International – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

IMF to Tsipras: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

Pete Baker on June 11, 2015, 9:12 pm

| Readers 1009

After more of the familiar lies and misdirection yesterday, there were some optimistic noises from Brussels last night as the leaders of Germany, France and Greece met on the side-lines of the EU-Latin America summit. They were short-lived. Having tried to play the International Monetary Fund, and its managing director, Christine Lagarde, last week, the game theory academics in the Syriza-led Greek Government are being treated to a practical lesson in hard-ball negotiations by the IMF. As the Guardian’s Larry Elliott …

Fly Over Dwarf Planet Ceres

Pete Baker on June 8, 2015, 11:04 pm

| Readers 285

In March Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft became the first man-made object to go into orbit around a dwarf planet – Ceres, at 950km across, the largest object in the main asteroid belt. As I mentioned at the time… [Image credit: Nasa/JPL] Using images taken during Dawn’s first mapping orbit at Ceres, Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have produced this stunning, and eerie, animation of flyover views of the heavily cratered world. A new video animation of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images taken …

“Greece is joining a fairly exclusive club…”

Pete Baker on June 4, 2015, 9:11 pm

| Readers 1027

Which ‘club’, exactly, remains to be seen… If you’ve been having trouble following the twists and turns and lies and misdirection of the on-going Greek financial crisis [Join the club! – Ed] *ahem* Perhaps some notes on Greece’s Syriza-led Government’s latest reverse-ferret decision to delay Friday’s €300m (£216m) debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund, and bundle all four of its June payments together in one easy €1.5billion payment by 30 June might help. 30 June, according to the BBC report, is the …

Progress 59: “The spacecraft is 160 miles high and travelling at more than 16,000mph…”

Pete Baker on April 29, 2015, 4:53 pm

| Readers 638

…and out of control… The BBC reports on the Russian unmanned cargo ship delivering supplies to the International Space Station that mission control has lost contact with and is now in a uncontrolled spin. Or, as RTÉ says, it’s ‘plunging back to Earth’. Here’s the view from a camera on-board the spacecraft. From the BBC report The Russian news agency Tass reports that Progress M-27M is now orbiting in an uncontrolled spin. Scientists may try again to control it, but it …

Raise a glass to Hubble! – Redux

Pete Baker on April 24, 2015, 8:03 pm

| Readers 173

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 25th Anniversary in space today, 24th April, with the release of this wondrous image of the giant star-cluster, Westerlund 2, in the stellar nursery, Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. [Image credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team] From the accompanying text to the image. To capture this image, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 pierced through the dusty veil shrouding …

“Today, I hold fast to all tenets of mistrust…”

Pete Baker on April 19, 2015, 9:37 pm

| Readers 381

The novelist Howard Jacobson on the virtues of art and literature over politics and politicians… It doesn’t follow from what I say that we should hand over the reins of political power to artists. They wouldn’t make a better job of it. But we would all make a better job of thinking about politics – indeed of thinking about anything – if we refused that daisy-chain of affiliation which the ideological hang around our necks, with the promise that we’ll …

NI Tourism Minister: “I recently had discussions with the chief executive of Tourism Ireland and expressed my disappointment about how the promotion of the Wild Atlantic Way stops at the border.”

Pete Baker on April 15, 2015, 7:08 pm

| Readers 2023

Without wishing to undermine historian Hiram Morgan’s call for Irish Government action to preserve the cultural heritage in the seas off the Wild Atlantic Way, it’s worth noting the stated objective of that tourism initiative… The overall aim of the project is to develop a route that will achieve greater visibility for the west coast of Ireland in overseas tourist markets. Also worth pointing out that one of the armada wrecks he mentioned, La Girona, isn’t on the Wild Atlantic Way, having …

Kit Harington on Belfast: “It’s wonderful for two or three days…”

Pete Baker on April 8, 2015, 12:58 pm

| Readers 3323

As I said of similar comments by HBO’s Michael Lombardo last year, With so much of some Northern Ireland Executive ministers‘ time and effort [and other people’s money! – Ed] focused on exploiting the international success of HBO’s Game of Thrones to promote Northern Ireland overseas, it’s perhaps unfortunate, but refreshing, that HBO’s director of programming, Michael Lombardo, has given an honest answer to a straight question… This time, it’s one of the leading actors from HBO’s Game of Thrones, Kit Harington, telling …

In case you missed the eclipse…

Pete Baker on March 20, 2015, 6:54 pm

| Readers 227

Or, like me, cloud cover obscured the solar eclipse of 20 March 2015. Here’s probably the best view of this morning’s event, from ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 mini-satellite. [Image credit: ESA/ROB] And via ESA on YouTube. As Europe enjoyed a partial solar eclipse on the morning of Friday 20 March 2015, ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite had a ringside seat from space. Orbiting Earth once approximately every 100 minutes, Proba-2 caught two eclipses over the course of the morning. Proba-2 used its SWAP imager …

Stargazing the 20 March 2015 Solar Eclipse

Pete Baker on March 18, 2015, 8:10 pm

| Readers 1341

The BBC’s Stargazing Live returns tonight, 8pm BBC 2, with three consecutive nights of live programmes to coincide with the total solar eclipse on Friday 20 March 2015. [It is an annual series! – Ed]. Stargazing Live is, yes. Not necessarily total solar eclipses, though. And this solar eclipse is the only one, total or otherwise, to be visible from Europe for the next few years. ESA’s mini-satellites will have a better view. But not as good a view as this… The BBC …

Gerry Adams: “It is no skin off my nose not to meet the [US] State Department.”

