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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Hashtag Open House – The New York Times

LOS ANGELES — The black-lit pillow fight room was perfect. “Anything with movement, it’s an instant boomerang!” said Ayla Woodruff. “That’s just a given.”

She quickly jumped into the milieu, picked up a few white feathers and asked her mother to start shooting. Half a dozen models in form-fitting pajamas theatrically swung pillows at each other, jumped on the bed and hammed it up as party guests snapped pictures with their phones.

Ms. Woodruff is a 25-year-old professional social media influencer. She gets paid as much as $22,000 for a post.

This was at a real estate open house on a recent evening in Los Angeles. There were a few stacks of fliers with the usual twilight photos and bullet-point highlights of the home on offer (a $15.895-million hillside contemporary-style mansion with an infinity pool and 360-degree views of Los Angeles).

With well-planned selfie backdrops at every turn, the house had been staged to catch fire on social media. There was a gold-painted room with a gold bathtub filled with plastic Bitcoins for a Scrooge McDuck-style submersion.

Downstairs sat a marijuana throne surrounded by pot plants sprouting from white shopping bags. Nearby was a lounge where visitors could smoke vaguely pineapple-flavored weed with sleek white vape pens — theirs to take home if they posted a photo from the event on social media with the evening’s recommended hashtag: #EnchantedWoodsLA.

Ms. Woodruff poses for photos in the “Bitcoin bathtub.”CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

Clint Kell in front of a drop down TV in the master bedroom. CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

We’ve grown accustomed to seeing all sorts of products promoted with sponsored Instagram posts or on Snapchat stories, but, so far, homes are rarely marketed this way. Some developers and real estate agents are trying to change that, experimenting with social media influencer partnerships, Instagram backdrops and Snapchat-friendly house tours to sell properties including blocks of apartments in big rental buildings and single-family luxury homes.

“The standard real estate open house is a yawner,” said Ernie Carswell, a Douglas Elliman agent with the listing for the Los Angeles house. “There’s only so much appetite for wine and cheese.” So some in the business are rethinking the scene, throwing out genre hallmarks like attractively arranged bottles of Pellegrino, crudité platters and rules about jumping on neatly made beds.

Others are taking it a step further, spending money to move influencers into the building. Tavi Gevinson, the 21-year-old actress and founder of Rookie, lives in 300 Ashland, a 379-unit luxury apartment tower across the street from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where studios start at $2,365 per month.

From time to time her Instagram feed includes images from the building. In one, she plays dominoes on the roof deck. In another, she shares a picture of her bulletin board. Both include the hashtag #300ashlandpartner.

The New York-based developer Two Trees hired Ms. Gevinson and other influential locals to move in, mention the buildings in social media posts and host a few live events. Ms. Gevinson hosted a clothing tag sale on the public plaza of her building to benefit Housing Works.

“We thought it would be a great way to give a voice to a building,” said Brian Upbin, the head of asset management for Two Trees. “There’s a lot of great product out there. Anyone can go to StreetEasy to see highly stylized photos or renderings.”

Guests enjoying their phones and the views by the pool at the open house at 1625 Woods Drive in Los Angeles.CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

Ms. Gevinson, who is entering her second year of a two-year partnership, said sharing her building’s address and glimpses into her home life with her Instagram followers didn’t feel as “Truman Show”-esque as it might sound.

“I already share a lot of my home and my surroundings. It didn’t feel like a stretch,” she said. “I’ve been making free content for half my life, so to be able to be literally supported by Two Trees and give people glimpses into how I’m able to do what I do has been really nice.”

Though she and Two Trees declined to disclose the specific financial terms of the arrangement, Ms. Gevinson said she pays rent and the developer pays her for the promotional partnership.

Alexander Ali, the publicist who planned the Los Angeles party for Mr. Carswell and the home’s developer, ANR Signature Collection, said the idea was to create an event that would feel like less like a staid broker’s open house and more like the Museum of Ice Cream, the popular Instagram-bait pop-up galleries in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami where guests can take pictures of each other jumping into a swimming-pool-size vat of rainbow-colored sprinkles.

Earlier that evening, Mr. Ali had scrapped a plan for a giant clamshell from which a model was going to emerge to serve champagne (“it just wasn’t on brand”), but otherwise everything was coming together as planned.

Alexander Ali, center, is the C.E.O. of the Society Group.CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

“The goal is to get 100,000 impressions with 100 visitors,” said Mr. Ali, who described the event as a series of “moments” for guests to photograph, post and hashtag. “Everything is about, ‘You have to take a picture with this!’” Invitations had been sent to real estate agents as well as assorted Instagram influencers, artists and minor celebrities (including the singer Dannii Minogue, Kylie Minogue’s lesser-known sister).

In the end, about 150 guests spent the evening meandering their way through the 6,700-square-foot house, collecting Jo Malone gift bags in the marble-clad master bathroom and snapping “drug kingpin moment” pictures of each other on the pot throne. (Were there potential buyers in the mix? No one seemed too concerned either way.)

