Latest news with #Odo
Qatar Tribune
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
Yoshimura & Odo shock top seeds Shidong & Kuai Man
Tribune News Network Doha Maharu Yoshimura and Satsuki Odo claimed an emotional victory at ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025, pulling off a stunning upset against No.1 seeds Lin Shidong and Kuai Man to move into the semi-finals of the mixed doubles, on the fifth day of the nine-day worlds. Yoshimura and Odo won 8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 12-10. Bronze medallists two years ago at the World Championships Finals in Durban, Lin and Kuai were hot favourites to bring home the gold in Doha, and the World No.1 duo made a promising start to the match, landing the opening game by a three-point margin. But it was clear things weren't going to be straightforward for the Chinese superstars as Yoshimura and Odo returned to the table with even greater determination, and it wasn't long before the scores were level once again. Suddenly, the feeling inside Lusail Sports Arena completely changed as Lin and Kuai began to realise they had a fight on their hands. Down 10-7 in the third, the top seeds chalked up four points on the bounce to hold a crucial game point opportunity, but fate would swing the other way as Yoshimura and Odo took an unlikely lead for the first time. Producing a championship calibre performance on the grandest of stages, Yoshimura and Odo were inching ever closer to etching their names in World Championships Finals history, and could see the finish line, opening up a commanding 8-3 lead in the fourth. There were some late nerves for the Japanese partnership, seeing their opponents claw their way back to 8-8. Lin and Kuai would then save match points at 10-8 and 10-9 to draw level, heaping the pressure on Yoshimura and Odo. With the tie in the balance, it was now or never for the Japanese underdogs, and they would embrace the moment, straining every sinew to close out a historic victory. An overwhelmed Yoshimura said, 'It's been a long time since I last won a medal at the WTTC - the last time was in 2019. To be paired with Odo and win a medal really exceeded my expectations. So many emotions rushed over me all at once, and I couldn't help but cry. I'm truly happy.' The surprises continued in the men's doubles as Romania's Ovidiu Ionescu and Spain's Alvaro Robles stunned Japan's fourth-seeded pairing of Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima 3-2 (9-11, 14-12, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9). In the women's doubles, Germany's Sabine Winter and Yuan Wan added to the day's dramatic moments by eliminating Chinese Taipei's Tsai and Huang 3-2 (8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7). Meanwhile in the men's singles, Germany's Patrick Franziska produced one of the most remarkable comebacks of the tournament, overturning a 0-3 deficit to defeat Korea Republic's Cho Daeseong 4-3 (7-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4, 11-3) in a breathtaking encounter. In the women's singles, Japan's eighth seed Mima Ito overcame a spirited challenge from Poland's Natalia Bajor to win 4-2 (11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 1-11, 2-11, 11-9), while her compatriot Hina Hayata had to work hard to defeat Czech Republic's Hana Matelova 4-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 11-10). Italy's teen Gaia Monfardini saw her remarkable run come to an end against South Korea's s ninth seed Shin Yubin, who prevailed 4-1 (11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-14, 11-6). Despite the defeat, Monfardini's breakthrough performance in Doha, which included a stunning upset of Hong Kong, China's 28th seed Doo Hoi Kem, marks her as a rising star to watch.
