Work in progress as Romeo joins first Gilas practice Ai-Ai delas Alas on Jiro Manio: ‘Sana pinahalagahan niya ang naitulong ko’ Trending Articles PLAY LIST 00:50Trending Articles00:50Trending Articles00:50Trending Articles01:40Filipinos turn Taal Volcano ash, plastic trash into bricks01:32Taal Volcano watch: Island fissures steaming, lake water receding02:14Carpio hits red carpet treatment for China Coast Guard02:56NCRPO pledges to donate P3.5 million to victims of Taal eruption00:56Heavy rain brings some relief in Australia02:37Calm moments allow Taal folks some respite Dozens wounded as Iraqi protesters up pressure on government SpaceX launches, destroys rocket in astronaut escape test On the edge of America, census begins in a tiny Alaska town Marcos monument beside Aquino’s stirs Tarlac town View comments Canadian military mobilized to help Newfoundland dig out MOST READ
Cojuangco refused to comment and said he would answer the charges in the proper forum.Fernandez earlier said he would drop the case if Cojuangco retracts his statement, issues a public apology and resigns as POC president.Sports Related Videospowered by AdSparcRead Next “This is the only way that I can compel POC and the previous PSC board to answer the real issues that I brought forth in relation to the financial assistance that the PSC extended the POC in the years 2010 to 2016,’’ said Fernandez.The four-time Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player said the POC should account for the P38 million that the PSC released for the country’s hosting of the Asian Games Centennial Festival in 2014, which Fernandez claimed was bankrolled by the Olympic Council of Asia.FEATURED STORIESSPORTSEnd of his agony? SC rules in favor of Espinosa, orders promoter heirs to pay boxing legendSPORTSBreak new groundSPORTSMcGregor blasts Cerrone in 40 seconds in UFC returnPOC secretary general Steve Hontiveros said the POC has already settled the amount and would coordinate with the PSC and the Commission on Audit for its proper liquidation.Fernandez filed the case against the local Olympic chief for branding him a game fixer during his Toyota days in the PBA. Palace: Crisis over ABC-CBN franchise unlikely Presidency bid needs ‘deep reflection’ – Sara Duterte PSC Commissioner Mon Fernandez.Commissioner Ramon Fernandez of the Philippine Sports Commission filed a libel case against Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr. Tuesday at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Cebu City.Lawyer Ramsey Quijano accompanied Fernandez during the filing of the case, which includes charging Cojuangco with grave oral defamation.ADVERTISEMENT LATEST STORIES Don’t miss out on the latest news and information. Panelo: Duterte only wants to emulate strong political will of Marcos
NFA assures ample rice supply in ashfall, eruption-affected areas LATEST STORIES ‘People evacuated on their own’ Taal Volcano’s lava fountain weakens, but Phivolcs says it’s not sign of slowing down View comments No need to wear face masks in Metro Manila, says scientist SEA Games 2019: Philippines clinches historic gold in women’s basketball PLAY LIST 05:02SEA Games 2019: Philippines clinches historic gold in women’s basketball06:27SEA Games 2019: No surprises as Gilas Pilipinas cruises to basketball gold02:43Philippines make clean sweep in Men’s and Women’s 3×3 Basketball01:05Poor visibility, nakaapekto sa maraming lugar sa Batangas03:028,000 pulis sa Region 4-A, tuloy ang trabaho03:57Phivolcs, nahihirapan sa komunikasyon sa Taal01:04Sold-out: Stores run out of face masks after Taal spews ash01:45Iran police shoot at those protesting plane shootdown01:54MMDA deploys rescue team to Batangas following Taal eruption Lava gushes out of Taal Volcano as villagers flee San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan dunks in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Spurs won 111-104. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)NEW YORK — Gregg Popovich’s longest losing streak as Spurs coach is over, though there was no celebration.Nor was there much despair while San Antonio lost the previous eight games.ADVERTISEMENT Lately, it had been all losses, but there was never really a chance of one Saturday.The Spurs jumped to a 7-0 lead and it was never much of a game from there. They extended it to 26-9 later in the first quarter en route to a 32-16 lead after the period. There were noticeable boos when the Knicks took a timeout trailing 48-27, and they were a whole lot louder and angrier when the teams headed to the locker room with San Antonio holding a 68-43 halftime cushion.The Spurs shot 59% in the first half and held the Knicks to 4-for-16 shooting from 3-point range.