United and Google+ present Front Row

 Manchester united introduces a new way for their worlwide fans to be at the old trafford ..........

 

Manchester United versus Liverpool at Old Trafford is one of the biggest games in world football, and this season you could be supporting the Reds during that match in a way you could never have imagined.
United and Google+ have teamed up to launch a historic Front Row campaign, which will offer a select group of the Reds' international fanbase the opportunity to "be" at the Theatre of Dreams – live – no matter where they are in the world.
This will be the first time this has ever happened at a football match. On Sunday 16 March 2014 for our home game against Liverpool, United fans will have the opportunity to cheer on the team, appearing via live Google+ Hangout – the free, multi-person video call feature – on Old Trafford's pioneering pitchside digital hoardings. Throughout the match, Front Row supporters will be able to share in the magic of being at Old Trafford, joining 75,000 ticket holders and fellow Front Row participants the world over.

How to get involved: Simply share a picture on Google+ that showcases your love, passion and commitment to United, along with the hashtag #MUFrontRow. We'll then create a shortlist of potential participants and, if you're successful, you'll make history as you cheer on the Reds as one of the very first Front Row fans in world football.

Each Front Row participant will receive professional photographs of their appearance, as well as a welcome on United's Google+ page, shared with nearly two million followers. So what are you waiting for? Get involved with #MUFrontRow to be a part of history.

Chicharito sets record straight

Javier Hernandez has dismissed claims in the British press that he criticised fellow United striker Robin van Persie.

The Mexican had posted an image of himself and Patrice Evra on his Instagram page with the caption "Without your team-mates you can't be somebody in football, always be thankful..."

Some media claimed it was cryptically directed at van Persie but, as Chicharito pointed out on his Twitter page on Thursday night, the post "had nothing to do" with the Dutchman.

The 25-year-old added: "Why do the press always take comments out of context? We are great team-mates working for the same goal – the team.

"And because the team isn’t doing as well as we’d like, everyone just wants to make everything look like a bad thing!"

terry hits on luke shaw !!!!! :p

A venture involving Eataly, the Italian food-emporium chain, and the municipality of Bologna will develop a theme park dedicated to food, continuing a string of public-private partnerships in Italy aimed at creating jobs and spurring economic activity.

The city-controlled Centro Agro Alimentare has provided land that today includes a number of unused warehouses for an 80,000-square-meter (almost 20-acre) theme park that would have restaurants, grocery stores, food labs and an aquarium, among other features. Promoters of the project, which would be named Fico Eataly World and cost about €40 million ($54.9 million) to develop, describe it as a Disneyland of food.

Financing would come from a new fund being raised by Prelios SGR, an Italian fund-management company. The fund will invest in the Bologna project and potentially in similar theme parks in other parts of the world, particularly in Asia. The fund already has raised €85 million from investors, including Eataly and local banks, and hopes to raise as much as €400 million, according to Paolo Scordino, Prelios SGR's chief executive.

Fico Eataly is moving forward at a time when businesses and local governments in Italy are trying to kick-start several tourism and entertainment-related ventures to help the economy emerge from the downturn. Italy's gross domestic product was up 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013, its first increase in 10 quarters.

Their strategy: Turn disused public real-estate assets into attractions that leverage Italy's most globally renowned assets—namely culture, history and cuisine. More than 46 million visitors spent $32.1 billion in Italy in 2012, making it the fifth-most-popular tourist destination, according to the latest data available from the U.N. World Tourism Barometer.

In Venice, a ride manufacturer and amusement-park operator is seeking approval to turn an abandoned island into a theme park dedicated to the city's history. Antonio Zamperla SpA, which also owns Luna Park in Coney Island, N.Y., said the park on San Biagio island would include a 55-meter Ferris wheel, roller coasters and exhibitions about the city's history and the area's ecology.

Alberto Zamperla, the company's chief executive, hopes the park will remind visitors of the era before Venice fell to Napoleon's troops in 1797, when the city was an international economic power known as Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia. Serenissima means "the most serene" and contrasts with "the current moment of decadence in Italy," he said, referring to the country's political and economic problems.

The Zamperla project still faces obstacles. The company has signed a four-year lease for the island with its manager, an agency of the Italian central government. But the project still needs approvals from local authorities and the government agency that oversees building and development in culturally important areas. San Biagio is known to locals as the "island of garbage" because an incinerator used to be located there.

