Citing America’s “toxic political environment” and the need to highlight dialogue, the University of Notre Dame has given one of the highest honors in U.S. Catholicism to Vice President Biden and former House speaker John Boehner. The announcement Saturday set off impassioned responses from Catholics, with some viewing it as a high moment for their church and others deeming it political pandering.
The announcement of the 2016 Laetare Medal recipients comes at a time of changing messages from Catholic leaders about what it means to be a Catholic voter — or what it means to live out the faith in public life. After years of popes and many U.S. bishops who often characterized Catholicism through opposition to liberalizing social changes around abortion and human sexuality, Pope Francis has encouraged leaders to be less judgmental as they teach traditional faith. Biden and Boehner — two lifelong, practicing Catholics taking very different policy positions, sometimes in opposition to church teaching — sat behind Francis this past fall when he spoke to Congress and urged civility.
Catholics were set off by — and are still debating — Notre Dame’s decision in 2009 to give an honorary doctorate to President Obama. Dozens of U.S. bishops — including five cardinals — reportedly criticized the decision, and that year a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican declined the Laetare Medal in protest.
“We live in a toxic political environment where poisonous invective and partisan gamesmanship pass for political leadership,” the Rev. John Jenkins, president of the prominent Catholic school, wrote in announcing the medal on Saturday. “Public confidence in government is at historic lows, and cynicism is high. It is a good time to remind ourselves what lives dedicated to genuine public service in politics look like. We find it in the lives of Vice President Biden and Speaker Boehner.
“While both have been loyal and committed partisans, they were leaders who put the good of the nation ahead of partisan victory, seeking through respectful dialogue honorable compromise and progress. Speaker Boehner’s resistance to a simple reductionism made him suspect in his own party; Vice President Biden reminded his fellow Democrats that those in the other party are ‘our opponents, not our enemies.’
“In recognizing both men, Notre Dame is not endorsing the policy positions of either, but celebrating two lives dedicated to keeping our democratic institutions working for the common good through dialogue focused on the issues and responsible compromise.”
The award will be presented at commencement on May 15. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Washington’s archbishop and one of the U.S. bishops closest to Francis, will receive an honorary doctorate that day in what many will see as a symbolic church approval of the bipartisan award.
Jenkins “has made a bold move to begin the fraught process of dismantling the architecture of the culture warrior model of Church that has plagued our Church and our country for too long,” Michael Sean Winters, a writer on U.S. Catholicism, wrote Sunday in the National Catholic Reporter. “This year’s Laetare award sends the unmistakable signal that the time for building walls, either those erected by the [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops] or those promised by [Donald] Trump, has ended and the time for building bridges has begun.”
Debate was intense on Notre Dame’s Facebook page, where the award was announced. Some saw the award as a sign of what modern church leadership should look like — moderate and open. Others disagreed over whether either man deserved the award, Biden as a supporter of abortion rights and Boehner as someone seen as not prioritizing immigration reform. Dignity for immigrants and opposition to abortion are basic Catholic principles. Others wondered why Notre Dame seemed to be in the news again for its honoring of a politician.
The Laetare Medal is given to Catholics in all fields. Recent recipients include singer Aaron Neville, poet Dana Gioia, former head of the Catholic Relief Services Ken Hackett (now U.S. ambassador to the Vatican) and prominent death-penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean. The last time a politician received the award was in 1992, when it was given to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
“We were just getting over the Obama embarrassment and now this!! How are the behaviors and attitudes of these two men in anyway representative of Catholicism? This is just wrong,
The most popular comment — with the most likes — on the school’s page was one urging compromise, which then morphed through replies into a debate about whether science proves or disproves that zygotes are lives.
“The U.S. Is a melting pot of beliefs and freedom of religion and the law of the land governs our free society. To hear people affiliated with such a blessed university be so closed minded and closed hearted is concerning,” the initial comment read.
The medal (pronounced lay-TAH-ray) is named for the Latin word “rejoice” and for part of the liturgy on the fourth Sunday of Lent, just before Easter. According to the university, it is given annually to a Catholic “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity.” On the medal is inscribed in Latin “Magna est veritas et prevalebit,” which means “Truth is mighty, and it shall prevail.
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Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey (Photos:)Rumors of a feud between Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey have existed in Internet lore for years. And, like most pop star-on-pop star feuds which appear to exist solely in the minds of fans, it’s the type of thing that the two are constantly having to deny. Twice this week Jennifer Lopez has had to address it and, twice this week, Lopez has denied it.So here’s how the whole thing went down.The BeginningsIn the early ‘00s, Mariah Carey was doing an interview with a foreign TV station in which she was asked her opinion about several pop stars. She called Beyoncé “nice” and “a good writer” and then she was asked about Jennifer Lopez. “I don’t know her,” Mariah Carey said. And, immediately, a meme was born.
If you’ve not seen the GIF, you’ve probably not spent a lot of time on the web.The AftermathIt is years later; “I don’t know her” has become perhaps the most iconic words to come out of Mariah Carey’s mouth since “all I want for Christmas is you.” It was Andy Cohen, in 2014, who was the first to ask J.Lo directly about the shade of it all.“I know from back in the day, I’ve read things that she’s said about me that were not the greatest, but we have never met,” Lopez, who is no amateur at delivering a verbal knockout, said. “Like, we don’t know each other. I think it’s kind of from word of mouth of things that have happened in the past that I’m not really aware of.”Then, last year, Carey was doing an interview with The Cut in which she was asked about gifts she receives from her army of fans, the “Lambs.”Recently? I don’t know. [yawns] I’m sorry, I’m having a “sleep” moment…
Well, there was a very interesting shirt that a fan made with a quote that I said years ago that, when I said it, I really wasn’t trying to be funny. I was just being honest and everybody’s kind of blowing it out of proportion but this guy had a shirt on and it was a picture of me that he made and the quote was underneath it — and I’m going to leave you hanging as to what it was.To recap: Carey yawns before she explains she was “just being honest.” The word shade is thrown around hyperbolically these days, but true shade doesn’t really sound like an insult. However, the recipient knows. Mariah Carey is one of the masters of the art.

