Daily Archives: April 13, 2014

Halftime, 2-0 Liverpool: The first half has come to an end, and the Anfield crowd roars Liverpool into the dressing room.

45th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Johnson makes a crucial clearance off of the goal line.

Seconds later, Mignolet makes a great diving save, denying Fernandinho a certain goal.

Fernandinho then is booked for a cheap fould on Suarez.
44th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Manchester City has improved slightly as the first half nears its conclusion.

The visitors’ passing has grown sharper and their tackling has become tougher.

Silva could have reduced the deficit but his flashing header went wide.

34th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Liverpool has threatened to overrun Manchester City in the first half.

The Reds have largely controlled play, passing with both precision and intent.

When Manchester City attacks, the Reds defend effectively with numbers before breaking forward after they recover possession.

33rd minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Manchester City has a penalty appeal after Sakho’s uncontrolled challenge in the area.

The French defender lunged into a tackle, missing the ball. Dzeko did his best to jump out of Sakho’s path, limiting the contact. The referee said “no penalty.”

27th minute, 2-0 Liverpool: Skrtel doubles Liverpool’s fun by thundering home a header off of Gerrard’s corner kick.

It’s the Slovakian’s seventh league goal this season.

26th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Hart denies Gerrard with a fantastic save.

Coutinho’s corner kick found Gerrard, who was unmarked. The LFC captain headed powerfully on goal, but Hart parried it over the crossbar.

25th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Manchester City is putting Liverpool under pressure, but the Reds remain dangerous on the counter-attack.

24th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Suarez leads the Premier League in both goals (29) and assists.

21st minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Garcia fouls Henderson with a tackle from behind and finds his way into the referee’s book.

18th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Toure’s game is finished.

The Manchester City midfielder — perhaps his team’s most important player this season — limps off the field with Garcia replacing him.

The switch puts the onus on Fernandinho to push forward, link the defense with Silva, the wide players and strikers and dictate the tempo overall. These are things Toure usually does, but Fernandinho must fill his vast shoes.

15th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Sturridge has a great opportunity to double Liverpool’s lead but shoots wide.

Sterling set Sturridge up with a cross from the right, but the LFC striker couldn’t hit the target with his side-footed shot.

Meanwhile, Toure looks to have injured himself taking a wayward shot two minutes ago. The Ivorian is limping.

11th minute, 1-0 Liverpool: Liverpool is off to another fast start.

Suarez sent Sterling into the area with a through ball. Sterling controlled it, shimmied left and wrong-footed both Kompany and Hart before firing home from eight yards out.

It’s Sterling’s seventh league goal of the season.

Fifth minute, 0-0: Liverpool has controlled play early on, controlling possession and maintaining a territorial advantage.

Suarez is cautioned for fouling Demichelis. Suarez slid in and caught the Argentine defender with his trailing leg as he attempted a clearance.

First minute, 0-0: The game is underway. Liverpool is attacking the Kop end.

Pregame: Liverpool goes with the same starting 11 that it used against West Ham last weekend.

Sakho retains his place in defense, while Agger starts on the bench.

It’s a big occasion for Liverpool’s Flanagan. The LFC academy graduate made his debut on April 11, 2011 against Manchester City — just over two years ago.

Liverpool has had great success when it starts games fast. The Reds have won 21 of 25 games this season when they score first.

Suarez and Sturridge have been racking up the goals and dominating headlines, but Sterling and Coutinho will be equally important to Liverpool’s attack against Manchester City. Liverpool will need their guile and energy to threaten Manchester City on the counterattack.

Meanwhile, Kompany has shaken off the knock he took in practice. He starts in the heart of the Manchester City defense, looking to contain Suarez, Sturridge and Co.

Aguero is on the bench, as manager Manuel Pellegrini selects Dzeko as the lone forward. Silva will most likely roam underneath Dzeko, while Nasri and Navas provide the width.

8:07 a.m.: Here are the lineups:

Liverpool

Simon Mignolet (15), goalkeeper
Jon Flanagan (38), left back
Mamadou Sakho (17), center back
Martin Skrtel (37), center back
Glen Johnson (2), right back
Steven Gerrard (8), midfielder
Philippe Coutinho (10), midfielder
Jordan Henderson (14), midfielder
Raheem Sterling (31), forward
Daniel Sturridge (15), forward
Luis Suarez (7), forward

Substitutes

Brad Jones (1), goalkeeper
Kolo Toure (4), defender
Daniel Agger (5), defender
Lucas Leiva (21), midfielder
Joe Allen (24), midfielder
Victor Moses (12), forward
Iago Aspas (9), striker

Manchester City

Joe Hart (1), goalkeeper
Gael Clichy (22), left back
Vincent Kompany (4), center back
Martin Demichelis (26), center back
Pablo Zabaleta (5), right back
Fernandinho (25), midfielder
Yaya Toure (42), midfielder
Samir Nasri (8), midfielder
David Silva (21), midfielder
Jesus Navas (15), midfielder
Edin Dzeko (10), striker

Substitutes

Costel Pantilimon (30), goalkeeper
Joleon Lescott (6), defender
Aleksandar Kolarov (13), defender
Javi Garcia (14), midfielder
James Milner (7), midfielder
Sergio Aguero (16), forward
Alvaro Negredo (9), striker

7:30 a.m. ET: The eyes of the soccer world turn to Anfield on Sunday, as Liverpool hosts Manchester City in a game that will go a long way toward deciding the winner of the 2013-14 Premier League title.

