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Iranian International Master Dorsa Derakhshani discusses her chess career with Wikinews
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
In February 2017, the Iranian Chess Federation announced two teenage chess players, Dorsa Derakhshani and her younger brother Borna Derakhshani, were banned from representing the national team. The federation announced their decision although Dorsa Derakhshani had previously decided and informed the chess federation she did not wish to play for Iran.
Dorsa Derakhshani is currently 21 years old and holds the International Master (IM) as well as Woman Grand Master (WGM) titles. Her brother, Borna, plays for the English Federation and holds the FIDE Master title.
Dorsa Derakhshani was banned since she did not wear a hijab, an Islamic headscarf, while competing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in January 2017. Under the laws of Islamic Republic of Iran, hijab is a mandatory dress code. Her brother Borna Deraskhsani was banned for playing against Israeli Grand Master (GM) Alexander Huzman at the same tournament. Iran does not recognise the existence of Israel, and previously, Irani athletes have avoided playing against Israeli athletes.
Mehrdad Pahlavanzadeh, the president of the country’s chess federation, explained the decision to ban the players saying, “As a first step, these two will be denied entry to all tournaments taking place in Iran and in the name of Iran, they will no longer be allowed the opportunity to be present on the national team.” ((fa))Farsi language: ?????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ?? ????? ? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????. He further stated, “Unfortunately, something that should not have happened has happened and our national interest is paramount and we have reported this position to the Ministry of Sports.” ((fa))Farsi language: ????????? ?????? ?? ????? ????????? ?????? ??? ? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????.
IM Dorsa Derakhshani, who currently studies at Saint Louis University in the United States and plays for the United States Chess Federation, discussed her chess career, time in Iran and the 2017 controversy, and her life in Saint Louis with a Wikinews correspondent.
byadmin
Earning a medical education in USA can give you a huge competitive edge when you finally go back home. But years of study abroad can take a toll on you. Finding the right program and school can help:
Your average score
Some students apply to schools wherein their average scores are higher than the school’s average. This more than increases their chances of getting accepted into med school. While that’s a good backup plan, make sure you choose schools you like. Otherwise, you could spend the next few years struggling to finish your degree. That or spend more when you switch to another school.
Your ideal location
Where is the school’s US branch or campus? 4 years is a long time. You’ll want to make sure you spend that time in a town, city or state you like. Check out the cost of living in the area. Are the rates student-friendly? What about accommodations? Could you afford to rent an apartment near the campus so you only need to walk to get to and from your classes? This can affect the quality of your life and happiness in med school, says the Prospective Doctor, so make sure you choose with care and caution.
Your special interests
Some schools are better primary care training while others excel at research. Some offer global medicine electives or programs. You’ll want to consider any special interests you have before you choose a school and match that up with the kind of training you want to add to your resume.
Your learning style
What kind of teaching style do you respond to the best? Do you like small group learning? Then you’ll want to look for schools that focus on that. Just want lectures? These are just a few things you’ll need to mull over when you earn a medical education in the USA.
American comedian Mitch Hedberg dies on tour at 37Saturday, April 2, 2005
Stand-up comedian Mitch Hedberg was found dead Wednesday in his hotel room in New Jersey. The comedian, originally from the St. Paul, Minnesota region, was on an east coast tour of the USA. Hedberg started his career in South Florida, and later worked in Seattle.
While the cause of Hedberg’s death is yet unconfirmed, Hedberg’s performance at a show in Portland, Maine in October 2004 suggested he might have a problem with drug use. According to Steve Kolowich of the Bowdoin Orient, “Hedberg, who was clearly intoxicated, was falling down all over the stage that night. At one point, he lay down behind the back curtain and told jokes for approximately ten minutes before rolling back into sight. He also asked the audience where the best bar in town was, and invited them to join him there after the show.”
According to an AP report on KLTV.com, Hedberg’s mother, Mary Hedberg, claimed speculation that her son’s death was drug-related was “gossip.” The same report notes that services will be held in Woodbury, Minnesota on Tuesday, April 5.
Hedberg, a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman, had released two CDs titled Strategic Grill Locations and Mitch All Together. He also directed a movie, “Los Enchiladas!” The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Facebook hired PR firm to discredit Google, reveals leaked correspondenceThursday, May 12, 2011
Facebook hired a public relations firm to systematically discredit Google by paying two journalists to plant negative pieces in U.S. newspapers, leaked correspondence discloses. The new revelations are likely to increase tension between the two companies, which are already fierce rivals.
The social network has confirmed the validity of the leaked emails, seen by Wikinews, which suggest executives at the social networking giant hired Burson-Marsteller, a high profile PR and communications firm, to discredit Social Circle, a rival website run by Google. Burson-Marsteller then recruited two journalists — Jim Goldman and John Mercurio — to push editors at The Washington Post and USA Today to publish editorials criticising Social Circle over its privacy settings. The story was exposed after Burson-Marsteller approached a blogger to publish the propaganda, but the blogger posted the correspondence online.
Burson-Marsteller has been forced to apologize for taking on Facebook as a client, admitting the orders to discredit Google violated company policy. “The assignment on those terms should have been declined,” a spokesperson said. The revelations are likely to be incredibly damaging for the firm, who have represented a number of controversial clients in the past. Facebook, however, said the allegations against Google were valid, insisting there were genuine privacy concerns with Social Circle. Google has declined to comment on the issue.
Technical problem on Airbus A400M maiden flightMonday, January 25, 2010
Airbus has confirmed that there was a software glitch on its Airbus A400M military transplort plane’s maiden flight. The problem was relatively minor, and affected the software controlling its engines.
