Tag Archives: education
Fina World Junior: More gold, records go Down Under
Fina World Junior: More gold, records go Down Under Moni Mathews / 30 August 2013 Swimmers from Down Under once again stamped their class to nudge ahead in the gold rush in the 4th Fina World Junior Swimming Championships at the iconic Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex off the Emirates Highway. The start of the men’s 50m backstroke final at the World Junior Swimming Championships on Thursday. — KT photos by Mukesh Kamal The qualifying honours for the six events on Thursday were spread between six different nations, as the action continued at the complex, rated to be one of the best in the world by the swimmers and the officials taking part here. The talented green and gold capped youngsters had another great night in the late events on Wednesday taking two gold and one bronze to lead the gold medal tally with six, ahead of the US with five and Russia with four. The US remains in the overall lead with 14 medals. Russia is in second with 10 and Australia third with 8. Leading the Australian charge was hot action hero Mack Horton who climbed on to the gold podium for the fourth time with a superb 800m freestyle 7:45.67. Horton took an astonishing nearly 10.3 seconds off the championship record, and winning by over 10 seconds from Jan Micka of Czech Republic (7:56.33) who added the silver to his bronze in the 400m freestyle. Pawel Furtek (7:58.33) took the bronze and Poland’s first medal of the meet. “Missing out on qualifying for Barcelona (world senior Fina meet in July) made me push myself harder in training,” Horton said. Australia also took gold in the crowd pulling 4 x100m freestyle mixed relay. Australia was led out by Luke Percy who had earlier qualified fastest for the 50m freestyle final. Shayna Jack backed up from her bronze in the 100m freestyle to swim the second leg, followed by Regan Leong who had taken gold in the boys 4x100m relay on Day 1. Australia turned in front for the last 50, but Georgia Miller had a fight on her hands with Caeleb Dressel of the US giving his all to catch her. Miller dug deep and hung on for the victory in a championship record 3:28.74. The US took silver and Russia the bronze. In the girls 200m backstroke final Kylie Stewart of the US turned the tables on the 100m gold medallist Daria Ustinova of Russia, taking gold in 2:09.74, a new championship record. The other two finals saw three nations take medals for the first time in the Dubai meet. In the boys 100m butterfly Japan’s Takaya Yasue took gold in 53.01 while Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey beat world breaststroke champion Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania for the gold with a new meet mark. Siobhan said: “I was so nervous, but so happy to swim with an Olympian. Ruta did a good job. It’s my first international competition so to win the gold is great.” New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’Amausili finished the girls 50m backstroke in 28.14 to qualify fastest for the semi-finals. The Kiwis who topped the medal count in a previous chapter of the championship have been fairly quiet so far in this event, with only one other appearance in a semi-final to date. Fans brought their colours to the iconic Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex on Thursday Iryna Glavynk of Ukraine qualified second, with Russia’s Daria Ustinova in third. Ustinova already has a gold from the 100m backstroke and a bronze from the 200m backstroke and will be looking to add a third medal to her collection in Friday’s final. South Africa also recorded its first fastest qualification time to date with Ryan Coetzee in the boys 50m butterfly finishing in 23.81. Dylan Carter of Trinidad and Tobago also made it through to the semis. Carter just missed a medal in the 100m backstroke final, but will have two more chances when he appears in both the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke. The Aussies maintained their form posting the top two qualifying times in the girls 400m freestyle. Remy Fairweather finished in 4:09.75, ahead of teammate and 800m gold medallist Alanna Bowles. Fairweather is favourite for the final, having posted times almost two seconds faster than anyone else in the field prior to the championships. Russia, the dominant nation on Wednesday morning recorded the top two qualifying times for the boys 200m breaststroke. Mikhail Dorinov swam 2:13.40, with countryman Aleksandr Palatov second in 2:13.43. Ippei Watanabe of Japan qualified third. Ruta is one of the hardest working swimmers in this meet, contesting nine events. So far she has collected one gold and two silvers, and will be hoping to add to that after qualifying fastest for the girls 200m individual medley final in 2:15.10. Japan’s Emu Higuchi recorded the second best time, ahead of 400m individual medley gold medallist Ella Eastin of the US. In the final heat of the Day 4 programme of the 6-day event, Great Britain took the honours in the boys 4x200m freestyle relay with a new meet mark time of 7:19.93. Great Britain has yet to win gold, and face tough opposition from the US, Canada and Australia. The race is set to see another Mack Horton-James Guy duel. moni@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Dubai International – the ‘ultimate airport’
Dubai International — the ‘ultimate airport’ Staff Reporter / 29 August 2013 The new ten-part series, titled ‘Ultimate Airport Dubai’ that will premiere on September 5 at 8pm on National Geographic Channel (NGC) will offer unprecedented behind-the-scene access to the world’s second busiest international airport. The various scenes will show what it takes to keep Dubai International safe, secure and on schedule. From the Control Tower and Customs interrogations to angry customers, cargo headaches and new construction, nothing is left unturned in the series. It includes all three massive terminals, including Terminal 3, the biggest airport terminal building by floor space — measuring 359 football pitches in size. With unprecedented access to all facets of this mega facility, the series follows some of the 60,000 staff working hard to keep everything in place with more than 344,000 flights, 57 million passengers and two million tonnes of cargo flying in and out each year, ‘Ultimate Airport Dubai’ provides viewers with an all-access ticket to the various divisions of this expanding airport, which is poised to become the world’s busiest airport for international travel one day. It takes an army of well-trained staff, the latest technological advancements, and an enormous amount of space to safely operate. From Air Traffic Control handling emergency landings, customs intercepting suspected smugglers and engineers taking apart multi-million dollar jets to dealing with late flights and angry passengers, cargo headaches and even the construction of brand new $3.2-billion A380 facility, NGC provides a 360-degree view of this “ultimate airport”. It offers a rare insight into the many and varied jobs that most travellers never even see, but that are vital to keep things running smoothly. The job of an air traffic controller is one of