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RPT-COLUMN-Elliott's BHP plan was doomed, but the ulterior motive isn't: Russell | (Repeats with no changes to text. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)
* BHP vs peers over two and 15 years: reut.rs/2oQXpNR reut.rs/2oQXCR9)
By Clyde Russell
LAUNCESTON, Australia, April 12 When activist shareholder Elliott Advisors went public with its call to restructure BHP Billiton, it was most likely aware that the world's largest mining company would reject the plan.
Elliott, which manages more than $32.7 billion and holds about 4.1 percent of BHP's London-listed shares, wants the company to end its dual London-Sydney listing, hive off its petroleum assets in a separate listing in New York, and return more cash to shareholders.
By going public with the letter it wrote to BHP directors, Elliott should have known it had no chance of its proposal succeeding. Indeed, BHP soon shot down the plan, saying the costs would outweigh the benefits.
So why bother going to all the rigmarole of working out a restructuring plan, engaging the directors and then going public if there was little chance of success?
Elliott may have been looking for a short-term bounce in the share price, which was duly delivered with the Sydney stock rising 4.6 percent to a close of A$25.73 ($19.30) on April 10, the day the proposal was released to the public.
But more likely is that Elliott wanted to kickstart a debate on how best to unlock value in BHP, and put pressure on management to return more of the benefits of the recent rise in commodity prices to shareholders.
A valid criticism of BHP, and indeed other resource peers such as Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore , is that shareholders largely missed out on the benefits of the massive China-led boom in commodity demand since the end of the 2008 global recession.
This is because the miners chose to expand operations at a cost of billions of dollars rather than return cash to shareholders.
In iron ore and coal, the massive surge in supply led to prices falling for five years from 2011-15, before supply and demand returned to a better balance last year, resulting in strong gains for many commodities.
If an investor has bought BHP shares in Sydney at the height of the post-2008 boom in commodities, they would still be under water.
BHP's Sydney shares reached a closing peak of A$44.89 on April 11, 2011, before slumping to a trough of A$14.21 in January last year. They have since recovered to A$25.57 at the close on Tuesday.
BHP has underperformed its peers on a two-year view, but outperformed on a 15-year basis, according to Thomson Reuters data.
MANAGING THE CYCLE
The bigger question is how should the management and shareholders of a company like BHP deal with the inherent cyclical nature of commodities.
Certainly, most commodity booms are ended when too much supply is commissioned as the miners all expand operations at more or less the same time in order to chase the higher prices.
But equally there is a risk to not investing to boost production when competitors are - you may end up with a smaller market share and lower prices anyway.
It's worth noting that since the recovery in commodity prices in 2016, when spot iron ore rose 81 percent and Australian thermal coal by 87 percent, major mining companies have been extremely cautious.
BHP, Rio and others have all committed in recent financial statements to maintaining strict cost discipline and limiting the amount of capital spending on new projects.
But it's almost inevitable that the tables will turn and resource companies will be tempted to once again seek to ramp up exploration and develop new projects.
In some ways, they have to, merely to replace reserves that are being depleted, but whether this can be done sensibly remains to be seen.
Certainly the track record of resource companies is patchy in this regard. Witness the simultaneous construction of eight liquefied natural gas plants in Australia, the main effect of which was to drive up costs as companies competed for labour while at the same time causing the price of the fuel to slump.
This dynamic was mirrored in iron ore and coal, and to some extent in crude oil as well, with the emergence of U.S. shale producers in the past few years.
What Elliott may be trying to achieve is to keep pressure on BHP's board and management to increase returns to shareholders while the company is generating strong cash flows off the back of higher prices for iron ore, coal and crude oil.
There may well be some merit in BHP spinning off its petroleum arm, much as it did with the aluminium and other non-core operations when it created South 32 in 2015.
But the irony is that by saying BHP should do this, Elliott has probably ensured they won't, as BHP's board and management wouldn't want to be seen doing something that they had earlier rejected.
The real test of whether Elliott's intervention has had any impact will be how much more cash BHP decides to return to shareholders when it announces its next results, due in August this year.
Disclosure: At the time of publication, Clyde Russell owned shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as an investor in a fund. (Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) |
Loris Karius to remain Liverpool No.1 after Reds were priced out of deals for Alisson and Jan Oblak | Get Liverpool FC updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe See our privacy notice Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Jurgen Klopp is ready to disappoint – and shock - Liverpool fans by reiterating his faith in Loris Karius as his number one.
And the Reds boss is prepared to back the under-fire keeper going into the new season, as he refuses to panic or over-react to the desire amongst the majority of the support to see him replaced.
The German coach takes his squad to Chester on Saturday for the first pre-season game of the summer, with Karius pencilled in to start, as new signings Naby Keita and Fabinho are also given a run-out.
Klopp understands may fans will be amazed at the prospect of Karius still in goal after his Champions' League final meltdown.
But the manager is insistent with NO target he rates currently available, there is no point in plunging into the transfer market just for the sake of it – and he will passionately argue that point with fans.
(Image: REUTERS)
(Image: Liverpool FC)
Liverpool HAVE targeted a keeper this summer. Yet they have simply been priced out of any move Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak, and Brazil number one Alisson.
Talks are not currently active over either player, and Roma keeper Alisson looks likely to head to Real Madrid.
For Klopp, that means only one thing – patience, and the need to remain calm.
It is the approach he adopted when it became apparent he would not land Virgil van Dijk last summer, after talks broke down with Southampton.
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
He refused to listen to calls demanding an alternative, which saw him going into the new season without a signing in defence – and that stance was justified when he landed van Dijk in January.
Faced with the same situation this summer, Klopp will adopt the same stance...and he is prepared to put his faith in Karius, along with Danny Ward as Simon Mignolet, rather than pay big money for a keeper he thinks is no better.
Many fans will be stunned by the manager's position, but Klopp is fully prepared to defend it if challenged. In particular, he will point to the form of Karius for the second half of the last campaign, right up until the Champions' League final.
(Image: UEFA/Getty)
(Image: REUTERS)
Klopp will also express his belief that the German keeper played well in the final against Madrid, UNTIL he was elbowed in the face by Sergio Ramos...a blow that tests later revealed left Karius with a serious concussion which lastest for several days.
The manager is known to be patient with players he has placed faith in, as he has shown with Dejan Lovren, who was demonised by fans but has won them over, and he believes the two errors in the final can be explained.
And unless things change with one of his main targets – which seems improbable at this stage – then he will go into the season with his current three keepers.
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
Liverpool have been linked with Barca's Jasper Cillessen, Dane Kaspar Schmeichel, Jiri Pavlenka of Werder Bremen, Thomas Strakosha and even Gianluigi Buffon, but the club and Klopp maintain they have ZERO interest in any of them.
Instead, the manager will refuse to panic and stand by Karius, Ward and Mignolet unless a main target becomes available at the right price. |
TOWIE at WAR! Mario and Jon Clark get into a heated argument before things get 'physical' with Mike | Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
It's never short of its fair share of drama - and that's an understatment.
But on Thursday filming on TOWIE is said to have been thrown into utter chaos as four stars nearly came to blows, during a location shoot for the reality show.
Jon Clark was seen squaring up to Mike Hassini, who appeared to push his co-star, as a verbal showdown between the former Love Island star and returning favourite Mario Falcone.
The face-off became so serious that production staff were forced to step in to calm things down.
Pictures obtained by The Sun show Jon striding up into Mike's personal space. However, things appeared to get even more intenser as Jon's younger brother Chris is seen darting between the pair in an attempt to separate them.
(Image: ITV)
(Image: WENN.com)
As Chris seemingly struggled to keep the two reality stars apart, Mario can be seen striding up to the encounter, motioning with his arms for everyone to calm down.
However, it would seem that the confrontation was going the wrong way, and the crew stepped in to put an end to things.
Confirming that tempers may have got a little frayed on set, a TOWIE rep told Mirror Online: "Our production team had to step in when a scene between four of the boys became heated.
(Image: BACKGRID)
"No punches were thrown and no one was hurt, however aggressive behaviour during filming will not be tolerated and disciplinary action will be taken if deemed appropriate."
One possible reason for the showdown could be Jon's on/off love interest, Lauren Pope.
While Mario and Mike have enjoyed a very cordial friendship with Jon and his brother Chris up until now, the tailor and his pal have been seen on camera warning Lauren of Jon's behaviour.
(Image: FameFlynet UK)
Speaking to The Sun Online, a source said: "Jon was the one who was messaging Mario last night - there's a lot of tension between them as Jon's dating Lauren - and Mario used to date Lauren.
“Jon just feels like, even though Mario's moved on and he's engaged to someone else, every time something goes on with Lauren, he has to stick his oar in.
“He keeps hearing from people sly comments Mario's made, or things he's been saying, and he's sick of it." |
2 carjacking suspects killed crashing into synagogue | NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Two men suspected of a carjacking in Connecticut were killed when the stolen car crashed into a synagogue following a police chase.
New Haven police say the two suspects claimed to have a handgun and took the victim’s 2005 Toyota Highlander around 12:15 a.m. Monday. The victim was not injured.
A little more than an hour later, an officer spotted the stolen car, called for backup, and began pursuing the suspects.
The stolen car crashed into the Congregation Beth El Keser Synagogue.
The suspects’ names have not been released. New Haven police say the investigation has been turned over to the Connecticut State Police and the state’s attorney’s office. |
Nationals' Shawn Kelley: Likely headed for DL | Kelley has been diagnosed with ulnar nerve irritation in his throwing elbow and is expected to wind up on the disabled list, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reports.
The veteran reliever's medical history is headlined by two Tommy John surgeries, but he's had plenty of other DL stints as well -- including four in the last 13 months. For the moment, Kelley will attempt to correct this latest issue with rest, but it wouldn't be a surprise if he ended up on the shelf for a lot longer than the minimum 10 days. |
Crystal Palace v Newcastle: Roy Hodgson backs 'football's 'dad's army' | GETTY Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson backed football's 'dad's army'
Palace's boss goes against Newcastle's Rafa Benitez today with a combined age of 127 years of experience standing on the touchline. Both clubs are in desperate need of points, with Palace just three above the bottom three and Newcastle just one behind. Former England boss Hodgson, 70, has worked wonders at Palace since taking over and believes his years honed managing clubs around the world has helped. Same goes for Benitez. He said: “There is still room for experienced managers in football. We are experienced managers but we are also coaches as well. “Newcastle's success and the way Rafa managed to turn the club around is not just down to his managerial skills or his recruitment skills alone. "I am sure it was also due to the fact he worked hard with the players in training and tried to get them to understand his ideas on team play in the same way we have done here.
Premier League players in and out of Champions League squads Fri, February 2, 2018 Which Premier League players have been included and dropped from Champions League squads? Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 23 Which Premier League players have been added and dropped from Champions League squads?
There is still room for experienced managers in football Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez
"Experience can be an added bonus, but it is not purely down to experience that they have done well. It is also down to the fact they have a manager who works with the team and encourages them to play organised football both when they have the ball and when they don't have it. "That's where experience can be a help in the fact it can often mean that you maintain humility or don't get carried away or too despondent if a result doesn't go your way and you can hopefully see a bigger picture ahead and put performances and results in the right perspective, because it is possible to win games even when the team is not doing very well or playing very well or you are getting a lot of luck on your side. "It is also possible to act conversely where you lose a couple of games when you have not played that badly. “The Tottenham and Newcastle games were early examples of that, we lost 1-0 but our performances were far better than could be expected of a bottom of the table team and I was able to capitalise on that, whereas when you are younger, the result can affect you and you can fail to see the positives. "It's also a two-edged sword. You have to be careful because the talented young coaches won't get a job because everyone (like me and Rafa) is working.
GETTY Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez didn't get many transfer in January |
Anthony Martial earns Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s praise on professionalism | Anthony Martial returned to make his mark for Manchester United by scoring one and creating another against Watford. (Source: AP) Anthony Martial returned to make his mark for Manchester United by scoring one and creating another against Watford. (Source: AP)
Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has heaped praise on team mate Anthony Martial for the professional and mature manner in which the forward has responded to recent criticism from manager Jose Mourinho.
The Portuguese has often singled out Martial following lacklustre displays this campaign but the young Frenchman impressed by scoring one goal and setting up the other in a 2-0 league win over Watford on Saturday.
“When he plays, he is playing well. He isn’t a guy that speaks a lot, he is quiet and very professional. He always tries to do his best, trains hard and that is paying off, just like in this match,” Ibrahimovic told British media.
Despite making an immediate impact following his high-profile transfer from Monaco in 2015, the 21-year-old Martial has found himself on the fringes of the first team this season, having made just 10 league starts under Mourinho.
“I think it depends on every individual and what kind of person they are and their approach, how open he is. It is different for every person,” Ibrahimovic added.
“He is not going around with his head down. He is training hard, he gives a lot of energy and he wants to play, which is normal.”
United host French side St Etienne in the first leg of their round-of-32 Europa League clash on Thursday. |
Sewer cleaning deaths: Hotel owner granted anticipatory bail; kin of two deceased accept compensation | “We have given Rs 7 lakh each to the families as compensation following which they agreed to cremate the bodies. It was a painful incident and we are equally saddened by their loss.” (Express Photo by Manoj Kumar) “We have given Rs 7 lakh each to the families as compensation following which they agreed to cremate the bodies. It was a painful incident and we are equally saddened by their loss.” (Express Photo by Manoj Kumar)
TWO DAYS after five employees at Hotel Grand Marian of Ludhiana were made to clean a manhole, leading to the death of two while three were taken ill after inhaling the toxic gas, the families of the two deceased performed the cremation on Monday.
On Saturday, the families had threatened to protest if the hotel owner was not arrested and also did not consent to autopsy. However, the hotel owner, Chetan Verma, was granted anticipatory bail Monday. Vijay Bharat Verma, also one of the owners of the hotel and father of Chetan Verma, said they had given compensation to the families.
“We have given Rs 7 lakh each to the families as compensation following which they agreed to cremate the bodies. It was a painful incident and we are equally saddened by their loss.”
Vishal, cousin brother of deceased Deepak, said, “Initially, we had decided that the cremation will not be done until the hotel owner is arrested. But Deepak’s father and other relatives later reached a compromise as compensation amount is required for education of Deepak’s four-year-old son,” he said. Naresh Kumar, uncle of Armaan who also died in the incident, said, “His family is poor. After Armaan’s death, a breadwinner was gone. They do not have money to even cook food and there are other children too in family. So, compensation amount is important to feed the family,” he said.
For all the latest Ludhiana News, download Indian Express App |
Hampden Park could be ditched as the home of Scottish football due to business rate hikes | Get football updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The home of Scottish football could change as Hampden Park is facing a business rates hike of 35 per cent, report the Daily Record.
Holyrood finance bosses are poised to impose crippling rises across Scottish business, some of up to 300 per cent, and many SPFL clubs will also take a hit.
Independent evaluations carried out in early 2015 will come into effect from April 1, with the rateable value of the national stadium increasing from £1million to £1.35m.
Bosses at Hampden Park Ltd, which owns the stadium, have been so stunned by the scale of the rise they are now considering an appeal.
Most businesses pay around 50 pence in the pound of their rateable value as tax, which means an increase for Hampden bosses of approximately £175,000 a year for the next five years.
Rates for football grounds are assessed on a range of factors including stadia capacities, average attendances and turnover from other streams of the business, including hospitality.
(Photo: Clive Rose)
A spokesman for Hampden Park Ltd said: “We’ve been advised of our new proposed rateable value and our independent assessor will review that value accordingly.”
The SFA have already commissioned an independent review to assess their options ahead of re-negotiations for the lease of the Mount Florida venue, which was last agreed in 2000 and expires in 2020.
The James Watson Consultancy have previously suggested Scottish football take its showpiece games around the country and use stadia such as Murrayfield, Celtic Park, Ibrox, Easter Road and Pittodrie.
Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney, a member of the powerful SFA board, admits the thumping rates rise could prove decisive when it comes to debating the future of Hampden as the independent home of Scottish football.
He said: “As a director of the SFA, anything that puts up the running costs of the national stadium can’t be welcomed.
“It’s hugely regrettable because increase costs have a secondary implication for Hampden, as well as other businesses.
(Photo: PA Wire)
"Cost savings may have to be made, either by a reduction in staffing or an increase in prices. There’s no magic wand. There will, regrettably, be an enormous impact for all football clubs, the SFA and all businesses.
“The new assessments clearly have not been thought out well enough or they would not be causing such huge concern.”
There are winners and losers across the Scottish game in the controversial new rates assessments, the first since 2010, which will apply for the next five years.
Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United and St Mirren have all seen the rateable value of their grounds fall while Rangers, Ross County, Inverness Caley Thistle, Dundee and Hamilton face significant rises.
The SPFL declined to comment, but a source said: “This is a matter specific to the clubs on an individual basis.” |
Canada's Fairfax drops plan to buy stake in cement maker PPC | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Canada’s Fairfax Africa Investments Proprietary Ltd will not proceed with a plan to buy 23 percent of cement producer PPC (PPCJ.J) for 2 billion rand ($146.34 million), the South African company said on Monday.
Last month PPC’s board said it had advised Fairfax (FAHu.TO) that it would not be recommending the Canadian company’s partial offer to shareholders.
“On 8 December 2017, the Independent Board received Fairfax’s formal notification that it will not proceed with the partial offer and that, accordingly, the Fairfax partial offer circular will not be posted to PPC shareholders,” PPC said in a statement.
The Takeover Regulation Panel had granted Fairfax an extension to post its partial offer circular until Dec. 12.
Fairfax offered to buy 23 percent of PPC in September for 5.75 rand per share, or 2 billion rand, on condition that it was approved by shareholders in order to allow a merger with South African rival cement maker AfriSam. |
Kushner, Anbang end Manhattan tower talks, other talks emerge | White House aides including Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (L), senior advisors Jared Kushner (C) and Kellyanne Conway arrive with Vice President Mike Pence (R) prior to a joint news conference between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
FILE PHOTO: Passers-by walk near the office building at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York December 7, 2006. REUTERS/Keith Bedford
The headquarters building of Anbang Insurance Group are pictured in Beijing, China, August 25, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee
NEW YORK Kushner Companies, the real estate firm headed by President Donald Trump's son-in-law until recently, said on Wednesday it ended talks to redevelop its flagship New York office tower with China's Anbang Insurance Group [ANBANG.UL].
Talks had centered on Anbang providing as much as half of $2.5 billion in equity for the planned redevelopment of 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, a media report said last week.
The failed talks are the latest twist in a story that initially involved Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, before he sold his interest in Kushner Cos to a family trust at the beginning of the year.
Three Democratic lawmakers questioned the White House earlier this month over its handling of potential conflicts of interest by Kushner, given his role as a top adviser to Trump.
"Kushner Companies is no longer in discussions with Anbang about 666 Fifth Avenue's potential redevelopment, and our firms have mutually agreed to end talks regarding the property," a spokesman said in a statement.
An Anbang representative declined to comment.
The Kushner spokesman said advanced talks are ongoing with other investors to redevelop the 39-story building, valued for its proximity to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center.
Any plan could be hampered by the cost of buying out tenants with long-term leases or Spanish retailer Zara's store on the corner of 52nd Street.
Zara is controlled by Amancio Ortega, the world's fourth-richest man according to Forbes magazine, who has no intention to sell, said a broker who represented the billionaire when one of his companies paid $324 million for the locale in 2011.
"He never sells, he has rarely sold anything in his portfolio and this is particularly valuable for them," said Borja Sierra, a broker for Savills Plc (SVS.L) when asked about Ortega's plans for the prime real estate.
"They're super happy with the property," Sierra told Reuters when reached in Barcelona. "It's not a negotiating position."
Some tenants in the office portion of the building have more than 10 years left on their leases, and getting them to leave is unlikely to be cheap.
A case study of Kushner's purchase in 2006 of 666 Fifth Avenue by Columbia University's Center for Urban Real Estate said it cost $47 million to buy out former occupants Brooks Brothers and almost $12 million to buy out Hickey Freeman.
The study said it took four years to buy out the National Basketball Association from its space in the building.
Any deal must also be agreed to by Vornado Realty Trust, which owns the remaining store frontage and 49.5 percent of the building's office portion.
