The Stanley Cup

It all started on March 18, 1892, at a dinner of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association. Lord Kilcoursie, a player on the Ottawa Rebels hockey club from Government House, delivered the following message on behalf of Lord Stanley, the Earl of Preston and Governor General of Canada:

"I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup which should be held from year to year by the champion hockey team in the Dominion (of Canada). "There does not appear to be any such outward sign of a championship at present, and considering the general interest which matches now elicit, and the importance of having the game played fairly and under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup which shall be held from year to year by the winning team."

Shortly thereafter, Lord Stanley purchased a silver cup measuring 7 ½ inches high by 11 ½ inches across for the sum of 10 guineas (approximately $50); appointed two Ottawa gentlemen, Sheriff John Sweetland and Philip D. Ross, as trustees of that cup; and set the following preliminary conditions to govern the annual competition:

• The winners to return the Cup in good order when required by the trustees in order that it may be handed over to any other team which may win it.
• Each winning team to have the club name and year engraved on a silver ring fitted on the Cup.
• The Cup to remain a challenge competition and not the property of any one team, even if won more than once.
• The trustees to maintain absolute authority in all situations or disputes over the winner of the Cup.
• A substitute trustee to be named in the event that one of the existing trustees drops out.

The first winner of the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) hockey club, champions of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada for 1893. Ironically, Lord Stanley never witnessed a championship game nor attended a presentation of his trophy, having returned to his native England in the midst of the 1893 season. Nevertheless, the quest for his trophy has become one of the world's most prestigious sporting competitions.

iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Curve, most used smartphones in U.S

A recent report by The Nielsen Company revealed that 3G iPhones have the highest penetration in the U.S. mobile phone market.

Four percent of cell phone users own a 3G iPhone, which includes both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, while 3.7 percent are BlackBerry Curve 8300 series owners. These devices were followed by the Motorola RAZR V3 series (2.3 percent), the LG enV2 (2.1 percent) and the LG Voyager (1.7 percent).

The study also found that Google was the most accessed Web site from mobile phones between January and September 2009. Yahoo Mail, Gmail, the Weather Channel, and Facebook trailed the popular search engine.
More information can be found on The Nielsen Company's blog

China Telecom to Offer BlackBerry Services

China Telecom plans to offer service for the popular BlackBerry handset from Research In Motion (RIM), the company said Tuesday, making it the second Chinese carrier to do so.
China Mobile, the world's largest carrier by accounts, previously offered the BlackBerry in China for large business users, but it only this month said it would start offering the device to consumers and small businesses as well.

RIM this month also said it plans to make a version of the BlackBerry that uses a 3G standard promoted by China Mobile and the Chinese government, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access).

China Telecom has agreed to offer BlackBerry services and is working with RIM on practical arrangements, a representative of the carrier said. A spokeswoman for RIM confirmed the partnership. Pricing and launch details were not available.

China Telecom did not say it would offer BlackBerry handsets itself, but Digital China, a local IT services vendor and product distributor, this month said it would start distributing BlackBerry handsets. Users can also buy the devices at electronics bazaars around China, where they are sold after being brought back informally from overseas.

More smartphones popular abroad have launched in China this year as the country's three mobile carriers have rolled out their 3G services. China Unicom in recent weeks launched the country's first official iPhone sales, and China Telecom is also in talks with Palm to offer handsets including its Pre smartphone.

Iranian Leader 'Orders Dismissal'

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to dismiss his choice to serve as vice-president, state TV says.

Appointing Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie was "against your interest and the interests of the government", the ayatollah wrote to Mr Ahmadinejad.

His remarks came after another leading cleric also demanded the dismissal.

Mr Mashaie had caused controversy in 2008 when he said Iranians were friends with the Israelis.

According to Iranian state TV, Ayatollah Khamenei sent Mr Ahmadinejad a clear message.

"It is necessary to announce the cancellation of this appointment," he told the president.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who is known for his own outspoken views against Israel, has previously defended Mr Mashaie, calling him modest and loyal to Iran's Islamic system.

Hardline students

Hundreds of hardline students took to the streets of the capital, Tehran, in support of the demand for Mr Mashaie to stand down.

They warned they would withdraw support from Mr Ahmadinejad unless he dismisses Mr Mashaie.

