Liz Whitehurst dabbled in several careers before she ended up on a Maryland farm, crating fistfuls of fresh-cut arugula in the November chill.

The hours were better at her nonprofit jobs. So were the benefits. But two years ago, Whitehurst, 32 — who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs — abandoned Washington for a three-acre plot in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time farmers who are capitalizing on booming consumer demand for local and sustainable foods and who, experts say, could have a broad impact on the food system.

For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population.

This new generation can’t hope to replace the numbers that farming is losing to age. But it is already contributing to the growth of the local-food movement and could help preserve the place of midsize farms in the rural landscape.

“We’re going to see a sea change in American agriculture as the next generation gets on the land,” said Kathleen Merrigan, the head of the Food Institute at George Washington University and a deputy secretary at the Department of Agriculture under President Barack Obama. “The only question is whether they’ll get on the land, given the challenges.”

The number of farmers aged 25 to 34 grew 2.2 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the 2014 USDA census, a period when other groups of farmers — save the oldest — shrank by double digits. In some states, such as California, Nebraska and South Dakota, the number of beginning farmers has grown by 20 percent or more.

New to farming

A survey that the National Young Farmers Coalition, an advocacy group, conducted with Merrigan’s help shows that the majority of young farmers did not grow up in agricultural families.

They are also far more likely than the general farming population to grow organically, limit pesticide and fertilizer use, diversify their crops or animals, and be deeply involved in their local food systems via community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs and farmers markets.

Today’s young farmers also tend to operate small farms of less than 50 acres, though that number increases with each successive year of experience.

Whitehurst took over her farm, Owl’s Nest, from a retiring farmer in 2015.

The farm sits at the end of a gravel road, a series of vegetable fields unfurling from a steep hill capped by her tiny white house. Like the farmer who worked this land before her, she leases the house and the fields from a neighboring couple in their 70s.

She grows organically certified peppers, cabbages, tomatoes and salad greens from baby kale to arugula, rotating her fields to enrich the soil and planting cover crops in the off-season.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, she and two longtime friends from Washington wake up in semidarkness to harvest by hand, kneeling in the mud to cut handfuls of greens before the sun can wilt them. All three young women, who also live on the farm, make their living off the produce Whitehurst sells, whether to restaurants, through CSA shares or at a D.C. farmers market.

Finances can be tight. The women admit they’ve given up higher standards of living to farm.

“I wanted to have a positive impact, and that just felt very distant in my other jobs out of college,” Whitehurst said. “In farming, on the other hand, you make a difference. Your impact is immediate.”

Larger impact

That impact could grow as young farmers scale up and become a larger part of the commercial food system, Merrigan said.

Already, several national grocery chains, including Walmart and SuperValu, have built out local-food-buying programs, according to AT Kearney, a management consulting firm.

Young farmers are also creating their own “food hubs,” allowing them to store, process and market food collectively, and supply grocery and restaurant chains at a price competitive with national suppliers.

That’s strengthening the local and organic food movement, experts say.

“I get calls all the time from farmers — some of the largest farmers in the country — asking me when the local and organic fads will be over,” said Eve Turow Paul, a consultant who advises farms and food companies on millennial preferences. “It’s my pleasure to tell them: Look at this generation. Get on board or go out of business.”

There are also hopes that the influx of young farmers could provide some counter to the aging of American agriculture.

The age of the average American farmer has crept toward 60 over several decades, risking the security of midsize family farms where children aren’t interested in succeeding their parents.

Between 1992 and 2012, the country lost more than 250,000 midsize and small commercial farms, according to the USDA. During that same period, more than 35,000 very large farms started up, and the large farms already in existence consolidated their acreage.

Midsize farms are critical to rural economies, generating jobs, spending and tax revenue. And while they’re large enough to supply mainstream markets, they’re also small enough to respond to environmental changes and consumer demand.

