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Sunday, May 18, 2025

Joe Biden cancer: What is a Gleason score of 9 and how is it treated?

Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a disease that affects the prostate - a small gland in the pelvis found only in men.

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Relay team dropped from Asian Athletics Championship

Selection committee of Sri Lanka Athletics have decided to drop the men’s 4×100 metres quartet from Sri Lanka’s team for the Asian Athletics Championship starting in Gumi, South Korea next week.

The not so impressive performance of the country’s relay team inclusive of Yupun Abeykoon at the recently held Dubai Grand Prix has prompted the selectors to take the difficult decision, a source close to Sri Lanka Athletics told ‘The Island’.

“It was clear that Sri Lanka’s team were not up to standard. With a performance like that, selectors are not sure whether the team could even reach the final at the Asian Championship,” an official close to the selectors said refering to the team’s performance in Dubai.

The Sri Lanka team inclusive of Chamod Yodasinghe, Yupun Abeykoon, Merone Wijesinghe and Deneth Weeraratne returned a time of 39.41 seconds at the Dubai Grand Prix. Official results ranked Sri Lanka in the third position though the country finished fourth behind India’s A and B teams and Oman.

Sri Lanka Athletics has maintained tough selection standardeds in picking teams for overseas events. The track and field governing body often set average bronze medal performance from the last three editions as the selection standard. Selection of Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon and national 100 metres champion Chamod Yodasinghe in the team for their pet event at the Asian Championship influenced the authorities to pick a 4×100 metres team initially.

Both Abeykoon and Yodasinghe have been retained in the team to compete in the 100 metres.

A team of twenty athletes were originally selected for the Asian Championship. The team included four relay teams. With the men’s 4×100 metres team dropped, the men’s and women’s 4x400m, and mixed relay teams will now compete for honours.

Sri Lanka excelled at the last edition of the championships winning eight medals including three in relay events. While the men’s 4×400 metres team won the gold with a new championship record, the women’s 4×400 team anchored by Tharushi Karunaratne won silver with a new national record performance. Tharushi was also part of the silver winning 4×400 metres mixed relay team.

Sri Lanka have a tough ask matching the outstanding performances they showcased at the Bangkok event in 2023.

While Tharushi Karunaratne who also won the gold in the 800 metres is not a part of the current team, Aruna Dharshana who was involved in both the men’s 4×400 metres and the mixed relay at the last edition is recovering from an injury. He is scheduled to face a fitness test before the team leave for South Korea.

by Reemus Fernando

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IPL2025 : Nehal Wadhera and Harpreet Brar take Punjab Kings closer to playoffs

The break in the IPL witnessed the departure of two huge pillars of Indian Test cricket. It resumed with a 23-year-old and a 14-year-old taking T20 batting to new heights.Yashaswi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi put on a 76-run opening partnership where 74 runs had come in boundaries. But even with that head start, it was heartbreak for Rajasthan Royals (RR) as they lost by 10 runs. Punjab Kings (PBKS) are now up to 17 points. They aren’t assured of a playoffs spot just yet but it looks like a matter of time.

PBKS equalled an IPL record for most 200-plus totals in a season (6). They made 219 for 5. That it happened after they lost three wickets in the first 19 balls just added even more sheen to their achievement. The top-scorer Nehal Wadhera (70 off 37) attended a mid-innings interview where he said his captain Shreyas Iyer had told him to keep hitting despite wickets falling and that mentality was the reason why they made the most of beautiful batting conditions in Jaipur.

Most of PBKS’ firepower has come from their openers. But on Sunday, both Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya couldn’t get going. That though allowed Wadhera all the time he needed to come into his own. He is a lovely spin-hitter (strike-rate 156, average 84 this IPL). Two of his best shots came off Wanindu Hasaranga on either side of Iyer’s wicket – one where he picked the googly and hit down the ground for six and the next where he picked the leg break and slog swept it for six.

Wadhera could’ve been out on 48 had Hasaranga been able to hold onto a tough caught and bowled chance.