Newsweek
11-05-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Weed Recall in One State Over Fungus That Can Be Life Threatening
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Marijuana sold in Arizona has been recalled by the state's health department due to fungus contamination. Newsweek has reached out to ADHS for further comment by email Sunday during non-working hours. Why It Matters Marijuana is legal for medical use in 38 states, and legal for recreational use in 24 states for those over the age of 21, as Newsweek previously reported. Five more states - Wisconsin, Florida, Hawaii, South Dakota, and South Carolina - could approve use in through legislation this year. As states allow both medical and recreational use, some state regulations have required testing to protect from medical dangers such as potential aspergillus contamination. What To Know The health department issued the recall Friday, warning that the batch in question could contain aspergillus. "An Arizona marijuana establishment is voluntarily recalling specific products due to possible contamination with Aspergillus," the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) said in the press release. The marijuana being recalled was sold under the name Odo, Batch PHX1164-ODO, the release said. Aspergillus is a fungus that can lead to life threatening infections of the lungs and blood stream called aspergillosis, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A cannabis plant in Ketama, Morocco on October 19, 2024. A cannabis plant in Ketama, Morocco on October 19, 2024. Photo by RAJ ALAYA/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images "Most people breathe in Aspergillus spores every day without getting sick," the CDC website said, cautioning that those who suffer from underlying conditions are at risk of serious medical risk from contamination. No one has reported any illnesses related to this batch of marijuana, the ADHS said in the press release. The department said it issued the recall "out of an abundance of caution" after the finding the aspergillus during testing. Aspergillus contamination in marijuana can cause an allergic reaction or a life- threatening infection. It usually is more of a risk to those who are already sick or have underlying conditions, according to the CDC. Symptoms can range from shortness of breathing, coughing, fever and wheezing to coughing up blood, loss of appetite and fatigue, the CDC warns. There are four types of infections that can occur from aspergillus contamination, the CDC website said. These include allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), allergic aspergillosis sinusitis, chronic pulmonary aspergillosis ICPA) and aspergilloma, also known as fungus ball, according to the CDC. People can also suffer from invasive aspergillosis, which means the infection spreads from the lungs into the rest of the body. This condition is usually only found in those with underlying medical conditions, the CDC said. While aspergillosis is not a reportable disease in the U.S., according to the CDC, the agency says is shows up more among certain groups like cystic fibrosis and sarcoidosis patients. Data recorded in the U.S. between 2000 and 2013 shows an increase of an average 3 percent of hospitalizations for invasive aspergillosis, with nearly 15,000 hospitalizations associated with the infection in 2014 alone. People who receive organ and stem cell transplants are also more compromised, with data from 2001 to 2006 showing "invasive aspergillosis was the most common type of fungal infection among stem cell transplant recipients and was the second-most common type of fungal infection among solid organ transplant recipients," according to the CDC. What People Are Saying The CDC said on their website: "Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) likely affects between 1 and 15% of cystic fibrosis patients. One study calculated that 2.5% of adults who have asthma also have ABPA, which is approximately 4.8 million people worldwide. Of these 4.8 million people who have ABPA, an estimated 400,000 also have chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA). Another 1.2 million people are estimated to have CPA after having tuberculosis, and over 70,000 people are estimated to have CPA as a complication of sarcoidosis." ADHS said in the press release: "Once ADHS discovered the potential contamination, the Department contacted the facility that produced the products. The licensee took immediate action to work with all distribution and retail partners to remove any potentially impacted products from store shelves." What Happens Next It is unknown how many batches of the product were sold and ADHS has not named the specific location where it was sold. Anyone who purchased the batch is advised by ADHS to throw it away. If someone has ingested the product and is suffering from any symptoms they should get medical attention.