If today’s young farmers can continue to grow their operations, said Shoshanah Inwood, a rural sociologist at Ohio State University, they could bolster these sorts of farms — and in the process prevent the land from falling into the hands of large-scale industrial operations or residential developers.

“Multigenerational family farms are shrinking. And big farms are getting bigger,” Inwood said. “For the resiliency of the food system and of rural communities, we need more agriculture of the middle.”

Numbers are still small

It’s too early to say whether young farmers will effect that sort of change.

The number of young farmers entering the field is not nearly large enough to replace the number exiting, according to the USDA: Between 2007 and 2012, agriculture gained 2,384 farmers between ages 25 and 34 — and lost nearly 100,000 between 45 and 54.

And young farmers face formidable challenges to starting and scaling their businesses. The costs of farmland and farm equipment are prohibitive. Young farmers are frequently dependent on government programs, including child-care subsidies and public health insurance, to cover basic needs.

And student loan debt — which 46 percent of young farmers consider a “challenge,” according to the National Young Farmers Coalition — can strain already tight finances and disqualify them from receiving other forms of credit.

But Lindsey Lusher Shute, the executive director of the coalition, said she has seen the first wave of back-to-the-landers grow up in the eight years since she co-founded the advocacy group. And she suggested that new policy initiatives, including student loan forgiveness and farm transition programs, could further help them.

“Young farmers tend to start small and sell to direct markets, because that’s a viable way for them to get into farming,” Lusher Shute said. “But many are shifting gears as they get into it — getting bigger or moving into wholesale.”

Just last year, Whitehurst was approached by an online grocery service that wanted to buy her vegetables. Because While Owl’s Nest produces too little to supply such a large buyer on its own, the service planned to buy produce from multiple small, local farmers.

Whitehurst ultimately turned the deal down, however. Among other things, she feared that she could not afford to sell her vegetables at the lower price point the service wanted.

“For now, I’m focused on getting better, not bigger,” she said. “But in a few years, who knows? Ask me again then.”
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From: MeNeedIt

The city of Zibo, China’s ceramics capital, is undergoing environmental shock therapy to clear its filthy skies and transform its economy — and not everyone is happy.

Much of Zibo’s sprawling industrial district has become a ghost town of shuttered factories, empty showrooms and abandoned restaurants after a cleanup campaign that began last year intensified this winter. Dozens of chimneys stand inactive.

“There used to be a lot of workers here, but now they are demolishing the entire place,” said a caretaker who gave his surname as Wei, pointing at the deserted warehouse of an abandoned factory he was guarding. “We have no idea what they will build here — that’s the boss’s decision.”

Zibo, home to 4.5 million people about 260 miles south of Beijing in Shandong province, is one of 28 northern Chinese cities targeted in an unprecedented six-month anti-pollution blitz as China scrambles to meet air quality targets.

The city is also at the heart of a wider, long-term government effort to upgrade China’s heavy industrial economy.

Once responsible for about a quarter of China’s ceramic output, mainly floor and wall tiles, Zibo has slashed capacity by 70 percent and shut more than 150 companies and 250 production lines as part of a ruthless war on pollution.

Surviving plants have rushed to comply with tough new standards, but business is still threatened by constant production suspensions ordered by the government, as well as natural gas shortages this winter as northern cities switch to the fuel from coal.

“It is a brave step that China is taking, but they have to take it,” said Alex Koszo, the founder of Vecor, a Hong Kong-based company that has built a joint-venture plant in Zibo to manufacture environmentally friendly tiles from fly ash.

“They have the will, the money, and access to technology, so I think we are looking at a very different Zibo, and a very different Shandong, in five to 10 years.”

The local environmental bureau declined to be interviewed, telling Reuters that cleanup efforts were “still at an early stage” — but changes are already conspicuous.

With old factories marked for demolition, new apartment blocks, shopping complexes and roads are being built. The city registered growth of 7.8 percent in the first three-quarters of this year, driven by the service sector, according to the local government. Displaced workers have shifted to construction sites and other industries like textiles, residents said.