Tushar Deshpande went into death overs mode in the 15th itself, using yorkers and bouncers of varying pace to save himself. Akash Madhwal, who was having a rough evening, might have thought he’d bought his team some relief when he dismissed Wadhera with four overs still left. Shahshnak Singh, at the time, was looking scratchy. He could’ve been dismissed for 11 off 10 if Dhruv Jurel had not misjudged where the boundary line was at long-off while trying to take a catch.

Shashank made the most of the life he got and became a menace for an RR attack that had plans to deal with him. The wide yorker was a big part of that, but the finisher one-upped them by moving around in his crease, twice scooping off the wide line to find the fine leg boundary and once taking guard almost two feet outside his crease in order to meet the yorkers on the full. Shashank made 59 off 30 balls.

Nobody was ready for how the RR innings began. Jaiswal went 4, dot, 4, 4, 6, 4 in the very first over bowled by Arshdeep Singh. Suryavanshi wasn’t lagging behind. From his place deep in his crease, and with the kind of power that doesn’t really tally with his age, he found leverage to hit bowlers looking for his nose and his toes out of the park. RR were 51 for 0 in three overs. Fifty of those runs in fours and sixes. One run off a wide. The first scoring shot that wasn’t a boundary took 26 balls to arrive. On the back of this unreal partnership, RR put up their highest powerplay total (89 for 1) in IPL history.

With the ball flying to all parts – and regular captain Shreyas Iyer subbed out to manage a finger injury – PBKS turned to Harpreet Brar (4-0-22-3) to see if pace off the ball would work. It did. Brar bowled one in the powerplay, got the benefit of a spread-out field after that, he still had to deal with a left-handed batter for most of his spell, nothing fazed him. Because he was clear with what he wanted to do. If he went full, he was not going to give RR the chance to get under the ball. He offered no room either. If he went short, he bowled it quick and kept the stumps in play to deny the batter time to swing. Riyan Parag found that out when the speed of his hands was no match for the skid of Brar’s arm ball. RR hit 19 boundaries in the powerplay. Brar came on to control the middle overs and they hit only four boundaries between overs 7 and 14.

RR’s finishers have been under the scanner all season. Shimron Hetmyer has the fifth-lowest strike rate of all batters who have at least 50 runs in the death overs. Jurel has been found out by spin. Here too, he made only 15 off 13 against Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal, but he was able to get on top of the PBKS quicks. He had a season strike rate of 179 against pace coming into this game. He upped it to 211 on Sunday.

A tense finish was on the cards, but Arshdeep came back for the 19th over, and nailed his lengths, whether he went yorker, or knuckle-ball into the pitch, and gave away only nine runs. That left RR with 22 runs to get off the last six balls. They managed to do that once in this game. Twice was asking for too much.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 219 for 5 in 20 overs (Nehal Wadhera 70, Prabhsimran Singh 21, Shreyas Iyer 30, Shashank Singh 59*, Azmatullah Omarzai 21*; Tushar Deshpande 2-37, Kwena Maphaka 1-32, Riyan Parag 1-26, Akash Madhwal 1-48) beat Rajasthan Royals 209 for 7 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 53, Yashaswi Jaiswal 50, Vaibhav Suryawanshi 40, Sanju Samson 20, Riyan Parag 13, Shimron Hetmyer 11; Marco Jansen 2-41, Harpreet Brar 3-22, Azmatullah Omarzai 2-44) by 10 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Saturday, May 17, 2025

Lanka reaffirms commitment to UN Peacekeeping at Berlin Summit

Sri Lanka has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing global peace and security through principled and accountable engagement.

At the 2025 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Arun Hemachandra praised the United Nations for its steadfast efforts to maintain global peace and security amid rising asymmetric threats and an increasingly complex operational landscape.

Speaking on behalf of the new government, Hemachandra emphasized Sri Lanka’s unwavering dedication to global peace, supported by a renewed national vision and comprehensive reforms aimed at enhancing professionalism and accountability across all sectors of governance, including defense.