The game is billed as Liverpool’s biggest in 24 years, as the host looks to claim its first league championship since 1990.

Brendan Rodgers’ Reds haven’t lost a league game since late December and have surged to the top of the league standings thanks to a nine-game winning streak. They look to make it 10 in a row Sunday, which would be their longest streak since the 2005-06 season.

However, Manchester City will test Liverpool’s title credentials like few other teams can. Manchester City occupies third place in the league and trails Liverpool by four points in the standings. It is enjoying a seven-game unbeaten run, dating back a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea on Feb. 3.

Manchester City can reduce the gap between it and Liverpool to just one point with a victory on Sunday, but may attempt to do so without captain Vincent Kompany. The Belgian center back limped out of practice on Friday. However, star striker Sergio Aguero is healthy again. Injuries have decimated the second half of the Argentine’s season, keeping him out of action all together since March 12.

No major news came out of Liverpool’s camp ahead of the game, and Rogers wouldn’t have it any other way. The Liverpool manager has relied on a set rotation during the Reds’ run. The only question is whether fit-again Daniel Agger will start in the center of defense alongside Martin Skrtel.

Sunday’s game kicks off at 8:37 a.m. Join us right here for all the action from Anfield.

source: nesn.com

Sydney has flown the flag for Australia in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice awards. Source: Supplied

SYDNEY has been emerged as the star of the southern hemisphere in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards for the world’s best destinations.

It was the only Australian city to earn a listing in the world’s top 25 best cities as determined by TripAdvisor reviewers.

Full list: World’s top 25 destinations

The Harbour City took top honours in the South Pacific region, beating Queenstown, New Zealand, and fellow Australian cities Melbourne and Brisbane.

Notable omissions included Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast – with Cessnock, NSW, among the surprise inclusions at No.12 in the South Pacific.

Travellers’ Choice Destinations honour top travel spots worldwide based on the millions of valuable reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travellers.

Award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews and ratings for hotels, attractions and restaurants in destinations worldwide, gathered over a 12-month period.

NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events George Souris said he was delighted with the news that Sydney had won TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards for the top Australian and South Pacific destination and the only Australian city to make the top 25 best destinations in the world.

“Sydney has so much to offer, from our golden beaches for surfing and world class dining and shopping, to the diverse, scenic regional areas such as the magnificent Blue Mountains and Hunter wineries,” he said.

“New South Wales is blessed with a range of natural wonders and urban attractions which entices 28.5 million international and domestic overnight visitors each year.”

Top 10 Travellers’ Choice South Pacific Destinations:

1. Sydney, Australia

2. Queenstown, New Zealand

3. Melbourne, Australia

4. Brisbane, Australia

5. Rotorua, New Zealand

6. Port Douglas, Australia

7. Taupo, New Zealand

8. Blenheim, New Zealand

9. Nelson, New Zealand

10. Hobart, Australia

11. Port Vila, Vanuatu

12. Cessnock, Australia

13. Wanaka, New Zealand

14. Savusavu, Fiji

15. Tauranga, New Zealand

16. Christchurch, New Zealand

17. Paihia, New Zealand

18. Napier, New Zealand

19. Luganville, Vanuatu

20. Russell, New Zealand

21. Dunedin, New Zealand

22. Airlie Beach, Australia

23. Kaikoura, New Zealand

24. New Plymouth

25. Byron Bay, Australia

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au

Πλοία και αεροσκάφη συνεχίζουν την αναζήτηση των συντριμμιών του Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines στο νότιο Ινδικό Ωκεανό, παρότι τις τελευταίες ώρες δεν παρατηρήθηκαν νέα ακουστικά σήματα από το εξαφανισμένο αεροσκάφος.

Δέκα αεροπλάνα και 14 πλοία συνεχίζουν να αναζητούν τα ίχνη της πτήσης MH370, η οποία εξαφανίστηκε μυστηριωδώς πριν από περισσότερο από ένα μήνα μετά την απογείωση της από την Κουάλα Λουμπούρ με προορισμό το Πεκίνο μεταφέροντας 239 άτομα επί του αεροσκάφους. «Δεν έχουν επιβεβαιώσει νέες ακουστικές ανιχνεύσεις τις τελευταίες 24 ώρες» ανέφερε σε δελτίο τύπου το Κέντρο Συντονισμού των ειδικών επιχειρήσεων αναζήτησης.

