Tennis: Pliskova squeaks past Puig at Indian Wells…See full details

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Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Mike Hewitt/Getty Images/AFP<br />Mike Hewitt / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

World number three Karolina Pliskova battled back to beat Olympic champion Monica Puig 1-6, 6-4 6-4 on Friday, but says she’ll have to do better to go further at Indian Wells.

“I don’t even think I deserved to win tonight,” third-seeded Czech Pliskova said after recovering from a break down in the third set to reach the third round.

Puig, ranked 43rd in the world, had never taken a set off Pliskova in three prior meetings.

But she was on fire from the baseline early, breaking the big-serving Czech four times in the opening set.

Pliskova, winner of titles in Brisbane and Qatar already this season, was in trouble again in the decisive set, down one break at 0-3

But Pliskova won six of the last seven games to advance despite 34 unforced errors to just 19 winners.

“Hopefully I can get something from it and move on and play better next time,” said Pliskova, who is aiming to improve on her semi-final run at Indian Wells last year.

In other second-round matches, 17-year-old American Kayla Day shocked Australian Open semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to earn a clash with French Open champion Garbine Muguruza.

Day out-lasted the 35-year-old Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, rallying from a break down in the third to advance.

Lucic-Baroni served for the match in the final set, but the young American, who won the US Open junior title last year, kept her nerve.

“It was a really close match throughout the entire match. I think I started to really believe I could win at 6-5 in the third. It was still a really tough game, because I was a little bit tight to close it out. But my serve had been giving her a lot of problems, so I knew if I stuck to my game it might work out.”

Day was looking forward to the challenge offered by seventh-seeded Muguruza, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Belgian veteran Kirsten Flipkens.

Muguruza was firmly in control having raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set before Flipkens began to make inroads on the Spaniard.

“It’s always difficult to close out your first match,” Spain’s Muguruza said. “She’s a very talented player, unbelievable, with a very different game. I got nervous!”

– Konta wins all-Brit battle –

Johanna Konta held off Heather Watson 6-4, 6-4 in an all-British battle.

After pocketing a see-saw first set that saw five breaks of serve, Konta appeared to be on her way with two service breaks for a 4-1 lead in the second.

She hadn’t faced a break point in the second set and was serving for the match at 5-3 when she suddenly dropped her serve with a game bookended by two of her three double-faults of the match.

After Watson held at love, Konta got another chance and didn’t falter, moving on in her first tournament since a foot injury forced her out of the WTA Tour’s Middle East Swing after her quarter-final run at the Australian Open.

“I think there were definitely some moments there I will definitely try to get better and better at as the tournament goes on, and hopefully I will get more opportunities to get more and more match fit,” Konta said.

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All eyes on Blue House as South Korean awaits Park move…Read full details

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South Korean President Park Geun-Hye speaks during an address to the nation, at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on November 29, 2016.<br />South Korea's scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye said Tuesday she was willing to stand down early and would let parliament decide on her fate. / AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO AND POOL / JEON HEON-KYUN

All eyes were on Seoul’s presidential Blue House Saturday as South Koreans awaited ex-president Park Geun-Hye’s reaction to her impeachment and preparations to move into her private residence.

Election authorities expressed concern over growing tensions in the lead-up to polls to elect a new president, while newspaper editorials called for an end to ongoing street protests.

A third person died Saturday in hospital after he lost consciousness the day before in a clash between pro-Park supporters and riot police, near the Constitutional Court which confirmed Park’s impeachment.

The main opposition Democratic Party urged Park to accept the court ruling, accusing her of behaving as if she were rejecting the decision reached unanimously by the court’s eight judges.

News reports said Park was watching television alone in her private presidential room Friday when the country’s highest court announced her dismissal live on air.

An incredulous Park immediately phoned her aides to confirm the verdict, the Chosun Ilbo daily said.

Her aides told the newspaper she had no immediate plans to issue a statement on the court decision or her future course of action.

