Following a boundary change, Melbourne has surpassed Sydney as Australia's most populated city for the first time since the 19th-century gold rush. Sydney has proudly maintained the position for over 100 years, reports BBC. However, as the population in Melbourne's outskirts grows, the city borders have been stretched to cover the Melton region, it said. According to the most recent government figures, Melbourne has a population of 4,875,400, which is 18,700 higher than Sydney. Read More: Australian lawmaker breaks ranks to support Indigenous Voice The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a city's "significant urban area" as any linked suburb having a population of more than 10,000 persons. "Until the 2021 census definition, the Sydney significant area had a higher population than Melbourne. However, with the amalgamation of Melton into Melbourne in the latest... classification, Melbourne has more people than Sydney - and has had since 2018,” Andrew Howe of Australian Bureau of Statistics told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, which described the redrawn boundary as "a technicality". Greater regions of a city, according to the Bureau of Statistics, take into consideration its "functional area" and include individuals that routinely socialize, shop, or work inside the city but may live in small towns or rural areas around it, the report also said. The federal government, on the other hand, anticipated that Greater Melbourne will surpass Greater Sydney in 2031-32. Read More: Ten journalists visiting Australia for skills, capacity building in mass media It is not the first time Melbourne has held the title of Australia's largest city. Melbourne grew rapidly and outnumbered Sydney until 1905 as a result of the late 19th century gold rush, which saw people flock to the state of Victoria.

England have wrapped up Pakistan for 137 for eight in the final of the T20 World Cup on Sunday in Melbourne. They now need to score 138 to become the champions of T20Is for the second time. England won the toss and sent Pakistan to bat first. The Babar Azam-led team failed to post a challenging total on the board. They lost wickets at regular intervals and never looked to offer some challenge to the English bowling attack. Sam Curran, the England speedster, continued to shine and bagged three wickets after conceding just 12 runs in four overs. He was the highlight of England’s controlled bowling in the final. Read More: T20 World Cup Final: Rashid hunts Babar as Pakistan struggle Adil Rashid and Chris Jordan have also done well with the ball, picking up two wickets each.Pakistan lost Mohammad Rizwan in the power play, and young Muhammad Haris was also sent back early. From the beginning of their innings, Pakistan's batting lineup has looked sluggish. Curran scalped the first wicket of Rizwan, and then Rashid came to the scene and picked up the wickets of Haris and Babar. Babar was opening his arms, but a googly from Adil did the trick for England. Babar fell for 32 off 28 balls. After Babar’s dismissal, the onus was on Iftekhar Ahmed and Shan Masood to keep the scorecard afloat. But Iftekhar failed to deliver in the final. He had a duck and fell victim to Ben Stokes.Pakistan’s dismal batting continued after that. Shadab Khan scored 20 off 14 balls, but that was enough for them to pass the 150-run mark. They were not even able to score 140 in the final. Read More: T20 World Cup Final: Pakistan to bat first vs England In the first ten overs, Pakistan scored 68 for 2. In the next ten overs, they scored only one more run, losing six more wickets. In the death overs, England's bowlers were as outstanding as they have been throughout the event. Both England and Pakistan have won the T20 World Cup once before. With the kind of batting lineup the English team has, the 138-run target shouldn't be a difficult task for them to win the 2022 T20 World Cup final against Pakistan and register their second title in the format.

Pakistan seems to not be in a rush for the 2022 T20 World Cup final against England in Melbourne. They lost the toss and were sent to bat first. Sam Curran, the best bowler for England in this World Cup so far, bagged the first wicket, and then Adil Rashid came to the scene and picked up the wickets of Haris and Babar Azam. The Pakistani captain was opening his arms, but a googly from Adil Rashid did the trick for England. Babar fell for 32 off 28 balls. Read more: T20 World Cup Final: Pakistan to bat first vs England After Babar’s dismissal, the onus was on Iftekhar Ahmed and Shan Masood to keep the scorecard afloat. But Iftekhar failed to deliver in the final. He had a duck and fell victim to Ben Stokes. After the 13th over, Pakistan were batting at 90 for four. The lower order has to shoulder extra responsibility should Pakistan want to score more than 150 in the 2022 T20 World Cup final against England. Read More: Pakistan vs England T20 World Cup 2022 final Live Streaming: Where and How to watch live, Playing XI

England have won the toss in the final of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Melbourne and sent Pakistan to bat first. This is the first time England and Pakistan are facing off against each other in the final of the T20 World Cup. Read more: Pakistan vs England T20 World Cup Final: Match Preview, H2H Stat, Venue, Probable Playing XI It is going to be reminiscent of the 1992 ODI World Cup final, when these two teams took on each other at the same venue and Pakistan came up victorious. Both England and Pakistan are going to field the same team that played in the semifinals. And both teams have won the title of the T20 World Cup once each. Read more: Pakistan vs England T20 World Cup 2022 final Live Streaming: Where and How to watch live, Playing XI Pakistan (Playing XI): Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (w), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi England (Playing XI): Jos Buttler (w/c), Alex Hales, Philip Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid England captain Jos Buttler's decision to put Pakistan to bat first in the T20 World Cup final was influenced by the MCG's better record in chases.

