The Los Angeles Lakers have reached a deal to land six-time All-Star Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic as part of a four-team trade including the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets, ESPN reported on Thursday.
According the report, the Lakers have a trade call scheduled for Friday to secure the necessary approval from the National Basketball Association (NBA) to make the deal official.
As part of the deal, Philadelphia will get Andrew Bynum from the Lakers and Jason Richardson from the Magic, Denver receives Andre Iguodala from the 76ers, the report said.
In exchange, Orlando will take Arron Affalo and Al Harrington from the Nuggets and Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless from the 76ers, and one first-round draft pick from each of the other three teams involved in the deal, ESPN said.
Howard, the centerpiece of the deal, is a three-times NBA defensive player of the year who has lead the Magic in scoring and rebounds in each of the last seven seasons.
If the deal is approved, Howard will instantly bolster a Lakers team looking to recapture their championship form after being knocked out of the second round of the NBA playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
Last month Howard reiterated to the Magic his desire to be traded and said if a move was not made he would leave the team when his current contract expires at the end of next season.
Friday, 10 August 2012
Imperious Bolt blazes to sprint double-double
London
Jamaican Usain Bolt etched his name deeper into Olympic folklore by completing an unprecedented sprint double in successive Games with a smooth 200 metres victory on Thursday in the race he calls his "pet" event. The world's fastest man, whose imperious performances in London have blown away any doubts that he deserves the unofficial title of greatest ever sprinter, stopped the clock at 19.32 seconds, the joint fourth quickest time ever run. Bolt holds the world record with an eye-popping 19.19 at the Berlin world championships in 2009. The showman again put compatriot and younger rival Yohan Blake, the pretender to his sprint throne, firmly in place and has now matched his stunning Beijing 100 and 200 crowns four years ago following his shorter-dash victory on Sunday. Blake, as he did in the 100 behind his friend and training partner, took silver in 19.44 and Warren Weir completed a Jamaican podium sweep with bronze in 19.84. All three share the same coach - Glen Mills. Bolt crossed the line with his finger to his lips before doing a handful of press-ups on the track. Then, taking a photographer's camera, he took snaps of the crowd and Blake who was posing as "The Beast", the nickname Bolt afforded his rival. "I've got nothing left to prove. I've showed the world I'm the best," said the athlete who has lit up track and field since turning his prodigious talent into global dominance. "This is my moment. I'll never forget this. I did what I wanted. I came out of a rough season and did what I had to do." The 25-year-old, who came into the Games with lingering doubts over his fitness after a far from vintage season, was the first man to win two 200 Olympic golds and, as he did in 2008, he will look to complete the treble in the 4x100 relay. Bolt's winning time matched that of American Michael Johnson who set a then world record of 19.32 to win Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996. Bolt lowered that to 19.30 in Beijing before his 19.19 a year later. On a warm and windless evening with the electric atmosphere inside an expectant Olympic stadium already raised by Kenyan David Rudisha's 800m world record less than an hour earlier, Bolt, relaxed and smiling in the preliminaries, flew out of the blocks. Drawn towards the outside in lane seven, Bolt glided around the bend and kicking powerfully down the home straight was always ahead of Blake who could not match his exploits in the Jamaican trials when he beat Bolt in both sprint events. "It's great. Of course. I want to thank Usain," said Blake. "This is my first Olympics. I can't complain." Weir edged Wallace Spearmon for third but the American hailed the performances of Bolt and Blake. "Those guys are on another plant right now, congratulations," said fourth-placed Spearmon, hiding his disappointment at again missing out on a medal after being disqualified from third place in Beijing for stepping out of his lane.
