Watch Xiaomi launch its new flagship phone live at Mobile World Congress

Buzzy Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi is making its first major appearance at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. The company is set to unveil the Mi 5, its latest flagship smartphone, in what it calls a “Global Launch Event.” Could that naming, along with the event’s location, hint that Xiaomi might be looking to expand its borders further beyond Asia? It’d be a long shot, but you can tune into the live stream above to find out.

XIAOMI ANNOUNCES THE MI 5, ITS LATEST FLAGSHIP PHONE

Xiaomi rose to prominence a few years ago as one of the first companies to sell competent smartphones at extremely low prices, gathering a large user base with the intention of hooking people on a broader ecosystem. Hype around the company peaked in late 2014, when it was valued at a staggering $46 billion.

THE PRESSURE IS ON

Amid an overall slowdown in China, however, Xiaomi has recently missed sales targets in China and failed to prove the viability of its service-based business model, casting doubt over how much further the company can grow and how long its users will stick around. It faces significant logistical difficulties launching phones abroad, and telecoms giant Huawei in particular has proven a major threat at home, using scale to outmuscle Xiaomi at the high end and introducing its similarly nimble, inexpensive Honor brand at the low.

The pressure is on, then, for Xiaomi’s biggest event of 2016. The presentation itself begins at 3AM ET / 9AM CET, 55 minutes after the company starts broadcasting its live stream.


Watch Xiaomi launch its new flagship phone live at Mobile World Congress

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/xiaomi-mi-note-1847.0.0.jpg

Watch Xiaomi launch its new flagship phone live at Mobile World Congress

Buzzy Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi is making its first major appearance at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. The company is set to unveil the Mi 5, its latest flagship smartphone, in what it calls a “Global Launch Event.” Could that naming, along with the event’s location, hint that Xiaomi might be looking to expand its borders further beyond Asia? It’d be a long shot, but you can tune into the live stream above to find out.

XIAOMI ANNOUNCES THE MI 5, ITS LATEST FLAGSHIP PHONE

Xiaomi rose to prominence a few years ago as one of the first companies to sell competent smartphones at extremely low prices, gathering a large user base with the intention of hooking people on a broader ecosystem. Hype around the company peaked in late 2014, when it was valued at a staggering $46 billion.

THE PRESSURE IS ON

Amid an overall slowdown in China, however, Xiaomi has recently missed sales targets in China and failed to prove the viability of its service-based business model, casting doubt over how much further the company can grow and how long its users will stick around. It faces significant logistical difficulties launching phones abroad, and telecoms giant Huawei in particular has proven a major threat at home, using scale to outmuscle Xiaomi at the high end and introducing its similarly nimble, inexpensive Honor brand at the low.

The pressure is on, then, for Xiaomi’s biggest event of 2016. The presentation itself begins at 3AM ET / 9AM CET, 55 minutes after the company starts broadcasting its live stream.

‘ The Walking Dead ’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 10, ‘The New World’

There’s a new power couple in Alexandria.

“The New World,” this week’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” was so different tonally from its predecessor, “No Way Out,” you could be forgiven if you thought you were watching a completely different zombie show. While last week was a grim, dark, epic fight for survival, “The New World” is almost a post-apocalyptic version of “Leave It to Beaver.” Not that it was worse because of that. Just, different. Like, very different.

More In The Walking Dead

‘Walking Dead’ Star Danai Gurira Dissects Michonne and Rick’s Relationship

‘Walking Dead’ Star Chandler Riggs on This Week’s Brutal Episode and Carl’s Future

‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 9, ‘No Way Out’

Prep For ‘The Walking Dead’ Return With Zombie Valentines

‘The Walking Dead’ Trailer Teases Its February Midseason Premiere

“Carl, don’t bounce that ball in the house.”

“Doctor says its for PT.”

“Oh, yes, because you had your eye blown out during the zombie rampage by the son of the guy I killed whose wife and brother got eaten alive in front of him.” Just like Ward and the Beaver used to do it, right?

It’s a jolt, no doubt. The cold open portrays domestic bliss in the Alexandria Safe Zone. Rick is smiling. Smiling, a happy guy notching a new hole in his belt (what, is he losing more weight?) while a radio somewhere plays the old Boston classic “More Than a Feeling.” Michonne’s just out of the shower and asking for toothpaste. Carl’s playing with a ball. Judith is being a baby. This is, apparently, the new world, the one that Rick promised Carl. It seems like a dream, like Rick is going to wake up in the middle of a dark, wracked countryside surrounded by the undead, or something similarly desperate. But no. The scene never dissolves. It’s real.

Of course, that’s nothing compared to the surprise at the close, but let’s hold off on that for now. There’s only so much the system can absorb at one time.

Weeks have passed since the great Battle of Alexandria, and the town has regained a modicum of normalcy. This is, indeed, the new world, and it might be as stable as Alexandria has been since even before the Grimes clan arrived. The corpses of the undead have been cleared away, the fire put out, the streets cleaned. The wall has been repaired, and expanded (the Bible-Glock church is now inside the walls). It almost seems like an entirely different town in an entirely different show.

Related: Star Danai Gurira Dissects Michonne and Rick’s Relationship

Part of that is the time element. The first nine episodes this season covered a period of only a few days. During some stretches, in fact, the whole thing seemed to occurring in real time. It resulted in the kind of engrossing, intense story that pulled the viewer out of their seat. “The New World” is a complete departure, and whether or not this is just to lull the viewer into a false sense of security until the next ultra-violent baddie appears, it’s here now. The apocalypse is just another day at the office.

Curiously, this leap forward glosses over the reunion of Glenn and Maggie. After making that such a large part of the story, it’s odd to not see Glaggie reunited. We haven’t, in fact, seem them together at all. Is that part of the new world, too?

For Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon, a day at the office means taking a pretty well maintained Chrysler out into the deserted countryside for a supply run. They’re mainly looking for medical supplies and food. Eugene advises them to seek out the “criminally underrated grain” sorghum. Denise wants some pop for Tara, who talks about it in her sleep. They haven’t seen anybody in weeks; Daryl thinks maybe they won’t see anybody.

(The song Rick loves and Daryl hates is an old rockabilly tune, “Action Packed,” the Ronnie Dee Dawson version. “When I take a ride in my car, I let ‘er roll; hear me, I said I let ‘er roll.”)

Right there, in fact, would be a good time to tell Rick about Negan. Does Rick know about the incident in the road with the goons? In all the excitement, did Abraham, Sasha, and Daryl forget about that one? You’d think it’d be a notable detail, given this group’s history with psychotic killers, that some guy named Negan has his bikers staking out the roads outside Alexandria, robbing and shooting people. But the topic is not mentioned once.

Now, in fact, is not a bad time to take stock of what’s really out there, and we’re not talking about untouched sorghum supplies. First off, there is of course the half of that herd of walkers that wasn’t drawn off by the Wolves’ horn. Then, of course, there are the Wolves themselves. Did they all die? Didn’t a few get away? Are there others? Lastly, there is some guy named Negan, stationing his creepy but engaging little goons on the road like Medieval highway robbers.

Oh, and there’s some guy who calls himself Jesus.

Rick and Daryl find a sorghum farm, and a truck absolutely filled with supplies. It’s a good get. “The law of averages,” Rick says. They leave the car and take the truck. They stop at a gas station, and find a knocked-over vending machine. Now, Daryl’s got “pop” on his list from Denise, so they spend way too much time trying to flip the machine. Which is when Rick finds Jesus. Or rather, Jesus finds Rick.

As they’re standing over it, somebody runs right into Rick. He’s a pretty able-looking guy, who says his name is Paul Rovia, though his friends used to call him Jesus (everything I could find lists this character as Paul Monroe, his name in the comics; but the actor playing him, Tom Payne, clearly says something that sounds like Rovia). He’s a odd looking savior, that’s for sure, in his long black leather overcoat and knit hat. Must be the hair and the beard. He tells them he’s just running from walkers, and he seems pretty on the level. Rick even starts to ask the three questions before the guy takes off.

They hear a noise behind the building, and go investigate. Turns out to be just firecrackers in a barrel. Which means… “He swiped your keys, didn’t he?” Yes, he did. Jesus picked Rick’s pocket, and took the truck. Through the remainder of this episode, one thing will become clear: Jesus has myriad survivor skills.

They follow him, on foot, and manage to catch up to him (tire blew out on the truck). There’s a fight, and Jesus is a surprisingly capable combatant. They tie him up and take off (Jesus can change a flat tire, too). When they go off road onto a farm, they hear a rattling on the roof. Jesus somehow managed to get up there. Rick stops short, he goes tumbling off, and there’s a long chase and fight in the field. Jesus is knocked cold, the truck is sent tumbling to the bottom of the lake, and they commandeer another car to get back to Alexandria. Jesus is brought to the holding cell.

