bingger.net

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Dirk Kuyt, Dutch footballer and captain of Dutch football club Feyenoord, on Wednesday announced retirement from football.

The 36-year-old forward said, “To me this feels like the right time to retire. I have had two fantastic years here since returning to Feyenoord, with this season’s title as the absolute pinnacle. I had the dream of winning trophies and becoming a champion with Feyenoord. All my dreams have come true.” ^{((nl))Dutch language: ?Voor mij voelt dit als het juiste moment om te stoppen. Na mijn terugkeer naar Feyenoord heb ik hier twee fantastische jaren gehad, met de landstitel van dit seizoen als absoluut hoogtepunt. Ik kwam terug om prijzen te winnen en kampioen te worden met Feyenoord. Al mijn dromen zijn verwezenlijkt.} On Sunday, Kuyt scored a hat trick as Feyenoord won their first Dutch League title Eredivisie since 1999.

On Sunday, Kuyt scored a hat-trick as Feyenoord won their first Dutch league title Eredivisie since 1999. Kuyt’s nineteen-year footballing career started at FC Utrecht. He won one KNVB Cup (Dutch Cup) with them. Kuyt moved to Feyenoord Rotterdam in 2003 after five seasons at Utrecht. He was top-scorer of the club in all three season at the Rotterdam club.

The Dutchman joined English club Liverpool F.C. in 2006. Six seasons with the Merseyside club, Kuyt netted 71 goals in 285 appearances. In 2012, he won the English Cup, his only trophy with the Reds. In his debut season for Liverpool, Kuyt won the silver medal in the UEFA Champions League, losing to Italian giants A.C. Milan.

Kuyt spent three seasons with Turkish club Fenerbahçe winning the Süper Lig (Turkish league title), Turkish Cup and Turkish Super Cup before moving to Feyenoord. He won a KNVB Cup and Eredivisie in two seasons in his second spell at the club. He scored twelve league goals this season.

Kuyt has 104 international caps and has the sixth most caps for Oranje. He has scored 24 goals in the Dutch colours. Kuyt featured in three FIFA World Cups, finishing second in 2010’s World Cup in South Africa and third in 2014’s World Cup in Brazil. Kuyt is to take a sports management training programme. Feyenoord’s techincal director Martic van Geel is to tutor him. van Geel said, “I will tutor Dirk and I could easily imagine him taking over from me in due course.”

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

International car company DaimlerChrysler announced today it would cut 13,000 jobs in North America. It could part ways with the loss-making business.

It also plans to cut two Chrysler plants in an attempt to make Chrysler business profitable by 2008.

About 9,000 production jobs will be cut in the U.S., 2,000 production jobs in Canada, and 2,000 salaried jobs.

“It’s hard to say if it’s enough … but the stock is reacting nicely, which is further verification that this is a favorable restructuring move and a much-needed one at Chrysler,” said chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management, Tim Ghriskey.

Following some speculation that the companies Daimler-Benz (Mercedes-Benz) and Chrysler, which merged together in 1998 to make DaimlerChrysler, would split, chairman Dieter Zetsche denied allegations.

“We do not exclude any option in order to find the best solution for both the Chrysler Group and DaimlerChrysler.”

Sunday, April 16, 2006

An estimated 10,000 conscientious objectors chose to withhold some or all of their U.S. income taxes due Monday, April 17, in protest to the use of US military power in Iraq. Some plan to instead donate their required tax to charity.

The Internal Revenue Service does not distinguish tax resistors from any other person behind on their taxes, and will apply the same fines and interest used against the other Americans who do not pay their taxes on time. Legal action is possible for extreme cases, but more commonly the IRS uses wage or bank account garnishing.

The tax protestors are well aware of these risks, yet refuse to pay on principle. Jim Allen, who served in the Army for 20 years and now teaches at St. Louis University, acknowledges that he will likely end up paying more due to the fines than he is refusing to pay today. “I am not opposed to paying taxes, but I am when such a large percent is going to pay for war. Sooner or later, they’re going to get their money, but until that happens, I’m going to continue protesting. This is too important not to.” Allen and his wife withheld $1300 – or 42% of what the couple owes the IRS, estimating this to be the proportion of his taxes that would otherwise go to military spending.

Other protestors simply refuse to file at all. Becky Pierce of Boston fills out a 1040 to determine her tax, but then donates that amount to charity without filing. Pierce says she follows in the footsteps of American protesters like Henry David Thoreau, a protester of the Mexican-American War who went to jail rather than pay taxes. “You need to have control of your money,” Pierce says. “I’m a self-employed carpenter. No one is reporting what I make. That’s why I can go unnoticed.”

