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<keyword id="498141" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="record-books" source="Orion">Record books</keyword> underwent a major re-writing as Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell smashed a historic double century that helped Aussies script a miraculous win over Afghanistan in their ICC Cricket World Cup match at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 201* in 128 balls, with 21 fours and 10 sixes. He struck at a strike rate of over 157. This is <keyword id="6355478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="australia" source="Orion">Australia</keyword>'s first-ever ODI double century and overall the 11th instance of a double hundred in 50-over cricket. Maxwell overtook Shane Watson's 185* against Bangladesh in 2011. This is also the highest individual score in an ODI run-chase. Here, Maxwell toppled Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman, who smashed 193 against South Africa in 2021. Maxwell's <keyword id="19425191" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="double-ton" source="Orion">double ton</keyword> has surpassed Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry's 194 against Bangladesh in 2009 as the highest score by a non-opener in ODI cricket history. Maxwell's 201* is only the third instance of a double hundred in ODI Cricket World Cups, with Chris Gayle (215 against Zimbabwe in 2015 for West Indies) and Martin Guptill (237 against West Indies in 2015 for New Zealand) being the other two instances. The partnership of 202 runs between Maxwell and skipper Pat Cummins (12*) is the highest-ever partnership for seventh wicket or below in ODIs. It has overtaken the 177-run stand between Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid of England against New Zealand in 2015 for seventh wicket. Maxwell reached his double ton in just 128 balls, making it the second-fastest double century in ODIs. India's Ishan Kishan has the fastest double century of all time, in just 126 balls against Bangladesh last year. With 10 sixes smashed in the match, Maxwell has 33 sixes in his World Cup career and is now in third place among players with the most WC sixes. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (45) and West Indies legend Chris Gayle (49) are above him. Coming to the match, Afghanistan opted to bat first. Zadran held one end steady while Rahmat Shah (30), skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (26), Azmatullah Omarzai (22) made valuable contributions to take Afghanistan near the 230-run mark. Then in the final few overs, Zadran accelerated while Rashid Khan (35* in 18 balls, with two fours and three sixes) played a cameo to take Afghanistan to 291/5 in 50 overs. Josh Hazlewood (2/39) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell took a wicket each. In the chase of 292, Australia was once in a spot of huge bother at 91/7, but then Glenn Maxwell joined forces with skipper Pat Cummins for a historic double-century stand. Maxwell battled heat and cramps to smash Australia's first-ever ODI double century, ending at 201* in just 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes. Pat Cummins finished at 12*. Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq and Azhmatullah Omarzai got two wickets each. Now with six wins in eight games and 12 points, Australia is in semis along with India and South Africa. Afghanistan have a game to go against South Africa and a win there will keep their hopes of semis alive. Maxwell won the 'Player of the Match' award.

ICC CWC: Glenn Maxwell rewrites record books with memorable double ton against Afghanistan