“The president was apparently stunned at the ruling. She looked dejected”, an unidentified aide was quoted as saying.

“She wants to keep to herself for a while”, he added.

Park will leave the Blue House only after her private house in prosperous southern Seoul is repaired and cleaned to accommodate her and her security detail.

TV footage showed materials being unloaded from a small truck parked outside the two-storey house.

Police said more than 200 officers were deployed around the area.

Park is obliged to move out of the presidential palace, where she has been holed up for more than 90 days after the National Assembly voted for her impeachment in October.

The court’s verdict upholding her impeachment immediately stripped her of all powers and privileges, except for her security.

Park was found to have broken the law by allowing her friend Choi Soon-Sil to meddle in state affairs, and breached rules on public servants’ activities.

The ruling also removed her presidential immunity to criminal indictment.

– Journalists attacked –

Park has already been named a criminal suspect, accused of bribery for offering policy favours to firms that benefited Choi.

For months she has refused to make herself available for questioning by prosecutors probing the scandal.

But that may no longer be an option once she leaves the Blue House, when she could face formal arrest if she refuses a summons.

South Korea’s top election official Kim Yong-Deok said in a statement there was “growing concern” over the highly charged atmosphere ahead of an election which must take place no later than on May 9.

“The vote must serve as a chance to overcome divisions and conflicts and achieve national unity and harmony”, he said in a speech aired live on TV.

Yonhap news agency said the third victim was a 74-year-old man who collapsed during a demonstration near the Constitutional Court.

A demonstrator died the day before after being hit on the head by a speaker that fell from the top of a police bus when a protestor commandeered the vehicle and drove it into police barricades.

Police arrested the 60-year-old protestor and several others for violent behaviour.

Pro-Park protestors assaulted photographers and TV crew members, leaving them with cuts and bruises.

Police issued a statement vowing to track down and punish unruly protestors as pro-Park supporters planned to hold fresh demonstrations near the Constitutional Court and in the city centre on Saturday afternoon.

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Playboi Carti Ft Lil Uzi Vert – Woke Up Like This [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Playboi Carti’s debut mixtape might be right around the corner. Last month, Carti was spotted working in the studio with Metro Boomin, who informed us that Carti’s tape was “coming soon,” and now the ATL trapper is dropping new music for us. Following up the mastered version of “Broke Boi” last week, Carti decides to come through today and liberate a new single with Philly’s own self proclaimed rockstar, Lil Uzi Vert, called “Woke Up Like This”

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A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie Ft Kodak Black – Drowning (Water) [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Back in February, a record titled “Water” by A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Kodak Black surfaced online. Turns out the track was leaked, and nearly a month later the official version is here. Renamed “Drowning (Water),” the song finds Highbride the Label’s star artist and the Pompano Beach rapper enjoying the successes of their newfound wealth and fame

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Playboi Carti Ft Lil Uzi Vert – Lookin [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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A$AP Mob affiliate Playboi Carti has been talking about his debut mixtape since last year when he first made the announcement. With the new year in full swing, fans may potentially have their first taste of the upcoming project as the Atlanta rapper releases a new song titled “Lookin.” In tact with his go-to sound, Carti enlists Lil’ Uzi Vert on the song, which can be purchased now on iTunes.
“Honestly yo, I didn’t come in the game trying to make a mixtape. My mixtape too fire. I just been listening to other dude’s tapes and shit,” Carti tells XXL when speaking about the mixtape’s delay. “I feel like ni**as really be on my shit. That’s why I’m picky about what I put on my SoundCloud. That’s why I’m taking time with my [first] mixtape. I‘m going crazy. If you look on my tracks, bro, it shows you my progression.”

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AUDIO/VIDEO: Trey Songz – She Lovin It [Mp3 + Lyrics]

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Leading up to the release of his 7th studio LP Tremaine: The Album, Trey Songz is putting out a new record and accompanying music video every Thursday. After the latest episode of VH1’s Tremaine the Playboy debuted on Thursday night (Mar. 9), Trigga returns with this week’s offering “She Lovin It.”

