Indian pacers get three after Smith's 50 as Australian lead stretches to 276 at tea
Brisbane: Steve Smith's attacking half-century took Australia's overall lead to 276 even as India's greenhorn bowlers put their best foot forward during the first two sessions on the fourth day of the final Test here on Monday.
At tea taken an over early because of rain, Australia were 243 for 7, aiming to set a target which India might find enticing enough to chase on a Gabba track which is starting to misbehave slightly with a few cracks opening at one end.
The highest fourth innings chase at the ground is 236 by the West Indies, way back in 1951.
Among Indian pacers, Mohammed Siraj produced a well disguised short ball that grew on Smith (55 off 74 balls) getting him caught at gully. He had earlier produced the ball of the innings to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne (25 off 22 balls) in the first session of the day.
Along with Shardul Thakur (3/41 in 14.1 overs), easily the best Indian bowler in the second innings, Siraj (15-5-42-3) got the wickets but Australians scored at a good rate (3.67), having factored in the inclement weather.
If rain doesn't cause further interruption, Australians have 137 overs across four sessions to enforce a result.
Two engrossing sessions of high quality Test match cricket were on display on Monday with Australian openers David warner (48 off 75 balls) and Marcus Harris (38 off 82 balls) providing a rollicking start.
This was followed by the inexperienced Indian bunch coming back to effect a mini collapse by taking four wickets.
The second session also witnessed fortunes swing as Smith attacked the Indian bowlers, found catches being dropped before three wickets kept the visitors' spirits high.
In the first session, between Warner (6x4) and Harris (8x4), they hit 14 boundaries as Siraj and Thangarasu Natarajan (14-4-41-0) erred in length during the first hour.
Finally, it was a sharp bouncer from Thakur, that ended Harris' entertaining knock. He tried to sway away but the ball brushed his gloves on way to Rishabh Pant behind stumps.
In the very next over, Warner, who was in sight of his first half-century of the series, was rapped on the backfoot by Washington who bowled one that kept straight. The opener ended up being cramped for room on the back-foot while going for the cut-shot.
Labuschagne hit five boundaries and was in no mood to drop the tempo before Siraj bowled the ball of the session.
Having been too short during the first spell, the delivery was on the off-stump and moved a shade before Rohit Sharma took a regulation catch at second slip.
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World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
London (AP): The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday as it published its annual report.
The human rights organisation said the most powerful governments, including the United States, Russia and China, have led a global disregard for international rules and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said the level of violation of international order witnessed in the past year was "unprecedented".
"Israel's flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza," she said. "Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War Two system of law."
The report highlighted the United States' failures to denounce rights violations committed by Israel and its use of veto power to paralyse the UN Security Council on a cease-fire resolution in Gaza, as well as Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine. It also pointed to China's arming of military forces in Myanmar and the way Beijing has shielded itself from scrutiny over its treatment of the Uyghur minority.
"We have here three very large countries, superpowers in many ways, sitting on the Security Council that have emptied out the Security Council of its potentials, and that have emptied out international law of its ability to protect people," Callamard told The Associated Press in London.
The report, which detailed Amnesty's assessment of human rights in 155 countries, underlined an increasing backlash against women's rights and gender equality in 2023.
It cited the brutal suppression of women's protests in Iran, the Taliban's decrees "aimed at erasing women from public life" in Afghanistan, and legal restrictions on abortion in the US and Poland, among others.
The rights organisation also warned about the threat of new technologies if left unchecked, saying the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence and mass surveillance tools could be deployed to stoke conflict, encroach on rights and freedoms and sow discord in a landmark election year.
Unregulated tech advances "can be weaponised to discriminate, disinform and divide," Callamard said.
