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Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are discussing major rule changes that would impact the league on and off the field, an official with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing. The proposals were first reported by The Athletic. Some of the more dramatic changes include a universal designated hitter, a three-batter minimum for pitchers and a 20-second pitch clock. Other proposals include a trade deadline before the All-Star break, the expansion of rosters to 26 players – with a 12-pitcher minimum, draft benefits for winning teams and penalties for losing teams, regulations that would allow two-sport amateurs (like Kyler Murray) to sign major-league deals and a study to lower the mound in the majors. One of commissioner Rob Manfred's major initiatives during his tenure has been to improve the game's pace of play, something the pitch clock and three-batter minimum for pitchers would theoretically address. While baseball's collective bargaining agreement doesn't expire until 2021, both MLB and the players' association have agreed to revisions in recent years, including a 2018 amendment that limited the number of mound visits to six per game. HOT TAKE: Be careful what you wish for with rule changes MLB 2019:100 names you need to know for new season PEDROIA:Red Sox stalwart plans his comeback<doc-sep>The powers that be in Major League Baseball are once again discussing potential rule changes for the upcoming season. I’m not sure why they do this so close to spring training, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the owners and MLB Players Association (MLBPA) have exchanged proposals of various rule changes that the two sides would like to implement, possibly as early as 2019. The highlight of Rosenthal’s article is a proposed rule that would force pitchers to face a minimum of three batters upon entering the game. This would apply to both openers, who became a new fad during the 2018 season, as well as late-inning relievers. Other rules proposed by the league (read: owners) include a reduction in mound visits in both 2019 and 2020, and a 26-man roster for the 2020 season. Baseball also wants to return the minimum time a player can spend on the disabled list to 15 days. The MLBPA responded to baseball’s proposal with a few potential rule changes of their own. The big nugget? A universal designated hitter, something the union has wanted for years now. The MLBPA also voiced concerns about “competitive integrity and service-time manipulation in multi-faceted fashion,” but aside from a vague mention of lowering a team’s draft position if they do not win enough games, did not introduce any specific rule changes on that front. Rosenthal also noted that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has the power to implement a few rule changes he proposed prior to the 2018 season. If no agreement is reached, the collective bargaining agreement empowers Manfred to unilaterally implement three elements he formally proposed last year, according to sources – a 20-second pitch clock, a reduction of mound visits from six to five and a rule placing a baserunner on second base in spring training games and the All-Star Game when the score is tied after the 10th inning. Including the rules Manfred can put into place at his discretion, lets rank the proposed changes, because the internet demands lists. 1. Universal designated hitter This one will obviously ruffle some feathers, but this is an American League site and we want to see all baseball played at the highest level possible. This means letting pitchers focus on pitching and, watching hitters do their best to turn around all that high-90s heat in today’s game. As Rosenthal notes, pitchers hit an abysmal .115 with a .144 on-base percentage last year. Even with our concerns about what the Tigers are going to do at the DH position in 2019, no one will be that bad. Another short-term plus to this rule change: it would open up a much larger trade market for Nicholas Castellanos, who would be a much hotter commodity for National League teams looking to fill a new roster spot in 2019. 2. The 26-man roster If approved, this rule would not take effect until 2020. However, expanding the everyday roster has been a long overdue change that baseball needs to make, especially as relievers have taken on more specialized roles over the years. Sure, it might slow games down a bit more if teams carry more eight and even nine-man bullpens, but it will also allow clubs to give their stars more rest throughout the year, especially for players — looking at you, Miguel Cabrera — who tend to play through minor aches and pains during the season, potentially to their detriment. Another tweak not mentioned earlier: this rule also includes a reduction of the September roster from 40 players to 28. We are not sure whether this means the full roster, or just a modified “game day roster,” as some have proposed. Either way, this would help speed things along in those mid-September games when a gung-ho manager — looking at you, Robin Ventura — empties his bullpen in search for a meaningless W. 3. 20-second pitch clock I’m cool with it. Don’t @ me. 4. A three-batter minimum for all pitchers We’re already into “best of the worst” territory here, and the three-batter minimum gets top billing simply because I don’t think it’s going to have that big of an impact on the game. As Rosenthal noted, only five “openers” faced fewer than three batters during the regular season. Most of those pitchers were tasked with getting through the entire first inning, if not a bit longer, so the rule would not have much (if any) impact on that particular strategy. Even the number of relief appearances affected by this proposed rule seems overstated. The overall percentage of relief appearances lasting less than three batters began to rise when Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa helped launch specialized bullpens in the late 1980s. But it mostly has held steady in the three decades since, ranging from 15.5 to 15.1 to 15.7 percent, including 14.1 percent last season. Teams and players will do everything they can to skirt around this rule — there will be some sort of “injury clause” to it, I’m sure — but of all the remaining rule changes proposed, this one doesn’t seem all that bad. 5. Whatever that draft rule is going to be I don’t know if it will have a huge impact on tanking, and it will penalize teams that were accidentally bad — including each of the last three teams to pick No. 1 overall — but I’m interested to see what the MLBPA comes up with on this front. I don’t see any way it gets passed, though. 6. The “runner on second base in extra innings” nonsense The only reason I didn’t put this rule change at No. 37,249 on our list is because it only seems to be slated for use in spring training (whatevs) and the All-Star Game. Now that the Midsummer Classic is back to being an exhibition like the good man upstairs intended, they can do whatever they want with the extra innings. I’d rather watch the Home Run Derby anyway. 7. The reduction in mound visits Taking away a single mound visit from teams in 2019 isn’t so bad, but reducing a team to just three mound visits by the 2020 season seems like a ridiculous way to address pace of play. There is data showing that the mound visits aren’t the problem, yet baseball continues to offer up half-brained rule changes that will have a minimal effect on how long it takes to play the game. I don’t want to see 20 mound visits a game on either side, but limiting a team to just three seems excessive (and ripe for plenty of shenanigans from catchers around the league). 8. A 15-day minimum for the disabled list This is the one rule I am seriously hoping does not take effect. By reducing the minimum stay on the disabled list to just 10 days, it allowed teams to be more cautious with injured players and rest them for a few days, rather than a player potentially coming back too soon and getting re-injured. Sure, the Los Angeles Dodgers (and other teams, probably) took advantage of the rule a bit, but I’d rather see teams game the system than the system be an impediment to players taking care of their bodies.<doc-sep>ORLANDO, Fla. – Baseball owners and players are hoping to invigorate the sport with rule changes, though some of the more radical ideas under consideration are not likely to be adapted for this season. “We would prefer more action and more offense,” St. Louis Cardinals chairman William DeWitt Jr. said Thursday at the owners meetings. “There are always ways to improve the game and speed up the game and speed up the action.” Major League Baseball has proposed that a team not be allowed to bring in a reliever until the previous pitcher has faced three batters or an inning ends. Players want the designated hitter expanded to the National League. MLB wants pitch clocks and further restrictions on mound visits without pitching changes. Strikeouts exceeded hits for the first time last year and the big league batting average dropped to its lowest level since 1972, the year before the American League adopted the DH. “I don’t think any of us are thrilled about more strikeouts and hits,” said Joe Torre, MLB’s chief baseball officer and a Hall of Fame manager. “To me the excitement in our game is basically the potential of things happening on the basepaths.” Management and the players’ association have taken the rare step of a somewhat expansive negotiation in the middle of a collective bargaining agreement. The current five-year deal extends through the 2021 season. While pitch clocks are possible for this season, some changes are more likely to evolve slowly. Players would like the relief pitcher restriction to reach the major leagues in 2020. A DH in both leagues could be considered an economic issue by management, one more ripe for discussion in the next labor contract. The competition committee met Wednesday and the executive council Thursday, and a full owners session is scheduled for Friday. Management proposed changes Jan. 14, the union responded Feb. 1 and the next move is up to MLB. But following three years of attendance drops and with the sport in the midst of the second slow free agent market, both sides are more willing than last offseason to exchange ideas. “It’s important to have dialogue to make the game as compelling as possible for the fans,” San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer said. “I think we’ve got a great game and I think that with some improvements it will be even a better game.” Analytics have transformed baseball in a short span, leading to more infield shifts and frequent pitching changes that have combined to suffocate offense. Both sides are concerned fan interest is lost during frequent breaks for pitching changes. “I think that’s just in an effort to try not to put the game in a test tube,” Torre said. “I think we still have to discover how maybe young pitchers find out how they can get out of trouble instead of going to rescue them when they get in trouble.” One change in terminology was announced: Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem said MLB is changing the name of its disabled lists to injured lists at the suggestion of advocacy groups for the disabled, including the Link20 Network. Clubs were notified of the change in a Dec. 20 memo to clubs from Jeff Pfeifer, senior director of league economics and operations in the commissioner’s office. The change was first reported by ESPN. “In recent years, the commissioner has received several inquiries regarding the name of the ‘Disabled List,’ ” Pfeifer wrote. “The principal concern is that using the term ‘disabled’ for players who are injured supports the misconception that people with disabilities are injured and therefore are not able to participate or compete in sports. As a result, Major League Baseball has agreed to change the name ‘Disabled List’ to be the ‘Injured List’ at both the major and minor league levels. All standards and requirements for placement, reinstatement, etc., shall remain unchanged. This change, which is only a rebranding of the name itself, is effective immediately.” The major leagues have had disabled lists of 10 and 60 days, plus a seven-day list only for players with concussions. MLB has proposed to the players’ association that the 10-day list go back to a 15-day minimum, its level before 2017.<doc-sep>
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Jeff Passan breaks down some of the rule changes that are being proposed in Major League Baseball. (0:52) Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are discussing potentially drastic changes to the on-field game and economic landscape of the sport in the middle of a collective bargaining agreement, a significant departure from the past that speaks to the chasm between the parties but represents a thaw in the chill that has divided the sides, sources familiar with the talks told ESPN. Dueling proposals from MLB on Jan. 14 and the union on Friday covered a wide range of topics, according to sources. Among them include: A three-batter minimum for pitchers A universal designated hitter A single trade deadline before the All-Star break A 20-second pitch clock The expansion of rosters to 26 men, with a 12-pitcher maximum Draft advantages for winning teams and penalties for losing teams A study to lower the mound A rule that would allow two-sport amateurs to sign major league contracts With owners meetings set to begin this week and spring training next week amid another tepid free-agent market, the willingness to bandy about ideas -- and the openness to addressing concerns -- is seen as a step in the right direction by both sides. Whether any substantive change comes of it, sources said, remains unclear. The three-batter minimum for pitchers, first reported by The Athletic, is perhaps the most controversial measure, as it would ostensibly eliminate a job created by modern bullpen use: the one-out left-handed reliever. MLB's proposal of the idea illustrates the league's concern with both time and pace of game, as constant bullpen shuffling has contributed to the average game time lasting longer than three hours. The rule would apply to all pitchers, except in instances in which pitchers finish an inning or are injured, sources said. The union did not strongly oppose the idea, according to sources, instead suggesting it preferred the implementation to be delayed until 2020 rather than 2019, as MLB proposed. The league's other bid to deal with pace of play was the enactment of a 20-second pitch clock, something commissioner Rob Manfred can put into place unilaterally. While numerous players have spoken out against the pitch clock, the recognition that Manfred has the ability to mandate it, even without the union's support, gives him leverage on the issue, according to sources. In the discussions, the possibility of the clock being turned off when runners are on base was raised, sources said. One of the union's counterproposals was the adoption of the designated hitter in the National League, according to sources. While a compromise could be the rule being eased in, the union is advocating for a universal DH in 2019, sources said. In addition to the universal DH, the MLBPA is interested in changes that would use draft picks to incentivize winning and grant players the ability to earn additional service, which could allow them to hit free agency earlier and theoretically counteract what the union believes is the manipulation of service time by teams. Low-revenue teams that succeed -- whether by finishing above .500 or making the playoffs -- would be given greater draft positions or bonus pools under the union's proposal, according to sources. While the depth of the penalties were not clear, the union suggested teams that lose 90-plus games in consecutive years could be affected negatively in the draft. In the wake of Oakland Athletics first-round pick Kyler Murray potentially leaving behind baseball to pursue an NFL career after a Heisman Trophy-winning season, the union also suggested the idea of bringing back the major league contract as an enticement for two-sport athletes to stick with baseball, sources said. Currently, all draft contracts are minor league deals subject to a draft pool that penalizes teams that exceed it. Athletics draft pick Kyler Murray recently announced he's entering the NFL draft. The MLBPA has suggested bringing back the major league contract as an enticement for two-sport athletes to stick with baseball, sources said. Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images Service-time issues remain a key concern for the union, according to sources, with teams capable of keeping major league-ready players in the minor leagues without recourse. While both sides acknowledge service time is a difficult problem to solve, the union's proposal included the possibility of additional service time for performance, playoff appearances or awards, according to sources. Among the union's ideas was a single trade deadline before the All-Star break, sources said.
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Tom Frieden in August 2016. Image : Joe Raedle ( Getty Images ) One of the world’s foremost public health voices is now facing criminal charges of sexual misconduct. On Friday, STAT reported that Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was arrested by the New York Police Department in Brooklyn for allegedly groping a woman in 2017. Advertisement The alleged incident is said to have occurred last October in the 57-year-old Frieden’s Brooklyn home during a dinner party, according to police. In July of this year, the woman reported the incident to police. “He was arrested for forcible touching, for sexual abuse and harassment, for touching her buttocks without permission,” a New York police spokeswoman told the Washington Post. Prior to Frieden’s role at the CDC, which he led from 2009 to 2017, the New York native served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene from 2002 to 2009. Since his retirement from the CDC, Frieden has been the president of the Resolve to Save Lives, a New York-based initiative that aims to “use proven strategies to take urgent action that improves health in low- and middle-income countries.” The initiative, which has received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is part of Vital Strategies, a non-profit global health organization. “This allegation does not reflect Dr. Frieden’s public or private behavior or his values over a lifetime of service to improve health around the world,” a spokesperson for Frieden told STAT. Frieden is expected to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court sometime today.<doc-sep>BROOKLYN, NY — Former CDC director Tom Frieden was arrested Friday on charges of sex abuse, forcible touching, and harassment. The victim was a 55-year-old woman who knew Frieden, an NYPD spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. Frieden, 57, turned himself in, and was arraigned Friday at the Kings County Criminal Court. According to the court complaint, Frieden squeezed the woman’s butt without her consent at his apartment building in Brooklyn Heights on Oct. 20, 2017. This caused her “to become alarmed and annoyed,” the document says. Police said the incident was reported in July of this year. The court bailiff said Frieden pleaded not guilty to all three charges — two misdemeanors and one noncriminal violation. His next court date is Oct. 11. He is surrendering his passport until then, and the complainant has been granted an order of protection, directing him to stay away from her. Frieden’s lawyer, Laura Brevetti, confirmed that he pleaded not guilty but did not comment further.<doc-sep>Tom Frieden turned himself in Friday morning and is expected to appear in a Brooklyn courtroom later Friday. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Former head of CDC Tom Frieden arrested, charged with sex abuse Tom Frieden, who led the CDC for eight years during the Obama administration and has global renown as a public health leader, was charged Friday morning with sex abuse and forcible touching, both misdemeanors, and harassment, a non-criminal violation. He appeared in a Brooklyn courtroom Friday afternoon for a quick proceeding and then was released with no bail. Judge Michael Yavinsky ordered Frieden to avoid any communication with his accuser and told the former CDC commissioner to surrender his passport. He’s due back in court on Oct. 11. The incident stemmed from an October dinner party Frieden, 57, held at his Brooklyn home. As the party was concluding, Frieden allegedly grabbed the buttocks of one of his guests, according to a CNN report, citing a law enforcement official. The New York Police Department said Frieden has known his accuser, a 55-year-old woman, for 30 years. Trailed by a pack of reporters as he left the courtroom, Frieden ignored questions and got into the back seat of a waiting car. Frieden rose to prominence as head of the New York City health department under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, tackling tobacco and fast food. Later, he spearheaded the Obama administration‘s response to Ebola. He now serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, part of Vital Strategies, a global health nonprofit. He told colleagues at Resolve back in April that a longtime friend was accusing him of inappropriate physical contact, José Castro, the president and CEO of Vital Strategies, said in a statement. “In all of my experiences with him, there have never been any concerns or reports of inappropriate conduct,” Castro said. The woman accusing Frieden is not an employee. Still, Vital Strategies brought in an outside team to conduct an investigation and it found no incidents of workplace harassment, Castro said. A Frieden spokeswoman said “this allegation does not reflect Dr. Frieden’s public or private behavior or his values over a lifetime of service to improve health around the world." The city health department declined to comment.<doc-sep>NEW YORK — A former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was accused of grabbing a woman’s behind and was arrested on Friday on a sex abuse charge but said the woman’s allegation “does not reflect” who he is or the values he has. Dr. Thomas Frieden was awaiting a court appearance on Friday in connection with what happened on Oct. 20, 2017, at his Brooklyn home, police said. The woman reported it in July, and he was taken into custody after an investigation. The accuser, a 55-year-old woman who knew Frieden, told police that he grabbed her buttocks. Frieden, who also is a former New York City health commissioner, is charged with forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment. Frieden leads a global health initiative called Resolve to Save Lives. “The allegation does not reflect Dr. Frieden’s public or private behavior or his values over a lifetime of service to improve health around the world.” “The allegation does not reflect Dr. Frieden’s public or private behavior or his values over a lifetime of service to improve health around the world,” said a statement issued on his behalf. Frieden was a CDC disease investigator in 1990 when he was assigned to New York City and worked on a large outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis. He stayed, taking a job heading the city’s tuberculosis control. In 1996, he began working in India with the World Health Organization on tuberculosis control. Frieden became New York City’s health commissioner in 2002 and was known for his aggressive measures to attack chronic diseases. In 2003, New York banned smoking in almost all workplaces, a precedent-setting move that inspired other cities to do the same. In 2006, it became the first U.S. city to ban restaurants from using artificial trans fats and required hundreds of eateries to post calorie counts on their menus. In 2009, President Barack Obama’s administration picked Frieden to head the CDC. Frieden led U.S. public health efforts during a range of high-profile national and international health crises, including pandemic flu, Ebola and Zika. Frieden was CDC director until January 2017, when he resigned as part of the turnover to President Donald Trump’s administration. In September 2017, Frieden announced he had moved back to New York City to head the $225 million Resolve to Save Lives initiative, housed at a nonprofit global health organization called Vital Strategies.<doc-sep>
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Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was arrested for inappropriately touching a woman, according to the New York City Police Department. The alleged incident happened on Oct. 20, 2017, inside Frieden's Brooklyn residence, where a 55-year-old female acquaintance said he groped her rear, the NYPD said. Frieden was charged with one count each of forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment, according to police. “This allegation does not reflect Dr. Frieden’s public or private behavior, or his values over a lifetime of service to improve health around the world,” a spokesperson for Frieden said in a statement to NBC New York. Frieden was released without bail at his arraignment Friday afternoon, but did surrender his passport as a precaution. Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Michael Yavinsky also issued an order of protection forbidding Frieden from contacting the victim. He is due back in court on Oct. 11. The CDC said it had no information about the allegation. Frieden was director of the CDC from 2009 until January 2017, stepping down when President Donald Trump took office. Prior to that, he served as the New York City health commissioner from 2002 to 2009, where he led efforts to reduce smoking and eliminate artificial trans fats from restaurant menus. As head of the CDC, Frieden championed advances that helped to end the Ebola epidemic. He was also at the helm during the height of the Zika outbreak, a virus that can cause serious birth defects if a pregnant women acquires it. Since his resignation, he had been serving as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a $225 million, five-year initiative at Vital Strategies, a nonprofit global health organization. José L. Castro, the president and CEO of Vital Strategies, said in a statement that Frieden told him in April that a "non-work-related friend of his and his family of more than 30 years accused him of inappropriate physical contact." "I have known and worked closely with Dr. Frieden for nearly 30 years and have seen first-hand that he has the highest ethical standards both personally and professionally. In all of my experiences with him, there have never been any concerns or reports of inappropriate conduct," Castro said, adding that earlier this month, Vital Strategies conducted interviews with every staff member of Frieden's team and determined there had been no incidents of workplace harassment.
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One day after the official release of iOS 12 and watchOS 5, Apple has released new developer software beta versions for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Both iOS 12.1 developer beta 1 and watchOS 5.1 developer beta 1 are now available for testing. tvOS 12.1 developer beta 1 is also available. The new developer software betas are available on Apple’s web portal for registered developers. The updates should appear as an over-the-air update shortly. Note that the iOS 12.1 beta does not include restore images for the new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max — something upgraders may want to consider before switching iPhones on Friday over an iCloud or iTunes backup. Apple has a number of new features coming soon to iOS and watchOS including dual SIM support, Group FaceTime, the new ECG app on Apple Watch Series 4, and more. iOS 12.1 build: 16B5059d (up from 16A366) watchOS 5.1 build: 16R5559d (up from 16R364) tvOS 12.1 build: 16J5575c (up from 16J364) Over-the-air updates are now available. The update should appear with the existing developer beta profiles installed. Release notes still coming. From the release notes: Overview The iOS 12.1 beta SDK provides support for developing iOS apps for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch devices running iOS 12.1. The SDK comes bundled with Xcode 10.1 available from the Apple Developer Program download page. For information on the compatibility requirements for Xcode 10.1, see Xcode Release Notes. General There are no notes or known issues for this software update. New in iOS 12.1: Group FaceTime is back in beta UPDATE: Steven Troughton-Smith has shared more details on Twitter about what iOS 12.1 code changes are present including landscape Face ID support: Face ID has support for landscape orientation (presumably for iPad only), and iOS 12.1 seems to care a lot more about whether an external display is connected (perhaps due to iPad USB-C rumors; it won't have the Lighting HDMI adapter as an intermediary for video-out) — Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) September 18, 2018 From what I gather, landscape Face ID would require a realignment of the front-facing sensors, so you won't see it on existing hardware https://t.co/gVyB4Hz3pW — Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) September 18, 2018 For a recap of all the latest software updates Apple released yesterday, catch up on our coverage: Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:<doc-sep>Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the first beta and a little over two weeks after releasing iOS 12, a major new version of the iOS software. Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center. iOS 12.1 introduces several new features that Apple promised would come to the new iPhone XS and XS Max devices. The beta introduces support for the eSIM, which is a digital SIM that lets you activate a cellular plan from a carrier without the need to use a physical SIM card. Carriers will need to implement support for eSIM, which is likely to happen after iOS 12.1 launches. In the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will support eSIM. The iOS 12.1 update brings a new real-time Depth Control feature, which lets you adjust the depth of field of your Portrait Mode photos before you capture them. Right now, in iOS 12, Depth Control is only available for post-capture editing. If you tap on the "F" icon at the top of the screen while capturing a photo you use Depth Control to adjust the amount of background blur in an image. In addition to these iPhone XS and XS Max features, iOS 12.1 reintroduces the Group FaceTime feature that was removed from iOS 12 during the beta testing period. Group FaceTime was present in many early betas but was ultimately removed because Apple needed more time to test it. Group FaceTime is designed to let iPhone and Mac users conduct video and audio chats with up to 32 participants at one time, with new camera effects features included. Apple today announced that new emoji are coming in the iOS 12.1 beta, with options to include red hair, gray hair, curly hair, and no hair, along with smiley faces that include cold face, party face, pleading face, face with hearts, and tons more. If any additional new features are found in the second iOS 12.1 beta, we'll update this post with details. Apple today also released a second beta version of Xcode 10.1. Update: Apple has also seeded the second beta of iOS 12.1 to public beta testers.<doc-sep>Apple's upcoming iOS 12.1 update will introduce more than 70 new emoji, which debuted earlier this week in the second iOS 12.1 beta. We went hands-on with the new iOS 12.1 update to preview the new characters that you can expect to see when iOS 12.1 is released, such as cold face, face with hearts, red hair, white hair, no hair, parrot, swan, llama, mango, cupcake, and more. play Over the course of the last few years, emoji usage has become increasingly prevalent across the world, and many iOS users now look forward to the iOS updates that include new emoji characters to include in text messages, social media ports, and more. The 2018 emoji release includes new emoji in a range of categories, from faces and people to food, animals, and common household objects. Every new emoji coming in iOS 12.1 is depicted below, organized by category. New faces: Face with hearts, hot face, cold face, partying face, woozy face, and pleading face. New people: Man/woman with red hair, man/woman with white hair, man/woman with curly hair, man/woman with no hair, superhero (male and female), and supervillain (male and female). Body parts: Leg, foot, tooth, and bone. Clothing: Goggles, lab coat, hiking boot, and flat shoe, Toys: Teddy bear, jigsaw, and chess pawn. Sports: Skateboard, lacrosse, softball, and flying disc. Animals: Raccoon, llama, hippopotamus, kangaroo, badger, swan, peacock, parrot, lobster, and mosquito. Science: Microbe, test tube, petri dish, DNA. Household: Lotion bottle, soap, sponge, safety pin, broom, roll of paper, thread, and yarn. Food: Mango, leafy green, bagel, salt, moon cake, and cupcake. Random objects: Compass, brick, luggage, firecracker, red envelope, nazar amulet (evil eye), receipt, toolbox, fire extinguisher, basket, infinity symbol, and pirate flag. In addition to all of the new emoji in iOS 12, there are some tweaks to existing emoji. Most notably, the iPhone emoji has had a design overhaul to make it look like the iPhone XS rather than the iPhone 8 with no Home button or bezels. Emoji being added in iOS 12.1 are from Unicode 11, which was finalized and released in June of this year. It often takes Apple and other tech companies several months to implement new emoji because artwork needs to be created for each new character. Unicode 12, which Apple will adopt in 2019, is already in the works. Emoji candidates for Unicode 12 include flamingo, white heart, snorkel, axe, orangutan, otter, sloth, butter, onion, ice cube, chair, kite, waffle, oyster, and more. Apple says that it is working with the Unicode Consortium to add additional disability-themed emoji to Unicode 12. It's still early in the iOS 12.1 beta testing process, so it's not quite clear when the update, new emoji included, will be released. It's likely to come at the end of October or the beginning of November. Late October is a strong possibility given that the iPhone XR releases on October 26. What do you think of the new emoji coming in iOS 12.1? Let us know in the comments.<doc-sep>Upset Apple's recent iOS 12 updates for iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch didn't add any emoji? You can now turn that frown upside down. (There is an emoji for that.) The iPhone-maker will soon be adding 70 new emoji to its popular mobile software in an upcoming iOS 12.1 update. Among the notable new additions: an emoji with a party hat and streamer, a swan, a llama, a bagel and a cupcake. Also new are more variations on people, now adding more options with red hair, gray hair and curly hair plus a new emoji for bald people. More:Where's the cream cheese? Apple leaves it off bagel emoji The new emoji aren't much of a surprise. The Unicode Consortium, which is the non-profit group that makes sure emoji and other text are standard across platforms, announced 157 new emoji earlier this year including the aforementioned animals and hair variations. Apple since announced that it would be adding some of these new emoji in July on World Emoji Day. The iPhone-maker is also working with the Consortium to add more disability-themed emoji as part of the next Unicode update in 2019. Although Apple hasn't provided an exact release date for iOS 12.1, the fact that it is hyping up the new release and making the update available to those in its public beta program points to a release being in the not-too-distant future. If performance improvements to speed up your old device didn't convince you to upgrade to iOS 12, perhaps new emoji will. Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal<doc-sep>
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[Update: iOS 12.1 beta, watchOS 5.1 beta, macOS 10.14.1, and tvOS 12.1 beta 2 are now available.] Apple will release the second iOS 12.1 developer beta for iPhone and iPad today after releasing the first version two weeks ago. iOS 12.1 beta includes new features on iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Changes coming to Apple’s latest iPhones with iOS 12.1 include live preview for Depth Control in the Portrait mode camera and support for Dual SIM with compatible carriers. Group FaceTime is also present in iOS 12.1 beta, a feature that doesn’t require the newest iPhone. Apple is also testing watchOS 5.1, tvOS 12.1, and macOS 10.14.1 with developers; we expect to see new developer beta versions of watchOS and tvOS today alongside iOS 12.1 beta. Check out our hands-on video of changes included in iOS 12.1 beta here: Other changes discovered in iOS 12.1 beta include evidence that Memoji will sync between devices in time for new iPads, evidence that new iPads are indeed on the way this month, and potential hints that AirPower is still on the way. iOS 12.1 will likely be released to all users later this month. Read our October preview for more of what we expect to see from Apple this month. What’s New: Apple says more than 70 new emoji are included in iOS 12.1 More emoji details here No sign of the new ECG app yet Fix for charging issue Clicky sounds when not muted on Flashlight and Camera buttons on iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max Related Stories: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
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Affiliate Embargo: WLS; Chicago, IL Additional Embargo: Notes and Restrictions: Additional Source(s): Date Shot: 7/14/2018 Shipping/Billing Info: Description: Elements: LIVE SCENE Wire/Story Description: CHICAGO -- A man was shot to death Saturday evening by at least one Chicago police officer in the South Shore neighborhood. It happened about 5:30 p.m. near 71st Street and Chappel Avenue, according to police and Chicago Fire Department officials. The man was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital, fire officials said. EMAIL Man fatally shot by Chicago police in South Shore: officials Ad Duration00:00 PAUSE Current time01:25 Seek 00:00 Duration03:00 TOGGLE MUTE Volume SETTINGSTOGGLE FULLSCREEN EMBED MORE VIDEOS A fire broke out at about 4 a.m. in the 13500-block of South Baltimore Avenue in Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood. Sun-Times Media Wire Updated 9 mins ago CHICAGO -- A man was shot to death Saturday evening by at least one Chicago police officer in the South Shore neighborhood. It happened about 5:30 p.m. near 71st Street and Chappel Avenue, according to police and Chicago Fire Department officials. The man was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital, fire officials said. No officers were hurt, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted. Inbound and outbound Metra trains were not operating between Stony Island and South Chicago/93rd St. due to the incident, according to a 7:22 p.m. tweet by Metra. This is a breaking story. Check back for details. Station Notes/Scripts: LIVE EVENT; NO SCRIPT TO GET Projects: None Cost Center: Atlanta National Desk / 20100101 Created By: lholland On: 1531616022 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20-year-old Eric Torell, who had Down syndrome, was shot dead by police in Stockholm Officer Michael Moore was fired after telling a group of African-American men that "you don't belong in my city." A group of women say they were targeted while checking out of their Rialto, California, AirBnB because they are black. Police responded, said the caller was an elderly white woman. (CNN) — First, he told the children to “back up.” Then he pointed his gun at them. An El Paso, Texas, police officer has been placed on desk duty after a chaotic cellphone video of him pulling a gun on a group of children was posted to Facebook on Friday. According to the El Paso Police Department, the officer was responding to a criminal trespass call in the area Thursday evening. The city and police department have begun an investigation into the incident and for the time being, the officer who pulled his gun has been placed on desk duty, according to Dionne Mack, the El Paso deputy city manager for public safety and support services. A gun comes out and it’s captured on camera A video of the incident, uploaded to Facebook by user Aj-king Stoner on Friday, has since been viewed almost 5 million times. The camera begins rolling in the middle of an altercation in front of the Seville Community Center in El Paso, Texas, where a group of young children are shouting insults at a police officer who is holding a young man against a fence. He tells the other the children to “back up, mother******” and pulls his gun out, pointing it at them for a moment before putting it back in his holster. All the while, he is pinning the boy’s head against a stone column with his knee. The young man repeatedly says: “He just assaulted me.” Over cries of “You can’t do that to him!” and insults from the group, a second officer helps drag the boy onto the road where he is handcuffed face down on the asphalt. The first officer tells the kids to “get back” again, and this time whips out his baton, extending it toward the group and pushing them with his hands to get away. AJ -king Stoner/Facebook The officer extended his baton toward the crowd of children. While the boy is held against the road, his brother, who is filming the event, calls out to him, according to CNN affiliate KVIA. “It’s all good,” he says. “We are going to put a report on these two fools. It’s all good.” The police officer who pulled out his gun earlier then grabs the boy who is filming. “What are you doing — hey I’m just recording!” he shouts as he is handcuffed. That’s when the brothers’ mother, Elizabeth Flores, takes the phone and continues the video, according to KVIA. AJ -king Stoner/Facebook A boy is held against an El Paso police car. As the cop approaches Flores, she runs away and the first officer yells after her, saying he knows where she lives. When Flores returns, a different boy, one wearing a white shirt and blue shorts, is talking to him. “You pulled out a gun on a minor,” the boy says, looking up at the officer. “He wasn’t doing nothing but standing up. He was standing up normal. You pulled out a gun?” That boy is also escorted away and is held against the police car. Before additional police officers arrive and appear to de-escalate the situation, Flores can be heard saying: “Somebody’s going to end up dead one of these days.” The investigation is ongoing At a news conference on Saturday, El Paso Police Department spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said the department is launching an investigation to determine whether the officer who pulled his gun was following protocol. Until the investigation is over, the officer, a four-year veteran of the department, will remain on desk duty. “What you’ve seen (in the video) is just a small piece of a puzzle,” Carrillo said. “The investigation needs to come to a conclusion before we can make a determination as to whether there were policies or protocols that were violated.” Carrillo also confirmed that one adult and one minor were taken into custody after the incident and were charged with interfering with the duties of a police officer. He could not say whether they had been released. At the news conference, Mack stressed the need for educating children on how to engage with police officers and said she believes it is also important for police officers to be part of the surrounding community. “The thing for me that was most disheartening is to sort of see the children just completely labeled and to see them just sort of be discarded,” Mack said. “These are our children, this is our community and I am not giving up on those children.” CNN has reached out to Flores and the El Paso Municipal Police Officers’ Association for comment. CNN’s Keith Allen contributed to this report.<doc-sep>A police officer in El Paso, Texas, was placed on administrative leave after a video showing him pulling a gun on a group of young children went viral. The video, filmed on Thursday, was posted to Facebook on Friday by 15-year-old Jacob Saucedo, according to NBC News affiliate KTSM. In the video, Saucedo is dragged by officers before being handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol vehicle with another boy. Since it was posted, the video has been viewed more than 4.7 million times. El Paso police officers were responding to a report of criminal trespassing when they came across Saucedo, according to a statement released by the department. Saucedo said he was crossing the street to meet his mother at the Seville Recreation Center when police told him to get up against a wall for questioning, according to KTSM. Jacob said that prior to the video's start, the officers grabbed him by the neck and forced him to the ground. "I'm just mad because I don't know why the officer choked me," Jacob told KTSM. The alleged choking is not filmed and El Paso Police Department did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for information about the circumstances of the video. In a statement, the El Paso Police Department said it is investigating. "A series of events unfolded while the officers were handling the call and culminated with the situation that was captured on video and posted on social media sites. The Department’s Internal Affairs Unit is conducting an investigation of the incident. Additional resources have been allocated to assist in expediting the investigation," the statement reads. What is on camera begins by showing an unidentified police officer confronting a group of approximately 15 children, some whom appear to be teens and others who appear to be significantly younger, many of whom can be heard shouting expletives at the officers as they detained Jacob. Jacob can be seen sitting on the floor in front of the officer, who within seconds of the video starting, draws his weapon and points it at the group of kids. The officer who pulled the gun approaches the group again with a baton drawn while another officer continues to arrest Jacob. Later in the video, the boy filming the confrontation is also taken into custody and hands his phone off to Jacob's mother, Michelle Flores, who is in the crowd confronting the officers. Flores, who was inside the recreation center, said she rushed outside after hearing the commotion from the other children. "I jumped over and it's one of my sons getting choked by an officer," Flores told KTSM. Flores also hurled curse words at the officers as they detained her child. As Flores confronts the officers, they detain a third child. The more than five-minute video ends with four officers in frame, with one asking Flores for more information. Two people who were detained were charged with interfering with duties of a police officer, KTSM reported. It's unclear if Saucedo was among those charged. The El Paso Police Department said the officer in question is a four-year veteran and has been "assigned desk duties pending the investigation."<doc-sep>
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A police officer who drew his gun on a group of children during an altercation in El Paso, Texas, last week is now under investigation A police officer who drew his gun on a group of children during an altercation in El Paso, Texas, last week is now under investigation after video of the incident went viral on social media, PEOPLE confirms. The footage — which was posted on Facebook on Friday night and has since been viewed more than six million times — begins in the middle of the heated dispute between the officer and a group of kids, several of whom appear to be younger than teenagers. (PEOPLE has decided not to publish the video due to its content.) Much about what led up to the incident and its aftermath remains unclear and the video, which is nearly six minutes, is not a complete record of what happened. The clip does not show the kids being violent. The officer who drew his weapon has not been identified, though city officials said he has been with the department for four years and has been put on desk duty pending an internal-affairs probe. The mother of one of the boys involved told the El Paso Times the situation intensified after her 15-year-old son was choked and brought to the ground by police. The altercation reportedly occurred near a recreation center. In the video, an officer is seen holding on to a teenage boy sitting on a sidewalk while a group of mostly boys shout profanities at him. Amid the yelling, the officer repeatedly yells “back up” as he briefly draws his handgun and points it at the children. Seconds later, he holsters his weapon and continues trying to corral the group, at one point pulling out a baton. As the kids continue to curse at the officer, he and a second officer handcuff the same teenage boy seen at the start of the video. Soon after, the boy who is filming the incident is himself taken grabbed by the officer, though it appears unclear why — and he is heard telling police he was filming the scene. As the video spread online, El Paso city officials announced that they were investigating the incident, which police said occurred Thursday in connection with a reported trespassing. • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. The officer was responding to a call regarding a criminal trespassing on Thursday evening, El Paso Deputy City Manager Dionne L. Mack and police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said at a news conference on Saturday. “A series of events unfolded while the officers were handling the call and culminated with the situation that was captured on video and posted on social media sites,” the city said in a brief statement. Two people, an adult and a minor, were arrested on suspicion of interfering with a police officer, according to authorities. The El Paso Times identified those arrested as brothers, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, further reporting that the younger boy had since been released from custody while the older boy was still behind bars. It was unclear if they have been charged, appeared in court or retained attorneys. Mack, the deputy city manager, told reporters at the news conference last weekend: “The whole investigation process with I.A. will determine whether the officer followed protocol, look at all of the related incidents that surrounded that, take an opportunity to [conduct] interviews, and go through that entire process, so all the facts and data are gathered before any conclusions are drawn.” When asked what the department’s policies are for officers pulling out their handguns, Sgt. Carrillo declined to go into detail. City officials said they became aware of the video Friday morning after it was shared online and reported on by local media.
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PHOENIX — The CEO of a private health care facility in Phoenix has resigned after reports that a patient gave birth despite being in a vegetative state for more than a decade. Bill Timmons announced his resignation Monday and it was unanimously accepted by the facility's board of directors, a spokesman for Hacienda Healthcare says. A female patient living at a Hacienda HealthCare facility reportedly gave birth Dec. 29 although the staff was unaware the woman was pregnant. It has triggered a police investigation and reviews by state agencies in a situation that the state governor's office calls "deeply troubling." Phoenix police say the matter is under investigation and decline further comment. A Hacienda board member says the facility "will accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation."<doc-sep>The CEO of an Arizona health care company where a woman in a vegetative state became pregnant and gave birth has resigned. Bill Timmons, Hacienda HealthCare's CEO, quit his position Monday "effective immediately," spokesman David Leibowitz said in a statement to AZFamily. "Timmons's resignation was accepted unanimously by the Hacienda Board of Directors," the statement read. On Friday, KPHO-TV reported claims from sources that a woman in the facility who had been in a vegetative state after nearly drowning more than a decade ago had given birth to a baby boy in December. The source told the network that no one knew that the longtime patient of Hacienda HealthCare was pregnant until she began moaning shortly before going into labor. The facility provides intermediate care and services to infants, children and young adults who are "medicaly fragile or chronically ill," or have "developmental disabilities." A Phoenix Police Department spokesman said that a sexual assault investigation had been launched following the birth. The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed that a birth had taken place at the facility, and inspectors had checked on the patients there. Heightened patient safety measures were put in place. "During this time, the agency has required heightened safety measures be implemented at the facility, including increased staff presence during patient interactions, increased monitoring of the patient care areas and increased security measures with respect to visitors at the facility," said a spokesperson for the department. In its statement Monday, Hacienda HealthCare said it was continuing to cooperate with the police investigation. Hacienda HealthCare board member Gary Orman said the facility would accept "nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation, an unprecedented case that has devastated everyone involved, from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our organization." Orman continued: "And we will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of every single one of our patients and our employees." According to the statement, Timmons was the longtime CEO of the company, and had been appointed president only days before he resigned.<doc-sep>Screenshot : CBS News The CEO of the Arizona nursing facility where a woman recently gave birth, despite being in a vegetative state for over a decade, has resigned. Advertisement The company Hacienda HealthCare told the New York Times that the resignation of executive Bill Timmons was approved by the entire board of directors. A vice president for the board said in a statement that they would “accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation, an unprecedented case that has devastated everyone involved, from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our organization.” But the problems pervading the facility won’t be solved by firing a single executive. Given that the woman was in a vegetative state from a near-drowning incident and thus incapable of communicating consent or that she was pregnant, the pregnancy was clearly the result of sexual assault. Not only are there questions about how the woman was impregnated, but how nobody on staff was aware of the pregnancy up until the moment the patient started to go into labor and began moaning. The woman reportedly delivered a healthy baby. The NYT reports that Arizona Department of Health Services says it will conduct an inspection of the nursing facility and detectives in Phoenix have already opened a sexual assault investigation. Arizona Department of Health Services found that in 2013 a male employee at the facility was making inappropriate sexual comments about patients bodies and was subsequently fired, and in 2017 the facility was reported for not offering privacy for patients while showering.<doc-sep>
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Crime & Safety CEO Resigns After Vegetative State Birth At Phoenix Facility A woman who has been in a vegetative state at a Phoenix facility reportedly became pregnant and gave birth in December. Reply PHOENIX, AZ — The CEO of Hacienda HealthCare, the company that runs the Phoenix facility where a woman in a vegetative state reportedly became pregnant and gave birth, has resigned. "Bill Timmons, longtime Chief Executive Officer of Hacienda HealthCare, has terminated his employment from the company effective immediately," the company said in a statement. "Timmons' resignation was accepted unanimously by the Hacienda Board of Directors." The allegations came to light in a news report from AZ Family. According to the report, the female patient who has been in a vegetative state for at least a decade gave birth on Dec. 29. Citing sources, the publication reported that the staff was not aware the woman was pregnant until she was giving birth. A spokesman for Phoenix Police told Patch in an email that the matter is under investigation by cops. Gary Orman, Executive Vice President of the Hacienda Board, said the company "will accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation, an unprecedented case that has devastated everyone involved, from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our organization. "I want to assure our patients, their loved ones, our community partners, the agencies we do business with, Governor Ducey and the residents of Arizona, we will continue to cooperate with Phoenix Police and the investigating agencies at all levels in every way possible," Orman said. "And we will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of every single one of our patients and our employees." The Arizona Department of Health Services said it was aware of the situation and is working with local law enforcement in their criminal investigation. When it learned of the situation, the ADHS said it initiated an onsite complaint investigation to ensure the health and safety of the patients and ensure the facility is in compliance with all state laws and regulations. The ADHS said it has also required heightened safety measures to be implemented at the facility.
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TORONTO — Slowly, steadily, the final links to the playoff teams of 2015-16 are disappearing from the Toronto Blue Jays. The trade of Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants for three players Tuesday afternoon leaves Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Justin Smoak, Ryan Tepera, Joe Biagini and Dalton Pompey as the sole remaining connections from those heady days. All, save for Tepera and Biagini, aren’t likely long for the organization, either. Smoak is a pending free agent at the end of this season, while Stroman and Sanchez are up at the end of 2020. Pompey is out of options on a team that no longer has a place for him. In the process of building for the future, the Blue Jays need to finish the demolition of their past. “Looking back on it, you like to think in a perfect world you have an organization, a franchise that is so close to winning and you have pieces in place you feel like you could win, you want to try to keep that momentum going as long as possible as opposed to kind of shutting it down and starting from the ground floor and kind of rebuilding that up,” Pillar said during an emotional gathering with reporters shortly before leaving for the airport. “But they have a plan in place, they’ve got a long of young, talented kids in this organization that will hopefully return this place to some of the magic, some of the good times that I was able to experience here in 2015, 2016.” The Rogers Centre crowd of 10,460 for Monday’s 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles was an indication of the local response to the rebuild, barely surpassing the smallest ever gathering at the dome — the 10,314 that watched an 8-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on April 19, 2010. The franchise low for attendance is 10,074, set against the White Sox on April 17, 1979 at old Exhibition Stadium, and under the circumstances, it certainly seems within reach. Simply thinking that is jarring, demonstrating how quickly things changed since consecutive years of three-million-plus attendance in ’16 and ’17. The players, the crowds, the joy — all gone. “We’re not in a popularity contest, we’re in a contest to win championships and that takes making tough decisions and often times not popular ones,” said general manager Ross Atkins. “Having said that, making this move in concert with a deal to acquire Socrates Brito, creating opportunity for some of our younger players, having roster flexibility and extended control, is something that’s hard to wrap your arms around as exciting for a player when they think often times about a cape around someone’s back in Kevin Pillar. “But we in the end, felt like this was the best thing for the organization and for the fans.” Pillar was a symbol of the franchise’s brief renaissance, a heart-and-soul player with flaws at the plate whose relentless style of play bordered on reckless at times, especially chasing down balls in the outfield. As a result, he regularly made spectacular catches, running into walls and flying through the air with little concern for his own well-being. The best example came during a 2017 series at Wrigley Field, when he chased down a Kris Bryant smash, jumping through the ivy into a brick wall to make one of the best catches of his career. “It’s a pretty tough day, I lost one of my brothers,” said Marcus Stroman. “I can’t say enough good words about that dude – just someone you want on your team, shows up every day ready to play regardless of any injury, true grinder, true professional, dude put his body on the line each and every day. To not have my guy back behind me is pretty tough but at the end of the day it starts to become pretty normal to you. It’s a business and you’re reminded of that every day.” Despite that willingness to sacrifice his body, Pillar’s durability allowed his manager to pencil in 145-plus games, 200-plus total bases, and a handful of hot streaks. His aggressiveness at the plate could often be maddening, but as a 32nd-round pick in the 2011 draft who’s produced 14.6 WAR over parts of six big-league season, his qualities shouldn’t be overlooked. The dude gave everything he had. “He was great, man, good teammate, Superman … he’s a guy you want on your team,” Smoak said, choking up. “Sorry I’m getting emotional. He’s a guy that played hurt. He’s a guy that we’re definitely going to miss.” Still, like Stroman and Sanchez, he’s a pending free agent after the 2020 season. The likelihood is that he won’t time with the current core. The Blue Jays need to find out what they have, and they can now take longer looks at Teoscar Hernandez, Billy McKinney and, in all likelihood, Anthony Alford while playing Randal Grichuk, signed to a $52-million, five-year extension late in the day, daily. Socrates Brito, acquired from the San Diego Padres in a separate deal for farmhand Rodrgio Orozco, will also get some run, said Atkins. In return for Pillar they get infielder Alen Hanson, who’ll be added to the big-league roster, and righty reliever Derek Law, who is slated for triple-A Buffalo, along with Juan De Paula, a 21-year-old right-hander who posted a 1.71 ERA in 47.1 innings at short-season A Staten Island last year, but is now onto his fourth organization. The odds are against any of them substantially moving the process forward. That will be up to the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Alford and until they begin carrying the day, the Blue Jays will face more nights with small crowds as the players who attracted people to the stands in the first place keep getting cast away. “I actually got a chance to not play (Monday) and sit back in the dugout and look out with the type of attendance we had and really process the amount of change that’s just happened in my short time here, the seven years I’ve been here,” said Pillar.<doc-sep>Pillar trade punctuates rebuild reality for Jays veterans, fans The business side of baseball caught up to Blue Jays fan favourite Kevin Pillar, who was traded to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday after playing with emotion and reckless abandon on a roster that is without yet another familiar face, Scott Mitchell writes. TORONTO — About 12 hours before being traded away from the only major-league home Kevin Pillar had ever known, it felt like he saw the writing on the wall. Standing at his locker inside the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse Monday night after being left on the bench for the series opener against the Baltimore Orioles, the 30-year-old outfielder quietly touched on the possibility of being traded. “The human side of you can’t completely eliminate those thoughts,” Pillar whispered in an empty clubhouse. “When I’m at home and I’m settled into my place and I’ve got a wife and kid to worry about, that stuff is never easy.” Little did he know, there was a call coming the next morning. Rumours had been swirling, and the Kendrys Morales trade on the eve of the season starting had opened Pillar’s eyes to the reality. On Tuesday morning, those rumours quickly came to fruition, with Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins dialing Pillar’s cellphone at about 10:30 a.m. to tell the California native he had been traded to the San Francisco Giants. “A lot of mixed emotions,” said Pillar, who asked to speak with the Toronto media as he quickly packed up his locker. “I think some relief in some way. I think you hear some rumours in the off-season, something new to me, at least. I feel like ever since I’ve been here it’s kind of been a topic of conversation: ‘How are you going to deal with it? What do you think about it? How do you play with it?’ I think in some weird way it’s a bit of a relief.” That was the first time Pillar had heard directly from the Jays front office about any sort of potential deal, but the Morales trade last Thursday prepared him for the business side of the sport and it was no secret he wasn’t a big part of the team’s future plans. “I wasn’t anticipating it being today ... you never really think it’s going to happen until it happens,” Pillar said. “You never really anticipate it happening this early in the year. What happened with K-Mo kind of really lets you know it can happen at any time, even on the eve of opening day. I’m not going to say I was surprised by it. I think if K-Mo was still here and he didn’t get traded and I got traded four or five days into the season, I would be a little bit more shocked but after K-Mo was sent on the day before opening day, I think everyone is a little bit more aware that it can happen at any time, any place.” On the field, Pillar played with emotion and reckless abandon, somehow managing to stay relatively healthy through all the meetings with the centre-field wall. The emotion poured out in a different way on this day, and you could see him working his way through the divorce from the organization that drafted him in the 32nd round of the 2011 draft. Late picks like him aren’t supposed to make it at all. Not only did Pillar make it, but he turned into a fan favourite with a nickname usually reserved for stars. On winning ball clubs in 2015 and 2016, Superman was a vital piece, hitting down in a potent lineup and providing defence and grit in spades. As that lineup disintegrated around him and Pillar was expected to do more, take another step as a hitter, he became exposed in a leading role. That’s not his game, and it was only expected of him because of the failures of others around him, whether that be teammates not getting it done or the front office’s inability to build a capable roster. Pillar’s tenure in Toronto ends with a .260/.297/.396 slash line, 55 homers and 69 stolen bases, but it’s the miles long reel of highlight catches he leaves behind that everyone will remember. “How did he get up from that one?” was a question asked in the press box time and time again over the years. “I got called up as a 24-year-old kid that had no intentions of getting to the big leagues,” a teary-eyed Pillar said. “I was able to have my debut here in Toronto as, like I said, a 24-year-old kid. I’m leaving here as a 30-year-old man with a wife and a kid. Just a lifetime of memories. I’m not Superman .... this city and this country kind of allowed me to almost become kind of a mythical kind of superhuman baseball player and I can’t thank them enough for that.” The package of three players coming to Toronto from the rebuilding Giants is unlikely to erase those memories anytime soon. Utility infielder Alen Hanson, 26, and right-handed reliever Derek Law, 28, are depth — Hanson will join the Jays this week, and Law is slated for the Triple-A bullpen — while 21-year-old pitching prospect Juan De Paula is the lottery ticket. Even though he has yet to pitch above A-ball, the wiry right-hander has already been traded three times, which speaks more to the fact he’s been in demand as a trade chip rather than a spare part that’s bouncing around. “De Paula will most likely go to one of our A-ball clubs,” Atkins said. “We have not yet determined (which one yet), but he is a young, exciting arm with a mid-90s fastball and the weapons to strike guys out, and the attributes to be a starting pitcher.” One night after drawing just 10,460 fans to the ballpark, the smallest crowd the Rogers Centre has seen since April 2010, the roster is without yet another familiar face.<doc-sep>Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press TORONTO -- Emotions ran high Tuesday as the business of baseball resulted in a popular piece of the Blue Jays locker room being removed. Toronto continued its radical roster makeover, sending veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants for three players. In a separate move, the Jays obtained speedy outfielder Socrates Brito from San Diego. In return for the 30-year-old Pillar, the Giants gave up right-handed reliever Derek Law, utility infielder Alen Hanson and right-handed pitching prospect Juan De Paula. Jays first baseman Justin Smoak, a burly six foot four and 220 pounds, had a hard time controlling his emotions when asked about seeing his close friend depart. "He was great, man. Good teammate. Superman. Whatever you want," said Smoak referencing Pillar's nickname for his ability to climb high and make highlight-reel catches. "He's a guy you want on your team," added Smoak, his voice breaking. "Sorry I'm getting emotional." Then he paused to let the wave of emotion pass. "He's a guy who played hurt. And a guy we're definitely going to miss." Pillar, a California native who was the longest-tenured Blue Jay, has been in the Toronto organization since being drafted in the 32nd round in 2011 -- which netted him a US$1,000 bonus. He went on to play 695 games for the Jays, hitting .260 with 55 home runs and 231 runs batted in. Toronto GM Ross Atkins paid tribute to Pillar's work ethic and determination. But he said the "difficult decision" to deal the veteran makes room for others to step up. "This was a deal that we felt made sense to gain (financial) control and create opportunities for others," he said. Opportunity to test former college football player Anthony Alford in centre field, to give Brito a chance to show he belongs in the majors, and perhaps create more space for some talented infield prospects to spread their wings in the outfield. It could also give Jays prospect Jonathan Davis, a 2013 draft pick, a chance to showcase his skills. Alford, recalled from triple-A Buffalo, gets the first audition. Pillar, who is making US$5.8 million this season, is eligible for free agency after the 2020 season. He joins Russell Martin, Marco Estrada, Troy Tulowitzki, Kendrys Morales, Josh Donaldson, Steve Pearce, J.A. Happ and Yangervis Solarte, all of whom have left in a Toronto teardown that started last season. "We're not in a popularity contest," said Atkins. "We're in a contest to win championships and that takes making tough decisions and often times not popular ones." While Atkins said he believes the team has created sufficient room to manoeuvre with its recent deals, he did say he has started talking to his players about whether they want to be kept in the know regarding possible moves. And he continues to see the Blue Jays glass as half-full. "There's good stories across the game every year. We still feel like we could be one," he said, while noting more than a few things would have to go right for that to happen. "Part of having good stories and opportunities is creating them ... We're creating opportunities for other players." Manager Charlie Montoyo also kept the faith. "We've got an exciting team, I'm telling you," he said. "I'm not going to lie, I'm going to miss Kevin Pillar. What a great guy, what a good player. But now somebody else gets a chance." Pillar did not start Monday's game against Baltimore but delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in a ninth-inning Toronto rally that fell just short in a 6-5 loss. Atkins said the deal was consummated late Monday. He acknowledged nodding off, only to be awoken by a vibrating cellphone providing confirmation of the trade from Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Pillar got the word Tuesday morning and was on a plane later in the day. But not before thanking the Toronto fans for their support. "I got called up as a 24-year-old kid that had no intentions of getting to the big leagues ... I'm leaving here as a 30-year-old man with a wife and a kid. Just a lifetime of memories. "I'm not Superman ... This city and this country kind of allowed me to almost become kind of a mythical kind of superhuman baseball player and I can't thank them enough for that." Pillar hit .252 last season with 40 doubles, 15 home runs, and 18 walks over 142 games. He was a three-time Gold Glove Award finalist (2015, 2016, 2017) and a 2015 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year for centre field. "This one hurts," tweeted Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman, now the most senior Jay. Pillar's time in Toronto was not always smooth. In May 2017, the Jays suspended him for two games for a homophobic slur directed at an Atlanta Braves reliever. But Pillar stood up and took his lumps, apologizing to fans, Major League Baseball and the LGBTQ community. De Paula, 21, is a minor-leaguer ranked 19th among Giants' 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline. He spent last year in Class-A. The six-foot-three 165-pounder had a 1.72 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 27 walks over 52.1 innings of work last year. A native of the Dominican Republic, he will be sent to Single-A ball. "He's a young exciting arm with a mid-90s fastball," said Atkins. The 26-year-old Hanson, hit .252 with 17 doubles, five triples, and eight home runs across 110 games for the Giants last season. The switch-hitting utility infielder, who is out of options, will join the Jays. The 28-year-old Law had a 7.43 ERA across 13.1 innings with 12 strikeouts and eight walks for the Giants in 2018. He's likely headed to Buffalo. The Blue Jays got Brito from San Diego in exchange for outfielder Rodrigo Orozco. The Padres had claimed Brito off waivers on March 27. The 26-year-old Brito hit .175 with one home run and three RBIs across 24 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018. The native of the Dominican Republic has a career .202 batting average in 82 games.<doc-sep>The Blue Jays’ clubhouse was subdued after the trade of popular centre fielder Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants, and the crowd that showed up to watch Tuesday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre was still dotted with fans sporting his familiar No. 11. Tuesday night starter Marcus Stroman, one of the longest-tenured Jays, said the trade hurt. “Been my locker-mate since 2014,” he tweeted. “Going to be crazy not having you there. Love you bro. Hope this move brings you joy and happiness for you and your family.” “I’ll miss you Superman, thanks for everything,” tweeted infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Pillar’s family is especially close with first baseman Justin Smoak, his wife Kristin and their two daughters. General manager Ross Atkins called Smoak to give the first baseman a heads-up about the trade before it was announced. Smoak said he “took (the news) a little bit better than his wife,” who posted an emotional message to the Pillar family on her personal Instagram page. Toronto Blue Jays' fans reminisce about one of their favourite players. “This one is a dagger to the (heart) ... the heartbeat of Toronto is a little weaker with this family leaving ... and so is my own ... but I am grateful to the Blue Jays for bringing Kevin, Amanda (Mimi) and Kobie into our lives and we will miss you guys every second of the day,” she wrote. Read more: Have your say Kevin Pillar trade could mark end of Blue Jays’ roster teardown Kevin Pillar’s greatest moments as a Blue Jay through the lenses of Star photographers Jays rebuild doesn’t mean waiting to win, Pillar says As Pillar tributes poured in, fans circled dates later this month on their calenders. The Giants visit the Rogers Centre for a two-game series on April 23 and 24. “I think it’ll be hard coming back here in a couple weeks, seeing them,” Pillar said. “But I wish these guys nothing but the best.” Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...<doc-sep>
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Open this photo in gallery Toronto Blue Jays centre fielder Kevin Pillar prepares to catch a flyout that was hit by Baltimore Orioles' John Andreoli in the second inning of a baseball game on Aug. 28, 2018, in Baltimore, Md. The longest-tenured Blue Jay has been shipped out to the Giants in San Francisco in exchange for right-handed reliever Derek Law, utility infielder Alen Hanson and right-handed pitcher Juan De Paula. Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press The tears were flowing freely throughout Rogers Centre during the lead-up to Tuesday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles as word spread about the trade of Kevin Pillar. Pillar was one of the Toronto Blue Jays most beloved players, both within the clubhouse and among a legion of baseball fans who came to adore the reckless abandon in which he patrolled the outfield for Toronto over six seasons. Not blessed with blinding speed, Pillar made up for that deficiency with lightning-quick reads when the ball came off the bat and the fearless nature he displayed once he took up the chase. Story continues below advertisement There wasn’t an outfield wall he wouldn’t hurl his body into at breakneck velocities to try to make a catch, nor was he averse to laying his body out prone and then crashing to the ground if it meant making the out. Canadians love their athletes to be all rough and tumble, with humbling back stories. Pillar was all that, and the native of California was, at the very least, an honorary Canadian. He became known as Superman to his fans for his high-flying antics. The fact that he was even playing in the big leagues was miraculous enough after being a mere afterthought in the 2011 draft where he was chosen in the 32nd round, the 979th player selected overall, by the Blue Jays. And now, starting his seventh year in Toronto, he is gone a week into the start of a season, a 30-year-old caught up in the continued youth movement of a Blue Jays team that grows more and more indistinguishable with each passing day. In a deal that had been simmering for weeks, the longest-tenured Blue Jay was shipped out to the Giants in San Francisco in exchange for right-handed reliever Derek Law, utility infielder Alen Hanson and right-handed pitcher Juan De Paula. Of the trio, only De Paula is considered a true prospect, a lanky 21-year-old native of the Dominican Republic who has now been dealt three times over his four-year professional career. Story continues below advertisement Later in the day, Toronto swung another deal when it acquired speedy outfielder Socrates Brito from the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor leaguer Rodrigo Orozco. For the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays, brighter days are ahead ... almost Blue Jays trade catcher Russell Martin to Dodgers for minor-league prospects Previously: Remembering a Blue Jays season that many would prefer to forget With Pillar gone, it cleared the way for 24-year-old Anthony Alford to be added to the 25-man roster and he was in Pillar’s spot in centre field Tuesday night. Pillar’s problem has always been with his wildly inconsistent bat, a career .260 hitter with a .282 on-base percentage who really wasn’t going to ever show much better than that. With general manager Ross Atkins in the midst of a brick-by-brick rebuild of the Blue Jays and the probability that the team won’t be contending until several years down the road, it became apparent that Pillar, given his age, was an expendable piece. Atkins said the trade was a necessity but not easy to do. “We’re not in a popularity contest,” he said. “We’re in a contest to win championships." The trade left Justin Smoak as one of the few remaining Blue Jays with ties to the exhilarating back-to-back playoff runs of 2015 and 2016. Story continues below advertisement He was reduced to tears on Tuesday when talking about the departure of Pillar, one of his close friends on the club. “He’s great, man,” Smoak said. “Good teammate − Superman, whatever you want. He’s a guy you want on your team.” Twitter blew up as Blue Jays fans learned of the trade, the vast majority expressing remorse that Superman was skipping town. Ever gracious, Pillar spoke to a group of reporters outside the Blue Jays clubhouse at Rogers Centre Tuesday afternoon before heading to the airport to catch a flight to Los Angeles, where the Giants are playing a series against the Dodgers.
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Less than a day after a heated exchange about race, Reps. Mark Meadows and Rashida Tlaib reconciled on the House floor. Tlaib, a freshman Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, had criticized Meadows for using a black administration official as a “prop” at the House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday. Meadows was attempting to discredit testimony by Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, that the president was a “racist.” The official, Lynne Patton, a regional administrator of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, formerly worked for the Trump Organization and a foundation established by Eric Trump, the president’s son. She stood behind Meadows during his remarks but did not speak. “Just because someone has a person of color, a black person working for them does not mean they aren't racist,” said Tlaib, who is a Palestinian-American and one of two Muslim women in Congress. “And it is insensitive, and some would even say that the fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee is alone racist in itself.” Rep. Mark Meadows, left, a Republican from North Carolina, listens as comments made by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Democrat from Michigan, are reviewed at a House Oversight committee hearing with Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (Photos: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images — Alex Wong/Getty Images) Meadows expressed outrage and asked for Tlaib’s comments to be stricken from the record. Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who is black, tried to smooth over the confrontation, calling Meadows one of his best friends. He offered Tlaib the opportunity to clarify her statement and she said that she was not calling Meadows a racist, but that it was a “racist act” to use Patton in that way. Meadows, with tears in his eyes, thanked Cummings and Tlaib. “To my colleague, Mr. Meadows, that was not my intention,” Tlaib said. “And I do apologize if that’s what it sounded like. But I said ‘someone’ in general.” Late Thursday morning, the Washington Post’s Paul Kane reported that Tlaib and Meadows had hugged on the floor and engaged in a long, cordial discussion. "She said she didn't mean it yesterday, so there was no need to apologize," Meadows told reporters afterwards. "I wanted her to know and she wanted me to know that our relationship is one that will hopefully provide real good results going forward." Story continues Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., is seen during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing in Rayburn Building featuring testimony by Michael Cohen, former attorney for President Donald Trump, on Russian interference in the 2016 election on Feb. 27, 2019. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Zuma) “I believe that moment as a person of color and not only myself, two, three other of my colleagues had mentioned how insensitive that act was. I think all of us, even folks at home, kind of gasped when that actually happened,” said Tlaib in a CNN interview Thursday when asked if she felt what Meadows had done was a racist act. “I think if we want to talk about race in this country, that's not the way to do it." Before Tlaib spoke, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who is also black, asked Cohen about Trump’s history. "Would you agree that someone could deny rental units to African-Americans, lead the birther movement, referred to the diaspora as 'shithole countries,” and refer to white supremacists as 'fine people,' have a black friend and still be racist?" asked Pressley. “Yes,” said Cohen. “I agree,” said Pressley. Meadows, leader of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, had previously endorsed the “birther” conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not a native U.S. citizen. “We’ll send him back home to Kenya or wherever it is,” said Meadows in a 2012 video. When asked about the comments Thursday, Meadows told reporters that it was “old news” and that he had said it while trying to win an election. "I've addressed that dozens of times and candidly apologized for that a number of times,” said Meadows. “It was when I was running for office and answered a question — I actually had just gotten back from Kenya. We had been doing mission work in Kenya, so anybody who knows me knows that I really show respect regardless of race or gender," Meadows told reporters outside the House chamber. Reps. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., center, Harley Rouda, D-Calif., left, and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., talk during a House Oversight and Reform Committee business meeting in the Rayburn Building on Jan. 29, 2019. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images) _____ Read more from Yahoo News:<doc-sep>Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on February 27, 2019. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, pauses just after being sworn in to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Cohen: To hurt me, Trump is trying to hurt my family Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, listens to a question as he testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. Last year Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, unlawful excessive campaign contributions and lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Cohen: Lying to first lady is one of my biggest regrets WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, gets emotional listening to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) give his closing statement after Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. Last year Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, unlawful excessive campaign contributions and lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. Last year Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, unlawful excessive campaign contributions and lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (CNN) — A heated clash derailed an already blockbuster congressional hearing on Wednesday after Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib appeared to accuse Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of what she called a “racist” act of using a black woman as a “prop” as a way to disprove allegations of racism against the President. “Just because someone has a person of color, a black person, working for them does not mean they aren’t racist,” the Democratic congresswoman from Michigan said during a House Oversight Committee hearing featuring testimony from President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Tlaib continued, “And it is insensitive … the fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself.” Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, had earlier invited Lynne Patton, a Trump administration official who is also a black woman, to the hearing and presented her as a refutation of Cohen’s claim that Trump is a “racist.” Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, was testifying in front of the House Oversight Committee. Following Tlaib’s comment, Meadows immediately called for her words to be stricken from the record. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who is the chairman of the committee, stepped in and asked Tlaib if she wanted to “rephrase” her statement. Tlaib repeated her initial statement, reading from her notes, and clarified she was not calling Meadows himself a racist, just the act itself. “As a person of color in this committee that’s how I felt in at that moment and I wanted to express that, but I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist for doing so, I’m saying that in itself it is a racist act,” Tlaib said, referring to what she called using Patton, a black woman, as a “prop.” Meadows, growing visibly upset, objected to Tlaib’s characterization. He said his family members are people of color, and further said it was “racist” that Tlaib suggested Meadows brought Patton in for that reason. “Mr. Chairman, there’s nothing more personal to me than my relationship – my nieces and nephews are people of color. Not many people know that. You know that, Mr. Chairman,” Meadows said. “And to indicate that I asked someone who is a personal friend of the Trump family, who has worked for him, who knows this particular individual, that she’s coming in to be a prop – it’s racist to suggest that I asked her to come in here for that reason,” Meadows added. Patton is a longtime associate of the Trump family and is now a high-ranking political appointee to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She worked as an event planner for the Trumps and planned Eric Trump’s 2014 wedding. “She loves this family, she came in because she felt like the President of the United States was getting falsely accused,” Meadows said. “And Mr. Chairman you are, you and I have a personal relationship that’s not based on color. And to even go down this direction is wrong, Mr. Chairman.” Cummings thanked Meadows for his statements and said, “if there’s anyone who is sensitive with regard to race, it’s me, son of former sharecroppers that were basically slaves. So I, I get it. I listened very carefully to Ms. Tlaib … I think she said that she was not calling you a racist.” Cummings added that Meadows,”of all the people on this committee … you’re one of my best friends. I know that shocks a lot of people.” “I could see and feel your pain,” Cummings added. “I feel it. And so, and I don’t think Ms. Tlaib intended to cause you that, that kind of pain and that kind of frustration.” Tlaib agreed with Cummings that was not her intention and said “I do apologize if that’s what it sounded like, but I said someone in general, and as everyone knows in this chamber I’m pretty direct so I, if I wanted to say that I would’ve, but that’s not what I said.”<doc-sep>CEO of ADL: Seeing a 'blitzkrieg of anti-Jewish' acts across US 'Stay out': Fulton County official reacts to potential GOP visit during audit Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Hear what Matt Gaetz said about Paul Ryan before his speech Former GOP senator: If McConnell said this, 'it's shameful' 'Some people have no shame': Biden calls out GOP lawmakers with list Rashida Tlaib smiles during a campaign rally in Dearborn, Michican on October 26, 2018. (CNN) — Hours after she was sworn in to Congress, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib used an expletive Thursday in pushing for impeaching President Donald Trump. Speaking to a crowd at an event sponsored by the progressive group MoveOn, Tlaib recalled the moment she won her election in November. “And when your son looks at you and says, ‘Mama look, you won. Bullies don’t win,’ and I said, ‘Baby, they don’t,’ because we’re gonna go in there and we’re going to impeach the motherf****r,” Tlaib said Thursday, speaking of Trump, according to a video posted on Twitter by Nestor Ruiz, an activist with United We Dream. Tlaib did not seem remorseful about her choice of words on Friday. “I will always speak truth to power. #unapologeticallyMe,” she wrote on Twitter. I will always speak truth to power. #unapologeticallyMe — Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 4, 2019 Her office also released a statement Friday, saying, “The Congresswoman absolutely believes he needs to be impeached.” “She ran and won by making this very clear to the voters in her district,” the statement said. “Donald Trump’s actions have harmed the 13th Congressional District and this country, and Congresswoman Tlaib will not stay silent while this happens.” Tlaib also penned an op-ed Thursday arguing that “the time for impeachment proceedings is now.” “President Donald Trump is a direct and serious threat to our country,” she wrote in the op-ed published in the Detroit Free Press with John Bonifaz, co-founder of the nonprofit Free Speech For People. “On an almost daily basis, he attacks our Constitution, our democracy, the rule of law and the people who are in this country. His conduct has created a constitutional crisis that we must confront now.” During her campaign, Tlaib made clear that once in Congress she was going to push for impeachment against Trump. “Why am I running? Because this is about electing the jury to impeach (POTUS) and I will make a heck of juror,” she wrote on Twitter in March. More than a year before she ran for Congress, Tlaib made headlines for being thrown out of an event in Michigan where Trump was speaking. She had interrupted the then-Republican presidential nominee to ask if he had ever read the Constitution. Tlaib is one of few Democratic lawmakers to call for Trump’s removal from office, however House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders have tread more carefully around the topic of impeachment. In an interview with NBC News this week, Pelosi didn’t rule out pursuing impeachment against Trump, but said Democrats would wait until special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation concludes. “We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason,” Pelosi said. On Friday morning, Trump reacted to the talk of impeachment by questioning why House Democrats would do such a thing. He also blamed a volatile stock market on Democrats taking control of the lower chamber. “As I have stated many times, if the Democrats take over the House or Senate, there will be disruption to the Financial Markets. We won the Senate, they won the House. Things will settle down. They only want to impeach me because they know they can’t win in 2020, too much success!” Trump said on Twitter. He added, “How do you impeach a president who has won perhaps the greatest election of all time, done nothing wrong (no Collusion with Russia, it was the Dems that Colluded), had the most successful first two years of any president, and is the most popular Republican in party history 93%?” Friday afternoon, Trump called Tlaib’s comments “disgraceful” when he was asked to respond to them. He told reporters in the Rose Garden, “I thought her comments were disgraceful. This is a person that I don’t know. I assume she’s new. I think she dishonored herself, and I think she dishonored her family using language like that. … I thought it was highly disrespectful to the United States of America.” Trump said Pelosi told him Friday, “‘We’re not looking to impeach you.’” A spokesman for Pelosi told CNN that Trump did bring up impeachment during a meeting between with congressional leaders about the partial government shutdown. “Speaker Pelosi made clear that today’s meeting was about re-opening government, not impeachment,” Drew Hammill said in a statement. Trump also said it’s “hard to impeach somebody that’s done a great job,” citing his work on tax cuts, regulations, veterans, military, and economic numbers. CNN’s Elizabeth Landers, Clare Foran, Sunlen Serfaty, Betsy Klein, and Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
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Freshman Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib had an emotional exchange with GOP Rep. Mark Meadows on racism during Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress on Wednesday. House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings helped resolve the dispute after Meadows accused Tlaib of calling him racist. Tlaib, among other Democrats, took issue with Meadows inviting a black Trump administration employee to the hearing to demonstrate that President Donald Trump is not racist. Earlier in the day, Cohen said Trump is a "racist" who once told him black people were "too stupid" to vote for him. Meadows and Tlaib were reportedly spotted hugging on Thursday on the House floor and apparently engaged in a "long, cordial talk." Follow along with all the updates from Cohen's testimony here. A freshman Democratic lawmaker, a veteran Democrat, and a close GOP ally of President Donald Trump had an emotional exchange on racism and the president during Michael Cohen's dramatic testimony before Congress on Wednesday. Toward the end of the House Oversight Committee hearing, freshman Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan echoed some of her other colleagues who'd criticized Meadows for bringing a black Trump administration employee — Lynne Patton — to the proceedings to make the case the president isn't racist. Tlaib said, "Just because someone has a person of color, a black person, working for them does not mean they aren't racist and ... the fact someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself." Meadows, the ranking member, was aghast at Tlaib's comments and took them to mean she was calling him racist. —CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) February 27, 2019 A brief shouting match ensued between Meadows and House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland. Cummings asserted his authority, firmly stating, "Mr. Meadows. I'm the chair!" After being pressed by Cummings on what she meant, Tlaib eventually clarified her remarks on Meadows' decision to bring Patton to the hearing, stating, "As a person of color in this committee, that's how I felt at that moment and I wanted to express that. I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist, for doing so, I'm saying that, in itself, it is a racist act." Meadows then noted he has nieces and nephews who are "people of color," adding, "not many people know that." The Republican lawmaker from North Carolina went on to say, "To indicate that I asked someone who is a personal friend of the Trump family … that's she's coming in to be a prop, it's racist to suggest that I asked her to come in for that reason." In response, Cummings said, "If there's anyone who is sensitive with regard to race, it's me. A son of former sharecroppers that were basically slaves. So I get it." Cummings then said that he listened to Tlaib "very carefully" and concluded that she was not calling Meadows a racist. He also said that Meadows is one of his "best friends" on the committee, adding that this fact likely "shocks a lot of people." Tlaib apologized to Meadows once again and he thanked her, which seemingly resolved the tense situation. The two were also reportedly spotted hugging on Thursday on the House floor and apparently engaged in a "long, cordial talk." It was perhaps the most heated moment in a day full of remarks on racism and the president's rhetoric with regards to race. Earlier in the day, Cohen said Trump is a "racist" who once told him black people were "too stupid" to vote for him. Trump has long faced accusations of racism, particularly for perpetuating a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya. In 2012, Meadows seemed to endorse that conspiracy theory at a campaign stop when he said, "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is."
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Leaving Neverland premieres March 3 and 4 on and March 6 and 7 on Channel 4 FREE now for the biggest moments from morning TV SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow for the biggest moments from morning TV When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Leaving Neverland explores allegations against Michael Jackson Leaving Neverland is the new controversial documentary series about the late singer Michael Jackson and premeired on last weekend HBO in America. Last night (Wednesday, March 6) the documentary arrived in the UK and the second episode continues tonight (Thursday, March 7) on channel 4. The documentary investigates the numerous sexual assaults allegations made against Jackson during his lifetime, all of which he and his estate have strongly denied. Leaving Neverland first premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January and is now finally coming to the UK. When does Leaving Neverland air on Channel 4? Leaving Neverland aired on Channel 4 on Wednesday, March, 6 and continues tonight (Thursday, March 7) on Channel 4 at 9pm until 11pm. The documentary is a special two-part series, having originally premiered as a four-hour long feature-length film at the Sundance Film Festival. To watch Leaving Neverland if you are in the UK, you can watch it live as it airs on TV or stream it live via Channel 4’s on-demand service 4OD. If you happen to miss an episode of the documentary series, you can catch up on 4OD, shortly after the episode has finished airing on TV. WHO ARE JAMES SAFECHUCK AND WADE ROBSON? Leaving Neverland premieres March 3 and 4 on and March 6 and 7 on Channel 4 What is Leaving Neverland about on Channel 4? Leaving Neverland comes from British filmmaker Dan Reed, who researched the documentary thoroughly. The documentary is told extensively from the perspective of two of Jackson’s alleged victims, James Safechuck and Wade Robson. James Safechuck, now aged 40, first met Jackson aged 10, when he starred alongside him in a Pepsi advert. In the documentary, Safechuck reveals Jackson started to abuse him from the age of 10 to 14. Robson, now 36-years-old met Jackson as a young boy and appeared in three of Jackson’s music videos: Black and White, Heal the world and Jam. In the documentary, Robson reveals the alleged abuse first began when he was seven-years-old and lasted until he was 14. WHAT HAS THE DIRECTOR SAID ABOUT LEAVING NEVERLAND? Leaving Neverland premieres March 3 and 4 on and March 6 and 7 on Channel 4 Michael Jackson 'victims' give details of alleged abuse Their families also feature throughout the documentary and can be seen in the trailer which can be watched above. Speaking on Tuesday (February 26) to CBS This Morning, director Reed said: “This is not a film about Michael Jackson, it’s a film about Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the two little boys to whom this dreadful thing happened long ago. “It's the story of their coming to terms with that over two decades and the stories of their families.” The official Channel 4 synopsis reads: “When allegations of abuse by Jackson involving young boys surfaced in 1993, many found it hard to believe that he could be guilty of such unspeakable acts. “Leaving Neverland explores the experiences of two young boys, James Safechuck, at age 10, and Wade Robson, at age seven, who were both befriended by Jackson. “They and their families were entranced by the singer’s fairy-tale existence as his career reached its peak. “Through gut-wrenching interviews with Safechuck and Robson, now in their 30s, as well as their mothers, wives and siblings, Leaving Neverland crafts a portrait of sustained abuse, and explores the complicated feelings that led both men to confront their experiences after each had a young son of their own. “Playing out against the backdrop of our collective experience, the film documents the value of breaking silence, even when it implicates a powerful and revered figure.” HOW TO WATCH LEAVING NEVERLAND ONLINE Leaving Neverland premieres March 3 and 4 on and March 6 and 7 on Channel 4 Leaving Neverland: Victim discusses ‘marrying’ Michael Jackson<doc-sep>The BBC will air a Michael Jackson documentary rivalling Channel 4’s Leaving Neverland. According to the channel, the film – which has been given the working title Michael Jackson: The Rise and Fall – will ”take a close look at each stage of Jackson’s life to get a full understanding of this complex character”. The news comes as Channel 4 readies to broadcast Leaving Neverland, Dan Reed’s documentary airing in two parts on 6 and 7 March in the UK, after being released on HBO in America. Leaving Neverland focuses on the testimonies of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, two men who say Jackson abused them as children. Investigative journalist Jacques Peretti, who has made three other films about Jackson, is writing and presenting the newest documentary, set to air on BBC Two. The film will document Jackson’s life from the beginning of his career as part of the Jackson 5 to the lead-up to his “This Is It” concert residency – which was cancelled following the star’s death in June 2009. Best films of 2019 (so far) Show all 49 1 /49 Best films of 2019 (so far) Best films of 2019 (so far) The Favourite “Macabre and fraught though The Favourite gets, this isn’t so much a film about sex or power as it is about plain mischief. It’s a hilarious, buffoonish pleasure, right down to the sets and costume design, and a breeze to spend 120 minutes with.” Christopher Hooton Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Beautiful Boy “Casting Chalamet as Nic was a very clever move. The young actor from Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird has a natural charm and charisma. He still engages an audience’s curiosity and sympathy even when his behaviour is at its most selfish and erratic.” Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) The House by the Sea “Guédiguian’s storytelling style is deceptive. At first, it seems as if this is low-key social realism in the Dardennes or Ken Loach mould, albeit set on the French Riviera. Gradually, though, we realise how stylised and theatrical his approach really is.” Geoffrey Macnab Best films of 2019 (so far) Stan & Ollie “Director Jon S Baird, whose previous film was scabrous Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth, wrings every last drop of pathos he can from his material. This is very much a case of the tears of the clowns.” Geoffrey Macnab Entertainment One Best films of 2019 (so far) Vice “Vice is bravura storytelling. McKay isn’t only taking us through Cheney’s life and career but is giving us a whistle stop tour through US politics from the Nixon administration almost right to the present day.” Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Can You Ever Forgive Me? “Playing Lee Israel, McCarthy manages something very special: she makes a character who is odd, obnoxious, difficult and alcoholic seem lovable and even heroic. The rest of the world is at fault, not Lee.” Geoffrey Macnab Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Green Book "Green Book flatters the audience about its own good sense and tolerance. It deals with racism and homophobia but still has a fairytale, fantasy feel to it. Whatever humiliations Don endures on their road trip, we know no real harm will ever come to him as long as Tony is at his side.” Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Velvet Buzzsaw “The golden age of bonkers horror movies is gloriously evoked by Netflix’s latest feature length presentation. Beginning as a satire of the arts world, Velvet Buzzsaw swiftly and gleefully descends into a savage splatter-fest, smeared in paint, viscera and garishly-bright blood.” Ed Power Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) If Beale Street Could Talk “The setting is New York in the 1970s. Anyone who has watched Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver knows this was an era of violence, corruption and sleaze on a monumental level, but [Barry] Jenkins somehow makes the city seem like a modern-day Eden.” Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) All Is True “Written by Ben Elton and directed by its star Kenneth Branagh, the film plays so fast and loose with the playwright’s final years that they needn’t have bothered fitting Branagh with a prosthetic nose – accuracy is clearly not the priority here.” Alexandra Pollard Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is the doomed progeny of a celebrated genius – brilliant but slightly stunted by the knowledge they will never live up to their predecessor.” Clarisse Loughrey Warner Bros. Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Piercing “Nicolas Pesce’s sleek and stylish horror comedy is repulsive and funny by turns. In adapting Ryu Murakami’s cult novel, Pesce strikes just the right balance between humour and Grand Guignol-style shock tactics.” Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Capernaum "The best moments here are remarkable. Labaki elicits an astonishing performance from her young lead. He’s an irrepressible figure with such an inbuilt sense of moral decency the film seems upbeat and optimistic, even at its darkest moments.” Geoffrey Macnab Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The White Crow "Ralph Fiennes combines thriller elements with poetic flashbacks to ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev’s childhood and keeps a tight focus on the dancer. When he is most at risk, Nureyev makes decisions with his artistic future more in mind than his personal safety. As Fiennes reminds us again and again in what is his best film yet as a director, the 'white crow' will do anything to put himself in the limelight, the one place he is convinced he belongs." StudioCanal Best films of 2019 (so far) Border "Border reverses the perspective taken by most other horror films. In more conventional genre fare, Tina and Vore would be portrayed as malevolent outsiders, but in the world conjured up by director Ali Abbasi, the humans are the monsters. Tina is the innocent – a visionary who hardly understands her own powers but who can sense human venality and corruption wherever it appears." TriArt Film Best films of 2019 (so far) Fighting with My Family "Certain scenes feel very trite and predictable but the film gets you in a choke hold early on and won’t let you go. It is far more gripping than its subject matter might suggest. Who ever would believe a story about a wrestling family from Norwich could have quite such heart and resonance?" James Field Best films of 2019 (so far) Us "Doppelgangers abound in Jordan Peele’s weird, creepy and ingenious new horror film. As in his Oscar-winning 2017 feature Get Out, Peele leavens matters with ironic humour but the joking becomes increasingly uncomfortable once the main characters come face to face with dark shadows of themselves which wish them extreme harm." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Avengers: Endgame "The Avengers cycle comes to a rich and very satisfying conclusion with Endgame, surely the most complex and emotional superhero movie in Marvel history. At 181 minutes, this is a veritable epic, but with so many characters and plot strands, it fully warrants its lengthy running time." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Eighth Grade "It’s a rare and precious feeling when a film completely dismantles you. Eighth Grade – the directorial debut of US comedian Bo Burnham – breaks down every delusion we have about ourselves and burrows deep into those parts we’ve made such an effort to lock away. You may cry. You may shudder as every awkward social interaction that’s kept you up at night replays in your head all at once. You may feel the sharp pain associated with those moments when you feel completely isolated from the world. Burnham may have crafted a simple story about the most ordinary of teenage girls, but it speaks with the emotions of a true cinematic epic." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Vox Lux "Natalie Portman gives her fiercest, most memorable performance since Black Swan in Brady Corbet’s enjoyably subversive satire about a troubled pop star whose loss of innocence mirrors the fall from grace of the US itself. Portman’s character, Celeste, is certainly one of the most objectionable figures she has played: a pampered, hard-drinking drug-taking “floozy” whose appearance and high-handed behaviour rekindle memories of Liz Taylor and Joan Crawford at their monstrous worst." Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) High Life Robert Pattinson gives one of his most striking performances as Monte, the death-row criminal in outer space, tricked into making a voyage described at one stage as a “class-one suicide ride”. The former Twilight star makes his shaven-headed, gaunt-faced character seem hyper naturally sensitive and feral at the same time. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Amazing Grace Amazing Grace is as uplifting a film as you will see all year. It’s a concert movie filmed over two nights and featuring Aretha Franklin, the “first lady of soul”, performing gospel standards in a church in Los Angeles in 1972, with a huge backing choir and an enthusiastic congregation. Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) Aladdin Disney’s live-action remake of its 1992 animated feature is a rip-roaring, old-fashioned matinee-style spectacle that turns out far better than we had any right to expect. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Booksmart “Olivia Wilde is a visually inventive director, who keeps the tempo here so brisk that we hardly notice how glib the storytelling sometimes becomes. We can tell exactly how the film will end, but it still feels original both in its screwball energy and in the deft way it continually reverses stereotypes and gender clichés.” Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Late Night “Late Night is a caustic satirical comedy that turns into an unlikely tearjerker. It’s by turns snide and uplifting, and often very funny too. Its writer/producer/star Mindy Kaling makes vicious observations about the inanity, narcissism and corruption of the mainstream US media at the same time as she celebrates the professionalism of many of those who work within it. The film has a glorious performance from Emma Thompson and a very sly one from Kaling. Thompson is at her most imperious as Katherine Newbury, a legendary entertainer, the only female in a male-dominated field, but one whose career is beginning to slide.” Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) Gloria Bell “Gloria Bell is somewhat exhausting – both unbearably intimate and at a constant remove – but it is endlessly pulled back into focus by Moore, who has a firm understanding of the delicate balance between contentment and yearning, joy and pain, recklessness and spontaneity. In a remake that could have felt indulgent in the hands of people less skilled, she more than justifies its existence.” Geoffrey Macnab Curzon Best films of 2019 (so far) Toy Story 4 "The brilliance of the new film lies in the surefooted way it caters both for children too young to have seen its predecessors and for adults who’ve grown up (or grown older) watching the previous instalments. It takes some kind of genius for the Pixar animators to give such a searing emotional charge to a story in which one of the main characters is a single use plastic spork retrieved from the trash." Pixar/Disney Best films of 2019 (so far) In Fabric In Fabric feels like Peter Strickland at his most free and playful, drawing as much from the British sense of humour – dry and morbid to a fault – as from Italian glamour. Curzon Artificial Eye Best films of 2019 (so far) The Flood "Perhaps The Flood isn’t quite the urgent, profound film a crisis of this scale deserves, but in a culture where refugees are so rarely shown any empathy in mainstream media, maybe this is the film we need right now." Best films of 2019 (so far) Midsommar "Ari Aster's follow-up to Hereditary serves up much of the same: it’s a break-up movie wrapped up in pagan horror.<doc-sep>
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The long-awaited Leaving Neverland documentary finally premieres tonight, in a two-night event. The documentary focuses on the molestation allegations made by James Safechuck and Wade Robson, against the late music icon, Michael Jackson. Get to know more about the documentary schedule, the air times, what channel to watch, how to watch the documentary online and other details below. “LEAVING NEVERLAND” TIME & SCHEDULE: Leaving Neverland is a four-hour documentary that will air over the course of two nights, Sunday, March 3, 2019 and Monday, March 4, 2019. The show will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT on both nights, for two hours each. According to Google, additional air times of part 1 will air at these times: Today, 11 p.m. Tomorrow, 2:40 a.m. on east coast Tomorrow, 5:40 a.m. on west coast Tomorrow, 6 p.m. on east coast On night two of the event, Oprah Winfrey is hosting an After Neverland special, speaking with the two stars – Safechuck and Robson. The special, which was pre-taped, will air on HBO and Winfrey’s OWN network on March 4, 2019 at 10 p.m., directly after part 2 of the documentary, as reported by USA Today. The special is titled “Oprah Winfrey Presents: After Neverland”. “LEAVING NEVERLAND” DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL: The documentary airs on the HBO network. To find out the exact channel number, check with your local TV provider (ie. Xfinity, FIOS, etc.). Complex has reported that the HBO network has been threatened with several lawsuits over the airing of the controversial documentary. HBO is facing a $100 million lawsuit from Michael Jackson’s estate and has been threatened by litigation from a man named Brett Barnes, who says he is inaccurately portrayed in the documentary. HOW TO WATCH “LEAVING NEVERLAND” ONLINE: If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of the show (or DVR it, or watch it on-demand) on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services: Amazon Prime If you have Amazon Prime or want to start a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, you can watch live and on-demand HBO content through the HBO Amazon Channel, which also comes with a free 7-day trial. Once you’re signed up for both Amazon Prime and the HBO channel, you can you can then watch the show either live as it airs or on-demand. With either option, you can watch on your computer via the Amazon website, or you can watch on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or other streaming device via the Amazon Video app. Hulu Whether you already have Hulu or you want to sign up for a new subscription, HBO is available as an add-on to Hulu or Hulu with Live TV. Once signed up, you can watch the show live as it airs, or you can watch it on-demand anytime after. With either option, you can watch on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show or other streaming device via the Hulu app. Sling TV Whether you already have Sling TV or you want to sign up for a new subscription, HBO is available as an add-on to either the “Sling Orange” or “Sling Blue” base channel package. Once signed up, you can watch the show live as it airs, or you can watch it on-demand anytime after. With either option, you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or other streaming device via the Sling TV app. “LEAVING NEVERLAND” PLOT DESCRIPTION: Dan Reed is the director, producer and cinematographer for the documentary. The official description of what to expect reads, “At the height of his stardom, Michael Jackson began long-running relationships with two boys, aged 7 and 10, and their families.
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Power Sport Images/Getty Images New Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui faces his biggest challenge since taking charge in La Liga on Saturday, as his side make the trip to the Basque Country to face Athletic Bilbao. It's been a straightforward start for Lopetegui, with Madrid coasting to three wins from their first three matches in the Spanish top flight. What's more, there have been no major signs that they are missing departed talisman Cristiano Ronaldo. Saturday's opponents have had a decent start to their season, winning one game and drawing their other; their Week 2 meeting with Rayo Vallecano was postponed. Manager Eduardo Berizzo will know a strong performance here could kickstart their campaign, and San Mames will be abuzz with anticipation come kick off. Date: Saturday, September 15 Time: 7:45 p.m. (BST), 2:45 p.m. (ET) Video Play Button Videos you might like TV Info: beIN Sports (U.S.) Live Stream: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.) Eleven Sports (UK) Odds Courtesy of OddsShark. Athletic: +443 (wager $100 to win $443) Draw: +316 Real Madrid: -182 (wager $182 to win $100) Real Out to Keep Run Going GABRIEL BOUYS/Getty Images The fixtures may have been kind to Lopetegui and his team at the start of this campaign, but few would have anticipated the team would adapt quite so quickly to life after Ronaldo and former manager Zinedine Zidane. Lopetegui has made some tweaks to the team's style, as possession appears more important to him than his predecessor. He's also given responsibility to players who were previously in the side to provide a foil for Ronaldo—most notably Karim Benzema. The Frenchman has scored four goals this season, a tally only Barcelona forward Lionel Messi can match. OptaJose noted that Benzema has never had such a quick start to the season: While Benzema is sticking chances away, Gareth Bale has emerged as the key attacking force for Madrid, following on from his heroics in the UEFA Champions League final against Liverpool in May. The Wales international has been held back by injuries issues and players such as Isco and Marco Asensio's rises in recent years, and he often found himself on the fringes before netting a brace in last season's Champions League final. This term, Bale appears to be in the best shape he's been in for years. Per Sky Sports Statto, there's no doubt he's benefitting from that: This match will not be a stroll for Madrid, though, as Athletic are capable of turning in a big performance. However, it appears the Basque side are wary of Los Blancos' threat. According to Juanma Velasco, a key part of the team's preparation has been constructing a plan that will limit the impact Bale can have on the game. Focusing on one man may prove to be dangerous for the home side, though, as Madrid have shown this season they are very much a team. Bale is a threat, but Benzema is rejuvenated, and Isco and Asensio are both returning to domestic football after shining with Spain during the international break. At home, Athletic are tough to beat and always cause teams problems through the likes of Inaki Williams and Aritz Aduriz. However, Madrid appear well equipped to overcome those threats and pick up a galvanising three points. Prediction: Athletic Club 1-3 Real Madrid<doc-sep>Miguel Gutiérrez: What the Castilla Man Can Bring to Real Madrid Having only made his first team debut back in April, Gutiérrez is now one of Real Madrid’s hottest prospects<doc-sep>2 Read how it all unfolded in Sports Mole 's minute-by-minute live commentary of the action below. Muniain's 32nd-minute strike saw Bilbao lead at the interval, but Isco levelled the scores in the 64th minute as both teams continued their unbeaten start to the 2018-19 campaign. Isco cancelled out a Iker Muniain effort as Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao played out a 1-1 draw in Saturday night's La Liga clash at San Mames. Sports Mole's live coverage of the La Liga clash between Evening all and welcome to's live coverage of the La Liga clash between Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid from San Mames. Bilbao opened their La Liga season with a 2-1 home win over Leganes on August 20, before sharing the points with newly-promoted Huesca at San Mames on August 27. Real Madrid, meanwhile, have started the new season with wins over Getafe, Girona and Leganes, and will be looking to move onto 12 points ahead of their Champions League group opener with Roma. Both La Liga matches between these two teams finished level last season. Indeed, the pair played out a goalless draw at San Mames in December before a 1-1 draw occurred at the Bernabeu in April. Real Madrid's last away success to Bilbao was a 2-1 victory in March 2017, and Bilbao have not actually beaten their opponents tonight in Spain's top flight since March 2015. Right, without further ado, let me bring you up-to-speed with the all-important team news from San Mames. Real Madrid have had a lot of players away on international duty, but the majority of Bilbao's first-team squad stayed put during the recent break. Let's run through the two XIs... TEAMS! BILBAO: Simon; De Marcos, Yeray, Inigo, Berchiche; D Garcia, R Garcia, Benat; Susaeta, Williams, Muniain REAL MADRID: Courtois; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Ceballos; Asensio, Benzema, Bale Athletic Bilbao's team shows two changes from the one that started their last La Liga fixture against Huesca at the end of August. Inigo Martinez is back in central defence, while Benat comes into midfield as Inigo Cordoba drops out. Inaki Williams will again lead the line for the Basque outfit, and he will have support from Iker Muniain and Markel Susaeta in a 4-3-3 formation. As for Real Madrid, head coach Julen Lopetegui has introduced Dani Ceballos to the middle of the park. Ceballos joins Toni Kroos and Luka Modric in midfield as Casemiro starts on the bench. Marco Asensio is again selected alongside Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema in the final third, meanwhile, with Isco on the bench. Thibaut Courtois keeps his position between the sticks. © Reuters The two teams are in, and we are now just about 40 minutes from kickoff at San Mames. I shall speak about the home side a little bit later, but let's start with Real Madrid. Three matches, three wins, 10 goals scored and just two conceded. That is how Los Blancos have performed in the early weeks of the 2018-19 campaign, with the capital giants not yet missing Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo put up freak numbers during his exceptional career at Real Madrid, but both have now moved on, and it has been a smooth transition under new head coach Lopetegui thus far. A 4-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup last month led to panic amongst the supporters, but Los Blancos opened their 2018-19 La Liga campaign with a 2-0 win over Getafe on August 19. Lopetegui's side were more professional than brilliant against Getafe, but they have scored eight times in their last two La Liga matches, hitting four past Girona on August 26 before winning 4-1 at home to Leganes last time out. Gareth Bale has three La Liga goals this season, while Karim Benzema - criticised for long periods of last season - has netted four times in Spain's top flight thus far, with the pair flourishing without Ronaldo. Can the pair impress again tonight? Los Blancos dropped points in 16 of their 38 La Liga matches last season as they finished down in third spot, some 17 points off the champions Barcelona, who also have a 100% record in the early stages of the 2018-19 campaign. The capital giants certainly look capable of putting up a stronger challenge this season, however, and will be keen to put another three points on the board tonight ahead of their Champions League group opener against Roma on September 19. Last season's 16th-placed finish in La Liga proved to be Bilbao's worst campaign for 11 years. Indeed, after finishes of fourth, seventh, fifth and seven between 2013 and 2017, a disappointing season saw the Basque outfit win just 10 of their 38 league matches. Jose Angel Ziganda left his position as head coach in May, and Eduardo Berizzo is now in charge of first-team affairs. The Basque outfit opened their La Liga season with a 2-1 home win over Leganes on August 20, before sharing the points with newly-promoted Huesca at San Mames on August 27. Bilbao were due to face Rayo Vallecano in Madrid at the start of the month, but the fixture was postponed amid concerns over the safety of the Vallecas Stadium, with the ground said to be in a dangerous state. A break of almost three weeks without a match is not exactly ideal, and they will welcome a Real Madrid side that has been impressive in the early weeks of the campaign. The two league fixtures between Bilbao and Real Madrid finished level last season, but the Basque outfit have not overcome Los Blancos in Spain's top flight since March 2015, with the capital outfit winning four of their last six meetings. Bilbao are currently staring at a daunting fixture list as they face Real Betis, Villarreal and Barcelona in their three matches in La Liga after this one, and the rest of September could give a good indication of what type of season can be expected from the Basque outfit. 4 - Karim Benzema has scored four goals with only five shots on target in La Liga 2018/19.<doc-sep>Iker Muniain has just given Athletic Club the lead from close range and San Mames erupted in noise. Moments later, the home side think they are two up, but it is ruled out. Real Madrid with a storm to weather here, though, having had the majority of the play before the goal. With the goal, Oscar De Marcos sent in a low cross from the right and amid a sea of bodies, Inaki Williams looked to get a touch before Muniain bundled the ball in virtually on the line. Like Barcelona earlier on today in San Sebastian when they came from behind to beat Real Sociedad, Real Madrid will have to do it the hard way here in the Basque Country.<doc-sep>
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Real Madrid stumble in Bilbao Real Madrid Los Blancos drop first points of the season in draw with Athletic Real Madrid dropped points for the first time this season after playing to a scintillating 1-1 draw with Athletic Club on Saturday night at the Estadio San Mames in Bilbao.Traditionally one of the most intense matches of the season in LaLiga, Saturday's contest lived up to the hype and produced quite the spectacle over the course of 90 minutes. In the end, an Iker Muniain goal in the first half and an Isco header in the second resulted in a splitting of the points. Thibaut Courtois stayed in net ahead of Keylor Navas, while manager Julen Lopetegui, opted for Dani Ceballos in midfield and Marco Asensio up top, meaning Casemiro and Isco started on the bench. Even before the seats could get warmed by the home supporters, Real had their first chance with a nice build-up from Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio and Luka Modric that ended with the Croatia international missing just wide. It set the tone for a thrilling 90 minutes, with the two teams going back and forth at each other. The Basques had their chances as well, with Inaki Williams and Markel Susaeta providing much of the danger. Much of the home side's attack came on Real's left flank and from there came the game's first goal shortly after the half-hour mark. Susaeta played a crafty ball into Oscar de Marcos, whose cross first hit Williams and then was finished off by Muniain to hand Athletic a 1-0 lead. Real looked to strike back and a deflected Modric shot had the San Mames holding its breath, but Athletic No.1 Unai Simon did well to get low and save. Lopetegui sought to restore order to his midfield and brought on Casemiro for Dani Ceballos to start the second half. The level of play was just as intense in the second 45 minutes, and perhaps it took its toll on Muniain, who had to leave injured early in the half after playing a spectacular match up until that point. A foul close to the Athletic area set up Bale for a good crack at goal via free kick and Unai Simon failed to hold onto the Welshman's attempt, gifting a chance for Sergio Ramos, but the young goalkeeper again came through with a block to keep Real off the scoreboard. Lopetegui made his second change of the night with Isco replacing Modric and the impact was immediate, as Isco found space among a sea of Athletic defenders and headed in a Bale cross to bring Real level 1-1. Neither side was going to be content with a draw, and so the chances kept coming for both. First it was Asensio getting stopped by Unai Simon after a perfectly weighted ball from Ramos, then at the other end both De Marcos and Williams failed to find the target.Lopetegui's last chance came with a quarter-hour left, with Lucas Vazquez coming on for the ineffective Bale, but buoyed by their boisterous home supporters in Bilbao, Athletic held firm and pocketed a well-deserved point. Match Sheet: 1.- Athletic Bilbao: Unai Simon; De Marcos, Yeray, Inigo Martinez, Yuri; Benat (Mikel Rico, min. 81), Dani Garcia, Muniain (Capa, min. 53); Susaeta, Raul Garcia, Williams (Mikel San Jose, min. 76). 1.- Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Ceballos (Casemiro, min. 46), Kroos, Modric (Isco, min. 61); Bale (Lucas Vazquez, min. 75), Benzema, Asensio. Goals: 1-0, min. 32: Muniain; 1-1, min. 63: Isco Referee: Gonzalez Gonzalez (Castilla y Leon). Yellow Cards: Yeray (Min. 45) for Athletic Bilbao, Dani Garcia (Min. 60) for Athletic Bilbao, Capa (Min. 68) for Athletic Bilbao, Yuri (Min. 72) for Athletic Bilbao, Benat (Min. 79) for Athletic Bilbao, Lucas Vazquez (Min. 87) for Real Madrid, Unai Simon (Min. 92) for Athletic Bilbao Red cards: None Stadium: San Mames Attendance: 46.413
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, is a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Sanders' has been decried as a radical and unelectable over his policy proposals as well as his association with socialism. "Socialist" remains a dirty, and often misunderstood, term in the realm of US politics. Nearly 21% of Americans consider socialism to be a threat to the US, an Insider poll found last summer. In general, socialists believe the government should provide a range of basic services to the public, such as health care and education, for free or at a significant discount. Democratic socialism is related, but what politicians like Sanders are pushing for is not akin to the authoritarian-style socialism in places like Venezuela. Sen. Bernie Sanders is rapidly creeping into frontrunner territory among 2020 Democrats, and this has raised alarm bells among the establishment wing of the Democratic party. Sanders, who represents Vermont as an independent in the US Senate, is a self-declared democratic socialist. Some Democrats think this label makes Sanders a liability. This includes former Vice President Joe Biden, who is also running for the 2020 Democratic nomination. "Well, you know, you know that — with regard to Sen. Sanders, the president wants very much to stick a label on every candidate," Biden said during a presidential debate in New Hampshire this month. "We're going to not only have to win this time, we have to bring along the US Senate. And Bernie's labeled himself, not me, a democratic socialist. I think that's the label that the president's going to lay on everyone running with Bernie, if he's a nominee." As part of his 2020 campaign strategy, Trump has repeatedly depicted Democrats as dangerous socialists. This is largely due to politicians like Sanders and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who have inspired major shifts in the party in recent years. After Ocasio-Cortez's stunning upset against then-Rep. Joe Crowley in the New York Democratic congressional primary in June 2018, the word "socialist" was repeatedly used to describe her. Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman elected to Congress in US history in the 2018 midterms. The Bronx native was sworn into Congress in January 2019 and has become a bit of an obsession for conservatives, including Trump. She's a registered member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and, like Sanders, is a self-described socialist. Read more: Diversity wins: All the people who made history in the 2018 midterm elections "Socialist" remains a dirty, and often misunderstood, term in the realm of US politics. The Cold War, in which animosity and paranoia toward the Soviet Union was pervasive in the US, is largely to thank for that. Nearly 21% of Americans consider socialism to be a threat to the US, according to Insider polling from last summer. During his 2020 State of the Union address, President Donald Trump tapped into these sentiments. "Socialism destroys nations. But always remember: Freedom unifies the soul," Trump said, as he accused Democrats of pushing a "socialist takeover of our health care system." But what does it mean to be a socialist versus a democratic socialist, and is there even a difference? What is socialism? It depends on who you're talking to. A socialist, in the traditional sense, is an adherent of socialism. Socialism can be defined as "a system of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control." In other words, it's a state-controlled economy in which the state controls the means of production (factories, offices, resources, and firms). There are also forms of socialism in which the means of production are controlled and owned by workers. From an academic standpoint, there's an ongoing debate about what socialism really is. "The academic debates about socialism's 'meaning' are huge and arcane and rife with disagreements, but what all definitions have in common is either the elimination of the market or its strict containment," Frances Fox Piven, a political scientist at the City University of New York and a former DSA board member, told Vox. What do socialists believe in? In general, socialists believe the government should provide a range of basic services to the public, such as health care and education, for free or at a significant discount. In the present day, "Democratic socialist" and "socialist" are often treated as interchangeable terms, which can be confusing given democratic socialists don't necessarily think the government should immediately take control of all aspects of the economy. They do, however, generally believe the government should help provide for people's most basic needs and help all people have an equal chance at achieving success. Sanders' 2020 platform, for example, calls for Medicare for All (universal health care) and tuition-free college. Democratic socialists are committed to democracy Democratic socialists also believe strongly in democracy and democratic principles. They are by no means proponents of authoritarian government systems many Americans associate socialism with. As the DSA's website states: "At the root of our socialism is a profound commitment to democracy, as means and end. As we are unlikely to see an immediate end to capitalism tomorrow, DSA fights for reforms today that will weaken the power of corporations and increase the power of working people." To put it another way, they don't feel socialism should be forced on people, but they are fundamentally anti-capitalist and believe the government should urge privately owned businesses toward granting workers as much control as possible. Read more: This is the platform that launched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress The DSA and democratic socialists like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez place a great deal of emphasis on social justice in conjunction with pushing for an economy that's largely controlled by workers. The DSA supports reforms that would decrease the influence of money in politics, empower ordinary people in workplaces and the economy, and restructure gender and cultural relationships to be more equitable, according to its website.<doc-sep>A 28-year-old socialist has shaken up New York politics and sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party by defeating 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the party’s congressional primary. The political newcomer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was working as a server in a New York restaurant just nine months ago, is a former volunteer for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and comes from a Puerto Rican family. She won the primary with 57.5 percent of the vote in a largely ethnic-minority district. Crowley, an establishment Democrat, who had been whispered about as a future leader of the party, had not faced a challenger from the left in 14 years — and his defeat will surely have come as a major shock. This is the start of a movement.Thank you all. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) June 27, 2018 In fact, Crowley was so assured of his victory that he made what was perhaps his fatal mistake: He skipped two debates with the millennial candidate and on one occasion sent a surrogate in his place — moves which came across, naturally, as arrogant snubs to both his opponent and to voters. Since the defeat of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, progressives in the Democratic party — and outside it — have warned that this kind of complacency would hurt the party in the long run. They argued that the party needed to put forward more truly progressive candidates if it wanted to regain control of the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections. Impervious to common sense and unwilling to learn the lessons from Clinton’s loss, the top dogs in the Democratic party were still reluctant to listen. In April, a secret recording was leaked, of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer telling progressive candidate Levi Tillemann, who was running in Colorado’s Sixth District, that he should get out of the race to make room for Jason Crow, the candidate favored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Tillemann ended up losing his primary to Crow, but the real lesson for Democrats is in New York. “No one is safe,” one Dem strategist tells ABC News in response to Crowley loss. https://t.co/RovnwqVtYQ — Ben Siegel (@benyc) June 27, 2018 Ocasio-Cortez’s victory sends a resounding message to the Democratic establishment: Progressives are demanding change — and the party can’t afford not to listen to them. The Sanders-style Democrat ran on a socialist platform far to the left of Crowley. Her policies included abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), medicare for all, free university education, criminal justice reform, and a federal jobs guarantee. She also challenged the conventional wisdom that Democrats need to take massive donations from corporations in order to win. She took no corporate donations. Instead, she managed to raise more small donations than any other congressional candidate in New York, which allowed her to campaign sincerely on a platform for economic justice, while exposing Crowley as a centrist who does not represent real change. Read more Ocasio-Cortez’s victory should be seen as a test for Democrats. Are they, finally, willing to learn the lessons from Clinton’s defeat and the growing movement towards real progressive politics — or will they bury their heads in the sand? The triumph of a 28-year-old socialist against one of the top figures in the Democratic party should be a wakeup call. It’s time for Democrats to ask themselves what could have been if they had had the foresight to nominate a likeable, less-divisive and more progressive candidate to run against Trump in 2016. Surely it is beginning to dawn on them that doing everything in their power to thwart Sanders and rig the primary against him was akin to shooting themselves in the foot. Ocasio-Cortez will face off against Republican candidate Anthony Pappas in the November midterm elections and, if she wins, she will become the youngest woman ever to be elected to the US Congress. By Danielle Ryan If you like this story, share it with a friend!<doc-sep>LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 20: U.S. Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Jacky Rosen (D-NV) speaks during a rally at the Culinary Workers Union Hall Local 226 featuring former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on October 20, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early voting for the midterm elections in Nevada begins today. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Democratic congressional candidate Ilhan Omar is greeted by her husband's mother after appearing at her midterm election night party in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Miller Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks to supporters after she was declared the winner over former Gov. Phil Bredesen in their race for the U.S. Senate Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) (CNN) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina running her first campaign, ousted 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th congressional district on Tuesday, CNN projects, in the most shocking upset of a rollicking political season. An activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Ocasio-Cortez won over voters in the minority-majority district with a ruthlessly efficient grassroots bid, even as Crowley – the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House – outraised her by a 10-to-1 margin. This was the first time in 14 years a member of his own party has attempted to unseat Crowley, who chairs the Queens County Democrats. His defeat marks a potential sea change in the broader sphere of liberal politics – a result with implications for Democrats nationwide that would recall, as optimistic progressives routinely noted during the campaign, former GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s loss to the insurgent, tea party-backed Dave Brat in June 2014. “This is not an end, this is the beginning. This is the beginning because the message that we sent the world tonight is that it’s not OK to put donors before your community,” Ocasio-Cortez told roaring supporters on Tuesday night. She cast her victory as the green shoots of triumph over the “deep midnight and darkness” of the political moment – and a message to fellow progressive organizers that their brand of activism could succeed on a grander scale. “You have given this country hope, you have given this country proof that when you knock on your neighbor’s door, when you come to them with love, when you let them know that no matter your stance, you are there for them — that we can make change,” she said. Even as Ocasio-Cortez ran defiantly to his left – with universal health care, a federal jobs guarantee and the abolition of ICE headlining her demands – Crowley touted a formidable liberal record of his own. He was the first member of the House Democratic leadership to sign on in support of “Medicare for all” and has been a vocal advocate for immigrants’ rights. But he also stumbled, repeatedly, on the campaign trail, the likely residue of passing so many years without a primary test. Citing scheduling conflicts, he missed a debate in the Bronx with Ocasio-Cortez, sending former city councilwoman Annabel Palma as a surrogate. The New York Times editorial board took note of his no-show, and warned the ambitious congressman against taking his constituents for granted. “What are we,” the board asked on behalf of voters, “chopped liver?” In an interview hours before the polls opened Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez called his absence that night “disrespectful, not just to me but to the entire community.” On Twitter after the debate, she noted that Palma, also Latina, bore a “slight resemblance to me.” “I understand he hasn’t been challenged for 14 years,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “but that doesn’t mean that an election isn’t happening. In fact, what’s happening right now is historic and it’s an opportunity to show up for the community.” She has also spent time at the front lines of the pitched battle over US border policy under the Trump administration. Last weekend, just days before the primary, Ocasio-Cortez left New York to join protests at an ICE detention center in Texas. “The reason I was able to do that is because we have built a legitimately strong grassroots movement of organizers here to hold it down for 24 to 48 hours,” she said, “and I think that’s reflective of the strength of what we have built here. It was an advantage, actually, because our community here really wanted to do something and they didn’t want to feel like they were choosing organizing the campaign over choosing to comment and organize around this moment.” She also managed to tie that activism, along with her vocal, unapologetic demand for the full abolition of ICE to the interests of her district’s diverse population. The child detention camps are here - I confronted the border officers myself. Using their names, I told them exactly what they are responsible for. One of them made eye contact with me. I spoke directly to him. I saw his sense of guilt. We can dismantle this.#AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/QLyc9MAnkt — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 24, 2018 “We have families and communities here (in the 14th District) from Ecuador and Colombia, Bangladesh, Korea, Pakistan, and I see them every day, many of them are very scared about what’s going on,” she said. “With my campaign, in terms of immigration, we’re trying to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got your back.’” Crowley also took some shots at ICE, calling it “fascistic,” but stopping short of demanding its elimination. During a televised debate with Ocasio-Cortez less than two weeks before the primary, Crowley argued that “simply abolishing the agency doesn’t take it out of the hands of (Attorney General) Jeff Sessions or this president.” He then pivoted to what had been a driving theme of his campaign – the argument that, with Trump in office, Democrats should lean on experienced lawmakers, and away from more ideological firebrands, to navigate the opposition on Capitol Hill. “It’s about making change in Washington,” said Crowley, who in his leadership role has raised money for Democrats around the country. “It’s about Democrats taking back control of the House of Representatives – and that’s what I’m about doing.” But with Tuesday’s results, he will be doing it from the sideline.<doc-sep>Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST h… https://t.co/4TuokLaPMJ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1530065911000 The Democrats are in Turmoil! Open Borders and unchecked Crime a certain way to lose elections. Republicans are for… https://t.co/srI2CTyDds — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1530067643000 WASHINGTON: A 28-year old leftist Latina political novice caused a massive political jolt in the US primaries on Tuesday, defeating a ten-term Congressman for a Democratic ticket in a result that analysts said could presage greater polarisation in American politics.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described democratic socialist who was running her first political campaign and was working as a bartender till recently, stunned incumbent Joe Crowley in a race that is seen as a vote against the old guard and establishment Democrats. Crowley is the fourth ranked member of the Democratic Party and was tipped to succeed Speaker Nancy Pelosi .He was also the chair of the House Democratic Caucus and headed the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans at one time, taking great interest in US-India ties.If Ocasio-Cortez eventually wins the 14th New York Congressional district – which includes the desi/latino enclaves of Queens and Bronx – in the November elections, as she should in a heavily Democratic area, she would become the youngest female lawmaker in Washington.The shock result even caught Trump's eye. "Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi's place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he's out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!" Trump tweeted, ignoring the fact that the Latina lady is even more opposed to his policies.A second tweet suggested Trump saw the result as a means to rally right-wing Republicans as Democrat rank and file push further left against the party's cautious and moderate establishment leadership. "The Democrats are in Turmoil! Open Borders and unchecked Crime a certain way to lose elections. Republicans are for Strong Borders, NO Crime! A BIG NIGHT!" he wrote.Trump Republicans see the likes of Ocasio-Cortez as being "loose" on immigration.Part of the so-called "Resistance" left-wing movement that emerged to oppose Trump but has also clashed with the Democratic Party establishment, Ocasio-Cortez campaigned among other things for abolishing the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. A community organizer and a Bernie Sanders' supporter from a working class background, she has led left-wing protests against President Trump's immigration policies and has also called for nationalising health care.Her campaign was seen as such a long shot that her supporters said the New York Times did not dedicate a single article on her bid. She raised only $200,000 during her campaign, compared to $3 million that Crowley drummed up. She eventually polled 58 per cent to Crowley's 42 per cent to produce a political earthquake.A sporting Crowley conceded defeat on Tuesday night and sang Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run in her honor. On Wednesday, the NYT called her a "Democratic Giant Slayer. "In other results, Hyderabad-born Indian-American civil engineer Aruna Katragadda Miller came up short in an effort to win the Democratic ticket in Maryland's sixth congressional district abutting Washington DC. She lost to liquor store tycoon David Trone who polled 40.4 per cent vote to her 30.6 per cent vote.<doc-sep>
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Democratic socialist from the Bronx, has unseated Joe Crowley, a 20-year congressman, in a stunning political upset that sent shockwaves through the party. The victory, in a New York district primary election to determine who stands against the Republicans in November’s midterms for a seat in Congress, immediately prompted debate about the wider ramifications for the Democrats, and whether it heralds a further move to the left. Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and a former organizer for Bernie Sanders. She would be the youngest female member of Congress in history if she wins as expected in November. She won by a margin of 57.5%- 42.5% over Crowley in a majority minority district that included parts of Queens and the Bronx. In the election – one of several primary victories by progressives – Ocasio-Cortez won 57.5% of the vote and Crowley had 42.5%. The district includes parts of Queens and the Bronx. When the result was called, a visibly shocked Ocasio-Cortez clasped her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” she repeated. She then said: “We meet a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today … working-class Americans want a clear champion and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.” Crowley, head of the Queens county Democratic party and the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, was widely rumored to have ambitions to succeed Nancy Pelosi as Democratic leader in the House when the California Democrat stepped down. He had raised over $3m for his campaign, 10 times the amount raised by Ocasio-Cortez. He had expressed confidence about the race in private conversations and as one national Democratic strategist told the Guardian: “The Crowley team did not raise red flags or ask allies for help with his primary.” Prior to 2018, Crowley had not even faced a primary since 2004, years before his 28-year-old opponent was even eligible to vote. The upset was compared by observers to the shock defeat of Eric Cantor, the number two House Republican, to a Tea Party candidate, David Brat, in 2014. Cantor’s defeat stopped any momentum for Republicans in Congress on immigration reform. It also helped to create the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and drive out the former speaker John Boehner. Pelosi, who is under pressure to step aside and pave the way for a new generation, insisted the win for the left of the party was not representative of a wider trend. Pelosi said: “They made a choice in one district. The fact that in a very progressive district in New York, it went more progressive … is about that district. It is not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else.” Asked if Democratic leadership should be more reflective of a party that is increasingly diverse, progressive and young, Pelosi replied: “I’m female, I’m progressive – so what’s your problem? Two out of three ain’t bad.” Ocasio-Cortez ran on an unapologetically left wing platform that included a federal jobs guarantee program and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for border enforcement. The Puerto Rican American also benefited from the changing demographics of a district with a growing Hispanic population and attacked Crowley for his ties to Wall Street, accusing him of being out of touch with his increasingly diverse district. She ran on a platform of universal healthcare, a federal jobs guarantee program and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the agency responsible for border enforcement. Like Sanders, she shunned corporate donations and attacked her opponent’s ties to Wall Street, accusing him of being out of touch with his increasingly diverse district. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Tornillo, Texas, this month during a protest against the separation of migrant children from their parents. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images “I think a lot of working-class Americans and voters here have been waiting for an unapologetic champion for economic, social and racial dignity in the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez told CBS. “And we provided a very direct message, a very clear message.” Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Donald Trump weighed in on the result, taking shots at the Democratic incumbent: “For Crowley to lose that election was a shocker. I was surprised.” Trump added: “I think he probably took it for granted. I can’t say that I’m disappointed because I was never a big fan.
