Manchester City’s Pellegrini not a fan of the sound of silence |
- Manchester City’s Pellegrini not a fan of the sound of silence
- After rail stoppage, Germany faces new Lufthansa strike
- IBM unloads chip unit to Globalfoundries for US$1.5b
- Fears of potential health crisis after 24 killed in Nicaragua floods
- Public outcry sees Australian controversial niqab segregation plan abandoned
- Hungarians in show of pride for gypsies
| Manchester City’s Pellegrini not a fan of the sound of silence Posted: 19 Oct 2014 05:58 PM PDT
European football governing body UEFA have ordered CSKA to play the game behind closed doors because of racist behaviour by their fans — something City have direct experience of after Yaya Toure was on the receiving end of verbal abuse when the clubs met last season. But Pellegrini does not believe this will give the reigning Premier League champions, still struggling to make their mark on Europe's elite club competition, an advantage in the Russian capital. "I think that affects football. I don't think it is the best way to play, not only for our team but for the Russian team," Pellegrini said. "I think football is about the fans. It is the most important thing because they give an atmosphere at the stadium which is different to an empty stadium. It will be a different experience, but that cannot affect our performance," the Chilean added. City badly need victories in both their matches with CSKA, having been beaten by Bayern Munich and drawn at home to Roma in their opening Group E fixtures. "We have two games against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League that we need to win both of them," said Pellegrini. "The best way is to treat every game as a final, try to win it and then win the next final," added Pellegrini, whose side will travel to Russia on the back of a 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur where striker Sergio Aguero scored all of their goals. Defender Eliaquim Mangala was expected to travel despite a thigh injury but midfielder Samir Nasri was due to stay behind while recovering from groin surgery. CSKA self-confidence CSKA enjoyed an even more emphatic victory last weekend, routing Kuban Krasnodar 6-0 to narrow the gap to Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg to just two points. Forwards Ahmed Musa and Seydou Doumba scored two goals apiece, with midfielder Roman Eremenko also finding the back of the net. "Of course we were not awarded any extra points for a 6-0 victory," former Manchester United midfielder Zoran Tosic, who is currently playing with CSKA, said. "But such a solid win raises the team's self-confidence a great deal. Self-confidence is just what we need ahead of the match with Manchester City." CSKA are rock-bottom of the Champions League Group E table without points following two defeats in as many matches, one point behind third-placed City. The 2005 UEFA Cup winners are still without Swedish midfielder Rasmus Elm and Brazilian forward Vitinho through injury, while Brazilian winger Mario Fernandes, who suffered an arm injury on Saturday is in doubt for the match with City. Russian international Alan Dzagoev and Swede Pontus Wernbloom will also sit out the last of their respective three-match bans after being sent-off last season against Czech side Viktoria Plzen. "Our attacking line of Musa-Doumbia proved their scoring abilities in the match with Kuban," CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky said. "And I'm happy I can count on them both in the match with Manchester, even though Doumbia hasn't reached his top form yet." UEFA ordered CSKA to play their next three European matches behind closed doors following supporter incidents during the club's match with Roma last month. CSKA have appealed but the UEFA decision remains in force for Tuesday's match at the Khimki Arena. In the last season's Champions League campaign City visited CSKA in October and came from behind to win 2-1 courtesy of an Aguero double. They also won the return fixture 5-2. — AFP  |
| After rail stoppage, Germany faces new Lufthansa strike Posted: 19 Oct 2014 05:51 PM PDT
The stoppage will target some passenger flights across Germany from today at 11am until just before midnight tomorrow, the Vereinigung Cockpit union said in a statement. Travellers in Germany have faced repeated strikes by pilots of airlines within the Lufthansa group, as well as a walkout by train drivers over the weekend. "The Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) announces the start of further strikes for Monday, October 20 (today)," the statement said. "Regrettably Lufthansa has not acted on the compromise proposals of VC after seven strikes now since April this year and is stonewalling," it added. The union said it regretted the disruptions for passengers and called on Lufthansa to give up its "blockade attitude". The stoppage will affect short- and medium-haul flights on Airbus 320 aircraft as well as Boeing 737 and Embraer planes, it added. Lufthansa said late yesterday that the strike would affect some 2,150 flights and more than 200,000 passengers, but that it had found enough willing pilots to ensure "a third" of the flights would be running. Lufthansa pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions. The airline accused the union of trying to turn Germany into a "nation at standstill" with the eighth call to stop work in less than two months. A successful economy cannot afford such strikes, Lufthansa said in a statement. It highlighted that long-haul Lufthansa flights were not affected, nor services on companies in the group, including Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings, SWISS and Air Dolomiti. Last week, pilots held a 12-hour strike at Germanwings, the low-cost airline belonging to Lufthansa. Rail travellers also faced disruptions, cancellations and delays after the train drivers' union on Friday called their biggest stoppage since 2008. The GDL union is demanding a five-per cent wage hike and a shorter working week of 37 hours. The train stoppages, which are due to run until 2am today, came on a peak autumn holiday weekend, leaving about only one in three intercity trains running. Deutsche Bahn said 4,000 people took part in the strike, mostly train drivers. Berlin is working on legislation to stop small groups of employees from paralysing large parts of the country's infrastructure, such as rail and air travel. A draft law is expected in November. — AFP |
| IBM unloads chip unit to Globalfoundries for US$1.5b Posted: 19 Oct 2014 05:49 PM PDT
IBM will also receive US$200 million worth of assets, making the net value of the deal US$1.3 billion, said the people who asked not to be identified because the plan is private. The companies plan to announce the deal tomorrow morning, the people said. IBM put out a statement today saying it planned to make a "major business announcement" tomorrow at 7am New York time. After months of on-again, off-again talks, IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty struck a deal to jettison the chipmaking unit, which has been a drag on earnings. Globalfoundries, owned by an investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi, is taking on the unit to tap the expertise of its engineers in the fundamentals of semiconductor design and manufacturing. Globalfoundries spokesman Kevin Kimball declined to comment. James Sciales, a spokesman for IBM, didn't immediately return a phone call or e-mail requesting comment. In today's statement, IBM also said it planned to announce third-quarter results tomorrow morning, instead of after US markets closed as planned. The company will host a conference call at 8am New York time. IBM's semiconductors, which include the PowerPC lineup, have been used in personal computers, game machines and other equipment. Still, Intel Corp.'s dominance in the processor market has left Armonk, New York-based IBM with less of a role in the chip industry. Manufacturing microelectronics accounts for less than 2 per cent of IBM's revenue. Meanwhile, the division loses as much as US$1.5 billion a year, a person familiar with the matter said in June. The company is already part of an alliance with Globalfoundries, created in a spinoff of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s production facilities in 2009, to develop chip-production technology. IBM had been seeking a buyer for its chipmaking division since at least 2013, a person with knowledge of the unit said in February. Earlier this year, the company was focused on finding a joint-venture partner after failing to attract an acquirer, two people familiar with the matter said at the time. Then, IBM was willing to pay US$1 billion to persuade Globalfoundries to take the unit, a person familiar with the process said in August, underscoring the urgency for Rometty to get the division off the books. That was too low for Globalfoundries, which wanted about US$2 billion to offset the unit's losses, the person said. Throughout the talks, Globalfoundries has been primarily interested in acquiring IBM's engineers and intellectual property, rather than the manufacturing facilities, people with knowledge of the matter said in June. As the industry pushes the limits of material science in producing devices that have some dimensions as small as one atom thick, that knowhow is becoming more important. Even as IBM wants to exit the chip manufacturing business, the company is still investing in semiconductors. IBM wants to maintain control of the design and intellectual property of the chips it uses, a person familiar with the matter said in February. The company plans to spend US$3 billion on semiconductor research and development in the next five years. — Bloomberg |
| Fears of potential health crisis after 24 killed in Nicaragua floods Posted: 19 Oct 2014 05:46 PM PDT
SAN ISIDRO DE LA CRUZ VERDE (Nicaragua), Oct 20 — Driving rain that has swamped most of Nicaragua for days has killed 24 people, authorities said yesterday, sparking fears of a potential health crisis in some areas. The flooding has left more than 33,000 people homeless and many are cramming into shelters around the Central American nation, government spokeswoman and first lady Rosario Murillo said. The government has rushed 5,000 emergency food kits to an area on the Caribbean coast near the Honduran border where mostly Miskito indigenous people have been cut off by the overflowing Prinzapolka and Coco rivers. Local officials are worried the over-soaking could boost mosquito populations, therefore increasing the risk of mosquito-borne illnesses. And "with the degree of saturation we have, the earth is so wet that any light to moderate rain" could cause more mudslides in this mountainous and largely poor country, Murillo warned. — AFP |
