Month: September 2019

The seven people killed near Odesa, Texas, by a gunman brings the number of victims of mass killings by firearms to 53 in the month of August.

Texas, had four of the eight deadliest shootings in the US in 2019, according to the website Mass Shooting Tracker.

In the shooting on Saturday in Odessa, authorities said the gunman — identified as 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator, of Odessa — used an AR-type rifle. He shot and wounded three police officers before he was killed.

Law enforcement officials said on Sunday that the death toll in the West Texas shootings may have been even higher had the shooter not been stopped and killed outside a crowded movie theater.

The officials speculated the gunman may have planned to continue shooting inside the Cinergy Movie Theater in Odessa before the hijacked US Postal Service vehicle he was driving was disabled by law enforcement officers.

Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said the gunman likely wouldn’t drive to the theater unless he planned to go inside. He said the shooting remains under investigation but that his death outside the theater may have saved lives.

The US Postal Service said a 29-year-old employee was among the seven people killed.

Letter carrier Mary Granados was among those killed Saturday by the gunman who went on a more than 10-mile rampage. Authorities say he hijacked her mail carrier truck and fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland. 

Among the 22 wounded was a 17-month-old girl, Anderson Davis, who was shot in the face, according to officials. 

The other shootings in August include one on Aug 3 at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed and 26 others wounded by a gunman who targeted shoppers, in the predominantly Hispanic border city. The suspect, a white man in his 20s who was taken into custody, wrote an anti-immigrant manifesto that was posted online shortly before the attack, the authorities said.

On Aug 4, nine people were killed and 27 wounded in Dayton, Ohio, when a gunman wearing a mask and body armor opened fire in a busy entertainment district. The gunman’s sister was among the dead, according to the police.

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Gong Fuying, a painter from East China’s Fujian province, has found an inspiring way to turn ‘waste’ into wealth. Using tea leaves and stalks, he makes landscape paintings that reflect his hometown. “Sometimes I even use brewed tea leaves, dry them and dye the leaves with different colors,” Gong said.

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The queen of Denmark unveiled a statue of Nanjing Massacre savior Bernhard Arp Sindberg in Aarhus, Denmark on Saturday.

Sindberg was a security guard at the Jiangnan Cement Factory and used the factory as a refugee camp, saving tens of thousands of Chinese refugees.

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VENICE — Julie Andrews, the star of much-loved movies Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, said on Monday she was “blessed” to have had a long, illustrious cinema career as she was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival.

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The 83-year-old, who won an Oscar in 1965 for playing the strict but kind-hearted nanny Mary Poppins, held up and kissed the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award to an applauding audience.

“I consider myself so blessed to have spent a large part of my professional life in the cinema arts,” she said.

“I still marvel at the fact that I was the lucky girl who was asked to play those wonderful roles.”

Andrews began her career as a child actress on the London West End before heading to Broadway.

Mary Poppins turned her into an international star, and she has gone on to feature in movies such as Victor/Victoria and The Princess Diaries, and most recently lent her voice to 2018 blockbuster Aquaman. 

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Speculation mounts that PM Johnson to seek vote if Brexit delay bill is passed

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson called an emergency Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon, reportedly to talk over with his team the pros and cons of attempting to call a snap general election.

He is understood to be eager to fatten the slim majority of his ruling Conservative Party and take full control of the nation’s pending departure from the European Union.

Under British parliamentary procedures, the prime minister cannot call an election unilaterally, such a move must be supported by two-thirds of the nation’s 650 lawmakers, which means he would need the support of other parties should he make such a call.

The BBC said he was considering the move to counter anticipated efforts by members of Parliament to pass legislation this week that would block him from taking the UK out of the European Union without a divorce deal in a so-called no-deal Brexit.

The corporation’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, said the prime minister could call for a snap general election as soon as Wednesday and, if Parliament supports the idea, the House of Commons could be closed on Friday and an election held as soon as Oct 11. She said the most likely date for nationwide polling is Oct 17.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly said he favors an early general election because it “would give the people a choice between two very different directions for the country”.

But former Labour Party prime minister and pro-EU campaigner Tony Blair warned in an earlier speech at the Institute for Government that Johnson appeared to be maneuvering toward making such a call, and that it was an “elephant trap” that might catch out the less prepared Labour Party.

“We’re numb to the state of our politics,” he lamented. “What is happening is shocking, irresponsible and dangerous.”

Parliament reconvened on Tuesday after having been closed for several weeks for summer recess.

With the clock ticking down to the Oct 31 date by which the UK is scheduled to leave the EU and with a divorce deal guaranteeing tariff-free trading apparently out of reach, returning lawmakers opposed to a no-deal Brexit had been expected to try to rush through legislation blocking such a scenario.

