Uruguay striker Luis Suarez could once again be in trouble and facing a long ban after appearing to bite an Italian defender on Tuesday in World Cup group game. the incident, apparent on television replays showed Suarez apparently bite the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Ghiellini as the pair clashed in the Italian penalty area, as it happened about a minute before Uruguay scored in the 81st to secure 1-0 win, getting Italy our of the championship.
The 27-year-old Suarez has a history of disciplinary problems. has was banned for seven matches by the Netherlands football federation in 2010 after biting PSV Eindhoven player Otman Bakkal in a league match when he played for Ajax.
Moreover after he joined Liverpool, he bit Chelsea player Branislav Ivanovic in 2013 and was banned for 10 games in the England's Premier League.
FIFA vice-president Jim Boyle said on British television Suarez had let himself down again."there is no doubt Luis Suarez is a fantastic footballer but, once again, his actions have left him open to severe criticism,"Boyle, who is also charman of the FIFA referees' committee, said from his home in Nothern Ireland."FIFA must investigate the incident seriously."
FIFA can sanction players with bans of up to two years if its disciplinary commission decides there is a case to answer.
After the two painful defeat that Cameroon Team has received in World Cup 2014, and with Brazil still to come, the player Alex Song's stupid red card in the first-half summed things up, bu as if things couldn't be worse, two players had a fight just before the full-time whistle.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto, of Tottenham decided to channel his inner Alan Pardew by headbutting Benjamin Moukandjo. The incident is set to sent both players to home and leave the tournament, with the Cameroon FA set to launch disciplinary proceedings against them.
Pep Guardiola takes full responsibility for Bayern
Munich being dumped out of the Champions League, claiming his side didn't
do enough in possession to warrant progressing.
The Bavarians were taught a lesson in
counter-attacking by a slick Real Madrid outfit who picked their
hosts off at will and went through with surprising ease.
Two goals apiece from Sergio Ramos and Cristiano
Ronaldo condemned Bayern to a humiliating defeat.
It was all their own doing - Ramos wasn't picked
up properly for either header in a four-minute spell - but Guardiola was more
incensed with his side's lack of incision on the ball.
'The reason for the defeat is that we played too
little with the ball,' he said.
'In Manchester and also in Madrid, we have made
it outstanding, not today.
'If you do not have control of the game, you have
no chance against this team.
'We played badly, that's my responsibility. We
are at the highest level in Europe and such errors are punished.
'I'll try to lift the players.'
Having already sealed the Bundesliga title,
Bayern only have the German Cup to play for. The way in which they crumbled
when hit on the break will have been alarming to those inside the Allianz
Arena.
Not least captain Philipp Lahm, who added: 'The
disappointment is huge. We did not play well tactically, we played an open game
way too early.
'While we controlled the first leg, we gave them
an end-to-end game today, that's not our way of playing, they like it though.'
Arjen Robben was stifled by a well-organised
Madrid back four, particularly Fabio Coentrao, but remained pragmatic in his
assessment.
'We received a 4-0 beating today. Accept it. Cry
about it. Go home. Then move on,' he said.
'We had lots of hope, the mood was good. We
attacked from the first minute, then conceded two from set-pieces, not
counter-attacks.
'We've been punished and have to accept it. A 4-0
defeat at home is tough but we have to lift our heads, we have a cup final
soon.'
Samsung has been ordered to pay $119.6m (£71m) to Apple by a US court for infringing two of its patents.
A jury
in California delivered its verdict in afederal court in San Jose on
Friday in the latest lawsuit involving the two tech giants.
Apple had sought $2bn at the trial, accusing Samsung
of violating patents on smartphone features.
The court also ruled that Apple infringed Samsung's
patents and awarded $158,000 in damages.
Apple had sought $2.2bn after accusing Samsung of
infringing five of its patents covering functions such as the "slide to
unlock" from its devices.
Samsung denied any wrongdoing and sought $6m after
arguing Apple had infringed two of its smartphone patents related to camera use
and video transmission.
"Though
this verdict is large by normal standards, it is hard to view this outcome as
much of a victory for Apple,'' said Brian Love, aSanta Clara University law
professor.
"This amount is less than 10% of the amount
Apple requested and probably doesn't surpass by too much the amount Apple spent
litigating this case.''
This
verdict marks the latest legal battle overintellectual property between
the world's top two smartphone makers.
Apple and Samsung have been fighting patent battles
for years and across many countries.
Two years ago, a separate jury ordered Samsung to pay
Apple $930m after finding it had used Apple technology.
That verdict is still being challenged by Samsung.
People who must undergo biopsies, or some types of CT or MRI
scans, may find this medical treatment nerve-racking. Aside from the discomfort
of being poked and prodded, there’s the stress of being diagnosed or treated
for a serious disease.
