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.
A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopicgastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.
If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.
There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”
There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.
35 children were killed and more than 40 were injured in a fire which roared through the ABC child care center in Hermosillo, Mexico on Friday afternoon. Among the injured were six adults, most who have yet to be identified. Over twenty other children have been hospitalized with burns. They have been transported to local hospitals and other medical facilities in the United States.
Neighbors, employees and firefighters broke walls to rescue unconscious children and babies from the fire in the converted warehouse building which was equipped with only one exit.
Three air ambulances, medical equipment and fifteen burn specialists were dispatched to the scene where children between the ages of six months and five years old perished from smoke inhalation. The majority of the injured and killed were under three years of age, said government officials.
Red Cross rescue workers say that 100 children were being cared for when the fire broke out. Sonora state Gov. Eduardo Bours confirmed that 142 children were in the child care center. Already, 27 of the 31 child fatalities have been identified, as parents continue to await news on their children.
Preliminary reports state that the fire may have started in the neighboring tire and car warehouse and spread to the childcare center. President of MexicoFelipe Calderón has placed the attorney general, Eduardo Medina-Mora in charge of the investigation into the cause of the blaze.
Mexico’s Social Security Institute also sent out resources to their privately run facility.
Hermosillo, population of over 700,000, is the capital of the Mexicanstate of Sonora 167 miles (269 km) from the American border.
An Israeli rocket has struck the Press TV building in the Gaza Strip. According to the news agency, other television news stations called Al-Alam and Al Arabiya are also based inside the building. At least two people have been injured. The attack occurred at about 15:40 GMT.
There was no warning prior to the attack and only journalists were inside the building when the rocket hit. Press TV states that some of their broadcasting equipment on the building’s roof was damaged in the blast. According to live video being broadcast by Press TV, journalists on the roof are marked with ‘TV’ or ‘press’ on their coats and helmets. Press TV uses the roof of their building to broadcast most of their live video feeds of Gaza.
The agency claims that they were given assurance by the Israeli military that the building would not be targeted. The agency also states that coordinates of the building were given to the Israeli military everyday so they would not attack the building or mistake news crews for Hamas militants.
Despite the claim by witnesses and Press TV employees, a spokesperson for the IDF states that the building was not a target and was likely a result of “collateral damage.” There are no reports of other buildings having been hit in the area around the Press TV building.
Press TV states that regardless of the attack, they are still “prepared to show the horrific attacks by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) with graphic images of children being killed”.
Press TV, an Iranian based news agency, is one of few international news agencies broadcasting live video feeds of Gaza and currently has more journalists in Gaza than any other world news agency.
Nationalised bank Northern Rock sold to Virgin Money
Iceland voters reject deal to repay billions to UK, Dutch
US bank Goldman Sachs accused of fraud
G20 Summit plans to inject US$5tn into economy before 2011
Photograph: Lee Jordan
The headquaters of Nokia Image: Majestic.
Mobile telephone company Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile telephones, based in Finland, has today lowered its forecasts for the number of mobile handsets to be sold in 2008 by 1.5%, due to the current economic crisis.
It lowered its forecast for the total number of mobile phones to be sold in 2008 to 1.24 billion, down from 1.26 billion. Nokia also stated that it’s “preliminary estimate is that the industry mobile device volumes will be down in 2009 compared to 2008, impacted by the continuing overall economic slowdown.”
“In the last few weeks, the global economic slowdown, combined with unprecedented currency volatility, has resulted in a sharp pull back in global consumer spending,” stated Nokia, explaining it’s reasons behind it’s move. “The weaker consumer spending has impacted many industries, including the global mobile device market. The mobile device market has also been negatively impacted by the more limited availability of credit, which has limited the purchasing ability of some of our trade customers.”
Nokia’s share price has fallen on the announcement of this news. The company opened today trading at US$12.43. It has since fallen to a low of $12.22, although it has now recovered.
The company plans to reveal more details on its 2009 forecasts at its “Capital Markets Day” in New York on December 4.
Temperatures as high as 111°F (48°C) have hit the United States today, a continuation of Monday’s triple-digit (Fahrenheit) record highs in some areas.
High energy costs have many elderly and low income citizens keeping the air conditioning off, fixed incomes being blamed in many cases. In response to this, cities such as Chicago and New York have turned some public facilities into “cooling areas” for the duration. Buildings being converted include homeless shelters, senior centers, libraries and shopping malls. State agencies are urging anyone experiencing heat related symptoms to get to one of these places as soon as possible.
