The Daily Beast

Former New York representative Chris Collins was sentenced to 26 months behind bars on Friday for giving his son an illegal tip about a pharmaceutical company's failed drug trial from the White House lawn and for giving false statements.

“My life has been shattered. My reputation has been shattered,” Collins said through sobs prior to being handed his sentence in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, according to CNBC.

“But mostly my family has been shattered.”

The former lawmaker pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of lying to the FBI.

He was also ordered to pay a $200,000 fine and one year of supervised release.

Trump’s First Congressional Backer, Chris Collins, Gets 26 Months on Insider Trading Charges

(CNN) Former New York Rep. Chris Collins was sentenced to 26 months in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to federal charges in an insider trading case.

The sentence from Judge Vernon Broderick in a New York federal court comes after Collins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements in October. Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Collins be sentenced to nearly five years in prison.

Collins emotionally addressed the court, saying in part "now I stand here today as a disgraced former member of Congress."

The former Republican lawmaker addressed pleaded on behalf of his son and blaming himself for putting his family in this situation. In the nearly three-hour hearing, he spoke for mere minutes and begged his wife and daughter for their support, asking them to please stay with him.

Collins, who was the first sitting congressman to support President Donald Trump's bid for the White House, resigned from Congress ahead of the guilty plea. By pleading guilty, Collins avoided a broader set of charges from the superseding indictment, including securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

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Former Rep. Chris Collins sentenced to 26 months jail time in insider trading case

Mail Online

A judge has sentenced former U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins to 26 months in jail after pleading guilty to in an insider trading scheme.

U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick in Manhattan sentenced the 69-year-old Republican on Friday afternoon.

Collins' lawyers said he was sorry and should face no prison time but prosecutors had said in written arguments to the judge that he should go to prison for nearly five years.

Chris Collins, a former U.S. Congressman from New York has been sentenced to 26-months in jail after pleading guilty to taking part in an insider trading scheme. He is pictured on Friday

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins arrives at federal court for his sentencing on Friday. Collins pleaded guilty last fall to insider trading and lying to the FBI

They said that Collins and his son, Cameron, were worth a total of $35 million when they conspired to sell shares in a pharmaceutical company before devastating news was made public.

The trading, prosecutors said, enabled Cameron Collins and friends to dodge $800,000 in losses.

Collins, one of President Donald Trump's earliest supporters, had represented western New York since his election to the 27th Congressional District of New York in 2012.

He resigned when he decided to plead guilty to a single conspiracy count in October, but prosecutors faulted him for campaigning for a re-election race he won after his arrest and then continuing to serve.

CBS News footage captured Collins, circled in red, on the phone on the White House South Lawn during the time frame prosecutors charge he was talking to his son about the stock

They noted that he learned that Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., whose board he sat on, had failed a drug trial when he received a telephone call while he attended the annual Congressional Picnic at the White House on June 22, 2017.

Knowing that Innate's stock would plunge when news got out, Collins 'from the White House lawn' tried to reach his son to tip him off so he could sell his shares, prosecutors said.

They said he then conspired with family members to claim Cameron Collins and friends sold shares because they were spooked by a temporary halt in the trading of the stock rather than because they knew the stock price would fall 92% for the company headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with offices in Auckland, New Zealand.

His lawyers, though, have urged the judge to spare Collins from prison, citing his contrition, advanced age, charitable works and a low chance that he would commit any more crimes.

'Chris comes before the Court humbled, penitent, and remorseful,' the lawyers wrote. 'The public humiliation will follow Chris and mar him for the rest of his life.'

He was convicted for trading on insider information while a board member and a stakeholder of Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics. He is pictured on Friday

Ex congressman Chris Collins is sentenced to 26-months in jail for insider trading

اعتبر الرئيس الأمريكي دونالد ترامب أن على المرشد الأعلى للجمهورية الإسلامية الإيراني علي خامنئي أن يكون حذرا في انتقاء كلماته.

وكتب ترامب في تغريدة :" هناك كلمات غير لطيفة صدرت عنه (خامنئي) ضد الولايات المتحدة وأوروبا".

وأضاف :" اقتصادهم يتقهقر وشعبهم يعاني .. عليه أن يكون حذرا في كلماته.

The so-called “Supreme Leader” of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe. Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020

يأتي كلام ترامب ردا على تصريحات خامنئي التي وصف فيها الرئيس الأميركي دونالد ترامب "بالمهرج" الذي يتظاهر فقط بدعم الشعب الإيراني.



وأضاف خامنئي اليوم الجمعة خلال أول خطبة جمعة يؤم فيها المصلين منذ عام 2012 أن ترامب يريد "طعن" بلاده "بخنجر سام في الظهر".



وأعتبر خامنئي أن "حالة الحزن" التي سادت أرجاء البلاد بعد مقتل الجنرال قاسم سليماني تدل على دعم الإيرانيين للجمهورية الإسلامية



وأشار المرشد الأعلى للثورة الإسلامية إلى أن أمريكا عندما قتلت سليماني في غارة جوية ببغداد، فإنها قتلت القائد الأكثر فعالية في القتال ضد تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية "داعش".

المصدر: RT

ترامب يحذر خامنئي: يجب أن تكون حذرا في كلامك

Fox News

Iran has been banned from hosting international soccer matches, the country's soccer federation told Iranian media.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation said the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced the decision in a letter, the Mehr News Agency reported.

The AFC did not say if the move was related to Tehran's downing of a Ukrainian commercial passenger plane last week, which killed all 176 people on board, or continued heightened tensions with the United States.

Iranian soccer officials pushed back on the move.

FOUR FORMER IRANIAN HOSTAGES: PRESIDENT TRUMP, THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND YOUR STRENGTH

“Iran is fully ready to host various teams as it has repeatedly proven during the past several years,” Amirmahdi Alavi, a spokesman for the Iranian federation, told the news outlet.

He cited Iran's hosting of the 2018 AFC Champions League in Azadi Stadium in Tehran as a success. The remarks come after a Saudi Arabian television host said AFC officials cited security issues for the announcement, Mehr News reported. No specifics were offered.

The AFC did not respond to messages from Fox News on Friday.

Saudi teams did not travel to Iran last season because of severed diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern regional powers in 2016. Games were relocated to the United Arab Emirates.

Iran has four teams in the AFC Champions League. The Iranian federation said it would meet with the AFC to discuss its opposition to the decision.

The move comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran have reached a fever pitch following the Jan. 3 killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike. Iran retaliated with a strike of its own on Iraqi military bases where American troops were housed.

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Iran is also dealing with the fallout from the shooting of the Ukrainian jetliner, saying it accidentally fired on the plane after initially denying any involvement.

Iran came under scrutiny last year for its prohibition on women attending live games. Tehran reversed course in October, when it lifted the draconian ban and began to allow women to attend international soccer matches on Iranian soil.

Iran says it's been banned from hosting international soccer matches

Al Arabiya

In a warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the leader “who has not been so Supreme lately should be very careful with his words.”

Trump was responding to remarks made by Khamenei during his first Friday prayers sermon in eight years, where he told worshippers chanting “Death to America” that the elite Revolutionary Guards could take their fight beyond Iran’s borders after the US killing of a top Iranian commander.

Trump tweeted that Iran’s economy “is crashing, and their people are suffering.”

The so-called “Supreme Leader” of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe. Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020





Last Update: Saturday, 18 January 2020 KSA 01:40 - GMT 22:40

Trump warns Iran’s Khamenei to ‘be very careful with his words’

Japan Today

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, displayed in the viewfinder of a video camera, speaks a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Trudeau said Friday his government will give $25,000 Canadian ($19,122 U.S.) to families of each of the 57 citizens and 29 permanent residents of Canada who perished in the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in Iran last week. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

By ROB GILLIES

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday his government will give Canadian $25,000 (U.S.$19,122) to the families of each of the 57 citizens and 29 permanent residents of Canada who died in the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in Iran last week.

Trudeau said he still expects Iran to compensate the families but added that they need help now for funerals, travel to Iran and bills. He said any money Iran provides at a later date will go straight to the families and will not be reimbursed to the Canadian government.

“I want to be clear, we expect Iran to compensate these families," Trudeau said. “But I have met them. They can't wait weeks. They need support now."

Asked if the U.S. bears any responsibility after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran's top general, in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, Trudeau said Iran bears full responsibility for having shot down a civilian airline with 176 people aboard.

The prime minister also said the “black boxes" have been significantly damaged and Iran does not have the expertise or equipment needed to look at them. He said France has a lab that can do it. He said there is a need to do it as quickly as possible.

The spokesman for the French accident investigating bureau, or BEA, said it has no information about eventually obtaining the demolished airplane’s black boxes, the voice and data recorders, to decipher them. Sebastien Barthe added that it is up to Iran, which is in charge of the investigation, to decide the matter.

Trudeau said no remains of Canadian victims have returned to Canada yet but he expects that to start happening in the coming days.

Trudeau held the news conference in Ottawa after Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne met his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Muscat, Oman on Friday.

A statement from Champagne's office said the two discussed the need to provide consular services to assist in ensuring victim identification and the importance of a transparent investigation.

“The Ministers also discussed the need for a transparent analysis of the black box data, to which Iran agreed. In addition, they discussed the duty Iran has towards the families of the victims – including compensation," the statement reads.

“Minister Zarif expressed his support for Iran continuing to work with Canada and all grieving nations in these respects."

Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012, but Trudeau and Canada's foreign minister have been in touch with their Iranian counterparts since the plane was shot down.

Iran downed the flight as it braced for possible American retaliation after firing ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces. The missile attack, which caused no U.S. casualties, was a response to the killing of Iran's top general.

Trudeau has called the downing a Canadian tragedy because 138 of the passengers were headed for Canada. He confirmed for the first time that those included 29 permanent residents of Canada.

They included students, newlyweds, doctors and parents. The youngest was a 1-year-old girl.

Top diplomats from the countries who had victims met in London on Thursday to demand Tehran accept “full responsibility” and pay compensation to the victims’ families.

© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Canada provides money to families after plane shot down

CBC.ca

U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be very careful about what he says after Khamenei harshly criticized the United States in a Friday prayers sermon in Tehran.

