Canadian skydiver dies in California accident

A Canadian skydiving instructor, described as "passionate" about the sport by a former employer, is dead after attempting a risky landing in California, the Riverside Sheriff's office said Wednesday.

Mike Ungar, 32, hit the ground hard just after 5 p.m. ET Tuesday in Perris, California, and died at the scene, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

"He just loved to skydive. He would do anything to skydive. He would get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to go up, hoping there'd be someone there to jump with," said Tim Grech, who employed Ungar during the 2010 and 2011 seasons at Niagara Skydive in Dunnville, Ont., 55 kilometres south of Hamilton.

Ungar was a fun man and a competent, experienced skydiver, said Grech, who met him five years ago.

"That's why I hired him to do tandem (jumps)," Grech said.

Ungar was originally from Aylmer, Ont., about 190 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

He moved to California to teach at Skydive Hollister after Niagara Skydive's 2011 season ended in October, Grech said.

On Tuesday, Ungar landed in a pond on the property of the Perris Valley Skydiving facility, according to the sheriff's office. Friends pulled him out of the pond and medical personnel performed CPR, but he died at the scene.

Ungar's parachute was open and his equipment was all functioning properly, said Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, manager of Perris Valley Skydiving.

While this is the fifth fatality at Perris Valley Skydiving this year and the sixth in 15 months, Brodsky-Chenfeld said the drop zone is as safe as it possibly can be.

"Obviously, we take it very to heart," Brodsky-Chenfeld said of safety concerns. "The (United States Parachute Association) has their guidelines for safety, and we have theirs plus additional. There's only so much that you can do."

Perris Valley is a busy drop zone, said Jim Crouch, director of safety and training for the United States Parachute Association. Based on the numbers, he said, there are bound to be more deaths at that location.

"I can't think of the last time they've had a year with many fatalities, so it is unusual, but I do know they're working very hard to keep everyone as safe as possible," Crouch said.

At the time of his death, Ungar had been attempting a landing manoeuvre called "swooping," Brodsky-Chenfeld said.

A swooping manoeuvre is executed about 150 to 210 metres above the ground, Crouch said.

A skydiver accelerates by parachuting into a steep turn, moving at a speed of about 97 to 113 kilometres an hour towards the ground, Crouch said. The speed lifts the parachute as it gets closer to the ground, allowing it to fly level with the ground like an airplane when it lands.

"(Ungar) had aspirations to compete in swooping competitions," Grech said. "It is the discipline that seems to be getting the most attention in skydiving right now because it is very spectator-friendly."

But it can be risky if the skydiver misjudges the landing, Crouch said.

"People occasionally make errors with this type of landing and it results in a fatality or an injury," he said. "In the past 13 years, it's ranged anywhere from seven per year to one per year of people who have been killed attempting this type of a landing."

In 2010, 21 people in the United States died while skydiving, according to the United States Parachute Association. Out of the estimated three million jumps in the U.S. that year, there were 1,308 injuries reported.

Skydiving will never be completely safe, Crouch said, but statistically, the number of deaths is low and safety has improved over the years.

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Iran to fire long-range missiles during drill: news agency (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran will fire long-range missiles during a naval drill in the Gulf Saturday, a semi-official news agency reported, a show of force at a time when Iran has threatened to close shipping lanes if the West imposes sanctions on its oil exports.

Iran has long-range missile systems including the Shahab-3, which could reach Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East.

In the past week it has threatened to stop ships moving through the strategic Straight of Hormuz if sanctions are imposed on its oil exports over its disputed nuclear program, increasing tension in a long-running standoff with the West.

"The Iranian navy will test several kinds of its missiles, including its long-range missiles, in the Persian Gulf on Saturday," Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, deputy commander of the Iranian navy, told Fars news agency.

The United States and Israel have said they do not rule out military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to resolve a dispute over the country's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West says is a cover to build bomb.

Iran says it would retaliate if attacked. It started a 10-day navy drill Saturday.

"The fire of missiles is the final part of the navy drill," said Mousavi. "The final phase of the drill is to prepare the navy for confronting the enemy in war situations."

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/wl_nm/us_iran_missiles

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What Do Those Mysterious Lumps on Your Cables Do? [Giz Explains]

You have some sense of what the wires going to and from your computer do. Some bring power; others transmit information from one device to another. But some of these cables look a bit...off. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GMgksYUMP_o/what-do-those-mysterious-lumps-on-your-cables-do

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Georgetown Upsets Louisville, Snapping Cardinals Winning Streak

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Markel Starks scored 16 of his career-high 20 points in the second half and No. 12 Georgetown snapped No. 4 Louisville's 20-game home winning streak with a 71-68 victory Wednesday night in the Big East opener for both teams.

