By Khilen Mehta

Austria- With only friendly games to prepare themselves for co-hosting the finals, Austria have endured some tough times. Austria fans are so worried about their teams potential performance in the championships that they even petitioned the FA to allow them to withdraw in order to save further embarassment. This is likely to be a major learning curve for the Austrians given the fact that they are playing in their first European Championships. Prior to the finals, Austria have suffered defeats against Germany and the Netherlands and although they previously beat the Ivory Coast, a run of 10 games without victory does not inspire confidence.

Manager- Josef Hickersberger, “I’m convinced we will see a very different national team

Key Player- Roland Linz is a regular goalscorer in the Portuguese League

Prediction- One of the easiest groups, but still not a hope

Poland- They qualified with a game to spare for the Championships when they beat Belgium. Helped by nine goals from striker/winger Euzebiusz Smolarek, this is Poland’s first appearance in the Championships after a previous twelve attempts at trying. Up until the end of qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008, Poland had appeared in all 13 UEFA European Championship qualifying competitions, and had played 90 matches. In that time, they had won 38, drawn 24 and lost 28 of those fixtures with 131 goals scored and 100 conceded.

Manager- Leo Beenhakker, “This is definitely one of the biggest successes of my career,”

Key Player- Euzebiusz Smolarek was a prolific scorer in qualifying

Prediction- Could throw a surprise spanner in the works with their pace

By Khilen Mehta

Portugal- Portugal’s best performance to date in the competition came in 2004 when they lost in the final to Greece. Prior to that, Portugal had appeared in two semi-finals where they lost on both occasions to France. They have played 108 matches in their 13 participations in the UEFA European Championship, winning 58, drawing 26 and losing 24 with 183 goals scored and 98 conceded. Although they may have only lost once in their qualifying group they endured a tense finale in their last group game against Finland where a 0-0 draw saw them through. However with arguably the best player in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 8 goals in qualifying, they will go into every game with confidence.

Manager- Luis Felipe Scolari, “I know we have to improve for the finals.”

Key Player- Cristiano Ronaldo will carry on his unstoppable goalscoring form

Prediction- Beaten semi-finalists

Turkey- After a stirring start to their qualifying campaign which saw them win their first three games without conceding a goal, Turkey almost threw it all away but in the end they managed to qualify with a game to spare. Despite playing in all 13 UEFA European Championship qualifying rounds, Turkey’s first participation in a final tournament took place at UEFA EURO 96. Prior to the finals of UEFA EURO 2008, they have played 95 matches. In that time, they had won 35, drawn 22 and lost 38 of those fixtures with 110 goals scored and 135 conceded. Altho they lack incisiveness, they have pace and guile in midfield, and proven goalscorers in Kahveci and Tuncay upfront.

Manager- Fatih Terim, “I made a promise that we would qualify and make a significant contribution at the finals.”

Key Player- Nihat Kahveci is a proven international goalscorer

Prediction- Stubborn opposition but ultimately lack the class to progress

By Will Cade

When I think of competition, I usually imagine blood thirsty corporate lions pouncing on anyone they can to get a leg up. If anyone benefits from this merciless striving, it’s the individual at the top. Sometimes, though, more than co-workers stabbed in the back trail in the wake. A trail of innovation can also follow behind, waiting for the right opportunity to be put to good use.

Innovation and competition are probably the most intense in the computing world. Advancing exponentially, computers double in speed and nearly half in price every 2 years. Most people from our generation have experienced this trend. Say you receive a laptop for graduation and head off to university feeling well prepared and at least a little bit proud of your new, gleaming piece of hardware. By your third semester, a whole new generation of students have made their way onto campus, with a whole new generation of laptops. If you’re a techno-junkie like me, you might ask them what their “specs” are (like processing speed, hard drive size, RAM, etc.) and how much they paid. Realizing these newbies have cheaper, smaller, and better laptops, you might have the philanthropic desire to usher them into university life - with a good hazing.

