confessed to IPL spot-fixing to escape police torture, Sreesanth to SC

Former cricketer S. Sreesanth on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that he initially confessed to the Special Cell of Delhi Police about his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal to escape continuous police torture.

The former cricketer, who was banned for life for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing, told a bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K.M. Joseph that the bookie tried to drag him in the spot-fixing but he did not fall for it.

To buttress his point, Sreesanth's lawyer read the Malayalam transcript of the alleged telephonic conversation he had with a bookie.

The court sought BCCI's response on this conversation and some documents relied upon by the former cricketer now faced with a life ban from the cricket field.

Saying that it was a fact that Sreesanth used a towel during the match, which many other players also do, senior counsel Salman Khurshid, appearing for Sreesanth, told the bench that too much was being read into it.

Asking why did he not inform the apex cricket board about being contacted by a bookie, the court said that there was no doubt that his conduct was bad.

Sreesanth has moved the top court challenging the Kerala High Court order upholding the life-time ban on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The BCCI had on May 15 last year opposed the plea by Sreesanth seeking a relaxation of the ban on him so that he could play in county cricket in England.

Opposing the plea with a "heavy heart", the court was told that the apex cricketing body had already appealed against the order discharging Sreesanth in the spot-fixing case during IPL 2013.

Delhi Police arrested Sreesanth and his two other Rajasthan Royals teammates, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on charge of spot-fixing during IPL 2013.

By reducing 25% pollution, Delhiites can live 3 years more: Study

If India reduces particulate pollution by 25 per cent in five years, residents breathing the most polluted air in New Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh could live almost three years longer, a study said on Tuesday.

The study titled "The Potential Benefits of India's 'War Against Pollution' -- Longer Lives", was conducted by the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), which translates particulate air pollution into its impact on life expectancy.

"The payoffs from the successful implementation of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) could be substantial with people in the most polluted areas like Delhi living almost three years longer," Michael Greenstone, who created the index along with his colleagues at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), said.

"For this reason, NCAP has the potential to become a historic and watershed moment in Indian environmental policy."

The AQLI study revealed that if India reduced particulate pollution by 25 per cent, people in Kanpur would also live 2.4 years longer and, in Kolkata for 1.1 years more.

On January 10, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan launched the NCAP which aims to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30 per cent by 2024.

It began immediately through a combination of 102 city-specific pollution reduction plans and national initiatives.

The residents living in the 102 cities singled out by the NCAP for having higher pollution levels than the national average would add 1.4 years to their lives, the study said.

Developed by the University of Chicago's Milton Friedman Professor in Economics Michael Greenstone and his team at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, the AQLI is rooted in recent research that quantifies the causal relationship between long-term human exposure to air pollution and life expectancy.

The index then combines this research with hyper-localized, global particulate measurements, yielding unprecedented insight into the true cost of particulate pollution in communities around the world.

Are you a heavy drinker? Take note. Besides alcohol taking a toll on your health in many ways, it may also trigger a long-lasting genetic change resulting in an even greater craving for alcohol, researchers including one of Indian-origin have warned.

"We found that people who drink heavily may be changing their DNA in a way that makes them crave alcohol even more," said Dipak K. Sarkar, Professor at Rutgers University in the US. 

"This may help explain why alcoholism is such a powerful addiction, and may one day contribute to new ways to treat alcoholism or help prevent at-risk people from becoming addicted," said Sarkar.

For the study, researchers focused on two genes implicated in the control of drinking behaviour: PER2, which influences the body's biological clock, and POMC, which regulates our stress-response system.

By comparing groups of moderate, binge and heavy drinkers, the team found that the two genes had changed in binge and heavy drinkers through an alcohol-influenced gene modification process called methylation, according to the findings, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. 

In addition, the binge and heavy drinkers also showed reductions in gene expression, or the rate at which these genes create proteins. These changes increased with greater alcohol intake.

Also, in another experiment, the drinkers viewed stress-related, neutral or alcohol-related images. They were also shown containers of beer and subsequently tasted beer, and their motivation to drink was evaluated. 

Results showed that alcohol-fuelled changes in the genes of binge and heavy drinkers were associated with a greater desire for alcohol.

The findings may eventually help researchers identify biomarkers -- measurable indicators such as proteins or modified genes -- that could predict an individual's risk for binge or heavy drinking, Sarkar noted.

In 2016, more than 3 million people died from the harmful use of alcohol. More than three quarters of alcohol-caused deaths were among men. The harmful use of alcohol also caused 5.1 per cent of disease and injuries worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Women more prone to depression after stroke: Study

Women, please take note. Women are twice more likely to suffer from severe depression after a stroke than men, as researchers have found that 20 per cent of women suffered from severe depression compared to 10 per cent of men.

The study also found varying patterns of symptom progression; that long-term increased symptoms of depression are associated with higher mortality rates; and that initially moderate symptoms in men tend to become worse over time.

