14/03/2009 » 00:00 » Gardianul [ro]
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13/03/2009 » 22:05 » Romania libera [ro]
In criza economica, specialistii spun ca va puteti mentine postul daca aratati ca sunteti responsabil. Ei sunt de parere ca realizarea “ca la carte” a indatoririlor de serviciu aduce stabilitate jobului. Expertii in resurse umane considera ca in perioada de criza firmele care vor avea probleme vor renunta la angajati in functie de anumite criterii. …
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13/03/2009 » 22:05 » Romania libera [ro]
Din cauza contextului economic actual, spun expertii in resurse umane, multi angajati vor accepta joburi mult sub nivelul lor de pregatire doar pentru a avea un loc de munca. Daca anul trecut candidatii aveau de unde sa aleaga un job, astazi sunt destul de multe situatii in care si cei foarte bine pregatiti intampina dificultati in gasirea unei slujbe. …
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13/03/2009 » 21:05 » Romania libera [ro]
Universitatea Maritima din Constanta organizeaza in perioada 15 martie-20 mai cursuri de pregatire pentru tinerii care au decis sa sustina examenul de admitere la aceasta institutie. Programul de pregatire la disciplina matematica reprezinta de fapt un studiu aprofundat, sistematic al temelor incluse in programele analitice pentru licee la disciplinele Algebra si Analiza matematica. …
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13/03/2009 » 20:05 » Romania libera [ro]
Oamenii de stiinta au descoperit ca organismele umane sunt mai mult decat complete. Ei au identificat zece organe “inutile”, in lipsa carora viata si sanatatea oamenilor nu ar avea de suferit. Jurnalistii de la Discovery, citati de Realitatea TV, au realizat si un top in acest sens: 1. A treia pleoapa (Plica semilunaris) Multi oameni nici nu stiu ca au o a treia pleoapa. …
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13/03/2009 » 14:20 » Green Report [ro]
Cand mergem la cumparaturi avem tendinta sa achizitionam o multitudine de lucruri inutile, pe care ulterior le aruncam. Pentru fabricarea acelor articole se folosesc tone de resurse, care, de cele mai multe ori, nu ajung sa fie reciclate. Producatorii utilizeaza fibre nesustenabile, precum bumbacul tratat chimic, care necesita 25% din totalul de pesticide folosite la nivel global, si poliesterul, care este un derivat din petrol. Procesul de vopsire a materialelor genereaza cea mai mare… cititi mai departe
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13/03/2009 » 11:28 » Libertatea [ro]
Ceaiul si cafeaua au gust mai bun atunci cand sunt baute din ceasca sau cana preferata, sustine un specialist in psihologie din Marea Britanie. Profesorului Tom Stafford, de la Universitatea din Sheffield sustine ca in general creierele umane sunt antrenate sa creada ca ritualul zilnic al prepararii ceaiului sau a cafelei trebuie efectuat intr-un anumit mod. “Savurarea ceaiului si a cafelei este un moment ritualic, iar oamenii tind sa devina dependenti de …
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14/03/2009 » 03:30 » New York Times [en]
Robinson Canó returned to training camp from the World Baseball Classic with stiffness in the back of his right shoulder.
