EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Phil Jackson is retired, the triangle offense is out, and Mike Brown is in. And the Los Angeles Lakers are still Kobe Bryant's team.
Brown made it clear Tuesday during his introduction as Jackson's successor that Bryant's role won't change under his regime. Authentic Soccer Jerseys He said his first meeting with the superstar who owns five NBA championships "went very well."
"This is still his team. We'll make sure that he'll have the ball in the sweet spots that he likes," Brown said. "He has a great understanding of my vision and he's onboard."
Bryant, Derek Fisher and Andrew Bynum had publicly supported longtime Lakers assistant Brian Shaw in his bid to replace Jackson, arsenal jersey who retired after Dallas swept the two-time defending champions out of the second round.
Besides meeting with Bryant and talking on the phone with his wife, Vanessa, Brown said he's talked to Fisher and his wife, Pau Gasol, Bynum and Ron Artest.
Public reaction to Brown's hiring has been mixed.
"Everybody is entitled to their opinion, I respect that," he said. "Winning will cure all of that."
General manager Mitch Kupchak said he, owner Jerry Buss and Jim Buss, chelsea jersey the owner's son and an executive with the team, interviewed three people for the unenviable job of following Jackson, who owns the most titles in NBA history.
Besides Shaw and Brown, Rick Adelman also was in the running.
The elder Buss said that initially he didn't think Brown "would be the man."
"Then when he started talking to us, he said how he would handle this team. He was very prepared," Buss said. "I liked his X's and O's, his visions for our future. Very few people understand that our job is to try and remain on top forever. He likes that philosophy. I like that."
Shortly before his introduction, Brown signed a four-year deal worth roughly $18 million.
Matt Barnes was the only player on hand for Brown's introduction at the Lakers' practice facility, stopping after a rehab session nearby.
"Coming here is tough. He's coming to LA, one of the biggest markets, barcelona jersey one of the best teams in sports history," Barnes said. "To carry himself the way he did, and answered all the questions and didn't really shy away from anything just showed a lot that he's ready and hope he's got his thick skin."
The 41-year-old Brown led Cleveland to the 2007 NBA finals and went 272-138 with the Cavaliers, becoming the most successful coach in franchise history while compiling the league's best regular-season record in each of his last two seasons.
He got fired last year before LeBron James packed his bags for Miami. Brown had been working as an ESPN analyst.
Brown knows there will be endless comparisons and references to Jackson, spain soccer jersey and he's ready for it.
"I'm not sure what size shoe he wears, but I'm not here to fill his shoes," he said. "I'm here to help this team and organization carve our own path to success."
That includes dumping the famed triangle offense that Jackson employed to such success in both Los Angeles and Chicago. Unlike Jackson, Brown may call more timeouts, too.
"We're not going to run the triangle offense, brazil soccer jersey but we will have bits and pieces of it that will be incorporated," said Brown, adding that his offense will be tailored to 7-footers Bynum and Gasol, similar to what was run for big men Tim Duncan and David Robinson during his time as an assistant in San Antonio.
Brown ticked off his top three essentials on both offense and defense.
"If they don't buy in right away, they will," he said. "If they don't, there's going to be a problem because I'm going to hold people accountable."
Brown said he wants to foster a culture that includes trust, argentina soccer jersey communication, defense, a no-excuses mentality, a family environment, and a determined work ethic.
"As long as the group is willing, which it sounds like it is, we'll get it done," he said. "We want to be at the top forever."
2011年5月31日星期二
Spanish cucumbers ruled out as source of illness
MYSTERY SURROUNDED the source of Germany’s E.coli epidemic yesterday after authorities ruled out Spanish cucumbers as the source of the contamination.
Yesterday a 50-year-old woman in Sweden became the first casualty outside Germany, Custom Soccer Jerseys where already 15 people have fallen victim to the enterohaemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) bacterium.
Swedish authorities said the woman had recently returned from Germany. Meanwhile, the latest German victim was an 87-year-old woman, who died early on Tuesday morning in a hospital in Paderborn. Of the 15 fatalities so far, only two were men. In total around 1,400 people are being treated for suspected infection in Germany with 353 confirmed E.coli cases.
“The source of the infection is, as before, unidentified,” said Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks, ac milan jersey state health minister in Hamburg. “Our hope to discover the source of serious HUS (haemolytic uraemic syndrome) complications unfortunately was not realised.” The four cucumbers confiscated last week at a vegetable wholesale market in Hamburg, and attributed to two Spanish suppliers, were contaminated with a variation of E.coli, she said, but not with the strain behind the ongoing epidemic in northern Germany.
Spanish agriculture minister Rosa Aguilar has called for compensation to cover the losses sustained by Spanish farmers – estimated at €200 million weekly – caused by the false claims about their vegetables . “One should stop looking to Spain, Spanish vegetables are safe,” she said, criticising authorities in Hamburg for making claims about Spanish cucumbers “without any proof”.
“We are disappointed with the way Germany has dealt with this.” arsenal jersey The Hamburg health minister dismissed the Spanish criticisms yesterday as without foundation.
“It was right to make public the results of our investigation as the contamination could very well cause EHEC,” chelsea jersey said Ms Prüfer-Storcks. “It would have been irresponsible with this number of ill people to keep quiet about a well-grounded suspicion.
“Protecting people’s lives is more important than economic interests.” The E.coli bacterium has its origins in cattle and other ruminants and usually enters the food chain through faecal contamination. In humans the bacterium generates toxins that cause the haemolytic uraemic syndrome in humans, causing potentially fatal kidney failure.
Doctors in the Hamburg University Clinic say their HUS patients in treatment are “increasingly displaying nervous system problems” like slurred speech, england soccer jersey twitching, and epileptic fits.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Hygiene Institute at Münster University Clinic announced yesterday they had developed a quick test to identify the EHEC toxins within hours. “This strain can be described as a hybrid or a chimera that combines different virulent traits,” said Prof Helge Karch of the Münster clinic.
Despite continued uncertainty in Germany about the source of the epidemic, spain soccer jersey health authorities said warnings remained active and urged consumer to continue to observe good hygiene habits and avoid raw vegetables.
That recommendation has renewed frustration among German vegetable producers, who are shredding millions of tonnes of unsold produce daily.
“It’s always us left sitting on the mess,” said producer Rudolf Behr to Der Spiegel website. brazil soccer jersey“It makes no sense to ruin the reputation of the healthiest foods going.”
Yesterday a 50-year-old woman in Sweden became the first casualty outside Germany, Custom Soccer Jerseys where already 15 people have fallen victim to the enterohaemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) bacterium.
Swedish authorities said the woman had recently returned from Germany. Meanwhile, the latest German victim was an 87-year-old woman, who died early on Tuesday morning in a hospital in Paderborn. Of the 15 fatalities so far, only two were men. In total around 1,400 people are being treated for suspected infection in Germany with 353 confirmed E.coli cases.
“The source of the infection is, as before, unidentified,” said Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks, ac milan jersey state health minister in Hamburg. “Our hope to discover the source of serious HUS (haemolytic uraemic syndrome) complications unfortunately was not realised.” The four cucumbers confiscated last week at a vegetable wholesale market in Hamburg, and attributed to two Spanish suppliers, were contaminated with a variation of E.coli, she said, but not with the strain behind the ongoing epidemic in northern Germany.
Spanish agriculture minister Rosa Aguilar has called for compensation to cover the losses sustained by Spanish farmers – estimated at €200 million weekly – caused by the false claims about their vegetables . “One should stop looking to Spain, Spanish vegetables are safe,” she said, criticising authorities in Hamburg for making claims about Spanish cucumbers “without any proof”.
“We are disappointed with the way Germany has dealt with this.” arsenal jersey The Hamburg health minister dismissed the Spanish criticisms yesterday as without foundation.
“It was right to make public the results of our investigation as the contamination could very well cause EHEC,” chelsea jersey said Ms Prüfer-Storcks. “It would have been irresponsible with this number of ill people to keep quiet about a well-grounded suspicion.
“Protecting people’s lives is more important than economic interests.” The E.coli bacterium has its origins in cattle and other ruminants and usually enters the food chain through faecal contamination. In humans the bacterium generates toxins that cause the haemolytic uraemic syndrome in humans, causing potentially fatal kidney failure.
Doctors in the Hamburg University Clinic say their HUS patients in treatment are “increasingly displaying nervous system problems” like slurred speech, england soccer jersey twitching, and epileptic fits.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Hygiene Institute at Münster University Clinic announced yesterday they had developed a quick test to identify the EHEC toxins within hours. “This strain can be described as a hybrid or a chimera that combines different virulent traits,” said Prof Helge Karch of the Münster clinic.
Despite continued uncertainty in Germany about the source of the epidemic, spain soccer jersey health authorities said warnings remained active and urged consumer to continue to observe good hygiene habits and avoid raw vegetables.
That recommendation has renewed frustration among German vegetable producers, who are shredding millions of tonnes of unsold produce daily.
“It’s always us left sitting on the mess,” said producer Rudolf Behr to Der Spiegel website. brazil soccer jersey“It makes no sense to ruin the reputation of the healthiest foods going.”
2011年5月30日星期一
Defections, protests hit Libyan regime
South African President Jacob Zuma met Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi Monday but appeared to make no breakthrough in his attempt to broker a peace deal, as the regime was hit by a wave of high-level defections and the reemergence of protests in the capital.
Zuma, who also visited Tripoli in April, reiterated that Gaddafi had accepted an African Union peace plan calling for a cease-fire and dialogue, a plan explicitly rejected by rebels and implicitly by NATO, who maintain Gaddafi has to leave before any cease-fire can take effect.
Underlining NATO’s ultimate objective, Authentic Soccer Jerseys
the alliance’s Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a conference in Bulgaria on Monday that Gaddafi’s “reign of terror” was coming to an end.
Hours later in Rome, eight Libyan army officers, including five generals, appeared at a news conference arranged by the Italian government, saying they were part of a group of 120 military officials and soldiers who had defected in recent days.
“What is happening to our people has frightened us,” arsenal jersey one of the defecting officers, who identified himself as General Oun Ali Oun, told reporters, according to news agencies. “There is a lot of killing, genocide violence against women. No wise, rational person with the minimum of dignity can do what we saw with our eyes and what he [Gaddafi] asked us to do.”
In Tripoli, hundreds of people took to the streets in the Souk al-Juma neighborhood after the funeral of two rebel activists killed in a clash with security forces, a dissident said, in a protest captured on video. It was the third peaceful protest to have erupted in Tripoli in the past week, he said, but the first to be filmed.
“There is no god but Allah, and Moammar is the enemy of Allah,” they chanted. “The blood of martyrs will not be shed for nothing.”
The timing of the protest could not be independently confirmed, chelsea jersey given restrictions on foreign reporters in Tripoli.
Protests in Tripoli were violently suppressed in February, with scores of people killed, human rights group say. Since then the city has been relatively subdued, with many people saying they were scared to speak out for fear of being arrested.
But the reappearance of protesters on the streets in broad daylight could be a sign that the security forces are now struggling to keep a lid on dissent. Monday’s protest was dispersed after members of the feared Katiba security forces arrived in their trademark Toyota Tundra trucks and fired over people’s heads, the dissident said.
“Public anti-regime sentiment is increasing day by day in a progressive manner, spain soccer jersey which may culminate in an acute flare-up and an outpouring of people onto the streets of Tripoli,” he said by Skype. “I cannot say how close we are to ‘zero hour’ but there are all the signs that we are moving steadily towards it.”
The defections announced in Rome may reignite hope among Gaddafi’s opponents that the regime is nearing collapse, coming two months after that of Libya’s foreign minister and former espionage chief Moussa Koussa.
One of the officers, Gen. Melud Massoud Halasa, claimed that Gaddafi’s military forces are “only 20 percent as effective” as they were before the revolt broke out in mid-February, and that “not more than 10” generals remain loyal to the Libyan leader.
NATO has at times appeared to be struggling to ratchet up the pressure on Gaddafi, brazil soccer jersey with the regime often sounding as defiant as ever and rebels struggling to make military advances.
But airstrikes on Tripoli have increased in recent weeks, and Britain and France have said they are ready to deploy attack helicopters.
NATO’s Rasmussen said the military mission was achieving its objectives. “We have seriously degraded Gaddafi’s ability to kill his own people,” he said. “He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting.”
With Russia’s decision to withdraw its support for the regime on Friday, most of Gaddafi’s few remaining allies are now in sub-Saharan Africa.
Although South Africa voted for the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the enforcement of a no-fly zone, Zuma has since criticized NATO for going beyond its mandate and attempting to engineer Gaddafi’s ouster. He is advocating an African Union proposal that calls for cease-fire and dialogue with the opposition.
On Monday, argentina soccer jersey images of Zuma meeting Gaddafi at the leader’s sprawling Bab al-Aziziyah residential and administrative complex appeared on state television. Avoiding Western reporters, Zuma spoke afterwards only to South African and Libyan television. “He is ready to implement the road map,” Zuma said.
But Sheikh Khalifa Zuwawi, the chairman of the city council in the rebel-held city of Misurata, said the only proposal the rebels were interested in hearing from Zuma was that Gaddafi should stand down. “There is just one offer — that he leaves,” he said.
Special correspondent Portia Walker contributed from Misurata.
Zuma, who also visited Tripoli in April, reiterated that Gaddafi had accepted an African Union peace plan calling for a cease-fire and dialogue, a plan explicitly rejected by rebels and implicitly by NATO, who maintain Gaddafi has to leave before any cease-fire can take effect.
Underlining NATO’s ultimate objective, Authentic Soccer Jerseys
the alliance’s Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a conference in Bulgaria on Monday that Gaddafi’s “reign of terror” was coming to an end.
Hours later in Rome, eight Libyan army officers, including five generals, appeared at a news conference arranged by the Italian government, saying they were part of a group of 120 military officials and soldiers who had defected in recent days.
“What is happening to our people has frightened us,” arsenal jersey one of the defecting officers, who identified himself as General Oun Ali Oun, told reporters, according to news agencies. “There is a lot of killing, genocide violence against women. No wise, rational person with the minimum of dignity can do what we saw with our eyes and what he [Gaddafi] asked us to do.”
In Tripoli, hundreds of people took to the streets in the Souk al-Juma neighborhood after the funeral of two rebel activists killed in a clash with security forces, a dissident said, in a protest captured on video. It was the third peaceful protest to have erupted in Tripoli in the past week, he said, but the first to be filmed.
“There is no god but Allah, and Moammar is the enemy of Allah,” they chanted. “The blood of martyrs will not be shed for nothing.”
The timing of the protest could not be independently confirmed, chelsea jersey given restrictions on foreign reporters in Tripoli.
Protests in Tripoli were violently suppressed in February, with scores of people killed, human rights group say. Since then the city has been relatively subdued, with many people saying they were scared to speak out for fear of being arrested.
But the reappearance of protesters on the streets in broad daylight could be a sign that the security forces are now struggling to keep a lid on dissent. Monday’s protest was dispersed after members of the feared Katiba security forces arrived in their trademark Toyota Tundra trucks and fired over people’s heads, the dissident said.
“Public anti-regime sentiment is increasing day by day in a progressive manner, spain soccer jersey which may culminate in an acute flare-up and an outpouring of people onto the streets of Tripoli,” he said by Skype. “I cannot say how close we are to ‘zero hour’ but there are all the signs that we are moving steadily towards it.”
The defections announced in Rome may reignite hope among Gaddafi’s opponents that the regime is nearing collapse, coming two months after that of Libya’s foreign minister and former espionage chief Moussa Koussa.
One of the officers, Gen. Melud Massoud Halasa, claimed that Gaddafi’s military forces are “only 20 percent as effective” as they were before the revolt broke out in mid-February, and that “not more than 10” generals remain loyal to the Libyan leader.
NATO has at times appeared to be struggling to ratchet up the pressure on Gaddafi, brazil soccer jersey with the regime often sounding as defiant as ever and rebels struggling to make military advances.
But airstrikes on Tripoli have increased in recent weeks, and Britain and France have said they are ready to deploy attack helicopters.
NATO’s Rasmussen said the military mission was achieving its objectives. “We have seriously degraded Gaddafi’s ability to kill his own people,” he said. “He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting.”
With Russia’s decision to withdraw its support for the regime on Friday, most of Gaddafi’s few remaining allies are now in sub-Saharan Africa.
Although South Africa voted for the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the enforcement of a no-fly zone, Zuma has since criticized NATO for going beyond its mandate and attempting to engineer Gaddafi’s ouster. He is advocating an African Union proposal that calls for cease-fire and dialogue with the opposition.
