All posts by Admin

Saturday, May 3, 2008

In a dominating performance, Big Brown triumphed in the 2008 Kentucky Derby. Jockey Kent Desormeaux gave Big Brown a stalking ride, even as he was 4-wide along the backstretch. Once they reached the top of the stretch, Big Brown grabbed the lead and won going away, 4 3/4 lengths away from filly Eight Belles. Desormeaux wins his third Kentucky Derby, while trainer Richard Dutrow savored his victory after having bragged about how well his horse is for the Derby.

Shortly after the race finished, Eight Belles collapsed on the backstretch, shattering her two front ankles. She was euthanized minutes later. Veterinarian Larry Bramlage conceded that “there was no possible way Eight Belles could be saved… that’s an injury that’s very painful.” The moment was bittersweet for trainer Larry Jones, who sent Eight Belle’s stablemate Proud Spell to victory in the Kentucky Oaks.

Sent off 2-1 as the post-time favorite, Big Brown paid $6.80 to win. The $2 exacta (20-5) paid $141.60. The $1 trifecta (20-5-16) paid a healthy $1,722.80 with 13-1 shot Denis of Cork, and the $1 superfecta (20-5-16-2) paid a very respectable $29,368.90 with 37-1 shot Tale of Ekati.

Big Brown is being pointed to run in the Preakness Stakes on May 17. However, few horses from this year’s Kentucky Derby are looking to follow, opting instead to run in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Thursday was the second day of play in the third test between Australia and India at the WACA, Perth, Australia.

India resumed their first innings at 6/297. Australia took the remaining four wickets before the lunch break. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (19) and Irfan Pathan (28) both fell lbw in successive overs. India reached 330 all out with the loss of Anil Kumble for one run and R. P. Singh for a duck.

Australia struggled early on as Irfan Pathan dismissed both Australian openers for less than ten runs each and Michael Hussey was caught behind without scoring. At lunch, Australia were 3/22. The next session, Australia played well, despite losing Ricky Ponting (20) and Michael Clarke (23), coming to the tea break with a score of 5/148. However, in the last session of the day India took five wickets, sending Australia all out with a score of 212 after fifty overs. Andrew Symonds was Australia’s top scorer with 66 runs, while Adam Gilchrist made 55. R. P. Singh took four wickets for India.

In reply, India are 1/52 at stumps having lost Wasim Jaffer for 11 runs just before the close of play.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Yao Jiaxin, a 21-year-old student at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music, was sentenced to death on Friday. Yao, from Xi’an in China’s Shaanxi province, was convicted of homicide after stabbing a cyclist to death.

On the night of October 20, 2010, Yao ran into 26-year-old cyclist and mother of a two-year-old, Zhang Miao, while driving his car. After he saw her writing down his vehicle’s license plate number following the accident, he feared she would report him, and proceeded to murder her by stabbing her six times. Prior to her murder, Zhang had suffered only minor injuries in the accident, according to police.

On October 23, after being accused of murdering her, Yao went to the local police station with his parents and confessed to the crime. He said he killed Zhang because she had seen his license plate number, and he feared that the “peasant woman would be hard to deal with.”

During a three-hour trial on March 23, 2011, Yao’s lawyer pleaded for a lenient sentence, saying it was a “crime of passion.” Yao tearfully described how he had been forced to play the piano, leading him to thoughts of suicide. But prosecutors and judges said Yao did not deserve leniency, as he had not attempted to help the woman after the accident but instead murdered her.

Public passions were raised and some thought Yao would get off through the influence of his family. The case triggered a public debate over the death penalty.

“The motive is extremely despicable … the measures are extremely cruel … and the consequence is extremely serious,” said the court in its judgment.

[edit]

Thursday, July 7, 2016

On Monday, Vicente del Bosque announced that he drop out from his post as a manager of the Spanish national football team. His contact is to expire at the end of July.

del Bosque said, “I will continue my duties until my contract runs out on 31 July and then I’m leaving. My decision is irreversible”. In UEFA Euro 2016, Spain lost 2–0 in the Last 16 knockout stage against Italy.

