Feel Old Yet? Roddick And Blake Will Play On Senior Circuit

James Blake addresses the crowd during an interview with Mary Joe Fernandez after losing on day three of the 2013 U.S. Open.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

James Blake addresses the crowd during an interview with Mary Joe Fernandez after losing on day three of the 2013 U.S. Open.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Neither of them is over 35 years old. One of them played in ATP World Tour events just months ago; the other did so last year. But none of that will keep recently retired tennis players Andy Roddick, 31, and James Blake, 33, from joining a circuit of senior players.

The pair will be playing in the PowerShares Series, a touring set of one-day tournaments featuring tennis legends such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. By joining the tour, Roddick could eventually get a chance to play alongside his former coach, Jimmy Connors.

We will pause here to acknowledge that any of the people listed above would make short work of us on any court, under any conditions. And it can be debated that the PowerShares Series isn't a traditional senior tour, as its minimum age requirement is that players be just 30.

But we also confess to a moment of dubious shock after reading this headline in The Los Angeles Times: "Andy Roddick, James Blake join senior tennis tour."

"I am looking forward to playing on the PowerShares circuit," Roddick says, in a report on the Tennis site. "Having a chance to stay connected with tennis and compete on a limited basis through events like these fits perfectly with my life these days."

A look at the PowerShares site shows that it features a Tennis article identifying it as "the newly-named senior circuit" last year, when it changed its name from the Champions Series. The tour was founded in 2005 by a group that includes former tennis star Jim Courier, who plays in many events.

If you're wondering about the age cutoff for other senior tours, so were we:

In tennis, the ATP Champions Tour requires that players be retired and meet career criteria, such as holding a world No. 1 ranking or being a Grand Slam finalist.

While some sources report the Champions Tour requires that players are at least 35, Roddick is scheduled to play a tour event in early 2014, when he'll still be 31. The Champions Tour is also said to require a player be at least two years past their retirement; details about its policies weren't available for review at the time of this post.

In professional golf, the standard minimum age to join a senior tour is 50.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/15/234875595/feel-old-yet-roddick-and-blake-will-play-on-senior-circuit?ft=1&f=1001
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Syrian fighters battle on, ignoring Muslim holiday

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian air force jets and helicopters bombed rebel-held districts across the country on Tuesday, the first day of the Muslim festival of Eid al Adha, and rebel fighters fired rockets into the heart of Damascus.

President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are battling a civil war which grew out of protests against his rule two years ago, was shown on state television attending morning prayers with ministers at a Damascus mosque at the start of the Eid holiday.

But there was no let-up in the violence which has torn Syria apart and divided the Middle East between Sunni Muslim supporters of the rebels and Shi'ite backers of Assad, despite a joint plea from regional Arab and Muslim organizations for both sides to mark the occasion with a ceasefire.

Activists said warplanes bombed targets in rebel strongholds to the east and south of the capital. Video footage uploaded on the Internet showed explosions and thick columns of smoke rising above the town of Daraya, on the southwestern edge of Damascus.

Rebels fired rockets and mortars into the Old City and the Mazraa district in the city center, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the violence in Syria through a network of activists and medical and military sources, also said air force helicopters carried out 11 bombing raids on the rebel town of Latamna in Hama province.

It said the helicopters dropped large improvised explosives, or barrel bombs, on the town. Three children were killed in one of the early waves of bombing, it said.

The Observatory says at least 115,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed in the 2-1/2 year civil war which has also driven 2.1 million Syrians to seek refuge abroad and displaced millions more inside their country.

A further 170 people were killed on Monday, it said.

REBEL CLASHES ON BORDER

The fighting also pits rival rebel factions against each other. On Tuesday activists said militants from al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant clashed with local Northern Storm fighters at the Bab Salam border post with Turkey.

Video footage showed grey smoke rising from what the activists said were Northern Storm positions which had been shelled by the Islamic State fighters. The clashes were close to a refugee camp on the Syrian side of the border, they said.

The divisions among Assad's opponents and the growing power of the Islamist fighters have made it increasingly difficult for international aid workers to operate in the lawless rebel-held northern provinces.

