Brandon King suffers side strain, doubtful for rest of T20 World Cup

Gros Islet (St Lucia), June 20, 2024
In a significant blow to the West Indies’ T20 World Cup campaign, star batsman Brandon King is a major doubt for the remainder of the tournament after sustaining a side strain during their match against England in St Lucia on Wednesday night.

The injury occurred as King was attempting a powerful cover drive off Sam Curran, forcing him to retire hurt and leaving the field prematurely.

King had been instrumental in giving the West Indies a flying start, racing to 23 off just 12 balls, including a massive 101-meter six off Reece Topley that required a replacement ball. However, his aggressive innings came to an abrupt halt when he crumpled over in pain on his 13th delivery. After receiving immediate medical attention, King was unable to continue and was subsequently diagnosed with a side strain.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed the injury and announced that King would not return to the field during England’s run chase. “Brandon King has suffered a side strain and will not return to the field of play in this evening’s match,” CWI stated.

With side strains typically taking several weeks to heal, King’s participation in the remaining World Cup matches is highly doubtful, especially with only 10 days left in the tournament.

The injury is a significant setback for the West Indies, who have relied on King’s experience and skill, particularly in light of his recent captaincy stint against South Africa while Rovman Powell was engaged in the IPL. Although King has not been in his best form during the tournament, with a top score of 34, his presence as a senior player is invaluable to the team’s dynamics.

In King’s absence, the West Indies face the challenging task of finding a suitable replacement from their standby players. The squad includes Andre Fletcher, Kyle Mayers, Fabian Allen, Hayden Walsh Jr., and Matthew Forde.

Kyle Mayers, who was considered unlucky to miss the initial squad selection, is the most likely candidate to step in, given his versatility and strong form. Another option is Andre Fletcher, known for his capabilities as a top-order batter.

As the West Indies prepare for their second Super Eight fixture against the USA at Kensington Oval on Friday, the team will be looking to regroup and adjust their strategy. The match in Barbados comes at a critical juncture, and the absence of King will test the squad’s depth and resilience.

West Indies’ head coach Phil Simmons emphasized the team’s need to adapt quickly. “Losing Brandon is a blow, but we have a strong squad with capable players ready to step up. We’ll be evaluating our options and making the necessary adjustments ahead of our next match,” Simmons remarked.(Agency)

Euro 2024: Germany is first team into the last 16 with a 2-0 win over Hungary

Stuttgart, June 20 2024-

Goals from Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan ensured hosts Germany became the first team to confirm their place in the knockout stage of Euro 2024 with a comfortable win against Hungary on Wednesday.

Germany, who had started their campaign with a 5-1 win against Scotland, registered their second win in the four-team Group A and stormed into the knockout stages of the competition. They now have six points from two matches with Switzerland on four, Scotland on 1 and Hungary yet to open their account.

Germany found it a more difficult evening than their 5-1 win against Scotland in Matchday 1. Julian Nagelsmann’s side had enough about them to get the three points, which ensured they would at least finish as the best third-place team in the group stage.

After an even opening, Musiala became the first player to score more than once at this edition of the European Championship, adding to his strike against Scotland last week by blasting in from close range to give the hosts the lead.

Manuel Neuer, making his 17th Euro appearance to go level with Gianluigi Buffon’s goalkeeping record, was called into action on 26 minutes as he dived to his right to brilliantly save a curling Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick.

Toni Kroos came close to doubling Germany’s lead ten minutes into the second half but his deflected effort was clawed away by Péter Gulacsi before Barnabas Varga headed narrowly over for Hungary.

The game was effectively settled when Maximilian Mittelstädt’s low cross was beautifully stroked into the net by Gundogan to make sure of Germany’s place in the last 16. (Agency)

Goldie Hawn says it would be fun and crazy to make a movie with her famous family

Los Angeles, June 20, 2024
Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Goldie Hawn expressed her desire to work on a project with her famous family, stating it would be fun and crazy.

In a new interview, the actress expressed her desire to work with family members, including her husband Kurt Russell and her children Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, and Wyatt Russell.

“What I would love, actually — before we all get too old — (it) would be so great to do a movie together,” Hawn said during an appearance on the Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast.

“Wouldn’t it? It would be so fun and so crazy and oh, my God,” she added.

Hawn brought up the idea after podcast host Ripa suggested that her family should star in a reality show, reports deadline.com.

“We might do something with Oliver that is a cartoon, so in other words, we would all be the voices for that. That would be a lot of fun,” Hawn added.

Hawn has an extensive career in film and won an Oscar for her role as Toni Simmons in the 1969 Gene Saks film ‘Cactus Flower’. SShe would get nominated at the Academy Awards again after starring in the 1980 film ‘Private Benjamin’, playing the role of Judy Benjamin.

In 2018, she played Mrs. Claus in the Netflix movie ‘The Christmas Chronicles’ opposite her life partner Kurt Russell, who played Santa Claus. Oliver Hudson also starred in the Christmas comedy.

