Month: April 2020

The legendary forward has revealed just how close he was to becoming a Red Devil – and Sir Alex Ferguson’s lack of response when he turned them down

England legend Alan Shearer has revealed just how close he was to joining Manchester United over Newcastle in 1996.

Although the striker eventually plumped for his hometown club, only the tenacity of then manager Kevin Keegan to pursue a world-record £15 million ($18m) deal prevented him from making a switch to Old Trafford.

It was no secret that Shearer was wanted by the Red Devils, but he has now lifted the lid on how close he came to signing for the club and the response of Sir Alex Ferguson when he did not.

“I sat down with Kevin Keegan and Sir Alex on the same day,” he explained to the BBC. “I saw Keegan in the morning and talks had gone really, really well. 

“Then the Man Utd contingent came in. His first question to me was: ‘Am I seeing you first or am I seeing you second?’ I told him I had seen Kevin in the morning and I won’t tell you his words. He said basically I’ve got no chance, then. He wanted to see me first. 

“But I thought the talks went extremely well. I was very impressed with what he had to say.

“I had to go and make a decision. At one point, I was going to Manchester United. But then, I sat down and I got a call from Kevin who asked to see me a day or two later. And I thought: ‘You know what, I’m going to go back to Newcastle. It was the club I always supported and wanted to play for. 

“I thought: ‘I’ve got to ring him. I rang him but there was no answer. I thought I couldn’t leave a message. I rang him again but there was still no answer. I left him a message after the third time and no surprise, I never got a call back!

“I’ve got no regrets, I’d do the same again.”

Meanwhile, he revealed a cheeky request that was rejected by the Scotsman.

“I asked if I could take the penalties. His response to me was: ‘Eric’s on them!’” Shearer said. “He looked at me with those steely eyes as if to tell me that he wasn’t going to tell Eric Cantona that I was going to take them.”

Shearer went on to become a hero for his hometown club, scoring 148 Premier League goals in 303 appearances.

There is a will from footballing stars to help out the UK with their money but they have not been allowed to do so by a union that has reacted slowly

Former Leeds and Manchester City defender Danny Mills has hit out at the PFA’s sluggish response to calls for players’ wages to be cut in response to the coronavirus crisis.

With football on hold in England due to the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19, which has killed more than 4,000 people in the UK, there have been calls for footballers to sacrifice some of their pay to help the NHS.

Negotiations have been led by the PFA, the players’ union, but on Saturday it questioned the value of stars taking a 30% pay cut in order to help public services, arguing that if they were to do so, the UK government could miss out on around £200 million of tax revenue.

Mills has responded to those claims, hitting out at the union for dragging their heels over finding a solution to the problem and leaving the players open to criticism from the public, many of whom have lost their jobs or have been forced to take a pay cut due to the knock-on financial issues the virus has caused. 

“This deal can be done. It’s not that complicated,” Mills told Sky Sports. “I get that the government doesn’t want to miss out on taxes. It’s a valid point but there are ways around that. Everything is new at the moment. This is new at the moment, and there are new things coming into law all the time. 

“The will is there from the players. The players want to help out, I can’t stress that enough, it’s quite clear. 

“The Premier League players have the ability to do so and the funds to do so, some in the Championship might too but some may not. Some in League One and League Two will not, things could be very tight in their lives and they may not get help further along. 

“Allow the Premier League to help out. It’s making footballers look bad at the moment. 

“I understand the PFA, and the strength is in their numbers, but all the power lies at the top. They’re the ones with the say. They’re the ones with the money and the power. The PFA are making them look bad at the moment. 

“The players want to give money, they want to help, now why’s it taken almost three weeks to get these talks to a point where we can’t even get a conclusion. That doesn’t seem right. The PFA have been slow to react and their communication hasn’t been brilliant. 

“We’ve seen Jordan Henderson doing something off his own back to get players to donate and help out. The goodwill of the players is there but the PFA seem to be putting a blockage in the way.”