Six Red Cross workers and a colleague from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were abducted on Sunday after delivering medical supplies in the northern province of Idlib. Four were released the next day but an ICRC spokesman said on Tuesday there was no news on the other three.

The violence has continued despite a U.N.-endorsed mission to oversee the elimination of Assad's chemical weapons, which was set up as a result of a rare agreement between the United States and Russia after an August sarin gas attack in Damascus.

Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have visited eight of a total of around 20 sites where they are due to oversee the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal and production facilities.

Some of the destruction work has already started and the OPCW - which last week was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize - has reported that Syrian authorities have so far cooperated with the process.

However the most complex stage of their work, the destruction of chemical agents and precursors, has yet to start and the teams will likely have to visit at least one site - near the northern town of Safira - where fighting is continuing.

The Observatory said on Sunday that Assad's forces bombarded rebel-held Safira, which is located close to storage and production sites which are believed to be linked to Syria's chemical weapons program.

Unless a local ceasefire can be agreed or government troops push the rebels back the chemical teams would face the prospect of trying to work in the midst of a conflict, close to rebel fighters whose ranks may include anti-Western jihadists.

(Writing by Dominic Evans, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-fighters-battle-ignoring-muslim-holiday-143617239.html
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Al Qaeda: September attack targeted joint Yemeni-U.S. drone base

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda said on Monday that its attack on a Yemeni army base last month targeted an operations room used by the United States to direct drone strikes against militants, and threatened more such assaults.

Dozens of militants stormed and captured the headquarters of the Yemeni army's Second Division in the eastern city of al-Mukalla on September 30 and took some military personnel hostage. Military officials said four Yemeni soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a counter-strike to retake the base.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is regarded by the United States as one of the most active wings of the diffuse international jihadi network, posing a serious threat to Western interests including nearby sea lanes plied by oil tankers.

AQAP said Yemen had turned a number of its military facilities in recent years into "intelligence and operations rooms to direct the war against the Mujahideen (holy fighters) and operate pilotless planes".

"The Mujahideen have directed a harsh blow to one of these headquarters," it said in a message posted on Shumukh al-Islam, an Islamist website, referring to the September 30 attack.

"Such joint security targets, which participate with the Americans in their war on the Muslim people, are a legitimate target for our operations, and we will puncture these eyes that the enemy uses."

It said that dozens of officers were killed in the three-day assault and the operations room was destroyed. AQAP made no mention of any Americans present in the facility and there were no reports of foreigners killed in the attack.

The authenticity of the statement could not immediately be verified.

The United States regularly stages drone strikes to hunt down al Qaeda militants in a campaign that has been criticized by rights groups as tantamount to carrying out executions without trial, with civilians often being hit.

Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has angered many compatriots by giving unequivocal support for drone operations, which have increased since President Barack Obama took office in 2009. Hadi has also asked Washington to supply drones to the Yemeni armed forces.

The Yemeni army, with U.S. backing, last year drove al Qaeda militants and their allies from some of their south Yemen strongholds. But the jihadists have since regrouped and mounted attacks on government officials and installations.

Militants took advantage of political chaos in Yemen during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 to seize control of some towns and their hinterland in the south of the Arabian Peninsula state.

They were subsequently beaten back by Yemeni armed forces, with assistance from the United States, and dispersed into smaller groups spread across the south.

But they have since carried out a series of attacks on important military and civilian targets, killing hundreds of soldiers and some senior officers, including Major General Salem Qatan, commander of the Yemeni army in southern Yemen.

(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, writing by Sami Aboudi, editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-september-attack-targeted-joint-yemeni-u-094302592.html
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Death toll in Philippines quake jumps to 93

CEBU, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippine island of Bohol on Tuesday rose to 93, as rescuers struggled to reach patients in a collapsed hospital. Centuries-old stone churches crumbled and wide areas were without power.

Bohol police chief Dennis Agustin said 77 of the deaths came from the province. At least 15 others died in nearby Cebu province and another on Siquijor Island.

The quake struck at 8:12 a.m. and was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) below Carmen city, where many small buildings collapsed.