Although this trend may bruise your ego on the university campus, it’s also helping usher the third world into the digital age. Up to this point, the information super highway has been reserved to industrialized powers. But now, thanks to cheaper, smaller, and better laptops, technology companies are marketing $100 laptops to developing countries. Well, the cost was $100, but after a slight revamp, the more traditional laptop has become a flat-panel, touch screen laptop doubling as an e-book, which costs closer to $200.[1]

Don’t crucify the capitalists just yet; even when they’re bettering humanity, they’re still human, and damn good businessmen. These revamps are intended to help school children, for they can function as laptops and e-books, saving schools money on books. Provided technology continues advancing like it has, these laptops should become cheaper in the next year or so. The designers of the laptop are also offering tax-deductible contribution programs (1 laptop to 1 child for $200) if you’re interested in contributing yourself.[2]

Or, if you’re a broke university student and you can’t even afford to buy yourself a new laptop, technology is offering you another way to do some good in the world. The website www.thehungersite.com donates food for every click and has links to sister sites for breast cancer, child health, literacy, the rainforest, and animal rescue. I have it as my homepage on my own laptop, so even if I spend the whole day gluttonously downloading pirated music, I at least start the day by doing some good.

[2] http://laptopfoundation.org/en/participate/

By Khilen Mehta

Well it´s official. Votes have been counted, political bias has been taken into account and a professional career has been forged. Televoters from 43 countries have decided that the winner of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is Dima Bilan representing Russia with his song Believe!

Russia won this year’s edition receiving 272 points. The runner-ups were Ukraine’s Ani Lorak and Greece’s Kalomira in third place. Great Britain continued to proved what years of colonisation have done to their reputation as they finished joint bottom with Poland.

Dima Bilan said this was a commemorable day, and he sincerely thanked the team behind him. They did not always smile, Dima Bilan said, but it has been a long, hard journey. Moreover he gave a personal thanks to Eugeni Pluschenko, who was the figure skater next to Bilan during his performance of Believe. He has also decided to donate the Eurovision trophy to the composer of the song.

In Spain itself almost 14 million tuned into the television on saturday night to watch Chiki Chiki debut to the rest of Europe, a record of the last six years. Unfortunately although the performance entertained everyone, it was never going to win over the hearts of all of Europe.

By Will Cade

You know, as a country, the U.S. gets a lot of flack. When I first came to Europe, I got so annoyed when this french guy kept asking me how big the drinks were at McDonalds and telling me how unhealthy Americans were. Honestly, I’ve eaten at McDonalds more often in Spain than I ever have in the U.S., mainly because my Spanish friend in Murcia always wanted to eat there (and he ate far more than me).

Clichés like this usually piss me off, but sometimes the clichés come true, in the worst kind of way. I regretfully read last week that a car dealership in the U.S. is giving away a free handgun for every car sold, provided the customer passes a background check. After purchasing, buyers can choose between a $250 gas card or a pistol. Guns or gas - how heinously symbolic (not to mention that the dealer’s logo is a cowboy brandishing a gun). When I first saw this, I was a bit disgusted, and then I started to ask myself why this firearm fetish is only prevalent in the U.S.

When the Right to Bear Arms was written into the U.S. Constitution, oh, a little over 200 years ago, what exactly were these pilgrims, farmers, and explorers trying to accomplish? Was the main concern hunting and protection from hoodlums in the street, or was it the tyrannical British government lording itself over the colony? It could have even been the Native Americans, but in any case, the threat was coming from without, not within. Once the founding fathers established their own government, though, they wanted to protect it from the internal threat of becoming tyrannical. The idea was to allow the citizens to bear arms so they could rise up against and literally overthrow the new government if it no longer represented the people as originally intended.

So, let’s fast forward a few hundred years. Let’s just say that I’m big into guns; I mean, real big into guns. I’ve got a regular stock pile of M-16’s, sniper rifles, hand cannons, and even a grenade launcher I bought from an estate sale in Vietnam. So there I am, all ramboed out with enough fire power to wipe out a small force of guerrilla fighters. Even then, what would happen if I tried to rise up and overthrow the U.S. government (say, because it tried to take away my grenade launcher)? Yea, I might pop off a few grenades and feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2, but unfortunately my endo-skeleton isn’t an indestructible metal alloy: it’s just bone, and I wouldn’t stand a chance.

Aside from the Waco shoot out between the Branch Dividians and the FBI in 1993 (with a death toll of nearly 80) I can’t remember many instances where Americans have used their right to bear arms against the government. Sadly, very sadly, I remember many more where Americans have turned their firearms on their own people, usually young Americans - in the streets, and in the schools.

