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Monday, February 27, 2006

Six teenagers were killed in a horrific road accident near Mildura in north-western Victoria, Australia late at night on February 18.

Cassandra Manners, aged 16, Stevie-Lee Weight, 15, Cory Dowling, 16, Shane Hirst, 16, and his sister, Abby Hirst, 17, died at the scene. Josephine Calvi, 16, was flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she later died of head injuries. Seven other teenagers were injured, including 15-year-old Marco Medici who is now in a stable but critical condition in The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

The accident occurred after the teenagers left a 16th birthday party and walked along Myall Road, Cardross, south-east of Mildura. A car allegedly came speeding around a bend, hit the gravel on the side of the road, lost control and struck the group. The alleged driver, later identified as 34-year-old Thomas Graham Towle, fled the scene on foot, leaving his 10-year-old daughter and four-year-old son in the car. Towle was later arrested by police in Redcliffs. He was taken to Mildura police station for questioning.

Towle has been charged with six charges of culpable driving causing death, four charges of negligently causing serious injury, one charge of failing to stop and one charge of failing to render assistance after an accident. Towle faced Mildura Magistrates’ Court on February 20. Magistrate John Dugdale remanded him into custody to reappear before the court on June 26.

Meanwhile, the town of Mildura and surrounding areas is in deep mourning. Premier Steve Bracks said the State Government will provide $AU40,000 for counselling and support services.

Around 3,000 people attended the funeral for Josephine Calvi today. Funeral services for the other five teenagers were held last week.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

On Monday, Italian football club AC Milan sacked manager Vincenzo Montella. Gennaro Gatusso, manager of AC Milan’s youth team, was named as Manetella’s successor.

Monetella’s team started this season with winning ten out of twelve fixtures in all competitions. However, in fourteen Italian Serie A league matches played so far, Monetella’s men won just six matches, losing six and drawing two matches. Having spent £205 million in the summer transfer window, AC Milan has won just 20 points in Serie A. They are seventh in the league table, and eighteen points behind the league leaders SSC Napoli.

The Milanese club named Gatusso as their new manager. Gatusso played for Milan from 1999 till 2013. As a player, Gatusso has won two Serie A titles and two UEFA Champions League titles with AC Milan. Since 2013, AC Milan has not finished in the top three spots in the league table.

Milan has qualified for this year’s UEFA Europa League’s knockouut phase. Montella’s last match for the Rossoneri ended in a 0–0 draw against Torino FC at home. Milan has not scored in the last four league matches at home.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Two car-rigged explosions in Baghdad killed 15 and injured nearly 40 people beside a Shiite Ahl al-Bait mosque Sunday. In Tikrit, 140km northeast of Baghdad, 6 were killed and nearly 26 injured in two suicide bombings. A car bomber drove into police assembled in an academy compound and detonated, then a second car bomber attacked a nearby army liaison office 20 minutes later.

In the Baghdad attack, the bombings took place in the western al-Shoulah district in front of an ice cream shop near the mosque. The first blast was followed within minutes by the second blast after witnesses to the first bomb rushed in to help survivors.

The anti-coalition insurgencies Sunday inflicted its heaviest toll since the national elections held January 30.

The violence, aimed mostly at Iraqi security forces and Shiite strongholds, is partly blamed on the struggling National Assembly’s efforts to gain a consensus in forming a new government. The lack of leadership has led to appointments of police and security officials with no consent from the Interior Ministry, and is against the requirement of the law. The lack of authority diminishes Iraqi efforts to put down and pursue rebel forces.

Ahmed Chalabi, now-exiled, but a one time a seeker the Iraqi Prime Minister position himself and also a provider of US intelligence on weapons programs, said “We need a government immediately. The delay in forming a government has encouraged the terrorists.”

By late Sunday, reports indicate Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari was ready to name a cabinet as early as today or Tuesday, but such hopes have gone unfulfilled in the past. Efforts to include candidates in contentious top cabinet posts with Sunni parliamentarians led by the former PM Iyad Allawi may be abandoned to speed filling the positions.

The dominant Shiite United Iraqi Alliance took 146 of the 275 seats in parliament, while the main Kurdish bloc took 77. To many, exclusion of the Sunni representatives in posts such as defense or interior minister, or either oil and finance minister, is untenable when they control 40 parliamentary seats.

Other reports Sunday include:

• 30 wounded in car-rigged blast at police station in western Baghdad
• 6 more arrests in last Tuesday’s downing of a Mi-8 helicopter
• 3 insurgents killed when their bomb accidentally exploded south of Baghdad in Mahawil
• 1 US soldier killed, 2 US soldiers and 2 civilians wounded in convoy attack in east Baghdad, several other US convoys were attacked Sunday
• No one hurt in explosion near a US patrol in western Baghdad
• Mishan al-Juburi, leader of the reconciliation and liberation bloc, survived a booby-trapped car bomb
• 1 US sailor killed Saturday and announced today, when the Marine convoy he traveled with was attacked by a roadside bomb near Fallujah

Saturday, September 29, 2007File:Misza 1980.jpg

For the first time after the fall of the iron curtain Russia will host the Olympic Games – in 2014 the Winter Olympics will take place in Sochi, a Black Sea resort town. The games are considered a matter of national prestige and generate more media attention than the recent changes in Russian government (Russia’s Putin recently installed the new prime-minister, who, incidentally, also became the chair of the Russian Olympic committee.)

