Teams Led By Chief Justice, Solicitor General To Face Off On Cricket Pitch

On Sunday, when the Indian cricket team faces off against Pakistan in Dubai, the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will host the beginning of a unique cricket league, with a team led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna playing against a squad captained by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. 

The 1st SCAORA Cricket Premier League - a T20 tournament - is being organised by the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA). The inaugural match of the white-ball league will be played under floodlights at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and will also be telecast live. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) have given special permission for the match.

Chief Justice Khanna's squad will have judges from the Supreme Court, including Justice Surya Kant, and Delhi High Court and will be wearing team colours which are similar to those of the 'Men in Blue'. The SCAORA XI led by Tushar Mehta will include advocates on record, senior lawyers and DDCA president Rohan Jaitley. 

The CJI XI and SCAORA XI will play only the inaugural match and will not participate in the rest of the league. 

The league will see a total of eight teams - led by senior lawyers Dama Naidu, PB Suresh, Sajan Poovayya,  Devadatt Kamat, Buddy Ranganathan, Vikas Pahwa, Sitesh Mukherjee and Chinmoy Sharma - which will be made up exclusively of advocates on record. 

SCAORA Vice President Amit Sharma said, "Last year, an international legal conference was organised in Goa and the T20 league is being held this year. In the future, events like lectures by Supreme Court judges will be organised for advocates on record. SCAORA secretary Nikhil Jain and assistant secretary Kaustubh Shukla are also playing a key role in these."

टीम इंडिया चैंपियंस ट्रॉफी में दूसरा मैच कब खेलेगी...किस टीम से होगा सामना

भारतीय टीम ने चैंपियंस ट्रॉफी में जीत से शुरुआत की है. टीम इंडिया ने अपने पहले मैच में बांग्लादेश को 6 विकेट से हराया. भारत अपने दूसरे मैच में पाकिस्तान से भिड़ेगा. यह मुकाबला दोनों टीमों के लिए अहम है. भारत इस मैच को जीतकर सेमीफाइनल में अपनी जगह पक्की कर लेगा.जबकि पाकिस्तान जीत के साथ सेमीफाइनल की उम्मीदों को जिंदा रख सकता है.

Tractor Driver Making 'Reels' Hits Bike, Kills Class 10 Student In Noida

A tractor driver busy making a 'reel' on Thursday by doing stunts on the road hit a bike, killing a Class 10 student and injuring his friend in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, according to police officials.

They said Lalit (17) was on his way to fetch his admit card for the high school examination from Inter College located in Jhanjhar village along with his friend Munesh on a bike.

Rabupura police station in-charge Sujit Upadhyay said a tractor driver was making a video for his reel by doing stunts on the road when his tractor hit the bike.

He said bike rider Lalit died on the spot in the incident, while his friend Munesh was seriously injured.

Upadhyay said the police reached the spot, took the body in their possession and sent it for post-mortem.

He said Munesh, who was in a serious condition, was referred to a hospital in Bulandshahr, where he is being treated.

The video of the incident is going viral on social media.

The officer said the accused driver fled the spot after the incident.

The SHO said the police have registered a case and seized the tractor based on a complaint by Lalit's father Sundar Pal. Search for the accused driver is underway.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

2 Dead After Two Small Planes Collide In US' Arizona

At least two people were confirmed dead after two small planes collided midair at the Marana Regional Airport in the US state of Arizona, officials said.

A Cessna 172S and Lancair 360 MK II collided while upwind of runway 12 on Wednesday morning, according to preliminary information from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The planes that collided were identified as a Cessna 172S and a Lancair 360 MK II, both fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft, the NTSB said in a statement on X.

The NTSB, which is leading the investigation into the incident, said that based on preliminary information, the aircraft "collided while upwind of runway 12", which is one of two runways at the airport.

Both planes were smaller fixed-wing single-engine planes, according to the Marana Police Department.

The Marana Police Department is currently on scene at the airport.

The NTSB added that the Cessna "landed uneventfully" while the Lancair "impacted terrain near runway 3 and a post-impact fire ensued".

No information about the victims was provided.

The deadly collision comes just weeks after a helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger plane in Washington DC, killing all 64 passengers and three crew members.

The same week, a small medical transport plane crashed into several buildings in the US city of Philadelphia, killing all six people on board and at least one other person on the ground.

