West Brom win over Chelsea excites Ideye

West Brom striker Brown Ideye has hailed the team’s 3-0 win against English Premier League champions Chelsea on Monday at the Hawthorns.

Two goals from Saido Berahino and Chris Brunt handed Chelsea their third defeat in 37 games.
Ideye, who replaced Berahino in the 79th minute of the shock win, described the victory as a great one for the Baggies.

The Nigeria star wrote on his twitter page on Tuesday morning: “Great win yesterday.”
Ideye has appeared 24 times for the Midlands team, scoring four goals.
West Brom are 13th in the league table and will face Arsenal in their final league game on Sunday.

completesports

'True face of Shakespeare' appears in botany book

A 400-year-old botany book contains what could be the only known portrait of Shakespeare made in his lifetime, according to an academic expert.

Botanist and historian Mark Griffiths cracked an "ingenious cipher" to identify the playwright in an engraving in the 16th-Century work.

"This is what Shakespeare looked like, drawn from life and in the prime of life," he said.

Details of his discovery are revealed in this week's issue of Country Life.

Mark Hedges, the magazine's editor, hailed it as "the literary discovery of the century".

Speaking at London's Rose Playhouse on Tuesday, he said: "We have a new portrait of Shakespeare, the first ever that is identified as him by the artist and made in his lifetime."

He said Griffiths' "unrivalled specialist knowledge" as an expert in the role of flora in the literature of the English Renaissance made him "uniquely qualified to discover the greatest Elizabethan of all."

It is not the first time such claims have been made about a Shakespeare portrait.

In 2009, a painting known as the Cobbe portrait was put on show by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The trust said it was convinced the artwork - thought to date back to 1610 - was an authentic portrait, but some critics said the picture was not of Shakespeare.

Griffiths made his discovery when he was researching the biography of pioneering botanist John Gerard (1545-1612), author of The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes.

The 1,484 page book, published in 1598, is described as the largest single-volume work on plants that has been published in English.

The title page is illustrated with an engraving by William Rogers depicting four figures, which were thought to have been imaginary.

However, as Country Life reports, Griffiths decoded decorative devices around the figures - such as heraldic motifs and emblematic flowers - to reveal their "true identities".

They are, he says, the author Gerard, Rembert Dodoens, a renowned Flemish botanist, and Queen Elizabeth's Lord Treasurer, Lord Burghley.

The fourth man holds a fritillary and an ear of sweetcorn - plants which Griffiths says point to Shakespeare's poem Venus and Adonis and his play Titus Andronicus.

Portraits 'at a premium'

Beneath the bearded fourth man was "an ingenious cipher of the kind loved by the Elizabethan aristocracy" which, decoded, confirmed his identity as "William Shakespeare".

Griffiths writes in Country Life: "The Fourth Man is not cartoonish or stylised. It may be monochrome, in fancy dress, and just 3.5 inches tall, but this is something that has been sought for centuries."

He goes on: "By the time that portraits of Shakespeare were at a premium, the significance of the Rogers engraving had faded from memory. Its camouflaged figures, coded plants and ciphers proved too clever for its own good.

"The title page, one of the richest and most important artworks of the English Renaissance, came to be seen merely as a bibliophile's rarity and a fine, if stereotypical specimen of Elizabethan decoration. Nobody dreamed of finding Shakespeare in it."

bbc

Okagbare shines in China, beats Campbell-Brown, Fraser-Pryce

Nigeria’s golden girl and multiple-times African champion Blessing Okagbare was in fine form on Sunday at the Shanghai Diamond League as she beat a strong field to win the 100m race.

Okagbare won the race in 10.98 seconds, setting a new personal season’s best, and beating favourites Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly Frase-Pryce.

The win got Okagbare four points in the Diamond League race.

American Tori Bowie came second in 11.07, while Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago was third in 11.13.

The disappointing Campbell-Brown and Fraser-Pryce finished fourth and fifth respectively in 11.22 and 11.25 seconds.

Elderly people who exercise 'live five years longer'

Regular exercise in old age has as powerful an effect on life expectancy as giving up smoking, researchers say.

The analysis of 5,700 elderly men in Norway showed those doing three hours of exercise a week lived around five years longer than the sedentary.

The authors, writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, called for campaigns to encourage fitness in older people.

The study comes as a charity warns about low levels of exercise.

In the study - conducted by Oslo University Hospital - found both light and vigorous exercise extended life expectancy.

Official advice in the UK recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week in the over-65s.

Boost exercise

The trial tracking 68 to 77 year olds found that doing less than an hour a week of light exercise had no impact.

But overall those putting in the equivalent of six, 30-minute sessions of any intensity, were 40% less likely to have died during the 11-year study.

The report said: "Even when men were 73 years of age on average at start of follow-up, active persons had five years longer expected lifetime than the sedentary."

It added that physical activity was as "beneficial as smoking cessation" at reducing deaths.

"Public health strategies in elderly men should include efforts to increase physical activity in line with efforts to reduce smoking behaviour."

The report did not look at how active people were earlier in their lives.

'Too lazy'

However, the study comes as the British Heart Foundation publishes a report warning people are getting too little exercise.

Its analysis shows that the percentage of adults doing no moderate exercise is:

• 69% in Portugal
• 55% in Poland
• 46% in France
• 44% in the UK
• 34% in Croatia
• 26% in Germany
• with Netherlands doing relatively well at 14%

Julie Ward, from the charity, said: "Regular physical activity, whatever your age, is beneficial for your heart health and ultimately can help you live longer.