Hawn and Russell reprised their roles in ‘The Christmas Chronicles 2’, which was released in 2020.(Agency)

US Army kills senior Islamic State official in Syria

Washington, June 20 2024-

The US Army has said they have killed a high-ranking member of the Islamic State terrorist militia in Syria in an airstrike.

“US Central Command conducted an airstrike in Syria, killing Usamah Jamal Muhammad Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior ISIS official and facilitator,” the US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday.

“His death will disrupt ISIS’s ability to resource and conduct terror attacks,” it added.

“There is no indication any civilians were harmed in this strike.”

US troops are stationed in Syria to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State. They are deployed in areas controlled by the Kurdish militia YPG and its allies.

Despite the military victory over the extremist militia announced in 2019, its cells are still active in the country.

According to observers, however, the US is also seeking to limit the influence of its arch-enemy Iran with its continued military presence in the region.

According to a defence official in Washington, around 700 US soldiers are still in Syria. Their deployment has become more dangerous with the outbreak of the Gaza war.

Pro-Iranian militias have repeatedly carried out attacks on the often small US military bases in the desert. (Agency)

Another Indian-American on strong track to be elected to US Congress

New York, June 20 2024-

“Samosa Caucus” — the group of Indian-Americans in US Congress — has a strong chance of getting another member next year with the victory of Suhas Subramanyam in the Virginia Democratic primaries.

He won the intra-party election on Tuesday to pick the Democratic candidate to contest the November general election for the House of Representatives from a constituency held by it.

The constituency includes some suburbs of Washington.

Meanwhile, in primaries in New Jersey last week, Indian-American Rajesh Mohan won the Republican ticket for a House seat but faces an uphill battle because it is in a strongly Democratic constituency.

There are now five Indian-Americans in the House of Representatives, all Democrats who call themselves the “Samosa Caucus”: Ami Bera and Ro Khanna from California; Pramila Jayapal from Washington State; Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, and Shri Thanedar from Michigan.

A State Senator, Subramanyam bested 11 other candidates in an ugly contest where his main adversary faced allegations of sexual harassment.

He was backed by the retiring House member Jennifer Wexton, who flipped the seat to the Democratic side in 2018 and was re-elected twice, winning 53 per cent of the votes in 2022 making it a safe seat for the party.

Subramanyam’s family is from Bengaluru.

A 37-year-old lawyer, he was President Barack Obama’s technology advisor working on cybersecurity and modernising government agencies.

In 2019, he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and the State Senate last year.

He is also a volunteer medic and firefighter.

Mohan, who defeated his three Republican rivals, will be contesting from a constituency held by a Democrat.

Andrew Kim, who is giving up the seat to run for the US Senate, flipped it from the Republican Party in 2018 and won his second re-election in 2022 by 55 per cent.

Three ratings of the race surveyed by Ballotopedia declared it a solid or safe Democratic seat.

A cardiologist, Mohan received his medical degree from the Delhi University College of Medical Sciences.

In New Jersey, Ravinder Singh Bhalla, the Mayor of Hoboken, lost the Democratic Party primary for the House seat to Rob Menendez who currently holds the seat.

The sitting representative’s father, Senator Bob Menendez, is on trial on corruption charges but undeterred, he waged an ugly campaign against Bhalla, a turban-wearing Sikh, alleging that he made quid-pro-quo deals with the Mayor of a neighbouring city and used images marring his appearance in TV ads.

Susheela Jayapal, the sister of influential Representative Pramila Jayapal, lost the primary for a Democratic seat in Oregon.

Pramila Jayapal heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of leftist Democratic Party legislators.

She represents a constituency in Washington State, a neighbour of Oregon where her sister Susheela Jayapal was a county commissioner and was among several leftist candidates who faced an ideological backlash in the Democratic primaries. (Agency)

AI platform OrbitShift raises $7 million to expand product footprint

New Delhi, June 20, 2024
AI-native sales operating system OrbitShift on Thursday said it has raised $7 million in seed funding led by Peak XV’s Surge and Stellaris Venture Partners.

OrbitShift said it plans to leverage the funding to expand its customer base and continue building for its customers.

Prior to this round, OrbitShift had raised a pre-seed round of $1.5 million, bringing the total funds raised to $8.5 million.

“Our AI-first, domain-centric approach has already empowered over 10 global companies, significantly enhancing their sales and marketing engine. This investment will fuel our mission by expanding our product footprint and geographical reach,” said Saurabh Mishra, Co-founder, and CEO, OrbitShift.

Its platform empowers the entire sales ecosystem including sales, pre-sales, sales operations, and marketing teams with account insights/actions, RFP/RFI response generation, key account planning, and targeted pitch content generation, comprehensively driving a coordinated go-to-market (GTM) motion.

OrbitShift said it has reduced research and sales planning time by 40-50 per cent.

According to Alok Goyal, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, enterprise sales involve selling holistic solutions – a mix of products and services – with long sales cycles and multiple stakeholders.