Still, Venetians are sensitive to any change to their city. "You cannot undersell the city for an economic return," says Lidia Fersuoch, president of the Venice chapter of the conservation group Italia Nostra. "Each year, already 30 million tourists come to a city of just 58,000 residents. Building an entertainment park in such an exhausted city means destroying its socioeconomic texture."

Highly indebted Italian governments have been looking to reduce the country's €2 trillion in total public debt partly by selling property. Officials have been trying to do so with an eye toward developing tourist attractions.

For example, last December, a fund run by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, a bank that is 80%-owned by the government, paid €490 million to take over 40 properties from state and local authorities.

The fund is planning to develop one of the properties, a former military warehouse in Rome, into a mixed-use complex with a science museum, apartments and office space. The plan calls for revenue from the commercial uses to help subsidize the cost of the museum.

Eataly has 26 stores, mostly in Italy and Japan, but it also has branched into Dubai and Turkey, along with Chicago and New York in the U.S. Mr. Scordino said he is hoping to open the Bologna theme park in 2015, and he predicted its revenue in 2019 would be €86 million.

"We want to enhance the value of every single square meter," Mr. Scordino says. "Each square meter will be linked to a business line and will directly or indirectly produce revenue, as happens in Disney's DIS +1.07% parks."

Batman - Respect !!

Balotelli coming back to bpl ??!!

Moyes trolled!!

Nude Webcams and Diet Drugs: the Facebook Ads Teens Aren't Supposed to See

Who do you like?" asked recent ads on Facebook, featuring young women in alluring poses.

Some of the ads were configured to reach young teens, who were invited to join an app called Ilikeq that let others rate their attractiveness, comment on their photos and say if they would like to date them.
How Ad Targeting Works on Facebook

That's how 14-year-old Erica Lowder's picture ended up on display to adult men online. Users of Ilikeq, one of Facebook's fastest-growing "lifestyle" apps, were able to click through to the Indianapolis girl's Facebook page.

"How can Facebook say here's how we're going to protect your kids, then sell all these ads to weird apps and sites that open kids up to terrible things?" asked Erica's mother, Dawn Lowder.

The case offers a glimpse into how young Facebook users are sometimes exposed to ads inappropriate for them. A 14-year-old girl in Washington state said she "liked" an ad that led to the Facebook page of a nude webcam-modeling site. A 17-year-old boy in an Oakland, Calif., neighborhood beset by gun violence repeatedly saw an ad for a concealed-carry handgun holster. (See what it is like to create an ad on Facebook and how targeting works.)

The ads highlight Facebook Inc.'s challenge in policing a social network that has more than a billion users and a million advertisers, by its count. Facebook generated roughly $7 billion in Internet advertising last year, more than any other company except Google Inc. GOOG +0.17% Facebook posted net income of $1.5 billion for 2013, and its shares are near an all-time high.

Facebook said it approved the ads for young teens because it hadn't categorized Ilikeq as a dating site. It said it has now done so and has disabled Ilikeq ads for those below its minimum age for dating-site ads, 18.

Asked about the ads reaching young teens, a co-founder of Ilikeq, Olda Neuberger, said by email from Prague, Czech Republic, that Ilikeq isn't a dating site, although online tools show its first two "meta tags"—which website builders set to optimize Internet searches—are "dating" and "free online dating." Mr. Neuberger said connecting young teens and adults was unintentional and he has now changed the app and website to exclude those under 18.

One issue for the social network—as well as for advertisers and for parents—is that some young teens exaggerate their ages in their Facebook profiles. Thirteen is the minimum age to join Facebook. (Parents, weigh in: What worries you most?)

The situation is compounded by Facebook's social advertising system, in which users who click to "like" an ad can be featured as having "liked" it in future versions of the ad shown to their Facebook friends. And once they "like" an ad for a Facebook page, they will receive updates from that page.

Advertisers on Facebook can set their ads to reach all users or narrow the focus. Facebook's website says it can help advertisers target consumers based on an array of user information it collects, such as age, gender, relationship status, politics and type of phone owned.

"We take the quality of ads on Facebook very seriously," Facebook said in a statement. "Because of the enormous volume of ads under review on a daily basis, we invest significant resources in both automated and manual tools to enforce our policies, along with tools to educate advertisers."

Facebook said that while its methods were effective at identifying and removing "the vast majority" of prohibited ads before they run, "no system is perfect. When we find or are made aware of prohibited ads, we remove them immediately, as we did for the prohibited ads [cited by The Wall Street Journal]."

