Shastri backs Fletcher, calls him a strong character
Ravi ShastriRavi Shastri on Tuesday has put his weight behind Indian coach Duncan Fletcher by calling him a “solid character”.Shastri has served as Team Director during the just-concluded limited overs series against England.Shastri lavished praise on Fletcher, who is under the scanner after a mixed tour of England during which the Indians were thrashed in the Test series before bouncing back to win the ODIs.”He is tremendous. He would have done over a 100 Tests as coach, which is massive. He is technically very sound. He is a solid character. He is respected. He is a fatherly figure,” Shastri said.”I knew Fletcher from the 1983 World Cup. Then in 1984 I led an India Under-25 side to Zimbabwe, where he was my counterpart. So I was aware of his leadership qualities already. Also what made Fletcher’s job easier was having the trio of Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar as his assistant coaches,” he added.”Fletcher is the coach. He looks after the handling of various things including little, little stuff. My experience comes into play from the outside – of having been there, done that. The fact that I watch so much is a massive help. And my personality is such if I feel like saying something I don’t hold back. I don’t care who it is.”Speaking about his own stint with the team, Shastri said he is glad to have made a positive difference after the 1-3 loss in the Test series.”I got more than I would have expected. I say that only because of England’s record at home, not many sides have thrashed them 3-0 in a four-ODI series. It is a big achievement: from what they were mentally after the Test series defeat, and then to respond in that fashion made me feel proud,” he said.advertisement”I had to make it (the dressing room) a place where the boys wanted to enjoy themselves. I was very clear when I said I am doing this job because I believe in them. And that was enough. As I got talking to them one on one, things started falling in place,” he added.Shastri said he had plenty of one-on-one chats with the players during the ODI series, which India won 3-1.”I was not afraid to speak to a guy individually. Ground, bus, bar, dressing room, while eating – we were talking cricket. Communication is important. The advantage I had was I had watched these boys a lot. I told them I have watched more cricket than I have played. I have learned more about cricket after I stopped playing,” he said.Shastri especially focussed on star batsman Virat Kohli, who had a somewhat subdued run in both the Tests and ODIs.”About Virat, you knew it was due (the half-century in the Edgbaston Twenty20). The reason he did not perform earlier was a combination of mental and technical issues. You cannot get out to the same bowler in the same fashion five to six times. So there is an issue.”He has to accept there is something wrong otherwise you cannot get out. And that had to be addressed, which we did.There are certain issues Virat understands he needs to work on, which he has been doing. Similar case with Shikhar (Dhawan),” he explained.On his equation with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shastri said, “…both of us know each other well. Our job was to make his life easier after the Test series. Our job was to take the pressure off him. Our job was to communicate more with the players, make them at ease, and give them the confidence.”Shastri agreed with Dhoni’s assessment that it turned out to be a decent outing for the team with a lot of positives to take home.”He is not far from the truth. One of the things I had told the boys was, the reason I am here is you have shown me two things on this tour: first was India’s greatest ever Test win, at Lord’s during the second Test. I mean it. It was phenomenal. I also told them in the final three Tests you played spineless cricket.”So for me a good team cannot be a bad team in two weeks.It cannot. It is a learning curve. Then to beat England in the ODI series the way India did was very good. And don’t forget, this is only the second time India have won a bilateral ODI series in England.”advertisementShastri, however, was non-committal on his own future with the team.”One step at a time…My job was to be with the team for the ODI series. They have won it. I want to let that sink. I will return to India and then think about the future.”