“Just a bad start,” Knicks forward Julius Randle said. “And you do that, I probably said it before, you’ve got to play perfect down the stretch.”New York finally got something going in the third and cut it to 14, and finally got it to single digits when Morris’ four-point play made it 105-96 with 3:57 to play. RJ Barrett followed with a bucket, but that was as close as it got until the final basket.TIP-INSSpurs: G Dejounte Murray sat out to rest his right knee. … Trey Lyles, who had fallen from the rotation and played just two minutes Friday in Philadelphia, came off the bench for 12 points in 15 minutes. … San Antonio improved to 2-7 on the road.Knicks: Bobby Portis had 16 points, Randle added 14 and Barrett scored 13. … Fizdale said second-round draft pick Ignas Brazdeikis will continue to spend time with the Knicks and their NBA G League affiliate. Brazdeikis had a 36-point game for Westchester this week.IT HASN’T BEEN ALL BADBefore their struggles started, the Spurs got off to a good start. They won their first three, starting with an opening-night victory over the Knicks, and were 4-1. Leonardo DiCaprio, Taika Waititi, other stars react to Oscar nominations Thailand reports case of coronavirus from China Don’t miss out on the latest news and information. “These guys, they’re too hardened and they’re all pros. They’re grown men. They’ve got families and kids and that kind of stuff doesn’t bother them,” Popovich said. “Nobody likes to lose a bunch of games, but it’s not going to debilitate them. They’ll still get their paychecks.”LaMarcus Aldridge scored 23 points and the Spurs beat the New York Knicks 111-104 on Saturday night.FEATURED STORIESSPORTSAndray Blatche has high praise for teammate Kai SottoSPORTSBig differenceSPORTSAlmazan status stays uncertain ahead of Game 4The Spurs never trailed, led by as many as 28 and looked like the kind of team Popovich has usually had, not this one that has been one of the NBA’s worst defensively. San Antonio was in control until deep into the second half, even while playing on the second night of back-to-back games to end a four-game road trip.“I think everyone was definitely unhappy and frustrated, but you’ve got to change your own fate,” Aldridge said. “You’ve got to find a way and tonight I thought we played better, played with more of a sense of urgency and got a win.” Harvard-Yale game delayed by student protest; 20-30 arrested Microsoft ends free Windows 7 security updates on Tuesday “After we were 3-0 I thought that the trophy should have been given to us. Come on, it’s the Spurs,” Popovich joked.UP NEXTSpurs: Host the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday in their return from a four-game trip.Knicks: Host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.Sports Related Videospowered by AdSparcRead Next DeMar DeRozan added 21 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs, who came in yielding 116.1 points per game but held the Knicks under 100 until the final 10 seconds of the game.Marcus Morris scored 20 points for the Knicks, who had played better in their last four games after a 2-9 start.“I don’t know how to explain it,” coach David Fizdale said. “We were in the mud and they were a desperate team. So, we got punched in the face and we dug a hole.”The eight-game skid was the Spurs’ longest since early in the 1996-97 season under Bob Hill, when Popovich was the general manager. He replaced Hill later that season and the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan after it. They’ve since won five NBA titles during a record-tying 22 straight postseason appearances.Popovich shrugged off any interest in that or any other streak or achievement, saying all that mattered was working hard each night whether it was a win or a loss.ADVERTISEMENT MOST READ
