Soccer-Real Madrid stage late comeback to win at Valencia
VALENCIA (Reuters) -Real Madrid forwards Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema scored within the space of three minutes deep in the second half to propel their side to a 2-1 win at Valencia in LaLiga on Sunday after the visitors were outplayed for most of the game. Valencia went ahead in the 66th minute with a thumping low strike from forward Hugo Duro, who spent last season on loan with Madrid. Valencia would have gone top had they held on for the win but instead Carlo Ancelotti’s Real side lead the standings on 13 points from five games, with the hosts third on 10. “We know what Real Madrid are like, we know they can turn the game around at any stage,” said Duro. We were very unlucky to not at least get a draw today.”(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 21:33 UTC
French minister in Mali to pressure junta over Russian mercenaries
BAMAKO (Reuters) -France’s Armed Forces Minister arrived in Mali on Sunday to pressure the military junta to end talks to bring Russian mercenaries into the country and push it to keep a promise to return the country to constitutional order in February. The visit by Florence Parly to Mali is the highest-level trip by French officials since the talks with Wagner emerged. French officials describe the relationship with the junta as “complicated”, although it still relies on Paris for counter-terrorism operations. Paris said on Thursday it had killed the leader of Islamic State in Western Sahara in northern Mali. The French army started redeploying troops from its bases in Kidal, Tessalit and Timbuktu in northern Mali at the start of the month, French army sources have said.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 20:15 UTC
Rivals allege mass fraud as Russian pro-Putin party wins big majority
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Opponents accused Russian authorities of mass fraud on Monday after the ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, won a bigger than expected parliamentary majority despite unease over living standards. The scale of the victory means United Russia will have more than two-thirds of deputies in the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament. United Russia, a party that Putin helped found, had always been expected to win. Candidates opposed to United Russia in the capital had been ahead in more than half of 15 electoral districts, but all lost after electronic voters were added in. The near complete results showed the Communist Party finishing in second, followed by the nationalist LDPR party and the Fair Russia party with around 7.5% each.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 15:42 UTC
Lava pours out of volcano on La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands
LA PALMA, Spain (Reuters) -A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday, sending lava shooting into the air and streaming in rivers towards houses in two villages from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island. Video footage shared on social media, which Reuters has been unable to verify, showed the lava entering a house. I think the lava has reached some relatives’ houses,” local resident Isabel Fuentes, 55, told Spanish television TVE. In 1971, one man was killed as he was taking photographs near the lava flows, but no property was damaged. The earliest recorded eruption in La Palma was in 1430, according to the Spanish National Geographical Institute (ING).
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 15:00 UTC
The Netherlands unveils its first national Holocaust monument
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A monument listing 102,163 Dutch victims of the Holocaust was unveiled by King Willem-Alexander in Amsterdam on Sunday, the first national memorial to be built in the Netherlands. It is the first memorial to commemorate all the victims from across the Netherlands in one place. “It gives the feeling that they really existed,” said Hetty de Roode, a Jew whose parents, brother and sister all died in the camps. De Roode, who attended the unveiling, survived by hiding with a family in the north of the Netherlands. The 15 million euro ($17.5 million) monument was funded by private donations and Amsterdam and other municipalities.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 13:52 UTC
POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Now hiring bus drivers (and for several other jobs)
Hannah Kara Schwichtenberg, a Natick High School sophomore, and Ames Hwang, a Wayland High School senior, are founders of the Youth 4 Period Equity. “We wanted to show young people that, yes, you can solve issues in your community and fight for period equity,” said Hwang. From 4-6 p.m. Thursday, their group will join the Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition, Mass NOW and Youth for Period Equity at a "Back to School Rally for Period Equity" in front of the State House. — Charlie Sisitsky, former Framingham selectman and city councilor, who is challenging incumbent Yvonne Spicer in the race for mayor this fall. Contributors to the Political Notebook this week include Deputy Director of Multimedia Dan O'Brien, multimedia journalist Zane Razzaq and the State House News Service.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 09:11 UTC
LECs provide big time resources for small police departments
With a LEC, it’s like here comes the Calvary — they not only provide extra bodies, they provide expertise.”Nearly every police department in MetroWest and Greater Milford is part of one of three law enforcement councils — MetroLEC, Central Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (CEMLEC) or the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC). The original goal was to bring smaller departments together to share resources and to provide mutual aid when needed. The idea is to provide all of the specialized units that large police departments may have, but small departments can’t afford or do not have the staff to do so, Murphy said. “When you engage in a law enforcement council, there is always a pool of resources you can pull from,” said Westwood Police Chief Jeffrey Silva, president of MetroLEC. “There will always be tools to share.”Local departments say law enforcement councils are a resource worth much more than the $3,000 to $5,000 annual fee.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 09:00 UTC
U.S. trade official called India’s Mastercard ban ‘draconian’-emails