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Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press The 2018 Little League World Series rolled on Wednesday with play in both the United States and International brackets at Lamade Stadium and Volunteer Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Day 6 featured the winners' bracket final in each tournament as well as a pair of elimination games. Only six teams will remain in championship contention at day's end. Let's check out the complete list of games and results from Wednesday's LLWS slate, which will be updated through the conclusion of play. That's followed by a recap of the action. Aug. 22 Schedule and Results Game 21: Caribbean 9, Canada 4 Game 22: Southeast 4, Great Lakes 3 Game 23: Asia-Pacific 10, Japan 0 Video Play Button Videos you might like Game 24: West 10, Mid-Atlantic 0 Caribbean (Puerto Rico) 9, Canada 4 Carlos De Jesus crushed two home runs to lead an offensive outburst from Puerto Rico, which advanced to the International losers' bracket final with a victory over Canada. De Jesus finished the day with three RBI and three runs scored. Six other players for the Caribbean squad recorded a hit and five others scored at least one run as part of the well-rounded performance. Eric Rodriguez struck out six Canadian hitters while allowing just one run over 4.1 innings to get the win. Dio Gama tallied two hits and two RBI for Canada. Nate Colina also had a pair of knocks. Puerto Rico is set to take on Japan for a berth in the International title game. Southeast (Georgia) 4, Great Lakes (Michigan) 3 Georgia scored all four of its runs over the first two innings, and starting pitcher Jansen Kenty showcased ace form over the final three frames to keep the Southeast region's representative in the title hunt. The top of the Georgia order did its job setting the table by getting on base and scoring three of the team's four runs. Jack Ryan delivered a two-RBI single in the first to grab the lead, and although Michigan did tie the game, the Southeast never trailed in the contest. Kenty settled in after an up-and-down start to pitch a complete game with no walks and nine strikeouts, including on dangerous cleanup hitter Brennan Hill for the final out, to pick up the win. Jarren Purify and Oliver Service each hit home runs for Michigan. Georgia, which has won three straight games since losing its opener, will face either New York in the penultimate matchup in the U.S. bracket. Asia-Pacific 10, Japan 0 Asia-Pacific's powerful lineup only needed four innings to defeat Japan, 10-0. The victors pushed across a quick four runs in the first inning thanks largely to a bases-clearing double by Yeong Hyeon Kim and put things on cruise control from there. Ji Hyung Choi added a two-run homer in the second and went 3-for-3 on the day as a force at the plate. Asia-Pacific then pushed across four runs to win it in the fourth with Kim providing the game-winning two-RBI double. It was fitting he won the game seeing how he also starred on the mound. Kim allowed just a single hit in four innings of work while striking out 10, demonstrating his two-way ability to control a game. West 10 (Hawaii), Mid-Atlantic (New York) 0 Like Asia-Pacific, the West team didn't need the entire game to win by expanding its lead to 10-0 in its contest against Mid-Atlantic. The West scored two quick runs in the first inning on hit by pitches with the bases loaded and then seized firm control with five runs in the second. Sean Yamaguchi blasted a grand slam in the five-run outburst, serving as the game's star at the plate. The West won with a wild pitch in the fifth, bringing things full circle to when it did early damage with hit by pitches. Aukai Kea's pitching was overshadowed by his team's offense, but he threw 4.1 shutouts innings with six strikeouts before handing the ball to Ka'olu Holt for the final two-thirds of an inning of work.<doc-sep>Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press The matchups are now set for both the international and United States bracket finals at the 2018 Little League World Series. Two more elimination games on Thursday sent the teams from Staten Island, New York, and Puerto Rico packing. After Staten Island struck for three runs in the top of the first inning, the team from Peachtree City, Georgia, responded with two runs in each of the first three innings to take a 6-3 lead. They tacked on an insurance run in the fourth and didn't allow another run after that rocky first inning to secure the 7-3 victory. Tai Peete was the winning pitcher, as he wound up going five innings, despite the rough start. Peete also went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored at the plate. Connor Riggs-Soper joined him with two hits and James Hooper had two RBI. The international game featured far less in the way of offensive fireworks. Tom E. Puskar/Associated Press The teams tallied just three hits apiece and the lone run scored in the top of the third inning when Masaumi Ikeuchi doubled and then came around to score on an error. Video Play Button Videos you might like John Lopez struck out eight in a complete game effort and was the tough-luck loser for Puerto Rico. Masato Igarashi and Shisei Fujimoto combined on the shutout for Japan, with Fujimoto recording the final seven outs for the save. Now those two teams will advance to face undefeated squads from Hawaii and South Korea, respectively. It's worth noting that the tournament abandons its double-elimination format at this point, so the teams emerging from the losers' bracket won't need to win twice to reach the finals. Remaining Little League World Series Schedule International Finals (Saturday, Aug. 25): Japan vs. Asia-Pacific (South Korea) (12:30 p.m., ABC) U.S. Finals (Saturday, Aug. 25): Southeast (Georgia) vs. West (Hawaii) (3:30 p.m., ABC) Third-Place Game (Sunday, Aug. 26): TBD vs. TBD (10:00 a.m., ESPN) World Series Finals (Sunday, Aug. 26): TBD vs. TBD (3:00 p.m., ABC) All times ET. All games can be live-streamed on the ESPN app or WatchESPN. Both games are a rematch of earlier action. South Korea won 10-0 against Japan on Wednesday, while Hawaii sent Georgia to the losers' bracket with a 2-0 shutout in their opener. Can those two teams score some revenge, or will the two undefeated teams keep rolling? We'll find out on Saturday when the final four teams take the field for a chance to play in the Little League World Series finals.<doc-sep>
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Tom E. Puskar/Associated Press South Korea scored a 2-1 victory over Japan in the 2018 Little League World Series international championship game Saturday at Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Hawaii joined South Korea in the title game with a 3-0 win against Georgia later Saturday in the United States title game. The Hawaiians last claimed the Little League World Series crown in 2008. The South Koreans most recently brought the title home in 2014. Let's check out the list of scores. That's followed by a recap of the action. For a look at both brackets, visit the LLWS tournament's official website. Saturday Schedule and Results International Final: Asia-Pacific (South Korea) defeats Japan, 2-1 U.S. Final: West (Hawaii) defeats Southeast (Georgia), 3-0 Video Play Button Videos you might like South Korea 2, Japan 1 Ji Hyung Choi put South Korea on his shoulders with a home run and 4.2 innings of one-run ball that included seven strikeouts to lead the Asia-Pacific representative to the world championship game. It marked the third straight contest with a homer for Choi, who also went yard against Mexico and Japan during the South Korean run through the international bracket. Shoo Hoo Choi drove in the team's other run on a first-inning double. Yeong Hyeon Kim pitched South Korea out of a jam in the fifth by striking out Yuya Ito, who entered the contest with a .444 on-base percentage in the event, with the tying run on third and the leading run at second for Japan. Kim stayed on to close out the game with a scoreless sixth. Masaumi Ikeuchi doubled home Kai Nogami for the only Japanese run in the pitchers' duel. Hawaii 3, Georgia 0 A dominant pitching performance from Aukai Kea, who allowed just three hits and one walk while racking up 15 strikeouts in a shutout, moved Hawaii within one victory of the LLWS title. The game was scoreless through three innings before the Western squad finally broke the deadlock on an RBI single by John De La Cruz in the fourth. Bruce Boucher and Jace Souza added RBI hits in the fifth to stretch the lead for Hawaii. Tai Peete recorded two of Georgia's three hits. Chase Fralick had the other. The win completed an unbeaten run through the U.S. bracket for Hawaii. The team's pitching staff threw shutouts in three of the four contests.
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Kahwi Leonard discussed his potential future in Toronto among many other things during media day Monday. On Monday, Kawhi Leonard addressed the world as a member of the Toronto Raptors for NBA media day. When asked if he was disappointed about how his time with the Spurs came to an end, Leonard explained that he has "no regrets" about what happened and that he is trying to focus on the present with his new team and not look back at what happened last season in San Antonio. "I want to play here," Leonard said. "You know, as long as I have on a jersey I want to play basketball. I came here with an open mind. You know I want to do great things, so I’m going to make sure I put my all effort on the court each and every night. You know by winning games, this is how you get star-caliber players to want to come here and play." In addition to talking about his potential future with Toronto, Leonard also was asked to describe himself for Raptors fans who might not know much about him. "I'm a fun guy," Leonard said. At one point when providing his description of himself, Leonard even burst out into laughter, which surprised basically everyone. Check out the best moment of Leonard's media session below: You can keep up with everything going on across the league on media day here.<doc-sep>When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up fornow and never miss the top F1 stories again The Raptors held their media day where all the focus was on Leonard - a blockbuster signing who arrived from San Antonio Spurs. Although the deal went through two months ago, the small forward ha remained tight-lipped ever since securing the switch. And when he was put in front of the press for the first time he produced a comical moment which will not go away for a very long time. After the very first question of Leonard being asked what he is like as a person, he replied: “I’m a fun guy,” before awkwardly sniggering.<doc-sep>Your first glimpse of Kawhi Leonard in a Toronto Raptors uniform. (Getty Images) In his first public appearance as a member of the Toronto Raptors, Kawhi Leonard sounded like a man who had been prepared for every question he faced at media day about his health, the trade from the San Antonio Spurs and his oft-reported interest in signing elsewhere as a free agent in 2019. When in doubt, Leonard talked about the city of Toronto, Raptors fans and his love for the game of basketball. He consistently said his focus was on the present and winning a championship this year. This is the playbook for anyone looking to endear himself to his current team and avoid commitment. It also serves to deter persistent questions about his playing future, while leaving them unanswered. So, here’s what we learned, and didn’t learn, from Leonard’s 20-minute session with the media. Kawhi Leonard can actually laugh We like to think of Leonard as a basketball-playing cyborg devoid of emotion, because he projects himself as one with the media, his teammates play up the narrative. He’s basically made a brand of it. So, it was no surprise that when Leonard was asked what he wants Torontonians to know about him, he said in his signature monotone, “Um, I’m a fun guy. Obviously I love the game of basketball.” It was surprising, though, to see him laugh, even awkwardly: Kawhi Leonard is laughing during his press conference!! 😱 (via @TSN_Sports)pic.twitter.com/hyxbZ99PH7 — Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) September 24, 2018 Leonard considers himself healthy ‘right now’ A mysterious quad injury limited Leonard to all but nine games with the Spurs last season. What was already a perplexing issue worsened as the season wore on, with the Spurs clearing Leonard for a return and the two-time Defensive Player of the Year seeking a second opinion. He ultimately took his rehab to New York, where he stayed during San Antonio’s first-round playoff series, and the divide between organization and player widened until he requested a trade from the only NBA team he’d known. Story continues The question for teams inquiring about Leonard centered around not only his health and free agency, and the Raptors gambled on both. In Leonard’s eyes, the first half of that parlay is a lock to pay off. Sort of. “Right now, I’m feeling great,” he said, “ready to play basketball.” “Right now” isn’t as reassuring as you might like if you’re the Raptors, but Leonard said he spent the summer trying to get his body back to full strength and feels ready to take on the season, which is more encouraging than anything he said in the final months of the 2017-18 campaign in San Antonio. Nurse, asked if Kawhi's health is going to be a problem: "Not from what I've seen, at all. But a guy that hasn't played that much (over the last year), we're going to monitor it." — Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) September 24, 2018 Asked what he hopes to gain from the rest of his career, Leonard cited the usual — championships and record-setting performances — but he also said his No. 1 goal was to have “a long, healthy career,” which seemed to imply there was some lingering concern about his longterm status. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to go through what he did last season again. What that was, exactly, we still don’t know. Leonard avoided questions about his future Also buried in that same response to a question about his career goals was Leonard’s desire “to be able to be dominant wherever I land.” Wherever I land. That, too, should tingle your Spidey sense, because Leonard has full control over where he lands in 2019 free agency. He is keeping his options open, and that’s cool, because there is really no reason for Leonard to commit to Toronto right now. Leonard faced a string of questions about his playing future. The answers were at times encouraging, bewildering and philosophical. Whatever your interpretation, they were filled with age-old cliches. “I want to play here,” Leonard told reporters in Toronto. “As long as I have on a jersey, I want to play basketball. I came here with an open mind. I want to do great things, so I want to make sure I put all my effort on the court each and every night, and by winning games, this is how you get star-caliber players to want to come here and play.” “I want to play here,” “I came here with an open mind,” and, “This is how you get star-caliber players to want to come here and play,” are all things you want to hear from Leonard if you’re the Raptors. Is he saying, if the Raptors win, he will be want to continue playing in Toronto? Is he encouraging Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri to chase other stars — like, say, Jimmy Butler? That part he left vague. “I look at it as day-to-day process,” added Leonard. “My focus is on this year, this group that I have and striving to get to a championship. We all want to win, and if you’re looking in the future, you’re going to trip over the present, so my focus is on this year, tomorrow and just keep going after that.” That’s all a fancy way of saying, We’ll see how this year plays out. That’s better than saying flat-out that he wants to play elsewhere, as some have suggested, but it’s also not dispelling those reports. Where Leonard remained mum, Ujiri did his best to fill the void: “The narrative of not wanting to come to this city is gone,” said Ujiri. “That’s old, and we should move past that. Believe in this city, believe in yourselves. First of all, here in Toronto, we have to believe in ourselves. We should stop talking about coming to this city or wanting to come to this city. That’s old talk. We want to win. We have a privilege and an opportunity to be one of the NBA teams. That’s a huge privilege for us, and it’s our jobs here to try and bring these players. It’s our jobs here to try and sell it to these players here. But we’re proud of who we are, we’re proud to have these guys, we’re proud of the young players we have, we’re proud to have what Kyle [Lowry] and everybody has done here, so let’s be proud and move past that narrative of wanting to stay here or wanting to come here.” Except, it’s hard to move past that narrative until we find out whether or not Leonard will re-sign in Toronto, because right now we still don’t know if he wanted to go there or wants to stay there. We do know, as Leonard said, he “want[s] to play here,” which keeps us in the present. Speaking of which … Leonard has no regrets about how he left San Antonio “I have no regrets,” Leonard said when asked about his San Antonio exit, “but I want to focus on this team, this journey that we have in front of us today and stay in the present time and not look back.” Don’t look back, don’t look forward. Just play for Toronto now. That’s not the worst thing for Leonard or the Raptors. They got through media day without issue, which is the first step toward getting through a season without issue, which is the next step toward getting through free agency without issue. One step at a time. Toronto will have to be comfortable with that from Leonard this season. And hopefully there are more laughs together down the road. – – – – – – – Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! More NBA coverage on Yahoo Sports: More from Yahoo Sports: • Tiger’s win is the greatest comeback in sports history • White Sox star says what many think about umpire • Charles Robinson: Latest flag on Packers’ Matthews may be worst yet • Rams’ Gurley really isn’t a fan of Thursday games<doc-sep>
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With the NBA season right around the corner, players and coaches are discussing the year ahead at their team's media days. The Crossover chronicled the best photos, quotes and moments from around the league. NBA media day is a celebration around the league for the start of the new season. The day gives fans and media members a first look at team personnel after the offseason. A lot has happened since the Warriors won their third title in four seasons. LeBron James is a Laker, Kawhi Leonard is a Raptor and Jimmy Butler is most likely on his way out of Minnesota. The first exhibition game of the NBA preseason is on Sept. 28 when the Philadelphia 76ers play Melbourne United and the Boston Celtics take on the Charlotte Hornets. The NBA regular season begins on Oct. 16 with the champs, the Warriors, taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder. But before any of that can get underway, players and coaches must face the media: Kawhi Leonard looked thrilled to be a Raptor Kawhi looked like his same ole self in his first photos as a Raptor. Kawhi on playing in Toronto long-term Kawhi Leonard opened up about playing for the Raptors for the first time since the trade. LeBron's first media day as a Los Angeles Laker Lonzo has been in the gym Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on Dwyane Wade's final season Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra convinced Dwyane Wade to return for his final season. Dwyane Wade's final media day New Hornets coach James Borrego on the status of Kemba Walker Latest update on the Warriors and Boogie James Harden is excited for media day Tom Thibodeau on Jimmy Butler's trade request Anthony Davis is striving to dominate Tony Parker as a Hornet feels weird The Celtics have arrived for media day Marcus Smart on what basketball means to him as he deals with tragedy off the court Kyrie can see himself in Boston for a long time Kevin Love and Channing Fyre having some fun before media day First look at Carmelo Anthony in a Rockets uniform Will Melo start for Houston? Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta on Melo's role for this upcoming season. Kristaps Porzingis on his potential return Hi IT! The Joker checks in at NBA media day Scary Terry is back Don't expect the Cavs to tank Ty Lue says Cavs will not tank this season after losing LeBron. DeMar DeRozan on receiving a mural before playing a game for Spurs Udonis Haslem's last stand Joel Embiid and Dario Saric reunite for NBA media day CP3 on Melo and this upcoming season New era in New York Kevin Love on the Cavs without LeBron Deandre Ayton respons to Joel Embiid Umm okay Enes
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A cruise ship in Jamaica was forced to return home a day early after 277 passengers were exposed to Norovirus. The Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas will return to Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday instead of its planned return Sunday due to the outbreak, The Associated Press reported Friday. Norovirus is a contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus can also cause fever and body aches in those infected. Disgruntled passengers tweeted about being required to stay onboard the ship amid the outbreak after docking in Falmouth, Jamaica, the AP reported. (RELATED: A Virus Is Sweeping Through A Shelter Of California Wildfire Victims) “We think the right thing to do is get everyone home early rather than have guests worry about their health,” cruise line spokesman Owen Torres told the AP. The early return will provide the cruise line with “more time to completely clean and sanitize the ship” before it leaves port on another voyage, Torres said. Cruise ships have faced a number of other unfortunate events in recent months. A 26-year-old man fell off a Carnival Victory cruise ship in mid-December 2018, the Miami Herald reported. A 69-year-old Dutch woman fell off a different cruise ship, “MSC Preziosa,” just days before. The woman fell overboard Dec. 8, and authorities called off the search for her body Dec. 14. Follow Grace on Twitter. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].<doc-sep>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded just 10 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships in 2018 – the second lowest level since 2001. The number was down from 11 in 2017 and 13 in 2016, according to data posted at the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program website. In recent years, only 2013 and 2014 have seen fewer outbreaks with nine recorded in each of the two years. Most outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships are caused by norovirus, a common "stomach bug" that is widespread across America in the winter. The CDC estimates there are 19 to 21 million cases of norovirus in America each year. Highly contagious with a short incubation period, norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting that typically lasts for one to three days. It's sometimes called the "stomach flu," although it is unrelated to influenza. Norovirus usually is brought onto cruise ships by passengers at embarkation. The CDC lists five of the 10 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships in 2018 as being caused by norovirus. The cause of four more of the outbreaks currently is listed as unknown. One outbreak, on a Cunard Line ship, was the result of E. coli, according to the CDC data. Cruise ships must report onboard cases of gastrointestinal illness to the CDC as they approach a U.S. port after visiting a foreign port. If the number of cases exceeds 3% of passengers or crew on board, it is considered an outbreak and information on the cases is posted publicly under the Outbreak Updates section of the Vessel Sanitation Program website. Only cruises on ships touching U.S. ports that carry 100 or more passengers are included in the data. The number of outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships recorded by the CDC ballooned in the 2000s, with the number exceeding 20 for several years. The number peaked in 2006 at 37. The increase was blamed on a new strain of norovirus. In the wake of the increase, cruise lines stepped up efforts to get passengers to wash their hands frequently while on board ships and use sanitizing gel. Lines also have adopted rigorous cleaning regimes. Cruise ships listed as having gastrointestinal outbreaks in 2018 include Crystal Cruises' Crystal Symphony, Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Seven Seas Mariner and Silversea Cruises' Silver Shadow. Two Holland America ships, Volendam and Zaandam, experienced an outbreak. Vessels operated by Princess Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and Celebrity Cruises also were on the list. On many of the vessels, the number of passengers reporting gastrointestinal symptoms was quite small. On the Crystal Symphony, just 30 of 700 passengers reported symptoms over a voyage that lasted nearly a month.<doc-sep>The number of people hit with a gastrointestinal illness on a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship has swelled to nearly 500, a company spokeswoman said Friday. The increase to 475 people comes a day after the company said 277 passengers on the Oasis of the Seas had initially fallen ill. Travelers on the cruise ship — which according to Royal Caribbean’s website is a 1,187-foot long vessel and was voted the best cruise ship 2014 by Travel Weekly readers — started feeling sick after the ship departed from Port Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida, on Sunday. The cruise liner was scheduled to sail through the Caribbean before returning to Florida on Sunday. The Oasis of the Seas will now arrive back at Port Canaveral on Saturday. All of the ship’s passengers will get a refund due to the outbreak. Passenger Shawn Popeleski told the Orlando Sentinel that they were told via a shipwide announcement Friday that the outbreak is “most likely” related to norovirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, norovirus is a type of gastrointestinal illness and is “very contagious.” You can catch it from people infected by it and by touching contaminated surfaces or eating or drinking contaminated food and water. Symptoms include stomach pains, nausea and diarrhea, according to the CDC. Although it is highly transmissible, the illness is “relatively infrequent on cruise ships,” the CDC states.<doc-sep>
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(CNN) — Two hundred more people on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas cruise ship have been sickened by a gastrointestinal illness, bringing the total to 475. Royal Caribbean on Thursday said 277 passengers and crew were ill, but the number jumped on Friday. Because of the illness, the ship will return to Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday, a day earlier than expected. “All of the ship’s guests will receive full refunds of their cruise fare paid,” said Owen Torres, spokesperson for Royal Caribbean. “We think the right thing to do is to get everyone home early rather than have guests worry about their health.” The cruise embarked on a seven-night journey on Sunday. It’s itinerary showed stops in Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico. Cody Haddap, a cruise passenger, spoke to CNN affiliate WESH on Wednesday and said he became sick after the ship left Haiti on Tuesday. “We left port there around 4 yesterday, started getting sick last night around 10. We’ve been pretty much confined to our rooms.” He shared a letter he received to his cabin from the cruise line: “During this sailing, there has been a small percentage of guests onboard who have experienced gastrointestinal illness, thought to be norovirus.” Officials with Royal Caribbean said they are waiting for lab results to determine whether the illness is norovirus, the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States. In 2018, there were 11 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships and five were determined to be norovirus. Royal Caribbean’s last outbreak was in 2017 on the Independence of the Seas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Haddap said when they arrived to Jamaica the next day, no one was allowed to leave the ship. The Oasis of the Seas is one of newest ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet and holds more than 8,000 people; about 3% of people aboard the ship fell ill. Another passenger, Brenda Torres, talked to CNN affiliate WESH, and said she had seen an increase in staff sanitizing common areas. “From our balcony, we can see the rock climbing wall,” she said, “and after every user, they are actually hand cleaning every single knob on the hand climbing wall.” Royal Caribbean plans on fully sanitizing the ship in time for the next sailing. “Our guests sail with us to have great vacations, and we are sorry this cruise fell short,” Torres said. CNN’s Tina Burnside contributed to this report.
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For decades Mars has teased scientists with whispers of water's presence. Valleys and basins and rivers long dry point to the planet's hydrous past. The accumulation of condensation on surface landers and the detection of vast subterranean ice deposits suggest the stuff still lingers in gaseous and solid states. But liquid water has proved more elusive. Evidence to date suggests it flows seasonally, descending steep slopes in transient trickles every Martian summer. The search for a big, enduring reservoir of wet, potentially life-giving H 2 0 has turned up nothing. Until now. The Italian Space Agency announced Wednesday that researchers have detected signs of a large, stable body of liquid water locked away beneath a mile of ice near Mars' south pole. The observations were recorded by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument—Marsis for short. "Marsis was born to make this kind of discovery, and now it has," says Roberto Orosei, a radioastronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics, who led the investigation. His team's findings, which appear in this week's issue of Science, raise tantalizing questions about the planet's geology—and its potential for harboring life. Marsis collected its evidence from orbit, flying aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. It works by transmitting pulses of low-frequency electromagnetic waves toward the red planet. Some of those waves interact with features at and below the Martian surface and reflect back toward the instrument, carrying clues about the planet's geological composition. Conceptually, using the instrument to study Mars' polar regions couldn't be more straightforward: Just point it toward the ice and see what bounces back. Artistic impression of the Mars Express spacecraft probing the southern hemisphere of Mars, superimposed to a color mosaic of a portion of Planum Australe. The study area is highlighted using a THEMIS IR image mosaic. Subsurface echo power is color coded and deep blue corresponds to the strongest reflections, which are interpreted as being caused by the presence of water. Davide Coero Borga/USGS Astrogeology Science Center/Arizona State University/ESA/INAF In practice, though, it's a lot more complicated. Marsis spends relatively little time above Planum Australe, the southern polar plane of Mars and the focus of Orosei's team's investigation. That meant the researchers could only listen for echoes periodically. It would take many readings—and many years—to get a clear picture of what lies hidden beneath the planet's southern ice cap. So in May of 2012, on the heels of a software upgrade that enabled Marsis to acquire more detailed data, the researchers began their survey. Three and a half years and 29 observations later, they had a radiogrammatic map of Mars' southern polar plane. When they cross-referenced all their measurements, something immediately seized their attention: Bright reflections in the radar signals, corresponding to what Orosei now calls "a well-defined anomaly" some 12 miles across and several feet deep, roughly one mile beneath the surface of the polar ice cap. The surface of an ice cap tends to reflect radar waves more strongly than the regions below it. But on multiple passes, Marsis had detected uncommonly strong echoes originating from beneath the southern pole. Or rather: Uncommonly strong for a solid material. Analyses of subglacial lakes on our own planet—like the ones beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets—have shown that water reflects radar more strongly than rock and sediment. And in fact, the radar profile of this region of Mars' southern pole resembles those of subglacial lakes here on Earth. 1 / 7 Chevron Chevron Alex Lutkus/ESA An artist’s rendering of the Mars Express orbiter, which Italian astronomers have used to detect a large body of liquid water beneath Mars’ south pole. The observations were gathered using the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument, the antenna for which is depicted here. The researchers looked for other explanations for the bright signals. A layer of frozen carbon dioxide above or below the polar cap, for example, could conceivably produce readings like the ones they observed—though the researchers deemed this, and all other explanations that they considered, less likely than the presence of liquid water.<doc-sep>Scientists have found a vast lake underneath the surface of Mars, in what they are hailing as a hugely significant breakthrough in the search for alien life on the planet. The discovery marks the first time a stable body of water has been detected on Mars, resolving a decades long debate about whether it has any water at all. It has long been assumed that if water was not present on the red planet, it would almost certainly not be capable of sustaining life. However, according to scientists responsible for the breakthrough, the vast lake lies underneath Mars’s southern pole and stretches 20km across. Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 — more commonly known as WR 124 — and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead — sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later — having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives.<doc-sep>A huge lake of salty water appears to be buried deep in Mars, raising the possibility of finding life on the red planet. Advertising Read more The discovery, based on observations by a European spacecraft, generated excitement from experts. Water is essential to life as we know it, and scientists have long sought to prove that the liquid is present on Mars. "If these researchers are right, this is the first time we've found evidence of a large water body on Mars," said Cassie Stuurman, a geophysicist at the University of Texas who found signs of an enormous Martian ice deposit in 2016. Scott Hubbard, a professor of astronautics at Stanford University who served as NASA's first Mars program director in 2000, called it "tremendously exciting." "Our mantra back then was 'follow the water.' That was the one phrase that captured everything," Hubbard said. "So this discovery, if it stands, is just thrilling because it's the culmination of that philosophy." The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science, does not determine how deep the reservoir actually is. This means that scientists can't specify whether it's an underground pool, an aquifer-like body, or just a layer of sludge. To find the water, Italian researchers analyzed radar signals collected over three years by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. Their results suggest that a 12-mile-wide (20 kilometers) reservoir lies below ice about a mile (1.5 kilometers) thick in an area close to the planet's south pole. They spent at least two years examining the data to make sure they'd detected water, not ice or another substance. "I really have no other explanation," said astrophysicist Roberto Orosei of Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna and lead author of the study. Mars is very cold, but the water might have been kept from freezing by dissolved salts. It's the same as when you put salt on a road, said Kirsten Siebach, a planetary geologist at Rice University who wasn't part of the study. "This water would be extremely cold, right at the point where it's about to freeze. And it would be salty. Those are not ideal conditions for life to form," Siebach said. Still, she said, there are microbes on Earth that have been able to adapt to environments like that. Orosei said, "It's tempting to think that this is the first candidate place where life could persist" on Mars. He suspects Mars may contain other hidden bodies of water, waiting to be discovered. Our planetary neighbor has a popular target for exploration, with rovers on its surface and other probes examining the planet from orbit. In May, NASA launched another spacecraft, the InSight Mars lander, that will dig under the surface after it reaches a flat plain just north of the Martian equator in November. (AP) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe<doc-sep>A mosaic image of the region where the presumed water is. Blue represents water. Image : USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Arizona State University, INAF After decades of debate, scientists have spotted hints of liquid water trapped beneath the planet’s south polar ice cap. Advertisement A team of Italian researchers analyzed radar data taken between May 2012 and December 2015 with an instrument on board the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, according to a new paper. Parts of the ice returned strange signals in the instrument. “We interpret this feature as a stable body of liquid water on Mars,” the authors write in the paper published today in the journal Science. At this point, there’s lots of evidence that Mars used to have liquid water, based on its topography and other clues. And obviously the planet has frozen water, as evidenced by its ice caps. But whether there’s liquid water currently, either in the dirt or hidden beneath its poles, has long been a matter of discussion and debate. Artist impression of the Mars Express spacecraft using its radar and finding a bright spot Graphic : ESA, INAF, Davide Coero Borga From May 29, 2012 to December 27, 2015, the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) instrument on board the Mars Express spacecraft took data on a 200-kilometer-wide (124-mile) area near the planet’s south pole. It shot radio waves at the ground, then recorded how the waves that bounced back had changed. There was nothing strange about the area itself. But a 20-kilometer-wide (12-mile) region beneath the surface seemed to reflect way more of the radar signal than its surroundings. The bright reflection implied that the region had a much higher value of its dielectric permittivity, an important electrical property for studying penetrating radar. The researchers weighed the options: Could carbon dioxide ice have caused the signal, or some other material? Their analysis suggested that, no, the most likely explanation would be water, which has a much higher dielectric permittivity than ice. That water would have lots of dissolved salts, either as a brine pool or a sludge where water saturated soil, according to the paper. Advertisement Why doesn’t the water freeze? First, there’s the dynamics of ice sheets, which can experience sub-surface melting due to the specific pressure and temperature environment (as they do on Earth). Then there’s the dissolved salts. You might remember the phrase “perchlorates” from past Mars water studies—these are molecules that contain chlorine atoms linked to four oxygen atoms. The presence of perchlorate salts can greatly reduce the melting point of water. “There’s something there, whatever it is.” Advertisement “The temperature at the bottom of the south polar cap supports the idea that this could be liquid water, because it’s in a brine where perchlorates could have lowered the melting point so it could be stable at this temperature,” Tanya Harrison, director of research for Arizona State University’s NewsSpace initiative, told Gizmodo. Harrison was not involved in the current research, but has studied Mars in the past. The radar scientists Gizmodo spoke to were convinced by the data and were cautiously optimistic about the interpretation. “You can’t argue with the radar results,” Cassie Stuurman, a radar scientist soon to join the European Space Agency, told Gizmodo. “It’s clear they have an anomalously bright region, which does imply something with anomalous properties.” Advertisement As for whether it’s truly liquid water, “I can’t think of something that would generate the same results,” she said. “The interpretation is up for debate,” and is already the subject of discussion in the planetary science community. “There’s something there, whatever it is.” This detection is the next big clue in the mystery of whether liquid water still exists in measurable quantities on the Mars today. You might be familiar with the “recurrent slope lineae,” or RSLs, on the planet—streaks on its surface that appear to darken. A much-hyped paper announced this as “strong evidence” for liquid water back in 2015, but another, more recent paper suggested there could be a better explanation for the darkening. This new paper offers another, probably unrelated source of liquid water. Advertisement “This story provides corroboration that liquid water can exist on Mars,” Lujendra Ojha, author of the 2015 RSL paper from Johns Hopkins University, told Gizmodo. “It’s probably going to be transient and salty, it will most likely be subsurface... but I think it’s a bit of vindication.” And if it exists in the ice caps, perhaps it exists elsewhere, like the RSLs. There’s lots more work to do. A visit to Mars with the right tools is what would be needed to confirm or rule out the presence of liquid water. And, of course, this new paper says nothing about the presence of life—it’s unclear what kind of life form, if any, could survive in this cold brine. But a standing body of water is always intriguing. Advertisement “Anywhere we find liquid water on Earth, we tend to find life,” said Harrison. “Even in ice cores from Greenland, there are bacteria and algae living in pockets or hanging out in a dormant state. If there’s briny liquid water, it might be a little abode for some kind of life to survive.” [Science]<doc-sep>
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Scientists find evidence of first large body of water on Mars “Our mantra back then was ‘follow the water.’ That was the one phrase that captured everything,” Hubbard said. “So this discovery, if it stands, is just thrilling because it’s the culmination of that philosophy.” Scott Hubbard, a professor of astronautics at Stanford University who served as NASA’s first Mars program director in 2000, called it “tremendously exciting.” “If these researchers are right, this is the first time we’ve found evidence of a large water body on Mars,” said Cassie Stuurman, a geophysicist at the University of Texas who found signs of an enormous Martian ice deposit in 2016. Scientists find evidence of first large body of water on Mars We apologize, but this video has failed to load. The discovery, based on observations by a European spacecraft, generated excitement from experts. Water is essential to life as we know it, and scientists have long sought to prove that the liquid is present on Mars. NEW YORK — A huge lake of salty water appears to be buried deep in Mars, raising the possibility of finding life on the red planet, scientists reported Wednesday. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The study, published in the journal Science, does not determine how deep the reservoir actually is. This means that scientists can’t specify whether it’s an underground pool, an aquifer-like body, or just a layer of sludge. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or To find the water, Italian researchers analyzed radar signals collected over three years by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft. Their results suggest that a 12-mile-wide (20 kilometres) reservoir lies below ice about a mile (1.5 kilometres) thick in an area close to the planet’s south pole. They spent at least two years examining the data to make sure they’d detected water, not ice or another substance. “I really have no other explanation,” said astrophysicist Roberto Orosei of Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna and lead author of the study. Mars is very cold, but the water might have been kept from freezing by dissolved salts. It’s the same as when you put salt on a road, said Kirsten Siebach, a planetary geologist at Rice University who wasn’t part of the study. “This water would be extremely cold, right at the point where it’s about to freeze. And it would be salty. Those are not ideal conditions for life to form,” Siebach said. Still, she said, there are microbes on Earth that have been able to adapt to environments like that. Orosei said, “It’s tempting to think that this is the first candidate place where life could persist” on Mars. He suspects Mars may contain other hidden bodies of water, waiting to be discovered. Our planetary neighbour has been a popular target for exploration, with rovers on its surface and other probes examining the planet from orbit. In May, NASA launched another spacecraft, the InSight Mars lander, that will dig under the surface after it reaches a flat plain just north of the Martian equator in November.
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It’s not irrational to find pizzas for $3.14 Thursday. March 14 is Pi Day, an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi), which is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The trillion-digit ratio is rounded to 3.14. Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day and last year noted astrophysicist Stephen Hawking died on the made-up holiday. Pi Day, not to be confused with Pie Day held in January, is a day with deals on pizza, pastry and pot pies. Start the day smarter:Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox Aside from calculating your savings, it's a day to have fun with math too, said Syracuse University mathematics professor Graham Leuschke. He said you can search for your birthday in the digits of π and can create a "pi-ku" similar to a haiku poem. PiDay.org, which calls itself the official site for Pi Day, has additional ideas for activities to celebrate the day. What is Pi Day? :Everything you need to know about celebrating Math fun:This Google employee set a record calculating Pi to 31.4 trillion digits March freebies:Your monthly guide to food specials, meal deals and more Pi Day pizza deals Here are the deals available at participating locations Thursday unless otherwise noted. To be on the safe side, always check with your closest location before heading out. Also, some will require you to have a restaurant's app or be signed up for emails. &Pizza: The company, which calls itself "an anti-establishment establishment," is holding weddings at four of its locations Thursday for selected couples and is offering a discount through Uber Eats Wednesday through Sunday. With promo code PIDAY19, get $3.14 off all &pizza and Uber Eats deliveries. 7-Eleven: With the 7Rewards app, get one slice of pizza for 50 cents. Or buy a whole pie in-store and get 314 7Rewards bonus points. With 7NOW, the convenience store chain's delivery service, get up to two whole pizzas for $3.14 each. Bertucci’s: Buy any large pizza and get a second pizza for $3.14 with code PIDAY. The chain says this deal “is available at all locations for lunch and dinner, and through all ordering platforms.” BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse: Get a mini one-topping pizza for $3.14 Thursday. Dine-in only. Learn more at www.bjsrestaurants.com/piday. Blaze Pizza: The chain’s smartphone app is needed to get the $3.14 Pi Day deal Thursday on custom pizzas. One per order and in-restaurant only. Cicis: Buy one adult buffet and large drink Thursday and get a second adult buffet for $3.14 with a coupon. Domino’s: Not specific for Pi Day but through April 28, Domino’s is giving Piece of the Pie Rewards members an easy way to earn points that can redeemed for a free Domino's pizza – no matter what brand's pizza they buy. The latest version of Domino’s mobile app is needed to "to scan a pizza or an eligible image of a pizza.” Learn more at www.pointsforpies.com. Fired Pie: From 2 p.m. to close Thursday, get any one-topping pizza for $3.14 with purchase of a drink. Limit one per person and not valid on third-party delivery services. Fresh Brothers: Get any personal pizza for $3.14 Thursday for pick up, dine-in and delivery with promo code PIDAY on Thursday, March 14. Not valid with third-party services. Hungry Howie's: Through Thursday, with the purchase of any Howie Bread at regular menu price, get a medium one-topping pizza for $3.14 with promo code 19PI. Carry out orders only. Florida locations are not participating in this promotion. Jet's Pizza: Buy a large pizza at regular price Thursday and get a medium one-topping round pizza for $3.14 with code 314. While supplies last. Mountain Mike’s Pizza: Get $5 off any Mountain-sized pizza with code 079984, or $3 off any large pizza Thursday with promo code 317445. Pie Five Pizza: Get any 11-inch Signature Pizza for $3.14 Thursday. Limit one pizza per person and in-store only. No topping modifications allowed and there will be an additional charge for cauliflower crust, gluten-free crust and vegan cheese. Pieology: Buy one Artisan Thin Pizza, get a second for $3.14 Thursday. Plus, Pie Life Rewards members making a purchase on Pi Day will get $2 off their next order. The chain also is holding the "Perfect Pieology Pull” cheese-pull contest. “Customers simply visit the nearest Pieology, roll up their sleeves, start pulling, and documenting their best efforts," the company said in a statement. "After submitting their photo or video posts on Instagram using the hashtag, #perfectpieologypull, the public will vote on the top five entries and the best ‘pull’ will be named champion and receive a $50 Pieology gift card.” Enter by midnight Thursday. Pizza Inn: New and existing reward members get a Chocolate Chip Pizzert for $3.14 Thursday. The rewards app is available at www.pizzainn.com/rewards. Rotolo’s Pizzeria: Get one-topping eight-inch pizzas for $3.14 Thursday for dine-in only at participating locations. Gulf Coast stores in Alabama are not included. Slice: A mobile app that works with more than 10,000 pizzerias is offering $7 off pizza orders Thursday for new users with promo code LOCALPI7. This is for credit card orders and only on a user's first order with the app. “Minimum order total after deductions and promotions must be $15.50,” the offer's fine print states. Download the app at www.slicelife.com. Villa Italian Kitchen: Get full-size Neapolitan Cheese Pizzas for $3.14 Thursday with a coupon. Sign up for the coupon at www.villaitaliankitchen.com/piday. Your Pie: The fast-casual pizza brand will have $3.14 pizzas at participating locations. In-store only, while supplies last. Additional pizzas or menu items may be purchased at full price. Stores also will offer games, bounce-back deals, prizes and giveaways throughout the day. Learn more at www.yourpie.com/pieday. Other Pi Day deals Bakers Square: Get $2 off any whole pie Wednesday or Thursday and double-crust fruit pies also will be baked with the pi symbol. Excludes cheesecake and carrot cake. Only valid when ordered in-restaurant and while supplies last. Biggby Coffee: The Apple Pie Latte returns and is $3.14 Thursday. Bojangles’: Get three Sweet Potato Pies for $3.14 Thursday while supplies last at participating locations. No coupon or app offer needed. Boston Market: With a Pi Day coupon Thursday, get a free Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie with the purchase of another pot pie and drink at any one of the more than 450 U.S. locations. The coupon is available at www.bostonmarket.com. California Pizza Kitchen: Get a slice of Key Lime Pie for $3.14 Thursday. California Tortilla: The fast-casual Mexican chain is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day Thursday. Get a free order of chips and queso with any purchase when you say “Pot o’ Gold” when placing your order. In-store only and cannot be combined with any other offer. Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen: Order the restaurant’s Homemade Chicken Pot Pie for dining in or to-go Thursday and get a free second pie to bake at home. No coupon needed, and Cheddar’s says it will provide the baking instructions. Learn more at www.cheddars.com/pieday. Fresh Market: Get $3.14 off Old Fashioned Apple and Cherry Pies along with Chicken Pot Pies from the deli Thursday. Kroger: Select pies are $3.14 for Pi Day including apple, cherry, peach and pumpkin pies. Marie Callender's: Get a free slice of pie Thursday with purchase of a full-price adult menu and a coupon posted at www.mariecallenders.com/coupon-piday. Not valid with other promotions including Kids Eat Free, happy hour menu, lunch combos and daily dish specials. Schlotzsky’s: The fast-casual chain is celebrating National Potato Chip Day Thursday. Get a free bag of potato chips with entrée purchase. Starbucks: The coffee giant has one of its Happy Hour events on Pi Day. Starting at 3 p.m. Thursday, buy any grande or larger handcrafted espresso beverage or Frappuccino blended drink and get one free. This deal has been loaded on Starbucks Rewards members accounts. Non-members can sign up for the offer by creating an account at Starbucks.com. You can either add a Starbucks gift card to the account or choose an instant digital card when setting up the account. Stop & Shop: All stores are selling eight-inch pumpkin, apple and Dutch apple pies for $3.14 Thursday. White Castle: With a Pi Day coupon, get a Breakfast Slider combo for $3.14 Thursday. The combo includes a Breakfast Slider, hash brown and small coffee. The coupon is posted at www.whitecastle.com/pi-day. Whole Foods Market: Large bakery pies are $3.14 off the regular price Thursday. Varieties vary by region. More deals: Some local pizzerias, smaller chains and bakeries also will celebrate Pi Day with specials. Check social media accounts to find additional offers. Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko<doc-sep>Restaurants are celebrating National Pi Day with sweet and savory freebies and deals. As math nerds will tell you, Pi might go on forever, but these offers are good only on 3.14.19 at participating locations.<doc-sep>
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March 14 is a great day for fans of math. And pies or pizza. Thursday marks Pi Day, held on March 14 in honor of 3.14, the measurement calculating the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The number itself is rounded up to 3.14 but it can go on forever. On Thursday, Google confirmed it was able to compute Pi to 31.4 trillion decimal places, setting a new Guinness World Record. But it's more than just math. Taking advantage of the pronunciation, people celebrate by breaking out pies of varying kinds (apple, cherry, and even pizza), while businesses roll out their best Pi Day deals. Here's everything you need to know about Pi in all its forms. What's the history of Pi? According to the Exploratorium, a museum based in San Francisco, Pi (π) was first used nearly 4,000 years ago by the ancient Babylonians, calculating the area of a circle by taking three times the square of its radius. The number has been calculated multiple times since by renowned mathematicians including Archimedes and Zu Chongzhi. The Pi symbol was introduced in 1706 by mathematician William Jones, but made popular more than 30 years later by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler. How did Pi Day get started? Former physicist Larry Shaw, who connected March 14 with 3.14, celebrated the first Pi Day at the Exploratorium with fruit pies and tea. The museum said Shaw led Pi Day parades there every year until his passing in 2017. In 2009, the House of Representatives passed a resolution marking March 14 as National Pi Day. March 14 is big in science circles, too It's not just Pi Day. March 14 is also the birthday of famed physicist Albert Einstein. March 14, 2019, also marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Stephen Hawking. What's the deal with pie and pizza? Several pizza chains are offering a variety of pizzas priced at $3.14 honoring Pi Day. It's also a great time to buy pie. For example, fast food chain Bojangles is selling three sweet potato pies for $3.14. This is the kind of math we can get behind. More:Celebrate Pi Day March 14 with $3.14 pizza, free pie and more Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.
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A jogger killed a mountain lion with his bare hands after the animal attacked him on a trail in the foothills of the Rockies. The runner heard the wild cat behind him and, as he turned, it pounced and began savaging him, pouncing at his head, and clawing and biting his face and arms. He managed to fend it off with his forearms and then jumped on top of the animal, somehow managing to suffocate it. The man, who has not been identified, suffered bites to his face, arms, legs and back. But he was still able to hike to hospital, where he was being treated for serious, non-life threatening injuries. The attack happened on the west ridge of Horsetooth Mountain, a park 66 miles northwest of Denver, Colorado. Rebecca Ferrell, spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said: "It’s an amazing story. Everyone is baffled and impressed. He had no weapons, no knives or trekking poles with him. How did he do it?" The body of the mountain lion was found at the scene and was described as a "juvenile" thought to have weighed about 80lbs.<doc-sep>Jogger Kills Mountain Lion With His Bare Hands Trending News: Guy Saves Himself By Choking Out Mountain Lion in Self Defense A casual jog turned violent for a man who was mauled by an 80-pound mountain lion out in Colorado. According to a statement from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the unnamed guy was out for a run on the West Ridge Trail at Horsetooth Open Space in Fort Collins when he heard a noise behind him. After turning to investigate the sound, the lion pounced, biting the man’s face and wrist before he was able to fight back. When all was said and done, the jogger managed to save his own life by killing the lion with his bare hands. While the man was injured during the violent attack, he is expected to recover. RELATED: Going Camping? Be Sure to Pack This Wilderness Survival Gear A reminder that living in Colorado means living among our wildlife. Our website has several great resources, including brochures about how to live and recreate with a variety of species. See our Living with Lions brochure for more information: https://t.co/9t0vPivxdz pic.twitter.com/NvoP9C3pUE — CPW NE Region (@CPW_NE) February 5, 2019 Mark Leslie, CPW Northeast Region manager, said that while the mountain lion’s death was unfortunate considering it’s such a rare species, the man did the right thing under the circumstances. “The runner did everything he could to save his life,” Leslie said in the statement. “In the event of a lion attack you need to do anything in your power to fight back just as this gentleman did.” The agency noted how rare mountain lion attacks are, citing less than 20 fatal attacks in North America in more than 100 years, but acknowledge this specific incident probably occurred because the lion’s “hunting instincts were triggered by the runner,” according to Ty Petersburg, CPW’s area wildlife manager. “This could have had a very different outcome,” he added. In the event you happen to stumble across a mountain lion in the future, CPW provided these recommendations: - Do not approach a lion, especially one that is feeding or with kittens. Most mountain lions will try to avoid a confrontation. Give them a way to escape. - Stay calm when you come upon a lion. Talk calmly and firmly to it. Move slowly and never turn your back on it. - Stop or back away slowly, if you can do it safely. Running may stimulate a lion's instinct to chase and attack. Face the lion and stand upright. - Do all you can to appear larger. Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you're wearing one. If you have small children with you, protect them by picking them up so they won't panic and run. - If the lion behaves aggressively, throw stones, branches or whatever you can get your hands on without crouching down or turning your back. Wave your arms slowly and speak firmly. What you want to do is convince the lion you are not prey and that you may, in fact, be a danger to the lion. - Fight back if a lion attacks you. Lions have been driven away by prey that fights back. People have fought back with rocks, sticks, caps or jackets, garden tools, and their bare hands successfully. We recommend targeting the eyes and nose as these are sensitive areas. Remain standing or try to get back up! Be sure to keep these tips in mind next time you take a jog in mountain lion country… or, better yet, don’t go for a jog in mountain lion country. You Might Also Dig:<doc-sep>DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado jogger strangled a juvenile mountain lion in the foothills of Horsetooth Mountain northwest of Denver, acting in self-defense after the predator attacked him, authorities said on Tuesday. The man, who was not identified, survived the life-and-death struggle in the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, a mountain park less than 70 miles (110 km) from Denver, officials said. The man was running on a trail when the juvenile cougar attacked him from behind, biting and clawing his face, back, legs and arms, state and local officials said in a joint statement late on Monday. During the struggle, the man strangled the wild animal with his bare hands, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Rebecca Ferrell said by phone on Tuesday. “There was some wrestling going on and the cat did latch onto his arm but he was able to choke it,” she said. The size of the cougar was unclear, Ferrell said, because other animals fed on the carcass before wildlife officers arrived. But it is believed it was a male. The runner went to a hospital, officials said, with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening. Slideshow ( 2 images ) The remainder of the animal’s body was recovered near the trail, where the jogger had dropped some possessions, and taken to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife lab for a necropsy, officials said. “The runner did everything he could to save his life,” said Mark Leslie, CPW Northeast Regional Manager. “In the event of a lion attack, you need to do anything in your power to fight back, just as this gentleman did.” Mountain lion attacks have caused fewer than 20 fatalities in the United States in the past 100 years. Sixteen known attacks have occurred in Colorado since 1990, officials said. “Mountain lion attacks are not common in Colorado and it is unfortunate that the lion’s hunting instincts were triggered by the runner,” Ty Petersburg, area wildlife manager for the CPW, said in a statement. “This could have had a very different outcome.”<doc-sep>
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A runner choked a mountain lion to death after he was attacked by the animal in Colorado (Shepreth Wildlife Park/PA) A man who was attacked by a mountain lion while running on a park trail in northern Colorado fought back and killed the animal by choking it, wildlife officials said. The man was said to have been running alone at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space near Fort Collins on Monday when he heard something behind him on the trail and was attacked as he turned back to investigate. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the young lion — its hunting instincts apparently triggered by the movement — lunged at the runner, biting his face and wrist, but the man was able to break free and kill the lion. We've stepped up patrols at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space following yesterday's incident between a mountain lion & visitor. Remember you're recreating in lion habitat when you visit Horsetooth Mountain. Tips if you encounter a lion: https://t.co/x9F6MRQ42c #HTMOS @CPW_NE pic.twitter.com/m3amq0DxLU — Larimer County DNR (@LCDNR) February 5, 2019 The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries but was expected to make a full recovery. He has not been identified by authorities, who say their investigation into the attack remains ongoing. ⢠Do not approach a lion, especially one that is feeding or with kittens. Most mountain lions will try to avoid a confrontation. Give them a way to escape. ⢠Stay calm when you come upon a lion. Talk calmly and firmly to it. Move slowly and never turn your back on it. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (@COParksWildlife) February 5, 2019 Rebecca Ferrell, a spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said an examination of the animal confirmed the man’s account that he had choked it. She said the runner did exactly what experts recommend in a rare encounter with a mountain lion — fight back as hard as you can. ⢠Stop or back away slowly, if you can do it safely. Running may stimulate a lion's instinct to chase and attack. Face the lion and stand upright. ⢠Do all you can to appear larger. Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you're wearing one. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (@COParksWildlife) February 5, 2019 They also advise trying to get back up on your feet if knocked over, look as big as possible and use anything handy as a weapon, such as a backpack or keys. But the man who was attacked did not have any gear to help him. “He did this just out of sheer will and defence of himself,” Ms Ferrell said. ⢠Fight back if a lion attacks you. Lions have been driven away by prey that fights back. People have fought back with rocks, sticks, caps or jackets, garden tools and their bare hands successfully. We recommend targeting the eyes and nose as these are sensitive areas. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (@COParksWildlife) February 5, 2019 Mountain lion attacks are rare because they tend to avoid humans. There have been fewer than 20 people killed by the animals in North America in more than 100 years. In Colorado, where their population is strong, 16 people have been injured by mountain lions and three have been killed since 1990. PA Media
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It crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya's capital 149 passengers and eight crew members were thought to be on the plane ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Eighteen Canadians are among the victims of an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed all 157 people thought to be on board Sunday, the airline’s CEO and Kenya’s transport minister said. The victims also include 32 Kenyans, nine Ethiopians, eight people each from China, the United States and Italy, seven each from France and Britain, six from Egypt, five from the Netherlands and four each from India and Slovakia. The crash happened around Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, some 50 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, at 8:44 a.m. It is not yet clear what caused the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane to go down shortly after takeoff from Bole Airport en route to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return, the airline’s CEO said. Visibility was clear. Air Traffic monitor Flightrader 24 said on Twitter the plane had showed unstable vertical speed after takeoff. The plane was new and had been delivered to the airline in November, records show. State-owned Ethiopian Airlines said 149 passengers and eight crew members were thought to be on the plane that crashed six minutes after departing Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya’s capital. The airline says it has contacted the families of the victims, and will soon conduct forensic investigations to identify remains. Victims begin to be identified Carleton University’s president confirmed via Twitter on Sunday afternoon that one of the school’s professors had been on the flight. Benoit-Antoine Bacon said Pius Adesanmi, Director of African Studies and a professor in the school’s English Department, was one of the deceased, something the school has confirmed. The entire Carleton community is grieving the tragic death of Prof. Pius Adesamni, a towering figure in African and post-colonial scholarship. Our thoughts are with all those who knew and loved Prof. Adesamni and with everyone who suffered loss in that tragic crash in Ethiopia. — Benoit-Antoine Bacon (@CU_President) March 10, 2019 Some of the passengers on the flight were United Nations staffers, according to a tweet from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. They may have been travelling to the United Nations Environment Assembly, scheduled to start in Nairobi on March 11. Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims — including our own @UN staff — who perished in this tragedy. — António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 10, 2019 Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, released a statement saying colleagues had been on the flight. “It is with great sadness and shock that I have learned today that UNHCR colleagues were among the passengers of the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 which crashed in Ethiopia this morning,” the statement said. He said colleagues from the United Nations and other partners were also on board. “We are working to confirm how many UNHCR colleagues were among those on board the tragic flight,” the statement continued. “We are following through our procedures to inform the families and assist them at this heart-breaking and painful time.” Crash ‘devastating news’: PM Trudeau Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the news devastating and said his thoughts are with all the victims and everyone who lost friends, family or loved ones. Devastating news from Ethiopia this morning. Our thoughts are with all the victims on flight ET302, including the Canadians who were on board, and everyone who lost friends, family, or loved ones. Canadians in need of assistance, contact [email protected] or 613-996-8885. — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 10, 2019 Robert Oliphant, a Liberal Member of Parliament, is in Addis Ababa on Parliamentary business. He tweeted Sunday morning that others in his delegation may have been on the flight. “We have a delegation of seven MPs and Senators who landed in Addis Ababa this morning in an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Toronto,” he told NEWS 1130. “We understand that there may have been passengers connecting to the flight to Nairobi but we have not heard if that is the case or not.” #BREAKING: Here are a list of Canadian delegates on the trip, all have been confirmed safe. @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/Wgr6avlQjk — Taran Parmar (@Tarankparmar) March 10, 2019 Sunday afternoon, Oliphant confirmed that all the members of his delegation were accounted for, and none had been on the flight headed to Nairobi. The Canadian government has not yet released the names of citizens who died on the flight. Landed safely this morning in Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines. Afraid that some of our fellow passengers from the Toronto flight connected to the flight to Nairobi which crashed. Hits close to home and thinking of those who lost their lives this morning. pic.twitter.com/c7SEgbe27q — Rob Oliphant (@Rob_Oliphant) March 10, 2019 Grief in Nairobi At the airport in Nairobi, worried families gathered. “I came to the airport to receive my brother but I have been told there is a problem,” Agnes Muilu said. “I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it.” “Why are they taking us round and round, it is all over the news that the plane crashed,” said Edwin Ong’undi, who had been waiting for his sister. “All we are asking for is information to know about their fate.” Kenya’s transport minister, James Macharia, said an emergency response had been set up for family and friends. “My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board,” Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said. Airlines, Boeing respond In a statement, Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” to hear of the crash and that a technical team had been sent to the site, ready to provide assistance at the request of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.<doc-sep>It is believed all 157 passengers and crew aboard the ill-fated plane died in the tragic crash A Slovakian MP has confirmed that his wife and two children were killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash yesterday morning. All 157 people on board Flight ET302 were killed as the airplane came down six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. According to reports, seven of the passengers were British nationals, although this is yet to be confirmed by the Foreign Office. Anton Hrnko, the deputy leader of the Slovak National Party, announced via Facebook today that his wife and children had died in the tragedy. He wrote in Slovak: "With deep sadness I announce that my dear wife Blanka, son Martin and daughter Michal died during the air disaster in Addis Ababa today in the morning hours. "Those who knew them, give them a quiet memory." Besides serving as a senior official within the Slovak National Party, Mr Hrnko is also a member of the National Council, the country's 150-member parliament. He has also held roles in the Slovakian ministry of defence and the parliament's foreign committee. According to Slovakian media reports, his son, Martin Hrnko, worked as a travel agent. Within an hour of Mr Hrnko's announcement, almost 3,000 Facebook users had posted comments expressing their sympathies, with thousands writing "Úprimnú sústras? ", meaning "My condolences". There were reportedly 35 nationalities on board the doomed flight today, with the most, 32, being Kenyans. The Ethiopian Airline Boeing 737 crashed en route to Nairobi, Kenya The plane was a Boeing 737 800 Max - the same model as the Lion Air plane crash tragedy in Indonesia which killed 189 people in October last year. Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said the captain of the crashed plane told controllers at Bole airport he was having difficulty and wanted to return, and that he had been given clearance. He said smoke was still emanating from the site of the crash when he visited it this morning. The flight "had unstable vertical speed" shortly after take off, Swedish flight-tracking website flightradar24 said. Max Kingsley-Jones, group editor of online news site Flight Global, said Ethiopian Airlines has a "great reputation" in the aviation world.<doc-sep>Kenyan administrator Hussein Swaleh dies in ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines tragedy The former Football Kenya Federation Secretary General has been named as one of the 157 victims Hussein Swaleh has been named among the 157 passengers aboard the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed after taking off from Addis Ababa on Sunday. Swaleh had officiated a Caf Champions League match in Cairo and was on the Boeing-737-800MAX flight en route to Nairobi from Addis Ababa before it crashed at Bishoftu (Debre Zeit), six minutes after it left the Bole International Airport. Swaleh was the match commissioner in the clash between Ismaily of Egypt and Tout Puissant Mazembe of Congo that ended in a 1-1 draw. Sad day for football. You were doing what you loved most. Fare thee well my chairman. Until we meet again. pic.twitter.com/WnOh4c3Pxh — Nick Mwendwa (@Nmwendwa) March 10, 2019 "My prayers go to all the families and associates of those on board," Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement. Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa confirmed the sad news to Goal in a telephone interview. “It is a sad day for Kenyan football. I have no words to explain the news but as the Kenya FA, we have lost a dedicated servant, who wanted to see the game improve every day. May his soul R.I.P.” Former FKF President Sam Nyamweya termed Swaleh’s sudden demise as a huge blow. “I worked closely with him (Swaleh) during my time as the President of the Federation and it is very unfortunate to lose such a young soul that was dedicated to serving football in the country.” Swaleh served as the FKF Secretary-General under the reigns of Maina Kariuki, the same period Kenya's Harambee Stars featured in the Afcon finals held in Tunisia.<doc-sep>Two flight data recorders from Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 have been found, as airlines around the world ground Boeing 737 MAX 8s like the one which crashed Sunday, killing all 157 people on board. The plane’s Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) were recovered from the wreckage Monday, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement. They will enable investigators and experts piece together the last moments of the flight, and should help explain why the new plane crashed. Flight ET302 to Nairobi had just taken off from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa Sunday when it reported technical problems and asked for permission to turn back. It crashed shortly after. With investigations underway, multiple countries have suspended use of Boeing’s new 737 MAX 8 aircraft amid concerns about its safety. On Monday, The Civil Aviation Administration of China ordered that all domestic Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets be out of the air by 6 p.m. local time, due to its principle of “zero tolerance for safety hazards.” China has one of the world’s largest fleets of Boeing 737 MAX 8, operating 97 of the planes, according to China’s state-run media. The move was followed by an announcement from Ethiopian Airlines that the carrier had grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets as an “extra safety precaution.” Cayman Airways also said on Monday it was grounding both of its “new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft … until more information is received.” Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation also ordered all Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes to be grounded Monday, “to ensure that aircraft operating in Indonesia are in airworthy condition.” Sunday marked the second time in less than six months that a new Boeing aircraft had crashed just minutes into a flight. A Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight went down over the Java Sea in last October, killing all 189 people on board. Both crashes are under investigation. There is no evidence of a link between the two, but similarities in the incidents have prompted caution among some airlines. “Given in both air crashes, the aircrafts were newly delivered Boeing 737 MAX 8, and both accidents occurred during the take-off, they share certain similarities,” the Chinese administration said in a statement. It added that it would contact Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration to confirm “flight safety” issues before allowing the planes to fly again. Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and the former Inspector General of the US Transportation Department, called the two incidents “highly suspicious.” “Here we have a brand-new aircraft that’s gone down twice in a year. That rings alarm bells in the aviation industry, because that just doesn’t happen,” she said. State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is one of Africa’s leading aviation groups, and the continent’s largest carrier by number of passengers. The Kenyan and Ethiopian governments announced a joint disaster response team on Monday to investigate the crash. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Transport James Macharia described it as a “very complex investigation.” In a statement Sunday, Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” to hear about the loss of life in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash. “A Boeing technical team will be traveling to the crash site to provide technical assistance under the direction of the Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau and US National Transportation Safety Board,” the statement said. Investigations ongoing The Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi, in Kenya, lost contact with authorities at 8.44 a.m. local time, just minutes after it left Bole International Airport. Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Airlines CEO, said at a press conference Sunday that the pilot had reported technical difficulties and had been given clearance to return to the Ethiopian capital. An eyewitness told CNN they saw smoke coming from the plane before it crashed on Sunday. GebreMariam said a routine maintenance check hadn’t revealed anything before takeoff. The pilot, Yared Getachew, was a senior Ethiopian Airlines pilot who had flown more than 8,000 hours. He had an “excellent flying record,” according to CEO Tewolde GebreMariam. “As it is a fresh incident, we have not been able to determine the cause. As I said, it is a brand new airplane with no technical remarks, flown by a senior pilot and there is no cause that we can attribute at this time,” GebreMariam said. Speaking on Monday, Kenyan Transport Secretary Macharia said relatives of the victims would be given “the utmost attention,” including accommodation and flights to Ethiopia, if necessary. The US National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday it would be sending a team of four to assist in the investigation into the crash. CNN aviation expert Richard Quest said while a “final determination” on the cause of the crash might be years away, information from the flight recorders should be retrieved within a matter of weeks. An international tragedy Citizens of 35 countries were among the 157 people killed in Sunday’s crash, including 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians and eight passengers each from China, Italy and the United States. The United Nations said 22 of its staff members were among the dead, including employees of the World Food Programme (WFP) the Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees and the Food and Agriculture Organization. For Citizen TV updates Join @citizentvke Telegram channel Video Of The Day: | SUCCESS AND AFTER | Tracking the progress made by students who topped KCSE in past years<doc-sep>
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A jetliner carrying 157 people crashed shortly after takeoff from the Ethiopian capital Sunday, killing everyone aboard and carving a crater into the ground, authorities said. At least 35 nationalities were among the dead, including 18 Canadians. It was not clear what caused the Ethiopian Airlines plane to go down in clear weather. The accident was strikingly similar to last year's crash of a Lion Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea, killing 189 people. Both crashes involved the Boeing 737 Max 8, and both happened minutes after the jets became airborne. The Ethiopian pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return to the airport, the airline's CEO told reporters. At the crash site, the impact caused the plane to shatter into small pieces. Personal belongings and aircraft parts were strewn across the freshly churned earth. Bulldozers dug into the crater to pull out buried pieces of the jet. Red Cross teams and others searched for human remains. In one photo, teams could be seen loading black plastic bags into trucks. As sunset approached, crews were still searching for the plane's flight-data recorder, the airline's chief operating officer said. Watch: People gather near Ethiopia plane crash site Ethiopian Airlines flight crashes, killing all 157 on board CBC News 0:58 People gather at the scene of the crash near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, where a search and rescue operation is underway. 0:58 Worried families gathered at the flight's destination, the airport in Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya. Agnes Muilu said he came to pick up his brother. "I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it," he said. Relatives were frustrated by the lack of word on loved ones. "Why are they taking us round and round. It is all over the news that the plane crashed," said Edwin Ong'undi, who was waiting for his sister. "All we are asking for is information to know about their fate." 18 Canadians killed The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were thought to be on the plane. Ethiopian Airlines issued a list showing 35 nationalities among the dead, including 32 Kenyans and 18 Canadians. Among the 18 Canadians killed were a Carleton University professor and a mother-daughter pair from Edmonton. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent condolences via Twitter to the families of those lost in the crash. The government also provided a phone number for Canadians in Ethiopia to call for consular assistance. Devastating news from Ethiopia this morning. Our thoughts are with all the victims on flight ET302, including the Canadians who were on board, and everyone who lost friends, family, or loved ones. Canadians in need of assistance, contact [email protected] or 613-996-8885. —@JustinTrudeau Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Twitter, "Terrible news from #Addis Ababa, #Ethiopia, this morning." "My heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost loved ones. The Canadian government is in close contact with Ethiopian authorities to gather additional information as quickly as possible," Freeland said. The list reflected a broad range of backgrounds, with passengers from China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India and Somalia. Several countries lost more than five citizens. The World Food Program confirmed that two of the Italian victims worked for the Rome-based UN agency, while a Slovakian lawmaker said his wife, daughter and son were killed. Some of those aboard were thought to be travelling to a major United Nations environmental meeting scheduled to start Monday in Nairobi. The plane crashed six minutes after departing, plowing into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, some 50 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, at 8:44 a.m. The jetliner showed unstable vertical speed after takeoff, air traffic monitor Flightradar 24 said in a Twitter post. The Addis Ababa-Nairobi route links East Africa's two largest economic powers and is popular with tourists making their way to safaris and other destinations. Sunburnt travellers and tour groups crowd the Addis Ababa airport's waiting areas, along with businesspeople from China and elsewhere. Questions about airliner renewed The accident is likely to renew questions about the 737 Max, the newest version of Boeing's popular single-aisle airliner. Indonesian investigators have not determined a cause for the October crash, but days after the accident Boeing sent a notice to airlines that faulty information from a sensor could cause the plane to automatically point the nose down. The notice reminded pilots of the procedure for handling such a situation.
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Deep under the ice of the Martian south pole researchers have discovered signs of a hidden lake that could hold liquid water year-round, a crucial condition needed for life to develop. An advanced satellite radar has found a massive anomaly—a 12-mile-long lake that researchers believe must be at least a meter thick. Previous discoveries on Mars have indicated liquid water that existed only seasonally. “This is the first potential habitat,” said researcher Roberto Orosei at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. “We don’t know it is inhabited, but if you’re looking for life on Mars, this is one of the prime places to look.” Dr. Orosei and an international team of researchers probed through to the bottom of about a mile of ice on the planet’s south pole using a radar aboard the Mars Express Satellite, a European Space Agency mission. The Italy-based researchers published in Science on Wednesday the results of four years of radar readings. The lake, they say, was found because it produces different radar readings than the surrounding ice and bedrock. “If the result can be confirmed, it would be the largest known occurrence of present-day liquid water on Mars,” said Jeffrey Plaut at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who is the U.S. leader on the joint U.S.-Italy project that developed the radar system. The technology used to find the lake has been pointed toward our own planet where it has effectively identified vast lakes under the ice in Antarctica. But the indirect nature of the observation leaves the Mars data open to alternate interpretations. The lake could turn out to be frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. The search for water on Mars has seen numerous false leads, including gullies more likely to have been caused by frozen carbon dioxide and ridges more likely to have been caused by sand than by water. Scott Murchie, planetary geologist at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, who wasn’t involved in the study, said more research is needed to ensure nothing about the unique environment of Mars could interfere with the results. “Mars, as an alien world, can surprise us in operating in ways very different from how Earth operates,” Dr. Murchie said. “We need to keep an open mind to other explanations.” Dr. Orosei said that the team examined other possible explanations. They concluded that the lake isn’t carbon dioxide and that the possibility it is metal is too unlikely, he said. The researchers also faced the challenge of explaining why the water they found isn’t frozen. The temperature under the ice cap is too low for pure water to exist as a liquid, so the researchers propose the water is kept from freezing the same way ocean water is on Earth—by salt, in this case, perchlorate salt from surrounding soil. “There is certainly water available in the ice cap, but the mystery is whether the temperature and the composition are right to maintain melting,” Dr. Plaut said. Write to Nishant Mohan at [email protected]<doc-sep>Drop everything and take a seat. We humans may have a new home. Or at the very least, a prerequisite for a new home. Scientists have discovered what is believed to be a lake located underneath the south polar ice cap of Mars, measuring about 12.5 miles across. While researchers previously found signs that water once flowed across the planet’s surface, this is the first time that a persistent, existing body of water has been discovered. The lake, located a mile beneath the planet’s surface, is likely still in a liquid form only because it is extremely salty and under a lot of pressure. But still, water is water, and this finding has the capacity to fundamentally change what we know about the Red Planet and, of course, whether or not we will one day be able to inhabit it. Roberto Orosei at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Bologna led the research team who drew the groundbreaking conclusions, and the paper detailing their work was today published in the journal Science. The team leveraged data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding, or MARSIS, which is located on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Orbiter. The scientists examined data between 2012 and 2015 in the area near the planet’s south pole. While this region “does not exhibit any peculiar characteristics,” as the paper notes, it has long been thought that the polar ice caps may contain liquid deposits. And now, this hypothesis has been proven correct. “It’s probably not a very large lake,” Orosei told the BBC. While it’s unclear how deep the lake is, the team estimates a minimum of three feet. “This really qualifies this as a body of water. A lake, not some kind of meltwater filling some space between rock and ice, as happens in certain glaciers on Earth,” Orosei added. To be fair, this doesn’t actually imply anything concerning the existence of life on Mars quite yet. As Dr. Manish Patel from the Open University told the BBC, “We have long since known that the surface of Mars is inhospitable to life as we know it, so the search for life on Mars is now in the subsurface. This is where we get sufficient protection from harmful radiation, and the pressure and temperature rise to more favorable levels. Most importantly, this allows liquid water, essential for life.” Ultimately, while scientists are not any closer to finding actual life on Mars, it does give them a sense of where to look. As Patel explained, “It is like a treasure map – except in this case, there will be lots of ‘X’s marking the spots.” Scientists are careful to warn, however, that there still is not definitive evidence that this body of water is, in fact, liquid water. “Getting there and acquiring the final evidence that this is indeed a lake will not be an easy task,” Orosei admitted. “It will require flying a robot there which is capable of drilling through 1.5km of ice. This will certainly require some technological developments that at the moment are not available.” But here’s hoping that they will be soon. Editors' Recommendations<doc-sep>Just a mile or so beneath the surface, near the south pole of Mars, there is a reservoir of briny water sloshing and churning below layers of ice and rock. This subglacial lake, discovered by a ground-penetrating radar on the Mars Express spacecraft, is about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) wide and perhaps no more than a meter deep. Its discovery is the latest piece of evidence that suggests water was not only present on Mars in the past but is still flowing in some capacity today. The findings, if confirmed by future observations, would be the most significant discovery of liquid water on Mars to date. Water was not only present on Mars in the past but is still flowing in some capacity today Scientists already had little doubt that there was, at one point, liquid water on Mars, thanks to tiny spherical deposits discovered by the Opportunity rover in 2004 and the comprehensive mineralogy studies conducted by the Curiosity rover. The evidence suggests that vast lakes and rivers dominated the surface of Mars billions of years ago. What's more, tantalizing clues have continued to imply the existence of liquid water on Mars today. Condensation was measured on the Phoenix lander in 2009, and dark streaks spotted on Martian dunes may be evidence of briny water (although more recent examination suggests they could be avalanches of dry sand). This new discovery of a subterranean water deposit, outlined in a new paper in Science, suggests water is indeed underneath the red sands of Mars. Perhaps the Red Planet even has entire subsurface lake systems like those beneath Antarctica. A Breakthrough 15 Years in the Making Mars Express is a European Space Agency probe that has been orbiting the fourth planet from the sun since December 2003. A year and a half after it arrived, the craft deployed two 20-meter radar booms, forming a 40-meter antenna. The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument came online. Since then, MARSIS has been studying Mars with radar signals to learn more about the planet's interior structure and composition. The Mars Express spacecraft with its 40-meter MARSIS antenna deployed. NASA/JPL/Corby Waste In 2007, the instrument detected something interesting. Near the Mars southern polar ice cap, it found strong reflections of radar signals—differences between two layers known as echoes. Strong echoes imply a big difference in what's called dielectric permittivity. There are microorganisms that are capable of surviving well below zero "In the case of Mars, and also in the case of Earth, liquid water is the material that certainly would produce the strongest reflections," says Roberto Orosei, a co-investigator of the MARSIS instrument at the University of Bologna in Italy and lead author of the new study. The strong radar echoes in 2007 wound up being the result of a layer of icy carbon dioxide on the surface of Mars rather than liquid water beneath. "CO 2 ice is very transparent and is able to let the radar pulse penetrate into the ice much better than pure water ice," Orosei says, which is why it mimicked the signal one would expect from underground liquid water. However, he says, many believed the CO2 conclusions "were not the end of the story." Continued observations proved difficult. "The real problem was that observations over the same place in different moments would reveal different results," Orosei says. "So we would see a bright reflection on a certain area one day, and then we would fly over the same area maybe a week later, a month later... and we would not see the same strong reflection we would see ordinarily." Finally, the MARSIS engineers figured out what was thwarting their observations. It was the way their own spacecraft processed the data. "The radar by itself will produce a very high amount of data... [so] it’s necessary to sum together many pulses, more than 100 at a time," Orosei says. This method of averaging the information meant that sometimes the data contained a small, high reflectivity area, while other times it had mysteriously disappeared. "It was something that would really be frustrating in hindsight because we were of course spending years and years debating the possible causes, when in fact the solution really was to change the processing scheme of the spacecraft," Orosei says. Artistic impression of the Mars Express spacecraft probing the southern hemisphere of Mars,superimposed to a color mosaic of a portion of Planum Australe. The study area is highlightedusing a THEMIS IR image mosaic. Subsurface echo power is color coded and deep bluecorresponds to the strongest reflections, which are interpreted as being caused by the presence ofwater. USGS Astrogeology Science Center/Arizona State University/ESA/INAF/Davide Coero Borga Even after this breakthrough, the team spent years taking more observations of the south pole region. Mars Express does not repeat the exact same orbit of Mars, meaning long gaps of time can separate flights over the same area. In addition, the team could gather useful observations only at low altitudes and when the spacecraft was on the night side of Mars because the sun excites the ionosphere of the planet, which blocks radar signals. In total, it took three and a half years to obtain 29 observations of the target location. The scientist who designed MARSIS and who remained most adamant that the signals pointed to a subglacial lake, Giovanni Picardi, passed away during those years. "Professor Picardi... died in 2015, just a few months away from the completion of the data acquisition above the area. So it was really tragic that he could not live to see the end of this work," Orosei says. Even if Picardi wasn't there to see, the MARSIS team realized his dream and revealed a frigid reservoir of liquid water beneath the southern polar ice cap of Mars. The implications for complex systems of subsurface lakes could revitalize the debate about whether microorganisms could exist beneath the surface of Mars to this very day. "It was a long march, a sort of long march through the desert, and we are finally out of it," Orosei says. "It’s like a dark cloud has gone away." Lakes Upon Lakes? The study says the subglacial lake on Mars is cold indeed, and rather salty. Water ice that is near the melting point is opaque to radio waves, and so the ice above the lake must be well below freezing. Accordingly, the subglacial water must be at least negative 10 degrees Celsius. Artistic impression of the Mars Express spacecraft probing the southern hemisphere of Mars, superimposed on a radar cross section of the southern polar layered deposits. The radar cross section has been tilted 90°. The leftmost white line is the surface radar echo, while the light bluespots along the basal radar echo highlight areas of very high reflectivity, interpreted as being caused by the presence of water. ESA/INAF/Davide Coero Borga For this to be possible, the reservoir must be saturated with salts—likely salts of sodium, magnesium, and calcium, which have been discovered on the Martian surface. These salts can reduce the melting point of water to negative 74 degrees C, so the subglacial lake is likely between this temperature and around negative 10 or 20 degrees. "From what I think we have learned about this subglacial lake, the most likely analogue for this environment is the subglacial lake that was recently discovered in Canada... in which the lake itself is in contact with a deposit of salt, and so it is very very salty," Orosei says. Such subglacial lakes on Earth have been shown to support life in some cases. "There are microorganisms that are capable of surviving well below zero even without being in contact with water, and there are microorganisms that can use the salt, presumably the salt in the water on Mars... for their metabolism." The most intriguing possibility is that this Martian lake is not alone, but rather part of an extensive network expanding across the south polar region of Mars. “Data provide some hints that this single lake is not a unique finding," Orosei says. "We do see bright spots in other areas."<doc-sep>
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Indo-Asian News Service In a tantalising find, a team of Italian researchers on 26 July announced they have discovered a large saltwater lake under ice near the south pole on Red Planet— raising a possibility that life may be there on Mars in some form. The lake under the Martian ice stretches 20 kilometers across, said the team led by Roberto Orosei from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna in a paper detailed in the prestigious journal Science. The lake is about 1.5 kilometers beneath Mars's surface and is at least one meter deep. The detection was made using the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. If confirmed, it would be the first confirmed news of liquid water ever detected on the Red Planet. "We discovered water on Mars," said Orosei. In 2015, in the first-ever definitive signs of the presence of liquid water on the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured strong evidence for seasonal flows of liquid salty water on the Martian surface. In the new discovery, between May 2012 and December 2015, Orosei and colleagues used MARSIS to survey a region called Planum Australe, located in the southern ice cap of Mars. They obtained 29 sets of radar samplings, mapping out an area exhibiting a very sharp change in its associated radar signal, about 1.5 km below the surface of the ice and extending sideways about 20 kilometre. The radar profile of this area is similar to that of lakes of liquid water found beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets on Earth, suggesting that there is a subglacial lake at this location on Mars. "Although the temperature is expected to be below the freezing point of pure water, Orosei noted that dissolved salts of magnesium, calcium, and sodium—known to be present in Martian rocks— could be dissolved in the water to form a brine," said the study. "Together with the pressure of the overlying ice, this lowers the melting point, allowing the lake to remain liquid, as happens on Earth," the researchers noted. According to the journal Nature, if further studies confirm the existence of a lake, it could open new avenues for investigating Mars. "It begins a new line of inquiry that's very exciting," Jim Green, NASA's chief scientist, was quoted as saying. Nearly 4.5 billion years ago, Mars had six and a half times as much water as it does now and a thicker atmosphere. But most of this water has disappeared into space and the reason is that Mars no longer has global magnetic fields, like on the Earth. The magnetic field protects the Earth's atmosphere against degradation from energy-rich particles from the Sun. Orosei and team wrote: "There is no reason to conclude that the presence of subsurface water on Mars is limited to a single location."
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The first NFL preseason game of the season is set for tonight in Nashville: It's Tennessee Titans vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Titans are expected to be competitive this year, projected by ESPN at a 10-6 record in 2018. The Buccaneers have some question marks, projected at 8-8 after multiple close losses last season. Tonight's preseason game is about finding the answers and the journey of whittling down to the 53-man roster. Watching preseason games can be tricky since the usual networks don't usually televise them. But you can watch tonight's Titans vs. Buccaneers game in local markets and online. We have the TV channels for Nashville and the Tampa Bay area below are more. Titans vs. Buccaneers Preseason Week 2: Time: 8 p.m. ET Odds: Tennessee -3; over/under 41 Live stream : fubotv.com (you can get a free trial) TV Channels for Tamp Bay area: WFLA (NBC/8 - Tampa) ; WOFL (FOX/35 - Orlando) ; WOGX; (FOX/51 - Gainesville) ; WFTX (FOX/4 - Fort Myers) ; WTLH (FOX/49 - Tallahassee) ; WMBB (ABC/13 - Panama City) ; WFNA (CW/55 - Mobile AL) ; WZDX (My/54.2 - Huntsville AL) TV Channels for Tennessee area: WKRN (ABC/2 - Nashville) ; WLMT (CW/30 - Memphis) ; WATE (ABC/6 - Knoxville) ; WRCB (NBC/3 - Chattanooga) ; WJKT (FOX/16 - Jackson TN) ; WJHL (ABC/11 - Tri-Cities TN) ; WZDX (FOX/54 - Huntsville AL) ; WNKY (MeTV/40.3 - Bowling Green KY) ; WEHT (CW/7 - Evansville IN) ; KHON (CW/2.2 - Honolulu) Preview: *Tampa Bay has question marks in 2018. "A healthy Jameis Winston with improved chemistry with DeSean Jackson, a completely revamped defensive line and an improved secondary from the draft can go a long way," reports ESPN. *The Titans have a new coach in Mike Vrabel but one of the easier NFL schedules for 2018, which leads to a prediction of 10-6 for the regular season.<doc-sep>The Titans fell to the Buccaneers 30-14 Saturday night in Nashville. Tennessee is now 0-2 in the preseason. Here are our quick observations from the loss: – Nick Williams was the first punt returner for the Titans. He’s very rapidly working his way up the depth chart and would probably make the team if the decision had to be made right away. – Second play of the game was a screen for Derrick Henry. Expect a lot of this this season. He’s extremely dangerous in the open field and showed that after receiving the screen and breaking tackles. – Marcus Mariota missed badly on a deep ball intended for Corey Davis. It looked like good coverage forced Davis to adjust his route, and Mariota didn’t account for it with his throw. The good news is he didn’t put it in danger of getting intercepted. – Jayon Brown, who had an interception last week, nearly forced one this week. He blitzed and bull rushed his way to quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. He hit Fitzpatrick as he was throwing and forced the ball straight up in the air, but no Titans could corral it. Brown had a nice second series with a couple good plays in coverage too. – A Dion Lewis sighting! He got stuffed on his first carry to open Tennessee’s second series, but then he made two very nice catches and runs to keep the drive going. – We got a very nice look at how explosive Taywan Taylor can be. The Titans ran a very simple wide receiver screen for him, and the second-year receiver immediately took it through his blockers and in for a 47-yard score. That was the kind of quick-hitting, electric offense we can expect to see from the Titans this season. – Harold Landry lined up on the left side on the Bucs second drive and immediately got pressure on Fitzpatrick to force him to try and scramble for a few yards. – Veteran safety Kendrick Lewis had a really nice pass breakup on tight end OJ Howard to force a Buccaneers punt. That’s a good sign for the Titans who need to find a player to fill in as the No. 3 safety. – David Fluellen was the first running back in the game with the second team. It looks like he might have a roster spot wrapped up unless something dramatically changes over the next three weeks. – We got an interesting defensive look from the Titans with more of a 4-3 look with Aaron Wallace lined up as an off-ball linebacker. He immediately knifed in to blow up a run play in the backfield. – The Bucs got a touchdown, but it was negated thanks to a holding call drawn by Landry, who badly beat tackle Brad Seaton – a former Titan. It was the second holding call involving Landry on the series. The first was on a run play where he was held by tight end OJ Howard. – Fluellen had an incredible run where he broke three tackles, kept his balance well, and found seven yards on a play that should’ve gone for a loss of three or four. He’s really making his case to keep his roster spot. – The Titans secondary reserves got carved up, but it’s important to note they were working against Bucs starting quarterback Jameis Winston. He’s suspended for the first three weeks of the season, so he’s working with the second team while Fitzpatrick gets the first team reps. They allowed a touchdown on a ball that was thrown up for grabs. It needed to get knocked down, and instead they allowed the receiver to grab it for a touchdown. – Undrafted rookie receiver Cameron Batson had another explosive return. He cut one from right to left and turned the corner to pick up 44 yards. It’s hard to envision him landing on the 53-man roster, but he’s making a real case for a practice squad bid. – Speaking of UDFA receivers, Devin Ross took a screen for a nice gain before fumbling. It was recovered by the Buccaneers. That’s not a great look for a player on the roster bubble. – Kendrick Lewis had another nice play to rip the ball away from a receiver after a catch. A penalty negated the play, but it was still a plus play for the veteran safety. – Dalyn Dawkins was the fourth running back on for the Titans. He had a terrific first drive. He ran hard and chewed up 15 yards on four carries. He wound up leading the team in carries with 11. – Taywan Taylor is good at football. His playmaking ability is going to really be unleashed this season. – Tennessee can’t afford a ton of injuries in their secondary, and Kendrick Lewis pulled up lame after a third-down throw. He appeared to be favoring his lower calf as he limped off the field with the help of trainers. – One of the cornerbacks deep on the Titans 90-man roster came up with a big play! Undrafted rookie Rico Gafford had a nice pass breakup to force a Buccaneers punt late in the third quarter. – Daren Bates made a tremendous defensive play with a huge hit on a Buccaneers running back, but he nullified it when he took off his helmet and was flagged for taunting. – The backup quarterback battle, if there was one, ended Saturday. Luke Falk was not good in his quarter of work, and Blaine Gabbert had a serviceable performance.<doc-sep>The Titans’ 30-14 loss to the Buccaneers may not have any bearing on the regular season. However, we can still get plenty of info from these four preseason performances. Here’s what we took away from the second preseason game. First-team offense sharp again Despite a slow start to the contest, the Titans first-team offense looked good once again. Derrick Henry had four touches on the first series and looked good as a runner and receiver. It feels like the Titans are waiting for the regular season to unleash the whole of his pass-catching ability. There was one bad miscue with a throw from Marcus Mariota to Corey Davis, but it was mostly due to great coverage, and perhaps a slight miscommunication. Dion Lewis dominated the touches to open the second series, but he showed how excellent he is with the ball in his hands. He took a quick throw up the left sideline for a nice gain after turning the corner, then he made two defenders miss and broke a tackle on a pass over the middle. Then we got a good look at the quick-hitting explosiveness of the Titans’ offense. They ran a screen for Taywan Taylor who made an electric run after the catch to outrun everyone thanks to a couple nice blocks. That won’t be the last one of those he gets this season.<doc-sep>
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NASHVILLE, TN - AUGUST 18: Quarterback Jameis Winston #3 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drops back to pass against the Tennessee Titans during the first half of a pre-season game at Nissan Stadium on August 18, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) In the Buccaneers preseason victory against Titans, Jameis Winston proved why he should be the starting quarterback for Tampa Bay. After a week of Teddy Bridgewater trade talk and Marcus Mariota comparisons, Jameis Winston made his mark on the field as the Bucs toppled the Titans 30-14. Winston went 13-of-18 for 226 yards and two touchdowns. The highlight of the night for Winston was his 21-yard back shoulder throw to Justin Watson. It was delivered perfectly, no Titans defender had a chance to swat it away. Throughout a handful of drives, Winston was able to spread the ball to other targets as well. His safety valve Cameron Brate was targeted as was Chris Godwin, who came down with a floating pass from Winston around three Titans defenders for six points. It was a reminder of how good Winston can be. He looks so comfortable in Dirk Koetter’s offense and has immense trust in his talented receiving corps. Despite the strong showing with Winston, the offense looked inept with Ryan Fitzpatrick at the helm. Fitzpatrick managed to move the ball down the field on Tampa’s second drive, despite his accuracy issues. One trip netted three points, but it could have been six as Fitzpatrick missed a pair of red zone throws. Want your voice heard? Join the The Pewter Plank team! Write for us! This game displayed the gap between Fitzpatrick and Winston. Winston was on the money, as Fitzpatrick completed less than half of his attempts. While Fitzpatrick was solid last week, his inconsistency is why he will return to the backup role once Winston returns. Although none of the other running backs could find room, Peyton Barber excelled on the ground. In his short stint on the field, he averaged 5.3 yards per carry and helped put the offense in third-and-manageable situations. This game provided even more distance between Barber and the rest of the Buccaneers running backs. On the defensive side of the ball, the starters showed both the good and the bad. On their initial series, they pressured Marcus Mariota and silenced the Titans offense. On the next drive, Taywan Taylor exposed the Bucs defense as he took a screen pass 47 yards to the house. Tackling was the defense’s biggest issue against Tennessee. David Fluellen, the Titans third-string running back bounced of Tampa’s first-team defense on multiple occasions. On the bright side, M.J. Stewart flashed his ability to create turnovers. He stripped two Titans, and the Buccaneers were able to recover one of the loose balls. With both Carlton Davis and Vernon Hargreaves injured, he made the most of his opportunity to play with the starters. Bucs safety Jordan Whitehead has a shoulder injury and is doubtful to return. Cornerback MJ Stewart, who’s had a heck of a night, has a foot injury and is questionable. — JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) August 19, 2018 The second half was mostly uneventful. Despite the Tennessee running backs looking strong, Blaine Gabbert wasn’t able to make much happen through the air. Bucs quarterback Ryan Griffin did make some noise with a strong early in the final period. He connected with Dare Ogunbowale on a deep pass and found Sergio Bailey in the end zone. Griffin proved that he deserves a spot on the Tampa Bay roster. Are the kicking woes behind the Bucs? Well, Chandler Catanzaro gave the fans some hope as he nailed all three of his field goal attempts and all of his extra point attempts. It was a step in the right direction for Tampa Bay’s recent kicking woes.
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The official weigh ins are in the books for Bellator Newcastle “Pitbull vs. Scope,” which takes place tomorrow night (Sat., Feb. 9, 2019) inside Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England, featuring knockout artist Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (20-8) and local favorite Ryan Scope (10-1) in the lightweight main event. The complete Bellator Newcastle weigh-in results below: Bellator Newcastle Main Card: Patricky Freire (156) vs. Ryan Scope (155) Corey Browning (155.5) vs. Aaron Chalmers (156) Terry Brazier (156) vs. Chris Bungard (156) Lee Chadwick (187.5) vs. Fabian Edwards (186)* Bellator Newcastle Prelims: Arunas Andriuskevicus (206) vs. James Mulheron (205) Abner Lloveras (170.5) vs. Jim Wallhead (170) Cal Ellenor (135) vs. Nathan Greyson (136) Ranjeet Baria (145.5) vs. Nathan Rose (146) Justin Burlinson (169) vs. Maciej Gierszewski (170) Richard Kallos (134) vs. Luke Westwood (135) Ashley Reece (170) vs. John Ross (171) Martin Hudson (183.5) vs. Tommy Quinn (186) Kieran Lister (156) vs. Dave McLaughlin (154.5) Milad Ahady (153.5) vs. Joseph Calboutin (155.5) Mindaugas Gerve (254) vs. Tony Mustard (242.5) *Missed weight by 1.5 pounds MMAmania.com will deliver coverage of Bellator Newcastle: “Pitbull vs. Scope” tomorrow night, with the main card on Bellator.com at 5 p.m. ET. See you then!<doc-sep>Viacom’s version of MMA is hopping back across the pond for Bellator Newcastle this Saturday, February 9. The top of the billing will see elite Bellator lightweight Patricky Freire square off with former BAMMA lightweight champion Ryan Scope. Reality TV star Aaron Chalmers will be featured in the co-main event as he puts his perfect 4-0 record on the line against the 4-2 Corey Browning. Before that, undefeated 5-0 prospect Fabian Edwards is slated to face the more experienced 24-13-1 Lee Chadwick. Opening up the main card, BAMMA’s current lightweight and welterweight king Terry Brazier has been paired up with the 13-4 Chris Bungard. **Bellator Newcastle can be seen this Saturday, February 9, on the Bellator app at 5:00 P.M. ET, and on Channel 5 in the UK. Main card: Patricky Freire (20-8 MMA; 13-7 Bellator) vs. Ryan Scope (11-1 MMA: Bellator Debut): Lightweight Patricky Pitbull has continues to prove himself as one of Bellator’s elite lightweights. The older Pitbull brother has strung together four-straight victories over longtime MMA vets. Pitbull knocked out Josh Thomson, Derek Campos, and Roger Huerta. He also earned a split decision over former UFC lightweight champ Ben Henderson. Looking to make it five in a row, expect Pitbull to be as heavy handed as ever, but also willing to change levels and blast a takedown if need be. Ryan Scope picked up a split decision win over UFC veteran Mickael Lebout to capture BAMMA’s lightweight belt... in 2017. Since then, Scope has been on the sidelines, but the 11-1 Brit will be making his return to the sport, and against Pitbull no less. Scope has shown off a quick and accurate jab, and will definitely need that tool to deal with the firepower of Pitbull. If Scope manages to come out victorious, then he would catapult himself to the front of the line at lightweight. Aaron Chalmers (4-0 MMA; 1-0 Bellator) vs. Corey Browning (4-2 MMA, 1-0 Bellator) : Lightweight Aaron Chalmers is a reality T.V. star from the Geordie Shore, and successfully made his promotional debut against Ash Griffiths back at Bellator 200. Chalmers dropped Griffiths with a right hand, and then locked up a standing guillotine to prompt the tap, all in under two minutes. With a record of just 4-0 and each of those wins occurring in the first round, there are still a ton of questions about the abilities of Chalmers. Regardless of the outcome, it will more than likely be entertaining. Corey Browning was brought into Bellator on a two-fight losing skid to take on Baby Slice, Kevin Ferguson Jr. Browning overcame some early adversity to score a second round TKO of Baby Slice which punched his ticket to another fight with the promotion. Just like his opponent, Browning has never seen a decision, or a third round at that. There’s a great chance of this fight ending early. Can Browning play the role of name-killer once again? Fabian Edwards (5-0 MMA; 1-0 Bellator) vs. Lee Chadwick (24-13-1 MMA; Bellator Debut): Middleweight The 5-0 prospect Fabian Edwards is the brother of the UFC’s #9 ranked welterweight Leon Edwards. Despite his young record, Edwards has already showcased some rather polished striking, grappling, and decision making. Three submissions, a flying knee, and a liver kick are what make up the five wins of Edwards. His opponents holds the experience edge, but that might be about it. Edwards should have a substantial advantage when it comes to the standup. Lee Chadwick scored a first-round guillotine and first-round heel hook to earn a shot at Cage Warrior’s middleweight belt. Chadwick made good on his championship fight, winning a decision over Victor Cheng back in October of 2017. After missing all of the 2018 calendar year, Chadwick makes his return to action against a highly talented prospect. Chadwick will be looking to grapple here. His standup leaves something to be desired, so he’s going to want to plant his opponent on his back as quick as possible. **It should be noted that Lee Chadwick missed weight by 1.5 pounds Terry Brazier (10-1 MMA; Bellator Debut) vs. Chris Bungard (13-4 MMA; Bellator Debut): Lightweight BAMMA champ champ Terry Brazier has been firing on all cylinders, earning nine-straight victories and capturing gold at 155 and 170 pounds. Brazier is heavy handed but often looks for the takedown, where he is known to unleash some rather savage ground and pound. Once Brazier closes the distance, it’s quite the task to return to open space. Can Brazier make a statement in his Bellator debut? Chris Bungard has amassed a 13-4 record fighting all over the place and now gets a shot at the Bellator big stage. Bungard is quite fluid on the feet and comes complete with flashy spinning attacks. He’s also pretty lethal on the ground, with the bulk of his wins coming by way of submission. Bungard has a big chance here to beat a two-division champ in his Bellator debut, which would be quite the achievement.<doc-sep>
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Newcastle plays host to the first event in the newly-launched Bellator MMA European Series this weekend, with a stacked card packed with local and international fighting talent set to light up the Utilita Arena on Saturday. We’ve teamed up with global mixed martial arts promotion Bellator, to offer one lucky reader the chance to get their hands on a pair of tickets to this must-see fighting spectacle. Bellator Newcastle: Pitbull vs. Scope will be headlined by Sunderland lightweight and former BAMMA champion, Ryan Scope, who faces one of the most feared competitors in MMA, Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Joining Scope on the main card is Newcastle’s very own Aaron Chalmers, who is currently undefeated having moved into MMA after forging a successful career as a reality TV star on hit show Geordie Shore. Bellator Newcastle is expected to sell out, with thousands of passionate fans set to create an electric atmosphere inside the Utilita Arena. This night of spectacular MMA action is not to be missed. For your chance to win a pair of tickets to Bellator Newcastle: Pitbull vs. Scope, simply fill in and submit the form here. All data shared in entering this competition will be used for administration ONLY. Winners contact details will be passed to the client Bellator in order to ensure that prizes can be received. Reach plc and members of its group will not use your data for any marketing purposes. After 90 days from the competition closure DATE all entry details will be deleted. We take data protection very seriously, and your data will not be shared with any third parties. Please see our privacy notice www.chroniclelive.co.uk/rules for details. Terms and conditions: Standard Reach plc promotion rules apply, visit www.chroniclelive.co.uk/terms-conditions for details. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. All entries must include a valid phone number. One winner will be selected at random from all complete entries received by the closing date. Tickets are for two people on February 9 only. No cash alternative and the prize is non transferable. Closing Date for entries is 12pm on Friday, February 8 winners will be notified later that day.
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Speaking with Fox News Laura Ingraham, top White House aide and son-in-law to the President Jared Kushner tore into the media Monday night. Kushner’s comments were prompted by Ingraham noting “a lot of ink has been spilled” over the Trump administration. She then played a clip of CNN’s Jake Tapper saying — referring to the Mueller probe: “I’m not sure what you’re saying the media got wrong. The media reported what in the investigation was going on.” In response, Kushner said this: The media got the election wrong. They thought for sure Hillary Clinton was going to win…Their data was wrong. Their analysis was wrong. And then it happened. Not a single person got fired. Not a single person apologized…We’re in a very unique time. People sometimes let their hatred for Trump overtake their rational ability to kind of look at things objectively. I think that when the dust settles and this whole administration is over, I think people will look back on these historic gains that have been achieved. He was not done yet. “On the other hand you can say because the media is so distracted with Russia, Russia, Russia and all of these crazy conspiracy theories, we’ve been able to operate underneath that level and just really be effective,” Kushner further opined. “The number of times that CNN wrote things about me that I would then call and say that’s not true, they would say well we have a source. It is what it is. I hope that going forward and everybody will look at it and have cooler heads and focus that we’re on the same team.” Watch above, via Fox News Have a tip we should know? [email protected]<doc-sep>White House senior advisor Jared Kushner spoke with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham tonight about issues in his father-in-law’s administration following the White House criminal justice reform event today. Ingraham brought up the whistleblower who spoke to the House Oversight Committee who raised concerns about the security clearance process and how a number of clearances were signed off on despite some issues. “The left is going crazy about this security clearance issue,” Ingraham said. “I can’t comment for the White House’s process, but what I can say is that over the last two years that I’ve been here, I’ve been accused of all different types of things. All of those things have turned out to be false,” he responded, before bringing up “a lot of crazy accusations that we colluded with Russia.” Ingraham amusedly asked if he poses a “grave national security concern” to the country. Kushner just praised the “phenomenal people” he works with. Ingraham said it looks like Democrats are “moving the goalposts” after the Mueller investigation. Kushner responded by saying there’s a difference between what the American people care about and what Washington and the media care about. There’s been particular scrutiny over Kushner’s security clearance in recent months. The New York Times recently reported Trump ordered that Kushner get a top-secret security clearance, “overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer.” You can watch above, via Fox News. [image via screengrab] Have a tip we should know? [email protected]<doc-sep>Jared Kushner ripped Democrats for talk of Russia and collusion in his interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham tonight. With the Mueller investigation completed, Kushner told Ingraham President Donald Trump has been “fully vindicated” and that he personally wasn’t worried. Ingraham knocked House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff and other Democrats for talking as if “the report didn’t even come out.” She ran a clip of Schiff saying a few days ago that “there’s ample evidence of collusion in plain sight” and that “that is not the same thing as whether Bob Mueller will be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the crime of conspiracy.” Kushner said in response, “Talking about this nonsense further, especially two years and being wrong so many times, is just really not productive. And quite frankly, it’s kind of an embarrassment for our democracy.” You can watch above, via Fox News. [image via screengrab] Have a tip we should know? [email protected]<doc-sep>Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here. Developing now, Tuesday, April 2, 2019 FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: JARED KUSHNER SPEAKS OUT - In an exclusive interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, addressed Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings in the Russia investigation, his coverage in the mainstream media and the president's threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border ... Kushner said any further attempts by Democrats to pursue a Russia collusion investigation would be "not productive" and "an embarrassment to our democracy" and that he's willing to testify on Capitol Hill about Russia. Kushner said Trump's threats to close the U.S.-Mexico border are a way "to pressure everybody" into taking action to limit illegal immigration. Click on the videos above to watch Laura Ingraham's interview with Jared Kushner. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP. BIDEN'S BLUES: Joe Biden's potential 2020 candidacy may be in jeopardy before it even begins after a second woman has come forward to accuse former vice president of inappropriate touching ... Amy Lappos, 43, first told the Hartford Courant in an interview published Monday that Biden grabbed her during a $1,000-per-plate October 2009 fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. Lappos, who was working as an aide for Himes at the time, said Biden's action's weren't sexual, but that he did grab her. Her accusations came on the heels of a similar claim by former Nevada lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores, who said Monday she'd still vote for Biden over Trump, despite her claims. THE BATTLE OVER THE MUELLER REPORT: As House Judiciary Committee Democrats prepare subpoenas seeking the release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report from the Justice Department, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz says Attorney General William Barr is not legally required to make the report public ... In an interview on "Hannity" Monday night, Dershowitz used the “shoe on the other foot” test to demonstrate that the Trump administration doesn’t have to comply with the Democrats' demands. Click on the video above to watch Dershowitz's interview. CONFERENCE FEATURING 2020 DEMS HIGHLIGHTS FUGITIVE COP-KILLER: A conference featuring eight prominent 2020 Democrat presidential hopefuls kicked off in Washington, D.C. on Monday with the fiery rallying cry of a fugitive cop-killer ... Jamal Watkins, vice president of civic engagement at the NAACP, began by telling the audience at the We the People conference that he would invoke the words of Assata Shakur (aka Joanne Chesimard), who was convicted of the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper when she was in the Black Liberation Army. Among the groups in attendance were the Sierra Club, MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, SEIU and Communications Workers of America. Speakers included 2020 Democratic White House contenders Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. REPORT: SAUDIS GIVE BLOOD MONEY TO SLAIN ACTIVIST'S FAMILY - Saudi Arabia has given multimillion-dollar homes and monthly five-figure payments to the children of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post writer who was killed in a Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last October, as compensation for their father’s death, according to a report ... The payments to Khashoggi’s two sons and two daughters are part of a long-term arrangement to ensure they refrain from speaking out, the Washington Post reported. THE SOUNDBITE COLLUSION BETWEEN DEMS AND MEDIA 'BUDDIES' - "The Democrats on the left here just want to get their hands on the report so — it’ll probably be classified, there will be a lot of classified information in there so they can leak it to all the bodies in the media, so they can continue on going down rabbit holes of pretending that there is some kind of Russian collusion.”– U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on "Outnumbered Overtime," on Democrats' push to have the unredacted Mueller report released to the public. (Click the image above to watch the full video.) TODAY'S MUST-READS MSNBC's Ocasio-Cortez Town Hall falls flat, loses to Tucker Carlson in ratings. Mick Jagger to undergo heart surgery in NYC this week, reports say. Murdered University of South Carolina student's cause of death revealed. Nipsey Hussle shooting suspect ID'd by Los Angeles police. MINDING YOUR BUSINESS Border shutdown: Here's how U.S. economy could be impacted. Boeing to submit Max update to FAA in 'coming weeks,' agency says. Amazon slashing prices at Whole Foods this week. STAY TUNED On Fox News: Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Howard Schultz, former Starbucks chairman and CEO and potential 2020 presidential candidate; U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. On Fox Business Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn. Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Steve Nelson, Nebraska Farm Bureau president. Trish Regan Primetime, 8 p.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Kennedy, 9 p.m. ET: An interview with Carter Page, former Trump campaign adviser. On Fox News Radio: The Fox News Rundown podcast: "Fox News Speaks to ISIS Bride" - A dozen states have signed onto the "National Popular Vote Interstate Compact" in an attempt to have more control over the Electoral College. John Koza, originator of the National Popular Vote legislation, and Chris Stirewalt, Fox News digital politics editor, discuss what this means for the 2020 presidential campaigns and election. Fox News' Benjamin Hall discusses his interview with Hoda Muthana, an American-born former ISIS bride embroiled in a legal battle with the Trump administration over her attempt to return to the U.S. Plus, commentary by Jessica Tarlov, senior director of research at Bustle.com and Fox News contributor. Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: President Trump's threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border, the Mueller report and Joe Biden's woes in the 2020 presidential race will be the topics of debate with the following guests: author Ron Kessler; former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla.; Chris Stirewalt, Fox News digital politics editor.<doc-sep>
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In an interview with the Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday, Jared Kushner was asked about claims that he got a White House security clearance despite official objections. The president's son-in-law and adviser shrugged off the question, comparing the claim to the allegation of Russian collusion investigated by the special counsel Robert Mueller. Kushner said questions over his security clearance were from the same school of "crazy accusations" as unproven claims of collusion — then he moved on. The moment, along with similar moves by other allies of President Donald Trump, shows how citing the Mueller investigation might become a strategy to paint any scrutiny as overblown and hysterical. In an interview broadcast Monday night, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, shrugged off questions over his White House security clearance, granting a glimpse of a political playbook that could loom large in the months to come. Speaking with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Kushner used the central finding of the special counsel Robert Mueller's report — which the Justice Department has said did not find evidence of illegal collusion with Russia — to avoid answering about something unrelated. Here is the exchange, with the relevant segment highlighted: Ingraham: The left is going crazy about the security-clearance issue. And a whistleblower from the White House has now given a private interview on Capitol Hill with Democrats, and she says that 25 individuals were able to leapfrog over the career people's concerns about security clearances, and they received security clearances, in her view, improperly. What's your reaction for that? Kushner: Well, I can't comment for the White House's process, but what I can say is that over the last few years that I've been here, I've been accused of all different types of things, and all of those things have turned out to be false. We've had a lot of crazy accusations, like, that we colluded with Russia. I complied with all the different investigations, whether it be the Senate, the House, the special counsel. I've sat for nearly 20 hours of interviews with them. By grouping the claims together, Kushner implied that the concerns voiced to Congress by a White House whistleblower about his security clearance would be similarly resolved. Kushner is not the first to name-drop Mueller's report to discredit unrelated investigations into the Trump administration. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a recent message to supporters on Facebook, used Mueller to solicit funds for reelection, posting an image of Democratic leaders with the text "these investigations will never end" superimposed on them. —Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) 2 April 2019 The president's son Donald Trump Jr. on Sunday cited the report to attack the media as a "blight on our republic." Trump in a tweet last week complained that "no matter what the Radical Left Democrats get, no matter what we give them, it will never be enough," continuing: "Just watch, they will Harass & Complain & Resist (the theme of their movement). So maybe we should just take our victory and say NO, we've got a Country to run!" Democrats are demanding more of Mueller's report than the summary provided to Congress by Attorney General William Barr, which Trump and his allies have inaccurately described as a "total exoneration." The House Judiciary Committee's chairman, Jerry Nadler, a Democrat, said on Monday that his panel planned to issue subpoenas to acquire the full 400-page Mueller report.