In many cases, Facebook said, it will disable an advertiser's account entirely if it violates the company's policies.

Once posted, ads can be flagged as inappropriate by users and reviewed again. The system then gets smarter, taking into account past flagged ads, Facebook said. The company said it cracks down on problem areas, such as dating ads using racy photos and headlines. It declined to say how many ads it rejects.

Ads on Facebook for concealed-carry handgun holsters can be seen by teens at the Youth UpRising center in gun-ridden East Oakland in California. Brian L. Frank for The Wall Street Journal

Other online platforms also face challenges policing what are largely self-serve systems for advertisers to build their own ads. Google in 2011 acknowledged it had helped Canadian pharmacies run ads that targeted the U.S., which the Justice Department said led to unlawful importation of prescription drugs into the U.S. Google agreed to forfeit $500 million, a sum representing its revenue from the ads plus revenue received by the Canadian pharmacies from their sales to U.S. consumers. "It's obvious with hindsight that we shouldn't have allowed these ads on Google in the first place," Google said at the time.

Google and Twitter Inc., TWTR -1.15% like Facebook, use a mix of computers and humans to review ads. Google said it doesn't allow ads for counterfeit goods or handguns. It does display ads for adult webcam sites and concealed-weapon holsters. Google said it removed more than 350 million improper ads in 2013, up 59% from 2012. Twitter said it doesn't allow ads related to sex, drugs and weapons, among other topics.
Unlike Facebook, Google and Twitter don't enable advertisers to explicitly target specific age groups, although advertisers on Google can indirectly appeal to certain age groups by taking users' searches into account. And Twitter has certain age rules: Users have to give their age if they want to see alcohol ads. Twitter doesn't push ads to users based on their social connections or list friends as having "liked" a product. Google recently began including users' social connections in some ads.

Some advertisers said Facebook's targeting system has been a factor in their ads being shown to young teens. "It's ridiculously complicated," said Greg Carr, president of Desert Warrior Products, whose ad for AK-47 parts and accessories such as scopes reached young teens. Mr. Carr said he intended it only for those over 18. The ad no longer is displayed to younger people.

Facebook used to limit ads to users 18 and older by default. An advertiser who wanted to reach younger people had to change the setting.

In 2011, it eliminated this restriction for some advertisers, so their ads could be shown to all unless specified. That change was extended to all advertisers in 2012, around the time of Facebook's initial public offering.

The change meant roughly 10 million U.S. Facebook users aged from 13 to 17 were exposed to a wider range of marketing. Facebook said it made the change because most advertisers wanted to reach users of all ages, and most ads are appropriate for all.

Sophie Bean, 14, of Sequim, Wash., said she was thought she was "liking" a Facebook ad related to fashion modeling. Instead, it promoted a Facebook page that recruited adult webcam models.

"I just thought it was for modeling, and I'm interested in that, and I thought it would help me out," Sophie said.

Clicking "like" on the ad meant she also had "liked" a Facebook page that contains links to the website of a firm called Internet Modeling. The website says that "generally webcam models are asked to pose nude."

Sophie wasn't the only teen connecting with the page, which Facebook statistics show is most popular with users 13 to 17. Clicking on it didn't pull the teens into nude webcam modeling, but did mean they would receive the page's updates and could be mentioned in future versions of the ad.

Sophie's father, Robert Bean, said he found the matter "pretty disgusting." He said that if Facebook is aware of such ads, "they need to be exposed for dealing with companies like this."

Internet Modeling, of Tampa, Fla., said the ad was placed by an affiliate marketer—an agent that buys ads for others on Facebook and other sites—in violation of Internet Modeling's terms of service.

"This seems to be an issue with Facebook accepting and showing such ads to 14 year olds," the company said in an email. Internet Modeling, which describes itself as an adult talent agency, said it doesn't intend to advertise to minors and requires that all models be at least 18.

The ad no longer appears on Facebook. The social network said it deleted all ads related to adult services brought to its attention by the Journal.

Facebook is also a hub for diet ads, some of which have reached teens younger than its minimum age for seeing these, which is 18.

Ads for diet products containing a substance called HCG have run on Facebook. HCG, a hormone produced during pregnancy, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a prescription drug for infertility. But the agency, in a 2011 news release headed "HCG Diet Products Are Illegal," said HCG doesn't help with weight loss and isn't approved for over-the-counter sale for any purpose.

