BY KIT EATON @KITEATON You might think it would be time for Microsoft to sit on its laurels for a moment, but that’s not the vibe out of the company’s Redmond, Washington headquarters. The company, which recently defied Trump-based anti-DEI initiatives is now moving to aggressively cull staff in an effort to root out underperformers Aggressive is surely the right word: In its recent report news site Business Insider says ousted workers are losing health care and other benefits immediately and some employees reported that there was going to be no severance deal corporate speak-stuffed letters sent to affected staff make it clear what’s going on “The reason(s) for the termination of your employment include your job performance has not met minimum performance standards and expectations for your position,” the missives say All job duties are lifted immediately and access to Microsoft services and buildings will end on the same day adding a warning that the people are “not to perform any further work on behalf of Microsoft,” and noting that any future applications for work at the company will include consideration of past performance and the basis for their previous termination Business Insider notes that the letters also say medical and dental benefits end on the last day of employment People familiar with Microsoft policies have told the news outlet that the newly fired employees are unlikely to be offered severance packages Business Insider earlier noted that the tech company was going to take a strong stance on employee performance Managers are reviewing employee output up to the highest levels It’s not clear how many staff are affected by this new This news resonates with recent moves made by technology rival Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a public display of his relentless zeal for firing staff, announcing mere weeks ago that the tech firm would be shedding 5 percent of its workforce A memo penned by the leader confirmed plans to “move out low performers faster” as part of what he thinks will be an “intense year.” He also confirmed he plans to replace many middle-level engineers at his company with AI systems presumably at lower cost than it takes to pay actual humans This fresh round of firings at Microsoft stands in sharp contrast to a round of layoffs at the company two years ago. Then, CEO Satya Nadella won praise but for the measure of empathy and humanity he displayed in announcing the layoffs Befitting a firm that’s all about digital information the fresh cuts look like the polar opposite in terms of empathy If your company is in a position where you have to lay off staff this year you may want to take your cue from the former example Refreshed leadership advice from CEO Stephanie Mehta Learn More Predicted lineups are available for the match a few days in advance while the actual lineup will be available about an hour ahead of the match This is the first time the teams are playing against each other 01 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT?Brusque vs Athletico Paranaense on Thu 01 May 2025 19:00:00 GMT ended in a 0–0 tie.InsightsHaven't lost in 5 matches Brusque is playing home against Athletico Paranaense at Arena Joinville on Thu Princess Anne is pictured on Christmas Day 1998 with daughter Zara Tindall (then Zara Phillips) Legendary photographer Arthur Edwards shared the hilarious holiday memory and everyone was "desperate" to get a photo of the buzzed-about accessory Although he didn't mention when the Christmas in question was given the timeline of when Zara got her piercing the incident must have taken place during Christmas 1998 "We're all desperate to get this picture of the tongue 'Have you got a picture of Princess Anne?'" Edwards recalled this story is about Zara Phillips and the stud," he continued it seems that the year's biggest Christmas story wasn't about a tongue piercing “She got a bouquet, Princess Anne, off one of the visitors," Edwards shared, recalling that the woman told Anne, "I've been up all night making this for you." In reply, the ever-frank Princess Royal—who sported a very festive red-and-green plaid jacket that year—said “And that was the story," Edwards said "Although the stars of the Royal Family are there—obviously Catherine and William and the children and our King and Queen— but sometimes the story's elsewhere Although the royal photographer didn't mention how the fan received Princess Anne's comment noted how people come from around the world to wait outside St Mary Magdalene church to get a glimpse of the family on Christmas Day people come from America and Canada," he said Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends Anne's bouquet-maker didn't fly across the pond that year but something tells me she probably didn't mind Anne's remark either way Kristin ContinoSenior Royal and Celebrity EditorKristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Complete digital access to quality analysis and expert insights complemented with our award-winning Weekend Print edition Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times there was little to suggest that she hailed from Hungarian nobility — a member of the bourgeois elite who were kicked out by the Soviets at the end of the war (her father was Egon Ronay the restaurateur who became a byword for gastronomic taste in Britain) Ronay lived in Hackney at a time when it was working-class; she dressed ordinarily had close-cropped brown hair and the same zealousness as her fellow comrades The TimesRonay on her 80th birthday in BudapestMICHAEL O’SULLIVANThe TimesTuesday April 01 2025 The TimesWhen Esther Ronay turned up to meetings with the Women’s Rights Movement in the East End of London Perhaps it was her clipped accent that gave her away; in such circles she was quickly nicknamed “the Duchess” Her cause célèbre was the sexism of the film and television industry in 1970s Britain 2018."> World Subscribers only Rapper Diddy's trial for sex trafficking begins World Subscribers only Far right clinches overwhelming victory in first round of Romanian presidential election World Subscribers only Kenneth Roth: 'Human rights can be defended without the US' World Subscribers only Founder of Sant'Egidio community fears next pope could undo Francis's legacy Opinion Subscribers only 'Russian gas and Europe is an old story that ended badly Economy Subscribers only Europe's steel industry flattened by crisis World Subscribers only How European countries plan to fund defense efforts France French rail strikes: Traffic will be 'strongly disrupted' in Paris region commuter trains on Monday France Subscribers only Macron announces citizens' convention on school schedules France Subscribers only 21 charged over French prison attacks as investigation narrows in on drug traffickers France Subscribers only French mosque stabber was driven by 'morbid fascination,' prosecutor says Videos World expos: From Paris 1855 to Osaka 2025 Videos How the Trump administration is attacking scientific research in the US Videos Tesla cars set on fire in Las Vegas as calls to boycott Musk's company grow worldwide Videos Can France's nuclear deterrent protect Europe Opinion Subscribers only 'The trade war creates new opportunities for Europeans and France' Opinion Subscribers only 'It is pointless to imagine a significant wave of American academics leaving' Opinion Subscribers only 'Faced with Trump is global finance a stabilizing force or an enormous bubble on the verge of bursting?' Editorial The danger of a double standard for Islam Magazine Subscribers only Tracking down the pianos taken from French Jews during the Nazi Occupation Magazine Subscribers only Eve Rodsky the American helping couples balance the mental load Magazine Subscribers only Desecration or more glory Joan Didion's private diaries are revealed Magazine Subscribers only For Jewish cartoonist Joann Sfar 2025."> Pixels Subscribers only Golden Owl solution is revealed but leaves players of 31-year hunt disappointed Pixels Subscribers only Secrets of decades-long Golden Owl treasure hunt to be revealed Lifestyle Inside Chanel's French leather workshops Culture Subscribers only The marvelous bronzes of Angkor on display at the Musée Guimet in Paris where voters will elect a municipal council on October 6 but the former president's supporters are divided insults or threats thrown at us," said the Workers' Party (PT) candidate for mayor of Brusque "Cedê" (his nickname) was distributing leaflets with a few supporters at the town's bus terminal Things are changing!" said a delighted Cedê In the city of Brusque, with a population of 150,000 in the state of Santa Catarina, it's safe to say the left is not favored in the upcoming October 6 election, when Brazil elects its more than 5,500 municipal councils. In the 2022 presidential election President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won just 21.4% of the vote in Brusque against 78.6% for Jair Bolsonaro's far right (compared to their nearly even split of 50.9% to 49.1% nationwide) PT supporters are now unafraid to publicly display a red star "We're from the left and we don't hide it!" said Cedê who has made his closeness to Lula one of his campaign arguments I can get into their offices without an appointment!" he said with a smile You have 83.53% of this article left to read Lecture du Monde en cours sur un autre appareil Vous pouvez lire Le Monde sur un seul appareil à la fois Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil Parce qu’une autre personne (ou vous) est en train de lire Le Monde avec ce compte sur un autre appareil Vous ne pouvez lire Le Monde que sur un seul appareil à la fois (ordinateur En cliquant sur « Continuer à lire ici » et en vous assurant que vous êtes la seule personne à consulter Le Monde avec ce compte Que se passera-t-il si vous continuez à lire ici Ce dernier restera connecté avec ce compte Vous pouvez vous connecter avec votre compte sur autant d’appareils que vous le souhaitez mais en les utilisant à des moments différents Nous vous conseillons de modifier votre mot de passe Votre abonnement n’autorise pas la lecture de cet article merci de contacter notre service commercial The requested URL was not found on this server A lip reader has revealed the brusque command Kanye West gave security staff moments before his wife Bianca Censori shocked the world by stripping entirely naked Censori, 30, sparked worldwide outrage as she bared all at the 2025 Grammys in Los Angeles on Sunday alongside her covered-up husband Kanye West Just moments prior to the indecent exposure stunt Kanye was seen furiously whispering to red carpet staff as the couple prepared to have their photographs taken The rapper animatedly gestured towards the red carpet as he issued instructions - suggesting he was the brains behind the risque photoshoot - in footage captured by Access Hollywood Lip reader Jeremy Freeman has now told FEMAIL what Kanye said as he appeared to take command of the situation push that out of the way…that person right there…' clearly wanting the cameras to get an unobstructed view West was then seen issuing commands to Censori Lip reader Nicola Hickling said he told Censori wearing a black fur coat over a mesh ensemble with no underwear: 'You're making a scene now.'  