Many roads and bridges were reported damaged, making rescue operations difficult. But historic churches dating from the Spanish colonial period suffered the most. Among them was the country's oldest, the 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child in Cebu, which lost its bell tower.

Nearly half of a 17th-century limestone church in Loboc town, southwest of Carmen, was reduced to rubble.

The highest number of dead — 18 — were in the municipality of Loon, 42 kilometers (26 miles) west of Carmen, where an unknown number of patients were trapped inside the Congressman Castillo Memorial Hospital, which partially collapsed. Rescuers were working to reach them, said civil defense spokesman Maj. Reynaldo Balido.

As night fell, the entire province was in the dark after the quake cut power supplies. Windy weather and rain also forced back a military rescue helicopter.

Authorities were setting up tents for those displaced by the quake, while others who lost their homes moved in with their relatives, Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto said.

Extensive damage also hit densely populated Cebu city, across a narrow strait from Bohol, causing deaths when a building in the port and the roof of a market area collapsed.

The quake set off two stampedes in nearby cities. When it struck, people gathered in a gym in Cebu rushed outside in a panic, crushing five people to death and injuring eight others, said Neil Sanchez, provincial disaster management officer.

"We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," said Vilma Yorong, a provincial government employee in Bohol.

"When the shaking stopped, I ran to the street and there I saw several injured people. Some were saying their church has collapsed," she told The Associated Press by phone.

As fear set in, Yorong and the others ran up a mountain, afraid a tsunami would follow the quake. "Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill," she said.

But the quake was centered inland and did not cause a tsunami.

Offices and schools were closed for a national holiday — the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha — which may have saved lives.

The earthquake also was deeper below the surface than a 6.9-magnitude temblor last year in waters near Negros Island, also in the central Philippines, that killed nearly 100 people.

Aledel Cuizon said the quake that caught her in her bedroom sounded like "a huge truck that was approaching and the rumbling sound grew louder as it got closer."

She and her neighbors ran outside, where she saw concrete electric poles "swaying like coconut trees." It lasted 15-20 seconds, she said.

Cebu city's hospitals quickly moved patients into the streets, basketball courts and parks.

Cebu province, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila, has a population of more than 2.6 million people. Cebu is the second largest city after Manila. Nearby Bohol has 1.2 million people and is popular among foreigners because of its beach and island resorts and famed Chocolate Hills.

President Benigno Aquino III said he would travel to Bohol and Cebu on Wednesday.

Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said he recalled soldiers from holiday furlough to respond to the quake. He said it damaged the pier in Tagbilaran, Bohol's provincial capital, and caused some cracks at Cebu's international airport but that navy ships and air force planes could use alternative ports to help out.

___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski, Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-philippines-quake-jumps-93-112349439.html
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Vettel can match Ascari’s nine-in-a-row, says Hamilton | F1 Fanatic Round-up

In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton^[1], the last driver other than Vettel to win a race in Hungary 12 weeks ago, believes his rival can match Alberto Ascari’s record of winning in nine consecutive race starts^[2].

Links

Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.

Vettel’s in line to make it nine, says Hamilton (Metro)^[3]

“If he doesn’t have any reliability issues, most likely. He’s just walking it.”

Christian Horner: “The way he’s driving at the moment is quite supreme…”^[4]

“Mark [Webber]^[5] got pretty close today, so it will be great to see Mark win a race before the end of the year as well.”

Revised tyres hampering Raikkonen (Autosport)^[6]

Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane: “He doesn’t like the front end. He doesn’t like the turn in. It is not sharp enough for him. But, if you try to sharpen it up too much, you then lose the rear.”

Sebastian Vettel has faced criticism that is both personal and unfair (The Guardian)^[7]

“While it is understandable that many may lament the season as boring, it is less fair to direct that ire at the man whose task is to win the championship and because he will have done exactly that four times on the trot. Beyond a shadow of doubt any other driver would not consider for a moment that their role was to entertain or extend the season to its finale with a title at stake. Nor can one imagine the same expectation or the same opprobrium being directed at a British driver in similar circumstances.”

