CAIRO: Sudan’s state-run news agency says police used tear gas to disperse anti-government protests in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the country.
SUNA quoted police spokesman Hashem Ali as saying that security forces on Sunday arrested a “number of protesters” and filed charges against them under emergency laws declared by President Omar Al-Bashir in February.
Ali says police received reports of injuries both among policemen and protesters. He didn’t elaborate.
Sudan has been gripped by nationwide protests since mid-December. Opposition parties and professional unions have called on Al-Bashir to step down after three decades in power.
Price hikes and food shortages triggered the current wave of unrest. Al-Bashir’s government has met the protests with a heavy-handed crackdown and banned unauthorized public gatherings.
Sudanese police disperse rally urging president’s ouster
Sudanese police disperse rally urging president’s ouster
- Sudan has been gripped by nationwide protests since mid-December
- Opposition parties and professional unions have called on Al-Bashir to step down after three decades in power
Mitchell Starc shows class as Kolkata Knight Riders notch IPL win in Mumbai
Chasing a below-par 170, Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 145 off 18.5 overs at the Wankhede Stadium.
Suryakumar Yadav raised hopes with a 35-ball 56 but his dismissal in the 16th over tilted the scales in favour of Kolkata.
This was Kolkata's first win at the Wankhede ground in 12 years and seventh from 10 games this season.
Mumbai slumped to ninth position in the 10-team competition after their eighth loss in 11 games.
Kolkata are placed second and well poised to make it to the play-offs.
"Obviously we couldn't form partnerships and kept losing wickets," said Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya.
"There are a lot of questions that will take time to answer. But for now, not much to say."
Mumbai were off to a shaky start, with Starc flattening the leg-stump of Ishan Kishan (13) and Varun Chakravarthy sending back Naman Dhir (11).
The home team got another big jolt when Rohit Sharma, who came in as an impact sub, miscued a shot to be caught off Sunil Narine for 11.
Pandya's poor run of form continued as he was out for one, much to the disappointment of the strong home crowd.
Yadav hit his third half-century of the season and Tim David chipped in with 24 but Kolkata did well to rein in the five-time champions.
Earlier, Kolkata lost five quick wickets including that of the prolific Phil Salt (five) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (six) after being put in to bat.
Tottering at 57-5, Venkatesh Iyer (70) and impact sub Manish Pandey (42) steadied Kolkata with an 83-run stand and ensured a respectable total on the board.
Iyer, who hit a century at the same ground last season, hit three sixes and six fours in his fighting 52-ball knock.
"It's an extremely good feeling, because we haven't won at Wankhede for 12 years," said Kolkata's Varun Chakravarthy.
"This is a very special win because we were down and out in the first innings. The way Venkatesh and Manish pulled it back was great."
Jasprit Bumrah and Sri Lanka's Nuwan Thushara were the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets each and troubling the batsmen with their line and length on a lively wicket.
England Women’s cricket coach using AI to pick team ahead of series with Pakistan
- Jon Lewis says technology worked in multi-format Women’s Ashes series against arch-rivals Australia
- Pakistan Women’s National Cricket Team will play Twenty20 and ODI series in England later this month
LONDON: England Women’s cricket coach Jon Lewis revealed Friday he is using artificial intelligence to aid team selection, saying the technology helped his side square last season’s Ashes.
Lewis first became familiar with the work of London-based PSi when he took charge of the UP Warriorz franchise in India’s Women’s Premier League.
Now the 48-year-old former England paceman uses the company to assist with his decisions about squad composition, team balance and in-game match-ups between players.
The system plots projected outcomes depending on the composition of each side.
“I can send multiple different line-ups to the PSi in London and they run, I think, about 250,000 simulations per team that I send, with all different permutations that could happen through the game,” he said.
We are able to run simulated teams versus the simulated opposition to give us an idea about how those teams may match up against each other.
“I came across it during my time at UP Warriorz and it’s something I looked at and thought it could add some value to the England Women’s cricket team.”
Lewis said he still favored a “people-first approach” but he added: “What data can do is give you a really objective view of what could happen and what has happened previously. I think it will help with borderline decisions in terms of selection and match-ups.”
Lewis, who has spoken to England’s rugby union coach Steve Borthwick about his own use of the PSi model, said the system had proved its worth as his side drew last season’s multi-format Women’s Ashes series against arch-rivals Australia.
“There was one selection particularly last year, one period of the Ashes that we targeted as a team,” said Lewis, speaking at the announcement of England’s squad for T20 and ODI series at home to Pakistan later this month.
“There were a couple of selections where AI really helped because both players I was thinking about picking were both in really good form and were both really selectable and it did help with those selections.
“We saw a real strength in Australia and we matched up our strength to that. That worked really, really well and it helped us win the T20 series in particular, which got us back in the Ashes.”
AI is becoming an increasing feature of top-level sport, with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach saying last month it could help identify talented athletes “in every corner of the world.”
He said AI could also provide more athletes with access to personalized training methods.
Senior Labour official admits Gaza has cost party votes in local elections
- Pat McFadden says leadership’s stance on conflict has been ‘a factor in some places’
- Prof. John Curtice says Labour has performed ‘quite badly’ among Muslim voters
LONDON: A senior Labour official has suggested the party’s stance on Gaza might have affected its performance in local elections in the UK.