Zibo has also established a “greentech” incubator in the old district and opened a new high-tech industrial park in order to attract companies and encourage innovation in ceramics.

But some local businessmen accuse Beijing of running roughshod over local industry and paying too little heed to circumstances on the ground, with one boss accusing inspectors of behaving like “imperial envoys.”

“There is a ring of 28 cities, and pollution only needs to appear in Beijing — even just medium-level pollution — and all our factories have to shut,” said the owner of a large local factory who declined to be named, fearing repercussions. “It doesn’t matter whether you meet the standards or not, you have to shut.”

Upgrades

Over the past decade, Zibo’s ceramics makers took advantage of closures elsewhere to drive up output and seize market share in China. Zibo’s tiles were used throughout China and exported around the world. In recent years, however, the industry was weighed down by poor quality and chronic overcapacity that eroded prices and exposed the sector to European Union anti-dumping measures.

Beijing’s war on pollution served as an opportunity to tackle those problems. Now, the mainstay of the local economy is a shadow of its former self.

With annual production capacity slashed to 246 million square meters, compared with 827 million square meters before the campaign began, the government hopes surviving manufacturers can upgrade and compete with higher-end producers.

“I think the steps the government is taking now will push the costs up, and therefore the price of the goods will be up and the quality will meet international standards,” said Koszo.

But the local factory owner said the campaign has inflicted long-term damage, eroding cost advantages and driving customers away.

“If Zibo was the only place producing tiles in the whole country, then it wouldn’t be a problem. But this is an unfair policy. They are closing us but not others,” he said.

Stop-start production

Environmental officials deny the pollution crackdown or the heightened vigilance of inspectors will cause deep harm to China’s economy, saying any losses would be compensated by the long-term benefits of clean investment.

But in Zibo, even environmentally compliant manufacturers are losing customers. The factory owner said he has lost 80 percent of domestic clients and half his overseas ones, with many frustrated by the stop-start nature of production.

Zibo’s ceramics companies are not only hit by emergency closures aimed at curbing smog. A year ago, they were ordered to switch from coal to gas, but suppliers are giving priority to residential winter heating.

“People are losing patience and manufacturing is shifting to the south,” said Bryan Vadas, director at the Tile Agencies Group in Australia, which used to source products for export from Zibo but has now started buying elsewhere.

Environment Minister Li Ganjie said this year that China would not adopt an “indiscriminate one-size-fits-all approach,” adding that companies have plenty of leeway to clean up and survive.

“Only enterprises that have no clear survival value, pollute heavily and have no hope of being rectified will be shut down,” Li said.

But local enterprises have struggled to cope with repeated policy changes, with industry entry requirements adjusted four times in less than two years, the local factory owner said.

“I have worked hard to build up this business,” he said.

“Personally, I just think the government should tell us directly that they don’t want us to stay in operation. There’s no need for them to torture me.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Fracking, at least in the U.S., has changed the country’s energy outlook. It has cut the cost of fossil fuels and turned the U.S. into a net exporter of fuel. But fracking hasn’t had the same effect in Britain, and geologists say the island nation’s unique geology means fracking will never solve their energy problems. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

Every year, the festive holiday windows of New York City’s department stores draw fans from near and far. Tina Trinh reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

For some black women, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement was something more. One of the world’s most eligible bachelors has chosen someone who looks like them and grew up like them.

It’s the kind of storybook plot twist they don’t always experience.

“It’s that old ‘Cinderella’ tale,” said Essence Magazine Editor-in-Chief Vanessa K. DeLuca. “No matter what, we all have this fantasy of being swept off our feet by the prince. It’s validation that, of course, we can be princesses. … We need to see that as black women, that that’s possible. That’s something we don’t get to see enough of, and that’s what we’re responding to.”

Markle, whose mother is black and father is white, will be the first woman of color in modern history to join the British royal family. She joins famous black women like Serena Williams, rapper Eve and Janet Jackson who have recently found love outside of their race, with powerful men.

