Brazil leave Mexico contemplating familiar failure

Brazil leave Mexico contemplating familiar failure

SAMARA: Brazil’s Neymar (L) taps in to score against Mexico during the round-of-16 match at the Samara Arena on Monday.—AFP MEXICO had hope, some genuine hope, more than just cautious optimism that they could get a long-awaited first victory over Brazil at a World Cup, that they could for the first time since 1986 they would advance to the ‘quinto partido’ or the fifth match at world football’s showpiece tournament. In four matches before this, they had never beaten Brazil; in the last six World Cups, this last-16 stage had proven to be their undoing. In their last World Cup match against the five-time world champions, four years ago in Brazil, Mexico had held the hosts to a goalless draw. Riding on their 1-0 upset of Germany in their opening match at this World Cup, the Mexicans were confident that they could shock another of the favourites and go one better than last time when a superb Guillermo Ochoa had frustrated Neymar and company. In a breathless opening here at the Samara Arena on Monday, they had looked quite capable of doing that but then Neymar turned on the style and Brazil coasted past them 2-0, leaving the Mexicans to contemplate a familiar failure.
Brazil seemed rattled by Mexico’s pace early on but they settled down and picked the Mexicans apart in the second-half with Neymar scoring in the 51st minute, putting the finishing touches to a move started by him, before he set up substitute Roberto Firmino late on to put Mexico out of their misery. It was a performance that illustrated coach Tite’s influence on this Brazil team. Defensive solidity is paramount; Brazil know they have the players who can score aplenty at the other end. Just like they did with their superbly-worked opening goal. Neymar picked up the ball wide and then ran straight almost parallel to the goal, drawing away Mexico’s defenders with him. And then, in an instant, he opened up a Mexico defence that had been so excellent to that point with a clever backheel to Willian. Having drawn the defenders away, his movement opened up space for Willian who drove into the box and sent in a low cross that a sliding Neymar tucked away. Mexico never really recovered from that. They can play some spectacular football at times but their lack of ‘Plan B’ has seen them be at the end of some heavy defeats in the past. This could’ve been another of them if it hadn’t been for Ochoa who, just like four years ago, kept denying almost every Brazilian on the pitch. He saved from Phillippe Coutinho, from Paulinho, from Willian. With his saves, he would’ve hoped to inspire his team-mates on the other end of the pitch.
Instead, it was Brazil who kept coming back and he helplessly looked on as Brazil wrapped it up a minute from time through Firmino. Neymar got behind the Mexican defence and tried to find the far corner, only for Ochoa’s fingertips to put the ball into the path of an onrushing Firmino to tap it in. OUTRAGEOUS REACTION While it should’ve been Neymar’s goal and assist that should’ve been the talking point after the match, it was instead his antics that came into sharp focus: his outrageous reaction during the second half as Mexican Miguel Layun picked the ball from between his legs as he lay on the pitch. Television pictures showed a slight brush on his ankle but his reaction seemed like he’d been run over by a car. Moments later, with the referee finding no fault by Layun in the incident, Neymar was back on his feet and running perfectly. “Unfortunately we wasted a lot of time because of one of the players,” Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio said at the post-match press conference. “I think it’s a shame for football. It’s a men’s sport and there shouldn’t be so much acting.” The rest of the press conference followed that theme. Asked by a reporter that the replay showed a slight touch by Layun, Osorio responded: “I respect your opinion.” Asked further, specifically about Neymar’s play-acting, Osorio said, “I didn’t mention him. It’s your interpretation. I’m entitled to give my opinion. I did not mention him.” Finally, he said: “There were incidents in the match where there was very little contact and every time the referee stopped the game.”
It was those stoppages that Osorio blamed for Mexico losing momentum. “The intensity decreases at some point and the referee has a lot to do with it,” said Osorio. “He allowed too many ‘fake’ faults.” Neymar was asked about Osorio’s comments but it was the moment Tite took charge. “The hierarchy stands,” Tite said. “The coach talks to the coach, the athlete to the athlete. I will answer that question. I saw what happened. You can analyse the video.” Neymar, meanwhile, said: “All this talk is an attempt to undermine me than anything else. I don’t care about the criticism because this can influence my attitude. There’s too many people talking anyways. I need to help my team, I have to play I have to play.” At the end of it all, Tite praised Osorio’s work and for making it an absorbing contest. “It was a great match considering the number of opportunities created,” he noted. “Osorio has done beautiful work and it’s why this was a beautiful match that excited me.” MESMERISING FOOTBALL Mexico were mesmerising in the opening 20 minutes, so good that Tite had a concerned look on his face. Brazil aren’t used to facing such opposition, opposition that comes at them so relentlessly as the Mexicans were coming. The game was only two minutes old and Mexicans had already blocked two Brazilian passes in midfield. Paulinho, who makes those surging runs through the centre, was forced to be in line with Casemiro, who sits ahead of the defence. Down the left, Carlos Vela was terrorising Fagner every time he got the ball. Going past the Brazilian full-back was never a problem for Vela. The only issue was with the final ball. Apart from Neymar’s shot which Guillermo Ochoa palmed away, it was all Mexico. They were creating all sorts of angles, they were making all sorts of runs with the ball and off it, trying to carve open Brazil. On top of that, such was their pressing that Neymar was forced to drop deep to try to create space for himself.
Osorio had spoken before the match about attacking the Brazilian full-backs and his team was doing exactly that and finding joy. On the other side of the pitch, it was Hirving Lozano who was isolating Filipe Luis and then running past him. There was one moment in which he left Luis for dead but, just like with Vela on the other end, the final ball was missing. Neymar’s first real chance came halfway through the first half, the gifted striker showing some nifty footwork to go past two defenders before seeing his effort saved by Ochoa. Instead of Neymar, it’s been Coutino who has been Brazil’s leading man at this World Cup but his passes were being cut, his shots at goal being blocked or sailing wide. As the half wore on, Mexico’s intensity deceased and the game opened up for Brazil. Gabriel Jesus finally got some service and saw two shots blocked. Osorio had vowed on Sunday that Mexico wouldn’t stop attacking Brazil but he was also vary of the goal-scoring threats posed by Brazil. Mexico hadn’t taken the lead by half-time but crucially hadn’t fallen behind either.
The plan was nearing perfect execution. But then Brazil scored just six minutes into the second half and Mexico didn’t have an answer. Picked : https://www.dawn.com/news/1417628/brazil-leave-mexico-contemplating-familiar-failure