Jamaican Usain Bolt etched his name deeper into Olympic folklore by completing an unprecedented sprint double in successive Games with a smooth 200 metres victory on Thursday in the race he calls his "pet" event. The world's fastest man, whose imperious performances in London have blown away any doubts that he deserves the unofficial title of greatest ever sprinter, stopped the clock at 19.32 seconds, the joint fourth quickest time ever run. Bolt holds the world record with an eye-popping 19.19 at the Berlin world championships in 2009. The showman again put compatriot and younger rival Yohan Blake, the pretender to his sprint throne, firmly in place and has now matched his stunning Beijing 100 and 200 crowns four years ago following his shorter-dash victory on Sunday. Blake, as he did in the 100 behind his friend and training partner, took silver in 19.44 and Warren Weir completed a Jamaican podium sweep with bronze in 19.84. All three share the same coach - Glen Mills. Bolt crossed the line with his finger to his lips before doing a handful of press-ups on the track. Then, taking a photographer's camera, he took snaps of the crowd and Blake who was posing as "The Beast", the nickname Bolt afforded his rival. "I've got nothing left to prove. I've showed the world I'm the best," said the athlete who has lit up track and field since turning his prodigious talent into global dominance. "This is my moment. I'll never forget this. I did what I wanted. I came out of a rough season and did what I had to do." The 25-year-old, who came into the Games with lingering doubts over his fitness after a far from vintage season, was the first man to win two 200 Olympic golds and, as he did in 2008, he will look to complete the treble in the 4x100 relay. Bolt's winning time matched that of American Michael Johnson who set a then world record of 19.32 to win Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996. Bolt lowered that to 19.30 in Beijing before his 19.19 a year later. On a warm and windless evening with the electric atmosphere inside an expectant Olympic stadium already raised by Kenyan David Rudisha's 800m world record less than an hour earlier, Bolt, relaxed and smiling in the preliminaries, flew out of the blocks. Drawn towards the outside in lane seven, Bolt glided around the bend and kicking powerfully down the home straight was always ahead of Blake who could not match his exploits in the Jamaican trials when he beat Bolt in both sprint events. "It's great. Of course. I want to thank Usain," said Blake. "This is my first Olympics. I can't complain." Weir edged Wallace Spearmon for third but the American hailed the performances of Bolt and Blake. "Those guys are on another plant right now, congratulations," said fourth-placed Spearmon, hiding his disappointment at again missing out on a medal after being disqualified from third place in Beijing for stepping out of his lane.
NASA's Morpheus lander in fiery crash at Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, Florida
A small NASA lander being tested for missions to the moon and other destinations beyond Earth crashed and burned after veering off course during a trial run at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, officials with the U.S. space agency said. There were no injuries after the prototype, known as Morpheus, burst into flames near the runway formerly used by NASA's space shuttles. The insect-like vehicle, designed and built by engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, had made several flights attached to a crane before Thursday's attempted free-flight. Morpheus' engines, which burn liquid oxygen and methane, appeared to ignite as planned, lifting the 1,750-pound (794 kg) vehicle into the air. But a few seconds later, Morpheus rolled over on its side and plummeted to the ground. NASA video showed the vehicle engulfed in flames and then rocked by a spectacular explosion, presumably due to the fuel tanks rupturing. “"Failures such as these were anticipated prior to the test, and are part of the development process for any complex spaceflight hardware," NASA said in a statement. An investigation is under way, the statement added. Project Morpheus began in partnership with privately owned Armadillo Aerospace, which is developing re-usable, suborbital vehicles that take off and land vertically. NASA, which has spent about $7 million on the project over the past 2-1/2 years, is interested in developing technologies that could be used to fly cargo to the moon and other future missions beyond Earth orbit. Project Morpheus was an example of what the former project manager called "“Home Depot engineering" - low-budget projects that use existing resources and partner with non-traditional aerospace companies. “"The Morpheus lander is kind of our poster child. It's one of our first attempts to do these kinds of projects," former project manager Matt Ondler said in an interview with Reuters last year. “"Instead of building some elaborate test structure, you go to Home Depot and build something very quickly that gets you 80 percent of the answer and allows you to keep moving forward," he said. Morpheus arrived at Florida's seaside space center in July for three months of increasingly rigorous test flights, including automated landings in a mock moonscape, complete with craters and boulders. The lander was designed to deliver about 1,100 pounds (500 kg) of cargo to the moon, NASA said on its Project Morpheus website. Technologies being developed include a propulsion system that uses liquid oxygen and methane -- green fuels that could be manufactured on other planetary bodies, NASA said. The accident happened as NASA scientists were still hailing the Mars rover Curiosity's descent and landing on the Red Planet earlier this week as a "“miracle of engineering."