The Dutch attacker is enjoying life on loan in MLS and believes the crowds are a lot more carefree

Brighton loanee Jurgen Locadia has claimed fans in the United States can sit back and enjoy matches more than they do in Europe. 

The 26-year-old joined FC Cincinnati in February and scored on his MLS debut for the club against New York Red Bulls in a 3-2 loss. 

Having previously played in the Eredivisie, Premier League and Bundesliga, Locadia is enjoying playing in front of MLS crowds that don’t take the game quite so seriously. 

“The stadiums are way bigger than in Europe and I think the fans’ vibe is also different because I think here in the States the fans enjoy the game more and in Europe I get the feeling that people are more judgey about the game,” Locadia told Cincinnati.com.

“Here in the States, they come to enjoy the game and see the players and drink beer. And in Europe it’s more like, we need to win and they’re gonna judge you.

“They don’t like when you play the ball back to the goalkeeper.” 

Prior to the suspension of MLS due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cincinnati had lost their opening two games of the season with Locadia used as a substitute against Red Bulls before earning a start against Atlanta United.

While he’s only had a brief taste of MLS, Locadia has taken to life in the United States and is open to the idea of making his five-month loan permanent should Brighton agree to let their player go.

“I like it here so far in Cincinnati and the league also,” Locadia said. 

“I talk with my agent also and he said at the end of the day it’s my decision, and I told him I’m happy here, so if we can figure something out with Brighton and Cincinnati, which I understand is going to be difficult, we can try and fix the situation because…Cincinnati’s gotta say if they’re gonna buy me or not and I think Brighton has some work in it also.

“But my agent called with Brighton already and they talked about the situation and hopefully they can work something out.” 

Locadia has made 43 appearances for Brighton since joining them from PSV in 2018. 

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The midfielder is reportedly a target for both Los Blancos and Manchester United but he is taking his time to decide his future

Donny van de Beek admitted that the idea of playing football in the Spanish sun is appealing, but suggested that he was in no rush to seal a move to Real Madrid. 

The Ajax midfielder came to prominence alongside the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong and Hakim Ziyech during the Dutch side’s thrilling run to the Champions League semis in 2018-19. 

Big-money moves then followed for De Ligt and De Jong to Juventus and Barcelona respectively, while Ziyech will complete a switch to Chelsea this summer. 

Van de Beek, however, is yet to leave Amsterdam, despite reported strong interest from Zinedine Zidane’s Merengue and the midfielder is happy to weigh up all his options before committing to a transfer. 

“My feeling must be good at a club. How much do they want me?” Van de Beek signalled to Helden. 

“But I also have to fit in with the system that is being played and of course I also want to have an overview of playing minutes.

“Playing in the sun is always nice. But no, I certainly haven’t started taking Spanish lessons yet.

“I have not said yes to anyone, everything is still open. I know what I’ve got here, I am loved in Ajax and I love Ajax.”

Manchester United have also been linked with the 22-year-old and, while he may not enjoy quite as much sun up in the north of England, Van de Beek could be tempted by the challenge of reviving the fallen giants. 

But his coach Erik ten Hag emphasised back in February that he retains hope of keeping him in the Eredivisie, with Ajax engaged in a fierce battle to retain their title when the Dutch top flight was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“I do not think so [that he will leave],” Ajax boss Ten Hag told reporters in a press conference convened prior to his side’s Europa League defeat at the hands of Getafe.

“He has had a great evolution and has attracted international attention. There are players who are in the spotlight and then things change.”

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Ten Hag added: “Donny van de Beek has had a stormy progression the last months. A lot of big clubs noticed this.

“That has been the last one and a half years like this with our players. We have not to think about this, but we have been doing these the last one and a half years already.”

The governing body has promised imminent announcements on salaries after Premier League managers Eddie Howe and Graham Potter agreed to reductions

The Football Association will make an announcement in “due course” regarding any financial implications of the coronavirus amid reports England coach Gareth Southgate has agreed to take a 30 per cent pay cut.