Illegal immigrant parents not facing US prosecution for now

Trump faced a global outcry this month over migrant children being separated from their parents. Parents who cross illegally from Mexico to the United States with their children will not face prosecution for the time being because the government is running short of space to house them, officials said on Monday. President Donald Trump's administration has vowed to prosecute all adults who cross the border illegally but its policy of separating immigrant children from parents met fierce international criticism so it is now trying to keep detained families together while the parents await trial.
That has created logistics problems of how to house those families, and the Customs and Border Protection agency is now not referring new cases for prosecution, CBP officials said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration was not dropping its policy of "zero-tolerance" of illegal immigration but it needed a "temporary solution" until it can house migrant families. "This will only last a short amount of time, because we're going to run out of space, we're going to run out of resources in order to keep people together. And we're asking Congress to provide those resources and do their job," Sanders told reporters. A source at the CBP said it expects to soon resume the referrals for prosecution and is still sending for prosecution those adults who are caught crossing illegally and do not have children with them. Trump faced a global outcry this month, including sharp criticism from some inside his Republican Party, over migrant children being separated from their parents.
He formally ended the policy of separating families last Wednesday, but the administration has yet to reunite more than 2,000 children with their parents and it is not clear how it will house thousands of families while parents are prosecuted. The US military has been asked to prepare to house up to 20,000 unaccompanied child migrants on its bases. Although Republicans control both chambers in Congress, disagreements between moderates and conservatives in the party over immigration matters have hit prospects for a speedy legislative fix to the border crisis. Mark Meadows, leader of a conservative faction among Republicans in the House of Representatives, said on Monday he expected that an immigration bill being worked on by Republicans would fail. A group of Republican and Democratic senators huddled late on Monday to see whether they might be able to come together on legislation establishing a protocol for treating immigrant families as their pleas for asylum or other protections from deportation are considered.
But after the meeting, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said "Nothing's going to happen this week," on legislation in the Senate. With Congress out of session next week for the July 4 public holiday, that would mean the Senate could not debate a bill until at least the following week.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/international/americas/illegal-immigrant-parents-not-facing-us-prosecution-for-now