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SCOTLAND welcome Belgium to Hampden Park on Friday for an international friendly. Alex McLeish's side host a Belgium side who finished third in the 2018 World Cup after beating England in the third-placed game. 1 Alex McLeish's side face Belgium in a friendly before kicking off their Nations League campaign against Albania Credit: Kenny Ramsay - The Sun Glasgow What time is kick-off? This game takes place on Friday, September 7. It will be held at Hampden Park. Kick-off is at 7.45pm. Which channel is it on and can I live stream it? You can watch this game live on Sky Sports Main Event, with coverage starting at 7pm. To stream the game live, you can buy a Sky Sports Day Pass from NOW TV for £7.99. Alternatively, you can keep up-to-date with the latest action from the game with the SunSport LIVE blog. What is the team news? Here's your Scotland team to face Belgium in our International Friendly at Hampden this evening.#NothingMattersMore pic.twitter.com/6xKw14qB66 — Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) September 7, 2018<doc-sep>The side that finished third at Russia 2018 are at Hampden as they start to build towards Euro 2020 Fresh from finishing third at the World Cup, Belgium are back in action on Thursday, when they will tackle Scotland in a friendly match at Hampden. It is not entirely unknown territory for Roberto Martinez, who spent the 2001-02 season with Motherwell, while Shaun Maloney, who has recently been added to his coaching staff, has many fond memories of the stadium playing for both Celtic and Scotland. The Red Devils are using this as a stop off before travelling to Iceland for a Nations League match on Tuesday, while Scotland will play their inaugural match in that competition against Albania on Monday as they begin their quest to qualify for a first major tournament since 1998. Here is all the essential information. Game Scotland vs Belgium Date Friday, September 7 Time 7:45pm BST / 2:45pm ET TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch In the United States (US) the game will available to stream live online using ESPN+. US TV channel Online stream n/a ESPN+ The game can be watched live on television in the United Kingdom (UK) via Sky Sports Main Event and it can be streamed live online using Sky Go. UK TV channel Online stream Sky Sports Main Event Sky Go Squads & Team News Position Scotland squad Goalkeepers Archer, Gordon, McGregor Defenders Mulgrew, O'Donnell, Robertson, Shinnie, Souttar, Tierney Midfielders Armstrong, Forrest, Fraser, Jack, McDonald, McGinn, McGregor, McTominay, Paterson, Snodgrass Forwards Griffiths, Naismith, Russell Alex McLeish has seen Celtic centre-back Jack Hendry, Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney, WBA star Matt Phillips and Oliver McBurnie of Swansea pull out of his squad because of injuries. Meanwhile, there are plenty of headaches elsewhere in the side, with Matt Ritchie and Barry Douglas among the casualties. The squad named is inexperienced, with only six outfielders boasting double figures in terms of caps. Potential Scotland starting XI: Gordon; Souttar, Mulgrew, Tierney; Paterson, McGinn, Armstrong, Robertson; Forrest, Griffiths, McGregor Position Belgium squad Goalkeepers Courtois, Sles, Casteels Defenders Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Kompany, Vertonghen, Meunier, Castagne, Boyata, Dendoncker Midfielders Witsel, Vanaken, Verstraete, Carrasco, Tielemans, Dembele, Chadli Forwards Lukaku, Hazard, Mertens, Hazard, Batshuayi, Trossard Roberto Martinez has a smattering of injury problems before this encounter, with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne notably missing out. Simon Mignolet, Marouane Fellaini and Christian Benteke were all named in the initial squad for this clash but have been forced to withdraw because of problems, while Adnan Januzaj is also unavailable. Eden Hazard and Nacer Chadli have been carrying knocks and may not play a full role. Potential Belgium starting XI: Courtois; Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Kompany; Meunier, Dembele, Witsel, Chadli; Hazard, Mertens; Lukaku Betting & Match Odds Belgium are hot favourites with bet365 to win this fixture, priced at 4/9, while Scotland can be backed at 8/1. Meanwhile, the draw is 7/2. Click here to see more offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more. Match Preview Belgium fell short in their goal of winning the World Cup in the summer, yet Roberto Martinez’s men came very close to getting their hands on the trophy for the first time. A pragmatic France side got the better of them in the semi-finals, but that was their only blemish in a competition in which they ousted Brazil and came of age as one of the game’s big guns. Article continues below Their quest for a major title does not exactly begin at Hampden on Friday – a Nations League clash against Iceland on Tuesday provides that starting point – but it does provide an opportunity to soothe any wounds that may still be open after coming so close in Russia. Scotland, meanwhile, are simply seeking to build towards reaching the finals of Euro 2020, where Hampden Park will play host to three matches. It has been a long wait of over 20 years since they last graced such a stage but there is optimism that a promising batch of young players might be able to end their drought. Historically, this is a fixture that Belgium have much the better of, having won 10 of the previous 17 meetings and losing only four. It would be a shock if they did not enhance those statistics in Glasgow on Friday.<doc-sep>MEN against boys. This was billed as a friendly between Scotland and Belgium. 5 A dejected Alex McLeish Credit: Willie Vass In actual fact, it was a mismatch. Alex McLeish's side were taught a lesson against the World Cup bronze medallists. The only consolation is that Nations League opponents Albania and Israel won't come close to Belgium's standard. But we must hope that this heavy Hampden defeat doesn't damage us for the competitive games. 5 Belgium were rampant in their victory Credit: EPA Teams get a world-class label far too easily these days, but Belgium are truly on a different planet. Their skill, pace and power is frightening. Roberto Martinez’s side are on another level. As Gordon Strachan said, we simply can’t physically compete against these athletes. Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Dries Mertens lit up Hampden in a masterclass. But at the centre of Belgium's emphatic victory was midfielder Mousa Dembele. The Tottenham man makes this side tick. He plays the game so effortlessly. Any young footballer hoping to have a career at the top level should just study his performance at Hampden. Hazard and Mertens have the flicks and tricks but Dembele's one-touch passing is sublime. 5 Mousa Dembele bossed the midfield Credit: Reuters Football isn't just about dribbling and skills. Moving the ball quickly is so important and he is up there with the best. Dembele is always in space, he rarely wastes a ball and knows when to press. What a player he is. Yes, Dembele could score more. The fact he's never got over five in a season is why he doesn't always play for Spurs. But he's absolutely top-class and had a hand in so much that was good about Belgium's display. Look at the first goal when he presses John McGinn and forces an error. Seconds later, Lukaku has a tap in. It was the same for Belgium's third - with his cushioned pass setting off the move for Michy Batshuayi's finish. Scotland were up against a top team but it doesn't matter who you are playing, make mistakes and you will be punished. Hazard's goal? World class. But for the other three, Scotland will feel they could have done better. 5 Craig Gordon's quick throw led to the opener Credit: Willie Vass I’m surprised at Craig Gordon's throw for the first goal because he rarely makes a mistake like that.At Celtic, he can get away with that. It's false football compared to this level - as teams won't press so high. Yes, people will say that McGinn should show at a different angle and take a better touch. But these guys just wait for the second and then they hurt you. That's what Dembele did. It was the same for the third goal when Charlie Mulgrew's pass out of defence was pounced on by the ruthless Belgians. Then Ryan Jack was caught on the ball for the fourth as he fell into a trap - and Scotland paid the price. Yet that's what sets teams like Belgium apart. They think quicker than normal players. One slack touch or overhit pass and they are on you like a rash. Then they have the ability to hurt you. 5 Ryan Jack was caught in possession for the fourth Credit: Kenny Ramsay - The Sun Glasgow This was always going to be a huge test for Scotland. They don't come much better than Belgium in international terms. But these are the games where you learn a lot about players and whether they can cope at this level. I actually liked the look of Alex McLeish's line-up, with Callum McGregor sitting in behind Leigh Griffiths. The three centre halves were also there to allow the midfielders freedom to move forward. But up against world-class players, that was virtually impossible and Griffiths was too isolated. John Souttar deserved his chance at the back. He maybe feels he's been unfairly overlooked in the past year. Romelu Lukaku was the ultimate test for him and he will be better for the experience. There were some positive moments for McLeish - and Scotland did create a few openings. But all his players really had to show for the friendly was the Belgian strips they swapped at the end. At least one day they will be able to tell their grandkids they played against some of the world's very best. But watching it, you couldn't help but fear that the October glamour friendly with Portugal leads to another defeat and more negativity. Yes, the supporters want to see the big names - but when it's men against boys like this it can set you back. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers from Scottish football plus fixtures, results and live match commentary<doc-sep>21:39 KEY EVENT FULL TIME: Scotland 0-4 Belgium Three of the goals were very much Scotland shooting themselves in the foot but the way the stall was set out was dire from the outset. A defeatist approach and a heavy defeat is the end result. Lukaku with opener, Eden Hazard added a second before a double from the impressive sub Batsuhayi. A harrowing Hampden defeat for McLeish and his troops. NOT good enough - even against top opponents.<doc-sep>
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Fulham midfielder Kevin McDonald expects Scotland to be on the front foot against Belgium on Friday before their UEFA Euro Nations League opener against Albania. Scotland host World Cup semi-finalists Belgium in a friendly at Hampden Park just three days before they entertain Albania at the same venue, with both matches live and exclusive on Sky Sports. Live International Football Former Burnley and Wolves midfielder McDonald says Scotland will use the Belgium game as an opportunity to experiment before the first competitive game of Alex McLeish's second spell in charge of the Scots. "It's the start of a new campaign for us," McDonald said. Live UEFA Nations League "Of course we are playing Belgium on Friday night, which will be a tough game. It's a tough game for anyone but we have got to go about our business positively. "I think it's good for us to test ourselves against this sort of opposition - it's what you want to do as a footballer. We won't be going into it [the match with Belgium] to make up the numbers. We'll try and play and be positive. Image: McDonald joined Fulham in 2016 and helped them earn Premier League promotion "We have a new squad here and it's all about getting some game-time together. Obviously we have got a massive game on Monday but Friday night will be a time to test things out. "I think we've just got to go on and put on a show and get the fans behind us." Watch the Nations League live on Sky and get two football channels for one great price. Get Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football in HD - now £18 a month
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Queen Elizabeth may have had a bumpy ride today on her way into Royal Ascot‘s Ladies Day! On Thursday, a member of the Royal Procession — just four carriages long and led by the Queen — fell from his horse while dressed in a full traditional uniform. He was photographed as he hit the ground, right after the procession had entered the winners’ enclosure. Get push notifications with news, features and more. Royal Ascot - Day Three - Ascot Racecourse Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Images/Getty A few subsequent images show him crouched, perhaps trying to climb back onto his horse. The U.K. newspaper Express reported that he wasn’t injured. Royal Ascot - Day Three - Ascot Racecourse Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Images/Getty Also in the procession: Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice and Princess Anne in the second carriage. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Earl and Countess of Snowdon were in the third. And the Queen’s land agent Sir Marcus O’Lone and his wife Lady O’Lone, alongside Peter Troughton and his wife Sarah, a cousin of the Queen, were in the fourth. Royal Ascot 2018 - Day 3 Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage<doc-sep>Everything You Need to Know About Royal Ascot — Including the Queen's Strict Dress Code! Get out your top hat — it’s Ascot time! The annual event, a highlight on the British social calendar, has arrived, and with it comes hats, horses, and of course, lots of glamour. Get push notifications with news, features and more. Britain’s most iconic horse race event attracts the world’s finest racehorses to compete for millions in prize money — and the royal family takes center stage. PEOPLE previously spoke with Juliet Slot, Commercial Director at Royal Ascot, to get all the details on Britain’s racing of the event of the year, which kicks off on Tuesday. 1. Royal Ascot is steeped in tradition. Royal Ascot came to be soon after 1711, when Queen Anne rode out from Windsor Castle to the field where the race now takes place, and said, “This would be a fine place for a race,” according to Slot. The first event was held later that year, and has continued since. Royal Ascot - Day One Prince William and Kate Middleton at Royal Ascot 2017 | Credit: INSTAR And a tradition that’s almost as longstanding as the race itself is the royal procession — it was introduced in 1825 by King George IV. The procession sees Queen Elizabeth and her guests make their entrance to Ascot in a number of Landau carriages every day at precisely 2 o’clock. The Queen‘s carriage leads the procession, with others following behind. Only invited guests of the Queen are granted seats in the carriages. It’s a formula that works: The royal procession “doesn’t change year to year,” Slot says. “It’s exactly the same.” Royal Ascot - Day 4 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Royal Ascot 2017 | Credit: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images However, things don’t always stay the same in every aspect of the event. Last year, they’re introducing a new enclosure — the Village Enclosure — the first new enclosure introduced at Ascot in 109 years. 2. The Royal Enclosure’s parking lot just may be the event’s most exclusive spot. Entry to the Royal Enclosure doesn’t guarantee you a parking spot in the enclosure’s lot. In fact, Slot says there’s a 100-year-long wait list to nab one of those coveted parking spots. Why? Well, not just as a matter of sheer convenience, but for the social factor, too. Before entering the races, Royal Enclosure guests will gather in the parking lot (or as the Brits call it, a car park!) for a picnic. “You might find celebrities, and members of different royal families from around the world,” Slot says. “And they’re having a good old-fashioned English picnic in the car park, before they arrive and come into the Royal Meeting.” Royal Ascot 2017 - Day 1 3. The Queen oversees the event, and gets final approval on everything — including the dress code. Throughout the planning process, Her Majesty’s Representative, Johnny Weatherby, is in constant communication with the Ascot team, relaying details back to the Queen to make sure she understands what they’re doing and getting her insight on any changes. The whole reason the hats at Ascot became such a thing is because the royal family laid out the standards and rules for what constitutes a “formal” dress code — which includes hats. (Do you ever see the Queen at a formal daytime occasion without a topper?) Slot says that though some of the hats can get a little outrageous, they don’t encourage that, and instead hope their guests will embrace tradition while still being fashion-forward. “I would say that we have the odd novelty hats, but we actually don’t encourage it,” she says. “We want the event to be perceived as very stylish.” Royal Ascot 2016 - Day 4 The 2016 Royal Ascot | Credit: John Phillips/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse<doc-sep>The Duchess of York joins the Queen at Royal Ascot Sarah Ferguson, 58, and the Queen, 92 were pictured together at Ascot Racecourse on Friday. The Duchess of York, also known as Fergie, was seen excitedly waving to the Monarch as she arrived in a horse drawn carriage for day four of Royal Ascot in Berkshire. Queen Elizabeth II looked radiant in an all green outfit complete with co-ordinating hat. The Duchess curtsied to the Queen with her daughter Princess Beatrice, 29, as ex-husband and the Queen’s son Prince Andrew, 58, doffed his hat. Later, the royals were pictured smiling and laughing together in the Royal Box before watching the Queen's horse Elector run in the King Edward VII stakes. The friendly meeting comes ahead of the Royal Wedding of Sarah and Andrew’s youngest daughter Princess Eugenie, 28, to Jack Brooksbank, 31, at Windsor Castle in October. Look through this gallery to pictures of the Queen and Fergie at Royal Ascot.<doc-sep>The beginning of the new year comes with the irresistible urge to start over fresh, which means it's a great time to get a haircut. This decade's first big hair trends include looks at every length that can be tailored to your hair texture and personal style. For anyone with a blunt bob — the most popular haircut of the past few years — you probably already guessed that the cut will still be going strong into the next decade. But there will be a few tweaks. As seen on Kerry Washington, 2020's bob has textured, softer edges, and looks amazing whether you part it down the middle or off to the side. RELATED: The 10 Hairstyles You'll See Everywhere This Winter But if you swear that 2020 is going to be the year you finally grow out your hair, let Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian's extra-long lengths be your inspiration. Or, you can get the look instantly with the help of some clip in extensions. To help you figure out how to wear your hair in the new year, we've rounded up the five biggest haircut trends of 2020, so you'll be sure of what you want before you head to the salon in January. VIDEO: The Five Biggest Haircut Trends of 2020<doc-sep>
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The Queen is all smiles this week at Royal Ascot. Scroll down to see every photo of her looking absolutely ecstatic at the racing event. Alan Crowhurst Getty Images The Queen on Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot in a bright pink ensemble. Getty Images Greeting the crowds! Anwar Hussein Getty Images Looking lovingly at her son, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. Getty Images The Queen arriving at day two of Royal Ascot. Getty Images The Queen was all smiles on day one of Royal Ascot. Getty Images Her majesty arriving at Royal Ascot with a big smile on her face and dressed in vibrant yellow. Getty Images A small smile from the Queen when she was chatting with her new granddaughter-in-law, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Getty Images On the carriage ride into the event, Princess Anne and the Queen no doubt discussed Anne's new granddaughter, who was born on June 18, earlier this week. Get all the details on Zara Tindall's yet-to-be-named daughter right here. Getty Images The Queen smiling in anticipation of the races. Getty Images Here's the Queen meeting James Doyle, the jockey of her horse Fabricate, which ran on day one of Royal Ascot. Getty Images Queen Elizabeth wore a bright green ensemble for Royal Ascot day four. Getty Images The Queen looked delighted to be at Ascot Racecourse again! Caroline Hallemann Digital News Director As the digital news director for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers everything from the British royal family to the latest episodes of Outlander, Killing Eve, and The Crown.
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Two construction workers died and two more narrowly escaped with their lives when scaffolding collapsed beneath their feet on the building site of a new hotel near to Walt Disney World outside of Orlando, Florida. Mike Jachles, public information officer for Orange County Fire Rescue, told Newsweek there were four men on scaffolding as high as the seventh floor when the structure gave way "for reasons unknown." The two workers who plummeted to the ground died immediately, Jachles said. The third clung on and climbed to safety, helped up by other workers, suffering minor injuries but not needing hospitalization. A fourth worker on the structure was unhurt. They were pouring cement when the incident happened at around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday morning at the 14900 block on Chelonia Parkway, which runs close to the world famous Disney property but sits outside of it. "Several construction workers were conducting a concrete pour on the seventh floor near the edge of the structure when the scaffolding collapsed," Orange County Sheriff's Office Master Deputy Ingrid Tejada-Monforte said in a statement. Tejada-Monforte named the two victims as Lorenzo Zavala, 34, and Jerry Bell, 46. Next of kin have been notified. "The investigation is active and ongoing," she said. Jachles said Orange County Fire Rescue secured the area over concerns about the stability of the structure and created a safe zone. The site is now a crime scene. The hotel under construction is reportedly a JW Marriott due for completion in 2019. "We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took place earlier today," a spokesperson for Marriott said in a statement sent to Newsweek. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of the workers who died. As the construction of the building is managed by the developer, we are not in a position to provide further comment." The company's website says construction began on the 516 room, 16 storey, $282 million luxury hotel in August 2017. The whole resort spans 482 acres. "When it opens, the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek will offer visitors luxuriously decorated accommodations including 80 suites," said the release announcing the imminent start of construction work. "In addition to two presidential suites, guests will be able to choose from 16, two-bedroom suites with optional connections to create four-bedroom family units, making the hotel an excellent choice for small groups or multi-generational family vacations." This article's headline was updated to clarify proximity of the accident to Disney World. The copy was updated to include comments from Marriott and the sheriff's office.<doc-sep>Construction crews were building a hotel just outside Disney property when two workers fell to their death. ORLANDO, Fla. -- Two construction workers building a hotel near Walt Disney World died in an 80-foot fall from a sixth-floor scaffolding collapse. The incident happened around 4:15 a.m. in the area of Chelonia Parkway near the Bonnet Creek Resort in Lake Buena Vista, according to the Orange County, Fla., Fire Rescue. The workers, identified as two males in their early 30s, were preparing to pour concrete between the sixth and seventh floors of a J.W. Marriott building when the scaffolding broke down. A third worker was able to hold on and climb themselves to safety, fire rescue says. They suffered from minor injuries. There were about 18 workers at the scene when rescuers were dispatched. According to the Associated Press, "Marriott International has described the project as a 16-story, $282 million JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, featuring 516 rooms near Orlando's popular theme parks. It's owned and developed by DCS Investment Holdings, a private equity group based in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is owned by Dwight C. Schar, co-owner of the Washington Redskins." ►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10News app now.<doc-sep>
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Two construction workers died on Wednesday morning after falling seven stories from collapsed scaffolding, near Walt Disney World in Florida. The accident occurred at a JW Marriott hotel that is under construction, in unincorporated Orange County. Additional workers who were on the scaffolding were not seriously injured. There were four construction workers on the support structure at the time, WFTV reported. Two construction workers died on Wednesday morning after falling seven stories from collapsed scaffolding while working on a JW Marriott hotel construction site near Walt Disney World in Florida The personnel were working between the sixth and seventh floors of the building when the scaffolding that was supporting them fell apart beneath their feet. The two workers who died fell to the ground, and were pronounced dead at the scene, OCFR said. 'A third worker hung on and managed to climb to safety when [the] scaffold/support gave way,' OCFR said. The personnel were working between the sixth and seventh floors of the property when the scaffolding that was supporting them fell apart beneath their feet That person suffered minor injuries but refused to be taken to a medical facility. The fourth person was not injured, officials said. The workers were preparing to pour concrete at the time of the accident. The scaffolding came down along the 14900 block of Chelonia Parkway, near the intersection of Bonnet Creek, close to Disney World The two workers who died fell to the ground, and were pronounced dead at the scene Additional workers who were on the scaffolding were not seriously injured, OCFR said The scaffolding came down along the 14900 block of Chelonia Parkway, near the intersection of Bonnet Creek. The cause of the scaffolding failure is unknown at this time. The incident will be investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), authorities said.
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Eden Hazard was left of Chelsea’s squad for the trip to Burnley (Picture: Getty) Maurizio Sarri has backed his Chelsea team to perform without Eden Hazard after the Belgian sensation was ruled out of Sunday’s clash with Burnley. The Blues travel to Turf Moor having won six of their first nine Premier League games this season. Hazard is the division’s top goalscorer but he misses the trip to Burnley, with Pedro coming in to the Chelsea starting line-up. The 27-year-old was also left out of Thursday’s Europa League victory over Bate Borisov with a back injury. Speaking ahead of the Burnley match, Sarri said: ‘Hazard is really very important for us but today we have to play without him. ‘I think we are able to play without him, we have some other very good players.’ In total, Chelsea have made eight changes from the team that smashed Borisov on Thursday. Ross Barkley has been rewarded for his late equaliser against Manchester United, replacing Mateo Kovacic in the team. But Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who scored a hat-trick in the Europa League during the week, only makes the bench. Sean Dyche’s Burnley, meanwhile, have made one change with Robbie Brady coming in.<doc-sep>SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 07: Ross Barkley of Chelsea celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Chelsea FC at St Mary's Stadium on October 7, 2018 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) Chelsea’s away fixture to Burnley came in matchweek 31 last season, and it saw the long-awaited debut of a two-striker formation with Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata. Maurizio Sarri should try something similar in Eden Hazard’s absence. Chelsea may reach new levels of suffering with ball at Turf Moor today. Burnley are 17th in possession, 19th in shots taken and, well, if you don’t know what to expect from Sean Dyche you must be really new around here. On the plus side, Burnley are top – or bottom, depending on your perspective – in shots conceded. But (there’s a always a but) Burnley have only allowed goals on 9% of those shots, a percentage closer to Chelsea than their comrades in the bottom half of the table. And, of course, a plethora of shots coming from overwhelming possession has been a recipe for frustration rather than success for Chelsea this season. Against opponents who play a variant of what Burnley will do, the Blues have not been able to find the vertical passes, the runners in behind or anything out of their strikers to turn possession and passing into product. If Chelsea have to play without Eden Hazard – which is likely the case as of this writing – they could be in for 90 minutes of 75% suffering. Chelsea could go into the game with no fresh wingers. Pedro and Willian both played an hour against BATE Borisov less than 72 hours before kick-off at Turf Moor. The Europa League match was Willian’s eight consecutive start since mid-September. Pedro played the No. 10 role behind Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata in this fixture last season. Antonio Conte took the occasion to finally play a 3-5-2 with his two proper strikers, something he rarely (ever?) did with Michy Batshuayi and Morata, and that he waited three months to do with Giroud. This trio could reprise their role from April, but at the top of a 4-3-3 (technially 4-3-1-2, but let’s not frighten Maurizio Sarri with something new). Pedro could play the role as widely and freely as necessary to poke and probe Burnley’s defence for any way through. His quintessential runs combined with Giroud’s magnetism could divert the defenders just enough to allow a few passing and shooting lanes to open through the box. Yes, this would pile the pressure on Alvaro Morata to score. But the minimal amount of time and space Giroud and Pedro would open up would be just the amount Morata needs: minimal. He would only have time and space to react, not think. Perfect. The option is to play Ross Barkley in the No. 10 role. Whereas Pedro would play touchline-to-touchline and look for ways to turn the corner around the Burnley defence, Barkley would make Chelsea’s offence almost entirely vertical. The formation would effectively be 4-D-2, which would not be too much of a difference given the narrowness of much of Chelsea’s play. Barkley and Giroud are the only pair of forwards at Chelsea who could go pound-for-pound with Burnley’s defence. Whereas Pedro would work with Giroud to drag defenders around and distort the low block, Barkley and Giroud would battle almost man-to-man. This would be Chelsea’s wrecking ball offence. The end result, though, would be much the same: time and space for Morata. Both Pedro and Ross Barkley are effective shooters from distance: Pedro with curling shots to the far top corner, Barkley with powerful drives wherever he can place them. If Chelsea – like most Burnley opponents – take most of their shots from the edge of the box, these are the two forwards most likely to score. This makes them a dual threat in this formation, creating chances as the No. 10 and taking effective shots from long-range. The opponent, the injury to Eden Hazard and the fatigue on the wingers bolster the case for something other than the usual 4-3-3. Eden Hazard has been the only player to create much of anything against opponents like Burnley so far. The strikers have not produced many goals this season playing in single-striker formations, and most of Giroud’s combinations this season have been to support Eden Hazard. A two-striker formation could unstick them, and be the tactical reinvention Chelsea need to get them over the hump. Perhaps most importantly for Maurizio Sarri (regular reader that he is, and all), this change minimally impacts the rest of the squad and shape. The overall formation is still a 4-3-3 (although expect to hear more about the 4-D-2 from us as the season goes on). The backline and midfield would still be the same players in the same roles as before. If it works wonderfully against Burnley, Eden Hazard could seamlessly slot in upon his return. Ultimately, the only player affected would be the right winger. The system could also solve Maurizio Sarri’s midfield issues. At least for this Hazard-less game, he could have Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic on the pitch together. During the week Sarri all but said they would never play together, which is unsurprising in a 4-3-3 unless he moves Barkley to the wing. But this would allow those two to play together in future games where Eden Hazard is not available or after he is substituted. Well, we hope you enjoyed thinking about as much as we did. We’ll watch the 4-3-3 with Willian and Pedro flanking Alvaro Morata and hope for minimal suffering.<doc-sep>
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Maurizio Sarri has made a number eight changes to his Chelsea side for today's game against Burnley at Turf Moor. Having rotated his team for Thursday's 3-1 win over BATE Borisov in the Europa League, the likes of Gary Cahill, Andreas Christensen and Cesc Fabregas got some much-needed minutes under their belts. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was also another player to benefit from Sarri's changes, especially as the England international finished the match with a hat-trick against the Belarusian side. Recording a 2-2 draw with Manchester United last time out in the league, Sarri has made a number of changes as the Blues return to league action with a game against Sean Dyche's side. Kepa Arrizabalaga keeps his place in goal at Turf Moor, with Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger and Marcos Alonso all returning to the starting XI. Jorginho and N'Golo Kante also come back into the team, while Ross Barkley gets the nod ahead of Loftus-Cheek and Mateo Kovacic for the final place in midfield. However, there is no place in the squad for Eden Hazard after he sustained a back injury in last weekend's draw with the Red Devils. The Belgian is replaced by Pedro, who comes into the side to offer support to Alvaro Morata along with Willian. Despite impressing in midweek against BATE there is no place in the squad for youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi. Chelsea starting XI vs Burnley: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Rudiger, Alonso; Jorginho, Kante, Barkley; Pedro, Willian, Morata. Substitutes: Caballero, Fabregas, Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, Giroud, Zappacosta, Cahill. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android . Available to download from the App Store and Google Play .
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It is never really an easy task to better a product that is already top notch. We are talking about the excellent Redmi Note 6 Pro. When that arrived in the second half of last year, it reset the benchmark in the affordable Android smartphone space. Yet here we are, a few months later, with the Redmi Note 7 Pro, which is doing the impossible. Everything is a step up in terms of the user experience, with the biggest boost reserved for the photography performance. The Redmi Note 7 Pro will be available in two variants. There is the 4GB+64GB option that is priced at Rs 13,999 while you can also pick the potentially more versatile 6GB + 128GB option for Rs 16,999. Both these options are available in a widely acceptable Space Black colour, a snazzy Nebula Red and a super classy Neptune Blue. Hold the Redmi Note 7 Pro, and there is absolutely no way that you will believe this is a phone priced at Rs 13,999 and Rs 16,999. The glass at the front and the back, which is the Gorilla Glass 5, adds a dash of luster too, apart from making the phone less prone to scratches. Then there are the rounded spines that additionally help as you cradle the phone in your hand. The display sits on a slightly different height compare to where the side spone joins the front, which allows your finger to glide around the edges of the screen without scraping against the sides. This weighs 186 grams and this isn’t the lightest phone around, but then again, we haven’t ever heard anyone crib about the phone’s weight ever—it is just something you get used to in a few days. The gradient reflective glass back finish is the highlight of the red and blue colorways, and you’ll find the way light reflects off it quite captivating. For what is essentially a large slab of glass, the Redmi Note 7 Pro does not at all have the tendency of slipping out of your hands, which is great for usability. We really cannot find anything wrong with the ergonomics or the design of the Redmi Note 7 Pro and any other criticisms would purely be filed under ‘nitpicking’. The Redmi Note 7 Pro isn’t waterproof, but Xiaomi have ensured that this is a bit more resistant to water than most other phones may be, thanks to rubber sealing for the charging port, the speakers and even the camera module. The phone also has the P2i coating, that lets water droplets glide off. This is not just about being a beauty. What is under the hood is also a serious upgrade, to stay ahead of the curve. Xiaomi has put the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor, which is a serious upgrade over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor that powered the Redmi Note 5 Pro and also the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor. The net result of all this, irrespective of whether you pair this with 4GB RAM or 6GB RAM is that the performance you experience is slick to say the least. Whether it is the MIUI 10 interface or opening and closing apps, there really isn’t any visible stutter at all. Incidentally, this is the same processor which powers the Vivo V15 Pro, which is priced at Rs 28,990. At almost half the price, the Redmi Note 7 Pro runs the same processor—there really is no better testament to the fact that the Redmi Note 7 Pro is significantly ahead of the curve, leaving its rivals behind. The other big advantage of the Snapdragon 675 processor, apart from the slick performance, is the even frugal battery consumption. The Redmi Note 7 Pro, with its 4,000mAh battery will easily last you two days with medium usage, and easily a day and a half when used as a primary phone on a workday. This phone also supports the Qualcomm QuickCharge 4 technology—this is the epitome of future proofing, and you may have to wait a while for the compatible chargers to flood the market to be able to fully utilize these fast charging capabilities. The 6.3-inch LTPS display has a 2340 x 1080 resolution. Yes, there is the dewdrop notch as well—all is fine with the world. As it is, this isn’t your standard LCD display, because the LTPS panel offers better refresh rates, which is great news for visuals and fast-moving content. Colours look good, the brightness levels are adequate even under bright sunlight and the experience overall is quite immersive. However, at times you may feel that the display isn’t sharp enough, mostly while viewing images, but that is never a problem while watching a video or reading text. There is no doubt that the party piece of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro is the 48-megapixel camera. This is not one of those cameras which join pixels together and claim to make a 48-megapixel image, but instead the Sony IMX586 sensor. This delivers 8000 x 4000 resolution images, when in the full 48-megapixel mode. By default though, Xiaomi sets this to the 12-megapixel mode, for the sake of keeping the photography storage requirements in check for most users—and you can simply switch to the 48-megapixel mode from the camera app interface. The photos that you get from the Redmi Note 7 Pro is perhaps the single biggest upgrade over the previous generations, and a much awaited one too. Each photo in the 48-megapixel mode picks out a brilliant amount of detailing with great contrast. Even the edges of a frame are quite sharp, and the finer details are reproduced very well. Even before running any of these photos through a photo editing app, you will appreciate how good the colours are. You can, for most shots, leave the HDR setting turned off, and not miss it at all. By default, the Redmi Note 7 Pro will snap photos at 12-megapixel—and these photos are also very well detailed and retain a lot of the excellence that you may require to edit these photos with a third-party app.<doc-sep>Xiaomi has had a dream run in India, attaining a market leader position in just 5 years. The key driver of this success has been their excellent budget devices, more specifically, the Redmi Note series. The combination of high-end specifications, big battery and a killer price have struck the chords of Indian hearts. And, after spending a quality afternoon with the newly launched Redmi Note 7 Pro, I am almost certain that the trend is not ending anytime soon. Comparison of sales between Redmi Note-series, and its competition. The Redmi Note 7 Pro is priced at INR 13,999 for the base 4GB + 64GB variant, and 16,999 for the 6GB + 128GB variant. At that price, even without considering anything else, the spec sheet itself more than justifies the price tag. You get a powerful Snapdragon 675 processor, which is their latest mid-range chipset. The camera gets a huge step-up too, with the primary camera sporting a 48-megapixel f/1.79 Sony IMX586 sensor, along with a 5-megapixel depth sensor as its sidekick. This is one of the biggest sensors ever seen on a smartphone. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro specifications Other features like a 4,000mAh battery with support for QuickCharge 4 over USB Type-C make the plot sweeter. And it’s not just great on the inside, as we get a new “Aura design” on the back, which comes in a gradient blue, gradient red and glossy black colour. And unlike others in this price segment, this is actually made out of glass. Gorilla Glass 5 covers the front and the back of the Redmi Note 7 Pro while the screen also gets a makeover, with a 6.3-inch LTPS display, featuring a tiny Dot notch display. The black rendition was phenomenal. The camera seemed amazing, in the limited time I got to test the device. I will not comment on the performance just yet, but if the Vivo V15 Pro is any indication of the potential of this silicon, there’s nothing to be worried about. Out of the box, the Redmi Note 7 Pro runs on MiUI 10, built over Android 9.0 Pie. The skin is far from stock, but it’s a stable implementation and is known to be pretty efficient. Redmi Note 7 Pro (Nebula Red variant) Over the last five years, Xiaomi has been able to create a massive community of Mi fans that swear by these phones. It’s this word-of-mouth phenomena that has been one of the prime reasons of Xiaomi’s success in a tricky market like India. I can’t wait to put the phone through its paces for the full review. Stay tuned.<doc-sep>Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee It's been barely four months since we saw Xiaomi launch the Redmi Note 6 Pro in India, but the company hadn't done enough with it to dominate the budget segment in 2018. Hence, just over a month after debuting the Redmi Note 7 in China, the company's brought not one but two new phones to the market. There's the Redmi Note 7 and the Redmi Note 7 Pro, quite like how things were a year back when Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 5 and the Note 5 Pro in India. What distinguishes the two phones is that the Pro variant gets an upgrade in terms of the processor, as well as the cameras. Barring these two specifics, almost everything about the two phones is almost identical. As far as pricing goes, the Redmi Note 7 starts at Rs 9,999 for the variant with 3 GB RAM/ 32 GB storage, while a higher specced variant with 4 GB RAM/ 64 GB storage comes in at Rs 11,999. Similarly, the Redmi Note 7 Pro starts at Rs 13,999 for the variant with 4 GB RAM/ 64 GB of storage, while a 6 GB RAM version with 128 GB of internal storage has been priced at Rs 16,999. I've spent a couple of hours using the Redmi Note 7 Pro and here are my two cents on how different this budget powerhouse feels from previous Note series offerings by Xiaomi. Redmi Note 7 Pro: Build and Design While the RN7Pro oozes freshness across the board, the design is clearly the most striking change here. We’ve been pleading Xiaomi to change things up and the company has delivered. In short, if you’ve used or seen any of the previous iterations of the Redmi Note series, the RN7Pro from a design approach looks drastically different. The Note 7 series features what Xiaomi calls its 'Aura' design approach which results in both the phones looking much more rounded. The reason behind this is because Xiaomi’s replaced the metal frame with a plastic one and settled for sandwiched glass instead with a polished look. It’s nothing we’ve not seen before in this price range, but the phone certainly punches above its weight when it comes to pure looks. Pick the phone up and you’ll realise that the glass also makes the phone feel dense, which adds to how premium the phone feels. The size of the phone remains the same and is barely 4 grams heavier than the Redmi Note 6 Pro, so the form does feel familiar. There is a camera bump on the back which could be an issue if you place the phone on a flat surface and the polished glass back does pick up a lot of dust and fingerprints. Redmi Note 7 Pro: Display Xiaomi’s shrunk the notch to what the company likes to call a dot notch. Essentially it’s nothing but a water drop styled notch intended to maximise usable display space. The Redmi Note 7 Pro gets a 6.3-inch LTPS LCD display which happens to be ever so slightly larger (0.03-inches) than its predecessor. The smaller notch also means a few more pixels, so the resolution now stands at 1080 x 2340 pixels with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Now, the Redmi Note series has always had a good display for the price but the RN7Pro does up the quality a little. Text looks sharp and the experience of watching a couple of YouTube videos was quite pleasurable. I also had no issue reading text messages on the phone under direct sunlight. Overall brightness levels did come across a little less but I will reserve my judgement on that for the full review. Redmi Note 7 Pro: Chipset, RAM and Storage The single most disappointment of the Note 6 Pro was Xiaomi’s reluctance to budge from the ageing Snapdragon 636 processor. Xiaomi’s chucked in Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 675 SoC, which is not only more capable than the Snapdragon 660 chipset but as per Xiaomi’s claims, also manages to trump the superior Snapdragon 710 chipset on benchmarks. While we’re yet to put that claim to test, the new chip will definitely cater better to gamers on a budget of up to Rs 15,000. Running demanding Android titles like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9 will reveal to what effect the new chip handles gaming, but overall, given the budget, things do look promising. The unit we received for review features 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage but once the phone does go on sale on 13 March, Xiaomi will be offering a variant with 6 GB RAM and double the amount of storage. Storage can be further expanded up to 256 GB via a microSD card, but unlike the Redmi Note 6 Pro, the RN7Pro does not feature a dedicated card slot. Of the 64 GB of onboard storage, you do get roughly 51.6 GB of available storage. Though there are a few apps which can be considered bloatware (DailyHunt, Sharechat, PhonePe, Amazon, Microsoft Word and Excel) although all of them can be uninstalled to make room for more storage. Redmi Note 7 Pro: OS and Software The Redmi Note 7 Pro happens to be the first phone from the Xiaomi stable to run Android Pie-based MIUI 10. What new does that bring? Xiaomi says that there aren’t any visual changes here with Android Pie, but there are plenty of under the hood improvements to improve usability. In my limited time with the device, I’ve had absolutely no issues on the software end. Xiaomi does usually optimise the software experience on their phones, so I will have to spend a bit more time with the phone to find out if there are any software issues worth mentioning. Redmi Note 7 Pro:Camera Xiaomi’s ‘Pro’ branded Note series phones have consistently managed to impress us on previous occasions and Xiaomi intends the RN7PRO to do just that. The camera is the highlight of the phone and the reason behind is the dual-camera setup on the back of the phone.<doc-sep>Xiaomi just introduced a second smartphone in the Redmi Note 7 series. Launched minutes ago on stage in India, the new Redmi Note 7 Pro packs a Snapdragon 675 processor, USB-C, new colors, and other improvements. The Redmi Note 7 Pro looks very similar to the Redmi Note 7; the phone is available in Space Black, Nebula Red, and Neptune Blue, and all three feature subtle gradient finishes. One welcome outward change is the use of a USB-C connector for the first time. Inside, the Snapdragon 660 from the Redmi Note 7 has been replaced with a beefier Snapdragon 675, featuring the Kryo 460 processor. The processor is coupled with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage, which is a first for the Redmi Note family. Out of the box, the Redmi Note 7 Pro will be running MIUI 10, based on Android 9 Pie.<doc-sep>
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After months of teasing, Xiaomi launched its latest Redmi Note 7 and Note 7 Pro in India. The launch took place at a huge event in New Delhi, where the company launched two phones, its new wireless sports headphones, and the 32-inch Mi TV 4A Pro. The key highlight of the show was the Redmi Note 7 Pro, which also made its global debut today. With its new Note, the company aims to “redefine” design, performance, and camera. For the first time ever, Xiaomi has gone with a glass design for its Redmi Note series in India. “Aura design”, as the company calls it, is more or less similar to what other OEMs like Honor, Realme and Vivo have been using. It has 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 5 on both the sides of the phone with gradient finish on the back. The phone comes in three colors -- Neptune Blue, Nebula Red, and the least reflective Space Black. The front of the phone looks a lot like the recently released M-series phones from Samsung. It has a shrunken dot notch that results in 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a 6.3-inch display. Xiaomi has opted for an FHD+ LTPS in-cell display technology this time around, which is claimed to consume less power and generate lesser heat. The two biggest highlights of the Redmi Note 7 Pro is the cameras and performance. It’s the second phone to come with Snapdragon 675, which is a big leap over Snapdragon 636. It comes in standard 4GB and 6GB RAM variants with 64GB and 128GB storage respectively. Anuj Sharma, Head of Marketing, Xiaomi India also emphasized on the fact that the Snapdragon 675 features two Kryo 460 high-performance cores that are also present in the flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset. When coupled with the Adreno 612 GPU, the chipset is expected to offer best-in-class gaming performance for games like PUBG Mobile. The Redmi Note 7 Pro is also the first Redmi Note phone to have a USB Type-C instead of a micro USB, with support for Quick Charge 4.0. It draws power from a 4000mAh battery, which has been a standard in the last few generations of Redmi Note phones. It runs on Android Pie with the latest MIUI 10. For optics, it has a whopping 48MP primary camera on the rear, which can be accessed from the Pro mode in the camera UI. It is coupled with a 5MP secondary sensor that gathers depth information for better blur effect. It’s worth noting that the Redmi Note 7 Pro uses Sony IMX586 sensor with f/1.79 aperture, that is 27% larger than the one on the iPhone XS Max. The rear camera can record 4K video at 30fps and is aided by EIS for stabilization. On the front, it has a single 13MP camera. There are tons of features in the camera this time, which we will explore in our full review. Redmi Note 7 also announced Xiaomi also launched the Redmi Note 7 as expected by many. Design-wise, the phone is quite similar to the Redmi Note 7, but the internal is very different. It runs on the Snapdragon 660 clocked at 2.2GHz and comes in 3GB and 4GB RAM variants with 32GB and 64GB storage respectively. Unlike its Pro sibling, the Note 7 has a 12MP + 2MP camera pair on the back and a 13MP sensor on the front. Apart from this, it also gets a USB Type-C port for charging with QC 4.0 and a 4000mAh battery. It comes in Onyx Black, Ruby Red, and Sapphire Blue. Rest of the features remain the same as on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. Notably, both phones are now claimed to be more durable. Although they are not certified by any entity, they are said to have a thicker glass at 0.8mm and glass edge polishing to stay void of scratches and cracks. Also, Xiaomi says the phones are splashproof, which means they can be exposed to splashes, raindrops and sweat but cannot be submerged into the water. In addition to the phones, Xiaomi also launched the Mi LED TV 4A Pro 32-inch and Mi Sports Bluetooth earphones. Price and availability The Redmi Note 7 Pro starts at Rs 13,999 for 4GB+64GB and the 6GB+128GB variant is priced at Rs 16,999. It will go on sale starting March 13 at 12 noon on Mi Home, mi.com, Flipkart and Mi Partner stores.
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The Seattle Mariners started the regular season with a 9-7 win over the Athletics, but the Tokyo Dome was mostly there to see one player on Wednesday. Ichiro Suzuki, at 45 years old, started the game for the Mariners in what could be his last series as a player. The Mariners and A's have expanded rosters for the Tokyo series, allowing Ichiro to get into the lineup. He went to the plate twice, going 0 for 1 with a walk. And when Ichiro -- who spent the first nine years of his professional career playing in his native Japan -- was pulled in the fourth inning, he got a huge ovation from the Tokyo crowd. Ichiro will likely play again on Thursday, but this series maybe is his curtain call. He was signed to a minor league contract a few weeks prior to this opening series, and last year he played with the Mariners before transitioning to a front office role that kept him with the team. Since joining MLB in 2001, Ichiro has logged 3,089 hits with a .311 batting average, and his arm is legendary among outfielders. If/when Ichiro does see the field Thursday, expect his ovations to only be more raucous if he's pulled mid-game again.<doc-sep>The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics played the second game of the 2019 Japan Opening Series in the Tokyo Dome on Thursday in the final game of Ichiro's storied career. As it turned out, the second game of the 2019 season occasioned the first extra-innings affair of the 2019 season. The Mariners wound up prevailing by a score of 5-4 in 12 innings (box score). They pushed the eventual winning run across in the top of the 12th when Domingo Santana plated Dee Gordon on a force-out that was almost an inning-ending double play. Santana's hustle, though, allowed the run to score. In the bottom of the 12th, Jurickson Profar put a charge into one with two outs, but the ball settled into Santana's glove just in front of the fence. Hunter Strickland picked up his second save in as many games. For the Mariners, it's the first time they've started a season 2-0 since 2014, and on the other side the A's haven't started 0-2 since 2016. This is also the first time in Japan Opening Series history that a team has won both games. Now for some takeaways from this one ... Junior was in the house Ken Griffey Jr., who's been on hand throughout the series taking photographs, and Keiichi Yabu, who pitched for the A's in 2005, teamed up for the ceremonial first pitch ... Your browser does not support iframes. Accommodating swing on the part of Mr. Griffey. It was Ichiro's final MLB game Speculation had it that the first game of the Japan Series was the final game of Ichiro's singular career, but he wound up batting ninth and playing right in Scott Servais' lineup for the second and final contest. Not long after Thursday's contest got started, this report began circulating ... That was report was confirmed by CBS Sports HQ's David Samson. Ichiro, 45, played in his 2,653rd MLB game, and in what turned out to be his final plate appearance he almost beat out an infield single against Lou Trivino. Then just prior to the bottom of the eighth, Servais allowed Ichiro to have the spotlight once more by lifting him from right field ... And Junior was waiting on him in the dugout ... Dee Gordon, among many others, was feeling the moment ... Ichiro will retire as one of just four players to rack up least 3,000 hits and 10 Gold Gloves in MLB, and he's surely bound for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Yusei Kikuchi pitched well in his MLB debut The 27-year-old lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who signed a four-year, $56 million deal with the Mariners in early January, made his MLB debut on Thursday in his native Japan. The results were mostly strong ... Yusei Kikuchi SEA • SP • 18 vs. OAK, 3/21/19, MLB debut IP 4 2/3 H 4 R 2 ER 1 SO 3 BB 1 View Profile Of his 91 pitches, 58 went for strikes. His ERA now stands at 1.93 after one MLB start. Kickuhi showed command of four pitches, including a fastball that appeared to sit in the mid-90s. Here's a representative sample ... And like a lot of Japanese hurlers, Kikuchi's delivery includes deception and flourishes designed to upset the batter's timing ... Kikuchi allowed his lone earned run on a Marcus Semien RBI single in the fifth. Later that same inning, after Kikuchi had been lifted, an inherited runner scored on a Jay Bruce error at first base. Given that he was making his first MLB start and no doubt doubly feeling the pressure pitching in his home country, Kikuchi's debut was certainly a success. Mitch Haniger smoked one We don't have the digits on it, but this one off the bat of Mitch Haniger went very many several feet ... Yeah, he pretty well wrecked that Marco Estrada offering. Haniger's coming off a 2018 season in which he hit 26 homers for Seattle. Khris Davis came up big The Oakland slugger homered in the opener on Wednesday, and on Thursday he came through with a clutch two-out, game-tying single in the bottom of the seventh ... Your browser does not support iframes. As noted, those were the 500th and 501st RBI of Davis' career. And to sum it all up ...<doc-sep>TOKYO – The Mariners have set their 28-man roster for Opening Night in Japan and made the following roster moves. Re-assigned to Minor League Camp LHP Tommy Milone C Jose Lobaton Placed on the 10-day injured list RHP Shawn Armstrong (left oblique strain) RHP Gerson Bautista (right pectoral strain) RHP Anthony Swarzak (right shoulder impingement) RHP Sam Tuivailala (right Achilles rupture) 3B Kyle Seager (left third-digit extensor hood tear) Selected from Triple-A Tacoma OF Ichiro Suzuki In addition to the roster moves, the Mariners have declared their three inactive players for the opening series. Inactive for Japan series RHP Félix Hernández RHP Mike Leake OF Mallex Smith Here’s the full 28-man roster: The #Mariners have set their 28-man roster for the 2 games in Japan. Freitas the #2 catcher. pic.twitter.com/viVVT8BuRl — Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) March 19, 2019 With Hernández and Leake not scheduled to start in Japan, the Mariners have opted for a few more bullpen and position player options on their roster for the two games. The Mariners will need to get the roster down to 25 before Game 1 against the Red Sox at T-Mobile Park on March 28, but it appears one battle has been decided with David Freitas in the backup catcher spot. With Mallex Smith not put on the IL, it would appear the Mariners are confident he will be ready to return from his arm injury in time for the home opener. A note on the IL: With the addition of Ichiro, the 40-man roster is now full. Players cannot be placed on the 60- day IL until the 40-man is full, so the 10-day designation for the players above does not necessarily reflect how long they are expected to be out. The Mariners open the 2019 season Wednesday against the Oakland A’s with a game time of 2:35 a.m. (6:35 p.m. Japan Standard Time). More Mariners coverage Drayer: Ichiro’s last 10 months have led up to a 27th pro season Drayer: Mariners’ Braden Bishop making himself into more than 4th OF Moore: Mariners shouldn’t be hanging on to past as they enter rebuild season Ichiro, Haniger, Freitas provide highlights as M’s win final exhibition<doc-sep>
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Although traditional Opening Day is still a week away, the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics started the 2019 regular season in Japan on Wednesday with Seattle winning a 9-7 affair with five homers and an ovation for Ichiro. The AL West rivals will play another game Thursday in Tokyo before heading home. This will be the fifth time a regular season series is played in Japan and the second time the Mariners and Athletics are involved. They opened the 2012 season with a pair of games in Tokyo. MLB also opened the season in Japan in 2000 (Cubs vs. Mets), 2004 (Yankees vs. Devil Rays), and 2008 (Red Sox vs. A's). The 2019 Japan Series is part of MLB's ongoing effort to grow baseball globally. There will also be regular season series played in London (Yankees vs. Red Sox) and Mexico (Reds vs. Cardinals and Astros vs. Angels) this year. Here's how you can watch this season's opening game: Mariners vs. A's Japan Opening Series Dates: Thursday, March 21 Thursday, March 21 Time: 5:35 a.m. ET (6:35 p.m. in Tokyo) 5:35 a.m. ET (6:35 p.m. in Tokyo) Location: Tokyo Dome Tokyo Dome TV Channel: ESPN ESPN Streaming: MLB.tv, WatchESPN MLB.tv, WatchESPN Live Stats: GameTracker GameTracker Picks: Check SportsLine's MLB pick sheet for all your daily odds. Mariners storylines For the Mariners, this two-game series in Tokyo is all about the great Ichiro Suzuki. He predictably received long and loud ovations each time he came to the plate or made a defensive play during exhibition games against the Yomiuri Giants these last few days. Ichiro started the opener on Wednesday, but it is unclear what his future holds. It is entirely possible these two games will be the final two games of his Hall of Fame career. Two games in his home country would be an incredible way to go out. Athletics storylines The A's won't have the luxury of sneaking up on anyone this season. Last year they won 97 games and gave the Astros quite the headache in the AL West, and now they're going into the season as a postseason favorite. Two-way third baseman Matt Chapman and sluggers Khris Davis and Matt Olson headline an offensive attack that lost Jed Lowrie and Jonathan Lucroy over the winter. They've been replaced by Jurickson Profar and Nick Hundley. Also, all-world closer Blake Treinen looms in the bullpen. He is a video game. Pitchers are not supposed to be able to throw 99 mph sinkers and 93 mph sliders, yet he does it. The A's should again be one of the most dangerous teams in baseball in 2019.
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Amazon's annual exclusive sale is coming back for an even bigger event sooner than usual in 2021. Prime Day is the sale every Amazon Prime member should be looking forward to. With hundreds of ways to save and hundreds of dollars off popular products, shopping during Prime Day is even a smart way to earn back the cost of Amazon Prime's membership fee. Amazon Prime 30-day Trial | Free at Amazon All of Amazon's Prime Day deals are exclusively available to Amazon Prime members only! If you're not a member yet, you can start a free 30-day trial to gain access to all the deals and the two-day sale, as well as free two-day shipping, the Prime Video streaming service, and more. Free at Amazon When is Prime Day 2021? Amazon hasn't unveiled when Prime Day 2021 will be held yet. Though last year's event was delayed until October, this year's event is actually scheduled to happen sometime in June rather than July as it does normally. We've even heard there may be a second Prime Day this year that will happen in October. We'll be sure to update this page with more information as soon as there's more to share. When do Prime Day deals begin? Prime Day 2021 hasn't been announced just yet. However, there are rumors the event will land sometime in June with many Prime Day deals going live at 3am EST. Amazon also loves to offer early Prime Day deals, so you'll want to keep an eye on this page for more information as the summer months draw closer. Will Prime Day 2021 be delayed? Prime Day was intially Amazon's way of offering Black Friday prices in the middle of the year for more opportunities to save money, and since there are no extenuating circumstances this year like there were in 2020, it's not likely that Prime Day 2021 will be delayed. In fact, Amazon has announced that the event will occur sometime in June this year rather than in July as it does usually. What deals do we expect during Prime Day 2021 There's no easy way to tell what will be discounted until we receive the official word from Amazon, but after all these years of covering the event, we have a few ideas. It's nearly a guarantee that all of Amazon's own hardware, like the Fire TV Sticks, Echo speakers and displays, Kindles, Ring gear, and more will be on sale. Prime Day tends to bring many of these devices to historic low prices. The best Prime Day deals are generally focused directly around these items. Beyond the usual suspects, we'd imagine that popular electronics like the TCL Roku TVs and Sonos speakers will be on sale, along with Apple products like the iPad and Apple Watch, furniture, kitchen gadgets from Instant Pot, Keurig, and more. Should you shop Prime Day deals or wait for Black Friday 2021? Prime Day 2020 was held only six weeks before Black Friday last year which gave some shoppers pause regarding whether to buy on Prime Day or wait for Black Friday. This year, we're expecting the shopping events to be much more spread out. While it's likely that Black Friday will feature some new deals, Prime Day notoriously will offer deals that we don't see again until Black Friday as well. You can expect Prime Day to give you an early shot at Black Friday savings and not worry too much about whether prices will drop in a few months as they likely won't drop much lower than we see on Prime Day in most instances. What were the most popular Prime Day deals in 2020? Prime Day 2020 was easily one of the biggest sales Amazon has ever held, and while many of the top products sold were Amazon devices like Echo devices and Fire TV Sticks, there was a better mix of big discounts on products from other brands too. During the 2-day event, Prime members saved more than 1.4 billion; some of the top deals during the sale according to our readership include: SanDisk and WD Storage on sale at up to 35% off Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Headphones on sale for $199 Echo Show 5 with Blink Mini Smart Security Camera for $50 Apple AirPods Pro on sale for $199 23andMe Health + AncestryService DNA Test down to $99 Fire TV Stick 4K as low as $25 Sony XM4 Noise-Cancelling Headphones with $25 gift card for $298 Echo Dot (3rd Gen) with 6 months of Amazon Music Unlimited for $19 Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener for $17 with $30 promo credit opportunity Spend $40 or more on Amazon gift cards and receive $10 in credits to use on a future purchase The ten offers above are just a small piece of the many excellent deals Prime Day brought to Amazon customers last year. This year, we're expecting prices to drop even lower on some of these popular products and new savings to appear on newer products like the Samsung Galaxy S21 or the AirPods Max wireless headphones. When will Amazon Prime Day 2021 deals begin? Amazon will likely kick off a few early deals once it announces Prime Day 2021, and while we're not sure when that will be just yet, it will likely be soon with the event happening sometime in June. The deals will really start flowing during the actual event which always begins at 3am EST / 12am PST. We'll be sure to keep you updated on the very best Prime Day deals as they appear — as well as the official date of Prime Day 2021 once it's available. What type of Prime Day deals will there be? Amazon will have a few different deal styles running on Prime Day. There are a few different types of deals you can expect to see during the event, including Gold Box deals, Lightning deals, Coupon deals, and direct price drops. Each of these is a little different, so here's what you can expect from each type: Gold Box Deals of the Day : These are Amazon's daily deals, and generally for these, the company has plenty of stock to fulfill orders on it all day long. We have seen Gold Box deals sell out in the past, but it's far less often that these sell out than the other types of deals. : These are Amazon's daily deals, and generally for these, the company has plenty of stock to fulfill orders on it all day long. We have seen Gold Box deals sell out in the past, but it's far less often that these sell out than the other types of deals. Lightning Deals : Like an actual bolt of lightning, these deals will come and go fast. On an average day, Lightning deals tend to last for around six hours, but on Prime Day it's likely that the most popular deals will go in the blink of an eye. You can generally join a waitlist if it sells out, but that won't guarantee that you will actually get the product. : Like an actual bolt of lightning, these deals will come and go fast. On an average day, Lightning deals tend to last for around six hours, but on Prime Day it's likely that the most popular deals will go in the blink of an eye. You can generally join a waitlist if it sells out, but that won't guarantee that you will actually get the product. Coupon Deals : Many sellers will be offering coupon codes as a way to help people save on Prime Day, and these require a little more work. Some will offer landing pages that automatically clip the coupon code for you, and others will require you to manually enter them during the checkout process. The few seconds of extra work can sometimes save you big, though. : Many sellers will be offering coupon codes as a way to help people save on Prime Day, and these require a little more work.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If you're an Amazon Prime member, you should know the significance of July 16. That's the kick-off for Amazon Prime Day. "Prime Day is an annual deals event just for Prime members, with more than one million deals worldwide. You'll find our best deals on products you want, and special offers across everything from music and video to reading and Alexa-enabled devices," said Amazon in an e-mail to Prime members. Here's six things to know about the annual shopping event: There's a Spotlight Deals offer deep discounts on brand-name and popular items. Lightning Deals, like the name implies, are limited in number and only run for short period of time. You can share you Amazon Prime membership with all members of your household. FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER<doc-sep>
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NEW YORK -- Amazon Prime Day is coming up.Users will reap the bonanza of blowout deals starting at 3 p.m. on July 16.But if you're not a subscriber, don't worry, you can still take advantage of Prime Day prices by signing up for a temporary membership for free!Just click on the 30-day trial membership is free (and Amazon Prime is $12.99/month) and you will gain access to the deals offered throughout Prime Day.But if you don't want to pay the per month charge to hang on to your membership, just cancel before the end of the free 30-day period.Next, start price checking now.Search for the items you're interested in and sign up for the "watching list. "That way you'll be alerted through the Amazon app when that deal is about to go live on Prime Day.Lightning will strike throughout Prime Day, in the form of lightning-fast sales, which will come and go in a flash.Go to Amazon's deal of the day page.Lightning deals will only be available for a short time or have a limited number of items available, so for these, the key is to act fast.Your best bet on Prime Day is to do your homework, don't impulse buy, make sure you read reviews on sale items, make sure what you're getting has all the bells and whistles you want, and is really a sale price.Research shows these categories offer the best discounts on Prime Day: Toys, some tech, TVs and Amazon's own family of products - the Alexa, Echo, and Kindle were up to half off last year.
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Stephen Curry scored 38 points on eight 3-pointers made, DeMarcus Cousins fouled out of his first playoff game and Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley were both ejected The Golden State Warriors wasted no time to get their first postseason win as they topped the LA Clippers 121-104. Stephen Curry did his best human torch impersonation, as he always does, scoring 38 points on a 8-for-12 clip from 3-point land. DeMarcus Cousins fouled out of his first ever playoff game while Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley were both ejected after exchanging words on multiple occasions. For more on the Warriors' win, we have you covered with takeaways below... Slow start for Clippers starters The Clippers trailed by 13 points going into the half and most of their deficit was built within the Warriors' 15-5 run to end the second quarter. They should consider themselves lucky of two things: one being their super-subs Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell and the other being that the deficit wasn't larger. The Clippers starters were outscored 53-15 by the Warriors starters. In fact, Stephen Curry's 20 points at the half was more than the Clippers' starters combined, as Danilo Gallinari (8 points) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (7 points) were the only ones to get in the scoring column. Los Angeles' bench played a major role in getting them to the postseason. Their 53.2 bench points per game were the most in league history since the stat started to be tracked. They got 22 points from Harrell and 15 from Williams in the first half, but they needed more offence to keep pace with this fast-paced Golden State team. Steph being Steph, breaks playoff 3-point record It didn't take Curry long to get going in this game. The prolific sharpshooter caught fire in the second quarter, going 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from long range to start building the Warriors' lead. It wasn't just his scoring either, the All-Star guard had six boards and six assists to go with a plus-21 plus/minus to solidify the impact he made. Halftime couldn't cool off Curry as he buried a pair of 3-pointers in the third. His second of the two was in a fashion that you only see from the league's premier 3-point shooter. And after sitting to start the fourth quarter, he checked back into the game and immediately knocked down two more 3-pointers to pass Ray Allen for the all-time NBA Playoff record for 3-pointers made with 286. Curry surpassed Allen in 80 (!) less playoff games, a remarkable feat. Curry finished with 38 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in the win. Draymond Green activates playoff mode Draymond Green is coming off one of his most inconsistent regular seasons to date, but that went straight out the window once Game 1 tipped off. Enter playoff Draymond. From the jump, the Clippers dared Green to shoot....and he did just that. Green paced the Warriors in the first quarter with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, 2-of-2 from three, adding three rebounds, while turning up the heat on the defensive end. 13 first quarter points for Draymond Green. Only scored 13+ in 11 games this season. - Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 14, 2019 Green finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on 7-of-12 shooting. If this is the Draymond the Warriors are getting for the post-season, then things just got a whole lot scarier. A frustrating playoff debut for DeMarcus Cousins In his first playoff appearance in his 10-year career, DeMarcus Cousins struggled to get into the flow of the game, with the Clippers employing a similar strategy to guarding Green, but unfortunately for Cousins, he couldn't capitalise. Cousins recorded nine points, nine rebounds, four assists and six turnovers on 4-of-12 shooting, fouling out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. Cousins was a -17 in his in 21 minutes of action, the lowest of any Warriors player on the night. DeMarcus Cousins has now fouled out in two of his three matchups with the Clippers and had at least four fouls in all three games. - Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 14, 2019 The Clippers found plenty of success in the pick-and-roll with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell picking apart the Warriors for stretches, with Cousins struggling on the defensive end. Golden State looked much more fluid with Green or Andrew Bogut at the 5, leaving Steve Kerr with plenty of questions regarding the rotation moving forward.<doc-sep>Click here if you’re unable to view the gallery on your mobile device. OAKLAND — Practice makes perfect, and for 82 regular season games, the Warriors practiced apathy against inferior opponents. And for large portions of Saturday’s playoff opener, they showed off their mastery of the craft. Golden State — on the whole — played sloppy, disjointed, uninspired basketball to open their postseason. But, as we have seen so many times over the years, those struggles simply didn’t matter. The Warriors’ talent absolutely overwhelmed the Clippers — the biggest playoff series underdog in the last 30 years of the NBA playoffs. Specifically, Stephen Curry was too much for Los Angeles to handle. While the scrappy Clippers found a way to go blow-for-blow with the rest of the turnover-prone Warriors’ roster for the first three quarters of the contest, they had no answer for the two-time MVP, who turned in a near-perfect offense performance in Game 1. Curry scored 38 points, dished out 7 assists, and pulled down 15 rebounds in the Warriors’ 121-104 win, carrying his team when they were struggling and inspiring it to play better basketball once the Warriors went ahead. It was yet another transcendent performance for the Baby Faced Assassin — a string of escalating highlights that would have gone against the run of play, if not for Curry’s ability to singlehandedly define a game at will. And with each preposterous 3-pointer Curry made (he was 8-for-12 from beyond the arc) and every subsequent and deserved M-V-P chant from the Oracle Arena crowd, you could see a bit more of the Clippers’ spirit break. By the end of the contest, with team leader Patrick Beverley in the locker room after being ejected in the fourth quarter and coach Doc Rivers leaning into officials as they walked off the court, there was little to none remaining. That’s because the Clippers know they missed their shot to turn this series — easily written off as a four-game sweep for the Warriors — on its head. The conditions were perfect — the Clippers threw their best at the Warriors and Golden State lacked incisiveness for most of the contest. And yet, despite that, Los Angeles still came up miles short, thanks to two Curry-led Warriors runs — short bursts of dominance amid a morass of turnovers and mental lapses — in the second and third quarters. Technically speaking, the Clippers are still in good position the best-of-seven-game series, down only one game, but in a showdown this lopsided, it’s hard to see a path back for them after Saturday’s contest. Because if the Warriors won by 17 points Saturday, what happens when the Warriors make schematic adjustments to what the Clippers showed them in Game 1? What happens when Kevin Durant, who scored 23 points on 50 percent shooting Saturday, takes full, ruthless advantage of the nearly one-foot size advantage he has on his main mark, the petulant Beverley, and turns in a hyper-efficient offensive game — the kind we’ve seen so often from him over the last two postseasons? What happens when Clippers center Montrezl Harrell doesn’t have one of the best games of his career, scoring 24 points in his first 23 minutes of action? What happens if LA’s silky two-guard Lou Williams doesn’t have a great offensive game? What happens if DeMarcus Cousins — who played in his first playoff game Saturday — stops forcing things on both sides of the court and lets the game simply flow and his talent shine? What happens when the defensive maestro Draymond Green, whom the Clippers dared to shoot all game, doesn’t need to be the Warriors’ second-best offensive player? (Green shot 58 percent and scored 17 points Saturday.) The likelihood is that the result of such changes will bring a result much worse than Saturday’s outcome. And make no mistake, Saturday’s outcome didn’t look very good. The Warriors have several levels of better basketball yet to play this postseason. The Clippers, on the other hand, do not. And yet it is Golden State with a 1-0 lead in the series. The Clippers entered Saturday’s Game 1 as 100-to-1 to win the series in Las Vegas. If you were to have placed a bet on the Warriors to advance to the second round, you would have needed to bet $50,000 to win $100. That’s if you could find a place to make that bet — according to ESPN, some sports books weren’t even offering the series to bettors, it was so lopsided. But there was a clear reason the Warriors were such prohibitive favorites in the series — in basketball, talent is the ultimate trump card and it was proven, once again, on Saturday.<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Clippers made things interesting for around 20 minutes or so. While the entire NBA world assumed that they would just be happy to be in the playoffs, they fought back from an early double-digit deficit to take a lead in the second quarter. For a bit, it actually seemed as if they were ready to make this an interesting series against the NBA's best team. And then, the Hamptons 5 rained fire down upon the lands and destroyed them. They blew the Clippers off of the floor at the end of the second quarter and steadily built up their lead in the second half to take a 1-0 series lead over the scrappy No. 8 seed. While the series isn't technically over, the first game did confirm what we already knew about these two teams. The Clippers are well coached and play the right way, but they have nowhere near enough talent to seriously challenge the Warriors. Golden State walked away with a relatively easy Game 1 victory on Saturday. Here are the best media reactions to the Warriors' first playoff victory.<doc-sep>
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OAKLAND (AP) – Stephen Curry scored 38 points and made eight 3-pointers to give him the most in postseason history, and the top-seeded Golden State Warriors began their quest for a three-peat by running away from the frustrated Los Angeles Clippers for a 121-104 victory in their playoff opener Saturday on a night tempers flared. Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley were ejected with 4:41 to go, just 19 seconds after they received double-technicals when Durant stripped Beverley and the Clippers guard fell into the scorer’s table. They both became enraged again and official Ed Malloy immediately sent them both to the locker room. Durant high-fived fans as he exited and the home crowd went into chants of “Beat L.A.!” Curry shot 8 for 12 from deep to pass Ray Allen (385) for career postseason 3s with 386, had a postseason career-high 15 rebounds, seven assists and the 31st 30-point postseason performance of his career. Perhaps this old, heated rivalry still has all the testiness of years past — just with new faces all around. These teams are meeting for just the second time in the postseason after the Clippers took a seven-game, first-round series in 2014 when the California franchises had a deep dislike for each other. Game 2 is Monday night back at Oracle Arena. Draymond Green got Golden State going by making all five of his shots in the first quarter on the way to 17 points to go with seven assists and seven rebounds, while Durant scored 23 points as the Warriors ran their postseason winning streak to seven games. On one of his marvelous 3s, the two-time MVP knocked one down from way back late in the third, nearly did the splits in the air and landed on his behind — still smiling all the while. Montrezl Harrell scored 26 points and fellow reserve Lou Williams contributed 25 points and nine assists as Los Angeles returned to the playoffs after missing last season following six straight appearances. Beverley, who missed last Sunday’s 131-104 loss at Oracle because of a right hip pointer and was booed during pregame introductions, didn’t score in the first half and wound up with three points on 1-for-7 shooting, seven assists and seven rebounds. He and Durant received double-technicals with 5 minutes left before they got into it again. The Clippers lost their cool on a couple of occasions, and that hurt playing in an already difficult road arena. Danilo Gallinari’s technical in the final minute of the second only further fueled the home crowd, and Curry capitalized as the Warriors ran to a 69-56 halftime advantage. Los Angeles played in the final regular-season game at Oracle, then the first playoff game of the last postseason run before the Warriors move to San Francisco and new Chase Center later this year. COUSINS’ NIGHT DeMarcus Cousins fouled out with 7:16 left. He scored nine points in his playoff debut after a nine-year wait and nearly year-long comeback from last January’s devastating torn left Achilles tendon that required surgery. Cousins, who played his first game of the season Jan. 18 at the Clippers, missed twice on the Warriors’ initial three possessions but dunked in between those two. Regularly left wide open on the perimeter, Cousins knocked down a 3 from the top at 9:11. He had nine rebounds and four assists. POISE Steve Kerr challenged the Warriors — not to mention himself with a self-acknowledged temper — to be more disciplined yelling at the officials. Green was knocked down by Beverley on a no-call early and became enraged but avoided a technical. “Fans need to understand, it wouldn’t be possible to officiate the games the exact same way in the playoffs as the regular season. The games would take four hours,” Kerr said. The Clippers had their own costly moments arguing. Lou Williams and coach Doc Rivers also were heated late in the first half about no fouls being called. Rivers received a technical for his behavior leaving the court at halftime and Thompson shot a free throw before the third quarter began. TIP-INS Clippers: The Clippers were 2 of 10 from deep in the first half, when they had only 13 assists. … Los Angeles has lost four straight on the Warriors’ home floor. Warriors: Curry notched his fifth career double-digit postseason rebounding game. … Durant (3,679) passed Dirk Nowitzki (3,663) for 15th place on the career playoff scoring list.
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Nine of the 17 people who drowned when an amphibious "duck boat" carrying 31 people capsized in stormy weather in Missouri were from the same family. Another two members of that family survived, said a spokeswoman for Mike Parson, the Missouri governor. Tia Coleman told WXIN-TV in Indianapolis that she and a nephew were among 11 relatives on a duck boat Thursday night on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri. Coleman says she lost "all my children" but she did not say how many. Coleman says the captain of the boat told passengers, "Don't worry about grabbing the life jackets - you won't need them." She says by the time it was clear life jackets were needed, "it was too late." An email seeking comment from a spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment, which owns the Ride the Ducks boat, was not immediately returned.<doc-sep>The first of the 17 victims of a Missouri boat crash have been identified and include nine people from the same family. The ‘duck boat’, a hybrid land-to-water vehicle, capsized on Table Rock Lake near the town Branson due to a sudden storm. What should have been a pleasant 70-minute tour of the Ozarks region turned to tragedy for the Coleman family of Indiana who were only on that particular boat because of a ticket mix-up, according to Tia Coleman, who was one of only two survivors from her family along with nephew Donovan, 13. The Stone County Sheriff’s Department said the victims included Angela Coleman, 45; Belinda Coleman, 69; Ervin Coleman, 76; Glenn Coleman, 40; Horace Coleman, 70; and four children – one-year-old Arya, two-year-old Maxwell, seven-year-old Evan and nine-year-old Reece. Ms Coleman’s husband and all three children were among the victims. “The last thing I heard my sister-in-law yell was, ‘Grab the baby!’” Ms Coleman said to journalists from her hospital bed. She also said the boat’s captain, who survived, told passengers: “Don’t worry about grabbing the life jackets. You won’t need them. “We were told to stay seated and everybody stay seated,” she said, adding “when that boat is found, all those life jackets are going to be on there”. ✕ Rescue operation as 11 die after duck boat capsizes during storm Kim Thomas, Ms Coleman’s cousin, told CBS News “in doing that, when it was time to grab them, it was too late and I believe that a lot of people could have been spared”. About her family’s devastating loss, she said: “The kids are doing better than we are. We have to live in this world; they have gone to the other side.” Missouri governor Mike Parson tried to make sense of the tragic incident, which police are still investigating. “It’s difficult to find the right words to say,” he told CNN. President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences to the victims’ families, and wrote: “Such a tragedy, such a great loss. May God be with you all!” There were 31 people on board the Ride the Ducks tour boat when it sank in 40ft (12m) of water during the thunderstorm shortly after 7pm local time on Thursday. Only 14 people survived. A second boat made it safely back to shore. “There was some heavy wind. It was having problems through the wind,” Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said. “They were coming back towards land. There was actually two ducks. The first one made it out. The second one didn’t.” Mr Parson indicated the weather had been calm on Thursday evening and the devastating storm “came out of nowhere”. Jim Pattison Jr, president of the Ride the Duck Branson’s parent company Ripley Entertainment, said: “My understanding was that when the boat went in the water, it was calm. And partway through coming back is when ... the waves picked up and then obviously swamped the boat.” Video footage shot by a witness from the shore and broadcast by local media showed strong waves tossing two duck boats side to side during the storm. Steve Lindenberg, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Springfield, Missouri, said the agency had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Branson area on Thursday evening ahead of winds of more than 60mph. Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Show all 18 1 /18 Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Seventeen people died after a duck boat capsized in Branson lake, Missouri. Nine out of 11 members of the same family died during the accident. Tia Coleman, far left, and her nephew, far right, were the only survivors from the Coleman family on the boat Belinda Coleman/Facebook Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Emergency responders work at Table Rock Lake after the boat accident AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake People pray by a car thought to belong to a victim of Thursday's boating accident AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, left, and Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader hold a press conference at Table Rock Lake about fatal accident. St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Emergency workers patrol an area near where the duck boat capsized AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Crews working at the scene where a tourist boat capsized and sank Southern Stone County Fire Protection District/AFP/Getty Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Rina Bernard, left, and Keri Johnson leave flowers on a car believed to belong to a victim of a last night's duck boat accident AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Brandon Webb and Carlye Michel participate in a candlelight vigil in the parking lot of Ride the Ducks AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Rescue personnel REUTERS Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Flowers and a note rest on a car believed to belong to a victim AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Southern Stone County Fire Protection District responding Southern Stone County Fire Protection District/EPA Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake People pray during a candlelight vigil in the parking lot of Ride the Ducks AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake People pray next to a car believed to belong to a victim AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake A woman writes a message during a candlelight vigil in the parking lot of Ride the Ducks AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Ducks boat sits idle in the parking lot of Ride the Ducks AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake People pray around a van believed to belong to victims of a duck boat accident AP Missouri boat crash: 17 dead after duck boat capsizes in Branson lake Russ McKay looks at a cross left in a makeshift memorial for his friends before a candlelight vigil AP “It’s a warning telling people to take shelter,” he said. It is unclear at this time if or why that warning had been ignored. Suzanne Smagala-Potts, a spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment, said the boat’s sinking was the Branson tour’s first accident in more than 40 years of operation. She could not confirm how many crew members were aboard the boat. The incident rocked the quiet resort town of Branson, which has a population of about 10,000 people and is 200 miles southeast of Kansas City. Hundreds of people from the community, along with tourists, came together for a candlelight vigil for the 17 victims and broke out in tears, singing “Amazing Grace”, “How Great Thou Art” and “It is Well With My Soul”. The victims’ cars, left in a nearby parking lot ahead of the tour, were adorned with flowers, stuffed animals, balloons and handwritten notes expressing condolences. William Asher, 69; Rosemarie Hamann, 68; Janice Bright, 63, and William Bright, 65, were the victims from Missouri. Steve Smith, 53, and Lance Smith, 15, were also from Indiana. Leslie Dennison, 64, was from Illinois.<doc-sep>
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The driver of the tourist duck boat that capsized on a Missouri lake is among the dead while the captain survived, officials said Friday. At least 13 people — including children — were killed when the Ride the Ducks vessel flipped over on Table Rock Lake in Branson Thursday night as a furious storm swept through the popular tourist town. see also Footage captures doomed duck boat’s final moments The last moments before a tourist duck boat tragically flipped... At a press conference Friday morning, Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said divers have located the boat, which initially sank in 40 feet of water and rolled down into depths of 80 feet. He said the amphibious boat, which can be used on land, was found upright on its wheels. “It’s been a long night, it’s been a very trying night,” a weary-looking Rader told reporters. Thirty-one people were aboard the watercraft — 29 tourists and the captain and driver. Rader said it’s unclear whether anyone on the boat was wearing life jackets and asked members of the public for any video they may have of the boat capsizing. He briefly mentioned the “outstanding” acts by those on the nearby Showboat Branson Belle — including an off-duty Stone County deputy sheriff — who jumped into the water to help save others. Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons was also on scene and vowed to do everything he could to aid the ongoing investigation. “The state of Missouri is going to do everything within our powers to make sure we provide the resources we need to complete this,” he said. On Friday, divers were working on recovering the bodies of four people who remain missing as a fresh round of thunderstorms were expected to roll into the Branson area in the afternoon.
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B arcelona vs Valladolid LaLiga 2018-19 Venue: Camp Nou Date: Saturday, 16 February 2019 Kick-off time: 7:45pm Barcelona are looking to get back to winning ways when they welcome Valladolid to the Nou Camp this evening. The champions have been held in their last two La Liga outings, at home to Valencia and in last Sunday's goalless draw against Athletic Bilbao. Add the 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Copa del Rey Clasico in between those and you have to go back to January 30 for their last win. Barcelona team news Asked whether defender Samuel Umtiti could return soon following a long layoff with a knee problem, Ernesto Valverde said on Friday: “We have time to assess before Lyon (on Tuesday) and decide. In Pictures | Atlhetic Bilbao vs Barcelona | 10/02/2019 1 /18 In Pictures | Atlhetic Bilbao vs Barcelona | 10/02/2019 Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images REUTERS REUTERS AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AP EPA AFP/Getty Images AP AFP/Getty Images REUTERS "He hasn’t played much and we have decisive games ahead, but he is important and he has to be playing. We will wait and see.” January arrival Jean-Clair Todibo is unlikely to feature just yet, though. “He is training with us,” Valverde said. “But we haven’t been able to play him in a competitive game or a friendly yet. I have a good impression of him: he’s powerful, strikes the ball well, he’s young… but we have to see him in a competitive situation.” Score prediction: Barcelona 3-0 Valladolid With the visitors just three points clear of the relegation zone, Barcelona will be confident of rediscovering their winning touch ahead of their Champions League meeting with Lyon next week. Betting tips via Betfair | UK users only | Subject to change Match odds Barcelona to win: 1/7 Valladolid to win: 20/1 Draw: 15/2 First goalscorer odds Lionel Messi: 17/10 Ousmane Dembele: 4/1 Ivan Rakitic: 8/1 Click here to find the latest match odds and place a bet In Pictures | Barcelona vs Valencia | 02/02/2019 1 /31 In Pictures | Barcelona vs Valencia | 02/02/2019 AFP/Getty Images EPA REUTERS Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS Getty Images AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images TV channel and live stream online coverage Eleven Sports have secured exclusive rights to La Liga coverage in the UK this season. Fans can watch the match on Eleven Sports through iOS mobile and tablet apps as well as Android mobile.<doc-sep>Barcelona vs Real Valladolid: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview After stalling a little in recent weeks, Ernesto Valverde's side will be going all out for the win at Camp Nou After going three matches without a victory in all competitions, Barcelona are looking to get back on track against Valladolid on Saturday. Ernesto Valverde’s side have drawn three tricky fixtures in succession, held twice at Camp Nou - 2-2 in La Liga by Valencia and 1-1 by Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey - before a goalless draw away to Athletic Club last weekend. Their weekend opponents, meanwhile, are floating precariously above the relegation zone, having drawn 0-0 with Villarreal a week ago. Article continues below Game Barcelona vs Real Valladolid Date Saturday, February 16 Time 7:45pm GMT / 2:45pm ET Stream ( US only) fubo TV (7-day free trial) TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial ) . New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser. US TV channel Online stream beIN Sports / beIN Sports en Espanol fubo TV (7-day free trial) In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can be streamed via Eleven Sports 1. UK TV channel Online stream N /A Eleven Sports 1 Squads & Team News Position Barcelona squad Goalkeepers Ter Stegen, Pena Defenders Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba, Miranda, Gonzalez, Chumi, Murillo, Vermaelen Midfielders Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal, Boateng, Alena, Roberto Forwards Messi, Suarez, Coutinho, Malcom Barcelona starting XI: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Vermaelen, Alba; Alena, Sergio, Vidal; Messi, Prince, Dembele Position Real Valladolid squad Goalkeepers Masip, Yoel Defenders Calero, Joaquin, Kiko, Moyano, Angulo, Nacho Midfielders Borja Fernandez, Anuar, Keko, Herrero, Villa, Verde Forwards Guardiola, Unal, Cop, Plaza Valladolid starting XI: Masip; Antonito, Joaquin, Olivas, Calero, Nacho; Michel, Anuar; Verde; Sergi Guardiola, Enes Unal Betting & Match Odds Barcelona are hot 1/7 favourites with Bet365, while Real Valladolid are 14/1 to cause a huge upset. A draw is priced aat 8/1. Click here to see more offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more. Match Preview With no midweek action and the return of the Champions League, it’s been a relatively low-key build up for Barcelona ahead of Saturday’s encounter with Real Valladolid. During this quiet period, Barca have started to look to the future, tying down coach Valverde to a one-year contract extension. However, things are about to take a step up in intensity for Ernesto Valverde’s side over the coming days, with a trip to Lyon in Europe set to follow quickly on the heels of this encounter. Nevertheless, having seen their lead at the summit of La Liga cut to six points by in-form Real Madrid, it is one that they cannot afford to falter in. Meanwhile, Ajax’s encounter against Real Madrid gave fans a glimpse of Frenkie de Jong, who will join the squad in the summer. The midfielder has been dubbed “perfect” for the Catalans by Patrick Kluivert. “When he receives the ball, he already knows where to play it, he always looks for vertical passes towards other central midfielders or strikers,” the Dutchman said. That will be music to the ears of Lionel Messi, who is expected to stay at the club “forever”, according to president Josep Maria Bartomeu. “He has told us that he wants to continue. We have offered him a new contract over five years and I hope we will continue discussing the deal,” he told RKB. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Argentine has been to the forefront of Valladolid’s thinking over the course of the last week to, although Sergio Gonzalez has warned there is far more to Barca than the diminutive Argentine, who may even be rotated out of the team given his recent injury concerns. “It would be wrong for us to focus on Messi,” Gonzalez said. “We do everything as a squad, and if we have to stop Messi, we will also do it as a squad.” He even hinted he would be rather relieved not to see the 29-goal forward on the field. “I always think the best players have to be on the park, but if Ernesto decides to give him a rest it would not be bad,” he conceded. “Messi is the best and deep down I want him to play, but at the same time if he has to rest then this would be the time.” After a scoreless draw against Villarreal and an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Huesca, the pressure is on the strugglers to bounce back but it promises to be an immense test.<doc-sep>Barcelona face Real Valladolid on Saturday night, and despite returning to Champions League action next week, Ernesto Valverde has picked a strong squad. The Catalan giants currently boast a six-point lead over nearest rivals Real Madrid in the La Liga table, and so they’ll be wary that any slip-ups could prove to be costly. SEE MORE: ‘Way to waste remaining years of Messi’s prime’ – These Barcelona fans fume after crucial announcement With that in mind, it would appear as though Valverde is likely to select a strong starting line-up this weekend, with many of his influential stars being included in the squad, as seen in the tweet below. Nevertheless, many fans will arguably be hoping that he does rotate and rest key individuals too, as they face a trip to Lyon on Tuesday night for the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie. However, based on the reaction below, many were left furious and frustrated over the snub of both Jeison Murillo and Jean-Clair Todibo for this encounter with Valladolid, as they questioned why Valverde would leave them out in a perfect game to give them minutes. Barcelona are undoubtedly expected to win, but it would appear as though their coach is taking no chances and will play close to a full-strength side. In his defence, with a trip to Sevilla next weekend followed by a trip to the Bernabeu the following week, Barcelona simply can’t afford to drop points now as it could give Real Madrid the perfect opportunity to wipe out their lead. With that in mind, it’s easier to see why Valverde would perhaps ignore the temptation to rest players and rotate, but the fans below are certainly far from impressed over the defensive duo not getting a look in. Why did we loan Murillo in the 1st place? — Percy (@Percy_Maks_) February 15, 2019 Where is mister Todibo?? — XXXTRA LONG DONG ?? (@GoatelMessi) February 15, 2019 Should’ve put todibo in! — Edin (@SyntheseEDH) February 15, 2019 should have included either todibo or murillofor rotation — Hassan Afifi (@HassanAfifi18) February 15, 2019 Todibo? Perfect game for him. — tobbe (@Hamriin) February 15, 2019 Valverde out. — Prashu (@OhMyKalyan) February 15, 2019 Todibo this todibo that doesnt even get included valverde is so damn predictable its disgusting. Also what the hell is that fatso doing in the squad when lyon is right arround the corner messi pique busquets rakitic too all of them should have been at home — CP-05 (@Ben_Beckmann090) February 15, 2019 Please add Todibo for the next squad list — Aravindh Rajan (@PrimeDabinho) February 16, 2019 Where is murillo? ?… whats the use of this big squad then… we need UCL,Shameless cocah renews even when the fans are against him…there goes our UCL hopes..??? — player (@Sameerhossain16) February 16, 2019 Y Jeison Murillo ? — oscar lopez gonzalez (@oscarcali14) February 16, 2019 Why did we sign Murillo if the manager never uses him in a game like this? So Pique will play until his legs broken — Kabar Barcelona (@barcastalk) February 15, 2019 Todibo or riot!!! — Kleb96 (@kleb96) February 15, 2019<doc-sep>
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Barcelona will be looking to end a run of three straight draws in all competitions when they host Real Valladolid. Ernesto Valverde’s men failed to score for the first time in the league this season against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames last weekend, but remain six points ahead of Real Madrid in second. With a trip to Lyon in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday the following assignment, the Catalan giants will look to get back to winning ways against their struggling visitors. Valladolid did pick up a point against fellow relegation rivals Villarreal last weekend to move three points above the relegation zone. However, they still face a fight on their hands to survive relegation in their first La Liga campaign since the 2013/14 season. Champions League power rankings Show all 9 1 /9 Champions League power rankings Champions League power rankings Ranking the last eight teams in the Champions League Who is most likely to win the tournament as we reach the knockout stages? AFP/Getty Images Champions League power rankings 8. Porto The outsiders, who every other team will most want to draw, but showed vs Roma that the Dragao EPA Champions League power rankings 7. Ajax Fearless youth and exceptional talent stunned Real Madrid, though it will be tough to repeat AFP/Getty Images Champions League power rankings 6. Tottenham Efficiently dispatched Dortmund in both legs, showing they are now calm when under pressure at this level AFP/Getty Images Champions League power rankings 5. Manchester United The comeback vs PSG has galvanised them but despite Solskjaer performing miracles, they have glaring holes Man Utd via Getty Images Champions League power rankings 4. Barcelona With Messi, anything is possible, but incredibly despite thrashing Lyon at the Nou Camp, they looked vulnerable when the visitors halved the deficit and were one goal away from advancing AFP/Getty Images Champions League power rankings 3. Juventus Ronaldo once again showing he is Mr Champions League in the remarkable comeback vs Atletico and now a serious threat to finally clinch that elusive title AFP/Getty Champions League power rankings 2. Liverpool Outclassed Bayern in Munich and appear to be finally heating up in attack. Van Dijk has arguably emerged as the best defender in the world, with Alisson proving a clear upgrade for last year's finalists AFP/Getty Images Champions League power rankings 1. Manchester City Demolished Schalke and look to be irresistible going forward with great depth to their squad and no particular reliance on one player Getty Images What time does it start? Barcelona vs Valladolid kicks off at 7:45pm (GMT). Where can I watch it? The match will be shown live on Eleven Sports 1 from kick-off. Supporters can also watch the match on Eleven Sports through iOS mobile and tablet apps as well as on Android mobiles. Highlights will be shown at 10:30pm on Eleven Sports 1. Predicted line-ups Barcelona: ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Vermaelen, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Vidal; Dembele, Suarez, Coutinho Valladolid: Masip; Moyano, Olivas, Calero, Nacho; Keko, Michel, Alcaraz, Hervias; Plano, Unal Dembele is in line to return for Barca (Reuters) Form guide… Barcelona: LWWDDD Valladolid: DDLWLD Head-to-head… Real Valladolid 0 Barcelona 1 (Dembele), La Liga, August 2018 Real Valladolid 1 (Rossi) Barcelona 0, La Liga, March 2014 Barcelona 4 (Sanchez x2, Xavi, Neymar) Real Valladolid 1 (Guerra), La Liga, October 2013 Barcelona 2 (Pedro, Valiente og) Valladolid 1 (V. Perez pen), La Liga, May 2013 Valladolid 1 (Guerra) Barcelona 3 (Xavi, Messi, Tello), La Liga, December 2012 ✕ Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Odds… Barcelona to win: 2/13 Valladolid to win: 19/1 Draw: 15/2 Prediction… 2-0
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LeBron James has reportedly had a difficult time finding NBA stars to join him on the set of Space Jam 2. For instance, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has already declined the opportunity, and The Hollywood Reporter recently reported that Stephen Curry and James Harden likely won't take part either, due to their sneaker brand affiliations. On top of that, two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant is also uninterested in a role in Space Jam 2 because he's pursuing his own media projects, which includes the Apple series "Swagger," a scripted basketball drama inspired by Durant's AAU playing days. As the search for a cast of NBA players to fill the role of the Monstars continues, LeBron need not look any further than his own Lakers teammates. During a recent episode of "The House of Highlights Show," Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball said he'd "love" to be in Space Jam 2, if he's asked to be in it. When asked about the possibility, Lonzo says, "You gotta ask him [LeBron]. He knows I'd love to be in it. So, we'll see. We'll see what happens." The Hollywood Reporter's Tatiana Siegel recently provided some insight about the Space Jam 2 script, specifically how LeBron's family arc will play a central role in the film, rather than a roster of NBA All Stars. Per THR: "Those familiar with the script say Space Jam 2 will rely less heavily on a Dream Team of hoops luminaries than the Michael Jordan-led film, which saw more than a dozen real-life NBA stars cameo and grossed $231 million worldwide, not adjusted for inflation. Instead, LeBron's family arc is key, with a yet-to-be-cast teen character named Dom as the second lead, sources say." Space Jam 2 won't hit theaters until July 16, 2021 - but you can check out the entertaining Space Jam 2 x NBA 2K trailer here.<doc-sep>LeBron James has always been a fan of Lonzo Ball, even before his move to the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency last summer. If Ball has his way, his relationship will James will lead to his inclusion in Space Jam 2. Ball joined the House of Highlights live Twitter show on Tuesday night, giving his commentary on the NBA postseason and whatever else popped up. One such topic was whether Ball ever wondered if James would head west despite owning the Eastern Conference, to which the second-year guard said no. “That wasn’t my thought,” Ball said. “I just think in his career, L.A. was the right move for him, both on the court and off the court. I’m happy he came.” As a follow-up, Ball was asked about whether he’ll be in the film, which is slated to drop in July of 2021 and begins filming this summer. Lonzo wants to be in Space Jam 2. ? Make it happen, @KingJames. pic.twitter.com/tCNGEls3c0 — House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 17, 2019 “Gotta ask him,” Ball said. “He knows I’d love to be in it, so, we’ll see, we’ll see what happens.” James has, reportedly, had issues recruiting talent to the film, with Giannis Antetokounmpo turning down a role and contracts with non-Nike sneaker companies reportedly playing a role in some major stars being unable to come on board. Ball, meanwhile, appears to be close to ending his time with Big Baller Brand, and if he were to do that and join Nike, that issue wouldn’t exist. And besides, even if was, Ball seems eager to come on board if James reaches out.<doc-sep>In a far-reaching interview with House of Highlights, Lonzo Ball — the former second overall pick of the Los Angeles Lakers — delved into numerous topics germane to his life as well as the hectic 2018-19 season that they had. With LeBron James in the fold, everything was supposed to change in Tinseltown, but due to the worst injury of his career, James was unable to take the Lakers to the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Ball has also been unable to perform at the same level that he showcased in college, as injuries have hampered his effectiveness and only allowed him to play in 99 out of a potential 164 games in his two-year career. Despite that, Ball has big plans for next season. However, before that, he said that he wants to be included in LeBron James’ upcoming sequel to Michael Jordan’s brilliant 1996 film ‘Space Jam.’ Lonzo wants to be in Space Jam 2. 👀 Make it happen, @KingJames. pic.twitter.com/tCNGEls3c0 — House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 17, 2019 Though many scoff at its cartoonishness and Jordan’s fairly wooden acting, Space Jam is a bona fide classic. To see a good actor like James in the title role should be a joy to behold. It has already been reported that James has had a hard time wrangling major names to star in the upcoming film, so maybe LBJ will have to fall back on his teammate Lonzo Ball instead.<doc-sep>Jae C. Hong/Associated Press At least one NBA player wants to be in Space Jam 2 with LeBron James. Los Angeles Lakers teammate Lonzo Ball said he would "love" to be in the movie while appearing on Tuesday's episode of "The House of Highlights Show." Ball's comments come after Tatiana Siegel of the Hollywood Reporter reported Under Armour athlete Stephen Curry and Adidas athlete James Harden likely will not be in the movie because "Nike is essential to the Space Jam franchise." The report also noted Kevin Durant is "pursuing his own Hollywood efforts" and likely will not be in the movie, either. As if that weren't enough, Giannis Antetokounmpo told Malika Andrews of ESPN he wouldn't be in it, saying, "I don't like being Hollywood. I don't like all this extra drama. I am just going to try to be me." At least James can take solace in Ball's desire to participate in the movie, and the Lakers have plenty of time to film this offseason since they missed the playoffs for the sixth straight year.<doc-sep>
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Lonzo Ball is already LeBron James’ teammate on the Los Angeles Lakers. Could he join the superstar on a more fictional team as well? Ball was asked on Bleacher Report’s House of Highlights Show about James coming to Los Angeles. That naturally led to the question of whether Ball could be in the upcoming “Space Jam 2,” and Ball didn’t deny that he liked the idea. Lonzo wants to be in Space Jam 2. 👀 Make it happen, @KingJames. pic.twitter.com/tCNGEls3c0 — House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 17, 2019 “You’ve gotta ask him. I’d love to be in it, we’ll see what happens,” Ball said. While Ball is only signaling he’d be interested in appearing in “Space Jam 2,” that’s a more positive response than most of the league’s stars have reportedly had. Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are already reported to be out, though that may have more to do with shoe deals than James’ charisma. Considering that Ball appears to be gravitating toward a Nike deal, something that James has cheered on, he could at least be a fit for the movie in that respect. Lonzo Ball and LeBron James could be teammates in both real life and the movies. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) No one is going to mistake Ball’s talent for that of Curry or Harden, but the young Lakers point guard obviously holds plenty of star power — for better or worse — and that could make him valuable to a movie. The movie isn’t scheduled to come out until July 2021, so there’s plenty of time for a decision to be made. And let’s face it, LaVar Ball rooting for, or coaching, the Monstars is something that plenty of people would pay to see. More from Yahoo Sports:
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THE RYDER CUP has concluded with Europe wrestling back the illustrious old trophy from the USA. And many will have noticed both teams wearing yellow ribbons throughout the huge golf weekend. 2 Tiger Woods seen wearing a yellow ribbon ahead of the tournament Credit: AP:Associated Press Why are Ryder Cup golfers wearing yellow ribbons? The Europeans and Americans are wearing yellow ribbons as a tribute to the late Spanish female golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. Europe captain Thomas Bjorn said of the gesture: "The golfing family extends way beyond what we are trying to do this week. "Those events in America with Celia being killed playing golf is something that's hit everybody in the golf family, and obviously our two Spanish players very much. "We felt like that after a conversation from Ryder Cup Europe with Celia's mother, that we would honour her this week. MOST READ IN SPORT CRYING BRU Fernandes breaks down in tears as Scholes slams Utd stars who 'accept losing' Revealed FLOP GEA De Gea let in 38th CONSECUTIVE penalty before missing own spot-kick in shootout Live Blog MAN UTD 1 (10) VILLARREAL 1 (11) Penalties heartbreak for United as De Gea misses in epic MAN UTD VERDICT Solskjaer blew chance to end trophy drought & it won't get easier than this Live Blog FOOTBALL NEWS LIVE Zidane QUITS Real Madrid, Antonio Conte leaves Inter Milan JEEPERS KEEPERS Agony for Man Utd as De Gea misses after epic shootout goes down to GOALIES "That's what we're doing, and it's nothing about us, but it's just more about that the golfing family gets touched by these things all over the world. "It's terrible when things like that happen. "Such a great prospect for the game of golf, she was, but also a wonderful person. "And when you speak to Sergio and Jon [Rahm], they couldn't talk highly enough about her. "We felt like that was appropriate for the week." In a separate tribute, 480 court marshals are wearing red, white and blue ribbons after American David Layman died of a heart attack just a week before he was set to volunteer in Paris. 2 Young Spanish golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena was brutally murdered earlier this month Credit: AP:Associated Press Who was Celia Barquin Arozamena? Celia Barquin Arozamena was a 22-year-old Spanish female golfer who was brutally murdered in Iowa, where she was studying civil engineering. She was one of America's top ranked college golfers and was on the verge of finishing her degree when she was assaulted and stabbed multiple times. Her body was found in a pond near the ninth hole of the Coldwater Golf Links in Iowa after fellow golfers noticed her abandoned clubs and called police. A 22-year-old man, Collin Daniel Richards, has been charged with her murder. Arozamena had several stab wounds to her head, neck and upper torso, according to the criminal complaint filed against Richards, who was arrested within hours of her body being discovered.<doc-sep>(CNN) Europe's players will wear yellow ribbons at the Ryder Cup this week to honor the murdered Spanish golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. The 22-year-old, a standout player at Iowa State University and European Junior amateur champion, was killed on a golf course in Iowa earlier this month. Europe's Sergio Garcia, who knew Barquin, said the European team was keen to mark her passing. "It's very sad...for many reasons," the Spaniard told reporters at Le Golf National, near Paris Wednesday. "Not only because she was way too young, but she was just too nice a person, and the way it happened. "I guess the only thing we can do is pay a great tribute to her and make sure her family feels proud of us, and I know they feel proud of her. "We obviously want to try to win for Europe, for everyone, for our teammates but obviously the passing of Celia it's an extra effort there." A yellow ribbon is worn in memory of Spanish golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena. Europe's captain Thomas Bjorn added: "The golfing family extends way beyond what we are trying to do this week. "You know, those events in America with Celia being killed playing golf is something that's hit everybody in the golf family, and obviously our two Spanish players very much. "And we felt like that after a conversation from Ryder Cup Europe with Celia's mother, that we would honor her this week." Photos: Team Europe Ian Poulter – Europe's talisman will make his sixth Ryder Cup appearance and first as a player since 2014 after acting as a vice-captain two years ago. The Englishman has an impressive Ryder Cup record and was the driving force behind Europe's remarkable comeback in the "Miracle at Medinah" in 2012. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Sergio Garcia – The Spanish veteran has endured a tough season but earned a wildcard pick from captain Thomas Bjorn for his role as the "heartbeat" of the European Ryder Cup team. Garcia will make his ninth appearance for Europe in Paris. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Francesco Molinari – The Italian sealed his place at the top of the qualification rankings with his maiden major victory in the British Open at Carnoustie in July. The consistent Molinari played in the 2010 and 2012 Ryder Cups. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Justin Rose – England's former US Open champion and Olympic gold medalist will be making his fifth appearance in the matchplay event and boasts an impressive record of 11 wins and two halves in his 19 matches. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Tyrrell Hatton – The Englishman will make his Ryder Cup debut in Paris after an impressive qualification period which yielded two wins last autumn and tied sixth in June's US Open. The 26-year-old was in contention to win the PGA Tour's second FedEx Cup playoff event Sunday before sliding to 12th. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Tommy Fleetwood – The fast-rising Fleetwood has been one of golf's big noises this season, with a runner-up finish at the US Open and five other top-five finishes in the PGA Tour. The 27-year-old is another European debutant but his form suggests he will be a big danger. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Jon Rahm – The US-based Spaniard has risen to world No. 5 and is part of golf's new power generation. The 23-year-old, a former top-ranked amateur, is one of five European rookies in Paris. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Rory McIlroy – Northern Ireland's four-time major champion is one of Europe's powerhouses and can be devastating in the right mood. McIlroy is playing on his fifth straight Ryder Cup team and has won nine of his 19 matches with four halves. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Alex Noren – The 36-year-old Swede is one of the stalwarts of the European Tour but a first-timer in the Ryder Cup after an impressive season which has included victory in the French Open at tournament venue Le Golf National outside Paris. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Thorbjorn Olesen – The Dane clinched the eighth and last automatic spot with a strong finish to the qualifying period which ended Sunday. The 28-year-old, who won the Italian Open in June, is the fifth rookie on countryman Bjorn's side. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Paul Casey – England's Casey make his return to the Ryder Cup after a 10-year hiatus after recommitting to playing sufficient European Tour events to be eligible for a spot on the team. The 41-year-old, a former world No.3, has played on three previous Ryder Cup teams, winning in 2004 and 2006 when he made a hole in one during one of his matches. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Team Europe Henrik Stenson – The ice-cool Swede earned one of Bjorn's four wildcard picks by virtue of his big-match experience and the level-headed qualities he brings to the team room. Stenson, who beat Phil Mickelson in a classic duel to win the 2016 British Open, has played on four previous European teams. Hide Caption 12 of 12 'Beautiful person' Another European player, US-based Spaniard Jon Rahm, also knew Barquin, and Bjorn added: "When you speak to Sergio and Jon about it, they will both -- they couldn't talk highly enough about her. We felt like that was appropriate for the week." Barquin was named Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year. She won the 2018 Big 12 championship, an annual tournament contested between 10 leading US sports universities, and was crowned European Ladies' Amateur champion in July. Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Former world No. 1 Tiger Woods was already confirmed for Paris as an assistant to captain Jim Furyk, but Woods' form this season on his return from spine fusion surgery has been too good to ignore. The 42-year-old narrowly missed out on automatic qualification, but a tied sixth finish at the British Open and second in the US PGA last month sealed an eighth Ryder Cup spot. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Team USA captain Jim Furyk (pictured) picked Woods as one of his three wildcards on September 4. Here's the rest of his 12-man line-up for the match against Europe at Le Golf National outside Paris, France starting September 28. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Veteran Phil Mickelson was another of Furyk's picks after clinching his first victory since 2013 earlier this season. The 48-year-old will be making a record 12th straight Ryder Cup appearance, although the five-time major champion has never won the competition on European soil. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 In-form Bryson DeChambeau received a wildcard selection after missing an automatic spot by one place. The quirky 24-year-old made himself a lock by winning the first two FedEx Cup playoff events to take his tally to four titles in the last 14 months. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Brooks Koepka topped the US Ryder Cup rankings with his major victories in the US Open in June and US PGA in August. The 28-year-old, ranked second in the world, made his Ryder Cup debut in the victory at Hazeltine in 2016, winning three of his four matches. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 World No.1 Dustin Johnson has won three times this season and will be a potent weapon in France. The big-hitter from South Carolina could form a powerful pairing with gym buddy Koepka in his fourth Ryder Cup. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 World No. 3 Justin Thomas, 25, finished third in the standings to qualify for his debut Ryder Cup. The 2017 US PGA champion also clinched the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this term to cement his place in the side. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed qualified in fourth for a third straight appearance at the Ryder Cup. Reed won a dramatic duel with Rory McIlroy at Hazeltine two years ago and has been dubbed "Captain America" for his Ryder Cup prowess. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Colorful left-hander Bubba Watson will make his fourth Ryder Cup appearance this year after qualifying in fifth. Three PGA Tour victories this season suggest the two-time Masters champion is in the form to make a difference in Paris. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Jordan Spieth is going into his third Ryder Cup on the back of five top-10 finishes this season. He has been winless since clinching the British Open for his fourth major in 2017, but a third-place finish at the Masters suggests he will be a danger. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Rickie Fowler has three Ryder Cup campaigns under his belt and qualified seventh in the standings for this year's edition. A second-place finish at the 2018 Masters was a season highlight for the world No.10. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Webb Simpson, the 2012 US Open champion, secured the eighth and final automatic spot after a strong season which yielded the Players title for his first PGA Tour win since 2013. The 33-year-old played in the 2012 and 2014 US Ryder Cup defeats. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: US Ryder Cup team 2018 Tony Finau was selected as Furyk's final wildcard pick after a stellar 2018 that has included 11 top-10 finishes -- the most on the PGA Tour this season. Hide Caption 13 of 13 "Celia had an infectious smile, a bubbly personality and anyone fortunate enough to know her was blessed. Our Cyclone family mourns the tragic loss of Celia, a spectacular student-athlete and ISU ambassador," said ISU athletics director Jamie Pollard. She was described as "one of the most accomplished players in Cyclone golf history," in reference to the name for the university's sports teams. "Celia was a beautiful person who was loved by all her teammates and friends," said Christie Martens, Iowa State head women's golf coach. "She loved Iowa State and was an outstanding representative for our school. We will never forget her competitive drive to be the best and her passion for life."<doc-sep>
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THE Ryder Cup is here and many will have noticed golfers wearing yellow ribbons throughout the competition. At Le Golf National, both the Europe and USA teams are sporting the colour to pay tribute to Celia Barquin Arozamena. 2 Celia Barquin Arozamena was Female Athlete of the Year at Iowa State University before her tragic murder Credit: AP:Associated Press Who was Celia Barquin Arozamena? Celia Barquin Arozamena was one of America's top ranked college golfers and was studying civil engineering in Iowa. Earlier in 2018, the 22-year-old Spaniard won the award of Iowa State University Female Athlete of the Year after winning the European Ladies Amateur Championship at the Penati Golf Resort in Slovakia. She also qualified for the 2018 U.S. Women's Open before missing the cut. MOST READ IN SPORT CRYING BRU Fernandes breaks down in tears as Scholes slams Utd stars who 'accept losing' Revealed FLOP GEA De Gea let in 38th CONSECUTIVE penalty before missing own spot-kick in shootout Live Blog MAN UTD 1 (10) VILLARREAL 1 (11) Penalties heartbreak for United as De Gea misses in epic MAN UTD VERDICT Solskjaer blew chance to end trophy drought & it won't get easier than this Live Blog FOOTBALL NEWS LIVE Zidane QUITS Real Madrid, Antonio Conte leaves Inter Milan JEEPERS KEEPERS Agony for Man Utd as De Gea misses after epic shootout goes down to GOALIES What happened to Celia Barquin Arozamena? Celia Barquin Arozamena was brutally murdered in September 2018, with her body being discovered at the Coldwater Golf Links in Ames, Iowa. A 22-year-old homeless man, Collin Daniel Richards, who had been living in a homeless encampment near the golf course, was charged with her murder. He reportedly told a fellow homeless man from the area that he had "an urge to rape and kill a woman". Arozamena had several stab wounds to her head, neck and upper torso, according to the criminal complaint filed against Richards, who was arrested within hours of her body being discovered. 2 Arozamena was finishing a degree in civil engineering when she was brutally killed Credit: AP:Associated Press Why are Ryder Cup golfers wearing yellow ribbons? Europe captain Thomas Bjorn said of the yellow ribbons: "The golfing family extends way beyond what we are trying to do this week. "Those events in America with Celia being killed playing golf is something that's hit everybody in the golf family, and obviously our two Spanish players very much. "We felt like that after a conversation from Ryder Cup Europe with Celia's mother, that we would honour her this week. "That's what we're doing, and it's nothing about us, but it's just more about that the golfing family gets touched by these things all over the world. "It's terrible when things like that happen. "Such a great prospect for the game of golf, she was, but also a wonderful person. "And when you speak to Sergio and Jon [Rahm], they couldn't talk highly enough about her. "We felt like that was appropriate for the week."
