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d071e2c5-4832-4399-878b-4931e4b188fe | null | A tenth person has died as a result of a helicopter crashing into a Glasgow pub last month, Scottish police said Thursday. Joe Cusker, 59, had been receiving treatment from the November 29 incident.JUST WATCHEDDeath toll rises in helicopter pub crashReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDeath toll rises in helicopter pub crash 01:24"Our thoughts are with families at this difficult time and we will continue to provide support to them as we have done for all of the bereaved," Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick of Police Scotland said in a statement.The Clutha Bar was packed with about 150 people listening to a band when the helicopter plunged into it on a Friday night. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
e071d308-0e7b-4365-b1b9-692bd3ad205c | null | (CNN)At this point in the Covid-19 pandemic, we each have our own list of our biggest coronavirus concerns. But there's one question that unites many of us, and that's "What is the next school year going to look like?"The answer to that question will depend on where you live -- and not just because that determines what state rules and regulations will apply.As usual with the coronavirus, the pandemic has compounded problems that existed before it emerged -- especially for Black folks and people of color. And if you want to find an institution that demonstrates that reality, there may not be a better place to look than America's public school system. We need to address the digital divide causing an educational crisisRight now, there are about 98,500 public schools across the US with nearly 51 million students enrolled. But those schools are not created equal, because the US relies heavily on state and local resources -- like property taxes -- to fund public education.The ratio of how much federal, state and local money is used varies across the country. But according to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 45% of public school funding across the US comes from local sources -- and mainly from property taxes.Read MoreYou can of course already see how this leads to inequity. If your public school is located a block from Jeff Bezos' house, his property taxes alone are going to give that school the best of everything -- and probably some new things that aren't even on the market yet.But if your public school is located a block from subsidized housing - unless that subsidized housing is the White House - your school will not have the best of everything. As Anthony Abraham Jack, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, explained to me, "To understand where students are going, you have to know where they come from. ... A zip code can tell you so much more about where a child is going to end up than any other fact that you can learn about that child."Teachers and students shouldn't be Covid-19 experiments in the fallAnd that was before Covid-19. So while all public schools are working hard to figure out how to respond to the pandemic, unequal funding means there will be very different levels of what that response looks like.I saw how this reality affects students even before the pandemic hit. Last fall, I spent time in southeastern Ohio, visiting Mayfair Elementary and Shaw High School in East Cleveland, as well as Shaker High School in Shaker Heights, for tonight's episode of "United Shades of America."The impact of leaning primarily on state and local funding is clear when you look at Shaw High School in the predominantly Black and overwhelmingly economically depressed city of East Cleveland, and then take the short drive to Shaker High in the racially mixed but economically doing-much-better city of Shaker Heights.How you can helpThe Urban League of Cleveland offers education and youth development programs throughout Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The organization has two hallmark programs benefiting youth: Kids College, which aids in-school literacy enrichment and Project Ready-Career Beginnings, which helps make Cleveland high school students more competitive in the global economy. United Way of Greater Cleveland provides after-school tutoring and mentoring programs that build on what children learn in school and give them confidence, skills and relationships.The Lebron James Family Foundation, through its I PROMISE Program, provides students in the greater Cleveland area with programs, support and mentors to succeed in school and beyond. Impact Your World is CNN's network-wide initiative which informs and empowers those who ask: "What can I do to help?"While Shaw is "hacking the system" by teaching career and tech courses that can give students the opportunity to make adult wages as nursing assistants and hair stylists, over at Shaker Heights students are encouraged to spend their after-school time with activities that would make a well-rounded college application -- including a video game club. A VIDEO GAME CLUB!!! Although nothing says, "We are doing all right financially!" more than a school with a planetarium. Shaker has that too.I don't want to imply that Shaker is a perfect high school; money doesn't fix everything. The US has liberally sprinkled racism all over our society, which helps create a gap in achievement between Black and White students that remains no matter how much cash you drop on it. The Glossary of Education Reform defines the achievement gap as "any significant and persistent disparity in academic performance or educational attainment between different groups of students, such as white students and minorities, for example, or students from higher-income and lower-income households." The same achievement gap that Black students deal with at Shaw, the Black students deal with at Shaker; it is just a deeper and more profound gap at the school with fewer resources.And for those of you who read this and say, "Why should my taxes have to pay for public schools? I don't even have kids," consider these questions from veteran Shaw High School teacher Monique Davis.Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook"If we don't educate our younger generation, then what does that generation become?" she said to me during filming for "United Shades of America." "Because if you don't have an education, what do you do for income? What do you do for housing? What do you do to maintain a life?"To me, it feels like we shouldn't have this disparity for the millions of students enrolled in public schools across the country. If parents want to fund their kids' local institution, that's fine -- but that shouldn't make the difference between having a good school and a bad one, and definitely not in the middle of a pandemic. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
781b6a69-bc5d-4a79-9389-700b655d0fd1 | null | Stockholm, Sweden (CNN)The Swedish general election is too close to call as two centrist coalitions race to a photo finish, their votes split by a surge in support for a far-right party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement.With votes in more than 98% of around 6,000 districts already counted, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's ruling centre-left Social Democrats and their allies have taken 40.6%, a hair's breadth in front of the center-right alliance's 40.3%. With just around 100 districts left to count, those numbers could change only marginally.Jimmie Akesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, votes in Stockholm on Sunday. The unaligned far-right Sweden Democrats have capitalized on growing anti-migrant sentiment after an influx of refugees in 2015 rattled the political landscape in one of the world's most liberal nations. The party gained 17.6% of the vote, up from 12.9% in the previous 2014 elections, showing the Scandinavian country steering to the right. An exit poll by state broadcaster SVT had earlier forecast a "dead heat" between the two alliances. The final results will determine whether Europe will hang onto one of its few left-wing governments. As Sweden flirts with the far right, Europe holds its breathThe exit poll showed the Sweden Democrats would become the second-biggest party in the country -- but with almost all the districts counted, that outcome appears impossible.Read MoreThe Sweden Democrats' leader, Jimmie Åkesson, celebrated his party's boost as a major electoral success in a speech after most of the votes had been counted. "We are not satisfied. We see that we are this election's winner, but now we enter a new mandate period and now we are going to get influence over Swedish politics for real," he said, according to Expressen TV. The results push the country into a period of uncertainty, and long political negotiations are undoubtedly about to begin.Migration a game-changerThe results show Sunday's vote was one of the toughest challenges in decades to Sweden's social democracy, characterized by its high tax rates and substantial welfare system, aimed at reducing inequality through social inclusion.The rise of the far right in Sweden mirrors similar trends in other European nations following the mass migration of refugees to Europe in 2015, at the height of the Syrian war. Anti-migrant parties in Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary and Italy have all made gains in recent years. Sweden is voting in a pivotal election. Here's how it stacks up to Europe on the key issuesBut Sweden was once particularly welcoming to refugees. The issue of migration became highly politicized after the country of 10.1 million people took in more than 160,000 asylum-seekers in 2015 alone.The Sweden Democrats want to freeze migration and have pushed for the country to leave the European Union. Senior Social Democrats official Anders Ygeman conceded that the crisis had damaged his coalition's prospects. "We paid the price for being in government. We suffered from the refugee crisis in 2015. That's why the Sweden Democrats are as big as they seem to be," he told CNN in Stockholm. Voter Anton Loin said Swedes were increasingly looking for political alternatives. "I think that it shows that people are disappointed with how the country is run, and they are rooting for something, they want something different, but it's not necessarily the best kind of different," he said of the far right's rise. View this post on Instagram Tuva Sundh just voted. Her top election issues were the environment and the economy. When I asked her how important immigration was and the rise of the Sweden Democrats she said: "I am concerned because I think that integration is an important issue. But I'm not sure about the way of the Sweden Democrats." She continued, "I think it's healthy to have debate. But I do think it's become too heated in this election." A post shared by @ atikacnn on Sep 9, 2018 at 3:10am PDT
Voter Tuva Sundh said she was concerned about integration. "But I'm not sure about the way of the Sweden Democrats. I think it's healthy to have debate. But I do think it's become too heated in this election."Leaders in Brussels will be disappointed with the party's surge ahead of the European Parliament's elections in May next year, as they bid to discourage euroskepticism following Brexit, and as populist parties form alliances to shake up the EU establishment ahead of the vote.Far-right populists in Europe, however, were celebrating the Sweden Democrats' rise. Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right euroskeptic National Rally, said on Twitter: "Another bad night for the European Union in perspective. The democratic revolution in Europe is underway!"Voters marking their choices a polling station in Stockholm on Sunday. The Social Democrats and its allies have tried to appease anti-migrant sentiment in the country by urging more integration programs and resources for refugees in marginalized communities, and to help them access education.The center-right Moderates had pledged to give more funds to the police, and pushed for Swedish migration policy to fall in line with laws in other EU countries, such as Denmark and Germany. This would mean that migrants won't be able to stay unless they can prove that they can support themselves, enabling them to get a permanent residence permit. They were also looking at ways of more quickly incorporating migrants into the workforce, such as promoting "simple jobs," a reference to work that can be obtained with only an elementary education.CNN's Atika Shubert and journalist Linnéa Wannefors reported from Stockholm. CNN's Angela Dewan wrote from London and Samantha Beech contributed from Atlanta. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
2d171c6b-6d09-4966-bb82-132d680edfc6 | null | Elliot Williams is a CNN legal analyst. He is a former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a principal at The Raben Group, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm. Follow him on Twitter @elliotcwilliams. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN)Judge Amy Coney Barrett isn't the first Supreme Court nominee in recent history to hide behind the disingenuous notion that a nominee "can't offer an opinion" on possible legal issues that may come before her as a future justice. Elliot WilliamsMuch has already been said about her failure to give clear answers about her views of the Affordable Care Act or Roe v. Wade. However, she has taken the art of giving non-answer answers to a new low this week on a matter that affects us all: the stability and security of our elections. On multiple occasions, she gave troubling answers as to whether America can be assured of free, fair and safe elections. This is all the more concerning in light of the fact that more than 10 million people have already cast ballots and open questions about how safe and stable the 2020 election will be.For instance, in response to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Barrett refused to answer the straightforward question of whether every American President "should make a commitment -- unequivocally and resolutely -- to the peaceful transfer of power." She called the issue a "political controversy" and made an empty statement about how "one of the beauties of America" is that we haven't had "the situations that have arisen in so many other countries."Yes, in response to a basic question about whether a president ought to respect the authority of his successor, the best answer a preeminent legal expert could give amounted to ducking the question and saying in effect, "well, at least we're not an unstable developing country."Read MoreDemocrats know they will lose on Barrett, but are aiming for a bigger winWhen asked Tuesday by Ranking Member California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Wednesday by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin if the Constitution or federal law gives the President the authority to delay an election unilaterally, she also refused to answer clearly and definitively. The question was again a relative no-brainer, given that regardless of Trump's nonsensical huffing and puffing, it is Congress, not the President, who has authority to set and move the date of elections.In another remarkable exchange with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Barrett would not answer the question of if, under federal law, it is illegal for armed people intimidate voters at the polls. Barrett answered that she couldn't "characterize the facts in a hypothetical situation" and without speaking with law clerks, doing research and engaging colleagues. Even when having the language of the relevant statute read to her, Barrett demurred.In each of these instances, Barrett was asked to respond to an uncontroversial factual statement, untethered to any pending proceeding that may come before her. We, as lawyers -- even ones who are nominees for the bench -- can easily acknowledge basic legal truths without wading into the specifics of a case. To use a basic example, a first-year law student can tell you that murder is typically defined as the unlawful and premeditated killing of one person by another -- without expressing an opinion about whether a particular person should be found guilty of doing so. Put another way, it is not that hard to state a fact, without applying that fact to the merits of an individual case. By failing to state the obvious, she has cracked the door open for bad actors to test the limits of the law. For example, if the President is considering not accepting a peaceful transfer of power or moving the date of the election, why wouldn't he now try to roll the dice on whether he can get away with it in the Supreme Court? At this point, it might even be irrational for him not to.Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and FacebookWhere former President George W. Bush had the good sense to cryptically state that he wanted to appoint judges who would "strictly interpret the Constitution," Trump has gone further and stated the quiet part out loud by putting litmus tests on judicial appointments. It would not have been hard for Barrett to show some distance from the President by restating uncontested points about the law -- particularly to a nation hungry for peaceful and secure elections in the middle of a global pandemic. And, frankly, it's insulting to the public to suggest that she has no views on such critical issues.Much was made on Tuesday of a charming moment in which Barrett, responding to a question from Texas Sen. John Cornyn, held up a blank notepad, indicating that she wasn't using notes for her hearing. What would it matter to if she'd had notes, anyway? It's not like she's saying much of anything at all. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
e8d1acc2-c12c-4804-95e3-b7fdfb8b4d68 | null | (CNN)In videos that show George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis police custody, an officer holding down the Black man's ankles says, "I just worry about excited delirium or whatever." Another officer responds: "That's why we have the ambulance coming."But Floyd did not meet any of the 10 criteria used by many to diagnose "excited delirium," a police surgeon testified later in the murder trial of the second officer, Derek Chauvin. And an independent autopsy found the 46-year-old died during the 2020 encounter of "asphyxiation from sustained pressure" when his neck and back were compressed. That same year, Elijah McClain was diagnosed with "excited delirium" by paramedics in Aurora, Colorado. McClain was placed in a carotid hold by police and injected with ketamine when paramedics arrived. The medics never checked the 23-year-old Black man's vital signs, talked to him or touched him before making the diagnosis, a Colorado grand jury found. McClain was declared brain dead three days later.Two strangers, with the same first name, and a terrifying story about ketamine in policingAnd "excited delirium" was among the causes of death listed for Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, along with complications of asphyxia in a setting of physical restraint and acute PCP intoxication, according to a medical examiner's report. The 41-year-old Black man was having a mental health emergency in 2020 when officers covered his head with a mesh hood and held him prone on the ground before he stopped breathing. He was declared brain dead and died a week later.Excited delirium is used as a field diagnosis by first responders across the country. Officers in many police departments are officially taught to look for "superhuman strength" and "police non-compliance" as symptoms of a syndrome that could kill the subject of an emergency call or induce that person to kill them.Read More"Pain tolerance," "unusual strength," "agitation" and being "inappropriately clothed" are other potential features of the syndrome listed in an American College of Emergency Physicians white paper cited in expert testimony in Chauvin's trial, though the doctors' group told CNN it never officially endorsed the 2009 document.Similar descriptions of excited delirium can be found in police training materials used in several major US cities. Officers are called upon to make split-second decisions to identify the condition in order to preserve their own safety and the safety of their subject, including potentially by using force. Such a determination also later can be key to how the public, their supervisors or the courts view the incident.Bans on chokeholds for federal officers latest in nationwide push to hold police to a 'higher standard' Authorities claimed these Black men had excited delirium just before they died. But the diagnosis itself is a problem and should be abandoned, a new study says. But a new study from doctors at Harvard, the University of Michigan and Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as civil rights lawyers, says the term excited delirium is "scientifically meaningless" and has become a "catch-all for deaths occurring in the context of law enforcement restraint, often coinciding with substance use or mental illness, and disproportionately used to explain the deaths of young Black men in police encounters." Indeed, a case that helped cement the term's widespread use unfairly targeted Black people. And while there is no national database of excited delirium deaths in police custody, one study of 166 cases found that Black people made up 43% of those deaths from 2010 to 2020 nationally. Black or African Americans made up 13% of the population in the most recent US Census. In rejecting the term outright, the coalition of physicians, civil rights attorneys and researchers who worked on the Physicians for Human Rights study wants it stricken from the official vocabulary used by emergency medicine technicians, doctors, law enforcement and medical examiners. It should be replaced, they say, with an approach that prioritizes immediate treatment of the underlying causes of the behavior encountered by first responders. A better approach might also mean expanding the type of professional who responds to emergency calls to include those with specialized training in mental health and social work. Medical groups don't recognize police termThe problem with "excited delirium" goes deeper than the phrase itself, said Dr. Michele Heisler, medical director of Physicians for Human Rights, a co-author of the study and a professor of public health and internal medicine at the University of Michigan. "We were concerned about the concept," she explained, pointing to the myriad of symptoms often listed under the term's umbrella. "People can become agitated or delirious due to multiple factors, ranging from alcohol withdrawal, drug overdose, psychosis. ... What we're arguing is that these underlying causes require medical attention, rather than forcible restraint by police." Officers learn in academy training to restrain and control a subject until medics -- who are supposed to make any medical diagnosis -- get to the scene. "Training typically involves recognizing signs of ED (excited delirium) and summoning emergency medical services immediately in such cases," Sherri Martin, national director of wellness services for the Fraternal Order of Police told CNN. FBI may have to shut down federal use-of-force database due to low participation from law enforcementPolice also sometimes lean heavily on paramedics to use powerful tranquilizer drugs so subjects experiencing what they say is excited delirium stop resisting. Later on, coroners and medical examiners may use the same language, including as part of autopsies. An umbrella term like excited delirium can also help facilitate the training process, Sergeant Tony Lockhart, crisis intervention trainer for King's County, Washington, said. "You call it whatever you want; I see these behaviors." Aggregating them into one idea, he said, is "helpful in some areas, to at least give us a different title to think about in our head." Even so, the term is not listed in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases nor the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, tools seen as the standard for medical diagnosis across the world. The American Medical Association does not support it as a diagnosis, and the American Psychiatric Association, which does not recognize it as a mental disorder, referred to it in 2020 as "too non-specific" and its criteria unclear, adding that no rigorous studies had been done to validate it. The term's roots also raise questions. Excited delirium was first used in the 1980s, when a deputy chief medical examiner in Florida publicized a theory that Black women could die from "combining sex with cocaine use," the Physicians for Human Rights study details. "For some reason, the male of the species becomes psychotic and the female of the species dies in relation to sex," Dr. Charles Wetli of Miami-Dade County told the Miami Herald at the time, adding that it might be the genetic makeup of Black people that predisposes them to dying. The modern incarnation of the term, the report says, was popularized by the 2005 mass-purchase and distribution of one book to police departments by the makers of TASER guns, Axon Network. The company distributed those copies to bring awareness to excited delirium, it told CNN in a statement. What delirium looks like"Superhuman strength," one of the criteria to identify excited delirium listed in the 2009 ACEP report, is completely unfounded, Heisler said. Instead, "if you're frightened, it's going to be an intense adrenergic response," she said. "You're going to have a strong fight-or-flight response. (But) it's not a response that in and of itself is going to cause death." Adrenaline-related responses are responsible for an increase in heart rate, constriction of blood vessels and dilation of pupils, she said. But it's unfounded "that you can just suddenly scare yourself to death -- which in a way seems to be the implied physiological mechanism of excited delirium. But it certainly is the case that it's very frightening," Heisler said.In their report, the Physicians for Human Rights authors used the American Psychiatric Association's definition of delirium: "a neurocognitive disorder characterized by a 'disturbance in attention and awareness that develops over a short period of time and is not better explained by another preexisting, evolving, or established disorder.'"In layman's terms: "Delirium is a symptom of an underlying cause and not an independent diagnosis," Heisler said. A person with delirium may show "fear, agitation, or euphoria, as well as reduced awareness of the environment," and delirium itself is usually a sign of an underlying problem, such as organ failure, infection, lack of oxygen, low blood sugar levels, drug side effects, intoxication or withdrawal, according to the Physicians for Human Rights report. In any case, "delirium ... wouldn't be defined just by the need for use of force," said Dr. Debra Pinals, director of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Psychiatry and Law. A photograph of Elijah McClain is part of the "Say Their Names" memorial, in part honoring Black people who died in police custody across the US, in 2020 in Boston.The report also raises concern over the use of the term in medical examiners' and coroners' reports as a cause of death. "Delirium is not itself considered a cause of sudden death," it reads. "You can't say that someone dies from any form of delirium," Heisler said. "It's like saying, what is the cause of death? Chest pain. What is the cause of death? I don't know, shortness of breath. In a way, it's as nonsensical." The National Association of Medical Examiners has never issued "any type of consensus on excited delirium and as an organization have not formally 'recognized the condition as a diagnosis,'" it told CNN in a statement. Its president, Dr. Kathryn Pinneri, said, "I suspect it is accepted among many NAME members." Officers often feel caught in the middleIn the field and in medical settings, the treatment for delirium is to address the underlying cause with medical care such as hydration, medication, and pain control, Heisler said. Restraints are actively discouraged, according to the Physicians for Human Rights report, and "never include prone or neck restraints, and are monitored by an independent medical oversight organization." But Lockhart said in his trainings, he teaches officers to restrain subjects in "altered states" -- for their own safety and for the safety of others involved -- as swiftly as possible. "The longer it goes on, definitely more danger to the subject, definitely more danger to every officer involved and for that matter, any other folks around," he said. Grand jury votes not to indict police officers in Rochester death of Daniel Prude Lockhart's view is that there should be as many officers around the subject as possible. "In an ideal world ... one officer grabs one leg, and another grabs one leg, another grabs an arm and other grabs an arm, obviously giving commands and try to do that quickly as we can to get them detained to get that medical person access to that individual." But in reality, restraining a person in distress can be much more challenging, especially when only one or two officers are on the scene, he said. The exhaustive training police officers go through as cadets on excited delirium -- and continue to attend as mandatory refreshers throughout their careers -- has shown, even in court, to be part of the problem. "The fact is, that term has been increasingly co-opted by nonmedical professionals and being used in nonclinical discussions or nonclinical realms," said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe, member of the American College of Emergency Physicians board of directors and chief medical officer for the EMS system for Metropolitan Oklahoma City and Tulsa. "There's quite a spectrum of educational programming, even within the house of medicine between different specialties. And then obviously, that just becomes even more exponentially magnified, if you will, if you look at the various and sundry training programs within EMS agencies, ambulance services, fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and so there's not one national standard educational curriculum in this." It's clear more training and dialogue between the law enforcement and the medical communities is needed, Goodloe said. In Lockhart's 40-hour classes on excited delirium, he said he specifically tells officers, "You are not here to learn how to diagnose. You're looking at these behaviors so that you may alter your techniques to get a good solution so everybody's safe." But a disconnect between first responder training -- based on the handful of studies that validate excited delirium -- and most academic medical literature has first responders acting out of step with the medical community. "Police officers often feel like they're caught in the middle," said Martin, of the Fraternal Order of Police. "They're not thinking about all of these other voices. They show up to work every day to answer the calls, to do their job, and they want to have the tools and the knowledge to do the best job that they can." Departments are also concerned with liability, she said, and they have an incentive to ensure officers are acting in accordance with regulations. "They don't want their department, their officer, their community to suffer the death of someone who was or may be suffering with excited delirium." Pictures of Elijah McClain and George Floyd left by demonstrators line the fence outside a Minnesota police station in April 2021.'Term can produce a visceral and negative response' But changes in how police learn to respond to medical emergencies and mental health crises might not come easy. In Minneapolis, despite a 2021 directive from the city to halt excited delirium training, officers were still being trained on the concept months later, the Star Tribune reported in February. A digital slide from a training program shows the words "excited delirium" stricken through and below them, "severe agitation with delirium," is suggested as a better term, a video obtained by the newspaper shows. During Chauvin's trial in April, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified the then-officer's actions and use of force during Floyd's arrest were contrary to department policy. 3 former Minneapolis police officers found guilty of violating George Floyd's civil rights "There is an initial reasonableness in trying to just get him under control in the first few seconds," Arradondo said. "But once there was no longer any resistance and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back -- that in no way shape or form is anything that is by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values." After an outcry over the term excited delirium in 2020, even the American College of Emergency Physicians -- whose definition remains the industry standard -- has tried to shift its language in new studies to "'hyperactive delirium." "We recognize the term 'excited delirium' is increasingly being used in non-clinical medicine discussions and the term can produce a visceral and negative response, particularly among those in communities with complicated relationships with law enforcement or medicine," a spokesperson for the group told CNN in statement. "In clinical discussions, patient care, and especially safety of patients during care, must remain the focus."Officers instead could be taught about an array of medical emergencies that may look like what's long been known as excited delirium but that may warrant different medical responses, "including heart attacks, drug or substance overdoses or withdrawals, acute psychosis, and oxygen deprivation," the Physicians for Human Rights report states. "I think we're asking too much of police officers, and I think many of them are responding as best they can," Heisler said. "They're being told that you can put your knee on someone's back and that's safe. ... Are we expecting police officers to be trained in all these medical diagnoses? I mean, are we expecting doctors?" Getting mental health experts to emergency callsThe Physicians for Human Rights report's main recommendation is to nix the use of the term "excited delirium" altogether -- erasing it from training manuals and autopsy reports -- and encouraging medical associations that haven't done so to issue statements discouraging its use among their members. Official responses to people experiencing mental and behavioral health challenges must improve, authors say in the report. That might start with rethinking who first responders should be, Heisler said. "We need to think about -- are there other models? Could we bring in social workers, psychologists, trained behavioral health people, instead of having a group of armed, uniformed police that (are met) with a strong fight-or-flight response?" she said. More than a dozen cities push to minimize or even eliminate police presence at mental health callsLockhart, the crisis intervention trainer, agrees with this recommendation and sees major advantages in having team of "co-responders" that include police and mental health specialists. "Just inherently, by that officer being there and listening to the mental health person deal with a subject, that officer is getting better because they're seeing things that work, new ideas, a different way of approaching something," he said, adding that an officer's presence helps ensure the safety of the mental health professional. In the end, he said, the main benefit is that "the subject we're dealing with is getting better help and hopefully sooner" than they would otherwise. On an institutional level, the Physicians for Human Rights study recommends establishing "independent oversight systems and mandat(ing) independent investigations of deaths in law enforcement custody," involving excited delirium in state and local governments, and it calls on Congress to do the same. A report commissioned by Congress could answer many questions the study has identified, said Joanna Naples-Mitchell, human rights lawyer and researcher at Physicians for Human Rights. "For example, where has excited delirium come up, and trying to understand why it is they are finding what seems to have been the case so far, that it's majority Black men and other people of color this term is being attributed to?" Naples-Mitchell said. "And is it exclusively in the context of law enforcement where this term is coming up? Is it exclusively in the context of restraints being used that this comes up and deaths are attributed to excited delirium? There's a lot that legislators can do to really leverage their powers as investigators to look at this and bring public attention to it more broadly." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
2448725e-7e1f-4a63-a610-28016675769c | null | (CNN)It was a dead heat with her nearest rival, but Mikaela Shiffrin continued her assault on the record books by joining Swiss great Vreni Schneider in third on the all-time list of women's World Cup winners.Shiffrin and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova were inseparable over two runs of a foggy giant slalom in Maribor, Slovenia to hand the American her 12th win of a record-breaking season.The victory -- also Vlhova's fourth this term -- took Shiffrin's overall tally to 55 World Cup wins alongside Schneider, with Austria's Annemarie Moser Proell (62) in second behind retiring American Lindsey Vonn (82). Shiffrin and Vlhova clocked a time of two minutes 31.31 seconds to beat Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel by 0.93 secs.The 23-year-old Shiffrin was 0.48 secs quicker than Vlhova on the first run, but made a mistake on the lower part of the course in run two to slip back into a tie. Read More"It was a fight in the second, I almost lost it at the bottom so it's always nice when you have this luck," Shiffrin told FIS Alpine.READ: Shiffrin: 'I'd rather be hunting than the hunted'READ: Why Kitzbuhel downhill is the wildest race in skiing Photos: Shiffrin's career so farAmerican skier Mikaela Shiffrin is arguably the most dominant athlete in sport right now. The 24-year-old has taken skiing by storm, winning 17 World Cup races across four of the six disciplines last season to take her overall tally to 60 victories. Here's a look back at her short but sweet career so far. Hide Caption 1 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2011 – Shiffrin grew up skiing from an early age thanks to parents who were both competitive college skiers. She rose quickly through the junior ranks and joined the World Cup circuit two days before her 16th birthday in 2011. Hide Caption 2 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2011 – The American (right) secured her first World Cup medal in December 2011, winning a bronze in the slalom. Her potential didn't go unnoticed as she was named rookie of the year.Hide Caption 3 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2012 – Shiffrin lived up to her hype during the following season, winning her first World Cup slalom event in Lienz, Austria.Hide Caption 4 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2013 – The youngster continued her good form, winning a further three World Cup slalom races that season. She also struck slalom gold at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming, Austria. Hide Caption 5 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2013 – She ended a remarkable season with a first World Cup slalom crown, which she defended the following year. Hide Caption 6 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2014 – As world champion, the pressure was on the 18-year-old to perform at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. She didn't disappoint. Shiffrin became the youngest ever Olympic slalom champion and the first American to win the title in 42 years.Hide Caption 7 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2015 – Following her Olympic success, the American won her third straight World Cup slalom crown in 2015. She also defended her slalom title at the 2015 World Championships.Hide Caption 8 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2016 – A knee injury stalled her career the following season and she had to settle for fourth in the slalom standings.Hide Caption 9 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2017 – Shiffrin was back to her best in 2017, though, winning a fifth slalom World Cup title and adding a third World Championship gold. She also won her first overall World Cup title. Hide Caption 10 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so far2018 – As her reputation grew, so did her popularity and all eyes were on Shiffrin to perform at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She was affected by the weather-hit schedule and despite winning gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined she missed out completely in slalom. But she won the World Cup overall and slalom titles again at the end of the season to confirm her status as America's new superstar. Hide Caption 11 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so farShiffrin has been on fire during the 2018-19 season and has made waves beyond ski racing for her level of consistency and domination. She has climbed to fifth on the list off all-time most successful ski racers, and third woman behind Lindsey Vonn and Annemarie Moser-Proll. Hide Caption 12 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so farAt the 2019 FIS World Championships in Are, Sweden she struck in the opening super-G race to score her fourth world title. Hide Caption 13 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so farAnd she clinched a remarkable fourth straight slalom world title -- a streak stretching back to 2013 -- to go with a bronze in the giant slalom in Sweden.Hide Caption 14 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so farFollowing the World Championships, Shiffrin won a World Cup slalom event in Stockholm to score a record-equaling 14th title of the season. She also wrapped up a third straight season slalom crown and sixth in seven years. She clinched a third straight overall crown when racing was canceled in Sochi. Hide Caption 15 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so farSoon after she pushed the record to 15 wins - unprecedented for men or women -- with a slalom victory (her 58th) in the Czech Republic.Hide Caption 16 of 17 Photos: Shiffrin's career so farAt the World Cup finals in Soldeu, Andorra in March, Shiffrin wrapped up a third Crystal Globe of 2019 with a first season title in the super-G.Hide Caption 17 of 17This season, Shiffrin has become the first skier -- male or female -- to have won 15 races in a calendar year.And she is now three wins short of the record of the most wins in a single season -- Schneider won an unprecedented 14 races in 1988-89.Shiffrin is bidding for a third straight World Cup overall title and leads Vlhova by nearly 600 points in the season standings.She is also chasing a fourth straight slalom world title at the World Championships in Are, Sweden later in February.READ: Hirscher dazzles under floodlights to underline dominanceREAD: Schwarzenegger says Trump 'wrong' on climate changeThe 23-year-old Vlhova has pushed Shiffrin hard this season, but has ended as runner-up six times."All the time we are really close but today we can share first place so I'm happy," Vlhova told FIS Alpine.Dead heats are rare but not exceptional in skiing. At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Slovenia's Tina Maze and Swiss Dominque Gisin shared downhill gold after clocking the same times. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
f9d52c9f-e071-4129-9fbd-d9f2328cac72 | null | Story highlightsClaims of ongoing exploitation of migrant workers in QatarAmnesty says it has found evidence of "systematic abuses"Report urges FIFA and sponsors to push for change (CNN)He's the migrant worker busting a gut to build Qatar's shiny soccer stadiums that will host FIFA's World Cup in 2022 -- at a price.For Prem -- a metal worker and father of three from Nepal who carried out work on the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha between February and May 2015 -- that price was the loss of his family's home after he experienced a three-month delay in being paid, according to Amnesty international.Prem is just one example of ongoing exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar at a venue for the 2022 World Cup that soccer's world governing body FIFA can no longer turn "a blind eye" to, says the human rights organization's new report published Thursday.JUST WATCHEDQatar: 'We're working hard to do more'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHQatar: 'We're working hard to do more' 06:28Amnesty said it has found evidence of "systematic abuses," including forced labor of migrant workers at the Khalifa Stadium. "If the system in Qatar doesn't change, then every man, woman and child who goes to the World Cup is likely to meet a migrant worker who is exploited," Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty's director of global issues and research, told CNN in a phone interview. Read More'Ugly side of the beautiful game' Amnesty's 80-page report, titled "The ugly side of the beautiful game: Labor exploitation on a Qatar World Cup venue," is based on interviews in the year to February 2016 with 234 male migrants working either in construction at the Khalifa Stadium or in landscaping at the Aspire Zone Complex, where top European soccer clubs such as Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain have trained.JUST WATCHEDAmnesty International: Qatar World Cup workers abusedReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAmnesty International: Qatar World Cup workers abused 03:52The abuses found include: workers living in "squalid and cramped accommodation"; employers confiscating workers passports; workers being threatened for complaining about working conditions; workers having to pay as much as $4,300 to recruiters in their home country to get a job in Qatar, along with some not being paid for months.However Qatar said the "tone of Amnesty International's latest assertions paint a misleading picture.""We have always maintained this World Cup will act as a catalyst for change -- it will not be built on the back of exploited workers," said the gulf kingdom's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in a statement sent to CNN. "We wholly reject any notion that Qatar is unfit to host the World Cup."Amnesty International's investigation was limited to just four companies out of more than 40 currently engaged on Khalifa International Stadium. The conditions reported were not representative of the entire work force on Khalifa."Many of the issues raised had been addressed by June of 2015, months before the publication of Amnesty's report."'Living nightmare'The FIFA World Cup is the world's most-watched sports event, generating more than $5 billion from broadcast and marketing contracts. Since winning the bid in 2010, Qatar is spending a reported $200 billion -- more than any previous World Cup host -- on infrastructure, nine new air-conditioned stadiums and major refurbishments on three venues, including the 40,000-capacity Khalifa stadium."The abuse of migrant workers is a stain on the conscience of world football," Amnesty International General Secretary Salil Shetty said in the organization's press release."For players and fans, a World Cup stadium is a place of dreams. For some of the workers who spoke to us, it can feel like a living nightmare," Shetty said.Join a powerful #HumanRights movement @amnesty's biggest conference in #Miami! #OurWorld https://t.co/c3p4ztLOOJ pic.twitter.com/wQqULEniSc— AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) March 21, 2016
FIFA and its sponsors should push for change, or risk being "tainted by association," Amnesty warned. Qatar's migrant workers, mostly from South Asia, make up more than 90% of the country's workforce. Building for the 2022 World Cup is expected to peak in 2017, when the current workforce of 4,000 migrants on World Cup sites will jump to 36,000, according to FIFA. This is Amnesty's fifth investigative, in-depth report on migrant workers conditions at World Cup venues in Qatar, and the first since Gianni Infantino was elected FIFA president in February. He has vowed to restore the ruling body's battered reputation after years of corruption scandals under his predecessor, Sepp Blatter. "We remain convinced that the unique attraction and visibility of the FIFA World Cup globally is a strong catalyst for significant change," FIFA said in a statement sent to CNN in response to Amnesty's latest report."This is an ongoing process. Challenges remain, but FIFA is confident that the structures and processes set up so far by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is the entity responsible for the delivery of FIFA World Cup infrastructure, provide a good basis to monitor labor rights of migrant workers on FIFA World Cup stadium construction sites."READ: 'Greatest insult in Egypt's history?' Messi's shoesIn a letter sent to Amnesty dated March 17, FIFA said "we do not agree" with the group's conclusion it had taken no action to tackle human rights abuses of workers at World Cup sites. Without addressing any of the individual cases of abuse highlighted by Amnesty, FIFA pointed to a number of initiatives, including making labor rights part of its bid process for future events, meetings with "the highest authorities in Qatar" since 2011 about human rights issues, inspection visits of building sites and workers housing and its hiring of a so-called "Human Rights Manager" at its Zurich headquarters. 'Serious job do to in Qatar'Amnesty said Qatar has yet to deliver any real labor reforms since becoming the first Middle East nation to win the right to host the World Cup.JUST WATCHEDPlight of Nepali migrant workers in QatarReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHPlight of Nepali migrant workers in Qatar 03:35Although Amnesty said Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is responsible for delivering the 2022 World Cup, had shown "consistent commitment" to improving workers' rights, it wasn't doing enough to monitor and enforce its own welfare standards established in 2014.It said it was down to FIFA to enforce real change."FIFA need to recognize they have a serious job do to in Qatar," Gaughran told CNN. "There needs to be much more effective enforcement of the worker welfare standards that exist for World Cup sites, because our research has shown that they're not being implemented effectively at all." FIFA should also ask Qatar to reform its notorious sponsorship system, under which migrant workers cannot change jobs or leave the country without permission of their employers."There is a very serious problem with the sponsorship system that keeps workers very much tied to their employers," Gaughran added. "FIFA needs to engage with Qatar on that and it is probably quite reluctant to do so."The human rights agency called on World Cup sponsors including Coca-Cola, Adidas and McDonald's to put FIFA under pressure to improve the situation. Last year, Coca-Cola and Visa issued statements saying they expected FIFA to address such claims of human rights abuses.'I can't sleep at night'Metal worker Prem's problems started in September 2014.JUST WATCHEDDeaths and slave labor: The disgrace of FIFA in Qatar ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDeaths and slave labor: The disgrace of FIFA in Qatar 03:00"At the start of 2014 there was no problem, I was getting my monthly pay and sending back money to my wife to cover my (recruitment) loan and the rent for our house (in Nepal)," he told Amnesty. "We also look after my parents." But because he wasn't getting paid, Prem's family could no longer keep up with loan and rental repayments and ended up losing their home. "My family is now homeless and two of my younger children have been taken out of school," he said. "My parents had to shift to my brother's house in our village, but it is far and there are no facilities there. "Every day I am in tension, I cannot sleep at night. This is a torture for me."Follow @cnnsport
Have your say about the 2022 World Cup on CNN FC's Facebook pageGet more football news here Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progress Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressQatar's grand plan – The Khalifa International Stadium "will fit 40,000 spectators and be completely cooled, including the field of play, all seats and concourses," soccer's world governing body FIFA said in September 2015. But what's the human cost of this World Cup venue's construction?Hide Caption 1 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressAmnesty accusation – In a new report published on Thursday, human rights organization Amnesty International said it had found evidence of "systematic abuses," including forced labor of migrant workers at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.Hide Caption 2 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressQatar's World Cup win – In December 2010, then FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed Qatar as host of the 2022 World Cup at a ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. But both Qatar and FIFA soon faced allegations about poor working conditions and abuse of immigrant workers brought in to build the facilities for the tournament.Hide Caption 3 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressGlittering prize – Men at a shoemaker's stall sit by a replica of the World Cup trophy soon after the hosting award brought announcements of a wide variety of infrastructure projects, including the construction of new stadiums and roads.Hide Caption 4 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progress'A stain on the conscience of football' – "For players and fans, a World Cup stadium is a place of dreams," Amnesty International general secretary Salil Shetty said. "For some of the workers who spoke to us, it can feel like a living nightmare."Hide Caption 5 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressEvidence of 'abuses' – FIFA and its sponsors should push for change, or risk being "tainted by association," Amnesty warned. But in a statement, Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said it was "committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of every worker on World Cup projects."Hide Caption 6 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressBig-money developments – An artist's impression shows what the finished Khalifa stadium will look like. Qatar is spending a reported $200 billion -- more than any previous World Cup host -- on nine new air-conditioned stadiums, the major refurbishment of three venues and infrastructure. Hide Caption 7 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressExamining conditions – A worker bedroom in the Al Wakrah camp, pictured in May 2015. Amnesty's fifth investigative, in-depth Qatar World Cup report is its first since Gianni Infantino was elected as FIFA president in February 2016.Hide Caption 8 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progress'Squalid, cramped accommodation' – Conditions at the Al Wakrah camp were described as "cramped, dirty and unhygienic." The new Amnesty report describes how many workers are living in "squalid accommodation," but Qatari officials say they are steadily improving the situation from where it stood in 2015 and denied the 2022 World Cup would be "built on the back of exploited workers."Hide Caption 9 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progress'Five years of promises' – Here, a reporter takes a picture of a squalid kitchen at a camp housing foreign workers in Doha in May 2015. The Qatari government has announced new projects to provide better accommodation.Hide Caption 10 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressReturning to base – Foreign laborers working on the construction site of the al-Wakrah football stadium, one of Qatar's World Cup venues, walk back to their accommodation compound after a working day in May 2015.Hide Caption 11 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progress'No reforms' – Amnesty said Gulf desert emirate Qatar had yet to deliver any real labor reforms since becoming the first Middle East nation to win the right to host the World Cup. Hide Caption 12 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progress'Struggling to enforce standards' – Shetty said Qatar's World Cup delivery committee is struggling to enforce the standards it has set companies working on its venues. Hide Caption 13 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressCall for FIFA diligence – Amnesty has urged FIFA to start a "human rights due diligence process" by carrying out its own inspections of labor conditions in Qatar and makings its finding public. Hide Caption 14 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressSending a message – Demonstrators hold placards calling for change to Qatar's policies on the working conditions of migrant workers ahead of the international friendly between Scotland and Qatar in Edinburgh in June 5, 2015. Hide Caption 15 of 16 Photos: 2022 World Cup: A $200B work in progressPressure from sponsors – An artist's impression for Qatar's flagship Doha Port stadium prior to the World Cup bid in 2010. Hide Caption 16 of 16JUST WATCHEDIt's official! FIFA confirms winter World Cup in 2022 ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHIt's official! FIFA confirms winter World Cup in 2022 01:28 | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
ae9e6157-8e26-4f01-a58f-33e44175ba21 | null | Story highlightsSebastian Vettel won 13 of the 19 grands prix in the 2013 Formula One seasonRed Bull racer wrapped up a fourth straight title and equaled record for nine straight race winsLewis Hamilton says Vettel "can just cruise" to wins; Vettel says he is not bored by winningNew rules changes coming in 2014 could halt Vettel and Red Bull's winning streakSebastian Vettel is getting used to life as Formula One's lone racer.The four-time world champion jokes that he has become something of a 'Sunday driver' -- it's just that he irritates those on the road behind him by being too quick instead of being proverbially slow behind the wheel."It is a Sunday afternoon drive," he mused to CNN after winning the penultimate race of the season in Austin, Texas. "But not in that regard."Along with his faithful Red Bull steed, Vettel has powered to four straight world championships and polished off a record-equaling nine consecutive race wins at the season ending Brazilian Grand Prix.Even more mind boggling, is the fact that he has won at least three of those races 30 seconds ahead of the next car -- an enormous margin by the sport's modern standards.When it was pointed out at the United States Grand Prix that the reigning world champion had won by a measly 6.2 seconds, he joked that perhaps the watching world was disappointed that he had not put his foot down.Class of oneFor the sport's global audience of half a billion viewers and those watching from rival team garages, it is, of course, no joke.Vettel probably could have injected a turn of pace Speedy Gonzalez would have been proud of if he wanted to and won by a country mile."We just wanted to make sure there was plenty available," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed after the Austin race.JUST WATCHEDCelebrations at the Red Bull F1 Factory ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCelebrations at the Red Bull F1 Factory 02:32JUST WATCHEDVettel's dominance could bore F1 fansReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHVettel's dominance could bore F1 fans 03:32JUST WATCHEDWhat's behind Vettel's winning streak?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWhat's behind Vettel's winning streak? 02:59Despite being surrounded by a field of drivers that includes four world champions, Vettel has effectively been racing himself.So how does it feel to be driving in a class of one?"It's not as if I've been getting bored," the 26-year-old German racer deadpanned.Even the best drivers in the world have to get the basics of motor racing right -- making a clean start, handling the seesawing balance of the car as it eats up fuel and managing the life of the tires to time the pit stops and maintain, or gain, an advantage over your rivals."Obviously I've quite a lot to do," Vettel explained. "First of all, I have to match their pace. Obviously when they do come closer it's not the best feeling because you want the gap to increase always."Certainly it's a great feeling when you do pull away, and then it's about pacing yourself, pacing yourself to get the range, to look after the tires etc. "There are a lot of things going on but also it's a nice feeling to have a little bit of a gap because you can take it a little bit easier in some crucial places, to look after the tires and benefit from that, especially later on in the stint. "Overall, you do tend to have quite a bit of work in the car."Team ordersVettel has won 13 races in 2013 but not all of them have been at a canter.The 26-year-old caused a stink when he ignored team orders to snatch victory from his Red Bull team mate Mark Webber in Malaysia.Then in Germany he fended off the Lotus drivers while in Japan, Vettel clawed back victory, again from Webber, on tire strategy.The 10 other race victories? Well, they can be summed up by a single word -- dominance.There have been signs that perhaps Vettel, the lone racer, has been finding other ways to keep himself busy in the car.For one thing, the German claimed the DHL award for setting the highest number of fastest laps during the races in a single season.In 2013, Vettel set the fastest lap seven times -- and yes, there is actual silverware to add to his bursting trophy cabinet.There have also been hints that Vettel has been amusing himself by testing the limits of his Red Bull team, as he pushes the limits of the car.His level-headed race engineer Guillaume "Rocky" Rocquelin has often had to be the voice of reason on the pit-to-car radio warning Vettel to be patient, not to abuse the tires and to focus on "distance not speed."Even team boss Horner put on his best parental voice when he tried to persuade an impatient Vettel not to pass Webber for the victory in Malaysia, saying: "This is silly, Seb."Does Horner agree, I asked him at the Austin race, that Vettel has had to find new ways of testing himself by pushing the limits of his car and the team when he is able to win races so easily?JUST WATCHEDOnly fastest will be team number oneReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHOnly fastest will be team number one 02:32JUST WATCHEDF1 legend on making it big in the U.S.ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHF1 legend on making it big in the U.S. 04:13JUST WATCHEDA crash course in F1 fitnessReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHA crash course in F1 fitness 03:04"What are you trying to say; that he'd like to go for it a bit more?" Horner responded."Of course, Seb's very fixated on the fastest lap record, and he'd be enormously p****d off if he didn't get that trophy," he continued, with a dash of tongue in cheek humor."His enthusiasm runs away with him at times, I keep telling Rocky 'OK now you can slow him down.'"Horner did, however, add that Vettel was equally comfortable notching up victories out in front or scrapping it out in a close fight with his peers."He enjoys competing, he enjoys winning and he'll do the best that he can in the circumstances, if that means going wheel to wheel with somebody he'll get satisfaction out of both."It's a question of managing the race. We've seen it with him so many times -- he's incredibly good at that."Those racing behind the virtually untouchable German can also appreciate what Vettel has been able to achieve with car designer Adrian Newey's peerless Red Bull at his fingertips.Era of dominanceMercedes' racer Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, told CNN he could barely remember winning a race by a clear 30 seconds -- although he did win a wet British Grand Prix in his championship-winning year with McLaren by more than a minute."In F1 it's always five seconds or maybe 10 maximum," Hamilton explained, when considering what it must have been like for Vettel to win races so dominantly in 2013."When you have that kind of gap you can just cruise; when you're that much faster than everyone you can just cruise, you've got no traffic, you've got time to pit, no-one in front of you -- it's really easy. "When you have that time in the bag you don't make mistakes because you don't have to push to the limit."You can control it more and be more at ease and have more time to think about things. It's a much, much different position to be in than fighting in the midfield."Hamilton, alongside fellow world champions Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, publicly refused to declare the sport as boring under Vettel's era of dominance.But racing drivers have egos and inside they must privately acknowledge a gnawing sense of frustration that they have been fighting this season for the title of 'best of the rest'.Major rule changes loom large on the horizon in 2014 -- it's a chance for Formula One to press the reset button.Vettel may have raced off into the sunset as a lone racer in 2013 but next season he could find himself reunited with a posse of fierce racing rivals.For now, the achievements of his record season are still sinking in."It is very, very difficult for me to realize what we have achieved again," Vettel said as he faced the media for the final time at Brazil's season finale."I'm actually quite sad that this season comes to an end. Hopefully one day, when I've got less hair and I'm chubby then it's something nice to look back to."Read: Magic Vettel can surpass Michael SchumacherRead: Lewis Hamilton eyes glory on level playing field | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
f08d7ac9-0b5a-4d8c-a183-9e8712d4ae83 | null | (CNN)It is a picture which has been described as showing a "great athlete at her most powerful." Tayla Harris, a star forward for the Australian Football League women's side Carlton is captured in the air having kicked the first goal of the game in a match between her side, the Blues, and Western Bulldogs. The picture of the 21-year-old was posted on Australian broadcaster Channel Seven's AFL Facebook page, but what followed has become all too familiar -- "repulsive" comments of a sexual nature posted by trolls which have left the athlete herself saying she felt she had been "sexually abused" on social media. Follow @cnnsport
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called those responsible "cowardly grubs."Speaking to reporters in Melbourne Thursday, he said: "I think they're grubs. I think they're cowardly grubs, who need to wake up to themselves."Trolls on social media, they're nothing new these days, sadly, but I think what's horrible is those trolls tend to target women and they tend to be the target for an inordinate share of the abuse that happens online.Read MoreKelly O'Dwyer, federal minister for women, has also added her voice to the chorus of condemnation of the trolls, saying that she was "disgusted" by the comments. READ: Footballer banned for racial abuse quits the sportWe're sorry. Removing the photo sent the wrong message.Many of the comments made on the post were reprehensible & we'll work harder to ban trolls from our pages. Our intention was to highlight @taylaharriss incredible athleticism & we'll continue to celebrate women's footy. pic.twitter.com/p24Ll08LRC— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 19, 2019
O'Dwyer -- and many on social media, including prominent Australian athletes -- also condemned Seven's handling of the situation, with the network initially deleting its post, citing "reprehensible" comments, only to later reinstate the photo with an apology. Erasing the picture, rather than moderating the comments, had caused even more damage, many argued on social media. On her Facebook and Twitter pages, O'Dwyer said: "@taylaharriss is a superstar. She should be celebrated for her talent and athleticism as we celebrate any male footballer. I'm disgusted by the trolling that has taken place."She also told Australian broadcaster Channel 10: "I was pretty frankly disgusted by Channel Seven's response in actually taking down her picture rather than dealing with the trolls." Australia's celebrated Olympic champion Anna Meares tweeted: "How this incredible image of Tayla Harris was (1) seen as negative and drew trolls to comment and (2) that the @7AFL took it down as a result ... ASTOUNDS ME!"The network later reposted the picture, admitting that "removing the photo sent the wrong message." Here's a pic of me at work... think about this before your derogatory comments, animals. pic.twitter.com/68aBVVbTTj— Tayla Harris (@taylaharriss) March 19, 2019
Visit CNN.com/Sport for more news, features and videos'Remarkable photo'What next for the AFL and the social media platforms? In an interview with RSN radio Wednesday, Harris called on the AFL and possibly the police to take action. "If these people are saying things like this to someone they don't know on a public platform, what are they saying behind closed doors, and what are they doing?" she asked. "These people need to be called out by the AFL, yes, but also taken further. Maybe this is the start of domestic violence, maybe this is the start of abuse."The comments that I saw were sexual abuse, if you can call it that, because it was repulsive and it made me uncomfortable so as soon as I'm uncomfortable with something like that that's what I would consider sexual abuse on social media."So, whether it's Victoria police, whatever it is, need to at least contact these people, some sort of warning, Facebook delete them, something needs to happen. We can talk about it as much as we want but they're not listening and they are probably smiling about it."Speaking to reporters Wednesday, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said: "It's more a challenge with the platform, social media, because this is not an isolated incident. "But when it's unacceptable commentary, more and more people are calling that out and that is what has happened here."Adding that he hoped the picture would become iconic, McLachlan continued: "It is, I think, a remarkable photo which shows a great athlete at her most powerful, doing what she does, which is kick the ball 50 meters." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
1fe12ede-2694-4615-b0e8-b24a65c15f70 | null | New Delhi, India (CNN)Each day, Devika wakes up and prepares breakfast for her six siblings. As they sit on the floor of their brightly painted Delhi home, she places another plate of food in front of a framed photo of her parents. They died just a few weeks ago from Covid-19. The 23-year-old teacher has become the primary caregiver and breadwinner for five of her siblings, between 4 and 14 years old, and a major pillar of strength for her eldest 20-year-old sister. She's barely had time to grieve. "My biggest fear is whether I will be able to love them like Mom and Dad or not," said Devika, who is only using her first name over privacy concerns. "I will earn money; I have faith in myself. My sister will also earn money; I have faith in her. We can do what needs to be done in terms of money, but the absence of parents in their lives is a huge gap to fill, how can we ever fill that void?" she said.
Devika's siblings eat breakfast in their New Delhi home on June 2, 2021. Credit: Vijay Bedi/CNN
Read MoreThey are among at least 577 Indian children who lost both parents to Covid between April 1 and May 25, when India was battling its second wave of the outbreak, according to government figures. But non-government organizations fear that many other orphans -- potentially thousands -- have been missed in the official count due to the difficulty in tracing children who have lost both parents. Social workers are scrambling to track them down, worried they may be vulnerable to traffickers or end up on the streets if left to fend for themselves. 'They're together now'Just a few months ago, life looked very different for Devika and her family. Devika was focused on studying for a bachelor of education degree, and teaching children in her spare time. Her father worked as a pandit -- or Hindu priest -- at a temple, and visited homes to perform rituals. He insisted on going out to work, even as cases soared in the capital. Her mother mostly stayed home, taking care of the children, and sometimes helped out at the temple, too. At the end of April, when India was reporting more than 350,000 daily cases, leaving hospitals overburdened and oxygen in desperately short supply, Devika's 38-year-old mother gave her some worrying news: she had a fever. Devika tried to isolate the children upstairs, but it was too late. The whole family -- including her 53-year-old father -- developed a fever. Although the children were never screened for Covid-19, Devika's mother later tested positive in hospital. Devika's parents, who both passed away during India's second wave of Covid-19. The children recovered, but their mother's condition deteriorated and getting her proper medical care proved impossible. After visiting three hospitals in one night, Devika eventually found one in a nearby city that would take her mother, although it didn't have oxygen or ventilators."We were so helpless. We did whatever we could possibly do. But we failed," she said. Around the same time, her father was admitted to a Delhi hospital. When her mother died on April 29, Devika didn't have the courage to tell him. He had a phrase he would say a lot to his wife: "Without you, there's no fun in living."
"My father doted on Mummy. They're together now."Devika
Devika recalled the moment her mother's body was taken to the Delhi hospital where her father was being treated, so he could see her one last time before she was cremated. "Mom was in the ambulance, Dad came out of the hospital and then he saw. He lowered his eyes, and he didn't say anything," Devika said.After that, she thinks her father lost the will to live. Just a week later, on May 7, he died of Covid, too. "We really think he wanted to go with Mom," Devika said. "My father doted on Mummy. They're together now," she added, crying.
Devika sits in front of a shrine to her parents.
Credit: Vijay Bedi/CNN
After her parents died, Devika worried the authorities would remove her siblings from her. She called up a government-run child care hotline for advice. They told her she was the primary guardian -- and it was up to her to decide what to do.The past few weeks have been a blur. Devika took out loans to pay for her parents' hospital treatment, and now that money is helping to keep the family going. She juggles caring for her siblings with her university workload and her part-time job. The family also gets dry rations from non-government organizations, Prayaas and Childline. Devika hasn't had time yet to process her own grief; she wants to be strong for her siblings. "So much has happened that the tears don't come," she said.What's being done to helpDevika told the child hotline that she had lost both her parents -- but that's not always the case. Organizations are searching for children who may need their help, and are relying on social media, hearsay and calls to Childline, a Ministry of Women and Child Development service which existed before Covid.For rural children, accessing help can be hard. They have less internet access and fewer safety nets, says Save the Children India chief executive Sudarshan Suchi. "The ones we don't know of is what worries me more," Suchi said. They also have to contend with restrictions on movement, incorrect information, and fear of contracting Covid from neighbors who might have otherwise helped.In one instance, Save the Children staff found out about two children whose father died in hospital and whose mother died at home, both from Covid. Both children were suspected of having Covid, so the neighbors in their slum avoided helping them and the children were unable to use the common bathroom spaces, Suchi said. "If previously an earthquake or flood came into a small village or colony, everybody came together and found ways to rescue. When Covid comes, the first thought everybody has is keep away," Suchi said. "It's an unknown ghost. People with collective spirit and traditions of community action are partly wary today of these kinds of things." Devika's sister prepares food in the kitchen of their New Delhi home on June 2, 2021.If things go smoothly, children can be connected with their extended family -- the general principle is that institutional care cannot be the first resort, and that a family environment is better for the child, said Anurag Kundu, the chairperson for Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights. But organizations worry about what happens if vulnerable children fall through the cracks, leaving them at risk of winding up on the streets or being trafficked.In May, Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Z Irani urged people who hear about orphaned children to tell the authorities -- and not to share information about them online, lest they are targeted by traffickers. "We all must ensure legal adoption, otherwise children can be trafficked in the name of adoption," she tweeted. Devika's siblings at their New Delhi home on June 2, 2021.There's little data on the numbers of children being trafficked due to the pandemic, but there are already signs of more homeless children. That could be because their parents have died from Covid, or because their parents can no longer care for them as they've lost their job."Before the pandemic, under normal circumstances, there were more than 2 million children in distress as such on any day on the streets," Suchi said in May. "If anything in the pandemic it could only go worse, not better."Even before the second wave, more children were living on the streets, Kundu said -- mostly likely victims of India's months-long lockdown that left the country's millions of daily wage earners without work."I have never seen so many children on the streets in my whole life as many as I've seen in the last 12 months," Kundu said. "The socioeconomic aspect of it will be felt in the times to come."What the future looks likeFor now, the focus is on keeping children safe. But India's Covid orphans demonstrate how the devastation of the past year will likely be felt long after the pandemic is over. India's government has rolled out financial support for children orphaned by Covid, offering them free education and a $13,732 personal fund to be given as a monthly stipend for five years once they turn 18.
