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At last, Rubio ready to join Timberwolves
MINNEAPOLIS -- Ricky Rubio is coming to Minnesota after all.
The Spanish point guard has agreed to join the Timberwolves next season, ending a drawn-out, delicate, two-year negotiation with the team that had many league observers believing he did not want to play in Minnesota.
A person with knowledge of the agreement confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday night that Rubio will be here next season, given the woebegone Timberwolves a much-needed dose of good news. The person requested anonymity because neither Rubio nor the Timberwolves planned to make an official announcement while he continues to play for Regal Barcelona in the Spanish league playoffs.
The Timberwolves drafted Rubio fifth overall two years ago despite a buyout of his Spanish contract that topped $6 million. The enormity of the buyout caused Rubio to stay overseas rather than immediately come to the NBA, and there was talk that the precocious teenager did not want to play in Minnesota.
The current labor uncertainty complicated the negotiations. But Rubio ultimately decided he was ready to come over now.
Timberwolves spokesman Mike Cristaldi said the team was declining comment.
"As of now, we have nothing new to report," Cristaldi said.
The news marks the successful end to a long, and often winding, dalliance between the Timberwolves and Rubio. With help from owner Glen Taylor, coach Kurt Rambis and assistant GM Tony Ronzone, Wolves President David Kahn spent almost two years working to convince Rubio to realize his dream of playing in the NBA in Minnesota.
The Wolves were careful not to put too much pressure on the youngster yet still emphasizing how much the team was looking forward to bringing the slick-passer to the United States.
Kahn called Rubio "a virtuoso and somebody special" after drafting him in 2009. He and agent Dan Fegan came to agreement to bring Rubio over to the NBA that summer, but Rubio pulled out at the last minute after deciding he did not want to pay a buyout that topped $6 million out of his own pocket.
That led to speculation that Rubio did not want to play in cold, small-market Minnesota and was hoping to force a trade to a bigger, more desirable market. But Rubio never expressed that himself, and the team remained confident through thick and thin that Rubio would one day join them.
"Ricky Rubio, huh?" Timberwolves All-Star Kevin Love tweeted late Wednesday night. "I'll believe it when I see it..."
His tweets continued: "Just thinking about pick and rolls...goodnight.
"Pick....N....Rolls."
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Thursday, June 2, 2011
Female poet brought before Bahrain military tribunal
Female poet brought before Bahrain military tribunal
A female poet whose "death" became the focus of an Iranian state propaganda campaign against Bahrain has been brought before a military tribunal in the island kingdom.
Ayat al-Ghermezi was arrested after reading a self-penned poem to anti-government protesters in the Bahraini capital Manama Photo: Facebook
By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
1:33PM BST 02 Jun 2011
Ayat al-Ghermezi, who is 20, was charged with incitement and insulting members of the Al Khalifa royal family.
Arrested after reading a self-penned poem to anti-government protesters in the Bahraini capital Manama, she has been in custody for two months.
Bahraini human rights activists say that although Miss Ghermezi was not raped, she was badly tortured while in custody.
Her purported crime centres on a poem she read to protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, the epicentre of the street movement until it was destroyed by the authorities.
Its lyrics include the lines: "We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery/We are the people who will destroy the foundation of injustice/Don't you hear their cries, don't you hear their screams?" She said the poem was addressed to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his hawkish prime minister and relative Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The Bahraini authorities yesterday defended her arrest and prosecution.
"Reading a poem is part of Arab culture; it is the content of the poem that makes a difference," Sheikh Abdulaziz said. "She called for uprising and hatred against the leadership. In this part of the world, that is against the law."
Hundreds of protesters, including 65 women, remain in custody. Activists say many of them have been tortured.
Miss Ghermezi was hailed as martyr in Tehran after state media claimed she had fallen into a coma after being gang raped by her interrogators and that she had subsequently died.
The reports led to protests by women in Tehran. As the campaign gathered pace, her name was given to a vessel carrying Iranian activists to Bahrain to join the protests. The Ayat al-Ghermezi and a second boat were intercepted by the Bahraini navy last month and turned away.
Bahraini officials denounced Iran for peddling deliberate misinformation as an attempt to worsen instability in the kingdom, where more than 30 Shia protesters have been killed by the security forces since pro-democracy protests erupted in February.
"Tehran never misses out on an opportunity to undermine Bahrain," said Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Mubarak, a Bahraini government spokesman. "Naming a ship after her to give her celebrity status is unacceptable."
