NGT clears World culture festival, but with a Rs 5 crore slap on the wrist

NGT also asked AoL to give an undertaking by tomorrow that enzymes will not be released into Yamuna river and that no further degradation of environment will happen ​

 

Alastair Cook still 'hungry' despite England record: Skipper racks up 10,000 Test runs

ALASTAIR COOK says he will have to recalibrate his personal targets after finally reaching 10,000 Test runs, but insisted he was still “hungry” to achieve more in the game.

Counting cats is hard, but we know the numbers aren't good

The biologists also questioned the count itself. The WWF report noted that improved census techniques in places like Bhutan might account for some of the increase. And in India, surveys had been expanded to include tigers that lived outside reserves. That makes it nigh impossible to tell whether the increase detected was due to multiplying tigers or better counting methods. And it calls into question the report's claim that the goal of doubling the tiger population by 2022 is within reach. That “is not a realistic proposition,” the biologists said.

Counting animals is inherently difficult - they rarely line up in a neat row out in the open for scientists to count one-by-one. And while one might think that big, furry, brightly colored cats might be easier to count than other creatures, that's not necessarily so. And these big cats bring the added problem that they can kill those counting them.

New technique produces real randomness

Ask a computer to pick a random number and you'll probably get a response that isn't completely unpredictable. Because they are deterministic automatons, computers struggle to generate numbers that are truly random. But a new advance on a method known as a randomness extractor makes it easier for machines to roll the dice, generating truly random numbers by harvesting randomness from the environment.

The method improves on previous randomness extractors because it requires only two sources of randomness, and those sources can be very weak. “It's a big breakthrough on a fundamental problem,” says computer scientist Dana Moshkovitz of MIT. “It's a huge improvement over anything that was done before.”

Yorkshire fight back against Lancashire despite early problems in county cricket's biggest rivalry

Yorkshire's lower order again came up with valuable runs after Kyle Jarvis gave Lancashire the early initiative in the Roses match at Headingley.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's comeback denies Virat Kohli and RCB victory in IPL final

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD fought back from the dead to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final of the 2016 Indian Premier League in Bengaluru.

AB de Villiers reveals nerves after guiding Royal Challengers Bangalore into IPL final

AB DE VILLIERS revealed he overcame massive nerves to drag Royal Challengers Bangalore out of trouble and into the Indian Premier League final.

Seismic experiment might reveal thickness of Europa's ice

A spacecraft flying overhead could record the tremors, which might help scientists figure out how thick Europa's ice shell really is, Campbell and colleagues proposed May 24 at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Estimates range from a few kilometers to more than 30 kilometers (SN: 5/17/14, p. 20).

NASA has a concept for a Europa mission in the works: It's called the Europa Multiple Flyby Mission, and it would launch in the early 2020s. The plan is to use ice-penetrating radar to probe the shell (SN Online: 5/26/15), but that might not work on ultrathick ice, Campbell said. So his team came up with a seismic approach. Instead of discarding the empty propellant tank needed to blast the spacecraft from Earth's orbit to Jupiter, the team wants to crash it into Europa. “We can put it to use,” he said. “Let's make it hit the surface.”

NASA, though, typically avoids crashing objects into environments where life might thrive for fear of contaminating an alien world. A propellant tank sent to smash into Europa would have to be heavily sterilized first.

Scientists could time the impact so that the spacecraft was nearby to watch. Campbell and colleagues estimated that the tank would slam into Europa's crust at about 15.7 kilometers per second (roughly 60 times faster than the cruising speed of a 747 airplane). Such an impact would gouge out a crater and send waves of energy racing through the ice like the tremors of an earthquake. The slower the waves, the thicker the ice.

Campbell's team computed that the waves might be large enough to be seen by a spacecraft some 2,000 kilometers away. In real life, though, capturing the waves on camera depends on all sorts of factors, Campbell adds, from the spacecraft's imaging techniques to how the ice actually responds to the impact.

Evidence of 5,000-year-old beer recipe found in China

Back in 2004, archaeologists excavated two pits in northern China that looked a lot like homebrewing operations. Constructed between 3400 and 2900 B.C. by the Yangshao culture, each pit contained the remnants of a stove and assorted funnels, pots and amphorae.

Now, Jiajing Wang of Stanford University and colleagues report that the pottery shards contain residue and other evidence of starches, chemicals and plant minerals from specific fermented grains. The ancient beer recipe included broomcorn millet, barley, Job's tears and tubers - that probably gave the beer a sweet flavor, the team writes May 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings predate the earliest evidence of barley in China by around 1,000 years. Beer may have been consumed at social gatherings, and brewing, not agriculture, spurred the introduction of barley to China, the researchers argue.