"The so-called 'Supreme Leader' of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe," Trump said in a tweet.

"Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words!"

Khamenei struck a defiant tone in his first Friday sermon in Tehran in eight years, calling Trump a "clown" who only pretends to support the Iranian people but will "push a poisonous dagger" into their backs.

Khamenei said the mass funerals for Iran's top general, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month, show the Iranian people support the Islamic Republic despite its recent trials. He said the "cowardly" killing of Qassem Soleimani had taken out the most effective commander in the battle against ISIS.

Iranian mourners gather on Jan. 7 around a vehicle carrying the coffin of slain top Gen. Qassem Soleimani during the final stage of funeral processions, in his hometown of Kerman. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)

In response, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting U.S. troops in Iraq, without causing serious injuries. Khamenei said the strike had dealt a "blow to America's image" as a superpower. In part of the sermon delivered in Arabic, he said the "real punishment" would be in forcing the U.S. to withdraw from the Middle East.

Downing of Flight PS752 'a bitter accident'

As Iran's Revolutionary Guard braced for an American counterattack that never came, it mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 shortly after it took off from Tehran's international airport, killing all 176 passengers, including 57 Canadians and dozens of others bound for Canada.

Authorities concealed their role in the tragedy for three days, initially blaming the crash on a technical problem. Their admission of responsibility triggered days of street protests, which security forces dispersed with live ammunition and tear gas.

Khamenei called the shootdown of the plane a "bitter accident" that saddened Iran as much as it made its enemies happy. He said Iran's enemies had seized on the crash to question the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guard and the armed forces.

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Khamenei delivers his sermon in the Friday prayers at Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran. (Office of The Iranian Supreme Leader/The Associated Press)

He also lashed out at Western countries, saying they are too weak to "bring Iranians to their knees."

He said Britain, France and Germany, which this week triggered a dispute mechanism to try to bring Iran back into compliance with the unravelling 2015 nuclear agreement, were "contemptible" governments and "servants" of the United States.

He said Iran was willing to negotiate, but not with the United States.

Khamenei has held the country's top office since 1989 and has the final say on all major decisions. The 80-year-old leader openly wept at the funeral of Soleimani and vowed "harsh retaliation" against the United States.

Thousands of people attended the Friday prayers, occasionally interrupting his speech by chanting "God is greatest" and "Death to America."

Sanctions trigger economic crisis, protests

Tensions between Iran and the United States have steadily escalated since Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which had imposed restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

The U.S. has since imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, including its vital oil and gas industry, pushing the country into an economic crisis that has ignited several waves of sporadic, leaderless protests. Trump has openly encouraged the protesters — even tweeting in Farsi — hoping that the protests and the sanctions will bring about fundamental change in a longtime adversary.

After Soleimani was killed, Iran announced it would no longer be bound by the limitations in the nuclear agreement. European countries that have been trying to salvage the deal responded earlier this week by invoking a dispute mechanism that could result in even more sanctions.

Khamenei was always skeptical of the nuclear agreement, arguing the United States could not be trusted. But he allowed President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, to conclude the agreement with President Barack Obama. Since Trump's withdrawal, he has repeatedly said there can be no negotiations with the United States.

Khamenei last delivered a Friday sermon in February 2012, when he called Israel a "cancerous tumour" and vowed to support anyone confronting it. He also warned against any U.S. strikes on Iran over its nuclear program, saying the U.S. would be damaged "10 times over."

South China Morning Post

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on Friday. Photo: AFP

Canada to give families of Iran plane tragedy victims US$19,000 each

(CNN) Rapper Pop Smoke had just returned from Europe Friday when he was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on a charge of interstate transport of a stolen vehicle.

A federal indictment says between November and December last year, the rapper, whose real name is Bashar Jackson, transported a black Rolls Royce Wraith across state lines "knowing said motor vehicle to have been stolen."

The Rolls Royce valued at $375,000 was loaned to the rapper by its owner in California for use in a music video, a source familiar with the case told CNN. The source said the rapper and owner had a verbal agreement that the vehicle would be returned the following day, and in exchange, the owner would get VIP access to a future Pop Smoke concert.

The owner reported the vehicle missing to the Los Angeles Police Department in November when Jackson allegedly did not return it, the source said. The owner was able to track the vehicle to Arizona before its location could no longer be accessed.

The car was located on December 3 in front of Jackson's home in Brooklyn. It was transported to New York from California by truck, the source said.

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Rapper Pop Smoke arrested for allegedly transporting a stolen Rolls Royce, authorities say

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Picture him rolling.

Rising hip-hop star Pop Smoke was hauled before a federal judge in Brooklyn on Friday on a charge that he stole a black Rolls Royce used in a video shoot in Los Angeles and took it back home with him in Brooklyn.

The “Welcome to the Party” rapper, whose real name is Bashar Jackson, allegedly took photos of himself with the $375,000 luxury vehicle and posted them to his social media accounts as it was transported in November in a truck to his Brooklyn home.

see also Cops called on party featuring Lil' Kim performance Models and actors were left out in the cold by...

A law enforcement source said that Pop Smoke convinced the owner of the Rolls Royce to borrow the car for the November video shoot with promises of VIP treatment and backstage passes to future shows.

But after the shoot wrapped, the tickets didn’t materialize — and the Rolls Royce had not been returned.

“The owner starts getting the runaround as to where the car is, where Pop Smoke is,” the source said. “Finally he reports the car stolen the next day to the LAPD.”

The pricey auto was eventually located on Dec. 3 in front of the Brooklyn residence that Pop Smoke shares with his parents, according to the source.

The rapper was set to be presented with a charge of interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.

Pop Smoke was billed to perform the Rolling Loud festival held in October at Citi Field.

But he and four other rappers were removed from the lineup after the NYPD informed festival organizers that those performers were associated with “recent acts of violence citywide,” Rolling Stone reports.

Rapper Pop Smoke busted for stealing Rolls Royce used in video shoot

A major bookmaker ‘groomed’ gambling addicts by bombarding them with personal messages and showering them with cash bonuses, secret documents reveal.

Betway – which sponsors West Ham FC, the Grand National and Test cricket – ruthlessly targeted its ‘top losers’ to lure them into betting millions of pounds they could not afford to lose.

Personal ‘VIP managers’ befriended addicts and engaged in chatty conversation via emails and messages. The emails reveal how they poured ‘bonus’ money into their accounts – even if the gamblers were openly admitting they were losing money.

Ben Jones (pictured with his wife Rebecca), has been jailed for stealing £370,000 from his employer to fund his habit

Bonuses were paid on players’ birthdays and hours in advance of one-off promotions. The firm also treated high-rollers to all-expenses-paid trips to sporting events including the Champions League, FA Cup, Cheltenham races, and incentives to bet included possible trips to Las Vegas.

The astonishing details of how betting firms lure in clients and keep them hooked are exposed in secret documents obtained by the Daily Mail that reveal the unvarnished truth about controversial VIP betting schemes. Two men who were addicted to gambling used ‘subject access request’ data protection laws to obtain details of their dealings with Betway.

One, Ben Jones, has been jailed for stealing £370,000 from his employer to fund his habit. Last night, Betway admitted paying compensation to the company after Jones was jailed for three years in November – a tacit admission that the gambling giant’s dealings with Jones contributed to his criminality.

The secret emails showed how Betway 'VIP Manager' Simon Kent offered cash bonuses to Jones even after he admitted he was on the ‘worst losing streak I’ve ever had’

The secret emails also showed how Betway VIP manager Simon Kent offered cash bonuses to Jones even after he admitted he was on the ‘worst losing streak I’ve ever had’.

In another email, Jones tells Mr Kent he was ‘giving up’ on gambling after suffering too many losses. In response, Mr Kent merely says he will ‘have a look at your account and get some bonus added after a break’.

The disturbing revelations come after the Mail exposed how FA Cup games were being streamed live on betting websites to fans who opened an account. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has backed demands for betting firms to immediately end ‘shameful’ incentives that lure punters into a ‘vicious cycle’.

Last Wednesday, NHS mental health chief Claire Murdoch wrote to all major gambling companies saying the health service should no longer be expected to ‘put out the fires’ they start.

Betway turns over £282 million a year and is based in the offshore tax haven of Malta. Incredibly, its owner is unknown and it operates behind a shadowy web of off-shore companies.

Its tactics are revealed in thousands of pages of documents detailing all the bets, financial transactions and emails from the two men’s accounts.

In the case of Jones, 30, from Nottingham, Betway staff failed to spot that he was using up to £30,000 a month of money stolen from his employer. Staff handed him £39,000 in bonuses between September 2016 and November 2018 to entice the former public schoolboy to keep betting.

The married father-of-two was finally caught by his boss in 2018 and was jailed for three years for the £370,000 fraud at Nottingham Crown Court.

In a second case, documents show that a father from the north-west of England was handed £865,000 in cash bonuses between October 2015 and December 2017 to keep him betting. He claims he was gambling using family money that was not his to spend.

Betway did send ‘responsible gambling’ emails which laid out ways punters could seek to control their betting and both men lied to the firm about their habits. But these messages were outweighed by far by the number of messages encouraging them to bet.

Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling harm, said: ‘It is outrageous that Betway is offering huge inducements to people to gamble when they clearly are in no position to do so. The Gambling Commission must look into this.’ The Gambling Commission declined to comment on Jones’s case.

Betway said: ‘As a responsible licensed operator we take these allegations extremely seriously.

‘In the case of Ben Jones, who was jailed for stealing funds from his former employer, we have already reached a settlement agreement with the victim of his crime to compensate them for their loss. Betway would never seek, nor does it wish, to profit from any illicit and misappropriated funds wagered on its site.’

'Betting giant let my husband gamble his way to prison': How chatty emails, banter and cash gifts from a Betway ‘VIP manager’ led addicted father-of-two, 30, to stake £1m as he stole from his employer before being jailed for three years

The email Ben Jones received at 8.40am on September 2, 2016, was friendly. ‘Hi Ben, my name is Simon and I would like to introduce myself as your personal host from now on… Can I ask if you follow any sports or teams in particular?’