On Monday, argentina soccer jersey images of Zuma meeting Gaddafi at the leader’s sprawling Bab al-Aziziyah residential and administrative complex appeared on state television. Avoiding Western reporters, Zuma spoke afterwards only to South African and Libyan television. “He is ready to implement the road map,” Zuma said.
But Sheikh Khalifa Zuwawi, the chairman of the city council in the rebel-held city of Misurata, said the only proposal the rebels were interested in hearing from Zuma was that Gaddafi should stand down. “There is just one offer — that he leaves,” he said.
Special correspondent Portia Walker contributed from Misurata.
Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki speaks softly but carries a big game
Dirk Nowitzki takes the microphone out of its stand and holds it with a sly smile on his face, as if he's ready to begin zinging at a roast.
But that's about as exciting as the Dallas Mavericks forward gets. He sinks into a chair on a dais and stares vacantly at the table in front of him while answering reporters' questions with a slightly accented monotone.
Not much had happened 30 minutes earlier, only the Mavericks' second-ever trip to the NBA Finals in the franchise's 31-year existence.
Nowitzki's deceptive, though. Custom Soccer Jerseys It's too clichéd to say he's a man of actions, not words, as Dallas begins the NBA Finals on Tuesday against the Miami Heat.
Before judging Nowitzki, you'd have to experience the action part in person on a night before one of their playoff games.
He will arrive at a quiet arena and soon have a ball in hand. No shot clock, no defenders, no All-Star votes or championship trophies to be earned that particular night.
"He constantly works on his game," Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle said. "Look, he shoots every night during the playoffs so he keeps things tuned up."
Then Carlisle pauses.
"He's really into winning."
Winning a championship, however, ac milan jersey is the last thing left to accomplish in a 13-year career that's been on a strong enough uptick the last six weeks to draw comparisons to the sacred Larry Bird.
Nowitzki has been sublime since the playoffs began, averaging 28.4 points, shooting an identical 52% from two-point and three-point range, and missing only 10 of 140 free throws (93% accuracy).
He's a little down on himself for his rebounding (7.5 a game), arsenal jersey but it's hard to criticize anybody who averaged 25 points in a sweep of the Lakers and 32 points against the supposedly speedier Oklahoma City Thunder.
And to think people wondered about him at the midpoint of the season after a mysterious injury sidelined him for three weeks. It was officially called a sprained right knee, but it seemed more than that, costing him more games (nine) than he'd ever missed in his career for an injury.
He came back slowly, dragging his leg behind him and putting together a strange string of games in February, including a 12-point effort against Cleveland followed by 10 points against Sacramento.
Nowitzki, who turns 33 in a few weeks, chelsea jersey is definitely back, trailing compliments behind him in his remarkable postseason run.
"I don't think no one can singlehandedly stop Dirk," said Miami forward LeBron James. "He's a shot maker, one of the best shot makers we've ever had in this league. It looks like a bad shot if you don't know basketball or you don't know his game — one-legged fade-aways off the glass and pull-up jumpers off the dribble, pump fake, pump fake, fade-away. Things like that."
Things that have been especially notable in the playoffs.
Nowitzki practically ended Oklahoma City's hopes with his Game 4 effort in the Western Conference finals. He had 12 points in the final 3 minutes 15 seconds, including a pair of off-balance, up-and-under moves as Dallas came back from a 15-point deficit to win in overtime.
"I thought he was good . . . now he's phenomenal," england soccer jersey Miami guard Dwyane Wade said. "Obviously, the shot-making ability is one of the best this league has seen. But I think what he's gotten better at is taking over games in the fourth quarter. It seems like he's taking more shots or he's made a bigger impact. I think he's a hungrier player and even a more efficient player than in '06."
That's a time and place Nowitzki doesn't like to talk about.
Dallas had a 2-0 series lead on Miami in the 2006 Finals and led by 13 late in Game 3 before completely collapsing and somehow losing four consecutive games.
"I almost felt like we had unfinished business after '06," spain soccer jersey Nowitzki said. "We're here again at the big stage. Hopefully, we can turn it around this year and finish strong."
Only Nowitzki and Jason Terry remain from that Dallas team. Wade and Udonis Haslem are the only ones still with Miami.
This collection of Mavericks seems more balanced than that one.
"It's tough to double [Nowitzki] because they have so many great shooters around him," brazil soccer jersey Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant grumbled after being eliminated. "They have a great team."
It might be enough to get that first elusive title for Nowitzki. If that happens, it's easy to foresee his words catching up to his actions.
But that's about as exciting as the Dallas Mavericks forward gets. He sinks into a chair on a dais and stares vacantly at the table in front of him while answering reporters' questions with a slightly accented monotone.
Not much had happened 30 minutes earlier, only the Mavericks' second-ever trip to the NBA Finals in the franchise's 31-year existence.
Nowitzki's deceptive, though. Custom Soccer Jerseys It's too clichéd to say he's a man of actions, not words, as Dallas begins the NBA Finals on Tuesday against the Miami Heat.
Before judging Nowitzki, you'd have to experience the action part in person on a night before one of their playoff games.
He will arrive at a quiet arena and soon have a ball in hand. No shot clock, no defenders, no All-Star votes or championship trophies to be earned that particular night.
"He constantly works on his game," Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle said. "Look, he shoots every night during the playoffs so he keeps things tuned up."
Then Carlisle pauses.
"He's really into winning."
Winning a championship, however, ac milan jersey is the last thing left to accomplish in a 13-year career that's been on a strong enough uptick the last six weeks to draw comparisons to the sacred Larry Bird.
Nowitzki has been sublime since the playoffs began, averaging 28.4 points, shooting an identical 52% from two-point and three-point range, and missing only 10 of 140 free throws (93% accuracy).
He's a little down on himself for his rebounding (7.5 a game), arsenal jersey but it's hard to criticize anybody who averaged 25 points in a sweep of the Lakers and 32 points against the supposedly speedier Oklahoma City Thunder.
And to think people wondered about him at the midpoint of the season after a mysterious injury sidelined him for three weeks. It was officially called a sprained right knee, but it seemed more than that, costing him more games (nine) than he'd ever missed in his career for an injury.
He came back slowly, dragging his leg behind him and putting together a strange string of games in February, including a 12-point effort against Cleveland followed by 10 points against Sacramento.
Nowitzki, who turns 33 in a few weeks, chelsea jersey is definitely back, trailing compliments behind him in his remarkable postseason run.
"I don't think no one can singlehandedly stop Dirk," said Miami forward LeBron James. "He's a shot maker, one of the best shot makers we've ever had in this league. It looks like a bad shot if you don't know basketball or you don't know his game — one-legged fade-aways off the glass and pull-up jumpers off the dribble, pump fake, pump fake, fade-away. Things like that."
Things that have been especially notable in the playoffs.
Nowitzki practically ended Oklahoma City's hopes with his Game 4 effort in the Western Conference finals. He had 12 points in the final 3 minutes 15 seconds, including a pair of off-balance, up-and-under moves as Dallas came back from a 15-point deficit to win in overtime.
"I thought he was good . . . now he's phenomenal," england soccer jersey Miami guard Dwyane Wade said. "Obviously, the shot-making ability is one of the best this league has seen. But I think what he's gotten better at is taking over games in the fourth quarter. It seems like he's taking more shots or he's made a bigger impact. I think he's a hungrier player and even a more efficient player than in '06."
That's a time and place Nowitzki doesn't like to talk about.
Dallas had a 2-0 series lead on Miami in the 2006 Finals and led by 13 late in Game 3 before completely collapsing and somehow losing four consecutive games.
"I almost felt like we had unfinished business after '06," spain soccer jersey Nowitzki said. "We're here again at the big stage. Hopefully, we can turn it around this year and finish strong."
Only Nowitzki and Jason Terry remain from that Dallas team. Wade and Udonis Haslem are the only ones still with Miami.
This collection of Mavericks seems more balanced than that one.
"It's tough to double [Nowitzki] because they have so many great shooters around him," brazil soccer jersey Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant grumbled after being eliminated. "They have a great team."
It might be enough to get that first elusive title for Nowitzki. If that happens, it's easy to foresee his words catching up to his actions.
2011年5月29日星期日
'Hangover' sequel tops box office
The raucous comedy sequel "The Hangover: Part II" captured $86 million at the North American box office in its first weekend, blowing past another newcomer "Kung Fu Panda 2" to capture the top spot, estimates showed Sunday.
The critically-panned sequel, described as uninspiring and a repeat of the original, Authentic Soccer Jerseys follows four men celebrating a pre-wedding brunch in Bangkok, much like the bachelor party in Las Vegas in the first movie "The Hangover" that made stars of underground comedian Zach Galifianakis and actor Bradley Cooper.
It came far ahead of DreamWorks' sequel to the original "Kung Fu Panda," with the 3-D second-take -- which reprised the voice talents of Jack Black and Angelina Jolie -- collecting $48 million in its opening weekend, arsenal jersey according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
The fourth installment in the Johnny Depp-starring "Pirates of the Caribbean" series finished third, taking in $39 million after pulling $90 million in its opening a week ago.
The Disney romp, which has earned mixed reviews, chelsea jersey has taken in a total of $152 million in the past two weeks.
The surprise hit "Bridesmaids," barcelona jersey an oddball comedy about a group of women preparing for their wedding day supporting roles, grossed $16 million in its third week to take the fourth position.
Epic action adventure "Thor," starring Chris Hemsworth as the mythical hero banished to Earth from the mystical world of Asgard, took in $9 million to become the fifth-highest grossing movie of the week, while its four-week total climbed to $159 million.
"Fast Five," spain soccer jersey the fifth volume in the high-speed car chase series, earned $7 million to reach the sixth spot, and after five weeks of release saw its total receipts climb to $196 million, the highest total take of any movie in this week's top ten.
In its second week out, brazil soccer jersey Woody Allen's latest film, the whimsical "Midnight in Paris," climbed to seventh place from 13th, with $1.91 million.
"Jumping the Broom," which explores what happens when two African-American families from different socio-economic backgrounds get together for a wedding celebration, fell to eighth place, grossing $1.9 million, argentina soccer jersey while romantic comedy "Something Borrowed" carried the ninth spot, earning $1.8 million.
Rounding out the top ten was the family comedy "Rio," an animated film from the makers of the "Ice Age" series, which brought in $1.8 million. The film has so far earned $135 million during its seven-week run.
The critically-panned sequel, described as uninspiring and a repeat of the original, Authentic Soccer Jerseys follows four men celebrating a pre-wedding brunch in Bangkok, much like the bachelor party in Las Vegas in the first movie "The Hangover" that made stars of underground comedian Zach Galifianakis and actor Bradley Cooper.
It came far ahead of DreamWorks' sequel to the original "Kung Fu Panda," with the 3-D second-take -- which reprised the voice talents of Jack Black and Angelina Jolie -- collecting $48 million in its opening weekend, arsenal jersey according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
The fourth installment in the Johnny Depp-starring "Pirates of the Caribbean" series finished third, taking in $39 million after pulling $90 million in its opening a week ago.
The Disney romp, which has earned mixed reviews, chelsea jersey has taken in a total of $152 million in the past two weeks.
The surprise hit "Bridesmaids," barcelona jersey an oddball comedy about a group of women preparing for their wedding day supporting roles, grossed $16 million in its third week to take the fourth position.
Epic action adventure "Thor," starring Chris Hemsworth as the mythical hero banished to Earth from the mystical world of Asgard, took in $9 million to become the fifth-highest grossing movie of the week, while its four-week total climbed to $159 million.
"Fast Five," spain soccer jersey the fifth volume in the high-speed car chase series, earned $7 million to reach the sixth spot, and after five weeks of release saw its total receipts climb to $196 million, the highest total take of any movie in this week's top ten.
In its second week out, brazil soccer jersey Woody Allen's latest film, the whimsical "Midnight in Paris," climbed to seventh place from 13th, with $1.91 million.
"Jumping the Broom," which explores what happens when two African-American families from different socio-economic backgrounds get together for a wedding celebration, fell to eighth place, grossing $1.9 million, argentina soccer jersey while romantic comedy "Something Borrowed" carried the ninth spot, earning $1.8 million.
Rounding out the top ten was the family comedy "Rio," an animated film from the makers of the "Ice Age" series, which brought in $1.8 million. The film has so far earned $135 million during its seven-week run.
Bullpen Rests as Sabathia Helps Yankees Avoid a Sweep
If nothing about their first two games at Safeco Field qualified as relaxing for the Yankees, Custom Soccer Jerseys then Sunday allowed Manager Joe Girardi to sit in his figurative Adirondack chair, sip a tall glass of iced tea and just watch and enjoy.
His starter, C. C. Sabathia, worked eight innings to rest a taxed bullpen. Every member of the starting lineup contributed a hit, including three by Curtis Granderson. The Yankees scored first and, for a change, ac milan jersey did not return the lead. That combination produced a 7-1 victory against the Seattle Mariners, a welcome change from the misery that had defined their weekend.
In averting a three-game sweep, the Yankees avoided the problems that had knocked them out of first place in the American League East. After failing to take advantage of decent showings against the Mariners’ best pitchers, Michael Pineda and Felix Hernandez, they battered the left-hander Jason Vargas for six runs in three innings, with Andruw Jones delivering the decisive hit, arsenal jersey a bases-clearing double in the third.
No lead has been safe for the Yankees this series, from 3-0 on Friday night to 3-1 on Saturday, when a stalled comeback resulted in a 12-inning loss. The length of that game, combined with an early exit by Ivan Nova, forced Girardi to exhaust nearly his entire bullpen, using six of seven relievers. Three of them — Luis Ayala, Hector Noesi and Dave Robertson — were unavailable Sunday, chelsea jersey placing the burden on Sabathia to provide distance and excellence.
The Mariners were no match for Sabathia, who gave up a sixth-inning homer to Justin Smoak but little else. He struck out five while allowing five hits and three walks, two in the fifth inning when the Mariners loaded the bases with one out. But Sabathia induced a comebacker from Ichiro Suzuki, fired home for the force out before Francisco Cervelli completed the double play with a throw to first. Even though the Yankees were leading, 7-0, Sabathia pumped his fist and pointed at Cervelli as he walked off the field.
The Yankees went ahead, 1-0, in the second on a home run by Nick Swisher, before piling on Vargas in the third. After Granderson scored on a two-out single by Robinson Cano, his eighth hit in 12 career at-bats against Vargas, england soccer jersey Swisher drew a walk to load the bases for Jones. He ripped an outside fastball into the right-field corner, easily scoring Alex Rodriguez and Cano. Swisher also came around to score, ruled safe despite replays showing that catcher Chris Gimenez tagged him on the left arm as he slid by. The missed call cost the Mariners another run, when Eduardo Nunez followed by belting a triple into the gap in left-center field, driving in Jones to put the Yankees up, 6-0.
In his last two starts, spain soccer jersey Jones has homered twice and driven in seven runs, a surge likely to earn him regular playing time against left-handers and bury Jorge Posada deeper into a part-time role at designated hitter. With the Oakland left-handers Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez scheduled to work the final two games of the series that begins Monday, Girardi suggested that he would continue to rotate right-handed hitters like brazil soccer jersey Derek Jeter and Rodriguez into the D.H. spot, shifting Jones into outfield duty.
INSIDE PITCH
Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson are the first set of Yankees teammates to combine for at least 15 home runs during the team’s first 50 games since Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
His starter, C. C. Sabathia, worked eight innings to rest a taxed bullpen. Every member of the starting lineup contributed a hit, including three by Curtis Granderson. The Yankees scored first and, for a change, ac milan jersey did not return the lead. That combination produced a 7-1 victory against the Seattle Mariners, a welcome change from the misery that had defined their weekend.
In averting a three-game sweep, the Yankees avoided the problems that had knocked them out of first place in the American League East. After failing to take advantage of decent showings against the Mariners’ best pitchers, Michael Pineda and Felix Hernandez, they battered the left-hander Jason Vargas for six runs in three innings, with Andruw Jones delivering the decisive hit, arsenal jersey a bases-clearing double in the third.
No lead has been safe for the Yankees this series, from 3-0 on Friday night to 3-1 on Saturday, when a stalled comeback resulted in a 12-inning loss. The length of that game, combined with an early exit by Ivan Nova, forced Girardi to exhaust nearly his entire bullpen, using six of seven relievers. Three of them — Luis Ayala, Hector Noesi and Dave Robertson — were unavailable Sunday, chelsea jersey placing the burden on Sabathia to provide distance and excellence.