"If previously an earthquake or flood came into a small village or colony, everybody came together and found ways to rescue. When Covid comes, the first thought everybody has is keep away."Sudarshan Suchi
"Children represent the future of the country and the country will do everything possible to support and protect the children so that they develop as strong citizens and have a bright future," said a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May when those measures were announced. Suchi said the first priority was survival. "These children, being already vulnerable, are going to get into a spiral in this. It's not just a question of their sickness from Covid -- it's about their education, it's about their health, it's about their basic social security fabric has come apart suddenly," Suchi said. After that, there needed to be support for their future. "You can't rescue a child from midstream and then let them drown towards the end of the stream or somewhere towards the bank."
Devika, who is now the guardian of five of her siblings, brushes her younger sister's hair. Credit: Vijay Bedi/CNN
UNICEF India's representative Yasmin Ali Haque agreed, saying it was important to look at not just the child's physical needs -- adequate shelter, food, education, for example -- but also the psychological impact. "The child is deprived of the loving care of their parents, of growing up in a family environment," she said. "The psychosocial impact on a child can be long lasting, can be lifelong."
"The psychosocial impact on a child can be long lasting, can be lifelong."Yasmin Haque
The future of her siblings weighs heavily on Devika. She hasn't told her youngest siblings that their parents are dead -- for now, they've been told their parents have gone back to their village in the countryside. When her parents were alive, Devika questioned why they went out as the pandemic raged -- the day her mum developed a fever, Devika had asked her not to go to help at the temple. Devika told them it was more important to be alive and safe than to earn."I never understood why," she said. "Now that I am where they were, I finally understand them. I get why they left the house." Vedika Sud and Esha Mitra reported from New Delhi. Julia Hollingsworth wrote and reported from Hong Kong. Sandi Sidhu contributed reporting. Video by Vijay Bedi in New Delhi. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
eed0a182-09b2-4466-8cfa-218b5caee3ad | null | Story highlightsThe sentences were handed down in absentiaSwiss fiber cement manufacturer Eternit had no commentEternit officers were accused of failing to protect workers from asbestosMore than 1,500 people attended the three-hour sentencing hearingAn Italian court sentenced two officers of a Swiss company to 16-year prison terms in absentia Monday for the deaths of about 2,000 workers who prosecutors said were exposed to asbestos.Stephan Schmidheiny, the Swiss owner of the fiber-cement firm Eternit, and Belgian former executive and investor Jean Louis Marie Ghislain de Cartier de Marchienne were accused of failing to protect workers in the company's four Italian factories before they were shuttered in 1986. They were also ordered to pay a total of 80 million euros ($105 million) to more than 6,000 people, including former workers and residents who lived near their plants. Bruno Pesce, the leader of Italy's asbestos victims association, said more than 1,500 people attended Monday's hearing -- including some who were suffering from asbestos-linked illnesses. "It was a very emotional moment," Pesce said. "People were crying because of tension and then of happiness."Judge Giuseppe Casalbore needed three hours to read the sentence at Monday's hearing, held in the Italian industrial hub of Turin. Prosecutors argued that Schmidheiny and de Cartier failed to take steps to protect workers from asbestos, now known to cause cancer. The verdict "is an incredible step forward" and "a milestone for justice worldwide, since asbestos is not only manufactured in Italy," prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello said after the hearing. Eternit did not respond to a request for comment on the decision. But Renato Balduzzi, Italy's health minister, called the sentence "historic." Asbestos was once widely used as a fireproofing material and was included in roof shingles and siding for decades. Though now banned in Italy and most Western countries, asbestos is still used in developing countries, mainly in China and India.Barry Castelman, an environmental scientist from the United States who testified as an expert witness in the Turin case, said asbestos and cancer had been linked since the 1950s. "The importance of today's sentence is that it establishes a personal criminal responsibility of the production firm's executives, who will now learn the lesson," Castelman said. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
dcc4b99d-ed19-453e-9422-3cc61acb6a70 | null | Story highlightsRussian state media criticized US "sham democracy" during 2016 campaignAnti-Americanism has given way to personal attacks on President Barack Obama (CNN)The Obama presidency is almost over -- and Russian officials can't wait. They're not mincing words."God created the world in seven days," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this week on her Facebook page. "The Obama administration has (seven plus) two more days to destroy it."During the election campaign, Russian state media criticized America's "sham democracy." That strategy no longer worked when Donald Trump won the presidency.Now anti-Americanism has given way to personal attacks on Barack Obama. The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman is one of the more creative Obama bashers, taking to Facebook several times a day with zingers such as this:"It seems to me that if 'Russian hackers' have hacked something in the US, it was two things: Obama's brain and, of course, the very report about the 'Russian hackers.' "Read MoreJUST WATCHEDWatch President Obama's full farewell addressReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWatch President Obama's full farewell address 50:07Aleksey Pushkov, a member of the Russian Parliament and acerbic Tweeter, heaps scorn on Obama and his policies."The democratic process in the USA was undermined not by Russia but by the Obama administration and the media who supported (Hillary) Clinton against Trump," he wrote recently. "The threat to democracy -- is inside the USA itself."Others aren't as measured. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, politician and perpetual gadfly never at a loss for inflammatory comments, told Russian news agencies in December: "Obama should get a D for flunking because of his (performance) as a head of such a huge state as America."Zhirinovsky has told obscene jokes about Obama. In October, he called him "psychotic."The comments about Obama often have a rueful subtext: If only Obama hadn't ruined relations with Russia, the world would be a much better place. But hope is on its way -- Trump is about to become president. Witness this gem by the Foreign Ministry's Zakharova: "It's over, the curtain's down. A bad play is over. The whole world, from first seats to the balcony, is witnessing a destructive blow to America's prestige and leadership that has been dealt by Barack Obama and his hardly literate foreign policy team that revealed its main secret to the world -- its exceptionality masked helplessness. No enemy could have caused more harm to the US."Some of the venom might be a reaction to Obama's own dissing of Vladimir Putin, for example, in 2013 when he described the Russian President as having "that kind of slouch," looking like the "bored kid in the back of the classroom."JUST WATCHEDTrump downplays hacking scandal ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTrump downplays hacking scandal 03:35Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week blamed Obama for what he called "manmade degradation of our relations."Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Obama administration "has used numerous expedients in recent years in an attempt to hurt us. Now they feel outraged because their candidate lost the presidential race. But they are seeking to place the blame for their defeat anywhere but in their own backyard. And this frustration is an expression of their bad manners and Russophobia."Criticism of Obama on Russian social media and the Internet has gone even further. 2016 was the Chinese Year of the Monkey, and racist cartoons of Obama were rife. As Obama's last hours in office slip away, Putin remains above the fray, leaving it to his underlings to criticize the outgoing US President. Putin did engage in some diplomatic dissing by not responding to Obama's December decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats in response to Russia's alleged election hacking -- a way of saying to Obama: "You're not important enough to even respond to."Follow CNN OpinionJoin us on Twitter and FacebookMeanwhile, Russia's government-funded RT television news network has rereleased an ad it made in 2015 for its 10th anniversary. It's set in 2035. A grizzled Obama and a white-haired John Kerry sit on a porch, in white rocking chairs. "No one is afraid of us anymore," Kerry laments.Obama goes inside to fetch them a drink. A TV in the kitchen, set on RT's broadcast, interrupts with breaking news. The new president, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, is announcing a "new era of transparency." "Damn propaganda bullhorn!" Obama complains. The two old geezers walk off into the sunset in a scene to warm the hearts of Obama's Russian critics. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
5439dc3c-038c-44de-96db-7b6e5844b821 | null | Story highlightsMore than 1.8 million people signed the petition to downgrade Trump's UK visitState visit means a banquet at Buckingham Palace and a ride in Queen's carriageLondon (CNN)The British government has formally rejected the online petition calling for President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK to be canceled or downgraded.In a statement from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office posted Tuesday on the petition's web page, the government said it "recognizes the strong views expressed by the many signatories of this petition, but does not support this petition."The statement added that the invitation, which Prime Minister Theresa May extended to President Trump during her visit to Washington last month, "reflects the importance of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Kingdom." No date fixed yetFinal dates for Trump's visit have yet to be agreed, but the Foreign Office reply to the petition confirmed "HM Government believes the President of the United States should be extended the full courtesy of a State Visit. We look forward to welcoming President Trump once dates and arrangements are finalized."Read MoreThe petition attracted over 1.8 million signatures, easily crossing the 100,000 signature threshold required for it to be debated in Parliament. Embarrassment to QueenThe petition stopped short of calling for a ban on Trump's proposed UK visit but said he "should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen."The Government was compelled to reply to the petition, which recognized Trump's right to come to the UK because it garnered morethan 10,000 signatures.Downing Street protest on January 30 against US President Donald Trump.MPs are scheduled to debate the petition in the House of Commons on Monday.They will also debate a rival 310,000-strong petition in support of the state visit after they both reached the 100,000 signatures threshold to be considered for discussion in Parliament, the Press Association reported.Support for the call to downgrade Trump's visit snowballed after he imposed a travel ban on nationals from seven mainly Muslim countries.Gun salute for TrumpMay's invitation to Trump, which was made during a joint press conference in Washington last month, caused anger both inside Parliament and with the public.Last month, in an letter to The Times newspaper the former head of the Foreign Office, Peter Ricketts, said May had put the Queen in a "very difficult position" and should protect her by downgrading Trump's invitation to an "official visit".Horses ride down the Mall during the Diamond Jubilee Carriage Procession from Westminster Hall to Buckingham Palace in London on June 5, 2012. This would deprive President Trump of a ride in the Queen's carriage, gun salutes, a banquet at Buckingham Palace and other ceremonial honors. An official visit usually means just talks with the Prime Minister and a low-profile courtesy call on the monarch.No US President has received a state visit in his first year in office, making Trump's invite unprecedented.President Barack Obama was afforded the honor 28 months into his tenure, while George W. Bush was extended the invite after 32 months.Queen Elizabeth II with President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. House of Commons Speaker opposed to Trump addressLast week the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, said he was "strongly opposed" to letting Trump address lawmakers during his visit because of Parliament's "opposition to racism and sexism."Bercow is one of three parliamentary officials who must approve any invitation for someone to speak in Westminster Hall, the venue typically used for grand occasions of state.Speaking in response to a motion signed by 163 MPs calling for Trump not to be afforded a Westminster Hall audience, Bercow said "an address by a foreign leader to both Houses of Parliament is not an automatic right, it is an earned honor." His comments have led to calls for his resignation from fellow Conservative MP's who support Trump. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
c00f4828-1352-4013-9eee-1d3c76f40492 | null | (CNN)It's not often Usain Bolt is a side story, but on day 11 at Rio 2016 the sprint superstar made a low-key start to his bid for 200m glory.His fellow Jamaican Omar McLeod became an Olympic champion in the 110-meter hurdles, while Kenya's Faith Kipyegon beat Ethiopia's world champ Genzebe Dibaba in the women's 1,500m.Russia's sole track and field competitor felt "alone" in her first appearance, but US gymnastics sensation Simone Biles bounced back from Monday's slip to win her fourth gold (1529).We also had another marriage proposal (2102) and a golden night for cycling's soon-to-be-wedded couple (1921)Host Brazil suffered an agonizing semifinal exit in women's soccer (1612) and a quarterfinal defeat in women's volleyball (0040) but celebrated its historic first boxing gold (2136).Read MoreScroll down below for all the action -- and go to cnn.com/olympics for full coverage | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
b050b4ea-df40-4953-9359-bd794cb633ed | null | Story highlightsProstitution is legal in Amsterdam, but some sex workers are still exploitedDignita restaurant provides trafficked women with chance to re-integrate into societySo far, some 162 trainees have joined the program.Amsterdam (CNN)Each month, thousands of tourists come to De Wallen, Amsterdam's red light district. In between a network of narrow alleyways, interconnected bridges and canals they wander past the coffee shops and the infamous sex workers behind the windows.It's here that Toos Heemskerk-Schep began her career as a social worker and first came into contact with human trafficking. Today she is the head of Not For Sale in The Netherlands, a branch of an American NGO dedicated to providing long-term opportunities for survivors of modern slavery and exploitation. Not all of those who work in De Wallen are there against their will. Since prostitution was legalized in 2000 the city has balanced maintaining the spirit of liberalism that allows for sex to be sold openly, providing a legal framework for the sex workers to operate, and curbing criminality. Now, gentrification is taking effect. Amsterdam's property market has become a magnet for investment. The social landscape is changing. Red light windows are closing. But on a walk through the red light area Heemskerk-Schep explains what she encountered before the full legalization of prostitution. Read MoreRead: Trafficked women tattooed by their pimps"When I started in 1995 ... we had tolerated prostitution in this area," she says. "At that time it was just incredible what was going on."She points to a street near to the Old Church. "That area there was full of Nigerian girls, girls who came from Edo State, who started off with a debt of $40,000 that they had to pay back to their traffickers.JUST WATCHEDSafe house helps teenage sex trafficking victimReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSafe house helps teenage sex trafficking victim 03:34"It was just after the opening of the Iron Curtain and so we got all of a sudden a whole group of eastern European girls into the Netherlands. It was really just by having my feet in this area and talking and having conversations with the girls ... that I started to learn about their situations."She gestures to another street close by: "The street behind me was a street where only Hungarian girls were working. Now and then the girls approached me, sharing that they were trafficked or exploited. "When they had to be taken out by the police and taken to a safe house, then I learnt that, OK, now they are in the safe house, now what? How are they going build up their future again? How do they get skills in order to re-integrate into society?" 'Do good, eat well'Heemskerk-Schep was frustrated and wanted to do more than her social work allowed. This led to her collaboration with the Not For Sale Foundation. An idea formed to build a profitable eatery where trafficked survivors would train, gain qualifications and work alongside professionals. After four years of planning, restaurant Dignita opened in 2015. Its motto: Do Good, Eat Well.The restaurant has already built a loyal customer base in the area. It supplements donations with income generated from the restaurant. To date, some 162 trainees have joined the program. Graduates leave with more than a certificate. The day-to-day normal social interaction in a safe environment helps survivors overcome their past trauma, says Heemskerk-Schep. "Only focusing on job training is not enough," she says. "It's incredibly important also that they become part of our community here."JUST WATCHEDSex traffickers are branding their victimsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSex traffickers are branding their victims 03:58Hanan is one of the successful trainees. The young woman, from North Africa, is well liked, at ease with her surroundings and known for making jokes with the staff. But things were very different when she first arrived at the restaurant for training. Read: 'I was raped 43,200 times' The nature of how she came to The Netherlands is difficult for her to explain fully. Exploited as a domestic worker, it is still hard for her to speak about it before tears start to flow. Dignita, she says, saved her life. "When I moved to the government shelter it was difficult," she says. "I always wanted to kill myself. There was no energy in my body."Whilst there I was asked about whether I wanted to go for training. I didn't know what Not for Sale meant ... but afterwards I gave it some thought and I said: you know what? I will just have a look for a day to see what it is."I was happy there, and afterwards I went again. I am always happy when I cook. "I felt like a flower without water. But when I started the training, I got my energy back."For Hanan, training has proved inspirational, and she now dreams of becoming a chef. 'We want to be their voice' One of the first dishes trainees learn to cook is soup. Twice a week it's biked from the restaurant to the Dignita store and information center in the red light district. From here, volunteers deliver takeout orders to the sex workers behind the windows. Old mark of slavery is being used on sex trafficking victims"The soup outreach and whatever we are doing here is just an opportunity to be in contact with them ... and to reach out to them but also to learn from them," says Heemskerk-Schep."The fact is that at the moment I have three girls coming from the windows who have been exploited, who have been forced to work as a prostitute. And although we have a legalized system, it doesn't mean to say that the crime is totally out of this business."There are still girls who have been exploited ... and for those we want to be there and be their voice."Heemskerk-Schep has ambitions to scale Dignita's self-sustaining business model beyond Amsterdam, and help more women like Hanan."If someone reaches out a hand to you and says 'join me, stand up,' you should join," says Hanan."Not For Sale gave me the hand and I trusted them [enough] to follow. I didn't have energy but I did go. I am no longer in bed. Stand up. It is really good." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
c6a38bf8-e7ec-4b82-89d8-bba4b9d9287d | null | Dallas (CNN)From the time he was big enough to climb onto the back of his dad's Harley, Jake Carrizal felt the pull of the open road. The summer he was 9, he rode on the back of his dad's bike to Mount Rushmore and then on to Sturgis, the annual Super Bowl of biker rallies, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. "He was on the back holding on tight. People would point and say 'Oh, look how cute!'" recalled his dad, Chris Carrizal.Along the way, Jake got his first look at the biggest, baddest bikers in all of Texas, the Bandidos: "Just seeing them riding down the road," Jake said, "you knew: You don't mess with these guys." Jake and his dad both became Bandidos. Chris Carrizal earned his patch in 2005, and Jake, 34 and a father of two, joined seven years later. He rose quickly to become vice president of the Dallas chapter, second in command to his uncle.Read MoreChris and Jake Carrizal at the Sturgis motorcycle rally in 1990.Jake was at a barbecue at his uncle's when he got his Bandidos patch -- a "fat Mexican," they call it: a round-bellied, grinning caricature with a handlebar mustache and sombrero, wielding a pistol in one hand and a machete in the other (bikers are not known for political correctness). Jake was so moved he cried that night as he stitched the patch onto his jacket under the glow of a flashlight in the backyard. "There's a brotherhood, you know," he said, explaining why he chose the life of a Bandidos biker. "It's a good group of guys, and we like to do a lot of the same things -- ride motorcycles and have fun."It's been a year since Jake and his dad last rode together as Bandidos. May 17, 2015. Destination: Waco. They were supposed to attend a regular meeting of a statewide umbrella organization called the Confederation of Clubs. The location was Twin Peaks, a biker-friendly, Hooters-style restaurant where cold beer is served by women in skimpy cutoff shorts. When the first Bandidos arrived from the Dallas chapter, they found about 60 members of a smaller biker club -- the Cossacks -- waiting. The Cossacks aren't confederation members, and as far as the Bandidos from Dallas were concerned, they hadn't been invited. Accounts vary over what got the fists -- and the bullets -- flying on a Sunday afternoon that would mark the most violent day in Texas biker history. Police suspected something was up; they'd installed cameras and stationed about 20 cops around the parking lot. But they stood back, keeping a low profile. The "fat Mexican" patch of the Bandidos, one of the largest motorcycle clubs.Was the beef over what patches the Cossacks could wear, as police had theorized? Did somebody at Twin Peaks run over a Cossack prospect's foot, as some witnesses suggest? Was it over who owed dues to whom? Or was it just a dumb beef about parking spots? Words were exchanged at first, then pushes, and then punches. Witnesses said somebody fired three shots. Other people pulled guns and all hell broke loose. It lasted less than two minutes and when it was over, nine bikers had been fatally shot and 18 were wounded, including Chris, who took a bullet in the shoulder.Jake said he had been backing his midnight blue Harley into a parking space when the brawl blew up around him. Father and son lost each other in the confusion, and for a time each believed the other had been killed.Nearly a year after the deadly melee, the Carrizals and half a dozen other bikers -- both Bandidos and Cossacks -- are speaking out. They agreed to appear on camera and talk for the first time about their clubs, their culture and the events in Waco. Bandidos leader Jeff Pike, known as "El Presidente," also broke his long silence. He said he likes things quiet and never had a reason to speak out before Waco. JUST WATCHEDWaco biker shootout caught on cameraReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWaco biker shootout caught on camera 05:20After 177 bikers were arrested, bail initially was set at $1 million each. Jake spent 23 days behind bars before his bail was lowered enough that he could post bond. He sold one of his bikes to come up with the required 10% in cash.A local grand jury later indicted 154 bikers -- including the Carrizals -- on a single, generic count of engaging in organized criminal activity. A conviction carries a stiff penalty: from five years to life in prison. But nobody seems to be able to pin down the specific crimes alleged, or to even get a trial date. Local officials aren't talking. The bikers say they're eager for the chance to defend themselves. They say the man who fired the first shots is dead and everyone else was acting in self-defense. Both Cossacks and Bandidos see themselves as crime victims. But this wasn't just a matter for the local police. The feds had been building a case against the Bandidos unrelated to the Waco shootout and showed their hand in January, when an indictment was unsealed in San Antonio. It names three Bandidos leaders, including Pike, as masterminds of a racketeering conspiracy and methamphetamine distribution ring. The indictment alleges the club masks a criminal empire that rules through extortion, intimidation and murder. All three have pleaded not guilty. The feds allege they found "a closed society" in which loyalty "to this organization and their fellow brothers is valued above all else." Bandidos, according to the indictment, "do not fear authority and have a complete disdain for the rules of society."'People our parents warned us about'Bandidos refer to nonbikers as "polite society" and the club motto says it all: "We are the people our parents warned us about." JUST WATCHEDCNN Special Report: Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas ShootoutReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCNN Special Report: Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout 00:30They are in the biker big leagues, one of four major motorcycle clubs. The other three are the Hells Angels, the Pagans and the Outlaws. Members of those clubs as well as some others are known as "outlaw bikers" or "one-percenters."Make no mistake: To Bandidos, the label "outlaw biker" is a point of pride. To be a one-percenter means the rules for 99% of the riders on the road don't apply to you. "To us it's a family thing, it's not a criminal organization," Chris Carrizal said. "We love each other and we love to ride and we're proud to wear that fat Mexican on our back. For people who don't understand, being in the Bandidos means you've reached the top, you're like the CEO." To both father and son, being a one-percenter is a commitment. "I'm a Bandido 24/7," Chris said. "I'm not a poser. I'm not a yuppie, a wannabe. I live the life of a professional motorcyclist. I am a one-percenter." Until Waco, the Bandidos didn't take the Cossacks seriously. At best, they were "an aspirational club," in the words of Donald Charles Davis, a Vietnam vet, biker and former newspaper reporter who writes The Aging Rebel, a blog followed religiously by bikers. He's working on a book about the Waco shootout. The Cossacks motto: "We take care of our own." Owen Reeves is a leader of the Cossacks, a smaller Texas-based club."We're working guys, man, and that's the whole problem," said Owen Reeves, a national Cossacks leader. "We're working guys, and if you try to take something from a working guy, then you're gonna have hell doing it. "You know, them guys, they wanna control everything and make you pay this, pay that, and we're not gonna do it," he said of the Bandidos. "We're grown men, and last time I checked, we live in America." Both the Bandidos and the Cossacks were founded in Texas during the 1960s -- the Bandidos in 1966 in Houston and the Cossacks three years later in Tyler, in east Texas. There has never been any love lost between them.At the time the two clubs started, disillusioned Vietnam veterans were returning from an unpopular war to an unwelcoming society. They no longer fit in at home and felt most comfortable in a structured hierarchy of men with the shared experiences of war, their brothers in arms. Motorcycle clubs offered that sense of camaraderie, Davis said. The Cossacks might have been ambitious, he added, but before Waco the Bandidos viewed them as little more than a nuisance."They're in their own little world. I have no respect for them," said Chris Carrizal. Sprinkling his speech with F-bombs, he added that Cossacks "have no idea what it's like to be a one-percenter or what it is to be in a real club." As for what happened at Waco, he said, "they showed their true colors that day." Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime scene Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneOn May 17, 2015, a fight broke out between two rival biker clubs in Waco, Texas. CNN has obtained video and images of the chaos during and after the brawl. This surveillance footage shows a biker running inside the Twin Peaks restaurant where the deadly fight took place. Authorities have classified both the Bandidos and the Cossacks as gangs.Hide Caption 1 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneHide Caption 2 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneBy the time the melee was over, nine people were dead and 177 people were arrested.Hide Caption 3 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThe body of a biker is seen in the parking lot. (His tattoos have been obscured in this photo.) The biker club members who began beating, stabbing and shooting each other in a Texas Twin Peaks restaurant knew the police were outside, and they just didn't care, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told CNN at the time.Hide Caption 4 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA Bandidos vest and hat are left behind in a pool of blood. The Bandidos boast a membership of 2,000 to 2,500 across not just the United States, but also 13 other countries, the Department of Justice says.Hide Caption 5 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneLaw enforcement agents received information that a regular scheduled meeting of the United Coalition of Clubs was to be held at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17. Due to the known growing tension between the Bandidos and the Cossacks, the Waco Police Department coordinated a surveillance and intelligence-gathering operation for this meeting, according to documents from the Waco Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Hide Caption 6 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAnother body lies next to a tipped-over bike. Police officers fired 12 rounds during the deadly shootout, according to the Waco Police Department, which said it had 16 uniformed officers in their vehicles at the time the suspects began shooting. Hide Caption 7 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThis violent encounter wasn't the first between the Cossacks and the Bandidos, according to a Waco PD investigator's sworn statement. Members of both motorcycle clubs had previous violent altercations throughout Texas in 2013 and 2015. Several of those involved were arrested at the Waco brawl.Hide Caption 8 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAccording to a Waco PD investigator's sworn statement, Waco police witnessed the violence erupt that day "swiftly" and law enforcement officers on the scene were fired upon by "individuals involved in the violent altercation" until officers were able to control the scene.Hide Caption 9 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAccording to witness statements given to Waco Police by a Twin Peaks patron: "Just as we had finished eating I heard 5, 6, or 7 shots from outside of the restaurant. Someone yelled hit the floor, there was constant shots being fired. It sounded like the gunfight at the OK Corral. " Hide Caption 10 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneWeapons were found all over the scene, including this gun in the bathroom.Hide Caption 11 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThe Waco PD says about 480 weapons were found that day.Hide Caption 12 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime scenePolice also recovered an ax, bats, batons, brass knuckles, a chain, clubs, a hatchet, knives, a machete, pepper spray, a pipe, stun guns, tomahawks and weighted weapons. Hide Caption 13 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime scenePolice recovered many knives from the scene.Hide Caption 14 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneTwelve long guns and 133 handguns were recovered.Hide Caption 15 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA gun is seen in the passenger seat of a car. Hide Caption 16 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneWaco PD said that 44 shell casings were recovered from the scene and that 12 of those casings came from the .223-caliber rifles of three SWAT officers, who were in adjacent parking lots. Hide Caption 17 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThis is one of the many weapons recovered.Hide Caption 18 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA gun is inside a motorcycle saddlebag, along with prescription medicine and a water bottle.Hide Caption 19 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneHide Caption 20 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneTensions between the Cossacks and Bandidos had been on the rise for a while.Hide Caption 21 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAccording to witness statements given to police, a Twin Peaks employee said that prior to the fight that led to the shooting, the Cossacks were attempting to keep their conversation private. "Every time a Twin Peaks girl would go outside they (Cossacks) would get extremely quiet and when we would go back inside they would continue to talk."Hide Caption 22 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThe fight broke out at the Twin Peaks restaurant and spilled into the parking lot. The weapons being used quickly escalated from hands and feet to guns.Hide Caption 23 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneWeapons are piled up by a barrier in the parking lot. According to one of the first Waco police officers on the scene, it appeared that nearly everybody in the crowd had a gun.Hide Caption 24 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneSixteen uniformed Waco Police Department officers, including members of their SWAT team, witnessed and responded to the melee from the parking lots surrounding Twin Peaks. Police say they responded within 30 to 45 seconds and were fired at by bikers.Hide Caption 25 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneJewelry lies on the asphalt in the Twin Peaks parking lot. The label is derived from a quote that may be apocryphal but is part of biker lore that dates to the 1960s: Someone supposedly said that 99% of bikers are law-abiding citizens, leaving the mayhem to the other 1%.Hide Caption 26 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneSeven of the nine bikers who were killed at Twin Peaks were members of the Cossacks. The Cossacks claim around 200 members, mostly in small towns in Texas. According to law enforcement officials, they are one of the biggest outlaw biker clubs in Texas. Hide Caption 27 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThis is one of the Bandidos patches from the thousands of evidence photos taken from Twin Peaks. The Bandidos are the biggest motorcycle clubs in Texas, with around 400 members. Hide Caption 28 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneAn officer from the Waco Police Department discovered blood smeared across the Twin Peaks bathroom floor. Hide Caption 29 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneOne of the 151 guns found by investigators was in the grass outside Twin Peaks after the fight. Police recovered a staggering 480 weapons from Twin Peaks: 151 guns, numerous knives, brass knuckles, chains, clubs, batons, hammers, tomahawks and a machete.Hide Caption 30 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA Cossacks jacket, along with knives and a gun, litter the grass outside Twin Peaks after the melee. There were 154 bikers indicted by a Waco grand jury, and they could face life in prison on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity. Hide Caption 31 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA bloody bandana lies on the sidewalk outside of Twin Peaks. Both clubs, the Bandidos and the Cossacks, say they're done fighting. Hide Caption 32 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA Waco police officer snapped this photo after he discovered blood spilling out onto the sink and floor in the Twin Peaks bathroom. Hide Caption 33 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneThese are some of the bullets found on the scene by investigators. According to the Waco Police Department, 44 shell casings recovered from the Twin Peaks scene were fired by law enforcement weapons. Hide Caption 34 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneA duffel bag is filled with patches of the Confederation Of Clubs & Coalition of Independent Riders. COCs are biker networks that exist in nearly every U.S. state and meet every couple of months or so to discuss motorcycle issues and legislation. A 1 p.m. COC meeting was scheduled to take place at Twin Peaks on May 17. Hide Caption 35 of 36 Photos: Waco biker shootout: The crime sceneKnives and weapons are thrown across the dirt and weeds in the Twin Peaks parking lot.Hide Caption 36 of 36Most people learned about outlaw bikers through popular culture. The two best examples are "The Wild One," the 1953 movie starring Marlon Brando, and gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson's 1966 account of the time he spent with the Oakland, California, chapter of the Hell's Angels.More recently, Kurt Sutter's FX series, "Sons of Anarchy," romanticized the biker life, although Davis and other bikers say it took some poetic license.Although motorcycle clubs now can be found around the world, there's something uniquely American about the one-percenters who live outside the restrictions imposed by "polite society." They live by their own rules, which as any biker will tell you, might make them outlaws, but doesn't mean they're criminals. Davis compares them to the cowboys who won the West, sprinkling his anecdotes with classical literary and cultural references. "The motorcycle outlaw world is the last manifestation of the American frontier," he said. They are bad boys, and who doesn't like a colorful bad boy? 'Big dogs and little dogs' Cops and federal agents might view outlaw bikers as criminals, said Davis, but he understands the draw the outlaw biker holds for others in 2016. He sees it as a response to the discontent and perceived unfairness that recently hung like a pall over American society. He compares the renewed interest in outlaw biker clubs to the rise of the tea party and Occupy Wall Street, movements that themselves now seem dated. Davis hasn't just studied everything academics have to say about biker clubs. His education also comes from the streets. He used to belong to a club but won't say which one, except that today it would be considered a "one-percent" club. How this story was reportedBikers who might never have considered talking to outsiders before Waco recently spoke with CNN. Some were in the thick of the violence, others were hundreds of miles away. Most face serious prison time. CNN also obtained voluminous documentation, including witness statements, and hours of video evidence from Waco police dash cams, as well as a cameras police set up in the restaurant parking lot. CNN also obtained and reviewed videos from the Twin Peaks surveillance cameras. That evidence, along with interviews with experts and bikers from both clubs, form the basis of the documentary, "Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout," which airs for the first time on Monday at 9 p.m. on CNN.Besides ongoing conversations with bikers from around the world, he reads everything he can get his hands on, from court documents to doctoral dissertations. "Bikers are predominantly libertarian," he said. They aren't much different from men who, in another era, "needed elbow room from society and so they ran off to Kentucky, to Texas, to California, to Alaska. ..." It's a cultural note that resonates in the Lone Star State. Texans are famously fond of cowboys, and they can't resist an outlaw with a good mustache and some panache. Terry Katz, a Baltimore-based state police investigator, has been following biker gangs since the 1980s. Katz is vice president of a 600-member group called the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association. He said the Bandidos, being the dominant club, saw little choice but to stand up to a challenge from the Cossacks. "These guys aren't going to put up with anybody disrespecting them," Katz said. As bikers see it, Waco shows "they were just taking care of business." Davis agreed that Waco was all about respect. The club on top demanded it, and the ambitious challengers grew weary of bowing down. "At the end of the day, the Bandidos are the big dogs," said Katz, "and you can't stay a big dog if you let a little dog intimidate you."Regardless of what started the gunfight at Waco -- whether it was over a patch or a parking space -- it's "irrelevant to everybody else," Katz said. But respect matters to a biker. Respect for your club is worth dying for. "These guys are not going to put up with anybody disrespecting them," Katz said. "If you put nitro and glycerin together, eventually you're going to have an explosion." The "Texas bottom rocker" patch, which may have set off the feud.Could the bad blood and resulting violence really have been over a patch, as police said? In addition to wearing the "fat Mexican," the Bandidos and some of their support clubs -- smaller biker groups loyal to the dominant club -- also sport what's known as a "Texas bottom rocker." It's a curved patch sewn onto the lower back of a biker's vest that announces his territory. Bandidos also ask their support clubs to wear the round Bandidos "support cookie" patch.Cossacks started wearing the large Texas bottom rocker panel on the back of their vests in 2013, according to the indictment. They didn't ask anyone for permission. The Bandidos responded by letting everyone, even their smallest support clubs, wear the Texas rocker, diluting its prestige, Jake and other members said. Bandidos president Pike said the Cossacks even thanked them on social media.But the dispute over the Texas rocker brought up another sticking point. The support clubs pay dues of $50 a month, but the Cossacks were refusing to pay for what one Cossack described to CNN as "the privilege of riding my motorcycle in Texas." Reeves, the national Cossacks leader, acknowledged to police that "there's a lot of residual hatred" that "needs to be over." Cossacks were tired of being hassled over wearing the Texas rocker patch. That simple fact, he added, accounted for "80%" of their issues with the Bandidos. "We're a motorcycle club. We want to be left alone. We just want to ride, and to ride in Texas," said another Cossack who spoke with CNN under a pseudonym, "Dean." The Cossacks patch features a caricature of a wild-eyed, sneering cossack with scimitar poised to strike.Paying dues to someone else is an obvious irritant, said Dean, who was at Waco: "Why am I going to pay dues if I'm a part of myself? It doesn't make sense why I'm going to pay someone to be able to ride my motorcycle in the state of Texas." Pike said all this Cossacks resentment is a recent development. "We talked about it and said 'Where did this hatred come from?' It just popped up," the Bandidos president said. "Those guys have been around as long as we have almost, and we never hung out together or anything, but we never bothered each other, either. And in the past two years, it's just gone crazy."'We are at war'There are almost as many versions of what caused the tension between the Bandidos and Cossacks as there are Bandidos and Cossacks. But the federal indictment is as good a place as any to start. It lays out a series of skirmishes between the clubs during the months leading up to Waco. Pike and the other two Bandidos leaders named in the indictment were nowhere near Waco on the day of the shootout. (All three have pleaded not guilty.) And, indeed, it makes no mention of Waco. But it does provide a brief, official version of the bad blood building between the two clubs. The Bandidos are a huge, international club with 175 chapters -- 42 of them in Texas. The Cossacks also are a Texas club, and much smaller, with maybe 200 members across the state. But they are ambitious. They'd been on a recruiting spree, and as 2015 began, they were standing up to the Bandidos again. Jeff Pike is the Bandidos president; he was arrested at his home in January.By February 2015, Pike was stepping aside as national president of the Bandidos and taking a health leave. Pike handed responsibility over to his number two, vice president John Xavier Portillo. It was Portillo who informed club members that they were at war with the Cossacks, according to the indictment. The first clash came in November 2013, when 10 Bandidos confronted a group of Cossacks in Abilene. A knife fight broke out, and four Cossacks were seriously hurt. "This is our town. If you come back, I will kill you," the president of the Bandidos' Abilene chapter allegedly warned, according to the indictment, which didn't name him. About a year later, Portillo again told club members about the ongoing war. A group of Bandidos crashed a sports bar during a meeting between the Cossacks and their support clubs. A member of a support club called the Ghost Riders was shot and killed. As they left, the Bandidos slapped one of their club stickers on the bar door. In March 2015, the indictment states, Portillo told Pike to "turn his back from what I'm gonna do" in what prosecutors claim was an attempt "to shield Pike from criminal responsibility" regarding the war with the Cossacks. He allegedly repeated on March 3 that the Bandidos were "at war" with the Cossacks, stating that he "wants that Texas rocker back," referring to the patch. Later, on March 20 and 21, the Bandidos went on a "birthday run" to celebrate the anniversary of their Tyler, Texas, chapter. Tyler, of course, was the birthplace of the Cossacks. Portillo, according to the indictment, urged four Bandidos to "shake up (expletive)" and "get a little aggressive" with the Cossacks. Then, on March 22, about 20 Bandidos swarmed a Cossack pumping gas in Palo Pinto County. They demanded his vest, which included the Texas rocker, and beat him with a claw hammer, according to the indictment. On May 1, the Texas Joint Crime Information Center issued a bulletin warning of "escalating conflict" between the Bandidos and Cossacks. It listed additional confrontations -- including a March 22 assault of a lone Cossack by about 10 Bandidos in Lorena, a plan in which 100 Bandidos would ride to Odessa on April 11 to start a "war" with the Cossacks, and reports of three confrontations between Bandidos and Cossacks in east Texas on April 24.As the bulletin stated: "This conflict may stem from Cossacks members refusing to pay the Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for claiming Texas as their territory by wearing the Texas bottom rocker on their vests."'Cossacks all over me' The Cossacks said they came to Twin Peaks to talk about a truce. The Bandidos say they rolled up on an ambush. By noon, about 60 or 70 Cossacks had already lined up their bikes in the best parking spots at Twin Peaks. They had the run of the patio, too, when Jake and the others from Dallas pulled up. The Bandidos had wanted to get there early to stake out a good table. They said they hadn't counted on seeing any Cossacks there. Jake Carrizal was among the first of the Bandidos to pull into the parking lot at Twin Peaks.Jake spotted an empty section along the row of parked bikes and started to back his Harley into the spot on the end. "As I'm backing in, I see that whole patio where the Cossacks were -- they all cleared out and came to the parking lot," he said. He spotted batons, brass knuckles and clubs and immediately knew: "They weren't there to chit-chat. They were on a mission. They were there to confront us." He was surrounded. That saying about your whole life flashing before your eyes? It's true, Jake said."All I can think about was my kids, and my girlfriend, and my whole life, you know? And just seeing them with brass knuckles. Who does that, you know?"When he saw the first punch thrown, he knew it was on."They were attacking us. And I was fighting for my life," he recalled. "I had guys all over me -- Cossacks all over me," Jake said.The Bandidos behind Jake didn't have time to shut off their bikes before the Cossacks were all over them, too, Jake and his father said."One of these punks, he comes out shooting like Rambo," Chris Carrizal said. "It was planned out, man, it was planned. They were waiting for us. They were waiting to kill as many of us as possible. There's no doubt in my mind. We weren't there to murder anybody, we weren't there to hurt anybody."Where things stand:The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas has indicted the highest-ranking members of the Bandidos organization, charging them with racketeering acts including murder, attempted murder, assault, intimidation, extortion, and drug trafficking. Jeffrey Fay Pike, the group's national president; John Xavier Portillo, the group's national vice president; and Justin Cole Forster, the group's national sergeant at arms, were arrested on January 6. 2016. Portillo and Forster have both entered not guilty pleas, and remain in federal custody. Pike has also pleaded not guilty and has been out on bond since mid-January. Jury selection and trial is scheduled for all three defendants on October 11, 2016, before U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra in San Antonio. May 17, 2016, marks one year since a deadly brawl at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, between members of the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle clubs. Nine bikers died in the shootout, and 18 others were injured.154 of the 177 bikers arrested have been indicted by a Waco grand jury on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, which comes with a maximum sentence of life in prison. All the bikers are out of jail on bond, awaiting trial dates. According to Waco police, 44 shell casings fired by law enforcement were recovered from the scene.Lying on the ground, Jake pulled one of his assailants close, using him as a shield. "And the whole time, I'm hearing gunshots go off. I hear the shots going off, whizzing by me. And you know, my dad's there, my uncle's there, I'm there and my brothers are there," Jake said. "If I'm not getting hit, someone's getting hit." And it's just a bad feeling. Horrible feeling. Scary feeling. "I've never been that scared in my life."Somebody pulled the people off Jake, and he crawled under a truck for cover. He saw a biker lying on the ground and wondered, Was it Dad? "That's when it hit me," Jake said. "(The biker) wasn't moving, he was laying on his back, and without a doubt he was killed. It was hard to see. It was hard to comprehend, and I remember yelling for my dad, because I knew he was somewhere there." Then he saw his father appear around a corner, helped along by two police officers. He was a bloody mess, but he was walking. "That was an awesome feeling," Jake said. "He got shot in the back, in the shoulder, and as bad as that image was seeing my dad full of blood, it was awesome seeing him, knowing that he was alive."Chris Carrizal had wondered if he was a goner at 52. "When I first fell and hit the ground, I could feel the blood coming out of my shoulder, and I was thinking, 'That's it. That's it, you know, I'm going to die right here today and there's nothing I can do about it,'" he recalled. He thought he'd seen his son's body, too. The dead biker he spotted wore square-toed boots, just like Jake does. "I said, 'Man, Jake's dead, he's laying there dead. ...'" His voiced trailed off as he fought back tears. "It was tough, man, but luckily it wasn't him."Someone brought Chris to Jake. He laid his dad down on a grassy strip by the parking lot, resting his father's head on his lap. "He was on blood thinners," Jake recalled, "and he was telling me, 'You take care of the boys, and you take care of Mom.'" Jake didn't want to hear that. He urged his father, "Be strong, you'll make it." Only later would he find out how lucky his dad had been. A few millimeters to the left and the bullet would have killed him. A little to the right, and he would have been paralyzed. Ambush or not, the simple truth is the Cossacks got the worst of it. When the guns finally fell silent, seven Cossacks lay dead -- guys with road names like Rattle Can, Side Track, Diesel, Trainer, Chain, Bear and Dog. Just one of the Bandidos -- "Candyman" -- was killed, along with an unaffiliated biker, a 65-year-old Vietnam vet with Bandidos friends. Afterward, police recovered more than 470 weapons, including 151 firearms. Operation Texas Rocker The feds came for El Presidente before dawn on the first Wednesday in January. Nearly eight months had passed since the fight in Waco, but Bandidos leader Pike hadn't been there for that. He was waking up after colon surgery when his wife told him about the shootout with the Cossacks. Through the haze, it seemed surreal. Still does. JUST WATCHEDExclusive look inside motorcycle club president's homeReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHExclusive look inside motorcycle club president's home 02:25Pike might not have been at Twin Peaks, but the feds see him as the shot-caller, which is why they'd come calling. They had an indictment naming Pike as the head of a 2,000-member gang that murders and beats rivals, deals methamphetamine, engages in extortion, wages war with its enemies and terrorizes witnesses.Pike is confident the government will be unable to directly link him to illegal activity. The indictment does not accuse Pike of specific crimes; instead, it places him at the top of the Bandidos and alleges he benefited from the crimes of others. In announcing the indictment hours after Pike's arrest, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Joseph M. Arabit said their investigation -- dubbed "Operation Texas Rocker" -- had "inflicted a debilitating blow to the leadership hierarchy and violent perpetrators of the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang." "This 23-month operation highlights a deliberate and strategic effort to cut off and shut down the supply of methamphetamine trafficked by the Bandidos as well as other related criminal activity," said Arabit, who heads the DEA's Houston office.Armed agents circled Jeff Pike's home in January. On that early morning in January, armed agents quietly circled Pike's house, set on five acres in Conroe, a straight 45-mile shot north of Houston on I-45. Over a loudspeaker, they ordered Pike to surrender. Nobody was more surprised to see that SWAT team than Pike, who at age 60 has been with the Bandidos for 36 years and presidente for the last 11. He'd been investigated a few times before but never arrested, which made him a standout among Bandidos leaders. His four predecessors had all gone to prison for various acts of mayhem. Bandidos founder Donald Chambers and two others were convicted of murder for killing two drug dealers after making them dig their own graves. Pike said he likes things quiet. He insisted he's boring. He staggered sleepily out of the house in bare feet, his hands in the air. He recognized one of the agents. And then he saw the armored vehicle. He knew this was serious. "There's an Army tank-looking thing with red and blue lights on it in my driveway," he said. "But they said, 'Come on out, keep your hands up.' And I walked out, and it was very cordial." He said he's grateful agents didn't trash his house. "They didn't wreck my gate, they didn't even drive on the grass. I made sure my dog didn't get out. I was very appreciative of the way they arrested me." And then he read the indictment and didn't see anything to worry about. "There's nothing in that indictment that says I did anything," he said. "But the cops got an old saying: 'You might beat the rap, but you're not going to beat the ride.' So I'm just going to have to play along here for a while."He said the feds have 800 hours of taped conversations. He is like a ghost in them, he said, except for a brief mention in a single phone call. If he's a shot-caller, he appears to be a very well-insulated one. "Somebody mentioned my name in a telephone call," Pike said. "That's why I got arrested. I mean that's ridiculous."He wonders aloud what the point of all this might be. What do the feds want? "Are they out to just destroy us, or do you want to make good citizens out of us?"Like the local police, the feds aren't talking. Legal observers expect more federal indictments to come, naming more Bandidos as participants in the alleged conspiracy. Waco could prove to be fertile ground, supplying future federal witnesses -- and defendants. There are also signs that federal investigators' interest expanded after Waco to include the Cossacks. They seem to have caught the eye of the DEA, in particular, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. "I don't think they're gonna try anybody in Waco," said Houston lawyer Paul Looney, who represents an arrested Cossack and a couple caught up in the melee. "I think the entire detention in Waco is a babysitting exercise while the feds complete their investigation. There'll be a superseding federal indictment out of San Antonio in which a lot of the people that were arrested in Waco go into that indictment, and the Waco prosecutions will just go by the by." 'He had a real fighting heart' A year later, Bandidos and Cossacks look back on Waco and shake their heads at the violence they witnessed. Nearly everyone says it caught them by surprise. Some of the older guys say it reminded them of combat. Many still struggle with having been forced to leave bleeding "brothers" behind. Reeves, the Cossacks leader, was shot -- and so was his son. "I was on the ground," he told police, according to his statement, which CNN obtained. "I can't see anybody pull the trigger but I heard a s--- ton of bullets flying. It was pop-pop, nonstop. And I didn't wanna get up. I didn't even wanna turn my head and see where it was coming from. I was trying to be still so they didn't pop me, thinking I was still alive. Being honest man, I, I was f---ing scared."When the shooting stopped, Reeves said, he looked up and saw a fellow biker "with a hole in his head." And then he saw his son, dying. "He got clipped in the head. My son got shot in the head, and started bleeding out next to me. And I started trying to deal with him," Reeves told police. "The other guys were trying to resuscitate him, and he had a real fighting heart, but (police) made us leave, and he just got left." Another Cossack said he, too, was troubled by the wounded bikers left behind in the mayhem. He believes more might have survived if they'd received prompt medical attention. "Would I take a bullet for a brother? I have, even though I was unarmed. I was there," said Dean, the Cossack who spoke with CNN on the condition his identity not be revealed. "I still remember the blood coming out of me, the pain, the people around me being shot," Dean said. "It just seems like it happened so fast, but it took forever for it to end."He said nobody meant for Waco to happen, and he struggles to understand why it did. He's asked the question that has been on everyone's mind: What did all those people die for? "It almost looks like stupidity," he said, pausing and searching for a better reason. He seems relieved when one comes to mind. "They died protecting other people," Dean said. "They were the ones who took the hits. They were the ones who stopped the bullets from hitting other people."It sounds so much more noble. Because, as the Cossacks and Bandidos kept telling us, dying over a patch would be stupid. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
1997c36f-8381-4453-a25f-314dfc78cca7 | null | Story highlightsFour surviving copies of the 1215 Magna Carta have gone on display in London to mark document's 800th anniversaryThe Magna Carta, or great charter, established the principle that no one -- including the King -- should be above the lawSecurity surrounding the priceless manuscripts, created by four different medieval scribes using sheepskin parchment and ink made of oak galls, is tight London (CNN)There are guards at the gate, guards checking bags, and guards at the door of the darkened room: Security is tight as a drum. The reason for these safeguards is stored under glass, and bathed in a pool of low light -- not jewels or what might traditionally be termed treasure, but four "grubby brown manuscripts."In a room packed with illuminated tomes and richly-decorated books of hours, it would be easy to ignore the four tatty sheets arranged in a cabinet along the wall, were it not for the two magic words: Magna Carta. For the first time in their 800-year history, the four surviving "original" versions of the Magna Carta have been brought together at the British Library in London -- in an operation planned with military precision."It's pretty high security," admits June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury Cathedral; its copy of the charter has left home for the first time in decades to join its "siblings" in the exhibition. Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversary Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryThe four surviving Magna Carta manuscripts have gone on display at the British Library in London. More than 43,000 people from around the world applied for tickets to see them together; just 1,215 will get in to the historic three-day exhibition.Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryThe Magna Carta was essentially a peace treaty between England's King John and a group of barons he had been in dispute with. It established the principle that no one -- including the King -- should be above the law. Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryKing John agreed to the charter in June 1215, but within weeks had it annulled by the Pope, on the grounds it was "base and shameful." However, after he died, his successors reissued an updated version of it; it has become one of the most famous documents in the world.Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryThree of the clauses in the Magna Carta are still on the statute books in Britain today, and it has influenced the constitutions and founding beliefs of many other countries, including the United States, India and Australia.Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryTwo of the four surviving versions of the Magna Carta are held by the British Library in London; the other two are in Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. Lincoln's copy has traveled frequently to the United States and elsewhere.Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryEach of the four Magna Carta copies was written on sheepskin parchment, using ink made of crushed oak apple galls. The skilled Medieval scribes who produced the documents used quills crafted from goose or swan feathers.Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryThe Magna Carta was not signed by King John -- instead his official seal was attached to it. This replica shows what it would have looked like. Only one of the four surviving copies, one of the pair held in the British Library, still has the remnants of its seal.Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Magna Carta: Manuscripts united to mark 800th anniversaryThe exhibition will give academics a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to examine all four of the Magna Carta manuscripts side by side, to study differences in text, handwriting, condition and signs of ownership.Hide Caption 8 of 8"We had conservators all around it to make sure that in the transfer nothing threatened the document. But as in all of these matters of security the greatest advantage is secrecy," she adds with a smile, refusing to go into detail about how, or when, the priceless page was brought to the capital. "I can tell you that as Dean I did not know when it moved ... We have taken it really seriously."Read MoreIt's all a far cry from the days when one of the charter's previous custodians used to hide it under her bed for safe-keeping.JUST WATCHEDMaking of the Magna CartaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMaking of the Magna Carta 01:18"The librarian, Elsie, felt very deeply about her responsibility for looking after it. The story goes that she occasionally put it under her bed at home and in order to get it under her bed she put it on the basket of her bicycle," says Osborne. "I shudder to think that anybody could have thought that was the right thing to do but ... Elsie probably thought she was doing her best."By contrast, Lincoln Cathedral's well-traveled version of the charter, which has just returned from a visit to the United States, is no stranger to such serious levels of surveillance, having spent several years under lock, key and armed guard in Fort Knox."In 1939, when the war broke out, it was at the World's Fair in New York," explains Philip Buckler, Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. "It couldn't travel back across the Atlantic and so the American people took it in."It was kept at the Library of Congress for several years, but when the U.S. entered the war it was not safe in Washington D.C., and so it went into Fort Knox, and there it was held, with all of the other great treasures of America -- and the bullion, obviously -- until 1946."Today, the Magna Carta is revered around the world as the document that established the principle that everyone -- including the King himself -- was subject to the rule of law.No free man shall be seized or imprisoned or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way ... except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.Magna Carta, 1215That key clause -- nestled among long-forgotten details about fishing rights and noble widows' dowries -- has become a central tenet of democracies across the globe, from the U.S., whose Constitution and Bill of Rights were directly influenced by the Magna Carta, to Australia, New Zealand and India."It really is an iconic document, one of the most famous documents in the world," says Claire Breay, head of Medieval manuscripts at the British Library. "It has become such a powerful symbol over the centuries for all sorts of rights and freedoms."But back in 1215, it was effectively a peace treaty. "It was a practical solution to the political crisis the country was in at the time," explains Breay, a way of bringing to an end a long-running conflict between King John and his barons.And although the monarch signed it -- under sufferance -- he soon changed his mind and had it annulled by the Pope. It wasn't until his successors revived the Magna Carta in the years after his death that it began to take on such importance. Nowadays, it is studied in schools from Seattle to Sydney.More than 43,000 people from all over the world applied for tickets to the exhibition; just 1,215 of them will get the chance to see the quartet of charters over the next three days.Academics and Magna Carta experts will also get a unique chance to study the four documents side-by-side, looking at differences in text, handwriting and condition for clues to their past. JUST WATCHEDMagna Carta turns 800ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMagna Carta turns 800 03:06"It's a great opportunity for all four to be looked at, to be compared and contrasted," said Chris Woods, director of the National Conservation Service. "There's a great deal we still don't know about each of their individual histories, but there are things we can learn about them, particularly by comparing them."Julian Harrison, curator of Medieval manuscripts at the British Library, says it is a miracle the documents have survived -- one was badly damaged in a fire in the 18th century, and "The other was reputedly found in a London tailor's shop in the 17th century -- that's a bit frightening because what was it doing there? Presumably it was going to be cut up to be used to make gentlemen's collars."Once the landmark display comes to an end, the visiting versions will be sent home to Salisbury and Lincoln, where they, like the two held permanently by the British Library, will star in individual exhibitions marking the 800th anniversary of the charter, attracting thousands more visitors on a "pilgrimage" to see their own piece of history."It has become a relic in the best sense of the word, in that it represents a whole tradition," says Justin Champion, professor of history at the University of Holloway. "It is a bit of a disappointment when you first see it... [it's a] grubby brown manuscript," but, he insists, it is much more than that."The Magna Carta [has become] not just an artifact [but] an idea -- and as we know ideas are much more dangerous than things."Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy is at the British Library from March 13 to September 1, 2015; Magna Carta: Spirit of Justice - Power of Words is at Salisbury Cathedral from March 7, 2015 and Magna Carta: Power, Justice and Accountability is at Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle from April 1, 2015. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
