Sri Lanka beat Ireland by 9 runs in hard contest

June 14, 2009,LONDON: Sri Lanka preserved their unbeaten record at the World Twenty20 with a nine run Super Eights win over Ireland at Lord's on Sunday but only after they'd been given a huge fright by the minnows.Chasing 145, Ireland openers provided a solid start of 59 runs in 9.1 overs but the Sri Lankan spinning pair of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis controlled the situation and Ireland wickets were falling at regular intervals. However, Ireland were on 135 for seven when 20 overs were completed.Their top scorers were captain William Porterfield, Niall Obrien and John Mooney. They all made 31 runs each.For Sri Lanka, pacer Lasith Malinga and off-break bowler Mendis claimed two wickets for 19 and 22 runs, respectively. Muralitharan took one wicket.Earlier, minnows Ireland bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 144-9 in the allotted 20 overs.Only former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene's 78 prevented complete collapse in an innings where the next best score was Sanath Jayasuriya's 27.Brisbane-born seamer Alex Cusack, who took two wickets in an over, finished with fine figures of four wickets for 18 runs in his three overs but Sri Lanka, unbeaten at the tournament so far, were already in trouble before he came on.Former Ireland captain Trent Johnston, also born in Australia, took one for 18 in his four overs while the recalled Boyd Rankin had two for 27.Tight bowling was backed up by fine fielding, wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien setting the tone with three catches and a stumping.Jayawardene batted with typical elegance during a 53-ball innings featuring a six and nine fours.But he was clean bowled by Cusack and four balls later the medium-pacer removed Jehan Mubarak to give Ireland, who at the last World Cup two years ago in the Caribbean beat both Bangladesh and Pakistan, hope of another famous win.Ireland struck an early blow when, off only the second ball of the match, the dangerous Tillekaratne Dilshan went for a duck after a miscued pull off Rankin was safely held by O'Brien.The keeper, who plays for English county side Northamptonshire, then took an even better catch when, standing up, he held an edge from opposing keeper and Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara off Johnston.Ireland made two changes from the team that lost to New Zealand by 83 runs at Trent Bridge on Thursday.Andrew White returned in place of Gary Wilson and pace bowler Boyd Rankin came in for Peter Connell.

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India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Suicide bombings kill 18 in Iraq

Thursday, August 13, 2009 MOSUL: At least 18 people, most of them members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect, were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday in a packed cafe in northern Iraq, a local government official said.At least 31 people were also wounded after the bombers detonated suicide belts packed with explosives in the cafe in Kalaa town, in the district of Sanjar, local district chief Dakheel Qassem Hasoon, told a foreign news agency."Two suicide bombers entered the Cafe Barbaroz at 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) and blew themselves up, killing 18 civilians and wounding 31. Most of the victims were Yazidis," Hasoon said.Kalaa, northwest of the insurgent stronghold of Mosul in northern Nineveh province is predominantly populated by the minority Yazidi religious sect, as well as Arabs and Kurds.The attack is the deadliest since Monday, when 51 people were killed across Iraq, including 28 members of the tiny Shabak sect cut down when two truck bombs det...

US drones to target Taliban in Afghan war

Friday, July 31, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US military plans to use more drone aircraft to target Taliban militants in Afghanistan while focusing less on hunting down Al-Qaeda figures, report said on Thursday.Although defeating the Al-Qaeda terror network remains an overriding goal for Washington, officials now believe the best way to pursue that objective is to ensure stability in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan instead of Al-Qaeda manhunts, the paper said, citing US government and Defense Department officials.It was more important to prevent a slide towards violence and anarchy that could be exploited by Al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan to stage its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the officials said."We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," an official said. "We should probably reassess our priorities."The shift in priorities for the drone fleet comes despite President Barack Obama's declaration that defeating and dismantling Al-Qaeda ...

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