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Sunday, June 25, 2006

A David Beckham free kick was the difference as England went through to the quarter-finals of the 2006 Fifa World Cup after a 1-0 win over Ecuador, Sunday.

For the neutral football fan the game was not especially attractive to look at. There were only 7 shots on target in the 90 minutes and neither team controlled the play well. The scrappy match was broken by up 37 fouls.

The game had temperatures at around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which caused several English players, including Beckham, to suffer from heat exhaustion and dehydration. Beckham was sick on the pitch shortly after his goal and was substituted before the end. [1]

Ecuador had the best of the first 45 minutes. The slow tempo of the game seemed to lead to simple errors of concentration from England and favoured Ecuador’s passing play.

Ecuador had slightly more ball possession over the game and also the first chance. John Terry‘s back header to his keeper fell short but Ashley Cole slid in to deflect Carlos Tenorio‘s shot onto Paul Robinson‘s crossbar.

In the second half England put more pressure on Ecuador’s goal. However, passes into lone striker Wayne Rooney – who played 90 minutes for the first time since he recovered from injury – were often off-target.

England’s best chance to score from free play followed Wayne Rooney trickery on the left touchline. The striker evaded his marker but Frank Lampard spooned Rooney’s cut back high over the bar.

Beckham’s free kick was a trademark fast curled pass from over 30 yards which beat the opposition wall and took a small touch off the fingertips of Cristian Mora before nestling into the bottom right corner of the net. The goal meant David Beckham had broken an English record by scoring in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups, the first English player ever to score in three different World Cups.

England were scheduled to meet the winner of game 52, Portugal, in the quarter-final of the World Cup in Gelsenkirchen on July 1.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Fears of contaminated bone and skin grafts are being felt by unsuspecting patients following the revelation that funeral homes may have been looting corpses.

Janet Evans of Marion Ohio was told by her surgeon, “The bone grafts you got might have been contaminated”. She reacted with shock, “I was flabbergasted because I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I didn’t know I got a bone graft until I got this call. I just thought they put in screws and rods.”

The body of Alistair Cooke, the former host of “Masterpiece Theatre,” was supposedly looted along with more than 1,000 others, according to two law enforcement officials close to the case. The tissue taken was typically skin, bone and tendon, which was then sold for use in procedures such as dental implants and hip replacements. According to authorities, millions of dollars were made by selling the body parts to companies for use in operations done at hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada.

A New Jersey company, Biomedical Tissue Services, has reportedly been taking body parts from funeral homes across Brooklyn, New York. According to ABC News, they set up rooms like a “surgical suite.” After they took the bones, they replaced them with PVC pipe. This was purportedly done by stealth, without approval of the deceased person or the next of kin. 1,077 bodies were involved, say prosecuters.

Investagators say a former dentist, Michael Mastromarino, is behind the operation. Biomedical was considered one of the “hottest procurement companies in the country,” raking in close to $5 million. Eventually, people became worried: “Can the donors be trusted?” A tissue processing company called LifeCell answered no, and issued a recall on all their tissue.

Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said, “To know his bones were sold was one thing, but to see him standing truncated before me is another entirely.” Now thousands of people around the country are receiving letters warning that they should be tested for infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis. On February 23, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Thirty-four people had to be evacuated this lunchtime after a fire started on a lorry, which was being transported on a freight train in the Channel Tunnel.

Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, said all services had to be suspended this afternoon due to the small blaze in which nobody was hurt.

John Keefe, a spokesman for Eurotunnel, said: “It was a freight shuttle going through with about 34 people on board, who have all been evacuated safely.

“Eurotunnel is conducting checks of the tunnel and its equipment. Once these investigations are completed, Eurotunnel will commence a progressive restart of commercial services.”

The company also said services through the Tunnel would hopefully resume later today. “Unfortunately with this being a very busy time of year, it’s going to take a few hours to clear the backlog once we’ve got started again,” said Mr Keefe.

