In the age of social media and live streaming, the quest for attention and fame has driven many individuals to engage in outrageous and attention-seeking behaviors. Recently, two internet celebrities found themselves in hot water after their vulgar live streaming performances crossed the line of decency.The success of these players highlights the incredible depth of talent within the Chinese national table tennis team. With a rich history of producing world-class athletes, China continues to be a powerhouse in the sport, setting the standard for excellence and raising the bar for competitors worldwide.

In a family that could sometimes seem like the cast of a 1950s sitcom, my uncle Donald had a role of his own. He was the obnoxious one. And it’s true. Many of Donald’s adult traits—his determination, his short fuse–first displayed themselves in his childhood.” The person being described in this rather unflattering manner is none other than the mercurial Donald J Trump, now all set to occupy the White House once again. Describing him thus is his nephew Fred C Trump III, in his memoir All In The Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way, published a few months before his uncle won a second presidential term. The memoir reinforces the unsavoury traits of both the family and uncle Donald, a hugely successful real estate Moghul, until he stepped into politics to turn things upside down. The Trump family, as also uncle Donald, are portrayed as being mean-spirited, despite the wealth and means at their command. There is also a sense of dysfunctionality that comes through, with the author recalling how people would often tell him, “The Trump name is toxic.” Neither the family nor Donald Trump emerge unscathed as Fred gently twists the knife into both—be it their general lack of empathy, their lack of scruples in seeking to usurp his and his sister Mary’s share of inheritance in their grandfather’s estate, and even their downright heartlessness as they seek to cut-off the medical insurance of Fred’s severely disabled son, William. “Of all the cruel, low-down, vicious, heartless things my own relatives could do to me, my wife and my children, this was worse than anything I could possibly imagine,” he writes. But it’s not merely the move to cut-off William’s insurance cover that will leave you slack-jawed. It’s also uncle Donald’s callous remarks when Fred went to meet him regarding depleting funds for William’s medical treatment. “He doesn’t recognise you. Maybe you should let him die and move down to Florida,” is what the uncle told his nephew. If uncle Donald comes across as cold-hearted, so do his siblings as they go along with his efforts to prevent the author’s family from getting its share of their grandfather’s estate. Fred writes of his uncle: “Cutting off our share of the family fortune didn’t seem to cause Donald a second of anxiety or guilt”. Sister Mary has already documented the Trump family’s dysfunctionality and uncle Donald’s personality in her own memoir, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Fred adds to the mix. Having seen uncle Donald from close quarters right since childhood during regular visits to his grandparents mansion in New York city, Fred’s portrayal of his uncle is of a man who was ruthlessly ambitious, churlish, odious, unscrupulous and not averse to speaking untruths to meet his ends. It’s no surprise that Donald Trump’s recent presidential campaign was also peppered with untruths—the most preposterous one being his claim that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets! That the world has seen Donald Trump display these characteristics in good measure since he came into the limelight—first as a flamboyant property tycoon, and then as the US President from 2017 to 2021—goes without saying. These personality traits had their origins in his upbringing, going by the memoir. Donald, the fourth of five children of family patriarch Frederick Trump and his Scottish wife Mary, learned early “he could get away with things even as a child”. His penchant for half-truths and outright lies also comes through as the author narrates episodes from his life long before he became the President. Fred writes it was at the New York Military Academy, a school that Donald Trump was packed off to by his father, hoping to instill some discipline in his recalcitrant son, that his uncle “transitioned from simply obnoxious to thoroughly brash”. Later, uncle Trump managed his admission to Ivy League business school Wharton despite his “spotty academic record” with help from grandpa who went along with him for the on-campus interview. The patriarch chatted up the admissions staff, mentioning his multifarious projects and hinting at the donations the school could get. Voila! Trump entered the portals of Wharton. The memoir also shares in great detail how uncle Donald managed to repeatedly dodge military service during the Vietnam war, getting five deferments, four for attending college and the final one for bone spurs. Again, it was his father who came to the rescue, arranging for him a certificate from a podiatrist, a tenant in one of his buildings, to certify that the youngster was suffering from bone spurs. “Bone spurs? No one in the family had ever heard of Donald’s bone spurs. No one had ever seen him hobbling. No one had ever heard him complain,” notes his nephew. And then adds caustically, “Donald had a get-out-of-war free card,” which was to later earn him the tag of “draft dodger” from his political rivals. Charges that the President-elect is also racist are alluded to in his use of the N-word when he found his car vandalised as a youngster. Blacks, without any proof whatsoever, were blamed by him. Fred, however, appears to equivocate in saying that in those days “people said all kinds of crude, thoughtless, prejudiced things”. The use of racially charged remarks, of course, was one of the hallmarks of Trump’s recent presidential campaign. The memoir also leaves you with an unmistakable sense of irony as far as Trump’s strident anti-immigration stance is concerned, given that he himself is the grandson of illegal German immigrants to the US. Trump has now reaffirmed his plans to go ahead with his mass deportation programme when he takes over the Oval Office in January. The nephew’s portrayal of the next US President as a mean, mendacious, transactional, self-serving person could be dismissed as the rant of an embittered man. Curiously, he remains in touch with his uncle and even attended his presidential inaugural for the first term. The world more or less already knows what Donald Trump embodies, as it waits for his second presidential tenure with bated breath for the upheavals in the offing.In addition to the emotes, followers of the official TGA channel can look forward to exclusive perks and benefits. From special giveaways to behind-the-scenes content, there's plenty to enjoy as a member of the TGA community. By following the channel, you'll stay up-to-date on all the latest news and announcements surrounding the Trophy Girl Award event, ensuring that you never miss a beat.

