Croke park, Dublin,Ireland (GenevaLunch) - Irish captain Brian O’ Driscoll celebrated his 100th cap for Ireland with a last minute try that allowed the home team to draw their match with Australia 20-20. In other matches a dull England side plodded their way to a 16-9 win over Argentina. The New Zealand All Blacks struggled against a tough Italian side before winning 6-20 in front of 80,000 fans in the San Siro stadium in Milan.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, The Times
Twickenham, London, England and Cardiff, Wales (GenevaLunch) - England lost to the Wallabies 9-18 despite the return of Jonny Wilkinson and a much improved performance in the line-outs. Wilkinson scored all the England points and put in some crunching defensive tackles but the England team was short of offensive ideas and was dominated in the second half. The star player for the Australians was their young scrum-half Will Genia.
In the other big rugby union match the New Zealand All Blacks extended their undefeated record against Wales, who last beat the New Zealanders in 1953.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus and five in Southeast Asia are implementing early warning systems to protect against weather-related events, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Today 14 October is International Day for Disaster Reduction, and the agency is highlighting how early warning and disaster risk reduction can save many lives when extreme weather strikes. Similar projects were introduced in seven southeast European countries in 2007.
These national and regional cooperation projects are part of a concerted programme that relies on technical expertise and funding provided by the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Natural hazards are a part of life. But natural hazards only become disasters when people’s lives and livlihoods are swept away…” (Kofi Annan, World Disaster Reduction Day, 2003)
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nineteen countries have now secured their places in the Fifa World Cup finals to be held in South Africa in 2010 after the penultimate games in the qualification series. In the African group Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are through and six places are up for grabs. Australia, Japan and the two Koreas take the Asian places with one more team entering a playoff with New Zealand. Seven of the 13 European places are decided:
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – New Zealand beat Pakistan by five wickets in their semi-final to set up a contest with Australia for the ICC champions trophy. Pakistan’s batsmen never really got going and only reached their modest total of 233 for nine, thanks to a half century by Umar Akmal and a late flourish by the tail enders.
South Africa (GenevaLunch) – The English batsmen put on a rare display as they beat South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy. Andrew Strauss won the toss and decided to bat but lost the opening batsmen quickly. Owais Shah (98) and Paul Collingwood (82) then gradually took control and Eoin Morgan added 67 in just 34 balls. England reached an impressive 323 for 8: the second highest score in the tournament’s history.
NSW, Australia 24 September 2009 dust storm (image: Australian Weather Bureau)
Qld, Australia, borders showing, dust storm 23 September 2009 (Image: Australian Weather Bureau)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Sydney, Australia is dusting itself off after gale-force winds dumped millions of tons of dust on it from the deserts west of the city, gumming up transportation systems, delicate machinery, people’s lungs and the view. The same winds are currently depositing thin films of dust in parts of New Zealand. Sydney is preparing for a second round of dust storms. Australia is not one of the countries currently implementing a new early warning system for sandstorms, which might have helped prevent some of the chaos, according to officials at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. “Until now, Australia has not been affected in a major way by this kind of storm,” a spokesperson explained to GenevaLunch.
”The reported level of suspended particulate mass (PM10) in highly populated Sydney was around 1,000 times higher than on a clear day,” said WMO’s specialist on sandstorms, Len Barrie.
Wellington, New Zealand (GenevaLunch) – The New Zealand All Blacks crushed the Australian Wallabies 33-6 in the final match of the Tri-Nations season. South Africa’s Springboks had already won the series. The Australian coach Robbie Deans criticized the lack of commitment of his players, especially in the final 10 minutes.
Drivers in the Pacific island nation of Samoa all switched to driving on the left-hand side of the road at 06:00 local time Tuesday 8 September to the sound of fire engine sirens, horns, clapping and car horns. Police and government workers were stationed at intersections around the main town Apia, and traffic was particularly heavy because many drivers wanted to take part in the historic moment. The town’s traffic lights were turned on for the occasion. The government introduced the change to the left to avoid importing expensive left-hand drive cars from the US. It hopes to be able to import used right-hand drive cars from Australia and New Zealand. BBC, New Zealand Herald, Pacific Islands Report
Perth, Australia (GenevaLunch) – South Africa, current world champions, inflicted another defeat on the Australians in the latest Tri-Nations match. The Wallabies have lost their last six matches in the tournament while the Springboks have won the last five. The South African scrum-half Fourie du Preez was the star player on the field in a match that was more one-sided than the 25-32 final score suggests, at one stage South Africa led 13-29 before a late rally by the Aussies.
Capetown, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – South African fly-half Morne Steyn scored 24 points as the Springboks won their third successive Tri-Nations match of the season 29-17. The Wallabies were overpowered but contributed to their loss by poor discipline and careless mistakes. At one stage there were only 13 Aussies on the field as Matt Giteau and Richard Brown were given yellow cards.
