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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.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010File:IPad-02.jpg

Jetstar Airways, a Qantas owned Australian low-cost airline, has announced plans to trial Apple iPads as an in-flight entertainment option. This trial would make Jetstar one of the first airlines in the world to offer the iPad.

Starting later this month, Jetstar plans to begin a two-week trial, during which passengers will have the option to rent iPads for AU$10 on domestic flights longer than an hour. Thirty iPads would be available on each test plane. These devices would be preloaded with games, e-books, music and video content. Internet access however will be disabled as per Jetstar’s policy on internet connected devices, said spokeswoman Andrea Wait.

The iPads offered by Jetstar, will be specially customized by Bluebox Avionics. Bluebox Avionics, at present, is the only company to offer iPads as part of an in-flight entertainment system. Jetstar will be the first to offer the Bluebox Avionics iPad based systems, though, Bluebox Avionics has said the system will be available to other airlines soon.

Shortly following the initial release of the iPad, Jetstar chief information officer Stephen Tame speculated that the iPad “may lead in the future the end of airline in-flight entertainment systems”. Depending on the results of the trial, iPads may replace existing Jetstar in-flight entertainment systems.

Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said he expected the iPads to be very popular during the trial. If the trial is successful, the airline would “be looking to roll out the devices across our entire domestic and international network later in the year”, said Buchanan.

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Yesterday in California’s Riverside County criminal court, Judge Bernard Schwartz sentenced David and Louise Turpin to life in prison for torturing all but the youngest of their thirteen children.

As revealed at trial, the Turpins had kept their children indoors for years and rarely allowed them outside the family home, located 70 miles (112 km) south of Los Angeles. The children were banned from washing more often than once a year and could not use the toilet. They were severely malnourished, to the point that some of those who are now adults were initially mistaken for children. The oldest of the Turpin’s offspring, age 29, weighed 82 pounds (37 kg). Another brother, 22, was still chained to a bed when found. None of the twelve had ever received any sort of dental care.

The judge presiding over the case, Bernard Schwartz, said, “You have severed the ability to interact and raise your children that you have created and brought into this world.” Schwartz went on to say he was not giving them the longest possible sentence because they had “accepted responsibility at an early stage in the proceeding” by pleading guilty to fourteen felony charges each and “spared your children having to relive the humiliation and the harm they endured in that house of horrors.”

Specifically, both parents faced twelve counts of torture and false imprisonment, nine counts of child abuse, and seven counts of cruelty to a dependent adult. David Turpin, alone, was also charged with making false statements for the purpose of obtaining a home schooling license.

The father said “I love my children and I believe my children love me.”

The mother said “I really look forward to the day I can see them, hug them and tell them I’m sorry.”

One of the children said, “Sometimes I still have nightmares of things that had happened such as my siblings being chained up or getting beaten.” However, this person also said that they still love their parents and had partially forgiven them.

One of them even went as far to say, “Although it may not have been the best way of raising us, I am glad that they did because it made me the person I am today.”

The two parents were arrested in January of last year after one of their daughters, aged 17, escaped and phoned 911 (the emergency telephone number in the United States). She did not know what address her house was or know the date and said some of her siblings were chained into their beds.

The Turpins are scheduled to be eligible for parole in 25 years.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Republican officials announced today that Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois will be leaving the United States Congress when his present congressional term concludes at the end of next year.

Hastert has served in Illinois’ 14th district since 1987 and his time as Speaker makes him longest serving Republican Speaker in history. Party officials have scheduled a formal announcement of Hastert’s retirement for Friday, August 17.

Hastert’s decision has been expected since the Republicans lost the elections last November and he was removed as Speaker. For eight years, he’s been second in line of presidential succession behind only the vice-president.

The party officials who discussed his planned retirement did so on condition of anonymity because there had been no public announcement yet.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Boston Bruins 5-0 on Sunday at Mellon Arena. Sidney Crosby led the Penguins with 2 goals and an assist, pushing his point total to 111 on the season. Evgeni Malkin, Gary Roberts, and Ryan Malone also scored for the Penguins. The Penguins were strong on special teams, scoring 3 power play goals and 1 shorthanded goal, while also killing five Bruins penalties. Marc-Andre Fleury saved all 29 shots he faced. It was his 5th shutout this season and 7th of his career.

The Penguins moved into a tie with the New Jersey Devils with the win. The Penguins had tied them yesterday afternoon, but New Jersey’s win that night put them ahead by 2 points once more. New Jersey holds the tiebreaker, with 44 wins against the Penguins’ 43. They also sit 2 points behind the Ottawa Senators for 4th place in the East.

Meanwhile, Boston has lost the last 4 games and 7 of the past 9. They are virtually eliminated from the playoffs, sitting 13th in the Eastern Conference with 74 points. With 8 games remaining, they sit 10 points out of the playoffs.

The Penguins return to the ice Tuesday when they will travel to Washington to face the Capitals. The Bruins also play Tuesday, when they visit Ottawa.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm.

Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to the planners’ actions.

In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”

An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.

Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

At approximately 11:00 a.m. Central European Summer Time, a man in his twenties entered the Kauhajoen koti- ja laitostalousoppilaitos vocational school in Kauhajoki, Finland with a gun and began to open fire, killing 11 people.

The man identified as Matti Juhani Saari, 22, was wearing a mask when he entered the school. Reports say he was a student at the school. The shooting is reported to have occurred in the school’s cellar, where students were taking an exam. At least 150 students are reported to have been in the school when the shooting started.

According to superintendent Urpo Lintala, the shooter was apprehended by police, but suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was transported to Tampere central hospital, but later died of his injuries. Police state he made a video of himself shooting a gun and later posted it on YouTube. On Monday after finding the video, authorities questioned him, but no charges were filed due to a lack of evidence.

At approximately the time the shooting started, police say a fire had been started, but was quickly extinguished by firefighters. There have also been reports of a bomb threat to a nearby building.

This is the deadliest school shooting in Finland since November 2007 when eight people were killed at a high school in Jokela.

Monday, January 25, 2016

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Alaska, United States, near the state’s most populous city of Anchorage. City authorities say they do not know of any injuries caused by the earthquake, which occurred early yesterday morning.

The earthquake’s epicentre was 162 miles (about 260 km) away from Anchorage, where residents reported feeling intense shaking. Associated Press reporter Mark Thiessen said he was woken from sleep by the quake, despite having taken sleeping pills earlier.

In the city of Kenai, gas explosions destroyed two homes. The quake destroyed four homes in total; the two other homes were damaged by fire, but did not explode. Authorities said around twenty people took shelter in a local armoury opened up for those whose homes were evacuated.

In Anchorage, utility companies reported small-scale power outages.

The quake was followed by two smaller quakes. Its focus was around 50 miles (80 km) underground, which, according to the National Weather Service, meant that the quake struck too deep to cause a tsunami.