It was a classic cliffhanger match at the <keyword id="7881" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="eden-gardens" source="Orion">Eden Gardens</keyword> in Kolkata as a quickfire half-century by Travis Head proved to be a point of difference between <keyword id="6355478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="australia" source="Orion">Australia</keyword> and <keyword id="6355117" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="south-africa" source="Orion">South Africa</keyword>, taking the Aussies to final of the ICC Cricket <keyword id="22177" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-cup" source="Orion">World Cup</keyword> against <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> after a three-wicket win on Thursday. This is Proteas' second loss to Australia in the 50-over World Cup semis. The first-ever semis meet between these two sides was tied and Aussies went to finals on the basis of better net-run rate in 1999. After that, Australia won once again in the semis against Proteas in 2007 and now they have won again. South Africa have lived up to the "chokers" tag again, once again denied a maiden spot in finals. They also reached semifinals in 1992, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015, but could not win there as well. In the chase of 213 runs, Australia was off to a fine start. Openers Travis Head and David Warner played some big shots, putting pressure on pacers Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada. Head and Warner smashed Jansen for 15 runs in the fifth over. In the very next over, Rabada was smashed for three sixes by Warner and Head, 21 runs in total. Australia reached the 50-run mark in 5.3 overs. Aiden Markram's part-time spin did the trick for Proteas as he clean bowled Warner for 29 off 18 balls, with one fours and four sixes. Australia was 60/1 in 6.1 overs. Mitchell Marsh was the next Proteas victim as he was removed by Rabada, thanks to a brilliant catch by Rassie van der Dussen at covers for just one. Australia was 61/2 in 7.4 overs. Australia was 100-run up in 13.2 overs. Head reached his half-century in just 40 balls, with eight fours and two sixes. Spin struck once again for Proteas, removing Head for 62 in 48 balls, with nine fours and two sixes. Australia was 106/3 in 14.1 overs. Marnus Labuschagne was next up on the crease. But South Africa continued their spin choke, removing Labuschagne for 18 and Glenn Maxwell for just one. SA was 137/5 in 23.4 overs. Australia reached the 150-run mark in 27 overs. Steve Smith and Jos Inglis started building a partnership and slowly took Australia near the target. But Gerald Coetzee reignited hopes of Proteas by getting the big wicket of Smith for 30 off 62 balls. The batter skied one high in the air but was caught by de Kock. Australia was 174/6 in 33.3 overs. Mitchell Starc and Inglis rotated the strike and took Aussies into the 190s. Coetzee got his second wicket, delivering another jolt to Aussies by removing Inglis for 28 off 49 balls, with three fours. Australia was 193/7 in 39.5 overs. Australia reached the 200-run mark in 42 overs. Australia needed seven in last five overs. Australia finished the game with a four by Cummins. Australia finished at 215/7 in 47.2 overs, with Cummins (14*) and Starc (16*) unbeaten. Shamsi (2/42) and Coetzee (2/47) were the pick of the bowlers for SA. Markram, Rabada and Maharaj got a wicket each. Earlier, David Miller's century powered South Africa to 212/10 against Australia in the second semi-final match of the ongoing ODI World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday. Miller scored 101 runs from 116 balls and was the only standout batter for the Proteas. On the other hand, the Aussie bowling attack dominated the first inning after taking early wickets in the second semi-final match. After winning the toss, South Africa decided to bat first in Kolkata. Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma opened for the Proteas but could not make a mark in the game. Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc made the first breakthrough in the game after he dismissed Proteas skipper Bavuma for a four-ball duck in the sixth ball of the first inning (SA 1-1). Josh Hazlewood picked up his first wicket of the match he removed De Kock in the 5.4 overs for three runs (SA 8-2). Australia totally dominated the first 10 overs of the game after they picked up two wickets in the first powerplay. On the other hand, South Africa scored 18 runs. Starc picked up another big wicket after he dismissed Aiden Markram in the 10.5 overs for 10 runs from 20 balls (SA 22-3). Rassie van der Dussen had to leave the crease after Hazlewood picked up his wicket in the 11.5 overs for just six runs (SA 24-4). After the end of the 14th over in the first inning, the game was stopped for a while as rain played a spoilsport in Kolkata. The Proteas reached the 100-run mark in the 27.6 overs. Aussie right-arm off-break bowler Travis Head dismissed Heinrich Klaasen for 47 runs from 48 balls in the 30.4 overs (SA 119-5). Just after dismissing Klaasen, Head picked up Marco Jansen's wicket in the 30.5 overs for a duck. However, the Aussie bowler could not complete his hat trick in his next ball (SA 119-6). In the second powerplay, South Africa scored 138 runs. While the Aussie bowling attack bagged four wickets. The Aussie skipper Pat Cummins bagged his first wicket of the game after he dismissed Gerald Coetzee in the 43.3 overs for 19 runs (SA 172-7). Starc removed Keshav Maharaj in the 46.2 overs for three runs (SA 191-8). In the 47.1 overs, David Miller slammed his century from 115 after he smashed a six. Miller's stellar knock came at a time when the Proteas were struggling in the game. South Africa crossed the 200-run mark in 47.1 overs. Cummins picked up a big wicket in the game after he dismissed Miller for 101 runs in the 47.2 overs (SA 203-9). The Aussie skipper ended South Africa's inning in the 49.4 overs after he dismissed Kagiso Rabada for 10 runs (SA 212-10). Tabraiz Shamsi stayed unbeaten till the end. On the other hand, Mitchell Starc led the Aussie bowling attack after he bagged three wickets in his 10-over spell and gifted only 34 runs. Pat Cummins also picked up three wickets in the game. While Josh Hazlewood and Travis Head bagged two wickets in their respective spells. Brief score: South Africa: David Miller 101(116), Heinrich Klaasen 47(48), Gerald Coetzee 19(39) vs Australia: Mitchell Starc 3/34, Josh Hazlewood 2/12, Pat Cummins 3/51.