N SrinivasanAfter days of suspense, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Sunday that this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) generally held by the last week of September was postponed.One of the reasons given for the delay is the unsigned annual accounts of the BCCI. But Board insiders and retired Supreme Court judge A.K. Patnaik have called it a sham.According to the BCCI constitution, the president signs the balance sheet ahead of the AGM. But with the Supreme Court asking N Srinivasan to stay away from office till the probe into the spot-fixing fiasco in IPL-6 is completed, the BCCI has cited absence of a president as the major reason behind the delay in holding the AGM.Shivlal Yadav (left) & Sanjay Patel have looked after BCCI’s daily functioning after N. Srinivasan was asked to step aside.Even though the court appointed Shivlal Yadav as interim president, the pro-Srinivasan camp has argued there is no provision for an interim president. That has irked quite a few BCCI members.A senior official said it was shocking how members in the Srinivasan camp were using the opportunity to give the president-inexile some breathing space.”All this is nothing but a charade. The BCCI is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. According to its clauses, under exceptional circumstances, not only the secretary or treasurer, but even a vice-president can sign the final accounts and ensure the AGM is held on time. The pro-Srinivasan camp is using every option available to ensure that he gets more time and in all likelihood a third term as BCCI president,” official added.advertisement”Also, the Supreme Court, the highest authority, had appointed Yadav to fulfill duties of the president. So there is no reason he can’t sign the accounts. He has all the powers that the president is vested with and nobody can challenge him,” he said.The man responsible for Srinivasan’s exile Justice Patnaik is also puzzled as to why Yadav is not fulfilling the duties of the president.”Why can’t the AGM be held on time in the absence of Srinivasan? Interim president Shivlal Yadav can sign the account papers and can call for the AGM now. This is if they want,” he said.Aditya Verma, secretary of the unrecognised Cricket Association of Bihar has vowed to file a case within this week to request the court to interfere and ensure that Srinivasan and his men don’t damage the BCCI’s image any further.”In the last 86 years, never has there been a delay in the AGM. Even in 2005, the AGM took place on time, even though the election was stalled as per court directives. I see no reason for Yadav not signing the accounts and removing the hurdles. If he has issues, Sanjay Patel, secretary or Anirudh Chaudhry, treasurer can sign the documents.”I am moving court and will request them to send an observer to oversee the election procedure. Also, I would like the court to look into the financial irregularities in the BCCI, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Chennai Super Kings in the recent past during Srinivasan’s tenure,” he said.Patel announced on Sunday that due to certain glitches, the general belief was that the BCCI should hold a Working Committee (WC) meeting on September 26 before deciding the next course of action. In that case, with the rules demanding a three-week gap between a Working Committee meeting and the AGM, there is no way the annual meeting can be held before October.
Iker Casillas has become the first player to participate in 20 Champions League seasons.The Porto goalkeeper reached the mark when he started his side’s opening Group D match against Schalke on Tuesday.20 – Iker Casillas will become the first player in the Champions League history to play in 20 different seasons. Legend. pic.twitter.com/1HUkAvHW80— OptaJose (@OptaJose) September 18, 2018With the start, Casillas went past Manchester United great Ryan Giggs, who played in 19 Champions League campaigns. Article continues below Editors’ Picks Man Utd ready to spend big on Sancho and Haaland in January Who is Marcus Thuram? Lilian’s son who is top of the Bundesliga with Borussia Monchengladbach Brazil, beware! Messi and Argentina out for revenge after Copa controversy Best player in MLS? Zlatan wasn’t even the best player in LA! Rounding out the top three is another United legend, Paul Scholes, who took part in 17 seasons in Europe’s premier club competition. Casillas, 37, played in 16 Champions League campaigns with Real Madrid, and is now embarking on his fourth with the Portuguese side.The former Spain international has won the competition three times: in 1999–00, 2001–02 and most recently in 2013–14, all of which came while playing for Real Madrid. With Porto, Casillas has managed to get out of the group stage in the past two seasons, but the team was knocked out in the round of 16 both times.He has been more successful on the domestic front, helping Porto to a league title last term.
