Germany, runners-up in the last Euro final, will face neighbors Austria as well as Turkey in Group A of the qualifying tournament of the 2012 European soccer championship. Sunday's draw in Warsaw placed Belgium, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan alongside Germany, Austria and Turkey in Group A. The toughest of the group by far is expected to be Turkey. The Turkish team has a reputation for tenacity and overcoming obstacles, as they did during the 2008 Euro semi-final against Germany, where they almost managed a victory despite a roster shot through with injuries and suspensions. The Germans beat them 3-2 with a winning goal in the 79th minute. Germany coach Joachim Loew said he expected his team and Turkey to be the group favorites. [...] There are three German coaches among the six teams. Besides Loew, former national coach Berti Vogts coaches Azerbaijan, and Bernd Storck leads Kazakhstan.
Sunday's draw in Warsaw placed Belgium, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan alongside Germany, Austria and Turkey in Group A.
The toughest of the group by far is expected to be Turkey. The Turkish team has a reputation for tenacity and overcoming obstacles, as they did during the 2008 Euro semi-final against Germany, where they almost managed a victory despite a roster shot through with injuries and suspensions. The Germans beat them 3-2 with a winning goal in the 79th minute.
Germany coach Joachim Loew said he expected his team and Turkey to be the group favorites.
[...]
There are three German coaches among the six teams. Besides Loew, former national coach Berti Vogts coaches Azerbaijan, and Bernd Storck leads Kazakhstan.
GENERAL SANTOS, the Philippines -- After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué's self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with the Platters' "My Prayer." Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way.""I used to like `My Way,' but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it," he said. "You can get killed."The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling "My Way" in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the "My Way Killings." The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country's culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
GENERAL SANTOS, the Philippines -- After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué's self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with the Platters' "My Prayer."
Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way."
"I used to like `My Way,' but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it," he said. "You can get killed."
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling "My Way" in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the "My Way Killings."
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country's culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
clever wordplay though, and suitably pompous chord structure. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Which among them preferred the Sid Vicious cover, I don't know, but I do (prefer it...).
NEW DELHI, India -- Once upon a time, the beaches of Goa were known for free love. But as a string of high-profile sexual assaults on tourists culminated in the alleged rape of a 9-year-old Russian girl last week, the idyllic strip of sand along the Arabian Sea is fast gaining a fearful reputation. The answer? According to the state's ministry of tourism, those cute pre-teens in two-pieces are asking for it. "You can't blame the locals; they have never seen such women. Foreign tourists must maintain a certain degree of modesty in their clothing. Walking on the beaches half-naked is bound to titillate the senses," New Delhi's Mail Today newspaper quoted Pamela Mascarhenas, Goa's deputy director of tourism, as saying Friday.
NEW DELHI, India -- Once upon a time, the beaches of Goa were known for free love. But as a string of high-profile sexual assaults on tourists culminated in the alleged rape of a 9-year-old Russian girl last week, the idyllic strip of sand along the Arabian Sea is fast gaining a fearful reputation.
The answer? According to the state's ministry of tourism, those cute pre-teens in two-pieces are asking for it.
"You can't blame the locals; they have never seen such women. Foreign tourists must maintain a certain degree of modesty in their clothing. Walking on the beaches half-naked is bound to titillate the senses," New Delhi's Mail Today newspaper quoted Pamela Mascarhenas, Goa's deputy director of tourism, as saying Friday.
Over the last year I have toured the country getting audiences to propose policies they think will change the world, improve their life or just annoy people they don't like. [....] The twin themes of revenge and scepticism featured heavily in the audience choices, and last year homeopaths became the focus of attention at a show in Leicester; overwhelmingly the audience voted in favour of the policy that ruled that "anyone who sells homeopathic remedies should be allowed homeopathic treatment only if they have a major illness". In Cheltenham the two themes merged with the suggestion that "Mediums should be imprisoned but with a combination lock. If they and their spirit guides can find the number they are free to go." In London the mob rule element got the upper hand when one show voted that "Noel Edmonds (UK presenter of Deal or No deal) should be beheaded . . . and his head placed in one of 22 sealed boxes."