Austin Nichols as Spencer Monroe on ‘The Walking Dead.’ AMC

The “B” story involves Spencer Monroe, the last living member of his family, who for some mysterious reason has taken to wandering the woods, with a shovel, outside the wall. Michonne notices this, and follows him. Meanwhile, Carl and Enid are also taking long walks in the woods. They have a little hideout of sorts where they sit around, read comics, and eat candy (the comic Carl is reading, “Invincible,” is another of Robert Kirkman’s titles.) A walker stumbles upon them, and though we don’t see it, Carl clearly recognizes the roamer, and refused to kill it. This turns out to be Deanna Monroe, in what it quite possibly the oddest cameo of all time. Still, even under that zombie goo, it’s welcome to see Tovah Feldshuh one last time.

How she made from the bedroom to the woods isn’t exactly clear, but Spencer saw her, and wants to put her to rest. A noble endeavor, surely. But the whole story really is just a set-up for the scene that follows with Carl and Michonne. She’s chastising young master Grimes for not putting unDeanna down, for allowing a dangerous biter to keep walking. Emotionally, he explains that he couldn’t. That it should be done by family. “I’d do it for you,” he says to her.

It’s been clear for some time now that Michonne has become something of a mother to Carl, ever since he broke into that restaurant in their hometown to retrieve the family picture on the wall (season three’s excellent “Clear”). It’s been plainly obvious for a long time that she’s had a special connection with the Grimes family. Rick and Michonne (or should we just go ahead and start calling them Richonne, or is it Michick?) plop down on the couch at the end of the day, watching Judith on a baby monitor, and the tone of the conversation is every bit as mundane and domestic as anything the Cleavers ever exchanged, even if the subject matter isn’t. It’s endearing, and there is a high level of intimacy between them, even before Rick puts that pack of spearmint mints in her hands. We’ve been shipping for Richonne for a while. Fan service or not, it makes sense, these two.

This may seem like a new Michonne, but she’s been heading this way for a long time. The first time she appeared, she was something out of a dream, or nightmare, standing in the woods, under that hood with the katana and those armless walkers. Then there was that scene in the prison when Beth hands Michonne Judith, when you realize that Michonne had — and lost — her own child, that she’s not something out of a dream, but simply a mother who’s somehow survived this plague on humanity. It’s an incredibly powerful scene, and it perfectly illustrates what this show is at its best, a tale about completely ordinary people undergoing an unimaginable catastrophe. Now, in a way, she’s back where she was before all this started.

Rick and Michonne lie tangled in bed, naked, their weapons at their sides. “Rick, wake up,” somebody says. This isn’t a dream, either. The two warrior-lovers both jump out of bed. He grabs his Colt Python, she grabs her katana. Jesus stands at the foot of the bed; the holding cell was no match for him.

“We should talk,” he says.


‘ The Walking Dead ’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 10, ‘The New World’

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BN-MS156_twd022_G_20160221204207.jpg

‘ The Walking Dead ’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 10, ‘The New World’

There’s a new power couple in Alexandria.

“The New World,” this week’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” was so different tonally from its predecessor, “No Way Out,” you could be forgiven if you thought you were watching a completely different zombie show. While last week was a grim, dark, epic fight for survival, “The New World” is almost a post-apocalyptic version of “Leave It to Beaver.” Not that it was worse because of that. Just, different. Like, very different.

More In The Walking Dead

‘Walking Dead’ Star Danai Gurira Dissects Michonne and Rick’s Relationship

‘Walking Dead’ Star Chandler Riggs on This Week’s Brutal Episode and Carl’s Future

‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 9, ‘No Way Out’

Prep For ‘The Walking Dead’ Return With Zombie Valentines

‘The Walking Dead’ Trailer Teases Its February Midseason Premiere

“Carl, don’t bounce that ball in the house.”

“Doctor says its for PT.”

“Oh, yes, because you had your eye blown out during the zombie rampage by the son of the guy I killed whose wife and brother got eaten alive in front of him.” Just like Ward and the Beaver used to do it, right?

It’s a jolt, no doubt. The cold open portrays domestic bliss in the Alexandria Safe Zone. Rick is smiling. Smiling, a happy guy notching a new hole in his belt (what, is he losing more weight?) while a radio somewhere plays the old Boston classic “More Than a Feeling.” Michonne’s just out of the shower and asking for toothpaste. Carl’s playing with a ball. Judith is being a baby. This is, apparently, the new world, the one that Rick promised Carl. It seems like a dream, like Rick is going to wake up in the middle of a dark, wracked countryside surrounded by the undead, or something similarly desperate. But no. The scene never dissolves. It’s real.

Of course, that’s nothing compared to the surprise at the close, but let’s hold off on that for now. There’s only so much the system can absorb at one time.

Weeks have passed since the great Battle of Alexandria, and the town has regained a modicum of normalcy. This is, indeed, the new world, and it might be as stable as Alexandria has been since even before the Grimes clan arrived. The corpses of the undead have been cleared away, the fire put out, the streets cleaned. The wall has been repaired, and expanded (the Bible-Glock church is now inside the walls). It almost seems like an entirely different town in an entirely different show.

Related: Star Danai Gurira Dissects Michonne and Rick’s Relationship

Part of that is the time element. The first nine episodes this season covered a period of only a few days. During some stretches, in fact, the whole thing seemed to occurring in real time. It resulted in the kind of engrossing, intense story that pulled the viewer out of their seat. “The New World” is a complete departure, and whether or not this is just to lull the viewer into a false sense of security until the next ultra-violent baddie appears, it’s here now. The apocalypse is just another day at the office.

Curiously, this leap forward glosses over the reunion of Glenn and Maggie. After making that such a large part of the story, it’s odd to not see Glaggie reunited. We haven’t, in fact, seem them together at all. Is that part of the new world, too?

For Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon, a day at the office means taking a pretty well maintained Chrysler out into the deserted countryside for a supply run. They’re mainly looking for medical supplies and food. Eugene advises them to seek out the “criminally underrated grain” sorghum. Denise wants some pop for Tara, who talks about it in her sleep. They haven’t seen anybody in weeks; Daryl thinks maybe they won’t see anybody.

(The song Rick loves and Daryl hates is an old rockabilly tune, “Action Packed,” the Ronnie Dee Dawson version. “When I take a ride in my car, I let ‘er roll; hear me, I said I let ‘er roll.”)

Right there, in fact, would be a good time to tell Rick about Negan. Does Rick know about the incident in the road with the goons? In all the excitement, did Abraham, Sasha, and Daryl forget about that one? You’d think it’d be a notable detail, given this group’s history with psychotic killers, that some guy named Negan has his bikers staking out the roads outside Alexandria, robbing and shooting people. But the topic is not mentioned once.

Now, in fact, is not a bad time to take stock of what’s really out there, and we’re not talking about untouched sorghum supplies. First off, there is of course the half of that herd of walkers that wasn’t drawn off by the Wolves’ horn. Then, of course, there are the Wolves themselves. Did they all die? Didn’t a few get away? Are there others? Lastly, there is some guy named Negan, stationing his creepy but engaging little goons on the road like Medieval highway robbers.

Oh, and there’s some guy who calls himself Jesus.

Rick and Daryl find a sorghum farm, and a truck absolutely filled with supplies. It’s a good get. “The law of averages,” Rick says. They leave the car and take the truck. They stop at a gas station, and find a knocked-over vending machine. Now, Daryl’s got “pop” on his list from Denise, so they spend way too much time trying to flip the machine. Which is when Rick finds Jesus. Or rather, Jesus finds Rick.

As they’re standing over it, somebody runs right into Rick. He’s a pretty able-looking guy, who says his name is Paul Rovia, though his friends used to call him Jesus (everything I could find lists this character as Paul Monroe, his name in the comics; but the actor playing him, Tom Payne, clearly says something that sounds like Rovia). He’s a odd looking savior, that’s for sure, in his long black leather overcoat and knit hat. Must be the hair and the beard. He tells them he’s just running from walkers, and he seems pretty on the level. Rick even starts to ask the three questions before the guy takes off.

They hear a noise behind the building, and go investigate. Turns out to be just firecrackers in a barrel. Which means… “He swiped your keys, didn’t he?” Yes, he did. Jesus picked Rick’s pocket, and took the truck. Through the remainder of this episode, one thing will become clear: Jesus has myriad survivor skills.