"...we can't pinpoint exactly why depression is more common among women...," said lead author Salma Ayis from the School of Population Health and Environmental Sciences at King's College London in UK.

"What is common to both sexes is the dramatic decrease in the likelihood of survival as depression symptoms increase. We believe, therefore, that by monitoring symptoms of depression in stroke survivors and acting accordingly, clinicians may be able to provide better long-term care."

For the study, published in the European Journal of Neurology, the research team followed the progress of symptoms over five years after stroke onset in 2,313 people (1,275 men and 1,038 women).

Patients who had their first-ever stroke between 1998 and 2016 were recruited to the study and were monitored until July 2017. 

Participants' mental health was assessed and cross-referenced with their physical health and socio-demographic data.

Stroke is a life-threatening medical condition that occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked. An estimated, one in six people worldwide will have a stroke in their lifetime and there are more than 100,000 strokes in the UK every year. 

Although severity and symptoms are wide-ranging, about a third of all survivors experience depression following their stroke: approximately 400,000 people in the UK today.

NASA solar probe to make closest approach to Sun in April

Just 161 days after its launch, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has completed its first orbit of the Sun and has now begun the second of 24 planned orbits, which will mark its closest approach to the Sun in April, the US space agency has said.

Launched on August 12, the Parker Solar Probe, NASA's historic small car-sized probe, will journey steadily closer to the Sun, until it makes its closest approach at 3.8 million miles.

Throughout its mission, the probe will make six more Venus gravity assists and 24 total passes by the Sun.

The spacecraft completed its first orbit of the Sun, reaching the point in its orbit farthest from our star, called aphelion, NASA said in a statement. 

It has now begun the second of 24 planned orbits, on track for its second perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun, on April 4, 2019.

"It's been an illuminating and fascinating first orbit," said Andy Driesman, Project Manager at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. 

"We've learned a lot about how the spacecraft operates and reacts to the solar environment, and I'm proud to say the team's projections have been very accurate," Driesman added.

Parker Solar Probe entered full operational status (known as Phase E) on January 1, with all systems online and operating as designed. 

The spacecraft has been delivering data from its instruments to Earth via the Deep Space Network, and to date more than 17 gigabits of science data has been downloaded. The full dataset from the first orbit will be downloaded by April.

Like its first perihelion in November 2018, Parker Solar Probe's second perihelion in April will bring the spacecraft to a distance of about 15 million miles from the Sun -- just over half the previous close solar approach record of about 27 million miles set by Helios 2 in 1976.

The spacecraft's four instrument suites will help scientists begin to answer outstanding questions about the Sun's fundamental physics -- including how particles and solar material are accelerated out into space at such high speeds and why the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, is so much hotter than the surface below.

ICC announces fixtures of men & women's T20 World Cup 2020

The Indian women's team will start their T20 World Cup 2020 campaign against hosts and defending champions Australia, while the men's team will face South Africa in their T20 World Cup opener as the ICC on Tuesday announced that both the tournaments will be held as standalone events in the same year and the same country.

The women's T20 World Cup will run from February 21 to March 8 in 2020, followed by the men's T20 World Cup from October 18 to November 15.

The finals of both the tournaments will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

A total of 10 women teams will contest 23 matches and 16 men teams will contest 45 matches across Australia in eight host cities and 13 venues. 

After playing their opening match against Australia in Sydney, the Indian women, who are placed in Group A, will play a qualifier in Perth on February 24 before facing New Zealand and Sri Lanka on February 27 and 29 in Melbourne. The semi-finals of the Women's T20 World Cup are slated for March 5 in Sydney before the final on March 8 in Melbourne.

The eight top women's teams, according to their finishing positions at the World T20 2018 in the West Indies, have gained automatic qualification to the tournament, with the remaining two teams to be determined through a qualifying tournament to be held later in 2019.

Meanwhile, the men-in-blue, placed in Group B, will directly play the Super 12 and face the Proteas on October 24 in Perth before facing a qualifier and England on October 29 and November 1, respectively in Melbourne. 

On November 5, India will face another Group B qualifier at Adelaide before playing their last group stage match against Afghanistan on November 8 in Sydney.

Barring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, that finished 9th and 10th respectively in the rankings as on December 31, 2018, the eight top-ranked T20I sides have automatically qualified for the Super 12. 

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will play six other teams in the qualifying round before proceeding to the Super 12 stage. The six teams will be picked through another qualifying tournament this year.

Sharapova wins her 1st WTA match in Russia in 13 years

Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova claimed her first WTA victory in her country in 13 years in the first round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.

Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam winner, beat Daria Gavrilova of Australia 6-0, 6-4 to make the second round on Monday. She will next face her compatriot Daria Kasatkina. Sharapova had only met Kasatkina once when she won in straight sets in Montreal in August, reports Xinhua news agency.

Sharapova has rarely played the Russian tour events during her career, and when she has she's never got past the quarterfinals.