Ένα σήμα λήφθηκε την Πέμπτη κοντά στο σημείο όπου βρίσκεται ένα πολεμικό πλοίο, αλλά όπως εξακριβώθηκε ήταν άσχετο με την μοιραία πτήση MH370. Την ίδια ώρα όπως αναφέρουν οι ειδικοί η διάρκεια ζωής των μπαταριών που διαθέτει το «μαύρο κουτί» πέρασε καθώς η αυτονομία τους υπολογίζεται στον ένα μήνα.

Εν τω μεταξύ όπως δήλωσε ο πρωθυπουργός Τόνι Αμποτ πριν τη συνάντησή του με τον κινέζο πρόεδρο Σι Ζινπίνγκ έχει μειωθεί δραματικά το πεδίο της έρευνας και ότι είναι σίγουροι για το γεγονός ότι έχουν ανιχνεύσει σήματα που προέρχονται από τα μαύρα κουτιά. Κατά τη συνάντησή τους στο Πεκίνο ο πρόεδρος της Κίνας ευχαρίστησε τον Τόνι Άμποτ για τις προσπάθειες της Αυστραλίας να βρεθεί το αεροπλάνο, ανέφερε ο Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων Νέα Κίνα.

ΤΗΛΕΦΩΝΙΚΗ ΚΛΗΣΗ

Μια κλήση έγινε από το κινητό τηλέφωνο του συγκυβερνήτη του αγνοούμενου αεροπλάνου της Malaysia Airlines μετά την απρογραμμάτιστη στροφή 180 μοιρών που πραγματοποίησε το αεροσκάφος και λίγο πριν χαθεί η επαφή του με τους δορυφόρους και τα ραντάρ, αναφέρει σε δημοσίευμά της τοπική εφημερίδα.

Σύμφωνα με την εφημερίδα «New Straits Times», πηγές που δεν κατονομάζονται δήλωσαν πως το Μπόινγκ 777 πετούσε σε αρκετά χαμηλό ύψος ώστε να πιάσει τηλεφωνικό σήμα ένας πύργος τηλεπικοινωνιών στο βόρεια πολιτεία Πενάνγκ.

Ερευνητές διαπίστωσαν πως η κλήση -η οποία τερματίσθηκε ξαφνικά- προερχόταν από το τηλέφωνο που ανήκει στον 27χρονο συγκυβερνήτη της πτήσης MH370.

Η εφημερίδα αναφέρει πως οι πηγές της αρνήθηκαν να αποκαλύψουν αν ο Φαρίκ Αμπντούλ Ραχμάν προσπαθούσε να τηλεφωνήσει.

«Ο πύργος τηλεπικοινωνιών έπιασε την κλήση που εκείνος προσπαθούσε να κάνει. Το γιατί η κλήση διακόπηκε, είναι πιθανό να οφείλεται στο γεγονός ότι το αεροσκάφος απομακρυνόταν γρήγορα από τον πύργο και δεν βρισκόταν ακόμη υπό την κάλυψη του επόμενου», φέρεται να δήλωσε η πηγή.

Μια διαφορετική πηγή δήλωσε επίσης στην εφημερίδα New Straits Times πως το τηλέφωνο του Φαρίκ είχε αποσυνδεθεί πριν απογειωθεί το αεροπλάνο.

«Αυτό συμβαίνει συνήθως όταν το τηλέφωνο τίθεται εκτός λειτουργίας. Σε κάποιο σημείο πάντως, όταν το αεροπλάνο βρισκόταν στον αέρα ανάμεσα στο Ιγκάρι και το σημείο κοντά στην Πενάνγκ, η γραμμή επανασυνδέθηκε» φέρεται να δήλωσε η πηγή.

«Μια επανασύνδεση δεν σημαίνει απαραιτήτως ότι έγινε κλήση. Μπορεί επίσης να είναι αποτέλεσμα του γεγονότος ότι το τηλέφωνο τέθηκε και πάλι σε λειτουργία» εξήγησε η πηγή.

Ο συγκυβερνήτης είχε πολύ στενή σχέση με τη μητέρα του, είπε ένας εξάδελφός του στην εφημερίδα.

«Αν ο Φαρίκ μπορούσε να κάνει ένα τηλεφώνημα πριν εξαφανισθεί το αεροπλάνο, θα το έκανε σ’ εκείνη» δήλωσε ο 18χρονος Νουρσιαφικάχ Καμαρουντίν.

Πλοία και αεροπλάνα συνεχίζουν στο μεταξύ σήμερα την έρευνές τους για τα συντρίμμια του Μπόινγκ 777 στο νότιο τμήμα του Ινδικού Ωκεανού, αλλά ο Αυστραλός πρωθυπουργός, Τόνι Άμποτ, προειδοποίησε πως θα χρειαστεί πολύς καιρός ακόμη.