Ever since the tinsel-haired mogul clobbered Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz last Tuesday in Nevada, increasing his delegate tally to 82 — nearly five times Rubio’s and Cruz’s current totals — every pundit, political junkie, and professional Republican in the country has been obsessing over the same question.
Now Super Tuesday is upon us. It is the most consequential day on the GOP primary calendar. Eleven states will vote to commit another 624 delegates — roughly a quarter of this year’s total. And Trump is poised to win more of them than anyone else.
By Wednesday morning, a lot of people will stop asking whether it’s too late to stop Donald Trump. Instead, they’ll think they know the answer: yes.
Don’t buy it — at least not yet. The truth is, Marco Rubio could still stop Trump. Ted Cruz could stop him, too. Even Ohio Gov. John Kasich could (theoretically) do it. 
Blocking the Donald from winning the Republican nomination isn’t impossible. But it will likely require one of his rivals to remain in the race until the GOP convention in July — and to pull off an upset of historic proportions.To understand how strong Trump’s position is — but also why it’s too early to declare him the winner — you have to understand the byzantine delegate math that Republicans will be relying on to select this year’s nominee. The rules are remarkably convoluted. They’re different in almost every state. But in a nominating contest unlike any we’ve seen before, they will be critical going forward.Barring some sort of cataclysmic event that torpedoes the previously unsinkable Trump — a murder charge, perhaps — it appears that the Republican race can end only one of two ways at this point. Either (a) Trump wins the nomination or (b) one of his opponents snatches it away from him in Cleveland.Let’s consider the likelier scenario first: a Trump victory.To be the nominee, a Republican needs to win a majority of delegates; this year’s magic number is 1,237. A scoreboard reads “2016” and “76” for the number of delegates the state of Georgia has as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., Monday. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)You may have heard that all the delegates at stake before March 15 will be awarded proportionally and that many of the delegates at stake after March 15 will be awarded to the candidate who wins each state.

How did we get here?
The deathless cliché of journalism holds that presidential campaigns are born in a lonely quest in the snows of New Hampshire, but it used to mean in the same year as the election. But the 2016 campaign began last March, when Sen. Ted Cruz entered the race. By June, when Donald Trump threw his hair into the ring, the field was almost complete. As Super Tuesday dawns, the nation can look back a year to a time when Trump’s candidacy barely rose to the level of a joke, and Sen. Bernie Sanders was almost unknown outside his home state of Vermont.
And tomorrow, after voting in 12 states, the race could look very different — or, quite possibly, the same, only more so. While only a handful of (mostly small) states have cast votes thus far, the field has been winnowed all along through the mechanisms of polling and fundraising. The last major candidate to enter the race, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, declared on July 21, and less than two months later, on Sept. 11, Texas Gov. Rick Perry became the first to drop out.
But today, for the first time, ballots will be counted by the millions in the first megastate to vote (Texas); in a Midwestern state (Minnesota); in an urban Democratic state (Massachusetts) and across the mid-South and Deep South (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia).
The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton will cement her big delegate lead over Sanders, which reflects her strength among appointed “superdelegates.” Sanders has held her much closer in votes cast by actual voters, but Clinton’s strength among African-Americans, heavily represented among Southern Democrats, should give her an edge today. Sanders’ home state of Vermont is voting, and he may do well also in Massachusetts and in Minnesota, with a shot at winning Colorado. But most observers expect today to mark the beginning of the end for his campaign, although he has the money, supporters and passion to stay in the race at least through the next few rounds of voting.

On the Republican side, the vote comes amid a chaotic descent into what in any other year would have been described as madness, with the leading candidates trading crude schoolyard insults; mugging, chortling and shouting over each other in debates, and one (you know who) blaming a faulty earpiece for his inability to renounce the support of a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. One can imagine the GOP’s power brokers, regardless of their actual preferences, secretly hoping all the candidates will lose, enabling the party to start over with someone new — or give Jeb Bush, who dropped out in February, a second chance. But the rules are that someone has to win. In polling, generally, Trump holds leads ranging from moderate to overwhelming in most states, with the notable exception of Cruz’s home state of Texas. To stay in the race, Cruz has to win there, at least, and Marco Rubio, who has made the most of any candidate in history out of second- and third-place finishes, has to show he can win somewhere. Trump just has to avoid any embarrassing losses; Kasich is mostly just trying to hang on until the electoral map becomes friendlier. His home state, Ohio — a must-win for him — votes on March 15, the same day as Florida, Rubio’s base, where Trump has held a big lead in polls. Ben Carson is now considered a nonfactor in the race after a string of distant finishes.


COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hillary Clinton trounced her rival Bernie Sanders in South Carolina on Saturday, her second decisive win in a week as she heads into Super Tuesday.
“Tomorrow, this campaign goes national,” Clinton said to a fired-up crowd at the volleyball court in the University of South Carolina.
Her speech was largely aimed at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, as if she were already the nominee making a general election pitch. “We don’t need to make America great again. America never stopped being great,” she said. “Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.”
She quoted Scripture and asked for more “love and kindness,” in an effort to distinguish herself from Trump.
The win dims Sanders’ prospects but at the same time makes it even more urgent for Clinton to appeal to his supporters, a passionate part of the Democratic base she can ill-afford to alienate before the general election.
Clinton campaigned hard in the state, drawing large, mostly African-American crowds to town halls and rallies across South Carolina. (ABC exit polling showed that Clinton won 84 percent of the black vote.) She stressed her personal commitment to the state, which she first visited as a young lawyer fighting against a system that sent juveniles to adult jails, and slammed Sanders on gun control in particular. She campaigned with African-American mothers whose children were killed by police or as a result of gun violence, and made reforming the criminal justice system and ending “systemic racism” a centerpiece of her stump speech.

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As a working woman, getting dressed everyday isn’t as easy as, say, throwing on a jacket. And the process of putting together an appropriate outfit gets even trickier when you’re on TV on a daily basis, delivering the weather report in front of a green screen. 
Meet Liberté Chan, a meteorologist in Los Angeles, California who ran into what can best be described as a hazard in her line of work when she chose a dress of the wrong color — literally. Wearing a light blue Lilly Pulitzer sheath with a coral pattern, Chan walked in front of the weather map (showing some very low temperatures for the area) and her dress instantly lit up with the blue and green temperature spots being displayed projected. 
But with the help of her quick-thinking KTLA 5 co-worker, Chris Burrous, who very chivalrously offered up his suit jacket as a sartorial saving grace, she was saved from becoming a meme — unlike that chameleon who dressed just like a hotel hallway, or the girl who happened to match with a royal blue and marble floor.

The Miss Universe pageants are always filled with glitter, glamour and gorgeous bikini bodies.
You might remember the awkward incident from the most recent Miss Universe 2015 contest where the host Steve Harvey totally announced the wrong winner!
Here are 21 former Miss Universe winners over the decades, and what life of a beauty queen is like after taking the crown…

Olivia Culpo, Miss Universe 2012

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At just 20 years-old Olivia showcased her perfect bikini body and won the Miss Universe title in 2012. She now represents charities around the world and looks beautiful at red carpet events.

 

 

 

olivia-culpo
 
There is no more slavishly liberal editorial board than that of the New York Times, so when it tells Hillary Clinton to shape up, that is rather extraordinary. The board writes:
“Everybody does it,” is an excuse expected from a mischievous child, not a presidential candidate. But that is Hillary Clinton’s latest defense for making closed-door, richly-paid speeches to big banks, which many middle-class Americans still blame for their economic pain, and then refusing to release the transcripts.
A televised town hall on Tuesday was at least the fourth candidate forum in which Mrs. Clinton was asked about those speeches. Again, she gave a terrible answer, saying that she would release the transcripts “if everybody does it, and that includes the Republicans.” . . . .
Public interest in these speeches is legitimate, and it is the public — not the candidate — who decides how much disclosure is enough. By stonewalling on these transcripts Mrs. Clinton plays into the hands of those who say she’s not trustworthy and makes her own rules. Most important, she is damaging her credibility among Democrats who are begging her to show them that she’d run an accountable and transparent White House.
This raises a few key points.
First, if the board is sincere, it should henceforth declare that it will no longer endorse candidates who are not transparent about their finances. It’s simple, easy to apply and, in this case, might have some impact on the Clinton team’s cost-benefit analysis.
Second, Democrats should be nervous. Do they imagine none of these speeches were ever recorded or that there are no attendees with good memories? Surely bits and pieces of Clinton’s remarks to Wall Street execs will come out. And, hey, if she ever sent her scripts by email — well, we know what happens to unsecured emails.
Third, the exact same principle is at work with regard to Donald Trump and his taxes. And here the Republican National Committee can actually play a constructive role in reclaiming its manhood. It should call on all candidates to disclose ample financial material, including past tax returns. How else are Republicans to make the case against Clinton’s secrecy and hypocrisy if their own potential nominees do not do so? If need be, try adding it to the convention rules as a condition of having one’s name entered in consideration for the nomination. Simply put, Trump can keep his tax records secret, or he can pursue the nomination, but not both.
Oh, I can hear the mice squeaking right now. Trump will be mad! He’ll run as a third-party candidate. Listen, anyone who does not think he will do so anyway if he loses the GOP nomination is kidding themselves. It’s time for the party to show some leadership and defend the party from a hostile takeover.
Fourth, Trump’s GOP opponents and their super PACs should make this a key issue. Run ads on the topic, asking what there is to hide. Remind voters that he has been accused of inflating his wealth in the past and is now selling himself on his phenomenal success as a businessman.
Disclosure is no small matter, especially when the candidates at issue have a long history of dissembling and of financial intrigue. If they are not willing to turn speeches or tax returns over for inspection, they shouldn’t be running for president. And neither party should let them get away with it.

















Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, center, speaks as Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left and Ted Cruz, R-Texas look on during a Republican presidential primary debate at The University of Houston, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, center, speaks as
There's new heat on Donald Trump over a rather dry topic: his tax returns. Mitt Romney, who has been making the TV news rounds, claimed this week that he expects a "bombshell" in Trump's tax returns, if only the candidate would release them.
Trump, in turn, raised eyebrows at the Republican presidential debate on Thursday when he said that he can't release his tax returns yet because he is in the midst of an audit. He also added this claim, a different sort of bombshell: "I’ve been audited every year. Twelve years or something like that.”
Is that plausible? And, if Trump isn't exaggerating: Why would he get audited 12 years in a row? We consulted four tax experts to dissect the claim.
Possible, but a stretch
The odds of getting audited 12 years in a row are slim, but not impossible, experts say.
Less than 1% of Americans get audited every year, and that number shrinks each year as the IRS workforce and budget has slimmed down. But among "high net-worth individuals," the rate is higher: Nearly 7% get audited. And Trump is certainly a high net-worth individual.
"As your income increases, your chances of being audited go up significantly," says John Petosa, a CPA and professor at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management. "If you think about it, it makes sense—is the IRS going to spend time and money and resources auditing somebody who makes $30,000 a year? Or are they going to spend their time auditing someone who makes billions of dollars? There is probably more tax revenue to collect from a guy like Donald Trump, especially if he's being aggressive in his deductions." (As the campaign cycle has proven, there are few areas in which Trump is not aggressive.)
The IRS actually has a rule, in its agent manual, that if a person is audited and receives an assessment of zero (that is, does not owe additional money), the IRS cannot audit them again for two years. That means if Trump is telling the truth, then the IRS has repeatedly found discrepancies in his returns.
Until recently, it was typical for big corporations to get audited every year. This was called the Coordinated Examination Program. Many big public corporations even had rooms specifically designated for use by visiting IRS agents. But as the IRS's budget has been slashed, it has shrunk the program.
It's worth noting that for wealthy individuals, the stigma once associated with an audit has faded. As Steven Burke, a partner at McLane Middleton and a tax professor at the University of New Hampshire Law School, explains, "Many wealthy people welcome an audit, because once an audit occurs, your return is done, you don’t have to worry about it. If you take an aggressive position in something, for example, once the IRS has audited it, it is highly unlikely they will ever come back and give you trouble about it again." For regular, non-mogul folks, too, an audit is less unpleasant these days. "It used to be an agent would come to your house and it was an embarrassing thing. Many audits now are done just electronically by correspondence; you get an email, you send back a check," Burke says. "That said, the IRS does still do some in-person audits, and it is still a scary, nerve-wracking experience for the average person."
Investments abroad
Although Trump is more prone to tax audits because of his wealth, experts say it's the geographical breadth of his business interests, more than his wealth, that makes him a target. When Trump says he has been audited, he is likely referring to both himself, as an individual, and to his companies, or companies in which he has a stake. Audits can occur on an individual basis or a corporate basis, and some companies Trump has a hand in may be considered "passthrough entities," which do not pay federal taxes, just report it to the IRS, and the individual owners or investors have to report and pay it.
"With all of his real estate abroad, he must have foreign income coming in, and that's what I imagine they're checking," says Vincent Cervone, who runs VRC Associates, a tax shop in Brooklyn, N.Y. "His regular income is kind of straightforward, but the foreign income is what they would be investigating. Right now the IRS has a pet peeve with foreign accounts because a lot of people are taking their money overseas to get certain benefits."
Trump owns golf courses and resorts in places like Scotland, Ireland and Dubai. "The IRS is definitely paying closer attention to people who have money abroad," says Petosa. "There used to be a question that said, 'Do you have money overseas?' And you could simply check a box: 'Yes.' Now there's actually a reporting element where you have to tell them your funds and how they're invested."
It isn't just about his money abroad, either, but the complexity of his business empire. Trump has partnerships, trusts, subsidiaries, and all manner of entities in which he has full or partial ownership. That means his return isn't as simple as just earnings from a single corporation. As one tax agent, who did not want to be named, put it: "I gotta believe his tax return is just unbelievable. If you look at the face of his 1040, I'd be surprised if there's a single line that's blank. Well, maybe unemployment benefits."
How long will it take?
What about Trump's excuse that he can't yet release his tax returns because he is in the midst of an audit? Mitt Romney didn't buy it, and tweeted during the debate: "No legit reason [Trump] can't release returns while being audited, but if scared, release earlier returns no longer under audit."

Trump indicated that he would release the returns as soon as the audit is complete, but that he can't be sure it will be complete by November. Whether this is a good excuse or not, could it really take that long? The experts say yes. "With the IRS, it takes forever," says Cervone. "And because the IRS had its workforce cut, a lot of things are taking a lot of time right now. Anything that is not for this year, they are putting on the back burner because they need to get all the refund checks out. Will it be done by November? I'm thinking yes, but there's no guarantee."
Whether or not his current active audits are complete, Trump won't get to hold out forever: If he makes it to the general election, he must release his returns by law.


