Jasprit Bumrah became the second Indian bowler and third-fastest pacer to pick 150 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday. Jasprit scripted history by becoming only the second Indian bowler and the third-fastest pacer to claim 150 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Bumrah achieved the landmark during the IPL 2024 group clash between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals  at Wankhede Stadium.  Bumrah accomplished this significant milestone in his 125th IPL match, showcasing his prowess as one of the premier fast bowlers in the world. Notably, the former Mumbai Indians player and current bowling coach, Lasith Malinga, achieved the feat in just 105 games, while the crafty leg-spinner of Rajasthan Royals, Yuzvendra Chahal, reached it in 118 appearances.  Dwayne Bravo (137) and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (138) follow closely in the rankings. The 30-year-old speedster reached his 150th IPL wicket during the match by dismissing Abhishek Porel in the 16th over of the second innings. A mistimed shot by Porel off a full toss from Bumrah resulted in a simple catch for Tim David at long-on. With this, Bumrah now stands as the second-highest wicket-taker for the Mumbai Indians franchise, trailing only behind Malinga, who boasts an impressive tally of 195 wickets.  Bumrah's journey to IPL stardom began in 2013 when he made a memorable debut by claiming the prized scalp of Virat Kohli. Since then, he has been a consistent performer in every IPL season, earning accolades and securing a permanent spot in the national side. His standout season came in 2020, where he scalped 27 wickets from 15 fixtures.  Remarkably, Bumrah has maintained an impressive economy rate since 2016, consistently conceding runs at less than eight runs per over. Moreover, Bumrah's 150-wicket haul places him at the tenth position in the list of all-time IPL wicket-takers, sharing the spot with former Mumbai Indians spinner Harbhajan Singh, who claimed 160 wickets in 163 matches. Bumrah had reached a significant milestone by securing his 150th wicket for MI in T20 cricket, further extending his tally to 151 with a stellar three-wicket haul against GT. While he has been a potent force in the Indian Premier League, claiming a remarkable 148 scalps, Bumrah has also left his mark in the now-defunct Champions League T20, where he captured three wickets. Notably, Bumrah's achievement places him in an elite club alongside Lasith Malinga, who stands as the only other player to have surpassed the 150-wicket mark for Mumbai Indians, boasting an impressive tally of 195 wickets.   Source: India Today

Tahseen Bahar Shuchona, daughter of local MP AKM Bahauddin Bahar, has won in the Comilla City Corporation (COCC) mayoral by-election. Returning officer Farhad Hossain announced the result from Cumilla Zilla School on Saturday (March 9) night. Tahseen Bahar contested in the polls with the bus symbol and secured 48,890 votes, Her nearest rival  Monirul Haque Sakku (Table Clock symbol) got 26, 897 votes. Besides, Nizam Uddin Kaiser (Horse symbol) got 13,155 votes. Noor ur Rahman Mahmud Tanim who contested in the by-polls under the elephant symbol got 5,173 votes. The total number of voters in the city was 2,42,458. Of these, 94,115 voters exercised their voting rights. The voter turnout was 38.82 percent. There are 118,282 male and about 124,278 female voters in the city, and two third-gender voters. Of these, 94,115 voters exercised their voting rights. The voter turnout was 38.82 percent.

Leading Bangladeshi company ACI Motors which is the  the distributor of Himoinsa and Yorpower diesel generators in Bangladesh, has emerged as the leader in the market this fiscal year 2023-24, its Executive Director Subrata Ranjan Das said recently. Subrata Ranjan Das, in a recent interview said that the market size for diesel generators with 10-3,000 KVA capacity slowed down by around 8% in the past fiscal year and is projected to face the same this fiscal year too, due to the inflation and economic slowdown, as the dollar crisis made timely imports a tough job now-a-days. "However, an increasing demand for quality products and services among the ongoing projects helped us beat other brands, gain market share and emerge as the market leader," Subrata Ranjan Das added.

The leading 4.5G telecom service provider in the country, Robi Axiata Limited has become the proud title sponsor of the Bangladesh national cricket team on Friday (Feb 16). Through this partnership, Robi embarks on the second chapter of an illustrious journey alongside the Tigers, committing to support the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) till July 2027. The signing ceremony took place today at the BCB headquarters in Mirpur, attended by representatives from both organizations. Robi's Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rajeev Sethi, along with Chief Commercial Officer Shihab Ahmad, and concerned high officials from both entities were present. Following the formal signing, BCB's CEO, Nizamuddin Chowdhury Sujon, officially announced Robi as the sponsor in a press conference. Robi was associated with BCB as a sponsor from 2015 to 2018. During this period the national cricket team achieved the memorable feat of winning back-to-back ODI series against Pakistan, South Africa, and India. In 2016, the team became runners-up in the Asia Cup while in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, Bangladesh made it to the semifinals of a major ICC event for the first time. Testament to the long-standing partnership, it was through the Robi-sponsored fast bowler hunt campaign that the current pace-bowling sensation Ebadot Hossain was discovered and later emerged as the star pacer he's now known as. Cricket holds an unparalleled place in the hearts of the people of Bangladesh, always unifying the nation through any achievement in international cricket. Robi aspires to lead Bangladesh forward through cricket, echoing the brand motto, 'Believe, You Can' Robi's MD and CEO, Rajeev Sethi, stated, "Robi's name is now intertwined with many firsts" in Bangladesh cricket. We firmly believe that Robi's 'Believe, You Can' spirit will Lispire the Tigers to achieve even greater success on the global stage. Robi is proud to be associated with Bangladesh cricket and will always stand by them in their thrilling journey ahead." Welcoming Robi to this new venture with Bangladesh cricket, BCB's CEO, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury Sujon, said, "BCB is delighted to have Robi as the sponsor for the national team. Through this partnership, we anticipate reaching new heights in Bangladesh cricket in the days to come."

Jasprit Bumrah reached the peak that no Indian pacer could reach in the history of Test cricket. He becomes the first Indian pacer to top the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings. Bumrah is currently the number one Test bowler in the world in the latest rankings released by the ICC. Earlier, Indian spinners were seen wearing the crown of Test bowlers. This time Bumrah wrote the history. Jasprit Bumrah secured the top place in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings after an outstanding performance in the second match of their ICC World Test Championship series against England in Visakhapatnam. However, In February 2018, he became the world's best in ODI cricket for the first time. In addition, in November 2017, Bumrah wore the crown of the world's number one bowler for the first time in T20 cricket.  

District Hospital Shopian has become the first hospital in Kashmir Division to implement artificial intelligence (AI) technology in its radiology department. Under the guidance of the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, the hospital has initiated a pilot project for Quick X-ray (Qxr), utilizing AI tools for more efficient diagnoses. This innovative approach allows for the instant identification of abnormal areas in X-rays with an accuracy of over 90 per cent, greatly facilitating the final diagnosis process for radiologists. Artificial intelligence has been revolutionizing the field of healthcare by providing intelligent computing solutions to practical medical challenges. Deep learning techniques, in particular, have significantly amplified the impact of technology in healthcare, especially in radiology, which employs radiation to generate medical imaging, such as X-rays, for the detection of abnormalities. By leveraging artificial intelligence algorithms, complex anomalous patterns in medical image data can be automatically identified, enabling assistive diagnoses for patients. Radiology produces a vast amount of clinical image data, necessitating radiologists to spend hours sifting through these images, crafting analyses, and finalizing diagnoses. However, computer vision (CV), a specialized field of artificial intelligence, can process and analyze medical images to accurately predict diseases. The implementation of artificial intelligence at District Hospital Shopian brings numerous benefits to radiologists, streamlining their work processes. These advantages include more accurate classification of abnormalities, enhanced analysis capabilities, and faster delivery of results. Artificial intelligence in healthcare encompasses machine-learning algorithms and software that mimic human cognition, enabling the analysis, presentation, and comprehension of complex medical and healthcare data. It surpasses human capabilities by providing novel methods of diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases. The patients have commended the Jammu and Kashmir administration for taking such progressive steps and expressed gratitude to the Administrative Secretary, Bhupinder Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner of Shopian, the Director of Health Services Kashmir, the Chief Medical Officer of Shopian, and the Medical Superintendent of District Hospital Shopian. These state-of-the-art medical facilities are expected to enhance healthcare services in the district, bringing District Hospital Shopian on par with other leading healthcare institutions in the Union Territory. 

