Tuesday, July 12, 2016

On Sunday, Portugal defeated France 1–0 and won the UEFA Euro 2016 in extra time. Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo was benched in the 25th minute after facing injury. Éder scored the winning goal for the Portuguese.

Before the kick-off, two-time Euro winner Xavi presented the trophy. Both Nani and Antoine Griezmann missed their shots on target early in the match. France had better ball possession. Ricardo Quaresma was substituted for Ronaldo in the 25th minute after Ronaldo was injured when Dimitri Payet bumped into him and Ronaldo had to be carried out on a stretcher. Nani wore the captain’s armband. Gurrerio’s shot was blocked in the 38h minute.

In the second half, Paul Pogba had a good chance to score but missed in the 54th minute. Kingsley Coman was brought in for Payet in the 58th minute. In the 75th minute, Olivier Giroud missed a chance to score from Coman’s assist. Renato Sanches was replaced by Éder in the 79th minute. As none of the sides could score a goal, the referee called extra time. This was the first final since 2000 to go into extra time which France won against their neighbours Italy 2–1.

In the second half of extra time, Éder scored from João Moutinho’s assist. The hosts were trailing with just eleven minutes to play. Though injured, Ronaldo was seen guiding the Portuguese players. The referee’s final whistle of the tournament ignited celebration of the Portuguese supporters. France had defeated Portugal in their last ten matches face to face.

Portuguese defender Pepe was awarded the Man of the Match. Portugal are the tenth different country to win the Euro tournament.

Bayern Munich signing Renato Sanches became the youngest player to play a Euro final. He will turn 19 next month. He won the SOCAR Young Player of the Tournament award as well. Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patrício hasn’t conceded a single goal in his last fourteen competitive games. Had France won the match, Munich’s midfielder Coman would have been the youngest player to win the Euro tournament. Antoine Griezmann won the Golden boot scoring six goals in the tournament, the all-time highest being nine goals by Michel Platini.

After the match, Griezmann said, “It’s cruel and magnificent at the same time. We’ve lived through some extraordinary moments, and the saddest moments as well. We have to learn. But tonight we gave it our all and we have no regrets. I’m proud of the squad, proud of everybody.”

After Ronaldo played his first Euro match aged 19 in 2004, Portugal finally won a Euro tournament under his captainship aged 31.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Studies done on germs and bacteria performed by researchers at the University of Florida show that a dirty kitchen sponge can be cleaned and “sterilized” by microwaving it for 2 minutes, but researchers warn to wet the sponge first.

“People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave,” said the professor who was in charge of the study that discovered the results, Gabriel Bitton.

“Basically what we find is that we could knock out most bacteria in two minutes. The microwave is a very powerful and an inexpensive tool for sterilization,” added Bitton.

The sponges that researchers studied, were placed in “raw wastewater” and then put into a microwave to be “zapped,” according to Bitton. The wastewater was a “witch’s brew of fecal bacteria, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores, including Bacillus cereus spores,” said Bitton.

Researchers say that at least 99% of the bacteria, viruses, spores and parasites in kitchen spongees can be destroyed or “inactivated” by simply microwaving the wet sponge, on the highest power, for two minutes.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The Norwegian police have arrested and charged four men, aged between 20 and 30 for an assault on a synagogue in Oslo at 2:30 am on Sunday, September 17th.

The four arrested are from different ethnic backgrounds and can be detained up to three days before appearing in front of a judge. Police have not ruled out further arrests over the incident.

At least 10 shots were fired at the synagogue. Nobody was injured in the incident. It is believed that the attack was carried out with an assault rifle.

The Mosaic Religious Community, which owns the site had requested better protection following threats and an incident of vandalism last month.

Monday, June 23, 2008

2008 COMPUTEX Taipei, the largest trade fair since its inception in 1982, featured several seminars and forums, expansions on show spaces to TWTC Nangang, great transformations for theme pavilions, and WiMAX Taipei Expo, mainly promoted by Taipei Computer Association (TCA). Besides of ICT industry, “design” progressively became the critical factor for the future of the other industries. To promote innovative “Made In Taiwan” products, pavilions from “Best Choice of COMPUTEX”, “Taiwan Excellence Awards”, and newly-set “Design and Innovation (d & i) Award of COMPUTEX”, demonstrated the power of Taiwan’s designs in 2008 COMPUTEX Taipei.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

China has said it is prepared to support eurozone countries during the financial crisis that has hit the sixteen member states. The country’s foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said: “We are ready to support the eurozone to overcome the financial crisis and realise economic recovery.”

Several of the eurozone’s member states have been impacted with increasing debt levels. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) have signed deals to hand a €110bn aid package to Greece, and an €85bn rescue package to Ireland. Industry commentators have said there are fears Portugal and Spain may soon also have to accept assistance from the IMF.