Brock Lesnar and Holly Holm React to Ronda Rousey's Comments on Suicide

Brock Lesnar and Holly Holm have both reacted to Ronda Rousey’s claims that she’d been having suicidal thoughts in the wake of her loss to Holm last year.
Speaking on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show (h/t Paul Chavez of the DailyMail.com), Rousey said after the defeat at UFC 193 she was “literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself.” 
Lesnar said it’s important that fighters learn how to cope with defeat as well as winning. This was the first loss of Rousey’s career.  
One thing that I learned and she should have learned a long time ago was that you have to learn how to lose before you can actually win," the former UFC heavyweight champion said on SportsCenter on Tuesday (h/t Damon Martin of Fox Sports). "... You've got to be able to get back on the horse and this life is very precious and very short. One fight isn't going to make or break her career.”
Holm conceded that when she heard the quotes from Rousey, she wasn’t quite sure how to react.
“When I heard that she said that, for me it’s one of those things it’s like, ‘How do I respond to that?’" said the bantamweight champion, per Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog. “I don’t want to say I’m sorry because I think on a competitive level for me, if somebody was to say they’re sorry after [beating me], it’s like, ‘No, I’m a competitor.’ I’m not a charity case.”
Holm hopes Rousey’s disappointment could be used in a positive way: “In the long run, she’ll be stronger mentally from it.”
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden feels as though it’s important the former champion takes some time before returning to competitive sport in light of these most recent comments:
Rousey was the huge favourite to triumph ahead of her showdown with Holm in Melbourne, Australia, at UFC 193, having won all 12 of her competitive MMA bouts previously. However, she was a stationary target, allowing Holma skilled strikerto light her up with fierce shots.
In the second round, the fight came to a dramatic conclusion, as the underdog landed a brutal left hand before downing Rousey with a head kick. Here is the fight in full:
Since the loss to Holm, Rousey has kept herself out of the spotlight and has not scheduled a return to the sport. Indeed, the appearance on the show was her first sit-down interview since the defeat.
As noted by Snowden, given the nature of the comments, it seems wise for Rousey to take a patient and considered approach to any comeback. That seems the best course of action not only for the fighter’s long-term well-being, but also if she’s to dominate the Octagon as she had done in many showings prior to the shock loss.



Gonzalo Higuain Transfer Rumours: Latest News, Speculation on Napoli Striker
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Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain could reportedly depart the Serie A club this summer with Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Arsenal all linked with the Argentinian.
Continue for updates.

Higuain 'Could Decide Against' Contract Extension

Wednesday, Feb. 24

"Gazzetta dello Sport reports today that there is no renewal [of Higuain's contract] on the horizon, as the arrival of Higuain’s father Jorge in Naples last weekend hasn’t led to a meeting with president Aurelio De Laurentiis to discuss a new deal," revealed Football Italia.
The report relays the "mechanical" way Higuain's representatives responded to talk of a new deal, with PSG and Chelsea both rumoured to be interested in the 28-year-old: "Gonzalo is focused on the Scudetto, it’s not the time to talk about a contract."
Arsenal have also long been linked with Higuain, as noted by James Whaling  and would likely jump at the chance to sign him.
His current contract with Napoli runs until 2018, but the Partenopei would clearly like to tie him to an extended deal.
Higuain is currently enjoying one of the best seasons of his career and has scored 24 times in 26 matches in Serie A,
Napoli are still very much in with a chance of winning the Scudetto as they sit just a point behind leaders Juventus.
But Higuain has unsurprisingly drawn interest from some of the biggest clubs in Europe and could likely be tempted by the financial rewards offered by the likes of PSG and Chelsea.
He also undoubtedly has ambitions of winning the UEFA Champions League, which are more likely to be fulfilled at the Parc des Princes than at the San Paolo.
Napoli will still be able to demand a significant fee for Higuain—they slapped€94.7 million (£67 million) price tag on him last summer—but they will be loath to sell him for any price given his importance to the side.
Chelsea Transfer News: Roman Abramovich Eyes £130M Rebuild Amid Manager Rumours Luca Bruno/Associated Press
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will reportedly give his new manager £130 million to rebuild the Blues squad this summer, with possible targets including Bayern Munich's Arturo Vidal and Everton's John Stones.
According to an exclusive from Andrew Dillon in the Sun, Italy manager Antonio Conte is the "front-runner" to get the job, and talks with the former Juventus boss have been "planned," with Abramovich hoping the spending power will not only persuade Conte to take the job but also see him recruit four new star players.
According to football journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Blues will meet with Conte on Thursday—though they haven't given up on Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone, either:
Mindaugas Kulbis/Associated Press
Chelsea have fallen well short of their usual standards this season—which saw Jose Mourinho sacked in December just seven months after winning the Premier League title—and find themselves in 12th place.
After doing relatively little noteworthy recruitment last summer, the Blues will likely be hoping to bring in marquee reinforcements, as Dillon indicates.
With Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas both struggling for much of the season and the uninspiring John Obi Mikel their first-choice backup, a new central midfielder is surely on the cards—which could be where Vidal comes in, with Dillon reporting the Blues scouted him on Tuesday in the Champions League.
The dynamic, box-to-box star is still in his first season at Bayern Munich but has drawn criticism both on and off the pitch, as football writers Stefan Bienkowski, Raphael Honigstein and Clark Whitney demonstrate:
Indeed, because of this, journalist David Amoyal believes Vidal could be on the move again this summer:

