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France held to goalless draw by Jamaica

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(picture BBC)

France suffered a frustrating start to their Fifa Women’s World Cup campaign as they were held to a goalless draw by Jamaica.

Herve Renard’s side could not break down a disciplined Jamaica, for whom star striker Khadija Shaw was sent off in stoppage time. The Reggae Girlz held on for their first Women’s World Cup point amid heavy rain at Sydney Football Stadium.

The French must now regroup for their meeting with fellow Group F favourites Brazil on 29 July.

France came close to scoring in the first half when Kadidiatou Diani had a near-post drive scooped away by Becky Spencer before a deflected effort which flashed past the post.  Diani twice headed narrowly wide before hitting the crossbar and post late in the second half, but Jamaica were roared on to a draw by the locals and neutrals as the latest smaller nation to impress at these finals.

French optimism dampened in Sydney rain

Having fallen at the quarter-finals in the past three World Cups, this has been pegged as the tournament for France to go deeper.

After the tempestuous Corinne Diacre reign – ended in March when Wendie Renard and several team mates threatened not to play at the World Cup at all – good feeling had returned around the French camp under new manager Herve Renard.

Herve Renard, who masterminded Saudi Arabia’s extraordinary win over Argentina at the men’s World Cup, has brought in an attacking 4-3-3 formation to bring the best out of his immensely talented squad. But they were blunted in Sydney by a Jamaica defence which pressed hard and well, never allowing Diani or Eugenie le Sommer enough time or space to work their magic.

Rising star Selma Bacha – winner of four Champions League titles with Lyon by the age of 22 and very impressive at Euro 2022 – missed this game with injury but should return for the key meeting with Brazil. France cannot get her back soon enough.

Jamaica joy punctured by Shaw red

In attack, Jamaica had one tactic – hit main striker Shaw as soon as possible. Given the talents of “Bunny”, who scored 31 goals in 30 games last season for Manchester City, their approach was not surprising.

Her presence alone was enough to stop France throwing too much forward, and a 35-yard free-kick fired inches wide in the first half showed her skills. But she was also booked for a late tackle on Sakina Karchaoui in the first half, before a clumsy challenge on Wendie Renard in the frantic dying seconds saw her sent off.

Having already gone better than their World Cup debut in 2019 – where they lost all three matches – Jamaica know victory over Panama in their next match will give them genuine hope of a last-16 place. But losing their captain, top scorer and talisman is a tough blow to take.

(BBC)



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Supreme Court Justice Murdu Fernando takes oath as Sri Lanka’s 48th Chief Justice

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Supreme Court Justice Murdu Nirupa Bidushinie Fernando was officially sworn in as the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka before President Anura Kumara Dissanayake today (02) at the Presidential Secretariat.

She assumes office as the 48th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, succeeding Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, who recently retired. Her appointment received approval from the Constitutional Council.

She began her career at the Attorney General’s Department in 1985, rising through its ranks to become Deputy Solicitor General in 1997 and Additional Solicitor General in 2014. With over three decades of service as a State Counsel, she was appointed to the Supreme Court in March 2018.

As the most Senior Supreme Court Justice prior to her appointment, she has played a significant role in shaping Sri Lanka’s legal landscape. She also served as Senior Additional Solicitor General at the Attorney General’s Department, demonstrating a distinguished career in public service.

Murdu Fernando earned her Bachelor of Laws degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo.

The event was attended by Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.

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Seales’ 4 for 5 gives West Indies control as Bangladesh fold for 164

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Jayden Seales cleaned up Nahid Rana to finish with figures of 15.5-10-5-4 [Cricinfo]

Jayden Seales registered astonishing figures of 15.5-10-5-4 as West Indies bowled out Bangladesh for 164 on the second day of the second Test at Sabina Park. Seales’ bowling figures were the most economical in Test cricket since 1977 (minimum 60 balls). In response, West Indies lost Mikyle Louis early but Kraigg Braithwaite and Keacy Carty took them to 70 for 1 before bad light forced early stumps for the second successive day.

It was Shamar Joseph,  though, who first rocked the Bangladesh innings. At one stage, the visitors were 83 for 2. In the next 34 balls, they collapsed to 98 for 6 as Shamar picked up three of the four wickets to fall.

He first ended a patient stand of 73 between Shadman Islam and Shahadat Hossain by castling the latter for 22. Soon after, he had Jaker Ali caught behind with a short ball. The batter was late on the pull; he top-edged it onto his shoulder and the ball lobbed behind the stumps for an easy catch to Joshua Da Silva.

In his next over, Shamar found the outside edge of Shadman to provide Da Silva his fourth catch of the innings. In between, Seales had Litton Das caught at first slip for 1.

After lunch, however, Shamar and Alzarri Joseph overused the short-ball ploy against Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam. The two batters hung around for 116 balls and added 41. Eventually, Taijul fended a short ball from Alzarri to third slip.

