London: England and Portugal both scored five goals while France scored three as they overcame lowly-ranked Kosovo, Andorra and Lithuania in Euro 2020 qualifying on Tuesday. Captain Cristiano Ronaldo, making his 160th international appearance, scored four as Portugal won 5-1 in Vilnius and strengthened their position in Group B after a sluggish start. For Ronaldo it was a second hat-trick in three internationals. The victory over Lithuania, 130th in the world rankings, kept brought Portugal five points behind Ukraine at the top of Group B. Also Read – Puducherry on top after 8-wkt win over ChandigarhPortugal, who opened the group with home draws against Ukraine and Serbia, started their recovery with a victory in Belgrade on Saturday. They have a game in hand on all the other teams in the group. “We were better, we are better, and we won because of it,” said Fernando Santos, the Portugal coach. “We kept the pace after the win at Serbia, otherwise this triumph would make no sense, and we are closer.” Ronaldo’s first goal was a penalty. The second, with the scores level after an hour, was a scuffed low shot from outside the penalty area which took a couple of stranges bounces off the artificial turf before it was parried into the air by the diving Ernestas Setkus. Also Read – Vijender’s next fight on Nov 22, opponent to be announced laterThe dropping ball hit the back of the goalie’s head before rolling in. The third was a clinical volley from close range. The fourth was a low shot into the corner. Vytautas Andriuskevicius scored the hosts’ only goal before William Carvalho added a fifth for the reigning champions at the end. Serbia beat Luxembourg 3-1, as Aleksandar Mitrovic netted twice, to solidify their grasp on third place. They are a point behind Portugal. In Southampton, Gareth Southgate’s England side trailed early on to Kosovo, ranked 120th in the world, when Valon Berisha scored after 34 seconds. England replied with a first-half goal binge that ended with Jadon Sancho scoring twice to make it 5-1 at the break. The visitors claimed two back in the second half, including a second for Lazio midfielder Berisha, but the 5-3 victory put England three points clear in Group A, ahead of the second-placed Czech Republic, who beat Montenegro 3-0. “A bizarre game,” said Southgate. “The outstanding parts of our play were obvious. The errors were obvious.” In Paris, the world champions made light work of beating 136-ranked Andorra 3-0. It was Les Bleus’ 100th match at the Stade de France. Antoine Griezmann missed a penalty for his country for the second game running but Kinglsey Coman, Clement Lenglet, with his first on the international goal, and Wissam Ben Yedder clinched three points. “It is really annoying. I’ll just need to keep working. You can’t be on top of your game all the time,” Griezmann said. Coman also scored two against Albania on Saturday. “It has been a very good week. It has gone well personally and collectively,” Coman told television station TF1. Cenk Tosun scored twice as the Turks beat Moldova with ease in a 4-0 victory in Chisinau. But Iceland, who had been level with the top two, suffered a blow as they lost 4-2 in Albania.
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Stephen Curry Drives Three for Three Challenge For Nothing But Nets
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will once again lead his Three for Three Challenge for the 2014-15 season by donating three life-saving bednets to the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign for every three-pointer he makes this season.The Warriors have also announced that the team will match Curry’s donation throughout the 2014-15 season up to $5,000.During his first two seasons running the challenge (2012-13 & 2013-14), Curry donated 1,599 bednets to help thousands of families avoid malaria infection. During the 2012-13 season, Curry established a new NBA single-season three-point record with 272 three-pointers made and donated 816 bednets, and last season (2013-14), Curry recorded 261 three-pointers, providing 783 bednets to families.“I am honored to support the Nothing But Nets campaign for the third season in a row to continue to help raise awareness and provide bednets to protect families from malaria,” said Curry. “This has been an issue close to my heart since my days at Davidson, and I am grateful that the Warriors organization is helping me once again this season to give to such an important cause.”Since his time as a college star at Davidson when his college roommate, Bryant Barr, educated him and encouraged him to get involved in the cause, Curry has been a committed champion of the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, which works with the UN and other partners to distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets to protect families across sub-Saharan Africa from malaria. Every 60 seconds, a child dies from malaria. Malaria kills more than 600,000 people worldwide every year, most of them children under five. Bednets provide a simple, cost-effective solution. It only costs $10 to purchase and deliver a bednet, and provide education on its proper use. Since 2006, Nothing But Nets has delivered millions of life-saving bednets to protect families in need thanks to the generous contributions from its partners, champions, and supporters.“Last year, Stephen traveled with us to Tanzania and saw first-hand how malaria can devastate families,” said Chris Helfrich, Director of the Nothing But Nets campaign. “We are so grateful that he and the Golden State Warriors have inspired thousands of fans to get involved in the fight to defeat malaria.”Fans can get involved to help Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the fight against malaria. Go to www.NothingButNets.net to send a net and help save a life.
Pictou Aquash trial begins in South Dakota
APTN National NewsThe trial of the man U.S. authorities believed killed Annie Mae Pictou Aquash has begun in Rapid City, SD.John Graham, a former American Indian Movement member, is charged with her murdered.APTN National News spoke with Heidi Bell Gease, a newspaper reporter with the Rapid City Journal who has been covering the trial.
KMC to take concrete steps to ensure roundtheclock water supply in slums
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is gearing up to supply round the clock drinking water to the slums in the city. The slum dwellers in the city presently get water twice in a day —for around three hours in the morning and for two hours in the late afternoon.”We have already held three meetings and are chalking out a detailed plan on how to go about in developing the infrastructure in the slums so that the residents get round the clock water supply. Mayor Firhad Hakim has instructed us to take all possible measures in this regard,” said Swapan Samaddar, Member, Mayor-in-Council (Bustee Development ) Also Read – Bengal family worships Muslim girl as Goddess Durga in Kumari PujaThe slum dwellers sometimes suffer from scarcity of water particularly during the summer months when the demand increases manifold. Some slum areas are so narrow that vehicles with water tanks are unable to reach. As per initial plans , the KMC Water Supply department will set up a reservoir in the slums wherever there will be availability of space. The water stored will be drawn through a pump and then through a dedicated pipeline it will be supplied to the slum. “We have to carry out awareness among the dwellers to prevent wastage of water,” an official in the Bustee Development department said. Also Read – Bengal civic volunteer dies in road mishap on national highwayThere are around 4,500 slums both authorised and unauthorised under KMC’s jurisdictional area. “We are presently producing water in excess to the demand of the Kolkatans. There are supply problem in certain pockets in the added areas of the city like Tollygunj, Bansdroni, Garia and work for supply pipeline is going on in full swing. Work is expected to be over by March 2020,” an official in the Water Supply department said. The construction of a small booster pumping station at Bangur Park in ward 93 and Babubagan in ward 92 has already started. A reservoir with additional capacity of 2 million gallon is being constructed inside the campus of Anandapur booster pumping station to improve water supply in the adjacent areas.