Ashley Mosley had been living in London this summer, across the street from Kensington Gardens. Engagement gossip between Markle and Prince Harry was all anyone could talk about at the black hair salon in her neighborhood. When the news broke this week, Mosley shrieked, “Oh my God!”

“‘Coming to America’ was fictional, but this is going to be real,” said Mosley, referring to the 1988 Eddie Murphy film that imagined an African prince finding a black wife in New York.

Though the celebrations this week have been wide and plenty, the royal engagement has not come without strife for Harry and Markle. After their relationship was announced this year, Harry lashed out at what he described as “racial undertones” in media coverage and overt racism on social media.

Markle this week called it “disheartening” to have to still deal with questions about her identity in 2017.

For Markle, some of the negative coverage marked a sad refrain. When Markle was growing up in Los Angeles, her black mother was mistaken for her nanny, and her father worked hard to shield her from bigotry. As an actress, she struggled with her dual backgrounds preventing her from landing both black and white roles.

The engagement mirrors broader trends in interracial marriage both in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data, among newlyweds, the share of recently married blacks with a spouse of a different race has more than tripled, from 5 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2015. Another study showed that more than 2 million people in England and Wales, or 9 percent of those in couples, were part of mixed-race relationships in 2011, up from 7 percent a decade earlier.

Still, African-Americans face more obstacles to marriage than other groups. In the U.S., blacks are the least likely racial group to marry, at 68 percent, compared with 90 percent of whites and 85 percent of Hispanics, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Blacks also tend to marry later, at an average age of 26.2, compared with 24.2 for whites and 23.8 for Hispanics.

Morgan Jerkins, a 25-year-old writer and editor who lives in New York, said the couple’s story is inspiring – especially Markle’s second chance at love as a divorced woman in her mid-30s.

“The odds were not in her favor,” said Jerkins, a black woman. “I’m all for seeing women of color who are loved publicly and tremendously. We’re bombarded all the time with messages about how unmarriageable we are. For this moment, we can say, ‘Not today.’”

It’s also just fun.

In a year full of unending bad headlines, often about minority communities, the engagement was a chance to escape, imagine and celebrate.

The news launched a thousand memes as people took to social media to contemplate the culture clash between black Americans and the British. Who, for instance, will wear the fanciest hats to the wedding?

Until this week, an African-American royal was as unlikely a prospect as a black president once seemed – and now both are happening in Mosley’s lifetime.

“I think it’s encouraging that women are independent and doing what makes them happy,” Mosley said. “When you follow your heart and your dreams, they do pay off. … You might end up with a prince on the other side of it!”
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From: MeNeedIt

The world’s largest lithium ion battery has begun providing electricity into the power grid in South Australia.  The project is a collaboration between the state government, American firm Tesla, and Neoen, a French energy company. 

Tesla boss Elon Musk, who was not in attendance at the switch-on, had boldly promised to build the battery in South Australia within 100 days – a pledge that has been fulfilled.  The 100-megawatt battery was officially activated Friday.  Musk has said it was three times more powerful than the world’s next biggest battery, and promised to deliver it for free had it not been built on schedule.

The South Australian state government hopes the project can prevent power outages because it can rapidly deploy electricity when it is most needed and reduce prices.

Last September, South Australia suffered a state-wide power outage when storms damaged the electricity network.

State premier Jay Weatherill believes the new battery will guarantee energy supplies.

“People were making fun of South Australia for its leadership in renewable energy and blaming it for the black-out,” said Weatherill. “That, of course, has now been debunked as a myth.  We now know that our leadership in renewable energy is not only leading the nation but leading the world, and we are more than happy to supply our beautiful renewable energy stored in a battery to help out the national electricity market.”

Located near Jamestown, about 200 kilometers north of Adelaide, the Tesla-built 100 megawatt lithium ion battery is connected to a wind farm run by French energy company Neoen.