 Continuing from where “Playboy”, “Nothing Else But You” and “Song Goes Off” left off, the R&B heartthrob and on-screen love interest Kreesha Turner have fun exploring their sexual chemistry in the steamy NSFW video

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Mavin Records Present : Johnny Drille – “Wait For Me” (Watch Video)

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Mavin Records Signee Johnny Drille drops the video for the single “Wait For Me” released in 2015. Wait for me is a break from the norm we listen to every day and Johnny Drille’s music is just UNIQUE!! Period!!

Watch below..

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Samsung heir denies charges at preliminary hearing…Read full details

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Samsung Group's heir-apparent Lee Jae-Yong (C) arrives for questioning at the office of a special prosecutor investigating a corruption scandal in Seoul on February 18, 2017. Handcuffed and bound with ropes, the heir of electronics giant Samsung appeared for questioning on February 18 over his alleged involvement in the corruption scandal currently engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.<br />str / YONHAP / AFP

The heir to the Samsung business empire denies all charges in connection with a wide-ranging corruption scandal, his lawyers told a preliminary hearing Thursday.

Lee Jae-Yong, 48, was not present at Seoul Central District court for the hearing, which comes as his giant company — the world’s biggest smartphone maker — struggles to recover from a recall scandal.

Lee, the vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, is being held in custody on accusations of bribery, corruption, perjury and other offences stemming from a scandal that has seen President Park Geun-Hye impeached. Four other Samsung executives have also been charged.

“Everyone denies all the charges,” a defence lawyer told the court at the hearing, which lasted little more than an hour.

The prosecutors’ formal indictment was sketchy, with some of the accusations lacking clear evidence and only circumstantial, the defence said.

The accused allegedly paid nearly $40 million in bribes to Park’s close friend Choi Soon-Sil to secure policy favours.

The courtroom was about 80 percent full, with dozens of reporters, students and a handful of middle-aged and elderly citizens.

When one of Lee’s attorneys finished reading his statement, an elderly lady abruptly stood up from her seat and shouted: “Can a member of the public ask a question?”

Her request was rejected by the judge, and she was removed by security when she persisted.

Lee has effectively been at the helm of Samsung since his father suffered a heart attack in 2014.

One of the favours which Lee allegedly sought from Park was state approval for a controversial merger in 2015 of two Samsung units seen as a key step to ensure a smooth transfer of power to him.

The deal was opposed by many shareholders who said it had wilfully undervalued shares of one of the two firms. But it eventually went through after the national pension fund — a major Samsung shareholder — approved it.

– Family ties –
The corruption scandal centres on Choi, who is accused of using her close ties with the president to force local firms to “donate” nearly $70 million to non-profit foundations, which Choi allegedly used for personal gain.

Samsung, South Korea’s largest business group with revenues equivalent to about a fifth of the country’s GDP, was the single biggest donor to the foundations.

It is also accused of separately giving millions of euros to Choi to bankroll her daughter’s equestrian training in Germany.

Lee’s arrest, the first for a Samsung chief, sent shockwaves through the company and triggered the announcement of a major reform of its top-down management style.

The scandal has cast a renewed light on the cosy ties traditionally enjoyed by the government and the family-controlled conglomerates known as “chaebols” that dominate the country’s economy.

The groups have increasingly become objects of public scorn as criticisms mount over their management practices, including rapid promotions for family members — some of whose antics have battered the firms’ images.

An heir to Hanwha Group — South Korea’s eighth-largest conglomerate — was convicted and given a suspended jail sentence on Wednesday on charges including assault after a drunken brawl at a bar.

Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans taking part in weekly street rallies demanding Park’s removal have also called for the arrest of the tycoons involved in the scandal, including the leaders of Hyundai, SK and Lotte.