“All the food is photogenic food,” Mr. Ali said as he pointed to the sushi rolls from Nobu in the kitchen and an elaborate display of macarons from Ladurée spread across the dining room table. The evening’s “crescendo moment,” as he described it, was a dance party with a colorful 20-foot-long LED dance floor on the roof deck.

Real estate agents have never been ones to shy away from trying something attention grabbing to stand out from the pack — think goofy bus stop bench ads or embarrassing-photo billboards. Social media influence is the next logical step.

Evan Asano, the founder of Mediakix, an influencer marketing agency, estimates that advertisers — ranging from small mobile gaming apps to American Express — will spend $1.6 billion this year on paid Instagram influencer posts, up from an estimated $1 billion in 2017. (Celebrities like Ariana Grande or a Kardashian/Jenner sister, who are top influencers, can make $500,000 to $1 million for a single post. Smaller so-called micro influencers often post about products in exchange for free stuff.)

But can you sell your house this way? That’s not yet been proven. The real estate industry has been somewhat slow to embrace technology, particularly social media. “Consumers don’t sell their houses often and don’t want to be a guinea pig,” said Glenn Kelman, the C.E.O. of Redfin, an online brokerage with more than 1,000 agents.

Bloom, one of several sponsors of the event, had a display of marijuana vape pens.CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

Guests sample the merchandise.CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

Some think an influencer’s wide reach may be a disadvantage. Widecasting about a house for sale “will be seen by a lot of people who can’t afford or don’t want to live in that neighborhood,” said Gil Eyal, the C.E.O. of Hypr, a company that does social media influencer analytics.

Lately, he has been getting more inquiries from developers asking how they can harness the various platforms to brand and sell real estate. “I still don’t know if it’s going to get an enormously positive return on investment,” he said.

Microcelebrities with small but highly localized followings — a popular neighborhood chef, for example — may be more effective at selling homes than influencers with wider followings.

Mr. Kelman said Redfin’s research has shown the best tactic is using data analysis to track potential buyer searches online. “What works is making sure everybody who is a serious buyer knows about the open house, and using much more targeted marketing techniques,” he said. (Other agencies and developers do this as well, using targeted Facebook or Instagram ads.)

Social media, however, could be a good way for real estate agents to stand out from one another in a competitive market and turn themselves into influencers. Andrew Jevin, a Santa Monica-based real estate agent who attended the #EnchantedWoodsLA party, uses Snapchat and Instagram stories to show off new listings and open houses to his 8,000 followers and said that it has helped him connect with new clients.

“I think social media has been untapped,” said Mr. Jevin, whose Snapchat handle is @thesnappingrealtor. “You’re going out cold-calling people and knocking on doors, why aren’t you on Instagram?”

Another real estate agent, Brittney Hinds, agreed. “Our clients are on Instagram showcasing their lifestyle so you have to meet them where they’re at,” she said. (Her posts from the evening included a shot of her sipping champagne in the pillow-fight room with the caption “the after party is at your house if you live at #EnchantedWoods LA … contact me for details.”)

The low barrier to entry for social media campaigns can help agents and developers build buzz basically for free. Justin Barth, a Los Angeles-based developer, hired five local artists to create a selfie-friendly mural that included an Instagram handle for a new building for Vica, a new 31-condo development in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, scheduled to be completed in 2019.

The building is next to the frequently Instagrammed Micheltorena Staircase. “It’s a subtle way to promote the project that’s not so in your face,” Mr. Barth said.

Jess Adams, a Moët model, was hired to serve Moët and interact with guests.CreditAdam Amengual for The New York Times

George Jordan and Agustin Rodriguez, of ANR Signature Collection, the sellers of the $15.895 million Los Angeles property, declined to say what they spent on the social media open house but said the cost was offset by several sponsors, including the weed purveyor (Bloom) and Vesta, the staging company that furnished the home.

The listing agent also paid a portion. “I wasn’t sure about the pillow fight at first, but it’s amazing,” said Mr. Rodriguez, standing near the home’s infinity pool as the party picked up momentum behind him. “It’s different, it’s young, it’s fun.”

Ms. Woodruff, the professional influencer who attended, said she has been making a full-time living off Instagram posts for about six months but that she hadn’t been paid to attend the open house. She was there with other influencers that the developer had invited and thought the intrigue of the evening would be worth it. Her parents, Diana and Brian Woodruff, happened to be in town so they tagged along, dutifully snapping and saving photos to her iPhone that she would later post in her Instagram stories.

Toward the end of the evening she made her way up to the roof deck dance floor but had lost track of her parents. They emerged from around a corner near the master suite. “We’re very impressed with the laundry room,” Diana Woodruff shouted to her daughter. “There are two washers! Two dryers!”

“Mom! Jeez, come on!” Ayla Woodruff said, corralling them upstairs to take more photos.

CANDACE JACKSON

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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EU lawmakers to investigate alleged misuse of Facebook users’ data

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU lawmakers will investigate whether the data of more than 50 million Facebook users has been misused, the head of European Parliament said on Monday.