Tweets

Comment of the day

Some more Japanese Grand Prix statistics from @Andae23^[8]:

Sebastian Vettel has won five of six races in Asia this season so far. The last time he won fewer than three race in Asia was in 2008, when he scored his first win.

Esteban Gutierrez became the first rookie to score points this season – we had to wait until the fifteenth round for it. The last time the wait for rookies to score was that long was in 1998, when Esteban Tuero and Tora Takagi failed to score a single point that year.

Valtteri Bottas still hasn’t scored a point. The last driver who started more than two races for Williams and didn’t score a single point that year was Alessandro Zanardi in 1999. Sadly the last driver to do so before Zanardi was Ayrton Senna in 1994.

For the first time this season, neither Mercedes managed to finish in the top seven.

Max Chilton has still finished every race he started. This levels him with Lewis Hamilton, who also managed to finish his first fifteen Grands Prix. He is one race finish away from Tiago Monteiro’s record.

After Paul di Resta finished his streak of six consecutive points finishes, he hasn’t scored a point in the last seven races.
@Andae23^[9]

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Fer No. 65 and Sebastiaan Huizinga!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me^[10], using Twitter^[11] or adding to the list here^[12].

On this day in F1

Nelson Piquet^[13] won his second world championship 30 years ago today in the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami.

Three drivers went into the final race with a shot at the title: Piquet was two points behind Alain Prost^[14] while Rene Arnoux also had an outside chance.

Arnoux’s slim chances were ended by engine failure after nine laps. Just before half-distance Prost was out too. So Piquet handed the lead to team mate Riccardo Patrese^[15] and stroked the car home in the third place he needed to reclaim the title.

Piquet was reunited with his title-winning car at the Goodwood Fest

Here’s the start of the race:

Share this with your friends:

References

1. ^{^} Lewis Hamilton (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Vettel’s five in a row as Alonso breaks points record (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Vettel’s in line to make it nine, says Hamilton (Metro) (metro.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Christian Horner: “The way he’s driving at the moment is quite supreme…” (adamcooperf1.com)
5. ^{^} Mark Webber (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
6. ^{^} Revised tyres hampering Raikkonen (Autosport) (www.autosport.com)
7. ^{^} Sebastian Vettel has faced criticism that is both personal and unfair (The Guardian) (www.theguardian.com)
8. ^{^} @Andae23 (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
9. ^{^} @Andae23 (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
10. ^{^} emailling me (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
11. ^{^} using Twitter (twitter.com)
12. ^{^} adding to the list here (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
13. ^{^} Nelson Piquet (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
14. ^{^} Alain Prost (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
15. ^{^} Riccardo Patrese (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/P8klQbRz0iU/
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Furloughed Employees During the Shutdown, Visualized

Sometimes a picture can help make sense of a situation. This viz shows the proportion of government employees who are currently furloughed. It's as grim as the rest of the shutdown news.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/furloughed-employees-during-the-shutdown-visualized-1443352832
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Utah strikes deal to reopen national parks as other states weigh cost to taxpayers

Courtesy of Zac and Kelly White via AP, file

"Delicate Arch" in Arches National Park, a short drive from Moab, Utah. The natural sandstone arch is one of the more popular arches, set off from the main road and reachable by a short hike.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

Utah has struck a deal with Department of the Interior to reopen eight of the state’s National Parks and monuments as other states that depend heavily on the tourism dollars generated by the outdoor attractions considered similar measures amid the ongoing government shutdown.

The state agreed to pay $1.67 million to get people back in the parks for up to 10 days, with any leftover funds to be returned if lawmakers in Washington bring the budget impasse to a resolution, according to Thursday release from Gov. Gary Herbert’s office.

The announcement came after the Obama administration said on Thursday that states would be given the option to spend their own money to reopen some of the parks shuttered by the lapse in government funding. The Utah parks could open as early as Friday and may be fully up and running by Saturday, according to the release.