Now, with a general election on the short-term horizon, the maneuvering has become moot and all of the major parties will likely be thinking about how they might win enough support for their vision of the future to prevail. If there is an election, parties are likely to campaign from markedly different standpoints, with the Conservative Party championing an exit from the EU on Oct 31, with or without a deal, the Labour Party saying it will deliver a delay to the Brexit deadline and a second referendum, and the Liberal Democrats saying they will keep the UK in the EU.

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The drama came on a busy day for Brexit watchers in the UK in which the government launched a public information campaign aimed at preparing citizens for life outside the European Union.

The ‘Get Ready for Brexit’ initiative started on Sunday with a new website featuring official information about Britain’s exit from the bloc and ways in which the reinstatement of hard borders and trading tariffs might affect people.

Michael Gove, the minister in charge of the UK’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit, said the campaign, which will also play out on billboards, online, and on television, will encourage people to share in the responsibility of being ready.

At the launch of the gov.uk/brexit website, he said being ready is “not only a matter of national importance, but a shared responsibility”.

The campaign will also make use of leaflets, online seminars, and information stands and is targeted at British citizens intending to travel to Europe and businesspeople who export to the bloc.

Gove, meanwhile, was roundly criticized by the British Retail Consortium after he claimed there will not be shortages of fresh food in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

And Jane Golding, a Berlin-based lawyer who co-chairs the British in Europe organization, said on Radio 4’s Today program that a no-deal Brexit would mean “27 separate contingency plans” in each of the remaining EU member states and that there would inevitably be a raft of problems affecting not only the availability of fresh food in the UK but the rights of expat British people living in mainland Europe.

She said many are worried about a lack of coordination on healthcare, social security, and even whether they will be allowed to stay in their homes.

 

The first half of 2019 has witnessed different profit outcomes among China’s top three oil and gas companies, which experts said was mainly due to the profit plunge in downstream refining and chemicals sector dragged by overcapacity and waning demand.

According to their recently released semiannual reports, Petro-China Co Ltd and CNOOC Ltd posted rises in first-half earnings, while that for China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) was 24 percent down year-on-year.

Total revenue of PetroChina over the first six months of 2019 hit 1.2 trillion yuan ($167.39 billion), rising 6.8 percent from the first half of last year. Its earnings were 28.42 billion yuan, up from 27.44 billion yuan from a year earlier.

Sinopec’s revenue in the first half of 2019 rose 15.3 percent year-on-year to 1.5 trillion yuan, with earnings being only 32.2 billion yuan.

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For CNOOC Ltd, total oil and gas sales rose 4.4 percent to 94.28 billion yuan in the first half, and net profit hit 30.25 billion yuan.

Li Li, energy research director at ICIS China, a firm providing analysis of China’s energy market, said increased crude oil prices in the first half, against a sharp decline in profit margins of downstream oil refining and chemicals, influenced the profitability of the three companies in opposite ways.

“Higher prices of crude oil boosted the profit margins of PetroChina and CNOOC Ltd in the first half, as upstream exploration and production of crude oil are the main business of the two companies,” she said.

“On the contrary, gross margins in both oil refining and chemicals declined sharply during the period, and that led to Sinopec’s profit drop.”

Operating income of PetroChina’s upstream exploration and production sector, the largest contributor to its net profit, was 53.63 billion yuan in the first half of 2019, up 23.74 billion yuan from that in 2018, but that in refining and chemicals was 4.97 billion yuan, a decline of 19.72 billion yuan year-on-year.

Despite increased output, Sinopec’s earnings before interest and taxes were only 18.61 billion yuan in its oil refining business, down 52.8 percent year-over-year from 39.43 billion yuan due to higher crude procurement expenses. That in chemicals dropped 27.2 percent year-on-year from 18.91 billion yuan in the first half of 2018 to 13.78 billion yuan in the first half of this year.

Li said as competition in downstream is getting fiercer with growing new capacities, the second half will remain tough for Sinopec if it does not update its product portfolio to better meet market demand, such as increasing supplies of low sulphur fuel oil for ship use and boosting refined oil exports.

Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University, said: “Overcapacity in oil-refining and chemicals, accounting for up to 20 to 30 percent of the total capacity, has been a long-time problem for the healthy development of the industry, and the problem is getting worse with a torrent of large private capacities planned to be completed next year.”

According to him, overcapacity in the downstream sector is flared up by some companies’ thirsty for expansion and local governments’ desire for more tax and employment, but ultimately disrupts the balance of market supply and demand, especially against the background of rising uncertainties in the global economy.

The way out comes from the authorities’ better industry policy designs, including drawing up reasonable industry development plans, refining the related tax structure, and strengthening tax supervision to avoid tax evasion, he said, adding that it is very important to tax downstream products rather than refined oil sales.

Zheng Xin contributed to this story.