In his eight years of management, Vicente del Bosque became the most decorated Spanish coach winning the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa and defending the European Championship in 2012. Before del Bosque’s tenure, the 2008 Euro trophy was spain’s first major trophy in the last 44 years which Spain won under Luis Aragonés, Bosque’s predecessor.

del Bosque is to become a Royal Spanish Football Federation member. He has more than a 75% win record with 87 wins in 114 matches. 70 players including Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué, Álvaro Morata, and goalkeeper David de Gea debuted for Spain under del Bosque.

Before Bosque, Helmut Schön was the only manager to have won both FIFA World Cup and EURO Championship.

Monday, January 31, 2005

Metlife announced on 01/31/05 that they were going to acquire Travelers Life and Annuity from Citigroup. Travelers Life and Annuity is an insurance underwriter. MetLife is a large life insurance and annuities underwriter. MetLife will have to borrow a lot of money to pay for the company, so rating agencies like S&P warn that the AA credit rating of MetLife might be lowered. This would cause the interest rates at which all of MetLife’s debt must be repaid to increase.

Citigroup committed to continue distributing Travelers life insurance and annuities through its Smith Barney stock brokers, Primerica agents, and Citibank branches.

Citigroup was previously known as Travelers Insurance before it bought Citicorp. First the Property and Casualty business of Travelers was spun off, and now the life insurance division has been sold off. This is primarily because insurance underwriters get a lower price to earnings multiple from the stock market because of the cycles and uncertainty associated with the insurance business. Also, having an insurance underwriter and a bank together does not usually create “cross-sell” opportunities, because consumers and businesses almost always buy life insurance and annuities through brokers who have a duty to give them other options. Citigroup will continue to sell insurance through its brokers as before.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

An animal rights protestor who left home-made petrol bombs at buildings of the University of Oxford has been jailed for ten years. Mel Broughton, a prominent member of the campaign group SPEAK, had denied the charges of conspiracy to commit arson and possession of an article with intent to destroy property, but the jury at Oxford Crown Court found him guilty by unanimous verdict after deliberating for over five hours.

Broughton made his devices using water bottles and sparklers. He put one on the roof of a cricket pavilion belonging to The Queen’s College in November 2006, and two under a portable cabin at Templeton College in February 2007. The device at the cricket pavilion, which contained twelve litres of petrol, went off and caused about £14,000 of damage. The Templeton College petrol bombs, together containing nine litres of petrol, did not ignite, and DNA on one of them linked Broughton to the attacks. He was protesting about the university’s decision to back the construction of an animal research laboratory, and a police search of his home found more sparklers, as well as documents about the university and its staff.

This was the second time that Broughton had been convicted of the offences: his conviction in February 2009 was overturned by the Court of Appeal and a re-trial was ordered. This began on June 16, and ended on Tuesday with Broughton’s conviction. Judge Patrick Eccles QC imposed a ten-year prison sentence, which will be reduced by two and a half years for the time that Broughton has already served in custody. When sentencing Broughton after the first trial, Judge Eccles said that these events “were part of a ruthless conspiracy to instil fear in all those connected to the laboratory.”

An officer from Thames Valley Police, Detective Superintendent Mark Jones, said that Broughton “was someone who believes direct action, in the form of planting explosives and setting fires, is acceptable”, adding that the conviction was the “right result”. A university spokesperson said that it “accepted the rights of protestors to voice their objections within the law”, but would work “to protect staff and students from criminal activity of any kind.”

Friday, February 1, 2013

British Prime Minister David Cameron made an unannounced visit to the Libyan capital city of Tripoli yesterday after visiting Algeria earlier in the day.

David Cameron pledged that Britain would help in training Libya’s security forces. He said in a joint press conference held with Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan that “the British people want to stand with you and help you deliver the greater security that Libya needs”. Cameron also reiterated his support for the French-backed intervention in Mali, denying suggestions put to him that foreign intervention in Islamic countries would lead to a backlash against Western nations by al-Qaeda.

The security was tight during his walkabout in the Martyrs’ Square, where police attempted to hold back the locals as a police helicopter flew overhead. His visit to Tripoli comes in the aftermath of recent threats to the British embassy and just a week after British citizens were urged to leave the second largest city of Benghazi due to a “specific and imminent” threat to Westerners.

Police officers investigating the 1988 Lockerbie bombing from the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary have been granted access to new information to help them with their inquiries. In 2001, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment but was released in 2009 on compassionate health grounds and died last year.