Jiang said China had an interest in supporting the region, saying eurozone member states would, in the future, become “a major market” for Chinese foreign exchange investments. China reportedly has massive reserves of foreign currency, mostly made up of United States dollars. Analysts have suggested China plans to purchase more euros in the future. Other reports suggest China is preparing to buy between four and five billion euros to help Portugal fend off pressure in bond markets.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) posted a press release on its website yesterday stating it will identify up to six banks as domestic systemically important banks (D-SIB), which would be equivalent to the too big to fail banks of other nations.

RBI is to reveal the names of the banks every year in August, starting from 2015. The press release also said RBI had identified four to six banks to be under D-SIB category according to data compiled through March 2013.

The primary criterion to be used for selection of the banks is size — banks with size larger than 2% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as defined by Basel regulations. Other criteria to be used are interconnectedness, how easily the bank can be substituted for, and its infrastructure and complexity. RBI also said four subcategories of D-SIBs will be created, each with different Tier 1 capital requirements, which will be higher compared to other banks. These four categories will have Tier 1 capital requirements ranging from 0.20% to 0.80% of their risk-weighted assets.

Ananda Bhoumik, senior director of India Ratings, a unit of Fitch Ratings, said the new regulations will not hinder the growth of the banks, as they already maintain capital above the expected regulation levels. Banks considered by analysts likely to be classified as D-SIBS include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank.

Monday, June 30, 2008

After auctioning off his entire life on eBay for A$399,300 (€244 912.148) Ian Usher says he is “a little bit disappointed” at the final selling price.

The 44-year-old British immigrant living in Perth, Australia, put all of his worldly belongings up for sale on the popular auction website, including his three-bedroom house and all its contents, his car, motorcycle, jetski, skydiving gear, and his job at a rug store, for which he offered a two week trial period. He even offered introductions to his friends living in Perth.

Usher made the decision to sell his life after his five-year marriage suddenly ended. On his website, alife4sale.com, he explains that “despite my life being busy and fulfilled, I still miss my wife so much. Everything in my home is a reminder of the wonderful past we shared. So, after a year in this house I decided that it is time to sell it and move on.”

During the 7 day auction, which ended on Sunday, there were several bogus bids which brought the sale price as high as A$2.2 million, but the final price ended up at A$399,300, which was around A$100,000 less than Usher had hoped for. “I’m a little bit disappointed, but I’m still excited. It’s still enough to move forward and do what I said I was going to do, which is move on to the next part of my life,” Usher said. “It was as much about moving on as it was about selling it for as much as I could get.”

According to Reuters, the winning bidder, whose username is “mslmcc”, also lives in Australia, and has a 100 percent feedback rating. Usher says he hasn’t yet been able to figure out who the buyer is, because of the TV crews lined up in front of his home. “I’m trying to find some time to get on the computer and check it out … I haven’t looked (up) anything about them yet,” he said.

Usher now plans to go off in search of a new life. His initial plan, as he describes on his website, was to just walk out his front door with just his wallet and a passport and board a train, with no idea of where to go. He has since launched 100goals100weeks.com, which will document his attempt to complete 100 of his life goals in a span of 100 weeks. Some of these goals include getting a pilot’s license, climbing the Eiffel Tower, learning to play the didgeridoo, and shaking hands with billionaire Richard Branson.

“I was pretty aimless when I started this, and I had a vague notion of adventure, but I’ve come up with a much more solid plan, which is still very adventurous,” Usher says. He invites anyone who is interested to join him on his adventures.

Sunday, February 5, 2006

A BHP Billiton nickel mine at Leinster, 645Km northeast of Perth, Western Australia has halted operations after the death of a mine worker. WA Police say Mark Quinn, 32, an employee of mining contractor MacMahon’s, working about 900 metres underground, was killed in an explosion.

The cause of the explosion is not yet known. Department of Community and Employment Protection investigators have travelled to the site from Kalgoorlie to conduct an inquiry.

Global resources giant BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc, says employees are being briefed and counselled over the incident. The mine will remain closed until the investigation is complete. Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

According to media reports, no-one else was injured in the explosion – the cause of which is not yet known. The accident comes almost two years after a BHP Billiton worker died in a gas explosion at the Boodarie iron plant in Port Hedland, WA. The plant was then abandoned after the incident in May 2004.

In April 2004, a man was killed at BHP Billiton’s Nelson Point facility, also at Port Hedland in WA. In May 2000 a truck driver was killed at a BHP Pilbara iron ore operation in WA. BHP Billiton employ some 37,000 people at over 100 operations in 25 countries.

Coal mines in the United States’ West Virginia district were also suspended earlier this week, due to increased amounts of miners’ deaths.