The Kushner plan calls for stripping the building down to its steel columns and adding about 40 floors, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. The project was designed by Zaha Hadid, a Pritzker Prize award winner for architecture, before she died last year.
News of Kushner and Anbang ending talks was first reported by the New York Post.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash, additional reporting by Joy Wiltermuth of IFR; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Daniel Bases and Matthew Lewis) |
Six Nations rugby star's wife arrested on suspicion of murdering their children before attempting suicide | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The wife of former Italy rugby international Andrea Benatti has been arrested on suspicion of murdering her two young children before attempting to take her own life.
The tragedy reportedly began in the family home in Suzzara, situated two hours south of Milan in Lombardy, where Antonella Barbieri claimed to have smothered her two-year-old daughter Kim with a pillow.
The former model reportedly then set off on a drive with her five-year-old son Lorenzo Zeus. It is then thought that she stabbed him with a kitchen knife before turning the weapon on herself, driving it into her stomach.
Barbieri was discovered in the car by a local before emergency services rushed to save her life.
Known to suffer from psychological issues, Barbieri initially refused to accept medical treatment at the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Reggio Emilia, where she has been since Thursday.
(Image: CEN)
(Image: CEN)
She has since accepted treatment, telling doctors: "I did a bad thing, I want to die."
The AUSL (regional health service of Emilia Romagna) have confirmed Barbieri's condition is stable, stating: "The patient is alert and conscious. Her condition is stable for the moment."
She has been reported to have "heard voices" and previously sought help from a priest over an exorcism, with another asked to bless her home.
(Image: CEN)
Benatti earned five caps for the Azzurri, scoring a try against South Africa, as well as an esteemed domestic career in Italy with the highlight being a championship in 2002 with Viadana.
The FIR (Italian Rugby Federation) tweeted their support for the 39-year-old: "All of the Italian rugby family is with Andrea in this tragic moment." |
Four miscarriages, mental illness, blindness and doctors who blamed her: The hidden hurt of Catherine Cookson | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
She became one of the UK's best known novelists, selling more than 120 million copies of the around 100 books she wrote throughout her life.
Inspired by her impoverished upbringing, Catherine Cookson wrote a lot about northern England and some of her most famous works were adapted for television.
But hidden behind the success, which also earned her being made a dame, was a woman who privately wrangled with mental and physical illnesses that caused her to eventually go blind, and struggled through the anguish of four miscarriages that led to an overwhelming depression.
Catherine was diagnosed with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia, a rare vascular disease which caused bleeding from the fingers, nose and eyes. She had inherited the cruel condition from a father she never knew.
As she went to doctors they brushed aside her multiple miscarriages , some appearing to blame her, others having no time for the woman who was struggling to have the child she so desperately wanted.
When she was 42 and in hospital, struggling with mental illness, she was relegated to the scrapheap - laughed at when she asked if she could carry a baby if she stayed in hospital for nine months.
(Image: Daily Record)
(Image: NCJ Archive)
(Image: NEwcastle Chronicle)
The man she had asked said she was simply "past it."
Catherine started writing as therapy, launching a career that was to span decades and made her one of the most widely read novelists.
It took her more than a decade to recover from her mental illness, and her struggle is documented in her previously undiscovered but brutally honest memoir, Before I Go, that was found in her attic.
The memoir was part narrative, part diary entries and littered with hand written notes.
Also found in the attic of her home, which was left almost perfectly preserved, was a novella Saint Christopher and the Gravedigger, a satire set in the working class community of the north east.
Catherine was born in County Durham and brought up by her grandparents, believing her alcoholic mother Kate was in fact her sister until she was six.
She left school at 14 and worked in a workhouse before meeting a woman named Annie (Nan) Smith who lived with her and her mother. Nan was originally a friend and something of a mother figure, but turned out to be someone who persecuted her over her relationship with Tom, who she was later to marry.
Before I Go was found tucked away in her attic after her death in 1997 at the age of 91 and sheds light on Catherine's struggles, including her time with Nan and her marriage to Tom.
Emilie Marneur, Editor-in-Chief at Amazon Publishing UK, who worked with a team on putting together Before I Go, said: "I was astonished to realise how ill Catherine Cookson was throughout her life and struck by the strength and resilience that seeped through every page of this book.
"Here is a beloved writer, a national treasure, writing incredibly prolifically who experienced terrible trauma and anguish throughout her life and no one knew about it.
(Image: Handout, Publicity Picture)
(Image: PA)
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
"The thing that jumped out at us was the total lack of support Catherine got from the medical profession – it had a huge impact on her state of mind and feels so pertinent today, when we’re only just starting to understand mental health.
"She veered between doubting herself and what she was experiencing, feeling incredibly angry at the cavalier and dismissive attitude of her doctors, and wanting to get up and fight them.
"There’s a wonderful scene where she argues with a doctor who suggests that her breakdown happened because she didn’t have enough gumption. She bitingly replied that having gumption is the only reason she’s got through any of it.
"That force of character is imbued throughout the book."
An extract from Before I Go
When did I become pregnant again? I’ve lost touch of the dates. Tom was in a state as I’d been warned not to let it happen. I was constantly bleeding from the nose and tongue – and then there was the cordite
poisoning. But I was determined to have a baby. When I had the house to myself, I sang. Moreover, I was now a commercial artist and doing drawings for J. Arthur Dixon of the Shanklin Press, Isle of Wight. at came about by uke, as I have explained elsewhere. All of the artists were at war and they were looking under the bottom of barrels – that’s how I got my chance.
Now and again, we would entertain some of Tom’s pals who were instructors alongside him in Madley – Joe Raine, Joe Golding and Reg Greatorex. I did sketches of them. It was one of the few pleasant times I experienced in that town.
en one morning, I was on my knees doing the hearth when I felt a click in my side. I gasped, covered my face with my hands and rocked myself like a Muslim at prayer, crying inside, ‘Oh, no, no. Please God, no.’ But yes, I was to lose the third.
(Image: Press Association)
In hospital, just before they took me down, I said to the sister, ‘Sister, I . . . I have the habit of swearing when I come out of chloroform. Will you please put me where nobody can hear me?’ I can see her throwing her head back and laughing as she said, ‘No, I won’t. We want some entertainment here, and we only get that kind from parsons or priests.’
Following the loss, I became very low in myself. I was always tired and had a constant feeling of illness on me. I was also becoming full of self-pity for this girl who hadn’t a father. Nothing that had happened to me would have happened if only I’d had a father. I recall trying to laugh myself out of it and saying, ‘Well, you must have had – you’re no relation to the Holy Mother.’
"There were one or two light moments I can recall about that time. One was when I met one of the women from the munitions factory. She had the loudest mouth and the slowest hands on her long table. ‘Oh, Mrs Cookson,’ she said. ‘You wouldn’t like it back there now. You wouldn’t be able to stand it. Everything’s changed.’
Then she went on to describe the plan I’d sent in. I gurgled inside while sympathising with her . . .Religion was rearing its superstitious head again too. Was I being made ill because I was questioning the Catholic faith?
I went to the surgery. The doctor who saw me was youngish. If I remember rightly, he wasn’t English and was of an impatient nature. He had no time for women he termed neurotic and who cried in his surgery.
Before I Go – A Memoir by Catherine Cookson is published by Lake Union, a division of Amazon Publishing. Available in paperback original and as a Kindle e-book priced £4.99/£3.98. |
GOP lawmakers concerned over low support for tax bill | Some Capitol Hill Republicans are beginning to fret, as their tax package is being hit with some very poor poll numbers.
A USA Today-Suffolk University poll put its approval at 32 per cent. A CBS poll was only slightly better, at 35 per cent. And both Reuters and Quinnipiac had it at 29 per cent – not exactly enthralling numbers for a plan that is supposed to be a tax cut.
The stereotype that Republicans pass legislation to benefit the wealthy is starting to bake into the bill with just 17 per cent of those surveyed by USA Today saying the package is supposed to help the middle class.
So far the senator sounding the loudest alarm is Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who vied against now President Trump in last year's GOP presidential primary.
So far the senator sounding the loudest alarm about public concerns about the tax bill is Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who vied against now President Trump in last year's GOP presidential primary
On Friday, Rubio tweeted a sentiment once expressed by the late Republican President Ronald Reagan.
'Good time to revisit a landmark 1977 speech given by President Ronald Reagan in which he called for a "New Republican Party" that will not be and cannot be one limited to the country club-big business image,' the Florida Republican tweeted Friday morning.
'The New Republican Party ... is going to have room for the man & the woman in the factories, for the farmer, for the cop on the beat,' Rubio said.
On the Senate floor, Rubio joined with Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, and encouraged their fellow Republicans to vote on a measure that would allow lower income Americans to refund their child tax credit against payroll taxes, according to the Hill.
The move failed.
An unnamed Republican lawmaker pointed out to the Hill, that 'lowering the corporate rate is never popular.'
'Fourty-four per cent of the country won't see anything and then they see headlines about a big corporate rate cut,' the GOP senator said.
The centerpiece of the legislation cuts the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent, a part of the plan that the Republicans never wavered on.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about the quandary today.
A reporter pointed out that investors have warned that the tax package favors mutual funds over individual investors and critics have charged the legislation will increase the tax tab for potentially tens of thousands of middle-class filers.
'Will the president sign the tax bill, even if there are inadvertent tax increases and some of the criticisms are correct?' the journalist asked.
While Trump has urged Congress to get the tax package done – as it would be his single large legislative achievement this year – the press secretary didn't immediately answer yes.
'As I've said many times before, our focus and our priorities are making sure that we provide middle-class tax relief, and simplifying the code, bringing businesses back her to the U.S., we're going to continue pushing for that and continue working with Congress to make sure that we get the best tax package possible,' Huckabee Sanders said. |
Fears over new ‘devil dogs' craze among gangsters getting pets' ears illegally cropped to give them macho look | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
British breeders are openly selling a certain mixed breed of American bully dogs with illegally cropped ears which are meant to give them a macho "devil" look.
The craze for "devil dogs" - especially amongst gangsters - has spawned a surge in backstreet ear-cropping by DIY vets in the UK.
Anaesthetics, cropping irons and scalpels have been seized in raids as investigators work to crack down on the cruel practice.
The barbaric chopping of ears is illegal in the UK and is done "purely for vanity" while putting the animals through "unnecessary suffering", say opponents.
The practice gives massive American bullies – originally bred from American pit bulls and Staffordshire terriers – a devilish look that breeders have seized on.
Drug baron William Byrne – Scotland’s biggest American bully breeder – has made a fortune after investing in top-end bloodlines, producing massive dogs that can sell for £5000 each.
The Daily Record's War on Puppy Farms campaign has revealed how hardcore drug dealers have moved “from drugs to dugs”, as huge rewards are available for zero risk in trading pups.
Some dealers who have been raided by the Scottish SPCA’s special investigations unit have claimed the ear-cropping was done before they took ownership of the animals, in countries like the US, where the practice is legal.
The Record discovered many Scottish breeders openly advertising animals with cropped ears when social media was trawled.
Among those to glory in the devilish appearance of dogs for sale is “King Coke” Byrne, 32, who was sentenced to a four-and-a-half-year prison term in 2010 for running a £7million heroin empire.
Byrne established a successful kennels firm in Stirling, called Dynamight, and his Facebook page features many dogs with cropped ears, brazenly referring to them as “demon pups”.
He told a newspaper last year that his dog-breeding days were finished. But his Demon Boy stud dog is famous in the international American bully dog community and has made him a fortune in stud fees.
Byrne and 15 crooks linked to his gang were given sentences of more than 60 years after being caught smuggling cocaine from the Caribbean and flooding Scotland’s streets.
He told the taxman he’d earned less than £5000 since 2002. But he lived in luxury in a £350,000 home in Stirling and drove BMW and Mercedes cars worth more than £50,000.
Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said: “This new trend of cropping the ears of American bullies is incredibly worrying and feels like a step backwards for animal welfare. The procedure is done purely for vanity and provides no benefit to the dogs.
“Ear-cropping is illegal in the UK and as such these procedures will be carried out by untrained individuals with makeshift equipment causing unnecessary suffering and potential long-term health conditions.
“It is vital people recognise these dogs do not naturally look like this but the growth in seeing these cropped-eared dogs on social media hasn’t helped that.”
Byrne has bred dogs with animals owned by close friends Sean Main, 33, and his brother-in-law Derek Morris, 39 – both big players in the “devil dog” breeding scene.
Former soldier Main’s Blackskull Bullyz operation works closely with Morris, who uses macabre grim reaper images, complete with scythe, to advertise his Reaper Bullyzenterprise.
Both men’s websites feature numerous dogs with cropped ears, with Main’s stud dog, Blackskulls El Diablo, a 32kg American pocket bully, available for stud at £800 a time.
Morris’s Facebook page features a photo of his wife Lynn in a Glasgow field with a pack of powerful bulldogs, with cropped ears.
The duo, who sell pups from their Glasgow homes, were cleared of running a £6million drugs importation racket after they unloaded 160 boxes of “dog food” – in fact containing heroin, cocaine and cannabis – sent to the Bella’s Dog Grooming Parlour that was run by Main’s wife Denise, 35, in 2015.
Main and Morris – main players in the UK arm of the American Bully Kennel Club, were found not guilty after Main told the jury he called the delivery firm to “come back and pick it up” after the consignment “looked weird”.
Main told the Record he only owns two dogs with cropped ears – both of which were brought over from America. He said: “I have two American bullies and they are basically family pets.
“I did breed them but all pups were sold with ears intact. We love our dogs and we have enjoyed showing them at dog shows. We wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”
Several big breeders operate in the east coast, including Joe Pullar, 26, of Tranent, East Lothian. Pullar operates his Edinburgh Bullies Kennels enterprise from a large customised kennels in Tranent, where he breeds bulldogs for sale. He also shows them in competition.
His Facebook page also shows many “devil dogs” with cropped ears.
Pullar told the Record he had never made alterations to dogs’ ears, adding: “I have two dogs with cropped ears but they were like that when I acquired them. I wouldn’t be in favour of having a dog’s ears cropped.”
Despite being allowed in the US, many vets believe ear-cropping causes physical pain. Cropping takes place from 12 to16 weeks.
Ear-cropping is illegal under the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, which came into force in 1992, as well as the Animal Welfare Act. |
BRIEF-Wisekey reports IoT revenues of about $15 million in H1 | Aug 15 (Reuters) - WISEKEY INTERNATIONAL HOLDING AG:
* IOT SEGMENT GENERATED REVENUES OF APPROXIMATELY $15 MILLION IN FIRST HALF OF 2017
* IOT SEGMENT ALONE PROJECTED TO GENERATE BETWEEN $30 MILLION AND $32 MILLION FOR FY2017 (UNAUDITED) Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom) |
The shrewdness of Judge Wood’s opinion in LGBT workplace bias case | Chief Judge Diane Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a very wise woman.
As you’ve probably heard, Judge Wood wrote an historic opinion Tuesday night, holding that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians. The 7th Circuit overwhelmingly backed former adjunct professor Kimberly Hively’s right to sue her former employer, Ivy Tech Community College, for violating federal anti-discrimination law. Eight 7th Circuit judges joined Wood’s majority opinion, siding with Hively and her lawyers at Lambda Legal. Only three 7th Circuit judges dissented.
The 7th Circuit is the first court to rule en banc on whether federal law protects gay and lesbian employees. But it almost certainly won’t be the last – and that’s why Judge Wood’s opinion is so shrewd. By grounding the opinion in U.S. Supreme Court precedent, insisting that the 7th Circuit is merely interpreting the statute Congress wrote and explaining why two different Lambda theories lead to the same conclusion, Judge Wood is giving the next court to look at this issue all kinds of justifications to go along with the 7th Circuit.
Ivy Tech has already announced that it will not seek Supreme Court review of the 7th Circuit’s en banc decision. But the issue of whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians is still red hot in other federal circuits.
Lambda lawyer Gregory Nevins, who argued for Kimberly Hively at the 7th Circuit, told me Wednesday that Lambda is about to notify the 11th Circuit of the 7th Circuit’s en banc holding. Lambda has asked the 11th Circuit to reconsider en banc a three-judge panel’s ruling last month in Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital that Title VII does not cover discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (Nevins argued that case as well.)
There could also be an en banc request on the issue to the 2nd Circuit after its March 27 decision in Christiansen v. Omnicom Group. The 2nd Circuit panel said its binding precedent precludes a holding that Title VII protects gays and lesbians – but two members of the panel, including Chief Judge Robert Katzmann, said in a concurrence that it’s time for the entire 2nd Circuit to reconsider its precedent. (The 2nd Circuit revived Christiansen’s case on the theory that Omnicom engaged in impermissible gender stereotyping.)
Judge Wood’s majority opinion at the 7th Circuit acknowledged the foment in other federal circuits and anticipated what is likely to be the issue’s ultimate destination: “Notable in its absence from the debate over the proper interpretation of the scope of Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination is the United States Supreme Court,” she wrote.
So let’s look at how the judge girded the majority opinion for the poking and prodding it’s going to get from other courts. Significantly, Judge Wood spelled out clearly what the 7th Circuit majority is not doing: judicially “amending” Title VII to add sexual orientation to the law’s list of protected categories. “We must decide instead what it means to discriminate on the basis of sex, and in particular, whether actions taken on the basis of sexual orientation are a subset of actions taken on the basis of sex,” she wrote. “This is a pure question of statutory interpretation and thus well within the judiciary’s competence.” (Her restrictive definition of the court’s power contrasts with Judge Richard Posner’s concurrence in the case.)
Judge Wood explained how the Supreme Court’s own expanding view of sex discrimination informed the 7th Circuit’s analysis. Of particular note, she said, were the justices’ 1989 decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, which said employers may not discriminate against workers who don’t conform to sex stereotypes, and 1998 ruling in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, which said same-sex harassment is illegal. “The goalposts have been moving over the years, as the Supreme Court has shed more light on the scope of the language that already is in the statute: no sex discrimination,” the judge wrote.
Lambda had suggested two alternative ways to look at whether discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation amounts to sex discrimination. One is what Judge Wood called the “tried-and-true comparative method in which we attempt to isolate the significance of the plaintiff’s sex to the employer’s decision.” The other is to look at the line of Supreme Court cases, beginning with 1967’s Loving v. Virginia, striking down prohibitions on intimate relationships.
Judge Wood’s opinion said either approach works. “Although the analysis differs somewhat, both avenues end up in the same place: sex discrimination,” she wrote.
The comparative method asks whether if Hively had been a man involved in a romantic relationship with a woman she would have experienced the same alleged discrimination by her former employer. Through that lens, the majority said, sexual orientation is the ultimate form of gender non-conformity. Hively’s case, in other words, “is no different from the claims brought by women who were rejected for jobs in traditionally male workplaces, such as fire departments, construction, and policing. The employers in those cases were policing the boundaries of what jobs or behaviors they found acceptable for a woman (or in some cases, for a man),” the opinion said.
“Any discomfort, disapproval or job decision based on the fact that the complainant - woman or man - dresses differently, speaks differently, or dates or marries a same-sex partner, is a reaction purely and simply based on sex,” Judge Wood wrote, citing, in addition to Hopkins, long-ago Supreme Court cases that barred employers from treated men and women differently with respect to marriage and parenthood. “That means that it falls within Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination.”
In the more subtle Loving analysis, the majority opinion substituted same-sex relationships for the interracial relationship in the Loving case. If a plaintiff in a same-sex relationship experiences discrimination he or she would not have been subjected to in a heterosexual relationship, the majority said, “this reveals that the discrimination rests on distinctions drawn according to sex.”
To back that conclusion, Judge Wood pointed to another cluster of Supreme Court cases, this line striking down state and federal laws targeting gays and lesbians for disparate treatment. That line culminates, of course, in 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which said same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
Lambda’s Nevins told me Judge Wood’s multiple routes to the same conclusion will help his side going forward. “Each argument has its benefits,” he said. “Each will appeal to different judges in different ways.” The key holding from the 7th Circuit, in the majority opinion, Judge Posner’s concurrence and a separate concurrence from Judge Joel Flaum, is that sex discrimination encompasses sexual orientation discrimination. “Just because there is another common phrase by which we call this discrimination doesn’t mean it’s the only one,” he said.