A Eurostar spokesman said: “We are advising passengers to avoid travelling today if possible. Tickets can be exchanged for another day.”

The Channel Tunnel is a 31 mile long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel which connects Folkestone in Kent to Coquelles near Calais in northern France.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said yesterday that pop music super-star Britney Spears was facing charges for a hit and run offence and driving without a valid drivers’ license.

Charges were filed following an accident in which police allege Spears smashed her car into another vehicle in a parking area in August of 2007.

She could face a maximum of six months in jail and US$2,000 in fines if convicted.

A group of paparazzi recorded a video Britney steering her car into another vehicle on August 6 as she tried to pull into a parking spot in a Studio City lot.

Kim Robard-Rifkin was the owner of the other car and she filed a police report three days after the accident. The 59-year-old nurse found out that it was Spears who ran into her car after watching a video on a celebrity website.

Robard-Rifkin said, “I simply want my car fixed, the same as I would fix somebody’s car if I had done that.”

Spears will be arraigned on October 10.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

A journalist for the French Daily Libération, Christophe Boltanski, was attacked on Friday by several men in a street of Tunis, where he was reporting on the repression of human rights activists.

He was badly beaten and stabbed with a knife in the back by four unidentified assailants near his hotel in the embassy district. Boltanski was also hit in the face by pepper spray. He called for help, but the policemen on guard outside the nearby Czech Embassy did not react, according to Libération.

Boltanski filed a complaint on Saturday morning before returning to Paris. Libération and Reporters without Borders suspect this attack was a deliberate act of intimidation decided by the Tunisian regime. According to a United Press International report, Tunisian authorities arrested two men Saturday on suspicion of assaulting Boltanski.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

In light of an oil spill that occurred off the coast of southeast Queensland in 2009, a captain of a cargo ship and four companies are set to appear in court.

In March of last year, the cargo ship Pacific Adventurer, with Filipino national Bernardino Gonzales Santos at the helm, encountered bad weather, which resulted in its fuel tank being damaged by loose cargo, leading to the spillage 270,000 litres of oil into the Pacific Ocean. The oil later washed up on Sunshine Coast beaches as well as Moreton and Bribie islands and was dubbed “one of Australia’s worse environmental disasters” by the media.

Santos and four companies behind Pacific Adventurer face individual counts of discharging oil into the ocean and can be fined a maximum of AU$1.75 million in the case of the companies, while Santos faces a $350,000 fine if found guilty.

Santos is also charged with not taking reasonable action following the incident.

Richard Kendall, an executive of one of the involved companies, Swire Shipping LTD, said today that “[w]e are deeply regretful. But we will vigorously defend the charges […] We stand by Captain Santos, who is a first-class captain”.

Like Swire Shipping, China Navigation Company LTD and Bluewing Shipping LTD, who are both joint owners of Pacific Adventurer, pleaded not guilty to all charges.

However, prosecutor Peter Davis stated that “[t]he prosecution’s case is that the cause of the cargo going overboard was due to faulty lashings […] By failing to maintain the lashings, the defendants acted recklessly,” an act that prosecutors say should see the companies and captain pay.

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Kennedy Center announced that its 30th presentation of the Kennedy Center Honors would go to pianist Leon Fleisher, comedian Steve Martin, singer Diana Ross, director Martin Scorsese and musician Brian Wilson. The Center was opened to the public in 1971 and was envisioned as part of the National Cultural Center Act, which mandated that the independent, privately-funded institution would present a wide variety of both classical and contemporary performances, commission the creation of new artistic works, and undertake a variety of educational missions to increase awareness of the arts.

In a statement, Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman said that “with their extraordinary talent, creativity and perseverance, the five 2007 honorees have transformed the way we, as Americans, see, hear and feel the performing arts.”