A source said: “Nicole is just so heartbroken and completely devastated.”A spokesperson for Nicole confirmed the split to the online version of the publication.The sad news comes just a matter of weeks after 28-year-old Lewis hinted that he was planning to propose to Nicole, 34.He said: “We’ve been together for five years, which is quite a milestone really. But hopefully in the near future. Maybe before we get to six years.”Nicole has regularly been seen supporting Lewis at his various Grand Prix commitments, but admitted previously she is only there for her beau, rather than knowing anything about the sport as a whole.She said: “I only go to a Grand Prix to support Lewis. I am in awe of Formula One because there is so much money, technology and talent, but as for the racing, it really is like trying to understand rocket science when I’m there, trackside.“For me there’s only ever one winner and a lot of people would agree with me on that – Lewis is the best.”But since recommitting to the X Factor this year, Nicole has been kept busy with auditions in locations including Glasgow, Dublin and London, while Lewis has been concentrating on his racing career.The last time the couple were pictured together was at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 10th.Since then, Nicole has gone solo at various events including Wimbledon last week and the Summer Music Festival in Rome, Italy, where she put on a stunning performance last week.– Report by Daily Mail0Shares0000(Visited 2 times, 1 visits today) 0Shares0000LONDON, England, July 1- Pussy Cat Dolls singer, Nicole Scherzinger and Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton have split after five years together the Daily Mail reported Monday.The X Factor judge and the racing driver, who went public with their romance back in 2007, are believed to have ended their relationship as their busy work schedules meant they just didn’t get to see each other.
0Shares0000Kenya in action during their second group match against Papua New Guinea at the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens. PHOTO/World RugbyNAIROBI, Kenya, May 14- The Kenya Lionesses have reached the final of the African Women’s Sevens Championship in five of the last six editions including when it was hosted in Kenya in 2014, but they are yet to have a crack at the title, losing in all the occasions.Ahead of this year’s showpiece to be staged in Gaborone, Botswana on May 26 and 27, the Lionesses are eyeing an improved performance to challenge for the crown especially with the absence of perennial rivals South Africa who have withdrawn to concentrate on the World Cup. “Over the last four years we have reached the final but every time we lose it. The last two have been very close and this year, we want to go out there and make things count. We have been preparing very well and our performance in Hong Kong and Gold Coast have boosted our confidence,” Wambua told Capital Sport.The Lionesses reached the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Sevens and finished seventh at the Commonwealth Games and in both tournaments enjoyed victory a piece against the South Africans.Wambua hopes the confidence gained from those performances will boost them as they look to conquer Africa.“I think even if they were in the tournament, we would have still won against them because what was stopping us was a psychological barrier. We beat them twice and the third match which we lost was pretty close so I know we are now at par,” the coach further alluded.The Lionesses who lost 17-12 to the South Africans in last year’s final in Monastir, Tunisia have been pooled alongside Madagascar and Senegal as top seeds in Pool A.Kenya Lionesses head coach Kevin Wambua PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu“It’s a fair pool but we are not underestimating any opponent. We are going there to do our best in every match. All the teams which come there are in to win and there are no small teams. We need to treat each team with the same seriousness,” Wambua advised.They faced Madagascar last year as well and were 27-5 winners in the group stage matches.“We have put in a lot of hard work and that is why we did well in Hong Kong and Gold Coast. We are focused on consistency and ensuring we keep improving,” Wambua added.Meanwhile, the tactician says he will blend in his squad with young and experienced players, noting there will be at least three debutants in the squad as he seeks to build squad depth.“We want to have a bigger pool of players with international experience and from the training sessions we have had, there are players who have put their hands up for selection but are yet to get that chance. We will consider them for this tournament blending them with the experienced players we have,” the tactician added.Wambua will have a huge pool of players to choose his best 13 from with the only absentee being Janet Owino who picked up an injury in Hong Kong.Africa 7s poolsPool A: Kenya, Madagascar, SenegalPool B: Tunisia, Uganda, ZimbabwePool C: Morocco, Botswana, Mauritius, Zambia0Shares0000(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
