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US announces $25m reward for arrest of Venezuela’s Maduro
The US has announced an increased $25m (£20.4m) reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on the day he was sworn in for a third six-year term in office.
The inauguration ceremony was overshadowed by recrimination from the international community and Venezuelan opposition leaders.
Rewards have also been offered for information leading to the arrest and or conviction of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. A new reward of up to $15m for Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino has also been offered.
The UK also issued sanctions on 15 top Venezuelan officials, including judges, members of the security forces and military officials.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said those sanctioned were responsible for “undermining democracy, the rule of law, and human rights violations”.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy went on to describe Maduro’s regime as “fraudulent”.
Also on Friday, the EU said it was extending “restrictive measures” against Venezuela because of “the lack of progress… leading to the restoration of democracy and the rule of law”. The bloc also sanctioned a further 15 Venezuelan officials.
Canada also imposed fresh sanctions in what Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly called Maduro’s “shameless actions”.
Joly said Canada “will not tolerate the erosion of the democratic process or the repression of citizens seeking to express their rights”.
Maduro and his government have repeatedly denounced many of the allegations made by Western countries and opposition leaders.
The reward from the US cites narcotics and corruption charges dating back to 2020.
In 2020, the US changed Maduro and other senior officials in the country with “narco-terrorism”.
It accused them of flooding the US with cocaine and using drugs as a weapon to undermine the health of Americans.
Maduro has rejected the accusations. The US also re-imposed oil sanctions last year, after temporarily easing them in the hope Maduro could be incentivised to hold free and fair elections.
The Venezuelan president has blamed an economic collapse in his country on US-led sanctions he calls illegitimate and imperial. His critics blame corruption and economic mismanagement.
On Friday, President Maduro took the oath of office, vowing his third six-year term in office would be a “period of peace”.
“This new presidential term will be the period of peace, prosperity, equality, and the new democracy,” he said.
“I swear by history, I swear by my life, and I will fulfil it,” he added.
The 28 July election results were widely rejected by the international community, including by Brazil and Colombia, some of Venezuela’s left-wing neighbours.
(BBC)
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Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 14th of April in this year.
The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (10th) are Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon.
B Sai Sudarshan and Prasidh Krishna once again stood up for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Ahmedabad. This was GT’s fourth successive win in IPL 2025 and it took them to the top of the points table.
After RR opted to bowl on a red-soil pitch, Sai Sudharsan’s 82 off 53 balls, his third half-century of the season, steered GT to 217 for 6. With no dew in the second innings, it proved way too steep for RR to chase down. Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan struck in the powerplay before Prasidh picked up 3 for 24 in the middle overs to keep RR on the back foot. Despite Shimron Hetmyer’s fighting fifty, RR were all out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Joffra Archer didn’t have a great start to IPL 2025. In his first two games, he conceded 109 from 6.3 wicketless overs. But he boucned back in his next two with a combined 4 for 38 from seven overs. He breathed fire tonight as well. In his first over, he rushed Sai Sudharsan with a 152.3kph bouncer. In his second, he got one to move in at 147.7kph and pegged back Shubman Gill’s off stump. His match-up against Gill in T20 cricket now reads: 15 balls, ten runs, three dismissals.
For his former captain Jos Buttler, Archer had two slips, a short leg and a catching square leg, and welcomed him with a menacing bouncer that Buttler did well to evade. Buttler inside-edged the next ball just wide of short leg, and then pushed Archer through the covers for four.
Sai Sudharsan generally takes time to get going. Here, he attacked right from the start. He ramped, scooped, drove and cut, and took his side to 50 in 5.1 overs. By the end of the powerplay, he had 39 against his name, off 22 balls. Only Wriddhiman Saha (54 vs Lucknow Super Giants in 2023) has scored more runs in an innings for GT in that phase.
Buttler was on 12 off 13 at one point but hit four fours in his next six balls to move to 31 off 19. He and Sai Sudharsan added 80 off 46 balls before Maheesh Theekshana trapped Buttler lbw. After a brief dip in the scoring rate, M Shahrukh Khan opened up and smashed 36 off 20 to re-inject momentum.
Sudharsan was dropped on 81 by Shubham Dubey off Archer in the 18th over, but he only added one more to his tally. Then Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ransacked 30 in the last two overs to take GT past 200.
RR did not have a great start. Yashasvi Jaiswal slashed Arshad to deep third in the second over of the chase and Nitish Rana did the same against Siraj in the next. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag counterattacked and added 48 off 26 balls for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya had Parag caught behind in the seventh over. Parag immediately reviewed the decision, confident that his bat had only hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, with Ultra Edge also bringing up a second spike when the ball passed the bat.
Coming into this game, Rashid had picked up just one wicket in four outings. Tonight, he struck in his first over. It was a shortish ball that didn’t bounce as much as Dhruv Jurel expected, and Sai Sudharsan at deep midwicket gobbled up the mistimed pull.
Rashid enjoys a favourable match-up against Hetmyer, having dismissed him six times in 63 balls for 79 runs before this game. He almost had Hetmyer lbw for a first-ball duck but the ball had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. From there on, Hetmyer dominated Rashid and hit him for 26 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. However, Rashid was too good for RR’s Impact Sub Shubham Dubey and had him lbw for 1.
In his final over, the 16th over of the innings, Prasidh had Archer caught at mid-off and Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg, both off short balls. With RR 145 for 8 after 16 overs, the result was sealed. They dragged their innings into the final over but that did little to reduce the margin of their defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 217 for 6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Jos Buttler 36, M Shahrukh Khan 36, Rahul Tewatia 24*, Rashid Khan 12; Joffra Archer 1-30, Tushar Deshpande 2-53, Sandeep Sharma 1-41, Maheesh Theekshana 2-54) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 (Shimron Hetmyer 52, Sanju Samson 41, Riyan Parag 26; Mohammed Siraj 1-30, Arshad Khan 1-19, Prasidh Krishna 3-24, Kulwant Khejroliya 1-29, Sai Kishore 2-20, Rashid Khan 2-37) by 58 runs
[Cricinfo]
President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs, but a trade war with China escalated.
In a dramatic change of policy, just hours after levies against roughly 60 of America’s trading partners kicked in, Trump said he was authorising a universal “lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%” as negotiations continue.
At the same time he increased tariffs on goods from China to 125%, accusing Beijing of a “lack of respect” after it had retaliated by saying it would impose tariffs of 84% on US imports.
This comes a week after Trump announced import taxes on all goods entering the US, in the biggest upheaval of international trade in decades.
His plan set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports – which remains in place – but also higher rates on partners the White House described as the “worst offenders” for what the president considers to be unfair trade practices.
This included the European Union, Vietnam, South Africa and many more – all of which were due to be on the receiving end of US tariffs ranging from 11% to more than 100%.
Major market turmoil followed Trump’s announcement last week, with sell-offs sparking trillions in losses across the world, many Americans fearing price rises, and some analysts predicting increased odds of recession.
On Wednesday, before Trump said he would suspend the higher tariffs on goods from countries other than China, the US government saw interest rates on its debt spike to 4.5% – the highest level since February.
Hours later, when the change was announced, US shares rocketed with the S&P 500 soaring 7% in afternoon trading. It later closed the day’s trading up 9.5%, while the Dow Jones surged by 7.8%.
Announcing the latest iteration of his plan on Truth Social, Trump said he was authorising a 90-day pause on tariffs for the countries that had not retaliated against his levies.
The additional tariff on Beijing, he said, would be effective immediately. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” he wrote.
(BBC)
Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
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