the most stressful occupations in the world, especially at Dubai International where a plane takes off or lands every 92.5 seconds. See how air traffic controllers, ready to respond in a moment’s notice, react to an in-flight medical emergency with injured passengers. And, work alongside the engineers that keep Dubai’s 90-kilometre baggage system running smoothly. The series also enters Emirates Airlines’ massive engineering hangar to meet the elite aviation technicians tasked with keeping some of the largest planes in the world operational. Viewers can see how they test 18,000 engine components and how long it takes to repaint an Airbus A330-200. After replacing a multi-million dollar engine, join pilots on a high-speed test flight, where they push the plane beyond the limits allowed during normal passenger travel. Over at the Emirates flight attendant training school, experience an all-too-real crash landing simulation and find out what it is like to slide out of the biggest passenger aircraft in the world during a water-landing training exercise. The airport is already operating to near capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week but much like the rest of Dubai, it has the ambition to become number one. The new NGC series also follows the construction of a new, state-of-the-art concourse that will accommodate another 15 million passengers each year. Upon completion, it will be the first dedicated facility for the world’s biggest fleet of A380s. With the grand opening rapidly approaching, and an inspection by a member of the royal family on the horizon, crew members furiously battle leaky pipes, missing materials, and delinquent contractors to finish the job on time. Numbers say it all Reports showed that Dubai International’s passenger traffic rose 6.1 per cent in July, reaching 5,310,361 compared to 5,006,155 during the same month last year. The year to date traffic is up 15.3 per cent to 37,972,464 compared to 32,937,794 during the first seven months of 2012. Aircraft movements totalled 28,462 during July, an increase of 2.3 per cent from the 27,829 recorded during the same period last year. Passengers per aircraft movement in July was at 201. Dubai Airports, operator of Dubai International, said that overall passenger numbers, Western Europe traffic took over as the top market thanks to robust growth (+13.4 per cent) during the month. The Indian subcontinent, which fell to second spot, continued to show positive growth (+6.1 per cent) due to the expansion of several Indian carriers including Indigo, Spice Jet and Air India Express. North American traffic growth slowed recently, in comparison with the strong growth trends witnessed last year. lily@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Obama embodies King’s dream
Obama embodies King’s dream (AP) / 29 August 2013 President Barack Obama led civil rights pioneers on Wednesday in a ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where Dr Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech roused the 250,000 people who rallied there decades ago for racial equality. Large crowds gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, where the first black US president spoke just after 1900 GMT — the same time that King delivered his spellbinding speech. ( L-R) Rep. John Lewis, former president Jimmy Carter, former president Bill Clinton, US President Obama and Oprah Winfrey applaud during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. – Reuters The first march was early in the turbulent 1960s, when the South still had separate restrooms, schools and careers for blacks and whites, and racism lingered across the country. In the two years following the march, President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to outlaw discrimination, and King received the Nobel Peace Prize. “There were couples in love who couldn’t marry. Soldiers who fought for freedom abroad but couldn’t find any at home,” Obama said, speaking of that era. “America changed for you and for me,” he added later. Obama has said King is one of two people he admires “more than anybody in American history.” The other is Abraham Lincoln. Thousands of people were in attendance in wet weather. Two former presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, spoke movingly of King’s legacy — and of problems still to overcome. “This march, and that speech, changed America,” Clinton declared. Carter said King’s efforts had helped not just black Americans, but “In truth, he helped to free all people.” Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker and Jamie Foxx were among the celebrities. Winfrey said King forced the nation “to wake up, look at itself and eventually change.” International commemorations were being held at London’s Trafalgar Square, as well as in the nations of Japan, Switzerland, Nepal and Liberia. London Mayor Boris Johnson has said King’s speech resonates around the world and continues to inspire people as one of the great pieces of oratory. On August 28, 1963, as King was ending his speech, he quoted from the patriotic song, “My Country ‘tis of Thee” and urged his audience to “let freedom ring.” “When we allow freedom to ring — when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last, great God almighty, we are free at last,” King said. The civil rights leader was assassinated five years later. Not everyone at the latest march was celebrating progress. “I thought we would be a lot further along than we are 50 years after hearing King’s speech,” said John Pruitt, 83, a voter rights advocate who attended the first march as well. Organisers of the rally broadened the focus well beyond racial issues, bringing speakers forward to address the environment, gay rights, the challenges facing the disabled and more. Whitaker told the crowd it was their “moment to join those silent heroes of the past.” US President Barack Obama (C) applauds the ringing of a Birmingham, Alabama church bell during ceremonies celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1963 “March on Washington” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 2013. – Reuters Obama considers the 1963 march part of his generation’s “formative memory.” A half-century after the march, he said, is a good time to reflect on how far the country has come and how far it still has to go, particularly after the recent acquittal of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager. Race isn’t a subject Obama likes to talk about in public, but the Martin case is one time he has done so. In an interview on Tuesday on Tom Joyner’s radio show, Obama said he imagines that King “would be amazed in many ways about the progress that we’ve made.” He listed advances such as equal rights before the law, an accessible judicial system, thousands of African-American elected officials, African-American CEOs and the doors that the civil rights movement opened for Latinos, women and gays. “I think he would say it was a glorious thing,” he said. But Obama noted that King’s speech was also about jobs and justice. King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, spoke on NBC of staggering unemployment among young black men. Continue reading
