England collapse to biggest-ever T20 defeat as India wrap up 4-1 series win

India 247/9 off 20 overs, Abhishek Sharma 135 off 54 balls, Shivam Dube 30 off 13, Tilak Varma 24 off 15, Brydon Carse 3-38, Mark Wood 2-32, Adil Rashid 1-41. England 97 ao off 10.3overs, Phil Salt 55 off 23, Jacob Bethell 10 off 7, Liam Livingstone 9 off 5, Abhishek Sharma 2-3, Mohammed Shami 3-25, Shivam Dune 2-11. India won by 150 runs , and won series 4-1. England lose series after Sharma’s stunning 135 England slumped to their heaviest-ever T20 defeat, as Abhishek Sharma’s chanceless, shocking 135 off 54 deliveries, hitting 13 of India’s 19 sixes, seven, in … Continue reading England collapse to biggest-ever T20 defeat as India wrap up 4-1 series win

Emilia Pérez takes 13 Oscar Nominations

Only one of the 10 films nominated for best picture was directed by a woman- Coralie Fargeat’s controversial horror  The Substance, and Fargeat was also the only female screenwriter with solo credit across the 10 scripts in contention. Brady Corbet’s three-and-half hour epic, The Brutalist, about a Hungarian Holocaust survivor of second world war played by Adrien Brody coming to post war America to be an architect, took 10 nominations, as did Wicked, the hit adaptation of the Broadway show. James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, came away with eight nominations, as did Edward Berger’s papal thriller Conclave, starring … Continue reading Emilia Pérez takes 13 Oscar Nominations

The Culture of encounter

Hope is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Pope Francis, the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to head the Catholic Church, goes where no pontiffs have not dared, originally intended this book to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope have moved him to make this precious legacy available now. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis’s Italian roots and his ancestors’ courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through … Continue reading The Culture of encounter

Taiwan caught between Chinese power and vagaries of US politics

When the bloody Chinese Civil War concluded in 1949, two Chinas were born. Mao’s Communists won and took China’s mainland, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan island. Since then, China and Taiwan have drifted into being separate political and cultural entities. Kerry Brown on the small island caught between Chinese power and the vagaries of US politics, to find a solution to a problem, when they attempt it would most certainly lead to world war, the stalemate prevailed for the past 76 years. Taiwan is now a free, vibrant society, flourishing democracy and an economic success story, as one of … Continue reading Taiwan caught between Chinese power and vagaries of US politics

Homeless man froze to death after sleeping bin shelter

A homeless man dies after freezing nights sleeping in a bin shelter. Maria Celia Salgado, a residents on the South End Close Estate alerted on December 12th 2024 to Camden Council about a man staying in one of the bin sheds over the past couple of months when temperature plummeted to -3°C.  Camden Council’s social services visited him but no action was taken as he refused help. On Saturday 11th January 2025, morning, one resident checked on him to discover that he  was “frozen”  and unresponsive, and soon called Ambulance, the paramedic s treated him at the scene and rushed to Royal Free Hospital, where … Continue reading Homeless man froze to death after sleeping bin shelter

Wealth Transfer

The superrich wanted Great Wealth Transfer, by becoming philanthropist effectively means transfer of family wealth from the Baby Boomer generation to their children. Vanguard estimated that by 2030, around $10.6 trillion will have been transferred between generations in the United States, $.35 trillion in Europe, and $2.8 trillion in Asia. These are enormous figures, but globally, the private equity industry had $8.2 trillion of assets under management at the end of 2023. There is great wealth transfer happening every day that has contributed to this enormous accumulation of wealth: the monopolization of the economy.  Wealth transfer emerges from the pocketbooks … Continue reading Wealth Transfer

Google’s search dominance under UK watchdog investigation

Google accounts for 90 per cent of all UK web searches – the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking whether it is using that dominant position to harm competition or choice for users. CMA, the UK’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation to find out if Google has too much power in online search. The CMA says it wants to ensure the tech giant is “delivering good outcomes for people and businesses” and that there is a “level playing field” for rivals. Google says it will cooperate with the investigation but has warned against what it calls “overly prescriptive … Continue reading Google’s search dominance under UK watchdog investigation

Global web of power

This is the untold story of the mysterious Chinese telecom company that shook the world from the coast of southern China, eccentric entrepreneur spent three decades  since its founding in 1987 in Shenzhen, shaping one of the world’s most powerful technological empires without anyone noticing. But December 2018, when the detention of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ female scion, sparked an international hostage standoff, poured fuel on the US-China trade war, and suddenly thrust the mysterious company into the international spotlight. In House of Huawei, Washington Post technology reporter  and former China correspondent Eva Dou, writes an authoritative and remarkable portrait of Huawei’s … Continue reading Global web of power

Opioid overdoses quadrupled in the US

Greed to Do Good, is the untold story of Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s disastrous war on opioids, as CDC announced that overdose deaths had quadrupled in ten years, hitting a record high of 90, 000 in 2020, but overdose deaths rocketed to 100,000 in 2021 and 110, 000 in 2022.  Between 2006-2012, Purdue Pharma, which promoted OxyContin along with other Big Pharma companies, sold 76 billion opioid doses. Overdoses shot up almost in parallel manner. In 2022, the death toll from overdoses exceeded auto and firearms deaths combined. To stem the tide, the CDC decided to focus on … Continue reading Opioid overdoses quadrupled in the US

Insight into lost world

Travel writer Norman Lewis spent a whole life of writing inscrutably on the road, revealing th world in all its unspoiled beauty, also reflecting a world now totally lost to us, from Yemen of the Imams to bandit chieftains, Neapolitan men of honour and tribal chieftains in Central America, as well as darker scenes: the doomed cultures of French rule in Indo-China, Cossaks being sent home to their death and the quiet holocaust of the indigenous peoples in the jungles of South America. Lewis (1908-2003) was the author of 15 novels and 20 works of non-fiction. The author descirbes “The … Continue reading Insight into lost world