A junior judo event in Dagestan erupted into a mass melee as competitors and dozens of fans traded blows.
The tournament at the Ali Aliyev Sport Complex in Kaspiysk witnessed ugly scenes as the brawl was captured on camera and quickly shared across social media on Saturday.
Footage of the carnage starts with one of the competitors seen leaning over the barriers, throwing punches.
By that point a broader punch-up is already underway as dozens of spectators trade blows.
Десятки зрителей устроили массовую драку в Каспийске прямо во время Первенства СКФО по дзюдо среди юниоров. В побоище участвовали даже спортсмены. pic.twitter.com/cauanYwMme
The brawling competitor was then seen returning to the mat, where he throws out punches and kicks at several fans.
It’s unclear what exactly sparked the mass ruckus, although judo trainer Khabib Magomedov later claimed that the unrest had not been started by either of the competitors on the mat.
“It all started when the athletes wrestled for more than 10 minutes. One of the Dagestani spectators either shouted, or waved his hand, or shouted ‘Hurray!’, And the Ossetian fans did not like it,” Magomedov was quoted as saying.
“And a fight began which the athletes were dragged into, as an eyewitnesses explained to me.”
A plastic surgeon in California attended a virtual court hearing in relation to a traffic violation from an operating theater while a patient was on the table. The court was not exactly pleased with his multitasking, however.
The usually mundane traffic violation hearing at Sacramento Superior Court was spiced up this week when the defendant, Dr. Scott Green attended via Zoom from his surgery room, baffling other participants. The bizarre in-court surgery, which was livestreamed online, was first reported by the Sacramento Bee newspaper.
“Hello, Mr. Green? Hi. Are you available for trial?” the courtroom clerk asked the defendant, who was wearing a full surgical garb with a patient lying just out of the camera’s view.
“It kind of looks like you’re in an operating room right now?”
As a police officer who was summonsed for the trial raised her eyebrows in disbelief, the doctor acknowledged that he was operating but said he was ready to partake in the trial anyway.
Yes, I’m in an operating room right now. Yes, I’m available for trial. Go right ahead.
“I have another surgeon right here who’s doing the surgery with me, so I can stand here and allow them to do the surgery also,” Green explained, as he apparently continued to work while waiting for the judge to enter the group call.
When Court Commissioner Gary Link appeared, he was baffled by the scene as well, hesitating to proceed with the hearing. Ultimately, he postponed the trial, saying that he would set a new date when the defendant was “not actively involved or participating and attending to the needs of a patient.” Green signaled that the surgery had turned out to be more complicated than expected.
The bizarre combination of surgery with legal proceedings did not escape the eye of California’s Medical Board, and now Dr. Green might find himself in more trouble on top of the alleged traffic violation. The board said on Saturday that it was “aware of the incident and will be looking into it, as it does with all complaints it receives.”
Green himself was not exactly talkative and ignored most requests for comment from the US media. Asked by NBC News about the affair and the Bee’s report, the doctor claimed it was “not accurate and I have nothing to say” before hanging up on the reporters.
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With Donald Trump out of office and after Ricky Gervais’ take-no-prisoners performance last year, the Golden Globes won’t get political this year, host Tina Fey said. “I wonder why?” commenters replied.
Tina Fey and Amy Poelher were announced last January as this year’s hosts, after comedian Ricky Gervais used his hosting gig to roast the elitism of the virtue-signalling celebrities in attendance.
Gervais’ Jeffrey Epstein jokes must have touched a nerve, as Fey and Poehler are about as far from his brand of edgy, offensive humor as possible, and they’ve promised a toned-down show this year.
“We just want to make it a fun hang out for people at home, kind of a stress reliever,” Fey told podcaster Jill Rappaport this week. “So I don’t think you can expect much politics at all. It doesn’t seem like a venue for political jokes.”
Much like at any star-studded awards ceremony, political jokes were a given at the Golden Globes during Donald Trump’s term in office. Jimmy Fallon fired off some groan-inducing Trump jokes in 2017 (several referencing Russia, of course), and Meryl Streep followed them up with a rambling tirade against Trump’s supposedly “racist” rhetoric. Seth Meyers used the stage to bash Trump again the following year, and Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh gave the president a pass in 2019, opting instead to celebrate the “diversity” of Hollywood.
However, cynical commenters suspected that Fey and Poehler were putting down politics this year because Trump, a reliable punching bag for liberal entertainers, is finally out of office.
