The Weekly Focus Edition 66
Afghanistan and its future:
Nearly a month has passed since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The country has faced major economic losses, a refugee crisis, women's rights have been demolished and violence and tyranny have begun.
The Taliban has now named a 33 member interim cabinet which is exclusively Taliban and male. Many of the cabinet members were present in the horrific Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001.
As of now, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been abolished and women have no role in sport. There have been multiple house searches throughout Kabul, revenge beatings are not rare and there is property confiscation as well. The misogynistic rules were protested by many women but they faced malicious consequences such as physical abuse and in some cases were arrested as well!
Many ‘Leaders’ in this interim government are classified as extremists and have been sanctioned by the UN. Will this government be able to make Afghanistan prosper? Will they be unbiased and allow everyone equal rights? All in all, we must hope for Afghanistan to be safe, peaceful and free of extremism soon.
Indian T20 World Cup Squad
This week, the BCCI announced India’s T20 World Cup Squad, and it was far from conventional. Below I’ll be mentioning the strengths, possible weaknesses, and surprises of the squad. But first up, here’s the squad
Strengths:
India has selected a bowling and spin bowling heavy lineup, with 5 spinners included in the squad. This means India will have a lot of options in the UAE, which have been known to wear out quickly and assist spinners. Along with that, India’s top order boasts many strong and in form players such as Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav as well as Rishabh Pant. With strong opening options of KL Rahul or Virat Kohli himself, the Indian batting seems set.
Possible weaknesses:
India has only selected 3 full-time pacers, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, but the lack of any other quality pacers may have an adverse effect on the Indians. An inclusion of Bowling All Rounder Shardul Thakur may have helped the pacers. In addition to that, India may have included too many spinners in the lineup, leaving lesser pace and batting options.
The surprises:
India has left out many White Ball regulars, such as Shikha Dhawan, who was in decent form during the IPL and in the white ball series against Sri Lanka. Despite picking 5 spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal, a regular who everyone predicted to be in the squad won’t be playing. Meanwhile, India has picked the red ball ace, Ashwin, in the squad, who hasn’t played white ball cricket since 2017. The logic behind this was Washington Sundar, India’s off spinner is injured, so they need a replacement for him. Axar Patel, who’s been favoured over the likes of Thakur, is in the squad, and we believe it may be because the Indian team think Jadeja won’t be able to play all the matches.
Probable XI
Rohit Sharma
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli (C)
Suryakumar Yadav
Rishabh Pant (WK)
Hardik Pandya
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravi Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Jasprit Bumrah
Varun Chakravarthy
Samsung Fold Phones: Are they worth it?
Samsung has come out with yet another fold phone in their line-up, and it is nothing short of a masterpiece. The original Samsung fold phone took the world by storm when it was released, giving customers an idea about a whole new concept in the category of smartphones, and creating an impression that this could be the new future of phones.
Samsung phones have progressed, from being just a possibility of the future to a complete game-changer. These phones come with 15-watt fast charging with type C compatibility. The phones have approximately 4500 milliamps of battery life, which means they will last you a little more than a day, given that there is not too heavy usage. There is a single screen on the back, which is accompanied by the cover of the phone when it is in single screen mode. The phones come in a variety of colours, but with all having ‘mystique’ in their name. The dual screens have a bigger display, with the newer phones having better hinges enabling the phone to be at any angle between 60 to 120 degrees, essentially making the phone like a mini laptop. Another thing to note is, the newer fold phones do not have any line in the dual-mode.
Some apps are also able to function in such a way that they make the user comfortable while they are using the phone at an angle. For example, if a person was watching a YouTube video, the video would come in the top half of the screen, and the keyboard etc. would come in the bottom half. This feature is amazing and helps a lot in the functional aspect of a big-screen phone, which is functioning like a small tablet and a mini laptop.
Overall, the price of this phone is quite expensive, with it being available at Rs 1.5 lakh, but the quality of this product is something you will not get anywhere else.
USA batsman Jaskaran becomes the second person to hit six sixes in an over in ODI cricket.
India beat England at the Oval thanks to an all-round effort from the team
The last tests between India and England were postponed due to COVID-19 fears.
Rashid Khan steps down as captain after the Afghan cricket board picked a team without his consent.
Novak Djokovic beats Wimbledon finalist Berrettini and later, Zverez, to reach the finals of the US open
MS Dhoni was announced as India’s team mentor for the T20 World Cup.
Other News
Most of Panjshir valley, the last resistance against the Taliban has been captured by the Taliban.
A group against the military government in Myanmar have started a revolt as calls for peace get louder.
Ford stops making cars in India as they report over 2 billion dollars worth of losses.
Lebanon forms a new government after more than a year of political turmoil.
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalate, Ukraine PM says he cannot rule out the possibility of an all-out war.
Tech News
Google to start rolling out a new design theme for its apps on android.
Microsoft launches the first glimpse of Windows 11, its newest software.
Houseparty, the Epic Games owned video calling app to be discontinued.
Bitcoin becomes a legal currency in El Salvador
The Hating Game
Author: Sally Thorne
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Fiction, Romance
Review: A typical enemies-to-lovers cliche, the main characters are polar opposites that happen to work at the same office. Lucy is always bright and full of life in the office. Joshua on the other hand is cold and intimidating. After a new promotion offer, the game only escalates into... something bigger- starting with a sneaky elevator kiss. When Lucy finds herself dressing up for work, and Joshua finds himself to be smiling more often, the originally tiny little game turns into something much bigger. Sometimes cheesy books are the way to go- trust me
On 5th September 1666, the Great Fire of London ended after destroying 13,200 houses and killing 8.
On 6th September 1913, Adolphe Pégoud became the first person to do a loop-the-loop with an aircraft.
On 7th September 1996, Tupac Shakur was murdered in Las Vegas.
On 8th September 1504, the Statue of David by Michelangelo was unveiled.
On 9th September 1776, the United Colonies was renamed to the United States of America.
On 10th September 2008, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN was powered up.
On 11th September 1773, the famous quote, "There never was a good war or bad peace," was written by Benjamin Franklin.
Written by Vivaan Dharamshi
Edited by Nirvaan Zaveri
Article 1 by Arhaan Zaveri
Article 3 by Nikunj Gupta
Review by Dia Makhecha
This Week in History by Nirvaan Zaveri