I asked Nevins if he’s concerned that by the time this issue gets to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch will probably have taken Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat. With a laugh, he pointed out that Justice Scalia wrote the Supreme Court opinion in Oncale, the case concluding that, as a matter of statutory interpretation, Title VII protects employees from same-sex harassment. “If it is true that the motivation behind Judge Gorsuch’s nomination is that he is Scalia-like,” Nevins said, “then we will be A-OK.” |
Nepal president in India: Focus on talks to strengthen ties | Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari arrives at Delhi airport on Monday. AP Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari arrives at Delhi airport on Monday. AP
Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari arrived here on Monday on her first overseas tour during which she will hold talks with top Indian leadership to strengthen bilateral ties. “Neighbourhood first. Bidhya Devi Bhandari, President of Nepal, arrives in New Delhi on State Visit to India,” the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted.
On a five-day visit, Bhandari will hold talks with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, exploring ways to expand cooperation between the two close neighbours whose ties were slightly strained following the agitation by the Madhesi community last year.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will also call on the Nepalese President. Bhandari was scheduled to visit India in May last year, but the trip was cancelled after the then cabinet did not endorse the visit, citing lack of preparations on part of the government.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App now |
BRIEF-Bliss-Tel says approved appointment of Amarit Sukhawanit as acting chairman | UPDATE 1-Paris picked by South Korea's Naver for new startup incubator
PARIS, June 15 South Korea's Naver Corp plans to open a startup incubator in the new Paris mega-campus for start-ups 'Station F' that has been funded by billionaire Xavier Niel, said Fleur Pellerin, founder of venture capital investor Korelya Capital. |
Trail Blazers' Evan Turner: Probable Sunday with calf soreness | Turner is listed as probable for Sunday's game against the Celtics with left calf soreness, Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com reports.
Turner apparently tweaked his calf during Friday's game against the Raptors, though the issue isn't thought to be anything overly serious. His status should clear up closer to tip-off, but look for Turner to assume his normal spot in the starting lineup Sunday. He's averaging 8.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists across 26.7 minutes per game this season. |
Why Trump should listen to Julian Assange’s DNC email offer | WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has offered to prove that Russia didn’t leak the e-mails of the Democratic National Committee last year. But he wants a deal — a pardon — for spilling the beans.
There is absolutely no reason that President Trump shouldn’t take him up on the offer.
WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of DNC e-mails, as well as ones from the computer of campaign head John Podesta and others. If the Russians didn’t hack the DNC computers and release the e-mails, then someone else did.
And the best candidate for the role of leaker is someone inside the DNC — perhaps a supporter of Bernie Sanders who felt his candidate wasn’t getting a fair shake.
This would change history and render moot any investigation of the Trump administration, except where it pertains to the much less serious allegation of obstruction of justice. I say lesser allegation, because it would involve obstruction of justice for a crime (the Russian hacking) that didn’t happen.
Here’s my best educated guess on the whole thing: A very good source of mine says the Russians stole Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, but never released them, while someone inside the DNC was responsible for making the e-mails of Podesta and other Democrats public.
What’s the bigger effect of all this? Well, all else being equal — and it never is in the Trump administration — this would remove a cloud over the president and strengthen his hand in tax reform, ObamaCare repeal and lots of other things.
The financial markets would like that.
Trump should take Assange up on his offer. |
Police raid shuts down Uganda's only gay film festival | LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Uganda’s only gay and lesbian film festival was forced to shut down at the weekend after police stormed the venue and film-goers fled, fearing arrest, its organizers said.
On Saturday afternoon, the second day of the festival, three policemen, including one armed with an AK-47 rifle, burst into the festival venue in the capital Kampala.
“We were very shocked,” said Kamoga Hassan, director of the Queer Kampala International Film Festival.
“In Uganda there’s this narrative that there are no gay people, that it’s a Western import. This is why we need this kind of festival,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Homosexuality is illegal in the socially conservative East African country and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is common.
Nicholas Opiyo, head of Chapter Four Uganda, an independent human rights group, said he informed the festival organizers that the police were on their way after a tip off.
Festival helpers and attendees quickly left the venue, where a police officer had already been waiting outside taking pictures of those going in and out with his cellphone, he said.
Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said by phone he was unaware of the incident.
Uganda police have raided similar events before with officials accusing organizers of assembling illegally and promoting gay lifestyle.
Last year, Ugandan police raided a nightclub where a gay pride event was underway and arrested at least 15 people.
“For the past two years, it has been impossible to organize any major LGBT event (in Uganda),” Opiyo said.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has compiled evidence of the use of forced anal examinations in Uganda to “prove” homosexuality.
Police continue to carry out examinations on men and transgender women accused of consensual same-sex acts, according to a 2017 HRW report that described the practice “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that may amount to torture”.
But LGBT activists said they would not back down and vowed to hold the film festival again later this month.
“Because if we don’t do it, it means the homophobic people are actually winning,” said Hassan. “We are not bowing down because we are not breaking any laws and we are on the right side of history.” |
Media company buying 17 daily papers in Ohio, West Virginia | A media company based in Texas is buying 16 daily newspapers in Ohio along with several weeklies and a daily paper in West Virginia. Terms of the deal aren't being released, but the company says all employees at the newspapers will keep their jobs.
Start the conversation, or Read more at Whiznews.com. |
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Indians' Danny Salazar: Picks up first win of season | Salazar (1-1) allowed one run on seven hits while walking two and striking out seven over six innings in Monday's 3-1 win over Minnesota.
He threw 63 of his 103 pitches for strikes to drop his season ERA to 3.57. Salazar retired 15 of the last 18 hitters he faced in this one after allowing five hits and a walk in the first two innings. The 27-year-old features a nasty changeup that helps him rack up strikeouts regularly. After a four-run outing in his season debut, Salazar has been stingy and has fanned 27 hitters over 17.2 frames. He's a front-end fantasy starter. |
Hazelcast Enhances Real-Time Stream Processing Engine | In-memory data grid specialist Hazelcast Inc. yesterday the release of an updated version of its relatively new distributed processing engine for Big Data streams. Hazelcast Jet 0.4 comes with several new capabilities, including event-time processing with tumbling, sliding and session windowing.
Start the conversation, or Read more at Application Development Trends. |
Arsenal 'could launch summer bid for £35m-rated RB Leipzig winger Emil Forsberg' | Get Arsenal FC updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Arsenal could launch a summer bid for £35million-rated RB Leipzig winger Emil Forsberg.
That is according to German outlet Bild, who reckon the Gunners have a good chance of snaring Forsberg away from the Bundesliga.
The forward could have kicked his last ball for Leipzig after being sent off against Hoffenheim, triggering a three-game suspension.
Agent Hasan Cetinkaya told Bild: "The ban is a scandal! Emil was fouled and provoked, didn’t even hit his opponent properly. The verdict is an attack on RB and Emil. They would not have done such a thing to a Bayern Munich player!"
AC Milan failed in a swoop last summer and Arsenal are unlikely to be the player's only suitors when the transfer window opens.
(Image: AFP)
New Arsenal boss to have limited budget
The next Arsenal boss will be handed a limited transfer budget this summer.
Arsenal are on the lookout for Arsene Wenger's replacement after the Frenchman announced this season would be his last in north London on Friday.
Luis Enrique remains the favourite to come in while former midfielder Mikel Arteta has also been linked with the vacant post.
(Image: AFP)
But whoever replaces Wenger is likely to be afforded funds to make just one big summer signing when the transfer window reopens.
Around £50million is set to be made available and players will have to depart before more arrivals can come in.
Read more here.
Ancelotti offered Italy job
Carlo Ancelotti has been offered the job at Italy boss - and that could have big implications for Arsenal and Chelsea .
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is set to leave Stamford Bridge this summer but there could be a stand-off until he lands another job and he now appears to have missed out on taking over at Paris Saint Germain and Italy.
Ancelotti was not considered a front runner for Arsenal this summer but it does at least rule another big name out of taking over from Arsene Wenger.
(Image: Bongarts)
Former Chelsea boss Ancelotti, 58, looks set to take the Italy job if he can agree personal terms as he looks set to be offered £5m-a-year to transform his national side after they missed out on the World Cup.
Ancelotti held talks with Italy FA commissioner Roberto Fabbricini and sub-commissioner Alessandro Costacurta on Monday night and they have now made him first choice ahead of Conte and Zenit St Petersburg boss Roberto Mancini.
Conte had been in the frame and has missed out on PSG who are set to appoint former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel. Chelsea are now looking at Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri with Juventus boss Max Allegri an alternative.
Read more here. |
Tigers' Franklin Perez: Suffers strained lat | Perez suffered a right lat strain in a minor-league game Sunday.
Although it's not expected that Perez will need surgery at this point in time, he's due for an extended absence as his recovery timeframe is estimated to be at least 12 weeks. Once he's healthy, Perez will likely report to Double-A Erie. A more definitive return date for the 20-year-old righty should become available as his rehab progresses. |
Brazil police arrest GE Latin America head, 21 others, in probe | RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian police arrested a senior General Electric Co (GE.N) executive on Wednesday, as part of a sprawling investigation into fraud in medical equipment tenders overseen by health authorities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, police and prosecutors said.
A cameraman records the Philips headquarters in Barueri, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
In addition to the arrest of GE’s chief executive for Latin America, Daurio Speranzini Jr., prosecutors said federal police were carrying out 21 arrest warrants as part of the investigation, which concerns a trauma institute known as Into and involves some 37 companies.
The investigation, code-named “Operation Resonance,” is the latest fraud and corruption probe in Brazil, where the arrest of high-ranking political and business figures has become a matter of routine, particularly in Rio de Janeiro.
Slideshow (3 Images)
Speranzini was previously the head of Philips Medical Systems in Brazil. Frederik Knudsen, who prosecutors said was a sales supervisor at Philips in Brazil during the period under investigation, was also among the people police were seeking to arrest.
In a document sent to a federal court and seen by Reuters, prosecutors said there “exists robust proof of participation” by Speranzini and Knudsen in corruption, bid rigging, and criminal conspiracy.
In addition to the arrests, police said they executed 44 search warrants on Wednesday, which included buildings occupied by Philips and U.S. multinational Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N).
A federal court also ordered some 1.2 billion reais ($307 million) in assets to be frozen.
It was not immediately possible to contact Speranzini or Knudsen.
GE said in a statement that with regard to the police operation “that resulted in the temporary imprisonment of Daurio Speranzini Jr., we clarify that the allegations refer to a period in which the executive was leading a different company.”
It added, “GE emphasizes that it is not the target of the investigation. The company believes that the facts will be clarified by the courts and the company is at the disposition of the authorities to cooperate.”
Koninklijke Philips NV (PHG.AS) (PHG.AS), as Philips is formally known, said in a statement the company’s current leaders were not involved in the police operation and that the firm was cooperating with authorities.
Philips “still doesn’t have access to the official accusations; however, the company is cooperating with the authorities to offer all clarifications regarding the allegations, that go back many years,” the company said, adding that the “current head executives of Philips are not part of the federal police operation.”
Johnson & Johnson said it “vigorously followed” Brazilian law and was “cooperating fully” with the investigation. |
Judge in Alfie Evans case requests new hospital scan before "life-and- death decision" | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Seriously ill toddler Alfie Evans will face a new hospital scan before a ruling is made on whether to switch his life support off.
Mr Justice Hayden formally asked Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool for a new MRI scan this afternoon before he faced making what he described as a "life-and-death decision".
Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, have been fighting the children's hospital for months over the fate of their 20-month-old son who they want to take abroad to be re-assessed.
Alfie is in a "semi-vegetative state" and has a brain condition which doctors have not been able to diagnose and do not expect him to recover from.
The Alder Hey NHS Trust has argued that continuing life support is not in Alfie's best interests and say continuing to treat him is “unkind and inhumane”.
(Image: PA)
(Image: PA)
(Image: Tom Evans/Kate James)
A decision at Liverpool Civil and Family Court will happen after the new scan takes place.
Yesterday, Mr Evans' broke down in tears as the court was told that further hospital treatment is "futile" as his child had suffered “catastrophic” brain damage.
Medic say that the child, born on May 9 2016, is in a "semi-vegetative state" and has a degenerative neurological condition doctors have not definitively diagnosed.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
(Image: PA)
Alfie's parents believe their son responds to them - but the court heard that any movements by the child are spontaneous seizures as a result of touching.
Speaking today, Mr Justice Hayden said: "I’m going to request there is an MRI. I’ve decided it’s necessary to be able to make this enormous decision.”
Mr Michael Mylonas QC, who is representing Alder Hey, responded: “We will endeavour to have that done as soon as possible.”
The judge continued to speak of the gravity of the decision he is faced with making.
“I’m making a life-and-death decision.
“So is it unreasonable to want all the information you can possibly have when being asked to make that kind of decision?” he added.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Earlier, Mr Evans has said he was "scared" of a potential scan because of what happeend during Alfie's last one in August.
However, he accepted the judge's reasons for not wanting a scan.
He said: “We were sat down and were told Alfie was coming to the end of his life. I was told Alfie had nearly gone.
“The only reason I’m scared is because of what the doctors said to us. They don’t give him the benefit of the doubt.
“I can’t face the conversation with the doctors. It’s heartbreaking to listen to the same things, but it’s key for Alfie’s sake we get an MRI.”
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The exchange took place after a doctor told the judge there is "no hope" for the seriously ill child.
The consultant, who has treated Alfie at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, told the High Court hearing the child was unresponsive, not conscious of his surroundings and could not be cured.
The consultant giving evidence during the second day of the hearing on Friday told the court: "When we see disease like this, this is one of the reasons people don't want to become paediatric neurologists because they are awful and it is not a word I choose lightly.
"There's no cure and no hope for a cure.
"This is one of the most difficult of all things, most difficult things for parents but also for professionals."
Michael Mylonas QC, representing Alder Hey, asked the witness about the medical team's conclusion that further life support should be stopped.
He said: "It is very easy to understand why the family are upset. They see that as withdrawing life for a child which will result in his death earlier than if ventilation continues?"
The medic responded: "Only if I'm convinced, and this is as close to 100% as I possibly can, to accept that there's no hope, so for me this and the concept of no hope of improvement or treatment is a line which I don't step over or don't come to very lightly.
"It is a big step for me to recognise and accept that there's no hope for recovery and there's no hope for a meaningful life with a reasonable quality.
(Image: PA)
"Then the next step is, 'Is this wrong?' We have to consider the best interests of the child before you consider anything else. In the first instance our duty is to consider the best interests of the child."
Mr Justice Anthony Hayden, hearing the case, asked the witness of his assessment of Alfie's level of consciousness.
He replied: "I don't think Alfie is aware. I don't think he's conscious."
Earlier the hearing was told it was understandable that Alfie's family could not be blamed for "leaving no stone unturned" in trying to get him treatment.
But a "cohort" of world experts had come to the same conclusions that his disease was incurable.
The hearing continues. |
Mystery SOLVED: Lasers uncover Maya mega city lost for 1,500 years | Channel 4/ Wild Blue Media/ Getty Researchers have uncovered more than 60,000 hidden Maya ruins in Guatemala
Lasers were used to look beneath the forest canopy and archaeologists believe the cutting-edge technology will change the way the world will see the Maya civilisation. The researchers covered over 810 square miles (2,100 square km) in northern Peten. The area covered is believed to have been home to millions more people than other researchers have previously speculated. Maya civilisation, around 1,500 years ago, covered an area about twice the size of medieval England, with an estimated population of around five million. Stephen Houston, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Brown University said: "I think this is one of the greatest advances in over 150 years of Maya archaeology.”
The archaeologists were amazed by the "incredible defensive features", which included fortresses, walls and moats. A seven-storey pyramid was found covered in vegetation. Archaeologists were surprised by the complexed network of highways linking all the Maya cities in the area. The raised highways were wide enough to suggest they were used for trade. Mr Houston said: "The idea of seeing a continuous landscape, but understanding everything is connected across many square miles is amazing. "We can expect many further surprises.”
The Seven wonders of the ancient world Thu, January 4, 2018 Take a look at these remarkable constructions of classical antiquity Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 22 The Great Pyramid was built with more than two million stone blocks
He went on to add that he found the magnitude of the recent survey "breathtaking". ”I know it sounds hyperbolic but when I saw the (Lidar) imagery, it did bring tears to my eyes." Results from the research using light detection and ranging technology, more commonly known as Lidar implies that Central America supported an advanced civilisation, similar to cultures like ancient Greece or China. Lidar technology unveils archaeological finds almost invisible to the naked eye. Millions of lasers are beamed at the ground from a helicopter or plane and the wavelengths are measured as they bounce back. The measurements are then used to produce a detailed dimensional image.
Wild Blue Media/ Channel 4 Lasers were used to look beneath the forest canopy
Ithaca College archaeologist Thomas Garrison said: "Everything is turned on its head" He believes the scale and population density has been "grossly underestimated and could, in fact, be three or four times greater than previously thought". Scholars who worked on the project used Lidar to digitally remove the dense tree canopy to create a 3D map of what is under the surface of the Guatemalan rainforest. Francisco Estrada-Belli, a Tulane University archaeologist said: "Lidar is revolutionising archaeology the way the Hubble Space Telescope revolutionised astronomy. "We'll need 100 years to go through all [the data] and really understand what we're seeing."
Wild Blue Media/ Channel 4 Maya civilisation, around 1,500 years ago, covered an area about twice the size of medieval England
Archaeological discoveries Thu, July 14, 2016 Roman artefacts, Saxon burial sites and even a royal chapel have been unearthed by archaeologists in the UK. Play slideshow Simon Norfolk/NationalGeographic 1 of 36 The Black Death pandemic of 1348-1350 claimed these victims who are now at the Museum Of London Archaeology |
Latest WhatsApp scam: No, Modiji is not offering free recharge of Rs 500 | WhatsApp’s latest viral message: Rs 500 free recharge for everyone, and yes it is fake. WhatsApp’s latest viral message: Rs 500 free recharge for everyone, and yes it is fake.
WhatsApp is India’s favourite destination for sharing unverified messages, often accompanied with phishing links and the latest one claims Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to give everyone in the country ‘Rs 500 balance’ free for their mobile phones. This viral message is being widely circulated on WhatsApp groups across the country and we also got the forward in one such group.
However, we’d like to warn you not to believe in these scams. The message is accompanied with a link to a website and there’s a good chance this is a phishing website with someone trying to get access to your personal details.
Clicking on the link will take you to a page with URL ‘http://balance.modi-gov.in/’. For starters the fact that the url ends with modi-gov.in should ring alarm bells. All official government websites have .gov.in in url; the PM’s surname is not part of this.
Next this particular website has ‘Rs 500’ written in a big font with logos of almost all major telecom companies such as Idea, Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance, Aircel etc surrounding it. Below it the message says, ‘Desh Badal Raha hai’ written in Hindi.
Then the page asks you to enter your mobile number, operator and state. Next, it asks you to enter the recharge amount and click on ‘Recharge Now’. The page also has a live banner on top and at the bottom displays successful recharge, in order to fool users that it is authentic.
Terms & Conditions can be seen at the bottom of the page in an extremely small text size. It reads, “We are not connected to any telecom company.” The link even has a grammatical error as it reads, “Rs 500 Balance For Every Indians.”
Recently, a similar malicious link asking users to download group video calling on WhatsApp went viral. Clicking on the URL would take users to a WhatsApp look-alike website. The site also put out screenshots of video-calling feature to fool users.
Read: WhatsApp group video-calling invite? Don’t click, it is a malicious app
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in India with over 160 million monthly active users (MAUs) in the country. So it is not surprising that messages go viral here. But for now, hackers and cyber-criminals have it easy as they are able to convince users to click on fake links, and forward messages that are not verified.
© The Indian Express Online Media Pvt Ltd |
California regulator proposes to regulate Uber like... | By Heather Somerville
SAN FRANCISCO, March 19 (Reuters) - A California regulator issued a proposed decision on Monday classifying Uber Technologies Inc as the same type of transportation as limousines and tour buses, a finding that could change how the ride-hailing company is regulated in its home state.
The proposed decision, issued by a commissioner for the California Public Utilities Commission, said that Uber should be classified as a charter-party carrier, a category of transportation known as TCP that mandates cars and buses comply with certain insurance and inspection requirements.
