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Showing posts with label General News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General News. Show all posts

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

Some Delta systems haven't recovered fully from outage

By On August 09, 2016 In
(1 of 5) Delta passengers stand in line as the carrier slogged through day two of its recovery from a global computer outage, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Salt Lake City. By early afternoon, Delta said it had canceled about 530 flights as it moved planes and crews to “reset” its operation. Nearly 1,200 Delta flights had been delayed, according to tracking service FlightStats Inc.

Delta passengers endured hundreds more canceled and delayed flights as the carrier slogged through day two of its recovery from the meltdown. By late afternoon Tuesday, the airline said it had canceled 680 flights as it moved planes and crews to "reset" its operation. Another 1,900 Delta flights had been delayed, according to tracking service FlightStats Inc.
In a video posted on the airline's website, CEO Ed Bastian said Delta probably will have cancelations and delays Wednesday too, although he didn't give numbers. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx's office said the government was talking to Delta about technical issues surrounding the outage, but gave no specifics.
The Transportation Department said it also made sure Delta provided information about customer refunds on its website and was reviewing the consumer complaints that it had received. Delta's hub in Atlanta was the epicenter of problem flights on Tuesday, with lines that were much longer than the day before. Debbie McGarry left Switzerland on Monday and was still stuck Tuesday at the Atlanta airport, far from her Arizona home. Hopes of getting on a plane were raised and dashed overnight. By 3 a.m., passengers were getting irate.
"Some of the men were yelling," she said. "I thought there might be a fistfight." Tuesday's disruptions followed about 1,000 cancelations and 2,800 delayed flights on Monday. The airline's computer systems were back online after a few hours Monday, but the ripple effects lingered.
"We are still operating in recovery mode," Dave Holtz, senior vice president of operations, said Tuesday. Delta extended a travel-waiver policy to help stranded passengers rearrange their travel plans. It offered refunds and $200 in travel vouchers to people whose flights were canceled or delayed at least three hours. And Delta said it gave hotel vouchers to "several thousand" customers including 2,000 in Atlanta.
Delta's challenge Tuesday was to find enough seats on planes during the busy summer vacation season to accommodate the tens of thousands of passengers whose flights were scrubbed. Airlines have been packing more people in each plane, so when a major carrier has a technology crash it's harder to find seats for the waylaid. Last month, the average Delta flight was 87 percent full.
Confusion among passengers Monday was compounded as Delta's flight-status updates crashed as well. Instead of staying home or poolside at a hotel until the airline could fix the mess, many passengers learned about the gridlock only after they reached the airport.
They were stuck. A spokesman for the local electric company, Georgia Power, said the problem started with a piece of Delta equipment called a switchgear, which direct flows within a power system. No other customers lost power, he said.
Airlines depend on huge, overlapping and complicated systems to operate flights, ticketing, boarding, airport kiosks, websites and mobile phone apps. Even brief outages can now snarl traffic and, as the Delta incident shows, those problems can go global in seconds.
Last month, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over four days after an outage that it blamed on a faulty network router. United Airlines and American Airlines both suffered outages last year — United has struggled with several meltdowns since combining technology systems with merger partner Continental Airlines.
Joan Lowy in Washington, AP video journalist Johnny Clark and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.
David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter

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Major forest fire in Portugal's Madeira islands burns homes

By On August 09, 2016 In
(1 of 4) A firefighter works to stop a fire in Quintela, near Arouca, in the region of Aveiro, northern Portugal, Tuesday Aug. 9 2016. The National Civil Protection Service said some 2,900 firefighters were in action Tuesday fighting dozens of fires. The worst-hit areas were in northern Portugal, where temperatures have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) since Saturday.