760febf6-54cb-4684-92da-6a6ad7fa0c2f | null | Story highlights Wife of a man who tried to stop the gunman says he played dead to surviveSuspect in French train attack faces attempted murder, other chargesEl Khazzani wanted to kill "a whole train full of people," prosecutor says (CNN)He was armed for a massacre.Ayoub El Khazzani, the suspected gunman who was overtaken by passengers on a Thalys train in France last week, carried with him an AKM assault rifle with 270 rounds of ammunition, a Luger M80 automatic pistol with a full cartridge, a box-cutter and a water-bottle-sized container full of gasoline, according to French Prosecutor Francois Molins."According to all of the witness accounts we've gathered ... (El Khazzani) wouldn't have hesitated to use all the arms in his possession -- assault rifle, pistol and box-cutter -- if it wasn't for the remarkable intervention of the passengers," Molins told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.The 25-year-old Moroccan has been charged with attempted murder, attempted mass murder and membership in a terrorist organization, the prosecutor said -- because the gunman allegedly wanted to kill all the passengers on the train. Photos: Train attack thwarted in France Photos: Train attack thwarted in FranceSpencer Stone, one of the passengers who overpowered the gunman who had an assault rifle on a high-speed train, gestures as he leaves the hospital of Lesquin, northern France, on Saturday, August 22. On August 21, a gunman opened fire on the train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris, injuring two people before being tackled by several passengers. Stone, an off-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, was first to the gunman, who slashed him in the neck and almost sliced off his thumb with a box utter.Hide Caption 1 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FranceFrom left: Anthony Sadler, from Pittsburg, California, Alek Skarlatos from Roseburg, Oregon, and British national Chris Norman -- who is living in France -- hold medals they received for stopping a gunman on a European train.Hide Caption 2 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FranceAmericans Alek Skarlatos (from left), Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler helped tackle a gunman aboard a high-speed train.Hide Caption 3 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FranceAn undated photo released by a social network shows the 25-year-old Moroccan suspect in Friday's shooting, named as Ayoub El Khazzani. He lived in (southern) Spain in Algeciras for a year, until 2014, then he decided to move to France. Once in France he went to Syria, then returned to France, according to a Spanish anti-terror source. Hide Caption 4 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FranceThe high-speed train was zipping from Amsterdam to Paris when a shirtless man emerged from the bathroom -- a rifle slung over his shoulder, witnesses said. A French passenger and three Americans -- a civilian, an Air Force member and a National Guard member -- jumped into action. They quickly tackled him, possibly averting a massacre aboard the train. This frame grab image shows the bound suspect.Hide Caption 5 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FrancePolice work on a platform next to a high-speed train in Arras, France, on Friday, August 21.Hide Caption 6 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FrancePolice inspect the crime scene inside the train. Hide Caption 7 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FrancePolice in protective suits stand on a platform next to the train. Hide Caption 8 of 9 Photos: Train attack thwarted in FranceCrime investigators look into the window of the train. Hide Caption 9 of 9Molins said El Khazzani has invoked his right to remain silent after days of "evasive answers."Read MoreBefore he assembled his weapon in the toilet compartment between two train cars on Friday, El Khazzani sat on the train -- bound for Paris from Amsterdam -- listening on his phone to a YouTube file of "an individual calling his followers to combat and urging them to take up arms in the name of the Prophet," Molins said, saying this was indication of his terrorist intent.After bursting out of the bathroom with his assault rifle, El Khazzani was met by a French man who was waiting there and who tried to stop him. El Khazzani fired off several rounds, and the man escaped through the doors into the next car, the prosecutor said. From left: Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and U.S. ambassador to France Jane Hartley pose after a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Paris on August 23, 2015. El Khazzani then went into one of the cars, where two American servicemen jumped on him when his weapon jammed and -- with the help of another American and a British man -- managed to bring him down and tie him up, Molins said.Did suspect have support?As the investigation into the thwarted attack and the suspect continues, authorities are looking into a key question: Was the suspected gunman a lone wolf or did he have support?Molins said that authorities are trying to pinpoint where the alleged gunman got the weapons he had and how he got the money to buy a first-class ticket."We will try and determine where he got these weapons, where he has been in Europe, anybody who has worked with him and his source of financing," Molins said.According to the French prosecutor, El Khazzani has maintained that he found the weapons in a park. He told investigators during interrogations that he intended to rob train passengers and then escape through a window.Authorities said El Khazzani was recently in Hatay Province in southeastern Turkey, close to the Syrian border. On June 4, he traveled back through Istanbul to Albania -- a side destination that he may have used to cover his tracks.El Khazzani's defense attorney, Sophie David, told CNN affiliate BFMTV and other media organizations that her client denies he is a terrorist."The suggestion makes him almost laugh," she said. El Khazzani wanted to carry out an armed robbery, she said, and did not intend to spark a terror alert.Wife recalls harrowing moments before shootingWhen she heard her husband's voice, passenger Isabelle Risacher Moogalian knew the situation was dire."Get out. This is serious," he warned her."I looked at his face, and I knew he was not kidding, because he looked very intense," she told CNN in an exclusive television interview Tuesday. Moments later, she was crouching behind a seat on the train while her husband -- French-American academic Mark Moogalian -- tried to take away the gunman's rifle. She heard at least one gunshot go off, then watched her husband in horror from a few seats away."He fell to the ground. ... My husband thought he was going to shoot him again, so he played dead," she said.Now Mark Moogalian is hospitalized with a gunshot wound. His condition worsened overnight at a hospital in Lille, in northwestern France, but he was starting to feel better on Tuesday, his family said.Authorities have said he will be awarded the French Legion of Honor once he recovers.Four other passengers who stopped the gunman received the Legion of Honor from President Francois Hollande on Monday.One of them, Briton Chris Norman, told CNN that he preferred to die trying to stop the man, rather than sitting and waiting for a near-certain death."My position was, I'm not going to be the guy who dies sitting down," Chris Norman told CNN's "New Day." "If you're going to die, try to do something about it."'The power of the citizens'Norman said that he and Hollande had a conversation at the award ceremony in which they discussed the importance of everyone participating in the fight against terrorism.Police cannot be everywhere, Norman said."I think as citizens, we need to really move forward and we need to take some of the responsibility for it," he said, referring to the battle against terrorism. "Whether it is simply being more vigilant or by preparing yourself for action if ever you do find yourself in that situation."I'm not an expert in the area but I do think we need to figure out how to harness the power of the citizens," he said. Norman told CNN's Chris Cuomo that he and the others who subdued the apparent would-be attacker, though they had never met, acted as a team during the takedown.He has had a chance since Sunday to talk with the others -- Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, three American friends on vacation in Europe -- about those critical events."I think we've got a pretty strong bond," he said.Follow @Don_Melvin CNN's Martin Savidge, Margot Haddad and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
05a9d8d8-0765-4bd1-91d1-8c801bdb099f | null | Story highlightsReal Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has said that he is not bothered by fans booing himMourinho was heckled by his own supporters during the 4-1 victory over Athletic BilbaoThe crowd reaction follows media reports of a bust-up with defender Sergio RamosReal Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has brushed aside the boos he received from his own fans during the weekend's 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao.Mourinho has been the subject of criticism in the Spanish media following his side's display in the El Clasico Spanish Cup defeat by Barcelona last week.And reports of training bust-ups with Spanish internationals Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, which were widely reported in the Marca newspaper, have intensified the pressure on Mourinho -- despite his side holding a five-point lead over champions Barca at the top of the La Liga table.But Mourinho told the official Real Madrid website that such reports do not bother him -- neither does any dissatisfaction from the Bernabeu crowd."I'm not bothered by the crowd booing me. It's the first time it's ever happened to me, but there is a first time for practically everything. "Zinedine Zidane was booed at here and so has Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo was the Golden Boot winner, so if he can be booed, why can't I?"Mourinho continued: "There have been no problems with the team this week. I lost a match on Wednesday, but I was already thinking about the Bilbao game on Friday. We played it and won, so that's it. I'm a football professional who tries to defend Real Madrid with dignity and in full use of my capabilities."Real Madrid asked me to coach the team and I have a fantastic relationship with the president, director general and the board. "They know they'll never have a problem with me. I'm calm and just do my job," added Mourinho. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
23f3e246-7fe7-4c61-8bd8-d92bda925962 | null | Story highlightsIn London borough of Havering, 70% voted to Leave EULeave voters in the borough have reacted angrily to high court ruling (CNN)Britain's divorce from the European Union got a whole lot messier on Thursday, when the High Court ruled members of parliament must vote on the process.The ruling means Prime Minister Theresa May's government will now need MPs' approval before triggering Article 50 -- the mechanism for Britain leaving the EU.The ruling could give the 48% of British voters who wanted to remain in the EU a greater voice in Brexit plans. But what do the 52% who voted Leave think about it? CNN spoke to Brexiteers in Havering, a London borough where 70% of people voted to exit the EU, making it one of the places with the highest percentage of Leave voters across the UK.Here's what they said. Read MoreDisillusioned: The small business owner Graeme Gibbons, 50, owner of Penny's household goods stall in Romford Market for 25 years."This ruling makes us look stupid in the world -- and we're not," said Graeme Gibbons."People voted for Brexit in good faith and now they're being told that it may not go ahead -- so I think they'll be feeling pretty disillusioned and cheated," said Graeme Gibbons, who voted for "Leave."The British town that really wants to leave Europe"What's the point in having a referendum if they're just going to overrule it anyway?"Gibbons warned that the sense of injustice among Leave voters could also play into the hands of right-wing parties such as UKIP, which campaigned heavily for tighter immigration controls."If we vote in a certain way and it's taken away from us, parties such as UKIP could really capitalize on that sense of dissatisfaction," he said."The majority of people voted to leave, it cost a lot of money to hold the referendum, and now they'll be asking, 'What's the point?'" Disappointed and angry: The clothes vendor Tony Geary, 49, chairman of the Romford Market Traders Association."We've already been asked the question, the public have made the decision," said Tony Geary. "I voted to get out of the EU," said clothing store owner Tony Geary. "And there was no suggestion that we'd need to go through parliament to get all the necessary boxes ticked before that happened." I want the government to fulfill what I've asked them to doTony Geary"As a small business owner I believed Brexit would be best for my country, and I want the government to fulfill what I've asked them to do."Geary added that it wasn't just Leave voters in Havering who would be feeling disappointed by the court ruling -- but the majority of the country."The referendum was: 'Do we stay or do we go?'" he said."Not: 'Let's decide and then we'll get the courts to rule on it and put it another way.'" Confident Brexit will go ahead: The fishmongerDave Crosbie, 58, owner of "The Better Plaice" seafood stall in Romford Market."Theresa May is the one in the know. If she's saying March 2017, then you've got to stick to that.""We voted to come out of the EU, so they can't really go against that, can they?" said Dave Crosbie, who believes parliament will keep to Prime Minster Theresa May's deadline for triggering Article 50. JUST WATCHEDThis town voted to leave the EU, what do they think now?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHThis town voted to leave the EU, what do they think now? 01:58"As long as they stick to the March 2017 date, and don't try and do a backdoor turnaround, I don't think it'll make a huge difference."Crosbie says he voted to Leave the EU partly because of high levels of immigration -- and hopes any Brexit deal would honor those concerns. "Tighter immigration control and control over our armed forces -- those things are not negotiable," he said."At the end of the day it's the people that voted on it -- so I would hope parliament is fair and gives us voters what we want." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
9b4548e4-c89d-48d4-963b-5a62eadde806 | null | Story highlightsSome think the Russian leader has everything to gainBritain will still remain a key player in the NATO alliance (CNN)What happens in Europe doesn't stay in Europe.Brexit's aftershocks are now rumbling through the distant capitals of Moscow and Washington. And the shake-up could be bad for U.S. strategic military interests and good for Russia's.In the run-up to the UK's referendum last Thursday on whether to leave the European Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the accusation -- leveled by no less than British Prime Minister David Cameron -- that he would be happy to see the UK go.But some in Russia, and many around the world, have calculated that anything that erodes a unified Western front and leads to instability in Europe would be a boon for an increasingly aggressive Moscow.Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote in The Washington Post that, "Putin, of course, did not cause the Brexit vote, but he and his foreign policy objectives stand to gain enormously from it."Read MoreIn a Facebook post Friday, Kremlin official Boris Titov outlined how, claiming that the vote would "tear Europe from the Anglo-Saxons, that is, from the United States," and predicting the coming of a "united Eurasia" in "about 10 years."What does Russia want?It is no secret that Putin is locked in a bitter rivalry with the West, a relationship that has significantly deteriorated since Russia's intervention in Ukraine in 2014 and subsequent annexation of Crimea.Striving to project an image of Russian strength domestically and abroad, the hardline president has made a point to flex his military muscle in recent years, clashing with the national security objectives of the U.S. and its allies.Moscow has conducted massive military drills on the borders of states in the NATO military alliance and has been accused of cyber-attacks against members of the EU political alliance, like Estonia, funding propaganda campaigns abroad, financially supporting anti-EU political parties in Europe, while conducting dangerously close aerial maneuvers to U.S. aircraft and warships.UK referendum: Full coverageWeek that brought UK to its kneesWhat does Brexit mean for you?Boris Johnson won't stand as PMFarage deserted by Brexit bandmates?Can UK get out of Brexit? Brexit = higher taxes, less spendingUK loses perfect AAA credit ratingHow Britons really feel about BrexitVoters: 'We had nothing to lose'Racist attacks rise after EU voteDid Brexit hurt Trump?Results map tells a big storyThe then-Commander of U.S. military in Europe, Gen. Philip Breedlove, said in March that Moscow was actively trying to undermine European unity by intentionally attacking civilian areas in Syria and forcing an exodus of refugees to Europe. The migration of millions that has exacerbated political divisions in Europe, some of which led Britons to back quitting the EU. In January, Putin endorsed a new security strategy that points to NATO expansion as a threat to the country.NATO, which is led primarily by the U.S. and the UK, has positioned military equipment further east and tripled the size of the 40,000-strong NATO response force to respond to threats on its eastern flank. This month, NATO announced the deployment of four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said soon after that the UK would lead one of the battalions.Can the US and EU still work to counter Russia?The EU and NATO currently collaborate to counter potential Russian cyber attacks and have conducted joint naval exercises.And the EU, spurred on by the U.S., imposed strict economic sanctions on Russia in response to the intervention in Ukraine. Now, Brexit could decrease American influence over its non-British allies in Europe. U.S. officials believe that having the UK, one of America's closest partners, has helped align the European Union more directly with U.S. foreign policy objectives -- such as the EU participating in the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw and keeping the tough sanctions over Ukraine in place.RELATED: U.S. and Russia meet on cybersecurityThe U.S. and Putin have publicly said they do not expect Brexit to affect the sanctions, which include asset freezes on some Russian companies and people, as well as travel bans on certain officials. Britain, along with the nations of Eastern Europe, has been among the strongest voices to keep the sanctions in place.But some Russian officials think otherwise. The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, tweeted that without "Great Britain in the EU, no one will so zealously defend the sanctions against us."What about NATO? How's it different from the EU?The EU was founded as an economic organization to create a common European market, in the decades since it has taken up additional missions in the social and security spheres -- like participating in peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions.In the early 2000s the EU adopted a "Common Security and Defense Policy" among its states. Though it pays close to 15% of EU joint military operations, the UK has resisted some of these efforts, fearing that the initiative would compete with NATO for limited defense resources.The EU has no standing army, relying on ad hoc forces contributed by member nations to carry out civilian and military missions. Most foreign and security policies require the agreement of 28 nations in the bloc through its governing body, the European Council. NATO, a military alliance founded after World War II to counter the Soviet Union, and the EU have 22 members in common but also several -- among them the U.S. -- that are not.RELATED: Brexit: What does the EU referendum mean for the US?Despite voting to leave the EU, Britain will remain in NATO.Some NATO officials and U.S. military commanders, however, are warning that Brexit could have "knock-on" effects on the alliance. There are concerns that if Brexit hurts the country's GDP over the long term, the UK -- second only to the U.S. in NATO contributions -- will struggle to maintain its defense spending. And if Brexit boosts the momentum for Scotland to secede from the UK, Britain would lose its only nuclear submarine base.But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week reiterated the UK's central role in NATO: "I know that the United Kingdom's position in NATO will remain unchanged. The UK will remain a strong and committed NATO Ally, and will continue to play its leading role in our alliance."Could Brexit actually strengthen NATO?Some military experts definitely think so.When asked Tuesday if Brexit would weaken NATO, Secretary of State John Kerry responded, "No, I think it will strengthen NATO."And NATO's former top military commander, retired U.S. Adm. James Stavridis, wrote an op-ed in Foreign Policy Saturday arguing that, "Brexit, counter-intuitive as it might sound, will likely produce a stronger NATO."In the short term, Brexit "may cause NATO to be even more relied upon as it will be the only organization that includes all the major European heavyweights," according to Fran Burwell, an expert on the EU at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, told CNN.What about intelligence? Does that get harder to gather?The UK and U.S. have had one of the world's closest intelligence-sharing relationships dating back to World War II, and U.S. officials believe that this allows the British to play a critical role in boosting intelligence operations in Europe.The two countries, together with Australia, Canada and New Zealand "are tied at the hip when it comes to intelligence sharing, intelligence relationships, actually doing joint operations together," said Mike Rogers, former chairman of the House Intelligence committee, and a CNN contributor.Rogers added that the unique U.S.-UK intelligence relationship means that the EU would continue to cooperate with the UK on intelligence matters. Could the EU really break up? And does that feed Russia's military ambitions even more?Concerns are mounting that other European nations might follow Britain's lead, with Eurosceptic parties in France and the Netherlands celebrating last week's result and calling for their own referendums. RELATED: Nigel Farage: Arch-eurosceptic Were the EU to breakup, Russia's heft could allow it to more easily bully individual states on its periphery without the EU to collectively challenge it in the economic sphere.And while the EU as a bloc numbers 500 million citizens and possesses a GDP that rivals America's, separately European nations wouldn't be able to counter-balance Russia in spheres like energy where there is intense competition and strategic interests at stake. However, when it comes to defense, NATO appears to not be going anywhere. | politics | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
b0e257d5-5812-46e2-a29a-8b1509a70614 | null | London (CNN)The legal team of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has said expelling him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London would be "illegal" and would "violate international refugee law." "It will be a sad day for democracy if the UK and Ecuadorean governments are willing to act as accomplices to the Trump administration's determination to prosecute a publisher for publishing truthful information," according to the statement issued on Friday.In a statement Friday, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry called the rumors about the termination of Assange's asylum "fake news," adding that the claim of a possible agreement with the UK "misrepresents reality.""The Ecuadorian government notices that these falsehoods are also an attempt to tarnish the dignity of the country," the ministry said in the statement. "When they issue falsehoods, the asylee and his associates express once more their ingratitude and disrespect towards Ecuador, instead of showing gratitude towards the country that has welcomed him for nearly seven years, incurred significant expenditures to pay for his stay at the Embassy, has borne their rudeness and to whom he, paradoxically, has filed a lawsuit against for adopting a cohabitation protocol in order to prevent his bad behavior from taking place again."WikiLeaks tweeted from its verified account Thursday, "BREAKING: A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told @WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within "hours to days" using the #INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext--and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest."Read MoreWhen asked about the speculation on Friday, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters that Assange "is a free man" and "can leave the embassy whenever he wants to." "We want the situation resolved as quickly as possible," he added.London's Metropolitan Police refused to comment when asked if police were aware of any extradition arrangement.Julian Assange: The house guest who overstayed his welcome?The Australian whistleblower has been holed up at the embassy, yards from Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, since 2012 when he was granted asylum as part of a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was facing allegations of sexual assault. The case has since been dropped, but as Assange fears US extradition due to his work with WikiLeaks he has remained in place. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.A US court filing in November 2018 revealed US government efforts to criminally charge Assange. The Justice Department investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks dates to at least 2010, when the site posted thousands of files stolen by the former US Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning.A spokesperson for the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry had told CNN on Thursday that it does not respond to rumor or hypothesis, when asked about the WikiLeaks allegations. Assange's Ecuadorian Lawyer, Carlos Poveda, told CNN: "It could happen, the Ecuadorian government could apply the protocol to terminate his asylum. But this would be in coordination with the United Kingdom so his exit could be shown as a war's trophy."On Tuesday, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno told local media that Assange has repeatedly violated protocol at the embassy. "Several times, Mr. Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his lawyers," he said. Poveda told CNN that the President hadn't been specific on how or which article of the protocol his client had violated. Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeJulian Assange gestures from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on April 11, 2019. Assange, founder of the website WikiLeaks, has been a key figure in major leaks of classified government documents, cables and videos.Hide Caption 1 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange holds a copy of The Guardian newspaper in London on July 26, 2010, a day after WikiLeaks posted more than 90,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan War.Hide Caption 2 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Stockholm on August 14, 2010. Six days later, Swedish prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest based on allegations of sexual assault from two women. Assange has always denied wrongdoing.Hide Caption 3 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange, in London, displays a page from WikiLeaks on October 23, 2010. The day before, WikiLeaks released approximately 400,000 classified military documents from the Iraq War.Hide Caption 4 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange and his bodyguards are seen after a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2010. It was the month WikiLeaks began releasing diplomatic cables from US embassies.Hide Caption 5 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange sits behind the tinted window of a police vehicle in London on December 14, 2010. Assange had turned himself in to London authorities on December 7 and was released on bail and put on house arrest on December 16. In February 2011, a judge ruled in support of Assange's extradition to Sweden. Assange's lawyers filed an appeal.Hide Caption 6 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeIn October 2011, a month after WikiLeaks released more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, Assange speaks to demonstrators from the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.Hide Caption 7 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange leaves the High Court in London in December 2011. He was taking his extradition case to the British Supreme Court.Hide Caption 8 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange leaves the Supreme Court in February 2012. In May of that year, the court denied his appeal against extradition.Hide Caption 9 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange addresses the media and his supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on August 19, 2012. A few days earlier, Ecuador announced that it had granted asylum to Assange. In his public address, Assange demanded that the United States drop its "witch hunt" against WikiLeaks.Hide Caption 10 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange speaks from a window of the Ecuadorian Embassy in December 2012.Hide Caption 11 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange addresses the Oxford Union Society from the Ecuadorian Embassy in January 2013.Hide Caption 12 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange appears with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino on the balcony of the embassy in June 2013.Hide Caption 13 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange speaks during a panel discussion at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2014.Hide Caption 14 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange attends a news conference inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2014.Hide Caption 15 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange is seen on a video screen in March 2015, during an event on the sideline of a United Nations Human Rights Council session.Hide Caption 16 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange, on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, holds up a United Nations report in February 2016. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that Assange was being arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom.Hide Caption 17 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange speaks to the media in May 2017, after Swedish prosecutors had dropped their investigation of rape allegations against Assange. But Assange acknowledged he was unlikely to walk out of the embassy any time soon. "The UK has said it will arrest me regardless," he said. "The US CIA Director (Mike) Pompeo and the US attorney general have said that I and other WikiLeaks staff have no ... First Amendment rights, that my arrest and the arrest (of) my other staff is a priority. That is not acceptable."Hide Caption 18 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange was seen for the first time in months during a hearing via teleconference in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2018. The hearing was then postponed due to translation difficulties.Hide Caption 19 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeA van displays images of Assange and Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who supplied thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Friday, April 5. A senior Ecuadorian official said no decision has been made to expel Assange from the embassy. According to WikiLeaks tweets, sources had told the organization that Assange could be kicked out of the embassy within "hours to days."Hide Caption 20 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeA screen grab from video footage shows the dramatic moment when Assange was hauled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy by police on April 11, 2019. Assange was arrested for "failing to surrender to the court" over a warrant issued in 2012. Officers made the initial move to detain Arrange after Ecuador withdrew his asylum and invited authorities into the embassy, citing the Australian's bad behavior.Hide Caption 21 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeAssange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven into Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, 2019, before being sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.Hide Caption 22 of 23 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeA sketch depicts Assange appearing at the Old Bailey courthouse in London for a ruling in his extradition case on Monday, January 4. A judge rejected a US request to extradite Assange, saying that such a move would be "oppressive" by reason of his mental health. Hide Caption 23 of 23New rules on AssangeSince Moreno took office 2017, Assange has repeatedly claimed Ecuador has been trying to make life more difficult in a bid to force him to vacate the premises. Ecuador has denied it, with Attorney General Íñigo Salvador telling reporters in October that his country was "not looking to revoke" Assange's asylum.Will shake-up at London embassy leave Assange out in the cold?However, Moreno said in December that if the UK government guaranteed that Assange will not be extradited to a third country where he could face the death penalty, the WikiLeaks founder should hand himself in to the authorities. Ecuador said that the UK had given such a guarantee, but Moreno said he needed clarification on the British position. Last year Assange was told he had to abide by new rules imposed by the Ecuadorian embassy in London.They include paying for his food, medical care and laundry, taking care of his cat, keeping the parts of the embassy he uses clean, and obtaining prior authorization for visitors.CNN's Ana Maria Canizares reported from Ecuador, Gremaud Angee and Samantha Beech reported from Atlanta, and Claudia Rebaza and Hilary McGann reported from London. Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
9971a55b-4f1e-451e-924f-0346f94d6fed | null | Bail was denied Monday for two men charged with endangering an aircraft in Friday's diversion of a Pakistan International Airlines flight over the United Kingdom, a spokeswoman for police in Essex said.Tayyab Subhani, 30, and Mohammed Safdar, 41, were sent back to police custody after their appearance at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on Monday morning. Their next court appearance is scheduled for August 5, said Helen Cook, press officer of the Essex police in the United Kingdom.A UK fighter jet was scrambled to escort Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK709 as it was diverted from northwestern England's Manchester Airport to Stansted Airport near London on Friday.Essex police, who cover the area near Stansted, said officers arrested Subhani and Safdar and removed them from the plane, which had 297 passengers aboard. The flight originated in Lahore, Pakistan.Wajid Hasan, Pakistan's high commissioner to the United Kingdom, told CNN that the two passengers "got into an altercation with air stewardesses and threatened to blow up the plane."JUST WATCHEDAirline: Unruly passenger diverts planeReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAirline: Unruly passenger diverts plane 02:36The flight attendants contacted the pilot, who contacted UK air traffic control authorities, who then scrambled the fighter jet, he said.The plane later continued on to Manchester from Stansted after all the passengers and cargo were screened, a process that took about four hours, according to the high commissioner's office.Passengers arriving at Stansted told CNN they were delayed by what several called a terrorist scare. Police have not mentioned terrorism in connection with the incident. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
7f0558ce-d3ea-419e-8703-28b15d75b18f | null | (CNN)Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been released from prison early after serving 25 days of his month-long sentence, his press secretary said Friday.The Putin critic was jailed on June 12 after being found guilty of repeatedly calling for unlawful protests.His sentence came one day after anti-corruption demonstrations took place across Russia, in which nearly 1,400 people detained amid clashes with police and reports of tear gas use. Alexey Navalny and Russia's YouTube insurgencyRussian authorities had declared many of the June demonstrations illegal and had warned citizens to stay away or face consequences for participation. Navalny had been detained at his Moscow home before being able to attend a planned rally in the capital. Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's wife, tweeted a photo of his June arrest ahead of a rally in Moscow.Read MoreDuring his court hearing in June, Navalny defiantly praised protesters for hitting the streets. "I am very pleased that people came out, I am proud that I am a part of this movement in which brave, wonderful people, are not afraid to go out on the streets," he said. "Even under the threat of some detentions and so on."Related: Why young people are flocking to Russian protestsIt was the second mass protest in the country this year. In March, thousands joined protests in almost 100 cities across Russia, angered by a report that Navalny published accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption. Medvedev has denied the claims.Navalny was also arrested during March protests.Navalny was also arrested during the March protests and sentenced to 15 days for disobeying a police officer. Presidential ambitions stifled? 41-year-old Navalny is hoping to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin in next year's presidential election, but Russian law prohibits people convicted of crimes from running for office. Related: Russia's anti-corruption protests explainedNavalny was convicted on embezzlement charges in February and given a suspended sentence. The activist says the charges were politically motivated.Last month, the head of Russia's election commission told a local TV station last month that Navalny "has no chance of being registered for the election due to his previous conviction," Reuters reported. Navalny's release on Friday came as Putin was preparing to meet world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
a4d109d5-6513-4cb5-9eec-f832c59a3547 | null | (CNN)Brazilian footballer Neymar has said that next year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar could be his last. Neymar, who has played more than 100 times for Brazil over the past 11 years, is his country's second-highest scorer of all time after Pelé and featured at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. "I think it's my last World Cup," the 29-year-old said in a new documentary, Neymar Jr and The Line Of Kings, produced by DAZN. "I see it as my last because I don't know if I have the strength of mind to deal with football anymore."So I'll do anything to turn up well, do everything to win with my country, to realize my greatest dream since I was little. And I hope I can do it."READ: Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe's journey through panic attacks to Olympic goldRead MoreNeymar scored in Brazil's World Cup qualifying game against Peru last month. Having lost in the semifinals and quarterfinals of the last two World Cups, Brazil currently sits at the top of South America's qualifying group for next year's World Cup on 28 points after 10 games.Neymar scored his 12th World Cup qualifying goal when Brazil beat Peru last month, taking his tally for his country to 69, eight behind Pelé's record. He featured in Sunday's 0-0 draw against Colombia, a result that still leaves Brazil six points clear at the top of its qualifying group ahead of Argentina. Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and featuresHaving won the World Cup on five previous occasions -- the last coming in 2002 -- the Seleção have suffered disappointment in recent editions. In the 2014 tournament -- which saw Neymar miss the latter stages through injury -- Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany in the semifinals, and in 2018, the side exited the competition in the quarterfinals after a 2-1 defeat against Belgium. CNN's Aleks Klosok contributed to reporting | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
ee0b6519-913d-476f-b1d3-97a83b3391c9 | null | Story highlightsBarcelona pay $18.5m in tax four days after judge files charges for alleged tax fraudTax fraud allegations came as Spanish judge expanded inquiry into controversial Neymar dealBarca describe the tax payment as "voluntary" while denying any fiscal "irregularities" Football club Barcelona paid 13.5 million euros ($18.5 million) in additional taxes on Monday, while denying any fiscal "irregularities" in its purchase of Brazilian superstar Neymar, which is now under investigation by a court.FC Barcelona announced the surprise payment on its website, which it called "voluntary," just four days after a judge at Spain's National Court in Madrid filed preliminary charges against the fan-owned club for alleged tax fraud in the Neymar deal."The board (of Barcelona) denies the existence of any tax-related crime in relation to the fiscal obligations arising from the signing of the player (Neymar)," the club's website said. Read: Barca charged with tax fraud over Neymar deal"Throughout the process, the club was receiving expert advice and at every moment the club's auditor was informed and had access to all the documentation concerning the negotiations."Last Thursday, Judge Pablo Ruz expanded his investigation against the club, as requested a day earlier by a prosecutor, who alleged the club avoided paying 9 million euros (more than $12 million) in taxes on Neymar's signing and transfer, corresponding to contracts signed in 2011 and 2013. Photos: gallery neymar Photos: gallery neymar'Neymargate' – In what some have dubbed 'Neymargate', the transfer of the Brazilian forward to Barcelona in June 2013 has cast a rare shadow over the Spanish giants. Hide Caption 1 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarOver and Out – Sandro Rosell quits as Barcelona president a day after a Spanish judge ordered an inquiry into Neymar's transfer, with former vice president Josep Maria Bartomeu moving into the hot seat.Hide Caption 2 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarGolden Boy – Neymar is mobbed by members of the public in Rio's Maracana after his starring role -- voted best player in addition to being top goalscorer -- during Brazil's Confederations Cup triumph on home soil last year. Hide Caption 3 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarFamily Affair – Neymar Senior, picture on the left, represents his son, seen here alongside former Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as well as his onetime playing partner at Santos, Paulo Henrique Ganso.Hide Caption 4 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarPast and Present – World Cup winner Ronaldo, seen here playing for Corinthians against Neymar's Santos in 2009, is one of several individuals involved in the Barca star's business affairs.Hide Caption 5 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarEmulating Pele – Neymar rose to prominence at Pele's former club Santos. In 2010, he led the club to their first Copa Libertadores title since Pele's days, with Neymar scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 aggregate win over Uruguay's Penarol in the final. Hide Caption 6 of 9 Photos: gallery neymar'More than a Club' – Neymar waves to the crowds after signing a five-deal with Barcelona, but the full nature of the transfer is now under investigation. Hide Caption 7 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarBusiness as Usual – Barcelona is a club that has grown its off-field image to accompany its stunning on-field success, with the Spanish side having been crowned kings of Europe four times. Here, Neymar accompanies Alexis Sanchez during a charity visit to Barcelona's Hospital del Mar. Hide Caption 8 of 9 Photos: gallery neymarControversial move? – Now vice president, Javier Faus (on the right) recently suggested that Barcelona may sell the Camp Nou's title rights to fund a 600m Euro redevelopment of the stadium. Hide Caption 9 of 9JUST WATCHEDBarca's Rosell resigns over Neymar dealReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBarca's Rosell resigns over Neymar deal 01:52JUST WATCHEDGerard Pique: Shakira is on my iPodReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHGerard Pique: Shakira is on my iPod 02:28JUST WATCHEDFootballer fights back after cancerReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootballer fights back after cancer 03:15JUST WATCHEDDavid Beckham bringing MLS team to MiamiReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDavid Beckham bringing MLS team to Miami 01:05The judge is already investigating whether a former Barcelona president committed financial irregularities in the signing of Neymar.The club said on its website Monday: "Given the existence of a possible divergent interpretation of the exact amount of tax responsibility arising from the signing, and to defend the club's reputation and good name, FC Barcelona has this morning made a complementary tax declaration of a total of 13,550,830.56 euros."The reason, the club added, was "to cover any potential interpretation made concerning the contracts signed in the transfer process for Neymar, although we remain convinced that the original tax payment was in line with our fiscal obligations."Read: Are Barca becoming 'Less of a Club'? Judge Ruz said in his writ last Thursday that the investigation would include a look at an alleged "contract simulation presumably carried out by the parties which signed the contracts."The expanded investigation would hold FC Barcelona responsible as an entity or business enterprise if found guilty of tax fraud, said a National Court spokesman, who by custom is not identified.The judge ordered Spain's tax collection agency to examine FC Barcelona's tax filings for 2011, 2012 and 2013, the writ said.Neymar joined Barcelona in June 2013, with his father -- who doubles as his agent -- having entered into an initial contract with the Spanish giants in late 2011.Barcelona's former president, Sandro Rosell, who resigned last month after a judge agreed to investigate a lawsuit against him for alleged irregularities in the Neymar deal, has denied any wrongdoing.Read: Night to forget for Messi and BarcelonaRuz began the investigation last month after a legal complaint from one of the club's members.Prosecutor Jose Perals last Wednesday formally asked the judge to expand the investigation. In his writ, Perals alleges that he's "become aware of a series of economic transactions by the club, and in favor of various companies, related to the signing of Neymar da Silva Santos Jr., based at times on simulated contracts."The investigation originally came after season-ticket holder Jordi Cases complained that the amount paid to bring Neymar from Brazilian side Santos was more than the reported fee of 57.1 million euros.A day after Rosell resigned, the club released figures that showed that Barca actually paid 86.2 million euros for Neymar.Cases' lawyer, Felipe Izquierdo, earlier told CNN that other Barcelona executives, still working at the club after Rosell's resignation, also allegedly signed some of the contracts that brought Neymar to the club.Barcelona has told CNN that one of those signatories was former club VP, and now President, Josep Maria Bartomeu. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. 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171ddc66-a547-433d-b16a-f330684ec6d9 | null | (CNN)Olympic champions are not so different to you and I.Caeleb Dressel, the man often described as 'the new Michael Phelps,' has been faced with many of the same problems as the rest of us during lockdown. Namely, avoiding boredom and resisting junk food binges.Tipped to win multiple golds at the Tokyo Games, which were initially scheduled for this summer before the coronavirus pandemic put the world on hold, Dressel is learning to adapt -- adjusting to life without regular visits to the swimming pool and trying to cope without physically seeing the family and friends he misses so much. He has also had to put plans for world domination on hold, too. Katie Ledecky hoping next year's Olympics can be a celebration of 'the entire world coming together'The 23-year-old won seven golds at the 2017 World Championships and six in 2019 and has broken Phelps' 100 meter butterfly world record. This summer he may have matched Phelps' record of eight golds at a single Games, but the American is sanguine about his career being at a standstill.Read More"I certainly don't want a pity party or anything like that," Dressel told CNN Sport. "I still have my sponsors, so the worst thing happens to me is I don't get to swim in the Olympics for a year. You know, that's not the end of the world for me."People are getting sick or dying, so that's why I'm okay with [it]. I don't get to swim in a pool -- I'm fine with that getting pushed back because there are a lot of things that are bigger than swimming. This is life or death. So what I don't get to swim for a year. That's exactly what the mindset needs to be."Caeleb Dressel celebrates after winning the 100m butterfly final
at the 2019 World Championships.Life in lockdownTo combat the tedium of life in lockdown, the two-time Olympic gold medalist has joined in the online craze of performing trick shots while in quarantine, with the help of an assistant, his pet dog Jane. View this post on Instagram These all took one try @bayleyymain @benfken yes the tape came off of Jane easy A post shared by Caeleb Dressel (@caelebdressel) on Mar 22, 2020 at 9:07am PDT "This was day four in the quarantine, so I'm still trying to figure it out," he explained. "I've seen a couple of trick shot videos going around, I'll try some of these out. I did some pretty cool ones, but ... the cup taped to her head -- yeah, that was the biggest one. "That was actually the hardest one as well because she kept moving and stuff. It's been fun making videos, trying to interact. I just miss seeing people. I'm not like a social butterfly or anything, but I just miss seeing even my friends. I mean, everybody does. I miss seeing my parents."But social media has been helping a lot. My YouTube channel I've done more than I ever have on it. Instagram, going live and just trying to connect with people the most I can because if I'm feeling lonely, I feel like a lot of people are and it's just kind of looking for anything to feel connected with. So I'm trying to help out with that."To compare Dressel's physique to that of a Greek God would perhaps be enough to make even Zeus himself blush.However, with training time in the pool limited due to the lockdown -- he can now "only" swim four times a week and weight train -- the swimming star has become more conscious about his diet.And that can be particularly challenging for somebody with a sweet tooth. Dressel has previously admitted his dream cheat meal would be to finish an entire family pack of Oreos and one of his housemates, Ben Kennedy, is renowned for baking brownies."He's so good at baking it's insane," Dressel said. "He's got a little apron and everything. He just bakes all the time.Caeleb Dressel won seven gold medals at the 2017 World Championships."Sometimes, if he wants me to have a cookie, I'll have a cookie, but just to be able to compliment him and let him know that his cooking was good. But right now, more than ever, I want to try to hone-in on cleaning up my diet. "It's not like I was eating like trash earlier, but it's easier now that I'm not fitting in 10 practices a week. When I got out of the water in my old routine, I'm just looking for any food in sight to just stuff in my body -- just very, very hungry. So right now, it's a lot easier to kind of go through and pick out the right meals ahead of time."Dressel is fortunate to live within a five minute walk from the home of his strength and conditioning coach, Matt DeLancey, and have access to his garage gym.It might not quite match the training facilities he's used to, but Dressel -- with his philosophical outlook on life -- is choosing to focus on the small wins."I get to work out shirtless," he said. "I hate wearing shirts. I mean, most of the time I'm just in a Speedo, so I get to lift without a shirt on now. So there are actually some better things with lifting when you think about it."'Staying hungry'Despite his Olympic plans being derailed by this unprecedented situation, Dressel is determined to make the most of the challenges put it in front of him.JUST WATCHEDLedecky on postponing Olympics: Certainly the right callReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLedecky on postponing Olympics: Certainly the right call 00:55On the swimming front, his coach has tapered his training plan to avoid burnout with almost 18 months still go to until the rescheduled games, while out of the pool he's dedicating some of his extra time to reading more.He also has a wedding to plan, although he admitted much of the organization is being expertly handled by fiancee, Meghan Haila, who Dressel proposed to at the end of last year."Am I going to let this absolutely just ruin all the momentum I had or am I going to carry that over to 2021?" he said. "I plan on carrying it over and just staying hungry, still finding ways to challenge myself, still waking up early, I don't want to sleep in. "I want to have everything in place where I come out of this better and ahead of where I was before this happened. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different and what are you going to do during this time to turn into something better? I mean, that applies to everybody. "That doesn't just apply to me, it doesn't apply to swimmers, it doesn't apply to just athletes. If you're out of a job right now there are things you can do. There are things you can work on, things that you should have been working on that maybe you're too busy to do that you can start knocking out during this time. "Whatever lies in front, we'll get used to it and we'll adapt and figure out a plan." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
b9c09c4f-6a19-40e6-b9f2-d52c74ca20cb | null | New York (CNN Business)Last week, Disney and its CEO Bob Chapek bungled their response to Florida's controversial bill dubbed "Don't Say Gay." Now, some of the company's employees are staging a walkout.A Twitter account, "@DisneyWalkout," and an associated website, "WhereIsChapek.com," have organized a series of 15-minute daily walkouts, encouraging employees to protest during their breaks. The action will culminate with a full-day walkout on March 22. The Florida bill, which has been passed by the state's legislators but not yet signed into law, bans educators from discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity with children from kindergarten to third grade.It's unknown how many employees are taking part, but Disney's LGBTQ+ employee resource groups are not involved, according to a source familiar with the matter. Disney (DIS) declined comment about the demonstrations. Organizers of the walkout wrote in an open letter posted on its website that statements by Disney's leadership regarding the bill "have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation." Read More"Primarily, those statements have indicated that leadership still does not truly understand the impact this legislation is having not only on Cast Members in the state of Florida, but on all members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the company and beyond," the organizers added. Disney CEO apologizes for 'silence' on 'Don't Say Gay' billThe organizers, who did not identify themselves, added that as a community they've been "forced into an impossible and unsustainable position" and they "must now take action to convince [The Walt Disney Company] to protect employees and their families in the face of such open and unapologetic bigotry." The backlash began last week when Chapek declined to issue a public condemnation of the bill, known as "Parental Rights in Education" bill. Instead, he noted that corporate statements are "often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame."After receiving criticism from inside and outside Disney, Chapek apologized for his initial response on Friday, saying that speaking to employees "helped me better understand how painful our silence was." Disney employs 75,000 people in Florida.The organizers added that they appreciate Chapek's apology, but there is "still more work to be done" and suggested steps that Disney can take to "regain the trust of the LGBTQIA+ community and employees." Gen Z won't stay quiet on Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' billOne such step is for Disney to "immediately and indefinitely" cease all campaign donations to those politicians involved in the bill's passage. On Friday, Chapek said that Disney will be "pausing" all political donations in Florida.Some Netflix (NFLX) staff also walked out on the job late last year over LGBT+ issues.The streaming company saw demonstrations from employees protesting Dave Chappelle's "The Closer" comedy special, which has been criticized for jokes aimed at transgender people. | business | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
3ae0827c-e0f0-470f-be0b-3e0b2006ab45 | null | This was excerpted from the May 18 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe. (CNN)The deadly ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the kind of challenge you might think the United Nations could address. After all, it played a major role in establishing Israel as a state more than 70 years ago, what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or "catastrophe." But it's not doing much on this one. The UN's powerful 15-nation Security Council is charged with preserving international peace and security. But continuing a decade-long deadlock, that credo has not been upheld. The council has held one public meeting for speeches and at least three private sessions since heavy violence broke out in Israel and the Palestinian territories last week. Humanitarian agencies and NGOs have pleaded for the council to do something. A statement submitted by Norway and backed by other countries appeals for a de-escalation in fighting.Why Biden is not diving into Middle East peace brokeringBut the United States keeps using its veto power to block any formal reaction by the council, saying it prefers to use its own diplomatic powers to calm things down. "The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict," US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield has told the council, echoing what other US diplomats are telling ministers around the world.The US is one of just five countries that have veto power over any action they don't like in the council. Those powers exercise control over spheres of influence on a regular basis: Today, it's the US backing Israel. Another day, it's China supporting military rulers in Myanmar. Or Russia stopping council action on troops near Ukraine. Countries big and small know the game. That's why you don't see diplomats throwing themselves atop the historic horseshoe table and demanding the US get with it. Some of the nonpermanent council nations are also fearful of publicly attacking such a powerful country. But frustrations are evident; as one UN diplomat told CNN, "We are also disappointed, like many other countries in the council." JUST WATCHEDSeeking ceasefire agreement for Israel, GazaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSeeking ceasefire agreement for Israel, Gaza 15:55Read MoreIn a somewhat rare public criticism, even China's foreign minister told the council Sunday that the US should join the others to speak up on the Middle East. "The Security Council has not been able to speak in one voice till today because of the obstruction by one single country. We call upon the United States to shoulder its due responsibilities, take a just position," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.China has joined a geographic troika trying to get around the US block by issuing their own statement. "Norway, Tunisia and China expressed deep concern about the situation in Gaza and the rising number of civilian casualties, and called for an immediate end of hostilities, full respect for international law, including international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, especially children," Norway's UN Ambassador Mona Juul said.Israeli jets pound Gaza as rocket fire resumes and Palestinians hit streets to protestThe overall 193-country membership of the UN is largely disposed to line up against Israel. Non-council member Pakistan summed up the mood, with Ambassador Munir Akram telling CNN, "It is most regrettable that the Security Council has remained paralyzed in this crisis. The world expects that at the very least the council will call for an immediate halt to the hostilities and prevent the killing of more innocent children, women and men."The US, through emails and phone calls, passed the word Monday that it would hamstring yet another attempt to pass a statement condemning the violence, though it did agree to another private discussion on Tuesday. But don't get your hopes up. The Security Council has issued many statements on the Middle East over the years, and they rarely stop the so-called parties on the ground from starting trouble or persuade them to end it. These days, even if a Security Council statement were approved, without strong diplomatic backing and a willingness on both sides to lower tensions, the impact will be minimal. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
2373968c-ab09-4367-b123-4511b99efc25 | null | David Gergen has been a White House adviser to four presidents of both parties and is a senior political analyst at CNN. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-founded its Center for Public Leadership. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author. View more opinion at CNN. (CNN)Some years ago, on PBS News Hour, I interviewed the historian David Herbert Donald about his new biography of Abraham Lincoln. "What is the most important asset a president needs?" I asked. Without hesitation, he replied: "A friend." David GergenHe was right. The presidency, as he pointed out, can be a lonely place where its occupant isn't quite sure whom he (or someday she) can trust to give him unvarnished truth. His advisers may be afraid to level with him, especially when delivering bad news, or they may have unspoken agendas of their own. That's precisely why a president needs a close friend, someone whose discretion and independent judgment are both guaranteed. And, ideally, whose company is reviving. That analysis came instantly to mind on Tuesday with the death of Vernon Jordan, the civil rights leader and presidential adviser, at the age of 85. Through his roles in various civil rights organizations -- perhaps most notably as president of the National Urban League -- and beyond, Vernon established a renowned commitment to racial equality. I knew him best as the closest friend that President Bill Clinton had during his eight years in the White House -- and one who will long be missed.What's happening in Texas and Mississippi has to stopRead MoreWhen Clinton and his first chief of staff, Mack McLarty, recruited me to join his White House team as a senior counselor five months into his presidency, I soon saw a pattern: Whenever disputes erupted among his advisers (as they did a lot in those early days), the best answer was always the same: "Let's call Vernon." He was practicing law a few blocks away and could arrive in the Oval Office while arguments were still raging. Vernon's counsel was always wise and served the President -- and those who worked for him -- well.He also became a quiet mentor to several of us White House staffers. When time permitted, the two of us would slip away for lunch at the F Street Club where he filled me in on the backstory of every political battle. Simply put, whatever use I had in advising Clinton depended heavily upon what I learned from Vernon. Shortly after I arrived, Vernon and I, along with our wives, attended a large dinner at the home of Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of the Washington Post. There I saw another reason why Clinton valued him. Midway through the meal, a young staff member delivered the same note to each of us: a White House aide from Arkansas, Vincent Foster, had suddenly died. Immediately, Vernon and I drove together to the Foster home. The President was already there, consoling his widow; and Clinton himself was devastated. The real reason for the Dr. Seuss freakoutWhen Clinton left, he asked Vernon and I to join him at the White House. Hillary Clinton, at the time, was in Arkansas and joined in by phone. I saw then how much comfort Vernon could provide to the President and the first lady in a time of crisis. He was a sympathetic, soothing presence and helped them to see that in the midst of their grief the best way to honor Vince was to keep trying to deliver their best -- day-in, day-out.Years later, after I left the White House, I could also see just how much Clinton might miss him when Vernon wasn't available. That became clear after the story broke about Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky. No one in the world could have been better in giving sage advice at that moment than Vernon could. There was one big problem, however: the President's personal secretary had previously asked Vernon to find a job for Lewinsky, which he had done. With an investigation quickly starting up, lawyers advised both the President and Vernon that they shouldn't talk to each other. I cannot be sure about who the President ultimately took counsel from, but I have often wondered if Clinton would have come through the Lewinsky saga less beaten up had he been able to talk to his closest friend about navigating the political landscape. Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and FacebookIndeed, Vernon Jordan was one of the most charismatic and savvy men I have ever met. He ranks right up there with Clark Clifford, Bob Strauss, Bryce Harlow and Lloyd Cutler in the quality of their counseling of recent chief executives. And, for Bill Clinton, he will always be a president's best friend. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
d60616fc-d04d-4493-999e-605ef15fed5c | null | (CNN)When Son Heung-Min fired home Tottenham's first ever goal at its shiny, brand new $1.3 billion stadium earlier this month it felt like the next chapter in an extraordinary story.For Son, this season has been one of personal success and recognition from across the sport. His 21 goals for Tottenham Hotspur -- Spurs to their fans -- so far this season, more than he managed in the entire campaign last term, have taken his game to new heights.For a player who previously revealed he was close to leaving English football back in 2016, Son's rise with Spurs has been meteoric.So, too, has been his popularity. Not just with his teammates and Tottenham's supporters, but also back home in South Korea and across much of Asia where his social media profile has rocketed.Two fans of Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean striker Son Heung-Min await their hero.Much of that is down to his outstanding performances for Tottenham in the Premier League and Champions League, where he has been one of the club's leading players, scoring twice in the second leg against Manchester City to propel his team to the Champions League semifinals for the first time in its history. Read MoreAccording to figures provided to CNN by Nielsen Sports, which carried out an analysis of his social media audience, Son is the most popular athlete in Asia.The research showed that Son had the highest number of followers across social media with 1.98 million, beating Japanese soccer player Shinji Kagawa in second place. READ: Spurs beat Man City in Champions League thrillerRabid fanbaseBoth on and offline, Son's popularity continues to soar.It's not unusual to see South Korean flags being worn to Tottenham games, while Korean supporters often wait outside Tottenham's training ground hoping to get a glimpse of the man himself. A fan of Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur with a balloon honoring the South Korea star. "Son is one of the most popular personalities in South Korea. In other words, his popularity goes beyond the category of football, or sports," Korean football journalist Lee Sungmo told CNN."In the whole country, most of the people know who Son is, and they feel proud when Son is doing well in Europe."Sungmo, who writes for football website Goal.com, has followed Son's journey at Tottenham since the player's home debut, where he scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, back in September 2015.READ: How 'Little Seoul' fell in love with its favorite Son"I have to say football is already a very popular sport in South Korea. Especially since the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup, we had Ji-Sung Park who played for PSV and Manchester United, who was excellent in many ways. Many fans followed European football ever since that time."A Tottenham fan poses for a photo with his Son themed posters.Big game playerSon's winning goal in the first leg of Tottenham's Champions League quarterfinal against Manchester City showed once again his ability to show up for the big moments.Having moved away from home as a teenager to join German club Hamburg, Son enjoyed great success in the Bundesliga after making his debut in October 2010, eventually scoring 20 goals in 78 appearances for Hamburg before joining Bayer Leverkusen in June 2013, where he helped the club secure Champions League qualification in both of his two seasons there.His goal return of 29 in 87 games persuaded Tottenham to shell out a reported $28 million for the player in 2015.South Korea's forward Heung Min Son celebrates after winning gold at the 2018 Asian Games.Since then his profile has rocketed, particularly this season with his goals ensuring Tottenham remain in the top four of the Premier League and in the last eight of the Champions League.There was the added bonus of leading the national team to a gold medal at the Asian Games in September, a victory that ensured an exemption form military service."I don't think football has become more popular thanks to Son but it's a fact that Son is the best and most popular sports player in South Korea at the moment," Sungmo added."And most importantly, Son is making a new history of South Korean football, breaking most of the records, leading Korean football into a high level." Son has been one of Tottenham's most impressive players this season.READ: Tottenham opens $1.3 billion stadium with victoryREAD: Spurs star Danny Rose 'can't wait to see the back of football' because of racismMarketable starHis popularity is also likely to attract the attention of sponsors and marketing companies as they look for the next big star in world football.Simon Chadwick, professor of sport enterprise at the University of Salford, believes Son has "considerable potential" as a brand proposition given his success on the field and low-key persona off it.South Korea's Lee Seung-woo (L) celebrates with teammate Son Heung-min (R) after scoring against Vietnam."In many ways, Son Heung-Min's commercial profile parallels his on-field presence," Chadwick told CNN."That is, low-key, if not sometimes almost anonymous. He doesn't appear in rankings of most marketable athletes or on lists of high value football player brands."This suggests that his focus is on playing football rather than on garnering the often lucrative revenues that most modern footballers would normally seek to earn. "It is this devotion to football and performance that is both creating his brand whilst at the same time generating commercial opportunities for him."It will be a tricky decision for Son and his advisers to identify what the appropriate balance of activities for him should be. That is, assuming Son wants to position himself as an endorser, a brand and a commercial entity.Son scored the winning goal in his side's 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the quarterfinal first leg."As a brand proposition, Son has considerable potential. He plays well, scores and has had some career success. Yet in many ways, he is the epitome of many East Asian young people too; he talks about the importance of respect, of being close to his family and listening to what his parents say, of putting career ahead of girlfriends and marriage, and so forth."In overseas markets like South Korea, such qualities are valued and provide a point of engagement with actual and prospective fans. "
Chadwick believes there is huge potential for Son to enhance is brand in South Korea, the world's 11th largest economy, where football is the second most-popular sport. He also believes his clean-cut image will resonate across the rest of East Asia.Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features and videos"What happens beyond East Asia will be interesting, as in many ways is brand is the antithesis of what modern footballers look like and are -- no crazy hairstyles, no tattoos, no high-profile celebrity partners, no reports of bawdy behavior," Chadwick added."This may play out well among brands for which a wholesome image and clarity of messaging is needed. It's almost as though Son could be the everyday hero in a Disney movie, which perhaps says everything prospective commercial partners need to know about his brand and its positioning." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
e368a348-2bff-43f1-bcfb-ce4f5e858278 | null | (CNN)Maricopa County officials on Wednesday undercut nearly every claim that cast doubt on the validity of ballots in an error-plagued report that Arizona Senate Republicans had commissioned of the 2020 election.The officials issued a 93-page rebuttal to the claims made by Cyber Ninjas, the company that state Senate Republicans had hired to conduct the election review, and its subcontractors.