As part of the proposed ruling, Uber is required to pay three years of back fees. There will be a period for public comment before the commission votes on the proposed regulation change. (Reporting by Heather Somerville Editing by Frances Kerry) |
Barca down Granada after Real labour to win over Alaves | BARCELONA Luis Suarez rose to the challenge that Lionel Messi's absence provided by powering second-placed Barcelona to a hard-fought 4-1 win at struggling Granada on Sunday after La Liga leaders Real Madrid laboured to a 3-0 victory over Alaves.
The Uruguay striker scored Barca's opener with a classy lob in the 44th minute and provided assists for Paco Alcacer and Ivan Rakitic to seal the points after the home side surprisingly drew level early in the second half through Jeremie Boga.
Neymar added extra shine to the victory with his 100th goal for Barca by knocking in a cross from Alcacer in added time.
"It's great when you can make up for absences with the type of squad we have, because it is squads that win you trophies," Barceona coach Luis Enrique told reporters.
"The game became complicated with their equaliser in their only chance of the game but we managed to turn it around quickly and get a big scoreline which I think is a fair result."
Real struggled but eventually saw off Alaves, who had taken points from their visits to Barca and Atletico Madrid but came away empty handed from the Santiago Bernabeu despite home coach Zinedine Zidane being forced to make changes in defence.
Karim Benzema put Real ahead in the 31st minute while appearing to be offside in the build-up but Alaves still caused the leaders a few headaches before goals from Isco and Nacho in the 85th and 88th minutes sealed the points.
"We know we can always improve but when you play every three days you can't always play 90 perfect minutes. We need to remember that being consistent will lead us to doing great things," Zidane told reporters.
Sevilla slipped out of the top three after being held 0-0 at home by struggling Sporting Gijon in the early game.
Barca are second on 66 points, two behind Real who have a game in hand as they chase a first title triumph since 2012. Atletico are third above Sevilla, who also have 58 points.
SUAREZ SHINES
La Liga top scorer Messi was suspended for Barca's trip to the picturesque Andalusian city, where they clinched the title last season, and Luis Enrique took a risk by resting regulars Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Samuel Umtiti before losing Rafinha to injury in the 17th minute.
The visitors dominated but took 44 minutes to open the scoring when Suarez calmly chipped Jordi Alba's sumptuous through ball over goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to finally get the better of the Mexican.
Boga grabbed an equaliser five minutes after the break for second-bottom Granada and Luis Enrique's rotations suddenly looked misguided before Suarez got them out of jail.
He teed up Alcacer in the 64th and then provided a pass to Rakitic which was deflected in off Matthieu Saunier just after Granada's Uche Agbo was sent off for a second booking.
Neymar rounded off the victory with his milestone goal.
Real were dealt an early blow at home to Alaves when Raphael Varane had to go off with a hamstring problem in the 11th minute, forcing Zidane to rejig his defence.
The French coach moved Nacho to central defence and switched Danilo from right back to left back to accommodate substitute Dani Carvajal, who set up the breakthrough goal.
Zidane had rested goalkeeper Keylor Navas, captain Sergio Ramos and Marcelo, and was missing Casemiro through suspension, but opted for a highly attacking formation.
He started playmaker Isco in the midfield three behind his first choice attacking trio of Gareth Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Alaves spurned two clear chances to level in the second half before Isco killed them off by smashing home a perfect pass from Ronaldo on the counter, while Nacho bundled in the third moments later, pouncing after Bale smacked the bar from a free-kick.
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ken Ferris) |
BRIEF-Yamato Transport to quit making same-day deliveries for Amazon - Nikkei | UPDATE 3-Nestle takes food price rises in its stride
ZURICH, Aug 9 Nestle expects pressure from the rising price of ingredients for its products such as chocolate bars, coffee and soup to ease, helping it meet its target for increasing sales despite tough markets. |
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MARKETS LIVE: London stocks head lower | London stocks opened lower after the Easter holidays following a mixed session in Asia overnight as tensions over the weekend between the US and North Korea grew.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped by 0.9 per cent, China's benchmark Shanghai composite shed 0.1 per cent.
President Donald Trump warned North Korea yesterday that it needs to keep its nuclear ambitions in check.
Politics will likely take centre stage again this week as trouble simmers over the North Korean peninsula
Elsewhere quarter two earnings in the US continue, with Bank of America and Goldman Sachs set to release results. |
As he awaits next title fight, Leo Santa Cruz promotes national TV card in May | Leo Santa Cruz appreciates being in between fights as the featherweight world champion's promotion company touts its first nationally televised card May 2. "It's kind of hard [to promote]. A lot of stress, taking a lot of calls - there's times it's harder than being a fighter," Santa Cruz said.
Start the conversation, or Read more at Los Angeles Times. |
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Brook Lopez destroys Nets after warm welcome by Brooklyn fans | Brook Lopez spent almost a decade — his whole NBA career until getting traded this summer — as the face of the Nets. But in his return to Brooklyn since being shipped out of town, the Nets’ all-time leading scorer led his new team, the Lakers, to a dramatic win over his old one.
Lopez scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half to spur the Lakers past the Nets 102-99 before a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center on Friday night.
The Nets got a game-high 23 points, nine assists and seven boards from Spencer Dinwiddie, 20 points from rookie Jarrett Allen (Lopez’s successor at center) and 15 off the bench from D’Angelo Russell, the man for whom Lopez was traded.
In the end, the Nets (19-34) conceded an 11-0 fourth-quarter run that cost them. They spent the rest of the game fighting, but ran out of time when Joe Harris just missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Lopez, who always will be beloved by Nets fans, received a video tribute at before the game. He’s the team’s all-time leading scorer (10,444 points) and helped lead the Nets to three straight playoff berths, including a conference semifinal.
From riding past his old apartment on Dean Street, to walking through Barclays Center and having to force himself to go to the visiting locker room, Lopez said his return to Brooklyn was equal parts cool and bizarre.
“Obviously so many great memories. It was weird walking in, even taking the bus. Coming from the hotel we drove right by my place on Dean Street, and obviously coming down the elevator it was very bizarre,” Lopez said before the game. “But it was great seeing so many familiar faces, so many great friends. I had so many fantastic relationships and memories here. It’s great to be back.
“It was amazing. It was such a conscious effort walking from the bus to the locker room. I automatically kept walking down towards the home locker room, so I had to keep telling myself every step to go the right way. Even though I was in the right hallway, I wasn’t sure I was going in the visitor’s locker room. It was weird walking around in the bowels and not knowing really where I was going.”
In the fourth quarter, Russell gave the Nets an 87-85 lead on a finger roll with 11:14 to play, but the Lakers rolled off the next 11 points to grab a nine-point lead.
First Corey Brewer answered with a finger roll of his own. Then, after Jordan Clarkson hit back-to-back 3-pointers — gyrating down the court in celebration following the second — Brewer’s driving layup left the Nets in a 95-87 hole. Josh Hart’s free throw made it 96-87 with 6:36 to play.
Russell hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 96-90, and after Allen poked away a careless pass by Clarkson, the rookie center had a great fake and spin in the lane for a dunk. Allen’s block of Lopez got the crowd to its feet, and Dinwiddie cut it to three with a free throw.
Allen got blocked by Lopez, but when DeMarre Carroll drew a charge on Julius Randle (19 points), Allen beat Lopez for a layup the next time down the court to get the Nets within 96-95.
But Hart’s 3 from the right corner quelled the Nets’ run.
Lopez then got on the block and hit a hook for a 101-97 Lakers lead with 1:28 left.
Dinwiddie rebounded an Allen Crabbe miss and scored to cut the lead in half. But when the Nets finally forced a Lopez miss, Hart corralled a huge offensive rebound with 11.9 seconds left. The Nets had to foul, and Randle missed one of two free throws to hand them one last chance with 8.9 remaining.
Harris’ last-ditch shot clanked off the rim. |
World's oldest man, Holocaust survivor, dies in Israel aged 113 | JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Holocaust survivor Israel Kristal, who last year was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living man, died in Israel on Friday, aged 113, local news media reports said.
Guinness said Kristal was born in Poland on Sept. 15, 1903, and survived the Auschwitz death camp, where his first wife, two children and other family members were killed by the Nazis. He married again after the war and moved to Israel in 1950.
Kristal was awarded a Guinness certificate as the world's oldest man on March 11, 2016, when he was 112 years and 178 days old. He died on Friday in the northern port city of Haifa aged 113 years and 330 days, Israeli reports said.
Jeanne Calment, a French woman, had the longest confirmed human lifespan, according to Guinness. She died in 1997 at the age of 122.
(This story fixes typographical error in "Guinness" in last paragraph.) |
Super Bowl 2018 odds update: Line moves toward Patriots, but another huge Eagles bet | After opening at Patriots -5.5, the Super Bowl line saw a dip toward the underdog as bettors lined up to back the Eagles. With the game 24 hours away, we're finally seeing action on the Patriots that's pushing it back the other way.
After the Westgate SuperBook moved the line to Patriots -4 early in the week and stayed there as the game drew closer, the book jumped back to 4.5 on Friday night and stayed there throughout the day Saturday. Other sportsbooks have seen those Patriots -4s snapped up, and Vegas Insider now lists every Vegas book the site track as dealing Patriots -4.5 with roughly 24 hours to go until kickoff.
There's also been a raise to the moneyline odds, with the Westgate posting Patriots -200 to win the game on Saturday. It was the first time in 10 days the Patriots moneyline had been that high at the Westgate after initially opening at Patriots -240.
Conversely, the MGM shifted their line from 4.5 flat to Patriots -4.5 +100 and Eagles +4.5 -120, meaning a $100 bet on the Patriots would pay out $100 in profit if they cover, while it would take a $120 bet on the Eagles to pay out $100. This is one option the sportsbooks have of trying to draw action on one side or the other without moving the line off the current number posted.
According to SportsLine, William Hill took Vegas's fourth million-dollar Super Bowl bet this weekend, and all have been on the Eagles. This bettor laid $1 million on the Eagles to win, getting a moneyline of +155, which means an Eagles victory would pay $1.55 million in profit.
The total for the game at most sportsbooks remains at 48.5 as of Saturday evening, while first-half lines of Patriots -3 are widely available.
So which side of the Super Bowl line do you need to be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of Patriots-Eagles you need to jump on, plus what X-factor determines the outcome, all from a Vegas legend who's 9-3 on Eagles' games. |
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Athletics' Matt Olson: On base three times Monday | Olson went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run in a win over the Rangers on Monday.
Just as notable as his solid stat line was the fact that Olson snapped a dubious 15-game streak with at least one strikeout. The young slugger picked it up at the plate over the last six games in particular, going 10-for-27 with two doubles, five RBI and four runs during that stretch. |
Ex-Liverpool man Rickie Lambert lifts lid on retirement | The end came over the summer after a game of golf rather than a game of football, and Rickie Lambert recalls with some amusement what happened.
Wigan Athletic were interested in extending his career for a further 12 months, and invited the former England striker for a round with the chairman and manager.
But a lower-back problem that had already been forcing Lambert to have an epidural every three months was not playing ball.
The end for Rickie Lambert came after a game of golf rather than a game of football
A lower-back problem that Lambert was struggling with finally ended his career at age 35
The striker had risen up the leagues to play for his country and even go to the 2014 World Cup
'It went when we were on the course,' he says. 'I was f***ed and I'm just thinking, "How can I sign for them when I'm like this?"'
He had to be honest with Paul Cook, the Wigan manager, and concede that at 35 he was done. No more football. No more injections. No more having to lie flat on the floor after getting back from training in a bid to stop himself seizing up.
On Monday, Lambert announced his retirement and on Friday, at the stylish home he shares with his young family in Formby, he reflected on what has been quite some journey.
It was a journey that saw him rise through the top four tiers of the domestic game to play for England at a World Cup, but one that so nearly ended when a year without earning anything other than travelling expenses forced him to take a job with his father in a beetroot factory.
Regrets? Lambert is candid enough to admit to a few. Not until he was 27 did he even begin to act like a professional. 'I was a disgrace,' he says, accepting that was the principal reason why he did not play in the Premier League until he was 30.
The most memorable of his many goals was his towering header on debut against Scotland
The striker enjoyed his most successful spell at Southampton, scoring 117 times for the club
But sitting on a stool in his kitchen was a man pretty content with his lot, and rightly proud of what he did achieve after overcoming so many setbacks.
'The main reason I quit was my lower back,' he says. 'I've had problems for a few years. It was affecting my movement and power. I had to have various injections and procedures. And while I maybe could have gone on for another year, you don't know how much damage you've already done.
'The problem with the injections is the fact that you can't feel anything, and having to have one every three months just to play can't be good.
'It's just degeneration in the lower discs. I've played football every day since I was five, and I'm just knackered.
'I have to go through a series of exercises just to tie my shoelaces in the morning. But it already feels better now I've stopped playing.'
Lambert's form in 2014 earned him a move from Southampton to Liverpool
The decision was right for another reason, as too much time spent injured or on the bench was tempering his enjoyment.
'If I'm honest it was like that for the last three years, after I left Southampton,' he says. 'I didn't play much at Liverpool and it was the same at West Brom and then Cardiff.
'I was getting well paid but I never started playing football for the money. And when I decided to go to Liverpool I sacrificed a regular first-team place and that was when I started to fall out of love with it. I never should have accepted being on the bench, even though Brendan Rodgers had made it clear to me I would be back-up for Suarez and Sturridge.
'I was never as quick or as technically good as the best players, but in my own head, when it came to actually playing, I could convince myself I was the best.
'But when I joined up with England I felt lucky to be there, and it was the same at Liverpool. And when I look back now I realise I lost something mentally as a player, by allowing that to happen.'
Lambert's career improved at Rochdale with the realisation that, in fact, he was a good striker
At his stylish family home in Formby, Lambert reflected on what has been quite some journey
He should not be too hard on himself when Liverpool was an offer he simply could not refuse. He was from Merseyside, after all, and they were his team, the club he had spent five years at as a kid.
'I was 10 when I joined Liverpool,' he says. 'One of the best days of my life. Kenny Dalglish was my hero. I loved Rush and Fowler too. And I remember hearing about these two kids who were three years ahead of us. Owen and Gerrard.
'I loved the first two or three years there, but the next two were tougher and at 15 I was out. (Academy director) Steve Heighway pulled me in and told me I wasn't going to make it there. It wasn't a surprise. I wasn't even playing in my position by then. But I was devastated.'
His dyslexia meant school was a struggle too and he left at 16 with 'a C in design and technology and a B in PE'. But by then he was playing at Blackpool and by 17 he had broken into the first team. He was also earning £120 a week, albeit playing at either right back or in central midfield.
Liverpool was an offer Lambert simply could not refuse, he is from Merseyside, after all
With the arrival of Steve McMahon as manager, however, came his departure from Bloomfield Road. His next stop would be Macclesfield Town.
'I was at Macclesfield for over a year without a contract, just getting 50 quid a week in expenses,' he says. 'That was when I went to work with the old fella on the farms near Ormskirk. I needed to get money in, £20 a day, cutting cabbages, on the production line in the beetroot factory, or cleaning out the containers with the jet sprays.
'I never thought football had gone. I always thought I could make it as a Football League player. The Premier League never even entered my head. But it got to a point at Macclesfield where I had to say, 'I can't afford this any more'. I knew I was close to the first team but I was going to have to stop. It was only then that Gil Prescott gave me a contract.'
It wasn't much but 10 first-team goals and he was soon earning £300 a week. And then, in April 2002, came an offer to join Second Division Stockport County, for what remains a Macclesfield transfer record of £300,000.
'I got a 10 per cent signing-on fee and £1,000 a week,' he says. 'I bought a house and a new car, a red Renault Clio. I was made up.'
Stockport paid what remains a Macclesfield transfer record of £300,000 for Lambert in 2002
A 2006 move to Bristol Rovers and 29 goals in a season caught the attention of Southampton
If he endured further problems at Stockport, still playing in midfield, things would improve at Rochdale with the realisation that here, in fact, was a very good striker.
'It was Steve Parkin who put me there,' says Lambert. 'I think I'd scored six goals in 10 games at the end of the previous season from midfield when he told me he was moving me up front.'
The following season he scored 22 league goals and, when he then moved to Bristol Rovers, 29 goals in a single League One season caught the attention of Alan Pardew and Southampton.
By his own admission, Lambert got that far without taking the best care of himself. 'I was pretty bad,' he says. 'I would go out with my mates two or three times a week. Nutrition-wise I had no idea, although I had an inkling that alcohol wasn't good for you.
'I wasn't professional. It's the reason it took as long as it did to make it to the top level. I was still good enough to score goals in the lower leagues, and I was happy with that. I didn't care enough.'
Lambert ends his professional career after 701 games, in which he scored 241 goals
Lambert scored three goals in his 11 appearances for the England national team
At Southampton he was 'scoring goals for fun': 30 in 45 league games in his first season. But one day Pardew called him into his office and asked him to lift his shirt.
Initially Lambert refused. Pardew insisted. 'I didn't exactly have a six pack,' Lambert admits.
'He said, 'You're an absolute f***ing disgrace'. I was shocked. I was his top scorer. I thought he wanted to talk about our plans for the next game. But I knew he was right. I loved chocolate, chips, burgers.
'I owe a lot to Alan Pardew. He affected my career more than any other manager I worked with. For the first time I was in the gym before training, fat burning, sorting out my diet.
'Southampton were great for that. Even as a League One club they had a great set-up. They were so professional. And it clicked inside my head. I started to enjoy it. I was always a step ahead of most players on the pitch in terms of my football brain but I'd be a step behind in terms of fitness.
'When I got fit, though, I was suddenly two steps ahead and it felt so much easier. Feeling that good became like a drug, and I started to train even harder. My career rocketed as a result.'
The latter years of Lambert's career saw him struggle to get games at West Brom
His progress continued under Nigel Adkins and then, once Premier League football had been secured, Mauricio Pochettino added the finishing touches.
'When you see Harry Kane, I can understand why he's that good now,' says Lambert. 'Mauricio would have seen Harry, worked out his weaknesses and improved him as a player. He goes into so much detail. The year I played under Mauricio was the best football I ever played. Up front with Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez, we were brilliant as a team going forward.'
That rise in standards led to a most unexpected international call-up. 'It was the day my daughter, Bella, was born,' he says. 'I didn't even realise England were playing, never mind announcing a squad.
'I'd got back from the hospital and gone for a sleep when I woke up to about 57 messages.
'One was telling me I needed to ring the manager, and Mauricio then told me the news.'
His final season, spent in the Championship with Cardiff, brought just four goals in 19 games
It was an opportunity he did not waste, scoring for England in a friendly against Scotland with what was his first touch in international football. It is a moment he remembers now with the signed England shirt he was handed that night.
'It was the best header of my career, the best moment of my career,' he says. 'I came on for Rooney. Gary Neville just said, 'Get us a goal'. But I already knew what was going to happen. I just wanted to get on.
'We get a corner and I'm just thinking, 'If that ball comes anywhere near me I'm going to score'. Leighton Baines puts it right on my head. It was surreal after that.
'I was sitting in the dressing room afterwards, and these players I'd always looked up to were coming up to me. Wayne, Stevie, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole. I was just sitting there . . . as a kid you imagine the ultimate moment as a footballer, scoring for England.
'I was struggling to take it all in, these great players all being made up for me, hugging me. I feel emotional just talking about it. I struggled to contain my emotions at the time. I was smiling so much, I could just feel my face twitching.
'I went to a World Cup but nothing ever topped that.' |
West Ham's Antonio to miss rest of season with hamstring injury | Britain Football Soccer - West Ham United v Swansea City - Premier League - London Stadium - 8/4/17 West Ham United's Michail Antonio leaves the pitch after sustaining an injury Action Images via Reuters / Tony O'Brien
West Ham United midfielder Michail Antonio will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, manager Slaven Bilic said ahead of Saturday's Premier League visit to bottom-placed Sunderland.
But Bilic will be able to call on striker Andy Carroll, who is expected to return to the starting lineup after a groin injury.
Antonio, the club's top scorer with nine goals, limped off in the first half of West Ham's 1-0 victory over Swansea last weekend. Hamstring problems had also forced him to withdraw from the England squad last month.
