Pompeo says he carries ‘perfect message’ of press freedom in Kazakhstan
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday during a visit to Kazakhstan that he carried a “perfect message” of global press freedom, following a bitter feud with US media.A key ally of President Donald Trump, Pompeo has often echoed the president’s disdain for the media. More than a week ago he reportedly lost his temper with a National Public Radio (NPR) journalist who asked him whether he owed an apology to the former US ambassador to Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch. The ambassador’s abrupt removal was a focus of Trump’s impeachment for abuse of power, and also led to criticism of Pompeo for failing to stand up for her.The feud followed Pompeo to Nur-Sultan near the end of a tour to Europe — including Ukraine — and Central Asia.While speaking to a journalist on the Kazakh team for Radio Free Europe, Pompeo talked about the “good work the State Department does to train journalists in press freedoms.”The journalist then asked Pompeo what message his own attitude sent to countries — including Kazakhstan — that “routinely suppress press freedom.” She referred to his “confrontational” interview with NPR and noted that the State Department had subsequently banned another NPR journalist from the secretary’s plane for this overseas trip, which included a meeting in Kiev with Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky.”It’s a perfect message about press freedoms,” Pompeo said.Reporters are “free to ask questions,” he added, despite NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly’s accusing him of shouting, swearing, and suggesting Americans don’t care about Ukraine after she asked about Yovanovitch.”It’s wide open in America. I love it. I hope the rest of the world will follow our press freedoms,” Pompeo told the Kazakh journalist.Pompeo insisted that his exchange with Kelly had not been “confrontational,” despite having issued a statement accusing the journalist of lying twice and calling the media “unhinged in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration.”He also justified excluding NPR’s Michele Kelemen, a veteran diplomatic correspondent, from the plane for his trip.”With respect to who travels with me, I always bring a big press contingent,” he said.Under Trump, the State Department has halved the number of journalists allowed to fly with the secretary compared to previous administrations.”We ask for certain sets of behaviors, and that’s simply telling the truth and being honest,” Pompeo said.”When they’ll do that, they get to participate, and if they don’t, it’s just not appropriate — frankly, it’s not fair to the rest of the journalists who are participating alongside of them.”Topics :
It can take up to 30 days to obtain preliminary approval to export the technology.TikTok’s secret weapon is believed to be its recommendation engine that keeps users glued to their screens. This engine, or algorithm, powers TikTok’s “For You” page, which recommends the next video to watch based on an analysis of your behavior.Cui noted that ByteDance’s development overseas had relied on its domestic technology that provided the core algorithm and said the company may need to transfer software codes or usage rights to the new owner of TikTok from China to overseas.”Therefore, it is recommended that ByteDance seriously studies the adjusted catalogue and carefully considers whether it is necessary to suspend” negotiations on a sale, he added.ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.China’s foreign ministry has said that it opposes the executive orders Trump has placed on TikTok and that Beijing will defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses.Topics : However, China late on Friday revised a list of technologies that are banned or restricted for export for the first time in 12 years and Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the changes would apply to TikTok.”If ByteDance plans to export related technologies, it should go through the licensing procedures,” Cui said in an interview with Xinhua published on Saturday.Read also: Walmart says teaming with Microsoft in bid for TikTokChina’s Ministry of Commerce added 23 items – including technologies such as personal information push services based on data analysis and artificial intelligence interactive interface technology – to the restricted list. China’s new rules around tech exports mean ByteDance’s sale of TikTok’s US operations could need Beijing’s approval, a Chinese trade expert told state media, a requirement that would complicate the forced and politically charged divestment.ByteDance has been ordered by President Donald Trump to divest short video app TikTok – which is challenging the order – in the United States amid security concerns over the personal data it handles.Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp are among the suitors for the assets, which also includes TikTok’s Canada, New Zealand and Australia operations.