The wages of football’s top players and managers have become a hot topic as the enforced stoppage of activities around the world shows no sign of ending. 

So far several clubs and organisations have announced pay cuts, although their implementation has been piece-meal to date. 

At the other extreme, Tottenham and Liverpool have attracted criticism for cutting wages and furloughing non-playing staff respectively while refusing to touch players’ wages. 

The FA, however, looks set to take action, with Southgate reportedly happy to reduce his salary during the emergency.

“The financial implications of the coronavirus are not yet known, however, as a not-for-profit organisation, we want to ensure that we take the appropriate course of action to support the wider organisation and our employees,” the organisation told Sky Sports News on Saturday.

“We will make a further announcement on our next steps in due course.”

Premier League bosses Eddie Howe of Bournemouth and Brighton’s Graham Potter have already announced that they will not draw their full salaries in a bid to help their clubs compensate for the lack of income during this recess. 

The Professional Footballers’ Association, however, has advised against blanket reductions, suggesting that such measures would in fact be harmful to the United Kingdom and its public health system as it bids to combat the disease. 

 “The players are mindful that as PAYE [pay as you earn] employees, the combined tax on their salaries is a significant contribution to funding essential public services – which are especially critical at this time,” the union argued in a statement released on Saturday.

“Taking a 30 per cent salary deduction will cost the Exchequer substantial sums. This would be detrimental to our NHS and other government-funded services.

“The proposed 30 per cent salary deduction over a 12-month period equates to over £500m in wage reductions and a loss in tax contributions of over £200m to the government.

“What effect does this loss of earning to the government mean for the NHS? Was this considered in the Premier League proposal and did the health secretary, Matt Hancock, factor this in when asking players to take a salary cut?

“We welcomed the opportunity to discuss this with the Premier League today and we are happy to continue talks.”

The PFA added that it recognised its top-flight members had a “responsibility” to contribute during the outbreak and that it would encourage the Premier League to up its own goodwill measures.

Per the government’s latest data, the UK has recorded 41,903 cases of Covid-19, with 4,313 deaths attributed to the outbreak.

MONTREAL ― As the COVID-19 lockdown draws on, it is beginning to dawn on Canadians that a return to normal ― a real return to normal ― means finding a vaccine or effective treatment for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

To that end, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in late March that Canada would commit $192 million to efforts to find a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19. 

But even before that announcement, organizations across Canada had launched their own projects on the novel coronavirus, part of a massive and unprecedented worldwide effort to find the cure for a disease that has shut down normal life all over the world and killed 58,000 people as of April 3.

Watch: Companies race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Story continues below.

 

A key moment came on Jan. 10, when researchers in China released the genomic sequence for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Since then, no fewer than 60 vaccine projects have been launched around the world, by some estimates.

Another key moment came in early March, when researchers at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Medical Centre, the University of Toronto and McMaster University managed to isolate and culture the virus from two patients. This meant that lab-grown copies of the virus would be available for researchers around the world who are looking for a vaccine or treatment.

In the past few months, more than half a dozen projects have sprouted up across Canada in pursuit of a vaccine and using various different approaches to the problem. Here are some of the most promising ones.

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University of Saskatchewan: Lessons from previous coronaviruses

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization―International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan has been operating for decades, working on the SARS and MERS viruses, and successfully developing coronavirus vaccines for animals ― though none yet for humans.

In terms of getting government funding, their work was often a tough sell, CBC News reports, but the unprecedented disruption of COVID-19 has changed all that. The federal government announced a $23-million funding injection into the facility in March, where up to 30 per cent of staff are now reportedly working on COVID-19.

The centre’s CEO, Volker Gerdts, sounds very optimistic about vaccines VIDO-InterVac is currently testing in animals. He told CJWW radio in Saskatoon that he is confident they will have a working version, and other researchers involved in the project said at the end of March it was weeks away from early human trials.