The glitch was not reported when the plane made its maiden flight on 11 December—four years behind schedule and $7.3 billion over budget, due to what the manufacturers call “political interference”—and only became public attention this weekend, when German magazine Der Spiegel cited confidential documents from engine maker Europrop in a report. The steering computer and backup system failed after thirty minutes.
The issue has been resolved, according to Airbus spokesman Jaime Perez-Guerra. Apparently, the glitch led the pilots to disengage an engine, allowing its blades to turn freely. Since then, he says, the plane has flown for nearly thirty hours and is exceeding expectations.
However, additional costs were involved, and European aerospace contractor EADS wants this cost to be shouldered by the seven customer nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Airbus has asked that a decision on how the project is to procced be made before the end of the month.
By Gary Grobowski
Owning a used recreational vehicle is lot easier now as lenders have more faith on recreational vehicle buyers. There is clean record of recreational vehicle buyers in paying off loan in time and cases of default are rare. Keeping this record in mind, lenders in fact welcome loan seekers who opt for used recreational vehicle finance.
Are you looking for buying a used travel trailer or a motor coach? Before you approach a lender, make sure that you have an estimate of how much the used recreational vehicle may be priced and how much of it you can afford. For figuring out the RV financing you can make use of recreational vehicle calculator. Just punch in your annual income and expenses, down payment, repayment duration you desire and interest rate you are seeking. The calculator instantly shows your estimate of monthly payments and how much you can afford.
Next step is to do shopping for used recreational vehicle. These vehicles are found in every price range and model. You can either go to a dealer or search them online where lots of used RV owners have showcased their vehicles with details of it. After you have finally settled for dream used recreational vehicle, you should decide on used recreational vehicle financing. Dealers or lenders-dealers can find you used RV financing as they have the resources. There is this option of online lender also. Online lender requires you to fill an online application and complete the approval process with them.
Used recreational vehicle finance is available at lower interest rate. This is because the finance is secured one. The very used recreational vehicle can be offered as security of the finance as long as the finance is paid off fully. The used vehicle meanwhile can be used by the owner while the lender takes the deal papers.
Do not worry over your bad credit. Lenders check for bad credit only to conform if a borrower is safe enough and risk free for offering a loan. Fortunately recreational vehicle owners are looked upon as very respectable people as far as paying off loans is concerned. You can in fact improve your credit score by timely paying of the finance and can utilize the lenders confidence in you for owning new recreational vehicle later.
About the Author: Gary Grobowski is working as financial consultant for UsedVehicleFinance. He holds a masters degree in Finance. To find used recreational vehicle finance, used vehicle finance store, fast use vehicle finance, used vehicle finance UK
visit usedvehiclefinance.net
Source:
isnare.com
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Gastric bypass surgery performed by remote controlSunday, August 21, 2005
A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.
If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.
There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”
There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.
Wikinews interviews John Wolfe, Democratic Party presidential challenger to Barack ObamaSunday, May 20, 2012
U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate John Wolfe, Jr. of Tennessee took some time to answer a few questions from Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn.
Wolfe, an attorney based out of Chattanooga, announced his intentions last year to challenge President Barack Obama in the Democratic Party presidential primaries. So far, he has appeared on the primary ballots in New Hampshire, Missouri, and Louisiana. In Louisiana, he had his strongest showing, winning 12 percent overall with over 15 percent in some congressional districts, qualifying him for Democratic National Convention delegates. However, because certain paperwork had not been filed, the party stripped Wolfe of the delegates. Wolfe says he will sue the party to receive them.
Wolfe will compete for additional delegates at the May 22 Arkansas primary and the May 29 Texas primary. He is the only challenger to Obama in Arkansas, where a May 10 Hendrix College poll of Democrats shows him with 38 percent support, just short of the 45 percent for Obama. Such an outing would top the margin of Texas prison inmate Keith Russell Judd, who finished 18 percent behind Obama with 41 percent in the West Virginia Democratic primary; the strongest showing yet against the incumbent president. Despite these prospects, the Democratic Party of Arkansas has already announced that if Wolfe wins any delegates in their primary, again, due to paperwork, the delegates will not be awarded. Wolfe will appear on the Texas ballot alongside Obama, activist Bob Ely, and historian Darcy Richardson, who ended his campaign last month.
Wolfe has previously run for U.S. Congress as the Democratic Party’s nominee. On his campaign website, he cites the influence “of the Pentagon, Wall Street, and corporations” on the Obama administration as a reason for his challenge, believing these negatively affect “loyal Americans, taxpayers and small businesses.” Wolfe calls for the usage of anti-trust laws to break up large banks, higher taxes on Wall Street, the creation of an “alternative federal reserve” to assist community banks, and the implementation of a single-payer health care system.
With Wikinews, Wolfe discusses his campaign, the presidency of Barack Obama, corporations, energy, the federal budget, immigration, and the nuclear situation in Iran among other issues.
U.S. Director of Foreign Assistance Randall L. Tobias resignsSaturday, April 28, 2007
Randall L. Tobias, the United States Director of Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator, has resigned after he admitted to ABC News to being a customer of Pamela Martin and Associates, a call girl company.
A woman by the name of Jeane Palfrey, who worked for Pamela Martin recently revealed to the media a list of people who are allegedly customers of the call girl company. One of the names on the list is Tobias’, according to ABC News.
“[I called the agency] to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage. [There was] no sex,” said Tobias.
Despite the claim by ABC, the U.S. State Department says that he resigned due to “personal reasons.”