 «Το να επιχειρείται να εντοπισθεί κάτι 4,5 χλμ. κάτω από την επιφάνεια του ωκεανού σε απόσταση περίπου 1.000 μιλίων από τις ακτές αποτελεί ένα τεράστιο, τεράστιο έργο και είναι πιθανό να χρειασθεί να συνεχίσουμε για πολύ καιρό ακόμη», δήλωσε ο Άμποτ στη διάρκεια συνέντευξης Τύπου.

Το κοινό κέντρο συντονισμού των υπηρεσιών (JACC) στο Περθ (δυτική Αυστραλία), στο οποίο έχει ανατεθεί ο συντονισμός των επιχειρήσεων, ανακοίνωσε σήμερα το πρωί ότι περιορίσθηκε ακόμη περισσότερο η ζώνη έρευνας για τον εντοπισμό των συντριμμιών του αεροσκάφους που εξαφανίσθηκε στις 8 Μαρτίου ενώ πραγματοποιούσε πτήση από την Κουάλα Λουμπούρ στο Πεκίνο με 239 επιβαίνοντες, τα δύο τρίτα των οποίων ήταν Κινέζοι.

Πηγή: Νέος Κόσμος

The Kop is set to conjure a cacophony not heard since 2005 to unsettle City and inspire Liverpool’s surge to the league title.

Manchester City have prepared meticulously for Anfield but a sizable stone will be left unturned if Manuel Pellegrini does not show his squad a DVD of Liverpool‘s 2005 Champions League semi-final defeat of Chelsea. They don’t have to watch, just listen. That wall of noise is coming their way on Sunday afternoon.

No supporter ever scored a goal and the power of the crowd is mythologised too often, even at Anfield. But not on 3 May 2005, when Liverpool’s desperate longing for a first European Cup final appearance in 20 years affected José Mourinho’s Premier League champions-elect. The Kop was unusually busy over an hour before kick-off that night, a throwback to the days when you had to arrive early for a decent spot on the terrace, with the volume turned up to 11 when Frank Lampard and co stepped out for the warm-up. Stretches and shuttle runs have never provoked such venom. “That was a frightening noise,” Steven Gerrard said afterwards. “I feel it made Chelsea nervous.”

By the time kick-off arrived Anfield was a frenzied mass. An awe-struck Roman Abramovich applauded the rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone and four adrenalin-fuelled minutes into the game the referee, Lubos Michel, awarded Luis García’s infamous and decisive “ghost goal”. Mourinho lamented: “I felt the power of Anfield, it was magnificent. Maybe that interfered with the result.”

“So what,” one might ask, “City have run this race before?” Not with an obstacle like Anfield in their way. Sunday promises to be the old stadium’s most raucous act since that Chelsea game and what daylight may detract from the spectacle, poignancy and Liverpool’s 24-year wait for a 19th league title will add. Online vendors are asking almost £5,000 for a pair of £52 tickets to the truest test of City’s nerve, character and championship credentials. “Anfield won’t have hosted a bigger league game for a quarter of a century,” wrote John Aldridge in his Liverpool Echo column this week. “It’s not quite on the same scale as when we played Arsenal in our final game back in 1989 but it’s not far off.”

As with Arsenal’s last-gasp title triumph in 1989, City will present a wreath of flowers to Liverpool before the game, now to mark the impending 25th anniversary of Hillsborough. A mosaic reading “96 – 25 years” will appear on the Kop during the minute’s silence before kick-off which, as with all matches this weekend, has been delayed by seven minutes. The referee, Ray Lewis, stopped the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at 3.06pm.

On Tuesday, the Hillsborough families break from fresh inquests into their relatives’ deaths for the annual memorial service at Anfield, with readings this year from Brendan Rodgers and his Everton counterpart, Roberto Martínez. The roar when the referee Mark Clattenburg’s whistle breaks the silence on Sunday will carry raw emotion. Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman over from Boston for the game and Tuesday’s service, will get all the confirmation he needs that Fenway Sports Group is right to rebuild Anfield and not relocate.

City will be facing the Kop and the mosaic in the moments before kick-off. They possess title-winning experience, audacious talent and men of stature, yet two members of the Chelsea camp in 2005 who now ply their trade at Liverpool believe Anfield did exert an influence over Mourinho’s men and could do so again. Glen Johnson was an unused Chelsea substitute for that semi-final second leg. Having witnessed the scenes before Liverpool’s recent home win over Sunderland, when flags, smoke-bombs and thousands of fans greeted the team coach as it snaked along Anfield Road, he is confident City will be disadvantaged.

“The atmosphere that night was incredible,” the Liverpool and England right-back recalls. “If it’s your fans making that noise it does give you an extra boost when you are tired. It does help when you have got to dig in. On the other hand, when you’re the away team, you can be thinking: ‘Here we go again.’ It is tough.