Medicago: A plant-based “fake coronavirus”

You’ve heard of fake meat made from plants, but what about a fake virus made from plants? 

Quebec City-based biopharma firm Medicago has created a “virus-like particle” by injecting material into a tobacco leaf, which then creates a protein that “looks like” the novel coronavirus. But because it doesn’t have the genetic material of the virus, it can’t do the sort of damage the real virus does.

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The idea is that when injected into the human body, the fake virus causes the body’s immune system to respond, creating an immunity that works against the real virus. 

Medicago, whose staff have links to Laval University and McGill University, among others, has been working for years on this technique, and was able to adapt it to the new coronavirus in just 20 days, the company said in a statement. 

The company says the vaccine could be ready for human testing this summer, and its best-case scenario for roll-out is 18 months.

Western University: Aiming for maximum ImPaKT

Western University’s new Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation facility, or ImPaKT, has put together a group of experts in virology, microbiology, vaccinology, bioinformatics and immunology to work on a COVID-19 vaccine. 

The researchers are building off of work done by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang at Shulich School of Medicine and Dentistry on MERS, a previous coronavirus that resulted in a deadly outbreak in 2012. The hope is that, because these two viruses are closely related, they can adapt the same strategies.

The researchers are also planning to create thousands of “seed vaccines” for other potential coronaviruses that could be transferred from animals like bats to humans. In essence, they would be creating potential vaccines for possible viruses that haven’t appeared in the human population yet. But in the future it could mean a much faster response time when a new coronavirus appears.

Entos Pharmaceuticals: Rewriting DNA

Edmonton-based biotech firm Entos is working on a relatively new kind of treatment known as a DNA vaccine. Unlike other vaccines, which prompt your body to develop an immunity to a disease, DNA vaccines inject pieces of DNA code into your cells, directly instructing the cells to produce an antibody that stops the virus.

Led by Dr. John Lewis of the University of Alberta, the company says it will have a vaccine ready for trials within weeks, and assuming human trials go well, it could have a vaccine ready within a year, Global News reports.

University of Alberta: What worked for cats…

Researchers at Edmonton’s University of Alberta are looking into whether a drug that cured an illness caused by a coronavirus in cats can be used for COVID-19 in humans.

The drug, developed after the 2003 SARS outbreak, is a “protease inhibitor” that stops the virus from replicating inside the host, and researchers in the U.S. recently showed it cured a feline coronavirus 

If it works, this drug wouldn’t be a vaccine, but rather a treatment that could cure patients who are already sick. The researchers believe they’ll know within a few months if their protease inhibitor will work on COVID-19 patients.

Laval University: Better vaccines through nanoparticles 

Laval University in Quebec City has launched a number of projects on COVID-19, but one of the more notable ones involves a project to use nanoparticles to make a better novel coronavirus vaccine.

Nanoparticles can now be designed to have very specific shapes and properties, and can be used to deliver vaccine ingredients in very specific ways. The upshot, researchers say, is that you can make a much more effective vaccine, and one that can work against viruses even if they evolve ― which viruses tend to do rather quickly. 

AbCellera/Eli Lilly: Using survivors’ immunity

Vancouver-based biotech firm AbCellera Biologics has partnered with Indianapolis-based pharma giant Eli Lilly to develop drug therapies for COVID-19 based on the compounds found in the bodies of people who have recovered from the disease.

AbCellera researchers identified some 500 antibodies ― disease-fighting blood proteins ― that helped fight COVID-19 in patients. In partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, they will now work to identify the strongest fighters, and find ways to turn that into a medicine that can boost patients’ ability to fight the virus.

This project has drawn a fair bit of attention, not least because Eli Lilly has the size and scale to bring a drug to market quickly worldwide. AbCellera hopes to begin testing a therapy in human patients within four months.