The Mariners were no match for Sabathia, who gave up a sixth-inning homer to Justin Smoak but little else. He struck out five while allowing five hits and three walks, two in the fifth inning when the Mariners loaded the bases with one out. But Sabathia induced a comebacker from Ichiro Suzuki, fired home for the force out before Francisco Cervelli completed the double play with a throw to first. Even though the Yankees were leading, 7-0, Sabathia pumped his fist and pointed at Cervelli as he walked off the field.
The Yankees went ahead, 1-0, in the second on a home run by Nick Swisher, before piling on Vargas in the third. After Granderson scored on a two-out single by Robinson Cano, his eighth hit in 12 career at-bats against Vargas, england soccer jersey Swisher drew a walk to load the bases for Jones. He ripped an outside fastball into the right-field corner, easily scoring Alex Rodriguez and Cano. Swisher also came around to score, ruled safe despite replays showing that catcher Chris Gimenez tagged him on the left arm as he slid by. The missed call cost the Mariners another run, when Eduardo Nunez followed by belting a triple into the gap in left-center field, driving in Jones to put the Yankees up, 6-0.
In his last two starts, spain soccer jersey Jones has homered twice and driven in seven runs, a surge likely to earn him regular playing time against left-handers and bury Jorge Posada deeper into a part-time role at designated hitter. With the Oakland left-handers Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez scheduled to work the final two games of the series that begins Monday, Girardi suggested that he would continue to rotate right-handed hitters like brazil soccer jersey Derek Jeter and Rodriguez into the D.H. spot, shifting Jones into outfield duty.
INSIDE PITCH
Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson are the first set of Yankees teammates to combine for at least 15 home runs during the team’s first 50 games since Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
2011年5月26日星期四
Soccer All-Stars Put on a Show for Fans
More than 300 fans turned out to see the show put on by the inaugural DeKalb Soccer Coaches Association All-Stars on Wednesday at James R. Hallford Stadium in Clarkston.
The girls’ All-Stars were showcased first as Druid Hills’ Jane Neiswande scored a pair of goals in leading the Inside The Perimeter (ITP) squad to a 4-1 victory over the Outside The Perimeter (OTP) team.
Chamblee’s Allison Jones drew the OTP defense to her Authentic Soccer Jerseys and found Neiswander for the first goal of the game on a nice pass past the goalie with 19:45 left in the first half to give ITP a 1-0 lead. The game went to the half tied at 1-1 as Dunwoody’s Becka Kilbourne nettea shot for the Outside The Perimeter (OTP) team with 2:21 to play in the half to knot the score.
Chamblee senior Taylor Smith got into the scoring act arsenal jersey just two and half minutes into the second half as she got a rebound off a corner kick to give ITP a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish. Neiswander made it 3-1 just seven minutes later when she took a pass off a header in front of the goal and netted the ball.
Jones followed suit four minutes later as she picked up argentina soccer jersey a deflection off the goalie to score the final goal of the game for the 4-1 final. Lakeside’s Raleigh Knight and Towers Shayla Rogers teamed up for seven saves in goal for the ITP squad and allowed just one goal.
The boys’chelsea jersey All-Stars battled to a 2-2 tie in the second game of the night bringing cheers from the crowd as the game see-sawed in favor of both teams throughout.
The ITP All-Stars drew first blood in the game as Cross Keys barcelona jersey junior Moises Medina picked up a deflection off OTP goalie Luis Sanchez of Stone Mountain to score just four minutes into the game for a 1-0 ITP lead.
Miller Grove’s Roy Dixon got past the defense on a pin point pass from Dunwoody’s spain soccer jersey Falcundo Gurdit to tie the game at 1-1 for the OTP All-Stars at the 19:54 mark as he beat goalie Jimmile Jackson of Towers. The teams went into the half tied at 1-1 just as the girls’ All-Stars had done earlier.
The OTP players turned up the heat in the second half getting eight shots
on goal to just two for the ITP team. One of the shots deflected off ITP goalie Roberto Ramos to OTP’s brazil soccer jersey Robel Davis Jr. for an easy tap in and a 2-1 lead for OTP with 18:35 to play in the game.
The OTP All-Stars continued to keep the ball in the ITP zone through most of the next six minutes, but ITP’s Jordy Banegas of Cross Keys split a pair of defenders on a nice pass from Sol Samuel of Druid Hills to get a shot on goal. Banegas made good with a shot into the left corner past a diving Grey LaRose of Dunwoody to knot the score at 2-2 with 12:15 to play.
The two teams battled with OTP having the advantage with shots on goal, but Ramos was solid after giving up the go-ahead goal as he turned away five shots on goal in the final 12 minutes to preserve the tie.
The girls’ All-Stars were showcased first as Druid Hills’ Jane Neiswande scored a pair of goals in leading the Inside The Perimeter (ITP) squad to a 4-1 victory over the Outside The Perimeter (OTP) team.
Chamblee’s Allison Jones drew the OTP defense to her Authentic Soccer Jerseys and found Neiswander for the first goal of the game on a nice pass past the goalie with 19:45 left in the first half to give ITP a 1-0 lead. The game went to the half tied at 1-1 as Dunwoody’s Becka Kilbourne nettea shot for the Outside The Perimeter (OTP) team with 2:21 to play in the half to knot the score.
Chamblee senior Taylor Smith got into the scoring act arsenal jersey just two and half minutes into the second half as she got a rebound off a corner kick to give ITP a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish. Neiswander made it 3-1 just seven minutes later when she took a pass off a header in front of the goal and netted the ball.
Jones followed suit four minutes later as she picked up argentina soccer jersey a deflection off the goalie to score the final goal of the game for the 4-1 final. Lakeside’s Raleigh Knight and Towers Shayla Rogers teamed up for seven saves in goal for the ITP squad and allowed just one goal.
The boys’chelsea jersey All-Stars battled to a 2-2 tie in the second game of the night bringing cheers from the crowd as the game see-sawed in favor of both teams throughout.
The ITP All-Stars drew first blood in the game as Cross Keys barcelona jersey junior Moises Medina picked up a deflection off OTP goalie Luis Sanchez of Stone Mountain to score just four minutes into the game for a 1-0 ITP lead.
Miller Grove’s Roy Dixon got past the defense on a pin point pass from Dunwoody’s spain soccer jersey Falcundo Gurdit to tie the game at 1-1 for the OTP All-Stars at the 19:54 mark as he beat goalie Jimmile Jackson of Towers. The teams went into the half tied at 1-1 just as the girls’ All-Stars had done earlier.
The OTP players turned up the heat in the second half getting eight shots
on goal to just two for the ITP team. One of the shots deflected off ITP goalie Roberto Ramos to OTP’s brazil soccer jersey Robel Davis Jr. for an easy tap in and a 2-1 lead for OTP with 18:35 to play in the game.
The OTP All-Stars continued to keep the ball in the ITP zone through most of the next six minutes, but ITP’s Jordy Banegas of Cross Keys split a pair of defenders on a nice pass from Sol Samuel of Druid Hills to get a shot on goal. Banegas made good with a shot into the left corner past a diving Grey LaRose of Dunwoody to knot the score at 2-2 with 12:15 to play.
The two teams battled with OTP having the advantage with shots on goal, but Ramos was solid after giving up the go-ahead goal as he turned away five shots on goal in the final 12 minutes to preserve the tie.
Pakistan shuts down U.S. 'intelligence fusion' cells
In a clear sign of Pakistan's deepening mistrust of the United States, Islamabad has told the Obama administration to reduce the number of U.S. troops in the country and has moved to close three military intelligence liaison centers, setting back U.S. efforts to eliminate insurgent sanctuaries in largely lawless areas bordering Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.
The liaison centers, also known as "Intelligence Fusion cells," in Quetta and Peshawar are the main conduits for the U.S. to share satellite imagery, target data and other intelligence with Pakistani ground forces conducting operations against militants, including Taliban fighters who slip into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and allied forces.
U.S. special operations units have relied on the three facilities, two in Peshawar and one in Quetta, to help coordinate operations on both sides of the border, senior U.S. officials said. The U.S. units are now being withdrawn from all three sites, the officials said, and the centers are being shut down.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the steps are permanent. Adm. Mike Mullen, Custom Soccer Jerseys the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, flew Thursday to Pakistan for a hastily arranged meeting with Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the head of the Pakistani army. A Pentagon official said the two will probably discuss Pakistan's demands for a smaller U.S. military presence.
The closures, which have not been publicly announced, remove U.S. advisors from the front lines of the war against militant groups in Pakistan. U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus spearheaded the effort to increase the U.S. presence in the border areas two years ago out of frustration with Pakistan's failure to control the militants.
The collapse of the effort will probably hinder the Obama administration's efforts to gradually push Pakistan toward conducting ground operations against insurgent strongholds in North Waziristan and elsewhere, U.S. officials said.
The Pakistani decision has not affected the CIA's ability to launch missiles from drone aircraft in northwest Pakistan. ac milan jersey Those flights, which the CIA has never publicly acknowledged, receive assistance from Pakistan through intelligence channels separate from the fusion centers, current and former officials said.
The move to close the three facilities, plus a written demand to the Pentagon on Wednesday to reduce the approximately 200 U.S. military personnel in the country, follows mounting anger in Pakistan over a series of incidents.
In January, Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, shot dead two men in Lahore who he said were attempting to rob him. He was arrested on charges of murder but was released and left the country in mid-March, prompting violent protests in several cities.
Soon after, Pakistan ordered several dozen U.S. arsenal jersey special operations trainers to leave the country in what U.S. officials believe was retaliation for the Davis case, according to a senior U.S. military officer.
Then, on May 2, five U.S. helicopters secretly entered Pakistani airspace and a team of U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden and four others at a compound in Abbottabad, a military garrison city near the capital, Islamabad. The raid deeply embarrassed Pakistan's military and inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment across the country.
Javed Hussain, a retired Pakistani brigadier, blamed the decision to close the three intelligence centers on the mistrust that has plagued U.S.-Pakistani relations in recent months. Washington's decision to carry out the raid against Bin Laden without informing Pakistan's security establishment brought that mistrust to a new low, he said.
"There is lot of discontent within Pakistan's armed forces with regard to the fact they've done so much in the war on terror, chelsea jersey and yet they are not trusted," Hussain said. "Particularly after the Abbottabad raid … the image of the armed forces in the eyes of the people has gone down. And they hold the U.S. responsible."
The two intelligence centers in Peshawar were set up in 2009, one with the Pakistani army's 11th Corps and the other with the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which are both headquartered in the city, capital of the troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The third fusion cell was opened last year at the Pakistani army's 12th Corps headquarters in Quetta, a city long used by Taliban fighters to mount attacks in Afghanistan's southern provinces. U.S. troops have staffed the Quetta facility only intermittently, U.S. officials said.
The closures have effectively stopped the U.S. training of the Frontier Corps, england soccer jersey a force that American officials had hoped could help halt infiltration of Taliban and other militants into Afghanistan, a senior U.S. military officer said.
The Frontier Corps' facility in Peshawar, staffed by a handful of U.S. special operations personnel, was located at Bala Hissar, an old fort, according to a classified U.S. Embassy cable from 2009 that was recently made public by WikiLeaks.
The cable, which was first disclosed by Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, hinted at U.S. hopes that special operations teams would be allowed to join the paramilitary units and the Special Services Group, a Pakistani army commando unit, in operations against militants.
"We have created Intelligence Fusion cells with embedded U.S. Special Forces with both the SSG and Frontier Corps" at Bala Hissar, spain soccer jersey Peshawar, the 2009 cable says. "But we have not been given Pakistani military permission to accompany the Pakistani forces on deployments as yet. Through these embeds, we are assisting the Pakistanis [to] collect and coordinate existing intelligence assets."
Another U.S. Embassy cable said that a "U.S. Special Operations Command Force" was providing the Frontier Corps with "imagery, target packages and operational planning" in a campaign against Taliban insurgents in Lower Dir, an area of northwest Pakistan considered an insurgent stronghold.
In September 2009, then U.S. ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, wrote in another classified message that the fusion cells provided "enhanced capacity to share real-time intelligence with units engaged in counter-insurgency operations" and were "a significant step forward for the Pakistan military."
The intelligence fusion cell in Quetta was not nearly as active as the facilities in Peshawar, brazil soccer jersey current and former U.S. officials said. Pakistan has long resisted pressure to intensify operations against Taliban militants in Quetta. The city, capital of Baluchistan, is outside the tribal area, which explains Pakistan's reluctance to permit a permanent U.S. military presence, a U.S. official said.
Despite the ongoing tensions, Pakistani authorities have agreed to allow a CIA team to inspect the compound where Bin Laden was killed, according to a U.S. official. The Pakistanis have signaled they will allow U.S. intelligence analysts to examine documents and other material that Pakistani authorities found at the site.
A U.S. official briefed on intelligence matters said the reams of documents and electronic data that the SEALs seized at the compound have sparked "dozens" of intelligence investigations and have produced new insights into schisms among Al Qaeda leaders.
The liaison centers, also known as "Intelligence Fusion cells," in Quetta and Peshawar are the main conduits for the U.S. to share satellite imagery, target data and other intelligence with Pakistani ground forces conducting operations against militants, including Taliban fighters who slip into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and allied forces.
U.S. special operations units have relied on the three facilities, two in Peshawar and one in Quetta, to help coordinate operations on both sides of the border, senior U.S. officials said. The U.S. units are now being withdrawn from all three sites, the officials said, and the centers are being shut down.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the steps are permanent. Adm. Mike Mullen, Custom Soccer Jerseys the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, flew Thursday to Pakistan for a hastily arranged meeting with Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the head of the Pakistani army. A Pentagon official said the two will probably discuss Pakistan's demands for a smaller U.S. military presence.
The closures, which have not been publicly announced, remove U.S. advisors from the front lines of the war against militant groups in Pakistan. U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus spearheaded the effort to increase the U.S. presence in the border areas two years ago out of frustration with Pakistan's failure to control the militants.
The collapse of the effort will probably hinder the Obama administration's efforts to gradually push Pakistan toward conducting ground operations against insurgent strongholds in North Waziristan and elsewhere, U.S. officials said.
The Pakistani decision has not affected the CIA's ability to launch missiles from drone aircraft in northwest Pakistan. ac milan jersey Those flights, which the CIA has never publicly acknowledged, receive assistance from Pakistan through intelligence channels separate from the fusion centers, current and former officials said.
The move to close the three facilities, plus a written demand to the Pentagon on Wednesday to reduce the approximately 200 U.S. military personnel in the country, follows mounting anger in Pakistan over a series of incidents.
In January, Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, shot dead two men in Lahore who he said were attempting to rob him. He was arrested on charges of murder but was released and left the country in mid-March, prompting violent protests in several cities.
Soon after, Pakistan ordered several dozen U.S. arsenal jersey special operations trainers to leave the country in what U.S. officials believe was retaliation for the Davis case, according to a senior U.S. military officer.
Then, on May 2, five U.S. helicopters secretly entered Pakistani airspace and a team of U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden and four others at a compound in Abbottabad, a military garrison city near the capital, Islamabad. The raid deeply embarrassed Pakistan's military and inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment across the country.
Javed Hussain, a retired Pakistani brigadier, blamed the decision to close the three intelligence centers on the mistrust that has plagued U.S.-Pakistani relations in recent months. Washington's decision to carry out the raid against Bin Laden without informing Pakistan's security establishment brought that mistrust to a new low, he said.
"There is lot of discontent within Pakistan's armed forces with regard to the fact they've done so much in the war on terror, chelsea jersey and yet they are not trusted," Hussain said. "Particularly after the Abbottabad raid … the image of the armed forces in the eyes of the people has gone down. And they hold the U.S. responsible."
The two intelligence centers in Peshawar were set up in 2009, one with the Pakistani army's 11th Corps and the other with the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which are both headquartered in the city, capital of the troubled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The third fusion cell was opened last year at the Pakistani army's 12th Corps headquarters in Quetta, a city long used by Taliban fighters to mount attacks in Afghanistan's southern provinces. U.S. troops have staffed the Quetta facility only intermittently, U.S. officials said.
The closures have effectively stopped the U.S. training of the Frontier Corps, england soccer jersey a force that American officials had hoped could help halt infiltration of Taliban and other militants into Afghanistan, a senior U.S. military officer said.
The Frontier Corps' facility in Peshawar, staffed by a handful of U.S. special operations personnel, was located at Bala Hissar, an old fort, according to a classified U.S. Embassy cable from 2009 that was recently made public by WikiLeaks.
The cable, which was first disclosed by Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, hinted at U.S. hopes that special operations teams would be allowed to join the paramilitary units and the Special Services Group, a Pakistani army commando unit, in operations against militants.