A series of votes took place this week nationwide to elect new mayors in multiple major cities, as well as council members and police and crime commissioners.
Labour was expected to perform strongly, but Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, told Sky News that Gaza had been “a factor in some places,” adding that with “so many innocent people being killed I’m not surprised people have strong feelings about that.”
Party sources suggested turnout in key areas was lower than anticipated, with many Muslim voters choosing not to vote, including in one key election in the West Midlands where lack of support saw Labour lose the local mayoralty to the Conservative incumbent Andy Street.
It comes weeks after former Labour MP George Galloway was elected to represent the formerly safe Labour constituency of Rochdale in Parliament, with Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza a key theme of the campaign.
Galloway has since said his Workers Party of Britain will seek to stand candidates in every constituency at the next UK general election.
An anonymous Labour source in the West Midlands told The Times: “We (would) have beaten him (Andy Street) as a general rule, but the Muslim vote has collapsed to the Galloway-backed independent.”
Another source quoted by the BBC caused controversy and was accused of racism by Conservative sources for saying: “It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands, that will have won Andy Street the mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains.”
In a statement, Labour told ITV: “The Labour Party has strongly condemned this racist quote which has not come from anyone who is speaking on behalf of the party or whose values are welcome in the party.”
Labour lost its 13-year spell controlling the local council in Oldham, having seen its majority reduced in recent weeks ahead of the elections following defections by councilors opposed to Labour leader Keir Starmer’s stance on Gaza.
However, Arooj Shah, Labour’s council chief in Oldham, disputed that Gaza was the main issue, telling The Independent: “I don’t think that’s a fair statement to make, given that the issue of Gaza has been over the last year, but what we’ve seen in Oldham is a lot longer than that. We have had 13 years of austerity and that’s been really, really difficult.”
Elsewhere, Green Party candidates also claimed former Labour seats in Newcastle and Bolton.
Nick Peel, Labour’s council leader for Bolton, told The Independent: “As a direct result of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine, many South Asian voters have not supported Labour or Conservative.”
Chris Hopkins, political research director for market research company Savanta, told The Independent that Labour could lose more council seats in areas with significant Muslim populations, such as Bradford and Burnley, over the Gaza issue as results continued to be announced.
Leading pollster Prof. John Curtice told the paper that “Labour has actually done quite badly” in areas of the country with large Muslim communities, and warned that the trend could harm the party ahead of the next general election.
Starmer told the BBC: “I’m concerned wherever we lose votes and we intend to win back any votes we have lost.
“But there’s no denying that across the country, whether it’s Hartlepool in the north or Rushmoor in the south, or Redditch, a bellwether seat, we are winning votes across the country. And that, I think, reflects a changed Labour Party with a positive case to take to the country.”
What We Are Reading Today: ‘A Natural History of Shells’
- Most popular books on shells emphasize the identification of species, but Vermeij uses shells as a way to explore major ideas in biology
Author: GEERAT VERMEIJ
Geerat Vermeij wrote this “celebration of shells” to share his enthusiasm for these supremely elegant creations and what they can teach us about nature.
Most popular books on shells emphasize the identification of species, but Vermeij uses shells as a way to explore major ideas in biology.
How are shells built? How do they work? And how did they evolve? With lucidity and charm, the MacArthur-winning evolutionary biologist reveals how shells give us insights into the lives of animals today and in the distant geological past.
Pakistan launches special cybercrime unit under controversial PECA law, shifts role from FIA
- The agency will be led by director general with 15-year experience in digital forensics or public administration
- Pakistan’s information minister recently spoke against online harassment, emphasized upholding of digital rights
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has established a new investigation unit under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, tasked solely with focusing on cybercrimes in the country, a role previously performed by a dedicated wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The PECA law was originally enacted to combat various forms of cybercrime, including cyber terrorism, unauthorized access, electronic fraud and online harassment, aiming to enhance the security of cyberspace for users and businesses.
However, the law stirred controversy, particularly because its provisions were seen by critics as tools that could potentially curb freedom of speech and suppress dissent.
These concerns were also validated by instances of journalists being booked under the law, with courts raising objections regarding its application.
“There shall hereby stand established the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to exercise jurisdiction under the Act and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) shall cease to perform functions as designated investigation agency under the Act,” said a notification taken out by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication on April 24 that referred to the PECA law.
“All personnel, cases, inquiries, investigations, assets, liabilities, rights, obligations, privileges and matters related thereto or connected therewith subsisting immediately before commencement of these rules in respect of the defunct cybercrime wing of the FIA shall stand transferred to the NCCIA,” it added.
The new investigation agency will be led by a director general who will be appointed by the government for two years.
The individual performing the role will have at least 15 years of experience “in the field of computer sciences, digital forensics, cyber technology, law, public administration, information technology, telecommunication or related fields enabling him to deal with offenses under the Act.”
The notification said the FIA’s “defunct” cybercrime wing would continue to operate until suitable appointments are made to run the new agency.
Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar announced only a day ago that the government was setting up a new authority to end online harassment and uphold the digital rights of the people.
