England won the First T20 Worldcup Cricket

England beat arch-rivals Australia by seven wickets to win the ICC World Twenty20--their first-ever world title in cricket--at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Sunday.
England won their first world event on the back of a fine half century from Man of the Match Craig Kieswetter (63) and a good supporting knock from Kevin Pietersen (47) as their century partnership helped the team to a resounding win.
The inventors of the game finally broke the hoodoo, winning their first-ever ICC title after three failures in World Cup finals going back to 1975.
At a sun-blessed Kensington Oval, England restricted Australia to 147 for six before knocking off the runs with little trouble to claim their first world title in limited overs cricket after 35 years of trying.Australia slipped to 8-3 after being put in by Collingwood but recovered to post a competitive 147-6, with David Hussey top-scoring on 59.Craig Kieswetter (63) and Kevin Pietersen (47) took England to 118-1 but then fell in quick succession. But Collingwood eased his side home with exactly three overs remaining.
David Hussey's intelligent 59 had helped Australia recover from a dreadful start where they lost their opening three wickets inside three overs . Australia, the current 50 overs World Cup and Champions Trophy holders, were searching for a unique treble of limited overs world titles.

US oil spill fans fears of fishery

n oyster and shrimp processing factory in the picturesque Mississippi coastal town of Pass Christian, there is little option but to wait and hope disaster does not strike. "It's time for the little shrimp to start coming out so we can catch those guys," Jenkins said. "An oil spill will kill all of those guys."
Around 100 boats work out of Pass Christian, one of the busiest harbors on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
As the Coast Guard and oil company BP Plc struggle to contain the slick from a blown-out well off Louisiana, states to the east were deploying fire-retardant booms and other measures to protect their coastlines.

Bangladesh Back from T20

Michael Hussey reprised his favourite role, of the rescue artist, to steer Australia to a competitive total before Dirk Nannes' pace and some world-class fielding confirmed there would be no repeat of last year's embarrassing first round World Twenty20 exit. Bangladesh's defeat also meant defending champions Pakistan, the team most likely to take the flight home in case Group A was decided on net run-rate, also progressed to the Super Eights.

Bangladesh were dreaming of another famous upset in a global tournament in the Caribbean after their armada of spinners thrived on a pitch with bounce and turn at the Kensington Oval to cut Australia to 65 for 6. The slow bowlers had been so effective that there had been no boundaries for more than ten overs after Michael Clarke got off the mark with a lovely hit over long-off in the fourth over, before Hussey and Steven Smith pounded 74 runs to push Australia to 141. 

At Last Kasab sentenced to death

Judge M.L. Tahaliyani imposed the death penalty against Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab on four counts of murder, waging war against India and conspiracy and terrorism of fences.
"He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead," he said. "I don't find any case for a lesser punishment than death in the case of waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts."
Kasab, 22, dressed in a traditional white tunic, sat with his head in his hands staring at the floor of the dock as the judge issued the sentence, three days after the Pakistani's conviction on Monday.

Tahaliyani said the evidence showed "previous, meticulous and systematic planning" of the atrocity, which left 166 people dead and hundreds injured and led India to halt peace talks with its arch-rival Pakistan.
"Brutality was writ large," he added, and the offences were "of exceptional depravity."

Branded a "killing machine" and "cruelty incarnate" by the prosecution, Kasab was the only gunman caught alive in the 60-hour assault by 10 Islamists on hotels, a railway station, a restaurant and Jewish centre.
Observers say the death penalty is likely to trigger a lengthy, possibly open-ended, appeal through the Indian courts.
The government officially supports capital punishment for what the Supreme Court in New Delhi has called the "rarest of rare" cases but no execution has been carried out since 2004 and only two since 1998.

Jamuna TV on Street Action

Journalists and employees of Jamuna Television have planned to take to the streets on 5 May'10. in protest against the alleged government intervention in the legal process that the private channel initiated challenging suspension of its test transmission.