ICC CWC 2023: Australia hold nerves against valiant South Africa, sets up title clash with India

Starting with the India-Pakistan World Cup game, Indian brands used <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> as a platform to promote their marketing messages. 
Using an aggregate of Retweets, Favourites and Replies, Twitter has come up with a Twitter Advertising Index to acknowledge the top 5 brands from over 50 brands that advertised with them on that day. The #INDvPAK match also saw 1.7 million tweets and over 118 million impressions. 
 
The following are the five brands that won the day on Twitter: 
 
@NikeCricket: A part of the #BleedBlue campaign: Nike created the chant #BleedBlue which has been rallying supporters of the Indian <keyword id="1521" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cricket">cricket</keyword> team for over two world cups now. Nike is also the sponsor of the Indian Team Jersey. As a part of the #BleedBlue campaign they sent out personalized jerseys to sports stars, celebrities and other members of the sports fraternity so that they can #BleedBlue in the true colours of the team. The most retweeted tweet on match day was that of Roger Federer unpacking his Jersey. 
 
@StarSportsIndia: Star Sports owns the broadcasting rights to the ICC Cricket world cup and are also sponsors of the Indian Team jersey. They started with the campaign #WontGiveItBack given India are the reigning champion of the cup and before game day asked people to vote on the outcome of the game. They also ran a promotion asking people to write back to them with something funny about the #IndVsPak game and winners would be sent Team Jerseys. 
 
@KitKatIndia: Nestle Kit Kat ran the campaign #SlowIsBetter around the new KitKat Senses chocolate. The product is made over 12 hours with slow churned chocolate for a Rich Smooth Taste. @KitKatIndia was able to find a creative way to integrate this story into the larger Cricket narrative by asking people to guess the slowest ball to take a wicket during the #IndVsPak match to win e-shopping vouchers. 
 
@ClubMahindra: Club Mahindra was able to find creative ways to integrate stories from their resorts into the game on Sunday. They put the Mandala from their logo to great use with tweets around the toss, when <keyword id="6354486" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Virat-Kohli">Virat Kohli</keyword> was hitting fours and sixes and when he hit his 100. When there was a great catch on the pitch they were ready with a tweet that showed someone catching a fish at one of their resorts and drew parallels of what a great catch looked like at @ClubMahindra. The finally ended the day with a picture of a cake that their chefs had baked for the team at one of their resorts. 
 
@AxisBank: Axis Bank went after cricketing rituals when they asked fans to tag a friend who has a unique way of cheering for India. The hashtag used was #SuperFanRitual. 
 
India plays South Africa in its next match on February 22. Considering it is another Sunday, we expect a lot of other brands try out their luck on Twitter that day.

5 Brands That Won Twitter During India-Pak World Cup Match

The whole world knows that India and Pakistan are two countries, which share a love-hate relationship. This sibling rivalry comes out in open every time we talk of cricket, and even more when the Cricket World Cup is held once in every 4 years. 
 
We all are aware of the recent ‘Mauka Mauka’ campaign that was started by Star Sports, showcasing a Pakistani fan’s reactions on every match that India played (and won) in the CWC 2015. 
 
