Category: Новини

The Somali government has suspended its head of athletics after a sprinter finished more than 10 seconds behind the winner in the 100-meter dash at the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China.

Youth and Sports Minister Mohamed Barre Mohamud told VOA Somali that Khadijo Aden Dahir had been suspended pending an investigation.

 

He alleged that the runner, Nasro Abukar Ali, had been selected to represent Somali schools because of nepotism rather than her performance.

On Tuesday, Ali ran the 100-meter-dash in 21.81 seconds, compared with the winning time of 11:58 seconds.

“When we investigated how she went there, she went there through [an] inappropriate process which was not transparent and not in line with the rules,” Mohamud said.

“We can confirm that she was taken there through corruption.”

Mohamud said Dahir and Ali are related.

VOA Somali has reached out to Dahir, but she has not responded to repeated calls and requests for comment.

Politicians and Somali observers have taken to social media, describing the matter as a “national embarrassment.”

“So Embarrassing for the young lady who cannot run. … This is a national tragedy,” wrote Ali Said Faqi, a Somali federal lawmaker, on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

 

A civil society leader in the diaspora, Zahra Shirwa, was kinder to Ali.

“The only ‘tragedy’ here is that this young woman is turned to a national punching bag,” she wrote. “She was clearly not ready for the competition but, tragedy?

 

Last week, Ali was seen off from the Mogadishu airport by Somali officials and the Chinese ambassador to Somalia, Fei Shengchao, according to a post on X by Somali National Television.

The Ministry of Youth said the government would investigate the matter and submit conclusions to the justice department.
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 Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died.

Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.

“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”

The character with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie was best known for the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show. HBO would air the show as a special.

Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” sent Pee-wee on a nationwide escapade. The movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.

A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.

His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.

Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.

“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.

“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the AP. “That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
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