So now I ask myself how well this “freedom-based” law is fulfilling its intended purpose. If the American people ask themselves the same question and decide that a revision is in order, a large part of our culture will have to change. We probably won’t be having any more handgun giveaways, and it may become more difficult for god loving people to go hunting, but it will also make it easier for gun fearing people to walk down the street - and into school.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7416120.stm

By Khilen Mehta

With Euro 2008 only 11 days away, the EV guide to the championships begins now. Everyday I will whet your appetite for the summer by giving you the lowdown on two teams from each group. The key facts, the key players and my very own predictions for each group. Let us begin with Group A…

1) Switzerland- This is the first time the UEFA EURO 2008 co-hosts will have played in consecutive UEFA European Championship finals and the 2008 tournament will be their third finals overall. They look far better prepared then fellow hosts Austria with encouraging results including a draw against Argentina followed by a victory against the Netherlands. With a solid defensive base, scoring goals will be Switzerlands main concern. Their record prior to the finals of UEFA EURO 2008 was 80 matches played with 29 wins, 22 draws and 29 losses, with 119 goals scored and 108 conceded. Both of their finals campaigns in 1996 and 2004 have started with draws - 1-1 against hosts England in 1996 and 0-0 with Croatia in Portugal - but ended with two subsequent defeats.

Manager- Jakob Kuhn, “Success would be to reach the quarter-finals. Of course it won’t be easy, but that has to be our goal”

Key Player- Alexander Frei will be relied upon to score the goals

Prediction- Will struggle to finish anywhere but bottom

2) Czech Republic- The Czechs have the pedigree to go far in this competition. They retain a 100 per cent qualification record for the UEFA European Championship with four appearances from four attempts and they reached the final in Euro 96. However with the retirements of Poborsky and Nedved, and the potential loss of Rosicky to injury, it remains to see whether they will be as creative in front of goal to match their solidness at the back. Koller and Baros link up brilliantly up front, and Koller even finished second top goal scorer in 2006 FIFA qualifying with nine goals. Up until the end of UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying, the Czech Republic had played 54 matches in the UEFA European Championship, winning 39, drawing eight and losing seven. In that time, they scored 117 goals and conceded 37.

Manager- Karel Brückner, “Qualifying is nice but the way we did it is even better.”

Key Player- David Rozenhal will keep it tight at the back

Prediction- Will fall to one of the bigger nations in the quarter finals

by Lewis Husbands

For one month only…

 Ok, it’s not the World Cup or the 6 Nations or even the Tri Nations, but it’s the next best thing!

 Football is not the only sport on the menu this summer/June as rugby bounces back with all four Home Nations embarking on exciting tours of the Southern Hemisphere.

Of course there are also some International friendlies leading up to the European Championship for those football fans who have not yet found a team to support in the competition hosted in Switzerland and Austria. But if it’s rugby you’re after then hold onto your jock-strap and prepare for the clash of Northern and Southern Hemisphere teams.

And if you’re still not satisfied there is a chance to see some up and coming stars as well as others who narrowly missed out on selection for the tours as England, Ireland & Scotland’s 2^nd teams will be participating in the Barclays Churchill Cup* alongside Agentina’s 2^nd team and the national teams of USA & Canada, in a initiative to develop and grow the sport of rugby union across Canada and the USA.

Ireland get the ball rolling tonight as they play their first match since the departure of Eddie O’Sulivan against the Barbarians. The last time we saw Ireland in the international arena they had just suffered an almighty defeat from Brian Ashton’s England so it is sure to be more than just a prelude to the tour for Ireland.

The Barbarians, having made several changes since their last match against South Africa will want to make a similar impact.

Five days later the Barbarians will be up against England at Twickenham, which is perhaps as close as the Barbarians ever feel to being at home. After several “changes” in the management of the England team the England boys will be looking to do their talking on the pitch as will those England players who missed out on selection, namely Ian Balshaw, Lesley Vainikolo, Mark Regan, Danny Grewcock and to some extent Darren Crompton.

From there on out it’s all about the tours- which officially start on 7^th June with Ireland taking on New Zealand for the first time since 2006, when we saw two very close fought matches that both ended with a Kiwi victory. Some hours an eagerly awaited match pitting the RWC 2007 Champions South Africa against 2008 6 Nations Grand Slam winners Wales conflict and at the end of the day Scotland go into a grudge match against Argentina hoping to turn some heads and resolve what went wrong in the World Cup, where these two last met in the Quarter Finals.

