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Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads The Manchester United target Sergio Ramos has told Real Madrid he wants to leave. The Spain international defender held a meeting with Madrid’s chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, on Wednesday morning and confirmed his intention to depart after 10 years at the Bernabéu. The Spain international asked the club to listen to offers with United having signalled their intention to sign the defender late last week. Although Madrid did not provide the standard response, which is to demand that any interested clubs meet the €180m (£128m) buyout clause, and agreed that they will entertain bids, they will set the bar prohibitively high – initially, at least. Neither Ramos, 29, nor Madrid have made any public statement but privately their positions are now clear. Ramos arrived at the Valdebebas training ground a little before 10am and departed without talking to the media. The previous day he had visited his lawyer in central Madrid. Madrid’s willingness to entertain offers does represent some movement, and suggests that they would not mind selling if the conditions are right, while the strained relationship between the player and the president Florentino Pérez makes brokering a lasting peace at the club difficult. Goalkeeper David De Gea, 24, is also a factor in any negotiations, with United able to use Madrid’s interest as leverage. A swift resolution is unlikely but it is clear the defender is prepared to leave after playing more than 400 games for the club.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Despite Manchester United informing them of their interest in Ramos and reports in Spain of them making an offer, Madrid have claimed not to have received any bids. United informed Real Madrid of their desire to sign Ramos in a meeting at which Madrid had hoped to make progress on an agreement to sign De Gea. Neither side backed down on Wednesday on a potential contract renewal at the Bernabéu. Madrid have made no move towards reconciliation or a renewed offer for Ramos to extend his current ¤6m-a-year deal (£4.3m) which expires in 2017. Nor did Ramos say that he was prepared to reopen negotiations which have been at a stalemate for some months now. Madrid made an improved offer to take the vice-captain’s salary to around ¤7.5m but Ramos wanted closer to ¤10m, according to reports in Spain. Unless there are significant changes in the positions of both player and club, this issue appears to have moved beyond a simple battle over a new contract. This has become a battle played out through the press. The sports daily AS, which is critical of Pérez, reported that Ramos had made up his mind he wanted to leave. On the other side of the divide, the newspaper La Razón, which is close to Pérez, demanded that he “respect the badge!” Ramos, has been accused of being a money-grabber by the pro-Pérez press, which has only deepened the sense of mutual distrust.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been given an “AAA” credit rating by Morningstar. The firm’s “AAA” rating indicates that the company is an extremely-low default risk. They also gave their stock a three star rating. Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Jefferies Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Analysts at Nomura reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, analysts at Vetr downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $48.94 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.46. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) opened at 45.635 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $40.120 and a 1-year high of $50.050. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.7 and a 200-day moving average of $44.9. The company has a market cap of $369.17 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.944. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The software giant reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $21.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post $2.420 EPS for the current fiscal year.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. Microsoft Corporation is engaged in developing, licensing and supporting a range of software products and services. The Company also designs and sells hardware, and delivers online advertising to the customers. The Company operates in five segments: Devices and Consumer (NASDAQ:MSFT) Licensing, D&C Hardware, D&C Other, Commercial Licensing and Commercial Other.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads A few hours before the game, the Washington Nationals made it official, activating Doug Fister from the 15-day disabled list to start tonight against the Rays. To make room on the 25-man roster, the team sent Taylor Hill back to Class AAA Syracuse. The Nationals placed Fister on the disabled list after he allowed seven runs to the Padres in two innings on May 14. He was bothered by forearm soreness diagnosed as a strained right flexor. He rested the arm, then underwent the usual graduated throwing program before making two rehab starts, one with Class AAA Syracuse, the other with Class AA Harrisburg. Fister is 2-2 with a 4.31 ERA in 39 2/3 innings. He struck out 18 and walked 10.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads “I just want him to feel good,” said Nationals Manager Matt Williams of what he hopes to see from Fister. “I’m sure there’ll be questions to him between innings — ‘how you doing? feeling okay?’ We know he’s gonna work fast, we know he’s gonna throw strikes. Control for him is important. So all of those being said, for me it’s a health issue. Making sure he doesn’t feel any tightness. As long as that’s the case, he’s good to go.” Hill has been with the team since May 31, called up to serve a long relief role. He served it fairly well, allowing five runs in 12 innings, striking out nine while walking four. It was the 26-year-old’s second major league stint. Chelsea Janes covers the Nationals for The Washington Post. Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

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Click & Close Ads England right-back Nathaniel Clyne, 24, will complete a £12.5m move from Southampton to Liverpool on Monday. (Liverpool Echo) Manchester City have joined rivals Manchester United in wanting to buy Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, 29. (Mirror) Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal, 28, appears set to join Arsenal this summer. (Daily Telegraph) Liverpool striker Fabio Borini, 24, is set to move to West Ham in a transfer worth £8m. (Sun, subscription required) But Borini could also be part of the deal to take striker Christian Benteke, 24, to Liverpool as could Rickie Lambert, 33. (Independent) Manchester United may make a second offer for Sergio Ramos after Real Madrid rejected their first bid of £28.3m. (Manchester Evening News) Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has expressed his interest in signing Chelsea's 23-year-old midfielder Oscar. (London Evening Standard) Chelsea are among the clubs linked with a move for Atletico Madrid attacking midfielder Arda Turan after the 28-year-old said his agent was talking to "three or four clubs". (Daily Mail) Newcastle United want to sign West Ham winger Stewart Downing, 30, but face competition from Sunderland and Leicester City. (Daily Express) Manchester United's promise of guaranteed first-team football could see them signing Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, 30, from Bayern Munich. (Times, subscription required).Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads Former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has urged current number one David De Gea, 24, to reject Real Madrid and become a United legend. (Sun, subscription required) Tottenham's record signing Erik Lamela, 23, who joined for £30m two summers ago is set to leave the club and is in talks with at least one Italian club, understood to be Juventus. (Mirror) Liverpool have submitted a fresh bid for Real Madrid midfielder Asier Illarramendi after having already seen a £10.6m bid rejected for the 25-year-old. (Daily Star) Everton say 26-year-old right-back Seamus Coleman, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United, is not for sale. (Liverpool Echo) Arsenal would have won the Premier League last season if they were managed by Jose Mourinho, according to former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino. (Sky Sports) Monaco have told Tottenham to double their offer to £16m if they want left winger Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, 21. (Daily Star) Newcastle United want to sign Schalke defender Joel Matip, 23, but have decided against a move for Aston Villa centre-half Ron Vlaar, 30. (Newcastle Chronicle) Former QPR midfielder Adel Taarabt, 26, has claimed some QPR players care more about money than winning. (Sun, subscription required) Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, 30, has