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"The truth is the Maricopa County 2020 election was not stolen from Donald Trump," said County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican elected in 2020 who has defended the integrity of an elections office that was overseen by the Democrat he defeated.'It's the same story': Wisconsin Republicans' secretive review of 2020 election takes lessons from Arizona's conspiracy-laden processPresenting the rebuttal to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in a four-hour meeting Wednesday, county elections officials said that 76 of the 77 claims made in the Cyber Ninjas report were false or misleading.They confirmed one error that Cyber Ninjas had identified: Fifty ballots had been double-counted. They were scanned and tabulated twice by a temporary employee who was among many hired to help with the election, said Scott Jarrett, the county's co-director of elections. He said the double-counted ballots did not change the outcome of any election.Read MoreCounty officials said they had identified 37 additional ballots that could merit further investigation and had forwarded those to the Arizona attorney general."We actually went and researched every single voter. And if, in the very rare instance, there was anything that was potentially unlawful, it was referred to the attorney general," Richer said.Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Thomas Galvin, left, Chairman Bill Gates, center, and Vice Chairman Clint Hickman listen to the response by election officials to claims about the 2020 election, in Phoenix on Wednesday, January 5, 2022.Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, who commissioned the Cyber Ninjas' review, had not yet watched the Maricopa County officials' presentation and did not have a comment, communications director Kim Quintero said.Representatives for Doug Logan, the head of Cyber Ninjas, did not respond to CNN's request for comment.Bill Gates, the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said he hopes Arizona lawmakers ignore the Cyber Ninjas report as they consider overhauling elections laws."It's been debunked and it was written by people who are not experts in the field," Gates said. "We're done. This is the end of the 2020 election. We have addressed the issues; we have debunked them."The Cyber Ninjas' report, presented in September 2021, showed that its hand count of ballots virtually matched what the county had reported. However, the report also cast doubt on more than 53,000 ballots out of the 2.1 million cast in Maricopa County, the largest county in a state where President Joe Biden defeated Trump by 10,457 votes.The Cyber Ninjas report was based on a review that used tactics that elections experts in both parties had said for months were certain to produce inaccurate results. And many of its conclusions were disproven by county officials, journalists and elections experts in real time. Still, Trump and his allies seized on those elements of the report, citing them to support the former President's lies that voter fraud was responsible for his 2020 loss.His cybersecurity firm is working on the Arizona 'audit'. But people who know him have questions The largest batch of ballots that Cyber Ninjas and its subcontractors had called into question were 23,344 mail-in ballots that they claimed had come from people who had moved. They had drawn that conclusion after analyzing names and years of birth, with the help of a third-party commercial database. County officials said those methods were faulty, in part because they ignored the reality that some people with the same name will be born in the same year in the most populous county in Arizona.Reviewing Cyber Ninjas' data, county officials used more data, including full names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, state-issued IDs, presidential election voting histories, signatures and, in some cases, parents' last names and voters' occupations. "The County reviewed voters from these seven data sets and found that the methodologies and claims were inaccurate," the rebuttal said. "The analysis that Cyber Ninjas performed relied on the use of a third-party commercial database. The combination of the use of this commercial database and the soft matching techniques are likely a key reason Cyber Ninjas made incorrect conclusions."The report also delves into scathing detail on the tactics used by Shiva Ayyadurai, an elections conspiracy theorist who Cyber Ninjas had tapped to review mail-in ballot envelopes. His false claims, based on a lack of understanding of Arizona's early-voting laws and how ballot envelopes had been scanned, had already been widely debunked, but they have been cited by Trump and his allies in order to cast doubt on tens of thousands more ballots. | politics | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
7aa5ddeb-af26-46a2-b2c5-ba95e28f0f35 | null | (CNN)Shots were fired Wednesday morning at the car of a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outside Kiev, in what police are calling an assassination attempt. Ukrainian police said in a statement that a car that Serhiy Shefir was traveling in came under fire in the village of Lisnyky at about 10 a.m., with more than 10 bullets hitting the vehicle. The driver was injured. A special police operation is underway to search for the perpetrators and police are appealing for information about the circumstances of the "assassination attempt on the lives of two Ukrainian citizens."President Zelensky, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, said he didn't know yet who was responsible for the attack but described it as sign of weakness to target one of his aides.Zelensky said in a video posted on Facebook that he would be heading back to Ukraine after delivering his speech at the UN later Wednesday. Read More"Frankly, I don't know who's behind it yet," Zelensky said. "Sending me a message by shooting at my friend's car is weakness."Shefir appeared later during a briefing at the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs.From left to right, Volodymyr Zelensky, Oleksiy Honcharuk and Serhiy Shefir attend a meeting in Kiev in September 2019."All I can say for my part is that the attempt was made to intimidate the highest echelons of power. But our President is strong-willed, you don't intimidate him with anything. He chose the right path and is going his own way. The public is supporting him," Shefir said.A politician from Zelensky's ruling party, David Arakhamia, told Ukrinform state news agency that Shefir was in a "state of shock" but not injured."I had a short conversation with him ... He says that he was shot at, but the driver was hit ... The car was shot with an automatic weapon, as far as I know. The driver received three gunshot wounds, he was hospitalized, " Arakhamia said. Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, told Ukrinform that the incident could not be seen as anything other than a "deliberate" attempt to "kill a key member of the team." "It is obvious that this open, deliberate and extremely brutal attack with the use of automatic weapons cannot be qualified other than an attempt to demonstratively kill a key member of the team," Podoliak said.A photo released by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry press office shows the bullet impacts on vehicle.While authorities have not determined who is responsible or a motive, Podoliak said it could be connected to policies aimed at reducing the "traditional influence" of oligarchs. "I will say at once that we certainly associate this attack with an aggressive and even militant campaign against the active policy of the head of state," Podoliak added.Zelensky vowed his government's response would be "strong" and said would continue his efforts to fight corruption and reform the country. "The strength of our team will not be affected. The course that I have chosen with my team, to change, to clean up our economy, to fight against crime, and against big and powerful financial groups -- this does not affect that in any way. On the contrary ... the Ukrainian people have given me a mandate for changes," he said.The Kremlin has dismissed allegations from a Ukrainian parliamentarian that the apparent assassination attempt possibly has "a Russian trace." Arakhamia, head of the ruling party's parliamentary faction, said he was "inclined to think that this is some 'hello"' message to our team."Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said attempts to find a Russian connection are due to an "overly exalted emotional state" in Ukraine."Unfortunately for us, these days, no matter what happens in Ukraine, none of the active politicians is able to exclude the Russian trace," Peskov said. CNN's Anna Chernova contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
f34ccf89-45f9-4b58-b0f5-ceb7ba3ff154 | null | (CNN)'Listen.' It's more than a directive or a sassy retort. It's an imperative.As the nation contends with its racist history and how best to heal, curious ears are turning toward new voices. Voices that for centuries have cried out and were met with silence, violence or both. Voices from communities that did not have the privilege of securing justice for themselves.Voices that, in a digital age, are now widely accessible to anyone who is ready to listen -- through podcasts.Here are a few podcasts you should listen to; shows that will take you on a journey you may not have been on or understood. Read More"Adult ISH" podcast hosts Nygel Turner and Merk NguyenAs "Adult ISH" co-host Merk Nguyen explains, show hosts are "pointing out new signs or buildings you've never noticed before. It's a completely new experience. You're learning together."A quick reminder, though: The shows and subjects included in this guide are simply a drop in a larger bucket of podcasts to open your eyes and minds to the world in which we live.Podcasts that celebrate racial identity"Adult ISH" co-host Nygel Turner got started in podcasts because he didn't see anyone like him in the space."Adult ISH" from YR Media and Radiotopia"It felt like I didn't belong and that's something that I still struggle with," Turner, who identifies as Black, said. So, he and Nguyen created a show for young adults. "You're listening to the journals of two young people of color just trying to navigate a world that wasn't designed for us," Turner told CNN. Turner recommends the following:"The Nod" where hosts Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings take you on a storytelling journey. The best friends started their independently produced show "For Colored Nerds" serving up funny and frank conversations. Not long after, the duo pivoted to "The Nod." Now, they have their own streaming show on Quibi."The Stoop" podcast"The Stoop" amplifies Black stories that are told, "just not out in the open." Hosts Hana Baba and Leila Day weave storytelling into the conversations they have about blackness and what it means to be Black."Flyest Fables" offers fictional stories from the perspective of a Black kid. "Morgan Givens is a transgender man who tells these fictional stories that are fairy tales," Turner says. "The storytelling, the songs, the tricks that Morgan does with the audio and sound design is something I've never seen before."For Nguyen, who identifies as Vietnamese American, one particular program has been an invaluable teacher of the Asian American experience."Asian Americana": "It helps me expand what being Asian American means. It reminds me that Asian American is not a monolith -- there's so much I have to learn in my own 'demographic.'"Besides Turner and Nguyen's recommendations, here are some other noteworthy shows that center primarily on matters of race and racial identity:"Yo, Is This Racist?" from Earwolf"Yo, Is This Racist?" is a blog-turned-podcast that answers listener-submitted questions about whether a specific situation is, in fact, racist. Spoiler alert: if you have to ask, it probably is."Still Processing" is hosted by two New York Times culture writers and friends, Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris, who unpack each other's worlds while addressing current events from the perspective of Black Americans."Asian Enough" from the L.A. Times"Asian Enough" takes a deep dive into what it means to be an Asian American. Hosts Jen Yamato and Frank Shyong reflect with celebrity guests on identity and the duality of being "enough" in the eyes of each culture and background."Tamarindo" brings Latinx voices to the forefront as hosts Ana Sheila Victorino and Brenda Gonzalez delve into the latest through lighthearted yet fearless conversations on gender, representation and balancing it all."Minority Korner" serves up a tongue-in-cheek intersectional look at current events with "queer, political comedian, and self-proclaimed sexy blerd" (that's Black nerd) host James Arthur. The weekly show encourages listeners to "learn, laugh and play" as Arthur is joined by a minority guest."Silence is Not an Option," hosted by CNN's Don Lemon, does not back down from tough conversations about life as a person of color in America. With activists and notable thinkers, Lemon examines what meaningful and lasting solutions to the nation's racial terrors look like. Podcasts that revisit history"Latino USA" host Maria Hinojosa has been listening to investigative podcasts that delve into America's checkered history."Latino USA" from Futuro Media"That's been really important because there's context in history," she says. "The movement for Black lives is a continuation of, really, history in this country. The constant battle for respect; that's really important to me."Taking an honest look back reveals a much broader story that echoes into the present, says the "Once I Was You" author."We're still in the part of reckoning with the legacy of racial hatred and violence in this country," she explains. "True crime involving disappearances of Indigenous people, lynching of Mexicans, Japanese Americans who were imprisoned 'for their own good' -- there is a lot to learn."Her most recent streams? "Unfinished: Deep South" from Witness Docs and Market Road Films"Unfinished: Deep South" is for anyone interested in learning how structural racism, historical violence and lynchings have been "part of this country since the beginning." The show examines who lynched Isadore Banks, a wealthy African American farmer more than six decades ago."In the Dark" whose second season uses investigative journalism to dive into the case of Curtis Flowers. Flowers, a Mississippi death row inmate, was tried six times for the same crime.In addition to Hinojosa's picks, here are a few more to consider:"The United States of Anxiety" from WNYC Studios"The United States of Anxiety" connects America's unfinished business with its grip on the present. Where did the arguments of today get their start? When America tried to build the first multiracial democracy."Floodlines" revisits August 29, 2005, a date the podcast describes as "one of the most misunderstood events in American history." Four New Orleanians have something to say about what really happened in Hurricane Katrina's wake."Catlick" podcast"Catlick" details how a tragic series of events spanning 56 months nearly destroyed the South's grandest city, Atlanta. Host B.T. Harman chronicles the historical true crime narrative while revealing how today's racial tensions did not happen overnight."You Must Remember This," hosted by Karina Longworth, devoted a series to dissecting the most controversial film in Disney's history. "Six Degrees of Song of the South" unveils how Disney's attempt to capitalize on post-Civil War nostalgia backfired, yet continues to be profitable from inside the media company's vault."Finding Cleo" investigates what happened to Cleopatra Nicotine, a young Indigenous girl believed to have been raped and murdered after she was taken into child welfare in the 1970s."1619" is an audio accompaniment to The New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project hosted by Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones. It chronicles how Black people forged the beginnings of American history and reframes the country's birth to the first slave ship arriving to America: August 1619.Podcasts that amplify LGBTQIA+ communitiesThe LGBTQIA+ community is no stranger to hearing others speak on their behalf without understanding the issues that affect them."Queer Teen Podcast"It's something that "Queer Teen Podcast" host Anthony Giorgio grew tired of hearing."Queer youth and the queer community have a huge voice, and it continues to get pushed down," he says. "I couldn't sit back and do nothing."The shows that had an impact on him?"AfroQueer" podcast"Afro Queer" is making its mark on the African continent and diaspora in its coverage of queer Africans "living, loving, surviving and thriving." Hosted by Selly Thiam, the podcast celebrates queer love in Africa and navigates the laws affecting its expression."Making Gay History" revisits the largely hidden histories of LGBTQIA+ champions and icons through decades-old rare audio interviews. Host Eric Marcus conducted these interviews in the late 1980s for a book he was writing, and has now released them from the archives."Nancy" offers honest and raw conversations about the LGBTQIA+ experience hosted by two queer best friends of color Kathy Tu and Tobin Low. The critically acclaimed podcast was beloved by listeners until it ended this year.If hearing from more out voices is of interest, a few other shows to consider are:"History is Gay" podcast"History is Gay" because, as the podcast says, "history has never been as straight as you think." In it, self-proclaimmed "queer nerds," Gretchen Ellis and Leigh Pfeffer, channel their passion for history and social justice to amplify overlooked people from the untold pages of world history."Keep It" dishes, with celebrity guests, the ways in which pop culture collide with politics."Gender Reveal" podcast"Gender Reveal" showcases interviews with trans artists and activists as they explore the nuances of gender."Bad Queers" may be of interest if you feel like you, as the show suggests, "came out of the closet and got placed in a box." Hosts Kris Chesson and Shana Sumers promise listeners will leave offended and inspired by the broken stereotypes of the fluid LGBTQIA+ experience.Podcasts hosted by womenIt would be incredibly short-sighted not to celebrate female-led podcasts as they engage with myriad topics. One of the beautiful things about these shows is the overlap and intersectionality around them; they are often multi-faceted.A few in the fantastic lineup of female-led podcasts to note are:"Call Your Girlfriend" podcast"Call Your Girlfriend" is a weekly show co-hosted by lifelong, long-distance best friends Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman that covers "every facet of women's humanity." From body hair to voter oppression: no topic is off the table."Unlocking Us with Brené Brown" podcast"Unlocking Us with Brené Brown" is here to help you navigate the hurt and uncomfortable bumps along the human journey with grace and courage."The Fall Line" shines a light on the southeast's "missing, murdered and unidentified" who don't make the same headlines as their White counterparts. Hosts Laurah Norton and Brooke Gently-Hargrove investigate these cases through their respective backgrounds as a Georgia State University senior lecturer and a licensed grief counselor."I Weigh with Jameela Jamil" from Earwolf"I Weigh with Jameela Jamil" is all about radical inclusivity. Actress and activist Jameela Jamil challenges societal norms on weight and body image through thoughtful conversations about shame and value with a range of diverse voices."No White Saviors Podcast" is an advocacy campaign that was born out of collective frustration over the white saviors and their abuses throughout Africa. The majority female, majority African powerhouse launched a podcast to expand the conversations around equitable change and to celebrate Africans as the heroes to their successes."2 Dope Queens" is an anthem to the underrepresented in comedy. During its four-season run, hosts Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson shared the stage with their favorite comedians of color and female comics as they quipped about any and all topics in their live comedy shows.Podcasts that showcase first-person storytellingHrishikesh Hirway is the creator and host of several renowned podcasts, including "Song Exploder," "The West Wing Weekly," "Partners" and, most recently, "Home Cooking."One of his top picks is a show that amplifies the reality of life in California's San Quentin State Prison as told by those on the inside."Ear Hustle" from PRX's Radiotopia"Ear Hustle" is "really well made and brings to life a reality that most people are unaware of," Hirway said. "All the complexities of life, not just stuff shown in HBO dramas." It became a finalist for a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for its work that offers, in the words of the prize board, "a consistently surprising and beautifully crafted series on life behind bars." It is the first year the "audio reporting" category has been recognized.While the Radiotopia program showcases inmates' perspective of life, there are countless others that offer compelling perspectives and conversations. Among them:"Snap Judgment" podcast"Snap Judgment," which offers a unique brand of "storytelling, with a beat," is hosted by Glynn Washington. Its cinematic mixes throughout the dramatic storytelling elevate the listeners to an edgy experience for the senses."Heaux in the Kneaux," hosted by Selena the Stripper, features conversations between sex workers about life in and the politics of sex work in all of its forms. "You Had Me At Black" podcast"You Had Me at Black" passes the mic to Black millennials who tell the stories of the Black experience that are often left out of the conversation. "Identity Politics" is hosted by Ikhlas Saleem and Makkah Ali, where discussions on race, culture, faith and gender are explored with guests through the intersectionality of being a Black Muslim woman in America."Code Switch" puts conversations about race and identity front and center while unpacking the impact it has on all facets of American culture. Hosts Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby hold thoughtful discussions with their guests, making "'all of us' part of the conversation -- because we're all part of the story."Follow @christipocket
| news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
566ec954-fe20-45f7-a473-0881f11a6c43 | null | (CNN)Dominic Thiem beat Rafael Nadal in straight sets to continue his unbeaten campaign at this year's ATP Finals. Both men helped deliver an exhilarating match with the Austrian emerging victorious from the high-quality affair after winning two tiebreakers -- 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4). It's just a shame no fans were in the arena to witness the encounter, with matches being played behind closed doors at the O2 Arena in London amid the pandemic. Those watching from home were treated to a true spectacle though -- the opening set alone lasted one hour and 12 minutes with both men making just 19 unforced errors between them. "It was a great match from the first to the last point. I was pretty lucky to get the first set," Thiem said after the match.Read More"I knew I had a slight advantage when I won the first set but I had to stay super focused. The atmosphere would have been unreal today I guess, but I hope that we put a very good show on for all the people who watched on TV."It's very tough times at the moment, strict lockdowns in most of the countries as well as in Austria since today. "So I really hope people enjoyed the match back home and they forgot a little bit for two hours, 30 minutes the tough times we're living through right now."As of November 17, Austria is entering stricter lockdown measures with people only allowed to leave their homes for a specific reason, such as going to work, shopping for basic goods, and for medical appointments. Bars, pubs and restaurants are now closed along with schools, with teaching being done remotely. The new measures are scheduled to run until December 6, says the interior ministry.READ: Medvedev hits underarm serve on his way to victory against ZverevRafael Nadal could barely have played better in the loss. Thiem progressesThiem faced two set points in an intense opening set which saw both men push each other to their very best tennis. It was the Austrian who held his nerve in the tiebreaker though, slapping a wonderful forehand across the court to take the lead in the match.Nadal, who brushed aside Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-4 in his opening match, could barely have played better and the levels didn't drop at the start of an extraordinary second set.The Spaniard's form did temporarily abandon him when serving to stay in the match though, after he made three uncharacteristic mistakes which handed Thiem three match points.However, the 20-time grand slam champion pulled off a stunning escape to stay in the encounter and eventually force a tiebreak, with Thiem once again edging it. "I think it's important that we players who are privileged to do our job, give all the people who are not that privileged a great time," Thiem added.The reigning US Open champion progresses to the semifinals of the tournament with one game to spare after Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Rublev 6-1 4-6 7-6 (8-6) later on Tuesday. Tsitsipas won last year's edition but had to dip deep to get past his Russian opponent. The 22-year-old faced match point in the third-set tiebreak but recovered to claim victory. Nadal, who has never won the ATP Finals, will face Tsitsipas in his next match, with the winner progressing to the knockout stages. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
aa02d2d2-de9c-43c8-beb2-112cc15c4d2b | null | (CNN)Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has warned yet another migrant rescue ship it will not be able to dock in Italian ports and accused it of violating international laws. During a Facebook live from his office, Salvini claimed a Dutch-flagged ship operated by the German nongovernmental organization Lifeline "forcefully boarded 224 illegal migrants in Libyan waters" despite warnings by the Italian Coast Guard that Libyan authorities were in charge of the rescue. "You did a show of strength by contravening the indications of the Italian and Libyan coastguard. Now, you'll carry this human load to the Netherlands," Salvini said. "I want to save lives but I'm paid by Italians to defend the safety of Italian citizens. I don't accept there are organizations of pseudo-volunteers that endanger the lives of those who flee Africa and then think to disembark them all in Italy."Salvini added that the Italian population want to "stop the mafia of illegal immigration."Read More"These foreign NGOs, with foreign staff, foreign funding and flying foreign flags will no longer touch Italian soil," he added. Lifeline tweeted this morning that it was rescuing 300-400 people. "Reinforcement by the Italian Coast Guard or merchant ships is required. Further information follows," the NGO tweeted. We are currently rescuing 300-400 people. Reinforcement by the Italian Coast Guard or merchant ships is required. Further information follows. pic.twitter.com/kog0TEk2eZ— LIFELINE (@MV_LIFELINE) June 21, 2018
Salvini warned on Saturday that ships carrying migrants as part of a humanitarian mission won't be allowed to dock in Italy, even as crowds rallied in Rome in solidarity with migrants.The anti-immigration minister was instrumental in blocking the Aquarius, a ship carrying hundreds of rescue migrants, from docking last week in Italy.The ship arrived in Spain on Sunday along with two Italian ships, which were sent to ease the overcrowding on the Aquarius. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
9f59e46d-fb81-49b8-859d-ef50a6c6e8cd | null | London (CNN)Forget Game of Thrones. The United Kingdom and its current political landscape have turned into a fast-paced TV drama of its own that can't be missed.It's been seven days since Brexit brought Britain to its knees. It's been a whirlwind of a ride -- filled with shock, confusion, backstabbing and uncertainty.JUST WATCHEDBoris Johnson: I will not stand for Prime MinisterReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBoris Johnson: I will not stand for Prime Minister 01:13In what might have been the most shocking day in British politics since the Brexit announcement, Boris Johnson -- one of the nation's most recognizable faces and champion of Britain's "Leave" campaign -- announced he would not, after all, stand for Prime Minister after being essentially thrown under the bus by his closest companion, Justice Secretary Michael Gove. Gove concluded that Johnson "cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead."The circus-like developments sparked an eruption from social media, with many weighing in on Johnson's suspicious exit.Read MoreOne meme likened Gove to the ruthless Godfather mafia boss Don Corleone:'Today I will settle all family business' pic.twitter.com/iXQCxrd817— General Boles (@GeneralBoles) June 30, 2016
While another summed up Boris' week, comparing him to a meme where a child celebrates a basketball dunk shortly before being knocked over by the hoop:Boris Johnson's week in review. pic.twitter.com/7I8PtAQN2r— Ben Stanley (@BDStanley) June 30, 2016
An account impersonating David Cameron's cat also joined in on the mockery, tweeting: "In fairness to Boris, as a cat I know a thing or two about asking to be let out and then instantly regretting that decision..."In fairness to Boris, as a cat I know a thing or two about asking to be let out and then instantly regretting that decision...— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) June 30, 2016
Some called the event 'Borixit' -- a play on Brexit -- while others compared the rival between Gove and Johnson to Mufasa and Scar from Disney's "The Lion King":The Lying King...https://t.co/RLLod4Vi9u— JOE.co.uk (@JOE_co_uk) June 30, 2016
Many have even compared Gove to Frank Underwood -- the fictional main character in the political drama "House of Cards":#ConservativeLeadership #Gove #Vine #HouseOfCards #Brexit pic.twitter.com/Jr2uzIOTnk— AmandaDS (@AmandaDS) June 30, 2016
Even Johnson's aides foresaw the mockery. At the site of his shocking announcement they covered up the emergency exit sign to avoid any photo opportunists.Aides at Boris event covered up the emergency exit sign to foil the inevitable photo pic.twitter.com/33RoIHpBzZ— Katherine Haddon (@khaddon) June 30, 2016
READ MORE: Brexit one week on | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
ce1ffaf3-5537-4d7a-96eb-9eb7f082b62b | null | Story highlightsThousands of previously classified documents about the wall are releasedMartin Luther King Jr. went to East Berlin without a passportIntelligence reports detail wall's construction, protectionMartin Luther King Jr. used his American Express card instead of a passport to get past the Berlin Wall. Now, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this little known fact and thousands of previously classified documents have been released. After an executive order issued by President Barack Obama called for the processing of classified records that are 25 years old or more, the CIA, in conjunction with the National Archives' National Declassification Center, announced it had made public more than 11,000 pages of documents detailing life and death in the shadow of the wall between 1962 and 1986.To prevent East Germans from getting into West Berlin, the border between West and East Berlin was closed by the Soviets on August 12, 1961.Called the "Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart" by East Germans, 155 kilometers, or 96 miles, of wall encircled West Berlin, itself a West German island in the heart of East Germany. The central part of the wall that divided West Berlin and East Berlin was 43 km, or 27 miles long. Intelligence reports and maps included in the document release details on the construction of the wall. What began as guarded barbed wire strung along the border quickly became barbed wire with guard towers and two high concrete walls, one on the inside, one on the outside of a no man's land. This "death strip" was littered with anti-tank barriers, signal wires, beds of spikes, sand --to see footprints, and guard dogs, all under the constant surveillance of armed guards with orders to shoot on sight anyone trying to cross. Photos: Photos: Men's room, Main Street Station, Las Vegas – A men's rooms at this Las Vegas casino has been home to a portion of the Berlin Wall for about 20 years. Three urinals are mounted onto the graffiti-bearing concrete slab. The wall itself is protected by glass.Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles – A 25-ton, 10-segment section of the Wall stands in front of the Variety Building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. It's the longest stretch of Berlin Wall in the United States.Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles – The Wende Museum in Los Angeles, a research and education institute that preserves Cold War artifacts and history, brought these segments to Wilshire Boulevard in 2009 with help from the German government and the City of Los Angeles.Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Schengen, Luxembourg – The village of Schengen has fewer than 2,000 residents, but a segment of the Wall was put up to herald its place in European history. The Schengen Agreement (now consisting of 26 European countries) was signed here in 1985 to grant citizens of its member states free travel without border checks. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Hilton Anatole, Dallas – Two segments of the Berlin Wall are a highlight of the 1,606-room Hilton Anatole in Dallas, which hosts a massive art collection of more than a thousand pieces throughout 27 floors.Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Hilton Anatole, Dallas – The Wall segments here were painted by German artist Jurgen Grosse in 1990.Hide Caption 6 of 6"Ich bin ein Berliner," said President John F. Kennedy when he visited the city on June 26, 1963. Many of the US government memos outline the technical aspects of a presidential trip to the city only 22 months after the Berlin Wall was erected.Dr. Hope Harrison, who helped with the project and spoke at a symposium at the National Archives on Tuesday highlighting the document release, said massive media coverage in the West highlighted every killing. "Cross and flowers" marked death sites. She compared that to the East German approach. Coverage of the killings of people trying to escape East Berlin was "taboo," she said. But a border guard killed at the wall was "turned into a hero of socialism defending the border, streets and schools were named after them."Hundreds of West Berliners standing on the Western banks of a narrow canal witnessed 24-year-old Gunter Litfin's death when on August 24, 1961 he become the first person killed at the Wall by guards with machine guns who shot him as he swam in the water. The killing of Peter Fechter, 18, was filmed by Western media and broadcast live as he bled to death after being shot trying to cross the border zone near Checkpoint Charlie. That infamous checkpoint, also known as Checkpoint C, was the one Martin Luther King, Jr. managed to cross without a passport. Diplomatic cables reveal how on September 13, 1964, after speaking to large crowds in West Berlin, he used his American Express card to get past guards in order to enter East Berlin. He conducted a church service there honoring President John F. Kennedy, who had visited Berlin two years earlier. Two thousand people overflowed St. Mary's Church, where he said "There is no East, no West, no North, no South, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole, wide world." The diplomatic cables also highlight President Ronald Reagan's trip to Berlin, when he implored Mikhail Gorbachev, the head of the Soviet Union to "tear down this wall." It fell two years later on November 9, 1989. The CIA hasn't released classified Berlin Wall material from that year. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
03b55666-2e24-423f-ac9b-c6d62ce25708 | null | (CNN)President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will hold separate events Thursday to focus attention on Democratic efforts to combat voter suppression and protect voting rights nationwide, Democratic officials tell CNN. Harris will announce the expansion of the Democratic National Committee's "I Will Vote" campaign with an event in the Washington, DC, area, according to a committee official. Biden will meet privately with a range of civil rights groups to talk about their efforts to protect voting rights, according to a White House adviser. The separate events come in the midst of Republican efforts to pass restrictive voting rights laws across the country. Harris, who has been tasked by the White House to lead their effort to push voting rights, will focus her remarks on why the entire Democratic Party must fight voter suppression, the DNC official said. She will also be made the honorary chairwoman of the DNC's "I Will Vote" program.The Biden meeting will include representatives from the NAACP, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, National Urban League, National Action Network, NCNW, Leadership Conference for Civil & Human Rights and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the adviser said, adding that the President is personally "revolted" by the Republican attempts to tighten election laws in response to the 2020 election.Read More"We see this assault from restrictive laws, threats of intimidation, voter purges and more," Biden said at a White House event in June to celebrate Juneteenth. "We can't rest until the promise of equality is fulfilled for every one of us in every corner of this nation. That, to me, is the meaning of Juneteenth." John Roberts takes aim at the Voting Rights Act and political money disclosures, again So far, Democrats have been unable to get any voting rights changes through Congress. After the party's signature voting and elections bill passed the House earlier in the year, Republicans sunk the Senate version during a key procedural vote in June. All 50 Democrats, including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, were united in passing the bill, but all 50 Republicans voted against, meaning the bill failed to get the needed 60 votes to move on in the legislative body. Spurred, in part, by former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Republican legislatures have passed restrictive voting laws in states ranging from Florida to Texas to Georgia to Iowa. Trump has applauded the efforts from afar and pushed other states to do the same. "Election Reform must happen in Swing States like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona where voters have lost confidence in their electoral process," Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, lawmakers in 17 states had enacted 28 restrictive ballot access laws as of June 21, a record since 2011, when 19 laws were enacted by 14 state legislatures. The events comes on the same day that Texas is scheduled to convene a special session of the state legislature to revive a slew of new voting restrictions effectively killed by Democrats during the regular legislative session.Republicans responded to the Democratic effort by accusing the party of trying to push a "federal takeover of elections.""Democrats refuse to join Republicans in supporting common sense policies like voter ID, because their sole agenda is more power and partisan control," said Nathan Brand, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.In response to the Republican efforts, a range of Democratic organizations have ramped up their focus on protecting the right to vote, launching a range of programs to educate voters on new laws, publicly attack the lawmakers pushing the laws and combating the laws in court.The Democratic National Committee campaign has been central to the party's response to these laws. Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced earlier in the year that the committee would invest at least $20 million in their bid to help Democrats keep control of the House in 2022, including funding "dozens" of voter protection staffers in states like Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania. At the time, Harrison called restrictive voting rights laws "fundamentally un-American." "It is not who we are as a people," he said. The DNC has not been alone in their efforts to protecting voting rights. Priorities USA, a top Democratic super PAC, invested $50 million in voting rights work over the last four years and plans to continue the investment into 2022. And the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced in June plans to invest $10 million in voter protection efforts ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated one of the participants in the Biden meeting Thursday. The NAACP will participate. | politics | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
61a1aa24-3bc1-4304-9419-aed0918db9b7 | null | Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College. His most recent book is "Borges and Me," a memoir of his travels in the highlands of Scotland with Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges in 1971. He has also written "The Way of Jesus." The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author. View more opinions at CNN. (CNN)Christmas is upon us, and nobody can deny its power, even in an America that grows rapidly more secular by the year. For most, even those who practice some form of Christianity, it's primarily a time for family and the exchange of gifts (disrupted though those rituals may be during the Covid-19 pandemic). Jay Parini "I'll be home for Christmas," sings Bing Crosby in his sentimental croon, which plays over loudspeakers in malls across the country. Airlines boom as far-flung children make their way to that place called home, with luggage that is often filled with gifts.It's also that time of year when some decry the commercialization of a religious holiday -- and I'm often one of them. But this has been going on a long time, reaching back especially to F. W. Woolworth in the 19th century. It was his bright idea to import tree ornaments from Europe, and the slow avalanche began. In the early 20th century, the Coca-Cola Company began to run ads of a cheerful burly Santa in the Saturday Evening Post. The first Sears Christmas Wish Book was published in 1933. By the 1950s, with the postwar economic surge underway, the all-out shopping spree began in earnest.I remember a particular Christmas Eve in 1957. My father's father -- born and raised in a small and desperately poor village in Italy -- was led into the living room by his son, my dad, who proudly showed off the tree. Brightly wrapped presents heaped around it -- an array of plastic toys for the children. My grandfather scowled. "What a waste of good money!" he said very loudly. "Don't you have to work for your wages?"What 'Succession' got right about 2021My grandfather had a point. The commercial din, sadly, often drowns out the deeper meanings of Christmas. But rejecting the retail mania of the season, one is left to ask: So what does Christmas mean? Yes, it's about baby Jesus in a manger. But it's also more than that -- the Christmas story is a rich and complex symbol, too: one that invites us to consider too-easily held notions, to think again about spirit and matter, about the broader meanings of the word "incarnation." It's also a celebration that comes at a particular point in the year, with ties to many different cultures and religions across millennia.Read MoreWinter solstice celebrations reach back to ancient Rome, to the Saturnalia, a popular holiday that celebrated Saturn. The idea that one should honor an agricultural god during the sowing season made sense in a society dependent on seasonal shifts. This celebration coincided with the winter solstice, that almost invisible moment when the Earth tilts ever so slightly toward the sun at the low point of the darkest season. The term "Yuletide" refers partly to the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon feast of the winter solstice, a time to put on a "Yule log" and create light and warmth in the bleak of midwinter. There are many similar traditions, such as Yalda, an Iranian celebration of solstice that has roots in the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism.What happened to our new Roaring '20s?The Christian practice of Christmas goes back to the early fourth century, during the reign of Roman emperor Constantine (the first leader of Rome to convert to Christianity), when for the first time we hear about a celebration of Christ's birth on December 25. But what about the previous 300 years? Did nobody pay any attention to the baby Jesus?Almost nobody did, it seems. The earliest writings in the New Testament are by St. Paul, who never referred to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. There's no mention of Christmas anywhere in his letters. To put it bluntly, Paul didn't pay much attention to the biographical aspects of Jesus. He was an Easter Christian, focused on the crucifixion and the resurrection. The Gospels were written long after the death of Jesus, and only two of them mention Christmas. Mark, the earliest Gospel, is silent on the subject. So is John, the latest Gospel. Only Matthew and Luke tell the story, and their versions are utterly contradictory. In Matthew, Jesus is swept away by his frantic parents to Egypt to hide out from the wicked King Herod, who has been killing young children in order to get rid of a potential rival for his throne. It's a tale of panic and flight, with Jesus as a refugee. The outrageous Christmas cards from Boebert and MassieIn Luke, we get a kinder, gentler Christmas story, with shepherds in the nearby fields keeping watch over their flocks by night. Eight days after the birth, as was customary, the infant was taken to Herod's Temple in Jerusalem for consecration. "When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee," as the Scripture states. It's a very different kind of narrative from the scary one in Matthew!In my view, as a practicing Christian, this celebration is about incarnation itself, what the poet Robert Frost called the penetration of spirit into matter. In the 1931 essay "Education by Poetry," he elaborated with the suggestion that what religion and poetry have in common is "the attempt to say matter in terms of spirit, or spirit in terms of matter, to make the final unity." Here I'm reminded of the great opening of John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We're told by the writer of John that in him "was light, and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in the darkness."Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's newsletter.Join us on Twitter and FacebookI do love the idea of incarnation: "Carne" is the Latin word for "flesh" or "meat" (as in chile-con-carne!). The spirit of the universe -- the word "logos" in Greek, translated in the Bible as "the Word" -- has to become flesh to become visible. And so the spirit penetrated matter and became visible in the child called Jesus. And Jesus became the human face of God.This is how I see Christmas, in any case: a sacred time that's more than simply a celebration of a child's birth in a manger -- however lovely that story may be. For me, it's about making the invisible visible. It's about showing love -- by giving gifts, of course -- perhaps the most obvious and sometimes tedious way to express deep affection. Yet it's more importantly about making oneself present to others. This is the best gift one can give, and for Christians this gift is symbolized in the Christ child, this literal token of the figurative light that bathes us all at this time of year. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
c491be5a-b629-4854-bdbb-1c05fcd31c39 | null | (CNN)A former Nazi SS guard known as "the bookkeeper of Auschwitz" has died before serving a four-year jail term, authorities in Germany said.Oskar Groening, 96, was sentenced for being an accessory to murder in 2015, but never went to jail due to a series of appeals for clemency on grounds of old age and ill-health.He died in a hospital on Friday, according to Spiegel Online. The Hannover public prosecutor's office said it had been informed of Groening's death by his lawyer.Groening was found guilty of being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.He was accused of counting the cash found in the belongings of new arrivals at the camp and sending it to Nazi headquarters in Berlin.Read MoreAt least 1.1 million people were killed in the camps at Auschwitz, the vast majority of them Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide, but also Poles, gay people, disabled people and other persecuted minorities.About six million Jewish people died in Nazi concentration camps during the war. Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Former Nazi officer Oskar Groening, known as "the bookkeeper of Auschwitz," was sentenced this week to four years in prison. Groening, who's in his 90s, was found guilty by a court in Lueneburg, Germany, of being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. His was the latest in a long string of prosecutions for crimes committed under Adolf Hitler's regime during World War II.Hide Caption 1 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Onetime Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk spent decades in and out of courts fighting to prove he was not a guard known to inmates at the Sobibor death camp as "Ivan the Terrible." An Israeli court sentenced him to death in 1988, but that conviction was later overturned. In the end, a German court found him guilty of assisting in mass murder as a guard at the Nazi-run Sobibor death camp in German-occupied Poland. He was sentenced to five years in prison, and died in 2012 in a home for the elderly where he was living pending appeal.Hide Caption 2 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Perhaps the most famous Nazi war crimes trial was that of Adolf Eichmann, who was hiding in Argentina when he was seized by Israeli agents. He was brought to Jerusalem and tried in a protective glass booth flanked by Israeli police. Responsible for helping to organize the deportation of about 1.5 million Jews to concentration camps, Eichmann was found guilty of crimes against the Jewish people. He was hanged in 1962.Hide Caption 3 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Trials of major war criminals, including the upper echelon of surviving Nazi officials, took place in Nuremberg, Germany, on the heels of World War II. The Nuremberg Trials resulted in 12 death sentences, three life imprisonments, four shorter prison terms and three acquittals. Among those sentenced to death at Nuremberg was Hans Frank, former governor general of occupied Poland. Frank was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was executed by hanging in 1946.Hide Caption 4 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Hermann Goering was the highest-ranking Nazi tried at Nuremberg. He issued the order for Hitler's security police to carry out a "Final Solution" to the "Jewish question" -- resulting in the Holocaust. He was sentenced to death but committed suicide before he could be executed.Hide Caption 5 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher was a key voice of anti-Semitism in pre-war Germany as the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer newspaper. He was tried at Nuremberg, convicted of crimes against humanity and executed in 1946.Hide Caption 6 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Rudolf Hess (center) was a longtime personal aide to Adolf Hitler. At the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to life in prison and ultimately committed suicide behind bars in 1987, at age 93. With him were Goering (left), Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Wilhelm Keitel. All but Hess were sentenced to death. Hide Caption 7 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?A key early supporter of Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg went on to become the minister responsible for eastern territories occupied by the Nazis -- where most of the death camps were located. Tried at Nuremberg, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggressive warfare, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1946. He was sentenced to death and hanged.Hide Caption 8 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, was minister of armaments under the Nazi regime. He used forced labor to keep the German economy going during the war, and was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Speer was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was released in 1966. He went on to write two autobiographical books, "Inside the Third Reich" and "Spandau: The Secret Diaries."Hide Caption 9 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?Ilse Koch was the wife of Buchenwald camp commander Karl Koch. Known as "The Witch of Buchenwald" by the inmates because of her cruelty and lasciviousness toward prisoners, she was sentenced in 1951 to life in prison.Hide Caption 10 of 11 Photos: Nazi war criminals: Justice done?One of the Nazi regime's top military doctors was Karl Genzken, a leading defendant at the second round of Nuremberg Trials, which took place from 1946 to 1949 and resulted in scores of convictions of bureaucrats, soldiers, physicians, judges and industrialists for crimes committed under the Third Reich. Genzken was found guilty of experimenting on people using poisons and incendiary bombs and was sentenced to life in prison. Other doctors, such as the notorious Josef Mengele, committed inhumane medical experiments on Auschwitz prisoners. Mengele was never caught or tried.Hide Caption 11 of 11For many years after the war, Groening worked as an accountant in a factory and suppressed what he had witnessed and participated in at Auschwitz. But in the mid 1980s he finally came forward to say he had seen the mass killings in response to claims by Holocaust deniers.This admission opened him up to public attention and scrutiny -- and ultimately prosecution.During his trial, Groening admitted that he was "morally complicit" in the crimes but denied that he was legally guilty.Groening insisted in a 2005 interview with Der Spiegel that he had been no more than a "cog in the gears".His first plea for clemency was denied by German prosecutors a day after it was made public, but he never served the sentence due to a raft of further appeals. His latest appeal was denied in January.The legal doctrine under which Nazis can be tried in Germany began to evolve with the conviction in 2011 of another convicted Nazi war criminal, John Demjanjuk, as an accessory to the murder of 28,000 Jews in the Sobibor death camp in Poland.Groening's conviction extended the doctrine further, opening a door to further trials of alleged Nazi criminals.In 2016, Reinhold Hanning, a former SS guard at Auschwitz, was convicted of having assisted in the deaths of 170,000 people and sentenced to five years in prison.The trial of Hubert Zafke -- then 95 and accused of being an accessory to at least 3,681 murders at the same camp -- also began in 2016, but ended in September last year after he was deemed no longer fit to stand trial due to dementia, according to Reuters.In statement posted online, Dr Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi-hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Holocaust research group, said Groning's death just before he was due to serve his sentence was "unfortunate, at least on a symbolic level.""Without at least symbolic justice, these trials -- as important as they are -- lose an important part of their significance," he said."Their victims never had any appeals, nor did their tormentors have any mercy. Consequently these perpetrators don't deserve either." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
217f626f-9d14-4120-9a8d-8e94dd144878 | null | Story highlightsThe Secret Footballer says there is a lack of education regarding racism in footballThe EPL has seen racism incidents involving high-profile players in the last 18 monthsTSF says fighting racism is not the job of one person or organization A match in the Netherlands was temporarily halted after U.S. striker Jozy Altidore abusedI love Schrodinger's cat. There are many versions of this famous paradox but here's my favorite ...You put a cat in a bunker with some unstable gunpowder that has a 50 percent chance of exploding in the next minute and a 50 percent chance of doing nothing. Until we look in the bunker, we don't know if the cat is dead or alive, but when we do look, sure enough, it is dead or alive.If we repeat the experiment with enough cats and gunpowder, then half the time the cat will live and half the time it will die. But, before we look, the cat is dead and alive; it is only the act of looking that forces nature's decision. For the cat's part, it will either see the gunpowder explode or not.So, the gunpowder explodes and the cat sees it explode or the gunpowder doesn't explode and the cat doesn't see it explode. The cat's reality becomes entangled with the outcome of the experiment and it is only our observation of the cat that forces nature to collapse into one reality.Read: Football's addiction to gamblingThank God -- or physics -- that football isn't as complicated. At least, it never used to be. The globalization of our game means that domestic football in this country is now represented by players from all over the world who bring with them different faiths and cultural traits that entangle with our own.JUST WATCHEDFootball racism: Not Black & White act 1ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball racism: Not Black & White act 1 09:09JUST WATCHEDFootball racism: Not Black & White act 2ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball racism: Not Black & White act 2 05:35JUST WATCHEDFootball racism: Not Black & White act 3ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball racism: Not Black & White act 3 05:21Occasionally, some of these different cultures smash together with all manner of pundits, journalists and fans eager to give their interpretation of the results.If I were to ask members of our youth team on Monday morning whether anybody from the Football Association or the Premier League has ever spoken to them about racism, I will bet everything I hold dear to me that every single one of them will say "no". So one of two things happen: either players try too hard not to say something that could be construed as racist -- and do. Or nobody says anything. And that is particularly scary.The problem is there is a lack of real education on the issue. Throwing t-shirts at players to wear before matches is not education.Don't get me wrong. We all know what racism looks like in its crudest form, such as the disgraceful monkey gestures we've seen in the Premier League from some fans already this season or the throwing of bananas on to the pitch as happened to the legendary Brazilian left back, Roberto Carlos, while playing in Russia.What is required is a little education to fill in the gray areas.Read: Down the rabbit hole -- football's battle with depressionTake Alan Hansen, a former Liverpool player who is now a pundit on Britain's highlights show "Match Of The Day", who in 2011 described black players as "colored". There but for the grace of God -- or physics -- goes me. Because when we were growing up in the early 1980s, my father was at pains to point out the correct term for a black person was "colored" and not as some of the other kids in the street used to say, "Darkie".We were told to call the man that lived on the end of our row "Indian", even though I am convinced that nobody had a clue where he was from. You certainly never used the "P" word, even though at the time the word could be heard frequently on some of the nation's most popular television shows.But, of course, nobody is going to tap you on the shoulder 10 or 20 years later with an update and, as we know, so much of what a person learns in childhood will shape their adult life.JUST WATCHEDFootball racism: Not Black & White act 4ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball racism: Not Black & White act 4 08:40JUST WATCHEDFootball racism: Not Black & White act 5ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball racism: Not Black & White act 5 07:06JUST WATCHEDFootball racism: Not Black & White act 6ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball racism: Not Black & White act 6 08:42But that doesn't make it acceptable to plead generational or cultural ignorance.It took an FA-led commission, the report of which ran to 115 pages, to determine whether or not Luis Suarez, the Liverpool striker, had racially abused Patrice Evra, the Manchester United defender, in 2011.The commission had to consider that in Suarez's native Uruguay, the word "negro" is a widely used term that black people use to greet one another. But, after all, Suarez is mixed race and playing his football in England.Read: The Secret Footballer reveals life inside the EPLSuarez was eventually banned for eight games and fined $63,000 due to a lack of video evidence.Keep in mind that John Terry, the former England captain, was banned for four games, despite all the video evidence that was presented during his hearing on whether he had racially abused Anton Ferdinand, the Queens Park Rangers defender.Perhaps the most lenient punishment of all came last month when UEFA, football's European governing body, imposed what "Kick It Out" chairman, Lord Ouseley, described as a "paltry" $95,000 fine on the Serbian FA after England's black players were racially abused during an Under-21 match in Krusevac.The Professional Footballers' Association, a body which presents the interests of players in England and Wales, can occasionally be heard in the middle distance calling for tougher punishments.But its chief executive, Gordon Taylor, would do well to get in front of the players who he represents instead of the TV cameras he seems to prefer. In the absence of any leaders educating the next generation, we continue to see unsavory episodes.We are arriving very quickly towards a state of extreme paranoia, where everybody is a racist until it's proven that they're not.Read: How English football cashed in on the rise of bettingJUST WATCHEDFootball pioneer on racist abuse ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFootball pioneer on racist abuse 01:41JUST WATCHEDSoccer player behavior in the spotlight ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSoccer player behavior in the spotlight 05:45Take the absolute farce at Stamford Bridge last year when Chelsea complained referee Mark Clattenburg had called midfielder John Obi Mikel a "monkey".When I phoned my friend at Chelsea, who was in the dressing room as things were kicking off, he told me that even the rest of the Chelsea players didn't believe Mikel and said as much to him.But Mikel's claim was backed up by his Brazilian teammate, Ramires, who, as my friend put it: "Hardly speaks any English."It is common knowledge that Clattenburg calls almost every player on the pitch by his nickname and, as my friend said: "We know in all likelihood that the ref has called him "Mikey" but what can we do?"Premier League rules state that clubs have to make their complaint after the game, when tensions are obviously running high and people are emotional.Again, as my friend said: "We didn't want to complain but we had to." Fair enough, but the fact the story made its way into the public domain almost before the players had left the stadium could have cost Clattenburg his career if the story hadn't been so unbelievable. Fortunately, Clattenburg was later absolved.You don't need me to tell you that a football changing room is a unique place to work in. We bend more rules than the Catholic church and each player will be pushed as close to their tolerance threshold as possible in an attempt to find the boundaries of acceptable mockery. There are examples of this behavior every single day. During the running sessions in which the fitness coach will tell you that "we're looking for winners", the person who crosses the line first will usually be abused based on a strong feature that they have. Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern Europe Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeSerbia scuffles – England midfielder Danny Rose claims he was subjected to monkey chants before, during and after the second-leg of their Under-21 Euro 2013 playoff match against Serbia on Tuesday, and had stones thrown at him by the crowd in Krusevac. Fans also ran on to the pitch and scuffles broke out after a 1-0 win secured England qualification for Euro 2013.Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeMacedonia punished – The Macedonia FA were fined $26,000 after fans racially abused England trio Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Emile Heskey during a qualifying game for Euro 2004.Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeTrouble in Bulgaria – In September 2011, Bulgaria were fined $55,000 after a small number of fans directed monkey chants at England's Ashley Young, Cole and Theo Walcott during a Euro 2012 qualifier in Sofia.Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeRussian FA hit with fine – Russia was hit with a $38,000 punishment after supporters made monkey noises towards Czech Republic defender Theodor Gebre Selassie during Euro 2012 Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeCroatia in the dock – The Croatian FA were ordered to pay a $16,000 fine after their fans were found guilty of "displaying a racist banner and showing racist conduct during the Euro 2008 quarter-final tie against Turkey.Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeCrackdown on Russia – Russia were again in the news for the wrong reasons at Euro 2012 and were fined $39,00 for "the setting off and throwing of fireworks by Russia spectators, displaying of illicit banners and the invasion of the pitch by a supporter," during the Euro 2012 tie against Poland. Russia was also fined $155,000 after clashes between supporters and police during and after their game against the Czech Republic.Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropeBendtner loses gamble – Denmark's Nicklas Bendtner was given a one-match ban and a $126,000 fine after he lifted his shirt to reveal a betting company's logo on his underwear while celebrating a goal against Portugal in a Euro 2012 group game. Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Soccer racism in Eastern EuropePorto punished – Porto were hit by a $27,000 fine after their fans were found guilty of subjecting Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli to monkey chants during a Europa League game in February 2012. It took UEFA six weeks to finally hand out a punishment. But questions were raised after UEFA also fined City $40,000 after the club were found guilty of coming back out on to the field of play late after the halftime interval.Hide Caption 8 of 8 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sport Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportWhere it all began – It is now nearly a year since Chelsea lost to QPR 1-0 in an English Premier League game at Loftus Road. During the game it was alleged QPR defender Anton Ferdinand swore at John Terry and made reference to the Chelsea captain's reported affair with the ex-partner of former team-mate Wayne Bridge. Terry is then said to have described Ferdinand as a "f***ing black c***".Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportBeyond reasonable doubt – In July, Terry was cleared in a London court, where the criminal burden of proof is "beyond all reasonable doubt". But the English Football Association then investigated the case, and using the test of "on the balance of probabilities", came to the conclusion that Terry's defence against claims he racially abused Ferdinand was "improbable, implausible, contrived".Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportHandshake snub – Back in September, Ferdinand had declined Terry's offer of a handshake when QPR met Chelsea at Loftus Road as the feud between the two players rumbled on.Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sport'Twatgate' – After the FA delivered the independent commission's report on the Terry case, the Chelsea captain's teammate Ashley Cole tweeted: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFT***S". The Chelsea and England left-back quickly issued a "unreserved apology" for his tweet through his solicitor.Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportSuarez punished – In 2011 the FA had to deal with another racism case, this time handing Liverpool striker Luis Suarez an eight-match ban and a $63,000 fine after finding the Uruguayan guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportThe end of the affair – Suarez and Evra failed to shake hands before the start of an English Premier League game at Old Trafford last season after the Uruguayan had served his ban. However, when United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield in September, the pair did shake hands.Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportFine line – Questions have been raised about UEFA's sanctioning policy. Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner was fined $126,000 and banned from playing in his side's next competitive game for flashing his sponsored waistband promoting a bookmaker as he celebrated a goal against Portugal in Euro 2012. But that fine eclipsed the $52,000 fine that UEFA handed to the Bulgarian Football Union for its fans' racist abuse of England players during a Euro 2012 qualifier in Sofia in September 2011. Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportBlattergate – In November 2011, FIFA president Sepp Blatter told CNN that football did not have a problem with racism on the field and any incidents should be settled by a handshake.Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportGuilty as charged – The FA's Independent Regulatory Commission heard 473 cases between December 2010 and December 2011, but only two of them ended in "not guilty" verdicts.Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: Crime and Punishment in sportCall to action – Stoke City boss Tony Pulis wants the Football Association to punish Liverpool's Luis Suarez for diving. "It's an embarrassment," said the Stoke manager after a 0-0 draw at Anfield. "The FA should be looking at this."Hide Caption 10 of 10So a person with a big nose might hear a fellow professional shout: "He won it by a nose!" A few weeks ago, somebody shouted to a black player: "He won it by a lip!" And everybody laughed, including the player who the comment was directed at.But there are also players who have their own unique relationship with each other.I know a black player and a white player who go out of their way to deliver insult after insult about each other's race and personal appearance. They are strong characters and enjoy engaging each other on that level and treat their relationship, it seems to me, as a test of quick wit. It's worth pointing out that they do it only in front of the squad.It's been like that at every club I've played for. I remember a ball getting stuck in a tree at one club and a black French player saying to an African player "you climb this tree, you a bigger monkey than me" before the pair of them fell about laughing.Some comments you will hear at most football clubs. They seem to travel as players move around and become entangled in the clubs' genes.Tackling racism should never be considered the job of one person or organization. The task is too great and, if I may say, too diverse.Nobody seems to know what the right thing to say is anymore and it could be that point which prevents people stepping forward to speak out.Maybe quantum mechanics is easier after all. In Schrodinger's book, "What Is Life?" he talks about each individual's consciousness as being only a manifestation of a unitary consciousness that pervades the universe.His best-known work on wave mechanics known as "Schrodinger's Equation" goes some way to explaining the inter-connectivity of the universe at a quantum level.Think of Suarez and Evra as ocean waves or tornadoes.At first glance, they appear to be two separate bodies, but they're not. That is simply the way we chose to perceive them. Waves and tornadoes are simply water and wind stirred up in different directions. The truth is that nothing is separate and everything is related. The colors that we see exist only in our own consciousness.** With special thanks to The Secret Footballer's good friend Mr T, working at CERN. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
2e6378b7-8d24-473f-a95b-8da1b44ff53a | null | Story highlightsThe vessel will be towed to the Italian port of GenoaDismantling the cruise ship could take two years32 passengers and crew were killed when the ship capsized in 2012The wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship is about to make its final voyage.Salvage crews began the arduous task of refloating the ship last week so they can move it from its resting place off Giglio Island to the Italian port of Genoa to be dismantled.It is set to sail Wednesday morning, according to Nick Sloane, the senior salvage master.He said the Blue Peter flag was being flown, a maritime tradition that tells sailors they need to get ready and get to the ship.It's been more than 2½ years since the ship ran aground off Giglio Island with more than 4,200 passengers aboard, killing 32 people in a disaster that drew global attention. The vessel will be towed -- slowly and carefully -- approximately 240 kilometers (150 miles) to Genoa, where it will be broken up. A convoy of 17 boats will travel along with it.JUST WATCHEDSee inside underwater cruise shipReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSee inside underwater cruise ship 02:02JUST WATCHEDCosta Concordia's painful legacyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCosta Concordia's painful legacy 05:12 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disaster Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The refloated wreck of the Costa Concordia is towed to the Italian port of Genoa on Sunday, July 27, to be scrapped, ending the ship's final journey two and a half years after it capsized at a cost of 32 lives. Hide Caption 1 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The Concordia is towed into the port of Genoa on July 27. Hide Caption 2 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Tugboats tow the wreck of the Costa Concordia as it leaves Italy's Giglio Island on Wednesday, July 23. Hide Caption 3 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A view from a porthole shows the wreck of the Costa Concordia as it's being towed on July 23. It'll take about two years to dismantle the massive cruise liner.Hide Caption 4 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The Costa Concordia cruise ship sits in front of the harbor of Giglio Island after it was refloated using air tanks attached to its sides on Tuesday, July 22. Environmental concerns prompted the decision to undertake the expensive and difficult process of refloating the ship rather than taking it apart on site.Hide Caption 5 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The ship's name appears above the water on Monday, July 21. The ship is expected to arrive in Genoa on Sunday, August 27.Hide Caption 6 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Tugboats pull the Costa Concordia after the first stage of the refloating operation on Wednesday, July 16. Hide Caption 7 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A small boat passes by the wreckage on Tuesday, July 15.Hide Caption 8 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Water is expelled from the caissons hooked onto the Costa Concordia on Monday, July 14. The ship will be towed north to the port in Genoa, Italy.Hide Caption 9 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Thirty-two people died when the 114,000-ton vessel, seen here on July 14, ran aground off Giglio in January 2012.Hide Caption 10 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – In December 2013, crews managed to rotate the ship into an upright position.Hide Caption 11 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – To float the ship, seen here on Thursday, June 26, crews attached 30 steel tanks to fill with compressed air.Hide Caption 12 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Ship captain Francesco Schettino, left, returned to the Concordia in February for the first time since he ran the liner aground. He is on trial on charges of manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster and abandoning ship with passengers still on board. He denies wrongdoing.Hide Caption 13 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Experts inspect the ship's damage in January. They boarded the vessel to collect new evidence, focusing on the ship's bridge and the onboard elevators.Hide Caption 14 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship sits near the harbor of Giglio on Tuesday, September 17, after a salvage crew rolled the ship off its side. Hide Caption 15 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The ship had been lying on its side for 20 months off the island of Giglio. Here, members of the U.S. company Titan Salvage and the Italian marine contractor Micoperi pass by the wreckage.Hide Caption 16 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Damage to the right side of the ship is apparent in September.Hide Caption 17 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Using a vast system of steel cables and pulleys, maritime engineers work on Monday, September 16, to hoist the ship's massive hull off the reef where it capsized.Hide Caption 18 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The project to upright the Costa Concordia continues on September 16. The nearly $800 million effort reportedly is the largest maritime salvage operation ever.Hide Caption 19 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A water line marks the former level of the stricken Costa Concordia as the salvaging operation continues on September 16. The procedure, known as parbuckling, has never been carried out on a vessel as large as Costa Concordia before.Hide Caption 20 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Members of Titan and Micoperi work at the wreck site early on September 16. Hide Caption 21 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Technicians work to salvage the half-submerged ship in July 2013.Hide Caption 22 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Giant hollow boxes have been attached to the side of the ship, seen here in May 2013. Attempts to refloat the ship will be aided by the compartments.Hide Caption 23 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A commemorative plaque honoring the victims of the cruise disaster is unveiled in Giglio on January 14, 2013.Hide Caption 24 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Survivors, grieving relatives and locals release lanterns into the sky in Giglio after a minute of silence on January 13, 2013, marking the one-year anniversary of the shipwreck. The 32 lanterns -- one for each of the victims -- were released at 9:45 p.m. local time, the moment of impact.Hide Caption 25 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A man holds an Italian flag on his balcony overlooking the port of Giglio on January 13, 2013.Hide Caption 26 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A man works in front of the shipwreck on January 12, 2013.Hide Caption 27 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A couple walks along the port of Giglio at night on January 12, 2013.Hide Caption 28 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A man sits in his boat in front of the half-submerged cruise ship on January 8, 2013.Hide Caption 29 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Cranes and floating decks surrounding the ship light up the dusk sky on January 9, 2013.Hide Caption 30 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Workers stand on the edge of the ship on January 8, 2013.Hide Caption 31 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A crew passes by the hulking remains on January 7, 2013.Hide Caption 32 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – People enjoy a day in the sun with a view of the cruise liner on July 1, 2012.Hide Caption 33 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Military rescue workers approach the cruise liner on January 22, 2012.Hide Caption 34 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Members of the Italian coast guard conduct a search-and-rescue mission on January 21, 2012.Hide Caption 35 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Rescue operations to search for missing people resumed on January 20, 2012, after being suspended for a third time as conditions caused the vessel to shift on the rocks.Hide Caption 36 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The Costa Serena, the sister ship of the wrecked Costa Concordia, passes by on January 18, 2012.Hide Caption 37 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – A bird flies overhead the Costa Concordia on January 18, 2012. Rescue operations were suspended as the ship slowly sank farther into the sea.Hide Caption 38 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The ship was sailing a few hundred meters off the rocky Tuscan coastline.Hide Caption 39 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – An Italian coast guard helicopter flies over Giglio's harbor on January 16, 2012.Hide Caption 40 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Rescuers search the waters near the stricken ship on January 16, 2012.Hide Caption 41 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The Concordia, pictured on January 15, 2012, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome when it hit rocks off the coast of Giglio.Hide Caption 42 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – The ship starts keeling over early on January 14, 2012. Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the listing ship, officials said.Hide Caption 43 of 44 Photos: Photos: The Costa Concordia disasterThe Costa Concordia disaster – Rescued passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on January 14, 2012. The Costa Concordia was carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members.Hide Caption 44 of 44The ship is expected to arrive in Genoa on Sunday, Sloane said. It'll take about two years to dismantle the massive cruise liner.Environmental concerns prompted the decision to undertake the expensive and difficult process of refloating the Costa Concordia rather than taking it apart on site.Since the wreck two years ago, 24 metric tons of debris -- including furniture, dishes, food, personal effects and ship parts -- have been recovered from the seabed.The Costa Concordia is the largest salvage ever attempted -- and the most expensive, at a cost of $1.5 billion so far. Nine things to know about the plan to salvage the Costa ConcordiaThe Costa Concordia salvage by the numbers | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
f3f6fbcc-d1e3-4e3e-8782-060b6a4889d1 | null | Story highlightsSébastien Ogier is the reigning world rally championThe Frenchman won back-to-back world titles in 2013 and 2014 The 31-year-old started his rallying career when he was 22 years old "I've always been a fighter, a competitor whatever I was doing in life," he saysCNN's Human to Hero series celebrates inspiration and achievement in sport. Click here for times, videos and features (CNN)What is it about winning streaks and racing drivers called Seb? First there was France's Sébastien Loeb with nine consecutive World Rally Championship titles between 2004 and 2012. Then came Germany's Sebastian Vettel who dominated Formula One for four straight seasons ending in 2013. Today, it's the turn of another Frenchman, Sébastien Ogier to leave the opposition trailing in his wake.The 31-year-old Volkswagen driver has dominated rallying over the past two seasons winning back-to-back world titles alongside co-driver and compatriot Julien Ingrassia.Ogier may have an unimpeded view at the front of the field now, but the road ahead hasn't always been so clear.Read More"Of course it was not a straight or easy way to the top," Ogier told CNN's Human to Hero series.JUST WATCHEDSeb Ogier: France's double world rally championReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSeb Ogier: France's double world rally champion 02:51"It's never like that in any sport for any professional or any champion, I guess. I had to fight hard to (overcome) some difficult times but I have to say that the progression was very quick."Hurtling through narrow forest roads, up and down mountain passes and skidding around dirt tracks at speeds routinely approaching 200 kph (125 mph) is where he's happiest. But like his compatriot Loeb, Ogier was a late bloomer in the sport, only starting his career at the age of 22."I really love rally because of the diversity of the sport. We are racing all over the world on lots of different surfaces -- we are driving on gravel, on tarmac, on snow. We always have to adapt and face very different situations."You need to have a lot of skills of adaptation because we are always facing the unknown -- we are never quite sure what's going to happen around the next corner."Born in Gap, a small village in the foothills of the French Alps, Ogier developed a love of rallying at an early age watching competitors in the Monte Carlo Rally speed up and down the mountains near his home every January.Champion of the future: A young Sébastien Ogier practicing his moves in a cross kart given to him by his father. "My childhood dream was to become a racing driver for sure, but it was really looking like an unreachable dream for me (because) I was coming from a very modest area."My parents did their best ... but motorsport was obviously impossible to (break into) because it was too expensive," he says.His father gave him a rally kart when he was eight years old, but with no family money or sponsorship to fuel his ambitions further, Ogier got on with other things training to become a car mechanic, qualifying as ski instructor and gaining a reputation as a handy boules player too.JUST WATCHEDThe girl who skis up mountainsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHThe girl who skis up mountains 02:36JUST WATCHEDMotorsport great's new challengeReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMotorsport great's new challenge 03:14There were forays into racing arenas, but only as a volunteer fire marshal at the Monaco Grand Prix -- a cheaper way to get a ringside seat, he says.His life would change though in 2005 when he won the Rallye Jeunes, an annual talent-spotting contest run by the French Motorsport Federation (FFSA).With the FFSA's financial backing, Ogier grabbed the opportunity with both hands, winning the Peugeot 206 Cup (a competition for aspiring rally drivers) in 2007 -- the first of many triumphs alongside co-driver Ingrassia. The pair won the Junior World Rally Championship the following year before stepping up to the World Rally Championship (WRC) proper in 2009, joining Citroen -- the home of Loeb, who had just won his fifth straight world title for the French team.Unfazed, Ogier was soon nipping at the heels of his illustrious teammate and a first podium finish in the second race of 2010 (in Mexico) was followed by a maiden WRC win in Portugal later that year. "It was for sure a great moment. I always mention every step which brought me to the top, where it was very important to my career (but) obviously the first victory is a special moment that you remember forever." The two Sebs: Four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel shows Ogier around his Red Bull car ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. The German joined Ferrari at the end of the 2014 season. Ogier's childhood hero was the late F1 star Ayrton Senna.Ogier secured third place overall in 2011, but the season was soured by a clash of egos with Loeb and the pair's increasingly fractious relationship came to a head in a row over team orders at the Acropolis Rally in Greece.The spat ultimately saw Ogier jump ship to Volkswagen helping the German manufacturer develop its Polo R WRC car during 2012 before returning to racing with a bang in 2013.He won nine of the 13 races, clinching his maiden world title on home soil in Strasbourg before winning a further eight races on his way to world title number two in 2014.JUST WATCHEDPassion drives F1 champReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHPassion drives F1 champ 02:17JUST WATCHEDDownhill mountain biker reaches peaksReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDownhill mountain biker reaches peaks 02:52Victory in last year's WRC was particularly satisfying after a horrific high-speed crash in Germany had threatened to derail the defense of his crown.He and Ingrassia walked away unscathed after plowing through a safety barrier -- Ogier later blamed himself for the error citing a lack of focus brought about by concerns over proposed rule changes to the sport. "That big crash I took like a wake-up call that I had really to react because I put myself in danger, Julien as well. We really had a big accident and that was really the time to react and do something," Ogier told RedBull.com at the end of last year.It was testament to his mental resolve that he bounced back so quickly, winning three of the four remaining rallies clinching the title in the final race at the GB Rally in Wales. "Second place is a first loser," he replies when asked what his motto for life might be."I'm not the first one to say it but I've always been a fighter, a competitor whatever I was doing in life. (I don't react) the best way when I lose, so when you are like that you have to fight to become the first one." Ogier has begun 2015 where he left off last year, driving to victories at the opening two races in Monte Carlo and Sweden. The sequence extends his winning streak of rallies to four and few will be betting against the flying Frenchman making it five in a row at the next rally in Mexico in March. Happy couple: Ogier married German TV presenter Andrea Kaiser last year. His rivals may hope that his recent marriage to German TV presenter Andrea Kaiser may soften his desire to win, but with most rally drivers peaking in their 30s, Ogier is perhaps just beginning a run of success that could rival Loeb's historic sequence of titles.But as he's learned from driving a car at breakneck speed, it pays to concentrate on the stretch of road immediately up ahead. "I don't have such a long plan in front of me -- I just take the year, one after each other. "For sure, I want to race a few more years but to be honest I really don't know, I always think about the future dreaming about family, children, being a normal person again." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
69475d73-a71b-4f21-a1e9-6f749546ad26 | null | (CNN)Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin could receive more than $1 million in pension benefits during his retirement years even if he is convicted of killing George Floyd.Chauvin has been the subject of national fury since last month, when footage emerged of him kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd begged him to stop. He was quickly fired from the department where he had worked since 2001, and amid national protests, was eventually charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers involved with the incident were also fired and face felony charges. But Chauvin still stands to benefit from a pension partially funded by taxpayers. While a number of state laws allow for the forfeiture of pensions for those employees convicted of felony crimes related to their work, this is not the case in Minnesota.Derek Chauvin, 44The Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association confirmed to CNN that 44-year-old Chauvin would remain eligible to file for his pension as early as age 50, though it would not provide details on the specific amount he would receive. Chauvin's attorney declined to comment. Retirement plan officials said that employees terminated voluntarily or for cause are eligible for future benefits unless they choose to forfeit their future benefit and receive a refund of all their contributions made during their employment. "Neither our Board nor our staff have the discretion to increase, decrease, deny or revoke benefits," a spokeswoman said. "Any changes to current law would need to be done through the legislative process." Read More
What should we investigate next?