The classical Chinese dance drama Butterfly Lovers is set for its debut at the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle this week as part of an arts festival currently underway in the United States. The two-hour dance drama, also known as “Chinese Romeo and Juliet”, is a romantic tragedy set in ancient China.

It has been choreographed by dance director Li Hengda.

With a cast of young artists from the Beijing Dance Academy, the dance drama will bring one of four most treasured tragic love stories in China to audiences on the US West Coast.

“The drama combines the elegant style and expressive techniques of classical Chinese dance but is delivered in the universal language of dancing to tell an old story in a new way,” Li says.

This artistic creation of the legendary tragic romance between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai employs a lot of traditional styles unique to Chinese dance with new techniques of expression and music often found in American symphonies, he adds.

The drama exemplifies traditional Chinese values, such as filial duty, loyalty and honor and features many unique characteristics of Chinese art, Li continues.

“I’ve lived in the US for more than 20 years, but I think what is most splendid and appealing to American audiences is the special characteristics of the Chinese nation, such as the Chinese artistic conception of poetic interpretation and the expression of passion.”

The drama, which was presented in two shows at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts late last week, is part of the Sixth Across Pacific-China Arts Festival that kicked off in San Francisco on Thursday. The dance drama will be staged in Seattle from Thursday through Saturday.

The flying English winger hasn’t ruled out a return to the country of his birth with top-flight clubs circling for his services

Manchester United has been given a boost in their pursuit of Jadon Sancho, with the star Borussia Dortmund winger declaring he ‘wouldn’t mind’ a return to England in the future.

The 19-year-old has attracted interest from the Red Devils after taking the Bundesliga by storm over the last two seasons, scoring 14 goals and getting 20 assists in only 37 appearances.

Sancho, who played his junior football with Watford and Manchester City before heading to Germany to get first team opportunities, says a move to England or Spain could be on the cards in the future but insisted he was just happy to be on the pitch at Signal Iduna Park.

“I can’t tell the future but I wouldn’t mind. La Liga I wouldn’t mind also, but we don’t know yet,” Sancho said.

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“I am just happy that I’m playing and that’s the main thing. I’m just helping my team and learning every day when I’m on the pitch.”

Sancho has enjoyed a hot start to current Bundesliga campaign, with two goals and three assists in this first three games helping to increase speculation about his future.

But the England winger was adamant he could block out the outside noise and believed his location helped avoid pressure from the media.

“I don’t really try to take notice of all the media,” he said. “I just try to stay focused on my game.

“Obviously being in Germany has taken off the pressure of the media and I think that’s really helping me a lot and keeping me focused.”

Sancho’s form has seen him break a 52-year-old Bundesliga record, with his goal against Cologne on August 23 meaning he was the youngest player to score 15 times in the division since Stuttgart striker Horst Koppel in 1967.

The teenager has also become a strong voice in football, issuing a rallying cry for football to come together following the racial abse of Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku at Cagliari on Sunday.

Sancho is currently preparing for England’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo, where he will be looking to score his first goal after drawing a blank in his six caps to date.

The striker has departed Monaco for a move to the Turkish side, where he has signed a three-year contract

Galatasaray have confirmed the signing of Radamel Falcao as the Colombian star completes his move to Turkey from Monaco.

Falcao, who did not feature for Monaco to start the Ligue 1 season due to an ankle injury, had been linked to Galatasaray throughout the transfer window.

Galatasaray confirmed negotiations with the striker this week before Falcao was welcomed by a crowd of thousands upon his arrival to Istanbul on Sunday night.

“An agreement has been reached with the professional football player Radamel Falcao Garcia Zarate and his club AS Monaco Football Club for a free transfer of the player,” Galatasaray announced on Monday.

“According to the agreement, the player will be paid a net transfer fee of €5 million for three seasons starting from the 2019-2020 season.”

Falcao had featured for Monaco since arriving from La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid in 2013 as he helped guide the club to Ligue 1 glory in 2016-17.

He scored 83 goals during his stay with the club, but made it clear this summer that he was looking to move on from the team.

The 33-year-old striker had already embarked on two loan spells away from the club during his stint in Ligue 1, with the first being a spell with Manchester United in 2014-15 that produced just four goals in 29 appearances.

He didn’t fare any better the next season as he was loaned to Chelsea, where he fired just once in 12 appearances for the Premier League club.

The forward did contribute 16 goals for Monaco last season, though, after scoring 24 and 30 the two seasons prior.

Falcao is Colombia’s top all-time scorer, having fired 34 goals in 89 appearances while featuring at three Copas America as well as the 2018 World Cup.

The signing continues what has been a busy summer for Galatasaray, who are looking to build on a title-winning performance from last season.

