Ariyan news zone : July 2023

Monday, July 31, 2023

WWF Uses Twitter Bird Logo To Highlight Species Facing Extinction

Last week, Twitter replaced its iconic bird logo with the letter 'X', marking the latest major shift since Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform. Twitter, founded in 2006 and whose name is a play on the sound of birds chattering, has used avian branding since its early days.

Needless to say, Elon Musk's Twitter logo rebranding has become the talk of the town, and the subject of viral jokes and memes. Now, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), has used the rebranding of Twitter to talk about wildlife conservation.

The German chapter of the WWF created an impactful graphic that shows the evolution of the blue bird logos over the years. The post drives home the point that some animals are heading for extinction if we don't protect them.

Notably, McCann Germany, an advertising agency, collaborated with WWF to create the graphic and shared it on LinkedIn. When translated into English, the caption of the graphic reads, ''The whole world mourns the loss of the Twitter bird. Around 1 million real animal species are threatened with extinction. Today we are in the midst of the greatest extinction of species since the end of the dinosaur era. A quarter of mammal species, one in eight bird species, more than 30 percent of sharks and rays, and 40 percent of amphibian species are threatened. Help us save the animals. An initiative of WWF Germany & us!''

The text on the graphic, reads, “Protect our animal species before it's too late.”

See the picture here:

British writer Julia Hobsbawm posted this graphic on X and wrote, “Good work from a German ad agency which reads “protect the wildlife before it's too late”.

Reacting to the graphic, one user said, ''You could interpret the meaning a lot of ways. It could be covertly about free speech or it could actually be about protecting wildlife for all I know.''

Another commented, ''Join the wildlife rescue mission before these precious creatures go 'tweet-tweet' into extinction!''

A third said, ''I'd completely forgotten the bird logo was different in Twitter's early years, which in itself is a tribute to the timeless perfection of the final version. On top of everything else wrong with Elon Musk, he's a sheer cultural vandal.''

A fourth wrote, ''Another endangered species, now extinct.''

from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/4HfGknM

Were Umpires Right In Ruling Out Stokes' Catch Of Smith? ICC Says This

Team England needed a crucial wicket on the last day of the last Ashes Test to contain Australia and believed they had Australia's star batter Steve Smith close to lunch on Day 5 but the batter was ruled not out. In the 66th over, Smith was batting on 39 and England captain Ben Stokes appeared to have caught the ball at leg gully as it popped off the batter's glove of Moeen Ali's loopy delivery. Umpire Joel Wilson said it was not out and Stokes went for review.

The catch was taken cleanly by Stokes at leg gully as he stretched his right arm but as he moved to celebrate, the ball flew out of his hands and fell down.

Replays appeared to indicate that Stokes realised it wasn't a clean catch since his head dropped right away.

"After numerous replays, Smith was ruled not out as the catch was not perceived to be clean according to law 33.3 of the MCC," the ICC wrote in a report.

"The law states, 'The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder's person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement.'

"The incident was similar to Mitchell Starc's catch of Ben Duckett at Lord's but clearer. With this, Smith survived as Australia headed to lunch three down and needing a further 146 runs to win. "

Chris Woakes and Mark Wood provided the early breakthrough on Day 5 of the of the fifth Ashes Test to help England stage a comeback but Australia still have an edge in the crucial math.

Australia were 238/3 at Lunch with Steve Smith (40) and Travis Head (31) standing unbeaten at the crease with the team needing another 146 runs for victory.

from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/H8Djw3T

Were Umpires Right In Ruling Out Stokes' Catch Of Smith? ICC Says This

The catch was taken cleanly by Stokes at leg gully as he stretched his right arm but as he moved to celebrate, the ball flew out of his hands and fell down.

Replays appeared to indicate that Stokes realised it wasn't a clean catch since his head dropped right away.

"After numerous replays, Smith was ruled not out as the catch was not perceived to be clean according to law 33.3 of the MCC," the ICC wrote in a report.