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WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon sold more shares of WWE this week to fund the XFL. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) Vince McMahon made the biggest stock sale to date in his quest to personally fund the XFL, set to be relaunched in February 2020. McMahon, the CEO and majority shareholder of the WWE, sold nearly $272 million in stocks, per an SEC filing, and has “ no current plan to sell additional shares” after his third time doing so. McMahon makes large WWE stock sale Per the organization’s SEC filing, McMahon sold 3,204,427 shares, approximately 4.1 percent of the company’s shares, “primarily to fund a separate entity from the Company, Alpha Entertainment LLC “Alpa”) [sic], which Mr. McMahon established to explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including launching a professional football league under the name “XFL.” WWE shares closed at $84.87 per share Wednesday, netting McMahon $271,959,719.49. TV deals struck in 2018, the controversial but profitable 10-year “Crown Jewel” deal with Saudi Arabia, and the upcoming WrestleMania all pushed stock prices up for WWE since McMahon’s initial sale. He still holds approximately 80.1 percent of the total voting power, per the SEC filing, and 36.8 percent of the total outstanding shares of common stock. McMahon is worth $3.2 billion, according to Forbes, and made the 2018 Forbes 400 list of richest people for the first time in 16 years. He gained $1.6 billion in net worth last year, per Forbes. McMahon adds to previous sales McMahon has raised nearly $400 million from selling WWE stock over the previous 15 months. In December 2017 he raised approximately $100 million when he sold 4.3 percent of his stock at $32 a share. In December 2018 he sold off $22.9 million. McMahon is reportedly looking to invest $500 million into the XFL, per The Wrap, to cover salaries and insurance costs. The XFL got off to a strong opening weekend in 2001, but lasted only one year and lost both the WWE and TV partner NBC millions. This time around the WWE will not be involved, hence McMahon’s selling of shares for capital through Alpha Entertainment. Story continues If the AFL’s funding issues are any indication, getting a new football league off the ground is no cheap task. Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, invested $250 million and this week said the league may fold. More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>Vince McMahon is a self-made billionaire. He took WWE — then WWF — from ma and pa to an international juggernaut. He is by far the majority stockholder in the sports entertainment conglomerate based in Stamford, Ct. On Wednesday, he sold off a big chunk — 4.1 percent — of his stock. The business maneuver translated into 3,204,427 shares in the sports entertainment promotion sold that are worth approximately $270 million: The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.1 percent of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 28,682,94 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 80.1 percent of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 36.8 percent of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.”<doc-sep>A new SEC filing made by WWE today revealed that Vince McMahon sold 3,204,427 shares of company stock, worth around $270 million. The filing noted that the sale was primarily to fund Vince’s Alpha Entertainment LLC, which oversees the XFL football league that will re-launch in 2020. Vince informed the company that he has no current plan to sell additional shares, and that he intends to continue his role as WWE Chairman and CEO for the foreseeable future. The shares sold today represent 4.1% of the total outstanding shares of stock. Vince still owns 28,682,948 shares of WWE stock, which represents approximately 36.8% of the company’s total shares of stock and 80.1% of the total voting power.<doc-sep>Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images Vince McMahon continues to make financial moves in anticipation of the XFL's relaunch next year. Per WWE's official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (h/t PW Insider's Mike Johnson), McMahon sold 3,204,427 shares of his stock in the wrestling promotion worth approximately $270 million: "The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.1 percent of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 28,682,94 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 80.1 percent of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 36.8 percent of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock." McMahon has been selling off shares of his WWE stock over the past two years when he started Alpha Entertainment, the organization that owns the XFL. Wednesday represents the largest sale amount in terms of dollars by the WWE chairman. He previously sold 3.34 million shares of his stock worth around $100 million in December 2017. McMahon also sold off 306,000 shares last November to net more than $23 million. Video Play Button Videos you might like Darren Rovell reported for ESPN.com last June that McMahon is expecting to spend around $500 million in the XFL's first three seasons. Even though that is a large chunk of change, McMahon has a lot of room to maneuver. Forbes estimates the 73-year-old has a net worth of $3.3 billion. The original XFL was one of the biggest financial disasters in sports history, costing NBC and WWE an estimated $70 million for its lone season in 2001. The rebooted XFL will return in February 2020 with Oliver Luck serving as league commissioner. Four of the league's eight teams have already hired head coaches, including former Oklahoma Sooners coach Bob Stoops coming out of retirement to take over the Dallas organization.<doc-sep>
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McMahon still maintains control over more than 80% of the company’s voting shares. WWE chairman Vince McMahon sold more than three million shares of WWE stock on Wednesday with the goal of using the proceeds to fund his upcoming football league, according to the company’s SEC filing. McMahon offloaded 3,204,427 shares in the company at $84.87 each, meaning the sale netted him just under $272 million. The SEC filing says McMahon plans to invest the money in another company, Alpha Entertainment, which he created in 2017 when he began planning the relaunch of the XFL. “The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.1% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock,” the filing reads. “After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 28,682,948 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 80.1% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 36.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock.” WWE stock dropped 1% after the close of Wednesday’s trading and rallied when the market opened Thursday before falling again later in the morning. Stock prices increased 144% in 2018 after WWE signed a new five-year contract worth more than $1 billion with Fox for the broadcast rights to SmackDown Live. Traders expect the stock to rise even higher this year when WWE signs new broadcast deals in India and the United Kingdom, according to Reuters. The new football league plans to launch in February 2020 with games the weekend after the Super Bowl. It will not feature the same wrestling-inspired gimmicks as the short-lived original XFL. The league’s eight teams (seven of which are in NFL markets) will play a 10-week schedule and several have already announced coaching and front-office hires.
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See the recovery efforts in Gaza as ceasefire appears to hold 'Is everything I'm trying to do pointless? ': Syrians helpless in face of 'sham' election Brother of journalist detained in Myanmar says family is hopeful Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs Residents stand near stalls along a road amidst debris while strong winds batter Balasore district in Odisha state on May 26, 2021 as Cyclone Yaas barrels towards India's eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP) (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images) France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame speak as they walk in the grounds of The Presidential Palace in Kigali on May 27, 2021, after their press conference and prior to their official luncheon. - French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Rwanda on May 27, 2021, for a highly symbolic visit aimed at moving on from three decades of diplomatic tensions over France's role in the 1994 genocide in the country. Macron is the first French leader since 2010 to visit the East African nation, which has long accused France of complicity in the killing of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi Rwandans. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images) Relative of detained Iranian-Americans fears they will not survive In this photo provided by WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines, a soldier views the site inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the southern Philippines after two bombs exploded Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. The Philippine government says it will "pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators" behind bomb attacks that killed over a dozen people and wounded many more during a Sunday Mass at a cathedral on the restive southern island. (WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP) (CNN) — Two bombs tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral in southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least 20 people and leaving dozens wounded, authorities said. Two suspected improvised explosive devices detonated at intervals at the Jolo Catholic cathedral in the Mindanao region, according to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. At least 81 people have been wounded, authorities said, including 14 soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and two Philippine National Police officers. The first device went off inside the cathedral, and the second one targeted nearby soldiers who rushed to help the victims of the first explosion, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said. ISIS on Sunday claimed responsibility for the bombings via its Amaq News Agency. Shortly after the Amaq report, ISIS’ “East Asia Province” also issued a formal communique for the twin suicide bombings. ISIS did not provide evidence for its claim, nor can CNN independently verify it. The nation’s military and the police are securing the area and all casualties were immediately evacuated, regional officials said. In a statement, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana condemned the bombing and said he has directed troops to “heighten their alert level” and secure places of worship and public spaces. AP A soldier views the site inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in southern Philippines after two bombs exploded Sunday. “As we convey our sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the victims and offer our sympathy to the peace-loving people of Sulu who are severely affected by this dastardly act, we assure our people that we will use the full force of the law to bring to justice the perpetrators behind this incident,” Lorenzana said. He urged people to “remain calm and avoid spreading panic in our respective communities to deny terrorism any victory.” Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Task Force Sulu commander, said his forces will “relentlessly hunt the perpetrators of this terror act until justice is served.” Through a spokesman late Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the attack, calling for “the perpetrators of these crimes to be swiftly brought to justice.” Referendum for peace The Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo is a Latin Catholic missionary. In a statement Sunday, the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines offered its condolences to the families of the victims and condemned “this act of terrorism,” which came days after a Monday referendum asking the majority-Muslim population whether they back a plan by separatists and the government to create a new self-administered region. The referendum asked to create a new Muslim autonomous region that could bring a peaceful resolution between the government and the rebel group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front – a conflict that has claimed 120,000 lives since the 1970s. The majority of the 2.8 million people participating in the vote supported the referendum, but the town of Jolo rejected it. The Philippines Commission on Elections announced on Friday that the referendum was ratified after counting the votes from five provinces. AP A soldier views the site inside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the southern Philippines. History of violence WESMINCOM Armed Forces of the Philippines Via AP Soldiers and police cordon off the area after two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral. The Mindanao region has been plagued with violence between Muslims and Christians for decades. It is home to several Islamist insurgent groups, including Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for a number of attacks on civilians and Philippine government troops, as well as the kidnapping of several foreign nationals. As recently as December 31, two people were killed in an explosion outside a busy shopping mall in Cotabato City. In July, at least 10 people were killed when militants linked to Abu Sayyaf struck a military checkpoint with a car bomb. Abu Sayyaf – along with the Maute group, another Mindanao-based terror organization – was responsible for the invasion and occupation of Marawi, the country’s biggest Muslim-majority city, in 2017. The ISIS-affiliated militants laid siege to Marawi for five months, and the violence forced more than 350,000 residents to flee the city and the surrounding areas, as their homes were reduced to rubble by airstrikes and militant fire. In the 150 days of the Philippine army operation to flush the militants out, more than 800 militants and 162 members of the government security forces were killed. In a radio interview, regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the bombing is not related to Friday’s referendum, known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law. “I can’t see the connection. First of all, the Abu Sayyaf or the ISIS have not manifested their stand on BOL whether they are for or against it,” Hataman said, adding that only the Abu Sayyaf has the means and capacity to carry out the attack. “Most likely, this is related to them (Abu Sayyaf),” he said. CNN’s Dakin Andone, Tim Lister, Samantha Beech, Jennifer Hauser, Jinky Jorgio and Rebecca Wright contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Analysts say, however, that the attacks bear the hallmark of the Abu Sayyaf Group, which has long been active in Jolo and is known to have its base of operations in the province. The militant group has been listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Various abductions, bombings and killings have been attributed to it, including the 2001 kidnapping of three American citizens.<doc-sep>The Philippine authorities vowed to crush those behind twin bombings that killed at least 20 people and injured over 80 who had been attending a Sunday mass in the country’s restive southern island of Mindanao. The attack came just six days after a referendum on autonomy for the mainly Muslim region returned an overwhelming “yes” vote, and was one of the deadliest in recent years in an area long plagued by conflict, insurgencies, Islamist terrorist activities and military crackdowns. The first explosion occurred inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province, while the second blast struck outside near the entrance as panicked worshippers fled and security forces arrived to help. The death toll, which was initially reported as 27 but later revised down to 20, included at least five security personnel as well as multiple civilians.<doc-sep>
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Manila: Two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding nearly 81 during a Sunday Mass, officials said. The first bomb went off in or near the Jolo cathedral in the provincial capital, followed by a second blast outside the compound as government forces were responding to the attack, security officials said. Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde said that at least 19 people died and 48 were wounded. Police and military reports said the casualties included both troops and civilians. Photos on social media showed debris and bodies lying on a busy street outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which has been hit by bombs in the past. Troops in armored carriers sealed off the main road leading to the church while vehicles were transporting the dead and wounded to the hospital. Some casualties were evacuated by air to nearby Zamboanga city. "I have directed our troops to heighten their alert level, secure all places of worships and public places at once, and initiate pro-active security measures to thwart hostile plans," said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a statement. Jolo island has long been troubled by the presence of Abu Sayyaf militants, who are blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization because of years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. It came nearly a week after minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation endorsed a new autonomous region in the southern Philippines in hopes of ending nearly five decades of a separatist rebellion that has left 150,000 people dead. Although most of the Muslim areas approved the autonomy deal, voters in Sulu province, where Jolo is located, rejected it. The province is home to a rival rebel faction that's opposed to the deal as well as the Abu Sayyaf group, which is not part of any peace process. Western governments have welcomed the autonomy pact. They worry that small numbers of Islamic State-linked militants from the Middle East and Southeast Asia could forge an alliance with Filipino insurgents and turn the south into a breeding ground for extremists.
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NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times on Wednesday over a comprehensive investigation alleging decades of fraudulent tax practices that increased the money the president received from his parents. In a tweet, Trump did not specifically deny the conduct the Times described as "dubious tax schemes," including "instances of outright fraud." It said he and his siblings used these practices to boost the value of the money they got from their parents. "The Failing New York Times did something I have never seen done before. They used the concept of 'time value of money' in doing a very old, boring and often told hit piece on me. Added up, this means that 97% of their stories on me are bad. Never recovered from bad election call!" Trump wrote. Trump tweet The Times, in turn, defended the article after Trump's tweet. "This is a powerful piece of investigative journalism, the result of 18 months of inquiry and a review of over 100,000 pages of records. It is accurate and fair and we stand behind it," a spokeswoman for the paper said. Trump appeared to target the newspaper's reporting that the president actually received today's equivalent of $413 million from his father's real estate holdings. His father, Fred, loaned him at least $60.7 million, or $140 million in today's dollars, rather than the $1 million loan Trump previously described on the campaign trail as "small," according to the Times. While Trump called the story "boring and often told," it went deeper into his family's tax practices and his claims about his wealth than any report previously has. It is unclear where he got his accusation that 97 percent of the Times' stories about him are "bad."<doc-sep>That is just one part of an extremely complex story, but it is important to note that the Times, in an article that was surely vetted carefully by their attorneys, describes what the Trumps did as “outright fraud.” In other words, it wasn’t enough for the Trumps to employ their tax lawyers to aggressively take advantage of all the loopholes that are available to the super rich (particularly those in real estate, which has its own set of intricate tax regulations). If the Times’ story is accurate, they decided to break the law as well — not here and there, not a time or two, but in a carefully planned scheme that had a complex web of components and took years to carry out.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 25: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a joint news conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in the Rose Garden at the White House July 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump began the news conference by announcing that Senate Republicans had passed a procedural vote on repealing Obamacare. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) NEW YORK CITY - DECEMBER 12: Donald Trump and Fred Trump attend "The Art of the Deal" Book Party on December 12, 1987 at Trump Tower in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage) WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 01: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with members of his cabinet November 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. During his remarks, Trump commented on the recent terror attack in New York City and discussed changing U.S. immigration laws to possibly prevent future attacks. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Donald Trump, real estate mogul, entrepreneur, and billionare, utilizes his personal helicopter to get around on August 1987 in New York City. (CNN) — At the heart of President Donald Trump’s success story is this idea: He took a small amount of money – in the form of a loan from his father, Fred – and turned it into billions of dollars. “My whole life really has been a ‘no’ and I fought through it,” Trump told a crowd in New Hampshire way back in October 2015. “It has not been easy for me, it has not been easy for me. And you know I started off in Brooklyn, my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.” While the idea of Trump portraying himself as some sort of rags-to-riches story was always laughable – his father was a man of considerable means and a $1 million loan is not exactly chump change – it convinced lots and lots of people that Trump was like them. Or, more accurately, what they aspired to be. He was – and is – for many, the living embodiment of the American dream. Which is why this story published by The New York Times on Tuesday night, which details a series of tax evasions that Trump and his father used over the years is so devastating. The piece is long and hugely detailed, but its most devastating lines – to the idea of the President as, essentially, a self-made man – are these: “By age 3, Mr. Trump was earning $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s empire. He was a millionaire by age 8. By the time he was 17, his father had given him part ownership of a 52-unit apartment building. Soon after Mr. Trump graduated from college, he was receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year from his father. The money increased with the years, to more than $5 million annually in his 40s and 50s.” And remember that $1 million loan Trump talked so much about on the campaign trail? The Times reports that the total loan by Fred Trump to his son, Donald, was actually $60.7 million or – and brace yourself here – $140 million in today’s money. (The total amount of money Trump received from his father’s holdings is estimated at more than $400 million by the Times). The truth, as laid bare by the Times reporting, which included reviewing more than 100,000 pages of financial documents, is that Donald Trump was born into a very wealthy family and through a series of complicated tax maneuvers – many of which, at best, skirted the law – was propelled upward by his father’s heavy behind-the-scenes financial support. “While Fred Trump helped finance the accouterments of wealth, Donald Trump, master self-promoter, spun them into a seductive narrative,” reads the Times story. “Fred Trump’s money, for example, helped build Trump Tower, the talisman of privilege that established his son as a major player in New York. But Donald Trump recognized and exploited the iconic power of Trump Tower as a primary stage for both ‘The Apprentice’ and his presidential campaign.” While the White House offered no official comment to the Times for the story, they did release a statement after it published. “Many decades ago the IRS reviewed and signed off on these transactions,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “The New York Times’ and other media outlets’ credibility with the American people is at an all time low because they are consumed with attacking the president and his family 24/7 instead of reporting the news.” On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted, “The Failing New York Times did something I have never seen done before. They used the concept of ‘time value of money’ in doing a very old, boring and often told hit piece on me. Added up, this means that 97% of their stories on me are bad. Never recovered from bad election call!” Trump’s lawyer Charles Harder responded to the Times story in a statement,”The New York Times’ allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory,” Harder said, according to the paper. Trump’s brother Robert also defended his parents on behalf of the President and his siblings, saying, “All appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the required taxes were paid. Our father’s estate was closed in 2001 by both the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State tax authorities, and our mother’s estate was closed in 2004.” Throughout the 2016 campaign – and into his 19 months as president – the single biggest mystery surrounding Trump was his refusal to release any of his income tax returns. In doing so, he became the first major party presidential candidate and the first president not to release any of his returns in the modern era. Trump insisted the reason he refused to release his returns was that he currently under a tax audit by the Internal Revenue Service. (Trump was not prohibited from releasing his returns because of the audit; Richard Nixon, as president, released his tax returns in 1973 even while he was being audited). After Trump won the election, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway seemed to abandon the “he’s under audit” defense entirely.<doc-sep>
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President Donald Trump has long bragged about becoming a self-made billionaire, saying he only borrowed $1 million from his father and paid him back with interest. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images White House Trump rips into The New York Times over tax schemes report President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized a New York Times investigation that alleged the president perpetuated a number of tax schemes and fraud during the 1990s to bolster the inheritance he received from his parents. "The Failing New York Times did something I have never seen done before," Trump tweeted. "They used the concept of 'time value of money' in doing a very old, boring and often told hit piece on me. Added up, this means that 97% of their stories on me are bad. Never recovered from bad election call!" The concept of time value of money is that money in the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future, but it's not clear why Trump fixated on that idea. The report — which is based off of thousands of documents including tax returns from Fred Trump, the president's now-deceased father — revealed that Trump received $413 million in today's money from his father. It also alleges that the business mogul and his siblings helped their parents dodge taxes through a number of measures, including setting up a “sham corporation,” taking improper tax deductions and undervaluing their real estate holdings. The president has long bragged about becoming a self-made billionaire, saying he only borrowed $1 million from his father and paid him back with interest. Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing an audit by the IRS. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday evening also criticized the article, saying the Times "and other media outlets’ credibility with the American people is at an all time low because they are consumed with attacking the president and his family 24/7 instead of reporting the news.”
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Thursday they found a mass grave with 168 human skulls in Veracruz State, a somber reminder of the tens of thousands of people who have gone missing, presumably at the hands of organized crime members. The remains and personal items found at the site, including 200 articles of clothing, suggested that the victims might have been killed two years ago, said Jorge Winckler Ortiz, the Veracruz attorney general. It is one of the biggest clandestine graves found in Mexico in recent years. Veracruz has been one of the states caught up in the horror of these giant dumping grounds, used by drug gangs to dispose of their victims. Federal officials say more than 30,000 people have disappeared in Mexico, although human rights groups put the number much higher. Many families, fearful that the police are working with drug gangs or convinced that investigators will do nothing, never report their missing relatives.<doc-sep>MEXICO CITY—State authorities discovered 168 human skulls buried in a clandestine grave in the violence-plagued state of Veracruz, the state’s general attorney said Thursday, unearthing more gruesome evidence of Mexico’s epidemic of cartel-related kidnapping and murder. It is the second-largest mass grave found in Veracruz in recent years, General Attorney Jorge Winckler said in an interview. Investigators had been searching for the remains for more than 30 days using drones, radar and metal probes, after being tipped off to the location of the mass grave by an informant, according to the office of Veracruz’s state prosecutor. Among the skulls, searchers found 114 pieces of identification and more than 200 garments, the state prosecutor said. The remains, which were discovered in 32 separate pits dug on a site measuring about 300 meters squared in the central part of the state, are thought to have been buried at least two years ago. “The state has become a cemetery, that’s the terrible and sad reality,” said Mr. Winckler. He said mass graves have been found in more than half of Veracruz 212 municipalities. His team is already working to find three additional clandestine graves. Veracruz, a strategic smuggling state on the Gulf of Mexico with an important port, has become synonymous in recent years with mass graves. More than 700 people are currently missing in the state. Forensic investigators, often working alongside the families of the disappeared, have found the buried remains of hundreds victims of the state’s bloody drug war between the Mexican Navy, law enforcement officers and members of various armed factions, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and the remnants of Los Zetas, a group of drug-traffickers formed by ex-soldiers from Mexican special forces units. In August of 2016, a group of grieving mothers searching for their disappeared children, acting on an anonymous tip, led investigators to a site that eventually yielded 289 human skulls, thought to be the largest mass grave in Mexican history. “We now know that government officials collaborated with drug gangs to illegally arrest people of a rival group, torture them and then killed them and disappeared the bodies,” Mr. Winckler said. Authorities believe most mass graves date from the government of Javier Duarte, the state governor from 2010 to 2016 who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of embezzlement. Mr. Duarte’s former police chief Arturo Bermúdez is also in preventive jail facing charges of enforced disappearance. Both have declared themselves innocent. “This is the latest confirmation of the degree of impunity drug gangs operated in Veracruz during Duarte’s government. He allowed this to happen,” said Maria Elena Morera, the head of Causa en Común, a victims’ advocacy group. Mr. Winckler’s office said in a statement that family members would be notified later this week. The prosecutor’s office added that the families of the missing had not been involved in the search that yielded Thursday’s finding. The disappearance of people has emerged as one of the major societal dramas of modern Mexico. Many of the missing were bystanders who were abducted, and many likely killed by violent gangs fighting turf wars, authorities say. Others could have had ties to the drug world, or were kidnapped by corrupt security forces. More than 37,000 people were missing and unaccounted for in Mexico by the end of April, according to the national registry of missing people. The disappearances drew fresh attention after 43 college students were kidnapped by the police of the southern city of Iguala in September 2014 and handed over to a local drug gang and presumed killed, a case that has since put pressure on the federal and state authorities to take additional measures to address the problem. Mexico’s spiraling violence has become a top issue for Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1. More than 31,000 people were murdered in the country last year, the most in any year of the last two decades, according to the national statistics agency. “The outrageous levels of violence are the most important single question the new government has to tackle. It’s Mexico’s biggest problem,” said Ricardo Monreal, the majority leader in Mexico’s Senate and member of Mr. Lopez Obrador’s Morena party. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexico’s fastest rising drug cartel, and Los Zetas have been fighting turf wars in Veracruz for years. In 2011, 35 dead bodies were dumped in the suburbs of Veracruz city. The Jalisco Cartel is widely believed to have gained control in the state in recent years, after Los Zetas were decimated by federal authorities. It has increasingly become a practice of criminal gangs to dispose of the evidence of killings, rather than display the bodies of their victims as a way of terrorizing their rivals, said Alejandro Schtulmann of the Empra political risk consultancy. He said the Veracruz discovery is an indication that the problem of gang violence is worse than thought, and that the homicide numbers alone “don’t reflect the exact dimensions of the crisis, which is much more serious.” Many of the missing are young people from disintegrated homes who aren’t even being sought. Those that are being looked for are sought by their relatives and a handful of ONGs, he said. Authorities are “technically and operationally overwhelmed” by the problem, he added. —Anthony Harrup contributed to this article. Write to Juan Montes at [email protected] and Robbie Whelan at [email protected]<doc-sep>Investigators have been combing through this site full of skeletal remains. (CNN) — Mexican investigators used drones and ground-penetrating radar to search an area in the coastal Veracruz state that has yielded the skulls of at least 166 people, officials said Thursday. Veracruz Attorney General Jorge Winckler Ortiz said the mass grave was found after a tip came in last month. The search yielded 200 pieces of clothing, 144 IDs and personal belongings. Evidence indicated the deaths may have occurred a couple of years ago, he said in a statement. Veracruz attorney general office Authorities would not provide details on what may have occurred or where the site is located, given an ongoing investigation. Veracruz, along with Nuevo León, Guerrero, Jalisco and Michoacán, are among the states where significant amounts of human remains have been discovered in mass graves. Cartels such as Los Zetas, El Cartel del Golfo and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación have a heavy presence in those states. It hasn’t been confirmed that these findings are linked to any of them. Genetic examinations of the remains will be matched with databases that include information on missing persons. Officials hope to post a catalog with photos of the clothing and identifications as early as next week. Winckler encouraged families with missing relatives to report them to authorities. More than a year ago, in Colinas de Santa Fe, Veracruz, police found nearly 300 remains inside a mass grave. Non-governmental groups and federal authorities have reported that there are more than 30,000 people reported missing in the country<doc-sep>
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A secret mass burial site containing at least 166 skulls has been discovered, Mexican officials announced Thursday. The site is one of the largest mass graves found to date in the country. The bodies — found in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz — had been buried for at least two years, according to a translation of a release from the State of Veracruz's prosecutor's office. The region has been the site of bloody conflict between drug cartels, and the area has suffered from waves of extortion and kidnapping. Officials have found clothes, personal possessions and other skeletal remains at the site, but skulls were used for counting purposes. Investigators discovered about 32 burial pits at the site. State prosecutor Jorge Winckler said that the location of the graves would not be disclosed for security reasons. Relatives of missing persons will have access to a photographic record of clothes, IDs and accessories found in the graves, a release says. Hundreds of bodies have been found in burial pits in Veracruz before — 253 skulls were discovered in 2016 and 2017. Aug. 10:Woman in her 80s caught smuggling $870,000 worth of heroin, border protection says July 26:Colombian drug cartel puts out $70,000 hit on a dog Around 29,000 murders were recorded in Mexico last year, a record high, according to a July Congressional Research Center report. That comes as previously stable Mexican drug cartels have been violently splintering. Victims often include cartel members and people who are resisting recruitment into cartels, the BBC reports. Relatives of disappeared people have criticized the Mexican government, saying more could be done to help them locate loved ones, according to the publication. More than 5,000 people are believed to have gone missing between 2010 and 2016 in the state of Veracruz alone, according to the Congressional Research Center report. Contributing: The Associated Press.
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FX’s Mayans M.C. season one episode seven produced one game-changing moment after another. Miguel Galindo was placed under arrest, EZ’s deal was nearly revoked, and Coco murdered his mother because he wrongly believed she’d beat up his daughter. Season one episode eight begins with the follow-up of another surprise twist. Adelita’s father was murdered by the cartel, however before that he was the man pictured with Felipe posing by the severed heads. Adelita wasn’t aware of her father’s past when she confronted Felipe in his home. She mistakenly believed he betrayed her father and gave the cartel his location and that’s how they found him and butchered her family. Felipe revealed the true story and then took off on a long drive, leaving the box with photos and his paperwork containing his real name and background unlocked on his dining room table. EZ (JD Pardo) finds the box and goes through its contents, piecing together the true story of his father’s life decades ago. Also in the box is a photo of EZ with Felipe, Angel, and Emily. A flashback shows EZ beating himself up about not seeing the license plate of the car his mother’s killer was driving. Three minutes into the episode and we have our first dramatic confrontation. Felipe (Edward James Olmos) enters a church where his old friend, Father Rodrigo, preaches. Rodrigo was once a good friend and is the person Felipe suspects actually betrayed Adelita’s father. Meanwhile, Coco (Richard Cabral) tidies up his mother’s dead body. He ignores a call from Letty as he goes about his work. Another twist in episode seven was the revelation Riz (Antonio Jaramillo) knew about the tunnel outside of Vicky’s whorehouse. He explains the tunnel’s how his grandfather brought family in from Mexico. Now, Vicky uses it to help her girls. The club’s pissed Riz kept this a secret, believing that if any outsider found it it would have rained hell down on the Mayans. Over at the Galindo house, the DEA is methodically going through potential evidence. Emily (Sarah Bolger) wasn’t arrested and cradles her baby as she watches the officers. An officer appears sympathetic about the baby’s kidnapping, and when Emily admits it was difficult to handle, she’s placed under arrest for failing to report a child abduction. Once more to the church we go and Felipe is sitting down for a chat with Rodrigo. Felipe confesses he’s there to pay off a debt. He brings up his old partner, Pedro, and Rodrigo admits he set him up with a new identity when he wanted out of working for the cartel. Felipe explains Pedro and his family were murdered, with the exception of Adelita. Felipe drops the bomb that Adelita visited him and then advises the priest he needs to make sure his security team’s ready when Adelita comes for him. Felipe reminds him neither he nor Pedro would have ever betrayed him. “You saved my life. Now we’re even,” says Felipe as he leaves the man who was once his friend to stew over his impending death. EZ returns to the clubhouse and immediately Letty (Emily Tosta) joins him to admit she lied and Celia didn’t hurt her. EZ knows Coco probably already did something to his mother but agrees to go check on Celia to make Letty feel better. Miguel Galindo (Danny Pino) is in custody and repeatedly asks for his lawyer once Asst U.S. Attorney Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon) sits down for a chat. Potter apologizes on behalf of Uncle Sam for Miguel’s treatment at the border. He then ticks off Miguel’s history including the fact he’s an Ivy League-educated cartel boss. Potter admits Homeland Security laws allow him to hold Miguel as long as he wants without granting him a visit with his lawyer. Potter’s working all angles to get under Miguel skin, and he opens the room’s door just as Emily’s being walked down the hall in handcuffs. Back with the Prospect, EZ makes it to Celia’s and Coco’s still there. Celia’s laid out on the floor, head propped up on pillows but obviously dead. EZ, now unsure of the correct move, sits on the floor next to her dead body. Coco suddenly realizes this must remind EZ of his mom’s murder. Coco then waxes philosophic, saying he freed his mother and gave her peace. He believes they’re all where they’re supposed to be. (Coco is a very Zen dude for being a drug-running murderer.) As they’re talking, Angel (Clayton Cardenas) calls to find out their location. Angel informs his little bro they’re about to have a sit-down and Coco’s needed back at the table. Coco plans to bury his mother in the desert later that night. Elsewhere, Agent Kevin Jimenez (Maurice Compte) is told it’s possible the DOJ, Homeland Security, or the DEA will reveal EZ’s deal to either Miguel or Emily. Next up it’s Emily’s turn to meet with Potter. Emily’s smart and knows that neither she nor Miguel have been charged which must mean the authorities want something. Potter cuts to the chase and, shockingly, he wants the same thing out of Miguel that Adelita requested. He wants to work with him. “The devil you know…,” says Potter. He informs Emily they want to partner with Miguel. Back to Miguel goes Potter, and this time he tells him the story of how seven years ago (during Sons of Anarchy!) he was this|close to busting a major arms dealer. His work was halted because the CIA needed the guns to continue to flow to the Galindo cartel. Miguel realizes Potter wants to make a similar deal to the one his father made with the CIA. However, Miguel also realizes Potter doesn’t know Adelita and her rebels are attempting to make the same sort of deal. Miguel reminds Potter the CIA’s deal threatened everything and everyone associated with his father. They also led to his father’s early death. Miguel’s answer to Potter’s deal offer: “F*ck you. Charge me or release me.” Over at Celia’s place, EZ’s now alone with her dead body. He has another flashback to the day his mother died, recalling the Wildcats sticker that was in the car’s window. In the flashback he waits in his truck outside a bar where the car with the sticker is parked. He follows the driver once he returns to his car. His flashback’s interrupted by Letty pounding on the apartment door. He doesn’t let her in. Celia stinks and EZ barely opens the door as he steps outside, claiming the smell that wafts with him into the hallway is because he just used the toilet. Letty’s okay with staying in the hallway as EZ tells her Coco wants her back at the scrapyard. Potter returns to Emily and long story short, she says she’ll never turn on her husband. As they’re talking, Kevin Jimenez can be heard yelling nearby. Potter joins Jimenez and a few agents as Jimenez expresses his anger over the handling of EZ. Jimenez can’t believe what’s going down and leaves, threatening to expose everything via Wikileaks or the Washington Post. Once Jimenez is out of sight, Potter says he’s taking over handling this particular problem. (That can’t be good news for EZ.) Felipe’s returned home to find the target of Potter’s anger on his front porch. Minute later, Felipe calls EZ and warns him not to return to the clubhouse. Instead, he needs to come home. Meanwhile at the clubhouse, the club gathers around the table. The discussion is all about Riz and the tunnel. The Mayans feel betrayed and it’s suggested Riz lose his job as the club’s secretary. Plus, the club will get 10% of the revenue from the tunnel including the money earned by Vicky’s whores. Riz protests that it’s not his money but that doesn’t matter. The club gets its 10% or they’ll shut down Vicky’s place. A vote’s taken and it’s a unanimous decision. Outside after the vote, Angel’s guys are pissed he turned in Riz. He explains he did so to keep Coco out of the line of fire, but Coco doesn’t accept that. He knows Angel did it to protect himself. Riz also confronts Angel, calling him a b*tch for ratting him out. Coco steps up and protects Angel, saying they all went to Bishop with their discovery. Riz calls them pussies and spits in their direction as he walks away. EZ returns home and learns from Agent Jimenez the information he’s been providing on Galindo will just be used as leverage. EZ realizes his deal is up. However, that’s not the worst of the news. Jimenez knows that if EZ’s picked up, the DEA will kill him rather than lock him up. Jimenez believes the only option is to adopt a new identity and run. EZ refuses to run, realizing that if he does Angel will be killed by the club. They’ll assume Angel’s part of the deal. When Felipe asks what EZ has planned, EZ replies, “Protect our blood.” Simultaneous to EZ’s talk, Potter hands a folder of reports to Emily. She asks who provided the info, and Potter hints it’s someone they know and love. She still refuses to turn on her husband, so Potter shows her a disturbing photo and promises her baby will end up in Family Services’ custody. The photo proves time spent by a baby in Family Services’ custody will be extremely unhealthy for the child’s welfare. Potter promises her son will be with them until “the clown leaves the party.” It’s Miguel’s turn for a visit and Potter has a massive binder with the deal he’s proposing. Basically, Miguel will remain in charge of Sonora and the East Cali border, plus they’ll supply manpower and guns to crush the rebels. And, Miguel will get the approval to build the Santa Padre development which had been halted due to environmental issues. Miguel doesn’t respond, so Potter shows him live video of Emily in a different room. She’s obviously upset, and Potter says it’s because she knows they can take her baby if they move forward with the unreported kidnapping charge. Miguel starts to protest and Potter finally loses it. “Wake the f*ck up!” yells Potter. He then explains the other folder Emily’s holding contains enough information on him to put him in jail. Emily has to choose: her man or her child. Potter tells Miguel he has five minutes to look through the agreement. If he doesn’t sign, then Emily will decide his fate. Potter leaves and Miguel looks at a few pages of the paperwork. He signs his name after only a brief hesitation. In the other room, Emily’s reading the redacted reports based on EZ’s information provided to Agent Jimenez. She realizes it’s EZ who provided the info and she says out loud to herself, “What are you doing, EZ?” As she’s reading she’s told she can finally see her lawyer. Over at the clubhouse, another meeting is called. A discussion’s held regarding Miguel and the DEA. Marcus (Emilio Rivera) reports Devante told him they even brought in Emily and she’s rattled. Apparently, she told Devante what Marcus describes as “some very disturbing sh*t.” The meeting’s underway as EZ rolls into the lot. Chucky informs him everyone’s in a meeting now, and he reports Letty talked to Coco for quite a while. (Chucky means well but doesn’t know when to remain quiet.) Nervous and prepared for a confrontation, EZ heads into the clubhouse while the rest of the members are still in the meeting. Inside the meeting, something big was revealed while the Mayans M.C. writers were showing us EZ’s arrival. (Damn you and your sly teasing ways!) Bishop tells the club he’ll set things up, and it’s suggested whatever’s going down will go down in a private room at the casino. It’s neutral ground. Marcus asks Angel where the Prospect is, and Angel’s told to find him. The club emerges from the meeting and although EZ assumes he’s about to be attacked, he’s told to go fix Marcus’ bike which is leaking oil. He doesn’t do a good job of hiding his nervousness and after he walks away, Bishop says, “He’s walking that fine line between genius and just f*cking weird.”<doc-sep>End of the World Series: Who is the best bad team 2018 had to offer? by Josh Hill In the eighth episode of Mayans MC, a deal with massive implications is struck between Miguel Galindo and Lincoln Potter, inadvertently creating a huge problem for EZ. For the second week in a row, Miguel Galindo is cutting deals with the opposition. Once again, he’s doing so under duress, given a promise that the deal is truly going to work in his favor. Last week, Adelita strong-armed Galindo into working with the rebels. Her pitch was focused on the fact that cartels and the violence that comes with them cannot be stopped, but can be controlled. Miguel, an educated, smart leader, took the deal, wanting to clean up his business and knowing that the rebels could help him in many ways. This week, Miguel was presented a very similar deal but with extremely different ramifications. Lincoln Potter and the Department of Justice arrested Galindo and Emily in the last episode. They kept them in holding, threatened them with unattainable punishments and eventually, strong-armed Miguel (his second time in a couple of days). Potter’s set up here was brilliant. He provided Emily with an out, choosing between Miguel and Christobal. She was shown a picture of Christobal in less-than-stellar conditions and told that she would not get him back unless she corroborated evidence that Potter had on Galindo. That evidence was transcripts from EZ, who had been informing on the cartel as part of his deal. While Emily was struggling through this decision, Potter went to Miguel, offered him a deal for cooperation between the two parties, while explaining to him (and showing him) what Emily was choosing between. Miguel, being collected and smart, knew that he had no choice but to take the deal and keep his family in tact. Potter’s deal is similar to Los Olvidados, but with one key difference. Potter wants to “control” the flow of drugs, violence, etc that comes with the cartel. The key difference in the deal he offered Galindo was that he wants the rebels gone. Los Olvidados pose a problem for him, as they have no structure and provide no way for him to control them. Little does he know, Miguel is now working with them as well. As the Galindo family leaves the DOJ building, Miguel vows that he is going to use the rebels to get back at Potter. Somehow, being strong-armed for two straight weeks has provided him a position of power between the three parties at play. Now that he’s pissed off and hell-bent on getting back at both of them, there’s little stopping him from pitting the two against each other with no repercussions from his end. Miguel controls the narrative here. What does all of this mean for the Mayans MC? A big takeaway from this episode is also that Emily now knows what EZ is doing. Thankfully, she is level-headed enough to know this isn’t something that should be discussed with Miguel and she’ll likely talk to EZ about it first. For EZ, though, the situation is murky. He doesn’t want anyone knowing, let alone the wife of the person he is informing on. Still, it seems like Emily is going to discuss this with him at some point in the next two episodes before doing anything drastic. Jiminez told EZ and Felipe that he could be exposed and EZ figured the Mayans would know immediately. He went against Jiminez’s advice to run, as it would put his brother Angel in danger. Instead, he went directly to the club to face his punishment. Thankfully for him, Emily ain’t no snitch. He doesn’t know that she is the only one with the information at the moment. He’s on thin ice, but chances are he’ll be alright. Coco’s mom After brutally murdering his mother in the last episode (it’s okay, she wasn’t a very nice person), Coco was left cleaning up his mess through most of the episode. After a profound talk about life with EZ (and perhaps a few too many tokes of that left-handed cigarette they were smoking), Coco seems okay with his mother not being around anymore. His plan is to bury her in the desert because “she hated it there.” But not all goes well when Angel and EZ are tasked with transporting her to the burial grounds. In perhaps her last act of revenge, Coco’s mother breaks the tail light of Angel’s vehicle after he sees a rat and drops her dead body, her head cracking the light. EZ and Angel are pulled over by their police friend, Frankie, after his partner notices the light out. Unfortunately, Frankie is with a very fresh new officer who has yet to learn the way things work with the Mayans. After Angel mouths off to him, he has the two exit the vehicle and when he opens the trunk, well, the troublesome look on Frankie’s face shows that this might not be an easy clean up for our two brothers. Mayans MC business The Mayans MC stayed busy throughout this episode as well. First, dealing with Riz (Antonio Jaramillo). Riz was caught last week helping Mexicans cross the border through the cartel/MC’s underground tunnel system. He did this without the club knowing about it. Instead of doing anything too harsh, the club took Riz off of his duties at the brothel near the tunnel’s exit and told him that the club now gets a cut of the profits they make. He had some choice words for Angel, who informed the club about his side dealings, but the two settled their differences in a cage match. At the end, both seemed to be okay with each other and all was well with the MC. Felipe had the decency to pay a visit to the priest who sold out Adelita’s father, warning him that she was on her way for him. Felipe said that they are now even, as the priest was the one who gave him his new identity. Chances are things aren’t going to go well for the priest in the coming episodes, as his security team is the Galindo cartel, who now work with Adelita and the rebels. We wouldn’t be surprised if offers this piece of information to Adelita as an act of good faith in light of their new deal. We can also expect Emily to confront EZ at some point in the next two episodes, leaving her to choose between keeping her husband around or protecting her one true love friend EZ. Either way, the final two episodes of season 1 are sure to be shocking. Mayans MC airs Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX. Missed an episode? Catch up on FXNetworks.com.<doc-sep>
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[Warning! The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 8 of Mayans M.C., "Rata/Ch'o." Read at your own risk!] One of Kurt Sutter's go-to tricks has been to tighten the nooses around his characters' necks by pulling slowly from different directions until the snare seems inescapable. Going back to Sons of Anarchy, it doesn't always work well -- he can sometimes pull from ridiculous angles -- but when it does, it's Sutter (and now Elgin James) at his best. "Rata/Ch'o," the eighth episode of the first season of Mayans M.C., gave some hefty yanks on the ropes of a few men we thought were untouchable, and it provided one of the better episodes of the season. Look, we know that EZ (JD Pardo) is living on borrowed time given that he's working with the feds against the Galindo cartel as a snitch inside the Mayans, and also working with his brother and the rebels as a snitch against the Mayans. But we also know that these close calls that Mayans M.C. keeps delivering are just that -- close calls that won't stick. But the tension of EZ's potential outing as an informant was thick as hell this week, to the point where EZ's life felt legitimately threatened even though he's sure to be around until the end of the series. Discover your new favorite show: Watch This Now! It all started in the aftermath of Miguel's (Danny Pino) pickup by Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon, killin' it), as Potter put the clamps on Miguel. The big reveal here was that Potter didn't want to lock Miguel up; he wanted to partner up with him. "The devil you know...," he said, harkening back to the stability he had to enforce back on Sons of Anarchy with the IRA and SAMCRO. It's a crazy turn of events that's only really believable in this world, and sure, why not? This isn't just a television show, it's Mayans M.C., and this is how the show lives and breathes. And yes, if you're keeping score, it's the second time in three episodes that Miguel has been detained only to see his captors (or those who set up his capture) make him a business deal instead of cuff him. Must be nice being so popular! With Emily (Sarah Bolger) feeling the pressure to choose between her husband and her son, Miguel signed the deal to work with Potter. Of course Potter didn't know that Miguel already agreed to a deal with Adelita (Carla Barrata) in another episode, and under his breath as he was leaving Potter's office, Miguel said he was going to screw over Potter with the help of his 2,000 forgotten soldiers. The enemy of my enemy, and so forth. But really, this was Miguel's only play. JD Pardo, Mayans M.C. Prashant Gupta/FX If the end game for Miguel -- who isn't nearly as safe as EZ, but should stick around for a while -- is coming down to EZ versus Miguel, cramming Miguel in the middle of a fight between the rebels and the DOJ is a clever way to extend Miguel's story. It's also likely to make things a tad more complicated, and I can't believe I'm admitting this given my history with Sons of Anarchy, but Mayans M.C. has been easier to follow than Sons (ask me again in Season 6 of Mayans M.C. and I will probably give you a different answer), so this won't muddle things up. It just postpones the Miguel-EZ showdown we figure is coming, and does so in a very juicy way. While all this was going down, EZ's cover came closer than ever to being blown as Potter promised to give up names of whoever was giving the feds intel to Miguel, and Emily figured out that EZ was working with the feds (or did she think all of Potter's info was B.S.?). As the Mayans sat around the table talking about setting something up out of the way in private, the implication was that the Mayans found out the truth about EZ, and were plotting to kill him. It was another classic Sutter trick, with just enough information withheld to get us -- and EZ -- thinking one way, while the truth was something entirely different. (What were the Mayans planning around that table, anyway?) It turns out that EZ's cover was still intact, though getting more frayed by the minute, and now Potter is taking even more of an interest in him.
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"I find it personally very emotional, and I am not making this decision based on anything other than what I consider to be absolutely the best option for House of Fraser and all of our stakeholders."<doc-sep>Get our money-saving tips and top offers direct to your inbox with the Mirror Money newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice The future of House of Fraser has been made official with plans to shut 31 branches. It comes after bosses warned of 'underperforming' stores in May and announced plans to sell a significant stake to Hamleys boss C.banner. The firm, which has previously been consulting on potential cuts, on Friday, revealed it had received the go-ahead from creditors to axe a number of proposed branches. It'll reduce the chain's UK store count to just 28, while also placing around 6,000 jobs at risk. All stores identified for closure are anticipated to trade until early 2019. Frank Slevin, Chairman of House of Fraser, said: "The approval of the CVAs is a seminal moment in House of Fraser’s history. We must now continue with the implementation of our restructuring plan. This is also an important milestone in the transaction with C.banner and moves us toward the completion of the capital injection first announced in May.” Alex Williamson, chief executive officer of House of Fraser, added: "The CVA proposals have been approved by our creditors and we are grateful for their ongoing support and belief in the future of House of Fraser. "This was clearly a difficult decision to take but is, ultimately, the only one to secure our future. Our focus is on supporting all of our affected colleagues and we are exploring every opportunity available to them working alongside the Retail Trust and the wider retail community." (Image: Western Mail) House of Fraser has been in rescue talks for more than two months, after a sour Christmas for sales figures. It put forward a company voluntary agreement (CVA) to restructure the high street chain back in May - stating the firm had "no viable future" without it. The agreement would allow the business to continue trading whilst paying off debts and reducing overheads. A total of 31 'underperforming' stores will now close in 2019. On Friday, it also pledged to drastically overhaul its stock across the UK - by scaling back own-brand lines and focusing more on the "brands people love". Its Baker Street head office and the Granite House office in Glasgow will also be relocated to "help to reduce costs". The company also said it's held "constructive" discussions with landlords and other key stakeholders to reduce rents. (Image: Getty) Speaking on the restructuring in May, House of Fraser bosses said: "These proposals are central to the significant restructuring of the business, without which House of Fraser does not have a viable future." "The proposing of the CVAs follows the announcement made on May 2, of C.banner’s conditional agreement to acquire a 51% stake in House of Fraser Group Ltd and intention to introduce significant new capital." Will staff be affected? Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now House of Fraser has confirmed that up to 2,000 workers and a further 4,000 brand and concession partners will be affected by the closures. A statement said all staff impacted by the proposed changes have already been informed. House of Fraser chairman, Frank Slevin, said: "T he retail industry is undergoing fundamental change and House of Fraser urgently needs to adapt to this fast-changing landscape in order to give it a future and allow it to thrive. "Our legacy store estate has created an unsustainable cost base, which without restructuring, presents an existential threat to the business," he added. "So whilst closing stores is a very difficult decision, especially given the length of relationship House of Fraser has with all its locations, there should be no doubt that it is absolutely necessary if we are to continue to trade and be competitive." (Image: Bloomberg) (Image: Google) (Image: Getty) Alex Williamson, CEO of House of Fraser, added: "I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues at House of Fraser for working tirelessly throughout this difficult period. We are fully committed to supporting those personally affected by the proposals." Full list of 31 stores closing (Image: Google Maps) Here's a full list all House of Fraser stores set to shut in 2019. Altrincham, Rackhams (formerly Brown Muff; opened 1978) Aylesbury (formerly Beatties; acquired 2005, closing 2019) Birkenhead (formerly Beatties, and originally Allansons; acquired 2005) Birmingham (formerly Rackhams; acquired 1959) Bournemouth (formerly Dingles, and originally Brights; acquired 1969) Camberley (formerly Army & Navy, and originally William Harvey; acquired 1973) Cardiff city centre Carlisle (formerly Binns, and originally Robinson Brothers; acquired 1953) Chichester (formerly Army & Navy, and originally J D Morant; acquired 1973) Cirencester (formerly Rackhams, and originally Frederick Boulton; acquired 1975) Cwmbran Darlington, Binns (formerly Arthur Sanders; acquired 1953) Doncaster Edinburgh Frasers Epsom (formerly Dickins & Jones; opened 1984) Grimsby (formerly Binns, and originally Guy & Smith; acquired 1969) High Wycombe (opened 2008) Hull (formerly Hammonds; acquired 1972) Leamington Spa (formerly Rackhams, prior to that Army & Navy, and originally Burgis & Colbourne; acquired 1973) Lincoln (formerly Binns, and originally Mawer & Collingham; acquired 1980) Oxford Street, London (formerly D H Evans; acquired 1959) King William Street, London Middlesbrough (formerly Binns, and originally Thomas Jones; acquired 1953) Milton Keynes (formerly Dickins & Jones; opened 1981) Plymouth (formerly Dingles / E Dingle & Co.; acquired 1971) Shrewsbury (formerly Rackhams, and originally Joseph Della Porta; acquired 1975) Skipton, Rackhams (formerly Brown Muff, and originally Amblers; acquired 1977) Swindon Telford (formerly Beatties; acquired 2005) Wolverhampton, Beatties (acquired 2005) Worcester (formerly Beatties; acquired 2005) What is CVA and does it involve closures? House of Fraser previously proposed a CVA to allow it to restructure its network. This is an insolvency procedure that will allow the business to continue trading while paying off debts over a contracted period of time. In similar vein to Carluccio's, Prezzo and New Look, who have pursued this route, House of Fraser's contract will include closures and rent negotiations to save the business millions in revenue. (Image: Getty) It is understood the CVA was one of the big conditions put forward by C.banner who is about to buy a 51% stake in the chain and give it a well needed cash boost. Several more household names have pursued CVAs so far this year in a bid to save costs, including Carpetright, Byron and Mothercare. (Image: Science Photo Library RF) Who owns House of Fraser? House of Fraser is currently 89% owned by Chinese firm Nanjing Cenbest, under a company called Sanpower. English billionaire Mike Ashley also owns a minority stake in the chain. C.banner is set to buy a 51% stake of the business from Nanjing Cenbest by the end of June. Frank Slevin, chairman of House of Fraser, said C.banner's acquisition was "a step to securing House of Fraser's long-term future". "C.banner's investment is a vote of confidence in our prospects," he said. How long has House of Fraser been struggling for? (Image: South Wales Echo) This is not the first time House of Fraser has hinted at its struggling performance. In December 2017, its credit rating was downgraded by credit agency Moody's after poor Christmas trading. In January 2018 it asked landlords to cut rents to recoup lost cash. In May 2018 it then called in accountants KPMG to help come up with a restructuring plan. The company currently employs around 6,000 staff and 11,500 concession staff.<doc-sep>
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House of Fraser has been given the green light from creditors to axe more than half of its store estate in the UK, resulting in up to 6,000 job losses. The struggling department store chain will close 31 out of its 59 outlets through a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which will also allow it to secure rent reductions on its remaining shops. Closures will affect up to 2,000 House of Fraser staff and a further 4,000 across brands and concessions. House of Fraser has one store in Ireland - in Dundrum Town Centre - and it said this store is excluded from the CVA as it is a separate legal entity. House of Fraser secured the backing of more than 75% of creditors, including landlords, for the CVA at a meeting today. The CVA was voted through despite anger among landlords, who have complained that they are being forced to stomach a financial hit at the same time as House of Fraser enjoys new investment. Alongside the CVA, Hamleys owner C.banner is being lined up to buy a 51% stake in the firm and invest £70m into what remains of the business. At the meeting, furious landlords berated House of Fraser's management and their advisers at KPMG over how the CVA was conducted. They complained that their share of the vote had been structured unfairly in an attempt to push through the restructuring proposal. Despite their protestations, a representative for two of House of Fraser's landlords said there had been "no give" from the top team. House of Fraser boss Alex Williamson had warned that the store closures and job losses represented the "last viable" option to save the retailer, with the group at risk of collapse had the CVA been rejected. Mr Williamson and chairman Frank Slevin were both in attendance at the creditor vote. House of Fraser said the shops earmarked for closure, including its Oxford Street store, would remain open until early 2019. The group also plans to relocate its Baker Street head office and the Granite House office in Glasgow to help slash costs and "secure House of Fraser's future". A raft of CVAs have been struck in recent months as UK retailers struggle amid surging costs, rising business rates, competition from online rivals and a slowdown in consumer spending. Other retailers undertaking CVAs in a bid to keep trading include New Look, Mothercare and Carpetright. Restaurant businesses have also been seeking to cut their costs with store closure programmes, with Carluccio's, Byron and Prezzo all pushing through CVAs this year in the UK.
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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers begin the playoffs on Thursday, and Clayton Kershaw will not be on the mound for them. The Dodgers announced on Wednesday that Hyun-Jin Ryu will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, which begins at 8:37 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Kershaw will start Game 2 on Friday (9:37 p.m. on FS1). The move marks the first time since 2009 that Kershaw will not start a postseason opener for the Dodgers. Kershaw has allowed eight runs on 14 hits over his past 11 innings, while Ryu has given up only one run on 12 hits in his past 19 innings. But there appears to be a subtle strategic element involved, too. Ryu and Kershaw would each be able to remain on five days' rest, as opposed to Kershaw not getting the extra day and Ryu being perhaps too rested if they alternated. Even though he is starting Game 2, Kershaw can line up to start a potential decisive Game 5 of the NLDS, which won't take place until next Wednesday. Kershaw dealt with back issues for a third straight season this year, but was still able to finish with a 2.73 ERA in 161 1/3 innings. Ryu missed more than three months with a groin injury but put up a 1.97 ERA in 82 1/3 innings.<doc-sep>For five seasons, as the Dodgers dominated the National League West in the regular season, the team built its October blueprint around the left arm of Clayton Kershaw. He was the ace of their staff and the anchor of their roster. He pitched whenever possible — during one series in 2016, he threw Game 4 on short rest and closed Game 5 two days later. He was the sun around which the team orbited. This year will be different. On Tuesday evening, two days before Game 1 of the National League Division Series against Atlanta, the Dodgers made a stunning announcement: Hyun-Jin Ryu, and not Kershaw, would start Game 1. Kershaw would start Game 2, with Walker Buehler and Rich Hill lined up for the next two games. The decision followed a troubling month for Kershaw (9-5, 2.73 ERA) and a tremendous one for Ryu (7-3, 1.97 ERA), The team altered its rotation in order to accommodate both. By swapping the two pitchers, Ryu will be able to pitch on five days of rest, rather than six, while Kershaw will receive a fifth day of rest before his outing. Advertisement Both pitchers will be available for a potential Game 5 next Wednesday. The Dodgers would not have made this move if the Game 2 starter couldn’t start Game 5, according to people close to the team. With Buehler unavailable for the start of this series after pitching Game 163 against Colorado on Monday, team officials still view Kershaw as the best option for an elimination game. On the eve of potentially reaching free agency, Kershaw stumbled through the final month of the regular season. In six outings, he yielded 18 runs, 16 of them earned. His 3.89 ERA was his highest in a single month since his 3.97 ERA in May 2015. Ryu countered with only nine runs allowed, four of them unearned, in five starts. As the Dodgers competed for a division title last month, Kershaw faced tougher competition than Ryu. The team set its rotation so Kershaw and Buehler would pitch in crucial series against contenders like Colorado, Arizona and St. Louis. Ryu faced feeble opponents like the New York Mets, San Diego and Cincinnati. Yet the final weekend of the regular season presented an instructive contrast. Ryu spun six innings of one-run baseball against a popgun San Francisco Giants lineup. A day later, Kershaw gave up five runs in five innings, one of his worst regular-season outings in recent memory, while facing the same toothless offense. The Dodgers began the process of weaning themselves off an over-reliance on Kershaw in the postseason last season, when the team acquired Yu Darvish in hopes of lightening Kershaw’s burden. Kershaw did not start on short rest during the 2017 postseason. But he started Game 1 of all three series. He rebounded from a disastrous outing against Houston in Game 5 of the World Series to throw four scoreless innings on two days’ rest after Darvish combusted in Game 7. Kershaw is unlikely to pitch on short rest this October. He served two separate stints on the disabled list in the first half, first with biceps tendinitis and then with a strained lower back. Kershaw has suffered back injuries in each of the last three seasons. Kershaw has two years and $65 million remaining on his extension, but he can opt out when the season ends. As the team sprayed champagne to celebrate a playoff berth Saturday, winners despite a dispiriting outing from Kershaw, the ace said he was unsure what came next. Advertisement “Honestly, I haven’t thought about it,” Kershaw said. “I can’t give an answer because I really don’t know what’s ahead. I know we got playoffs ahead. “It’s been a good distraction. And if we weren’t making the playoffs I probably would’ve put a lot more thought into where we’re going and where I’m going personally, but right now I can’t do it. There’s not enough room up there for both.” [email protected] Twitter: @McCulloughTimes<doc-sep>The Dodgers have announced that Hyun-Jin Ryu, not Clayton Kershaw, will start Game 1 of the NLDS against the Braves on Thursday. Mike Foltynewicz will get the start for the Braves. Ryu, 31, was quite effective over 15 starts during the regular season, going 7-3 with a 1.97 ERA and an 89/15 K/BB ratio over 82 1/3 innings. The veteran lefty missed time between May 3 and August 14 due to a strained groin. Foltynewicz, 26, will get some Cy Young votes for his terrific regular season performance. He went 13-10 with a 2.85 ERA and a 202/68 K/BB ratio in 183 innings of work. Thursday will be Foltynewicz’s first appearance in a playoff game. Kershaw had been the Dodgers’ Game 1 starter in every NLDS in which they have appeared since 2013, so this is quite a change. Starting him in Game 2 allows him to pitch a potential Game 5 on four days of rest. Follow @Baer_Bill<doc-sep>
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For the first time since 2009, a pitcher not named Clayton Kershaw will start the first game of the playoffs for the Dodgers. tOn Tuesday night, announced Hyun-Jin Ryu will take the mound on Thursday, with On Tuesday night, the Dodgers announced that Hyun-jin Ryu will take the mound Thursday, with Kershaw getting the nod on Friday. Nothing was ever official, but it was believed that Kershaw would get the start in Game 1, but the two pitchers will swap, assuring they each get an extra day of rest. During the season, Dodger pitching made the fifth lowest starts (50) in major league baseball with the traditional four days of rest. Kershaw has started eight of the last nine Game 1 situations for the Dodgers since the 2009 NLCS. The only two not started by the lefty in the 2013 and 2016 NLCS were due to Kershaw starting the final game of the previous series. Ryu was among one of the best pitchers in baseball during the month of September. He was 3-2 with a 1.50 ERA. In 30 innings, the lefty had 30 strikeouts, with a WHIP of 1.10. Over his last 15 games, Ryu is 7-3 with a 1.97 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. The 31-year-old has allowed just 12 runs in nine starts at Dodger Stadium, allowing no runs in five of those games. For Ryu, this will be his first postseason start since 2014. In that game, he allowed one run in six innings versus the Cardinals. Though only making three career postseason starts, Ryu owns a 2.81 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP. Take a look at the full NLDS schedule here.
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MUMBAI (Reuters) - India slashed the sales tax rate on over 50 products on Saturday in a move aimed at appealing to traders and the middle classes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government eyes next year’s elections. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Singapore June 1, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su Modi is seeking a second term in 2019 amid voter frustration over the abrupt implementation of a nationwide goods and services tax (GST) a year ago that has hit businesses and general public hard. The GST council, headed by interim finance minister Piyush Goyal, agreed to lower the indirect tax slab on products such as paints, leather goods, bamboo flooring, stoves, televisions and washing machines from the highest rate of 28 percent to mostly 18 percent. “The exercise was to ensure simplification and rationalization of GST and extend relief to the common man,” Goyal told a news conference in New Delhi on Saturday evening. The tax rate on ethanol blended with petrol, footwear costing up to 1,000 rupees and fertilizer grade phosphoric acid has been cut to from 12 to 5 percent, Goyal said. The council cut taxes on sanitary pads and fortified baby milk to zero, Goyal said. In a boost to mobile phone manufacturing and electric vehicles, the tax rate on lithium ion batteries was cut from 28 percent to 18 percent. “The decision taken today will increase compliance and the revenue impact on total tax collections will be marginal,” said Goyal. The revised tax rates will be applicable from July 27. Revenue collections from GST are a crucial pillar of government’s plan to cut its fiscal deficit in the current year. India’s GST collection for the fiscal 2017/18 was 98 percent of the budgeted target. “The broad level reductions in rates could lead to lower tax collections,” said M S Mani, partner at consulting firm Deloitte India. However, the tax cut will lead to higher sales which could offset revenue losses, Mani added. ($1 = 68.7300 Indian rupees)<doc-sep>The changes would come into effect across the country from 27 July onward, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told media after the 28th meeting of the GST Council. New Delhi: In a relief for the common man, the GST Council on Saturday reduced tax rates on over 50 items including refrigerators, washing machines and small televisions, which would now be taxed at 18 percent, down from the current 28 percent. Apart from bringing down rates, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council also exempted GST on sanitary napkins, rakhis, fortified milk and idols of deities made of stone, marble and wood. The highest tax bracket of 28 percent has been rationalised further with rates on daily-use items like perfumes, cosmetics, toiletries, hair dryers, shavers, mixer grinder, vacuum cleaners, lithium ion batteries, being lowered to 18 percent. The revised tax rates will come into effect from 27 July, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told media after the 28th meeting of the GST Council. "Refrigerators, small televisions, of up to 25 inches, lithium ion batteries, vacuum cleaners, domestic electrical appliances, such as food grinders, mixers....storage water heaters, immersion heaters, hair dryers, hand driers, electric smoothing irons, among others have been brought to the 18 percent slab," Goyal said. Footwear costing up to Rs 1,000 will now attract 5 percent GST. So far, footwear up to Rs 500 attracted 5 percent GST, and those having retail sale price of over Rs 500 attracted 18 percent rate. Tax rate on ethanol has been slashed to 5 percent from 18 percent at present. Besides, tax rates on worked up Kota stone, sand stone and similar quality of local stones were cut from 18 to 12 percent, with the purpose of avoiding classification disputes. Among other tax reduction decisions, Goyal said, tax rate on handicraft items such as handbags, pouches and purses, jewellery box, wooden frames of paintings and photographs among others have been brought under the 12 percent slab, from 18 percent. GST on handmade carpets and handmade textile floor coverings has been reduced from 12 percent to 5 percent. The tax rate on supply of e-books has been cut to 5 percent from 18 percent. Earlier, in the press conference the minister had said that the rates were rationalised on 100 items. "Every state wanted that the rates on these items be lowered so that the middle income households are benefitted ... It has also been decided that the GST Council will rise above revenue consideration and focus more on job creation and economic growth," Goyal said. Major relief to hotel industry The Council also gave a major relief to the hotel industry by providing that tax rate shall be based on transaction value instead of declared tariff. Earlier, there was a lack of clarity on the issue causing a lot of trouble for consumers booking hotels with 'declared tariffs' of Rs 7,500 and above which incurred 28 percent GST. While hotels with tariff below Rs 1,000 are exempted from GST, those with tariff between Rs 1,000-2,500 are taxed at 12 percent, those between Rs 2,500-7,500 at 18 percent, and above Rs 7,500 at 28 percent. However, it often happened that hotels offered discounts and hence the actual transaction cost would be much lower than the declared cost, but tax would still be charged at the declared cost. Ease of return filing In his first GST Council meeting since he took charge as the Finance Minister in May this year, Goyal also allowed businesses with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore to file quarterly returns -- a move which will benefit 93 percent of the GST registered taxpayers. They will have to, however, pay taxes monthly. So far, businesses with turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore were permitted to file returns quarterly. It also approved an amendment which will enable taxpayers to opt for multiple registrations within a state in respect of multiple places of business located within the same state. "Today's meeting has taken a number of decisions unanimously. Simplification and rationalisation has been given maximum priority," Goyal said while briefing reporters after the 28th GST Council meeting here. Asked about the revenue impact of the tax rate cut, Goyal said it will only be "nominal". "With simplification, there will be compliance buoyancy and the overall assessment will show that the revenue impact is marginal," he said, adding the revenue foregone is for the good of consumers. Sources, however, said the tax rate reduction is likely to cost around Rs 8,000-10,000 crore annually to the exchequer. However, the implementation of the revamped return filing process would take some time as corresponding changes would have to be made into the GST network, the minister clarified. Rate cut to boost productivity Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the rate reduction will go a long way in pushing productivity upward. "This is a major step towards rationalising the 28 percent tax slab, which has been narrowed to only a few commodities in the past 13 months," Jaitley tweeted. This is a major step towards rationalising the 28% tax slab which has been narrowed to only a few commodities in the past thirteen months. — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) July 21, 2018 The Council has also decided to defer implementation of reverse charge mechanism (RCM) by a year to 30 September, 2019. The RCM, which was already on hold till September 2018, is considered as an anti-evasion tool. The Council has also cleared over 40 amendments, including increasing threshold for composition scheme to Rs 1.5 crore and allowing multiple registration for businesses, to the GST law. The next meeting of the Council is slated on 4 August, which will discuss issues relating to the MSME sector as well as ways to incentivise digital transaction via Rupay cards and BHIM app. A Committee led by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi will look into ways to promote digital payments using these modes. Also a chance will be given till 31 August for businesses to migrate to the GST regime and late fee would be waived, Goyal said.<doc-sep>GST Council Cuts Rates: TV, Fridge, Washing Machines To Get Cheaper, Here Are All The Details Conceding a year-long demand, sanitary pads today exempted from GST as the GST Council reduced tax rates on an array of daily use appliances and products. While GST tax on sanitary pads was cut from 12 per cent to zero, rakhis were exempted from the tax, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters here. "Sanitary napkins exempted from GST," Goyal said. Among items on which GST was reduced include footwear, small televisions, water heater, electric ironing machines, refrigerators, lithium-ion batteries, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, food appliances and ethanol. HIGHLIGHTS: The GST Council reduced tax rates on an array of daily use a n array of daily use appliances and products. GST on sanitary pads was cut from 12 per cent to zero while rakhis were exempted from the tax. GST on refrigerators, washing machines and vacuum cleaners has been reduced from 28 to 18 per cent. "GST Council cuts tax rate on an array of products. Rakhis have been exempted from GST, tax on ethanol has been cut to 5 per cent, small handicrafts have been exempted," Goyal said. Besides, tax rates on worked up Kota stone, sandstone and similar quality of local stones were cut from 18 to 12 per cent, with the purpose of avoiding classification disputes. The value limit of footwear was enhanced from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for 5 per cent rate. ? GST on 17 items used by middle class viz Paints, Refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, storage water heaters, TVs up to 68 cm was reduced from 28 to 18 per cent. The next GST Council meeting will be held on August 4. PTI For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>Mumbai: Consumer durables manufacturers plan to pass on the lowered rates of goods and services tax (GST) to consumers, reducing prices in categories such as refrigerators, washing machines and mixer grinders. The GST Council, the federal indirect tax body, on Saturday cut tax rates on 88 items. Taxes for refrigerators, washing machines, small screen TVs, storage water heaters, hair dryers, shavers, mixer grinders, vacuum cleaners and lithium-ion batteries, among others, were lowered to 18% from 28%. “There will be a 7-8% reduction in prices of refrigerator and washing machines, which will be passed on to the consumers," said Kamal Nandi, business head and executive vice-president, Godrej Appliances, the consumer durables division of Godrej Industries Ltd. According to Nandi, growth of the consumer durable division in the period between July and September 2017 remained flat for washing machines, while the refrigerator category grew marginally by 3% over the same period of previous year due to high GST rates. “Post the GST rates revision announced yesterday (Saturday), we expect the refrigerator category to grow by more than 15% and the washing machine category to grow by 18-20%," said Nandi. With the introduction of GST in July 2017, the consumer durables industry was affected, with the slab of 28% on white goods, said Gunjan Srivastava, managing director and chief executive officer, BSH Household Appliances, adding the market grew by 5-10% for both categories. Now with the GST rates being revisited, Srivastava is awaiting the official communications, post which the company will work out the pricing strategy to pass on the benefit to the consumer. BSH Household Appliances expects to grow at 30-35% in the coming year on the back of new launches and expansion of its operations in the country, said Srivastava. India’s ₹ 72,000-crore consumer durables industry grew at 7.5-8.5% in 2017-18 and is expected to grow in double digits during the current financial year, according to the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers, the apex all-India body of the consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile industry. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.<doc-sep>
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The government's decision to cut tax rates on a wide array of consumer items is bound to bring in cheer to consumers ahead of the festive season starting next month with Rakhi and Onam. However, the tax rationalisation measures are being seen more as populist politics than sound economics by many. Ahead of the start of the festive season, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday brought down the rates of over 100 items, including consumer goods and domestic electrical appliances. With the new GST rates kicking in later this week, shopping for your next TV, refrigerator or washing machine would become a lot cheaper. Television sets (up to 26 inch), vacuum cleaners, water heaters, water coolers, grinder, mixers and juicers will also cost less with the reduction in tax rate on about 15 items from 28% to 18%. The new rates will be applicable from 27 July. The cost of getting your house painted will also come down with the prices of paints, varnish and putty coming down. Similarly, GST rates on electric shavers, hair clippers, hair dryers, smoothing irons as well as cosmetics, perfumes and toilet sprays have been slashed from 28% to 18%. The cost of lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones and electric vehicles will also come down following a 10% cut in the tax rates. GST rate has also been reduced from 18% to 5% on footwear costing up to Rs 1,000 and e-books for which print version exists. Welcoming the government's move, president of Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) Manish Sharma, who is also the CEO of Panasonic India and South Asia, said, "This is a welcome move by the government which has come at an impending time when we are just about to prepare ourselves for the upcoming festive season. The reduction of GST slab on television sets of up to 26 inches from 28% to 18% will certainly improve the penetration and affordability of the product in smaller towns across the country." "This should be a good boost to the industry. This would stoke demand. Hopefully, we would see good growth in the washing machine segment for the rest of the year," says Haier India president Eric Braganza. To protect the domestic industry, a number of handicraft items such as handbags, wooden frames, glass statues, glass art ware, lamps and bamboo flooring have been placed in the 12% tax bracket, down from 18%. The tax on handmade carpets, textile flooring, handmade tapestry and toran too has been brought down from 12% to 5%. Talking about the revenue implication of the government's decision, an official of the finance ministry said, "The rate cuts in the highest tax bracket of 28% would lead to a revenue loss of about Rs 6,000 crore." As many as 15 items have been moved from 28% to next 18% slab, leaving only 35 items, including ACs, automobiles, in the highest tax slab. BONANZA TIME Rate cuts in the highest tax bracket of 28% would lead to a revenue loss of about Rs 6,000 crore to the government The new rates will be applicable from 27 July The cut in slab on TVs will improve penetration in small towns (With PTI inputs)
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Xbox Live crashed for users around the world early Wednesday afternoon. The issue primarily affected Xbox One users, preventing them from doing anything after starting up the console. Many have said the screen simply went black after the home page pops up. Xbox acknowledged the issue early on and assured users it was working on a fix, though it ultimately took more than three hours to get things up and running again. Xbox Live has crashed for users around the world. Thousands of players in the United States, primarily on the East Coast, and all over Europe, reported issues on Wednesday 'The issues surrounding Xbox One console startup, sign-in, title update errors, and our status page have now been resolved,' Xbox Support tweeted around 3:30 p.m. (ET). 'Thank you for sticking with us while our teams addressed these issues and we appreciate the reports. As always, we're here and we're listening.' Frustrated users, however, swarmed social media in the hours prior, with complaints appearing across Reddit and Twitter. ‘We are aware of reports of Xbox One console startup, title update and sign-in errors,’ Xbox Support tweeted once the widespread issue became apparent. ‘We will keep everyone informed once we have more information to share. Thank you all for your patience.' Many have said the screen simply goes black after the home page pops up Frustrated users have swarmed social media to report the outage, with complaints appearing across Reddit and Twitter early Wednesday afternoon More than 10,000 reports were logged on DownDetector between noon and 2 p.m. (ET). 'Our engineers are actively investigating and working on the issues outlined in our initial post,' the firm added. 'In the meantime, keep an eye out on our Service Status page for updates while this issue is worked on.' Due to the influx of users checking for updates, however, experienced issues with the support page, too. More than 10,000 reports were logged on DownDetector between noon and 2 p.m. (ET). Many users took to social media to complain Users in Europe and along the United States' East Coast appear to be among the worst hit by the problem, along with the Great Lakes area. Sporadic issues have also been reported in other parts of the US, Mexico, and South America. Around 2:30 p.m., Xbox said it had identified the problem and assured a fix was on the way. But, many users remained unable to play Live for nearly an hour after.<doc-sep>Xbox One owners had to deal with a pretty severe Xbox Live issue on Wednesday that made Microsoft’s console almost non-functional for some of those affected. Many people (just take a look at the Xbox One subreddit) reported seeing a black screen shortly after their console booted up. Others had issues accessing save data. At around 1PM Wednesday, Microsoft tweeted that it was aware of the “Xbox One console startup, title update, and sign-in errors” and said it would provide updates. By 3PM, Brad Rossetti from the Xbox team confirmed that things should be back to normal. We are aware of reports of Xbox One console startup, title update and sign-in errors. We will keep everyone informed once we have more information to share. Thank you all for your patience. — Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019 Xbox One Users - Service changed rolled back - please reboot to confirm the issue is fixed. — Brad Rossetti (@WorkWombatman) January 30, 2019 Some gamers were alarmed and initially worried that their console hardware might be broken, but it was purely an Xbox Live and software issue — albeit a bad one that basically made the Xbox One unusable for a couple hours. Xbox Live servers down? Turned on Xbox, nornal start up welcoming screen, then goes to home page and instant black screen. Can hear as I navigate around and such. Anybody else having issues? — LG (@LukeGross10) January 30, 2019 xbox servers is down on the coldest day in history. I've never wanted a girlfriend more than today. — Thelonious Martin™ (@KingThelonious) January 30, 2019 While the problem was still happening, some reported that unplugging from ethernet allowed the console to start up normally since it wasn’t making any connection to Live. But consoles set up for a Wi-Fi network couldn’t use that workaround. Fortunately, the company pinpointed the problem shortly after trouble began and got to resolving it: Xbox One Users - we have identified the service causing the black screens and working on rolling back the service change - please be patient. — Brad Rossetti (@WorkWombatman) January 30, 2019 But the situation is another reminder of how deeply woven into Xbox hardware the online service is. If the whole system can go haywire when something’s wrong with Xbox Live, maybe that link is a little too direct. Xbox chief Phil Spencer has previously acknowledged that some aspects of the Xbox are too dependent upon Microsoft’s services running smoothly at all times. Update January 30th 2019 3:10PM: The article has been updated to reflect that Microsoft has fixed the issue.<doc-sep>
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Xbox One owners across the globe are facing mysterious black screens upon turning on their consoles. All Xbox One consoles we've tested at Windows Central present the issue, preventing them from accessing menus, games… and essentially anything. Similarly, Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming network appears to be down, signaling a widespread issue across its gaming platform. While details on the black screen are scarce, the bug appears to stem from a recent Xbox service update. As detailed by Xbox Insider Program head, Brad Rosetti, via Twitter, Microsoft plans to roll back the service change, aiming to correct the fault spanning Xbox One consoles worldwide. Microsoft's official Xbox Support Twitter account has also acknowledged reports, with the team "continuing to address" the issue. The issues surrounding Xbox One console startup, sign-in, title update errors, and our status page have now been resolved. Thank you for sticking with us while our teams addressed these issues and we appreciate the reports. As always, we're here and we're listening. — Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019 Our teams have identified the cause for our earlier issues and are continuing to address these now. Thank you for your patience, we'll update again when we know of any other changes. — Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019 We are aware of reports of Xbox One console startup, title update and sign-in errors. We will keep everyone informed once we have more information to share. Thank you all for your patience. — Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019 As of publication, no formal workaround has surfaced for the black screen bug. Equally, there's no estimated time for when Microsoft will issue a fix. However, it highlights a clear dilemma in the world of internet-connected consoles, where a single misstep can render millions of consoles unusable. We'll be sure to update this post as new details surface.
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Actor Emilia Clarke has published a very honest and moving essay about the health problems she faced while filming Game of Thrones. After collapsing at the gym shortly after she'd finished making Season 1, Clarke was diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Per the NHS website, this is "an uncommon type of stroke caused by bleeding on the surface of the brain." It's described as a very serious condition that can be fatal. "I’d had an aneurysm, an arterial rupture," Clarke wrote, before going on to describe the life-threatening severity of her diagnosis and the long road to recovery. You can read her essay in full in The New Yorker. Clarke's story has led to an outpouring of support and praise from fans. And on Friday morning, Clarke's Game of Thrones co-star Lena Headey added her voice to the mix. "Not until she spoke to me about her experience did I fully realize the warrior she truly is," wrote Headey.<doc-sep>Actress Emilia Clarke published an essay for The New Yorker today about the never-before-told story of how she survived not one but two life-threatening aneurysms. The first happened in February 2011, just after she finished filming the first season of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. She was just 24 years old when she had her first aneurysm while working out at the gym. Emilia Clarke penned a shocking essay for The New Yorker in which she shared the never-before-told story of how she survived not one but two life-threatening aneurysms while filming the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Emilia plays Daenerys Targaryen, a.k.a. Khaleesi Mother of Dragons on the show. When she was first cast, Emilia said she took up exercise to relieve stress and anxiety as the show gained popularity. ("I was a television actor now, after all, and that is what television actors do. We work out," she wrote.) But on the morning of February 11, 2011 Emilia said she felt a bad headache building as she got ready for a session with her trainer, and felt incredibly fatigued. She pushed through the first few exercises, but it all came to a sudden and serious halt when her trainer had her get down into a plank position. "I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain. I tried to ignore the pain and push through it, but I just couldn’t," Emilia said. She made it back to the locker room where she "proceeded to be violently, voluminously ill"; the pain was getting worse. She was rushed to the emergency room where an MRI scan gave a quick diagnosis: a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a life-threatening type of stroke, caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain. "I remember being told that I should sign a release form for surgery. Brain surgery? I was in the middle of my very busy life—I had no time for brain surgery. But, finally, I settled down and signed. And then I was unconscious. For the next three hours, surgeons went about repairing my brain. This would not be my last surgery, and it would not be the worst. I was twenty-four years old." Did you catch all these details in the season 8 trailer? She was discharged from the hospital one month after being admitted, and in a matter of weeks, was scheduled to be back on the set of Game of Thrones to begin filming Season 2. "On the set, I didn’t miss a beat, but I struggled, "Emilia said, stating that Season 2 was her worst of the show's eight-season run. "If I am truly being honest, every minute of every day I thought I was going to die." But in the years since (which included another two more brain surgeries to address a second aneurysm found in her brain), Emilia has "healed beyond my most unreasonable hopes," she says. Just proving once and for all that the Mother of Dragons is the most badass woman there ever was. This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>Image : Getty On Thursday, the New Yorker published a moving essay by Emilia Clarke about nearly dying, twice, after shooting the first season of Game of Thrones. Advertisement For my non-GoT heads out there, I got you—Clarke plays Daenerys Targaryen, or the princess with the long blonde hair who’s often called Khaleesi or the Mother of Dragons (shouting optional). Clarke writes about her lifelong dream of becoming an actress (she was cast in school plays as early at 5 years old), and how auditioning and getting a part in an HBO series changed her life. Though, not necessarily in a good way, at first. “I was terrified,” she writes, “[...] of trying to make good on the faith that the creators of ‘Thrones’ had put in me.” While working out with a trainer, Clarke suffered a potentially fatal stroke called a subarachnoid hemorrhage, passing out in the bathroom and vomiting bile before being taken to the ER. A third of people who get SAH die, Clarke learned, but doctors were able to seal off the aneurysm with a “minimally invasive” surgery (which means they didn’t have to go through her skull) and Clarke recovered. She was told, however, that she’d “had a smaller aneurysm on the other side of my brain, and it could ‘pop’ at any time.” Still, she went to shoot Season 2 of Thrones. And yet, she writes: I didn’t know what Daenerys was doing. If I am truly being honest, every minute of every day I thought I was going to die. In 2013, Clarke had a brain scan and suffered another aneurysm—and her doctors did operate on the bleed “through [her] skull.” Miraculously, she was able to keep both incidents from the press until now. Clarke describes her second recovery as painfully bleak (“I now have a hard time remembering those dark days in much detail,” she writes. “My mind has blocked them out.”) and says now she’s started a charity to help people recover from brain injuries and strokes. Did Clarke need Game of Thrones to wrap up before she felt like she could say anything? (She told the show about her first surgery, but denied it happened with a reporter once called her about it.) Writing an essay about two secret, near-death experiences feels unexpected and rather deliberate in this day of celebrities on Instagram Live and screenshots-cum-press releases. Clarke writes that now, she has “healed beyond my most unreasonable hopes. I am now at a hundred per cent.” Which is great! Maybe she needed all this time to process it, to feel like these experiences were squarely in the past, before she could publicly admit that they happened.<doc-sep>
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Game Of Thrones Star Emilia Clarke Reveals Shocking Brain Aneurysm Battle That Nearly Killed Her Emilia Clarke AKA Daenerys Targaryen has penned an essay about almost dying from two brain aneurysms and undergoing two life saving surgeries whilst filming for Game Of Thrones. Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has revealed that she suffered two brain aneurysms and nearly died on multiple occasions and undergone two life-saving surgeries in a brutally honest essay she wrote for the New Yorker. WATCH: Sophie Turner Chugs Her Wine On Live TV & The Jonas Brothers Love It 32-year-old Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in the hit HBO show, reveals for the first time the enormous health struggles she's endured throughout the filming for the show, which has left people shocked. The British actress recounted in graphic detail when she first became unwell whilst working out to get in shape for the role. She wrote: "I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain. I tried to ignore the pain and push through it, but I just couldn’t. I told my trainer I had to take a break." "Somehow, almost crawling, I made it to the locker room. I reached the toilet, sank to my knees, and proceeded to be violently, voluminously ill." "Meanwhile, the pain—shooting, stabbing, constricting pain—was getting worse. At some level, I knew what was happening: my brain was damaged." She was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and told she had a second that could 'pop' at any moment, but returned to film series 2 nonetheless, admitting: "On the set, I didn’t miss a beat, but I struggled. Season 2 would be my worst." "I didn’t know what Daenerys was doing. If I am truly being honest, every minute of every day I thought I was going to die." However, Emilia carries on to inspire hope, having battled through the darkest period that she struggles to remember from the trauma, and throwing herself into a charity for brain injuries and stroke, called SameYou. The eighth and final series of Game Of Thrones is set for release this April. > Download Our Brand New App For All The Latest Game Of Thrones News
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It’s always nice to see people acting like jerks on the road get immediate comeuppance, especially when it’s a cop breaking the law . This video of an NYPD cop wiping out on a dirt bike in Harlem is extremely satisfying, especially for the onlookers who cheered once the officer hit the pavement. Advertisement The video in question: A police source told the Post that the cops found the bike abandoned at an intersection, but that sounds like bullshit. The number of cops wandering around in the background, plus the fact that cruisers are parked across traffic, suggests to me this was part of a larger operation, perhaps an NYPD checkpoint to seize illegal motorcycles or dirt bikes. However, the source did tell the Post that the cop was riding it back to the precinct. This isn’t the first time an NYPD cop has been caught on film crashing a seized bike. Just last month, a cop wiped out riding an illegal e-bike. The dirt bike crashing in question took place in Harlem, one of the most famous black neighborhoods in the world and one ravaged by the city’s notorious and widely discredited stop-and-frisk policy which targeted minority neighborhoods for small infractions in the false hope it would stop people from committing felonies. Stop-and-frisk has mostly been phased out, but some local advocates see echoes of that policy in the city’s crackdown on illegal e-bikes primarily used by the city’s immigrant delivery workers while the city’s bikeshare system rolls out thousands of e-bikes. Advertisement That’s a lot of history and context behind the three seconds in which this cop smacks his face on the pavement, but it’s important in understanding the cheering that takes place afterwards. By my count, this officer is breaking at least four laws. First is the use of the illegal dirt bike on New York City streets. The second and third are that he is not wearing a helmet or protective eyewear as required by New York State law. The fourth is that he is running a red light, which is why that silver car enters the intersection, forcing him to swerve on a bike he absolutely does not know how to use (perhaps the officer forgot he wasn’t in a cruiser; New York City residents, at least, know it’s common practice for NYPD to turn on the lights and sirens just to go through an intersection against the light before immediately turning them off again). Advertisement In the video, the officer gets up and is not obviously injured, but the NYPD did not respond to a list of questions sent by Jalopnik including whether the cop was OK. The Post reported the incident is “under internal review,” which, if history is any guide, is the last we’ll hear on the subject. So you’ll forgive the Harlem residents for taking a minute to enjoy a little justice from the universe, because they don’t get a whole lot of it here in New York.<doc-sep>HARLEM, NY — An NYPD officer attempting to ride a confiscated dirt bike back to a Harlem police precinct wiped out while operating the vehicle Sunday, according to reports and a video of the crash posted online. The cop, who was not wearing a helmet and appears to have blown through a red light, crashed the dirt bike after veering out of the way of a car in the intersection of Lenox Avenue and West 135th Street, the New York Post first reported. Police told the Post that the officer was treated for minor injuries and the department launched an internal review of the crash. Video of the crash posted to Reddit shows the cop revving up the bike and even popping a wheelie before speeding into the intersection. A silver sedan drove into the intersection, forcing the officer to swerve to his left, lose control of the bike and fall to the ground. The dirtbike continued to skid down the road until crashing into another vehicle waiting for the light at the intersection, according to the video.<doc-sep>The thin blue line was left red-cheeked after an NYPD officer attempting to take a seized dirt bike back to the local precinct narrowly avoided disaster in a cringeworthy crash-and-burn at a busy intersection. The embarrassing incident took place at roughly 6pm local time Sunday at the corner of Lenox Avenue and 135th Street in Harlem. Police had responded to reports of a man riding a dirt bike recklessly through traffic. The officer tasked with retrieving the suspect’s abandoned motorbike inadvertently outdid the wanted man, it seems. The NYPD-turned-MotoGP racer was forced to veer out of the way of an oncoming car that pulled into the intersection right after the officer lost control of the bike. He then slams into the pavement as the bike narrowly avoids damaging several cars stopped at a red light at the intersection. Also on rt.com Horrifying moment of deadly Florida highway helicopter crash caught on camera (VIDEOS) The cop suffered a leg injury and was taken to hospital for treatment following his wipe-out and the incident is reportedly“under internal review.” The video of the incident has received over 35,000 upvotes since it was posted to Reddit on Sunday evening. Police are still searching for the suspect. Like this story? Share it with a friend!<doc-sep>
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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Cellphone video showing an NYPD officer crashing a dirt bike in Harlem is under internal review by the department. In the video posted online, you can see the officer, who’s not wearing helmet, blow through a red light. A silver car narrowly misses him. He then loses control of the bike and falls over. The bike ends up against a car in the middle of the road. The officer gets up and appears to be OK, as other cops rush toward him. The crash happened around 5:40 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of 135th Street and Lenox Avenue. Police said prior to this, officers saw a man riding recklessly on the bike. When they tried to stop him, the man allegedly ditched the bike, got onto another person’s bike and fled. Officers could be heard over police scanners calling in a group of about 50 motorcycles and ATVs. Police said the officer in the video was trying to bring the bike back to the precinct. NYPD rules say a transport truck should be called, but that can take hours, so sometimes it’s decided on scene to ride the bike to the precinct, as long as it’s deemed safe, DeAngelis reported. The incident is now under internal review. “I think he was trying to be friendly and just try to make a friendly approach to it, but I think he went over the line,” Harlem resident Corey Wesley told CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis. “That’s pretty bad, man. Why would that cop endanger himself? He endangered that person that was walking across the street. He endangered the person in the car that almost hit him,” resident Carl Barely said. “I think he was doing his job. He was just trying to take it to the precinct,” another resident added. “I don’t think he did anything wrong.” It is illegal to ride a dirt bike on city streets, because they are not equipped to be registered. However, many people who live in the area said it’s still a persistent problem. “We have that problem every weekend as soon as the weather gets warm. And it’s not one, it’s like 50, 60, 70 kids on those bikes going up and down Eighth Avenue,” one woman said. “They rev them, they don’t have helmets on, it’s really dangerous,” said Wesley. Two officers were treated at an area hospital. No one else was hurt. Police are still looking for the first man seen riding the bike.
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"Something happens to men in elevators." This observation, made by the elevator operator in Billy Wilder's film "The Apartment," captures Sen. Jeff Flake's experience in a Senate building elevator last week during the Kavanaugh hearings. In the wake of Flake's encounter with Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila, a narrative that seemed preordained behaved like a malfunctioning elevator, grinding to an unexpected halt. Before it lurches back into motion, let's consider the elevator's uplifting role in this unprecedented episode. In his engrossing "Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator," André Bernard suggests that the elevator shares two important traits with other late-nineteenth century inventions like the airplane and automobile: rapidity and insularity. It's an object that closes off its riders from the world it quickly traverses. But there is a crucial difference. Penned into a small space, the bus or plane passenger can look through a window or at a magazine. In other words, they can look away from their fellow and unknown passengers, thus alleviating an otherwise uneasy situation. KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION: Flake vows to vote 'no' if Supreme Court nominee lied No such luck in a lift. Once the early elevators were transformed from metallic cages, where passengers could at least pretend to study the shafts' innards, to sealed containers, riders were deprived of these distractions. While elevator scholars differ on the raison d'être of elevator music — some claim it is meant to defuse our fears; others insist it is meant to defeat our boredom — they both reflect the brute fact of being enclosed inside a metal box shuttling through a vertical shaft hundreds, sometimes thousands of feet in length, without the salve of distraction. This uncommon predicament, the sociologist Erving Goffman notes, creates common patterns of behavior. With remarkable consistency, elevator riders obey a rigid choreography. The first arrival stakes out the control panel, the second claims the diagonally opposite corner, the third gravitates to the rear wall and the fourth floats in the center. Subsequent riders fill the spaces between, trying to create as much space as possible between themselves and the others. The moment the users reach their assigned positions, they inevitably turn in order to face the front. Or not quite inevitably. In a remarkable "Candid Camera" episode, three actors entered an elevator with unsuspecting passengers. They proceeded to engage in uniform but increasingly odd behavior, such as facing different walls or putting on and taking off their hats. Without fail, the odd men out would follow suit. But one and all continued to stare straight ahead. The avoidance of eye contact is a protocol we all follow in elevators. Indeed, the two other passengers who found themselves in the same elevator with Sen. Flake and the activists followed this very same protocol. While Gallagher and Archila demanded the senator's attention, these passengers continued to stare straight ahead, doing what we all do: pretending not to hear or see what is being said or done inches from our ears and ears. Paradoxically, when Archila and Gallagher violated elevator etiquette, they were obeying a well-known Hollywood convention. Think of the dozens of famous elevator scenes in film, from "The Apartment" and "North by Northwest" to "The Shining" and "Cabin in the Woods." In subtle or shocking ways, these moments either play against this established protocol or play to our deepest fears. By upending the elevator's usual rules and role, they rivet our attention. A machine meant to haul us from one place mutates into a magnifying glass sharpening the details of the human condition. This is precisely what happens in the elevator scene, by turns sidesplitting and cringe-inducing, in "You've Got Mail." Trapped in a stalled elevator with his fiancée and two others, the character played by Tom Hanks is forced to reflect on his past and present. By the time the elevator restarts, he has decided to restart his own life. The elevator incident at the Senate was less "You've Got Mail" than "You've Got Tsuris." But the effect was the same. When Gallagher and Archila arrived at the elevator, Sen. Flake's first impulse seems to have been to press the close button. (Here, too, the elevator was unique at the turn of the 20th century: no other form of transportation offered its user such complete mastery.) The same technology, however, prevents the doors from closing if there is an obstruction. For this occasion, this technological innovation proved to be something of a deus ex machina. A space that normally precludes conversation was now one that privileged contestation. But Flake listened — a choice, one suspects, that not many of his Republican colleagues would have made — and eventually looked at his interlocutors. He might even have attended to them: taking the full measure of their lives while putting his own on hold. WHAT'S THE TRUTH? : Kavanaugh hearings trigger major philosophical questions During those five minutes — an eternity, no doubt, for the other passengers — Flake remained in this "secular confessional." Once the doors closed and reopened on a different floor, he emerged perhaps not a different man, but certainly a man flush with a different decision. In both film and literature, Bernard notes, elevators often serve as a kind of narrative "hinge." A couple of characters enter this narrow box and the doors close. Minutes later, they exit from that same box. Just as the space might be different, so too might the characters. In a kind of narrative shake and bake, the characters have either changed, or have had the seeds of change planted in them. With last week's shake and flake, it was not only one individual's life that turned on a hinge, but perhaps a nation's as well. Robert Zaretsky teaches in the Honors College at the University of Houston. His new book, "Catherine and Diderot: The Empress, The Philosopher and the Fate of the Enlightenment" will be published this winter by Harvard University Press. Get the Gray Matters newsletter. It doesn't always obey a rigid choreography.<doc-sep>For Sen. Jeff Flake, the viral scene in which two enraged women confronted him on an elevator over experiences of sexual misconduct was the culmination of chance and not getting down the hallway quite fast enough. For one of the women who approached him, the moment was decades in the making. Ana Maria Archila, 39, met Maria Gallagher in the atrium of a Senate office building for the first time on Friday morning. Archila, a co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, had experience dealing with legislators. Maria Gallagher did not. Driven together by their shared anger over a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the two decided to join forces and wait outside of Flake’s office together. Shortly after releasing a statement indicating he would vote yes on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Arizona Republican rushed from his office to the elevators. So did reporters, and so did Archila and Gallagher. The dramatic moment came a day after Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor with two master’s degrees and a doctorate, testified under oath in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh, as a teenager, held her down, put his hand over her mouth and tried to take off her clothes approximately 35 years ago. Archila used her body to block the elevator’s mechanized door from cutting off her conversation: “On Monday, I stood in front of your office,” she said, vigorously. “I told the story of my sexual assault.” Flake looked down for most of the encounter, unable or unwilling to stare the women in the eyes. “I need to go. I need to go to the hearing,” he said. Archila didn’t budge. “I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford’s story that she is telling the truth,” she said. “What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court. This is not tolerable. You have children in your family. Think about them.” Within hours of the protest, Flake made his “yes” a conditional one. “I will only be comfortable moving on the floor [when] the FBI has done more investigation than they have already,” he said. “It may not take them a week. I understand that some of these witnesses may not want to discuss anything further. But I think we owe them due diligence.” For Archila, Ford’s telling of being violated by someone older than her hit too close to home. In an interview with TIME, Archila said she was molested by a boy ten years older than her, when she was just a five-year-old girl in daycare. It took about a decade for her to tell her mom. Her dad found out only when thousands of Americans did, in the heated exchange with Flake that aired on live television. “I wanted to protect them from that pain,” she said, discussing why she did not tell them sooner. That pain has affected how she raises her own kids, now 6 and 3. After becoming a mom, she found it hard to leave her children alone, scarred by what she said happened to her when she was about their age. “I couldn’t leave my child in daycare,” she said through tears. Archila said she was never a huge fan of Kavanaugh. When President Donald Trump originally nominated him to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the bench in July, Archila was worried his prior judicial record could be indicative of him ruling contrary to her views on issues like women’s reproductive rights and immigration. Archila immigrated from Colombia well over a decade ago, and is now a U.S. citizen. When allegations of sexual misconduct were lodged against Kavanaugh, Archila said watching Kavanaugh’s confirmation process begin to play out procedurally signaled a “deep reckoning” for American politics — but one that had been brewing for a long time. As the #MeToo movement swelled, so did her anger towards anyone who was complicit in allowing sexual assault to run rampant for so many years. “What is most enraging is watching history repeat itself. Watching men sit there and cast doubt on the experience of women, cast doubt on the veracity of our work,” she said. “It’s really a culture that, again and again, kind of prioritizes men over women. I think that is really where my rage comes from.” She said it was difficult to relive her memories of being sexually violated some 34 years ago, but that it would have been far worse to ignore them. “In that moment, the painful part wasn’t my story,” she said. “The painful part was was our collective stories. How is it possible that we stare at the mirror of so much pain and still look away?” It appears Archila and Gallagher’s words had at least some effect on Flake, who is not running for re-election. In an interview with “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Flake referenced the confrontation in explaining his push for an FBI investigation. “I just knew that we couldn’t move forward, that I couldn’t move forward without hitting the pause button,” he said. “What I was seeing, experiencing, in an elevator and watching it in committee and just thinking, this is ripping our country apart.” Archila had a train ticket back to New York City scheduled for about the same moment that she, Gallagher and Flake collided. “I so clearly missed my train,” she said, chuckling. But she said it was worth it. “I think that Maria and I were there because others had been there,” she said. “If it had just been our two stories, we would not have had the same impact.” Get our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later.<doc-sep>In a remarkable moment that played out live on cable television Friday, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was confronted on his way to a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by two women who said they are survivors of sexual assault. Flake, who, just moments before, had issued a statement saying he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh, stood mostly silent for more than five minutes inside an open elevator in the Russell Senate Office Building, as the women tried to convince him to keep Kavanaugh off the court. “On Monday, I stood in front of your office,” said one woman who was later identified as Ana Maria Archila, a Democratic activist. “I told the story of my sexual assault. I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford’s story that she’s telling the truth. What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit in the Supreme Court! This is not tolerable! You have children in your family! Think about them! “I have two children,” she continued. “I cannot imagine that for the next 50 years they will have to someone in the Supreme Court who has been accused of violating a young girl. What are you doing, sir?” Flake did not answer. A woman who said she is a survivor of a sexual assault confronts Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., in an elevator in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C,, on Friday. (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) Flake and two female aides with him tried to close the elevator door as a second woman, Maria Gallagher, who also said she was a survivor of sexual assault began to berate him. “Nobody believes me!” Gallagher yelled. “I didn’t tell anyone, and you’re telling all women that they don’t matter! That they should just stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them, you’re going to ignore them. That’s what happened to me, and that’s what you’re telling all women in America, that they don’t matter, and they should just keep it to themselves, because if they told the truth, you’re just going to help that man to power anyway!” She began to break down in tears. “That’s what you’re telling all these women!” Gallagher screamed. “Look at me when I’m talking to you! You’re telling me that my assault doesn’t matter!” Story continues “Don’t look away from me!” she added. “Look at me and tell me it doesn’t matter what happened to me! The senator, visibly shaken, said he had to go to the committee’s vote, as one of his aides attempted to flag security. Flake eventually left the elevator, presumably to take the stairs to the hearing room. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Friday. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP/Getty Images) Flake’s dramatic day, though, wasn’t done. Before voting to move Kavanaugh out of committee, Flake proposed that the FBI reopen its background investigation into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh before the full Senate votes on his confirmation. Flake’s call to delay the vote was welcomed by the two women who confronted him in the elevator. I feel relieved that @JeffFlake seems to have heard my and @AnaMariaArchil2’s voices in the Senate elevator today. We absolutely need an FBI investigation and for him and all Senators to vote NO. #StopKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/VnsfTIRGXJ — Maria Gallagher (@mgallagher822) September 28, 2018 During Thursday’s explosive hearing, Flake said that Christine Blasey Ford — who told the committee she was “100 percent” certain she had been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were teenagers — “offered compelling testimony.” But Flake found Kavanaugh — who said he was “100 percent” sure he didn’t assault Ford — equally compelling. “You have come and done the same,” he told the nominee. “I am sorry for what’s happened to you and your family, as I’m sorry for what has happened to hers. This is not a good process, but it’s all we’ve got.” Flake added: “We are 21 very imperfect senators trying to do our best to provide advice and consent. And in the end, there is likely to be as much doubt as certainty going out of this room today.” ___ Read more from Yahoo News:<doc-sep>The woman who confronted Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in an elevator Friday about his upcoming vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said the senator's decision to force a new investigation into the judge's past showed that "people who have the responsibility of making decisions for our country can actually listen to their conscience." Ana Maria Archila told "CBS This Morning" Monday that in the interaction, which went viral on Friday, she and the senator were able to establish a human connection: "I connected to him because he's a father, I am a mother. This is not just about us today, not just about the politics of this moment; this is about the lives of the people we love so much." An activist and co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a liberal advocacy group based in New York City, Archila said that she had been going to Washington, D.C., for weeks trying to talk to members of the Senate about her concerns over placing Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court – even before the allegations of sexual assault arose. "I think that he stands for the rollback of decades of progress for women's rights, for communities of color, for workers, for immigrants," she said. "I was doing the work of making my voice heard, bringing others to make sure that the decision was informed by the appearances of people who stood to lose so much." It was on Friday that she met the other woman in the video, Maria Gallagher, a recent college graduate from Virginia who had never talked with an elected official before. Together they decided to go to Sen. Flake's office, and it was then that they saw the statement of support for Kavanaugh that Flake released. "So, when we saw him, we were having all these reactions of, how can you do this? We just heard a woman yesterday, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, pour her heart out and tell about attacks to protect our country. I stood in front of his office and told my story to protect my children and the country they're growing up in." The two women confronted Flake in an elevator, telling him of their experiences with sexual assault: "Look at me when I'm talking to you: you're telling me that my assault doesn't matter!" one woman said. Video of that confrontation went viral – and Flake later moved the nomination forward on the condition that the FBI would reopen its background investigation of Kavanaugh, taking into account the recently-surfaced charges by Ford and others into alleged sexual assaults. Kavanaugh has denied all the allegations. Co-host-Norah O'Donnell asked Archila, "When that elevator door closed with Senator Flake, did you think that history might change?" "I did not think that," Archila replied. "I thought that the interaction that we had just had had touched him and that it had connected with a seed of perhaps doubt, and a sense of responsibility, that I was hoping he would seek in this moment of making such a consequential decision for our country." Kavanaugh has denied the allegations involving Ford, who claims he and a friend, Mark Judge, assaulted her in high school; a Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez, who claims that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party his freshman year; and Julie Swetnick, who claims that Kavanaugh was present at a highs chool party where girls were drugged and raped. Co-host Gayle King asked Archila, "Are you encouraged by an FBI investigation?" "I think the investigation is one important step," Archila replied. "The country deserves a process that all of us can trust. I think that we have seen Brett Kavanaugh enough. I believe that we need to have people in the Supreme Court who are able to model what it looks like to take responsibility for your own actions and what it looks like to begin the repair process of whatever harm has been caused, and I think he's unable to do that." Gallagher had never publicly told her story of sexual assault, and had not even told her own mother. Likewise, Archila had only spoken publicly of her experience a few days earlier, not even telling her father. Archila was asked to comment on a report this morning that Rachel MItchell, the Arizona sex crimes prosecutor brought in by Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to interview Dr. Ford, describes Ford's experience as a "he said, she said" case that prosecutors would likely not pursue due to lack of corroborating evidence and doubts about her testimony. "The reason why there are thousands and thousands of women telling their stories right now, and survivors telling their stories right now, is because we recognize in Dr. Ford's testimony our own reality, our own experiences, [and] that the reason why we don't tell is because we're not believed," she replied. "The reason why we don't tell is because we want to protect the people we love from having to hold the pain of, perhaps, not feeling guilty about not being able to protect us. So if you ask me what was the date of when it happened to me, I couldn't tell you, but I can remember, and I know that that experience was mine, and I see that in Dr. Ford." "And that's why you said you didn't want to tell your father, because you didn't want him to hold the pain of not being able to protect you?" asked co-host John Dickerson. "That's right."<doc-sep>
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(CNN) — Anger, pain, and courage. That was what the moment was about. Two women and their pain. A U.S. Senator in an elevator, literally trapped and torn. Frozen by their escalating anger and anguish over what he had just announced. A yes vote for Brett Kavanaugh to join the Supreme Court. I met these two young women earlier that morning waiting outside Sen. Jeff Flake’s office. Our CNN crew (photographer Dave Burgess and producer Jasmine Wright) and I were positioned there at 7:30 a.m., hoping to catch him to get a heads-up on his vote. Ana Maria Archila, a self-described activist from New York City, told me she was sexually assaulted when she was five years old. She had been to Flake’s office on Monday hoping to see him, but could not, so she revealed the story of her attack to Flake’s staffers instead. And Maria Gallagher, 23, a recent graduate from Virginia, who said she had never spoken publicly about her own sexual assault until that face-to-face moment with Flake in the elevator. The two were strangers just hours ago who discovered they had a similar pain and decided to go to Flake’s office because they thought he could be their critical ally. About five minutes before the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote, we all got the message at the same time, an email on our cell phones, announcing Flake was supporting Kavanaugh. Immediately, Archila and Gallagher gasped, becoming very emotional. Then we spotted Flake darting from his office with a few staffers and heading down the hall. We took off after him, as did the women. We caught up with him just as he was getting into the elevator. The doors were closing, and Archila literally and figuratively put her foot down — causing the doors to open. Everything changed. Flake was stuck. Having to explain his position. In this small, hot, enclosed space which quickly filled with raw unbridled, unscripted emotion. “You have children in your family. Think about them. I have two children. I cannot imagine that for the next 50 years they will have to have someone in the Supreme Court who has been accused of violating a young girl,” Archila shouted. “What are you doing, sir?” And then Gallagher. “I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me. I didn’t tell anyone, and you’re telling all women that they don’t matter, that they should just stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them you are going to ignore them,’” she shouted. “That’s what happened to me, and that’s what you are telling all women in America, that they don’t matter.” The two took turns confronting Flake, as the elevator buzzed, and his aides tried to push any button that would close the doors. Initially, I had started to ask Flake a question but I quickly realized this was a moment to be quiet. That what was unfolding before our eyes was much more impactful than anything I could ask or say. “Don’t look away from me. Look at me and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me, that you will let people like that go into the highest court of the land,” Gallagher insisted when Flake lowered his head. What I heard, and what the world would see live on CNN, was rage and pain. Pain on Flake’s face, and pain in the voices of the women who needed him to hear their stories. It was roughly 24 hours after professor Christine Blasey Ford raised her hand before this same senator, to tell of her 36 years of pain. She was polite, cooperative, sometimes scientific. If she was angry, she didn’t show it. But the anger came anyway. On Twitter, on C-SPAN, in furious texts sent by women all over the country, who felt unheard and unseen. And there, in the elevator, Flake, with nowhere to go, was forced to hear their rage. “Do you think that Brett is telling the truth? Do you think that he’s able to hold the pain of this country and repair it? That is the work of justice,” Archila yelled. The exchange was close to five minutes but felt much longer. As the doors began to close, I asked Flake if he would consider delaying the vote for an FBI investigation as the American Bar Association had just requested. At that moment he had no response.
