Womens Gymnastics Ohio State sends seniors out with secondplace finish in home
The Ohio State women’s gymnastics team celebrates after freshman Morgan Lowe’s performance on balance beam on Sunday, March 11. The Buckeyes placed second in the meet. Credit: Megan Russell | Senior Lantern ReporterOn a night to honor its seniors, the No. 23 Ohio State women’s gymnastics team (10-5, 3-2 Big Ten) finished its last regular season home meet in second place behind No. 24 North Carolina State (15-7) and ahead of Central Michigan (8-7), posting a 196.525 score for the second-highest score the team registered this season and ninth-best score in program history.North Carolina State finished first with a 196.800 score and Central Michigan finished third at 195.175.“It was kind of a tail of two halves,” head coach Meredith Paulicivic said. “I feel like we just didn’t have the fire and the spunk and the energy on the first two events, just kind of flat. We kind of rallied the troops and said, ‘Come on guys. We need to fight, and have the greatest comeback, and let’s get it done in the second half.’”The Buckeyes were off to a slow start in their first two rotations, but began to turn the meet around in the third rotation on balance beam. Ohio State earned a 49.350 total on the beam, its highest score at the event of the season. Junior Jamie Stone and freshman Jenna Swartzentruber shared first place, each earning a 9.925. It was a career-high score for both gymnasts. Senior Stefanie Merkle started the beam lineup for the Buckeyes to earn a 9.875, tying her career high. “A senior starts a rotation and hits a really good beam set, and I think they [the team] just started building off of that,” Paulicivic said. “They had good energy to support her when she went up, she did well and they just kind of kept that up and built off of that.”Freshman Morgan Lowe also matched a career high on balance beam with a 9.850 tally. Gaining momentum from the third rotation, the Buckeyes finished the meet on floor exercise with a 49.400. Stone earned first place with her second 9.925 score of the night.Though the Buckeyes struggled on vault and floor exercise, the first two events of the competition, the team did not walk away without garnering some titles from the two events. Ohio State earned a 48.975 total in its first rotation on vault, with Stone and sophomore Olivia Aepli each earning a 9.875 to share third place for the event.The team improved in its second rotation on uneven bars where two Ohio State seniors shined. Mattern tied her career high of 9.900 to share first place with senior Kaitlyn Hofland.“Tonight was really emotional for me,” Mattern said. “I’ve been fighting some injuries, and stuff like that, but my team has been so supportive and there for me this entire time, so to be able to just go out there and do it for them, and just kind of be in that spot, it’s magical.” North Carolina State snagged first place on vault with a 49.325 total, and placed second for all other events on uneven bars (49.075), balance beam (49.200) and floor exercise (49.200). Central Michigan earned first place for its first event on uneven bars with a 49.150, and placed third for the remaining events on vault (48.875), balance beam (48.550) and floor exercise (48.600).“Heading into the postseason, I feel like it was a great lesson to learn,” Paulicivic said. “Again, we’re still learning, we’re still growing, so hopefully, also, hitting that beam set will sort of let them know what they can do. And my God, if we all put it together, then just who knows.”Although Ohio State had is last regular season meet at home, and celebrated the accomplishments of the seniors, the Buckeyes still have postseason ahead of them. After its next meet at 2 p.m. Friday in East Lansing, Michigan, Ohio State will still have the Big Ten and NCAA championships. The Buckeyes will also host the NCAA regionals.
Guardiola rules out De Bruyne comeback for tonight
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola announced Kevin De Bruyne will not return to action for tonight’s game at WatfordThe Belgium international has been sidelined twice already this season with long-term injuries with just five appearances having been made for City.Currently, De Bruyne is recovering from another knee injury which was sustained in City’s 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Fulham last month.Other doubts are striker Sergio Aguero, who missed last weekend’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth due to a muscle injury, and midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was elbowed in the nose by team-mate Fernandinho in the same game.“I don’t know (if they can play),” Guardiola told reporters on the club website.
Merson believes Arsenal should sign Sancho Manuel R. Medina – September 14, 2019 Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho might be the perfect player to play for the Gunners, according to former England international Paul Merson.“We have training this afternoon, so I can’t tell you the answer now. Kevin De Bruyne is not ready. The other two I don’t know right now.”However, with a testing winter schedule ahead of City, Guardiola plans to listen to his players’ thoughts before making any decisions.“I trust the players,” he said.“There are a lot of games. Whatever we do, we do in the right moments. Every situation is different.”City will be hoping to beat Watford tonight at 21:00 (CET) to extend their lead in the Premier League to five points.
