Delany returns after breaking his wrist in June and fellow all-rounder Hand is also recalled to the 15-player panel.
Ireland are returning to action after qualifying for next year’s T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA.
“The Indian side arriving in Ireland is an exciting one for the supporters,” said Ireland selector Andrew White.
India are returning to Malahide after securing a 2-0 win in a thrilling T20 series last summer.
White added: “We currently have around 15 T20 Internationals scheduled between now and the World Cup, so it is important that we use each of these to continue to build on areas that the coaching team have identified.
“We only have a limited time between now and the end of the 2023 domestic season, so it’s also crucial that we use what opportunities we have to provide exposure and experience to a pool of players who we believe are in contention for making that World Cup squad.
“Giving opportunities to players also filters down the series themselves, so I would expect that all of the 15 players named in the India series squad will feature at some point.
“We showed last year we have the talent and confidence to match India on the field of play and we have high hopes for another fiercely contested series.”
The games will be played at the Co Dublin venue on 18, 20 and 23 August.
Ireland: Paul Stirling (capt), https://elementlagu.com Andrew Balbirnie, Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Theo van Woerkom, Ben White, Craig Young.
If successful, India will be the first country to land near the Moon’s little-explored south pole.
It will be only the fourth to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.
After the spacecraft orbited the Earth for more than a week, it was sent into the translunar orbit on Tuesday through a slingshot manoeuvre.
The third in India’s programme of lunar exploration, Chandrayaan-3 is expected to build on the success of its earlier Moon missions.
It comes 15 years after the country’s first Moon mission in 2008, which discovered the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface and established that the Moon has an atmosphere during daytime.
Chandrayaan-2 – which also comprised an orbiter, a lander and a rover – was launched in July 2019 but it was only partially successful. Its orbiter continues to circle and study the Moon even today, but the lander-rover failed to make a soft landing and crashed during touchdown.
The lander (called Vikram, after the founder of Isro) weighs about 1,500kg and carries within its belly the 26kg rover which is named Pragyaan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.
On Tuesday, Isro tweeted that the spacecraft had completed its orbits around the Earth and was headed towards the Moon.
“A successful perigee-firing performed at Isro has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit. Next stop: the Moon,” it said. A perigee is the point in the orbit closest to the Earth.
Now that the craft has entered the Moon’s orbit, scientists will begin reducing the rocket’s speed gradually to bring it to a point which will allow a soft landing for Vikram.
Once it lands, the six-wheeled rover will eject and roam around the rocks and craters on Moon’s surface, gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.
“The rover is carrying five instruments which will focus on finding out about the physical characteristics of the surface of the Moon, the atmosphere close to the surface and the tectonic activity to study what goes on below the surface. I’m hoping we’ll find something new,” Mr Somanath has said.
The south pole of the Moon is still largely unexplored – the surface area that remains in shadow there is much larger than that of the Moon’s north pole, and scientists say it means there is a possibility of water in areas that are permanently shadowed.
India is not the only country with an eye on the https://tawkapinew.com Moon – there’s a growing global interest in it. And scientists say there is still much to understand about the Moon that’s often described as a gateway to deep space.
To be sure, cheetah experts say that losing half of the founder population in the initial year of relocation in unfenced parks is a common occurrence. There could be more deaths in the second year, they say.
Based on previous reintroduction experiences in Africa, the founder population of 20 cheetahs in India “will further decline” to five or seven cats “before population recovery is initiated”, according to a report by South African experts, led by Vincent van der Merwe, a cheetah conservationist involved in the mission.
They also expect the first litters with “realistic prospects of survival to adulthood” will likely be born in 2024 – wild cheetah populations are sustained by a small number of fit and fertile females, also called ‘supermums’, and experts reckon only one of the seven wild females relocated to India is likely to be one.
Yet, things don’t seem to be going entirely well in India. South African and Namibian experts involved with the project have expressed “serious concerns” in the way it was being managed. In letters to the Supreme Court of India, which is monitoring the project, they believe the deaths of the cheetahs could have been prevented by “better monitoring of animals and more appropriate and timeous veterinary care”.