Other wildfires have raged for several days on the Portuguese mainland. By Tuesday evening, fire officials said seven major blazes in the countryside were out of control. The National Civil Protection service said just over 4,000 firefighters supported by 26 water-dumping planes and 1,262 vehicles were attending 149 blazes of varying sizes across the country.
The month of August, when temperatures are high, winds blow strongly and woodland is parched, is traditionally the peak time for wildfires in Portugal and other southern European countries. Portuguese officials say fires are often started deliberately and spread quickly because forests are not cleared of dead wood.
Flames licked at homes around Funchal, casting a smoke plume over the downtown, according to video broadcast by cable news channel S.I.C Noticias. Frantic locals used garden hosepipes and buckets of water to keep the flames at bay as wind blew embers across roads.
Fire service officials said Madeira's steep hills and dense woodland made it hard to reach the flames, which were fueled by high winds. Eight Madeira firefighters required medical treatment after inhaling smoke as high winds fueled the blaze. More than 200 patients were evacuated from a small hospital as a precaution, authorities said.
Some of the worst-hit areas were in northern Portugal, where temperatures have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in recent days. The region's pine and eucalyptus forests are tinder-dry after a long spell without significant rain.
In the area around Viseu, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of the capital Lisbon, a wildfire forced the closure of a major highway. In nearby Agueda, roads were closed and power lines were cut by wildfires.
In Lisbon, Tuesday was hazy with a smell of smoke caused by wildfires in the surrounding region. Fire chiefs said some of their firefighters were exhausted after trying to put out blazes non-stop since Saturday, the hottest day of the year so far when temperatures reached 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit).
 
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A butcher carries a pigs head at Smithfield Market in London. Welsh farmers like Rees Roberts, who have 1,000 acres with sheep, cattle and crops, can expect to earn a premium on their meats thanks to a certificate of regional authenticity.

By On August 09, 2016 In
(1 of 8) A butcher carries a pigs head at Smithfield Market in London. Welsh farmers like Rees Roberts, who have 1,000 acres with sheep, cattle and crops, can expect to earn a premium on their meats thanks to a certificate of regional authenticity. But that marker of distinction _ the same kind that ensures Champagne can only come from the French region of the same name _ is granted by the European Union and is now at risk after Britain voted to leave the 28-country bloc.

The certificates, of which there are 73 across Britain for goods like Stilton cheese and Melton Mowbray pork pies, not only help farmers earn more but also shape rural communities' identities. Add to that the loss of $3.97 billion in EU subsidies for U.K. farmers, potential new tariffs and fears that agriculture will not be prioritized in trade talks with the EU, and the decision to leave the 28-nation bloc promises to be painful.
"The voters weren't thinking it through," said Roberts, 65, as he discussed the uncertainty with fellow farmers at a fair in the village of Builth Wells. For Welsh farmers, EU membership cushioned against tough times. Sheep flocks have fallen in size by 20 percent since a 1999 peak, while farmers' real annual average incomes have tumbled nearly a third since 2003 to 22,500 pounds, or $29,250, according to government figures. The potential loss of preferential trade with Europe has left Wales rushing to export its lamb and beef to the United States, with the government submitting a 1,000-page proposal to the U.S. Agriculture Department last month ahead of upcoming trade talks in April.
The move was driven in part by concerns that negotiations over the next two years on Britain departing the EU will prioritize London banking jobs, while downplaying the needs of those in the hinterlands without the posh salaries.
"There are many concerns of how influential agriculture will be in these negotiations, both in terms of trade and direct financial support when compared to the powerful sectors such as financial services," said Dai Davies, chairman of the Welsh meat promoter Hybu Cig Cymru.
Davies was at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells— among the largest agricultural fairs in Europe — to listen to farmers' concerns and answer their questions. A sense of seriousness and urgency dominated the mood, despite the sheep shearing contests, food stalls and a folk rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."