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14/03/2009 » 02:06 » The Guardian [en]
Spurs’ part-time captain reveals how sick he is of discussing his wounded knee It breaks your heart a little to talk about football with Tottenham’s Ledley King. You are looking in the eye of a gentleman, a strapping athlete, a man who adores the game and is exceptionally talented at it, and you both know there is an elephant in the room – one he could really do without – that will not go away. The dreaded knee. He knows it is impossible to ignore. He realises his career is judged because of it, with his admirers forced to wonder about how much more he could achieve without it. Understandably that galls him sometimes. “Every time I see my name, I see ‘knee’ next to it. It hurts,” he laments. “Every footballer hates injuries, hates being injured, hates being labelled injury-prone. But at the same time there is nothing I can do about it except keep making the effort to play as much as I can.” His professional existence is extr
emely unusual in a team game. Like all the other players, he arrives at Spurs Lodge every morning and meets them in the changing room. Then, it is as if there is a metaphorical signpost outside the door: Fit players turn right for the training pitches. Ledley King turns left for knee management. Ninety minutes later, they all meet up again and go off for lunch. “Nobody really sees what I do so the lads think I do nothing,” he chortles. But what he would not swap for liberating mornings spent kicking a football, pain free, out on the grass. Instead he undertakes mammoth swims and specialist muscular exercises in the gym. “The work I do is not as enjoyable as playing,” he says. “I normally go mad. It is boring. Some days you don’t particularly look forward to doing it, but I have been doing it for a while now so I know what to expect. I work with Nathan Gardener, the fitness coach, and he has a way of knowing when a player is in a bad mood and he eases off that day. He tries t
o keep it interesting but realises you don’t feel like it every day.” Last season was a nadir of sorts. King managed just four Premier League matches all season. As if the long term routine of treatment and strengthening for a chronic condition doesn’t take enough of a toll, matchdays bring another challenge – more of a test of mental strength. For 34 league matches he felt like a powerless captain. At home games, he did his best for the team by attending, watching, supporting, trying to handle the sympathy vote, but most top footballers find that as painful as having their teeth pulled. Is he a good watcher of games? “It’s half and half,” he explains. “I like to be there and I feel I should be at the games but there have been times when I have been fed up. The routine of going to the stadium, sitting there watching, and everyone asking me about my injury, that’s the difficult part. There might be once or twice a season where I think, ‘I can’t’. I don’t want the questions, e
veryone feeling sorry for me, ‘When you going to be back? When you going to be back?…’ There are times when it is frustrating. But I want to be there to support the lads, so it’s a catch 22 situation.” King is a little relieved that the Tottenham captaincy is now shared – he remains club captain but the team captain’s role has been given to Robbie Keane. “In a funny way it probably does help,” he admits. “Being the captain you always feel you have to be there and for me, missing loads of games, I couldn’t. It probably stressed me more than it would anyone else. It has taken the pressure away from me and I can just concentrate on getting right to play rather than thinking of what I have to do for the team.” Thankfully, this season has been a terrific improvement on what was almost a write-off last term. This weekend should tick off his 16th Premier League game. The more he is involved, the easier it is to live with his knee. Time on the pitch means the world to him. An impr
oving Tottenham play a faltering Aston Villa at Villa Park tomorrow and although King remains cautious, another positive result would help everyone to breathe a little easier. “Looking at the table it obviously makes better reading than being in the bottom three, but we can’t afford to slack off,” he says. In a way, they can’t wait to negotiate safely the rest of this campaign so they can start afresh in August. “We are looking forward to next season already,” he admits. “If we stay in the league there is a lot we can take into next year. Obviously players like [Luka] Modric and [Roman] Pavlyuchenko will have a season under their belts and know what’s expected, others like [Wilson] Palacios will have gelled in the team, the old new faces are back, and you would expect the manager to bring in some more signings. And we’ll need no reminding about getting off to a good start. Our start of the season was terrible. You can’t start a season like that and want to be going places. T