“I didn’t know what Liverpool was like as a city back then as I was in London but now, sitting on the other side of the fence, I can see the excitement around the place. You always meet people who want to wish you luck throughout the season but in the last few weeks I’ve had people shouting it from across the street and everywhere. You can see the excitement in people’s faces and we saw it on the coach before the Sunderland game. I remember playing against Benfica in one of my earlier games for the club and that was similar, with the crowd starting 200 yards down the road from the stadium as we approached. When you turn up for a football match you can’t wait to play but when you see the excitement on everyone else around you it gives you an extra buzz.”

Also sitting in the opposition dug-out in 2005 was Chelsea’s then youth-team coach, Rodgers. The Liverpool manager has consciously avoided talking up his team’s title prospects in recent months, even during their current run of nine consecutive Premier League wins, while promoting the importance of Anfield at every opportunity. Earlier in his reign, Rodgers said: “I was here for the first Chelsea semi-final, for the ‘ghost goal’. For me, it wasn’t a goal. That was the sheer force of the crowd that got the goal. José spoke at that time of how he didn’t think it was over the line but the bottom line is that the referee gave it. It was under massive influence, there is no doubt about that. The atmosphere was as good as you will ever get.”

At his unveiling as Liverpool manager in June 2012, Rodgers spoke of turning Anfield into the longest 90 minutes of an opponent’s life. The quote has been rekindled many times since, against Rodgers during the difficult first six months of his tenure and in his favour as the vision took shape with startling speed and results. The full quote, his goal for Liverpool, was shaped by that visit to Anfield in 2005.

“With Chelsea in the Champions League the players said they had never experienced support like that,” he said. “That was ultimately what won the game and that is what I want to do here. I want to use the incredible support to make coming to Anfield the longest 90 minutes of an opponent’s life. That’s the idea. I want to see this great attacking football with creativity and imagination, with relentless pressing of the ball.”

Liverpool’s fulfilment of that wish has generated a belief at Anfield comparable to the 2005 Champions League campaign. Then, as now, there is momentum behind tournament outsiders with an ability to rise to the occasion and acts of Gerrard escapology, albeit now enhanced by the excellence of Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge. The unforeseen opportunity to clamber back on to the perch only a year after Sir Alex Ferguson retired, confident in his belief Liverpool needed eight top-class signings to challenge again, sweetens the incentive.

There is the feel of 2005 at Anfield and also remarkable similarities with Bill Shankly’s first title-winning campaign as Liverpool manager 50 years ago. Suárez and Sturridge are the first two Liverpool players to score 20 goals or more in a league season since Ian St John and Roger Hunt in 1963-64. That season, as this season, Liverpool beat Manchester United 1-0 and 3-0 and went to the top of the table after beating Tottenham Hotspur at home on 30 March, a position they never relinquished as they ended their 17-year wait for the championship. Also, on the past two occasions Liverpool have played Manchester City on Boxing Day before this season, 1981-82 and 1985-86, they lost both fixtures but went on to win the league. Omens everywhere.

What matters more are the championship-like performances that Liverpool have produced frequently this season, from the 5-1 demolition of Arsenal to the last-gasp 3-2 comeback at Fulham. City need one of their own to puncture a critical mass 24 years in the making at Anfield. And earplugs.

source: theguardian.com

The tagging of a huge five-metre white pointer in King George Sound has presented a potentially huge breakthrough in shark research and a triumph for local Fisheries staff.

The massive female great white, estimated to weigh about 1.6 tonnes, was the biggest ever internally tagged in Australia, and one of the largest in the world.

The shark was measured at 5.04m to the fork in its tail, suggesting an overall length of around 5.3m.

[Shark Monitoring Network project manager Mark Kleeman said internally tagging a white pointer of this size was almost unprecedented.]

Shark Monitoring Network project manager Mark Kleeman said internally tagging a white pointer of this size was almost unprecedented. Photo: Scott Coghlan

It took three Fisheries staff two-and-a-half hours to subdue the shark, which was hooked close to Mistaken Island in around 15 metres of water on Sunday, March 30.

The same shark had been externally tagged the previous Wednesday when it approached a Fisheries vessel close to Limestone Head, and then set off receivers at Ellen Cove on the following Thursday and Friday, leading to beach closures.

The great white took a salmon bait, culminating in it being fitted with an internal tag to help monitor its movements for up to 10 years.

Shark Monitoring Network project manager Mark Kleeman said internally tagging a white pointer of that size was almost unprecedented and a cause for celebration.

“This is very exciting and potentially a world first,” he said.

“It is something we have been striving for and it is great to prove we can handle an animal of that size.

“The main thing is that tracking larger animals opens up a whole new world.

“Lots of juveniles have been tagged, but to have a fully-mature female and get 10 years of data out of it is a big thing for us.

“We are excited by the potential of what this shark can give us.”

The shark was caught using 14-16mm rope attached to 3mm cable, and a hook considerably smaller than that with which Premier Colin Barnett infamously posed a few months ago.