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After an up-and-down first half of preseason action, the Buffalo Bills find themselves leading 13-7 as the third-string players take to the field against the Cleveland Browns. In the first quarter, AJ McCarron couldn't move the first team offense, and despite only surrendering a single touchdown, the starting Bills defense was gashed on the ground. Offensively, the Bills did not earn a first down until 10:59 in the second quarter. After coming in early in that same quarter, Josh Allen immediately provided a spark, marching the team right down the field and completing a pretty pass to Rod Streater for a touchdown. Then, after a great punt return by Marcus Murphy, Allen successfully commanded the two-minute offense in a drive that resulted in a field goal. Allen again led the team into field goal range after halftime. Allen finished 9-of-13 for 60 yards and the aforementioned touchdown pass, and Bills fans have to be impressed with his second preseason performance. Allen’s night aside, this half will be very important for Nathan Peterman, as AJ McCarron had a brief but subpar start to the game. Peterman has an opportunity to create some separation in the ongoing quarterback competition. His performance in last week’s preseason game against the Carolina Panthers was almost flawless, but how will he perform playing with the third-string receivers and linemen? Keep it locked here as we watch and find out.<doc-sep>Today, the Cleveland Browns take on the Buffalo Bills for their second preseason game. We will have game threads running for each quarter, so be sure to participate in the discussions. Game: Buffalo Bills vs. Cleveland Browns Date/Time: Friday, August 17, 2018 at 7:30 PM ET Television: WEWS, Channel 5 - Tim Couch & Jay Crawford Local Radio: ESPN 850 WKNR, 92.3 The Fan, 98.5 FM WNCX This is the official game thread for the Bills vs. Browns match-up. Any comment regarding the game as it is taking place should go in this thread, and there will be subsequent threads for each quarter of action. No GIF’s or images are permitted in game threads. As always, GO BROWNS!! !<doc-sep>The Buffalo Bills beat the Cleveland Browns 19-17 on Friday in their second preseason game of the year. Not that anyone cares about the score. Position battles and individual performance matter the most at this time of year. With that, here are five takeaways from the Bills’ win: QB battle takes a turn Rookie Josh Allen just made things a whole lot more interesting. AJ McCarron started the contest and struggled mightily, going 3-for-6 with 12 yards passing. McCarron went three-and-out four straight times and suffered a shoulder injury. Allen then stepped in with the first-team offense and led a 15-play, 80-yard drive. Allen finished the game 9-for-13 with 60 yards adding another 18 on the ground. His first drive ended with a touchdown pass to Rod Streater. Did Allen earn some starting reps next week? That’ll be the talk all week. He’ll still have a battle from Peterman, who started slow with the third-team offense but then found a chemistry with tight end Nick O’Leary. They connected for a 35-yard score too. Overall, Peterman was 8-for-10 with 113 yards and a score.<doc-sep>So far, so good for the new-look Buffalo Bills offense under new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. The offense looks to build on the momentum from Week 1 when Buffalo travels to face the Cleveland Browns at 7:30 p.m. Friday at FirstEnergy Stadium in Week 2 of the preseason. The Bills (0-1) are seeking their first win of the preseason, while the Cleveland Browns (1-0) look for their second straight preseason victory following a 20-10 win over the New York Giants in Week 1. In their preseason debut during a 28-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Bills got solid quarterback play from Nathan Peterman (9-of-10 passing for 119 yards with one touchdown and one interception), AJ McCarron (7-of-10 for 116 yards), and Josh Allen (9-of-19 for 119 yards and one TD). All three QBs managed to move the sticks and put points on the board for the Bills, while Kelvin Benjamin (four receptions for 59 yards and one TD) showed why the Bills traded for him at last year’s trade deadline. Defensively, rookies Harrison Phillips and Tremaine Edmunds enjoyed solid NFL debuts in Week 1, while Shaq Lawson, Eddie Yarbrough, and undrafted rookie free agent Mike Love continued to make an impression with their ability to create pressure on the quarterback. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the game. TV Schedule Date: Friday, August 17, 2018 Time: 7:30 p.m. ET Channel: The game is being carried nationally on the NFL Network, but the NFL Network broadcast is blacked out in the participating teams’ over-the-air station markets. The game will be carries locally on WKBW 7 in Buffalo, WROC 8 in Rochester, WSYR 9 in Syracuse, WBGH/WIVT 34 in Binghamton, WETM 18 in Elmira, WPNY 11/WFXV 33 in Utica, WTEN 10/WXXA 23 in Albany. Announcers: Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Steve Tasker (analyst), Thad Brown (sideline reporter) Location: FirstEnergy Stadium | Cleveland, Ohio NFL Network replay: Sunday, August 19 at 10:00 AM ET Radio: WGR 550AM (Buffalo), WCMF 96.5 FM and WROC 950 AM (Rochester), Fan 590 AM (Toronto), WTKW 99.5 FM and WKTV 105.5 FM (Syracuse). Radio Play-by-Play: John Murphy and Mark Kelso in the booth with sideline reporter Sal Capaccio. Online Streaming: Local live stream or NFL Game Pass (Free 7-Day Trial) Bills 2018 preseason schedule: Week 1: Carolina Panthers 28, Buffalo Bills 23 Week 2: at Cleveland Browns; Fri, Aug 17, 7:30 p.m. ET Week 3: vs. Cincinnati Bengals; Sunday, Aug 26, 4 p.m. ET Week 4: at Chicago Bears; Thu, Aug 30, 8 p.m. ET<doc-sep>
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The Buffalo Bills know who their starting quarterback will be for tonight’s 7:30 p.m. preseason game against the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Ohio. While head coach Sean McDermott informed his team of the decision earlier in the week, the rest of us will have to wait until tonight to see whether Nathan Peterman, AJ McCarron, or prized rookie Josh Allen starts under center when the Bills (0-1) face the Browns (1-0) in Week 2 of the preseason. The Bills showed different wrinkles to their offense during their preseason debut, a 28-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers at New Era Field. All three QBs managed to move the sticks and put points on the board for the Bills, while Kelvin Benjamin (four receptions for 59 yards and one TD) showed why the Bills traded for him at last year’s trade deadline. The wide receiver position is still muddied, but former first-round pick Corey Coleman should make his Bills debut against his former team. Fans will surely be interested to see how well Coleman, Zay Jones, Jeremy Kerley, Rod Streater, Andre Holmes, Malachi Dupre, and the rest of the wide receiver corps perform as the position’s pecking order gets sorted out. LeSean McCoy suited up but did not play in the opener, while Marcus Murphy (seven carries for 35 yards with a touchdown, four receptions for 30 yards) made a strong case for claiming Buffalo’s No. 3 running back role. Will Shady see the field in Cleveland, or will the veteran be held out of another preseason game? Besides the skill positions, there are still question marks along the offensive line, notably at center, where neither Ryan Groy nor Russell Bodine has seized the job following Eric Wood’s offseason retirement. On the other side of the ball, Trent Murphy is nursing “a little nagging” groin injury, and his status for the game is still up in the air. In his absence, it will be interesting to see how the rotation shapes out between Shaq Lawson, Kyle Williams, Jerry Hughes, Star Lotulelei, and Eddie Yarbrough. Tremaine Edmunds and Lorenzo Alexander should make up two thirds of the starting linebacking corps tonight, while Matt Milano and veteran Keenan Robinson were splitting reps at weakside linebacker during the final week of training camp. While the offense took center stage during the preseason opener, tonight’s game could prove a great opportunity for the defense, particularly the secondary — with Tre’Davious White, Vontae Davis, Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer — to show its dominance against former Bill Tyrod Taylor and No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. Go ahead and post your observations around the starters below, and be sure to check back later for a new open thread when the reserves enter the game.
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The state of policing 1 year after George Floyd's death A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Keilar rolls the tape on the Covid-19 'lab leak' theory Faulty redactions show more info seized in Giuliani investigation than previously disclosed WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Vigils & tributes to George Floyd one year since his murder ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) Interest in vaccinations increased after mask guidance, data says A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East (from LASD) Due to the overwhelming response from the news media and tips received from the public, investigators have identified the deceased child discovered on March 5, 2019, along an equestrian trail in the 3400/3500 block of Hacienda Boulevard in unincorporated Hacienda Heights. Today, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner- Coronerís Office confirmed the identity of the victim as Trinity Love Jones, FB/9 years old, a resident of Los Angeles County. Although the Coronerís Office determined the death to be a homicide, the cause of death is being withheld. (CNN) — A week after a 9-year-old girl’s body was found in a duffel bag east of Los Angeles, authorities have made an arrest, but a number of key questions remain unanswered. Hunt, 38, was charged Tuesday. The girl’s body was found March 5 in light brush near an equestrian trail in Hacienda Heights. Los Angeles County Sheriff Emiel Hunt Authorities believe Hunt killed Trinity on or around March 1, the prosecutor’s office said. It’s unclear when Trinity’s body was abandoned and how much time passed before someone found her. Officials have not released a possible motive in the death or the child’s cause of death. Hunt, who is reportedly the boyfriend of Trinity’s mother, was arrested Saturday after police found him sleeping in his car in a parking lot near the San Diego International Airport, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. Authorities had been looking for him in connection to Trinity’s death. Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Trinity's body was discovered March 5 in light brush near an equestrian trail. Hunt’s bail was set at $2 million, and his arraignment was continued to April 16. A public defender will be assigned to represent him. If convicted of murder, Hunt could face up to life in prison. Authorities have arrested a second person, but information about that “person of interest is being withheld pending further investigation,” the sheriff’s department said. ’You killed my daughter!,’ father says As Hunt appeared in court to face the murder charge on Tuesday, Trinity’s father, Antonio Jones, stood up and shouted at him. “You killed my daughter!’ Jones screamed. Throughout the hearing, the father cried and clenched his fists. Reed Saxon/AP People gathered at a large memorial honoring the 9-year-old girl on Monday. Trinity’s grandmother, Barbara Jones, told reporters that she felt enraged after learning that Hunt had been charged. “I felt like a monster, like I wanted to do to him what he did to her, or what is alleged he did to her,” she told reporters outside the courthouse. After the hearing, Antonio Jones said he wanted to grieve and focus on how loved his daughter was. “She’s an angel now,” he said. “Trinity’s happy, she’s in a better place.” Earlier this week, family members and friends visited Trinity’s large memorial near the Hacienda Heights trail for the first time. Authorities had only confirmed her identity late Sunday. Dozens of heart and star-shaped balloons, flowers, dolls and plush toys of all sizes have been left near the trail since last week. “Rest in heaven, princess,” reads a message for Trinity. She was found inside a duffel bag A group of workers had been cleaning brush off a horse trail in the suburban community east of Los Angeles when they discovered the black duffel bag with Trinity’s body partially inside. LASD Trinity Love Jones' body was found in a black duffel bag, authorities said. The girl’s body was found with her head and upper body protruding from the partly zipped bag. Detectives initially had no idea of her name or age, and made a desperate plea to the public to help them identify her. A day after the gruesome discovery, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released a sketch that showed a young girl wearing a pink shirt that read “Future Princess Hero” and pants with a panda print. “At this point, we don’t have any leads. We don’t have any idea of who this child is,” Lt. Scott Hoglund told reporters last week, calling it a “horrible, tragic case.” CNN’s Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.<doc-sep>The mother of a 9-year-old girl, whose body was found inside a duffel bag near a Los Angeles-area hiking trail, has been charged with one count of murder, the district attorney's office said. Taquesta Graham, who was arrested earlier this month in Texas on an unrelated charge and extradited back to California, was booked Monday in connection with the murder of her daughter, Trinity Love Jones, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Graham is expected to be arraigned in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison. Trinity's body was discovered in a black rolling duffel bag March 5 by maintenance workers in Hacienda Heights, California, about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Taquesta Graham was charged in the murder of her daughter, Trinity Love. Los Angeles County Sheriff The sheriff's department said it appeared as though the duffel bag had been pushed down an embankment from Hacienda Boulevard. The child's death has been ruled a homicide, but authorities have not said exactly how she was killed. Graham, 28, and her boyfriend, Emiel Lamar Hunt, were stopped March 8 at a border patrol checkpoint in Hudspeth County, Texas. Graham was arrested for an unrelated parole violation and extradited back to California on Thursday. She is being held at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's station in Norwalk on a $2 million bail. Emiel Lamar Hunt was arrested in connection with the murder of Trinity Love Jones. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Hunt, 38, was initially released by the authorities in Texas, but arrested again March 9 in San Diego after detectives learned that he and Graham were involved in Trinity's death. Hunt is being held at the Norwalk Sheriff’s station on a murder charge with bail also set at $2 million. He faces up to 55 years to life in prison if convicted of murder. Antonio Jones, who identified himself to NBC Los Angeles as Trinity's father, described the little girl as someone who was "full of character, full of love, full of joy." "We just want answers," he said. "We want justice."<doc-sep>
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Trinity Love Jones' father described her as "fun, loving, big heart(ed), bubbly" After 9-Year-Old Girl Was Found Dead in Duffel Bag on Calif. Trail, Her Mom Is Charged With Murder The mother of a 9-year-old girl whose body was found stuffed in a duffel bag along a California horse trail has been arrested as the second suspect in the child’s murder, PEOPLE confirms. On Monday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested Taquesta Graham, 28, on accusations she murdered her daughter, Trinity Love Jones, the sheriff’s department said in an advisory. Trinity’s body was found protruding from a duffel bag in an embankment on the trail in Hacienda Heights on March 5. The coroner ruled her death a homicide, but has not yet released the cause of death, the sheriff’s department says. Taquesta Grahamhttps://www.facebook.com/1solidchck/photosCredit: Facebook Taquesta Graham, 28, of California The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case and is expected to file a murder charge Wednesday morning, the advisory says. Graham, a registered sex offender, is expected to be arraigned in Pomona Court on Wednesday after the filing, the advisory says. duffel Trinity Love Jones, 9, of California | Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department She was extradited from Texas to Los Angeles on Thursday after being held on an unrelated warrant. Taquesta-Graham-Emiel-Hunt Emiel Hunt, 38, and Taquesta Graham, 28, of California On March 8, Graham and her boyfriend, Emiel Hunt, 38, were stopped at a border patrol checkpoint in Hudspeth County, Texas, where she was arrested on the unrelated warrant. Hunt was released and drove back to California. • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Following an investigation, Hunt was arrested on March 9 in connection with Trinity’s death after he was found sleeping in his car near the San Diego Airport, the advisory says. He is charged with one count of murder. He served time in prison for a child abuse conviction, the sheriff’s department says. Authorities believe Trinity was killed on or about March 1, the district attorney’s office said, Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reports. Authorities believe Graham, Hunt, and Trinity had been homeless since they moved out of a family member’s home in Long Beach in May of 2018. “During the past ten months the extended family had only seen or heard from the couple and Trinity on a few occasions,” the advisory says. “Investigators have learned Hunt, Graham and Trinity were homeless just prior to her death and were residing in a Santa Fe Springs motel or in their vehicle,” it says. There were no open or active Department of Children and Family Services cases involving Trinity, the advisory says. Trinity Was ‘Fun, Loving,’ Says Dad The little girl’s extended family is still reeling from her death. “Trinity was our princess,” her cousin, Sytrice Oldham-Edmond, told Los Angeles CBS affiliate KCAL. Trinity was found wearing a shirt that read “FUTURE PRINCESS HERO,” KCAL reports. “My family and I are devastated about losing her,” Oldham-Edmond told the outlet. “She didn’t deserve any of this. She didn’t deserve to be tossed out like trash. Trinity will be greatly missed.” Her father, Antonio Jones, told The Los Angeles Times that his daughter was “fun, loving, big heart(ed), bubbly.” “Little girl could’ve been whatever she wanted to be in life,” he said. It is unclear whether Graham or Hunt have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf. She remains held with no bail.
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While not without its flaws, Royal Rumble 2019 was a successful pay-per-view that not only delivered the right match winners in the right places, but successfully set WWE's course for the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 35, which takes place in New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on 7 April. There's much ground to cover before we hit the 'Showcase of the Immortals.' WWE have two pay-per-views between now and then in Elimination Chamber (17 February) and Fastlane (10 March), and while a couple of top-level programmes are as good as locked down, others, like the SmackDown Women's and WWE Championship pictures, remain a mystery. Then there's the small matter of The Undertaker's potential retirement, Triple H's injury, the new Women's Tag Titles, and the list goes on. This is typically one of the most exciting times of year to be a WWE fan, and this week's Raw and SmackDown over-delivered. Optimism is understandably high. WWE's propensity to screw things up means fans would be wise to temper it with more than two months still to go, but the road to WrestleMania 35 promises no shortage of weird, wild, and wonderful happenings...<doc-sep>Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Royal Rumble 2019 takes place this Sunday with WWE world title opportunities at WrestleMania up for grabs. Thirty men and thirty women will compete in two versions of the famous over-the-top-rope elimination contest in Phoenix, Arizona. The respective winners at the Chase Field will go on to face the champion of their choosing at WrestleMania 35 on April 7. But who will be waiting for them at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey? Finn Balor challenges Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, while Daniel Bryan defends the WWE Championship against AJ Styles. Meanwhile Becky Lynch looks to reclaim the SmackDown women's title from Asuka and Sasha Banks faces Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey. Here is a match-by-match breakdown of the show. (Image: © WWE) 2019 Women's Royal Rumble match 30-woman Royal Rumble match for a women's championship match at WrestleMania 35 History was made last year when Asuka won the first women’s Royal Rumble match. But the Empress of Tomorrow failed to win world title gold at WrestleMania 34, when she lost her undefeated streak to Charlotte Flair. The Queen of WWE was one of two high profile names - the other being Alexa Bliss - not to compete in the contest, because they were the reigning women's champions of their respective brands. However, this time around Charlotte will be very much part of proceedings and has to be the clear favourite, given her noteworthy feuds with both Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey in recent months. The 29 other challengers include some noteworthy names and strong showings can probably be expected from those stars WWE clearly has a lot of faith in, such as Ember Moon, Ruby Riott, newcomer Nikki Cross and the veteran Natalya. Carmella is guaranteed to be in the closing stages, given she earned the coveted number 30 spot by winning the WWE Mixed Match Challenge with R-Truth. But the woman most likely to join Flair at the end (and set a new record for most eliminations in the women's event) will be the powerhouse Nia Jax. She too has a bone to pick with Lynch and could conceivably triumph in Phoenix. Predicted winner: Charlotte Flair (Image: © WWE) Fatal four-way match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami vs. Kalisto The reputation of Buddy Murphy continued to soar when he defeated Cedric Alexander at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs last month. Afterwards, he told WWE 205 Live general manager Drake Maverick he was ready for the next challenge and a series of qualifying matches produced three new rivals. Former Cruiserweight Champions Kalisto and Akira Tozawa bested Lio Rush and Drew Gulak respectively, before Alexander lost a cracking contest against a rejuvenated Hideo Itami. The Japanese star's talent is finally beginning to shine in WWE and a win for him here would be huge, but that would undo all the hard work put into establishing Murphy as the face of the brand, which he should remain to be until WrestleMania. Predicted winner: Buddy Murphy (Image: © WWE) Singles match for the WWE United States Championship Rusev (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura On the Christmas Day edition of SmackDown, an upset victory saw Rusev clinch the United States Championship for the third time in his career, snatching it from Shinsuke Nakamura. Now he must fight for the honour of his wife Lana to retain it, after she was inadvertently injured in a scrap between him and Nakamura the following week. Seven days later, The Artist claimed that it was Rusev’s fault The Ravishing Russian got hurt, baiting Rusev backstage, where he fell victim to a Kinshasa. The former champion is well and truly in the head of the Bulgarian Brute and could reclaim his title here, but it would be counter productive to have the title change hands so quickly. Predicted winner: Rusev (Image: © WWE) Tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) (c) vs. The Miz and Shane McMahon Can the oddball pairing of The Miz and Shane McMahon live up to their lofty "best tag team in the world" moniker at Royal Rumble when they challenge SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar? The new tandem, who together helped McMahon win the World Cup at the now never-mentioned Crown Jewel, have spent the past month or so squabbling on Tuesday nights. If there's one thing WWE bookers love it's a pair of reluctant tag team partners, especially when they are characters as big as The A-Lister and his boss Shane O'Mac. Cesaro and Sheamus are a tremendous tag team, whose match at TLC with The New Day and The Usos was typically entertaining. But they were sacrificed last WrestleMania for a comedy plot as Braun Strowman and a 10-year-old boy called Nicholas seized their titles, so don't be surprised if WWE do the same again here for the sake of building towards a Mania match-up for Shane and The Must-See Superstar. Predicted winners: The Miz and Shane McMahon (Image: © WWE) Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship Asuka (c) vs. Becky Lynch Becky Lynch is the hottest act in all of WWE right now thanks to a stellar second half of 2018, during which she emerged as a badass anti-hero in the mould of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, with a fine line in hilarious yet brutal putdowns, both on the mic and on social media. The Irish Lasskicker will now square off against Asuka for the SmackDown Women’s Championship she lost to her rival in a triple threat match with Charlotte Flair at TLC, thanks to the intervention of Ronda Rousey. The UFC icon was gunning for revenge after she was ambushed and humiliated by Becky ahead of a Survivor Series showdown which never materialised, because of a broken nose Lynch suffered at the errant hands of Nia Jax.<doc-sep>WWE returns to pay-per-view (PPV) — if your cable provider is carrying the event, of course — tomorrow night (Sun., Jan. 27, 2019) live from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona with its Royal Rumble event starting at 5:00 pm ET with the Kickoff show leading right on into the main course at 7 pm ET on the WWE Network. Set for the card: Two Royal Rumble matches, Brock Lesnar defending the Universal championship against Finn Balor, and more! Luckily for you Cagesiders, our staff of learned wrestling blowhards is here to help figure out just how the event is going to play out with predictions for each match on the card. Let’s get to it. Royal Rumble predictions Men’s Royal Rumble Geno Mrosko: They’ve done a horrendous job of building to this match as a match itself, with very few clear favorites to win it. In fact, there’s really only one guy I can see winning it, so he’s the choice I’m making here. Pick: Seth Rollins Sean Rueter: If you look back at how loud the “BURN IT DOWN” chants were at one point, and how anxious people were to talk about Dean getting swole while he was out injured, it’s remarkable that neither of the Shield guys feel like a hot choice to win this thing. Maybe WWE plows ahead with the rumored Rollins plan, but at this point, I’m thinking Vince goes with something tried & true. He doesn’t even need to be around much to sell the story of chasing his 17th WWE World title while standing up for the fans against the consumption-hating maniac who was almost his brother-in-law. Pick: John Cena Kyle Decker: Really it’s Seth Rollins or Drew McIntyre at this point. (I have Bray Wyatt as surprise dark horse, but I can’t imagine who he’d match up with for Mania.) Between Drew and Seth, it all comes down to whether or not you believe in the reverse momentum theory. At this point, I don’t. Pick: Seth Rollins Rev. Claire Elizabeth: I’d really like it to be Kofi or some equally off-the-wall choice as we discussed with Brent Brookhouse a week or two back, but alas, I’m not confident enough to bet my pick here. Anyway, the Universal Championship scene is inscrutable at the best of times, so I’m going very slightly off-road and picking the Monster Among Men himself to get a delayed showdown with the Beast Incarnate at WrestleMania. Pick: Braun Strowman Cain A. Knight: The potential winners on the Raw roster are Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, or maybe Braun Strowman if he joins the match. The potential winners on the SmackDown roster are...nobody? The potential winners on the part-time roster include pretty much everybody, because having Goldberg or Undertaker show up here to win it and then challenge Brock at WrestleMania 35 is a very WWE thing to do. I’ll just play it safe and stick to the rumor mill. Pick: Dolph Ziggler Seth Rollins Stella Cheeks: I cannot, nay I will not, betray my man. Pick: Drew McIntyre Women’s Royal Rumble Geno Mrosko: It’s hard to imagine anyone winning this match outside of Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair and only one of the two is currently scheduled for it. If this were about merits, or how hot a wrestler is, or the work they’ve been doing in recent months and the potential for what they could continue to do, the pick is obvious. Pick: Charlotte Flair Sean Rueter: It’s pretty much got to go one of two ways, and since I just went with someone we’re not sure will even be in the match to win the men’s Rumble, I’ll go with a person who will definitely be in the women’s one. Pick: Charlotte Flair Kyle Decker: I can’t pick against the Man winning the Rumble. I wonder how the crowd, which will be a hardcore crowd, would respond if she’s not in it. It wouldn’t be a Daniel Bryan 2014 situation, but they’d be a bit angry. And you don’t put her in it if she’s not gonna win it, especially if she’s just coming off a title loss. Pick: Becky Lynch Rev. Claire Elizabeth: I’ve had my ups and downs with Charlotte’s work over the years, but I am currently very much digging what she brings to the table. And surely, being the Queen, the Royal Rumble is hers to lose, no? Pick: Charlotte Flair Cain A. Knight: This all comes down to Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair, and Lynch might not even be in the match. It mostly defeats the purpose of the Rumble if Becky loses her championship match earlier in the night only to win this Rumble and earn another championship match. If someone already demonstrates they can’t win the title, why is it worth getting excited over that person winning another shot at it? The much more interesting route is if Becky first defeats Asuka for the title and then still wins this Rumble. If WWE is going all-in on The Man, that’s the way to book this one. Pick: Becky Lynch Stella Cheeks: If the McMahon’s are true to their word (L O L) and we truly are in charge, then there can be no other answer than The Man Becky Lynch. Course, Charlotte will be added to the match before Mania, but that’s a problem for a different day. Pick: Becky Lynch Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor Geno Mrosko: There is literally nothing in the world that makes me think there is any chance of Finn Balor winning this match. A snowball has a better chance in hell. Pick: Brock Lesnar Sean Rueter: I believe. I also believe he won’t carry it into WrestleMania. But the new era needs some shaking up, and this will shock people like Survivor Series ‘16. Pick: Finn Bálor Kyle Decker: There was a part of me that was convincing myself of a Balor win. Given the way they built him up as the guy who couldn’t get it done, the only way to end that story would be for him to get it done.<doc-sep>The best time of the year for professional wrestling fans is upon us. The 2019 WWE Royal Rumble event takes place Sunday night, as one of the most exciting cards in sports entertainment kicks off the year and gets us all ready for WrestleMania 35 in just a few months. Championships will be on the line, and of course, two Royal Rumble matches featuring both the men and the women will be taking center stage in Phoenix inside of Chase Field. There's just a few more days now until the Royal Rumble event goes down, but let's now take a look at the card as it's shaping out with two big championship matches already set for Chase Field. Royal Rumble will begin on Sunday with a kickoff show at 5 p.m. ET before the main card starts two hours later at 7 p.m. CBS Sports will be previewing the Royal Rumble over the next few weeks, so be sure to stick with us. Live now: Follow the 2019 Royal Rumble with results and grades! Check out our recent interview with Becky Lynch below and be sure to subscribe to our podcast -- State of Combat with Brian Campbell where we go in depth on everything you need to know in WWE each week. 2019 WWE Royal Rumble matches Men's Royal Rumble: As is customary, 30 men will step into the ring to take part in the traditional the over-the-top rope affair with the right to challenge either world champion at WrestleMania 35 on the line. Last year's bout brought us a first-time winner in Shinsuke Nakamura, so will this year bring us another competitor adding a Royal Rumble victory to his accolades? Confirmed entrants: Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Elias, Jinder Mahal, Jeff Hardy, Bobby Lashley, Titus O'Neil, Andrade, Rey Mysterio, Mustafa Ali, R-Truth (No. 30). 30-Woman Royal Rumble: The women made history last year in Philadelphia as the first female Rumble match in history claimed the main event spotlight, with Asuka emerging victorious. Thirty of the best female talents in the company will again take to the ring vying for the chance to get their WrestleMania moment come April. Confirmed entrants: Natalya, Bayley, Ember Moon, Lacey Evans, Alexa Bliss, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan, Mickie James, Alicia Fox, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Zelina Vega, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Tamina, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Dana Brooke, Lana, Nia Jax, Nikki Cross, Carmella (No. 30). Universal Championship -- Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Finn Balor: The universal title picture took another swerve on Monday night when Braun Strowman was removed from hiss scheduled match with Lesnar. Balor won a Fatal 4-Way match to determine Lesnar's new No. 1 contender and even got an endorsement from John Cena at the end of the show. Whether this change was made due to Strowman's injury or it was a planned storyline swerve remains to be seen, but Balor being put in this spot is interesting considering he was removed from this exact match one year ago in favor of Strowman and Kane. WWE Championship -- Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles: There's no more automatic rematches in WWE, at least for now, but Styles is getting his rematch anyway after showing some newfound aggression to win a Fatal 5-Way No. 1 contender's match on New Year's Day. Raw Women's Championship -- Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Sasha Banks: When we talked about dream matches for Rousey upon entering the company, this was certainly one of them on the list. Banks became the No. 1 contender to the Raw women's title on Raw when she defeated Nia Jax, and now "The Boss" will compete in one of the biggest matches of her career come Phoenix. SmackDown Women's Championship -- Asuka (c) vs. Becky Lynch: This match was randomly announced for Royal Rumble during an episode of Main Event on WWE Network only for ex-SmackDown general manager Paige to jump on Twitter and explain that it was not actually official. Considering the graphic was made already, one assumes this was in WWE's plans -- and it was. Lynch earned the shot at Asuka with a triple threat victory over Charlotte Flair and Carmella on SmackDown. SmackDown Tag Team Championship -- The Bar (c) vs. The Miz & Shane McMahon: Although the team has just formed, Miz was not ready to be patient for he and McMahon to get a title shot, and he really didn't have to be. He got a Brogue Kick for his challenge effort, but The Bar were more than happy to accept the challenge of the fresh new duo for Phoenix. United States Championship -- Rusev (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Kickoff show): In what may likely be one of the matches presented on the kickoff show, Nakamura will get a shot to earn back the U.S. title after dropping it to Rusev recently. Cruiserweight Championship -- Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Kalisto vs. Akira Towaza vs. Hideo Itami (Kickoff show): Murphy told 205 Live general manager Drake Maverick that he wanted a challenge, so at the Royal Rumble, he'll get just that with a Fatal 4-Way bout. He'll be facing off with three of the best the cruiserweight division has to offer, with Itami recently earning the final slot by defeating Cedric Alexander on an episode of 205 Live.<doc-sep>
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The road to WrestleMania 35 is in sight, and by the end of Sunday's Royal Rumble, we'll have our first real sense of the direction in which WWE is headed over the next few months. That goes for all four top title matches as well as both Royal Rumbles, but it wouldn't be surprising if one of the other three matches shook things up enough to send shockwaves all the way through to April, and beyond. Men's Royal Rumble Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman have been the workhorses of Monday Night Raw, showing up every week and chugging along to carry the show in Brock Lesnar's absence. Each could argue why they would make for a compelling winner of the 2019 men's Royal Rumble match. Balor's chances seem slim after he won the right to face Lesnar for the Universal championship, but for the other three members of that quartet, the men's Royal Rumble match seems as close to within reach as they could possibly hope for. First and foremost, Rollins has a lot of factors weighing in his favor. He has unfinished business with Lesnar dating back to WrestleMania 31, when Rollins interrupted the main event between Lesnar and Roman Reigns by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and leaving the building with the WWE championship in hand. Since Rollins had to vacate that title in November 2015, however, he's spent a grand total of a few minutes as a world champion and has largely existed on the fringes of the world title picture. McIntyre is simply waiting for his big moment to step up to the plate and prove he can be the top guy. He had tremendous matches with a variety of Raw's top stars in 2018, most notably his series with Rollins. If the desire is to put someone into the ring who can physically go toe-to-toe with Lesnar, McIntyre meets the requirement. He hadn't had quite enough time on the microphone to prove himself until very recently, but it would not take a major leap for him to push past "nearly there" and reach top-tier status -- and that could happen over the next two-plus months. Finally, Strowman was unceremoniously bounced from the Royal Rumble Universal title match due to "bad behavior," and everyone's first instinct was to point toward his recent injuries to explain the switch. Monday night's match against Balor seemed to change those perceptions, as he appeared to be moving perfectly well opposite Balor. If he indeed is in the men's Royal Rumble match, Strowman could easily push toward the eliminations record and would be in line to finally get his big win over Lesnar at WrestleMania. Many wonder whether this moment might be a little too late to cash in on Strowman's popularity and momentum, but only time can tell. Finally, a dark horse could also come into play. Despite his WWE-announced injury concerns, John Cena's record-smashing 17th world title reign could be in order for WrestleMania, and either AJ Styles or Daniel Bryan would be an intriguing opponent along the way. Most anyone else on the SmackDown side would have to be considered a major shock, although it would be a tremendous vehicle for elevating a new star in a hurry. In my mind, it all seems likely to boil down to Rollins and Strowman. I lean toward the former, if only because the timing seems right for Rollins to step into the roles of Lesnar's worthy challenger and, eventually, a champion of the people. Prediction: Seth Rollins Will a returning Alexa Bliss have an impact on the 2019 women's Royal Rumble? Courtesy WWE Women's Royal Rumble On the surface, the women's Royal Rumble match seems to have a shallow pool of potential winners. Depending on how the night's pair of title matches play out, the winner would likely challenge Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania -- making Charlotte Flair or Becky Lynch the likeliest candidates, given the context and story already built into those matchups. There's also an outside chance we see something screwy, like a dual-winner scenario to set up a triple threat between Flair, Lynch and Rousey, a la Bret Hart and Lex Luger in 1994 or Batista and Cena in 2005. By most any measure, these are the likeliest outcomes for Sunday. On the other hand, WWE often hates to lean toward any scenario that's too predictable. All of the aforementioned outcomes depend on Rousey and Asuka both holding onto their titles.
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Four people were found dead Monday in a North Dakota property-management business in what police called a "multiple homicide." Three men and one woman were found dead at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a city of about 22,000 just across the Missouri River west of Bismarck, Police Chief Jason Ziegler said at a press conference. The victims weren't immediately identified and police have not released details about the cause of death. Authorities do not know if the deceased were employees of the business, Ziegler said. He declined to answer a question about whether the bodies were found together. No suspects have been identified or taken into custody, Ziegler said. Authorities have contained the crime scene and don't believe there is threat to public safety. Ziegler said they are not looking into any connected crime scenes. Authorities responded to a basic medical call Monday at about 7:30 a.m. local time, Ziegler said. Police questioned people who work at the business, but have since released them. The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is assisting with the ongoing investigation. 'No words':Chilling surveillance video shows South Carolina student entering car of accused killer Police:'Multiple sharp force injuries' caused the death of USC student Samantha Josephson People with friends or loved ones who work at the business gathered beyond a police line outside the property early Monday. Judy Praus, 70, said she was a longtime friend of the owner’s family and had just seen them at a restaurant Saturday. She said she also knew a lot of employees, and had no details on any of them. “When I was notified, I shattered. Unbelievable,” she said. Gina Kessel, 52, of Mandan, showed up at the business to pick up her son, Mitchell Kessel, an employee there. She said Mitchell “called me, said something is going on.” She said he didn’t tell her what. The pair hugged, with both of them crying. Her son declined comment before going back behind a police line. A statement posted on the company’s website said the business was closed Monday. No one answered the phone at the business, which is somewhat isolated despite its location in a business district near a busy main road known as The Strip. A large empty lot sits in the front, a golf course in back and a soccer complex to one side. Darin Helbling, a manager at a nearby bowling alley, said police asked to see his business’ surveillance video. Helbling said the video showed only a couple of vehicles on the road that separates the businesses since 10 p.m. Sunday. RJR’s website identified it as a family-owned company that has been handling commercial and residential properties in Bismarck and Mandan for more than 20 years. Its services include collecting rent for landlords, paying mortgages, re-renting apartments, building and grounds maintenance, lawn care, and snow removal. It also rents out storage units. A “Meet Our Team” feature on the website pictured 22 employees. Contributing: The Associated Press<doc-sep>Associated Press Update: More details expected to be announted Tuesday afternoon. MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — Four people were found dead Monday in what police called a "multiple homicide" at a North Dakota property-management business. The bodies of three men and a woman were discovered inside RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a city of about 22,000 just across the Missouri River west of Bismarck, Police Chief Jason Ziegler said. The victims weren't immediately identified and police didn't say how they died. "It's quite a large crime scene, so it's not something that's going to be easy for us to get in and do quickly," Ziegler said of the pace of the investigation. Officers were combing through the building, which includes an office area in the front and a large warehouse area in the back, and planned to be there "as long as it takes us to get everything that we need," the chief said. Ziegler said someone other than the four people who were found dead is responsible for the killings. However, police have not yet identified a suspect and have no motive. "The crime scene is contained to where it's at, and there is no evidence based upon what we see that the public at large is in any danger from what happened there," Ziegler said. "It looks like an isolated incident." He said he was not aware of officers responding to any other recent incidents at the business that might have been connected to the killings. The building has many surveillance cameras, Ziegler said. He asked other businesses in the area that might have video footage they consider relevant to come forward. Police announced in a brief statement Monday morning that they had found "several" bodies while responding to a "medical call" to RJR. As hours passed without additional information, people with friends or loved ones who work at RJR gathered beyond a police line, anxious for news about those inside. Judy Praus, 70, said she was a longtime friend of the owner's family and had just seen them at a restaurant Saturday. She said she also knew a lot of employees, and had no details on any of them. "When I was notified, I shattered. Unbelievable," she said. Gina Kessel, 52, of Mandan, showed up at the business Monday to pick up her son, Mitchell Kessel, an employee there. She said Mitchell "called me, said something is going on." She said he didn't tell her what. She and her son hugged, with both of them crying. The son declined comment before going back behind a police line. A statement posted on the company's website said the business was closed Monday. No one answered the phone at RJR, which is somewhat isolated despite its location in a business district near a busy main road known as The Strip. A large empty lot sits in the front, a golf course in back and a soccer complex to one side. Darin Helbling, a manager at a nearby bowling alley, said police asked to see his business' surveillance video. Helbling said the video showed only a couple of vehicles on the road that separates the businesses since 10 p.m. Sunday. RJR's website identified it as a family-owned company that has been handling commercial and residential properties in Bismarck and Mandan for more than 20 years. Its services include collecting rent for landlords, paying mortgages, re-renting apartments, building and grounds maintenance, lawn care, and snow removal. It also rents out storage units. A "Meet Our Team" feature on the website pictured 22 employees. Natasha Towne said her brother, Adam Fuehrer, has worked at the business for about eight years. She said she didn't know his status and was frustrated at the lack of news. She declined to talk further.<doc-sep>Four people were found dead inside a property-management business in North Dakota on Monday and authorities are investigating the incident as a multiple homicide, police said. The bodies were found by police officers responding to a medical call at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, which is located just across the Missouri River from Bismarck. ARKANSAS TEEN SHOOTS CLASSMATE INSIDE SCHOOL IN APPARENT 'PREMEDITATED ATTACK,' POLICE SAY A news release from the Mandan Police Department stated officers found “several people who were deceased inside” the facility around 7:30 a.m. It was revealed that the bodies of three men and one woman were discovered inside the building. Police said the bodies have not yet been positively identified. The company, which posted to Facebook early Monday that it was closed for the day, states on its website that it’s a family-owned business that’s operated for more than 20 years. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation told The Associated Press it was helping with the investigation but did not offer any details. Darin Helbling, a manager at a nearby bowling alley, said police asked to see his business' surveillance video. He said the video showed only a couple of vehicles on the road that separates the businesses since 10 p.m. Sunday. Fox News' Faith Mangan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Four people are dead, their bodies discovered Monday morning at a business in southeast Mandan, following what authorities are calling a “multiple homicide.” The public is not in danger, according to police, who are searching for a suspect. The victims, three male adults and one female adult, have not been positively identified, according to Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler, therefore next of kin have not yet been notified. Police also did not release any details on the manner of the deaths. Mandan Police responded to a medical call at RJR Maintenance and Management, owned by Robert and Jackie Fakler, at about 7:30 a.m. Monday. Upon arrival, officers discovered the four bodies inside the building. “These four people didn’t do it themselves,” Ziegler said, noting it’s quite a large crime scene and no suspects have been identified. “Until we catch whoever did it, we’ll be looking for them. The investigation does not lead us to believe that anyone else is in danger. It looks like an isolated incident.” The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is assisting with the processing of the crime scene. The Morton County Sheriff's Office also responded. According to Ziegler, investigators remained at RJR, 1106 32nd Ave. S.E., Monday night.<doc-sep>
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Details are limited but authorities say that three men and one woman were found at the scene. MANDAN, N.D. — Four people were found dead Monday in what police called a "multiple homicide" at a North Dakota property-management business. Three men and a woman were found dead inside RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a city of about 22,000 just across the Missouri River west of Bismarck, Police Chief Jason Ziegler said. The victims weren't immediately identified and police didn't say how they died. Ziegler said the public wasn't believed to be in danger, but he had no information on a suspect. The Mandan Police Department said in a brief statement Monday morning that they found the bodies while responding to a "medical call" to RJR. As hours passed without any additional information, people with friends or loved ones who work at RJR Maintenance and Management gathered beyond a police line outside the property, anxious for news about those inside, as several hours passed without additional information. Judy Praus, 70, said she was a longtime friend of the owner's family and had just seen them at a restaurant Saturday. She said she also knew a lot of employees, and had no details on any of them. "When I was notified, I shattered. Unbelievable," she said. Gina Kessel, 52, of Mandan, showed up at the business Monday to pick up her son, Mitchell Kessel, an employee there. She said Mitchell "called me, said something is going on." She said he didn't tell her what. The pair hugged, with both of them crying. Her son declined comment before going back behind a police line. A statement posted on the company's website said the business was closed Monday. No one answered the phone at the business, which is somewhat isolated despite its location in a business district near a busy main road known as The Strip. A large empty lot sits in the front, a golf course in back and a soccer complex to one side. The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation said it was helping with the investigation but did not offer any details. Darin Helbling, a manager at a nearby bowling alley, said police asked to see his business' surveillance video. Helbling said the video showed only a couple of vehicles on the road that separates the businesses since 10 p.m. Sunday. RJR's website identified it as a family-owned company that has been handling commercial and residential properties in Bismarck and Mandan for more than 20 years. Its services include collecting rent for landlords, paying mortgages, re-renting apartments, building and grounds maintenance, lawn care, and snow removal. It also rents out storage units. A "Meet Our Team" feature on the website pictured 22 employees.
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Special counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation into Russian election interference was released publicly Thursday, with some redactions. Read the report here and download the NBC News app for full coverage.<doc-sep>(CNN) — After years of investigating, the Department of Justice released a redacted copy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report Thursday. The report is nearly 450 pages and covers subjects ranging from questions about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election to whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Live updates • Watch CNN Live Read the full redacted report below, or download a copy here.<doc-sep>Buried in a footnote in Section II B of Volume II of the redacted Mueller report is a single reference to supposed kompromat the Russian government was rumored to have on the president — the infamous “pee tape.” The report confirms that then-FBI director James Comey briefed President-elect Trump about the report in January 2017, but it also reveals that the Trump campaign was privately aware as early as October 2016 — more than two months before BuzzFeed News published the Steele dossier — that embarrassing tapes of then-candidate Donald Trump might exist in Russia. According to the report, on October 30th, 2016, Trump’s private attorney and fixer Michael Cohen received a text from a Russian businessman involved in the Trump Tower Moscow deal, in progress for more than a year. “Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there’s anything else. Just so you know….” Giorgi Rtskhiladze wrote to Cohen. Cohen told investigators he spoke to Trump about the issue after receiving the texts from Rtskhiladze. Rtskhiladze later admitted he had been told the tapes were fake, but he did not communicate that to Cohen, the report says. Rtskhiladze’s description of the tapes’ content tracks with the unverified information included in the Steele dossier, which claimed that Trump watched Russian prostitutes urinate in a Moscow hotel room in 2013. “Rtskhiladze said ‘tapes’ referred to compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia.” The Crocus Group’s president is Aras Agalarov. It was Agalarov’s son, the Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, who brokered the June 9th, 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-linked lawyer, who promised to deliver “official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary.” Besides the Trump Tower Moscow project, the report also says Rtskhiladze was involved in discussions for a Trump-branded project in Astana, Kazakhstan, and had previously been involved in a development deal with the Trump Organization in Batumi, Georgia. Separately, the report says Rtskhiladze had worked on business ventures in Moscow, including a licensing deal with the Agalarov-owned Crocus Group. According to the report, Cohen forwarded a preliminary design study for the Trump Moscow project to Rtskhiladze, in September 2015 writing, “I look forward to your reply about this spectacular project in Moscow.” Rtskhiladze forwarded Cohen’s email to an associate and wrote, “[i]f we could organize the meeting in New York at the highest level of the Russian Government and Mr. Trump this project would definitely receive the worldwide attention.” In his book, A Higher Loyalty, James Comey wrote that after he briefed Trump, the then-president-elect asked him to investigate and prove the report was a lie. “He brought up what he called the ‘golden showers thing’…adding that it bothered him if there was ‘even a one percent chance’ his wife, Melania, thought it was true,” Comey writes. “He just rolled on, unprompted, explaining why it couldn’t possibly be true, ending by saying he was thinking of asking me to investigate the allegation to prove it was a lie. I said it was up to him.”<doc-sep>Yoni Appelbaum: The Mueller report is an impeachment referral Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, declined to comment on whether the special counsel would agree to appear voluntarily, but Barr indicated to reporters that he would not stand in Mueller’s way. “I have no objection to Bob Mueller personally testifying,” he said. It was what Barr said in that press briefing—along with his previous characterizations of the report—that Democrats will surely want to ask Mueller about. In his report, the special counsel explained in considerable detail his decision not to reach a conclusion about whether the president committed a crime, and made clear that the report “does not exonerate him.” Yet the attorney general chose to characterize the conclusions more favorably for Trump and made his own decision to clear the president of obstruction. “The differences are stark between what Attorney General Barr said on obstruction and what Special Counsel Mueller said on obstruction,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement on Thursday. “As we continue to review the report, one thing is clear: Attorney General Barr presented a conclusion that the president did not obstruct justice, while Mueller’s report appears to undercut that finding.” Nadler said that the report contradicts several statements Barr made in his press conference, including the matter of whether Trump “fully cooperated” with the investigation even as he refused to be interviewed on the obstruction question. “For example,” Nadler wrote in a statement, “the Special Counsel concluded that a ‘thorough FBI investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or that would have risen to personal and political concerns.’ Barr excluded this critical finding from his version of events.” Read: 14 must-read moments from the Mueller report Nadler later told reporters in Manhattan that based on his initial skimming of the report, “it was probably written with the intent of providing Congress a road map.” Barr, he said, “seems to be trying to frustrate that intent.” Whether that road might lead to impeachment is unclear. “That is one possibility,” Nadler said. Asked what he would want to hear from Mueller, the chairman replied: “There are dozens of things we want to hear.” Democrats will want Mueller to clarify what, if any, role he believes that Congress should play, and whether his decision to avoid a definitive determination on obstruction was a nod to the legislative branch’s constitutional prerogative on impeachment. At one point, Mueller writes: “With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.”<doc-sep>
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This image was removed due to legal reasons. The Department of Justice finally released a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election Thursday morning. You can read the full report embedded below. Read the juiciest bits of the report here: Its release came shortly after Attorney General William Barr gave a shameless press conference in which tried to preempt any criticism of President Donald Trump by repeatedly insisting Mueller found “no collusion.” Barr did say the report contained 10 separate episodes of potential obstruction of justice by the president, but that he personally disagreed with the special counsel’s findings and did not pursue any obstruction charges. Late last month, Barr released a four-page summary of Mueller’s 400-plus page report, which was weaponized by the president and his allies as a “total exoneration” from allegations of wrongdoing—despite the fact that Mueller himself, as quoted by Barr, concluded that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Among the White House’s concerns about the full report were worries that Mueller’s team gathered evidence of the Trump administration’s alleged efforts to obstruct justice over the course of the investigation—specifically with regard to testimony by former White House Counsel Don McGahn. Ahead of the report’s release, some administration staffers had already begun to fret that their testimony to the special counsel’s office would incur the president’s wrath, with one person close to the White House telling NBC News that there was “breakdown-level anxiety” among those who testified as part of the probe. Following Barr’s paltry summation of the Mueller’s findings, congressional Democrats had increased their demands to see the full investigative report, going so far as to authorize subpoenas to obtain an unredacted copy. In late March, Barr agreed to provide today’s just-released edition in “mid-April, if not sooner.” It remains to be seen whether Democrats will continue to demand the full report without redactions be released. Read the full report:
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CHICAGO — A woman with a concealed carry permit shot and killed a would-be robber Tuesday in Chicago, authorities said. Chicago woman with concealed carry license shoots, kills robber: police https://t.co/0SVMgR0fVG pic.twitter.com/XNXE5q6mhg — WGN TV News (@WGNNews) January 9, 2019 According to WGN-TV, the 25-year-old woman, whose name was not released, was near a bus stop on the Far South Side early Tuesday when the armed man attempted to rob her. The woman fired at the suspect, shooting him in the neck before he fled, police said. He collapsed nearby and was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. >> Read more trending news Police have not released the man's name but said he was 19 years old. "It's tragic that he did die, but the lady had to do what she had to do," said Bianca Daniel, who lives near the crime scene, told WLS-TV. WGN shared surveillance video from the aftermath of the incident. Chicago woman with concealed carry license shoots, kills robber: police WGN has obtained surveillance video of the Chicago woman who shot and killed a man who tried to rob her on the Far South Side: http://via.wgntv.com/tru0A Posted by WGN TV on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 Read more here or here. Cox Media Group<doc-sep>Chicago police are investigating after a 25-year-old woman shot and killed a man who was reportedly trying to rob her. The confrontation happened on January 8, 2019, around 5:45 in the morning. The woman, whose name has not been made public, was waiting for a bus at 103rd and Wallace in the Fernwood neighborhood. She was reportedly on her way to work. The drug store located across the street was equipped with a surveillance camera. The video, obtained by WLS-TV and embedded above, shows the woman standing alone at the bus stop. It skips ahead a few frames; you then see the man running around the corner as the woman sits on the ground. She then stands and runs down the street in the opposite direction. The video obtained by the local TV stations does not include the struggle between the alleged robber and the woman. We have reached out to the Chicago Police about whether they plan to make the full video public. The woman told police that the man who approached her, identified as 19-year-old LaAvion Goings, had a gun. He allegedly told her he was going to rob her. But the woman, who police said had a concealed carry license, was also armed. She pulled out her own weapon and shot Goings in the neck. At some point, she was knocked to the ground. Police said Goings took the woman’s gun and ran away. It’s unclear what he did with the two guns; investigators said they have not been able to find either of the weapons. Police apprehended Goings nearby, near the train tracks. Goings was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries. The Herald & Review newspaper reported that Goings was arrested in June of 2018 along with his father during a drug raid. He was reportedly accused of attacking a police officer during the raid and charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer. We have reached out to Chicago PD for more information. Woman With Concealed Carry License Who Shot Robber Called A 'Hero'Residents are praising the woman who a 25 year-old woman, with a concealed carry license, who shot and killed a man who was trying to rob her at a bus stop. 2019-01-08T23:26:54.000Z CBS Chicago spoke with neighbors who praised the woman for taking action. Resident Breona Holmes commented that “crazy stuff like that happens out here every day” and said the woman had defended herself. Another neighbor, Gator Sidney, called the woman a hero and said he felt no sympathy for the alleged robber. WLS-TV also spoke with residents who echoed those sentiments. READ NEXT: UFC Fighter Beats Man She Says Attempted to Rob Her<doc-sep>
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A 25-year-old woman with a concealed carry license shot and killed the man trying to rob her at gunpoint near a Chicago bus station Tuesday morning, police said -- noting she needed just a single shot to take down the would-be robber. The unidentified woman was at the bus stop in Chicago’s Fernwood neighborhood just after 6 a.m. when the man, identified as 19-year-old Laavion Goings, pulled a gun and attempted to rob her, WLS reported. Surveillance video from a nearby convenience store showed the woman waiting at the stop and Goings approaching her and aiming his gun, officials said. CHICAGO SEES 2 SHOT DEAD, 9 WOUNDED AS VIOLENT JANUARY WEEKEND DRAWS TO CLOSE The woman, however, was prepared. She pulled out her own weapon and shot Goings in the neck before fleeing the area to seek help. Police found Goings about a block away. He was taken to a hospital where he later died. "It's tragic that he did die, but the lady had to do what she had to do," Bianca Daniel, who lives near the shooting scene, told WLS. "She's on a bus stop, probably going to work, you know, and she has to encounter that early in the morning. I'm kind of proud that, like, that's what she did because she stuck up for herself." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Another neighbor said: "I'm glad that she had concealed carry and good aim, because there is so much going on in these streets.” The woman, who suffered minor injuries during the incident, is not expected to face charges.
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The 2018 America's Got Talent winner has officially been decided. In what many consider to be an upset, the country chose magician Shin Lim. This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. The magician has made an impression on the judges since day one. In his audition round, he left all four judges (and Tyra!) completely floored with his smoke-and-card magic tricks. From there, Shin Lim continued to crank up the heat. In the judge cuts round, guest judge Olivia Munn got to witness his incredible talent. Round after round, Shin Lim was constantly showered with praise from all the judges, despite not earning a golden buzzer. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. And in the finals, the contestant had to beat out some exceptionally gifted contenders for the title, including: Michael Ketterer (singer), Zurcaroh (aerial dance group), Duo Transcend (aerialists), Samuel J. Comroe (comedian), Daniel Emmet (singer), Brian King Joseph (violinist), Glennis Grace (singer), Vicki Barbolak (comedian), and Courtney Hadwin (singer). This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. But in the end, America made their choice. Of course, as with every week, there were differing opinions on the results. Most were ecstatic about Shin Lim's win. But others weren't so sure the country made the right choice: This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. #AGT SPOILER: Not gonna lie, I wanted @zurcaroh to win. But most epic Top 3 ever! 😭 — Kyle BLMontplaisir (@kmontplaisir) September 20, 2018 This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Not sure if #AGTFinale got it right.. Courtney Hadwin should of moved on. #agt #courtneyhadwin — mother of cats (@jenifer_hayes) September 20, 2018 This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. With such an explosive finals show from the contestants, it's no wonder fans' emotions are running high. But with all the strong weeks Shin Lim has had throughout the competition, it's safe to say that, whether he was your favorite or not, he certainly earned it. This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. And so, Shin Lim's win wraps up season 13 of AGT. If you're already feeling a bit heartbroken that the talent series is all over, head into fall knowing that more of the variety show is just around the corner. As announced this year, judge Simon Cowell is launching a special spinoff of AGT this winter on NBC called America's Got Talent: The Champions. You can read more about that show below, but this basically means you won't have to wait until next summer to get your AGT fix: Until then though, all eyes will and should be on Shin Lim. It's going to be fun to see what he does in Vegas and beyond! This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>Magician Shin Lim was crowned the winner of America's Got Talent's 13th season on Wednesday night (Sept. 19), edging out acrobatic dance outfit Zurcaroh, who came in second place, and electric violinist Brian King Joseph. The 26-year-old becomes the second magician to win AGT, after Mat Franco, who took out the ninth season. Canada-born, Massachusetts-based Lim initially pursued piano, but changed career due to illness. He developed his sleight of hand talents from watching YouTube and has performed his routines around the world.<doc-sep>Tyra Banks got the hots for magician Shin Lim on Tuesday during the America's Got Talent season 13 finals performances. The 44-year-old supermodel seemed smitten with the 26-year-old performer, exclaiming: 'He's a very sexy this man' after he pulled her on stage for his show. The Boston-based illusionist/pianist also wowed the judges with his elaborate card tricks. Live finals: Tyra Banks gushed about 'very sexy' magician Shin Lim on Tuesday as the 10 finalists performed on America's Got Talent 'You are one of the best close-up magicians I have ever seen,' said Heidi Klum, 45, while Howie Mandel, 62, called it a 'million dollar act.' Shin Lim was one of the 10 remaining acts who each performed on for their chance to gain a show in Las Vegas and $1 million. The first finalist to perform was electric violinist Brian King Joseph, who suffers from a painful nerve condition called neuropathy. The 27-year-old California resident wore white for his string-busting routine. Card trick: Shin Lim performed card tricks in front of a live audience at the Dolby Theatre Lovely assistant: Tyra was recruited to help Shin with his magic trick Standing ovation: Howie Mandel stood up to applaud the performance The judges: Mel B, Howi, Simon Cowell and Heidi Klum critiqued the finalists 'We opened the show with what I consider is a closer,' said Howie. 'You're so unique and so lovable,' agreed Heidi. 'Take me on tour Kanye, let's go!' yelled Brian, who is a big Kanye West fan. Electric performance: Brian King Joseph performed with his electric violin Bold statement: Simon told Brian that he could win the competition Fierce look: Tyra wore a golden dress with puffy sleeves and plunging neckline Twenty-five-year-old Las Vegas opera singer Daniel Emmett also impressed the panel. 'I'm in heaven right now,' gushed former Spice Girl singer Mel B, 43. Simon Cowell, 58, loved the sound but hated Brian's glittery jacket. Big voice: Las Vegas opera singer Daniel Emmett impressed the judges 'Coming from the guy who wears the same thing every day,' scoffed Tyra. Next up was 'the voice of the trailer parks' in the form of comic Vicki Barbolak. The 60-year-old California comedienne stripped to her swimsuit saying: 'My stripper name was pillow.' Trailer comedy: Vicki Barbolak delivered another round of her trailer park humor She also made some double entendres about German sausages. 'You are hilarious…there's nothing I like more than a big, fat German sausage,' said Heidi. 'It's still a family show,' assured Mel B. Season finale: The 10 finalists performed during the first part of the season 13 finale Classic pose: Heidi struck the classic chin on shoulder pose upon arrival Short dress: The German-born beauty wore frill covered pale pink dress that stopped high above her mid thigh Hair down: The show judge let her blonde hair down for the finale Golden girl: Mel B also wore a short golden dress for the show Hair up: The former Spice Girls singer had her dark hair up in a high ponytail Glennis Grace, a 39-year-old singer/mom from the Netherlands, did Run by Irish rock band Snow Patrol. 'Oh my god Glennis that was absolutely sensational,' extolled Simon, calling it 'immaculate.' 'Another flawless performance,' agreed Heidi. Singing mom: Glennis Grace did Run by Irish rock band Snow Patrol Killed it: The mother of one nailed her rendition of the song Next up was Zurcaroh, an Austrian dance troupe led by Brazilian choreographer Peterson da Cruz Hora. 'I have a funny feeling that you could win this whole entire show,' predicted Mel. Comedian Samuel J. Comroe, who has Tourette's syndrome, cracked jokes about how he met his wife. Dance team: Zurcaroh performed a routine led by Brazilian choreographer Peterson da Cruz Hora Flying high: The dancers thrilled the audience with their high-flying routine Funny guy: Samuel J. Comroe, who has Tourette's syndrome, cracked jokes about how he met his wife 'My cheeks are hurting,' Mel told the 30-year-old Los Angeles native. 'I thought you brought your A game,' praised Howie. English teenager Courtney Hadwin blasted out Tina Turner's 1988 smash River Deep, Mountain High. Teen talent: Courtney Hadwin blasted out Tina Turner's 1988 smash River Deep, Mountain High Nailed it: The 14-year-old singer finished her energetic performance on a high note Golden pick: Howie used his Golden Buzzer to advance Courtney 'You are on fire,' Howie told the 14-year-old who earned his Golden Buzzer. 'You killed it!' yelled Mel. Trapeze act Duo Transcend did a tense, blindfolded routine. Dangerous act: Trapeze act Duo Transcend did a tense, blindfolded routine Role reversal: Mary held her husband Tyce in a bit of a role reversal Cute couple: The dynamic duo of Mary and Tyce earned praise from the judges 'That was exciting, that was sexy, that was hot, that was dangerous,' Heidi told the Utah-based parents, who had suffered an accident in a previous AGT performance. 'Don't try this at home,' warned Simon. To close the night California singer Michael Ketterer did a down tempo version of the Motown classic Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Good advice: Simon urged people not to try the dangerous routine at home Down tempo: Michael Ketterer did a down tempo version of the Motown classic Ain't No Mountain High Enough 'I could hear your nerves today,' said Heidi, who was still complimentary about Michael's performance. 'I'd love to be able to give your family the million dollars…you're a great, great person,' said Simon. The America's Got Talent season finale concludes on Wednesday on NBC. Nerves noticed: Heidi said she noticed that Michael was nervous<doc-sep>
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Close-up magician Shin Lim gave his Finals performance during Tuesday night’s “America’s Got Talent” and once again wowed the judges and the Dolby Theatre audience. Shin asked Tyra Banks to assist him on stage, and after the host randomly chose the nine of hearts, he magically made dozens of that same card appear in various different ways. Will Shin be named the winner of “AGT” 2018? Watch the “Americas Got Talent” performance video above, read the judges’ comments below, and then make your predictions before Wednesday’s Season 13 finale. Simon Cowell: “Oh my God, Shin. I mean, oh my God. You have been consistently great. I had one criticism about you throughout the competition, which was your lack of showmanship. Tonight, thank God, you proved me wrong. It was an amazing act — the whole presentation from the piano to the cards, seeing something I’ve never seen in my life. This was so good, Shin. You know what? You could actually win the competition. It was amazing.” Howie Mandel: “I agree with everything that Simon just said. That was a $1 million act. This is worthy of your own show in Las Vegas. You took something so small and made it so huge and so effortless and so sexy. I’m okay with my manlyhood. You’re very sexy. I loved everything about this. This is a winning act, there’s no more to be said.” SEE Zurcaroh delivers out-of-this-world performance during ‘America’s Got Talent’ Finals: ‘That’s my people!’ raves Tyra Banks [WATCH] Mel B: “Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I mean, let’s think about it. Tyra, you could have picked any card, any number. I’m just saying, it could have been anything that you picked and you made a whole entire act based off what Tyra picked. I can’t explain it in any other way apart from that was pure magic. I do believe it exists and you just proved that point. It does exist. Well done.” Heidi Klum: “Shin Lim, you definitely are one of the best close-up magicians that I have ever seen. Not only on this stage here at ‘America’s Got Talent,’ but in the world. Nothing would make me happier than if you get that million dollars tomorrow!” SEE Trailer park comedian Vicki Barbolak strips down to her bathing suit during ‘America’s Got Talent’ Finals [WATCH] In his “AGT” live blog, our recapper Denton Davidson had this to say about the performance: “We found out tonight that Shin Lim‘s first passion was actually classical piano. After a bout with carpal tunnel syndrome, Shin gave up piano to focus on magic. He believes he made the right choice and is determined to show America he deserves to win. Shin then began his act playing the piano in front of a haunting a backdrop. He then spoke about his carpel tunnel in his act before launching into his mesmerizing tricks. He ignited his sheet music to reveal a deck of cards and then walked over to his favorite assistant, Tyra. I’m baffled by what this guy can do at such close range. And I love how he dramatically runs his fingers through his hair and gazes into the camera. He’s a superstar in the making and I predict he’ll be headlining in Vegas whether he wins this season or not. Where are all these 9 of Hearts coming from? How does he do this stuff? Howie was on his feet before the act ended and soon the other judges followed. This guy could win!” SEE exclusive predictions: Who will win ‘America’s Got Talent’? Be sure to make your predictions to influence our reality TV racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next live results episode airs on NBC. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and a $100 Amazon gift card. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
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A 47-year-old man ended up in the hospital after a fight in the Dodger Stadium parking lot following Friday night’s marathon six-hour game, police said. The man apparently got into a verbal dispute with another man that turned physical sometime after midnight Saturday, following the Dodgers game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, said Officer Rosario Cervantes of the Los Angeles Police Department. The Dodgers lost 5-4 in what was the longest regular-season game in the stadium’s history. The man was seriously injured when he fell to the ground after being punched once, authorities said. The injured man was transported to a local hospital in stable condition. No arrests have been made and the cause of the fight remains under investigation, Cervantes said. It was not known if the game was a factor in the fight. Advertisement The suspect is described as a Latino man in his 20s. Police said he may have driven off in a white SUV, possibly a Toyota 4Runner. Meanwhile, a video was posted on social media that showed several fans engaged in a brawl inside the stadium during the game. Several people can be seen yelling and hitting each other before the fighting stopped moments later. It was not clear what prompted the brawl. Dodgers fans expressed wariness about the violence. “You bring your family here,” Kimberly Johnson, who was with her two young daughters, told ABC7 before Saturday night’s game. “Obviously, we have two little ones. You just don’t want to bring any danger to them and stuff like that.” [email protected] @jpanzar<doc-sep>The fight took place in the parking lot during a game Friday night. A woman is pleading for justice after her husband, a father of four, was critically injured in a fight outside Dodger Stadium Friday night. The man, identified by his wife as Rafael Reyna, was at the game against the Diamondbacks -- just the second of the season -- when he left as it went into extra innings. Reyna apparently got into an argument with someone in the parking lot and was struck by the fan, according to eyewitnesses who reported the incident to stadium security. His wife, Christel, was on the phone with her husband at the time and said all she heard was him arguing with someone, a loud crack and then her husband moaning. "He was hit and his head hit the ground and caused a skull fracture, and now his brain is swelling. He's bleeding on the brain," Christel Reyna told Los Angeles ABC station KABC. Rafael Reyna is currently on life support at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, his wife said. The two have four kids, including an adult son who is 22, and three others between the ages of 11 and 15. Police said they believe the suspect was in his 20s and drove off in a white SUV. "It hurts my heart," an emotional Christel Reyna said. "This isn't supposed to happen. This isn't how you're supposed to live your life." The team said in a statement Saturday it was aware of the incident and cooperating with police. "Last night, an altercation occurred suddenly between two men who were leaving the stadium," the Dodgers said. "One of the men was injured as a result of the altercation. A witness immediately reported the incident to stadium personnel, and emergency medical technicians were promptly dispatched to provide medical assistance at the scene. The matter is now being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Dodgers are cooperating fully with the investigation." Just a day before the fight, on Opening Day, the Los Angeles Police Department had released a warning about safety at the park. "In addition to parking enforcement, LAPD officers will be patrolling the area to enforce the no tolerance policy for drinking in public or in the parks," the department said. "Dodger fans are also reminded that there is no tailgating in the parking lots of Dodger Stadium." It continued, "Everyone in attendance on opening day deserves a safe and fun-filled day of baseball, so please respect the neighborhood and stay safe." The Dodgers stepped up security outside Dodger Stadium following a much-publicized fight on Opening Day in 2011. Bryan Stow, an off-duty paramedic and San Francisco Giants fan, was attacked by several men in Dodgers jerseys. Stow, who was placed in a medically induced coma after the attack, hit his head on the pavement and was repeatedly punched and kicked, according to authorities. Two men involved in that attack pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison in 2014.<doc-sep>
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A fight between two men at Dodgers Stadium on Friday night has left one fan on life support. The Dodgers have said they are cooperating with the police investigation. The incident is reminiscent of a 2011 Dodgers Stadium altercation involving San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow, who suffered permanent disability and brain damage when he was assaulted in the stadium parking lot following a game. Stow’s assailants received prison sentences and the Dodgers sustained an $18 million judgment. After the Stow incident, security was ramped up in the parking lots and at the stadium, and the Dodgers management at the time (the team has since been sold) vowed to crack down on perceptions that a gang element had taken over on nights when discounts were offered. The Dodgers issued a statement on Saturday about the Friday incident, which occurred after a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. “Last night, an altercation occurred suddenly between two men who were leaving the stadium,” the Dodgers said. “One of the men was injured as a result of the altercation. A witness immediately reported the incident to stadium personnel, and emergency medical technicians were promptly dispatched to provide medical assistance at the scene. The matter is now being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Dodgers are cooperating fully with the investigation.” The injured man was identified as Rafael Reyna, age 47, by his wife. He sustained a fractured skull, among other head injuries, and is on life support. “I was hearing the arguing happening and then I heard like a smack, a crack,” his wife, Christel Reyna, told KABC. “It sounded like a baseball bat, and then I heard him start moaning.” Police are looking for a man in his 20s who drove away in a white SUV. Police said Reyna was punched once in the fight.
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SmackDown Live returned last night (June 26) from the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. You can find all the results at the most stupendous live blog here. Oh Hell Yes Something amazing happened last night. WWE found a way to get me to pop for Kane in 2018. In the main event of this week’s installment was Daniel Bryan facing Luke Harper of the Bludgeon Brothers. (This was set up in the opening segment that was really good in its own right so I’ve dedicated the next section to it.) Daniel Bryan continued to prove that everyone is the same size when they’re on the mat. After enduring punishment from the athletic big man, DB finally hooked the arm and dragged Harper to the mat to apply the Yes Lock. Before Harper would tap, Rowan ran into the ring and attacked Bryan, putting an end to the match. But it was only the beginning of the punishment for Daniel. The double team ensued and it looked like no one was going to help. Then Kane’s music hit. The future mayor of Knox County made his way to the ring and fended off the Bludgeon Brothers, with a little help from a recovered Bryan. Then he turned to Bryan. Daniel was very apprehensive at first, likely because the last time these two met, Kane chokeslammed Daniel in Kurt Angle’s office. But when the Big Red Machine offered the hug, Bryan accepted. Team Hell No is back, baby. It looks like WWE is doing all they can to postpone really heating up the Miz/Bryan feud. (It’s been a prefect slow burn, not forgetting about it but giving us legit reasons to delay it.) Reuniting a fan favorite tag team for one time is a great way to do so. Team Hell No was a fun tag team back in 2013. Seeing a reunion at Extreme Rules where they’ll battle for the tag championships is an excellent diversion. (That is as long as this doesn’t lead to any Bryan vs. Kane singles match.) Simple but Great Now let’s talk about the very good opening segment that set up that great main event angle. The opening was nothing outrageous. There was no great plot twist or huge moment a la Ronda Rousey on Raw weeks back. It was just four guys doing a great job with their characters. Miz decided to have the Bludgeon Brothers on Miz TV, which would be a move he’d question at times. His goal was to try to get Harper and Rowan to continue focusing on his arch rival Daniel Bryan. Miz showed off how he is a superb conniving heel. A favorite line of mine was when he recapped what happened last week (when the Bludgeons attacked Bryan during the gauntlet match and Miz capitalized eliminating him). Miz made sure to say that after the tag champs attacked him, Bryan got up “and was 100%” so he could claim he beat Bryan at his best. What an utterly ridiculous statement. Daniel Bryan defeated two men and then was attacked by two towering behemoths, but sure, he was fine when he got up. Miz is so good at everything he does, whether it be what’s in his promo (which the writers should get credit for as well), how he delivers it, and his facial expressions. He’s a top notch talent. He pushed it too far at times, perhaps angering the imposing Bludgeon Brothers. Suggesting they become the new Miztourage? Not too wise, and it looked like the A Lister was going to pay for it if Daniel Bryan didn’t interrupt. Bryan has been fantastic since his return. And I don’t just mean in the ring. His promos may be the best they’ve ever been in WWE. He’s working a combined “I have the heart to beat anyone” and “I’m a badass wrestler who can cripple anyone.” That latter part was on display when he demanded to know which of the three would fight him. Harper accepted, grabbing Miz’s arm to bring the microphone to his face to say so. (I love the detail of not grabbing the mic but the entire arm.) This won’t be a segment that people remember in months time, but for tonight, it perfectly accomplished the job of highlighting these characters and setting up the main event. US Title turned Tag Match Two nights in a row we received two midcard title matches that ended in DQ. The amazing thing is both finishes were well booked. You can read about Monday’s Intercontinental title DQ finish from that recap here. In SmackDown’s version, Jeff Hardy issued a United States title open challenge, and Eric Young of SAnitY responded. As their match rolled on, the Usos eventually walked out from the crowd and jawed with the members of SAnitY outside the ring. If you recall, last week they were scheduled to face SAnitY but the trio attacked the former tag champs prior to the bell instead. This week, the Usos came looking for revenge. The Usos started brawling with Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain outside the ring. EY soon got involved and when he was struck by one of the Uso brothers in the ring, the match was thrown out. This finish kept Young from losing his first match on the main roster. (Though that isn’t a huge deal since the veteran Young’s job is probably going to be lose more than win when it comes to singles competition.) It’s also a great way to build an Usos/SAnitY feud. Instead of putting the new team over last week, the trio asserted their power while giving the Usos a reason to get angry. That way they looked badass when they swaggered out of the crowd jawing at SAnitY for what they did last week. If you’ve watched enough wrestling, you probably guessed that this turned into a 3 on 3 match. It ended up being a fun match and bodes well for the future program the Usos will work with the trio. A bit surprisingly, the Usos and Hardy won, with Jeff hitting a Swanton on Wolfe for the win. I would have guessed the group that’s sold as a unit would pick up the victory. But I get it. They’re not whole without Nikki Cross. (Bring her up!) Accoladed Again Rusev defeated Xavier Woods this week. Corey Graves said that Woods statistically has spent the most time in the Accolade. He may not be wrong. This match was structured in a way that Rusev, who is #1 contender for the WWE title, looked good the entire bout. At the same time, Woods had a great fire up and continues to impress in the ring. (I’m completely ready to see Woods win a midcard title.) Rusev never looked to be in real trouble. And that’s how it should be. Xavier is great, but he’s not at AJ Styles level right now. If we want to believe that Rusev is, then he needs to look strong in this match the entire time. He did that without having Woods look bad. On fire Becky Lynch continues her winning ways, this week with a win over Sonya Deville. This winning streak for the Lass Kicker is really fun. After seeing her lose for so long, it’s great to see her get back on track. When it looked like Mandy Rose could cost Bex a win, I was sad for a moment thinking that her comeback could be short lived. But Lynch overcame and tapped out Deville. Is Becky on her way to the title maybe? Welcome Back, Jimmy James Ellsworth, I’ve missed you so much. Jimmy Dream cut a promo this week talking about how he loves and respects women and they love him back. He also let us know how hot his dating life is. His promo style is a bit over the top with how insincere he is, but it works for him. His excess bravado fits perfectly with his look that does nothing to back it up. Then he got around to the business of challenging Asuka (who wasn’t there this week) to a match. That’s when GM Paige walked out, toyed with the loser a bit, and then informed him he has a match with Asuka next week. Dude’s going to get his ass kicked by the Empress next week. Back where he belongs. This was a great episode of SmackDown. After a terrible slump prior to WrestleMania, SmackDown has found its groove again. All the talent is on point. The writing is good. It’s a very good show. Grade: A Sound off below.<doc-sep>2 of 7 Credit: WWE.com A week after cashing his ticket to Extreme Rules and a showdown with AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, Rusev battled a familiar foe in Xavier Woods to kick off the in-ring portion of the broadcast. Rusev dominated the early portion of the match, using his strength and newfound momentum to take down his smaller opponent. He worked a rear chinlock during the commercial, no doubt hoping to keep his faster and agiler opponent grounded. In a dominant position, Rusev toyed with Woods, kicking at him, almost daring him to get up. When the host of UpUpDownDown finally made it to his feet, the No. 1 contender cut him off. Woods delivered a jawbreaker, unloaded with kicks to the tree trunk legs of Rusev and followed with some chops. A big running forearm popped the crowd and knocked Rusev off his feet. He lifted Rusev up in a fireman's carry, but Rusev powered out. He tried for a Machka Kick, but Woods answered with one of his own. A great exchange that showed the speed of the competitors gave way to that vaunted Machka Kick and led to the Accolade as Rusev continued his winning ways. After the match, he cut a brief promo on Styles. Result Rusev defeated Woods Grade B+ Analysis Two of the most underrated Superstars on the WWE roster did battle here, and they did not disappoint. The NXT exports delivered an athletic, fast-paced match that kept the fans on their feet. Woods impressed as the underdog fighting from underneath, but it was Rusev's fury and aggression that stood out. He looked every bit the motivated monster he was early in his career with WWE, and that bodes very well for fans hoping he makes the most of his WWE Championship opportunity. A great way to set the tone for the remainder of the matches on this show.<doc-sep>
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Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE Smackdown Live results for June 26, 2018, featuring a United States championship open challenge, SAnitY’s first match and Kane’s surprising return. Be here tomorrow for the complete Best and Worst of Smackdown Live column. WWE Smackdown Live Results: – The Miz opened the show with the Bludgeon Brothers on MizTV, where he explained how Daniel Bryan stealing the tag team champions’ spotlight led to him being attacked during last week’s Gauntlet match. The Bludgeon Brothers smacked the microphone out of Miz’s hand and Bryan came out to challenge them to a fight. Luke Harper accepted Bryan’s challenge for later in the evening. 1. Rusev defeated Xavier Woods. Woods tapped to the Accolade after getting hit with the Machka kick. Rusev cut a promo on AJ Styles as fans chanted Rusev Day, AJ Styles. 2. United States Open Challenge Title Match: Eric Young defeated Jeff Hardy (c) via Disqualification. Hardy was in control when the Usos hit the ring and attacked SAnitY. Young rolled out of the ring and joined in on the fight, leading to the disqualification. 3. The Usos and Jeff Hardy defeated SAnitY. Jeff Hardy landed the Swanton Bomb for the pinfall on Alexander Wolfe. – Naomi and Lana argued about who is a better dancer before meeting the cast of GLOW. 4. Becky Lynch defeated Sonya Deville. Lynch got the tap out with the Dis-Arm-Her. – James Ellsworth cut a promo on Asuka for attacking him last week. Paige cut Ellsworth off, announced Asuka versus Carmella for the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Extreme Rules and Asuka versus Ellsworth next week on Smackdown. 5. Daniel Bryan defeated Luke Harper via Disqualification. Erick Rowan attacked Bryan to force the disqualification. Kane made the save and reformed Team Hell No. Bryan and Kane took out the Bludgeon Brothers then hugged it out. Paige hit the ramp and made Smackdown Tag Team championship match for Team Hell No at Extreme Rules against the Bludgeon Brothers.
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Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks was suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 on Sunday for entering the officials' locker room after Saturday's Game 4 of the first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers. The announcement by Byron Spruell, president of NBA league operations, didn't divulge what occurred after Marks entered the room following Brooklyn's 112-108 loss. But the contest was emotionally charged and included a ruckus in which Jared Dudley of the Nets and Jimmy Butler of the 76ers were ejected. Nets coach Kenny Atkinson was upset following the contest that there wasn't a call on Philadelphia's Tobias Harris for grabbing Brooklyn's Jarrett Allen with 4.8 seconds left in regulation as his club looked for a tying or winning shot while trailing by two. On Sunday, the NBA agreed with Atkinson's contention, acknowledging that Harris should have been called for fouling Allen. Marks will serve the suspension on Tuesday when the Nets visit the 76ers in Game 5. --The NBA fined Dudley and Butler in the wake of the altercation involving several players in the third quarter of Saturday's first-round NBA playoff game in Brooklyn. Dudley, who shoved Philadelphia's Joel Embiid after Embiid made a hard foul on Allen, was fined $25,000, according to Kiki VanDeWeghe, the league's vice president of basketball operations. Butler, who then shoved Dudley, was fined $15,000 for escalating the situation. The scuffle then spilled over into the stands, with Philadelphia's Ben Simmons and Dudley as lead combatants. --San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan was fined $25,000 for his ball-tossing effort during Saturday's 117-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets. VanDeWeghe said in announcing the fine that DeRozan was disciplined "for recklessly throwing the basketball toward a game official and into the spectator stands." DeRozan was given a technical foul and was ejected after the incident with 5:01 remaining in the contest. DeRozan was called for an offensive foul after charging into Denver guard Gary Harris. He then leaped in the air and spun and sent the ball flying to the left of Foster. --The Cleveland Cavaliers were quick to halt any talk that they have interest in Rick Pitino as a candidate for their vacant head coaching position, cleveland.com reported. The report, citing an unnamed source, said the Cavaliers have had no conversations with Pitino and "are respectfully not interested in him at all." Veteran NBA reporter Peter Vecsey reported Saturday that Cavaliers chairman Dan Gilbert had talked to the longtime coach about the vacancy. Pitino, who also was the head coach of the New York Knicks (1987-89) and the Boston Celtics (1997-2001), has been coaching in Greece since last year. --Dirk Nowitzki's NBA career might have ended earlier this month, but he still managed to score more points this weekend with a thank-you letter he penned to Dallas Mavericks fans. The 2011 NBA Finals MVP and 14-time All-Star posted the letter in an ad he took out in the Dallas Morning News, wrapping up his 21-year career into 21 heart-felt lines that read like a poem. Among the more touching lines: "From the moment I arrived in Dallas riding on this amazing roller coaster, you lifted me, supported me, pushed me to work harder," and, "This is THANK YOU Mavs fans, from the bottom of my heart, for taking in a kid from Wurzburg and making me one of your own." --Field Level Media<doc-sep>NEW YORK — Nets general manager Sean Marks was suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 by the NBA on Sunday for entering the referees' locker room after Brooklyn's loss to Philadelphia in Game 4 of their playoff series. Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai offered support for Marks on Twitter . "My partners and I have spoken and the entire Nets ownership group support our GM Sean Marks for protesting the wrong calls and missed calls," he wrote. "NBA rules are rules and we respect that, but our players and fans expect things to be fair." The Nets lost 112-108 on Saturday in a game in which Brooklyn's Jared Dudley and Philadelphia's Jimmy Butler were ejected after a scuffle broke out following Joel Embiid's flagrant foul against Jarrett Allen in the third quarter. The Nets were already angry about a flagrant foul Embiid committed against Allen in Game 2, believing it should have warranted an ejection, and coach Kenny Atkinson complained that the 76ers held Allen before he turned the ball over on the Nets' last chance to tie Saturday's game. Atkinson said coaches were told that wrapping players as they tried to roll to the basket would be a point of emphasis this season. The NBA agreed with Atkinson on Sunday in its Last 2 Minutes report, determining that Tobias Harris should have been called for a foul for wrapping his arm around Allen and restricting his movement with 12 seconds remaining. Marks' penalty was announced by Byron Spruell, the NBA's president of league operations. He will serve his suspension Tuesday, when the 76ers try to wrap up the series in Game 5 in Philadelphia. The NBA later fined Dudley $25,000 and Butler $15,000, saying they both escalated the altercation that spilled into the stands. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports<doc-sep>NEW YORK — Nets general manager Sean Marks has been suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 for entering the referees' locker room after Brooklyn's loss to Philadelphia in Game 4 of their playoff series. The Nets lost 112-108 on Saturday in a game in which Brooklyn's Jared Dudley and Philadelphia's Jimmy Butler were ejected after a scuffle broke out following Joel Embiid's flagrant foul against Jarrett Allen in the third quarter. The Nets were already angry about a flagrant foul Embiid committed against Allen in Game 2, and coach Kenny Atkinson complained that the 76ers held Allen before he turned the ball over on the Nets' last chance to tie the game. The penalty was announced Sunday by Byron Spruell, the NBA's president of league operations. Marks will serve his suspension Tuesday, when the 76ers try to wrap up the series in Game 5 in Philadelphia.<doc-sep>Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks has been suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 for entering the referee's locker room postgame Saturday, the league announced in a release, according to The Athletic's Sam Amick. The incident occurred after the Nets dropped a heated Game 4 to the Philadelphia 76ers, during which both Jimmy Butler and Jared Dudley were ejected after Joel Embiid's flagrant-1 foul sparked a fracas between the teams. JARED DUDLEY WANTS ALL THE SMOKE pic.twitter.com/Kbhthwh95F — gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 20, 2019 Marks and the Nets were livid over their belief that Embiid's flagrant-1 fouls in Games 2 and 4 should've been deemed flagrant-2 infractions, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Nets GM reportedly challenged the referees as a show of support for his team. The Sixers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and have a chance to close it out Tuesday in Philadelphia.<doc-sep>
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NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks has been suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 for entering the referees' locker room after Brooklyn's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference playoff series. The Nets lost 112-108 on Saturday in a game in which Brooklyn's Jared Dudley and Philadelphia's Jimmy Butler were ejected after a scuffle broke out following Joel Embiid's flagrant foul against Jarrett Allen in the third quarter. That call will remain a flagrant foul 1, sources told ESPN's Tim Bontemps, which means Embiid will remain with two flagrant foul points for the postseason. If a player reaches four, he earns an automatic one-game suspension. The Nets were already angry about the flagrant 1 Embiid committed against Allen in Game 2, and coach Kenny Atkinson complained that the 76ers held Allen before he turned the ball over on the Nets' last chance to tie the game. The Nets and Marks believed Embiid's flagrant 1s should've been deemed flagrant 2s, a source told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. More than sending a message to the league by challenging the referees, Marks intended to send a message to his team that the franchise is determined to support the way the players are competing in the series, the source told Wojnarowski. The penalty was announced Sunday by Byron Spruell, the NBA's president of league operations. Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai offered support for Marks on Twitter. My partners and I have spoken and the entire Nets ownership group support our GM Sean Marks for protesting the wrong calls and missed calls. NBA rules are rules and we respect that, but our players and fans expect things to be fair. — Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) April 22, 2019 Marks will serve his suspension on Tuesday, when the 76ers try to wrap up the series in Game 5 in Philadelphia. Dudley and Butler were fined $25,000 and $15,000, respectively, for their roles in Game 4's scuffle, the NBA announced Sunday in a news release. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Founder of Papa John’s John Schnatter speaks onstage at the Spider-Man and Papa John’s Pizza’s announcement of ‘Hometown Super-Heroes’ in Times Square October 29, 2007 in New York City. Photo : Bryan Bedder ( Getty Images ) Who are Papa John’s children? Seriously, where are Papa John’s wards? Because his children need to run into his room and tell him to STFU because he’s ruining their inheritance. Advertisement On Wednesday, the founder of Papa John’s, the pizza that tastes like cardboard, oppression and racial hate, apologized for dropping the n-word during a ... wait for it ... I almost don’t want to tell you it’s so good ... Ok, wait let me start again. Papa John’s founder dropped the n-word during a sensitivity training call in May and now he’s apologizing. I just got off the phone with the founder and chief of the N-Word Coalition and they said, and I quote, “Man, fuck Papa John’s and his inferior ass red sauce!” “News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true,” founder John Schnatter said in a statement issued through the company, the New York Daily News reports. “Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society.” According to the News, Papa John’s stock fell “up to 6% in intraday trading, wiping out roughly $96 million in market value.” This isn’t the first time that Papa John Schnatter let his inner racist out. In January, he left his job as CEO of the company amid comments he made during NFL anthem protests. Advertisement Apparently, when Papa was speaking with his staff about how he was going to avoid a scandal, Schnatter allegedly involved President Trump’s favorite chicken spot owner Colonel Sanders. “Colonel Sanders called blacks ‘niggers,’” Schnatter allegedly said. Just got off the phone with Colonel Sanders who said, and I quote, “How dare that bitch? !” Advertisement And in true Republican form, Papa John added that Sanders never publicly apologized, nor was he condemned for saying the n-word. “Schnatter also discussed growing up in Indiana, where he said people would kill African-Americans by dragging them from their trucks—a reflection that was interpreted as offensive by other parties on the call, according to the report,” the Daily News reports. Advertisement Papa John’s said in a statement Wednesday that it “condemns racism and any insensitive language, no matter the situation or setting. Our company was built on a foundation of mutual respect and acceptance. … We take great pride in the diversity of the Papa John’s family, though diversity and inclusion is an area where we will continue to strive to do better,” the statement read. Papa John is currently looking for work at the Waffle House where his position on race will be appreciated.<doc-sep>Papa John’s founder John Schnatter resigned as the company’s chairman on Wednesday night after fallout over his use of the n-word during a conference call. The company released a statement that said the directors had accepted Schnatter’s resignation. “Papa John’s will appoint a new Chairman in a couple of weeks,” the statement read. Forbes reported earlier on Wednesday that Schnatter used the n-word on a conference call in May. The call was specifically designed as a role-playing exercise to prevent future public-relations disasters. “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s,” Schnatter said, before complaining that Sanders never faced public backlash. The restaurateur had already stepped down as chief executive in January after he caused controversy by criticizing the NFL over their national anthem policy.<doc-sep>
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Papa John’s ex-honcho is adding fuel to his fiery reputation for cutthroat remarks. The founder and chairman John Schnatter made racist comments during a May conference call while he was receiving public relations training from an outside marketing firm. The restaurateur stepped down as chief executive in January after Forbes reported that while discussing the issue involving football players taking a knee during the national anthem he griped that “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s” and never faced a backlash. Schnatter made that comment during a call between Papa John’s execs and marketing agency Laundry Service, Forbes reported early Wednesday, citing a “source with knowledge of the event.” Schnatter also reflected on his youth growing up in Indiana, where he claimed on the conference call that “people used to drag African-Americans from trucks until they died,” according to the Forbes report, which claimed he shared the story in a misguided effort to show his distaste for racism. The chain’s stock fell 4.9 percent on Wednesday, to $48.33. After reports of the comments were widely reported, Schnatter issued an apology. “News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true. Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society,” he said in a statement issued by the chain. While Laundry Service reps declined to comment, owner Casey Wasserman terminated the company’s contract with Papa John’s. The pizza chain issued a statement without confirming or denying the incident. “Papa John’s condemns racism and any insensitive language, no matter the situation or setting.” At least two analysts lowered their estimates for the company. “The brand continues to come under self-inflicted assault,” said analyst Mark Kalinowski.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection began operating an immigration checkpoint on Interstate 93 in Woodstock on Sunday. The checkpoint ran until noon Tuesday. There were a total of 17 arrests of "people who did not have legal immigration status," the agency said. Those arrested were from countries including Brazil, Columbia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Montenegro, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, according to CBP. "Checkpoint operations are a critical enforcement tool for the enforcement of our immigration laws and are a part of our defense in depth strategy," Swanton Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said in a statement Tuesday. "In addition to technology, manpower and intelligence, checkpoints help to deny access to major routes of egress away from the border and into our communities in the interior of the U.S." Thomas Labore said he was returning from a camping trip when he went through the checkpoint. "All they did was, we rolled down the window and they just said, 'Hello folks, are you U.S. citizens?' And we said 'yes' and they just tell you to go." Labore says he also saw officers patrolling with dogs. “When we were in traffic in the beginning, there was an officer walking up and down the traffic, kind of looking in the ditches and on the sides of the roads,” Labore said. “And then as we got closer, they walked a dog up and down the sides of the cars.” A CBP spokesperson confirmed the canine patrol in a statement and clarified that neither Woodstock law enforcement nor New Hampshire State Police were involved in the operation. “Canines are being utilized as they are a key asset at checkpoints to identify instances of human smuggling,” the spokesperson said. “CBP canines are dual trained on the scents of both concealed humans and narcotics.” CBP said Border Patrol agents also seized a small amount of marijuana, hash oil and THC vape oil. During a checkpoint last year in the same area, the use of drug-sniffing dogs led to drug-possession charges for several U.S. citizens. But earlier this month, a New Hampshire judge ruled that evidence obtained during those warrantless searches was not admissible in state courts.<doc-sep>Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT AFTERNOON. OVER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND, BORDER PATROL AGENTS STOPPED VEHICLES AT A CHECKPOINT IN WOODSTOCK, ABOUT 90 MILES FROM THE CANADIAN BORDER. >> THEY’RE ENJOYING THE WHITE MOUNTAINS DURING THIS WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON, YET THEY’RE BEING STOPPED, THEY’RE BEING SEIZED, AND THEY’RE BEING SEARCHED. REPORTER: ACCORDING TO HOMELAND SECURITY, 17 PEOPLE WHO DID NOT HAVE LEGAL IMMIGRATION STATUS WERE ARRESTED AND TURNED OVER TO ICE ENFORCEMENT REMOVAL OPERATIONS. THE ACLU WANTS TO KNOW IF THIS CHECKPOINT WAS CONDUCTED APPROPRIATELY. >> INVADE PEOPLE’S PRIVACY AND FORCE INDIVIDUALS TO ENGAGE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT WITHOUT ANY REASONABLE SUSPICION THAT A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED. REPORTER: AGENTS ALSO SEIZED A SMALL AMOUNT OF MARIJUANA, HASH OIL, AND THC VAPE OIL. DURING A SIMILAR CHECKPOINT LAST YEAR, DOZENS WERE CHARGED WITH ALLEGEDLY POSSESSING SMALL AMOUNTS OF DRUGS FOR PERSONAL USE. THE ACLU REPRESENTED 16 OF THEM IN A LAWSUIT FIGHTING THE CHARGES. THE COURTS CONCLUDED THEIR FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED. U.S. SENATOR MAGGIE HASSAN SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE WORK TO IMPROVE BORDER SAFETY AND SECURITY, BUT SHE WANTS TO MAKE SURE HOMELAND SECURITY IS GOING ABOUT IT THE RIGHT WAY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND BEYOND. >> I AM VERY CONCERNED THAT ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER THEY ARE SEPARATING CHILDREN FROM THEIR FAMILIES. THAT IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH AMERICAN VALUES. WE CAN KEEP OUR BORDERS SAFE AND SECURE WITHOUT SACRIFICING OUR VALUES. REPORTER: A BORDER PATROL SPOKESPERSON SAYS THEIR AGENTS ARE ALLOWED TO STOP AND QUESTION A VEHICLE’S OCCUPANTS AND THAT THEY’RE COMMITTED TO TREA Advertisement ACLU launches investigation into Memorial Day weekend Border Patrol checkpoint Share Shares Copy Link Copy An investigation is being launched by the American Civil Liberties Union after 17 people were arrested during a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 93 in Woodstock, about 90 miles from the Canadian border.The operations began Sunday and ended Tuesday afternoon. >> Download the free WMUR appBorder Patrol agents stopped vehicles on I-93 in Woodstock and made contact with them one by one. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the 17 people detained did not have legal immigration status, and six of them had overstayed their visas. The department said those arrested are from 10 different countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Korea. The ACLU said it has been contacted by people affected by the checkpoint. “They're enjoying the White Mountains during this wonderful holiday season, yet they're being stopped, they're being seized and they're being searched,” said Gilles Bissonette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire.During a similar checkpoint last year, dozens were charged with allegedly possessing small amounts of drugs for personal use. The ACLU represented 16 of them in a lawsuit fighting the charges. The courts concluded their Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. In this most recent checkpoint, agents also seized a small amount of marijuana, hash oil and THC vape oil. According to the ACLU, this was the third checkpoint in that location since last summer and that prior to that, there hadn't been one there in more than five years. The organization is looking into whether this most recent checkpoint was conducted appropriately.“Immigration police in this country are emboldened," Bissonette said in a statement. "We're seeing it not only nationally, but right here in New Hampshire, using their broad authority that they claim they have to initiate checkpoints anywhere within 100 miles of the border, which includes deep in the interior of New Hampshire."U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said it's important that the country works to improve border safety and security, but she wants to make sure the Department of Homeland Security is going about it the right way in New Hampshire, and beyond. “I am very concerned that on the southern border, they are separating children from their families,” Hassan said. “That is not consistent with American values. We can keep our borders safe and secure without sacrificing our values.”A Border Patrol spokesperson said agents are allowed to stop and question a vehicle's occupants and that the agency is committed to treating everyone fairly.<doc-sep>Thirteen people were arrested at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint on Interstate 93 in the middle of New Hampshire on Memorial Day, authorities confirmed. They were taken into custody at an immigration checkpoint on I-93 in Woodstock for immigration law violations, a Border Patrol spokesperson said. The identities of those arrest, their countries of origin and their specific charges were not released. Border Patrol spokesperson Stephanie Malin said U.S. law allows agents to set up "critical" checkpoints away from the border to interrogate, arrest and collect evidence. Border Patrol "is committed to the fair, impartial and respectful treatment of all members of the trade and traveling public, and policy prohibits the consideration of race or ethnicity in law enforcement, investigation, and screening activities, in all but the most exceptional circumstances," Malin said in a statement. The Union Leader reports that 16 arrests made by police and Border Patrol agents last summer in Woodstock were unconstitutional. Plymouth District Court Judge Thomas Rappa reportedly said the searches against those arrested were done in violation of the New Hampshire Constitution. Those searches yielded mostly possession of small amounts of marijuana.<doc-sep>
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks a car on the Interstate 93 southbound lane on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2017 south of the Route 175 exit south of Lincoln. Geoff Forester / Monitor file U.S. Customs and Border Protection carried out a roadside checkpoint in Woodstock over the weekend to determine the immigration status of motorists and their passengers. The checkpoint, set up on the southbound side of Interstate 93, resulted in 17 arrests on suspected immigration violations, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Immigrants from Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Montenegro, Ukraine and Uzbekistan were arrested – 10 countries in total, according to a news release from the agency Tuesday afternoon. The checkpoint was carried out from Sunday to Tuesday, wrapping up at noon Tuesday. Agents may question a vehicle’s occupants about their citizenship and place of birth and request proof of immigration status, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Agents are allowed to set up such checkpoints within 100 miles of the border. The Woodstock location is about 90 miles from the Canadian border. This is the first checkpoint in New Hampshire this year. Last summer, Border Patrol teamed up with local police for similar operations. Woodstock police handled arrests on drug-related and other offenses, while customs agents handled any immigration-related offenses. Earlier this month, a New Hampshire judge suppressed evidence against more than a dozen people who were charged with drug possession after being stopped and searched by border agents last summer. Federal agents used drug-sniffing dogs to “alert” them of suspicious vehicles, which would be diverted off the road and searched. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire argued that the evidence from the federal checkpoint can’t be used in state prosecutions because the warrantless searches violated the state Constitution. Plymouth circuit court Judge Thomas Rappa Jr. agreed. “This Court finds that while the stated purpose of the checkpoints in this matter was screening for immigration violations, the primary purpose of the action was the detection and seizure of drugs,” Rappa wrote. This time, Woodstock police were not involved with the checkpoint, according to Sgt. Kevin Millar. But the dogs were still put into patrol and “drugs and drug paraphernalia” were still found and seized, according to a news release Tuesday afternoon. That included “a small amount of marijuana, hash oil and THC vape oil,” police said. A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection, Stephanie Malin, confirmed that local police had not been contacted about the drug possessions; the drugs were simply seized and no charges were pressed, she said. And she said the use of the drug-sniffing dogs did not violate the Superior Court order. “The state decision did not alter our federal authority, which includes the use of canines at an immigration checkpoint,” Malin said in a statement. “Canines were utilized as they are a key asset at checkpoints to identify instances of human smuggling. CBP canines are dual trained on the scents of both concealed humans and narcotics.” Swanton Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia, whose Vermont group oversees operations in New Hampshire, defended the use of the checkpoint more broadly. “Checkpoint operations are a critical enforcement tool for the enforcement of our immigration laws and are a part of our defense in depth strategy,” he said in a statement. (Alyssa Dandrea conributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.)
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WASHINGTON – Hours after President Donald Trump threatened to shut down the government over border security, lawmakers on Capitol Hill were racing ahead with a plan to fund federal agencies as if his warning shot was never heard. And that will likely mean far less funding for Trump’s proposed border wall than he initially sought, analysts said. Republican leaders, eager to avoid high-profile brinkmanship so close to the midterm election, are working to clear most of the government’s must-pass spending bills before agencies run out of cash in September, lessening Trump’s ability to use the deadline as leverage. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said shutdowns represent “a failure to govern effectively.” The Senate Appropriations Committee, she said, was making progress and working “closely” with the administration. “I think we should just keep proceeding and doing our work,” Collins said. Despite making the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican border a centerpiece of his campaign, Trump has struggled to bring Congress around to the idea of spending much money on it. The president threatened to veto a measure in March that put $1.6 billion toward border security, a sliver of which was directed to a wall. In the end, he signed the bill grudgingly. Trump has previously requested $25 billion for the wall, and another $5 billion for other border initiatives. The House version of the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security would set aside $5 billion for all border security. The Senate is expected to approve an even smaller figure. “Every time we’ve gotten up to the point where there could be a decision on the wall, Republicans say ‘we’ll get to it later,’” said Stan Collender, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University and an expert on federal spending. “They’re doing it again now.” “That makes sense for Republicans, because they don’t want to have it out just before the election,” Collender said, “but it doesn’t make any sense for Trump.” Republicans said they were surprised by Trump’s threat Monday that he would “have no problem doing a shutdown” if Congress didn’t approve additional border security funding. In a meeting at the White House last week, GOP leaders conveyed to Trump that they were on track to approve more than half of the government spending bills before Sept. 30, leaving more controversial matters – including the wall – until after the election. Trump agreed to that plan, according to a person familiar with the discussions. A White House spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. When asked about the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that he and other Republicans support the president's goals as they try to go through a normal appropriations process "that prevents a big event at the end of the fiscal year." Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said there’s been more progress on spending legislation at this point in the process than in years and said Trump “seemed to be on board” in a previous conversation about the committee’s progress. "I think the president's very serious about his wanting more money to fund the wall," Shelby said on Tuesday. "I understand that. I’ve met with him on that. It’s mind boggling to me that anybody would say, 'well, we’re going to shut down the government if I don’t get my way." Tuesday, the president amped up his message that Democrats will somehow cause a government shutdown with tweets saying the disruption would be "a very small price to pay for a safe and Prosperous America!" Analysts said Republicans are moving quickly to resolve the funding issue out of political necessity, and the desire to keep voters focused on other issues – such as confirming Trump’s nominee to the supreme court, Brett Kavanaugh. “They want to get things cleaned up before the midterms and show they can govern,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2003 to 2005. “Trump doesn’t really have the same kind of leverage” as he does on other issues, Holtz-Eakin said. “It’s a different calculation.” More:Rudy Giuliani blasts Michael Cohen, calls former Trump fixer a 'pathological liar' More:2018 midterms: President Trump meets with security aides as critics demand federal election plan More:Political path for Trump, Republicans in midterms cuts through America's soybean fields<doc-sep>On Capitol Hill, McConnell and other Senate Republican leaders told reporters Tuesday afternoon that they are sticking to their plan to approve nine of the dozen spending bills on Congress’s plate by the end of August, putting them on track to have 90 percent of the government funded by the end of the fiscal year as long as Trump signs those bills into law.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans, already facing a difficult election landscape, confronted a prospect on Sunday they had worked feverishly to avoid: a threat by President Trump to shut down the government over funding for a border wall. “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!” Last week, Republican leaders thought they had reached a deal with Mr. Trump to delay a confrontation on funding for the wall until after the November midterm elections, according to a person familiar with their discussion. But Mr. Trump’s shutdown threat, in which he also demanded several pieces of a comprehensive immigration overhaul that is stalled in Congress, has opened the door to a politically bruising spending fight as the fiscal year ends in September.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Without the border wall, Donald Trump might have only been a gold-matted asterisk in the 2016 presidential race. But with the border wall, the longshot real estate billionaire went from political purgatory to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Given the centrality of his pledge to build a wall along the southern border of the United States (muffled voice: And make Mexico pay for it), Trump is totally committed to ensuring that he can go to voters in 2020 and tell them he made good on that most important of promises. Which is a big, big, big problem for Republicans desperately trying to hold onto their House and Senate majorities in 99 days’ time. “I would have no problem doing a shutdown,” Trump said bluntly during a joint press conference Monday afternoon with Italy’s prime minister. That bombshell confirmed a Trump tweet from over the weekend. “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!” Those twin pronouncements will land like a rotting fish head at a dinner party for the likes of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. For every second since the last time the government shut down – in January – McConnell has insisted it would not happen again. “The Senate has a lot to do this week,” he said from the Senate floor just moments after Trump made his shutdown threat Monday. “We’ll finish up the set of appropriations measures we’ve been considering for several days and take four more big steps towards our goal of completing a regular appropriations process and funding the government in a timely and orderly manner.” McConnell’s quote is the essence of envisioning the best possible result in the future, repeating it as much as possible and hoping that it comes true. McConnell figures if he says “no shutdown” enough, he will keep it from happening. But wishful thinking is not legislation that funds the government. And, with only 11 – yes 11! – legislative days between now and the September 30 government shutdown, McConnell knows better than anyone how politically dangerous Trump’s threats actually are. Let’s count the reasons. 1. Republicans control all levers of government Government shutdowns have one proven effect – they make people pay attention to Washington. And it’s almost never a good thing to remind the average American of how dysfunctional the nation’s capital is and how much they dislike it. There tends to be a bit of a “pox on both your houses” reaction to a shutdown, but that typically dissolves into blaming the side perceived to have brought the shutdown about. And no matter what Trump says or does between now and September 30, there’s one thing that he can’t change: Republicans have the White House as well as majorities in the House and Senate. Simple arguments tend to work best, and Democrats have the simpler case to make: Republicans control everything, so it’s their job to get something done. 2. Distracting from the economy The best thing that Republicans trying to hold the majority in the House and Senate have going for them right now is the current economic numbers (4.1% economic growth in the second quarter of 2018) and the growing belief among voters that things are well on their way to getting better. One example: Even though Trump’s overall approval rating is in the low 40s in a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, his approval for handling the economy is over 50%. The path for Republicans to minimize their losses in November is to talk relentlessly bout how well the economy is doing. Anything that distracts from that message is trouble. And aside from perhaps the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller, there’s almost nothing worse for Republicans to be talking about/defending than why they shut the government down. 3. The timing Shutting the government down on January 20, 2018 is one thing. Shutting it down on October 1, 2018 is another. The first day of this government shutdown would occur just 36 days before the midterm elections. That sort of close proximity would ensure that the shutdown would be on the minds of voters on November 6. And, per No. 1 above, that is almost certainly a loser for congressional Republicans. 4. Trump’s unreliability as a negotiator In Monday’s press conference, a reporter with The Daily Caller, a conservative media website, tried to nail Trump down on what, specifically, he would be asking for to keep the government open. Was it $25 billion in federal funding for the border wall? Trump refused to answer. “We need a border,” he said. “Border security includes the wall but it includes many other things. I would certainly be willing to close it down to get it done.” The problem for congressional Republicans in that statement is that there is no road map to avoiding a shutdown. There is no sign of whether Trump will take a half (or quarter) loaf on border wall funding or whether the government shuts down if he doesn’t get the whole $25 billion. And that’s not even getting into what Trump would be willing to accept on family-based immigration or some sort of lasting solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. Make no mistake: McConnell, Ryan and every other Republican in Congress who likes being in the majority will try to talk Trump down off his latest shutdown threat. The problem is what, exactly, can they offer him that will placate him? And even if it it makes him happy on September 27, will it keep him happy on September 30?<doc-sep>
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President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE on Tuesday said he supports shutting down the government to ensure changes to immigration law, regardless of political consequences. "I don’t care what the political ramifications are, our immigration laws and border security have been a complete and total disaster for decades, and there is no way that the Democrats will allow it to be fixed without a Government Shutdown," Trump tweeted. "A Government Shutdown is a very small price to pay for a safe and Prosperous America!" he added. ...Border Security is National Security, and National Security is the long-term viability of our Country. A Government Shutdown is a very small price to pay for a safe and Prosperous America! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018 ADVERTISEMENT Trump has in each of the last three days expressed a commitment to shutting down the government when the fiscal year ends in September if he does not receive funding for his border wall, as well as changes to legal immigration programs. A shutdown so close to the November midterms could prove disastrous for Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and are attempting to hold off a Democratic effort to retake control of the House and Senate. Trump first raised the idea in a Sunday night tweet, then doubled down on the concept during a Monday press conference with the Italian prime minister. "If we don't get border security after many, many years of talk within the United States, I would have no problem doing a shutdown," Trump said. Trump added that he'd be willing to "leave room for negotiation." While the president remains publicly committed to a shutdown, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press have both reported that Trump is willing to delay the fight over funding for his border wall until after the midterms. However, conservatives in the House are pushing to revive the debate before the midterms. A number of Republicans have said they don't believe a shutdown would be productive. GOP leadership has expressed confidence that it can plan out the appropriations process in a way that will keep the government open, while possibly kicking a longer debate over border wall funding down the road. The GOP’s approval rating tanked in 2013 after a 16-day shutdown following a GOP attempt to stop the implementation of ObamaCare.
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top stories SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.<doc-sep>A WOMAN has died and around 100 passengers are injured after two trains collided head-on near Barcelona this evening. Emergency services said the 26-year-old driver of one of the trains was killed - while three of the injured are in serious condition. 3 Emergency personnel work on one of two commuter trains that collided near Barcelona Credit: AP:Associated Press Accidente en R4 dirección Manresa a pocos km de llegar a Manresa, chocaron 2 trenes. @renfe qué vergüenza os debería dar. Así quedaron 2 vagones contiguos. Encima llega antes los mossos que personal sanitario. pic.twitter.com/Y5Snd6g0jH — Lus 🇵🇸🇪🇭🇨🇴 (@lusberth) February 8, 2019 One passenger, who gave her name as Laura, told reporters: "I noticed that the light went out suddenly, I hit myself very hard in the head - but luckily I'm fine." Another woman on board one of the trains said most of the passengers had managed to get off by themselves. The collision happened on the R4 Rodalies line between St Vicenc Castellet and Manresa at around 6:30pm local time . An investigation has been launched although initial reports suggest there may have been a signal failure. MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS Exclusive OUT OF THIS WORLD Negative from film said to depict Roswell alien autopsy on sale for £710k BETRAYAL OF TRUST Woman, 22, 'lured off street by paramedic and gang raped in ambulance' Latest FERRY DISASTER More than 150 feared dead after overloaded ferry 'breaks in two' and sinks CLINGING TO LIFE Hotel owner left critical after catching deadly from Aussie mouse plague CRYPTO KILLER Bondage-obsessed Bitcoin trader ‘went crazy’ & strangled lover to death SLIPPERY CHARACTER Massive deadly snake lurks in Aussie back garden... can YOU spot it? Train operator RENFE expressed its condolences to the victims in a social media post. A fleet of two dozen ambulances rushed to the scene - together with fire crews, engineers and the police. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on Twitter: "Love and support for the families of the deceased and wounded." Video shows people evacuating after two trains collide head on in Barcelona leaving woman driver dead and nearly 100 passengers injured 3 Emergency services at the scene of the train crash near Barcelona 3 Stranded passengers and emergency crews. One person was killed and 95 were injured - including three in 'serious condition' We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.<doc-sep>At least one person has died and 100 passengers have been injured after two trains collided head-on in Spain. The commuter trains crashed on Friday evening between the towns of Sant Vicenc de Castellet and Manresa, 35 miles northwest of Barcelona. Three of the injured passengers were in serious condition, according to Catalonian emergency services. Another 16 were "less serious" condition and 76 had mild injuries, officials said. About 100 passengers escaped unhurt. One of the trains was heading to Barcelona and the other was travelling on the same track towards Manresa, in northeastern Spain, when they collided at 6.20pm local time (5.20pm.) World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris.<doc-sep>
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O ne person has died and around 100 others were injured after two passenger trains were involved in a head-on collision in Spain. The commuter trains collided on Friday evening between the towns of Sant Vicenc de Castellet and Manresa, northwest of Barcelona. Three of the injured passengers were in a serious condition following the incident. Around 100 others escaped injury, officials said. One train was heading to Barcelona and the other was going to Manresa, in northeastern Spain, when they ran into each other on the same track. Images broadcast on Catalan public broadcaster TV3 showed the torn metal where the two trains slammed into each other, along with passengers who had evacuated on the side of the tracks. Local media reported that the crash may have been due to a signalling problem, occurring on a double stretch of track. It has been reported that the person who died was a 26-year-old woman who was the conductor of one of the trains. It is understood she screamed at passengers to “get themselves onto the ground” moments before the collision. The late afternoon trains were “packed” with people. Marina Bravo Sobrino said in a tweet: “Overwhelmed by the train wreck in Castellgalí. “My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased machinist. “Desires of early recovery for the wounded, and much encouragement the teams that have worked and continue to work in the emergency. Antonio Carmona, spokesman for state train operator RENFE, said "the information we have is that there was a frontal collision."