rejected a move to West Brom and will instead join Chinese team Shanghai Shenhua for £11m from Turkish side Besiktas. (Guardian) Cardiff City and Reading want to sign Hull City and Republic of Ireland midfielder Stephen Quinn, 29. (Wales Online) Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans believes forward Raheem Sterling, 20, is certain to leave Anfield this summer. Evans says the Reds would not have signed five new players if they were not going to receive the money from Sterling's transfer.Former Newcastle striker Patrick Kluivert posts a picture on Instagram of him and his family dressed up as the Jackson 5 for a fancy dress party. Former Aston Villa striker Andreas Weimann is excited about his move to Derby. On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter: "Back to England after a nice family holiday in Portugal - can't wait to get started at my new club tomorrow. #nextchapter." Manchester United striker Robin van Persie posts a picture on Instagram of him, United team-mate Daley Blind, Netherlands team-mate Stefan de Vrij and Italy international Andrea Pirlo relaxing in a swimming pool. Van Persie said: "With the lads and The Maestro Pirlo, the coolest player around." The Major League Soccer Twitter account posts a picture of Pirlo at the New York City FC v New York Red Bulls match to increase speculation that the 36-year-old Juventus midfielder is set to join Frank Lampard at New York City FC. And finally Liverpool midfield duo Jordan Henderson and Lucas Leiva wore wigs, hats and fake glasses to surprise some of the Reds fans who were shopping in the club shop. (Metro) Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher must suffer the forfeit of wearing a Manchester United shirt after losing a bet with Gary Neville that relates to Tottenham midfielder Paulinho. Click & Close Ads
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U.S. stocks added to a global selloff on Monday as markets digested news of capital controls in Greece and the country veered toward a default on its debt, while the euro recouped some of its earlier losses against the dollar. Talks between Athens and its creditors broke down over the weekend after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a surprise referendum on the austerity cuts in the aid package proposed by Greece's creditors. Tsipras late Sunday announced moves to prevent a collapse of the banking system. After an initial wave of selling, European stocks and the euro recovered some ground as investors judged that the Greek crisis still had some way to run. On Wall Street, benchmark S&P 500 futures fell as much as 2 percent late on Sunday, but the index fell less than 1 percent in early Monday trading. The CBOE Volatility index, a measure of the premium traders are willing to pay for protection against a drop in the S&P 500, jumped as much as 19.1 percent to 16.7 points, the highest in three months. It was last up 13.7 percent at 15.94, not far from its historic average. The session's market moves in Europe were considerable, but paled in comparison to the market impact of the financial crisis of 2008 or the last major round of Greek-spurred turmoil in 2011-12. "This weekend’s developments increase the likelihood of a (Greek) default, although there is still a significant chance that the pressure applied by the Europeans will lead to a surprise positive resolution to the drama," said Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist at New Albion Partners in New York. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 109.23 points, or 0.61 percent, to 17,837.45, the S&P 500 lost 12.17 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,089.32 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 35.47 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,045.04. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index shed 1.7 percent, the most in a month. It earlier fell as much as 3.2 percent. 'WORRISOME' CHINA DROP Greek banks and the stock market were closed on Monday and were expected to remain closed until after the July 5 referendum. The Global X FTSE Greece exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks the Athens stock market, was down 15.9 percent from its Friday closing price. Euro zone banks fell 4.3 percent in value. Greece's bailout program expires on Tuesday. Adding to the gloomy backdrop, China shares dived another 3.3 percent, bringing the losses in the past two weeks to more than 20 percent, with central bank cuts in interest and reserve rates on Saturday failing to calm jittery investors. [.SS] "The way the creditors are dealing with Greece made sense; it sends a message to radical parties in the periphery that reneging on promises brings pain," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. "I think the China decline is more worrisome," he said. "I'm not that worried as it mainly looks like froth coming out of the A shares market (but) if it spills into Hong Kong, that could be a tipping point." The Shanghai Composite fell 3.3 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.6 percent.BUY THE DIP? Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Until late last week, investors were hopeful that an 11th hour deal would prevent a Greek default and that the impact on other markets from a possible default would be minimal. "The European financial system now has much less exposure to Greece than in 2011 and 2012," said Stephanie Flanders, Chief Market Strategist for Europe at JPMorgan Asset Management. The euro fell overnight to as low as $1.0953, off 2 percent versus the U.S. currency, but recouped much of those losses to trade down just 0.4 percent at $1.1118. "Maybe the market doesn't believe that a Greek exit could create the type of contagion that it would have done a few years ago," said Rabobank senior currency strategist Jane Foley. "But if there is a no vote at the weekend, that theory will be tested." The planned vote in Greece would decide whether to accept stronger austerity measures demanded by the creditors.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads The euro received support as the Swiss National Bank confirmed it had intervened to counter gains for the franc against the bloc's single currency. The yen strengthened 0.8 percent versus the greenback, giving up some of the gains that were as much as 1.4 percent. TREASURIES, COMMODITIES Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields fell to one-week lows on Monday, with some traders flocking to U.S. debt as a risk-off move on worries about the impact of a Greek default on global financial markets. The 10-year Treasury note rose 26/32 in price to yield 2.3819 percent, after earlier hitting 2.292 percent, the lowest in a week. "The coast is not clear ahead of quarter-end," said George Goncalves, head of U.S. interest rates strategy at Nomura Securities International in New York. "There is still a belief there's a solution (for Greece) even though I think it's misplaced." Government borrowing costs in Europe's indebted southern countries shot up on worry about a possible contagion from the Greek developments. However borrowing costs in Italy, Spain and Portugal were still less than half the levels seen in late 2011 and early 2012 at the height of the most recent debt crisis. Spot gold pared a gain of more than 1 percent on the day to trade mostly unchanged near $1,175 an ounce. Brent crude was down 1.8 percent at $62.15 a barrel and U.S. crude fell 1.7 percent $58.64 a barrel after having hit $58.04, a three-week low. (Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York, John Geddie, Anirban Nag, Jemima Kelly and Sudip Kar-Gupta in London, Nicola Saminather in Singapore and Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Prosecutors announced in April that the 86-year-old peer would not be charged because of his severe form of dementia. An independent QC has now recommended that the decision should be overruled. Lord Janner, who was MP for Leicester West for 27 years, denies any wrongdoing and his family says he "is entirely innocent". He will face criminal proceedings relating to 22 allegations of historical sexual abuse against nine children during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The case has been first listed for Westminster Magistrates' Court on 7 August. It was reviewed under the CPS Victims' Right to Review Scheme, which allows people to have their case looked at again regardless of who took the decision at the CPS not to prosecute.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads David Perry QC concluded that it was in the public interest to bring proceedings before a criminal court. 