England completed their Rugby World Cup campaign with a victory as they narrowly overcame a proud Argentina performance in the third-place play-off in Paris. Ben Earl slid over as England shot out to an early 13-0 lead, but Argentina clawed their way back and were briefly ahead through Tomas Cubelli and Santiago Carreras tries, before […]

by Rex Clementine We tend to place the blame on the doorstep of the administration, selectors and coaches for the setbacks our cricket has suffered in recent times. Our chances of making it to the semi-finals of the sport’s showpiece event are fading away fast. True, the administration needs to accept part of the blame. […]

England fell agonisingly short of a supreme upset and a fifth Rugby World Cup final as South Africa came on strong to snatch victory in Paris. England were canny and committed in the first half, raining down kicks into the South Africa backfield, forcing a steady supply of penalties. Owen Farrell converted four to send […]

New Zealand will aim to reach their fifth Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France, Paris today (20) against an Argentina side seeking to make their first. The All Blacks, who have won the World Cup three times, reached the last four with an epic win over Ireland in one of their greatest […]

Owen Farrell’s boot took England to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals with a narrow victory against Fiji in Marseille. England led comfortably by 14 points with 15 minutes remaining, when Fiji’s Peni Ravai and Vilimoni Botitu both crossed in a frantic four minutes to level the score at 24-24. Farrell, whose name was booed when […]

Washington’s deployment of a second aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean is a sign of the US’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said. Sending the USS carrier Dwight Eisenhower and its strike group to join the USS Gerald R Ford carrier in the region demonstrates Washington’s “resolve to […]

The US says it is moving an aircraft carrier, ships and jets to the eastern Mediterranean and will also give Israel additional equipment and ammunition. It follows the Hamas attack on southern Israel, which President Biden called an “unprecedented and appalling assault”. The US was also working to verify reports its citizens were among those […]

by Jehan Perera The increase in the price of petrol and diesel has been accompanied by the removal of the QR Code quota system for the purchase of fuel.  The elimination of long lines of vehicles, and people, outside of the fuel stations that existed a year ago is one of the signs of normalisation […]

Thieves in Switzerland have conquered one of the country’s most challenging protected climbing routes. They ascended to an altitude of 2,350m and traversed gorges on narrow steel cables – all to rob a collection box. The box belongs to a local climbing club, which maintains Switzerland’s longest protected climbing route on the Gemmi pass above […]

A disciplined bowling effort led by three-fers from Romario Shepherd and Gudakesh Motie, backed by some excellent catching, and a patient Shai Hope half-century helped West Indies draw level in the three-match ODI series with a convincing six-wicket win in rainy Barbados on Saturday (July 29). This was West Indies first ODI win against India […]

Washington [US], July 5 (ANI): Although, India-US relations are progressing at a great pace, but over the last few months, some of the Biden administration’s regional policies in the Indo-Pacific have done more harm to its partners, particularly India and its geopolitical leverage in the Indo-Pacific region, a senior fellow at Pacific Forum, Akhil Ramesh […]

Cassandra was struck by three untruths (lies if the real term needs to be used) spluttered out this last week. The Island on Thursday June 1 carried this headline on page 1:” Aragalaya group behind project to cause religious disharmony.” That is a blatant lie for the very simple reason that one feature the Aragalaya […]

Ali (Raheem) Baba and 225 rogues have no right to eat while the people they are supposed to protect, nourish and maintain go hungry. A poor widow with a school going child called me from Elpitiya and told me that they had not eaten anything yet. The time was 11 AM. The child had refused […]

Ireland won their fourth Grand Slam as they wore down 14-man England 29-16 in a tense Six Nations finale in Dublin. Two early Owen Farrell penalties put England ahead before Ireland hit back with a well-worked Dan Sheehan try.  England’s hopes of an upset were dashed when Freddie Steward was sent off just before half-time. […]