They follow him, on foot, and manage to catch up to him (tire blew out on the truck). There’s a fight, and Jesus is a surprisingly capable combatant. They tie him up and take off (Jesus can change a flat tire, too). When they go off road onto a farm, they hear a rattling on the roof. Jesus somehow managed to get up there. Rick stops short, he goes tumbling off, and there’s a long chase and fight in the field. Jesus is knocked cold, the truck is sent tumbling to the bottom of the lake, and they commandeer another car to get back to Alexandria. Jesus is brought to the holding cell.

Austin Nichols as Spencer Monroe on ‘The Walking Dead.’ AMC

The “B” story involves Spencer Monroe, the last living member of his family, who for some mysterious reason has taken to wandering the woods, with a shovel, outside the wall. Michonne notices this, and follows him. Meanwhile, Carl and Enid are also taking long walks in the woods. They have a little hideout of sorts where they sit around, read comics, and eat candy (the comic Carl is reading, “Invincible,” is another of Robert Kirkman’s titles.) A walker stumbles upon them, and though we don’t see it, Carl clearly recognizes the roamer, and refused to kill it. This turns out to be Deanna Monroe, in what it quite possibly the oddest cameo of all time. Still, even under that zombie goo, it’s welcome to see Tovah Feldshuh one last time.

How she made from the bedroom to the woods isn’t exactly clear, but Spencer saw her, and wants to put her to rest. A noble endeavor, surely. But the whole story really is just a set-up for the scene that follows with Carl and Michonne. She’s chastising young master Grimes for not putting unDeanna down, for allowing a dangerous biter to keep walking. Emotionally, he explains that he couldn’t. That it should be done by family. “I’d do it for you,” he says to her.

It’s been clear for some time now that Michonne has become something of a mother to Carl, ever since he broke into that restaurant in their hometown to retrieve the family picture on the wall (season three’s excellent “Clear”). It’s been plainly obvious for a long time that she’s had a special connection with the Grimes family. Rick and Michonne (or should we just go ahead and start calling them Richonne, or is it Michick?) plop down on the couch at the end of the day, watching Judith on a baby monitor, and the tone of the conversation is every bit as mundane and domestic as anything the Cleavers ever exchanged, even if the subject matter isn’t. It’s endearing, and there is a high level of intimacy between them, even before Rick puts that pack of spearmint mints in her hands. We’ve been shipping for Richonne for a while. Fan service or not, it makes sense, these two.

This may seem like a new Michonne, but she’s been heading this way for a long time. The first time she appeared, she was something out of a dream, or nightmare, standing in the woods, under that hood with the katana and those armless walkers. Then there was that scene in the prison when Beth hands Michonne Judith, when you realize that Michonne had — and lost — her own child, that she’s not something out of a dream, but simply a mother who’s somehow survived this plague on humanity. It’s an incredibly powerful scene, and it perfectly illustrates what this show is at its best, a tale about completely ordinary people undergoing an unimaginable catastrophe. Now, in a way, she’s back where she was before all this started.

Rick and Michonne lie tangled in bed, naked, their weapons at their sides. “Rick, wake up,” somebody says. This isn’t a dream, either. The two warrior-lovers both jump out of bed. He grabs his Colt Python, she grabs her katana. Jesus stands at the foot of the bed; the holding cell was no match for him.

“We should talk,” he says.




Episode 10, News, Season 6, world news, ‘The New World’, ‘The Walking Dead’ Recap, ‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Season 6

An executive summary of what every fan should know about the 2016 ATP World Tour season

Strong Fields in Dubai, Acapulco & Sao Paulo – The busiest month of the season comes to a close this week with 500 level tournaments in Dubai and Acapulco and the final Latin American clay court stop in Sao Paulo. Five of the Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings are in action, with top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka and No. 8 Tomas Berdych competing in Dubai. No. 6 David Ferrer and No. 7 Kei Nishikori, last year’s finalists, lead the way in Acapulco. In Sao Paulo, Frenchman Benoit Paire is the top seed for the second time (’12 Los Angeles) in his career in an ATP World Tour tournament.

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dubai) –  The 24^th edition of the prestigious ATP World Tour 500 level tournament is highlighted by World No. 1 and four-time champ Novak Djokovic​, who is playing his first tournament since capturing a record-tying sixth Australian Open title last month. The other seeds are: No. 2 Stan Wawrinka, No. 3 Tomas Berdych, No. 4 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 5 Viktor Troicki, No. 6 Feliciano Lopez, No. 7 Martin Klizan and No. 8 Philipp Kohlschreiber. Since 2009, Djokovic or Federer have won the title. Federer, who withdrew due to a knee injury, owns the tournament record with seven titles.

Novak Eyes No. 700 – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic returns to the ATP World Tour for the first time since Jan. 31, when he defeated Andy Murray to claim a record-tying sixth Australian Open crown. The Serb, who is playing in Dubai for the 10^th year in a row (34-5 record), is bidding to become the 12th player in the Open Era to win 700 career singles matches. He won Dubai titles in 2009-11 and 2013. He enters Dubai with 698 career wins at the ATP World Tour level. He is also trying to become the third active player to accomplish the feat, joining Roger Federer (1,067) and Rafael Nadal (775). Coach Boris Becker is also a member of the 700 wins club (713).

17 & Counting – Djokovic enters Dubai having reached 17 consecutive finals going back to last year’s Australian Open. During the streak, Djokovic has won 13 of 17 finals, including the last seven going back to the US Open in September. Djokovic has tied Federer’s mark of 17 finals in a row (2005-06) and is one final away from tying Ivan Lendl’s record of 18 straight in 1981-82.

400 Wins Milestone – While Djokovic is closing in on 700 career wins, Feliciano Lopez is one win away from 400 in his career. The 34-year-old Spaniard takes on countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round.

Stan is Back – No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka returns to Dubai for the first time since 2008 (1R, l. to Hernych). He made his debut 10 years ago, losing to Federer in the first round.

Berdych Makes 10^th Appearance – No. 3 seed Tomas Berdych ​is making his 10^th appearance in Dubai. The two-time finalist (2013-14), who has reached the semi-finals or better in four of the last five years, owns a 20-9 career record in Dubai.

Kyrgios Debut – Nick Kyrgios makes his Dubai debut against No. 7 Martin Klizan in the first round. The 20-year-old Aussie comes in after winning in Marseille (vs. Cilic) after posting back-to-back Top 10 wins over No. 10 Richard Gasquet (QF) and No. 8 Tomas Berdych (SF). He is the first first-time winner and youngest title winner on the ATP World Tour this season.



ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL (Acapulco) – One of the favourite destinations on the ATP World Tour is the Acapulco Princess Mundo Imperial, site of the ATP World Tour 500 level Abierto Mexicano Telcel. The tournament made the switch from red clay to blue hard courts in 2014 and this year’s field features attracted five Top 20 players, led by World No. 6 and reigning champion David Ferrer. The others include: No. 7 Kei Nishikori, No. 12 Marin Cilic, No. 19 Dominic Thiem and No. 20 Bernard Tomic. Rounding out the seeds are: Ivo Karlovic, Jeremy Chardy and Steve Johnson. Ferrer is eyeing a fifth Acapulco title after earning a three-peat from 2010-’12. The other former winner in the field is Grigor Dimitrov (2014).

Reigning Champ – Ferrer is making his 10^th tournament appearance (29-5) and he is a four-time champion (2010-11-12, ’15). The 33-year-old Spaniard has won three or more titles at four tournaments in his career, including Acapulco three straight years from 2010-12.

Kei On A Roll – No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori comes into Acapulco after winning his fourth straight title in Memphis last Sunday (d. Fritz). The 26-year-old Japanese star is making his third appearance in Acapulco, having reached the second round in his 2012 debut and final last year (l. to Ferrer). Nishikori has a 9-2 match record on the season and last month he reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane (l. to Tomic) and at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic).

Finalists Coming to Acapulco – Three players who reached ATP World Tour finals on Sunday are coming to Acapulco. Delray Beach finalists Sam Querrey and Rajeev Ram, both playing in their first final of the season, along with Marseille finalist Marin Cilic, are making the trip to Acapulco.

Ivo Eyes 300 – No. 6 seed Ivo Karlovic, who is the oldest player in the singles draw at 36 (turns 37 next Sunday), is one win away from 300 in his career. Karlovic has reached the quarter-finals here the last two years. The big-serving Croat has been slowed by a right knee injury and he’s looking for his first match win (0-3) of the season.

Late Bloomer – The oldest winner on the ATP World Tour this season is 35-year-old Victor Estrella Burgos, who repeated his title in Quito (d. Bellucci) two weeks ago. The Dominican Republic native is making his second appearance in Acapulco after a first-round exit last season.

