Billion hopes as India face formidable Australia in World Cup semis

Defending champions Australia surged unbeaten into the Women’s World Cup semi-finals and are clear favourites to defeat hosts India in front of an expected sell-out crowd.Seven-time champions Australia won six of their seven league matches to underline why they are the team to beat in the 50-over tournament, the other game being a washout.India and Australia clash at the 45,000-capacity DY Patil Stadium on the outskirts of Mumbai on Thursday after the first semi-final between England and South Africa in Guwahati on Wednesday.India will have the crowd firmly on their side and the country of 1.4 billion is desperate to win a first women’s World Cup crown in its favourite sport.”You’re not just playing the XI on the field, you’re playing their whole nation, and the whole stadium is going to be a sea of blue,” Australia leg-spinner Alana King said.”But I think the biggest thing is just embrace it. We know not everything’s going to be on our side that night, but if we just stick together and stick to our processes and try to execute our plans that we’ve got with bat and ball, it’s going to put us in a better position.”Australia suffered a few scares in the first stage, including when Pakistan reduced them to 76-7 in a match they eventually won convincingly by 107 runs.India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, also tested Australia by posting 330 but the title-holders overhauled the total with three wickets and one over to spare.Australia are sweating on the return of skipper Alyssa Healy, who missed the last two league matches with a calf injury after scoring 294 runs including two centuries in four innings.In their previous victory, over South Africa, Australia were clinical with King starring with best-ever World Cup bowling figures of 7-18.- Australia beatable -In contrast, India had a patchy run in the league phase, where they lost three successive matches before clinching the last semi-final spot.Opener Smriti Mandhana is in top form and leads the tournament batting with 365 runs including one ton in seven matches.But the home team suffered a blow when another in-form opener, Pratika Rawal, went out injured in their last league match and has been replaced by Shafali Verma for the semi-final.India have twice been runners-up, in 2005 and 2017 — when they beat Australia in the semi-finals before losing to England.Since that semi-final defeat to India, Australia have been on a roll with 15 ODI World Cup wins in a row.Former India captain Mithali Raj said the current team can halt the Australian juggernaut. “I think now there is this thought that it’s a possibility to beat this Australian side despite all the strengths that they boast,” Raj told ESPNcricinfo.- Hot and cold -England, the most successful team historically behind Australia, take on perennial underdogs South Africa.Led by Nat Sciver-Brunt, England’s only defeat so far at this edition of the tournament was to Ashes rivals Australia.They are favourites against a South Africa team that was bundled out for 97 before Australia raced to their target in 16.5 overs in the league stage.Opener Laura Wolvaardt has led the Proteas with 301 runs and will be key to giving them a strong start in the knockout match.The South Africans have run hot and cold in the eight-nation tournament, including notching up a total of 312-9 in 40 overs in a big win over Pakistan.The final is on Sunday.

France: 36% des foyers peinent à régler les factures d’énergie, selon une enquête

Plus du tiers des foyers français (36%) déclarent avoir peiné à payer certaines factures de gaz ou d’électricité ces douze derniers mois, un taux inédit sur fond de hausse des prix de l’énergie, selon le baromètre annuel du médiateur national de l’énergie, publié mardi.Ces difficultés de paiement, qui concernaient 28% des foyers en 2024 et 18% des foyers en 2020, n’ont jamais été aussi répandues, souligne le médiateur.Autre indicateur de l’ampleur de la précarité énergétique: la restriction de chauffage pour raison financière concerne toujours près des trois quarts des foyers, avec un taux de 74% encore proche du record de 79% enregistré en 2023.Sur l’année écoulée, en plus de la progression du montant des factures d’énergie constatée par une majorité de foyers, la distribution tardive du chèque énergie 2025 – en novembre et non au printemps en raison du retard d’adoption de la loi de finances – a encore compliqué la situation. Bercy a annoncé mi-octobre que 3,8 millions de foyers allaient automatiquement recevoir leur chèque énergie à partir du 3 novembre. Ce versement décalé a été pénalisant pour 61% des foyers bénéficiaires de cette aide destinée aux plus modestes et 35% d’entre eux ont connu des difficultés de paiement pouvant aller jusqu’à une coupure ou une réduction d’énergie (10% des foyers bénéficiaires). Dans ce contexte, le médiateur national de l’énergie, Olivier Challan Belval, réitère son appel à interdire les coupures d’électricité en cas d’impayés et à instaurer un droit à une alimentation minimale en électricité.”A la veille de la trêve hivernale, je tiens à rappeler que l’électricité constitue un produit de première nécessité”, a-t-il déclaré à l’AFP. Soulignant que les coupures d’électricité pour impayés “sont d’une grande violence pour les foyers les plus vulnérables”, il propose “de les remplacer par une limitation de la puissance de la fourniture d’électricité”.Ce baromètre, le septième du genre, a été réalisé par l’institut .becoming du 10 au 17 septembre auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 2.000 foyers français métropolitains interrogés par voie électronique.