Email Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken
While a number of factors are used to calculate pension benefits, Chauvin would likely be eligible for annual payments in the ballpark of $50,000 a year or more if he chose to start receiving them at age 55, according to a CNN analysis based on Chauvin's tenure, 2019 payroll data, contract details, pension plan guidance and Minneapolis Police Department salary schedules. The benefits could stretch to $1.5 million or more over a 30-year period, not including any cost of living increases. Chauvin's annual payments could be even higher if he received significant amounts of overtime in prior years.Two of the other officers charged in the death of Floyd were rookies, but a third also appears eligible to receive pension benefits from his time with the department, according to employment records released by the city. The Minneapolis Mayor's Office, Police Department and the local police union did not respond to CNN's requests for comment. Public pensions are paid for through a combination of contributions from taxpayer-funded local governments and workers themselves, as well as investment returns. Public safety pensions are typically some of the most generous and have caused local and state budgets to balloon around the country. Related: DOJ all but abandons broad police investigationsBut they are almost impossible to reduce or take away from workers who have been promised them in public employment contracts, and police unions have fought hard to protect worker pensions. Officers also usually pay some of their own salaries into the funds and typically receive their pensions in lieu of Social Security. Amid growing calls across the country to defund police departments and better distribute the money to social services, such as youth and community development and mental health treatment, pensions will likely prove to be a flashpoint in the ongoing debate. Minneapolis demonstrators have called to defund the Minneapolis Police Department. The laws governing whether pensions can be stripped from police accused of misconduct vary depending on the state. Less than half of states have laws that allow for pensions to be taken away from police who were convicted of any kind of felony, while some other states allow pensions to be taken away for specific crimes like corruption or sexual crimes against minors but not for the conviction of an officer for using excessive force, according to 2017 research published in the Journal of Law, Economics and Policy. But even these laws wouldn't touch the many officers accused of police brutality who are never convicted or even charged with a crime. Many were also passed in the past decade and usually wouldn't apply to officers hired before the laws were enacted, researchers noted. "Pension forfeiture for misconduct is pretty rare," said D. Bruce Johnsen, a law professor at George Mason University and one of the authors of the research. "With this terrible tragedy it might be a good time to push in this direction," he added, saying that the specific situations that would allow for forfeiture would have to be carefully defined. What should we investigate next? Email us: [email protected]. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
07f855df-e402-429f-bd1e-a28aff3ca4fb | null | Laura Coates is a CNN senior legal analyst. She is a former assistant US attorney for the District of Columbia and trial attorney in the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. She is the host of the daily "Laura Coates Show" on SiriusXM. Follow her @thelauracoates. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN)For a defendant to have a fair trial, there are loaded terms that should never be used in a courtroom.The Wisconsin judge in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse is right about that.Laura Coates But the word "victim" is not one of them.And that's where the judge is very wrong.Frankly, "victim" is no more pejorative than the word "defendant." Read MoreIt is regarded as an identifier, much like commonly used trial terms like "evidence" or "weapon" or "testimony." Nothing about its use guarantees a conviction or fatally undermines a defendant's right to a fair trial.The use of either term -- "victim" or "defendant" -- does not absolve the prosecution of its burden to prove a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Nor does their use alone persuade a juror to convict. They orient the conversation. Yet, Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce E. Schroeder, who is presiding over the murder trial of Rittenhouse -- the teenager who killed two men and wounded another during 2020 protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake -- has decided that the term "victim" is too powerful and prejudicial to be used to describe these men in court. In a final motions hearing Monday, the judge reasoned that the term "victim" was too loaded because it suggested that Rittenhouse — charged with felony homicide related to the shooting and killing of Anthony M. Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and felony attempted homicide for allegedly wounding Gaige Grosskreutz -- committed a crime because he was not otherwise entitled to shoot them in self-defense. JUST WATCHEDSee legal analyst's reaction to judge's decision in Kyle Rittenhouse caseReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSee legal analyst's reaction to judge's decision in Kyle Rittenhouse case 01:43His reasoning? If a jury hears the word "victim," they will be incapable of objectively evaluating whatever evidence Rittenhouse might present to show that he was in fear of his life when he shot the three men. Using the term "victim" to describe the three men would cast Rittenhouse in such a negative light that the jury would somehow be compelled to convict him, this thinking goes. Everyone is entitled to the benefit of the doubt for the crimes they're accused of, and the word "victim" would preclude that benefit. According to that logic, one would assume that in a trial the judge would apply the same principle to the use of any term that negatively depicts the person described, especially if the term is an accusation of a crime, right? Wrong. Rittenhouse is free, in Schroeder's court, to refer to three men he shot, two of whom lost their lives, as "rioters" and "looters" if he can present any evidence that they, in fact, were. But here's the rub. Two of the men are deceased, and the other has never been charged with a crime for any behavior associated with his participation in the protest. At best, Rittenhouse, therefore, would be presenting evidence through speculation that their mere presence confirms criminal behavior entirely unrelated to a claim of self-defense. There is no allegation, and Rittenhouse has not claimed, that he was the owner of any property that was stolen or dwelling that was damaged. He merely states that he was patrolling the streets of Kenosha with an AR-15 out of a sense of civic duty. So even if there were any evidence presented that these men were somehow involved in criminal activity, which prosecutors have not even suggested, it would have no relevance to Rittenhouse's underlying claim of self-defense of his own person. Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and FacebookThis is precisely why the use of the terms "rioters" and "looters" to describe these three men in relation to a self-defense claim is not only legally inapplicable but prejudicial. But the judge cares not about the prejudice. "Let the evidence show what the evidence shows, that any or one of these people were engaged in arson, rioting or looting, then I'm not going to tell the defense they can't call them that," Judge Bruce Schroeder boldly said during the pre-trial hearing. Rittenhouse "can demonize them if he wants, if he thinks it will win points with the jury," Schroeder said. But the judicial inconsistencies don't end there. The judge believes the term "victim" is too loaded, but said the prosecution is allowed to theoretically refer to Rittenhouse as a "cold-blooded killer" In its closing arguments. So what, pray tell, do we call the people killed in cold-blood? Decedents? The murdered? The killed? Whatever you decide, just don't let this judge catch you saying something as loaded as a "victim." Confused? You should be. The judge's rationale defies logic.Or, perhaps more disturbingly, defies fairness. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
dcfbd111-5e94-45c9-9221-ff8e2875c064 | null | (CNN)Liverpool's bid to retain the English Premier League title slipped further from its grip on Wednesday after suffering a shock defeat to relegation-threatened Brighton. A scrappy goal from Steven Alzate was enough for all three points and left Liverpool seven points behind league leader Manchester City, who have a game in hand. Liverpool and City face each other on Sunday in what many believed would be an early title decider. "As this moment stands, we're not in the title race," Liverpool full back Andy Robertson told reporters after the game. Debate over greatest goalscorer of all time continues as Cristiano Ronaldo nets 762nd goalJurgen Klopp's side, which seemed to have turned the corner after recent good performances, looked short of ideas against Brighton and managed just one shot on target the entire match. Read MoreIt has now failed to score in three consecutive league games at Anfield, an unimaginable record considering the team's attacking prowess over the last two seasons. Robertson credited Brighton as "the better team," but admitted his own side were "hugely disappointing." "We didn't really do anything of note," he said. "With a long record of going unbeaten, we've lost two. When you don't show up, you don't get results."The loss further highlighted the vulnerabilities of a side that many thought could go on to dominate English football for years to come. Klopp has had to deal with injuries to key players, including almost all of his senior central defender options, which has made navigating a congested fixture list difficult, especially during a global pandemic."The only explanation now is that we are a fatigued team, mentally more or less," he told reporters after the match. "We looked mentally not fresh. They deserved to win.""We wanted to play better and more convincing. We lost too many balls in promising situations. I know the boys can play pass A to B but today B did not seem reachable."We had a really tough week. We were not fresh tonight and that's when you have to find a way."READ: Man Utd puts nine past Southampton to equal Premier League recordLiverpool players looked dejected after Brighton's Steven Alzate scored on Wednesday. 'The more you win, the better you feel'Liverpool's loss will have added an extra gloss to Manchester City's night, which moved further clear at the top of the league after beating Burnley 2-0 on Wednesday. Goals by Gabriel Jesus and captain of the night Raheem Sterling secured a comfortable victory which stretched the team's winning run to 13 games in all competitions. Sterling credited the "togetherness" of the squad and the key defensive work that has given them a sixth consecutive clean sheet, equaling a club record. "The more you win, the better you feel, and that's what we've done today," he told reporters after the match."We knew exactly what they would bring to the game being physical, second balls and putting balls in the box, and I thought the boys at the back dealt with them really well."It's good to get another win and keep another clean sheet. We've been on a good run and we need to continue that now."While pleased with the performance, City manager Pep Guardiola looked ahead to the clash with Liverpool and noted the importance of recovery in a busy schedule. "Right now, we enjoy this game and tomorrow we start to think about the next game," he said. "It is the same points but against a contender. At the end, the aim is to be champion. Against teams lower in the table, people can say it's guaranteed but we know how difficult it is."We had to do our best and now we face a different team with a different type of play. Now come another tough, tough group of games. Today, we enjoy the game, have good food, and tomorrow, we start to think about Liverpool." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
795ad9cc-2479-4471-8ff4-d49f5dd422ac | null | CrossFit GamesMadison, WisconsinAugust 1-5, 2018 (CNN)Katrin Davidsdottir is ready to regain her title as the "Fittest Woman on Earth."Having claimed the honor in 2015 and 2016, the former gymnast from Iceland failed to reach the podium in 2017, finishing a disappointing fifth. Follow @cnnsport
"I didn't do anything wrong," Davidsdottir recalls. "I just kept coming off the floor and was like, that was okay." She had lost her "magic" as she likes to call it. But that result was a wake-up call.Driving back to the hotel after the final event, Davidsdottir's coach Ben Bergeron pulled to the side of the road. Read MoreThe two of them began systematically going over everything that had happened in the last year and what they were going to do to make sure this year they would have absolutely no regrets.There, in that moment, Davidsdottir began her journey to become the 2018 Fittest Woman on Earth.READ: Is the CrossFit Open the biggest sporting competition on Earth?READ: How to talk to someone who does CrossFit, if you really mustJUST WATCHEDCrossFit Games: All you need to knowReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCrossFit Games: All you need to know 00:56Giving it everything she's got, Davidsdottir increased her already intensive training schedule. "I don't have any more hours in my day to put in more work. And I love it." Davidsdottir's logo reflects her "Sled Dog" persona.Davidsdottir describes herself as a sled dog, even adopting the imagery for her brand. A sled dog, she explains to me, loves to work and gets impatient and agitated when not kept busy. This is how those who know her work ethic see her. Someone who loves putting in the hard graft, excelling in situations where hard work and determination produce results.Sled dogs also work in teams, as is the case for Davidsdottir and her family. After moving from Iceland to Boston to work with renowned CrossFit coach Bergeron, she finds ways to stay connected so that her family remains an integral part of her life. Davidsdottir begins her CrossFit Regionals campaign with a 3,000m row.Despite being 4,000 kilometers from home, she was surrounded by family when we met with her in May. The two-time Games champion was visiting her aunt after Regionals, who kindly opened her home to our crew. Aunt Frida is a hospice nurse and a phenomenal cook. Consequently, more time was spent eating with the family than focusing on the interview. We learned how to crack, peel and eat quail eggs -- a first for both myself and our cameraman. A healthy smorgasbord of sushi, steaks, and other delicious items were offered to us as well. With this family refusal was not an option. Nor was it really a consideration. Davidsdottir's grandfather Helgi is a former Ambassador to the US. We were also joined by her grandfather, a former Icelandic Ambassador to the US, Uncle Helgi, a physiologist in sleep medicine, and cousins Viktor and Tómas; the former had just started college, the latter still a freshman in high school.Davidsdottir's mother can often be seen cheering from the stands, and in 2016 it was the sad passing of Amma - her grandmother and most devoted fan - that fueled the fire for her second CrossFit Games win.Katrin crosses the line to win event four at the East Regionals.Along with the increased training regime, Davidsdottir is also having more fun. And it appears to be paying off. At the regional qualifying event for the Games in May, Davidsdottir devastated the field, winning five of six events and finishing with the ranking of first globally. More importantly, she had rediscovered her "magic."Visit CNN.com/sport for more news and featuresOf course, as with all magic tricks, what appears to be impossible is in fact not magic at all. Rather, it's buried deep in meticulous planning, focused hard work and impeccable execution. Davidsdottir trains with friends and rivals alike ahead of the CrossFit Games. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
4a18616d-b559-45f6-8dd9-3bf485bf14b1 | null | (CNN)The father of a young child dramatically rescued from a Paris balcony Saturday was out playing Pokemon Go when the incident happened. In an interview with CNN affiliate BFM TV Monday, French prosecutor Francois Molins said the four-year-old's father had gone out shopping, leaving the child at home alone. His return to the apartment was delayed when he decided to start playing the smartphone game on the way back.According to Molins, the toddler was being looked after by his father in Paris while his mother was living on Reunion Island, a French-administered territory in the Indian Ocean.Video of the rescue went viral over the weekend, after young Malian migrant Mamoudou Gassama climbed four floors on the outside of an apartment building to save the dangling child. He has now been offered French citizenship and a job with the Paris fire brigade.According to Molins, the father, who faces up to two years in prison for abandoning his parental responsibilities, is devastated by the consequences of his actions. He will be sentenced in September, according to Bruno Badre, a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor.Read MoreBadre told CNN Tuesday that the boy had been placed in temporary care while the father was in custody, but the two have now been reunited.French President Emmanuel Macron (L) speaks with Mamoudou Gassama, 22, from Mali, at the presidential Élysée Palace in Paris, on May 28.'I would have hated to see him getting hurt'During a visit Tuesday to the Paris fire brigade that has offered him a job, Gassama, 22, told CNN that he was feeling "really, really good." Speaking to BFM TV shortly after the rescue, he explained that he had been in the neighborhood to watch a football match when he saw the crowd gathering."I like children, I would have hated to see him getting hurt in front of me. I ran and I looked for solutions to save him and thank God I scaled the front of the building to the balcony," he said.Gassama took less than 30 seconds to reach the boy, using the railings on each balcony to pull himself up to the next floor.He later told French President Emmanuel Macon, who invited Gassama to the Elysee Palace to thank him personally, that the decision to climb the building had been a spontaneous one. "I didn't think about it, I climbed up and God helped me," he said.In the video, cheers broke out when the young migrant reached the dangling child and pulled him over the balcony before Parisian emergency services could arrive. French media quickly dubbed Gassama 'Spider-Man.'Flanked by his older brother, Gassama holds his temporary residence permit after receiving it Tuesday.'He had extraordinary courage'The video also shows how, shortly after Gassama begins his ascent, a man in the apartment next to where the boy is hanging steps onto his balcony. He reaches across and grabs hold of the child.Inside the American elite unit rescuing from the skiesResponding to accusations that he could have done more to help, the neighbor -- named as Florian -- told BFM TV Tuesday that he feared the boy might fall if he tried to bring him over to his balcony, which is separated from the adjacent one by a wall. "I wanted to act carefully above all and I certainly did not want to risk the child's life," he said. Florian said he was encouraging the child to edge closer to him. "I was talking to him at the same time, I was telling him, 'Come up slowly,'" he said, adding: "He had extraordinary courage."Florian also said that the boy had first fallen from one of the floors above, before "by miracle" grabbing onto the fourth-floor balcony.Neighbor Jerry Alfred told CNN Tuesday that the father and son lived on the sixth floor of the building.Praise from French leadersFrench President Emmanuel Macron invited Gassama to the Elysee Palace on Monday where he presented the young man with a certificate and a gold medal for performing an act of courage and determination. Avec M. GASSAMA qui a sauvé samedi la vie d'un enfant en escaladant 4 étages à mains nues. Je lui ai annoncé qu'en reconnaissance de cet acte héroïque il allait être régularisé dans les plus brefs délais, et que la brigade des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris était prête à l'accueillir. Je l'ai également invité à déposer une demande de naturalisation. Car la France est une volonté, et M. GASSAMA a démontré avec engagement qu'il l'avait ! A post shared by Emmanuel Macron (@emmanuelmacron) on May 28, 2018 at 2:15am PDT
Gassama spoke to Macron about the rescue and about his difficult journey to France from his home country Mali. Speaking to BFM TV he explained how he traveled through Burkina Faso and Nigeria before crossing the Mediterranean in an overcrowded boat from Libya and finally arriving in France. Un grand bravo à Mamoudou Gassama pour son acte de bravoure qui a permis de sauver hier soir la vie d'un enfant. J'ai eu plaisir à m'entretenir avec lui aujourd'hui par téléphone, afin de le remercier chaleureusement. https://t.co/DP5vQ1VZYh— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) May 27, 2018
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on her official Twitter on Sunday that she had called Gassama to thank him for his act of bravery."He explained to me that he arrived from Mali a few months ago with the dream of making a life for himself here. I replied that his heroic act is an example for all citizens and that the city of Paris will obviously be keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France," she tweeted.CNN's Judith Vonberg contributed to this report | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
4f64cd53-5fea-468f-b775-ef24f83430d8 | null | Hong Kong (CNN)Morgues are nearly at capacity, hospitals overwhelmed and, as fears grow of a citywide lockdown, panicked shoppers have stripped supermarket shelves bare. Hong Kong -- once lauded as a zero-Covid success story -- is now battling a deadly outbreak reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic, despite having had more than two years to prepare.With locally transmitted cases surging past 312,000 in the city of 7.4 million in just the last two weeks, hospitals and embattled health workers have been stretched to breaking point. The numbers are likely to be far higher due to suspicions people are not reporting their positive test results for fear of being separated from families and put into government isolation facilities. Although the rampant surge has been driven by the less deadly Omicron variant, Hong Kong's deaths are also rising -- particularly among the city's unvaccinated elderly. According to Our World in Data, which uses data from Johns Hopkins University, Hong Kong reported more deaths per million people in the week to March 3 than any country or territory. Empty shelves at a grocery store in Hong Kong on March 1, 2022.A pedestrian crosses a near empty street in Hong Kong on February 24, 2022.The city's leader Carrie Lam said the city is facing an "unprecedented challenge" and insists nobody could have predicted the latest wave. But according to Hong Kong University clinical virologist Siddharth Sridhar, the situation was a "predictable and preventable disaster."Read MoreFor two years, as the pandemic raged around the world, Hong Kong largely contained the virus, and there was a growing feeling the city might keep the virus out forever. As cases rose this year, the government reimposed its strictest rules, limiting public gatherings to two, closing restaurants and bars after 6 p.m., and roping off public playgrounds. But it still wasn't enough. With few other levers to pull, the government plans to launch a mandatory mass testing drive in an attempt to purge the city of Covid. Schools will break for summer early and be repurposed as isolation, testing and vaccination facilities. And it's still unclear whether a citywide lockdown is on the cards. "March is going to be a very, very difficult time," said Sridhar. "(It's) definitely an unprecedented health crisis for Hong Kong."For a city that has already put up with two years of tough restrictions, news of citywide testing has proved too much for some residents who are frantically looking for a flight out. And while vaccines mean Hong Kong is better off than it would have been two years ago, immunization rates are still lagging among its elderly population -- meaning many of the city's most vulnerable are still unprotected. What went wrong in Hong KongAt Queen Elizabeth, one of Hong Kong's largest hospitals, patients sit in a sparse, windowless observation room while they wait for a bed in an isolation ward. Two nurses, who asked not to be named because they fear repercussions for speaking out, told CNN last week the observation room smells of feces -- there are no restrooms, so patients are forced to use bedpans.The nurses say staff shortages mean there's often a delay in checking on patients as more arrive for care, and there are too many people wanting treatment and not enough beds. The situation doesn't change, yet we still cannot stop. The situation is hopelessHong Kong nurse"A patient is unlikely to get into an isolation ward unless that patient is on the verge of dying," one staffer said. "No matter how hard we work, the situation doesn't change, yet we still cannot stop. The situation is hopeless." The hospital's morgue is overflowing and some bodies are being stored for hours at room temperature, according to one of the nurses.A medicine and geriatrics doctor at another hospital in Hong Kong, who asked not to be named as she fears repercussions, said the sheer number of patients was "astounding," with some waiting up to four days to be seen by a doctor. "It's so packed and spread so thin for manpower, you have like one nurse seeing 20 patients," she said last week. "What we're seeing here is nothing I've ever seen before."Covid-19 patients seen laying on beds outside the Caritas Medical Center in Hong Kong. In a statement to CNN, the Hospital Authority said it was facing "unprecedented challenges," and apologized to patients who had experienced long wait times. With a sharp increase in Covid-19 deaths due to the cold weather, the "storage space in hospital mortuaries has reached full capacity," the statement said.In a briefing Tuesday, health officials said they are adding refrigerated containers and expediting the construction of a new mortuary to provide at least 800 extra units. To date, Hong Kong has recorded 1,554 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, up from 213 at the end of December 2021.Covid patients outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on February 25, 2022.A Covid patient on a stretcher outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on February 25, 2022. That surge in cases is also putting pressure on hospital wards.Previously, all Covid positive cases were placed in hospital, and any close contacts into government-run quarantine -- even if they were asymptomatic. But with soaring cases, it became no longer feasible to quarantine all positive cases and close contacts. "Our healthcare system is at the edge of collapse," the Hong Kong Doctors Union said in an open letter in February.But some positive cases are desperate to be admitted to government-run facilities, no matter how sick they are, because for much of the pandemic they've been told that's the right thing to do, Hong Kong University professor Jin Dong-yan said. That's not only putting pressure on the system, he said, but is exposing others to infection."They just hang around, come to this or that hospital, just hoping to be admitted," he said last month. "They might spread the virus to others."The situation is also being exacerbated by Hong Kong's high proportion of unvaccinated people.People really started to believe that even the miniscule risk associated with vaccination was higher than the risk of CovidKaren Grepin, University of Hong KongAs of this week, 78% of the population -- excluding those aged 3 to 11 -- are double vaccinated, but just 48% of people aged 70 or older have received two doses. At the start of this year, just 25% of people age 80 or over had been vaccinated. On Friday, government officials said vaccinating the elderly was now a public health priority, describing care homes as "hot spots" for the virus. And as of Friday, the wait time between the first and second doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac shot would be reduced from 28 days to 21 days for the elderly. The low vaccination rate among the elderly appears to be playing out in the city's death toll. Almost all of the city's Covid-19 deaths reported this year are elderly and unvaccinated -- and many of them lived in care homes. Stephanie Law, an executive committee member from the Elderly Services Association of Hong Kong, said for many older residents, concerns about Covid vaccine side effects outweighed the risks of getting the disease. "In the past, a lot of people felt that it's not a priority to have the vaccine," she said. Now, care workers feel "helpless" as the virus spreads through homes, where some residents live four or six people to a room, she said.Karen Grepin, an associate professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, said the narrative in the city had evolved to the point that people had started to believe Hong Kong could keep the virus out forever."People really started to believe that even the miniscule risk associated with vaccination was higher than the risk of Covid," she said."We are paying for that complacency."Why Hong Kong is unable to shiftHong Kong isn't the only zero-Covid place in the world to experience an outbreak. Both New Zealand and Singapore spent more than a year shut off from the world. During that time, they prepared for an inevitable outbreak. They increased vaccination rates, especially in their most vulnerable populations, and adjusted their public messaging from eradicating Covid to living with the virus, albeit with precautions. And while both countries are now experiencing a spike in cases, neither are seeing the same level of deaths as Hong Kong.In both countries, more than 90% of those age 70 or over are fully vaccinated -- far higher than in Hong Kong, despite vaccines being available in the city for a year. Health care workers collect swab samples at a Covid-19 testing facility in Hong Kong on February 24.Pedestrians along a near empty street at night in Hong Kong, February 24, 2022.Experts say Hong Kong could have done more to emphasize the importance of vaccination -- especially among the elderly and vulnerable. Unlike many places in the West, Hong Kong didn't push vaccines as a way out of the pandemic because living with the virus has so far been rejected as an option. The Hong Kong government is ultimately answerable to China's ruling Communist Party, which maintains a stringent "zero-Covid" policy and has touted its suppression of the virus as evidence of the supposed superiority of its one-party system over Western democracies, especially the United States. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed Hong Kong to "take all necessary measures" to contain the outbreak.A theory based on this idea that you can keep Covid out of your population forever just defies any sort of logicDr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy"With central government's support and the Hong Kong People's unity, we will certainly triumph over this pandemic," Lam said last Tuesday. "After the storm we will see a rainbow again."Lam has maintained the latest measures are not dictated by Beijing, and instead are the result of the two sides "exchanging ideas."Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, the founder and director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, says Beijing believes its Covid policy is superior to other countries."It's the narrative that China will always be free of Covid that will be problematic for China going forward," he said. "A theory based on this idea that you can keep Covid out of your population forever just defies any sort of logic."China's strategy is also driven by public health concerns. Mainland China, unlike Hong Kong, has yet to authorize an mRNA vaccine, despite questions over the efficacy over its domestically produced shots. And a study by mathematicians at the country's prestigious Peking University found that China could face more than 630,000 Covid-19 infections a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance policies by reopening its borders. Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said this week that the zero-Covid policy won't remain unchanged forever -- but added there was "no need to open the door at the peak of the global epidemic."Workers build isolation units in Hong Kong on February 27, 2022.An aerial view of the Tsing Yi mobile cabin hospital under construction on February 27, 2022, in Hong KongAn uncertain futureAs other places around the world open up and learn to live with Covid, Hong Kong still has some of the strictest border rules in the world, including a ban on most non-Hong Kong residents entering. And for many in the city, the apparent absence of a more forward-facing plan is difficult to bear. Within days of the announcement of mass testing, a new Facebook group for advice on relocating had attracted more than 3,900 members, with some saying they wanted to get out before citywide testing started. One 37-year-old mother of two who asked not to be named for privacy reasons said last week she was leaving the city for Australia -- and was unsure if or when she'll be back. She worried that Hong Kong's public health measures could mean her son, who has an autoimmune disease, might not be able to get the hospital treatment he needs and that her children could be separated from her if they test positive."I feel like the kids are being punished the most throughout this whole thing. It's not fair on them," she said, referring to the restrictions. "(The public health policy) scares me more than the virus itself."JUST WATCHEDBaby with Covid separated from family and quarantined alone in Hong KongReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBaby with Covid separated from family and quarantined alone in Hong Kong 03:41Many locals, too, are growing frustrated. James Hov, 31, poured his life savings into a barbershop that has been closed for weeks under the restrictions. He worries he could lose his business and struggle to pay off the engagement ring he bought for his future spouse."You can't end Covid. Closing barbershops but having a cluster of people on trains for their daily commute -- it's moronic -- I'm not so sure any logic was behind it," he said.One 25-year-old tattoo artist who asked not to use her real name as she is afraid of repercussions, said last month she is continuing her business underground despite a current ban. She is refusing to get a vaccine as she doesn't trust either the Chinese or Pfizer vaccines available in the city. She is skeptical of Hong Kong's policies, which she said were merely there to satisfy China. "It's harming society, it's harming economics, it's harming people's well-being," she said. For Hong Kong, there's an unprecedented health crisis ahead, and then little light at the end of the tunnel -- even if the city opens up, another wave is inevitable, said virologist Sridhar. "We're just waiting for either the next wave or a shift in stance from the powers that be." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
115f2203-f3e9-4b83-95ec-31399ff0b282 | null | Story highlightsPSG coach Carlo Ancelotti says the club wants to rival Barcelona and Real MadridThe Italian says the club's Qatari owners want to make PSG one of Europe's top clubsAncelotti confident PSG can recruit top players after failing to land Beckham and TevezFormer AC Milan coach glad to be reunited with his former player Leonardo Paris Saint-Germain's list of honors are modest compared to the achievements of Europe's top football clubs, but what the French side lacks in history is made up for in ambition.Since being taken over by Qatar Sports Investments in May 2011, significant steps have been taken, on and off the pitch, to make sure PSG can challenge for major titles -- and new manager Carlo Ancelotti is under no illusions about what is expected of him."This club does not have a big history like Milan, like other clubs like Manchester United, like Real Madrid, like Barcelona," the 52-year-old, who replaced Antoine Kombouare in December, told CNN. "The aim is to reach that kind of level."Formed in 1970 as a merger between Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain, PSG's last Ligue 1 crown -- and only second overall -- came in 1994. Can Qatari cash make PSG a football force?JUST WATCHEDAncelotti eyes PSG successReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAncelotti eyes PSG success 04:50That was followed two years later by a European Cup Winners' Cup triumph but, added to a collection of domestic knockout competition trophies, the haul falls well short of what new PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi expects.JUST WATCHEDParis St-Germain's ambitious presidentReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHParis St-Germain's ambitious president 04:59Ancelotti has won Europe's top club competition as both player and coach with AC Milan, and is well aware of Al-Khelaifi's vision for PSG and the need for him to deliver Champions League football to the Parc des Princes next season."His objective is very clear," the former Chelsea manager said. "To build a good image of the club, to build one of the top clubs in Europe. "He wants my experience, my knowledge to help the club and the team to improve quickly. He has a fantastic passion for football and he knows everything." Putting the pride back into PSGPSG's spending spree so far includes the signing of Argentina playmaker Javier Pastore for a record French transfer fee. The club targeted superstar David Beckham and Argentina forward Carlos Tevez in December and January but both players ended up staying at their respective teams, Los Angeles Galaxy and Manchester City.Milan striker Alexandre Pato was another to turn down PSG's advances, but he and fellow Brazil star Kaka of Real Madrid may yet move to Paris when the transfer window reopens in July."In the summer I think the market will be more open," Ancelotti said. "We will have more possibilities as compared to January but I think all the players can come."The club tried to reach an agreement with Beckham but I was not here. I was not involved in this thing and I think they were very close; Beckham (said he might) come here but at the end decided to stay in Los Angeles to play with Galaxy. Cash for cups? Qatar's influence"Tevez was a different thing because Tevez's first choice was Milan, but he had a problem with Milan. The second choice was PSG but we didn't find an agreement economical with him and we were not able to buy for this reason."Ancelotti's appointment at PSG has also seen him reunited with Leonardo, who he managed in two separate spells at Milan. Leonardo also spent time working above Ancelotti at the San Siro after being appointed Milan's technical director in 2008."I have a good experience because he was my player in Milan and he was my boss in Milan at the same time. So I have a very good relationship," the former Italy international said. "But I think that one of the reasons I am here is because Leonardo knows me very well and knows what kind of a job I can do, so I think when we met for the first time I think we were agreed on everything." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
f448aa03-4bbe-424a-a7f2-d3d9f79cf5b9 | null | Story highlightsTimea Bacsinszky through to Miami semifinalsShe's being supported by ski champ Lara Gut"Just Google her name," she told officials (CNN)She's been enjoying a fantastic run of form at the Miami Open, but Timea Bacsinszky has revealed she had to tell tennis officials to Google the "lucky charm" cheering her on.Bacsinszky, who has beaten world No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 5 Simona Halep on her way to the semifinals, had a bit of explaining to do before she could get accreditation for her friend Lara Gut, skiing's new queen of the slopes.Two weeks ago Gut became the first Swiss woman to lift the overall World Cup Crystal Globe trophy in 26 years, helped by the absence of injured American rival Lindsey Vonn.And the winner is... @TimeaOfficial !! Yeeeeeeeees! 💪🏻#WTA @MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/TaFJQUlsMX— Lara Gut (@Laragut) 29 March 2016
But that wasn't enough for tournament officials to know about her, Bacsinszky explained -- so she told them to take to the internet."I know Lindsey Vonn is well-known, but the world No. 1 is at your tournament and no one knows it?" the world No. 20 told WTA Insider, describing her attempts to get Gut entry.Read More"In Switzerland, she can't walk around -- everyone knows her. "When I asked for a badge for her at accreditation, I said: 'You know Lindsey Vonn?' and they said: 'Yeah, yeah,' and I said: 'Well, the girl who's in front of her in the rankings and just won the Crystal Globe is coming, so provide it now. Just Google her name."She said talking to Gut between matches had given her "many, many new views on sports" and added: "Yeah, she's a lucky charm for sure."Gut has known Bacsinszky since 2009 and now shares the same manager. She said she had postponed her flight home so she could stay to cheer on her friend."She's playing awesome and it's really fun to watch," she added. "I'm supposed to leave tomorrow for training, but it was more important to stay here and cheer on Timea."And Gut will be even later for training if Bacsinszky beats Svetlana Kuznetsova -- who knocked out eight-time champion Serena Williams -- on Thursday to secure a place in Saturday's final.Follow @cnnsport
Visit CNN's Open Court page for more tennis newsWomen's World Cup champion Lara Gut with her Crystal Globe in St. Moritz. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
ebb94b38-2734-4a85-b1ee-d1f4d9c5b251 | null | (CNN)Manchester City and England star Raheem Sterling has been honored for his role in the fight against racism in football at an awards ceremony in London.He was presented with the Integrity and Impact Award -- founded by Dow Jones Sports Intelligence -- by his international manager Gareth Southgate at the BT Sport Industry Awards on Thursday.The recognition comes during a year in which the winger has become a central figure in highlighting and challenging the racial abuse and lack of diversity prevalent in the sport.On being presented with the award, Sterling said: "I was just speaking about my personal experiences, I didn't expect it to get so much attention, I just wanted to bring it to the attention of my audience on Instagram. It's been really pleasing to see people listening and trying and do better."He added that he, himself, had been influenced by his own footballing role-models. "Partly what happens when you try to do good things is you set examples for the next generation coming through," he explained.Read MoreRaheem Sterling poses alongside England manager Gareth Southgate, who handed the winger his special award."Coming from Liverpool I had people around me like Steven Gerrard that I looked up to and I'm looking at him and thinking what can I do within myself to be half the person and player he was."You take little things and each year you try and develop them and become better not just on the field but off it as well."Sterling becomes the second recipient of the award, following Rachel Denhollander in 2018. She was the first survivor to speak out against disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.Only on Monday, Sterling fronted a campaign led by UK newspaper The Times, calling for the footballing authorities to change the way in which it tackles racism, as well as demanding stronger sanctions for those found guilty of the abuse.In his own article as part of the launch of the action plan, Sterling wrote: "I don't want the next generation to suffer like me."Sterling and his England teammates suffered racial abuse from Montenegro fans during his side's 5-1 win.READ: 'I didn't mean to be a leader:' How Raheem Sterling took on racistsREAD: 'Enough is enough': Footballers boycott social media in protest at racist abuseThe manifesto set out by the publication -- and backed by a range of fellow professional players -- follows a season in which multiple players in the English game have faced racial abuse, both in domestic and international matches.After being targeted along with England teammates Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi during a 5-1 win against Montenegro, Sterling stated in a post-match interview: "It's 2019 now ... we can only bring awareness and light to the situation." Sterling had cupped his ears to the offending supporters after scoring England's fifth goal in order to highlight the situation.His position as an unofficial spokesperson in the fight started with an Instagram post in December, just 24 hours Sterling had allegedly been racially abused by Chelsea fans during Manchester City's defeat at Stamford Bridge.He posted two articles from the MailOnline -- one covering a young white player, the other a young black player -- arguing they highlighted the role the media plays in perpetuating racial prejudices in society. View this post on Instagram Good morning I just want to say , I am not normally the person to talk a lot but when I think I need my point to heard I will speak up. Regarding what was said at the Chelsea game as you can see by my reaction I just had to laugh because I don't expect no better. For example you have two young players starting out there careers both play for the same team, both have done the right thing. Which is buy a new house for there mothers who have put in a lot of time and love into helping them get where they are, but look how the news papers get there message across for the young black player and then for the young white payer. I think this in unacceptable both innocent have not done a thing wrong but just by the way it has been worded. This young black kid is looked at in a bad light. Which helps fuel racism an aggressive behaviour, so for all the news papers that don't understand why people are racist in this day and age all i have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity an give all players an equal chance. A post shared by Raheem Sterling x 😇 (@sterling7) on Dec 9, 2018 at 1:54am PST On publicizing his thoughts, Sterling said: "I didn't mean to be a leader. I don't think I'm a leader. It's just something I thought to myself that I'd been seeing for a while and I thought it was sad and I just wanted to bring awareness."Earlier in April, a plethora of professional players in England and Wales staged a 24-hour boycott of social media platforms in protest against the lack of action taken by social media platforms in response to racial abuse.The appeal, which has been backed by a range of stars, including Sterling's teammate Kevin de Bruyne and ex-Arsenal Women captain Alex Scott, is based around the strapline "Enough." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
ebb130b0-5584-4bed-b168-2e9c4a182c2a | null | London (CNN)British pop singer Ellie Goulding has confirmed that she was among those to check on a motorist whose car was dramatically pushed sideways down a busy road in west London by a Royal Mail truck.The 32-year-old star shared a photo of the incident and confirmed that she was in the footage which began circulating on social media.In the video shared online on Monday, a black Volkswagen is seen being shunted down the A40 by the delivery vehicle.Other vehicles honk their horns to get the attention of the lorry driver.When the truck driver finally stops, he can be heard yelling: "I honestly didn't see him. I didn't see him." Goulding said the incident was the "craziest thing I've ever seen on the road." Read MoreGoulding, who was a passenger in a vehicle driving down the road at the time of the incident, revealed on Instagram that her driver was one of the motorists who stopped to help, with the songstress herself checking on the stunned driver."Was just sent this -- I'm the one in the car checking if this guy was ok," she captioned a news article about the accident. "Craziest thing I've ever seen on the road."She then urged her followers to "drive safe and look out for others."In a follow-up post, the "Love Me Like You Do" hitmaker criticized other road users for stopping simply to film the incident or abuse the Royal Mail driver."I can't believe the first instinct of the other drivers who got out was to instantly start filming on their phones and shout abuse at the poor shocked driver, not even checking the other driver was ok. What on earth," she told her 14.4 million followers.Royal Mail said they are investigating the incident. A spokesperson for the UK postal service told CNN in a statement: "We are very concerned about this incident. We sincerely hope that no one was hurt. We are investigating as a matter of urgency."London's Metropolitan Police told CNN there were no reported injuries and no arrests have been made. | entertainment | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
4c70d171-9c07-4c94-81ff-c52e12d58947 | null | Story highlights On many occasions, Cleveland teams came oh-so-close to glory, but falteredCavaliers fans go nuts in Cleveland after team ends 52-year championship drought (CNN)Around 11 p.m. Sunday, a mob scene unfolded at the corner of E. Fourth St. and Prospect Ave. On this night, there were no strangers among Clevelanders. Snapping a 52-year championship drought that had loomed like a hex over this sports-mad metropolis of 2 million people, the Cleveland Cavaliers toppled the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in what sports fans will doubtless call "one for the ages."No, the series wasn't pretty -- the first six games all ended in double-digit wins dictated by home-court advantage -- but those who tuned in for Game 7 got a treat. And judging from footage of elated or slack-jawed fans running through the streets, it appeared the whole city of Cleveland tuned in. First title in 52 years:✔️First team to ever come back from a 3-1 deficit:✔️Lebron's mission to bring a title to Cleveland:✔️History made— Norton (@TheCnorton19) June 20, 2016
Between the Cavs' Quicken Loans Arena and the Cleveland Public Square, throngs decked out in the Cavs' wine-and-gold colors flooded the streets some 2,500 miles away from the Oakland's Oracle Arena, where LeBron James & Co. had ended Cleveland's ring-less streak. The fans -- many of them rocking James' No. 23 -- ran, danced, pumped fists, jumped, embraced, cried and gave high fives. They held up shirts that said, "Defend Cleveland" and twirled towels saying, "Cleveland Against the World." At Gateway Plaza, adjacent to the arena, an undulating mass of people with hands raised sang and cheered for their hometown hoopsters. Read MoreGrab your special edition of The Plain Dealer this am to prove this is all real!! 🏆 #NBAFinals #ALLin216 pic.twitter.com/MAdZXVCsbw— joey morona (@joeyjoe) June 20, 2016
"Believe It!" cried the front page of The Plain Dealer, above a broadsheet-long photo of star LeBron James weeping and holding the Larry O'Brien Trophy like an infant."It's over," read the caption. "OK, Cleveland sports fans, take a deep breath, then say those two words -- it's over."Long, sad road to gloryFor decades Cleveland sports teams had come oh-so-close, only to see daggers thrust through their hearts. Many of the plays that have sunk the city's hopes over the years go by two-word nicknames that might not mean much to casual sports fans. But to a Clevelander, they can incite heartbreak:-- "The Drive": In the 1986 AFC Championship game, Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway marched his team 98 yards in five minutes to erase a seven-point Cleveland Browns lead with just seconds left in the game. To overtime they went, where Denver prevailed on a field goal, 23-20.-- "The Fumble": The following year, the Browns came so close again. With just over a minute left in the 1987 AFC Championship game, Bernie Kosar handed off to running back Earnest Byner, who seemed destined for the end zone as he barreled through a hole off left tackle. Yards shy of paydirt, Denver's Jeremiah Castille got a hand on the rock and it tumbled to the ground. The Broncos recovered for the 38-33 win and their second-straight Super Bowl berth. -- "The shot": Michael Jordan ended many a championship dream, but his snuffing of the Cavaliers' hopes in the 1989 Eastern Conference playoffs was where he first made a name for buzzer beaters. The Cavs had owned the Bulls all season and were the third seed in the playoffs. Down 100-99 in Game 1 with mere seconds left, Jordan did what he would do time and again. Double-teamed by Craig Ehlo and Larry Nance, he rose for a jumper and hung there like a scene out of "The Matrix." As gravity took its toll on Ehlo, Jordan released the game winner. The Bulls went on to win the series 4-1.After 52 years, one emoji finally fits the city of Cleveland perfectly tonight:🏆— Cavs Nation (@CavsNationNet) June 20, 2016
-- "The catch": OK, sure, there have been lots of momentous catches, but for our purposes, Dwight Clark and Odell Beckham Jr. can go away. In 1954, the Cleveland Indians were facing the New York Giants in Game 1 of the World Series. It was 2-2 in the eighth inning when Vic Wertz hammered one to the wall with two runners on base. Historians say it would've been a home run in many parks, but not the Polo Grounds. Willie Mays hauled butt to the warning track and made an over-the-shoulder breadbasket catch, before hurling the ball back to the infield to stop the runner on second from making it home. The Giants scored three runs in the tenth en route to sweeping the Indians.(There's also "The Move," "The Decision" and "The Curse of Rocky Colavito," but if we keep detailing how Cleveland fans have had their hearts crushed, we might run out of Internet.)Not just any winThe way in which the Cavaliers won the title served only to stoke the faithful's glee. The Cavs didn't just win: They beat a juggernaut that had set a franchise record with 73 regular-season wins; they smothered back-to-back league MVP Stephen Curry, holding him to 40% shooting; they came back from a 3-to-1 series deficit, the 11th team ever to do so and the first to do it in the NBA Finals; and they took Game 7 in Golden State's house -- the first road Game 7 Finals win since the Washington Bullets' 1978 win over the Seattle Supersonics. The win came after several minutes of clumsy basketball by both teams. The game had gone back-and-forth for the first 47 minutes, with neither team establishing any dominance. But when the Cavs' Kyrie Irving let a three-pointer fly in Curry's face, it rang true, breaking an 89-89 tie with 53 seconds remaining. You knew it was going to be a big deal as soon as Curry hoisted up a brick with seconds left. It clanked off the rim, as so many of his shots in the series had. Even with Marreese Speights collecting the rebound and floating to the corner for another three-point try, you could see the Cavs' bench standing -- teeming, giddy -- waiting to rush the floor for this historic moment. Speights' shot was long, and within seconds, the court was covered in Cleveland faithful. "Our fans, they ride or die, no matter what's been going on, no matter the Browns, the Indians, the Cavs and so on, and all other sports teams," James told reporters. "They continue to support us. And for us to be able to end this, end this drought, our fans deserve it. They deserve it. And it was for them."Less than 4 percent of Cleveland's current population lived in Cleveland when the city last won a major sports title (1964, Browns)— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 20, 2016
In the streets of Cleveland, it was evident that any lingering bad blood over James abandoning the city in 2010 for the Miami Heat was long gone. James was born in nearby Akron and had been a hero in Cleveland until he announced live on ESPN six years ago that he was "taking my talents to South Beach." Spurned Cavs fans took to the streets to burn James' jersey in effigy. They decried him as "LeBum" -- actually, they put "Le" before a litany of pejoratives -- and owner Dan Gilbert changed the price of James Fathead decals to $17.41 (the year traitor Benedict Arnold was born).'Cleveland needs nice things'But now, no Clevelander appears to remember any of that. "It's wonderful!" said one fan.Another crowed, "Finally, we did it! My city, Cleveland, is finally champions!"Echoing James, another said, "Cleveland deserves this. We've waited so long. Cleveland needs nice things."Former Cleveland Brown and Hall of Famer James Brown, who ran for 114 yards in the city's last championship -- a 27-0 win over the Baltimore Colts in 1964, three years before the first Super Bowl -- dished out accolades as well. What a great night and moment for the city of Cleveland. Congratulations to the entire @cavs organization for bringing it home.— Jim Brown (@JimBrownNFL32) June 20, 2016
"What a great night and moment for the city of Cleveland. Congratulations to the entire @cavs organization for bringing it home," he tweeted. Follow @eliottcnn CNN's Andy Scholes contributed to this report. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
1a9c3abd-fed6-434e-b229-b07739d96e7f | null | (CNN)I've been overwhelmed with messages from family and friends about Kobe Bryant's death.Some texts came from people I haven't spoken to in years, and even my Mom, who doesn't care about sports, immediately texted me.I've been a basketball fan ever since I was kid growing up in Portugal, and have always loved the sport, both playing and watching.For me, like many others around the world, this has come as a huge blow. In 1996, I saw Bryant declaring himself eligible for the NBA draft straight out of high school as a 17-year-old and ever since I saw him in action it was love at first sight. I was 11 years old.Read MoreBack then, Michael Jordan was my favorite player and he still holds on to that spot but if anyone ever got close to him, it was Bryant, who was a self-confessed MJ fanatic, like any other kid growing up in the 80s and 90s.But Bryant took it a step further. He trained hard so he could emulate Jordan's game. His drive, his dribble, his fade-away ... all looking like a carbon copy of Jordan's moves -- minus the "tongue out", a classic MJ trademark.I don't think there's anyone aside from Jordan who was as hungry and competitive as Bryant.READ: Kobe Bryant: The making of a global superstarREAD: He was born to play basketball, but for Kobe Bryant that was never enoughKobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash that killed nine people including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna on Sunday. The Lakers legend leaves a formidable legacy on and off the court.Will to winHis eagerness to win could turn into rage -- and rage into fuel.Bryant played through illness, broken toes and even made a point of shooting a couple of free-throws after suffering a torn Achilles-tendon, his most serious injury. His will to win was such that All-Stars became competitive, and on the court, even teammates would get the backend of his temper.That's how Bryant was. And no one even dared to question Bryant, because he kept coming up with the goods.From one of the most exciting prospects of the NBA, he became, together with Shaquille O'Neal, arguably the most powerful and feared duo in the sport's history, having won three championships together. Debates would spark about who was the force behind the Lakers, leading many to say Bryant was living in O'Neal's shadow.READ: 'We all have Hoop Dreams' -- Bittersweet tale of first 'reality TV show'JUST WATCHED'The first reality show': 'Hoop Dreams' at 25ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'The first reality show': 'Hoop Dreams' at 25 02:21Be like KobeO'Neal went on to leave the Lakers, but the Californian team continued to achieve success, winning two more rings with Bryant as the LA team's leading star. By this point, albeit a Philly kid, he was accepted and nurtured as an "Angeleno" by its people. Bryant was true icon and ambassador for the city, that crossed borders and sports.During his 20-year career, he remained with the one team throughout ... a kind of loyalty you don't really see in basketball, indeed in many other sports.And along the way, team and individual awards were won, records were broken and highlights were made -- one league MVP (2008), two Finals MVP (2009 and 2010), 18 time All-Star (four of which he was voted MVP).Personal favorite highlights include his dunk contest win in 1997 and the 81 points dropped on the Toronto Raptors in 2006.He was as dope as it would get.Remember the slogan "Be Like Mike"?Well, me and every other kid on the block wanted to be like Bryant. READ: LeBron breaks Bryant's career NBA points recordBryant (L) modeled his basketball game after Michael Jordan, who he turned to for advice as a budding star and as a veteran facing retirement. IdolI remember pushing myself hard to try and do a 360 spin layup (no way I was able to dunk) or the quick turn around fade-away ... And like millions around the world, I would also do a clock countdown so I could score a clutch basket and celebrate with a firm fist.I also remember begging for the No. 8 shirt when playing in my hometown basketball team whenever the No. 14 wasn't available (it was the number my brother Alex used during his playing days).Man, oh man ...The countless hours watching VHS tapes with Lakers games and All-Stars ... changing my computer desktop background and screen-saver to Bryant-related imagery. Kobe Bryant (L) celebrates with Shaquille O'Neal after winning the 2000 NBA Championship against the Indiana Pacers. The two superstars would be undone by a personality clash after their fourth trip to the finals, but became fiends in retirement. He was an idol when I thought I was done with them after Jordan.Thinking about it now, Bryant was truly the only player to leave me excited during Jordan's final years all the way up until his retirement.He's carried that torch and no one has come close since. Not even the great LeBron James.When Bryant retired in 2016, I celebrated the occasion by buying a vintage T-shirt and his No. 24 jersey, both of which I would sport proudly, even in CNN's newsroom.One other special piece of memorabilia would join the collection when I was organizing to film a NIke event with Bryant in Paris.Unfortunately the shoot was canceled, but my contact working for Nike, knowing how devastated I would be for missing out on the chance to meet him, brought me back a Paris Saint-Germain sweater signed by the legend himself. READ: Bryant reveals battle with racism at soccer games while growing up in ItalyBrazilian star Neymar paid his own tribute to Bryant after scoring for PSG against Lille on Sunday.That was the last time I ever came close to meeting him and although I will never have the chance I feel blessed to have seen "Black Mamba's" magic mesmerize the NBA. The news of his death came a day after James broke Bryant's scoring record for third in the all-time list for the league's top scorers. Bryant had a total of 33,643, sitting one spot ahead of his idol, Jordan.Graciously, Bryant celebrated James accomplishment, knowing the amount of work that had gone in to achieving it.READ: Bryant backs women to play in NBAFor my part, I will celebrate Bryant's life and career by wearing the purple and gold jersey in which he built his legacy the next time I'm at a basketball court Rest easy, Kobe. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
442f90f9-c274-4030-83db-cd60f32dc138 | null | Story highlights Recently arrived Russian aircraft carrier begins operations targeting Idlib, HomsA major assault on eastern Aleppo has begun after a weeks-long lull, Syrian military says (CNN)Warplanes carried out heavy airstrikes on neighborhoods in rebel-held east Aleppo for the first time in weeks Tuesday, as Syrian government forces launched a renewed assault to take the city.The heavy bombardment came as the Syrian military began "preliminary operations" in the eastern half of the city Tuesday, using warplanes with "precision weapons to target terrorist positions," Syrian state television reported.The blitz had been threatened in mass text messages sent to residents by the government Sunday, instructing them to leave within 24 hours.JUST WATCHEDText messages warn people in Aleppo to 'leave or die'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHText messages warn people in Aleppo to 'leave or die' 01:55At least one woman was killed and five people injured by a barrel bomb dropped by a helicopter Tuesday, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center (AMC) told CNN.According to Syrian state television, the army is making a ground push in several areas to tighten their siege of rebel-held neighborhoods, and has cut off supply lines from the rebel-held province of Idlib in the north. Read MoreOne anchor referred to today's airstrikes as "zero hour" for a wide-scale assault on terrorism across the country, including airstrikes by the Russian Air Force. What would make you care about Aleppo?Russian aircraft carrier begins operationsJUST WATCHEDOne of the few doctors left in Aleppo speaks to CNNReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHOne of the few doctors left in Aleppo speaks to CNN 02:37Russian aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov began combat operations against "terrorist" targets in the provinces of Idlib and Homs Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced, according to Russia state media.It was the first time that the vessel, which recently arrived off the coast of Syria, had been involved in military operations in its history, he said.Asked if Russia would strike Aleppo soon, Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said during a call with reporters Tuesday that discussions were "ongoing."In audio, al Qaeda leader appears to urge rebel groups in Syria to uniteLull in strikes endsThe resumption of the heavy bombardment of Aleppo Tuesday came after a nearly three-week lull in airstrikes on the area by Syrian and Russian aircraft, following a moratorium announced by the Russian Defense Ministry. Aleppo: Enduring and innovating in the midst of conflictFierce clashes have continued on the front lines of the battle for Aleppo, however, with artillery shelling causing casualties in both the rebel-held and government-held parts of the divided city. Warplanes dropped high explosive parachute bombs on the al-Haydariyeh and Masaken Hanano neighborhoods in besieged eastern neighborhoods, according to the AMC activist. Airstrikes with high-explosive munitions also hit the neighborhoods of al-Salehin, Qadi Askar and Qaterji.Bebars Meshaal, a White Helmets officer in the city, told CNN that airstrikes were ongoing. The White Helmets are a volunteer civil defense organization whose members move into bombed neighborhoods immediately after the strikes, to rescue people trapped and hurt in the rubble. Mass text messages to Aleppo residents Sunday also delivered an ultimatum to rebels to lay down their arms and renounce their leadership, or be killed.The bombardment by Syrian and Russian warplanes has obliterated stretches of eastern Aleppo in recent months.Is bombing the s*** out of ISIS a strategy?Syrian and Russian officials say that humanitarian corridors have been established to allow residents to flee. But many residents do not feel they can safely use them, while others are refusing out of principle. CNN's Alla Eshchenko, Emma Burrows and Eyad Kourdi contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
9004beff-6f41-4d88-bead-14635fa2ac35 | null | (CNN)Migrant rescue ships docking in Italy without authorization could soon face fines of up to $57,000, as part of a government crackdown that the United Nations warns violates international law. Under the decree -- promoted by populist Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini -- the captain, owner and operator of vessels entering Italian waters without authorization will face fines of between €10,000 ($11,300) and €50,000 ($57,000), the politician told reporters after it was adopted on Tuesday. Salvini, who swept into office on the back of his anti-migrant policies, did not mention migrant rescue ships specifically. But the decree is a clear attempt to deter such vessels -- which pluck thousands of migrants from the Mediterranean each year -- from docking in Italian ports.Matteo Salvini, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and leader of right-wing League party.The decree added that vessels repeatedly entering Italian waters without authorization would be impounded.The decree will now go before Parliament for final signoff. But with Salvini's far-right League party and its coalition partner the Five Star Movement holding a majority, it is likely to pass easily.Read MoreDecree a threat to 'human rights'But UN investigators said the decree would "seriously undermine the human rights of migrants."In a letter sent to the Italian government in May, a panel of human rights experts condemned the then-proposed decree, saying it "represents yet another political attempt to criminalize humanitarian actors delivering life-saving services."Such decrees stigmatize migrants as "possible terrorists, traffickers and smugglers," without providing evidence, the experts said. "We are concerned that this type of rhetoric will further increase the climate of hatred and xenophobia" in Italy.In response, the Italian government doubled down on its approach, telling the UN in a letter that the organization showed an "astonishing mental narrowness," according to a report by state news agency ANSA. It added that the respect for human rights is a "priority objective" of the government.German captain awaiting trialThe decree comes after an online petition calling for the release of German migrant rescue ship captain Pia Klemp received more than 80,000 signatures.Klemp, who captained the ships Sea-Watch 3 and luventa, has been charged by the Italian government with assisting illegal immigration. She is now staying with friends in Germany and Brussels, she told Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung on Friday, and awaiting trial. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, she said. Pia Klemp, a German biologist & boat captain faces 20 yrs in prison for rescuing 1,000+ migrants at risk of drowning whilst crossing the Mediterranean. Seeking asylum is a human right. Only 1 in 100 sea captains are female. This woman is a humanitarian, not a criminal. #FreePia pic.twitter.com/VPgacPUfco— Vivian Angrisani (@VivianAngrisani) June 8, 2019
Klemp, from Bonn in western Germany, is believed to have rescued hundreds of stranded migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Europe. In 2017, Klemp's ship, the Iuventa, was seized in the Italian port of Lampedusa and the captain and nine other crew members were put under investigation, she told the newspaper.Italy's standoff over migrant rescue ships reached a crisis point in summer last year when a number of vessels, some carrying hundreds of people, were stuck out at sea for days with nowhere to dock.Salvini is one of a number of nationalist politicians in Europe -- including Hungary's Viktor Orban and France's Marine Le Pen -- who have gained popularity in recent years through anti-migrant policies. Against this backdrop, the European Union has increasingly adopted a strategy of supporting the Libyan Coastguard to intercept migrants before they reach European shores.But international rights groups have warned of the dangers facing migrants who are returned to Libya, where they face extreme violence and abuse. A CNN undercover investigation in 2017 revealed cases of migrants being sold at slave auctions. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