Even though Wales is a net beneficiary of EU support, it voted to leave the EU by 53 percent to 47 percent, a fact that reflects the complexities of global trade. Many people in rural Britain, including Wales, are against the EU because the open borders required by membership challenges their sense of national identity. In some voters' minds, globalization is synonymous with regulations, immigrants and the loss of jobs to low-cost countries in Eastern Europe or China. Those emotions come even though the union also has carved out markets for goods linked to Britain's heritage.
Listening to Davies was Roberts, who said he worries that the terms of foreign trade will change, causing him to lose some access to the EU's 508 million residents. He hopes that the U.K. will settle on a new trade agreement with the EU similar to Norway's. That would give them access to the EU's single market but require the U.K. to keep receiving EU migrants, something many of those voting to leave are against. Some U.K. farmers do depend on migrant labor to pick their produce.
"Accepting the migrants wouldn't be a problem for me," said Roberts. Next to him was John Foulkes, who has a flock of 3,000 and estimates that the protected geographical indicator for Welsh meat adds a 2.6 percent premium to the 80-pound ($104) price he charges for a typical lamb.
The protected status for "West Country Beef and Lamb" is a standard of quality and authenticity — for example, sheep have to get at least 70 percent of their food by foraging the hills of this corner of Britain. Many such markers could no longer be valid internationally, depending on how Britain leaves the EU, since it is the bloc that has enshrined them in international trade deals. To regain them, Britain might need to introduce its own protections and likely has to renegotiate trade deals, not just with the remaining EU countries but also other nations that Britain had deals with through the EU.
Most purveyors of products with EU protected status described the post-Brexit environment as hazy. Some have safety in trademarks that are internationally recognized regardless of EU membership, while others worry about the damage to Britain's brand on the continent and the complex network of trade deals that extend from the EU to Asia and South America.
Stilton cheese enjoys trademark protections dating back as far as 1966 that should ensure its gourmet status, said Billy Kevan, dairy manager at the cheese maker Colston Bassett. He expects cheesemakers to be fine, but said a major unknown is whether European public opinion turns against Stilton as a means of protesting the Brexit vote.
Some British cheesemakers cannot easily sever ties with the continent. One of the leading exporters of the protected Stilton cheese is Tuxford & Tebbutt, which is owned by Arla Foods, a company based in Denmark.
Stilton cheese can only hail from three counties in England, making it a vital industry in those communities. Tuxford & Tebbutt employs 100 people in Melton Mowbray, a town of 25,000 where the local pork pies also enjoy protected status.
Stilton generates $78 million a year for the community, the pork pies another $78 million and an additional $91 million comes to the community through food tourism, said Matthew O'Callaghan, chairman of the United Kingdom Protected Food Names Association.
The Melton Mowbray pork pies could lose their EU protections, O'Callaghan warned, which could expose many of the bakers to cheaper copy-cat competition. "It means that anybody could make a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, for example in Poland — not use the proper recipe, so make it in hoops, not using cured pork, use less than 30 percent pork, make a cheaper imitation," he said. "Now that's going to cost us jobs."
For Scotch distillers, the big risk is not so much in the trademark but losing trade deals with countries like Colombia, South Africa and South Korea that had been agreed on as part of the EU. David Frost, the president of the Scotch Whisky Association, is a former government official responsible for trade policy and EU issues. He says the British government lacks enough negotiators to swiftly set up new trade deals if Brexit leads to the end of trade agreements with these emerging economies.
And that could hurt one of the few British industries that by its name can't possibly be outsourced overseas, says Frost. "We're rooted in Scotland — and we always will be."
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UK coast guards warn sightseers away from oil rig on beach