“Maybe because the people she would have to make fun of are on the blue team?” one commenter wrote. “Political jokes were fine when it was red team being made fun of and called out.”
This year’s show broadcasts on Sunday night, but Fey and Poehler won’t even be in the same room. The show is a virtual one, with Fey presenting from New York and Poehler from Los Angeles, with no live audience at all.
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Golf stars are set to honor Tiger Woods following his recent car accident by wearing Woods' famous red and black colors during the final day of WGC-Workday Championship - but fans are wondering if the tributes are necessary.
Woods suffered serious injuries to his legs in a crash in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning in which he lost control of his SUV as it struck a center median, crossed into an opposing lane of traffic before hitting a tree and rolling over several times.
The 15-time Major winner has since been transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he is being treated for his injuries as he recovers from compound fractures, as well as a shattered ankle.
The accident slammed the door shut on Woods' proposed comeback at the Masters in August in early April after back surgery - and has left significant questions as to whether or not Woods will ever compete at the top level of golf again.
But some of Tiger's peers, including Northern Irish star Rory MacIlroy, have reportedly made clear that they will honor the injured player at the upcoming WGC-Workday Championship event by wearing Wood's famous red and black colors on the course.
.@McIlroyRory will wear black pants and a red shirt in the final round of the @WGCWorkday to show support for @TigerWoods. I’m certain he won’t be the only one.
Fans feared the worst when news of Woods' accident began filtering out over social media, and doubly-so when images of the golfer's wrecked SUV began traversing the social media landscape.
Some were reminded of the initial reports some 13 months prior of the helicopter crash which cost the lives of another United States sports superstar, Kobe Bryant.
Woods, thankfully, escaped significant injury - but some critics of the the tribute say that it is an overly-effusive one for the golfer, who didn't suffer any life-threatening injuries in the horror smash.
You guys know he’s still alive...right? This “tribute” is so bizarre to me.
Woods has remained tight-lipped since Tuesday's crash, with a carefully manicured statement appearing on his social media on Saturday which said that the golfer was "recovering and in good spirits", while also requesting "continued privacy".
But he will no doubt have heard of the tribute planned for him by McIlroy and others - even if a section of his more hardline supporters don't exactly think it is necessary.
And you can be sure that Nike, the apparel brand who have sponsored Woods for much of his career, will be overjoyed that Woods' famous black & red color scheme will be center stage at upcoming golf events, even when their big-money business partner is off the fairway for the time being.
Archaeologists are gushing after “an extraordinary find” of a perfectly preserved chariot with “no parallel in Italy thus far” was made at Pompeii.
The “exceptional discovery” has already been described by one expert in the ancient world as the equivalent of discovering a Roman-era sports car.
“Many of the vehicles I’d written about before ... are your standard station wagon or vehicle for taking the kids to soccer. This is a Lamborghini. This is an outright fancy, fancy car,” said Eric Poehler, a classics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The chariot boasts four iron wheels, with luxurious metal arm and backrests, and a comfortable seat for two people, all adorned with iron components, and beautiful bronze and tin decorations featuring satyrs, nymphs, and cupids.
The chariot managed to survive in such pristine condition as it was stored in a portico that shielded it from both the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried Pompeii nearly 2,000 years ago, and those of subsequent centuries. During that initial eruption, the portico’s walls and ceiling collapsed and packed the site with volcanic ash.
Over the centuries, looters and grave robbers had tunneled through the area, located some 23km (14 miles) to the southeast of Naples, but had somehow managed to avoid digging through the exact point where the ‘sports car’ chariot was stored.
Since it was discovered on January 7, archaeologists have undertaken weeks of painstaking work at the Unesco World Heritage Site to unveil the long-lost Lambo’. The Pompeii team used specialized techniques to remove it without damaging it or its surroundings because, given how many treasures the lost city is still throwing up to this day, this may well not be the last.
Canelo Alvarez didn't have much time for two ring-crashers attempting to promote the upcoming Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren fight, as he kicked the pair out of the ring while giving his post-fight interview after beating Avni Yildirim.
It was very much 'business as usual' for Mexican superstar Canelo in Miami, Florida Satrday night as he earned the 55th win of his career, forcing the outmatched Turk to quit on his stool at the end of the third round - but as he dissected the win in his post-fight interview, a commotion caught the Mexican's eye.
Just behind him in the ring, a pair of unknown masked men were seen wearing T-shirts promoting the upcoming Paul vs. Askren fight on April 17 before Canelo angrily motioned for them to leave, with the broadcast catching audio of the Mexican star appearing to refer to the opportunistic duo as "f*ckers."