"The government has kept the petition (filed by Jamuna authorities before the High Court) hanging for around seven months on various pleas," the channel's head of programme Supon Roy said.

Flanked by other senior journalists and employees, he alleged the attorney general and other state counsels are petitioning the court for more time and remaining absent from hearing only to prolong the case's timely disposal.

"Sometimes they seek time in a way so that the petition gets trapped in long vacation," he said.
Roy announced that they would form a human chain in Dhaka demanding prompt disposal of the petition.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (BTRC) had suspended test transmission of the TV channel, owned by Jamuna Group head Nurul Islam Babul, on Nov 19 last year, just 35 days after it had launched the test transmission, on the ground that the channel did not obtain the 'no-objection' certificate before going on air.

It had said Jamuna TV applied for a 'no-objection' certificate on Oct 8 last year, but started transmission illegally while the matter was under consideration.

Jamuna Group managing director Shamim Islam filed the petition following suspension of the transmission.

Roy told reporters that journalists and employees of the channel could not work amid the uncertainty over its transmission.

Sirajganj flood control threatens

Water Development Board officials said erosion has taken place at different points in the dyke's 17 kilometre area from Meghai in Kazipur upazila to Shimla in Sadar upazila.
They said three spars of the dyke – Meghai spar numbers 2 and 3 and Shimla spar number 2 -- might become ineffective anytime due to the high velocity of water and formation of whirlpools.
Board officials said 10 spars were built between Singrabari in Kazipur upazila and Shuvogachha in Sadar upazila at a cost of Tk 95 crore during the previous Awami League government to check the Jamuna erosion and divert the river course.

But most of the spars have been ineffective, as the board was reluctant to maintain them during the successive four-party alliance government, they said adding that the Shoilabari 'groyn', spanning around one kilometre, has been engulfed by the river.

The officials said the board sought an allocation of Tk 27 crore from the government early this year for repairing and rehabilitation of the spars, but have yet to receive any fund.
Sirajganj Water Development Board executive engineer Sujoy Chakma, however, said they have taken prompt measures to repair the Meghai spars.

AARC eyes new climate change body

The 16th SAARC summit is set to adopt a statement on climate change with a proposal to create an inter-ministerial body to deal with climate change issues in the region, foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said on Tuesday.

The statement will be additional to the SAARC declaration to be adopted on April 29.

If the top leaders approve the statement on the concluding day, this will be create an extra SAARC body to deal with climate change apart from the present SAARC environment committee which already is concerned with climate change.

The proposed "Thimphu Statement on Climate Change" will focus on involving SAARC as a regional body in the climate negotiations so that the member states can utilize the global adaptation fund for different projects.

The draft statement will authorise the secretary general to conduct a study on assessment of risks caused by climate change in the SAARC region.

"SAARC must be a part of the global negotiations if it wants to get climate change adaptation funds," Sufiur Rahman, a foreign ministry director general (SAARC), told bdnews24.com on Tuesday at Bangladesh embassy in Thimphu following the council of ministers meeting.

"Therefore, the statement on climate change will attempt to recognize SAARC as a part of the global negotiation," he said.

"It also proposes implementation of some projects on climate change adaptation through the SAARC secretariat".

Foreign secretary Quayes told bdnews24.com that the Thimphu statement on climate change would authorise SAARC to chalk out three separate initiatives to protect different kinds of climate in the SAARC region.

One was the mountain initiative, another was the monsoon initiative, and the third one was the maritime initiative.

"The mountain initiative is aimed at protecting the mountainous environment of the SAARC region. This will also deal with whether the member countries should take up projects to protect the environment in the mountainous areas and protecting its biodiversity," said Quayes.

"Similarly, the monsoon initiative will look at the monsoon environment and the maritime initiative will examine work for protecting the maritime environment in South Asian region," he said.

He said the declaration of the 16th SAARC summit had set the next decade as a decade of connectivity.

bdnews24.com