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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Tim Donaghy, an ex-NBA referee, surrendered today for an appearance in a Brooklyn federal court. Law enforcement officials said that Donaghy allegedly placed his own bets, and also released confidential information to others, including referees’ schedules. Today, Donaghy pleaded guilty to ‘conspiracy to engage in wire fraud’ and ‘transmitting wagering information to other individuals’. These two charges could result in up to 25 years in jail.

Tim Frank, a NBA spokesman, told the Associated_Press the league was informed yesterday that Donaghy would plead today but was not given any further information.

Both John Lauro, Donaghy’s attorney, and federal prosecutors did not comment. But, NBA commissioner David Stern said a month ago that the ex-referee’s lawyer told the league Donaghy was contemplating a plea. The plea was made official early today.

Donaghy has been reportedly cooperating with prosecuting attorneys who together are building a case against other people to whom Donaghy may have provided inside information to. It has also been reported that Donaghy had a biased view against the Detroit Pistons, therefore making bets against them, and then calls against them as well

Donaghy today told the court that he had a gambling problem. However, he also said that he was receiving treatment for it.

The Associated Press reports that no other NBA officials or players are suspects in this case.

The FBI contacted the NBA on June 20, 2007 to talk about a referee who was allegedly gambling on games. The FBI and the NBA officially met on June 21. Donaghy resigned from his position July 9, after over ten years as a referee

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

A new report released by the New Zealand Ministry of Health titled “Suicide Trends” shows that the suicide rate in New Zealand has decreased 15% since its peak in the late 1990’s, but the attempted suicide rate is increasing.

There were 12 deaths per 100,000 people between 1983-’85. 16.7 deaths per 100,000 people between 1996-’98. And 14.2 deaths per 100,000 people between 2001-’03. But there were 73.1 attempted suicides per 100,000 people between 1995-’97 compared to 82.5 in 2002-’04.

Jim Anderton, Associate Health Minister, said “It provides some comfort to see the long-term trend still appears to be heading in the right direction, with a continued decline or levelling off of self-inflicted deaths but there is no room for complacency.”

The suicide report also shows that:

• The 25- to 34-year-old age group has the highest suicide rate
• Between 2000-’03 Maori has the highest suicide rate
• Men were less likely than woman to go to hospital for attempted suicide because more men died from suicide.

The New Zealand Government has put NZ$10.3 million towards direct suicide prevention. New Zealand News agencies are banned by law from reporting suicide deaths.

Monday, July 19, 2010

A suicide bomber killed 43 people in Iraq Sunday, injuring an estimated 40 more.

The attack occurred southwest of Baghdad and targeted members of a government-backed militia, Sons of Iraq, also known as the Sahwa, who were waiting to collect their pay. Early reports say the attacks killed at least three soldiers and injured an additional thirteen, while three accountants died and four more were wounded. It’s not yet clear who the remaining casualties are.

A survivor of the bombing said that “[t]here were more than 85 people lined up in three lines at the main gate of the military base to receive salaries when a person approached us. When one of the soldiers tried to stop him, he blew himself up.”

An Iraqi military official said that “[t]he suicide bomber blew himself up in the biggest group of Sahwa members. We generally let them enter the base in groups of 10 for them to get their salaries.”

A second suicide bombing took place in Western Iraq, when an attacker fired upon Sahwa militants in Al-Qa’im before blowing himself up, killing three people, with six more injured.

Credit for the attacks has not yet been claimed, but al-Qaeda is considered the probable culprit.

The Sahwa movement is a Sunni militia group that split from al-Qaeda in 2006, and with US support have been one of the groups fighting al-Qaeda. In recent months, members of the militia have said that they have come under attack from other militant groups, and support from the Iraqi government has been reduced.

Monday, August 27, 2012

London, England — As Paralympians ready for the Games which are set to open later this week, they have access to a world class fitness center inside the Paralympic Village which is designed to maximise their pre-Game preparations.