The motivations of the pair - beyond simply promoting April's fight - is unclear, but Canelo has made clear his opposition to the current trend of YouTube stars entering the world of boxing, while also reserving some harsh words for the Paul brothers.
Last year, Canelo bemoaned the Paul brothers' newfound influence in the sport, saying that they were "disrespecting boxing".
"I truly believe that it’s a lack of respect. It’s all based on money. It’s all for money. I’m focused right now on other projects," Canelo told TMZ about the potential of a fight with Logan Paul.
"I have other stuff going on, and I would invite him for a sparring session so that he truly knows what it’s all about."
Whether or not this was a coordinated effort by the Pauls to get back at Canelo for some of his prior comments remains to be seen but one can expect that Triller, who will broadcast the April fight between Paul and Askren, would certainly have been pleased with the free advertising.
Vanessa Bryant, the widow of late NBA icon Kobe Bryant, has hit out at actress Evan Rachel Wood over a tweet she posted in the aftermath of the basketball star’s death in which Wood labeled Bryant “a rapist.”
“What has happened is tragic. I am heartbroken for Kobe's family,” Wood had tweeted last year in the aftermath of the helicopter crash in California which killed Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others.
“He was a sports hero. He was also a rapist. And all of these truths can exist simultaneously.”
Despite the tweet being in existence for more than a year, it has only just been seen by Vanessa Bryant, who this weekend posted her fury at the “vile” comments from the Westworld actress.
LA Lakers icon Bryant was accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old Colorado hotel employee in 2003, although the charges were later dropped when the woman declined to testify.
She later brought a civil case against Bryant, which was settled out of court in 2005.
Following Bryant’s death at the age of 41, Wood wasn’t the only one to drag up the rape allegations against the star.
On January 29 of last year, film producer Abigail Disney tweeted: "The man was a rapist. Deal with it."
Vanessa Bryant also shared that tweet with the same message she had sent to Wood.
The tweets are along the same lines as a message last year which saw Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez get suspended, after she posted a link to a story about Bryant’s rape case just hours after the basketball star’s death.
Sonmez was later reinstated by the paper, but not before receiving a massive backlash including death threats.
Elsewhere, it was reported this weekend that lawyers for Vanessa Bryant had filed a complaint to name and shame the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who shared “unauthorized” photos of her husband and daughter and other victims of the helicopter crash which killed them.
Earlier in February, officials at the US National Transportation Safety Board concluded that helicopter pilot Ara Zobayan had violated safety rules when he decided to fly through thick cloud on the day of the crash.
Zobayan was likely experiencing "spatial disorientation in limited visibility conditions" when he crashed into the hillside in Calabasas, officials said.
At least two arrests were made after a mostly peaceful protest in Portland turned violent. Banks and other businesses were trashed as beleaguered residents pleaded with protesters to “go home!” and leave them in peace.
A group of dozens of people were reportedly demonstrating against immigration policy under the Biden administration in the Pearl District in downtown Portland, but quickly began vandalizing the area.
Businesses had their windows smashed, vehicles were vandalised and graffiti was sprayed over a number of walls in the area, as video uploaded to social media purports to show.
Video also purported to show residents arguing with the 'protesters' telling them to 'go home' and berating them for haranguinging an old man walking with a cane as he crossed the street. As protesters shouted "Go home!" at the police, so too did residents shout "Go home!" at the protesters.
People who live in the Pearl are fighting back with words - yelling at members of the group to stop threatening an older man they are targeting. #koin6news#pdx#pnwpic.twitter.com/qGgGYnQP5z
A Chipotle restaurant on Northwest Lovejoy Street was attacked with patrons still inside at approximately 9:30pm.
Overnight, #antifa destroyed numerous businesses in Portland's Pearl District as part of a pre-planned riot. People were inside this Chipotle at 1201 NW Lovejoy when antifa attacked the building. Watch this video with sound on. #PortlandRiotspic.twitter.com/2LfMAaSrjy
Several other businesses were trashed and at least two people were arrested: one 31-year-old male for criminal mischief and one 17-year-old male for interfering with a peace officer.
Portland Police declared the protest "destructive" at roughly 10pm and ordered the crowds to disperse and “immediately stop participating in criminal activity.”
Bicycle mounted police arrived on scene, one of whom crashed into a person wearing a 'press' vest, sparking a ferocious war of words and shouting match between police and protesters at an intersection.