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of the logo of the European Union in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 15, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Antonio Tajani urged the social media giant to take more responsibility, saying on Twitter that “allegations of misuse of Facebook user data is an unacceptable violation of our citizens’ privacy rights.”

Data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London’s Observer reported on Saturday.

Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, writing by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Alissa de Carbonel

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Tiger puts game back together bit-by-bit ahead of Masters

(Reuters) – Tiger Woods came up short in his bid for a comeback win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday but a promising performance for a second week in a row looks like sending him off to next month’s U.S. Masters with growing confidence.

Mar 18, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; Tiger Woods hits from the bunker on the 17th hole during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Woods achieved his second consecutive top five performance at Bay Hill on Sunday, a couple of late bogeys leaving him tied for fifth a week after he finished in second place at the Valspar Championship.

After a long absence from the game while he dealt with a series of back problems, Woods looks like he is finally putting his once brilliant game back together a week at a time.

“I’m starting to piece it together, tournament by tournament, and each tournament’s gotten a little crisper and a little bit better,” Woods told Gold Digest in Florida.

Mar 18, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; After taking relief, Tiger Woods hits his second shot to the green on the ninth hole during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

“If I can play with no pain, and I can feel like I can make golf swings, I’ll figure it out.��At Bay Hill, it was his magical putting touch that seemed to return – the 42-year-old draining a 71-foot bomb in the first round before adding a 38-footer in the third round.

More importantly, however, the 14-times major champion was consistently steady on his short range putts over a week that saw him make 20 birdies in total.

Mar 18, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; Tiger Woods reacts after he rolls in a putt for birdie on the tenth hole during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

“I felt like I really putted well the entire week (and) hit a lot of good putts,” Woods said after finishing with four rounds of par or better.

His putting stroke will be of most importance at Augusta National where the greens are slick and undulating. Woods has won four times at the famous course but not played at the Masters since 2015.

“I miss playing there,” Woods said. “I’ve had a lot of success there, too, so really looking forward to getting up there and doing a bit of work and getting a feel for the golf course and basically feel for playing that style of golf again.”

Reporting by Jahmal Corner. Editing by Nick Mulvenney

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‘I forget my PE kit deliberately’ – the boys who hate sport

“Sometimes people try to forget their PE kit deliberately. You get a detention but sometimes a detention is worth it for avoiding PE.”

Dan is 16 and he hates PE.

By contrast, Liam and James, both 12, were keen enough to be playing table tennis in shorts and T-shirts outside on one of the coldest days of the year..

“It’s quite a lot of tactics. It’s like tennis but on a little scale. So you think things through,” said James.

Boys Active?

These very different views sum up why some teachers believe PE is ripe for reform.

For Dan and fellow PE refusenik Olly, football is a particular torture.

They rarely get the ball and when they do they often mess up through nerves.

The pair say they liked PE when they were younger, before some of their classmates got ultra-competitive.

“It just wasn’t fun any more. It was just annoying. They wouldn’t really play, they just wanted to win.

“They hog the ball and I can’t really get involved. So I just hang around having a conversation,” says Olly.

Dan adds: “They are some of the most popular people in our year. They seem to be really aggressive and competitive.

“They leave out the people they think are useless and they underestimate people.”

Image caption Sometimes it’s just about finding a sport that you enjoy

Boys like Dan and Olly are a significant and worrying minority, according to Youth Sport Trust chief executive Ali Oliver.

“About 30% of boys don’t enjoy or look forward to physical activity,” she says, quoting a survey published by the charity last year.

Among boys aged 14-16, fewer than half (47%) consider PE skills relevant to their daily lives, and overall, only 16% of boys do the 60 minutes of exercise a day recommended by the government’s chief medical officer.

Ms Oliver says Youth Sport Trust is working on a boys’ programme to do the same job for less active boys that initiatives like Girls Active and This Girl Can already do for girls, instilling a love of being active and healthy, making it fun and relevant, helping them set goals, take ownership of their progress and motivate others.

She says the girls’ programme came first because their PE problems are greater: “We had to prioritise girls… but there is an issue with boys as well.”

“If we got them more healthily engaged in sport, we could help them in the classroom and with their health and wellbeing, which would be fantastic.”

‘Flipping’ PE

Clare Curling, head of PE at the school with the hardy table tennis players, began an overhaul of the subject two years ago.

PE, as a core subject, is on the timetable for all pupils up to and including the year they turn 16, and at her school, Bishop Ramsay in Hillingdon, west London, that means about 540 hours over five years.

Image caption PE can help children learn about integrity, co-operation and communication, says teacher Clare Curling

She says that in popular sports, like football, some boys become very skilled, leaving others, like Dan and Olly, with no chance of touching the ball.

“We started questioning why we were doing the activities we were doing, what was the purpose for it and what were the students going to gain from participating in it?

“What’s the point of standing on a field for an hour or two hours each week?”

