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SA v IND, 1st Test: India need six wickets on day five to breach Fortress Centurion

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 India had another terrific day in the first Test against South Africa as the tourists’ now need six wickets to breach Fortress Centurion on day five. After setting a target of 305 for the hosts’, India took out four wickets, including two from a brilliant Jasprit Bumrah in the last 20 minutes of day four to leave South Africa at 94/4 in 40.5 overs.

Chasing 305, Mohammed Shami made the early breakthrough as he set-up Markram with two away-swinging deliveries and finally completed the set-up by having the right-hander withdraw his bat late, thereby chopping on to the stumps. Keegan Petersen and captain Dean Elgar survived against the new-ball pair of Shami and Bumrah till Mohammed Siraj claimed Petersen with an outswinger, taking the outer edge to keeper Rishabh Pant’s right.

Siraj and Bumrah got a few lifters but Elgar put up a defiant show of resistance against everything coming at him. He, along with Rassie van der Dussen, were stodgy and resolute in their partnership of 40 runs off 137 balls for the third wicket.

It took a peach of a nip-backer from Bumrah to hit the top of off-stump as van der Dussen shouldered his arms, breaking a stubborn stand. Elgar marched on to bring his half-century with a clip through square leg off Siraj. Bumrah put India on top at the end of day four with a perfect yorker to rattle nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj’s stumps.

Earlier, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen took four wickets each to bowl out India for 174 in the second innings. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s quick knock of 34 was the top score in India’s second innings while Rabada and Jansen took figures of 4/42 and 4/55 respectively.

Resuming from 16/1, nightwatchman Shardul Thakur had a nervy time. He left balls outside the off-stump and even survived an lbw chance off Jansen. Thakur flayed a powerful upper-cut over backward point off Jansen. But Rabada got one to kick off from a length to take the outer edge of Thakur’s bat to Mulder at third slip.

Pujara avoided a pair with a drive through mid-on off Ngidi. But on the fourth ball from the pacer, Pujara chipped to mid-wicket, where Rabada dropped a simple catch. Rahul, who picked easy leg-side boundaries while being cautious, chased a wide ball from Ngidi and edged to Elgar at first slip.

Pujara pounced on width from Mulder with a cracking cut through off-side. Kohli, on the other hand, wristed flicks and glances off Ngidi and Mulder before hitting Rabada twice for boundaries through point till lunch arrived.

Post lunch, Kohli fell on the first ball, playing a loose drive to a wide outside the off-stump delivery from Jansen and edged behind to keeper Quinton de Kock. This was the second time in the match that Kohli had driven and nicked behind. The Indian captain could only smash his pad with the bat while going back to the pavilion, with 2021 being the second successive year Kohli didn’t score a century.

Pujara could add a boundary to his score from lunch before being strangled down leg by Ngidi. Ajinkya Rahane slammed Jansen for three boundaries: a square drive through point, followed by a hooked six over backward square leg and a crisply-timed cover drive to accelerate India’s lead. But in an attempt to repeat the hook in Jansen’s next over, Rahane fell with the top-edge flying to van der Dussen at deep square leg.

Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin hit a flurry of boundaries while sharing a stand of 35 runs for the seventh wicket. But Rabada bounced out Ashwin as the ball took the glove edge to Petersen at gully. Pant continued to attack the pacers, whipping Mulder for successive boundaries before pulling Rabada through mid-wicket. But on the next ball, Rabada had the last laugh as a confused Pant toe-ended the pull to mid-on.

Rabada then picked his fourth wicket as Shami was caught by Mulder at third slip. Bumrah dabbed through gully to take the lead past 300 before Jansen bowled Siraj to end India’s second innings at 174. Though India lost seven wickets in 18 overs but added 95 runs to set a daunting target for South Africa and be on track to notch up a maiden Test win at a venue which is a fortress for the hosts’.

Brief scores: India 327 in 105.3 overs and 174 in 50.3 overs (Rishabh Pant 34, KL Rahul 23; Kagiso Rabada 4/42, Marco Jansen 4/55) against South Africa 197 in 62.3 overs and 94/4 in 40.5 overs (Dean Elgar 52 not out, Jasprit Bumrah 2/22), South Africa need 211 runs to win.

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Murder of Hindu leader: India slams Bangladesh, says killing follows pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities

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New Delhi, April 19: India on Saturday issued a sharp condemnation of the abduction and brutal killing of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a prominent Hindu community leader in northern Bangladesh, calling it part of a “pattern of systematic persecution” of minorities under the country’s interim government.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal voiced India’s grave concern, stating that the incident reflects an alarming trend of targetted violence against Hindus and other minority groups in Bangladesh.

“We have noted with distress the abduction and brutal killing of Shri Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a Hindu minority leader in Bangladesh. This killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government, even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity,” Jaiswal said in a post on social media platform X.

He added, “We condemn this incident and once again remind the interim government to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or making distinctions.”