here has been a part of us wishing we could start again for a long time. “The situation we were in – two points from eight games – showed something was wrong there. Whether it was the players underperforming or the manager not getting the best out of them, it was not good enough. The chairman had to make moves for the club to survive and avoid getting relegated. Now we’ve got a manager who knows the Premier League inside out and it is important to stick by him. Hopefully he can work magic for the club.” The sort of magic King has in mind was brought home during the week, when he watched four English teams progress in the Champions League. He cannot help feeling that is something missing from his CV. “In weeks like this all the lads talk about it around the training ground and look forward to watching the games on TV. Big games, great players on view. As footballers we love watching that. There’s a part of us that has a bit of jealousy and wishes that we were in that position
. “We came close to breaking into the top four and it is something we need to look to do again because I feel we now have the players, and the squad, to push towards that elite group.” The other elite group that King has not given up on is England. Even though it is almost two years since his last cap, he still thinks about getting a call-up to play for his country. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But it is on the periphery. My main concern is Tottenham, and playing as much as I can. When I am consistently playing well and not having problems, then it is time to think of England.” He has met Fabio Capello twice, when the Italian was an honoured guest at the last two Carling Cup finals which Tottenham contested. “I’ve not had a conversation with him, but I know he has been in touch with people at the club,” King reflects. Does that give a little boost of inspiration on those lonely days lapping the pool or strapping his leg? “It does, but it doesn’t change that much. It is
not exactly going to inspire my knee to get better.” King has learned to accept his footballing lot. He is not a complainer, and while he can still do his bit on the pitch as often as humanly possible, he will continue spending his weekdays in not so splendid isolation, waiting for the swelling to go down. Ledley King was appearing at an official coaching and signing session for Barclays , title sponsor of the Barclays Premier League : www.barclayspremierleague.com Tottenham Hotspur Premier League guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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14/03/2009 » 00:05 » Guardian [en]
. Striker says it will be tough as he admits nerves . Crucial three points on offer against Hull Obafemi Martins admits that he cannot pinpoint Hull on a map of England and knows “nothing” about the city. “I have no idea where it is, maybe my satellite navigation would tell me,” says Newcastle United’s Nigeria striker with a shrug. That geographical hole should be filled in this afternoon when Martins visits Hull for the first time and aims to prevent a team that, until this season, he barely knew existed, plunging Newcastle into deeper relegation waters. “I’ve never been to Hull and I’d never heard of their club,” explained the forward who, during his youth in Lagos, considered himself rather knowledgeable about English football. “It’s quite strange when a side like this comes up through the divisions.” If that sounds patronising, the £10m signing from Internazionale does not intend to be. “I did not know of Hull before but
that does not mean it will be easy for us,” he stressed. “It’s going to be tough because Hull, like us, need to win. We are going to try and bring back three points but it’s easy to talk, not so easy to play. At the moment we are not doing well and it’s difficult.” Phil Brown’s side harbour their own fears of a return to the Championship and, in recent weeks, have seemed a shadow of the vibrant ensemble which won 2-1 at St James’ Park back in September but Martins’ concerns are proof Hull will not hold a monopoly on insecurity today. Even though Michael Owen is scheduled to return from injury and expected to partner him in attack, the swagger has disappeared from Newcastle’s once arrogant strut. “When I came to Newcastle from Inter I came to enjoy myself playing good football,” said Martins. “I never thought this team could get relegated because there are many good players here. “But, since I’ve been here it’s been difficult and now we are fourth bottom. Everybody is not ex
actly scared because we still have 10 games left but everyone is looking at each other and saying ’something is not right’. We have not been playing very well and not winning so we are worried. We need a win to give us confidence.” The dressing room mood was not helped by Blackburn’s midweek win at Fulham. “Yeah that made us anxious,” acknowledged Martins who, like Owen, has missed much of this season with injury. “When we came in to training everyone was talking about Blackburn winning. “We were all talking about how important it is not to be relegated. We have to try and help each other right now. We realise the Blackburn result was bad news, it makes it more difficult for us. Now we just have to win at Hull.”It is approaching three years – and four managers – since Glenn Roeder lured Martins to St James’ Park but despite allying an ability to score with both feet and his head to the sort of pace sorely missed elsewhere in this Newcastle side, the 24-year-old has proved in