Early reports are attributing at least three dead from heat related complications in Philadelphia, Arkansas, and Indiana
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag warnings for six states, warning that the heat could easily lead to forest fires. Much of the northeast corridor and central plains states have been issued heat warnings.
Relief is in sight for the northeast, with storms bringing cooler weather from the Ohio Valley through New England; however the central part of the US won’t see a break in the heat until the weekend.
A photo of the submerged airplane by US Pacific Fleet.
Yesterday morning near the international airport located on Weno island of Chuuk state of the Federated States of Micronesia, Oceania a passenger airplane of model Boeing 737-800 flown by the Air Niugini carrier crashed into sea as its pilot missed the runway. All 47 people on board — by differing reports, 36 passengers and eleven crew or 35 passengers and twelve crew — survived.
The report by the international commercial aviation safety organization Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre indicated the crash coincided with a sudden intensification of the weather conditions. timeanddate.com-supplied data from CustomWeather reported rain showers at 9:40 a.m. local time, following cloudy conditions at 8:50 a.m.
The airplane reportedly landed around 9:30 a.m. local time, short of the runway by about 160 m to 200 m (about 525 to 650 feet), according to reports. Locals immediately began to rescue the passengers and crew on fishing boats. Officials arrived after about ten minutes, according to a witness quoted by The Guardian.
In an interview, a passenger alleged the crew started panicking and yelling, The Guardian reported. A first responder, Dr James Yaingeluo, also said the airplane crew were in panic. He said, “There was a little bit [of] chaos at first because everybody was really panicked and tried to get out of the plane […] other than that we were doing as much as we can. Luckily there are no casualties.”
Yaingeluo said nine people were taken to a hospital. Four people remained in hospital, one “seriously injured”, according to reports recounted by ABC News on Friday evening.
Flight 73 was coming from Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. Its destination was Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, with a stop at the Chuuk state.
Canada takes on Australia in wheelchair rugby Image: Laura Hale.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Listen to the raw interview
London, England — On Wednesday, Wikinews interviewed Duncan Campbell, one of the creators of wheelchair rugby.
((Laura Hale)) You’re Duncan Campbell, and you’re the founder of…
Duncan Campbell: One of the founders of wheelchair rugby.
((Laura Hale)) And you’re from Canada, eh?
Duncan Campbell: Yes, I’m from Canada, eh! (laughter)
((Laura Hale)) Winnipeg?
Duncan Campbell: Winnipeg, Manitoba.
((Laura Hale)) You cheer for — what’s that NHL team?
Duncan Campbell: I cheer for the Jets!
((Laura Hale)) What sort of Canadian are you?
Duncan Campbell: A Winnipeg Jets fan! (laughter)
((Laura Hale)) I don’t know anything about ice hockey. I’m a Chicago Blackhawks fan.
((Hawkeye7)) Twenty five years ago…
Duncan Campbell: Thirty five years ago!
((Laura Hale)) They said twenty five in the stadium…
Duncan Campbell: I know better.
((Hawkeye7)) So it was 1977.
((Laura Hale)) You look very young.
Duncan Campbell: Thank you. We won’t get into how old I am.
((Hawkeye7)) So how did you invent the sport?
Duncan Campbell: I’ve told this story so many times. It was a bit of a fluke in a way, but there were five of us. We were all quadriplegic, that were involved in sport, and at that time we had the Canadian games for the physically disabled. So we were all involved in sports like table tennis or racing or swimming. All individual sports. And the only team sport that was available at that time was basketball, wheelchair basketball. But as quadriplegics, with hand dysfunction, a bit of arm dysfunction, if we played, we rode the bench. We’d never get into the big games or anything like that. So we were actually going to lift weights one night, and the volunteer who helped us couldn’t make it. So we went down to the gym and we started throwing things around, and we tried a few things, and we had a volleyball. We kind of thought: “Oh! This is not bad. This is a lot of fun.” And we came up with the idea in a night. Within one night.
((Hawkeye7)) So all wheelchair rugby players are quadriplegics?
Duncan Campbell: Yes. All wheelchair rugby players have to have a disability of some kind in all four limbs.
((Laura Hale)) When did the classification system for wheelchair rugby kick in?
Duncan Campbell: It kicked in right away because there was already a classification system in place for wheelchair basketball. We knew basketball had a classification system, and we very consciously wanted to make that all people with disabilities who were quadriplegics got to play. So if you make a classification system where the people with the most disability are worth more on the floor, and you create a system where there are only so many points on the floor, then the people with more disability have to play. And what that does is create strategy. It creates a role.