Simon Kent, ‘VIP Manager’ at gambling giant Betway, had every reason to sound chummy. He was inviting married father-of-two Jones, 30, to join an exclusive but perilous club: Betway’s biggest losers, where high-spending gamblers are plied with free sports tickets, ‘bonus’ money and ‘special gifts’ to keep them hooked.

The cynical email – just one of many tactics deployed by the online betting giant to entice gamblers – went on: ‘I’m writing to let you know that you have achieved VIP status with us here at Betway... you are entitled to these exclusive benefits: Your own VIP Executive Host... special gifts tailored to your own personal interests and tastes, exclusive VIP events and tickets... I can arrange to take you to some events in the near future!’

Online betting giant Betway sponsors the Grand National (pictured). VIP manager Simon Kent invited married father-of-two Jones, 30, to join an exclusive but perilous club: Betway’s biggest losers

It sounded too good to be true. And for Jones, it was. Within a week, the first £300 cash bonus had landed in his account to encourage him to bet – a sizeable sum for a cake wholesaler earning £35,000 a year.

By May the following year, Betway was pouring up to £1,000 a week into Jones’s account, a flood of free money that peaked at £3,000-a-go in November 2017, even as the former public schoolboy complained to the company of his ‘worst losing streak ever’.

What Betway did not know was that when Jones signed up, he was already a problem gambler, who claims his habit can be traced back to a 2p horse racing game he played in a seaside arcade on a family holiday to Bridlington, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Over the two years that followed his elevation to a Betway ‘VIP’ gambler, Jones bet an astonishing £1.1 million and lost about £280,000. Amid a dizzying deluge of bonuses, free tickets and ‘matey’ exchanges with VIP manager Mr Kent, he used savings, payday loans and credit cards to feed his habit.

And when the funds ran dry, he stole hundreds of thousands from his employer to keep betting.

His sophisticated fraud started in May 2015, with the theft of £5,000 a month from his employer, Britain’s biggest cake decorator. But as his gambling addiction deepened, he stole £30,000 a month to fund his Betway account.

Betway also sponsors England test matches (pictured). While Jones is undeniably guilty of a crime, it is equally undeniable that the encouragements he received outweighed the checks on responsible gambling.

In November last year, Jones was finally jailed for three years for the theft, after the court heard he was in the grip of an addiction so severe it was categorised as a ‘psychiatric disorder’.

Now, for the first time, the Mail can reveal the troubling truth about how Betway enabled his habit.

A slew of documents reveals in chilling detail how the offshore betting giant, which turned over £282 million last year and sponsors West Ham FC, the Grand National and the England cricket team’s current series in South Africa, even handed Jones a £300 bonus to keep betting after he had ‘self-excluded’ himself via a national anti-addiction scheme, Gamstop, to try to get a grip on his habit.

The distressing details are revealed thanks to a ‘subject access request’, made by Jones with the support of his wife Rebecca as they try to piece together what went wrong with his life.

His entire betting history with Betway, hundreds of chatty messages sent by ‘VIP host’ Mr Kent and the failure of Betway to spot red flags in his bank account are all revealed under Freedom of Information laws that require a company to send information they hold on an individual if requested.

Now forced to live with her father in Nottingham, Mrs Jones, a 29-year-old midwife who is caring for the couple’s two daughters, aged eight and one, told the Mail: ‘Betway fed his addiction with these awful VIP schemes. I have a duty of care in my own job – how can Betway’s bosses sleep at night knowing what they have done?’

Jones was educated at £13,000-a-year Queen Ethelburga’s College in York. From there the straight-A student studied psychology at Bangor University, but stayed in his room for hours at a time to bet on roulette. By age 21, he had a gambling problem.

He left university and eventually joined Cake Decorating Co as a wholesaler. Throughout this period – and in secret from new wife Rebecca – he gambled relatively small amounts. In August 2016, he opened an account with Betway to bet on cricket and football.

Just a month later he received Mr Kent’s congratulatory email inviting him to become a VIP. The following month, Jones received an email from Mr Kent to mark his 27th birthday: ‘Hi Ben, Happy Birthday from me and everyone else at Betway! Do you have much planned to celebrate? I’ve added a bonus to your account as a gift from me.’ And £500 landed in his account.

And so it continued, with Mr Kent regularly contacting Jones with banter about his favourite sport or to ask what he and his family were up to. ‘Hi Ben, I hope you had a good weekend? Don’t fancy England at all today, think it could be over by tea! Just wanted to see if you were about on September 2nd as we potentially have some hospitality for the T20 finals day at Edgbaston if you fancy it?,’ Mr Kent wrote in July 2017.

Jones did not attend the event, but the persistent ‘VIP’ attention being lavished on him was clearly worth it for Betway – he deposited £14,000 in one day alone that month, more than a third of his annual salary.

On July 24, he deposited £9,850 after logging on to play at 8.40 in the morning. In increasingly personal conversations, Mr Kent would update Jones on his own life, saying in one message he was ‘fighting with the jet lag’ after a holiday in Canada.

By May 2018, Jones was showing signs of financial strain. ‘Do you have a magic wand with you to help predict any of the results,’ he asked in a message in January 2018. ‘Literally everything I touch loses at the moment. Worst losing streak I’ve had probably ever.’

Mr Kent replied: ‘I wish I did. If you want to take a break I can action that. But maybe try a bit of cricket or something. There’s plenty of that going on. I’ve added a bit of bonus on for you, hopefully will bring you some luck!’

Betway did send Jones an automated email with ‘bet the responsible way’ in the subject line on at least six occasions, and in one case followed this up with a phone call, his betting record shows.

‘Hi Ben, enjoying our site?’ The emails read. ‘We always say that gambling should be fun. And one way to make sure it stays that way is to never spend more money than you can afford to lose.’

But the emails – such as they were – had no impact.

Jones continued to lose money at a rate of up to £30,000 a month until July 2018, when his rugby club caught him stealing.

As a result, his wife and father learnt about his addiction. Jones drove to B&Q with a plan to buy materials to end his life. Convinced not to by his wife, he finally sought help from Gamblers Anonymous.

He formally excluded himself from all betting websites including Betway on July 21, 2018, using the national Gamstop service designed to help addicts block themselves.

Yet, astonishingly, on August 8 he was handed another £300 cash bonus. Betway even continued to text him with offers of free bets: ‘Your latest £5 free bet is ready @Betway. Use it before midday on Monday,’ read one message received at 8.05am on August 11.

Records show the bonuses soon started up again, with deposits of ‘goodwill’ of £250 on October 15, £500 two days later and another £500 two days after that. Jones’s betting became so frenzied that on October 25, 2018, it ‘triggered’ an internal warning, and this time VIP manager Mr Kent sent a blunt email asking for Jones’s P60 and an estimate net worth of his business in 2018, as confirmation that his high-rolling client had enough money to fund his losses.

In contrast to his earlier matey ‘banter’ about freebies, Mr Kent wrote: ‘Your account has again hit the threshold for further checks to clarify the source of funds. I know we did something similar last year but the amounts spent have re-triggered this.’

In reply, Jones insisted: ‘My situation is the same as last year, I am self-employed and most of the funds for Betway come straight out of my PayPal account.’ He included a statement but said ‘they wouldn’t show too much’ as he did ‘less work over this period’. This was enough for Mr Kent, who wrote back the next day: ‘We’re all good to go.’

Later that evening [October 26, 2018], Jones received an email – this time from ‘The Betway Responsible Gambling Team’ – asking for a phone call.

The internal emails then show the addict simply reassured the team in an email three days later: ‘I have no issues or concerns with my gambling. I recently took a couple of months off due to work commitments.’

The same day he received a note confirming they were happy to let him back in and encouraging him to ‘enjoy his time at Betway UK’.

Sadly, Jones did. He bet so fast and furiously that in November he was given a £700 and an £800 bonus. At the same time, he was carrying out an extraordinary fraud against his employer, the Cake Decorating Co, which involved taking orders from customers and giving them his own bank details for payment.

Jones was found out when he forgot to change one order, and a customer who had not received their goods complained.

Betway told the Mail it had since reimbursed the Cake Decorating Co, but that is small comfort to Mrs Jones. Surveying the avalanche of betting records, ‘matey’ messages and inducements for her husband to bet in a 1,700-page file on the family computer, she told the Mail: ‘[Betway] should hang their heads in shame.

‘They said it wasn’t their responsibility to know if Ben had a problem. It’s completely unethical and immoral. They can’t just prey on the vulnerable.

‘If things turned out differently, I could have lost my husband and the kids could have lost their dad.’

While Jones is undeniably guilty of a crime, it is equally undeniable that the encouragements he received outweighed the checks on responsible gambling.

And set against the hundreds of thousands of pounds that Jones begged, borrowed and stole to deposit in Betway’s coffers, who can be surprised?

Secret emails expose the tricks by Betway to help its 'top losers' stay gambling

Guardian

A man has been found guilty of aggravated assault against the Guardian columnist Owen Jones because of hostility to his leftwing political views and homophobia, following a two-day trial at Snaresbrook crown court.

Anne Studd QC, the presiding judge, concluded at the end of the hearing that Jones was the victim of a “wholly unprovoked assault” outside a central London pub last August because of “his LGBT and his leftwing beliefs”.

The defendant, James Healy, 40, had “far-right” views, Studd added, as evidenced by a collection of memorabilia found at his Portsmouth home, including items with logos or mottos from far right group Combat 18, white supremacist groups and hooligan groups associated with Chelsea football club.

Healy had already pleaded guilty to assaulting Jones last August outside the Lexington pub in King’s Cross, north London, at about 2am. But he was on trial to determine whether his actions were motivated by homophobia and hostility to Jones’s leftwing views.

The judge said that she rejected the defendant’s account of events in the early hours of 17 August in which he claimed he had “got the hump” because Jones had bumped into him and spilled some of his drink at around 1.30am. Studying CCTV from the pub she said Healy had not appeared to remonstrate with Jones at the time.

The judge accepted Jones’s account of events, which was that when he was in the pub, he was greeted by either Healy or individuals next to him, and so he was able to identify Healy as the man who went on to attack him half an hour later. “I am satisfied this was a targeted attack on Mr Jones because of who he is and his beliefs,” the judge concluded.