So PE teaching at Bishop Ramsay has been “flipped”.

They still teach the basics, like catching and football, but lessons also focus on developing characteristics like communication, co-operation, integrity, respect and fair play – crucial to sport and essential in life.

“I think PE is one of those subjects which can really lend itself to developing resilience, developing the grit, the determination, the will to succeed and the coping when that goes wrong,” says Ms Curling.

“We’re not expecting to create the next greatest footballers – though that may happen for some of our students – but we want everybody to feel that they can perform at their best.”

A poll of pupils resulted in the introduction of new sports like boxercise and parkour, basketball courts and table-tennis tables being open during breaks and an array of all-ability clubs, with girls and boys regularly playing together.

Grouping by ability allows less sporty boys to be competitive at their own level.

And there’s a box of spare PE kit for pupils who forget theirs.

The aim is for pupils to feel both supported and challenged.

The change may have come too late for older boys like Dan and Olly but Ms Curling says it’s working lower down the school, with fewer pupils standing around during PE lessons and more taking the GCSE.

“It would feel really weird not doing PE,” says table-tennis player Andrew.

“It’s healthy to be challenged a little bit. It’s not over the top, where it becomes too much, but enough that you can grow and progress,” adds Malachi.

“Like any other subject,” says Ms Curling.

She believes there is plenty of potential for a “Boys Active” programme.

“A lot of the stuff you do in Girls Active is transferable to the boys anyway. It’s just looking at what it is to market things for boys.

“A lot of boys get turned off from PE because they don’t want to be picked last for teams. They don’t want to be put in a public display to fail.

“So if we can create a system that’s a bit more inclusive for the students and can involve them, then great.”

Some names have been changed.

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EU lawmakers to investigate alleged misuse of Facebook users’ data

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU lawmakers will investigate whether the data of more than 50 million Facebook users has been misused, the head of European Parliament said on Monday.

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of the logo of the European Union in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 15, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, writing by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Alissa de Carbonel

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Russian denials of British attack ‘increasingly absurd’: Johnson

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain’s foreign minister said on Monday that Russian denials of responsibility over a nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent in England were “increasingly absurd”.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talks to the media as he arrives at an European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Boris Johnson, who briefed fellow European Union ministers in Brussels on Monday, also won renewed support from the bloc, though diplomats cautioned there was no immediate prospect of fresh economic sanctions on Russia.

“The Russian denial is increasingly absurd,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived for the regular monthly meeting, which came a day after Vladimir Putin was re-elected for another six-year term as Russia’s president.

“This is a classic Russian strategy … They’re not fooling anybody anymore,” Johnson said.

“There is scarcely a country around the table here in Brussels that has not been affected in recent years by some kind of malign or disruptive Russian behavior.”

Russia denies any involvement in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, in what was the first known offensive use of nerve gas in Europe since World War Two.

Moscow on Saturday announced the expulsion of 23 British diplomats in tat response to Britain’s decision last week to expel the same number of Russian diplomats from London.

On Sunday, Johnson accused Russia of stockpiling the deadly Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok used to poison the Skripals, a charge Moscow denies. They were found unconscious on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4 and remain in a critical condition in hospital.

“RIDICULOUS” RUSSIAN CLAIM

On arrival at the Brussels meeting on Monday, Germany’s new foreign minister, Heiko Maas, expressed his support for Britain. Later, all 28 EU foreign ministers issued a joint statement on the attack, expressing “unqualified solidarity”.

“The European Union takes extremely seriously the UK government’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible,” the statement said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom rejected an allegation by the Russian Foreign Ministry that the nerve agent used in Salisbury might have come from Sweden.

“This is just ridiculous and totally unfounded,” Wallstrom said. “I think they are trying to divert the real issues here.”

While there is no prospect of further sanctions on Russia being agreed on Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May will have an opportunity to present her case for any such measures at an EU summit on Thursday, or call for others to expel diplomats.

“We need to put pressure on Russia to take part in a real enquiry about the attack,” Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told reporters.

Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Kevin Liffey

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News VietNamNet

Nguyen Tuan Anh on March 17 launched an outlet to sell baby products and maternity wear of the UK-based Mamas & Papas brand in Japan.

Nguyen Tuan Anh (Photo: Tomo/VNA)

Anh, an IT engineer and Director of the NAL Pal Company, has been chosen to be the official distributor of the brand in Japan.

Anh, born in 1983, said he will use both traditional and online marketing and sales strategies to promote the products in Japan.

Beside a new shop in Tokyo-based Odaiba mall, he will sell Mamas & Papas products at other shopping centres in Tokyo, such as Roppongi and Ginza.