GES 2014 Marrakech World Capital Of SMEs And Innovating Partnership
Marrakesh – At least 3,000 entrepreneurs, high-ranking government officials, heads of state and young entrepreneurs from all over the world will get together in Marrakech this November 19-21 for the 5th Global Entrepreneurship Summit, GES-2014, a major global platform, held for the first time in an African country, “to empower entrepreneurs with the skills and resources necessary to compete and thrive in the 21st century”.GES Marrakech 2014: Marrakech, world capital of SME’s and innovating partnership17 November 2014Held under the high patronage of HM King Mohammed VI, under the theme of “harnessing the power of technology for innovation and entrepreneurship”, the Marrakech conference “reflects the role that the Kingdom of Morocco plays in the overall economic development of the African continent and its leadership in supporting entrepreneurship and integration of youth and women in the economy. Launched in 2009 by US president Barack Obama, the GES seeks to lay bridges between entrepreneurs, banks, fund-donors and investors from the USA and Muslim communities worldwide.After the first summit held in Washington DC in 2010, followed by those of Dubai, Istanbul, and Kuala Lumpur, Marrakech was selected to host the 5th GES, in accordance with an agreement between HM the King and President Obama in November 2013 in the USA.For Moroccan delegate-minister of foreign affairs and cooperation Mbarka Bouaida, the holding of this summit illustrates “the excellence of Morocco-US bonds and is part of the strategic dialog between the two countries. The choice of Morocco as a venue for this summit is not fortuitous”, she stressed.“As an emerging country, Morocco boasts an exceptional model to share and promote, in terms of political stability and pertinence of socio-economic and human choices”, she went on, noting that the Kingdom enjoys political and social stability and is conducting deep economic and political reforms to establish the rule of law and improve its economic competitiveness.As a result of sector-focused strategies, Morocco has emerged as a reference in new sectors such as car and aeronautical industry, renewable energies, electric and pharmaceutical industries and offshoring, explained the official who also pointed out that strategic development plans also exist for conventional sectors such as tourism and agriculture as well as a vision for the 20 coming years.Morocco also stands out as a major stakeholder in the new African momentum. In addition to centuries-old ties with several countries of the continent, Morocco is adopting a clear and constant vision of South-South partnership, as a factor of progress, growth and development for the local populations.The GES 2014 is a global platform to trade ideas and experiences, an invitation to open up to the world, find out about new opportunities and conclude sound alliances between economic operators of the world.The summit features several events: the “Women’s Entrepreneurship Day”, bringing together women entrepreneurs, the awarding of the Global Innovation through Science and Technology Prize to stimulate innovation and technological entrepreneurship through social media and the “Student challenge” initiative with the participation of 300 Moroccan and sub-Saharan African countries.
Moroccos Hamza Mendyl Apologizes After Insulting Fan
Rabat – Moroccan international footballer Hamza Mendyl has apologized after angering hundreds of his followers by insulting a critical fan.One of Mendyl’s Instagram followers criticized the footballer’s performance in the midfield during the Morocco-Comoros game on Saturday, October 13, in Casablanca.Mendyl responded in a comment harshly insulting the fan’s mother. Mendyl received heavy backlash from his followers on Instagram and Facebook.After some time, Mendyl acknowledged his mistake and posted a story on his Instagram account to apologize to the fan.“I would like to apologize to the supporter I spoke to last night; I should not have made such comments, even if I was still under pressure due to yesterday’s game,” Mendyl wrote.“I will never allow myself to insult a supporter or his family, I know the love you have for our team and I will do everything to make you proud in the future. I accept your criticism, sorry. Forgive me,” Hamza regretted. Morocco’s Atlas Lions 1-0 victory in their game with Comoros was not a source of pride for many, including the team’s head coach, Herve Renard.Renard said that he was very disappointed at their performance.“We played everything but football,” Renard said.In August, Mendyl joined German football club FC Schalke 04 with a five-year contract.The Moroccan footballer, who is of Ivorian descent, was born in Casablanca.He made his senior debut for the Moroccan national team in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) qualifier win (2-0) over Sao Tome.Mendyl also played with the national football team during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Economy to take a hit from global developments
The impact of global developments, such as Brexit, recent Presidential elections in the United States (US) as well as interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, the forthcoming elections in France and Germany in Europe, the projected slowdown in the Chinese economy, as well as economic conditions in Sri Lanka’s major trading partners, including India, Japan, Russia and the Middle East, will have asignificant influence on the domestic economy, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said today.Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said that trends in oil prices and international capital flows, following the normalisation of interest rates in the US are likely to be particularly important. Accordingly, he says it is anticipated that inflation expectations would broadly remain anchored in the medium-term with appropriate demand management policies, supported by timely supply side measures. “We also expect that changes to government tax structure and supply shortages stemming from weather related developments as well as shocks that could arise due to possible reversal of global commodity prices could cause temporary variations in price levels. In particular, if current drought conditions prevail, there could be adverse implications on price levels, while impacting on economic activities, notably agriculture and power generation. As in the past, it is expected that the Government would take timely measures to counter the adverse supply side effects on prices, thus mitigating adverse inflation expectations of the general public, he said while presenting the CBSL Monetary and Financial Sector Policies for 2017 and Beyond. He also said that primary dealers play a vital role in trading of Government securities and market making. Further, there is high potential to deepen the debt securities market in the country.“Hence, we need to have a clearly stated policy framework for Primary Dealers. This will further enhance the safety of investments in the Government securities market,” he said.Accordingly, he noted that the CBSL has already revisited the existing regulatory framework of primary dealers and based on those findings, CBSL will introduce an appropriate regulatory framework for primary dealers in line with the latest developments in the market by benchmarking the global standards. CBSL also expects to establish and implement a restructuring mechanism for distressed primary dealers. (Colombo Gazette) The Central Bank has sought to preserve the soundness, efficiency and stability of the financial system primarily through the regulation and supervision of all major categories of financial institutions, ensuring sound and safe payment and settlement systems as well as establishing risk management systems and instilling good corporate governance standards and practices in the financial sector while promoting financial inclusion.“In the medium-term, our overall aim is to ensure the stability in the financial sector through identifying emerging vulnerabilities in this sector; adopting early corrective actions; and implementing a series of measures to further strengthen financial institutions, markets, infrastructure and safety nets. Our medium-term plan is to have a financial system, which offers the full range of financial products and services to all economic sectors, including agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and trade to achieve broader economic objectives of our country. We need to have a wellplanned and an ambitious agenda for financial sector development and reforms ranging across financial sector policies with a vision of innovative, robust and competitive financialsystems,” Coomaraswamy said.
