Day: July 22, 2017

Special Place in Tour de France History Draws Nearer for Froome

Chris Froome stands on the doorstep of the Tour de France’s greatest champions.

Sewing up his fourth Tour crown with a cool-as-a-cucumber ride in a high-pressure time trial in heat-baked Marseille on Saturday means he needs just one victory more to join the record-holders who have five.

His winning margin in this Tour, 54 seconds over Rigoberto Uran of Colombia going into Sunday’s processional final stage, is narrower than Froome’s previous wins in 2013, 2015 and 2016. It is the first he has won by less than one minute.

Over the three weeks, Froome executed fewer of his trademark devastating accelerations in the high mountains. He ran out of gas and temporarily lost the race lead on a super-steep climb in the Pyrenees. He didn’t win any of the 20 stages before Sunday’s Stage 21, which is traditionally a peaceful ride into Paris with only the sprinters dashing for the line at the end, for the bragging right of winning the stage on the Champs-Elysees.

But Froome at 90 or 95 percent of his previous best still proved plenty.

Certainly good enough to be able to start dreaming of win No. 5 — and of joining the exalted company of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. They have been the joint leaders since Lance Armstrong’s string of seven doping-assisted victories was expunged from the history of the 114-year-old race.

“It’s a huge honor just to be mentioned in the same sentence as the greats,” Froome said, adding that he had newfound appreciation for the five-time winners. “It certainly isn’t getting easier each year.”

Crowd backed Bardet

Yet he made the deciding time trial look easy enough. To boos and whistles from the partisan crowd backing Romain Bardet, the French rider who was only 23 seconds behind him in the overall standings, Froome set off last from the Stade Velodrome football stadium. Bardet had set off two minutes ahead of him.

Froome rode so strongly that by the end, he had Bardet in his sights. The French rider wilted on the twisting, tricky course with long, wind-affected straightaways by the sea and a short sharp uphill to Notre-Dame de la Garde cathedral, the dominant landmark in France’s second-largest city.

The suspense was quickly over. By the first time check, after just 10 kilometers (six miles) of riding, Froome was already 43 seconds quicker than Bardet. The only question became whether Bardet would even be able to save a place for himself on the podium. He did, by the narrowest of margins. Just one second was all that separated his third place from Mikel Landa of Spain, Froome’s teammate in fourth.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” Froome said. “It was so close coming into this TT. This was my closest Tour de France, the most hard-fought between the riders. … I didn’t think it would come down to this TT in Marseille. There was a bit of pressure but, for me, it’s always a good thing having pressure.”

Uran was far quicker than Bardet over the 22.5-kilometer (14-mile) stage, despite overshooting a left-hand bend before the stadium finish and ricocheting off barriers. He vaulted over Bardet in the overall standings, into the runner-up spot. And with that, the 104th Tour had its podium. All that’s left for the 167 survivors — from 198 who started on July 1 — is to cross the line in Paris.

No risks

“Today I did not take risks, I took all the bends carefully. You can lose everything on a day like this,” Froome said.

Bardet endured his first bad day of the three grueling weeks. He said he woke up feeling poorly on Saturday, “and I paid for it, in cash.”

Twice a runner-up at the Giro d’Italia, Uran added another second-place finish at a Grand Tour to his resume.

The time trial was won by Polish rider Maciej Bodnar, who covered the distance at an average speed of nearly 48 kph (30 mph) on the special aerodynamic bikes the riders used for the discipline. Froome has long excelled in it, winning Olympic bronzes in 2012 and 2016.

“I still can’t believe it,” Bodnar said. “Last year was close and this year was even closer, and now I finally get one. It’s amazing.”

Froome’s teammate, Michal Kwiatkowski, placed second, one second slower than Bodnar. Froome was third, just six seconds off what could have been a stage win to adorn his Tour crown.

But Froome wasn’t even slightly bothered about that.

 

He’d known from the start in Germany that this Tour would be unusual and likely open, because it had few mountain-top finishes, not huge amounts of time-trial kilometers, and many tricky days over all five of France’s mountain ranges. Unlike at previous Tours won with knockout blows in the high peaks, this victory had to be pieced together bit-by-bit like a jigsaw puzzle.

 

“Just chipping away on every stage,” he said. “It was always the tactic to ride a three-week race and basically not to go out there on one day with the aim of trying to blow the race apart and smash it.”

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Actor John Heard, Dad in ‘Home Alone’ Movies, Dies at 71

Actor John Heard, whose many roles included the father in the Home Alone series and a corrupt detective in The Sopranos, has died. He was 71.

His death was confirmed Saturday by the Santa Clara Medical Examiner’s office in California. TMZ reported that Heard, who lived in southern California, was found at a Palo Alto, California, hotel where he was recovering from back surgery.

Heard played Peter McCallister, the father of Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. He said in later interviews that he sought a movie with kids in it so his son, age 5 at the time, could come to the set and have someone to play with.

After it became a big hit, he was reluctant to revisit the role but his agent convinced him the money was too good to pass up.

“I didn’t want to be the Home Alone dad for the rest of my life,” he told Yahoo News in 2013.

He was born March 7, 1946, in Washington, D.C., and grew up performing in local theater. One of his memorable early roles was as a disabled Vietnam War veteran in the 1981 film Cutter’s Way.

He was active in film for the next decade, playing Tom Hanks’ rival in Big, actress Geraldine Page’s son in The Trip to Bountiful and in the movies The Pelican Brief, Beaches, Gladiator, Rambling Rose and After Hours.