A Florida outfit that has run Facebook ads in the past uses an "HCG Diet Kits" Facebook page as an online storefront to sell HCG serum and syringes. The page is most popular with Facebook users aged 13 to 24, according to Facebook's statistics. On Feb. 20, the page posted "Back in stock!" and listed prices for its diet-shots kits to its Facebook following.

Facebook said it doesn't allow ads for HCG products, has disapproved ads from this page recently, and is reviewing the page because of its ongoing HCG sales.

The social network prohibits ads for gun sales but permits ads for gun accessories, without age limits. These include holsters for concealed handguns.

The ads are a source of concern for adults at Youth UpRising, a teen community center in East Oakland, Calif. Many of the teens in the gun-ridden neighborhood said such ads have become commonplace for them on Facebook.

During recent visits to the center, which provides a safe place in the neighborhood where young people can polish their résumés and learn to avoid credit-card debt, one of the most frequent Facebook ads displayed to teens was for a concealed-carry holster called Versacarry.

Tyrell Cloird, a 17-year-old who spoke of his hope to make a career in auto mechanics, has repeatedly seen ads for the holsters, which hide a handgun under clothes. Beneath was the name of a youth he knew who had "liked" the Versacarry page on Facebook.

Olis Simmons, president and chief executive of Youth UpRising, called it "truly heartbreaking that the same young people dying in our streets" are seeing "adult-themed ads for things such as gun holsters by advertisers looking to make a buck."

Versacarry's maker, Sitzco LLC, said in an emailed statement that "we target all legal and responsible concealed-carry firearm owners."

A spokeswoman for Facebook said it allows such ads so long as they don't promote the sales of guns themselves.

"government of india"- true story

Yeah women do lie alot !!

Fuck one direction !!

Women !!!!!!!!!

trolling out liverpool loud :D

India’s election and the economy -A useful campaign

Electioneering that focuses on the economy suggests a welcome realisation that growth matters

IS THE ghost of Margaret Thatcher lurking in Indian politics? Rahul Gandhi, a leader of Congress party, which is best known for promoting welfare, has taken to saying that “poverty cannot be fought without growth” and praising markets for creating wealth. Last week Arvind Kejriwal, head of AAP, a left-leaning party of urban, anti-corruption types, told business leaders he now likes capitalism, just not cronyism. He says an end to the “inspector raj and licence raj” would cut graft and free business to create jobs.

That was perhaps mostly posturing. More outspoken is the front-runner to be prime minister, Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In Delhi on February 27th he and Arun Jaitley, a potential finance minister, hosted liberal-leaning economists, business leaders, bankers and investors for a daylong seminar on raising growth. That marked the start of the BJP spelling out its economic policies. Mr Modi (some of whose supporters are pictured above) has long talked up his pro-business record as Gujarat’s chief minister.

Such rhetoric suggests a welcome shift in Indian politics—notable given a general election due by May. For years Congress dominated nationally by ignoring how growth is sustained, but promising handouts, especially to villagers, through make-work schemes, subsidies on food, fuel and fertiliser and cash transfers. That approach now brings shrinking electoral returns, ironically, as rural voters get less poor. After a decade in power, Congress has a rotten reputation at economic management: debts, high inflation and joblessness, combined with dire performances by manufacturers, leave many gloomy.

Voters crave a change. Polls (even if you set aside chronically corrupt Indian ones) point to a BJP victory, perhaps a big one. Few now seem bothered by Mr Modi’s controversial past, presiding over communal riots in Gujarat, in 2002, when over 1,000 people died. A national survey released on February 26th by the Pew Research Center, an American body, suggests voters favour a government run by the BJP over Congress by a startling 63% to 19%. For the first time, the BJP could win more votes (and more seats) than Congress, a powerful national mandate.

Indians are fed up: 70% say they are dissatisfied, says Pew. Alarmingly for Congress, rural voters are as surly as town dwellers, despite successive gushing monsoons and bumper government prices for their rice and wheat. Respondents everywhere (by a ratio of at least two to one) say the BJP would do better than Congress at cutting inflation and corruption, helping the poor and creating jobs.

“I’ve rarely before seen this profound yearning for change”, says Ravi Shankar Prasad, the BJP’s deputy leader in the upper house of parliament, arguing that poor leadership is behind India’s current economic “disaster”, as growth has weakened from 8.5% a decade ago to less than 5%. At rallies Mr Modi sneers that a feeble “economist prime minister”, Manmohan Singh, is to blame. By implication: a strong, decisive leader—himself—would turn everything for the better.