The farm has 99 wind turbines and generates electricity that can be stored in the battery to serve 30,000 people for about an hour.  In a statement, the California-based firm said the project in South Australia showed “that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible”.

Critics of the battery have said the technology’s potential has been exaggerated.

The bulk of Australia’s electricity is still generated by coal, and the nation is one of the world’s worst per capita emitters of greenhouses gases.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Airlines canceled more flights leaving the Indonesian island of Bali on Saturday, citing forecasts of deteriorating flying conditions because of a risk of volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Agung volcano.

A Bali airport spokesman said the airport was operating normally, but airlines such as Jetstar and Virgin Australia had opted to cancel some flights.

“Bali flying conditions expected to be clear throughout the day, but forecast for tonight has deteriorated so several flights have been canceled,” Australian budget airline Jetstar said on its Twitter account Saturday.

Thousands stranded

The erupting volcano had closed the airport for much of this week, stranding thousands of visitors from Australia, China and other countries, before the winds changed and flights resumed. 

Twenty flights were canceled Friday evening because of concerns over ash. Some airlines, including Malaysia’s AirAsia, have said they would only operate out of Bali during the day, because the ash could impair visibility at night and wind conditions in the area were unpredictable.

Airlines avoid flying through volcanic ash because it can damage aircraft engines, clogging fuel and cooling systems, hampering pilot visibility and even causing engine failure.

There are also concerns over changing weather conditions with a tropical cyclone south of Java island affecting weather and wind in the area, including for Bali, the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics agency said.

Consulates offer aid

Several foreign consulates have set up booths in the international departures area to assist stranded passengers.

Subrata Sarkar, India’s vice consul in Bali, told Reuters at the airport’s international departure area that they had helped around 500 passengers so far this week.

“We have advised citizens the volcano may erupt. We never say ‘please don’t come.’ But we have issued travel advisories. If it’s urgent business, then OK, but if it’s only tourism, then plans should be reconsidered,” Sarkar said.
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From: MeNeedIt

Venezuela has arrested Diego Salazar, a relative of former oil czar Rafael Ramirez, as part of an investigation into a money laundering scandal in Andorra, the South American country’s state prosecutor said on Friday night.

President Nicolas Maduro is overseeing what his administration calls a “crusade” against corruption in the member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Some 65 oil executives have been detained in a deepening purge that could also see the leftist leader consolidate his grip over the energy sector and sideline rivals.

The Salazar case appears to relate to what the United States in 2015 said were some $2 billion in laundered funds from Venezuelan state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., known as PDVSA, at the private bank Banca Privada D’Andorra (BPA).

Saab did not specify Salazar’s role or details on the money laundering, except that it involved around 1.35 billion euros in 2011 and 2012, but he said the case was bound to grow.

“I want to highlight that this citizen will likely not be the only one detained and the only one investigated,” Saab said in a phone call to state television announcing the arrest.

The arrest is bound to cast the spotlight on Ramirez, who was the powerful head of PDVSA and the oil ministry for a decade before Maduro demoted him as a envoy to the United Nations in 2014.

A protracted rivalry between Maduro and Ramirez has increased in the recent weeks, sources close to the situation said this week, especially after Ramirez wrote online opinion articles criticizing PDVSA’s production slump and the government’s handling of Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy.

Maduro sacked Ramirez, who was thought to have presidential ambitions, from his job this week and summoned him back to Caracas from New York, the people with knowledge of the situation said.

Ramirez and PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Salazar could not immediately be reached for comment.
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From: MeNeedIt

TC Bell knows what life is like without health insurance after growing up with a mother who cobbled together care from a public health clinic, emergency room visits and off-the-books visits to a doctor they knew.

That memory makes Bell, of Denver, grateful for the coverage his two daughters have now under the Children’s Health Insurance Program — and concerned about its uncertain future in Congress.