Jones said he had no recollection of any hostility directed at him inside the pub. Matthew Radstone, Healy’s counsel, said to Jones: “You bumped into him with a drink in his hand,” prompting the journalist to respond: “That definitely did not happen.” He added subsequently that “nothing bad or hostile at all” happened inside the pub, where he was celebrating his 35th birthday.

Jones said he had a different memory of the encounter. Although he had been drinking since 7.45pm, Jones said he was “completely in control” and that he remembered an apparently jovial or friendly interaction.

According to a witness statement from Jones, read out in court, the journalist had a conversation along the lines of: “‘Are you Owen Jones? We are big fans for your work, keep it up,’” which the writer said was typical of many interactions he had had when going out. Jones believed Healy and others used that encounter to identify him.

A few minutes later, as Jones and a group of friends were leaving the pub, he told the court he was attacked from behind. “I was saying goodbye to a friend, then I was on the floor, unaware of what was happening, completely disorientated. I hurt my head and I think there was a period of 10 seconds where I don’t really remember what happened.”

Additional CCTV footage taken shortly after 2am showed Healy leaving shortly after Jones, and running after him just has he was leaving the vicinity, attacking him from behind and appearing to knock him to the ground before a general skirmish ensued.

Studd said that Healy made no attempt to speak to Jones and engaged in a “brutal assault that was clearly targeted”. The judge said the video contradicted Healy’s claim, given in a witness statement to police, that he had acted in self-defence throughout.

One item of memorabilia found in Healy’s home featured a “sun cross” – a white supremacist symbol – used by White Pride Worldwide with the “whatever it takes” motto of Combat 18 and “lead the way” used by the banned Loyalist Volunteer Force. Another said “Chelsea FC, no asylum seekers” .

The collection also included a black flag, bearing a “totenkopf” deaths head symbol, used by the Nazi SS, and the letters CYF, standing for Chelsea Youth Firm, a hooligan group associated with the west London football club. Healy had a tattoo associated with the group on his right arm, the court also heard.

Healy had told the court that the items found at his home were “connected to football and football violence” but did not reflect far-right political views. Giving evidence, Healy said: “I didn’t understand their meanings as respects the far right.”

Instead, the defendant said he had collected memorabilia about 20 years ago in connection with his involvement in the Chelsea Youth Firm and said he had kept them because he was “a hoarder”.

Healy acknowledged that he had a violent past and had previous convictions relating to football hooliganism, but told the court he was no longer involved. “Prior to 2012, when I went to football matches, it was with the intention to fight,” he said.

But Studd said that she believed he had not changed his views since, partly because he had received a 39th birthday card with extremist symbols on it. That card featured a cross of St George which the court heard featured “an Ulster-related symbol” in the middle and the words “no surrender” in the bottom right.

Healy is one of three men who have admitted being involved in the incident. He and Liam Tracey, 34, from Camden, north London, and Charlie Ambrose, 29, from Brighton, all pleaded guilty to affray last month. Healy also admitted a further charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Sentencing for all three men is due to take place next month at the earliest. Healy will receive a greater than normal sentence because of the aggravating factors.

Man found guilty of aggravated assault against Owen Jones

The email Ben Jones received at 8.40am on September 2, 2016, was friendly. ‘Hi Ben, my name is Simon and I would like to introduce myself as your personal host from now on… Can I ask if you follow any sports or teams in particular?’

Simon Kent, ‘VIP Manager’ at gambling giant Betway, had every reason to sound chummy. He was inviting married father-of-two Jones, 30, to join an exclusive but perilous club: Betway’s biggest losers, where high-spending gamblers are plied with free sports tickets, ‘bonus’ money and ‘special gifts’ to keep them hooked.

The cynical email – just one of many tactics deployed by the online betting giant to entice gamblers – went on: ‘I’m writing to let you know that you have achieved VIP status with us here at Betway... you are entitled to these exclusive benefits: Your own VIP Executive Host... special gifts tailored to your own personal interests and tastes, exclusive VIP events and tickets... I can arrange to take you to some events in the near future!’

Ben Jones (pictured with his wife Rebecca), has been jailed for stealing £370,000 from his employer to fund his habit

It sounded too good to be true. And for Jones, it was. Within a week, the first £300 cash bonus had landed in his account to encourage him to bet – a sizeable sum for a cake wholesaler earning £35,000 a year.

By May the following year, Betway was pouring up to £1,000 a week into Jones’s account, a flood of free money that peaked at £3,000-a-go in November 2017, even as the former public schoolboy complained to the company of his ‘worst losing streak ever’.

What Betway did not know was that when Jones signed up, he was already a problem gambler, who claims his habit can be traced back to a 2p horse racing game he played in a seaside arcade on a family holiday to Bridlington, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Over the two years that followed his elevation to a Betway ‘VIP’ gambler, Jones bet an astonishing £1.1 million and lost about £280,000. Amid a dizzying deluge of bonuses, free tickets and ‘matey’ exchanges with VIP manager Mr Kent, he used savings, payday loans and credit cards to feed his habit.

And when the funds ran dry, he stole hundreds of thousands from his employer to keep betting.

His sophisticated fraud started in May 2015, with the theft of £5,000 a month from his employer, Britain’s biggest cake decorator. But as his gambling addiction deepened, he stole £30,000 a month to fund his Betway account.

In November last year, Jones was finally jailed for three years for the theft, after the court heard he was in the grip of an addiction so severe it was categorised as a ‘psychiatric disorder’.

Now, for the first time, the Mail can reveal the troubling truth about how Betway enabled his habit.

A slew of documents reveals in chilling detail how the offshore betting giant, which turned over £282 million last year and sponsors West Ham FC, the Grand National and the England cricket team’s current series in South Africa, even handed Jones a £300 bonus to keep betting after he had ‘self-excluded’ himself via a national anti-addiction scheme, Gamstop, to try to get a grip on his habit.

The distressing details are revealed thanks to a ‘subject access request’, made by Jones with the support of his wife Rebecca as they try to piece together what went wrong with his life.

Betway also sponsors England test matches (pictured). While Jones is undeniably guilty of a crime, it is equally undeniable that the encouragements he received outweighed the checks on responsible gambling.

His entire betting history with Betway, hundreds of chatty messages sent by ‘VIP host’ Mr Kent and the failure of Betway to spot red flags in his bank account are all revealed under Freedom of Information laws that require a company to send information they hold on an individual if requested.

Now forced to live with her father in Nottingham, Mrs Jones, a 29-year-old midwife who is caring for the couple’s two daughters, aged eight and one, told the Mail: ‘Betway fed his addiction with these awful VIP schemes. I have a duty of care in my own job – how can Betway’s bosses sleep at night knowing what they have done?’

Jones was educated at £13,000-a-year Queen Ethelburga’s College in York. From there the straight-A student studied psychology at Bangor University, but stayed in his room for hours at a time to bet on roulette. By age 21, he had a gambling problem.

He left university and eventually joined Cake Decorating Co as a wholesaler. Throughout this period – and in secret from new wife Rebecca – he gambled relatively small amounts. In August 2016, he opened an account with Betway to bet on cricket and football.

Just a month later he received Mr Kent’s congratulatory email inviting him to become a VIP. The following month, Jones received an email from Mr Kent to mark his 27th birthday: ‘Hi Ben, Happy Birthday from me and everyone else at Betway! Do you have much planned to celebrate? I’ve added a bonus to your account as a gift from me.’ And £500 landed in his account.

And so it continued, with Mr Kent regularly contacting Jones with banter about his favourite sport or to ask what he and his family were up to. ‘Hi Ben, I hope you had a good weekend? Don’t fancy England at all today, think it could be over by tea! Just wanted to see if you were about on September 2nd as we potentially have some hospitality for the T20 finals day at Edgbaston if you fancy it?,’ Mr Kent wrote in July 2017.

Jones did not attend the event, but the persistent ‘VIP’ attention being lavished on him was clearly worth it for Betway – he deposited £14,000 in one day alone that month, more than a third of his annual salary.

Online betting giant Betway sponsors the Grand National (pictured). 'VIP Manager' Simon Kent invited married father-of-two Jones, 30, to join an exclusive but perilous club: Betway’s biggest losers

On July 24, he deposited £9,850 after logging on to play at 8.40 in the morning. In increasingly personal conversations, Mr Kent would update Jones on his own life, saying in one message he was ‘fighting with the jet lag’ after a holiday in Canada.

By May 2018, Jones was showing signs of financial strain. ‘Do you have a magic wand with you to help predict any of the results,’ he asked in a message in January 2018. ‘Literally everything I touch loses at the moment. Worst losing streak I’ve had probably ever.’

Mr Kent replied: ‘I wish I did. If you want to take a break I can action that. But maybe try a bit of cricket or something. There’s plenty of that going on. I’ve added a bit of bonus on for you, hopefully will bring you some luck!’

Betway did send Jones an automated email with ‘bet the responsible way’ in the subject line on at least six occasions, and in one case followed this up with a phone call, his betting record shows.

‘Hi Ben, enjoying our site?’ The emails read. ‘We always say that gambling should be fun. And one way to make sure it stays that way is to never spend more money than you can afford to lose.’

But the emails – such as they were – had no impact.

Jones continued to lose money at a rate of up to £30,000 a month until July 2018, when his rugby club caught him stealing.

As a result, his wife and father learnt about his addiction. Jones drove to B&Q with a plan to buy materials to end his life. Convinced not to by his wife, he finally sought help from Gamblers Anonymous.

He formally excluded himself from all betting websites including Betway on July 21, 2018, using the national Gamstop service designed to help addicts block themselves.

Yet, astonishingly, on August 8 he was handed another £300 cash bonus. Betway even continued to text him with offers of free bets: ‘Your latest £5 free bet is ready @Betway. Use it before midday on Monday,’ read one message received at 8.05am on August 11.

Records show the bonuses soon started up again, with deposits of ‘goodwill’ of £250 on October 15, £500 two days later and another £500 two days after that. Jones’s betting became so frenzied that on October 25, 2018, it ‘triggered’ an internal warning, and this time VIP manager Mr Kent sent a blunt email asking for Jones’s P60 and an estimate net worth of his business in 2018, as confirmation that his high-rolling client had enough money to fund his losses.