Congress’s Harvard-educated finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, who presented his interim budget last week, says derisively that what Mr Modi knows about economics “can be written on the back of a postage stamp”. Such sniping sets a tone for what may be a bitter campaign. But the criticism may not matter. Mr Modi lacks formal economic education, but points instead to Gujarat’s rapid economic growth in his dozen years of rule (see chart), implying he could pull off something similar for all of India.

Could he? So far, he is short on detail. BJP leaders, and a growing army of gushing commentators and economists, say there would be an immediate boost in confidence if Mr Modi wins. Better administration alone, they say, would see investors enthused and animal spirits racing. A powerful prime minister’s office would have the authority to get bureaucrats to take decisions quickly. That could end a big reason for today’s painful delays: civil servants who dread later corruption investigations, blocking investors’ projects. In theory, such fears will disappear under new political masters.

Far more useful would be details of how Mr Modi would slash regulation, taking opaque, discretionary powers from civil servants and politicians. For example: to boost job creation, a BJP government could return to earlier plans to ease industrial-dispute rules. These require any firm with 100 or more workers to get government permission to close. No wonder investors prefer to build factories anywhere but India. So far Mr Modi has been vague on the topic, though he talks of devolving labour laws to individual states which in theory could see them eased.

Liberal-minded BJP supporters now predict other reforms. In office, the party is likely to take up pro-business policies it has resisted while in opposition. Among the first is a plan to replace existing state levies on goods and services with a standard, national tax, to create a single Indian market for the first time. That alone could give a big boost to the economy. The BJP’s hostility to foreigners investing in Indian shops is likelier to persist but it should grow readier to see outsiders involved in insurance and other financial services.

Sameer Kochhar, author of “Modinomics”, one of many new books claiming insight into Mr Modi’s economic plans, foresees a big increase in spending on infrastructure, just as Gujarat has seen better roads, power and ports. The desire is certainly there. The BJP leader himself talks grandly, but with few convincing details, of building 100 “smart” cities, a national network of Japanese-style bullet trains, and irrigation works to link up large rivers. It is unclear, however, how he would pay for this.

Mr Modi also says his government would be better at doing less. During the BJP’s last spell in office, from 1999 to 2004, it set up a privatisation ministry and oversaw the boom in private investment in telecoms. Observers talk next of selling off the ailing state carrier, Air India, or reducing government holdings in various banks.

So far, sadly, the BJP offers far too few details to judge how comprehensive a reform programme it would follow. Still, it is encouraging that politicians of various parties talk of creating conditions for restoring high economic growth, not just spending the proceeds of it. “India has recognised that we have to be a market-based economy”, argues Gurcharan Das, a writer and former local head of Procter and Gamble, calling Mr Modi “the best chance we have of getting back to high growth”. In India, it was long said, the left has no viable economics, but the right has no viable route to power. Mr Modi may be changing that, too.

UH basketball team drops heartbreaker at Long Beach State

 The Hawaii basketball team's four-game road winning streak came to an end with a 63-61 defeat at Long Beach State on Thursday.

Fourth-place UH (19-9, 8-6 Big West) led most of the way at the Walter Pyramid but was burned by a corner 3-pointer by Travis Hammonds with 8.1 seconds left.

UH had a timeout remaining, but elected not to use it. Point guard Keith Shamburger dribbled to the top of the opposite 3-point arc and went for a shot, but had it blocked just before the buzzer.

Hammonds scored nine points for third-place LBSU (13-14, 9-4). It was his only 3 of the game.

The defeat, and the home-and-home sweep of UH by the 49ers, drastically increased the likelihood of a fourth-place finish with two regular-season games remaining for the Rainbow Warriors before the Big West tournament in Anaheim, Calif.

Rainbows senior forward Christian Standhardinger scored 17 points to become UH's 16th career 1,000-point scorer, and the fourth Rainbow Warrior to do so in a two-year stay in Manoa. He also surpassed John Penebacker's single-season free-throw attempts record of 224 by going 5-for-7 at the stripe.

The 'Bows, who led by as many as nine points in the first half, played heavy doses of 2-3 zone and scored six straight to take a 54-49 lead at the midpoint of the second half.

UH guard Garrett Nevels scored all of his nine points after halftime, including a basket inside for a 56-51 lead with six minutes to play.