Drivers fail Dubai road test due to fear, says RTA

Drivers fail Dubai road test due to fear, says RTA: Examiners trained on human psychology and ways to help drivers calm down before licence test

Samsung directed to pay Apple $533m for copying iPhone design

Samsung directed to pay Apple $533m for copying iPhone design 


 A federal court jury on Thursday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $533 million for copying iPhone design features in a patent case dating back seven years. Jurors tacked on an additional $5 million in damages for a pair of patented functions. The award appeared to be a bit of a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone. The case was keenly watched as a precedent for whether design is so important that it could actually be considered the “article of design” even in a product as complex as a smartphone. “We don’t think it is supported by the evidence,” Samsung attorney John Quinn told US District Court Judge Lucy Koh after the verdict was read in her courtroom in Silicon Valley.
“We have every concern about the determinations about the article of manufacture.” Quinn declined an offer by the judge to send jurors back for further deliberation, saying Samsung would pursue post-trial motions to address its concerns about the verdict. Juror Christine Calderon said the panel agreed that one of the design patents — the grid of colored icons — did represent the whole phone, while the other two at issue in the trial were seen as the display assembly that gave the iPhone its look. She compared it to the Mona Lisa: “You use the paint, but it is not the article of manufacture.” “I had to really think about it,” the 26-year-old Calderon, a technical writer, said after Koh dismissed the jury. “We kind of felt like we ended up at a happy medium.” Long legal road The case had been sent back to the district court following a Supreme Court decision to revisit an earlier $400 million damage award. Apple reasoned in court that design was so integral to the iPhone that it was the “article of manufacture” and worth all the money Samsung made by copying the features.
The lower figure sought by the South Korean consumer electronics titan would have involved treating the design features as components. The jury had been asked to determine whether design features at issue in the case are worth all profit made from Samsung smartphones that copied them — or whether those features are worth just a fraction because they are components. Apple argued in court that the iPhone was a “bet-the-company” project at Apple and that design is as much the “article of manufacture” as the device itself. The three design patents in the case apply to the shape of the iPhone’s black screen with rounded edges and a bezel, and the rows of colorful icons displayed. Samsung no longer sells the smartphone models at issue in the case. Two utility patents also involved apply to “bounce-back” and “tap-to-zoom” functions. An original trial finding that Samsung violated Apple patents preceded a lengthy appellate dueling over whether design features such as rounded edges are worth all the money made from a phone. Technology vs Style Samsung challenged the legal precedent that requires the forfeiture of all profits from a product, even if only a single design patent has been infringed. The US Supreme Court in 2016 overturned the penalty imposed on the South Korean consumer electronics giant. Justices ruled that Samsung should not be required to forfeit the entire profits from its smartphones for infringement on design components, sending the case back to a lower court. “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” the South Korean company said in response to an AFP inquiry. “We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.” Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
The key question of the value of design patents rallied Samsung supporters in the tech sector, and Apple backers in the creative and design communities. Samsung won the backing of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, claiming a strict ruling on design infringement could lead to a surge in litigation. Apple was supported by big names in fashion and manufacturing. Design professionals, researchers and academics, citing precedents like Coca-Cola’s iconic soda bottle. The case is one element of a $548 million penalty — knocked down from an original $1 billion jury award — Samsung was ordered to pay for copying iPhone patents. Picked : https://arynews.tv/en/samsung-directed-to-pay-apple-533m-for-copying-iphone-design/