The products will also be featured in Japanese magazines, namely Baby-mo, Bizmom, Hers, Crea, Baby life and Luxe, among others, according to Anh.-VNA

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Sunil Gavaskar Breaks Into Impromptu ‘Nagin Dance’, Bangladesh Fans Unimpressed

India beat Bangladesh on Sunday to clinch the Nidahas Trophy © Twitter

The Bangladesh cricket team’s ‘Nagin’ or serpent dance, which they performed after beating Sri Lanka in the last league game of the Nidahas Trophy, hogged all the limelight then. However, their dance came back to haunt them after India’s middle-order batsman Dinesh Karthik steered India to a four-wicket win victory over Bangladesh on Sunday with his 8-ball 29-runs. Former India cricketer and TV commentator Sunil Gavaskar broke into an impromptu dance in the 10th over of the Indian chase when Rohit Sharma was hammering the Bangladesh bowlers all over the park. Gavaskar’s dance appeared to be in good humour but Bangladesh fans on Twitter thought otherwise.

Karthik (29 of 8 balls) produced a last-ball six as India pulled off an incredible chase beating Bangladesh. Needing 5 runs off the last ball in the title decider, Karthik displayed nerves of steel and launched Soumya Sarkar towards extra-cover for a six to seal India’s win in a nerve-wracking summit clash. The right-hander smashed three sixes and two boundaries in his 29-run cameo.

After being put in to bat, Bangladesh scored a competitive 166 for eight, riding on Sabbir Rahman’s 50-ball 77.

Chasing 167, captain Rohit Sharma (56) once again led from the front with his classy knock but failed to finish off the proceedings. Middle-order batsman Manish Pandey (28) played sensible innings but was dismissed when needed the most. Then came Karthik who took India to victory.

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Russia election: Vladimir Putin wins by big margin

Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing an expected victory in Sunday’s presidential election.

After his victory was all but confirmed, Mr Putin addressed the crowds at a planned rally — Photo: REUTERS

With almost all the ballots counted, he had received more than 76% of the vote, the central election commission said.

The main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race.

Addressing a rally in Moscow after the early results were declared, Mr Putin said voters had “recognised the achievements of the last few years”.

Speaking to reporters, he laughed off a question about running again in another six years.

“What you are saying is a bit funny. Do you think that I will stay here until I’m 100 years old? No!” he said.

The scale of victory – which had been widely predicted – appears to be a marked increase in his share of the vote from 2012, when he won 64%.

Mr Putin’s nearest competitor, millionaire communist Pavel Grudinin, received about 12%.

The race also included Ksenia Sobchak, a former reality TV host, and veteran nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky – they got less than 2% and about 6% respectively.

A state exit poll put the turnout at over 60%. Mr Putin’s campaign had hoped for a large turnout, to give him the strongest possible mandate.

His campaign team said it was an “incredible victory”.

“The percentage that we have just seen speaks for itself. It’s a mandate which Putin needs for future decisions, and he has a lot of them to make,” a spokesman told Russia’s Interfax.

In some areas, free food and discounts in local shops were on offer near polling stations.

Video recordings from polling stations showed irregularities in a number of towns and cities across Russia. Several showed election officials stuffing boxes with ballot papers.

Mr Navalny was excluded from the election because of an embezzlement conviction that he said was manufactured by the Kremlin.

In his first reaction to the news, Mr Navalny indicated he had been unable to contain his anger.

“Now is the season of Lent. I took it upon myself never to get angry and not to raise my voice. Oh well, I’ll try again next year,” he tweeted.

During polling day, independent election monitoring group Golos reported hundreds of irregularities, including:

Voting papers found in some ballot boxes before polls opened Observers were barred from entering some polling stations Some people were bussed in amid suspicion of forced voting Webcams at polling stations were obstructed by balloons and other obstacles

Videos taken from the election commission’s live stream of polling stations also appeared to show some instances of officials stuffing ballots into boxes.

In Dagestan, one election official said he was prevented from doing his job by a crowd of men who blocked the ballot box.

But Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Electoral Commission, said no serious violations had been registered yet.

“We have analysed and monitored everything we could, everything that has arrived. Thank goodness, it’s all rather modest so far,” she told a commission meeting while speaking about violations.

She had earlier said that anyone involved in violations would be caught.

Sunday’s vote was also the first in Crimea since Russia seized the region from Ukraine. Mr Putin was scheduled to speak at a rally scheduled for the fourth anniversary of the annexation – the same day as the election.

The annexation was bitterly contested by Kiev and ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the West. Russians living in Ukraine were unable to take part in Sunday’s vote because access to Russian diplomatic missions was blocked by the Kiev government.

Source: BBC

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News VietNamNet

On March 7 the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision No.686/QD-BCT with safeguards against the import of diammonium phosphate and monoammonium phosphate fertilisers.

On March 7 the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision No.686/QD-BCT with safeguards against the import of diammonium phosphate and monoammonium phosphate fertilisers. — Photo baohaiquan.vn

The new policy will last two years, and after that, the ministry will consider their socio-economic impacts and decide whether to extend the safeguards.

Now the imported fertilisers in the list will be subject to taxes.

