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"Luis Adan Valbuena (November 30, 1985 – December 6, 2018) was a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder. He played eleven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 2008 through 2018, for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels. While primarily a third baseman, Valbuena also played second base and first base. He was killed in a car crash in 2018 in Venezuela caused by bandits in an attempted robbery. Early life Valbuena grew up in Sucre, a municipality in the Venezuelan state of Zulia. He was raised by a single mother named Nelly, who was the president of the local youth baseball league. Valbuena's older brother and several uncles helped him learn to play baseball. Professional career Seattle Mariners Valbuena began his professional career in the Seattle Mariners organization in 2005. He was first promoted to the major leagues on September 1, 2008, from the Mariners' Triple-A team, the Tacoma Rainiers. Cleveland Indians On December 10, 2008, Valbuena was traded to the Cleveland Indians in a three-team trade that sent Franklin Gutiérrez to Seattle. Valbuena hit his first major league home run off of Bartolo Colón on June 7, 2009. Valbuena in 2011 In July 2011, the Indians optioned Valbuena to Triple-A Columbus, to make room for the promotion of rookie second baseman Jason Kipnis. In August 2011, Valbuena was recalled after Kipnis was put on the disabled list with an oblique injury. He was designated for assignment and removed from the 40-man roster on November 18. On November 26, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations. Chicago Cubs On April 4, 2012, Valbuena was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs after being optioned by the Blue Jays. He was outrighted to the minors on April 7. Valbuena was called up from the Triple-A Iowa Cubs on June 14. Valbuena played 108 games for Chicago in 2013, hitting .218 with 12 home runs and 37 runs batted in (RBIs). The next year, Valbuena's batting average increased to .249 over 149 games and he had 16 home runs and 51 RBIs.Luis Valbuena Statistics and History. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 10, 2015. By June 2014, Fangraphs noted that Valbuena was hitting fastballs well in the lower, outer portions of the strike zone, which had been a weakness for him in previous years. Houston Astros On January 19, 2015, the Cubs traded Valbuena and Dan Straily to the Houston Astros for Dexter Fowler. At the time of the trade, Valbuena was projected as the Astros' starting third baseman for 2015.Dexter Fowler trade: Meet Luis Valbuena, the Astros' newest infielder. Crawfish Boxes. Retrieved April 10, 2015. Valbuena's average dropped to .224 in 2015, but he set a career-high with 25 home runs. With Jed Lowrie coming off the disabled list and Carlos Correa taking over the primary shortstop position, Valbuena was forced to share some of the first base duties along with Chris Carter and utility player Marwin González in order to get some playing time. At the beginning of the 2016 season, Valbuena was the starting third baseman for the Astros. He began to split playing time between first and third base. With the call-up of Astros prospect Alex Bregman, Valbuena saw more playing time at first base. Los Angeles Angels On January 24, 2017, Valbuena signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Valbuena split time during the season between third base and first base. He ended the season hitting a career low .199 with 22 home runs and a career high 65 RBIs. Valbuena was designated for assignment by the Angels on August 5, 2018. He hit .199 for the second straight season, finishing with nine home runs and 33 RBIs. He was released on August 7, 2018. For the season, he had the slowest baserunning sprint speed of all major league third basemen, at 24.1 feet/second.Statcast Sprint Speed Leaderboard baseballsavant.com Death On December 6, 2018, Valbuena, José Castillo, and Carlos Rivero were in a car in Yaracuy driven by Rivero's chauffeur when the group was ambushed by highway robbers. The players were members of Venezuelan winter team Cardenales de Lara, and were returning from a game played on the day of the crash. The driver attempted to avoid them but the vehicle struck a rock and overturned, killing Valbuena and Castillo. Four men were arrested in connection to the incident after being found in possession of the players' property. See also *List of Major League Baseball players from Venezuela *List of baseball players who died during their careers References External links * 1985 births 2018 deaths Arizona League Cubs players Cardenales de Lara players Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Columbus Clippers players Everett AquaSox players Houston Astros players Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino players Iowa Cubs players Kane County Cougars players Los Angeles Angels players Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball players from Venezuela People from Zulia Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Road incident deaths in Venezuela West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players "
"USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS-23) is an Impeccable-class ocean surveillance ship acquired by the U.S. Navy in 2001 and assigned to Military Sealift Command's Special Missions Program. Construction Impeccable was built by American Shipbuilding, Tampa, Florida. The contract was awarded on 28 March 1991. The ship's keel was laid down on 15 March 1992, but the Tampa shipyards went bankrupt by November 1993. On 3 December 1992, the General Accounting Office published a report that concluded that T-AGOS 24–27 should not be built. Shortly afterwards the government decided to discontinue this class of ships, but Impeccable was to be completed as the sole ship in her class. The hull was towed to Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1995 where she was finished by Halter Marine Inc. She was launched on 28 August 1998 and was delivered to the Navy on 22 March 2001 which assigned her to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Special Missions Program. Design The ship is a designated T-AGOS vessel built to tow a Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System. The ship's catamaran- type small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) design prevents the vessel from rolling in heavy seas and gives additional deck space for storing the acoustic equipment. Mission The mission of Impeccable is to directly support the Navy by using SURTASS passive and active low frequency sonar arrays to detect and track undersea threats. Operational history Low Frequency Active Sonar *The SURTASS Low Frequency Active Sonar system, onboard Impeccable, commenced sea trials in late February 2004. During the spring and summer of 2004, Impeccable conducted five training missions in the Philippine Sea and the northwest Pacific Ocean. All LFA sonar operations included the operation of the High Frequency / Marine Mammal Mitigation sonar and compliance with all mitigation requirements. * Total operational days on board the Impeccable using the LFA array: :(15 August 2003 to 15 August 2004) 26.2 days with 63.0 hours of transmissions :(15 August 2004 to 15 August 2005) 9.4 days with 22.7 hours of transmissions :(15 August 2005 to 15 August 2006) 22.5 days with 39.4 hours of transmissions. *The ship had five years of active and passive operations in the Western Pacific before the incident in the South China Sea. South China Sea incidents Two Chinese trawlers stop directly in front of the Impeccable, forcing the ship to conduct an emergency "all stop" in order to avoid collision. On 5 March 2009, the Impeccable was in the South China Sea monitoring submarine activity when it was approached by a People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) frigate, which crossed its bow at a range of approximately 100 yards without first making contact. This was followed less than two hours later by a Chinese Y-12 aircraft, conducting 11 flyovers of Impeccable at an altitude of and a range from . The frigate then crossed Impeccables bow again, this time at a range of approximately 400–500 yards. On 7 March, a Chinese intelligence ship contacted the Impeccable over bridge-to-bridge radio, calling her operations illegal and directing Impeccable to leave the area or "suffer the consequences." One Chinese crewmen waves a Chinese flag, while another uses a grappling hook to try to snag Impeccable's towed sonar array. On 8 March 2009, the Impeccable was 75 miles south of Hainan, China, when it was shadowed by five Chinese ships: a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries Patrol Vessel, a State Oceanic Administration patrol vessel, a PLA Navy ocean surveillance ship, and two Chinese-flagged naval trawlers, which maneuvered close to the Impeccable, with two closing in to , waving Chinese flags, and ordering the Impeccable from the area. The Impeccable sprayed water at one of the nearest Chinese ships; the Chinese sailors stripped down to their underwear and their vessel closed in to within 25 feet of the American ship. Shortly after the incident, the Impeccable radioed the Chinese crews, informing them of its intentions to leave the area, and requesting a safe pass to travel. When it was trying to leave the area, the two Chinese trawlers dropped pieces of wood in the Impeccables path and stopped directly in front of it, forcing it to do an emergency stop to avoid a collision. Once the Impeccable got under way, the crew aboard one of the trawlers used a grappling hook to try to snag Impeccable's towed sonar array. The Hainan Submarine Base is on the island of Hainan. The nearby Paracel Islands are administered by China, but claimed by both Vietnam and Taiwan The United States lodged formal protests following the incident, stating that under international law, the U.S. military can conduct activities "in waters beyond the territorial sea of another state without prior notification or consent" including in an exclusive economic zone of another country. "The unprofessional maneuvers by Chinese vessels violated the requirement under international law to operate with due regard for the rights and safety of other lawful users of the ocean." China's Foreign Ministry responded that the Pentagon's complaints that five Chinese vessels had harassed the Impeccable were "totally inaccurate", although this claim was disputed by several released reports, which all state that the Impeccable was interfered with numerous times, both while operating in the area and when attempting to leave. On 12 March 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama gave the go-ahead to send the guided missile destroyer to the South China Sea to protect the Impeccable while operating in that area. Hans M. Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists has suggested that the incident may be related to the classified Type 093 submarine that the Chinese navy had recently deployed in the area. =Views on the legality of US and Chinese actions during these incidents= China and the United States both maintain the rightfulness of their actions based on competing interpretations of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The United States maintains that the Convention, which it has signed, but not yet ratified, authorizes activities such as those undertaken by Impeccable. Several legal experts also state that there is no legal foundation for China's claim that it can prevent foreign naval vessels from operating within its Exclusive Economic Zone. For example, Raul Pedrozo, writing in the Chinese Journal of International Law, concludes that "all nations may legitimately engage in military activities in foreign exclusive economic zones, without prior notice to, or consent of, the coastal State concerned." On the contrary, Chinese officials assert that the operations are illegal. Rear Admiral Wang Dengping, political commissar of the Armament Department of the Chinese Navy, condemned the Impeccable's activities, stating that "Innocent passage by naval vessels from other countries in the Territorial waters in the Special Economic Zone is acceptable, but not allowed otherwise" under the Convention. Chinese actions were further defended by Professor Ji Guoxing of Shanghai Jiao Tong University who, writing in China Security, maintained that under the Convention, navigation rights in coastal countries' exclusive economic zones are "subject to the resource-related and environment-related laws and regulations of the coastal state," and China could exclude the Impeccable on this basis. Ji further asserted that the Convention's prohibition against gathering military intelligence in another country's territorial waters should be interpreted to also prohibit intelligence gathering in coastal countries' exclusive economic zones. 2015 rescue at sea On July 19, 2015 while en route for a scheduled port visit to Subic Bay, USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS 23) rescued 11 fishermen. Impeccable sailors spotted personnel on a partially submerged ship and noted debris in the water. "They [Impeccable crew] initially spotted only eight people on the partially submerged vessel," said Lt. Cory Hilgart, the theater anti-submarine watch officer at Commander, Task Force 74. "They then realized that it was actually 11 and made the call to commence the rescue effort." The Impeccables master immediately deemed assistance was required and began preparations to deploy their rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) to rescue the personnel. "This was a team effort with civilian mariners, SECDET [security detachment], MILDET [military detachment] and Lockheed Martin working together to achieve an efficient rescue of all 11 fishermen," said Robert Wiechert, Master of the Impeccable. The RHIB made three trips to the distressed vessel and recovered all eleven individuals. "One of the crew members spoke English," said Hilgart. "He told the Impeccable crew that they were fishermen from the Subic Bay region. He confirmed that there were only 11 on board." Once the mariners were brought aboard Impeccable, they were examined by medical personnel and given food and water. No serious injuries or illnesses were reported. Shortly after Impeccable arrived in port in Subic Bay, July 20, the mariners were turned over to the Philippine Coast Guard. Honors and awards Impeccable personnel are qualified for the following medals: * National Defense Service Medal See also * Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea * Hainan Island incident * New Star ship incident * Territorial waters * United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea References External links Special Mission Program * T-AGOS 23 Impeccable at GlobalSecurity.org Small waterplane area twin hull vessels Ships built in Tampa, Florida 1995 ships Impeccable-class ocean surveillance ships Maritime incidents in 2009 International maritime incidents 2009 in the United States Military catamarans "
"Sathon Road in 2019 Sathon Road (, , ; also Sathorn or Satorn) is a major road that passes through the districts of Bang Rak and Sathon in central Bangkok, Thailand. It is an important transportation link between Phra Nakhon and Thonburi sides of Bangkok. Sathon Road is lined with skyscrapers and corporate offices, especially banking and finance related. Thai and International banks such as SMBC and Citicorp have their headquarters located along Sathon Road. Numerous 40+ story luxury condominiums line the street. It also has, along the South side, the embassies of Australia (37), Denmark (Soi 1), Germany (9), Malaysia (35), and Slovak Republic (25). The extensive Protestant Bangkok Bible College and a Roman Catholic church are in the south-west. View of Sathon Tai Road in 1997 It consists of the eastbound Sathon Nuea Road (or North Sathon Road, belonging to Bang Rak district) and the westbound Sathon Tai Road (or South Sathon Road, belonging to Sathon district) separated by Khlong Sathon. * On the south-western end of the roads is the Taksin Bridge, also commonly called Sathon Bridge, crossing the Chao Phraya River from Charoen Krung Road that borders the river. This end also has the Chao Phraya Express Boat CEN Sathon station, the terminus from which southern and northern line river-stations are numbered. Near this end the Si Rat Expressway (2nd State Expy) crosses at this end. * The north-eastern end terminates at Rama IV Road, but continues as Witthayu Road (Wireless Road) where many embassies and ambassadors residences are located, their corner having Lumphini Market on the north-east side. The Silom Line of the BTS Skytrain also runs along most part of this road with stations Surasak and Saphan Taksin. The skytrain extension to the other side of Chao Phraya River opened to public in May 2009. The MRT Blue Line, Lumphini Station is at the other end near Rama IV Road. The Bangkok BRT Sathorn station is located on Narathiwat road, linked to Chong Nonsi BTS station by a new bridge. The intersection between Sathon and Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra roads is a new commercial area filled with office buildings such as the Empire Tower. Streets in Bangkok Sathon District "