Shamburger lobbed a pass to Standhardinger for a layup to put UH up 58-55 with 4:16 to play and Davis Rozitis got a putback for a five-point lead with 3:30 to go.

Tyler Lamb (game-high 18 points) stuck a big 3 with three minutes left to make it a two-point game, but Standhardinger made one of two at the line to make it 61-58 UH with 1:40 remaining.

On a third effort, LBSU forward Dan Jennings (15 points, 11 rebounds) got a putback to make it a one-point game with 1:08 to go.

Shamburger missed on a drive and the ball went of bounds to LBSU with 52.6 seconds left.

LBSU missed a long jumper but the ball went back to the Beach on a held ball with 17.7 seconds remaining.

Coming out of a 49ers timeout -- their last -- the ball went to Hammonds in the right corner, and he was money despite requiring gauze to stop bleeding at the top of his nose earlier in the half.

UH wing Brandon Spearman shot 4-for-4 in the first half, including three shots from long range, to lead all scorers with 11 at the break. But he went scoreless in the second half.

Sergio Aguero fit for Wembley final

Sergio Aguero has been passed fit to make his Manchester City comeback in Sunday’s Capital One Cup final against Sunderland, but injured pair Stevan Jovetic and Matija Nastasic will miss out.

Aguero, 25, who is City’s 26-goal top scorer this term, has sat out their last five games after suffering a hamstring injury in the 5-1 win over Tottenham on Jan. 29.

However, the Argentina international will return after a month on the sidelines as manager Manuel Pellegrini considers whether the striker is fit enough to start at Wembley.

“It is something I must decide from seeing the way he recovers from the work this week, whether he is 100 percent fit after his injury to play the whole match,” Pellegrini said. “It is very important for the team to have Sergio again with us because he is a very important player.”

Nastasic, 20, who has been struggling with a knee injury, and Jovetic, 24, who suffered a hamstring problem in last week’s win over Stoke, have not recovered in time.

“Jovetic and Nastasic are both injured,” Pellegrini said. “They cannot be there on Sunday. All the rest of the squad are OK apart from [third-choice goalkeeper] Richard Wright, who has a problem with his knee.”

City are expected to win at Wembley but Pellegrini is guarding against complacency, pointing out that Sunderland have already beaten two tough sides during this season's competition.

“Maybe we are the favourites but we cannot forget Sunderland eliminated Chelsea and Manchester United, big teams so I am absolutely sure it will be a tough game,” he said.

Pellegrini could win his first trophy as City manager on Sunday, and the Chilean added: “I will be very happy if we achieve it because it reflects all your work from the year. We have played a very good Capital One Cup because we won all the games, we score 19 or 20 goals and conceded just one.”

Sunderland, meanwhile, will be without midfielder Liam Bridcutt at Wembley, with the former Brighton player cup-tied. Lee Cattermole is likely to come into the team and play the holding role in front of Gus Poyet's back four.

Striker Connor Wickham will not be involved, having joined Leeds on loan for the rest of the season on Wednesday, while goalkeeper Keiren Westwood misses out through a shoulder injury.

Ferguson: Tough teacher inspired me

Sir Alex Ferguson terrifies his grandchildren by showing them the belt his former teacher used to beat him with during his school days.

And the ex-Manchester United manager, who said he was usually punished for fighting in the playground, insists his teacher remains an inspiration to him.

Along with several other members of his class, Ferguson gatecrashed

Elizabeth Thomson’s wedding and they stayed in touch for the rest of her life.

She left him the leather strap in her will, along with a note that read: “You’ll know more about this belt than anyone.”

And Ferguson, who keeps the belt in his study, wrote in The Times’ education supplement: “My grandchildren are terrified of it. Six from that belt and you were in absolute agony. I used to try to draw my hand away. But that was the sort of punishment you had if you stepped out of line. In my case, it was usually for fighting in the playground.”

Corporal punishment has been banned in Britain for a quarter of a century but was used during Ferguson’s schooldays in the 1950s.

And the 72-year-old, who went on to win 49 trophies in his managerial career, believes Thomson’s methods worked in the deprived part of Scotland where he was raised, insisting her determination rubbed off on him.

He said: "The area of Glasgow I grew up in, Govan, had one of the highest truancy rates in the city. [Mrs Thomson] came from a different world, really. She was from a middle-class, wealthy family, but she had a raw determination about her.

