Tour guides host hike to promote Chouf Nature Reserve
September 8, 2008
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CHOUF: The Chouf Cedars Association organized a tour inside the Chouf Nature Reserve on Sunday to promote rural development and ecotourism in the region. Under the sponsorship of Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt, more than 100 tour guides took part in the three-hour hike near the Chouf village of Baatharan. The trip also included the inauguration of a public library and of a shop that sells local products as well as traditional Lebanese foods in Baatharan, which is at the heart of the Chouf Nature Reserve.
Massa wins GP as Hamilton is demoted
September 8, 2008
(CNN) — Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix after McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, who was first over the finishing line, was given a 25-second penalty for an illegal maneuver and demoted to third.
Massa had been lying third when Hamilton and Raikkonen fought out the finish.
McLaren decided to launch an official complaint with FIA’s International Court of Appeal but it was unclear when it would be heard.
“We have no other option,” the team said in a statement, adding it would focus first on next Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
They could not lodge an immediate appeal against the result because it was officially a drive-through penalty which should have been applied during the race.
Few would argue with Massa’s summing up. “This was a very strange race,’ he said, after being awarded the victory.
It was his second successive success after his win two weeks ago in Valencia, yet apart from briefly leading during a pit stop, he was never really in contention.
Hamilton had finished in front after dramatically overtaking Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in a great tussle over the closing stages as rain made the track treacherous.
Race stewards said Hamilton had cut across a chicane to gain an advantage before passing the defending world champion.
Raikkonen later spun off the track while trying to catch the British driver.
Hamilton was demoted to third place, with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld promoted to second.
Hamilton had already taken the plaudits on the podium when the stewards announced that they were investigating an incident during the desperate struggle between the British driver and Raikkonen in the late stages of the race..
The pair made contact several times while the McLaren driver tried to pass the Ferrari and when the Finn fought back.
Hamilton jumped the Bus Stop chicane before passing Raikkonen at La Source during the scrap and this was to prove his downfall.
He explained that Raikkonen forced him by pushing him wide in the heat of the action and he did not want to crash into his opponent by staying on the track.
“He pushed me wide I had no room. This is motor racing,” said Hamilton.
McLaren chief Ron Dennis’s first reaction to news of the inquiry was that he was confident that no action would be taken against either of the drivers.
After the punishment McLaren said: “We have studied the details and put them before the FIA stewards.
“They show that after cutting the chicane Lewis lifted off, he was 6km/h slower than Kimi. After conceding the lead to Kimi, Lewis repositioned his car on the right and beat Kimi on the brakes going into the hairpin.”
Critics and paddock observers were swift in their condemnation of a decision that reeked of potential favoritism for Ferrari and seemed entirely unjustified following the most exciting race of the year.
Hamilton, starting on pole, lost the lead to Raikkonen with an early spin but fought back in the closing laps regained the lead with two laps to go.
As a soaking track made conditions extremely tricky Hamilton passed Raikkonen, only to fall behind again with a spin. The British McLaren driver again went ahead of the Ferrari and Raikkonen’s bid for an important victory ended as he crashed.
In a chaotic final couple of laps, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld jumped from eighth to third following an inspired decision to come in for wet-weather tires at the start of the last lap.
Renault’s Fernando Alonso chose the same tactic and it secured the double world champion the fourth place he had held for much of the race.
After rain in the morning, the track was wet in the start and hairpin areas, but dry elsewhere. Rain was forecast making it difficult for teams to formulate race plans.
Most began on soft, dry tires and as Hamilton set off from pole position his team-mate Kovalainen made a disastrous start and fell from third to 13th on the opening lap.
Massa also faltered, running wide, but rejoined on the rush towards Eau Rouge.
Raikkonen was away brilliantly, quickly challenging Massa and taking second place while Alonso went fourth.
Hamilton was soon in trouble, losing control in the wet at the end of the opening lap spinning at La Source hairpin. Raikkonen dashed past him beyond Eau Rouge and up the hill to take the lead.
This left the Finn in front ahead of Hamilton with Massa third and the trio went on to dominate the rest of the race in changing conditions.
Hamilton was unable to stay in close contact and Raikkonen established a clear lead before the opening pit stops after 11 laps.
Hamilton rejoined in seventh place and Raikkonen pitted a lap later, rejoining in third as Massa took the lead for a lap before he too pitted.
By then Nelson Piquet, the only runner to have chosen intermediate tires, had put a tire on a white line and spun off into the barriers in his Renault.
As the midfield positions switched , Raikkonen stayed out on top by more than five seconds until the second stops when they switched to the harder tires.
Hamilton regained the initiative and reduced the Finn’s lead to 1.3 seconds in the final sector of the race.
It was a close fight between the front three in terms of lap times as the dark clouds loomed over the forests for the final eight laps.
With six laps remaining, the first rain drops began to fall and produced the conditions that created the amazing final few laps when Hamilton grabbed the lead.
On lap 42, he passed Raikkonen before the rain fell heavily. With three laps remaining the race was turned into a lottery as they both spun but the issue was settled when Raikkonen crashed off into a wall and out of the race.
“I was praying: rain, rain, rain,” Hamilton said. “I wanted the rain to come. But it was incredibly tough.”
