Readership of the online journals known as blogs (short for web logs) grew significantly in 2004, driven by increased awareness of them during the United States presidential campaign and other major news events, according to a study released on Sunday. Twenty-seven percent of online adults in the US said in November they read blogs.
The United States’s professional gridiron league teams have joined Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and other sports figures around the world in assisting the disaster relief mission for the tsunami-earthquake catastrophe with a death toll that is expected to reach 150 000.
Confronted with the world’s greatest natural disaster for half a century, religious leaders strove to make theological sense of the tsunami and console congregations that might ask why God allowed the tectonic plates under the Indian Ocean to shift so catastrophically on Boxing Day. Leaders from the major faiths attempt to explain how the tragedy could be reconciled with their religious beliefs.
Skipper Ricky Ponting produced his first Test century for more than a year to propel Australia into a powerful position against Pakistan in the third and final cricket Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday. The 30-year-old right-hander erased the memory of an unproductive past 12 months to compile his 21st century.
David Beckham practised on his own on Sunday after flight delays hindered his return and caused him to arrive late for Real Madrid’s first full training session under new coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the club’s website said. The training session on Sunday was the first conducted by Luxemburgo, hired on Thursday to replace Mariano Garcia Remon.
Manchester United and Arsenal have warned Chelsea that the race for the Premiership title is still alive, despite the cash-drenched Stamford Bridge side having taken an iron grip at the top. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea go into the final game of the gruelling Christmas and New Year period on Tuesday against Middlesbrough.
South Africa batted their way to a dominant position at tea in the third Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test at Newlands in Cape Town. The homeside notched up 441 runs for 142.1 overs, with spinner/all-rounder Nicky Boje and Jacques Kallis providing most of the runs on the second day.
England seized the initiative on the second morning of the third Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test at Newlands on Monday, capturing three wickets for the addition of 90 runs. South Africa went to lunch on 337 for seven. Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla survived a torrid first half hour in which Steve Harmison was particularly aggressive.
I remember standing, in those last exile years, in the garden of the Jamaican ambassador to England, and witnessing a confrontation between Trevor Huddleston and Anthony Sampson. Why is this of any interest? Well, both of these very English Englishmen had been around in my life for as long as I could remember. Now they have both moved on-to a better world, some would say. Or to dust, just like Sophiatown, as others would have it.
The number of people killed in the massive earthquake and tidal waves that hit Indian Ocean shorelines a week ago passed 144 000 on Monday. Meanwhile, a Malaysian tuna ship rescued an Indonesian woman who drifted for five days in the Indian Ocean after the tsunami swept her out to sea.