0Shares0000PORT ELIZABETH, November 11, South Africa – Top-ranked African team Ivory Coast defend a perfect record this year when they confront South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Challenge here Saturday.An Ivorian Elephants squad packed with familiar English Premier League names have defeated Benin twice, Rwanda and Burundi in 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and Mali and Israel in friendlies.Now brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure of Manchester City, Gervinho of Arsenal and Salomon Kalou of Chelsea plus stars from other European leagues have their sights on a first victory over Bafana Bafana (The Boys). South Africa have triumphed once and drawn three times in Cup of Nations and friendly encounters with Ivory Coast since 1994 when they fought to a goalless stalemate in this Eastern Cape Indian Ocean city.That match was played at Boet Erasmus Stadium — a rugby union Test venue that has witnessed some epic Springbok struggles down the decades — but this weekend 2010 World Cup venue Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium plays host.Ivory Coast coach Francois Zahoui is conscious of avoiding injuries with the Cup of Nations tournament just over two months away and his team favourites once again to raise a trophy that has eluded the West African country for 19 years.“I have bad memories of the Mali game as we had several players injured. Some games that we played this year were not friendly and I do not want to go to the Cup of Nations without any of my stars,” he stressed.Local officials are hoping for a capacity 45,000 crowd despite the absence of leading Ivorian drawcard Didier Drogba as the two-time African Footballer of the Year is recovering after surgery to remove screws from a previous arm operation.It will be interesting to see how the South African football public react after a Cup of Nations debacle last month that robbed Bafana Bafana of a place at the 2012 showpiece in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.Players, coaches and officials believed goal difference decided final places on the standings, but the head-to-head rule applied and outsiders Niger grabbed top spot.The aftermath of a goalless home draw with Sierra Leone was farcical with players dancing in ‘celebration’ while coach Pitso Mosimane, who confessed to playing for a point long before the final whistle, sought clarity on the rules.Public broadcaster SABC added to the confusion as its commentators also got it wrong by claiming South Africa had qualified and some time elapsed before the unpalatable truth filtered through.Critics did not spare Bafana with the mass-circulation Sunday Times labelling the players “sorry excuses for stars who crisscross the country in top-of-the-range cars chasing the tiniest mini skirt.“If they showed half the commitment when wearing national colours they would not be failing trials in obscure leagues. The time for serious introspection by our overrated underachievers is now.”Former national team striker Mosimane, whose biggest challenge is an attack that managed a meagre four goals in six Cup of Nations qualifiers, has pleaded for the team and the public to move on after ‘Rulesgate’.But that means winning matches and it is difficult to see where the threats to the Kolo Toure-marshalled Ivory Coast defence are going to come from with leading scorer Katlego Mphela not netting regularly on the domestic front.A boost for South Africa is the return of captain and Tottenham Hotspur wide midfielder Steven Pienaar, who missed a loss in Niger and the Sierra Leone draw because of a niggling groin injury.0Shares0000(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
KARSNIA: OK. I don’t either. ___ KARSNIA: I’m not going to bring you to jail. CRAIG: You solicited me. ___ Excerpts from a transcript of Minneapolis Airport Police’s tape-recorded interrogation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, upon Craig’s arrest on June 11 by Sgt. Dave Karsnia. The transcript was provided by the Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minneapolis. CRAIG: Am I gonna have to fight you in court? KARSNIA: No. No. I’m not gonna go to court unless you want me there. CRAIG: ‘Cause I don’t want to be in court either. KARSNIA: OK. Um, I just wanna start off with a, your side of the story, OK. So, a … CRAIG: So I go into the bathroom here as I normally do. I’m a commuter, too, here. KARSNIA: OK. CRAIG: I sit down, um, to go to the bathroom and, ah, you said our feet