"We have created Intelligence Fusion cells with embedded U.S. Special Forces with both the SSG and Frontier Corps" at Bala Hissar, spain soccer jersey Peshawar, the 2009 cable says. "But we have not been given Pakistani military permission to accompany the Pakistani forces on deployments as yet. Through these embeds, we are assisting the Pakistanis [to] collect and coordinate existing intelligence assets."
Another U.S. Embassy cable said that a "U.S. Special Operations Command Force" was providing the Frontier Corps with "imagery, target packages and operational planning" in a campaign against Taliban insurgents in Lower Dir, an area of northwest Pakistan considered an insurgent stronghold.
In September 2009, then U.S. ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, wrote in another classified message that the fusion cells provided "enhanced capacity to share real-time intelligence with units engaged in counter-insurgency operations" and were "a significant step forward for the Pakistan military."
The intelligence fusion cell in Quetta was not nearly as active as the facilities in Peshawar, brazil soccer jersey current and former U.S. officials said. Pakistan has long resisted pressure to intensify operations against Taliban militants in Quetta. The city, capital of Baluchistan, is outside the tribal area, which explains Pakistan's reluctance to permit a permanent U.S. military presence, a U.S. official said.
Despite the ongoing tensions, Pakistani authorities have agreed to allow a CIA team to inspect the compound where Bin Laden was killed, according to a U.S. official. The Pakistanis have signaled they will allow U.S. intelligence analysts to examine documents and other material that Pakistani authorities found at the site.
A U.S. official briefed on intelligence matters said the reams of documents and electronic data that the SEALs seized at the compound have sparked "dozens" of intelligence investigations and have produced new insights into schisms among Al Qaeda leaders.
2011年5月25日星期三
More Severe Weather Expected Across Region Pummeled Tuesday
Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas picked up the pieces after damaging storms and tornadoes moved through Tuesday night, but national weather forecasters predicted more severe weather Wednesday evening for parts of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys.
Around 7:03 p.m. central time, trained weather spotters reported a tornado near midtown Memphis, Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service.
Tornado warnings were issued for eastern Arkansas, Authentic Soccer Jerseys areas of western Tennessee and southeast Missouri.
The jet stream disturbance that was partly responsible for Tuesday's tornado outbreak could cause storms on Wednesday eveningfrom Louisiana northeastward to the lower Great Lakes region, according to a statement from the weather service. Numerous tornadoes were expected to develop, accompanied by widespread damaging winds and large hail, in a region that stretches from northern Mississippi, across parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana, all the way to central and southern Illinois.
Huge swathes of the region have face a "particularly dangerous situation," arsenal jersey according to designations by the weather agency. This means that destructive tornadoes, hail up to 3 inches in diameter, wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and dangerous lightening are possible.
This is bad news for an area still reeling from deadly storms that rolled through less than 24 hours earlier.
Sixteen people were killed by the latest string of severe storms. Ten were in Oklahoma, four in Arkansas and two in Kansas, authorities said.
In Arkansas' Franklin County, chelsea jersey a tornado touched down shortly after midnight, killing at least two people, according to Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The two other deaths were in Johnson County, said Renee Preslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
In Stafford County, Kansas, two motorists died when an uprooted tree slammed into their van, according to the state adjutant general's office.
In Oklahoma, seven people were killed in Canadian County, according to Sheriff Randall Edwards.
Ronnie Funck, barcelona jersey a spokesman for the county emergency management office, said more than 100 people were injured.
Two people died in Oklahoma's Logan County, and one was killed in Grady County, according to Cherokee Ballard with the state medical examiner's office.
A 3-year-old who went missing during the ferocious weather in Canadian County remains unaccounted for.
Ryan Hamil was with his mother and his siblings in their home when the storm hit, said Pam Capener, the boy's great-aunt. "Cole, the 15-month-old, did not survive," she said. "Cathleen, who is 5, is in the hospital in stable condition."
Their mother, spain soccer jersey Catherine Hamil, "has a lot of broken bones, bruises and cuts, but I believe she's stable now, last I heard," Capener said. Hamil is pregnant, and her baby is due in October, she said. "They did get the heartbeat of the baby yesterday, so the baby's stable."
The children's father, Catherine's husband Hank Hamil, was out of town Tuesday but has returned and is searching for Ryan, Capener said.
"Last I heard, they're searching a 16-mile stretch," she said.
She added that she believes the family had taken refuge in a bathtub when the storm barreled through. "I don't know if they were thrown out," she said.
The family has started a fund to raise money for hospital expenses. The Hamil Family Assistance Fund already had $2,225 in pledges even though it was created only Wednesday.
Teams of rescuers were out Wednesday continuing the search on both land and water.
But there were unexpected tales of joy amid the devastation and destruction.
In Piedmont, Oklahoma, brazil soccer jersey a family now has its beloved dog, Roxie, back, even if there isn't a home to bring her to.
Frank Wood said he was forced to shut the door to their safe room Tuesday evening with Roxie still outside. "I couldn't get her," he told CNN. "The storm was basically just circulating right around the corner. I didn't really have a choice. She just kept running away from me. She was so scared and skittish."
When Wood and his two children emerged, the house had been ripped to shreds, and Roxie was nowhere to be seen.
She was found the next morning, however, at a work site nearly two miles from the Woods' family home. Chesapeake Energy worker David Franco scooped up the boxer and got Woods number from Roxie's tag.
It's been a historic tornado season in the U.S. More than 500 people have been killed, according to figures from the National Weather Service and local authorities. That makes 2011 the deadliest season since 1953, when 519 people were killed in twisters.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency Wednesday in 68 Oklahoma counties hit by the tornadoes and other severe weather. Only nine counties in the state were not included in the declaration.
"Our hearts go out to those who lost their loved ones in the storms last night, argentina soccer jersey and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all the families and communities that have been affected," Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
"These historic storms have highlighted the incredible resolve of the American people, especially the first responders, emergency workers, firefighters, volunteers and neighbors who have been working around the clock for days to respond to these storms and conduct search and rescue efforts. Their efforts have been extraordinary," he said.
Chickasha, Oklahoma, is one of the towns where a tornado was spotted Tuesday night.
"Thank God we weren't (there)," said Pastor Gary Rogers of the Grand Assembly of God church in Chickasha. "No one was there." Half the church's roof was torn off, he said.
Twenty-four hours later, the church would have been bustling with Wednesday activities, he said.
Chickasha is about 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
The tornado "came right past the store," said Chickasha AutoZone employee Nathaniel Charlton. "They had a little debris thrown across the parking lot. It was on the ground, but it wasn't bad."
The tornado that passed through Chickasha also damaged several other communities.
Jeremy Morrison, a truck driver from McAlester, Oklahoma, was hauling a load of freight to Oklahoma City Tuesday night when he spotted a twister. He pulled over and started climbing out of his truck, preparing to enter a ditch for safety, when the tornado disappeared from his sight, he said. He then climbed back into the truck and was set to keep driving when the tornado suddenly struck, lifting the entire rig and throwing it onto its side.
Morrison fell out of the window -- or was sucked out, he's not sure which. He said he ran to check on a nearby car, where he found two people hiding underneath.
Morrison survived with a fractured shoulder bone, he said. His trailer was destroyed.
Aerial video of the incident was captured by CNN affiliate KOCO.
"We could see debris in the radar returns we were receiving, and that gave us a good indication the tornado was strong and large," said Steve Piltz, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, adding that the tornado was anywhere from a half-mile to a mile wide.
The powerful storms also struck Joplin, Missouri, where a weekend tornado killed more than 120 people, making it the deadliest single U.S. twister since modern record-keeping began 61 years ago.
The city was briefly under a tornado warning late Tuesday before it was raked by blustery winds and peppered with lightning.
Around 7:03 p.m. central time, trained weather spotters reported a tornado near midtown Memphis, Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service.
Tornado warnings were issued for eastern Arkansas, Authentic Soccer Jerseys areas of western Tennessee and southeast Missouri.
The jet stream disturbance that was partly responsible for Tuesday's tornado outbreak could cause storms on Wednesday eveningfrom Louisiana northeastward to the lower Great Lakes region, according to a statement from the weather service. Numerous tornadoes were expected to develop, accompanied by widespread damaging winds and large hail, in a region that stretches from northern Mississippi, across parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana, all the way to central and southern Illinois.
Huge swathes of the region have face a "particularly dangerous situation," arsenal jersey according to designations by the weather agency. This means that destructive tornadoes, hail up to 3 inches in diameter, wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and dangerous lightening are possible.
This is bad news for an area still reeling from deadly storms that rolled through less than 24 hours earlier.
Sixteen people were killed by the latest string of severe storms. Ten were in Oklahoma, four in Arkansas and two in Kansas, authorities said.
In Arkansas' Franklin County, chelsea jersey a tornado touched down shortly after midnight, killing at least two people, according to Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The two other deaths were in Johnson County, said Renee Preslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
In Stafford County, Kansas, two motorists died when an uprooted tree slammed into their van, according to the state adjutant general's office.
In Oklahoma, seven people were killed in Canadian County, according to Sheriff Randall Edwards.
Ronnie Funck, barcelona jersey a spokesman for the county emergency management office, said more than 100 people were injured.
Two people died in Oklahoma's Logan County, and one was killed in Grady County, according to Cherokee Ballard with the state medical examiner's office.
A 3-year-old who went missing during the ferocious weather in Canadian County remains unaccounted for.
Ryan Hamil was with his mother and his siblings in their home when the storm hit, said Pam Capener, the boy's great-aunt. "Cole, the 15-month-old, did not survive," she said. "Cathleen, who is 5, is in the hospital in stable condition."
Their mother, spain soccer jersey Catherine Hamil, "has a lot of broken bones, bruises and cuts, but I believe she's stable now, last I heard," Capener said. Hamil is pregnant, and her baby is due in October, she said. "They did get the heartbeat of the baby yesterday, so the baby's stable."
The children's father, Catherine's husband Hank Hamil, was out of town Tuesday but has returned and is searching for Ryan, Capener said.
"Last I heard, they're searching a 16-mile stretch," she said.
She added that she believes the family had taken refuge in a bathtub when the storm barreled through. "I don't know if they were thrown out," she said.
The family has started a fund to raise money for hospital expenses. The Hamil Family Assistance Fund already had $2,225 in pledges even though it was created only Wednesday.
Teams of rescuers were out Wednesday continuing the search on both land and water.
But there were unexpected tales of joy amid the devastation and destruction.
In Piedmont, Oklahoma, brazil soccer jersey a family now has its beloved dog, Roxie, back, even if there isn't a home to bring her to.
Frank Wood said he was forced to shut the door to their safe room Tuesday evening with Roxie still outside. "I couldn't get her," he told CNN. "The storm was basically just circulating right around the corner. I didn't really have a choice. She just kept running away from me. She was so scared and skittish."
When Wood and his two children emerged, the house had been ripped to shreds, and Roxie was nowhere to be seen.
She was found the next morning, however, at a work site nearly two miles from the Woods' family home. Chesapeake Energy worker David Franco scooped up the boxer and got Woods number from Roxie's tag.
It's been a historic tornado season in the U.S. More than 500 people have been killed, according to figures from the National Weather Service and local authorities. That makes 2011 the deadliest season since 1953, when 519 people were killed in twisters.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency Wednesday in 68 Oklahoma counties hit by the tornadoes and other severe weather. Only nine counties in the state were not included in the declaration.
"Our hearts go out to those who lost their loved ones in the storms last night, argentina soccer jersey and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all the families and communities that have been affected," Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
"These historic storms have highlighted the incredible resolve of the American people, especially the first responders, emergency workers, firefighters, volunteers and neighbors who have been working around the clock for days to respond to these storms and conduct search and rescue efforts. Their efforts have been extraordinary," he said.
Chickasha, Oklahoma, is one of the towns where a tornado was spotted Tuesday night.
"Thank God we weren't (there)," said Pastor Gary Rogers of the Grand Assembly of God church in Chickasha. "No one was there." Half the church's roof was torn off, he said.
Twenty-four hours later, the church would have been bustling with Wednesday activities, he said.
Chickasha is about 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
The tornado "came right past the store," said Chickasha AutoZone employee Nathaniel Charlton. "They had a little debris thrown across the parking lot. It was on the ground, but it wasn't bad."
The tornado that passed through Chickasha also damaged several other communities.
Jeremy Morrison, a truck driver from McAlester, Oklahoma, was hauling a load of freight to Oklahoma City Tuesday night when he spotted a twister. He pulled over and started climbing out of his truck, preparing to enter a ditch for safety, when the tornado disappeared from his sight, he said. He then climbed back into the truck and was set to keep driving when the tornado suddenly struck, lifting the entire rig and throwing it onto its side.
Morrison fell out of the window -- or was sucked out, he's not sure which. He said he ran to check on a nearby car, where he found two people hiding underneath.
Morrison survived with a fractured shoulder bone, he said. His trailer was destroyed.
Aerial video of the incident was captured by CNN affiliate KOCO.
"We could see debris in the radar returns we were receiving, and that gave us a good indication the tornado was strong and large," said Steve Piltz, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, adding that the tornado was anywhere from a half-mile to a mile wide.
The powerful storms also struck Joplin, Missouri, where a weekend tornado killed more than 120 people, making it the deadliest single U.S. twister since modern record-keeping began 61 years ago.
The city was briefly under a tornado warning late Tuesday before it was raked by blustery winds and peppered with lightning.
SPOTLIGHT: Teen who lost legs plays soccer, swims
Her mind foggy from a concussion, her body recovering from one surgery after the next and her soul adjusting to the idea of life without her left leg or childhood friend, Lexi Youngberg felt broken.
The emptiness briefly consumed the St. Charles teen as she lay in her hospital bed with no memory of the accident that put her there, Custom Soccer Jerseys listening as her mom described the otherwise beautiful September 2009 evening on Michigan's Spring Lake.
How a ski boat full of teenagers going 50 mph ran over the Sea Doo carrying Lexi and her two longtime friends.
How the collision knocked her unconscious and severed her leg mid-shin.
How the friend, 15-year-old Robby Jerovsek, was crushed and died in the water.
She'd never get to do anything again, Lexi recalls saying.
But she knew the words weren't true as soon as she uttered them, ac milan jersey and right then she decided to accept her new reality and try to excel in it. She figured God doesn't make mistakes, and He wasn't about to start with her.
More than 20 months later, the Wheaton Academy senior -- a stylish social butterfly, arsenal jersey talented varsity soccer player and devout Christian -- continues to embrace her new path and the different models of prosthetic legs she's using to walk it.
"Some people don't believe that I'm happy, that my smile's not genuine, that I don't get discouraged and depressed, that I never lose my faith," said Lexi, now 18. "Well, believe it. That's just me."
From the beginning, Lexi made it her mission to blow past milestones doctors thought might take her a lifetime of struggle to achieve.
By Thanksgiving after the accident, chelsea jersey she was walking without crutches, thumbing her nose at the recommendation to use a cane. She rotates between customized athletic, dress, wakeboard and swimming legs, and soon will add a fifth prosthetic for running.
"I toughed it out," she said. "What girl my age wants to use a cane? My friends gave me piggyback rides if the pain was too much to take."
This spring, thanks to her unparalleled work ethic and countless rehab and training sessions, Lexi left the sideline where she'd spent all of last season for a spot on the soccer field as a forward for the Wheaton Academy Warriors.
Her tactical game has changed, of course, england soccer jersey as has the team's approach around her.
Instead of playing outside midfielder where long passes and lots of running are required, she's moved to a center spot up front so there's less ground to cover. And she has to come off the field several times during a game to wipe away sweat that pools in her prosthesis.
Despite her limitations, coach Scott Marksberry said he has yet to read an ounce of frustration, spain soccer jersey negativity or disappointment on Lexi's face. He recalls an especially difficult preseason workout last spring when Lexi, just a few months removed from the accident, jumped in.
"Somebody was complaining about how tough it was, and then we all realized Lexi was doing the core work and push-ups, too," Marksberry said. "Her resolve to come back has eliminated anybody else's ability to complain."
When she plays, Robby, the Michigan friend who, brazil soccer jersey before he died, told others to leave him and check on Lexi, is never far from her heart.
She wears a neon green band with his initials on her left shoe, while her teammates wear a band with the word "promise," a reference to one of Lexi's favorite Bible verses.
The emptiness briefly consumed the St. Charles teen as she lay in her hospital bed with no memory of the accident that put her there, Custom Soccer Jerseys listening as her mom described the otherwise beautiful September 2009 evening on Michigan's Spring Lake.
How a ski boat full of teenagers going 50 mph ran over the Sea Doo carrying Lexi and her two longtime friends.
How the collision knocked her unconscious and severed her leg mid-shin.
How the friend, 15-year-old Robby Jerovsek, was crushed and died in the water.