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Dennis Hof -- the owner of the famous Bunny Ranch, and Love Ranch where Lamar Odom overdosed -- has passed away at the age of 72. Law enforcement sources tell us they got a 911 call from Hof's Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada around 11 AM. We're told the call was for an unresponsive male. Detectives are currently on scene ... no foul play is suspected. Play video content Nye County Sheriff's Dept Hof had recently celebrated his birthday with a weekend-long bash that included celebs like Ron Jeremy, Flavor Flav, Afroman and Johnny Buss. According to Hof's campaign manager, Jeremy was the one who discovered his body. Hof shot to superstardom as the star of the HBO series 'Cathouse' -- which followed him as he ran his famous brothels in Nevada. Hof bragged about being a pimp -- and came up with his own catchphrase, "There's no business like ho business." The most infamous incident under Hof's watch went down in October 2015 when Lamar Odom overdosed after a bender at Hof's Love Ranch South. Blood tests later revealed Lamar had cocaine in his system. Odom was placed in a coma for 3 days after the incident. In a recent interview, Lamar revealed he suffered 12 strokes and 6 heart attacks while hospitalized for the incident. Play video content OCTOBER 2015 TMZ.com Hof was a master when it came to publicity -- he famously hired Tiger Woods' mistress Devon James to work at the Bunny Ranch back in 2010. He fired her and at the time said, "I wish nothing but the worst for her." Hof was currently in the middle of a campaign for State Assembly ... winning the GOP primary in June.<doc-sep>Dennis Hof, the owner of the famed Bunny Ranch brothel, has died at the age of 72. According to TMZ, Hof was found unresponsive Tuesday morning at his Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada. Nye County Sheriff's Office confirmed the death via social media. Though an investigation continues, authorities said they do not suspect foul play. The Bunny Ranch was the subject of HBO's docuseries Cathouse, and has been frequented by countless celebrities. The Love Ranch, one of six brothels owned by Hof, was the setting of Lamar Odom's near fatal overdose in 2015. Hof's death occurred just weeks before the midterm elections, in which he was supposed to go head-to-head with Democratic candidate Lesia Romanov. The businessman won the primary for Nevada State Assembly back in June, ousting a three-term lawmaker in the Republican primaries. Romanov released a statement in wake of the tragic news: According to the Reno Gazette Journal, Hof spent Monday night celebrating his 72nd birthday with conservative figures like former Arizona sheriff and Joe Arpaio. "We had a wonderful event last night. He was having the time of his life last night. Grover Norquist was there," Hof's campaign manager, Chuck Muth, told the RGJ. "Ron Jeremy was there. He was given a rescue dog as a birthday present. He was having the time of his life." Election officials have yet to announce how they'll proceed in wake of Hof's death.<doc-sep>Dennis Hof, Nevada brothel owner, TV star, and candidate for the state legislature, has died, according to his campaign manager. The cause of death is unknown at this time, but his manager reports that he passed away at his Love Ranch South brothel. Hof was well-known for his role in the HBO series “Cathouse,” which documented the lives of the workers in several of his Nevada brothels. Hof has a long history of dating women from his brothels and the sex industry, including “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Lynne Fleiss, an American former madam who ran a prostitution ring in Los Angeles. Hof was dating Fleiss at the time of his death. In 2009, Heidi Fleiss was engaged to Dennis Hof. Fleiss said at the time, “I’m proud to say that I’m clean and sober, and I’m finally ready to make a commitment to one man – and that’s Dennis. It’s going to be my first and only wedding, so it’s going to be fabulous.” Hof has also been spotted with Cami Parker, a former bunny ranch escort, and Sunset Thomas, (born Diane Fowler). Thomas was runner-up for Penthouse Pet of the Year in 1998 and is a former American porn actress and member of the Adult Video News Hall of Fame, according to Famous Fix. Happy 4th of July from me to you!!! pic.twitter.com/48kqhfkFng — Sunset Thomas (@SunsetThomas) July 5, 2018 According to the Daily Mail, Parker accused Hof of giving her an eating disorder, and described Hof as “belittling” to the women he surrounded himself with. “He loves to hurt and confuse women,” Parker said in an interview included in Hof’s own memoir, according to the Daily Mail. “He even bragged about sleeping with a girl one minute after her legal birthday and then putting her right to work, as if this is something real men brag about. He would even tell me that at 23 I was too old for him, since girls over 21 are no good anymore, anyways.” According to another article by the Daily Mail, Hof realized that “monogamous relationships weren’t for him,” so he decided to exclusively date prostitutes and made them “all aware of his lack of interest in seeing only one woman.” According to him, however, most of the relationships ended when the women found out he was having sex with other women. Heavy will continue to update this post. Keep checking back for more information.<doc-sep>It was just one of many stints in the limelight for Hof, who had a knack for stunts that attracted wide media attention. He posted bail for Liberace’s former lover, Scott Thorson, in 2013, after Thorson took up residence at the Bunny Ranch. He hosted a “Get My Grandpa Laid" contest on the Howard Stern show that year as well, though the grandfather who won the contest died at a casino steakhouse after traveling to Nevada but before he made it to the brothel.<doc-sep>
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Dennis Hof, Nevada brothel operator and Republican Assembly candidate, has passed away at 72 years old, his campaign manager announced Tuesday. Hof’s campaign manager, Chuck Muth, took to Twitter to reveal Hof had passed away Tuesday morning. “I just confirmed with Nye County sheriff’s deputy that Dennis Hof passed away this morning,” Muth tweeted. I just confirmed with Nye County sheriff’s deputy that Dennis Hof passed away this morning. No other details at this point. I’m heading out to Love Ranch Vegas now. Official statement will come once I learn more. — Chuck Muth (@ChuckMuth) October 16, 2018 According to Nye County spokesman Arnold Knightly, Hof “went to sleep last night and didn’t wake up.” In a separate statement to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Muth said of Hof’s passing: “I got a call from his assistant, in tears saying, ‘Dennis died and I need you to come out here immediately, I can’t deal with this myself. We had a wonderful event last night. He was having the time of his life last night. Grover Norquist was there. Ron Jeremy was there. He was given a rescue dog as a birthday present. He was having the time of his life.’” “[Hof] was known nationwide for his role in the HBO series Cathouse, which documented the lives of the workers in his half-a-dozen Nevada brothels. His brothel empire started with his purchase of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in 1992. He was well-known for his proposing that the brothels be taxed by the state,” KTNV reports. Hof was facing off against Democrat Lisa Romanov after waging a successful campaign in the Republican primary race for Nevada’s Assembly District 36.
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Dylan Groenewegen doubled up at the Tour de France as he won stage eight in Amiens. The Dutchman made it two wins in as many days following stage seven success in Chartres as he held off Andre Greipel and Fernando Gaviria at the end of this 181-kilometre stage from Dreux. Most of the general classification contenders crossed the line in the main bunch to hold station but UAE Team Emirates' Dan Martin stood to lose over a minute after being caught in a crash inside the last 20km. But what do the full standings at the 105th edition of the Tour look like after eight days of racing?<doc-sep>This is the penultimate stage before the rest day, and one of the few left in the Tour which is perfectly setup for a bunch sprint. That means the power riders will want to take advantage of their chance here on a lumpy but manageable 181km from Dreux to Amiens which skirts around Paris. As ever, Peter Sagan and Fernando Gaviria will be amongst those in the hunt for the stage win, while Dylan Groenewegen’s impressive victory in Amiens on Friday puts him back among the favourites. Loading.... [Click on stage 8 to refresh the live tracker] However this is a technical finish on a slight decline with a corner 600m from the finish which will thin out the contenders, and the result may well hinge on whether the likes of Sagan can get on the right rival’s wheel. For the general classification riders like Chris Froome, Richie Porte and the rest, they will be desperate to get through this one unscathed and with as little exertion as possible – the treacherous cobbles to Roubaix await on stage nine.<doc-sep>Like Stage 7, the eighth day of the 2018 Tour de France is another transitional stage, albeit 50K shorter and a good bit lumpier. The sprinters’ teams, aware that they’re running out of chances, could keep the race under control and chase down any escapees before the finish in Amiens. If that happens, they’ll face a tough finish with several bends and corners, including a 90-degree left-hander 600 meters before the end. It’s a downhill run to the final kilometer, with a slightly uphill drag to the line. On the other hand, a breakaway might take advantage of the undulating parcours and make it all the way to the finish—which would be a pleasant surprise, given what we’ve seen so far. An expected headwind will make it harder for any opportunists to survive, but after the Tour’s longest stage on Friday and given Sunday’s cobbled showdown in Roubaix, they might have a chance. Riders to Watch Fernando Gaviria and Peter Sagan are again the top favorites should the stage come down to a sprint (as we believe it will). Dylan Groenewegen found his groove on Stage 7 and could certainly double up. It’s also Bastille Day, which means the French will be trés motivated to win. Arnaud Demare is the home team’s best hope among the sprinters, with any number of Frenchman likely to make it into the breakaway. When to Tune In This is another stage to either DVR entirely or start watching as late as possible. It’s a holiday weekend in France, so it ends a bit early. Tune in around 9:30 a.m. EST to see all the worthwhile action. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>
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Peter Dejong/Associated Press Stage 8 of the Tour de France takes place on Bastille Day, as riders will race the 181 kilometres from Dreux to Amiens on Saturday. The route is predominantly flat, and another sprint finish can be expected. BMC Racing's Greg Van Avermaet holds the yellow jersey going into the race ahead of Team Sky's Geraint Thomas. Date: Saturday, July 14 TV Info: Eurosport 1, ITV 4, NBC Live Stream: Eurosport Player, ITV Hub, NBC Sports App Here's the route for Stage 8: Dylan Groenewegen clinched victory in Stage 7 with a well-timed sprint that saw him hold off both Fernando Gaviria and the green jersey of Peter Sagan. The Tour de France showed how he dominated towards the end to win the longest stage of this year's race at 230 kilometres: The sprinters will again be at the fore on Saturday, and there will be plenty of support for home favourite Arnaud Demare as the riders continue through northern France. Video Play Button Videos you might like While the stage is largely flat, there are a couple of Category 4 climbs. The first occurs just before the halfway stage, and the second is prior to the intermediate sprint. The riders were affected by crosswinds during Friday's Stage 7, and similar weather conditions are expected, which may produce the same issues. Saturday's race is the penultimate stage before a rest day, which means the powerful sprinters such as Sagan and Gaviria will be expected to go for victory again. The route finishes on a gentle decline, with a corner just 600 metres from the line.
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WASHINGTON — CNN’s chief Washington correspondent Jim Acosta faced a hostile crowd of Donald Trump supporters before the president took the stage at a rally in Tampa, with shouts of “CNN sucks” and others giving him the finger. One man had a T-shirt that read, “F— the media.” Acosta posted video of the crowd on Twitter, writing, “Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.” Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018<doc-sep>Donald Trump supporters have been filmed hurling sustained abuse at journalists following one of the US president’s “Make America Great Again” rallies. Footage showed a crowd surround a perimeter fence separating the press from the public after Mr Trump had finished his speech at the Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday evening. As security looked on, supporters wearing MAGA hats and holding signs peddling popular right-wing conspiracy theories jeered and swore at the assembled press, with many of the mainly white crowd holding up a middle finger. One Trump supporter showed off a “F*** the media” T-shirt, while others could be heard branding the press “a piece of s***” and shouting, “Stop lying”. One woman appeared to swear at Jim Acosta, a CNN news anchor, while shouting: “Hey Jim, you suck!” A handful of supporters showed off signs peddling popular right-wing conspiracy theories. At least three could be seen promoting a bizarre online community called QAnon, whose members believe in a secret master plan by Mr Trump to overthrow the so-called deep state. One sign said: “His name was Seth Rich,” a likely reference to a debunked claim that the Democratic National Committee killed an employee for leaking emails in 2016. Mr Acosta, who shared footage of the scene on Twitter, said it was just a “sample” of the abuse faced at the rally in Tampa. “I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt,” he said. “We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.” Mr Trump later retweeted footage shared by his son, Eric Trump, which showed dozens of supporters at the same rally chant “CNN sucks!” while Mr Acosta delivered a speech to camera. The footage prompted disquiet about the US president’s continued denigration of the media. Even Anthony Scaramucci, Mr Trump’s former press secretary, condemned the scenes. Trump supporters at a rally jeer and hurl abuse at journalists (Twitter/Jim Acosta) “This isn’t our best. It’s not who we are,” he wrote on Twitter. “I don’t always agree and am often upset with journalists but we are flashing warning lights now that we shouldn’t be flashing. “The free press needs to be protected as well as their opinions. That’s why that Amendment was First.” During the rally itself, Mr Trump attacked the media for what he perceived as a lack of credit for America’s 4.1 per cent economic growth rate. “It was a number that everybody said was not reachable, and I would never want to say it during the campaign, even though I believed it. Because they would not have given us the break,” Mr Trump said as he pointed towards reporters. “Fake news, fake news. They are fake.” Trump South Carolina rally Show all 5 1 /5 Trump South Carolina rally Trump South Carolina rally AP Trump South Carolina rally AP Trump South Carolina rally AP Trump South Carolina rally Getty Images Trump South Carolina rally Getty Images He also repeated his false claim that he is the most popular figure in the history of the Republican Party, and attacked “fake news” for publishing “suppression polls” that failed to reflect his popularity. It came just days after AG Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, warned in a meeting with Mr Trump that the president’s rhetoric was “increasingly dangerous”. “My main purpose for accepting the meeting was to raise concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric,” Mr Sulzberger said. “I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous.” He continued: “I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labelling journalists ‘the enemy of the people’. I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”<doc-sep>TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump waits to speak during a memorial service at the Pentagon for the 9/11 terrorist attacks September 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 08: U.S. President Donald Trump announces his decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in the Diplomatic Room at the White House May 8, 2018 in Washington, DC. After two and a half years of negotiations, Iran agreed in 2015 to end its nuclear program in exchange for Western countries, including the United States, lifting decades of economic sanctions. Since then international inspectors have not found any violations of the terms by Iran. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 15: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question as he speaks to members of the White House Press Corps prior to his Marine One departure from the South Lawn of the White House December 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) President Donald Trump points to the crowd after speaking to law enforcement officials on the street gang MS-13, Friday, July 28, 2017, in Brentwood, N.Y. (CNN) — No one knows better than President Donald Trump what worked for him in 2016, and now he’s going back to the well – trusting no one but himself – to stave off the threat of a Democratic rout in November that could cripple his presidency. At a rowdy rally in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday night that invigorated a crowd that booed Trump’s enemies like it was a wrestling bout, the President showed exactly why he’s itching to get back on the road for multiple rallies every day ahead of the midterm elections. Trump will not be one of those presidents who only grudgingly tears himself away from the weighty affairs of state to campaign for party lawmakers. And if he suffers the traditional first-term bloody nose from midterm voters, it won’t be because he didn’t campaign hard enough. “It’s a lot easier to act presidential than to do what I do. Anybody can act presidential!” Trump declared, before tottering across the stage in a parody of a presidential walk, mocking the Oval Office conventions he has shredded since his inauguration, and admitting he likes to be a “little wild, have a little fun” at rallies. It was an anarchical moment that highlighted the comedy that is an underestimated ingredient of Trump’s demagogic technique. It helps bind him to supporters who feel bitter about Washington institutions they believe have cast them cruelly aside. But it was also a flash of self-awareness by an idiosyncratic politician who intimately understands his own method as one of the great political entertainers, whose skill at fanning resentments is fundamental to his appeal for a large chunk of voters. Going out on the road, where Trump shatters taboos and dodges accountability for his wild misrepresentations, offers him more than the chance to draw energy from those who love him. The Tampa rally was a reminder that Trump – the man, the President and his entire political project – can be sustained only with the anger, the adulation and the chance to tear at the nation’s most irritated political divides that he can find only in a campaign context. Outside the auditorium in Tampa, Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was back in his cell after the first day of his trial. Speculation was raging over Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s confusing strategic shifts in his defense against the special counsel probe. Trump was being pilloried by journalists for a paucity of briefings and dodging their questions. But Trump’s rallies bathe loyalists in an alternative reality where things are going great with North Korea – despite reports to the contrary – in which he’s running the most prolific presidency in history and fact-based arguments to the contrary are just “fake news.” Tuesday’s event also featured ugly scenes of Trump supporters chanting abuse at journalists in town to cover the President – which appears to be a direct result of his rhetoric that the media is “the enemy of the people.” The outsider is back Trump, nearly two years on from his shock election win, presented himself to his closest supporters Tuesday as exactly the same outsider voice of the forgotten man and scourge of political correctness who romped to victory in 2016. He is playing to tangible evidence that his poor press and the disgust of establishment politicians are still the driving forces of his appeal among his base. He once again blasted cancer-stricken Republican Sen. John McCain for his thumbs down vote helping to stall GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and he renewed his canard that he had made it safe for Americans to say “Merry Christmas” again. The question for Trump fewer than 100 days from the elections, and as the pace is already heating up for his own re-election race, is whether the magic can work a second and then a third time outside the confined world of his political base – especially this year, when he is not on the ballot. Or will the President find it impossible to transfer his appeal to candidates like Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis, who is running a campaign in Trump’s image in Florida’s gubernatorial primary and who basked in the President’s endorsement on Tuesday? Then there is the issue of whether Trump’s off-the-cuff style – seen this week in his threats to shut down the government if he doesn’t get funding for his border wall – will emerge as a distraction from the GOP message, and a negative for GOP candidates in crucial swing districts. After all, Trump’s presidency has produced a more credible narrative than GOP bosses may have hoped for earlier this year. They can tout strong economic growth, a President who is dominating the globe and two Supreme Court nominations that delight social conservatives – though of course that narrative of achievement will be robustly challenged by Trump’s opponents. Concern about the midterms<doc-sep>President Trump was in Tampa, Florida, Tuesday night to support Rep. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for governor. As is the case with all of the president’s endorsement rallies, the appearance was less about the candidate and more about Trump’s accomplishments, those crime-loving Democrats and, of course, the dishonest media. After his speech concluded, his supporters dutifully harangued CNN’s Jim Acosta, whom Trump famously rebuffed as “fake news” during a press conference in London last month. Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018 Among the standard “Women For Trump,” “Blacks For Trump” and “Promises Made, Promises Kept” signs, the video shows a few others. They featured the letter “Q,” a reference to QAnon, a conspiracy theory gaining traction among some of Trump’s most ardent supporters. In a nutshell, followers of QAnon fashion themselves as detectives, or “bakers,” who try to make sense out of vague bits of information, or “bread crumbs,” left for them on the Internet by “Q,” a mysterious figure purporting to be a government official with high-level clearance. The clues left by “Q” have led his disciples to believe that Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation is a cover, and Mueller is actually working in tandem with Trump to take down a murderous cabal of liberal elites that includes everyone from Tom Hanks to Barack Obama. QAnon believes these elites have been running an elaborate child sex ring for years, and that there is a “storm” coming in which Trump will throw all of these pedophiles in jail once and for all. As NBC News reporter Ben Collins described it on Tuesday, QAnon is like “Pizzagate on bath salts.” It wasn’t long ago that QAnon seemed too blatantly insane to exist anywhere but on the extreme fringes of the Republican party. In the past few months, however, it has steadily been seeping into the mainstream. When Trump traveled to North Dakota in June, kids were photographed in homemade “Q” shirts. Must-have Trump rally accessory: QAnon shirts. pic.twitter.com/6wznKqXBzU — Will Sommer (@willsommer) June 28, 2018 QAnon billboards have been spotted in Oklahoma and Georgia. QAnon billboards are a thing now. This one's in Georgia. pic.twitter.com/VQ0Hn3T7h6 — Will Sommer (@willsommer) June 29, 2018 Tuesday night’s rally in Tampa seemed different. “Q” shirts and signs were prevalent in a way that was hard to dismiss. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post described the event as the conspiracy theory’s “coming out party.” It wasn’t just a few people; practically every camera shot of the event featured a least a few “Q”s. It is stunning to me how many ppl in this #TRUMPTAMPA crowd have QAnon signs or t-shirts. That is not a healthy sign for GOP or for America. — Adam Smith (@adamsmithtimes) July 31, 2018 Though it may be hard to believe that such an obviously flawed conspiracy theory could attract so many followers, in retrospect, it isn’t hard to understand how it happened. Trump has been driving a wedge between Americans and reality for at least three years now — longer if you count his campaign alleging Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States. He has repeatedly described the media as the “enemy of the people,” and last week told a group of veterans in Kansas City that “what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” The president’s tenure in office has depended almost entirely on pushing “alternative facts,” the phrase Kellyanne Conway used just two days after Trump took office to categorize the White House’s false representation of the crowd size at his inauguration. Not only has this disassociation from reality allowed pernicious conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones to paint themselves as credible, more and more elected representatives are beginning to take advantage of the waning importance of facts. Regardless of whether Twitter is actually censoring right-wing voices (it’s not), politicians like Reps. Devin Nunes and Matt Gaetz have weaponized the story. Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows are calling for the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein by citing unfounded, disproven theories. FBI agent Peter Strzok was recently called before Congress to testify about the origins of an investigation that has long been proven legitimate. On Saturday, Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted a defense of Jones’ InfoWars, which has ruined lives by insisting the Sandy Hook massacre that left 20 elementary school student dead never happened, among other harmful bad-faith If Trump and his lackeys in Congress have discounted reality, you can believe his base has, and QAnon is what it looks like when this categorical rejection of fact spins totally out of control. Following the Tuesday rally in Tampa, Fox News’ leading Trump megaphone Sean Hannity applauded the attendees for berating Acosta. “The people of this country are screaming at you for a reason,” Hannity said, pretending to address Acosta. “They don’t like your unfair, abusively biased treatment of the president of the United States. If you want to earn the respect of all Americans — not the coastal elites in California, L.A., San Francisco, D.C. and New York — maybe try reporting the entire story. Maybe try getting rid of the bias.” Speaking of coastal elites, Trump — a billionaire who prior to becoming president lived in a lavish Manhattan penthouse and owned a plane with gold-plated bathroom fixtures — last night revealed a belief that a photo ID is necessary to buy groceries. Trump says you need a photo ID to buy groceries. pic.twitter.com/B4Nd0S645M — Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 1, 2018 In 1992, George H.W. Bush was panned on the front page of the New York Times for being unfamiliar with grocery store scanner technology. Few elected officials have been as out of touch with the common man as Trump, and yet it doesn’t matter.<doc-sep>
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President Trump held a raucous rally in Tampa, Florida, Tuesday night. Thousands of supporters packed the arena to hear Trump hammer his critics and tout his administration’s accomplishments. There was plenty of hecklers, comedy and chants about Hillary and 2020. Trump stopped to pick on one of his favorite targets, the media, approximately half-way through the speech. The president heckled the press in the press pen as “fake news” and the audience roared, chanting “Fake News” and “CNN Sucks” at the reporters. On of the favorite targets of the audience was CNN’s Jim Acosta, who tweeted multiple videos of the crowd mocking him before and after the rally. Acosta blamed Trump for the vitriol, saying “I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt.” The tweet showed Trump supporters jeering at Acosta after the rally. Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018 The tweet quickly went viral with many celebrities and journalists insulting the supporters. Celebrated composer Christopher O’Riley, who is a regular on PBS and NPR, literally called for the enforced slaughter of Trump supporters. “Calling them Deplorables is euphemizing them. Maybe better to euthanize?” the verified twitter user quipped. Other verified handles of celebrities and reporters were just as vulgar, likening the Trump supporters to Nazis, KKK members, white trash and Hitler while speculating the crowd will eventually commit murder. Others said the Trump supporters made them “ashamed” of America. Pathetic, Ignorant, Shameful ….Trump + White Trash making America fucking lame https://t.co/wEIqMXh7ne — Bassnectar (@bassnectar) August 1, 2018 This is sad and yes Jim @acosta also dangerous. I fear for the safety of journalists and for the American people who are being manipulated by #Trump. He will one day be long gone but he will leave a society divided and full of hatred and poisoned hearts. https://t.co/Bpp1LI9dlQ — Maria Elena Salinas (@MariaESalinas) August 1, 2018 This scene looks like a modern day Ku Klux Klan rally. Amazing to see that @realDonaldTrump – the man occupying the #WhiteHouse – is so comfortable in this atmosphere of hateful hostility, bigotry & deplorable language. #GodBlessAmerica https://t.co/4HQUtMuko2 — Jawn Murray (@JawnMurray) August 1, 2018 As an American citizen, this video depresses and angers me. As a working journalist, it terrifies me. @Acosta: Keep doing your job. Millions of us out here still appreciate your hard work and your quest for the truth. #HumanityFirst https://t.co/O8j2CV3edt — Matt Villano (@mattvillano) August 1, 2018 I’m truly ashamed that this is what America has become. Replace the MAGA hats and Trump signs, and this is straight out of any number of authoritarian regimes where journalists are killed. I feel like a foreign correspondent in my own country. https://t.co/DyEaefnb7S — Will Potter (@will_potter) August 1, 2018 I’ve seen classier crowds at cagefighting events. https://t.co/LtRXP2DVwx — JE Snowden (@JESnowden) August 1, 2018 Trump’s endless vilification of the media will almost certainly lead to vigilante violence against journalists. If Trump succeeds in weakening American institutions sufficiently, he could wage an Erdogan-style crackdown on his media critics and independent journalists. https://t.co/MZykJccKwP — Khaled Diab (@DiabolicalIdea) August 1, 2018
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“It was timeless. There is just no other way to describe it,” the actress told Vogue. “I was overwhelmed with such gratitude and thanks to be marrying the man of my dreams and to see all the people we love together in the middle of such a profound setting. It was truly a dream come true.”<doc-sep>Surprise! Hilary Swank is married. The 44-year-old two-time Oscar winner secretly tied the knot with social venture entrepreneur Philip Schneider over the weekend. The couple exchanged vows at the Saint Lucia Preserve in Carmel, California, according to Vogue, which shared stunning photographs from their outdoor ceremony. Swank wore two beautiful wedding gowns for her special day. Her first dress was an ethereal Elie Saab Couture creation that featured 25 meters of Chantilly lace, eight meters of silk chiffon, and six meters of organza silk and took 150 hours to create. “I’ve loved Elie Saab for years and was thrilled to have him design my dress,” Swank tells the fashion magazine. “I wanted something romantic that felt as timeless as the redwood grove where we were to be married, and he delivered -- designing something that far surpassed my greatest expectations. It was everything I imagined and more.” Her second dress was a custom-made Dior frock. Christian Louboutin designed both her wedding and tap shoes for her dance during her reception, which took place in a beautiful, rustic barn that’s over 100 years old. Mariska Hargitay was Swank's maid of honor. Misha Collins and Emmy Rossum were also in attendance. The couple began dating in 2016, shortly after the Million Dollar Baby star called off her engagement to tennis pro Ruben Torres, who had proposed in March of 2016. She was previously married to her Quiet Days co-star, Chad Lowe, for 10 years before splitting in 2007. For more on Swank's past relationships, watch below. RELATED CONTENT: Hilary Swank Wishes Her Dad a Happy 70th Birthday After Taking 3 Years Off to Care for Him Hilary Swank Opens Up About Taking 3-Year Hiatus From Acting to Take Care of Ailing Father Hilary Swank Breaks Off Engagement to Former Tennis Pro Ruben Torres Hilary Swank Calls Off Engagement To Tennis Pro Fiance Just Months After Proposal This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors. If you are using ad-blocking software, please disable it and reload the page. Related Gallery<doc-sep>Getty Actress Hilary Swank and boyfriend Philip Schneider have taken a big step in their relationship! Swank and Schneider, a producer, wed last weekend at the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel, California. Hilary walked down the aisle in an Elie Saab Haute Couture Atelier gown made of lace, chiffon, and organza silk. She told Vogue, “I've loved Elie Saab for years and was thrilled to have him design my dress. I wanted something romantic that felt as timeless as the redwood grove where we were to be married, and he delivered – designing something that far surpassed my greatest expectations. It was everything I imagined and more.” Hilary's maid of honor was Mariska Hargitay, while Philip's best man was Misha Collins. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Of the wedding, Hilary said, “It was timeless. There is just no other way to describe it. I was overwhelmed with such gratitude and thanks to be marrying the man of my dreams and to see all the people we love together in the middle of such a profound setting. It was truly a dream come true.” At the reception, they did their first dance to Moby's “In My Heart.” She shared, “I doubt we completely pulled off the modern-day version of Fred and Ginger, but we had fun, and our family and friends seemed to enjoy it. We prepared for it with the stellar and unparalleled Chloe Arnold and shocked ourselves and our guests by not stepping on each other's toes!” The two began dating in 2016, six months after she called off her engagement to tennis player Ruben Torres. More than a year later, Hilary and Philip got secretly engaged without anyone knowing until now. She shared, “We stumbled upon a beautiful sanctuary deep in the mountains. It had a stunning waterfall that cascades down to rustic cabins built in the 1800s surrounded by beautiful pines and big skies. One evening, Philip dropped to his knee in front of the waterfall and proposed – he sweetly made sure my dogs were nearby so they could bear witness!”<doc-sep>
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Actress Hilary Swank has taken on a new role — as a bride! Over the weekend, the 44-year-old star wed her boyfriend of nearly two years, Philip Schneider, in a secret ceremony that isn't a secret any more. Swank opened up about her nuptials in an interview with Vogue. "It was timeless," she said of the ceremony that took place in a redwood grove in Carmel, California. "There is just no other way to describe it. I was overwhelmed with such gratitude and thanks to be marrying the man of my dreams and to see all the people we love together in the middle of such a profound setting." She called it "a dream come true." The two-time Oscar winner met the social venture entrepreneur on a blind date in 2016, and a year and a half later, they were engaged. "Supernatural" star Misha Collins arranged for that first meeting and served as best man at their wedding. "Law & Order: SVU" leading lady Mariska Hargitay was the maid of the honor. Swank wore a hand-embroidered Chantilly lace gown in silk chiffon and organza by Elie Saab Couture. "I’ve loved Elie Saab for years and was thrilled to have him design my dress," she said. "I wanted something romantic that felt as timeless as the redwood grove where we were to be married, and he delivered — designing something that far surpassed my greatest expectations. It was everything I imagined and more." Actress Hilary Swank and Philip Schneider attended the 2018 French Open on June 10, in Paris, France. Getty Images The "Trust" star's father walked her down the aisle, which was something to celebrate on its own. In 2015, Swank took a break from her on-screen career to help care for dad Michael Swank following a lung transplant surgery. This is the second marriage for the actress. She wed actor Chad Lowe in 1997. The two divorced 10 years later.
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Higher wages are among the issues Pedersen and other educators from throughout Virginia plan to trumpet when they converge Monday in Richmond for a march to the Capitol. The rally, organized by the grass-roots group Virginia Educators United, is expected to mark the latest example of educators taking to the streets to protest a lack of money for public schools.<doc-sep>The Los Angeles teachers' strike is behind us, but more tension lies ahead: Teachers in Virginia plan to rally at the Capitol on Monday for more education funding. Back in California, Oakland teachers will vote this week on whether to strike. In Denver, a strike planned for Monday is on hold, pending a possible state intervention. In West Virginia, Republicans kicked off another showdown with teachers after GOP leaders drafted legislation that would tie new pay raises to limits on unions, larger class sizes and a sweeping enactment of school choice. All this comes on the heels of walkouts and strikes by teachers in 2018. What teachers want In general: higher salaries, smaller class sizes, more support staff and more respect. Over the past decade and a half, demands on teachers in terms of testing and accountability have gone up while their pay and authority have not. “The complexity of our jobs is that our working conditions are the kids’ learning conditions,” said Daniel Jocz, a high school history teacher in Los Angeles and a 2016 California Teacher of the Year. The day after the strike, Jocz, 39, subbed for a colleague’s class period and found himself trying to control 42 sixth-grade students in one room. “That many sixth-graders is exhausting,” he said. “Now imagine that on a bigger scale, where you’ve got kids speaking multiple languages and all needing help.” Labor is having a moment. Will it last? Teacher walkouts in Republican-controlled states such as West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentuckyand Arizona last year garnered national attention. Generally, the teachers gained pay increases and additional money for schools. Then came Los Angeles, an enormous urban school system in a blue state. A 6 percent pay increase over two years for teachers was largely settled before the strike began, which freed teachers to campaign for additional resources, such as more school nurses and smaller class sizes – which they won. “We are rebuilding community,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation for Teachers. “What you’re seeing is a labor movement that is learning how to become a movement again.” The wins may be short-lived. West Virginia teachers won a 5 percent pay raise after a statewide strike last year, but Republicans unveiled draft legislation Jan. 24 that would tie additional pay raises to larger class sizes. The bill would send more money to private schools and charter schools, which would be authorized in West Virginia for the first time. Mike Antonucci, who scrutinizes unions for the nonprofit education news website The 74, said a second coming of labor has been heralded before, “only to see more school choice and right-to-work laws enacted, and the unionization rates drop.” Teachers unions are "over-promising what they can achieve,” he said. More:Even when teachers strike, Americans give them high grades, poll shows. Unions fare worse. More money for schools. Maybe. Lawmakers in many red states are offering to increase education spending – a pivot from several years ago when the party sought to cut school budgets. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp proposed a $3,000 salary increase for teachers to help with retention, he said. The Texas Senate proposed a $5,000 raise for teachers. New Mexico lawmakers proposed funneling more money into public schools and boosting the base pay of mid-career teachers from about $44,000 per year to $50,000. Related:Teachers love their jobs but can't pay their bills, poll shows In Florida, lawmakers are considering whether to give schools more flexibility on how to pay teachers. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, proposed a state budget last week that includes $347 million more for schools over last year’s amount. Will the increases happen? Proposals are one thing; passing them into law is another. For example, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb encouraged districts to raise teacher pay, but the proposal doesn’t set aside additional money to fund those increases. More on Indiana:Teacher walkout possible if General Assembly ignores pay issue Teachers in office:Wins by Tony Evers, Jahana Hayes, Okla. teachers show 'new beginning' Richard Ingersoll, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education who studies the educator workforce, said he’s skeptical. “It’s very hard to increase salaries because there are so many teachers,” he said. Pensions and benefits costs are a problem As America wrestles with how much to pay teachers, health care costs and pensions eat up money that could go toward raises or classrooms. In Los Angeles, employee benefit costs increased 138 percent from 2001 to 2016, census data show. “Teacher salaries have not kept up with inflation over the past 20 years, but total compensation has,” said Chad Aldeman, a senior associate partner at the nonpartisan think tank Bellwether Education Partners. School districts and states must fulfill the promises they made to older and retired workers, while the same perks are cut for new workers. “As of today, it’s the worst time to become a teacher in terms of benefits,” Aldeman said. How to deal with it? Holcomb, Indiana’s Republican governor, proposed paying off part of the education system’s pension liability to free up about $70 million in school budgets. Arizona began requiring teachers and public workers to make higher payroll contributions into their pensions. Michigan’s Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed controversial legislation in 2017 that steers newly hired teachers into 401(k)-style plans rather than pension systems. Contributing: Nicquel Terry Ellis, USA TODAY; Arika Herron, Indianapolis Star Education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.<doc-sep>
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Educators, students and parents from around the commonwealth were among those who gathered in Richmond to demand more money for education — including higher pay for teachers. WASHINGTON — Teachers from around Virginia gathered Monday in Richmond for a large demonstration as educators, students, parents and other community members demanded more money dedicated to education. The schedule included a stop at Richmond’s Monroe Park and a rally in front of the state’s Capitol building. “We are marching and rallying to get more public education funding in the commonwealth of Virginia,” said Kevin Hickerson, president of the Fairfax Education Association. More than 50 members from Hickerson’s union made the trip there. Related News “Our students in other parts of the state deserve the same great education as we give in Northern Virginia, and we need to make sure that we stand in solidarity with those folks,” Hickerson said. “Our school systems are falling further and further behind.” The group Virginia Educators United organized the event, calling for more public education funding and higher teacher pay. “After a decade of budget cuts, Virginia’s schools have reached their breaking point,” the group said on its website. “We refuse to permit our kids to go to schools where the buildings are collapsing, where teachers are overworked and undercompensated, and where there are fewer and fewer resources every year.” The group said it wants school systems to take steps to recruit and retain high-quality teachers and to ensure that schools have adequate support staff, including counselors, nurses and social workers. There were other rallies planned across the country Monday after Los Angeles teachers declared victory in a six-day strike. They demanded smaller class sizes and more nurses and counselors. In several states, governors and lawmakers are moving preemptively to address grievances by proposing more money for education. The actions have fed off one another since the movement began last spring in West Virginia. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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There’s plenty to unpack after it has been announced the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a six-year extension for right guard Zack Martin. If the initial reports are correct, Martin’s six-year add-on will pay him an average of $14 million per season from 2019 through 2024. The deal makes Martin the highest-paid interior offensive lineman and the second highest-paid OL in the entire league. The devil is in the details, however, and although it is outrageous money to comprehend — and despite Martin being completely worth it — there is a bit more to the story. The deal is likely to be just a four-year deal with three team options attached to the back end. This isn’t to say the team only plans on employing him for four years, just that Dallas is protected a bit from catastrophic possibilities. Here’s why. Although we have yet to receive the full year-by-year details of the agreement, we have enough backstory to analyze the expected breakdown. As Todd Archer reported, Martin has $40 million guaranteed of the deal and half of that, $20 million, is in signing bonus. Unlike NBA and MLB contracts, NFL deals aren’t fully guaranteed. Teams are allowed to cancel out the final years of a player’s deal as long as there is no guaranteed money associated with it. Signing bonuses are paid up front, and although they are prorated over up to five years and the cap hit can force teams to keep a player, the team has the option of releasing a guy and making no further deposits into his checking account. Martin’s $40 million guaranteed will almost certainly be paid out to him over the first three years of the deal; 2018, 2019 and 2020. On top of the $20 million signing bonus, the first-year salary is also obviously guaranteed. We covered yesterday how the amount of the signing bonus and the $3 million of cap savings reported by ESPN’s Archer means the Cowboys reduced Martin’s base salary from $9.341 million to around $2.341 million. So that’s $22.341 million of $40 million, leaving $17.659 million guaranteed over 2019 and 2020. That easily sounds like guaranteeing the full base salary from his second year of the deal (2019) and part of the 2020 base salary as well. That’s only three years of a seven-year agreement the team is 100 percent committed to paying Martin. The fourth year gets guaranteed thanks to the signing bonus allocation. 2021 and 2022 will each have $4 million cap hits based on the equal five-part proration of the $20 million signing bonus. If the Cowboys release Martin prior to the fourth season of the deal (2021), the 2022 allocation would accelerate onto the 2021 cap. That would be an $8 million charge for him to no longer play on the team. There have to be very dire circumstances (cough, Dez Bryant, cough) of regression and a shift in philosophy for the team to consider eating that amount of money. It’s possible they would do that, but highly improbable. That’s why Martin’s deal is essentially for just four seasons. If after that point the team still feels he’s integral, they’ll be able to keep him on the team for the more expensive seasons. None of those would be guaranteed for Martin. They would essentially be team options. To be more frank, the deal is for just three years, the team has an $8 million penatly to escape at that point, and then four consecutive team options. There are things that can change this. If the Cowboys have a big number for the second-year base salary and choose to restructure (as they have with several other big deals in the past), that extends the guaranteed cap hit through the sixth year of the deal. That provides more security to Martin, as the total allocation “on the books” for 2021 and 2022 rises from $8 million to likely well over $12 million to $14 million. At that point it essentially makes 2021 a guaranteed season. Dallas has done things like this in order to keep the first two years of a player’s cap hit low, while also giving them security towards the back-middle of the deal. When including the 2018 salary, Martin’s total deal is $93.41 million, again per ESPN. That is an actual average annual value of $13.34 million per season. That is just a hair more than the average annual value Andrew Norwell received in free agency in March, $13.30 million. The Cowboys actually got a bit of a hometown discount as Martin is the much more accomplished player.<doc-sep>Al Pereira/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys have locked down offensive guard Zack Martin by signing him to a six-year contract extension that makes him the highest-paid guard in NFL history, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The six-year contract is worth $84 million and $40 million guaranteed, Rapoport reported Wednesday. The deal includes the largest guaranteed salary for the position. Andrew Norwell previously held these records after signing a $66.5 million deal over five years with the Jacksonville Jaguars in March, featuring $30 million in guarantees. Martin has established himself as one of the best in the NFL at his position, earning a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first four seasons. He was named first-team All-Pro twice in this stretch, adding two more selections to the second team. Pro Football Focus rated him as the No. 3 offensive guard in the league in 2016 and No. 2 overall in 2017 behind only David DeCastro of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has especially excelled as a run-blocker, ranking as the top player at his position in the ground game. Additionally, he has started all 64 regular-season and three playoff games for the Cowboys in his time in the league. This skill set and durability are a big reason the organization was determined to sign him to a long-term contract. Video Play Button Videos you might like "I think he's an important part of our future," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said in July of 2017, per Rob Phillips of the team's official website. "He represents everything we want our players to be about. He's not only a great player on the field, he's a great person off the field." Although the two sides weren't able to come together on a deal prior to last season, the player remained confident in finding a long-term deal. "I was lucky enough to be drafted here and I want to be here for my career," Martin said in December, per Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News. "Hopefully we can get something worked out." They were finally able to come to an agreement, keeping intact one of the top offensive lines in the NFL that also features Pro Bowlers Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick. Although the team took a step back in 2017 while finishing with a 9-7 record, there is enough talent available to return to prominence in 2018. With young stars like Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott still playing under their rookie contracts for the next few years, Dallas could remain a top contender in the NFC for several seasons.<doc-sep>
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With the news that the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a contract extension with guard Zack Martin, the team is entrusting it’s future to their offensive line. Since 2011, the Dallas Cowboys have used three of their eight first round picks on offensive lineman. And during April’s NFL Draft, they used a second rounder to secure another. The Cowboys decided a long time ago that they were going all-in on building a talented offensive line. But high draft selections were just one half of the cost. When those rookie contracts expire, the cost of re-signing these talented trench warriors takes another toll on the team. On Monday, the most talented of Dallas’ offensive lineman, Zack Martin, appears to be getting a massive contract extension from the Cowboys. And that reported deal should not only make Martin the highest paid player at his position, but he has also been apparently given the largest guaranteed money ever awarded to an offensive guard in league history. That news according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. The exact numbers have yet to be released, but we know Martin’s contract will be bigger than the five-year, $66.5 million contract Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive guard Andrew Norwell signed back in March. But if any NFL player is worth that kind of payday, it’s Martin. The 27-year old lineman has been a Pro Bowler every single season he’s been in the NFL. He’s also been named to the All-Pro first or second team every year as well. Quite simply, Martin is the best player at his position and is going to be paid like it. Martin’s potential new six-year extension should make him apart of the Cowboys offensive line until 2024. He’ll be joined by fellow former first round pick center Travis Frederick, who inked an eight-year, $66.56 million contract back in 2016. And premier left tackle Tyron Smith, who signed a ten-year, $109 million deal in 2014. This talented trio added a potential first round pick back in 2015 when they signed likely the greatest rookie free agent in league history in LSU’s La’el Collins. The 24-year old inked a two-year, $15.4 million extension just last year, prior to shifting from left guard to starting right tackle. The Cowboys then selected Texas offensive lineman Connor Williams in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft to presumably fill the vacant spot at left guard, thus completing the team’s massive investment into their offensive line. Due to this potential new deal struck with Zack Martin, the Dallas Cowboys continue to push all of their chips in on this offensive line being the difference maker in the standings. The Cowboys have possibly made an over-investment in both monies and draft picks to this positional unit. To the point were the team is weaker in other areas because of it. Dallas must win now in order to prove they were right to invest so much on one area of their roster.
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A Brazilian woman accused of assaulting a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat at a Mexican restaurant in Falmouth earlier this month now faces possible deportation after police learned she is an illegal immigrant. Rosiane Santos, 41, is accused of assaulting 23-year-old Bryton Turner of Mashpee, who was out to dinner with friends at Casa Vallarta wearing a “MAGA” hat. ALSO READ: Howie Carr’s latest take on how mainstream media ignored this story Santos was arrested Feb. 15 for assault and battery and disorderly conduct. Santos was taken into ICE custody Tuesday morning and was released later that day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman John Mohan said she is a citizen of Brazil who had overstayed her tourist visa in 1994. Mohan said Santos was released under orders to appear before an immigration judge at a future date. In a video taken by Turner, Santos is seen pulling Turner’s MAGA hat over his face and taunting him. Turner told the Herald that Santos confronted him in the restaurant right away. “The minute I walked in, she said, ‘What does your hat say?’ So I tilted my head to show her and she said, ‘Why would you wear that hat? '” Turner said. “I told her it’s America I can wear this hat, I can wear any hat wherever I want.” Turner said he continued to eat his meal but Santos was telling the bartender to “poison his drink.” “She just grabbed my hat and started throwing it and I was trying to hang onto it,” Turner said. “I was just in shock that somebody would act this way.” Turner said the bartender asked Santos to calm down and leave the bar. Santos did not respond to requests for comment. A police report said Santos told cops that Turner “shouldn’t be allowed in a Mexican restaurant with that hat.” Police reported that Santos smelled like alcohol and was slurring her speech. As cops escorted her out of the restaurant, she allegedly hit Turner over the head and refused to cooperate with police. Turner told the Herald he bought the MAGA hat about a month ago and wears it often, but has never been confronted over it before. “I am absolutely going to keep wearing it because if I stop wearing it these people win,” said Turner. “There is an attack on freedom of speech these days, especially the MAGA hat.” Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies said of Santos’ release that ICE “doesn’t have detention space to hold everyone.” “ICE has its hands full dealing with drug traffickers, gang members and a lot of drunk drivers,” she said. But Vaughn added, “It was a hate crime motivated by her animus toward President Trump and his supporters, and that’s very serious.”<doc-sep>A woman who allegedly attacked a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat in Massachusetts is reportedly facing deportation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Tuesday that Rosiane Santos is in the U.S. illegally and that she had been taken into its custody, according to CBS Boston. The announcement comes weeks after video surfaced of Santos getting into a confrontation with a man, Bryton Turner, as he was eating at a Mexican restaurant. ADVERTISEMENT Turner shared a video on Facebook showing Santos swiping his red "MAGA" hat off his head and calling him stupid. The footage had been viewed about 146,000 times as of Tuesday evening. Police in Falmouth, Mass., said that Santos allegedly confronted Turner verbally after the incident. She has been charged with disorderly conduct, according to CBS Boston. Santos was taken into ICE custody on Tuesday and was later released. CBS Boston noted that she has been ordered to appear before an immigration judge for proceedings regarding her removal. “Deportation officers with ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosiane Santos, an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil, today near Falmouth, Massachusetts,” ICE spokesman John Mohan told CBS Boston. Turner told CBS Boston that he didn't really "understand why people can’t just express themselves anymore, everybody has to get mad.” The red hat flashing Trump's signature slogan has fueled similar incidents in recent years. A San Antonio man was arrested in July 2018 after video surfaced showing him harass a teenager wearing the hat.<doc-sep>A woman accused of assaulting a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat in a Cape Cod restaurant now faces possible deportation after being detained by federal agents.Rosiane Santos faces charges including assault after the confrontation in the Mexican restaurant. Video from the event was posted to Facebook on Feb. 15 by Bryton Turner, the man who was wearing the red cap.The video shows the woman grabbing the cap off his head and pulling it down over his eyes while he spoke to the camera. Turner declined to speak with WCVB about the video, but granted permission for its use. According a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Santos is a citizen of Brazil who is in the country unlawfully. She was arrested by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team Monday near Falmouth. "She has since been released from ICE custody after being entered into removal proceedings in the federal immigration courts and provided a Notice to Appear at a future date before an immigration judge," an ICE spokesperson said. A woman accused of assaulting a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat in a Cape Cod restaurant now faces possible deportation after being detained by federal agents. Rosiane Santos faces charges including assault after the confrontation in the Mexican restaurant. Video from the event was posted to Facebook on Feb. 15 by Bryton Turner, the man who was wearing the red cap. Advertisement The video shows the woman grabbing the cap off his head and pulling it down over his eyes while he spoke to the camera. Turner declined to speak with WCVB about the video, but granted permission for its use. This content is imported from Facebook. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. According a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Santos is a citizen of Brazil who is in the country unlawfully. She was arrested by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Team Monday near Falmouth. "She has since been released from ICE custody after being entered into removal proceedings in the federal immigration courts and provided a Notice to Appear at a future date before an immigration judge," an ICE spokesperson said.<doc-sep>
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A woman who was arrested last week for allegedly attacking a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat at a Massachusetts restaurant is an illegal immigrant from Brazil, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said. ICE officers detained Rosiane Santos, 41, on Tuesday after they discovered she was in the U.S. illegally, Boston 25 News reported. "Deportation officers with ICE's Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosie Santos, an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil," ICE said in a statement. "Santos is facing local charges for assault and other offenses. She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts." WOMAN ASSAULTS MAN WEARING ‘MAGA’ HAT AT MEXICAN EATERY, CLAIMS SHE'S THE VICTIM, VIDEO SHOWS Santos, who was living in Falmouth, was charged with disorderly conduct, assault and battery after a confrontation at the Casa Vallarta Mexican Restaurant last Friday. Bryton Turner, 23, told police he was at the restaurant when Santos started yelling at him because he was wearing the iconic red hat made famous during Trump’s presidential campaign. Turner recorded the incident on his phone. The video showed Santos walking behind him and hitting his hat off his head. MAGA-HAT WEARING TEEN CLAIMS CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL WOULDN'T PERMIT HER TO WEAR HAT “That’s the problem – the problem with America these days. People are just ignorant,” Turner said in the video. Geo Macarao, a bartender at the restaurant, told Boston 25 that Turner did not provoke Santos in the incident. "No, no he just walked in and ordered his food,” Macarao said. Santos later told responding police officers that Turner shouldn’t be allowed to eat at the restaurant because he supported Trump, who is calling to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP She later said she regretted the incident but claimed she was provoked, Boston 25 reported. “I had a little bit to drink maybe that’s the reason that I couldn’t walk away but being discriminated for so many times in my life, I just had to stand up for myself,” she said. “He’s not a victim. I am the victim. I have been bullied, OK?” Fox News' Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.
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Former President George Bush, center, waves as he leaves with cardiologist Mark Hausknecht, left, and Bush's family doctor Ben Orman, right, after a news conference at Methodist Hospital Friday, Feb. 25, 2000 in Houston. Bush spent Thursday night in a Florida hospital and was released Friday after being treated for atrial fibrillation. He returned to Houston Friday and was admitted to Methodist Hospital for further tests. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Houston Police released new video of the man who they believe shot and killed prominent cardiologist Dr. Mark Hausknecht in broad daylight on June 20. In the video, taken from a residential surveillance system, the suspect is seen riding a bicycle through a nearby neighborhood "immediately following the doctor's shooting," according to Houston PD. The footage is from the same Houston street where neighbors were going door to door asking others to scrub through surveillance footage looking for images of the suspect. Houston Police released a photo of Joseph James Pappas, 65, who is a suspect in the murder of Dr. Mark Hausknecht (CNN) — “He was very gentle, he was very caring, he offered a lot to people in need,” Dr. Neal Kleiman said. “That was his personality, and that was his family’s personality, too.” Pappas, 62, planned Dr. Mark Hausknecht’s killing – apparently over his mother’s death – and last month followed the doctor as he rode his bicycle to work at Houston Methodist Hospital, according to authorities. Both men were on their bikes on July 20 when Pappas rode past Hausknecht before turning around and fatally shooting him, police said. The prominent surgeon and former cardiologist for President George H.W. Bush was found near a construction site with hundreds of workers, but the equipment was loud enough to mask the sounds of gunfire. “It appears that this may be a 20-year-old grudge that this man held,” Police Chief Art Acevedo said Wednesday. “There was a lot of planning that went into this. There was a lot of planning and sadly some skill.” Police issued an arrest warrant for Pappas after they searched his home and did not find him. The suspect has multiple firearms and has made phone calls indicating he was considering suicide, Acevedo said. “This man is dangerous, this man is capable, this man has some skills (with firearms),” he said. 02:16 - Source: CNN Police: Houston cardiologist likely targeted Hausknecht’s family released a statement Thursday thanking Houston police and others who helped identify a suspect, and asking the public to focus on Pappas’ photo and contact police if they know where he is. Surveillance video helped identify him In the days following the shooting, the motive and the suspect’s identity remained a mystery. Police said the doctor was likely targeted and implored witnesses to come forward with any information. Houston Police Dept Houston Police released a photo of Joseph James Pappas, who is a suspect in the death of Dr. Mark Hausknecht. Stunned friends and neighbors canvassed the area where police believe the gunman may have fled. They encouraged residents to look through their security camera footage for images of the suspect. Surveillance video obtained by a neighbor allowed investigators to enhance the suspect’s photo, which helped identify him, police said. On Tuesday, someone said they recognized the suspect in surveillance video released a day before. When police searched Pappas’ home, “we found plenty of evidence that … showed an extreme interest by (Pappas) in the doctor,” Acevedo told CNN on Thursday. “If you think about his fascination with the doctor and the fact that he ends up killing this man in cold blood, the only thing we can think of is the connection between his mother dying over 20 years ago during surgery,” Acevedo said. “Until we talk to him, we can’t say definitively that that’s the motivation behind this killing, but there’s nothing else that would explain it.” Suspect’s number is linked to firearms website Acevedo said there’s other evidence that leads them to believe Pappas is the shooter, but did not provide additional details. Other surveillance images showed the suspected gunman just behind Hausknecht as both headed north on a street, police said. Police posted images on Twitter in which Hausknecht is highlighted with a green circle and the suspect with a red circle. CNN called a phone number listed for Pappas’ real estate company Wednesday, but the call went to voice mail. That phone number is linked to recent listings on a firearms auction website for several guns, ammunition, tactical vests and ballistic plates for car doors. The posts, from a user in Houston, apparently went online days after the shooting. It is unclear whether any of the firearms listed online were used in the shooting. A spokesman for Houston police declined to comment on the ads. Suspect worked as a constable for decades Pappas worked for 30 years as a constable, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. He worked for Harris County as a peace officer and a reserve officer from May 1983 to July 2013. Pappas took law enforcement classes through August last year, and appeared to own multiple guns, police said. Doctor remembered as quiet and friendly Hausknecht and his wife, Georgia Hsieh, lived in an upscale neighborhood not far from the Texas Medical Center in southwest Houston. In addition to his wife, who is a retired emergency room physician, Hausknecht is survived by two adult sons, Matthew and Paul. Friends and colleagues remembered him as a quiet, generous and kind person. “The man who healed so many hearts during his life, has left so many broken by his death,” a Houston Chronicle obituary read. CNN’s Jamiel Lynch and Sonia Moghe contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Joseph James Pappas was wanted in the murder of a Houston cardiologist. The days-long search for the suspected killer of a Houston doctor who once treated former President George H.W. Bush came to an abrupt end Friday morning when he took his own life as authorities closed in on him, police said. Joseph James Pappas, 62, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police officers located and confronted him in a residential neighborhood in southwest Houston, according to the city's police chief, Art Acevedo. Pappas was pronounced dead on the scene. "This is our suspect. The suspect is deceased," Acevedo announced at a press conference Friday. "He committed suicide when he was confronted by two members of the Houston Police Department here in the southwest division." Pappas was wanted in the murder of local cardiologist Mark Hausknecht, who previously treated the 41st president. Hausknecht, 65, was gunned down on July 20 while riding his bike to work at Houston Methodist Hospital, which is part of the Texas Medical Center. "He was a brilliant physician, and he's touched a lot of lives," Acevedo said at a press conference Wednesday. Houston police have been searching for Pappas for the past several days since identifying him as the murder suspect and issuing a warrant for his arrest. Police conducted a search warrant at Pappas' residence Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and discovered a "very extensive intelligence file" that the suspect had allegedly gathered on Hausknecht, according to Acevedo. The file also contained the names of "a couple dozen" potential doctors and other employees of the Texas Medical Center, which was notified of the discovery. "He knew everything there was to know," Acevedo told reporters Friday. Police believe Pappas may have had a longtime grudge against Hausknecht. Some 20 years ago, Pappas' mother died while the surgeon was operating on her, according to Acevedo. On Friday morning, around 9:30 a.m. local time, police received a call about a confirmed sighting. The witness, who works for the Houston Parks Board, told police he was on duty when he came across an individual sitting near Sims Bayou whom he thought might be a graffiti vandal. The witness said he made contact with the man, who stretched his arms out and walked away. The witness told police he then found a wallet near where the man had been sitting, and inside was an identification card for Pappas. Within minutes, police units were deployed to the area and an officer spotted Pappas, according to Acevedo. The officer got out of his marked police vehicle, drew his gun at Pappas and repeatedly ordered him to put his hands in the air. Pappas, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, wasn't complying and kept his right hand concealed. He apparently mentioned "something about suicide" to the officer, Acevedo said. Another officer arrived on scene to assist. As the two officers began positioning themselves in a "T formation" on the suspect, Pappas took out a gun and shot himself in the head, Acevedo said. "I'm thankful that we're going to end this week with a great sense of relief in the city of Houston and the Texas Medical Center," the police chief said. "I'm convinced that had we not had that second officer arrive from a different angle, we might have had a shootout here." ABC News' Jennifer Harrison, Julia Jacobo, Marcus Moore and Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Chief Acevedo said last week there is a “high probability” Dr. Hausknecht was “targeted” The Houston Police Department says new video it posted on Twitter shows the suspect cycling in an “area neighborhood immediately following the shooting” of Dr. Mark Hausknecht. In addition, HPD released three images captured from the footage and is urging any person that has information on the suspect’s identity to contact the Homicide Division at 713-308-3600. People can also contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. HPD Chief Art Acevedo said last week there is a “high probability” Dr. Hausknecht was “targeted.” UPDATE #6: Additional surveillance video released of the suspect in an area neighborhood immediately following the doctor's shooting. No other details at this time. Anyone w/ information urged to contact HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or @CrimeStopHOU at 713-222-TIPS. #hounews pic.twitter.com/nWp9EyRQlk — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) July 30, 2018 UPDATE #7: Still pictures of the shooting suspect taken from the surveillance video. Anyone with information on his identity is urged to contact HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or @CrimeStopHOU at 713-222-TIPS. #hounews pic.twitter.com/1pesnT9rfv — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) July 30, 2018 Subscribe to Today in Houston Fill out the form below to subscribe our new daily editorial newsletter from the HPM Newsroom. Email* First Name Last Name * required<doc-sep>
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Pappas died from a single self-inflicted shot to the head, Houston police Chief Art Acevedo said Joseph James Pappas, 62, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Dr. Mark Hausknecht, killed himself on Friday morning during an encounter with two police officers in southwest Houston. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said during a press conference that the Houston Police Department had received a call about Pappas’ location. Acevedo detailed Pappas was wearing a bulletproof vest. HPD @artacevedo provides update on search for suspect Pappa's https://t.co/8JVx546gEd — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) August 3, 2018 Joseph James Pappas, 62, was accused of shooting Dr. Mark Hausknecht on July 20, while the cardiologist rode his bike to work at Houston Methodist Hospital. Authorities have said Pappas might have been seeking revenge for his mother, who died on the doctor’s operating table more than 20 years ago, in April 1997. Authorities on Wednesday had announced Pappas as a suspect in the death, saying he should be considered armed, dangerous and possibly suicidal. Police found him Friday after a city worker reported seeing him. Pappas died from a single self-inflicted shot to the head, Houston police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters a short time after Pappas’ death, with his body still at the scene. Pappas was wearing a bulletproof vest during the confrontation and shot himself after a second police unit arrived, Acevedo said. ABC 13 Eyewitness News reported that, according to investigators, Pappas had two guns on him, as well as a backpack but, so far, there is no information on its contents. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s statement on the death of Pappas: "The potential threat to the City from an accused murderer considered armed and dangerous is now over, closing another chapter of this horrific tragedy. And once again it involved heroic acts by frontline officers of the Houston Police Department, which has my gratitude for how it has handled this case and so many others,” said Turner. “But they could not have succeeded in this case without information and support from members of the public. I encourage everyone who has information about pending and future cases to come forward and help our city save lives," said Turner. My statement on the death today of the accused killer of Dr. Mark Hausknecht: https://t.co/IPOuyVAODW @HoustonPolice @HoustonTX — Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) August 3, 2018 Pappas had worked in law enforcement for more than 30 years and was also a licensed real estate agent, state records show. Friday’s confrontation occurred about 3 1/2 miles from his Houston home. Hausknecht was shot in broad daylight at the Texas Medical Center, a 1,345-acre complex of hospitals and medical institutions that in the morning is busy with traffic, medical professionals heading to work, people going to medical appointments and construction workers. Autopsy results show he was shot three times, including in the head and torso. Police have said the shots that Pappas was accused of firing as he also rode on a bike “took some skill.” Pappas also put together an extensive intelligence file on the doctor, which investigators found at his home, according to police. Pappas had worked from 1983 through 1995 as a peace officer with two Houston-area constable offices. He also worked from 1995 through 2013 as a reserve officer for these same constable offices, according to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Friends and family have described Hausknecht as a humble and generous man who was adored by his patients, volunteered in his community and cared about the environment. Hausknecht was also an avid cyclist and rode his bike to work each morning, as he lived less than 2 miles from his office. In 2000, Hausknecht treated George H. W. Bush for an irregular heartbeat after the ex-president complained about lightheadedness. No disciplinary action had ever been taken against Hausknecht, according to the Texas Medical Board. Subscribe to Today in Houston Fill out the form below to subscribe our new daily editorial newsletter from the HPM Newsroom. Email* First Name Last Name * required
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Some critics of Nike's ad starring Colin Kaepernick say the company should have instead featured former NFL player and army ranger Pat Tillman, who died in Afghanistan in 2004. Many on the right argue that Tillman better embodies the advertisement's tagline: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." Tillman's widow has asked that people not pit her late husband against protesting NFL players in the past, saying in a 2017 statement: "The very action of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one's heart — no matter those views — is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for." Some critics of Nike's ad starring Colin Kaepernick are arguing that a different former NFL player should be featured in the company's new "Just Do It" ad. On Monday, Kaepernick shared an image of his face on Twitter, with the words: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." The image was retweeted by Nike, reportedly kicking off a new multi-year deal between the former NFL player and the sportswear company. Kaepernick was one of the first athletes to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality, sparking a movement of players doing the same. Many on the right, including President Donald Trump, have since criticized NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem, with Trump calling for players to be fired. The Nike ad immediately sparked controversy, with many critics rallying around a different former NFL player: Pat Tillman. Tillman died by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004, two years after he left the NFL to enlist in the military. Among the people tweeting about Tillman was Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, who posted a photo of the former NFL player in Arizona Cardinals gear, with the caption: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." Tillman himself was a free thinker who had criticized the US military, something many on the left were quick to point out. After Tillman died in an incident in which he was shot by his platoonmates in 2004, the US government reportedly obscured information surrounding his death from the public and Tillman's own family. Further, Tillman's widow, Marie Tillman, has asked in the past that Tillman not be pitted against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality. "The very action of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one's heart — no matter those views — is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for. Even if they didn't always agree with those views," Tillman said in a statement to CNN following Trump's condemnation of the protests in 2017.<doc-sep>Critics of the new Nike ad featuring national anthem protester Colin Kaepernick, say that a better face for the sportswear giant’s campaign would have been former Arizona Cardinals player and Afghan War hero Pat Tillman. Nike released its new “Just Do It” ad featuring Kaepernick late on Monday night. But the campaign met with immediate condemnation. The ad features an extreme close-up of Kaepernick gazing into the camera with the caption, “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” over his face. Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO — Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018 But many feel there is a far more worthy face for the Nike 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign than former San Francisco 49ers second-string quarterback Colin Kaepernick. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, some fans are suggesting the shoe maker feature Tillman instead of Kaepernick. “Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals football player, and Army Ranger, was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire in 2004,” the paper reported. “Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016, saying he was drawing attention to racial inequality.” As soon as Nike’s Kaepernick ad hit the Internet, supporters of Tillman leaped into action: Pat Tillman was a NFL football player that quit the NFL to join the army after 9/11. In 2004 he died in Afghanistan due to friendly fire. pic.twitter.com/qUbOYn7R87 — KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) September 4, 2018 Just putting it out there that Pat Tillman sacrificed just a *bit more than Colin Kaepernick. — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 3, 2018 Hey @nike instead of paying punks who advance anti-American lies like @Kaepernick7 why don't you pay Pat Tillman's family for the rights to use his image – A REAL HERO who sacrificed everything! Why promote someone who blames racism for the fact he can't compete in the NFL? — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 4, 2018 Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. pic.twitter.com/xWtWZQLYil — Doug Collins (@Douglas_Collins) September 3, 2018 https://twitter.com/kingjustin1996/status/1036796903734882304 Still, Tillman’s widow asked people not to politicize her husband’s name telling the Republic that Tillman’s service “should never be politicized in a way that divides us.” In the meantime, Nike has already suffered a financial consequence for choosing Kaepernick for its campaign: Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.<doc-sep>Nike's announcement that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick would be the face of the company's upcoming "Just Do It" campaign was met with mixed reactions, with some detractors contrasting the quarterback with NFL star turned Army veteran Pat Tillman. Tillman's image was used as a contrasting example of who should be held in high esteem—but his biographer said Tillman would have been kneeling right alongside Kaepernick. Kaepernick began protesting social injustice and racial inequality by kneeling for the national anthem in 2016, and although he hasn't been on the NFL field since the 2016 season, other players continued his protest without him. Many people have shown strong support for the protest, while others are adamantly against it, and Monday's announcement was met with a similar variety of reactions. NBA star LeBron James, tennis star Serena Williams and comedian Kathy Griffin were among the people who vocalized their support for the former NFL quarterback and Nike. The hashtag #ImWithKap circulated online. Yet another hashtag that began appearing on social media was #BoycottNike, and some social media users who disagreed with the decision to feature Kaepernick even burned their Nike apparel. Given that Kaepernick's protest has been characterized by some as disrespectful to America's military troops and veterans, critics of Nike's campaign began posting photos of Kaepernick's quote on a picture of Tillman. However, Jon Krakauer, the author of Where Men Win Glory, a biography of Tillman, told The Washington Postthat the Army veteran would have sided with Kaepernick. "Pat would have found Kaepernick an extremely admirable person for what he believed in," Krakauer explained. "I have no doubt if he was in the NFL today, he would be the first to kneel. So there is irony about what is going on." Tillman enlisted in the Army following the attacks on September 11, 2001, turning down a multimillion dollar contract in the NFL. He was killed by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan in 2004 and has since become a role model and example of courage and heroism. The controversy surrounding Kaepernick's campaign with Nike isn't the first time Tillman's sacrifice for his country has been used by critics to argue against Kaepernick's protest. In 2017, Tillman's wife, Marie, asked people to stop using his name to divide people politically. "Pat's service, along with that of every man and woman's service, should never be politicized in a way that divides us," she told CNN. "We are too great of a country for that." Marie added that service members are fighting for the American ideals of "freedom, justice and democracy," knowing the cost of that fight. She explained that Pat and all others who gave their lives to serve their country did so for the "very action of self-expression and freedom to speak from one's heart." After being let go from the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging that owners colluded to keep him out of a job as a football player. He has since remained active in his fight for social justice.<doc-sep>
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After Nike chose Colin Kaepernick as the face of its 30th anniversary 'Just Do It' campaign, some suggest former NFL player Pat Tillman would have opposed players taking a knee. Former Arizona State University and Arizona Cardinals football player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman is back in the political spotlight after Nike on Monday revealed the face of its 30th-anniversary campaign: Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick, a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, garnered international attention in 2016 when he began kneeling during the national anthem to push for racial equality and draw attention to police brutality. The new ad depicts his face and the quote, "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO — Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018 The ad drew passionate support and opposition on social media, with some promising to buy more Nike products and others posting videos setting their Nikes on fire. But among the most consistent themes were comments about how the company should have chosen Tillman's face instead, and alleging that Tillman would have been opposed to NFL players taking a knee during the anthem. Pat Tillman was a NFL football player that quit the NFL to join the army after 9/11. In 2004 he died in Afghanistan due to friendly fire. pic.twitter.com/qUbOYn7R87 — KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) September 4, 2018 Political pundits also weighed in, including Fox commentator Stephen Miller, who said the soldier sacrificed "just a bit more" than Kaepernick. Just putting it out there that Pat Tillman sacrificed just a *bit more than Colin Kaepernick. — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 3, 2018 Others pushed back, saying Tillman would have supported players' right to peacefully protest or suggesting they leave Tillman out of the debate altogether. Pat Tillman, who I met and profiled, was smart, thoughtful and principled, with zero tolerance for b.s. It's sickening that anyone would weaponize his name for low-rent trolling, when PT isn't here to speak for himself. https://t.co/wbHWRC0kPV — Tim Layden (@SITimLayden) September 4, 2018 Just putting it out there that Pat Tillman vehemently opposed everything you stand for and you're garbage for invoking him or any other dead soldier to further the idea that peaceful protest is anything other than patriotic https://t.co/Lw1REhhnnW — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) September 4, 2018 Tillman, an Army Ranger who was initially lauded as a war hero for his death in combat, was killed by friendly fire. His family was not informed of this fact until after his nationally televised memorial service, despite several senior Army officials knowing prior to the service. After they learned of the circumstances of his death, Tillman's parents and his widow vocally criticized the Army for how they handled the situation. They also criticized President Donald Trump when he first referenced Tillman in relation to Kaepernick. Marie Tillman, the widow of the former NFL player, released a statement last year saying her husband's service "should never be politicized in a way that divides us." "As a football player and soldier, Pat inspired countless Americans to unify," she said. "It is my hope that his memory should always remind people that we must come together. Pat's service, along with that of every man and woman's service, should never be politicized in a way that divides us. We are too great of a country for that. Those that serve fight for the American ideals of freedom, justice and democracy. They and their families know the cost of that fight. I know the very personal costs in a way I feel acutely every day."
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It’s with a heavy heart that we report that one of our former Panther track athletes passed away in a horrible hit and run car crash last night here in Highland Park. Jesse Felix Zuniga will be missed by his family, friends and the Panther community. #RestInPower pic.twitter.com/5KiFHkC5tD — FHS Panthers Track (@FHSPantherTrack) May 5, 2019 HIGHLAND PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Two adult brothers were killed and two people were being sought after a violent hit-and-run in a residential neighborhood that was captured on surveillance video early Sunday morning, authorities said.Witnesses told police that a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck reached speeds of more than 80 mph before it slammed into a white Ford Fusion sedan about 1:10 a.m. in the 700 block of North San Pascual Avenue. Several parked cars were also struck.The Los Angeles Police Department released surveillance video that shows the high-speed collision, followed by the two occupants of the truck running from the scene. Detailed descriptions of that driver and passenger were not available.A neighbor said her 8-year-old son witnessed the horrific crash from inside their nearby home. According to the woman, the boy exclaimed: "I don't want to die! "The two men inside the sedan were pronounced dead at the scene. They were later identified by loved ones as 19-year-old Jesse Felix Zuniga and his brother, 25-year-old Ben Felix Zuniga.A neighbor said the two victims lived in a nearby home with their parents, and had apparently slowed down to park their car when it was hit by the truck.Asked if street racing may have been involved, LAPD Detective Jose De Leon responded: "No. This was not a race incident. There's nothing to support that -- only that the white truck appeared to be traveling at excessive speed of maybe 70, 80, 90 miles per hour. "On Twitter, Franklin High School's track team paid tribute to Jesse Felix Zuniga. "It's with a heavy heart that we report that one of our former Panther track athletes passed away in a horrible hit and run car crash last night here in Highland Park," the tweet said. "Jesse Felix Zuniga will be missed by his family, friends and the Panther community. #RestInPower" A GoFundMe page has been created in honor of the deceased brothers.<doc-sep>HIGHLAND PARK (CBSLA) — Dozens of people took part in a vigil in front of the apartment complex of the Felix-Zuniga family in Highland Park Monday night. The home is the site where Benigno Felix Senior lost both of his sons in a hit-and-run accident early Sunday morning. Related: Caught On Video: 2 Brothers Dead In Highland Park Hit-And-Run Crash Security video captured a white Chevy Silverado slamming into the car carrying 19-year-old Jesse Felix-Zuniga, a student at Cal State LA, and his 25-year-old brother, Benigno Felix-Zuniga Junior, a CSUN graduate. Investigators believe the suspect was driving about 80 mph when he hit the brothers. In the recording, you can see the truck’s driver running away after the crash. Police believe there was at least one passenger who fled the scene as well. Viviana Martinez, Begnino’s girlfriend, told CBSLA’s Jeff Nguyen, “I am personally praying for you. If you were in that vehicle. I am praying for your peace. So that you can come forward and give us what we deserve.” The victims’ girlfriends say the family deserves justice. Police have tracked down a couple of people who are the registered owners of the truck that they say is shared by a family. The owners have been cooperating with detectives, but a number of people who had access to the Chevy have been missing. At this point, it’s unclear who was in the truck early Sunday. Marisol Salazar, Jesse’s girlfriend, said, “Just left them there. They don’t deserve this. They were kind people who helped the community. Had a great impact. They were so nice to everyone.” Police say they have eliminated the registered owners as suspects due to their lack of injuries. The LAPD has put out a flyer announcing a $50,000 reward for information regarding the accident.<doc-sep>
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Authorities are searching for two people who fled the scene of a crash that killed two brothers in Highland Park early Sunday, police said. The brothers — identified by family members as 25-year-old Benny Felix-Zuniga and 19-year-old Jesse Felix-Zuniga — were driving in the 700 block of San Pascual Avenue about 1:15 a.m. when a white Chevy Silverado slammed into their car, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. A witness reported seeing the pickup truck traveling between 70 and 90 mph, Det. Jose De Leon told reporters at the scene. Authorities do not suspect the truck was racing despite the speed it was traveling. Video of the crash shows a man who was driving the truck and a passenger run from the vehicle, police said. Benny Felix-Zuniga was a recent graduate of Cal State Northridge, where he studied business, according to his family. Jesse Felix-Zuniga was a former track athlete at Franklin High School in Highland Park. “Jesse Felix-Zuniga will be missed by his family, friends and the Panther community,” the track program said in a tweet. A GoFundMe page set up to cover funeral expenses raised more than $19,000 in less than a day. It’s with a heavy heart that we report that one of our former Panther track athletes passed away in a horrible hit and run car crash last night here in Highland Park. Jesse Felix Zuniga will be missed by his family, friends and the Panther community. #RestInPower pic.twitter.com/5KiFHkC5tD — FHS Panthers Track (@FHSPantherTrack) May 5, 2019 [email protected] Twitter: @Hannahnfry
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Dan Evans’ fine run continued (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) Dan Evans booked his spot in just a second career ATP final with a fine victory over world No. 9 John Isner on Saturday as his remarkable start to 2019 continued. The Birmingham-born star fought back from a set down against the big-serving American to clinch a famous 3-6 6-2 6-3 victory and earn a shot at clinching a first tour-level title. In doing so, Evans has now positioned himself just outside of the world’s top-100. Less than a year ago, having returned from a year-long cocaine ban, he didn’t have a ranking. After months of rebuilding his ranking at Challenger level and below, Evans has shot himself back towards the big time in 2019. Isner was beaten (Picture: Getty Images) Having stormed through Australian Open qualifying, he pushed 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer hard in the main draw before reaching the final in the Quimper challenger. Again, Evans came through qualifying in Delray Beach and he stopped defending champion Frances Tiafoe in the opening round. An impressive win against sixth seed Andreas Seppi booked his spot in the final four and after defeating Isner he will face either Mackenzie McDonald or Radu Albot in the final. The result should secure his spot in the main draw of the Slams for the foreseeable future whether he wins or loses in Sunday’s final. The British No. 3 got off to the worst possible start as he was broken in his opening service game and he barely landed a glove on the Isner serve as he fell a set down. Evans came through (Picture: TPN/Getty Images) Finding his rhythm on return in the second, Evans broke the second seed twice to level the match. A third consecutive break came for the plucky Brit at the beginning of the decider, with Isner struggling to find his first serve. Evans soon won his seventh game on the spin to move 3-0 up but Isner did finally hold to stop the rot. Nothing would stop world No. 148 Evans, though, and he held his nerve to serve out the third top-10 win of his career. Gimelstob has been present at Isner matches before (Picture: Getty Images) An interesting sideshow was the presence of Justin Gimelstob. The American, a board member of the ATP, is facing charges of assault and has largely remained out of the public eye as his case is dealt with. But he was courtside to watch Isner – a close friend who he also cheered on at Wimbledon last year. Earlier on Saturday, Belinda Bencic defeated Petra Kvitova to impressively win the Dubai Tennis Championships. Bencic beat Kvitova (Picture: Getty Images) Bencic defeated the Czech second seed 6-3 1-6 6-2 and will rise inside the world’s top-25 when Monday’s rankings are released. The 21-year-old is a former world No. 7 and she played at that level throughout the week, seeing of a string of high-ranked players. Four top-10 stars were left by the wayside with Aryna Sabalenka, Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina and finally Kvitova all defeated in three-set matches. ‘It’s unbelievable. It’s incredible,’ the Swiss said. ‘I still can’t believe it. ‘The expectations after two rounds were not there any more, so many times I was close from defeat so it’s unbelievable I ended up winning this.’ In Rio, 23-year-old Serb Laslo Djere will contest the final after Aljaz Bedene withdrew due to a leg injury. Djere is into the final in Rio (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) The world No. 90 has provisionally climbed into the top-50 following the Slovenian’s withdrawal. His previous career-high ranking was world No. 83. Bedene said: ‘I was looking forward to the match today against Laslo and after having a few good weeks during this swing and enjoying playing in Rio, I feel sad that I have to withdraw from the semifinal today. ‘I had started feeling a pain in my right leg and during one sprint it got worse yesterday. I want to say sorry to all of my fans and thank you for supporting me this week. I hope to be back in the future to play again here in Rio.’ Djere will meet Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas or Canadian hotshot Felix Auger Aliassime in the final.<doc-sep>Dan Evans to get shot at first career title after stunning John Isner at Delray Beach Dan Evans will get the chance to win his first career title on Sunday after he toppled American heavyweight John Isner in the semi-finals of the Delray Beach Open. The 28-year-old, who is a full foot shorter than Isner, dropped the first set but battled on to claim a fine 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 success. “I got, not lucky, but I started to see his serve pretty well,” Evans told reporters. “I wouldn’t say guessing, but anticipating and got ‘em right. Other days I could be looking stupid going one way when he puts it another. “I returned really well when I got my racket on the ball, and that was my goal just to get the ball back.” It is a significant win for Evans as it should see him climb to around 105 in the world rankings, at least, securing him main draw entries for both the French Open and Wimbledon. Evans will next play Moldovan Radu Albot after he demolished MacKenzie McDonald 3-6, 6-0, 6-0 to reach his first career final. More from Tennis365:<doc-sep>Dan Evans produced one of the best wins of his career against the big-hitting John Isner to reach the final of the Delray Beach Open. Evans recovered from a difficult start to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 32 minutes to reach his second ATP Tour final. This has been the 28-year-old's best week since his return from a one-year ban for cocaine use last April, and the former British number two remains on course to claim his first ATP title. His last tour final was the 2017 Apia International Sydney when he lost to Luxembourg's Gilles Muller. This time either Mackenzie McDonald or Radu Albot will stand in his way in Sunday's final. Evans, who has guaranteed his return to the world's top 120, was giving away more than a foot in height to the 6ft 10ins Isner in the semi-final. And the omens did not look good as the American broke Evans' first service game to lead 2-0. Number two seed Isner closed out the first set with a second break of serve, but Evans responded superbly in the next set. Evans broke to lead 4-2 and dominated the final set.<doc-sep>The qualifier, who has largely played Challenger events since returning in April 2018, recovered from losing the first set to come through 3-6 6-2 6-3 in 92 minutes. He will meet an unseeded player in the final, with Rabu Albot lying in wait. The Romanian beat Mackenzie McDonald 3-6 6-0 6-0. Evans’ career looked in turmoil after he received a suspension following his positive drugs test, but he has mounted a fine revival and will break into the world’s top 100 with victory in Sunday’s final. ATP Madrid Evans battles past Millman to set up Zverev clash 05/05/2021 AT 14:54 His scalp list in Florida also includes third seed Frances Tiafoe and sixth seed Andreas Seppi, while he came through two rounds of qualifiers to make the main draw. ATP Madrid Evans battles past Chardy in tricky opener in Madrid 03/05/2021 AT 15:08<doc-sep>
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The 148th-ranked Evans has beaten three seeded players this week, also topping third-seed defending champion Frances Tiafoe in the first round and sixth-seeded Andrea Seppi in the quarterfinals. DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — English qualifier Daniel Evans upset second-seeded John Isner 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Delray Beach Open final. ''I just play every match as it comes,'' Evans said. ''I know it sounds very cliche.'' The semifinal victory marked the 40th tour-level match victory for Evans, who was suspended from the tour for a year in April 2017 after testing positive for cocaine. ''You have to stay resilient in the sport because it's so up-and-down,'' Evans said. ''Obviously, my downfall was by my own wrongdoing. Let's say mine was a mental issue.'' The 148th-ranked Evans has beaten three seeded players this week, also topping third-seed defending champion Frances Tiafoe in the first round and sixth-seeded Andrea Seppi in the quarterfinals. In Evans' only other tour final, he lost to Gilles Muller in 2017 in Sydney. In the night semifinal, American Mackenzie McDonald faced Radu Albot of Moldova. Isner also reached the Delray Beach semifinals in 2012, '13 and '14, but has never advanced to the final. The 6-foot-10 American also lost in the semifinal round last week in the New York Open. Isner held serve in all 31 service games he played this week until Evans broke him three times. ''There's something about the semifinals here, good lord,'' Isner said. ''I'm good enough to get into the semis. It's getting to me now. I just sort of did a walkabout. I think tactically I did some things poorly today and that's what cost me. He just kept hitting a lot of balls.''
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G-Eazy is taking the passing of Mac Miller hard, breaking down onstage in Florida during his concert Friday night. Following the news of his friend's death, the "Power" rapper put on a brave face and took the stage at MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amp, dedicating a song to his dear friend. With Mac Miller's face displayed on the big screen, G-Eazy began singing his hit "Everything Will Be OK," which divulges deep into real life issues. The rapper takes a break from the song, covers his eyes and turns away as the crowd cheers him on in support. G-Eazy later posted about the heartbreaking performance on Instagram, saying, "Performed everything will be ok for you tonight and fuckin broke down on stage. Rest peacefully bro, we miss you." Earlier in the day, he, along with several other celebrities, paid tribute to Mac on social media. As The Blast reported, Mac died at his home on Friday. Officials are currently trying to confirm the cause of death, telling us, the operating theory is a drug overdose but that has not been confirmed. He was 26 years old. Getty<doc-sep>Just hours after the unexpected passing of Mac Miller, G-Eazy says he "broke down" while paying tribute to his late friend and fellow rapper at a concert in Tampa, Florida. On Friday afternoon (Sept. 7), news broke that the Pittsburgh rapper, singer and producer had died from a reported drug overdose at his Los Angeles home. He was 26. Shortly after learning the news, G-Eazy wrote a heartfelt message on social media. "Mac you were like a brother to me and were there for me in the hardest of times, especially this summer. I can't believe this is real."<doc-sep>Among those reeling from the news of Mac Miller's death from an apparent drug overdose on Friday: His friend and fellow rapper G-Eazy, who performed hours later at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa. "I swear, life is so f—ing fragile," he said during an emotionally charged performance of Everything Will Be OK, as a giant photo of Miller filled the screen behind him. "Appreciate the moment. Be present in it. Tell people you love you care about them." The fact you came out performed 1000%, dedicated Everything Will Be Ok to @MacMiller, cried in front of us all, and continued to perform.... we fucking love you Gerald. Thank you for changing my life and many others. @G_Eazy pic.twitter.com/G4ke5Y31qt — Essency (@EssencyTrap) September 8, 2018 Earlier in the afternoon, G-Eazy wrote on Instagram that he was "completely devastated and heart broken" over the news. "Mac you were like a brother to me and were there for me in the hardest of times, especially this summer," he wrote. "I can't believe this is real." MORE COVERAGE: Rapper Mac Miller dead at 26 of apparent overdose, reports say Miller's death cast a pall over the show, which featured giant images of Miller and tributes from multiple acts on the lineup, which also included Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Uzi Vert. G-Eazy wrote on Instagram that he "broke down on stage" during his tribute to Miller. Joining G-Eazy in Tampa was off-again-on-again girlfriend Halsey, who tagged along for a promotional event at Clearwater's Quaker Steak and Lube on Thursday before popping up on stage Friday for a surprise performance of their hit Him & I. On her Instagram, Halsey wrote her own tribute to Miller, "for being the soundtrack to my high school years" and "for giving me songs I knew every single word to and screamed at the top of my lungs in my first car the year I got my license." She also thanked him "from the bottom of my heart for being such a good friend to Gerald (G-Eazy)." Miller performed several times in Tampa Bay over the years, including gigs at the State Theatre, Jannus Live and the Ritz Ybor. He was scheduled to headline Orlando's CFE Arena in November. G-Eazy performed at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa on Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Carole Liparoto) G-Eazy got through Friday's concert okay, but he still seemed shaken at the end of the night. After the show, he tweeted that he was cancelling a planned after-party. "Just doesn't seem appropriate or right," he wrote. — Jay Cridlin<doc-sep>
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On Friday (September 7th) we were all rocked by headlines of Mac Miller’s death from an apparent drug overdose. Among those particularly hit was his friend and fellow emcee G-Eazy, who had to perform a show in Tampa just hours after news broke of the 26-year old’s passing. As a result, he was among one of the first artists who would get the opportunity to pay their proper respects by dedicating a portion of their performance to the Pittsburgh rapper. “I swear, life is so fucking fragile," he said during an emotional performance of “Everything Will Be OK” before the crowd gathered at Tampa’s MidFlorida Credit Union Ampitheatre. "Appreciate the moment. Be present in it. Tell people you love you care about them." Before taking to the stage, he uploaded a tribute to Mac, uploading an old photo of the duo backstage together. “Completely devastated and heart broken I’m at a loss for words mac you were like a brother to me and were there for me in the hardest of times, especially this summer,” he wrote. “I can’t believe this is real. Please tell your friends and the people you care about you love them life is so fucking fragile. You will be missed and your music will live on forever through the millions of people you touched. Thank you for all you gave us, love you bro.” The same show had the likes of Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Uzi Vert billed to perform, with each act paying tribute to Mac Miller in some way while photos of the late rapper commanded the giant screens in the venue.
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Young migrant children, fighting through tears, can be heard crying "Mami" and "Papa" in an eight-minute audio clip first obtained by ProPublica. The children are believed to be between 4 and 10 years of age, and they're crying because their parents have been detained elsewhere after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to an activist who provided the recording. "Well, we have an orchestra here -- what's missing is a conductor," said a male voice on the recording, someone believed to be a U.S. Border Patrol agent. One of the children heard on the recording is a 6-year-old girl from El Salvador begging a consulate official to let her call her aunt. She repeats the digits and announces, through tears: "My mommy says that I'll go with my aunt, and that she'll come to pick me up there as quickly as possible." ProPublica caught up with the U.S.-based aunt -- herself seeking asylum in the country -- who confirmed that the little girl's family paid $7,000 to a guide to smuggle them into Mexico and then the U.S. The call she received from her niece rendered her powerless, she told ProPublica. "Imagine getting a call from your 6-year-old niece," she said. "She's crying and begging me to go get her. She says, 'I promise I'll behave, but please get me out of here. I'm all alone.'" ProPublica reported that the girl and the rest of the wailing children heard on the audio hadn't been at the facility a full 24 hours "so their distress at having been separated from their parents was still raw." And while some officials were doling out snacks, the outlet claimed that many children "were inconsolable." The recording was captured last week and given to Jennifer Harbury, a civil rights attorney who confirmed its authenticity to ABC News. She told ProPublica the person who made the recording was a client of hers who asked to remain anonymous because that person feared retribution. That person "heard the children's weeping and crying, and was devastated by it." Harbury told ABC News' Marcus Moore on Monday when she first heard the recording, "I was horrified. My first reaction is to start crying. And my second reaction is to think, this is obscene what we are doing to people." She added, "You cannot listen to that tape without understanding how totally devastating it is and traumatic and harmful it is to those children. I've said it before and I will say it again, it is child abuse -- not physical, it's psychological. But it is child abuse." Government statistics indicate that, so far, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May. Melania Trump's spokeswoman issued a statement after several days of images of crying children appearing on television and online saying that the first lady "hates to see children separated from their families," and the president said on Friday: "I hate the children being taken away" before blaming those actions on Democrats and "their law." There is no such law. "To a select few in the media, Congress and the advocacy community, I'd like to start with a message for you: This department will no longer stand by and watch you attack law enforcement for enforcing the laws passed by Congress," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Monday at the National Sheriffs' Association in New Orleans. "We will not apologize for the job we do, for the job law enforcement does and for the job the American people expect us to do." Those comments came a day after she said on Twitter: "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period." Attorney General Jeff Sessions has justified the fracturing of families by quoting The Bible. "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, 'To obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for His purposes,'" he said last week. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn't directly defend Sessions' quoting of the Bible, but suggested it's religiously prudent to enforce the law. "I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible," Sanders said. "It's a moral policy to follow and enforce the law." The president on Monday took a hardline on the border crisis during an announcement of a Space Force. "The United States," he said, "will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility."<doc-sep>This photo, widely shared on social media, is not what it might seem. (CNN) — A photo of a little boy crying in a cage is being shared on social media as seemingly another heart-rending byproduct of the White House’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which separates undocumented parents and kids at the border. There’s only one problem: The picture is being completely taken out of context – and does not show what it is purported to show. Some of those sharing it claim the image depicts a boy detained by ICE under the new Trump administration policy of referring all people who cross the border illegally for criminal prosecution. At least 2,000 children have been separated from parents at the border since the US started implementing the policy, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Friday. Journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas posted the photo last week on Twitter, saying: “This is what happens when a government believes people are ‘illegal’. Kids in cages.” This is what happens when a government believes people are “illegal.” Kids in cages. pic.twitter.com/OAnvr9cl3P — Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) June 12, 2018 Many respondents vented anger at the administration’s hardline immigration policies and encouraged people to retweet the photo. “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill even tweeted – and later deleted – the picture along with the hashtag #UnAmerican. Vargas also posted the image on Facebook, where it received almost 10,000 shares. However, the picture was actually taken during a June 10 protest against White House immigration policies at Dallas City Hall, as first reported by fact-checking site Snopes. Other Facebook photos from the protest, organized by the Texas chapter of the Brown Berets de Cemanahuac, a Latino advocacy group, show the same boy outside the cage as activists hold signs urging the White House to “stop separating families.” Leroy Pena, head of the Brown Berets’ Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, took two pictures of the caged crying boy and posted them on Facebook with the caption: “This was part of our protest yesterday, but this is actually going on right now, at this very moment, in child detention centers throughout the country.” The post was later deleted, but a version is still on the Wayback Machine. Pena told CNN the toddler was following his older sibling, who took part in the Dallas cage protest along with other teens. “He got confused on how to get out (of the cage) and cried when he saw his mother,” Pena said. “He was only in there about 30 seconds.” Pena expressed frustration at how the photo was taken out of context. “I posted this on my personal profile and it was not set to public, but only friends. They shared it. Some of them shared it without my comment,” he said. But the image “did help bring attention to the plight of undocumented children,” he added. “Trump’s supporters are mad at this simulation, but not mad at Trump for actually throwing children into dog kennels,” he said. Vargas later said he realized the photo of the boy in the cage was misleading but defended his right to share it to make a point. “Telling me that I shouldn’t post an image that, as it happened, was from a protest that staged what is actually happening at the border is like saying actors shouldn’t portray characters and situations based in real life,” he wrote on Twitter. “This is not a ‘cause’ for me. This is real.” More than 1,100 immigrants, including children, are being held at a processing detention center in the border city of McAllen, Texas. Democratic lawmakers who toured the facility have described children being held inside chain-linked cages. “We did see the children who were held inside here,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon told CNN’s Ana Cabrera on Sunday. “In wire mesh, chain-linked cages that are about 30 by 30 feet, a lot of young folks put into them. I must say though, far fewer than I was here two weeks ago.” It is not the first time that alarming photos of caged children have been wrongly attributed to Trump administration policies. A photograph showing two immigrant children sleeping in a fenced enclosure, which sparked outrage when it surfaced last month, turned out to have been taken in an Arizona detention facility in 2014.<doc-sep>STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Republican congressional candidate Michael Grimm said that the screams of children who have been separated from their families after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are no different from those of a child when their parent drops them off at day care. Grimm's comment was in response to audio from inside a Customs and Border Control facility that was released by ProPublica. More than 2,300 families have been separated since April due to the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy. "I think it's extremely unfortunate. But what people are forgetting -- they just want to listen to those tapes -- I can take you to any nursery and you're going to hear the same exact things as a mother leaves to go to work and has to leave her child at day care," Grimm told NY1 on Tuesday. "You're going to hear those same exact things." Grimm expanded on his comments Wednesday, telling the Advance: "It is unfortunate that this must happen at all. Hopefully, our commitment to enforcing our immigration laws will serve as a deterrent to people taking their children on an incredibly dangerous trip. "Such a treacherous journey must be prevented before it begins as too many of these children fall prey to human traffickers and other unspeakable realities prior to ever arriving at our border." Rep. Dan Donovan (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), Grimm's primary opponent, also defended the president's policy, saying that the federal government must enforce the law at the U.S. border. "Our government has a duty to enforce our laws and secure our borders," Donovan said. "Nobody wants to see families separated," he added. "But this problem won't be solved unless both sides come to the table to implement meaningful immigration reform." Donovan's comments came hours before President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the U.S. border illegally. DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES SPEAK OUT Prior to the executive order, several of the Democratic congressional candidates spoke out against the zero-tolerance policy. "No one doubts that our immigration system needs an overhaul, but the America I love and fought for would never do so on the backs of crying children," said Max Rose, a St. George resident and U.S. Army combat veteran. Democratic congressional candidates Michael DeVito, Zach Emig, Paul Sperling and Omar Vaid attended a rally earlier this month outside Donovan's district office in New Dorp, urging the congressman to speak out against the zero-tolerance policy. "I do not believe that [the policy] makes a safer Staten Island, it doesn't make a safer NY-11, it doesn't make a safer city," DeVito told the Advance. Donovan responded to the protest at the time, saying, "Our military personnel can't be faulted for carrying out the duties they swore to uphold. The bottom line is that we are a nation of laws, and those laws should be respected by the people who want to come here." The Republican and Democratic primary elections are June 26. FOLLOW CLIFFORD MICHEL ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.<doc-sep>
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A viral photo of a small child crying with his hands gripping the side of a cage has sparked outrage as the national debate on immigration toils on. Posted on Twitter last week by filmmaker and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, the photo is captioned: "This is what happens when a government believes people are 'illegal.' Kids in cages." It has more than 24,000 retweets and 35,000 likes. As the heart-wrenching photo made its way across the internet, many began to link its origins to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), drawing a parallel to the almost 2,000 migrant children who have been separated from their parents or guardians, the Department of Homeland Security reported last week. However, the photo of the young boy was actually taken on June 10, 2018 at an event protesting the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy. The boy is not a detainee. The protest featured signs reading: "If you were separated from your child, what would you do?" and "Hey Trump, what if it were your grandchildren in those dog cages? What would you do then?" The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday that they do not have "a policy of separating families at the border." More:'Papá! Papá!’: Immigrant children at detention center cry for parents in heartbreaking audio More:Migrant detention center: Not much room for kids to play in the warehouse-like facility What we know:Detention crisis: Trump defends 'zero-tolerance' immigration The protest was hosted by the Texas chapter of the Brown Berets de Cemanahuac, an indigenous advocacy organization. The group posted on Facebook a photo gallery of the protest, with the little boy noticeably in the background. The viral image, however, was not featured. "We demand the release of the children being held in a jail and being treated like animals. We will not go away until we have answers!" the Facebook post read. Snopes debunked the photo of the child in the cage. The boy had not been detained by ICE, nor had it resurfaced from 2014 during the "Obama-era" as some internet commenters had claimed. PolitiFact also interviewed the original photographer, Leroy Peña, who said in an interview that the boy had spotted his mother outside the space and began crying and that he was only in the cage for about 30 seconds. Vargas, who originally tweeted the now-viral photo, said in response to criticism as to how his photo was captioned: "Read what I wrote. All I said the photo was this is what happens when a gov't considers people 'illegal.'" An undocumented immigrant from the Philippines, Vargas opened up in 2011 about his immigrant status in an essay in the New York Times Magazine. He said that he posted the photo because it reminded him of when he was arrested four years ago and detained at the McAllen immigration processing center in Texas. The photo of the crying toddler behind bars immediately made him think of the young boys he momentarily shared a jail with. "The fact that people are saying this is fake is untrue," Vargas said. "This is what is happening. It was a real protest expressing what is happening at the border." And despite calls to Vargas to remove the photo from Twitter, like from actor Misha Collins who said Vargas was guilty of "the same misinformation as Trump and you are giving fodder to the other side," Vargas stands by his original tweets. "I’m a pretty deliberate person, and intentional in what I do," Vargas said. "If it was wrong, I would have taken it down and apologized." He said was eventually able to contact the original photographer, Leroy Peña, who told him that while the protest was a staged demonstration, the "actual thing is way, way worse than we were depicting.” Peña also told him the boy was four-years-old, Vargas said. "This image is emblematic of this very confusing and very disorienting conversation we're having... as a nation," Vargas said.
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The growth of tech companies typically far outpaces the growth of their home cities; San Francisco and Seattle have seen skyrocketing real estate prices as more and more affluent workers flood in for high-paying coding jobs. But that’s catastrophic for those not on the six-figure salary of a tech coder. Microsoft, based just outside of Seattle, announced Jan. 16 that it’s spending $500 million to offset the lack of affordable housing, as well as combat homelessness in the area. The money will be dispensed through at- and below-market loans meant to promote development, as well as grants that support efforts to support the homeless through legal aid, financial funding, and case work. The money also comes with renewed efforts from the mayors of surrounding Washington state counties, who are pledging to streamline the process for getting approval to build low- or middle-income housing, as well as reducing development fees and consider rezoning certain areas for housing. Microsoft says that it’s partnered with the real estate website Zillow to get data about housing in the region, to help it determine where its money might be most effective. It’s also working with Challenge Seattle, a group of Washington-based companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Costco, and Alaska Airlines, whose mission is to reinvest into Seattle’s local economy. The move comes at a time where other large tech companies, like Amazon, are being accused on parachuting into locations like New York’s Long Island City and raising rents. Even in New York City’s expensive housing market, experts predict that adjacent middle-class neighborhoods will see an entirely new market emerge as Amazon moves in.<doc-sep>Microsoft announced that it's pledging $500 million to help alleviate Seattle's housing crisis. In cities like Seattle and San Francisco, the arrival of tech giants has been linked with skyrocketing house prices. Half Microsoft's money will go towards building low-income housing. Microsoft announced in a press release on Wednesday that it is pledging $500 million to help develop affordable housing in the Seattle area. "Median income in the region hasn't kept pace with rising housing costs, increasingly making it impossible for lower- and middle-income workers to afford to live close to where they work," Microsoft said in the statement. Data collected by Microsoft showed that, from 2011 to 2018, the median home price in Puget Sound, a hotbed for Silicon Valley satellite offices, rose 96%, while median household income only went up 34%. Microsoft broke its donation into three pots of cash: $250 million will support low-income housing, which Microsoft hopes will "accelerate the construction of low-income housing across the region." $225 million will be used as subsidies to preserve and construct middle-income housing. $25 million will be donated as "philanthropic grants" to address homelessness. Read more: Amazon's explosive growth has contributed to a glut of luxury apartments in Seattle, and now landlords are offering renters free Echos and gift cards The arrival of tech firms in cities like Seattle and San Francisco have been linked to climbing house prices and increased homelessness. Recently, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff threw his support behind a proposition to tax big tech companies to help alleviate homelessness in San Francisco. Seattle's other resident tech giant is Amazon, which successfully killed a proposed Seattle City Council tax, which would have taxed large companies $275 per employee.<doc-sep>
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SEATTLE — The Seattle area, home to both Microsoft and Amazon, is a potent symbol of the affordable housing crisis that has followed the explosive growth of tech hubs. Now Microsoft, arguing that the industry has an interest and responsibility to help people left behind in communities transformed by the boom, is putting up $500 million to help address the problem. Microsoft’s money represents the most ambitious effort by a tech company to directly address the inequality that has spread in areas where the industry is concentrated, particularly on the West Coast. It will fund construction for homes affordable not only to the company’s own non-tech workers, but also for teachers, firefighters and other middle- and low-income residents. Microsoft’s move comes less than a year after Amazon successfully pushed to block a new tax in Seattle that would have made large businesses pay a per-employee tax to fund homeless services and the construction of affordable housing. The company said the tax created a disincentive to create jobs. Microsoft, which is based in nearby Redmond, Wash., and has few employees who work in the city, did not take a position on the tax. The debate about the rapid growth of the tech industry and the inequality that often follows has spilled across the country, particularly as Amazon, with billions of taxpayer subsidies, announced plans to build major campuses in Long Island City, Queens, and Arlington, Va., that would employ a total of at least 50,000 people. In New York, elected officials and residents have raised concerns that Amazon has not made commitments to support affordable housing.
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In case you missed the WTF news, Meghan Markle's dad Thomas Markle gave a 9-hour interview to The Daily Mail, saying all kinds of weird and wild things about how Meghan would be "nothing" without him. Basically, Thomas Markle brought the drama, and you know who was deeply unimpressed? Chrissy Teigen. And you know who's deeply unimpressed about Chrissy Teigen being deeply unimpressed? Meghan's sister Samantha Grant. But let's rewind for a moment. Basically, Chrissy tweeted the following musing about Thomas Markle, saying "this guy sucks" and "let your daughter be happy, please." This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. this guy...this guy sucks. what is wrong with him? let your daughter be happy, please. this is embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/FADsBT5sfX — chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) July 28, 2018 And in response, Samantha hit up her own (private) Twitter account to call Chrissy a "pudgy airhead," which is obviously quite disrespectful, not to mention false. Her full comment is as follows: "So this pudgy airhead @Christinetiegen Who knows nobody in the family is opening her pie hole? 'This guy' is our father and deserves a lot of respect,.. you are the one who sucks." Twitter Chrissy hasn't responded to Samantha, probably because she doesn't follow her on Twitter and has better things to do with her life—like care for her two beautiful children, hang with her soon-to-be (hopefully!) EGOT-winning husband, and write amazing cookbooks. This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Mehera Bonner Contributor Mehera Bonner is a news writer who focuses on celebrities and royals. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>Travis Barker has revealed that he was in the throes of a prescription drug addiction before his plane crash in 2008. The crash, he said, served as his "rehab." ABC/WDTV "People are always like, 'Did you go to rehab?' " he told Men's Health. "And I [say], 'No, I was in a plane crash.' That was my rehab. Lose three of your friends and almost die? That was my wake-up call. If I wasn't in a crash, I would have probably never quit." Back in 2008, the private plane Travis was on crashed upon take off in South Carolina. His friends Chris Baker and Charles "Che" Still were killed, as were the two pilots. Travis and pal Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein escaped the engulfed plane, but Travis was burned on 65 percent of his body. He spent three months in the hospital and underwent 26 surgeries and countless skin grafts. One year after the crash, DJ AM died of an overdose. Travis, who is now dating Kourtney Kardashian, is the last remaining survivor of the crash, and he's yet to step foot on an airplane since that incident. Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock The Blink-182 drummer admits to smoking an "excessive amount of weed" before that fateful night, and says his opioid tolerance was so high that he'd come to during surgeries. Once he eventually got home, he flushed everything down the toilet. Then, he had to start his life… again. "I was told I wasn't going to run again because I had so many grafts on my feet, and there was even talk of me never playing the drums again," he said. "As soon as I could walk, I could run. As soon as I could move my hands and my hands healed, I was playing drums. And now I'm in better shape than I've ever been." The crash, he notes, didn't just take a toll on his body, but also on his mind, as he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He went to therapy for his survivor's guilt, as well. "I was dark," he says. "I couldn't walk down the street. If I saw a plane [in the sky], I was determined it was going to crash, and I just didn't want to see it." Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock In time, he learned to deal with the events of that day. "It's gotten better the further I get away from it," he says. "The closer I was to it, it felt like I was closer to the bad stuff than I am to the good stuff. I felt closer to the experience of trying to escape, [to] being in an accident and being burned, trying to grab my friends from a burning plane. That haunted me for a long time. And as long as I was closer to that than this good stuff, I was always thinking about that. Now it's been so many years, it's getting easier for me. There are days where I'll wake up and never think about it." He even vows to one day get on an airplane again.<doc-sep>
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Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Meghan Markle‘s sister, Samantha, blasted Chrissy Teigen after the model slammed Thomas Markle. On Saturday, Teigen, 32, tweeted a screenshot of Thomas’ latest interview in which he slammed the 36-year-old Duchess of Sussex. She captioned the snap, “This guy… this guy sucks. What is wrong with him? Let your daughter be happy, please. This is embarrassing.” Samantha got wind of the tweet, but not quite enough to properly mention Teigen in her reply. “So this pudgy airhead @Christinetiegen who knows nobody in the family is opening her pie hole? ‘This guy’ is our father and deserves a lot of respect,” Samantha wrote from her private Twitter account. “You are the one who sucks.” In the interview Teigen tweeted about, Thomas, 74, claimed that Meghan “excised” him from her life for constantly talking to the media and changed her phone number. For her part, Samantha endorses blabbing to the media about her estranged half-sister if it means she’ll get a check for it. She admitted to cashing in on Meghan’s fame, telling “Good Morning Britain” last week, “Let’s face it — we all have to survive. Money makes the world go round, so if you want to call that cashing in, that’s fine, but I think no one in media would refuse a paycheck for talking about the royal and, as a family, we’re not subject to royal protocol. Why would I stop living because we have a family issue going on?” Samantha was also responsible for arranging staged paparazzi photos of Thomas ahead of the royal wedding. Thomas then skipped the wedding entirely, citing a heart attack. Samantha then claimed on Twitter that if Thomas were to die, it would be the former “Suits” actress’s fault. Teigen is busy vacationing in Bali with husband, John Legend, and hasn’t replied to Samantha.
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The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Click to play Tap to play Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice A shark has been spotted swimming in the clear waters of St Ives harbour in Cornwall. Footage of the creature was captured by teenager Harry Hocking who was standing on the slipway of the harbour. The 16-year-old, who was about to start work on the hire boats, at about 9.30am today when he noticed the amazing sight. Harry told Cornwall Live : “It is definitely one of biggest I have seen. "It must have been about 8-9ft long. “It was swimming along for a good two to three minutes and went towards west pier before leaving the harbour." (Image: Harry Hocking/Cornwall Live WS) (Image: Harry Hocking/Cornwall Live WS) He added: "A lot of people noticed and by the time it left there were dozens of people watching from the harbour wall. “People have already been saying they won’t be swimming now. “I don’t think it was a basking shark.”<doc-sep>The public have been warned to stay out of the water after a massive shark was spotted swimming in a harbour, in Cornwall, the shark capital of the UK. The 9ft long predator was captured on film swimming in a harbour in St Ives and has been identified as a blue shark. Cornwall currently hosts 20 species of shark in its waters, making it the most diverse shark population of the UK. The Shark Trust advised giving the blue shark plenty of space to allow it to move out of the harbour. John Richardson of the Shark Trust said: “Due to the confined nature of the harbour, which could hinder the shark's ability to naturally move away from disturbance, the trust strongly advises people not to get into the water with the shark.”<doc-sep>SWIMMERS were ordered to stay out of the water after a massive shark lurked just inches from a harbour in Cornwall. The 9ft-long predator was filmed close to the shore in the popular Cornish holiday town of St Ives. 5 Swimmers were ordered to stay out of the water after a massive shark lurked just inches from a harbour in Cornwall Credit: SWNS:South West News Service Experts believe it was a blue shark which got lost while hunting and have told bathers to stay clear until it has left the area. Archie Pickin and Harry Hocking, both 16, were standing on the harbour slipway when the shark swam past around 9.30am yesterday. The friends managed to catch the shark on camera and Archie said: "We heard someone say about a shark and we didn't believe it at first. It doesn't exactly happen every day. "It was really big." 5 The blue shark was spotted near to the harbour in St Ives Credit: SWNS:South West News Service How to survive an encounter with a Great White Shark Harry added: “It was swimming along for a good two to three minutes and went towards west pier before leaving the harbour. "A lot of people noticed and by the time it left there were dozens of people watching from the harbour wall. “People have already been saying they won’t be swimming now." Blue sharks have been known to go for humans but there have been very few attacks recorded. John Richardson of the Shark Trust said: "They are predominantly an oceanic, open water species, and not commonly found close to shore. 5 Blue sharks have been known to attack humans but they could hardly be described as frequent 'man-eaters' Credit: Alamy 5 The last unprovoked blue shark attack in British waters was in 1847 Credit: Alamy ''But it is certainly not unprecedented to see one in such shallow waters. "To see a free-swimming blue shark close to shore like this is a real privilege. “If this shark remains in St Ives harbour, the Shark Trust advises people to give it plenty of space until it moves back offshore to its usual habitat. "Due to the confined nature of the harbour, which could hinder the shark’s ability to naturally move away from disturbance, the trust strongly advises people not to get into the water with the shark. “We can only speculate on why this shark has come so close to shore. "Possible explanations include injury or illness, or perhaps disorientation after following prey inshore. But this is speculation only." Blue sharks in British waters Blue sharks have been known to go for humans and for boats out in sea and are therefore classified as a "dangerous" species. There are also reports of attacks following air or sea disasters with accounts suggesting shipwrecked sailors have been maimed by them. Blue sharks have been reported to circle swimmers or divers for 15 minutes or more before going in for a bite. The beasts are described as "not overly aggressive" but should be approached with caution, as they may attempt a "test bite". British waters are home to more than 40 different species of shark, including the second largest fish in the world, the basking shark. The Shark Trust describes blue sharks as "seasonal visitors" to UK waters. During the summer the predators can can appear in the seas around Britain as part of their highly migratory lifestyle. There has not been an unprovoked attack involving a blue shark in British waters since 1847. The sighting came after fisherman caught 20 sharks off the British coast - in just one day. The group reeled in the impressive haul of blue and porbeagle sharks during a 24-hour fishing trip in waters around Devon. And, elsewhere, angler George Simmonds reeled in one of the biggest ever to be caught in British waters. The 51-year-old spent two hours hauling in a monster 300lb thresher shark off the coast of Dale, Pembrokeshire. 5 George Simmonds, pictured with pals, reeled in a 300lb thresher shark off the coast of Pembrokeshire Credit: Wales News Service MOST READ IN NEWS 'GOBSMACKED' Queen 'gave Harry OK for Oprah series after misleading pitch about soldiers' ROD LIDDLE Ousting right-on National Trust boss is a victory against wokery DRUMMER DEAD School Of Rock star dies at 32 after being hit by car as Jack Black mourns HOUSE ABOUT IT You won't believe what this ordinary London home looks like on the inside Exclusive TOM'S LEGACY Captain Tom Moore — who raised £39m for charity — left family £73k in will JABS HOPE Scientists 'crack cause of blood clots linked to Covid jabs & know how to fix it' Mr Simmonds, of Llanelli, said: "It's so rare and difficult to land a thresher shark as they are so large. In the shark world, it's up there at the top of the list. "It was so big it got caught in the hatch door of the boat as we tried to get it on board. "The body was 6ft 8in long and the tail was 6ft - it was the length of the boat. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.<doc-sep>"That said, it is certainly not unprecedented to see one in such shallow waters with similar instances recorded here in the UK and overseas from time to time."<doc-sep>
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Holidaymakers have been warned against taking a dip in a Cornwall harbour after the sighting of a nine-foot shark. The fine summer weather has made St Ives a popular hot spot for residents and tourists alike, but the sighting of the blue shark means it could be a little less busy until it leaves the area. Experts have said the animal - which was caught on camera by a couple of teenage workmates - has likely suffered an injury or lost its way while chasing prey. Image: Blue sharks prefer deep waters in the world's temperate and tropical oceans. File pic Archie Pickin and Harry Hocking, both 16, who captured the footage, said the shark looked "really big". Harry told Cornwall Live: "It was swimming along for a good two to three minutes and went towards west pier before leaving the harbour. "A lot of people noticed and by the time it left there were dozens of people watching from the harbour wall. "People have already been saying they won't be swimming now." Cornwall was named the shark capital of the UK in a study released on Tuesday, followed by the Scilly Isles and Devon, with at least 20 species found off the coast Around 10 million small sharks and 100,000 larger ones - from 40 different species - are found in the seas around the country, with warmer seas tempting them to travel from the Mediterranean and the coast of Africa. The research - carried out to mark National Geographic's Shark Week - said great hammerheads, blacktips, sand tigers and bigeye threshers were among the species that could appear in the UK in the coming years as a result of the changing temperature. John Richardson, of the Plymouth-based Shark Trust, told Cornwall Live that the presence of the blue shark - which normally inhabit deep waters in temperate and tropical oceans - in Cornwall was "a real privilege". Image: The sighting in St Ives has prompted a warning from the Shark Trust "They are predominantly an oceanic, open water species, and not commonly found close to shore," he said. "But it is certainly not unprecedented to see one in such shallow waters. To see a free-swimming blue shark close to shore like this is a real privilege. If this shark remains in St Ives harbour, the Shark Trust advises people to give it plenty of space until it moves back offshore to its usual habitat. "Due to the confined nature of the harbour, which could hinder the shark's ability to naturally move away from disturbance, the trust strongly advises people not to get into the water with the shark."
