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Greece searches for hundreds feared missing after migrant boat sank, leaving 78 dead

Shasi Kumar
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Greece searches for hundreds feared missing after migrant boat sank, leaving 78 dead

Greece searches for hundreds feared missing after migrant boat sank, leaving 78 dead

KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — Rescue workers transferred the bodies of dead migrants to refrigerated trucks as a major search continued Thursday for possible survivors of a sea disaster in southern Greece. Hundreds of people are still feared missing.

At least 78 bodies have been recovered after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank a day earlier in deep waters off the Greek coast.

Rescuers saved 104 passengers — including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans and Palestinians, mostly men and including eight minors — but authorities fear that hundreds of others may have been trapped below deck. If confirmed, that would make the tragedy one of the worst ever recorded in the central Mediterranean.

Authorities revised the confirmed death toll from 79 following an overnight count of the bodies.

“The survivors are in a very difficult situation. Right now they are in shock,” Erasmia Roumana, head of a United Nations Refugee Agency delegation, told The Associated Press after meeting the rescued migrants in a storage hangar in the southern port of Kalamata.

READ MORE : Migrant boat breaks apart off Italy; 45 dead, 80 survive

“They want to get in touch with their families to tell them they are OK, and they keep asking about the missing. Many have friends and relatives unaccounted for.”

Greece declared three days of mourning and politicians suspended campaigning for a general election on June 25. A Supreme Court prosecutor ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the deaths.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said she was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy and promised to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and nearby countries to try to further crack down on migrant smugglers.

But human rights groups argue that the crackdown means migrants and refugees are being forced to take longer and more dangerous routes to reach safe countries.

The search operation south of Greece’s Peloponnese region failed to locate any more bodies or survivors overnight or early Thursday.

“The chances of finding (more survivors) are minimal,” retired Greek coast guard admiral Nikos Spanos told state-run ERT television.

“We have seen old fishing boats like this before from Libya: They are about 30 meters (100 feet) long and can carry 600-700 people when crammed full. But they are not at all seaworthy. To put it simply, they are floating coffins.”

Coast guard experts believe the boat may have sunk after running out of fuel or suffering engine trouble, with movement of passengers inside the vessel causing it to list and ultimately capsize.

An aerial photograph of the vessel before it sank released by Greek authorities showed people crammed on the deck. Most were not wearing life jackets.

“We are witnessing one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean, and the numbers announced by the authorities are devastating,” said Gianluca Rocco, head of the Greek section of IOM, the U.N. migration agency.

The IOM has recorded more than 21,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014.

Greece’s coast guard said it was notified by Italian authorities of the trawler’s presence in international waters. It said efforts by its own ships and merchant vessels to assist the boat were repeatedly rejected, with people on board insisting they wanted to continue to Italy.

Twenty-nine of the survivors in southern Greece remain hospitalized, mostly with symptoms of hypothermia, while eight have been questioned by coast guard investigators. Government officials said the survivors would be moved to a migrant shelter near Athens later Thursday or Friday.

The bodies of the dead migrants were moved to a morgue outside Athens, where DNA samples and facial photographs will be taken to start the identification process. The embassies of the countries involved will assist, health officials said.

The spot is close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea, where depths of up to 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) could hamper any effort to locate a sunken vessel.

The IOM said initial reports suggested up to 400 people were aboard. A network of activists said it received a distress call from a boat in the same area whose passengers said it carried 750 people.

The Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in living memory occurred on April 18, 2015, when an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants collided off Libya with a freighter trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived. Forensic experts concluded that there were originally 1,100 people on board.

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At least 15 people killed and dozens injured in bus crash in Mali

Mark Kenya
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At least 15 people killed and dozens injured in bus crash in Mali

At least 15 people killed and dozens injured in bus crash in Mali

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured when two passenger buses collided with a truck in Mali, the government said.

The accident occurred Tuesday morning between Fana and Konobougou cities in the country’s south, said Mama Djenepo, the secretary general for Mali’s ministry of transport.