((Hawkeye7)) Was that copied off wheelchair basketball?
Duncan Campbell: To some degree, yes.
((Laura Hale)) I assume you’re barracking for Canada. Have they had any classification issues? That made you
Duncan Campbell: You know, I’m not going to… I can’t get into that in a major way in that there’s always classification issues. And if you ask someone from basketball, there’s classification issues. If you ask someone from swimming… There’s always classification issues. The classifiers have the worst job in the world, because nobody’s ever satisfied with what they do. But they do the best they can. They’re smart. They know what they’re doing. If the system needs to change, the athletes will, in some way, encourage it to change.
((Laura Hale)) Do you think the countries that have better classifiers… as someone with an Australian perspective they’re really good at classification, and don’t get theirs overturned, whereas the Americans by comparison have had a number of classification challenges coming in to these games that they’ve lost. Do you think that having better classifiers makes a team better able to compete at an international level?
Duncan Campbell: What it does is ensures that you practice the right way. Because you know the exact classifications of your players then you’re going to lineups out there that are appropriate and fit the classification. If your classifications are wrong then you may train for six months with a lineup that becomes invalid when that classification. So you want to have good classifiers, and you want to have good classes.
((Laura Hale)) When you started in 1977, I’ve seen pictures of the early wheelchairs. I assume that you were playing in your day chair?
Duncan Campbell: Yes, all the time. And we had no modifications. And day chairs at that time were folding chairs. They were Earjays or Stainless. That’s all the brands there were. The biggest change in the game has been wheelchairs.
((Laura Hale)) When did you retire?
Duncan Campbell: I never retired. Still play. I play locally. I play in the club level all the time.
((Laura Hale)) When did you get your first rugby wheelchair?
Duncan Campbell: Jesus, that’s hard for me to even think about. A long time ago. I would say maybe twenty years ago.
((Laura Hale)) Were you involved in creating a special chair, as Canadians were pushing the boundaries and creating the sport?
Duncan Campbell: To a degree. I think everybody was. Because you wanted the chair that fit you. Because they are all super designed to an individual. Because it allows you to push better, allows you to turn better. Allows you to use your chair in better ways on the court. Like you’ve noticed that the defensive chairs are lower and longer. That’s because the people that are usually in a defensive chair have a higher disability, which means they have less balance. So they sit lower, which means they can use their arms better, and longer so they can put screens out and set ticks for those high point players who are carrying the ball. It’s very much strategic.
((Hawkeye7)) I’d noticed that in wheelchair basketball the low point player actually gets more court time…
Duncan Campbell: …because that allows the high point player to play. And its the same in this game. Although in this game there’s two ways to go. You can go a high-low lineup, which is potentially two high point players and two very low point players, which is what Australia does right now with Ryley Batt and the new kid Chris Bond. They have two high point players, and two 0.5 point players. It makes a very interesting scenario for, say, the US, who use four mid-point players. In that situation, all four players can carry the ball; in the Australian situation, usually only two of them can carry the ball.
((Laura Hale)) Because we know you are going soon, the all-important question: can Canada beat the Australians tonight?
Duncan Campbell: Of course they are. (laughter)
((Laura Hale)) Because Australians love to gamble, what’s your line on Canada?
Duncan Campbell: It’s not a big line! I’m not putting a big line on it! (laughter) I’d say it’s probably 6–5.
((Hawkeye7)) Is your colour commentary for the Canadian broadcast?
Duncan Campbell: That was for the IPC. I did the GB–US game this morning. I do the Sweden–Australia game tomorrow at two. And then I’m doing the US–France game on the last day.
((Laura Hale)) Are you happy with the level of coverage the Canadians are providing your sport?
Duncan Campbell: No.
((Laura Hale)) Thank you for an honest answer.
Duncan Campbell: Paralympic Sports TV is their own entity. They webcast, but they’re not a Canadian entity. Our Canadian television is doing… can I swear?
((Laura Hale)) Yeah! Go ahead!
Duncan Campbell: No! (laughter) They’re only putting on an hour a day. A highlight package, which to me is…
((Hawkeye7)) It’s better than the US.
Duncan Campbell: Yes, I’ve heard it’s better than the US. At the same time, it’s crap. You have here [in Great Britain], they’ve got it on 18 hours a day, and it’s got good viewership. When are we going to learn in North America that viewership is out there for it? How many times do we have to demonstrate it? We had the Paralympics in Vancouver two years ago, the Winter Paralympics, and we had crappy coverage there. There was an actual outburst demand to put the opening ceremonies on TV because they weren’t going to do it. And they had to do it, because everybody complained. So they did it, but they only did it in BC, in our home province, where they were holding it. The closing ceremonies they broadcast nationally because the demand was so high. But they still haven’t changed their attitudes.
