Category World News

England worked hard on their breakthroughs on Thursday, and they will be happy to have lost Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and KL Rahul, who have recently put them to shame. However, captain Gill gave his wicket a suicidal run-out.

Even with only four days left, India’s chances of putting themselves in a position to force a victory already seem extremely slim.

Even without injured captain Ben Stokes, England’s all-seam attack had a competitive advantage despite the overcast morning conditions.

As stand-in captain Ollie Pope finally got on the right side of a DRS review after 14 unsuccessful appeals last year, Recalled Gus Atkinson dragged Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw for two as stand-in captain.

Before turning in Chris Woakes for 14, Rahul, who had scored more than 500 runs in each of his first four games, appeared to be generally untroubled as India drew to lunch with a score of 72-7.

Gill, who had four centuries to his name in the series and had an average of more than 90 runs, mysteriously set off for a nonexistent single as bowler Atkinson had time to move the ball to his right before putting the bat down the stumps.

Gill had all kinds of records in his sights on the day, but he only managed 21 as his 743-run total placed him ahead of Garfield Sobers of the West Indies (722 in 1966) as the visiting captain with the highest total runs scored in a series in England, either for or against the hosts.

A wayward Josh Tongue, whose first over was nine balls and went for 12 runs, finally found his line to nip Sai Sudharsan’s bat for 38 after a delayed rain-delayed restart.

With their big-hitters all gone or, in the case of Rishabh Pant, injured, Tongue repeated the feat soon after and removed Jadeja, who had a superb unbeaten century in his team’s rearguard action in the fourth test for nine. India were reeling on 123-5.

Dhruv Jurel was tucked up by Atkinson and then neatly caught by Harry Brook for 19 after overturning an lbw decision against him.

As the impressive Atkinson finished the day with figures of two for 31 off 19 overs, Karun Nair batted calmly to finish with a score of 52 not out, and Washington Sundar, who turned in another centurion last Sunday, was on 19, at the close.

Woakes, who had a serious shoulder injury as he dived heavily to avoid a boundary in the final overs, had a less enjoyable day.

Despite concerns that the implanted defibrillator could lead to a botched execution, a court in the state of Tennessee in southern the US has ruled that the state of Tennessee can proceed with the execution of a man.

Byron Black, who was found guilty of a triple murder in 1988, is currently on death row in the Tennessee Supreme Court’s case on Thursday.

Although Black’s execution has been postponed numerous times, a lethal injection date was set for August 5th.

However, his defense team claimed in July that Black’s defibrillator should be deactivated in order for the execution to continue because it would shock his heart as he passed away, leading to a painful and drawn-out execution.

Prior to his execution, Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins had previously decided that Black’s defibrillator must be taken out.

The Tennessee Supreme Court overturned that ruling, contending that removing the defibrillator in advance would be considered a “stay of execution.”

The lower court’s decision, according to the state justices, was invalid because it had overstepped its bounds.

One of Black’s attorneys, Kelley Henry, stated that she is reviewing the opinion before deciding what to do next.

The state’s attorneys claimed on Wednesday that healthcare professionals were hesitant to help with the defibrillator’s removal because many of them saw participation in the execution process as a violation of medical ethics.

The court did not address concerns about whether Black’s constitutional right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment might be violated by the device’s complications during the execution. Additionally, it made the possibility that Black could still receive a pardon for his execution open.

In the US, one of the few Western nations still using the death penalty, botched executions have been a source of debate for years.

Lethal injection and electrocution are frequently error-prone methods of capital punishment, which can sometimes lead to painful, drawn-out prisoner deaths.

According to a report released in 2022 by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), “seven out of 22 attempted executions in the US” were “visibly problematic” and included “executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves.”

The US executed 24 people in 2023, which is the third-highest number of confirmed executions in the world, after Iran and Saudi Arabia, according to Amnesty International. After China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, the US received the fifth-highest number of death sentences.

One of the top cyber-espionage units in the Russian government has been accused by Microsoft of using local internet service providers to spread malware to Russian embassies and diplomatic organizations.

The FSB, or Federal Security Service, has been conducting its activities since at least 2024, according to Microsoft Threat Intelligence in a blog post on Thursday.

The initiative “poses a high risk to foreign embassies, diplomatic organizations, and other sensitive organizations operating in Moscow, particularly those that rely on local internet providers,” according to Microsoft.

According to Microsoft’s findings, the analysis establishes for the first time that the FSB is engaging in cyber-espionage at the ISP level.

The blog post states that “diplomatic personnel using local ISP or telecommunications services in Russia are highly likely targets of the campaign] within those services.”

An alleged FSB cyber-espionage operation that targeted unnamed foreign embassies in Moscow was tracked by Microsoft.

According to Microsoft, the FSB activity makes it easier to install custom backdoors on targeted computers, which can be used to install additional malware and steal data.

The findings come as Washington is increasingly compelled to support a ceasefire in its conflict with Ukraine, and NATO allies have pledged to raise defense spending in response to their own concerns about Russia.

Which embassies were the targets of the FSB campaign, according to Microsoft?

Russian diplomats and the US Department of State did not respond to Reuters news agency’s requests for comment.

Russia has disputed that it engages in cyber-espionage. Moscow’s response to Microsoft’s report on Thursday was unaffected by its delay.

Sudan has endured a devastating conflict for more than two years.

It now faces yet another problem.

A parallel government to the one led by the army chief has been announced by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The army has criticized the move as a desperate attempt by the RSF to hold onto power, while the African Union has rejected it.

However, according to analysts, the decision poses a real risk and could cause even more division in a nation that is already fractious.

How will this new conflict of power affect both Sudan and the world at large?

And how might it impact the region under RSF control of Darfur?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Hafiz Mohamed, Director of the advocacy and research institute Justice Africa Sudan,

Kholood Khair, the founder of Confluence Advisory, a think-tank that was founded in Khartoum, is a political analyst from Sudan.