SAINT PAUL, MN — A bill introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives would establish a legal “end-of-life option” for terminally ill adults. Several Democrats have signed on to co-sponsor the bill authored by Rep. Mike Freiberg, a Democrat from Golden Valley.

Currently, eight states and Washington, D.C. allow assisted suicide.

In the Star Tribune opinion section Tuesday, a resident in Richfield with ALS is asking that voters and lawmakers support the measure to allow end-of-life options.

“This legislation is especially important to me,” writes Bobbi Jacobsen.

“I have been living with ALS for over 20 years now. Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a fatal condition of the nervous system. The signals my brain sends through the nerves that control movement are less frequently getting through to my muscles. I can no longer speak intelligibly, walk, dress, or use the bathroom without assistance.”

Jacobsen adds that “most people with ALS suffer an agonizing death as one organ after another shuts down.”

“Before I reach this stage, I’d like to have the option for a peaceful, painless death.”

Read the text of the bill below:

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SAN MARINO, CA — Wrapping up a two-day fundraising visit to the Southland, former Vice President Joe Biden insisted again Thursday he did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine, the country at the center of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

“There’s nothing anybody in my family did wrong … at all,” the Democratic presidential hopeful told about 130 guests at a fundraiser at the San Marino home of Amy and Jules Buenabenta Thursday.

Jules Buenabenta has been the CEO and president of Jules and Associates Inc. since 1989, and has been the manager and majority owner of Vendor Direct Solutions LLC since 2006. Jules and Associates is an equipment financing company. Vendor Direct Solutions is an information management adviser.

Trump has blasted Biden in recent days over his dealings with Ukraine during his time as vice president, accusing him of threatening to withhold U.S. money from the country unless it fired a prosecutor investigating Biden’s son, who was serving on the board of a private Ukraine gas company at the time.

There has been no evidence that Hunter Biden was ever being directly investigated by the prosecutor, who was believed to have been probing the dealings of the gas company’s owner, starting before Biden joined the board.

Trump has come under fire for a telephone conversation he had with the president of Ukraine in which Trump brought up Biden — prompting allegations he may have pressured Ukraine’s leader to investigate actions of Biden and his son between 2014 and 201, and that Trump may have threatened to withhold financial aid unless such an investigation was conducted.

The call generated a whistleblower complaint that is now being dissected in Congress. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the phone call.

Biden, however, told attendees at the San Marino fundraiser that Trump was trying to “hijack an election” by trying to get Ukraine to investigate his family.

“He’d like to get foreign help to win elections,” Biden told the crowd.

Later Thursday in Pasadena, Biden attended a fundraiser on the campus of Pasadena City College hosted by Lena L. Kennedy, founder of Women in Leadership Vital Voices, described as a women’s empowerment group.

Biden spoke for about an hour to a crowd of roughly 200 people at the event, the fourth fundraiser attended by Biden in two days. On Wednesday, he attended a luncheon fundraiser at the Manhattan Beach home of surgeon Dr. Sanjay Khurana and his wife, software engineer Mona Khurana. It was attended by about 150 people.

Biden taped an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Wednesday afternoon, then attended an evening event in Bel Air at the home of Sean Burton, head of the investment firm Cityview and a member of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners. That event drew 130 people, including actress Alyssa Milano, actor Zach Braff and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who was labor secretary in Barack Obama’s administration.

During his appearance Thursday in San Marino, Biden hit on some of his usual campaign talking points, but also spoke in support of gun control, praising features such as biometric locks that would prevent guns from being used by anyone but their owner.

“Folks, you realize we can do the James Bond stuff now,” he said.

On Wednesday, Biden issued a statement saying a White House summary of Trump’s phone call with the Ukraine president it makes clear that Trump first withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine and then “implored” the Ukrainian president to investigate a political opponent.

“It is a tragedy for this country that our president put personal politics above his sacred oath,” Biden said. “He has put his own political interests over our national security interest, which is bolstering Ukraine against Russian pressure. It is an affront to every single American and the founding values of our country.”