Australia were 238/3 at Lunch with Steve Smith (40) and Travis Head (31) standing unbeaten at the crease with the team needing another 146 runs for victory.

from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/H8Djw3T

Watch: Fairytale End! Broad Dismisses Carey With Last Ball Of Test Career

England beat Australia by 49 runs to win the fifth Test at The Oval on Monday and end the Ashes series all square at 2-2. Australia, chasing 384 to win, collapsed from 264-3 to 334 all out, with England's retiring paceman Stuart Broad taking the final two wickets in the form of Todd Murphy and Alex Carey. Australia suffered a dramatic collapse in the last session, reduced to 294-8 as England's Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes ripped through their batting order at The Oval. Rain kept the players off the field for about two hours before Australia, who as the holders have already retained the Ashes at 2-1 up, resumed on 238-3.

That still left the tourists needing 146 more runs to reach an imposing victory target of 384.

Steve Smith, dropped at leg gully by England captain Ben Stokes just before the interval, was 40 not out and left-hander Travis Head 31 not out.

The pair had extended their fourth-wicket stand to 95 when off-spinner Moeen, in what could be his last Test appearance, turned a ball out of the rough.

Head, on 43, tried to drive, with Joe Root holding a routine catch at first slip.

A fairytale ending for a legend of the game.

Broady, thank you #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/RUC5vdKj7p
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 31, 2023

Australia then lost their star batsman when Smith, having completed an 89-ball fifty, fell for 54 when he edged an excellent full-length delivery from paceman Woakes to Zak Crawley at second slip.

And Australia fell to 274-6 when Moeen had all-rounder Mitchell Marsh brilliantly caught by diving wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

Australia's collapse continued when Woakes and Crawley combined again to dismiss Mitchell Starc for a duck and captain Pat Cummins was next to go, caught by Stokes off Moeen for nine.

Earlier, Woakes removed Australia openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja in a dramatic burst of two wickets for one run in seven balls on an overcast morning and with a pitch freshened by rain.

Express quick Mark Wood then had Marnus Labuschagne caught in the slips for 13 to leave Australia 169-3.

England pace great Stuart Broad, who on Saturday made a shock announcement he would retire after the match, took up the attack as the 37-year-old sought to dismiss Warner for the 18th time in Tests.

But it was Woakes who made the breakthrough England desperately needed when a good-length ball, angled across Warner, nipped off the seam and took the outside edge to give Bairstow a simple catch.

Warner was out for 60 and it was not long before Khawaja, the leading run-scorer in the series, followed him.

Khawaja was lbw to Woakes for 72 after being caught on the crease in front of middle and leg stumps by a full-length delivery.

Wood then squared up Labuschagne with an 86 mph (138 kph) delivery that angled in and swung away to take the edge, with Crawley holding a fine low catch at second slip.

Stokes then gave Smith, who has scored three hundreds in five Tests at The Oval, a reprieve on the stroke of lunch after he gloved Moeen.

The ball looped to Stokes at leg gully, who grabbed it one-handed above his head. But as his arm came down, his hand clipped his leg and he dropped the ball.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/oUvYDpa

Focus Not Just On Ram Temple: PM's "Mantra For 2024" At NDA Meet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the NDA to focus on issues apart from Ram Mandir ahead of the 2024 general elections. At a meeting with MPs from Uttar Pradesh today, the Prime Minister advised the MPs to go local, and "spend more time with the people", sources said.

The MPs who attended the meet -- to be a part of a series of meetings -- were from West Uttar Pradesh, Braj and the Kanpur-Bundelkhand area.

Sources said the Prime Minister has asked the MPs to talk about local issues in their respective constituencies, go to programmes that people attend including weddings.

"PM Modi gave the mantra of 2024 victory to NDA MPs. 'Convince those who are sulky, angry, spend more and more time with the public during elections," a source quoted him as saying.

Invoking 'coalition dharma', he said unlike the UPA, the NDA is about sacrifice, not selfishness, sources said.

As an example, PM Modi cited Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who, he said, was made the Chief Minister despite having fewer MLAs than the BJP but he still ended the coalition and joined the opposition ranks.

"Despite having a good number of MLAs in the government with the Akali Dal in Punjab, the NDA did not ask for the post of Deputy Chief Minister," a source quoted him as saying.

The BJP has divided the 430 MPs of NDA into 11 groups, which will meet PM Modi by turns till August 10.

The next round of meetings will be held on Wednesday, in which 96 MPs from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep will participate.

The meetings are meant to ensure greater cohesion and synergy within the alliance ahead of the election.

Senior party leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP chief JP Nadda are expected to be part of the meetings.