Month: June 2019

American Trevor Sluman is looking forward to competing on a second straight Gary Player-designed course after taking over the lead in the PGA Tour Series-China order of merit with his runner-up finish at last week’s Suzhou Open.

This week’s Huangshan Championship is at picturesque Hidden Tiger Golf Club in Anhui province, featuring stunning natural scenery.

Unlike the expansive metropolitan courses that tour players are accustomed to, Hidden Tiger, designed by South African legend Player, is relatively compact and tucked away between spectacular mountain vistas. Players even have the option of riding a ferry from their hotel to the course on scenic Taiping Lake.

There was some rain during the practice rounds, but the weather was clearing up by Tuesday evening and Sluman is planning to make the most of his visit. The New York native has already seen much of China, having played a full season on the tour in 2018.

“It’s amazing to be out here. The hotel is right on the water, and I never would have thought that I’d be playing at a place like this,” said Sluman.

“It’s very cool to be surrounded by all these mountains, and I’ve already taken a lot of nice photos and videos. It’s definitely special and a nice change of scenery.”

While he thinks the course suits him, Sluman said the tight, unforgiving fairways are more challenging than what he faced last week in Suzhou.

“The course is very different compared to last week, but I really like them both. Hidden Tiger is more narrow so you have to play smart off the tee and try your best to not get in any trouble,” he said.

“It definitely suits me because I’ve been playing great, and I like the greens here. Hopefully I can plot my way around the course and shoot a low score.”

Sluman had a solid 2018 season, finishing ninth on the order of merit to get into the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament, but with only conditional Korn Ferry Tour status, he wasn’t able to secure any starts.

Now more than halfway through the season, the big-hitting American has already secured one win－the Sanya Championship－and is on track to play on the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour. He leads the order of merit with 572,709 yuan ($83,000)－roughly 80,000 yuan ahead of compatriot Max McGreevy.

“My goal is to win the order of merit, so this event is really important to me because I want to keep the momentum going and try to extend my lead,” said Sluman.

“It’s difficult because a lot of guys are playing really well. I just need to stay focused and keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully the results will keep coming.”

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Flowers of Shanghai

 

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Country: China

Release Date: Oct 5, 1998

Genre: Drama

Description: The film is about the lives of several “flowers” (courtesans) from the brothels of Shanghai in the late 19th century. The women are always longing to become concubines to their clients or to save enough money to redeem themselves. The world they live is full of manipulation and illusion. The newly released film is the result of an international collaboration on digital restoration technology which helps to showcase the charm and prosperity of Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The Farewell

Director: Lulu Wang

Country: United States

Release Date: Jan 25, 2019

Genre: Drama/comedy

Description: When a grandmother is diagnosed with cancer, the family decides to hide the truth from her and gather all the family members in the name of a wedding before her death. But family member Billi struggles with the family’s decision, thinking that the grandmother has the right to know about her condition.

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The trio will form the league’s forward line, and will be joined by four Atlanta United players in the fan-voted starters to face Atletico Madrid

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Vela are among the big names to be selected to the Major League Soccer All-Star XI ahead of their clash with Atletico Madrid.

The MLS squad will face off against the Spanish giants on July 31 in Orlando, with a team selected by a combination of fan vote, Orlando City head coach James O’Connor and league commissioner Don Garber.

The starting XI are selected entirely by fan vote, with the results seeing stars Ibrahimovic, Rooney and Vela make up a forward line who have dominated the conversation for Most Valuable Player thus far in 2019.

Vela is arguably the front-runner for the award, with the former Mexico international leading the league in both goals, with 16, and assists, with 10, as Los Angeles FC have jumped out to the best record in MLS with 37 points.

Ibrahimovic has enjoyed a strong second season in the league as well, having scored 11 times for the LA Galaxy this season, second in the league to Vela, with a side that sits No.2 in the Western Conference.

Rooney has netted eight times this season for D.C. United, while adding five assists for the third-placed team in the East.

The trio are joined by multiple stars from reigning MLS champions Atlanta United.

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan and defender Leandro González Pírez represent the Five Stripes’ league best back line, while Ezequiel Barco and Gonzalo ‘Pity’ Martinez were selected as midfielders.

Rooney’s old Manchester United teammate Nani, starring for hosts Orlando City with eight goals this season, will join the Atlanta duo in the midfield, as will Mexico international and Ibrahimovic’s Galaxy teammate Jonathan dos Santos.