For one year from March 7 the safeguard duty will be VNĐ1,128,531 (US$50) per tonne, the amount equal to the difference between the actual selling price and the break-even price for the domestic industry, but equivalent to only 60 per cent of the tax rate Việt Nam is entitled to apply in accordance with WTO provisions and its own laws.

On March 7, 2019, the tax rate will drop to VNĐ1,072,104.

The ministry’s investigation and application of safeguard measures on imported diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertilisers were carried out in accordance with Ordinance No.42/2002 on safeguards against the import of foreign goods and the provisions of the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Safeguards.

Earlier some fertiliser producers had complained that imported products were causing negative impacts on the domestic industry.

One year ago China, one of Việt Nam’s biggest fertiliser suppliers, scrapped export duties on urea, DAP and triple superphosphate (TSP) and cut the export tax on NPK fertilisers from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.

These hit Vietnamese fertiliser producers, who were unable to compete on prices, and Chinese DAP grabbed an 80 per cent share of the market.

With the safeguard measures, the ministry expects to right the situation.

Some experts agreed with the decision, saying farmers should not be afraid of the possibility of an increase in fertiliser prices after the safeguard measures are implemented.

They said domestic NPK producers may not increase prices further since their current prices are already too high.

Many experts said that of course this expectation cannot happen and fertiliser producers are almost sure to increase their prices as costs go up with the import tariff.

Farmers will be the most affected by the tariff, especially the many who abuse fertiliser use to increase yields.

They said it is not fair and instead the Government should ensure fertilisers are sold at reasonable prices to farmers while also protecting fertiliser producers.

It should make changes to policies to support consumption of local fertilisers by putting up more technical barriers and cracking down on imports of fake goods and smuggling, they said.

Producers should focus on improving the quality of their products to match imports, including from China, thus encouraging farmers to use locally made fertilisers, they said.

They also suggested that the Government should subject fertilisers to value-added tax, albeit zero tax. They are now exempt from VAT. There is an important distinction: Any VAT, even zero per cent, allows a business to claim refund of VAT paid on all input materials.

Thus, if the Government scraps the VAT exemption on fertilisers and instead imposes a zero per cent tax, producers can claim refunds and reduce their costs.

Bad debt burden persists

Last year was a good one for Việt Nam’s banking sector with many lenders reporting big profits and lower bad debt ratios.

According to the National Financial Supervisory Committee, non-performing loans (NPLs or bad debts) in the banking system fell to 9.5 per cent from 11.9 per cent in 2016.

ACB is the lender with the lowest bad debt ratio of only 0.7 per cent. Its unrecoverable debts fell from 0.64 per cent in early 2017 to 0.4 per cent later that year.

In the same period, Sacombank’s bad debt ratio fell from 6.91 per cent to 4.16 per cent.

These are due to an improvement in the legal framework for restructuring credit institutions and dealing with bad debts, such as Resolution No 42/2017/QH14 issued by the National Assembly and the amendments to the Law on Credit Institutions.

The resolution, which allows banks and the Việt Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC) to appropriate collateral in the event of a borrower defaulting, allowing banks to be more active in managing bad debts.

Besides, banks have been proactive in provisioning for bad debts.

ACB for instance, spent VNĐ2.565 trillion ($113 million), a whopping 49.1 per cent of its profits, on provisioning.

Despite their great performance with regard to bad debts, banks have been warned by experts that their bad debt burden would continue this year.

They said lenders would have to earmark a considerable amount of money, equivalent to 20 per cent of the value of the special bonds they got by selling their bad debts to the VAMC.

A Sacombank representative revealed that the lender’s target is to reduce the bad debts ratio to 3 per cent this year by provisioning, meaning its pre-tax profit would be a modest VNĐ1.64 trillion ($72.5 million).

The State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) established the VAMC in 2013 with a mandate to take over the bad debts that plagued Vietnamese banks and manage their recovery.

The company takes NPLs off banks’ balance sheets in exchange for special bonds it issues.

VAMC bonds do not pay interest and banks have to effectively recognise losses related to the NPLs as they provide for the VAMC bonds over five or 10 years, meaning these assets add to lending costs and hurt profitability.

But they believe things would change this year with the banking sector’s bad debt settlement becoming more active and efficient.

That is because of the overall stability in terms of macroeconomic factors like growth, recovery by companies in various sectors and improvement in the stock and housing markets.

Besides the burden of clearing their bad debts, banks would also continue to face pressure to achieve Basel II standards this year, analysts said. VNS

The post News VietNamNet appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Empire Awards: Steven Spielberg says Time’s Up is a “watershed moment”

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Steve Spielberg was awarded Empire’s Legend Of Our Lifetime Award

Steven Spielberg said the Time’s Up movement is “more important than any of us can ever really realise”.

He was speaking at the Rakuten TV Empire Awards which were held in London on Sunday.

The Oscar-winning director, 71, was handed the Legend Of Our Lifetime Award.

He praised the campaign to fight sexual harassment and described it as a “watershed moment” for attitudes in the entertainment industry.

On collecting his award, the Indiana Jones director said: “It’s been a rich and diverse year for film and for gender and for race, and for speaking out.

