Yes, Winnipeg finally has a permanent cricket pitch
Winnipeg now has its first, permanent cricket pitch. And this is exciting. The artificial turf cricket pitch opened Sunday on the Elwick Community School in the city’s Maples neighborhood. Previous to this, cricket was played on heavy mats that took a lot of work to lay out. “With this now, this artificial turf, we don’t have to worry. It’s already in place,” Kamta Roy Singh, Maples Community Centre cricket coach, told CBC Manitoba. “It’s ready to play. If you have rain, in ten minutes you have sun, it’s ready to play. Kids don’t have to worry about the labour anymore.” Singhi said the new pitch will help keep the cricket tradition alive and attractive to the city’s youth. “The easier you can make it for them, that it’s a possibility in their lives. So this is really massive.” [Source: CBC Manitoba]
Turkey to shut border to Syrian refugees
About 130,000 Kurdish refugees entered Turkey over the weekend, overwhelming some of its border crossing, which are now facing closure. Turkey opened a 30-kilometre section to Syrians reportedly attempting to flee the under siege town of Kobane. The town is one of many in Syria and Iraq being taken over by IS. Many of the refugees are being held in already crowded schools. Turkey is trying its best to cope with the over a million Syrian refugees currently seeking shelter within its borders. It was a precarious situation before the influx, reports the BBC. Allegiances between countries are in flux as IS changes the landscape. And it was clashed between Kurds and Turks Sunday that lead Turkey to threaten closure. [Source: BBC]
MAVEN lands enters Martian orbit
It took NASA’s latest Mars probe 10 months to travel the 711-million kilometres to reach its destination. On Sept., 21 the USD$671-million MAVEN probe broke into Martian orbit to an “ecstatic” audience of engineers and scientists observing from Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado. “You get one shot with Mars orbit insertion, and MAVEN nailed it tonight,” David Mitchell, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told Nature. MAVEN’s mission is to fly through the planet’s upper atmosphere collecting data relevant to determining the habitability of Mars. The probe burned 1,000 litres of fuel in the 30-some minutes it too for it to break into Martian orbit. There was a total 1,900 litres when it left Earth. A total of eight scientific instruments will be deployed from the probe in the coming days. [Source: Nature]
Reporter quits on air to be pot advocate
Reporter for Alaskan TV station Charlo Greene said “F*ck it, I quit” on air. Her abrupt, public, vulgar resignation came shortly after she revealed to news watchers that she owns the Alaska Cannabis Club she was reporting on at the time. Greene is going to focus on advocating for marijuana, fighting for “freedom and fairness.” The station apologized for the language. Alaska will head to the polls on Nov. 4 to vote for or against the legalization of marijuana under Measure 2, which is similar to the laws passed recently in Washington and Colorado. [Source: CTV News]
Winnipeg marches in solidarity
Millions worldwide marched Sunday in a global day of action for climate change awareness. The rally took place just days before the UN summit on climate change “Catalyzing Action” is set to begin in New York. March organizer Amanda Wolff told the Winnipeg Free press that about 300 people turned up for the cause in Winnipeg. More than 130 countries reportedly took part in similar climate change demonstrations on Sunday. The UN summit is set to begin Tuesday. “The Climate Summit will be about action and solutions that are focused on accelerating progress in areas that can significantly contribute to reducing emissions and strengthening resilience – such as agriculture, cities, energy, financing, forests, pollutants, resilience and transportation,” according to the summit’s website. Some of the banners present at Winnipeg’s march read: “Stealing from our grandchildren is bad economics.” [Source: Winnipeg Free Press]
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Toban Dyck is on Twitter @tobandyck
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