"However, our latest statistics show that nearly half of people in the UK do no moderate exercise whatsoever - a rate higher than many European countries.

"Our message is that every 10 minutes counts and that making simple, more active changes to your daily routine can set you on a path to improved heart health."

bbc

India rape victim dies after 42 years in coma

A Mumbai nurse who was raped more than 40 years ago, and who had been in a coma ever since, has died, local news channel NDTV reported.

Aruna Shanbaug, 68, was raped in the KEM hospital where she worked and suffered from an irreversible brain damage following the attack in 1973.

No one was charged with her rape. The man who was accused of the assault was charged with robbery.

The country's Supreme Court in 2011 rejected a petition by author Pinki Virani to stop staff at the hospital where Shanbaug was cared for from force-feeding her. Virani also argued for legal euthanasia for Shanbaug.

Kavita Krishnan, a women's right activist said that the widespread attention generated by Shanbaug's case hasn't led to reduction in sexual violence against women in India.

"This case says a lot about the safety of women at the work place. There is a widespread rape culture which has only gotten worse. Women have become extremely vulnerable to violence. Much remains to be done to change this culture." Krishnan, who heads the All India Progressive Women Association, told Al Jazeera.

"I hope while we remember her we also have a serious discussion about the safety of women not just at work but at home and on the streets," she said.

There is been an outpouring of tributes on social media following the death of Shanbaug.

al jazeera

Automatic Shirts For Iheanacho, Success, Simon

Moses Simon

The trio of Kelechi Iheanaho, Isaac Success and Moses Simon has been assured of places in the Flying Eagles squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, Complete Sports can report exclusively.

But the trio, according to the head coach of the team, Manu Garba, must be certified fully fit for the competition before they will be picked.

Garba told Complete Sports in an exclusive chat Wednesday night that he has been in constant touch with the trio and that the three clubs Manchester City, Granada and Gent have agreed to release the players the team.

"Success’ team, Granada is battling relegation in the La Liga and they have pleaded with us that they will release him to us immediately on the 24th after their game against Atlético Madrid," he began in a chat.

"Same with Daddy Simon, he will join the team in New Zealand after his team's final game in the play-offs. The problem with Iheanacho is his visa, once that is sorted he will join the team.

"We all know these players and they are not new to the team so they know how we play. They have been with us since the U-17 days and it will be easy for them to fit into the team.

"We all know the kind of qualities these players (Iheanaho, Success and Simon) possess and how they will be of importance to our team for the World Cup. They will add value to our team.

On why he started Taiwo Awoniyi from the bench in his side’s 5-2 win against Hoffenheim; he said: "There have been lots of talks about him lately and we must do everything to ensure he is in top shape for the World Cup because many teams will be watching him to find means and ways to scheme him out of games.

"He scored three goals, yes, but every player here are doing well to represent the team at the World Cup level so we have a team to face the world." he concluded.

completesports

Prostate cancer drug 'extends lives'

Early treatment with a chemotherapy drug extends the lives of patients with advanced prostate cancer by nearly two years, a major study shows.

Docetaxol is normally given after hormone treatment has failed.

But results, to be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, will show earlier treatment can extend life expectancy from 43 to 65 months.

Experts said the findings from a trial in Britain and Switzerland were "potentially game-changing".

More than 40,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and nearly 11,000 die in the UK each year.

During the trial, being run across Britain and Switzerland, 2,962 men took part in the trial and some were given six doses of docetaxol at the start of their treatment.

Overall, patients who received the drug lived 10 months longer, but for patients where the cancer had already spread beyond the pelvis, the increase in life expectancy was 22 months.

'Pleased'

Prof Nicholas James, one of the researchers at Warwick University, called for all patients with prostate cancer that had spread to be given docetaxol when they are diagnosed.

He said the NHS needed to act quickly: "To see a 22-month survival advantage off six lots of treatment given several years earlier is a very big benefit. We are very pleased by it."

Fellow researcher Prof Malcolm Mason, from Cardiff University, added: "In prostate cancer it has been used at a much more advanced stage of the illness, for some years - now we know that this chemotherapy should be added earlier, in fact as soon as hormone therapy starts."

It would be relatively cheap to do as docetaxol is out of patent.

'Alive'

John Angrave, 77, from Hinckley in Leicestershire, was told that he had three to five years to live.

That was seven years ago.

He said: "I am alive. I have a good quality of life and I am alive.

"I walk. I go fishing. I can spend time with my great-grandchildren."

The researchers say they need to monitor patients for longer to see if the drug significantly prolongs life if the cancer has not spread.

There were side effects from the treatment, but the doctors said they were "manageable".

'Game-changing'

Cancer Research UK said the results were "important" and "show that it should be given earlier in a man's treatment".

Dr Iain Frame, the director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: "The findings of this trial are potentially game-changing - we can't wait to see the full results.

"Chemotherapy is currently one of the last-resort treatments for advanced prostate cancer.

"If it is shown to have a much greater impact on survival when prescribed earlier and alongside hormone therapy, that's incredibly exciting, and we would want to see this brought in to the clinic so it can benefit men without delay."

The study is one part of a much the wider Stampede trial which is assessing the impact of using a range of drugs or radiotherapy in conjunction with conventional hormone therapy.

bbc