She'd never get to do anything again, Lexi recalls saying.
But she knew the words weren't true as soon as she uttered them, ac milan jersey and right then she decided to accept her new reality and try to excel in it. She figured God doesn't make mistakes, and He wasn't about to start with her.
More than 20 months later, the Wheaton Academy senior -- a stylish social butterfly, arsenal jersey talented varsity soccer player and devout Christian -- continues to embrace her new path and the different models of prosthetic legs she's using to walk it.
"Some people don't believe that I'm happy, that my smile's not genuine, that I don't get discouraged and depressed, that I never lose my faith," said Lexi, now 18. "Well, believe it. That's just me."
From the beginning, Lexi made it her mission to blow past milestones doctors thought might take her a lifetime of struggle to achieve.
By Thanksgiving after the accident, chelsea jersey she was walking without crutches, thumbing her nose at the recommendation to use a cane. She rotates between customized athletic, dress, wakeboard and swimming legs, and soon will add a fifth prosthetic for running.
"I toughed it out," she said. "What girl my age wants to use a cane? My friends gave me piggyback rides if the pain was too much to take."
This spring, thanks to her unparalleled work ethic and countless rehab and training sessions, Lexi left the sideline where she'd spent all of last season for a spot on the soccer field as a forward for the Wheaton Academy Warriors.
Her tactical game has changed, of course, england soccer jersey as has the team's approach around her.
Instead of playing outside midfielder where long passes and lots of running are required, she's moved to a center spot up front so there's less ground to cover. And she has to come off the field several times during a game to wipe away sweat that pools in her prosthesis.
Despite her limitations, coach Scott Marksberry said he has yet to read an ounce of frustration, spain soccer jersey negativity or disappointment on Lexi's face. He recalls an especially difficult preseason workout last spring when Lexi, just a few months removed from the accident, jumped in.
"Somebody was complaining about how tough it was, and then we all realized Lexi was doing the core work and push-ups, too," Marksberry said. "Her resolve to come back has eliminated anybody else's ability to complain."
When she plays, Robby, the Michigan friend who, brazil soccer jersey before he died, told others to leave him and check on Lexi, is never far from her heart.
She wears a neon green band with his initials on her left shoe, while her teammates wear a band with the word "promise," a reference to one of Lexi's favorite Bible verses.
2011年5月24日星期二
Chaos swirls in Yemen's capital
SANAA, Yemen -- Yemen's capital city sank toward anarchy Tuesday as rival armies fought pitched battles in a neighborhood of middle-class homes and government offices in the worst violence to sweep this city since anti-government protests began nearly four months ago.
Forces loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shelled the compound of the country's leading tribal sheikh, Custom Soccer Jerseys while forces loyal to Sheikh Sadeq al Ahmar stormed nearby government buildings.
By Tuesday evening, the Interior Ministry was in flames and the Ministry of Industry and the offices of Yemenia Airlines and the Saba news agency were severely damaged. Transiting the city was nearly impossible, and many people were trapped away from their homes as night fell.
At least 38 people were killed Tuesday, including one tribal sheikh taking part in mediation efforts at Ahmar's house.
"It is total war," ac milan jersey said one resident of the district where Ahmar's house is located, describing both sides as leveling heavy artillery and rocket-propelled grenades at one another. "It is even worse than yesterday."
Protesters who've occupied a sprawling camp near the entrance to Sanaa University since February were not involved in the combat, but the sit-in's generally festive atmosphere gave way to anxiety.
"We are worried, of course, we are worried," said Mohamed Nasser, one of the protest movement's leaders. "If they attack the sit-in, who will protect us?"
What touched off the fighting remained unclear. On Sunday, arsenal jersey Saleh refused to sign an agreement, brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council, that would have led to his exit from power after 32 years in the presidency. But that refusal wasn't seen as the direct cause of the fighting, which erupted outside Ahmar's house on Monday.
Neither side offered an explanation for what had sparked the battle, but both sides said the other was responsible for the provocation.
The fighting underscored the complexity of Yemen's political landscape, chelsea jersey which features not only the months-long sit-in against Saleh, but long-running secession battles in the north and south, an Islamist insurrection that features an al-Qaida affiliate, as well as a myriad of tribal rivalries and alliances.
Sheikh Ahmar declared support for anti-Saleh demonstrators in March - despite the fact that his father, england soccer jersey Abdullah, had been a close Saleh ally. When his father died, Ahmar became the leader of the powerful Hashid tribal federation, and his family's relationship with Saleh has grown increasingly tense.
The open fighting stoked fears that the country, once one of the United States' closest allies in the war on terrorism, would suffer a complete collapse of security. Yemen has the world's second highest rate of gun ownership and most tribal leaders command the loyalty of their own bands of armed tribesman.
Hundreds of tribesman joined Tuesday's fighting on Ahmar's side, spain soccer jersey and there were reports that hundreds more might be heading toward the city from the sheikh's powerbase northwest of the capital in the town of Amran.
Yet many anti-government tribesmen also reiterated their commitment to non-violent protest.
"When we came to the square, we left our guns at home," said Ahmed Ismail Sharifeldin, a member of the Hamdan tribe, a part of the Hashid federation, who joined the anti-government sit-in near the university with members of his village in February. "We do not plan on going back to get them."
Still, the fighting, though fierce, remained concentrated in a single district in Sanaa, and demonstrators took pains to express their dedication to remaining out of it.
"The fighting remains between tribes," brazil soccer jersey said Adel al Surabi, a spokesman for Yemen's youthful demonstrators. "While we respect the right of someone to defend their house against attack, we remain committed to our peaceful revolution. Unfortunately, however, it seems that Ali Abdullah Saleh will not leave the country without burning it."
Gregory Johnsen, a Princeton-based Yemen expert, echoed Surabi, saying Saleh is increasingly desperate about remaining in power.
"Today's event show that Saleh's back is now against the wall," he said. "Judging from today's events, it appears that things will likely escalate from here."
Baron is a McClatchy special correspondent.
Forces loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shelled the compound of the country's leading tribal sheikh, Custom Soccer Jerseys while forces loyal to Sheikh Sadeq al Ahmar stormed nearby government buildings.
By Tuesday evening, the Interior Ministry was in flames and the Ministry of Industry and the offices of Yemenia Airlines and the Saba news agency were severely damaged. Transiting the city was nearly impossible, and many people were trapped away from their homes as night fell.
At least 38 people were killed Tuesday, including one tribal sheikh taking part in mediation efforts at Ahmar's house.
"It is total war," ac milan jersey said one resident of the district where Ahmar's house is located, describing both sides as leveling heavy artillery and rocket-propelled grenades at one another. "It is even worse than yesterday."
Protesters who've occupied a sprawling camp near the entrance to Sanaa University since February were not involved in the combat, but the sit-in's generally festive atmosphere gave way to anxiety.
"We are worried, of course, we are worried," said Mohamed Nasser, one of the protest movement's leaders. "If they attack the sit-in, who will protect us?"
What touched off the fighting remained unclear. On Sunday, arsenal jersey Saleh refused to sign an agreement, brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council, that would have led to his exit from power after 32 years in the presidency. But that refusal wasn't seen as the direct cause of the fighting, which erupted outside Ahmar's house on Monday.
Neither side offered an explanation for what had sparked the battle, but both sides said the other was responsible for the provocation.
The fighting underscored the complexity of Yemen's political landscape, chelsea jersey which features not only the months-long sit-in against Saleh, but long-running secession battles in the north and south, an Islamist insurrection that features an al-Qaida affiliate, as well as a myriad of tribal rivalries and alliances.
Sheikh Ahmar declared support for anti-Saleh demonstrators in March - despite the fact that his father, england soccer jersey Abdullah, had been a close Saleh ally. When his father died, Ahmar became the leader of the powerful Hashid tribal federation, and his family's relationship with Saleh has grown increasingly tense.
The open fighting stoked fears that the country, once one of the United States' closest allies in the war on terrorism, would suffer a complete collapse of security. Yemen has the world's second highest rate of gun ownership and most tribal leaders command the loyalty of their own bands of armed tribesman.
Hundreds of tribesman joined Tuesday's fighting on Ahmar's side, spain soccer jersey and there were reports that hundreds more might be heading toward the city from the sheikh's powerbase northwest of the capital in the town of Amran.
Yet many anti-government tribesmen also reiterated their commitment to non-violent protest.
"When we came to the square, we left our guns at home," said Ahmed Ismail Sharifeldin, a member of the Hamdan tribe, a part of the Hashid federation, who joined the anti-government sit-in near the university with members of his village in February. "We do not plan on going back to get them."
Still, the fighting, though fierce, remained concentrated in a single district in Sanaa, and demonstrators took pains to express their dedication to remaining out of it.
"The fighting remains between tribes," brazil soccer jersey said Adel al Surabi, a spokesman for Yemen's youthful demonstrators. "While we respect the right of someone to defend their house against attack, we remain committed to our peaceful revolution. Unfortunately, however, it seems that Ali Abdullah Saleh will not leave the country without burning it."
Gregory Johnsen, a Princeton-based Yemen expert, echoed Surabi, saying Saleh is increasingly desperate about remaining in power.
"Today's event show that Saleh's back is now against the wall," he said. "Judging from today's events, it appears that things will likely escalate from here."
Baron is a McClatchy special correspondent.
Chrysler Pays Back Rescue Loan
Chrysler paid back on Tuesday $7.6 billion in loans from the American and Canadian governments, paving the way for its Italian partner, Fiat, to increase its control over the Detroit carmaker.
The repayment of loans and interest owed to the United States Treasury and Export Development Canada is a significant milestone in Chrysler’s methodical comeback from bankruptcy in 2009.
Now the company’s revival will enter a new phase that depends heavily on its alliance with Fiat, Authentic Soccer Jerseys which on Tuesday increased its stake in Chrysler to 46 percent, from 30 percent.
Fiat will most likely increase its ownership to 51 percent by the end of the year. Terms of Chrysler’s federal bailout allow the Italian company to gain an additional 5 percent interest when a prototype of a new fuel-efficient compact car is ready for production in the United States.
Sergio Marchionne, who is chief executive of both auto companies, arsenal jersey said the new car should be completed by December and would be produced beginning next year at a Chrysler plant in Illinois.
“It’s my intention for us to have the car ready by the fourth quarter,” Mr. Marchionne said at a ceremony marking the loan repayments.
Mr. Marchionne was joined at the event by Ron A. Bloom and Brian Deese, chelsea jersey two members of the auto task force that was assembled by President Obama to shepherd Chrysler and General Motors through bankruptcy reorganization with taxpayer aid.
Many people in the auto industry were skeptical that Chrysler could survive even after its financial bailout.
But at the ceremony held at a Chrysler plant outside Detroit, Mr. Marchionne said the company had defied the odds by turning out new, improved products that are being sold at a profit.
“We have collectively found the strength to fight against this death sentence placed on our company from the very beginning,” Mr. Marchionne said to the cheers of hundreds of workers at the plant in Sterling Heights, Mich.
Mr. Marchionne made his remarks in front of a red, barcelona jersey white and blue sign that said “PAID” in huge letters. Retiring its government loans will not only save Chrysler an estimated $350 million a year in interest payments, but it should also bolster its image in the eyes of American consumers.
“The loans are no longer a negative in the marketplace,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with the research firm IHS Automotive. “It also frees up more cash for them to build a better product.”
Chrysler was able to repay the loans because it had negotiated new financing with a consortium of investment banks that includes a term loan of $3 billion, debt securities totaling $3.2 billion and a revolving credit facility of $1.3 billion.
The loan repayment was also helped by funds from Fiat, which paid Chrysler $1.3 billion to increase its stake to 46 percent.
Chrysler was not obligated to pay back its United States loans until 2017. In a statement, President Obama said that the early repayment was further proof that government intervention in Detroit’s troubles was a prudent decision.
“While there is more work to be done, spain soccer jersey we are starting to see stronger sales, additional shifts at plants and signs of strength in the auto industry and our economy,” the president said.
Mr. Bloom, who is now the president’s special assistant on manufacturing policy, said Chrysler’s comeback had happened “more quickly than we had hoped.”
The Treasury Department still holds a 6.6 percent stake in Chrysler, which it could begin selling when Chrysler holds a public stock offering.
Mr. Marchionne said he was committed to the stock offering, but had not yet set a timetable.
Mr. Bloom said the government would be “opportunistic” in divesting itself of its shares but declined to predict a time frame.
With the loan repayments behind it, Chrysler can now concentrate on maintaining its slow but steady resurgence in the marketplace.
Sales at Chrysler rose 22.5 percent through the first four months of this year, brazil soccer jersey compared with a 19.6 percent increase for the overall American market. Much of the gains have resulted from new models like revamped versions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicle and Chrysler 300 sedan.
But for the longer term, Chrysler needs more competitive small and midsize cars based on Fiat technology to broaden its product mix.
“Chrysler’s alliance with Fiat is crucial to its survival,” argentina soccer jersey said Bruce Clark, a senior vice president at Moody’s Investors Service. “The union is vital to rebuilding Chrysler’s product portfolio and sustaining its business model.”
One worker at Tuesday’s ceremony said Chrysler’s Italian partner was so far doing a much better job integrating with the company than one of its previous owners, the German carmaker Daimler.
“There’s just a whole different feeling to it,” said Russell Bell, an electrician who has worked for Chrysler since 1973. “Fiat coming in was probably the lifeline that we needed.”
The repayment of loans and interest owed to the United States Treasury and Export Development Canada is a significant milestone in Chrysler’s methodical comeback from bankruptcy in 2009.
Now the company’s revival will enter a new phase that depends heavily on its alliance with Fiat, Authentic Soccer Jerseys which on Tuesday increased its stake in Chrysler to 46 percent, from 30 percent.
Fiat will most likely increase its ownership to 51 percent by the end of the year. Terms of Chrysler’s federal bailout allow the Italian company to gain an additional 5 percent interest when a prototype of a new fuel-efficient compact car is ready for production in the United States.
Sergio Marchionne, who is chief executive of both auto companies, arsenal jersey said the new car should be completed by December and would be produced beginning next year at a Chrysler plant in Illinois.
“It’s my intention for us to have the car ready by the fourth quarter,” Mr. Marchionne said at a ceremony marking the loan repayments.
Mr. Marchionne was joined at the event by Ron A. Bloom and Brian Deese, chelsea jersey two members of the auto task force that was assembled by President Obama to shepherd Chrysler and General Motors through bankruptcy reorganization with taxpayer aid.
Many people in the auto industry were skeptical that Chrysler could survive even after its financial bailout.
But at the ceremony held at a Chrysler plant outside Detroit, Mr. Marchionne said the company had defied the odds by turning out new, improved products that are being sold at a profit.
“We have collectively found the strength to fight against this death sentence placed on our company from the very beginning,” Mr. Marchionne said to the cheers of hundreds of workers at the plant in Sterling Heights, Mich.
Mr. Marchionne made his remarks in front of a red, barcelona jersey white and blue sign that said “PAID” in huge letters. Retiring its government loans will not only save Chrysler an estimated $350 million a year in interest payments, but it should also bolster its image in the eyes of American consumers.
“The loans are no longer a negative in the marketplace,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with the research firm IHS Automotive. “It also frees up more cash for them to build a better product.”
Chrysler was able to repay the loans because it had negotiated new financing with a consortium of investment banks that includes a term loan of $3 billion, debt securities totaling $3.2 billion and a revolving credit facility of $1.3 billion.
The loan repayment was also helped by funds from Fiat, which paid Chrysler $1.3 billion to increase its stake to 46 percent.
Chrysler was not obligated to pay back its United States loans until 2017. In a statement, President Obama said that the early repayment was further proof that government intervention in Detroit’s troubles was a prudent decision.
“While there is more work to be done, spain soccer jersey we are starting to see stronger sales, additional shifts at plants and signs of strength in the auto industry and our economy,” the president said.
Mr. Bloom, who is now the president’s special assistant on manufacturing policy, said Chrysler’s comeback had happened “more quickly than we had hoped.”
The Treasury Department still holds a 6.6 percent stake in Chrysler, which it could begin selling when Chrysler holds a public stock offering.
Mr. Marchionne said he was committed to the stock offering, but had not yet set a timetable.
Mr. Bloom said the government would be “opportunistic” in divesting itself of its shares but declined to predict a time frame.
With the loan repayments behind it, Chrysler can now concentrate on maintaining its slow but steady resurgence in the marketplace.
Sales at Chrysler rose 22.5 percent through the first four months of this year, brazil soccer jersey compared with a 19.6 percent increase for the overall American market. Much of the gains have resulted from new models like revamped versions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicle and Chrysler 300 sedan.