She nodded her head and he told her: 'Make a scene I'll say it'll make so much sense.' He added: 'Drop it behind you and then turn Bianca exuded confidence as she headed to the carpet clad in a furry coat before theatrically dropping the garment and flashing her bare derriere to photographers She turned around to show off her topless chest and lack of underwear while West - nominated in the Best Rap Song category - leered at her nude body during the incident of indecent exposure The star paired this with a nude heels and a touch of make-up Kanye later hit out at outrage to the stunt as he dismissed the ceremony as 'boring' and called Bianca's outfit 'art' 'People have called this a stunt but to Ye this is his art,' a source told The Sun No one told him what to do and even if they had 'Ye always planned to do the red carpet and leave — he'd never sit through the Grammys because it's so dull and boring.' UK-based body language expert Judi James said she saw a 'flicker of fear' in Bianca's eyes The rapper, 47, told Bianca, 30, to 'drop' her outer layer on the red carpet in Los Angeles and she obliged removing it to reveal a completely see-through nude mesh dress She then turned around to show off her topless chest and lack of underwear while West - nominated in the Best Rap Song category - leered at her nude body friends have since insisted that the rapper is not controlling her and the shock nudity was a carefully planned out statement by the designer herself insisting Censori is a ‘willing participant’ who was empowered by her husband to make a statement about ‘simplicity and provocation’ In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com they described how West creates the outfits with his Yeezy designers and declared an arrest for indecent exposure would have strengthened the couple’s message ‘Bianca is not being forced at all,’ they said sharing ideas and vision against the establishment of fashion and culture so any suggestion that they are not in on this together is false.’ It was reported the pair were asked to leave the event after turning up uninvited and escorted out by cops after their 'crazy stunt.' However another source said they 'left of their own accord' and the exact narrative remains unclear Music industry insiders were also questioning if his swift exit was down to his feud with Taylor Swift The stunt is said to have lost Kanye a $20 million deal to play in Japan West, 47, had signed up to do two shows at the Tokyo Dome in May, but following the naked stunt on the red carpet of the Grammys on Sunday night with his wife Bianca Censori A source said: 'Kanye is just ****ing up every opportunity that comes to him The stunt was creepy beyond belief and has been greeted with horror in Japan.' He added: 'Japan is having a cultural awakening about women's rights and the MeToo movement is really strong here What he did is being seen as an act of coercive control which is utterly unacceptable He has completely culturally misjudged Japan.' This is unfortunate as he has been living in a hotel in Tokyo for most of the last year West and Censori left the event soon after the red carpet walk and were pictured getting into a waiting limo A source said: 'The investors in Japan who are backing the concerts are extremely upset by this It is highly likely that they will pull the funding for the shows 'He has greatly misjudged the tolerance of the Japanese people towards these activities This will be a big blow for him because he has been living in Japan for around a year now There have been increasing calls for Kanye and his wife Bianca to be barred from future red carpet events Following the incident, many fans expressed their disapproval on social media and called for Kanye — who reportedly lost a $20million deal following the stunt — and his wife to be banned from future events On Monday, The View's host Alyssa Farah Griffin and stating that she didn't want Kanye or his wife on red carpets 'I don't even want to dignify this other than to say: Kanye West I don’t want to see him on red carpets anymore,' she stated because that whole thing was very uncomfortable and I just — I don’t want to see it or hear from it any further.' She was not the only celebrity to publicly express her distaste at the X-rated stunt Former View co-host Meghan McCain shared in a since-deleted post on X 'I just want and have wanted for years — for Kanye West to leave us all the hell alone vile piece of garbage and his wife looks like a victim and a hostage.' Her representative later told Entertainment Weekly that McCain deleted the post on 'accident' and that she still thinks West is a 'vile pig.'  Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy also slammed the shocking red carpet moment. He took to X, sharing a photo of Kanye and Bianca from the red carpet, writing in the caption, 'I hate Kayne [sic] so much.' Fans took to social media to brand the display 'disturbing' and say Censori should be 'kicked out' of the event.  They wrote: 'Bianca Censori needs to be saved from that man. This is really disturbing,'; 'No way bianca censori just showed up to the grammies like that she is deadass naked,'; 'It's shocking but also so sad. that's someone's daughter that he's brainwashed,'; 'This just isn't appropriate,'; 'This can't be real,'; 'Somebody should censori her and kanye,'; 'Her eyes are screaming help…,'; 'She needs to just put all that away… i'm all for women and empowering bodies and stuff but like, bruh this???'; 'Is this woman genuinely okay she looked so uncomfortable taking her that coat off in the video on the carpet,'; 'Aren't there laws against this sort of thing???'; 'She's being held hostage.' Not content with garnering the world's attention on the red carpet, West dropped an advert for his Yeezy clothing brand on select broadcasts of the show. The clip showed T-shirts, shoes and sweaters priced at as little as $20 an item. There was also merchandise with the title of the rapper's new album, Bully, on.  Revealed: What Kanye said moments before Bianca's naked Grammys stuntCommenting on this article has endedNewest{{#isModerationStatus}}{{moderationStatus}} Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInPINE BELT (WDAM) - A violent thunderstorm cell that brought straight-line winds as high as 63 miles per hour rushed through the Pine Belt Wednesday evening Concart Street (near 11th Avenue) and Corrine Street (near Sixth Avenue) Another tree came down in the alley between Mamie and Adeline streets between 19th and 20th avenues The city also saw traffic lights go down at Hardy Street/U.S Petal reported a tree had come down on power lines on West 10th Avenue and Mississippi Power said about 40 Petal customers were among its outages Wednesday a tree was reported down at Moselle Seminary Road the sheriff’s office reported a half dozen trees felled but no property damage or injury Covington County Emergency Management Agency director Brennon Chancellor said some 15 to 20 trees had been reported down but the county had not received any reports of injurious or property damage Chancellor said numerous instances of power outages in the southwest part of the county were reported particularly around Seminary and the Richmond community Wednesday power providers in the Pine Belt reported more than 12,500 outages Pearl River Valley chief executive officer/general manager said the majority of his association’s down customers lived in Marion and Lamar counties and lost power because of trees and limbs falling onto power lines “Our crews are busy working to restore power to areas affected by the thunderstorms that hit our service area,” Ware said in a release “We hope to have our member’s service restored in a timely and efficient manner.” WDAM 7 Chief Meteorologist Patrick Bigbie said the storm cell took about two hours to drag itself through the station’s viewing area The highest wind was recorded at Bobby Chain L Chain Municipal Airport at 63 miles per hour This report will be updated as information becomes available Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter You are using an outdated browser. Upgrade your browser today or install Google Chrome Frame to better experience this site Plus: Southwest’s CEO vows to do better this holiday and Walmart accommodates for neurodiversity But when the company abruptly shut down last week it left customers uncertain about what’s to become of their teeth — and their money The Guardian reported that customers are being left in the lurch mid-treatment with the company’s clear aligners still on their teeth but no records to share with other dental professionals to complete the treatment Now I don’t even have any proof that I’ve ever had my smile straightened No other doctor is willing to help