“The accident involved two passenger coaches bound for Mopti, which collided with a 10-ton truck carrying livestock traveling in the opposite direction,” he said, adding that the cause is believed to be speeding by tired drivers.

While traffic accidents are common in Mali, especially during the rainy season, this is the worst in the West African nation this year, the government said. More than 680 people were killed last year in road accidents and some 8,200 were injured.

READ MORE : UN peacekeeper killed, 8 seriously injured in northern Mali attack

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Russia broke international law by destroying Ukraine dam: Ukrainian Diplomat

Shasi Kumar
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Russia broke international law by destroying Ukraine dam: Ukrainian Diplomat

Russia broke international law by destroying Ukraine dam: Ukrainian Diplomat

TOKYO (NA) – The destruction of a dam in Ukraine was a Russian act and “forbidden by international conventions,” Kyiv’s ambassador to Japan said.

“It is absolutely clear that [it] was done by Russians,” Sergiy Korsunsky told Nikkei on Tuesday. He pointed to intelligence received by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last October indicating that Russia had planted explosives at the dam.

At least 600 sq. kilometers of Ukraine’s Kherson region was flooded after the Nova Kakhovka dam break on June 6, the region’s governor said last week.

Asked whether he considered it a war crime, Korsunsky said, “of course,” adding: “It’s actually like you create artificial tsunami on the river.”

Korsunsky also condemned Russian troops for allegedly shooting at civilians trying to evacuate flooded areas.

“This is genocide,” he said.

READ MORE : Ukrainian dam destroyed, thousands evacuated due to flooding

Korsunsky said Russian claims that the dam break was the result of Ukrainian sabotage were “absolute nonsense.”

“If you listen to them, we kill ourselves… we kill our own children, destroy our own cities, hospitals, schools. Why would we blow up the dam if that is a huge loss of people, of economy?” Korsunsky said.

Zelenskyy has confirmed that Ukrainian forces have launched a long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied areas.

“We liberated, if I’m not mistaken, around nine small villages already,” Korsunsky said, while acknowledging that the situation is “very complex.”

Russian forces have set up a fortified line of trenches and land mines in anticipation of a Ukrainian attack. Although it has been difficult to break through, Korsunsky said the Ukrainian military was “moving forward” using tanks, armored vehicles and rocket launchers provided by the West.

“We do have losses, unfortunately, in equipment and personnel and that is why we try to move in a very cautious manner,” he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday pledged $5 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine following the collapse of the dam. “We are very grateful,” Korsunsky said.

“We need temporary housing for people, or we need water-cleaning technologies… for hundreds of thousands of people,” he said. “Very few countries did the same,” he said of Japan’s pledge.

There is a plan to hold a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Japan early next year.

“We expect Japan to play the major leader role” in the reconstruction of Ukraine given its experience rebuilding after World War II and major natural disasters, he said.

Japan has accepted more than 2,000 refugees from Ukraine. About 400 are students studying at Japanese universities, and many others are working at hotels, Japanese-style inns, golf courses and restaurants as the country reopens for tourism.

“I never heard one complaint” from any Ukrainian resident of Japan, Korsunsky said.

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Hollywood Actor Treat Williams dies at 71 after motorcycle accident

Mikey Peres
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Hollywood Actor Treat Williams dies at 71 after motorcycle accident

Hollywood Actor Treat Williams dies at 71 after motorcycle accident

VERMONT (ABC) – Treat Williams, a star of stage, television and film, has died in a motorcycle accident, according to his agent. He was 71.

The accident happened just before 5 p.m. Monday on Vermont Route 30 just north of Morse Hill Road in Dorset, Vermont.

State police say the crash involved a Honda Element and a 1986 Honda motorcycle driven by Williams.

“It is with great sadness that we report that our beloved Treat Williams has passed away tonight in Dorset, Vermont after a fatal motorcycle accident,” his family said in a statement. “As you can imagine, we are shocked and greatly bereaved at this time.”