Samantha Akkineni is currently riding high with the success of her recent release, U Turn.From donning stunning looks almost everyday to making us all jealous with her swoon-worthy body, Samantha is a true diva ready to rule the world.The actress took to Instagram today to post a video of her killing it in the gym with some rigorous exercises.Watch the video: Samantha posted the video of her workout regimen with the caption saying, “What do I do on days I don’t work out? I work out.” Samanatha AkkineniIn the video, Samantha can be seeing doing pull ups, which are a great way to build upper body and core strength.Samantha donned comfy gym wear for the rigorous exercise routine. She wore a grey tee and black track pants, with sports shoes and a sleeked-back neat ponytail.The actress will be seen next alongside her husband Naga Chaitanya in a new romantic love story. It will go on floors on October 6 on the day of their first wedding anniversary.Samantha and Naga Chaitanya had a fairytale wedding in Goa last year. The couple had a traditional Telugu wedding and a Christian wedding.ALSO SEE | Samantha Akkineni is sexy beyond words in plaid jacket and quirky skirtALSO WATCH | Samantha-Naga Chaitanya engaged
Students at Bishop Heelan High School are producing higher quality videos in their Video Production Class thanks to nearly $10-thousand dollars in new equipment.The gear was funded by a grant from the Gilchrist Foundation.The school obtained four new Canon video cameras, a DSLR Canon, a lighting kit, a four-ft. wide audio booth for video narration, an interview kit with a boom microphone, new tripod heads, noise cancelling head-sets and camera cards.Heelan students produce videos for school assemblies, fine arts activities, competitions, YouTube content and classroom projects.
Winner: The Oklahoma State defense was the big winner in this game. They held the Bears to just 220 total yards, and just 92 of those came on the ground. The defensive line is proving they can definitely hold their own upfront, albeit against lesser competition.Loser: The run game. Statistically, 4.7 yards per carry doesn’t look bad. But they weren’t ever able to get anything going on the ground, and that’s concerning for an FCS opponent.Best play: The James Washington snag down the sideline was huge. Really pushed the momentum back to the Cowboys and ultimately lead to points being put on the board.Worst play: The ones where we tried to run.Player that makes my palms sweat: Jalen McCleskey. He hasn’t lost my trust by any means, he just makes me nervous.Surprising player: This one goes to McCleskey also. He found himself open downfield and Rudolph dropped a dime to get him the ball in a tight window. Despite the depth at receiver, I think he may be too talented to use just on special teams.Most steady of the Eddie’s: Zach Sinor, the freshman punter has been rock solid so far. Special teams has not been a concern yet thanks largely to his steady performance.Best hair:@JustinSouthwell pic.twitter.com/xT7VrJp2T9— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) September 13, 2015Best GIF of the game: No doubt.WHAT WAS THAAAAAAT#okstate pic.twitter.com/NKZFaHuhIE— Jordan Smith (@Doafhat) September 13, 2015 If you’re looking for the comments section, it has moved to our forum, The Chamber. You can go there to comment and holler about these articles, specifically in these threads. You can register for a free account right here and will need one to comment.If you’re wondering why we decided to do this, we wrote about that here. Thank you and cheers!
NYSE-listed container ship charter owner Global Ship Lease (GSL) has signed a sale-and-leaseback contract with Hong Kong-headquartered Orient Overseas Container Line Limited (OOCL) for the 8,063 TEU OOCL Ningbo.GSL will pay USD 53.6 million for the 2004-built OOCL Ningbo, which upon its delivery in September 2015 will be immediately time chartered back to OOCL for a period of 36 to 39 months, at charterer’s option, at a gross rate of USD 34,500 per day, for total contracted revenue of between USD 37.7 and USD 40.9 million.GSL will fund the purchase via cash on hand and a recently-signed USD 35 million credit facility with DVB Bank.With the delivery of the OOCL Ningbo, the Company’s fleet will comprise 20 vessels with a total capacity of 90,538 TEU.“In completing this third, highly attractive sale-and-leaseback transaction over the last twelve months, we have once again taken a major step forward in expanding our earnings power and diversifying our charter portfolio,” Ian Webber, Chief Executive Officer of Global Ship Lease, said.”Including this transaction, we have now increased our run-rate EBITDA by approximately 35% through acquisitions alone. In addition, we benefit from increased earnings from our two vessels operating on short-term contracts in a stronger spot market. Furthermore, our new credit facility, with a first class bank in DVB, marks an important step in lowering our cost of capital.”