Thiem Makes Debut – No. 4 seed Dominic Thiem, who captured his fourth career ATP World Tour title in Buenos Aires last Sunday (d. Almagro) and followed with a semi-final in Rio (l. to Pella), is making his debut in Acapulco. The 22-year-old Austrian has defeated the top two Spaniards, Rafael Nadal (Buenos Aires SF) and David Ferrer (Rio QF) the last two weeks.

BRASIL OPEN (Sao Paulo) – Sao Paulo is the site of one of two Brazilian tournaments on the ATP World Tour (Rio de Janeiro). There are six players in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings in the field, led by top-seeded French wild card Benoit Paire, who is coming off a semi-final showing in Marseille (l. to Cilic). The other seeds are No. 2 Thomaz Bellucci, No. 3 Pablo Cuevas, No. 4 Federico Delbonis, No. 5 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, No. 6 Paolo Lorenzi, No. 7 Nicolas Almagro and No. 8 Pablo Andujar. There are three former winners in the field: defending champion Cuevas, 2014 title holder Delbonis and three-time champ (2008, ’11-12) Almagro.

Cuevas Defending Champ – The reigning champion is Pablo Cuevas, who defeated Italian qualifier Luca Vanni in a third set tie-break in last year’s final. He also was runner-up in Istanbul (l. to Federer).

Paire Top Seed – Wild card Benoit Paire returns to Sao Paulo for the first time since 2012 when he lost to David Nalbandian in the first round. This is the second time in Paire’s career he is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament. In 2012 in Los Angles, he lost in the second round (after bye, l. to Russell). He is coming off his second semi-final of the season in Marseille (d. No. 4 Wawrinka, l. to Cilic).

Spanish Success – Two years ago, Delbonis became the first Argentine tournament winner since Guillermo Canas won in Costa do Sauipe in 2007. Last year Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas won the title. Prior to 2014, Spaniards had won six straight titles in Sao Paulo from 2008-13, with Almagro winning three times

Almagro On the Rise – No. 7 seed Nicolas Almagro, who is a three-time Sao Paulo winner (2008, 2011-12), is nearing a return to the Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 30-year-old Spaniard was runner-up in Buenos Aires last week (l. to Thiem) and he lost to Nadal in the second round in Rio. He has jumped from 73 at the end of last year to 53. The last time he appeared in the Top 50 was Oct. 20, 2014 at No. 43.

Brazilian Title Hopes – There are three Brazilians in the main draw, led by No. 32  Thomaz Bellucci, No. 173 Guillerme Clezar and No. 338 Thiago Monteiro, who is coming off his first career ATP World Tour main draw match win Rio where he beat No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round (l. to Cuevas). Bellucci, who reached the final in 2009 (l. to Robredo), is making his ninth straight tournament appearance (13-8 record). Clezar is looking for his first career main draw match win (0-4) in Sao Paulo while Monteiro is making his tournament debut.

RANKINGS MOVERS (22 February, 2016)

Kei Nishikori 6 (+1 spot)

Tomas Berdych 7 (+1 spot)
Dominic Thiem 15 (+4 spots) – career high

Pablo Cuevas 27 (+18 spots)

Nick Kyrgios 33 (+8 spots)
Guido Pella 42 (+29 spots) – career high

Sam Querrey 43 (+18 spots)
Rajeev Ram 60 (+29 spots) – career high

Daniel Gimeno Traver 99 (+19 spots)

POTENTIAL MILESTONES

Dubai – Singles

Novak Djokovic – 698 wins

Feliciano Lopez – 399 wins

Sergiy Stakhovsky – 149 wins

Dubai – Doubles

Radek Stepanek – 299 wins

Ivan Dodig – 147 wins

Acapulco – Singles

Ivo Karlovic – 299 wins

Jeremy Chardy – 197 wins

Robin Haase – 149 wins

Acapulco – Doubles

Juan Sebastian Cabal – 148 wins

Rajeev Ram – 147 wins

Sao Paulo – Doubles

David Marrero – 197 wins

BIRTHDAYS

22 February – Andrey Kuznetsov (25)

24 February – Lleyton Hewitt (35)

27 February – Filip Krajinovic (24), Facundo Bagnis (26)

28 February – Ivo Karlovic (37)




Scouting Report: Djokovic Makes A Splash In Dubai

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/sunset-acapulco-2016.jpg

An executive summary of what every fan should know about the 2016 ATP World Tour season

Strong Fields in Dubai, Acapulco & Sao Paulo – The busiest month of the season comes to a close this week with 500 level tournaments in Dubai and Acapulco and the final Latin American clay court stop in Sao Paulo. Five of the Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings are in action, with top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka and No. 8 Tomas Berdych competing in Dubai. No. 6 David Ferrer and No. 7 Kei Nishikori, last year’s finalists, lead the way in Acapulco. In Sao Paulo, Frenchman Benoit Paire is the top seed for the second time (’12 Los Angeles) in his career in an ATP World Tour tournament.

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS (Dubai) –  The 24^th edition of the prestigious ATP World Tour 500 level tournament is highlighted by World No. 1 and four-time champ Novak Djokovic​, who is playing his first tournament since capturing a record-tying sixth Australian Open title last month. The other seeds are: No. 2 Stan Wawrinka, No. 3 Tomas Berdych, No. 4 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 5 Viktor Troicki, No. 6 Feliciano Lopez, No. 7 Martin Klizan and No. 8 Philipp Kohlschreiber. Since 2009, Djokovic or Federer have won the title. Federer, who withdrew due to a knee injury, owns the tournament record with seven titles.

Novak Eyes No. 700 – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic returns to the ATP World Tour for the first time since Jan. 31, when he defeated Andy Murray to claim a record-tying sixth Australian Open crown. The Serb, who is playing in Dubai for the 10^th year in a row (34-5 record), is bidding to become the 12th player in the Open Era to win 700 career singles matches. He won Dubai titles in 2009-11 and 2013. He enters Dubai with 698 career wins at the ATP World Tour level. He is also trying to become the third active player to accomplish the feat, joining Roger Federer (1,067) and Rafael Nadal (775). Coach Boris Becker is also a member of the 700 wins club (713).

17 & Counting – Djokovic enters Dubai having reached 17 consecutive finals going back to last year’s Australian Open. During the streak, Djokovic has won 13 of 17 finals, including the last seven going back to the US Open in September. Djokovic has tied Federer’s mark of 17 finals in a row (2005-06) and is one final away from tying Ivan Lendl’s record of 18 straight in 1981-82.

400 Wins Milestone – While Djokovic is closing in on 700 career wins, Feliciano Lopez is one win away from 400 in his career. The 34-year-old Spaniard takes on countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round.

Stan is Back – No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka returns to Dubai for the first time since 2008 (1R, l. to Hernych). He made his debut 10 years ago, losing to Federer in the first round.

Berdych Makes 10^th Appearance – No. 3 seed Tomas Berdych ​is making his 10^th appearance in Dubai. The two-time finalist (2013-14), who has reached the semi-finals or better in four of the last five years, owns a 20-9 career record in Dubai.

Kyrgios Debut – Nick Kyrgios makes his Dubai debut against No. 7 Martin Klizan in the first round. The 20-year-old Aussie comes in after winning in Marseille (vs. Cilic) after posting back-to-back Top 10 wins over No. 10 Richard Gasquet (QF) and No. 8 Tomas Berdych (SF). He is the first first-time winner and youngest title winner on the ATP World Tour this season.



ABIERTO MEXICANO TELCEL (Acapulco) – One of the favourite destinations on the ATP World Tour is the Acapulco Princess Mundo Imperial, site of the ATP World Tour 500 level Abierto Mexicano Telcel. The tournament made the switch from red clay to blue hard courts in 2014 and this year’s field features attracted five Top 20 players, led by World No. 6 and reigning champion David Ferrer. The others include: No. 7 Kei Nishikori, No. 12 Marin Cilic, No. 19 Dominic Thiem and No. 20 Bernard Tomic. Rounding out the seeds are: Ivo Karlovic, Jeremy Chardy and Steve Johnson. Ferrer is eyeing a fifth Acapulco title after earning a three-peat from 2010-’12. The other former winner in the field is Grigor Dimitrov (2014).

Reigning Champ – Ferrer is making his 10^th tournament appearance (29-5) and he is a four-time champion (2010-11-12, ’15). The 33-year-old Spaniard has won three or more titles at four tournaments in his career, including Acapulco three straight years from 2010-12.