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -A senior U.S. trade official privately criticised India’s July decision to ban Mastercard Inc from issuing new cards, calling it a “draconian” move that caused “panic”, according to U.S. government emails seen by Reuters. The U.S. government has not publicly commented on the Mastercard ban. The Mastercard ban rattled https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-ban-mastercard-hit-banks-card-operations-income-sources-2021-07-15 the company and upset India’s financial sector as Indian partner banks fear a hit to their income as they struggle to swiftly partner with new networks to offer cards. The company has told Reuters it had submitted an additional audit report https://www.reuters.com/world/india/mastercard-submits-new-audit-india-after-ban-over-data-handling-2021-07-30 to the RBI before the ban took effect on July 22. Days later, he wrote that Mastercard was continuing “to put on the full court press” in Washington.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 08:15 UTC
Evergrande begins repaying wealth product investors with property
BEIJING (Reuters) -Cash-strapped developer China Evergrande Group has begun repaying investors in its wealth management products with real estate, a unit of its main Hengda Real Estate Group Co Ltd unit said. The company said in a WeChat post dated Saturday that investors interested in redeeming wealth management products for physical assets should contact their investment consultants or visit local offices. Financial news outlet Caixin reported on Sunday that an estimated 40 billion yuan ($6 billion) in Evergrande wealth management products are outstanding. According to a proposal seen earlier by Reuters that Evergrande did not confirm, wealth management product investors can choose from discounted apartments, office, retail space or car parks for repayment. On Sept. 10, Evergrande had vowed to repay https://www.reuters.com/article/china-evergrande-debt-idUSL1N2QC0Q9 all of its matured wealth management products as soon as possible.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 04:52 UTC
Race to support domestic violence victims returns in Framingham
More:Voices Against Violence holds annual race in Framingham, reports increase in survivors helpedWinters, who has a marathon under her belt, only heard about the race on Friday from her friend Melanie Bernier, who works as an overnight program advocate at a domestic violence shelter. “We don’t always get good stories like that,” said Bernier, who worked at the domestic violence shelter for more than two years. Domestic violence isn’t a topic people want to discuss, but it hurts many — not just the people involved with the abusive relationship, said Bernier. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. A large part of the race is about raising awareness for domestic violence and the services the nonprofit offers to help, she said.
Source:MetroXpress
September 19, 2021 00:11 UTC
Soccer-Pele continues recovery, undergoes physiotherapy in hospital
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Soccer legend Pele continues to recover from colon surgery, with his family posting a video of the 80-year-old Brazilian smiling while undergoing physiotherapy in his Sao Paulo hospital room. The former Santos, Brazil and New York Cosmos player had a tumor removed on Sept. 4 and has been in and out of the intensive care unit at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo in the days since. His daughter Kely posted a video of him doing leg exercises and then shadow boxing with the camera on her Instagram feed. “Today was two steps forward!” Kely wrote, in reference to a previous post warning fans her father’s recovery was often two steps forward and one step back. The only player with three World Cup winner’s medals, Pele has suffered from hip problems for years and cannot walk unaided.
Source:MetroXpress
September 18, 2021 22:52 UTC
Hong Kong’s first ‘patriots-only’ election kicks off
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Fewer than 5,000 Hong Kong people from mostly pro-establishment circles began voting on Sunday for candidates to an election committee, vetted as loyal to Beijing, who will pick the city’s next China-backed leader and some of its legislature. Pro-democracy candidates are nearly absent from Hong Kong’s first election since Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system to ensure that “only patriots” rule China’s freest city. “The whole objective of improving the electoral system is to ensure patriots administer Hong Kong,” Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said on Sunday morning. China’s rubber-stamp parliament in May changed Hong Kong’s electoral system, reducing democratic representation in institutions and introducing the vetting mechanism for election candidates and winners. Many prominent tycoons, including Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, will not be on the election committee for the first time, as Beijing seeks to rebalance power from big conglomerates to small businesses.
Source:MetroXpress
September 18, 2021 22:00 UTC
Cycling-Former Danish rider Sorensen dies in road accident
(Reuters) – Former Danish professional cyclist Chris Anker Sorensen has died after being hit by a vehicle during a ride in Belgium, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Saturday. Sorensen, 37, was due to commentate on the upcoming road world championships in Flanders. “It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of our good colleague Chris,” a TV2 Sport announcer said on air. Sorensen, who retired from professional cycling in 2018, won the Danish national title in 2015 and won a stage on the 2010 Giro d’Italia. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Source:MetroXpress
September 18, 2021 21:11 UTC
Soccer-No striker, no problem, says Guardiola after Saints stalemate
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said the club’s failure to sign a new striker in the close season was not the reason they were unable to beat Southampton on Saturday. “Today we didn’t win not because we didn’t have a centre forward,” Guardiola said. “We didn’t win because our process in the buildup was wrong or the better balls for players up front were not good. “That (no striker) is not the reason. “I didn’t say anything wrong after the Leipzig match,” Guardiola added.
Source:MetroXpress
September 18, 2021 18:56 UTC
France sees "crisis" over submarine cancellation
PARIS (Reuters) – France is in a “crisis” with the United States and Australia after Canberra’s cancellation of a multi-billion dollar submarine order led Paris to recall envoys from its allies, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. France said on Friday it was recalling its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra over a trilateral security deal also involving Britain which sank the submarine contract with Paris. “There has been duplicity, contempt and lies – you can’t play that way in an alliance,” he added. Canberra announced on Thursday it would scrap its 2016 deal with France’s Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered ones with U.S. and British technology after striking a trilateral security pact. Le Drian said French President Emmanuel Macron had not spoken with U.S. President Joe Biden about the submarine issue.
Source:MetroXpress
September 18, 2021 18:45 UTC