Looking pretty doubtful for the second Test as well, but we’ve just got to assess for the next couple of days,” he added.
With this win, New Zealand has taken a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series. The second and final Test between the two sides begins December 11 at Wellington.
A study published online on Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) found that earlier development of menopause symptoms can be alleviated with sufficient volume and intensity of physical activity.
Menopause is the natural suspension, of a woman’s menstrual cycle, which marks the end of fertility. In most cases, women experience menopause by the age of 52, but pelvic or ovarian damage may cause sudden menopause earlier in life. Genetics or underlying conditions may also be a reason for an early onset of menopause.
The symptoms of Menopause may also arise as a result of radiotherapy to the pelvic field, surgical removal of the ovaries, or systemic chemotherapy. When such procedures occur in pre-menopausal or peri-menopausal women, they often result in sudden and sometimes irreversible menopause that is accompanied by more frequent and severe menopause symptoms.
Various cancer-treating endocrine therapies, such as the use of tamoxifen, can also amplify symptoms, especially hot flashes. The study involved nearly 300 women to investigate the association between self-reported physical activity and menopause symptoms. In addition, the researchers evaluated whether intervention targeting lifestyle behavior could improve changes in physical activity levels and menopause symptoms.
Results suggest that menopause symptoms are less severe in women with medium to high levels of physical activity than in women with low levels of such activity. The intervention, however, was not determined to play a role in increasing physical activity in women being treated for breast, reproductive, or blood cancers.
Although this was not the first study to examine the association of physical activity with menopause symptoms, it was the first to look specifically at the volume and intensity of physical activity. Severe menopause symptoms, including poor mental well-being, are associated with a sedentary lifestyle and low physical activity, even in women experiencing natural menopause.
Researchers of the current study additionally found that women being treated for breast cancer, for example, who experience worse menopause symptoms are less likely to engage in health-promoting behaviors. On the basis of study results, researchers suggest that an increased focus on exercise training should be part of the long-term maintenance program for women after cancer treatment.
The results were published in the article ‘Physical activity and menopausal symptoms in women who have received menopause-inducing cancer treatments: results from the Women’s Wellness After Cancer Program.’ Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director said, “This study highlights some of the many known benefits of exercise in women with or without cancer. Although the exercise was not associated with less bothersome hot flashes, findings consistent with prior studies, it may help with other menopause symptoms, including mood and sleep disturbances.”
Leaders of the farmer groups had met representatives of the Centre
New Delhi –
The protest by farmers agitating against the three agriculture laws passed by the Centre entered its eleventh day on Sunday with demonstrations in Sant Nirankari Samagam ground in Burari on the outskirts of Delhi and other border areas.
Leaders of the farmer groups had met representatives of the Centre, led by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Prakash on December 5 for the fifth round of talks to end the deadlock over the new farm laws.
The meeting remained inconclusive, and the Centre announced another meeting on December 9. Agriculture Minister Tomar after the meeting reassured the agitating farmers that the APMCs will not be weakened and MSP will continue as he urged farmer unions to give up their agitation and solve their grievances through talks.
Meanwhile, a nationwide shutdown has been called by the protesting farmers on December 8. The Delhi Traffic Police on Saturday closed seven borders to the national capital, including Singhu, Auchandi, Lampur, Piao Maniyari, Mangesh, Tikri and Jharoda and issued advisories.
At Saturday’s dialogue, the Centre had given a pointwise written reply of the minutes of the fourth meeting after farmers’ representatives asked for it. Farmers said that they need a solution or commitment from the Centre and did not want further discussion.
On December 3, the farmers held the fourth round of talks with the Centre and said the government had talked of bringing some amendments to farm laws. In the fourth round of the meeting, farmer leaders suggested the government to hold a special session of the Parliament and sought the abolition of the three farm laws.
The farmers are protesting against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