bumped. I believe they did, ah, because I reached down and scooted over and, um, the next thing I knew, under the bathroom divider comes a card that says police. Now, um, (sigh) that’s about as far as I can take it, I don’t know of anything else. Ah, your foot came toward mine, mine came towards yours, was that natural? I don’t know. Did we bump? Yes, I think we did. You said so. I don’t disagree with that. KARSNIA: OK. I don’t want to get into a pissing match here. CRAIG: We’re not going to. KARSNIA: Good. Um … CRAIG: I don’t, ah, I am not gay. I don’t do these kinds of things and … KARSNIA: It doesn’t matter. I don’t care about sexual preference or anything like that. Here’s your stuff back sir. Um, I don’t care about sexual preference. CRAIG: I know you don’t. You’re out to enforce the law. KARSNIA: Right. CRAIG: But you shouldn’t be out to entrap people either. KARSNIA: This isn’t entrapment. CRAIG: All right. KARSNIA: Um, you, you’re skipping some parts here, but what, what about your hand? CRAIG: What about it? I reached down, my foot like this. There was a piece of paper on the floor, I picked it up. KARSNIA: OK. CRAIG: What about my hand? KARSNIA: Well, you’re not being truthful with me. I’m kinda disappointed in you senator. I’m real disappointed in you right now. OK. I’m not, just so you know, just like everybody, I, I, I treat with dignity, I try to pull them away from the situation. CRAIG: I, I … KARSNIA: … and not embarrass them. CRAIG: I appreciate that. KARSNIA: And I … CRAIG: You did that after the stall. KARSNIA: I will say every person I’ve had so far has told me the truth. We’ve been respectful to each other and then they’ve gone on their way. And I’ve never had to bring anybody to jail because everybody’s been truthful to me. CRAIG: I don’t want you to take me to jail and I think … KARSNIA: I’m not gonna take you to jail as long as you’re cooperative but I’m not gonna lie. We … CRAIG: Did my hand come below the divider? Yes, it did. KARSNIA: OK, sir. We deal with people that lie to us everyday. CRAIG: I’m sure you do. KARSNIA: I’m sure you do, too, sir. CRAIG: And gentleman so do I. KARSNIA: I’m sure you do. We deal with a lot of people that are very bad people. You’re not a bad person. CRAIG: No, I don’t think I am. KARSNIA: OK, so what I’m telling you, I don’t want to be lied to. CRAIG: OK. KARSNIA: OK. So we’ll start over, you’re gonna get out of here. You’re gonna have to pay a fine and that will be it. OK. I don’t call media, I don’t do any of that type of crap. CRAIG: Fine. ___ KARSNIA: All right, so let’s start from the beginning. You went in the bathroom. CRAIG: I went in the bathroom. KARSNIA: And what did you do when you CRAIG: I stood beside the wall, waiting for a stall to open. I got in the stall, sat down, and I started to go to the bathroom. Ah, did our feet come together, apparently they did bump. Well, I won’t dispute that. ___ KARSNIA: OK. When I got out of the stall, I noticed other, other stalls were open. CRAIG: They were at the time. At the time I entered, I, I, at the time I entered, I stood and waited. KARSNIA: OK. CRAIG: They were all busy, you know? KARSNIA: Were you (inaudible) out here while you were waiting? I could see your eyes. I saw you playing with your fingers and then look up. Play with your fingers and then look up. CRAIG: Did I glance at your stall? I was glancing at a stall right beside yours waiting for a fella to empty it. I saw him stand up and therefore I thought it was going to empty. KARSNIA: How long do you think you stood outside the stalls? CRAIG: Oh, a minute or two at the most. KARSNIA: OK. And when you went in the stalls, then what? CRAIG: Sat down. KARSNIA: OK. Did you do anything with your feet? CRAIG: Positioned them, I don’t know. I don’t know at the time. I’m a fairly wide guy. KARSNIA: I understand. CRAIG: I had to spread my legs. ___ KARSNIA: OK. And then with the hand. Um, how many times did you put your hand under the stall? CRAIG: I don’t recall. I remember reaching down once. There was a piece of toilet paper back behind me and picking it up. KARSNIA: OK. Was your, was your palm down or up when you were doing that? CRAIG: I don’t recall. KARSNIA: OK. I recall your palm being up. OK. CRAIG: All right. KARSNIA: When you pick up a piece of paper off the ground, your palm would be down, when you pick something up. CRAIG: Yeah, probably would be. I recall picking the paper up. KARSNIA: And I know it’s hard to describe here on tape but actually what I saw was your fingers come underneath the