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Green Bay Packers safety Josh Jones is frustrated with the amount of playing time he’s received since returning from an ankle injury. Last year’s second-round pick, Jones was on the field for just four defensive snaps during Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions “I just want to be out there more,” Jones told Brett Christopherson of the Appleton Post-Crescent. “That’s what I’m here for. You ain’t going to (draft) a player in the second round to not contribute to the team. I mean, am I right or am I wrong?” Jones has worked behind starter Kentrell Brice at safety since the start of the offseason. He likely only received snaps Sunday due to Jermaine Whitehead’s back injury. Last season, Jones played in all 16 games and played the third-most snaps on defense. New defensive coordinator Mike Pettine has favored Brice and Whitehead in his scheme. “You’ve just got to keep working. And obviously, there are things that I have to do better,” Jones said. “I’ve just got to improve on last year, just keep improving every day doing what I’ve got to do just to get on the field. Just be a good teammate, do all the little things that matter. It’ll happen eventually.” Jones has useful size and speed, and his versatility to play at safety and linebacker provided former defensive coordinator Dom Capers options in getting him on the field. But coverage lapses and mental errors stained his rookie season and likely put him behind the others at the safety position to start 2018. An ankle injury suffered in the preseason was another setback, but Jones is certain he can add something to Pettine’s defense. “Especially when you know you can be out there, you can contribute to the team,” Jones said. “That’s what hurts the most. It’s tough, trust me. It’s real tough.”<doc-sep>As a rookie last season, Josh Jones was third among Green Bay Packers defenders in playing time. Through five games this season, he ranks 23rd among the 24 defenders on the roster. Jones has played merely four snaps this season – all coming early in last week’s loss at Detroit. Speaking on USA Today-Wisconsin’s “Clubhouse Live” show, Jones voiced frustration about his almost nonexistent role. “That's what I'm here for. You ain't going to (draft) a player in the second round to not contribute to the team,” Jones said. “I mean, am I right or am I wrong? Everybody plays this game for different reasons. Some guys play this game because of what comes with it and what they can get out of it. Some guys, they enjoy just getting a check every two weeks. They're OK with just being mediocre and not improving and just being one of the guys on the team. Me? I want to work for what I get. I don't just want to get a check and feel like I didn't do nothing for it. Especially when you know you can be out there, you can contribute to the team. That's what hurts the most. It's tough, trust me. It's real tough.” Rather than being upset about Jones’ words about how draft stock should equate to playing time, coach Mike McCarthy appreciated them in a lengthy response that he wanted published in its entirety. “I think like anything in this game or in this business, it’s not where you start it’s where you – I don’t want to say finish but I think where you’re drafted creates more opportunities at the forefront of the season or offseason and so forth,” he said before Thursday’s practice. “I think you have to go through the timeline and be in tune with that to give a real honest answer to that. You’re talking about Josh, who went through an injury phase throughout training camp, throughout the preseason, really wasn’t ready there early in the season. “Just like anything when you leave the door open for opportunity and guys like (Jermaine) Whitehead and K.B. (Kentrell Brice) jump through it, you have to recognize that, too. It’s never really just about one player, it’s about creating opportunities for all your players. And draft status doesn’t equate to game-day opportunities or responsibilities each and every week. Josh, he’s a battler, I really like the things he’s doing on special teams, and I know Ron (Zook, the special-teams coordinator) is excited about giving him more opportunities and he needs to just keep battling because his chance to play again will be there. We’ve just got to make sure he’s ready, and that goes for everybody that is not playing as much as they’d like to play. You need everybody. I say this time and time again: it takes more than 53, it takes more than the 63 players that we have here to win, and this is an example of that. It’s a long year, a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of things go into the resources of who plays, how much they’re going to play but at the end of the day, you go play the game. “I like the fact that Josh Jones is pissed off that he’s not playing because if he wasn’t, then I’d be concerned. The fact that he’s hungry and wants to get out there, I think that shows you something about him. But there’s more to it than that. Don’t cut up my answer. Make sure you use the whole thing. Don’t be splitting that up now because there were a lot of positive things I just said there.” The Packers host San Francisco on Monday night. After an off-day Wednesday, the Packers will get to work with their first practice of the week on Thursday. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers (knee), receiver Randall Cobb (hamstring), receiver Geronimo Allison (hamstring) will work in the rehab group. Cobb and Allison missed the Detroit game, though Allison has cleared the concussion protocol following the head injury sustained in Week 4 against Buffalo.<doc-sep>For one game, the Green Bay Packers appeared to have a superstar. Once again, Ted Thompson had hit on a second-round steal. Josh Jones was everywhere in Week 3 for the Packers last season, blowing up plays, coming downhill to make tackles, and destroying the Cincinnati Bengals off the edge on safety blitzes. But injuries to Morgan Burnett forced Jones out of position. And even once Burnett returned, it was the veteran playing Dom Capers’ Nitro position, not the better-suited Jones. Rookie issues with reads and man coverage were to be expected, especially for a player with a skill set that should put him more near the action, not patrolling the deep middle. Mike Pettine was supposed to come in and change that, putting Jones back where he belonged. This was, after all, a player Green Bay drafted and immediately said would play dime linebacker for the Packers. It was a tacit acknowledgement that the North Carolina State star safety should be in the box, coming downhill. Offseason work, mini-camps, and training camp came and went but Jones was running behind not only Kentrell Brice but undrafted free agent Jermaine Whitehead, who has actually turned into a nice player for Pettine’s defense as a versatile overhang defender. Where did things go so wrong for a player who was second on this team in snaps among defensive backs last season? Was it assignment problems? Was he not reading and reacting well enough? It’s difficult to speculate too much having not watched him in practice or been privy to his assignments play to play. When Pettine was asked about his safety group before the season, Jones’ name didn’t even come up. It’s clear the Packers viewed him as a limited player, someone belonging in the box. Okay, great. But when the season once again came around, the safeties struggled. No sign of Jones. The inside linebackers looked slow and out of position without Oren Burks. Jones remained stuck to the bench. Frustrations came out in a recent interview Jones gave where he said he wanted to work for his paycheck. Why would the team draft him in the second round if he wasn’t going to play? It seems obvious that a player with his athletic traits should have a place on this team. Special teams mistakes could be holding him back. Jones did play nearly 37% of special teams snaps last season. That’s seen as an essential piece of how he contributes on this team. But if that’s what’s holding him back from playing more, it’s the type of old school coaching mentality that has plagued Mike McCarthy over the years. Jones should be on the field over players like Antonio Morrison and Korey Toomer (! ), the latter of whom has inexplicably getting snaps at times ahead of both Burks and Jones. The simple answer may just be Jones isn’t very good. Practice could be bearing that out. But given what we’ve seen from some of the players in the Packers defense, it’s hard to believe Jones couldn’t be a useful player in the three-safety looks Pettine loves. Every time Kentrell Brice misses another tackle, the cameras should zoom in on Josh Jones as he looks longingly into the distance, his thousand-yard stare saying all it needs to say. Frankly, this should be a question at every Mike McCarthy and Mike Pettine press conference. The next time Brian Gutekunst takes the podium, he should be getting at least one Josh Jones question as well. This is a physically gifted player with legitimate draft pedigree who played major snaps for the Packers just a season ago. And he flashed playmaking ability. Why has he fallen so far? This is a question worth asking, and it’s something for which this coaching staff and front office must answer for. Because if he isn’t eventually going to be given an opportunity, it makes Green Bay’s faith in its own players look faulty. Eric Reid, Kenny Vaccaro, Tre Boston, and other safety options were available in free agency. It’s possible the Packers traded their best safety to the Browns for a backup quarterback. (I understand talent wasn’t the reason for that trade, but still.) If they aren’t willing to give Jones a shot, there’s no way Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, in the final year of his deal, and two undrafted free agents — neither of whom have ever shown anything to suggest they’re quality starters — could have been enough. This is a simple calculation: if Josh Jones really isn’t good, then that shines an even brighter line on the team’s inaction at improving the safety position in the offseason and up to when Reid signed just a few weeks ago with the Panthers. And if Jones is good, or at least can be, why is he not getting opportunities? Either way, the Packers got this all wrong.<doc-sep>
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When Josh Jones was drafted by the Packers in the second round last year, the thought was he was going to be the next great safety, especially with Morgan Burnett on his way out. But things have not gone Jones' way as he's playing behind Kentrell Brice and his snaps this season have been very limited. Jones was a guest on the PackersNews.com show "Clubhouse Live" on Monday and he expressed his frustrations with not being on the field. "That's what I'm here for," Jones said (via Kyle Cousineau), "You ain’t going to take a player in the 2nd round to not contribute to the team.” Jones was asked if he could talk to the coaching staff about seeing more snaps, but he said it's not up to him. "It's not my call," Jones said. "I just do what I'm told. It's nothing against them. I love being here." So far this season, Jones has played just four snaps on defense, which all came on Sunday. He has also played 33 snaps on special teams. Last year, the N.C. State alum played in all 16 games and saw over 700 snaps. He recorded 67 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception and five passes defended. In the Packers defense, Jones missed the first three games of the year because of an ankle injury. So Brice has been able to hold on to the starting position which is a battle he won during the offseason. The Packers will face the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night. Make sure you’re in the loop – take five seconds to Sign up for our FREE Packers newsletter now! Jones made his share of mistakes last year just like any NFL rookie, but the Packers are hoping Jones can learn from his mistakes and a be a consistent player like Burnett. The Packers are also hoping Jones can be as versatile as Burnett who played strong safety, inside linebacker and the signal caller on defense. Jones got to see some action at inside linebacker last year and it was something he was prepared for before he was drafted by the Packers. “In college, I played some linebacker. I played everywhere,” Jones said last season. “I kind of knew that whatever team drafted me would have some packages for me.” The Packers signed Brice as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He was able to make the initial 53-man roster and was eventually moved to up to the backup free safety behind Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. In 16 games, Brice recorded 26 tackles and one pass defended. Brice got to see more action in 2017 due to injuries at the safety position. He was able to start in the three of the six games he played in and he posted 23 tackles, one interception and three passes defended before being placed on injured reserve as he had a torn ligament in his ankle. Through five games this year, Brice has recorded 24 tackles, one sack and one pass defended.
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(CNN) — Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were spotted dancing at a Beyoncé and Jay-Z concert near Washington, DC, on Saturday evening. Videos emerged of the pair jamming to a Jay-Z performance from their box seats at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, with several onlookers filming their moves on their phones. MY ENERGY ON TEN YALL pic.twitter.com/KK4mw261jK — marianna (@mariannaatd) July 29, 2018 Michelle Obama was seen at a Beyoncé and Jay-Z concert in Paris two weeks ago, where she was filmed dancing with the singer’s mother, Tina Knowles Lawson. Obama’s daughter, Sasha, was also in attendance. And can we just reflect on how beautiful Sasha Obama is? Hair is laid, sis. #OTRII pic.twitter.com/KMv335YEE7 — Joi-Marie (@joimariewrites) July 15, 2018 The former first family and the singer and her mom have been friends for years. The Obama administration also frequently included the pair at events and in White House initiatives. Beyoncé teamed up with Michelle Obama up in 2011 for the first lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which aimed to fight childhood obesity. She also performed at the first couple’s inaugural dance in 2009 and at the presidential inauguration in 2013. CNN’s Lisa Respers France contributed to this report.<doc-sep>U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance to Michael Jackson’s song ‘Thriller’ during a Halloween event in the East Room of the White House October 31, 2016 in Washington, DC. Photo : Olivier Douliery ( Pool/Getty Images ) So on Saturday night, Twitter lit up with videos of our favorite uncle, forever President Barack Obama, jamming it out during the D.C. leg of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II Tour. Advertisement I was actually also there, but I ain’t got the kind of coint that supports seeing Beyoncé as well as the Obamas in one show, so I didn’t get to gaze upon the visage of my one and only . At any rate, people immediately started lamenting about our long-lost dad having the time of his life, while we are suffering here with our evil stepdad wreaking havoc on our house. Momma Michelle Obama was also there, continuing to stunt on all of us even after seeing Beyoncé in Paris. But I’m just here to let y’all know that you better let Obama (and the rest of his family) ball so hard that motherfuckers wanna fine him (as the lyrics for Jay-Z and Kanye’s Niggas in Paris goes....which was coincidentally the song Obama was jamming to.) Advertisement Because even though, as it kills me inside, I am Breanna Edwards and I support Barack Obama continuing to live his best life without me.<doc-sep>Barack and Michelle Obama attended the Maryland On The Run II show at FedEx Field over the weekend—and they really let loose. Excited fans caught the former first couple dancing and waving their hands in the air in their box seats while the Carters took the stage. Videos show Michelle and Barack jamming out to JAY-Z's "N**** In Paris." The former Commander-in-Chief was seen waving to the screaming crowd below as fans recorded him enjoying the show. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Wow President Obama is really out here living his best life at Beyoncé and Jay Z’s #OTRII tour pic.twitter.com/GoLYZ8rnVk — 😟🕶🤏🏾 (@sendmedunkin) July 29, 2018 This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This is Michelle Obama's second time seeing Beyoncé and JAY-Z perform during their OTR II tour (can you blame her though?) Earlier this month, she was spotted with Beyonce's mom, Tina Knowles, at the Paris show. She of course couldn't help but dance along front row as Bey and Jay hit the stage. Apparently, Sasha Obama was also in attendance. This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. The two power couples have had a long-standing close relationship. Beyoncé had the honor of performing Etta James' "At Last" for President Obama and Michelle's first dance at the Inaugural Ball in 2009. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. She also sang the National Anthem at Obama's second inauguration in 2013. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. During an episode of The Late Late Show With James Corden, Michelle proved she knew every word and the choreography to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies." "We just dropped the mic. We were in the Bey Hive, making honey to put in our lemonade!" she joked. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Obama once told MTV that "JAY-Z now knows, you know, what my life is like. We both have daughters. And our wives are more popular than we are. So we've got a little bond there. It's hard, but it's OK." This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>Beyonce and Jay-Z fans know they’re in for a spectacle at the power couple’s “On the Run II” tour. But concertgoers at a show in Landover, Md. Saturday (July 28) got an extra surprise when former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were spotted bopping to the music from their box seats. Several attendees took the rare opportunity to film the couple on their feet, dancing to a Jay-Z song at FedEx Field — a moment that quickly made its way around social media. MY ENERGY ON TEN YALL pic.twitter.com/KK4mw261jK — marianna (she/her) (@mariannaatd) July 29, 2018 Michelle Obama also attended a previous show on the tour in Paris, along with former first daughter Sasha Obama. The Carters’ “On the Run II” tour launched on June 6 in Cardiff, Wales and has grossed $87.6 million so far, according to Pollstar, based on 100% sell-outs. The North American leg of the tour kicked off on July 25 in Cleveland, Ohio. FedEx field was the Carters’ second stop in the United States. The Obamas and the Carters have a history of mutual support ever since Beyonce performed at Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration in 2009 and again at his second inauguration in 2013. The singer also climbed aboard Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, an initiative promoting healthier and more active lifestyles for American children in an effort to lower obesity rates.<doc-sep>
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Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II tour was in for a presidential treat over the weekend. Barack and Michelle Obama attended the couple’s show Saturday night at FedExField in Landover, Md,, and fans couldn’t handle the way they commanded their dance moves. Concertgoers captured the former president and first lady dancing to Jay-Z’s 2011 hit “N----- in Paris.” And, let's just say, fans of the First Family of Hip-Hop ended up getting a second show from the former First Couple of the United States of America. ** Warning: Videos include explicit language. ** 'Living their best lives ...' Fans took to social media to share their excitement at seeing two legendary couples in one night. "Wow President Obama is really out here living his best life at Beyoncé and Jay Z’s #OTRII tour," one attendee tweeted. "Tonight I saw Beyonce with President Obama sitting right behind me. I can die happy," another concertgoer tweeted. "Well well! This DC On the Run concert with Jay-Z and Beyoncé is very Presidential. Former President Obama and the Former First Lady Mrs. Obama are here for this amazing show. Mrs Obama was just in Paris for the show. Amazing show," White House correspondent April Ryan tweeted. "I was in the presence of Beyonce AND the Obamas. It's over," one fan tweeted. "Can you believe that I was in the same place as President Obama, Michelle Obama, Beyoncé and Jay Z, all at the same time? Neither can I. Best birthday present ever," another concertgoer tweeted. The Obamas and the Carters have formed a friendship over the years. Beyoncé performed at Obama's inaugurations in 2009 and 2013 and Michelle Obama's 50th birthday party in 2014. Two weeks ago, Michelle Obama took daugher Sasha to an On The Run II show in Paris. The former first lady danced alongside Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson.
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Mel B has opened up about seeking help to treat the symptoms of her PTSD. The star is said to turn to alcohol abuse and excessive sex to quell her condition. In one instance, a source says the "sex-crazed" star slept with as many as three different men in the same day, after her breakup with Stephen Belafonte. The past few months have been very difficult for the celeb, but she is ready to work through her trauma. "I’ve been working with a writer on my book, Brutally Honest, and it has been unbelievably traumatic reliving an emotionally abusive relationship and confronting so many massive issues in my life." "I am being very honest about drinking to numb my pain but that is just a way a lot of people mask what is really going on." The source of her excessively indulgent behavior will be the key to her recovery. "Sometimes it is too hard to cope with all the emotions I feel. But the problem has never been about sex or alcohol — it is underneath all that." The former Spice Girl will be admitted into a facility soon after she finishes filming as a judge on America's Got Talent next month. "I have made the decision to go into a proper therapy programme in the next few weeks, but it has to be in the UK because I am very, very British and I know that will work best for me." Mel B has endured a vicious divorce battle with her ex-lover Stephen Belafonte for over a year. Court documents state that the relationship was physically and emotionally abusive.<doc-sep>The singer took out a temporary restraining order against Belafonte in April last year, whom she claimed subjected her to years of physical and emotional abuse. According to the LA Times, Brown said Belafonte choked and punched her, forced her to lie about injuries, impregnated their nanny, hounded her to engage in threesomes with other women and secretly recorded sex tapes which he threatened to release to destroy her career. A domestic violence trial was settled out of court last year, the Guardian reports. Brown said the ordeal was emotionally draining and claims she was "financially battered" by it. She says she hopes to become "a better version of myself for my kids, for my family and for all the people who have supported me in my life", reflecting on her reasons for entering rehab. Last year an Australian stripper spoke to media about an alleged threesome she had with Brown and Belafonte. In another claim, English socialite Lady Victoria Hervey told media she had a threesome with the married couple in 2007, adding that she felt "terribly" for Brown, who wasn't "strong enough" to leave Belafonte. Brown has had a successful solo career outside of the Spice Girls group, most recently co-presenting America's Got Talent and appearing in a Broadway production of Chicago. There are rumours of a Spice Girls reunion in the UK. Newshub.<doc-sep>Former Spice Girls member Mel B is opening up about her decision to "go into a proper therapy program," as revealed in what appeared to be an exclusive statement to British tabloid The Sun, published over the weekend. The 43-year-old "America's Got Talent" judge whose real name is Melanie Brown, recalled "drinking to numb my pain" and a recent post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis in the statement. On Wednesday's episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Brown offers guest host Lea Michele insight to her struggles. Offering clarification, the singer says the news "got a little bit skewed with." "My therapy changed a little bit because I was in a very intense relationship, which you can all read about in my book," Brown says, referencing her memoir "Brutally Honest" set to publish in November. "So, I do address a lot of those issues," she tells Michele. "But no, I’m not an alcoholic. No, I’m not a sex addict. I was with the same person (ex-husband Stephen Belafonte) for 10 years, and that was quite a turmoil, very intense. "That’s all I can say about it," she continues. "I’d like to say a lot more, but on this show, let’s keep it PC. But yeah, I address a lot of those issues, and I did kind of have to ease my pain." Brown adds: "I do suffer a lot from PTSD." In her published statement, Brown cited her split from Belafonte as a motivating factor for seeking therapy, claiming the past six months working on her book "has been unbelievably traumatic reliving an emotionally abusive relationship and confronting so many massive issues in my life." “I am being very honest about drinking to numb my pain, but that is just a way a lot of people mask what is really going on," her statement read.. “Sometimes it is too hard to cope with all the emotions I feel. But the problem has never been about sex or alcohol – it is underneath all that. ... I am still struggling but if I can shine a light on the issue of pain, PTSD and the things men and women do to mask it, I will do." Brown did not share the name of the center she plans to visit, but says she'll check in sometime in the next few weeks (presumably after the current season of "America's Got Talent" wraps on Sept. 19), and that the location "has to be in the U.K. because I am very, very British and I know that will work best for me." Brown and Belafonte divorced last year following a lengthy battle in which Brown accused her ex of beating and threatening her throughout their 10-year marriage, at one point filing a temporary restraining order against him. Earlier this month, they reached a settlement regarding their divorce that removes Brown's domestic violence claims against him. Her rep did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. Contributing: Erin Jensen<doc-sep>
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Mel B has said she is entering rehab for alcohol and sex addiction. Speaking to the Sun on Sunday, the one-time Spice Girl, full name Melanie Brown, said the decision came in the wake of an “incredibly difficult” six months in which she worked on an autobiography. “It has been unbelievably traumatic reliving an emotionally abusive relationship and confronting so many massive issues in my life,” she said. The singer said she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and shared a link on Twitter to a US government site explaining the condition. She said that the course of treatment she was receiving was “really helping me. I am fully aware I am at a crisis point.” She said she had been using alcohol to “numb my pain”. Stephen Belafonte and Mel B in 2016. Photograph: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Brown was married to film producer Stephan Belafonte from 2007 to 2017, having separated in 2016. Following their split, Brown took out a temporary restraining order against him, and accused him of physical, verbal and psychological abuse. A 2017 domestic violence trial was settled out of court; Brown has said that as well as the emotional difficulties of the split, she was “financially battered” by it. The pair had one child – Brown’s third overall. She said she was entering rehab to become “a better version of myself for my kids, for my family and for all the people who have supported me in my life”. There are rumours of a Spice Girls reunion for a 13-date concert series across the UK, though without Victoria Beckham, who continues to concentrate on her fashion career. Brown has also had a successful career outside of the girl group, most recently co-presenting America’s Got Talent and appearing in a Broadway production of Chicago.
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Univision Communications Inc. is exploring a sale of Fusion Media Group, which houses websites including Gizmodo and Deadspin, as it pursues a companywide restructuring following a leadership change, people familiar with the matter said. The move would be a reversal for Univision, best known as the largest Spanish-language TV broadcaster in the U.S. Over the past several years, it has invested in digital assets and sought to diversify its audience by buying English-language websites that appeal to younger, bilingual Hispanic-Americans. Fusion Media Group’s other properties include Lifehacker, The Root and a stake in The Onion’s parent company. A Univision spokeswoman declined to comment. Earlier this year, Univision shelved plans to go public after disappointing financial results. In June, Univision’s board tapped Vincent Sadusky, former chief executive of TV station-owner Media General Inc., as the company’s new chief executive, replacing Randy Falco. Last year, Univision sought to sell a 20% stake in Fusion Media Group for $200 million, valuing it at $1 billion, some of the people familiar with the matter said. The effort failed to attract buyers, in part because potential investors were skittish about the crowded ownership team running Univision, the parent of Fusion. Univision’s owners include billionaire Haim Saban’s Saban Capital Group, Mexican media giant Televisa, and private-equity firms Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and TPG. They took the broadcaster private in 2007 for $13.7 billion in one of the biggest deals during the leveraged-buyout boom, weighing the company down with debt just before the financial crisis. The owners have struggled to find an exit. Univision, like other big media companies, has struggled to adapt to a changing media landscape as cable TV cord-cutting has accelerated, putting pressure on subscription and advertising revenues for cable channels and broadcasters alike. The business climate in digital media also has been punishing, as tech giants Google and Facebook Inc. vacuum up ad dollars and leave other publishers fighting for what’s left. The decision to sell Fusion Media Group comes after a business review by Boston Consulting Group this year recommended cuts in the range of $200 million across Univision. The cost-cutting has already begun at Fusion Media Group, which recently underwent a round of employee buyouts. The Boston Consulting Group review recommended combining Univision’s digital assets with those of Fusion Media Group, which have been operating separately from its corporate parent, according to people familiar with the matter. Keeping Fusion Media Group separate from Univision would simplify any potential sale of the company’s English-language digital assets, according to a person familiar with the company’s strategic plans. Prospective buyers could cut a deal for the company’s English-language assets cleanly without acquiring any other assets in Univision’s portfolio. Write to Shalini Ramachandran at [email protected]<doc-sep>Univision is reportedly considering selling Fusion Media Group, which comprises several English-language digital properties including Gizmodo, Lifehacker, and Deadspin, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The move comes roughly two years after Univision purchased assets belonging to what was then known as Gawker Media for $135 million. It happened on the heels of that company's 2016 bankruptcy filing. Univision, the biggest Spanish-language TV broadcaster in the US, originally purchased the suite of popular websites as part of an effort to reach younger audiences. Univision may be looking to sell off some of the digital assets it acquired as part of its 2016 purchase of Gawker Media, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The company is said to be looking to unload Fusion Media Group, which comprises several popular websites, including Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Deadspin, and others, The Journal said. A Univision representative reached by Business Insider declined to comment. The broadcaster previously sought to unload a minority stake in Fusion Media Group last fall. Univision acquired the websites when it bought Gawker Media for $135 million in 2016. Gawker Media went up for auction that year after it filed for bankruptcy. At the time, Univision, the biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the US, saw the suite of digital properties as a way to diversify and reach younger audiences. The Journal notes that Univision's move to sell Fusion Media Group also follows disappointing financial results posted earlier this year, which prompted the company to ditch plans to go public.<doc-sep>According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Univision is mulling the sale of the brand portfolio that includes popular sites like Gizmodo, Deadspin, The Root, Lifehacker and a chunk of The Onion. Last year, the Spanish language broadcaster reportedly attempted to offload a 20-percent stake in the company for $200 million, but ultimately failed to find any takers, due to “skittish” potential investors. All of this comes less than two years after Univision purchased Gawker Media, picking up the large suite of sites for $135 million, after the brand was felled by a Hulk Hogan lawsuit partially bankrolled by Peter Thiel. The brand was then folded into Fusion Media Group, a created four months prior when Univision bought out Disney’s stake in Fusion TV. The move was largely seen as an attempt to appeal to a younger demo by a broadcast company that has otherwise had trouble adapting to current trends. But media is never easy, and in spite of a number of strong properties, the acquisition hasn’t exactly righted Univision’s ship. Last month, Univision announced that former Media General head Vince Sandusky would replace Randy Falco as CEO, who stepped down shortly after the company abandoned plans to IPO. In April, the company laid off 150 employees as part of an on-going restructuring. Univision has yet to comment on the story.<doc-sep>
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Univision Communications now wants to unload Fusion Media Group — coming two years after it bought a half-dozen websites from Gawker Media in a bid to boost its reach among younger audiences. The Hispanic media giant is exploring a sale of Fusion Media Group, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Univision declined to comment.) The strategic about-face comes after Univision cancelled its initial public offering plans earlier this year and has seen broad turnover among its senior executive ranks. Univision last year had tried to sell a 20% stake in Fusion Media Group for $200 million, but failed to find any investors willing to go in on the deal, the Journal reported. According to the WSJ, potential partners were “skittish” about working with the Univision ownership group, which includes Haim Saban’s Saban Capital Group, Televisa, and private-equity firms Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and TPG. In March, Univision CEO Randy Falco announced his exit one day after the company had scrapped IPO plans. This spring, it Univision laid off 150 employees as part of another wave of restructuring. Fusion Media Group CEO Felipe Holguin and president and chief content officer Daniel Eilemberg also left the company. Shortly afterward, Raju Narisetti, CEO of FMG’s Gizmodo Media Group and a former News Corp exec, also exited after about a year and a half with Univision. Univision named Vince Sadusky its new CEO, who officially started June 1, with Falco staying on as an adviser through year-end. Sadusky is the former CEO of Media General and Lin TV station groups. Univision created the Fusion Media Group in April 2016, after Disney exited the Fusion cable and digital-media joint venture. In August of that year, Univision paid $135 million for the Gawker assets in a bankruptcy auction, which didn’t include the currently dormant Gawker.com. Fusion Media Group’s Gizmodo Media Group brands are Gizmodo, Deadspin, TrackRecord, Lifehacker, Jezebel, Splinter, The Root, Kotaku, and Jalopnik. In addition, the Fusion Media Group includes the company’s interest in the Onion, Clickhole and The A.V. Club as well as two cable networks — Fusion TV, a news and lifestyle English-language network, and Univision’s interest in El Rey Network — and a production studio.
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We're into July, which means the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is quickly approaching. On Sunday evening, MLB revealed the rosters for the 89th annual Midsummer Classic. The 2018 All-Star Game takes place Tuesday, July 17 in Washington D.C.'s Nationals Park. The Home Run Derby is the night before and things officially get started Sunday, July 15 with the Futures Game (rosters here). We've got seven things to know about the All-Star rosters that has background on how the teams are chosen, the roster construction, etc. Here are the rosters, followed by the Final Vote candidates for each league. Be sure to refresh this page, as results will continue to update throughout Sunday's selection show. In parentheses by each player is the number of All-Star trips now, including this year. National League Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will select at DH American League<doc-sep>The 2018 All-Star Game rosters were officially announced on Sunday night. The catch, however, is that one roster spot for each team remains open. That's by design, of course, as that last spot will again be decided by fans as part of the appropriately named Final Vote. Here's the ballot. To help you cast an informed vote, here's a look at the 10 players (five per league) included on the Final Vote ballot. Voting ends Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 4:00 p.m. ET. American League Final Vote candidates Andrew Benintendi BOS • LF • 16 BA .286 R 63 HR 14 RBI 55 SB 16 View Profile Benintendi is building off his very good rookie year with an even better sophomore campaign by walking more, hitting for more power and stealing more often. He's slashing .293/.379/.515 with 22 doubles, five triples14 homers and 16 stolen bases for the team with the best record in baseball on selection night. Eddie Rosario CLE • LF • 9 BA .306 R 58 HR 18 RBI 53 SB 6 View Profile The 26-year-old Rosario is having a career year for the Twins. Through 86 games, he's hitting .301/.342/.536 with 23 doubles, 18 homers and 53 RBI. Also meriting mention is his vastly improved defense in left field, where he was negative-6 last year in defensive runs saved and this season sits at a plus-8. Jean Segura PHI • SS • 2 BA .333 R 61 HR 7 RBI 47 SB 14 View Profile Segura's biggest crime this season has been playing the same position as Manny Machado and Francisco Lindor, because he's been unbelievable for the Mariners, who sport the fourth-best record in baseball. Segura is hitting .330 with 14 stolen bases, 61 runs and helped keep his team afloat after the Robinson Cano injury/PED suspension. Andrelton Simmons MIN • SS • 9 BA .312 R 42 HR 6 RBI 39 SB 5 View Profile Ditto for Simmons with the AL shortstop crowdedness. Truth be told, there were four AL shortstops who should have been selected from the get-go. The best defensive player in baseball (yes, he is), Simmons is doing with the bat now, too. hitting .312 with a .373 on-base percentage and only 15 strikeouts in 325 plate appearances entering Sunday night. Giancarlo Stanton NYY • DH • 27 BA .265 R 52 HR 21 RBI 51 SB 2 View Profile The NL MVP last season took his act to the Bronx this year and weathered a slow start. He's now hitting .267 with 21 homers, 51 RBI and an OPS of .851. He's probably lesser deserving than a few others here this season, but he has the most star power and the Yankees brand on his side now. National League Final Vote candidates Jesus Aguilar MIA • 1B • 24 BA .303 R 42 HR 20 RBI 59 SB 0 View Profile The 28-year-old Aguilar has been brilliant in helping keep the Brewers atop the National League to this point. He's shattering all his career highs and added two more homers Sunday in another victory. He's now hitting .306/.368/.633(!) with 14 doubles, 22 homers and 63 RBI. Brandon Belt SF • 1B • 9 BA .296 R 39 HR 13 RBI 41 SB 2 View Profile An appendectomy interrupted perhaps the best half of baseball in Belt's career. Through 75 games, he's hitting .300/.393/.500 with 16 doubles, 13 homers and 42 RBI. Keep in mind the ballpark he has to deal with in home games, too. Excellent first half. Matt Carpenter STL • 3B • 13 BA .256 R 52 HR 16 RBI 38 SB 0 View Profile Perennially underrated, Carpenter can play first, second or third. He isn't hitting for much average, but he takes a lot of walks and hits for power, as evidenced by his .365 OBP and .513 SLG with 26 doubles, 17 homers and 51 walks. Max Muncy LAD • 1B • 13 BA .270 R 39 HR 20 RBI 38 SB 2 View Profile You simply can't say enough about what Muncy has meant to the Dodgers in light of the Justin Turner (he's back now, but missed a while) and Corey Seager injuries. Muncy played third with Turner out and has bounced around to first and second, too. He heads into Sunday night hitting .269/.408/.614 with 20 homers and 38 RBI. Trea Turner WAS • SS • 7 BA .282 R 54 HR 11 RBI 37 SB 22 View Profile The game is at Nationals Park, so will Nationals fans rock the vote for Trea Turner? It would be his first All-Star appearance. The speedster is playing excellent shortstop while hitting .278/.355/.419 with 11 homers, 22 steals and 54 runs scored.<doc-sep>Aaron Gash/Associated Press Forty-eight Major League Baseball All-Stars will be named Sunday night, as the rosters are unveiled during the selection show before the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers play on Sunday Night Baseball. The American League and National League starters were determined by a fan vote, while the selection process for the remaining roster positions features a vote by the players in each of the 30 clubhouses and choices made by the commissioner's office in order to make sure every team is represented. Unlike previous seasons, the coaching staffs of both teams won't select any of the reserves. The player ballot elects 17 AL players and 16 from the NL, while the commissioner's office picks will feature seven NL players and five out of the AL, per MLB.com. The final additions to each roster will be made after Sunday, as the final vote gives All-Star snubs a final chance to prove their cases. MLB All-Star Selection Show Info Video Play Button Videos you might like Date: Sunday, July 8 Time: 7 p.m. TV: ESPN Braves In Line To Earn Highest Total of Starters Atlanta Braves fans have stuffed ballot boxes in order to get as many of their players recognized for impressive play on the diamond. As of the last voting update July 2, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies and Nick Markakis received the most votes at their respective positions. Freeman's total of 2,905,301 votes was the highest among any player on the NL ballot, which is a bit surprising since Bryce Harper has the opportunity to start in his home stadium and represent the Washington Nationals. The Braves could have a fourth starter in Dansby Swanson if he makes up ground on San Francisco's Brandon Crawford in the shortstop vote. Regardless of what happens with Swanson, the Braves should have the most All-Star Game starters from a single team. Houston, Boston and San Francisco look like they'll have two starters each, but it doesn't appear that any of them will match the Braves. Of the three Braves voting leaders, an All-Star start might mean the most to 34-year-old Nick Markakis, whose only honors on a national stage were two Gold Gloves in 2011 and 2014. Markakis is seventh in the majors in average, with a .324 clip that is the third best in the NL. Freeman would make the NL All-Star team for the third time, while Albies would appear for the first time in his rookie season. Variety Of Teams Expected To Be Represented in Starting Lineups In certain seasons, the teams with dominant fanbases like the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs take over the fan vote to put as many players from their team into the starting lineup as possible. Although the Braves would possess one third of the NL starting lineup if Freeman, Albies and Markakis retain their respective leads, the rest of the starters in both leagues will be spread out among more than 10 teams. In the AL, as many as eight teams could be represented in the starting lineup, and that's without the selection of the starting pitcher. Houston, Cleveland, Baltimore, Boston, Tampa Bay, the Angels, Yankees and Chicago White Sox are set to be represented in the AL lineup, with the Red Sox being the only franchise in possession of two leaders in outfielder Mookie Betts and designated hitter J.D. Martinez. Charles Krupa/Associated Press Looking past the Braves in the NL, the Giants have two leaders, while Colorado, Washington and the Dodgers are also represented. If the standings from the latest voting update remain in the same order Sunday, almost half of the MLB teams will have a starter. There's an opportunity for that number to grow depending on which pitchers are selected to start the July 17 game. The variety in starters should be welcomed by fans, as they receive an opportunity to watch players from different markets that they might not know too much about for an extended period at the start of the contest. Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from MLB.com.<doc-sep>
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The National League on Monday announced its starting lineup for the 2018 MLB All-Star Game, with Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt inserted as the designated hitter. Goldschmidt was selected to the All-Star roster by commissioner selection, one of three first basemen for the National League. He is batting .281/.386/.534 with 21 home runs this season, which is remarkable considering he was jitting just .209/.326/.393 at the end of May. Goldschmidt has 14 home runs in his last 41 games. “Goldy is a consummate professional. In the batters box he’s very dangerous,” said NL manager Dave Roberts, who faces Goldschmidt 19 times a year while managing the Los Angeles Dodgers. “Having a right-handed bat in the lineup against Chris Sale increases our chances a little bit. I just love what he does.” While not quite as stacked as the American League lineup, the National League starting nine is solid from top to bottom. The lowest wRC+ in the NL lineup is 119 by Bryce Harper of the host Washington Nationals. It has been a struggle of late for Harper, hitting just .214 on the season, though with a .365 on-base percentage and .468 slugging percentage. Harper, who ranks second in the NL with 23 home runs, starts in center field and bats sixth on Tuesday night. There are three first-time All-Stars in the National League lineup, with 25-year-old Javier Baez and 26-year-old Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs batting and the top and bottom of the lineup, respectively. Nick Markakis of the Braves, hitting .323/.389/.488 at age 34, made his first All-Star team in his 13th major league season, and bats seventh in right field for the NL. Matt Kemp is the redemption story in the National League lineup, making his first midsummer classic since 2012. Back with the Dodgers after three subpar years away, Kemp is hitting .310/.352/.522 with 15 home runs in a season that has people talking about his performance rather than the money remaining on his contract. He bats fifth and plays left field for the NL.
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Cracks growing across Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf are poised to release an iceberg with an area about twice the size of New York City. (CNN) — Antarctica’s going to lose a big chunk of itself. Like a Big Apple-size chunk. Cracking in a section of the Brunt Ice Shelf will break off a 660-square-mile section from the continent, NASA says. That would create an iceberg more than twice the size of New York City (which measures about 302 square miles). NASA didn’t say exactly how soon this would happen, other than stating on its website that it was “poised” to happen. The Brunt Ice Shelf juts out into the Weddell Sea south of South America. There are two cracks that will eventually lead to the break off. A satellite image of Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf shows it with few cracks in a 1986 photo, left, but a 2019 image shows two clearly visible cracks. NASA Earth Observatory/USGS One crack, called the Halloween crack, first appeared in October 2016 on the north section of the shelf and continues to move eastward. The other crack, which gashes northward through the center of the shelf, was stable for more than three decades. Then it started suddenly accelerating at a rate of about 2.5 miles a year. When the two cracks meet, the ice shelf will break. Even though the iceberg this creates appears massive, it actually isn’t by Antarctic standards. But it still will be significant. “It may be the largest berg to break from the Brunt Ice Shelf since observations began in 1915,” NASA said on its website. “Scientists are watching to see if the loss will trigger the shelf to further change and possibly become unstable or break up.” CNN interactive: Protecting the Antarctic Worries about safety There are also worries about the safety of people who work on the ice shelf, including researchers at the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley Station. It’s a major base for Earth, atmospheric and space research. NASA said the station usually operates year-round, but has closed down twice in recent years due to unpredictable changes in the ice. This cracking of the ice, or calving, is a normal part of an ice shelf’s life cycle, but these recent changes are unfamiliar to this area. “We don’t have a clear picture of what drives the shelf’s periods of advance and retreat through calving,” said NASA glaciologist Chris Shuman. “The likely future loss of the ice on the other side of the Halloween Crack suggests that more instability is possible, with associated risk to (Halley Station).”<doc-sep>NASA has been keeping tabs on a giant crack in Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf. The crack is rapidly growing, and it's approaching a second chasm called the "Halloween crack." If the two cracks converge, an iceberg 30 times the size of Manhattan (or twice the size of all of New York City) could break off and float out to sea. The region's shifting ice has forced the nearby British Halley Research Station to relocate and rebuild several times since 1992, most recently in 2017. A group of NASA scientists is sweating. Two enormous cracks in Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf — on the continent's northern rim, some 3,000 miles from the southernmost tip of South America — are accelerating toward each other. When they meet, they'll likely release an iceberg into the ocean that's roughly 30 times the size of Manhattan. NASA started tracking one of the cracks in October 2016 and aptly named it "Halloween crack." That chasm is growing eastward from an area called McDonald Ice Rumples — a spot on the ice shelf's surface where the ice isn't flat and instead features crevasses and rifts. But a second crack, which doesn't have its own cool name (it was dubbed "Chasm 1" by the British Antarctic Survey), is more concerning. That crack is southeast of the McDonald Ice Rumples, and it recently started accelerating north, putting it on a collision course with the Halloween crack. Chasm 1 had been stable for 35 years but started showing signs of movement in 2012. Now it's expanding at a rate of 4 kilometers per year, according to NASA. Two massive cracks are converging toward the McDonald Ice Rumples. NASA The two cracks are only kilometers apart. When they converge, a piece of ice about 660 square miles in size could break off the ice shelf. "It's hard to make a projection when it will happen exactly, but it will happen," Stef Lhermitte, an expert who has been closely monitoring Chasm 1's progression, told Earther. Lhermitte thinks that once Chasm 1 expands another 2 1/2 miles, the iceberg could break off. That could occur within "days, but it can also take a year," he said. NASA has kept tabs on the escalating crack situation using satellite imagery. The slider below juxtaposes an image from January 30, 1986, with another view of the same location on the ice shelf more than 20 years later. While the ice shelf juts farther into the ocean in the 2019 photo, the growth of both Chasm 1 and the Halloween crack is evident. Giant icebergs could destabilize an entire ice shelf This isn't the first time Antarctica will lose a giant iceberg, and it won't set any records for size. In 2017, an iceberg the size of Delaware broke off the continent's Larsen C Ice Shelf. When an iceberg splits off from the continent and starts to melt, it doesn't necessarily contribute to sea-level rise because that ice was already floating on the ocean to begin with. Think of a glass of ice water — as the glass warms, the ice in it melts, but the total volume doesn't increase. That's the case for this iceberg. But there's a bigger risk: Once this 660-square-mile iceberg gets disconnected from the continent, it could contribute to the destabilization and collapse of the entire Brunt Ice Shelf. If the whole ice shelf collapses, all the landlocked glaciers that the shelf is keeping in check could melt into the ocean. And that melt could make a significant contribution to sea-level rise. Read More: There's a cavity underneath Antarctica that's two thirds the size of Manhattan — a sign ice sheets are melting faster than we thought "The near-term future of Brunt Ice Shelf likely depends on where the existing rifts merge relative to the McDonald Ice Rumples," Joe MacGregor, a glaciologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a press release. "If they merge upstream (south) of the McDonald Ice Rumples, then it’s possible that the ice shelf will be destabilized." A research station may be in jeopardy It's difficult for scientists to determine how and why certain cracks in the Antarctic ice suddenly begin to grow, but research suggests warming oceans are speeding up Antarctica's melting overall. In the 1980s, Antarctica lost 40 billion tons of ice annually. In the last decade, that number jumped to an average of 252 billion tons per year. The instability of the region has already impacted British researchers working at the Halley Research Station, where experts study space weather and the planet's changing atmosphere. In 2017, the expanding Chasm 1 forced scientists to prematurely end the winter research season at Halley and close the station early. Halley Research Station VI moved 23 kilometers (14 miles) inland after British Antarctic Survey experts became concerned about the region's stability. British Antarctic Survey Since the station's inception in 1956, there have been six Halleys. The station's current iteration, Halley VIa, moved 14 miles upstream from its original location west of Chasm 1 to the crack's inland side. But the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) decided to leave Halley VIa unmanned in 2018 "for safety reasons" related to the region's "complex and unpredictable glaciological situation." If the converging cracks destabilize the ice shelf even further, the BAS may have to move their research station again or consider abandoning Halley VIa altogether. "What we are witnessing is the power and unpredictability of nature," Jane Francis, the director of BAS, said in a press release.<doc-sep>
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An iceberg roughly twice the size of New York City could soon break off an ice shelf in Antarctica, according to NASA scientists who are monitoring an enormous crack that is spreading across the sprawling slab of ice. The space agency recently released satellite photos of Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf, where a rift can be seen cutting across the shelf. NASA scientists said the crack had been stable for about 35 years, but has since been creeping north at a pace of about 2.5 miles per year. This rift is accelerating toward another fissure — known as the Halloween crack — that is located less than 3 miles away. The Halloween crack, which was first observed in October 2016, continues to spread east, and when the two rifts intersect in the coming days or weeks, an iceberg measuring at least 660 square miles will likely break off the ice shelf. Scientists are unsure what this process, known as calving, could mean for the future health and stability of the Brunt Ice Shelf. “At worst, this calving could destabilize the remainder of the Brunt Ice Shelf leading to its complete collapse,” Dominic Hodgson, a senior scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, told NBC News MACH Tuesday in an email. “This would then likely be followed by an acceleration of ice in the upstream glaciers, increasing their contribution to sea level.” The newborn iceberg would be the largest to break off the Brunt Ice Shelf in more than 100 years, but as far as Antarctic bergs go, it would be a relative pipsqueak. NASA estimated that an iceberg of that size would not even make the list of the 20 biggest Antarctic icebergs. One of the largest icebergs in recorded history, measuring 2,200 square miles or nearly the size of Delaware, spawned from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf in 2017. Iceberg calving is a natural phenomenon that occurs during the life cycle of an ice shelf, but scientists say climate change is causing Antarctica’s ice shelves to thin. “In recent decades the rate of ice loss has accelerated in many areas, and in some cases complete ice shelves have broken up,” Hodgson said in the email. “This has in most cases been linked to a combination of measured atmospheric and ocean warming in the region; melting the ice shelves from above and below.” This could have serious consequences for scientists who work in Antarctica, including researchers with the British Antarctic Survey, which maintains the Halley VI Research Station on the Brunt Ice Shelf. The Halley facility, where scientists conduct crucial Earth, atmospheric and space science, is typically open year-round but has been closed twice in recent years due to worrisome ice conditions. FOLLOW NBC NEWS MACH ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND INSTAGRAM.
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Microsoft's E3 2018 presentation finally debuted the first look at CD Projekt Red's upcoming game Cyberpunk 2077 with a trailer. But eagle-eyed viewers noticed a little Easter egg in the show, and received a free critically acclaimed game as a result. Just as Microsoft's conference was ending, it was "hacked" by Cyberpunk to show one more trailer. The red DOS prompts that kicked off the takeover were familiar enough, but then they began to stream a series of codes rapid-fire. Some viewers noticed these 25-digit codes looked an awful lot like Xbox redemption codes, and promptly entered them. The ingenuity was rewarded with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY edition. Gallery It's a characteristically playful and fan-friendly move from CD Projekt Red. The codes streamed so fast that there may still be one unclaimed, but word has gotten out and they appear to be going fast. GameSpot confirmed these were valid Xbox codes by entering one and finding it had already been redeemed. i typed one of the codes in pic.twitter.com/zgw88ywLBq — Matt (@Storm360) June 10, 2018 One number conspicuously absent from the Cyberpunk trailer, though, was a release date for the upcoming game. We're not sure when to expect it, though with E3 just getting started we may still hear about it before the week's end.<doc-sep>Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most-anticipated upcoming games of E3 2018, and so far developer CD Projekt Red (of Witcher fame), has been tight lipped about what the game will actually be like. However, at Microsoft's E3's press conference, the studio officially changed that by showing off the game and revealing some details about it. The press conference was about to end before being "hacked" to show the first full trailer. It opened with a narrator saying poverty and other social issues had made his city the worst place to live, and yet, everyone wants to be there. It then showed a train emerging into a dazzling city of dreams, a metropolis of giant buildings adorned with dazzling screens, where organic skin is meshed with futuristic tech. The narrator describes himself as a "dreamer" before opening a case with a rifle in it. Viewers were then treated to montage of violence, with punk-stylised figures brutally attacking each other. While it was a short trailer, it was certainly sweet. Bright and vibrant visuals and dense details brought to life a city of the future, and given that The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red is creating Cyberpunk 2077, we're expecting there will be hundreds of compelling stories to be found within. Check out the trailer above. Gallery There wasn't any gameplay, but this was a good trailer for setting the tone. The first teaser took place in a dark alleyway where a bounty hunter-like figure was about to kill someone, this felt drastically different. Cyberpunk 2077 was first announced six years ago. It is an RPG that is at least loosely based on Mike Pondsmith's tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020. The game is set in a "dark future" of 2077 where advanced technologies have become both "the salvation and the curse of humanity." The game promises a nonlinear story designed for "mature" players and is set in the metropolis of Night City. According to CD Projekt Red, it will have some sandbox elements and a form of multiplayer. The studio has taken steps to stress that Cyberpunk 2077 is a "true RPG" and definitely not a multiplayer shooter. There's no confirmed release date, but the game will come out for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.<doc-sep>
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We're getting new details on the gameplay and plot of CD Projekt Red's much-anticipated game Cyberpunk 2077. During GameSpot's E3 2018 Stage Show, CD Projekt Red's Kyle Rowley shared a wide variety of details about the PS4, Xbox One, and PC game, including the fact that it's an RPG played from a first-person perspective. The reason for that, according to Rowley, is due to the high level of detail in the game. "We're spending a lot of time on this very detailed cyberpunk world set in Night City," he said. "It's all handcrafted, there's a lot of atmosphere. We really want players to feel this depression and the fact that these mega-corporations are kind of stamping down on people's lives. To really showcase that and immerse the player in that world we decided the first-person perspective was the best way to do it." One thing Rowley also made very clear was that Cyberpunk 2077 is not a shooter, despite its first-person gameplay. "It's a role-playing game with some shooter elements, rather than a shooter with role-playing laid on top of it. There's very deep progression systems, so all the things you'd expect from a CD Projekt game," he said. Gallery Beyond that, Rowley revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 allows you to customize your character and play as a man or woman named V. There is also a class system of sorts, although you don't choose one at the start of the game. We got our first real look at Cyberpunk 2077 during Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference, where CD Projekt Red unveiled the new trailer above. For the latest news and updates, follow GameSpot's full E3 2018 coverage of Cyberpunk 2077.
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UEFA's balls of fate have been plucked from their perspex fishbowls of destiny and the Champions League round of 16 draw has coughed up a bevy of enticing heavyweight encounters. Three of the four Premier League contenders have been pitted against Bundesliga opponents, while Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been handed gruelling ties against Atletico Madrid, Lyon and Ajax, respectively. Finally, after years of tough last 16 draws, PSG get an easy one 😜 #UCL https://t.co/OZyz9nGlFJ — Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) 17 December 2018 Be under no illusion, this is incredibly serious business indeed. Might have to cancel my skiing trip.... #Last16 — Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) 17 December 2018 All eyes were on Manchester United, who, despite their ongoing domestic travails, successfully qualified from a difficult group and made it through into the knockout phase -- only to find themselves paired with Paris Saint-Germain, the first-ever competitive game between the two sides. The prospect of watching PSG's ultra-mobile front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani run riot against United's struggling back four was enough to titillate fans. Neymar, Mbappe and Cavani against that Man Utd defence...... — Mark Ogden (@MarkOgden_) 17 December 2018 To add to United's woes (what a merciless game football is), the PSG tie lands right in the middle of a hectic run of fixtures for Jose Mourinho's side. Tuesday 12th Feb - PSG (H) Saturday 23rd Feb - Liverpool (H) Tuesday 5th March - PSG (A) Saturday 9th March - Arsenal (A) Saturday 16th March - Man City (H)#mufc pic.twitter.com/1YWvKlMMr9 — United Xtra (@utdxtra) 17 December 2018 Even the French media were pleased with the draw, with Le Parisien giving its immediate verdict: "PSG will go to England at the start of the knockout rounds in February of 2019 with a draw that seems doable for Thomas Tuchel's men." Manchester City will also be taking on Schalke for the first time in the Champions League, with the last meeting between the two sides coming in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup (remember that?) group stage. City get Schalke. That's the best possible draw for #MCFC imo but I'm ready for Guardiola to tell us tomorrow why Schalke are the best team in the world — Simon Bajkowski (@spbajko) 17 December 2018 The theme of uncharted territory continues with Liverpool, who are set to play Bayern Munich in the Champions League for the first time ever and for the first time in any competition since the 2001 European Super Cup. That said, Reds fans daunted by the prospect will no doubt be heartened to learn that their side have lost only one of their previous 16 games against German sides in European competition -- and that came way back in April 2002. 1 - @FCBayernEN and @LFC will clash in the Champions League for the first time, and Bayern have won each of their last three games against English teams (all against Arsenal) by the score of 5-1. Premiere. #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/ryjhZHpoWD — OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) 17 December 2018 Tottenham have met Borussia Dortmund on four previous occasions in European competition, winning two and losing two. However, Spurs have won both of their Champions League encounters with Dortmund, scoring five goals over the course. The omens, for what they're worth, are good. And who knows, maybe -- just maybe -- by that point they might just have a brand-new stadium to christen in style. Maybe.<doc-sep>Man Utd news: Edinson Cavani has been impressed with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer HERE for the latest MUFC breaking news and transfer updates SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign upfor the latest MUFC breaking news and transfer updates When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. The French champions meet the Red Devils in the Champions League next month. And Cavani has been impressed with the ‘change of energy’ Solskjaer has brought to the club since replacing Jose Mourinho. The Norwegian has led his side to six straight wins, the most recent a 1-0 victory over Tottenham at Wembley. “Manchester, we have to think of ourselves and not the other teams," Cavani said. “We have to think about what we have to do as a team, know our qualities and our faults to get to the next match ready, in the best and most fit way. “We know that Manchester United has gone through a rather negative period, the coaching change has brought a change of energy too, different. “They have started to have positive results. “It creates more motivation and that's normal. Pochettino would only move to Man Utd for the name says pundit Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won his first six matches “But we will study them more specifically at the time of the match, not before.” Cavani has also opened up on his partnership with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for PSG. “It's all about time, work, availability wth any football player, one or more, and I think everyone reacts differently in the group,” he explained. “The energy is different and I think that, with time, this connection has developed.” Man Utd take on Neymar's PSG side in the Champions League next month<doc-sep>The Premier League and Ligue 1 giants face each other in the knockout stages of the Champions League Neymar believes his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates will face a different Manchester United now Jose Mourinho is no longer in charge. United and PSG face each other in the last 16 of the Champions League with the first leg at Old Trafford on February 20. 3 Neymar will face Manchester United with PSG in the Champions League The Red Devils will be under the management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following his appointment to the caretaker role on Wednesday. The tie will also be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs. 3 Jose Mourinho was sacked by Manchester United Neymar said: “We know the quality that Manchester United have and we know that their players have a winning mentality. “The coach has changed and it will be a different playing style – they’re in the process of changing things up – but we know the quality they have. “They will be two great matches between two great sides. “It is always a pleasure to play in them and I am very happy to be taking on Manchester United.” Most Read in Football NEWS Woeful De Gea stat, Solskjaer 'not at Man United's level', Rashford abused after final INQUIRY Questions will be asked of Solskjaer after 'master' Emery nullified Man United DRAMA Man United stunned by Villarreal as Solskjaer's search for silverware goes on shocker De Gea's commitment doubted as he concedes 36th straight pen and misses in EL final NEW BLOOD Zidane 'decides to leave' Madrid with immediate effect as Khabib calls for Conte KON MAN Liverpool stars given warning about Konate as RB Leipzig defender ‘passes medical’ gone Conte leaves Inter: Spurs would be 'match made in hell' due to 'trail of carnage' Unsettled Willian would ‘love’ Chelsea return as Arsenal eye £40million replacement force Van Dijk partnered with Konate and midfielder joins - Liverpool XI to challenge City PLAN Bale’s agent responds to claims Welshman could 'quit football to become pro golfer' United’s defence have the terrifying prospect of facing PSG’s attack of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani. The Brazilian thinks the French side, who are 10 points clear at the top of Ligue 1, are improving all the time. “We’re very happy that our link-up play is getting better and better in each match; we’re getting to know each other better as time goes by,” he added. 3 Paris Saint-Germain stars Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. “And that’s our objective: that everyone be happy to provide assists for the others to score, so that everyone ends the match happy – even though the most important thing is, of course, to win the match.”<doc-sep>
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Champions League: Man Utd draw PSG in round of sixteen Manchester United have been a completely different team under the Norwegian, winning all six of their games since Jose Mourinho’s departure in December. PSG were drawn against United in the last 16 of the Champions League with the tie due to be played in the middle of February. And World Cup winner Mbappe, had his say on his side’s upcoming opponents. "I think Manchester United is always a top side," Mbappé told sport24 in Dubai. "It's not easy to play any team in the Champions League, we are going to do our best." PSG were knocked out of the Champions League last season by Real Madrid at the last 16 stage. The Parisian side have been under pressure in recent years to deliver European glory, given their superior financial status. United were also knocked out at the last 16 stage last year, in a dismal tie to Sevilla. Cavani and Mbappe had their say on Solskjaer's fortunes at United Solskjaer has won all of his games in charge of United From then on, things only went downhill for Mourinho, and he was sacked before the turn of the year. The Red Devils have since won five Premier League games on the bounce, including an impressive victory at Wembley against Tottenham on Sunday. Uruguayan Cavani also spoke of the positive turn-around at Old Trafford, citing their change of manager as the biggest reason. "I think after the departure of Jose Mourinho Manchester United has a new energy," Cavani also told sport24. Man United: Solskjaer should get job PERMANENTLY says pundit Cavani and co couldn't handle Real Madrid last season "They have started to win matches and have more continuity. "We have to think about what we have to do as a team, know our qualities and our faults to get to the next match ready, in the best and most fit way.” A lot has been made of United’s tough schedule in the coming weeks. They’ll face Arsenal in the FA Cup towards the end of the month before their Champions League exploits with the Ligue 1 champions. "We know that Manchester United has gone through a rather negative period, the coaching change has brought a change of energy too, different. They have started to have positive results,” Cavani told Goal. "It creates more motivation and that's normal. But we will study them more specifically at the time of the match, not before."
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A scene from today’s protest. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Right now, mass crowds are making their way to the Supreme Court in Washington D.C., as part of today’s “#CancelKavanaugh” protests, ahead of Friday’s likely vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The protest began at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Barrett Prettyman Courthouse — where Kavanaugh currently sits as a judge — and will culminate at the Supreme Court. “We’re marching from Kavanaugh’s current courthouse to the one he hopes to ascend to,” tweeted the Women’s March, which helped organize today’s event. “We’ll do everything we can to make sure he doesn’t get there.” Busloads of sexual-assault survivors and their supporters came in from across the country, the Huffington Post reports. In addition to thousands of marchers, a slew of celebrities are slated to show up. “If there was ever a moment when the voice of the people can come together in concert to change the fate of our nation, this is it,” the event’s website reads. “The legitimacy of the nation’s highest court is at stake, as is the future of our country.” See below for the most powerful scenes from the protest. A look at the huge crowd making its way to SCOTUS in protest of #Kavanaugh pic.twitter.com/m9M7cYvp03 — Alexandra Limon (@AlexLimonNews) October 4, 2018 “I BELIEVE CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD. I am angry on behalf of women who have been told to sit down and shut up one time too many!” - @SenWarren #CancelKavanaugh #BelieveSurvivors pic.twitter.com/7SWuPuiG7R — Women's March (@womensmarch) October 4, 2018 RIGHT NOW: Thousands marching to Supreme Court to #StopKanavaugh pic.twitter.com/hHw9lAa7Xi — Ben Wikler (@benwikler) October 4, 2018 This says it all. The last time I was in a political protest, I was 5 years old in front of the Bulgarian Parliament watching the communist government be taken down. Never doubt that democracy works. Never doubt that it takes work. #CancelKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/nRMPxpsrEP — Maria Popova (@brainpicker) October 4, 2018<doc-sep>WASHINGTON – As she stood at the Supreme Court on Thursday, Diane Russell had a message for GOP Sen. Susan Collins, whose vote could determine nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s fate. “If she turns on women, Maine women will turn on her,” said Russell, a former Maine lawmaker. Russell was one of about 20 protesters from Maine who traveled to the nation's capital to join hundreds of other protesters for a rally that could be a last gasp push against Kavanaugh's proposed ascension to the nation's highest court. The group repeatedly chanted: “Susan Collins, we are your voters, Susan Collins, we are your voters!” The protesters, who marched from the federal courthouse to the Supreme Court to the Senate, were hoping to sway a handful of lawmakers considered swing votes in determining the fate of Kavanaugh. After their demonstration at the Supreme Court, protesters swarmed the Hart Senate Office Building atrium ahead of a “direct action” – an act of nonviolent resistance where protesters anticipate being arrested. As they began sitting on the floor of the atrium, police quickly ringed the group, issuing warnings before leading individual protesters away in plastic handcuffs. Capitol Police said a total of 302 were arrested and charged with unlawfully demonstrating, 293 of them in the atrium and the rest in the fourth floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Also at the Hart Building, a group that traveled from Alaska hoping to talk to GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski had strong words for her. “I think it will be such an egregious betrayal that none of us here will vote for her,” Erica Kahill said, imagining what would happen if Murkowski votes yes on Kavanaugh's nomination. “I feel like she is normally an advocate for women ...This would change my mind.” A California professor, Christine Blasey Ford, has accused the judge of sexually assaulting her at a high school party 36 years ago, a claim Kavanaugh denies. The drama has captivated – and polarized – the nation since both Ford and Kavanaugh testified a week ago before the Senate Judiciary Committee. An initial vote of the full Senate on the nomination is scheduled for Friday, and a final vote could come over the weekend. Lawmakers received the FBI report on allegations of sexual assault against the federal judge Thursday. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said it reflects "no hint of misconduct." Protesters at the rally in D.C., one of several across the nation Thursday, were diverse: people of all races and ages, from grandmothers to children in strollers. The majority were women, but there were plenty of men. Many chanted “We believe survivors!” and “Whose court? Our court!” as one man pounded a drum in rhythm with the chants. More:Brett Kavanaugh's anticipated FBI report released to Senate More:Kavanaugh reminds me of my father: Enraged by threats to power Barbara Smith got her start in protesting during the Vietnam War. On Thursday she was back at it, among the first to arrive at the rally in D.C. “It’s unreal that those of us of a certain generation have to do this again,” said Smith, 67, of Richmond, Virginia, as she waved a sign that included photos of her grandchildren. "My job as a grandmother is to do what I can to make sure that they’re going to be safe and that they’ll never have to say ‘Me Too.'" Smith, who spent 40 years as a therapist working with trauma victims, said she wasn’t surprised when she heard President Donald Trump mocking Ford. “Victim shaming has been going on for a very long time,” she said. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and hero of the progressive left, drew a roar from the crowd when she took the microphone on a hot sunny day in the nation's capital. “I watched that hearing last Thursday and I believe Dr. Ford,” Warren said. “This is about power. I watched 11 men, powerful men, who tried to help another powerful man make it to an even more powerful position. I am angry on behalf of women who have been told to shut up and sit down one time too many.” Protester Jolie Timm, 70, echoed Warren's refrain. Timm said the hardest part of watching the hearing was seeing the women who support Kavanaugh, including his wife, Ashley. “I looked at the people behind him and it made me cry,” said Timm, 70, of Gold Beach, Oregon. “It’s so sad that people that I relate to can believe in something and someone that is so hurtful.” Opponents of Kavanaugh remained energized. Planned Parenthood said its youth groups on at least 18 college campuses in at least 12 states were mobilizing resistance events. “Young people are taking action across the country because they stand with survivors of sexual assault," spokesman Nick Savelli said. "And they know Brett Kavanaugh is in a position to determine the health and constitutional rights of generations to come." A group called International Women's Strike is urging people across Portland, Ore., to walk out at 4 p.m. In Washington, protesters geared up for a day of action. Smith and Timm were among hundreds gathering at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, D.C., where Kavanaugh currently sits as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "We’re marching from Kavanaugh’s current courthouse to the one he hopes to ascend to," the Women's March tweeted. "We’ll do everything we can to make sure he doesn’t get there." Angela Trzepkowski, 55, of Middleton, Delaware, was among the first to arrive “I don’t believe he’s told the truth,” Trzepkowski said. “I believe it’s the good old boy network covering for each other and watching each other’s backs. And I’m ashamed that our country has to go through this because of poor vetting and women’s fear to speak out when assault has happened.” Organized by groups such as the Women's March, Demand Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union, the protest is the latest in a string of demonstrations against Kavanaugh.<doc-sep>Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Supreme Court on Thursday to protest Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. The rallies come a day before senators are set to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination following an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations waged against him by Christine Blasey Ford. Amy Schumer and Emily Ratajkowski were among almost 300 individuals arrested at the protest. Capitol police said 293 protestors were arrested in the protest at the Hart Senate Office Building atrium, and nine were arrested in a demonstration at the fourth floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. All were charged with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding — a misdemeanor. Among those arrested was Janet Redman of Washington D.C. She said the demonstrators were processed in a park outside the Russell Senate Office Building. “We had folks who were in line today getting arrested who saw Roe v. Wade happen,” she said. “So we had people who knew what it was like when we didn’t have choice over our own bodies. And people who have grown up where they had choice. So we had people across generations who realize this is a scary time for democracy and a scary time for women, women of color in particular.” After a rally at the Supreme Court, more than a thousand demonstrators trekked to the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, where they engaged in prolonged chants of “this is what democracy looks like!” and “our voice!” Some of the Senate offices posted signs in their windows in support. More from the Hart atrium. pic.twitter.com/sdwI4bomQC — Ted Johnson (@tedstew) October 4, 2018 At the Supreme Court rally, demonstrators cheered as it was announced that Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat facing a tough reelection battle in a red state, will vote no on Kavanaugh. Among the Hollywood figures who attended the rally: Emily Ratajkowski and Amy Schumer. “No matter how this goes, they cannot keep us down. We will win. A vote for Kavanaugh is a vote saying women don’t matter,” Schumer said. “Do not give up in this moment. Do not grow weary,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), told the crowd, gathered on what is an unseasonably hot and humid day in Washington. Shaunna Thomas of UltraViolet says the Trump “Access Hollywood” tape is being run on a screen on the National Mall on Thursday.<doc-sep>A group of men stood outside of the Supreme Court to oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. (Photo: Twitter) As lawmakers took to the Senate floor on Friday to vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh‘s nomination to the highest court in the country, a group of men took over the street just outside the Supreme Court to protest, chanting, “Believe women! Believe survivors!” In a video posted to Twitter, 14 men are seen standing on the crosswalk in front of the federal building, linking arms and providing their reason for the protest. HEROES These men are blocking the street in front of the supreme court. Watch them explain why. EVERY MAN NEEDS TO HEAR THIS! RETWEET THIS! pic.twitter.com/WWmejJ30AX — StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) October 5, 2018 “We stand as participants who will bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice so that this nation shall rise up and stand with survivors, stand with women, stand on the right side of justice,” one man said, echoing the words of Martin Luther King Jr. “We as men have come to stand with our sisters, who have for so long pushed this country forward, who have given birth to this nation. And we as their sons are standing firm to let the United States Senate know that we are watching. We are watching their decisions.” While another continued, “It is us as men who are responsible for the trauma and the pain of women. And it’s us as men who are responsible for starting to heal it. We’re just trying to be held accountable for our own mistakes.” In the next video, the men remain standing in front of a police officer threatening to arrest them for “blocking and impeding a roadway.” After the officer’s second warning of arrest, a woman witnessing the protest says, “You are our heroes,” to which one of the men replies, “You are.” Moments later, all 14 of them join in a chant in support of women and survivors. The moment these heroes were arrested. They were warned but did not move. Chanting "Believe Survivors" RETWEET THIS! pic.twitter.com/um4Xvi985D — StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) October 5, 2018 Both tweets have received thousands of responses from both women and men, praising the efforts demonstrated by the group. One person commented, “This is what democracy looks like.” Story continues A dozen men,arms interlocked, chanting_Believe Women_standing firm as they prepare to be arrested. I don’t know what it says about America that I just burst into tears watching this. Maybe because it’s a glimpse of an America we can create together. Thank you brothers. https://t.co/Q34YIIODhJ — Glennon Doyle (@GlennonDoyle) October 5, 2018 Tears here too – I do believe this is the America we can and will become. To believe otherwise is just too, too hopeless. #BelieveWomen Thank you so much to these men – this is what true manhood looks like not the false narrative so many men have put forth these past weeks. — Serialadopter (@serialadopter) October 5, 2018 This is a beautiful sight for my survivor eyes!! Thank you gentlemen — Jo Berry #IBelieveSurvivors (@JoBerry58539315) October 5, 2018 Women, behold your Brothers. ❤ — Prince Aaron (@thecleverfool) October 5, 2018 I literally could not finish watching this because I cannot be sitting at my desk sobbing. I don't know any of you gentleman, but I literally cannot thank you enough. Thank you for modelling how to be a good, solid, humble ally. It may not make a difference here, but it matters. — Gourds For FEMA Administrator 🎃🌊🇺🇸 (@GourdsForTurnip) October 5, 2018 Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: • Emily Ratajkowski shamed, told to ‘put on a bra’ while protesting, proving Kavanaugh supporters are missing the point • ‘We believe Christine Blasey Ford’ was the message of the national walkout. Here’s what it looked like across the U.S. • Public university pulls ‘pop-up’ credit offered to students who protest Sen. Susan Collins Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.<doc-sep>
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Thousands of liberal protesters, fired up by Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, marched up Capitol Hill on Thursday to protest Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and put pressure on the handful of undecided senators who will determine whether Kavanaugh gets confirmed in the coming days. By Thursday afternoon, Capitol Police began arresting hundreds of protesters inside the Hart Senate Office Building who raised their fists and loudly started chanting “Kavanaugh has got to go.” Arrests were made after protesters began sitting down in the building's atrium, refusing to cooperate with law enforcement. In all, some 302 protesters were arrested and charged with unlawfully demonstrating in Senate office buildings Thursday, police said. During the rallies and marches, protesters made it clear they were mad that Kavanaugh – who has denied allegations of past sexual assault – might be confirmed as early as this week. “I am angry on behalf of women who have been told to sit down and shut up one time too many,” Warren, a possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, told the crowd. Midday Thursday, demonstrators congregated at the Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, where Kavanaugh currently works as a United States Circuit Judge. They then marched through the National Mall to the Supreme Court, where they shut down the street in front of the court and rallied some more. Speakers called out Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine. “Senator Murkowski, do you believe us?” a female speaker from Alaska said on the steps of the Supreme Court. “You better believe us. You better believe survivors.” Protesters waved signs that said, “Believe Survivors” and “Kava Nope.” Another read, “Susan Collins: Don’t betray women. Vote No.” Some protesters may have been encouraged to attend the rally after the Party Majority PAC, a sponsor of the protest, listed the names of numerous supportive celebrities, including Alicia Keys, Eva Longoria, Whoopi Goldberg and Lena Dunham on its flier. Some news stories ahead of the event said they would be there, though none of those listed celebrities showed up. Warren, who has acknowledged she is thinking of running for president in 2020 as a Democrat, was the biggest name to appear. Others who spoke included Linda Sarsour, the pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead the recent Women's March in Washington. “I watched that hearing last Thursday, and I believe Dr. Ford,” Warren said, referencing Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford. “I watched that hearing last Thursday, and Brett Kavanaugh is disqualified.” Warren also took aim at the Republican men on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I watched 11 men -- powerful men -- try to help another powerful man make it to another powerful position,” the Democratic senator said. “This is about hijacking our Democracy.” At one point during the march, protesters referenced the woman who accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of misconduct during his 1991 confirmation hearings: “We believe Christine Ford. We believe Anita Hill,” they said. The protests came the same day senators were able to read the FBI report on its investigation into Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh. Republicans said the report was thorough and showed that the FBI could not corroborate any of the allegations against Kavanaugh. “The whole report, you can stand on it and paint the ceiling,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “I learned nothing I didn’t already know,” said Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who plans to vote for Kavanaugh. Democrats, including those who have long said they planned to vote against Kavanaugh, said they weren’t satisfied. “There is much in there that raises more questions,” said Cory Booker, D-N.J. The prospects for Kavanaugh's confirmation now rest on four swing senators. North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, after staying on the fence for weeks, announced Thursday she will vote against Kavanaugh, citing in part his conduct at last week's fiery Hill hearing. But at least two Republican swing senators indicated they were satisfied with the FBI’s investigation. Collins, who has stayed mum on her Kavanaugh stance, said Thursday that the bureau’s supplemental background probe “appears to be a very thorough investigation.” And Flake, who originally requested the FBI re-open its investigation into the claims leveled against Kavanaugh by Ford, said no “new corroborative information came out” of the report. The other two big undecideds are Murkowski and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia. Murkowski said Thursday she has made "no decision" on Kavanaugh's fate. Manchin's stance is not yet clear.
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Berlin: At least nine people have been seriously injured and many others, including an Australian, have sustained lesser injuries after a tourist bus crashed into an articulated lorry filled with car tyres in southern Germany. Most of the more than 30 passengers as well as the bus and the lorry drivers were injured in the crash near the city of Heidelberg, police said. At least 17 people were taken to hospital, including five women and three men from Canada, one woman from Australia, two men from the United States, and three Germans. As the tour operator had not provided a complete passenger list it was difficult to give exact numbers, according to police, but they said the group was mainly made up tourists.<doc-sep>At least nine people have been seriously injured and many others, including an Australian, have sustained lesser injuries after a tourist bus and a semi-trailer collided in southern Germany. Most of the more than 30 passengers as well as the bus and the truck drivers were injured in the crash near the city of Heidelberg, police said. At least 17 people were taken to hospital, including five women and three men from Canada, one woman from Australia, two men from the United States, and three Germans. As the operator had not provided a complete passenger list it was difficult to give exact numbers, according to police, but they said the group was mainly made up tourists. The exact circumstances of the incident were unclear, but police said that the bus had driven onto the wrong side of the road. Five rescue helicopters and seven ambulances were sent to help the injured, while the road was blocked for hours. Both lanes were only reopened late on Thursday night (local time). German media reported that most passengers were aged 60-plus, and were from the US, Canada and Australia. It is believed the bus company operates a four-star bus service out of Waghäusel, according to its website, and all buses are equipped with distance regulators and “lane-assisted technology”. Media reports said about 100 emergency units, including rescue helicopters, rushed to the scene near the small south-western town of Hockenheim (in the Upper Rhine Valley), treating several shocked passengers on the side of the road. Debris scattered across the road marked where the bus was approaching an on-ramp to the A61 highway on an “L road”, the German equivalent of a secondary road, when the collision happened. Hockenheim: Schwerer Verkehrsunfall mit Reisebus; mehrere Schwerverletzte pic.twitter.com/Ifkk9xhr1A — Marco Hanna (@Crash24h) October 11, 2018 Passengers could be seen standing by the side of the road holding back packs and bags as they were helped into waiting ambulances for treatment. Local Speyer police officer David Faulhaber said “as far as we can see at this moment, the bus moved over to opposite lane and collided with a lorry”. “Including the lorry driver, we have 35 injured, some of them severely,” Officer Faulhaber told reporters at the crash scene. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said Australian officials were “making urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm the identity and condition of any Australians involved”, the ABC reported. -with wires<doc-sep>At least two Australians are among the injured after a bus carrying over 30 tourists from Australia, Canada and the United States crashed into a truck filled with car tyres near Heidelberg, Germany. Loading Local police told the ABC the bus driver was in a critical condition and nine passengers had been seriously injured. In total 18 people were hurt. The condition of the Australians remains unknown. Five rescue helicopters and seven ambulances raced to the scene in the small south-western town of Hockenheim, about 20 kilometres from Heidelberg, to carry off injured passengers, a police spokesman said. He said the road was shut for several hours. The crash happened when the bus shifted into the opposing lane and collided with the truck while approaching a highway on-ramp. Both vehicles stopped side by side with major damage to the front of the tourist bus. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said Australian officials were "making urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm the identity and condition of any Australians involved". Reuters<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email A bus carrying over 30 tourists from Australia, Canada and the United States crashed into a truck filled with car tires near Heidelberg, Germany on Thursday, leaving nine people seriously injured, local police said. Five rescue helicopters and seven ambulances raced to the scene in the small southwestern town of Hockenheim, about 20 km from Heidelberg, to carry off injured passengers, a police spokesman said. He said the road was shut for several hours. Broadcaster SWR said a total of 35 people were injured in the accident, including the drivers of the bus and the lorry, and four people were in critical condition. The police spokesman could not immediately confirm those details. Story continues below advertisement It said the bus shifted into the opposing lane and collided with the truck while approaching an on-ramp to the A61 highway.<doc-sep>
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A bus carrying more than 30 tourists from Australia and North America has crashed into a truck in Germany - leaving nine people fighting for their lives. The bus crashed into a truck filled with car tyres near Heidelberg, Germany at 4pm on Thursday local time, and nine people are seriously injured according to local police. Five rescue helicopters and seven ambulances raced to the scene in the small southwestern town of Hockenheim. Scroll down for video A bus carrying more than 30 tourists from Australia and North America has crashed into a truck in Germany - leaving nine people fighting for their lives The bus was reportedly carrying passengers aged in their 60s, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The injured passengers were taken to hospital and the road was shut for several hours. Broadcaster SWR said a total of 35 people were injured in the accident, including the drivers of the bus and the lorry, and four people were in critical condition. The police spokesman could not immediately confirm those details. The bus crashed into a truck filled with car tyres near Heidelberg, Germany at 4pm on Thursday local time, leaving nine people seriously injured, local police said The bus is believed to have shifted into the opposing lane and collided with the truck while approaching an on-ramp to the A61 highway. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said they were yet to confirm the identities of those involved in the crash. 'Australian officials in Germany are making urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm the identity and condition of any Australians involved in the bus incident near Heidelberg,' the spokesperson said.
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Fred Lee/Getty Images Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out of the 2019 Australian Open by Maria Sharapova in a three-set epic on Friday. The Russian star prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours, 24 minutes of supreme tennis on Rod Laver Arena. Meanwhile, Roger Federer, the men's defending champion, eased to a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over America's Taylor Fritz. And No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal put on a clinic as he beat home favourite Alex de Minaur 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. No. 6 seed Marin Cilic survived a huge scare from 35-year-old Fernando Verdasco, coming back from two sets down to win in four hours, 18 minutes. Selected Friday Results Men's Singles Video Play Button Videos you might like (3) Roger Federer bt. Taylor Fritz: 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 (2) Rafael Nadal bt. (27) Alex de Minaur: 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 (6) Marin Cilic bt. (26) Fernando Verdasco: 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8), 6-3 Tomas Berdych bt. (18) Diego Schwartzman: 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 (20) Grigor Dimitrov bt. Thomas Fabbiano: 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 (22) Roberto Bautista Agut bt. (10) Karen Khachanov: 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 Women's Singles (15) Ashleigh Barty bt. Maria Sakkari: 7-5, 6-1 (30) Maria Sharapova bt. (3) Caroline Wozniacki: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 (2) Angelique Kerber bt. Kimberly Birrell: 6-1, 6-0 (5) Sloane Stephens bt. (31) Petra Martic: 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) (8) Petra Kvitova bt. Belinda Bencic: 6-1, 6-4 Full results can be found at the Australian Open's official website. Sharapova was always likely to cause Wozniacki problems. The 31-year-old is a five-time Grand Slam champion, including the 2008 Australian Open, and had dropped just three games in her opening two matches this year in Melbourne. Wozniacki, 28, had also enjoyed relatively easy victories in her opening two matches at the 2018 Australian Open, and she raced into a 4-1 lead in the first set against Sharapova. A double fault at break-point down in the seventh game of the set handed the break back to Sharapova, and it proved fatal as the Russian went on to win the opener by claiming five games on the bounce: The Danish third seed was not quelled, though, and broke in the final game of the second set to level up the match. It was a contest that deserved a decider given the quality of the two players, but Sharapova also deserved the win in the end. She reapplied the pressure in the third set and showed a determination that has been in short supply since she returned from her doping ban in 2017. The world No. 30 backed that up with plenty of quality, hitting 37 winners in the match to Wozniacki's 10, and displaying clinical finishing at the net. Nadal was not so much clinical as brutal in his win over Australian De Minaur. The Rod Laver Arena got behind the 19-year-old, who put in a spirited display, but Nadal was relentless in his pursuit of victory: De Minaur simply could not live with Nadal's power as the Spaniard crushed winner after winner off his incomparable forehand. When the teenager had the ball in hand, he had to work hard game after game simply to hold his serve, with Nadal claiming five breaks in the match. Meanwhile, De Minaur rarely got close to breaking Nadal as he landed 75 per cent of first serves, winning 53 of 65 points behind it. To his credit, De Minaur made Nadal work for two hours, 22 minutes before he sealed his spot in the fourth round, where he will face Tomas Berdych: Fred Lee/Getty Images Federer, meanwhile, needed only 88 minutes to see off Fritz. The Swiss third seed is going for a third consecutive title in Melbourne and set up a meeting with No. 14 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas by winning on Friday. Against 21-year-old Fritz, Federer won 93 per cent of points behind his first serve, claimed 15 of 18 points at the net and hit 34 winners. He and Nadal have looked ominously good in the first week and seem on a collision course to meet in the semi-finals.<doc-sep>The 2019 Australian Open begins Jan. 13, marking the start of a new tennis season. This year's tournament features a field packed with notable names, including the return of Serena Williams, who skipped the 2018 Australian Open after winning it a year earlier. Williams, a seven-time Open champion, remains one Grand Slam victory shy of Margaret Court's singles record of 24 — a mark she hopes to break in 2019. MORE: Watch Australian Open quarterfinals live with fuboTV (7-day free trial) In the men's bracket, No. 1 Novak Djokovic is vying for a record seventh Australian Open title. Here is all the information you need to watch the 2019 Australian Open, including a complete TV schedule and betting odds. You can follow live round-by-round scoring updates and results here. When is the Australian Open? The 2019 Australian Open will begin Monday, Jan. 14, and last a fortnight. The women's singles final will be held Saturday, Jan. 26, while the men's singles final will be held on Sunday, Jan. 27. How to watch on TV, live stream online The tournament will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel. The men's semifinals and both the men's and women's final will air on ESPN. The Open quarterfinals matches can also be streamed live online with fuboTV, which offers a free seven-day trial. 2019 Australian Open schedule All times Eastern Jan. 13 — First round, 7 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 14 — First round, 9 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 15 — Second round, 9 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 16 — Second round, 9 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 17 — Third round, 11 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 18 — Third round, 9 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 20 — Round of 16, 9 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 21 — Quarterfinals, 9 p.m., ESPN2, fuboTV Jan. 22 — Quarterfinals, 3 a.m., ESPN2, fuboTV Jan. 22 — Quarterfinals, 9 p.m., ESPN2, fuboTV Jan. 23 — Quarterfinals, 3:30 a.m., ESPN2, fuboTV Jan. 23 — Women's semifinals, 10 p.m., ESPN2 Jan. 24 — Men's semifinal, 3:30 a.m., ESPN Jan. 25 — Men's semifinal, 3:30 a.m., ESPN Jan. 26 — Women's final, 3:30 a.m., ESPN Jan. 27 — Men's final, 3:30 a.m., ESPN MORE: Live round-by-round scores, results Australian Open draw: Men's bracket Here's the full list of seedings for the men's draw with the complete bracket displayed below. 1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia 2. Rafael Nadal, Spain 3. Roger Federer, Switzerland 4. Alexander Zverev, Germany 5. Kevin Anderson, South Africa 6. Marin Cilic, Croatia 7. Dominic Thiem, Austria 8. Kei Nishikori, Japan 9. John Isner, United States 10. Karen Khachanov, Russia 11. Borna Coric, Croatia 12. Fabio Fognini, Italy 13. Kyle Edmund, Britain 14. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greece 15. Daniil Medvedev, Russia 16. Milos Raonic, Canada 17. Marco Cecchinato, Italy 18. Diego Schwartzman, Argentina 19. Nikoloz Basilashvili, Georgia 20. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria 21. David Goffin, Belgium 22. Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain 23. Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain 24. Hyeon Chung, South Korea 25. Denis Shapovalov, Canada 26. Fernando Verdasco, Spain 27. Alex de Minaur, Australia 28. Lucas Pouille, France 29. Gilles Simon, France 30. Gael Monfils, France 31. Steve Johnson, United States 32. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany Australian Open men's singles draw pic.twitter.com/8Y6T0Z8vCN — Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) January 10, 2019 Australian Open draw: Women's bracket Here's the full list of seedings for the women's draw with the complete bracket displayed below. 1. Simona Halep, Romania 2. Angelique Kerber, Germany 3. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark 4. Naomi Osaka, Japan 5. Sloane Stephens, United States 6. Elina Svitolina, Ukraine 7. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic 8. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic 9. Kiki Bertens, Netherlands 10. Daria Kasatkina, Russia 11. Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus 12. Elise Mertens, Belgium 13. Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia 14. Julia Goerges, Germany 15. Ashleigh Barty, Australia 16. Serena Williams, United States 17. Madison Keys, United States 18. Garbine Muguruza, Spain 19. Caroline Garcia, France 20. Anett Kontaveit, Estonia 21. Wang Qiang, China 22. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia 23. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain 24. Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine 25. Mihaela Buzarnescu, Romania 26. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia 27. Camila Giorgi, Italy 28. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan 29. Donna Vekic, Croatia 30. Maria Sharapova, Russia 31. Petra Martic, Croatia 32. Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic Australian Open women's singles draw pic.twitter.com/iriTlGLKrr — Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) January 10, 2019 Odds to win the 2019 Australian Open MEN'S SINGLES Novak Djokovic +120 Roger Federer +550 Rafael Nadal +600 Alexander Zverev +750 Andy Murray +2000 Marin Cilic +2000 Nick Kyrgios +2000 Dominic Thiem +2500 Karen Kachanov +2500 Kei Nishikori +3300 Milos Raonic +3300 Stan Wawrinka +3300 Denis Shapovalov +4000 Chung Hyeon +4000 Kevin Anderson +4000 David Goffin +5000 Grigor Dimitrov +5000 John Isner +6600 Kyle Edmund +6600 WOMEN'S SINGLES<doc-sep>
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Only 16 players remain in both the men's and women's draw. See who faces who next in round for. The 2019 Australian Open is onto the second week, with just 16 players remaining in both the men's and women's draws. The top seeds have largely held their own thus far down under, as three of the four top-seeded women remain in the draw while all of the top-four men's seeds remain. The second week promises to deliver marquee matchups, tight matches and memorable moments. Here's an updated list of matchups for the round of 16. Women No. 1 Simona Halep vs. No. 16 Serena Williams Head-to-head record: Williams leads 8-1. Most reccent matchup came in the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Open, which Williams won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. No. 18 Garbine Muguruza vs. No. 7 Karolina Pliskova Head-to-head record:Pliskova leads 7-2, winning the most recent meeting 6-2, 6-2 at the 2017 WTA year-end Championships. No. 4 Naomi Osaka vs. No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova Head-to-head record: The series is tied 2-2, with Osaka winning the most recent matchup earlier this year in Brisbane, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. No. 6 Elina Svitolina vs. No. 17 Madison Keys Head-to-head record: Keys owns a 2-0 mark against Svitolina. Most recent matchup came in the fourth round of the 2017 U.S. Open, which Keys won 7-6, 1-6, 6-4. No. 8 Petra Kvitova vs. Amanda Anisimova Head-to-head record: Anisimova won the only previous matchup, 6-2, 6-4 at Indian Wells last year. No. 15 Ashleigh Barty vs. No. 30 Maria Sharapova Head-to-head record: Sharapova won he only previous meeting, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, in Rome last year. No. 5 Sloane Stephens vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Head-to-head record: Stephens owns a 2-0 advantage, winning the most recent matchup 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in Beijing last year. No. 2 Angelique Kerber vs. Danielle Collins Head-to-head record: Kerber won the only previous matchup between the two, 6-1, 6-1 at Eastbourne last year Men No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 15 Daniil Medvedev Head-to-head record: Djokovic owns 2-0 advantage, winning most recent matchup 6-4, 6-4 in Eastbourne 2017. No. 8 Kei Nishikori vs. No. 23 Pablo Carreno Busta Head-to-head record: This will mark the first meeting between the two. No. 4 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 16 Milos Raonic Head-to-head record: The two have split their previous two meetings, thoughh Raonic won the more recent won, beating Zverev in five sets in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2017. No. 11 Borna Coric vs. No. 28 Lucas Pouille/Alexei Popovin No. 6 Marin Cilic vs. No. 22 Roberto Bautista Agut Head-to-head record: Cilic owns 4-1 advantage, winning most recently 7-6, 6-2 at the 2017 Paris Masters. No. 3 Roger Federer vs. No. 15 Stefanos Tsitsipas Head-to-head record: The two have not played an official ATP match, though Federer prevailed in straight sets when they played at the Hopman Cup earlier this mont. No. 20 Grigor Dimitrov vs. Frances Tiafoe Head-to-head record: Dimitrov won the only previous meeting, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 at the Masters 1000 event in Canada last year. No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs Tomas Berdych Head-to-head record: Nadal owns a 19-4 advantage, though Berdych did win their last matchup at the Australian Open, a 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 victory in the 2015 quarterfinals.
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THIS is the incredible save that counted for absolutely nothing. So it felt like justice for Jordan Pickford when the keeper became England's penalty shootout hero. 6 Jordan Pickford pulls off an incredible save from Mateus Uribe With just second remaining in injury time, Colombia's substitute midfielder Mateus Uribe unleashed a thunderbolt of a strike towards the top corner. Pickford launched himself to his left, with a fingertip sending the ball wide of goal. There was no time for a replay before Colombia took the corner, which Yerry Mina nodded in to level. Naturally, Mina's header was the replay shown next before the game went to extra-time. 6 Jordan Pickford was England's hero after saving a crucial penalty kick Credit: Reuters 6 England's players race off to celebrate with Pickford Credit: Getty 6 Harry Kane leads the England players mobbing Pickford after his vital penalty save Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd But ITV did not show the replay after the game either, with the spot-kick drama understandably the centre of attention. Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois mocked Pickford over his 6ft1in height after Belgium's win over the Three Lions. Boss Gareth Southgate then defended his keeper ahead of the Colombia clash, saying there was a "Cadbury Creme Egg" in difference between Pickford and Courtois. Pickford, 24, had the last laugh as his save from Carlos Bacca meant that Eric Dier could convert his spot-kick and celebrate England's second success in eight shootouts. Jordan Pickford celebrates like Ronaldo after England World Cup penalty heroics against Colombia 6 Pickford throws out his left hand to save from Carlos Bacca Credit: Getty Images MOST READ IN WORLD CUP NO HARD FEELINGS Man dumped by Gareth Southgate's wife insists he holds no grudge 'i want a girl' England star Kyle Walker's model girlfriend reveals she wants FOURTH baby ON THE PLANE Who is Seema Jaswal, how old is ITV World Cup presenter and is she married? 6 Pickford pumps his fist after the vital save from Bacca Credit: AP:Associated Press Hero Pickford said: "I did all my research. I've got power and agility and it's all about the set position and I got a hand to it. "We knew we had this game, even if it had to go to penalties — we knew we were capable of winning." The victory wiped away memories of heartbreaking shootout KOs in 1990, 1998 and 2006. Pickford added: "I don't care if I'm not the biggest keeper because it's about being there in the moment and making the save — and I was."<doc-sep>World Cup semi-final: Croatia v England Venue : Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow Date : Wednesday, 11 July (19:00 BST) Coverage : Full match commentary on BBC Radio 5 live, text commentary, report and highlights on BBC Sport app and online England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford's reputation and profile has soared at this World Cup. The 24-year-old followed up his penalty shootout heroics in the last-16 tie against Colombia with another stellar display on Saturday to help Gareth Southgate's side overcome Sweden and reach their first World Cup semi-final for 28 years. In the space of a year he has gone from Premier League relegation with home-town club Sunderland to the national team's undisputed number one. So how has the now Everton keeper emerged as a key component of an England side 90 minutes away from their first World Cup final since 1966? Pickford's hard yards Pickford, who had worked with Southgate at England Under-21 level, was pencilled in as his manager's number one long before this World Cup - but he has still played only 156 league games in his career. He came to prominence in June 2017 when Everton paid Sunderland £30m for him, happily meeting the Black Cats' asking price as a serious investment for the future. But Pickford had proved willing to go out and learn his trade in the toughest surroundings before playing in the Premier League - an experience that moulded the confident, strong character we have witnessed in Russia. He had the rough edges knocked off him in non-league football with Darlington and Alfreton, where no allowances were made for youth, and he recalls: "I learned quite a lot from getting battered by fully grown blokes. You got really battered going for crosses. "You'd go to away grounds and hear everything shouted at you. I remember being at Southport going for a drink of water and one old bloke shouts 'hey you lad - your grandad is under that grass.' I just turned around, gave him the thumbs-up and said 'nae problem.'" Pickford, who also had loan spells in the English Football League with Burton, Carlisle, Bradford and Preston, has had his size questioned - he is relatively short for a modern goalkeeper at 6ft 1in - but no-one can question his courage. And the agility and elasticity that have served England so well in Russia have made a nonsense of worries about his height. Pickford's show of strength Pickford in Premier League action against future England team-mate Dele Alli while he was at Sunderland in 2016 When Pickford returned from his nomadic existence to his beloved Sunderland, he walked into a club in freefall from Premier League to League One - and even since his big-money move to Everton, he has not had it easy. He was Sunderland's stand-out performer when they were relegated from the top tier in 2016-17, making 135 saves from 185 shots on target with a save ratio of 72.97%. Season Team Saves Shots on target faced Goals conceded Save percentage 2017-18 Everton 121 178 58 67.42 2016-17 Sunderland 135 185 50 72.97 2015-16 Sunderland 11 17 6 64.71 The move to Everton under then manager Ronald Koeman was meant to be the start of a vastly more pressurised life - but with perhaps fewer saves to make - at elite level for Pickford. Everton, however, went into almost instant meltdown under the Dutchman before he was replaced by Sam Allardyce - but in a season of almost unrelenting misery, Pickford was head and shoulders above every other player. It was these performances that persuaded Southgate, a regular visitor to Everton games last season, to give him his debut in the friendly against Germany at Wembley in November 2017 before selecting him as his World Cup goalkeeper in Russia. Everton's end-of-season awards were a Pickford procession as he picked up Player Of The Season, Young Player Of The Season and Players' Player Of The Season. His signing was a rare success for Everton's sacked director of football Steve Walsh. Everton needed a goalkeeper and Pickford was Walsh's first and only pick - he pressed hard to sign him, he said, as he feared a club of the stature of Real Madrid might even be interested, and willing to pay twice what the Toffees did. The £30m fee is starting to look a bargain already. Season Team Games Minutes 2017-18 Everton 38 3420 2016-17 Sunderland 29 2610 2015-16 Preston North End 24 2101 2015-16 Sunderland 2 180 2014-15 Bradford City 33 2890 2013-14 Carlisle United 18 1620 2013-14 Burton Albion 12 1080 Growth on World Cup stage Pickford, under England goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson - who was also with him at Everton, before leaving this summer - is now the leader of what he calls "the goalkeepers' union" at their Zelenogorsk training base. He cuts an animated, hyped-up figure watched at close quarters in training, a blizzard of body movements and facial expressions, especially when he makes a rare mistake. By goalkeeping standards, he is a bundle of perpetual motion. One of Pickford's greatest strengths, according to those who know him, is an ability to put mistakes behind him - not that he takes them lightly. A moment of uncertainty in an otherwise magnificent display against Sweden led to Pickford inadvertently punching his knee rather than the floor, hence the bandage on his left hand as he showed off the man of the match award. He is a steely character, too, unaffected by criticism of his performance in England's loss to Belgium, when he was perhaps ring rusty after little action against Tunisia and Panama. He has been superb since, making a flying save from Colombia's Mateus Uribe in normal time then saving from Carlos Bacca as England won a penalty shootout - before the brilliance of his performance against Sweden in Samara. There is no question he had to prove his credentials as England's number one, not simply with his saves but by fulfilling a vital role in Southgate's plans via his work with the ball at his feet.<doc-sep>JORDAN PICKFORD'S water bottle may have helped England break their World Cup penalty jinx. TV footage emerged last night appearing to show it contained notes on the neck which may have indicated which way each Colombian was planning to place their spot-kicks. 9 Jordan Pickford's water bottle appeared to contain notes on the neck which could have told him where Colombia's players were likely to send their penalties Credit: ITV 9 This zoomed-in image shows there was clearly writing of some sort on the neck of Jordan Pickford's water bottle Credit: ITV Pickford, 24, is shown hiding the bottle under a towel ahead of the shootout. And it is unclear whether he used this drinks container during the game or if it was switched prior to penalties. Pickford witnessed a similar ruse last summer during the European Under-21s semi-final defeat to Germany when rival goalkeeper Julian Pollersbeck pulled a “cheat sheet” from his sock. Ex-Man Utd goalkeeper Ben Foster famously used an iPad at Wembley to help him to save two Tottenham penalties during the 2009 Carling Cup victory. Dramatic moment Jordan Pickford saves long range shot from Mateus Uribe during England against Colombia at World Cup 9 The England keeper was seeing holding the drinks bottle before the nerve-shredding shootout Credit: ITV 9 Jordan Pickford was the hero in the shootout, saving Carlos Bacca's penalty Credit: ITV England goal keeper Jack Butland talks about how you save penalties at the World Cup Latest World Cup news UP FOR THE CUP World Cup could be held every TWO years after Fifa backs controversial plans EURO BLOW Southgate fears Super League will hurt England plans with players facing BANS BEST OF REST Messi & Ronaldo among European Super League best XI facing BAN from World Cup EUR OUT European Super League players could be BANNED from World Cups and national teams FOOTIE FEST Eden Park to stage 2023 Women’s World Cup opener with final set for Australia YOUR TIMO'S UP Watch Chelsea’s Werner miss SITTER in shock Germany loss to North Macedonia Notes on a water bottle is a tip used by Maddie Hinch, the goalkeeper of the victorious Olympic womens hockey team at Rio 2016. She taped a note to her water bottle as she saved FOUR Dutch penalties as Team GB won gold 2-0 in the shootout, after a 3-3 draw in nornal time. Southgate is understood to have chatted with Danny Kerry, Team GB's hockey coach, and swapped notes and thoughts on various techniques and details. 9 Hinch is congratulated by her team-mates after her shootout brilliance Credit: AP:Associated Press 9 The secrets to Hinch's success appeared to be revealed on her water bottle Credit: Twitter Pickford revealed after the last-16 victory he had done “my research on them with the staff” and admitted Colombian captain Falcao was the “only one that really didn’t go the way we thought”. The Everton keeper had even identified Carlos Bacca - whose spot-kick he saved - as the weak link in their line-up. He said: "I trusted my instinct and went that way with strong hands — I’m happy. "We looked at his [Bacca] penalties with the penalty grid and they are all over the shop really. Jordan Pickford celebrates like Ronaldo after England World Cup penalty heroics against Colombia 9 Jordan Pickford helped send England to a last-eight clash with Sweden Credit: EPA 9 Eric Dier and Jordan Pickford were the stars of the show in tense penalty shootout against Colombia Credit: Getty Images "One is top left, one is top right, but I just thought No 4 is a pressure penalty. "Then with the fifth penalty he’s got to score to stay in it. I thought ‘I’m going right here’ and bang!" England goalkeeping coach Margetson is a former Wales international keeper, and was appointed by Southgate's predecessor Sam Allardyce. 9 Goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson works with England's keepers in St Petersburg Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd Margetson, 46, had been part of Wales manager Chris Coleman's backroom staff at the 2016 European Championships. He played one game for Wales, a friendly against Canada in 2005. Margetson was released from Everton's backroom staff when Allardyce left at the end of last season.<doc-sep>Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter by email with the day's key headlines and transfer news Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Jordan Henderson said he is will always owe Jordan Pickford — for rescuing him from being England’s latest shoot-out villain. Henderson was the only Englishman to miss in Tuesday's World Cup penalty showdown win over Colombia, but Mateus Uribe hitting the crossbar and Pickford’s save from Carlos Bacca got him off the hook before Eric Dier slotted home to clinch a place in the weekend quarter-finals. Both Henderson and Pickford started their careers at Sunderland, their hometown club. When asked what the Liverpool midfielder said to him after the shoot-out win, Pickford smiled and said: “Aye, he said ‘Well done, you fellow Mackem’. “I said, ‘Jesus, I’ve helped you out there, Lad!’ (Image: Getty) (Image: Getty) “That’s team-mates isn’t it? A bit of craic. We’re together, when one goes down we’ve got to pick them back up.” Henderson said: “I thanked him and he said, ‘The Mackems stick together’. I can’t thank him enough, I’m forever in his debt. “He got a bit of criticism last week – undeservedly – so I’m so happy for him to achieve that. He made some fantastic saves and I’m delighted for him and for everyone. (Image: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) (Image: Getty) “We’re a really close group, you can see that. It’s difficult when you miss and nothing can be said that’s going to make it all right, but it’s not about me. “We won and that’s the main thing. We now need to recover and prepare well for Sweden.” Henderson insisted his failure would not prevent him stepping up to take responsibility again, although he accepted Gareth Southgate may opt for another candidate. (Image: AMA/Getty) “It wouldn’t put me off taking another one, but it might put Gareth off,” said Henderson. “I’d take another one, but it’s down to the manager and I would understand if he chose someone else. “I just had to go and execute the penalty, which I felt I did, but obviously not well enough and the keeper made a good save. “Next time I need to make sure it’s higher or lower.”<doc-sep>
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Gareth Southgate has heaped praise on Jordan Pickford after the England goalkeeper emerged from a difficult week to inspire the team’s penalty shootout win over Colombia. The Everton No 1 became the first England goalkeeper since David Seaman, against Argentina in Saint-Etienne in 1998, to save a spot-kick in a shootout at a major tournament as the national team forced their way into the quarter-finals. Pickford’s display against Belgium in the final group game had provoked some criticism, while his opposite number, Thibaut Courtois, had suggested he was too short. Southgate, whose team face Sweden in Samara on Saturday, first pinpointed the fingertip save Pickford had mustered in stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes as an indication of the 24-year-old’s qualities, before the goalkeeper made a profound mark in the shoot-out. “It was a top-class save, and I was surprised he could reach it given his height,” said the manager through a smile. “His athleticism around the goal is excellent and he executed the plan in the penalty shootout. 01:05 England's historic World Cup penalty shootout win triggers wild celebrations – video “We’d studied all their takers, and great credit should go to the collective of staff, and to Jordan, for taking on board that information and preparing in the right way. You don’t always get what you deserve in life but I think we did against Colombia. “Even when [Jordan Henderson’s] penalty was saved, I’ve seen enough shootouts to know the first miss isn’t the key one. I believed our goalkeeper would save one, and the technique of our players in taking them was superb throughout. There, too, I have to credit a big support team who have done a lot of work in that area over the last few months.” Pickford, who only boasts seven senior caps, had lost in a shootout to Germany in the semi-finals of last year’s European Under-21s Championship, but made amends in Moscow. “We did our research on them for starters, with Marg [the goalkeeping coach, Martyn Margetson] and the analysis staff,” he said. “I had a fair feeling. Radamel Falcao was really the only one who didn’t go ‘his’ way. But it’s set, react and go power. I don’t care if I’m not the biggest keeper. I’ve got that power and agility to get around the goal. I’ve very good at it.” Southgate had seen his side ship an equaliser deep into stoppage time but remained calm as he encouraged his players to focus ahead of the extra period. “At 90 minutes, the message was that we were in total control,” he explained. “We’d suffered a huge set-back, but we had to stay calm. They hadn’t created many chances and we had to keep belief in the way we were playing. “At the end of the game, I needed to give them their individual time. But there was no use shouting or getting them overhyped. We were in control of the process. It was ours to own. I had trust in their techniques. Great credit to them that they executed it. “I was completely calm and focused until Eric Dier had executed [scored the winning penalty]. I didn’t want to get carried away. I’d said to Steve Holland: ‘OK, we’re really doing it the hard way’ because we even lost the toss, which the statistics show makes it even more difficult to come through. But we were joking about that and relaxed. It was great to be in the arms of your staff at that moment. It’s a collective effort. Everyone has put so much in to get to this point.”
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Photo : Ringo H.W. Chiu ( AP ) By now you’ve heard about the blockbuster trade that sent Clippers great Boban Marjanovic to the Sixers in exchange for a quiver of picks and some rotation guys. Big Boban is on the move, but he won’t be alone. Bobi will head to Philly accompanied by his dear friend Tobias “Tobi” Harris, in a pairing that has survived their last three NBA teams. That’s an unusual feat for any two teammates in this wheeling-and-dealing league. May their bond endure. Advertisement Bobi and Tobi dance together, regularly pose for soulful Instagram photos, run a video series dedicated to their friendship, and enjoy roasting one another in public: “We want people to feel more happy and put a smile on their face the way that we do right now,” Boban said of sharing their friendship with the world. But the relationship wasn’t always easy for the pair, as a recent ESPN story revealed: The friendship between Boban and Tobias — Bobi and Tobi — began in the same spirit as so many legendary duos: with Boban going up to Tobias and telling him, “I don’t like you.” Boban is a man of many words, most of them joyful but none of them minced, and in his limited experience to that point, he’d found Tobias far too cocky for his liking. And so, by way of introduction, he told him. “I was kinda taken aback,” Harris tells me before a game in Philadelphia the day after Halloween. Hopefully Boban has increased his tolerance for cockiness, seeing as he’ll now be Joel Embiid’s backup. Update (Feb. 8, 5:56 p.m. ET):<doc-sep>After trading for Tobias Harris and Boban Marjanovic, oddsmakers aren't buying the Sixers as title favorites, yet originally appeared on nbcsportsphiladelphia.com The Sixers are all in, but Vegas isn't buying it … yet. Wednesday's early morning trade (see story) signaled that the Sixers are making a real run at the NBA title this season, and while many are calling them the favorites in the East, the odds don't reflect that, yet. Current #NBA futures odds to win championship after Tobias Harris trade to Sixers: Warriors -220 Raptors +950 Celtics +1200 Bucks +1400 Rockets +1400 76ers +1400 👀 Lakers +1800 pic.twitter.com/8fuipyQqng — Covers (@Covers) February 6, 2019 The Sixers were 16/1 to win the title and 5/1 to make it to the NBA Finals on Jan. 28. Today, they're 14/1 to win the title and 3.75/1 to make it to the NBA Finals. Not a big change and they're still behind three other teams in the East. Why? Vegas probably wants to wait and see how Tobias Harris fits with his new teammates and they're unwilling to move the Sixers up ahead of the Raptors, Celtics and Bucks without that information. If the odds reacted the way some experts were, making the Sixers the on-paper favorites to win the East, that could have created a lot of liability on better odds on the three teams currently in the home-court advantage positions. Should the Sixers begin winning more games with the additions of Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott and move themselves into third in the East, or higher, you'll see a big shift in the odds. If you like those chances, now may be the time to place your futures bet on the Sixers. The lukewarm reaction to the trade in the odds comes after the addition of Jimmy Butler sent the Sixers soaring up the futures boards. Story continues Could Jimmy lead the Sixers to a title? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/GGBOJJxd94 — B/R Betting (@br_betting) November 10, 2018 At that time, the addition of Butler was seen as a true differentiator between the team the Sixers had before and what they were able to offer after. Vegas wasn't willing to lay 30/1 on the Sixers immediately after the trade. This time, it's different. While some have argued that this trade brings the Sixers the exact piece they need to be a true contender, the truth is, they're still looking at, likely, a series against Toronto or Milwaukee as the worse seed. There's two ways to look at this. Either this is a great opportunity to get the Sixers with value on a future that could slash in price if the team plays well after the trade or, as Vegas sees it, they're still not quite as good as the top three teams in the East in a series where a potential game seven would be on the road. Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device. More on the Sixers<doc-sep>
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The Philadelphia 76ers just made a trade that has the potential to turn them into a super team and the European big man they received in the deal will help. It’s the second big deal the Philadelphia 76ers have had under general manager Elton Brand‘s regime. Brand was able to land Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott in exchange for Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala, along with multiple first and second round picks. Obviously Harris is the most important piece of the trade for the Sixers, but don’t discount what Marjanovic can bring to the Sixers bench. The 7-foot Joel Embiid isn’t the tallest player on the Sixers roster any more with the 7-foot-3 Marjanovic. Besides being a giant on the court, the big man has the gentle touch on offense. He’s shooting 60.7 percent from the floor and is averaging 6.9 points in 10.7 minutes. He scoring 23.2 points per 36 minutes this season. In other words, Marjanovic is a walking scoring machine. Surely if he played in a different era, he’d be an elite offensive weapon, but he’s a defensive liability in today’s game. Despite his struggles on defense, it shouldn’t stop head coach Brett Brown from using the big man. The one thing that the Sixers bench has struggled with is scoring this season. They don’t have any player that can get buckets at a high percentage. Marjanovic is the ideal backup for Embiid. The Sixers starting center is playing 33.7 minutes per game. Which means the Sixers are going around 14-15 minutes without a dominant post presence. Put Marjanovic into that spot, which would be a career high for him, it would give the Sixers a go-to option down low for the whole game. Now obviously, this isn’t to say that the European big man should take away all of Jonah Bolden‘s minutes as the big up center. Obviously, Brown will have to switch out between the rookie big man and Marjanovic based on matchup. Bolden’s athleticism and 3-point shooting makes him a more favorable option against quicker centers. However, the addition of Marjanovic gives Brown a go-to offensive option off the bench. Every player that the Philadelphia 76ers acquired from the Clippers should help propel the franchise towards an NBA championship. However, getting Marjanovic in this deal should help improve the Sixers bench.