Kei On A Roll – No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori comes into Acapulco after winning his fourth straight title in Memphis last Sunday (d. Fritz). The 26-year-old Japanese star is making his third appearance in Acapulco, having reached the second round in his 2012 debut and final last year (l. to Ferrer). Nishikori has a 9-2 match record on the season and last month he reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane (l. to Tomic) and at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic).

Finalists Coming to Acapulco – Three players who reached ATP World Tour finals on Sunday are coming to Acapulco. Delray Beach finalists Sam Querrey and Rajeev Ram, both playing in their first final of the season, along with Marseille finalist Marin Cilic, are making the trip to Acapulco.

Ivo Eyes 300 – No. 6 seed Ivo Karlovic, who is the oldest player in the singles draw at 36 (turns 37 next Sunday), is one win away from 300 in his career. Karlovic has reached the quarter-finals here the last two years. The big-serving Croat has been slowed by a right knee injury and he’s looking for his first match win (0-3) of the season.

Late Bloomer – The oldest winner on the ATP World Tour this season is 35-year-old Victor Estrella Burgos, who repeated his title in Quito (d. Bellucci) two weeks ago. The Dominican Republic native is making his second appearance in Acapulco after a first-round exit last season.

Thiem Makes Debut – No. 4 seed Dominic Thiem, who captured his fourth career ATP World Tour title in Buenos Aires last Sunday (d. Almagro) and followed with a semi-final in Rio (l. to Pella), is making his debut in Acapulco. The 22-year-old Austrian has defeated the top two Spaniards, Rafael Nadal (Buenos Aires SF) and David Ferrer (Rio QF) the last two weeks.

BRASIL OPEN (Sao Paulo) – Sao Paulo is the site of one of two Brazilian tournaments on the ATP World Tour (Rio de Janeiro). There are six players in the Top 50 Emirates ATP Rankings in the field, led by top-seeded French wild card Benoit Paire, who is coming off a semi-final showing in Marseille (l. to Cilic). The other seeds are No. 2 Thomaz Bellucci, No. 3 Pablo Cuevas, No. 4 Federico Delbonis, No. 5 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, No. 6 Paolo Lorenzi, No. 7 Nicolas Almagro and No. 8 Pablo Andujar. There are three former winners in the field: defending champion Cuevas, 2014 title holder Delbonis and three-time champ (2008, ’11-12) Almagro.

Cuevas Defending Champ – The reigning champion is Pablo Cuevas, who defeated Italian qualifier Luca Vanni in a third set tie-break in last year’s final. He also was runner-up in Istanbul (l. to Federer).

Paire Top Seed – Wild card Benoit Paire returns to Sao Paulo for the first time since 2012 when he lost to David Nalbandian in the first round. This is the second time in Paire’s career he is the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament. In 2012 in Los Angles, he lost in the second round (after bye, l. to Russell). He is coming off his second semi-final of the season in Marseille (d. No. 4 Wawrinka, l. to Cilic).

Spanish Success – Two years ago, Delbonis became the first Argentine tournament winner since Guillermo Canas won in Costa do Sauipe in 2007. Last year Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas won the title. Prior to 2014, Spaniards had won six straight titles in Sao Paulo from 2008-13, with Almagro winning three times

Almagro On the Rise – No. 7 seed Nicolas Almagro, who is a three-time Sao Paulo winner (2008, 2011-12), is nearing a return to the Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 30-year-old Spaniard was runner-up in Buenos Aires last week (l. to Thiem) and he lost to Nadal in the second round in Rio. He has jumped from 73 at the end of last year to 53. The last time he appeared in the Top 50 was Oct. 20, 2014 at No. 43.

Brazilian Title Hopes – There are three Brazilians in the main draw, led by No. 32  Thomaz Bellucci, No. 173 Guillerme Clezar and No. 338 Thiago Monteiro, who is coming off his first career ATP World Tour main draw match win Rio where he beat No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round (l. to Cuevas). Bellucci, who reached the final in 2009 (l. to Robredo), is making his ninth straight tournament appearance (13-8 record). Clezar is looking for his first career main draw match win (0-4) in Sao Paulo while Monteiro is making his tournament debut.

RANKINGS MOVERS (22 February, 2016)

Kei Nishikori 6 (+1 spot)

Tomas Berdych 7 (+1 spot)
Dominic Thiem 15 (+4 spots) – career high

Pablo Cuevas 27 (+18 spots)

Nick Kyrgios 33 (+8 spots)
Guido Pella 42 (+29 spots) – career high

Sam Querrey 43 (+18 spots)
Rajeev Ram 60 (+29 spots) – career high

Daniel Gimeno Traver 99 (+19 spots)

POTENTIAL MILESTONES

Dubai – Singles

Novak Djokovic – 698 wins

Feliciano Lopez – 399 wins

Sergiy Stakhovsky – 149 wins

Dubai – Doubles

Radek Stepanek – 299 wins

Ivan Dodig – 147 wins

Acapulco – Singles

Ivo Karlovic – 299 wins

Jeremy Chardy – 197 wins

Robin Haase – 149 wins

Acapulco – Doubles

Juan Sebastian Cabal – 148 wins

Rajeev Ram – 147 wins

Sao Paulo – Doubles

David Marrero – 197 wins

BIRTHDAYS

22 February – Andrey Kuznetsov (25)

24 February – Lleyton Hewitt (35)

27 February – Filip Krajinovic (24), Facundo Bagnis (26)

28 February – Ivo Karlovic (37)






A Splash In Dubai, Djokovic Makes, News, Scouting Report, Scouting Report: Djokovic Makes A Splash In Dubai, World, world news

Airstrikes hit two Syrian hospitals, with Turkey condemning ‘obvious war crime’

The prospect of even a temporary truce in Syria seemed as distant as ever on Monday, as violence continued unabated across much of the country with hospitals in two towns apparently being bombed by forces supporting Bashar al-Assad, days after Russia denied it was targeting civilians in its aerial campaign.

The attacks highlighted the fragility of a deal agreed last week in Munich for a “cessation of hostilities” and the impact on civilians of an unforgiving air war led by the Kremlin that has helped consolidate Assad’s position and exacerbated the misery of the five-year conflict, driving tens of thousands out of their homes towards the Turkish border.

The bombardment of a hospital is a too-frequent ‘accident’. It’s also a war crime

Bernard Kouchner

Read more

Assad, the Syrian president, made a televised address on Monday saying that any ceasefire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons.

The purpose of any agreement was to stop “terrorists from strengthening their positions” by gaining ground, he claimed. “Regarding a ceasefire, a halt to operations, if it happened, it doesn’t mean that each party will stop using weapons,” Assad said in Damascus.

“A ceasefire means in the first place halting the terrorists from strengthening their positions. Movement of weapons, equipment or terrorists, or fortification of positions, will not be allowed,” he said.

Meanwhile Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, backed a call from Turkey for a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, saying it would alleviate the situation of displaced Syrians.

The hospital airstrikes came a day after Barack Obama urged Moscow to halt its bombing campaign, illustrating the lack of leverage western powers have over peace negotiations aimed at ending a war that has killed nearly a third of a million people.

The White House on Monday condemned the bombing “in the strongest possible terms”. US state department spokesman John Kirby said the continuation of the aerial campaign “flies in the face of the unanimous calls by the ISSG (International Syria Support Group), including in Munich, to avoid attacks on civilians and casts doubt on Russia’s willingness and/or ability to help bring to a stop the continued brutality of the Assad regime against its own people”.

The violence risks drawing Turkey, a stalwart backer of the rebels, further into the conflict as it looks on with growing alarm at Kurdish expansion near its border, as Kurdish fighters take advantage of the rebels weakening and vacating territory under the Russian onslaught.

Turkey’s foreign ministry on Monday said the strikes amounted to Russia carrying out an “obvious war crime” and warned that bigger and more serious consequences would be inevitable if Russia did not immediately end such attacks.

The airstrikes on hospitals in two locations in northern Syria mark the latest in a series of attacks on medical facilities and workers, including 14 so far this year.

Médecins Sans Frontières said seven people were killed when a facility it supports in Maaret al-Numan, Idlib province, was hit four times in two separate raids. Mego Terzian, MSF’s France president, told Reuters he thought that either Russia or Syrian government forces were responsible. Both have been engaged in an unrelenting aerial bombardment in Idlib.

The hospital, which has 54 staff and 30 beds, is financed by the medical charity, which also supplies medicine and equipment.

“The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of about 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict,” said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF’s head of mission in Syria.