stalls, you’re actually ta … touching the bottom of the stall divider. CRAIG: I don’t recall that. KARSNIA: You don’t recall? CRAIG: I don’t believe I did that. I don’t. KARSNIA: I saw, I saw … CRAIG: I don’t do those things. KARSNIA: I saw your left hand and I could see the gold wedding ring when it, when it went across. I could see that. On your left hand, I could see that. CRAIG: Wait a moment, my left hand was over here. KARSNIA: I saw there’s a … CRAIG: My right hand was next to you. KARSNIA: I could tell it with my, ah, I could tell it was your left hand because your thumb was positioned in a faceward motion. Your thumb was on this side, not on this side. CRAIG: Well, we can dispute that. I’m not going to fight you in court, and I, I reached down with my right hand to pick up the paper. KARSNIA: But I’m telling you that I could see that so I know that’s your left hand. Also I could see a gold ring on this finger, so that’s obvious it was the left hand. CRAIG: Yeah, OK. My left hand was in the direct opposite of the stall from you. ___ KARSNIA: Have you been successful in these bathrooms here before? CRAIG: I go to that bathroom regularly. KARSNIA: I mean for any type of other activities. CRAIG: No. Absolutely not. I don’t seek activity in bathrooms. KARSNIA: It’s embarrassing. CRAIG: Well it’s embarrassing for both. I’m not gonna fight you. KARSNIA: I know you’re not going to fight me. But that’s not the point. I would respect you and I still respect you. I don’t disrespect you but I’m disrespected right now, and I’m not trying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you’re sitting here lying to a police officer. CRAIG: I, I, I … ___ KARSNIA: I am trained in this, and I know what I am doing. And I say you put your hand under there and you’re going to sit there and … CRAIG: I admit I put my hand down. KARSNIA: You put your hand and rubbed it on the bottom of the stall with your left hand. CRAIG: No. Wait a moment. KARSNIA: And I, I’m not dumb, you can say I don’t recall … CRAIG: If I had turned sideways, that was the only way I could get my left hand over there. KARSNIA: It’s not that hard for me to reach. (inaudible) it’s not that hard. I see it happen everyday out here now. CRAIG: (inaudible) you do. All right. KARSNIA: I just, I just, I guess, I guess I’m gonna say I’m just disappointed in you, sir. I’m just really am. I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood. I mean, people vote for you. CRAIG: Yes, they do. (inaudible) KARSNIA: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. CRAIG: I’m a respectable person, and I don’t do these kinds of .. KARSNIA: And (inaudible) respect right now though. CRAIG: But I didn’t use my left hand. KARSNIA: I thought that you … CRAIG: I reached down with my right hand like this to pick up a piece of paper. KARSNIA: Was your gold ring on your right hand at anytime today? CRAIG: Of course not. Try to get it off. Look at it. KARSNIA: OK. Then it was your left hand. I saw it with my own eyes. CRAIG: All right, you saw something that didn’t happen. KARSNIA: Embarrassing, embarrassing. No wonder why we’re going down the tubes.160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set!
1 Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera with captain Wayne Rooney Ander Herrera has revealed he plans to be at Manchester United for at least the next five years.The Spaniard moved to Old Trafford last summer for £28.85million, arriving from Spanish club Athletic Bilbao.The 25-year-old joined on a four-year deal, with the option of extending his stay for a further season.And, despite an mixed start to his time in Manchester, Herrera has admitted he plans to see out his stay at Old Trafford.“I am at Manchester United, the second richest club in the world, who are in a constant search for talent,” Herrera told Spanish newspaper El Pais.“And everything takes time because everyone will have their early difficult moments, but now I am playing again.“However, when I was not playing I kept reminding myself that I am here for the next five years and not just for a few months.”
This Saturday morning on Sportsday we build to another crucial weekend in the Premier League.talkSPORT 2 bring you exclusive national radio commentary of Hull City against Crystal Palace from 3pm, while over on talkSPORT from 5.30pm it’s Leicester City against Manchester City.We also have reaction to the Mclaren Report, build up to Anthony Joshua’s second IBF World Heavyweight title defence and much more!All brought to you by Will Gavin and the team.