Given the fact that all the ‘Mauka Mauka’ videos became viral, we are sure that they must have reached Pakistan through various social and digital platforms. 
 
Even though neither India nor Pakistan could make it to finals, many a time the fans of both countries made use of the ‘Mauka Mauka’ ads to troll each other. 
 The latest to join the bandwagon is Pakistani cricketer <keyword id="16977" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shahid-Afridi">Shahid Afridi</keyword>, member of the Pakistan cricket team team that went in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. On being asked about his feelings when India lost the semi-finals, the cricketer replied with ‘Mauka Mauka’, in the same tone as the videos. 
 
Quick to clarify his quirky reply after a hearty applause from the audience and the host Umer Sharif, he stated that he got a clip on Whatsapp about two Pakistanis singing the song and mocking random Indians in a middle-eastern country, from where he learned about the campaign. 
 
You can watch both the videos here. 
 
 
 
Image coutesy <a href="http://p.imgci.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/147600/147624.jpg?alt=2">ESPN CricInfo</a>

Watch Shahid Afridi rubbing friendly salts on Indians’ wounds

The All-India Senior Selection Committee has finally announced the names of the players who would be part of India’s squad for the 2015 World Cup.
 According to a BCCI press release, <keyword id="6354832" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="MS-Dhoni">MS Dhoni</keyword> will lead the 15-member squad in ICC CWC 2015. Other members of the squad are: <keyword id="6354486" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Virat-Kohli">Virat Kohli</keyword> (Vice Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Ishant Sharma. Sadly, senior players like <keyword id="351" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Yuvraj-Singh">Yuvraj Singh</keyword> couldn’t find any place in the team. Earlier in the day, we read reports speculating Yuvraj Singh’s name in the Final 15. This news would be a disheartening for Yuvi’s fans, who were hoping that Yuvi’s recent performance in the Ranji trophy matches—wherein he scored three consecutive centuries—would help him earn a place in the squad. 

	It’s worth noting that Yuvraj Singh was a star performer in the 2011 World Cup and also the man of the series. However, post recovering from cancer, he hasn’t played much of competitive cricket and not even a single ODI in 2014.

Bad News For Yuvi Fans; No Place For Him In India’s Squad  For World Cup 2015

By Mona Parthsarathi New Delhi, May 5 () Taking note of the plight of street children during the coronavirus lockdown, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said this time could be used to create a database of the children so they could be linked to various government social schemes and be prevented from coming out on the streets again. Generally found on traffic signals, railway platforms, religious places, shopping areas, near bus and auto stands, these children are often involved in rag-picking, street vending or begging. Post March 24, they are either at shelter homes or have walked down to their native places, however, nobody actually knows where they are. "It could be an ideal situation to prevent these children from coming on the streets again. It is an unprecedented situation when even trains are not running. These children generally run away from homes on trains. Now they should be helped to settle down where they are right now," NCPCR chairman Priyank Kanungo told Bhasha. He also said that there is no need of any new law but the existing laws like Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act 2016 should be implemented efficiently and the NCPCR is working on it. "The enforcement agencies in the child protection mechanism should work proactively with child welfare committees which are there in every district across the country. There are child welfare police officers and special juvenile police units in every police station. The CWC should prepare a database of these children with the help of these authorities so that they could benefit from various government schemes like BPL card, Right to food or Prime Minister Awas Yojna," he said. According to a study by the NGO 'Save The Children', there are over two million children on the streets of India living in abject deprivation of the most basic rights and in poverty. It also found that over 80 per cent of the children living in streets have no form of a legal identity document, denying them access to social entitlements. In a project 'Spotlight on the Invisibles', in collaboration with the NCPCR, they carried out a census of street children last year. "This project has been able to link 2,29,262 children in street situations with a legal identity documents across 10 cities (tier 1 and 2) across the country. Apart from identity documents, 89,180 children have been linked to various schemes and services of government. But this number is much less in comparison to total number of street children in India. We have to reach maximum children who need support and protection," Anindit Roy Choudhury, Director Programmes, Save The Children told . "Most often than not, children in street situations are often left out from being counted. Therefore, a large group is often unaccounted for. In the current scenario they could be subjected to sexual exploitation, trafficking or any crime," he added. "They do not exist in the Indian Census study. This makes children in the street even more vulnerable to being left out from social protection schemes that the government provides and from being protected. It is imperative that all children are given identity cards so that they can be brought under existing social and child protection schemes," he added. Kanungo has said that NCPCR is revisiting the standard operating procedures for children in street situations developed in collaboration with 'Save the Children' and will finalise it in next 8-10 days. "We are revisiting this SOP which was prepared in 2017 and hopefully will finalise it during the lockdown itself. We are working on the shortcomings and will try to implement it in a more effective manner," he said. MJ AAR