'Borderline case' Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Alison Saunders said: "I have always said that in my view this was an extremely difficult and borderline case because of the strong arguments on both sides. I have also always emphasised my concern for the complainants in this case. "I understood their need to be heard, which is why I contacted Justice Goddard to ensure that they could give evidence as part of the public inquiry. However, the review has concluded that this forum, albeit a public one, cannot substitute for the adjudication of the courts. "I accept the outcome of the review and will now be bringing this prosecution to allow for that adjudication to happen."Ms Saunders is the first DPP to have a major prosecuting decision reviewed and overturned. She faced calls to resign following her original decision but has told the BBC she will not do so. The announcement reverses Ms Saunders decision that the Cardiff-born peer's dementia meant he was not fit to stand trial and so it was not in the public interest for that to happen, despite there being sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of convictions. A judge will now decide if Lord Janner is fit to stand trial. If not, he will face what is known as a "trial of the facts", where a court hears evidence from alleged victims and decides only if Lord Janner committed the physical acts of abuse. There will be no finding of guilt or conviction. In May, six of the complainants in the case requested a formal review which concluded that although there is sufficient evidence to prosecute, it is right to assume that Lord Janner will inevitably be found unfit to plead and therefore not fit to instruct his legal team, or challenge or give evidence in a trial. 'Deeply frustrated'Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Solicitor Liz Dux, who represents some of the alleged victims, said: "This is a vindication of our efforts to challenge the DPP's original decision not to charge Janner, which was clearly not in the interest of justice". "Our clients have waited long enough for their very serious allegations to be brought before a court. They have felt deeply frustrated by the criminal justice system." Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Plenty of moves will happen when the NHL's free-agent signing period opens on July 1, but it's a considerably weaker class this summer, fronted by forwards Matt Beleskey and Justin Williams. The Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche made sure a pair of potential unrestricted free agents didn't make it to the open market with the signings of Mike Fisher and the newly acquired Carl Soderberg, respectively, last week. Later, the Minnesota Wild inked goalie Devan Dubnyk to a six-year deal. Below, we profile five pending UFAs that could be available starting on Canada Day: Matt Beleskey, LW (2014-15 salary cap hit: $1.35 million US)Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads He'll head to free agency after rejecting Anaheim's latest offer. The 27-year-old could be a late-blooming scorer after notching a career-high 22 goals this past season while spending part of the campaign on the Ducks' top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Beleskey's previous high was 11 in his first full season in 2009-10. He ranked third in the NHL with eight game-winning goals and added eight goals in the playoffs, including three on the power play. A native of Windsor, Ont., Beleskey has spent his entire career with Anaheim, which drafted him in the fourth round (112th overall) in 2006.At 35, the Montreal native would be a good addition to a team needing scoring depth. Ribeiro is coming off one of his more productive seasons in recent years, scoring 15 goals and a team-high 47 assists for Nashville while adding five points in six contests in the post-season. A slick playmaker, he is also durable, having played at least 79 games in four of the past seven years. Ribeiro was a steal at $1.05 million US in 2014-15 but could be seeking a big raise. He might also be a distraction as he is still facing sex assault charges, with a discovery hearing scheduled for July 27.If you're looking for Stanley Cup experience and a playoff stalwart, the 14-year NHL veteran is your guy. He will probably be seeking at least $4 million per season after winning a Cup with Carolina in 2006 and two with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014. A solid two-way player, the 35-year-old Williams had 18 goals, 41 points and a plus-8 rating this past season. Last spring, he was named playoff MVP after posting 25 points in 26 games, and his seven Game 7 goals are tied with Glenn Anderson for the all-time NHL record.He's seemingly been around forever, but Green is only 29. A right-handed shot with a booming slapshot, he will be attractive to teams on the free market. While some aren't enamoured with his defensive play (Green was a plus-15 this past season), he can ignite a team's power play. A former 30-goal scorer, the Calgary native had 10 goals and 45 points this season, his most productive campaign since 2010 (76 points). With a salary cap hit of $6.083 million in 2014-15, Green might have to take a pay cut to play for a Stanley Cup contender.The Dallas Stars will attempt to sign the Finnish puckstopper after acquiring his rights from Anaheim at the NHL draft for a 2015 seventh-round selection. Niemi, who will be 32 at the start of next season, had a decent .914 save percentage and five shutouts this past season while facing the ninth most shots on goal (1,811) in the NHL. With 31 victories and a 2.59 goals-against average in 2014-15, Niemi is still capable of being a starter in the league. The playoffs haven't always been kind to him, though, as Niemi sported a 3.74 GAA and .884 save percentage in the 2014 post-season.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads WEST CHICAGO, Ill. — The tone of the worship service was set at the start. An opening prayer declared it “a dark day.” The sermon focused on a psalm of lament. In between, a pastor read a statement proclaiming the church’s elders and staff “deeply saddened.” In downtown Chicago, as in several other cities around the country, Sunday was marked by jubilation, the annual gay pride festivities made more celebratory by Friday’s Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. But here at Wheaton Bible Church, a suburban evangelical congregation that draws about 2,600 people to its five weekend worship services, it was a day of sorrow. Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE Lauren Horbal, left, and Tiffany Cannon at their home in Nashville. They applied to rent a house together with a friend, and they say the landlord refused to process their application when he realized they were a lesbian couple.Next Fight for Gay Rights: Bias in Jobs and HousingJUNE 27, 2015 Supreme Court Ruling Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right NationwideJUNE 26, 2015 Lena Williams and Crystal Zimmer after they were married on Friday in Cincinnati.Jubilation and Weddings, but Also Confusion, Delay and DenunciationJUNE 26, 2015 interactive Highlights From the Supreme Court Decision on Same-Sex MarriageJUNE 8, 2015 Jennifer Marshall, left, and Summer Ingram, right, demonstrated outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Friday.Conservative Lawmakers and Faith Groups Seek Exemptions After Same-Sex RulingJUNE 26, 2015 “I came in with a great sense of lament, because of what happened on Friday,” the church’s teaching pastor, Lon Allison, told worshipers before reading a statement declaring, “We cannot accept or adhere to any legal, political or cultural redefinition of biblical marriage, nor will we conduct or endorse same-sex ceremonies.”The dramatic shift in public opinion, and now in the nation’s laws, has left evangelical Protestants, who make up about a quarter of the American population, in an uncomfortable position. Out of step with the broader society, and often derided as discriminatory or hateful, many are feeling under siege as they try to live out their understanding of biblical teachings, and worry that a changing legal landscape on gay rights will inevitably lead to constraints on religious freedom. But the challenges are not only external. To a degree that is rarely acknowledged in the public square, many evangelical churches are also grappling with internal questions. Especially in and around large urban areas, pastors increasingly report that some openly gay and lesbian Christians are opting to worship in evangelical congregations (“more and more are coming to our church,” Mr. Allison said) and that heterosexual worshipers are struggling over the church’s posture because friends or family members are gay. “There is a growing desire on the part of some, even within the church, to combine their Christian faith with the acceptance of homosexual practice,” the Wheaton Bible statement acknowledged. The result has been an obvious change in tone and emphasis — but not teaching or policy — at many churches. Almost all evangelical churches oppose same-sex marriage, and many do not allow gays and lesbians to serve in leadership positions unless they are celibate. Some pastors, however, now either minimize their preaching on the subject or speak of homosexuality in carefully contextualized sermons emphasizing that everyone is a sinner and that Christians should love and welcome all. “Evangelicals are coming to the realization that they hold a minority view in the culture, and that on this issue, they have lost the home-field advantage,” said Ed Stetzer, the executive director of LifeWay Research, which surveys evangelicals. “They are learning to speak with winsomeness and graciousness, which, when their view was the majority, evangelicals tended not to do.” A handful of evangelical churches have changed their positions. City Church in San Francisco, for example, has dropped its rule that gays and lesbians commit to celibacy to become members, and GracePointe Church in Tennessee has said gays and lesbians can serve in leadership roles and receive the sacrament of marriage. Ken Wilson, who founded the Vineyard Church in Ann Arbor, Mich., published an open letter calling for a greater embrace of gays and lesbians in evangelical churches. But Mr. Stetzer said they are the exceptions. “Well-known evangelicals who have shifted on same-sex marriage, you could fit them all in an S.U.V.,” Mr. Stetzer said. “If you do shift, you become a media celebrity, but the shift among practicing evangelicals is minimal.” Polling supports that assertion. Even in an era when most Americans, including a majority of Catholics and white mainline Protestants, support same-sex marriage, among white evangelicals just 27 percent are in favor while 70 percent are opposed, according to the Pew Research Center.Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical,” said the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesús, the senior pastor of New Life Covenant Church, an Assemblies of God megachurch that has nearly 20,000 members on multiple campuses, most of them in Chicago. “We won’t marry two men. That goes against our beliefs,” said Mr. De Jesús, who is known as Pastor Choco. He, like others interviewed, noted that over 2,000 years of Christian history, the church has often been at odds with the culture. “We’re prepared to go to prison, or whatever occurs, but the church cannot change,” he said. But even in his church family, there are gays and lesbians. Fa’Darryl Brown, 34, a gay man who worships at New Life Southeast in Chicago, a “daughter church” of New Life Covenant, said simply, “I’m not aware of Choco’s stance.” Mr. Brown said that his local pastor had described homosexuality as a sin, but that “he doesn’t make you feel hell-bound.” “I just see the subject of sexuality as one that we may have to agree to disagree on,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that I can’t sit under his ministry.” The court decision did not come as a complete surprise, of course. Wheaton Bible began working on its statement on Tuesday, anticipating the ruling. And same-sex marriage was already legal in Illinois, as in many other states, before the Supreme Court decision; it was legalized here last year. In Libertyville, Ill., at one of the main campuses of a nondenominational church called The Chapel, which draws about 6,000 worshipers each weekend across eight campuses, the pastor, Scott Chapman, chose this weekend not to talk about the Supreme Court but to stick to a planned

In a quiet bedroom community in New Jersey, past the quaint mom-and-pop shops that line downtown, a million-dollar dream home buried behind decades-old trees sits empty. The new owners who bought it last summer are scared to move in and no one else seems to want to buy it from them. That’s because someone claims to be watching it — and those who live there. A mysterious stalker who calls himself the “Watcher” has forced a family to flee their home in Westfield, N.J., out of fear for their children’s safety. He purportedly wrote a letter to the previous owners telling them “bring me young blood.” When the new owners bought the house, he told them it had been “the subject of my family for decades,” according to court records. The situation may sound like fiction but, for one family, the situation is real.The new homeowners, Derek and Maria Broaddus, filed a civil complaint in Union County Superior Court earlier this month, suing the previous owners for “knowingly and willfully” failing to disclose the home’s history — namely telling them about the “Watcher,” who “claims a right of ownership and/or possession” of the house.

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Other than the lineup, there were few givens about the debut of Fare Thee Well, the five-date run of shows headlined by the “core four” of the Grateful Dead -- Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann -- to mark the band’s 50th anniversary. Sure, Trey Anastasio from Phish had guest billing alongside keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, but who would take the leads on guitar, steer the jam and, most importantly, handle vocals once sung by Jerry Garcia, remained a mystery come showtime. As it was, anyone expecting the Phish-ification of the Grateful Dead at Santa Clara California’s Levi’s Stadium on June 27 was both satisfied and a bit underserved. That’s because Anastasio, a guitar god in his own right with 30 years of heavy touring under his belt who’s known for his onstage showmanship, has the role of player in this group -- a featured one, to be sure, but it’s not his band. Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary: All Our Coverage Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Well, duh, you’re most certainly thinking -- except that Anastasio holding back is so uncharacteristically un-Trey that, for a Phish fan, it's almost jarring. So set one of Fare Thee Well took some getting used to, not just for the audience, but even for Anastasio, Weir and Lesh to settle in. But settle they did, finding a groove not long after opening the night with two of the Dead’s biggest hits, “Truckin’” and “Uncle John’s Band.” Both got the mid-tempo treatment, the latter airy and bright in tribute to its acoustic, singalong origins, as they set the pace for the rest of an hour-long set that dove back into the Dead archive for even older choices like “Alligator,” which still found Anastasio somewhat restrained. He loosened up during “Cumberland Blues,” a longtime favorite of the rockabilly variety that seemed well-suited to Anastasio’s playing style, and got to shine more on “Cream Puff War” by taking the lead on vocals, but heading into the intermission, all was put aside as a spectacular rainbow arched over the venue as “Viola Lee Blues” played on. Whether it was real or not became an instant debate (an insider tells Billboard it cost the production $50,000 to pull off but others say, no way). If the former is true, it's money well-spent as the jubilation that came with it, certainly was. 'I Had Never Seen Anything Like That': Fare Thee Well Producer Pete Shapiro's Journey to Deadheadism The hour-long break between sets seemed all about nostalgia. As vintage images of the Grateful Dead -- curated in part by Bill Kreutzmann’s son -- were projected to a soundtrack composed by noted Phil Lesh/Chris Robinson Brotherhood/Hard Working Americans guitarist and longtime head Neal Casal, the talk of the stadium was “Jerry.” Garcia’s presence was felt -- in pictures, T-shirts, drops of rain (worth noting: very little merchandise being sold on "Shakedown Street" was of the Phish variety). Even backstage, a door near the band members’ dressing rooms was marked Garcia.There’s no tip-toeing around it -- Jerry Garcia was a frontman of the highest order, idolized by nomadic masses who hung on his every note. He was a legend of his time and beyond, as witnessed by the very existence of Fare Thee Well. Hardly a cash-in gig – although the band does stand to make a killing: $50 million in ticket sales, by Billboard’s estimate – it’s the result of a movement that never died: one that inspired Trey Anastasio as a guitar player and prompted Fare Thee Well conceiver Pete Shapiro to go into the concert business. Phish carried the torch extinguished in 1995 when Garcia left the world and here, 20 years later, the music of multiple like-minded generations coalesce. It’s a beautiful thing, and it seems once concertgoers put down their phones and had a chance to look around, they were reminded of what made this scene so special in the first place: how indiscriminately inclusive it is. Of course, the crowd was grayer -- some even snoozing for large portions of the Dead’s signature Drums/Space continuum (to be fair, this used to happen in the old days, too, and pot is way stronger now) -- and richer (not only is Levi’s Stadium in the heart of Silicon Valley, it literally resides in a tech office park), with such VIPs as Bravo's Andy Cohen and Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell in attendance. But ritually speaking, there was little to separate the earliest of Bay Area followers from the Gen-Xers and even the present-day college-aged Phish fans. Perhaps it was that realization that ramped up the second set for all. Delving deep into the sort of psychedelia for which the Dead is known, Anastasio let his freak flag fly during the winding “Dark Star” and turned up the energy for “St. Stephen,” which segued into “The Eleven” and the endlessly bouncy “Turn On Your Love Light.” Drums/Space allowed a breather for the non-drummers of the band – a tradition going back decades – and took on a more electronic feel as Mickey Hart had his way with an assortment of drum machine-activated sounds. Those mixed with the organic pounds of giant, otherworldly timpani felt more EDM than hippie: maybe that was on purpose. Set two wound down with crowd-pleasers: “The Other One,” a Weir-fronted rocker going back to the band’s nascent years and “Morning Dew,” a song primed for Anastasio to slay, as he did with soaring turns on the crescendos that build in intensity during the ballad. The night wrapped with “Casey Jones,” which allowed Hornsby to take lead on the vocals, alternating with his bandmates, each of whom handled the song ever-so-gingerly -- like they’d been playing it since they were teenagers, which most of them certainly had. Only two of the band members spoke during the night and both as the lights were about to come on. Lesh, who has successfully undergone a liver transplant, pleaded with his followers to become organ donors, and Kreutzmann marveled at the love in the room on the heels of a "beautiful and really important" weekend, not just in Santa Clara, but all over the country. Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads This is our political alternative to neoliberalism and to the neoliberal process of European integration: democracy, more democracy and even deeper democracy,” said Alexis Tsipras on 18 January 2014 in a debate organised by the Dutch Socialist party in Amersfoort. Now the moment of deepest democracy looms, as the Greek people go to the polls on Sunday to vote for or against the next round of austerity. Unfortunately, Sunday’s choice will be between endless austerity and immediate chaos. As comfortable as it is to argue from the sidelines that maybe Grexit in the medium term won’t hurt as much as 30 years’ drag on GDP from swingeing repayments, no sane person wants either. The vision that Syriza swept to power on was that if you spoke truth to the troika plainly and in broad daylight, they would have to acknowledge that austerity was suffocating Greece. Greek crisis live: Banks to stay shut on Monday - reports They have acknowledged no such thing. Whatever else one could say about the handling of the crisis, and whatever becomes of the euro, Sunday will be the moment that unstoppable democracy meets immovable supra-democracy. The Eurogroup has already won: the Greek people can vote any way they like – but what they want, they cannot have.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads On Saturday the Eurogroup broke with its tradition of unanimity, issuing a petulant statement “supported by all members except the Greek member”. Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, sought legal advice on whether the group was allowed to exclude him, and received the extraordinary reply: “The Eurogroup is an informal group. Thus it is not bound by treaties or written regulations. While unanimity is conventionally adhered to, the Eurogroup president is not bound to explicit rules.” Or, to put it another way: “We never had any accountability in the first place, sucker.” More striking still is this line of the statement: “The Eurogroup has been open until the very last moment to further support the Greek people through a continued growth-oriented programme.” The measures enforced by the troika have created an economic contraction akin to that caused by war. With unemployment at 25% and youth unemployment at nearly half, 40% of children now live below the poverty line. The latest offer to Greece promises more of the same. The idea that any of this is oriented towards growth is demonstrably false. The Eurogroup president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, has started to assert that black is white. And that brings us to the crux of the troika’s programme: what is the point of reducing this country to rubble? The stated intention at the start of the austerity package was to restore order: allow Greece to take a short hit to its GDP in the interests of building a stronger, more balanced economy in the long run. As it became clear that growth was not restored and that even on its own terms – the creditor must come first – the plan was failing, the line changed. It became a moral crusade, a collective punishment of the Greeks. At the moment, Germany knows best. How do we know they know best? Because they are the richest In 2012 the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said in an interview with this newspaper, “Do you know what? As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax. And I think they should also help themselves collectively.” How? “By all paying their tax.” At the time, it sounded strange: how, in a country of cripplingly high unemployment, with whole families living off the depleted income of one pensioner, was the answer going to come from tax? She was offering not a solution but a narrative: the Greeks were in this situation because they were bad people. They wanted a beneficent state, but they didn’t want to pool their resources to create one. The IMF was merely the instrument of a discipline they dearly needed. This line has broadly held – the debtors are presented as morally weaker than the creditors. To give them any concessions would be to reward their laziness and selfishness. The fact that debt is a two-way street – that the returns on debt exist because of the risk that the money might be lost, and creditors have their own moral duty to accept losses when they arise – is erased by this telling of the events. Also airbrushed out of that story is what the late economist Wynne Godley called (in 1992!) the “lacuna in the Maastricht programme”: that while its single-currency proposal made provision for a central bank, it had nothing to say on the matter of what would replace the democratic institutions – the national governments whose power, once they had no control over their own currency, would be limited. Now we have our answer: the strongest takes control. At the moment, Germany knows best. How do we know they know best? Because they are the richest. The euro was founded on the idea that the control of currency was apolitical. It has destroyed that myth, and taken democracy down with it. These talks did not fail by accident. The Greeks have to be humiliated, because the alternative – of treating them as equal parties or “adults”, as Lagarde wished them to be – would lead to a debate about the Eurogroup: what its foundations are, what accountability would look like, and what its democratic levers are – if indeed it has any. Solidarity with Greece means everyone, in and outside the single currency, forcing this conversation: the country is being sacrificed to maintain a set of delusions that enfeebles us all. Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads This video shows the terrifying moments after the gunman Seifeddine Rezgui entered the Hotel Marhaba resort in Sousse. He has already murdered dozens of sunbathers on the beach. The brave hotel staff are seen searching for the killer after hearing gunshots. Shouts can be heard before Rezgui is finally shot by police. Labour's Sadiq Khan has argued the Metropolitan Police cannot continue to do "the outstanding job they do in protecting Londoners" faced with another round of cuts. Writing in the Daily Mirror, he said: "There can be no better source of information than that from the communities that are being targeted by extremists, but without the resources to build those relationships, to develop the trust then the police will be operating with one hand tied its back." 15.40 Over the next two days security services and emergency services will conduct a major exercise in London, the Prime Minister has announced. There will be a national minute of silence on Friday, a week after the attack occurred.