SkyTeam says it is working closely with China Southern to minimize the disruption to customers from the Chinese carrier’s decision to leave the alliance from January 1.China Southern on Thursday announced its intention to leave SkyTeam and strengthen its alliance with American Airlines.American last year sealed a $US200 million deal with China Southern that included a 2.76 percent stake in the Chinese carrier. The two also launched a reciprocal codeshare agreement earlier this year.Read: World’s Best airlines for 2019. However, the SkyTeam membership had been a drag on the partnership and American has described the China Southern decision to leave as “a great opportunity for us to continue to expand our relationship with the largest airline in China”.“With the opening of Beijing Daxing International Airport in 2019 and the ability to cooperate fully with China Southern, we are excited about our future in the Chinese market.”China Southern did not provide details of plans for the American alliance.Read: China Southern wants to deepen American relationship“The company will explore the possibility of establishing new partnerships with advanced airlines around the world, promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation and provide quality services to passengers around the world,” it said.SkyTeam said China Southern’s decision reflected “strategic development, the changing trends of the global aviation industry and the evolution of alliances”.It said the two had agreed to work closely to ensure a seamless transition for all customers and partners.“That process will run throughout 2019 and will complete by theSkyTeam CEO Kristin Colville said China Southern had been a valued member of the SkyTeam but it respected its decision and wished it well.A short Q&A on SkyTeam’s site dealt with SkyTeam benefits, earning or using frequent flyer miles, airport lounges, SkyPriority of Go Around the World passes.It assured customers would still be able to travel on award tickets they had booked after January 1 and said there would be virtually no change to destinations serviced by the alliance, including in Greater China.China Air, China Eastern and Xiamen Air are also members of the alliance.“Customers are our priority,’’ it said “Things will change, but it will not happen overnight.“SkyTeam and China Southern have agreed to work together throughout 2019 to ensure a seamless transition for all of our customers.“We will keep you updated in the coming weeks and months.”One airline that will be watching this closely will be Cathay Pacific. China Southern has also partnered with British Airways and there is already speculation about oneworld membership.
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Editor: This is a guest post by Rogelio Bernal Andreo, founder of CoRank – a service that lets you create you own customsocial network. Rogelio has a bee in his bonnet about the term ‘digg clone’, probably nothelped by the fact Read/WriteWeb called CoRank a “Create Your OwnDigg” site in May when it re-launched 🙂 But Rogelio is adamant that the term ‘diggclone’ should be buried, so we’ve given him the floor to present his argument. Tell uswhat you think in the comments. There are a lot of people on the Net who don’t know what Digg is. But for those who do, there’s a term just as popularas Digg: the Diggclone.Clones that never wereHas anyone ever heard Google being referred as an “Altavista clone”? What about YahooMail or GMail being mentioned as a “Hotmail-like site”? I’ve never seen anyone talkingabout MySpace as a “Friendster clone”, and definitely WordPress.com would never be calleda Blogger-like site.Was the new Google Groups a Yahoo Groups clone? During the portal craze a few yearsago, everyone was talking about portals – but we never heard that Lycos was a Yahooclone. Even today, you don’t often read that Metacafe is a YouTube clone, Google Reader aBloglines clone, or Google Blog Search a Technorati clone.Although pseudo-copying has existed since day 1 on the net, the word “clone” hasn’toften been used when we refer to sites with similar functionality/interface as those thatpioneered a particular service. Yet with the social news site Digg, we choked. We haveweb pages, portals, video sites, blogs, search engines, wikis… and Diggclones.Clones that arePligg is an open source project that originallycopied almost all of the functionality and the user interface structure Digg had defined.This caused many people to launch almost identical sites with little to no effort.Moreover, most of these sites – Pligg-based or not – not only were a visual copy ofthe Digg UI, they also tried to provide the same type of social news service. Eitherinternational versions, or focusing on other niche topics. So those sites really are diggclones. Same interface, same goals, same purpose.But it was shortly after we launched coRank,giving anyone the ability to