Joining Gonzalez Pirez along the back line will be United States international Walker Zimmerman and Sporting Kansas City right back Graham Zusi.

Beyond the XI, 11 more players will be selected by O’Connor, who will coach the squad by virtue of being the boss of the host city’s team.

Two additional selections will be made by commissioner Garber.

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Goalkeepers will not be booked for encroaching off their line during a penalty shoot-out during the knockout rounds of the tournament in France

Women’s World Cup goalkeepers will not be booked if they move off their line during a penalty shoot-out, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has confirmed.

The new ruling, which sees a penalty retaken if a goalkeeper does not keep two feet on the goal line, has been tested during the tournament in France.

It has caused controversy, with the use of VAR meaning goalkeepers have been penalised, and then booked, for moving a matter of inches only moments before spot-kicks have been taken.

Scotland’s Lee Alexander was the latest culprit, with her slight encroachment costing Shelley Kerr’s side a place in the knockout rounds when Argentina fought back to draw 3-3 on Wednesday.

The rule has drawn much criticism, though, with England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley among those to speak out against it, and the Premier League confirmed VAR will not be used to check for such an offence by goalkeepers next term.

And while the IFAB stands by the new law, the body approved FIFA’s request to stop an automatic yellow card being issued to the goalkeepers should they break the rule during a penalty shoot-out.

“The IFAB board of directors today approved a request from FIFA for a temporary dispensation relating to Kicks from the Penalty Mark (KFPM) in Law 10 – Determining the Outcome of a Match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019,” a statement read.

“The IFAB fully supports goalkeepers being penalised for not conforming with the Laws of the Game and gaining an unfair advantage.

“However, for any KFPM during the knockout stages of the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France, a temporary dispensation has been given to FIFA from the requirement to caution a goalkeeper who is penalised for an offence which results in a kick being retaken.”

Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s refereeing committee, meanwhile, feels the implementation of the new rule has been correct.

“We discussed this matter with players and coaches and eventually decided to help goalkeepers by allowing them to have only one foot on the goal line instead of two,” Collina said.

“Since that change their job is definitely easier than before, and it is also easier for them to respect the current law than the previous version. Then, if a law exists, referees must enforce it.

“For factual decisions, the number of centimetres doesn’t matter. If a ball is over the goal line by few centimetres, a goal must be still awarded. And if a foul is committed within the penalty area by few centimetres, a penalty kick must be given.”

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Every minute of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will be available to watch for viewers in the US

The 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations begins in Egypt on Friday June 21, with the host nation hoping to make up for the disappointment of their early exit from the World Cup last summer.

Led by Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah, who travelled to Russia but was evidently not fit to participate, the Pharaohs are chasing their eighth title but face stern competition from the likes of Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, who are the defending champions from the 2017 edition in Gabon. They face Zimbabwe in the tournament curtain raiser this weekend.

The tournament, which has traditionally been played in January and February but has been moved to the European off-season to accommodate the schedules of the majority of its players, was initially scheduled to start six days earlier, however, due to the close proximity of the end of Ramadan, which finished on June 3, a decision was taken to move the tournament back.

It means the final of the competition will now be played in Cairo on July 19, eating significantly into the pre-season plans of many of Europe’s top clubs, where a majority of the key stars play their football.

Nevertheless, this promises to be a unique showcase for the African game, which can claim the spotlight without too many other distractions. Kick-off times will be earlier in the day than those of the Copa America and Gold Cup, while the Women’s World Cup in France is nearing its concluding stages.

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As such, there is bound to be significant interest in the competition, which will be available to view in the US.

beIN Sports is the network that has claimed the rights to the games and will be showing each live on beIN Sports USA. 

Live streams of the fixtures can be found on beIN Sports CONNECT, which requires a subscription and a broadband internet connection. Subscribers can access the games on computers, mobile devices and smart phones. It can be accessed via the beIN Sports website as well as via the iOS and Android apps.

Coverage in Spanish language, meanwhile, can be accessed via Fanatiz USA, which is a digital platform that offers live streaming of games.

Click:Guizhou China Map​
The celebrity chef had a strong grounding in football but was never quite able to make the breakthrough before serious injury ended his career

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay might be best known for his foul-mouthed rants around kitchens both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but the star of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen was close to becoming a professional footballer.

He was brought up on the terraces of Ibrox, watching Rangers with his uncle Roland, becoming a regular at the Glasgow venue until he was 10, when his parents moved down south to Stratford-upon-Avon.

It was there he started to play regularly, and he found he had some talent.

