Daily Archives: July 20, 2015

Liverpool recruit James Milner scored again for his new club, as the English Premier League heavyweights recorded a 2-0 win against Adelaide United at Adelaide Oval on Monday night.

Three nights after scoring the winner on debut for Liverpool, Milner goaled again before team-mate Danny Ings sealed victory before a 53,008-strong crowd.

Milner, the former Manchester City midfielder, scored in the 67th minute in a friendly, which never soared to great heights.

He had scored Liverpool’s winner in the 2-1 result against Brisbane Roar at Lang Park last Friday night.

And the 29-year-old bobbed up again when most needed after Liverpool failed to earlier put away its outclassed hosts.

After the near-capacity crowd belted out a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the first-half action was a tad off-key.

Liverpool dominated and created moments of utter havoc for Adelaide’s defence, with Joe Gomez sweeping along the left-flank and lively Divock Origi a constant attacking threat.

Adelaide did not make a genuine forward push until 25 minutes into the contest and the hosts could thank two excellent low saves by goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic for the 0-0 half-time scoreline.
SoundCloud: Audio: Adelaide United vs Liverpool

Galekovic produced another top-shelf stop in the 59th minute with a spectacular mid-air parry to deflect an Adam Lallana strike.

But some eight minutes later, Galekovic was finally beaten when Milner scored after a sweet passing chain.

The recruit slid onto the end of a curling Jordan Ibe cross to poke in with his right foot, though replays suggested he may have been off-side.

Ings clinched the win in the 88th minute when, gifted time and space in the box, coolly tapped under a despairing Galekovic.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was pleased with the victory and the performances of some of his younger stars, such as Ibe.

“Jordan Ibe, I think this could be a big season for him and he’s only 19,” Rodgers said after the match.

“I thought it was an excellent performance. We pressed the game really well against a good side and we’re really happy with the performance and the fitness.”

Adelaide defender Osama Malik said he was proud of his side’s defensive effort against Liverpool, despite the result.

“We didn’t come here expecting to dominate the game, that’s for sure,” he said.

“But we had little patches where we kept the ball okay but they’re obviously far better than us and they showed it tonight.

“They’re a quality team and I think it was a privilege to be on the same park as them to be honest.”

source:abc.net.au

The Greek parliament has backed a deal which enables Greece to remain within the eurozone, but what must the country do in return?

Recapitalisation of banks

“Valuable Greek assets will be transferred to an independent fund that will monetise the assets through privatisations and other means,” reads the official statement.
To help decrease the country’s debt, banks will require recapitalisation which will partly be achieved through the creation of a new €50 billion fund.
Despite Germany’s demands to base the fund in Luxembourg, at Prime Minisier Tsipras’ insistence it will be held in Greece. Some analysts have suggested the figure of €50 billion is an overvaluation of the intrastructure in question

Cutting costs: public sector and pensions

The agreement states that Greece must introduce “quasi-automatic spending cuts”, which in layman’s terms means that if the books are not balancing financially, the government should continue to make cuts until they do.
This extends to the public sector – one of the highest employers in the country – which must cut spending, in addition to depoliticising the Greek administration.
As part of the agreement Greece must also “improve long-term sustainability of the pension system”, a reoccurring issue in negotiations with creditors over the past five months.
By reforming pensions alone the country could save 0.25 to 0.5 per cent of GDP in 2015, and one per cent in 2016.
By 2025, retirement reforms will see everyone retired at age 67, though lenders are pushing for the process to be complete by 2022 and could potentially introduce costs for those looking to retire early.

Tax reforms

Tax reforms are also high on the agenda, and will be achieved through the streamlining of the current VAT system to increase revenue.
This will see the top VAT rate of 23 per cent included on restaurant bills, while the tax discount of 30 per cent currently granted to Greek islands will be revoked.
Greece has compromised claiming that the new laws would first be applied to popular tourist islands with the highest opportunity for revenue, followed by remote islands at a later date.