COVID-19 lockdown: NCPCR to focus on creating database of street children

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Evy Mages/Getty ImagesJames Clapper, Director of National Intelligence and Lt. Gen. Vincent Stuart, Director of the <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">Defense</keyword> Intelligence Agency, testify during a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on February 26, 2015 in Washington, DC.</div></div></div>James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, <a href="http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/SASC_Unclassified_2016_ATA_SFR_FINAL.pdf">told a Senate committee</a> Tuesday that the Syrian government isn't being entirely transparent about its chemical-weapons program and that Damascus has used chlorine against anti-regime rebels.That is despite the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad joining the Chemical Weapons Convention and <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-23876085">agreed to the removal and destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile</a>.They did so to avoid a threatened US bombing campaign following the August 21, 2013, sarin-gas attack on Ghouta, outside the country's capital of Damascus. The attack left some 1,400 people dead.In August of 2014, the Obama administration declared that Syria's chemical stockpile had been destroyed, a development that President Barack Obama said "advances our collective goal to ensure that the Assad regime cannot use its chemical arsenal against the Syrian people," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/08/18/declared-syrian-chemical-weapon-stockpile-now-completely-destroyed/">according to The Washington Post</a>.But Clapper complicated this premise in a single, brief paragraph."We assess that Syria has not declared all the elements of its chemical-weapons program to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)," Clapper <a href="http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/SASC_Unclassified_2016_ATA_SFR_FINAL.pdf">said in his congressional testimony</a>. "Despite the creation of a specialized team and months of work by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to address gaps and inconsistencies in Syria's declaration, numerous issues remain unresolved."Syria has carried out chemical weapons attacks even after the implementation of the September 2013 agreement, he said."We continue to judge that the Syrian regime has used chemicals as a means of warfare since accession to the CWC in 2013," Clapper said.He noted OPCW investigators' conclusion that "chlorine had been used on Syrian opposition forces in multiple incidents in 2014 and 2015." The regime was still dropping chlorine bombs from the air. "Helicopters - which only the Syrian regime possesses - were used in several of these attacks," Clapper stated.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">SANA via APIn this Sunday, July 26, 2015, file photo, provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech in Damascus, Syria.</div></div></div>Chlorine attacks have been <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2015/04/27/chemical-crisis-a-timeline-of-cw-attacks-in-syrias-civil-war/">documented in Syria throughout 2014 and 2015</a>, while one group of Syrian doctors discovered at least <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/16/syria-assad-regime-is-weaponising-chlorine-us-congress-to-hear">31 chlorine attacks in the country during a single 10-week span in 2015</a>. And it's long been clear that at least some of Syria's chemical-weapons infrastructure remained in place past mid-2014. According to a July 2015 Wall Street Journal report, US intelligence agencies "concluded that the regime didn't give up all of the chemical weapons it was supposed to," while Assad "continu[ed] to operate weapons-research facilities." Clapper's statement is a straightforward acknowledgment that the chemical-weapons deal didn't fully accomplish its purpose. The Assad regime did join the CWC, and give up the entirety of its known chemical weapons stockpile. The deal left Assad far less capable of carrying out a Ghouta-style attack, and it was accomplished without actual US military action.At the same time, Assad retained a chemical-weapons infrastructure and continued to use chlorine on the battlefield - all while avoiding any US or allied military consequences for crossing Obama's supposed "red line." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/americas-400-billion-warplane-bugs-f35-dod-report-pentagon-lockheed-martin-2016-2">America's $400 billion warplane has some major flaws</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="syczZvMDE6gHlhT2jp0A5Mi71LOgCFP_" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The US intelligence chief just acknowledged a major failure of the Syria chemical-weapons deal

