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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

In a statement released today, former American baseball star Mark McGwire admitted to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during his career, including the 1998 season, when he broke Roger Maris‘s single season record for home runs, hitting 70 of them. McGwire admitted to the use of drugs in the late 1980s and during most of the 1990s. There had been wide speculation about McGwire’s use of performance-enhancing drugs, as he came from an era of baseball that has been dubbed the “steroid era” because of the high use of performance enhancing drugs throughout Major League Baseball.

“I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era…I shouldn’t have done it and for that I’m truly sorry…It’s time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected,” said some of the statement released by the St. Louis Cardinals today. McGwire had recently been hired as the Cardinal’s hitting coach and was set to begin the job this season.

McGwire, 46, had been regarded as one of the most powerful hitters of his time. Over his career, McGwire hit 583 home runs, which is currently tied with Alex Rodriguez, who has also admitted to steroid use. McGwire is now one of the six players in the top 15 home run hitters of all time that has either confessed to or been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

McGwire’s best season came in 1998, when he set the record for most home runs in a single season. After a race throughout the final months of the season with Sammy Sosa, he ended with 70 home runs, easily beating Roger Maris’s previous record of 61 (This record was later broken by Barry Bonds, who now holds the current record of 73).

“I’m sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn’t take any and I had bad years when I didn’t take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids,” said McGwire to the Associated Press. According to McGwire, the steroids were used for the enhancement of his play as well as to recover from the several injuries that he suffered between the 1990 and 1994 seasons.

In the statement, he also commended the MLB Player’s Association for attempting to remove steroids from the game. “Baseball is really different now— it’s been cleaned up. The commissioner and the Player’s Association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I’m glad they did,” McGwire stated.” Since he used the steroids before the current rules were in place, McGwire will likely not be disciplined by the league or the MLBPA.

In 2005, McGwire was called to the U.S. Congress and refused to answer questions about his steroid use, saying that he did “…not want to talk about the past.” It is unknown if the MLB will investigate into this matter.

Mark McGwire is currently tied for eighth on the all-time home runs list. he played 16 Major League seasons and retired following the 2001 season. He is currently the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Nokia Inc., the international mobile phone manufacturer headquartered in Finland, has launched their own online music and game downloading service to the public.

They are hoping to challenge other phone manufacturers who offer similar downloading services and also other online stores such as the Apple iTunes store.

Along with this announcement Nokia also revealed they will release new handsets that are better suited as multimedia players.

Nokia’s chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said: “Looking into the future, we will deliver great devices, combined with compelling experiences and services, to make it easy for people to unlock the potential of the Internet.”

The service, named the “Nokia Music Store”, will charge between €6 and €10 for a game while a single music track will cost €1 and €10 for a whole album. The service will initially be available on Nokia’s N81 and N95 models, but the media is anticipating the service to become available on more models soon after launch.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

India won the final match of the recent cricket series. Yuvraj Singh made a unbeaten 107 (93b, 15×4)helping India’s , chasing 287, achieved with 19 deliveries remaining on a good batting pitch. India have clinched the Hutch Cup ODI series 4-1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (77 not out, 56b, 6×4, 4×6) was another important contributor to the Indian Innings.

The Pakistani bowling, apart from a probing spell from paceman Rao Iftekar Anjum, was made to look ordinary. The Pakistani fielding let the side down again. Mohammed Sami lost the ball twice. When on 64, Yuvraj was put down at covers by Shoaib Malik.

India preferred to rest Sachin Tendulkar and Irfan Pathan. Tendulkar carried the drinks, indicating that in this Indian side experience and youth blended into one.

In Tendulkar’s absence, Rahul Dravid opened the innings with Gautam Gambhir.

The left-handed Gambhir sparkled with a few pick-up shots on the leg-side; this also showed Pakistan’s pacemen were not bowling the right line.

Mohammed Asif has not been a big factor in the ODIs since the away going delivery is a lesser weapon in this variety of the game, especially if a side is bowling in the afternoon. It was his two-way movement that made him so dangerous in Tests.

Gambhir once again wasted a start, but the opening pair had, importantly, raised 69. Dravid’s 50 (6×4) might have consumed 82 deliveries, but he made sure that, in the absence of Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar, the Indians had enough wickets in hand before they began the final onslaught. The chase was splendidly orchestrated.

It was Sreesanth who dented Pakistan in the morning after Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar shared the new ball. The Kerala paceman, who is learning fast, cut down on his pace realising that there was not too much assistance for him from the wicket. He struck thrice and Pakistan, from 62 without loss, slumped to 77 for three. In the context of the match, Sreesanth’s spell of 5-1-25-3 was crucial. Both Imran Farhat and Kamran Akmal, after putting together 62, fell to pull shots, and Shoaib Malik steered right into Suresh Raina’s hands at gully. There is fluency about Sreesanth’s run-up and action that is hard to ignore, and he did bowl well at the death, swinging the ball into the right-hander.