36a847da-39b6-4d6e-9e86-28dfdbfbb6fa | null | Story highlightsA retired bishop and a retired priest have been arrested by British police on suspicion of sexual offences The pair are understood to have worked alongside each other in the Chichester DiocesePolice say the Church of England is co-operating fully with themSussex Police insists that there are "no allegations of recent or current offending"A retired bishop and a retired priest have been arrested by British police on suspicion of sexual offences against boys and young men -- one as young as 12 -- in the 1980s and 1990s.The 80-year-old former Church of England bishop, from Somerset in south-west England, was questioned in connection with eight alleged offences before being released on medical advice. Police say the man -- the highest-ranking church official to be arrested on abuse allegations -- will be questioned again at a later date.His former colleague, a 67-year old retired priest from West Sussex, in southern England, was questioned over two alleged offences before being released on bail pending further inquiries.The pair are understood to have worked alongside each other in the Chichester Diocese, but police say the allegations are being treated separately, and that there is no suggestion that the men acted together.The latest sexual abuse scandal to hit the UK -- this one rocking the Anglican Church -- comes after two other British institutions, the BBC and the NHS, were caught up in the case of Jimmy Savile, a British TV presenter accused of assaulting vulnerable teenagers. Peter Saunders, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), told CNN his organization had been inundated with reports of abuse since the Savile allegations came to light: "We've had four or five times as many calls to our support line and emails and messages... just in these last few weeks -- it is overwhelming. I think what's happening is that we are recognizing, as a country, the huge extent of the problem of child abuse."Detective Chief Inspector Carwyn Hughes of Sussex Police, who is leading the investigation, known as Operation Dunhill, said the Church of England was co-operating fully with police."The force will always take seriously any allegations of historic sexual offending, and every possible step will be taken to investigate whenever appropriate," he said in a statement. "Allegations of historic offences are treated just as seriously as any more recent offences."The Right Reverend Paul Butler, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and Chair of the Churches National Safeguarding Committee said in a statement: "The Church of England takes any allegations of abuse very seriously and is committed to being a safe place for all. "We have robust procedures and policies in place, but we can never be complacent. We would like to urge any victims or those with information to feel free to come forward knowing that they will be listened to in confidence."Butler said the CofE -- which wanted its churches to be "places of safety and joy, righteousness and justice" -- had offered support to those involved in Operation Dunhill.One of the alleged victims in the case told CNN he was grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, for instigating the review which had led to police investigating the abuse allegations, but said he wanted the Church of England to issue an official apology.Sussex Police insists that there are "no allegations of recent or current offending" and that there is nothing to suggest any young people are currently at risk. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
0fc5028e-8d36-465d-8fd9-14754e171a25 | null | Aliso Viejo, California (CNN)A deadly explosion at a California day spa that killed the business owner, was likely caused by a device and was not accidental, authorities said Wednesday. The explosion Tuesday blew out walls and windows of the facility, heavily damaging the business, which was on the first floor of a two-story medical office building in Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, according to Orange County officials. The powerful blast injured three people and caused the ground to shake in nearby structures.Evidence shows the materials believed to be involved in the explosion were not consistent with items used at a day spa, Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said. Authorities are treating the explosion as a crime, but are still working to confirm if the blast was intentional. No arrests have been made. Earlier, a law enforcement source told CNN that the explosion may have been detonated on purpose, but the source also cautioned that the investigation was in its preliminary stages."At this point, we do not believe this was an accident. We've ruled out a gas main explosion and other potential theories," said Paul Delacourt, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office. "At this point, our working theory is that this explosion was caused by a device." Read MoreDelacourt said it is "premature to speculate on the nature of the components" of the device.Authorities are still trying to determine how the device arrived at the location, Delacourt said. He said there is no indication there is a second device. Barnes said investigators don't know the motive at this point. California explosion victim found 'beauty in everyone'Barnes said authorities believe the victim who was killed in the blast was Ildiko Krajnyak of Trabuco Canyon. Public records show that Krajnyak was 48; authorities said she was 40. A voicemail message for the spa, Magyar Kozmetika, said Tuesday would be Krajnyak's first day back from a trip.Two women, believed to be patrons of the day spa, are undergoing surgery and are expected to survive. A third woman suffered smoke inhalation and was treated and released at the scene. Authorities served three search warrants Wednesday -- one at the Aliso Viejo business, one in Long Beach and one in Trabuco Canyon, Barnes said. Explosion felt 'like a big earthquake'Dong Shin, a witness, said he heard a loud boom minutes before his Tuesday appointment in a nearby building."And the ground shook," he said. "While the ground was shaking ... my body jolted and my head hit the wall." Shin said it felt like "a big earthquake," and as he and others rushed downstairs to get out of the nearby building, he saw two holes in the wall of the medical facility. He also saw "fire, smoke, insulation popping out of the walls, a lot of scared people running around, a lot of commotion," he said. One woman who ran out of the medical facility had her face covered in blood, Shin said. The blast, which erupted around 1 p.m (4 p.m. ET), caused extensive damage to buildings in the area, Orange County Sheriff's Department Commander Dave Sawyer said earlier. "Anytime you see an explosion of this magnitude, it would definitely be suspicious to us, and that's why we rolled out all the resources to get to the bottom of it," Sawyer said earlier. Nothing indicates there were any threats made before the blast, Sawyer said. There was no initial indication of terrorism, FBI spokesman Mike Gifford said.The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting investigators.CNN's Cheri Mossburg, Paul Vercammen, Joe Sutton, Madison Park and Dave Alsup contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
84f4247e-8e5f-481c-94fe-c75fb4246e92 | null | This was excerpted from the March 31 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe. (CNN)It's America's next Covid-19 culture war.Growing numbers of businesses, hospitality industries, and even sports teams are considering requiring proof of vaccination for customers, once the world begins to open up. For both patrons and staff, such a system might offer peace of mind -- and could stop a cruise voyage around the Caribbean, for example, from turning into a floating super spreader.Countries where Covid-19 rates are low might soon start demanding inoculation information before they let tourists in. It's not that different from parents showing proof of vaccination typically required to enroll kids in American schools, or those little yellow vaccine cards already required to travel in countries threatened by yellow fever, tuberculosis or other scourges. Yet the idea of "vaccine passports" has become the latest object of right-wing politicians' outrage.Everyone's favorite conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of Congress from Georgia, branded vaccine passports as "Biden's mark of the beast" and "fascism or communism or whatever you want to call it." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican 2024 presidential candidate, has also seized on the idea as an issue that will play to the GOP base. "It's completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society," DeSantis said.For the record, President Joe Biden is not actually planning to mandate vaccine passports or to set up a central vaccines database that raises the specter of Big Brother surveillance trampling American individualism. The White House says it is trying to work with companies to set standards for vaccine passports and to ensure people's privacy is protected. Read MoreNevertheless, it is an ethical minefield. Should businesses bar people who are not vaccinated? Can employers make vaccines a condition for accepting a new job? Certainly vaccines should be available to anyone who wants one before such filtering systems are introduced. But equally, is it fair for an American who endangers others by refusing vaccination to get the same benefits as others? Rent-a-quote politicians stirring fear and anger about the issue are not doing much to help.New rulesTeam USA athletes are now permitted to hold up a fist, kneel, and wear garments promoting racial and social justice at competitions, according to new rules published Tuesday by the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Those who choose to do so will be following in a well-trod path -- Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200 meters, made history at the 1968 Olympic Games with the black power salute in support of African Americans' civil rights. Postcard from LondonMy hands are chapped from a day wiping down patients' chairs with disinfectant as a volunteer at a local Covid-19 vaccination center -- they didn't have gloves in my size. But raw knuckles seem like a small price to pay for my tiny role in getting the United Kingdom vaccinated. The UK's vaccination rollout has so far been a roaring success, with 50 doses of vaccine administered per 100 people, according to data tracked by CNN. It's the largest country by far to have such a high vaccination rate. But the shots came too late to prevent a grimmer statistical superlative: The UK also has one of the highest per capita Covid-19 death rates on Earth.The US with its turbo-charged inoculation program is in a similar position: Awful death tolls and impressive vaccination figures. Both countries failed to contain the coronavirus when it first appeared -- but after a lethal year, Covid-19 now appears to be a problem they can solve with massive spending on vaccines. In this crisis, vaccines are a magic bullet for sale, and the US and UK have money. But both countries may have lost out on a teachable moment; they won't be able to buy their way out of the world's other enduring crises.Technology is moving slowly on coming up with a similar solution for climate change. And there are no magic bullets at any price for sexism or racism or poverty, as the UK faces up to its problem of violence against women in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard; systemic racism intertwined with its colonial history; and the shocking fact that in one of the world's wealthiest countries, many children would go hungry without free meals at school.Those problems require permanent and profound changes in human behavior on a massive scale -- the kind of changes that we initially needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but now thanks to vaccines, are preparing to forget. -- CNN's Richard Greene writes from London | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
aed43e9e-3eea-4afa-bf90-4f8eac120177 | null | Story highlights Colin Kaepernick and teammate Eric Reid take knee during anthem ahead of game against LA RamsSeven NFL players joined Colin Kaepernick's protest in the opening round of games (CNN)The NFL season is barely underway, but already the focus is being taken away from the field and directed at the sidelines. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem once again ahead of his team's NFL season opener in Santa Clara on Monday.JUST WATCHEDFormer NFLer: I stand by KaepernickReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFormer NFLer: I stand by Kaepernick 01:26Teammate Eric Reid once again knelt by his side in solidarity with his protest against institutional racism, as he did before the team's preseason game against the San Diego Chargers. No Rams appeared to kneel as part of the protest, which has gained traction as the league's opening weekend thrust it further into the spotlight. Two LA players, Kenny Britt and Robert Quinn, raised their fists during the rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner," in a gesture that has an alternative show of support of Kaepernick's protest. 49ers Antoine Bethea and Eli Harold were also seen with their fists in the air.LA Rams' Kenny Britt and Robert Quinn raise their fists in protest prior to their game against the San Francisco 49ers.Read MoreAn isolated group of fans heckled the sixth-year quarterback, yelling "Kaepernick, why don't you stand up?" ESPN's Lindsay Czarniak reported after the pre-game ceremony had ended.Along with Reid's support, a number of teammates including Dontae Johnson, Mike Davis, Jeremy Kerley and Andrew Tiller came over to embrace him.After the anthem had ended, Kaepernick, who did not start the game, signed a fan's #7 jersey and a number of hats, and also grinned for selfies with fans. He took to the field for the last two minutes of the 28-0 shutout of the Rams -- the team's first game since returning to LA -- as fans held up signs with messages of support, like "Thank you Kaepernick."Kaepernick signs an autograph for a fan prior to playing the Los Angeles Rams in their NFL game at Levi's Stadium.In Monday's earlier game between Washington and Pittsburgh, Redskins and Steelers players helped military personnel hold a giant US flag on the field during the national anthem.The entire #Redskins team left the sideline to assist military personnel hold the flag during the anthem. pic.twitter.com/OsBS5Z3CEH— Master Tesfatsion (@MasterTes) September 12, 2016
Colin Kaepernick started protesting what he says are racist police practices and behavior by sitting during the national anthem before the kickoffs of preseason games, but as the regular season starts, the stakes -- and his protest's visibility -- are that much higher.On Monday, U.S. Sent. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, condemned athletes protesting police violence against African Americans."To all the athletes who have made millions in America's freedom: stop insulting our flag, our nation, our heroes," the former Republican presidential contender tweeted.To all the athletes who have made millions in America's freedom: stop insulting our flag, our nation, our heroes. https://t.co/GrGPYX8HCh— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 12, 2016
Miami Dolphins @ Seattle SeahawksJUST WATCHEDObama: Kaepernick exercising his constitutional rightReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHObama: Kaepernick exercising his constitutional right 01:22At least four Miami Dolphins declined to stand during the anthem Sunday ahead of their season opener against the Seattle Seahawks. Jelani Jenkins, Arian Foster, Michael Thomas and Kenny Stills knelt next to each other in a line which included their standing teammates. The Dolphins lost the game 10-12. #Dolphins players Kenny Stills, Michael Thomas, Arian Foster and Jelani Jenkins took a knee during national anthem. pic.twitter.com/AJx9f763KE— James Walker (@JamesWalkerNFL) September 11, 2016
Model Kate Upton took umbrage with the protest, suggesting that it was "unacceptable" and that Americans should "support each other" on 9/11. This is unacceptable. You should be proud to be an American. Especially on 9/11 when we should support each other. https://t.co/qFozwaH9Bu— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) September 11, 2016
She later tweeted that she supported the players' right to protest, just "not the time during the anthem and on 9/11."Have every right to protest&should stand up for beliefs.Justice system IS corrupt.Not the time during anthem on 9/11 https://t.co/JH1J9gTusV— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) September 12, 2016
Opinion: How Colin Kaepernick is bravely speaking truth to powerSan Diego Chargers @ Kansas City Chiefs Standing arm in arm with his teammates, Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters took a different take on the protest, raising a gloved fist, in a pose reminiscent of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Peters had previously spoken of his "100 percent" support of Kaepernick's stance. #Chiefs Marcus Peters and team during playing of National Anthem before game vs #Chargers pic.twitter.com/86JPRzZJL6— John Sleezer (@jsleezer) September 11, 2016
The Chiefs beat the Chargers 33-27. New England Patriots @ Arizona CardinalsJUST WATCHEDJames Blake: Kaepernick's protest is patrioticReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHJames Blake: Kaepernick's protest is patriotic 02:11Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty of the New England Patriots both echoed Peters' raised-fist protest ahead of their upset 23-21 win over the Cardinals in Arizona. Here are Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty raising their fists for the National Anthem. Patriots, both. pic.twitter.com/rDilAEaCUj— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 12, 2016
Gold Star mom on Kaerpernick: I see a flag that draped my son's casketMinnesota Vikings @ Tennessee TitansIn Nashville, Titans' linebacker Avery Williamson defied the NFL, which had threatened to fine him, and wore custom blue cleats with stars and the words, "Never Forget" on the heels. He said he intended to auction them off and deliver the proceeds to a veterans' charity. As of lunchtime Monday, bids had topped $6,000. Help #Honor911🇺🇸Holding auction for @Wishes4Warriors with a meet/greet,tickets+cleatsREAD: https://t.co/OprfEiKcvZ pic.twitter.com/EeUkew3NeA— Avery Williamson (@AWilliamson54) September 8, 2016
The Christian nonprofit American Family Association came to Williamson's defense and slammed the NFL for threatening to fine players who protest issues via their attire, while "doing nothing to address the ongoing disrespect to the national anthem before games around the nation.""The NFL's failure to address this growing issue is a gross disrespect of American values," AFA President Tim Wildmon said. "The NFL is wholeheartedly disregarding the code that sets the standard for how individuals should conduct themselves during the national anthem. The NFL's true colors are emerging as a progressive, left-leaning organization that is attempting to appear fair, neutral and accommodating when, in actuality, the league is enabling activists, individuals and groups that disrespect the U.S.A."New York Giants @ Dallas CowboysIt was a star-spangled affair in Dallas, to be sure, complete with police officers and other first responders unfurling a field-length American flag ahead of the "Star-Spangled Banner" and President George W. Bush taking the field for the coin toss to chants of "USA! USA!" Local media reports and tweets from inside the stadium indicate all the Giants and Cowboys players stood for the national anthem, a statement in itself, though perhaps less overt than the footwear of Giants wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz. Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz plan to wear special 9/11 cleats for today's season opener. pic.twitter.com/mt8uciDJ41— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 11, 2016
Like WIlliamson, both rocked custom kicks, but Beckham and Cruz each had two pairs of cleats, changing them between pregame and kickoff. Beckham's pregame cleats had an image of the World Trade Center, while his in-game shoes bore an eagle's head on the instep. Cruz's game shoes had an American flag emblazoned over them, while his pregame shoes were a nod to the New York City Fire Department and reportedly included the engine number of his late father, a former Paterson, New Jersey, firefighter. Protests not just for the prosKaepernick retweeted a picture purporting to show several members of a high school team, Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland, kneeling during the anthem. .@ShaunKing Watkins Mill high school (Gaithersburg, MD) took a knee as a team Friday night to protest injustice pic.twitter.com/uZmNT10XIs— Mir (@JaMir_Russell) September 11, 2016
The Twittersphere was divided between support and condemnation for the athlete. "So much respect for Kaepernick and all the other athletes standing up for what they believe is right, regardless of what people will say," one user tweeted. so much respect for kaepernick and all the other athletes standing up for what they believe is right, regardless of what people will say.— Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) September 12, 2016
Others noted the date, saying that it was particularly "disrespectful" not to honor the anthem on 9/11.There is absolutely nothing more disrespectful than refusing to stand for the national anthem on 9/11. @ArianFoster @jelanijenkins3— Benji Backer (@BenjiBacker) September 11, 2016
Opinion: 'Star-Spangled Banner' critics miss the pointProtest started preseasonAhead of Sunday's games, Kaepernick's teammate Eric Reid and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane had shown their support with similar protests, as has NWSL's Megan Rapinoe, who knelt in solidarity with Kaepernick before the Washington Spirit shut down her protest by altering the pre-game ceremony. Soccer team alters its pre-game ceremony so Megan Rapinoe couldn't protest the anthem https://t.co/mggJvvb5bs pic.twitter.com/xYcTpYkgIx— CNN (@CNN) September 8, 2016
JUST WATCHEDMother of fallen hero to 49ers QB: Sitting down 'easy'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMother of fallen hero to 49ers QB: Sitting down 'easy' 06:10Also in preseason, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall knelt during the national anthem before Thursday night's 21-20 win over the Carolina Panthers, his actions costing him an endorsement deal with the Air Academy Federal Credit Union. Protest stings like a bee?Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Jared Odrick penned a Sports Illustrated piece in which he questioned the vitriol aimed at the players protesting -- namely, the Twitter users who have wished a concussion on Marshall. Odrick criticized the NFL for paying lip service to valuing its players as conscientious members of the community, while media relations staff push players to keep interviews franchise-friendly and vilify players "when we step outside the bounds of our third-down efficiency," he wrote. Odrick reminded readers that many athletes before Kaepernick were criticized for taking stands, only to be celebrated as heroes later. I had some thoughts to I wrote about it. // Football, the Flag & the Right to Speak Our Minds.... https://t.co/dorLoT8szG— Jared Odrick (@JaredOdrick) September 12, 2016
"As Americans we've forgotten that we're supposed to loathe falling in line. So-called renegades shouldn't be embraced only after decades have passed and their causes deemed by historians to be acceptable or inevitable. Muhammad Ali challenged our country in fundamental ways while captivating audiences with his skill in the ring. He is viewed now as a cultural warrior, when in reality he lived as a pariah in his prime," Odrick wrote. Outside of the nation's sporting arenas, a Navy sailor posted a video of herself sitting during the national anthem at a Florida military base last week. She could face punishment after her post went viral.Kaepernick himself continued his protest, kneeling alongside Reid. He had previously sat out the anthem ahead of other preseason games, but during those occasions had not dressed. The quarterback's protest has evolved from remaining seated during the anthem to taking a knee in out of respect for the military. He has vowed to continue to kneel during the anthem in the pre-game ceremonies of his team's clashes this season. The 49ers host the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. Sporting protests: Colin Kaepernick's stand is far from the firstCNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
a0d2e136-51bf-4a2e-a858-02c5f3e63b9f | null | London (CNN)UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered an inquiry into allegations made by Nusrat Ghani, a Muslim lawmaker, that her faith was raised as a reason for her losing her job.Who is Nusrat Ghani? Ghani is the Conservative MP for Wealden, in southeast England. She was first elected in 2015. In 2018, she became the first female Muslim minister to speak from the dispatch box in the House of Commons, but she lost her job as Transport Minister in February 2020.Speaking to The Sunday Times newspaper, the Tory MP this weekend claimed that her "Muslimness was raised as an issue" when she asked for an explanation as to why she had been fired. Read MoreGhani said the government whip -- who organizes the party's contribution to parliamentary business -- told her that her faith was "making colleagues uncomfortable."Nusrat Ghani speaks during a session in Parliament in London, Britain May 12, 2021. On Sunday, Ghani released a statement asking the government to address the controversy "seriously."What's led to this?Ghani told the Sunday Times that, since being fired in 2020, "not a day has gone by without thinking about what I was told and wondering why I was in politics while hoping for the Government to take this seriously.""Those that have not had their identity and faith questioned cannot fully appreciate what it does to you. Now is not the time I would have chosen for this to come out and I have pursued every avenue and process I thought available to me, but many people have known what happened," the British MP added.In a statement posted to Twitter, Ghani said: "When I told the Prime Minister in June 2020 what had been said to me in the Government Whips' Office I urged him to take it seriously as a Government matter and instigate an inquiry.""He wrote to me that he could not get involved and suggested I use the internal Conservative Party complaint process," she said."This, as I had already pointed out, was very clearly not appropriate for something that happened on Government business -- I do not even know if the words that were conveyed to me about what was said in reshuffle meetings at Downing Street were by members of the Conservative Party," she added.How has the government reacted to Ghani's allegations?Ghani's allegations were strongly denied by the Conservatives' chief whip Mark Spencer, who said her comments in The Sunday Times were "defamatory," according to the UK Press Association (PA).Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told Sky News on Sunday that while Ghani's allegation was "incredibly serious" and that the Conservative Party has "zero tolerance for any discrimination and any Islamophobia," there would not be a Conservative Party investigation unless a formal complaint was made.A Downing Street spokesman confirmed to PA that Ghani had not made a formal complaint, adding: "The Conservative Party does not tolerate prejudice or discrimination of any kind."Health Minister Sajid Javid wrote on Twitter that: "This is a very serious matter which needs a proper investigation. I would strongly support her in making a formal complaint -- she must be heard." Will there be an investigation?On Monday, Downing Street confirmed it would investigate Ghani's claims."At the time these allegations were first made, the Prime Minister recommended to her that she make a formal complaint to CCHQ. She did not take up this offer," a spokesperson for Downing Street said Monday."The Prime Minister has now asked officials to establish the facts about what happened. As he said at the time, the Prime Minister takes these claims very seriously," the statement added.What is the 'pork pie plot' and what does it mean for Boris Johnson?Ghani welcomed the Prime Minister's decision to investigate the claims in a statement posted on Twitter on Monday."All I want is for this to be taken seriously and for him to investigate," Ghani said. Following the allegations, the opposition Labour Party and backbench members of the Conservative Party, as well as several faith organizations, including the Muslim Council of Britain, had called for an investigation. Caroline Nokes, a Conservative MP who is chairwoman of the Women and Equalities Committee, said on Twitter: "This is appalling, Nus is an outstanding MP and was a great Minister. Her faith has never made me (or any other colleague) 'uncomfortable.'"In response to The Sunday Times report, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said on Twitter, "This is shocking to read, the Conservatives must investigate immediately ... There's report after report of appalling behavior and lack of respect at the center of this government. Culture is set at the top."What does it mean for Boris Johnson? Ghani's allegations are the latest in a string of controversies to hit the UK Prime Minister in recent weeks.Johnson is under pressure over alleged summer garden parties and Christmas gatherings held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under strict Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions. A report into the allegations, set to be released this week, could be the final straw for Johnson's increasingly mutinous party.Johnson last week faced a grilling from opponents in Parliament as well as a threat from his own party's MPs over a series of parties in Downing Street. Meanwhile, Johnson's approval ratings are plunging and there appears to be a growing sense among some parts of his ruling Conservative Party that he is becoming a liability. Two polls in the last week suggested that as many as two-thirds of voters want him to resign, and a parliamentary rebellion is growing, with one Conservative MP last week defecting to the opposition Labour Party. Newspapers have reported rumors of more lawmakers demanding Johnson's exit.CNN's Ivana Kottasová and Luke McGee contributed reporting. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
775ce11e-cf1a-49e6-8021-3f492e23dcf7 | null | (CNN)Having played the highest football match in history and broken the record for playing at the lowest point on earth, a group of footballers are now focusing on another world record -- for the largest number of players to ever play in a single game.
As the Women's World Cup approaches its climax, grassroots nonprofit organization Equal Playing Field is attempting to break its third world record in as many years in a bid to empower women in sport and challenge the inequalities women face in sport, particularly football. From June 27 to July 1 in Lyon, the French city which will host the World Cup semifinals and finals, it is hoped that over 3,000 men and women of all abilities will participate in the record attempt. Among those taking part in the five-day non-stop 11-a-side match will be a group of UK female lawmakers and former professionals, such as ex-France midfielder Sandrine Dusang. The existing record was set in Chile in 2016 and involved 2,357 players playing in a four-day game. Thanks to Mr Speaker for wishing @UKWPFC well in joining @EPFinitiative to break the @GWR for a female football match. We can't wait to arrive in Lyon & join other women & girls from across the world to break a record but also highlight that inequality still exists in sport— Tracey Crouch (@tracey_crouch) June 26, 2019
Read MorePlayed on a full-sized pitch at Olympique Lyonnais' academy, the match will be played through the day and night and for each player to be counted he or she will need to play for at least 10 minutes and touch the ball at least once. In 2017, Equal Playing Field organized a match on Mount Kilimanjaro at 18,799 feet, an altitude not attempted before, while last year a 12-day trek of Jordan concluded with a 90-minute 11-a-side match at 1,412 ft below sea level, the lowest point on dry land. Visit CNN.com/Sport for more news, features and videos"In recent years national teams have gone on strike, tired of poor working conditions and being treated with little or no respect," Laura Youngson, Equal Playing Field's co-founder said."Teams have alleged sexual and physical abuse against the very people meant to support and grow the game. The global football community is so far away from being able to say that gender equality in football is here. We simply want a world where any girl anywhere can play, coach, referee and work in the game they love." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
1fcff623-ed38-4f81-9a27-cc2a6156697e | null | Milan, Italy (CNN)Italy's hardline Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has told CNN that European Union rules are creating "full-on unemployment" and he wants to go back to pre-Maastricht Treaty rules."Those who want to save Europe are those that are sold as the anti-Europeans. I feel more pro-European than the pro-Europeans," Salvini said in Milan on Friday."I would return to the pre Maastricht with more normal fiscal economic rules where we spoke of well-being and full employment.... The rules imposed by Brussels are creating full-on unemployment," Salvini said.Sex vouchers for migrants? The truth behind Europe's fake storiesThe Maastricht Treaty -- officially known as The Treaty on European Union -- was signed by the 12 member countries of the European Community in the Netherlands in 1992. It created the structure for a single currency, later named the euro, that was be born in 1999. Unemployment rates across the EU are at an all-time low, according to its statistical analysis body Eurostat, though rates in Italy are higher than in most other major European countries.Read MoreSalvini held a major rally on Saturday of European nationalists, including France's Marine Le Pen, and Holland's Geert Wilders. Around 100,000 people were expected to join the event, in driving rain in Milan's Duomo Square. "The political elites in Brussels cannot be trusted. They want to impose their orders on us. They want to take away our identity and our security," Wilders claimed at the rally.Everything you need to know about the European electionsCalling for "no more immigration," he praised his friend Salvini as an "example for all of us" and said "Europe needs more Salvinis."The far-right Italian deputy prime minister was elected into government last summer on a wave of popular anger in Italy towards Brussels and the Italian political establishment. Now, he has Europe in his sights. Asked by CNN's Erin McLaughlin why he has slipped in the polls recently and if he thinks he's gone "too far to the right," Salvini replied, "I never believe in polls" and said he is proud his Northern League party that is "is a reference point for change not just in Italy but in Europe."Salvini claimed he has a network of alliances "that we never had before in the past" and listed parties in France, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic, the UK and Poland among his allies."We have an idea of Europe founded on work, rights, life, safety, the exact opposite of the Europe founded on finance, unemployment, mass immigration, that we have suffered over these years," Salvini said.CNN's Sarah Dean and Rob Picheta contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
0c235fd8-7525-4cb6-97e2-f9b72c3e4bbb | null | Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN)The US, UK, France, Germany and European Union will help fund South Africa's transition away from coal, in a multilateral effort that could serve as a model for other developing nations to ditch the fossil fuel.The announcement on Tuesday provided a semblance of hope at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, where the mood has been low after the G20 leaders' summit failed to put an end date on the use of coal, as some member countries and the COP26 presidency had sought to do.Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the UK said the initial $8.5 billion partnership would help South Africa to decarbonize its coal intensive energy system. The details of the specific funding were not announced, and diplomats expect the fine print to be worked out in the months ahead. US President Joe Biden stressed that trillions in public and private funding will be needed to help the developing world move away from fossil fuels."By assisting and responding to the needs of developing countries, rather than dictating projects from afar, we can deliver the greatest impact for those who need it the most," he said. Read MoreJoe Biden wants America to lead the world against the climate crisis. That goal faces a big test this week. Climate scientists and some diplomats say the South Africa agreement could pave the way for similar deals with other heavily-polluting developing countries -- a critical step in containing global warming and avoiding a full-blown climate catastrophe.The promise to finance a transition from coal will be noticed by politicians in developing nations because South Africa is among the most coal-dependent nations in the world.A key sticking point at the COP26 talks is climate finance. There is a Global North-South divide at COP26 over the broken promises of wealthy countries to transfer $100 billion a year to the developing world to aid its transition to low-carbon economies.The $100 billion target was missed last year and a large gap remains. Experts say $100 billion a year isn't enough to begin with.Prior to COP26, only a small number of developed nations were paying their fair share on climate financing for poorer countries, according to independent think tank ODI.World's most polluting companyA Komati power station employee monitors multiple screens at the control room. Nearly 90% of South Africa's power generation is fueled by coal.Nearly 90% of South Africa's power generation is fueled by coal, making the country one of the heaviest polluters per-capita on the planet.South Africa's Mpumalanga province is home to most of the country's coal industry and coal-fired power stations, with their colossal chimneys, flanking both sides of the highway.Driving east from Johannesburg to the province, the coal mines appear almost as soon as the neighborhoods recede.Recently, the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air judged Eskom -- which has a monopoly on power in South Africa -- to be the world's most-polluting power company. It spews more deadly sulfur dioxide than the US, Europe, and even China's power sectors.But the group CEO of Eskom, André de Ruyter, thinks that the company's track record on emissions is an opportunity for wealthy nations. They are explicitly backing a transition to cleaner energy and have made significant promises in coal reductions already. But someone has to pay for it."The cost of mitigating a ton of carbon in South Africa is a fraction of what mitigating that carbon would cost in the US or Europe," de Ruyter told CNN in an interview. "If you have a limited amount of money to combat climate change, then coming to a country like South Africa and incentivizing us to remove carbon emissions makes absolute sense."The cost of reconfiguring the distribution to access green technology will run into the tens of billions of dollars, said de Ruyter.The coal-fired Komati Power Station will be completely shut down by October 2022.After years of mismanagement and allegations of corruption, Eskom has colossal levels of debt running more than $25 billion and, by most estimates, South Africa has plenty of coal left in the ground.And even prior to the deal, South Africa had committed to transitioning to renewables, a political commitment that helped woo the US, UK and EU."There is a saying that the Stone Age didn't end because of a lack of stones. I'm convinced that, given the current technological trends, the coal age won't end because of a lack of coal," de Ruyter said.But it could stretch out because of a lack of jobs. Like much of proposed climate action, local political realities are where green power initiatives will live or die.The Minerals Council, an industry lobbying group, says that around 450,000 households in Mpumalanga province alone depend on coal for their livelihoods. With official unemployment hovering at around 34%, a significant loss of jobs in the sector would be politically dangerous for the ruling ANC. "You are not going to be able to replace all of the jobs that coal and ash were able to generate, because you need a lot more hands and generally lower skilled people with that," said Marcus Nemadodzi, the general manager of the Komati power station.Here to stay or gone in 30 years? Inside the fight over the future of the oil industryNemadodzi points to the one remaining unit generating power at the aging power station. The government mothballed Komati in the 1990s, but brought it back online as Eskom struggled, and still struggles, to provide reliable electricity to homes and businesses.Soon, it will be shut forever, with some resources shifted to manufacture small scale solar based power for rural electrification."This is going to be a process. We are not switching off one and the next morning there will be another, but we have to start somewhere," Nemadodzi said.In a press conference in late September, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told CNN that a just transition is a necessity, calling it a 'gradual process." "We want those countries from more developed economies who caused so much damage to the environment to live up to the commitments and the promises that they made through the conferences that have been held," he said.Even though far more funding will be needed to move South Africa fully to renewables, the UK High Commissioner to South Africa called the emerging deal to help finance the country's ambitious renewable goals a significant moment."If we are to keep alive the goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5 (degrees) developed economies must work in partnership with major developing countries and emerging economies to deliver a just, inclusive and accelerated transition away from coal, and the development of a sustainable, green, and growing economy for all. This agreement shows how it can be done," said Antony Phillipson. Part of the political commitment in South Africa comes from the realization that this corner of the globe will be hammered by the consequences of the climate crisis, with more frequent droughts and faster rising temperatures expected in much of Southern Africa.Marcus Nemadodzi, the General Manager of Komati power station, is seen in this photograph. On a global scale, it won't be enough for the biggest emitters like China and the US to curb emissions. Climate scientists say that almost every emitting nation will have to play a part to avoid untenable temperature rises.But if your very survival is based on coal, you have a very different perspective.Eighty-four steps down into a disused mine near Ermelo, the illegal miners use pickaxes and shovels to scrape out coal to sell for stoves and heat across the province. Sometimes, they say they sell to middlemen who sell the coal to Eskom.Anthony Bonginkosi braves the threat of rock falls and deadly gasses to feed his grandmother and sister. He has heard about the promise to stop using coal."I don't have a choice; I have to save my hunger. Not only me, but those who follow me," he said. "What can I say about that. It makes me scared. We have a lot of people who depend on coal. So we can't live without it." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
394be7f5-e346-41a9-ad1a-b6b454228764 | null | Story highlightsTwo and a half years after running aground in Giglio, Italy, the Costa Concordia is being re-floated32 passengers and crew were killed when the cruise ship capsized in January 2012Crews hope to re-float the Concordia and tow it from Giglio to the port in GenoaDismantling the ship could take two years; the total cost of the wreck is projected to be more than $2 billionIt may be the biggest salvage operation in history, but no one would accuse it of being the fastest.Now, two and a half years after running aground and sinking off the coast of Italy, the Costa Concordia cruise liner is almost ready to make its final voyage. If everything goes to plan, over the next couple of weeks the rotting 951-foot vessel will be re-floated and towed north from the Italian island of Giglio -- its resting place since it capsized in January 2012, killing 32 passengers and crew in the process -- to the port in Genoa to be dismantled.But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's a lot of work to do before this decaying husk of a ship is back out on the open seas, and there's a lot that could go wrong in the meantime. CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau is writing a book about the Concordia, so we asked her to break down the big questions for us.What's happening now?Before the Concordia can be towed away, it first has to be re-floated. That process starts Monday, when crews will attempt to lift the 114,000-tonne ship off of the underwater platforms that it's been resting on since it was "parbuckled," or rolled upright, last year. The re-floating process will take around five days. 30 huge steel hollow boxes, or sponsons, attached to either side of the Concordia are being pumped full of compressed air to give the ship buoyancy. Crews raised the ship two meters in the first six hours Monday before moving the ship off of its underwater platforms. Crews will now check it for fissures, clean it and attach the flotation devices on each side together under the bottom of the boat with giant chains and cables, creating a false bottom.Workers will then raise the decaying cruise liner one deck at a time by pumping more air into the sponsons. Each deck will take approximately six hours to raise and clean. Once they've raised the Concordia three decks above water, Italian environmental officials will inspect it for leaks. Then it's tow time.When will it be towed and how long will it take? With 60,000 tonnes of salvage gear attached to its 114,000 tonne frame, the Concordia isn't exactly a speedboat. Traveling at a maximum speed of two knots (2.3 miles per hour), it will take about five days to tow the ship to Genoa, roughly 200 miles north of Giglio. It could happen as early as July 18th, but only if the weather grants the salvage team a clear five-day forecast. It's just too risky to attempt to tow the decomposing liner through anything less than calm waters.The ship's been upright since September. What's taken so long?Weather has accounted for a number of delays. It was September 2013 (more than 18 months after it sank) by the time the stricken vessel was rotated upright, and the ideal time to tow it away had already passed for the year. The Mediterranean is at its most tranquil from mid-July to early August, so salvage crews spent the past 10 months making final preparations for this window of time.Interactive: How the ship was tipped uprightWhat does Greenpeace have to say about this?Greenpeace has chartered a ship to monitor the Concordia operation. The environmental group is concerned that the ship will leak a trail of toxins into the Mediterranean during its five-day voyage to Genoa, and says the fragile liner should be taken to Piombino, a much closer port that could be reached in a single day. So why is the Concordia going to Genoa?The port at Piombino may be closer, but it would need to be dredged in order to be deep enough to take the Concordia. The port wouldn't be ready until the end of September, and by then the weather conditions would make Mediterranean waters too choppy to navigate until this time next year. Costa Crociere, the firm that owns the Concordia, also runs a large part of Genoa's port. The company wants to bring what's left of their former marquee ship back to their home port, rather than having to keep tabs on it from afar. Costa also wants to recycle intact parts of the ship -- engine components, plumbing structures, anything else that's waterproof -- and use them in their other cruise liners.How long will it take to "recycle" the Concordia?It will take around 125 workers between 18 months and two and a half years. Once the Concordia's in Genoa, crews will construct a giant tent over the ship and none of us will ever see it again. The front and the back will be dismantled first, and any possessions that passengers left behind as they fled the sinking liner will be returned to their owners. How much is this all going to cost?Costa Crociere's Michael Tamm said the operation has already cost an eye-watering $1 billion, and will top $2 billion or more by the time it's done. That's more than three times the $612 million than it cost to build in 2004. What are the chances of the ship making it to Genoa?An optimistic 80%, according to the salvage firm. The worst case scenario was that the ship could fall apart during the first six hours, but things appear to have gone well. The next biggest risk is that it could break while it's being towed through the waters off the coast of Corsica, which is where the Mediterranean's currents are the strongest. Is this the end of the story?Not at all. Once the Concordia leaves Giglio, a company will come in to clean up the mess left by the salvage firms. Giglio's residents, meanwhile, are debating whether to turn their new underwater salvage platforms into a dive attraction, or to tear them down. Costa Crociere is also being sued by dozens of survivors of the accident, and the Costa Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship. READ MORE: Will missing shipwreck victim surface? | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
aeef0d13-7136-4348-bbf2-2dccc84838e1 | null | (CNN)The California State Assembly voted 73-0 in favor of SB 206, also known as the Fair Pay to Play Act, which is a proposed law that would allow college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.If the legislation is signed into law, it will be a "game changer," NBA superstar LeBron James recently said on Twitter.Everyone is California- call your politicians and tell them to support SB 206! This law is a GAME CHANGER. College athletes can responsibly get paid for what they do and the billions they create.— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 5, 2019 The Fair Pay to Play Act would allow college athletes in California to sign endorsement deals; earn compensation based on the usage of their name, image and likeness; and sign all types of licensing contracts that would allow them to earn money.These college athletes would also be able to hire an agent licensed by the state to represent them in any deals.College football players shave their heads to support coach battling cancerThe California Senate overwhelmingly voted 31-5 in favor to pass the bill in May, but since it has been amended since then, it will soon go back for a vote in the Senate where it is expected to pass. It will then move to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.Read MoreSB 206 was introduced by state Sens. Nancy Skinner and Steven Bradford, and if Newsom signs SB 206 into law, it would go into effect on January 1, 2023. The governor's office told CNN that the bill will be evaluated on its own merits.Skinner and Bradford did not respond to requests for comment via email.The debate over NCAA amateurism and the money that the NCAA and schools generate through college athletic programs has raged on for years. Current NCAA amateurism rules are put in place to distinguish college athletes from professional athletes.For the 2017 fiscal year, the NCAA reported $1.1 billion in revenue. Considering all the money that these athletic programs generate for both the NCAA and each of the schools, it has long since been argued that students should be able to profit off the revenue that they help generate.The NCAA operates as a nonprofit organization.Not hyped for the return of college football? Michael Irvin's epic speech should do the trickUnsurprisingly, the legislation has received opposition from the NCAA and a number of prominent universities in California, as they believe it would be impossible for the schools to follow the NCAA's amateurism rules."The NCAA Board of Governors has monitored SB 206 as it has moved through the California legislative process," the NCAA said in a statement. "As we evaluate our next steps, we remain focused on providing opportunities and a level playing field for the nearly half a million student-athletes nationwide."NCAA president Mark Emmert sent a letter to two state assembly committees that implied that California schools would be barred from participating in NCAA championships if the bill becomes law."We recognize all of the efforts that have been undertaken to develop this bill in the context of complex issues related to the current collegiate model that have been the subject of litigation and much national debate," Emmert wrote in his letter to the committee chairs. "Nonetheless, when contrasted with current NCAA rules, as drafted the bill threatens to alter materially the principles of intercollegiate athletics and create local differences that would make it impossible to host fair national championships. As a result, it likely would have a negative impact on the exact student-athletes it intends to assist."The NCAA has formed a working group to study modifications to its rules regarding name, image and likeness issues, and the report is expected to be completed in October.On Wednesday, the NCAA sent a letter to Newsom in response to SB 206."If the bill becomes law and California's 58 NCAA schools are compelled to allow an unrestricted name, image and likeness scheme, it would erase the critical distinction between college and professional athletics and, because it gives those schools an unfair recruiting advantage, would result in them eventually being unable to compete in NCAA competitions," the letter said."These outcomes are untenable and would negatively impact more than 24,000 California student-athletes across three divisions." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
b35457e1-aa98-4dbf-9a7c-109b75aad773 | null | (CNN)Kobe Bryant left the NBA on his own terms on April 13, 2016, scoring 60 points -- more than any other player in a game that season -- in a win over the Utah Jazz as he drew the curtain on his historic 20-year career.On Sunday, the 41-year-old tragically left the world in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles, California that killed nine people including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.The outpouring of tributes from those in and out of basketball, including Barack Obama, Rafael Nadal and former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Shaquille O'Neal, provide a glimpse into how Bryant's legacy will be shaped after his death.Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash that killed nine people including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna on Sunday. The Lakers legend leaves a formidable legacy on and off the court.On the court, he will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game, winning five championships, two NBA Finals MVPs and two Olympic gold medals, while finishing fourth in career scoring -- he was surpassed by current Lakers captain LeBron James on Saturday.Off the court Bryant was many things: An intellectual who switched effortlessly between Italian, Spanish and English; a doting father to four daughters, a budding media mogul who won an Oscar, a fervent soccer fan of Barcelona and AC Milan, a champion of women's sports, and an inspiration to younger players for his winning attitude that he labeled "Mamba Mentality."Read MoreHowever, his sexual assault charge stemming from a 2003 incident in Colorado, which was dropped and then settled out of court in a civil suit, complicates his legacy in the #MeToo era and led to protests after his Oscar win in 2018.But the experience, which cost him millions of dollars in endorsement deals at the time, also developed him as a person and allowed the release of the non-apologetic and at times overly brash competitor in him, he later said.Bryant (L) modeled his basketball game after Michael Jordan, who he turned to for advice as a budding star and as a veteran facing retirement. READ: LeBron breaks Bryant's career NBA points recordGrowing up with 'vengeance' Bryant was the son of former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, who transitioned to the Italian league when his son was just six years old.It was in Italy where Bryant's love of soccer was shaped and where he also experienced racism."When I was growing up in Italy, I've obviously witnessed it first-hand going to certain soccer matches and things of that nature," Bryant recently told CNN's Andy Scholes."My parents have taught me and educated me on how to deal with those sorts of things."Brazilian star Neymar paid his own tribute to Bryant after scoring for PSG against Lille on Sunday.READ: Kobe Bryant reveals battle with racism at soccer gamesGrowing up in Italy shaped the younger Bryant both socially and competitively, he said. "Our parents immersed us in Italian culture. We were just surrounded by Italian kids. We were just learning the language as they were," he told O'Neal in an interview for TNT in 2018.That is also when his killer instinct began developing on the court."A lot of it had to do with isolation, growing up over there and being the only African-American kid ... I gravitated towards the game and in that game you find solace," he said. "And when you play with kids that may not accept you because you're an outsider, that's my chance to get vengeance on them for not accepting me. And that's where it started developing, and throughout the course of my life it's always been that."It's always been the outsider who is coming in to prove (something) or seek some kind of vengeance," he added. "I always had ambition."Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act. To lose Gianna is even more heartbreaking to us as parents. Michelle and I send love and prayers to Vanessa and the entire Bryant family on an unthinkable day.— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 26, 2020 Bryant would grow to become a 6-foot 6-inch scoring phenomenon as a Philadelphia high schooler. He was the first guard to be drafted directly from high school to the NBA in 1996 as the 13th overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets.Lakers general manager Jerry West had his eyes set on the 18-year-old, however, and traded for him in a deal that was overshadowed by the team's splashy signing of O'Neal.The dynamic pair would go on to win three NBA Finals from 2000 to 2002, with O'Neal very much the alpha of the team. By the time the Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Finals, however, friction had come between the two superstars who were barely on speaking terms.The difference between their offseason work ethics was largely to blame, with Bryant calling O'Neal "fat and out of shape," before the start of their final season."I'll admit a lot of times I didn't come into camp ready ... because I had you, I was able to chill out in the summer," said O'Neal, who patched things up with Bryant, in the TNT interview. "That's what pi**ed me off; my (butt) was in the gym 10 hours a day," Bryant responded.O'Neal was traded to Miami and the Lakers were rebuilt around Bryant, who would bring a further two championships to Lakers Nation alongside Pau Gasol in 2009 and 2010. Kobe Bryant (L) celebrates with Shaquille O'Neal after winning the 2000 NBA Championship against the Indiana Pacers. The two superstars would be undone by a personality clash after their fourth trip to the finals, but became friends in retirement. READ: 'We all have Hoop Dreams' -- Bittersweet tale of first 'reality TV show'The birth of The Black MambaO'Neal's departure from the Lakers coincided with the end of Bryant's trial in 2004, which relieved the team from the media frenzy that had dogged it throughout the preceding season.The sexual assault criminal trial was dropped when the unnamed defendant chose not to testify, but Bryant paid an undisclosed amount in a civil suit settlement and apologized to her publicly. "Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did," he said in a statement read by his lawyer.Bryant reflected on the incident to the Washington Post in 2018, noting that it changed his personality both on and off the court. Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesKobe Bryant, pictured in 2007, spent his entire 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers.Hide Caption 1 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant's youth basketball team poses for a picture in the early 1990s in Reggio Emilia, Italy.Hide Caption 2 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant dunks the ball in his high school gym in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, during a practice in 1996.Hide Caption 3 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant jokes with the media as he holds his Los Angeles Lakers jersey at a news conference in Inglewood, California, in 1996.Hide Caption 4 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant eyes the basket during the 1997 NBA Slam Dunk contest in Cleveland. Bryant was the youngest player to win the contest.Hide Caption 5 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesMichael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls eyes the basket as he is guarded by Bryant during a 1998 game in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 6 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant sits on the sidelines during the Euro ABC camp in Berlin in 1999.Hide Caption 7 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesShaquille O'Neal and Byrant sit on the bench before a game in 1999 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 8 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant hugs his fiancee, Vanessa Laine, in the locker room in Los Angeles after the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the 2000 NBA Finals to win the series 4-2. Bryant later married Laine, and they had four children.Hide Caption 9 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant goes in for a slam dunk against the New Jersey Nets in January 2001.Hide Caption 10 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant appears on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" at NBC Studios in 2001.Hide Caption 11 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant stands for the National Anthem at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 12 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesPresident Bush holds up a Lakers jersey that Bryant gave him at a ceremony for the 2001 NBA World Champions in the East Room of the White House in January 2002.Hide Caption 13 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant and his wife, Vanessa, attend a news conference at the Staples Center in 2003. The NBA star proclaimed his innocence after facing sexual assault charges for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old Colorado woman. The charges were later dropped. "Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did," Bryant later said in a statement.Hide Caption 14 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant goes up for a shot between the Boston Celtics' Paul Pierce, left, and Al Jefferson during a 2006 game in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 15 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant kisses his daughter Natalia during a 2008 photo session at his home in Newport Beach, California.Hide Caption 16 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant jumps for a rebound against the Denver Nuggets during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals during the 2009 NBA Playoffs.Hide Caption 17 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant celebrates after Game 5 of the 2009 NBA Finals against the Orlando Magic. The Lakers won 99-86 for their 15th title and first since 2002. Bryant had 30 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists as the Lakers completed a four-games-to-one victory in the best-of-seven NBA Finals.Hide Caption 18 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant holds his daughter, Gianna, after the Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals.Hide Caption 19 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant rides the Matterhorn Bobsleds with Jonathan Guerrero, 4, and his father, David Guerrero of Pomona, California, at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in 2009. The Guerreros were among thousands of Lakers fans who turned out for a special Disneyland parade honoring the Lakers' 15th World Championship.Hide Caption 20 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesUS President Barack Obama chats with Bryant at a Boys and Girls Club in Washington in 2010. Obama welcomed the Lakers to honor their 2009-2010 season and their second consecutive NBA championship. Hide Caption 21 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant celebrates after defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 22 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant joins a teaching session for fans during a 2011 promotional tour of South Korea at Korea University in Seoul.Hide Caption 23 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant is injured in the second half while playing the Golden State Warriors in 2013. The injury took him out of the rest of the season.Hide Caption 24 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesFrom left, Kevin Durant, Lebron James and Bryant pose with their gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.Hide Caption 25 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesLeBron James guards Bryant during a 2016 game between the Cavaliers and Lakers in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 26 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesMagic Johnson hugs Bryant before the final game of his career in 2016.Hide Caption 27 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant runs up the court during his final game in 2016. The Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 101-96. Bryant scored 60 points in the game.Hide Caption 28 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesFrom left, Peyton Mannin, Abby Wambach and Bryant accept the Icon Award during the 2016 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 29 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesLos Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, right, gestures while posing with Bryant alongside members of his family and city officials in 2016. The city council announced August 24 as Kobe Bryant Day. The date commemorates the numbers Bryant wore as a Laker: 8 and 24.Hide Caption 30 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant walks to center court at his jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of a basketball game in 2017.Hide Caption 31 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant and filmmaker Glen Keane accept the 2018 Oscar for best animated short film. "Dear Basketball" was based on a letter Bryant wrote in 2015 announcing his retirement from basketball.Hide Caption 32 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant posted this photo to Instagram on Mother's Day in 2019. He and his wife, Vanessa, had four daughters: Natalia, Gianna, Bianka and Capri, who was born in June. "Happy Mother's Day @vanessabryant," Bryant wrote. "We love you and thank you for all that you do for our family. You are the foundation of all that we hold dear. I love you #mybaby #lioness #mamabear #queenmamba"Hide Caption 33 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant and his daughter Gianna attend a Los Angeles Lakers game against the Atlanta Hawks in 2019.Hide Caption 34 of 35 Photos: Kobe Bryant's life in picturesBryant listens to the National Anthem prior to a 2019 Lakers game against the Atlanta Hawks in Los Angeles.Hide Caption 35 of 35His coping mechanism, he said, was to create an alternate personality for himself, a ruthless character known as "The Black Mamba," a name he derived from a scene in the movie "Kill Bill."He inked his first tattoos and played with a noticeable scowl aimed at opponents and lagging teammates. "I don't know what would've happened had I not figured it out, because the whole process for me was trying to figure out how to cope with this," he said. "I wasn't going to be passive and let this thing just swallow me up."You've got a responsibility: Family, baby, organization, whole city, yourself -- how do you figure out how to overcome this? Or just deal with it and not drown from this thing? So I was bound to figure something out because I was so obsessively concerned about it."READ: Remembering the final NBA game of 'The Black Mamba'In ensuing years, Bryant would become prolific on social media and sign off on many posts with the hashtags #mambamentality and #mambaout.He wrote his book "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play," and christened his Mamba Sports Academy in 2018.NBA players on other teams looked to Bryant for inspiration. Before hitting his game-winning shot to ice the 2016 title for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving spoke with the Lakers legend to get in the right frame of mind."I had been speaking to him throughout the entire playoffs and during the season," Irving told ThePostGame. "I actually FaceTimed Kobe after the game as soon as I got in the locker room ... (it) was just a great thing, knowing how he has won five and I just won my first."Then realizing how hard it is just to win one, my respect for him is already high, but it went to another level knowing that he's got five of them."In a nod to Bryant's influence on a new generation of competitors, "Mamba mentality" along with Bryant's #24 was scribbled on the shoes of 15-year-old tennis star Coco Gauff as she played a doubles match at the Australian Open on Monday, while Nick Kyrgios warmed up for his match wearing Kobe's old No. 8 jersey -- both uniform numbers have been retired by the Lakers. Tennis star Coco Gauff paid tribute Kobe Bryant during her doubles match at the Australian Open on MondayREAD: Nadal and Kyrgios pay tribute to Bryant'What am I going to do with the rest of my life?'Bryant hobbled through his final few seasons, suffering from a torn Achilles tendon in April 2013 and torn rotator cuff in January 2015, and began thinking about the next phase of his life and interests outside of basketball.A lifelong soccer fan, he formed ties with his favorite teams and players from Barcelona and AC Milan -- notably Neymar and Ronaldinho -- attending practices when his schedule allowed it. View this post on Instagram We have no words to express how shocked we are to hear of the tragic passing of one of the greatest sportsmen of all time and Rossonero fan, Kobe Bryant. All our thoughts are with the families of those affected by this tragic accident. You will forever be missed, Kobe 🙏❤🖤 A post shared by AC Milan (@acmilan) on Jan 26, 2020 at 12:19pm PST He also became a champion of women's sports -- Bryant was visibly in the stands at Wembley Stadium when the Team USA women's soccer team won gold at the London 2012 Olympics -- and attended WNBA games with his daughters.Notably, he would run Gianna through basketball drills, some of them posted on social media, with his second-eldest daughter displaying the same fierce competitive spirit as her father.He launched a branding company, Kobe Inc., in 2014 and later the multimedia production company Granity Studios. Then he won the Oscar in 2018 for Best Animated Short Film based on his open retirement letter, "Dear Basketball." Bryant won the Best Animated Short Film award for "Dear Basketball" at the 2018 Oscars.READ: LeBron breaks Bryant's career NBA points recordLeaving a legacy outside of basketball was clearly as important to Bryant as his achievements on the court. But how could he match the thrill of scoring 81 points in a game, something only one other person in history had achieved? "I was in Milan and wanted to meet with Giorgio Armani and talk to him a little bit about how he built his business," Bryant said as he announced his retirement in 2015. "He started to build his business at the age of 40, and I was 21."I said to myself, I'll probably play to 35, 36, whatever the case may be. He built a whole business at 40. What am I going to do with the rest of my life? What comes next?"From that point on, I started figuring things out, trying different things. Dabbling in this, dabbling in that, trying to figure out what exactly that passion is," he added."It's not as easy as basketball, because I was born to play basketball and had to really work to figure out what comes next."That's really hard, man; really, really hard. But that's what we as athletes have to figure out." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