Lucknow: The Sports Authority of India (SAI), Regional Centre Lucknow, in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan , launched the Viksit Bharat Challenge on Saturday. The initiative serves as a precursor to the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue, scheduled during the National Youth Festival on January 11 and 12, 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with 3,000 youth leaders at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi during the two-day event. Speaking at the event, SAI Regional Director Atma Prakash highlighted the platform's significance, stating, "The National Youth Festival offers a unique opportunity for youth to present their ideas and vision for a developed India directly to the Prime Minister." Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan's state director, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, emphasised the event's goal of empowering young Indians, saying that the dialogue will unite youth, thought leaders, and decision-makers for a vibrant exchange of ideas, fostering contributions toward a developed India." Maharashtra Jharkhand Maharashtra Alliance View i Party View Seats: 288 Results Majority: 145 BJP+ 229 MVA 47 OTH 12 Results : 288 / 288 BJP+ WON Jharkhand Alliance View i Party View Seats: 81 Results Majority: 41 INDIA 56 NDA 24 OTH 1 Results : 81 / 81 INDIA WON Source: PValue Others present on the occasion were Indian para badminton coach Gaurav Khanna, Commonwealth medalist Swati Singh and social media celebrity Adya Srivastava.For the pharmaceutical company-owned team, losing their star player would be a significant blow. They would have to scramble to find a suitable replacement and adjust their tactics to cope with his absence. However, if they manage to keep hold of him, it would be a massive boost for their ambitions and aspirations in the league.

NEW YORK (AP) — Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S. but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. Then Wednesday's targeted of the UnitedHealthcare CEO on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk thrust the executive and his business into the national spotlight. Thompson, who was 50, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group Inc for 20 years and run the insurance arm since 2021 after running its Medicare and retirement business. As CEO, Thompson led a firm that provides health coverage to more than 49 million Americans — more than the population of Spain. United is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run versions of the U.S. government’s Medicare program for people age 65 and older. The company also sells individual insurance and administers health-insurance coverage for thousands of employers and state-and federally funded Medicaid programs. The business run by Thompson brought in $281 billion in revenue last year, making it the largest subsidiary of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group. His $10.2 million annual pay package, including salary, bonus and stock options awards, made him one of the company's highest-paid executives. The University of Iowa graduate began his career as a certified public accountant at PwC and had little name recognition beyond the health care industry. Even to investors who own its stock, the parent company's face belonged to CEO Andrew Witty, a knighted British triathlete who has testified before Congress. When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get health care. At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company's shift to “value-based care,” paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick. “Health care should be easier for people,” Thompson said at the time. “We are cognizant of the challenges. But navigating a future through value-based care unlocks a situation where the ... family doesn’t have to make the decisions on their own.” Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticized for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. “Patients are not medical experts and should not be expected to self-diagnose during what they believe is a medical emergency,” the chief executive of the American Hospital Association wrote in an open letter addressed to Thompson. “Threatening patients with a financial penalty for making the wrong decision could have a chilling effect on seeking emergency care.” United Healthcare responded by delaying rollout of the change. Thompson, who lived in a Minneapolis suburb and was the married father of two sons in high school, was set to speak at an investor meeting in a midtown New York hotel. He was on his own and about to enter the building when he was shot in the back by a masked assailant who fled on foot before pedaling an e-bike into Central Park a few blocks away, the New York Police Department said. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators were looking at Thompson's social media accounts and interviewing employees and family members. “Didn’t seem like he had any issues at all,” Kenny said. "He did not have a security detail.” AP reporters Michael R. Sisak and Steve Karnowski contributed to this report. Murphy reported from Indianapolis.Overall, the visa-free one-month stay policy has not only boosted tourism in South Korea but has also fostered a stronger bond between Chinese and South Korean people. Through shared experiences, mutual appreciation of culture, and warm hospitality, South Korea continues to win over the hearts of Chinese visitors, leaving them with cherished memories and a desire to return for more. As the relationship between the two nations deepens, the future looks bright for continued friendship and cooperation between China and South Korea.