Image caption,Officials say the Kuno national park has abundant prey
In its letter to the court in July, the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), which has been involved with the project since its inception, said that the first eight cheetah deaths – the post mortem report of the ninth cat has not yet been released – were “avoidable if there were adequate supervision, monitoring and veterinary intervention”.
One of the cheetahs possibly died because of “lack of food for an extended period”, the CCF report says. The letter to the court by the University of Pretoria, representing the South African experts, talks about another casualty – a male cheetah – being attributed by park authorities to an attack by a female cheetah “while sustaining no visible injuries herself”.
“While male cheetahs quite often injure females, we have never observed a case in which a female caused any significant injuries upon a male,” the experts note.
Pictures of the post-mortem sent to the experts the next day showed “inflammation of the skin over the neck and the back of the animal or the very large number of maggots that were clearly visible”.
Three days later, another male cheetah was found dead. A video clip showing the neck and back of the cat made it clear that the animal had a severe infection around its tracking collar.
The South African experts say that the unusually heavy rains in the Kuno park in June and July – 321mm of rainfall was recorded during the period, against an average of 160mm – and the extreme humidity may have caused this, with the collars fitted around their necks potentially causing more problems. Had they been shown the pictures or description of the wounds of the first animal earlier, it would have facilitated an early diagnosis and alerted the authorities more effectively, according to their letter.
Image caption,The cheetahs have been hunting prey in Kuno national park
“The implications of this diagnosis were clear – all the other cheetahs in Kuno were at risk of suffering the same fate,” the experts warned.
Also, three cubs died 10 days after leaving their nest. Their deaths were attributed to a heat stroke – they died on a day when temperatures reached 47C. The CCF believes “monitoring and information sharing” might have prevented the deaths.
A senior official of India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which is leading the project, told the BBC that it was “difficult to say that the mortalities were avoidable”. SP Yadav said: “It is a challenging project and the early indications are encouraging.”
He said the African cheetahs in the Kuno park had encountered a “winter coat issue”, developing a thick coat in anticipation of a South African winter in India’s wet and hot monsoon conditions. (The Kuno park is in the northern hemisphere and the seasons are the opposite of what Southern African cheetahs are used to.)
“The moisture and heat in the thicker winter coats, combined with external parasite loads, resulted in localised skin infections. This was followed by flies, and the cheetahs eventually succumbed to bacterial infection,” Mr Yadav said.
The foreign experts also talk about inadequate record-keeping in the parks. The CCF said it did not “see any daily records of the location, behaviour, body conditions and dietary changes of cheetahs at Kuno”. The foreign experts say the management at the park had “little or no scientific training” and the vets were “too inexperienced to manage a project of this calibre”.
On 16 July – after the first five deaths were reported – the NTCA had said in a statement that all the cheetah deaths in the park were “due to natural causes” and media reports attributing them to other reasons, including their radio collars, “were not based on any scientific evidence but are speculation and hearsay”.
The statement said a team of officials were working in “close coordination” at the Kuno national park. They were looking at “real time field data” to decide upon the “health and related interventions” for the cheetahs. More than 30 monitoring teams comprising nearly 100 members and three vets are permanently based at the site for emergency treatment of cheetahs, according to a report by South African experts.
The foreign experts have recommended the cheetahs at Kuno need to be urgently assessed by the vets, their collars checked, findings shared in real time, and communication channels kept open. Also they said more prey species should be moved to Kuno – as “prey numbers in the park are significantly less than when Kuno was originally selected as the first release site”, according to the CCF.
“Detailed and close monitoring is the key to the success of this project. And very close communications to plan for all challenges faced during the reintroduction,” Laurie Marker, executive director of CCF, told me. She said that “closer and faster communication could really assist the success of the project” and that “these are all measures being taken now”.
Not everything is amiss with the project, say the experts. The South African report says the cheetahs have been hunting Indian prey – spotted deer, nilgai, sambar deer, cattle and boars – without trouble. They believe the neighbouring farming communities have responded well to the presence of cheetahs outside of the Kuno park. The presence of nearly 90 leopards in the park has not impacted the introduction – the cheetah is a ‘fragile’ animal and is often targeted by hyenas, leopards and lions.