“There’s an incredible security that I have with CHIP,” said Bell, 30, who has gone back to community college to reboot his life after working a series of low-paying jobs. “If my daughters get sick or seriously injured, we can take them to their doctor, rather than when I was growing and had to go through the emergency room. We always kept our fingers crossed back then.” 

Political stalemate

CHIP provides low-cost coverage to children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. But it has become caught up in a political stalemate over how to fund it. 

Congress failed to reauthorize the program before it expired in September. Several states are expected to deplete their remaining funds for it by next month. The uncertainty has left states scrambling — and causing worries for families that depend on the program.

“The fact that they want to play politics with our kids’ health care is appalling,” Bell said. “All we’re asking for is an investment, not a handout. CHIP was built for the working class.” 

Different situations for each states

Each state designs its own version of CHIP with different rules and coverage, so each faces a somewhat different situation. But Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon and the District of Columbia are among the first expected to exhaust their CHIP allotments.

“We’re seeing every month more and more states running out of their funding for their CHIP programs, so it’s becoming more of a national issue,” said Emily Piper, Minnesota’s human services commissioner.

Fresh federal money for CHIP, which was created in 1997, dried up Oct. 1. Legislation to extend the program for five more years passed the House earlier this month.

However, majority Republicans decided to pay for it partly by cutting a public health program created under former President Barack Obama’s health care law, and by raising Medicare premiums on upper-income recipients. Those provisions make the bill less palatable in the Senate. Senators have agreed on a bill extending the program for five more years but remain divided over how to pay for it. 

“Congress was really focused this summer on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, and there wasn’t a lot of oxygen left in the room to talk about just about anything else in health and human services,” Piper said. 

Solution to be part of spending bill

Now Congress has turned its attention to its tax bill, she added. “The CHIP program has been a bipartisan program for a really long time, and it’s more to do with other priorities than, I think, to do with people not wanting to fund CHIP.”

An eventual fix is expected to be part of a huge year-end spending bill aimed at preventing a federal government shutdown, but that’s not guaranteed.

Now, with funds running out, states are struggling with what to tell families who rely on CHIP, said Samantha Artiga, an analyst with the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

“They’re really trying to hold off as long as possible or on providing any notice to families,” Artiga said. “They don’t want to create confusion or fear or instability for families who are covered under the program.”

Colorado isn’t waiting

Colorado isn’t holding off any longer. The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers the Child Health Plus program, Colorado’s version of CHIP, began sending letters to enrollees Monday advising them that they need to look at private insurance coverage options if Congress fails to act. Formal termination notices could go out in mid-December.

The department estimates that Colorado’s federal funding won’t last beyond Jan. 31. More than 75,000 children and 800 pregnant women in Colorado are enrolled in CHP Plus. 

States set their own eligibility rules for the program. Colorado covers children 18 or younger and pregnant women 19 and older when household income is no more than 260 percent of the federal poverty guideline; for example, a family of four with income of $63,960 or less.

In Minnesota, CHIP serves about 125,000 children. Since Minnesota provides CHIP coverage through its Medicaid program, it has been able to secure some temporary emergency federal funds and plans to keep those children covered even if it needs to use its own money. But without a congressional solution Minnesota would eventually have to cut off about 1,700 pregnant women and new mothers, Piper said.

Arizona was in danger of running out of money by mid-December, but Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration came up with a complicated plan to shift some funding around to make CHIP last until March, said Christine Corieri, the governor’s health policy adviser.

“There’s a lot of things I think that we can argue about. There’s a lot of things that divide us,” Ducey said. “Taking care of these kids in this situation I think is something that should unite us.”

Delay tough on families

Arizona has about 74,000 children covered under Medicaid expansion and 23,000 under its CHIP program, known as KidsCare. Those include Corina Mejia’s two sons. 

Mejia, a single mother in Phoenix, works as a school community liaison officer. She has health insurance for herself through her job but needs KidsCare to make insuring her children affordable. Her older son, Isaiah, 11, has asthma and requires regular checkups and medication, while infant Jorge was born prematurely. Mejia said she doesn’t know what she’ll do if lawmakers keep balking.