zoom Aegean Marine Petroleum Network’s share purchase agreement with the shareholders of H.E.C. Europe Limited has been terminated, the company said.The deal was terminated as the contractual deadline for obtaining all necessary approvals for the transaction expired and was not waived.Aegean announced the acquisition of H.E.C., a parent company of Hellenic Environmental Center and a group of companies providing port reception facilities services (the HEC Group), in February 2018,Marine fuel logistics company inked a definitive agreement to buy all of the outstanding share capital of H.E.C from its shareholders for USD 367 million.The sellers are companies owned and controlled by Dimitris Melisanidis — Aegean’s founder and former Head of Corporate Development — and certain members of his family, and members of the Agiostratitis family.Aegean was pursuing the acquisition as “a complementary high margin business with global growth opportunities,” as explained by Jonathan McIlroy, Aegean’s President.
the Island Sandbox: Cape Breton University and NSCC Marconi Campus the Community Sandbox: Saint Mary’s University, NSCAD University, and Mount Saint Vincent University the Nova Scotia Agriculture Sandbox: Dalhousie University and Acadia University the ICT Sandbox: Dalhousie University, Saint Mary’s University, NSCAD University and Volta Labs Each sandbox will offer a combination of academic programming and entrepreneurial, professional and management resources. “Today’s researchers, students and big thinkers are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs,” said Jevon MacDonald, co-founder of Volta Labs and GoInstant. “Sandboxes are a welcome addition to how we can help create more startup founders here in Nova Scotia.”It’s really encouraging to see that the entrepreneurs of today, and tomorrow, have more support in place to help them take their ideas to the next level.” Group ATN Consultants has been hired as project managers and will oversee the sandboxes’ development and management. They will also help design competitions to recognize the most promising sandbox ideas. The province will provide each sandbox with $150,000 per year for up to three years. Sandboxes are then expected to sustain themselves. Innovative and entrepreneurial Nova Scotians will soon have places where they can experiment with new ideas and access business mentors, investors and other support. Universities, the Nova Scotia Community College, and the province have come together to create four sandboxes where students, innovators and industry can develop new ideas that could become businesses. Premier Stephen McNeil announced the sandboxes details today, March 19. “Nova Scotians have what it takes to come together, be more creative, and take more chances, and sandboxes will help with all of those things,” said Premier McNeil. “Encouraging innovation is fundamental to the change our province needs, and Nova Scotia’s first sandboxes will be a great addition to innovation and entrepreneurship in our province and beyond.” Sandboxes are based on successful approaches used at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Waterloo. Guitar Hero and the E-ink used for Kindle and Kobo e-readers were conceived in the MIT Media Lab. The sandboxes are:
Democracy grants citizens the right to vote and with that power, citizens become the most important feature of any democratic government. Anything to everything that the government does is assumed to be in the benefit of the people. Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as the government of the people, by the people and for the people with the root word in Greek itself citing “rule by the people”. But with the latest Bill floated in the Lower House of Parliament, there is a sense of irony prevailing on the government’s part. The RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced with the objective to strengthen and streamline the RTI Act, 2005. But, with details of the proposed amendments along with reasons for such an amendment bill as forwarded by the government, the objective somewhat gets diluted. RTI Act has perhaps been the biggest boon for the citizenry of this nation. It gave them the medium to know and question those in power without any barrier preventing the revelation of any information not disclosed by the government. Immeasurable good has resulted from such legislation and that may have in itself acted as a strong deterrent for government officials in withholding any information–let alone the one people seek. It is, therefore, to the existence of RTI that citizens can take the necessary step to criticise the government based on information reflecting its performance across different parameters and pertinent issues. It cannot be surprising that this pro-democratic tool has also prevented the country from functioning in the traditional way where the outright belief highlighted that the less public knows, the better it is. And, this may not have been as sound as it seems for everyone. For those who continue to possess