People gather around the rubble of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders near Maaret al-Numan, in Syria’s northern province of Idlib after the building was hit by suspected Russian air strikes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

People gather around the rubble of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders near Maaret al-Numan, in Syria’s northern province of Idlib after the building was hit by suspected Russian air strikes. Photograph: Ghaith Omran/AFP/Getty Images

In a separate incident, Syrian opposition activists said a missile struck a children’s hospital in the rebel-held town of Azaz, near the Turkish border, killing 10 people and wounding more than 30. The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said a Russian ballistic missile had hit the town.

The UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, said four facilities were hit, two in Azaz and two in Idlib. “We at Unicef are appalled by reports of attacks against four medical facilities in Syria – two of which were supported by Unicef,” the organisation said in a statement. “One is a child and maternal hospital where children were reportedly killed and scores evacuated.”

Who backs whom in the Syrian conflict

Read more

“Apart from compelling considerations of diplomacy and obligations under international humanitarian law, let us remember that these victims are children,” the statement added.

The Syrian National Coalition’s representative to the EU, Mouaffaq Nyrabia, said the hospital attacks demonstrated “Russia’s lack of commitment to ending this conflict” and called on the UN to investigate, alongside other attacks on medical facilities in Syria.

Moscow’s intense airstrike campaign has in recent months helped Assad score his most significant advances since the beginning of the war.

The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a blanket denial over the weekend that his country was targeting civilians and civilian facilities in Syria, but several attacks on health centres have been documented since Russia’s intervention. In the first month of the campaign launched last October, NGO Physicians for Human Rights documented seven Russian attacks on medical facilities in Syria.

Advertisement

“They are targeting hospitals specifically; this is systematic,” said Zaidoun al-Zoabi, the head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations, when asked about the Russian claim. “Who bombed the hospitals? For God’s sake, who bombed the hospitals today?”

Riad Hijab, the head of the opposition’s high negotiations committee and a former Syrian prime minister, on Sunday reiterated the opposition’s demand that airstrikes are halted and sieges around the country lifted, adding that Assad must leave for peace in Syria to take hold.

“Every day, hundreds of Syrians die from airstrikes and artillery bombardment, poison gas, cluster bombs, torture, starvation, cold and drowning,” said Hijab, speaking in Munich. “The Syrian people continue to live in terror and in utter despair after the international community failed to prevent even the gravest violations committed against them.

“The best approach to put an end to Daesh [Isis] and other extremist groups must start with the removal of the Assad regime.”

Russia resumed airstrikes on Monday in northern Latakia province near the Turkish border as well as Aleppo, bombing rebel positions to pave the way for a regime advance. Obama urged Russia on Sunday to halt airstrikes against mainstream rebels.

Meanwhile, Turkey shelled positions controlled by the YPG, a Syrian-Kurdish paramilitary force, for the third consecutive day on Monday near the rebel-held border town of Azaz. Davutoğlu said Ankara would not allow Azaz to fall to the Kurds and accused them of acting as a proxy for Assad and Moscow.

Advertisement

Turkey, which strongly backs anti-Assad rebels, is fighting an insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) on its own territory and has viewed with growing alarm what it sees as Kurdish expansionism in Syria. Ankara says the YPG is simply the Syrian affiliate of the PKK.

Turkey’s defence minister denied, however, that Turkey had sent troops into northern Syria and said it had no intention of doing so, as speculation grows of a possible ground intervention by opponents of the Assad regime.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said last week that they were ready to send small numbers of ground forces into the embattled country as part of the US-led coalition against Isis.

Merkel, the German chancellor, joined the calls from Turkey for a no-fly zone. “In the current situation it would be helpful, if there could be such an area, where none of the parties are allowed to launch aerial attacks,” she told the daily Stuttgarter Zeitung.

Merkel acknowledged it was impossible to negotiate with “terrorists from the Islamic State … but if it’s possible for the anti-Assad coalition and the Assad-supporters to come to an agreement, that would be helpful”.

Turkey, which is already hosting around 2.2 million Syrian refugees, has been calling for a secure zone within Syria where the displaced could find safe haven.


Airstrikes hit two Syrian hospitals, with Turkey condemning 'obvious war crime'

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/3207.jpg

Airstrikes hit two Syrian hospitals, with Turkey condemning ‘obvious war crime’

The prospect of even a temporary truce in Syria seemed as distant as ever on Monday, as violence continued unabated across much of the country with hospitals in two towns apparently being bombed by forces supporting Bashar al-Assad, days after Russia denied it was targeting civilians in its aerial campaign.

The attacks highlighted the fragility of a deal agreed last week in Munich for a “cessation of hostilities” and the impact on civilians of an unforgiving air war led by the Kremlin that has helped consolidate Assad’s position and exacerbated the misery of the five-year conflict, driving tens of thousands out of their homes towards the Turkish border.

The bombardment of a hospital is a too-frequent ‘accident’. It’s also a war crime

Bernard Kouchner

Read more

Assad, the Syrian president, made a televised address on Monday saying that any ceasefire did not mean each side had to stop using weapons.

The purpose of any agreement was to stop “terrorists from strengthening their positions” by gaining ground, he claimed. “Regarding a ceasefire, a halt to operations, if it happened, it doesn’t mean that each party will stop using weapons,” Assad said in Damascus.

“A ceasefire means in the first place halting the terrorists from strengthening their positions. Movement of weapons, equipment or terrorists, or fortification of positions, will not be allowed,” he said.

Meanwhile Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, backed a call from Turkey for a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, saying it would alleviate the situation of displaced Syrians.

The hospital airstrikes came a day after Barack Obama urged Moscow to halt its bombing campaign, illustrating the lack of leverage western powers have over peace negotiations aimed at ending a war that has killed nearly a third of a million people.

The White House on Monday condemned the bombing “in the strongest possible terms”. US state department spokesman John Kirby said the continuation of the aerial campaign “flies in the face of the unanimous calls by the ISSG (International Syria Support Group), including in Munich, to avoid attacks on civilians and casts doubt on Russia’s willingness and/or ability to help bring to a stop the continued brutality of the Assad regime against its own people”.

The violence risks drawing Turkey, a stalwart backer of the rebels, further into the conflict as it looks on with growing alarm at Kurdish expansion near its border, as Kurdish fighters take advantage of the rebels weakening and vacating territory under the Russian onslaught.

Turkey’s foreign ministry on Monday said the strikes amounted to Russia carrying out an “obvious war crime” and warned that bigger and more serious consequences would be inevitable if Russia did not immediately end such attacks.

The airstrikes on hospitals in two locations in northern Syria mark the latest in a series of attacks on medical facilities and workers, including 14 so far this year.

Médecins Sans Frontières said seven people were killed when a facility it supports in Maaret al-Numan, Idlib province, was hit four times in two separate raids. Mego Terzian, MSF’s France president, told Reuters he thought that either Russia or Syrian government forces were responsible. Both have been engaged in an unrelenting aerial bombardment in Idlib.

The hospital, which has 54 staff and 30 beds, is financed by the medical charity, which also supplies medicine and equipment.

“The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of about 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict,” said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF’s head of mission in Syria.

People gather around the rubble of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders near Maaret al-Numan, in Syria’s northern province of Idlib after the building was hit by suspected Russian air strikes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

People gather around the rubble of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders near Maaret al-Numan, in Syria’s northern province of Idlib after the building was hit by suspected Russian air strikes. Photograph: Ghaith Omran/AFP/Getty Images

In a separate incident, Syrian opposition activists said a missile struck a children’s hospital in the rebel-held town of Azaz, near the Turkish border, killing 10 people and wounding more than 30. The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said a Russian ballistic missile had hit the town.

The UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, said four facilities were hit, two in Azaz and two in Idlib. “We at Unicef are appalled by reports of attacks against four medical facilities in Syria – two of which were supported by Unicef,” the organisation said in a statement. “One is a child and maternal hospital where children were reportedly killed and scores evacuated.”

Who backs whom in the Syrian conflict

Read more

“Apart from compelling considerations of diplomacy and obligations under international humanitarian law, let us remember that these victims are children,” the statement added.

The Syrian National Coalition’s representative to the EU, Mouaffaq Nyrabia, said the hospital attacks demonstrated “Russia’s lack of commitment to ending this conflict” and called on the UN to investigate, alongside other attacks on medical facilities in Syria.

Moscow’s intense airstrike campaign has in recent months helped Assad score his most significant advances since the beginning of the war.

The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a blanket denial over the weekend that his country was targeting civilians and civilian facilities in Syria, but several attacks on health centres have been documented since Russia’s intervention. In the first month of the campaign launched last October, NGO Physicians for Human Rights documented seven Russian attacks on medical facilities in Syria.

Advertisement

“They are targeting hospitals specifically; this is systematic,” said Zaidoun al-Zoabi, the head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations, when asked about the Russian claim. “Who bombed the hospitals? For God’s sake, who bombed the hospitals today?”

