World Champion, Lionel Messi Quits International Football

World Champion, Lionel Messi has announced his resignation from International football after losing to Chile in a penalty shootout in the Copa America final last night, BBC reports.

“It’s not meant for me. For me the national team is over. I’ve done all I can, it hurts not to be a champion,” the 29-year-old forward said.

The Argentina team has lost in 3 Copa America final games in the last 9 years – two to Chile on penalties and one to Brazil in 2007. The team also lost the 2014 World Cup final game to Germany after an extra time goal by Mario Gotze.

“It’s been four finals, I tried. It was the thing I wanted the most, but I couldn’t get it, so I think it’s over.

I think this is best for everyone. First of all for me, and then for everyone. I think there’s a lot of people who want this, who obviously are not satisfied, as we are not satisfied reaching a final and not winning it.

It’s very hard, but the decision is taken. Now I will not try more and there will be no going back,” he added.

US Elections 2016: Ted Cruz drops out of the race as Donald Trump wins Indiana

US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz dropped out of the presidential race after Donald Trump won Indiana state thereby making Donald Trump the presumptive Republican nominee.

But John Kasich, the other remaining Republican presidential candidate, who has only won 1 state since the Primary election started and only had 7.5% votes in Indiana is still in the race, he has refused to drop out.

Ted Cruz fought really hard, refusing to give up on his campaign but Tuesday night, he announced he was dropping out of the race after he lost Indiana to Donald Trump. It was an emotional announcement that left his parents teary eyed (That's his mum sitting in the above photo). He was also emotional as he made his speech. He said he was dropping out because there was no way he could win the GOP Presidential nominee after losing Indiana.

Donald Trump won with 53.3%, Ted Cruz 36.7% and John Kasich had 7.5%.

While Bernie Sanders won Indiana with 52.7% votes and Hilary Clinton-47.3% 

Hillary Clinton declares interest to run for US Presidency in 2016

Wife of former US President Bill Clinton, and former US Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton, 67, has declared her interest to run for president of the United State sin 2016. She announced her interest to run today April 12th.

"I’m running for president. Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion. So I’m hitting the road to earn your vote - because it’s your time. And I hope you’ll join me on this journey.” she said

Game of Trade: Canada fights back in Buy America feud

Canadian and American flags fly in Point Roberts, Wash. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Ottawa has invoked a rarely used anti-sanctions law after Alaska refused to void Buy America purchasing rules in the rebuilding of a B.C. ferry terminal.

The Canadian government signed an order Monday under the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, barring companies from complying with the requirement that only U.S. steel be used on the project in Prince Rupert, B.C., Trade Minister Ed Fast said.

The Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, a federal anti-sanctions law, has been used only once, in 1992, to counter the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

The law gives the federal Attorney General the power to issue orders, making it illegal for bidders on the project to comply with the Buy America rules.

Read full on globeandmail

Edward Brooke First Elected America Black Senator Dies At 95

Edward Brooke, the first black senator to be popularly elected in the US, has died aged 95, Republican Party officials say.

Mr Brooke was elected to Congress in 1966 by voters in Massachusetts at a time of widespread racial unrest.

A former lawyer, he had also been the first African-American to hold the post of attorney general in any state when he was elected senator.

Two black senators before him were both picked by state legislatures.

President Obama's CNN Interview On The Racial Divide In America

RIP | Former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley dies from breast cancer

One of the first Miss American winners to make it big in Hollywood, Mary Ann Mobley, has died. Mary Ann, who won the Miss America pageant in 1959, died yesterday Tuesday Dec. 9th in Beverly Hills after a long battle with breast cancer, TMZ reports. She was 75 years old.

The former beauty queen appeared in several Hollywood movies and sitcoms including 'Diff'rent Strokes. Her family says she will buried next week in her native Mississippi.