He earned an Emmy nomination for playing Vin Makazian in The Sopranos. Television also kept him busy. He acted in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Elementary, Prison Break, Modern Family and Entourage. One of his favorite jobs came in the original Sharknado television movie in 2013.

“I knew it was going to be a cult classic,” he told the Baltimore Media Blog last year. “It’s just ridiculous. I thought it would replace people calling me the `Home Alone’ dad.”

Fellow actor Michael McKean paid tribute on Twitter Saturday: “RIP John Heard. Never not good.”

Heard was married and divorced three times, including briefly to actress Margot Kidder. He had three children.

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Afghan Chief Executive Welcomes Home All-girl Robotics Team

Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team returned Saturday to Kabul after its successful trip to Washington for the FIRST Global Robotics Challenge, and several officials representing the presidential palace welcomed the girls home, calling them role models.

In the ceremony, Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of the national unity government, said, “Despite the differences between the Afghan and other teams, Afghan girls were able to achieve a silver medal.”

Abdullah promised to facilitate their participation in future competitions.

Teenagers from around the world demonstrated their skills in designing, building and programming robotic devices at the competition. The annual international robotics event aims to build bridges between high school students with different backgrounds, languages, religions and customs, and to ignite in them a passion for the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

It took an intervention from U.S. President Donald Trump and other officials to allow the girls of the Afghan robotics team to receive visas after two rejections, letting them travel to the United States to participate in the robotics event.

Washington experience

One of their biggest surprises once in Washington? The tight security.

“The security that we see here is not in Herat, Afghanistan,” team member Kawsar Roshan told VOA in Washington during the last day of the competition.

“This is a peaceful city. People are not fighting each other, and it is a friendly environment,” said team member Fatima Qaderian.

Member Lida Azizi said she learned “unity and teamwork” at the robotics competition.

The team made it to Washington only a day before the event began. U.S. Embassy in Kabul had refused their initial visa applications, but were granted entry to the country after the intervention by high-level U.S. officials.

On Tuesday, Trump’s eldest daughter and a senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, visited he team and its sponsors. She had previously tweeted that she was looking forward to welcoming them.

Ayub Khawreen of VOA’s Afghan service contributed to this report.

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For NYC Foodies and Locals, Restaurants Are Out, Food Halls Are In

Food halls, communal dining spaces featuring a variety of food vendors under one roof, are becoming a popular option for dining out in New York City. In a city where high rents and operating costs have made it difficult for aspiring restaurateurs to establish themselves, food halls offer an alternative path to profit. Foodies, culinary upstarts and investors are flocking to get a seat at the table. VOA reporter Tina Trinh explores.

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Australian Death May Be 18th Linked to Takata Air Bags

An Australian man who died in a Sydney car crash may be the 18th death linked to faulty Takata air bags, after police said he was killed when hit in the neck by shrapnel from an air bag.

Police did not say the air bag in the Honda CR-V was from manufacturer Takata, whose faulty air bags have been linked to 17 deaths and more than 180 injuries worldwide.

However, Honda Australia director Stephen Collins confirmed on Saturday that the vehicle involved was linked to the worldwide recall.

“The vehicle involved, a 2007 Honda CR-V, was the subject of Takata airbag inflator recalls,” Collins said in a statement, in which he offered the company’s condolences to the family of the dead driver. “Honda Australia is working closely with authorities to provide whatever assistance is required.”

Takata has declared 2.7 million vehicles to have potentially defective airbags.

Takata Corp filed for bankruptcy last month after being forced to recall around 100 million air bags worldwide, but that figure could be set to double pending an ultimatum set by U.S. regulators.

Dozens of models of vehicles and nearly 20 automakers have been affected by the air bag recalls, with Takata’s automaker customers having so far borne much of the estimated $10 billion cost of replacing the faulty products.

Some automakers still use Takata inflators for replacements in the recalls, although some including Honda Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co have said they will stop using Takata inflators for new contracts for future models.

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New Satellite Network to Provide High-Definition Colored Videos of Earth

A network of satellites that can take high-resolution photos and colored videos of earth is planned. The images could be used in many ways. Videos could track moving vehicles and observe mining sites, while photos would make it possible for the construction of 3D models of the ground. The idea is to provide businesses and other groups with data to help them monitor certain activities or predict future events. VOA’s Deborah Block reports.

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Beyond Bending Gender, US Model Rain Dove Explodes Conventional Norms of ‘Beauty’

You may have seen her in magazines, modeling the latest fashions, whether they be for men or women. Rain Dove is becoming a fashion icon, and along the way, altering perceptions of masculinity and femininity. VOA’s Maxim Moskalkov profiles this gender-bending model.

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Can Dementia Risk Be Managed Through Diet?

Scientists studying dementia are learning more about what the various forms of this cognitive decline does to our brains. But there are precious few treatments that cure, reverse or delay this decline. However, a new study suggests a healthy diet can help. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

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Managing Dementia Risk Through Diet

Scientists studying dementia are learning more about what the various forms of this cognitive decline does to our brains. But there are precious few treatments that cure, reverse or delay this decline. However, a new study suggests a healthy diet can help. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

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Despite Trump’s Intervention, Job Security Still Elusive for Indiana Carrier Employees

The Carrier manufacturing facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, owned by United Technologies Company, was in the limelight during the 2016 presidential election when then-candidate Donald Trump criticized UTC’s announcement it was moving jobs from the facility to Mexico. While Trump’s postelection negotiations, including tax incentives, encouraged Carrier to remain in Indianapolis, hundreds of employees still face layoffs this year. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Indiana.

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