"He's one of our best players and of course it is a big blow that we are going to be without him until the end of the season," Bilic told a news conference on Thursday.
West Ham were on a seven-game winless run before the Swansea win, which pushed them up to 14th in the league and eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Bilic is hopeful that gap will increase after Saturday's trip to the Stadium of Light.
"Sunderland is in a situation that they are desperate for a win," the 48-year-old Croatian added.
"We know it's going to be extremely hard, but it's a good opportunity for us to get some points and get closer to safety."
Bilic said Carroll, formerly with Sunderland's North East rivals Newcastle United, would be fit enough to share the striker's role with Jonathan Calleri.
"Andy could (have played) ... for 15-20 minutes against Swansea, but this Saturday is completely different... We're likely going to need both Andy and Jonathan ...and they'll share the minutes on the pitch," the manager said.
Hammers' skipper Mark Noble is suspended, having picked up his 10th yellow card of the season against Swansea.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by John Stonestreet) |
Filthy scenes as university students leave piles of rotting rubbish and abandoned cars in streets before summer break | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe See our privacy notice Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
University students left filthy piles of rotting rubbish and abandoned cars in the streets before heading home for their summer break.
The streets of Cardiff were littered with used textbooks, cutlery, furniture and even cars packed with rubbish.
Alleyways around the Cathays area, a hotspot for student living, became dumping grounds for wrecked sofas and mattresses, reports Wales Online .
As of July 1 hundreds of students have flocked from the city, ready for two months of bliss in the sunshine before embarking on a new year of studying.
The car park at Cathays train station, used by thousands of students, was covered in rubbish overflowing from a YCMA donation bank.
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
At its foot lies a full deconstructed kitchen, Tupperware, chopping boards, bowls, pots and pans and bottles of ketchup and mayonnaise all piled up.
Expensive-looking textbooks, chairs, hairbrushes and DVDs were also poking out of the throng.
As Paleontolgy postgraduate student Richard Jones walks past he stops to take a quick picture on his phone.
He said: "I was walking past a few weeks ago and there was a guy saying there was a handbag there that was selling for £30 on eBay.
"He said he was going back the next day and fill the car up."
A few minutes walk from the station lies Miskin Street.
On the corner two green and white striped deck chairs stand ready for their occupants to return and enjoy the sunshine.
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
On closer inspection, however, the seats are ripped, with a large bottle of Smirnoff vodka lying yards away.
Meanwhile others have taken to twitter to share pictures of the mess, including a car left full to bursting with belongings.
A few yards away builder Christopher Williams is hard at work, gutting a house under the beating sun.
The plan is to turn the semi-detached house from separate flats to one big HMO, or house in multiple occupation.
For him the state of empty student houses are something he has had to get used to, although the smell of rotting food never quite goes away.
The 39-year-old said: "When I started I was shocked.
"Mainly it's just dust and dirt but you do expect that. Then there's freezers full of stuff, food in the cupboards, in the fridges.
"It's all mouldy but what can you do? When you have a fridge with no electricity you just have to see what's in it.
"The smell just hits you. [My colleague] has got a really weak stomach.
"It's just sad for the landlords, they put their hearts into these places."
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
In a matter of weeks the house will be completely renovated ready for a new batch of inhabitants.
Luckily, not everything inside it will be scrapped.
The Cardiff builder said: "Nine times out of ten I will take things to charity shops so they can make a bit of money.
"This morning someone came and picked up two cookers, gas hobs and extractor fans.
"If you give them a bit of a clean most of it can be re-used.
"Sometimes there are clothes with tags still on."
A few doors down from Christopher postgraduate student Jessica Jones is busy scrubbing her front yard to remove the debris from last year's tenants.
Today is her second day in Cardiff after moving from Manchester to study music.
The 22-year-old said: "The street looks derelict but inside the houses are quite nice.
"I come from Manchester so I'm quite used to use but there are some messy students around here.
"A lot of people have left stuff they don't really want. There's a few interesting bits, chairs, barbecues.
"The amount of money that students get through is crazy, things become disposable after a year."
Around Cathays other students have had similar experiences.
Royal College of Welsh Music and Drama student Katie Bayliss has still got one more week before moving out.
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
She said: "It's stressful. You have to make sure everything is spick and span while making sure you get your own stuff ready.
"Some people just don't care and the sea gullscome and open the bags. We try our best obviously because there are families near but you can't help it when the seagulls are ripping everything.
"The worst is the food left in the recycling bins. In this heat it's horrible, I have to hold my breath walking past it."
Around Cardiff there are thought to be 75,000 students across Cardiff University , Cardiff Metropolitan and the University of South Wales.
On Tuesday afternoon Cardiff council maintenance teams and members of Cardiff University are circling the area, determined to keep up with the volume of rubbish coming from each house.
On Rhymney Street local landlord Michael Krokos is getting ready to go visit one of the seven HMOs he owns across Cardiff.
Born and bred in the city, he claims to know every tenant on a first name basis to minimize the risk of nasty shocks when they move out.
The 50-year-old Cardiff graduate said: "It's quite spooky like this. It feels like one of those zombie movies."
He added: "The problem is not so much the students but relying on the duty contractors as you book them months in advance like the cleaners, painters, decorators. They know they've got you in a tight position so they can mess you around or not turn up."
A bigger problem still for Michael is absentee landlords who are not so quick to clean and update houses.
He said: "There are issue with landlords but the first thing I try and do if find out what the agents are and if the agents aren't going to be compliant I go to the registry office to find out who owns it."
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
(Image: WalesOnline/WS)
Sex doll found in skip at student digs after horrified man spots LEG sticking out of rubbish
To help with the big move out a 'Love When You Leave Campaign' has been set up to make students aware of how to get rid of rubbish.
A spokeswoman for Cardiff University said: “We are one of three universities in the city centre and we take our responsibilities to the local community and other residents extremely seriously.
“Together with our Students’ Union, we work hard to ensure that all of our students are made aware of their responsibilities around waste, recycling and charity collections throughout the year.
“We are a partner in the ‘Love When you Leave Campaign’, which helps ensure students living in the city centre are aware of waste collection dates, donation points and what to do with unwanted goods at the end of term.
“The University and Students’ Union also work closely with Cardiff City Council to ensure we take a co-ordinated approach to messages around responsible waste disposal and recycling.”
Michael Michael, Cardiff council cabinet member for clean streets and recycling, said: “All students need to plan ahead when they leave their rented property so that any unrecyclable or unusable waste is put out for collection on the correct waste collection day.
“Failure to do this causes an eyesore for other residents and the rubbish bags are often ripped open by seagulls causing large levels of street litter If students persist on doing this, they will receive a Fixed Penalty Notice.
"A great deal of time and effort has been put into providing the various recycling and reuse schemes through the Love When You Leave Campaign and we ask everyone to plan ahead and use the facilities provided.” |
Athletics' Santiago Casilla: Sharp in low-leverage appearance | Casilla fired a scoreless ninth inning in Sunday's 9-3 win over the Orioles, allowing a hit and recording two strikeouts.
Casilla hasn't notched a save since July 23, but he has compiled two holds and a win over six August appearances. The 37-year-old hasn't surrendered a run since falling apart in a blown save opportunity against the Blue Jays on July 26, making it one of his most effective stretches of the season. Although Casilla has worked his ERA back down to 3.89, it remains to be seen if he'll return to a full-time closer role. |
Momentum activist suspended from Labour after posting mock video of councillors 'Jewish dancing' | Get politics updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A Momentum activist has been suspended from Labour after posting a mock video of local councillors which was considered anti-Semitic.
Daniel Harris posted a video on social media, featuring three characters in traditional Orthodox Jewish dress.
He has since apologised for causing offense with the video, but blamed his suspension on "a political ploy by the Right in Labour"
The figures, dancing to a song about Hanukkah - had the faces of three Labour councillors for Brighton and Hove superimposed on their bodies.
The video was accompanied by the message: “Merry Christmas Warren Morgan, Caroline Penn and Anne Meadows. A bit of fun!”
(Image: SWNS-London-+44 (0)1179066550)
Mr Harris, a member of Corbyn-backing pressure group Momentum, was suspended from Labour last night, following complaints about the video.
The video has since been removed from his Facebook page and replaced by a similar video featuring three elves.
Last night, Harris said: “I can see now that the post can be seen as offensive and anti Semitic and I wholeheartedly apologise for the offensive I have caused.
"As a gay man who has been victim to two incidents of homophobic hate crime this year, I know full well the challenges people from minority groups face."
It’s thought the video was created using the ‘Elf Yourself’ app, which allows users to paste friends’ faces onto holiday themed dancers.
(Image: SWNS-London-+44 (0)1179066550)
Jewish Labour movement Ivor Caplin said the group had submitted a formal complaint about the video, adding: “There are people who think they can defend Dan Harris for this – there may need to be a wider investigation by the party.”
In an online post, Harris said he was “utterly devastated” to have been suspended, and blamed the move on a “political ploy by the Right in Labour.”
He added: “I want to condemn all forms of racism. As a gay man who has been victim to two incidents of homophobic hate crime this year, I know full well the challenges people from minority groups face.
‘I would never take part in any form of racism. I fight for vulnerable people in the community and, as a result of being fairly vocal on issues, I believe this whole incident is a political ploy by the Right in Labour to deny working-class voices and smear the Left.
“Finally I want to end with an apology if my post did offend anyone, it was certainly never meant to offend. It was meant to bring seasonal joy, not more divisions.” |
Preview: Mets at Phillies | Since trading away their top power hitter the New York Mets have had an offensive breakthrough, something they will try to maintain Saturday in the third of four games at the Philadelphia Phillies. Right fielder Jay Bruce, who led the Mets with 29 home runs, was shipped to Cleveland earlier in the week as New York struggled for consistent offense while wrapping up a homestand, but the club has erupted for 17 runs while taking the first two games in Philadelphia.
Yoenis Cespedes drove in four runs, Michael Conforto homered for the fourth time in six games and rookie shortstop Amed Rosario had his first career blast to break a tie in the ninth inning and lift the Mets to a 7-6 win Friday. New York improved to 33-15 at Citizens Bank Park since the start of the 2015 season, which includes wins in all five meetings at Philadelphia this year. Phillies prospect Rhys Hoskins is 0-for-6 with three strikeouts and two walks in two games since being called up from the minors, while Mets prospect Dominic Smith was 1-for-3 in his major-league debut Friday. Aaron Nola has found a nice groove for Philadelphia and will get the start Saturday opposite left-hander Steven Matz.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, WPIX (New York), NBC 10 (Philadelphia)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mets LH Steven Matz (2-5, 5.77 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Aaron Nola (8-7, 3.12)
Matz's slump continued in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, when he was reached for five runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. That performance left the 26-year-old at 0-4 with an ERA of 11.03 over a span of six starts, all of which came after he spun seven scoreless frames in back-to-back road outings. While he has faced other National League East foes Atlanta, Miami and Washington a combined 15 times, Matz has never pitched against the Phillies.
Nola is 5-2 with a 1.76 ERA over his last nine starts, allowing two runs or fewer each time. He has recorded at least seven strikeouts in eight of those nine outings, including seven more over as many frames in a no-decision at Colorado on Sunday. The 24-year-old has given up 10 runs in nine innings over two career meetings with the Mets.
Walk-Offs
1. Phillies CF Odubel Herrera finished 2-for-4 on Friday and has hit safely in a career-high 14 straight games.
2. Philadelphia RH Vince Velasquez (finger) was placed on the 10-day disabled list and IF/OF Ty Kelly was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
3. Cespedes has nine home runs in 17 career games at Citizens Bank Park.
PREDICTION: Phillies 5, Mets 4 |
Rupert Murdoch and his wife Jerry Hall among Trumps' guests | Reporters weren't invited to President Trump's first state dinner with President Emmanuel Macron of France, but one media mogul made the list: the owner of Fox News Channel Rupert Murdoch.
A New York Times reporter broke the news that Murdoch would be attending tonight's glitzy fete alongside his wife Jerry Hall.
Aides had feared that the president would personally dole out invitations to the dinner last week while visiting Mar-a-Lago, the Times said, so they constrained him to adding just four names to the guest list.
President Trump (center right) and first lady Melania Trump (right) are hosting French President Emmanuel Macron (center left) and French first lady Brigitte Macron (left) for the administration's first state dinner Tuesday night
INVITED: Ruport Murdoch (right) and his wife Jerry Hall (left) are among the invited guests to President Trump's first state dinner with France
THE LONE DEMOCRAT: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is the only Democrat known to be invited to the Trumps' first state dinner
Defense Secretary James Mattis (left) made the cut, as did International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde (right), who is French
It's unclear if Murdoch and Hall were among that group.
The White House will release the full guest list, which is expected to number around 130 people, directly before the dinner, but Congressional Democrats and White House reporters are already known to have been left out.
The only Democrat known to be coming is Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, as it's custom to invite Louisiana politicians to state dinners with France because of the state's Cajun-French roots.
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan will attend, his office confirmed.
Others known to be on the guest list include Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, who is French.
The Times also reported that Steven Mnuchin and his colorful actress wife Louise Linton will also be on hand.
Last Monday night, the White House showed off the finishing touches of first lady Melania Trump's decor, from the place-setting to the giant flower arrangements greeting guests.
Reporters were briefly allowed into the White House and were greeted by gold table settings, gold silverware, gold candlesticks, gold wine glasses, gold chairs – situated elegantly around puffs of green and white flowers – in the candlelit state dining room.
At each of the 130 place settings there was a menu, with the White House seal and the fleur-de-lis, which were also in gold.
Just outside the state dining room, the first lady went with a different theme, using some 1,200 cherry blossoms in giant black vases that would greet guests as they came in.
Earlier Monday the White House had released some details about the dinner, including the menu.
Reporters were briefly allowed into the White House's state dining room Monday night to take in the first lady's designs for the Trump administration's first state dinner
Earlier in the day, the first lady tweeted pictures of herself huddling with her social secretary Rickie Niceta (right) as the two women went over last minute details for Tuesday's state dinner with France
Melania Trump's vision for her first state dinner included golden place settings, puffs of white and light green flowers and dinner by candlelight
The first lady used china from two administrations - Bill Clinton's and George H.W. Bush's - to create a golden look for the tables, which glowed under the candlelight
Photographers capture the first lady's place settings Monday night at the White House, as press was briefly allowed in for a preview
Touches of gold were used on the menu too, including a golden presidential seal, and a golden fleur-de-lis
Mrs. Trump chose Clinton china services to coordinate with the dinner's cream and gold color scheme, and Bush china with a green color palette to 'compliment the spring garden and white flowers that will be featured in the State Dining Room'
The Trumps’ first state dinner will be understated in comparison to the Obamas’ affairs, which included lengthy guest lists packed with stars
The Office of the First Lady has prepared the following details, all carefully selected by First Lady Melania Trump, to complement and pay homage to the long-standing friendship between the United States and France
The Trumps, the Macrons and their guests will dine on food that showcases “the best of America’s cuisines and traditions” with some French influence: the main course is a rack of spring lamb and Carolina Gold rice jambalaya cooked with celery, peppers, onions, and herbs from the South Lawn
Mrs. Trump 'carefully selected' all of the details for the state visit and paid particular attention to how the dining room looked
Melania Trump chose 1,200 cheery blossoms to line the Cross Hall, which state dinner guests will walk through to get to the state dining room
The dinner will take place in the State Dining Room, which can hold about 100-150 seated guests
Mrs. Trump has also been doing some homework, educating herself about the protocol and history of these sorts of White House events. This is to ensure her selections for the Macrons' visit have meaning behind them, down to the china, flowers, color scheme and menu, which, while American, will highlight the influence France has had on American cuisine
The giant vases of cherry blossoms are seen Monday night in the Cross Hall as reporters were briefly allowed into the White House to see the set-up for Tuesday night's state dinner with France
The White House's Cross Hall was decorated with giant vases of cherry blossoms, in preparation for tomorrow's state dinner with France
The State Dining Room at the White House is set for the first State Dinner that President Donald Trump will host as president with French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington. The State Dinner will be held on Tuesday night
President Bill Clinton's portrait hangs next to one of Melania Trump's giant vases of cherry blossoms. Despite their political differences, the first lady used the Clinton china as part of her first state dinner's place settings
Goat cheese gateau, tomato jam, buttermilk biscuit crumbles, young variegated lettuces would be served, along with a rack of spring lamb, burnt cipollini soubise and Carolina gold Rice Jambalaya, with a nectarine tart and crème fraîche ice cream for dessert.
Two wines from Oregon will be served and a demi-sec champagne.
Tomorrow's meal is being prepared by White House Executive Chef Christeta Comerford, who was hired during President George W. Bush's administration, and stayed through the Obama years.
The first lady spent last Saturday in bipartisan company, attending the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush alongside the Clintons and Obamas – all Democrats – and former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, with his wife Laura.
And on Tuesday, she'll be showcasing china from the administrations of President Bill Clinton and President George H.W. Bush.
The first lady's office says that selected pieces from the Vermeil and American Silver collections, as well as Tiffany & Co. and S. Kirk & Sons, will also be included.
'Remember, she has a design background,' the first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham told the Washington Post.
Social secretary Rickie Niceta told the publication that the first lady, a former model, 'has amazing taste, which makes things very, very easy.'
Celebrities are not expected. And neither are media figures and Democrats.
On Monday, first lady Melania Trump tweeted out several photos of the preparations she was making for her first state dinner, which will be held Tuesday with the French president and first lady
First lady Melania Trump (center) and social secretary Rickie Niceta (right) go over details for Tuesday's state dinner with France
First lady Melania Trump gestures toward the large displays of cherry blossoms that were installed for Tuesday's state dinner with France
Melania Trump shares a photo of herself in the White House's state dining room, where Tuesday night's state dinner with France will take place
The Clinton China rests on a table as First Lady Laura Bush gives the press a preview of the dining room for the State Dinner in honor of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the White House in 2006. First Lady Melania Trump has also selected the Clinton China for her event
The Clinton China, seen here during a state dinner in George W. Bush's administration, will be on display again tomorrow evening at the Trump White House
During the Obama years, the White House tried to invite several A and B-listers out of Hollywood to each dinner, along with a number of television personalities and White House reporters.
Obama would also try to invite several Republicans in an effort to break bread across the aisle.
The Washington National Opera will provide the evening's entertainment.
The Trump administration's first state dinner comes later than the inaugural dinner of the White House's two immediate predecessors, with President Obama hosting his first state dinner in November 2009.
That dinner made headlines when two reality television stars – Tareq and Michaele Salahi – crashed the cocktail hour, which led to several security probes.
President George W. Bush hosted his first state dinner on September 5, 2001, six days before the 9/11 terror attacks.
France is getting its turn earlier under Trump than it did under either previous American president, with the last two coming in 2007 and 2014.
Melania Trump highlighted the work her office had done in a Monday morning tweet that said: 'After months of preparations, @POTUS and I are looking forward to hosting our first State Dinner with France! Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make this visit a success.'
She later tweeted several pictures of her 'checking on the final details,' which included a look at the cherry blossoms – 1,200 which were used – to decorate the Cross Hall. |
French ex-president Sarkozy in custody in campaign funding probe: source | PARIS (Reuters) - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in police custody on Tuesday morning, where he was to be questioned as part of an investigation into suspected irregularities over his election campaign financing, an official in the French judiciary said.
FILE PHOTO: Nicolas Sarkozy, former French president, at his headquarters in Paris , France, November 20, 2016. REUTERS/Ian Langsdon/File Photo
The probe related to alleged Libyan funding for Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign, Le Monde newspaper reported. A lawyer for Sarkozy could not be reached immediately for comment. |
BRIEF-Zhejiang Huatong Meat Products to acquire 51 pct stake in Quzhou food firm | UPDATE 3-Nestle takes food price rises in its stride
ZURICH, Aug 9 Nestle expects pressure from the rising price of ingredients for its products such as chocolate bars, coffee and soup to ease, helping it meet its target for increasing sales despite tough markets. |
Atlanta Hawks Game Preview: Jan 1. San Antonio Spurs | The Atlanta Hawks finish off their current homestand tonight against the San Antonio Spurs. Can they knock off an elite opponent to keep their winning streak alive? Welcome to 2017.