By On August 09, 2016 In
Oil rig detachment
Oil rig detachment
(1 of 2) The Transocean Winner drilling rig is seen off the coast of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, after it ran aground in severe weather conditions, Tuesday Aug. 9, 2016. The oil rig, carrying 280 tonnes of diesel, broke free of its tug and ran aground on the remote Scottish beach where it is being monitored by a counter-pollution team. (Andrew Milligan / PA via AP)

Scottish National Party lawmaker Angus MacNeil says he also wants to know "why this oil rig was being towed in severe winds."
 
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Putin, Erdogan agree on steps to mend relations

By On August 09, 2016 In
Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin
(1 of 14) Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Konstantin palace outside St.Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. President Erdogan travels to Russia to meet with President Putin for the first time since apologizing in late June for the downing of a Russian fighter jet along the Syrian border in November last year.

Putin, in turn, said the flow of Russian tourists to Turkey, halted after the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey in November, will resume soon. He also promised to gradually lift an embargo on imports of Turkish agricultural products and other restrictions.
Putin added that he and Erdogan would have a separate discussion on Syria later Tuesday involving top military and intelligence officials to search for common ground in the crisis, where Moscow and Ankara have backed the opposing sides.
While Moscow has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nation's civil war and further bolstered that support by launching an air campaign last September, Turkey has pushed for Assad's removal.
Previously close ties between Moscow and Ankara broke down after a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border, an incident that Putin had described as a "treacherous stab in the back." Relations remained at a freezing point for seven months until Erdogan met the Russian demand for an apology over the incident.
Putin then ordered his government to start rebuilding ties with Turkey, and when Erdogan faced a botched coup attempt on July 15 the Russian leader quickly offered his support. Erdogan particularly mentioned Putin's gesture, saying it "gladdened me, my colleagues and our people."
Analysts say that Erdogan may now be hoping to play the Russian card to strengthen his hand in disputes with the United States and European Union. Turkey is pressing the United States hard to extradite Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government blames for the failed coup. Gulen denies the claims.
The dispute has strained U.S.-Turkish ties, with some Turkish officials implying the U.S. could have been behind the coup. Washington has denied that. Speaking after the talks with Putin, Erdogan reaffirmed his claim that Gulen was behind the coup but didn't touch on Ankara's demand for his extradition.
The failed coup saw renegade Turkish military officers using jets, helicopters and tanks to try to take power in a night of violence that left more than 270 people dead. Since then, about 18,000 people have been detained or arrested and nearly 70,000 people suspected of links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from the civil service, judiciary, education, health care and the military.
European officials and rights groups have expressed concern over the crackdown — statements that have vexed Turkish authorities. Ankara has accused the West of failing to show due support for a democratically elected government.
In contrast, Erdogan praised Putin for offering his support after the coup and said that "we are strongly determined to take our relations to the pre-crisis and even higher level." Putin responded in kind, saying that "higher interests of our peoples, our nations require the restoration of our relations."
Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Monday, 8 August 2016

Edward Daly, priest in famed Bloody Sunday image, dies at 82

By On August 08, 2016 In
(1 of 2) Retired Catholic bishop Edward Daly in Londonderry, Northen Ireland. Former Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Daly, who tended victims of Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday massacre, has died aged 82. The Catholic Diocese of Derry says Daly died peacefully on Monday, Aug, 8, 2016. British paratroopers opened fire on a Catholic protest march in Londonderry on Jan. 30, 1972, killing 13. The killings helped fuel Northern Ireland's sectarian violence, in which some 3,000 people died. Daly became a hero by administering last rites to victims on the streets of the Catholic Bogside district. A photo of the priest waving a blood-stained white handkerchief as he tried to help a fatally wounded victim become one of the event’s iconic images. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP, file)
LONDON (AP) — Former Roman Catholic Bishop Edward Daly, who tended victims of Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday killings and became a defining image of the massacre, has died aged 82. The Catholic Diocese of Derry says Daly died peacefully on Monday after a long illness.
Daly was a priest in Londonderry when British paratroopers opened fire on a Catholic civil-rights protest march on Jan. 30, 1972, killing 13 people. The killings helped fuel Northern Ireland's sectarian violence, in which some 3,000 people died.
Daly became a hero by administering last rites to victims on the streets amid the mayhem of the Catholic Bogside district. A photo of the priest waving a blood-stained white handkerchief as he tried to help a dying 17-year-old become one of the event's iconic images.
"There's scarcely a day that passes when I don't think about that day. It's haunted me all these years," Daly said 25 years later. An initial British inquiry outraged Northern Ireland Catholics with its finding that the British troops' gunfire followed IRA firing and that the victims could have been armed.
A 12-year investigation found in 2010 that the soldiers were not under attack and fired without justification on unarmed civilians, many of whom were fleeing or aiding the wounded. Daly served as a priest in the city from 1962, and was Bishop of Derry from 1974 to 1994, stepping aside after suffering a stroke.
He later served as chaplain to a hospice in the city. In 2011 he published a memoir, and made headlines by saying that the church should allow priests to marry.

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Stocks rise as strong US jobs data offset weak Chinese trade

By On August 08, 2016 In



BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks rose on Monday after strong U.S. and Germany economic data offset concerns about weak Chinese trade figures. KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX advanced 0.9 percent to 10,460 and France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent to 4,429. London's FTSE 100 gained less than 0.1 percent to 6,796. Wall Street looked set for more gains, with the futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average both up 0.2 percent.