Seales then snared the last three wickets for five runs. Taskin was the first to depart. He tried to pull a short ball but the edge flew behind the stumps. Da Silva leapt and parried it towards second slip where Alick Athanaze dived backwards to pouch it with both hands.

Seales had Mehidy top-edging a hook into the hands of fine leg in the same over before uprooting Nahid Rana’s leg stump to wrap up the innings.

The Bangladesh seamers also started miserly, giving away only 16 runs in the ten overs before tea. After tea, Rana breached the 150kph mark multiple times and had Louis caught behind for 12.

Taijul also found help from the surface. Neither Brathwaite nor Carty could get him away. Seven of Taijul’s ten overs were maidens but he could not pick up a wicket.

Brief scores:
West Indies 70 for 1 in 37 overs  (Craigg Brathwaite 33*, Nahid Rana 1-28) trail  Bangladesh164 in 71.5 overs (Shadman Islam 64, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 36; Jayden  Seales 4-05, Shamar Joseph 3-49) by 94 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Global plastic talks collapse as oil states rebel

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More than nine billion tonnes of plastic has been produced globally with less than 10% recycled [BBC]

Countries have failed to reach a landmark agreement on tackling plastic pollution after more than two years of negotiations.

More than 200 nations met in South Korea for what was meant to be a final round of talks.

But deep divisions remained between a group of nearly 100 “high ambition” countries calling for plastic to be phased out and oil-producing nations who warned this would affect the world’s development.

“The objective of this treaty is to end plastic pollution not plastic itself, plastic has brought immense benefit to societies worldwide,” said the Kuwait negotiators in the final hours.

In 2022, the world’s nations agreed that a global treaty was needed to tackle the issue of plastic pollution particularly the impacts on the marine environment – and this should be completed within two years given the urgency of the issue.

Since 1950, more than eight billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally but less than 10% has been recycled, estimates the United Nations. .

This has led to millions of tonnes entering the world’s oceans and seas, posing serious risks to posing serious risks to wildlife and their environment.  Birds, fish and whales can become injured or killed if they become entangled in plastic debris or mistakenly ingest it, leading to starvation.

Plastic is also produced from fossil fuels, and is currently estimated to be responsible for 5% of global emissions – so efforts to restrict it could also help with efforts to tackle climate change.

The meeting in Busan, South Korea, was meant to be the final fifth round of negotiations but after late night talks countries were unable to resolve their differences missing their key two-year deadline.

“A few critical issues prevent us from reaching a comprehensive agreement,” said the talks’ chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso on Sunday – the final day of talks.

Although many issues are being discussed the key split is around Article 6 – whether there should be a commitment to cutting how much plastic is produced, or just try and reduce plastic waste by increasing efforts to recycle.

A group of 95 countries have emerged, including the UK, European Union, African Group and many South American nations, who are calling for Article 6 to be a legally binding pledge to reduce production levels.

“We carry the weight of expectations of our citizens who are counting on us to protect them and the environment to protect it from the plastic pollution crisis,” said Camila Zepeda, Mexico’s chief negotiator, who spoke on behalf of this group at the final meeting.

“We must do everything in our power to meet this expectation.”

Her speech was meet with strong applause across the room, but a group of oil-producing nations including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and Russia pushed back strongly.

The demand for oil across most sectors is expected to fall from 2026 as countries move to cleaner technologies like electric vehicles – but plastic is seen as one of the remaining growth markets. This may explain why these countries are particularly concerned about any global target to cut production levels.

“Attempting to phase out plastic rather than addressing the issue of plastic production risks undermining global progress and exacerbating economic inequality,” said Salman Alajmi, a Kuwait delegate.

Getty Images Swan sits in Danube River surrounded by plastic rubbish
The amount of plastic entering the world’s rivers and seas is expected to triple by 2040 at current rates of production [BBC]

India also voiced its concerns with including any commitments to cut production of plastic on the basis it could impact its right to development.

Environmental charities and scientists expressed their deep disappointment that the talks had collapsed and raised concerns about the influence of the fossil fuel industry.

InfluenceMap, a think tank, found that the petrochemical industry intervened dozens of times on the treaty via company statements, social media and consultation responses, and 93% of those were unsupportive of efforts to cut production levels.

But the report did highlight that these efforts were outweighed by positive support from key manufacturers of plastic products like Unilever, Mars and Nestlé who want consistent global regulation on the issue.

Jodie Roussell, global public affairs lead for sustainability at Nestlé, said of the talks’ collapse: “Disappointingly, consensus among all nations remains elusive, which further delays critical action to end plastic pollution.

“It also fails to deliver the certainty that business needs to mobilise investment and scale solutions.”

It is now expected that countries will reconvene next year to try and get an agreement, but Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics policy manager at conservation charity the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), told the BBC that the group of 95 should go ahead with their own treaty.

“I think the political reality is that most countries in the world want this – that is the positive thing we can take from this. Those countries shouldn’t accept anything less than what they are asking for, there are already so many that a treaty would have a massive impact on ending plastic pollution and that option should be on the table.”

[BBC]

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