something to conceal, RTI will always be a dangerous trump card in the common man’s pocket. Given the purview that RTI exercises and the social good it has done for society, steps to strengthen it should be in the direction of increasing its reach and cementing its implementation. Those are the ideal amendments. But the version of amendments that the government presented were far from those. They elaborated on the tenure, salary, and posting of personnel working to uphold the RTI Act. Information Commissioners, both state and Central, as well as Chief Information Commissioner will be subject to the government’s discretion over the length of their tenures and their salaries. Against the earlier rule of a fixed five-year tenure and salary as that of the Election Commissioner–or Chief Election Commissioner in case of Chief Information Commissioner–this new amendment leaves the decision on the government’s whims. By stating that the terms and salaries of state and Central Information Commissioners, Information Officers as well as the Chief Information Commissioner, the government, through RTI (Amendment) Bill 2019, seeks to undermine the independence of a statutory body. This is a violation of the very cause that gave birth to RTI. Information Commissions were set up to perform the sacrosanct task of functioning independently while processing information desired by the people, especially without any interference from the government. If what government wants is passed then it would not be surprising if Information Commissioners are transferred or their tenure curtailed in case of any particular matter involving the government itself doing rounds of the judiciary. Against the ideal amendments, controlling officers and commissioners posted under the Information Commission is not representative of a substantial amendment. The government argues–through the Statement of Objects and Reasons of RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2019–that functions being carried out by the Election Commission of India and the Information Commission are totally different. It cites that because ECI comes under Article 324 of the Indian Constitution serving a special purpose of conducting elections, it is different from Information Commissions, both state and Central, which are statutory bodies under RTI Act, 2005. The government concludes that since the mandate of ECI and IC are different hence their status and service conditions need not be rationalised accordingly. Even if the government summarised their summary, laymen may still be unable to see how it strengthens the RTI Act and not grant powers to government in a bid to control these independent commissions. Also Read – A compounding difficultyIt must be recalled that this Bill was not tabled in the Lok Sabha despite being circulated amongst legislators due to protests from opposition leaders and RTI activists for particularly clear reasons for the amendment impinging on the freedom exercised by Information Commission in processing and furnishing requisite information to the public. In this context, it is hardly surprising that the very same protests were the order of the day when the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Keen on getting the amendment passed in the Lower House, the government could have channelised the eagerness towards strengthening RTI’s implementation say, filling vacancies in Information Commissions, addressing attacks on RTI activists or for that matter drafting a Whistleblower’s Protection Act. Legislations ought to forecast the problem it pertains to address and reflect the change due to its presence but with this amendment Bill, both seem bleak.
OTTAWA – Canada will extend its commitment to maritime security in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean with ships and personnel for another four years, says Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.He says Operation Artemis, the latest incarnation of Canada’s contribution to a multinational security force in the area, will be extended until the end of April 2021.The international task force deploys ships and surveillance systems to intercept shipments of weapons and narcotics in the region.Sajjan said the extension authorizes the Canadian Armed Forces to commit up to 375 personnel to the operation, send in a frigate once every two years and contribute an Aurora patrol plane once a year.Canada will earmark up to $131.4 million to support the extension.He says Canada has supported security in the area since 2001 under a number of operations and Canada just completed its third rotation in command of the maritime security task force.In the last year, this task force seized and destroyed nearly 2,700 kilograms of narcotics and more than 3,000 weapons.“The government of Canada’s renewed commitment to counter-terrorism efforts is vital to building a safer and more prosperous world,” Sajjan said in a statement.Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A headline on an earlier version included an incorrect year.