Vermont State Police said in a statement that Williams was critically injured in Dorset about 4:53 p.m. Monday when a Honda SUV turned in front of him, ending in a collision that threw Williams from his 1986 Honda motorcycle.

He was taken to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead, state police said.

READ MORE : Ezra Miller makes first public appearance since offscreen controversies at The Flash premiere

They say the SUV, driven by 35-year-old Ryan Koss, attempted to turn left into a parking lot. The initial investigation indicates the Element stopped, signaled a left turn, and then turned into the path of the motorcycle.

Williams recently guest starred in HBO’s “We Own This City,” a drama about corruption in Baltimore that was aired and streamed this spring. In 2016, he played the title character in the theatrical and streaming release of “The Congressman.”

He developed as an actor’s actor by starting as an understudy for the Broadway hit “Grease” in the 1970s before he took the lead role as Danny Zuko. But his real breakthrough was as director Miloš Forman’s hippie character George Berger in a defining film of the counterculture, “Hair,” in 1979.

That opened the door to roles in countless films, including Steven Spielberg’s “1941,” Sidney Lumet’s “Prince of the City,” Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America” and John Erman’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ classic “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

In his television career, Williams had roles on “Law & Order,” “Blue Bloods” and other shows, often as a benevolent-seeming patriarch with just a hint of corruption beneath the surface.

More recently he portrayed Dr. Andrew Brown in the WB series “Everwood” and Brian Grabler, a retired Baltimore police detective, in “We Own This City.” In the latter series, he teaches at the police academy and, according to HBO’s news release, “recognizes much of what has gone wrong” with the city’s force.

Williams was born in Rowayton, Connecticut, to Marian and Richard Norman Williams, according to his IMDb bio. He went from prep school to Pennsylvania’s Franklin and Marshall College, where he dived into the world of stage and screen.

His summers were spent immersed in stage classics at Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, the bio says. Williams’ later success meant free time could be spent flying, and he became a licensed pilot and instructor.

Williams’ versatile screen career included an early role in director Milos Forman’s adaptation of the musical “Hair” in 1979, followed by a starring vehicle with another A-list director, Sidney Lumet, in the gritty undercover crime drama “Prince of the City” two years later.

Later in that decade, Williams enjoyed leading action star status in 1998’s B-movie “Deep Rising,” about a killer sea monster, starring opposite Famke Janssen, Wes Studi and Djimon Hounsou.

The late actor is survived by his wife Pam Van Sant and their two children.

The investigation into this crash is in its early stages.

His last tweet when he was harvesting

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Ezra Miller makes first public appearance since offscreen controversies at The Flash premiere

Andy Sengiah
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Ezra Miller makes first public appearance since offscreen controversies at The Flash premiere

Ezra Miller makes first public appearance since offscreen controversies at The Flash premiere

DTBEATS(EW) – In a bit of life imitating art, Ezra Miller made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance at the premiere of The Flash on Monday.

It marks the first high profile appearance for the star since a number of offscreen controversies last year. At the premiere, which was held at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Miller, who uses they/them pronouns, posed for a number of photos on the red carpet in support of the film.

The film’s director, Andy Muschietti, crew, and cast members such as Ben Affleck and Sasha Calle were also on hand to support the film, which follows Miller’s Barry Allen who uses super speed to change the past and save his family, but instead creates a very bleak world that’s facing annihilation. The film also stars Michael Keaton, reprising his role as Batman, who it was previously reported would not make the premiere due to conflicting filming schedules.

READ MORE : Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a guided tour of his many lives in Netflix’s ‘Arnold’

Though speculation abounded over how Warner Bros. and the filmmaking team would handle the release of the film in the wake of the controversies, Muschietti and his sister, producer Barbara Muschietti, told EW that there was never a threat of the film being shelved, and that they were in support of Miller receiving help.

“We have a lot of empathy in general for people who need help, and especially in mental health issues. That’s why they are taking the necessary steps to deal with their recovery, and we support them in that,” he said. Andy also previously told EW that he would welcome Miller back to the role in the future and that he didn’t “think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did.”