create their own “social news/content network”, and seeinghow people were using it, that I realized there was something else going on.Social News/Social Content Sites reaching mainstream?While Digg is an extremely popular service, it really is a community. A very specific,yet large and decentralized one. But because of that “communal” nature (mostly young maletechie), it has not yet reached mainstream – neither Digg nor the social news concept itpopularized. And chances are this concept will not reach the mainstream being describedas a “Digg clone”. Why? Not only does the mainstream not know what Digg is, the way manypeople are using social news technologies has little to do with Digg itself.Let a thousand flowers bloomYes, I see many people using coRank – or Pligg, or whatever – to create Digg-like verticals about any imaginable topic (and let me say Isee nothing wrong with that). But just as blogs or wikis earned their own name, I’mseeing many other people taking this concept further than digg – where the term ‘clon’efades away in favor of a more distinctive type of site.Some people are creating sites to add “social news” to their existing community.They’re not adding this functionality to build a Digg killer or the next great nichestartup. All they care about is giving their existing community a tool that allows themto share things that matter to them. That’s what drives them to submit things, nothitting “the front page”.But there’s a lot more than that. Let me list the ways ‘digg clone’ is unsuitable whenit comes to social news sites:Some people are building “clones”. No, not Digg “clones” but a different type – likesay HotOrNot-type sites such as thisone for the Orkut population (no nudity but might not be safe-for-work). Can you callthis “a Digg clone”? Perhaps. Can you say it’s “social news”?Some experiment with it as a way to support their politicalcampaign (that particular site was created by the campaign team for Barack Obama, notby just a fan of the Senator).Others build a repository of articles relatedto their industry – something you can already do with Del.icio.us and similar tools,but now it’s completely customized and focused; and anyone can join in. You may see aDigg clone, but what they have is a collection of articles, a group-specific bookmarkingsite.Some create a private area within their company as an “idea network exchange”, or asa way to see what everyone in a specific company considers interesting, building aprivate social bookmarking and intelligence tool.And more than anything else, many people are building sites to aggregate content about a topic they like. Yes, it’d benice to see others contributing with their own content or votes, but that’s not the mainreason why these sites are built.Not a Digg CloneThese are sites where their creators aggregate external content about specific topics,and if other people feel like contributing, they’re welcome to do so. You could use othertools to do this, but it’d be like using email to play chess – there are better ways. Youcould use a blog, but blogs are mainly about publishing your own content; or a wiki, butwikis are about collaborative editing; or del.icio.us, but that’s a global socialbookmarking service, not your own.Yes, the mechanics or even the user interface of some of these sites may resemble thatof Digg. But their purpose and the way they’re being used is quite different.Repositories, collective aggregators, personal sites, for-fun stuff… Who’s talkingabout making the mighty “Front Page”? We can call them clones, but when we go and tellthe people who created them “that’s just another Digg clone” and they answer“What’s Digg?“… that’s when the concept is entering mainstream. Digg, as aconcept, was a good first step; but there is a lot more.Digg clone or HotOrNot clone? Definitely not social news!ConclusionDigg is the flagship of submitted/voted content, but adding categories or niches willnot transform it into the company that’ll bring social news into the mainstream. It willmainly offer their existing community more things to do. But if you let people takecharge, do their own thing, reach their own groups and communities with their ownsocially aggregated content functionality, then you’re talking social.Yes, many of them really are clones, and that’s fine, but applying the term “Diggclone” to anything based on submitting and voting content may degrade the fact that thisis a medium gaining popularity every day. It’s about communities and people using a newconcept to interact with third party content, generate more content, get engaged, etc.While this was made popular by Digg, we might start considering it as a new type of site.Personally I call them “Social Content Networks”, although the name is not important.It’s something that will happen as the mainstream adopts the concept, something that’sslowly already happening. Tags:#Analysis#New Media#web guest author 1