furiatingly inconsistent. Much more an individual than a team player, he sometimes seems to serve as a microsm of the team’s ills but, in mitigation, Martins has hardly benefited from consistent management. Accordingly it is no surprise that he appears unwilling to pledge his future to a club currently under the caretaker charge of Chris Hughton while Joe Kinnear recovers from heart surgery.Asked whether he envisages still being at St James’ next season, Martins hedges his reply. “It depends on the owner [Mike Ashley] – and which players are here.” Indeed, like many a Toon Army foot soldier, Martins is displaying symptoms of fatigue. “It’s been a crazy season,” he said. “So when people outside the club talk to me I never speak about football. Never. I always talk about something else.” Certain subjects are simply too distressing to discuss but Newcastle fans must trust that Martins’ inner penalty-area sat-nav prevents Hull becoming a taboo word in the Geordie vocabulary. New
castle United Premier League guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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13/03/2009 » 17:48 » Guardian [en]
Brentford have a chance to establish a mighty lead over Wycombe Amid the excitement about England’s Champions League successes, and with the focus remaining on Manchester United and Liverpool as they prepare to meet tomorrow in the Premier League, it seems nobody has noticed that this is probably the most important weekend of the season in League Two. The league’s two best sides are playing each other, as are the two worst. And, as the top eight, who have opened a bit of a gap over the rest of the division, scrap to decide which side will miss out on the play-offs, fifth hosts eighth and sixth visits seventh. Win tomorrow and Brentford will open a 10-point gap over their second-placed opponents, Wycombe, and can start planning their end-of-season open-top bus tour. Lose and the Chairboys will be four points behind with a game in hand. The home side have form very strongly on their side: they have won five of their past six h
ome games, the visitors one of their past six away. Wycombe led the division for much of the season, losing one of their first 24 games, and were comfortably on top at the end of January before being sunk by Brentford’s surge. Having blown a hefty table-topping lead they know that the Bees have not yet secured the title, but their manager, Peter Taylor, says he doesn’t care anyway. “I would take finishing third right now and Brentford winning the title,” he said. “The most important thing is to finish above fourth place.” They might not even finish the weekend above fourth place – lose tomorrow and they could drop to fifth. The team currently holding fifth position, Gillingham, host Shrewsbury who lie eighth while seventh-placed Bradford visit Exeter who are just one place above them in the table. At the other end of the table the division’s worst sides, Grimsby and Chester, meet at the Deva Stadium. Thanks to Luton’s points deduction neither is bottom of the table, but even
if the Hatters can’t catch them up there’s still a relegation place to avoid, and they are currently the only two applicants – Bournemouth, one point ahead of Chester and theoretically involved, started the season on -17, have won five of their past eight and are upwardly mobile. “It’s probably the biggest game in the club’s history,” says Grimsby’s 19-year-old defender Ryan Bennett. “We have to look at it like that. We are going to prepare right, go over early and get the win. Everybody knows that it is the game that will probably determine what happens this season.” Grimsby spent yesterday training at Bellefield, the training ground of Everton, one of manager Mike Newell’s former clubs, hoping that a little Premier League polish might inspire them to a second win in 12 games that have featured seven defeats. How Chester must envy that kind of form. On Boxing Day they were a relatively comfortable 17th, but they have not won in 15 games since, 11 of them lost, and are now
one point above Chester having played a game more and with massively inferior goal difference. “I honestly believe that whoever wins tomorrow’s game will stay up,” says the Chester manager, Mark Wright. “If we could win, the gap on Grimsby would be four points. If we could turn the corner it would be very important for us – the players know it and I know it. It’s a massive game for us. A lot of the players have been feeling sorry for themselves, but there’s no time for that, particularly in the position that we’re in. It’s a game we have to take to them and that we have to win.” There are 40 miles, three letters and 90 league places between Chester and Manchester, and only one is preparing to host a game that looks genuinely likely to decide anything. Brentford Wycombe Grimsby Chester League Two guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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13/03/2009 » 17:20 » Guardian [en]