As Russia takes enormous efforts to prepare for the Olympics and build a modern sport infrastructure from scratch, the Russian public is more concerned with the mascot for the upcoming games. When Moscow hosted the Summer Olympics in the 1980, the mascot for the Moscow Games was Misha the Bear, developed by children’s book illustrator Victor Chizhikov. Misha instantly became a graphic-design hit, especially in the Soviet bloc. Olympic posters were snatched up and t-shirts were fought over. And as Sochi is set to become the new Olympic city, Russians are keen to see the old bear return.

There is a long way to the Sochi Olympics, but the Bear is already coming back from retirement. Russia! magazine, an English-language publication distributed in the US and the UK, has commissioned the most prominent designers and artists to do their own renditions of the famed mascot. “The Olympic Bear turns any Russian between the ages of 25 and 50 to quivering jelly. Our artistic compatriots were happy to whip the old bear into shape for 21st century use” – says Ilya Merenzon, the magazine’s publisher. “And the readers’ response was overwhelming. As soon as the new issue arrived at the stores, we constantly get emails requesting the Bear t-shirts. The animal is regaining his popularity”. – adds Merenzon.

It has not been decided, however, on the Sochi Games mascot. Another option is Cheburashka, a famous Russian cartoon character with big ears and humble smile. Cheburashka was the mascot for the Russian Olympic team in Turin and is one of the best-selling children’s toys in former USSR countries and, surprisingly, Japan, where it is known as “Chebu”.

Thursday, April 7, 2005

Sony’s recently introduced Playstation Portable has proved popular with curious geeks who discovered various talents hidden within the new handheld video console.

The biggest ‘hack’ so far has been the manipulation of a web browser embedded within the PSP game ‘Wipeout Pure’, which can be easily coaxed into accessing the majority of Internet via a suitable portal. Jonathan Terleski was able to monitor the digital conversation held between his PSP and Sony’s website when the browser in his game ‘Wipeout Pure’ would try to download new software from Sony via the Internet. Using a suitably set up DNS server, Terleski configured his handheld console to access his own custom PSP portal, instead of Sony’s website, and then invited other owners to use his gateway to the web. [1]

From this discovery, Robert Balousek later created a web based IRC interface that allows people to talk to each other and hold conversations in real time via the Internet on their PSP consoles. According to Reuters, his IRC website has to date been used by as many as 100,000 visitors and Balousek now plans to introduce a web based interface to the AOL instant messaging network for PSP users.

Other notable recent ‘hacks’ include reading ebooks and comics and watching pre-recorded television shows, taken from a TiVo, on the Sony PSP.

None of the ‘hacks’ have yet employed writing custom software for the device. So far, most are spin-offs of Jonathon Terleski’s web browser hack. Other hacks, like the ebook reader and television show viewer, are made possible through use of the PSP’s built in tools for viewing video and images. Sony has not yet released an SDK which would allow end-users to write ‘homebrew’ software, therefore hackers are tied to manipulating software included with the PSP or available through the games purchased separately.

Speaking to Wikinews, Jacob Metcalf, who documented the web comic’s hack on his website, explained his motivation: “Web comics are already designed for on-screen reading and they have some of the same audience as people who play games – lots of the most popular web comics are about gamers, like PVP and Penny Arcade.”

He added: “I do wish that [Sony] would come out with an actual web browser like the Dreamcast had. South Korea is going to get a real web browser and I have a feeling in my gut that there is going to be Internet software for the PSP like a web browser and email announced at E3 this year.”

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon (born Ariel Sheinerman), 77, has been admitted to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, after suffering what doctors said was a “massive” stroke.

According to reports from Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem, the Prime Minister was put under an anesthetic prior to surgery to address a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He has increased intracranial pressure due to the bleeding.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Thursday’s press briefing that its “thoughts and prayers” are with the Prime Minister, and that the White House will “continue to stay in touch with the government of Israel.”

With Sharon in the hospital, control of Israel has now been transferred to his deputy, vice-premier Ehud Olmert.

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem said that Sharon suffered “a significant stroke” and that he was “under anesthetic and receiving breathing assistance.” Minutes later, Mor-Yosef said that initial tests showed Sharon suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and that he was suffering “massive bleeding and was being transferred to an operating theater.”

After over 6 hours of surgery Sharon received another CT scan which revealed further bleeding. Sharon was returned to the operating room for additional surgery that is expected to last several hours.

According to Wikipedia, “A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted” and many news sources are reporting this situation is life threatening.

Last month on December 18th, Sharon suffered a minor stroke and was admitted to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital after feeling unwell driving home and having difficulties with his speech. During his treatment, he was found to have a minor hole in his heart and was scheduled for surgery on January 5th. Sharon was treated and released December 20th.

Sharon’s notorious overeating was a significant risk factor for the health complications he has experienced. Prior to his first stroke, he consumed a meal consisting of hamburgers, lamb, kebabs, steak in chimchurri sauce, and salad. Since that stroke Sharon had lost weight, though he had been known to have his security detail smuggle him pita filled with greasy meat during previous efforts.

On January 6th, in a front-page article in Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper, Canadian medical experts questioned the anticoagulent that Sharon had been receiving before his massive stroke, noting that the decision to use it may have cost him his life, and that he would have been unlikely to receive that treatment in Canada. They also noted that his prognosis for recovery is extremely poor.