“They need to put themselves in our position and have an open mind,” Mejia said. “A lot of us parents do work, but we just happen to not make enough to be able to provide the medically necessary needs that we have to provide for our children.”
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From: MeNeedIt

A World Cup shrouded in corruption controversies and struggling to attract sponsors could have the dreariest of starts on the field: a meeting of the lowest-ranked teams in the 32-team field.

Host Russia and Saudi Arabia play June 14 at Moscow in an opener lacking global appeal, but things pick up the next day when 2010 champion Spain and defending European champion Portugal meet in Sochi.

The Iberian neighbors were drawn into Group B at a Kremlin ceremony Friday. Morocco coach Herve Renard hoped to avoid the “two ogres” but will face them along with Iran.

“It’s a complicated group,” Spain coach Julen Lopetegui said. “It will be tough. Portugal is a great team. It is the defending European champion and has a squad filled with top players.”

None more so than Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently joined Argentina’s Lionel Messi as the only five-time winners of FIFA’s player of the year award. Messi’s quest for his first World Cup title begins the following day when Argentina takes on Iceland — at 334,000 the least-populous country to qualify for the World Cup.

Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson already knows what he must tell his team: “Watch out for No. 10.”

The United States is missing from soccer’s top event for the first time since 1986 and four-time champion Italy will be watching from afar for the first time since 1958.

Germany remains the favorite. Its depth was clear when an experimental squad won the Confederations Cup in Russia in July. Germany opens against Mexico in its quest to become the first country to win back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil in 1962. The Germans then face Sweden and South Korea in Group F.

“We got opponents that are not unknown to us,” Germany captain Manuel Neuer said. “That’s what I like best, when we know what to expect.”

Germany is hoping to be based in Sochi along with Brazil. The only five-time world champion does not intend to move its training camp despite a schedule that has none of its games in the Black Sea resort. The Selecao, beaten 7-1 at home by Germany in the 2014 semifinals, were drawn in Group E with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia.

“Despite the distances, there are quick ways to get there,” Brazil coach Tite said.

England, eliminated in the group stage three years ago, was drawn into Group G along with newcomer Panama, Tunisia and Belgium. Gareth Southgate’s first World Cup game as a coach will be a repeat of his first as a player — Southgate made his World Cup debut in England’s 2-0 win over Tunisia in 1998.

“We’ve been good at writing off teams and then getting beaten by them,” Southgate said.

Roberto Martinez also will be making his World Cup debut. But the Belgium coach knows England well after spending two decades there as a coach and player.

“It is going to be one of those games with no secrets,” said Martinez, a former Everton manager. “We have 25 players in the British game. That brings that understanding. That brings that competitive level.”

Peru, the last of the 32 teams to qualify for Russia, is in Group C with 1998 champion France, Australia and Denmark.

“It could have been worse,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.

The only group without a former World Cup champion is H — Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan.

The Russians have been placed with the winners of the first World Cup — Uruguay — in Group A along with Egypt and Uruguay. At No. 65, Russia is the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, with Saudi Arabia only two places higher.

“I’ve never seen them,” Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov said.

Russian hosts

The ceremony was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin, one day short of the seventh anniversary of the FIFA executive committee vote that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar — the subject of bribe allegations against soccer executives brought up nearly daily in New York during a corruption trial against top soccer officials. Putin urged fans to visit and enjoy his “big and multifaceted” country, a rallying cry that comes amid concerns about racism and hooliganism.

“We will do everything to make it a major sporting festival,” Putin said, anticipating a World Cup of “friendship and fair play, values that do not change with time.”

The Olympic doping scandal surrounding Russia hung over the final countdown to the draw. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, head of the local World Cup organizing committee, defended himself against accusations he helped orchestrate state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

“Nowadays everyone is trying to make some kind of axis of evil out of us, just because we’re a great sporting power,” Mutko said.