A small NASA lander being tested for missions to the moon and other destinations beyond Earth crashed and burned after veering off course during a trial run at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, officials with the U.S. space agency said. There were no injuries after the prototype, known as Morpheus, burst into flames near the runway formerly used by NASA's space shuttles. The insect-like vehicle, designed and built by engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, had made several flights attached to a crane before Thursday's attempted free-flight. Morpheus' engines, which burn liquid oxygen and methane, appeared to ignite as planned, lifting the 1,750-pound (794 kg) vehicle into the air. But a few seconds later, Morpheus rolled over on its side and plummeted to the ground. NASA video showed the vehicle engulfed in flames and then rocked by a spectacular explosion, presumably due to the fuel tanks rupturing. “"Failures such as these were anticipated prior to the test, and are part of the development process for any complex spaceflight hardware," NASA said in a statement. An investigation is under way, the statement added. Project Morpheus began in partnership with privately owned Armadillo Aerospace, which is developing re-usable, suborbital vehicles that take off and land vertically. NASA, which has spent about $7 million on the project over the past 2-1/2 years, is interested in developing technologies that could be used to fly cargo to the moon and other future missions beyond Earth orbit. Project Morpheus was an example of what the former project manager called "“Home Depot engineering" - low-budget projects that use existing resources and partner with non-traditional aerospace companies. “"The Morpheus lander is kind of our poster child. It's one of our first attempts to do these kinds of projects," former project manager Matt Ondler said in an interview with Reuters last year. “"Instead of building some elaborate test structure, you go to Home Depot and build something very quickly that gets you 80 percent of the answer and allows you to keep moving forward," he said. Morpheus arrived at Florida's seaside space center in July for three months of increasingly rigorous test flights, including automated landings in a mock moonscape, complete with craters and boulders. The lander was designed to deliver about 1,100 pounds (500 kg) of cargo to the moon, NASA said on its Project Morpheus website. Technologies being developed include a propulsion system that uses liquid oxygen and methane -- green fuels that could be manufactured on other planetary bodies, NASA said. The accident happened as NASA scientists were still hailing the Mars rover Curiosity's descent and landing on the Red Planet earlier this week as a "“miracle of engineering."
'Narendra Modi suffering from sense of deep insecurity': Congress
New Delhi, Aug 10
The Congress Party on Friday hit back at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after he accused the UPA of promoting cow slaughter and export of beef to bring 'Pink Revolution'. It said that Modi was suffering from a sense of deep sense of insecurity, because his own popularity in Gujarat was declining very rapidly. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said Modi was concerned about the BJP not performing well in this year's state assembly poll. "The Gujarat Chief Minister is suffering from a sense of deep insecurity because his own popularity in Gujarat, which is heading for an election, is declining very rapidly. It's always been his strategy to try and hit out at Delhi, wanting to evoke reaction from us, which helps him to elevate his stature," said Tewari. "Therefore, we are not going to play the game. The Gujarat Chief Minister has to really fight with the Congress leadership on its own turf," he added. Modi, has in his latest blog, said he is saddened by the fact that the UPA Government at the Centre is promoting the slaughter of cows and export of beef to bring about a 'Pink Revolution'. "It saddens me that present UPA Government led by Congress is promoting slaughtering of cows and exporting beef to bring 'Pink Revolution'. Our ancient Indian ethos and values doesn't teach us to kill mother cow, who nurture us from the day we start taking shape in the womb of our mother till we leave this mother earth," says Modi in his blog. "Sadly, the UPA seems unbothered about this rich ethos of our culture. It wants to make India the biggest exporter of beef! Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave worked tirelessly for the protection of mother cow but this Government abandoned their teachings. Should we feel proud of this endeavor of the UPA Government led by Congress, which is founded on the killing of our mother cow?" he adds. Modi's views are being seen as his attempt to woo the majority Hindu community ahead of the assembly polls.
The Congress Party on Friday hit back at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after he accused the UPA of promoting cow slaughter and export of beef to bring 'Pink Revolution'. It said that Modi was suffering from a sense of deep sense of insecurity, because his own popularity in Gujarat was declining very rapidly. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said Modi was concerned about the BJP not performing well in this year's state assembly poll. "The Gujarat Chief Minister is suffering from a sense of deep insecurity because his own popularity in Gujarat, which is heading for an election, is declining very rapidly. It's always been his strategy to try and hit out at Delhi, wanting to evoke reaction from us, which helps him to elevate his stature," said Tewari. "Therefore, we are not going to play the game. The Gujarat Chief Minister has to really fight with the Congress leadership on its own turf," he added. Modi, has in his latest blog, said he is saddened by the fact that the UPA Government at the Centre is promoting the slaughter of cows and export of beef to bring about a 'Pink Revolution'. "It saddens me that present UPA Government led by Congress is promoting slaughtering of cows and exporting beef to bring 'Pink Revolution'. Our ancient Indian ethos and values doesn't teach us to kill mother cow, who nurture us from the day we start taking shape in the womb of our mother till we leave this mother earth," says Modi in his blog. "Sadly, the UPA seems unbothered about this rich ethos of our culture. It wants to make India the biggest exporter of beef! Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave worked tirelessly for the protection of mother cow but this Government abandoned their teachings. Should we feel proud of this endeavor of the UPA Government led by Congress, which is founded on the killing of our mother cow?" he adds. Modi's views are being seen as his attempt to woo the majority Hindu community ahead of the assembly polls.
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