Sharma's Seven destroyed England at Lords

Ishant Sharma claimed seven wickets to bowl India to a 95-run victory over England in the second Test at Lord’s on 21st July, their first overseas win since 2011.

India’s second victory at the home of cricket and first since 1986 continued England’s miserable year after series defeats by Australia and Sri Lanka.

Resuming at 105 for four in pursuit of 319, Joe Root and Moeen Ali survived until the final ball before lunch when the latter fell to Sharma.

The willowy right-armer claimed four more wickets after the break as England’s batsmen capitulated in the face of India’s short-pitched barrage and were bowled out for 223, putting the visitors 1-0 up in the five-match series.

Sharma finished with career-best figures of 7-74, including five wickets in 33 balls.

Score:

India  :295 (Ajinkya Rahane :103, James Anderson: 4 -60)

         : 342 ( M. Vijay : 95, R Jadeja :680

England : 319 (Ballance : 110, B. Kumar : 6 - 82)

              :223  (J Root :66 , Ishant Sharma : 7 - 74)

Result:  India won by 95 Runs

Man of the Match : Ishant Sharma

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India and Brazil signed three agreements

India and Brazil on 16 July 2014 signed three agreements during the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. The agreement was signed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the Brazilian President official residence the Itamaraty Palace.

Narendra Modi was on a visit to Brazil to attend 6th BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza, Brazil form 15 July to 16 July 2014.

The three agreements signed between the two countries are
• MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Environment
• Agreement on Space
• MoU on Cooperation in the Establishment of a consultation mechanism on mobility and consular issues.

MoU on Environment
In the field of Environment, India and Brazil mutually agreed to extend cooperation on Climate change; Biodiversity; Afforestation in arid areas; Water conservation; Protection of wetlands and Waste management. Waste management includes Management of agricultural waste and electronic waste; Management of waste water management; Use of bio-fuels; Air and water quality management; Environmental information systems.

The cooperation in environment between the two countries will be in the form of exchange of information and documentation and collaborative projects. For this two countries agreed to set up an Indo-Brazil Joint Working Group on Environment. The Joint group will see that the contents of the MOU are implemented.

Agreement on Space
The two countries agreed on Implementing Arrangement Establishing Cooperation in Augmentation of a Brazilian Earth Station for Receiving and Processing Data from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Satellites.

Other Agreements
The two countries also agreed to take steps to further expand and diversify trade and investment flows and deepen cooperation in agriculture and dairy science, conventional and renewable energy, space research and application, defence, cyber security and environment conservation.

They also agreed to intensify their cooperation in international forums and multilateral institutions, including the G 20.

As leaders of G 4 countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff called urgent progress on reforms of the United Nations, including the Security Council, by the time of the 70th anniversary of the UN in 2015.

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Indian Nurses freed from Iraq and returned to home

The 46 Indian nurses, who were kidnapped by Sunni militants in Iraq, were released on 4th July. The Special Air India flight carrying 46 Indian nurses have reached Kochi where Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with nurses’ family members have reached to welcome them.

What happened in Iraq
1. The nurses were taken by ISIS Sunni militants on 3rd July from a hospital basement in Tikrit to an undisclosed location strife torn city of Mosul, 250 km from Tikrit.

2. India sent Boeing 777 aircraft with a seating capacity for about 300 to bring back 46 nurses and other Indians stranded in strife-torn Iraq on 4th July.

3. The 39 Indians construction workers, who have been held hostage in Iraq are still in captivity.

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