me without that proof so the only way I can get help is if I start all over again and I’m freaking out a bit,” one patient told The Guardian The website features an incredibly brusque message informing visitors that no customer service dental service or service of any kind is available — but that patients are still expected to pay up for services they’ll now never receive Their lifetime guarantee has also been discontinued As for refunds: “There will be more information to come once the bankruptcy process determines next steps and additional measures customers can take.” Shuttering operations is obviously a major step that no one takes lightly But given that the company filed for bankruptcy in September this was a scenario that should have come with solutions for customers This is more than just people’s money (though that’s important) — it affects their health and ability to get ongoing treatment SmileDirectClub’s assertion that customers must continue paying without receiving anything in return will certainly be challenged in court This serves as a stark reminder that it’s always good to plan for the very worst-case scenario This is not a task that’s in the hands of comms alone logistics and other departments must be involved But the statement left on SmileDirectClub’s website is impressive in its negligence and apparent callousness given its refusal to offer any help while holding their hand out for payment Brands may avoid going down in quite so many flames if they do right by their customers and people on the way out Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn Topics: Daily Scoop document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "a7270920d09d6a367fe5ee702466e5c6" );document.getElementById("c94c56be9f").setAttribute( "id" Sign up to receive the latest articles from PR Daily directly in your inbox Enter the email you used in your Ragan store purchase Not a member? Join now. We couldn't find the page you were looking for here are some ways to continue your journey: The Court indicated its intention to lay down mandatory guidelines to ensure timely pronouncement of judgments A skateboarder rides down a street in Reykjavik a nation so safe that its president runs errands on a bicycle Ambassador Jeffery Ross Gunter has left locals aghast with his request to hire armed bodyguards He’s also enraged lawmakers by casually and groundlessly hitching Iceland to President Donald Trump’s controversial “China virus” label for the coronavirus Jóhannesson waves as he gets into a car following his inauguration in Reykjavik An exterior view of the US embassy in Reykjavik People go for a swim in the water in Nauthólsvík People walk past the US embassy in Reykjavik and Jón Vigfús play frisbee golf at Klambratrún in downtown Reykjavik People take photos as Iceland’s president Guðni Th Jóhannesson is driven away in a car following his inauguration in Reykjavik Two police officers help themselves to free coffee after standing guard outside the inauguration of Iceland’s president Guðni Th a nation so safe its president runs errands on a bicycle Gunter has also enraged lawmakers by casually and groundlessly hitching Iceland to President Donald Trump’s controversial “China virus” label for the coronavirus But he’s also a contributor to Trump’s campaign and those of other politically connected U.S highlight the risks that come with the peculiarly American institution of handing coveted diplomatic postings to campaign donors and presidential friends who have few other qualifications “America is an extreme outlier in sending inexperienced and unqualified ambassadors,” said Barbara Stephenson ambassador to Panama and ex-president of the American Foreign Service Association Presidential political supporters can make fine diplomats A personal relationship with the president and understanding of his agenda can be an advantage And those clearly unfit are expected to be weeded out through the Senate confirmation process some arrive in their embassies lacking the ability to sidestep controversy posted a photograph of himself visiting a cemetery for German soldiers killed during the two World Wars including Nazi troops who occupied the country Other ambassadors are running roughshod over their more experienced but less senior diplomatic staff has run through at least seven deputies since taking over although the State Department says four of them had been assigned to Reykjavik for only 30-day tours But what really raised eyebrows in Iceland was the embassy’s ad looking for armed bodyguards That was striking in a country that for 13 consecutive years has been deemed the most peaceful country in the world published by the Institute for Economics & Peace Iceland’s National Commissioner Sigridur Gudjonsdottir told The Associated Press last week that police haven’t decided whether to allow the armed bodyguards “We are still weighing the request and assessing the level of potential threat for foreign embassies in Iceland,” she said Embassy Reykjavík remains where it has always been — on strengthening the U.S-Icelandic bilateral relationship which brings so much benefit to both our great nations,” he said “I am honored to be leading our team during this successful period of U.S.-Icelandic appreciation and respect.” The foibles of ambassadors lacking diplomatic experience have surfaced in administrations of both political parties and have long confounded efforts at reform Yet they are attracting greater attention in the Trump era as the percentage of politically connected ambassadors “All nominees for the position of ambassador should be qualified for the job and the number of political appointments should not exceed historical norms,” said Eric Rubin the current president of the foreign service association The Republican administration has defended its ambassadorial choices and pointed to a backlog in Senate confirmations as a reason for the high percentage of non-career envoys Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has criticized Democrats for delays in confirming nominees Some political appointees have been accused of more than being undiplomatic Johnson’s actions regarding the golf tournament have raised questions of whether he violated federal ethics rules There have also been allegations he made racist and sexist comments to which embassy staffers took offense He has told associates he is “mystified” by the complaints of inappropriate behavior which included the summary dismissal of his highly regarded No 2 for making favorable references to former President Barack Obama in speeches Searing mistrust of the State Department and its career diplomats by Trump appointees has been a cause of many internal embassy clashes Trump and his top aides have rejected the long-standing bipartisan foreign policy of his predecessors and they criticize foreign service staff as being part of the entrenched “deep state.” The result is the dismissal of veteran career diplomats — the officials normally seen as valuable resources for first-time ambassadors who have had only cursory diplomatic training has gone through at least two deputy chiefs of mission while the ambassador to the United Nations removed at least one and clashed with her career staff while she was Trump’s envoy to Canada Similar shakeups have occurred in embassies in Germany and South Africa The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week released a report criticizing the administration’s “decimation” of the career diplomatic corps All too often the administration has “smeared them as radical bureaucrats and deep state” agents and shown a “complete and utter disdain for their expertise,” said Menendez “These unwarranted attacks are corrosive to our diplomacy and damaging to our democracy.” 2020 – After years of successful collaboration BorgWarner is expanding the supply of its starter motors to Hyundai in Brazil The company’s PG260A starter motor now equips Hyundai’s HB20 turbo T-GDI versions as well as the Creta’s 1.6-liter Gamma engine aimed at the people with disabilities BorgWarner first began supplying Hyundai with its lightweight starter motors in 2016 on the HB20 1.0-liter Kappa and 1.6-liter Gamma engines “Having the opportunity to expand our partnership with Hyundai is a reflection of BorgWarner’s solid relationship with our customer in addition to our exceptional compliance with quality delivery time and performance standards,” said Adson Silva Director at BorgWarner’s Brusque facility “Hyundai is one of BorgWarner’s premier global partners and we look forward to continuing to supply them with a broad portfolio of cutting-edge reliable and high-quality technologies that meet their needs not only in the Brazilian market Manufactured at the BorgWarner facility in Brusque the PG260A starter motor featuring 0.9 kW power contributes to fuel economy gains and overall vehicle performance the starter motor uses high-density permanent magnets; compact armature; planetary gears reduction; and 10-to-15-teeth impellers providing one of the best power-to-weight ratios on the market The PG260A starter motor featuring 0.9 kW power contributes to fuel economy and weighing less than 2 kg provides one of the best power-to-weight ratios on the market © BorgWarner Inc. | Legal Policies & Privacy | Your Privacy Choices | Site Information | Contact © RTÉ 2025. RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's National Public Service Media. RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. His players break the huddle and then realize Kelly is gone Kelly’s “sincere apologies” are laughable; if he had acted sincerely, he wouldn’t have to apologize at all. He could have called a team meeting two days earlier and said LSU had called and he was considering a move He could have waited to see whether his team has a shot to win the national championship before deciding he wanted to go somewhere else his Cincinnati players showed up for the team banquet and Kelly showed up escorted by two police officers he told the Bearcats he