October 19, 2011 — CENTURION, South Africa (AP) — Bad light and then rain interrupted play in the opening one-day international between South Africa and Australia at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.
Umpires led the players off in gloomy light with Australia 96-1 after 19 overs, and rain began to fall soon after. Ricky Ponting was 40 not out and Michael Clarke 29 not out as Australia was put in to bat by Proteas captain Hashim Amla in the opening ODI of a three-match series.
Michel Platini has called a summit meeting of the eight European FIFA members immediately before Thursday's executive committee in a bid to ensure that significant reforms of the world governing body are pushed through.
Platini, the UEFA president, and the other seven members will meet in Zurich to devise their strategy for the landmark meeting, where FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to unveil his proposals for change.
Europe is seen as a driving force for reform - German member Theo Zwanziger will bring his own ideas for change to the table, and these will be discussed by the Europeans, including Britain's FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce, before the executive committee (ExCo) meets on Thursday afternoon and Friday.
Blatter's proposals are understood to include a new-look ethics committee with more powers to investigate alleged wrongdoing, with FIFA members having to prove they have no skeletons in the closet before they are permitted to sit on the executive committee.
Blatter has already announced some other plans, including having all 206 FIFA countries voting on future World Cup hosts rather than the 25-man ExCo.
Boyce, from Northern Ireland, said the Europeans were all determined that FIFA recovers from the damage to its reputation following the corruption scandals of the last 12 months.
BANGALORE: For good health, the quality of drinking water is critical. But in Karnataka, where much of groundwater sources are concentrated with fluorides and nitrates, the impact is devastating. Dental and spine-related ailments are showing up in many cities and villages.
In some of the fluoride-endemic districts like Kolar, Chitradurga, Gadag and Bellary, smiles on the faces of young children have vanished as they are afflicted by dental fluorosis.
The Bureau of Indian Standards’ permissible limit for fluoride in drinking water is 1.5 mg/litre and for nitrates, the permissible limit is 45 mg/litre. Bagepalli taluk in Kolar has a fluoride concentration of more than 3 mg/litre. In Nellukudiri village of Bellary district, it is 5 mg/litre.
Dean and director, Government Dental College and Research Institute, Dr S S Hiremath, said: â€More than 6% of the state’s population is afflicted by dental flourosis. Children don’t have proper teeth formation.â€
After years of consuming fluoride, when the spinal cord starts compressing and even before the cause for disability is known, the patient is paralyzed. This is a shocking condition in some fluoride-intense districts like Tumkur, where many people in a few villages have spinal cord-related diseases.
Several villages in Pavagada taluk in Tumkur district have fluoride concentration five times more than the permissible level.