He stressed the importance of civilian protection within UN peacekeeping operations, advocating for more robust and responsive strategies to address the growing challenges on the ground. Hemachandra noted that rapid technological advancements have introduced sophisticated threats, requiring adaptive and resilient peacekeeping approaches to ensure civilian safety.

Sri Lanka is actively pursuing new partnerships and opportunities for collaboration with the United Nations, member states, and regional organizations to strengthen collective capabilities and contribute meaningfully to peacekeeping efforts.

The Deputy Minister also underscored the government’s commitment to empowering women in peacekeeping, in line with national policies to extend military retirement age and promote women in leadership roles.

Reaffirming Sri Lanka’s pledge to uphold the highest standards of conduct and discipline in peacekeeping, Hemachandra stated that Sri Lankan peacekeepers serve under the UN flag with professionalism, integrity, and respect.

He concluded by expressing the new government’s dedication to playing a greater role in global peace and security, urging the United Nations to consider Sri Lanka a trusted and capable partner in advancing the shared goal of effective, responsive, and resilient peacekeeping.

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Palm Springs explosion: At least one dead and body parts spotted outside IVF lab

Emergency services have responded to reports of an explosion on the outskirts of Palm Springs, California, which reportedly occurred outside an IVF lab

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Friday, May 16, 2025

Roston Chase appointed West Indies’ Test captain

Roston Chase has been appointed West Indies’ new Test captain. The allrounder’s first Test as captain will be his 50th; his 49th, against South Africa in Johannesburg, came more than two years ago. West Indies have played 13 Tests since then.

Chase has previously led West Indies in one ODI and one T20I. His first assignment in the longest format will be the three-Test home series against Australia, which begins on his home ground in Bridgetown on June 25. Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican will be Chase’s vice-captain.

The series will be the first of the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle for both teams.

CWI said that Chase had been appointed from a shortlist of six after a “detailed assessment process that included psychometric testing to evaluate leadership style, behaviour, and overall suitability for the role”. The other candidates interviewed were John Campbell, Tevin Imlach, Joshua Da Silva, Justin Greaves, and Warrican.

Shai Hope, West Indies captain in the white-ball formats, asked not to be considered in order to focus on his exciting leadership roles.

“This selection process is one of the most comprehensive and forward-thinking we have undertaken,” CWI president, Kishore Shallow, said. “I am deeply impressed by the professionalism, objectivity, and strategic thinking that shaped the final decision. It sets a new benchmark for leadership appointments in West Indies cricket.”

West Indies head coach, Daren Sammy, said: “I fully endorse this appointment. Our new captain has earned the respect of his peers, understands the responsibility that comes with the role, and has shown the leadership qualities we need to take this team forward. I urge fans across the region to rally behind him–we’re building something special.”

The 33-year-old Chase takes over from Kraigg Brathwaite, who resigned in March after 39 matches in charge of the Test team. West Indies won 10 of those Tests, lost 22 and drew seven.

At the time of Brathwaite’s resignation, CWI had handed Hope – already West Indies’ ODI captain – the T20I reins, but had held back on naming a new Test captain, announcing that they would do so “in the coming weeks”.

Brathwaite’s tenure was notable for a young West Indies team beginning to find ways of winning in different conditions with a growing pool of fast and spin bowlers. Notable performances included a 1-0 home series win over England in 2022, the Gabba Test win of January 2024, and a 1-1 draw in Pakistan in Brathwaite’s last series in charge, in January 2025.

Chase has scored 2265 runs at an average of 26.33, with five hundreds, and taken 85 wickets with his offspin at 46.00. One of his first tasks as captain will be to repair his batting numbers, which have fallen steadily following a promising start. He made a century in just his second Test, to help save the Jamaica Test against India in 2016, and scored two more over his first 10 Tests, across which he averaged 48.53. Since then, however, his numbers have declined significantly.

CWI announced Chase’s appointment via X, formerly Twitter, and said it had been “unanimously approved by the CWI Board of Directors” during a meeting on Friday.