Friday, September 16, 2016

Pape Souare: Crystal Palace defender could be out for six months

Pape Souare had to be freed from his vehicle by firefighters following the M4 crash
Pape Souare had to be freed from his vehicle by firefighters following the M4 crash
Crystal Palace defender Pape Souare will be out for up to six months after breaking his thighbone in a car crash, says manager Alan Pardew.
The 26-year-old Senegal international was airlifted to hospital after a crash on the M4 motorway in London on Sunday.
He is expected to be released from hospital on Saturday.
"He isn't having the best of times, but we're all very supportive," said Pardew. "We love Pape and can't wait to have him back."
When asked how much of the season Souare would miss, Pardew said: "Four, five months. Maybe six, he should be up and running again.
"I don't think we have any concerns about Pape returning. It was a broken thigh, that should repair as normal."
Palace are yet to learn the extent of the damage to some of Souare's muscles, but Pardew said the player was "very lucky".
He added: "It was a terrible accident. We owe a huge debt to the London Air Ambulance and the surgeons who helped him."
Souare, who joined side Palace from French club Lille in January 2015, has made 46 Premier League appearances for the Eagles.
Palace host Stoke on Sunday (14:15 BST

Brazil TV star Domingos Montagner drowns on set of soap opera

Picture from Domingos Montagner's Facebook accountImage copyrightDOMINGOSMONTAGNEROFFICIAL
Image captionMontagner had been recording an episode of the Velho Chico soap opera
One of Brazil's best-loved television actors, Domingos Montagner, has drowned in a river where the crew had been recording scenes for the country's most popular soap opera.
Montagner played the leading role in Velho Chico, a soap opera named after the Sao Francisco river where he died.
The 54-year-old had gone for a swim with an actress after a day of shooting in the north-eastern state of Sergipe.
She said he was dragged away by the river's strong currents.
The actress, Camila Pitanga, cried for help but local people failed to act initially as they believed the drowning was a scene in the soap opera.
Authorities said there was little that anyone could have done.
In the soap opera, Montagner played a farmer who often fought off local gunmen. In one of those clashes, he was shot multiple times and appeared to drown in the same Sao Francisco river, but reappeared weeks later.

'Dangerous area'

"They thought they had chosen a safe spot to swim, but that is one of the most dangerous areas in the town of Caninde and usually avoided by locals," police chief Antonio Francisco Filho told O Globo.
One person, on average, has drowned every year in the town since 2005, reports said.
Post by TV presenter Angelica Huck on Instagram saying: I can't believe it - an incredible actor and human being. May God give light and peace to his family.Image copyrightINSTAGRAM/@ANGELICAKSY
Image captionTV presenter Angelica Huck wrote on Instagram: "I can't believe it - an incredible actor and human being. May God give light and peace to his family."
Four hours after the incident, rescue teams found Montagner's body underwater, some 300 metres (984ft) from where he drowned.

'Life imitates art'

Montagner was born in Sao Paulo and had a career in the circus before becoming a television actor, in 2008.
This was his 12th role on TV. His first significant soap opera role was in 2011, and he had his film debut in 2012.

A soap opera affair

  • Soap operas, or novelas, are traditionally some of the most-watched TV programmes in Brazil, and are broadcast in dozens of other countries
  • The main time slot, at 2100 on Globo TV, is watched, on average, by 50% of the viewing public
  • In key moments that number can reach up to 80%
  • In 2012 Globo said one of its most successful soap operas was watched by38m people daily
  • But viewership has declined in recent years mainly because of paid TV channels and new viewing habits
  • Each episode reportedly costs up to 800,000 reais ($242,000; £183,000) to make
  • And a 30-second commercial break at a final episode can cost 500,000 reais ($151,000; £114,000)

Montagner had been married for 14 years to actress Luciana Lima, with whom he had three children.
The news of his death has caused commotion in Brazil, where fellow actors and social media users have paid tributes to the actor.
Twitter user @ligiafreitass says: Image copyrightTWITTER - @LIGIAFREITASS
Image captionThis user said on Twitter: "I can't get the death of Domingos Montagner out of my head. An entire soap opera dedicated to a river that, in the end, takes (the life of) its main character"
Twitter user GenteFizTwiter says: Image copyrightTWITTER - @GENTEFIZTWITER
Image captionAlso on Twitter, this user wrote: "Good people die early. It has always been like this.
Twitter user @uolbieber says: Image copyrightTWITTER - @UOLBIEBER
Image captionAnd this user said: "Paul Walker and Domingos Montagner are the definition of the sentence: life imitates art"
The football team he supported, Corinthians, praised him also for his success as a handball player for the club's affiliate in the 1980s.
His latest film, Um Namorado Para Minha Mulher (A Boyfriend For My Wife), was released two weeks ago.