Thursday’s hearing came a day before the Constitutional Court rules on whether to uphold Park’s impeachment by parliament.

If it does, Park would become the first-ever South Korean president to be sacked by impeachment, and a presidential election would be held within 60 days.

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UN chief Guterres in Somalia to discuss famine threat…Read full details

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is seen on a TV screen while addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 27, 2017 in Geneva. The United Nations Human Rights Council opens its main annual session, with the US taking its seat for the first time under President Donald Trump's leadeships. / AFP PHOTO / Fabrice COFFRINI

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Somalia Tuesday to discuss a hunger crisis which has pushed the country to the verge of famine with new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

“The combination of conflict, drought, climate change, diseases and cholera is a nightmare,” Guterres told journalists during the flight to Mogadishu.

“It’s essentially a visit of solidarity with Somalia. We are trying to put in place a response mechanism… for trying to prevent the worst”.

Guterres will meet the newly elected president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, in the highly secured airport zone, which is protected by African Union peacekeepers and which houses the offices of the UN and humanitarian organisations.

It is only the third visit by a UN secretary general to Somalia since 1993 — two years after then president Siad Barre was overthrown, plunging the country into civil war.

Guterres’ predecessor Ban Ki-moon visited in 2011 just months after the country’s last famine which was Africa’s worst in 20 years and left 260,000 people dead. He returned in 2014.

A fierce drought has left some three million people in Somalia facing severe hunger and placed the country on famine alert.

On Saturday Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said at least 110 people had died in 48 hours from “droughts and acute watery diarrhoea” caused by lack of food, medicine and access to safe drinking water.

In South Sudan 100,000 people are already suffering from a “man-made” famine due to three years of civil war.

This means 20 percent of the population in the affected area has extremely limited access to basic food, acute malnutrition is higher than 30 percent, and more than two per 10,000 people are dying every day.

Overall, more than 20 million people face starvation in Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria in an unprecedented four simultaneous famine alerts.

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Thais in the mood for love, as Valentine’s Day fever sweeps the nation

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A health worker holds up vitamins for married women who want to conceive, as part of the Thai Health Ministry's "Red-Cheeked Thai Women Bear Children For the Nation with Wonderful Vitamins" campaign, on Valentine's Day at the central post office in Bang Rak, or "Love Village", district in Bangkok on February 14, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

Babies dressed as cupids, underwater weddings and a government vitamin giveaway to encourage procreation were all part of Thailand’s imaginative and bizarre events Tuesday to mark Valentine’s Day.

The Land of Smiles embraces February 14 like few other countries in Southeast Asia, with Bangkok awash with pop-up flower stalls and a roster of romantic gestures unfurling across the country.

The junta government led the love-in, doling out heart-shaped boxes of free iron and folic acid supplements in a bid to help healthy pregnancies and stimulate the kingdom’s birthrate.

“In 1970, a family had an average of six children but now it’s 1.6,” Wachira Pengjuntr, director-general of the Department of Health, told AFP.

“In the past people ate better food, more vegetables and fruits but now lifestyles have changed… so we want to encourage more births.”

In the southern tourist hotspot of Trang, couples were offered the opportunity to marry underwater — in full wedding dress and diving gear — in an annual publicity stunt aimed at boosting visitor numbers.

And babies at one Bangkok maternity ward were dressed up with wings to resemble the god of love.

Even Thailand’s fractious political arena, a stage more accustomed to the delivery of brickbats than bouquets, could not escape Cupid’s arrow.

In a widely trailed “Day of Love”, the junta opened reconciliation talks with some political players in an effort to bridge a decade of conflict that has seen two democratic governments upended by coups.

Thailand’s normally stern Prime Minister Prayut Cha-O-Cha was also in an affectionate mood following a poll saying just over half the country wanted to give him flowers for Valentine’s Day.