Hottest Topics In North America 2014

– Ebola virus outbreak
– Ice Bucket Challenge
– Robin Williams
– Ottawa Shooting
– Michael Brown/Ferguson
– World Cup
– Conflict in Gaza
– US midterm elections
– Malaysia Airlines
– ISIS

Winners From America Music Awards 2014

one direction

One Direction has won the American Music Award for artist of the year.

Competition in the category was tough, with Iggy Azalea, Beyoncé, Luke Bryan, Eminem, Imagine Dragons, John Legend, Lorde, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams up for the honour.

The final prize of the night was the third award the British boy band claimed during Sunday’s ceremony. One Direction also claimed trophies for favourite pop/rock duo or group and pop/rock album for ‘Midnight Memories.’

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
One Direction

DICK CLARK AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
Taylor Swift

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY KOHL’S
5 Seconds of Summer

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Katy Perry Featuring Juicy J - Dark Horse

Booty businesses cash in on women chasing bigger butts

Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Three Lions Entertainment Nicki Minaj performs at Fashion Rocks 2014 at the Barclays center on September 9, 2014 in New York, United States.

Joseph PisaniThe Associated Press
Gym classes that promise a plump posterior are in high demand. A surgery that pumps fat into the buttocks is gaining popularity. And padded panties that give the appearance of a rounder rump are selling out.

The U.S. booty business is getting a big bump. Companies are cashing in on growing demand from women seeking the more curvaceous figures of their favourite stars, who flaunt their fuller rear ends.

Nicki Minaj raps about her “big fat” butt in “Anaconda.” Reality-star Kim Kardashian posts photos of hers on Instagram. And in the music video for “Booty,” Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea spend four minutes rubbing their curvy bottoms together. At one point, they slap each other on the booty.

As a result of the pop culture moment the butt is having, sales for Booty Pop, which hawks $22 foam padded panties on its website, are up 47 per cent in the last six months from the same period last year.

Susan Bloomstone, Booty Pop’s co-founder, says customers have asked for larger sizes. So, the Boston-based company will begin selling pads that are 25 per cent larger. “People just want more booty,” she says.

North America Teens Going Fame Hungry On Social Media

A study found thousands of fame-hungry teens, some with millions of followers, posting provocative photos or videos. AFP/Getty Images 

Torstar News Service
Teens going to extreme lengths for online fame. One provocative pose, the flash of a camera and a tap on a screen are all teenagers need to gain thousands, if not millions, of new friends.

A year-long study into “selfie culture” finds teenagers are going to unsettling lengths to gain online fame. So-called “#Instafamers” are abandoning lessons learned about online privacy, posting near-nude photos or videos and opening themselves up to exploitation and bullying, according to a new study by researchers at Centennial College.

“When sharing becomes over-sharing and that becomes fame-craving and that becomes obsessive, then obviously we need to start asking why,” said Debbie Gordon, director of Centennial College’s Kids Research Centre, which researches children’s media futures.

Gordon and her team of three recent Centennial College graduates combed through social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Vine looking for users aged 13 to 18, mostly in North America.

New Poll Finds Canadians, Americans Moving Apart

PAUL KORING | Globe and Mail
Canadians and Americans continue to drift apart, souring a relationship that’s likely to get worse as long as Prime Minster Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama remain in power, according to a leading Canadian pollster.

“More of the same,” a relationship adrift, said Nik Nanos, chairman of Nanos Research, adding: “We won’t get a reset until Obama and Harper are no longer leading their respective countries.”

For a decade, Mr. Nanos has been charting changing Canadian and American attitudes with an annual survey on both sides of the border. A dispiriting theme of “drift continues” emerges from polls conducted last month, Mr. Nanos said.

Even as Mr. Harper sends Canadian warplanes to fly alongside U.S. fighter jets in Mr. Obama’s relaunched war on terror, the two countries are drifting apart on many issues.

“Canadians are more interested in [the obstacles] to crossing the border than whether we are a part of an international coalition to fight terror,” Mr. Nanos said, adding that annual polls show that both populations have steadily lost interest in close co-operation even as they generally hold each other in high regard.