US election: Trump campaign acknowledges Obama was born in US

trumpImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionMr Trump has frequently questioned Mr Obama's citizenship in the past
The Trump campaign has acknowledged in a statement that President Obama was born in the US.
The Republican candidate had been a leader of the "birther" movement that questioned Hawaii-born Mr Obama's citizenship.
But his campaign now accuses his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of introducing the "smear" during the 2008 Democratic nomination contest.
There is no evidence to link Mrs Clinton to the birthers.
In reaction she tweeted that President Obama's successor "cannot and will not be the man who led the racist birther movement".
The BBC's North America Reporter Anthony Zurcher says the statement signed by senior Trump advisor Jason Miller is far from an admission of error.
Instead, he says, Mr Miller laid the genesis of the birther rumours wrongfully at the feet of Hillary Clinton and her 2008 presidential campaign team.
When they raised questions, Mr Miller said, it was "vicious and conniving" behaviour. By broaching the topic three years later, Mr Trump had done a "great service" to the public and president, Mr Miller said.
The statement follows an interview with the Washington Post newspaper in which Mr Trump had declined to say Mr Obama had been born in the US, saying instead that he did not want to answer the question.

What is the origin of the 'birther' claim?

Barack ObamaImage copyrightAP
The claim is a conspiracy theory that Mr Obama was actually born in Kenya and is therefore ineligible to be president.
Reports in various US publications suggest it was circulated in 2008 by die-hard supporters of Mrs Clinton as it became clear that she was not going to win the Democratic nomination.
However there is no evidence that Mrs Clinton or her then campaign had anything to do with it.
The claim enjoyed a revival with some supporters of Republican candidate John McCain as he fell behind Mr Obama in polls, the Fact Check website reported.

When did Mr Trump get involved?

A tweet reads: Image copyright@REALDONALDTRUMP
The billionaire became a vocal questioner of Mr Obama's citizenship as he was running for a second term as president.
In April 2011, Mr Trump challenged Mr Obama to show his birth certificate, gaining approval from Republicans including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
Weeks later Mr Obama released his actual birth certificate from his native state of Hawaii. At that year's White House correspondents dinner, Mr Obama made light of the allegations, mocking Donald Trump.
The 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney referred to the discredited theory at a campaign rally in August that year, joking that no-one had asked to see his birth certificate - drawing swift condemnation from the Obama campaign.

Why has the Trump campaign now distanced itself? - by Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter

The words haven't been spoken by Donald Trump yet, but a press release from his campaign represents the closest we've come to the Republican nominee formally acknowledging that President Barack Obama was born on US soil.
Mr Trump's turn as the lead advocate of the so-called "birther" movement has been a drag on the Republican's standings among black voters. It was also the issue that rocketed the New Yorker to fame among many conservatives, however.
There's little surprise, then, that Trump team wants to settle the matter and shift the campaign back to more favourable terrain - but the candidate has yet to back down completely.

What is the latest on the campaign?

Media captionTrump says he needs to lose weight (ZoCo Productions, LLC)
Media captionHillary Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane: "I am doing great"
  • Donald Trump Jr. said his father had declined to release his tax returns because they would only distract from his main message, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.w
  • Mr Trump expanded his tax plan to include a reduction in the top tier income tax and corporation tax. He said he would work to boost economic growth by 4% through deregulation and trade tariffs to limit the budget deficit. Some economists have rebuffed Mr Trump, saying his plans would not reduce the deficit and that higher trade tariffs would result in negative growth.
  • On Thursday evening Mr Trump appeared on NBC's "Tonight Show" where host Jimmy Fallon asked to ruffle the candidate's hair. Ms Clinton will appear on the show Monday night.
Late night show host Jimmy Fallon musses Mr Trump's hairImage copyrightAP
Image captionFallon's late night show, broadcast from New York, debuted in 2009

What you need to know about US election

Media captionWhy some states matter more than others