An extended period of insufficient rains has led to an alarming water situation in many parts of the country. Two consecutive monsoon failures could also be a reason why the water situation has gone this disturbing. This has also forced the state governments to take some strict and required actions to tackle the alarming situation of water crisis. 
 
The delayed rains have already hurt hydropower generation, which would result in the delay of planting pulses, cotton, paddy and millets in western and southern states. In these states, water level has fallen drastically, a situation better in northern India where some reservoirs are still in a better position. 
 
"The situation is alarming as of now. We will soon be sending advisories to state governments for judicious use of water from reservoirs. Better planning can rescue states in the next few months if rains are delayed or not widespread," GS Jha, chairman of Central Water Commission told ET. CWC is the authority responsible for monitoring the country's water situation by keeping a watch on 91 major reservoirs that feed hydropower plants and irrigate fields. It also advises the central and state governments on how they should use water for drinking, irrigation and industrial use. 
 
While rainfall received in January and February was lowest in five years, March received 13% above average rainfall, but even then, it had been insufficient to make a difference to the reservoirs. 
 
As of March 23, these 91 major reservoirs held 41.643 billion cubic metres (bcm) of water, which is 31% less than 60.015 bcm at this time in 2015, as per data from CWC. 
 
<a href="https://irawaterpurifiers.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/drought.jpg">Image source</a>

It took several dried up reservoirs to make us notice the water crisis

After 2015 became the most disaster struck year ever, technology giants started coming up with solutions to make critical information like details of the hazard, map and expected timeline, accessible to all. After 'cyclone alerts’, <keyword id="97416" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google-maps">Google Maps</keyword> &amp; Now Cards will display '<keyword id="1174717" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="flood-alerts">Flood Alerts</keyword>' for India. It will also help with tips on how to stay safe. "<keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> will be providing 'River level' information for over 170 regions across India in which the Central Water Commission (CWC) has active observation stations. Users can now find 'flood alerts' along with 'river level' information and get public emergency alerts in case of floods," said the company release. 

	Users can browse all active alerts at google.org/public alerts, and relevant alerts will also appear on normal Google Maps searches depending on the query. Clicking through an alert on the map displays more info from the organization sending the alert.

	 
	 
	(Image credits: indiatimes)