“I did very well,” Ramsay told the Observer Sport Monthly. “I was a naturally aggressive left-back, a cut-throat tackler. You may have got past once but there was never, ever, ever a second occasion. And I was fast, I was a great 100m sprinter. If you were to compare me to anyone, I guess it could be Stuart Pearce.”

He played for Oxford United and was spotted by a Rangers scout while playing a youth match, prompting his family to move back to Scotland so the young Gordon, then aged 15, could be trained by the equivalent of the club’s youth academy.

“My dad was a Rangers fan and fantastically proud of me. But it was hard and very stressful. Never knowing if you were going to make it. I was petrified most of the time,” he admitted.

“The games were really violent, not like the football we see nowadays,” he added, and so it would prove as he suffered a serious knee ligament injury that cut short his career.

Although Ramsay had claimed to have played for the first team on three occasions, this sparked controversy as it appears the claims were inaccurate. He did, however, feature during a testimonial game in September 1985, in which he was listed in the Rangers squad as a trialist.

In 2009, a spokesperson for Ramsay clarified the claims: “Gordon has always down-played his footballing past and been clear about the fact that he never made it to be a professional.

“As detailed in Gordon’s autobiography, Humble Pie, Gordon was a promising schoolboy who was monitored by Rangers over a three-year period during his school holidays when he attended their Youth Policy. During this time he played a couple of non-league matches as a trialist. A knee injury put paid to any further hopes of being signed by Rangers.”

While the door to footballing stardom was slammed shut, Ramsay, who has become a regular participant of Soccer Aid, has gone on to achieve tremendous success in the kitchen, receiving three Michelin Stars and, according to Forbes, earning $62 million in 2018, making him the 33rd highest-earning celebrity in the world – putting him behind only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar from the sport.

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The race to be the next Conservative Party leader and Britain’s next prime minister was cut to four candidates after the third ballot on Wednesday evening saw Rory Stewart eliminated.

There will be a fourth and possibly fifth ballot on Thursday after which the final two candidates will become known.

On Tuesday evening, the candidates set out their differing approaches to Brexit in a live BBC debate.

During the hour-long exchange the five were challenged on other issues including tax, Islamophobia and the environment. The five started by trading blows over whether to leave the European Union on Oct 31 with or without a deal.

The former foreign secretary and frontrunner in the race, Boris Johnson, came under unprecedented public scrutiny, having previously avoided any media invitations to set out his intentions.

On Brexit, Johnson denounced the idea of a flexible deadline, but when pressed he did not commit to Britain leaving the EU on Oct 31, saying only that it was “feasible”.

“We must come out on Oct 31 because otherwise I am afraid we face a catastrophic loss of confidence in politics,” he said.

Johnson insisted that keeping the no-deal option on the table was a necessary negotiating tactic with the EU, though he repeatedly insisted he did not want to pursue a “disorderly” no-deal Brexit as a first option.

“We have already kicked the can down the road twice and I think the British people are getting thoroughly fed up. Unless we get out on Oct 31, I think that we will all start to pay a really serious price.”

Challenged to explain his “letterbox” comment about Muslim women wearing the veil, he avoided answering the question directly, saying: “In so far as my words have given offence over the last 20 or 30 years when I have been a journalist and people have taken those words out of my articles and escalated them, of course I am sorry for the offence they have caused.”

Responding to a question on Islamophobia, Johnson said: “When my Muslim great-grandfather came to this country in fear of his life in 1912, he did so because he knew it was a place that was a beacon of hope and of generosity and openness, and a willingness to welcome people from around the world.”

The leadership rivals rounded on Johnson over his plan to cut taxes for people earning more than 50,000 pounds ($63,000). The frontrunner said he would lift the National Insurance threshold for the low-paid but there should be a “debate” about the higher income tax rate.

“It does seem to be very odd that in the Conservative Party people should seriously question whether it is right to try to lift nurses and heads of maths departments and police inspectors out of the top rate of tax,” he said.

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Jeremy Hunt said: “What people accuse the Conservatives of is they say we are the party of the rich. We must never fall into the trap of doing tax cuts for the rich and confirming that prejudice.”

The battle for second place is fierce, with the candidate that makes it through to the final ballot knowing they are likely to face off against Johnson.

Michael Gove challenged Stewart’s principal claim that he is the only one being realistic about Brexit, while former health secretary Hunt pledged to put right past mistakes, admitting that cuts to social care had gone too far.

Sajid Javid, the current home secretary, said it was he who had shown real leadership when he committed his fellow candidates to holding an external investigation into alleged Islamophobia in their party.

