Latest News
Suryakumar’s 83 pulls one back for India
A relentless Suryakumar Yadav denied West Indies the opportunity to wrap up the five-match T20I series before it shifted base to the United States as his 44-ball 83 was pivotal in India’s comfortable seven-wicket win in chase of 159/5. Suryakumar had Tilak Varma for company, who carried on from his fifty in the previous game to get an unbeaten 49 off 37 and see off the chase after the former’s dismissal.
Suryakumar walked out to bat on the fifth ball of the first over after debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal miscued a big shot across the line on a slower ball from Obed McCoy. Suryakumar straightaway laid down his murderous intention for the evening by whipping the first ball he faced for a four over mid-wicket and then followed it up with a pull over square leg for a six. He then went down on one knee against Akeal Hosein, shaping up to play a sweep but instead sliced it over point.
Alzarri Joseph dented India for the second time in the Power-Play when he dismissed Shubman Gill but Tilak Varma walked out and sang a similar tune to Suryakumar. The first two balls he faced were both hit for fours – through extra cover and then over short third man. The duo then took McCoy apart in the last over of the PowerPlay to take India to 60/2 in 6 overs.
Tilak camped at the non-striker’s end to watch a familiar carnage unfold as Suryakumar continued to play his shots and reached his 50 in just 23 balls. Even as a drizzle came around, there was no respite for the West Indies bowlers as Suryakumar was in sublime touch, unfurling one audacious stroke after another. Romario Shepherd attempted to change the course of the game by taking the pace off the ball against the swashbuckler but in vain as Suryakumar saw through and found ways to shift across and hit him over fine leg as well as backward point. India coasted to 97 for 2 in 10 overs, the asking rate dragged down to just 6.30 an over.
Suryakumar’s urgency to get India on the series scoresheet meant India were well ahead of the DLS par score, if rain made a bigger intervention than just the drizzle that was around. Suryakumar looked on course to even get a hundred before polishing off the chase when he perished to an innocuous leg side ball that he flicked with all his might straight to Brandon King at fine leg.
Tilak took control following Suryakumar’s exit and ensured there were no late slip ups like they’d crept in, in the opening game of the series. Tilak finished one short of a second successive T20I fifty as Hardik Pandya completed the chase with a six down the track off Powell in the 18th over.
Hardik Pandya used four overs of spin in the Power-Play to put the West Indian top-order off their game. They responded by hitting each of India’s three spinners for a four or a six off the first ball of their respective opening overs (including Kuldeep Yadav’s over in the seventh) to stamp their authority. They reached 38/0 in 6 overs, with 29 of those coming from four overs of spin.
The next fours overs, also all spin, fetched 35 runs for the loss of Kyle Mayers’s wicket, taking West Indies to 73/1 in 10 overs.
West Indies’ most exciting batter in the format walked out to face Kuldeep, who’d just trapped Johnson Charles leg before and sent him packing with an excellent review. On the second ball he faced from the wrist spinner, he danced down the track, only to york himself. He repeated it just the next ball, and connected to smash a six over long-on and then premeditated a switch hit to cart a leg side ball over extra cover. Pooran’s adventurous attempts to throw Kuldeep off his rhythm brought his downfall as the next time he stepped out to play a big shot, he missed and was stumped in the 15th over.
Kuldeep turned the screws further on West Indies by ending Brandon King’s stay for a run-a-ball 42 as the opener reached out to a ball that was outside the off-stump and turned further away and hit it straight back to the bowler.
West Indies got 10, 8, 17 and 11 in the last four overs with Powell finishing with an unbeaten 40 off just 19 balls to carry his side past the 150-run mark. Powell was particularly disdainful against Arshdeep Singh, starting off with a six over extra cover at the start of the 19th over. Arshdeep missed with his attempted wide yorkers, conceded extras as well as another six in the expensive over. Mukesh Kumar, who was bowling just his second over of the game and the last of the innings, was hit for a big six in the 11-run over. Powell’s efforts took West Indies to a sizeable total, which Suryakumar picked apart expertly in chase.
Hamas has handed over what it says are the bodies of four Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Israel is testing DNA samples to confirm they are the remains of Shlomo Mansour, 86, Ohad Yahalomi, 50, Tsachi Idan, 50, and Itzik Elgarat, 69, all of whom were taken by Hamas in the 7 October 2023 attacks.
Israel is due to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners once the remains are identified.
It will be the final exchange of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is due to end on Saturday.
[BBC]
A company which fell victim to what’s thought to be the world’s biggest ever theft is seeking to recover some of its losses by crowdsourcing online bounty hunters.
Last week, hackers believed to be from North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group stole $1.46 billion of cryptocurrency from ByBit, a crypto trading platform.
The criminals are trying to rapidly cash out the hoard through a complex online money laundering process.
ByBit is now offering cash rewards to anyone who spots and prevents them from cashing out.
“Join us on war against Lazarus” the company’s CEO Ben Zhou posted online with a link to a new website offering a bounty to anyone who can help.
Cryptocurrencies are stored in public wallets anyone can look up so it’s possible to follow the money as the criminals split it into smaller chunks and send it through various channels to obscure its origins.
The new website has a live leader board showing companies and individuals who have successfully located some of the coins.
The bounty scheme gives 5% of the sum identified to individuals who successfully persuade a company that has control of the funds to freeze the money.
It’s also awarding 5% to the companies that take action.
The website is already displaying millions of dollars in payments to successful crypto sleuths.