In contrast to his earlier matey ‘banter’ about freebies, Mr Kent wrote: ‘Your account has again hit the threshold for further checks to clarify the source of funds. I know we did something similar last year but the amounts spent have re-triggered this.’

In reply, Jones insisted: ‘My situation is the same as last year, I am self-employed and most of the funds for Betway come straight out of my PayPal account.’ He included a statement but said ‘they wouldn’t show too much’ as he did ‘less work over this period’. This was enough for Mr Kent, who wrote back the next day: ‘We’re all good to go.’

Later that evening [October 26, 2018], Jones received an email – this time from ‘The Betway Responsible Gambling Team’ – asking for a phone call.

The internal emails then show the addict simply reassured the team in an email three days later: ‘I have no issues or concerns with my gambling. I recently took a couple of months off due to work commitments.’

The same day he received a note confirming they were happy to let him back in and encouraging him to ‘enjoy his time at Betway UK’.

Sadly, Jones did. He bet so fast and furiously that in November he was given a £700 and an £800 bonus. At the same time, he was carrying out an extraordinary fraud against his employer, the Cake Decorating Co, which involved taking orders from customers and giving them his own bank details for payment.

Jones was found out when he forgot to change one order, and a customer who had not received their goods complained.

Betway told the Mail it had since reimbursed the Cake Decorating Co, but that is small comfort to Mrs Jones. Surveying the avalanche of betting records, ‘matey’ messages and inducements for her husband to bet in a 1,700-page file on the family computer, she told the Mail: ‘[Betway] should hang their heads in shame.

‘They said it wasn’t their responsibility to know if Ben had a problem. It’s completely unethical and immoral. They can’t just prey on the vulnerable.

‘If things turned out differently, I could have lost my husband and the kids could have lost their dad.’

While Jones is undeniably guilty of a crime, it is equally undeniable that the encouragements he received outweighed the checks on responsible gambling.

And set against the hundreds of thousands of pounds that Jones begged, borrowed and stole to deposit in Betway’s coffers, who can be surprised?

Emails and cash gifts from a Betway 'VIP manager' led addicted father-of-two, 30, to stake £1m

San Francisco Chronicle

U.S. agency examining Tesla unintended acceleration complaint

DETROIT — The U.S. government’s auto safety agency is looking into allegations that all three of Tesla’s electric vehicle models can suddenly accelerate on their own.

An unidentified person petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking for an investigation into the problem. An agency document shows 127 owner complaints to the government that include 110 crashes and 52 injuries.

The agency said it will look into allegations that cover about 500,000 Tesla vehicles including Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles from the 2013 through 2019 model years. The agency’s investigations office will evaluate the petition and decide if it should open a formal probe.

MBA BY THE BAY: See how an MBA could change your life with SFGATE's interactive directory of Bay Area programs.

Messages were left Friday seeking comment from Tesla.

NHTSA is already investigating three December crashes involving Tesla vehicles in which three people were killed. The agency’s special crash investigations unit sent teams to Gardena (Los Angeles County) and near Terre Haute, Ind., to probe two fatal crashes. Another crash in Connecticut is under investigation.

Frank Borris, a former head of safety defect investigations for NHTSA, said the number of complaints cited in the petition is unusual and warrants further investigation.

“The sheer number of complaints would certainly catch my eye,” said Borris, who now runs an auto safety consulting business.

Tesla owners communicate with other owners on Internet forums and social media, and that could influence the number of complaints, he said.

He said the timing of the petition is good, because the agency needs to do a “deeper dive” into Tesla safety.

Some of the unintended acceleration complaints, which have yet to be verified by NHTSA, allege that the cars’ electronics malfunctioned.

For instance, one owner in San Clemente (Orange County) told NHTSA that in November of 2018, a Model X SUV accelerated on its own to full power during a U-turn on a city street. The driver had a foot on the brake, but the SUV accelerated in a fraction of a second, according to the complaint. The driver alleged that something in Tesla’s system “triggered the sudden spontaneously full acceleration, resulting in this collision.”

The SUV hit a parked vehicle, the air bags inflated and the owner had a large abdominal bruise and several small chest bruises, according to the complaint. People who file complaints with NHTSA are not identified in the agency’s database.

The driver asked NHTSA to find out whether the Tesla complaints had common elements, including parking or making turns at low speeds.

In another crash, in May of 2013, the owner of a Model S sedan in Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) complained that while pulling into a parking spot, the car suddenly accelerated on its own.

The Model S went over a parking block and a curb and struck a concrete light post. The air bags inflated, but no one was hurt, the complaint said.

Three weeks after the crash, the owner got a letter from Tesla saying that the accelerator was depressed to 48% just before the crash and 98% at the time of impact. The owner still believes the car accelerated by itself, the complaint stated.

Anyone can petition NHTSA to investigate an auto safety problem, and the agency said Friday that it encourages people to report concerns.

In the other Tesla crashes that NHTSA is investigating, authorities are trying to determine whether the cars were operating on Autopilot, a system designed to keep a car in its lane and a safe distance from other vehicles. Autopilot also can change lanes on its own.

Separately, the National Transportation Safety Board will hold a hearing Feb. 25 on a fatal crash in Mountain View involving a Tesla that was operating on Autopilot.

Tesla has said repeatedly that its Autopilot system is designed only to assist drivers, who must still pay attention and be ready to intervene at all times. The company contends that Teslas with Autopilot are safer than vehicles without it, but cautions that the system does not prevent all crashes.

NHTSA’s crash program has inspected 23 crashes involving vehicles that the agency believed were operating on some form of partially automated advanced driver assist system. Fourteen of these cases involved Tesla models. The team investigates more than 100 crashes per year.

Tom Krisher is an Associated Press writer.

U.S. agency examining Tesla unintended acceleration complaint

Breitbart News

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reportedly asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk how he should fix the social media platform, Musk reportedly told Dorsey that “bots and troll armies” were the issue to focus on.

Business Insider reports that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday via video call in front of thousands of Twitter employees. During the call, Dorsey asked Musk what he would do if he were running Twitter.

Musk replied that being able to determine who was a real user and who was fake was key: “Is this a real person, or is this a bot net, or a sort of troll army, or something like that?” Musk continued adding: “Basically, how do you tell if the feedback is real or someone trying to manipulate the system, or probably real, or probably trying to manipulate the system. What do people actually want? What are people actually upset about versus manipulation of the system by various interest groups?”

Musk is a prolific Twitter user who has caused multiple controversies for his companies and himself by tweeting. Musk was sued by British cave rescuer Vern Unsworth after he referred to the cave diver as a “pedo guy.” In August of 2018, Musk infamously tweeted that he had the “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 a share, this resulted in an SEC investigation that forced Musk to step down as chairman of the Tesla board for three years and pay a fine of $20 million. Tesla was also slapped with a $20 million fine over Musk’s tweet.

Dorsey has previously praised Musk’s use of Twitter, describing his account as “a really good model of how to use it well.”

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Asked Elon Musk How to Fix His Platform

All-inclusive vacations are billed as a completely stress-free getaway, with access to a variety of cool amenities (read: free meals, snacks, drinks, daytime and nighttime activities) for one flat price. Sure, sometimes that turns out to be a higher price point, but it also means that you don't have to keep reaching for your wallet. Also, if you get the right deal, it may actually end up saving you money.

Basically, the only hard part is choosing where to go. To help you out, TripAdvisor has named its winners of the best all-inclusive resorts from the past year. Locations range from a mountainside escape in Patagonia to a seaside stay next to the crystal clear waters of the Maldives. The winners are determined by the quantity and quality of traveler reviews over the course of the past year, in addition to booking interest for those spots. Additionally, TripAdvisor's Price Finder tool compares the cost of a number of these resorts against other popular booking companies so you can also ensure you're getting the best price possible on your next trip.

To help you plan your next (much-needed) vacation and give you a dose of warm weather escapism before the next winter storm hits, we're showcasing the 25 award-winning locations below, which vary in price from the real bargains (think around $200 a night) to over-the-top luxury. Start packing your bags!

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Situated on a private island (which is only accessible by boat), this luxurious all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic features incredible panoramic views of the water. Plus, guests can enjoy upscale rooms, whirlpool tubs, beach access, two outdoor pools and six resort restaurants.

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The Maldives have the reputation of being one of the most Instagrammable places in the world. At the Kurumba resort, you can enjoy the crystal clear waters in all their social media glory, with access to white sandy beaches and vibrant underwater coral reefs.

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With views of the nearby marina and of the Edom Mountains in the distance, the Isrotel Lagoona has nabbed a top spot, thanks to its family-friendly activities, delicious food and close proximity to sites such as Dolphin Reef.

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22. Tui Blue in Marmaris, Turkey

The Marmaris location of Tui Blue is a 5-star hotel on the Aegean Coast. But it's not just the scenery that has reviewers talking; the resort's staff, value for the money and overall level of service have been awarded top marks from vacationers.

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21. Sierra Sharm El Sheikh in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

If you want an all-inclusive that allows you to relax when you want to, while also being a great starting point for excursions outside the resort, consider the Sierra Sharm El Sheikh. The resort is near the Red Sea and Soho Square, where you can explore the local culture and history. And if you want to sit by the pool and have your every need attended to? Well, it's just as good for that, too.

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20. Sunrise Garden Beach Resort in Hurghada, Egypt

Another Egyptian retreat that tops TripAdvisor's list is the Sunrise Garden Beach Resort. Like the Sierra Sharm El Sheikh, it's close to the Red Sea. And chances are with its nearby attractions, on-site water park, private beach, luxe spa, tennis courts and access to horseback riding, you won't find a dull moment during your stay.

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19. Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru in Vabbinfaru, Maldives

The Maldives are so picturesque that this is just one of many resorts that have wowed travelers. At the Banyan Tree you'll find yourself surrounded by coral reefs, turquoise waters and indigenous flora and fauna. Sounds like heaven on Earth, if you ask us.

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18. Explora Patagonia in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Consider Explora Patagonia's hotel lodge the ultimate resting point for a day full of hiking and adventuring. The hotel was designed to put the Torres del Paine National Park front and center, and guests can soak in the incredible views from a number of vantage points, including their in-room tubs.