“This complexity presents an opportunity to build a generational AI-native software business, and we believe OrbitShift is poised to do just that,” he added.(Agency)

UP Police, Meta help prevent 457 suicides in 1.5 yrs

Lucknow, June 20 2024-

A collaboration between Meta, the company which owns social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, and the Uttar Pradesh Police has prevented a total of 457 people from committing suicide during nearly 1.5 years, an official statement said.

According to an official statement, the Uttar Pradesh Police highlighted their swift response to suicide-related posts on social media platforms, aided by information from Meta Company.

From January 1, 2023, to June 15, 2024, they informed victims and their families promptly, effectively preventing suicides through direct communication.

Under this system, whenever a suicide-related post appears on Facebook or Instagram, Meta Company headquarters immediately alerts the police social media centre via phone and email.

The headquarters’ Social Media Centre, operating 24×7, acts swiftly upon receiving these alerts.

Integrated with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force server, it identifies the post’s author’s location and forwards the case to ‘UP-112’ and the relevant district for immediate action.

‘UP-112’ or local police then reach out to the victim and their family using the location provided by Meta.

During the period from January 1, 2023, to June 15, 2024, the Social Media Centre received nearly 740 alerts from Meta Company, resulting in the saving of 457 lives.

In other instances, challenges such as unclear or densely populated locations, cases originating from other states, or phones being switched off, prevented local police from reaching the victim. (Agency)

‘Kota Factory 3’, ‘Bad Cop’, ‘Federer’ documentary top draws on OTT this week

New Delhi, June 20, 2024
The last week of June is set to bring exciting titles to OTT platforms, including the Jitendra Kumar-starrer ‘Kota Factory’ Season 3 and Gulshan Devaiah and Anurag Kashyap’s police-villain chase drama ‘Bad Cop’.

Here is a list of five titles that have caught the attention of IANS this week:

‘Kota Factory 3’:

The new season of the black-and-white series stars Jitendra Kumar, Tillotama Shome, Mayur More, Ranjan Raj, Alam Khan, Revathi Pillai, Ahsaas Channa, and Rajesh Kumar.

It will trace the students’ chaotic entry into adulthood alongside their trusted teacher and mentor, Jeetu Bhaiya.

Directed by Pratish Mehta and produced by TVF Productions, ‘Kota Factory 3’ is helmed by Raghav Subbu.

The show is streaming on Netflix from June 20.

‘Federer: Twelve Final Days’:

This British documentary film, directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia, follows Roger Federer in the last 12 days of his professional career, which ended at the 2022 Laver Cup.

Produced by George Chignell and Asif Kapadia, it stars Roger Federer, Mirka Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal.

It is streaming from June 20 on Prime Video.

‘America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’:

It follows the 2023-24 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders squad from start to finish — kicking off at auditions and training camp and continuing all the way through the NFL season.

Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Greg Whiteley, the seven-episode series gives viewers unfiltered access to this iconic team and franchise.

It is streaming from June 20 on Netflix.

‘Bad Cop’:

This upcoming police-villain chase drama stars Gulshan Devaiah and Anurag Kashyap in the lead roles, with Harleen Sethi and Saurabh Sachdeva in pivotal roles.

Directed by Aditya Datt and written by Rensil D’Silva, ‘Bad Cop’ is set to release on June 21 on Disney+ Hotstar.

‘Trigger Warning’:

This upcoming American action thriller film is directed by Mouly Surya and written by John Brancato, Josh Olson, and Halley Gross.

Produced by Thunder Road Films and Lady Spitfire, the film stars Jessica Alba and Anthony Michael Hall.

A skilled Special Forces commando (Jessica Alba) takes ownership of her father’s bar after his sudden death and soon finds herself at odds with a violent gang running rampant in her hometown.

It will be released on June 21 on Netflix.(Agency)

Canada declares Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ‘terrorist entity’

Ottawa, June 20 2024-

Canada has declared Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, as a “terrorist entity”.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced on Wednesday afternoon, saying that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal “to combat the terrorist activity” of the IRGC.

Thousands of senior Iranian government officials, including top IRGC members, are now banned from entering Canada, and those already inside the country may be investigated and removed, LeBlanc said.

As an immediate consequence of the listing, Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, are required to immediately freeze the property of a listed entity, and it is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group, according to a press statement issued by Public Safety Canada as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

According to local media, charitable organisations can lose their status if they maintain their connections to terrorist groups, and people found to be associated with those groups can be denied entry into Canada.

The US designated the IRGC a “terrorist group” in 2019. (Agency)

S. Korea seizes cargo ship on suspicion of violating UN sanctions on N. Korea

Busan, June 20, 2024
South Korea seized a 5,000-ton cargo ship on Thursday on suspicion of violating UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea, sources said.

The freighter, whose origin is unknown, is now anchored at the Port of Busan on the country’s southeastern coast. It was not immediately known what its violations were, Yonhap news agency reported.

In late March, another 3,000-ton cargo ship, DEYI, which was heading to Vladivostok, Russia, was seized in waters off Yeosu, along the southern coast, under similar suspicions.

The ship is also currently anchored at the anchorage at Busan Port, with the captain and other crew onboard.(Agency)