Facebook axes its Onavo VPN app over data collection
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Mobile Facebook’s Onavo VPN app is on its way out. Towfiqu Photography / Getty Images Facebook appears to have pulled its controversial Onavo mobile VPN app from the Google Play Store. The app, called Onavo Protect, will immediately stop pulling user data for market research, TechCrunch reported Thursday, but will remain as an active VPN while users look for a replacement. The app will eventually shut down, according to the report.Facebook didn’t immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told TechCrunch: “We are shifting our focus to reward-based market research which means we’re going to end the Onavo program.”When CNET searched Google Play for the app Friday, it wasn’t available.In August, Onavo Protect was yanked from Apple’s App Store for violating privacy guidelines. The app, which Facebook acquired in 2013, offers a virtual private network to help people safely send and receive data on their phones. But when the app was downloaded, users automatically gave the app permission to give Facebook data about their online activity. Facebook reportedly was able to track user activity across apps.The decision to shut down Onavo Protect comes as the social media giant again faces scrutiny for collecting data on people’s phone usage. Last month, it was revealed that Facebook had been paying people, including teens, $20 per month plus referral fees for their phone and web activity. Facebook got this data after users installed a “Facebook Research” VPN app on their iPhones. The app has been shut down for violating Apple’s policies. Post a comment Facebook
Cane farmers to get direct subsidy of Rs 450 per quintal towards
Concerned over arrears to cane growers from sugar factories amounting to more than Rs.21,000 crore (over $3 billion) in the last season, the government on Wednesday fixed a subsidy of Rs.4.50 per quintal crushed, which will be payable directly to farmers.The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which also decided to give priority to settlments that pertain to the previous years.”To further ensure timely payment of cane dues in the current sugar season, the Government has decided to provide a production subsidy @ of Rs. 4.50 per quintal of cane crushed to offset cane cost,” said a note isued after the meeting.The dole will be paid directly on behalf of mills and adjusted against the fair and remunerative prices payable in the previous years. “Subsequent balance if any will be credited to the mills’ account. Priority will be given to settling cane dues arrears of the previous years.”Reacting to the move, the Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (ISMA) said the government’s decision will work out to a dole of around Rs.1,000 crore as per the estimated cane crushing during 2015-16 sugar season.”This decision is significant as it means the government is no longer shying away from owning up the fair and remunerative prices it fixes for sugarcane, by directly contributing for a part of the cane price, instead of continuously burdening the millers,” the association said.”It will reduce industry’s liabilities towards cane to that extent, reducing a part of its losses,” it said, adding: that at current low sugar prices, the losses will be over Rs.1,100 crore and if the situation does not improve farmers may seek further help from the Government.Wednesday’s move is among several decisions over the past year to help cane farmers in distress, including steps to improve the liquidity of sugar mills to facilitate the payment of dues, apart from increasing the export incentive on raw sugar.The mills were also extended soft loans worth Rs.4,047 crore to ensure farmers are paid the dues expeditiously. “Furthermore, the government has provided one-year moratorium on this loan, and will bear the interest cost to the extent of Rs.600 crore for the said period,” the note said.The government has has notified mill-wise export quota, laid down norms for supplying enthnol, a byproduct, to fuel retailers and extended performance subsidy to mills that exported at least 80 percent of ther targets pre-notified trgets.
The International Olympic Committee IOC has awar
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the BBC the exclusive broadcast rights in the UK for Olympic events until 2014.The deal covers the winter games in Sochi, Russia in 2014, and Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018 and the summer games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. The location of the 2020 summer games, which the BBC has also acquired rights to, has yet to be decided.The BBC has acquired the broadcast rights across all media platforms, including internet and mobile.Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC said: “I’m delighted that the Olympic Games will continue to be broadcast exclusively on the BBC into the 2020’s. It’s terrific news in the days before BBC Sport begins to cover the London 2012 Games and a tribute to the enduring partnership between the BBC and the Olympic Movement”.
Viacom International Media Networks VIMN has str
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has struck a new distribution deal with pay TV operator RCS&RDS covering Romania and Hungary. The deal will expand the reach of Viacom’s channels Nickelodeon and Comedy Central across RCS&RDS’s Romanian and Hungarian pay networks. Nickelodeon will be available in an additional three million homes in Romania and 500,000 in Hungary from October. The deal expands Comedy Central’s reach in Hungary by 30%, while in Romania Comedy Central Extra will now be available for the first time to RCS&RDS’s three million homes.Bartosz Witak, general manager, CEE and Israel at VIMN said: “RCS-RDS is one of the biggest distribution partners in the Central European region and it plays an especially important role in our regional growth. Therefore, we consider placing our agreement with RCS as one of the great successes of the year.”Separately, VIMN has struck multiple content distribution deals for Nickeoldeon content.In Europe, Ireland’s public service broadcaster RTE and Italian kids’ broadcaster Boing have signed for season 2 of Kung Fu Panda and season 3 of Penguins of Madagascar, while Iceland’s 365 Media has re-licensed Penguins of Madagascar seasons 1 and 2. TV Markiza in Slovakia has taken seasons 1 to 3 of Kung Fu Panda.In the Asia Pacific region, Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting Asia has picked up season 3 of Kung Fu Panda and Penguins of Madagascar and season 1 of Monsters vs Aliens, while in Thailand Medialink Entertainment has picked up 26 episodes of Kung Fu Panda season 2.In Latin America, Bolivia’s ATB has signed for season 3 of Kung Fu Panda and season 1 of sci-fi action comedy Monsters vs Aliens; Uruguay’s Canal 10 has also signed for season 1 of Monsters vs Aliens and season 1 of Penguins of Madagascar. In Ecuador, Teleamazonas has taken season 1 and 2 of Kung Fu Panda and season 3 of Penguins of Madagascar.New Zealand’s public service broadcaster TVNZ has acquired season 2 of Kung Fu Panda and seasons 2 and 3 of Penguins of Madagascar.Finally, Africa’s Atlantic Pictures has signed for season 2 of Kung Fu Panda.
Harmonics Electra X2 media processor Ukraine sate
Harmonic’s Electra X2 media processorUkraine satellite operator Ukrkosmos has selected a Harmonic video compression solution to support its new DTH teleport offering.The state-appointed operator will use Harmonic’s Electra X2 media processor, which provides variable-bitrate encoding of SD and HD video content for live DTH services and will let Ukrkosmos deliver more channels at better video quality.“Our new teleport service is unique to the marketplace, as it allows local DTH operators to use several satellites simultaneously, based on factors such as capacity and geographical location. To get the most out of the teleport’s bandwidth, we needed to partner with an expert in video compression solutions,” said Yuri Balychev, first deputy general director at Ukrkosmos.“Harmonic’s Electra X2 media processor offers bandwidth efficiency, exceptional video quality and scalability giving our customers the means to drive new revenue-generating services now and in the future.”