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17. Club Med Sanya in Sanya, China

Nestled on the southern tip of Hainan Island, this outpost of Club Med features all the amenities you'd expect from this popular chain of family-friendly resorts (like climbing walls, a flying trapeze, fitness classes, water sports and delicious food).

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16. Voyage Sorgun in Sorgun, Turkey

Just a stone's throw from the beach (about a four-minute walk), the Voyage Sorgun offers rooms with unbeatable views of the Mediterranean Sea. And if you don't want to stay in your suite the whole trip, you can find equally outstanding views from the poolside bar, sun loungers or on-site patisserie.

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15. Excellence Playa Mujeres in Playa Mujeres, Mexico

The Excellence Playa Mujeres boasts a perfect 5-star rating from over 17,000 past vacationers. This is probably thanks to its seven swimming pools, white sand beaches, Greg Norman signature golf course, two-story rooftop terrace, and suites with private plunge pools.

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14. Lily Beach Resort & Spa on Huvahendhoo Island, Maldives

For those who are looking for the quintessential Maldives experience, look no further than the Lily Beach Resort and Spa, where rooms float above crystal clear waters. And to help you get the most out of the water around you, the hotel provides snorkeling equipment, as well as access to more than 50 diving sites.

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13. Bellis Deluxe Hotel in Belek, Turkey

Over the past few years, Belek has become one of the biggest holiday resort areas on the Turkish Riviera. For those looking for a Mediterranean getaway, the Bellis Deluxe Hotel, which comes with fine dining restaurants, newly renovated rooms and 5-star service, fits the bill.

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12. Excellence Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Vacationers are raving about the culinary creations at Excellence Riviera Cancun. Its access to eight international restaurants and 10 bars make it an absolute must-stay for foodies looking to indulge for a day (or 10).

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11. Beloved Playa Mujeres in Playa Mujeres, Mexico

The Beloved Playa Mujeres in Mexico tops TripAdvisor's Traveler Awards for Best All-Inclusive for another year. And with its stylish, modern decor, spacious suites and beachfront community, we can see why.

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10. Voyage Bodrum in Bodrum City, Turkey

Once you set foot in the airy lobby of the Voyage Bodrum, you'll want to move your belongings in for good. This oasis sits on the Aegean, and rooms feature stunning ocean views, as well as modern finishings.

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9. VilaVip Hotel Fazenda in Serra Negra, Brazil

For a low-key countryside retreat, consider the VilaVip Hotel Fazenda. The spot is family-friendly, with local attractions including a water park, farm animals, fishing lake and kids' club all ready to be enjoyed.

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8. Rixos Sharm El Sheikh in Nabq Bay, Egypt

Want to enjoy views of the Red Sea every day? The Rixos Sharm El Sheikh sits on the Gulf of Aqaba, the northern tip of the Red Sea, and its rooms, balconies, pools and lobbies all have pretty unbeatable seascapes.

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7. Le Blanc Spa Resort Cancun in Cancun, Mexico

When we say all-inclusive, there's a high likelihood that Cancun comes to mind. And Le Blanc's Spa Resort does not disappoint. In fact, this adults-only resort is the No. 1-rated hotel in all of Cancun on TripAdvisor, offering exclusive experiences like dolphin swims and a tour of an ancient Mayan city, unlimited golf sessions, 24-hour room service and more.

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6. Grand Velas Los Cabos in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico

What Le Blanc is to Cancun, Grand Velas is to Los Cabos. This No. 1-rated hotel features oceanside luxury, complete with three infinity pools, lots of activities for kids and teens, and a variety of coastal excursions to choose from.

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5. Tamassa Resort in Bel Ombre, Mauritius

If water activities make a vacation for you, then Tamassa Resort in the island nation of Mauritius off the coast of Africa should be high on your travel bucket list. Guests can enjoy four pools, access to kayaks, sail or pedal boats, and snorkel and scuba lessons from 5-star instructors. If you prefer to be landbound, there's also bocce, beach volleyball and tennis.

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4. Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

When a spa receives Condé Nast's "Most Excellent Spa Hotel" award, you know it has to be good. That's not the only accolade the Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit has received; it's also been given a perfect 5-star rating from past travelers on TripAdvisor and nabs a top spot on the best all-inclusive list, as well as being named the No. 1 hotel in the Nuevo Vallarta area.

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3. Lux* Belle Mare in Belle Mare, Mauritius

Famed interior designer Kelly Hoppen helped craft the Lux* Belle Mare into the luxurious tropical escape it is today. Each sun-soaked room is complete with contemporary furnishings, airy interiors and oasis-inspired hues. Leaving your bed each morning will be a feat.

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2. Ikos Olivia in Gerakini, Greece

Ikos Olivia is as close to perfection as you can get in Greece. This 5-star resort is situated on a private beach that overlooks Toroneos Bay, and contains 142 bedrooms as well as 149 bungalow suites. Between your private balcony, private pool, swim-up bar, gardens and restaurants, there are more than enough spots to kick back and relax.

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1. Ikos Oceania in Nea Moudania, Greece

And TripAdvisor's top all-inclusive resort is — (drum roll, please) -— Ikos Oceania. After one look, we can see why. Between the vibrant Aegean next door and the abundance of olive groves and cypress trees, it's all you could want in a Grecian retreat. Plus, a stay at this elegant property also includes four à la carte restaurants, as well as a buffet-style one, six bars, and a menu that draws on the authentic local cuisine.

TripAdvisor reveals its top all-inclusive resorts for your 2020 vacation

(CNN) An avalanche at a California ski resort Friday morning killed one skier and seriously injured another, authorities said.

The avalanche occurred in the Alpine Meadows section of the Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows ski resort near Tahoe City, California, according to the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the resort.

A male skier was killed in the avalanche, which took place at 10:16 a.m. PT (1:16 p.m. ET), according to the resort. A second male skier sustained severe lower-body injuries and was taken to a local hospital, the sheriff's office said.

The Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol conducted a thorough search of the area that ended at 11:45 a.m. with no further victims reported, the resort said in a press release. The cause of the avalanche remains unknown, though further investigation is planned, the resort said.

The resort is still open, though one area near the "subway ski run" is currently closed, sheriff's deputies told CNN.

Read More

Avalanche at California ski resort leaves 1 dead, 1 seriously injured

New York Post

A wild avalanche struck a ski resort near Lake Tahoe in California Friday, killing at least one skier and injuring another person, according to a report.

Rescue teams were dispatched after the dramatic snow slide hit the Alpine Meadows ski area at around 10 a.m., according to a tweet from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Officials believe there are no other victims.

The incident occurred near a ski run dubbed “Subway,” and the resort remained open after the avalanche while areas around the ski run were shuttered, the sheriff’s office said, according to weather.com.

“Avalanche mitigation work had been performed in the area prior to opening to skiers and riders for the day,” Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows said in a statement. “The cause of the avalanche is unknown at this time pending additional investigation.”

The resort was pummeled by more than a foot of snow during the 24 hours before the avalanche, according to weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles.

Avalanche wipes out resort near Lake Tahoe, at least 1 skier dead

By Abdul Qadir Sediqi and Jibran Ahmad

The Taliban will implement a 10-day ceasefire with U.S. troops, a reduction in violence with Afghan forces and discussions with Afghan government officials if it reaches a deal with U.S. negotiators in talks in Doha, two sources have said.

If an agreement is sealed, it could revive hopes for a long-term solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.

Taliban and U.S. negotiators met on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the signing of a peace deal, according to a spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar. The talks were "useful" and would continue for a few days, the spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said on Twitter early on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump had called off the stop-start talks to end the 18-year war in September after an U.S. soldier was killed in an attack by the militant group.

They resumed but were interrupted again in December after the Taliban launched a suicide attack on a U.S. base outside Kabul killing two civilians.

Two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the Taliban's top leadership had now agreed to implement a 10-day ceasefire with U.S troops once a deal was signed in Doha, and to "reduce" attacks against the Afghan government.

A senior Taliban commander said: "The U.S. wanted us to announce a ceasefire during the peace talks which we had rejected. Our shura (council) has agreed to a ceasefire the day the peace accord is signed."

Once an agreement is in place, the Taliban and Afghan government could meet face to face in Germany, said the commander. Previously, the Taliban had refused to engage in talks with the Afghan government.

The U.S. team in Doha had demanded a ceasefire "which we had declined due to some issues," the Taliban commander said. "Now most of our reservations have been addressed." Another source close to the talks confirmed the commander's version of events.

A signing date has not been fixed, but the Taliban commander said he expected it to be "very soon."

Both sources asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman declined to comment and the Pentagon referred queries to the State Department.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was visiting top U.S. officials in Washington, said Islamabad had been facilitating the dialogue and had played its role in helping get the negotiations getting this far.

Qureshi noted that the Taliban ultimately sought the withdrawal of the roughly 13,000 American troops from Afghanistan in any agreement.

Qureshi stressed that Pakistan, which fears greater instability in neighboring Afghanistan, did not want a precipitous U.S. withdrawal.

"The Taliban want withdrawal of foreign forces. What we are saying is, yes, they should be withdrawn, but the withdrawal should be a responsible one," Qureshi said.

"Let's not forget that there are forces, there are elements in Afghanistan that can take advantage if there is anarchy ... if there is some kind of civil war."

An Afghan presidency spokesman said a ceasefire was the only way to achieve sustainable and dignified peace. "Any plan which proposes a ceasefire as a basic step will be acceptable for the government," Sediqi Sediqqi tweeted on Friday.

Violence in Afghanistan rose after the breakdown of talks in September.

The Taliban's readiness to reduce violence revives odds of the peace process moving forward before the militant group launches what is usually an annual spring offensive around early April.

© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020.

Taliban open to 10-day ceasefire with U.S., talks with Afghan govt -sources

Reuters

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Taliban will implement a 10-day ceasefire with U.S. troops, a reduction in violence with Afghan forces and discussions with Afghan government officials if it reaches a deal with U.S. negotiators in talks in Doha, two sources have said.