had accepted the Notre Dame job But as receiver Mardy Gilyard told the Cincinnati Enquirer that night: “I feel like there was a little lying in this thing I kind of had a gut feeling that he was going to stay because he told me he was going to be here Kelly was negotiating a contract extension with CMU when he bolted for Cincinnati knew Kelly had been in the running for the Michigan State and Iowa State jobs Heeke had no idea Kelly had interviewed with Cincinnati Heeke quickly addressed the Central Michigan players and announced the interim coach would be Jeff Quinn He had found out Kelly was leaving from another CMU staffer Quinn had been working for Kelly for 18 years “I’m pretty sure everybody was disappointed,” linebacker Doug Kress told me then Kelly was coaching Division II Grand Valley State He had built the Lakers into an absolute juggernaut “I didn’t come to Grand Valley thinking I was going to end my career here in coaching I thought this was one of the stops along the way I have what I consider the finest job in college football I have the opportunity to compete for national championships and not have the trappings of the Division I arena the incredible pressure to win at all costs The coach who did not want “the trappings of the Division I arena” or “the incredible pressure to win at all costs” just agreed to a $95 million contract at a place that fired a coach 21 months after winning a national championship Watch NCAA football games online all season long with fuboTV: Start with a 7-day free trial! Anybody looking at Kelly’s rise can see that every move made some sense Coaches are also entitled to change their minds he and his agent hammered out all the details of his contract Riley told such a blatant lie that USC fans should actually be relieved it’s a lie Do you really want a coach who barely gave any thought to whether he wanted to be there Riley’s move dominated the news cycle until Kelly usurped it. His move to LSU is defensible for both the coach and the school. But then came the stories: of assistants recruiting only to discover that the boss had left and athletic director Jack Swarbrick saying Kelly had never discussed interest from other universities with him But he is 60 years old and still hasn’t learned the decency of an honest goodbye Sports Illustrated may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER If Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was bad for the auto industry that conflict might seem like a speed bump compared with the chaos unleashed by a Chinese invasion of Taiwan Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information 2016 at 9:15 AM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.Ryanair Holdings Plc’s plans for its first-ever flights from Frankfurt sparked a bitter response from Deutsche Lufthansa AG which vowed to fight back against the surprise incursion at Germany’s biggest hub While Ryanair will begin Frankfurt services with just two jets and four routes Europe’s top discount airline sees potential for a bigger operation there Parece que a página que você está procurando não está disponível Andrew Neil is the latest legacy media silverback to become a podcaster Jeremy Paxman hasn’t released a new episode of his podcast The Lock In for almost a year The big beasts of the old BBC do not always settle into podcasting comfortably The medium is chatty and informal; listeners tune in when they like Paxman and Neil made their names with confrontational event TV for audiences who cleared their evenings to watch news-making clashes with fumbling government ministers Paxman ended up stuck in a slightly awkward place between chatty and confrontational This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content month for New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson who in September will mark two years on the job is the first woman to serve as top editor in the Times' 160-year history—had barely begun savoring the four Pulitzer Prizes that her staff had just won (this year's biggest haul for any journalistic outlet) when the Boston Marathon bombings occurred Pulling an all-nighter at one point in the third-floor newsroom of the Times' Renzo Piano–designed Manhattan skyscraper she presided over a breathless week of "flooding the zone" (as one of her predecessors while her reporters and editors managed to avoid the sort of embarrassing errors committed by the Associated Press and even the Times Co.–owned Boston Globe Politico—the Washington trade paper that aims to "drive the conversation"—published a story suggesting that Abramson's young editorship was already a failure Quoting anonymous former and current Times employees Politico claimed she was widely considered "stubborn," "condescending," "difficult to work with," "unreasonable," "impossible," "disengaged," and "uncaring"—"on the verge of losing the support of the newsroom." One staffer confided to media reporter Dylan Byers: "The Times is leaderless right now .. A petite woman who speaks in an exaggerated Upper West Side drawl that evokes The Nanny meets Harvard (where she was active in undergraduate journalism) Abramson was home alone in Tribeca the night the story broke I wasn't completely preoccupied by it anymore chairman] Arthur Sulzberger came down and was very supportive Don't let it get to you.' " The publisher also invoked what he calls the Second Law of Journalism: "It's not your fault Running The New York Times has never been for the faint of heart Abramson's 23 months at the wheel have been punctuated by the death in Syria of Pulitzer Prize–winning foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid a bitter contract dispute with the Newspaper Guild forced buyouts of around 30 midlevel editors including some of the Times' most beloved veterans "I can tell you from personal experience that morale heads into a trough when you're going through one of those," says Bill Keller Abramson's immediate predecessor as executive editor during a period of buyouts and forced retirements to "wearing bloody butcher's smocks." "Some of these people were a serious loss—they carry institutional memory and good will and a sense of how the place works at a human level But it was a smart choice for Jill to do a round [targeting highly paid managers] at least where you were not losing reporters and photographers and copy editors It shows that everybody shares in the pain." unique in an industry plagued by cutbacks and shutdowns Abramson's newsroom is staffed at the same level (around 1,100 employees) as it was a decade ago and boasts 14 national and six regional bureaus plus 25 foreign bureaus—more than at any moment in the paper's history This is in stark contrast to such newspapers as The Washington Post which over the past decade closed all its domestic bureaus and slashed the head count in its newsroom the Times' risky transition from free to metered online access appears to be working: the Web edition boasts more than 700,000 paying subscribers the Times is by no means immune to the generalized angst vexing the news biz as a whole as dead-tree gives way to digital and—at the Times at least—a newly empowered business department (the traditional province of circulation and advertising) appears to be playing an increasingly muscular role in the creation of journalistic content "It's been very challenging and a ton of fun," Abramson tells me a Brit who arrived in November after a decade running the BBC and transforming the government-supported television and radio network into a multiplatform Their mission: "Finding new paid products that we can derive revenue from," Abramson says "and pushing The New York Times as an international news organization and must-read in the same way that the Times went national when no other regional or city paper was attempting that." Abramson says she's been preaching the gospel of vivid writing and what she calls "the story behind the story," instead of a traditional Times tendency to present news and analysis in the "voice of God." She adds: "People in the newsroom and my colleagues know that I put a premium on investigative work." Her close friends in journalism include a circle of successful women book critic Michiko Kakutani (a recent houseguest at Abramson's weekend place in Connecticut) With her voracious appetite for gossip concerning all things media and politics Abramson also is friendly with Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan journalism entrepreneur Steven Brill (one of her early bosses) Bloomberg Media's Al Hunt and Norman Pearlstine and ProPublica's Paul Steiger (the latter three are colleagues from her Wall Street Journal days) she uses some of them as sounding boards as she grapples with running the Times She almost didn't get the chance: in May 2007 Abramson was hit by a truck near the Times building and spent weeks in the hospital recovering from a broken hip and femur among other grave injuries "I do think that almost being killed does help you keep in perspective small setbacks like a Politico story or a difficult personnel issue," Abramson says with flagrant understatement "Or maybe it's just part of the aging process that I've gotten better at that." We are sitting side by side in modernist leather settees on an airy balcony overlooking the sun-dappled company cafeteria metro desk editor Arthur Gregg Sulzberger (whom Abramson has just appointed to lead a "skunk-works" task force to think up new ways "to expand our news offerings digitally") is breaking bread with Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt Some 30 feet away by the 15th-floor elevator bank a middle-aged man in shirtsleeves and loosened tie is pacing feverishly pointing out the multiple Pulitzer winner who shared this year's investigative prize for a series on Walmart's serial bribing of public officials in Mexico has been a valuable asset since he joined the Times in 1999 but he's an ink-stained wretch; it's unlikely his salary matches that of celebrity-statistician Nate Silver the author