India has previously expressed similar concerns over rising attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, but this latest incident has drawn particular attention due to Roy’s prominence in the Hindu community.

Roy, who served as the Vice-President of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, was abducted from his residence in Dinajpur district on Thursday evening. According to police and family accounts, he received a phone call around 4:30 p.m., after which four unidentified men arrived on motorcycles and forcibly took him to Narabari village. He was reportedly assaulted and later found unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital in Dinajpur, where he was declared dead on arrival. His wife, Shantana Roy believes the attackers used the call to confirm his location before carrying out the abduction.

Opposition leaders in India also slammed the shocking incident in the neighbouring country.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge highlighted that religious minorities, especially Hindus, are being persecuted in Bangladesh.

“Attacks on other religious minorities are also continuing. Recently, the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh made a very condemnable and disappointing comment about the northeastern states of India. The persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh, human rights violations, and the attempt to erase the memories of the 1971 Liberation War are efforts to weaken the relationship between India and Bangladesh. From 1971 till today, India has always wished for peace and prosperity for all the people of Bangladesh. This is in the best interest of the subcontinent,” he said.

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Death toll from US airstrikes on Yemeni fuel port rises to 38: Houthis

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Sanaa, April 18: The death toll from US overnight airstrikes on the Yemeni fuel port of Ras Isa has increased to 38, with 102 others wounded, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported on Friday, citing Houthi-controlled local health authorities.

According to al-Masirah, the casualties include five paramedics who were killed upon arriving at the scene, when the US military launched another wave of airstrikes on the port just minutes after the first on Thursday night.

More than 14 airstrikes on the fuel port were reported during the two waves, igniting massive fires in tanks storing imported fuel. The fires were extinguished within hours, said the report.

The US Central Command said earlier in a statement that it struck and destroyed the Ras Isa port on Thursday to “eliminate this source of fuel for” and “degrade the economic source of power of” the Houthis, Xinhua news agency reported.

In mid-March, US President Donald Trump ordered “decisive and powerful military action” against the Houthis after the group announced plans to resume attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea, citing Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza as the reason.

Earlier on April 17, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi had said his group had launched 26 attacks against Israel and 33 strikes on the US aircraft carrier and warships in the Red Sea since March 15.

In a televised speech aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV on Thursday, the Houthi leader said the attacks on Israel were carried out using “30 ballistic missiles and drones,” while those targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its escorts involved “122 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones”.

However, the Israeli military has reportedly intercepted many of the Houthi projectiles before they reached targets, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US Central Command dismissed the Houthi claims of daily attacks on the US aircraft carrier as “outlandish” in a post on the social media platform X.

Meanwhile, the Houthi leader noted that the US military had conducted more than 900 airstrikes against his group’s positions across northern Yemen during the past 30 days.

Tensions between the Houthi group and the US military have escalated since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 to deter the group from attacking Israel and US warships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, which control much of northern Yemen, said their attacks aim to press US-backed Israel to stop the offensive against the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

Israel’s Channel 12 News reported last Saturday that a Yemeni drone was intercepted near the Dead Sea within the Jordanian airspace before it could reach Israel.

The Jordanian army confirmed later last week that an unidentified drone entered Jordanian airspace and crashed in the Ma’in area of Madaba governorate, near the Dead Sea, and no casualties were reported.

Even since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in March across the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have been launching frequent attacks against Israeli and US targets.

Earlier last week, the Houthi military spokesperson claimed fresh attacks against the US aircraft carrier, USS Harry S Truman, and other US warships in the northern Red Sea.

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Houthis say 123 civilians in Yemen killed in one month of US airstrikes

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Sanaa, April 15: A total of 123 civilians have been killed and 247 others injured, mostly women and children, since the US military resumed airstrikes across Yemen in mid-March, Houthi-run health authorities said in an statement.

The statement was issued following US airstrikes against a ceramic factory on the western outskirts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa late on Sunday night, which killed seven people and injured 29 others.

The health authorities’ previous statement on April 9 put the death toll from the renewed US air raids at 107 and the number of injuries at 223.

The Houthi group rarely discloses casualties among its fighters. However, the US military has repeatedly said the strikes have killed dozens of Houthi leaders, which the group has denied, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Sunday, Yemen’s Houthi group announced that it had shot down another US MQ-9 drone, the 19th it has downed since November 2023.

“A US MQ-9 drone was shot down while carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Hajjah province” in northwestern Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

Sarea added that the drone was downed by a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile, stressing “the ongoing US aggression” has not crippled the group’s military capabilities.

The statement affirmed the group’s support for the Palestinian people, saying its operations will continue “until the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and the siege on it is lifted.”

The US resumed its air campaign against Houthi forces on March 15, stating that its strikes were aimed at deterring the group from launching attacks against Israeli and US naval assets in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, who control vast areas of northern Yemen, have been attacking Israeli targets since November 2023 to show solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.

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