Conte managed Vidal successfully at Juventus for three years, so he could help mitigate any potential attitude problems the Chilean may bring to Stamford Bridge. Further, his arrival could tempt Vidal into pursuing a move in order to reunite with his former manager.
Despite the criticism he's received, Vidal has still been a fairly effective contributor in Bavaria. To go along with three goals and seven assists in all competitions, according to Squawka, he has won 48 tackles and 32 headed duels in 22 Bundesliga appearances for Bayern as well as creating 39 chances.
Further, per WhoScored.com, while Vidal may not quite have the level of technique expected from a key player in a Pep Guardiola side, he's still highly comfortable in possession:
Vidal would be able to provide a level of steel and tenacity that's missing from Chelsea's midfield, and his physicality see him fit in well in the Premier League.
Jon Super/Associated Press
As for Stones, as Dillon notes, a centre-back is also on the agenda, with captain John Terry set to depart in the summer and Kurt Zouma enduring a lengthy layoff through injury.
After pursuing him so doggedly last summer, it can be expected that Chelsea return for him anew this year. However, they could face stiff competition from Manchester City, as the Guardian's Dominic Fifield notes, per BT Sport Football:
The ball-playing defender is still learning his trade and making mistakes along the way but, with polish and experience, has the talent and potential to become an exceptional Premier League player in the future—not in the same mould as Terry, but a worthy candidate as his long-term replacement.
Everton have already proved admirably resilient to Chelsea's advances, but with each passing summer, it could well get harder and harder to keep him at Goodison Park.
The saga looks set to run on for some time, and if City should get involved, that will only increase.



The race to the White House entered its third round Saturday, with Republicans voting in their first southern primary in South Carolina and Democrats choosing between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in Nevada.
Voters streamed to the polls in South Carolina after they opened at 7:00 am, in what is likely to be an important test of strength for frontrunner Donald Trump.
Pre-vote surveys showed the billionaire businessman with a big lead over five Republican rivals in the Palmetto State.


