Scores at stumps Friday on the second day of the third and final test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands:
…среда, 14 марта 2012 г.
ROMEO GIGLI // You may not know this Italian trend-setter's work, but his influence is everywhere
More floods in Australia as cyclone damage tallied
TULLY HEADS, Australia (AP) — The cyclone that tore through Australia's northeast this week brought fresh misery to people in the south on Saturday, causing flash flooding in the second-largest city even as residents in far distant towns returned to ruined homes.
The tropical system that was Cyclone Yasi, which tore through the northeast earlier this week, was still churning over central Australia and making a series of thunderstorms over the southern city of Melbourne and other large towns in Victoria state much worse, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
More than 7 inches (175 millimeters) of rain fell in just a few hours overnight Friday in some Melbourne neighborhoods and …
Winless Bucs hoping for turnaround in London
The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in London and hoping the change of scenery will finally help them get their season back on track.
Unfortunately, they'll have to beat the New England Patriots (4-2) on Sunday at Wembley Stadium to turn things around.
"I'm sure we're a major underdog. They've got the great Tom Brady, Randy Moss," Buccaneers running back Cadillac Williams said Saturday. "(But) anytime you step out there on Sunday you give yourself a chance."
The Bucs (0-6) have lost 10 straight games and face a team that beat the Tennessee Titans 59-0 last week.
Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris said the Patriots have …
Lynch not out of woods yet
Director David Lynch, creator of the lumber town setting of "BlueVelvet" and the Log Lady on television's "Twin Peaks," is introducinganother wood product: tables.
The foot-high, three-legged, trapezoidal "espresso table" sellsfor $600.
"People do need small tables to set glasses on," the directorsaid.
He said he hopes the table - available …
Tug teams tipped to pull in the top prizes in outdoor showdown
Tug-of-war teams from across the area are 'good bets' to winmedals at the National Outdoor Championships - which will be stagedin the Moorlands - after starring in last weekend's Midlands OutdoorChampionships.
Sheen Men, Sheen Ladies, Norton, and Wood Treatment Bosley werecompeting across five weight divisions.
Norton came away with the best results, winning three weightclasses at 600 kilos, 640 kilos, and 680 kilos without dropping asingle end.
The Denford-based side defeated Bosley in both the 600 kilos and640 kilos events. And Bosley also had to be content with silver inthe 580 kilos weight class after playing second fiddle to Sandhurstfrom Berkshire.
Sheen Men won the catchweight division against Felton Eccles,from Somerset. Sheen edged home by two ends to one in a fiercelycontested final.
A depleted Sheen Ladies came away from the Midland Championshipswith silver medals in the 520 kilos and 560 kilos weight classesfollowing narrow defeats against Leicester and Northants
Tug-of-War Association spokesman Alan Knott said: "All of ourlocal tug-of-war teams are looking like good bets for picking upmedals at the National Outdoor Tug-of-War Championships in fiveweeks.
"Norton have still got the upper hand in the lighter weightclasses, while Sheen look as though they will get something in theheavier weight classes.
"Bosley have a different squad this year... but they look asthough they can challenge for medals.
"Sheen Ladies are always a good bet to reach the final of theladies weight classes on the day."
The national outdoor championships will be held at ManifoldCounty Primary School, Warslow in June.
вторник, 13 марта 2012 г.
Ex-wife: Sniper said 'you have become my enemy'
As the ex-wife of the notorious Washington sniper emptied herself during a 30-day fast five years ago, one question tormented her _ why did he want to kill her?
Mildred Muhammad wrote about that isolation and torment for years in her journals. She began when her ex-husband, John Allen Muhammad, took their three young children from her nearly a decade ago. She continued when he was convicted of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington area, and still jots down her emotions as her ex-husband awaits his scheduled Nov. 10 execution.
"The paper don't talk back," the 49-year-old told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "It just lets you write down your thoughts and you're able to express anger, shame and guilt."
They were all emotions that Muhammad, who is Muslim, had to purge during that 30-day fast in July 2004, just as her ex-husband's second trial was beginning. She had to understand everything she poured into the journals so she could finally move on.