. Riera returns for Liverpool but Benayoun still out . Michael Owen fit again for Newcastle’s trip to Hull Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers (Saturday, 3pm) . Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz will miss the trip to the Emirates due to a knee injury. Defender Gaël Givet (knee) is also doubtful while Rovers are monitoring the fitness of winger Morten Gamst Pedersen, who has a rib problem. Vince Grella (groin) is absent and knee-injury victims Brett Emerton and Steven Reid have already been ruled out for the rest of the season. Blackburn (from) : Robinson, Brown, Bunn, Ooijer, Khizanishvili, Nelsen, Samba, Simpson, Warnock, Givet, Olsson, Villanueva, Tugay, Andrews, Diouf, Treacy, Mokoena, Dunn, Haworth, McCarthy, Roberts, Pedersen. Manchester United v Liverpool (Saturday, 12.45pm) . Spanish winger Albert Riera will return to the Liverpool squad having been suspended for the midweek victory over Real Madrid, but midfielder Yossi Bena
youn is still out with a hamstring injury, as Liverpool try to give Rafael Benitez his 100th Premier League win as Anfield manager. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were both withdrawn in the final stages of the triumph over Real, to protect them for the Old Trafford game. Daniel Agger is unlikely to have recovered from his back injury. Liverpool (from) : Reina, Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Hyypia, Aurelio, Dossena, Babel, Mascherano, Gerrard, Alonso, Kuyt, Torres, Lucas, Cavalieri, Ngog, Riera, Insua, Spearing, El Zhar. . The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will make changes after the defeat of Internazionale, with Tevez, Park Ji-sung and Anderson among those who could return. Read more on Ferguson’s eager anticipation of Liverpool’s visit to Old Trafford . Sunderland v Wigan Athletic (Saturday, 3pm) . Antoine Sibierski is Wigan manager Steve Bruce’s only injury doubt. Sibierski pulled up in training yesterday with a hamstring problem and is unlikely to figure
as Wigan look to arrest a run of eight games without a win. New signing midfielder Won-Hee Cho, acquired as a free agent after he let his contract expire with Suwon Blue Wings, could come into contention, with Bruce to make a judgment on his fitness. Wigan (from) : Kirkland, Melchiot, Scharner, Bramble, Figueroa, Cattermole, Watson, N’Zogbia, Valencia, Kapo, Zaki, Mido, Kingson, Pollitt, Edman, Brown, Boyce, Rodallega, Sibierski, Koumas, Cho. Bolton Wanderers v Fulham (Saturday, 3pm) . Bolton manager Gary Megson has no new injury worries as he selects from a virtually fully fit squad for the visit of Fulham. The nine-day break since the 2-0 defeat at Stoke has allowed players to get over minor knocks and niggles. Joey O’Brien (knee) remains a long-term absentee. Bolton (from) : Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, A O’Brien, Samuel, K Davies, McCann, Basham, Muamba, Gardner, Taylor, Cohen, Makukula, Puygrenier, Obadeyi, Al Habsi, M Davies, Smolarek, Riga, Hunt, Elmander. . Fulha
m’s centre-back Aaron Hughes faces a spell on the sidelines after sustaining a rib injury during the nidweek defeat to Blackburn. Toni Kallio, who replaced Hughes in that match, could start in his place, while striker Bobby Zamora may be back from the hip problem which kept him out on Wednesday. Fulham (from) : Schwarzer, Pantsil, Stoor, Hangeland, Konchesky, Baird, Davies, Etuhu, Dacourt, Murphy, Gera, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora, Zuberbuhler, Kallio, Nevland, Kamara, Gray, Barnes. Middlesbrough v Portsmouth (Saturday, 3pm) . Portsmouth caretaker manager Paul Hart is expected to field an unchanged side against Middlesbrough. Richard Hughes is available after a hamstring injury and Marc Wilson has recovered after suffering with mumps, but Hart, who will remain in charge for the rest of the season, has so far been reluctant to change his starting line-up during his short stint in charge. Senegal international Papa Bouba Diop is back in light training after two months on the side
lines with a knee ligament injury but is not ready for the first team yet, and Greek striker Theo Gekas must continue to wait for his chance. Portsmouth (from) : James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Pennant, Davis, Mullins, Kranjcar, Nugent, Crouch, Basinas, Belhadj, Utaka, Kaboul, Kanu, Traore, Hughes, Wilson, Begovic. Hull City v Newcastle United (Saturday, 3pm) . Newcastle captain Michael Owen returns to the squad for the first time since January for the trip to Hull. The 29-year-old is included after recovering from ankle ligament damage and will be joined by the fit-again Nicky Butt (knee) and Damien Duff (calf) . Midfielder Kevin Nolan completes his three-match ban, while Habib Beye (ankle) and Danny Guthrie (hamstring) are closing in on returns. Striker Mark Viduka (achilles) is still two weeks away, and Joey Barton and Xisco (both fractured toe) and Ignacio González (Achilles) remain on the sidelines. Newcastle (from) : Harper, Forster, Krul, S Taylor, Bass