I’ve learned that Six Feet Under and ER alumna Justina Machado has been cast as the lead in One Day At A Time, Netflix’s Latino family remake of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom. The 13-episode series, from Sony Pictures TV, co-stars Oscar winner Rita Moreno.The multi-camera comedy, written by Gloria Calderon Kellett (How I Met Your Mother) and Mike Royce (Everybody Loves Raymond), revolves around a Cuban-American family. It centers on Penelope (Machado), a recently separated former military mom who is navigating a new single life while raising her radical teenaged daughter and socially adept tween son, with the “help” of her old school Cuban-born mom and a friends-without-benefits building manager named Schneider. Moreno will play the grandmother. A single mom, Penelope is a former Army medical specialist, now running a doctor’s office and dreaming of medical school. In the original series, the lead role of the divorced mom was played by Bonnie Franklin.Royce and Kellett executive produce the reimagining of the 1975 series alongside Lear, Michael Garcia and Brent Miller. Netflix had no comment.
In addition to One Day At A Time, Machado will soon be seen in USA’s upcoming drama series Queen Of The South where she is a regular for the first season. Machado is segueing to One Day At A Time after completing her obligations to the USA series. Machado’s previous comedy series experience includes a co-starring role on the NBC sitcom Welcome To The Family, which also was produced by Sony TV.
LAS VEGAS — At a press conference immediately before his rally here in the gymnasium of the Durango Hills YMCA, Ted Cruz announced that he had fired his longtime campaign spokesman Rick Tyler for posting on his Facebook page a false news story that purported to show rival Marco Rubio making a disparaging remark about the Bible. Cruz called Tyler’s action a “grave error of judgment.”
“I’ve spent this morning investigating what happened, and this morning I asked for Rick Tyler’s resignation,” Cruz said. “We are not a campaign that is going to question the faith of another candidate. Even if [the story] was true, our campaign should not have sent it.”
The erroneous story was originally published by student publication the Daily Pennsylvanian along with a video in which Rubio said, “Got a good book there,” to a Cruz staffer he spotted reading the Bible. At this point the audio in the video becomes hard to understand, and the video used subtitles to allege that Rubio continued, “Not many answers in it.”
In reality, what Rubio said was, “Got a good book there. All the answers are in there.”
Rick Tyler, former communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, in Storm Lake, Iowa, in January. (Photo: Scott Bauer/AP) Cruz’s decision to fire Tyler, who was one of his earliest hires, was widely seen by the media as an effort to turn the page on the narrative that his campaign has been engaging in dirty tricks. In the wake of Iowa, where Cruz staffers misleadingly suggested that Ben Carson was about to drop out of the race, the Rubio campaign has repeatedly claimed that Cruz is “willing to do or say anything to get elected,” and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has been even more direct, calling Cruz a “liar” at nearly every campaign stop. The charges seem to have resonated with evangelicals in South Carolina, where Cruz delivered a disappointing third-place finish despite the state’s conservative reputation and favorable demographics.Trump immediately took to Twitter to crow that the Tyler incident reinforced what he’s been saying about Cruz all along. “Ted Cruz has now apologized to Marco Rubio and Ben Carson for fraud and dirty tricks,” Trump tweeted. “No wonder he has lost Evangelical support!”The Rubio campaign soon piled on, with spokesman Alex Conant insisting that it was actually Cruz, not Tyler, who was at fault and using the fracas as an opportunity to repeat his team’s favorite line about Cruz.“Rick is a really good spokesman who had the unenviable task of working for a candidate who is willing to do or say anything to get elected,” Conant said in a statement, adding that “there is a culture in the Cruz campaign, from top to bottom, that no lie is too big and no trick too dirty.”The Cruz campaign disputed Conant’s accusation. “Marco Rubio’s attacks have been misleading from the beginning, and we’ll continue talking about that,” said Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier. “We believe voters are smart enough to recognize the difference.”What isn’t clear is whether Tyler’s firing will change anyone’s impression of Cruz — or whether, in fact, Nevadans will care at all. In the Durango YMCA gymnasium, television reporters from NBC and Fox News rushed in front of their cameras to do standup reports about Cruz’s decision, speculating on the air about how it will impact the race. But most voters interviewed by Yahoo News had no idea who Tyler was.
In the midst of Apple’s legal battle with the FBI, there has been no shortage of tech leaders who have come out and applauded Apple’s position on user privacy and its refusal to help the FBI bypass the iPhone’s security measures. From Sundar Pichai and Jack Dorsey to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it almost seems as if Tim Cook’s public letter last week has unified large segments of the tech community behind a common cause.But not every tech leader and luminary necessarily sees things from Apple’s point of view. So while Tim Cook maintains helping the FBI would set a dangerous precedent, Microsoft founder Bill Gates begs to differ.DON’T MISS: Galaxy S7 vs. iPhone 6s: The 5 most important ways Samsung outshines AppleDuring a recent interview with the Financial Times, Gates challenged Tim Cook’s assessment that helping the FBI access the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone would be akin to establishing a backdoor that would wreak havoc on user privacy.“This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information,” Gates explained. “They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case. It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let’s say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said ‘don’t make me cut this ribbon because you’ll make me cut it many times’.”In a similar vein, FBI director James Comey recently emphasized that the software solution the FBI is seeking is narrow in scope and that the agency doesn’t “want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land.”Apple of course doesn’t quite see things that way. In an FAQ published on Apple’s website on Monday, the company specifically addressed the argument raised by Gates, Comey and others who believe Apple should accommodate the FBI’s demands.In the physical world you can destroy something and it’s gone. But in the digital world, the technique, once created, could be used over and over again, on any number of devices.Law enforcement agents around the country have already said they have hundreds of iPhones they want Apple to unlock if the FBI wins this case. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks. Of course, Apple would do our best to protect that key, but in a world where all of our data is under constant threat, it would be relentlessly attacked by hackers and cybercriminals.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich faced some real-time criticism on the campaign trail in Virginia on Monday, when he praised the support he once received from women “who left their kitchens” to support him the first time he ran for public office.
“How did I get elected?” the Republican hopeful asked a crowd at George Mason University in Fairfax. “We just got an army of people, who — and many women — who left their kitchens to go out and go door-to-door and to put yard signs up for me.”
Kasich was elected to the Ohio state senate in 1978.
“All the way back, when, you know, things were different,” he said. “Now, you call homes and everybody’s out working. But at that time, early days, it was an army of the women that really helped me get elected.”
Later, in a Q&A with the audience, a woman who identified herself as a nursing student at the school prefaced a question by chastising the Ohio governor for his remarks.
“Your comment earlier about the women coming out of the kitchen to support you — I’ll come support you, but I won’t be coming out of the kitchen,” she said, to applause.
“I gotcha, I gotcha,” Kasich replied.