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A child in Florida who had not received the flu vaccine died from the virus, state officials announced on Monday, the first influenza-related pediatric death reported in the country this flu season. While flu activity remains low across the United States, the Florida Department of Health said that a child tested positive for one of the strains, influenza B, and later died. Health officials would not release details about the death, including the child’s age, gender or location in the state, but said that the child did not have an underlying medical condition and died between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6. The flu season, which just began and stretches into winter, typically peaks during the coldest months. The death was notable because it occurred before any significant outbreaks in Florida or beyond and before many people have even received the vaccination. Federal health officials recommend getting the flu shot before the end of October. It was not clear whether the child did not get the flu shot on purpose or whether the child had expected to receive it later in the season. A spokesman for the health department said that the state could not release more information about the case because of privacy concerns.<doc-sep>Story highlights It's not uncommon to see a small number of deaths at this time of year, expert says A less severe strain of flu virus has been more prevalent so far this season Other states have reported flu-related deaths in adults including Kentucky (CNN) — A Florida child died due to flu-related illness during the week ended October 6, according to the state’s Department of Health. The child, the first to die in the state, had not received a flu vaccination. Florida health officials identified the lethal strain as influenza B, which is less common and generally less severe than Influenza A, though both strains infect humans. The child, who was healthy before getting sick with the flu, had no known health conditions, according to the department of health. Additional information, including the child’s age, was withheld to protect the family’s privacy. Dr. Richard Webby, a faculty member of the infectious disease department at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, said “Unfortunately, this is what influenza does. Influenza B can be quite a severe infection for younger children so it’s tragic but, unfortunately, nothing that we don’t expect from flu.” Florida was not alone in reporting a flu death so early in the season. ’Not uncommon’ A middle-aged woman living in central Kentucky also died of flu-related illness during the second week of October, according to Beth Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. It is unknown whether the woman had underlying health conditions or whether she’d received a flu shot. Lynnette Brammer, leader of the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection’s Domestic Influenza Surveillance team, said that “it’s not uncommon to start to see small numbers of deaths around this time of year due to influenza even when activity is low.” In fact, activity is “really low” now, she said. “There are predominantly influenza A viruses out there, there are a few influenza Bs,” said Brammer. Among the circulating influenza A viruses, H1N1 strains have been more common than H3N2, she said. This is good news to Webby’s ears. H3N2, he said, is “the virus that always causes the most disease and it’s the one that the vaccine has the hardest time protecting against.” While he believes a flu season prediction is “probably less accurate than the guys forecasting weather,” Webby said there are two reassuring signs that the 2018-19 flu season will be milder than last year’s season, with its high number of hospitalizations and a record-breaking 80,000 deaths across the nation. Two positive signs for 2018-19 season One positive sign is the fact that “activity in the southern hemisphere has, in general, been very mild,” said Webby. In its most recent flu surveillance report, the Australian Government Department of Health stated the severity of its season, which already peaked in early September, was “moderate,” with “low” impact on society as a whole. The majority of confirmed cases were influenza A, primarily H1N1, a strain which is known to be more mild than others. While it may not always be the case that a mild season down under translates to a mild season in the northern hemisphere, the fact remains that last year’s severe season in Australia foreshadowed our own. A second factor suggesting we’re unlikely to have another big H3N2 season is that “we had a lot of that virus circulating last year,” said Webby. “So there’ll be a good deal of people who are going to have some pumped up immunity to that virus.” Like Webby, Brammer does not make predictions about the season ahead. Still, she said, “it’s a good time for people to go out and get vaccinated so they’re prepared for this season. Because we know it will come.” “Basically, everybody 6 months of age and older should get vaccinated,” said Brammer. “If you’re pregnant get vaccinated, because it will protect you and it will help protect your baby when the baby’s born.” Children who are receiving a flu vaccine for the first time will need two inoculations, so it’s a good time to get the first so the second can be fit in before activity picks up in the winter months, she said. Several vaccine options have been approved by the CDC this season. When it comes to the conventional flu shot, the CDC makes no “preferential recommendation” between the vaccine that protects against three flu strains and the vaccine that protects against four flu strains. Both cell-grown and egg-grown vaccines are equally acceptable by CDC standards. Flumist, a nasal spray vaccine, is a needle-free option available for those between the ages 2 and 49, while two high-pressure jet injector vaccines also do not require needles and can be used by anyone between the ages of 18 and 64. “We’re happy to have as many options out there as we can get,” said Brammer. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. Webby suggested we all keep in mind “the usual stuff your grandmother used to tell you.” This homespun advice includes wash your hands well and if you (or your children) are sick, stay home. Still, the “biggest message,” said Webby, who is a member of the World Health Organization’s flu vaccine composition group, is vaccination. Even when the vaccine doesn’t prevent sickness, it lessens the severity of illness and so may prevent hospitalization, according to the experts. “We’re all very open about the fact that the flu vaccine is not the greatest vaccine and we really need to make improvements in it,” he said. “But it’s still an effective tool. Now is the time to get vaccinated.”<doc-sep>An unvaccinated child in Florida died from the flu, marking the first pediatric death of the 2018-2019 flu season Unvaccinated Child Dies from the Flu in Florida, First Pediatric Death of the Flu Season An unvaccinated child in Florida died from the flu, officials said, marking the first pediatric death of the 2018-2019 flu season in the U.S. The Florida Department of Health announced the child’s death on Monday, but did not release their name, age, gender or location due to privacy issues; just that the child had not received a flu shot and did not have any other health issues, the New York Times reports. Get push notifications with news, features and more. The child died between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, early in the flu season. Health officials found this unusual, as there have been no outbreaks and flu season typically peaks in the coldest months. “While rare, these deaths do occur every year, mostly in unvaccinated children with underlying health conditions,” the Florida Department of Health spokesman, Brad Dalton, told the Times. “Annual vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from influenza and its potentially severe complications.” While experts are unsure how this season will go, the 2017-2018 flu season was the deadliest in at least four decades, with at least 80,000 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control said in September. “Influenza seasons vary in timing, severity and length,” the Florida Department of Health said in a statement on Monday. “It is not possible to predict what the 2018-19 influenza season will be like in Florida.” However, CDC experts believe this season will be milder nationwide. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re seeing more encouraging signs than we were early last year,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, a CDC flu expert, said in September. If you think you may have the flu — symptoms include fever, cough, muscle aches, chills and sometimes diarrhea or vomiting — but aren’t sure if it’s that or a cold, the best thing to do is see a doctor. “Colds and flu can initially have a lot of the same symptoms so it can be difficult to tell them apart at first,” Dr. Travis Stork, an ER physician, host of The Doctors and a member of PEOPLE’s Health Squad, previously said. “If you’re worried, it’s always best to be evaluated.” And don’t worry about passing on handshakes or hugs to avoid infection.<doc-sep>
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A child in Florida has died from the flu, marking the first reported pediatric death of the 2018-19 flu season, according to the Florida Department of Health. While the department did not release the child's name, age, gender or location, it said the child had not been vaccinated before contracting the flu. The child died between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, according to the department. Although the exact timing of flu season can vary, it typically begins around October and peters off around May. While the last season was particularly brutal across the United States, the flu virus is unpredictable and the current season could be very different, according to experts. The 2017-18 season was responsible for the deaths of approximately 80,000 people, including 180 children, according to the CDC. The number of flu deaths in adults is estimated because of the volume of cases, and while deaths in children are reported to departments of health, they are not always precise because influenza is not always being listed as the primary cause of death. The surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, said most of the children reported to have died from the flu last year had not been vaccinated. In Florida alone last flu season, it was determined that nearly 9,000 adults died from pneumonia and influenza and eight influenza-related pediatric deaths were reported, according to the state's Department of Health. None of the children who died in the state had received flu vaccinations. And the rate of children receiving vaccines appeared to fall nationwide last season from previous seasons, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. During the 2015-16 season, approximately 59.3 percent of children between 6 months old and 17 years old were vaccinated against the flu, the foundation reported. Last season, 57.9 percent of children in the same age range were vaccinated. Researchers are working to make a more effective flu vaccine. Last year’s vaccine only reduced the risk of catching flu by about 40 percent, but the CDC said it greatly reduced the risk of becoming very ill or dying from flu. The hope is to eventually get a vaccine that reduces infections by 90 percent or more, but that’s years away. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says no matter how effective the vaccine, everyone should still be vaccinated. "It is the best way to protect from getting illness from having to see the doctor, from being hospitalized, and, in kids, it prevents death," said Dr. Dan Jernigan, CDC influenza division director.
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After years of teases, it's finally happening: the new Borderlands trailer is here and Gearbox Software plans to show us more at its big PAX East presentation today. The studio has been teasing a pack of announcements for its Boston stage show for weeks and you can catch the whole thing right here when it begins at 11 am PDT / 2 pm EDT / 6pm GMT on the PAX East main stage and on Gearbox's official Twitch channel. Though lacking any actual gameplay, the statuesque Borderlands trailer did sneak in a few secret messages: one for Shift content in Borderlands 2 and another that advises viewers to "Count the Sirens" . We're bound to learn quite a bit more during Gearbox's stage show, including (hopefully) our long-awaited first look at new Borderlands gameplay. Yeah, I know the game is just getting officially announced now, but it feels like Gearbox has been talking about it in one form or another for roughly 5,000 years. Gearbox has also been teasing several other projects in recent weeks, including some odd robot thing . Some of them could be other internal game projects, but many of the games Gearbox shows off will likely come from its growing publishing arm. That side of the business helped bring us games like We Happy Few and the new Homeworld titles in recent years so it should be interesting to see those too (even if they have to share the stage with one of the most-anticipated games of the last decade).<doc-sep>It’s official (for real this time). Gearbox Software is making Borderlands 3, and the developer showed off first gameplay footage from its upcoming sequel at PAX East today. The first trailer for Borderlands 3 features many familiar elements from the series: a four-person team of Vault Hunters, “over one billion guns,” big mechs, series mascot Claptrap busting a move, cel-shaded graphics, and vast areas in which to shoot and loot. And there are plenty of familiar faces from throughout the Borderlands franchise; Brick, Lilith, Maya, Mordecai, Ellie, Marcus, Tiny Tina, and other returning characters all make cameos. The Vault Hunters appear to be all new. Here’s what the trailer tells us about them: There’s a buff female Hunter who has the markings of a Siren and can apparently spawn six massive arms, each just as buff as she is. We see her briefly summoning a giant arm later in the trailer, holding an enemy in a containment bubble. A younger female Hunter appears standing in front of a mech that she can apparently summon, and that other players can apparently co-pilot. She’s also seen driving in a big ol’ wheel vehicle outfitted with ample firepower. An older male Hunter apparently uses a gadget that will let him create a holographic version of himself. An android or robot Hunter appears to fight alongside a variety of pets, including a Skag and Spiderant. Also seen in the trailer: a variety of locations, including desert wastelands, sleek cities, and swamplands; dozens of mutants, giant robots, and hideous creatures to shoot; showers of green, blue, and purple loot. Gearbox did not announce a release date or platforms for Borderlands 3. But publisher 2K Games promises more information on Borderlands 3 on April 3 — the same day it will release Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition.<doc-sep>
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Gearbox has been teasing the latest entry in its popular Borderlands video game franchise for some time now. Just yesterday, the company dropped a short teaser trailer for the mysterious new game, and it was filled with hidden secrets that only Borderlands' most die-hard fans would uncover. At Pax East today, Gearbox finally pulled back the curtain on this secret project, and -- after a slew of major technical difficulties and goofy card magic tricks -- Pitchford revealed the world premiere for Borderlands 3. You can watch the full gameplay trailer above. Let's talk features. For starters, Borderlands 3 lets you choose from one of four new exciting Vault Hunters to play as (as is traditional in these games). We don't know all of their names or archetypes yet, but series fanatics will probably be able to guess which class each character belongs to by simply watching the trailer a couple of times. In terms of returning characters, to name a few, Moxxie, Claptrap and Lilith will all be in the game. A not-so-tiny incarnation of Tiny Tina is also making a comeback as a playable character. Borderlands 3 will give players over "one billion" guns to wreak havoc with, multiple worlds to explore (you're no longer limited to Pandora), giant mechs to control, and two new villains to face off against throughout the game. We have no idea when Borderlands 3 will launch, nor do we know how much it will cost or what platforms it may (or may not) be exclusive to. However, with E3 just a few months away, we probably won't be waiting long to learn those details and more.
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You may want to check the breakfast foods in your pantry.A new report shows a number of popular breakfast foods could possibly contain dangerous amounts of glyphosate, the main ingredient found in weed killer.Last week, a jury awarded a former school groundskeeper $289 million after he sued the company, Monsanto, claiming their weed killer, which contains glyphosate, was the cause of his terminal cancer.The environmental workgroup tested foods including granola, snack bars, cereal, instant oats and whole oats. Out of the 29 oat-based foods that were tested, only five did not test positive for glyphosate.For a full list of products found to have glyphosate, click here<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>Story highlights Glyphosate is found in the weed killer Roundup and more than 700 other garden and agricultural products Conventionally grown and organic oat product samples contained the chemical, a report says (CNN) — Some types of oat cereals, oatmeal, granola and snack bars contain higher levels of a chemical found in the weed killer Roundup than what the Environmental Working Group considers safe, according to a report released Wednesday by the advocacy group. Almost three-quarters of food samples tested showed higher glyphosate levels than what the group’s scientists believe to be “protective of children’s health,” the report indicates. Last week, a jury at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco awarded $289 million in damages to a groundskeeper whose attorney argued that Roundup, a weed killer made by Monsanto, caused his terminal cancer. “We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective and safe tool for farmers and others,” Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge said in a statement at the time. “More than 800 scientific studies, the US EPA, the National Institutes of Health and regulators around the world have concluded that glyphosate is safe for use and does not cause cancer,” Partridge said. However, the human health effects of glyphosate remain uncertain, because the product has additional chemical ingredients that, individually or combined, might be carcinogenic, among other reasons. Many scientists and scientific organizations, including the US Environmental Protection Agency, state that in the amounts commonly consumed in food, glyphosate is not harmful to human health. However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer agency that falls under the World Health Organization, classifies it as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” “Not every health agency in the world and not every spokesperson in the world has agreed that glyphosate can cause cancer,” said Olga Naidenko, the Environmental Working Group’s senior science adviser for children’s health. However, Naidenko, who was not an author of the report, believes that there are “conflicts of interest standing behind some” of the positive opinions of glyphosate and that Monsanto has tried to influence the EPA so that it will continue to allow use of the chemical in the United States. Over 750 herbicide products containing glyphosate are for sale in the United States, according to the National Pesticide Information Center, a cooperative formed by Oregon State University and the EPA. A ‘more protective’ guideline Introduced to the American market in 1974, glyphosate is an herbicide that can kill both broadleaf plants and grasses. Glyphosate products are used on farms, industrial areas, public parks, residential lawns and gardens, and aquatic systems for agricultural and forestry purposes. For its new report, the Environmental Working Group conducted toxicology tests on dozens of oat-based foods sold across the country and used a health benchmark for glyphosate based on a cancer risk assessment that was developed by California state scientists, explained Alexis Temkin, author of the report and the group’s toxicologist. “EWG used that level to then develop a guideline that was more protective for children’s health,” Temkin said. “It’s 100-fold lower.” The Environmental Working Group’s guideline amount is 0.01 milligram per day, Naidenko said. Should this small amount be present in a single portion of food – about 2 ounces, 60 grams or roughly two cups of cereal – that would amount to a concentration of 160 parts per billion. In other words, the group says that a person eating two cups of cereal a day contaminated by 160 parts of glyphosate per billion would have a one in a million risk of cancer linked to the chemical, according to Naidenko. Of 45 samples of food products made with conventionally grown oats, two had no detectable glyphosate, 12 had levels of glyphosate that were lower than the group’s acceptable health benchmark, and 31 had levels of glyphosate at or higher than the benchmark. The highest levels were detected in two samples of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats. “Quaker does not add glyphosate during any part of the milling process,” the company said in a statement. “Glyphosate is commonly used by farmers across the industry who apply it pre-harvest. Once the oats are transported to us, we put them through our rigorous process that thoroughly cleanses them (de-hulled, cleaned, roasted and flaked). Any levels of glyphosate that may remain are significantly below any limits and well within compliance of the safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Commission as safe for human consumption.” In the tests, glyphosate was also found at detectable concentrations in five of 16 organic oat food samples. The Environmental Working Group is focused on lifetime exposure to toxic herbicides, Naidenko said. Conflicting results “The concern about glyphosate is for long-term exposure,” she said. “As most health agencies would say, a single portion would not cause deleterious effects. But think about eating popular foods such as oatmeal every day or almost every day – that’s when, according to scientific assessments, such amounts of glyphosate might pose health harm.” Glyphosate does not easily pass through human skin, and when it is ingested, it passes through the body relatively quickly, according to the National Pesticide Information Center. The vast majority of glyphosate leaves the body in urine and feces without being changed into another chemical. In some studies, high doses given to laboratory animals suggests this chemical has carcinogenic potential. “Studies on cancer rates in people have provided conflicting results on whether the use of glyphosate containing products is associated with cancer,” the center’s website states. “Some studies have associated glyphosate use with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.” Temkin said “That’s correct that glyphosate is metabolized very quickly and eliminated in the urine,” adding that other types of chemicals are metabolized very quickly yet are known to cause some harm. “Arguments that quick metabolism cannot result in harm from exposure to a chemical – especially if it’s a chemical that is very ubiquitous and something that somebody is exposed to on a daily basis – does not mean that it can’t have health effects.” The glyphosate debate continues But Alex Berezow, senior fellow of biomedical science at the American Council on Science and Health, a nonprofit group that says it advocates for evidence-based science and medicine, believes the new report is “absolutely atrocious.” “According to the EPA, people should avoid consuming more than 2 mg of glyphosate for every kilogram of body weight,” Berezow wrote in an email. “The good news is that nobody on Earth consumes anywhere near that amount of glyphosate,” said Berezow. “The EWG fabricated its own safety standard so that they could promote organic food. They’ve been doing this for years – ignoring the scientific literature in order to lobby for the organic industry.” The European Food Safety Authority also rejects “the notion that glyphosate causes cancer,” he said. Berezow said the chemical is “completely safe” to humans because it interferes with chemical reactions in plants that do not exist in humans. Because we lack this “metabolic pathway,” he said, “it’s not even hypothetically possible for glyphosate to be harmful.” Dr. Paul Pharoah, professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, wrote in an email that “there have been multiple studies investigating the potential association between glyphosate exposure and cancer risk.” “Some of these studies have serious flaws in their design,” said Pharoah, who was not involved in the new report. “It is not scientifically possible to prove ‘no association,’ but the evidence from these studies is that if there is an association the effect is very small.” Pharoah said he could not comment on the methods used by the Environmental Working Group or the accuracy of the results, since he is an epidemiologist and not a toxicologist. Still, he said he would not be “unduly concerned” about the health risks to children, given the lack of evidence linking the chemical to cancer in adults. “This is not to say that I do not think that public policy should limit the acceptable amount of these chemicals found in foods,” Pharoah said. Naidenko believes that glyphosate won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.<doc-sep>
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated the World Health Organization's findings on glyphosate. A branch of the WHO, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, determined glyphosate is probably carcinogenic, while the WHO believes it is probably not. This story has been corrected. A number of popular breakfast foods, including cereals, granola bars and instant oats, were tested and found to contain potentially dangerous amounts of cancer-linked glyphosate, the main ingredient in weed killer. More: How dangerous is weed killer in breakfast cereals? The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental advocacy organization that conducted the study, said Wednesday that glyphosate was found in all but five of 29 oat-based foods that were tested. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, the most heavily used herbicide in the United States. Every year, according to the EWG, more than 250 million pounds of glyphosate is sprayed on American crops. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans" and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a safety level for the potentially dangerous chemical. Just last week, Monsanto was ordered by a court to pay nearly $300 million to a man who claims his terminal cancer was caused by exposure to Roundup. Hundreds of other cases are working their way through the courts. Monsanto strongly disputes the finding that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen and notes that over four decades, the EPA has consistently supported the safe and effective use of glyphosate. The company notes on its website that on Dec. 18, the EPA stated the following: “The draft human health risk assessment concludes that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans. The agency’s assessment found no other meaningful risks to human health when the product is used according to the pesticide label. The agency’s scientific findings are consistent with the conclusions of science reviews by a number of other countries as well as the 2017 National Institute of Health Agricultural Health Survey.” Also on freep.com: Weed killer in cereals: How dangerous is it? Aretha Franklin honored at morning vigil in Detroit Who is Lisa Posthumus Lyons? 9 facts about Schuette's running mate The products tested by the EWG showed levels dramatically lower than current EPA standard for glyphosate. For example, the amount allowed in grains is 30 parts per million. Most of the products tested by the EWA showed glyphosate levels that measured in parts per billion. Yet California, which is known for its robust cancer warnings, has determined there is a one in 100,000 risk of cancer from glyphosate when more than 1.1 milligrams is consumed per day. EWG says it has calculated a one in one million risk if more than 0.1 milligrams is consumed and a similar risk for children if even 0.01 milligrams is consumed daily. The worst offenders were Quaker oat products, which regularly clocked in at 400 or more glyphosate parts per billion — meaning they would be dangerous for children if even 27.5 grams were consumed daily. A single packet of Quaker's dinosaur eggs instant oatmeal contains more than three times EWG's daily safe limit for children. Kellogg products largely passed muster — of the two evaluated, only one of the Michigan-based cereal company's oat foods came anywhere near dangerous to children and neither posed a threat to adults.
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AP It was believed that Christian Wilkins would go higher than the low teens. He didn’t. But he still landed at No. 13. The Dolphins have made the former Clemson defensive lineman there first pick of the Brian Flores era. A cornerstone of a potent defensive line in college, Wilkins brings ability, leadership, and personality to the Dolphins. He’s the second Clemson defensive lineman to be picked tonight, and Dexter Lawrence could join them. In taking Wilkins, the Dolphins passed on quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who could go to Washington at No. 15, unless the Falcons trade down with someone else who wants him.<doc-sep>Another team in the mix, if desired, would be New England. They have 12 draft picks this year. Not even half that number can make their roster. If the Patriots’ Bill Belichick likes Rosen, he has the poker chips to trade for him that the Dolphins can’t with seven picks this draft.<doc-sep>Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images The Miami Dolphins drafted former Clemson Tigers defensive tackle Christian Wilkins with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft on Thursday. Bleacher Report draft expert Matt Miller had the 6'3", 315-pound lineman as the No. 22 overall prospect in this year's class. Wilkins is coming off an impressive four-year run at Clemson in which he earned three first-team All-American selections, two national championships and the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy (given to the best football scholar-athlete). His 59 games played are tied for the most in program history. He piled up 192 tackles, 40.5 tackles for losses and 16 sacks over the course of his collegiate career. As a senior, he helped the Tigers become the first team in more than a century to go 15-0 by recording career highs in tackles for loss (14) and sacks (5.5) while notching 51 total tackles. As Pro Football Focus College noted, nobody in the ACC was better at pressuring the quarterback than the Clemson star: That performance earned him unanimous All-American honors and also made him a finalist for the Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player), the Bednarik Award (best defensive player) and the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman). "This is a big, powerful kid who holds up really well on the edge, and he hasn't really tapped his potential," an AFC scout told Chase Goodbread of NFL.com. "If you try to double-team him with a tight end and a tackle, he'll kick that double-team's ass. He'll split that. You double team him with a tackle and a guard, you can contain him, but he'll get a stalemate." 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Shaquem Griffin Starting for Seahawks in Week 1 Right Arrow Icon And as much of a force as he can be on defense, Wilkins also proved valuable on offense. He had four career rushing attempts for 13 yards and two touchdowns, adding both a 31-yard catch and a touchdown reception for the passing attack. In other words, the Dolphins are getting a versatile player who can make an impact on both sides of the football. Wilkins' playmaking abilities and leadership skills should be a welcome addition to Miami's front seven. He proved to be a dominant force in the middle of the line in college, and now he will have a chance to show what he can do in the pros. The addition of Wilkins should help a pass rush that was 29th in sacks in 2018. The Dolphins had no player with more than 6.5 sacks, and Robert Quinn and Cameron Wake—their two leading pass-rushers—are no longer on the roster. The Dolphins drafted someone who can be a force up front and also the centerpiece of the defensive line for years to come.<doc-sep>The Dolphins finally tipped their vision of how they want to build the roster by selecting defensive tackle Christian Wilkins on Thursday night. General manager Chris Grier appears to like players that are not only talented, but also known for their intelligence. One of the biggest talking points surrounding Minkah Fitzpatrick last year was his preparation off the field. His work ethic was considered unmatched, stemming from a youth of working with his father. Wilkins, by the same token, is not only a freak athlete on the field, but he is also considered very intelligent — as his William V. Campbell award would suggest. The William V. Campbell award is a high honor, rewarding a player for his work in the classroom. Like Fitzpatrick, Wilkins is considered a high-character player that comes from a winning program. This marks two years in a row that Grier has selected a high-character player coming off of a national championship. The message of what the Dolphins want is clear: talented, high-character players. They want guys that will work both on and off the field.<doc-sep>
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - APRIL 25: Christian Wilkins of Clemson celebrates with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen #13 overall by the Miami Dolphins during the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft on April 25, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) If you watched the Miami Dolphins select Christian Wilkins you will have seen him show the intensity and energy that the team needs. Christian Wilkins is the Miami Dolphins 2019 first round pick and he displayed the same kind of charisma after his selection that the team needs more of on both sides of the ball. Wilkins is energetic and passionate. After reaching the stage with Roger Goodell, Wilkins jumped into the air to shoulder bump the much smaller NFL Commissioner. Wilkins is not a stranger to fun antics, after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide, the 300 plus defensive tackle showed off his flexibility by grabbing his leg raising it into the air and doing a split in full uniform on national television. This is the guy that the Miami Dolphins drafted. A guy who wants to destroy the opposing team with the energy and vocal prowess that has been missing on the Dolphins since Jason Taylor retired. He isn’t a “lead by example” type of player, he is a leader both vocally and by example. On the field, Wilkins is a tough interior defender who is both disciplined and quick off the ball. Wilkins brings an intensity that the Dolphins lack. He is a player that can fill the NT role if the Dolphins move to a 3-4 base or the DT in a 4-3 that will take on a guard and center and push them both back into the quarterback. Wilkins is going to find the NFL a lot different from the level of play in college but he has the intelligence, two degrees at Clemson, to study the tape and take advantage of an opposing teams weakness. Fans may not be certain of Wilkins should have been taken over Dwayne Haskins but there is very good chance they won’t be at all.
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The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Sign up to FREE email alerts from Football London - West Ham Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has handed a debut to Lukasz Fabianski for West Ham in their latest pre-season friendly against Ipswich Town. Also returning after missing the victory over Aston Villa in midweek is Andriy Yarmolenko as Michail Antonio is rested after making his comeback from long term injury on Wednesday. A surprise starter is Cheikhou Kouyate, who only returned to training at West Ham on Tuesday and has been heavily linked with a move to Crystal Palace. Another player linked with an exit, Pedro Obiang, also starts at Portman Road. Fabian Balbuena and Felipe Anderson are also in from the start having made their debuts on Wednesday at Walsall, Marko Arnautovic leads the line once again Jack Wilshere starts his third pre-season game in a row in midfield alongside Kouyate and Obiang. Ryan Fredericks replaces Pablo Zabaleta at right back and Aaron Cresswell is still not fit to play a part so Arthur Masuaku continues at left back. Robert Snodgrass, Toni Martinez, Declan Rice, Sead Haksabanovic and Issa Diop are all on the bench for the Hammers. West Ham: Fabianski; Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Obiang, Kouyate, Wilshere; Felipe Anderson, Yarmolenko, Arnautovic. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android. Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.<doc-sep>West Ham play their final pre-season game in England on Saturday afternoon as they take on Ipswich Town at Portman Road. The Hammers jet off to Austria on Monday afternoon for a final training camp and two more friendlies against FSV Mainz and Angers on the continent before the big Premier League kick off against Liverpool on August 12. But, immediate attention is on the Championship side who are sure to provide another stern test for the Hammers this pre-season. Manuel Pellegrini's side swept aside Aston Villa in Walsall in midweek as Felipe Anderson and Fabian Balbuena made their debuts and both start at Portman Road this afternoon. (Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images) Also starting for the first time this pre-season is Cheikhou Kouyate, who returned to training on Tuesday having been on holiday after his World Cup tournament with Senegal. Javier Hernandez, who arrived back on Thursday, hasn't made the trip. Follow our live blog below for live udpates from Hammers writer Sam Inkersole, who is at Portman Road for us this afetrnoon. The feed will automatically update so there is no need for you to refresh the page. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android. Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.<doc-sep>F elipe Anderson opened his account for West Ham as Ipswich Town proved worthy opposition on Saturday. The club-record signing took just two minutes to break the deadlock, before Ellis Harrison equalised. Marko Arnautovic slipped in the winner in the second half. Manuel Pellegrini named a strong line-up for the second match running as all six of his summer signings were involved from the off and it didn't take long for the new faces to gel. Starting on the right, Andriy Yarmolenko made good progress on the flank to find Ryan Fredericks in the final third. A neat touch and turn and the defender's subsequent cross was met by Anderson's head for his first goal. Action Images via Reuters Ipswich were asleep at the back but the early goal woke the hosts up and they were soon level. Andre Dozzell broke in midfield and found Harrison with a defence-splitting throughball to run on to and beat Lukasz Fabianski. Harrison could, and should, have given Ipswich the lead minutes later when again the West Ham defence were left flat-footed to leave the striker in acres of space but his header from eight yards hit the post and bounced clear. Action Images via Reuters Wilshere, who played over an hour on Wednesday, was withdrawn at half-time for Snodgrass and the latter almost added to his goal in midweek when played in by Anderson, only to be thwarted by keeper Bartosz Bialkowski. The second half was a tamer affair than first with few chances on goal but Arnautovic was his usual busy self. Action Images via Reuters It was the Austrian who settled the game, restoromg West Ham's lead by running through to beat the onrushing keeper inside the area.<doc-sep>Ipswich Town and Sears take on West Ham on Saturday. Former West Ham United attacker and lifelong Hammers fan Freddie Sears has told the club’s official website that he has been impressed by the club’s transfer window and new manager Manuel Pellegrini – but thinks the top six is too far. Sears is currently plying his trade for Ipswich Town, who take on the Hammers on Saturday in a pre-season friendly at Portman Road – which will see the attacker facing his former side six years after leaving. The 28-year-old joined Colchester United in the summer of 2012 before moving to Ipswich in January 2015, where he has since clocked up a huge 150 appearances in all competitions, scoring 24 goals. Sears believes the signings of Jack Wilshere and Felipe Anderson are bold moves, and has been impressed with the appointment of Premier League winner Pellegrini. But he reckons the best West Ham can hope for a is a top-eight finish. Callum McGregor: The heir to Scott Brown's throne at Celtic “It looks exciting,” Sears said. “The players they’re bringing, people like Jack Wilshere and Felipe Anderson, joining the likes of Arnautovic and Nobes mean there is a lot of quality in the squad. “The new manager has won the Premier League title and done well everywhere he has gone, so everyone will be behind him. It can only bode well for West Ham. For West Ham, the Premier League’s top six is harder to break into. Top ten would be positive and top eight would be great. I’d love to see European football at London Stadium again, but the Premier League is tough. It’s hard to keep up with teams spending lots of money, but West Ham are giving it a good go.” Sears made his debut for the Hammers way back in March 2008, in a Premier League win over Blackburn Rovers. He ended up playing 58 times for his boyhood club – scoring just three goals. The Hammers will continue their preparations against Ipswich ahead of a brutal Premier League opener which sees the east Londoners travel to Anfield to face Liverpool. In other news, 'I believe': Liverpool told to sign £5.5m title winner Rodgers labelled 'magical'<doc-sep>
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Manuel Pellegrini will lead his West Ham side on their final pre-season friendly in England this weekend when they take on Ipswich Town at Portman Road. Fresh off the back of a convincing and impressive 3-1 win over Aston Villa in midweek, the Hammers will be looking to continue their very competitive pre-season campaign against the Championship side with another victory. Next week, the players and management jet off to Austria to play two further friendlies against FSV Mainz and Angers to conclude their preparations ahead of the Premier League opener at Liverpool on August 12. The players fitness levels were excellent at Walsall on Wednesday and as they continue to move towards peak fitness before the start of the campaign. Michail Antonio made his first appearance of pre-season against Aston Villa and got on the scoresheet, while club-record signing Felipe Anderson also made his bow, alongside fellow new boy Fabian Balbuena. Here is how we think the Hammers could line up on Saturday in Suffolk. We've gone for Anderson and Balbuena to continue their quest for match fitness by starting at Portman Road following their impressi ve 45 minute outings against Villa in midweek. We've picked Ryan Fredericks to play at right back after Pablo Zabaleta got a run out against Villa, while Aaron Cresswell should feature against his former club and make his first pre-season outing after a groin injury. Andriy Yarmolenko was rested for the Villa game and he comes in for Antonio, who is likely to be held back considering his injury history and having played in midweek. Marko Arnautovic will continue up front as Javier Hernandez only returned to training on Thursday. Finally, we also reckon Lukasz Fabianski will be given the nod in goal to replace Adrian and for the Pole to make his debut for the Hammers following his switch from Swansea City. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android. Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.
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Eastern Michigan will travel to San Diego, California where they will face the Aztecs of San Diego State for the first time. The Eagles are coming off a disappointing loss to Buffalo which puts their record at 2 and 1. The Aztecs are coming off an upset of Arizona State but also have a 2 and 1 record. This is the third time that the Eagles have played in California with their first visit being their victory against San Jose State in the California Bowl in 1987. They lost against Fresno State when they went there in 1990. Based on his performance last week, I expect Eastern Michigan to start with Mike Glass III. He was 17 for 27 for 284 yards against Buffalo. He also rushed for 69 yards in that game. However, we can’t rule out Tyler Wiegers who is 46 for 61 for 614 yards for the season. Blake Banham is coming off two 100 plus yards receiving games. I don’t expect the Eastern Michigan running game to get any traction against San Diego State as they have only allowed 46 yards per game this season. San Diego State is coached by Rocky Long who is in his 8th Season there and has a 66 and 30 record. It is expected that Ryan Agnew will start the game. He has been playing since the second quarter of the Sacramento State game and is 23 for 41 with 144 yards per game. The San Diego State rushing attack is led by Juwan Washington who has averaged 151 yards per game. This game is going to come down to how well the Eastern Michigan passing attack stacks up against the San Diego State passing defense. Eastern Michigan has averaged 332 yards in the air while San Diego State has given up 284 yards per game in the air. Eastern Michigan has been porous against the run and I don’t see any reason why that will change in this game as San Diego State has a back that can average 150 yards per game. I think if Eastern Michigan can continue their success in the air and can get at the San Diego State quarterback, they have a chance. My instincts tell me that the home team still has the advantage in this one though.<doc-sep>The San Diego State football team concludes the nonconference portion of its schedule with Saturday night’s game against Eastern Michigan at SDCCU Stadium. It is an opportunity for SDSU (2-1) to win at least three of its nonconference games for the third straight season and fifth time in nine years. It is a rather recent phenomenon. SDSU had three nonconference wins in a season just twice from 1983-2009. The Aztecs are 12-point favorites over Eastern Michigan (2-1), a Mid-American Conference team. Listen up, here are five things to watch with the Eagles in town: 1. Heartache Tonight? Eastern Michigan’s defense is allowing 230.7 rushing yards a game, which ranks 116th in the nation (out of 129 teams). Not good. Advertisement But hold on a minute. “For us to win, we’re going to have to run the ball well,” SDSU head coach Rocky Long said. “Now, this is a typical team from that league, they’re huge. They’re huge up front on offense and they’re huge up front on defense. … They have some quality linebackers, too. That leads you to believe they can play the run pretty well. “People have been running the ball against them out of the spread, so it’s purely a number system. When you have to more guys out there for coverage, there are more blockers than defenders at the line of scrimmage. They’ve been going against the spread and they’ve been moving guys out there for coverage and people have a numbers advantage on them in the box, so to speak. “We don’t provide that kind of challenge. They can put as many in the box as they want to because we’re all in there, too. We don’t have them spread from sideline to sideline. So it’s a completely different running game that they’re playing against this week than in the past.” Was Long trying to build up an opponent, or could SDSU’s vaunted run game really face a test against the Eagles? We will know soon enough. 2. (In) The Long Run SDSU junior running back Juwan Washington missed most of the fourth quarter in last week’s home win over Arizona State with an injury to his left foot diagnosed as turf toe. Washington did not return to practice this week until Thursday, but he is expected to play against Eastern Washington. One question: Why? Advertisement Unless Washington’s injury was slight and he was limited this week due to an overabundance of caution, why play him in a nonconference game against the Eagles and risk making things worse? SDSU has a bye following the Eastern Michigan game, then opens Mountain West play Oct. 6 at Boise State. It seems like resting Washington until then might be the prudent thing to do, especially after the performance sophomore Chase Jasmin had against ASU. Jasmin collected nearly all of his 112 yards after replacing Washington in the fourth quarter, finishing with 19 carries and one touchdown. He proved he can handle the load. Running back also is one of the deepest positions for the Aztecs. Redshirt freshmen Chance Bell and Kaegun Williams could get a couple of handoffs. It might even be an opportunity for true freshmen Zidane Thomas and Jordan Byrd to get a couple of carries and take advantage of the new NCAA rule that allows true freshmen to play up to four games without burning their redshirt. Advertisement 3. Waiting In The Weeds Eastern Michigan has started graduate transfer Tyler Wiegers in all three of its games this season, but when the Eagles fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter last week at Buffalo, backup Mike Glass II replaced Wiegers. Glass, who played at Southwestern College two years ago, finished out the game in notable fashion. He threw touchdown passes of 75 and 76 yards on the way to completing 17 of 27 passes for 284 yards. Glass also rushed 14 times for 69 yards and a touchdown and now is the team’s rushing leader (23 carries, 106 yards). Eastern Michigan lost by a touchdown, but may have found a new starting quarterback in the dual-threat Glass. It remains to be seen who starts under center for the Eagles. Advertisement Wigers has completed 75 percent of his passes (46-for-61) while Glass has completed just under 60 percent (22-for-37). “He’s not as accurate,” SDSU head coach Rocky Long said of Glass, “but he can do a lot more himself. He can scramble, they run option with him, they run quarterback draws with him, quarterback power plays with him. So they’re a lot more versatile with him in the game. The other guy, it’s can you cover the receivers long enough to get pressure because he’s going to put it right on the money. ... “It’s like picking your poison.” 4. Get Over It Sophomore wide receiver Tim Wilson Jr. made had the first touchdown catch of his college career last week against Arizona State. What does Wilson do for an encore? Maybe nothing. Advertisement Long said Wilson had something flare up in his back on Tuesday that kept him out of practice and could keep him out of the game. ”There’s some kind of pocket back in his back and the reason it hurts is because its full of liquid,” Long said in midweek. “They, obviously, think it’s blood, so they’re going to drain it and see what happens. If they drain it and it doesn’t come back and he feels OK, he will play.” If the situation doesn’t improve, then Wilson will be sidelined. He has seven receptions this season, second behind Ethan Dedeaux (11) among the team’s wide receivers. If Wilson is absent it could mean more targets for senior wide receiver Fred Trevillion, who did not have a catch against ASU after having two receptions in each of the season’s first two games. It also may give true freshmen Kobe Smith and Elijah Kothe the opportunity to be more integral in the passing game. Advertisement 5. On The Border SDSU’s offensive line was expected to be a strength this season after a year playing together. Long’s assessment after three games: “The first game (against Stanford) they played OK. The second game (against Sacramento State) they played terrible. This last game (against ASU) they played really good. So I’d say they’re a very inconsistent group — with potential.” With center Dominic Gudino (ankle) healthy again, the starting unit should be intact for the first time since opening week, with Tyler Roemer, Daishawn Dixon, Gudino, Keith Ismael and Ryan Pope from left to right. The depth will be tested up front, however, after a season-ending injury to sophomore Zach Thomas, who suffered a suspected torn ACL against the Sun Devils. Advertisement Next men up: junior Nick Gerhard and sophomore Kyle Spalding. Advertisement Aztecs × On Now Video: Aztecs make history with upset over No. 6 Nevada On Now Aztecs prepare for Fresno State On Now Aztecs beat New Mexico, 97-77 On Now Dutcher, Aztecs prepare for Air Force On Now Aztecs beat Wyoming, 84-54 On Now Aztecs prepare for conference game against Boise On Now Aztecs beat Texas Southern, 103-64 On Now Rocky Long: "This team has overachieved" On Now SDSU West bests SoccerCity as voters embrace a new vision for Mission Valley stadium site On Now Aztecs win season opener, 76-60 [email protected] / on Twitter: @sdutkirKDKenney<doc-sep>
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The Eastern Michigan Eagles are set to travel west to face the San Diego State Aztecs in an under-the-radar non-conference clash. Both squads have knocked off a Power 5 opponent, and both have the potential to compete for championships in their respective leagues. Now, both aim to carry momentum into the meat of their conference schedules. The Eagles, 2-1 with a marquee win over Purdue in Week 2, will be playing their third straight road game after losing 35-28 at Buffalo last week in the MAC opener. San Diego State, also 2-1, has won two in a row including last week’s dramatic, controversial finish against Arizona State. Eastern Michigan at San Diego State Kickoff: Saturday Sept. 22 at 10:30 p.m. ET TV: CBSSN Spread: San Diego State -12 Three Things to Watch 1. San Diego State RB Juwan Washington Not to take anything away from Donnel Pumphrey or Rashaad Penny, but the San Diego State running back position has become plug-and-play. The new leading ball carrier — and the next potential 2,000-yard rusher — for the Aztecs is Washington. So far this season, Washington has averaged 150.7 rushing yards per game, totaling 452 yards and five touchdowns, all of which lead the Mountain West and rank among the top 10 nationally. Assuming he shakes off what appears to be a minor toe injury, Washington should have success against an Eastern Michigan run defense that has allowed more than 230 yards per game and 5.91 yards per carry. The Eagles were particularly bad stopping the run against Purdue, which is worth noting because the Boilermakers are arguably the closest match to San Diego State from a talent standpoint among EMU’s opponents to date. Eastern Michigan allowed 341 yards and 8.12 yards per attempt, but won 20-19 in messy, rainy conditions. 2. Eastern Michigan QB Tyler Wiegers Eastern Michigan hasn’t had nearly as much success running the football as the Aztecs, but the Eagles are in a better position to succeed through the air thanks to quarterback Tyler Wiegers. The Iowa transfer has completed 46 of 60 passing attempts for 614 yards and three touchdowns with one interception in his first season as a starter. Though he hasn’t put up eye-popping raw numbers, Wiegers ranks third nationally in completion percentage (76.7 percent) and 11th among FBS signal-callers in yards per pass attempt (10.2). His top target, Blake Banham, leads the MAC and ranks in the top 10 in the country with 23 receptions and 361 receiving yards. Banham has hauled in two touchdowns. Given the Wiegers to Banham connection, the Eagles should also be in position to move the football. Though the San Diego State defense ranks fourth nationally against the run (46.3 rushing yards allowed per game), the Aztecs are susceptible to the pass. Rocky Long’s secondary has surrendered 284.7 passing yards per game so far this season, which ranks 10th in the Mountain West and 109th in the country. Opponents have posted a 7:1 TD-to-interception ratio. 3. Takeaways, or lack thereof On that note, San Diego State’s typically aggressive defense has failed to create turnovers in 2018. In fact, defensive end Noble Hall’s interception against Stanford in the season opener is the only takeaway the unit has forced all year. Only East Carolina and North Carolina, both of whom have played just two games, have forced fewer turnovers. But Eastern Michigan hasn’t been much better. The Eagles have recovered three fumbles but have also intercepted just one pass this season — Kyle Rachwal’s pick against Monmouth in Week 1. Final Analysis This late-night, inter-regional non-conference matchup offers plenty of intriguing storylines. The Aztecs’ offensive strength matches up well against Eastern Michigan, which is great news since senior starting quarterback Christian Chapman is out indefinitely with a knee injury. Likewise, the Eagles’ strength on offense matches up well against San Diego State’s biggest weakness. Though the two squads are fairly evenly matched, San Diego State has two major advantages: First, the Aztecs have the ability to shut down Eastern Michigan’s run game and make the Eagles one-dimensional on offense. But perhaps more importantly, Eastern Michigan must make a cross-country flight across three time zones, in what will be its third consecutive week away from home. SDCCU Stadium doesn’t give the Aztecs the typical college football home-field advantage in the big-game atmosphere sense, but San Diego State has a major advantage given the Eagles’ travel schedule.
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Rating: Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Raaz, Vijay Varma, Amruta Subhash, Sheeba Chaddha Director: Zoya Akhtar Sometimes, angst has swag. And when it does, it often decides to make a song and dance about itself in prose, poetry, painting or just by sitting at a bar and blowing smoke rings. Invariably, it draws a crowd eager to exorcise their demons, empty their innards. Every generation gets a cool film that speaks of and to their angst. And our desi millennials have been gifted theirs by Zoya Akhtar. Gully Boy wears a hoodie and spits emotions angrily into the mic while flailing its arms and drawing fingers to make gang-style gestures, at times at the immediate opponent, but mostly at the world at large. Gully Boy, based on the real life story of Mumbai-based rap stars Naezy and Divine, and written by Reema Kagti and Zoya, is pivoted on the angst and dreams of the dispossessed, and it spins on the power of their sweaty resolve Apna time ayega! The film inhabits a world of tiny homes jostling for space in Mumbai’s Dharavi, where the frustrations, joys and irritation of one rub against another. For most part Gully Boy as directed by Zoya and inhabited and performed by Ranveer Singh is compelling. It’s got the groove. It also has the furious tempo and foot-tapping high energy of a generation just coming to terms with life’s gazillion options, and their frustratingly meagre choices. Gully Boy keeps taking flight, to the world outside Dharavi, to show us class divide and the inhumanity it breeds. And then, when it finds its moxie and a mic, it decides to say its piece. Here, its energy, its guttural rebuttal to life, seeps in, and it stirs. We are hooked, almost as if the film were an impetuous jet ski being manoeuvred by an eager, excited novice, and we, perched on a surfboard, were at the other end of a rope tied to it. We rise when it rises, we sway along when it careens about, and we slump down when it feels beaten. The film’s end, a kinetic, climatic sequence that jumps and stomps its feet with Ranveer Singh’s infectious high jinx is stunning, moving. But it is also a moment — mic drop by director Zoya Akhtar. I simultaneously broke into tears and a heart-felt applause. And I wanted to say, in rap parlance, “Your movie’s so dope, girrrl! !” Gully Boy establishes how it will tell its story right at the beginning. In a succinct, beautifully choreographed scene in a bus, using just an empty seat and a set of earphones, and without uttering a single dialogue, it lays bare not just the relationship between Safeena Ali (Alia Bhatt) and Murad Sheikh (Ranveer Singh), but also the hurdles they negotiate. Safeena is a badass in a headscarf and is studying to be a doctor. Murad is a student too, and he wears kurtas, short or long, a green-beige cloth backpack, and chappals. His personality is laced with diffidence and vulnerability. Safeena is slightly satkeli, hateli and comes unhinged at the slightest provocation. Murad mostly sits inside in his head. On the outside his body is stiff, alert to the weariness he carries. His backpack, at times, is symbolic of the burden that’s strapped on to his being. Murad smiles, but the brows remain furrowed. Inside, there’s a junoon, a desire to do something, to matter, to be someone. Murad’s ears are often plugged with earphones. Sometimes because he wants to drown out the world around him and get in sync with the beats of his heart. At other times, especially at home, to give a different narrative, a spin to the reality, because the chatter in his house bogs him down. In these instances we hear what he hears his commentary on stuff happening around him, accompanied by his rant about how it should be. Stuff happens. To his ammi, Razia (Amruta Subhash), because of his father, Aftab Sheikh (Vijay Raaz), a chauffeur. Murad watches, does what he can, and then sits on his bed and writes, pouring his heart out in rap verse. But he doesn’t rap. Not till he meets the local rap star, MC Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi). In this scene and others that follow, the film conveys the joy of a lost, listless stray on finding its group, and a mentor. MC Sher adds rhythm to Murad’s poetry, turning his inner rant into a powerful chant. As rappers gather, for rap battles or just for fun, the temperature rises. These scenes are heady, intense. A different kind of sufiyana more a stormy, bouncy trance than a whirling, meditative one. Before it ventures out, Gully Boy briefly invites the outside to visit Murad, and his world decides to demand a price for a dekho, some photos. And when it finally steps out of Dharavi, the price Murad has to pay is quite devastating. Murad meets posh angst from Berkeley. It arrives in a Merc. Sky (Kalki Koechlin), who can best be described as that stock female character who must a) be bohemian; b) flit around an underdog, male, with her heart thrust out; and, c) offer her tan, mann, dhan in return for, well, unrequited love. These dear ladies make regular appearances in certain Bollywood films made by certain babalog directors and repeatedly drag them down. Thankfully, Sky serves some purpose here. She wants to produce a track, and has the means to do it in style. As a result, Murad finds acceptance, fame and a gentle swag and his smile finally travels up, from his mouth to his eyes. Gully Boy’s power, its mojo lies in the clashes it shows and articulates — between two worlds, two friends, two lovers, two rappers, between dreams and reality, between two worldviews. The film is mostly written very intelligently, especially when it draws vignettes from real life, and not other films. Its dialogue pack in street slang, especially in the rap battles where contestants quite literally get into each other’s face, showering insults and spit on each other. The film uses songs, like Meri Gully Mein, originally sung by Divine and Naezy. These are choreographed, shot and edited in a way that captures and conveys the zeitgeist of the time, while adding intensity and a sting to it. Oh! The joy of a director on finding a team that doesn’t just deliver, but makes the project their own. Everyone in Gully Boy crew and cast has given their best. The cinematography, choreography, the writing, editing, costumes, and the entire ensemble of actors are quite fabulous. Vijay Raaz is especially good, as is Vijay Varma. Kalki is a fine actress, but here she’s playing a character quite annoying and clichéd. Alia and Ranveer have both got loveable characters — sweet, non-challenging strugglers trying to grab a small piece of life for themselves. And they both inhabit their characters with a possessive, warm embrace. Alia’s easy charm and cute petulance encases Ranveer’s Murad, and roots him. Like Ranveer’s character says, “Murad without Safeena is as if woh bina bachpan ke hi bada ho gaya”.<doc-sep>Dreams and reality fuse seamlessly in Gully Boy, Zoya Akhtar’s most heartfelt and accomplished movie yet. Akhtar’s fourth feature is headlined by an outstanding Ranveer Singh, packed with well-picked actors and neatly-etched characters, and filmed with infectious passion. The film has a single-thread premise: a rapper from the Dharavi slum in Mumbai overcomes hardscrabble circumstances, a dysfunctional family, and self-doubt to become a star in his firmament. But it has enough texture to to make it all worthwhile. Gully Boy, dedicated to the Mumbai rappers Naezy and Divine, follows a dreamer from the wrong side of the tracks. Gully Boy takes Akhtar, co-writer Reema Kagti and the A-list leads into uncharted territory, brings rap from the margins into the mainstream, and puts back on screen a section of the population that has all but disappeared. Above all, Gully Boy is about Mumbai. The movie acknowledges Mumbai’s many inequities and revels in its unique slang and manners, but also confirms the city’s mythical status as a centre of possibility and hope. Mumbai is shot with all its warts in place, while dialogue writer Vijay Maurya faithfully echoes the cadences of the street. And yet, the movie has an unmistakably fairy-tale quality. Dreams must be tailored around reality, but can reality itself be altered to fulfill these dreams, wonders Ranveer Singh’s Murad. His choice is clear. But the movie is a bit more greedy, and aspires to both conditions. Play Gully Boy (2019). Gully Boy owes its premise and some of its moments to the Eminem vehicle 8 Mile (2002), but it also resembles Akhtar’s charming debut Luck By Chance (2009), about two Mumbai showbiz aspirants. While the emotional upheavals are similar, the movie industry backdrop has been swapped for the slum in Gully Boy. Murad wants to rap for a living, and his world opens up when he meets rapper MC Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi). The self-awareness to trade insults at rap battles and command a stage, and the full meaning of the movie’s anthem, Apna Time Aayega, are still many scenes away. Murad is stuck in a double life, scribbling brittle verse in his notebook while pursuing a clandestine relationship with Safeena (Alia Bhatt). Murad simmers with anger over the cruelties wrought by his father (Vijay Raaz) on his mother (Amruta Subhash). Safeena keeps Murad sane and supplied with humour and tenderness. Alia Bhatt in Gully Boy (2019). Courtesy Excel/Tiger Baby. Safeena is much more than a supportive girlfriend who steals kisses when nobody is looking and knocks sense into Murad at all times. Akhtar brings a distinctly feminine touch to the macho posturing that characterises hip-hop, making Safeena a vital part of Murad’s experience and giving room to her own ambitions and desires. Alia Bhatt is in superb form as she fights for Murad, tells sweet white lies to get her way, and holds back when she feels that Murad has gone too far. The romance between Murad and Safeena, which benefits from immense chemistry between Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, has a pleasingly old-fashioned feel. Gully Boy is equally old-school even while rewriting expectations from the average Bollywood production. The movie features a working-class Muslim hero – a character who has been criminally ignored on the screen – and lets him inhabit both skullcap and hoodie with minimal fuss. Safeena might wear a headscarf outdoors, but her spunkiness is never in doubt. Were Safeena to participate in battle rap with Murad, it’s clear that she she would win hands down. Play Apna Time Aayega, Gully Boy (2019). Still, the subtlety, sensitivity and intelligence with which Ranveer Singh plays Murad are not vivid enough to hide the weak links and shifting goalposts. Kalki Koechlin’s expat producer Sky gets too much play, and Murad’s growing tensions with Safeena, his parents and and his fellow slum resident, Moeen (Vijay Varma), generate unearned moments. The dense plot makes the movie seem longer than it already is (155 minutes, and not all of them deserved). Earnest sloganeering threatens to derail the narrative. Gully Boy falters in its attempts to hold forth on social evils (domestic abuse, female empowerment, class bias), and is most unconvincing when proposing a solution for inequality. Murad’s biggest obstacle – his socioeconomic background – melts away when he meets other members of the rapper community. Rough-edged street poetry and the right body language are apparently all that are needed to gain access. But even at its most idealised, the filmmaking is so seductive that it is almost possible to forget the tears and creases. Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ranveer Singh in Gully Boy (2019). Courtesy Excel/Tiger Baby. All departments snap into place in Gully Boy right from the opening shot, which follows a key character on the move. Jay Oza’s camera rarely pauses, whirling around the characters and swooping in and out of diverse locations to create palpable momentum and energy. This is the kind of movie in which the technical credits matter as much as the writing and the performances. Shout-outs are due to editor Nitin Baid, production designer Suzanne Caplan Merwanji, and music producer Ankur Tewari, all of whom work in tandem with Akhtar and Kagti to create a vivid audio-visual experience. The scenes featuring the rappers, many of whom play themselves, are beautifully realised, even though the rebellion that fires their incantations is little more than a backdrop for Murad’s journey. The scrappiness and political combativeness that characterise the Mumbai rap scene come through in the catchy music, but some defanging takes place as Murad moves from the slum to the stage. The freedom for which Murad yearns doesn’t extend beyond his character. The many subversions and focus on Mumbai’s impoverished populace firmly ground Gully Boy, while its dream for a feelgood resolution makes it reach for the stars.<doc-sep>Gully Boy movie review and rating: The one who takes this film a notch higher is new face Siddhant Chaturvedi. Gully Boy movie review and rating: The one who takes this film a notch higher is new face Siddhant Chaturvedi. Gully Boy movie cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Raaz, Vijay Varma, Kalki Koechlin, Amruta Subhash, Sheeba Chaddha Gully Boy movie director: Zoya Akhtar Gully Boy movie rating: Three and a half stars Gully Boy is the story of a young man breaking free through street rap. Zoya Akhtar, working off a script she has written with Reema Kagti, stuffed with pulsating dialogue by Vijay Maurya and four young rappers, takes this one-line premise and runs with it, and gives us a film which shines a light on those who have, over the years, been made invisible in mainstream Bollywood: the minorities, the underclass, the dispossessed, people who have no access to the fancy arcades of wealthy India. Murad (Singh) lives in a match-box size Mumbai tenement, with his young brother, a put-upon, put-aside mother (Subhash), and a grandmother. His abusive father (Raaz), a driver, has brought home a second wife, not much older than Murad. The only ray of light in his life is the perky, madly-possessive Safeena (Bhatt) whose support keeps him afloat as he bobs along, doing the odd dodgy job for his pal (Varma), trying to figure out the next step. A few of these elements may seem familiar (Eminem’s 8 Mile swims to mind), but Gully Boy, based loosely on the life of two rap-artists, Naezy and Divine, is rooted in the Mumbai idiom, and is its own film. Rap comes to Murad’s rescue. A chance encounter with a performer named MC Sher (Chaturvedi) is like a call to arms: Murad takes to the sound, and the words, and starts writing his own, channeling his pain as a weapon. This is a predictable arc, but Singh brings a restrained swagger to the part: there is a gentleness to his anger. His Murad shows that Singh can tamp down on his characteristic boisterousness to create something of value, even though sometimes you can see the effort, and a bit of brownface, show. Bhatt, as the spirited Safeena, is terrific. She’s had a lot of practice being a manic pixie. Last year’s Raazi gave her a chance to spread her wings. In this, she really gets the girl-who-wants-to-be-someone-through-education, the lingo (‘mere boy friend ke saath gulu gulu karegi’) and is all sparkle, all-feisty gully girl. Koechlin, as the US-returned music scholar gives the film a chance to go over to the other side for a few minutes: her swanky bathroom is bigger than Murad’s imagination. But I wish she had more to do. Subhash, as Singh’s mother, plays older than she is, but what a treasure this actress is. Good to see the talented Varma getting bigger parts; Raaz is, as always, wonderful. But the one who takes this film a notch higher is new face Sidhhant Chaturvedi. He is fresh, alive to the moment, and in places he takes it away from Singh. My minor quibble with this film is in the familiar ways Akhtar plays safe: the father who is so against his son, coming improbably around feels like squaring the circle to keep us happy. Some of the other predictable arcs, are, well, predictable: the underdog making good being the biggest of them all. Akhtar’s outsider status is at odds with the insider story she’s telling, and in a few places, that distance shows. But, ultimately, this is a film to enjoy, both in the seeing, and in the hearing: the soundtrack and the ‘songs’ leap off the screen. In today’s India, to bring a Murad and Safeena, their Muslim-ness a matter-of-fact statement, into centre-stage, to give traction to those who live on the wrong side of the tracks, is an act of bravery. I’ll take them any day over an overused Raj-and-Raveena. ‘Inka time aa gaya’. Rap along.<doc-sep>
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Ranveer Singh leads from the front in an empathetic, feel good tale about turning your imperfect reality into a long-cherished and impossible fantasy There is something incredibly nuanced about Ranveer Singh in Gully Boy. He is Murad Sheikh, trapped in a limited and limiting world. There is the physical space itself—a narrow lane leading in to a sprawling basti that ironically for him is like “andha kuan” (a slum cluster akin to a bottomless pit). There is his own hemmed-in persona—reconciled to the circumstances and restricted by a dysfunctional family and lack of choices. Singh does a powerful turn in conveying the persistent hurt and humiliation, the lack of confidence and the contained rebellion; all through his vacant and pained eyes, the restive body language and the words that well up from within, to become purveyors of his concealed angst and simmering rage. Singh’s is an internalised act, like a monologue or Murad’s soliloquy. “Shabdon ka jwala meri bediyan pighlayega (The flame of my words shall melt away my fetters and unchain me)” raps Murad and Gully Boy is born. The film charts out a perfect, often improbable and ideal arc of deliverance for its protagonist, found in songs. Singh lives out the transformation on screen, word by word, beat by beat, moving from discomfort to a confidence that rhythm brings to him, sporting a hoodie on stage with as much ease as a skullcap during namaaz. Even as there is Murad at the centre, there is the larger world around him, peopled by actors just as compelling as Singh himself. Alia Bhatt, likeable as always as the sweet, vulnerable yet plucky girlfriend Safeena, prone to being on a short fuse and taking up cudgels for what she feels strongly about. She will wear the hijab but wrestle with her parents for her right to wear lipstick. Siddhant Chaturvedi in a standout debut as Murad’s new-found friend MC Sher and Vijay Varma as the basti pal who can’t rise above his destiny yet tries to make the most of what he has. There’s Vijay Raaz as the father from hell who is fighting his own demons and Amruta Subhash as his wife berating him for not knowing how to touch her the right way. Gully Boy Director: Zoya Akhtar Starring: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Raaz, Amruta Subhash, Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Varma Run time: 155.48 minutes Storyline: Dharavi boy Murad Sheikh rises above his limited and limiting world to find deliverance in rap as MC Gully Boy Whether it draws from 8 Mile or not, in the tradition of good mainstream Hindi cinema, Gully Boy portrays the Mumbai social milieu in a simple and straightforward manner, laying bare the disparities without getting into deeper complications. There are young friends in a slum who span across the spectrum—from a carjacker to a would-be manager. Young, subaltern Mumbai is united across communal and religious divides—there is not much of a difference between the lives of a Muslim and a Marathi, read Hindu, rapper. There are wide class chasms (Murad measuring the bathroom of musician Sky—Kalki Koechlin—with his footsteps, perhaps it’s bigger than his entire home) that appear to dissolve in a kiss only to get reiterated in other ways. Then there are the powerful vignettes of the poor and the disempowered, almost like installations of inequities, within the song ‘Doori’. Gully Boy embraces the quotidian, often layering it with humour. There are little throwaway moments, like Mumbai romance on a BEST bus ride with songs shared through one pair of earphones. The “slum tourist” asking for a picture on hearing Murad talk rap even as he covers his face, seizing his dignity and self respect from a spectator, intent on turning him into a curio of sorts. The overt statement making of the “brown and beautiful” kinds, the earnest cause-mongering, the protracted length and easy resolutions might throw a spanner in the works but Zoya Akhtar’s story-telling skills hold unmistakable sway with the on-the-move camera conveying the essential urgency and energy. The film questions “remixes” and “fake rap”, posits rap as a way to deal with one’s discomfort with self, society and the world, giving us a ringside view of the rough battle of rappers, takes it from the margins to the mainstream and is a “shout-out to the original Gully Boys”, Bombay hip-hop artists – Naezy and Divine.
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Hurricane Hector: SHOCK graph shows storm could hit Kilauea top stories direct to your inbox SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Hurricane Hector is currently about 1,130 miles (1,820km) east of South Point, Hawaii, and is forecast to cross into the central Pacific today. Some predictions suggest the storm could be on a potentially deadly collision course with the Kilauea volcano on the southern part of Big Island. The region is already facing chaos thanks to lava flows, which have been spewing from vents on the volcano's eastern flank since May 3. The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said Hurricane Hector is recording sustained winds of 140mph, which are capable of causing devastating damage to populated areas. Hector is expected to pick up speed from its 14 mph westward crawl into the central Pacific on Monday. But the NHC also forecasts gradual weakening on Monday night through to Wednesday. It was currently not clear if Hurricane Hector would hit or just brush by the southern edge of the Big Island, said a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park Maryland. But weather maps from the NOAA suggest a direct hit is a strong possibility. Here is the latest news and live updates on the Kilaeau volcano and Hurricane Hector's path and tracking. All times in BST. 7.47pm update: Why are there so many threats over the Hawaiian Islands? Warmer-than-average water temperatures over the tropical Pacific could result in more threats than average for the Hawaiian Islands this autumn. This is due to El Nino, a routine climate pattern that occurs when sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean rise to above-normal levels for an extended period of time. These warm and cool phases are part of a climate pattern that occurs across this section of the Pacific, also known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). There are around five tropical systems per year over the central Pacific basin. Hurricane Hector live: A map shows Hector's track 6.55pm update: Will the Kilauea volcano's activity worsen due to Hector? AccuWeather meteorologist Jim Andrews does not believe there will be anymore hazards to the region where Kilauea sits due to Hector. "While showers can be enhanced at midweek as the hurricane passes by to the south, the risk of acid rain being produced as the downpours hit the steaming lava would seem to be low," he said. Hector’s winds will also blow vog and laze toward the southern tip of the island and then out to sea. By the time the weekend comes around, Hector’s impacts on Hawaii are expected to be over. 6.15pm update: The wind is set to change Residents and tourists in Hawaii are being warned that there could be a change in the weather by midweek, particualry around coastal areas. "Hector is expected to pass far enough to the south so that no important wind issues are expected to impact the Big Island," according to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski. "However, very rough surf is expected to impact mostly south- and east-facing coastal areas of the Big Island," Kottlowski said. "There will also be an increase in surf over the rest of the Hawaiian Islands during Wednesday through Friday." 4.09pm update: Where is Hector heading? Accuweather has relased a map showing Hector's expected path over the Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii, this week. Meteorologists have noticed the waters surrounding Hawaii are currently warmer than normal. Hurricanes that track in from the east usually hit cooler waters near Hawaii, so they weaken before reaching the islands. The most destructive hurricanes to hit Hawaii, such as Iniki in 1992, have typically approached the islands from the south. Hurricane Hector update: The hurricane will pass Hawaii this week 3.06pm update: Spaghetti models and charts show Hurricane Hector passing within a hairsbreadth of Hawaii’s Big Island A CNN weather presenter said: “Two things to watch with this forecast here. One, the system will be weakening here as it moves towards the west, right so we are going down categories as opposed to the other way around. “And also the cone is just to the south of Big Island. “The problem with that is that forecast errors are huge by the time we get into Wednesday, if that cone shifts a little bit to the north, we could be seeing some direct impacts from Hector which will still be a hurricane by then but just not as strong. “By the way the rainfall associated with it could mix in with the volcano, because thats exactly where it is. It could have some interaction with that and that also is not going to be good, so watch that closely, you’ve got plenty of time to do so." 2.56pm update: Two more tropical storms have formed off Mexico Two tropical storms formed in the Pacific Ocean off southwestern Mexico, adding to the Pacific threat. However, neither posed any immediate threat to land as they took tracks predicted to move parallel to the coast. The National Hurricane Centre said Tropical Storm John was expected to strengthen rapidly and become a hurricane by Monday night or Tuesday. Tropical Storm Ileana, however, was trailing John to the southeast but wasn't forecast to reach hurricane force. Hurricane Hector update: The storm is heading towards Hawaii as a Cat 4 2.35pm update: Hector is picking up speed on route to Hawaii The latest NHC discussion notes read: "Hector has continued to track westward and has picked up a little speed since the previous advisory. "The initial motion of Hector is set at 280/13 kt. "The latest model guidance remains tightly clustered and brings Hector just north of due west over the next 36 to 48 hours due to a weakness in the subtropical ridge just to the northeast of the Hawaiian islands. "Beyond 48 hours, the subtropical ridge is forecast to build to the north of the Hawaiian Island chain, and this should result in the track of Hector moving due westward from 48 to 120 hours. "The new official forecast track is very close to the model consensus and nearly identical to the previous official forecast." 2.00pm update: TO RECAP - what we know so far Hurricane Hector is barreling towards Hawaii at some 12mph - currently about 1,000 miles away from the southeastern edge of Big Island The storm has fluctuated over the past 48 hours - initially being upgraded from a category 3 to a cat 4, before being downgraded a few hours later. Late on Sunday, it was upgraded to Cat 4 and now is sustaining winds of 140mph. Hurricane Hector threatens to hit south island of Hawaii 1.13pm update: Hurricane Hector is just 1,000 miles from Hilo The swirling storm, still at category 4, is just 1,010 miles (1,625km) from Hilo and 1,215 miles (1,960km) from Honolulu. The storm has now crossed over into the Central Pacific with sustained winds of 140mph or 220kmh. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect as yet. 12.00pm update: Direct hit is a possibility, NOAA weather maps suggest The latest hurricane graphs coming from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) US-based National Hurricane Centre are showing a grim outlook for Hawaii. The strongest portion of the storm is predicted to sweep the southernmost end of Big Island, the largest Hawaiian landmass. On Big Island, there is a 30 to 40 percent possibility that tropical storm force winds will brush by. 11.00am update: Kilauea volcano eruption should not be too affected by incoming Hurricane Hector Parts of Big Island have been devastated by the eruption of the Kilauea Volcano, which began on May 3 and has continued for almost 100 days. But AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews predicts there will be minimal added hazards to the region due to Hector. He said: "While showers can be enhanced at midweek as the hurricane passes by to the south, the risk of acid rain being produced as the downpours hit the steaming lava would seem to be low." Hurricane Hector path: The storm could brush just south of Big Island Hurricane Hector path: Satellites show swirling strength of the major hurricane 10.56am update: Hector not expected to make direct hit - but Hawaii will still be battered by changing weather conditions Landfall is not anticipated, according to forecasts from Accuweather, but Hurricane Hector is on track to pass just south of Hawaii's islands. The storm is expected to track close enough to Big Island for residents and tourists to notice a change in the weather. "Hector will pass close enough to the Big Island to bring locally enhanced showers and thunderstorms and gusty winds over southern and southeastern sections of the island," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio. "Waves can increase to around 10 feet offshore of the southeast-facing coast of the Big Island at midweek." 10.54am update: Flooding and high winds expected in Hawaii this week "Dangerous Hurricane Hector, a category 4 storm with 140 mph winds is expected to track west and pass south of the Big Island of Hawaii midweek," the NWS said on Twitter. "Gusty winds, rough surf, coastal flooding, and rip currents can be expected." 10.36am update: People in Hawaii still living in TENTS as Hurricane Hector approaches According to the American Red Cross, 155 people were still staying either at the Pahoa or Keeau lava shelters as of July 31. A total of 700 have registered with the organisation since the beginning of May, although this does to include people who chose not to register and who were camping outside. Exact figures are uncertain but the Red Cross estimated that at one point this number was in excess of 200. Big Island resident Axel Kratel told Express.co.uk: "Puna is the highest risk area for any impact, and of course this is the last thing the Puna community needs." Hurricane Hector path: Hawaii is on the path of the Cat 4 storm Hurricane Hector map: The storm will pass just south of Big Island<doc-sep>Hurricane Hector: SHOCK graph shows storm could hit Kilauea top stories direct to your inbox SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Hurricane Hector gained strength last night as the swirling vortex barrelled across the Pacific, with winds of 130 miles per hour. The storm is threatening to hit Hawaii's Big Island and possibly its active volcano, officials said early Sunday. Hector grew to a Category 4 hurricane on Saturday night with sustained winds of 130 mph as the hurricane moves in a westward direction at 12mph, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in an advisory. But this morning, the storm was downgraded again to a category 3 hurricane. READ MORE: Hurricane Hector live path and tracking maps At 10am BST (2am PDT), the NHC posted its latest advisory which read: “Hector is moving toward the west near 12 mph (19 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue for the next few days with a slight increase in forward speed. “On the forecast track, Hector will cross into the central Pacific basin Sunday night or early Monday. “Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 125 mph (205 km/h) with higher gusts. “Hector is a strong category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Slow weakening is forecast during the next few days. “However, Hector is expected to still be a major hurricane when it moves into the central Pacific basin. “Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles (45 km) from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles (165 km). “The estimated minimum central pressure is 957 mb (28.26 inches).” Hurricane Hector update: Hawaii will be hit this week The advisory adds that although the storm has weakened slightly, it is still expected to a become a major hurricane into Monday and the rest of next week. When will Hector barrel past Hawaii? Will it hit Big Island? The storm was about 1,390 miles southeast of the Hawaiian islands. But it remains unclear if or when the hurricane could hit the southern edge of the Big Island, according to a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Centre in College Park Maryland. Some predictions put the storm on a virtual collision course with the Kilauea Volcano on the southern part of Big Island. However, the latest NHC projections suggest Hawaii will avoid a direct hit - but torrential rains, thunderstorms and high winds are likely. Hurricane Hector update: NHC paths show the hurricane will hit on Wednesday Hurricane Hector update: Accuweather says Hawaii will be hit by swells Hector could also track farther north near Hawaii if its forward speed slows down AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski The tracking maps show the barrelling storm is likely to hit the eastern coast of Big Island - where the Kilauea volcano continues to erupt - by Wednesday at 8am local time. By 8pm that evening, the storm will have moved past Big Island and towards Honolulu, likely with lesser speed after being blocked by Big Island. By Thursday at 8am, the hurricane will have passed all of Hawaii’s islands, though they may still be feeling the effects of the storm. According to Accuweather, Hector’s current path will take the storm south of Hawaii during the middle to latter part of the week. However, there are a couple of factors that could pull the storm farther north.<doc-sep>
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Steer like this to stay out of accidents in the snow TOPSHOT - A city worker drives through the flooded street during Hurricane Sally in downtown Pensacola, Florida on September 16, 2020. - Hurricane Sally barrelled into the US Gulf Coast early Wednesday, with forecasts of drenching rains that could provoke "historic" and potentially deadly flash floods.The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the Category 2 storm hit Gulf Shores, Alabama at about 4:45 am (0945 GMT), bringing maximum sustained winds of about 105 miles (165 kilometers) per hour. "Historic life-threatening flooding likely along portions of the northern Gulf coast," the Miami-based center had warned late Tuesday, adding the hurricane could dump up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain in some areas. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) Why snow and blackouts in Texas are a preview for all of us Storm chasing photographers take photos underneath a rotating supercell storm system in Maxwell, Nebraska on September 3, 2016. Although multiple tornado warnings were issued throughout the area, no funnel cloud touched down. / AFP / Josh Edelson / XGTY RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / Josh EDELSON" / NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS == (Photo credit should read JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images) Larry Pierson, from the Isle of Palms, S.C., purchases bottled water from the Harris Teeter grocery store on the Isle of Palms in preparation for Hurricane Florence at the Isle of Palms S.C., Monday, Sept. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Mic Smith) The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NOAA-20 acquired this image of Hurricane Laura at 2:20 a.m. Central Daylight Time on August 26, 2020. IN SPACE - In this handout photo provided by NASA, Hurricane Patricia is seen from the International Space Station. The hurricane made landfall on the Pacfic coast of Mexico on October 23. (Photo by Scott Kelly/NASA via Getty Images) (CNN) — Even as a months-long volcanic eruption goes on, Hawaii is now on alert for a dangerous hurricane forecast to pass south of the islands at midweek. As of 5 p.m. Sunday local time (11 p.m. ET) Hurricane Hector was about to cross into the Central Pacific Basin as a Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center said. Hector was about 1,130 miles (1,820 km) east-southeast of South Point Hawaii and traveling west at 14 mph (22 km/h), with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h), it said. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect but the center said the Hawaiian Islands should monitor the hurricane’s progress. “While the official forecast track continues to lie south of the Hawaiian Islands, only a slight deviation to the north of the forecast track would significantly increase potential impacts on the Hawaiian Islands. Now is a good time for everyone in the Hawaiian Islands to ensure that they have their hurricane plan in place,” it said. Track the storm The National Weather Service in Honolulu said Hector is forecast to pass south of the Big Island around midweek, with the storm expected to clear the region by Friday. “Dangerous Hurricane Hector, a category 4 storm with 140 mph winds is expected to track west and pass south of the Big Island of Hawaii midweek. Gusty winds, rough surf, coastal flooding, and rip currents can be expected,” the NWS said on Twitter. Dangerous Hurricane Hector, a category 4 storm with 140 mph winds is expected to track west and pass south of the Big Island of Hawaii midweek. Gusty winds, rough surf, coastal flooding, and rip currents can be expected. — National Weather Service (@NWS) August 6, 2018 Officials prepare Hawaii Mayor Harry Kim said the area was preparing for Hector’s arrival, with a briefing held Sunday at the Civil Defense Agency’s Emergency Operations Center. “Civil Defense will keep the community informed through regular updates. We continue 24-hour operation to monitor the eruption in the Lower East Rift Zone and the hurricane,” Kim’s office said in a statement, referring to both the storm and the erupting Kilauea volcano. State officials urged residents to take precaution and prepare for the storm. “Hector is our first hurricane this year. We want to remind the public we are in the middle of the hurricane season and we urge people to take the weekend to prepare their homes and families for impacts that could be felt statewide,” said Tom Travis, the state’s emergency management administrator.
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Arsenal goes to Watford on Monday to close out the Premier League's 33rd matchday as the Gunners aim to get closer to the top four. Arsenal enters the day in sixth place with 63 points and a record of 19-6-7, while Watford is 10th at 13-7-12 with 46 points, and a victory would vault the team into seventh. If the Gunners can manage a victory, they'll go back into the top four by jumping Manchester United and Chelsea, edging the latter on goal differential. Here's how you can watch the match and what to know: Premier League: Arsenal vs. Watford Date : Monday, April 15 : Monday, April 15 Time : 3 p.m. ET : 3 p.m. ET Location : Vicarage Road Stadium : Vicarage Road Stadium TV channel : NBCSN : NBCSN Streaming: fuboTV (Try for free) fuboTV (Try for free) Odds: Arsenal +120 / Watford +205 / Draw +265 Expert David Sumpter's Premier League picks are available each week on SportsLine.com, and his model has returned a 2,000 percent profit on the bookmakers' closing odds. Who did he pick in this week's games? Click here for more. Storylines Watford: This club would love nothing more than to jump back into seventh place behind Arsenal with a victory. There are six spots near mid-table where teams are separated by just six points, so there is a chance Watford could finish in the top half or the bottom half. Based on the remaining schedule, which includes Southampton and Huddersfield, they should feel good about their chances of finishing in the top 10. Arsenal: The Gunners have to look at this match as an important one to win, though a draw won't be the end of the world. But considering Watford has lost three of five and shown inconsistency in defense, Arsenal should feel confident about creating enough chances needed to win. Arsenal vs. Watford prediction The Gunners are the more talented team, but Watford has shown the ability to play up to their opponent and do so again here for a draw. Pick: Draw (+265)<doc-sep>How to watch Watford vs. Arsenal in the Premier League on Monday, April 15. Arsenal continues its quest to secure a top-four berth in the Premier League when it hits the road to face Watford on Monday. Arsenal enters the day in sixth place, trailing fourth-place Chelsea by three points but with the luxury of having two games in hand. The issue for the Gunners is that they've been rather inconsistent away from home, with a 5-6-4 record threatening to be their undoing, unless they can correct those road woes starting at Vicarage Road. Watford, which recently sealed a place in the FA Cup final, can leap all the way to seventh in the Premier League table if it can deal Arsenal another road loss. In its most recent league match, Watford beat Fulham to cement the Cottagers' relegation fate. Here's how to watch the match: Time: 3 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN Live Stream: Watch live on fuboTV. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. SI TV is also now available on fuboTV. Watch Planet Futbol TV, SI’s soccer show starring Grant Wahl and Luis Miguel Echegaray, weekly on Fubo TV or anytime, anywhere here.<doc-sep>This weekend was a mixed bag in terms of Arsenal’s top four hopes. Yes, Arsenal still have a game in hand over Spurs and Manchester United, but those two both winning does Arsenal no favors as they try to recover from last weekend’s Everton misstep. Chelsea dropping points today means that an Arsenal win tomorrow puts Arsenal back in fourth, level with Chelsea on points but with a better (if only slightly) goal difference over the Blues but, crucially, two games in hand over Chelsea. Watford are, with all due respect, kind of the definition of mediocre. They currently sit in 10th place, on 46 points, but with a strong finish the Hornets could end the season as high as 7th place - there’s only a single point between them and 7th placed Leicester as of today. While Watford may not make anyone lose sleep. they’re a tough team and they still have something to play for (depending on a million other factors and results, there may be a European spot available to the 7th place team), so Arsenal can’t afford to have another Everton-level performance tomorrow. The good news is that Arsenal are mostly healthy. Sokratis will miss this game (and the visit of Crystal Palace next Sunday) after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season last week, and Granit Xhaka faces a late fitness test on a groin strain, but otherwise Unai Emery has his usual team available for selection. Every game is a must-win game, but this game is...even muster? It’s important that Arsenal do not drop focus, and it’s important that they figure out how to play better on the road. Time is running short and the table is unforgiving - Arsenal need these three points if they want to have any hope of finishing top four. WHAT: Arsenal at Watford WHERE: Vicarage Road, Watford WHEN: Monday, April 15th 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM BT US TV: NBCSN. Stream here. For all your international streaming needs, be sure to check livesoccer.tv. As always, please do not discuss links to illegal streams here.<doc-sep>
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It’s simple: if Arsenal win out they make the Champions League next season. * It doesn’t matter what the teams around them in the table do. They are, currently, masters of their own fate. Until the stumble last weekend against Everton, the Gunners actually had the inside track to a third place finish as well. That stumble makes me nervous. It was another misstep on the road of which there have been far, far too many this season. As we all know, Arsenal have not been good away from the Emirates. In fact, they’ve been pretty poor. And they absolutely cannot afford to continue that trend against Watford today. Watford are a middling side. They play a physical, muck-it-up and grind-it-out style that makes them a tough matchup for any team in the league. That’s especially difficult for an Arsenal side that has to go away to Napoli in the Europa League on Thursday. In a perfect world, Unai Emery rests some of the key players today with a view to that match, but I am not sure he can afford to. Arsenal’s best shot to get back to the Champions League, in my opinion, is still qualifying through their league finish. The Gunners will be without the services of Sokratis today and against Crystal Palace this coming Sunday. The centerback picked up his tenth yellow card of the season (on the last day for accumulation to matter) and must serve a two-game suspension. Granit Xhaka faces a late fitness test as he recovers from a groin injury picked up on international duty. Critically, Lucas Torreira has served his three-match ban for the red card he received against Tottenham and will almost certainly start today. It’s time for Arsenal to show everyone what they are made of. Hopefully it’s tougher stuff than most think. *If Manchester United win the Champions League and Chelsea win the Europa League and both finish outside the top four, the fourth place finisher gets bumped to the Europa League. Lineups will be posted when available. WHAT: Arsenal at Watford WHERE: Vicarage Road, Watford WHEN: Monday, April 15th 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM BT US TV: NBCSN. Stream here. For all your international streaming needs, be sure to check livesoccer.tv. As always, please do not discuss links to illegal streams here. LINEUPS:
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A Yale classmate of Brett Kavanaugh's released a statement Sunday alleging that the Supreme Court nominee lied under oath during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week when describing his drinking habits as a student at the prestigious university. Chad Ludington said Kavanaugh provided a "blatant mischaracterization" of his drinking days at Yale during a Fox News interview and at his hearing over sexual assault allegations brought against him by Christine Blasey Ford. Ludington wrote that he was "deeply troubled" by Kavanaugh downplaying his drinking habits during his teenage years, adding that he "cringed" while watching his Senate testimony. Kavanaugh repeatedly said that he "liked beer" but never drank to excess or to the point where he blacked out. Testifying earlier in the day, Ford said she feared Kavanaugh was going to rape her during a high school party in 1982. A second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, alleged that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her, thrust his penis in her face and forced her to touch it while the pair were both at Yale. "The fact is, at Yale, and I can speak to no other times, Brett was a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker," Ludington wrote. "I know, because, specially in our first two years of college, I often drank with him. On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer." Ludington said that on one occasion, Kavanaugh's drinking and aggressive manner resulted in a friend being arrested. "When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive," Ludington said. "On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man's face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail." Ludington added that he was willing to share his account with the FBI, which is currently conducting a supplementary investigation into the accusations against Kavanaugh from both Ford and Ramirez. The investigation was called for on Friday, after Republican Senator Jeff Flake had a dramatic change of heart and said he would only vote to approve Kavanaugh's nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee if a floor vote was delayed for a week in order for a probe to be conducted. Flake is one of three Republican senators, along with Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, whose votes likely will decide whether or not Kavanaugh is confirmed. While Ludington did not believe his former classmate's behavior as a young man disqualified him for the Supreme Court position, Kavanaugh's misrepresenting his past was cause for him not to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. "I do believe that Brett's actions as a 53-year-old federal judge matter," Ludington wrote. "If he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences." Speaking at a news conference Monday, Trump appeared to contradict Kavanaugh's testimony playing down any issue he had with drinking. Kavanaugh, Trump said, had conceded that he had "difficulty as a young man with drink...He was very strong on the fact that he drank a lot." Update: This story has been updated to include comments from President Donald Trump about Brett Kavanaugh's drinking.<doc-sep>Charles Ludington, a former Yale classmate of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh will speak Monday to the FBI about the Supreme Court nominee’s college drinking habits, according to multiple news reports. Judge Kavanaugh’s former classmate described him as “belligerent and aggressive” when drunk. Mr. Ludington described a time when Judge Kavanaugh threw a drink into a man’s face and started a violent brawl. “On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail,” he wrote in a statement. Mr. Ludington plans on delivering this written statement to the FBI field office in Raleigh, North Carolina. During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing into allegations against him, Judge Kavanaugh testified that he “liked beer” but has never blacked out. “I do not believe that the heavy drinking or even loutish behavior of an 18 or even 21 year old should condemn a person for the rest of his life,” he wrote. “If he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences.” Mr. Ludington’s involvement was first reported in the statement he gave to The Washington Post Sunday night and confirmed by NBC news Monday morning. President Trump ordered the FBI to reopen its background investigation into his Supreme Court nominee on Friday in light of sexual assault allegations. Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2021 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.<doc-sep>(CNN) — During his time at one of the nation’s most elite universities, there’s no question that Judge Brett Kavanaugh achieved academic success. But when it comes to the frequency and severity of his drinking there, some former classmates are raising questions about how truthful Kavanaugh was in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and offering to tell FBI investigators what they know. Former Yale classmate Chad Ludington became the latest to accuse Kavanaugh of being dishonest, saying that when he watched Kavanaugh deliver his testimony under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, he “cringed” and added that he was willing to talk to the FBI. “Brett was a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker,” Ludington said in a statement Sunday. “When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive. On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in a man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail.” On Monday, Ludington read the statement outside his home in North Carolina and then added that “There were certainly many times when [Kavanaugh] could not remember what was going on.” Ludington told reporters he’s been in touch with the FBI on Monday, and had filled out “a form,” but would not elaborate. During college, Kavanaugh was a junior varsity basketball player, a member of a secret senior society Truth and Courage and a member of one of Yale’s fraternities – Delta Kappa Epsilon – known on campus for its occasional antics and drinking culture. But Kavanaugh has maintained that while he enjoyed beer, he wasn’t drinking to the point of blacking out. And he has repeatedly denied that he ever sexually assaulted anyone. Kavanaugh’s drinking and the question of how excessive it was became a key line of questioning for Democrats on the Judiciary Committee last week and a possible credibility test for senators voting on his confirmation. Both Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of shoving her into a bedroom, pinning her down and attempting to take her clothes off at a party in the 1980s, and Deborah Ramirez, who alleged Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a dorm room party freshman year of college, say Kavanaugh of was under the influence of alcohol when the alleged incidents occurred. Kavanaugh said during the hearing that he drank beer not only in college, but also in high school, where, he noted, the drinking age was 18. But he disputed that he ever became blackout drunk, unable to remember events that occurred while he was under the influence of alcohol. “I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer,” Kavanaugh said. “I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out, and I never sexually assaulted anyone. There is a bright line between drinking beer, which I gladly do and which I fully embrace, and sexually assaulting someone, which is a violent crime.” Classmates who remember Kavanaugh being a heavy drinker have also come forward just as the FBI has reopened its background investigation into the judge. “I’ve known Brett since the beginning of freshman year. He was always one of the beer drinking boys and I drank beer with him. I like beer. There’s no problem with drinking beer in college. The problem is lying about it,” Liz Swisher, a former classmate of Kavanaugh’s, said on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” last week. “He drank heavily. He was a partier. He liked to do beer bongs. He played drinking games. He was a sloppy drunk. He was more interested in impressing the boys than he was in impressing the girls. I never saw him be sexually aggressive but he definitely was sloppy drunk,” Swisher added. 03:30 - Source: CNN Trump: Kavanaugh had 'difficulty' with drinking as young man Lynne Brookes, former roommate to Ramirez, also spoke on Cuomo’s show to dispute Kavanaugh’s testimony saying that a number of her Yale classmates were “extremely disappointed” in Kavanaugh’s characterization of himself. “There is no doubt in my mind that while at Yale, he was a big partier, often drank to excess. And there had to be a number of nights where he does not remember,” Brookes said. “In fact, I was witness to the night that he got tapped into that fraternity, and he was stumbling drunk in a ridiculous costume saying really dumb things. And I can almost guarantee that there’s no way that he remembers that night,” Brookes added. Whether the FBI will examine Kavanaugh’s alcohol consumption as part of its supplemental investigation isn’t clear. James Roche, one of Brett Kavanaugh’s freshman year roommates at Yale, tweeted Monday that the FBI had never contacted him “for any of their background checks. ” “I assume college behavior was not a topic of interest. They did not find Debbie’s story because they were not looking for it.” Roche said referring to allegations from Ramirez. Roche previously said in a statement that Kavanaugh “became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk.” According to a 1985 police report obtained by CNN, Kavanaugh was accused of starting an altercation at a bar while he was an undergraduate student at Yale. A man named Dom Cozzolino said Kavanaugh had thrown ice on him and Kavanaugh’s friend Chris Dudley had thrown a glass that hit him in the ear, according to the report from the New Haven, Connecticut, police department. Cozzolino “was bleeding from the right ear,” according to the report, and was later treated at a local hospital. Ludington told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “Cuomo Prime Time” on Monday that he was with Kavanaugh and Dudley that night. Kavanaugh responded to an aggressive statement from Cozzolino by throwing ice at him, Ludington said, sparking a fight. They had all been drinking at a bar after attending a UB40 concert. Dudley denied the allegations, according to the police report, “and Mr. Kavanaugh didn’t (want) to say if he threw the ice or not. “ The police report does not indicate whether anyone was arrested, and New Haven’s police chief, Anthony Campbell, told CNN there are no other records he is aware of involving Kavanaugh. The New York Times first reported the incident. Following the release of the Times report, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the story “ridiculous.” “Democrats desperately attack Judge Kavanaugh for throwing ice during college. What motivated New York Times reporter to write this ridiculous story? Throwing ice 33 years ago, or her opinion of Judge Kavanaugh in July?” Sanders said on Twitter, pointing to a tweet from New York Times reporter Emily Bazelon in July disassociating herself from praise of Kavanaugh. President Donald Trump has stood by Kavanaugh, but seemed to veer off script Monday when he said that he was “surprised at how vocal” Kavanaugh was about discussing his beer drinking. “He’s had a little bit of difficulty,” Trump said. “He talked about things that happened when he drank.” Former college classmates have stood by Kavanaugh saying that while they may have drank with Kavanaugh, they never saw him in a state where he wasn’t aware of his actions. Dwayne Oxley, who lived on the same floor as Kavanaugh for several years in Ezra Stiles College said he “never saw [Kavanaugh] in a state where he wasn’t in control.” Chris Dudley, a close friend of Kavanaugh’s who was in the same fraternity and has stayed in touch with him, said Kavanaugh was never aggressive or belligerent when he drank. “He wasn’t that type of person,” Dudley told CNN. On Monday, the White House released joint statements from Dudley and a former Yale suitemate Dan Murphy refuting any claims that Kavanaugh drank to the point of blacking out. “I never saw Brett black out or not be able to remember the prior evening’s events, nor did I ever see Brett act aggressive, hostile, or in a sexually aggressive manner to women” Murphy said in a statement.<doc-sep>
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WASHINGTON — Charles Ludington, a classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at Yale University, will provide information to the FBI on Monday, he confirmed to NBC News. News of Ludington's involvement was first reported by The Washington Post, which said he planned to give a statement to the FBI at its field office in Raleigh, North Carolina, "detailing violent drunken behavior by Kavanaugh in college." In a copy of his statement given to The Post, Ludington, a professor at North Carolina State University, described Kavanaugh as a "belligerent and aggressive" drunk. "On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man's face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail," the statement said. During his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Kavanaugh was repeatedly asked about his drinking habits in high school and college and denied having a problem. In his statement, however, Ludington wrote that "if he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences." On Sunday, a member of Ford's legal team told NBC News that Christine Blasey Ford, one of Kavanaugh's accusers, and her lawyers have not been contacted by the FBI in the days since President Donald Trump ordered on Friday a supplemental FBI background investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations she and others have made against Kavanaugh. A senior U.S. official confirms to NBC News that the White House counsel's office directed the FBI to interview the following witness list of four: Kavanaugh friends Mark Judge and P.J. Smyth, Leland Keyser, a friend of Ford's who Ford says was at the party, and Deborah Ramirez, who accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her when they were both students at Yale University. While the FBI will examine the allegations of Ford and Ramirez, Julie Swetnick, who has accused Kavanaugh of engaging in sexual misconduct at parties while he was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in the 1980s, isn't on the list of those to be interviewed by the agency, people familiar with the investigation told NBC News. Nothing prevents the FBI from talking to witnesses who come forward, such as Ludington. But it's not clear what, if anything, the FBI can do with the information he provides, given that Kavanaugh's drinking at Yale is not an issue the White House has authorized the FBI to investigate. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, an undecided vote on Kavanaugh who supported calls for a renewed FBI investigation, told NBC News in a statement Monday that she is "confident that the FBI will follow up on any leads that result from the interviews."
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The street graffiti leading up to the Ahiritola Jubakbrinda Durga Puja pandal | Photo Credit: ANI Kolkata: Around this time every year, the state of West Bengal transforms into a vibrant splash of colours on the occasion of Durga Puja festivities. Over the years, several organising committees have taken up the opportunity to sound their voice in support of vital humanitarian causes. For instance, a Durga Puja organised in Canning town in 2016 by the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre raised awareness about human trafficking and the impact it has on our society. Similarly, this year, the planning committee of the Ahiritola Jubakbrinda Durga Puja pandal in North-Kolkata has decided to lend their voice to an important social issue, the ordeal of sex workers. #Kolkata: Ahiritola Jubakbrinda Durga puja pandal and street grafitti near by the pandal has been designed on the theme of the rights of sex workers of Sonagachi. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/7fU1HwIk2G — ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2018 Those visiting the pandal will first travel through a road which adorns a 300-foot-long graffiti which portrays the hardships faced by women who were either forced into prostitution by either human traffickers or unfortunate circumstances. The theme for this year's pandal, Utsarito Alo, resonates with us who believe that even sex workers are entitled to their share of respect and dignity, one of the organisers told indianexpress.com. Curator of this year's pandal, Debarjoon Kar told the website that their initiative is aimed at bringing sex workers to the fold of socially acceptable citizens who can live with their head held high like any other citizen. Speaking further on the massive graffiti project that now adorns the street leading up to the pandal, Kar said that eight street artists were roped in by the organisers to sound the injustice meted out to sex workers who often face grave discrimination and insult at the hands of an unforgiving society. Must Read: Uttar Pradesh: Denied installation of idol in temple, 100 Dalit families threaten conversion<doc-sep>Durga Puja pandal in Siliguri has a message to protect the environment. Using environment-friendly materials, a Durga Puja pandal in Bengal's Siliguri is being readied to pass on a "green message". As the town declared a war against plastic and thermocol use, the "eco-friendly" pandal is hoping to encourage the visitors to completely stop the usage of plastic in their daily lives. In an area spanning 32,00 square feet, Kolkata-based artist Debojoti Chatterjee has beautifully portrayed the impact of rising levels of pollution using black acrylic colours. Mr Chatterjee feels that environment pollution has become a national problem. "Through this pandal, we have tried to highlight how plastic pollution affects the soil, humans and animals and encourage people to stop the use of plastic materials," he said. The unique pandal titled 'Colours, Brush, Light Put Together and Promise to be Environment Saver' has been built up by the College Para Puja Committee. Durga pandal being painted with black acrylic colours. The organisers have exhibited some plastic carry bags to showcase how they impact the environment negatively, but the aim is to show how growing urbanisation has taken its toll on the planet and energy conservation, an organiser said. "Every year, we try to showcase unique themes, especially on environment-related topics during Durga Puja. This year, we would like to project with colour and brush how nature is suffering because of environment pollution," said the puja organising Secretary Tanuj Singha. Mr Singha said the idols would be made completely out of clay. "The idols would be completely clay-made, including the sarees," he added. (With Inputs From ANI)<doc-sep>A pandal in North Kolkata has kept the sex workers in focus this year. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) A pandal in North Kolkata has kept the sex workers in focus this year. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) This year’s Durga Puja seems to be breaking new ground in various ways. From sindoor khela being open to all – not just married women — one puja committee has decided to dedicate this year’s theme to the struggle of sex workers. In the streets leading up to the Ahiritola Jubakbrinda Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata, city dwellers are stopping by to appreciate a large artwork on the street. But it’s not the colourful paintings that are striking a chord, it’s the subject. The 300-foot-long graffiti captures the hardships and the circumstances that force a woman to enter the profession. With the theme Utsarito Alo, they are addressing not only the inclusion of these sex workers but also trying to give them the respect and dignity they deserve. “Durga Puja is about social mingling and celebrations by all, including sex workers. With this graffiti, we are pledging to return their basic rights to live in society, keeping their head high just like others,” Debarjoon Kar, curator of the project told indianexpress.com. Dubbed as the ‘world’s first street graffiti dedicated to the work rights of sex workers’, it was unveiled by members of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) Dubbed as the ‘world’s first street graffiti dedicated to the work rights of sex workers’, it was unveiled by members of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) The work has been created by eight artists. “Streets have always been a place for protests, be it political or social, so we thought why not use these same streets to tell their story and demand the rights of the sex workers,” Kar added. Messages highlighting the struggles and pains of sex workers have been put up around the pandal area. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) Messages highlighting the struggles and pains of sex workers have been put up around the pandal area. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) And it’s not just the artwork on the street, the entire premise have been dedicated to these women who are often forced to exist on the margins of society. From props used inside the sanctum, hand-made posters demanding rights for them, to art installations depicting the everyday life of these women, the pandal captures it all. “Through time, our orthodox society has neglected the community of sex workers. We fail to realise that they are also someone’s mother, someone’s sister. They also have a family that should get the right to live a life with love and dignity, instead of facing torture and hatred from people,” said Uttam Saha, working president of Ahiritola Jubakbrinda. Pandal artists taking rest, where the art products for the installation have been kept to highlight the life of the sex workers. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) Pandal artists taking rest, where the art products for the installation have been kept to highlight the life of the sex workers. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) The puja committee’s work has overwhelmed the workers in Kolkata’s Sonagachi — Asia’s largest red light district and home to over 10,000 sex workers. Members of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), an NGO which closely works with sex workers were invited to unveil the project and paint the artwork. “We are very happy with their initiative and it feels great to be the focus of a puja,” Kajol Bose, secretary of DMSC told indianexpress.com over phone. An effort has been made to support the movement of sex workers to get their labour force rights. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) An effort has been made to support the movement of sex workers to get their labour force rights. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) Bose added, “We are done being on the margins. Till a few years ago, it might have been true that we were shunned from the puja festivities, but not any longer. Now, not only do we host our own puja, but also people invite us to pandals, make us judges of puja competitions, ask us to participate in sindoor khela and many more activities surrounding the festival. All I can say is, we are moving forward and finally, we are getting results for all that we have been fighting for.” The graffitis beautifully depict the touching stories of the community. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) The graffitis beautifully depict the touching stories of the community. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul) What was restricted to just soil from a brothel – an essential component for the making of Durga idols as an inclusion – has truly transcended into something more concrete and impactful.<doc-sep>Chief Minister had announced a grant of Rs. 28 crore to 28,000 puja committees in the state. As Bengalis welcome Goddess Durga and celebrate her stay over the next 10 days, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too is doing her bit. Displaying her creative side, she has composed seven songs for Durga Puja. Mamata Banerjee's new album 'Roudrachaya' comprises songs penned and composed by her and sung by eminent Bengali singers Indranil, Lopamudra and Rupankar. Taking to Twitter, Ms Banerjee wrote, "I am sharing with all of you my new Puja Album, "Roudrachaya", with seven songs penned and composed by me. Indranil, Lopamudra and Rupankar have given their voice. Do enjoy the songs by clicking on the links. Happy Puja." Last month, the Chief Minister had also announced a grant of Rs. 28 crore to 28,000 puja committees across the state in the wake of Durga Puja. Ms Banerjee had informed that her government would provide Rs. 10,000 each to the puja committees under "community development programme." Durga Puja celebrations, this year, will kick-start on October 14 (Panchami) and go until October 19 (Vijay Dashami).<doc-sep>
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Mamata Banerjee/ Twitter: Mamata Banerjee | Photo Credit: PTI New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has composed seven songs for Durga Puja. Taking to Twitter, Banerjee wrote that she had composed seven songs in her newly launched puja album- Roudrachaya. "I am sharing with all of you my new Puja Album, "Roudrachaya", with seven songs penned and composed by me. Indranil, Lopamudra and Rupankar have given their voice. Do enjoy the songs by clicking on the links. Happy Puja," Banerjee wrote on Twitter. On Wednesday, the Calcutta High Court dismissed a petition challenging Bengal government's decision to give funds to organisers of Durga puja and said that the legislature was an appropriate forum to address the matter as it involved expenditure by the state government. According to reports, the state government under Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party has given Rs 10,000 to each of the 3000 Durga puja organisers in Kolkata and 25000 in other places. Justifying the expenditure — a total of Rs 28 crore — the state government argued that it was an executive decision and that the government was answerable only to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and legislature. The government has also argued that the funds are meant for utilisation by the police department to oversee traffic and other public arrangements. Durga Puja celebrations will start on October 14 and go until October 19- Vijaya Dashmi. Meanwhile, the state BJP unit has argued that the decision to give money to puja organisers, has been a case of political appeasement. BJP chief Dilip Ghosh also questioned where the state was spending Rs 28 crore if there was no fund available for development.
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After just one player was drafted through the first two days, more Auburn players are starting to come off the board, including Darius Slayton in the fifth round. Slayton becomes the third Auburn player selected in the 2019 NFL Draft after Jamel Dean (third round - Tampa Bay) and Jarrett Stidham (fourth round - New England), and he’ll get to go play in the Big Apple to try and revitalize the New York Giants after a tumultuous offseason. The skills that Slayton will bring to the table were showcased in the Music City Bowl, and he’ll bring a ton of speed and big-play ability to the Giants’ offense. With the loss of Odell Beckham to the Browns in the offseason, New York is looking for some help on the outside. After selecting Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the sixth-overall pick, the Giants have gone with defensive picks exclusively until Slayton was selected with the 171st pick. To be quite plain, the Giants’ roster is one where Slayton may have a chance to make an immediate impact. Of the other wide receivers on the roster, only Sterling Shepard had more than 16 catches. Eli Manning chose to throw to Saquon Barkley out of the backfield, and tight ends Evan Engram and Rhett Ellison more than the actual wideouts. With Beckham gone, there will be a chance for Slayton to take on his speedy home-run role to give the New York offense a boost. The biggest question comes in terms of who Slayton will be catching passes from. Will Manning be able to hold off Daniel Jones, or will the Giants lean more toward their top draft pick from this year? We’ll have to see. There are a ton of questions on that offense, and Slayton can honestly use the turmoil to work hard and find a spot for himself.<doc-sep>The New York Giants have selected Auburn wide receiver Darius Slayton with the 171st pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. In breaking the trend of recent defenders, the Giants went with a wide receiver in Round 6, but not necessarily one that they’ll be looking to replace Odell Beckham Jr., who was traded to the Cleveland Browns. Background Slayton was all-region at wide receiver and defensive back in High School, and was ranked among the top 15 prospects at his position by various outlets coming out. He was also a state sprint champion at 100m and 200m. After committing to Auburn in 2015, Slayton went on to appear in 29 games, hauling in 79 receptions for 1,605 yards and 11 touchdowns. The vast majority of that came over the previous two seasons, where he had over 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns. Physical Traits and Stats Height: 6-foot-1 Weight: 190 Arms: 32 3/4” Hands: 10” 40-yard: 4.39 3-Cone: 7.0 Shuttle: 4.15 Bench Reps: 11 Broad Jump: 135.0 High School: Greater Atlanta Christian School (GA) How does Slayer fit in with the Giants? Slayer is an all-around talent at wide receiver, with solid size, speed and athleticism. And while he still needs to work on his ability to separate, there’s no denying he can step in as a field-stretcher out of the gate. There’s a lot of development needed, and Slayer seemed to take a step backwards in 2018, but is he can recreate his his success from 2017 and continue to ascending, the Giants have a quality receiver going forward.<doc-sep>The New York Giants selected Auburn wide receiver Darius Slayton on Saturday in Round 5 of the 2019 NFL Draft, 171st overall. Slayton, 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at the Combine. He averaged 19.1 yards on 35 receptions for Auburn last season, with 5 touchdowns. In his draft guide, Dane Brugler of The Athletic said: Slayton has inconsistencies to his game, but he is much more than simply a speed demon, showcasing fluid athleticism and length to make catches outside his framework, projecting as a high-upside developmental receiver. The Giants took quarterback Daniel Jones at No. 6 overall, then selected five straight defensive players before adding Slayton. The full list of picks by the Giants is below. Giants draft picks Round 1 (No. 6) -- Daniel Jones, QB, Duke Round 1 (No. 17) -- Dexter Lawrence, DL, Clemson Round 1 (No. 30) — Deandre Baker, CB, Georgia Round 3 (No. 95) -- Oshane Ximines, EDGE, Old Dominion Round 4 (No. 108) — Julian Love, CB, Notre Dame Round 5 (No. 143) -- Ryan Connelly, LB, Wisconsin Round 5 (No. 171) — Darius Slayton, WR, Auburn Round 6 (No. 180) -- Round 7 (No. 232) -- Round 7 (No. 245) -- Grade the pick How do you think the Giants did with this selection? Let us know by grading the pick in the poll below.<doc-sep>The need for speed is always there, and the Giants caught up with a bunch of it Saturday by taking wide receiver Darius Slayton from Auburn with the second of their two picks in the fifth round. Slayton ran the 40-yard dash in 4.39 at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, and if that speed translates to the field with the Giants, they will have uncovered a player they can use. Their receiving corps, now devoid of Odell Beckham Jr., has Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate as starters and not a whole lot of pure speed to throw at opposing cornerbacks. Slayton has it. “I feel my biggest strength is my speed,’’ Slayton said. “I’m able to push the field vertically as well as catch the ball and have the ability to go and score. I hope to be able to help take the top off the defense and help us win games.’’ Slayton has good size, at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, and caught 79 passes for 1,605 yards and 11 touchdowns in three years in an Auburn offense that struggled to throw the ball this past season. In 2018, he had 35 receptions for 670 yards and five touchdowns. He went wild in Auburn’s 63-14 Music City Bowl victory over Purdue, setting school records with three touchdowns and 160 receiving yards. “I definitely think it was a nice exclamation point in my career, for sure,’’ Slayton said. In high school in Georgia, Slayton was a top track performer, winning state titles in the 100 and 200 meters. At Auburn, Slayton had eight catches of 50-plus yards. • Giants’ NFL Draft tracker: Live round-by-round picks and analysis “He’s an outside receiver that has some inside characteristics and the 4.3 speed shows up on tape,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said. “He’s extremely fast, he can get behind the defense and we all know the effect that can have for an offense.’’ Slayton’s Giants career got off to an uncertain start moments before the team made the pick official. “The phone just went off and it actually shows up as New Jersey,’’ Slayton said, “so my brain like didn’t register New York Giants at first.’’ see also Giants make Division II speedster their third corner drafted You can never have enough cornerbacks in the NFL. The... When he realized where he was headed, Slayton recalled the Giants took a quarterback in the first round and still have Eli Manning. Soon enough, he will be catching passes from them and wants to prove he is more than two fast feet. “Kind of through this process I was fighting people putting me in a box as just a deep guy,’’ Slayton said. “I have a complete game, I can run the full route tree, I can get in and out of breaks as well as beat people with my speed.’’ Kyle Shurmur, the Vanderbilt quarterback and son of the Giants’ head coach, was not drafted but immediately after the seventh round was signed by the Chiefs as a priority free agent. “I think it’s terrific,’’ Pat Shurmur said. “Certainly my history with Andy [Reid] runs deep. As we’re watching the picks come off, certainly that was running parallel hoping that he was going to end up in a really good place, regardless of whether he was picked or not. He’s ended up in a really good place so he’ll go there, compete, he’s gonna be with a terrific team and what I consider to be an outstanding quarterback culture. I’m happy for him.’’<doc-sep>
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The Giants finally went back to the offensive side of the ball. After using five straight picks on defense, the Giants selected wide receiver Darius Slayton with the No. 171 pick in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. It was a compensation pick the Giants received after losing offensive linemen Justin Pugh and Weston Richburg during 2018 free agency. The 6-foot-1 190-pound Slayton posted a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash and a 40.5-inch vertical leap at the NFL Combine. He had 35 catches for 670 yards and five touchdowns in 2018, finishing with 11 scores in his career. The Giants’ Odell Beckham-less wide receiver corps is led by Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate, and features a pack competing for the rest of the roster spots, including veterans Russell Shepard, Cody Latimer, Brittan Golden and Bennie Fowler and relative youngsters Jawill Davis and Alonzo Russell. Slayton was a high school state sprinting champion in Georgia. The only other Giants’ offensive draft pick thus far was their first, quarterback Daniel Jones at No. 6 overall. Here is his NFL.com scouting report: Height, weight, speed prospect who -- like the entire Auburn offense -- had better tape in 2017 than 2018. While Slayton has the athleticism to run a fully-formed route tree, but hasn’t yet learned to separate effectively from quality man coverage. His blazing speed is appealing, but teams will want to see more consistency from his hands and as a ball-tracker down the field. With that said, he’s more than just a field stretcher and has the traits and talent to become a WR2/3 with more work. “That whole thing was a disaster this year. His quarterback wasn’t good, the offensive staff was dysfunctional and they run an outdated offense anyway. I don’t put that on (Slayton).” - AFC southeastern scout Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.
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