Start the conversation, or Read more at Soaring Down South. |
The Block smashes Hell's Kitchen and Survivor in ratings | Once the stalwarts of great reality TV, ratings aren't looking good for either Channel Seven or Network Ten's in the genre.
On Sunday night, Channel Nine's The Block once again dominated its main competitors - Hell's Kitchen and Survivor.
The home renovation show, which in the past proven to be a hit for the network, came in at number one with a total of 1,285,000 viewers, according to OzTam ratings.
Smashed yet again! Channel Nine's The Block has once again dominated against competitors - Hell's Kitchen and Survivor - on Sunday (The Block contestants Josh Barker and Elyse Knowles pictured)
It seems audiences were keen to watch the rivalry between couples Ronnie and Georgia, and Josh Barker and Elyse Knowles.
Josh recently slammed Ronnie and Georgia who beat them in the show's guest bedroom week by half a point and won $10,000.
Slammed!It seems audiences were keen to watch the rivalry between couples Ronnie and Georgia, and Josh Barker and Elyse Knowles (pictured above)
Competitive: Josh recently slammed Ronnie and Georgia (pictured) who beat him and Elyse in the show's guest bedroom week by half a point and won $10,000
Better numbers: Survivor Australia rated better this week, attracting 622,000 who tuned in to see contestant Samantha Gash (right) booted off the island (host Jonathan LaPaglia)
Survivor Australia rated better this week, managing to attract 622,000 viewers who tuned in to see contestant Samantha Gash booted off the island.
The Network Ten program gained approximately 15,000 viewers on top of the 607,000 that tuned in last week.
The slight comeback for the castaway reality show is also proving to be a winner in the coveted 18 to 49 demographic, a key demo for advertisers.
Good gains: The slight comeback for the castaway reality show is also proving to be a winner in the coveted 18-49 demographic, a key demo for advertisers
Feuding: Only 544,000 viewers tuned in to witness Sam Frost (left) slam teammate Pettifleur Berenger (right) for her failure to cooperate with the rest of the group
However, the same cannot be said for Hell's Kitchen, which is continuing to be a ratings disaster for the Seven Network with metropolitan audiences across Australia.
Last week the celebrity-filled culinary show had an audience of 615,000.
Only 544,000 viewers tuned in to witness Sam Frost slam teammate Pettifleur Berenger for her failure to cooperate with the rest of the group. |
New York Post | HBO has ordered six episodes of the Vimeo comedy Web series “High Maintenance.” The series, which debuted online in 2013, stars Ben Sinclair as a Brooklyn pot dealer known only... |
Cairn Energy emerges as frontrunner for DONG Energy's oil, gas assets | LONDON/COPENHAGEN Independent oil exploration company Cairn Energy has emerged as the frontrunner for North Sea oil and gas assets put up for sale by DONG Energy, sources familiar with the matter said.
Interest from Cairn Energy and several other potential buyers could put pressure on shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, after talks with DONG Energy to buy the oil and gas assets stalled at the end of last year. The two Danish firms had failed to agree on a price.
Final bids for the assets, which could be worth around $2 billion, are due by the end of February, the sources said.
Cairn Energy and DONG Energy declined to comment.
Cairn has 22 licenses in Norway, including two operating licenses, and 15 licences in Britain including one as operator, according to the company's website. Cairn also has some international projects, for example in Africa.
Several other potential bidders have emerged, although it was unclear whether they had or would bid for the assets. They include chemicals giant Ineos, private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners, and oil and gas firm DEA, controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, the sources said.
DONG Energy said in November it would quit the oil and gas business to focus solely on offshore wind power.
One source said Maersk remained "in the picture" for the assets, but it was unclear whether the company still considered bidding.
Bringing together the two Danish companies' oil and gas divisions is still seen by many in the industry as a natural fit.
Maersk declined to comment.
DONG produced 89,000 barrels of oil and gas per day last year, down from 115,000 barrels daily in 2015. Its main producing assets include Ormen Lange in Norway, Syd Arne in Denmark and the Laggan-Tormore field in the United Kingdom.
Agreeing on a price has proven difficult, in part due to disagreements over who should pay for the decommissioning of some assets.
There is also uncertainty over an arbitration case between DONG Energy and a consortium of Technip and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering over who bears responsibility for construction errors concerning an offshore platform for the idled Hejre field.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso and Clara Denina in London, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen, Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Editing by Dale Hudson) |
Kid-friendly breweries pack Miami street art haven | The street art-famous neighborhood of Wynwood — whose walls are always freshly painted with new works — has a cluster of four inviting breweries with lively indoor-outdoor space that make for a leisurely afternoon for all ages.
Newcomer Veza Sur Brewing Co., whose master brewer hails from Chile, has a sleek black-and-white design that resembles a flora-filled library. Of its 18 brews, the signature is the chope, which is served very cold and topped by a thick layer of foam.
Just blocks away, the city’s first craft brewery has a more laid-back vibe. Wynwood Brewing just celebrated its fourth birthday with a new brew called the Coqui-To barrel-aged milk stout, inspired by a Puerto Rican eggnog-style drink.
Another hyperlocal release is a festively spiced imperial porter, Deck the Walls, from Concrete Beach Brewery, which comes in a can designed by a local artist.
Concrete Beach’s round central bar offers views of the metal tanks churning within, while an outdoor space with a newly installed retractable roof (for all weather conditions) has walls covered in cheeky murals and giant board games.
Don’t skip J. Wakefield. Founded by accountant turned brewer Johnathan Wakefield, it’s known for sour beers. One particular favorite is Coqui Rechazado, a sour ale infused with guava, oranges, kumquat and bay leaves. (Proceeds go to Puerto Rico hurricane relief.)
A mural of Darth Vader looms over picnic tables outside — perfect for Star Wars fans from pint-sized to oversized. Plus, beer “is a liquid art form in itself,” says staffer Alex Reyes.
Cheers to that. |
Australia's biggest bank reveals further woes | The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was thrown into turmoil by a civil case launched earlier this month by financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC for alleged "serious and systemic non-compliance" with the laws
Australia's biggest bank has admitted failures costing staff and customers millions of dollars as the troubled lender faces legal action over alleged breaches of money laundering and terror financing laws.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) was thrown into turmoil by a civil case launched earlier this month by financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC for alleged "serious and systemic non-compliance" with the laws.
The case has overshadowed record annual profits and forced the bank to announce the retirement of its chief executive.
The embattled lender, Australia's largest firm by market capitalisation, has now said it was working to remedy other errors worth millions of dollars linked to customers' insurance, transactions, and staff pension payments.
"We are providing an additional update on other issues we are putting right for our customers and employees," CBA said in a statement late Monday, adding that the statement was "not an exhaustive list of all regulatory matters".
The shortfall in staff pension payments is initially expected to amount to Aus$16.7 million (US$13 million) plus interest, with the full costs yet to be finalised.
Refunds to customers over disputed card transactions added up to some Aus$5 million, while the bank said it had notified corporate regulator ASIC over a probe into whether it did not cancel insurance to some deceased estates.
Following scrutiny over the AUSTRAC action, the bank said Monday that chief executive Ian Narev would retire by the end of the 2018 financial year.
The company added last week the pay and bonuses of top executives were to be slashed. CBA could face fines running into billions of dollars from the AUSTRAC case.
The bank is also facing an investigation from ASIC over its handling of the alleged breaches.
The latest revelations are not linked to the regulatory investigations the lender faces.
The Commonwealth has been delivering bumper returns for shareholders in recent years, but has also been hit by scandals over poor financial planning advice and insurance payouts. |
Experts: Keystone XL pipeline power lines will hurt cranes | Environmental experts in Nebraska say transmission lines to power pumping stations for the planned Keystone XL pipeline would threaten endangered whooping cranes. Representatives from environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Bold Nebraska, submitted written testimony on Monday to the Nebraska Public Service Commission, saying they object to the $8 billion pipeline's impact on natural resources.
Start the conversation, or Read more at Powhatan Today. |
BRIEF-Pareteum Awarded $2.4 Mln Contract From Established Global Mobile Operator | March 19 (Reuters) - Pareteum Corp:
* PARETEUM AWARDED $2.4 MILLION CONTRACT FROM ESTABLISHED GLOBAL MOBILE OPERATOR Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: |
1921 trailer: Vikram Bhatt’s new horror flick is The Conjuring and Raaz combined, watch video | 1921 stars Zarine Khan and Karan Kundra. 1921 stars Zarine Khan and Karan Kundra.
Like every horror story, 1921’s plot too starts with a good boy ending up at a countryside mansion until one fine night, everything changes after he begins experiencing paranormal activities in the house. The good boy over here is hotness personified Karan Kundrra who seeks a solution to his problems from Zarine Khan, a girl who can see and control spirits. Well, heard before? We bet you also have seen it before. The plot of horror stories do not really have a different premise in most of the cases, and 1921 also suffers from the same ‘seen before’ problem. However, as the story moves forward in the trailer, you see that director Vikram Bhatt has combined all the elements to scare the hell out of you. But the question is – does it really scare you?
For us, the trailer of 1921 is a perfect reminder of several Hollywood films including The Conjuring and Annabelle, and even Vikram Bhatt’s own and best one so far – Raaz. Zarine Khan does not come across convincing as an exorcist. The trailer has many moments of ghosts and spirits but you anticipate it coming, which makes you lose hope that it will manage to standout like the first one – 1920 starring Adah Sharma, which was quite a hit.
Based in the year 1921, the film deals with the battle of Ayush (Karan) and Rose (Zarine) with extreme paranormal activities created by a cursed spirit that would lead them to their ultimate redemption or downfall.
For Zarine, this is her first horror film while Karan has earlier worked with Vikram Bhatt in 2012 starrer Horror Story.
Written and directed by Vikram Bhatt, produced by Reliance Entertainment and Vikram Bhatt, 1921 is all set to release on January 12, 2018.
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BRIEF-Ryder System partners Chanje Energy to become exclusive sales channel partner and service provider | Aug 14 (Reuters) - Ryder System Inc
* Ryder partners with Chanje Energy to become exclusive sales channel partner and service provider
* Ryder System Inc - Ryder has placed its initial order of Chanje vehicles Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: |
Myleene Klass poses naked at almost 40 and reveals she 'couldn't be more proud' of her body | Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Myleene Klass poses naked as she celebrates looking in great shape thanks to her first home workout programme.
The TV star and classical musician said: “I’m turning 40 in a month and couldn’t be more proud of the body I have.
“It’s given me two beautiful babies, it’s carried me through good times and tough times, and it’s allowed me to be a strong and successful woman.
“I filmed ‘MyBody’ so that women would feel empowered, confident and capable of anything they set their mind to.
“I have been asked to do a fitness DVD for years but have never felt it was the right time until now. After having two children, I wanted to help other mums and busy women find a way to stay fit that works for them.
“I wanted to create a programme that doesn’t just show women what moves to do, but to be a long-term guide - it is hard work but it is maintainable, not a lifestyle overhaul but small manageable changes to help women stay fit and see real results.
“This isn’t just about weight loss, I wanted to make women feel strong and confident in their every day lives.”
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The 12 week ‘My Body’ programme comes with a DVD, fitness guide and a sandbell.
Filmed in Dubai across various Jumeirah locations, it consists of three workouts a week for twelve weeks combining weighted movement, cardio boxing and ab work based on pilates and yoga.
It is available from tomorrow (Friday) at www.mybodybymyleene.com |
Police under fire for ‘warning’ about Zika-contaminated meth | An Ohio police department took to Facebook this week with a faux advisory for meth users about Zika.
“WARNING: If you have recently purchased Meth in Preble, Montgomery, Darke or Butler Counties it may be contaminated with the Zika Virus,” the Gratis Police Department wrote.
They added, “Please bring it to the Gratis Police Department and we will test it for free. If you’re not comfortable coming into our office, please contact us and we’ll test your Meth in the privacy of your home.”
Gratis police later acknowledged that the drug is unable to host the virus.
“We’re just trying to keep things lighthearted and humanize the police department with some jokes,” Assistant Chief Dennis Blankenship told Fox 45. “We’re not doing it to arrest 100 people that are going to bring in meth. Drug addiction is a serious issue and I pride myself in helping people when it comes to that.”
Blankenship said the Facebook post, which has racked up more than 3,100 reactions and 800 comments as of Wednesday afternoon, wasn’t intended to lead to arrests.
But that didn’t stop people from questioning the department’s motive.
“Isn’t this entrapment?” a commenter asked.
“I do not support or condone the use of this drug, and get that it’s a funny post. But wouldn’t this be considered entrapment? The police persuading you to do something you wouldn’t normally do in order to bust you?” another echoed.
“Do you really think we’re being serious and expect people to show up? Come on now. And if they do why do you care? It’s more drugs off the street right,” police replied.
The police department continued, “You have to be persistent in attempting to persuade the person to commit the crime they otherwise wouldn’t be committing. But if they are already in possession of Meth then they are not committing any crime that they wouldn’t already be committing.”
Others had different takes on the situation.
“Should be going after the dealers that’s distributing it and furthering addiction. Or how about the ones bringing it into the dealers ?”
“We are,” police replied. “Every single day.”
But at least one Facebook user suggested police in the area have a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.
“I don’t live there, so I’m unaware of the meth problem. But after reading the posts, you’ve got a bigger problem on your hands. Seems those in your area suffer from a serious lack of humor,” the user wrote. |
Vijay Mallya case: Supreme Court seeks MEA reply over delay in extradition proceedings | Vijay Mallya arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain. (Source: file photo/REUTERS) Vijay Mallya arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain. (Source: file photo/REUTERS)
Expressing its displeasure over the delay in the extradition proceedings of ‘absconding’ businessman Vijay Mallya, Supreme Court Tuesday sought a reply from the Ministry of External Affairs by December 15 on the matter.
The apex court indicated that it might summon the MEA Secretary if their orders aren’t adhered to, ANI reported.
The Westminster Magistrates Court in London is currently hearing the extradition case. The 61-year-old is facing charges of fraud and money laundering in India.
On Monday, Mallya’s counsel summoned Dr Martin Lau, an expert on South Asian law, to present his views on the evidence presented by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and previous Indian Supreme Court rulings.
“I hold the Supreme Court in the highest respect but it is equally not disrespectful to indicate that some doubts are voiced about particular patterns [in judgments],” Dr Lau said.
On the likely impact of extensive media coverage on a trial in India, Dr Lau said: “There is an increasing concern in India about media trials.”
He also raised questions on the neutrality of Supreme Court judges close to retirement and the evidence submitted by CBI. In his written testimony, Dr Lau wrote that there had been “coercion” by Special Director Rakesh Asthana and his team over the banks in India to pursue criminal proceedings against Mallya.
With inputs from PTI
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Women seem less likely to get surgery in war-torn countries | A tally of surgeries performed by personnel with Doctors Without Borders in war-torn countries found 69 per cent of the operations were done on men. The gender disparity held for violent and non-violent medical traumas.
Start the conversation, or Read more at CBC News. |
Notorious Colombian drug lord extradited to New York | A notorious Colombian drug lord has been extradited to New York — and is scheduled to appear in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday on international drug trafficking charges.
Daniel Rendon-Herrera, also known as “Don Mario,” arrived in the Big Apple early Monday — nine years after he was arrested for running a drug trafficking paramilitary gang that prosecutors say shipped huge quantities of cocaine around the world and killed those who stood in its way.
“Rendon-Herrera led a major Colombian drug trafficking enterprise that imported tons of cocaine into the United States and employed hitmen who carried out acts of violence across North and South America in furtherance of the organization,” US Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement Tuesday.
The 54-year-old’s paramilitary group Los Urabenos — formerly Clan Usuga — trafficked “multi-ton shipments of cocaine” to the US, and also did a roaring local trade by taxing every kilogram of coke that made its way through the group’s territory, prosecutors allege.
The narco-terrorist outfit also employed hitmen “who committed murders,assaults, kidnappings and assassinations” to collect on debts and expand its control across Colombia and enhance it reputation, the indictment charges. |
Double amputee who survived meningitis and stroke told to "f*** off" by Uber driver who thought she was drunk | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A double amputee who survived both meningitis and a stroke claims she was refused service by an Uber driver who accused her of being drunk.
Clare Brown, 33, was left humiliated at the end of a rare night out when she and husband Chris were turned away because she was unable to walk.
After Chris informed the driver Clare was an amputee and asked him to park closer, she claims the Uber driver insisted she was drunk, told them to "f*** off" and sped off "at about 70mph".
The aspiring model, who will feature in London's Alternative Fashion Week in September, claims the incident has been put off going out and vows not to set foot in a taxi again.
Uber confirmed it has suspended the driver from the app business while the allegations are investigated.
(Image: Mercury Press and Media Ltd)
Clare, from Selsey, Sussex, said: "I just thought how the hell am I going to get home?
"I don't want to get in a taxi again. I was absolutely distraught.
"We'd had a really fun night then ordered a taxi at around 9.45pm and waited outside the karaoke bar.
"When the Uber arrived, my husband ran up to the car and asked if the driver would mind coming to the other side of the road because I was disabled and wouldn't be able to walk across.
"Just by seeing me coming across the road, he thought I was too drunk. I have scarring of the lungs so I can't walk very much at all.
"He nearly ran my husband over as he zoomed off as fast as anything at about 70mph.
"By that point I was in tears - I wasn't drunk. I have disabilities which mean I'm constantly dizzy and due to the stroke my speech is affected.
(Image: Mercury Press and Media Ltd)
"I'm on so many tablets anyway that I can only have one drink and have to water that down."
The mum-of-two eventually managed to get home after ordering a cab through another company, but has been left too upset to get in a taxi again.
Due to her reduced mobility, she is reliant on support from both sides while walking and was upset that her disability was perceived as drunkenness, even after her husband told the driver she was an amputee.
Clare said: "I have no idea was he was thinking but he sped off straight away.
"Chris was quite upset with what had happened but when he complained, he just received a generic message back.
"As he said, the problem is they can just do what they want. There are so many problems with Uber drivers.
(Image: Mercury Press and Media Ltd)
"Everyone was trying to comfort me after we'd just had a really good laugh and got to know each other.
"When I was 17, I was in an induced coma after contracting meningitis . I was like that for six months in the hospital because they said if I moved I would die.
"It was to keep me completely still and during that time I had a stroke down my left-hand side too.
"I also had a brain haemorrhage because of surgery they did to take pressure off my brain and suffered internal bleeding.
"They were talking about turning off my life support and in the end, I had both of my legs amputated."
Thankfully, Clare and her husband were also with Aleah Leigh, founder of Equality Model Management, when the alleged incident occurred, who was able to help them arrange another taxi home.
Clare said: "I was quite glad that Aleah was with me on Saturday. Had it been just me and Chris, there would have been no way we would've got home so soon.
(Image: Mercury Press and Media Ltd)
"My friends were having to calm me down. It was not a nice situation at all and it's put me off going out in the future.
"This has happened to me before, where [taxi drivers] have perceived me as drunk.
"It only happened this one time with Uber but a few other times with other taxis.
"Many bars and clubs I have been to have commented on how drunk I look."
Aleah said: "When we told the driver that Clare couldn't walk because she's a double amputee, he said 'fuck off' and drove off.
"The poor girl was crying her eyes out. I was so upset for her.
"I've made numerous phone calls and I believe it is being investigated.
(Image: PA)
"We called another taxi firm and got her home eventually. Even the driver of that taxi was appalled by what had happened.
"When she is walking, she needs assistance from both sides. Because she also had a stroke, she speaks a little different too
"It was just awful for her. She'd had such a good night and was happy - for it to end like that was a shame."
A spokesperson for Uber said: "Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination from riders or licensed drivers who use the app. We take any allegations of discriminatory behaviour very seriously.
"We're currently investigating this incident and it is our policy to prevent drivers from using our app while we investigate serious incidents." |
Japan PM sends ritual offering to war dead shrine on WW2 surrender anniversary | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to a controversial shrine to war dead on Tuesday, the anniversary of Japan's World War Two surrender, but did not visit in person in an apparent effort to avoid increasing regional tensions.
Masahiko Shibayama, a lawmaker who made the offering on Abe's behalf, said he did so to express condolences for those who died in the war and to pray for peace. He added that Abe said he was sorry he could not visit the Yasukuni shrine.