During their demonstrations they chanted that defiance of Ayatollah Khamenei's views would not be tolerated, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Ayatollah Khamenei has the final say in matters of state, and analysts say he has rarely faced defiance in the past - though that changed in recent weeks with reformists challenging his ruling that last month's disputed presidential election was fair.

Correspondents say the deepening rift between the supreme leader and Mr Ahmadinejad comes at a precarious time for the president.

They say he needs hardline support against the reformist opposition who continue to maintain that his re-election was fraudulent.

The row over Israel broke out last year when Mr Mashaie, then minister in charge of tourism, was quoted as saying that Iranians were friends with the Israeli people, despite the conflict between their governments.

"Today, Iran is friends with the American and Israeli people," he said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency. "No nation in the world is our enemy."

North Korea 'Names Kim's Successor'

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il has designated his youngest son to be the country's next leader, according to reports in South Korean media.

Two newspapers and an opposition lawmaker said South Korea's spy agency had briefed legislators on the move.North Korean officials were reportedly told to support Kim Jong-un after the North's 25 May nuclear test.

There has been much speculation over who would follow Mr Kim, who is thought to have suffered a stroke last year.Analysts have said the North's recent military actions, including last week's nuclear test, may have been aimed at helping Mr Kim solidify power so that he could name a successor.

See Kim Jong-il's family tree

The reports in the Hankook Ilbo and Dong-a Ilbo newspapers quoted unnamed members of South Korea's parliamentary intelligence committee briefed by the National Intelligence Service, although the spy agency refused to confirm the reports.
The Associated Press news agency reported that opposition legislator Park Jie-won, a member of the parliament's intelligence committee, told local radio he had been briefed by the government on the North's move.

Mr Park said the regime is "pledging allegiance to Kim Jong-un", it reported.

Little is known about Kim Jong-il's youngest son, who is thought to have been born in 1983 or early 1984.

The Dong-a Ilbo added that the North is teaching its people a song lauding Kim Jong-un - who reportedly enjoys skiing and studied English, German and French at a Swiss school.

Nuclear concern

There is no confirmed photograph of him as an adult.

Questions have also been raised over whether his late mother, a Japanese-born professional dancer called Ko Yong-hui, was Kim Jong-il's official wife or mistress.

The youngest Kim has been reported as being the son who most resembles his father.

The BBC's Seoul correspondent, Chris Hogg, says it is not the first time there has been speculation that the youngest son was being groomed to succeed his father.

There were reports he had been named as his successor in January. In April the South Korean news agency, Yonhap, said he had joined the North's powerful National Defence Commission.

Our correspondent notes that in a society that values seniority his youth could be a problem.
Some analysts have urged caution, noting that in the absence of much verifiable information coming out of North Korea, there is a wealth of speculation and rumour.

"We had rumours in September, October that it will be Chang Song-taek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law, then briefly there were rumours about his second son, then stories about his third son," Andrei Lankov of the Australian National University in Seoul told our correspondent.

"Every few months we have a new wave of rumours."

Who will eventually rule the nuclear-armed North has been the focus of intense media speculation since leader Mr Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last August.

The last succession was settled 20 years before the death of the Great Leader Kim Il-sung in 1994, and publicly announced at a party congress in 1980.

The reports of the naming of the next leader come amid growing international concern over the North's nuclear programme and its recent missile tests.

South Korea has deployed a high-speed patrol boat armed with missiles to its disputed western maritime border with the North.

It follows reports that the North has moved a long-range missile to a launch site on the west coast.

Meanwhile, at the end of a two-day summit, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and leaders from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) condemned North Korea's recent nuclear test and missile launches.

Plane searchers spot ocean debris

Brazilian aircraft searching for an Air France jet which went missing with 228 people aboard in an Atlantic storm have spotted debris on the ocean.

A plane seat and other items were sighted 650km (400 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha island, the Brazilian air force said.

It could not be immediately confirmed that the debris came from the Airbus.

The jet was heading from Brazil to Paris when it vanished about four hours into its flight, early on Monday.

See a map of the plane's route
Air force spokesman Col Jorge Amaral said the seat had been spotted by search planes early on Tuesday.

There were also small white pieces of debris, material that may be metallic and signs of oil and kerosene, which is used as jet fuel.