But for the longer term, Chrysler needs more competitive small and midsize cars based on Fiat technology to broaden its product mix.
“Chrysler’s alliance with Fiat is crucial to its survival,” argentina soccer jersey said Bruce Clark, a senior vice president at Moody’s Investors Service. “The union is vital to rebuilding Chrysler’s product portfolio and sustaining its business model.”
One worker at Tuesday’s ceremony said Chrysler’s Italian partner was so far doing a much better job integrating with the company than one of its previous owners, the German carmaker Daimler.
“There’s just a whole different feeling to it,” said Russell Bell, an electrician who has worked for Chrysler since 1973. “Fiat coming in was probably the lifeline that we needed.”
N.B.A. Union Fires First In Complaint To Labor Board
The legal maneuvering in the N.B.A.’s labor battle began in earnest Tuesday, when the players union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing league officials of failing to negotiate in good faith.
The one-page complaint charges the N.B.A. with making “grossly regressive contract demands,” Custom Soccer Jerseys of failing to provide the union with critical financial data and with repeatedly threatening to lock out players in the absence of a new collective bargaining agreement.
The N.B.A. immediately dismissed the complaint as having no merit and asserted that it has complied with federal labor laws.
This is likely to be the first in a series of legal salvos as the N.B.A. ac milan jersey and the players association try to break a 16-month stalemate. The current labor agreement, adopted in 2005, is set to expire June 30. There is little hope on either side that a lockout can be avoided.
But the players’ complaint with the N.L.R.B. is, at least in part, an attempt to prevent the league from locking them out in July, said Gabe Feldman, the director of sports law at Tulane University, who called this “a pre-emptive strike.”
He added, “I think the N.B.A. players are now looking for some tactic, barcelona jersey some strategy, to give them leverage at the bargaining table.”
The alternative would be for the union to decertify, as the N.F.L. players union did in March. Decertification opens the door for the players to sue the league on antitrust grounds, but it carries substantial risks. The union has laid the groundwork to decertify in the event of a lockout. But if the players win a favorable ruling from the N.L.R.B., they might avoid that path. The objective in both strategies is to force the league back to the negotiating table.
“I think we’re likely to see the players try all possible weapons here, and this is just one weapon,” Feldman said of the N.L.R.B. complaint. “I think this is just the beginning of the labor battle.”
The N.L.R.B. is known to move at a deliberate pace and, in Feldman’s view, england soccer jersey is unlikely to issue a ruling before the collective bargaining agreement expires in six weeks.
“But this is at least another weapon the players have at their disposal,” he said.
N.B.A. officials claim the league is losing more than $300 million a year. argentina soccer jersey They are seeking an overhaul of the economic system, including a 38 percent rollback in player salaries — amounting to about $800 million. Owners also want a hard salary cap to replace the current “soft-cap” system, and they want team payrolls reduced to $45 million, from $58 million.
The players’ counterproposal would generally retain the current system, but with an offer to reduce their 57 percent guarantee of league revenues. Both parties consider the other’s proposal to be unworkable.
League officials recently presented a modified offer in which the proposed cuts would be phased in over two years, chelsea jersey rather than instituted immediately. The union scoffed at the offer.
With no indication that either side will budge soon, the union filed its complaint, contending the N.B.A. has violated the National Labor Relations Act.
In the one-page complaint, the union accuses the N.B.A. of making “harsh, inflexible and grossly regressive takeaway demands” spain soccer jersey without offering “appropriate tradeoffs;” “engaging in classic take-it-or-leave-it and surface bargaining” that is intended to provoke a lockout and “coerce” players into accepting the league’s proposal; failing to provide “relevant financial information;” “repeatedly threatening” to lock out the players; and “making demands and threats that are inherently destructive to the collective bargaining process.”
League officials are also accused of bypassing the union to deal directly with players.
The N.B.A. responded in a statement: “There is no merit to the charge filed today by the players association with the National Labor Relations Board, as we have complied — and will continue to comply — with all of our obligations under the federal labor laws. It will not distract us from our efforts to negotiate in good faith a new collective bargaining agreement with the players association.”
The one-page complaint charges the N.B.A. with making “grossly regressive contract demands,” Custom Soccer Jerseys of failing to provide the union with critical financial data and with repeatedly threatening to lock out players in the absence of a new collective bargaining agreement.
The N.B.A. immediately dismissed the complaint as having no merit and asserted that it has complied with federal labor laws.
This is likely to be the first in a series of legal salvos as the N.B.A. ac milan jersey and the players association try to break a 16-month stalemate. The current labor agreement, adopted in 2005, is set to expire June 30. There is little hope on either side that a lockout can be avoided.
But the players’ complaint with the N.L.R.B. is, at least in part, an attempt to prevent the league from locking them out in July, said Gabe Feldman, the director of sports law at Tulane University, who called this “a pre-emptive strike.”
He added, “I think the N.B.A. players are now looking for some tactic, barcelona jersey some strategy, to give them leverage at the bargaining table.”
The alternative would be for the union to decertify, as the N.F.L. players union did in March. Decertification opens the door for the players to sue the league on antitrust grounds, but it carries substantial risks. The union has laid the groundwork to decertify in the event of a lockout. But if the players win a favorable ruling from the N.L.R.B., they might avoid that path. The objective in both strategies is to force the league back to the negotiating table.
“I think we’re likely to see the players try all possible weapons here, and this is just one weapon,” Feldman said of the N.L.R.B. complaint. “I think this is just the beginning of the labor battle.”
The N.L.R.B. is known to move at a deliberate pace and, in Feldman’s view, england soccer jersey is unlikely to issue a ruling before the collective bargaining agreement expires in six weeks.
“But this is at least another weapon the players have at their disposal,” he said.
N.B.A. officials claim the league is losing more than $300 million a year. argentina soccer jersey They are seeking an overhaul of the economic system, including a 38 percent rollback in player salaries — amounting to about $800 million. Owners also want a hard salary cap to replace the current “soft-cap” system, and they want team payrolls reduced to $45 million, from $58 million.
The players’ counterproposal would generally retain the current system, but with an offer to reduce their 57 percent guarantee of league revenues. Both parties consider the other’s proposal to be unworkable.
League officials recently presented a modified offer in which the proposed cuts would be phased in over two years, chelsea jersey rather than instituted immediately. The union scoffed at the offer.
With no indication that either side will budge soon, the union filed its complaint, contending the N.B.A. has violated the National Labor Relations Act.
In the one-page complaint, the union accuses the N.B.A. of making “harsh, inflexible and grossly regressive takeaway demands” spain soccer jersey without offering “appropriate tradeoffs;” “engaging in classic take-it-or-leave-it and surface bargaining” that is intended to provoke a lockout and “coerce” players into accepting the league’s proposal; failing to provide “relevant financial information;” “repeatedly threatening” to lock out the players; and “making demands and threats that are inherently destructive to the collective bargaining process.”
League officials are also accused of bypassing the union to deal directly with players.
The N.B.A. responded in a statement: “There is no merit to the charge filed today by the players association with the National Labor Relations Board, as we have complied — and will continue to comply — with all of our obligations under the federal labor laws. It will not distract us from our efforts to negotiate in good faith a new collective bargaining agreement with the players association.”
2011年5月23日星期一
MP Fuels Debate on Privacy Law
LONDON—The debate over whether Britain's controversial privacy laws can survive in the digital age escalated Monday as a politician publicly cited a Manchester United soccer star who thousands of Twitter Inc. users claim has obtained a court order to prevent the media from publishing allegations of an affair.
In Parliament on Monday, Authentic Soccer Jerseys Liberal Democrat politician John Hemming referred to thousands of Twitter users who have used tweets to claim that the soccer star is the unnamed person who obtained a court-ordered injunction barring publication of his name in connection with an alleged affair with a reality-TV star.
"With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter, it is obviously impracticable to imprison them all," Mr. Hemming said. Parliamentary privilege provides legal guarantees of free speech in Parliament.
The case highlights the growing tension in the U.K. as courts, arsenal jersey politicians and the media battle over whether the integrity of the privacy injunctions can be maintained at a time when the Internet and social networking make it easy to violate such orders.
Under U.K. law, which seeks to balance freedom of the press with privacy, celebrities and other individuals can obtain court orders that prevent the press from reporting the details of embarrassing revelations about a person's life. In some instances, the orders are granted in an anonymous form so the media can't reveal the identity of the person who obtained them.
In recent months, chelsea jersey the media have mounted an increasingly vocal campaign claiming that such orders, known as injunctions, impinge on press freedoms. They also argue that the system is unfair, because they are bound by the injunctions in a way that bloggers and tweeters are not.
The injunctions apply to publications generally. However, there is a legal debate about whether they can apply to websites that might be based elsewhere.
But lawyers for the public figures who have obtained injunctions argue that individuals—including famous people—should be entitled to privacy, including from the aggressive British tabloid press.
As the debate rages about whether the current laws are desirable, barcelona jersey there has been increasing criticism from both camps about whether they are actually workable. In recent weeks, users of Twitter and other social-media websites have published the names of several celebrities they claim have obtained injunctions. One widely circulated name is the well-known Manchester United soccer player, Mr. Giggs.
Mr. Hemming, the member of Parliament, couldn't be reached to comment.
A representative for Manchester United couldn't be reached to comment.
In April, a soccer star identified as a married man with a family obtained an injunction against a woman in the U.K. and News Group Newspapers Ltd.
News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal,spain soccer jersey also owns News Group Newspapers.
Such injunctions often name just one media outlet as a defendant, but they apply generally to all media.
The order prevents the publication of the name of the soccer player, who is identified only by the anonymous initials CTB, and also of any account of the alleged relationship. His soccer club isn't identified. Solicitors for CTB didn't respond to a request to comment.
News Group Newspapers has asked the court to drop the injunction, on the grounds that there has been such widespread coverage on the Internet.
On Monday, a judge declined to end the injunction, brazil soccer jersey saying the question is whether the reasons to reveal the claimant's identity outweighed "the legitimate interests of himself and his family in maintaining anonymity." Added the judge: "the answer is as yet in the negative."
A spokeswoman for News Group Newspapers declined to comment.
Last week, an action was filed in London's High Court by someone identified as CTB seeking to obtain details of a Twitter user or users. Twitter has declined to comment on the court action.
Digital media has "made a bit of an ass of the law," the U.K.'s culture secretary, argentina soccer jersey Jeremy Hunt, said at a Google Inc. conference in London last week.
He added that the situation in which newspapers weren't able to print information that was freely available on the Internet was "unsustainable."
Also last week, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said in Parliament that the government is looking into the issue, but was cautious on the idea of new privacy legislation, adding that it would likely be a long and controversial process and that no one appeared to have the "perfect answer" to balancing rights to privacy with a free press. He said there may be other ways to tackle the issue.
In Parliament on Monday, Authentic Soccer Jerseys Liberal Democrat politician John Hemming referred to thousands of Twitter users who have used tweets to claim that the soccer star is the unnamed person who obtained a court-ordered injunction barring publication of his name in connection with an alleged affair with a reality-TV star.
"With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter, it is obviously impracticable to imprison them all," Mr. Hemming said. Parliamentary privilege provides legal guarantees of free speech in Parliament.
The case highlights the growing tension in the U.K. as courts, arsenal jersey politicians and the media battle over whether the integrity of the privacy injunctions can be maintained at a time when the Internet and social networking make it easy to violate such orders.
Under U.K. law, which seeks to balance freedom of the press with privacy, celebrities and other individuals can obtain court orders that prevent the press from reporting the details of embarrassing revelations about a person's life. In some instances, the orders are granted in an anonymous form so the media can't reveal the identity of the person who obtained them.
In recent months, chelsea jersey the media have mounted an increasingly vocal campaign claiming that such orders, known as injunctions, impinge on press freedoms. They also argue that the system is unfair, because they are bound by the injunctions in a way that bloggers and tweeters are not.
The injunctions apply to publications generally. However, there is a legal debate about whether they can apply to websites that might be based elsewhere.
But lawyers for the public figures who have obtained injunctions argue that individuals—including famous people—should be entitled to privacy, including from the aggressive British tabloid press.
As the debate rages about whether the current laws are desirable, barcelona jersey there has been increasing criticism from both camps about whether they are actually workable. In recent weeks, users of Twitter and other social-media websites have published the names of several celebrities they claim have obtained injunctions. One widely circulated name is the well-known Manchester United soccer player, Mr. Giggs.
Mr. Hemming, the member of Parliament, couldn't be reached to comment.
A representative for Manchester United couldn't be reached to comment.
In April, a soccer star identified as a married man with a family obtained an injunction against a woman in the U.K. and News Group Newspapers Ltd.
News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal,spain soccer jersey also owns News Group Newspapers.
Such injunctions often name just one media outlet as a defendant, but they apply generally to all media.
The order prevents the publication of the name of the soccer player, who is identified only by the anonymous initials CTB, and also of any account of the alleged relationship. His soccer club isn't identified. Solicitors for CTB didn't respond to a request to comment.
News Group Newspapers has asked the court to drop the injunction, on the grounds that there has been such widespread coverage on the Internet.
On Monday, a judge declined to end the injunction, brazil soccer jersey saying the question is whether the reasons to reveal the claimant's identity outweighed "the legitimate interests of himself and his family in maintaining anonymity." Added the judge: "the answer is as yet in the negative."
A spokeswoman for News Group Newspapers declined to comment.
Last week, an action was filed in London's High Court by someone identified as CTB seeking to obtain details of a Twitter user or users. Twitter has declined to comment on the court action.
Digital media has "made a bit of an ass of the law," the U.K.'s culture secretary, argentina soccer jersey Jeremy Hunt, said at a Google Inc. conference in London last week.
He added that the situation in which newspapers weren't able to print information that was freely available on the Internet was "unsustainable."
Also last week, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said in Parliament that the government is looking into the issue, but was cautious on the idea of new privacy legislation, adding that it would likely be a long and controversial process and that no one appeared to have the "perfect answer" to balancing rights to privacy with a free press. He said there may be other ways to tackle the issue.
Joakim Noah fined $50K
MIAMI -- Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 on Monday for directing an anti-gay slur at a fan during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, and vowed to learn from the incident.
The NBA released its decision hours after speaking with Noah, Custom Soccer Jerseys saying the fine was "for using a derogatory and offensive term from the bench."
The fine is only half of what Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant was assessed for shouting the same slur toward a referee last month, and the league said the discrepancy was because the sanction against Bryant was based on both what he said -- and who he said it to.
"Kobe's fine included discipline for verbal abuse of a game official," NBA spokesman Mark Broussard said.
Noah and NBA officials met Monday morning. ac milan jersey Noah said he emerged from that talk prepared to "pay the price" for what happened when he returned to the bench with two fouls midway through the first quarter of Sunday night's game against the Miami Heat.
That price turned out to be 1.6 percent of his roughly $3.1 million salary this season. Noah agreed to an extension last year, worth about $60 million through the 2015-16 season.
Meanwhile, arsenal jersey two major advocacy groups quickly called upon the league to both sanction Noah and help further educate players on the topic.
"The fan said something that was disrespectful towards me," Noah said, about five hours before the fine was announced. "And I went back at him. Got it on camera. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm not like that. I'm an open-minded guy. I said the wrong thing and I'm going to pay the consequences -- deal with the consequences -- like a man. I don't want to be a distraction to the team right now."
Television cameras captured Noah saying an expletive, chelsea jersey followed by the slur. Noah said he did not realize the gravity of the situation until he was questioned by reporters after the game Sunday, adding that he meant "no disrespect" to anyone.
Bryant was fined $100,000 last month, and just last week, Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts revealed he was gay, a rare acknowledgement for someone holding a prominent position in men's sports.
"We know what business we are in," Heat forward LeBron James said Monday. "Emotions get played. ... I don't think it was right what he said. But emotions do get said over the course of the game. We know there's going to be microphones. We know there's going to be cameras around. You just have to be cautious about what you say and just try to control your emotions as much as possible."
The Heat won Sunday's game 96-85, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Miami.
"As far as I'm concerned, england soccer jersey it's another teachable moment," Welts said. "It should generate more intelligent dialogue. We've been afraid to talk about it and we're not afraid to talk about it anymore. I'm proud that the NBA has taken the approach that it has.
"I had the pleasure of having dinner with Noah in the run-up to the draft when he came into the league and I found him to be a very humble, very kind, genuine human being. So I do have this personal connection with him and because of that I feel a little sorry for him that he finds himself in this situation. ... The intention of the words were to sting, but there has to be understanding that the words carry a weight beyond that."
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, said it reached out to the NBA and the Bulls on Monday "to discuss next steps," and called upon the league to reiterate to its players that anti-gay words should not be tolerated in the game.