FILE PHOTO: File picture of members of a Taliban delegation leaving after peace talks with Afghan senior politicians in Moscow, Russia May 30, 2019. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

If an agreement is sealed, it could revive hopes for a long-term solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.

Taliban and U.S. negotiators met on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the signing of a peace deal, according to a spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar. The talks were “useful” and would continue for a few days, the spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said on Twitter early on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump had called off the stop-start talks to end the 18-year war in September after an U.S. soldier was killed in an attack by the militant group.

They resumed but were interrupted again in December after the Taliban launched a suicide attack on a U.S. base outside Kabul killing two civilians.

Two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the Taliban’s top leadership had now agreed to implement a 10-day ceasefire with U.S troops once a deal was signed in Doha, and to “reduce” attacks against the Afghan government.

A senior Taliban commander said: “The U.S. wanted us to announce a ceasefire during the peace talks which we had rejected. Our shura (council) has agreed to a ceasefire the day the peace accord is signed.”

Once an agreement is in place, the Taliban and Afghan government could meet face to face in Germany, said the commander. Previously, the Taliban had refused to engage in talks with the Afghan government.

The U.S. team in Doha had demanded a ceasefire “which we had declined due to some issues,” the Taliban commander said. “Now most of our reservations have been addressed.” Another source close to the talks confirmed the commander’s version of events.

A signing date has not been fixed, but the Taliban commander said he expected it to be “very soon.”

Both sources asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman declined to comment and the Pentagon referred queries to the State Department.

PAKISTAN WARNS ON WITHDRAWAL

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was visiting top U.S. officials in Washington, said Islamabad had been facilitating the dialogue and had played its role in helping get the negotiations getting this far.

Qureshi noted that the Taliban ultimately sought the withdrawal of the roughly 13,000 American troops from Afghanistan in any agreement.

Qureshi stressed that Pakistan, which fears greater instability in neighbouring Afghanistan, did not want a precipitous U.S. withdrawal.

“The Taliban want withdrawal of foreign forces. What we are saying is, yes, they should be withdrawn, but the withdrawal should be a responsible one,” Qureshi said.”Let’s not forget that there are forces, there are elements in Afghanistan that can take advantage if there is anarchy ... if there is some kind of civil war.”

An Afghan presidency spokesman said a ceasefire was the only way to achieve sustainable and dignified peace. “Any plan which proposes a ceasefire as a basic step will be acceptable for the government,” Sediqi Sediqqi tweeted on Friday.

Violence in Afghanistan rose after the breakdown of talks in September.

The Taliban’s readiness to reduce violence revives odds of the peace process moving forward before the militant group launches what is usually an annual spring offensive around early April.

BBC Online

Image copyright Getty Images

A clock counting down to the moment the UK leaves the EU on 31 January will be projected on to Downing Street as part of government plans to mark Brexit Day.

The clock will tick down to 23:00 GMT, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give a "special" address to the nation in the evening, the government said.

A special 50p coin will also enter circulation to mark the occasion.

Meanwhile, a campaign to find £500,000 to make Big Ben ring when the UK leaves the EU has raised more than £200,000.

Millionaire businessman Arron Banks and the Leave Means Leave group have donated £50,000 to the campaign.

Downing Street has said the prime minister will chair a cabinet meeting in the north of England during the day, to discuss spreading "prosperity and opportunity".

He will then make a special address to the nation in the evening.

Mr Johnson is expected to be one of the first people to receive one of the newly-minted 50p coins, which will bear the motto "peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations".

Buildings around Whitehall will be lit up to mark Brexit, with the government saying that, "in response to public calls, the Union Jack will be flown on all of the flag poles in Parliament Square".

The government says it will use the "significant moment in our history" to "heal divisions, re-unite communities and look forward to the country that we want to build over the next decade."

Image copyright EPA

However, it is not certain whether Big Ben - which is currently out of action due to renovation work going on at the Houses of Parliament - will chime to mark the moment the UK leaves the EU.

Earlier this week, Mr Johnson told BBC Breakfast he wanted the public to raise funds to ensure this can happen.

The House of Commons Commission estimates the cost will be up to £500,000, and it has raised concerns over using donations to fund the project.

It says this would involve bringing back the chiming mechanism and installing a temporary floor, resulting in delays to the conservation work.

But the campaign group Stand Up 4 Brexit set up an online appeal to raise the money, collecting more than £200,000 by Friday evening.

'Inflated the figure'

Conservative MP Mark Francois told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave campaign and Mr Banks had donated £50,000.

He queried whether the cost of getting the bell to ring again was really £500,000, adding that he believed officials had "deliberately inflated the figure" because "they don't want to do it".

It comes as Downing Street has said EU citizens will not automatically be deported if they fail to sign up to the settled status scheme by the 2021.

Under the settlement scheme, EU citizens living in the UK can apply to stay in the country after Brexit.

So far the number of applicants to the scheme has hit more than 2.7 million.

UK voters backed leaving the EU by a margin of 52% to 48% in the June 2016 referendum.

Countdown clock to illuminate Downing Street on Brexit Day

Daily Mirror

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Union flags will be flown from all the flag poles in Parliament Square on January 31 to mark Brexit day.

But a bid for Big Ben to bong at the moment Britain leaves the EU seemed doomed, despite raising more than £250,000 towards the cost.

But in a bid to ease Brexiteers’ disappointment, Boris Johnson announced plans for flags to be flown in Westminster, along with a light show on Downing Street.

A clock will be projected on the walls of Number 10, counting down to 11pm.

Earlier in the day, the PM will hold a cabinet meeting in the North of England, before returning to Downing Street to deliver a “special address.”

The Prime Minister’s deputy spokesman dodged questions on whether the PM had consulted Parliamentary authorities before urging the public to “bung a bob” for the bell to be rung.

An online whip-round has so far raised £229,000 in the hopes of paying for the enormous chime to be struck at 11pm on January 31.

More than 11,000 people - including Brexit bankroller Arron Banks and Tory MP Mark Francois - donated cash towards the estimated £500,000 cost.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

But organisers StandUp4Brexit warned they would need to secure the money by the weekend if there was any hope of ringing the bell on January 31.

“We are confident of doing so but, if for any reason we fall short of the £500,000 target, the fund will be donated to Help for Heroes,” the crowdfunding page reads.

The page also states a 2.9% payment processing charge plus a 25p fee applies to every transaction - meaning they would need to raise at least a further £17,500 on top of the £500,000 target.

The specially minted Brexit 50p will also come into circulation on January 31.

The Prime Minister is expected to be one of the first to receive the new coin on the day, which reads ‘Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations’.

(Image: PA)

In October, thousands of coins had to be melted down and shredded because they bore the previous Halloween deadline, which Mr Johnson failed to achieve.

A million of the coins were minted with the earlier departure date - but the Treasury refused to say how much it would cost to melt them down.

The Elizabeth Tower, which holds the Great Bell known as Big Ben, is being restored.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of the House of Commons Commission on Monday. But the cost was estimated at £500,000 - so the idea was ditched.

A temporary floor of the belfry would also need to be installed as "extensive work is currently taking place in this area." The total costs of this would be £120,000.

But it would in turn push back the works by two to four weeks, and with delays costing £100,000 a week, the total cost would come to between £320,000 and £500,000.

Boris Johnson reveals plans to mark Brexit day instead of Big Ben bong

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street residence will be lit up with a countdown to Britain’s exit from the European Union on Jan. 31, as part of a light display to mark the moment of Brexit, the government said on Friday.

Johnson had proposed a crowdfunding campaign to allow the Big Ben bell in parliament’s clock tower to sound even though it has been largely silent since 2017 while renovation work is carried out on the tower.

Members of the public have donated more than 200,000 pounds ($260,580) of the 500,000 pounds Johnson said it would cost for Big Ben to bong, but the government has now said parliamentary authorities do not believe they would be allowed to accept the money.

“January 31st is a significant moment in our history as the United Kingdom leaves the EU and regains its independence,” Johnson’s office said in a statement setting out its plans to mark Brexit - a moment which will be celebrated by some and mourned by others in a country still divided on the issue.

“The government intends to use this as a moment to heal divisions, re-unite communities and look forward to the country that we want to build over the next decade.”

On the evening of Jan. 31, Johnson will address the nation, his office said. Earlier in the day he will hold a special meeting of his top team of ministers in northern England.

The government said it plans to broadcast the light display in Downing Street on social media, including a clock counting down to 2300 GMT, the moment Brexit officially takes place. Other buildings around the government district of Whitehall will also be lit up.

The Union Jack be flown on all of the flag poles around Parliament Square, where Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has been given permission to hold a party with speeches and music.

A commemorative Brexit coin, inscribed with the words “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations”, will also be put into circulation on the day Britain leaves the EU, the government said.

No Big Ben bongs: UK government plans light show to mark moment of Brexit

José Mourinho has reignited his feud with Antonio Conte by accusing him of meddling in Christian Eriksen’s proposed transfer from Tottenham to Internazionale. Spurs are ready to sell Eriksen to the Serie A club, with the midfielder having indicated he will not renew a contract that expires in June.

But Mourinho is frustrated at the stories that say Inter are confident of signing Eriksen and he believes that Conte is behind them. He suggested his managerial rival, with whom he clashed on numerous occasions when he was in charge at Manchester United and the Italian was at Chelsea, had broken a managerial code that relates to speaking publicly about a player from another club and he also suspects that Conte has briefed about Eriksen in private.

Inter have offered €10m (£8.5m) for Eriksen and they are prepared to go higher, with sources in Italy claiming a deal has been agreed at €15m. Eriksen wants to sign a four-and-a-half-year contract, worth up to €18m a year. But Mourinho said Inter had not made an offer, perhaps meaning they had not made a serious one, and he added that Eriksen would be selected for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off at Watford.

Mourinho was asked who at Inter had been quoted on Eriksen. “I think Antonio, I think Antonio,” he replied. “I think it was publicly. He is very positive that Eriksen is coming to Inter.

“We shouldn’t speak about players from other clubs until they become our players. You ask me about Gedson [Fernandes, Spurs’ new signing from Benfica] since the moment Gedson’s name was on the screen and I told you nothing [until he signed]. You protect everybody. Is it a question of respect? I don’t want to give you a headline. That’s up to you.