((Laura Hale)) I have one last question: what did it mean for you when they had a Canadian flag bearer who was a wheelchair rugby player?
Duncan Campbell: I recruited that guy. It was fantastic. I recruited him. Found him playing hockey. And that guy has put in so much time and effort into the game. He absolutely deserves it. No better player.
On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Christian Heritage Party candidate Pastor George D. Campbell is standing for election in the riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour.
Wikinews contacted John, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart their full message to our readers, uninterrupted.
Michael Savage of the Liberal Party won the riding’s first election in 2004, and serves as the Liberal critic for Human Resources Development. (Note that the riding, with different names and boundaries, has existed in some form since 1968. Its current size includes the Dartmouth and Cole Harbour areas of the Halifax Regional Municipality.) Along with Campbell, challengers for the riding include Brad Pye (NDP), Paul Shreenan (Green), and Wanda Webber (Conservative).
For more information, visit the campaign’s official website, listed below.
This mosaic was created from two high-resolution images that were captured by the narrow-angle camera when NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flew past Enceladus and through the jets on Nov. 21, 2009. Image: NASA/JPL/SSI.
NASA’s Cassini–Huygens spacecraft has discovered evidence for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft’s direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon. The study has been published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.
Data from Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled from fissures, known as tiger stripes, are relatively small and usually low in salt far away from the moon. Closer to the moon’s surface, Cassini found that relatively large grains rich with sodium and potassium dominate the plumes. The salt-rich particles have an “ocean-like” composition and indicate that most, if not all, of the expelled ice and water vapor comes from the evaporation of liquid salt-water. When water freezes, the salt is squeezed out, leaving pure water ice behind.
Cassini’s ultraviolet imaging spectrograph also recently obtained complementary results that support the presence of a subsurface ocean. A team of Cassini researchers led by Candice Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, measured gas shooting out of distinct jets originating in the moon’s south polar region at five to eight times the speed of sound, several times faster than previously measured. These observations of distinct jets, from a 2010 flyby, are consistent with results showing a difference in composition of ice grains close to the moon’s surface and those that made it out to the E ring, the outermost ring that gets its material primarily from Enceladean jets. If the plumes emanated from ice, they should have very little salt in them.
“There currently is no plausible way to produce a steady outflow of salt-rich grains from solid ice across all the tiger stripes other than salt water under Enceladus’s icy surface,” said Frank Postberg, a Cassini team scientist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
The data suggests a layer of water between the moon’s rocky core and its icy mantle, possibly as deep as about 50 miles (80 kilometers) beneath the surface. As this water washes against the rocks, it dissolves salt compounds and rises through fractures in the overlying ice to form reserves nearer the surface. If the outermost layer cracks open, the decrease in pressure from these reserves to space causes a plume to shoot out. Roughly 400 pounds (200 kilograms) of water vapor is lost every second in the plumes, with smaller amounts being lost as ice grains. The team calculates the water reserves must have large evaporating surfaces, or they would freeze easily and stop the plumes.
“We imagine that between the ice and the ice core there is an ocean of depth and this is somehow connected to the surface reservoir,” added Postberg.
The Cassini mission discovered Enceladus’ water-vapor and ice jets in 2005. In 2009, scientists working with the cosmic dust analyzer examined some sodium salts found in ice grains of Saturn’s E ring but the link to subsurface salt water was not definitive. The new paper analyzes three Enceladus flybys in 2008 and 2009 with the same instrument, focusing on the composition of freshly ejected plume grains. In 2008, Cassini discovered a high “density of volatile gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some 20 times denser than expected” in geysers erupting from the moon. The icy particles hit the detector target at speeds between 15,000 and 39,000 MPH (23,000 and 63,000 KPH), vaporizing instantly. Electrical fields inside the cosmic dust analyzer separated the various constituents of the impact cloud.
“Enceladus has got warmth, water and organic chemicals, some of the essential building blocks needed for life,” said Dennis Matson in 2008, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“This finding is a crucial new piece of evidence showing that environmental conditions favorable to the emergence of life can be sustained on icy bodies orbiting gas giant planets,” said Nicolas Altobelli, the European Space Agency’s project scientist for Cassini.
“If there is water in such an unexpected place, it leaves possibility for the rest of the universe,” said Postberg.