“Thank you, Time’s Up. We were very much on board from the very beginning, my wife Kate and I.

“This is more important than any of us can ever really realise.”

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption The 71-year-old spoke as he accepted the Legend Of Our Lifetime gong

Actors Reese Witherspoon and Ashley Judd and producer Shonda Rhimes were among hundreds of prominent Hollywood women who launched the initiative in January.

It came in the wake of sexual abuse claims by high-profile actresses against film producer Harvey Weinstein. He’s denied the allegations.

Spielberg, who’s one of Hollywood’s best known directors, said he thought the movement was a turning point for inequality in the industry.

“I think in 10 years we’ll look back and realise what a watershed moment we are all experiencing together. 2017 to 2018, it’s extraordinary what’s happening right now.”

He said he hoped the initiative would mark the “end of the ways things were”.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Daisy Ridley won the award for best actress

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the big winner at the awards, which are voted for by film fans. It won the best film prize.

Daisy Ridley was named best actress for her performance in the latest instalment in the space saga.

Star Wars legend Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, was presented with the Empire Icon trophy.

Other winners included Hugh Jackman who won best actor for his role in Logan. His co-star Dafne Keen was voted best female newcomer.

Wonder Woman won the best sci-fi/fantasy gong while Get Out picked up the best horror prize.

Nicole Kidman won the best actress in a TV series for her performance in mini-series Big Little Lies and Jason Isaacs took home the male television actor gong for Star Trek: Discovery.

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Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra – if you miss us you can listen back here.

The post Empire Awards: Steven Spielberg says Time’s Up is a “watershed moment” appeared first on dailygate.

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Martin Allen named Barnet manager as Graham Westley is sacked

Martin Allen has also previously managed clubs including Brentford and Leicester City

League Two’s bottom club Barnet have sacked head coach Graham Westley and re-appointed Martin Allen as manager.

Westley, 50, was in charge for just over two months after arriving on 15 January, but won only two of his 11 games in charge.

Former West Ham United midfielder Allen, 52, arrives for a fifth spell as Bees boss, having first taken charge of the club in 2003.

Head of technical Mark McGhee, has also left Barnet, along with Westley.

Allen’s most recent managerial role was at non-league Eastleigh, but he was sacked in February 2017 after just 14 games.

He left Barnet for the role at Eastleigh, after the club allowed him permission to speak to the National League outfit.

Allen returns with Barnet seven points from safety, at the foot of League Two, with eight matches remaining this season.

Allen’s Barnet record March 2003-March 2004: 47 games, W 20, D 17, L10 April 2012-June 2012: 3 games, W2, D0, L1 March 2011-April 2011: 3 games, W2, D1, L0 March 2014-December 2016: 136 games, W57, D35, L43

Barnet were last relegated from the Football League in 2013, when former Netherlands international Edgar Davids was in charge, but Allen led them to promotion from the Conference two years later.

The post Martin Allen named Barnet manager as Graham Westley is sacked appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Summer Special: 6 Seasonal Fruits With Highest Water Content

Highlights

With the rising temperature it becomes very important to stay hydrated

There are certain fruits too that can look after your fluid requirements

Fruits provide essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fibre

The gloomy winter skies are a thing of past and it is now time to embrace the summer in all its glory. The fruit sellers have already started to lure their customers with season’s fresh produce, and honestly we cannot wait to grab our hands on the juicy and delicious fruits too. However, there is much more that these fruits do, than just satiating our cravings. The weather would begin to soar soon, and with the rising temperature it becomes very important to stay hydrated. While a bottle of water does its bit, but besides that there are certain fruits too that can look after your fluid requirements, due to their rich water quantity. They also provide essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fibre, in addition to keeping you cool.

Here are some fruits that have highest water content which you must load up on this summer.

1. Watermelon

Red fleshed and abundantly rich in nutrients, watermelon contains about 92 percent water per volume. It is a rich source of the plant pigment lycopene which plays a crucial role in lowering risk of heart diseases. The citrulline present in watermelon helps in production of amino acid arginine, which boosts immunity system.

(Aslo Read: Should You Have Fruits On An Empty Stomach? )

The citrulline present in watermelon helps in production of amino acid arginine, which boosts immunity system

2. Strawberries

Strawberries are a rich source of vitamin C, manganese, folate, potassium, B vitamins and vital flavonoids. They help keep the bad cholesterol at bay and are thus quite heart-friendly. The high content of fibre present in strawberries also facilitates smooth digestion.

Strawberries help keep the bad cholesterol at bay and are thus quite heart-friendly

3. Peaches

Peaches are packed with beta-carotene, lycopene and lutein, all of which are extremely good for our eyes and heart. Water content of peach is a whopping 88 percent. The refreshing fruit has anti-inflammatory properties. Peaches may also aid weight loss. Due to its high vitamin C content, peaches are considered to be one of the most skin-friendly foods too.