“If Inter are confident, they are confident because they are ready to make us an offer, which didn’t happen yet. So when I see people speaking, especially people with responsibilities, I am a little bit surprised.”

Mourinho, in effect, wants Inter to put up the money for Eriksen or shut up, although Conte will be bemused by the attack on him, even if he did comment on the player this week. “Eriksen? We’ll have to go for people whose contract is coming to an end,” Conte said. “All this must be done with humility, remembering there is fair play to respect.”

The Inter sporting director, Piero Ausilio, has acknowledged Eriksen and another target, Olivier Giroud of Chelsea. “We have confidence in our work and not only for these two players,” he said.

Mourinho, who led Inter to Champions League glory in 2010, is frustrated with them and Conte because he believes that Eriksen has been unsettled. “This is not my Inter,” he added. “My Inter was Moratti Inter [when Massimo Moratti was the chairman]. I have no connection with the people [there now].”

Mourinho confirmed Fernandes would be in the squad at Watford and said he is still seeking a new centre-forward. “We miss that target man,” he said.

Mourinho reignites Conte feud over Internazionale’s pursuit of Eriksen

E’ morto a 71 anni Pietro Anastasi attaccante di Juventus, Inter e della nazionale tra la fine degli anni 60 e gli anni 70. A darne la notizia è stato il sito ufficiale della società bianconera: "Oggi è un giorno triste per tutta la Juventus, per il calcio italiano e per tutti coloro che lo hanno conosciuto. Pietro Anastasi ci ha lasciato"Nato a Catania nel 1948 si impose come centravanti veloce e acrobatico nonostante l'altezza non eccezionale. Ha segnato 105 gol in serie A di cui 78 con la Juventus dove vinse il titolo di capocanniere nel 1968 e poi tre scudetti nella prima metà degli anni 70.

Conteso da Juve e Inter dopo l'esplosione con i Varese fu acquistato dalla Juventus nel 1968, strappandolo all’Inter per 650 milioni, cifra notevole all’epoca. Resterà 8 stagioni, arricchite da tre scudetti, formando con con Bettega un grande coppia gol, ma si logorerà nella parte finale, tanto che la società nell’estate nel 1976 lo scambia con Roberto Boninsegna. Sull’asse Juve-Inter uno scambio senza precedenti che si rivelò più redditizio per proprio per i bianconeri. Anastasi a Milano vince la Coppa Italia del 1978, prima di chiudere la carriera tra Ascoli e Lugano.Campione europeo con l’Italia nel 1968, in azzurro ha collezionato 25 presenze e 8 reti in Nazionale, ma saltò i mondiali di Messico 70 per un infortunio durante la preparazione poche settimane prima della partenza. Dopo il ritiro, Anastasi è stato allenatore delle giovanili per un breve periodo e poi commentatore televisivo.

Addio ad Anastasi. Centravanti che fece grande la Juventus

Pep Guardiola: ‘We’re so far away, it’s not interesting to look at Liverpool’

Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City are so far behind Liverpool he will not watch the league leaders play Manchester United on Sunday.

The champions have a gap of 14 points to Jürgen Klopp’s team, who also have a match in hand, and the Manchester City manager said his focus is on Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace.

Will Klopp’s team become the GLOAT (Greatest Liverpool Of All Time)? | Jonathan Wilson Read more

“Being so far away means it’s not interesting to look at what Liverpool do. It would be nice to focus on Wilfried Zaha and Crystal Palace,” Guardiola said. Reminded that Liverpool face United the next day, he said: “Then Tuesday we have Sheffield United. It’s better to focus on what we can do for the rest of the season in the Premier League and other competitions.”

City have scored 12 more goals than Liverpool’s 50 but Guardiola denied being frustrated by there being such a wide gap between them.

“We are far away – we drop points, we concede and didn’t win games,” he said. “This game is about the results and I’m glad we score, continue to attack quite well but the reality is the reality, so no frustration.

“They’ve won 21 of 22 games and they’d be leading all the leagues around the world. The target was to catch Leicester [in second] and now it’s to maintain this. The team show this season that still we are going to [try and] do it.”

Since City won their first Premier League title in May 2012, they are the only team to win the competition and finish in the top four the following season. Manchester United, Chelsea (twice) and Leicester have all failed to qualify for the Champions League after winning the title.

“What happened to previous champions?” Guardiola said. “They gave up and didn’t qualify for the Champions League. [But] still we are there fighting, far away but this opponent is exceptional, we saw it in all the games.

“I’m so proud – now we are in this position we need to qualify as quickly as possible for the top four. The main target is to play well and prepare for the [cup] knockout games. All the players want to play, they all play well, and that’s the only way to maintain it.”

Aymeric Laporte is nearing full fitness following a long-term knee injury and is hopeful of returning for Sunday week’s FA Cup tie against Fulham.

Pep Guardiola: ‘We’re so far away, it’s not interesting to look at Liverpool’

Manchester City's win at Aston Villa put them second in the Premier League but they still trail Liverpool by 14 points

Pep Guardiola says he is "100% staying" as Manchester City manager next season.

After winning successive Premier League titles with record points totals, City look certain to finish second at best to runaway leaders Liverpool this term.

It has led to suggestions Guardiola will trigger a break clause in his contract, which runs to 2021.

However, speaking before Saturday's home game with Crystal Palace, Guardiola said: "Unless they sack me, I am staying, 100%."

City were third in the Premier League before winning 3-1 at Manchester United in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final and beating Aston Villa 6-1 to go back above Leicester.

"It's not because we have won the last two games," Guardiola added. "Even if it was going bad, I'm not going anywhere.

"No manager wins all the time. I enjoy working with these players. We've lost some games so it is simple, we need to work out what we can do better."

'If you're training at 72, it must be boring at home'

Guardiola celebrates his 49th birthday on Saturday, which means he will be 23 years younger than Roy Hodgson in the opposite dugout at Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola was only five when Hodgson began his managerial career at Swedish club Halmstad.

The Spaniard marvels at how the former England boss has retained his enthusiasm for the game, although Hodgson's wife, Sheila, may not be too pleased at Guardiola's assessment.

"I think when you are training at 72, it must be boring at home," he said.

"Our job is nice. You are working with young people, athletes, in competition. Every game is different. Maybe that's why Roy and the other older managers do it. I am not going to retire next week or next year but I don't think I will still be a manager at that age."

Meanwhile, City's French defender Aymeric Laporte is closing in on a comeback.

Laporte has been absent since August, when he suffered a knee injury against Brighton.

He has been training with the first-team squad for a couple of weeks and although Guardiola has ruled the 25-year-old out of the Palace game, it is understood he may be in contention for a return when City host Fulham in the FA Cup fourth round on 26 January.

Pep Guardiola: Manchester City boss '100% staying' with the Blues next season

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford waits to restart after Manchester City scored their third goal of the game during the English League Cup semifinal first leg soccer match between Manchester United and Manchester City and at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

soccer

By ROB HARRIS

A trip to Anfield is a journey into Manchester United's deepest anxieties.

Liverpool is the club setting the standards which United tries to emulate while dreading replicating Liverpool's three decades of anguish to reach this point.

When United plays the world and European champions on Sunday, the best United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can hope for is slowing a title charge so relentless it seems a done deal with almost half the season still to play.

“It can be an intimidating place,” Solskjaer said Friday.

Especially since Liverpool holds a 14-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League - a largely unfamiliar position for a team which last won the championship in 1990. That title extended England's title record to 18, cementing Liverpool's status at the time as a soccer force with a collapse simply unthinkable.

But as the Liverpool dynasty faded, United was resurgent.

Once the team's 26-year title drought ended in 1993, Alex Ferguson ruled the Premier League. The trophy was collected by Ferguson for a 13th time before heading into retirement in 2013 and leaving United as the 20-time English champions with Liverpool's mark overhauled.

But United has not come close to winning the title since then, with just one runners-up finish while Liverpool is a force again under Juergen Klopp.

With Solskjaer the fourth manager in the post-Ferguson era, United is 27 points behind Liverpool going into Sunday's game. For the firth-place team the prospect of a 21st English title seems remote.

The drought is seven years and counting, but still far from Liverpool's 30-year barren run.

“That's what we're working hard to make sure doesn't happen and let that be a lesson for us," Solskjaer said. "They've been close a few times and we can't let ourselves go another 26 years until we win the league and I'm sure we won't, because I believe in this club. I believe that we will rebuild now. We've started something that is going to take a little bit of time, but we'll get there.”

Even if there is a little sign of that yet for a side that has lost six of its 22 games and is so lacking leaders in the dressing room that it had to appoint a player who has been at the club five months — Harry Maguire — as captain on Friday as Ashley Young departs.

A plus for Solskjaer is that he is the only manager to take points off Klopp this season in the Premier League in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in October. But Liverpool is enjoying a 38-game unbeaten run stretching into last season when it was beaten to the title by one point by Man City.

Whereas Liverpool's recruitment under American owner John Henry has been canny, United's Glazer family have appeared wasteful in signing costly established players in a misguided attempt to collect superstars.

From the return of problematic playmaker Paul Pogba to locking sullen striker Alexis Sanchez into a costly contract, United has showed just how badly it lacks a clear figure leading recruitment. Ed Woodward has led the club as executive vice chairman for seven years and the former banker has faced dissenting fan chants.

Liverpool, though, has sporting director Mike Edwards playing a key role in establishing a strategy for building a team. Selling Philippe Coutinho two years ago to Barcelona for 160 million euros (then $192 million) provided the funds to reinvest in the squad — signing goalkeeper Alisson and center back Virgil van Dijk — and turn Liverpool into title contenders again while collecting a sixth European Cup.

Klopp is still surprised at United's lack of ambition in the October draw, seeing the team as too defensive.

“It's strange when you play against a high, high-quality team what United still is, and they play the way they play,” Klopp said Friday. "That makes life really difficult. ... I don't say they only counter-attack, but it's a main thing for them to do.

“If people want to see that as criticism, I cannot change that. But it's just a description of the situation and that, of course, makes life for us more difficult. If it's an open game then play football – here's space, there's space, stuff like this. But that's the way it is.”

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