After the shark was finally subdued, Fisheries staff had to attach three ropes around it and roll it upside down.

However, once it was upside down the shark went into a state of “tonic immobility”, similar to being asleep.

That enabled Fisheries workers, aboard a 6m vessel not much bigger than the shark, to make a small incision in its stomach without lifting it out of the water and insert the tag.

The whole process took about five minutes.

Mr Kleeman said only about 340 sharks of various species, including a small number of white pointers, had been tagged in Australian waters.

While there has been so much attention on the drum line program off the west coast, Fisheries staff in Albany have been putting in long hours to quietly tag these sharks, which are around in good numbers at the moment, possibly due to the salmon schools in the area.

However, it did not make them easy to catch.

Mr Kleeman said there had only been five great whites tagged in Albany over the last 12 months and 17 along the south coast since 2009, making each successful tagging significant.

When this newly-tagged great white comes close to the network of receivers dotted along the southern WA coastline from east of Albany to Ocean Reef, Fisheries will receive instant notification of its location.

The shark remains in King George Sound. It set off receivers again earlier this week. Beaches were reopened on Tuesday.

“We will be able to see where it is travelling and how often,” Mr Kleeman said.

“We will get a good picture of the movements of this particular animal.

“Over time we will be able to build the data and then we can see if there are any patterns forming, which is a great start for understanding more about them.”

The satellite-linked network is part of a long-term project to help scientists better understand the movements of tagged white sharks through WA waters as well as improve safety at Western Australian beaches.

Along with the satellite-linked receivers, there are also more than 320 seabed monitors located off various parts of the WA coast which also record movements of tagged sharks.

External tags on great whites usually only last around two years, making internal tags the preferred option.

Mr Kleeman said it was believed female great whites didn’t mature until 15-20 years of age, with this shark estimated at being more than 30 years of age.

“It is the first one we have caught of breeding size,” he said.

“It had signs of mating scars, with bites down one side.”

They also took DNA samples from the shark to enable researchers to study genetics, with the east and west coast appearing to have separate populations.

Mr Kleeman said it was interesting the shark set off the receivers near Middleton Beach at 4.41pm on Thursday and 4.42pm on Friday, possibly suggesting a pattern of behaviour.

He asked anyone who saw a great white report it to the water police immediately on 9442 8600, as sighting reports from members of the public remain a vital contribution to coastal safety.

source: watoday.com.au

Την ώρα που οι Aυστραλιανές Αρχές, σε συνεργασία με τις δυνάμεις που έχουν στείλει οι υπόλοιπες χώρες που συμμετέχουν στις έρευνες για τον εντοπισμό του Boeing, συνεχίζουν την προσπάθεια αναζήτησης ίχνους των συντριμμιών, ένα νέο σενάριο που είδε το φως της δημοσιότητας αλλάζει άρδην τα δεδομένα.

Σύμφωνα με στελέχη της πρώην KGB (ρωσικής μυστικής υπηρεσίας), το αεροπλάνο δεν συνετρίβη και κανείς από τους επιβάτες του δεν έχασε τη ζωή του. Αντιθέτως, η πτήση MH370 έπεσε θύμα αεροπειρατείας και το αεροσκάφος κατέληξε κάπου στο Αφγανιστάν.

Τονίζεται μάλιστα ότι όλοι οι επιβάτες και τα μέλη του πληρώματος είναι καλά στην υγεία τους και ζουν σε καλύβες, χωρισμένοι σε ομάδες των επτά ατόμων.

Όλα τα παραπάνω, βέβαια, αποτελούν μόνο εικασίες και δεν αποδεικνύονται, ενώ δεν προέρχονται και από επίσημη πηγή. Ουσιαστικά πρόκειται για εκτιμήσεις μελών των ρωσικών υπηρεσιών τις οποίες επικαλείται η εφημερίδα Daily Star της Μαλαισίας.

Διαψεύδεται το τηλεφώνημα

Η πληροφορία που είδε το φως της δημοσιότητας και που θελει τον συγκυβερνήτη του μοιραίου αεροσκάφους, Φαρίκ Χαμίντ, να έχει κάνει ένα τηλεφώνημα κατά τη διάρκεια της πτήσης, διαψεύστηκε από τον Υπουργό Μεταφορών της Μαλαισίας.

«Αν ίσχυε κάτι τέτοιο, θα το είχαμε μάθει πολύ νωρίτερα», τόνισε χαρακτηριστικά ο Χισαμουντίν Χουσεΐν.

Πηγή: newsbomb.gr

This photo released by Australian defence shows HMAS Toowoomba’s S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter, Tiger 75, during the search for missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370. (AFP photo/Australian Defence/Abis Chris Beerens)

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner resumed on Saturday, five weeks after the plane disappeared from radar screens, amid fears that batteries powering signals from the black box recorder on board were about to die.

The co-pilot of the missing jet, meanwhile, made a desperate call from his mobile phone moments before the jet went off the radar, reports claimed.