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Palestinian President Abbas begins China visit as Beijing seeks larger role in Mideast

Diplomat Times
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Palestinian President Abbas begins China visit as Beijing seeks larger role in Mideast

Palestinian President Abbas begins China visit as Beijing seeks larger role in Mideast

BEIJING (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began a visit to China on Tuesday that comes as Beijing is seeking a larger role in Middle East politics and competing for energy resources.

In announcing the visit, China’s Foreign Ministry said China was willing to help broker relations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government that have deteriorated to the lowest level in recent years. The ministry did not say who Abbas would meet in Beijing or give other details of his four-day visit.

Increased fighting over the last year between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank has resulted in the deadliest period of violence between the sides in years in that territory.

The visit also comes after China hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia that resulted in the two restoring diplomatic relations.

That development was seen as representing a diplomatic victory for China as Gulf Arab states perceive the United States slowly withdrawing from the wider region.

READ MORE : After dangerous encounters, US accuses China of military ‘aggressiveness’

But it remains to be seen how far the reconciliation efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia will progress. The rivalry dates to the 1979 revolution that toppled Iran’s Western-backed monarchy, and in recent years the two countries have backed rival armed groups and political factions across the region.

State broadcaster CCTV quoted Foreign Minister Qin Gang as saying that “China supports the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel as soon as possible on the basis of the ‘two-state solution,’ and is willing to play an active role in this regard.”

 

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Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; dozens wounded

Diplomat Times
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Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; dozens wounded

Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; dozens wounded

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles hit civilian buildings in a central Ukrainian city overnight, killing at least 10 people, regional officials said Tuesday as rescuers searched for at least one person still believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Kryvyi Rih mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said that the death toll had risen to at least 10. He said that one person is still believed to be trapped under the rubble and 28 were wounded.

The strike involving cruise missiles hit a five-story residential building, which was engulfed in fire, Gov. Serhiy Lysak of the Dnipropetrovsk region wrote on Telegram.

The devastation in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown is the latest bloodshed in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as Ukrainian forces are mounting counteroffensive operations using Western-supplied firepower to try to drive out the Russians.

Images from the scene relayed by Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling the blaze as pockets of fire poked through multiple broken windows of a building. Charred and damaged vehicles littered the nearby ground.

READ MORE : Russia says Ukraine is launching major attacks; Kyiv accuses Moscow of misinformation

“More terrorist missiles,” he wrote. “Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people.”

The aerial assault was the latest barrage of strikes by Russian forces that targeted various parts of Ukraine overnight.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was attacked with Iranian-made Shahed drones, and the surrounding region was shelled, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. The shelling wounded two civilians in the town of Shevchenkove, southeast of Kharkiv.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, separately reported early Tuesday that the drone strike damaged a utilities business and a warehouse in the city’s northeast. Neither Terekhov nor Syniehubov referenced any casualties within Kharkiv.

Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on Telegram that Russian forces are “losing positions on the flanks,” while Ukrainian troops were conducting “defensive” operations in the area.

For weeks, Ukrainian officials have been reporting small gains west of Bakhmut, which was largely devastated in the war’s longest and bloodiest battle before Moscow’s forces took control last month.

Over the last day in Ukrainian-held areas of Donetsk, nearly a dozen frontline towns and villages came under increased shelling as Ukrainian troops pushed forward, Zelenskyy’s office said.

Also Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry published a video showing what it said was a German-made Leopard 2 tank and U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicle captured from Ukrainian forces. According to the ministry, the video was shot by Russian soldiers after fierce fighting in the southern Zaporizhzhia, and a soldier is seen pointing at the immobilized vehicles. It wasn’t immediately possible to verify the video’s authenticity.

Like the Bakhmut area, battle zones in Zaporizhzhia are one of several places along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line where Ukrainian forces have been intensifying their counteroffensive operations.

Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Moscow-appointed administration for parts of Zaporizhzhia that Russia controls, alleged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed, and told state news agency RIA-Novosti that Ukrainian forces “continue to suffer colossal losses when they make new attempts to advance.” He did not elaborate, and his claims could not be immediately verified.

On Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the country’s troops recaptured a total of seven villages spanning 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of eastern Ukraine over the past week — small successes in the early phases of a counteroffensive.

Russian officials didn’t confirm those Ukrainian gains, which were impossible to verify and could be reversed in the to-and-fro of war.

The advance amounted to only small bits of territory and underscored the difficulty of the battle ahead for Ukrainian forces, who will have to fight meter by meter to regain the roughly one-fifth of their country under Russian occupation.

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Who is Casper Ruud whom beat by Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

Shasi Kumar
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Who is Casper Ruud whom beat by Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

Who is Casper Ruud whom beat by Novak Djokovic in French Open Final

SPORTS (DT)- Casper Ruud born December 22nd 1998 in Norway. He is righthanded and started playing tennis at the age of 4 and my home club is Snarøya Tennisclub.

He started his professional career in 2016.

When he captured the Osaka Mayors Cup in Osaka, Japan, he started the 2016 season as the world #1 ranked junior. Shortly after he won his first professional title at the Paguera, Spain Futures February 2016.

Casper’s first breakthrough on the ATP Tour came in September 2016 when he won his first career ATP Challenger in Seville. With his win, Casper became the 5th youngest player to ever win a Challenger title!

Regarded as one of the best young talents on the ATP Tour, Casper took the tennis world by storm in February 2017 by making the semi-finals of the ATP 500 level Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro. On his way to the semi-finals, Casper beats two top-100 players and held a match point in the semi’s against a top 30 player.

READ MORE : Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final

In 2018 he continues to play the challenger tour with some good results. In the Fall of 2018 Casper and his team starts a collaboration with The Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca.

He also qualifies for three grand slams and winning first round in Australian Open and French Open. He ends the year as ATP #112.

In 2019 he reaches semis in ATP 500 Rio and ATP 250 in Sao Paulo and moves on to reach his first final in ATP 250 in Houston. He qualifies into ATP Masters 1000 Rome and reaches third round. In French Open he reaches third round were he loses to Federer.

Moving on to the hardcourt he reaches the quarterfinal in St Petersburg and qualifies to Masters 1000 Paris and to the Nextgen ATP Finals. He ends 2019 as ATP #54.

In 2020 he starts the year in ATP Cup in Perth by beating Isner (ATP #18) and Fognini (ATP #12) breaking into top 50.

In the South American swing he wins his first title in Buenos Aires ATP 250 and becomes the first Norwegian to win an ATP title and he reaches his career high of ATP #34 and the highest ranked Norwegian player in history.

Ruud has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 12 September 2022, making him the highest-ranked Norwegian in history.

Casper Ruud’s Family 

Ruud is the son of former professional tennis player Christian Ruud.

Father, Christian, is his coach and achieved career-high No. 39 on ATP Tour. Mother, Lele Catharine. Casper Ruud has two sisters, Caroline and Charlotte. He grew up in the Snarøya district of Bærum, with Rafael Nadal as his tennis idol.

He is Top-ranked tenis player in Norwegian history. He is 6 feet and his weight 77 Kg. If he wasn’t a tennis player, he would be a pilot according to ATP bio.

Casper Rudd Likes eating Thai, Japanese and Italian food, as well as steak.

His social media accounts are here Twitter Instagram Facebook

Casper Ruud’s girl friend

Casper Ruud’s girl friend’s name is Maria Galligani.

Casper Ruud has been dating his girlfriend Maria Galligani since 2018. Over the years, the young couple, both of whom are from Norway, have traveled all over the world together for Ruud’s tournaments, and Galligani has been right by her boyfriend’s side as he has climbed the world rankings.

Galligani seems to be close with Ruud’s family, including his sisters, Caroline and Charlotte. She has sat with them in Ruud’s family box at many tournaments and has posed for photos with the family after his wins.