ESPN's First Take Debate: How Much Trouble Are The New England Patriots In?

American Singer Jill Scott Reacts to Released Nude Photos

Earlier this week celebrity Apple iCloud accounts were targeted by hackers who leaked the nude photos of celebs including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Jill Scott. When the pics leaked, Jill said the photos were taken to document her weight loss process. But when some ignorant people started to make fun of her body, the Grammy winner took to twitter to defend her body image and shame the hacker who leaked her nudes. See what the American singer posted below

Cuba: Where toilet paper can be rarer than partridge

 

Years after the collapse of the USSR, Cuba remains a bastion of communism, central planning... and shortages of basic goods. Anyone returning from a trip abroad therefore takes as many of these as they can carry - even if they are flying from Moscow.

The bright orange bottle of cleaning fluid was probably the oddest item stuffed into my suitcase this time, wedged in beside the tennis shoes for one friend and pile of baby clothes for another. It's a ritual I've grown used to: every time you leave communist-run Cuba with its centrally-planned economy and sparsely-stocked stores, you go shopping.

But as I packed my bags last week to head back to Havana, I did a double-take. I was in Moscow, heading home from a work trip, and as usual carrying as many presents and supplies as I could. And yet it wasn't so long ago that I'd stock up in the same way for trips to Russia.

I was a student there in the early 1990s as the country emerged - very painfully - from seven decades of communism. The shops then were stomach-achingly bare.

My friends and I would head out each day with empty bags to scour the shelves of gloomy, musty stores. We got used to buying whatever there was, not what we wanted - pickled tomatoes, perhaps, or canned fish on a good day.

Read full on http://www.bbc.com

#STOPISIS! Terror Group Beheads Another America Journalist, Steven Sotloff

ISIS released a brutal video today showing the beading of a second U.S journalist, 31 year old Steven Sotlof. Sotloff had appeared in another video where U.S Journalist James Foley was killed two weeks ago (left. Sotloff pictured right at the execution scene). And it looks like Sotloff was killed by the same executioner who killed Foley on August 19th. He had same British accent and before beheading Sotloff, the terrorist said;

"I'm back Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State, because of your insistence on continuing your bombings on Mosul Dam, despite our serious warning. So just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."

Sotloff disappeared while reporting in Syria a year ago. He worked for Time, Foreign policy & others

God, not Zmapp, cured me — Dr Kent Brantly, America Ebola Survivor

The American doctor, Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia has attributed his recovery from the deadly virus to God and not to the experimental Zmapp drug used in treating him.

 

After being discharged from the Emory University Hospital in the United States of America, Dr. Brantly made his first public statement since contracting Ebola in Liberia almost a month ago, thanking God for his survival.

 

In a video posted online on Friday, he began by sharing how he and his family came to be in Liberia as medical missionaries who moved to West Africa because “God called us to serve the people of Liberia.”

 

According to him, on July 23, his life took an “unexpected turn” when he contracted the deadly virus.

“Today is a miraculous day. I am thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family. As I lay in bed in Liberia for the following nine days, getting sicker and weaker each day, I prayed that God would help me be faithful, even in my illness,” he said.

 

“And I prayed that in my life or in my death that He would be glorified. I did not know then, but have learned since, that there were thousands, maybe even millions of people around the world praying for me throughout that week and even till today.

 

“I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and your support, but what I can tell you is that I serve a faithful God who answers prayers.”

 

While Brantly thanked the medical staff in the isolation unit at Emory hospital, he believed his survival was a “direct answer to thousands and thousands of prayers”.

 

In an earlier statement from his isolation room, the doctor thanked “God for His mercy” and noted “God often leads us to unexpected places.”

 

According to Brantly, “God saved my life”.

 

More than 1,300 people have been killed by the virus in West Africa alone, and the number is growing at a considerable rate.

 

More than 2,473 people have contracted the disease, more than the previous 24 Ebola outbreaks combined, according to the World Health Organization.

