 |  | | Celebrating A Killing |  MAN is shot in the head, and
joyous celebrations break
out 7,000 miles A away.
Although Americans are in
full agreement that the
demise of Osama bin Laden is a good
thing, many are disturbed by the revelry.
We should seek justice, not
vengeance, they urge. Doesn´t this lower
us to "their" level? Didn´t the Rev Dr
Martin Luther King Jr say, "I will
mourn the loss of thousands of precious
lives, but I will not rejoice in the death
of one, not even an enemy"? (No, he did
not, but the Twitter users who popularised
that misattributed quotation last
week found it inspiring nonetheless.)
Why are so many Americans... |
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| |  | | THE FORCE OF
THE DEED | | WATCHING the talk
shows, thinking about
the tumultuous last
American decade,
reflecting on the death
of Osama bin Laden, I feel grateful
for many things but not least this:
the invisibility of the heroes.
For once it is the deed itself that
speaks. The deed, so often lost in
this age of celebrities and reality
shows and Donald Trump´s monumental
ego, stands unadorned. In
its daring, its professionalism and
its effectiveness, the deed is there,
making words look cheap.
The deed was that of the 79 US
commandos, who have met with
their commander-in-chief,
President Obama, and who are
known to one another, but are
unknown to us. For secrecy is their
covenant.
Dispatched from Jalalabad,
Afghanistan... |
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Ronaldo’s hat-trick keeps Barca’s title party on hold
AFP
MADRID CRISTIANO Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to make it an incredible 36 league goals in the current campaign as Real Madrid defeated local rival Getafe 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday to prevent Barcelona from winning the league title for at least one more day.
If Real had failed to win, Barcelona would have been crowned champion without playing, but Pep Guardiola’s side need a point from its final three matches, with Wednesday’s match at Levante the first opportunity, to collect a third successive league crown.
The league may seem lost, but Ronaldo has his own agenda to become the league’s top-scorer and followed up his quadruple against Sevilla last time out with a hat-trick.
The Portuguese star is now in the box seat to win the Pichichi crown for the league’s top-scorer with his 36-goal haul taking him five goals ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo is now within sight of the all-time Pichichi record, which is held by Real Madrid’s Mexican forward Hugo Sanchez and Athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra who scored 38 goals in 1990 and 1951 respectively.
Getafe were Ronaldo’s latest victims and its 18th defeat of the season leaves them hovering one point above the bottom three with two games left.
Real took the lead on 23 minutes with Mesut Ozil bending in a superb cross with the outside of his left foot and Ronaldo leapt highest to poower in a header.
German international Ozil set another up for Ronaldo on 57 minutes cutting the ball back for the former Manchester United man to stroke home into an empty net.
Karim Benzema, largely ignored for the big games against Barcelona, came on and less than 60 seconds after his arrival the French forward scored his 13th league goal on 77 minutes.
Ronaldo then converted a 90th minute penalty for his hat-trick with a cheeky chip down the middle to deceive the goalkeeper.
It sealed a 15th home win of the season for Real and moved them five points behind Barcelona, but the champion need just a draw to retain the title due to its superior head to head record over Madrid.
“It looks like the league is all wrapped up but it isn’t,” said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
“The sooner we can win it the better.”
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