Australia, one of the top crickets playing nations, will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022 for the first time. Local people and international fans will have the opportunity to join the festival and enjoy the host cities’ marvelous tourist spots, exotic foods, versatile culture, and more. The world Cup tournament’s 45 matches will be played in seven stadiums located across 7 big cities including Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, and Perth. Let’s take a look at the top things to do in the host cities for the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Host cities for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2022 You should not just enjoy your time watching some exciting matches. You can also check out what these cities have in their bucket to offer you. Sydney Sydney is a beautiful city with plenty to see and do. From the iconic Sydney Opera House to the attractive Bondi Beach, there is something for everyone to enjoy.  Read ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022: Meet the 16 Captains Regarding food, Sydney offers a wide variety of cuisines from all over the world. If you are looking for something truly unique, be sure to try one of the city’s many Aboriginal restaurants.

Acclaimed academic Professor Shams Rahman has lashed out at Bangladesh’s first military dictator Ziaur Rahman, the founder of BNP, for “staging a farcical national vote of confidence in 1977 only to solidify his hold on to state power after running the country for 18 months under strict martial law.  Raising questions about the legitimacy centring the birth of Bangladesh’s Nationalist Party, Prof Shams, who teaches at the College of Business and Law at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, divulged that the party was founded with Zia at the helm in barracks, bearing tell-tale hallmarks of Pakistan’s repressive regime that unleashed a genocide in 1971.  “That BNP still remains in a denial mode and continues to glorify the mastermind of those darkest episodes as its founder, even when the nation is celebrating fifty years of independence clearly puts a big question mark over the party’s commitment to the constitution,” he added while addressing a virtual discussion on Monday night.  In reference to the “notorious national referendum” that Zia oversaw back in 1977, Prof. Shams said “that shameful step served a big blow to the spirit of the country’s liberation war, tore down the country’s constitution and offered an olive branch for anti liberation forces—radical elements."   The referendum was marred by a very low turnout, yet the results were manipulated showing around 90% turnout with many centres seeing the number of votes in favour of Zia surpassing the total number of voters registered with those centres, recollected Prof Shams.  Within years into country’s liberation, the father of the nation was assassinated with most of his family members, but in the aftermath, Zia rose to the rank of president and rehabilitated the killers of Bangandhu - trampling the secular credentials of the constitution earned at the cost of  ocean of blood, revealed the Melbourne based professor at a webinar held online yesterday. READ: Critics of Zia are anti-liberation elements: Fakhrul It is sheer irony that BNP still calls the referendum “a great exercise of democratic franchise,” but in reality no one permitted to campaign on the negative side and many opposition leaders still in jail, leaving little doubt on the outcome, said Ajoy Dasgupta, a veteran journalist and researcher, addressing the webinar. Dasgupta, an Ekushey Padak awardee, said the military rulers who had taken over and ruled Bangladesh for the next 15 years legitimized the pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami, introduced constitutional amendments that undermined the country's secular democratic polity, and finally declared Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh. He said some parties like BNP and its ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, have tried to restore the "Pakistan military-fundamentalist model of radical Islam" but failed.