“Utah’s national parks are the backbone of many rural economies and hard-working Utahns are paying a heavy price for this shutdown,” Herbert said in a statement on Thursday. On Oct. 8, Herbert wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to reopen the state’s five national parks, and the governor’s office estimated the total cost of the shutdown to Utah at $100 million.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard first proposed using state workers to open parts of Mt. Rushmore, spokesman Tony Venhuizen said on Friday, but the National Park Service rejected that plan. The state is reviewing its options given the interior department’s changed position, he said.

“Gov. Daugaard asked yesterday for details as what the cost to the state would be under this proposal, and he is awaiting that information,” Venhuizen said. “He appreciates this change in approach towards flexibility and partnership with states, and is hopeful that it will lead to the reopening of Mt. Rushmore.”

The tourism industry is taking a nosedive in towns near national parks thanks to the government shutdown. NBC's Jay Gray reports.

Other states including Colorado and Arizona have expressed interest in getting parks in their states back open, and not just to net sightseers’ dollars. Colorado would like to reopen Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park to allow access to the town of Estes Park, which is working to recover from recent flooding, Eric Brown, a spokesman for Gov. John Hickenlooper, said in an email on Friday.

Just over 400 national parks were shut down after government funds were cut off amid congressional bickering, and about 20,000 park service employees have been furloughed, Reuters reported. That includes the Grand Canyon, which Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has asked to be allowed to reopen in part, according to the Arizona Republic.

Brewer sent a letter to Obama with top state lawmakers asking to reopen the parks, citing a National Park Service study that found the Grand Canyon brings in more than $467 million in revenue and about 7,400 jobs.

“As Arizona is no less exposed to the current unstable and struggling national economy than any other state, we cannot afford to turn away this kind of revenue,” Brewer wrote in the letter cosigned by State Senate President Andy Biggs and State House of Representatives Speaker Andy Tobin. “To do so will unnecessarily devastate the employment of thousands of Arizonans who depend on the Grand Canyon – especially when there is a common-sense alternative.”

A park service spokesman said that reopening the park piecemeal might not be feasible, however.

“It gets too complicated when you’re trying to do sections of park and you still have areas barricaded off,” National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said, according to the Associated Press.

In Wyoming, Gov. Matt Mead said he would not use taxpayer money to reopen the state’s parks, which includes the majority of Yellowstone National Park.

“Gov. Mead did ask about the federal government’s plan for national parks and was told the shutdown order prohibited any state from reopening a national park,” Mead spokesman Renny MacKay wrote in an email to local newspaper the Casper Star-Tribune. “While the Department of Interior’s position may have changed, Wyoming’s position has not.”

In Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval has said no thanks to the idea of spending state money to reopen the park, saying there are more pressing concerns for his constituents as the shutdown drags on.

Julie Jacobson / AP

Tourist Ryszard Skrzypek, of Vienna, Austria, takes a photo of his wife Walendowska Malgorzata in front of a sign near the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park on Oct. 4. Skrzypek and Malgorzata had traveled from Austria with the Grand Canyon as the main stop on their vacation only to find it closed when they arrived. The two opted for a helicopter tour later in the afternoon.

“Nevada is already making critical funding decisions on programs such as food stamps, unemployment insurance, programs for women, infants and children, and dozens of others,” spokesman Mary-Sarah Kinner said in an email to NBC News on Friday. “With so many Nevadans facing real consequences, the state simply cannot afford to reopen federal parks at this time. Nevada state parks, however, are open and experiencing record visitation.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott also said he would not use state funds to open National Parks in the Sunshine State, said Deputy Communications Director Frank Collins.

"It's the federal government's obligation to reopen and cancel restrictions on Florida's natural treasures, and Florida taxpayers will not foot the bill to cover Washington's failure to negotiate and compromise," Collins said in a statement.

The requests to reopen the parks have extended to the county level in some areas that depend on them for tourism dollars. Mayor Ed Mitchell of Blount County in north-eastern Tennessee sent a letter to Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell offering to foot the bill if parks in his area were allowed to reopen, according to local newspaper The Daily Times.

“The federal government’s decision to shut down the Great Smoky National Park and, in particular, Cades Cove and the Foothills Parkway, will have a tremendous impact on the citizens of Blount County,” Mitchell said, according to the newspaper. “This is the peak time for park visits by tourists from all over our country.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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