Los Angeles Times
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
What's the line between religion and cult? It's blurry in this community in the California redwoods
What's the line between a religion and a cult? It involves money, no doubt. And control over who you can see and what you can say. And a narcissistic leader too. But the line still can get fuzzy quickly; mainstream churches have had their own dark history of abuse and exploitation. One of the most engrossing elements of Nicole Cuffy's second novel, 'O Sinners!,' is how it dwells comfortably in the fuzziness, making for both a clever literary mystery novel and a meditation on the nature of faith. The novel's protagonist, Faruq, is almost custom-designed to dwell on these questions. An accomplished journalist for a New Yorker-style publication with a specialty in culture and race, he's a lapsed Muslim, unattached and mourning his late father but soldiering on. As a way to stave off burnout but keep working, he pursues a more relaxing assignment, heading to a 16,000-acre compound in the Northern California redwoods that's home to the 'nameless,' a community led by Odo, 'a Vietnam War vet with a penchant for coming up with catchy phrases that sounded like wisdom.' And not just catchy phrases: The 'nameless' attracts thousands of followers on Instagram with honeyed images and all the proper wellness hashtags. Faruq is understandably skeptical of all of it, especially the ways Odo seems gifted at extracting donations from very wealthy and devoted followers. One of them says they're simply rejecting the world and its 'distortions,' but to an outsider it looks a lot like captivity. 'O Sinners!' alternates across three narrative tracks. The first focuses on Faruq's trip to the redwoods, as his initial plan to spend six weeks following Odo turns into months of immersion in the community. The second is a screenplay of a documentary about a conflict between the 'nameless' and a conservative Christian Texas town that turned into a legal conflagration over sexual abuse and defamation. The third is the saga of a U.S. Army company in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, as a group of men trek across the jungle, land in firefights and use downtime to josh and fight over God, country, race and more. One of those soldiers becomes Odo; Cuffy's neat trick is that we can't determine which one until the novel's end. It could be Preacher, who has a religious bent; or Bigger, the raw but hyperobservant new recruit; or the war-weary Silk, who already has a Purple Heart; or the aggressive Crazy Horse. Metaphorically, Cuffy suggests, a man of cult-leader timber possesses some of those characteristics. But the one thing all of those men shared was trauma, and a capacity to suppress it. Whichever man Odo is, he's a man who's capable of covering up pretty much anything with layers of sophistry, becoming 'as smooth and serene as the Sphinx.' Faruq's role as the hero of the story is to tunnel into Odo's past and motivations, even while he reckons with his own feelings about his Muslim upbringing and the way it still shapes his life. 'He was forming a theory about the distinction — or lack thereof — between a cult and a religion in its nascency,' Cuffy writes. And Cuffy is too, of course. The 'nameless' doesn't have a sexually rapacious leader like NXIVM or an exploitative financial scheme like Scientology or a doomsday philosophy like Heaven's Gate. Faruq can't find a single disillusioned former member. Odo is a subtler figure. Though his '18 utterances' are plainly Judeo-Christian-Islamic goulash borrowing from the Ten Commandments and beyond, they seem largely benign. Yet tucked among the encouragements to get 'hipped to oneness' and 'train the other sight' is the dark glimmer of where the cult-religion line blurs. The Odo commandment 'do not despair of death' reads on the surface like compassion — acceptance of loss is something everyone, including Faruq, needs to manage. But on the compound, it also encourages a certain callousness, a willingness to not intervene when the worst happens. Faruq sees it when he's compelled to help with births in the compound's horse stables, but he also witnesses it metastasize around the humans. A religion respects death and aspires to guide followers through the grief it provokes; a cult sees death as mere evidence that life is cheap. Cuffy is gifted at showing how that distinction empowers Odo and baffles Faruq, and the screenplay portions give the novel a concreteness — a specific drama — without which it might turn into a woollier, talkier and less dramatic book. (Much of Faruq's stay is consumed by conversations with Odo where he bats away direct questions, giving Faruq the telling, condescending nickname of 'scholar.') Still, Cuffy's treatment of the 'nameless' isn't entirely persuasive. What makes Odo so fascinating that people would give up millions to him isn't clear; it's hard to see how Odo, who spends his days delivering benisons and posing for Insta, manages what's effectively a city; and the reader is left wondering what's going on with the 'Deep,' a militia patrolling the grounds. But 'O Sinners!' is as much a spiritual thought exercise as it is a realistic novel. The 'nameless' is clearly on the cusp of something — ready to either break in the direction of a mainstream religion or give in to its darkest instincts. In that regard, Cuffy suggests, we humans don't have to be skeptical just of what a faith is offering but of what we are unwilling to confront for the sake of being a servant to it. Odo may be proffering a 'web of fairy tales and other religions,' but it doesn't take a cult leader to sell that. And any kind of person can fall into it. Athitakis is a writer in Phoenix and author of 'The New Midwest.'