Girls’ team: Sammy Fuller (Roehampton, Surrey), Lily May Humphreys (Stoke-by-Nayland, Essex), Hollie Muse (West Lancashire), Emily Price (Cleobury Mortimer, Worcestershire), Hannah Screen, (Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire), Bel Wardle (Prestbury, Cheshire). Amelia Williamson (Royal Cromer, Norfolk) was unwell and had to withdraw. Team captain Janet Melville said: “The plan this week was to try to win every session. We knew that wouldn’t be easy but we’ve managed it so we’re very pleased. We got off to a really good start this afternoon and they were all up early on so that took the pressure off a bit.” Tags: Girls’ Home International Clodagh Hopkins, the Ireland women’s captain, said: “This is just amazing. I can’t believe it has happened. The English are a very strong team but I had an inkling we could get something out of the match. The girls have played so well and been so positive all week that I knew they had a chance. Every time we went out we did just enough and that’s exactly what we did today.” Image courtesy The R&A This is England’s ninth win in 10 years and during the decade the team has been beaten only by Ireland in 2016. 11 Aug 2017 England’s girls reclaim their crown “The plan this week was to try to win every session. We knew that wouldn’t be easy but we’ve managed it so we’re very pleased. We got off to a really good start this afternoon and they were all up early on so that took the pressure off a bit. However, the England women’s team – who had won the last three championships – lost their title to Ireland, suffering a narrow 4-5 beating. Women’s team: Emma Allen (Meon Valley, Hampshire), Lianna Bailey (Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire), Gemma Clews (Delamere Forest, Cheshire), India Clyburn (Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire), Sophie Lamb (Clitheroe, Lancashire), Rochelle Morris (Woodsome Hall, Yorkshire), Olivia Winning (Rotherham, Yorkshire). Click here for full scores England captain Elaine Ratcliffe commented: “The Irish played some great golf on that back nine. It was still close after nine, we were up in two games, but the others were really close. You’ve got to hand it to the Irish.” England today reclaimed their crown as Girls’ Home Internationals champions, beating Ireland 6.5-2.5 to clinch the title on the final day at Little Aston, Staffordshire. The strong English team were in dominant form throughout the match despite losing Amelia Williamson to gastroenteritis on the eve of the championship. The English claimed the morning foursomes 2½-½ and then went further ahead in the singles when Hollie Muse and Sammy Fuller both won their sixth matches out of six by recording 6&5 victories over Lauren Walsh and Sara Byrne. The England team looked set to claim the title for the sixth time in seven years after sharing the morning foursomes and then taking an early lead in the singles, but that was before the Irish mounted a late comeback which resulted in them claiming their victory. Although the team was down to six players for the three-day tournament, England defeated Wales 8-1 and Scotland 7-2 before battling hard to defeat a tough young Irish squad on the last afternoon.
Temple men’s gymnastics junior Colton Howard, left, and sophomore Evan Eigner pause after working out at the university, in Philadelphia. In early December, Temple announced that it is eliminating seven of its 24 sports, including men’s gymnastics, effective in the fall. “When I heard the news, I kind of went numb a little bit,” Eigner said. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tom Gralish)The meeting was brief. A few minutes tops.Temple athletic director Kevin Clark didn’t mince words. Standing inside the football team’s indoor practice facility earlier this month, Clark scanned the crowd of dozens of student-athletes – none of them football players – and told them the financially strapped athletic department was cutting their sport at the end of the 2013-14 academic year.There weren’t a lot of details. No lengthy question and answer session. Sitting alongside his 16 teammates on the men’s gymnastics team, sophomore Evan Eigner sat in stunned silence.“When I heard the news,” Eigner said, “I kind of went numb a little bit.”Temple’s announcement that it’s going from 24 sports to 17 next fall, a move that will eventually save about $3-3.5 million a year, was just the latest in a growing line of colleges and universities that are reshaping overextended athletic programs by shuttering smaller sports to help make those that remain – particularly those designed to bring in revenue – more competitive.To be honest, Eigner still isn’t sure what happened. He understood the athletic department was in a tight spot money-wise. He knew there had been talk about changes and the threat of cuts. It was all just white noise until suddenly, it became only too real.He heard the part where Clark said the school would honor all of the scholarships for the affected student athletes until they graduated. He heard the part where Clark said the school would do what it could to find new athletic homes for those wishing to transfer.Eigner just didn’t hear what he would consider a sensible argument for cutting a program that takes up a small fraction of the athletic department budget yet nets conference championships. He grew up wanting to compete at Temple, where his stepfather Fred Turoff has been coach since 1976. He grew up wanting to walk out of his graduation ceremony with a degree in hand and four years of college gymnastics under his belt.Now he may get one or the other, but not both.“I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else but Temple,” Eigner said. “Gymnastics is a big part of my life. Competing collegiately is a big goal of mine. For our team, gymnastics is really a part of our identities. If you take away the opportunity, you’re affecting who we are as individuals.”A growing number of whom are finding themselves forced to choose between staying in school or competing elsewhere after their programs are dissolved to help other sports deal with geographically confounding – if more lucrative – conference alignments, increased travel budgets and coach salaries.
