NATO’s sec.-gen.says the alliance’s mission in Afghanistan is essential to international security and leaving the country would leave the way open for Al Qaeda. Speaking in London on Monday, two weeks before he finishes his tenure, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance has made progress, but faces challenges in the 21st century and must adapt to the modern world.
Posts Tagged ‘sec’
Mark Cuban’s SEC Case Dismissed By Judge
July 17th, 2009 |
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DALLAS — A federal judge has dismissed a civil insider trading lawsuit against Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater granted Cuban’s motion Friday. Fitzwater gave the Securities and Exchange Commissi…
Sorensen wins stage 12 of Tour
July 16th, 2009 |
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• Danish rider wins by 48 seconds from Tonnerre to Vittel
• Nocentini stays in yellow, Cavendish remains in green
Nicki Sorensen took his maiden Tour de France victory with a breakaway win on stage 12 from Tonnerre to Vittel. The 34-year-old, who won the Danish national championships last year, powered away from Sylvain Calzati with less than 6km remaining.
Despite the margin of his victory Sorensen does not threaten the yellow jersey, having begun the day more than 10 minutes behind the leader Rinaldo Nocentini, who will remain in yellow tomorrow. Laurent Lefèvre, Franco Pellizotti, Markus Fothen, Egoi MartÃnez and Calzati finished 48 seconds behind, with Rémi Pauriol a further 45 seconds back.
Sorensen featured in a seven-man breakaway at the 64km mark that quickly built a gap of over four minutes – and he proved the strongest of the group. Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans also tried their luck early in the stage but they were swiftly reined in by the bunch.
Lance Armstrong suffered a puncture after 150km but the seven-time champion was quickly brought back into the peloton by four team-mates after he had had his rear wheel changed.
Sorensen and Calzati attacked the breakaway group with 22km left and the duo did not look back as the gap with the peloton went past the six-minute mark, and Sorensen went solo 5.5km from the line.
Mark Cavendish extended his lead in the race for the green jersey with victory in the day’s first sprint. Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong remain six and eight seconds respectively behind Nocentini.
Stage 12 results
1 Nicki Sorensen 4hr 52min 24sec; 2. Laurent Lefèvre +48sec; 3 Franco Pellizotti same time; 4 Markus Fothen same time; 5 Egoi MartÃnez same time; 6 Sylvain Calzati same time; 7 Rémi Pauriol +1min 33sec; 8 Mark Cavendish +5min 58sec; 9 Thor Hushovd same time; 10 Marco Bandiera same time.
Overall standings
1 Rinaldo Nocentini (It) 48hr 27min 21sec; 2 Alberto Contador (Sp) +6sec; 3 Lance Armstong (US) +8sec; 4 Levi Leipheimer (US) +39sec; 5 Bradley Wiggins (GB) +46sec; 6 Andreas Kloden (Ger)+54sec; 7 Tony Martin (Ger) +1min; 8 Christian Vande Velde (US) +1min 24sec; 9 Andy Schleck (Lux) +1min 49sec; 10 Vincenzo Nibali (It) +1min 54sec. Also: 26 Nicki Sorensen (Den) +4min 38sec; 65 David Millar (GB) +28min 18sec; 81 Charles Wegelius (GB) +36min 14sec; 132 Mark Cavendish (GB) +1hr 13min 54sec.
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Lewis Hamilton fastest in practice
July 10th, 2009 |
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• Briton unexpectedly tops standings at Nürburgring
• Sebastian Vettel third fastest ahead of Jensen Button
Lewis Hamilton pulled off a major surprise by setting the fastest time in practice for Sunday’s German grand prix. The world champion had the No1 alongside his name, to match that on his car, for only the second time in practice in what has so far been a season to forget.
Hamilton had suggested yesterday that little would change in the wake of a wretched sequence of results which has seen him fail to make the second round of qualifying at the last three grands prix.
With just nine points from eight races to date, Hamilton currently trails the championship leader Jenson Button by 55 points, with McLaren’s focus already starting to switch towards next season. Yet the 24-year-old found himself out in front at the end of the two 90-minute sessions at the Nürburgring – the scene of the worst accident of his career two years ago when he his car ploughed nose first into a barrier at 175mph.
Despite a late spin, Hamilton put up a time of 1min 32.149sec that no-one was able to better in the closing stages, pushing Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel down into second.
Vettel had looked set to cheer his home fans by taking top spot, but the 22-year-old was 0.182sec adrift. Button was third in his Brawn, just 0.220sec down, whilst Mark Webber – fastest in the morning session – had to settle for fourth in his Red Bull, 0.331sec behind Hamilton.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli again fared well in fifth, and with the gremlins taken care of after a truncated morning run, Adrian Sutil was sixth in his Force India. It was an up-and-down day for Force India, as Giancarlo Fisichella, who was also sixth in the morning, crashed out in the afternoon when he spun into a barrier, ripping off his nose cone.
There was also drama in the paddock when German police attempted to impound the team’s assets due to a contractual dispute just before first practice. The situation was swiftly resolved by Force India officials, with the promise their weekend will continue without further disruption.
Behind Sutil, Button’s Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello was seventh, with Renault’s Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet sandwiching Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima in eighth, ninth and 10th.
The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 16th, with the latter’s Finnish compatriot Heikki Kovalainen 17th in his McLaren, 1.575sec behind team-mate Hamilton.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds