Category: Новини

U.S. golfing great Tiger Woods will be formally inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame Wednesday night at a ceremony in Florida.

Woods’ 14-year-old daughter Sam, who was born the day after he finished second at the 2007 U.S. Open, will formally introduce him at the new headquarters of the PGA Tour in Ponte Verde Beach.

The 46-year-old Woods dominated his sport from the moment he turned professional in 1996, becoming the first Black golfer to win a major event when he won The Masters the following year. He has since won 15 major titles, putting him second only to fellow American great Jack Nicklaus, and is tied with another golfing legend, Sam Snead, for the most PGA Tour victories with 82.

His career has been interrupted by numerous back and leg injuries which have required several surgeries. The worst of his injuries occurred last year when he suffered serious fractures to his lower right leg and damage to his ankle and foot when the vehicle he was driving sped off a road outside of Los Angeles.

Woods announced last February that he will “never” play full time on the PGA Tour again due to his injuries, but he appeared with his son Charlie at a team tournament where they finished in second place.

Also being inducted in Wednesday’s ceremonies are retired PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchen, three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Susie Maxwell Berning, and Marion Hollins, a 1920s amateur champion who later became an influential golf course architect and developer.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Three sisters from Irbil have won gold and silver medals in weightlifting events in the regional 2021 Arab Weightlifting Championship. While preparing for future weightlifting competitions, the three Kurdish women are inspiring young girls to step into a male dominated field. VOA’s Ahmad Zebari reports from Irbil, narrated by Namo Abdulla.
Camera: Ahmed Zebari 
Produced by: Ahmed Zebari 
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The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up the sexual assault case against comedian Bill Cosby, leaving in place a decision by Pennsylvania’s highest court to throw out his conviction and set him free from prison.

The high court declined prosecutors’ request to hear the case and reinstate Cosby’s conviction. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last year threw out Cosby’s conviction, saying the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s agreement not to charge Cosby.

As is typical, the Supreme Court did not say anything in rejecting the case. The case was included in a long list of cases the court said Monday it would not hear.

The 84-year-old Cosby became the first celebrity convicted of sexual assault in the #MeToo era when a jury in 2018 found him guilty of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. A jury had previously deadlocked in Cosby’s case, resulting in a mistrial in 2017.

Cosby spent nearly three years in prison before Pennsylvania’s high court ordered his release.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
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Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” “Drive My Car” and “Summer of Soul” were among the big winners at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards Sunday.

The ceremony hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally was held in a tent by the beach in Santa Monica, broadcast on AMC and IFC. It is the cool, casual counterpart to some of the more traditional film awards shows.

“If you don’t win, you can just walk straight into the ocean,” Offerman said.

Gyllenhaal won best feature, director and best screenplay for her adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel “The Lost Daughter.”

Through tears, Gyllenhaal said that more than anything she believes in love. She was effusive in her praise for her crew.

“You were the first people to tell me I was a director,” she said. “Thank you to Netflix — I can’t even believe this — for your support. … Nobody ever makes their first movie and comes out loving their financiers.”

“I love independent film,” Gyllenhaal added. “I grew up making independent film.”

Japan’s “Drive My Car, which has also been nominated for a best picture Oscar, picked up best international feature.

Taylour Paige won best female lead for “Zola,” which was based on a Twitter thread about a wild trip to Florida.

“Wow, I am in shock. I wrote something because I’m not eloquent and I’m drunk,” Paige said.

She thanked her grandmother who passed away on the day she got word of her nomination and Zola for, “knowing that your story was worth telling.”

Simon Rex won best male lead for playing an ex-porn star in Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket.” Rex said his career was in the dumps before Baker called him for the shoestring film.

“I’m reeling from the whole experience,” Rex said. “This is basically a glorified student film…I’m grateful and humbled.”

Mullally and Offerman got the show off to a lively start, both in three-piece suits and vests with no shirt underneath. Sarah Silverman made an appearance in a pre-taped segment offering her services as a backup host because Mullally and Offerman joined Twitter “before 2015.”

The married co-hosts said they’d hoped to be the biggest Hollywood couple in the room and were dismayed that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard were there to upstage them.

“A-listers and indie stars? Pick a lane you greedy bastards,” Offerman said.

They acknowledged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Offerman said he hopes “Putin (expletive) off and goes home” and implored the audience to send him off with a “Spirit Awards salute.” Many raised their hands with a middle finger.

The show’s honorary chair Kristen Stewart also spoke about the war.

“We’re compelled to stand with the people of Ukraine,” Stewart said. “We stand with the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing this war.”

Historically, the Spirit Awards are held on the Saturday afternoon before the Oscars, but this year moved up a few weeks.

“Summer of Soul” won best documentary. The film brings back to life the largely forgotten Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969.

“I’m not going to cry right now, I’m not, I’m not,” “Summer of Soul” director Questlove said.

Troy Kotsur got another boost before the Oscars, winning best supporting actor for “CODA.” He also won the Screen Actors Guild prize.

“I can feel the spirit of the arts and we can celebrate together,” Kotsur said.

“Squid Game’s” Lee Jung-jae also followed up his SAG win with a Spirit Award.

Marlee Matlin, who presented the first screenplay award to Michael Sarnoski for “Pig,” implored the screenwriters to think of deaf actors when crafting scripts.

Andrew Garfield made an appearance to present the Robert Altman Award to his friend Fran Kranz, who he acted with in a Mike Nichols play. Kranz’s debut “Mass” is a small ensemble about a mediation in the aftermath of a school shooting between parents of a victim and parents of the perpetrator.

Best supporting female went to Ruth Negga, for her turn in Rebecca Hall’s “Passing.” A technical glitch muted the first part of her virtual speech. The black-and-white Netflix film also won best cinematography, for Edu Grau

The show can sometimes serve as a preview of what will happen on Oscar night. Last year, Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” picked up best feature and director at the Spirit Awards before going on to win the top prizes at the Oscars. “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” “Birdman” and “12 Years a Slave” also all won at the Spirits before taking best picture at the Oscars.

Because of their production budgets, many top awards contenders this year were not eligible, including “Belfast,” “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog.” To be considered, films must have cost less than $22.5 million to make.
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The 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race started Sunday with 49 mushers setting their sights on Alaska’s western coast.

The race will take the mushers across Alaska’s untamed and unforgiving terrain, including two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and the unpredictable Bering Sea ice.

The winner is expected to cross the finish line in the western Alaska coastal community of Nome about nine days after the start.

For the first time ever in 2021, the race did not finish in Nome because of the pandemic. Instead, the race started in Willow, went to the ghost town of Iditarod and then doubled back to Willow.

Dallas Seavey won the 2021 race, matching musher Rick Swenson for the most wins ever with five apiece. Swenson, 71, last won in 1991 and hasn’t raced the Iditarod since 2012.

Seavey is looking to make history by becoming the first musher to hold six titles. Seavey has said he will likely take a break after this year’s race to spend time with his daughter.

There are two four-time champions in the race with Martin Buser and Jeff King. Buser is running in his 39th Iditarod, and King stepped in just days before the race started to run musher Nic Petit’s team after Petit said on Facebook he contracted COVID-19. Also in the race are 2018 winner Joar Leifseth Ulsom and 2019 winner Pete Kaiser.

Fifteen mushers signed up but withdrew from the race before it started, including Petit and the 2020 winner Thomas Waerner of Norway, who wasn’t able to secure travel documents to the U.S.
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