UK to assist Hazaras in Afghanistan – UN agency
The United Kingdom will give $6 million over the next four years to help some 430,000 farmers in one of the poorest regions of Afghanistan to establish and maintain a reliable system of sustainable agriculture, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. The money will be spent on training, advice and seed production in the Hazarajat area north of Kabul, home of the ethnic Hazaras, FAO said in a statement issued in Rome. The area, already under stress from civil war, has been hit hard by a three-year drought.
Bombardier to report quarterly results a day earlier than planned
Bombardier to report quarterly results a day earlier than planned MONTREAL – Bombardier has moved up the release of its first quarter results.The aerospace and transportation company issued a brief statement late Tuesday saying it would report its results for the quarter ended March 31 on Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled.When asked the reason for the change, spokeswoman Isabelle Rondeau said, without elaboration, that it was a “conflict, schedule issue.”Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) has asked the federal government for US$1 billion to help sell its CSeries passenger jets, a request Ottawa has been studying carefully since it was first made late last year.The Quebec government has offered the Montreal-based company the same amount of money and says it is hoping to finalize the payment soon, after an original deadline to deliver the first instalment on April 1 came and went. Premier Philippe Couillard says the province’s first payment will be made when issues, including liquidity, are dealt with.Bombardier has its annual general meeting scheduled for Friday. by The Canadian Press Posted Apr 26, 2016 3:34 pm MDT Last Updated Apr 26, 2016 at 4:20 pm MDT AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to TwitterTwitterShare to FacebookFacebookShare to RedditRedditShare to 電子郵件Email
Ahead of Sochi Olympic Games Ban praises power of sport to unite
“We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people,” Mr. Ban said as the first UN chief to address an IOC session. “We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face.”Mr. Ban cited Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter which enshrines the IOC’s opposition to any form of discrimination. He added that the UN stands “strongly” behind its own ‘Free & Equal’ campaign and looks forward “to working with the IOC, Governments and other partners around the world to build societies of equality and tolerance.”“Hatred of any kind must have no place in the 21st century,” the top UN official stressed, noting also the need to combat “ugly and hurtful racist displays at sporting matches.”Speaking later to the press in Sochi alongside Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, Mr. Ban said that “the Olympics give us an opportunity to celebrate everyone’s right to compete on equal terms – no matter what they look like, where they come from or whom they love.”Earlier the two men had taken part in the Olympic torch relay, with Mr. Ban receiving the flame from Mr. Bach on a bridge over the Sochi River. The flame will be nested tomorrow after its 65,000-kilometer (39,000-mile) route at the opening ceremony, attended by Mr. Ban.In his remarks, the Secretary-General praised the increasingly strong and productive partnership between the UN and the IOC, with shared values of universality, solidarity and non-discrimination that make a “dynamic global duo.”He noted the many UN agencies – including the office of his Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfried Lemke – are working directly with the IOC to advance the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of the 2015 deadline, including efforts to combat AIDS and drug abuse, protect the environment and promote education. In his speech to the IOC today, one day before the opening of the Games, Mr. Ban reiterated the UN’s call for the observance of the Olympic Truce, especially in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.“Athletes send a unified message that people and nations can put aside their differences,” he said. “If they can do that in Sochi’s sporting arenas, leaders of fighters should do the same in the world’s combat areas.”The symbolic Truce, which started one week before the XXII Olympic Winter Games, will run until a week after the closing of the XI Paralympic Winter Games, to be held 7 to 16 March.Mr. Ban stressed the essential nature of the Paralympic Games to the Sochi Winter Games and highlighted how the Olympic Movement promotes human rights which include the rights of people with disabilities.“I am one of millions of people inspired by those athletes,” he said.“The Olympics have served to break down negative stereotypes and build positive attitudes,” he added. “I am pleased that the United Nations counts many Olympic athletes as champions of our causes – peace, development and human rights.”In his remarks today, Mr. Ban said he appreciated President Vladimir Putin’s assurances that “there will be no discrimination whatsoever,” and that people with different sexual orientation are welcome to compete and enjoy the Olympic Games.