Barcelona fans will be hoping that Araujo can make a swift recovery and return to action soon, as his presence is sorely missed on the pitch. His partnership with Gerard Pique at the heart of Barcelona's defense has been instrumental in the team's success, and his absence has been a major setback for the club.The Detroit Lions will play without two high draft picks in rookie cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. while possibly getting back veteran Emmanuel Moseley against the host Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Arnold was downgraded Saturday from questionable to out because of a groin injury. He was limited at practice on Thursday and participated in a full practice on Friday. The Lions drafted Arnold with the 24th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Alabama. Arnold, 21, has started all 10 games and has 38 tackles and six passes defended. Rakestraw (hamstring) was placed on injured reserve after not practicing all week. He already had been ruled out for Sunday's game. Detroit picked Rakestraw in the second round (61st overall) out of Missouri. He has played in eight games and has six tackles. Rakestraw, 22, has played on 46 defensive snaps (8 percent) and 95 special teams snaps (42 percent). Moseley had full practice sessions all week and was activated from injured reserve on Saturday but was listed as questionable for Sunday. The 28-year-old is in his second season with Detroit and appeared in one game last season before going on IR in October 2023. He was placed on IR on Aug. 27 with a designation to return. Moseley played from 2018-22 for the San Francisco 49ers and had 162 tackles, four interceptions -- one returned for a touchdown -- and 33 passes defensed in 46 games (33 starts). Detroit elevated linebacker David Long on Saturday for game day. Long, 28, signed with the practice squad on Tuesday after the Miami Dolphins released him on Nov. 13. He had started six of eight games for the Dolphins this season and had 38 tackles. In other Lions news, the NFL fined wide receiver Jameson Williams $19,697 for unsportsmanlike conduct for making an obscene gesture during a touchdown celebration in last Sunday's 52-6 home win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL Network reported Saturday. Williams, 23, scored on a 65-yard pass from Jared Goff with 12:55 remaining in the third quarter. --Field Level Media

It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not." Get local news delivered to your inbox!Great British Bake Off backlash as fans claim finalist was ‘robbed’ of winIn light of Wang Chuqin's remarks, it is evident that the Hawk-Eye system plays a crucial role in maintaining integrity and fairness in table tennis competitions. As technology continues to evolve and shape the landscape of sports, it is essential for players and officials to embrace these advancements as tools to improve the overall quality of the game.

US stock futures steady with PCE inflation in focus

BERN, Switzerland (Reuters) - Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini put his side's recent impressive form down to a mix of confidence, self-belief and the continued development of his squad, following their dominant Champions League win over Young Boys on Tuesday. Atalanta, led by a superb performance from two-goal Charles De Ketelaere, schooled Swiss side Young Boys as they claimed a 6-1 win to secure the Bergamo club's largest margin of victory in a major European match. Gasperini's side are fourth in the Champions League table and also on a seven-match winning streak in Serie A that has left them second in the Italian top flight, a point behind leaders Napoli. "We are in a good period of form in Italy and Europe, I’m happy with the performances and results we are getting,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia. "Winning the Europa League last season helped us to grow in confidence, self-belief and then many new players arrived too who are improving. This is what’s behind the impressive form." Gasperini admitted that Atalanta's development has been remarkable. "There are some players who have been here so long and know us so well that they are coaches on the field, I could easily just leave them to it," Gasperini said with a smile. "But there are others who need to get to know the movements, the chain reactions, the timing. On top of that, we have always had a very strong locker room atmosphere where the behaviour and attitude is always based on values." (Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)