46102858-52b5-4f42-8d59-74004564e7f7 | null | London (CNN)Strange as it might seem, Boris Johnson could well be happier in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, discussing the build-up of Russian troops on the border and a potential invasion, than back home in London. The British Prime Minister has spent weeks ducking and diving the worst scandal to hit his premiership after it was revealed that social gatherings took place in 10 Downing Street while the rest of the United Kingdom was living under Covid lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions. On Monday, a senior civil servant called Sue Gray released an update on her investigation into these events. While her report was stripped back because the gatherings are now subject to a police investigation, it certainly didn't let Johnson off the hook. Even the heavily filleted version of Gray's findings gave some damning insights into what Johnson might expect when the result of the Metropolitan Police probe lands, which will be followed by the full findings of Gray's investigation. We know from Gray's update that out of the 16 events under investigation, 12 were deemed serious enough to be referred to the police, who later confirmed they were looking in detail at 10 of these gatherings. Those include an alleged birthday party held for the Prime Minister, gatherings in his private residence in Downing Street which he and his wife attended, and other gatherings that Johnson has tried to pass off as "work events." British Prime Minister Boris Johnson departs London for Ukraine on February 1, 2022.Read MoreThe scandal has dominated the political agenda since last December. Johnson's approval ratings have collapsed, as has wider support for his governing Conservative party, according to multiple opinion polls.In the face of calls for Johnson to resign -- both from opponents and lawmakers in his own party -- the Prime Minister and his allies have cited the crisis in Ukraine as exactly the sort of bigger issue that requires certainty in leadership and government attention. Johnson landed in Kyiv on Tuesday and he will hold a joint news conference after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Will Vladimir Putin turn the Second Cold War into a hot one?However, for weeks, very little else other than "Partygate," as it's become known, has made it to the political agenda in the UK -- even the prospect of a war in Europe. The reasons for this are not hard to understand. Millions of people followed rules which in some cases meant that loved ones were left to die alone. The country was asked to make huge sacrifices and, it seems, the people who made the rules didn't believe they applied to them. Birthday cakes, suitcases of wine, swings being broken in the garden, this episode has appeared grubby and undignified. It hasn't helped that the political discourse around this has disintegrated to the point where Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour party, could say that Johnson has "damaged everything and everyone around him." Johnson responded by falsely claiming that Starmer, when he was England's Director of Public Prosecutions, was part of a failed attempt to bring a notorious pedophile to justice. As things stand, no attempt is likely to be made to depose Johnson by his own party until the police complete their inquiries into the events that took place in Downing Street. There is no indication of when that might be. The UK Prime Minister (left) attends a bilateral meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Presidential Palace, in Kyiv on Tuesday.Conservative lawmakers are reluctant to move against the Prime Minister not out of loyalty, but because the list of variables is long and full of unknowns. Does he survive a coup and emerge stronger? Does removing him harm the party's electoral prospects further? Is there really a suitable replacement? Will he fight any coup to the point it destroys the party in the short-to-medium term. All are possible outcomes, all impossible to predict with any degrees of certainty. On top of Partygate, Johnson faces a looming cost-of-living crisis, a potential revolt from his backbenchers of tax rises and the ongoing fallout from the decision of the UK to leave the European Union. So, as bizarre as it sounds, flying to a country braced for battle to discuss matters of war and peace is likely preferable to sitting in London and waiting to see where the chips fall in a scandal that has paralyzed the government. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
584e2eaf-cb5e-4eba-8dd9-ce053a9403a7 | null | Story highlightsA six-month UK-wide operation snares 660 suspected pedophiles, police sayThe operation targeted people accessing indecent images of children onlinePolice say more than 400 children have been protected from harm as a resultThe operation comes amid public concern over the issue of sexual abuse of childrenUK police have arrested 660 suspected pedophiles -- including doctors, teachers and scout leaders -- in a six-month operation spanning the country, the National Crime Agency said Wednesday.The operation -- which targeted people accessing indecent images of children online -- involved 45 police forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.More than 400 children across the United Kingdom have been protected from harm as a result, the National Crime Agency said in a statement.Thirty-nine of the suspects were registered sex offenders, the statement said, meaning the vast majority were not previously known to police. Their number also included social care workers and former police officers.The operation was kept under wraps until Wednesday to protect children and gather evidence against the accused, the statement said.JUST WATCHEDUK to probe Westminster pedophile ringReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHUK to probe Westminster pedophile ring 01:25JUST WATCHED29 arrested in child porn investigationReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH29 arrested in child porn investigation 02:38JUST WATCHED2013: 'Girl' used to find pedophiles onlineReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH2013: 'Girl' used to find pedophiles online 02:25The National Crime Agency is not revealing the methods used to track down the suspects because it hopes to deploy them again in the future.The charges brought so far range from possession of indecent images of children to serious sexual assault, it said. Many suspects have yet to be charged in the case."This is the first time the UK has had the capability to coordinate a single targeted operation of this nature," said Phil Gormley, the agency's deputy director general."Our aim was to protect children who were victims of, or might be at risk of, sexual exploitation. A child is victimized not only when they are abused and an image is taken. They are re-victimized every time that image is viewed by someone."Some of those who start by looking at indecent images online go on to abuse children directly, he said, so arresting them now may prevent them from crossing that line.The operation comes amid wide public concern over the issue of sexual abuse of children in the United Kingdom.Children's TV entertainer Rolf Harris was sentenced this month to five years and nine months in prison for a string of indecent assaults against women and girls.His trial came in the wake of shocking revelations of predatory sexual behavior by the late TV host Jimmy Savile against vulnerable children and adults.The publicity around those high-profile cases appears to have encouraged others to come forward with allegations of abuse.Chief Constable Simon Bailey said the majority of police forces in England and Wales are dealing with an "unprecedented increase" in reports of sexual abuse of children."Forces are investigating exploitation of children and young people by groups and gangs, non-recent abuse including large-scale investigations into abuse in institutions over many years and sexual abuse by parents and family members," he said.READ: Entertainer Rolf Harris sentenced to 5 years, 9 months for abusing girlsREAD: Victims' ages from 5 to 75: Jimmy Savile sex abuse revealed | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
18b0d6ef-7d64-4e31-9239-50650103eab2 | null | Story highlightsGerman champions Borussia Dortmund pioneer the use of "space age" trainingThe "Footbonaut" is a 14-meter cage which delivers balls to a player by eight machinesThe player must then pass to one of 72 panels which is signaled by a flashing green light"It is the perfect tool to improve ball-handling skills," says Dortmund coach Jurgen KloppIt's football training, but not as we know it. German champions Borussia Dortmund are boldly going where no club has gone before with the "Footbonaut", a soccer training machine powered by a smart phone.Winners of the Bundesliga title in each of the last two seasons, Dortmund has unveiled the 14-meter cage which is the brainchild of Berlin-based designer Christian Guttler.Once inside the "Footbonaut", a player is fed balls by eight different machines, having to find one of the 72 panels - - lit by a flashing green light -- which make up the space-age contraption before receiving another ball. Dortmund hope the device, which can also be operated using a tablet, will improve a player's technique, spatial awareness and peripheral vision.IntensityNot that Dortmund requires much improvement.JUST WATCHEDA day in the life of Cristiano Ronaldo ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHA day in the life of Cristiano Ronaldo 00:58JUST WATCHEDA different side of Cristiano RonaldoReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHA different side of Cristiano Ronaldo 01:14Jurgen Klopp's team sits fourth in the German top flight and is being heavily tipped for European success after excelling in a Champions League group containing Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax, with the Spanish club's manager Jose Mourinho viewing them as candidates to win the tournament.Klopp has instilled in Dortmund a non-stop adventurous style of football and the "Footbonaut" is the next step in their pursuit of excellence."It´s as if you are surrounded by 10 colleagues who are there only to serve you balls," said Dortmund's Australian youngster Mustafa Amini after a session inside the cage."In the course of normal training that level of intensity just is not possible. The ´Footbonaut´ allows you to work on any weaknesses and ensures that you play at pace but with precision."Guttler claims that after 15 minutes in the cage a player "will have received and passed on as many balls as he would in a normal week of training."Repetition and intensity are crucial if you want to conquer a particular skill, whether that be playing football, tennis or learning the piano."Perfect toolDortmund's success in recent years and the performances of players like striker Robert Lewandowski and midfielder Mario Gotze have attracted admiring glances from a host of top clubs.Japan's Shinji Kagawa and Nurin Sahin of Turkey have both been developed by Dortmund in recent years before being sold on to Manchester United and Real Madrid respectively. Sahin is currently on loan at Liverpool. JUST WATCHEDRonaldo: 'I have bad image on pitch'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHRonaldo: 'I have bad image on pitch' 03:58 Photos: The Real Ronaldo Photos: The Real Ronaldo007 and CR7 – Daniel Craig and Cristiano Ronaldo have both been outspoken in their desire to reclaim a right to privacy. Both men have become frustrated with their treatment in public.Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoIn the public eye – Cristiano Ronaldo and his model girlfriend Irina Shayk enjoy some peace and quiet together but the camera lens is never far away from the pair.Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoShayk it up – Shayk is a celebrity in her own right having established herself as a leading model. The Russian's romance with Ronaldo has taken her fame to new heights.Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoRonaldo's relationship – "We are just partners," Ronaldo told CNN when asked about his relationship with Shayk. "We have a good relationship, we are almost three years together, I love to be with her, I love her. It's great."Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoWedding bells? – Ronaldo has yet to pop the question to Russian model Shayk but he admits he has thought about marriage. He said: "Not now, but of course in the future, yes. Everyone wants that. I still haven't done that. I don't have the courage." Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoChampions League quest – "In Real Madrid we are always under pressure," Cristiano Ronaldo told CNN. "This is maybe the best club in the world... so we have a lot of pressure and we know that the fans, the Madrid city... everyone wants 'La Decima' (a 10th European Cup). "Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoPerfect coach – Ronaldo has nothing but praise for Real coach Jose Mourinho: "Well, my relationship with him is perfect. I don't ask for nothing better. In terms of coaching I'm sure 100%... 200% that he is the best. He shows every country who's the best because he wins all the leagues."Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoHead-to-Head – Ronaldo will be up against Barcelona's Lionel Messi for the Ballon d'Or with the Argentine having won the prize on each of the past three occasions. Both men were on target twice during the last El Clasico match which finished 2-2 at the Camp Nou.Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoWinning mentality – Ronaldo has scored 160 goals in 164 appearances for Real Madrid since his move from Manchester United in 2009. His determination to win is always evident, even when it comes to beating his girlfriend at swimming in their own pool. He said: "Sometimes you have to give her an opportunity to be happy, but I win because I don't like to lose."Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoGolden boy – Ronaldo last won the Ballon d'Or in 2008 after helping lead Manchester United to the Champions League crown with victory over Chelsea in Moscow. In the 2007-8 season, he scored 42 goals as United also won the English Premier League title.Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoInternational stage – While Ronaldo has enjoyed great club success with Manchester United and Real Madrid, he has yet to win a major tournament with Portugal. "I'm not saying Portugal doesn't have the capacity to win the World Cup or Euro, but its more tough... its difficult, because you don't have 100 players to choose," sai the Portuguese star.Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoTalk to me – Ronaldo insists he'd relish the opportunity to talk to his critics and listen to their opinions on why they believe he is arrogant. He told CNN: "People who call me arrogant, I'm interested, not with all of them, but most of them. One day I would like to sit with them and have a chat to see in which way they think I'm arrogant."Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoSecond career – When he finishes his football career, Ronaldo wants to become an actor.Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoArrogant jibes hurt – Ronaldo tells CNN's Pedro Pinto in an exclusive interview that he believes his perceived 'arrogance' has made him less popular than his chief rival Lionel Messi. "You know, sometimes I'm a victim of that because they don't know the real Cristiano," said the Real Madrid forward.Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: The Real RonaldoLife in the fast lane – Cars are one of Ronaldo's great passions. In 2009, while at Manchester United, Ronaldo was lucky to esacpe injury after crashing his Ferrari. Hide Caption 15 of 15And former Mainz coach Klopp hopes the "Footbonaut" can help Dortmund maintain their stellar standards."It is the perfect tool to improve ball-handling skills," said the 45-year-old. "It demands precise skills used at speed in a physically tough environment. It´s quite a package!"Echoing Klopp's excitement, Dortmund's chief scout Sven Mislintat is interested by the cage's potential to analyze player development."We can closely monitor a player´s development with data gleaned from the machine," said Mislintat. "There is no reason why a player cannot translate the actions practised in this environment onto the actual playing field."CautionBut Belgian coach Michel Bruyninckx, who works with the Aspire Academy in Qatar -- the gulf kingdom which will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup -- struck a note of caution."One of the major features of high performance is focused attention and that can be trained through this device," Bruyninckx told CNN."Brain research tells us that optimal learning requires that skill training must be embedded in the natural environment of an activity. This is not the case (with 'Footbonaut')."The fact the player must react to a sound is not matching the reality of a game when a player reacts to visual information." Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestone Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestoneMessi magic – Lionel Messi, center, celebrates with Barcelona teammates Cesc Fabregas, left, and Xavi Hernandez after matching Pele's 75 goals in a calendar year.Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestoneSecond best – The Argentina star then moved past the Brazil legend with his second goal of the match against Mallorca, which left Messi nine short of the best tally for a year held by Germany's Gerd Muller.Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestoneProud dad – The 25-year-old has had a new celebration since the birth of his first child, son Thiago, earlier this month.Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestoneAward winner – Messi is in line to win a fourth successive world player of the year award in January. Pele presented him with the Ballon d'Or at the start of this year.Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestoneGolden boot – Pele scored 75 goals in 1958, when he launched onto the football scene as a 17-year-old and helped Brazil win that year's World Cup. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Messi moves past Pele milestoneGoal machine Gerd – That feat was surpassed in 1972 by Muller, who scored 85 goals as West Germany won the European Championship and his club Bayern Munich lifted the Bundesliga title.Hide Caption 6 of 6 Photos: From the cradle to the grave Photos: From the cradle to the graveFinal resting place – The Schalke Fan Feld, whose centerpiece will be a club logo made up of blue and white flowers lying between two goals, looks directly on to the Bundesliga club's home stadium - the white domed Veltins-Arena, which can be seen in the gap between the trees in this picture. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: From the cradle to the graveFan fever – Schalke fans are known as some of the most passionate in German football. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: From the cradle to the graveOnce in a lifetime opportunity – The cemetery will only have space for 1,904 graves -- reflecting the year of Schalke's foundation -- and the club says there will not be another site when the entire allocation is taken up. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: From the cradle to the graveStriking success – Schalke's on-field fortunes have improved in recent years to the point where they have brought in leading strikers Raul Gonzalez, who left the club earlier this year, and current Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: From the cradle to the graveLife's a pitch – The cemetery will be laid out in the shape of a stadium, with the miniature pitch located at the centre. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: From the cradle to the grave'Schalke till I die' – The "pitch" will feature the Schalke logo, made up of blue and white flowers, with a goal at each end and benches in the middle of those. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: From the cradle to the graveVeltins-Arena – Schalke's Veltins-Arena was built in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup and can hold over 65,000 fans. Hide Caption 7 of 7And Bruyninckx questioned the position of the player in the cage."The fact the performing player always stays in the central position is also a disadvantage. In a game he has to move and search for the best position to receive the ball."I am also curious to know how one-footed or technically less skilled players are going to react tn the 'Footbonaut'. For me you need to prepare a player for this kind of resource."Bruyninckx also raised concerns over the grueling physical workout which the cage gives a player."Using sweating as a parameter is not a good approach," he said. "Too often coaches think that high intensity delivers high performance. Brain research tells us that if energy is low, learning will go down."So, while the "Footbonaut" is one small step for Dortmund, it could take a giant leap for the device to become a fixture at training grounds across the world. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
79f18c70-d0a2-4313-9cfd-b7924e95acd5 | null | Story highlightsLuca di Montezemolo gives Fernando Alonso "eight out of 10" for 2013 seasonThe Ferrari chairman at Alonso appeared to clash earlier in the yearDi Montezemolo refuses to blame the tires for Ferrari's struggles in 2013Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is the final race of the 2013 seasonTheir relationship may have become fraught during the 2013 Formula One season, so just how does Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo rate the efforts of his star driver Fernando Alonso?"A good eight out of 10," Di Montezemolo told CNN as he reflected on a season where Ferrari has played second fiddle to the all-conquering Red Bull team.The Ferrari chairman resorted to "tweaking" his Spanish driver's ear earlier this season after the double world champion appeared to criticize the team's F138 car at July's Hungarian Grand Prix.But any tension between the two seems to have eased, with Di Montezemolo awarding Alonso the eight mark for his performance this year and comparing him to some of Ferrari's greatest ever drivers."I think he's really a very, very good driver," Di Montezemolo told CNN ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix."I've been with drivers like Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher -- fantastic -- but Alonso in the races is really fantastic.JUST WATCHEDF1 legend on making it big in the U.S.ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHF1 legend on making it big in the U.S. 04:13JUST WATCHEDA crash course in F1 fitnessReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHA crash course in F1 fitness 03:04"Alonso has been also very good in the races to understand when was necessary to push and when it was necessary to calm down to save the tires."Managing the tires proved difficult for most of the drivers on the grid in 2013, with the exception being newly-crowned quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel.Read: Red Bull set new pit stop recordWith the Red Bull maestro taking the checkered flag at each of the last eight grands prix -- a record-breaking run -- Alonso has been left 145 points adrift of the German driver and in second place with one race left in the season.Alonso's cause has not been helped by a series of events which led to the sport's official tire supplier Pirelli ditching their 2013 rubber and reverting to the set it produced for the 2012 season.However, Di Montezemolo refused to blame the tires for a run which has seen Ferrari fail to win a race since May's Spanish Grand Prix -- "I never like to use the word 'excuse'" -- preferring to focus on the success the team enjoyed in the opening rounds of the championship."The first half of the season we won two races, so Ferrari was far more competitive," explained the 66-year-old. "This is a fact ... when the tires were changed we paid a big price.JUST WATCHEDCelebrations at the Red Bull F1 Factory ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCelebrations at the Red Bull F1 Factory 02:32 Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Record breaker – Sebastian Vettel extends his winning habit to eight straight with a peerless victory in the United States Grand Prix. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Race preparation – Vettel is a study of concentration before racing off from pole in the United States Grand Prix.Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Plum job – A Circuit of America's grid girl holds the board assigned to four-time champion and eventual race winner Sebastian Vettel.Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Battling teammates – Red Bull teammates Vettel and Mark Webber are wheel to wheel at the start of the United States Grand Prix.Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Dominant Vettel – Vettel in splendid isolation in his Red Bull as he takes charge of the United States Grand Prix in Texas.Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Record eighth straight win for champion Vettel Patriotic pride – Made in the United States. The staging of F1 at the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas has proved a big success.Hide Caption 6 of 6"I don't like the formula in which a driver has to be careful not to destroy the tires." While happy with the performance of Alonso, who will be partnered by Kimi Raikkonen in 2014 when the Finn returns to the team with which he won the drivers' title in 2007, Di Montezemolo was unable to contain his disappointment with the progress the team has made off the track."Why I am not happy this year is that we haven't been able to develop the car after a very good start of the season," he said. "So that was our problem."Read: Grid girl power -- The glamor behind F1The 2014 season will see a raft of rule changes, most significantly the mandatory use of a 1.6 liter turbocharged V6 engine which incorporates energy recovery systems.KERS, which stores up energy created while braking to provide cars with extra power, is an energy recovery system which is already used in the sport."I am very happy to change rules, because I don't like formulas which aerodynamic means 90% of the performance," said Di Montezemolo, who hopes Ferrari can capitalize on its wealth of automotive design expertise."We are not building aeroplanes or satellites, we're building cars. "Engine, gearbox, suspensions: these are also crucial, particularly for us, because - as we said - our experience in F1 means to transfer technology to our cars." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
88a2bab8-b166-4599-a37a-ea6dd6f5081b | null | Brussels (CNN)With the UK Parliament now suspended until mid-October and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hope of an early general election shattered, the focus of where Brexit is heading turns to Brussels and attempting to read the tea leaves of Britain's bi-weekly "technical talks" with the European Union. Those talks -- rather than full-on negotiations, as EU officials often point out -- will resume on Wednesday, but hopes are not high for any agreements, especially as several hours of discourse last week yielded few results.With 51 days to go until the UK's departure from the bloc on October 31, EU sources say they remain in the dark about what Britain really wants and what its Prime Minister -- having lost his majority -- would even be able to secure from his own Parliament.Boris Johnson is out of Brexit ideas "We believe Boris Johnson wants a deal," a senior EU diplomat told CNN on Tuesday. "We just don't know what type of deal."The diplomat said they had had verbal indications recently from the UK's negotiating team that it may seek a slimmed down version of the EU's trade deal with Canada, but had not yet seen anything in writing to suggest as much.Read More"If anything, from the conversations we have had with British negotiators recently, Britain is looking for a deal that is less encompassing than the one the EU has with Canada," the diplomat added."But it's hard to know because people here (in Brussels) have not seen any proposals, let alone concrete ones."Fall-back optionsMeanwhile, the suggestion of an "all Ireland" deal that would put the customs border in the Irish Sea hasn't been something they have seen solid evidence of either, and cannot be considered a fall-back option, they said.All this has left some suggesting Brexit may not happen at all.At a press conference to unveil the EU's new lineup of commissioners on Tuesday, the incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "We are still in a difficult process. Brexit -- should it happen -- is not the end of something but it is the beginning of our future relationship and I want this relationship as it has been in the past (...) to be a good relationship."That future relationship is what the UK is trying to shape before it closes the book on its past one, much to the EU's annoyance. Hence the deadlock.JUST WATCHEDWatch the chaos unfold as the UK's parliament is suspendedReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWatch the chaos unfold as the UK's parliament is suspended 02:00Someone who will have a big role in steering that future, at least in terms of trade, will be a man from the country whose land border with the UK is the source of that deadlock: Ireland.Phil Hogan, a former agriculture commissioner, is described as "vociferous on Brexit" by the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who said he was sure he would continue to be so in his new role. In the meantime, von der Leyen confirmed the commission has asked its chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to stay on in his role.The UK has no seat at the table, having not fielded commission candidates of its own.All this points towards the logic of another extension beyond the next Brexit deadline on October 31. But EU sources stress they have to be asked for one first, in order to consider it -- something Johnson has said he'd rather be "dead in a ditch" than do.As von der Leyen told the media: "The next steps are completely in the hands and the decision of the United Kingdom."Where those steps will take either side, for now, remains unclear. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
b3e584c2-2242-4035-a90e-9e1e896641f9 | null | Story highlights The wounded 7-year-old survivor came out of a coma on Sunday, prosecutors sayInvestigators are tight-lipped about a possible perpetrator in the killingAuthorities have not ruled out robbery as a motive, a prosecutor says Autopsies show each victim was shot twice in the head, the prosecutor saysThe slaughter at Chevaline. That's what the French media has dubbed last week's daylight execution-style slaying of a British-Iraqi family and a French cyclist at a rural mountain rest stop on the outskirts of the Alpine village popular with outdoor enthusiasts. Each of them -- the man; his wife; a woman believed to be his mother-in-law, and the cyclist -- was found with two gunshot wounds to the head. The couple's 7-year-old daughter was badly beaten and shot. Their 4-year-old daughter hid for hours behind her dead mother's legs. Young girl found alive among bodies in FranceThe attack was, in the words of one French prosecutor, an "unheard-of savagery."JUST WATCHEDPolice seek clues in French shooting ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHPolice seek clues in French shooting 03:32JUST WATCHEDAlps murder mysteryReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAlps murder mystery 02:31JUST WATCHEDWhat led to fatal shooting in France?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWhat led to fatal shooting in France? 01:31Four days after the Wednesday incident outside Chevaline, French and British authorities continued to piece together the puzzle Sunday. Was it a robbery gone bad? A family feud over inheritance? A case of mistaken identity? Or, maybe, one of being at the wrong place at the wrong time?Theories have abounded since investigators found the bodies of British national Saad al-Hilli, his wife Ikbal, and a 74-year-old woman believed to be the mother-in-law. The fourth victim was Sylvain Mollier, a Frenchman who was cycling in the area. About 25 shots were fired, police said.Authorities have been tight-lipped about possible perpetrators and motives, even as the investigation stretched Sunday from France to Britain and they asked Italian and Swiss officials for help. The answers may rest in part with the survivors of the shooting: the couple's two daughters. The 4-year-old, identified in media reports as Zeena, has not given investigators any information about who carried out the attack. She is physically unharmed and will be returned to Britain, French prosecutors said Sunday. She has been under the care of French doctors, watched over by police and British consular officials. Her elder sister, who has been named in media reports as Zainab, is also being protected by police in case of a further threat to her safety. She suffered head wounds and a gunshot wound to the shoulder, but came out of a medically induced coma on Sunday, the French prosecutor's office said Sunday. Speaking to reporters Saturday, French prosecutor Eric Maillaud did not offer ideas as to why or who might have carried out the brutal attack.French investigators travel to UK to probe killingsInvestigators have widened to several square kilometers the search area around the shooting scene in the mountainous Haute-Savoie region.One clue may lie in a report by a cyclist who said he saw a green 4x4 vehicle and a motorbike near the site of the killings.That cyclist, identified as a former member of the Royal Air Force in media reports, discovered the bodies at the rest stop. The engine of al-Hillis' car was still running, according to authorities.The al-Hilli family arrived in France in late August for a camping holiday, Maillaud said. Al-Hilli was an Iraqi-born engineer who lived south of London with his wife and two daughters. He was born in 1962 and was a naturalized British citizen. He worked at Surrey Satellite Technology, a high-tech company owned by EADS -- the aerospace corporation that builds satellites. Neighbor Jack Saltman, in al-Hilli's well-heeled Surrey County community of Claygate, said al-Hilli came from Iraq "many years" ago. The identity of a third person killed in the car is not yet clear, though there has been speculation that she is the mother-in-law. She had a Swedish passport, but her relationship to the others has not been confirmed, Maillaud said.Sweden has granted a number of Iraqis fleeing violence and persecution residence. "There is still some technical evidence that they need to work on before they can fully confirm her identity," Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Linn Duvhammar said. Over the weekend, authorities searched the al-Hilli home. Police plan to question family members, including his brother, Maillaud said. The prosecutor downplayed reports of a conflict between the brothers over an inheritance. The unnamed brother went to police voluntarily after he learned of the deaths, Maillaud said. He returned the next day on his own accord to tell police there had been no conflict with al-Hilli over money.Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the al-Hillis were killed in robbery at the rest stop, and that the cyclist may have been killed after stumbling upon the robbery. The bodies will be released to their families for burial as soon as judicial authorities conclude they are no longer necessary for the inquiry, the prosecutor said.Mystery surrounds French shooting | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
79867d77-3ab8-484f-bf8d-80a0e9c67621 | null | Story highlightsChicago's Lincoln Park Zoo names baby camel Alexander CameltonName inspired by the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" (CNN)Caregivers at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo were inspired by the Broadway hit musical "Hamilton" when they named their new baby camel. JUST WATCHEDLincoln Park Zoo presents "Alexander Camelton"ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLincoln Park Zoo presents "Alexander Camelton" 01:40Introducing Alexander Camelton.The zoo revealed the name -- a nod to one of America's founding fathers Alexander Hamilton -- on International Ungulate Day, which celebrates the diversity among hoofed animals. "We had a keeper who just tossed the name out and it kind of just stuck," said Jillian Braun, public relations manager for the zoo. "Everyone likes a good pun."After hearing the news, "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda showed his appreciation via Twitter.Read More😳🐫 https://t.co/cbhJvQ1qOW— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 6, 2016
Alexander Camelton was born on May 9 inside the zoo's camel enclosure in front of the public and is the first camel calf born there since 1998.James Corden & Lin-Manuel team up for epic 'Carpool Karaoke' The baby Bactrian camel is 4 feet tall and weighed in at 81 pounds at birth. He's the first successful offspring of Nasan and her mate Scooter. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Bactrian camel is critically endangered. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
3baee229-1e70-4c55-acc0-f21a5ca7c2ab | null | Dortmund, Germany (CNN)As a child, Daniel Lörcher remembers hearing the chanting on the terrace at his beloved Borussia Dortmund.Standing on the Südtribüne, amid the raucous black-and-yellow wall of noise, the song began: "Build a tram from Gelsenkirchen to Auschwitz." Gelsenkirchen being the city of Dortmund's fierce rivals, Schalke.Follow @cnnsport
Even now, all these years later, the song about sending Schalke supporters to Auschwitz, where the Nazis murdered Europe's Jews, remains seared into Lörcher's memory.So much so that Lörcher is actively involved in an innovative educational project that takes Dortmund fans to visit concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka. During the period between 1933 and 1945 when Germany was under Hitler's rule, the Nazis used a network of camps in Central and Eastern Europe to kill about 6 million Jews and millions of other people.Dortmund fans wave flags ahead of a Champions League game.Anti-Semitic songs and monkey chants aimed at black players were not unusual in the late '80s and '90s, Lörcher recalls, but it was also the moment he believes football began to wake up to the hatred which had embedded itself within the sport.Read MoreAt clubs like Dortmund, it was the supporters who took control of the fight against racism, working with the club to eradicate the far-right element that had been part of Dortmund's support throughout the 1980s."At the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, the hooligan movement was very strong in Germany, " Lörcher, a former ultra who is now a fan liaison officer at the club, told CNN.Has the world learned the lessons of the Holocaust? I don't think so."In the early 2000s the ultra movement began to change that. The ultras take care of what people should sing in the stadium, and there was a discussion about the words that should be used inside the stadium."Fast-forward to today and Lörcher is an integral part of Dortmund's fight against hate, helping to run a fan project that educates supporters about anti-Semitism. "The supporters are part of the society, and we are a big football club with more than 150,000 members," he says."We are part of German society, and for sure we have to take care and awareness of an important topic."'Clubs take control'Dortmund is not the only club that has been vociferous in its opposition to racism and discrimination.Borussia Dortmund is one of the biggest football clubs in Germany.In January last year, Eintracht Frankfurt president Peter Fischer vowed to ban anyone who supported the far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party from being a member of the club. In response, the AfD filed legal charges against Fischer. Werder Bremen CEO Hubertus Hess-Grunewald also criticized the AfD, claiming that voting for the party was incompatible with the values held by the club.READ: Fan violence, firebombs and teargas force Greek derby to be abandonedREAD: Messi applauded by rival fans after 'extraordinary' attackThe AfD, which has consistently rejected accusations that it is an anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic party, won 12.6% of the vote in the 2017 Federal elections.Its 92 lawmakers who entered the Bundestag comprise of the first far-right party to enter the country's parliament in almost 60 years.For Borussia Dortmund, one of Germany's leading football clubs, the battle against anti-Semitism and racism has been a long and often challenging affair.During the 1980s and 1990s, the club attracted supporters from the far-right, including those from the infamous "Borussenfront" which became one of the country's most feared hooligan gangs.But a combination of the left-leaning Ultra movement and club projects, such as that undertaken at Dortmund, has helped to curb the far-right's influence.JUST WATCHEDA new wave of anti-Semitism plagues GermanyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHA new wave of anti-Semitism plagues Germany 05:30Lörcher is very much at the heart of a new project that helps educate the club's supporters on the horrors of the Holocaust. Running since 2011, the project takes supporters to concentration camps where a number of Jews from Dortmund were murdered.So far it has taken supporters to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Belzec and Treblinka, as well as Zamosc, a town in Nazi-occupied Poland where many Jewish families from Dortmund were transported to."It is just a part of our program, but I would say the impact was very strong," Lörcher told CNN. "Right now we have an initiative against discrimination for supporters. We also educate also our employees who are very interested in this topic, and we have our stewards who are also taking part. "If there is an incident in the stadium, many people come up and say there is an incident and we would like to react."We know that there can be an incident every time, but the reaction on the incident is very powerful."Borussia Dortmund supporters visited Treblinka.Such is the demand to take part in the program that Lörcher often has to turn people away with around 120 people applying for 30 to 35 spaces.Lörcher says that such has been the success of the program that Dortmund has begun to help other clubs devise projects of their won.He now estimates that between 10 and 15 clubs in Germany offer a similar program to Dortmund's.Bayern fans to unveil statue of Kurt Landauer in memory of chairman who rebuilt club after the Holocaust"I think we had this idea of empowering people to give them the feeling they can do positive things with the club, and then it developed," he said of the program."We just came up with the idea that we would like to visit, and then we recognized what we can do with educational programs."The museum of Auschwitz and former concentration camps was an idea to empower people and bring people together in this very important project of learning from history."'Dortmund stands against racism'Situated in the heartland of the industrial Ruhr area, the country's rust belt, Dortmund has long been a hot spot for those with far-right tendencies.Fans arrive at Dortmund's stadium ahead of a match.It is what has made their anti-discrimination work even more vital, according to journalist Felix Tamsut, who has reported extensively on fan culture in Germany."I think generally speaking there are quite a few clubs in Germany that have left-wing, anti-fascist supporters, but not many are situated in the socio-economic area that Dortmund is located in," he said."In terms of the city, in terms of the region, in terms of the history, in terms of the voting pattern, people are more prone to voting for far-right parties. I'm not talking in massive percentages, but still more prone than in the big cities, and that's the reality in which Borussia Dortmund exists."That's what makes their social work with young people even more important. Within that reality, Dortmund stands against racism, against discrimination, particularly against anti-Semitism, against homophobia, against sexism, and it makes its mark."Not too long ago, many people on the famous terrace would sing songs that won't be accepted today, and that has changed largely due to a few ultras groups who engaged and decided to put an end to it."'The word Jew was not a common insult when I went to school...it is now.'While anti-Semitic incidents at the higher levels of German football are sporadic, they are by no means altogether rare.Earlier this month, Ingolstadt's Israeli player Almog Cohen was subjected to anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter by an opposition football fan.The tweeter, allegedly a supporter of FC Union Berlin, told Cohen he should disappear into "the chamber," referencing the gas chambers that were used by the Nazis to murder Jews during the Holocaust.The tweet, posted after Cohen was sent off during his side's 2-0 defeat in Berlin, was condemned by Union, the German Football Association and Israel's ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff. READ: South Korea and North Korea to host Women's World Cup?READ: Footballer banned for racial abuse quits sportIn another incident on the same weekend, fourth-tier club Chemnitzer FC caused outrage after allowing supporters to hold a tribute for a recently deceased supporter who was a well known neo-Nazi.'Jews to the gas': The anti-Semitism shaming Dutch soccerIn a statement the club said: "Chemnitz is an open-minded, tolerant and peaceful city. We distance ourselves emphatically from all racist and right-wing actions and statements."These incidents took place against a backdrop where offenses directed at Jewish people rose nearly 10% last year, according to German police."Generally speaking, the situation is much better than it used to be 20 to 30 years ago, and that's largely thanks to the ultra movement and fan activism in general," Tamsut told CNN."But anti-Semitism is slowly returning to being a thing in German society, so it's bound to have some sort of an effect on the game. "In top level football you're not very likely to feel any antisemitic sentiments, but in some the lower leagues ... that can be a different story."'Identity'A CNN survey of seven European countries conducted in Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, France, Poland, Hungary, and Austria exposed the prevalence of anti-Semitism in 2018.JUST WATCHEDCNN poll reveals anti-Semitism is alive and well in EuropeReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHCNN poll reveals anti-Semitism is alive and well in Europe 01:57In Germany, the poll found that 55% of those surveyed believed that anti-Semitism is a growing problem in the country today.In addition, it also found that 40% of young German adults between the ages of 18 and 34 know little to nothing about the Holocaust.Anti-Semitism is still alive in Germany 70 years after the HolocaustFor Markus Gunnewig, the assistant director at Dortmund's Steinwache Museum, the results are hardly surprising.For the past four years, fans of Borussia Dortmund have been visiting the museum which was once home to the city's most infamous political prison.According to Gunnewig, around 6,600 people were imprisoned at the site between 1933 and 1945, many of whom were tortured, or sent to death camps from the prison."People know the name 'Auschwitz' and they know that 6 million Jews were murdered, but the details were unknown to most people, even teachers," he told CNN"You can't expect students to know if the teachers don't know either."READ: The anti-Semitism shaming Dutch soccerREAD: Inside the $500m football factoryAccording to Gunnewig, there were around 4,500 Jews living in Dortmund when the Nazis rose to power in 1933. Just 100 remained at the end of the Second World War.Gunnewig hopes that the museum's partnership with Borussia Dortmund will help educate supporters about the Holocaust and the fate of the city's Jews during the Holocaust.He believes the work being done by the club is crucial in helping the fight against anti-Semitism and xenophobia within society."History is a very important part of identity, and people are part of this football culture," Gunnewig added.Borussia Dortmund fans display signs in tribute to victims of the Holocaust."For those people, for most people, identity is a pretty important thing. What we have managed to do in past years is to make this National Socialist past and Holocaust part of this local history, and part of many people's identity."So because of their identity as 'Dortmunders' and supporters of the local football club, they are interested in that part of history as well.Visit cnn.com/sport for more news and videos"Those tours we do with the football supporters are part of a huge effort done by the club to fight racism and neo-Nazism. "It's not only concerning the history and identity of those people but the fight of many people against neo-Nazis as well as those in the stadium who, especially in the '80 and early '90s, were very strong and present in the stadium but has luckily changed during the last years."CNN's Atika Shubert and Michael Schwartz reported from Dortmund. James Masters wrote and reported from London. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
006394c9-bb90-4729-b52e-71ae544d0ca4 | null | Story highlights "There's no future for young people here," says a protesterDemonstrators pack the streets of Madrid, marching against labor reform measuresGovernment officials say the labor reforms will reduce unemploymentAbout 5.2 million people in Spain are joblessSpain's largest unions carried out mass protests across the country Sunday in response to labor-market changes announced by the government.Protesters packed the streets of Madrid, marching against measures they said will make it cheaper and easier to fire workers.Sunday's demonstrations were the first major union protests against Spain's new conservative government, which took office two months ago.Spain's unemployment rate is nearly 23%, and its youth unemployment rate is nearly 50%. About 5.2 million people in the country are jobless.Last week Spain's parliament approved the labor reforms, which the nation's Cabinet approved earlier this month.Government officials have argued that the new labor reforms will reduce unemployment and give workers more rights, such as an annual 20-hour paid leave for training."We don't think that. We think unemployment will increase because these reforms directly attack workers," said Ismael Cabrera, a protester.Demonstrators said the reforms -- which also reduce the amount of severance employers must pay -- will further cripple the country.Pedro Munoz, a welder, said he was marching Sunday because he was worried about his grandchildren's future.Business administration student Raquel Tapia Solascasas carried a large pair of cardboard scissors, protesting cutbacks in education."They offer you internships for a year and they fire you without severance pay. There's no future for young people here," she said. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
5b46bdd0-20bb-401c-9839-0df31026eb51 | null | (CNN)Could Cam Newton once again be the Carolina Panthers' Superman and rescue the team? The quarterback -- famed for his touchdown celebration where he mimics Clark Kent ripping off his shirt to reveal the Superman logo underneath -- re-signed with the team where he spent nine years after agreeing to terms on Thursday. Newton, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Panthers in 2011, left in 2019. He spent last season at the New England Patriots, starting 15 games before being released in training camp after Mac Jones became the chosen starter.Together again 😀 pic.twitter.com/PXGaVTvvZX— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 11, 2021
The 32-year-old has been out of work ever since but received the call from his old team after news broke that Panthers starting quarterback Sam Darnold had suffered an incomplete fracture in his right scapula and would miss multiple weeks of action. With a 4-5 record this season, the Panthers are still in with a shot of reaching the playoffs and after Darnold's struggles over the last five weeks, a quarterback change just might be the thing to reinvigorate the squad. Read MoreThe team faces the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday, and while the plan is to play P.J. Walker at quarterback, head coach Matt Rhule did not rule out Newton featuring."We just got to get him here. Get him out, get them physical," he told the media. "Start teaching him what we do. And at the end of day, I talked to Cam and he told me he feels he's healthy and feels great. This is healthy. He's been so healthy. A healthy Cam Newton is a special player. So we'll just take it day by day."In Week 11, Newton could be reunited with his former Panthers coach Ron Rivera as they host the Washington Football Team. Newton celebrates after scoring on a two-yard rushing touchdown against the Denver Broncos on September 8, 2016.Return of the kingNewton and the Panthers had a great deal of success during his time in Charlotte. Through his combination of a big arm and explosive physical traits, Newton was a dominant force in the league for several years, with defenses struggling to stop his dual-threat skills. He helped the team reach the playoffs four times in his nine years there, reaching Super Bowl 50 in 2015. Although the Super Bowl ended in a heartbreaking defeat to the Denver Broncos, it was comfortably Newton's best season in the league, with him being voted the NFL's Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year. Newton celebrates after a touchdown in the fourth quarter during their game against the Los Angeles Rams on September 8, 2019.He has totaled 31,698 passing yards, 190 passing touchdowns, 5,398 rushing yards and 70 rushing scores with the Panthers, as well as holding franchise records for quarterback wins (68), passing yards (29,041), passing touchdowns (182) and rushing touchdowns (58).His return to Carolina didn't go unnoticed by NBA superstar LeBron James, who tweeted: "EXTREMELY HAPPY for Cam!! Back where it all started! Shine brother shine!!"For D.J. Moore, who was drafted by the Panthers in 2018, he believes Newton's return can have a positive impact on the team. Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videosNewton facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in September 2019."I just know that his vibe and his energy is going to hit everybody differently," the wide receiver told the media. "Once everybody gets to understand him, know what he's about, it's going to change everybody's perspective. From the outside, he might look like he's playing around, but that's how he works." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
79e269e3-6042-42d5-ad37-04c3c604838d | null | Story highlightsPolice spokeswoman says attacker picked victims according to ethnicity Attacker, shot by police, dies at hospitalA teacher and student were killed; another student and another teacher were wounded (CNN)The attack on a school in Sweden in which a student and a teacher were killed was motivated by racism, police have told CNN.A police spokeswoman said the conclusion was reached because of "the way (the suspect) dressed and behaved but also how he picked his victims, who had a specific ethnic background." Items found in the man's home contributed to the determination of motive, she said.Two of the victims were immigrants, Swedish police said Friday. One of the people killed was a male from Somalia born in 1998. A male immigrant born in 2000 was among those wounded, but police did not disclose his nationality.Police had previously said they were looking into the "attacker's possible links to right-wing organizations." The man, masked and wielding a sword or knife, killed two people Thursday morning at a school in Trollhattan before police shot him, authorities said. He died at a hospital.Read MoreTwo others -- a teacher and student -- were wounded in the attack on the Kronan primary and middle school. The injured were reported to be in serious condition at the hospital in Trollhattan, hospital officials said."This is a dark day for Sweden," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. "My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, pupils and staff, and the entire community that has been affected. There are no words to describe what they are going through right now."Posing with students before attack?AFP received this photo purportedly showing a masked man with students. An unidentified student gave Agence France-Presse a photo purportedly showing a masked man -- allegedly the person who would commit the attack -- posing with students at the school Thursday morning, AFP reported. The photo shows the man wearing a helmet and holding what appears to be a blade.The student told AFP the photo was taken before the attack; the precise timing of the photo was not immediately known.A student identified as Edona told Sweden's TV4 that students first thought the man was playing a Halloween joke.He was "walking like a soldier, kind of, with a sword in his hand," the student said. But when the man began attacking, the students reacted with horror."We were pretty shocked, all of us," Edona said.Police: 'We fired two shots'Police received an alarm call shortly after 10 a.m. "that a masked man in his 20s had entered the school ... (and was) carrying knife-like weapons in his hands, attacking students and adults at the school," police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg said. "We fired two shots, one of which hit and incapacitated the man so that we could arrest him."Fuxborg said officers found an injured man outside the school and a dead man just inside.On the second floor, officers found the two students who had been wounded in the attack, Fuxborg said.Police evacuated the school.Police spokeswoman Jenny Widen said the two people killed were both male -- a teaching assistant born in 1995 and a student born in 1998.The suspect was born in 1994, she said. 'Tracks of blood'Thord Haraldsson, police superintendent in Vastra Gotaland County, told reporters the assailant first attacked a teacher outside the school."Then he enters the building and meets another one that he attacks," Haraldsson said. "... Then he systematically searches the school building. We can follow tracks of blood in the premises."He walks to the classrooms, knocks on the door, and when (a) pupil opens the door, he is attacked ... stabbed at the spot."This happens in two different classrooms, and one of (the attacked students) is now deceased."Trollhattan is about 420 kilometers (260 miles) west-southwest of Stockholm, the capital.Growing intolerance?The attack prompted many to question how such a violent attack could happen in a country known for its liberal tolerance.Sweden has a population of more than 9 million and accepted at least 80,000 asylum seekers last year. In line with its traditional liberal immigration policies, Sweden takes in the most refugees per capita, by far, of any EU nation. Today, about one in five Swedes has a foreign background. The government provides generous benefits to asylum seekers. They are given housing and a living allowance. They're also allowed to work immediately -- a policy that sets Sweden apart from many other countries. But there is a dark side to this: Some connect the country's immigration policies to a growing intolerance to foreigners and outright racism in some segments of Swedish society. There are also worrying signs that Sweden's model of integration is not working as well as was hoped. The number of hate crimes in Sweden rose 14% from 2013 to 2014, according to the Swedish National Council on Crime Prevention. There were more than 4,000 racist attacks last year. Nearly a quarter of those specifically targeted individuals of African ethnicity, even though less than 2% of Swedes identify as Afro-Swedish. Neighborhoods in cities such as Malmo have controversially been labeled as "ghettos" by Swedish media, which has drawn a connection between the large immigrant populations and rising crime rates and unemployment. Malmo, in particular, has suffered from a series of grenade attacks that, police say, are driven by gang warfare linked to immigrant communities. According to the OECD, Sweden has one of the largest employment gaps between foreign-born and native Swedes. The latest data show that while only 6.5% of the native labor force is unemployed, that number is more than double for foreign-born Swedes at 16.1%. The public has reacted to these trends by shifting further to the right politically. In 2014, the Sweden Democrats campaigned on a staunchly anti-immigration platform. They claimed 13% of the vote, becoming Sweden's third largest political party. Now, Sweden is once again taking in a growing number of refugees, this time from Syria and Iraq. But amid the influx, the attack in Trollhatten is likely to heighten fears of more racist attacks, even in a country as welcoming as Sweden. Follow @faithcnn CNN's Margot Haddad, Richard Morris, Lindsay Isaac, Vasco Cotovio, Jim Stenman, Jason Hanna, Joshua Berlinger and Hande Atay contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
81c2c7fc-acd0-4c51-a436-98b87fb2942d | null | Story highlightsSchool official: Teacher has apologizedOutraged mother posted assignment on FacebookNGO official: 'This is a question about murdering' (CNN)To the teacher, the assignment was a simple question of physics. To critics, it was a tasteless assignment about death at sea.A teacher in the eastern Polish city of Bialystok gave the size of a boat and the number of people on board. The students' assignment? To calculate how many Syrian refugees had to be thrown overboard for the boat to stay afloat and reach Greece.The teacher, Grzegorz Nowik, said it was a matter of holding the students' attention. "Pupils are not interested when I explain the lift of a wooden block floating on water," he said. "I told them it was a joke while saying words to be written down."Read MoreMother: 'I am at a loss for words' Photos: Refugees wait for a boat to a new life Photos: Refugees wait for a boat to a new lifeTens of thousands of migrants have arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos in recent months. In early November a CNN team met little Meryem, who was hit by shrapnel from a barrel bomb in the Idlib province of Syria. The piece of shrapnel very nearly struck her heart, says her mother Amroon who was also hit in the same attack. It tore through her left hand, leaving it with little range of movement.Hide Caption 1 of 5 Photos: Refugees wait for a boat to a new lifeFarah (R), 10, is from Baghdad. She has been waiting with her younger brother and parents for a boat to Athens for two days. When asked why they are leaving, she says, "the situation in Baghdad is not good, that's what daddy said."Hide Caption 2 of 5 Photos: Refugees wait for a boat to a new lifeAli is 15 months old. He's also waiting to get on a boat to Athens. His hometown of Jarablus in northern Syria is an ISIS stronghold. His uncle, who he never got to meet, was one of the first five people beheaded for attempting to resist ISIS in Jarablus.Hide Caption 3 of 5 Photos: Refugees wait for a boat to a new lifeEmine and Wahibe, aged 2.5 and 4, respectively, are sisters from Aleppo, Syria. They are waiting with their parents for the boat to take them to Athens.Hide Caption 4 of 5 Photos: Refugees wait for a boat to a new lifeConfiscated boat motors at the customs area in Lesbos. Officers there say this is just a tiny fraction of the motors they have impounded from refugee dinghies coming to the island from Turkey.Hide Caption 5 of 5But if it was a joke, it was to many people a tasteless one, coming as it did when families trying to escape the war in Syria are drowning on a regular basis.And one mother, upon seeing the assignment in her daughter's notebook, was not amused. She photographed the assignment and posted it on her Facebook page."4 refugees from Syria are to reach Greece on a raft which is 1m x 2 m x 20cm and (illegible) 800kg/m2," the assignment said. "Calculate how many refugees you need to push off the raft for them to reach their goal if each of them weigh 60kg.""This is the assignment made by a public schoolteacher in Białystok," the mother wrote, according to Sputnik News, an official Russian news agency. "I am lost for words trying to comment on this."School officials: If repeated, teacher will be firedSchool officials did not appreciate the joke, either. "We will terminate our cooperation immediately if it happens again," said Elzbieta Stasiewicz, deputy director of the Bialystok Gymnasium. "The teacher apologized and repented for what he had done."And the assignment drew criticism as well from Anna Mierzynska, of the Normal Bialystock Association, a group that promotes acceptance of multiculturalism."This test question has some kind of subtext, not expressed directly -- how many people must die so that anyone could survive," Mierzynska said. "This is question about murdering."Follow @faithcnn | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
82f8b901-2b59-4f73-8ca4-5ae8eefbd9e4 | null | (CNN)Meteorologist Jeremy Kappell says he could tell he was fumbling his words on air last week, but like any TV journalist, he said he had to keep going.The former weatherman for WHEC-TV defended himself on "CNN Tonight" with Don Lemon Thursday night."It was a mispronunciation and I could tell that I was fumbling the words a little bit. The moment I realized that I was fumbling I immediately put the emphasis on King, not knowing that I had made a major error," Kappell told Lemon. "I did what all of us journalists do. I moved on."Kappell was fired last Sunday after saying a racial slur on a January 4 broadcast. During the station's Friday night broadcast, Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park" when referring to a downtown park named after Martin Luther King Jr. in Rochester, New York. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the Friday night broadcast.Read MoreRead statement from News10NBC's General ManagerWhen asked why it took him time to respond, Kappell said he didn't even know what it was he said. "Not only did I not hear it, but the other three people that were in the studio at the time with me, my co-anchors, they also did not hear it. The people in the control room, also no one came forward and said they heard it, either," Kappell said.Lemon backed Kappell in his account and related to his situation."I thought that your apology was sincere. That's my opinion. And I don't understand why you were fired. We make mistakes," Lemon said. Al Roker defends the meteorologist who was fired for a racist slurAnd he isn't the only journalist backing Kappell. Longtime weatherman Al Roker, a personality on NBC's "Today" show later defended Kappell. Kappell "made an unfortunate flub and should be given the chance to apologize" on the station, Roker wrote on social media. "Anyone who has done live tv and screwed up (google any number of ones I've done) understands," Roker wrote on social media.But even with the support of notable figures in the media, Kappell has been on the defense on social media."What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook last Monday night.Viewers of Kappell's broadcast were split on whether they think he intentionally or accidentally used the slur.You are out of your mind to think I would jeopardize future of my family and career to insert a racial slur against the GREATEST civil rights leader of all time?!?! #Ridiculous #Hateful #Judgemental and #youdontknowthefirsthingaboutme! https://t.co/pjlBIaKGhE— Jeremy Kappell (@JeremyKappell) January 7, 2019
In response to a critic who said the on-air remark was "racist and willful," Kappell responded: "You are out of your mind to think I would jeopardize future of my family and career to insert a racial slur against the GREATEST civil rights leader of all time?!?! #Ridiculous #Hateful #Judgemental and #youdontknowthefirsthingaboutme!"CNN's Joe Sutton, Amir Vera and Holly Yan contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
8132950e-6840-4eae-8227-49e3dc53b729 | null | Story highlightsMan jailed following attack in nightclub that injured 22 peopleLengthy sentence handed out; acid attacks are on the rise in the UK (CNN)A man convicted of spraying acid in a crowded London nightclub injuring 22 people has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the city's Metropolitan Police said.Arthur Collins, 25, was convicted in November of five counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and nine counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Sixteen people suffered serious burns as a result of the incident, which police said resulted from a dance floor argument at the Mangle nightclub in the London borough of Hackney, in April."Collins went to the nightclub that night with a bottle of a noxious substance with the intent to use it to inflict serious harm. He indiscriminately and recklessly sprayed the substance in a crowded place, knowing full well the danger this would pose to a large number of people," said Hackney Borough commander, Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Laurence."This was a barbaric and cowardly act."JUST WATCHEDAcid attacks on the rise in BritainReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAcid attacks on the rise in Britain 03:42Read MoreDuring his trial, Collins told the court he didn't know the bottle contained acid; he thought it was a liquid date rape drug, which he took from two men after overhearing them planning to spike a drink, the Press Association reported. Acid attacks in London have increased dramatically in recent years, and police and lawmakers are now mulling ways to make weaponized acid, or "face melters," more difficult to obtain. Sales to minors are now banned. Special report: Torture in a bottleJUST WATCHEDAcid attacks are 'torture in a bottle'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAcid attacks are 'torture in a bottle' 00:54Laugh and jokeCollins squirted the bottle in the face of the man with whom he was arguing, the court heard. He then indiscriminately sprayed it twice more, hitting a number of clubgoers, the report released by the Metropolitan Police said. "Victims described seeing 'steam' rise above them and there being a chemical smell which made them choke," it says. Injuries included chemical burns to some of the victims' faces and bodies, and eye injuries in at least two cases. A still from security camera footage, which shows the altercation between Arthur Collins and an unidentified manThe perpetrator stayed in the club for almost an hour after the attack as police and emergency services arrived to tend to victims, the report said. He was arrested at a residential address several days after the attack. It added that Collins was captured on camera appearing to laugh and joke as distressed revelers, who had fled the venue, were desperately seeking help at various hospitals.The maximum sentence for acid attacks is life imprisonment, and in September, a burglar who sprayed acid in the eyes of an elderly woman whose house he was robbing was jailed for a similar period. Collins has a daughter with a British reality star, Ferne McCann, British media reports. The couple are no longer together.