The International Olympic Committee executive board will decide Tuesday whether to ban Russia from the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics.
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From: MeNeedIt

A Peruvian prosecutor asked a judge to jail executives of three local construction companies that had previously partnered with  Brazilian builder Odebrecht, which has admitted to paying bribes in the country, chief prosecutor Pablo Sanchez said on Friday.

Prosecutors started investigating the five executives of Grana y Montero, JJC Contratistas Generales and Ingenieros Civiles y Contratistas Generales (ICCGSA) earlier this week. The five are accused of paying bribes to win a highway construction contract in southern Peru along with Odebrecht.

Peru has aggressively investigated bribery allegations linked to scandal-plagued Odebrecht and former President Ollanta Humala was jailed earlier this year following accusations he took illegal campaign donations from the firm.

Prosecutor Hamilton Castro made the jail request this morning, Sanchez told reporters at a business conference in Paracas, south of Lima.

ICCGSA said in a statement none of its shareholders or employees had knowledge of the alleged acts of corruption and said it was willing to collaborate with investigators. Grana y Montero and JJC Contratistas Generales did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Last month, prosecutors said they were investigating Grana for alleged involvement in bribes that Odebrecht has admitted paying to local officials in exchange for lucrative contracts.

Grana’s shares in Lima have fallen more than 60 percent this year on concerns over the probe. Shares were down 5.6 percent at 1.84 soles  ($0.5690) per share on Friday afternoon.

The company has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said an internal probe turned up no evidence that its employees knew about or took part in the bribes. It has said it is willing to cooperate with the investigation.

($1 = 3.2337 soles)
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From: MeNeedIt

We’re gathering the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending December 2, 2017.

The hit list seems comfortable with offering one new song a week, because that’s what we have once more.

Number 5: Cardi B. “Bodak Yellow Money Moves”

Let’s start in fifth place, where Cardi B slides two slots with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves).”

The 2018 Grammy nominations came out on November 28, and Cardi competes in two categories. “Bodak Yellow” is nominated for both Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. The 60th annual Grammy Awards ceremony will take place on January 28.

Number 4: Imagine Dragons “Thunder”

Imagine Dragons gains a slot in fourth place with “Thunder.” The Las Vegas band may win its second Grammy Award: “Radioactive” took Best Rock Performance in 2014, and “Evolve” is currently nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album.

Beyond that, the band’s music also appears in many advertisements. The song “Believer” alone currently has more than 32 placements, ranging from Nintendo and Microsoft to Jeep vehicles.

Number 3: Lil Pump “Gucci Gang”

Lil Pump places himself right in the middle of our countdown, as “Gucci Gang” jumps from 12th to third place. Hailing from Miami, Florida, Lil Pump – real name Gazzy Garcia – began uploading songs to SoundCloud last year. After earning millions of streams, he became a leader in “Soundcloud Rap,” a genre which also includes Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty. Lil Pump’s self-titled debut mixtape hit third place on the U.S. pop album chart in October.

Number 2: Camila Cabello Featuring Young Thug “Havana”

Camila Cabello and Young Thug remain stuck in second place with “Havana.” However, it’s a different story on the Billboard Pop Songs chart, where it jumps to number one.

This is Camila’s second Pop Songs victory, following her collaboration with Machine Gun Kelly, “Bad Things.”

Number 1: Post Malone Featuring 21 Savage “Rockstar”

Up at number one, as you may have guessed, Post Malone and 21 Savage log a sixth straight week at the top with “Rockstar.” 

Speaking recently with Polish media, Post said words to the effect that whenever you want to feel something, don’t listen to hip-hop. Post later said he meant no disrespect to hip-hop, which he loves…he just meant to say that when he needs to reflect on life, Bob Dylan is his go-to artist.

We’re your go-to source for the biggest hits every week, so join us again in seven days!
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From: MeNeedIt