CAIRO: An Egyptian cyclist has set off on Saturday from the heart of downtown Cairo heading to Moscow to support Egypt’s national soccer team in the World Cup.
Mohammed Nufal, 24, embarked on the long-haul journey from the famed Tahrir Square and is planning to traverse seven countries across three continents including Jordan, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Nufal said he will only take a flight from Jordan to Bulgaria to bypass war-torn Syria.
“The languages are among the biggest challenges,” Nufal told The Associated Press. “I will deal with that using translation apps and sign language.”
He expects the weather to be bearable during the trek.
According to his official Facebook page, Nufal said his trip would take 65 days covering a distance of some 5,000 kilometers (3,160 miles). He expects to take nine days to travel 800 kilometers in Egypt alone, where his last stop will be in south Sinai’s Nuweiba, before heading to Jordan.
Nufal had previously biked for 70 days to Gabon, passing through Chad, Sudan and Cameroon.
Egypt qualified for this year’s World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Egyptian cyclist pedals to Russia to support team in World Cup
Egyptian cyclist pedals to Russia to support team in World Cup
- The trip taken by Mohammed Nufal will take 65 days to complete
- Nufal will cover 5,000 kilometers on his epic journey through seven countries
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
