Ernesto grew into the first hurricane of the year on Sunday as it gained strength rapidly on a path that could threaten the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The potentially dangerous storm was about 193km south-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and was a Category One storm on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.
Premiership footballers are storing stem cells from their newborn babies to use in case of their own career-threatening sports injuries, according to a report on Sunday. They are freezing cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of their babies as a possible future cure for cartilage and ligament problems, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Lindsay Davenport began Saturday seeking to defend her Pilot Pen title. She ended it hoping she’ll be able to play in the US Open. Davenport retired from the Pilot Pen championship with an injured right shoulder, allowing Justine Henin-Hardenne to take the title in the final hard-court tune-up before the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, which starts on Monday.
New Zealand called two replacement players into its Tri-Nations rugby squad on Sunday after a series of injuries during its weekend win over South Africa at Pretoria. Prop John Afoa and veteran flanker Marty Holah will join the All Blacks ahead of their final Tri-Nations match against the Springboks at Rustenburg on Saturday.
Two kidnapped Fox journalists appeared on a new videotape released by their captors on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, in which the reporters said they had converted to Islam. Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam said efforts were under way to secure within hours the release of Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36.
Madonna feels responsible for the children of the world and has found herself a ”big, big project” to help orphans in Malawi. Gwyneth Paltrow declares ”I am African” in a new advertisement for a charity working in Africa. The continent has long been a favourite destination for celebrity campaigners, going back to 1954 when Danny Kaye became Unicef’s goodwill ambassador.
The Pentagon on Saturday said it transferred five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan, leaving about 445 detainees at the naval base in Cuba. ”These detainees were all recommended for transfer due to multiple review processes conducted at Guantanamo Bay,” the Pentagon said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday.
Tiger Woods recovered from a rare run of bogeys to pull within one shot of leader Stewart Cink on Saturday after the third round of the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational. Woods, the overnight leader, stunningly made four straight bogeys from the par-three fifth at Firestone Country Club — his worst stretch of holes in a decade.
When a gang of seabird-killing seals ate the main tourist draw of Lamberts Bay, residents of the small South African town called in a surfer, an artist and a flock of fake gannets to save the day. Cape gannets had been breeding on a tiny island off Lamberts Bay, on the Atlantic coast 250km north of Cape Town, since the early 1900s, becoming a profitable — albeit raucous and smelly — part of the landscape.
Anyone wanting to throw away their cellphone can do it in style and may even win a medal — at the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship, Finland’s latest contribution to offbeat athleticism. Originally a local event in this small town close to the Russian border, the seventh annual contest on Saturday drew about 100 throwers from as far afield as Canada, Russia and Belgium.