Past visits by Japanese leaders to Yasukuni have outraged Beijing and Seoul because it honors 14 Japanese leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as war criminals, along with other war dead. Abe himself has only visited once since becoming prime minister again in 2012.
Maintaining harmony with China and Seoul is now more important than ever amid heightened tensions in Asia in the wake of North Korean missile tests, threats from Pyongyang to strike the area around the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and U.S. President Donald Trump warning of retaliation.
"After the war, our country has consistently taken steps as a country that abhors war and treasures peace, and has made efforts to promote the peace and prosperity of the world," Abe said at a national ceremony to honor war dead on Tuesday.
"We intend to keep this immovable policy firmly, throughout the ages, while facing history with humility."
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a speech during a memorial ceremony marking the 72nd anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan August 15, 2017. Kim Kyung-Hoon
Abe visited the Yasukuni shrine in 2013, an action that prompted criticism from key ally the United States as well as from Asian nations, but has sent offerings on August 15 and during Yasukuni's twice yearly festivals.
Dozens of Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine along with scores of ordinary Japanese, a move prompting a protest from media in China, which with South Korea views the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
Slideshow (14 Images)
The official People's Liberation Army Daily wrote in a commentary on Tuesday that the anniversary should be a time for Japan to reflect on its history, not to "go further down the forked road of harming Sino-Japanese ties and regional peace and stability".
Tensions in the region weighed on the minds of many who visited the shrine.
"I am furious about the threat from North Korea," said Katsuhiko Ikeda, 78.
"North Korea's missile threat towards Guam means anything would pass by Japan, and if anything happened, it could affect us." |
Girl, 8, suspected of killing one-year-old boy 'to deal with his crying' while unsupervised at day care centre | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
An eight-year-old girl is suspected of killing a one-year-old boy at a day centre while left unsupervised.
Chief of Police Jeffrey Lewis in Muskegon, Michigan, said the investigation into the death of Korey Brown is "one of the saddest I've ever seen".
Korey's mother Bryanna Reasonover had dropped him and three other siblings at Keysha Keeper Daycare to be looked after last Thursday evening while she worked overnight.
An emergency call was made at 6.15am on Friday morning after Korey was found unresponsive.
Paramedics arrived but Korey could not be saved and was declared dead at 8am.
(Photo: GoFundMe)
(Photo: Facebook)
A cause of death has not yet been established, police said.
But it is believed an unidentified 8-year-old girl was left alone with Korey for a period of time.
The toddler became upset and started crying and the girl intervened.
Her actions led to the boy's death, police believe.
(Photo: GoFundMe)
Chief Lewis said the only witness to what happened is another five-year-old child.
Prosecutors are investigating and may eventually file charges against staff at the day care centre.
Heartbroken mother Ms Reasonover told WZZM13 her children had only begun staying at the centre three weeks ago.
"It's very frustrating to not know what happened, to know that he was suffering when all he probably wanted was his mommy," Reasonover told the news channel. |
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Bitcoin Conference 'regret' holding after party at strip club with young rich investors | GETTY/TWITTER Bitcoin Conference 'regret' holding after party at strip club
During the event, waitresses in revealing tops and lingerie served drinks, as the party continued into the early hours despite the event technically ending at 11pm. Many attendees kept their conference badges on and stayed to party, it has been reported. Jeff Scott a cryptocurrency trader from New York said: "We're a bunch of dudes with a lot of money in our 20s. We like naked girls.” Mr Scott had a table for 12 with a hedge fund analyst and the heads of two startups.
He said the evening was not much different to a typical night in a strip club. It is believed that the event, which was open to all conference attendees and sponsored by cryptocurrency Dash, made many women feel uncomfortable. Zineb Belmkaddem, a crypto trader who decided not to attend the event, told Bloomberg it made her feel un-welcomed. She said: “There was a message being sent to women, that, ‘OK, this isn’t really your place.'
Cryptocurrency price: A year in charts Tue, January 16, 2018 Compare crypto currencies (Ripple, Bitcoin, Ethereum, LiteCoin) on value, market cap and supply for the past year Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 10
“This is where the boys roll.” Keynote, the firm who hosted the event told Bloomberg they regretted hosting the event at the venue. Keynote CEO Moe Levin said: "Having the networking party at E11even was a misstep. “We always aim to be as inclusive as possible and create a safe environment.” Ryan Taylor, the chief executive of Dash Core, said in a statement "we were unaware that the event we sponsored would be held at a venue featuring adult entertainment."
TWITTER During the event, waitresses in revealing tops and lingerie served drinks
This comes after US banking giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America banned account users from buying cryptocurrency using credit cards after the price collapsed following highs in December. A JP Morgan spokesman said: “At this time, we are not processing cryptocurrency purchases using credit cards, due to the volatility and risk involved.” "We will review the issue as the market evolves." A spokesman for Bank of America confirmed that the bank had taken the same approach.
GETTY Some banks have banned account users from buying cryptocurrency using credit cards |
Wimbledon 2018: Victoria Azarenka reveals how Jamie Murray asked her to be doubles partner | GETTY Andy Murray's brother Jamie Murray will play doubles with Victoria Azarenka
Azarenka, 28, was dumped out the WImbledon singles by Karolina Pliskova in straight sets. But she still has the doubles to look forward to where she will team up with Murray, who has twice won the mixed at SW19. "I'm very much looking forward to have English people on our side," she said. "And being hopefully a crowd favorite for the first time in England. "Jamie is an amazing player. To see how much he progressed over the years and making a big name for himself, it's really cool.
GETTY Victoria Azarenka will play mixed doubles with Jamie Murray
"I'm excited to play with him. I think it's going to be our first time. My memory is gone. "But he actually asked me. I was thinking about doubles or mixed doubles or something to play, and he reached out to my coach and I said yes." Murray, 32, won the title with Martina Hingis in 2017 - 10 years after he joined up with Jelena Jankovic to take the crown.
GETTY Victoria Azarenka has been dumped out of Wimbledon |
BRIEF-Biodelivery Sciences announces the granting of two new patents | METALS-London copper slips to 1-wk low after US rate rise
(Adds detail, updates prices) By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE, June 15 London copper dipped to its lowest in a week on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates for the second time this year, boosting financing costs for industry. Amid a mixed economic outlook in the United States and slowing industrial activity in China exacerbated by the end of financial quarter, metals could come under further selling pressure, broker Kingdom Futures said in a report. "Toda |
‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao led to improvement in sex ratio at birth’ | The BBBP scheme is one of PM Modi’s pet projects and was launched by him in January, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana. It focuses on districts with the worst child sex ratio (CSR) as per the 2011 Census. (Representational Image) The BBBP scheme is one of PM Modi’s pet projects and was launched by him in January, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana. It focuses on districts with the worst child sex ratio (CSR) as per the 2011 Census. (Representational Image)
The government on Friday claimed that there has been an improvement in sex ratio at birth in 104 districts selected for the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, which aims at checking female infanticide and educating the girl child. “An increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is visible in 104 districts, 119 districts have reported progress in registration of pregnancies in the first trimester and 146 districts have shown improvement in institutional deliveries,” Secretary, Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry, R K Shrivastava told reporters.
The WCD ministry now plans to extend this programme all the districts of the country. The senior official was comparing 2016-2017 figures with those of 2015-2016. The data for the above three parameters is derived from health ministry’s Health Management Information System (HIMS).
The BBBP scheme is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet projects and was launched by him in January, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana. It focuses on districts with the worst child sex ratio (CSR) as per the 2011 Census.
The goal of the programme is to address the issue of decline in child sex ratio in critical districts through an awareness campaign as well as multi-sectoral interventions, which include registration of pregnancies in first trimester, increased institutional deliveries, and prohibition of sex-determination. Of the 161 selected districts, the top five districts that showed improvement in sex ratio at birth (SRB) in 2016-2017 as compared to the previous year were Dibang Valley (761 to 1176); Lakshwadeep (832 to 955); Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh (849 to 943); Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh (500-594) and Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir (949-1018).
The five districts that have shown the sharpest decline during the same time period are Saiha, Mizoram (1022-898), Nicobar (948-839), Shopian, J&K (1062-959), Bandipore, J&K (964-885) and Ghaziabad (977-908). SRB is the number of girls born for every 1,000 boys and is recorded at birth. This data is collected annually. CSR is recorded for a population in the age group of 0 to 6 years and is collected once in 10 years. It is primarily influenced by SRB and mortality in early childhood.
Haryana, which has the worst child sex ratio according to the 2011 census (834 girls for every 1000 boys against the national average of 918), has shown improvement in sex ratio at birth in 18 of the total 20 districts selected in the state for the programme. The other two districts have shown a decline, according to Joint Secretary, WCD, K Moses Chalai. “Ten years of SRB is equal to CSR. So naturally, if SRB improves it will result in an improved CSR. While we can’t compare CSR with SRB we have seen that broadly SRB for two years is on an improving trend and above the CSR of 2011,” Moses Chalai told reporters.
In Rajasthan, of the total 40 districts selected, 10 have recorded an improvement in sex ratio at birth and in Punjab 14 out of total 20 districts have shown an upward trend, according to Moses.
In Uttar Pradesh, 21 districts were selected for BBBP and 15 have shown an improvement in sex ratio at birth. Five have shown a decline and the remaining one district has been “stable”.
In the national capital region, three districts have shown a decline (East Delhi, South Delhi, South-West Delhi) and four have shown improvement (North-West Delhi, North Delhi, West Delhi and North-east Delhi).
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Prosecutors fight to use Cosby's own words at June trial | Actor Bill Cosby arrives to a hearing for his upcoming sexual assault trial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clem Murray/Pool
Actor Bill Cosby (R) returns from a lunch break to a hearing for his upcoming sexual assault trial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clem Murray/Pool
Actor Bill Cosby (R) is escorted back after a lunch break during a hearing for his upcoming sexual assault trial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clem Murray/Pool
Actor Bill Cosby (R) arrives to a hearing for his upcoming sexual assault trial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clem Murray/Pool
Actor Bill Cosby (R) leaves for a lunch break during a hearing for his upcoming sexual assault trial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clem Murray/Pool
Actor Bill Cosby (R) is escorted back after a lunch break during a hearing for his upcoming sexual assault trial at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clem Murray/Pool
NORRISTOWN, Pa. Lawyers for comedian Bill Cosby and Pennsylvania prosecutors clashed in court on Monday over whether his own words can be used against him at his sexual assault trial in June.
Prosecutors are seeking to use numerous statements they say show Cosby's willingness to use intoxicants to incapacitate women before assaulting them.
"This evidence demonstrates that he thinks it's OK to give women drugs in order to have sex with them," Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan told Judge Steven O'Neill of the Court of Common Pleas in Montgomery County in Norristown, just west of Philadelphia.
But Cosby's lawyer, Brian McMonagle, accused prosecutors of trying a "back-door play" that would effectively let them introduce evidence of other sexual assault allegations unrelated to the case involving Andrea Constand, a former basketball coach at Temple University who accused Cosby of giving her pills in 2004 that left her unable to resist.
More than 50 women have leveled accusations at the 79-year-old Cosby, some stretching back decades. But the Pennsylvania case is the only criminal prosecution he has faced to date.
Cosby, whose career and wholesome image were shattered by the accusations, has said every sexual encounter was consensual.
During sworn depositions taken after Constand sued Cosby, the entertainer acknowledged obtaining prescription sedatives in the 1970s to give to young women.
Prosecutors said they should be allowed to use excerpts from Cosby's autobiography and statements he made in a 1991 television interview, in which he described the power of an aphrodisiac called "Spanish fly" to put women in the "mood."
But Cosby's lawyers said the deposition testimony had nothing to do with Constand and the "Spanish fly" comments were jokes, not evidence.
"It was comedy," McMonagle told O'Neill. "It was not an admission."
Meanwhile, McMonagle said he would undermine Constand's credibility by portraying her civil lawsuit as an attempt to get money.
But he asked O'Neill to bar the prosecution from mentioning the subsequent civil settlement, in which Cosby paid her an undisclosed sum in exchange for her agreement not to cooperate with future law enforcement efforts.
Prosecutors, however, said they should be allowed to bring up the deal to rebut the defense's attempts to impugn Constand's motives.
Jury selection will begin next month in Pittsburgh, hundreds of miles away. O'Neill previously agreed to empanel jurors from another county because of pretrial publicity. The jury will be in Norristown for the expected two weeks of trial.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Grant McCool) |
Breaking down the Islanders’ John Tavares dilemma | As July 4 fireworks arrived, a contract extension between John Tavares and the Islanders remained unsigned. It has been three whole days that he could have inked a deal, and in that short time, the panic began to rise inside the fanbase that knows their captain is more than just a cog on the roster.
Tavares is the bedrock from which this franchise operates. As general manager Garth Snow navigated the draft and now wades his way through the shallow waters of free agency, all while second-year majority owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin do their best to try find a decent and permanent home rink, the actions are made in the context of Tavares being on the ice and being a perennial Hart Trophy contender.
But let’s make one thing clear: He is not being treated like another player.
Tavares has been kept abreast of all things going on with the franchise, and overall that means the owners’ likely upcoming bid to develop the site at Belmont Park. Maybe more importantly for him, Tavares was also on top of Snow’s active month, already yielding an upgrade up front in the trade that brought back Jordan Eberle from the Oilers, as well as obtaining high draft picks that are being stockpiled in the hopes of prying Matt Duchene out of the death grip of Colorado general manager Joe Sakic.
There can be no reasonable griping about the way Tavares has approached this situation, as level-headed as he has approached his whole career. At 26 years old, he has spent the first eight years of his career as fiercely loyal to the team that took him with the No. 1-overall pick in 2009, and at times it seemed like he was loyal to a fault.
But he is in the prime of his career, and at that turning point when the next contract can make it extremely comfortable for him and his family for the rest of their lives (if not for a few generations). It would be misguided to think he is holding the club’s feet to the fire, as in making any sort of unreasonable demands. But it also would be misguided to think he is going to blindly sign on the dotted line without seeing progress toward what would be stable on-ice and off-ice situations.
Tavares is still signed for this upcoming season at the league’s biggest discount of $5.5 million per, after which he would become an unrestricted free agent. The Islanders are the only team that can offer him eight years, while the rest of the league would max out at seven. And if the starting price from Snow had been thought to be something around $10 million per, it has certainly risen with some huge contracts being thrown around the rest of the league, none more resonant than the presumptive $13.25 million cap hit that will be attached to Edmonton’s wunderkind, Connor McDavid, once that contract is officially signed.
So if there is no reason to panic about Tavares not being signed right now, as the weeks go on, the anxiety will continue to rise. If it looks like a financial gap too large to bridge, then it is on Snow to make one of the biggest decisions in franchise history — trading Tavares for as much as he can get before losing him for nothing next July 1.
A smart negotiator also would try to get that trade done sooner rather than later, because if it came out that Tavares was not going to sign with the Islanders, then Snow has less leverage out in the marketplace with everyone knowing he has to move him.
Those types of scenarios are still very, very hypothetical. Right now, it’s only been a few days that have gone by as this generational talent mulls his options. Right now, there is no reason to panic.
But the summer can move quickly. July 4 turns into Labor Day, which turns into the start of training camp — all in the blink of an eye. There is urgency in getting a deal done, but the fireworks are not the sound of the sky falling. Not yet. |
Springboks assistant coach De Villiers headed back to... | May 30 (Reuters) - Springboks assistant coach Pieter de Villiers has been released from his contract to take up an opportunity in France, South Africa Rugby said on Wednesday.
France's L'Equipe newspaper reported he was set to join Stade Francais, the club he ended his playing career with in 2008 and that is now under the guidance of former South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer.
Former France prop De Villiers, 45, joined SA Rugby in 2012 as a consultant, working with Meyer, and was appointed assistant coach this year under Rassie Erasmus.
"De Villiers has requested a release from this position, and subsequently from his SA Rugby contract, due to family commitments," SA Rugby said in a statement. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond) |
India’s outrage cult has been all about kneejerk hypersensitivity and zero sense of priority | Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel was recently charged with having called India “poor” and thus an unworthy site of his product expansion strategy for Snapchat. The reaction of distaste at the Indian end was swift, even though the veracity of the allegation remained doubtful. But why did the country need to take offense at a few words of a CEO somewhere — if he even said them (Spiegel denies ever making them), and more importantly, as if that makes any difference to what India is. Suddenly boycotting Snapchat assumed the transient, new avatar of patriotism. The backlash against Snapchat even ignorantly spilled over to Snapdeal, the Indian e-commerce brand. The question is why we lose our calm over such petty things?
To some extent, this sort of mass outrage venting has become the identity of social media all over. But in India, there is also has a distinct tendency lately towards attacking anything perceived as “against the nation [or religion]” — as though that alone is uniting a majority of Indians today. Following the Ramjas College row in February, an unthinking dose of verbal venom was unleashed towards the 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur. Her unrelated placards from an older anti-war video were pulled and juxtaposed out of context with her stand against ABVP violence to “prove” her reasoning unsound and her stance “pro-Pakistan and anti-nationalist”. This concocted environment of vitriolic targeting, which also encouraged some bigwigs to take jibes at Gurmehar, ultimately bullied her into calling off her campaign. Verification of the facts within the manufactured hysteria was forsaken till later.
The desire to take offense on behalf of the nation is fashionably being worn on the sleeve, even at the cost of verification, logic and making a mountain out of a molehill. The Snapchat incident saw a country’s social media unite to maliciously and undeservingly troll a creator and his product — like an elephant hell-bent on charging a non-entity — which can only be treatise of our over-sensitivity.
Hypermasculinism in relation to the idea of India has been physically on display elsewhere too, not just in the trolling froth produced on social media. It treats the abstract imaginary of the nation as a paranoid, hypersensitive entity deserving and calling for masculine “protection” and baying for reprisal for such perceived “affronts”. Such a climate demands conformity to monolithic, grandiose beliefs about India the nation and one’s place in relation to it; it does not shrink from the use of virtual aggression or even actual violence to resist any challenge to them.
Such thin-skinnedness is puzzling for the citizens of a country that have so much to worry about, as far as making the nation better is concerned, instead of some unverified comments that may or may not have been uttered two years ago inside a Silicon Valley boardroom. We must prioritise our “to-be-tackled” goals better.
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Greasbrough Residential and Nursing Home | We always recommend that before selecting or making any important decisions about a care home you take the time to check that it is right for your or your relative's particular circumstances. Any description and indication of services and facilities on this page have been provided to us by the relevant care home and we cannot take any responsibility for any errors or other inaccuracies. However, please email us on the address you will find on our About us page if you think any of the information on this page is missing and / or incorrect. |
BRIEF-Maternus Kliniken H1 EBIT up 23 pct at 2.6 million euros | Aug 14 (Reuters) - MATERNUS KLINIKEN AG:
* CONFIRMATION OF THE CONSOLIDATED FORECAST FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017
* H1 GROUP SALES UP BY 3.3 PERCENT TO EUR 63.5 MILLION
* AT EUR 2.6 MILLION, H1 EBIT WAS APPROXIMATELY 23 PERCENT ABOVE THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S RESULT
* H1 EBT ALSO IMPROVED FROM EUR -0.7 MILLION IN THE PREVIOUS YEAR TO A LOSS OF EUR -0.1 MILLION Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom) |
Police seek witnesses in St. Petersburg fatal shooting | About 2:30 a.m., St. Petersburg police responded to 1834 49th St. S after receiving reports of a shooting. They found George Hall with gunshot wounds to his upper body.
Start the conversation, or Read more at St. Petersburg Times. |
Top Saudi prince to meet Trump in White House visit | RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s royal court said Monday the kingdom’s second-in-line to the throne will meet President Donald Trump at the White House in the highest-level visit to Washington by a Saudi royal since November’s presidential election.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also defense minister and King Salman’s son, is scheduled to start his Washington visit on Thursday. He departs for the United States on Monday.
The royal court, in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said that Prince Mohammed will meet with Trump and a number of U.S. officials to discuss “the strengthening of bilateral relations between the two countries and regional issues of mutual interest.”
The prince is spearheading the kingdom’s economic overhaul to become less dependent on oil and its major investments in U.S. technology firms.
No details were given on when he would meet Trump. He will be the first Gulf Arab royal to meet the president since his inauguration.