Strengthening the financial sector and liberalising the economy

Strengthening the financial sector is key to a stronger Greek economy, requiring them to take “decisive action on non-performing loans”.
It has also been requested that they make “more ambitious product market reforms”, which could see Sunday trading hours brought in, and the opening up of closed professions.
Eurozone leaders have also asked that Greece’s labour markets be liberalised and demand that Athens “undertake rigorous reviews and modernisation” of collective bargaining and industrial action.

Privatisation

Despite the instance of lenders that Greek statistics office, ELSTAT be privatised, Greece was permitted continued ownership on the basis that “the full legal independence of ELSTAT” be safeguarded. However, the country will be required to privatise its energy transmission network operator (ADMIE).

Debt restructuring, bridging finances and IMF support

Although Greece still owes €240 billion to Brussels, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country has been promised that there will be further opportunity to discuss restructuring its debts.
For the bailout agreement to be implemented, Greece must meet its payments of more than €7 billion to the ECB over the next two months. To help cover the debt repayments and avoid the collapse of Greek banking institutions, bridging finances will be made available.

Source: The Guardian

Greeks queued outside banks on Monday as they reopened three weeks after closing to stop the system collapsing, the first cautious sign of a return to normal after a deal to start talks on a new package of bailout reforms.

However limits on withdrawals will remain and payments and wire transfers abroad will still not be possible – a situation which German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday was “not a normal life” and warranted swift negotiations on a new bailout, expected to be worth up to 86 billion euros.

The stock market will also remain closed until further notice. Increases in value added tax agreed under the bailout terms have also taken effect with VAT on food and public transport jumping to 23 percent from 13 percent.

The bank closures were the most visible sign of the crisis that took Greece to the brink of falling out of the euro earlier this month, potentially undermining the foundations of the single European currency.

Their reopening followed Tsipras acceptance of a tough package of bailout demands from European partners but a party revolt has threatened the stability of his government and government officials have said that new elections may be held as early as September or October.

Queues formed outside bank branches in central Athens as long-suffering Greeks waited to take care of business frozen during the three week-long bank holiday.

“Things are better than the last few weeks. Thank God we didn’t end up with the drachma!” said 62-year-old pensioner Maria Papadopoulou. “I came to pay bills and my taxes today. Last week I couldn’t and all of this is very tiring for the older people like me.”

Limits on cash withdrawals have been made slightly more flexible, with a weekly limit of 420 euros in place of the daily 60 euro limit previously.

“Capital controls and restrictions on withdrawals will remain in place but we are entering a new stage which we all hope will be one of normality,” said Louka Katseli, head of the Greek bank association.

Greeks will be able to deposit cheques but not cash, pay bills as well as have access to safety deposit boxes and withdraw money without an ATM card.

Bankers said there may be minor disruptions after the three-week interruption to services but they expected services to resume largely as normal.

“I don’t expect major problems, our network and the network of our competitors are ready to serve our clients,” said a senior official at Piraeus Bank, one of the big four lenders. “There might be lines because many people will want to withdraw money from their deposit boxes,” the official said.

After European authorities agreed last week to provide emergency funding assistance, Athens is expected to meet a payment deadline for 4.2 billion euros (2.9 billion pounds), including interest payments, due to the European Central Bank on Monday.

Wednesday vote

Tsipras is eyeing a fresh start and swift talks on the bailout aimed at keeping Greece afloat but he still faces hurdles with parts of the ruling Syriza party in revolt over the tough terms of the bailout agreement.

The Greek parliament approved the bailout package on Thursday but the 40 year-old prime minister was forced to rely on votes from the opposition after 39 rebels from his Syriza party refused to back the government, by voting against or abstaining.

A second vote will be held on Wednesday, on measures including justice and banking reforms, when a similar outcome is expected. However the voting arithmetic is finely poised.

Together with his coalition partners from the right-wing Independent Greeks party, Tsipras has 162 seats in the 300-seat parliament but Thursday’s rebellion cut his support to just 123 votes. Under Greek constitutional rules, the minimum support needed for a minority government is 120, so if the number falls below that level, the government’s future would be in doubt.