“When she first got to Broomloan Road Primary, she went round to the house of every student who wasn’t in her class that day and said, ‘If your kid isn’t in school tomorrow, I’ll be back at your door.’ Maybe 2,000 teachers turned the job down, turned down that sort of challenge, but she thrived on it. She improved everyone she touched. She actively sought out challenge.

“The three ingredients to Elizabeth, were personality, determination and energy. Anyone who’s in charge of someone else needs those three ingredients. It just won’t work without them.

“When I think about her now, I realise that it wasn’t all about education. Mrs Thomson endeavoured to make you want to be the best you could be. I think there’s part of me that comes from her, that determination and that sense of drive. That ‘never-give-in’ attitude she had about all her students.”

Ferguson also feels his will to win and refusal to accept defeat on a sporting field owes much to his late teacher.

He added: “She had a gritty determination about her; a competitive nature. On a Friday afternoon, she’d always give us an hour of playing rounders. Once, I was batting and I tapped the ball, then did the bare minimum to get to first base.

“‘Ferguson!’ she roared. ‘You tap that ball again and I will have you.’ So I battered the next ball out of sight and ran like hell. She was good like that. She got you performing, you know?”

Bayern planning all-standing terrace

Earlier this year, Bayern announced plans to increase the capacity of their stadium to 75,000. This would make it the second largest ground in Germany, behind Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, which has a total capacity of 80,645 -- reduced to 65,829 for international games and those in UEFA competitions, due to standing restrictions.

The Allianz Arena currently holds 71,137, although that is also reduced to 67,812 for non-domestic fixtures.

To meet UEFA requirements as a possible host for the final and semifinals of Euro 2020 -- a tournament which is set to take place in a number of cities across Europe -- Bayern would need to increase the capacity above 70,000 for international games.

In January it was revealed that the European champions are planning to convert the free steps in the upper tier of the stadium, while CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also vowed to “do something good” for the fans and introduce a further 2,000 places for standing supporters.

And in an interview with Bayern’s matchday magazine for the Schalke game last weekend, Dreesen explained what exactly lies in store.

He said that the club are currently in the planning stages with authorities in Munich to obtain permission to increase the Allianz Arena’s capacity.

“Should we obtain that permission, we will build a real standing terrace in theSuedkurve, not only in the blocks 112 and 114, but also on the complete lower tier of the Suedtribuene,” Dreesen said.

“But, like I’ve said, that is directly connected to the capacity expansion. And this would only be for the Bundesliga, as we are not allowed to sell standing tickets for Champions League.”

Bayern Munich expected lineup vs Schalke

Bayern Munich return to table-topping Bundesliga action this Saturday with a top-four clash with fellow Champions League participants Schalke. 

Following what was a historic 6-1 home defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday night in the Royal Blues' first leg of the opening knockout round, Bayern will not only have the physical edge over their opponents—having had the entire week off—but will also undoubtedly be a lot more confident going in to the game. 

Of course, it isn't just circumstances out with this match that will have a direct effect on its potential outcome. Bayern already have a fantastic record against their Gelsenkirchen rivals. 

The Bavarian club have won their last six matches in all competitions against Schalke, with a total aggregate score that comes to a staggering 19-0. If there was one side that had all the odds stacked against them in the Bundesliga this weekend, it's Schalke.

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 The Line-Up

In defence, we're likely to see a similar setup to what we saw in the 4-0 victory over Hannover last weekend. This will consist of Brazilian full-back Rafinha keeping his spot at right-back following a run of good form in Germany and abroad, while David Alaba should see his spot at left-back untouched. 

Javi Martinez should also see his new role at centre-back remain intact following a man-of-the-match performance in last weekend's game, with PepGuardiola opting for either Jerome Boateng or Dante to sit alongside him in the centre of defence.

The Brazilian seems likelier to take this spot considering the talent in the Schalke side.

Boateng is clearly more athletic than Dante, but it's the formerGladbach tackler's ability to read the play against top opposition that gives him the edge over his German counterpart. 

Again, midfield looks as though it should really pick itself following an impressive display from Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm andThiago Alcantara last week. Toni Kroos may be brought in to replace the young Spaniard, but besides that we shouldn't expect too much change. 

Schweinsteiger did in fact pick up a knock following the Hannovergame, but no news of any serious injury from Bayern suggests he should be fit for Saturday's game.

Considering the manner in which he slotted back into the side and set about dominating possession and the general tempo of his side, one could imagine Guardiola's enthusiasm to keep the German international ticking along on a good run of form.