Google's new feature 'Flood Alerts' to be available in India now

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Orjan F. Ellingvag/Corbis via Getty ImagesTwo hedge funds are going to war over investments related to the Stuyvesant Town housing development in Manhattan.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, the an iconic New York property and the largest apartment complex in Manhattan, is at the center of dueling lawsuits involving hedge funds Fortress Investment Group and Och-Ziff Capital Management.</li><li>The lawsuits are complex, but at stake is the fate of some $1 billion in fees stemming from the management of the StuyTown property and its commercial debt following its default in 2010 and eventual sale in 2015 to Blackstone Group for $5.3 billion. </li><li>Och-Ziff hasn't previously been publicly connected to the litigation, which was filed in 2017 by an investment vehicle it holds a stake in.</li></ul>An iconic New York City real-estate development is once again at the center of a legal battle by Wall Street investors looking to score big. The largest apartment complex in Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village is a sprawling, 11,200-unit development on the island's east side, and over the past decade a slew of investors having been tussling over the billions in value tied up in those red-brick buildings.The latest battle is shaping up to be an ugly one: Hedge fund rivals Fortress Investment Group and Och-Ziff Capital Management are tangled up in dueling lawsuits over the fate of some $1 billion in fees stemming from the management of the StuyTown property and its commercial debt following its default in 2010 and eventual sale in 2015 to Blackstone Group for $5.3 billion. At the essence, according to court documents and conversations with people familiar with the litigation, the arguments boil down to this:<ul><li>Cobalt, a vehicle that Och-Ziff invested in that owns Stuy Town debt, says a little-known firm controlled by Fortress called CWCapital Asset Management should have shared with creditors the colossal horde of fees it earned managing the housing development, but instead orchestrated self-serving arrangements to keep all the money to itself.</li><li>Fortress and CWCapital, meanwhile, say they collected fees outlined and in accordance with the contract, and allege that Och-Ziff bought into the investment years after the alleged breaches occurred with sole intention of filing a lawsuit, via Cobalt, and claiming financial injury after the fact. Moreover, they claim, Och-Ziff fraudulently misrepresented itself when purchasing its stake, a deal CWCapital says it otherwise would have nixed. </li><li>The twin lawsuits currently awaiting oral arguments in New York County court. </li></ul>Och-Ziff hasn't previously been publicly connected to the litigation.When the initial action against Fortress was <a href="https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20171205/REAL_ESTATE/171209945/firm-based-in-the-cayman-islands-sues-cwcapital-over-stuyvesant-town-profits">filed back in December 2017</a>, Och-Ziff was nowhere to be found in the suit. Rather, Cobalt, the issuer of the passive investment vehicle Och-Ziff bought a stake in in 2016, filed the claim. But subsequent court filings allege Och-Ziff orchestrated the lawsuit after taking a stake in Cobalt. Both entities were represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &amp; Sullivan, though in Fortress' counter-suit Och-Ziff is represented by Latham &amp; Watkins. Cobalt lawyers deny the entity is acting as a "puppet" of Och-Ziff. Fortress is represented by Venable.The legal claims at play are complex, even by commercial real estate litigation standards, according to Scott Tross, a <a href="http://www.herrick.com/scott-t-tross/">partner at the law firm Herrick Feinstein</a> and an expert in commercial real estate litigation and disputes."They're not plain vanilla cases," Tross said. "They're the product of two very creative law firms."Tross says there may be some merit to the notion that CWCapital, as the so-called special servicer managing the property for creditors, should have shared fees, a practice he says has become widespread over roughly the past five years. But it's not clear that Och-Ziff will be permitted to make the claim through the investment vehicle, given it arrived so late to the party and seemingly with the express purpose of filing suit. The investment vehicle it bought into in 2016 - a Cayman Island's-based shell company that buys up mortgage securities and issues notes to investors as a collateralized debt obligation (CDO) - has been around for more than a decade."The CDO has been around for a long time. After almost a decade of being in existence, they all of a sudden show up and want to assert claims based on conduct that occurred really well before they had any financial stake," Tross said. "It's a serious issue whether they will have financial standing to assert the claims they are asserting."Och-Ziff may have come late to the party, but if they wind up with any substantial portion of the $1 billion in fees at stake in the litigation, it would be a giant boon to the firm, which like many hedge funds has fallen on hard times of late.Profits have cratered and Och-Ziff was in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-27/och-ziff-s-shares-stumble-toward-nyse-delisting-territory-at-1">danger in late 2018 of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange</a> as its stock threatened to dip below $1 a share. For Fortress, which was acquired by SoftBank in 2017, this is just the latest in a <a href="https://therealdeal.com/2015/11/12/investors-sue-cwcapital-wells-fargo-over-stuy-town-sale/">series of legal salvos</a> it's faced <a href="https://therealdeal.com/2014/07/03/stuyvesant-lenders-sue-cwcapital-over-takeover/">connected to its handling</a> of the StuyTown development. Spokesmen and lawyers for the competing parties declined to comment for this story.