A Nepali Sherpa guide has climbed Mount Everest for the 26th time, becoming only the second person in the world to accomplish the feat. However, the record is expected to be broken soon. Pasang Dawa Sherpa, also known as Pa Dawa, scaled Mount Everest on Sunday for the 26th time, matching the record set by a fellow Nepalese guide for the most ascents of the world's highest peak. The 46-year-old reached Everest's summit with a Hungarian climber, an official said.   As per the Himalayan Database, which keeps track of mountaineering records in Nepal's Himalayas, Pa Dawa had climbed the peak 25 times before, including twice in 2022. Since making his first successful of climb of the peak in 1998, Dawa has made the trip almost every year. The only other person to have climbed the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain 26 times is fellow mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa. Race for the record Kami Rita is currently leading a US team up the mountain and aims to break his own record by climbing Everest for a 27th time. That means Pasang Dawa's record could be broken in the next few days. It is unclear whether he will make another attempt this year. Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks, all above 8,000 meters. Sherpas, who mostly use their first names, are known for their climbing skills and make a living mainly by guiding foreign clients in the mountains. This year's climbing was slightly delayed after three Sherpa climbers fell into a deep crevasse on a treacherous section of the mountain in April. Rescuers have not been able to find them. Anniversary of the first ascent of Everest Climbers generally reach the base camp of the mountain in April and spend weeks acclimatizing to the high altitude, rough terrain and thin air before they go up the mountain's slopes. The season's first wave of climbers reached the summit this weekend as Sherpa guides fixed ropes and made paths for the hundreds of climbers who will attempt to scale the peak over the next few weeks. A record 467 climbers — excluding the local sherpas — have obtained permits to climb the world's highest peak from the southern side in Nepal, according to Nepal's Department of Tourism. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

Finland has officially become a member of NATO, dramatically widening Russia's frontier with the military alliance. The Kremlin described the accession as an "assault on our security." Finland became the 31st member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday amid warnings of "countermeasures" from the Kremlin. Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year prompted Finland — which has a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia — and its neighbor Sweden to drop decades of military non-alignment. How is the accession being marked? Finland's foreign minister handed the accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the keeper of NATO's founding treaty. Finland's blue and white flag was then set to be hoisted alongside those of its new allies, alphabetically placed between the flags of Estonia and France, in front of NATO headquarters in Brussels. Finland's accession came as NATO foreign ministers met Tuesday at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels for a two-day summit to discuss the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The meeting coincides with the 74th anniversary of the alliance's founding. Russia's foreign ministry said that, by joining the alliance, Finland had lost "its self-identity and any independence." "This forces us to take countermeasures ... in tactical and strategic terms," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Russia's NATO frontier doubles in length The enlargement of NATO's border with Russia has "profoundly changed the situation" in northern Europe, the ministry said.  Finland's membership doubles Russia's border with NATO, the world's largest military alliance. Turkey and Hungary, for different reasons of their own, had held up Finland's effort to join. Sweden's progress remains blocked. Achieving ratification in well under a year still makes Finland's membership process the fastest in the alliance's recent history. Membership for Sweden is still dependent on Turkish ratification due to several sticking points, but NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out "Sweden will also be safer as a result" of Finland's membership. He added that he expected Sweden would be able to join soon.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said her government has made healthcare services more affordable and reached it at every doorstep alongside making Bangladesh almost self-reliant in treating cardiovascular diseases. "Bangladesh is now almost self-reliant in treating heart diseases. It has the ability of treating 95 to 98 percent cardiovascular diseases and the country has efficient manpower, modern technology and required equipment to this end," she said. The premier said this in a pre-recorded video message aired at the 3rd Scientific Conference organised by the Bangladesh Cardiovascular Research Foundation at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel here. She said cardiovascular diseases are one of the main reasons of the people's death across the globe referring to 17.9 million people's death every year in the heart diseases. Sheikh Hasina said almost 27 percent deaths have occurred in Bangladesh due to heart related diseases while 10 children are now suffering from heart diseases in every one thousand while one young man is at risk of cardiovascular diseases in every five youths.   The Premier said the numbers of patients with heart diseases have increased due to food habits, lack of physical exercise, smoking, and diabetes.   "We have to focus on preventive measures alongside upgrading the treatment facilities for the heart patients," she said.   Briefly describing her government's measures for the overall development of the health sector, she said remarkable progress has been made in the health sector in the last 14 hours despite having various limitations. The Premier said as many as 600 hospitals have so far been built across the country alongside setting up 11 postgraduate super speciality hospitals, cardiovascular hospital, chest disease hospital, cancer hospital, neuroscience hospital and others.   "We have established 18500 community clinics and union health centres to ensure primary healthcare of the village people. Thirty types of medicines have been distributed from the hospitals free of costs," she said. Tele-medicine services have been introduced in 43 hospitals across the country whereas there are 30,000 satellite clinics across the country to ensure healthcare of the mother and children, she said. Besides, she said that there are 103 service centres to give free treatment to five lakh autistic children.   "The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Bangladesh free from polio and tetanus (dhonustonkar) free country due to our tireless efforts," she said. The Prime Minister said her government has taken a plan to build one each medical college in every district, adding that the number of medical colleges now stands at 115 from 50 of 2009 while the number of seats in the medical colleges have now risen to 10,789 from only 2050 in 2009. She went on saying that the number of dental medical colleges and units has stood at 37 which was only 13 in 2009. The Prime Minister said her government will build one each medical university in each of the divisions while four medical universities have already been set up. She said her government has appointed 10,000 physicians and 15,000 nurses and midwives in the last three years. "The treatment system of us has developed immensely while efficiency of the physicians has also increased. The country is now giving treatment of the diseases which were earlier treated abroad," she said.  She said various complicated diseases such as kidney, liver, bypass, neuro- surgery and bone-marrow transplant have now been successfully treated in Bangladesh.   The country's heart disease specialists and physicians are now giving treatment of the cardiovascular diseases successfully for which the people are getting its benefits and thus the country is saving huge foreign currencies. Work is in progress to set up a complete cardiac unit to give treatment to the children with heart diseases, she said. The Premier said the scope of producing more efficient heart diseases specialists with building a complete cardiology and cardiac surgery unit at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). She said that a world class Cardiovascular of Science and Research Institute having 500 beds has been set up at the BSMMU.   The Prime Minister said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had established the footing of the country's health sector upon which the country's health system is currently running. Bangabandhu had set up the IPGM@R and Bangladesh College of Physician and Surgeon to provide higher training to the physicians at the post graduate level to produce international standard specialists, she said. "Our government had transformed the IPGM@R as the Bangabandhu Medical University Hospital in the 1996-2001 period," she said. Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, MP, President of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Dr Mostofa Jalal Mohiuddin, Adviser Scientific Committee, Professor Dr ABM Abdullah, and Chairman of International Academy Course, Dr Rajesh M Dave, spoke at the function with President of Bangladesh Cardiovascular Research Foundation Prof Dr SM Mustafa Zaman in the chair.