The Faceless Men And Women Of The US Open
(And the slights aren’t limited to photos: At least one American’s photo was accompanied by an Italian flag for one of her doubles matches.)By the first Friday of the Open, the tournament had added photos for many players, including del Potro, Thiem and Almagro. It took a little longer for many women, including Konjuh and Sevastova, who finally got their photos added by that Sunday.Not all the players minded their missing photos. Sevastova, after upsetting Johanna Konta to reach the quarterfinals, said in response to my question at her postmatch news conference that she’d noticed her photo was finally added. “Now I have a photo,” she said. “Now I saw my photo.” Having no photo was better than if the U.S. Open had just used her “WTA picture with short hair,” she said. “I didn’t like it, actually, so it was OK without [a] picture.”The U.S. Open provides an unusual opportunity to check out what the faceless men and women of sport have in common because the tournament lists hundreds of players, all gathered on one website. On the first Friday of the tournament, I did an exhaustive survey of all 579 players on the page — the number shifts during the tournament as draws are finalized for events that start later in the tournament, such as juniors. More than one third of the players — 211 — were missing photos. That includes 44 players who were in the men’s or women’s singles draws, the most prominent events at the Open. In addition to Konjuh and Sevastova, that list included Naomi Osaka, who’d just lost a third-round thriller in Arthur Ashe Stadium to Madison Keys; Laura Siegemund, who was playing seven-time major champ Venus Williams in Ashe the next day; 2015 French Open quarterfinalist Alison Van Uytvanck; Laura Robson, who made the fourth round at the 2012 U.S. Open; and Americans Christian Harrison and Danielle Collins.It’s no coincidence that more women than men were missing: According to Widmaier, there was a lag in adding women’s photos even after the problem was identified. (He wasn’t sure why.)So what factors decided who got a photo by the fifth day of the tournament and who didn’t? I checked a wide range of factors,1By grabbing data off each player’s U.S. Open page and running a regression between whether the player had a photo on the night of the tournament’s first Friday and the player’s other characteristics. and the determinants of whether a player had a profile pic weren’t surprising: Americans, players active on tour and veterans were mostly likely to have a photo. Being from the U.S. increased a player’s chances of having a picture on the site by 30 percentage points. With every singles match a competitor played this year, his or her chances went up by 2 percentage points. A year of age added 3 percentage points.2The percentages assume a linear relationship, which wouldn’t apply at extremes. (We don’t think someone who has played 60 singles matches this year has a greater than 100 percent chance of having a photo.) The exact percentages depend on which variables we include. I also tested, for instance, peak singles ranking, career matches and matches won, but those all are closely linked to both singles matches played this year and to age. So perhaps the most surprisingly snubbed people were the American women’s doubles pair of Ashley Weinhold, 27, and Caitlin Whoriskey, 28. Their faces remained missing on the second Thursday of the tournament. (Then again, neither has ever been ranked in the top 100 in singles or doubles.)Konjuh, who is 18, said she understood why she didn’t have a photo. “Like probably most of the other players that are young or coming didn’t have pictures,” she said in her news conference.Widmaier promised a more completist approach to player photography at the 2017 Open: “It will be improved upon next year.” Anastasija Sevastova and Ana Konjuh defied expectations and their low rankings — both outside the top 40 — to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals. They have something else in common: For the first week of the tournament, where their photos were supposed to appear on the U.S. Open website and app, there instead appeared black rectangles with the flags of their countries and the words “NO BIO PHOTO.”“I saw on the live score, yeah, on the U.S. Open app, yeah, it says, like, ‘bio’ or something,” Konjuh said when I asked about her absent photo at her news conference after she upset Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round.Every sport has these faceless men and women, the ones who aren’t supposed to make the team or get off the bench, who are so new they haven’t been photographed, who may get rushed in front of a digital camera so media staff can get a snap worth posting.Tennis majors face a special challenge in filling those blank rectangles: Up to 128 players enter each of the men’s and women’s qualifying draws, and more than 100 others enter each of the men’s and women’s singles draws. There can be more than 100 players competing only in doubles, and an additional 100 or more might enter only the juniors or juniors qualifying draws. As of the two-week event’s middle Sunday, there were 698 players on the U.S. Open player page.But some of the snubbed U.S. Open players are hardly nobodies. Early in the tournament, 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, No. 10 Dominic Thiem and former No. 9 Nicolas Almagro were among those missing photos. Asked about them on the first Thursday of the tournament, Chris Widmaier, spokesman for the U.S. Tennis Association, which runs the U.S. Open, said, “It’s a disappointment.” I asked if it’s a priority to get photos for the players — all of whom have been professionally photographed at dozens if not hundreds of matches worldwide, and who have pictures that appear on the ATP and WTA websites and on their U.S. Open credentials. “It is now,” Widmaier said.
The Strange Dynasty Of The San Francisco Giants Is Over Yes It
✗ +3 Dodgers1946196642772133.3 Yankees1976198621931127.3 ✓ Over the course of the past decade, the San Francisco Giants put together one of the strangest dynasties in baseball history. And now it is officially coming to an end.The Giants still have five players left over from their 2014 championship season, but the returns have diminished greatly since then. The team is in last place in the National League West; the FiveThirtyEight model currently predicts it to finish 70-92, which would be one of the worst records in franchise history.1Technically the 2017 version was even worse, although that team at least had injuries to blame (and a playoff appearance the year before to suggest a potential turnaround). And it could get worse by season’s end, with ace Madison Bumgarner (among others) on the trade block.The Giants got here in part by trying to extend the dynasty past its expiration date. But who can blame them? When a team’s initial successes defy the odds, it can be especially difficult to know when a downturn is permanent or just a detour along the road to another title. This is especially true of San Francisco, which sandwiched two mediocre nonplayoff seasons in between World Series titles. But we come here not to bury the Giants’ dynasty but to praise it — and imagine how Farhan Zaidi, the new president of baseball operations, might construct another one where the original once stood.So what makes the Giants’ dynasty of the 2010s — and yes, it was a bona fide dynasty — maybe the most interesting ever?Up and downThe simplest answer to that question lies with the team’s every-other-year pattern of success. In even-numbered years from 2010 through 2016, the Giants’ winning percentage was .557; in odd years, it was only .506. But plenty of teams have gone on wild championship roller-coaster rides. The Giants’ version was one of the most memorable because of how unexpectedly it materialized and how difficult it was to get a handle on, even while it was happening.Sabermetrics pioneer Bill James has a method of determining dynastic runs that involves giving out points for seasons of various accomplishments. He keeps a running tally of a team’s dynasty points after each season; whenever a team’s running total hits 10, it automatically becomes a dynasty — of which there have been only 38 in baseball history. ✓✓✓ ✗ Source: billjamesonline.com ✓✓ ✓✓ Cardinals196319712104944.4% ✓✓ +1 ✓✓+2 ✓✓+3 Phillies197619831142825.0 Seasons ✓✓✓✓✓+6 Giants201020163103742.9 ✓✓ ✓+1 Bill James’s dynasty accounting systemWhat an MLB team must do in a season to earn or lose dynasty points ✓✓+4 Yankees19201943106162425.0 +5 Made Playoffs?Won Division?Won Pennant?Won World Series?Losing record90+ Wins?100+ Wins?Dynasty points Keeping in mind that the majority of San Francisco’s dynasty took place in the double-wild-card era, where in theory it is easier to snag an occasional playoff berth to keep the run going, you could argue that a Giants-like run is even harder to pull off now than during the Cardinals’ era (most of which happened when the “playoffs” consisted only of the World Series).If