Rising number of incidentsIn 2016, 454 acid attacks were reported across London, up from 261 the year before, and 166 in 2014. "Most of the products can be bought off the shelf -- so drain cleaner, oven cleaner -- there are different types of sulfuric acid you can buy, and ammonia," Hackney borough police Chief Superintendent Simon Laurence told CNN earlier this year.Police have suggested that gang members may be switching to acid over knives and guns, as the liquid is harder to detect. "Acid throwing has been adopted by urban street gangs in a way that perhaps we haven't seen for a very long time," Laurence said.And just like knife and gun crimes, acid attacks have become a predominantly male-on-male problem.The attacks can disfigure their victims profoundly, leaving them with both physical and psychologically life-changing injuries."They know that acid can be very damaging and very destructive and they are in many ways seeking to mark their victim with an act of dominance or a mark of control, demonstrating their power and their ability to get to you at any time," Simon Harding, a criminologist from Middlesex University London says. "They call (acid) 'torture in a bottle' and they want to be able to take their rival out of the game."CNN's Angela Dewan, Muhammad Darwish, Edward Kiernan and Jamie Gray contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
dc6c4ff6-151e-4223-ac82-1cdeeb8bb65c | null | (CNN)Naomi Osaka was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round Monday as the two-time grand slam champion was flummoxed on the grass by Yulia Putintseva.The 24-year-old Kazakh might be ranked only 39th in the world but former world No.1 Osaka had no answer to an opponent she was also beaten by at the Birmingham Classic last month.READ: 15-year-old Cori Gauff shocks Venus Williams Putintseva took the first set on a tie break and then broke Osaka in the second set's fifth and seventh games to win the match 7-6 (7-4) 6-2.Read MoreHaving beaten players in the world's top 10 seven times in her career, Putintseva never looked fazed against Osaka, unsettling the 21-year-old with her lethal backhand slice.Naomi Osaka has failed to beat Yulia Putintseva in three meetings.READ: Naomi Osaka: An icon of the new JapanREAD: Naomi Osaka can at least 10 majors, Li Na saysREAD: Why Osaka could be the next Serena WilliamsThis was the first time Putintseva had played on Wimbledon's Centre Court, but you wouldn't have noticed as she capitalized on Osaka's error-strewn performance."I did a good job," Putintseva told the BBC. "I think my grass court play is getting better."Osaka cut her news conference short, saying she was about to cry, after being asked whether the weight of expectation was proving too much after winning two grand slams and reaching world No.1.JUST WATCHEDRise of Naomi OsakaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHRise of Naomi Osaka 03:07'Distracted'In the days following her Australian Open victory, Osaka split from her coach Sascha Bajin, who had previously worked as a hitting partner to both Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, and was named as the inaugural WTA Coach of the Year at the end of 2018 -- his first year as a head coach.The recognition was reward for a 12-month period that had seen Osaka claim a maiden major title at the US Open, as well as a first WTA Premier Mandatory win at the Indian Wells Open.Reflecting on Osaka's first-round exit, tennis great John McEnroe questioned why the decision had been made to no longer work with Bajin, given the success she had had with the German."I don't think Naomi is very comfortable on grass," McEnroe told the BBC. "You need that intensity and be on it. She just does not look like she's all there."She's distracted, a lot of things have happened and it seems she has lost her confidence, which is amazing from where she was two or three months ago." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
951485d9-19d1-45e5-851c-c35eedc75793 | null | (CNN)On Sunday, in front of packed Ricardo Torno circuit in Valencia, Spain, the curtain finally fell on the extraordinary career of the most iconic motorcycle racer in history, Valentino Rossi.Riding out on the warm-up lap having qualified in a highly respectable 10th place, the Italian was greeted by a standing ovation from beneath an ocean of yellow flags -- his signature color rippling along the 76,226-person crowd in the grandstands under bright blue skies.After a 26 year career, with 432 Grand Prix starts, 115 wins, 235 podiums and 65 poles across all three classes of the world championship, it was a fittingly vibrant setting for one of sport's most charismatic personalities to take his final bow.'I'm ready'"It's a sad moment, it's difficult because it's the end of my career, but on the other side I'm very happy, I always enjoy a lot, and it's a long, long time, a long career, with a lot of great results, so it was a good journey," Rossi told CNN Sport ahead of the race.Read More"Riding motorcycles and racing in MotoGP is always my first passion, from when I was a child. If I think of this moment, two or three years ago, I was desperate, but now I'm ready, it's the time. It's enough."The 42-year-old said he had to persuade his family and friends that the time had come for him to step off his storied Yamaha YZR M1. "It was difficult, especially with my mother, my father and my close friends, to say to them I would stop at the end of the season, because everybody said, 'No, you have to continue. You have to continue,' but I was ready, and I convinced them."READ: Lewis Hamilton keeps F1 title hopes alive in Sao Paulo GP winRossi conceded that finally relinquishing his dream of a 10th world title rankled just a little. "It's shame because 10 is a great number, it's like that you close a circle, and I was a lot of times very close to the 10th one, and I think I deserved the 10th one for my speed and for my career, but unfortunately it's like this, but I cannot complain with nine championships."Valentino Rossi waves at the end of the Valencia Motorcycle Grand Prix.Perhaps the most famous of those 'nearly' moments came under a shroud of controversy, after the infamous 2015 clash with Marc Márquez at the Malaysia MotoGP in Sepang, when the Italian was censured after appearing to aim a kick at the Spaniard, knocking him into the gravel during a fractious battle. Penalized with a points deduction and a back of the grid start in the final race of the season, he was unable to claim the title from Jorge Lorenzo. Even six years on, Rossi has not forgiven his younger rival."2015 was a very bad moment, maybe the worst moment of my career," he told CNN. "All the season I had a great fight with Jorge Lorenzo, who was my teammate in Yamaha, and at the end unfortunately another rider decided that I don't have to win the championship, so Marc Márquez decided that I don't have to become world champion, for the 10th time."Dirt, danger and big, big air: Welcome to Red Bull ImaginationMárquez has always denied that he had any intention of scuppering Rossi's title bid, but the Italian remains unconvinced, and hatchets remain unburied."From that moment, it was not the same. For me, it changed a lot the feeling that I have with MotoGP, and also it was very bad for MotoGP because it was not able to manage this situation, and from that moment we don't have any relationship," Rossi continued. Asked by CNN if he had a message for the Catalan, he roared with laughter. "No," he answered flatly, "I don't have a message."Rossi did not name Márquez in his list of major rivalries, picking instead three others from his illustrious career. "I had great rivalries, I enjoy always a lot, I think the best ones are with Max Biaggi, with the 500 and in MotoGP, and also with [Casey] Stoner because he was very fast and was a great talent, and with Jorge Lorenzo. These three I enjoy a lot, sometimes I won, sometimes I lose, but it was always a great fight."Rossi finished a respectable 10th in the Valencia GP to close out his stunning MotoGP career.Rossi's impact on MotoGP is impossible to quantify, in part because he has been an ever-present in the premier class since the MotoGP brand was created, in 2002. "Imagine, that I was here in the first race of MotoGP because before the name was not MotoGP, so from the beginning of MotoGP, you have Valentino Rossi," the Italian laughed.Now, as the sport finally parts ways with its most celebrated competitor, Rossi sees a bright future ahead for it without him, not least with a new crop of Italian talent on the grid.A bright future"For the future, we have a lot of very fast Italian riders that can fight for the championship, like [Pecco] Bagnaia, like [Francesco] Morbidelli, and I will cheer for them," he told CNN.In a career full of joyful moments and great successes, Rossi also harked back to one of MotoGP's most tragic moments, the death of Marco Simoncelli during the Malaysia Grand Prix 10 years ago. He admitted that he often still thinks of his fallen compatriot."MotoGP lost a great rider, but I lost a great friend because we always trained together and we stay a lot together during the normal life," Rossi told CNN. "The memory of Marco is still very light, not just for me, but for all the paddock because he was a very funny guy. It's already 10 years, but it looks a lot less because a lot of times I dream about Marco, and it's like sometimes we met."Fans came out in full force for the Italian legend in his last MotoGP appearance.The sense of occasion as Rossi finally took his place on the grid in Valencia was palpable, even if he was starting from the fourth row. Curiously, the date of the race lent the occasion an extra note of stunning symmetry: 11/14/21 -- add those numbers together and they come to, you guessed it, 46: Rossi's iconic racing number.Pecco Bagnaia: Wild wins, pop videos, and a famous mentor: why Italian is MotoGPs rising starWith stars ranging from Tom Cruise, Chris Hemsworth, Keanu Reeves, and the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Pirlo recording tributes to Rossi, social media was also abuzz with anticipation.In the event, the race itself was a tightly fought one, with Jorge Martin holding an early lead, before being hauled in by fellow Ducati rider and Rossi protégé, Pecco Bagnaia. The young Italian was sporting a specially designed helmet for the race, emblazoned with the number 46, and the words 'Che Spettacolo!', or 'What a Show!'Perhaps fittingly, Bagnaia took that number across the line to victory, ahead of a historic first ever Ducati podium lockout, ensuring the Bologna outfit added the team title to the constructor's title it had already clinched."It was incredible, incredible," Bagnaia told the official MotoGP channel after the race. "The only way possible to celebrate [Rossi] was to win with his helmet, so there was Vale with me, on the top of the podium, so I'm so happy."A fan writes a thank you message to Rossi on a mural dedicated to him before the Valencia GP.Rossi held his 10th place, underscoring the fact that, even at 42, he can still more than hold his own in a premier class race.Close friend and Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo waved the checkered flag as the Italian crossed the line. A swarm of fans and riders surrounded him under a cloud of yellow smoke after the flag, before he returned to a guard of honor in the packed and applauding paddock, eventually standing on the saddle of his Yamaha amid the throng to wave at his now former colleagues.Two new chaptersRossi will not be stepping away from racing just yet, however. "I will race with cars next year, with GT cars in some endurance championships in Europe," he told CNN. "And you have also a very good championship in America that is called IMSA, and maybe one time, I will come to race in the US.""I always drive racing cars, because it's my great passion. I started with a go kart so I have some good experience, and it's fun to drive cars. And also because if you are a bit more older, it's not so bad because it's more easy physically, and I like to stay on the track, I like to be a driver, so we will see. I don't know my potential, we need to wait for next year."Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videosThe other great new challenge awaiting the Italian is fatherhood; his partner -- former model Francesca Sofia Novello -- is expecting their first child."It's fantastic, you know," he told CNN. "It's the first time, when I know the news I was very happy because I think it's the right moment, and I think it's a new chapter of life, and I think it will be very funny." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
226f088e-66bd-4783-956d-5b19f2b98b63 | null | (CNN)Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians will consult with Native American leaders as the franchise continues looking into the path forward for the team's name."We will engage Native American leaders to better understand their perspectives," team owner Paul Dolan said in a statement. Dolan said he had met with players and team manager Terry Francona who also want to help the team work through the process."Our players care about the organization and feel strongly about social justice and racial equality," Dolan said. "I support their interest in using their platform to unite our city and our nation through their actions."Dolan said he would also meet with local leaders, and listen to the views of the fans, partners and employees.Read More"We feel a real sense of urgency to discuss these perspectives with key stakeholders while also taking the time needed to ensure those conversations are inclusive and meaningful," he added.Sports teams with names based on Native Americans -- including the MLB's Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves -- are facing pressure to re-examine their names as more Americans directly address racism.The National Football League's Washington franchise, formerly known as the Washington Redskins, announced on Thursday that it will be called the "Washington Football Team" until a new name is selected. The Atlanta Braves said earlier this month that the franchise's team name will not change but the team will look into the use of the Tomahawk Chop, an arm movement done by fans to cheer on the team.Cleveland previously removed its "Chief Wahoo" logo, a racist caricature of a Native American character, from team uniforms after the 2018 season.Earlier this month, the team told CNN it is "committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality."Cleveland Indians said in a statement Thursday the players feel strongly about social justice and racial equality. Following the release of that statement, Francona said that he believed it was time to change the team's name."I know in the past, when I've been asked about, whether it's our name or the Chief Wahoo, I think I would usually answer and say I know that we're never trying to be disrespectful. And I still feel that way. But I don't think that's a good enough answer today. I think it's time to move forward. It's a very difficult subject. It's also delicate," he said."Even at my age, you don't want to be too old to learn or to realize that, maybe I've been ignorant of some things, and to be ashamed of it, and to try to be better." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
6b69ef73-86d8-4c76-9574-9091e68eabba | null | (CNN)A MotoGP rider avoiding serious injury after jumping off his bike. Major US athletes and sports organizations taking a stand followiing the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake. Lionel Messi saying he wants to leave Barcelona. A four-year-old hitting a hole-in-one. Here are the must-see videos of the week from the world of sport. MotoGP dramaJUST WATCHEDMaverick Viñales dodges disaster after bailing out at 228 kphReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMaverick Viñales dodges disaster after bailing out at 228 kph 00:56A week after miraculously avoiding a flying motorcycle that almost hit him at high speed, Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales was counting his lucky stars for a second time after a terrifying incident during Sunday's Styrian MotoGP in Austria.Messi on the move?JUST WATCHEDLionel Messi and Barcelona: The highs and lowsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLionel Messi and Barcelona: The highs and lows 02:09He's one of the world's greatest ever players, who appeared destined to be a one-club man. But now Lionel Messi's relationship with Barcelona looks to be irreparably fractured. Read More'Bubble life'JUST WATCHED'I feel safe' at US Open, says Alexander ZverevReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'I feel safe' at US Open, says Alexander Zverev 04:07Germany's Alexander Zverev is among those tennis stars living inside tbe US Open "bubble" right now -- he's seeing it as a "once in a lifetime experience." Taking a standJUST WATCHEDProfessional athletes take stand for Kenosha protestsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHProfessional athletes take stand for Kenosha protests 04:26Across the sports world in the US, athletes held an unprecedented wildcat strike, refusing to play their regularly scheduled games. The decision started with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and stemmed from the police shooting of Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.SolidarityJUST WATCHEDKenny Smith walks off set in solidarity with NBA players ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHKenny Smith walks off set in solidarity with NBA players 03:21"Inside the NBA" analyst Kenny Smith walked off his show in solidarity with NBA players boycotting the police shooting of Blake.And finally ...JUST WATCHEDSee four-year-old hit a hole-in-oneReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSee four-year-old hit a hole-in-one 01:03The odds of the average golfer making a hole-in-one are 12,000 to 1, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry. One four-year-old has just defied the odds. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
af774f29-3737-434f-8ed5-226c5e2f98bb | null | London (CNN)Members of a human trafficking gang were jailed last week in the UK, described by the trial judge as the biggest modern-day slavery network ever identified in the country. The gang is thought to have made more than £2 million ($2.5 million) from trafficking its victims from Poland. Five men and three women, all originally from Poland, were sentenced for a total of more than 55 years. Some had been sentenced in February, but reporting restrictions on the case prevented them being named until last Friday.Read MorePolice believe there were up to 400 victims in all. Aged from 17 to their 60s, they were promised jobs and accommodation in the UK, but were forced to work at farms and waste recycling centers in the West Midlands, and had most of their salaries taken by traffickers. Some worked for just 50p (63 cents) an hour.CNN Freedom Project: More on modern slavery They were made to live in cramped housing, some without working toilets or heating. Some victims said they were forced to wash in canal water and fed out-of-date food; some were beaten.A property where some of the victims lived.Treated as 'commodities' Police began investigating in February 2015, after two victims escaped their captors and were helped by slavery charity Hope for Justice. They escaped ISIS. Then they got sucked into Baghdad's sex trafficking underworld Detective chief inspector Nick Dale, senior investigating officer, said the gang treated its victims as "commodities purely for their own greed."He said that if victims objected to their treatment, they were beaten or threatened with violence and were told family members in Poland would be attacked. Some were told they would be taken to the woods to dig their own graves, Dale said."Most felt powerless to escape, with no knowledge of the area, little or no English language skills, and no-one to turn to for help," Dale added. "Their lives were reduced to misery and they all have the physical and psychological scars of their exploitation."'A growing problem'The charity Salvation Army provides outreach and accommodation for traffickineg survivors, and supported some of the victims in this case. Emilie Martin, of the group's anti-trafficking and modern slavery unit, told CNN that labor trafficking is a growing problem in the UK."It used to be that our referrals were predominantly for female exploitation and forced prostitution, but with awareness training people are starting to notice different kinds of exploitation and police are realizing labor exploitation is very much on the increase," she said.Report claims thousands of North Korean women sold into sex slavery in ChinaShe added that exploitation of Eastern Europeans was increasing.In 2017, 6,837 potential slavery victims were identified in the UK, according to the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery. Albania was the most common country of origin among adults, followed by Vietnam and China. Romania and Poland were also among the 10 most common origin countries.Labor exploitation was the most reported, followed by sexual exploitation.Read: US adds Saudi Arabia and Cuba to worst human traffickers listIn May 2018, a report by a group of UK lawmakers said that sex trafficking was taking place on what one lawmaker called an "industrial scale" across England and Wales, with huge numbers of women, predominantly from Eastern Europe, being trafficked into "pop-up" brothels. More than a third of potential victims were Romanian.It also noted that organized crime groups "increasingly dominate the sexual exploitation of women."In 2015 the UK introduced the Modern Slavery Act, which gave crime agencies new tools for tackling trafficking, including a maximum life sentence for perpetrators. In an independent review published earlier this year, a lawmaker described the act as "world leading," but said there were still too few convictions.Martin said labor trafficking victims weren't always vulnerable people, but simply job seekers who were being tricked by deceitful traffickers into going to the UK, and then exploited."Some people are very educated, well qualified individuals applying for what looks like a genuine role only to find themselves in a situation of exploitation," she said. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
b6d020b3-0f0c-4ba4-a2fc-b700b129cbf8 | null | (CNN)At least 110 people have died in the Brazilian mountain city of Petropolis, local officials said Thursday, after heavy rains triggered landslides that washed out streets, swept away cars and buried homes.JUST WATCHEDDramatic footage shows flood carrying car after torrential rainReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDramatic footage shows flood carrying car after torrential rain 00:34Another 134 people are missing, according to the Civil Defense of Rio, and continued heavy rains that forced the evacuation of another neighborhood in the city on Thursday could cause that number to rise. Rainfall on Tuesday afternoon alone was more than the historical average for the whole of February, according to the Civil Defense of Rio.Floodwaters raced through hillside neighborhoods, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Brazil's Civil Defense Secretariat said on Tuesday that 269 landslides had been recorded, CNN affiliate CNN Brasil reported. The search for survivors continues.Flood waters swept cars through the city streets.Search and rescue teams on Wednesday were wading through mud, scanning the wreckage for survivors. The National Civil Defense said it had saved 24 people, but that more than 439 people had lost their homes and rescue efforts were ongoing. Read More"The work continues and we will do the possible and the impossible to save lives," Rio de Janeiro state governor, Claudio Castro, said Wednesday in a post on Twitter, where he's been sharing updates.A man carries a dog away from an affected area.On Thursday, salesman Luis Felipe de Oliveira was still searching for his missing brother and grandmother. "They are buried, but we don´t know if they are dead or alive," he told CNN. Rescuers are focusing on other homes in the neighborhood where the two lived, he said, so one of his brothers went to the site to dig through the mud. "I tell myself that I will find them alive. But I am prepared for the worst," Oliveira added.Nestled in the hills north of the capital Rio de Janiero, Petropolis, nicknamed the "Imperial City" for its popularity among Brazil's monarchy in the 19th century, is known for its palatial architecture, grand theaters and museums. On Wednesday, photos and footage showed swathes of the majestic city in ruins.Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, who was in Moscow when the landslides began on Tuesday and then traveled onward to Hungary, is expected to visit Petrópolis on Friday. He said Wednesday that he had spoken to ministers and asked for "immediate assistance" to be sent to the victims.Since the 1960s, southern Brazil has experienced an increase in both the number of extreme rain events and the mean amount of rainfall, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is partly explained by natural variability in weather patterns, but also because of climate change, as well as aerosols and the depletion of ozone in the atmosphere. Average global temperatures are now at least 1.1 degrees Celsius higher than they were before industrialization. Warming of 2C would mean even more intense and frequent of extreme rain events and flooding in southern Brazil, according to the IPCC.Scientists say the world needs to make deep, sustained cuts to greenhouse gases, primarily by transitioning away from fossil fuels, to contain global warming to 1.5C.Brazil has seen a number of natural disasters in recent months.At the beginning of February at least 24 people died after heavy rain battered São Paulo, home to Brazil's financial center, triggering floods and landslides across the southeastern Brazilian state.More than 1,546 families were displaced, according to a statement released by the State Civil Defense, which also said that at least eight children died in the disaster.And at the end of December it was announced that the death toll from floods and heavy rain, which had blighted the Brazilian state of Bahia since November, had risen to 20.Flooding also caused two dams to burst and the displacement of an estimated 62,800 people, state officials say. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
f9981c9e-32e7-4a00-a0f4-7f8c1df6e627 | null | (CNN)Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration "didn't see," either Delta or Omicron coronavirus variants coming, appearing to reinforce the perception that the federal response was caught flat-footed by the more severe Delta variant that swept over the country in the summertime."We didn't see Delta coming. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn't see Delta coming," Harris told the Los Angeles Times in a year-end interview. "We didn't see Omicron coming. And that's the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants."Inside the meeting that led to Biden's stark warning about the Omicron winterA Harris adviser told CNN that the vice president was referring to "the exact kind of mutation," and not the prevalence of the variants themselves. CNN has provided the official anonymity in order to more freely discuss Harris' comments. "The vice president's comments referred to the exact kind of mutation," the adviser told CNN. "The administration knew mutations were possible, it's the reason we ordered extra tests, extra gear and extra PPE. It is the reason the President, vice president and our entire administration warned early and often that the best way to get on the other side of the pandemic is to get vaccinated. We were and continue to be prepared."But Harris' comments -- as reported -- fly in the face of an administration who has gone to great lengths to project competence and make clear to the American people that they are on top of the virus.Read MoreStill, the adviser argued Harris' comments need more context.It's not clear yet if Omicron is a milder variant. But its rapid spread is certain to overwhelm hospitals, experts say"She and the President have warned for months, they said the best way to get on the other side of this is to get vaccinated. Why were they doing that? Because they were clear mutations could occur," the adviser said.The comments come at a time when the White House is struggling to return the country back to normal from the pandemic, facing a rise of cases across the country that threaten to derail a normal holiday season as promised. "I get it. I get it. I totally get it," Harris told the paper. "I mean, you know, one of the concerns that I have is the undiagnosed and untreated trauma at various degrees that everyone has experienced."Research is still early on the virulence of the Omicron coronavirus variant, but what is clear, experts say, is that it's poised to spread rapidly across the US and could overwhelm a battered US health care system.The variant is expected to become the "dominant strain" in the coming weeks, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Friday.No victory just yetDespite Biden declaring "independence" from the virus in July, Harris said that did not equate to declaring victory."We have not been victorious over it," she said. "I don't think that in any regard anyone can claim victory when, you know, there are 800,000 people who are dead because of this virus."A holiday of unease in a time of Covid-19 spikes and sick jokesThe vice president identified vaccine misinformation as a "singular regret," the Times reported. Harris said she underestimated the role misinformation would play in extending the pandemic, according to the Times."I would take that more seriously," she said of the misinformation. "The biggest threat still to the American people is the threat to the unvaccinated. And most people who believe in the efficacy of the vaccine and the seriousness of the virus have been vaccinated. That troubles me deeply."CNN's Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report. | politics | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
1d56dcdb-17bf-4079-9099-7e0841989e8c | null | (CNN)Bundesliga club RB Leipzig outplayed Tottenham Hotspur to take charge of their Champions League last-16 tie.There was another winner from Wednesday's game in Leipzig coach Julien Nagelsmann, who set up his team from the outset to outrun and outpress Jose Mourinho's Spurs, as the 32-year-old German further burnished his growing reputation as a manager.Nagelsmann is not a huge fan of his 'Mini Mourinho' nickname, but Leipzig's performance had all the hallmarks of peak Mourinho -- strategy, tactics and most importantly a group of players capable of delivering their coach's gameplan.True, this was a weakened Spurs missing the likes of Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, but the manner of Leipzig's dominance will be a worry for Mourinho as he contemplates how his team can get the better of the Bundesliga team in the second leg on March 10.The game's decisive moment came just before the hour when Ben Davies clumsily fouled Konrad Laimer to concede a penalty, which Timo Werner cooly dispatched.Timo Werner's second-half penalty decided the game in RB Leipzig's favor.Read MoreREAD: Teen Haaland stuns PSGLeipzig were well worth their win and the German club probably should have won more comfortably than by a single goal.Soon after the penalty, Patrik Schick passed up a great chance to extend Leipzig's lead following a flowing move but his shot was beaten away by Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.Both Werner and Schick passed up a succession of chances as Leipzig ripped through Spurs' defense almost at will. Angelino also hit the post for the visitors in the first half.Julien Nagelsman reacts during the Champions League tie against Spurs.'Fight without bullets'After falling behind, Spurs upped their game and Leipzig keeper Péter Gulácsi did brilliantly to tip Giovani Lo Celso's free-kick on to the post.Last season, Spurs reached the Champions League final before losing to Liverpool, but the London club's campaign was marked by some remarkable comeback performances against Manchester City and Ajax.They will need to come up with something similarly special in Saxony next month."There is a lot of quality in Leipzig and they showed it today," Lloris told BT Sport. "Because of all the circumstances against us in the past few weeks and months we have to stay positive. Not to find excuses ... we have to be ready to fight."We're not really happy with the result, but we did it last season -- let's hope we try to create another story."Werner (second left) has scored over a third of RB Leipzig's goals this season.Mourinho attributed his team's defeat to his injury-depleted squad, adding that neither Erik Lamela nor Tanguy Ndombele, who came on as second-half substitutes, were fit enough to last the 90 minutes."They did everything they could do," said Mourinho of his team. "Amazing group, amazing guys who try everything. This is our situation -- it's like going to fight with a gun without bullets."I'm not worried with the 1-0 -- we can go there and win. What worries me is that these are our players for the next however many matches."We are really in trouble. If it was just this game I'd say no problem but we have FA Cup and Premier League games."Jose Mourinho is concerned by Tottenham's mounting injury list.Tottenham's next match is away at Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
69c23f2f-2dc3-4c69-99bb-56e237d432b2 | null | (CNN)Two Turkish journalists from the country's opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper have been released on bail after spending more than a year in pretrial detention on terror-related charges.Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu and investigative journalist Ahmet Sık were among more than a dozen journalists and staff from Cumhuriyet to be placed on trial accused of supporting terror organizations operating in Turkey.At a hearing Friday, a court in Silivri, outside Istanbul, ruled the two men should be released but the charges against them still stand.The newspaper's chairman, Akin Atalay, remains in custody, however.The trial, which began in July, is seen as a test of press freedom. The journalists and staff of Cumhuriyet, a nearly century-old secular opposition newspaper, were swept up as authorities clamped down on dissent following an attempted coup in 2016.Read MoreCumhuriyet has remained critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, despite the crackdown.Sık, one of Turkey's most prominent investigative journalists, was tried and imprisoned before for a book he wrote focusing on the infiltration of the Turkish police force by followers of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.He and his Cumhuriyet colleagues are now accused of aiding members of Gulen's movement -- which Turkey says was behind the coup attempt -- in addition to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Gulen has denied involvement in the failed coup.Colleagues welcome the release of Sabuncu, second left, and Sık, second right, on Saturday in Istanbul.Speaking to reporters after his release Friday, Sık said, "Today is not a day of celebration. Six years ago in March, I was released. It is March again, but the only thing that has changed is that there is one less partner to fascism in this country. "But the day will come to celebrate -- the day will come when the reign of this mafia sultanate comes to an end. I guarantee it. This mafia sultanate will go where it deserves one day, and that will be the day we will be happy."Since Sık was last freed in 2012, one-time allies Erdogan and Gulen have had a public falling out that reached its nadir in the 2016 coup attempt. The government began purging members of the Gulenist movement from the ranks of the state after the attempted overthrow. The clampdown has cast a wide net, ensnaring journalists and academics. Critics say Erdogan's government has used the coup attempt to silence all opposition voices, including Sık's, under the guise of rooting out Gulenists. Free speech group PEN International welcomed the release of Sik and Sabuncu. "At the same time, the injustice of Akin Atalay's continued detention is haunting. We call for his freedom and dismissal of the charges," said Carles Torner, the group's executive director.Rights group Amnesty International hailed the two men's release at the same time as calling for Turkey to free all journalists and human rights defenders.We celebrate the amazing news of the decision to release #AhmetŞık and #MuratSabuncu! Long overdue, and without #AkınAtalay this time but yet again we say #Journalismisnotacrime and all should be freed. #FreeTurkeyMedia #CumhuriyetDavası #JournalismIsNotaCrime— Amnesty Turkey (@aforgutu) March 9, 2018
On Thursday, a criminal court in Istanbul sentenced 24 journalists and one activist up to 7½ years in prison, Turkey's state news agency Anadolu reported.All 25 were convicted and sentenced for being associated with the Gulenist movement.The court accused them of "being a member of a terror group" and of "participating in a coup attempt," Anadolu said.CNN's Ian lee, Isil Sariyuce and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
afa1c699-519c-41db-9681-a21643ac6b7d | null | (CNN)With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the twilight of their careers, football fans are fretting about the gaping hole the pair will leave in the game once they retire.But despite their inevitable departure appearing on the horizon, the sport looks to be in safe hands as several of the world's most promising stars shone for their teams across Europe's top leagues this weekend.Some of the best performances came from Joao Felix, Kai Havertz and precocious 16-year-old talent Eduardo Camavinga.Angolan teenager Camavinga -- appearing in only his 10th senior game for Ligue 1 side Rennes -- played a starring role in the victory over powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain, assisting for Romain Del Castillo to head home to winner.After a few breakthrough games last season, his performances this term have really started to turn heads as Rennes narrowly lost to PSG in the Champions' Trophy and opened its Ligue 1 campaign with back-to-back wins.Read MoreCamavinga was born in Angola and moved to France at the age of two, reports L'Equipe. He was spotted by Rennes playing football in Fougères, 50 kilometers from the city, at the age of 13.Camavinga has already starred against PSG once this season in the Champions Cup defeat.READ: Liverpool holds on for win against Southampton despite Adrian howlerREAD: Without Lionel Messi, Barcelona stunned by Athletic Bilbao in La Liga openerHe signed his first professional contract with Rennes in December and, in an attempt to tie down his future at the club a little longer, signed an extension this week until 2022.Though a native of Angola, L'Equipe say Camavinga is in the process of becoming a French citizen with a view to playing for the national team.Before Sunday's win over PSG, Rennes manager Julien Stéphan warned of the exposure -- and subsequent necessary protection -- Camavinga will need."Exposed, because if he repeats the kind of performance that he achieved against Montpellier (1-0 on the opening day), he has chances to take a greater place in the team," Stephan explained. "But also protected, because he is not yet seventeen years old, he is still building himself on a muscular level and he has not experienced a Ligue 1 sequence of matches with the intensity it requires yet."Camavinga was on the receiving end of several cynical fouls from frustrated PSG players -- many of who cost tens of million of dollars -- who rarely got anywhere near the ball when it was at his feet.Eduardo Camavinga, remember the name 🙌The 16-year-old put on a stunning display against PSG last night, including this utterly sublime assist for the winner!We repeat, 16-years old! 👀 pic.twitter.com/fkuT9Vy3u6— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 19, 2019 He may be tall for a 16-year-old -- standing at six foot -- but Camavinga's frame is slight, though it's not a part of the game his boss worries about."He's a very well-built person," Stephan said after the physical match. "Who knows how to question himself, who knows how to do the right thing. "He has a very interesting game, I'm going to have to deal with it. I will talk to him so that he can grow up in conditions of serenity."Felix's flairIn Spain, Felix showed no signs of being weighed down by his hefty $142 million price tag as his dancing feet ran Getafe's defense ragged.Diego Simeone made the teenager the fifth most expensive player of all time in the summer but so far the Benfica academy product looks worth every penny.After receiving man of the match recognition in the 7-3 pre-season demolition of city rival Real Madrid, Felix began his La Liga career with a performance that showcased his immense talent.Possibly the filthiest nutmeg you'll see all season from @joaofelix70. 🤤#AtletiGetafe pic.twitter.com/xwOToQZuHr— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) August 18, 2019 Atleti's new signing Kieran Trippier crossed for Alvaro Morata to head home the opening goal, before Felix's trickery -- a run which started with a nutmeg inside his own half -- won a penalty in the second period.Morata failed to convert but Atletico held on for victory at the first attempt in the post-Antoine Griezmann era.Kai shines for BayerBayer Leverkusen star Kai Havertz is by now accustomed to breaking records.In 2016 he became the youngest debutant in Bundesliga history; in 2018 he became the youngest player to make 50 Bundesliga appearances; and last season he hit 17 goals to become the highest scoring teenager in a Bundesliga season.After narrowly missing out on the German player of the year award to Marco Reus, reports suggested several of Europe's major clubs would try and prize Bayer's star possession away.Seventeen Bundesliga goals last season...No doubt the first of many this season 👌Kai Havertz opens his account for 2019/20 in style! ❄️ pic.twitter.com/RICHOENjCr— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 17, 2019 But the 20-year-old remains at the club and scored a delightful chip in Saturday's opening-day 3-2 victory over Paderborn, becoming the second youngest player in history to reach 25 Bundesliga goals.Big things are predicted of the youngster this season, who seems more than likely to eclipse his performances from last season.Timeless talentThough this article may be about the stars of the future, a word has to go to 38-year-old Aritz Aduriz -- the veteran striker who continues to defy Father Time.Playing in his final season of professional football, he came off the bench for Athletic Club with two minutes remaining in the opening game of the La Liga season.But two minutes were all he needed, scoring a stunning bicycle kick to inflict an opening-day defeat on Barcelona.Additional reporting by Martin Goillandeau | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
790c594e-8263-4b00-851e-7b171b70ed7b | null | Story highlightsRemains of people believed to have been buried about 2,500 years ago have been found in northern EnglandThe findings will pave the way for the largest study of an Iron Age population in 35 yearsLondon (CNN)The remains of men, women and children believed to have been buried about 2,500 years ago have been found in a town in northern England, according to the Press Association news agency. The findings have been hailed as "a hugely important discovery," which can boost experts' understanding of Iron Age Britain, Paula Ware, managing director at MAP Archaeological Practice, told PA.#Pocklington Iron Age settlement of 'national significance' - https://t.co/ofGxmjA1Tl pic.twitter.com/YOTJsRxPfA— News@Leeds (@Leedsnewsdays) March 17, 2016
JUST WATCHEDArcheologists discover Bronze Age housesReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHArcheologists discover Bronze Age houses 03:29Builders found the ruins of the burial ground working on a housing development in the town of Pocklington, East Yorkshire. The site includes more than 75 square barrows containing skeletons believed to be the remains of people from the Arras Culture who lived in the region in the Middle Iron Age as far back as 800 B.C.Archaeologists also found weapons on the site, including a shield, a sword and 10 spears, and artifacts such as ancient pots, brooches and 360 amber and glass beads. Iron Age relics of "national importance" found during a housing development in #Pocklington, in the East Riding pic.twitter.com/ogoCKmAeZo— Dave Higgens (@DaveHiggensPA) March 17, 2016
Read More"We are hoping that these findings shed light on the ritual of Iron Age burial," Ware said."As we can assume from the shield and sword burials, these were significant members of society, so our understanding of culture and key figures of the time could be really enhanced."JUST WATCHEDArchaeologists find village frozen in timeReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHArchaeologists find village frozen in time 00:59The findings will pave the way for the largest study of an Iron Age population in almost four decades. The analysis will center on whether the population was indigenous or had migrated from the continent. Archaeologists also hope to find out how these people died, whether they were related and what stresses the bodies went through while they were alive. READ: 3,000-year old footprints found in ancient site Photos: See inside a Bronze Age village Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageScientists are excavating the best-preserved Bronze Age village ever found in the UK, located in the marshlands of eastern Britain, at a site dubbed Must Farm. Pictured is a replica of a Bronze Age house that shares similarities with two ancient dwellings at the site, which stood on stilts.Hide Caption 1 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageArcheologists have found footprints, beads, a skull, and even a pot still holding food. Remains of the stilts are visible (wrapped in bands, center.)Hide Caption 2 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageScientists also uncovered the backbone of a cow, but don't know if it was for food or decoration.Hide Caption 3 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageMarks left in wood show that the villagers used axes.Hide Caption 4 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageFrom above, the round shape of this Bronze Age dwelling is clear.Hide Caption 5 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageThis pottery was found nearly intact at the site.Hide Caption 6 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageThe site also yielded this head of a spear.Hide Caption 7 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageThe villagers had bronze tools for cutting, like this one found at the site. Hide Caption 8 of 9 Photos: See inside a Bronze Age villageEvery item found at the site is recorded, photographed and drawn by an archeological artist.Hide Caption 9 of 9"At present we are still at the early analytical stages of reviewing these findings," said Peter Morris, development director at David Wilson Homes, where the remains were found."However, we do understand that this discovery is very rare and of international importance."READ: 1,200-year-old Viking sword discovered by hiker | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
bcf77b9f-860f-47b7-a792-3ca69f9958bf | null | (CNN)Tens of thousands of Czechs took to the streets of Prague on Tuesday, taking part in what its organizers described as "the biggest protest since the fall of Communism."They were demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a controversial politician accused of fraud and collaborating with the Communist era secret police, and his justice secretary Marie Benesova. The demonstration was part of a series of anti-Babis protests that have been going on for weeks.A crowd that was estimated by organizers to be around 120,000 people filled Wenceslas Square in the Czech capital, the site of the protests that ultimately led to the fall of the country's Communist regime three decades ago. What are the protests about?Read MoreBabis, mostly. The Prime Minister is at the center of a number of controversies and the protesters want him gone.Organizers said the protest was the country's biggest since the fall of Communism in 1989.He has been accused of fraud related to EU subsidies received by his former agricultural business empire. An investigation ended in the police proposing criminal charges against him. Prosecutors are now deciding whether to indict the Prime Minister. Babis has denied the accusations.Separately, the European Commission is investigating whether Babis was in conflict of interest because of his role as the PM and the owner of a major business receiving EU funding. A draft report by the Commission, leaked to Czech media last week, said Babis' business should not have access to EU funding, and suggested that the money it had received in the past might need to be returned by the Czech Republic. Central European countries to skip migration summit as EU tries to work out refugee issueThe Commission said it would not comment on ongoing audits. The Czech Finance Ministry confirmed it had received a preliminary audit report, but would not comment further. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Babis rejected the allegations and said the audit was "an attack on the Czech Republic."What do the protesters want?Apart from the resignations of Babis and Benesova, the organizers are demanding that Babis' business empire Agrofert stops receiving subsidies, tax breaks, investment incentives and public tenders. In addition to being Prime Minister and an agricultural tycoon, Babis is also the owner of Mafra, a major Czech publishing house that owns two of the nation's biggest daily newspapers. The protesters want to see him sell his stake in the media. The rally in Prague demanded the resignation of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis.They are also asking lawmakers to push for new safeguards for the country's justice system. Who is Babis?Babis is a divisive figure in the Czech Republic. The billionaire tycoon first stormed into Czech politics in 2012 and became Prime Minister in 2017. His populist ANO movement then received nearly 30% of the vote -- almost three times more than the conservative party ODS that came second.Another Babis controversy relates to his alleged role as a secret agent for the Communist-era secret police, the StB. The Slovak-born politician was identified as an agent operating under the codename "Bures" by historians using archival documents. Party of billionaire Andrej Babis wins Czech electionBabis has rejected the claims and sued for defamation, but in 2018, a court in Slovakia dismissed his complaints, ruling that he was not wrongly identified as an agent in the archival documents. "We think it unacceptable that ... 29 years after the Velvet Revolution, an StB agent would be the Prime Minister of our country. We will not pretend that that is normal, we demand his resignation," the organizers of the protests said.Despite the controversies, Babis continues to be relatively popular among Czech voters. ANO was the clear winner in the recent European Parliament elections, securing 21% of the vote.What happens next?The organizers have already called for more protests. They are urging people in cities other than Prague to march next week, and are planning another mass protest in the capital on June 23.Babis has been accused of fraud related to EU subsidies. This time, they are planning to move to Letna Plain, a huge open space atop a hill overlooking the historical center of the city, which is capable of holding many more people than Wenceslas Square. The leaders of Czech opposition parties said Wednesday they would meet to decide whether to press for a confidence vote. Tomas Etzler contributed to this report. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
3948313e-c96b-4fbc-be65-18f20bf57e45 | null | Story highlightsSuspects were making the explosive used in Paris and Brussels, a source tells CNNThe arrested teenage girl pledged ISIS allegiance in video, a source says (CNN)Suspects arrested Friday in a foiled terrorist plot in France had just started making the same powerful explosive used in the ISIS-directed Paris and Brussels attacks, and they appear to have been inspired by the terrorist group, a source close to the investigation told CNN.French police "thwarted an imminent attack on French soil" when they arrested four people, including a 16-year-old girl and three men, in cities across France, Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said in a statement. The girl had pledged allegiance to ISIS in a cellphone video, the source said.All four suspects are French nationals, a source familiar with the investigation said.Paris explosives are a key clue to plotA partially assembled improvised explosive device was also found as part of the investigation, according to Le Roux's statement. When they were arrested, the plotters had just begun making TATP, the same explosive used in Paris and Brussels, the source tells CNN. TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, is a chemical powder made from common household objects that can explode when subjected to heat or friction.Read MoreThe arrests in Montpellier, Clapiers and Marseillan follow a two-week investigation led by the anti-terrorist division of the Paris Public Prosecutor in collaboration with the judicial police of Montpellier and the national police force, the statement said.A source close to the investigation told CNN that a 21-year-old man arrested in Clapiers is suspected of planning a suicide attack in France. French intelligence services know he tried to travel to Syria in November 2015, the source said.The man was in a relationship with the girl taken into custody, the source said. And investigators believe the plan was for her to leave France just before the attack, then join ISIS in Syria.Le Roux praised the work of investigators that led to the arrests, "among them three directly suspected of preparing a violent attack against our territory." French anti-terrorist police on Friday raided this apartment, where suspects believed to be involved in plotting an attack were arrested, in Clapiers, near Montpellier, southern France.The announcement came a week after a soldier shot a man wielding a machete near the Louvre museum in Paris. French authorities opened a terrorism investigation after police said the man, a 29-year-old Egyptian and a resident of the United Arab Emirates, wielded the knife and shouted "Allahu akbar," an Arabic phrase that translates to "God is greatest." One soldier was injured. France's state of emergency may be extended to protect 2017 electionsFrance has been under a state of emergency since the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015, in which 130 people were killed and hundreds wounded in massacres at a theater, a stadium and cafes. That January, 17 people were killed in attacks in Paris on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher grocery store, and in the Paris suburb of Montrouge.Last July, a radicalized Tunisian plowed a 20-ton truck into crowds on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice during a Bastille Day celebration, killing 86 people and wounding 200 others.Brussels has also been on high alert. Suicide bombers struck the city's airport and a subway station in March 2016, killing 32 people and wounding more than 300.CNN's Rebecca Coleman reported in London. Maud Lerest, Schams Elwazer and Melissa Bell contributed. Eric Levenson wrote in New York. | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
7fc1335f-9bee-4004-8717-ed87b01d6ed3 | null | Story highlightsCoutts has won five America's Cup trophies in totalThree as a sailor and two as team bossKiwi is CEO of 2017 America's Cup in BermudaLondon (CNN)For Russell Coutts, nothing will ever come close to winning Olympic gold and three America Cups as a sailor.But transforming the America's Cup from a pastime for the super wealthy into a fast-paced television event with global appeal may come a close second for the Kiwi sailing legend turned boss of international sport's oldest trophy. Follow @cnnsport
"To be involved in (the America's Cup) is, if not equally exciting, very close to it," said Coutts, who won his first race at the age of nine in a small wooden dinghy off the coast of Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island. 'Sailed with great teams'"I don't necessarily think one is better than the other," Coutts said by phone from New Zealand when asked if he preferred sailing over business.Russell Coutts in 2015. Read More"As a sailor, it was a tremendous amount of fun," said the 54-year-old, the most successful helmsman in America's Cup history whose 14-0 record in the 1995, 2000 and 2003 editions is unrivaled."I sailed with some great teams," said Coutts, who is chief executive of the America's Cup Event Authority which organizes the 35th edition of sailing's elite race next year in Bermuda."On the event side, I've worked with great people as well and achieved a lot since 2010, in particular in developing the media and television side."Coutts clinched an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in the Finn Class and won two more America's Cup trophies in 2010 and 2013 as CEO of defending champions Oracle Team USA. READ: Russell Coutts wants to expand America's Cup format to 12 teamsTaking the Cup into a new eraHe is one of the main architects of transforming what is affectionately known as the "Auld Mug" into something akin to "Formula One on water." Coutts won his three Cups between 1995 and 2003 in elegant monohull yachts going no faster than 14mph in races that took place far away from the shore. AC35 by the numbers• 20 broadcasters to show races in more than 150 countries• 600,000 spectators watched World Series races in Chicago, New York, Portsmouth and Toulon • 850 hours of TV broadcast• 175 million cumulative viewersThe 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco was staged in front of thousands of spectators close to the shore in hydrofoil catamarans capable of going up to 50mph. READ: How Oracle Team USA staged one of sport's greatest comebacks in 2013The new format, with Emmy Award-winning, virtual, on-screen graphics explaining the races to a layman audience, was a hit with television viewers worldwide.While Coutts often had to sail as long as three hours when he competed in the Cup, the 35th edition (AC35) next year in Bermuda's Great Sound will be decided by races lasting no more than 22 minutes. READ: will mind or machine win the day in Bermuda?Raising the barJust like during his sailing days, Coutts is setting the bar high as an executive, saying more people are going to watch the 35th edition than any previous America's Cup.Teams lining up for the start in Portsmouth in July 2016. "I'm pretty confident about that now," he said. "It's appealing not only to the sailing audience but also to a non-sailing audience."Innovations include 3D cameras and more on-board cameras to give television viewers a better idea of what's it like to sail the powerful boats that seem to fly over the water. Britain's Land Rover BAR syndicate, headed by Olympic sailing legend Ben Ainslie, won the 2015-16 Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series ahead of teams from New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, France and the US. Ainslie's team wrapped up the title with a race to spare at the final leg of the series in Fukuoka, Japan on Sunday.Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Final Standings.#LVACWSFukuoka pic.twitter.com/kaHiCaY63X— America's Cup (@americascup) November 20, 2016
READ: Swedish success in Toulon as GB leads the seriesThe six syndicates will take part in two qualifying events next May and June with the winner taking on defending champions Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup in Bermuda. 'Anyone can win it'"It's exciting and dramatic racing and we're very fortunate these days to have a very close competition between the teams," Coutts said. "It's very hard to judge at this point who is going to be strong for the final races in next May and June. Most people would say any one of those teams can win races and certainly most of the teams are capable of going on and winning the America's Cup overall." The new format and the strong competition between the six teams that all hail from different countries is boosting interest from broadcasters and sponsors, Coutts said."We are tracking ahead of the previous edition in terms of pretty much all of the metrics," Coutts said. "Compelling racing is really what drives viewership. People turn on the TV to see something that's exciting and largely unpredictable." Bermuda 2017 Photos: Bermuda up closeFounded in 1851, the America's Cup is the oldest continuous international sports event in the world.Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Bermuda up closeOnly a seven hour flight from London Gatwick and 90 minutes from New York City, the local Bermuda government is hoping the 2017 America's Cup will give its economy a boost after five years of recession. Here's a shot of Horseshoe Bay Beach, voted one of the best beaches in the world by the likes of Conde Nast and TripAdvisor. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Bermuda up closeThis semi-tropical paradise of 181 islands may be mainly known for its stunning beaches, but it also has more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Here's Rory McIlroy hitting his tee shot on the 16th hole during the final day of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Port Royal Golf Course in 2014 in Southampton, Bermuda. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Bermuda up closeAlthough Bermuda isn't part of the Caribbean, it does boast the northernmost coral reefs thanks to the warm waters that flow from through the region on the Gulf Stream which make it ideal for scuba diving and spear-fishing.Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Bermuda up closeThe Bermuda hospitality industry is currently re-branding itself as a hip, sporty tourism destination. This is the famous Ariel Sands resort, co-owned by the actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. It's being refurbished and will open next year in time for the America's Cup, complete with beachside cottages, a fresh water pool, direct beach access, a salon and spa. The eco-friendly property will be running on green energy.Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Bermuda up closeAfter a long day sailing, diving or spear-fishing, islands guests can enjoy a subterranean spa at the Grotto Bay Beach Resort. The hotel offers treatments carried out on floating pontoons surrounded by stalagtites. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Bermuda up closeThe sun sets over Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, after a training day last year during the America's Cup World Series. Next year's finals may give its economy a $250 million boost, local organizers say. Hide Caption 7 of 7In a first for the 165-year-old event, next year's Cup will be witnessed by the biggest fleet of large yachts with 80 superyachts registered to attend. About 46 cruise ships plan to visit Bermuda in the month leading up to the Cup. One thing Coutts won't be able to do is top the attendance figures of the 2013 America's Cup, when organizers estimated about one million people flocked to San Francisco Bay to watch the races live. AC social media hits• 71 million Facebook impressions• 10.8 million Twitter impressions• 2 million video views on You Tube/FacebookBermuda, with a population of 65,000, is a small island archipelago located in the North Atlantic and east of South Carolina."Bermuda doesn't have the same infrastructure as a large city," Coutts said, pointing out it only has 2,600 hotel rooms. "But it's going to be a very attractive event, there is no doubt about that. Visit cnn.com/sailing for more news and videos"It's fair to say there will be a significant number of thousands of people attending the events. I don't think it will be hundreds of thousands." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
d83399aa-a1f7-4ba5-9c67-b403b9f6d625 | null | (CNN)A golfer's flexibility and ability to adapt to difficult terrains are some of his most important attributes. But on Saturday at the Open, Thai golfer Jazz Janewattananond took that to another level. On the par-three 11th hole at Royal St. George's, the 25-year-old hit his tee shot into the bunker to the left of the green. His ball ended up too close to the bunker wall for him to stand in and swing to comfortably take his second shot, so he had to improvise. READ: Sun, sea and golf and the challenge of playing in gusty wind, unforgiving rough and blind shotsRead MoreWith his club in his hands, Janewattananond perched above the bunker with his ball a few feet below, swinging while on his knees. Despite having to play from this unorthodox playing base, Janewattananond proved he was up to the job as his shot finished just a few feet from the flag. The excellent approach shot allowed him to recover to make a par and move onto the next hole without suffering too much of a blow. Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videos View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jazz Janewattananond (@jazzjanewattananond)
And just hours after his third round finished, Janewattananond posted a video on his Instagram showing that he'd practiced that exact shot in the practice chipping area beforehand. "Sometime you practice the right shot at the right time," the world No. 144 said. | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
4378ea81-83ec-462a-95ba-7bb76c50531b | null | Great Salt Lake, Utah (CNN)Great Salt Lake is also known as America's Dead Sea -- owing to a likeness to its much smaller Middle Eastern counterpart -- but scientists worry the moniker could soon take new meaning.Human water consumption and diversion have long depleted the Utah lake. Its level today is inches away from a 58-year low, state officials say, and Western drought conditions fueled by the climate crisis have exacerbated conditions. The worst part? It's only July, and the lake historically doesn't reach its annual low until October.Lucy Kafanov of CNN and Kevin Perry ride bikes Tuesday on the dry lake bed playa of the Great Salt Lake."I have never seen it this bad -- not in my lifetime," said Andy Wallace, soaring over the body of water in a prop plane, as he's done for years as a commercial pilot. Simply put, the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere is shrinking rapidly. Left alone, the lake's footprint would span 2,100 square miles -- more than three times the area of Houston. An analysis published last year showed that water siphoned off the rivers that feed the natural wonder had reduced its level by 11 feet, depleting the lake area by more than half. Read More"Twenty years ago, this was under about 10 feet of water," said Kevin Perry, chairman of the department of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah, as he rode a bike in July across the desiccated lake bed. Dying organisms and arsenicPerry and other scientists worry they're watching a slow-motion calamity unfold. Ten million birds flock to the Great Salt Lake each year to feed off of its now-struggling sea life. More pelicans breed here than most anywhere else in the country.The trouble trickles up the food chain. The Utah Geological Survey openly expressed its fear Thursday that the shrinking lake levels threaten to kill microbialites -- underwater reef-like mounds that help feed brine flies, brine shrimp and, thus, the 338 species of birds that visit each year. Pelicans gather in June on an island on Farmington Bay near the Great Salt Lake."We think of these structures as living rocks," said Michael Vanden Berg, manager of the survey's energy and mineral program. "The population in Great Salt Lake is one of the largest accumulations of modern microbialites in the world."If the lake continues to recede to historic levels, a heretofore unseen proportion of the lake's microbialites will be exposed, a news release said. It can take only weeks for the microbial mat to erode off the "living rocks," it said, and it could take years to recover, even if lake levels return to normal.Brine shrimp, also known as sea monkeys, are also battling the rising salinity that comes with less water. They're not just bird food, either. They're exported as fish food, and commercial harvesting contributes to an estimated $1.5 billion economy -- which, along with recreation and mineral extraction, helps feed fishers and others living around Great Salt Lake.Economic downturn isn't the only threat to humans in the area. Utah's soil is naturally high in arsenic, a toxic compound that causes a frightening range of health problems. When it washes downstream, it lands in the lake, Perry said. When the wind blows, as it regularly does quite fiercely, it kicks up the dusty lake bed.A bison walks in April along the receding edge of the Great Salt Lake on its way to a watering hole at Antelope Island, Utah."One of the concerns we have is the particles that are coming off the lake getting into people's lungs," he said. "Fifteen to 20 years ago, when the lake was higher, most of these dust spots were covered up, and if you cover them up with water, they don't produce dust. And so as the lake has receded, it's exposed more and more of that lake bed. ... As we get the larger area, we have more frequent dust storms."Owens Lake, a mostly dry lake east of the California's Sequoia National Forest, was diverted to the Los Angeles Aqueduct almost a century ago, Perry noted. Though some water is returning to the lake, its dry bed is the largest source of PM-10 pollution -- large, inhalable dust particles -- in the nation. Great Salt Lake is much larger than Owens Lake, and whereas the population around Owens Lake is about 40,000, there are more than 2 million people living around Great Salt Lake, Perry points out. "This lake could become one of the larger dust emission sources in North America as well," he said. "Right now, the lake bed is protected by a fragile crust, and if that crust is disturbed or erodes over time, then this lake could start to emit a lot more (dust)."'We're on the doorstep of a catastrophe'A dried-out portion of Great Salt Lake is seen Wednesday from the air.Huge swaths of the Utah lake look more like Death Valley than any waterway, the ground barren and fractured from dry heat. Other areas look like sprawling street puddles. Birds wade through shoreline muck along empty marinas, their slips sagging to the ground. "The saltiest sailors on the planet have had their sailboats hoisted out of the Great Salt Lake's marinas by crane in recent days, due to dropping Lake levels," the Utah Rivers Council wrote in the introduction of a report warning that a dam, pipeline and reservoir proposal to the east will only compound problems.While human behavior remains scientists' primary concern, the lack of rain out West isn't helping. Great Salt Lake now is like water sitting in a plate, whereas most lakes resemble a cup, said Jaimi Butler, co-editor of the 2020 analysis showing the lake area had shrunk by 51%. The shallow waters are more prone to evaporation in drought conditions, and while the lake's level ebbs and flows over any given year, the lake tends to reach its low point in the fall, around October. The lake will continue to drop and shrink over the next three months, and the water level could sink as much as 2 more feet by Halloween, Butler suspects. "Keeping water in Great Salt Lake is the biggest thing that keeps me up at night," said Butler, a wildlife biologist who grew up around the lake and serves as coordinator for the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College. "We're on the doorstep of a catastrophe."Mother Nature and residents must join forcesButler wept contemplating the ramifications of not taking strong action to save the waterway. "Great Salt Lake will be an environmental, economic and, really, cultural catastrophe all in one," she said. "I grew up here. A place becomes you. ... We are all Great Salt Lake. All of us are, and we shouldn't let it go away."Humans created the problem, and humans will have to take part in the solution, she said. Curbing water usage and raising water utility rates to deter waste would be a start, she added. Jaimi Butler poses along the receding edge of Great Salt Lake.Despite the warning bells, water meant for Great Salt Lake continues to be diverted to farms, ranches and cities -- the latter of which enjoy some of the cheapest water in the nation, Butler said. Salt Lake City residents paid one of the lowest water rates of major US cities, according to an analysis by Circle of Blue, a nonprofit advocating for responsible stewardship of water resources. A family of four using a 100 gallons a day paid $32 a month in 2018 -- about half of what New Yorkers paid, a third of what Atlantans paid and a quarter of what San Franciscans shelled out that year. Among the major cities, only Memphis residents paid less. But it seems residents around Great Salt Lake have been acting more conscientiously, said Marcie McCartney, the water conservation and education manager for the Utah Division of Water Resources. "Everybody around and in that basin is doing all they can to use water as wisely as possible," she said. "We're seeing a lot of (water) saving this year, which is awesome, but the Great Salt Lake is definitely suffering, and the only way we're going to get those lake levels up higher is a better water year for our snow pack."The Great Salt Lake recedes in May from Antelope Island near Salt Lake City.Officials charged with monitoring the snow runoff into streams and reservoirs must calculate how much is needed for water supply -- drinking, agriculture, etc. -- and the rest can be released downstream into Great Salt Lake, McCartney explained. This year's "poor snow pack" melted too quickly, she said, "and the soil is really thirsty." "Mother Nature is going to take her share first, and we'll get the rest," she said. In November, Butler co-wrote an obituary for Great Salt Lake in Catalyst Magazine, based in the Utah capital."Great Salt Lake experienced her final glimmering sunset today, succumbing to a long struggle with chronic diversions exacerbated by climate change," it began. "Her dusty remains will be scattered across the Salt Lake Valley for millennia -- we will be constantly reminded of her passing by our air quality monitors."Visitors stand in June in the shallow waters of the Great Salt Lake.The piece laid out the history of the reservoir, how it found itself in dire straits and what concerned Utahans can do to change the narrative and amplify their voices to save the beloved body of water. "There was action to prevent the death of Great Salt Lake, but it was too little, too late," the obit read. "She supported Utah's economy for many years, but we did not adequately fund her healthcare in time. Had we done so, we may not be mourning her death today."Speaking to CNN, Butler reiterated many of those points, imploring, "We've changed our world, and we need to change our behaviors to keep incredible ecosystems that include humans like here at Great Salt Lake." | news | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |
7beaceea-5744-4627-88a1-3c52c0e34078 | null | (CNN)No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia will meet in the College Football Playoff championship game after the two Southeastern Conference teams easily won their semifinal contests Friday.The semifinals kicked off with reigning champion Alabama dominating Cincinnati 27-6 in the Cotton Bowl. Then Georgia bounced back from a loss in the SEC Championship -- to Alabama -- by easily handing No. 2 Michigan a 34-11 loss in the Orange Bowl.The 2022 CFP Championship is scheduled for January 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Cotton Bowl: No. 1 Alabama 27, No. 4 Cincinnati 6No. 1 Alabama defeated No. 4 Cincinnati 27-6 on Friday in the Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, Texas, to advance to the championship game.Read MoreCrimson Tide quarterback and 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young threw for 181 yards and three touchdowns while running back Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for 204 yards. "I didn't think I was going to be a spotlight. We just game-planned," Robinson said. "It was just, whatever they throw at us, we got to adjust to it."The Alabama defense held Bearcats quarterback Desmond Ridder to just 144 yards through the air. "So as the season is going on and we're coming up on our final game, I think it's really critical now that we pay attention to little details and make sure that we're all on the same page and keep cutting down on mental errors, keep having fun, and playing together as a unit. I think that's what we've been doing right now" Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. saidThe 2022 College Football Playoff Championship is scheduled for January 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Orange Bowl: No. 3 Georgia 34, No. 2 Michigan 11Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett carved up the Michigan defense, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns, and running back James Cook added 109 yards receiving and a touchdown. Georgia coach Kirby Smart complimented his quarterback when asked why the Bulldogs were throwing quick routes early in the game."I don't think it was a calculated get-the-ball-out-quick answer," Smart said. "It was what the defense gives you. Nowadays you take what the defense gives you, and Stetson had to make a lot of decisions people weren't aware of, and he made good decisions on where to go with the ball."The stout Bulldog defense kept the Michigan offense in check, not allowing a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter. Georgia cornerback Derion Kendrick intercepted Michigan starting quarterback Cade McNamara twice. "Everybody is going to make plays. It's about what you're going to do the next play and the next play," Kendrick said. "I gave up a few plays, but I kept pushing, and you see the results." | sport | CNN_News_Articles_2011-2022 | News Genre Categorization | en | Classify the news article into one of the following categories: politics, news, sport, business, entertainment, or health. Return only the label without any explanation, justification or additional text. |