Those journals became the genesis for her new memoir, "Scared Silent: When the One You Love ... Becomes the One You Fear," due out Oct. 13 from Simon & Schuster imprint Strebor Books International, based in Maryland.
In her narrative, Muhammad documents her ex-husband's dismissive retorts: "I don't mind because you don't matter," she writes. At one point, he told her: "You have become my enemy and as my enemy, I will kill you."
With the book, she has emerged as a survivor who's taken her fight as an anti-domestic abuse advocate public. Even with her husband's death imminent, she still carries the protective order against him as a reminder of her freedom.
Muhammad, who now lives in Prince George's County, Maryland, maintains she was the target when her abusive ex-husband and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, killed 10 people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. After their 12-year marriage fell apart in 2000, he secretly took the children to the Caribbean.
"I have come home many times and seen her in a fetal position, not knowing where her children are," said Maisha Moses, Muhammad's older sister, who took Muhammad in at her suburban Maryland home after the children were taken.
During the 18 months the children spent with their father in Antigua, Muhammad stayed in a shelter for a time and struggled financially. A Tacoma, Washington, court eventually granted her custody of the children in 2001.
Muhammad said her ex-husband threatened to kill her and she lived in constant fear that he was after her, until he was caught and convicted. John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death for shooting and killing Dean Meyers at a Manassas, Virginia, gas station during the three-week killing spree.
Her faith anchored her, and as she cleansed herself by fasting, she was able to forgive her ex-husband, forgive herself and move forward.
"I was declaring my independence," Muhammad said. "I was not going to allow him to have that kind of power over me."
Muhammad played a similar role for her children. First, she painstakingly rebuilt her relationship with them after their stay with their father, fighting their sense of abandonment and the notion she didn't love them.
The family tried counseling, but she said it turned out the counselors wanted to write a book about her family's high-profile case. She then got counseling books from a library, and served as her children's informal therapist.
The eldest, John, is now a 19-year-old student at Louisiana Tech University. Her daughters, Salena, 17, and Taalibah, 16, attend a performing arts school where they sing opera. Muhammad now laughs at how her kids beg her to stop studying their every smile and tear.
"I think overall they like that because they know I'm paying attention to them, and they feel secure and safe," she said.
Muhammad speaks passionately about the nonprofit she formed last year, After the Trauma Inc. She says she wants the Maryland-based group to become a national network for domestic violence victims.
Muhammad thought sharing her story would help raise awareness about the issue. She also wanted to set the record straight about her relationship with her husband.
In the book, Muhammad describes how she fell for her ex-husband. Photos show him as a once-loving father, feeding his newborn son at the hospital with a bottle and playing with all three kids.
However, his behavior became erratic after returning from the first Gulf War with the Army, as he grew distant and angry.
"His dark mood was evolving into a permanent fixture. His old 'get up and go' was missing. He seemed to have lost interest in not just in me, but in life itself," she writes.
After the couple separated in 1999, she explains how he taped her phone conversations and changed her phone number without her permission, convinced she was having an affair.
When she learned he was the sniper suspect, she recalled his chilling warning: "You know I could take a small city and terrorize it and they would think it would be a group of people. But it would only be me," she writes.
But Muhammad is no longer scared, her sister said. Moses, who's in her early 50s, said her sister has "become whole again."
"Sometimes, I just sit back and admire her as a baby sister. I get strength from her," she said. "It's like she has this thirst and hunger to help anyone."
Muhammad has moved on: She remarried two years ago and plans to study criminal justice.
She plans to be at home with her children when he is put to death, much like the time she sat told them about his death sentence.
"We deal with everything in truth and honesty, and we deal with our emotions as they come, and we depend on each other and we are here for each other," she said. "We deal with what is, instead of what we would like it to be or what we want it to be."
___
On the Net:
Strebor Books International: http://www.streborbooks.com/
Mildred Muhammad: http://www.mildredmuhammad.com/default.html
After The Trauma Inc.: http://www.afterthetrauma.org/
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