When he appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Biden said the president had engaged in “a blatant abuse of power” but that “I can’t let this distract me” because “we have to restore the soul of this country” and he wants to make the United States “the envy of the world again.”

The Trump Victory campaign issued a statement Wednesday saying Biden can “fundraise like it’s business as usual, but Americans demand explanations for the corruption surrounding Biden, his son Hunter, and their dealings with Ukraine.”

“Biden must answer as to why, as vice president, he pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor general who was investigating the company paying Hunter Biden $50,000 per month — and why he lied about it just this year,” according to Trump Victory spokeswoman Samantha Zager. “Americans deserve to see the transcripts of Joe Biden’s calls from his time as vice president.”

According to the latest UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, has jumped to a significant lead in the Democratic presidential race in California, solidifying her position as a front-runner for the party’s nomination,

The poll released Wednesday showed a clear shift from the last Berkeley IGS poll in June, when there was no clear front-runner. The new poll showed Warren separating herself from the rest of the field and becoming the top choice of 29 percent of likely Democratic primary voters.

Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, showed little movement in the poll. The poll found the two essentially tied for second, with Biden at 20 percent and Sanders at 19 percent, followed by California Sen. Kamala Harris at 8 percent.

The poll surveyed 4,527 registered voters statewide, including 2,272 deemed likely to cast ballots in the Democratic primary. It was administered online in English and Spanish from Sept. 13 to 18. The results for the full Democratic sample have an estimated sampling error of roughly 3 percentage points in either direction.

Biden is scheduled to travel to Nevada on Friday.

City News Service

CHICAGO — Classes in the nation’s third-largest school district are canceled Thursday after Chicago Public Schools teachers went on strike.

The Chicago Teachers Union confirmed Wednesday night its 25,000 members would not return to their classrooms Thursday after months of negotiation between the union and Chicago Public Schools failed to resolve disputes over pay and benefits, class size and teacher preparation time.

The strike is Chicago’s first major walkout by teachers since 2012, and city officials announced early Wednesday that all classes had been canceled for Thursday in hopes of giving more planning time to the parents of more than 300,000 students.

“We want this to be a short strike with an agreement that will benefit our schools and our teachers. We have a ways to go,” union President Jesse Sharkey said during a news conference. “We actually want to see improvement on all the issues we are talking about here.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was disappointed by the union’s decision to strike.

“We are offering a historic package on the core issues — salary, staffing and class size,” she said Wednesday night at her own news conference, adding CPS negotiators will remain at the bargaining table and she hopes the union does, too.

During the seven-day 2012 strike, the district kept some schools open for half days. CPS officials said this time they will keep all buildings open during school hours, staffed by principals and employees who usually work in administrative roles.

Breakfast and lunch will be served, but all after-school activities and school buses are suspended.

Janice Jackson, CEO of the school system, encouraged parents to send their children to the school that they normally attend, however they will be welcome in any CPS schools.

“We’ve put together a really comprehensive plan for the students,” Jackson said. “We will make sure they are safe and they have a productive day.”

Also striking will be 7,000 support staffers, whose union also failed to reach a contract agreement.

Before the strike announcement, June Davis said if teachers walked out, she would likely send her 7-year-old son, Joshua, to his usual elementary school — Smyth Elementary on the city’s South Side, where almost all students are low-income and minority.

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Davis, 38, said she would otherwise have to take her son to his grandmother’s in a south suburb, requiring an hourlong bus trip.

“Everybody’s hoping they will come to some kind of agreement, find some compromise,” Davis said.

Lightfoot preemptively announced classes would be canceled Thursday saying she wanted to give parents more time to plan. A clearly frustrated Lightfoot said the city had not only offered a 16 percent pay raise over the five-year contract, but the city also had agreed to put language in the contract addressing “enforceable targets” on class size and increasing staffing levels for positions such as nurses, librarians and social workers — items the union said were critical.