Western State of Rajasthan has recently become the first state in India to surpass 10 GW of installed large-scale solar power generation capacity. Currently the largest producer of solar power among Indian states, 26% of Rajasthan’s installed power capacity comes from solar (at the end of 2021, India had an installed capacity of 55 GW of solar power).   Western Rajasthan is the epicenter of this solar revolution. Till recently, this area was known for the great sand dunes of the Thar Desert spread far and wide in Barmer and Jaisalmer and the adjoining districts. Today when you travel in this area, solar panels and windmills are some of the very first things that catch your attention. This is mostly barren land. There is almost nothing here except for sand dunes and occasional thorny bushes. Summer temperature climbs often up to 47-48 degree Celsius. Human life here is difficult and there is shortage of almost everything but not sunshine.   Rajasthan enjoys some of the highest solar irradiation in India and this coupled with easy availability of land (125 lakh hectares of unused land) has made Western Rajasthan India’s solar power hub. The state has a total of 32.5 GW of installed power capacity, with renewables contributing an impressive 55% and solar is the leading renewable source (64% of all renewable).   Many of these plants are hybrid in nature – apart from solar panels, they also have windmills. In fact, the tall windmills have become another attraction for the tourists in this region, who used to earlier come only for desert safari and to see the magnificent Sonar fort at Jaisalmer. This huge push for renewables has also boosted the local economy by creating new employment opportunities.   This is most visible in Barmer – till recently a sleepy backwater, discovery of oil turned the fortunes of Barmer in last few years, and it is fast becoming a wind and solar energy hub too. Raj West Power Plant of the Barmer district is producing 1080 MW from 8 units of 135 MW each. Apart from this, there are other solar and wind firms now and more are coming up at areas like Arang and Ratkuriya. Pokhran, Fatehgarh, Bhaniyana areas of nearby Jaisalmer districts are the other favourite destinations for solar parks.   This area is also home to the Bhadla Solar Park – currently the largest solar park in the world. Spread over 14,000 acres in Phalodi area of Jodhpur district, 36 solar plants of 18 large companies are established here. Currently, 2,245 MW of electricity is being generated here. Not only that, at around Rs 2.5/kw-hour, Bhadla produces some of the cheapest solar powers in the world.