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Trump to meet Venezuelan opposition leader Machado at the White House

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3 months ago

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Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado will meet President Donald Trump on Thursday, the White House has confirmed.

The visit comes just weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was seized in Caracas by US forces. But Trump declined to endorse Machado, whose movement claimed victory in 2024’s widely contested elections, as its new leader.

The US instead backed Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president.

Machado said last week she hoped to thank Trump personally for the action against Maduro and would like to give the Nobel Prize to him. Trump called it “a great honour”, but the Nobel Committee later clarified that it was not transferable.

Earlier, Trump had expressed displeasure over Machado’s decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an honour the president has long coveted.

Asked on Friday whether receiving Machado’s prize might change his view of her role in Venezuela, the president said: “She might be involved in some aspect of it.”

“I will have to speak to her. I think it’s very nice that she wants to come in. And that’s what I understand the reason is,” he said.

Earlier this month, after Maduro’s ouster, Trump had said Machado “doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country”. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” he said.

The US has so far backed Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s interim president.

Trump describes Rodríguez as an “ally”, and she has not been charged by US officials with any crimes.

“Delcy Rodríguez and her team have been very cooperative with the United States,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.

But Machado has maintained that her coalition should “absolutely” be in charge of the country.

Machado has said nobody trusted Rodríguez, telling CBS that the interim leader was “one of the main architects… of repression for innocent people” in the South American country.

“Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played,” Machado said.

The former legislator, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, described US military action in Venezuela as “a major step towards restoring prosperity and rule of law and democracy in Venezuela”.

Rodríguez has rebuffed claims by Trump that the US was in charge of Venezuela.

“The Venezuelan government rules our country, and no-one else does,” she said in a televised speech. “There is no external agent governing Venezuela.”

[BBC]


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Amelia Kerr hits 139-ball 179* as New Zealand pull off record chase to level series

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4 hours ago

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2026/04/1

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Amelia Kerr ended with 179 not out off just 139 balls [Cricinfo]

It was the Amelia Kerr show at Basin Reserve on Wednesday as she played the sort of innings that would go into cricket folklore if it were played at a World Cup instead of a bilateral series, to completely hog the limelight in a match with three other knocks of note and a total of 696 runs in 99.4 overs. Amelia scored 179 not out in 139 balls. And as New Zealand crossed South Africa’s 346 with two balls left, it became the highest successful chase  in women’s ODI history.

The result hardly seemed like when New Zealand, faced with a chase of 347, lost Suzie Bates in the fifth over, bowled by Ayabonga Khaka. Amelia settled in fast, but by the midway stage, New Zealand were four down, Kayla Reyneke striking twice and Sune Luus once as Georgia Plimmer, Maddy Green and Brooke Halliday all fell without making a significant contribution.

Amelia finally found the partner she needed in Isabella Gaze, the wicketkeeper-batter at No. 6. Together, the two of them 120 runs in 82 balls, Amelia scoring 47 of those runs in 34 balls to Gaze’s enterprising 68 in 48, studded with 11 fours.

By the time Gaze fell, becoming the first of two wickets in the game for Masabata Klaas, New Zealand had bounced right back and were in with a strong sniff. Amelia, by then on 113 off 97 balls, looked in the mood.

And then, with the lower-order batters for company, Amelia did what she had to: speed up. She scored a-run-a-ball 23 in a 40-run stand with Izzy Sharp, then 25 in 12 balls with her sister Jess, Rosemary Mair came and went, and then Amelia finished the job in the company of debutant Kayley Knight with two balls left. Amelia had reached her century – her fifth in ODIs, which includes a double-century – off 90 balls, and the 79 she scored after that came off just 49 more.

Earlier, South Africa would have felt happy with their performance with the bat after New Zealand had won the toss and asked them to bat, having lost the first game batting first, though not out of choice.

New Zealand struck early, removing Tazmin Brits in the eighth over, but then had to wait till the 28th before they got lucky again. In between, Laura Wolvaardt (69 in 74 balls) and Anneke Bosch (91 in 90) had added 132 runs in 124 balls, and South Africa were clearly on top.

South Africa continued to get strong partnerships with many of their batters settling in and showing form: 44 between Bosch and Luus (40), 34 between Luus and Sinalo Jafta (37), 40 between Jafta and Chloe Tryon (52*), 36 in just 18 balls between Tryon and Nadine de Klerk (18), and 25 in 12 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket between Tryon and Reyneke (9*). All of that added up to a very healthy total despite Bree Illing’s 3 for 60 and Knight’s 2 for 65, and South Africa would have expected the finish the night with the series in the bag, till Amelia decided otherwise.

