The Arab coalition forces to Restore the Legitimate Government in Yemen said that 15 Saudi prisoners are to be released by Houthis on Sunday, adding that the prisoner swap is in line with the Stockholm agreement.
The official spokesman of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen Col. Turki Al-Maliki said in a press conference here on Sunday that the Yemeni government will release 681 prisoners, and the Houthi militia will release 400, according to the Saudi Gazette.
“Fifteen Saudi prisoner of war will be released by Houthi militia as part of the Yemen prisoner exchange agreement,” Al-Maliki added. Al-Maliki said Yemeni prisoner exchange agreement also includes the release of four Sudanese.
Al-Maliki described the prisoner swap as ‘purely humanitarian’. The Coalition called on the Houthi militia not to undermine the efforts of the United Nation special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths.
Last week while visiting my sister-in-law Jenny and her husband John at their home in Suffolk the talk turned to sport as it often does. Both Jenny and John have a keen interest in sport, and it is always enjoyable to talk to them about sports. What surprised me was when Jenny asked me about IPL. The first match of the IPL was about to be played and that Jenny and John living in the depths of Suffolk should be interested in this tournament showed how IPL has taken over this quintessential English game of cricket.
Indeed, so powerful is it that a domestic Indian cricket tournament means more to international cricket than a World Cup. Estimates suggest that IPL generates $600 million (£464.5 million) of revenue, 30 per cent more than the 2019 World Cup held in England did. The result of this is that IPL takes precedence over the World Cup. The Twenty20 World Cup was due to start next month but with the IPL originally scheduled for the summer but postponed due to Covid and moved to the UAE, it was IPL which took precedence.
There is a great irony here and also a very Indian story. The twenty over game was an English invention that the Indians shunned. The then secretary of the Indian board initially refused to take part in the first T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 snorting in derision, “What next, five overs a side cricket match?”
India reluctantly send a side to South Africa with its greatest star Sachin Tendulkar dropping out. But led by rookie captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni it unexpectedly won the tournament. The T20 triumph in South Africa triggered a revolution not only in India but also world cricket.
Abu Dhabi: Mumbai Indians players celebrates the wicket of Eoin Morgan of Kolkata Knight Riders during match 5 of season 13 of the Dream 11 Indian Premier League (IPL) between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians held at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on the 23rd September 2020. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)
Now sponsors cannot get enough of IPL. Last month IPL lost its tournament sponsor, Vivo, but soon Dream11, an online gaming company stepped in. Online fantasy cricket is the nearest India has to legal gambling in India and it can make a lot of money for IPL as cricket exploits India’s digital explosion. In 2012 India was said to have had 30 million smartphones in India. It could rise to 829 million by 2022.
120-150 million viewers in India are expecting to watch this year’s IPL matches, with companies paying $60,000 for 30 seconds of advertising time on Star Sports.
Credit must also be given to the organisers. 1,500 people have been locked down in Mumbai and the United Arab Emirates, whose three grounds in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, is where the cricket is being played. With IPL impossible in India UAE’s venues, all easily accessible by road for teams sealed in hotels and buses, made absolute sense.
Abu Dhabi: Jofra Archer of Rajasthan Royals appeals unsuccessfully during match 4 of season 13 of the Dream 11 Indian Premier League (IPL) between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on the 22nd September 2020. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)
The economic power of IPL keeps confounding most experts. In 2008 when the IPL had its first season broadcast rights were sold for ten years to Sony-World Sports Group for $ 1.5 billion. In September 2017, the IPL rights were sold to Star India for five years for Rs 16,347 crores which was more than the worth of all the other T-20 leagues which have mushroomed in the wake of the IPL in the last decade.
But while these figures are impressive the IPL story is best told in the impact it has had on the world of cricket and why India once the pariah of the cricket world is now the place cricketers cannot keep away from. The pre-IPL world revolved round an English summer. The moment the English cricket season started in late April cricket all over the world effectively ceased. Such was the power of the English game that cricketers from all over the world came to play in England. India was a bit player in this English summer garden party. Unlike West Indians and Pakistanis not many Indians played county cricket.
When IPL was launched in 2008 English cricket unable to believe that the Indians could match their cricket expertise scoffed at it. Its efforts to beat IPL proved a disaster and English cricket has long bowed to the power of IPL. So, despite the fact that IPL overlaps with the English cricket season their best players are allowed to miss part of the season to take part in this great Indian gold mine. Two centuries ago, British came to India to make money and found an empire. Now their cricketers are willing to miss part of their cherished season to make the sort of money they could never make anywhere else.
Abu Dhabi: Devdutt Padikkal of Royal Challengers Bangalore brings up his fifty during match 3 of season 13 of the Dream 11 Indian Premier League (IPL) between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on the 21st September 2020. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)
What the IPL has also developed are bonds between Indians and foreigners. This can be seen when IPL matches are played as during the match earlier this week between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. At a crucial stage in the match the outcome seemed to hinge on whether KKR’s two great foreign stars could turn the match around. They were Eoin Morgan, captain of the England limited over cricket team and one of the best batsman in this format, and the West Indian Andre Russell widely regarded as one of the greatest T20 players. They threatened to do so but were snuffed out by Jasprit Bumrah India’s great pace bowler who took both their wickets in one over. Patrick Cummings, the most expensive overseas star of IPL ever, who is principally a bowler, smashed a few sixes but by then Mumbai Indians had done enough to win. This show cased the IPL wonderfully well. An Englishman, a Jamaican, an Australian on one side and an Indian on the other all performing on the same stage with the Indian winning.
True, this is very specialised form of the game that will never match the complexity or provide the drama and game within game conflict almost mirroring real life that a five-day Test can. Tests will always be seen as the highest benchmark of the game. Yet, IPL is cricket turned into a Bollywood show, Indian tamasha presented to the world in such an enticing manner that Jenny and John are gripped by it.