A week later and we have four International matches taking place on the same day. If you’re an early bird you might be able to catch England as they take on New Zealand and then secure your place on the sofa or end of the bar (if you can find one open that early) for the rest of the day’s rugby. Australia face Ireland, whilst South Africa and Wales enjoy their second test as do Argentina and Scotland somewhat later.

The last International test match of the summer is the second confrontation of rugby giants New Zealand and England, both sides will want to make good and scoop at least one victory.

Catch the first kick-off at 20.45 tonight where Ireland clash with the Baa-Baas tonight at Gloucester’s Kingsholm stadium  

IRELAND TEAM to play Barbarians,

Player/Club/Province

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)

14 - Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster)

13 - Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)

12 - Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)

11 - Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)

10 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)

9 - Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster)

1 - Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster)

2 - Rory Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)

3 - Mike Ross (Harlequins)

4 - Bob Casey (London Irish)

5 - Malcolm O’Kelly (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)

6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)

7 - Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)

8 - Jamie Heaslip (Clontarf/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 - Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster)

17 - Tom Court (Ballymena/Ulster)

18 - Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster)

19 - Neil Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)

20 - Frank Murphy (Leicester)

21 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)

22 - Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster)

Barbarians squad:
Backs - I Balshaw (Gloucester), P Hewat (London Irish), T Delport (Worcester), L Vainikolo (Gloucester), G Thomas (Cardiff Blues), M Turinui (Queensland Reds), J Pretorius (Stormers), S Mapusua (London Irish), T Smith (ACT Brumbies), S Larkham (unattached), G Jackson (Saracens), A Gomarsall (Harlequins), M Claassens (Bath), R Powell (Worcester).

Forwards - F Pucciarello (Munster), C Visagie (Saracens), O le Roux (Leinster), P Collazo (Gloucester), D Crompton (Bristol), M Regan (Bristol), S Bruno (Sale Sharks), J Harrison (Ulster), K Chesney (Saracens), D Grewcock (Bath), R Skeate (Stormers), P Wannenburg (Blue Bulls), M Molitika (Cardiff Blues), D Croft (Queensland Reds), M Chapman (ACT Brumbies), C Newby (Otago Highlanders).

SUMMER INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES

Tuesday, 27 May 2008

Ireland v Barbarians, 20:45

Sunday, 01 June 2008

England v Barbarians, 16:00

Saturday, 07 June 2008

Argentina v Scotland, 21:10

New Zealand v Ireland, 9:35

South Africa v Wales, 16:00

Canada v Scotland A, 22:00

England Saxons v USA, 19:00

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Argentina A v Scotland A, 22:30

USA v Ireland A

Saturday, 14 June 2008

Argentina v Scotland, 21:10

Australia v Ireland, 12:05

New Zealand v England, 9:35

South Africa v Wales, 16:00

Canada v Argentina A, 22:00

England Saxons v Ireland A, 20:00

Saturday, 21 June 2008

New Zealand v England, 9:35

*The tournament is named after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who shared close ties with the United States – his mother was American – and with Canada during the Second World War.

By Khilen Mehta

Although Kylie Minogue is a likeable personality, she has never been to everyone’s taste. Her career has often seemed a series of attempts to expand on this basic likeability. But in her two decade career, the tiny Aussie wonder has dominated the charts by providing non-stop fun in her performances.

Throughout her battle with breast cancer, everyone’s favourite pop princess was constantly thanking her followers for their loving support, and judging by the success of her most recent comeback performances, her fans couldn´t be more pleased in seeing her back on the stage. Her huge grin, her flamboyant costumes and the over-excited crowd are everything that makes a Kylie gig so memorable.

Throughout her career, Kylie has won countless awards, and had plenty of top tensingles. In the 2008 Brit Awards, she won Best International Female Artist and she also received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008, which is France’s highest cultural honour. With a tally of over thirty top ten singles, Kylie is the second most succesful woman in British chart history after Madonna. Kylie’s biggest single was “Can’t get you out of my head”, which reached number one in over twenty countries and sold more than four million copies worldwide.