But video glasses, like Google
Glass, can help calm these patients down, according to a new study.
People in the study were
undergoing tests for serious problems, and it’s standard for doctors to give
such patients a strong sedative or relaxant, said study researcher Dr. David
Waldman, professor and chair of the department of imaging sciences at the University
of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.
The study focused on what’s known
as interventional radiology – using CT, ultrasound or MRI technology to
guide inserting devices into the body, such as balloons to expand blood
vessels, or catheters to break up dangerous blood clots. “We’re putting needles
in people,” Waldman said. “The pain, not really knowing what’s coming next, the
anxiety level is much greater than ordinary CT or MRI.”
In recent years, physicians have
explored using fewer drugs when calming patients, since these
medicines, being one more factor to track, can complicate treatment.
The study divided 50 patients
into two groups; half the patients received a pair of glasses that could show
videos, while the other half got no glasses. As the procedures began, the first
group was allowed to choose a video they might want to watch during the
testing.
"We had National Geographic
types of clips, stuff like ‘March of the Penguins’ — that one was popular — and
Disney movies," Waldman said.
The researchers then asked the
patients to fill out a 20-question survey that rated how anxious or stressed
they felt, using a scoring system of 1 to 4 on each question. Patients took the
anxiety test both before and after their treatments.
Patients who had received the
glasses showed lower anxiety scores
after the treatment than before the procedure. Specifically, their scores were
18 percent lower after the treatment. Meanwhile, those who didn’t get glasses
were only 5.5 percent less anxious after the procedure, compared with how they
felt before the procedure began.
The glasses didn’t interfere with
the work the doctor had to do, the researchers said.
While the results are promising,
the study needs to be repeated in larger groups of patients, the researchers
said. And it remains unclear how effective the video glasses may be for
patients undergoing different procedures. For example, some people in the study
received injections into the neck, which many people find to be more stressful
than other procedures.
Waldman noted the available
videos included no violent films or mysteries, so those who relax with
Alfred Hitchcock might not be as satisfied with the results. A lot of people
requested sitcoms, Waldman added (they didn’t have them).
The researchers will next study
500 patients at three hospitals. That’s a large enough study population,
Waldman says, to tease out which treatments produce more patient fear, and
which patients the glasses may help most.
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – Noeli Borges is lining up outside the Central Prison in this city waiting to visit her incarcerated teenage son, jailed for allegedly being caught with drugs.
"I've been told the conditions are horrible inside the jail, is that true?" I ask her. "Horrible?" she shot back without delay. "No, welcome to hell."
To see for myself, I accompanied a visit of local judges on a recent inspection of the prison.
The day we visited, the jail had 4,470 inmates. It has a capacity for 2,069.
Welcome to Brazil's most overcrowded prison, one of the worst places in the country to be incarcerated.
Entering the Central Prison is a surreal experience of a network of hallways and staircases that passes by cells that are supposed to hold four inmates, but where it's obvious eight to 10 are crammed inside at night.
One of the main prison blocks that houses several hundred inmates was emptied for our visit.
On the hallway floor, dozens of mattresses were piled up, bags of clothes hung from the walls next to crude, handmade, electricity lines that were stitched together. If there were to be a fire, there would be little help, as the extinguisher was missing.
All the doors were ripped off the individual cells by the inmates. In the prison block, inmates mix freely amongst themselves and guards rarely enter this area.
One cell was turned into a makeshift kitchen. It was filthy with a layer of black grime covering everything, a cockroach scurrying about, raw sewage dumped out the window into the prison yard below.
There were several open shower heads, next to a hold in the ground that was a toilet.
In the prison yard, flies circled around a pile of rubbish in the open sun.
Prisoners used rope to pass down food and who-knows-what-else to inmates in cells below or in an adjacent yard.
In the hallways of the main complex, new inmates with nowhere to go are left standing, sometimes for days, in a holding area.
Prison guards prevented us from freely interviewing inmates.
'Absurd number'
"The Central Prison is a symbol of everything a prison should not be," said Jose Brzuska, an outspoken local judge. "It has an absurd number of prisoners."
Gelson Treiesleben, the superintendent of the state prison system, says he can't solve the problem until three new jails are built in the state, all of which are still under construction.
"I cannot improve the conditions without taking some inmates out of there, and I can’t build new jails from one day to the next," he said.
A new central kitchen has been built, a special wing exclusively for gay and lesbian inmates, and tuberculosis testing is now being done.
But Lisiane Alves, the president of the state association of public defenders, said the entire complex needs to be imploded.
"It's a dungeon," she said of the prison conditions. "A concentration camp of psychological deterioration of humans."
Brazil's prison population has gone from about 130,000 in 2000, to 563,700 today.
