ICC Test rankings rise for Ojha and Pujara

 

Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who starred with a nine-wicket haul in the first Test against England, rose nine places to get to the top-five of the latest ICC rankings issued in Dubai on Tuesday 20/11/2012.

The 26 year old helped India win by nine wickets in Ahmadabad to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

The other Indian in the top-20 are Zaheer Khan (up one place to 14th) R Ashwin (steady at 18th).

Cheteshwar Pujara, who struck a doubled hundred in the Ahmadabad Test, has jumped 35 places to the 24th position.England captain Alastair Cook, who scored a 176 in his side’s second innings, has returned to the top 10 by rising four places to seventh.Matt Prior, on the other hand, has become the fifth England batsman inside the top 20 after achieving a career-best ranking of 18th.

Indian opener Virender Sehwag is now in 22nd position after gaining one place following his 23rd Test century.

Israel threatens to send Gaza back to Middle Ages

Israel struck Gaza enclave with a barrage of missiles from land and sea for a fifth day on Sunday, killing at least three children, targeting media houses.At least eight Palestinian journalists were injured when air raids hit buildings housing local media offices. One of the injured Palestinian journalists had to have a leg amputated. Medics said three children were killed, one of them as young as 18 months old, when a refugee camp in central Gaza became the target of Israeli attacks. The attacks also wounded 12 people. Even as media reports said efforts for a ceasefire were on, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel was ready to "significantly expand" its operation in Gaza. Israel's Interior Minister went a step ahead when he said "the goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages".It said that its navy had also shelled Gaza. Egypt, meanwhile, stepped up efforts to achieve a truce as it hosted Palestinian and Israeli officials for ceasefire talks. French diplomat Fabius meanwhile termed it "an emergency situation" and pleaded that "war must be avoided". While US President Barack Obama declared that he respects Israel's right to defend itself, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Israel that a ground assault by it may cost it international support. Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi also warned that an Israeli ground invasion would have "serious repercussions". He said Egypt would never accept it "and neither will the free world".  

Tycho Brahe not poisoned by mercury

 

Two years after Tycho Brahe was removed from his grave in Prague, chemical analyses of his corpse show that mercury poisoning did not kill the prolific 16th-century astronomer. The results should put to bed rumors that Brahe was murdered when he most likely died of a burst bladder. He is known for making the accurate measurements of stars and planets without the aid of a telescope, proving that comets are objects in space and not in Earth's atmosphere. Analyses of Brahe's teeth are not yet complete, tests on his bones and beard hairs show that mercury concentrations in his body were not high enough to have killed him, the team of Danish and Czech researchers said. Brahe's mercury levels even dropped to the low end of normal in the weeks leading up to his death, tests on Brahe's beard revealed.
"In fact, chemical analyses of the bones indicate that Tycho Brahe was not exposed to an abnormally high mercury load in the last five to 10 years of his life," said researcher Kaare Lund Rasmussen, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Southern Denmark.