It was reported that every ticket scheduled for her UK tour was snapped up in an unbelievable thirty minutes after going on sale. Tickets are likely to go fast for her performance in Madrid as well, so make sure you snap yours up nice and early!

Here is an example of what you could be missing out on…

Long live the Pop Princess!

By Khilen Mehta

Do you see yourself as young? Dynamic? Urban? Well, even if you don’t, you can still head on down to Spain’s greatest hip hop festival, Cultura Urbana. The festival has continually established itself as the one of the most modern and innovative events on the European Cultural Scene.

The festival, taking place on the 30th and 31st May in Parque de La Marina de San Sebastian de los Reyes, boasts a line-up which promises to be one of the most exciting in the history of the festival. Along with the participation of some of Spain’s finest such as Violadores de Verso, Nach and Falsalarma, Cultura Urbana hosts some of the most stellar international performances such as Talib Kweli, The Game, Immortal Technique and IAM amongst others.

Within its extensive programme, Cultura Urbana will also play host to other activities such as the Urban Culture Documentary Festival, the IV Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos, the 3rd Eastpak Break-dance Battle, the Urban Culture Art Gallery in FNAC, sports zones and many other activities.

So get yourself down there at the end of this month! There’s 20,000 people expected there each day. Make sure you’re not the only one missing out! Here’s how to get there…

METRONORTE: LÍNEA 10 / STATIONS: REYES CATÓLICOS AND BAUTANAL

BUSES FROM AND TO PLAZA DE CASTILLA: 152 A, B Y C (STOP PLAZA DE TOROS) 154 A, C (STOP AVENIDA BAUNATAL)

By Will Cade

When I was about 14, the U.S Treasury Department revamped some of the dollar bills. The first time I saw one of the oversized and misplaced pictures of an ex-president, I thought I was looking at play money. I learned that this gawky, off-centered picture (which cost the government millions) was supposed to fight counterfeiting in an unprecedented way. Within a month, they had been counterfeit, and someone had invented a $2 pen that marked tan on real money and black on fake. Glad to know the government was putting my tax dollars to good use, in more ways than one.

After wasting millions on redesigns in the past, the Treasury Department is currently resisting a redesign to help the blind and visually impaired. The blind cannot distinguish between the different notes, for they feel the same and are the same size. The Treasury Department’s main concern is the potential cost of redesigning vending machines. Looking at the history, I suppose this governmental response logically follows: of course the government should waste millions in hopes of saving itself money, but spending money to better the people it is meant to represent is absolutely uncalled for.

Before you loose all faith in government and barricade yourself in a commune somewhere in the desert, at least remember that the U.S. government has a system of checks and balances set up to prevent one branch from being too much of a douche bag. Hence we have Congress, Federal Courts, and… the President. Unfortunately this system doesn’t always work perfectly (like when George Bush invaded Iraq without Congressional approval) but it is meant to iron itself out over time.

Thankfully, last week a U.S. Federal Appeals Court upheld the ruling that the U.S. Government has to change its bills to allow the blind and visually impaired to distinguish between the denominations. The Treasury Department could fight the ruling by taking the case before the Supreme Court, but it would have to do so within 90 days. Until this day passes, we will not know how or when the Treasury Department will go about remedying this situation.

When I see the way the U.S. government functions at times, it helps me to think of a bully in a kindergarten class. Being a child, he naturally he wants more for himself. He’s usually bigger than the other kids, so he starts to take advantage of this. He gets more cookies and milk at snack time, and at first kids laugh when he makes other kids cry. But, eventually, one of two things will happen. He’ll either get sent to the principal’s office - crying to his mom over the phone about how he’ll never do it again - or his class mates will avoid him out of fear. Either way, come recess time, he won’t be having too much fun, not until he straightens up his act. If he does this, though, he may even learn that his size can benefit others, a hallmark of maturity.

I realize that the U.S. is a young and preciously powerful country. More times than not, I see it using its strength for selfish reasons, which inevitably leads it to take advantage of others - both inside and outside of its borders. However I do think that it’s starting to feel the pangs of loneliness, if only from a monetary perspective. If it can be a little more mature and learn to use its influence to truly help, I believe it might get along better with the other kids in the class. And maybe they’ll even share some of their milk and cookies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/washington/21money.html?ref=nyregion