A recent audit found that Brazil has capacity for 363,500 inmates nationwide, meaning the country has about 202,000 more inmates than they have space.
Only the United States, China and Russia have more people incarcerated than Brazil.
Back outside the Central Prison, mothers, wives and girlfriends of inmates wait in line for visitation.
They all carry big sacks filled with snacks, toilet paper and soap, all of which are in short supply in the jail.
"If I bring toilet paper my son will be able to clean himself," Mrs Borges tells me. "If I bring soap, he will be able to take a shower. But if I don't bring these things, he won't be able to."
And her son? He's 19 and been incarcerated for three months. The Central Prison is so overcrowded, he's yet to have his first court appearance.
Very little achieved by US Congress throughout 2013, with a similar scorecard expected over 2014.
It’s safe to say, 2013 was a bad year for the US Congress. From seemingly endless political showdowns to a partial government shutdown, America’s top legislative body managed to accomplish very little – except argue. In order for a bill to become law in the United States, both chambers - the House of Representatives dominated by Republicans, and the Senate, controlled by Democrats - must approve it. This didn’t happen. It’s just one reason very few laws of importance to Americans were passed.
Instead, 2013 was the year the US Congress chose to govern by crisis. On the rare occasions where Congress did agree, it only seemed to do so at the 11th hour, and after much fighting and political finger-pointing. Now, Congressional politicians are paying the price. Congressional approval ratings are at historic lows. The outlook for 2014 isn't much better, and that's frustrating ordinary Americans like community organiser Nkechi Feaster.
She told Al Jazeera that some days, it is hard to stay motivated. She's frustrated with her elected representatives.
“They're not working for me. They’re not working for the average American citizen,” she said. “I think that Congress and certain government officials live a pretty cushy and unrealistic lifestyle.”
Low ratings
This is a view shared by most Americans. Approval ratings in 2013 averaged just 14 percent, which is among the lowest approval ratings for Congress in its history. Politicians did not agree on gun control laws, raising the minimum wage or immigration reform to allow more than 11 million undocumented immigrants a chance at citizenship.
That's because, in part, US politicians also had record levels of inactivity in 2013. The US Congress passed just 60 bills in 2013. That’s far less than the 295 Congress passed in 1947 when then President Truman labeled the legislative body, a "Do Nothing Congress". Despite the fact that Congressional members collect a minimum salary of $174,000 a year, most pressing domestic issues in 2013, went unaddressed.
Melanie Sloan is the Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit government watchdog group. She told us Congress has not only been missing in action, it is done serious harm.
"To call this one a "Do Nothing Congress" is really generous, she said. “Because, rather than simply do nothing, they have done real damage to the country. They’re hurt our economy, they’ve hurt the international economy, they’ve left children out in the cold, not going to school, They’ve made sure that people aren’t eating and they’ve made the Defense Department not ready. These are just a few of the things that have happened," said Sloan.
Indeed, some of the biggest stories to come out of Congress in 2013 had little to do with legislation and a lot more to do with political point-scoring. Instead of taking up high priority issues, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted more than 40 times, to repeal President Obama’s healthcare law. That of course, led to a partial government shutdown in October which lasted 16 days.
The upper chamber, the US Senate, wasn't much better. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, held up legislation for a day to protest healthcare reform, at times reading from the children's book, Dr. Seuss, to run out the clock on the session.
"Congress is finishing this year less popular than a cockroach,” the top Senate Democrat, Harry Reid, told reporters.
Different strokes
Big projects that Congress have been left unfinished as lawmakers bolted for Christmas recess. Politicians failed to approve legislation that would allow thousands of Americans to do the same. Lawmakers failed to extend federal unemployment benefits so just days after Christmas, more than a million Americans lost financial support they relied on while they searched for work. This, despite the fact that long-term unemployment in the US is still at its highest level since World War II. Congress did not stop there. It also failed to confirm Janet Yellen as the Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.
Feaster shakes her head.
"Congress is not living in the world that everyone else lives in. They have much more security that they've created for themselves. They maintain it for themselves while everyone else has been forgotten about."
"I think it's frustrating for the vast majority of Americans. I think Americans want to see an effective government. They don't want to see things like government shutdowns and yet we've set up a situation where we're likely to see reoccurrences," said Sloan.
Sloan told us she has few hopes next year will be any better. 2014 is an election year. Come November, the politicians in the House of Representatives and much of the Senate will be up for re-election. Precedent shows this is historically a recipe for legislative inactivity and few bi-partisan agreements on Capitol Hill. More political warfare is likely, as politicians focus not on legislating but on campaigning to keep their seats.
"People look at our government shutdown and how really childish it is and say that our government is just a bunch of small children running amok," said Sloan.
"It’s not surprising that America’s stature is really shrinking around the world."