No match for what faces us

The saga of Rajiv Narandas and his extended journey through the courts, culminating last week in his starting his 15-year sentence for murder, drew a lot of opinion over the years.
Much of it was critical, with some of it directed at the Daily News and other newspapers for reporting on his trail through the justice system. Critics argued that he did not deserve much attention, and mistook it for some sort of admiration.
The posed pictures of gym-crafted biceps, and his liking of the camera and supercars, did nothing to endear him to some readers.@

That was United's first trophy under Sir Alex Ferguson. It was also Les Sealey's finest hour, although he seldom spoke of it publicly out of concern for Jim Leighton, who was dropped after the 3-3 draw in the first game.

Sealey notes in Clitheroe's book that he writes with Leighton's permission. The next chapter is Leighton's own account of events, also told with brutal honesty in his own book, In the Firing Line, published in 2000.

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Liverpool fans flock into Switzerland for final as they bid to cheer on their side to another European title

Liverpool fans appeared to be in high spirits on Wednesday morning as they travelled in their numbers to Switzerland ahead of their Europa League final showdown with Sevilla.  Supporters of Jurgen Klopp's side travelled from John Lennon Airport to Basle as they geared up for their highly anticipated clash. The Anfield faithful posed with club scarves and handmade posters in Liverpool as they prepared to board their flight to Central Europe.

Even young rainforests can help save the climate

The logging of old-growth rainforest in the tropics-often to create cattle pastures-is a major blow to the climate. Cutting down the forests releases lots of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere-and of course, the trees aren't absorbing it anymore. But that's not the end of the story. When pastures are abandoned (often after a few years), trees start to come back, forming second-growth forests. These forests might lack the massive trees and rich biodiversity of an old-growth forest, but they can still play an important role in helping regulate climate. Robin Chazdon, an ecologist at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and the International Institute of Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (who was profiled last August in Science), and a team of 60 researchers first estimated the extent of second-growth forests across 43 regions of Latin America, and then built a model to estimate their ability to store carbon. It turned out that second-growth forests made up a sizeable fraction: In 2008, 17% of forest was 20 years old or younger, and another 11% was between 20 and 60 years old (above). If all this forest continues to grow for the next 4 decades, their model showed, it would store 8.5 petagrams of carbon, 71% of that in Brazil alone, as the team reports today in Science Advances. That's equivalent to the carbon emissions from all fossil fuels throughout Latin America and the Caribbean from 1993 to 2014. The results suggest that second growth forests-along with halting deforestation-can provide major help for meeting climate goals.

Roman plumbing wrote a record of Mount Vesuvius's eruption

The lead pipes of the Roman Empire distributed water from kilometers-long aqueducts (like the one above) all throughout their cities. And they did something else remarkable, too, according to a new study: They created a historical record of the cities they served. As water flowed through pipes and into harbors, it carried traces of lead, which eventually settled into harbor sediments. Researchers can now use cores of these sediments to make out when the ancient Romans switched their water delivery systems, taking advantage of the fact that the proportion of lead atoms with different weights changes depending on where the lead ore was mined. Studying sediments from the harbor of Naples, Italy, scientists found a sudden shift in sediment lead around 79 C.E., coinciding with the famous eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius. Volcanic ash could have clogged the pipes, or ground motion could have damaged them, forcing the Romans to replace them with lead from a different source, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The sediments also revealed that over time, more and more of the pipe network came from sources distant from Naples. That suggests an expansion of the network of lead pipes that brought water to individual buildings-but only until the 5th century C.E., when economic collapse and other troubles put the region's aqueduct out of commission.

There was always going to be attention on me following a famous Bairstow at Yorkshire and then England.

I had to follow my own path. Keeping wicket just happened, too. It was never a conscious thing to follow dad. He left an amazing legacy. He's in the top five for most appearances for Yorkshire and took over a thousand dismissals.

My earliest memory of sport is playing cricket on the beach in Barbados with my dad, David, when he was touring.

Either that or hitting a ball at Undercliffe cricket club in Bradford while my dad and brother Andrew were playing. My only karaoke experience came at Undercliffe. When I was five I stood up on a chair on New Year's Eve and sang Simply the Best by Tina Turner. I have no plans to repeat that.

Brendon McCullum - New Zealand cricket's renaissance man

The cricketing fraternity has, more often than not, unified in festivity or bereavement. In another such instance, it came together late last year, albeit in mild surprise, when Brendon McCullum announced his retirement from international cricket. While it was widely whispered that he still had a couple of years if not more of cricket left in him, McCullum knew it was time after a career that spanned across 101 Tests, 260 One-Day Internationals and 71 Twenty20 Internationals.