of the controversial yet eerily prophetic FiveThirtyEight blog—and certainly it's nowhere near what Silver will be pulling down when he leaves the paper to join ESPN after his contract runs out next month recalls a meeting with Silver's lawyer-agent: "The first thing he said to me was 'I'm in a pretty good position because I represent the prettiest girl at the party.' And I looked at him and I made sort of a face 'The New York Times is always the prettiest girl at the party.' " "Nate is invested in the brand of Nate," Abramson says "And I was invested in what I thought was a fabulous combination which is FiveThirtyEight in The New York Times—which I do think greatly increased people's interest in it And in my view he didn't assign enough value to that and that's why we lost him." Silver declined to comment who was generally well liked but never quite shed the skepticism of more conventional newsroom denizens is the most obvious example of a phenomenon at the Times and other outlets: journalists whose personal brands trump the institutions they work for And he's only the latest Times brand name to be poached by a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. a media-and-entertainment empire that doesn't blink at flashing cash given that its market capitalization is around 66 times that of the comparatively puny ($1.78 billion) Times Co National political correspondent Jeff Zeleny and his colleague Susan Saulny were lured to ABC News in February Abramson mentions she's hosting ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer and her boss president of the Disney/ABC Television Group "That how big and open-hearted a person I am," Abramson jokes uniformed maintenance workers begin carrying away chairs and tables to set up for a corporate event and in due course a young guy approaches and tells us we have to leave "I'm the executive editor—I need to be here for a little while," Abramson declares flatly "You can tell your boss to come talk to me As a disciple of Brill at The American Lawyer and Legal Times and later in the Washington office of The Wall Street Journal meticulous investigative reporter and editor; as Washington bureau chief for the Times during the truncated Jayson Blair–afflicted reign of the aforementioned Raines (no ally of Abramson's) she was a skilled and resilient bureaucratic infighter who tended to outlast and outwork her adversaries I've known Abramson professionally since her D.C who attended New York's private Ethical Culture Fieldston School with Abramson and co-authored a bestselling book with her about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was 'Mama' because she used to look after everybody." Keller for whom Abramson worked as managing editor during his eight-year reign "Jill is the one who visits you when you're in the hospital." there is an element of truth to the Politico critique as former Guardian executive Emily Bell argued in a rousing defense of Abramson can be applied (but seldom is) to any number of top male bosses at major news organizations "[I]t fuels an exasperating and wholly sexist narrative about women in power," Bell wrote in the column—one of several by female journalists slamming Politico for similar reasons and obstinate—much like the newspaper she leads whose undisputed excellence and unparalleled influence is accompanied by an institutional arrogance that occasionally bleeds into Times reporters' real-world interactions with lesser souls (be they government officials "I have some concerns about that," Abramson says about allegations of arrogance noting that one of the Times' missions is to "hold powerful institutions accountable .. I don't think that the reporters do that with arrogance .. I do think a really healthy thing for most journalists is to be written about—because then you have a sense of what it feels like." Abramson acknowledges that "there's 'Good Jill' and there's 'Bad Jill.'" When Arthur Sulzberger conducted her job interview for executive editor—the fourth he has appointed since taking over as publisher from his father in 1992—she admitted to occasional "brusqueness." and all of us have our faults and our flaws," Sulzberger tells me "And when you're looking for someone to be a leader one of the things you're looking for is self-awareness Not to suggest you're looking for perfection I can be that way; I'm focused on it; I recognize it.' " says he picked Abramson "first and foremost because of her extraordinary journalistic skills she knows a story the way the top editors of the news organization should She's also got leadership." He insists he barely considered her gender and the historic nature of the appointment "That's not what drove the decision in the slightest," he says "It is important that we have women and people of color in positions of authority at the newspaper—and we do—but that can't be a factor in why you're going to choose the person to be the leader." (Abramson's No the former top editor of the Los Angeles Times In a conspicuous display of support for his much-scrutinized executive editor Sulzberger invited Newsweek to breakfast in his corporate dining room along with Thompson who insists he isn't distracted by persistent criticism in the U.K for his handling of an in-house sex-abuse scandal and expensive severance packages while at the BBC recalls meeting with Abramson and Sulzberger in October It was when the Times was putting the finishing touches on its Pulitzer-winning series exposing corruption among the Chinese political elite What do you think we should do?' " Thompson tells me as Sulzberger chuckles which focused on billions of dollars in personal wealth amassed and controlled by family members of Chinese then-premier Wen Jiabao would have grave consequences for the Times Co.'s business interests in the rich Chinese market including a recently launched Chinese-language web edition I knew the right answer: 'Print it!' " (Abramson confirms that she was watching Thompson closely: "I wanted to know: 'Are you a man or a mouse?' ") Chinese authorities swiftly blocked access from the mainland to the Times' English and Chinese websites and Sulzberger has spent the past nine months trying to get it restored but that's the business we're in," he says "I've had a lot of conversations with them." a nonjournalist with a background at AOL/Huffington Post and Fox Digital Studios to be general manager of the Times' video department with authority over content in what increasingly is seen as an advertising and revenue driver who reports both to Abramson and digital-products executive vice president Denise Warren a potentially troubling intrusion of commercial interests into journalism—especially as her staff occupies more and more desks on the news floor this was called 'creating a new section,' " he says by way of analogy "And you got together a team from the news and the business sides and they would work together collectively to create a new section there was no question: that was the ad department the news department consults the business side about a new section but then designs and executes the new section independently With the video department's organizational chart "It's a new structural approach to jobs here," Abramson says noting that Times design director Tom Bodkin "I'm sensitive to the concerns," Abramson says "and have not seen any hint of a collision between the two sides of the Times." she installed assistant managing editor Rick Berke as the journalistic overseer of the video operation Berke has no formal authority over content—that's Howard's prerogative—but she has effectively delegated to him the responsibility for day-to-day video production serving as her buffer and interpreter to her sometimes cowed underlings when she was Washington bureau chief and managing editor But after Baquet was named Abramson's managing editor Berke talked to The Washington Post about a possible top management position Abramson was angry at Berke because she heard he was also trying to steal then-metropolitan editor Carolyn Ryan an Abramson favorite and currently political editor adding that his video duties "are vitally important to me." (Berke declined to comment.) In other pressing business concerns for the Times Co. Sulzberger has been trying to unload The Boston Globe and the Worcester which are likely to fetch a tiny fraction of the more than a billion dollars he paid for them decades ago; this fall the Paris-based International Herald Tribune—which had been jointly owned with The Washington Post until the Times Co staged a takeover in 2003—will be rebranded The International New York Times which had $866 million in cash and securities as of the most recent quarterly report stopped paying dividends in 2009 and has no plans to resume them—a potential worry if Sulzberger's stock-holding relatives start feeling financially stressed "The family was totally united around the decision" to cease dividends And their commitment to the institution is that powerful." He adds: "We get more pressure Are more employee buyouts in the newsroom's future "Those are the kinds of questions that are almost impossible to answer," Sulzberger says noting that while the newsroom has been restructured but not downsized the business department has suffered "really dramatic cuts" over the years "You tell me what the economy's going to be like two years from now and maybe we can talk." Sulzberger is quick to dismiss continual talk that some multibillionaire media mogul such as Mayor Mike Bloomberg will one day buy the Times What a shock," Sulzberger says sarcastically By the time Abramson is required to relinquish the helm at the end of 2019 Sulzberger envisions a Times that is "more global and has really broken the code on mobile"—that is how to unleash revenue streams from smartphones and tablets might have to leave her current job in six years but she doesn't see herself ever stopping work I always felt a little happy that my husband and I never had much money I never had to go through the should-I-stay-at-home