Sunday, January 10, 2021

Excited to be back playing international cricket: Javeria

The captain of Pakistan women’s cricket team Javeria Khan
The captain of Pakistan women’s cricket team Javeria Khan said the players are excited to be back on the field after almost 10 months.

She was speaking online to the media here on Saturday ahead of the team’s departure to South Africa.

Talking about the training camp and practice, she said: “We had our training camp here at the National Stadium where we trained hard and had competitive games.

“Two players are making a comeback after a very long time — Kainat Imtiaz and Ayesha Zafar, both of whom are in good touch. Our series against South Africa is important because we are playing after a very long time and it will help us prepare for the [2022 World Cup] qualifying round. We’ll also have a much better knowledge of the right team combination when we head into the qualifying round. Our youngsters will also hopefully learn how to absorb pressure in international cricket by playing this series.”

When asked about the captaincy challenges, Javeria said she would give it her top effort.

“It’s always a big honour to lead one’s country and I will try my best to perform my duties to the best of my capacity. I will try to make sure that all the girls are in a better frame of mind so that they could perform well. Captaincy, in my opinion, does not bring added pressure along with it. Instead, it gives you added responsibility which I think everyone should enjoy.”

On comparing the working methodology of the incumbent head coach with the previous coaches, Javeria said she was focused on looking forward.

“I wouldn’t delve into the past and would like to talk about our present day coaching set-up. It’s been three months since David Hemp joined us. His thought-process revolves around the idea of helping us play modern-day cricket. And he wants us to get into the top four in international rankings for which he has been preparing us,” the captain said.

She said that the team was trying to cover all three departments instead of relying on any one in order to win games in South Africa.

According to her, the batters and bowlers had separate training sessions where they discussed the weak links in the South African line-up and how they could exploit them. She also added that the team had practised keeping the South African weaknesses in mind.

On regular captain’s Bismah Maroof’s absence from the team, the skipper said the team would definitely miss her.

“We will definitely miss Bismah since she is the leader of this side and has been performing really well in both the departments. On the other hand, it’s a good opportunity for the youngsters to showcase their talents.”

When asked to comment on the less number of players selected compared to the men’s team owing to Covid-19 issues, she said: “I think we have ample number of players since we are playing a short series in South Africa. The men’s team had to play Tests, ODIs and T20Is whereas we have to feature in only three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals.”

Javeria has been very vocal in the past for a PSL type league for women cricketers.

When asked whether the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should expedite the process now that Cricket Australia (CA) has a Big Bash League for its women cricketers, she hoped that a women-specific league would materialise soon.

“The PCB is taking things into account and waiting to have a better pool of cricketers. That time is not far when we will have our own league for women cricketers.”



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Sriwijaya Air crash: Indonesia recovers body parts, black box

Sriwijaya Air crash: Indonesia recovers body parts, black box
Indonesian authorities on Sunday located the black boxes of the Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea soon after taking off from the capital Jakarta, as human body parts and suspected pieces of the plane were retrieved.

The Boeing 737-500 with 62 passengers and crew was headed to Pontianak in West Kalimantan on Saturday before it disappeared from radar screens four minutes after takeoff.

It is the first major aircrash in Indonesia since 189 passengers and crew were killed in 2018 when a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max in 2018 also plunged into the Java Sea soon after takeoff from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Even before the latest crash, more people had died in air cashes in Indonesia than in any other country over the past decade, according to Aviation Safety Network’s database.

Indonesia National Transport Safety Committee chief Soerjanto Tjahjono said the locations of Flight SJ 182’s two black boxes had been identified.

“Hopefully, we can retrieve them soon,” said military chief Hadi Tjahjanto, without giving an estimated timeframe.

Pieces of wreckage were brought to Jakarta port by rescuers. Authorities said they came from a depth of 23 metres (75 feet) near a group of islands off the Jakarta coast.

One twisted piece of metal was painted in Sriwijaya Air’s blue and red colours. Indonesian authorities said they had also retrieved body parts and clothing.

Police asked families to provide information such as dental records and DNA samples to help identify bodies.

The plane had 12 crew and 50 passengers on board, all Indonesians and including seven children and three babies.

President Joko Widodo, speaking at the palace in Bogor, expressed “deep condolences” over the disaster and urged the public to pray the missing people could be found.

"We feel powerless"

Tracking service Flightradar24 said the aircraft took off at 2:36 p.m. local time (0736 GMT) and climbed to reach 10,900 feet within four minutes. It then began a steep descent and stopped transmitting data 21 seconds later.

There were no immediate clues on what caused the jet’s sudden descent. Most air accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors that can take months to establish, safety experts say.

A transport ministry spokesperson said air traffic control had asked the pilot why the plane was heading northwest instead of on its expected flight path seconds before it disappeared.

The pilots had decades of experience between them with the flight captain reported to be a former air force pilot and his co-pilot at Sriwijaya Air since 2013, according to his Linkedin profile.

The Sriwijaya Air plane was a nearly 27-year-old Boeing 737-500, much older than Boeing’s problem-plagued 737 MAX model. Older 737 models are widely flown and do not have the stall-prevention system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.

“We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time,” Boeing said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families.”

Distraught relatives waited in Pontianak about 740 km (460 miles) from Jakarta for news of their loved ones. At Jakarta’s main airport a crisis centre was set up for families.

“We feel powerless, we can only wait and hope to get any information soon,” Irfansyah Riyanto, who had five relatives on the flight, told reporters.

Founded in 2003, Jakarta-based Sriwijaya Air group flies largely within Indonesia’s sprawling archipelago. The budget airline has had a solid safety record, with no onboard casualties in four incidents recorded on the Aviation Safety Network database.