"The search is continuing because it's very little material in relation to the size [of the Airbus A330],"Col Amaral added.

Officials, he said, needed "a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification" to be sure it came from the missing jet.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin has stressed there is still "no evidence whatsoever" as to the cause of the plane's loss

"We cannot, by definition, exclude a terrorist attack, because terrorism is the main threat for all Western democracies," he added.

'Life jacket'

Plane crews from Brazil, France and other countries had narrowed their search to a zone half-way between Brazil and west Africa, hoping to pick up signals from the Airbus's beacons.
Indications that debris had been spotted first came in the early hours of the morning when it was detected by a plane flying over the area where the Air France flight went missing, the BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Brazil.

Then, after first light, another aircraft was able to identify a variety of material at two separate points more than 60km apart.

Col Amaral was quoted by the Associated Press as saying a life jacket had been spotted amid the debris.

"The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted," he told reporters in Rio.

"That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis."

Searchers now planned to focus their efforts on collecting the debris and trying to identify it, he said.

Electrical failures

In his last radio message, at about 0200 GMT on Monday, the captain of Flight AF 447 reported entering turbulence, French media say.
Up to a dozen reports of electrical failures were sent automatically from the plane before it vanished over the ocean just after.

Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.

Crisis centres have been set up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Rio's Tom Jobim international airport.

One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendent of the last Brazilian emperior, Dom Pedro II, a spokesman for the family said.

Three young Irish doctors were also aboard, returning from two-week holiday in Brazil. Aisling Butler's father John paid tribute to his 26-year-old daughter, from Roscrea, County Tipperary.

"She was a truly wonderful, exciting girl," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"She never flunked an exam in her life - nailed every one of them - and took it all in her stride."


Flight path of AF 447
1. 2200 GMT, 31 May: AF 447 leaves Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, bound for Paris
2. 0133 GMT, 1 June: Last radio contact with AF 447
3. 0148 GMT: Plane leaves radar surveillance zone off islands of Fernando de Noronha and enters band of stormy weather
4. 0214 GMT: Series of automated messages sent from AF 447 indicating electrical fault
5. 0220 GMT: AF 477 due to arrive in Senegal airspace but no contact received

Killings provoke Kashmir protests

By Altaf Hussain

Violent protests are continuing across Indian-administered Kashmir, following the deaths of two women who many believe were raped by Indian troops.

The bodies of the two women were recovered on Saturday morning after they went missing on Friday.

A general strike called by separatist groups in response to the deaths of the women brought life in the Kashmir Valley to a standstill.

The government has ordered a judicial probe into the killings.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said an inquiry had become necessary because of the people's lack of faith in police investigations.

"Initial findings do not suggest either rape or murder. But there is a need to establish beyond doubt so that people are satisfied as far as possible.

"Most of the Valley is shut down. People want truth and they want it from a credible source," he said.

A retired high court judge, Justice Muzaffar Jan, has been given one month to complete the inquiry.

Action demanded

The incident has sent shockwaves throughout the Kashmir Valley in recent days. The separatist call for a strike was met with an overwhelming response as shops closed and traffic was suspended.

Daily demonstrations have paralysed the town of Shopian, where the women were from, as local residents demanded action from security forces.

The authorities have also imposed an undeclared curfew in the southern district of Shopian and police and paramilitaries have been deployed across the area.

The two women, who were sisters-in-law, went missing on the way home from their orchard on Friday. Their bodies were found the next morning, one in a canal and one on open ground about 1km (0.6 mile) away.

The results of the post-mortem report have not yet been made public.

On Saturday thousands of people marched in procession to the main square in Shopian town where they ransacked the local hospital in which the post-mortem had been performed.

The demonstrators allege that the women were gang-raped and subsequently killed by Indian security forces.

Local police reject the allegations saying that the women appeared to have drowned in a stream, the Associated Press news agency says.

French Plane Lost in Ocean Storm

An Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France has vanished over the Atlantic after a possible lightning strike, airline officials say.

The Airbus sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit as it flew through strong turbulence.

It was well over the ocean when it was lost, making Brazilian and French search planes' task more difficult.

Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris has set up a crisis centre.

"We are without a doubt faced with an air disaster," Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters.

"The entire company is thinking of the families and shares their pain."

Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men.

Most of those aboard were Brazilians while the others included 40 French people and at least 20 Germans, the French government said.

A number of Italians and Britons are also believed to have been aboard.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport to visit the crisis centre, AFP news agency reports.

'Long search'

The Airbus 330-200 had been expected to arrive in Paris at 1110 local time (0910 GMT).
It made its last radio contact at 0133 GMT (2233 Brazilian time) when it was 565km (360m) off Brazil's north-eastern coast, Brazil's air force said.

The crew said they were planning to enter Senegalese airspace at 0220 GMT and that the plane was flying normally at an altitude of 10,670m (35,000ft) and a speed of 840km/h (520mph).

At 0220, when Brazilian air traffic controllers saw the plane had not made its required radio call saying it was crossing into Senegalese airspace, air traffic control in the Senegalese capital was contacted.

At 0530 GMT, Brazil's air force launched a search-and-rescue mission, sending out a coast guard patrol plane and a specialised air force rescue aircraft.

"The plane might have been struck by lightning - it's a possibility," Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France, told reporters in Paris.

Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency, said the search would take "a long time".

"It could be a long, sad story," he told Brazil's Globo news. "The black box will be at the bottom of the sea."

France's minister responsible for transportation, Jean-Louis Borloo, ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's loss.

'No information'

An Air France official told AFP that people awaiting the flight would be received in a special area at Charles de Gaulle airport's second terminal.
Tearful relatives and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived expecting to greet passengers.

About 20 relatives of passengers on board the flight arrived at Rio's international airport on Monday morning seeking information.

Bernardo Souza, who said his brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.

"I had to come to the airport but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

"With a lack of information, it is even more worrying."

Air France has opened a telephone hotline for friends and relatives of people on the plane - 00 33 157021055 for callers outside France and 0800 800812 for inside France.

This is the first major incident in Brazilian air space since a Tam flight crashed in Sao Paulo in July 2007 killing 199 people.

Obama Presses Israel, Palestinians on West Bank

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Gingerly trying to advance Mideast peace, President Barack Obama on Thursday challenged Israel to stop settlement construction in the West Bank on the same day the Israelis rejected that demand. Obama pushed Palestinians for progress, too, deepening his personal involvement.

"I am confident that we can move this process forward," Obama said after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House. The president said that means both sides must "meet the obligations that they've already committed to" — an element of the peace effort that has proved elusive for years.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told The Associated Press after the session with Obama that no meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are on the horizon. He said there are no preconditions for such a meeting but "obligations" on Israel through the so-called road map for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Abbas said he is meeting his commitments under the road map and that Israel should do the same. He cited continued settlement construction as a commitment Israel is not meeting. Earlier in the day, Israel rejected blunt U.S. requests to freeze Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, a territory that would make up the Palestinian state, along with the Gaza Strip, as part of a broader peace deal.

In strong language, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had said Wednesday that Obama wants a halt to all settlement construction, including "natural growth." Israel uses that term for new housing and other construction that it says will accommodate the growth of families living in existing settlements.

Israeli spokesman Mark Regev responded Thursday by saying some construction would go on."Normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue," he said, noting Israel has already agreed not to build new settlements and to remove some tiny, unauthorized settler outposts. Regev said the fate of the settlements would be determined in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

With that as a backdrop, Obama said part of Israel's obligations include "stopping settlements." But he also struck a hopeful tone.

He said he had pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the settlement matter just last week at the White House, and that the Israeli leader needs to work through the issue with his own government."I think it's important not to assume the worst, but to assume the best," Obama said.

The president also pushed Palestinians to hold up their end, including increased security in the West Bank to give Israelis confidence in their safety.

Obama said he told Abbas the Palestinians must find a way to halt the incitement of anti-Israeli sentiments that are sometimes expressed in schools, mosques and public arenas. "All those things are impediments to peace," Obama said.

The Palestinian leader said "we are fully committed to all of our obligations" under the road map. Doing so, Abbas said, is "the only way to achieve the durable, comprehensive and just peace that we need and desire in the Middle East." Obama, like predecessor George W. Bush, embraces a multifaceted Mideast peace plan that calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The president refused to set a timetable for such a nation but also noted he has not been slow to get involved in meeting with both sides and pushing the international community for help.