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CASPAR RUDD with his girl friend, and his family. Photo : Caspar Rudd Instagram

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Source : (ATP and CR) with Wikipedia

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Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final

Shasi Kumar
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Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final

PARIS (AP) — Novak Djokovic made clear for years that this was his goal. What drove him. What inspired him. The biggest titles from his sport’s biggest stages were Djokovic’s main aim and now he finally stands alone — ahead of Rafael Nadal, ahead of Roger Federer, ahead of every man who ever has swung a racket.

If Djokovic could wait this long to hold this record, he certainly could wait for the half-hour or so it took to straighten out his strokes in the French Open final. And so, after a bit of a shaky start in thick, humid air and under foreboding charcoal clouds Sunday, he imposed himself. The opponent at Court Philippe Chatrier, Casper Ruud, never really stood a serious chance after that.

Djokovic earned his men’s-record 23rd Grand Slam singles championship, breaking a tie with Nadal and moving three in front of the retired Federer, with a 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ruud that really was not in doubt for most of its 3 hours, 13 minutes.

READ MORE : Novak Djokovic laments fans who ‘boo every single thing’ after lengthy French Open win

Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, puts this one alongside the French Open titles he earned in 2016 and 2021, making him the only man with at least three from each major event. He has won 10 trophies at the Australian Open, seven at Wimbledon and three at the U.S. Open.

Also worth noting: Djokovic is again halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam — winning all four majors in one season — something no man has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969. Djokovic came close to pulling off that feat in 2021, when he won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and made it all the way to the title match at the U.S. Open before losing to Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic will resume that pursuit at Wimbledon, which begins on the grass of the All England Club on July 3.

He has now clutched the trophy at 11 of the last 20 Slams, a remarkable run made even more so when considering that he did not participate in two majors during that span because he did not get vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic was deported from Australia in January 2021 before the Australian Open, and he was not allowed to fly to the United States ahead of last year’s U.S. Open under a rule that since has been lifted.

Getting to 23 not only sets the mark for men, but it also lets Djokovic equal Serena Williams, who wrapped up her career last year, for the most by anyone in the Open era, which began in 1968. Margaret Court won some of her all-time record of 24 Slam trophies in the amateur era.

At 20 days past his 36th birthday, Djokovic is the oldest singles champion at Roland Garros, considered the most grueling of the majors because of the lengthy, grinding points required by the red clay, which is slower than the grass or hard courts underfoot elsewhere.

Nadal’s 22nd major arrived in Paris a year ago, two days after he turned 36. He has been sidelined since January by a hip injury and had arthroscopic surgery on June 2.

As if all of that weren’t enough, Djokovic’s triumph on Sunday also means he will return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday, replacing Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic already has spent more weeks at the top spot than any player — man or woman — since the inception of computerized tennis rankings a half-century ago.

It was Djokovic who eliminated Alcaraz in the semifinals on Thursday, wearing him down over two thrilling sets until the 20-year-old Spaniard’s body cramped up badly. Alcaraz continued to play, but the scores of the last two sets of the four-set match told the story: 6-1, 6-1.

This was the third Slam final in the past five events for Ruud, a 24-year-old from Norway, but he is now 0-3. He lost to Nadal at the French Open a year ago and to Alcaraz at the U.S. Open last September.

Perhaps due to an awareness of all that was at stake, Djokovic, in his 34th major final, was the one who got off to a shaky start.

Djokovic’s scrambling and stretching and bending and twisting on defense shows up on the scoreboard, for sure. But all of the long points also sap a foe’s energy and will.

Helps as well, maybe, that Djokovic knows all the little ins and outs. He complained to chair umpire Damien Dumusois about how much time was being allotted for changeovers — a little extra rest never hurt anyone, right? Djokovic took the 25-second serve clock down until it expired and occasionally beyond that, so much so that one voice from the seats exclaimed, “Serve it!” And Dumusois warned him for the time-taking in the third set.