| Public outcry sees Australian controversial niqab segregation plan abandoned Posted: 19 Oct 2014 05:41 PM PDT
The backdown followed a decision on October 2 by Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Senate President Stephen Parry to seat people wearing face coverings in areas normally reserved for noisy school children while visiting parliament. It followed heated debate about potential security risks since the rise of the Islamic State organisation. The ruling was condemned by human rights and race discrimination groups. Race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told Fairfax Media the original ruling meant Muslim women were being treated differently to non-Muslim women. "No-one should be treated like a second-class citizen, not least in the parliament," he said. "I have yet to see any expert opinion or analysis to date which indicates that the burqa or the niqab represents an additional or special security threat." Labor opposition frontbencher Tony Burke welcomed the backdown but said the initial decision should never have been made. "What possessed them to think that segregation was a good idea?" he said. "Segregation was previously introduced, apparently, with no security advice attached to it and no security reason attached to it." The Department of Parliamentary Services said in a statement that the rules had been changed and all visitors must now "temporarily remove any coverings" that prevent the recognition of facial features. "This will enable security staff to identify anyone who may have been banned from entering the building or who may be known to be a security risk," it said. "Once this process has taken place visitors are free to move about the public spaces of the building, including all chamber galleries, with facial coverings in place". Australia has been on edge since the rise of IS with the government tightening counter-terrorism laws and police in recent weeks conducting major terror raids amid fears of an attack on home soil by radicalised Australians. The country was one of the first nations to join the United States' aerial campaign against the militant group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and is increasingly seen as a global threat. Yesterday, Canberra said it had reached a deal with Baghdad for the deployment of about 200 special forces to assist Iraqi troops in their fight against jihadists. — AFP |
| Hungarians in show of pride for gypsies Posted: 19 Oct 2014 05:40 PM PDT
Around 500 people walked through the city centre chanting "Opre Roma!" (Up Roma!) and holding placards of famous figures of ethnic-Roma background like British actor Charlie Chaplin and Spanish footballer Jesus Navas. "This day is about everyone, Roma and non-Roma, showing pride in our community, and our positive contributions to Hungary," main organiser Jeno Setet of the "We Belong Here" civil group said. The Roma, also known as gypsies, make up about seven pe rcent of Hungary's population of 10 million and the minority group is one of the largest in central Europe, according to the Council of Europe. "It's usually impossible to hear anything positive about us in the media however, or anywhere else," Setet told AFP. The European Union member state's Roma trail in practically every indicator from living standards to health, as they do throughout eastern and central Europe. Widespread unemployment and poverty has also fuelled mistrust against the Roma, and deputies of the far-right party Jobbik — the country's second-biggest party — often make anti-Roma statements. "A majority of Hungarian society doesn't want anything to do with the Roma," Mihaly Simon of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union rights group told AFP. Gusztav Loli, 58, said Hungarians either forget or don't know about the sacrifices made by many Roma through history. "My father was jailed in 1956 after fighting for Hungarian freedom (during the failed anti-Soviet uprising)," Loli said. Setet said he planned to give the Hungarian government a petition urging it to include lessons about the Roma Holocaust in the school curriculum. An estimated half a million European Roma perished in Nazi German death camps during World War II. Other groups taking part in the march included those representing gay rights, the Jewish community and homeless people. "Many minority groups here struggle against prejudice," Veronika Kozma of migrant and refugee rights group MigSzol told AFP. "We are here today to show solidarity with the Roma." Benjamin Abtan, of Paris-based co-organiser the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM), said the march was the last of 13 Roma Pride events to take place around Europe in October. "Roma Pride is our answer to the rise of nationalism, racism and anti-semitism these days in Europe, and especially in Hungary," Abtan said. — AFP |
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