Leading world cup run scorers

It’s always dangerous to get conclusive about a draft class before the picks are called, let alone before the players step on the court, but the preliminary consensus among scouts and experts is that 2022 is top heavy. Specifically, there are four players that sit as the cream. So for the Knicks, who enter the draft lottery at No. 11, the drawing of Ping Pong balls Tuesday night in Chicago is consequential. Potentially franchise altering. There is a decent enough chance for them to crack the top-4 (9.4%) to pay attention, and the reaction of the always demonstrative William Wesley, who is sitting for the Knicks on the dais , will be worth a view regardless of the outcome. And if the Knicks’ lottery luck changes and the franchise moves up in the lottery for the first time since 1985, here’s a breakdown of the four prospective rewards (we’re ignoring that the team could also use such a lucrative pick to trade for a star. Ahem, Donovan Mitchell): JABARI SMITH JR. AGE: … [Read more...] about The tantalizing possibilities of the Knicks’ best-case lottery scenario

After a full two years of idling rooms, dwindling guests, and shrinking services, hotels across Asia are turning on the fairy lights once again. Returning guests gratefully collapsing at the altar of this renewed five-star devotion would do well to examine the miracles of 2022 with a healthily jaundiced eye. As with the nouvelle cuisine trap, the art of the restart revolves around the promise rather than any proffered tangibles. That one buttered pea rolling around your expensive bone china plate in an orgy of solitary ecstasy and the boast of a brand marquee that excites smartphone shutters, is considered enough to silence any dissenting murmurs. But we do recall that 500-thread count linen in finest Egyptian cotton, the Bose surround sound, the Carrara marble that moans, “prego” every time you step on it with calloused feet, and the butler service (to turn on your taps): “I know naathing... I’m from Barthelona.” Well, perhaps we might do the flamenco as someone explains to me … [Read more...] about The disappearing hotel: Where has all the service – and the butter – gone?

Stunning dishes, a gruelling competition and witty John Torode and Gregg Wallace - MasterChef has all the ingredients for a recipe to success. While sitting on our sofas at home, it's easy to end up starving as people whip up delicious meals in what seems like seconds. But is the MasterChef experience all it seems? Former MasterChef semi-finalist Liz Cottam , who appeared in series 12, has shared how the show really works. She now runs three restaurants with a 67-strong team and predicted revenues of £3.2M for the year ahead. But in 2016, she bravely went on MasterChef - and has shared how the gruelling process works - with contestants filming their tasks at the crack of dawn. Liz said: "It was pretty awful, I put so much pressure on myself to win, that was the only thing I wanted. "I just wanted to cook things that I was super proud of and I enjoyed cooking and that was stuff that was fairly advanced for an amateur cook. Get the news you want straight to … [Read more...] about ‘I was on MasterChef – contestants have a secret FB group and there’s a strict suitcase rule’

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 1 million on Monday, a once-unimaginable figure that only hints at the multitudes of loved ones and friends staggered by grief and frustration. The confirmed number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 336 days. It is roughly equal to how many Americans died in the Civil War and World War II combined. It’s as if Boston and Pittsburgh were wiped out. It is hard to imagine a million people plucked from this earth, said Jennifer Nuzzo, who leads a new pandemic center at the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island. Its still happening and we are letting it happen. Some of those left behind say they cannot return to normal. They replay their loved ones' voicemail messages. Or watch old videos to see them dance. When other people say they are done with the virus, they bristle with anger or ache in silence. 'Normal.' I hate that word, said Julie Wallace, 55, of Elyria, Ohio, who lost her husband to … [Read more...] about United States Crosses Grim Milestone of 1 Million Covid-19 Deaths

To the cheers from the audience of students at Tsinghua University here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that India has decided to “extend electronic tourist visas to Chinese nationals.” The announcement was anticipated for some weeks, and The Hindu had reported last month on the Chinese government’s repeated requests to India to cut some of the security and visa regulations for Chinese businessmen and tourists. The Prime Minister said it was part of a concerted effort by his government to bring the “world’s two largest populations in closer contact.” “Thirty-three per cent of the world is either Indian or Chinese, and yet we know so little about each other,” he said. The e-visa facility would enable Chinese applicants to apply for visas online a few days before they travel. Accent on people-to-people Shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Friday of the extension of e-visa facility for Chinese nationals, Foreign Secretary S. … [Read more...] about India grants e-visas for Chinese nationals

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has turned to one of his most trusted and long-serving foreign policy advisors as his choice for secretary of State. Biden is expected to nominate Antony Blinken, 58, a veteran diplomat and former senior official at the State Department and National Security Council, perhaps on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the Biden transition planning. For the record: 7:33 a.m. Nov. 24, 2020 An earlier version of this article said Antony Blinken was the descendant of Holocaust survivors. His stepfather was a Holocaust survivor. Blinken is seen as someone who could easily win Senate confirmation even if Republicans still control the chamber in the next Congress. Given the depth of his experience, he could hit the ground running, current and former diplomats said. Blinken was a deputy national security advisor and deputy secretary of State in the Obama administration as well as national security advisor to Vice President Biden … [Read more...] about Biden’s longtime advisor Antony Blinken emerges as his pick for secretary of State

Corporate media juggernaut Bloomberg is finally waking up to the dangers of surveillance capitalism, the prevalent business model the Masters of the Universe, but practiced more aggressively and successfully by Google than any other player on today’s web. Writing in a Bloomberg article titled : “Google Is Sharing Our Data at a Startling Scale” which was also published by the Washington Post, Parmy Olsen the troubling deluge of advertising enabled by Google’s real-time bidding business practice exposes us to the ad market an astonishing 747 times each day. And that is only from Google — it doesn’t include advertising powerhouse Facebook or up and comer Amazon. Sabo mocks Google CEO Sundar Pichai (unsavoryagents.com) It is hard for humans to conceptualize such numbers, even if machines calculate them comfortably everyday — but if the exhaust of our personal data could be seen in the same way pollution can, we’d be surrounded by an almost impenetrable haze that gets … [Read more...] about About Time!: Bloomberg Wakes Up to the Dangers of Google’s Surveillance Capitalism