conversation because I really liked it." She adds: "They're gonna have to take me out feet first Newsletters in your inbox See all Mothers of two homicide victims paint an unflattering picture of how Wilmington police treated their families at shooting scenes and during investigations saying officers can be callous and unreachable The report also criticized investigators for not providing updates to victims' families or even making them wait weeks "I think they treated us like crap," said Keesa Anderson just outside the Hicks Anderson Community Center in Wilmington's West Center City Lanita Brooks said police showed little sympathetic at the scene of her son's Feb 16 fatal shooting at 24th and Carter streets The experiences of Anderson and Brooks were far different The Jacksons said their lead detective was in constant contact with them and shed tears when he told them prosecutors wouldn't authorize an arrest The consultants' report is urging that more officers act the way the Jacksons described their encounters with Det can build the good will needed to help police solve cases and foster better relationships with a community that often views them with distrust and sees them as uncaring Anderson said her family became aware of the 7 p.m shooting shortly after a graphic photograph of Goins with the caption "head shot," was posted on Instagram and widely emailed as well as "Rest in Peace" messages left on social networks said police threatened to arrest her ex-husband as he tried to get close enough to see if the victim was their son It was only after she kept showing a picture of her son and asking police if that was the victim that the parents were ushered to a squad car and taken to police headquarters offering them water but they were kept in a room for hours and told nothing Periodically an officer would tell the them to stay in the room instead of pacing around the hallway "Are we under arrest?" Anderson remembers asking the officer when an officer came up to the family carrying her son's ID and confirmed he was the victim The family was never asked to identify the body and didn't see his corpse until it was at the funeral home awaiting to be embalmed Anderson said she hears names and possible leads on why her son was killed The last time she heard from police was after she and other members of the Sweep the Streets group she helped form lodged complaints with Mayor Dennis Williams she said the mayor spoke about his own career as a city police detective Anderson said she hears more from the Attorney General's victim services unit than police adding she has no clue about the investigation's status you need to have some kind of communication with your community." arrived at the scene where her son Deshon Sellers was killed beating police and emergency workers there As officers began placing crime tape to stop others from contaminating the crime scene other relatives arrived and asked to see Sellers She tries to provide leads to her son's detective but then it seems like they've slacked off," she said Brooks said her family met again with the detective about two weeks ago that meeting gave her some comfort and assurances that their son's killing was not being overlooked They went to the barbershop after Jackson was shot several times Sowden wouldn't let them inside but he took the time to talk to them outside the scene as well as ask them respectfully about their son's possible money problems "He seemed like he was a good guy," Kenneth Jackson said Sowden didn't have much information that day but assured them police were working hard to bring them justice "He told me 'We'll find them,' " Cecelia Jackson remembers hearing Sowden often communicated with the Jacksons "He's the only one who kept in touch and we called constantly," she said photos and the fact that they had found DNA at the scene "I thought the DNA was a slam dunk," Kenneth Jackson said But the case unraveled after a witness lied His actions throughout the entire case left the family feeling like someone cared about them and their son despite that he'd had brushes with the law that included a bank robbery he spoke of Kenny well," Cecelia Jackson recalls He was determined to find out what happened to him I think he would do it for a bum on the street." Both parents urged other officers to adopt Sowden's approach saying more people would respect the force "If they had a lot more like him," Ceceilia said " I think a lot of families would be more at ease knowing that somebody is working hard on their side." Staff reporter Esteban Parra contributed to this story Contact senior reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785 President Donald Trump capped his first official visit to Brussels with a commanding — and meandering — speech at NATO’s new headquarters in which he berated allies for not spending enough on defense insisted that even NATO’s goal of increasing annual military expenditures to 2 percent of GDP was insufficient and provocatively declared that some allies “owed” arrears for years of lagging contributions Trump’s remarks were also notable for what he did not say: to the consternation of some allies Trump once again did not explicitly endorse NATO’s common defense principle — that an attack on one is an attack on all “NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations for 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense,” Trump said standing outside NATO’s gleaming new headquarters with fellow leaders of the alliance watching on uncomfortably “This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years,” said Trump who also appeared to push his way to the front of the leaders’ group as the opening ceremony for the new building began “Two percent is the bare minimum for confronting today’s very real and very vicious threats” — U.S “We should recognize that with these chronic underpayments and growing threats even 2 percent of GDP is insufficient to close the gaps in modernizing “We have to make up for the many years lost Two percent is the bare minimum for confronting today’s very real and very vicious threats.” Trump’s insistence that certain allies “owe” has already chafed at some leaders particularly German Chancellor Angela Merkel who visited Washington and was told by Trump that her country owes “vast sums.” Germany is the wealthiest country not currently meeting the NATO spending goal but officials in Berlin have reacted angrily to Trump’s tone and his strict cash basis approach to measuring contributions to the alliance German officials have noted with some annoyance that Trump seems not to grasp how NATO financing works particularly that each nation is judged on the money it spends on its own military and that a 2014 pledge to move toward 2 percent of GDP in annual military spending was voluntary German officials have also noted that it is impossible to quantify the value to the United States or NATO of having American forces weapons and equipment stationed on German soil as they have been for decades or the value of lives lost in NATO military operations such as the war in Afghanistan which he began by decrying the recent terror attack in Manchester and leading NATO leaders in a moment of silence for the victims It was part of a dedication ceremony for a memorial to the 9/11 terrorist attacks a twisted steel beam from the fallen World Trade Center site which is intended as a reminder that the only time NATO invoked its collective defense clause was after that attack in the United States in September 2001 And Trump began the ceremony to officially open the new NATO headquarters with an even more aggressive and unexpected move appearing to physically shove Montenegro’s Prime Minister Duško Marković out of the way to get to the front of the group and stand next to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg seemed to react with a surprised smirk as Trump clapped Marković on the shoulder and muscled his way to the front of the group The president then demonstratively squared his shoulders puffed his chest and straightened his suit jacket James Mattis meet with officials during a meeting at the EU headquarters during a NATO meeting in Brussels | Pool photo by Stephanie Lecocq/AFP via Getty Trump’s tough remarks on military spending were widely expected but there was an open question about the tone he would use and whether he would couple his criticism with a strong endorsement of NATO’s collective defense clause His comments on spending were also expected to come at a closed-door leaders’ dinner rather than in a public speech during the memorial dedication ceremony Some of the leaders clearly seemed taken aback and several smiled nervously when Trump punctuated his lecture on spending by declaring: “And I never asked once what the new NATO headquarters cost it was a bizarre and striking display of an American president claiming magnanimity on the world stage NATO’s existing headquarters has lasted long past its intended use with nearly 20 percent of the campus made up of portable structures (Officials also insist that the new headquarters cost slightly less than originally projected.) Trump had raised doubts about his willingness as president to come to the aid of an ally under attack — unless allies made good on their financial commitments to NATO Pressed on Trump’s seeming unwillingness to commit to Article 5 telling reporters that doubts of Trump’s commitment were “almost laughable” and that his visit was evidence of his support for NATO’s core tenets Spicer also described the overall NATO meeting as a victory for Trump “It was a very positive reaction and affirmation of the president’s priorities today,” he told reporters traveling with the president But Trump’s tirade about allies who “owe” debts left Stoltenberg in an uncomfortable and defensive position that Trump’s “blunt” message on spending was well-received by other leaders and that the focus of discussions was the 2014 pledge suggest there was at least some dispute with Trump’s framing