Key issues at the top of the agenda are likely to include discussion on global energy prices, as well as the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition backed by Washington has been bombing Iran-backed Shiite rebels for nearly two years.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter and biggest buyer of American-made arms, is also part of the U.S.-led coalition bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria.
Saudi relations with Washington cooled under President Barack Obama after his administration secured a nuclear deal with regional rival Iran. The deal has been heavily criticized by Trump.
Obama had also openly criticized Gulf Arab countries, expressing frustration at their feud with Iran.
In contrast, the kingdom has expressed optimism about rebuilding its alliance with Washington and working with the Trump administration to contain Iran’s reach in the region.
In a call between Trump and King Salman in January, the two agreed to back safe zones in Syria and Yemen, according to a White House statement. The monarch is currently touring Asia in a visit aimed at building alliances with other partners. |
Flames' Brian Elliott: Will be between pipes Monday | Elliott will be in the crease for Monday's tilt against Anaheim, Derek Wills of Sportsnet 960 reports.
Moose hasn't been on his "A" game in the playoffs so far, allowing six goals on 70 shots and picking up a pair of losses. The Flames will be back at home, which hasn't been much of a defensive advantage, as they allowed 2.71 goals per game there this season. |
Renault cars review | Renault is a long-standing French institution - and an automotive giant now that it has joined together with Nissan.
The French and Japanese marques very much keep their own separate identities, however, with Renault producing adventurously styled cars in mainstream market segments such as hatchbacks, MPVs and, most recently, SUVs.
Interested in what Renault has to offer? Check out all our Renault car reviews here.
Find out how it was rated for reliability in our latest Which? Car Survey by visiting our guide to the most reliable car brands. |
Rafael Nadal picks up some groceries in Wimbledon after win | Rafael Nadal beat his Wimbledon first-round opponent Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Spaniard took almost two hours to seal a straight-sets victory and progress to the next round.
And before heading home he popped to buy some groceries.
Before heading home after his win on Tuesday, Rafael Nadal popped to buy some groceries
Following his win, Nadal posted three photos of himself in a shop in Wimbledon on Instagram
Following his win, Nadal posted three photos of himself in a shop in Wimbledon on Instagram.
He wrote: 'Very happy with the win today and after the match, before going home, a bit of groceries.... @wimbledon #groceries.'
Nadal was still dressed all in white, but in different attire to the gear he wore on Centre Court
Nadal was still dressed all in white, but in different attire to the gear he wore on Centre Court.
Last year the two-time All England Club champion was spotted at a Tesco store in Wimbledon at a self-service checkout.
Next up for Nadal at the grass-court tournament is Mikhail Kukushkin. |
New steps announced help election-bound Gujarat in particular | Of the 27 broad categories of items that saw a reduction in GST rates, at least eight were in segments where Gujarat is a dominant player. Representational Of the 27 broad categories of items that saw a reduction in GST rates, at least eight were in segments where Gujarat is a dominant player. Representational
AMONG the relief measures announced Friday by the GST Council, a number of them will particularly help enterprises and exporters from Gujarat which goes to polls later this year. These include revised tax slabs for man-made filament, synthetic yarn and fibre, a staple input of Gujarat’s massive man-made textile industry’ concessions for cullet and scrap glass, as well as at least two food items that come predominantly from Gujarat. Of the 27 broad categories of items that saw a reduction in GST rates, at least eight were in segments where Gujarat is a dominant player.
These include sewing thread of manmade filaments and thread of manmade staple fibres; synthetic filament yarn (nylon, polyester); and artificial filament yarn such as viscose and rayon, as well as yarn of manmade staple fibres. In these categories, rates were brought down from 12 to 5 per cent. Alongside these goods, the rate for food items such as khakhra, as well as categories of “namkeens.” were brought down from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. Another item where tariff was brought down is the “cullet or other waste or scrap of glass,” a segment where Gujarat has a significant industrial footprint in Morbi and Vadodara.
The slew of relief measures for exporters will also help industry in Gujarat, a major exporting hub. While the state accounts for 12 per cent of the country’s textile exports, it’s the largest manufacturer of manmade filament fibre (around 38 per cent of India’s total production) and manmade fibre (around 31 per cent). Gujarat is also a hub of gem and jewellery exporters in the country accounting for more than 90 per cent of diamond export from India.
The gem and jewellery sector is the second-highest contributor to Indian commodity exports with a share of around 13 per cent, according to Gujarat government data. Data from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises shows that more than 5 per cent of the units in small scale industry, or 530,314 units out of the total of 1.05 crore in the country, are in Gujarat.
The textiles and apparel sector, where exports account for about 40 per cent of production, is one business hit hard due to demonetisation and the transition to GST.
The number of workers affected due to closure of cotton and man-made fibre textile units (the bigger units that comprise the non-SSI segment of the industry) during 2016-17 were 4,356 on account of the closure of 18 units, according to official Textile Ministry stats on non-SSI units.
During the previous two years, the numbers were 7,938 workers affected by the closure of 27 units in 2015-16 and 5,384 workers affected from the closure of 21 units in 2014-15, taking the cumulative figure to over 17,600 workers impacted by the closure of 67 units in the last three years. The distress in the SSI segment is much higher, even though there is not enough data. According to Surat GST Sangharsh Samithi president Tarachand Kasat, units in the filament yarn and man-made fibre product business in Surat are losing around Rs.1.25 crore a day since the July GST rollout.
A 2016 study by industry lobby group Assocham recorded that Gujarat and Maharashtra accounted for about 46 per cent of the country’s merchandise exports, according to an analysis of data between 2007-08 and 2014-15.
Also, Gujarat figures among the six states where three-fourths of the operational SEZs are located, the others being Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
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OSJCT Old Station House | We always recommend that before selecting or making any important decisions about a care home you take the time to check that it is right for your or your relative's particular circumstances. Any description and indication of services and facilities on this page have been provided to us by the relevant care home and we cannot take any responsibility for any errors or other inaccuracies. However, please email us on the address you will find on our About us page if you think any of the information on this page is missing and / or incorrect. |
Delhi is your rakhwala: PM | Prime Minister distributes sanction letters to beneficiaries under PM Awas Yojana (Urban & Gramin) at a function in Silvassa on Monday. PTI Prime Minister distributes sanction letters to beneficiaries under PM Awas Yojana (Urban & Gramin) at a function in Silvassa on Monday. PTI
BRAVING THE heat, thousands of people, including schoolchildren, thronged the Lion English School and waited for nearly five hours to catch a glimpse of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Silvassa on Monday.
Waving to the frenzied crowd chanting ‘Modi, Modi’, he spoke about how he was one of the few prime ministers to visit the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli after a gap of nearly 35 to 40 years and the last PM to have visited the place was Morarjibhai Desai.” “No one had any idea who used to govern the union territories like Dadra and Nagar Haveli. I want to tell you all that now Delhi is your rakhwala (protector) and that’s why I am here for the first time as a prime minister. Gareeb se Gareeb nagrik ka utna hi adhikar is desh pe hai jitna Delhi walon ka (the poor has equal right over this country like people from Delhi.”
Modi also reminded that it was not his first visit to Silvassa. “Bahot bhraman kiya hai iss ilake me. Yahan ki sambhavnaon se parichit hoon (I have travelled a lot in the area and i am fully aware of the opportunities of this place,” he said.
Asking people to use the BHIM app, Modi said that youths can start earning by promoting its usage to others. Modi claimed that every download of this app on the instance of an individual can fetch him about Rs10. He told the gathering that youths can more than Rs 20,000 if they start asking people to use the BHIM app.
Damru Prasad, who has settled in Silvassa for the past 20 years, said that he came to hear Modi. “I am originally from Azamgarh in UP and have settled here for over two decades. I think Modi is the only leader who is so popular that people want to hear him.” Since morning, large number of students and from villages such as Rudana, Mandonj and others started thronging the school. They said that they had never seen a mass gathering of this magnitude here.
During the event Modi distributed LPG connections, pressure cookers, land titles, wheel chairs to physically challenged, among others, to the beneficiaries, a majority of them tribals.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App now |
Germany keen for dialogue with U.S. on trade, finance minister tells ARD | BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said it was important to start a dialogue with the United States about planned U.S. trade sanctions, but it was unclear if differences between Washington and Brussels could be resolved by the end of the week.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and Economy Minister Peter Altmaier attend the first cabinet meeting in Berlin, Germany, March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Altmaier told German broadcaster ARD that Germany and the European Union were keen to avoid a trade war with Washington.
He stressed that Europe would not let itself be divided by the United States. |
Ann Widdecombe is Celebrity Big Brother 2018's runner-up as she finishes in second place | Get celebs updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Ann Widdecombe is the runner-up of this year's Celebrity Big Brother.
The retired politician has finished in second place, just behind winner Shane Jenek aka Courtney Act .
She has previously said that she was shocked to make it so far in the contest as she knows she has "unfashionable views".
Ann, 70, clashed with her housemates on a number of occasions over things like gay marriage and abortion rights.
As she chatted to host Emma Willis, she said: "Do you know how many times I've turned this programme down?"
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: WireImage)
(Image: Lia Toby/WENN.com)
Ann was asked if she enjoyed her time in the house, and she said: "I'll let you know when I've seen the footage."
She said she definitely enjoyed it more than she thought she would, because she didn't think she'd enjoy it at all.
She added that living with 15 other people was "terrible".
Ann said: "I was woken up by awful pop music by Big Brother some days and it was even followed by an obscene performance one day."
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
(Image: WireImage)
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The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant revealed that her new hair style had been inspired by housemate Malika Haqq, who had a make-shift salon in the house.
Emma asked if she was looking forward to going back home to her cats and Ann said: "I don't have cats, that's misinformation."
"Oh, I thought you had cats," Emma said.
And Ann told her: "Well, I did have cats. They've all died."
Ann said that Shane J has NOT given her any food for thought during their discussions in the house.
And she said that the main reason she's so excited about coming second is because it's an "endorsement of free speech", saying she exercised her right to air her unfashionable views.
Ann also slammed Emma's interview style telling her: "If you stick with line of questioning then all you're going to get is no, no, no."
Emma lately said Ann had 'put her in her place'. |
Brandon Marshall’s sick of this and open to Jets paycut | Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall called 2016 his “most frustrating year,” but the 32-year-old wants to keep playing and hopes to be back with the Jets in 2017.
Marshall is due to make $7.5 million next season, none of which is guaranteed, so the Jets could save the entire amount against the salary cap by cutting him. They also could ask him to take a pay cut, which Marshall seemed amenable to on Monday.
“It’s not about the money anymore,” Marshall said. “It’s all about winning. I know what I’m worth. I think this team knows what I’m worth. It’s not about the money. I’m good. All I want to do is win. I don’t care about anything but winning. That’s it.”
Marshall missed the final game of the season on Sunday against the Bills with a hip injury. Marshall also dealt with an MCL sprain and foot sprain he suffered in Week 2. He finished the year with 59 catches for 788 yards and three touchdowns, a huge dropoff from his record-setting 2015 season. Marshall also found himself in the middle of a few locker-room blowups this year. There was a lot of talk on Monday about the divisions in the Jets locker room and how that affected the team.
“These things happen,” Marshall said. “You just have to be a man and be tough to take the criticism. It’s one thing to sit back and lose and it’s another to sit back and not speak up when you have an opportunity to speak up. I think everybody’s motive in this locker room is to win. That’s why we’re here. Whatever it takes, you have to do it.”
Marshall said he was happy with how he approached leading the team, but maybe could be more aware of how others would receive his message.
“I think in retrospect I can work on my timing, but I’m totally fine with my approach this year,” Marshall said. “My only motive is to win ball games. I’m tired of going home right after the season. I’m tired of watching the playoffs on my couch. I’m tired of it. It’s just a frustrating year. It’s been a frustrating career from that aspect. Hopefully, things change moving forward.”
Marshall said he wants to play until he is 38 or 39 years old. He said he has not lost confidence in his abilities.
“I’m extremely confident that I’m still an elite receiver,” Marshall said. “I still demand double coverage. I still demand a lot of attention. So, that’s really good. That gives our other receivers one-on-one matchups. They get a chance to go up against No. 2 or No. 3 corners on the other side, which is good when we have the talent that we have with Quincy [Enunwa] and Robby [Anderson] and [Eric] Decker getting healthy. Those guys are uncoverable. I think I’m still at the level where I can demand that type of respect, that type of coverage. The numbers weren’t there, that’s new for me. This is a year that most receivers can hang their hat on, not for me. The bar is set high, and it’s unacceptable.” |
Senators' Erik Karlsson: Notches two helpers in Game 3 win | Karlsson collected two assists -- one on the power play -- and logged 30:15 of ice time during Monday's Game 3 win over Boston.
The Norris candidate is now up to four assists through the first three games of the series and has topped 30 minutes of ice time in consecutive outings. His hefty role provides a high fantasy floor, and his offensive upside offers an even higher ceiling. As a result, Karlsson's an elite fantasy asset and worth nightly consideration in daily contests. |
Dementia Cafe Sheffield Central | About Dementia Cafe Sheffield Central
The Dementia Cafe provides information about living with dementia and other services available locally in an informal and comfortable environment. A Dementia Cafe is also a place to relax, socialise and meet other people with dementia and their carers. |
Millions of homes hit with higher energy bills as SSE becomes latest Big Six supplier to announce hikes | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Around nine million homes are set to face higher energy bills as SSE becomes the last of the Big Six suppliers to announce price hikes.
The energy giant’s standard gas and electricity prices will climb by an average of 6.7%, it revealed yesterday. Around 2.5 million of its customers will be affected by the rise, which starts on July 11. They will see bills rise by an extra £76 a year.
SSE’s Stephen Forbes said: “We deeply regret having to raise prices, however the cost of supplying energy is increasing.”
British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Npower and ScottishPower also recently announced rises. Standard tariffs from the Big Six firms are up by an average of £53 a year.
(Image: Getty Images)
Suppliers have partly blamed price hikes on the Government’s plan to bring in a cap on standard variable tariffs.
Martin Lewis, of MoneySavingExpert, said: “Anyone on a Big Six standard tariff is ripping themselves off by failing to take action. Switch firms and you could cut bills to almost £800 a year, even with the same usage.”
Millions of people have started switching, with SSE losing 430,000 customers in the past year. |
Sad images show empty shelves inside Toys R Us as 25 stores hold closing down sales | Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
These sad images demonstrate the sad end to Toys 'R' Us as dozens of stores prepare to close down.
The businesses, which were once considered a magical place by generations of children, are winding down with the last of the stock being sold.
Pictures have emerged of inside the Plymouth store, which is preparing to close.
Shelves once stacked with bikes are now bare and singular toys not yet bought stand lonely on the racks.
A place was once filled with excited children running to make sure they got their hands on the latest goods is now echoing and empty as people stroll through.
(Image: SWNS.com)
(Image: Lauren Haly)
(Image: Lauren Haly)
The store is thought to be staying open until April, but will close when its “stock runs out”. It is among 25 nationwide due to close this year.
Items are marked with 30 per cent off and customers are being given vouchers after purchasing goods.
They can save £10 when they spend more than £20 the next time they shop – either online or in store. These are valid from March 1 until April 30.
Staff at the store confirmed that they “no longer had any stock out the back” and that “everything is out on the floor”.
(Image: Lauren Haly)
(Image: Lauren Haly)
They said: “We will just keep condensing it each time shelves empty, and then close when there is nothing left.
“It is really sad to look around and see shelves which were once full empty, and also to have toys in the wrong places.”
It was announced the store would be closing as the firm struggles to balance its huge debts.
The big box retailer filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada after admitting it was struggling with £3.6billion debt and competition from the likes of Amazon and Walmart.
(Image: Lauren Haly)
(Image: Lauren Haly)
Prams and car seats were reduced down to as little as £71 for top brands such as Silver Cross and Maxi Cosi.
There are 20% off all baby clothes and feeding accessories, including Tommee Tippee products.
Paw Patrol cars are now down to £20 and giant puppy cuddly toys are now under £14.
It is estimated that 800 jobs across the country will be affected by the store closures.
In December, Toys R Us UK announced plans to transform the business to meet the evolving needs of customers in today’s UK retail market.
To ensure its future growth and profitability, 25 stores were earmarked for closure in the Spring this year. |
Incredibles 2 ending scene: What does post credit scene mean for the Parr family? | Much to the delight of Pixar fans, the Parr family is returning to cinemas for Incredibles 2. Although the film will not air in the UK until July 13, speculations have risen that a third instalment could be on the cards. Brad Bird, the director of the Incredibles franchise has himself not ruled out another sequel. What does the post credit scene mean for the Parr family? Strictly speaking, Incredibles 2 does not quite make use of the patented post-credit screen despite being a superhero movie. INCREDIBLES 2 EPILEPSY WARNING: CAN INCREDIBLES 2 TRIGGER SEIZURES?
Yet Incredibles 2 does use a 2D post-movie pre-credit scene to tease fans with what some are saying is a hint about another movie for the Parr family. The reenactment of the Incredibles 2 storyline shows the Underminer's drill driving across the screen. This extra animated feature before the credits play is one final reminder: the Underminer is at large, which means the Parr family still have work to do. Despite the fan support for another Incredibles movie, Pixar has confirmed it is scaling back on making sequels, despite their box office profit. INCREDIBLES 2 RUNTIME: HOW LONG IS INCREDIBLES 2? AGE RATING?
Disney Incredibles 2: The Parr family returned to fight crime and restore legal rights to supers
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Pixar president Jim Morris said there were no more sequels currently in development. He added: “Everything after Toy Story and The Incredibles is an original right now." And so, to the disappointment of fans, the teaser may be nothing more than a tease. While an Incredibles 3 film may not come to fruition, fans can still be cautiously optimistic. Bird told Entertainment Weekly he had a number of plot concepts and characters who didn't make it into Incredibles 2. INCREDIBLES 2: RELEASE DATE, TRAILER AND WHO IS JOINING THE CAST
Disney Incredibles 2: A sequel, or prequel, has support from cast members and fans
Disney Incredibles 2: The Pixar hit took fourteen years to make |
North Korea will regularly test missiles: Official | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. REUTERS/KCNA North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. REUTERS/KCNA
North Korea will continue to test missiles on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis, Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol has said. He said that an “all-out war” would result if the US took military action, BBC reported. “If the US is planning a military attack against us, we will react with a nuclear pre-emptive strike by our own style and method,” Han told BBC. Earlier, US Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea not to test the US, adding his country’s “era of strategic patience” with Pyongyang was over. “Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new President in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” Pence said. “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region.”
Pence arrived in Seoul on Sunday hours after North Korea carried out a failed missile launch. Tensions have been escalating on the peninsula, with heated rhetoric from both North Korea and the US. North Korea has accelerated its nuclear and missile tests in recent years, despite international condemnation and UN sanctions. Its aim is to be able to put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach targets around the world, including the US. US President Donald Trump has said that will not happen, and stepped up pressure on the isolated North. He has sent a navy strike group towards the Korean Peninsula, and the US and South Korea are moving ahead with the early deployment of a controversial missile defence system.
Despite the tension, North Korea may carry out a sixth nuclear test soon, observers say. It test-fired a missile on Sunday that exploded within seconds of launch, following a grand military parade on Saturday. Han told the BBC that North Korea believed its nuclear weapons “protect” it from the threat of US military action. The North casts the US as the aggressor.
At a news conference at the UN on Monday, North Korea’s permanent representative Ambassador Kim In-ryong, condemned the US missile strikes in Syria, which targeted an air base after a suspected chemical attack by the government. He said the US was “disturbing global peace and stability and insisting on the gangster-like logic that its invasion of a sovereign state is decisive and just and proportionate and contributes to defending the international order”.
China has reiterated its call for North Korea to stop all tests, and has also called for a peaceful solution. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing on Monday that the Korean peninsula was “highly sensitive, complicated and high risk” and that all sides should “avoid taking provocative actions that pour oil on the fire”. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would not tolerate “missile adventures by Pyongyang” but a unilateral use of power by the US would be “a very risky course”.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday told a parliamentary session that diplomatic efforts were “important to maintain peace”, but “dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless”. He added that Japan needed to apply pressure on Pyongyang to “seriously respond to a dialogue” with the international community.
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