 

It has a mortality rate of 90 per cent, and has been declared a global health emergency.

 

A team of five infectious disease experts and 21 nurses worked around the clock to provide care for Brantly, and while he took a moment to hug each at the end of the briefing, he credited God for being an important part of his recovery.

 

“Above all, I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life,” he said.

 

“Please continue to pray for Liberia and the people of West Africa.”

 

Also, the President, Samaritan’s Purse,a religious charity organization, Franklin Graham, ascribed the doctor’s faith in God for his speedy recovery.

 

“Today I join all of our Samaritan’s Purse team around the world in giving thanks to God as we celebrate Dr. Kent Brantly’s recovery from Ebola and release from the hospital. His faithfulness to God and compassion for the people of Africa have been an example to us all,” he stated.

 

Brantly and American nurse who also contracted EVD Nancy Writebol, were given one of only five courses available of the experimental drug.

 

The pair split the dose before being moved to the US from Liberia.

Dr Kent Brantly US doctor with Ebola to be released from hospital today

Dr Kent Brantly, the American doctor who contracted the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia while working as a missionary in the country will be released from Atlanta's Emory University Hospital today August 21st after being successful treated.

According to the spokesperson of the hospital, Vince Dollard, Dr. Kent's blood samples came back negative for the virus after undergoing proper screening for two days. Dr. Kent is expected to give a statement regarding his discharge later today at a news conference before leaving the hospital.

Dr. Kent and another US missionary Nancy Writebol contracted the disease while working to fight the outbreak in Liberia. After they contracted the disease they were taken to an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital, where they were treated with the experimental drug, ZMapp

Jadeveon Clowney Gets NFL Sack

If you for some reason thought Jadeveon Clowney was going to have to ease himself into the NFL, it would appear that you were wrong. The No. 1 draft pick made back-to-back big-time plays in the Houston Texans' preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, including recording his first unofficial NFL sack.

Clowney started things off with another one of those untouched-into-the-backfield-oh-my-god-is-that-running-back-alive hits that's quickly becoming his trademark. RIP Antone Smith. 

 

 

ALERT TO OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: We understand you don't want to step in front of that wrecking ball of a man, but your running backs would really prefer you at least attempt to slow him down.

SBNation

Argentinian grandmother finds ‘stolen grandson’ after 36 years

The founder of Argentina’s leading human rights group has found her grandson, who was taken from her daughter while she was a prisoner of the military dictatorship in the 1970s. A DNA test solved the mystery, one of many from the “dirty war” era.

 

An emotional Estela Barnes de Carlotto, founder of the “Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo”, announced that her long hunt had ended.

 

“Thanks to God, thanks to life, because I didn’t want to die without embracing him and soon I will be able to,” the 83-year-old grandmother said at a news conference covered live on national TV. She has not yet met him.

 

The now 36-year-old man came forward to have a DNA test taken and have the sample compared in a national database because he had doubts about his own identity, said Guido Carlotto, a son of de Carlotto and the human rights secretary for the Buenos Aires Province.

 

The family didn’t release the man’s name, but Argentine media identified him as Ignacio Hurban, a pianist and composer who is director of a music school in the city of Olavarria, southwest of Buenos Aires.

 

“The empty picture frames will have his picture,” Estela Barnes de Carlotto told France 24.  “I’ve seen his (photo), it’s beautiful, he’s an artist, he’s a good guy and he searched for me, he searched for me.

 

“He achieved what the grandmothers have said, they (the victims) will find us like we have found them. He came to the grandmothers, he was received, he went to CONADI (the identity commission) and was received and listened to and today they told me he’s my grandson with a 99.999999% (probability).”

 

Son of an executed activist

De Carlotto said the test revealed the man is the son of Laura Carlotto, a university student activist who was executed in August 1978 two months after she gave birth while being held under the dictatorship’s brutal campaign against guerrillas and other opponents of the regime.

 

The announcement was major news in Argentina, drowning out coverage of the recent default forced on the country by a legal dispute with US investors.