New Zealand cricket perhaps found itself at its lowest point a few years ago when it was whitewashed and outplayed by Bangladesh. The incredible talents in their ranks were of no avail. In December 2012, McCullum was appointed New Zealand's captain across all three formats and that was the beginning of the reversal of fortunes.

In an incredible tale of leadership and introspection to the extent of soul-searching, McCullum opens up in an exclusive chat to Cricbuzz about why he decided to retire when he did, cricketers' responsibility, lessons from the game and much more.

Sarah Taylor takes an 'indefinite break' from cricket

An ECB spokesperson confirmed to 'CRICKETher' that Taylor is currently "taking a break from cricket, having decided to take some personal time away from the game." Taylor's call to take a break is a huge blow to England, who have already lost Edwards, although, reports suggested that it was a decision forced upon her by the board.

The spokesperson further added that the board was monitoring Taylor's situation and ECB would "support her, keep in touch and talk with her prior to selection for the Pakistan series and the start of the Kia Super League."

Taylor already missed the first three games of the County season for Sussex and her return any time soon in the near future is now in doubt. She is regarded as England's second best batter after Edwards and her absence will be a big blow for a team that is trying to force its way towards automatic qualification for next year's World Cup.

The Sri Lanka legend was one of Ball's five second innings victims when Surrey tackled Nottinghamshire last month.

he believes England will not rule him out lightly when they consider the merits of him versus Steve Finn when they line up against Sri Lanka at Leeds on Thursday.

Jamie Vardy "picked" for England's Euro 2016 squad as he collects Football Writers' Association award

Football

Cricket

Philippe Coutinho named Liverpool Player of the Season as he completes clean sweep of club awards for second straight year

Philippe Coutinho was crowned Liverpool's Player of the Season for the second consecutive campaign as the midfielder completed a clean sweep during their awards dinner on Thursday night.Coutinho also won the Performance of the Season for his display against Manchester City in November, Goal of the Season for his solo strike against Manchester United in the Europa League and First Team Player's Player of the Season - the same four prizes he won last year.

Pollard blitz gives Mumbai crucial win over Bangalore

Virat Kohli had no qualms in admitting that an out of touch Chris Gayle was dropped, and not rested, for Royal Challengers Bangalore's previous two games. Travis Head, who had replaced Gayle hadn't spent too much time in the middle given the bulk of runs that came from the top order. But a raucous cheer broke out at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday (May 11) after the toss when Kohli declared that Gayle was back for their clash against Mumbai Indians.

Mumbai Indians backed their decision to bowl first, keeping the hosts' batsmen in check from the onset. Early wickets on a pitch that wasn't the customary Bangalore one that aided run-scoring pegged the home side back, but on the back of a resilient half-century from home boy KL Rahul, they finished with 151 for 4. Having conceded more than 170 in all the games so far, the tale was the same for the Royal Challengers as they conceded a six-wicket victory to Mumbai Indians, who jumped to fourth place - finishing with 153 for 4 in 18.4 overs.

BCCI mulls Anurag Thakur as president, Shirke as secretary

Less than 24 hours after Shashank Manohar resigned from Board of Control for Cricket in India's top post, Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke emerged as the frontrunners to succeed the Nagpur-based lawyer as president of the world's richest cricket body. Thakur, a BJP Member of Parliament and the sitting BCCI secretary, is in pole position to take over the reins of Indian cricket at the ensuing Special General Meeting, likely to be summoned in the last week of this month.

Shirke, a former BCCI treasurer and the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, has the right credentials as well as the experience to head the BCCI but may fall short in the numbers game as Thakur is likely to walk away with the 'BJP votes'. For the record, BJP, the principal ruling party at the Centre, can influence at least 10 of the 30 votes in the 31-member BCCI house where the Rajasthan Cricket Association remains suspended.

Shirke, a trusted lieutenant of former presidents Sharad Pawar and Manohar, has his backers in the cricket Board, but will have to work overtime to whip up the support of 16 units that translates into a simple majority in what appears to be a two-horse race. Thakur appears to have the numerical edge over Shirke, but the fact that the Board secretary could not host Pakistan's WT20 matches at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association ground in Dharamshala, his home turf, will weigh heavily against him.

"Building on his success with the Lions in the winter, Jake has impressed with the ball and has sh

"If selected, we are confident he will perform very well at international level."The first Test starts next Thursday, against opponents who pulled off a last-ditch victory over England at the same venue two years ago to take that series 1-0.

England selectors to decide between Nick Compton and Tom Westley in crucial No 3 spot for first Sri Lanka Test at Headingley

Nick Compton will dominate one of the most intriguing selection meetings in years on Wednesday when England must decide whether to stick with those who won in South Africa or revamp their under-performing top order.