On Monday, a Delta Air Lines flight in Toronto skidded along the runway in flames before flipping over and coming to a dramatic halt upside down. All 80 people on board survived.

on February 6, a small plane carrying 10 people crashed in Alaska after losing speed and altitude and vanishing from the radar. The Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, heading from the village of Unalakleet to the town of Nome, was recovered. No one survived, the Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed.

On February 10, two private jets collided at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona, killing one person and injuring four.

The flurry of crashes in the US was then followed by one in Canada on Monday. A Delta Air Lines regional jet carrying 80 people crashed and flipped at Toronto Pearson International Airport, leaving nearly two dozen injured but no deaths.

The latest crash comes as the US aviation sector on Wednesday called on Congress for emergency funding for air traffic control technology and staffing.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

WPL 2025: दिल्ली कैपिटल्स का डबल धमाका, यूपी वारियर्स दूसरी हार को मजबूर

Women's Premier League: दिल्ली कैपिटल्स ने यूपी वारियर्स को 7 विकेट से हराकर डब्ल्यूपीएल में दूसरी जीत दर्ज की. उसकी ओर से कप्तान मैग लैनिंग ने सबसे अधिक 69 रन बनाए.

Amid YouTuber Row, House Panel Writes To IT Ministry On Digital Content Laws

Citing the Supreme Court's stern words against vulgarity in the Ranveer Allahbadia case, a parliamentary panel Wednesday asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to submit a note on the efficacy of existing laws in dealing with such cases and any amendment needed to bring online platforms under legal scrutiny.

The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to the ministry's secretary S Krishnan over the issue.

It said, "In the light of the above and growing incidents of misuse of digital and social media platforms, the Ministry of Electronics and IT is requested to send a brief note to this committee on the efficacy of existing laws to deal with such cases and need to amend the existing laws/IT Act, 2000, in order to bring such platforms under legal scrutiny".

This is needed to "safeguard the societal values and protect the dignity of women and children" while adhering to the creative expression and freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution, the missive added.

The ministry has been asked to submit its note by February 25 and treat the matter as "most urgent", it added.

The committee asked the ministry to take note of the Supreme Court's observation that sought to draw a line between free speech and vulgarity, as free speech does not grant any right to indulge in obscenity and that the remarks made at the show were offensive to societal norms.

The committee noted that Section 66A of the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, which was "intended" to provide protection against offensive or insulting messages, speech or information made online by granting powers to the government to make arrests in cases of misuse of freedom of speech, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The apex court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia over his comments on a YouTube show while calling it "vulgar" and saying he had a "dirty mind" which put society to shame.

Several FIRs have been lodged against Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, for the comment on parents and sex on comic Samay Raina's YouTube show "India's Got Latent".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Last Chance To Watch Planetary Parade Until 2040: Check Details

The so-called planetary parade which started last month is heading towards its grand finale. For a brief moment on February 28, all planets in our solar system will appear in the night sky - a celestial phenomenon that scientists have described as rare.

After Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune aligned in the night sky between January 21 and 29, it will be the last time until 2040 that all seven planets, including Mercury, will align to create a spectacular night sky.

What is planetary alignment?

Astronomers use planetary alignment to describe the phenomenon when planets gather closely on one side of the Sun at the same time. Any number of planets, ranging from three to eight constitutes an alignment. Five or six planets showing up together is known as a large alignment, with five-planet alignments significantly more frequent than six. However, seven-planet alignments are the rarest of all.

Unlike diagrams and illustrations, the planets will not be visible in a queue. Planets orbit the Sun in different orbits in three-dimensional space which makes it almost impossible for them to come together in a straight line.

"While it's true that they [planets] will appear more or less along a line across the sky, that's what planets always do. That line is called the ecliptic, and it represents the plane of the solar system in which the planets orbit around the Sun," NASA explains.

"This is, incidentally, why we sometimes observe planets appearing to approach closely to each other on the sky, as we view them along a line while they careen around the cosmic racetrack."

Also Read | Planetary Parade 2025: How And Where To See This Rare Celestial Event In India

How to view the planetary parade?

To witness the parade of planets, get far away from city lights to an open area or hill. If the weather is clear, you will be able to see most planets to the naked eye, bar Neptune and Uranus. A telescope might help you witness these two planets.

Notably, Mars will appear in the east, Jupiter and Uranus in the southeast, and Venus, Neptune, and Saturn in the west. While January was special due to the Quadrantid meteor shower and the partial planetary parade, February has the ingredients to be even more special, owing to the rare alignment.