When he broke Ruud to lead 3-0 in the second set, his powers now on full display, Djokovic jabbed his right index finger against his temple over and over and over. He wheeled to face his nearby box in the stands, where the guests included his coach, Goran Ivanisevic; his wife and two children; his agent; and even seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

The recently retired Brady is widely viewed as the NFL’s “Greatest of All-Time” — or “GOAT,” for short — and there has been a debate in the tennis world for quite some time over which among Djokovic, Nadal or Federer deserves that sobriquet.

If the barometer is Grand Slam championships, no one can argue against Djokovic’s status at the moment.

President of India tweet and wish him congratulations 

 

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Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81

Diplomat Times
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Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81

Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81

WASHINGTON (AP) — Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81.

Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons, told The Associated Press. He was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m., she said. A cause of death was not immediately known.

Before his transfer to the prison medical facility, he had been held in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years for a campaign of terror that set universities nationwide on edge. He admitted committing 16 bombings from 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming several of his victims.

READ MORE : Top Indian wrestler accuses government of silence over sexual harassment probe

Years before the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax mailing, the Unabomber’s deadly homemade bombs changed the way Americans mailed packages and boarded airplanes, even virtually shutting down air travel on the West Coast in July 1995.

He forced The Washington Post, in conjunction with The New York Times, to make the agonizing decision in September 1995 to publish his 35,000-word manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” which claimed modern society and technology was leading to a sense of powerlessness and alienation.

But it led to his undoing. Kaczynski’s brother, David, and David’s wife, Linda Patrik, recognized the treatise’s tone and tipped off the FBI, which had been searching for the Unabomber for years in nation’s longest, costliest manhunt.

Authorities in April 1996 found him in a 10-by-14-foot (3-by-4-meter) plywood and tarpaper cabin outside Lincoln, Montana, that was filled with journals, a coded diary, explosive ingredients and two completed bombs.

As an elusive criminal mastermind, the Unabomber won his share of sympathizers and comparisons to Daniel Boone, Edward Abbey and Henry David Thoreau.

But once revealed as a wild-eyed hermit with long hair and beard who weathered Montana winters in a one-room shack, Kaczynski struck many as more of a pathetic loner than romantic anti-hero.

Even in his own journals, Kaczynski came across not as a committed revolutionary but as a vengeful hermit driven by petty grievances.

“I certainly don’t claim to be an altruist or to be acting for the ‘good’ (whatever that is) of the human race,” he wrote on April 6, 1971. “I act merely from a desire for revenge.”

A psychiatrist who interviewed Kaczynski in prison diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic.

“Mr. Kaczynski’s delusions are mostly persecutory in nature,” Sally Johnson wrote in a 47-page report. “The central themes involve his belief that he is being maligned and harassed by family members and modern society.”

Kaczynski hated the idea of being viewed as mentally ill and when his lawyers attempted to present an insanity defense, he tried to fire them. When that failed, he tried to hang himself with his underwear.

Kaczynski eventually pleaded guilty rather than let his defense team proceed with an insanity defense.

“I’m confident that I’m sane,” Kaczynski told Time magazine in 1999. “I don’t get delusions and so forth.”

He was certainly brilliant.

Kaczynski skipped two grades to attend Harvard at age 16 and had published papers in prestigious mathematics journals. His explosives were carefully tested and came in meticulously handcrafted wooden boxes sanded to remove possible fingerprints. Later bombs bore the signature “FC” for “Freedom Club.”

Harvard classmates recalled him as a lonely, thin boy with poor personal hygiene and a room that smelled of spoiled milk, rotting food and foot powder.

After graduate studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he got a job teaching math at the University of California at Berkeley but found the work difficult and quit abruptly. In 1971, he bought a 1½-acre parcel about 4 miles (6 kilometers) outside of Lincoln and built a cabin there without heating, plumbing or electricity.

He learned to garden, hunt, make tools and sew, living on a few hundred dollars a year.

He left his cabin in Montana in the late 1970s to work at a foam rubber products manufacturer outside Chicago with his father and brother. But when a female supervisor dumped him after two dates, he began posting insulting limericks about her and wouldn’t stop.

His brother fired him and Ted Kaczynski soon returned to the wilderness to continue plotting his vengeful killing spree.

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