For the first time a major team sport is not controlled by the west, and IPL is the ultimate expression of modern Indian soft power. It may not be as powerful an Indian soft power tool as yoga, but it took yoga a long time to reach its present position of eminence. That IPL has risen so far so quickly is testimony to the inventive powers of modern Indians.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Addresses General Debate, 75th Session
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reminded the international community that the fates of people across the globe were intertwined amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as she called on world leaders to ensure that any proven vaccine is made accessible to all at the same time.
She made the remarks during her address to the 75th UN General Assembly via video link on Saturday, reports bdnews24.
Expressing hope over the availability of a vaccine soon, Hasina said: “It is imperative to treat the vaccine as a ‘global public good’. We need to ensure the timely availability of this vaccine to all countries at the same time.”
Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry has the capacity to mass-produce a vaccine, if given the “technical know-how and patents”, she said.
Describing the pandemic as an “unprecedented crisis”, Hasina paid tribute to all frontline fighters, including health workers and public servants who are working tirelessly to ensure the safety of the affected countries and people.
Sheikh Hasina.
She also reiterated Bangladesh’s ‘unflinching commitment’ to multi-lateralism as embodied in the UN Charter.
“The pandemic has indeed aggravated existing global challenges. It has also reinforced the indispensability of multi-lateralism,” bdnews24 quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
With the assembly taking place on a digital platform for the first time in the UN’s history, Hasina also reflected on her personal memories of the General Assembly Hall.
“This General Assembly Hall evokes deep emotions in me. From this very hall in 1974, my father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered a speech for the first time in Bangla as the head of government of a newly independent country.”
Refugees in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in July, 2018. (Photo: UN/IANS)
In her address, the premier also urged the international community to step up the efforts to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
“Bangladesh provided temporary shelter to over 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals. More than three years have elapsed.
“Regrettably, not a single Rohingya could be repatriated. The problem was created by Myanmar and its solution must be found in Myanmar. I request the international community to play a more effective role for a solution to the crisis,” she added.
Sajjad Raja, Chairman of the National Equality Party JKGBL.
Chairman of the National Equality Party JKGBL, Sajjad Raja exposed the human rights violations imposed by Pakistan in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The activist’s voice stuttered while appealing before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to stop Pakistan from treating the PoK residents like animals.
Prof Sajjad Raja, while making an intervention during the 45th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva said that the POK election Act 2020 has taken away all constitutional, civil and political rights of the citizens of the POK region.
“We the people of Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir plead this august council to stop Pakistan from treating us like animals. The Azad Kashmir elections Act 2020 has taken away all of political, civil and constitutional, rights. Our activities opposing accession to Pakistan have been declared anti-state in flagrant violations of United Nations Resolutions,” said Raja, He further said, “We are treated as traitors in our own home simply for defending it. By declaring our political activities illegal, this act gives the Pakistan Army a free hand to assassinate our people through targeted killings and enforce disappearances.”
Raja said that Pakistan is “brainwashing” the young minds on both sides of the border in Jammu and Kashmir, thus, “making them cannon fodder in the proxy war with India.” He also submitted before the council that Pak continues to run terror camps in the area.
Speaking on the recent claim of Pakistan on Gilgit Baltistan, Raja said, “Pakistan is now trying to declare disputed territory of Gilgit Baltistan as its province, thus, depriving our people of their land and their identity and culture. Pakistan’s revisionist moves would throw the whole world into a brutal war.”
He concluded the statement by expressing the hope that the grievance of the people be heard and begging the peace loving world to help them break away the chains.
The Turkish National Security Council has said that Ankara is primarily in favour of dialogue on every platform to discuss fair sharing of natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The Council held a meeting on Thursday after Turkey and Greece recently agreed to resume exploratory talks on the Eastern Mediterranean to defuse the tensions that flared up over the exploration activities by a Turkish vessel in the area, reports Xinhua news agency.
Turkey will not make concessions in the protection of its rights and interests on the land, sea and air, the Council said in a written statement issued after the meeting.
Tensions heightened between Turkey and Greece over energy explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean waters in recent weeks.
Greece considers Turkey’s natural gas exploration in the region a violation of international law.
The Turkish government, on the other hand, believes the waters belong to the Turkish continental shelf.
In August, Turkey dispatched Oruc Reis, a seismic survey vessel, and two auxiliary navy vessels to the disputed region near the Greek island of Meis, also known as Kastellorizo, where Greece claims lies within its continental shelf.
On September 13, Greece welcomed the return of the Turkish vessel to Antalya, while expressing the willingness to enter dialogue with Ankara to de-escalate the recent tensions.
The Turkish National Security Council has said that Ankara is primarily in favour of dialogue on every platform to discuss fair sharing of natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The Council held a meeting on Thursday after Turkey and Greece recently agreed to resume exploratory talks on the Eastern Mediterranean to defuse the tensions that flared up over the exploration activities by a Turkish vessel in the area, reports Xinhua news agency.
Turkey will not make concessions in the protection of its rights and interests on the land, sea and air, the Council said in a written statement issued after the meeting.
Tensions heightened between Turkey and Greece over energy explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean waters in recent weeks.
Greece considers Turkey’s natural gas exploration in the region a violation of international law.
The Turkish government, on the other hand, believes the waters belong to the Turkish continental shelf.
In August, Turkey dispatched Oruc Reis, a seismic survey vessel, and two auxiliary navy vessels to the disputed region near the Greek island of Meis, also known as Kastellorizo, where Greece claims lies within its continental shelf.
On September 13, Greece welcomed the return of the Turkish vessel to Antalya, while expressing the willingness to enter dialogue with Ankara to de-escalate the recent tensions.