Video of Portland Police finally arriving to the #antifa riot in NW Portland. An officer on a bicycle runs into one of the men standing in the street. He has "press" markings on his clothing. #PortlandRiotspic.twitter.com/O1BofCVEnd
Portland police said they had limited resources to respond to the riot, as they had to deal with multiple shooting incidents happening across the city.
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Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez overpowered Avni Yildirim to retain his WBC and WBA super-middleweight titles as the Mexican star forced the Turkish mandatory challenger to quit on his stool after the third round out their contest Florida.
In a heavily one-sided contest, Alvarez bludgeoned Yildirim with some brutal body shots, also dropping him in the third round with a straight right hand.
The challenger recovered to see out the round, but rather than see their man take more punishment, Yildirim’s corner stepped in to wave off the fight despite the Turk appearing to signal he would be willing to continue.
Such was Alvarez’s dominance, that seemed like a kind decision as the Mexican picked apart a mostly static target in a routine night’s work for a man who recorded the 55th win of his 58-fight professional career.
Alvarez threw 67 punches to Yildirim's 11 during the three rounds, with observers claiming the Turkish fighter was nothing more than a punchbag.
Just caught up with the
Canelo v Yildirim fight, all about levels, Yildirim shouldn’t of been in there, had been out of the ring for two years and it showed, was nothing more than a punch bag for Canelo. Looking forward to
Canelo v Saunders May 8th 🥊🔥
The promoters clearly knew how the fight would pan out.
The dust had barely settled at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens before they announced that British WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders would be next up for Alvarez in May.
"No one has done it, I want to make history,” said Alvarez, 30, of his unification fight with Saunders, which could see him move closer to being crowned the first-ever undisputed champion at 168lbs in boxing history.
The fourth major belt at 168lbs is held by Caleb Plant, an unbeaten American.
Alvarez added: "I don’t want to be equal to anyone. I want to make my own history and when they talk about boxing that they always remember: Canelo. I respect everyone in history, but I want to make my own history and I respect everyone.”
Brit boxer Saunders, 31, is unbeaten in 30 fights and has held the WBO super-middleweight title since beating Shefat Isufi in May 2019.
Four-division world champion Alvarez is widely regarded as boxing’s pound-for-pound king.
The only blemishes on his remarkable record came in a majority decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather in 2013 and two draws – one against fellow Mexican Jorge Juarez early in his career, and another against Kazakh rival Gennady Golovkin in 2018.
In the latter case, Alvarez would rectify that with a decision victory 12 months later.
A new Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson has been approved for emergency use in the US. The jab, which comes in a single-shot form, has already been rolled out in South Africa.
The US has now approved its third vaccine, with the J&J jab joining Pfizer and Moderna in the ongoing battle against the coronavirus.
“The authorization of this vaccine expands the availability of vaccines, the best medical prevention method for Covid-19, to help us in the fight against this pandemic, which has claimed over half a million lives in the United States,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement late on Saturday.
Unlike most of the anti-coronavirus solutions already present in the market, the J&J jab comes in a single-dose form, making its distribution considerably easier. It can also be stored in regular refrigerators, while both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require extremely low temperatures to prevent spoiling.
The pharma giant unveiled the results of the vaccine’s late-stage trials last month. The J&J shot demonstrated rather modest efficacy, averaging 66 percent. It has been tested across several countries and showed mixed results ranging from 72 percent in the United States to a mere 57 percent in South Africa.
Johnson & Johnson submitted its vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO) last week, seeking approval for its emergency use on the international field. The authorization would give the company the option to join the COVAX program, led by the UN’s health watchdog.
So far, the J&J vaccine has only seen action in South Africa, after the country hastily searched for new options when its mass vaccination campaign stalled. South Africa began its immunization drive early in February, using the AstraZeneca vaccine. The process, however, was halted just a few days after its start, due to a limited-scope study that suggested the shot fared extremely poorly against the local extra-contagious Covid-19 variant.
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The Texas freeze that led to numerous blackouts has made the state painfully aware of the shortcomings of its power grid, but the real problem is much larger, and goes way beyond Texas.