Turkish court hands life terms to 104 over coup bid

Turkish court hands life terms to 104 over coup bid 


ANKARA: A Turkish court on Monday handed life sentences to 104 suspects over their involvement in the July 2016 attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state media reported. The former military personnel were given “aggravated life sentences” by a court in the western province of Izmir, state news agency Anadolu said, for “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order”. Such jail sentences, which replaced the death penalty in Turkey, carry harsher conditions than normal life sentences. In total, 280 military staff are on trial over the failed coup bid. Among the suspects receiving life sentences were former air force chief of staff lieutenant general Hasan Huseyin Demiraslan and ex-Aegean army command chief of staff major general Memduh Hakbilen. The court gave 21 suspects a 20-year jail sentence for “assisting the assassination of the president” while 31 were given sentences between seven years and six months and 10 years and six months for being a member of an armed terror group, the agency added.
There was an alleged plot to kill Erdogan on the night of the coup while he was on holiday in the Aegean resort of Marmaris with his family. The president has said the plot left him 15 minutes from death. The attempted putsch claimed more than 240 lives, according to the Turkish presidency, not including 24 coup-plotters killed on the night. More than 2,000 people were injured. Ankara accuses US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen of ordering the failed putsch, accusations which he strongly denies. Turkish authorities say the movement Gulen runs is a terrorist organisation, but his group insists it promotes peace and moderate Islam. Following the attempted coup, more than 50,000 people have been arrested and 140,000 public workers have been sacked or suspended over alleged links to Gulen or Kurdish militants under the state of emergency imposed in July 2016. Turkey has come under heavy criticism from its Western allies and activists over the scale of the crackdown and repeated calls for the emergency to come to an end.More than 240 people, most of them unarmed civilians, were killed on the night of July 15, 2016, when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and warplanes in an attempt to attack parliament and overthrow President Tayyip Erdogan. Since the coup attempt, authorities have detained 160,000 people and dismissed nearly the same number of civil servants as part of a sweeping crackdown, the UN human rights office said in March. Of that number, more than 50,000 have been formally charged and kept in jail pending trial. The scale of the crackdown has alarmed rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies, who fear the country is sliding further into authoritarianism under Erdogan and accuse the president of using the failed putsch as a pretext to quash dissent.
The government, however, says the measures are necessary, given the extent of the security threats it faces. Picked from : https://www.dawn.com/news/1409194/turkish-court-hands-life-terms-to-104-over-coup-bid

Revealed: Half of Ireland's TDs are millionaires... and here's how much they're worth

Revealed: Half of Ireland's TDs are millionaires... and here's how much they're worth

A research project by the Sunday Independent has revealed the wealth of those whom we have elected to serve us • • ALMOST half of all TDs in Leinster House are worth more than €1m, according to the Sunday Independent's Political Rich List. The first-of-its-kind research project has estimated the combined potential wealth of all 158 TDs to be in excess of €216m. The analysis by this newspaper and financial expert Karl Deeter found that central to this wealth is the gold-plated public service pensions which TDs receive on retiring from politics. Comprehensive research by Mr Deeter shows how pensions accumulated by the country's most senior politicians would cost millions of euro to buy in the private sector. The Political Rich List also provides voters for the first-time with an estimated value of the non-political assets of TDs - whose decisions impact on the finances of every home in the country. The research project examined several publicly available sources of information to calculate estimated values for property, land and businesses owned by TDs.
The insight into the wealth of the people who govern the country estimated that controversial Independent TD Michael Lowry is the wealthiest politician in the Dail. Mr Lowry's State pension and personal assets are estimated to be worth a massive €6.4m. The second wealthiest TD is Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae, with an estimated value of €5.4m. Mr Healy-Rae is by far the biggest landlord in the Dail with 10 rental properties. However, Mr Healy-Rae told the Sunday Independent he is "up to my eyes in debt and trying to pay off mortgages every week". His brother Danny Healy-Rae's assets are valued at €1.6m, bringing their combined estimated family wealth to €7m. Minister for Education Richard Bruton, with a €4.9m estimated value, is the highest ranked member of Cabinet. Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey's son Sean Haughey is estimated to be worth €4.8m but this does not include his share in the €9m will recently left by his mother Maureen. Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny is fifth wealthiest TD with an estimated value of €4.7m. Fine Gael is by far the richest political party with all 50 TDs having a combined wealth of €80m. Fianna Fail's 44 TDs are worth almost €70m, while Sinn Fein's 23 members of the Dail are worth an estimated €12m. The research also established a significant gender divide among the country's national politicians when it comes to their personal wealth.
Of the 75 TDs estimated to be worth €1m, just 11 are female politicians. Former Tanaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald is the first female on the list in 18th place. She is worth €3m based on the value of her pension in private market. Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin is the richest party leader with an estimated value of just under €4m. Mr Howlin is closely followed by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin with a value of almost €3m. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is worth €1.2m while Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald is valued at €791,035. The Sunday Independent established that seven TDs, including three junior ministers, are in receipt of EU-funded farming grants. The research also established significant differences in the Dail Register of Members' Interests which TDs are required to complete once a year. The comprehensive level of detail of assets provided by some TDs is in stark contrast to limited information provided by others. Tanaiste Simon Coveney owns three properties - two houses in Cork and an apartment in Dublin - but only declares a rental property he owns in Cork. Mr Coveney, a former Minister for Housing, does not have to declare his interest in the other properties as they are personally used by him. However, former Taoiseach Enda Kenny lists every property he owns in his declaration, including his family home and the Dublin apartment he stays in while in the capital on Dail business. There is also a contrast in the level of details provided by TDs who own farmland. Some TDs give the exact acreage for the land while others merely give the townland where their fields are based. In most cases, the vast amount of a TD's estimated wealth is based on value of their pension in the private market. The cost of paying political pensions is part of the more than €430bn in pension liabilities which this country has (CSO figures for 2015). Of that sum, €350bn is unfunded, which means we have not put aside any money in advance to pay for those pensions, of which political pensions are only a small portion. Instead it comes out of whatever taxes are collected in the year in question, hence the description 'unfunded liability'.
As part of the research, each TD was contacted and asked to verify the details they gave about their assets in the Dail Register of Members' Interests - a declaration of assets and interests which TDs are legally obliged to provide each year and which is published by the Oireachtas. The Rich List's political valuations are based on assets and do not include the annual €93,599 wage of TDs, the generous allowances, expenses or additional incomes they receive by sitting on committees. That income is subject to tax, PRSI, USC, pension levy and pension contributions. The List just focuses on termination payments (a €15,600 lump sum they can get when they stop being a TD), the one-off lump sum at retirement (a maximum of €140,399 tax free), the TD annual pension (a maximum of €46,800 a year) and the office holders' pensions, which we'll consider next. When a TD holds an 'office' (Taoiseach, Tanaiste, minister, minister of State or Ceann Comhairle) for two years, they qualify for a 20pc pension of the higher office salary earned at retirement. This goes up by 5pc every year to a maximum of 60pc of the office salary if they serve 10 years. Sunday Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-half-of-irelands-tds-are-millionaires-and-heres-how-much-theyre-worth-36901002.html

Save room for dessert – royal wedding cake slices to be sold

Save room for dessert – royal wedding cake slices to be sold 

LOS ANGELES: As Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle inches closer, public hunger for all things royal will get its dessert as decades-old slices of cake from British royal weddings – including those of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and Prince William and Kate Middleton – go up for auction. The five cake slices from royal weddings are expected to fetch hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars each next month as memorabilia at the sale in Las Vegas, Julien’s Auctions said. But for those looking to play royal taster, there is a word of caution. “They’re not edible,” Darren Julien, the Los Angeles-based auction house’s chief executive, said ahead of the June 23 sale.
A slice from Charles and Diana’s wedding, presented in a white box with “CD Buckingham Palace 29th July 1981” in silver printing and wrapped in a paper doily, is estimated to fetch $800-$1,200 (£590-£885), the auction house said. More than 600 guests have been invited to Harry and Meghan’s May 19 wedding, which will take place at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel, with a further 200 being invited for the reception. The fruit cake made for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding comes in a tin presented to guests with an enclosure card saluting attendees that said: “With best wishes from TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in celebration of the wedding of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.” It is pegged to sell for $600-$800. Julien’s sold a slice of William and Kate’s cake for $7,500 in 2014.
Other cake slices include Charles’ 2005 wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s 1986 nuptials, which each are estimated to fetch $600-$800. The piece of royal cake from Princess Anne’s 1973 marriage to her first husband, Captain Mark Philips, is expected to sell for $300-$500. Picked : https://arynews.tv/en/harry-meghan-markle-wedding-cake/