(1 of 3) A man looks at an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. Asian stocks rose Monday after strong U.S. jobs data reassured investors the world's largest economy still is growing and helped boost American stocks to record highs.
US, GERMANY UPBEAT: U.S. stocks jumped to record highs last week after the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 255,000 jobs in July — far more than investors expected and the second straight month of strong gains after shaky reports this spring. In Germany, official figures show industrial production rebounded in June to grow by 0.8 percent compared with the previous month. The number was slightly better than the 0.7 percent gain that economists had forecast.
ANALYST'S COMMENT: "The market's trepidations concerning the U.S. labor market are definitively in the rear view mirror after the second consecutive resilient report," Stephen Innes of OANDA said in a report. Job gains in July "transcended even the most optimistic of expectations," he said. "It is easy to check off good-news boxes within this stellar jobs report and tough to find any negatives."
CHINA TRADE: China's exports fell again in July compared with a year earlier while a decline in imports accelerated. Exports contracted 4.4 percent to $184.7 billion, a slight improvement over June's 4.8 percent contraction. Imports fell 12.5 percent to $132.4 billion, accelerating from a decline of 8.4 percent. Weak global demand has hampered efforts to shore up Chinese trade and stave off job losses in export industries. Investors also were looking ahead to Chinese inflation and retail sales data due out this week for signals on which direction the world's second-largest economy is headed.
ASIA'S DAY: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 2.4 percent to 16,650.57 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.6 percent to 22,494.76. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.9 percent at 3,004.28 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4 percent to 5,497.40. Seoul's Kospi advanced 0.9 percent to 2,017.94 and India's Sensex rose 0.2 percent to 28,143.82. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and Thailand also rose, while Singapore retreated.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 61 cents to $42.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract shed 13 cents on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 59 cents to $44.87 per barrel in London. It lost 2 cents on Friday.
CURRENCY: The dollar rose to 102.32 yen from Friday's 101.82 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1082 from $1.1087.
Source : mail.com
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New Hampshire woman tracks WWII soldiers buried in Belgium

By On August 08, 2016 In
(1 of 2) Aimee Fog poses at her home in Gilford, N.H. Fog traveled to Belgium in 2010 to see where her grandmother's brother died. Since then, she's collected stories about the 40 New Hampshire men and the 25 from Vermont buried at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, and is now about a 20 percent done documenting the 54 soldiers from Maine.

Fogg, who lives in Gilford, New Hampshire, has collected stories and photos about the 40 New Hampshire men and the 25 from Vermont buried at Henri-Chapelle and published them in a pair of books. She's now documenting the accounts of 54 soldiers from Maine. She started off thinking she'd be satisfied with five stories, but as she gained momentum, she was inspired to continue.
"It would be really easy for me to stop, but it's just as easy to keep going, now that I've got a rhythm and system," she said. That system includes ordering "Individual Deceased Personnel Files" for each man, which can take two years to be delivered. In the meantime, she scours enlistment records in the National Archives and genealogy sites, and then contacts town libraries, historical societies and other organizations. Finally, she reaches out to friends and family members of the fallen soldiers.
"I like to know them. I like to know the person behind the name," she said. "My poor husband can't keep track of all these families. I've gained many, many grandmothers, aunts, and uncles." Sometimes, her research turns up distressing information — in one case, a soldier's widow was later charged with killing their 2-year-old son. But she sticks to the positive.
"There are a lot of family secrets that come out when I'm working on these stories, but I tell family members I'm not interested in those kinds of details ... I'm not looking to open up old wounds — this project is a celebration of life."
Fogg does many interviews by phone, but one woman in Vermont was adamant that they meet in person, so she and her family made the several-hour-long drive. The woman, whose brother is buried at Henri-Chapelle, was waiting in the driveway.
"She opened the passenger side door and she gave me a hug," Fogg said. "As she was hugging me, she said, 'I've been waiting 70 years for you.'" Claudette Bayko, of Somersworth, New Hampshire, grew up knowing that her uncle, David Gilbert, was killed in World War II and buried in Belgium, but not much else. In 2009, she sent a wreath to be placed at the cross marking his grave. In 2011, she got a call from her city's historical society saying Fogg was trying to reach her.
With help from a cousin who remembered Gilbert, Bayko and Fogg pieced together his past, including that he had dropped out of high school 10 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor to follow two older brothers into the Army. Because he never graduated, Gilbert's name isn't listed on a war memorial at Somersworth High School, and that always bothered Bayko.
So she is grateful that he is included in Fogg's book. "I have two grandsons that now know that their great-great-uncle was our family hero," she said. "And Aimee is my heroine for resurrecting David."
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Only masters of spin win at Olympic-level table tennis

By On August 08, 2016 In
Zhi Wen He


RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Ask a table tennis player to describe the most important part of the game and you usually get a single word answer: spin. After that it gets more complicated. There's topspin. Backspin. Sidespin. Side under spin. Side over spin. Heavy under/over/side spin. Light under/over/side spin. And, perhaps most devious of all, no spin.