Louisville (12-1, 0-1) had been one of six Division I teams that came into play Wednesday without a loss. The Cardinals held a tenuous lead through most of the first half and early into the second.

But Starks, a sophomore, hit all four of his 3-point attempts in the second half and went 7 for 8 from the field as Georgetown (11-1, 1-0) built an 11-point lead before having to survive a rally to win for the ninth consecutive time.

Georgetown freshman Otto Porter had 14 points and 14 rebounds, including two key ones late that helped fend off the Cardinals.

Kyle Kuric finished with 17 points and Peyton Siva had 15 for Louisville.

Georgetown, picked to finish 10th in the Big East, hasn't lost since falling to Kansas on Nov. 21. This was their grittiest effort yet, coming from behind to build a big lead and then held on when Louisville rallied late in front of a raucous crowd.

Trailing 63-52, the Cardinals went on an 11-0 run sparked when Russ Smith hit a 3 in the corner and Siva made two key plays, including hitting a floater off the glass before Gorgui Dieng scored down low to tie the score with 2:01 left.

Porter followed up a miss by Henry Sims with a layup, then grabbed a defensive rebound on the other end that led to two free throws by Sims that made it 67-63 with 1:12 left. Porter added two free throws to push the margin to six before Smith hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 69-66 with 21 seconds left.

But Porter hit two more free throws to seal it.

Louisville had been off to its best start since 1974-75 and its longest home winning streak since 1984 even though the Cardinals needed to rally to win their last three nonconference games and must play No. 3 Kentucky at Rupp Arena next.

Hollis Thompson, who finished with 10 points, hit a jumper and then made a 3 to put the Hoyas up 51-47 with just under 9 minutes left. As play came toward the Louisville end, referee Karl Hess assessed a technical on the Cardinals' bench and Jason Clark hit both free throws to make it a six-point game.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino was adamant about the call, coming out to halfcourt to state his case and later talking to referee Jim Burr at the next media timeout.

After Kuric hit two free throws, Starks made consecutive 3s to give Georgetown a 59-49 lead with 6:06 left. Kuric made his fifth 3, but Sims answered with a jump hook over Dieng and then found Starks cutting down the lane for a layup that made it 63-52 with 4 1/2 minutes to play.

The Cardinals, who have rallied from deficits of seven or more nine times dating to last season, made one final push. That's when Porter thwarted them late.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/georgetown-upsets-louisville-big-east-basketball_n_1173708.html

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Official: Green Zone bombing was targeting Iraq PM (AP)

BAGHDAD ? An explosion earlier this week in the Green Zone, a protected area in the center of the Iraqi capital, was an assassination attempt against the Iraqi prime minister, an Iraqi spokesman said.

That assailants were able to get a bomb inside what is supposed to be the most heavily fortified area in the country raises serious doubts about the abilities of Iraq's security forces at a crucial time when American troops are leaving the country.

The Baghdad military spokesman, Qassim al-Moussawi, said an attacker was able to get a vehicle carrying about 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of explosives into the Green Zone on Monday, and then tried to join a convoy of other vehicles going into the parliament grounds.

But at a checkpoint leading into the parliament compound, guards prevented the driver from going any farther because he did not have proper authorization. The driver then drove to the parking lot just opposite the parliament entrance where many lawmakers or their staff park, and the vehicle exploded seconds later.

At the time, officials had said they did not know if the explosion was the result of rocket or mortar fire into the Green Zone, whether a bomber managed to get inside or whether a bomb had been attached to a vehicle that then drove into the Green Zone.

Al-Moussawi said Friday that the new information was based on confessions from members of a terrorist group. They revealed that the bomb was supposed to go off when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited the parliament during an upcoming session, he said. But al-Moussawi declined to give further details.

He added that security officials already had information leading them to believe that al-Maliki might be targeted during his parliament trip. Al-Maliki was expected to address the legislative body soon but no date had been set.

A security official with knowledge of the investigation said police found a charred body near the mangled vehicle and were still trying to determine the identity of the person through DNA tests. The official said no one had come forward to claim the body, and it was not clear whether it was an innocent bystander or a suicide bomber.

Al-Maliki was in his office in another area of the Green Zone when the bomb went off, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.

No one else was killed in the blast, though two people were wounded.

The vast area in central Baghdad dubbed the Green Zone is the most protected area in Iraq and houses the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and the homes of many Iraqi government officials. People going into the area must go through a checkpoint and show identification. Guards check for bombs or use dogs to search for explosives.

Inside the Green Zone there are often more checkpoints to access certain areas, including the parliament.

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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