The call from co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid’s phone, however, ended abruptly, but not before contact was established with a telecommunications sub-station in Penang state, the New Straits Times reported on Saturdar.

The call was made as the jet was flying low near Penang Island on Malaysia’s west coast, the morning it went missing.

“The telco’s (telecommunications company’s) tower established the call that he was trying to make. On why the call was cut off, it was likely because the aircraft was fast moving away from the tower and had not come under the coverage of the next one,” the paper said, citing unnamed sources.

The paper said it was unable to ascertain who Fariq was trying to call as sources chose not to divulge details of the investigation. The links that police are trying to establish are also unclear, said the report.

Investigators are poring over this discovery as they try to piece together what had happened moments before the Boeing 777 Flight MH370 went off the radar, some 200 nautical miles northwest of Penang, the paper said.

Fariq’s last communication through the WhatsApp Messenger application was about 11.30pm on March 7, just before he boarded the jet for his six-hour flight to Beijing.

In Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said signals picked up during the search in the remote southern Indian Ocean, believed to be “pings” from the black box recorders, were “rapidly fading”.

“While we do have a high degree of confidence that the transmissions that we’ve been picking up are from flight MH370’s black box recorder, no one would underestimate the difficulties of the task still ahead of us,” Abbott told a news conference in Beijing.

We have “very considerably narrowed down the search area, but trying to locate anything 4.5 kilometers beneath the surface of the ocean about 1,000 kilometers from land is a massive, massive task, and it is likely to continue for a long time to come,” Abbott said.

Abbott appeared to step back from his comments Friday when he voiced great confidence that signals from the black box had been detected – his most upbeat assessment so far that triggered speculation that a breakthrough was imminent.

Retired air chief marshal Angus Houston who heads the hunt from Perth, had quickly issued a statement clarifying that there had been no breakthrough.

On Saturday, Abbott repeated his confidence in the search, but put the accent on the challenges ahead.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared soon after taking off on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, triggering a multinational search that is now focused on the Indian Ocean.

Search officials say they are confident they know the approximate position of the black box recorder, although they have determined that the latest “ping”, picked up by searchers on Thursday, was not from the missing aircraft.

Batteries in the black box recorder are already past their normal 30-day life, making the search to find it on the murky sea bed all the more urgent. Once searchers are confident they have located it, they then plan to deploy a small unmanned “robot” known as an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.

“Work continues in an effort to narrow the underwater search area for when the autonomous underwater vehicle is deployed,” the Australian agency coordinating the search said on Saturday.

“There have been no confirmed acoustic detections over the past 24 hours,” it said in a statement.

The black box records data from the cockpit and conversations among flight crew and may provide answers about what happened to the plane, which flew thousands of kilometres off course after taking off.

The mystery has sparked the most expensive search and rescue operation in aviation history.

Malaysia’s government has begun investigating civil aviation and military authorities to determine why opportunities to identify and track the flight were missed in the chaotic hours after it vanished.

A Chinese Ilyushin IL-76s aircraft taxies past a sister plane at Perth International Airport after assisting in the on-going search operation for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. (AFP photo)

Narrowing search area

Analysis of satellite data has led investigators to conclude the Boeing 777 crashed into the ocean somewhere west of the Australian city of Perth. Four “ping” signals, which could be from the plane’s black box recorders, have been detected in the search area in recent days by a U.S. Navy “Towed Pinger Locator”.

Once the search area is narrowed down to as small as possible “it is our intention to then deploy the submersible, conduct a sonar search of the sea bed and, based on the sonar search, attempt to get a visual of the wreckage,” Abbott said.

The US supply ship USNS Cesar Chavez has joined the Australian-led task force to provide logistics support and replenish Australian navy ships, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Up to nine military aircraft, one civilian aircraft and 14 ships were scouring a 41,393 sq km patch of ocean 2,330 km northwest of Perth.

The extensive search and rescue operation has included assets from 26 countries.

Australia’s Ocean Shield, which has the towed pinger locator on board, is operating in a smaller zone, just 600 sq km about 1,670 km northwest of Perth. That is near where it picked up the acoustic signals and where dozens of sonobuoys capable of transmitting data to search aircraft via radio signals were dropped on Wednesday.

Experts say the process of teasing out the signals from the cacophony of background noise in the sea is slow and exhausting.

An unmanned submarine named Bluefin-21 is on board the Ocean Shield and could be deployed to look for wreckage on the sea floor some 4.5 km below the surface once a final search area has been identified.

source: hindustantimes.com

A POWERFUL 7.6-magnitude earthquake has struck near the Solomon Islands, generating a tsunami warning for much of the South Pacific region, including Australia.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based in Hawaii said it did not know whether a tsunami had been generated, but issued a warning because of its strength. The warning area includes the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Nauru.