of the spending question The secretary-general said the alliance would not just measure a country’s commitment in cash “The national plans will cover three major areas: cash While Trump’s remarks at the public portion of the event went on longer than expected his main themes — defense spending and terrorism — had been expected by everyone What could not have been predicted was the attack in Manchester that killed 22 and injured dozens more providing a grim backdrop for the president’s push for NATO to take on more responsibility in fighting terror threats telling her “All of the nations here today grieve with you and stand with you.” And he called for a moment of silence “All people who cherish life must unite in finding and removing these killers and extremists — and He also claimed to have received a commitment from Middle Eastern leaders that they would fight radical ideologies The 2 percent goal is more complicated than Trump’s remarks indicated “This call for driving out terrorism is a message I took to a historic gathering of Arab and Muslim leaders across the region adding: “The leaders of the Middle East have agreed at this unprecedented meeting to stop funding the radical ideology that leads to this horrible terrorism all over the globe.” The Manchester attack also created another unexpected and with May expressing anger and dismay over leaks government official said: “The prime minister raised the issue of the intelligence leaks with the president while they were waiting for the family photo to be taken The prime minister expressed her view that the intelligence-sharing relationship with the U.S is hugely important and valuable but obviously the intelligence needs to be kept secure.” The official would not characterize Trump’s reaction but there was no mistaking the weight of the apparent breach coming on the heels of Trump’s own divulging of secret intelligence to senior Russian officials in an apparent break with protocol and etiquette Trump moved on to his harangue on spending the United States spent more on defense than all other NATO countries combined,” he said in a stinging rebuke to Stoltenberg who has worked hard to convince Trump that NATO is making good progress the president insisted that even NATO’s existing goals were insufficient “Two percent is the bare minimum for confronting today’s very real and very vicious threats,” Trump said the pledge calls for allies to move voluntarily toward spending 2 percent of annual GDP on defense and also for 20 percent of that spending to be investments in equipment The second provision is a way of ensuring that the new money helps increase military capacity Stoltenberg had hoped to send Trump on to the G7 talks in Sicily with two clear victories: a commitment that each country falling short on spending would develop a plan by the end of this year show how they would meet the target and efforts to beef up NATO’s role in fighting terrorism  “We will agree to establish a new terrorism intelligence cell here at NATO headquarters,” Stoltenberg said Thursday morning And we will decide to appoint a coordinator to oversee NATO’s efforts in the fight against terrorism.” Once upon a time, Alexey Navalny wanted to be a normal politician in a normal country. Now that’s just a fantasy. There is growing international pressure not to back treaty that would allow Iranians convicted in Belgium to serve their sentences in Iran. Leaders grapple with new threats and challenges. At the annual City University Journalism School dinner I did not give a moment’s thought to why Jill Abramson an announcement from the Times hit my e-mail less than three years after she was appointed the first woman in the top job Baquet will be the first African-American to lead the Times Fellow-journalists and others scrambled to find out what had happened In a speech to the newsroom on Wednesday afternoon “I chose to appoint a new leader of our newsroom because I believe that new leadership will improve some aspects …” Abramson chose not to attend the announcement and not to pretend that she had volunteered to step down “It is simply not true that Jill’s compensation was significantly less than her predecessors,” he wrote “Her pay is comparable to that of earlier executive editors.”] Whether Abramson was right or wrong “She found out that a former deputy managing editor”—a man—“made more money than she did” while she was managing editor was in fact the managing editor of news operations.] “She had a lawyer make polite inquiries about the pay and pension disparities Sulzberger’s frustration with Abramson was growing She had already clashed with the company’s C.E.O. over native advertising and the perceived intrusion of the business side into the newsroom Thompson and Abramson denied that there was any tension between them as Sulzberger today declared that there was no church-state—that is A politician who made such implausible claims might merit a front-page story in the Times The two men and Abramson clearly did not get along too: Abramson was pushing to hire a deputy managing editor to oversee the digital side of the Times She believed that she had the support of Sulzberger and Thompson to recruit this deputy and her supporters say that the plan was for the person in this position to report to Baquet Baquet is a popular and respected figure in the newsroom Baquet said he found her hard to work with.) He is also someone whom Sulzberger passed over when he chose Abramson But Baquet apparently felt that he hadn’t been consulted He had also reportedly been approached by Bloomberg about a job there (Baquet has not yet responded to a request for comment; neither has Abramson.) speaking to the newsroom after his appointment Abramson for teaching him ‘the value of great ambition’ and then added that John Carroll whom he worked for at The Los Angeles Times ‘told me that great editors can also be humane editors.’” The story in question has been held since last fall prompting the resignation of three journalists.] Even though she thought she was politely asking about the pay discrepancy and about the role of the business side and that she had a green light from management to hire a deputy to Baquet and reportedly told her that it was time to make “a change.” Read Ken Auletta’s Profile of Abramson, from 2011, and watch a video of their conversation at last year’s New Yorker Festival. Inside FilmSigourney Weaver: How classmate Meryl Streep’s shadow continues to loom over herThe Alien actor is starring in My New York Year – which is out in UK cinemas this week. But despite carving her niche as one of the most important action heroines of her era, she’s overlooked, says Geoffrey Macnab and always seems to be dangling a cigarette in her fingers that she never inhales “At ease!” She will bark at her terrified assistants as if she is a commanding officer who has just inspected her troops In truth, this isn’t one of Weaver’s more memorable movies. It’s a bland and slightly stilted story told from the point of view of a precocious young writer, played by Margaret Qualley who has just been hired to work at the agency She brings pathos and depth to a character who seems like a grotesque caricature of a New York literary grande dame She has her share of Golden Globe nominations and awards but given the scandal currently surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) which organises the awards they don’t count for as much today as they once did Stars from Tom Cruise to Scarlett Johansson have been attacking HFPA for its perceived corruption and lack of diversity while broadcaster NBC confirmed this month it won’t be showing the awards next year It’s instructive to compare her career with that of her exact contemporary Both are the same age and from similar backgrounds where they appeared on stage together several times Streep has three Oscars and a staggering 21 nominations – 18 more than Weaver She still gets the first pick of all the best roles while Weaver has rarely been in serious awards contention over the last decade while Streep was being given all the plum parts Weaver was being warned by her drama teachers that she didn’t have the talent to make it professionally “I still think they probably had this Platonic ideal of a leading lady that I have never been able to live up to,” Weaver later said of her teachers was acknowledged as a prodigy by even her fellow students “Slowly but surely,” her biographer Michael Schulman writes they realised she “could outdo them in almost everything.” They trailed behind her then and it sometimes seems as if Weaver is still following in Streep’s wake However, a strong counter-argument can also be made that Weaver is the bigger movie star. According to Box Office Mojo, her films have grossed well over $3bn in the US and Canada alone, which is more than Streep’s pictures have managed. When James Cameron’s long-delayed Avatar sequels the box office gap between Weaver and Streep is bound to widen yet further Thanks to Alien and her recurring role as the talented and infinitely resourceful Ellen Ripley she has long since carved her niche as one of the most important action heroines of her era Weaver may have come from a privileged background but her acting career got off to an erratic start One of the stranger details about her is that when she was doing her BA in English Studies at Stanford University in the early 1970s she expressed her counter-cultural credentials by living in a treehouse and turning up for classes dressed as an elf She appeared in radical student plays that were sometimes staged in unusual locations A profile of her in the Stanford College magazine has a vivid account of one show put on in a San Francisco high school car park Weaver performed in her share of obscure off-Broadway plays working with her former Yale College classmate Christopher Durang on a “crackpot Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill cabaret” called Das Lusitania Songspiel and appearing in Durang’s one-hour play Durang’s website