Due to its high vitamin C content, peaches are considered to be one of the most skin-friendly foods

4. Cantaloupe

According to the book ‘Healing Foods’, just a single serving of cantaloupe provides around half of your daily vitamin A and C requirement. About 90 percent of cantaloupe is water. Cantaloupe is also rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, which is good for eye health.

Cantaloupe is a rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, which is good for eye health

5. Pineapple

Packed with vitamin C, the juicy and delicious fruit is also a rich source of manganese and fibre. Pineapple also has many anti-inflammatory properties that can help soothe sore throat and abdominal pain.

Pineapple has many anti-inflammatory properties that can help soothe sore throat

6. Apricot

Apricots contain a whopping 86 percent water per volume. Low in calories and high in fibres, apricots may help improve digestion, promote clear skin and protect vision as well.

(Also Read:8 Amazing Apricot Benefits: The Nutritional Heavyweight Among Fruits )

Low in calories and high in fibres, apricots may help improve digestion

Have them alone, in salads or in smoothies and shakes. But make sure you have enough of them to keep yourself hydrated and cool this summer!

The post Summer Special: 6 Seasonal Fruits With Highest Water Content appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Cirque du Soleil performer Yann Arnaud falls to his death

A Cirque du Soleil performer has died after falling onto a stage at a weekend show in Florida.

Yann Arnaud, 38, had been performing in Cirque shows for 15 years and was one of the company’s most experienced entertainers, according to president and chief executive Daniel Lamarre.

Mr Arnaud, who was French and married with two young children, fell during an aerial straps routine during Saturday’s performance of the show VOLTA.

According to local media reports, Mr Arnaud appeared to lose his grip on a strap before he fell, bringing the show to a halt.

He died at a nearby hospital.

Speaking from Tampa, having travelled to be with the show’s cast, Mr Lamarre said: “We were very surprised, considering his experience, that something like that happened.

“I cannot describe to you how the people feel.

“It’s terrible.”

Julian Martinez, who witnessed the accident, told local TV station WFLA: “It was awful.

“You heard all the cries of the audience.

“There were children there and they were freaking out.”

Mr Lamarre said the routine was seen as relatively safe but Mr Arnaud’s death is the third involving a Cirque performer in the company’s 34 years.

In 2013, French acrobat Sarah Guillot-Guyard, 31, died after falling around 15 metres as she was being hoisted up toward the roof of the stage during a Las Vegas show.

In 2009, Ukrainian acrobat Olexandre Jourov, 24, died from a fall during a rehearsal in Montreal.

Speaking on Mr Arnaud’s death, the company said in a statement: “We are offering our full and transparent collaboration to the authorities as they look into the circumstances of this accident.”

The last two shows in Tampa, planned for Sunday, were cancelled.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating Mr Arnaud’s death.

The post Cirque du Soleil performer Yann Arnaud falls to his death appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

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megadarkbouquettidalwavethings · 7 years ago

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Virat Kohli Lauds Dinesh Karthik For Last-Ball Heroics

Dinesh Karthik did the unthinkable, smacking a last-ball six to give India a memorable four-wicket win over Bangladesh in the Nidahas Trophy final at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday night. Needing five off the last ball, Karthik smashed Soumya Sarkar for a maximum over extra cover to send the crowd and his teammates into a frenzy. India skipper Virat Kohli, who was rested from the Nidahas Trophy, was all praise for Karthik and the Indian team and took to Twitter on Monday to send a message to India’s latest hero.

Kohli praised his teammates for a “complete team performance” and lauded Kohli for his special knock.

Former, current India cricketers and sportstars too were thrilled with India’s win and Karthik’s heroics.

Well done Team India @BCCI . What an amazing win. @DineshKarthik what a knock under pressure. This is a bunch of youngsters and they’ve done so well on this tour. #INDvBAN

— Yusuf Pathan (@iamyusufpathan) March 18, 2018

What an unbelievable knock from @DineshKarthik last night, knowing him well this was something that he always wanted to do and it came through on the finals night.

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) March 19, 2018

Chasing 167 for victory, India found themselves in a spot of bother early on as Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Suresh Raina (0) fell before the fourth over. Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul strung together a crucial 51-run stand to bring India back into the contest.

While Rahul was dismissed for 24, Rohit went on to score his 14th T20I half-century. However, Rohit failed to kick on from there and fell to Nazmul Islam for 56.

India were 98 for four in 13.2 overs, still needing 69 off 40 balls when Rohit was dismissed.

Suprisingly, the Indian team management decided to send Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar ahead of Dinesh Karthik and that didn’t work to India’s advantage.

Both players struggled and their sluggish innings left India in heaps of trouble. Vijay Shankar, in particular, struggled big-time, scoring 17 off 19 balls.

Karthik, who came at No.7, immediately hit the ground running and in the end his innings of 29 not off just 8 balls got India across the line.

The post Virat Kohli Lauds Dinesh Karthik For Last-Ball Heroics appeared first on Sports News, Transfers, Scores | Watch Live Sport.

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