(1 of 1) Zhi Wen He of Spain plays against Chen Chien-An of Taiwan during their table tennis match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016.

In the course of a single Olympic match, it may all be there, and almost all of it will go unnoticed by spectators caught up in long, mesmerizing rallies filled with smashes, drop shots and miraculous defensive saves.
Spin is so crucial in table tennis that it's easy to determine its masters: Just look at the top 10 players in the world. But it's also a great leveler, allowing older and physically weaker players to hold their own and, sometimes, even beat the world's best.
And while the best players can determine what sort of spin is coming by the speed and angle of the bat's movement and the rotation and direction of the ball, the mechanics of spin are still something of a mystery. It is ubiquitous but imperfectly understood, sometimes even by the players who use it to perform feats that basement pingpong players can't even dream of.
Here then is a look at the Art of Spin.
IT'S All IN THE WRIST (AND THE RUBBER)
Spin — sometimes mind-boggling, post-it-on-YouTube spin — is the backbone of Olympic-level table tennis.
But how do they do it?
It's all in the wrist — and the rubber.
No wrist movement means no spin. Rotate it like you're turning a key in a lock or slice it like you're executing a karate chop, and you'll make the ball spin, dance even, sometimes in unreturnable ways.
In his first- and second-round matches against players half his age, Spaniard Zhiwen "Juanito" He, a 54-year-old left-hander, employed spin constantly, his wrist slicing, swiveling and rotating, the ball seeming to veer in midair like a gunshot bird before glancing off the table and screeching off in another direction. He won the first and lost the second match, but his spin continually flummoxed his young opponents.
The type of rubber on the bat a player uses also matters. Thick rubber vs. thin. Hard vs. soft. Pimples out vs. pimples in. It all produces different kinds of spin.
SPIN AS ZEN
Executing good spin requires that a tremendous number of different things all go right at the same time.
But to do it well, players must largely forget the details and just play.
"If you think, you have lost," said Thomas Weikert, president of the International Table Tennis Federation.
The trick to achieving a Zen-like level of spin is practice. Lots of practice, for hours a day, every day, for years on end.
"I know many athletes at the top of different sports, and ... they don't need too much practice since they are already good. But we always need practice," Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the German world No. 5 and the bronze medalist in London, said in an interview after a practice session at the Riocentro arena.
Ovtcharov notes two Chinese players practicing nearby, world No. 1 Ma Long and world No. 3 Xu Xin, who are rocketing the ball at each other in a rally that has lasted for what seems like half-an hour, their wrists flicking the ball so that it spins in a blur just over the net, each player progressively moving back from the table until they are 10 feet away, yet still putting the ball exactly where they want.
"They are practicing the whole day because of spin," Ovtcharov said. "Repetition after repetition will get you more feeling, and if you get more feeling you will react better under pressure."
SPIN, DONE RIGHT, IS OFTEN UGLY — OR UNNOTICED
Another paradox about spin: Despite its importance, not many people watching the Olympics will realize it's happening at all.
The rapid rotation on the small ball is simply too hard to see.
Therefore, some spectators will be confused when an opponent botches a return of a masterful slow-topspin shot, for instance, wondering why that's so much harder to hit than a scorching smash.
Spin is also a great leveler.
When two players who know each other's game intimately play against each other, table tennis is often very fun to watch: long, exciting exchanges, with smash after smash.
"But if you don't know each other so well, the game doesn't look so nice sometimes because the players don't adapt to each other's spin," Ovtcharov said. "With no spin, the better one would have it a lot easier and there would be a lot less surprises."
The game is filled with specialists, like the Spaniard He, who deceive and frustrate their opponents with spin.
It's not always pretty, but it works.
Spin can often be seen in the games of "choppers," defensive specialists who use backspin to slowly chop an attacking opponent's ball back at them, over and over, negating attacks and waiting for a mistake.
It only works with spin.
Online:
AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org/
Foster Klug, AP's bureau chief in Seoul, South Korea, is covering table tennis and badminton in Rio. Follow him at www.twitter/apklug
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