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads "There is no evidence to date that they were directly coordinated," said Mr Cameron. He added that there are over 50 people on the ground assisting in Tunisia and the RAF will arrange directly the repatriations of victims. Over 380 counter terrorism and local officers have been at British airports assisting those coming home. It is the largest counter-terrorism deployment in a decade. Mr Cameron said the Foreign and Common Wealth Office have updated their travel advice and are not advising against travel to coastal resorts in the region. "We will not give up our way of life or cow in the face of terrorism," he said. "The Tunisians and Kuwaitis will not... be cowed by terror," he added. The death toll of British victims is likely to rise above the current total of 18, David Cameron has said in the house. Mr Cameron said this morning's Cobra emergencies committee went through the attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France in its meeting. MPs are now marking the attack in Tunisia with a minute's silence in the Commons The Prime Minister, who chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee at 10 Downing Street, is due to speak in the House of Commons soon. We have an update on the suspected associates of gunman Seifeddine Rezgui who have been arrested. Tunisia's interior minister Najem Gharsalli has said a "significant number" of individuals were detained. News of the arrests follows the Home Secretary Theresa May's visit to the scene of the attack. Mrs May said she had had a "very constructive" meeting with politicians from Tunisia and other countries. Four people needing treatment are being flown back to the UK on board an RAF C17 plane with "medevac" teams experienced at bringing injured service personnel back from operations overseas. The aircraft left the Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire at lunchtime.POSHT Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Ahead of UK chancellor George Osborne speaking in parliament about Greece, UBS has taken a look at the possible impact on the UK of the Greek crisis: While the direct exposure of the UK to Greece is very limited, it is the potential for contagion that will likely be of most concern. For now the main focus is on the impact on financial markets. The monetary policy committee has scope to watch how the Greek referendum unfolds. If it needs to act, we believe the Committee is likely to sound rhetorically dovish first and foremost. After that, it has a range of options. Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads The most immediate asset market transmission from greater Grexit risk to the UK is likely through the currency. At the Asia open the euro/pound had already breached 0.70 before recovering. We expect the euro to continue trading heavily in the coming days and, barring a surge in general dollar demand, the Bank of England exchange rate index could break 93, dragging sterling further away from the Bank’s own assumptions (at 90) and comfort levels. Rhetoric on the currency may rise but more explicit action looks unlikely barring serious contagion.Two may be a coincidence, three is a trend, and four looks rather like a plan. The eurozone’s three largest economies have all come out today and told Greece exactly what they believe Sunday’s referendum is about, and it’s not simply about choosing the old reform offer. Matteo Renzi warning that Greece is voting to choose between the euro and the drachma makes a hat-trick.Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

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Click & Close Ads SANLIURFA, Turkey — The Islamic State launched a bloody assault against the Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on Thursday, five months after the militants were driven from the area by intense U.S. airstrikes. An estimated 32 assailants driving five cars penetrated Kurdish defenses shortly before dawn, detonated a suicide bomb and then fanned out in an apparent attempt to blast their way into town, according to Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which has controlled Kobane since the Islamic State was driven out. Kurdish fighters were still battling the militants late into the morning, and dozens of people, including women and children, have been killed or wounded, Xelil said. Turkey said 41 injured civilians had been permitted to cross the normally closed border to receive treatment in Turkish hospitals. The attack on Kobane follows a wave of defeats inflicted on the Islamic State in recent days by a joint Kurdish-Syrian rebel force. The capture last week of the border town of Tal Abyad, the militants’ most important conduit for trade and foreign fighters, has been followed in recent days by advances south toward the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa. Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads The assault represents the first setback for Kurdish forces in Kobane since the Islamic State first launched an offensive to capture the town last September, triggering the most intense U.S. airstrikes in the fight against Islamic State so far. Kobane became a symbol of both Kurdish and American determination to confront the Islamic State, and U.S. officials regularly point to the victory there as an example of the progress that can be made when determined ground forces are backed by concerted U.S. air power. Kurdish activists posting on social media said at least two U.S. strikes were launched in the vicinity of the town after the assault got underway, but the reports could not be independently confirmed. The location of the attack, on the northern edge of Kobane adjoining the Turkish border, drew immediate allegations of Turkish involvement from Kurdish activists, who have long accused Turkey of covertly helping the Islamic State in order to prevent Kurds from consolidating control over territory adjoining Turkey. Click & Close Ads
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Click & Close Ads ast weekend, the world saw white supremacist and mass murderer Dylann Roof posing stone-faced with Confederate flags and license plates. Sometime after the pictures were taken, Roof allegedly shot dead nine parishioners at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, using a legally acquired 45-caliber Glock handgun after passing a background check. On Monday, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced that the Confederate flag would be removed from State House grounds, calling it “a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally offensive past.” In the space of 24 hours, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart all stopped selling products featuring the Confederate banner. Google stated Tuesday that it would scrub the flag from ads and Google Shopping. Several flag makers say they will stop manufacturing the flag. Today, the governor of Alabama has ordered the removal of the flag from state Capitol grounds.Almost literally overnight, the chimera of consensus around the Confederate flag as a divisive but misunderstood symbol of “heritage” or “Southern pride” fell away, revealing the banner for what it is. The obscenity of the flag and the murderous racism it represents have dominated a national conversation about the American way of hate and violence for all the right reasons. The flag has also dominated the conversation for a single wrong reason, which is that most Americans have given up on achieving meaningful gun control in their lifetimes or in their grandchildren’s lifetimes. Up to and including the December 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, Americans could be certain that every time a crazed man emptied a weapon inside a church or movie theater or first-grade classroom, the aftermath would produce a national conversation—just like the one we’ve been having about Confederate symbolism—about strengthening America’s gun control laws. The conversation happened because we believed it would lead somewhere. After Newtown, we realized that the conversation would never lead anywhere, and so we found other things to talk about. In April 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho shot dead 32 people and injured 17 at Virginia Tech, we debated Virginia’s faulty background-check requirements—Cho passed two checks despite a record of mental illness. In January 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner shot dead six people and wounded 13 at an event featuring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, the Cho debate effectively replicated itself, down to Loughner’s mystifying ability to come up clean on a background check for his legally acquired weapon of choice, a Glock Model 19 9mm pistol. In July 2012, when James Eagan Holmes shot dead 12 people and injured 70 in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, the debate expanded to interrogate the legal status of the AR-15 assault rifle and 100-round drum magazine that Holmes legally purchased and that had been previously prohibited under the assault-weapons ban, which Congress let expire in 2004.Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads After Newtown, we realized that the conversation would never lead anywhere. Five months after Aurora, in December 2012, Adam Lanza shot dead 26 people, including 20 6- and 7-year-old children, at an elementary school in Newtown using a legally acquired Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle, a Glock 10mm, and a Sig Sauer 9mm. In the immediate aftermath of Newtown and with the memory of Aurora’s carnage still fresh, the momentum behind securing stronger gun control laws in the United States felt more palpable than ever. Hours after the Newtown shooting, the website of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence crashed under the weight of new donations. Six states eventually adopted universal background checks. Colorado, site of the movie theater massacre, banned magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Michael Bloomberg put $50 million of his own money behind the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. President Obama signed three executive orders on gun violence. In the U.S. Senate, Sens. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Patrick Toomey, a Republican, worked on a bipartisan measure to require background checks for online and gun-show sales. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein proposed reviving the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. A Washington Post–ABC News poll showed over 90 percent support among Americans for expanded background checks; even among National Rifle Association members, support came in at 74 percent. And then, nothing. Feinstein’s proposal fell away before it could even come up for a vote. The watered-down Manchin-Toomey bill died in the Senate in April 2013. In September 2013, voters in Colorado recalled two of the Democratic state senators who supported Colorado’s new gun control legislation. And in April 2015, as Holmes’ trial got underway, the Associated Press cited the NRA’s tally of “35 bills expanding gun rights that have been signed into law nationwide this year,” adding, “No legislation the NRA has opposed has become law.” The AP headline read, “As Theater Shooting Trial Opens, Gun Debate Dwindles.” When 20 dead first-graders cannot result in new and meaningful national measures on gun control or even in weak and largely symbolic national measures on gun control, then perhaps—if you are of a certain cast of mind—that is the moment to retreat on gun control. And we have. People will still talk about it. Michael Bloomberg will always have more money to spend on it. Karl Rove can propose the repeal of the Second Amendment. Manchin and Toomey can discuss reviving their push on background checks. Gabby Giffords can continue to fight, and when, say, North Carolina decides not to repeal permits for handgun purchases, she can treat this maintaining of the status quo as a victory—which, in its grotesque context, it is. Mostly, though, we find other things to talk about. Top Comment This debate is just toxic. Both sides demonize the other in moralizing, judgmental terms. More... -punkTaoist 1.9k CommentsJoin In In May 2014, when Elliot Rodger shot dead six people and wounded 14 in Isla Vista, California, we talked about misogyny, and we coined hashtags like #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen. Now, we’re talking about the Confederate flag. Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads And the next time a crazed man commits mass murder, and the next time, and the next time, we will talk about gun control a little, but we will also find a second conversation. Because those conversations are worthy and potentially fruitful, and also because we have given up.Click & Close Ads
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Click & Close Ads BEIRUT – Islamic State militants in Syria stormed government-held neighborhoods in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh on Thursday morning, capturing several areas of the city, officials and state media said. The attack came after the Islamic State group suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks. The city of Hassakeh is divided between Bashar Assad's forces and Kurdish fighters. Redur Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, said IS militants attacked government-held neighborhoods on the southern edge of Hassakeh, and captured some areas. Syrian state TV reported intense clashes inside Hassakeh's southern neighborhood of Nashawi. According to the report, IS fighters killed several people they captured in the city, including the head of a military housing institution. It said the militants sustained many casualties, including the commander of the group who is a foreign fighter. IS tried to storm the city earlier this month and reached its southern outskirts before facing strong resistance from Syrian government troops who pushed them away. Also Thursday, IS staged a new attack on the Kurdish town of Kobani, which famously resisted a months-long assault by the Islamic militants. The attack involved a suicide car bombing that wounded scores. "A group of fighters deployed in some areas of Kobani. We are defending a position now," Ghalia Nehme, a commander with the Kurdish Women's Protection Units, told The Associated Press by telephone from inside the border town.Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads After months of bloody street fighting, the Kurdish forces in Kobani, which lies along the Syria-Turkey border, succeeded in pushing out IS militants earlier this year. That was a landmark victory against the IS, enabled in part by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. Two Turkish officials said Thursday's attack involved a suicide bomber who detonated his car near the border gate that separates Kobani from the Turkish town of Mursitpinar. The first official, from the local governor's office, said that 41 wounded were taken across the border to a hospital in Turkey. Surveillance footage showed a fiery explosion rocking Kobani in the dim light of dawn, he said, adding that video came from one of the 24 cameras monitoring the border crossing. The second official, who is with the district government, put the number of wounded at 43 and said that sporadic gunfire could still be heard from the other side of the border later in the morning as well. He said one person, a child, had been killed. There was no immediate way to resolve the discrepancy between their reports. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Syrian state TV said the extremists crossed from the Turkish side of the border into Kobani, adding that are casualties. It gave no further details. Click & Close Ads
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Click & Close Ads U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed in a phone call with his French counterpart Francois Hollande on Wednesday Washington's commitment to end spying practices deemed "unacceptable" by its allies. The presidents' conversation, announced by Hollande's office, came after transparency lobby group WikiLeaks revealed on Tuesday that U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on the last three French presidents. The latest revelations of espionage among Western allies came after it emerged that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on Germany and that Germany's own BND intelligence agency had cooperated with the NSA to spy on officials and companies elsewhere in Europe. "President Obama reiterated unequivocally his firm commitment ... to end the practices that may have happened in the past and that are considered unacceptable among allies," the French president's office said. Hollande had earlier held an emergency meeting of his ministers and army commanders and the U.S. ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry. "France will not tolerate actions that threaten its security and the protection of its interests," an earlier statement from the president's office said, adding it was not the first time allegations of U.S. spying on French interests had surfaced. A senior French intelligence official will travel to the United States to discuss the matter and strengthen cooperation between the two countries, Hollande's office said. "We have to verify that this spying has finished," Stephane Le Foll, government spokesman, told reporters, adding that ministers had been told to be careful when speaking on their mobile phones. RELATED COVERAGE › U.S. not spying on France's Hollande or French officials: Kerry While Paris and Washington have good ties in general, U.N. Security Council veto-holder France fiercely maintains its independence on foreign policy and over the last two years there have been moments of friction and irritation on both sides. Hollande was disappointed by Obama's last-minute decision not to strike Syrian government positions in 2013. U.S. officials have frequently, in private, criticized France's tough stance in talks over Iran's nuclear program. MORE DOCUMENTS TO COMEClick & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads The revelations were first reported by French daily Liberation and on news website Mediapart, which said the NSA spied on presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande during the period of at least 2006 until May 2012. According to the documents, Sarkozy considered restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks without U.S. involvement and Hollande feared a Greek euro zone exit back in 2012. Wikileaks said it would soon publish more details on the nature of U.S. spying on France. Le Foll said Paris had not decided whether to launch legal proceedings as Germany had done but, amid calls from some quarters for retaliation, played down diplomatic consequences. RELATED COVERAGE › France passes law to widen eavesdropping powersClick & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads › U.S., European authorities investigate possible new leaker: sources "In the face of threats that we face and given the historic ties linking us, we have to keep a perspective," he said. "We're not going to break diplomatic ties." Germany's top public prosecutor closed a year-long probe earlier this month into the suspected tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone by U.S. spies. Claude Gueant, Sarkozy's former chief of staff and one of the reported targets of the NSA, told RTL radio: "I feel like trust has been broken." The documents, which included the cell phone of one of the presidents, included summaries of conversations between French officials on the global financial crisis, the future of the European Union, ties between Hollande's administration and Merkel's government.Click & Close Ads