"Last month the NBA sent an important message about how such slurs fuel a climate of intolerance and are unacceptable," spain soccer jersey GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in a statement. "These anti-gay remarks, coming so soon after, demonstrate how much needs to be done."
GLAAD said it has started a partnership with Bryant and the Lakers following the April incident in Los Angeles. Also Monday, the Human Rights Campaign called Noah's use of the slur "just plain unacceptable."
"At a time when the NBA and a growing number of pro-athletes are publicly standing up for equality, it's too bad Mr. Noah worked against their efforts last night," HRC President Joe Solmonese said. "That said, we're pleased he quickly realized the error of his ways and apologized."
Some of Noah's teammates stood up for him Monday, saying that the fan went too far in whatever comments were directed toward the Bulls' bench. Taj Gibson said the man repeatedly directed verbal abuse toward the Bulls, and other players insisted that was true.
"It wasn't just one time or two times," said Bulls forward Luol Deng, who declined to say what comments the fan may have made. "He just kept going and it became really annoying. He just lost his temper."
Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said he was not aware of exactly what took place in the bench area, but noted it happens somewhat regularly.
"That's a part of the game," Boozer said. brazil soccer jersey "Fans have the right to say what they want to say after they buy their tickets. Unfortunately sometimes, for us, we just have to sit there and take it. Unfortunately, that's part of sports."
Noah repeated often Monday that he was apologetic for the incident. He said he would "learn from my mistakes," and acknowledged that being frustrated over picking up his second foul did not excuse his words.
"I'll remember," Noah said. "I'll remember it for a long time."
The NBA released its decision hours after speaking with Noah, Custom Soccer Jerseys saying the fine was "for using a derogatory and offensive term from the bench."
The fine is only half of what Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant was assessed for shouting the same slur toward a referee last month, and the league said the discrepancy was because the sanction against Bryant was based on both what he said -- and who he said it to.
"Kobe's fine included discipline for verbal abuse of a game official," NBA spokesman Mark Broussard said.
Noah and NBA officials met Monday morning. ac milan jersey Noah said he emerged from that talk prepared to "pay the price" for what happened when he returned to the bench with two fouls midway through the first quarter of Sunday night's game against the Miami Heat.
That price turned out to be 1.6 percent of his roughly $3.1 million salary this season. Noah agreed to an extension last year, worth about $60 million through the 2015-16 season.
Meanwhile, arsenal jersey two major advocacy groups quickly called upon the league to both sanction Noah and help further educate players on the topic.
"The fan said something that was disrespectful towards me," Noah said, about five hours before the fine was announced. "And I went back at him. Got it on camera. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm not like that. I'm an open-minded guy. I said the wrong thing and I'm going to pay the consequences -- deal with the consequences -- like a man. I don't want to be a distraction to the team right now."
Television cameras captured Noah saying an expletive, chelsea jersey followed by the slur. Noah said he did not realize the gravity of the situation until he was questioned by reporters after the game Sunday, adding that he meant "no disrespect" to anyone.
Bryant was fined $100,000 last month, and just last week, Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts revealed he was gay, a rare acknowledgement for someone holding a prominent position in men's sports.
"We know what business we are in," Heat forward LeBron James said Monday. "Emotions get played. ... I don't think it was right what he said. But emotions do get said over the course of the game. We know there's going to be microphones. We know there's going to be cameras around. You just have to be cautious about what you say and just try to control your emotions as much as possible."
The Heat won Sunday's game 96-85, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Miami.
"As far as I'm concerned, england soccer jersey it's another teachable moment," Welts said. "It should generate more intelligent dialogue. We've been afraid to talk about it and we're not afraid to talk about it anymore. I'm proud that the NBA has taken the approach that it has.
"I had the pleasure of having dinner with Noah in the run-up to the draft when he came into the league and I found him to be a very humble, very kind, genuine human being. So I do have this personal connection with him and because of that I feel a little sorry for him that he finds himself in this situation. ... The intention of the words were to sting, but there has to be understanding that the words carry a weight beyond that."
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, said it reached out to the NBA and the Bulls on Monday "to discuss next steps," and called upon the league to reiterate to its players that anti-gay words should not be tolerated in the game.
"Last month the NBA sent an important message about how such slurs fuel a climate of intolerance and are unacceptable," spain soccer jersey GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said in a statement. "These anti-gay remarks, coming so soon after, demonstrate how much needs to be done."
GLAAD said it has started a partnership with Bryant and the Lakers following the April incident in Los Angeles. Also Monday, the Human Rights Campaign called Noah's use of the slur "just plain unacceptable."
"At a time when the NBA and a growing number of pro-athletes are publicly standing up for equality, it's too bad Mr. Noah worked against their efforts last night," HRC President Joe Solmonese said. "That said, we're pleased he quickly realized the error of his ways and apologized."
Some of Noah's teammates stood up for him Monday, saying that the fan went too far in whatever comments were directed toward the Bulls' bench. Taj Gibson said the man repeatedly directed verbal abuse toward the Bulls, and other players insisted that was true.
"It wasn't just one time or two times," said Bulls forward Luol Deng, who declined to say what comments the fan may have made. "He just kept going and it became really annoying. He just lost his temper."
Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said he was not aware of exactly what took place in the bench area, but noted it happens somewhat regularly.
"That's a part of the game," Boozer said. brazil soccer jersey "Fans have the right to say what they want to say after they buy their tickets. Unfortunately sometimes, for us, we just have to sit there and take it. Unfortunately, that's part of sports."
Noah repeated often Monday that he was apologetic for the incident. He said he would "learn from my mistakes," and acknowledged that being frustrated over picking up his second foul did not excuse his words.
"I'll remember," Noah said. "I'll remember it for a long time."
2011年5月22日星期日
Brain research new 'moon shot,' Patrick Kennedy says
In a push to advance brain science, luminaries from the world of health, politics, business, Authentic Soccer Jerseys and the non-profit sector will gather next week in Boston to create a 10-year plan that many hope will lead to a deeper understanding of brain conditions and new treatments.
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of late Mass. Sen. Edward Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, is co-chairman of the One Mind for Research Scientific Forum, which runs Monday through Wednesday.
The forum, which Kennedy calls a "moon shot into the mind," arsenal jersey launches on the eve of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's challenge to send a man to the moon within a decade.
"We're trying to introduce a new paradigm bringing in the metaphor of my uncle's call-to-action for going to the moon," says Patrick Kennedy, chelsea jersey 43, who retired from Congress in 2010. "We're trying to repurpose that branding to something I believe is equally important."
Kennedy, who has grappled with depression and addiction and whose father died of brain cancer two years ago, says he and his family have always had an interest in brain issues. "My family's entire legacy has been interwoven with advocacy for destigmatization of these illnesses, as well as advancing research into these illnesses."
He hopes the meeting will generate a 10-year plan that speeds the path to cures and treatments for brain diseases, barcelona jersey and spurs collaboration between those in the neurosciences.
The brain health of war veterans is at the top of the agenda, he says.
"Whether it's literally saving our vets from their tragic suicide rates — which some months are greater than the number of soldiers we're losing in battle — or addressing Alzheimer's or autism, what we're saying essentially is science is the only means to taking care of the people we love," says Kennedy.
Among big names planning to attend: National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, spain soccer jersey vice president Joseph Biden, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and actor and health advocate Martin Sheen, among others.
Attendees look forward to the diverse group the conference is attracting and the chance to address a spectrum of neurological problems that still have limited treatments, including schizophrenia and depression.
"This is a wonderful opportunity … a kind of forum to interact with advocacy groups, bench scientists,brazil soccer jersey clinical researchers, coalitions, the NIH, and those who have been affected," says Maurizio Fava, executive vice chair of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "I think it would be great if we came up with a plan of action where we come out with ideas on what the next steps should be, what we should focus on in next decade."
Kennedy says shrinking funding for brain research is a major concern, but connecting leaders and patients can help streamline the current "fragmented" approach to understanding and treating brain conditions.
"The knowledge we do possess — which is vast — is isolated in silos, brazil soccer jersey and incentives for research and collaboration are lacking," he says.
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of late Mass. Sen. Edward Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, is co-chairman of the One Mind for Research Scientific Forum, which runs Monday through Wednesday.
The forum, which Kennedy calls a "moon shot into the mind," arsenal jersey launches on the eve of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's challenge to send a man to the moon within a decade.
"We're trying to introduce a new paradigm bringing in the metaphor of my uncle's call-to-action for going to the moon," says Patrick Kennedy, chelsea jersey 43, who retired from Congress in 2010. "We're trying to repurpose that branding to something I believe is equally important."
Kennedy, who has grappled with depression and addiction and whose father died of brain cancer two years ago, says he and his family have always had an interest in brain issues. "My family's entire legacy has been interwoven with advocacy for destigmatization of these illnesses, as well as advancing research into these illnesses."
He hopes the meeting will generate a 10-year plan that speeds the path to cures and treatments for brain diseases, barcelona jersey and spurs collaboration between those in the neurosciences.
The brain health of war veterans is at the top of the agenda, he says.
"Whether it's literally saving our vets from their tragic suicide rates — which some months are greater than the number of soldiers we're losing in battle — or addressing Alzheimer's or autism, what we're saying essentially is science is the only means to taking care of the people we love," says Kennedy.
Among big names planning to attend: National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, spain soccer jersey vice president Joseph Biden, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and actor and health advocate Martin Sheen, among others.
Attendees look forward to the diverse group the conference is attracting and the chance to address a spectrum of neurological problems that still have limited treatments, including schizophrenia and depression.
"This is a wonderful opportunity … a kind of forum to interact with advocacy groups, bench scientists,brazil soccer jersey clinical researchers, coalitions, the NIH, and those who have been affected," says Maurizio Fava, executive vice chair of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "I think it would be great if we came up with a plan of action where we come out with ideas on what the next steps should be, what we should focus on in next decade."
Kennedy says shrinking funding for brain research is a major concern, but connecting leaders and patients can help streamline the current "fragmented" approach to understanding and treating brain conditions.
"The knowledge we do possess — which is vast — is isolated in silos, brazil soccer jersey and incentives for research and collaboration are lacking," he says.
Analysts Wary of LinkedIn’s Stock Surge
In a sizzling debut last week on the New York Stock Exchange, investors sent stock in LinkedIn, the social-networking site for business professionals, soaring 109 percent on its first day of trading. While the enthusiasm subsided a tad the next day, LinkedIn’s shares still closed the week at around $93, more than twice the company’s initial offering price. This put the value of the company, which made $15 million in profit last year, at more than $8 billion.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, the debate was whether this stunning performance echoed the late 1990s, when the bubble around dot-com companies began to inflate. On its first day of trading in 1995, Netscape stock doubled in price. Yahoo shares rose 154 percent on its 1996 offering. TheGlobe.com shot up to $97 from $9 in its first day of trading in 1998, giving it a valuation of about $850 million.
LinkedIn’s first-day trading gain was the fifth highest since 2001, Custom Soccer Jerseys but the top three were Chinese Internet stocks like Baidu, which zoomed 354 percent on its debut in 2005, with Nymex No. 4.
“In both cases, the Internet bubble of the late 1990s and now, investors are assigning some very optimistic valuations,” said Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida.
Still, many people are hesitant to proclaim that the markets are on the cusp of another tech bubble or that the markets are returning to the days when unprofitable new companies could be valued at billions of dollars. In those days, companies without earnings were assessed with measurements like “eyeballs,” the number of people who visited a site; “stickiness,” how long they visited; and even “mindshare,” how aware the public was of the company or category.
“LinkedIn is not a company you have to value on page views. ac milan jersey We’re not talking about a start-up here,” said Matt Therian, a research analyst at Renaissance Capital, based in Greenwich, Conn. “This is a company that grew revenues by 110 percent in the first quarter and, on top of that, it’s actually turned a profit.”
By far, the hottest segment of the Internet market is social media companies. The social buying site Groupon, which raised $1 billion from investors in January, is said to be considering an offering that could value the company at $20 billion.
And the barometer for the segment, Facebook, arsenal jersey which is widely expected to go public next year, has rocketed higher in the private secondary markets with its shares trading at an implied valuation of as much as $80 billion in recent months.
As the first social media company out of the gates into the public markets, LinkedIn benefited from all of the attention Facebook has ginned up.
“Do you really imagine that LinkedIn could have gotten this valuation if not for the excitement of Facebook?” asked Kevin Landis, the chief investment officer of Firsthand Funds, which rode the tech boom and bust a decade ago. “I don’t know anybody who could make that case.”
LinkedIn’s valuation, many analysts say, chelsea jersey is partly a function of investor demand for all things social media but also related to the fact that a limited number of shares — nine million — were issued. Those shares traded 30 million times in the first day.
Initial public offerings remain rare now, and this scarcity can drive up prices. Only 154 companies went public in 2010, and 63 have so far this year, compared with 486 in 1999.
Of course, the big question is whether LinkedIn is destined to become the next Google or Amazon, or whether it is another TheGlobe.com, which was a penny stock by 2001, when the dot-com bubble burst.
At LinkedIn’s current valuation, england soccer jersey investors are clearly betting the company will show phenomenal growth, analysts say. LinkedIn is trading at about 554 times last year’s earnings of $15 million (the company posted losses in 2008 and 2009).
That compares with a price-to-trailing-earnings ratio of 149 when Google made its debut in the markets or, in a more extreme example, the 947.5 ratio eBay received in its first day of trading, according to data from Mr. Ritter.
Price-to-earnings comparisons for other hot Internet companies, like TheGlobe.com or even Netscape on their opening days, are difficult as they did not have any earnings.
By another closely watched measurement, LinkedIn is trading at around 25 times this year’s expected sales, said Rick Summer, a senior equity analyst at the Chicago research firm Morningstar.
That’s high, and Mr. Summer spain soccer jersey says LinkedIn could increase its revenue to $1.5 billion in five years, from $243 million last year. That makes LinkedIn worth about $27 a share, by his estimate.
With LinkedIn shares trading at $93, investors are betting the company’s revenue will rise to $4 billion in five years, Mr. Summer said.
Impossible? No. Difficult? Yes, say analysts.
But that valuation makes sense if an investor believes someone would pay even more for the stock. And that’s how bubbles form.
LinkedIn, which has about 100 million members, brazil soccer jersey does have a revenue model. It offers what is called a freemium business model: users can create free profiles or they can pay a subscription fee for a premium account with special features.
LinkedIn also charges businesses and recruiters for hiring. Although the company is still growing quickly, it faces tough competition from other sites, like the job listing services Monster and CareerBuilder.
The company has repeatedly said it plans to invest in its platform, at the expense of short-term profit, a move that is potentially good for the company over the years, but could make it tough for investors to justify current market valuations, analysts warn.
Mr. Summer said, “We think it’s a very good financial model and a good business, but at these valuations, it’s potentially, ‘Watch out below.’ ”
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, the debate was whether this stunning performance echoed the late 1990s, when the bubble around dot-com companies began to inflate. On its first day of trading in 1995, Netscape stock doubled in price. Yahoo shares rose 154 percent on its 1996 offering. TheGlobe.com shot up to $97 from $9 in its first day of trading in 1998, giving it a valuation of about $850 million.
LinkedIn’s first-day trading gain was the fifth highest since 2001, Custom Soccer Jerseys but the top three were Chinese Internet stocks like Baidu, which zoomed 354 percent on its debut in 2005, with Nymex No. 4.
“In both cases, the Internet bubble of the late 1990s and now, investors are assigning some very optimistic valuations,” said Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida.
Still, many people are hesitant to proclaim that the markets are on the cusp of another tech bubble or that the markets are returning to the days when unprofitable new companies could be valued at billions of dollars. In those days, companies without earnings were assessed with measurements like “eyeballs,” the number of people who visited a site; “stickiness,” how long they visited; and even “mindshare,” how aware the public was of the company or category.
“LinkedIn is not a company you have to value on page views. ac milan jersey We’re not talking about a start-up here,” said Matt Therian, a research analyst at Renaissance Capital, based in Greenwich, Conn. “This is a company that grew revenues by 110 percent in the first quarter and, on top of that, it’s actually turned a profit.”
By far, the hottest segment of the Internet market is social media companies. The social buying site Groupon, which raised $1 billion from investors in January, is said to be considering an offering that could value the company at $20 billion.
And the barometer for the segment, Facebook, arsenal jersey which is widely expected to go public next year, has rocketed higher in the private secondary markets with its shares trading at an implied valuation of as much as $80 billion in recent months.
As the first social media company out of the gates into the public markets, LinkedIn benefited from all of the attention Facebook has ginned up.