“What worries me is that some people still think that there would be no austerity if we were out of the euro. This argument is absolutely false,” State Minister Nikos Pappas, one of Tsipras’ closest aides told the leftist Efimerida Ton Syntakton newspaper.

Acceptance of the bailout terms that meant the banks could reopen marked a turnaround for Tsipras after months of difficult talks and a referendum that rejected a less stringent deal proposed by the lenders.

The bailout terms include tax hikes, pension cuts, strict curbs on public spending, an overhaul of collective bargaining rules and a transfer of 50 billion euros of state assets into a special privatisation fund.

source:ekathimerini.com

Mick Fanning’s mother has described how her terror turned into overwhelming relief as she watched her son fight off a huge shark at the J-Bay Open surf competition in South Africa.

Elizabeth Osborne was watching the competition live on TV when a large shark stalked and then attacked her champion surfer son, who was in shock after his near-death experience.

Shedding tears, Ms Osborne told the ABC that her late son Sean, who died in a car crash almost 17 years ago, was watching over his brother.

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen happen to any of my family because it was just there in front of me,” she said.

“When Sean was killed in the car accident, I didn’t see it. I saw this just in front of me. It was just terrible.” Ms Osborne described the moment she watched the shark’s fin surface behind her son, and the agony of watching him fight for his life.

“We always say in our family, ‘we never give up and we never give in’. And he didn’t. He’s such a fighter,” she said.

“I’m just so thankful and so proud of Mick and so grateful to the universe that he didn’t have a leg missing.”

Fanning said he may not compete again. After being rescued from the water in the wake of the dramatic attack during which he punched and wrestled the large shark, a shaken Fanning teared up, confessing: “I’m happy to not ever compete again.”

Fanning was in the final with fellow Australian Julian Wilson when the drama began. Live video footage of the World Surf League event shows Fanning being pushed from his board after the appearance of an enormous fin behind him.

When it became clear that the situation was serious, the cameras panned to a wide shot and for tense minutes, with Fanning lost to view, there were grave fears for the three-time world champion. What the cameras couldn’t show was the surfer punching and wrestling the shark.

After being pulled safely onto a jetski with no damage, apart from a severed leg rope, Fanning described the dramatic moments when the shark struck.

“I was just sitting there and I felt something grab or get stuck in my leg rope and I instantly just jumped away,” he said. “It just kept coming at my board and I was kicking and screaming. I just saw fins, I didn’t see any teeth. I was waiting for the teeth to come at me as I was swimming. I punched it in the back.”

He said the frightening attack happened when he was “just cruising.”

“All of a sudden I had this instinct that something was behind me. I started getting pulled underwater and then the thing came up and I was on my board and it was right there. I saw the whole thing thrashing around but I was getting dragged under by my legrope. I felt like it kicked me off but it was still there going and I was still attached to my board. I felt like I punched it a couple of times and then it was dragging me and then my leg rope broke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnRlL6Okc7U

“I started swimming and screaming and yelling at Jules to move as well, but he was coming at me. What a legend, coming after me. I was swimming in and I turned around and I had this thought, what happens if it comes to have another go at me, so I turned around so I could at least see it coming. Before I knew it the boat was there, the jet skis were there and we were in safely. I just can’t believe it.”

An emotional Wilson said he thought Fanning hadn’t survived the attack when he disappeared from view.

“I saw the whole thing pop up behind him. It came up and he was wrestling it. I saw him get knocked off his board and then a wave popped up and I thought, ‘He’s gone’. I felt like I couldn’t get there quick enough. The results don’t mean anything to me, I’m just happy he’s alive. I literally thought when I was paddling for him that I wasn’t going to get there in time, especially when I saw him off his board and swimming away. I thought it was going to grab him and take him under. I’m so happy we’re both on the beach right now, I was so worried about Mick’s life.”

Both surfers were transferred to the safety boat, which had been stationed adjacent to the break throughout the contest in the case of just such an incident.

Interviewed by commentatory Peter Mel immediately afterwards, Fanning said, “I was just sitting there. I felt something get stuck in my legrope. I instantly jumped and it kept coming at my board.