And off-spinner Ramesh Powar won a leg-before decision against an ominous looking Inzamam on the sweep; the delivery drifted into the right-hander from outside the off-stump and then straightened.

Pakistan recovered through a strokeful fifth-wicket stand of 95 in 110 balls between Mohammad Yousuf (67, 85b, 6×4) and vice-captain Younis Khan (74 not out, 79b, 3×4, 2×6). Yousuf appeared set for his hundred when he flicked Ajit Agarkar into Zaheer Khan at mid-wicket.

Abdul Razzaq biffed a 15-ball 24 before miscuing a pull of R.P. Singh, but Pakistan lost some momentum towards the end. However, the 18 runs off the last six balls by Zaheer came in handy for the side; Younis twice smote the left-armer over the mid-wicket ropes.

The bowlers, backed by aggressive fielding, had performed a fair job, under the conditions.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Nintendo has released its newest video game console in North America. Known as the Wii, the system and games have an MSRP of US$249.99 and US$49.99 respectively. The North American release is to be followed by the December 2nd launch in Japan and the December 8th launch in Europe.

Launched officially at midnight, more than a thousand people gathered in New York’s Time Square to be among the first to buy one of the Wii. In contrast to the crowds that have challenged crowd control officials over the last two days in connection with the launch of Sony’s Playstation 3, the Wii crowds have been much calmer. Many observers attribute this to the fact that Nintendo had more than ten times as many Wii consoles available on launching day than Sony did for their PS3 that had been hounded by part shortages in manufacturing right up to the day of launch.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that several tough choices had been made in the design of the Wii. The company decided to develop a new way of playing games with revolutionary controllers instead of following the PS3 and the Xbox down the road of stunning graphic and multimedia options. This produced a console with a much talked-about sensor/controller design and the lowest price point of the three major consoles. While not having a DVD player or high-definition TV capabilities, the Wii retails for about $250 while its competitors the Xbox 360 and PS3 retail for about $400 and $600 respectively.

While the Wii will launch with several games available, one of its advertised advantages is that the new console is largely compatible with older games made for the GameCube, giving the new console an instant and extensive launching library. A GameCube controller will be needed to play GameCube games with the Wii. Several hardware items that GameCube games may be expecting, such as the modem or broadband adapter or the GameBoy player are not supported on the Wii.

Across the country in Los Angeles about 500 people were waiting for the doors to open at Universal City Walk’s Game Stop store. Fearing that the Wii introduction might be as contentious as the PS3 debut just a few days ago, the store handed out numbered wristbands to the throng. No problems were reported.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have promised new sanctions on Iran if the Gulf country continues to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

At a joint press conference in London today, Brown announced that “today we will urge Europe – and Europe will agree – to take further sanctions against Iran.” Britain is pressuring the European Union to freeze the overseas assets of Iran’s Bank Melli, which the United States accuses of supporting Iran’s missile programs. European Union spokesperson Cristina Gallach says that Europe is prepared to take action.

Iran denies its enrichment program is aimed at the creation of nuclear weapons, insisting that they will use the technology to generate electricity. In response, Brown announced that during weekend negotiations, “we put our enhanced offer on the table – including political and economic partnership and help with nuclear technology for civilian use. We await the Iranian response and will do everything possible to maintain the dialogue.”

In response to the announcement, Iran has withdrawn approximately $75 billion of its European foreign assets. “Part of Iran’s assets in European banks have been converted to gold and shares” said Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohsen Talaie, “and another part has been transferred to Asian banks.” The Iranian government gauges its foreign exchange reserves at $80 billion.

Sunday, August 7, 2005

The famous Cuban singer and member of the Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, died Saturday in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 78. The cause was an illness with which he returned from a tour of Europe.

Ferrer was born February 20, 1927 near Santiago de Cuba. He became an orphan at 12 and started working in coffee fields, carried sugar, worked in shipyards, sold newspapers and candy, and cleaned shoes. He was also singing in local bars and Orquesta Chepin-Choven noticed him. They recorded a locally successful song El Platanar de Bartolo, but he did not get much credit for it.

He got world famous only when he got old, as a part of Buena Vista Social Club. He recorded two solo albums: Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer and Buenos Hermanos.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The oil rig Deepwater Horizon sank yesterday after an explosion Tuesday night that left eleven people missing.

According to an officer from the US Coast Guard, the rig sank sometime in the morning. The rig had caught fire after an explosion of unknown origin occurred two days ago. 115 of the 126 workers on board the time of the explosion have been rescued after evacuating in lifeboats, either by the Coast Guard or from other ships in the area.

The remaining eleven have not been located, although Coast Guard officials have expressed optimism that they are still alive.

The environmental impacts of the explosion and subsequent sinking of the rig are unclear. While up to 13,000 gallons of crude oil per hour has been released from the rig, until now, the effects have been considered minimal, as it had been burned off in the fire. That does have the potential to change, though, according to David Rainey, vice president of the lessor of the rig, BP. The rig, built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries was owned and operated by Transocean.