It's once we get to the front line that things become to get a little tricky. The club's official website reported that Thomas Muller picked up an injury in the Hannover game and did not train with the full team this week, so we can assume that he will not feature this weekend.

This means Guardiola now has three of his starting forwards out of action, following Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri's injuries.

As such, we can likely depend on the Catalonian coach to stick MarioGotze on the left-hand side of attack, where he eventually ended up playing against Hannover and during the Arsenal game before that too. Meanwhile, Arjen Robben returns to the starting XI to take up his familiar role of right winger.  

The lone striker role has Mario Mandzukic's name written all over it, but it is worth pointing out just how aggravated the striker has looked of late. Far from the cool finisher we know the Croatian forward to be, he spent much of the Hannover game rolling on the floor and complaining about every tackle or bump he received.

Yes, he picked up a consolation goal, but the perception he was giving off is something that Guardiola will have undoubtedly noticed.

He's Bayern's first-choice striker for now, but he'll have to fix up and look a little sharper if he wants to keep his spot ahead of Claudio Pizarro or more importantly Robert Lewandowski this summer. 

UK, US spies stored millions of images

US senators say British and US spy agencies showed a "breathtaking lack of respect" for privacy after reports they intercepted and stored images from webcams used by millions of Yahoo users.

Files from Britain's communications spy agency GCHQ leaked by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed how the Optic Nerve program collected still images of webcam chats regardless of whether individual users were suspects or not, the Guardian newspaper reported.

In one six-month period in 2008, the British spy agency collected webcam imagery from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts around the world, the Guardian said.

The data collected, which was available to NSA analysts through routine information sharing, contained a significant amount of sexual content.

"We are extremely troubled by today's press report that a very large number of individuals - including law-abiding Americans - may have had private videos of themselves and their families intercepted and stored without any suspicion of wrongdoing," Democratic US Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement.

"If this report is accurate, it would show a breathtaking lack of respect for the privacy and civil liberties of law-abiding citizens."

Yahoo, which was apparently chosen because its webcam system was known to be used by GCHQ targets, expressed outrage at the reported surveillance.

"We were not aware of nor would we condone this reported activity," a spokeswoman for the US technology firm told AFP in an email statement.

"This report, if true, represents a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy that is completely unacceptable.

"We are committed to preserving our users' trust and security and continue our efforts to expand encryption across all of our services."

Leaked GCHQ documents from 2008 to 2010 explicitly refer to the surveillance program, although the Guardian said later information suggested it was still active in 2012.

The data was used for experiments in automated facial recognition, as well as to monitor existing GCHQ targets and discover new ones, the British paper said.

The program reportedly saved one image every five minutes from a webcam user's feed, partly to comply with human rights legislation and partly to cut down the sheer amount of data being collected.

GCHQ analysts were able to search the metadata, such as location and length of webcam chat, and they could view the actual images where the username was similar to a surveillance target.

In a statement to the Guardian, GCHQ said all of its work was "carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate".

Workers exposed to radiation leak in US

A RECENT leak at a US underground nuclear waste dump in New Mexico has resulted in 13 workers testing positive for radiation exposure, officials have announced.

The accident is the first-known release of radiation since the dump began taking plutonium-contaminated waste from US nuclear bomb building sites 15 years ago.

The US Department of Energy and the contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) declined to comment further on the preliminary test results announced on Wednesday, saying they'll discuss the issue at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

A radiation leak at a US nuclear waste dump in New Mexico has left 13 workers exposed to radiation. Source:AAP

It is important to note that these are initial sample results," the DOE and Nuclear Waste Partnership, the plant operator, said in a joint statement.

All employees who were working at the plant when the leak occurred late on February 14 were checked for contamination before being allowed to leave, the news release said. But biological samples were also taken to check for possible exposure from inhaling radioactive particles.

Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the air around the plant, but officials have said the readings are too low to constitute a public health threat.

Officials said they can tell from their analyses of air samples in and around the plant that a container of waste leaked, but it could be weeks before they can get underground to find out what caused it. Possible scenarios include a ceiling collapse or a forklift puncturing a canister, Farok Sharif, president of the Nuclear Waste Partnership, said on Monday before a community meeting in Carlsbad.

The leak came just nine days after a truck hauling salt in the plant's deep mines caught fire, but officials say they are confident the incidents are unrelated.

WIPP is the first deep underground nuclear repository in the US and the only facility in the country that can store plutonium-contaminated clothing and tools from Los Alamos National Laboratory and other federal nuclear sites.