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio addresses a town hall event in Fairfax, Va., on Monday. (Photo: Jim Bourg/Reuters)Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols tried to downplay the governor’s comments.“John Kasich’s campaigns have always been homegrown affairs,” Nichols said in a statement to NBC News. “They’ve literally been run out of his friends’ kitchens, and many of his early campaign teams were made up of stay-at-home moms who believed deeply in the changes he wanted to bring to them and their families. That’s real grassroots campaigning, and he’s proud of that authentic support. To try and twist his comments into anything else is just desperate politics.”Kasich himself later apologized.“Sure, I’m sorry,” Kasich told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Anybody who’s offended, of course. I’m not — look. Of course, I’m more than happy to say I’m sorry if I offended somebody out there, but it wasn’t intended to be offensive.“"Sometimes when you operate on the high wire without a net, you’ll fall off and not say things exactly the way you want to,” he said. “But let me be clear: The beginning of my campaign for public office, I did town halls. Except they were in people’s homes. They were at breakfast tables, they were during — at evening when we had coffee, and I recruited people. And I want to be clear: We had a lot of women that played a major role in my political campaign.”On this point, Kasich appears to be right.  In 1978, when Kasich mounted his state senate run, just 33 percent of women aged 16 to 64 worked full-time in the United States, according to a survey published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2013, that figure was over 53 percent.And women continue to volunteer at a higher rate than men “across all age groups, educational levels and other major demographic characteristics,” according to a BLS report released last year. About 28 percent of women volunteered in 2014, the survey found, compared to 22 percent of men.Still, it’s not the first time the Ohio Republican’s tongue has gotten him into trouble this cycle.
Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend Clement Ejiofor 3 hours ago 92265 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Send email President Muhammadu Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend while travelling. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Buhari celebrates his birthday President Buhari celebrates his birthday with his beautiful family The photos were shared on Instagram. Yusuf, who is President Buhari’s only son, caused a meltdown when he donned in flowing traditional apparel and a matching cap appeared and was pictured coming back to Nigeria with his dad before the inauguration on May 29. Many ladies have announced their undying love for the young man. READ ALSO: Meet fabulous looking Nigeria’s first family Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari with friend Yusuf Buhari travelling with his friend Some residents blame Buhari for hiding his son from the public. Buhari married his first wife Hajia Safinatu in 1971 and they had five children, 4 girls and a boy. She was First Lady of Nigeria from December 1983 – August 1985. Buhari divorced her in 1988 and married Aisha Buhari in 1989 with whom he had five more children with – four girls and a boy. Hajia Safinatu died in 2006 from complications from diabetes. President Buhari on February 22 arrived Riyadh to commence a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf with his friend
Read more: https://www.naij.com/740442-see-president-buharis-handsome-son-yusuf-friend.html
Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend Clement Ejiofor 3 hours ago 92265 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Send email President Muhammadu Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend while travelling. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Buhari celebrates his birthday President Buhari celebrates his birthday with his beautiful family The photos were shared on Instagram. Yusuf, who is President Buhari’s only son, caused a meltdown when he donned in flowing traditional apparel and a matching cap appeared and was pictured coming back to Nigeria with his dad before the inauguration on May 29. Many ladies have announced their undying love for the young man. READ ALSO: Meet fabulous looking Nigeria’s first family Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari with friend Yusuf Buhari travelling with his friend Some residents blame Buhari for hiding his son from the public. Buhari married his first wife Hajia Safinatu in 1971 and they had five children, 4 girls and a boy. She was First Lady of Nigeria from December 1983 – August 1985. Buhari divorced her in 1988 and married Aisha Buhari in 1989 with whom he had five more children with – four girls and a boy. Hajia Safinatu died in 2006 from complications from diabetes. President Buhari on February 22 arrived Riyadh to commence a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend Clement Ejiofor 3 hours ago 92265 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Send email President Muhammadu Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend while travelling. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Buhari celebrates his birthday President Buhari celebrates his birthday with his beautiful family The photos were shared on Instagram. Yusuf, who is President Buhari’s only son, caused a meltdown when he donned in flowing traditional apparel and a matching cap appeared and was pictured coming back to Nigeria with his dad before the inauguration on May 29. Many ladies have announced their undying love for the young man. READ ALSO: Meet fabulous looking Nigeria’s first family Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari with friend Yusuf Buhari travelling with his friend Some residents blame Buhari for hiding his son from the public. Buhari married his first wife Hajia Safinatu in 1971 and they had five children, 4 girls and a boy. She was First Lady of Nigeria from December 1983 – August 1985. Buhari divorced her in 1988 and married Aisha Buhari in 1989 with whom he had five more children with – four girls and a boy. Hajia Safinatu died in 2006 from complications from diabetes. President Buhari on February 22 arrived Riyadh to commence a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf with his friend
Read more: https://www.naij.com/740442-see-president-buharis-handsome-son-yusuf-friend.html
Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend Clement Ejiofor 3 hours ago 81655 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Send email President Muhammadu Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend while travelling. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Buhari celebrates his birthday President Buhari celebrates his birthday with his beautiful family The photos were shared on Instagram. Yusuf, who is President Buhari’s only son, caused a meltdown when he donned in flowing traditional apparel and a matching cap appeared and was pictured coming back to Nigeria with his dad before the inauguration on May 29. Many ladies have announced their undying love for the young man. READ ALSO: Meet fabulous looking Nigeria’s first family Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari with friend Yusuf Buhari travelling with his friend Some residents blame Buhari for hiding his son from the public. Buhari married his first wife Hajia Safinatu in 1971 and they had five children, 4 girls and a boy. She was First Lady of Nigeria from December 1983 – August 1985. Buhari divorced her in 1988 and married Aisha Buhari in 1989 with whom he had five more children with – four girls and a boy. Hajia Safinatu died in 2006 from complications from diabetes. President Buhari on February 22 arrived Riyadh to commence a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf with his friend
Read more: https://www.naij.com/740442-see-president-buharis-handsome-son-yusuf-friend.html
Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend Clement Ejiofor 3 hours ago 81655 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Send email President Muhammadu Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf spotted with his friend while travelling. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Buhari celebrates his birthday President Buhari celebrates his birthday with his beautiful family The photos were shared on Instagram. Yusuf, who is President Buhari’s only son, caused a meltdown when he donned in flowing traditional apparel and a matching cap appeared and was pictured coming back to Nigeria with his dad before the inauguration on May 29. Many ladies have announced their undying love for the young man. READ ALSO: Meet fabulous looking Nigeria’s first family Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari with friend Yusuf Buhari travelling with his friend Some residents blame Buhari for hiding his son from the public. Buhari married his first wife Hajia Safinatu in 1971 and they had five children, 4 girls and a boy. She was First Lady of Nigeria from December 1983 – August 1985. Buhari divorced her in 1988 and married Aisha Buhari in 1989 with whom he had five more children with – four girls and a boy. Hajia Safinatu died in 2006 from complications from diabetes. President Buhari on February 22 arrived Riyadh to commence a week-long visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yusuf Buhari Buhari’s handsome son Yusuf with his friend
Read more: https://www.naij.com/740442-see-president-buharis-handsome-son-yusuf-friend.html
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