all of this sounds like a knock on what San Francisco accomplished, it’s not. It actually just makes it more fascinating: Only nine teams in history ever won three World Series in a five-year period anyway, and none of those had anywhere near as many ups and downs — nor proved as many doubters wrong — as the 2010-16 Giants did.Growing a dynasty … on top of a dynasty?Surprisingly, that run actually began on the heels of another dynasty, at least according to James’s accounting system. The 2000-04 Giants hit a running total of 10 points as well, despite not winning any championships, because they won at least 90 games five years in a row with two division crowns, a pennant in 2002 and 100 victories in 2003. That team was powered by Barry Bonds at the peak of his historic hitting powers,4And with Bonds allegedly benefiting from performance-enhancing drugs. with help from second baseman Jeff Kent, pitcher Jason Schmidt and shortstop Rich Aurilia. But the club’s performance fell after much of Bonds’s supporting cast signed elsewhere (SB Nation recently made a great video about the bitter Bonds-Kent feud), and the Giants’ main attraction in the ensuing seasons was Bonds’s largely joyless pursuit of Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record.By 2008, Bonds was out of baseball and the Giants were terrible, winning just 72 games. They had just three players who had been ranked among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects in the previous few seasons: pitchers Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez. Their farm system ranked just 23rd in baseball. Practically nothing about the Giants’ situation suggested that another dynasty was around the corner.But as bleak as San Francisco’s outlook appeared to be, the ingredients were largely in place for the run that was to come. To go with Cain and Lincecum, fellow dynasty cornerstones Bumgarner, Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt would all be drafted in 2007-09, while third baseman Pablo Sandoval and reliever Sergio Romo both made their MLB debuts in the summer of 2008. Nine players were on all three Giants championship squads — Posey, Bumgarner, Cain, Sandoval, Romo, Lincecum, Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez — and of those, six were either acquired by or made their MLB debuts for San Francisco in the 18-month span between May 2007 and November 2008. The team had also hired manager Bruce Bochy away from the division-rival San Diego Padres prior to the 2007 season.The Giants’ penchant for acquiring and developing homegrown talent helps explain a good amount of their success earlier this decade. From 2010 through 2016, only two teams (the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays) got more total wins above replacement5Averaging together the WAR versions found at Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs. from players who initially debuted with the team than San Francisco did. That group was headlined by Posey and Bumgarner, both of whom were top-10 draft picks, but it also included a fourth-rounder (Crawford), fifth-rounder (Belt) and 18th-rounder (Matt Duffy) who each peaked as 4-win players or better despite their lack of pedigree.Spare parts to the rescueThose Giants were made all the more interesting by the odd veteran pieces that filled in the gaps around the homegrown talent, particularly in the postseason. Journeyman castoffs Andres Torres and Aubrey Huff led the 2010 Giants in regular-season WAR, while that year’s NLCS MVP was Cody Ross (who had been claimed off waivers from the Marlins in August), and the World Series MVP was veteran shortstop Edgar Renteria, who had missed more than half the regular season with injuries.The trend continued in subsequent title runs. Outfielder Angel Pagan rebounded from a disappointing 2011 season with the Mets to produce 4.4 WAR for the Giants in their 2012 championship campaign. Melky Cabrera, on his fourth team in four years, was the All-Star Game’s MVP and hit an NL-best .346 that year before being suspended for performance-enhancing drugs (and recusing himself from the batting crown). Second baseman Marco Scutaro, picked up via trade in July, claimed NLCS MVP honors. After Posey and Bumgarner, frenetic outfielder Hunter Pence, acquired four days after Scutaro, was the Giants’ best player by WAR in 2013 and 2014, posting an 1.167 on-base plus slugging in the 2014 World Series. Even in 2016, obscure third baseman Conor Gillaspie provided playoff heroics when his ninth-inning home run won the NL wild-card game over the Mets.This quirky combination of young draftees and veteran reclamation projects helped each Giants championship team forge a different identity. The 2010 team was widely identified with Lincecum, Cain and eccentric, heavily bearded closer Brian Wilson. The 2012 version had evolved to become Posey’s team (he was named NL MVP) with Sandoval, the “Kung Fu Panda,” inheriting the role of postseason talisman from Wilson. And the 2014 season was all about the dominance of Bumgarner, who became virtually unhittable in October, winning the NLCS and World Series MVPs. Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean continually found ways to retool the roster on the fly, returning it to a championship level even after a 76-win season in 2013 suggested to many that San Francisco’s days of winning it all were probably over.An extraordinary timeThe Giants’ dynasty was also lucky to come along during an era of comparative parity in Major League Baseball. In 2015, my colleague Rob Arthur and I noted that MLB was getting tougher and tougher to predict during the decade of the 2010s, which happened to overlap with the entirety of San Francisco’s run to that point. In particular, the share of variance in team records explained by luck — which tracks with how compressed team records are across the league — had spiked upward to 64 percent that season, the highest mark since right after the 1994 strike.The Giants weren’t particularly dominant on paper during their dynastic years, never finishing higher than sixth in baseball in Sports-Reference.com’s Simple Rating System during any of their championship seasons, but it was the perfect moment to be a good team that gets hot at exactly the right time. Although it is unlikely that San Francisco’s World Series runs were wholly (or even mostly) the product of making the playoffs and having the postseason crapshoot fall in their favor three times, there’s no denying that the Giants’ path was made easier by the lack of super-teams across the rest of MLB.And now, those days are gone. (Not that it would help the current Giants much if they weren’t.) Starting in 2016, the league became very much top-heavy and thus much easier to predict than it had been earlier in the decade. The simultaneous emergence of juggernauts in the Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians over the past few seasons have left the next tier of teams feeling the squeeze. Yes, some of today’s reduced parity also owes to the surplus of tanking teams trying to emulate the championship runs of the Cubs and Astros, but the teams at the top are also just stacked with talent. That has made it much tougher to be a merely solid ballclub with World Series aspirations.The aftermathAfter falling short against the Cubs in the 2016 NL Division Series, the Giants hoped to return to contention with largely the same group plus ex-Nationals closer Mark Melancon (who’d been good the previous season). Instead, Bumgarner injured himself in an early season dirt bike accident, Melancon was terrible, and the team collapsed to 64 wins. Then San Francisco doubled down on reviving its even-year magic in 2018 by trading for 30-something stars Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria. It didn’t work: Longoria was a disappointment at 1.2 WAR, McCutchen was traded to the Yankees at midseason, and Bumgarner was injured again. After 73 wins last year and this season’s 20-26 start, and facing Bochy’s retirement at the end of 2019, the franchise has finally begun staring down the specter of a rebuild.It’s easy to look back with hindsight and criticize the moves San Francisco made to try to keep its window of contention open. Well after the 2014 championship, for instance, the Giants signed pitchers Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija and Melancon to long-term deals totaling $282 million, which looks like a terrible waste now — as well as a betrayal of the dynasty’s original homegrown roots.But this was also the same team that rode out a playoff absence in 2011 to win again in 2012, and a 76-win disappointment in 2013 to win again in 2014. As Bumgarner told the L.A. Times before this season, “Pretty much every year we’ve won, we were not expected to win.”The retool-on-the-fly mindset served the Giants well — until it didn’t.As much as the failure of recent big-name acquisitions to recapture their former glory has hurt the Giants, another big factor has been the failure of the team’s homegrown core to age gracefully — and the lack of anything in the pipeline behind it. Although Crawford can still make the occasional spectacular play, he is down from a 5-win player in 2016 to a subreplacement one now, and he’ll make $15.2 million each of the next two seasons after 2019. Belt was worth 4.2 WAR in 2016; now he’s on pace for a more middling 2.2 WAR in 2019 despite his $17.2 million salary, which also repeats in 2020 and 2021. Duffy fell off in 2016 and was traded for Matt Moore, who was miserable for the Giants in 2017 and was himself dealt for peanuts.Even with Bumgarner healthy, the Giants have the league’s worst starting rotation according to WAR. And recent drafts have produced little of note. The farm system ranked 26th in Keith Law’s preseason rankings. Things suddenly look dire again.Rebuilding the next dynastyWith Sabean’s successor, Bobby Evans, removed from his post as general manager last September, the man tasked with rebuilding the Giants now is former Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi, who has gained a reputation as an innovator and a genius since leaving his doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley to join the Oakland A’s front office under billion-dollar Billy Beane in 2005.Zaidi began shaking up San Francisco’s usual methods with a seemingly endless stream of anonymous signings before the season, in the hopes that at least some of them turn into viable major leaguers. That dizzying roster carousel did not let up once the season got underway, either. The team has started to employ modern pitching tactics like using an opener (which went poorly) and having position players like Sandoval throw mop-up innings (which went well!).But Zaidi has also run into friction six months into his new job. Already a figure of suspicion among Giants fans for his Dodger background, Zaidi was booed by season-ticket holders (granted, at Zaidi’s own urging) during a preseason meet-and-greet after he mentioned potentially using the opener. More seriously, he was openly criticized by Derek Holland after the pitcher was demoted from the starting rotation.Maybe all the constant roster-shuffling and other analytics-minded front-office techniques will pay off for San Francisco in the long run. But for now, the Giants are a bad team that can only get worse. The players are noticing — and so are the fans. AT&T Park was home to baseball’s third-best attendance mark as recently as 2017, but no team has shed more fans per game this season than San Francisco, whose 2019 attendance is down by more than 6,000 as compared with last year.How long will the Giants’ rebuild last? It might take a while to clear the current roster’s worst financial obligations from the books. Even in a world without Bumgarner, the team has $124 million committed to just seven players next year, with a payroll that could balloon to $172 million after arbitration and options are picked up. But as San Francisco’s ill-fated late push to sign Bryce Harper showed, the team hasn’t ruled out shelling out money for talent despite starting a new chapter in franchise history. Zaidi’s tightrope walk between alienating one of baseball’s best fan bases and genuinely refreshing the roster should be interesting to watch over the next few seasons.But it does also mean that the Giants dynasty of the early teens is firmly in the rearview mirror. What San Francisco accomplished then still defies statistical explanation to a certain degree, even acknowledging that most dynasties need an unlikely string of good fortune to build a great roster with long-term staying power. Through a combination of strong starting pitching, an impressive homegrown core and unbelievably shrewd veteran pickups, the Giants put together one of baseball’s most improbable strings of championships ever — a run that will be better appreciated only as it recedes into the realm of history. Now we have to see what Zaidi can do as a follow-up act.Check out our latest MLB predictions. ✗-2 ✓ But every dynasty also has to end. When a team has a zero-point season, its rolling tally drops at least 2 points (it falls by 3 if the team also has a losing record). When the rolling tally dips to zero again, or the team has three straight pointless seasons, the dynasty is definitively over.2And the dynasty’s final season is retroactively set to the last year in which the team picked up any dynasty points.This decade’s Giants officially qualified as a dynasty by hitting 10 points after the 2014 World Series victory, ultimately extending the span of their run from 2010 to 2016 with one additional playoff appearance.3Technically the Giants haven’t had three straight zero-point seasons or a running total of zero yet (their running total was 3 through 2018, which was their second-straight zero-point season), but our model gives them next to no chance of picking up any dynasty points — and thereby extending the run — in 2019. But of those seven seasons, three contributed nothing to (and therefore actively detracted from) San Francisco’s running dynasty total. Among the 38 distinct teams that James’s system considers dynasties, only one — the 1963-71 St. Louis Cardinals — had a higher share of their “dynasty years” contribute nothing to the dynasty itself. +2 Cardinals1926193531731030.0 The weirdest dynasties ever?Among MLB dynasties (as defined by Bill James’s point system), largest share of seasons during a run that contributed zero points to the dynasty In general, a season contributes nothing to the dynasty if the team fails to make the playoffs or win 90 games.Source: Baseball Databank Angels200220091112825.0 -3 Red Sox2002201841851729.4 TeamStartEndTitlesMax Dynasty PtsZero-PtTotalZero-Pt Share Dodgers1973199121381942.1
Cambridge graduate son of neurosurgeon dies after being pulled from family pool
An eminent neurosurgeon has described how he fought in vain to save his son after he was pulled unconscious from a swimming pool during his brother’s 21st birthday party at the family home.Peter Hamlyn, famed for saving the life of boxer Michael Watson when he was injured during a world title fight with Chris Eubank in 1991, paid tribute on Monday to his “beautiful, beautiful boy” on whom he desperately performed CPR until paramedics arrived.Dominic Hamlyn, 24, who had a first-class degree in astrophysics, had delivered a “brilliant speech” for his youngest brother, Benedict, just moments before jumping in the pool.Their heartbroken father said: “We are broken. If he is to be remembered, it is as a hero and one of the world’s helpers.”Paramedics were called to the family’s sprawling, Grade II-listed £3m farmhouse in Crundale, near Ashford in Kent, at 3.30am on Sunday but were unable to save the gifted student, who had been studying for a Masters at Cambridge.Dr Hamlyn, 62, revealed that his son, who was “almost sober”, had gone for a dip with friends shortly after giving a speech. Peter Hamlyn seen with Michael Watson in 2015 as the former boxer celebrated his 50th birthdayCredit:David Rose “He was immediately pulled from the water and a medical student started performing CPR until I came a minute later to take over.”He said an ambulance arrived quickly and his son was stabilised before being rushed to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.”Two consultants worked on him throughout the night,” he added. “A specialist team came from St Thomas to put him on a bypass. He died last night despite all their efforts.”He added: “Their brilliance at resuscitation is our only comfort.”Dr Hamlyn, who specialises in elite sports injuries, said his son had “clearly had a heart attack”, noting that a brain scan had ruled out a haemorrhage. He suggested he had fallen victim to Sudden Athlete Death – known as SAD – a rare cardiac syndrome. The Hamlyn family. From left; Gabriel, Geraldine, Benedict, Peter and DominicCredit:Instagram “He completed two lengths and then sank to the bottom,” he said. “There is no mystery, there were no drugs. The family home in KentCredit:STEVE FINN Mr Hamlyn was described as a “superb athlete” who had competed in both rugby and rowing at Cambridge.In 2014, he ran the London Marathon in aid of the Brain & Spine Foundation, a charity founded by his father. He described online how he had been inspired to do so because the five live-saving operations his father performed on Watson, whose survival is now regarded as a medical miracle.“When I was a young boy I helped my father fund raising,” he wrote. “He and his patient, the injured boxer Michael Watson, along with his carer Lenny, walked the London marathon for the Brain and Spine Foundation. It took them six days and I swore when I was old enough I would run it; in the words of Michael, ‘for the benefit of others less fortunate than me.’”Benedict Hamlyn posted a family photograph on Instagram two years ago, writing: “Some say the perfect family doesn’t exist. I seem to have stumbled upon evidence to the contrary.”A post mortem is expected to be carried out within the next few days. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings. 
