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KL Rahul's solid 82 runs off 53 balls helped Lucknow Super Giants beat Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in the IPL. Rahul's time at the crease, during which he smashed nine fours and three sixes, was key in pushing Lucknow past Chennai's 176-6 with six balls to spare. "I felt that if we bat well, we could chase it down ... when your partnership goes on, you can take a few more chances. Glad that it happened," said Rahul. Chennai got off to a slightly jittery start after being invited to bat first, losing Rachin…

India captain Rohit Sharma has backed any resumption of Test cricket against arch-rivals Pakistan, saying it would be "awesome." The cricket teams have not played a Test match since 2007. Instead, they play only occasionally in the shorter game versions and usually on neutral territory in international tournaments. Rohit appeared Thursday on a YouTube chat show hosted by former captains Adam Gilchrist of Australia and Michael Vaughan of England. When Vaughan asked Rohit if playing Pakistan in a Test series would…

Airlines quickly changed flight paths over Iran, diverted to alternate airports, or returned planes to their departure points in response to airspace and airport closures after an Israeli attack on Iran, flight tracking data showed. Iran closed its airports in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan after the attack and cleared flights from the western portion of its airspace for a few hours, according to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24. By 0445 GMT, the airports and airspace had reopened, and closure notices posted on a…

Dubai, a city in the desert proud of its modern gloss, faced the towering task on Thursday of clearing its waterlogged roads and drying out flooded homes two days after a record storm saw a year's rainfall in a day. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights, and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday's deluge. The rains were the heaviest experienced by the United Arab Emirates in the 75 years that records have been kept. They brought much of the country…

Mumbai Indians managed to fend off a valiant effort by Punjab Kings batsman Ashutosh Sharma to win by nine runs in a fiercely fought IPL thriller. Invited to bat first, Mumbai Indians started on a decent note. After losing only two wickets in the first 12 overs, Suryakumar Yadav smashed an impressive 78 runs off 53 balls to help the team post a solid 192-7. The second innings began disastrously for the Punjab Kings, with fast bowler Gerald Coetzee and Indian pacer Japsrit Bumrah striking quickly to leave them reeling…

The musical trinity, Muthuswami Deekshitar, Tyagarajar, and Syama Sastri, can claim to be above everybody, but "you (music composer R. Ilaiyaraaja) cannot be heard to say so,” said Justice R. Mahadevan, the senior-most judge of the Madras High Court. Presiding over the second Division Bench along with Justice Mohammed Shafiq, the senior judge recalled senior counsel Satish Parasaran, representing Mr. Ilaiyaraaja, to have retorted, during the April 10, 2024 hearing, that his client was below only to God and above everyone…

The encrypted messaging app Telegram has reached more than 900 million active users and should pass the one-billion mark within a year, its boss said in an interview. "Telegraph is spreading like a forest fire. Two-and-a-half million users sign up every day," said Pavel Durov, the Russian who founded the company alongside his brother Nikolai, in a rare interview with controversial right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson. People "love the independence. They also love the privacy, the freedom, (there are) a lot of…

Sri Lanka's Catholic church said it had lost faith in government investigations into the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 279 people, claiming it would seek divine help for justice. Suicide bombers hit three churches and three hotels on April 21, 2019, carrying out the country's worst attack since the end of a bitter decades-long civil war in 2009. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said in Colombo that the Roman Catholic church in Sri Lanka no longer trusted authorities to expose those behind the bombings, according to AFP.…

Sharp glovework by skipper Rishabh Pant and some inspired bowling set up a crushing six-wicket win for Delhi Capitals after Gujarat Titans fell to their IPL lowest of 89. Medium-pace bowler Mukesh Kumar stood out with figures of 3-14 to help bundle out Gujarat in 17.3 overs, and Delhi raced to their target in 8.5 overs in Ahmedabad. Without injured David Warner, Delhi registered just their third win and second successive of this season to jump three places to sixth in the 10-team table. Pant, who returned to this…

The International Monetary Fund said the global economy is set for another year of slow but steady growth. US strength pushes world output through headwinds from lingering high inflation, weak demand in China and Europe, and spillovers from two regional wars. The IMF forecasts global real GDP growth of 3.2% for 2024 and 2025—the same rate as in 2023. The 2024 forecast was revised upward by 0.1 percentage points from the previous World Economic Outlook estimate in January, largely due to a significant upward revision in…