ong, Coloccini, Enrique, Edgar, Cacapa, Butt, Duff, R Taylor, Gutierrez, Lovenkrands, Geremi, Donaldson, Ameobi, Smith, Martins, Owen, Carroll. Chelsea v Manchester City (Sunday, 4pm) . Midfield duo Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong will again be missing as Manchester City look to record their first Premier League away win since August. Kompany (toe) may be fit in time for next week’s Uefa Cup second leg against Aalborg but De Jong joins Craig Bellamy on the sidelines with a knee injury. Manager Mark Hughes may opt to keep the side that beat Aalborg last night, as Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge both return to Stamford Bridge for the first time since joining City. Manchester City (from) : Given, Hart, Schmeichel, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, Garrido, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, Elano, Caicedo, Ireland, Fernandes, Vassell, Weiss, Robinho, Evans, Bojinov, Logan, Berti. Premier League Arsenal Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Fulham Everton Stoke City Hull City Newcas
tle United Manchester United Liverpool Middlesbrough Portsmouth Sunderland Wigan Athletic Manchester City Chelsea guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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13/03/2009 » 13:13 » Guardian [en]
Tokyo University has come up with every child’s worst nightmare: a teacher that really could have eyes in the back of its head You can see the government’s point of view. Why waste a year training someone to be a teacher when everyone knows it only takes half that? I mean, what’s to learn? Any halfwit can stand in front of a class of 13-year-olds and teach them basic maths. You just hand the kids a calculator and tell them to get on with it. And if that doesn’t work, you start shouting at them. Easy. So easy, in fact, that you’re probably starting to wonder if maybe six months isn’t a ridiculously indulgent waste of time. How about you get fired from RBS on a Friday afternoon and start teaching the following Monday? In fact, who needs a real teacher when now you can just as easily get a robot to do the job? A professor at Tokyo University has just built a life-like robot teacher, tenderly named Saya, who comes pre-programmed
with six different emotions – five more than the average government minister – and can easily deal with the demands of taking the register and keeping the kids under control. “Children even start crying when they are scolded,” Saya’s creator, Hiroshi Kobayashi, said proudly. It’s not hard to imagine the excitement all this could cause in the Department for Children, Schools and Families, not least because Kobayashi also went on to say: “The robot has no intelligence. It has no ability to learn. It has no identity. It is just a tool.” As this just happens to be the DCSF’s idea of the perfect teacher, it’s only a matter of time before it comes here. Teaching Teacher training Schools Robots Japan guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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13/03/2009 » 13:00 » Forbes [en]
Why starting your own online education and training company makes financial sense.
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13/03/2009 » 12:10 » Forbes [en]
Why starting your own online education and training company makes financial sense.
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13/03/2009 » 11:51 » Guardian [en]
In first broadcast interview, former Guantánamo inmate says British involvement began immediately after arrest in 2002 Binyam Mohamed has used his first broadcast interview since being released from Guantánamo Bay to blame MI5 for his seven years’ detention. Mohamed told the BBC he would not have faced torture or extraordinary rendition if it was not for British involvement in his case. The former terror suspect said the six years and 10 months spent in detention had left him feeling “dead”. Speaking just over a fortnight after his release, Ethiopian-born Mohamed, 31, said his mistreatment began soon after he was arrested in Pakistan in early 2002. Mohamed was eventually rendered to Morocco where he was tortured by local officers before being sent on to Afghanistan and then Guantánamo Bay, where he was held for more than four years. In the interview, extracts of which were broadcast on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning,
Mohamed said: “If it wasn’t for the British involvement right at the beginning of the interrogations in Pakistan, and suggestions that were made by MI5 to the Americans of how to get me to respond, I don’t think I would have gone to Morocco. “It was that initial help that MI5 gave to America that led me through the seven years of what I went through.” During his detention in Pakistan, Mohamed said, he was interviewed for three hours by an MI5 officer calling himself John, whose role, according to Mohamed, was to support the American interrogators. The MI5 agent who questioned him has previously denied at the high court in London any suggestion that he threatened or put any pressure on Mohamed. The UK has said it does not condone torture, and will investigate the claims. Mohamed also said he was questioned by a middle-aged man with a ponytail claiming to be “Jim from the FBI”. Jim reportedly said he was a special agent sent from Washington to ask questions on behalf of the W