She said the union’s demands would cost an unaffordable $2.5 billion per year.

Union leaders disputed Lightfoot’s characterization of the city’s willingness to concede to their demands on several issues, including class sizes.

“CPS’ current class size offer falls far short of what’s needed to address the sweeping scale of the problem,” they said in a statement. Lightfoot said the city agreed to make substantial changes on some of the union’s top priorities, but its negotiators responded by issuing additional demands, including some she deemed unacceptable.

“The union is still demanding to shorten instructional time by 30 minutes in the morning,” she said. “We won’t do that. We will not cheat our children out of instructional time.”

Before heading into a downtown law firm for bargaining talks Wednesday morning, union vice president Stacy Davis Gates said there is a “gross disconnect” between Lightfoot’s comments and what negotiators have put in writing.

“To say that you have offered a proposal that respects what we are asking for, to say you’ve bent over backward … it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Davis Gates said.

Community organizations have been preparing for days to welcome students, ranging from a $100 per day camp for elementary school kids at the Shedd Aquarium to all-day programs run by the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago and accessible for a $20 annual membership fee.

Mimi LeClair, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago, said a strike is particularly difficult for single parents and those whose jobs have inflexible schedules. “It’s a horrendous dilemma, deciding between likely losing their job or having their paycheck docked when they rely on every penny or leaving their children home alone,” LeClair said.

The city’s public libraries also are planning programs for students, along with a network of churches and community centers that are part of the city’s Safe Haven program intended to give kids a safe place during the summer months particularly on the city’s South and West sides.

The YMCA of Metro Chicago expects highest demand for its all-day programs for children between the ages of 5 and 12, who are too young to stay home alone but whose parents may oppose sending them to schools unstaffed by teachers.

“Real life still happens,” said Man-Yee Lee, a spokeswoman for the organization. “Parents still need to go to work and their kids still need somewhere to go.”

By Kathleen Foody and Don Babwin of the Associated Press.

Serial mother, sex-symbol et bientôt présidente? Angelina Jolie a beau être lassée par la vie hollywodienne, elle reste une femme d’action insatiable.

L’appétit d’Angelina Jolie est sans aucune limite. Madame Brad Pitt voudrait en effet se présenter à la présidence des Etats-Unis d’Amérique! L’actrice aurait été si « remuée » par son travail humanitaire pour les Nations-Unies, qu’elle planifierait d’entrer en politique… C’est du moins le quotidien britannique Daily express qui l’affirme via un proche d’Angelina Jolie qui affirme qu’elle “a admis qu’elle commence à s’ennuyer dans les studios d’Hollywood. Elle a dit qu’elle a maintenant des vues sur Washington.”

Angelina Jolie, sex-symbol si troublant dans Lara Croft, ne veut plus jouer dans la cour du virtuel car « elle est passionnée par la défense des droits de l’Homme, la lutte contre la guerre et les injustices et pense qu’elle peut faire plus sur le terrain et même carrément la différence en se mêlant de politique. »

Pas étonnant, du coup, d’apprendre qu'”elle admire le président Obama« et pense que son propre statut de star pourrait être un atout de taille au service des causes qui lui tiennent tant à coeur. La star de 34 ans qui élève une ribambelle d’enfants tout en faisant face à ses problèmes de couple voudrait donc laisser de côté son rôle de femme au foyer pour devenir une femme-Barack. Et le témoin privilégié cité par le Daily Express a déjà mis son bulletin dans l’urne tout en fichant son billet en pariant »gros sur ses chances de devenir la première femme présidente des Etats-Unis dans les vingt prochaines années. Et d’ailleurs, pourquoi pas? Ronald l’ex-cow-boy et Arnold le musculeux ont bien fait carrière dans les isoloirs après avoir quitté les salles obscures. Pourtant, leurs mines étaient bien moins charmantes que le minois joli d’Angelina.

Mardi 23 juin 2009