Bahrain has become the focus of a major battle for influence between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia ever since pro-democracy protests led by the island's Shia majority erupted in February.
Tehran has given its ideological support to the demonstrators, who are demanding reforms and equality from Bahrain's Sunni elite, and is also accused of inciting radical elements on the fringe of the protest movement.
Saudi Arabia and a number of Sunni Gulf states have sent 4,000 troops to Bahrain to defend the ruling family.
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Fifa president Sepp Blatter re-elected as Football Association fail in postponement vote
Fifa president Sepp Blatter re-elected as Football Association fail in postponement vote
Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as president of Fifa after the Football Association's attempt to block the vote ended in heavy defeat and vengeful recriminations.
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TelegraphPlayer-8549732
Link to this video
5:37PM BST 01 Jun 2011
Blatter, 75, will serve for another four years until 2015 when he has previously promised he will step down.
England now look isolated in world football after their attempt to stop the election was defeated by 172 votes to 17, with a further 17 abstentions.
Even Wales and Northern Ireland voted against England, while the fall-out saw several powerful figures in football line up to attack the FA.
A secret ballot saw Blatter, left as the only candidate for the presidency following Mohamed Bin Hammam's withdrawal on Sunday hours before he was provisionally banned on bribery charges, re-elected with 186 votes and 17 abstentions.
Blatter, who had earlier announced a new system of choosing World Cup hosts with all 208 Fifa nations voting instead of the 24-man executive committee, told the Congress: ''I thank you for your trust and confidence from the bottom of my heart and together we will have four more years - provided the Lord gives me the life, the energy and the strength to continue on our path.
''I'm happy today we were once again able to bring solidarity and unity into Fifa.'
In a reference to proposed reforms to clean up world football, he added: ''We shall move forward, we will put Fifa's ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters. We need some time, we cannot do it overnight, but we will do it.''
Blatter also announced an extraordinary congress will be held to examine proposals for other reforms, and that an independent chairman of the ethics committee - the watchdog group set up in 2006 to deal with claims of malpractice in Fifa - will be elected by the Congress.
FA chairman David Bernstein said his organisation's move had been worthwhile and insisted they had not suffered for sticking their head above the parapet.
He said: ''After hearing the speech from Sepp Blatter, we believe the calls we have made for greater transparency and better governance have been worthwhile.
''It was positive to be joined by 16 other nations, while a further 17 nations abstaining clearly shows that we are not alone or isolated in our views.''
After losing the vote, the FA were the subject of a vitriolic attack by Fifa's senior vice-president Julio Grondona from Argentina.
He told the Congress: ''We always have attacks from England which are mostly lies with the support of journalism which is more busy lying than telling the truth. This upsets and disturbs the Fifa family.
''I see it at every Congress. They have specific privileges with four countries having one vice-president.
''It looks like England is always complaining, so please, I say, will you leave the Fifa family alone, and when you speak, speak with truth.''
In an interview with a German press agency, Grondona called England ''pirates'' and added: ''With the English World Cup bid I said: 'Let us be brief. If you give back the Falkland Islands, which belong to us, you will get my vote'. They then became sad and left.''
Bernstein had said the recent scandals, which has seen Trinidad's Fifa vice-president Jack Warner suspended pending a full investigation into bribery charges too, had led to a situation where the election should be re-opened to new candidates.
''We are faced with an unsatisfactory situation. We are subject to universal criticism from governments, sponsors, media and the wider world,'' he said.
''A coronation without an opponent provides a flawed mandate.''
Blatter said he would learn from the ''public anger'' and would lead Fifa out of their current predicament.
He said: ''We have been hit and I personally have been slapped. We have made mistakes and we will learn from this.
"I can say to a certain extent that this is a good warning, not just to look into our problems and I am willing to face the public anger in order to serve football.''
The leaders of associations from Haiti, DR Congo, Benin, Fiji and Cyprus all spoke to criticise the FA's move.
Selemani Owari, president of DR Congo's football federation, made reference to ex-FA chairman Lord Triesman's claims in Parliament of impropriety by four Fifa members during England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.
Owari said: ''We are ill at ease with people who wield unfounded accusations - he who accuses must provide evidence.
''Fifa belongs to 208 national associations and not to one association, we must not seek solutions through the media or a Parliament in any third country.''
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Going Up
Going Up
11am. Another day, another hill. Glen Feshie soon disappeared as we headed up into the cloud.
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