hite House. He asked about Mohamed’s alleged role in a plot to detonate a dirty bomb in the US, which Mohamed said was a “fantasy”. The former detainee has denied being involved in any terrorist plots and said he had not attended training camps before 9/11. Mohamed claimed that after being flown to a secret site in Morocco he was tortured by local officers asking questions supplied by the British intelligence services and showing him hundreds of photographs of Muslim men living in the UK. “The interrogator who was showing me the file would say, ‘This is the British file and this is the American file’,'” Mohamed said. Describing his time in a place he called the “dark prison” in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Mohamed said he almost lost his mind. He said he was locked in a dark cell with just a blanket on the floor, and speakers attached to the walls pumped out music by the US rapper Eminem 24 hours a day for a month. “In the dark prison I was literally dead. I didn’t exist. I wa
sn’t there. There was no day, there was no night.” Binyam Mohamed Guantánamo Bay Torture Human rights United States Terrorism policy Global terrorism guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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13/03/2009 » 11:36 » Guardian [en]
. British No1 still getting over virus . Scot hails benefit of working with fitness trainers As an antidote to three days in bed worrying about the prospect of glandular fever, Indian Wells, surrounded by the Santa Rosa mountains and bathed in desert sunshine, provides the perfect recipe. Andy Murray described the playing conditions as “nearly perfect” on the eve of his return to action in the BNP Paribas Open here in the first ATP Masters Series event of the year, even if his assessment of his own condition fell some way short of that. “I’m not putting too much pressure on myself,” Murray said. “I took a full 10 days off and obviously I lost a little bit of fitness. I’m not hitting the ball as well as I was before. Every week you want to win the tournament but there’s no point in saying I’m feeling perfect. What I have learned, as you get older, is that you’re not going to feel perfect every week and you just try to find a
way to get through the first couple of matches.” Murray managed to do that in Rotterdam, just after returning from Australia, when the virus that has afflicted him began to kick in. A few days after he battled his way to a 10th ATP title, Murray started to get a sore throat and temperature and then suffered from a bad stomach and nosebleeds. For a while he was scared that it was glandular fever. “My first blood tests came back and showed that it could be glandular fever,” said Murray. “Then the second tests showed it wasn’t but I needed the better part of three days in bed which was pretty boring.” Few things over the past year have impressed Murray’s peers more than the Scot’s dedicated and successful effort to build up his physique. Goaded by mindless early criticism over a tendency to get cramps – the normal protest of a growing body – Murray put himself through a rigorous training routine, culminating in some seriously heavy work in Miami just before Christmas with his f
itness trainers Matt Little and Jez Green. Given that Murray has the most consistent record of any player in the world’s top 10 over the past seven months, the results have turned him into a genuine contender for No1 in the world. Needless to say, Murray has become a believer. “It’s very important to have fitness trainers with you,” he said. “If you’ve had a quick match and you’re on your own, it’s difficult to know exactly what to do afterwards because you are not a fitness trainer so it’s made a huge difference to me.” Murray is expected to play his first singles match on Saturday against the experienced Spaniard Albert Montañes after receiving a first-round bye. Montañes, a 28-year-old who has taken 11 years on the tour to climb to his recently acquired ranking high of 35, made quick work of the Frenchman Florent Serra in the first round but winning on anything but clay is rare for the Barcelona resident. His one ATP title (in Amersfoort last year) and four finals have al
l come on clay. In their only previous meeting in Qatar earlier this year on hardcourts similar to these at Indian Wells, Murray dismissed Montañes 6-2, 6-4 on his way to winning the title. A run of equal success here for the Scot seems highly unlikely but an early-round victory will certainly make him feel a lot better. Andy Murray Tennis guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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13/03/2009 » 10:24 » Telegraph News [en]
England captain says mistakes made in training have contributed to high penalty count and rash of sinbinnings in Six Nations.
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13/03/2009 » 09:00 » Los Angeles Times [en]
Scratched from his scheduled first spring start, the Dodgers slugger waves off Jonathan Papelbon’s statement calling him a cancer on the Red Sox, saying ‘I’m in L.A. now.’ Manny Ramirez, who was harshly criticized by a former Boston teammate in a magazine story published today, was scratched from his first spring-training start with the Dodgers because of tightness in his left hamstring.
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