Blog for Youth

An anti-corruption and security unit has been set up by Cricket Australia to oversee the integrity of its domestic competitions.

The new body will be led by Sean Carroll, who has worked in the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, and the unit will preside over the Sheffield Shield, the limited-over competition, and the new Twenty20 Big Bash League.

The creation of the new layer to stamp out corruption comes in the wake of a British court sentencing three Pakistan international cricketers — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir — to jail terms for their roles in spot fixing that was exposed by a tabloid newspaper during a series in England last year.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland announced the appointment Wednesday, only hours after a British newspaper quoted former ICC anti-corruption chief Paul Condon as saying every major cricket country had been touched by corruption in the 1990s.

Sutherland said Cricket Australia thoroughly investigated the issue at the time and found there was no evidence of wrongdoing among its players.

“While there has been no evidence of any problems in domestic cricket it is good to see Cricket Australia being proactive … to protect the local game,” Sports Minister Mark Arbib said. “We are working to empower Australia’s sports to ensure their athletes are protected and that everyone involved with sport understands the importance of combating match-fixing.”

On Wednesday, the European Space Agency has received the first signal from an unmanned Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars since it got stuck in the orbit of Earth two weeks ago.

The space agency of Russia said an ESA tracking facility in Australia got the signal from the Phobos-Ground probe early on Wednesday in the western city of Perth.

ESA’s teams of flight dynamics technicians, who calculate the orbits, and the operational center staff, who actually send up the signal, had been helping to try to communicate with the Russian probe for the past 10 days, said Bernhard von Weyhe a spokesman for ESA, based at its operational headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany.

Roscosmos said in a statement that Russian and European space experts will coordinate further attempts to contact the probe. Weyhe said the next try would occur later Wednesday when the spacecraft is expected to pass over the satellite dishes in Australia.

“We did it as if the probe was on Mars, not only 200 to 340 kilometers (125 to 210 miles) away from Earth,” Weyhe said.

Ruth Stone, an award-winning poet for whom tragedy halted, and then inspired a career, has died in Vermont at the age of 96.

She was surrounded by her daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she breathed her last on November 19 of natural causes at her home in Ripton.

Widowed in her 40s and little known for years after, Ruth Stone became one of the country’s most honored poets in her 80s and 90s, winning the National Book Award in 2002 for “In the Next Galaxy” and being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for “What Love Comes To.” She received numerous other citations, including a National Book Critics Circle award, two Guggenheims and a Whiting Award.

“I think my work is a natural response to my life,” Stone once said. “What I see and feel changes like a prism, moment to moment; a poem holds and illuminates. It is a small drama. I think, too, my poems are a release, a laughing at the ridiculous and songs of mourning, celebrating marriage and loss, all the sad baggage of our lives. It is so overwhelming, so complex.”

On Friday, the government of Australia approved SABMiller’s A$11.5 billion ($11.2 billion) deal to acquire Foster’s Group Ltd under foreign acquisitions laws.

The Aussie government however imposed conditions requiring the company to keep brewing operations in Australia.

The government approval is the final regulatory condition to be cleared ahead of the Foster’s shareholders vote set for December 1, which is expected to pass the deal.

Treasurer Wayne Swan, who also approved acquisition of the remaining 50 percent of Pacific Beverages now owned by Coca-Cola Amatil, said SABMiller must keep management of the iconic Australian beer brand in Australia.

SABMiller must also continue to invest in Foster’s, the maker of Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught and Pure Blonde, and not shift any of Foster’s existing brewing facilities offshore to produce beer for the Australian domestic market, he said.

“SABMiller has agreed to a number of undertakings which recognize the significance of Foster’s to our economy and to our community, and support Australian jobs,” Swan said in a statement.

If you are looking for apartments for rent in Calgary (Alberta), finding your next home online would be the best bet.

This is not just because it makes your searching easier, but also because you could easily sort apartments for rent by price, square footage, number of bedrooms, etc.

One of the best things about finding an apartment online is that you view pictures, descriptions, and prices of the apartments even before actually visiting the places. This also means that you save valuable time, money, and other resources such as gasoline while finding your next dream home.

If you are new to the world of Internet, you could visit Google and enter words such as “Calgary apartments for rent“, “house rentals in Calgary“, “Calgary condos for rent“, or “Calgary Houses for Rent“. The search would redirect you to websites from where you can easily find information on how to buy apartments for rent in Calgary and the best available options before you.

You can thereafter select a few and choose the best that fits your needs and budget. One thing is for sure your Calgary home search will certainly make you see why Calgary is such a fast-growing city.

According to a German study, people who have donated part of their liver for transplant can experience physical and psychological complications years after the operation.

The study in the Annals of Surgery said almost half of the 83 liver donors surveyed had complaints ranging from pain and digestive problems to depression three or more years after surgery — but nearly all said they’d donate again.

From news.yahoo.com:

In a living-donor liver transplant, a team of surgeons removes a lobe of the donor’s liver to implant in the recipient. The remaining portion of the donor’s liver regrows to full size within two months.

“There is a risk for some long-term complaints, which may be potentially controllable by workup modifications, improvements in surgical techniques and a thorough follow-up of donors at the transplant centers,” said Georgios Sotiropoulos, lead author and professor of surgery and transplantation at University Hospital Essen in Germany.

“I think the conclusions are cautious and reasonable. We need to keep a close eye on these people,” said Jean Emond, vice chair of the Department of Surgery and director of the transplant center at New York Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital in New York while adding that study findings are consistent with past research though the study did not have a control group.

During a four-month investigation into counterfeit drugs, police in China have seized more than 65 million fake pills and arrested 114 suspects.

A criminal network extending over eight provinces used starch or corn powder to make fake medicines and repackaged drugs past their use-by dates, according to a statement by the Ministry of Public Security.

From news.yahoo.com:

The ministry says police also found animal feed, chemical pigments and other ingredients that are harmful to people.

Police started the investigation after discovering that a woman in central Henan province had substituted genuine medicines with fake products in pharmacies.

1,000 police officers broke up 117 dens that produced or sold fake medicine via websites or advertisements, the ministry said.

Dodgers On Way To Bankruptcy Court Auction

The Dodgers Stadium may soon be displaying a “For Sale” sign.

On early Wednesday, the process of finding a new owner for the Los Angeles Dodgers began when current boss Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball released a joint statement saying they had agreed to a court-supervised sale of the once-glamorous and now bankrupt franchise.

From news.yahoo.com:

In the long-term, the deal will allow the Dodgers to move ahead and try to get back to baseball’s elite. But the club’s fans may well have to endure another season adrift as the sale works itself out.

While the sides hope for a quick deal, giving McCourt the money to pay his divorce settlement by April, MLB sales sometimes drag on for six months to 1½ years. Once bidders are identified, the court is likely to conduct an auction.

“Baseball can choose to have their approval process move like molasses in winter or like Castor oil through a baby,” said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp, a Chicago-based consulting firm.

“Contrary to questions I got today, we’re not buying the Dodgers,” News Corp. chief operating officer Chase Carey told analysts on a conference call Wednesday.