After Thursday’s vote, the hustings process begins across the nation and 160,000 party members will decide in a postal vote between the final two candidates. The new leader will be announced during the week of July 22.

A lose-lose strategy by which the United States thinks it can inflict more economic damage on China than on itself is a very “big miscalculation” and will ultimately increase the “pain” on the people in the United States, according to John Ross, a British academic and senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

“It is estimated by the Oxford Economics that it will cost the average US household at least $850 a year if the US is going to impose tariffs on all Chinese products,” Ross said.

Oxford Economics, a leading consultancy in global forecasting and quantitative analysis, said in a report focusing on the US-China trade relationship that trade with China not only saved a typical US household $850 in 2015, but also has created 2.6 million jobs in the US, which could be put at risk due to retaliatory tariffs.

“Therefore, what the US is doing now is not a policy which will aid the US. It is a big miscalculation that the US think they can impose more pain on China than on the US population,” he said.

Having worked in China for more than 10 years, Ross said China’s performance on the global stage is very “skillful” and highly praised the foreign policy basis of China.

“The idea of the common destiny of humanity is absolutely brilliant. And the growth potential of the Best and Road Initiative is the most important growth development in the whole world,” he said.

“China is a very strong economy. It is certainly not going to be put off by a few tariffs by the US,” he added.

Ross said China’s stance on the trade tensions is “absolutely correct”, with the white paper recently released giving a “very reasonable statement of China’s position”.

“It shows China doesn’t want this fight because China will lose from this trade war as well as the US. Therefore, it would prefer not to have it.” he said. “But, on the other hand, if the US adopts the lose-lose strategy, then the only way of China can deal with this situation is to ensure that the US also suffers.”

“The white paper said very briefly about China’s bottom line. The problem is the US that had a very bad method of negotiation,” he said.

Ross noted that with the US abandoning or weakening globalization, the whole global economy has been negatively affected. As a consequence, more and more countries and territories won’t follow the steps of the US including the European Union.

“The EU is not committing itself to support the US at all. Although it will keep a low profile because it depends on the US for military defense, it actually won’t go along with what the US do to the economic front,” he said.

Ross mentioned the example of Huawei, and said it’s not easy for the EU to keep quiet and calm but won’t go along with the US policy while facing the pressure placed by the US on cutting Huawei out of the launch of 5G.

“Huawei is about nine months to a year ahead in the development of 5G and it’s cheaper, which means if you don’t use Huawei equipment, it will be more expensive 5G and it’s going to be later,” he said, adding that those governments couldn’t risk the development of 5G, which is “the key for the whole economy” in the coming future.

 

 

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Twenty-two years after the first Men in Black film came out, the fourth movie in the series was released to impatient fans in the United States and China on Friday.

Based on the Marvel-owned Malibu comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, Men in Black: International follows the paths of the two special agents as they battle vicious aliens and track down a mole inside their organization.

The film is directed by F. Gary Gray, and features a diverse cast, including Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, American actress Tessa Thompson, Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson, Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani and Irish actor Liam Neeson.

The original Men in Black movie starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones created a sensation on its release in 1997, earning $580 million at the box office. Over the next 15 years, the series of three movies banked $1.45 billion.

Gray started his career in 1992 and has worked on many hit movies, including the action flicks The Italian Job and The Fate of the Furious 8, and the thriller The Negotiator. But this is the first time he has produced a science-fiction film.

“The chance came along, and I thought that it was my time to jump into the sci-fi genre and combine that with fun and action,” Gray told China Daily during an interview in Beijing on June 8.

Filming took place in New York, Morocco, Paris, Italy and London from July to October last year.

“It’s always fun to see different cultures and learn about them, and shoot beautiful places that are rich with history,” says Gray.

“It feels like we went on vacation together,” Thompson adds, smiling.

Gray also says he was lucky that Hemsworth joined the cast in the lead role, describing him as the “very first choice” and ideal for the role.

Thompson, on the other hand, had not done any sci-fi work before, but had a lot of drama experience. Gray says he had a sneaking suspicion Thompson’s level of depth and range of talent would help her handle a role like this. His suspicion paid off when she opened the first page of the play and wowed everyone with her powerful delivery.

Speaking from past experience, Gray says it’s usually more difficult to work with an ensemble cast, where it’s hard for actors from different roles to form a chemistry. Yet, he was happily surprised by how well the actors bonded, especially Thompson and Hemsworth, who had worked together previously in The Avengers and Thor series.

