Author: Steven Sahiounie

Sadio Mané will officially miss the World Cup for Senegal, the Senegalese federation confirmed Thursday. Heung-Min Son, Raphaël Varane and several other injured stars have been or will be named in their countries’ World Cup squads despite injuries that threatened to keep them out of Qatar. They are, to varying degrees, still questionable for the 2022 tournament, which kicks off Nov. 20, but they will be there. Other prominent players, however, are stuck on an injury list that seems to grow by the day. Argentina lost Giovani Lo Celso, and Mexico lost Jesús “Tecatito” Corona. N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba have long since been ruled out. Reece James joined…

Throughout the 12 years since FIFA president Sepp Blatter dramatically opened a scandalous envelope and introduced the world to Qatar, millions of Westerners have learned plenty about the 2022 World Cup’s controversial host. They have learned about scorching temperatures and migrant worker exploitation. They’ve learned how oil transformed a peninsular desert into a bustling international hub. They’ve learned that Qatari law criminalizes homosexuality and forbids alcohol. They’ve learned how a tiny emirate the size of Connecticut plans to stage the planet’s grandest sporting event. They have learned just about all the basics, except the most basic of all: How to pronounce “Qatar.” They’ve…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator On November 13, a blast ripped through Istiklal street, a busy pedestrian area in the Beyoglu neighborhood of Istanbul.  The explosion killed six people and wounded 81 at about 4:30 pm local time. Among the dead were Arzu Ozsoy and her 15-year-old daughter Yagmur Ucar, a nine-year-old girl and her father, and a married couple. All were Turkish citizens. Later, politicians visited the site where a reported 1,200 Turkish flags were displayed along with flower memorials to the victims. On November 15, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 58 of those injured had been discharged…

Screenings for a variety of common cancers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, potentially leading to diagnoses later in the course of the disease when it may be more difficult to treat successfully, U.S. data published on Thursday suggest.In 2020 – the first year of the pandemic – average rates of screening for breast cancer fell by 40%, for cervical cancer by 36%, and for colorectal cancer by 45%, compared to the three previous years, according to an analysis of medical claims data from 306 million adults.Diagnoses of breast, cervical and colorectal cancers dropped by roughly 6% to 7% between…

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians revealed this week he spent four days in a hospital last month after experiencing severe chest pains at his Florida home.Arians, who now serves as the Bucs’ senior football consultant after stepping down in March, told Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan.com he had a serious health scare the night before the Atlanta Falcons game, which resulted in a diagnosis of myocarditis. “We ate, and I got these pains way up here, like two knives going in. The more I tried to take a breath, the worse it got,” he told the outlet. “I took…

A former foster parent in Florida convicted of recording and sexually abusing the children in his care was sentenced to 170 years in prison on Thursday. The Department of Justice said 48-year-old Justin Dwayne Johnson Sr., of Sanford, Fla., was sentenced to federal prison on four counts of production of child sexual abuse material, one count of production and attempted production of child sexual abuse material, and one count of possession of child sex abuse material. Child Protection Services began an investigation into Johnson in January 2022 after he allegedly told an acquaintance he was secretly recording his foster children “in the nude.” He also reportedly…

It is the first and greatest American adventure story. A small band of Christian devotees, persecuted in their homeland, sought refuge in a forbidden wilderness across the vast ocean aboard a leaky ship in the autumn of 1620. Against all odds, following near death at sea, amid privation, disease and frightening loss of life, they planted the seeds of a daring new society. Within a few generations their descendants brazenly challenged the world monarchial order with the revolutionary statement that “all men are created equal” and fought to establish the first great constitutional republic. It became a haven for people…

A large submarine volcano is likely erupting deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. However, scientists don’t know for sure because the Ahyi Seamount is so inaccessible. Located in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Geological Survey said Monday that all indications point to the volcano beginning to erupt in mid-October when hydroacoustic sensors at Wake Island began to record signals consistent with such activity. In collaboration with researchers in Tahiti, combined analysis of the signals with data from seismic stations in Guam and Japan suggests that the source of the activity is at or near Ahyi Seamount.  Satellite…

The asteroid that ended the reign of the dinosaurs sixty-six million years ago also created a “mega-tsunami” whose waves grew more than a mile high, according to a new study. Scientists recreated the impact of the Chicxulub, a nine-mile-wide asteroid that not only wiped out the dinosaurs but destroyed most of Earth’s species and plants. The study, which was published in AGU Advances, outlined the effects of the global tsunami and flooding. Researchers hope their work can be used to unlock insight surrounding the geology of the Cretaceous period. “This tsunami was strong enough to disturb and erode sediments in…

Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Wednesday for four University of Idaho students who were murdered earlier this week. Community members gathered at Independence Point to remember the students — Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 — who were found dead in their home the morning of Nov. 13. Among the mourners was Angela Navejas, the organizer of the vigil and who knew the students through her daughter. “They were vibrant and wild, carefree and loving,” Navejas said, according to Coeur d’Alene Press. “We know the bright stars they were here…