“Most of the cheetahs are adapting well to the https://beritaberitaterbaru.com Indian conditions,” says Mr Yadav. “Also so far no cheetah has died due to poaching, hunting, snaring or poisoning because of huge community support from local villages.”
Experts say cheetah reintroductions are painful and arduous – nine of the first 10 attempts at cheetah introduction in South Africa failed and more than 200 cheetahs were lost in the country during that time. But clearly, India has to do better.
Image caption,Antony Blinken meeting Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE in Abu Dhabi on Monday
Of all the priorities for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his fourth visit to the Middle East in three months, there is one message above all others that he wants to deliver.
As he flies between destinations in southwest Asia – a packed schedule that includes stops in Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel – there is ample evidence, however, that the cauldron of tensions in the region is on the verge of boiling over.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched repeated missile and drone attacks on civilian shipping in the Red Sea, bringing traffic through that key international waterway to a near halt.
The US has warned that it will defend its interests. If the rebels persist, and the disruption to global commerce continues, an American military response may be inevitable – a development that would unnerve some key American Arab allies.
“We never see a military action as a resolution,” said the Qatari prime minister in a joint press conference with Mr Blinken in Doha on Sunday. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said his biggest worry was that such action would “keep us in a loop that will never end and will create a real tension in the entire region”.
On Saturday, Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon fired a barrage of rocket attacks on northern Israel in reprisal for what appeared to be an Israeli-planned bomb attack that killed a key Hamas leader in Beirut. Israel responded with air strikes targeting Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
An escalation there, Mr Blinken said later that day, was a “real concern”. He called on regional powers with influence over Hezbollah – in other words Iran and, to a lesser extent, Turkey – to use their influence to “try to keep things in check”.
That may be difficult. As the Washington Post reported, American officials are concerned that Israel may be considering a more expansive offensive against Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, US military installations have been hit by rocket and drone attacks from militants in Iraq and Syria, where more than 3,000 American soldiers are stationed. In late October, a drone breached US defences and struck a barracks but did not detonate, according to a Reuters report, narrowly avoiding what might have been significant American casualties.
The US has responded with military action, including an air strike in Baghdad last week that killed Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, an Iran-backed militia leader.
Each of these episodes, taken individually, presents a threat to regional stability. When viewed as a whole, it suggests a Middle East teetering on the brink of wider war.
In Qatar on Sunday, Mr Blinken said the US has a plan to address the growing instability – and it hinges on winding down the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and working with Arab nations and the Israelis to establish a “durable” peace for the Palestinians.
“The United States has a vision for how to get there, a regional approach that delivers lasting security for Israel and a state for the Palestinian people,” he said. “And my takeaway from the discussions so far … is that our partners are willing to have these difficult conversations and to make hard decisions.”
Therein lies the rub. After meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, Mr Blinken said he’s seen a willingness to help stabilise and revitalise a post-war Gaza among all the leaders he’s spoken with so far. But the US has to get Israel on board.
Image caption,Iraqi paramilitaries carry a coffin after US air strike on Baghdad
The timing of Mr Blinken’s latest Middle East trip may give hints of the American strategy in this latest round of shuttle diplomacy. His early visits to Turkey and Arab nations before two days in Israel have allowed the secretary to take the temperature of regional players before sitting down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli War Cabinet.
Then the ball, as Americans like to say, is in the Israeli court.
“I’ll have an opportunity to share with Israeli leaders everything I’ve heard thus far on this trip,” he said on Monday. “I’m convinced that there is a future path that can actually bring lasting peace and security for Israel.”
Behind all this is an American gamble – that resolving, or at least winding down, the Gaza War will cool tensions throughout the region. It is a bet that the various mini-crises – in the Red Sea, in Lebanon, and in Iraq and Syria – have not taken on a momentum of their own.
There is no peace in the region without a legitimate, peaceful solution to the Palestinian conflict, the Qatari prime minister said on Sunday. The question is, will there be peace with such a resolution?
During his November trip to the Middle East, Mr Blinken told reporters gathered on the tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, that countries across the region do not want war – and are working to prevent the conflict from spreading.
“Sometimes the absence of something bad happening may not be the most obvious evidence of progress, but it is,” the US secretary said.