The consultant neurosurgeon, who has written regularly for the Telegraph, was at home on Monday with his wife, Geraldine, 61 and their two other sons, Benedict, 21, and Gabriel, 23.Neighbours described the Hamlyns as “a lovely family” and several said they had heard the three brothers playing in the garden when they were children.They said they had heard fireworks at about midnight, shortly before Mr Hamlyn was pulled unconscious from the pool.
WWE bans fan who struck Roman Reigns with briefcase
CTVNews.ca has a new article up about the fan incident involving Roman Reigns at the 8/8 WWE live event in Victoria, British Columbia. The article notes that WWE has decided to ban the fan who threw a Money in the Bank briefcase that struck Reigns in the back of the head from attending any future WWE live events going forward.The article also notes that the fan had snuck in the briefcase into the venue and was having multiple wrestlers sign the briefcase throughout the course of the show. No criminal charges, however, will be filed against the fan.CTVNews.ca: WWE fan arrested in B.C. after hitting wrestler with briefcase Pinterest Netflix announces season three of GLOW set to premiere Friday, August 9 WhatsApp Twitter Mae Young Classic participants debuting for ROH, ROH originals returning during UK tour
Jason Namako RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Facebook Google+ Match announced for next week’s 205 Live, 8-Man Elimination from TLC PPV in 2015 
Alberto Del Rio on not being happy in WWE talks interest about
Cody Rhodes Says Stephen Amell Has Wrestling In His Blood His second run with WWE seemed good at first but it ended horribly. At least he was a WWE and World Heavyweight Champion. If there was anything bad about his first run was the the fact that he was in a feud with Rob Van Dam (and former manager Ricardo Rodriguez). Adam Martin RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Christopher Daniels Taunts Stephen Amell By Wearing Marvel Shirt Twitter IF TNA CAN PAY YOU , EL PRESIDENTE …. AND i DUNNO WHETHER ROH FANS LIKE TO SEE YOU IN THEIR RING ???? ROH World Champion Matt Taven’s contract set to expire at the end of September Now Playing Up Next Now Playing Up Next Former WWE Star Emma Talks Ring Of Honor Tour WhatsApp October 17, 2016 at 9:19 am 3 COMMENTS Now Playing Up Next lol thats i hope you like working at tna forpeanuts if not free and thgats even if they are around much longer with the millons of dollars of debt they are in and the lawsuits i’m surprised tna hasnt alreadt shut down. Facebook Now Playing Up Next ESPN.com is featuring an interview with former WWE star Alberto Del Rio (Alberto Rodríguez) where he talks about not being happy with his recent run with WWE and showing interesting in making appearances for both Ring of Honor and TNA.On his frustration with his latest run in WWE:“I am always going to be grateful with those guys for giving me a name, for putting me out there so I can show my talent to the world. But I am also not happy with what they were doing with me and what they were not doing with me at the end of my days with that company. Lucky for me, I have the opportunity to change it. It was my decision. I chose to be in bed with WWE. It’s just that I decided not to stay there anymore because I was unhappy with the situation.”On his interest to make appearances for ROH and TNA:“I already talked to my friends from Ring of Honor, and I’m a big fan of that company and their talent. I had a blast a few years ago, and I’m going to have fun with all those guys again pretty soon, as well as doing something with my friends in TNA, especially because my friend Drew McIntyre (Galloway) works for them. I have other friends like Damien (Sandow, a.k.a Aron Rex) and Cody Rhodes. I’m just looking forward to doing an appearance with them pretty soon.”Recommended videosPowered by AnyClipFormer WWE Star Emma Talks Ring Of Honor TourVideo Player is loading.Play VideoPauseUnmuteDuration 0:28/Current Time 0:02Loaded: 52.65%0:03Remaining Time -0:26 FullscreenUp NextThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.Replay the list Lanny Poffo to appear at Ring of Honor Glory By Honor event as special guest Now Playing Up Next Dave Bautista Announces His Retirement From WWE October 16, 2016 at 6:08 pm Rock ’N’ Roll Express challenging for ROH World Tag Team Titles at Honor For All Google+ SteelCity1981 Former WWE star ‘Grandmaster Sexay’ dies Pinterest The King of Kings October 16, 2016 at 8:24 pm Cameron Huff Comments are closed.
Cistern unearthed in downtown Vancouver
Work on replacing a water main in downtown Vancouver was interrupted Monday by the discovery of a water cistern.The underground brick tank, estimated to be at least 75 years old, measures 12 feet deep and 16 feet in diameter, said Joe Chumley, president of Integrity Excavating and Construction in Battle Ground. His company received the contract from the city of Vancouver to install a new 8-inch water main on Main Street between 12th and 15th streets. Work began March 24.Monday’s exposure of the cistern was a reminder of the days when storm-water was collected in underground tanks and used for fire suppression, said Loretta Callahan, spokeswoman for the city’s public works department. She estimated the cistern to be 75 to 100 years old.The discovery of a cistern at 12th and Main streets, which was made by the operator of an excavator, wasn’t entirely unexpected, Chumley said.The public works department suspected a cistern was in the area, but nobody could pinpoint the spot, Chumley said Monaday, as he waited for concrete mixer trucks from Cemex to arrive.The plan was to fill the cistern with 90 cubic yards of a type of concrete, Callahan said, and that work began Monday afternoon.“When working underground in the oldest areas of a city, you can encounter the unexpected,” said Dan Swensen, Vancouver Public Works’ construction and engineering manager. “Over the years, we’ve discovered old trolley lines, wood-stave water lines and wooden telephone conduit buried deep beneath the streets, along with other abandoned infrastructure.”