The Men in Black series always features surprising high-tech weapons, and this outing will not disappoint, hints Gray, mentioning a classic Jaguar that doubles up as a moving arsenal.

Many scenes in the new movie pay homage to the earlier films and feature the memory-erasing “neuralizer” and the triple-barreled plasma gun. There are moments where Gray taps into the popularity of Avengers: Endgame and drops in references aimed at Marvel fans. The biggest surprise for Chinese audiences will be the guest appearance of Crazy Alien star Huang Bo as a human neighbor of the aliens.

Gray also disclosed his secret of making satisfying comedies.

“I’m not so rigid about what’s in the script. We always like to create an environment where the actors are free to improvise, and some of the most spontaneous fun moments often come from this. We’re all artists and filmmaking is a collaborative process,” he says.

Talking about the premise of the film, Gray says he believes in alternative realities.

“People continue to discover new planets and galaxies. I think it would be a little shortsighted of us to believe that we’re the only living beings in the entire universe,” Gray says.

“Aliens inhabit the world we don’t see, so the interaction with them through our creativity has to be interesting-that’s what makes sci-fi films so popular.”

Meeting with mixed reviews in China, media industry tracker Xiniu Entertainment says the film “puts a smile on the faces of old fans with familiar elements while entertaining new audiences with fun details”.

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A declining loan-to-deposit ratio for Chinese banks in the first quarter of 2019 indicated that the liquidity of the banking sector is generally adequate, said an expert of Moody’s Investors Service.

“After rising for two years, the loan-to-deposit ratio dropped in the first quarter of this year mainly because banks’ deposits grew at a faster pace than loans during the same period,” said Nicholas Zhu, vice-president and senior credit officer at Moody’s, one of the “Big Three” global credit ratings agencies.

Deposits increased more rapidly because it takes time for banks to switch from the old wealth management products with implicitly guaranteed principal and expected rates of return to new ones with non-guaranteed principal and floating income, according to the initial analysis of data by Moody’s.

“Generally speaking, the liquidity of the Chinese banking system is fairly adequate,” said Zhu during an interview with China Daily at the Moody’s and CCXI 2019 Summit in Beijing on Tuesday.

Commercial banks and nonbanks are now paying much greater attention to the risks in the interbank business due to concerns over liquidity risk at small and medium-sized banks.

Starting on May 24, China’s banking and insurance regulator took over Baoshang Bank Co Ltd for one year, as the Inner Mongolia-based, joint-stock commercial lender was exposed to serious credit risk.

“Previously, banks and nonbanks did not fully implement counterparty risk management in detail. With a sudden awareness of its importance, various financial institutions are all reviewing their risk appetite and the internal process of managing counterparty risks,” said Zhu.

He noted that although it is good to raise awareness of counterparty risk management in the long run, the market is still concerned about whether or not it will cause a rapid shrinkage of interbank financing, investment and lending in the short term for the reason that a rapid and forced shrinking of banks’ balance sheets may trigger systemic risk or have an unexpected economic impact.

“Attaching great importance to this issue, the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, and regulatory authorities have put the maintenance of financial stability at the top of their list of priorities, which also include reducing moral hazards, cracking down on shadow banking activities, and abstaining from providing implicit guarantees and making rigid repayments. The central bank and regulators have a strong willingness and the capability to realize the goal of maintaining financial stability,” he said.

Recently, the State Council’s Financial Stability and Development Committee held a meeting during which large State-owned banks and smaller joint-stock commercial banks said they would maintain a stable volume of interbank business with other small and medium-sized banks, in an effort to maintain market order.

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According to a news release issued by the People’s Bank of China on June 9, the central bank will use various monetary policy instruments to maintain a reasonable and adequate level of financial market liquidity, in addition to providing targeted liquidity support for small and medium-sized banks.

The growth of banks relies heavily on the real economy, which refers to the part of the economy that produces goods and services. As regulators have made their intentions clear that small banks should operate at the local level, banks are facing challenges in managing sector concentration risk that is closely related to the local economy, said Zhu.

“Mergers and acquisitions of banks within a few provinces have already taken place and may occur later. The intra-provincial integration of banks will help them reduce sector concentration risk and realize cross-regional reallocation of financial resources,” he said.

But it is unlikely there will be trans-provincial integration of banks, as local governments want to have a certain level of local affiliation of financial service providers and therefore cherish the opportunity of having a licensed bank that is headquartered within their jurisdiction, he added.