Brief scores:
New Zealand Women 350 for 8 in 49.4 overs  (Amelia Kerr 179*, Isabella Gaze 68; Ayabonga Khaka 3-51, Kayla Reyneke 2-54, Masabata  Klaas 2-61) beat South Africa Women  346 for 6 (Anneke Bosch 91, Laura Wolvaardt 69, Chloe Tryon 52*, Sune Luus 40; Bree  Illing 3-60, Kaylee Knight 2-65) by two wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Ice-cool Connolly leads nervy Punjab Kings home on IPL debut

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9 hours ago

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2026/04/1

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Cooper Connolly was the Player of the Match on his IPL debut [Cricinfo]

Punjab Kings 165 for 7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Shreyas Iyer 18, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Kagsio Rabada 1-13, Ashok Sharma 1-31, Rashid Khan 1-29, Washington Sundar 1-27, Prasidh Krishna 3-29) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudarshan 13, Shubman Gill 39, Joss Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25, Washington Sundar 18, Rahul Tewatia 11*; Marco Jansen 1-20, Vijayakumar Vyshak 3-34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-28) by three wickets

Gujarat Titans (GT) stopped Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their tracks but could not stop them from going over the finish line in New Chandigarh. Cooper Connolly steered the hosts home in a chase that began authoritatively before taking nervy turns.

Prabhsimran Singh led the initial charge alongside Connolly before Prasidh Krishna initiated a collapse that derailed the chase. But with help from Marco Jansen and Xavier Bartlett, Connolly took PBKS home with five balls to spare.

GT had a sub-par outing with the bat, with three of their top four getting off to good starts but none of them capitalising. Yuzvendra Chahal was back to his best, taking out Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler, who top-scored with 39 and 38 respectively.

PBKS’ bowlers conceded 14 extras, 11 of which were wides, four of them coming in the final over by Arshdeep Singh. Perhaps the more relevant stat separating the teams was that GT hit three sixes in their innings and PBKS as many as 14.

Chahal came on with GT well set on 65 for 1 off 7 overs. He bowled slow, and varied his lines against Gill to dismiss him fourth time in the IPL. This time, it was a slog sweep that carried to deep midwicket.

There were a couple of near-chances in the 11th over, one a caught-and-bowled chance off Buttler and then one off Glenn Phillips, who hit an airy four that went just wide of Shreyas Iyer at cover. Chahal returned in the 16th, after a three-over break, with Buttler batting on 38 off 30 and itching for runs. Two dots later, Buttler looked to clear long-on but Bartlett used his height and reach to take an excellent high catch.

Vijaykumar Vyshak bowled across phases and found success later in the innings. Buttler and Gill took him on initially, hitting two fours and a six in his first two overs, the sixth and eighth of the GT innings. He came back and got Glenn Phillips to hole out to long-off in the 14th.

He saved the best for the death, bowling slower balls, either into the pitch or pitched right up. The first variant got Washington Sundar caught, cutting to deep point, and the latter had Shahrukh Khan slogging to deep square leg.

The pitch seemed flat early on as Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Buttler started with a flurry of fours. Nine in the first six overs, in fact. There were drives, pulls and flicks, and a gorgeous back-foot punch by Buttler off Vyshak.

The slowdown came in the middle overs, which saw GT make 77 for 3. Buttler faced 14 dots in his 33-ball 38, Gill, having rocketed to 27 off 15, made just 12 off his last 12 balls.

Phillips got off to a promising start on GT debut, hitting Chahal for a six and a four within his first eight balls at the crease. He missed out on a couple of boundaries because of Marco Jansen’s fielding at long-off. In the end, three of the top-four batters got to 25 but none went past 39.

After Kagiso Rabada dismissed Priyansh Arya cheaply, Connolly and Prabhsimran took him on: they hit three sixes in the fourth over, the same as GT’s innings tally.

Connolly then used Ashok Sharma’s pace to carve a length ball over cover point. He then hit two sixes off successive Rashid overs while Prabhsimran did the same off Washington Sundar.

However, Prabhsimran couldn’t get going against Rashid. He faced eight balls and scored just two before charging the legspinner and finding Prasidh at long-on. PBKS were 83 for 1 in the tenth over.

The momentum didn’t flag with that wicket, as Shreyas hit sixes off back-to-back short balls from Ashok. But out of nowhere, Prasidh dismissed the PBKS captain, who chipped a half-volley straight to deep midwicket.

This brought about a burst of T20-style wickets where the field mattered more than the quality of the ball. Nehal Wadhera cut a shortish slower ball straight to cover. Shashank Singh, looking to run the ball to deep third, nicked to the keeper off Prasidh. Marcus Stoinis, off Prasidh again, carved a shortish ball to deep third. PBKS had lost four wickets in the space of 16 balls for eight runs.

At 121 for 6, with PBKS needing 42 off 30, the game was flipping. But Connolly was ice-cool against Rabada. He punished two short balls to bookend the 16th over, the first cut over backward point for four to bring up his fifty and the last one pulled over square leg for six.

The pressure was eased at the other end as Jansen and Bartlett pulled Prasidh for sixes in the 17th and 19th overs respectively. That was where PBKS effectively sealed the game.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 165 for 7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Shreyas Iyer 18, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Kagsio Rabada 1-13, Ashok Sharma 1-31, Rashid Khan 1-29, Washington Sundar 1-27, Prasidh Krishna 3-29) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudarshan 13, Shubman Gill 39, Joss Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25, Washington Sundar 18, Rahul Tewatia 11*; Marco Jansen 1-20, Vijayakumar Vyshak 3-34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-28) by three wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district

Published

14 hours ago

on

2026/04/1

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Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 31 March 2026, valid for 01 April 2026.

The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

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