Pat Cummins included in Australia A's 24-man squad for triangular series

Pat Cummins, the talented but injury-prone Australian paceman, has headlined Australia As 24-man squad for their quadrangular series featuring South Africa A in Queensland starting in late July.

The 23-year-old last played for Australia in September 2015 in a One-Day International (ODI) match against England before succumbing to a slew of injuries, most notably the lower lumbar stress fracture, which have plagued his fledgling career. Cummins has played just one Test match, when he memorably claimed seven wickets against South Africa in November 2011 as an 18-year-old.

Rod Marsh, Australias chief selector, said he was hopeful Cummins would play in the 50-over matches. "Pat is tracking along nicely in his recovery from his long term injury and we are hopeful he will be available for the one-day matches in this series," Marsh said on Tuesday (May 10). "However, we will be guided by medical staff on his return."

With the squad being mainly selected on the basis of domestic performances of the players, Marsh added, "It is important that we continue to build our arsenal of quality fast-bowlers and this squad features some new faces such as Joe Mennie and Dan Worrell, both of whom have impressed at the Shield level."

It has long been expected of Anderson, but Root has now emerged as a senior player in his own right after 12 months full of runs in all forms of the game.

Four years ago, Root was identified by Graham Thorpe as the most promising batsman of his generation and he is living up to that billing with more than 2,000 Test runs.“Obviously it's not going to work every time and you do have to be flexible but I'm in decent nick at the moment,” Root added on his ECB.co.uk blog.

“I thought it was really important to catch up with him as a friend and see how life is,” added Cook. “It was a ­really nice meal.”

Nick Compton, will be worried about holding on to his place as he takes on Alex Hales and Nottinghamshire at Lord's in what looks like a last-chance saloon.

“We went and won in South Africa, which gives the guys in the side credit in the bank, but we didn't score the runs in the top order that we'd have liked.

“I'm going to this selection meeting. It's not as clear as I hoped it would be by this stage, but that's probably ­because we could go two or three ways. It will be an interesting meeting. There might be some tough calls, but they might give some players another chance. I don't know which way it's going to go.”

Fabregas 'flicked Spurs players in groin' while Dier 'made threatening gesture' to Spaniard in ugly scenes at Battle of the Bridge

SAMI MOKBEL: Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier made a threatening 



gesture to Cesc Fabregas in the aftermath of Monday night's Battle 



of the Bridge. The England international's gesture shocked eye-



witnesses as both teams clashed by the entrance to the tunnel 



after the final whistle.

Blistering Steve Smith and Rising Pune Supergiants's death overs woes

For the third game in a row, Steven Smith, Rising Pune Supergiants' No. 3 batsman, had to come to the crease before the third over. When RPS, one of two latest entrants in the Indian Premier League (IPL), started their maiden season, it was with a 78-run opening stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Faf du Plessis. Supergiants' opening stands in the subsequent games haven't even crossed 30, but that fact has been masked by solid second-wicket partnerships, and Smith has had an important role in that. Apart from the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, when the second-wicket stand was worth zero runs because Kevin Pietersen had to retire hurt, the rest have all been over 40. Among them, six have been over fifty, four have been 80 or more, with three such involving Steven Smith. Smith, who batted down the order for the first few games, had an inconsistent start, but he made up for it as he grew from strength to strength with each passing game. The injury to Pietersen, which ruled him out of the IPL, meant that Smith had to take over the crucial No. 3 position, which was his place during Australia's World T20 campaign. While he did not do much at that position for Australia, knocks of 46 not-out, 101 and 45 - the last two coming at strike-rates of close to 200 - is a clear indicator that Smith relishes batting higher up the order. While the Australian has been going great guns in the last few games, and Rahane has been solid at the top of the order, RPS's inability to capitalise on the good starts has been one of their problems. A problem that has been now exacerbated by Steven Smith's injury and being ruled out of the IPL. Each time the Supergiants have batted first in the ongoing edition, they have ended up on the losing side, which is as many as five losses. The chief contributing factor for that has been their death overs batting as much as the shoddy performance of their bowlers. In the matches that they have batted first, the IPL newbies have scored 75 or more at the half-way stage in four games out of five, with three scores at the end of the 10th over being in excess of 80. But in three such matches, their batting in the death has not complemented the superb starts, which has meant that the Supergiants have ended up with totals that haven't met their expectations. Their average score in the last five overs while batting first is a touch below fifty, and they scored 60 apiece in the last five overs against Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Lions before their home match against Mumbai Indians. However, on the two occasions before those scores, RPS's scoring rate was just a touch above eight during the death