Fleisher, 79, a member of the Peabody Institute‘s music faculty, is a pianist who lost use of his right hand in 1965 due to a neurological condition. He became an accomplished musician and conductor through the use of his left hand. At 67, he regained the use of his right hand. With the advent of Botox therapy, he was once more able to undertake two-hand performances in 2004, his first in four decades. “I’m very gratified by the fact that it’s an apolitical honor,” Fleisher said. “It is given by colleagues and professional people who are aware of what [an artist] has done, so it really is apolitical — and that much more of an honor.”

Martin, 62, a comedian who has written books and essays in addition to his acting and stand-up comedy career, rose to fame during his work on the American television program Saturday Night Live in the 1970’s. Schwarzman praised his work as that of a “renaissance comic whose talents wipe out the boundaries between artistic disciplines.” Martin responded to the honor saying, “I am grateful to the Kennedy Center for finally alleviating in me years of covetousness and trophy envy.”

Ross, 63, was a product of Detroit‘s Brewster-Douglass Projects when as a teeager she and friends Mary Wilson and Florence Ballardis formed The Supremes, a ground-breaking Motown act. She portrayed singer Billie Holiday in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues, which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award. “Diana Ross’ singular, instantly recognizable voice has spread romance and joy throughout the world,” said Schwarzman. Ross said she was “taken aback. It is a huge, huge honor and I am excited to be in this class of people.”

Scorsese, 64, is one of the most accomplished directors the United States ever produced, whose work includes Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, GoodFellas, Cape Fear, The Last Temptation of Christ and The Departed, for which he won a 2006 Academy Award for Best Director after being nominated eight times. Scorsese said, “I’m very honored to be receiving this recognition from the Kennedy Center and proud to be joining the company of the very distinguished individuals who have received this honor in years past.”

Wilson, 65, along with his brothers Dennis and Carl, formed the Beach Boys in 1961. They had a series of hits that included “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Their 1966 album Pet Sounds is considered one of the most influential recordings in American music. “This is something so unexpected and I feel extremely fortunate to be in the company of such great artists,” said Wilson, who is currently on tour.

The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees is responsible for selecting honorees for “lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.” Previous honorees, including Elton John and Steven Spielberg, also submitted recommendations. A wide variety of people were under consideration, including Emanuel Ax, Evgeny Kissin, Renee Fleming, Laurence Fishburne, Francis Ford Coppola, Melissa Etheridge and Kenny Chesney.

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush will attend the center’s presentation at its opera house on December 2, 2007, which will broadcast on December 26 on CBS.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Facebook has revealed a new system in conjunction with the Scottish Lothian and Borders Police whereby users can report criminal activity and concerns to police using the social networking site.

The “Made From Crime” initiative allows Internet users to anonymously report their concerns to police on a dedicated Facebook page that is being established to direct people with tip-offs to Crimestoppers. Police will also be able to send mass Bluetooth messages to mobile phones at public events like football matches to encourage the public to report crime.

Designed to make use of the Proceeds of Crime Act, it will be the first of its kind in Scotland with the Scottish government, the Crown Office, and Procurator Services constituting the foundation of the service. Their backing will allow officers to seize assets that have been purchased through criminal activity.

Assistant Chief Constable Iain Livingstone of Lothian and Borders Police has stated to the public: “We know there are people living beyond their means on the proceeds of crime, be it through the purchase of flash cars, designer clothes or expensive jewellery, and that communities are suffering from the side effects of drug dealing, violence and other associated crimes”.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill states that Lothian and Borders Police is tackling the problem of dirty money that has been obtained through criminal activity in a serious matter. Constable Livingstone has encouraged this, appealing to local communities to provide information and come forth immediately either to Crimestoppers or the Lothian and Borders Police.

Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC has affirmed that they will take a robust approach to those that profit from crime, using the vast powers at their disposal though the Proceeds of Crime Act.The act has resulted in more than £41 million (US$67.09 million, €46.66 million) in seizures from crooks. It has been utilised in new community projects in Edinburgh, the Lothians and throughout Scotland.