Minervini said his favorite work is “theone I am working on at the time,” but notedthat with overseeing the placement of hissculpture for the library next week, “youcan’t keep me away!” Noted sculptor Franco Minervini was on site when professionals from Harry H. Gordon Studios of Lambertville began assembling the pieces atop a foundation on the Route 35 side of the building. Minervini, whose sculptures are in numerous locations, including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and two other places in Monmouth County, said he is highly pleased with the sculpture and looked forward to its installation. “I can never do the completion of one of my works on the base or foundation designed for it,” Minervini explained. “I leave that to the professionals in that particular field of expertise.” Harry Gordon is also a sculptor with a reputation for excellence in moving and transporting sculptures. “Endless Possibilities through Reading” depicts an open book surrounded by a large outer circle, and portrays “perfect knowledge,” Minervini said. “It shows we get so much knowledge and information from the written word, can surround ourselves with it, then with perfect knowledge, it is given back. Knowledge is all-encompassing.” ELIZABETH WULFHORST Workers installed the final pieces of a new sculpture, “Endless Possibilities through Reading,” at the Eastern Branch of the Monmouth County Library Wednesday. The sculpture, carved from Indiana limestone, represents “many years of work,” said Judith Tolchin, library director. It is the result of a bequest to the Monmouth County Library from Charles Raffetto, a resident of Monmouth County who died in 2016. When assembled, the sculpture weighs approximately 4 tons. It sits upon a large rectangular concrete base. The library commission will install an identifying plaque on the base of the sculpture in about six weeks, said Tolchin who was on site June 9 watching the installation. The sculpture will also be surrounded by pavers, a bench and planting. The article originally appeared in the June 11 – 17, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times. SHREWSBURY – Five pieces which willform a new sculpture on the grounds of theMonmouth County Library Eastern Brancharrived from New York state Monday. OnTuesday “Endless Possibilities throughReading” began taking shape. Minervini’s two other sculptures in Monmouth County are the Eagle, a focal point of Monmouth County’s 9/11 memorial at Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook in Atlantic Highlands, and the Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Monmouth County Fire Academy. Minervini also completed work with other stonemasons to preserve historic elements on the exterior portions of the White House several years ago. Currently, Minervini is working on a sculpture about the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a highlight in a series of highlights for the Monmouth County Library,” said Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, liaison to the Monmouth County Library. “Franco has carved in stone the belief of the library and its board of commissioners that there truly are endless possibilities, growth, entertainment, recreation and sheer enjoyment within the pages of a book. While today’s technology has broadened the definition of books and made them even more accessible through ever changing technology, the Monmouth County Library has kept up with these advances and continues to offer endless possibilities through every means, be it the hard cover variety or the handheld computer.”
–30– WINNER COULD BE HEADED TO GRADE I, $1 MILLION BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF NOV. 4 ARCADIA, Calif. (Oct. 10, 2016)–Last early in a field of 11 juvenile fillies, Miss Southern Miss rallied five-wide turning for home while displaying a torrid turn of foot to take Monday’s $100,000 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita by 2 ½ lengths under Kent Desormeaux. Trained by his brother, Keith, Miss Southern Miss covered a mile on turf in 1:35.08.Most recently fifth in the Grade I, seven furlong Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3, the Kentucky-bred daughter of More Than Ready tried turf and two turns for the first time on Monday and, given the result, chances are she’ll remain on grass for the foreseeable future. Off at 9-2, she paid $11.60, $6.00 and $4.80.“According to her pedigree, she’s supposed to run like this,” said Keith Desormeaux. “I tell you what, since that 2-year-old crop came in, there’s never been a doubt as to who is number one in the barn…The key was Kent today. If you watch her other races, it was a struggle for him to get her to relax…I had a lot of confidence that she’d continue her run home. And, it’s the pedigree! It’s nice to see that stuff come to fruition. She had them beat at the eighth pole…She’s going to be a really good horse on this turf.”Breaking from post position seven, Miss Southern Miss rated beautifully and had one horse beat with three furlongs to run. Full of run, Desormeaux opted to save ground around the turn and swung out at the quarter pole.“We have always been very, very fond of her,” said Kent Desormeaux. “She works lights out but unfortunately, when she gets behind horses on the dirt, the spray sets her off…On the grass, she just canters around there. She settled down the backside and never did take a deep breath today. She’s very talented and I guess she just needed a little grass under her feet. I hope she’s going to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Grade I, $1 million at Santa Anita Nov. 4) because I’d love to ride her there.”Owned by Peter L. Cantrell, Miss Southern Miss improved to 5-2-2-0. With the winner’s share of $60,000, she increased her bankroll to $164,600.Ridden for the first time by French-born sensation Florent Geroux, Happy Mesa sat a close fourth at the rail going into the far turn, saved ground, rallied and was all-out to hold off German-bred La Force for the place in her Southern California debut for trainer H. Graham Motion. The second choice at 7-2, Happy Mesa paid $5.40 and $4.60 .Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, La Force had to wait for room around the turn and rallied resolutely through the lane to finish 2 ¼ lengths clear of Con Te Partiro. Off at 20-1 in her U.S. debut, Le Force paid $10.40 to show.Fractions on the race were 22.33, 46.25 and 1:11.16.The Surfer Girl was run as the sixth race on a nine-race card Monday at Santa Anita.