Archaeologists unearth clues on French colonial massacre in Senegal cemeteryTue, 28 Oct 2025 06:36:43 GMT

Holes in the ground, clods of earth next to headstones, dislocated concrete outlines: the Thiaroye military cemetery near Dakar bears the marks of recent excavations meant to unearth the truth behind a WWII-era massacre by French colonial forces.In November 1944 around 1,600 soldiers from several west African countries were sent to the Thiaroye camp after …

Archaeologists unearth clues on French colonial massacre in Senegal cemeteryTue, 28 Oct 2025 06:36:43 GMT Read More »

Kenya conservation areas evolve to keep Maasai and wildlife togetherTue, 28 Oct 2025 06:31:44 GMT

At dawn in a village in Kenya’s Maasai Mara wilderness, zebras rouse themselves and head away from the huts where they like to sleep as protection from lions.Bernard Kirokor, 21, recounts watching an elephant give birth across from his village a few days earlier, showing a video of the mother protecting the newborn, its trunk …

Kenya conservation areas evolve to keep Maasai and wildlife togetherTue, 28 Oct 2025 06:31:44 GMT Read More »

HSBC profit falls in third quarter, hit by legal woes

HSBC reported a 14 percent drop in third-quarter pre-tax profit on Tuesday, with the banking giant’s bottom line weighed down by legal provisions related to the late Bernard Madoff’s huge investment fraud.The London-headquartered lender revealed the fallout Monday amid a Luxembourg lawsuit brought by Herald Fund dating back to 2009, when Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for running a pyramid-style scheme.”The intent with which we are executing our strategy is reflected in our performance this quarter, despite taking legal provisions related to historical matters,” HSBC’s chief executive Georges Elhedery said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing Tuesday.The profit of $7.3 billion — down 14 percent from the same quarter last year — reflected an increase in operating expenses and included legal provisions of $1.4 billion, HSBC said.Of those, $1.1 billion was recognised in connection with the fraud case of Madoff, while $300 million was related to “certain historical trading activities” under investigation by the French National Financial Prosecutor.Revenue increased five percent to $17.8 billion, boosted by higher customer activity, HSBC said.The bank noted that the global economy showed resilience and continued to grow despite unpredictable US trade policies and increased fiscal concerns.But it also warned that commercial real estate conditions remain challenging in China, adding that government stimulus has yet to trigger a material improvement in buyer sentiment.Net interest income increased by $1.1 billion, or 15 percent, with reported expected credit losses of $1 billion stable compared with the third-quarter of 2024.The lender said it is expecting net interest income of $43 billion or higher in 2025, reflecting increased confidence for policy rates in key markets, including in Hong Kong and Britain.In Hong Kong, weak demand and over-supply of nonresidential properties continued to put downward pressure on rental and capital values, despite an observed improvement in local sentiment, it said.Earlier this month, HSBC proposed a $14 billion buyout to privatise Hang Seng Bank in the finance hub, saying the proposal “represents a significant investment into the Hong Kong economy”.If approved, Hang Seng will become a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC and will be delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange, the firm said in the statement.