Galatasaray have added a number of new faces this summer, including the likes of Stephen N’Zonzi, Emre Mor and  Jean Micahel Seri on loan to go with moves for Ryan Babel, Jimmy Durmaz and Sener Ozbayrakli, who, like Falcao, have joined on free transfers.

Following the international break, Galatasaray will face Kasimpasa having collected four points from their opening three league matches.

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Inter’s new striker was subjected to monkey chants at Cagliari on Sunday evening and the shocking thing is: it wasn’t the least bit surprising

We’ve been here before. Cagliari. Racial abuse. A seemingly never-ending cycle of supporters targeting players of colour at the Sardegna Arena.

Sulley Muntari in 2017, Blaise Matuidi in 2018, Moise Kean in April – on Sunday, it was Romelu Lukaku’s turn.

As he stepped up to take a penalty for Inter in front of the Curva Nord, he was subjected to monkey chants.

They only intensified after he converted.

As the Belgium striker’s team-mates ran to congratulate him on a game-winning goal, Lukaku issued a short but stern stare at those insulting him in the stands.

He appeared to consider making a statement, as Kean had done five months previously, by silently celebrating in front of the fans.

Lukaku thought better of it. Perhaps wisely. After all, Kean had, rather outrageously, been accused of provocation that night – even by one of his own team-mates.

As Leonardo Bonucci’s reaction underlined, many Italians just don’t get it. The Italian Football Federation certainly doesn’t.

It ultimately decided against sanctioning Cagliari any further over the abuse to which Kean was subjected that night. Which is why this keeps happening.

Nobody is doing anything about it, other than issuing the odd insignificant fine.

There are no points deductions, no stadium closures – meaning no deterrents for the perpetrators. And no incentives for clubs to eliminate racism from their grounds.

After the Kean controversy, Cagliari president Tommaso Guilini took umbrage with TV pundit Daniele Adani criticising the club’s fans, accusing the former Italy defender of being “self-righteous” and making unfair generalisations.

The Rossoblu were at it again on Monday, when they released a statement addressing the abuse aimed at Lukaku.

“Cagliari does not want to underplay what occurred last night, it endorses the respectable moral values of its people from all the stadium sections,” the press release read, “but firmly rejects the outrageous charge and silly stereotypes addressed to Cagliari supporters and the Sardinian people, which are absolutely unacceptable.”

Apparently, accusing a section of Cagliari fans of racism is “unacceptable”; the racism itself, though, is totally fine.

The club expressed its intent to “to identify, isolate and ban those ignorant individuals whose shameful actions and behaviours are completely against those values that Cagliari strongly promotes in all their initiatives”.

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Presumably, those responsible for abusing Lukaku were a completely different bunch to those that insulted Kean last year. What an unfortunate coincidence that this just keeps happening at the Sardegna Arena.

The one thing that Cagliari did get right on Monday was claim that everyone has a responsibility to partake in the fight against racism.

“We believe our commitment needs a real support by the rest of the football stakeholders,” the statement reasoned, “starting from all the true supporters, to all the stewards in the stands, from police and security agents, passing to media and as well through Lega Serie A and FIGC.”

There are racists at every Italian club, in every stadium. Hell, some are even in parliament. But then, Italy is not alone in that regard, is it? There are ignorant buffoons in office all across the globe right now.

So, football can’t be expected solve racism, in Italy or across the globe; it can be expected to get its house in order, though. And that means adequately punishing those responsible for racially abusing players within its stadia.

After the Kean incident, Allegri rightly pointed out, “It’s very simple: identify the [racists] and don’t give them a one or two-year ban – just give them a lifetime ban.

“We’ve got the technology; it can be done if the authorities want to. The problem is, they don’t really want to.”

That is a strong accusation but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to dispute.

On Monday afternoon, Sky Sport Italia ran a 10-minute segment showcasing how advanced the surveillance cameras are at top stadia.

So, why, then, can we instantly establish if the whole of the ball has gone even a millimetre over the line – but are unable to identify those in the crowd responsible for monkey chants?

We keep saying ‘no to racism’. But the authorities keep saying no to any form of meaningful punishment.

But enough is enough. This has to stop. And that means stopping games.

Any incident of racism should result in an immediate suspension of play and the award of a victory to those on the receiving end.

Nobody wants to see umpteen games abandoned. But it’s preferable to witnessing the sickeningly familiar scene of a player of colour being racially abused.

It’s an extreme solution to an extreme problem. But not even a new one. As Lukaku lamented, “We’ve been saying [harsher punishments are needed] for years and still no action.”

This is all getting annoyingly repetitive. Indeed, if this article is starting to feel familiar, it’s because it’s not the first of its kind.

You’ve read it before. And you’ll read it again.

Because as this endless cycle of racist incidents in Sardinia underlines, without action, words are eventually rendered meaningless.