Mathews, SL fined for slow over-rate

Stand-in Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has been fined 20% of his match fee, for maintaining a slow over-rate in the final ODI against India in Pallekele. Match referee Chris Broad found Sri Lanka to be one over short, after taking allowances into consideration, and fined the rest of the team 10% of their fees.

According to the ICC code of conduct, players are fined 10% of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that. If Mathews is found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence in ODIs over the next 12 months, he will receive a one-match suspension.

Sri Lanka, who bowled first in Pallekele and went on to lose the match by 20 runs, had already lost the series and so rested their fulltime captain Mahela Jayawardene for the game. In his absence, vice-captain Mathews was in charge.

Earlier in the series, MS Dhoni and India had been fined for their slow over-rate in the first ODI in Hambantota.

A Minor Bird

What are some critiques of 'A Minor Bird' by Robert Frost?

In this poem Robert frost is sad, he doesn't want to be near happy things, such as a singing bird (Misery loves company) and it seems as though his depression is unfounded- he cannot find the source of his melancholy and ends the poem questioning his sanity:

'And of course there must be something wrong , in wanting to silence any song.'

Below is the full poem:

A Minor Bird

I have wished a bird would fly away,

And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door

When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.

The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong

In wanting to silence any song.

This poem can be understood in two ways..one way is to absorb it's literal meaning where a person cannot tolerate the beauty of nature. But if we can view this in a serious angle, we can actually compare it's meaning to actual life; reality. Obsessed with their personal lives they forget the true essence of humanity. How people have become selfish as to, they have come to a state where they find it hard to endure activities of one another. Robert Frost has been able to help the reader illustrate a clear image in their minds about how vicious the clamors of humanity are.

Robert Frost was born in 1875. Being the most famous America's twentieth century poet, Robert Frost was considered as the poet Robert Frost was considered as the poet Laureate of America and was invited to read one of his poems 'on the occasion of the inauguration of John Kennedy as President of the USA".

Following the nature poets, Robert Frost favoured themes close to nature and his poems mirror forth his own conception of nature.

Robert Frost's minor bird is a simple short poem. To begin with he shows his intolerance of the song of the bird and later admits the fact that one has to cultivate tolerance and live in harmony with nature and nature's gifts.

Thus the poet gives an exceptional place to nature; coming into terms with various conceptions of nature driving away all objections and disagreements, Just as his poem 'The Most of It" brings alive his perceptions of nature, with the aim of highlighting his feelings and reactions to the bird in his garden, the poet uses the present perfect tense, giving life to the situation described.

"I have wished a bird would fly away and not sing by my house all day."

"Have clapped my hands at him from the door when it seemed as if I could bear no more."

The tense pattern is made to change in order to show his sympathy to the little bird and the act of injustice caused by chasing away the bird; highlighting the pathetic situation and the poet's repentance.

"The fault must partly have been in me the bird was not to blame for his key." "The bird's key is a gift of nature and 'Frost, as a result of his maturity accepts it without objection." Though the bird has been chased away no harm was caused to the bird. The poet tries to pacify himself with excuses to establish the fact that mere chasing has not caused any bodily harm to the innocent creature and thus "freeing the bird from the blame for his key". The KEY here is exceptional; it's not the piano key. It's a heavenly gift of nature to the bird.

The final couplet "And of course there must be something wrong in wanting to silence any song" Highlighting the true fact that a bird has the freedom to sing as it wishes and repenting for the injustice caused by him. This is quite symbolic and the poet trying to free himself of the vicious situation created.

"Have clapped my hands at him from the door".

Frost's diction style is simple and direct. His ardent admiration of nature is clearly emphasised in this poem-, A minor bird. Nearer to spoken idiom, his language style invites the reader's attention and admiration Thus inspiring the reader to admire and love nature's creations, with sympathy and understanding.

"And of course there must be something wrong.

In wanting to silence any song

"Frost's syntax is clear and the tone remains conversational" with the common rhyming scheme a,a,b,b,c,c,d,d, highlighting the Theme and elegance of the poem.

Olympics: 8 badminton players charged with throwing matches

London, Aug 1: The World Badminton Federation (WBF) will shortly decide whether the eight women players who participated in two 'fixed' matches at the London Games yesterday should be expelled from the competition.

With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) taking a dim view of the manner in which two pairs from South Korea conspired with their respective Chinese and Indonesian opponents to manipulate the quarter-final lineup, the WBF is under pressure to take stringent action against the players.

World champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang apparently wanted to avoid their counterparts Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei, ranked no 2, until the final. Hence Wang and Yu deliberately lost to Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na of South Korea. The spectators did not get their money's worth as Wang and Yu either served into the net or hit the shuttlecock out of the court. The Korean pair played poorly too.

Not even a single rally in the entire match extended beyond four shots. No wonder the referee issued a stern warning in the middle of the match. When Indonesia's Greysia Poli and Meiliana Jauhari squared up against Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jing of South Korea, things were more or less the same. Both pairs showed no interest in winning the match.

Though angry spectators booed loudly to show their resentment at the farcical proceedings, it had no effect on the players. Tournament referee Torsten Berg flashed a black card to disqualify all four of them but the Korean and Indonesian coaches convinced him to rescind their dismissal.

Though Jung-eun and Min-jing emerged victors in the end, their head coach Sung Han-kook admitted that the intention of his wards was no different from that of the Chinese.

He said that Jung-eun and Min-jing did not want to face Kyung-eun and Ha-na in the quarter final. Han-kook also accused Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of setting a wrong precedent. Later the WBF said that the eight players concerned have been charged "...with not using one's best efforts to win a match and conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport." Incidentally, IOC president Jacques Rogge was present in the Wembley Arena here and watched the four pairs present an unedifying spectacle.

New wonder drug that makes cancer cells commit suicide

London, Nov 14: Scientists claim to have achieved a major breakthrough by creating a "wonder drug" which kills off cancer - in fact, it could wipe out some of the most deadly forms of the disease.

An international team, led by University of California, says that the KG5 drug works by making cancer cells "commit suicide"; it stops tumorous cells multiplying and they then shut themselves down, the ''Nature Medicine'' journal reported.

The radical drug will bring fresh hope to patients with aggressive and deadly tumours and could be available in as little as five years, say the scientists, who hope to deliver it in pill form, which has very few side-effects.

Lead scientist Prof David Cheresh said the drug "blocks the function of proliferation" and the malignant cells commit suicide when they can''t multiply. Proved effective in tests against pancreatic, breast and kidney cancers, it could well have a positive effect on a broad range of other tumours.

KG5 works in a totally different way to traditional therapies by altering the structure of a cancer growth protein, an enzyme known as RAF.

The protein has been long-studied, but its role in cell division -- critical to cell proliferation and tumour growth -- is a surprise. Existing treatments block RAF's activity.