NOW HIRING 10 New Job Openings In Wilmington
WILMINGTON, MA — Below are some of the newest job openings in Wilmington:Full-Time Customer Service Representative at Stafford Manufacturing Corp.Full-Time Research Associate at CuriRx, Inc.Full-Time Research Assistant at CuriRx, Inc.Full-Time Financial Analyst at Charles River LabsFull-Time General Service Manager at Limbach Facility ServicesFull-Time Buyer II at SymboticFull-Time Information Systems Security Manager at L3 Technologies Full-Time Accounts Payable Clerk at AramarkFull-Time Customer Service Specialist at Super Service TodayFull-Time SOX Manager at NRS Global Partners (Contract)(NOTE: Wilmington businesses — Feel free to send me your job postings at wilmingtonapple@gmail.com.)Like Wilmington Apple on Facebook. Follow Wilmington Apple on Twitter. Follow Wilmington Apple on Instagram. Subscribe to Wilmington Apple’s daily email newsletter HERE. Got a comment, question, photo, press release, or news tip? Email wilmingtonapple@gmail.com.Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading… RelatedNOW HIRING: 10 New Job Openings In WilmingtonIn “Business”NOW HIRING: 50 New Job Openings In Wilmington (Week of August 18, 2019)In “Business”NOW HIRING: 10 New Job Openings In WilmingtonIn “Business”
Local media reports seeing black UFO ring over Denver mystery continues
YouTube: CBS DenverLocal residents in Denver were all pulled to a state of shock when a mysterious black ring appeared in the sky. The incident apparently happened two weeks ago, and the news was soon reported by local media outlets. After seeing the mysterious sighting, many people claimed that it might be either fireworks or a volcanic activity which might have created the sky right.As the image went viral on online spaces, self-proclaimed extraterrestrial researcher Scott C Waring analysed it and outlandishly claimed that the black ring in the skies could be actually an alien UFO. Waring also added that Denver is a hotbed of UFO activities, and made it clear that a faulty alien cloaking technology might be the result of this weird sighting.”Denver is a UFO hotspot with most of its citizens have seen UFOs in the area. It is totally possible that this ring is actually the outline of an alien cloaked craft that is having difficulties keeping cloaked. It is also possible that a UFO shot off so fast that it left a black ring around it. Lots of white glowing balls have been seen over the Denver area near the Rocky Mountains for decades, so its no surprise to see such oddities in the sky above Denver,” wrote Waring on his website ET Data Base.A few weeks back, a series of images snapped from Mount Shasta mountain, California had gone viral on the internet. These images showed a cigar-shaped UFO with light emanating from its body leaving the mountain ranges. The eyewitness who captured this strange incident passed on the images to Mutual UFO Network (UFO) and the non-profit organization is now apparently busy checking whether these photographs are authentic.Waring who operates from Taiwan strongly believes that aliens are continuously visiting the earth to monitor human activities. A few months back, he even went a step ahead and urged the United States president to make him the head of NASA, so that he can unveil more crucial secrets regarding alien life.Interestingly, Dr Young-hae Chi, a top Oxford researcher had also recently revealed that interbreeding between aliens and humans are quite common. The researcher also made it clear that alien hybrids born from mixed parentage are capable of surviving climate change easily, and thus they will emerge as the most dominant species on earth.
Infosys Employees to get 511 annual salary hike lower than last year
Reuters fileInfosys will be giving a salary hike to its approximately 2 lakh employees, but there is not much to cheer about for the workforce for two reasons: the Bengaluru-based company won’t be paying arrears for the April-June period since the hike will be effective from July 1 and the rate of increase at 5-11 percent on an average is lower than last year.The company had 2,00,364 employees as of March 31, 2017, according to regulatory filings.Also read: Salary hike for Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra employees will be interesting The hike will be a tad higher for top performers, in the range of 9-11 percent, Moneycontrol.com reported, citing news agency Cogencis.Last year, Infosys had announced a hike in the range of 6-12 percent, with onsite staff getting 1 percent pay increase on an average, lower than 2 percent in 2015.The share price of the company was trading almost flat at Rs 954 on the BSE at around 9.45 am. The Sensex was down 10 points at 31,199. TCS is yet to make an announcement on raising salaries of its employees while Wipro is reported to have given an average hike of 5 percent this year, according to a Times of India report.Shareholders of the two companies were kept in good humour, with Wipro declaring 1:1 bonus issue and TCS buying back shares. Hiring and headcount details based on company filings.Quarterly results and statements.
WWII bomb to force mass evacuation in Berlin
The discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb will force a mass evacuation around Berlin’s central railway station Friday, covering several government ministries and a hospital, police said.Buildings and streets in a radius of 800 metres (875 yards) around the site north of the busy train station will be cleared from 0700 GMT until the 500-kilogramme (1,100-pound) explosive is safely defused, they said on Twitter Wednesday.The evacuation zone covers the central railway station, the economy and transport ministries, an army hospital and the embassies of Indonesia and Uzbekistan, a police spokesman told AFP.Police said it was not yet clear how many thousands of people would be affected but predicted to local media that “it will be big, it will be a major hassle”.The Deutsche Bahn rail company and urban transport operators prepared for large-scale disruptions around the central hub for trains, trams and buses.The bomb, which was discovered during construction work on Heidestrasse in the district of Mitte, was “safe for now”, police said, reassuring nearby residents that “there is no immediate danger”.Allied planes blasted Nazi Germany during the Second World War, and vast urban and industrial areas remain littered with unexploded bombs and other ordnance often found during construction projects.Last Friday in the state of Bavaria, an ordnance disposal team defused a 500 kilogramme bomb which had forced the evacuation of 12,000 people in the city of Neu-Ulm-the third unexploded bomb to be disarmed in recent weeks in the city of 50,000 people.