Pete Baker on March 16, 2015, 4:58 pm

| Readers 1530

Did the US State Department cancel a planned meeting by a “high-level US state department official” with the Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, TD, after Sinn Féin withdrew support for the welfare reform bill, as the BBC, and others, have been reporting? Gerry Adams’ latest statement would tend to suggest that they did. Here’s what the Sinn Féin press release says [Gerry Adams]: “The State Department’s handling of the issue of a meeting with me is bizarre. It serves no purpose other than …

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland v Pakistan

Pete Baker on March 14, 2015, 6:51 pm

| Readers 864

With just two games left in the group stages of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, and two places still available in the next phase, Ireland’s cricketers have their fate in their own hands. They play Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval early tomorrow morning [3.30am (GMT)] with the winner guaranteed a place in the knock-out stage. As I may have mentioned… Cricket Ireland reports on captain, William Porterfield, at the press conference Talking about his teams approach to the game and the biggest challenges …

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland v India

Pete Baker on March 9, 2015, 5:31 pm

| Readers 460

England, with a game still to play, have failed to qualify for the quarter-final stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 after a 15 run loss to Bangladesh this morning in Adelaide. Ireland’s cricketers can still secure a place in the quarter-finals with a win from either of their two remaining games. First up, tonight in Hamilton, New Zealand, are the unbeaten defending champions India – who are already through to the knock-out stage. Don’t expect them to take it easy …

Dawn over Ceres

Pete Baker on March 8, 2015, 7:16 pm

| Readers 399

On Friday afternoon [GMT], ahead of Ireland cricketers’ epic encounter with Zimbabwe, Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft became the first man-made object to go into orbit around a dwarf planet – Ceres, at 950km across, the largest object in the main asteroid belt. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] From the associated text The slim crescent of Ceres smiles back as the dwarf planet awaits the arrival of an emissary from Earth. This image was taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on March 1, 2015, just a few …

“it looks like they were repeatedly blocked from accessing vital pieces of evidence or pursuing certain suspects…”

Pete Baker on March 7, 2015, 4:54 pm

| Readers 1170

The Guardian and Observer’s Berlin correspondent, Kate Connolly, reports on the campaign for justice by the family of Heidi Hazell, the 26-year-old German wife of a British army sergeant, murdered by the Provisional IRA outside her married quarters in Unna-Massen, a Dortmund suburb, on 7 September 1989. From the Guardian report The following day the IRA claimed responsibility for what was its first and only murder in West Germany of a British soldier’s wife. In a statement the organisation said she had …

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland v Zimbabwe

Pete Baker on March 6, 2015, 9:21 pm

| Readers 537

It’s a busy, and potentially significant, night/day for the Group B teams at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. At around 3.30am [GMT] on Saturday Ireland will look to put the heavy defeat to South Africa behind them when they face Zimbabwe, in a rare ODI match-up, at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Australia. And with India having done both teams a favour by, just, holding off the West Indies challenge last night to seal qualification for the quarter-finals, it’s all to play for. Ireland’s cricketers …

Jean-Claude Juncker: “[Tsipras] must explain that some of the promises upon which he was elected will not be honoured…”

Pete Baker on March 4, 2015, 6:42 pm

| Readers 657

As Mick has noted, at the weekend the under-pressure new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took undiplomatic aim at the governments of Spain and Portugal [But not Ireland! – Ed] in an attempt to explain the outcome of European negotiations to his Syriza party coalition. The European Commission has been quick to step in to act as a “mediator” after receiving complaints from the Spanish and Portuguese authorities, but not before those governments had responded in kind. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hit back …

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland v South Africa

Pete Baker on March 2, 2015, 7:40 pm

| Readers 297

Ireland, and Surrey, wicketkeeper Gary Wilson sounds positive ahead of tonight’s/tomorrow’s match against South Africa in Canberra in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Given the Proteas’ comprehensive tonking of the West Indies, courtesy of captain AB de Villiers’ supreme batting prowess, that optimism may be misplaced… Meanwhile, CricketIreland talked to Ireland captain William Porterfield, John Mooney, and coach Phil Simmons ahead of the game. When asked about the prospect of facing a player in such great form, John Mooney was keen …

#UCIHourRecord Live

Pete Baker on February 28, 2015, 3:19 pm

| Readers 70

Join celebrity cycling fan Stephen Fry [loving the on screen metrics! – Ed], and others, watching paralympian Sarah Storey attempt the UCI Hour Record live on the UCI YouTube channel. The current record stands at 46.065km, set by Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel of the Netherlands in October 2003 in Mexico City. Storey is in London’s Olympic velodrome, at sea-level. Update Sadly not a UCI Hour Record for Sarah Storey. Distance covered in the hour – 45.502km. A consolation prize of a new British …

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Ireland v UAE

Pete Baker on February 25, 2015, 10:24 am

| Readers 352

After a great team performance to overhaul the West Indies in their opening game, earlier this morning Ireland faced fellow associates United Arab Emirates in a confident mood. Winning the toss, Ireland put UAE into bat. That confidence took a knock when UAE set a total of 278 for 9 from their 50 overs, with Shaiman Anwar hitting 106 runs from 83 balls. Ireland needing 279 to win. Worse was to come when Paul Stirling’s wicket fell for 3 runs from 9 balls. Ireland …