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Click & Close Ads Non-EU migrants who have spent more than five years working in the country will be required to earn £35,000 per year or else face deportation, according to a policy that comes into effect in April next year. The policy, announced in 2012 by British Home Secretary Theresa May, has been criticised this week by the Royal College of Nursing. They predicted chaos in the health service, and urged the Home Office to add nursing to the list of occupations exempt from the rules and reconsider the salary threshold. But nurses won’t be the only people affected by the changes. Migration figures published in May reveal migration for work from outside Europe rose by 24,000 to 68,000 in 2014, with nearly all coming on skilled work visas. £35,000 is a salary that won’t affect those working in finance or, for the most part, IT, but there are many other sectors with workers who will be forced to leave when the pay threshold comes into force.Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads For decades, settlement has been granted on the basis of length of time living in the UK, as well as pre-existing ties to the country. The policy is part of the government’s determination to reduce annual net migration. We want to hear from people likely to be affected by these changes. You can share your story by filling out the form below.Click & Close Ads
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Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads Barack Obama was the one asking the questions in an interview with British naturalist David Attenborough that aired on Sunday in which they agreed that combating climate change would require a global effort. Saying he had long been a “huge admirer” of Attenborough’s TV documentaries about the environment, Obama turned the tables on Attenborough in an interview taped on 8 May at the White House, which aired on the BBC and other international broadcasters. David Attenborough and Barack Obama face-to-face in TV interview Climate change is one of Obama’s priorities for his remaining time in office, but he faces resistance from Republicans in Congress on how to deal with the issue. Obama noted the US agreement with China in 2014 to set new limits on carbon emissions starting in 2025. The two countries are the world’s leading carbon emitters. Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads He told Attenborough: “We’re not moving as fast as we need to, and part of what I know from watching your programs, and all the great work you’ve done, is that these ecosystems are all interconnected. “If just one country is doing the right thing, but other countries are not, then we’re not going to solve the problem. We’re going to have to have a global solution to this,” he said. Attenborough agreed that “the solutions are global”. Obama also asked the naturalist if he thought it was possible “to get a handle on these issues”. After Attenborough stressed the value of finding ways to generate and store power from renewable resources, Obama said: “I think you’re right about that. There has got to be an economic component to this.” Attenborough, 89, the brother of the late actor and director Richard Attenborough, has been making television documentaries for 60 years. The BBC has called him “the godfather of natural history TV”. It came as his administration is finalising rules to curb carbon emissions from power plants. Obama has pushed world leaders to agree to new targets at a summit later this year in Paris. Obama told Attenborough that children were “much more environmentally aware” than adults, and cited his daughters Malia, 16, and Sasha, 13, as examples. “They do not dispute, for example, the science around climate change,” Obama said. Click & Close Ads Click & Close Ads

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Click & Close Ads Charlie Hales, the mayor of Portland, Ore., was running a zoning hearing last December when he missed a call on his cell from David Plouffe, the campaign mastermind behind Barack Obama’s ascent. Although Hales had never met him, Plouffe left a voice mail that had an air of charming familiarity, reminiscing about the 2008 rally when 75,000 Obama supporters thronged Portland’s waterfront. “Sure love your city,” Plouffe gushed. “I’m now working for Uber and would love to talk.” Hales, like many mayors in America, could probably guess why Plouffe was trying to reach him. Uber’s made a name for itself by barging into cities and forcing politicians to respond. It started in 2010, providing swanky rides at the tap of an app in San Francisco. “I pushed a button, and a car showed up, and now I’m a pimp,” Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick said four years ago. The company has since expanded to take on lower-cost taxi service in more than 300 cities across six continents, ballooning to a $40 billion valuation. At the time of Plouffe’s call, Uber already operated in several Portland suburbs, and over the previous few months Hales’s staff had asked the company to please hold off on a Portland launch until the city could update taxi regulations. Plouffe may be a big name, but Hales didn’t immediately call him back. The next day, City Hall heard from a local reporter that Uber cars would hit the streets that very evening. The company’s unauthorized kickoff put Hales in a bit of an artisanal pickle. Portland had just become the first city to explicitly allow short-term rentals through Airbnb and other sites, and welcoming Uber could help build the city’s sharing-economy brand, a logical extension of its communitarian roots. On the other hand, aggression is so not the Portland way.Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads Hales gathered Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick and three aides to call Plouffe. Hales would play the good cop to Novick’s bad cop. The roles were fitting: Hales comes off like the thoughtful baby boomer dad on Family Ties, while Novick’s known around town for his fiery wit. (In a campaign ad mocking the idea that voters should elect politicians who are relatable drinking buddies, Novick, who was born without a left hand, pops open a bottle of beer with his prosthetic metal hook. “Steve Novick,” the voice-over said. “He’s always found a way to get things done.”) The group huddled around Hales’s cell phone on speaker mode as the mayor dialed Plouffe. A year ago, Colorado passed the first ride-sharing legislation in the country. Since then, about 50 U.S. jurisdictions have adopted ordinances recognizing Uber and Lyft as a new type of transit provider called “transportation network companies.” Each government, whether municipal or state, goes through its own process to craft rules, but in the end, officials generally codify the insurance coverage, background-check policies, and inspection protocols Uber already has in place. Uber makes the rules; cities fall in line. There are some small differences between their regulations, but, as Plouffe says, “the core is remarkably similar.” Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads The success, says Justin Kintz, Uber’s head of public policy for North America, is “a tale as old as time—it’s the power of the people.” It’s also a tale about the power of backroom lobbying. Although Uber promotes itself as a great disrupter, it’s quickly mastered the old art of political influence. Over the past year, Uber built one of the largest and most successful lobbying forces in the country, with a presence in almost every statehouse. It has 250 lobbyists and 29 lobbying firms registered in capitols around the nation, at least a third more than Wal-Mart Stores. That doesn’t count municipal lobbyists. In Portland, the 28th-largest city in the U.S., 10 people would ultimately register to lobby on Uber’s behalf. They’d become a constant force in City Hall. City officials say they’d never seen anything on this scale.Click & Close Ads
Click & Close Ads When Hales got through to Plouffe, he said he’d heard a “disturbing rumor” that Uber planned to start operations. “That,” he said, “would be a bad way to start.” Plouffe responded with a drawn-out silence. Before Plouffe mustered a reply, Novick erupted: “Mr. Plouffe, if you come to Portland without following our rules, we’re going to throw the book at you!” But as Portland would learn, a city of 600,000 can play tough with a $40 billion company, particularly one that is used to getting its way, for only so long.Click & Close Ads
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