The three-year-old British girl who made headlines for months after her disappearance in May 2007 from the family’s vacation rooms in Praia da Luz, Portugal, Madeleine McCann, is back in the news, with the family saying they have a new lead and private detectives in Australia seeking a woman who is called a Victoria Beckham look-alike, with an Australian or New Zealand accent. BBC TV, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
Durban, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – South African fly-half Morne Steyn scored a record 31 points: a converted try and eight penalties, as the New Zealand All Blacks lost again. The All Blacks error-strewn performance meant that the South Africans could control the game and simply wait for the mistakes to come. Steyn smashed the previous record for an individual against the All Blacks.
Details: New Zealand Herald
Auckland, New Zealand (GenevaLunch) - The Wallabies lost again at Eden Park, Auckland, as they made too many errors against the New Zealand All Blacks. The kiwis were not that impressive but managed to maintain their composure and eliminate mistakes to take the game 22-16. Details, RugbyHeaven
Two powerful bombs exploded Friday morning 17 July in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta at luxury hotels, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 45, according to early reports. No group has claimed responsibility. The bombs tore the front off of the Ritz-Carlton and it appears police may have found a third bomb. Foreigners were among the dead and injured: Reuters reports that Tim Mackay, president of PT Holcim Indonesia, a New Zealand citizen was killed. Holcim is a Swiss multinational. The Manchester United team, who were scheduled to stay at the Ritz-Carlton this weekend, have canceled their trip. BBC, Sky News, Jakarta Post
Lords/London, England (GenevaLunch) – Shahid Afridi was the star as Pakistan at last was in the news for a celebration of victory. The Pakistan team has played little cricket in the last few years as other teams have refused to travel to Pakistan because of security concerns. The last team to visit was the Sri Lankans who were forced to end their tour by a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus.
(GenevaLunch) – France scored a rare but entirely justified victory over the All Blacks, their first in New Zealand since 1994. The win was built around a solid defence that took advantage of their younger opponents, combined with rapid couter-attacking in traditional French style. France soon moved into a 17-3 lead but the New Zealanders fought back to 17-17 before conceding a try from an interception by Maxine Médard that allowed the French to win 22-27.
A petrol station owner in Auckland, New Zealand, asked his bank for a NZD100,000 overdraft. The bank agreed, and mistakenly gave him a credit line of NZD10 million. The petrol station owner and his partner disappeared with NZD6.7 million, reports the New Zealand Herald. Interpol has been searching for the couple in Hong Kong, according to New Zealand media sources, but the country’s police believe they may have split up, after speaking to a sister of the fugitive woman.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The WHO (World Health Organization) now has a web site with regular updates that include official figures from countries with confirmed cases. Monday afternoon, 27 April, the WHO raised its alert level to 4, “sustained human to human transmission.” A disease is considered to reach the pandemic stage at levels 5-6. The organization is not recommending that countries impose travel bans or close borders but it does suggest that anyone who is ill refrain from traveling and anyone who develops flu symtoms after traveling should promptly seek treatment.
Official WHO swine flu figures, 27 April
Some of these stories, like that of the Russian woman who killed her drunken husband by closing their folding couch, do make it to the front pages:
A woman who returned three hours later to check on her unusually quiet husband discovered that she had in fact killed him when, angered by his drunken state, she closed their Murphy bed sofa into the wall with the man inside. Reuters
Dubai is cancelling New Year’s celebrations in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, bombarded by Israeli forces. International Herald Tribune
Facebook is having a bad week in terms of pleasing the public, with Italians upset at the growing number of Mafia bosses’ pages fans, reports the New York Times based on an article in Italy’s La Republicca, while in the US but also elsewhere there is growing anger at the social network’s decision to remove some breastfeeding images, saying they don’t meed decency standards. Independent, UK
Nasa, the US space agency, has issued its final report on Columbia, the space shuttle that exploded in February 2003, killing the seven astronauts aboard, noting that they knew for about 40 seconds that they had lost control. CNN
A theft victim in New York offered to take his robber out to dinner in a new twist on giving the shirt off your own back to someone poorer. NPR
Hey, it’s 2009 in New Zealand as we hit the “publish” button here in Switzerland. New Year’s Eve is a very short night in New Zealand – check out the balmy weather there and forget about Swiss snow for a minute. New Zealand Herald
Swiss CFF railway clock, Zurich main train station
The World (GenevaLunch) - Going, going, nearly gone – 2009 2008 is out the window and 2010 2009 (thanks, Colin, for noticing that the editor leaped over an entire year!) is in the door, or very nearly, depending on where you are.
If you read this as we publish, you’ll find that Chatham, New Zealand, is about to ring in the New Year! 2009, that is.
World Clock countdown for the rest of us
Chatham Islands, tourist information