We have just witnessed the damage caused by poorly designed energy grids—rolling blackouts, skyrocketing electricity prices, people sleeping in their cars and in one insulated room to keep warm. At the same time a weaponized right wing media swings into action blaming wind turbines and the green new deal for Texas’s energy woes. There is a pattern here. These are variants of stories told after California’s forest fires and resulting power outages. But we see no easy end of power outages that have plagued electricity supply in recent years while adverse weather events seem to get more frequent and impactful. (See Figure 1)
But this is the bottom line. In a way an electric system is like maintaining a car. Spend adequately on repairs maintenance etc. and reliable performance is reasonably assured. Or one could skimp repeatedly on maintenance, save a lot of money over the years and take one's chances on vehicle reliability. The electric system in Texas was built it appears around the latter proposition. Their reserve margins are the lowest in the country (about eight percent). And this is the third time the electric system failed to perform adequately in winter (1989, 2011 and 2021). Our point here is that any system that consistently fails in this manner regardless of the governance regime is designed that way— despite claims and protests to the contrary. This is a big problem for any region because an increasingly digital economy requires highly reliable electricity service. And what is being provided at present in ERCOT is anything but.
Figure 1. Major disturbances and unusual occurrences on USA electric grids
Now let’s add another ingredient to the mix. Automobile makers are in a very clear transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles. A key step we believe to decarbonize the economy. But first as a society we have to decarbonize our electricity supply, and then sell decarbonized electricity to the transportation sector (which plan, if successfully executed could reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent or more).
But how will the electricity grid handle this incremental demand from the transportation sector well as the needs of existing customers under the increasingly stressful conditions imposed by climate change? One obvious answer: upgrade and expand. If the grid does not, outsiders — including industrial consumers acting to protect their individual electric supply — will.
We have previously written that decarbonizing and modernizing the US’s existing electricity plant (whose average age is 35 years) could cost $7-8 trillion. Electricity suppliers might need 20 years to complete the job, meaning $350-400 billion per year to get into shape. Currently, they spend about $150 billion per year which means a lot of catching up to do.
Those numbers look huge, but the actual payments will stretch out over decades like a mortgage. And financings of this magnitude will make little dent in US capital markets, where the electricity industry accounts for only 3-4 percent of total capital expenditures and financing. In order to pay for new equipment, without government subsidy, we calculate that electricity suppliers would have to raise prices by 3 - 4 percent per year in real terms. (Academic studies optimistically calculate no price increase under the right operating conditions.) The electric bill equals about two percent of the US’s gross domestic product and the household bill about two percent of household income. Paying for modernization and decarbonization together, spread over decades, would add about $45 each year to the average household electric bill. Not an enormous burden, and one that could be spread to mitigate financial hardship.
Admittedly, we should view long term projections with caution. Markets, technology, institutions and solutions change over time. What the numbers show, at best, is that the electric industry can finance modernization and decarbonization without placing undue burdens on consumers. That should be enough to encourage faster action.
What will encourage the industry to raise the ante? Legislation in Congress reprises Obama administration policies: a mix of emissions restrictions, generous tax handouts and regulatory incentives. The industry pushed back then and might do so again, considering that the courts have become friendlier to business. Overall, greenhouse gas emissions per kwh generated fell about two percent per year during the Obama presidency and three percent per year during Trump’s term, largely for economic reasons. Generators shifted from burning coal (high carbon content) to natural gas (lower carbon content) because gas was cheaper. In order to approach zero in 20 years, greenhouse gas emissions per kwh must fall more than ten percent a year.
We believe that policy makers would accelerate decarbonization and modernization of the electricity sector by making it a business opportunity for electric companies to embrace rather than as an environmental compliance problem, using tried and true components such as securitization to pay for the most polluting regulated power stations if retired promptly, granting higher returns on assets that support decarbonization, and a bonus to electric companies for the fossil-free electricity that they produce or deliver. Add a Federal guarantee for the securitization bonds or any other deferrals designed to smooth the price impact of the capital program, and that will lower costs to consumers at practically no cost to the government.
(For details of proposed policies, see blog page, lenhyman.com.) Businesspeople do not oppose or stall policies that might raise their profits.
We can’t argue that with the notion that recent polar vortex events or summer wildfires reveal serious shortfalls in electricity regulation, governance and market structure. And this includes lack of financial accountability. But from an operating perspective we also see inadequate reserve capacity, plants in the wrong place or unable to stand up to severe weather. Combine those inadequacies with the need to decarbonize, and it all adds up to a lot of capital spending. Even if the energy market decentralizes—we would think the ERCOT disaster drives people away—some public or private corporation has to spend money for a modernized electricity grid. And needless to say energy consumers will eventually pay. However the good news is if we start this massive grid redesign and rebuilding process now at least the cost of money is very low.
By Leonard Hyman and William Tilles for Oilprice.com