According to volunteers staffing the center, instead of being a single large room, as in Beijing, the building has numerous rooms. It, along with the adjacent Village Services Centre, is designed to be converted into a school after the games conclude. Rooms have been structured as a gym, an auditorium, and science laboratories.

Gym equipment is supplied by Technogym, an Italian firm that has supplied gym equipment for the Olympics since 2000. Equipment has been provided not just for for the Fitness Centre, but for gyms at all the Olympic venues. The newest equipment is oriented toward maximum flexibility, allowing athletes to exercise the particular muscles that they most require for their sport.

In addition to the equipment, the Fitness Centre also provides instructors trained in the use of the equipment, the likes of which athletes from many countries have never seen before. There are also a number of instructors available to provide motivational training.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

An advertisement for Dove beauty products has been viewed by well over three million people, without ever being on television. A copywriter from Ogilvy Toronto, the advertising agency that created a spot named “evolution”, uploaded the advertisement to video sharing website YouTube.

While the official upload of the ad itself has been viewed 1,119,262 times, there are dozens of copies of the ad on YouTube, adding to a minimum of 3,059,546 views. The official copy of the video is the website’s 12th most viewed this month, 53rd of all time.

Unofficial uploads have each received high levels of viewership, with 449595, 445322, 207906, 201670, 195265, 116501, and 102634 plays.

The agency did not originally intend to upload the video to YouTube, only display it on the company’s homepage. Staff member Tim Piper uploaded it to his account on October 6, about a week before it first got media coverage on Good Morning America.

The ad begins with a woman walking into a photo shoot. From there, she is primped and plucked by hair and makeup artists, then tweaked on a Photoshop-like program. The photo-manipulation is then posted on a billboard for the fictional “Easel Foundation Makeup” brand. Two young, teenage girls walk past, glancing at the board. “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted” ends the ad in text, “Every girl deserves to feel beautiful just the way she is.”

The creative team for the ad included Tim Piper, Mike Kirkland, Janet Kestin, Nancy Vonk, directors T Piper (treatment and post production) and Yael Staav (live action) from Reginald Pike, Soho post production, Rogue editing, Vapor music, Gabor Jurina and Make-up: Diana Carreiro, and Reginald Pike.

The official French copy of the ad has only received 132 views, although it was only uploaded on November 2, 2006.

Monday, April 23, 2012

File:Frida Kahlo by Artist René Romero Schuler.jpg

According to a new diagnosis by a surgical pathologist, Frida Kahlo most likely suffered uterine damage during a streetcar accident as a teenager and this led to a rare condition known as Asherman’s syndrome, and that would explain the Mexican artist’s infertility.

Dr. Fernando Antelo, from the Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, said, “Her survival defied the grim prognostication by her physicians; however, complications from this physical trauma would emerge in her adulthood.” He presented his diagnosis yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Anatomists in San Diego.

Asherman’s syndrome is normally caused by a trauma to the uterus that results in internal scar tissue. For example, it can occur after multiple procedures to clear the uterus after a miscarriage or abortion, which is known as a “D & C” procedure. Antelo said Kahlo tried to have children many times and her miscarriages, as well as three therapeutic abortions, could have further aggravated the scarring.

At present the condition could be diagnosed and treated after advancements in medical imaging and hysteroscopy, but in Kahlo’s time, Dr. Antelo said, the technology had not advanced far enough to diagnose and treat her. Asherman’s syndrome has been known since 1894 when it was first reported. Kahlo died at age 47 in 1954.

“She kept attempting to have children with a uterus that wasn’t in any condition to do that,” Antelo said.

Antelo, who has been working on connections between art and medicine, says that Kahlo brought her infertility to the canvas and this can be seen in her many paintings of reproductive organs or in her depiction of her own bleeding body in the 1932 painting Henry Ford Hospital. In that image, Kahlo is shown lying on a hospital bed with multiple umbilical cords extending from her body and each one holds an object or body part, except one holding a baby.