Riad Hijab, the head of the opposition’s high negotiations committee and a former Syrian prime minister, on Sunday reiterated the opposition’s demand that airstrikes are halted and sieges around the country lifted, adding that Assad must leave for peace in Syria to take hold.

“Every day, hundreds of Syrians die from airstrikes and artillery bombardment, poison gas, cluster bombs, torture, starvation, cold and drowning,” said Hijab, speaking in Munich. “The Syrian people continue to live in terror and in utter despair after the international community failed to prevent even the gravest violations committed against them.

“The best approach to put an end to Daesh [Isis] and other extremist groups must start with the removal of the Assad regime.”

Russia resumed airstrikes on Monday in northern Latakia province near the Turkish border as well as Aleppo, bombing rebel positions to pave the way for a regime advance. Obama urged Russia on Sunday to halt airstrikes against mainstream rebels.

Meanwhile, Turkey shelled positions controlled by the YPG, a Syrian-Kurdish paramilitary force, for the third consecutive day on Monday near the rebel-held border town of Azaz. Davutoğlu said Ankara would not allow Azaz to fall to the Kurds and accused them of acting as a proxy for Assad and Moscow.

Advertisement

Turkey, which strongly backs anti-Assad rebels, is fighting an insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) on its own territory and has viewed with growing alarm what it sees as Kurdish expansionism in Syria. Ankara says the YPG is simply the Syrian affiliate of the PKK.

Turkey’s defence minister denied, however, that Turkey had sent troops into northern Syria and said it had no intention of doing so, as speculation grows of a possible ground intervention by opponents of the Assad regime.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said last week that they were ready to send small numbers of ground forces into the embattled country as part of the US-led coalition against Isis.

Merkel, the German chancellor, joined the calls from Turkey for a no-fly zone. “In the current situation it would be helpful, if there could be such an area, where none of the parties are allowed to launch aerial attacks,” she told the daily Stuttgarter Zeitung.

Merkel acknowledged it was impossible to negotiate with “terrorists from the Islamic State … but if it’s possible for the anti-Assad coalition and the Assad-supporters to come to an agreement, that would be helpful”.

Turkey, which is already hosting around 2.2 million Syrian refugees, has been calling for a secure zone within Syria where the displaced could find safe haven.




'obvious war crime', Airstrikes hit, Airstrikes hit two Syrian hospitals, condemning, hospitals, News, Syria Middle East and North Africa Médecins Sans Frontières Arab and Middle East unrest, two Syrian, with Turkey, with Turkey condemning 'obvious war crime', World, world news

Gravitational waves discovery would open up new world of science

Scientists across the world are giddy at the prospect that the final piece in the puzzle emerging from Einstein’s theory of general relativity will fall into place on Friday.

Every single prediction from Einstein’s 1915 theory has been proven by direct experimental evidence – except one: the existence of gravitational waves.

An illustration of gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes.

An illustration of gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. Photo: Henze/NASA/LIGO

We could be just hours away from their confirmation.

Advertisement

Their discovery could open up a new branch of astronomy and help us in the search for a grand unified theory of matter.

A joint press conference in Europe and the US at 2.30am AEST on Friday by scientists from the LIGO experiment in the US will issue “an update on these tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time”.

All of Albert Einstein’s predictions have been proven – except one.

All of Albert Einstein’s predictions have been proven – except one.

If it is direct confirmation of their existence, it’s kind of a big deal.

Every Star Trek or Doctor Who enthusiast will have heard of space-time – the very fabric of our universe.

Einstein’s theory upended Newton’s understanding of gravity by showing that matter and time were inextricably linked. Rather than gravity being an instantaneous attraction between objects across infinite space, Einstein showed that space-time was the four-dimensional structure of the universe whereby matter, energy and gravity were all mediated through space-time, with interactions limited to no faster than the speed of light.

Gravitational waves are an inevitable conclusion drawn from this theory.

Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time. Gravity is such a weak force that these ripples are so small as to be nearly impossible to detect.

It would take a massive event in the fabric of space-time for us to be able to detect them, an event such as the collision of black holes.

If a gravitational wave passed through your head, you wouldn’t notice it – but what it would do is to stretch your head ever so slightly one way while simultaneously squeezing it the other, then vice-versa.

Kind of like this gif on the Einstein Online website.

How slightly?

Well the experiment designed to directly measure these waves comprises two sets of four-kilometre long laser arms set perpendicular to each other in an L-shape. Scientists expect that the impact of a gravitational wave on this set-up will stretch the arms by a distance so small it is less than 10,000 times smaller the width of a proton.

LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It has very, very accurate measuring devices.

The LIGO interferometer in Livingston, Louisiana.

The LIGO interferometer in Livingston, Louisiana. Photo: LIGO

Some scientists are cautious. In 2014, a team of physicists running the BICEPs experiment announced that they had discovered gravitational waves resounding in the echo of the Big Bang. They hadn’t. The journal Nature famously scotched this in January 2015 with the headline “Gravitational waves discovery now officially dead”.

It looks a little more promising this time.

Geraint Lewis is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Sydney.

“The rumours have been building for a long time,” he said. “With good news emerging from LIGO after a recent upgrade in technology and with Friday’s press conference, everyone is expecting that they will announce they’ve detected something,” he said.

One Australian physicist involved with LIGO is Professor David McClelland at the Australian National University. He has refused to discuss any aspect of LIGO until after the announcement on Friday morning, suggesting it really will be a big deal.

And probably the world’s best-known particle physicist, Laurence Krauss, blabbed about it on Twitter in September.

Which he backed up further last month.

He has gone excitedly coy about it in the past few days.

In an email to The Huffington Post, Professor Krauss said the discovery of gravitational waves would be a huge milestone.

“It opens a new window on the universe,” he said. “Gravitational wave astronomy could be the astronomy of the 21st century. More than that, it may reveal important information on the nature of gravity, black holes and fundamental physics.

“Every time we have opened a new window in the past, we have been surprised,” he said. “I would be surprised if we weren’t surprised again.”

Whereas the failed BICEPs announcement claimed to have seen gravitational waves in the echo of the Big Bang, the rumour is that this time LIGO has witnessed the echo of a more recent event – the collision of black holes.

Because gravitational waves are so weak, it takes a cataclysmic event to produce waves that we have even half a chance of measuring.

Any asymmetrical gravitational event should produce these waves, such as the orbit of the moon around the Earth. But we would never detect them.

Two colliding black holes is something different altogether.

Either way it goes, Friday’s announcement will open up a new path to deepening our understanding of the universe.




Gravitational waves discovery would open up new world of science

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/gw-waves-single.gif

Gravitational waves discovery would open up new world of science

Scientists across the world are giddy at the prospect that the final piece in the puzzle emerging from Einstein’s theory of general relativity will fall into place on Friday.

Every single prediction from Einstein’s 1915 theory has been proven by direct experimental evidence – except one: the existence of gravitational waves.

An illustration of gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes.

An illustration of gravitational waves produced by two orbiting black holes. Photo: Henze/NASA/LIGO

We could be just hours away from their confirmation.

Advertisement

Their discovery could open up a new branch of astronomy and help us in the search for a grand unified theory of matter.

A joint press conference in Europe and the US at 2.30am AEST on Friday by scientists from the LIGO experiment in the US will issue “an update on these tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time”.

All of Albert Einstein’s predictions have been proven – except one.

All of Albert Einstein’s predictions have been proven – except one.

If it is direct confirmation of their existence, it’s kind of a big deal.

Every Star Trek or Doctor Who enthusiast will have heard of space-time – the very fabric of our universe.

Einstein’s theory upended Newton’s understanding of gravity by showing that matter and time were inextricably linked. Rather than gravity being an instantaneous attraction between objects across infinite space, Einstein showed that space-time was the four-dimensional structure of the universe whereby matter, energy and gravity were all mediated through space-time, with interactions limited to no faster than the speed of light.

Gravitational waves are an inevitable conclusion drawn from this theory.

Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time. Gravity is such a weak force that these ripples are so small as to be nearly impossible to detect.

It would take a massive event in the fabric of space-time for us to be able to detect them, an event such as the collision of black holes.

If a gravitational wave passed through your head, you wouldn’t notice it – but what it would do is to stretch your head ever so slightly one way while simultaneously squeezing it the other, then vice-versa.

Kind of like this gif on the Einstein Online website.

How slightly?

Well the experiment designed to directly measure these waves comprises two sets of four-kilometre long laser arms set perpendicular to each other in an L-shape. Scientists expect that the impact of a gravitational wave on this set-up will stretch the arms by a distance so small it is less than 10,000 times smaller the width of a proton.

LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It has very, very accurate measuring devices.

The LIGO interferometer in Livingston, Louisiana.

The LIGO interferometer in Livingston, Louisiana. Photo: LIGO

Some scientists are cautious. In 2014, a team of physicists running the BICEPs experiment announced that they had discovered gravitational waves resounding in the echo of the Big Bang. They hadn’t. The journal Nature famously scotched this in January 2015 with the headline “Gravitational waves discovery now officially dead”.

It looks a little more promising this time.

Geraint Lewis is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Sydney.

“The rumours have been building for a long time,” he said. “With good news emerging from LIGO after a recent upgrade in technology and with Friday’s press conference, everyone is expecting that they will announce they’ve detected something,” he said.

One Australian physicist involved with LIGO is Professor David McClelland at the Australian National University. He has refused to discuss any aspect of LIGO until after the announcement on Friday morning, suggesting it really will be a big deal.

And probably the world’s best-known particle physicist, Laurence Krauss, blabbed about it on Twitter in September.

Which he backed up further last month.

He has gone excitedly coy about it in the past few days.

In an email to The Huffington Post, Professor Krauss said the discovery of gravitational waves would be a huge milestone.

“It opens a new window on the universe,” he said. “Gravitational wave astronomy could be the astronomy of the 21st century. More than that, it may reveal important information on the nature of gravity, black holes and fundamental physics.

“Every time we have opened a new window in the past, we have been surprised,” he said. “I would be surprised if we weren’t surprised again.”

Whereas the failed BICEPs announcement claimed to have seen gravitational waves in the echo of the Big Bang, the rumour is that this time LIGO has witnessed the echo of a more recent event – the collision of black holes.

Because gravitational waves are so weak, it takes a cataclysmic event to produce waves that we have even half a chance of measuring.

Any asymmetrical gravitational event should produce these waves, such as the orbit of the moon around the Earth. But we would never detect them.

Two colliding black holes is something different altogether.

Either way it goes, Friday’s announcement will open up a new path to deepening our understanding of the universe.






discovery would open up new, Gravitational waves, Gravitational waves discovery would open up new world of science, News, World, world news, world of science

What will a world with 5G look like?

Your smartphone will have a faster connection, for sure. But that just scratches the surface of what 5G could be capable of.

Everyone in the wireless industry agrees that 5G is coming by the end of the decade. But what will it be used for? That’s still up in the air.

Nokia on Tuesday previewed a demonstration it plans to present at Mobile World Congress later this month, detailing its vision for 5G. Nokia’s 5G forecast includes some surprising capabilities: 5G will make cars safer to drive. It will make instant replay more instant. And doctors will be able to perform surgery using wirelessly controlled robots..

And, yes, 5G will be much faster.

Faster speeds

Nokia (NOK),

aiming to be one of the world’s biggest 5G players, claims that it has tested a 5G connection with download speeds of 30 gigabits per second. That’s more than 1,000 times faster than your average 4G connection.

In the real world, there’s very little chance of your phone actually getting speeds that fast. Trees, buildings, your distance from a cell tower and those pesky other customers who are also trying to use the network are going to slow down speeds dramatically from what Nokia was able to achieve in a lab.

Still, the wireless industry thinks 5G will be really fast: 10 to 100 times faster than 4G, according to Brian Daly, director of government standards at AT&T. Daly was speaking at a panel on 5G wireless technologies held by the CTIA wireless association in Washington on Tuesday.

Those faster speeds will also allow more customers to be connected at the same time, giving the network more capacity and making connections more reliable for mobile customers.

5G wireless table

Video multi-casting

Sports stadiums are equipped with giant screens for people in the nosebleed sections. But what if you could get the feed of the game or concert in real-time on your smartphone or tablet? You could even switch the camera angle and get truly instant replay. And the video would be in stunning 4K, about four-times the resolution of HD.

That will all be possible with a 5G network, Nokia believes.

Self-driving cars

Today’s self-driving test cars are powered by wireless networks. One problem that has emerged is the amount of latency, or lag, between the car’s sensor and the data center sending information to the car.

When self-drivng cars become a reality, they’ll have to identify an obstacle and immediately communicate that to the data center (and receive instructions from the cloud) with virtually no latency whatsoever. Otherwise, the car could crash.

One of 5G’s biggest promises is ultra-low latency, delivering uninterrupted communication flow to driverless cars. That could dramatically improve vehicle safety and reduce congestion.

Networked robots

Robotic surgical tools can be incredibly useful machines for doctors. But they need to react in real-time, just as the doctor issues a command. The same goes for robots that perform complex manufacturing commands, which need to communicate instantly with other robots on the assembly line.

5G’s low latency should help tremendously to allow networked robots to perform even more complicated tasks in the future, Nokia predicts.

Virtual reality

When you put on a virtual reality mask, you can “enter” a virtual world with other people. You can interact with them, play video games with them, and even virtually high-five them.

With 5G, Nokia believes virtual reality users “will be able to collaborate as if they are in the same physical location.” It could usher in a new era of video games and remote collaboration.

“5G will give birth to the next phase of human possibilities, bringing about the automation of everything,” said Marcus Weldon, chief technology officer at Nokia. “This automation, driven by a smart, invisible network, will create new businesses, give rise to new services and, ultimately, free up more time for people.”


What a world with 5G will look like

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/150518144020-5g-wireless-table-780x439.jpg

What will a world with 5G look like?

Your smartphone will have a faster connection, for sure. But that just scratches the surface of what 5G could be capable of.

Everyone in the wireless industry agrees that 5G is coming by the end of the decade. But what will it be used for? That’s still up in the air.

Nokia on Tuesday previewed a demonstration it plans to present at Mobile World Congress later this month, detailing its vision for 5G. Nokia’s 5G forecast includes some surprising capabilities: 5G will make cars safer to drive. It will make instant replay more instant. And doctors will be able to perform surgery using wirelessly controlled robots..

And, yes, 5G will be much faster.

Faster speeds

Nokia (NOK),

aiming to be one of the world’s biggest 5G players, claims that it has tested a 5G connection with download speeds of 30 gigabits per second. That’s more than 1,000 times faster than your average 4G connection.

In the real world, there’s very little chance of your phone actually getting speeds that fast. Trees, buildings, your distance from a cell tower and those pesky other customers who are also trying to use the network are going to slow down speeds dramatically from what Nokia was able to achieve in a lab.

Still, the wireless industry thinks 5G will be really fast: 10 to 100 times faster than 4G, according to Brian Daly, director of government standards at AT&T. Daly was speaking at a panel on 5G wireless technologies held by the CTIA wireless association in Washington on Tuesday.

Those faster speeds will also allow more customers to be connected at the same time, giving the network more capacity and making connections more reliable for mobile customers.

5G wireless table

Video multi-casting

Sports stadiums are equipped with giant screens for people in the nosebleed sections. But what if you could get the feed of the game or concert in real-time on your smartphone or tablet? You could even switch the camera angle and get truly instant replay. And the video would be in stunning 4K, about four-times the resolution of HD.

That will all be possible with a 5G network, Nokia believes.

Self-driving cars

Today’s self-driving test cars are powered by wireless networks. One problem that has emerged is the amount of latency, or lag, between the car’s sensor and the data center sending information to the car.

When self-drivng cars become a reality, they’ll have to identify an obstacle and immediately communicate that to the data center (and receive instructions from the cloud) with virtually no latency whatsoever. Otherwise, the car could crash.

One of 5G’s biggest promises is ultra-low latency, delivering uninterrupted communication flow to driverless cars. That could dramatically improve vehicle safety and reduce congestion.

Networked robots

Robotic surgical tools can be incredibly useful machines for doctors. But they need to react in real-time, just as the doctor issues a command. The same goes for robots that perform complex manufacturing commands, which need to communicate instantly with other robots on the assembly line.

5G’s low latency should help tremendously to allow networked robots to perform even more complicated tasks in the future, Nokia predicts.

Virtual reality

When you put on a virtual reality mask, you can “enter” a virtual world with other people. You can interact with them, play video games with them, and even virtually high-five them.

With 5G, Nokia believes virtual reality users “will be able to collaborate as if they are in the same physical location.” It could usher in a new era of video games and remote collaboration.

“5G will give birth to the next phase of human possibilities, bringing about the automation of everything,” said Marcus Weldon, chief technology officer at Nokia. “This automation, driven by a smart, invisible network, will create new businesses, give rise to new services and, ultimately, free up more time for people.”




5G, a, like, look, News, What, What a world, What a world with 5G will look like, will, will look like, with, with 5G, World, world news