“I have love for everyone — all 70 million Thais every day — not only on Valentine’s Day. I have roses for you everyday. Thank you,” he told reporters.

Thai polling data is often criticised as politically slanted.

Still the junta’s unbridled passion for Valentine’s Day was a contrast to more po-faced approaches in previous years — in 2015 the generals urged young people to have a special meal or visit temples instead of having sex.

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Chazelle wins top DGA prize for ‘La La Land’…Read full details

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Damien Chazelle (L), winner of the Best Director in a Feature Film Award for "La La Land," poses with last year's winner director Alejandro G. Inarritu, in the press room at the 69th Annual Directors’ Guild Awards (DGA) in Beverly Hills, California on February 4, 2017. PHOTO: Mark Ralston / AFP

US filmmaker Damien Chazelle’s bid for Oscars glory was boosted Saturday as he took top prize at the Directors Guild of America honors — a key predictor for the Academy Awards.

Chazelle was crowned best director for his dreamy tribute to the heyday of Hollywood musicals, “La La Land,” three weeks ahead of the glittering culmination of Hollywood’s annual awards season.

The 32-year-old has already scooped two Golden Globes for directing and writing “La La Land,” a sumptuous throwback to the halcyon days of Old Hollywood.

A darling of this awards season, his movie has amassed a record seven Globes and 14 nominations for the Oscars, including for best picture, best director and for its two stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

“Movies are powerful because they speak to everyone. They speak to all countries, all cultures,” Chazelle, whose father is French-American, told fellow filmmakers at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

A feature of speeches during the awards season has been criticism or mocking of US President Donald Trump, and the DGAs were no different.

Chazelle berated the Republican for his travel ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries — put on hold for now by a federal judge — which would stop filmmakers like Oscar-nominated Iranian Asghar Farhadi attending the Academy Awards.

“That’s the most beautiful idea of all — that art can make someone anywhere in the world feel like they are a bit bigger than they ever imagined,” Chazelle added.

The director edged out Kenneth Lonergan, nominated for visceral family drama “Manchester by the Sea” — another film seen as top contender for Oscar glory on February 26.

“Manchester” was nominated for five Golden Globes in January but only ended up taking home the best actor prize for Casey Affleck.

– Vision –

The DGA awards are seen as a reliable bellwether of Academy Awards success, particularly for the best director prize, as 12 of the last 13 winners went on to win the Oscar for best director.

Presenters at Saturday’s star-studded event for 1,600 guests included Affleck, Gosling, Stone, Michael Fassbender, Nicole Kidman and Alejandro G. Inarritu, who won the top prize at the last two ceremonies.

The other nominees for best director were Barry Jenkins for coming-of-age story “Moonlight,” Denis Villeneuve for alien visitation movie “Arrival,” and Garth Davis, for adoption drama “Lion.”

Davis walked away with a medallion for best first-time feature, and thanked his cast — including Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel — for their courage.

“There’s no doubt as a director I was lucky I was gifted with such a magnificent cast and beautiful story,” he said, dedicating the award to the movie’s child actors.

A native of Rhode Island, Chazelle was inspired at a very young age by Edward Zwick’s epic civil war film “Glory” (1989), and had always planned to become a filmmaker but took up jazz drumming in high school.

His experiences were the inspiration for his darkly comic “Whiplash” (2014) — the intense story of the stormy relationship between a bullying teacher and his jazz drumming student.

“His dream can produce enough energy to power the state of Ohio for 11 days and he invented the color burnt umber,” Gosling joked before adding that Chazelle has “great vision, unbridled creativity and is a real collaborator.”

Veteran British director and producer Ridley Scott was presented with a lifetime achievement award by fellow filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who credited him with enabling “a transformation in our visual culture.”

“No experience is ever wasted. You grow a little each time. If you don’t, you’re a fool,” the 79-year-old “Alien” director said.

“Try not to punch people — I’ve come close quite a few times,” he advised aspiring directors.

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