An earlier tsunami watch for Fiji, Australia, Indonesia and nearby areas was cancelled after the earthquake was revised down from its original magnitude of 8.3.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake which stuck just before 6am this morning (AEST), initially estimated at a magnitude 8.3, occurred at a depth of about 10 kilometres.

The USGS said it occurred about 96 kilometres south-southeast of Kirakira, and about 300 kilometres from Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara.

This is the second time in a fortnight that the Pacific island nation has been stuck by a natural disaster.

source:news.com.au

This was Borussia Dortmund’s first league win over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena since November 2011

Bayern Munich suffered back-to-back Bundesliga defeats for the first time since November 2011 as Borussia Dortmund cruised to victory.

Pep Guardiola’s champions fell behind after Henrikh Mkhitaryan coolly stroked home a fine left-foot finish.

Bayern fell further behind at the Allianz Arena when Marco Reus scored after Franck Ribery lost possession.

Dortmund wrapped up the points when Jonas Hofmann found the net before Bayern’s Rafinha was sent off.

The Brazilian defender was shown a straight red card in stoppage time after putting a hand in Mkhitaryan’s face.

It completed a frustrating game for Bayern, who started with Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Jerome Boateng on the bench ahead of Wednesday’s German Cup semi-final with Kaiserslautern.

The hosts, who have now lost both league games since being crowned German champions last month, were a shadow of the team who has dominated on the domestic and European stage this season.

While Bayern lost at home in the league for the first time since October 2012, this result will at least soften the blow for second-placed Dortmund after a one-sided title race. Despite victory, Jurgen Klopp’s side are 17 points behind the champions with five games of the league season remaining.

They never looked back after Armenia midfielder Mkhitaryan’s composed 20th-minute finish following an incisive run and inch-perfect pass from Reus.

Mario Mandzukic wasted a chance to level shortly before the interval, the Croatian hooking his shot wide after Rafinha’s floated ball, and it was a costly miss as Reus doubled Dortmund’s advantage soon after Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had gone off injured.

Neuer’s replacement, Lukas Raeder, was beaten after Ribery gifted possession to Dortmund, which allowed the visitors to pour forward and score.

More poor defending from Bayern was punished by Hofmann’s clinical 56th-minute finish.

Mandzukic had a goal ruled out for offside before Rafinha was sent off for putting his hand in Mkhitaryan’s face, in what was a sorry end to a sorry night for Bayern.

source: bbc.com

The Catalans were knocked out of the Champions League in midweek and then saw their hopes of retaining La Liga rocked on Saturday evening.

Barcelona’s La Liga hopes suffered a devastating blow on Saturday evening after Yacine Brahimi’s first half strike gave Granada a shock 1-0 win.

The Algerian’s third goal of the season in the first half gave the Andalusian outfit their first win over the champions since they returned to the top flight in the 2011.

Barca were dumped out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Liga title rivals Atletico Madrid in midweek, and the pressure on coach Gerardo Martino was ramped up again at Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes.

Neymar cut a frustated figure as he spurned several chances, and defeat ensured Barca missed the chance to replace Atletico – who play on Sunday – at the top of the table, while victory for Granada eased their relegation fears.

Martino stated in the build-up to this game that Barca’s season would be deemed a failure following their Champions League exit, and he must now hope his side respond by winning the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Xavi, Jordi Alba and Dani Alves dropped to the bench as Martino rang the changes following the loss at Atletico and, probably, with one eye on the Copa final.

Barca made a bright start, but they were stunned when the home side took the lead just 16 minutes in.

Midfielder Fran Rico was the architect, with a pass that pierced the Barca defence, and Brahimi raced away from Martin Montoya before beating Jose Pinto with a right-foot finish inside the near post.

Granada wanted a penalty when Youssef El-Arabi went down under a challenge from Javier Mascherano, but referee Carlos Delgado saw nothing untoward.

Neymar should have done better when he headed Montoya’s inviting cross over the crossbar, before the Brazil forward tried his luck with a measured right-foot strike from outside the area that was palmed away by Orestis Karnezis.

Former Santos man Neymar was becoming increasingly tetchy, and he was somewhat fortunate to escape with only a yellow card when he kicked out at Allan Nyom just before half-time.

Barca got straight back on the front foot after the break and Granada were indebted to a fine save from Karnezis to keep out a Cesc Fabregas strike that looked destined for the back of the net.

Neymar was wasteful once again when he fired a left-foot strike wide of the far post 12 minutes into the second half as the home side came under yet more pressure.

Karnezis then thwarted Barca again with an outstanding reflex save from a Lionel Messi free-kick, before smothering Sergio Busquets’ strike from close range.

Neymar’s misery continued 17 minutes from time when he volleyed wide at the far post, and Andres Iniesta then flashed a shot just wide of the far post.

El-Arabi could have sealed the points three minutes from time when he raced through on goal, but Pinto denied him.

That miss was not to prove costly, though, as the home side held on for three precious points in their battle to avoid the drop and dealt a big blow to Barca’s title hopes.

source: goal.com