"We can't continue with the drift, with the increased fear and resentment on both sides, the sense of hopelessness around the situation that we've seen for many years now," Obama said. "We need to get this thing back on track."

Abbas is working to repackage a 2002 Saudi Arabian plan that called for Israel to give up land it has occupied since the 1967 war in exchange for normalized relations with Arab countries. Abbas gave Obama a document that would keep intact that requirement and also offer a way to monitor a required Israeli freeze on all settlement activity, a timetable for Israeli withdrawal and a realization of a two-state solution.

"The main purpose of presenting this document to President Obama is to help him in finding a mechanism to implement the Arab peace initiative," Abbas told the AP.

Asked about his impression of the meeting with Obama, Abbas said: "It was a serious and open meeting and President Obama seems determined on what he has said to us and to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the necessity of implementing the road map, and we have agreed to continue our communications."

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Obama affirmed to Abbas that Israel has an obligation to freeze settlement expansions, including natural growth.

The U.S. and much of the world consider the settlements an obstacle to peace because they are built on captured land the Palestinians claim for a future state. But successive U.S. administrations have done little to halt settlement activity.

Now more than 120 settlements dot the West Bank, and Palestinian officials say their growth makes it increasingly impossible to realize their dream of independence. More than 280,000 Israelis live in the settlements, in addition to more than 2 million Palestinians in the West Bank. An additional 180,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, where the Palestinians hope to establish their capital.

Israelis will be anxiously watching Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo, where he will deliver a message to the Muslim world to try to repair relations that frayed badly under the Bush administration. Obama will also visit Saudi Arabia before he goes to Egypt.

"I want to use the occasion to deliver a broader message about how the United States can change for the better its relationship with the Muslim world," Obama said of his Egypt speech. "That will require, I think, a recognition on both the part of the United States as well as many majority Muslim countries about each other, a better sense of understanding, and I think possibilities to achieve common ground."

Obama 'Confident' on Two-State Solution

US President Barack Obama says he is confident that Israel will recognise that a two-state solution is in the best interests of its security.

Speaking after White House talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Obama again urged Israel to freeze settlement expansion.Israel has insisted it will allow existing settlements to expand, despite pressure from Washington.

President Obama also said Palestinians must rein in anti-Israeli violence.For his part, Mr Abbas said he was committed to all obligations under the Mid-East peace plan "roadmap".

However, without a halt to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinians have said there can be no progress towards peace.

'Israel's interests'

Mr Obama said he was a "strong believer in a two-state solution" and believed Israel would recognise that it was in the best interests of its long-term security.

He said it was important for all countries, but particularly Arab states, to be supportive of the two-state solution.

"I am confident that we can move this forward if all parties are ready to meet their obligations," he said.
Mr Abbas said the need for progress in the stalled process was urgent.

He added that "time is of the essence" - a phrase also used by Mr Obama.

He said that he had shared ideas with Mr Obama based on the 2003 peace plan and the 2002 Saudi peace plan supported by the Arab league.

Under the US-backed 2003 roadmap to peace, Israel is obliged to end all settlement activity, specifically including natural growth.

The plan also requires the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants who seek to attack Israelis.

President Obama said he had been "very clear" in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week on the need to "stop settlements".

Mr Netanyahu later said no new settlements would be built but natural growth in existing settlements should be allowed.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Mr Obama's public reiteration of his view - a day after his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had laid it out only to have it shot down by the Israeli government - has raised eyebrows in Washington.

Ahead of his visit to the Middle East next week, Mr Obama has put Mr Netanyahu on notice that this White House has a firm agenda of its own, our correspondent adds.

Stalled talks

The White House meeting between the two leaders is part of an effort by the Obama administration to restart stalled peace talks.

Mr Obama has already met King Abdullah of Jordan and Mr Netanyahu. He plans to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on 4 June.

Earlier on Thursday, Mrs Clinton said Washington was pushing for a two-state solution in the Middle East as it was in the "best interests" of both the Palestinians and Israelis.

Speaking after a dinner with Mr Abbas, she said: "We believe strongly in a two-state solution."

However, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said on Thursday that Israel would continue to allow some construction in West Bank settlements despite US calls for a freeze on its work.He said the fate of the settlements should be decided in peace talks with the Palestinians.