Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Liverpool all but guaranteed a spot in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League Tuesday night with a convincing 3-0 win over Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in Holland. A full crowd of 36,500 fans showed up at the Phillips Stadion to support their teams. Liverpool went into the game on a high having beaten Arsenal 4-1 at Anfield on Saturday. PSV on the other hand have been in a slump as of late in the Eredivise, as they have let Ajax Amsterdam back into the title race. Peter Crouch, who scored a hat-trick on Saturday, was partnered with Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool, while PSV paired Jefferson Farfan and Diego Tardelli as strikers.

PSV were the first to threaten either goal, when Mika Vayrynen blasted a shot over the bar from well out after a one-two with Jefferson Farfan. John Arne Riise then had Liverpool’s first chance as his shot was deflected wide, and the ensuing corner by Steven Gerrard was met by the head of Jamie Carragher, but keeper Heurelho Gomes produced a fine diving stop to keep the scores level. Carragher then nearly gave the hosts a goal as he deflected a corner barely over the crossbar. Reds captain Steven Gerrard then scored as he met Steve Finnan’s cross strongly with his head, and Gomes could do nothing as Gerrard scored his team record 16th goal in international play.

PSV suffered a blow at the break with striker Jefferson Farfan having to leave the match. He was replaced by Chinese international Xiang Sun. A soft clearance attempt by Timmy Simmons then handed the ball to Riise, and the big Dane powered the ball past Gomes, giving the Reds a demanding 2-0 lead. Liverpool continued to pressure for a third goal, and Riise had another chance when Gomes mishandled a cross, but the keeper was able to recover and save his blushes. Finnan supplied the ball for the final goal of the match as well, as his cross was met by the head of Peter Crouch. The 3-0 lead guaranteed the reds the win, but they did suffer a blow on the night when midfielder Fabio Aurelio was forced to leave the pitch with injury. Kuyt also revieved a yellow card in the dying minutes, ruling him out of the second leg with suspension, but Liverpool have a fitting substitute in the form of Craig Bellamy.

The return leg of the series occurs on April 11th at Anfield in Liverpool. PSV will now have to win by a margin of 3 goals in order to hope to advance.

Monday, July 2, 2007

A wildfire in the Ashley National Forest has been blamed for three deaths and has led to the evacuation of about 500 residents of the communities of Whiterocks, Farm Creek, Paradise and Tridell in eastern Utah.

The fire broke out on Friday, June 29 at around 9:00 a.m. local time in Duschene county, north of Neola by state route 121, and proceeded to spread westward into Uintah county.

To date, the cause of the wildfire is unknown. An early report by public safety officials claimed it was caused by a faulty power line or transformer. However, a later announcement by Moon Lake Electric Association CEO Grant Earl disputed this.

By Saturday morning, the fire had spread across approximately 46 square miles of land and been blamed for three fatalities: George Houston, his son Tracy Houston, and Roger Roberson, all from Farm Creek. Eleven year old Duane Houston, George’s grandson, was able to escape the fire with only minor injuries.

The communities of Whiterocks, Farm Creek, Paradise and Tridell, consisting of approximately 500 local residents, were evacuated by Sunday, and at least five homes are known to have been destroyed. Those without family or friends to provide lodging have been relocated to the Ute Indian Tribe’s auditorium in Fort Duchesne and Union High School in Roosevelt.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency became involved in the management of fire fighting efforts on Sunday, and a specialized regional wildland fire team, the Rocky Mountain Type One Management Team, had begun to converge on the Uinta Basin to assist with the firefighting, along with about 100 members of the Utah National Guard.

Reports that same day claimed the fire was 5% contained, but that it had split into at least two separate smaller fires. Authorities declared their intention to prevent the fire from moving eastwards into Dry Fork Canyon and the town of Tridell.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The automobile manufacturer Toyota has said that it will recall up to 1.8 million cars across Europe, after a problem with the accelerator pedal was discovered.

According to the firm, eight models were affected by the problem — AYGO, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis, and RAV4 — after it was discovered that the accelerator may become stuck in a depressed position, resulting in uncontrollable speeding.

On Thursday, Toyota said it would recall 1.1 million cars in the US; a day previous, it had suspended eight models from sales. Last week, 2.3 million cars in the US were recalled due to the pedal issues.

The chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe commented on the recall. “We understand that the current situation is creating concerns and we deeply regret it,” said Tadashi Arashima. The firm, however, noted that it wasn’t aware of any accidents resulted by the malfunctioning accelerator pedals, and not many pedal problem incidents were reported in Europe. “The potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances,” Arashima added.

The National Automobile Dealers Association, meanwhile, commented that Toyota showrooms could lose as much as US$2.47 billion worth of revenue due to the incident.

“Toyota veterans will likely hear the news with disbelief and keep faith in the brand, but new customers could definitely be scared off,” remarked Robert Rademacher, who is the president of the trade group ZDK, as quoted by Business Week. “This recall has a dimension which we’ve never seen before.”

There are concerns that the problem may result in reduced consumer trust in Toyota. Hans-Peter Wodniok, an analyst for Fairesearch GmbH & Co. in Germany, noted: “If this is a one-time event, huge as it is, Toyota may be forgiven. But if something happens again in the next months and years, they will have gambled away customer trust in Europe as well.”

Analysts for Morgan Stanley, however, said they believed Toyota would not suffer much from the incident. “The company’s actions to correct the situation are timely enough to avoid major brand damage,” they remarked in a note to investors.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

A woman in The Netherlands who uses her dogs to hunt in Austria has decided to give her dogs a new kind of treat: beer.

Terrie Berenden, a woman who owns a pet shop in Amsterdam, created a non-alcoholic beer for her dogs which is made from malt and a beef extract. The beer is called Kwispelbier (‘kwispelen’ means “wagging of a [dog’s] tail” in Dutch), and was put onto shelves just last week.

“Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it,” said Berenden.

According to Berenden, owners can enjoy the new beer as well, but she also stated that it will cost owners about four times as much to drink the beer than to buy a ‘human beer.’ A bottle of the dog beer sells at about $2.14.

The slogan for the new dog beer is “a beer for your best friend” and Brenden hopes that the product will grab international attention. Requests for the beer are already coming from the United States, England and Japan.

“We are overwhelmed with it. From America, England and Japan we have (received) mail and we are just going to think about it, how we can bring it on the market there,” said Brenden.

Thursday, August 3, 2006

With an absence of fanfare, the foodstuffs renamed three years ago to “Freedom fries” and “Freedom toast” have reverted to their previous names of “French fries” and “French toast” respectively, for food service of the United States Capitol and White House.

In March 2003, House Representatives Bob Ney of Ohio and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina instituted changing food references of “French” to “Freedom” as a propaganda response to the refusal of France to participate in the U.S.-initiated invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Calling great public attention to the name change on March 11 of that 2003, Ney said, “This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France.” At the time Ney chaired the House Committee on House Administration, which controls those cafeterias.

Currently, Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan chairs the House Administration Committee, and his spokesman has responded to the return of French fries and French toast with: “Officially the committee has no comment on the matter. I really don’t see how this is a story.”