A few years after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, and with Afghanistan still in ruins, Ahmad Sarmast left his home in Melbourne, Australia, on a mission: to revive music in the country of his birth. The school he founded was a unique experiment in inclusiveness for the war-ravaged nation — with orphans and street kids in the student body, it sought to bring a measure of joy back to Kabul. The Taliban had notoriously banned music. Last week, he watched in horror from his home in Melbourne images of the Taliban taking over the Afghan capital, capping a lightning offensive that restored the religious militia to power and stunned the world. Sarmat’s two mobile phones haven’t stopped ringing since. Many of the calls are from panicked students asking him what happens next. Will the school be closed? Would the Taliban outlaw music again? Are their treasured instruments safe? Read:Afghan woman gives birth on US evacuation flight “I’m heartbroken,” Sarmast told The Associated Press. “It was so unexpected and so unpredictable that it was like an explosion, and everyone was caught by surprise,” he said of the Taliban takeover. Sarmast had left Kabul on July 12 for his summer holiday, never imagining that just few weeks later the whole project and everything he’d worked for the past 20 years would be endangered. He’s terrified for his 350 students and 90 faculty, many of whom have already gone into hiding. Reports of Taliban searching for adversaries door-to-door have fanned their worries. “We are all very, very fearful about the future of music, we are very fearful about our girls, about our faculty,” he said. Sarmast, who spoke in a Zoom interview, requested that additional details about the students and school not be published, because he did not want to endanger them. In a sign of what the future holds, radio and TV stations stopped broadcasting music, except for Islamic songs — though it was not clear if the change in programming was a result of Taliban edicts or an effort by the stations to avoid potential problems with the insurgents. Sarmast, 58, the son of a famous Afghan composer and conductor, had sought asylum in Australia in the 90s, a time of civil war in Afghanistan. In 1996, the Taliban swept into power. The ultra-religious movement banned music as sinful, with the sole exception being some religious vocal pieces. Cassette tapes were ripped apart and strung from trees. But after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Islamists, Sarmast dreamed of renewal. After obtaining a doctorate in musicology, he returned to Afghanistan and in 2010 founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Read:7 Afghans killed in chaos at Kabul airport Donations from foreign governments and private sponsors soon poured in. The World Bank gave a cash grant of 2 million U.S. dollars. Almost 5 tons of musical equipment — violins, pianos, guitars and oboes — were trucked in, a gift from the German government and the German Society of Music Merchants. Students learned to play traditional Afghan string instruments like the rubab, sitar and sarod. The tabla drum was among the favorites. “It was such an amazing school, everything was perfect,” said Elham Fanous, 24, who was the first student to graduate from the music institute in 2014, after spending seven years at the school. “It changed my life and I really owe it to them,” he said of the school, which he describes as Afghanistan’s LaGuardia, a public high school in New York specialized in teaching music and arts. A visitor once called it “Afghanistan’s happy place.” “I cannot believe this is happening,” Fanous added, speaking from New York, where he recently received his master’s degree in piano from the Manhattan School of Music. He was also the first student from Afghanistan to be admitted to a U.S. university music program. The institute’s musicians traveled all over the world to represent their country, presenting a different face for a place known in the West only for war and extremism. Fanous himself performed at concerts in Poland, Italy and Germany. In 2013, the institute’s youth orchestra embarked on its first U.S. tour, appearing at the Kennedy Center and selling out Carnegie Hall. Members of the orchestra included a girl who not long before had sold chewing gum on the streets of Kabul. An all-female orchestra called Zohra, named after a goddess of music in Persian literature, was set up in 2015. In 2014, Sarmast was attending a concert in the auditorium of a French-run high school in Kabul when a huge bomb went off. He partially lost hearing in one ear and has had numerous operations to remove shrapnel from the back of his head since. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, accusing him in a statement of corrupting Afghanistan’s youth. That only increased his determination, and he continued to split his time between running the school in Kabul, and Australia, where his family lives. Read: Afghanistan situation remains extremely fluid: UN Today, he aches when he thinks of the melodies once echoing down the school corridors and the lives of boys and girls now being upended. “We’re all shattered, because my kids, they’ve been dreaming. They had huge dreams to be on the biggest stage of the world,” Sarmast said. “All my students had been dreaming of a peaceful Afghanistan. But that peaceful Afghanistan is fading away.” Still, he hangs on to hope, believing young Afghans will resist. He is also counting on the international artistic community to put up a fight for the Afghans’ right to music. “I’m still hopeful that my kids will be allowed to go back to the school and continue and to enjoy from learning and playing music,” he said.

The city that was once Australia’s worst COVID-19 hot spot on Thursday announced a seven-day lockdown, its fourth since the pandemic began. The lockdown for Melbourne and the rest of Victoria state comes after a new cluster in the city rose to 26 infections, including a person who was in intensive care. Victoria Acting Premier James Merlino said: “Unless something changes, this will be increasingly uncontrollable.” The new Melbourne cluster was found after a traveler from India became infected with a more contagious variant of the virus while in hotel quarantine in South Australia state earlier this month. The traveler was not diagnosed until he returned home to Melbourne. Read:Australia won’t buy J&J coronavirus vaccine Australia’s second largest city last year underwent a second wave of infections that peaked at 725 new cases in a single August day at a time when community spread had been virtually eliminated elsewhere in the country. That lockdown lasted for 111 days. A third lockdown that lasted for five days in February was triggered by a cluster of 13 cases linked to hotel quarantine near Melbourne Airport. Victoria accounts for 820 of Australia’s 910 coronavirus deaths during the pandemic.

A further 25 tennis players were forced into quarantine in Australia ahead of the season's first tennis major after another positive coronavirus test on a charter flight, taking the total number of competitors isolating in hotel rooms to 72 on Sunday.

Coronavirus-forced restrictions in Melbourne could be tightened from next week as authorities try to stem the spread of COVID-19, report Australian media.