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Bayern Munich remained undefeated in all competitions after a 0-0 draw against Borussia Dortmund. The draw leaves Bayern at the top of the table with 27 points. However, the lead is down to four points after Hamburg’s 1-0 win against Duisburg.

Franck Ribery didn’t pass a late fitness test and didn’t make the 18-man strong matchday squad. Luca Toni, Martin Demichelis an Jose Ernesto Sosa replaced Lukas Podolski, Philipp Lahm and Hamit Altintop. Jose Ernesto Sosa returned after being sidelined for almost two months after ankle surgery.

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund exchanged plenty of chances and almost had a 50/50 possession between them.

Bayern Munich plays Borussia Mönchengladbach at home in the DFB Cup while Borussia Dortmund plays Eintracht Frankfurt in the same competition.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

The United States House of Representatives voted to hold two current Cabinet officers, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr, in contempt of Congress, citing their refusal to disclose to Congress documents related to President Donald Trump’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The vote passed primarily along party lines, 230-to-198. Historically, the Department of Justice has not pursued criminal charges against those held in contempt of Congress.

In April, the House Oversight and Reform Committee authorized subpoenas for documents relating to the administration’s decision to try to add a question about citizenship to the census, attempting to discern the true reason for the addition of the citizenship question. Barr and Ross, however, refused to hand over the documents. On June 12, minutes before the Oversight Committee voted to refer them to the full House to be held in contempt, Trump formally claimed the documents were subject to executive privilege.

For weeks, the Trump administration has been trying to add the question, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?”, to the upcoming 2020 census, with the stated rationale of improving enforcement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In late June, the United States Supreme Court ruled against its initial attempt, saying the justification presented for the question was “contrived.” A few days later, on July 2, Trump announced he would drop his bid to add the question, before reversing course the next day and pressing forward. A few days later the administration said he would use an executive order to add the citizenship question to the census, disregarding the Supreme Court’s ruling. The administration finally gave up on July 11, arranging instead to provide citizenship information to the Census Bureau from other government agencies.

Only once before has Congress voted to hold a Cabinet officer in contempt while they were in office: Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt in 2012 for refusing to turn over documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. People held in contempt of Congress are referred to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution. As Attorney General, Barr leads the Department of Justice. Kerri Kupec, spokeswoman for the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, sharply criticized the House’s decision, which Ross has referred to as “gamesmanship” and a “stunt”.

The citizenship question was last included in the general census in 1950.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

United Kingdom prime minister Gordon Brown and Irish premier Brian Cowen have left Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, where they had been attending talks on justice and the recent Northern Ireland crisis regarding the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast. No agreement has yet been reached, and the main parties have been given two more days to attempt to broker a deal.

Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister and member of the republican party Sinn Féin, was “deeply disappointed” by the lack of an agreement on the possible devolution of Northern Ireland’s policing and justice powers from Westminster, London to Stormont, Belfast. Brown, however, believes the discussions are salvageable. He said that there is the “prospect of a reasonable agreement” being reached within the next two days, and that they “have the pathway to an agreement” in place. The British unionist Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin—Northern Ireland’s two largest parties—have been arguing over the issue for some time.

On Monday, Brown and Cowen travelled to Hillsborough Castle to meet with delegates of Northern Ireland’s major parties in an attempt to forge an agreement, and—before he left—Brown gave the remaining delegates 48 hours to find a mutually beneficial solution. He said that the governments of the UK and Ireland will publish their plans if no such agreement is reached. He also said that the devolution could occur “around the beginning of May” this year. Sinn Féin want the devolution to occur as soon as possible, but the DUP argues that “community confidence” is required before the process, which would give Northern Ireland its first justice minister, can begin.

McGuinness said, “We have not concluded a deal today and I am deeply disappointed about that. We intend to study the governments’ statement.” He said that his party would refuse to give its support to anything that subjected “citizens’ rights” to a “unionist veto”. Peter Robinson, the leader of the DUP who has been forced to temporarily stand aside as first minister due to a sexual and financial scandal involving his wife, said that his party would not accept a “second-rate deal” in order to keep to “someone else’s time limit”. He is also reported as saying, “We are not prepared to buy a pig in a poke. We will do what is right for our community.” Sinn Féin has accused the DUP of stalling for time, though Robinson denied this, saying that “[t]he party has always wanted to see the devolution of policing and justice and has always wanted it to happen without undue delay but it has to happen on a basis that we believe is sustainable”.

It is thought that a failure to come to an agreement could trigger a re-election in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and damage the delicate peace process, which began with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Margaret O’Callaghan, of Queen’s University Belfast said, “It’s difficult to overestimate just how bad relations are between them. They really do not get on. On the other hand people have too much invested in this to allow it to collapse.”