After the change of result Hamilton’s lead in the overall standings was trimmed to two points, with 76 to Massa’s 74. Robert Kubica is a distant third with 58, one ahead of reigning champion Raikkonen.
Toyota’s Timo Glock was also handed a 25-second time penalty by race stewards after ignoring waved yellow flags at one point late in the race.
That deprived the German of his single point, after previously finishing in eighth place, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber promoted into the final points-scoring position.
CIA, FBI push ‘Facebook for spies’
September 8, 2008
WASHINGTON (CNN) — When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook and MySpace, you might suspect those workers are slacking off.
A social-networking site for the world of spying officially launches for the U.S. intelligence community this month.
But that’s not the case at the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, where bosses are encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying.
“It’s every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it’s much, much more,” said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis. Read more
Keegan resigns as Newcastle manager
September 5, 2008
(CNN) — Kevin Keegan has resigned as manager of Premier League Newcastle United, the English League Managers Association (LMA) announced on Thursday.
Keegan has resigned as Newcastle manager, the English League Managers Association announced.
The development ends three days of intense speculation at St James’ Park where Keegan’s relationship with the club’s hierarchy collapsed over Newcastle’s transfer policy.
Keegan, in a statement released by the LMA, said: “I’ve been working desperately hard to find a way forward with the directors, but sadly that has not proved possible. Read more
Angry Djokovic exacts revenge on Roddick
September 5, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic heard what Andy Roddick said about him and didn’t like it one bit.
Novak Djokovic celebrates after defeating Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open on Thursday.
After working his way back from a huge deficit, Roddick was two points from forcing a fifth set at 5-4, 30-love in the fourth. But he double-faulted twice in a row and was broken for the fifth time — twice more than he lost serve in his first four matches combined. Read more
Syria floats direct talks with Israel
September 5, 2008
DAMASCUS, Syria (CNN) — Syria hopes a series of indirect talks with Israel will soon lead to direct negotiations, President Bashar al-Assad told CNN’s Cal Perry Thursday in an exclusive interview.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy (right) and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad meet in Damascus.
Al-Assad said that possibility was discussed during a summit attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leaders of Turkey and Qatar.
Word of the Syrian proposal came during a landmark visit to Damascus by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took part in a summit Thursday that also included the leaders of Turkey and Qatar. Read more
4,500-year-old ice shelf breaks away
September 5, 2008
TORONTO, Ontario (AP) — A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada’s northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.
Large pieces of ice are seen drifting off the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf in this July file photo.
Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean. Read more
Nikon D3 reaches new imaging heights
September 5, 2008
(CNET) — For years, Nikon users had been asking their favored camera maker for a dSLR with a full-frame sensor (the same size as a 35mm frame of film).
Finally, Nikon caved, delivering the 12-megapixel D3; the result is a camera that reaches new heights in imaging with extremely low noise at astronomical ISO sensitivities, while maintaining the pro-level control and body design Nikonians have come to expect in the company’s flagship cameras.
Interestingly, Nikon seems to pit its flagship model against Canon’s 10-megapixel EOS-1D Mark III, with its APS-H size sensor, rather than the 21-megapixel, full-frame EOS-1Ds Mark III. That makes sense on some level, though, since the 1D Mark III and the D3 are really all-around cameras that combine the burst speed to handle the demands of sports shooters with ruggedness and image quality that should appeal to news photographers and many others. Read more
Analysis: Toronto film fest could offer surprises
September 5, 2008
(CNN) — A mere film festival cannot compete with the Academy Awards’ grip on the public imagination, but the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival (which begins Thursday) comes pretty close — in part because it has become the first important bellwether for the onslaught of Oscar hopefuls.
Spike Lee’s World War II drama, “Miracle of St. Anna,” is one of the hot tickets at the film festival.
Last year’s bumper crop of contenders included “Into the Wild,” “In the Valley of Elah,” “Atonement,” “I’m Not There,” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and the eventual best picture winner, “No Country For Old Men.” After 10 days in Toronto, it was obvious that 2007 would go down as an exceptionally strong year for American film. Read more
Lawmaker accused over decapitated pop star
September 5, 2008
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — An Egyptian lawmaker and business tycoon was arrested Tuesday in the death of a Lebanese pop singer, Egypt’s chief prosecutor said, accusing the man of paying a former police officer $2 million to kill her.
Hisham Talaat, a lawmaker from the ruling party of President Hosni Mubarak, is accused of ordering the death of 30-year-old Suzanne Tamim, who was found decapitated in her Dubai apartment in July, chief prosecutor Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud told The Associated Press.
The death made waves in Egyptian media in early August and prompted a media ban in Egypt last month, following reports that a high-profile Egyptian figures were involved. Read more
Latest Headlines
- Tour guides host hike to promote Chouf Nature Reserve
- Massa wins GP as Hamilton is demoted
- CIA, FBI push ‘Facebook for spies’
- Keegan resigns as Newcastle manager
- Angry Djokovic exacts revenge on Roddick
- Syria floats direct talks with Israel
- 4,500-year-old ice shelf breaks away
- Nikon D3 reaches new imaging heights
- Analysis: Toronto film fest could offer surprises
- Lawmaker accused over decapitated pop star