In 2007, the European Union banned all Indonesian airlines following a series of crashes and reports of deteriorating oversight and maintenance since deregulation in the late 1990s. The restrictions were fully lifted in 2018.



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UK vaccinating 200,000 a day against coronavirus

UK vaccinating 200,000 a day against coronavirus
The United Kingdom is vaccinating 200,000 people a day against the novel coronavirus.

Britain is attempting to ramp up immunisation to two million a week to cover the most vulnerable by mid-February, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday.

“At the moment we’re running over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day,” he told Sophie Ridge on Sky News. “We’ve now vaccinated around a third of the over-80s in this country, so we are making significant progress, but there’s still further expansion to go. This week we are opening mass vaccination centres.”

With a highly transmissible new variant of the virus surging across Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has shuttered the economy and is rushing out vaccines in a bid to stem the spread of the pandemic.

Britain has the world’s fifth-highest official death toll from COVID-19 at nearly 80,000, and the 1,325 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test on Friday surpassed the previous daily record toll from last April.

“Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates across the entire country continue to soar at an alarming rate,” Johnson said in a statement.

“The NHS (National Health Service) is under severe strain and we must take action to protect it, both so our doctors and nurses can continue to save lives and so they can vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as we can.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, said hospital beds in the capital would run out within the next few weeks because the spread of the virus was “out of control”.

“We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point,” Khan said.

The designation of “major incident” is usually reserved for attacks or grave accidents, notably those likely to involve “serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security”.

London’s last “major incident” was the Grenfell Tower fire in a high-rise residential block in 2017, when 72 people died.



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Power supply restored in some areas of Lahore, Karachi

electricity
A major power breakdown plunged the entire country into darkness last night.

Power outages were reported in most parts of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan.

In a tweet this morning, Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan said 132 kv and 11kv grid stations around Lahore have been energised. The energised grid stations include Shadman, Qartaba, Mc Leod Road, Gulshan Ravi, Fort, Saidpur, Shamke, Saghian, Ravi, Bund Road, Badami Bagh, Sabzar, Sheikhupura, Orient and Sapphire.

Separately, Karachi-Electric, the port city’s sole power distributor said in a statement that the process of phase-wise restoration of electricity supply in the metropolis is underway. Power supply in some of the affected areas has been restored, it said.

The areas where power supply has been restored include Naya Nazimabad, Federal B Area Block 14 and 16, Site Area, Orangi, Manghopir, KDA and Valika. Electricity supply has also been restored in some areas of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Landhi, Malir, and Shah Faisal.

A spokesman of the Power Division said three production units of Terbela Power House have been restored while production units of Warsak Power House have also become functional.

Last night, the energy minister said that the frequency in the power distribution system suddenly dropped from 50 to zero which caused the blackout.

Urging the masses to exercise patience, the minister said that they were trying to ascertain the causes of the incident. He maintained that they were taking measures to activate Tarbela so as to restore the electricity.



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PM Khan expressed grief and sorrow over demise of Seth Abid Hussain

PM Khan
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday expressed grief and sorrow over the demise of renowned businessman Seth Abid Hussain.

In a condolence message on his official Twitter handle, Prime Minister Khan said Seth Abid was one of the early donors of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital Lahore.

Seth Abid passed away in Karachi on Friday. His funeral prayers were offered the other day after Asr prayers at Hafiz Ayaz Mosque in Phase II, DHA, Karachi. He hailed from Kasur.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar expressed grief over the death of Seth Abid Hussain and extended heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the bereaved family.

 



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PMLN suggested electoral alliance between PDM parties, Javed Latif

Javed Latif
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Javed Latif announced that his party has suggested an electoral alliance between the PDM parties in upcoming by-polls in the country.

PML-N leader Javed Latif negated that any electoral alliance is being formed from the platform of the PDM but said that they have suggested that the PDM should field its joint candidates on the vacant seat for upcoming polls.

“Our voters ask whenever we go to our constituencies as to when they will get rid of the incumbent government,” he said.

The PML-N lawmaker said that the PDM was committed over its announcements on resignations and the long march.

“This is the first opposition-led movement which is not receiving directions from anybody,” he said adding that the government should reveal the elements it thinks are behind the PDM’s movement.

It is pertinent to mention here that in a major development, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on January 01 announced that they will take part in upcoming by-elections.

Addressing a press conference following an hours-long meeting of the opposition’s leadership at Jati Umrah, Fazlur Rehman said that decision about taking part in Senate polls has not been made yet.

He said, “PDM member parties will participate in by-polls.”

Fazlur Rehman said, “PDM will hold protest demonstrations outside the offices of Election Commission of Pakistan and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Islamabad on 19th of January.”



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Major power breakdown hits country wide

Electricity
Several parts of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, suffered a massive power breakdown on late Saturday night.

Sources said that the power outage was reported in Islamabad’s Red Zone, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Kasur and other cities.

Karachi’s 60 per cent area was without electricity as the K-Eclectic system collapsed after the Jamshoro transmission line tripped, said the sources.

Taking to the social networking website, Twitter, Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan said that the frequency in the power distribution system suddenly dropped from 50 to 0 which caused the blackout.

Urging the masses to exercise patience, the minister said that they were trying to ascertain the causes of the incident. He maintained that they were taking measures to activate Tarbela so as to restore the electricity.

Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill said that Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan and his entire team were working to resolve the issue.

A spokesperson of the National Power Control Center (NPCC) said that a technical fault in the system caused the major power breakdown in several parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner said that the National Transmission Despatch Company’s (NTDC) system has tripped, causing outage. He maintained, “It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal.”



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Islamabad court dismisses Gill’s bail plea in sedition case

A District and Sessions court of Islamabad dismissed the post arrest bail petition of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill on Tuesday. Additional Dist...