has a picture of her as “the vivacious captain’s daughter” cheerfully blurting out her “history of bizarre sexual behaviour” to an alarmed looking passenger on the deck of the doomed ocean liner Early on, Streep’s shadow continued to loom over Weaver. Both were cast at the start of their film careers in Woody Allen movies Weaver had a blink and you’ll miss her cameo as Allen’s date at the end of Annie Hall (1977) She is seen for a few seconds alongside the controversial actor-director-comedian outside a cinema showing Marcel Ophuls’s wartime documentary about France during the Nazi occupation You half suspect that Allen only cast her because she was so tall – and so she could tower over him in comic fashion in long shot When Streep appeared in Manhattan (1979) two years later, she had a much more prominent part. She played Allen’s embittered ex-wife, now writing a book about their turbulent marriage and who has come out as a lesbian since leaving him. Streep steals her scenes with Allen – and he lets her get away with it. The film was far more useful for her as a calling card than Annie Hall ever was for Weaver Director Ridley Scott told Entertainment Weekly that he first considered Weaver for her breakthrough role as Ripley in Alien after a tip-off from Warren Beatty It felt like I was going out for dinner with Mummy,” Scott later remembered He hired her “because of her strength and intelligence” She was playing a part originally written for a male actor: one of the most resourceful crew members aboard the space ship Nostromo after the malevolent creature explodes out of John Hurt’s stomach and goes on its killing spree “The idea of making the hero a heroine was truly a masterstroke because we fully expect Sigourney to be the first one to go Sigourney was great because she has such presence and authority,” Scott said of his star’s breakthrough performance She was brilliant in the film – and in its sequels She played Ripley with such ferocity and commitment that there was never any sense she was slumming it steely determination with which she blasts away at the Alien Queen’s eggs at the end of Cameron’s Aliens (1986) before eventually flushing the monster through a shaft into outer space the Alien series still defines Weaver’s career You’d far rather see her in full armoured Ripley mode yelling “get her away from her you bitch” at her reptilian antagonist than listen to her making high-minded literary small talk in My New York Year she has given fine performances in plenty of other movies in all conceivable genres There have been relationship-based dramas like Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and sci-fi comedies like Galaxy Quest slapstick inanity of Ghostbusters and made an unlikely foray into the erotic thriller realm with Half Moon Street She was understated but very moving as the grandmother looking after the kid with the dying mother in A Monster Calls She held her own with all the hairy primates when cast as conservationist Dian Fossey in Michael Apted’s Gorillas in the Mist Weaver doesn’t have her old classmate’s facility for putting on extravagant foreign accents her films haven’t generally gained as much favour with critics and awards voters as those made by Streep she is a pioneering figure who gatecrashed the world of the action movie and transformed ideas about gender and machismo in the process more than 40 years after the first Alien film she is performing physical feats well beyond the capacity of most of her contemporaries while making the latest batch of Avatar movies Weaver shot multiple scenes underwater and was trained by a specialist military coach to hold her breath “after a big breath of supplemental oxygen” More aboutSigourney WeaverMeryl StreepJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies {"adUnitPath":"71347885/_main_independent/gallery","autoGallery":true,"disableAds":true,"gallery":[{"data":{"title":"shutterstock_editorial_11888336c.jpg","description":"Editorial use only. No book cover usage.\r\nMandatory Credit: Photo by Memento Films/Moviestore/Shutterstock (11888336c)\r\nSigourney Weaver\r\nMy Salinger Year - 2020","caption":"Sigourney Weaver is playing the brusque boss of the literary agency that represents reclusive writer JD Salinger, in ‘My New York Year’ Sigourney Weaver is playing the brusque boss of the literary agency that represents reclusive writer JD Salinger, in ‘My New York Year’ But despite carving her niche as one of the most important action heroines of her era Sano Pizza needs to sharpen up both its food and its staffing if it is going to succeed in delivering a good experience for diners ‘The government will no longer remain a hostage to the courts,’ Robert Abela said to justify his U-turn on calls for a public inquiry into the Jean Paul Sofia case But what really lies behind the turn of events It remains to be seen whether Abela’s U-turn has arrested the haemorrhage of trust in Labour’s own heartlands HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – With an escalating U.S a faltering economy and tensions in the South China Sea vexing her bosses in Beijing Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam appeared in no mood to compromise on a planned extradition law at recent meetings according to foreign envoys and business people who met with her Some of the people at those meetings in recent weeks pointed to media reports that even Hong Kong’s usually reticent judges were worried about the proposed law which threatened to send people for trial in mainland China for the first time But Lam bluntly dismissed concerns about a Chinese justice system that is widely criticized for forced confessions Worries over the bill’s impact on Hong Kong’s international standing as a financial hub with a respected legal system were building in Washington but Lam stressed the need for the extradition law to help solve the murder of a Hong Kong woman in Taiwan “She needed a dinghy and she deployed the Titanic,” one diplomat who met Lam this month told Reuters declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue Lam was unyielding on the need for the bill despite huge and sometimes violent street protests including one last Sunday that organizers said drew more than a million people Lam suddenly announced the bill had been postponed indefinitely She told a news conference she felt “deep sorrow and regret that the deficiencies in our work and various other factors have stirred up substantial controversies and disputes in society” Hong Kong’s self-styled Iron Lady had cracked having apparently created an entirely fresh crisis for President Xi Jinping – and the city’s biggest since Britain handed it over to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee its freedoms and autonomy would be preserved Clues to the catalyst for the about-face may lie in a reported meeting between Lam and China’s Vice-Premier Han Zheng According to Hong Kong’s Sing Tao newspaper Lam had a clandestine emergency meeting with Han a member of the Politburo’s seven-person Standing Committee Lam on Saturday refused to confirm or deny that it had taken place Beijing’s grip over Hong Kong has intensified markedly since Chinese President Xi Jinping took power in 2012 and after the city’s protracted 2014 pro-democracy street protests He warned in 2017 that any attempts to undermine Chinese sovereignty were a “red line” that Beijing would not allow to be crossed – warnings that reinforced his strongman image amongst Hong Kongers diplomats and analysts had not expected Beijing to allow any backdown on the bill unlike in 2003 when contentious national security laws were scrapped after half a million people took to the streets But a source in Beijing with ties to China’s leadership who meets regularly with senior officials said the Hong Kong government had handled the extradition saga badly And while a backdown from Beijing on the bill seemed near inconceivable just a week ago the violence and escalating unrest forced their hand “The outcome doesn’t bear thinking about if this situation wasn’t turned around,” the source said also declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter The source added that Beijing now had severe doubts about Lam’s capabilities China’s State Council and the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment said Lam had caused Xi “major embarrassment” at a time that is not helpful for him given trade tensions with the United States president Donald Trump at the month’s end at the G20 summit in Japan “Xi is not a leader who tolerates failures of officials,” Tsang said Retired senior Hong Kong government official Joseph Wong said he was shocked by Beijing’s U-turn but the situation had become so untenable that he believed it had led to a recalculation by Han after meeting Lam in Shenzhen “I suspect … he (Han) would have had to consider are we prepared to continue to fire rubber bullets or even real bullets in order to get this through and what would be the implications for the central government internationally Lam has refused calls from the opposition and protestors to step down but her ability to govern has been questioned on numerous fronts including her failure to gauge the pulse in Hong Kong and Taiwan’s refusal to accept any extradition bill undermining her core argument the bill would resolve the Taiwan murder case Political scientist Tsang said he did not expect Lam to last much longer as leader “I think Carrie Lam’s days are numbered…Beijing cannot afford to sack her right away because that would be an indication of weakness They would have to allow for a bit of decent interlude.” were forced to truncate their terms of office from various controversies linked to policies that stoked fears of Chinese encroachment on the city’s freedoms Lam has asked for time so that the bill can be properly deliberated “Give us another chance and we will do this thing well,” she told Saturday’s news conference she said: “They have confidence in my judgment and they support me.” Powered by PageSuite