<h2>The backstory</h2>It's helpful to understand how the StuyTown property, which was built in the 1940s and catered toward returning World War II veterans, has changed hands in the past decade to better grasp what these two hedge funds are fighting over. In 2006, near the peak of the real-estate bubble, Tishman Speyer and BlackRock bought StuyTown for $5.4 billion, then the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/business/yourmoney/31speyer.html?_r=1&amp;module=inline">largest real-estate deal in US history</a>. But the investment went belly-up as plans to juice revenues met roadblocks and the global property market nosedived, and the investors defaulted on the $3 billion securitized mortgage in 2010.CWCapital was tapped as the "special servicer" in charge of managing the property and representing the myriad creditors who were scrambling to recoup their money following the default. Fortress acquired CWCapital that same year for $300 million. Eventually, as Manhattan property prices soared and rental income from StuyTown increased, CWCapital brokered a deal to sell the development to Blackstone in 2015 for $5.3 billion.Along the way, CWCapital earned hundreds of millions on the special servicing assignment from a variety of fees, according to court filings, including $615 million in penalty interest between the default in 2010 and the sale five years later. Such fees are contractual and normal, according to Tross, though they're eye-popping in this case given the size and circumstances of the deal. Trouble with Och-Ziff began brewing a year later.<h2>Och-Ziff enters the fray</h2>In August 2016, Och-Ziff bought a minority stake in a CDO called Cobalt VR, which was set up as a passive investment fund with no employees in 2007. It was managed by CWCapital and held $3.4 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities, including a substantial portion of junior StuyTown debt. (Och-Ziff had also previously bought senior notes in the CDO when it was initially launched in 2007, which had been repaid, according to court filings.)As the collateral manager for the CDO, CWCapital was essentially its investment adviser and had the ability to appoint the lucrative special servicer jobs, which it gave to its similarly named affiliates. This arrangement was established from the outset in 2007 and agreed upon by all investors in the CDO, according to Fortress' court arguments.In December 2017, not long after Och-Ziff bought notes from Cobalt - which over the course of the previous 10 years hadn't raised complaints about CWCapital's actions - the CDO issuer filed suit seeking a portion of the $1.1 billion CWCapital reaped from StuyTown, as well as some other properties, among other claims. The complaint, originally filed in federal court and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, was refiled in New York County court last summer. "Had CWC Manager been acting to benefit Cobalt Vr (rather than to line its own pockets), most of those funds would have rightfully gone to Cobalt Vr," the complaint reads. In addition to damages, it wants to kick CWCapital out as the representative that designates a special servicer and install a new one. Fortress claims, in court documents, that CWCapital's actions complied with the design and covenants of the CDO, and that Cobalt only filed the suit 10 years after inception at the behest of Och-Ziff, writing: "This is a hedge fund litigation play ... It would be inequitable to allow an after-the-fact litigation play to rewrite the terms of a deal that closed in 2007 and has been administered since then in accordance with the plain terms of those deals, as understood and interpreted by all the relevant parties."Lawyers for Cobalt deny accusations that it's "a mere puppet of Och-Ziff."Fortress then filed a suit of its own in spring of 2018 against Cobalt and Och-Ziff, arguing the hedge fund's 2016 purchase should be rescinded because, among other claims, it "fraudulently concealed its true intentions" to flout the covenants of the CDO and that it was in compliance with US laws, when it was in the process of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-och-ziff-settlement/och-ziff-reaches-29-million-shareholder-accord-over-africa-bribery-probes-idUSKCN1MC2DS">settling multi-million dollar violations</a> with the US government. Fortress claims in the suit it never would have given its consent for the deals otherwise; Och-Ziff says in its motion to dismiss that the claims are meritless.Last July, a judge denied Cobalt's motion for preliminary injunction, noting in the ruling that "issues abound as to Cobalt's authority." The Appellate Division affirmed that ruling last week. While that ruling doesn't necessarily foreshadow the final outcome of these cases, the court's analysis didn't favor Cobalt's claim, Tross said, and that Cobalt's standing in the case remains a significant issue. Both of the cases are awaiting oral arguments.

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