“I just saw a fin. I didn’t see teeth. I was just waiting for the teeth to come at me!”

Asked by commentator Peter Mel if he took a swing, Fanning said, “I punched it in the back.”

The final was cancelled, and the two surfers shared the prize money and world-title points.

This is the first time a pro contest has been put on hold because of a shark attack, but not the first time a shark has frightened competitors.

At the same event in 2007, Australian Mick Lowe saw what he thought was a great white. “I saw a shark,” he said at the time. “It did a U-turn, and it was no dolphin.”

In 2003, Australian Taj Burrow cut a heat short at Jeffreys Bay when he saw a monster shark swim under his board.

On both occasions, the contest went ahead, without incident.

In October 2013, a man was attacked and killed by a shark while snorkelling close to the shore at Jeffreys Bay. And in June last year, the line-up at Jeffreys Bay was cleared when a 2m shark was spotted swimming between two of the 50 surfers in the water.

On that occasion, the first person to paddle back out was South African pro surfer Grant “Twiggy” Baker, who recently told The Australian that great whites were endangered, and not the problem. “More people in the water and humans fishing out the sharks’ food supply is the problem,” he said.

This is the first time a pro contest has been cancelled by a shark attack, but not the first time a shark has frightened competitors.

At the same event in 2007, Australian Mick Lowe saw what he thought was a great white. “I saw a shark,” he said at the time. “It did a U-turn, and it was no dolphin.”

In 2003, Australian Taj Burrow cut a heat short at Jeffreys Bay when he saw a monster shark swim under his board.

On both occasions, the contest went ahead, without incident.

In October 2013, a man was attacked and killed by a shark while snorkelling close to the shore at Jeffreys Bay. And in June last year, the line-up at Jeffreys Bay was cleared when a 2m shark was spotted swimming between two of the 50 surfers in the water.

On that occasion, the first person to paddle back out was South African pro surfer Grant “Twiggy” Baker, who recently told The Australian that great whites were endangered, and not the problem. “More people in the water and humans fishing out the sharks’ food supply is the problem,” he said.

source:theaustralian.com.au

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said Speaker Bronwyn Bishop is “on probation” for claiming a helicopter ride from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser last year, costing taxpayers $5227. 

Speaking to reporters in Sydney on Monday, Mr Abbott also said that he is “unhappy” about the ongoing scandal and that the Speaker has “copped a justifiable hiding”.

However, Mr Abbott said Mrs Bishop “has been a strong servant of our country, she has been a good servant of the Coalition and so she does have my confidence”: Photo: Andrew Meares

“I can really understand why people are unhappy about this,” Mr Abbott said. “Frankly, I’m unhappy about it as well.”

“She has been a strong Speaker…she has been a strong servant of our country, she has been a good servant of the Coalition and so she does have my confidence but like everyone who has done something like this, inevitably, for a period of time, they are on probation.”

While Mrs Bishop has paid back the money for the flight – plus a $1300 penalty – she has not apologised for the matter.

However, Mr Abbott said he believed the Bishop was “contrite” and “apologetic” over “this serious lapse of judgment”, and she will “learn a very salutary lesson”.

“Bronwyn is, I think, very, very contrite about this. I’ve had a couple of long conversations with her about it,” Mr Abbott said. “And I think all of us can learn this lesson, but my priority today is to get on with providing the best possible government for our country.”

Earlier Social Services Minister Scott Morrison suggested he would have apologised if involved in an expenses scandal like Mrs Bishop’s.

“When I had an error in one of my own arrangements…and it came to my attention, I fixed it and I made that sort of a statement,” Mr Morrison said on 2GB radio.

In 2013, Mr Morrison returned $354 after incorrectly claiming for a night’s hotel stay while in Melbourne for a wedding.

The comments come the morning it was revealed Mrs Bishop failed to check her expenses claim before signing off on it, entrusting her staff with the details.

She also reportedly chartered another flight to a Liberal fundraiser in regional NSW, five days after the infamous helicopter ride.

source:smh.com.au