Since then, there has been ample evidence that https://documentsemua.com while a wider war may not be wanted, the prospects for one has increased – despite the stated intentions and efforts of Mr Blinken and the Americans.
Mr Attal replaces Élisabeth Borne, who resigned after 20 months in office.
Throughout that time she struggled with a lack of a majority in parliament.
Gabriel Attal, who is currently education minister, certainly makes an eye-catching appointment.
He will now have the task of leading the French government into important European Parliament elections in June.
His rise has been rapid. Ten years ago he was an obscure adviser in the health ministry, and a card-carrying member of the Socialists.
He will also be the first openly gay occupant of Hôtel Matignon. He has a civil partnership with another Macron whizz-kid, the MEP Stéphane Sejourné.
Welcoming him to his new role, President Macron wrote on social media: “I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the project of revitalisation and regeneration that I announced.”
Image caption,Gabriel Attal (L) has the task of leading the government into European Parliament elections in June
But given the difficulties of the president’s second term – and the growing challenge from the nationalist right – is “eye-catching” alone going to cut it?
Handsome, youthful, charming, popular, cogent, Mr Attal certainly comes to office trailing clouds of glory – much, let it be said, like his mentor and role-model the president himself.
But like many go-getters of his generation, he was inspired by Emmanuel Macron’s idea of breaking apart the old left-right divide and re-writing the codes of French politics.
In the wake of Macron’s 2017 election, Mr Attal became a member of parliament, and it was there that his brilliance as a debater – easily the best of the neophyte Macronite intake – brought him to the president’s attention.
At 29, he became the youngest ever minister in the Fifth Republic with a junior post at education; from 2020 he was government spokesman and his face began to register with the voters; after President Macron’s re-election, he was briefly budget minister and then took over at education last July.
It was in this post that Mr Attal confirmed to the president that he has what it takes, acting with no-nonsense determination to end September’s row over Muslim abaya robes by simply banning them in schools.
He led a campaign against bullying – he himself was a victim, he says – at the elite École alsacienne in Paris, and took on the education establishment with his proposal to experiment with school uniform.
Image caption,President Macron’s party faces a strong challenge from National Rally and its young leader Jordan Bardella – as well as Marine Le Pen
And, all the while, he managed to buck the normal trends by actually becoming popular among the public.
Polls show that he is by far the most admired member of the Macron government – competing at the same level as the president’s main enemy, the nationalist Marine Le Pen and her youthful colleague Jordan Bardella.
And there, of course, is the heart of it.
By drawing Gabriel Attal from his pack of ministers, Mr Macron is using an ace to outplay the queen and her jack. But will it work?
The drawn-out process of naming him – everyone knew a reshuffle was coming but it took forever – shows that if President Macron is well aware of the weakness of his current position, he has also been in deep uncertainty over how to address it.
Image caption,Mr Attal replaces Élisabeth Borne but is likely to face the same problems she had without a majority in the National Assembly
More than one commentator has made the obvious point that what the public wants above all now is not so much a rearrangement of faces at the top, but a new sense of purpose to the Macron presidency.
But as things stand, Mr Attal will face exactly the same problems as did his long-suffering predecessor Élisabeth Borne.
These are: a hard-right opposition that is surging in popularity and looks set to win easily in June’s European elections; a National Assembly with no in-built majority for the government, making every new law a struggle; and a president who seems unable to define what he wants his second term to achieve.
On top of which, the new prime minister will have a problem all of his own – which is establishing his authority over such heavyweights as Gérald Darmanin and Bruno Le Maire.
And what is the plan, some are also asking, if as seems likely Mr Macron’s party loses heavily in the European elections?
Normally that would be the occasion for a prime ministerial replacement, to give a new élan for the second half of the mandate. But, as things stand, that card has already been played, and in the event of a defeat in June Gabriel Attal risks drifting on as a discredited loser.
Even opposition figures recognise that he is a class act. He is respected and liked in the National Assembly.
But there are also questions about https://itusiapalagi.com what he actually stands for. The suspicion for many is that he is all smiles and verbiage, much like the man to whom he owes his career.
As the president’s nominee, he is the wunderkind’s wunderkind. But if he is only Macron’s mini-me, the marvel could prove a mirage.
