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Greg Barclay was named the new ICC chairman on Tuesday© Twitter Greg Barclay has been named the new independent chair of the International Cricket Council, beating Imran Khwaja to succeed Shashank Manohar, the sport’s governing body announced Tuesday. The former New Zealand Cricket boss needed a two-thirds majority of the 16-person ICC board and received the all-important 11th vote from Cricket South Africa. Khwaja had been the interim chairman since Manohar stepped down in July. “It is an honour to be elected as the Chair of the International Cricket Council and I would like to thank my fellow ICC directors for their support,” Barclay said in an ICC statement. “I hope we can come together to lead the sport andContinue Reading

Poster for ICFJ/Unesco campaign to combat violence against women.

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The insidious problem of online violence against women journalists is increasingly spilling offline with potentially deadly consequences, a new global survey suggests. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of female respondents to our survey – taken by 1210 international media workers – said they had experienced online abuse, harassment, threats and attacks. And 20% of the women surveyed reported being targeted with offline abuse and attacks that they believe were connected with online violence they had experienced. The survey, which concluded this month, was fielded by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Online violence is the new frontline in journalism safety – and it’s particularly dangerous for women. In the digital environment, we’veContinue Reading

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Striker Mohamed Salah will be returning for Liverpool in the upcoming Champions League clash against Atalanta, manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed on Tuesday. Salah had missed Liverpool’s Sunday’s Premier League win over Leicester as he had tested positive for coronavirus during the international break. Liverpool manager Klopp has confirmed that the 28-year-old Salah has tested negative for COVID-19. “Mo (Mohamed Salah) trained with the team yesterday and looked really good. All the tests were negative so now, if nothing changes, he’s available, which is good. Now we have to see what we do, because he was quarantined until three days ago,” Goal.com quoted Klopp as saying. If Liverpool manage to win against Atalanta the side will secure a progression to the ChampionsContinue Reading

Alexander Fleming seated, wearing a white lab coat.

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You might assume that all great medical discoveries are the result of deliberate action on the part of scientists. But you’d be wrong. Many great discoveries are the result of accidents, mistakes and chance. Here are five of the best, starting with the most recent. 1. Oxford vaccine dose If the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been given at the specified dose, the effectiveness of the vaccine at stopping COVID-19 would have been a slightly disappointing 62%. (And I say “slightly disappointing” guardedly because it’s a good result, but next to Pfizer and Moderna’s 95% efficacy, it doesn’t look champagne-poppingly brilliant.) In Brazil and South Africa, the Oxford vaccine was given at the correct initial dose, and the second dose a monthContinue Reading

Confused about COVID? Here’s how to read a research paper

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Rido/Shutterstock Scientific evidence can be difficult to understand. Normally we can rely on experts to interpret it for us, or the media to accurately report any interesting new discoveries, but the pandemic has challenged this. Almost daily we are faced with contradictory views claiming to be “based on the scientific evidence”. But if you’re not an academic, how can you go about checking the evidence for yourself? Scientific research is communicated in the form of “research papers” published in professional journals. To ensure accuracy, each paper is carefully checked by both editors and outside academic experts in a process called “peer review”. Although peer review is not perfect, it does tend to ensure articles are more reliable compared with thoseContinue Reading

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Star India has acquired the media rights of Cricket South Africa (CSA) till the end of 2023-24 cricket season, across Asia, the Middle-East and North Africa. The agreement grants Star India exclusive rights across linear and digital mediums including all India tours to South Africa in this period. The association will commence with England’s tour to South Africa starting on November 27, which is the return of cricket on Star Sports Network after the Indian Premier League. Star India already has the global rights for ICC, BCCI, IPL apart from other cricket rights. “We are delighted to collaborate with Cricket South Africa. This alliance fortifies our commitment to cricket and our belief in the significance of sport in Star India’sContinue Reading

Lockdown has been hard on teenagers, but they have shown remarkable adaptation

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GroovyPanda/Shutterstock The COVID-19 lockdown upturned the lives of teenagers at a time when they are usually becoming more independent and taking steps toward their future. Instead, they were confined to their homes, exams were cancelled, and their next steps looked suddenly less certain. Our research on the TELL Study – Teenagers’ Experiences of Life in Lockdown – explored how 109 UK-based 16 to 19-year-olds coped under coronavirus restrictions, with an emphasis on their wellbeing. Our findings show that lockdown was an intense, challenging experience, raising feelings of loss and fear about the future. However, participants also described considerable effort to adapt, actively working to counter the negative personal impact of the lockdown and trying to think positively. Coping with stressContinue Reading

Lockdown has been hard on teenagers, but they have shown remarkable adaptation

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In: News

GroovyPanda/Shutterstock The COVID-19 lockdown upturned the lives of teenagers at a time when they are usually becoming more independent and taking steps toward their future. Instead, they were confined to their homes, exams were cancelled, and their next steps looked suddenly less certain. Our research on the TELL Study – Teenagers’ Experiences of Life in Lockdown – explored how 109 UK-based 16 to 19-year-olds coped under coronavirus restrictions, with an emphasis on their wellbeing. Our findings show that lockdown was an intense, challenging experience, raising feelings of loss and fear about the future. However, participants also described considerable effort to adapt, actively working to counter the negative personal impact of the lockdown and trying to think positively. Coping with stressContinue Reading

The Conversation

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When I picture Syria, the first thing I see in my mind’s eye are the statues of the late Syrian president, Hafez al-Assad, in military attire – there’s one in almost every square. But it’s not just statues in the urban spaces, this muscular image of the nation permeates popular culture – Syria is symbolically depicted in songs and stories as a nation of warriors. And, since the uprising in 2011, this link between Syrian masculinity and warrior status has, if anything, intensified. But the coronavirus has hit all sides very hard. The impact of COVID-19, combined by new sanctions in the shape of the US Caesar Act, which targets overseas sources of income for the Assad regime and itsContinue Reading

The Conversation

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The UK government has been accused of stoking fear of COVID-19 and using “scary” graphs to impose public restrictions to control the pandemic. There are many parallels between COVID-19 and cancer: both evoke fear, are viewed as indiscriminate killers, and have prompted large-scale public health responses. For any public health measure there can be costs to health, society and the economy. There can also be opportunity costs – the potential benefit that is missed when choosing one alternative over another. Questions are increasingly being asked of politicians by doctors, public health experts, mental health advocates and business owners about the “costs” of COVID-19 preventative measures. For example, UK public health experts warned that the Liverpool mass testing pilot, part ofContinue Reading