The rig was located roughly 50 miles southeast of the coast of Louisiana, and was under lease to BP since 2007. It was completing the construction of a new oil well, and was constructing a layer of cement in the well to reinforce it. This is considered dangerous, as it has the potential to produce an uncontrolled release of case, called a blowout. While the cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, a blowout is considered a possibility.

One survivor of the explosion, who declined to give his name, told the The New York Times that he was lying in bed when the explosion happened. “It caught me by surprise. I’ve been in offshore 25 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” he recalled.

Stanley Murray, the father of another survivor named Chad, an electrician, said: “My son had just walked off the drill floor.” However, Murray said that a neighbor did not make it in time, adding that his son told him that the missing eleven workers could not have made it out alive. “The eleven that’s [sic] missing, they won’t find them,” Murray said.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The 1999 and 2000 year model Honda Civic SiR tops the list of Canada’s most stolen cars.

Consumer popularity also assures the cars will be popular with thieves. Its the second year in a row the Honda SiR has topped the list.

Rick Dubin Vice President of Investigations for the Insurance Bureau of Canada said “The Civics are easy targets.”

Dubin said that once stolen, the cars are most often sold to “chop shops” where thieves completely dismantle the vehicles. The automobile’s individual parts are worth more than the entire car.

The sheer numbers of the cars and their lack of theft deterrent systems make them thieves’ preferred choices.

1999 and 2000 Honda Civics do not come with an electronic immobilizer, however all Hondas from 2001 and onward are equipped with an immobilizer. Immobilizers will be mandatory on all new cars sold beginning September 2007. The devices enable an engine computer to recognize an electronic code in the key. If the code in the key and the engine don’t match exactly, the vehicle can’t be started.

In third place was the 2004 Subaru Impreza, while the 1999 Acura Integra came in fourth, with the 1994 Honda Civic rounding out the top five.

In sixth place, the 1998 Acura Integra, and the 1993 Dodge Shadow completed seventh.

When asked why early model vehicles are selected, he said that, “auto thieves continue to find it easier to steal older vehicles lacking an IBC-approved immobilizer. We’ve seen this trend developing for several years, and these results confirm it.”

Another Honda automobile, the 1996 year model Civic filled eighth place, with the 2000 German Audi TT Quattro in ninth.

The American 1996 Chevrolet/GMC Blazer rounded out the top ten.

None of the above cars had an electronic immobilizer.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

In February 2017, the Iranian Chess Federation announced two teenage chess players, Dorsa Derakhshani and her younger brother Borna Derakhshani, were banned from representing the national team. The federation announced their decision although Dorsa Derakhshani had previously decided and informed the chess federation she did not wish to play for Iran.

Dorsa Derakhshani is currently 21 years old and holds the International Master (IM) as well as Woman Grand Master (WGM) titles. Her brother, Borna, plays for the English Federation and holds the FIDE Master title.

Dorsa Derakhshani was banned since she did not wear a hijab, an Islamic headscarf, while competing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in January 2017. Under the laws of Islamic Republic of Iran, hijab is a mandatory dress code. Her brother Borna Deraskhsani was banned for playing against Israeli Grand Master (GM) Alexander Huzman at the same tournament. Iran does not recognise the existence of Israel, and previously, Irani athletes have avoided playing against Israeli athletes.

Mehrdad Pahlavanzadeh, the president of the country’s chess federation, explained the decision to ban the players saying, “As a first step, these two will be denied entry to all tournaments taking place in Iran and in the name of Iran, they will no longer be allowed the opportunity to be present on the national team.” ^{((fa))Farsi language: ?????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ?? ????? ? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????.} He further stated, “Unfortunately, something that should not have happened has happened and our national interest is paramount and we have reported this position to the Ministry of Sports.” ^{((fa))Farsi language: ????????? ?????? ?? ????? ????????? ?????? ??? ? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????.}

IM Dorsa Derakhshani, who currently studies at Saint Louis University in the United States and plays for the United States Chess Federation, discussed her chess career, time in Iran and the 2017 controversy, and her life in Saint Louis with a Wikinews correspondent.

Monday, December 5, 2011

It has emerged that three Finnish nationals have been shot dead in Brazil. Their bodies were found near João Pessoa in a sugarcane field on Friday.

The three were from Savonlinna but two of them — a married couple — owned a second home nearby where they spent winters. The retired surgeon, 72, and his wife, a retired gynaecologist, 68, had been trying to sell the nearby property. The third victim was a nurse, 60. All were from Savonlinna.

The bodies were found in Paraiba beside a road connecting Taquara and Pitimbu. G1 has reported local police are questioning five people and treating all the deaths as homicides. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation does not plan to get directly involved but is helping the investigation with background information.

Local cash, a Finnish credit card, a mobile phone, and jewellery had all been left after the crimes. There were blood traces inside the house. The Helsingin Sanomat suggests a financial dispute relating to the house sale may have been the motive.

The couple has spent the last five winters in Brazil, but Finnish ambassador Jari Luoto called the area in question “dangerous and restless.”