“We have assigned a team to dedicate to maintain and update this website, we will not stop until Lazarus or bad actors in the industry is eliminated,” Mr Zhou said.
Crypto investigation firm Elliptic described it as a “really positive innovation.”
“There are a lot of very talented blockchain investigators out there who will now be motivated to track down these stolen funds, and to help to seize them,” said Tom Robinson, from Elliptic.
However Louise Abbott, crypto fraud partner at Keystone Law, suggested the heist would still “negatively impact the perception of trust” in what she said was already a “volatile” industry.
“If such a hack can occur on this scale in the world’s second largest exchange, it can certainly happen again,” she said.
There are no authorities such as central banks or regulators involved in crypto transactions which means anyone who falls victim to criminal behaviour does not have an obvious body to turn to for help.
That’s left ByBit reliant on the goodwill of other crypto companies to act on their behalf. Not all have.
ByBit’s website is keeping track of crypto firms that don’t respond to requests for help.
One exchange called eXch is apparently refusing to cooperate.
According to researchers at crypto investigators Elliptic, eXch is a platform notable for allowing its users to swap crypto-assets anonymously.
In a blog post Elliptic alleges that “hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-assets derived from criminal activity, including multiple thefts perpetrated by North Korea” have been successfully laundered through the service.
So far $75m from the ByBit hack has been tracked flowing through the website, according to analysis.
EXch has not responded to BBC requests for comment.
ByBit is promising to open up it’s new bounty website to other victims of the prolific North Korean hacking group.
The site has a logo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s hair with a knife through it.
Crypto investigators around the world have attributed the hack to the group which has been blamed for around $6bn of crypto thefts in recent years.
Researchers say the stolen funds are used by the hermit state to skirt international sanctions and develop its military powers.
North Korea has never admitted to being responsible for the Lazarus Group.
[BBC]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on sharing his country’s mineral resources, Trump has said.
Zelensky has described the bilateral deal as preliminary, and said he wants further agreements which include US security guarantees to deter renewed Russian aggression.
But Trump said the US would not provide guarantees “beyond… very much”, saying the responsibility should instead fall to Europe.
Trump also seemingly ruled out the prospect of Ukraine becoming a Nato member – one of Zelensky’s long-held ambitions.
Speaking at a meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday, Trump said the presence of American workers extracting rare earth metals on Ukrainian soil would provide “automatic security” for Ukraine.
He said Kyiv should “forget about” joining Nato and repeated Russia’s claims that the issue was one of the driving factors behind the war.
The US president suggested a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was not far off, telling reporters: “We’re going to make a deal with Russia and Ukraine to stop killing people.”
But Zelensky said without security guarantees “we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing”.
“I want to find a Nato path or something similar,” he said.
Russia has consistently opposed the idea of Ukraine becoming a member, fearing it would bring Nato forces too close to its borders.
In 2008, the alliance had said that Ukraine could eventually join.
Zelensky said the success of the minerals deal, which was formally backed by his government on Wednesday evening, would depend on the outcome of his meeting with Trump this week.
Key details have not yet been made public, but Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said it envisages an “investment fund” for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The prospect of a deal was first proposed by Zelensky last year as a way to offer the US a tangible reason to continue supporting Ukraine.
But disagreements over its substance exacerbated tensions between Trump and Zelensky in recent weeks.
The Ukrainian president had rejected an initial request from the US for $500bn (£395bn) in mineral wealth, but media reports suggest this demand has now been dropped.
There are also differences in how both sides are now describing the deal. Trump has lauded the “very big agreement” as an opportunity for the US to get its “money back” after funding aid to Ukraine.
But Zelensky has instead referred to it as a “framework agreement” upon which he hopes further deals can be made.
Trump has said he wants a quick end to the war in Ukraine and has sought to reset relations with Russia. After a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two leaders sent delegations to Saudi Arabia in bilateral talks which excluded Ukraine.
In response, Zelensky accused the US of helping Putin “break out of years of isolation” and Trump of living in a “Russian disinformation space”.
Ukraine is a country rich in natural resources. Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are there. But accessing some of these resources will not be completely straightforward.
Some of the mineral deposits have been seized by Russia. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s economy minister, resources worth $350bn (£277bn) remain in occupied territories today.
There are warnings too that Ukraine first needs to addresses its problem with unexploded mines before striking a deal with the US.
A quarter of Ukraine’s landmass is estimated to be contaminated with landmines, mainly concentrated in the war-torn east of the country.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will also be meeting both Trump and Zelensky separately this week to discuss the war in Ukraine.
He was due to arrive in Washington on Wednesday.
[BBC]
Hamas hands over four bodies
Crypto sleuths join hunt for $1.5bn stolen in biggest ever heist
Death toll in Sudan military plane crash rises to 46
-
Business3 days agoSri Lanka’s 1st Culinary Studio opened by The Hungryislander
-
Sports4 days agoHow Sri Lanka fumbled their Champions Trophy spot
-
News6 days agoKiller made three overseas calls while fleeing
-
News5 days agoSC notices Power Minister and several others over FR petition alleging govt. set to incur loss exceeding Rs 3bn due to irregular tender
-
Features4 days agoThe Murder of a Journalist
-
Sports4 days agoMahinda earn long awaited Tier ‘A’ promotion
-
Features4 days agoExcellent Budget by AKD, NPP Inexperience is the Government’s Enemy
-
News5 days agoMobile number portability to be introduced in June