“Do you really imagine that LinkedIn could have gotten this valuation if not for the excitement of Facebook?” asked Kevin Landis, the chief investment officer of Firsthand Funds, which rode the tech boom and bust a decade ago. “I don’t know anybody who could make that case.”
LinkedIn’s valuation, many analysts say, chelsea jersey is partly a function of investor demand for all things social media but also related to the fact that a limited number of shares — nine million — were issued. Those shares traded 30 million times in the first day.
Initial public offerings remain rare now, and this scarcity can drive up prices. Only 154 companies went public in 2010, and 63 have so far this year, compared with 486 in 1999.
Of course, the big question is whether LinkedIn is destined to become the next Google or Amazon, or whether it is another TheGlobe.com, which was a penny stock by 2001, when the dot-com bubble burst.
At LinkedIn’s current valuation, england soccer jersey investors are clearly betting the company will show phenomenal growth, analysts say. LinkedIn is trading at about 554 times last year’s earnings of $15 million (the company posted losses in 2008 and 2009).
That compares with a price-to-trailing-earnings ratio of 149 when Google made its debut in the markets or, in a more extreme example, the 947.5 ratio eBay received in its first day of trading, according to data from Mr. Ritter.
Price-to-earnings comparisons for other hot Internet companies, like TheGlobe.com or even Netscape on their opening days, are difficult as they did not have any earnings.
By another closely watched measurement, LinkedIn is trading at around 25 times this year’s expected sales, said Rick Summer, a senior equity analyst at the Chicago research firm Morningstar.
That’s high, and Mr. Summer spain soccer jersey says LinkedIn could increase its revenue to $1.5 billion in five years, from $243 million last year. That makes LinkedIn worth about $27 a share, by his estimate.
With LinkedIn shares trading at $93, investors are betting the company’s revenue will rise to $4 billion in five years, Mr. Summer said.
Impossible? No. Difficult? Yes, say analysts.
But that valuation makes sense if an investor believes someone would pay even more for the stock. And that’s how bubbles form.
LinkedIn, which has about 100 million members, brazil soccer jersey does have a revenue model. It offers what is called a freemium business model: users can create free profiles or they can pay a subscription fee for a premium account with special features.
LinkedIn also charges businesses and recruiters for hiring. Although the company is still growing quickly, it faces tough competition from other sites, like the job listing services Monster and CareerBuilder.
The company has repeatedly said it plans to invest in its platform, at the expense of short-term profit, a move that is potentially good for the company over the years, but could make it tough for investors to justify current market valuations, analysts warn.
Mr. Summer said, “We think it’s a very good financial model and a good business, but at these valuations, it’s potentially, ‘Watch out below.’ ”
2011年5月20日星期五
Tyler Hamilton hands over gold medal
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Tyler Hamilton turned over his 2004 cycling gold medal to the United States Anti-Doping Agency on Friday, putting Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov in line for an upgrade from silver.
The International Olympic Committee had said it could strip Hamilton of his time trial gold at the Athens Olympics after he told CBS' "60 Minutes" he doped and said Lance Armstrong did as well. But USADA released a statement Friday saying Hamilton had already handed over the medal.
"USADA continues its ongoing investigation into the sport of cycling,'' Authentic Soccer Jerseys USADA CEO Travis Tygart said in an emailed statement. "Where there is credible evidence of doping, a fair and thorough process exists for resolving such violations. We do not comment on the substance of an active investigation, but as always we remain committed to protecting the rights of clean athletes and preserving the integrity of sport."
Tygart added: "As stated by the IOC, I can confirm that Tyler Hamilton has given his gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games to USADA and that we will continue to work with the IOC and the USOC as appropriate concerning the final implications of our overall investigation."
The IOC can retroactively strip Olympic medals if proof of doping emerges later or an athlete admits to cheating. The IOC took away Marion Jones' five medals from the 2000 Sydney Games after she admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.
The IOC had provisionally investigated Hamilton for doping after he won in 2004. chelsea jersey An initial test at the Athens Games suggested the American had received an endurance-boosting blood transfusion. But the case was dropped after his backup sample was mistakenly frozen, leaving too few red blood cells to analyze.
In the interview with "60 Minutes," which will be aired more extensively Sunday, Hamilton said that he saw Armstrong use performance-enhancing drugs, including the banned blood-booster erythropoietin, in 1999 and two subsequent seasons to help prepare for the Tour de France.
"I saw (EPO) in his refrigerator .. I saw him inject it more than one time like we all did, like I did many, many times," Hamilton told Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes." "(Armstrong) took what we all took ... the majority of the peloton. There was EPO ... testosterone ... a blood transfusion."
"20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, barcelona jersey in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case," Armstrong tweeted Thursday night.
Armstrong told The Daily Beast website Friday that "60 Minutes" "basically reneged" on promises made to him, saying he "would not call (the '60 Minutes' producer) a straight shooter."
CBS News chairman Jeff Fager, brazil soccer jersey who is also executive producer of "60 Minutes," told The Daily Beast: "We have been so thorough and fair to Lance Armstrong."
Fager added: "We have shared with them every single allegation in our story ... This is a PR game. Our reporters have done a first-class job."
Hamilton, 40, wrote and sent a letter Thursday -- also provided to ESPN.com -- to his close friends and family in what he called a "long overdue" confession, admitting to his own doping history after years of vigorous denials.
"During my cycling career, argentina soccer jersey I knowingly broke the rules," Hamilton wrote. "I used performance-enhancing drugs. I lied about it, over and over. Worst of all, I hurt people I care about. And while there are reasons for what I did -- reasons I hope you'll understand better after watching ('60 Minutes') -- it doesn't excuse the fact that I did it all, and there's no way on earth to undo it."
Hamilton, who retired in April 2009 after announcing he had knowingly committed a second doping offense, had previously described his own and his famous teammate's alleged doping in six hours of closed-door testimony before a federal grand jury after being subpoenaed last July.
Hamilton told his family and friends in the letter that testifying before the grand jury felt like "the Hoover Dam breaking." In addition to clearing his own conscience, he said he elected to be interviewed by "60 Minutes" because he hopes it will help bring long-term change to a sport plagued by scandal, dishonesty and corruption.
Also Friday, two former Armstrong teammates told The Associated Press that they never saw Armstrong or Hamilton use banned substances. But Pascal Derame, a Frenchman who was on the 1999 Tour-winning team with Armstrong and Hamilton, said he wasn't in Armstrong's "inner circle."
"I never saw (Armstrong) take anything," arsenal jersey Derame said. "I cannot say what I didn't see."
Another former teammate of Armstrong and Hamilton, Steffen Kjaergaard of Norway, rode on U.S. Postal's Tour de France team in 2000 and 2001.
"I didn't feel any pressure of doing any prohibited thing to be stronger, to do doping," Kjaergaard said. "I didn't have any hints, 'You should do this. You should do that.'"
The Russian Olympic Committee failed in a 2006 appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have Hamilton's gold given to Ekimov, Hamilton's former U.S. Postal Service teammate.
Ekimov, spain soccer jersey a longtime member of Armstrong's U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel teams, already has two Olympic golds. He won in track team pursuit at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when the Soviet Union edged East Germany for gold. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he won the road time trial ahead of silver medalist Jan Ullrich and Armstrong in third for bronze.
Armstrong posted a message for Ekimov on his Twitter page late Thursday.
"Congratulations to @eki-ekimov on his 3rd Olympic Gold Medal!!" the seven-time Tour de France champion wrote.
The International Olympic Committee had said it could strip Hamilton of his time trial gold at the Athens Olympics after he told CBS' "60 Minutes" he doped and said Lance Armstrong did as well. But USADA released a statement Friday saying Hamilton had already handed over the medal.
"USADA continues its ongoing investigation into the sport of cycling,'' Authentic Soccer Jerseys USADA CEO Travis Tygart said in an emailed statement. "Where there is credible evidence of doping, a fair and thorough process exists for resolving such violations. We do not comment on the substance of an active investigation, but as always we remain committed to protecting the rights of clean athletes and preserving the integrity of sport."
Tygart added: "As stated by the IOC, I can confirm that Tyler Hamilton has given his gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games to USADA and that we will continue to work with the IOC and the USOC as appropriate concerning the final implications of our overall investigation."
The IOC can retroactively strip Olympic medals if proof of doping emerges later or an athlete admits to cheating. The IOC took away Marion Jones' five medals from the 2000 Sydney Games after she admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.
The IOC had provisionally investigated Hamilton for doping after he won in 2004. chelsea jersey An initial test at the Athens Games suggested the American had received an endurance-boosting blood transfusion. But the case was dropped after his backup sample was mistakenly frozen, leaving too few red blood cells to analyze.
In the interview with "60 Minutes," which will be aired more extensively Sunday, Hamilton said that he saw Armstrong use performance-enhancing drugs, including the banned blood-booster erythropoietin, in 1999 and two subsequent seasons to help prepare for the Tour de France.
"I saw (EPO) in his refrigerator .. I saw him inject it more than one time like we all did, like I did many, many times," Hamilton told Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes." "(Armstrong) took what we all took ... the majority of the peloton. There was EPO ... testosterone ... a blood transfusion."
"20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, barcelona jersey in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case," Armstrong tweeted Thursday night.
Armstrong told The Daily Beast website Friday that "60 Minutes" "basically reneged" on promises made to him, saying he "would not call (the '60 Minutes' producer) a straight shooter."
CBS News chairman Jeff Fager, brazil soccer jersey who is also executive producer of "60 Minutes," told The Daily Beast: "We have been so thorough and fair to Lance Armstrong."
Fager added: "We have shared with them every single allegation in our story ... This is a PR game. Our reporters have done a first-class job."
Hamilton, 40, wrote and sent a letter Thursday -- also provided to ESPN.com -- to his close friends and family in what he called a "long overdue" confession, admitting to his own doping history after years of vigorous denials.
"During my cycling career, argentina soccer jersey I knowingly broke the rules," Hamilton wrote. "I used performance-enhancing drugs. I lied about it, over and over. Worst of all, I hurt people I care about. And while there are reasons for what I did -- reasons I hope you'll understand better after watching ('60 Minutes') -- it doesn't excuse the fact that I did it all, and there's no way on earth to undo it."
Hamilton, who retired in April 2009 after announcing he had knowingly committed a second doping offense, had previously described his own and his famous teammate's alleged doping in six hours of closed-door testimony before a federal grand jury after being subpoenaed last July.
Hamilton told his family and friends in the letter that testifying before the grand jury felt like "the Hoover Dam breaking." In addition to clearing his own conscience, he said he elected to be interviewed by "60 Minutes" because he hopes it will help bring long-term change to a sport plagued by scandal, dishonesty and corruption.
Also Friday, two former Armstrong teammates told The Associated Press that they never saw Armstrong or Hamilton use banned substances. But Pascal Derame, a Frenchman who was on the 1999 Tour-winning team with Armstrong and Hamilton, said he wasn't in Armstrong's "inner circle."
"I never saw (Armstrong) take anything," arsenal jersey Derame said. "I cannot say what I didn't see."
Another former teammate of Armstrong and Hamilton, Steffen Kjaergaard of Norway, rode on U.S. Postal's Tour de France team in 2000 and 2001.
"I didn't feel any pressure of doing any prohibited thing to be stronger, to do doping," Kjaergaard said. "I didn't have any hints, 'You should do this. You should do that.'"
The Russian Olympic Committee failed in a 2006 appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have Hamilton's gold given to Ekimov, Hamilton's former U.S. Postal Service teammate.
Ekimov, spain soccer jersey a longtime member of Armstrong's U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel teams, already has two Olympic golds. He won in track team pursuit at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when the Soviet Union edged East Germany for gold. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he won the road time trial ahead of silver medalist Jan Ullrich and Armstrong in third for bronze.
Armstrong posted a message for Ekimov on his Twitter page late Thursday.
"Congratulations to @eki-ekimov on his 3rd Olympic Gold Medal!!" the seven-time Tour de France champion wrote.
Tens of thousands of protesters defy ban in Spain
Tens of thousands of people are defying a pre-election ban on demonstrations and protesting unemployment in squares around Spain in defiance of an order to quit at midnight.
The government avoided saying if it would order police to break up the crowds on Saturday, Custom Soccer Jerseys but at the stroke of midnight officers kept a discreet presence on the edges of the demonstrations.
Demonstrators kept quiet as city clocks chimed the beginning of a new day, many with sticky tape over their mouths in a gesture organizers said suggested they have things to say but were being gagged by the ban.
People are angry over Spain's high unemployment rate and what they see as the national political parties' ineptitude in dealing with a deep economic crisis. ac milan jersey Protesters built a camp in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square Sunday, a week ahead of nationwide elections. Since then good-natured, peaceful and colorful gatherings have sprung up and grown around the country under the banner of "Real Democracy Now."
Many protesters have said they were influenced by recent pro-democracy uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and one popular chant is "Join us."
Friday was the last day for candidates to campaign for the election for municipal and regional government positions in much of the country. arsenal jersey Citing the mandatory end of campaigning, the national election commission banned protests Saturday and on Sunday, voting day.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero did not say whether he would order police to break up demonstrations.
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba was also cagey about how the government would deal with the protesters, although he said the police would not act to make things worse.
Initially he said the government will "enforce the law," but he then toned down this stance, england soccer jersey saying "The police are not going to resolve one problem by creating another."
The ruling Socialist party is widely expected to suffer big losses at the polls, perhaps even in traditional strongholds, having been forced by the crisis to introduce austerity measures.
"They want to leave us without public health and public education. spain soccer jersey Half of our youth is unemployed and they have raised the age of retirement," said protester Natividad Garcia, who declined to give her age and profession.
The government is presiding over an economy struggling to overcome recession and create jobs to chip away at a 21.3 percent jobless rate, the highest in the eurozone.
In Spain, rallies called to urge people to vote one way or another are typically banned the day before an election, called "days of reflection."
The election commission was deeply divided this time, barcelona jersey and upheld the ban by just a one-vote margin. The panel was convened to give a blanket ruling for all of Spain because provincial election bodies had issued contradictory rulings, with some allowing protests this week and some banning them, as was the case in Madrid.
Organizers of the protests say that they have no party affiliation, are not trying to affect the election outcome in any way, argentina soccer jersey and are not even urging people to abstain from voting.
"Campaign posters are still going to be up, so why ban people from freely mingling to exchange ideas," said graphic designer Antonio Quiroga, 27.
The government avoided saying if it would order police to break up the crowds on Saturday, Custom Soccer Jerseys but at the stroke of midnight officers kept a discreet presence on the edges of the demonstrations.
Demonstrators kept quiet as city clocks chimed the beginning of a new day, many with sticky tape over their mouths in a gesture organizers said suggested they have things to say but were being gagged by the ban.
People are angry over Spain's high unemployment rate and what they see as the national political parties' ineptitude in dealing with a deep economic crisis. ac milan jersey Protesters built a camp in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square Sunday, a week ahead of nationwide elections. Since then good-natured, peaceful and colorful gatherings have sprung up and grown around the country under the banner of "Real Democracy Now."
Many protesters have said they were influenced by recent pro-democracy uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and one popular chant is "Join us."
Friday was the last day for candidates to campaign for the election for municipal and regional government positions in much of the country. arsenal jersey Citing the mandatory end of campaigning, the national election commission banned protests Saturday and on Sunday, voting day.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero did not say whether he would order police to break up demonstrations.
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba was also cagey about how the government would deal with the protesters, although he said the police would not act to make things worse.
Initially he said the government will "enforce the law," but he then toned down this stance, england soccer jersey saying "The police are not going to resolve one problem by creating another."
The ruling Socialist party is widely expected to suffer big losses at the polls, perhaps even in traditional strongholds, having been forced by the crisis to introduce austerity measures.
"They want to leave us without public health and public education. spain soccer jersey Half of our youth is unemployed and they have raised the age of retirement," said protester Natividad Garcia, who declined to give her age and profession.
The government is presiding over an economy struggling to overcome recession and create jobs to chip away at a 21.3 percent jobless rate, the highest in the eurozone.
In Spain, rallies called to urge people to vote one way or another are typically banned the day before an election, called "days of reflection."
The election commission was deeply divided this time, barcelona jersey and upheld the ban by just a one-vote margin. The panel was convened to give a blanket ruling for all of Spain because provincial election bodies had issued contradictory rulings, with some allowing protests this week and some banning them, as was the case in Madrid.
Organizers of the protests say that they have no party affiliation, are not trying to affect the election outcome in any way, argentina soccer jersey and are not even urging people to abstain from voting.
"Campaign posters are still going to be up, so why ban people from freely mingling to exchange ideas," said graphic designer Antonio Quiroga, 27.
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