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the electoral bonds scheme was the world's biggest "extortion scheme" and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the "champion of corruption." Addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav here, Mr. Gandhi said there is a strong undercurrent in favor of the opposition INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections, and the BJP will be limited to 150 seats. Yadav said the winds of change will start blowing from Ghaziabad in western Uttar Pradesh to…

Sri Lanka rejected international bondholders' proposal to restructure more than $12 billion in debt, putting critical International Monetary Fund support at risk and delaying its efforts to resolve a two-year-long debt crisis. The government said in a statement that some of the proposal's "baseline" assessments and a lack of a contingency option in the case of continued economic weakness were the two main reasons the deal was not agreed upon. Colombo hoped to hold further talks "as soon as feasible," but the immediate…

Dubai International Airport said it was experiencing significant disruption due to bad weather on Wednesday and was working to restore normal operations as quickly as possible. The airport said in a statement that flights have been delayed or diverted and impacted by the displaced crew, adding that recovery will take some time. Dubai's Emirates Airline suspended check-in for passengers departing from 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Wednesday until midnight due to operational challenges caused by bad weather and road conditions.…

Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has decided to take a “mental and physical” break from the Indian Premier League after going through a modest run in the tournament. Maxwell’s absence from RCB’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru on Monday was initially attributed to a finger injury he suffered during the previous match against Mumbai Indians, but he later admitted that he has taken a break from the league. “It was a pretty easy decision. I went to Faf and the coaches after the last…

Kaushali Kusumapala has been appointed Coca-Cola Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, becoming the first woman to hold the position, the company said. “In this position, Kaushali will closely collaborate with bottling teams, customers, partners, consumers, and external stakeholders in Sri Lanka and Maldives,” the company said. Kusumapala said she will collaborate with bottling partners, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Male’ Aerated Water Company, and other stakeholders. “For some years now, Coca-Cola has…

The Government of India has lifted the export ban on onions for Sri Lanka, with exports of up to 10000 MT of onions permitted vide the enclosed notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. The exemption for Sri Lanka reiterated India’s Neighbourhood First policy, adding to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year festivities here, the High Commission said in a statement. Last month, India extended its ban on onion exports indefinitely in a surprise move that had exacerbated high prices in some overseas markets.

Sunrisers Hyderabad amassed 287-3 for the highest-ever Indian Premier League total and beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 25 runs on a Monday full of records and featuring a century by Travis Head. Hyderabad, invited to bat first by hosts Bengaluru, went past the previous mark of 277 they made last month after Head's 41-ball 102 and Heinrich Klaasen's explosive 67. The new high was the second-best in a T20 match after Nepal bludgeoned 314-3 against Mongolia in last year's Asian Games in Hangzhou. The match produced…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 accused the INDIA alliance of trying to finish Sanatan dharma. Addressing an election rally in Mysuru on April 14, Mr. Modi referred to the Congress party and its allies' boycott of Ram Mandir’s consecration in Ayodhya earlier this year. He said the Indian alliance wanted to destroy the strength of the Hindu religion. However, he vowed that he would not allow these “forces of hate” to succeed as long as he enjoyed the blessings of the country's people. He also described…

State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said in an EconomyNext report that the Sri Lanka government has not allowed rice imports and has not granted anyone permission to buy the staple food outside the country for public consumption. Sri Lanka imports staple food from time to time when there is scarcity or when traders stubbornly maintain high prices at the retail level. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government reduced the import tax on rice from 65 rupees per kilo to 1 rupee in January this year to encourage…

America’s Boeing has briefed Sri Lanka’s main international airport on the B777-9 airliner, which is expected to enter service in mid-2025, the state airport agency said. State-run Airport and Aviation Services said Richard Vaisvila, Lead Engineer of Airport Operations at Boeing Airport Operations Engineering, conducted the technical session. Officials from AASL and SriLankan Airlines attended the session. SriLankan has the airport's ground handling franchise. Boeing’s B-777X model promises greater fuel efficiency…