BALTIMORE, Maryland March 8, 2014 (10:10 am) - A huge oil slick, up to 12 miles long, has been spotted in the South China Sea by a Vietnamese Navy plane, giving searchers the first evidence of a possible location for a missing Malaysian Airlines Jet with 239 people on board. The jet went missing about 12 hours ago after completing the first one to two hours of a scheduled six hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. Fox News, the New York Times, the Guardian in London and other sources released the information within the last 90 minutes.
Meanwhile, in Crimea, Poland has closed and evacuated its consulate in Sevastopol for fear of armed interference from the Russian Military and para-military troops which have invaded and occupied this Ukrainian province. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski made the announcement Saturday in Warsaw. He said that the Polish consulate in the Ukrainian city of Odessa would absorb the duties and and responsibilities of the Sevastopol unit. The final straw in the Polish decision may have been the overnight crashing of a Ukrainian Missle Defense Site by Russian Forces. No shots were fired in the tense event, but the Russians would only leave when Ukrainian Forces on sight agreed to pledge allegiance to Russia.
Also on Saturday, a top Chinese official told reporters that his country has had all it is prepared to tolerate from the North Korean government. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that his country is drawing a "red line" on North Korea's provocative acts. A recent missle firing by the government of dictator Kim Jung-un nearly struck a Chinese aircraft, further enraging Wang Yi and the Chinese government. That government continues to officially urge caution in taking action against Kim Jung-un, but it is giving firm evidence that it is not included in its own caution. Wang Yi was attending a session of the Chinese Parliament when he addressed reporters.
In Sports, Burnley returns to the pitch tomorrow at Ewood Park against the Blackburn Rovers. In Lancashire, where both clubs are located, fans call the match, and it earlier, September renewal, the 'East Lancashire Derby.' The fixture hardly needs any local lore to build it up. Burnley, in the second assured promotion position, has a 5 point edge on its nearest pursuer as it seeks to lock up a Premier League berth. It has 13 matches left. Blackburn is currently in tenth place in the Championship, but it has 46 points, just six behind the final playoff position, and a game in-hand on most of the teams it is chasing. The Burnley match is extremely important. When the two teams met in September, Blackburn scored a late goal to tie Burnley at Turf Moor. The two arch rivals have met exactly 100 times and Burnley hasn't won since 1979. Just a friendly get-together.
As a follow-up to the listing here, yesterday, of FIFA's international rankings, most people realize that the rankings are based on a points system FIFA has come up with. It is quite complicated and involves games played, quality of opponents, importance of match, and other factors. Games played over the last four years are considered, although the older the match the less important it becomes. As reported yesterday, Spain is currently ranked first. It has 1506 points. Germany is second with 1314 points. Argentina is third with 1255 points. The top three teams have neither advanced or fallen since the ranking before this one. The fourth place team is Portugal, with 1219 points, and it is up one place in the most recent February ranking. Colombia is the fifth place team with 1211 points, and it has fallen one place in the most recent ranking. In sixth place is Switzerland, with 1159 points. The Swiss climbed two places in the most recent ranking. The biggest mover in the most recent ranking is St. Vincent and the Grenadines Islands, which climbed 14 places in the most recent poll, from 155 place to 141 place. The nation has 177 points. The two nations that fell the most places in the last month were Mali and Togo. The two nations fell a whopping 19 positions each. Mali went from 40th place to 59th place. Togo went from 71st place to 90th place. Log onto FIFA (http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/) to get the full explanation.
No comments:
Post a Comment