The opening match of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2026-27 will take place in Chennai, with the Melbourne Renegades taking on the Perth Scorchers at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on December 12. The announcement was made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, forming the centrepiece of a wider initiative to build a relationship between the two countries known as 'G'day Namaste'. It will be the first time ever that a Big Bash League match will take place in another country, and BBL organisers said that they expect a huge crowd for the encounter. "We know there are incredibly passionate cricket fans all over India, but particularly in Chennai. Everyone we've spoken to has been really optimistic that we should expect a good crowd," Alistair Dobson, CA's executive general manager of Big Bash Leagues, told reporters. Wonderful to visit the Melbourne Cricket Ground with PM Albanese...
A recent investigation by media organisations has shed light on the tragic death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was captured by Russian forces in 2023 while reporting on the illegal detention and torture of Ukrainians in the occupied region of Zaporizhzhia. According to a forensic examination of her body, Roshchyna, 27, suffered extensive torture and ill-treatment, including "abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib, neck injuries, and possible electric shock marks on her feet," as described by Yuriy Belousov, head of the War Crimes Unit at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office. Belousov also noted that Roshchyna's body showed signs of an autopsy having been performed before it was returned to Ukraine, and that some of her organs were missing. The missing organs could signal that Russia attempted to hide the cause of death, possibly to conceal that it had committed a war crime, Belousov said. Roshchyna's colle...