Cleverley keen to put woes in past - Football
Published: 23 May 2012 - 12:47:02
Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley is keen to put a nightmare season behind him and look forward to starting afresh in August.
The 22-year-old seemed set to play a pivotal role for the Red Devils' after an impressive start to the campaign but an ankle ligament problem curtailed his involvement and he did not start a Premier League match after October.
"It has been a nightmare at times but I am only 22 and have around 15 years ahead of me yet. I just hope I have got it all over and done with now," he told the Manchester Evening News. "There were times when I thought I was the unluckiest footballer in the world. From a great start it became the hardest season of my life but it has made me mentally stronger."
He added: "I've always had to cope with disappointments in my career. I had two injuries over the years (undergoing shoulder surgery and having a knee problem in loan spells at Leicester and Watford respectively) but I got through them.
"This was the hardest yet. If you had said to me after the Everton game in October that I wouldn't start another Premier League game in the season I would have been massively gutted.
"But that turned out to be the case and it was tough to come to terms with.
"There is nothing more exciting in life than to be playing for Manchester United. To have that taken away is very hard to deal with.
"I don't feel I am owed anything. I've had some bad luck and now I have just got to get on with it."
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Reds making stadium progress - Ayre - Football
Published: 23 May 2012 - 11:46:59
Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre insists progress is being made on a decision about the club's long-term future home with a new stadium and a redevelopment both still under consideration.
Owners Fenway Sports Group are reluctant to move from Anfield to a new build in Stanley Park because of financial implications, with an investment of £300million-plus only delivering an extra 15,000 seats. But Remaining at Anfield has its own problems as expansion would infringe on the 'right to light' homeowners in the surrounding area are entitled to.
"There is progress and we are still in dialogue on both fronts," Ayre told the Liverpool Echo. "We have more dialogue going with the Anfield residents than we ever have, as with other stakeholders in and around Anfield."
FSG have been criticised for not coming up with a definitive plan in the 19 months they have been in charge but Ayre stressed they were making headway.
He added: "I think it's also fair to say that we are already fairly well down the line with a couple of major brands who have shown significant interest in naming rights for a new stadium.
"We want to explore both options to a solution and I think it's fair to say if we continue making progress in that area, it might move faster than we originally anticipated.
"Part of the problem is that people assume that because we don't make a major announcement that nothing's gone on and no progress has been made.
"It's all right for people to say 'Liverpool's a big football club - 60,000 seats, why don't you just go and get on with it?' but go and look at the economics of that - a £300m build for 15,000 new seats.
"It's pretty hard to make that stack up. The work is going on and a decision will be announced when we've got certainty."
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State Street appears hungry for European deals - Reuters
* U.S. custody banks much larger than European rivals
* Analysts: State Street in best position to make a deal in Europe
* Some European banks under pressure to sell assets, raise capital
BOSTON, May 23 (Reuters) - State Street Corp Chairman Jay Hooley has sent a not-so-subtle message to European banks: He's ready to buy their custody and trust operations.
Hooley offered a strong hint of potential European targets last week at the company's annual meeting. One slide ranked leading custody banks around the world, showing that the four largest, all U.S.-based, controlled 60 percent of the global market.
Citing an "opportunity to make acquisitions," Hooley said the next 16 largest custody banks, most of them in Europe, will have a tough time making a go of it.
"We see in competing against these organizations, they don't have the latest product, they're not making investments and sometimes they don't even have the best talent," he said.
Hooley's swipe at European-based custody and trust operations, including market leaders HSBC Holdings PLC, BNP Paribas SA, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole SA's CACEIS unit, is consistent with what analysts are seeing in the market.
"It feels as if the larger European competitors (HSBC, BNP Paribas and Soc Gen) have been less of a player lately, especially for the increasingly sophisticated clients," Nomura Securities analyst Glenn Schorr wrote in a recent report.
Expanding in Europe is a linchpin to Hooley's global growth strategy for State Street. Over the past decade, Boston-based State Street's revenue outside the United States has nearly quadrupled to $3.9 billion. But that still was just 41 percent of the bank's 2011 operating revenue of $9.5 billion.
The vast assets managed for Europe's aging population of wealthy investors and retirees offers an inviting market for U.S.-based custody banks. State Street says almost 50 percent of worldwide retirement asset growth from 2011 to 2015, excluding the United States, is expected to come from Europe.
A big acquisition in Europe could help State Street pass arch rival BNY Mellon Corp., the global custody bank leader, with $26.6 trillion in assets under custody and administration. JPMorgan Chase & Company Inc is second with $25.2 trillion, followed by $23.2 trillion at State Street.
"I always compare us to how we do against the rest of the world," Hooley said at the company's annual meeting.
BNY Mellon does not have as much capital as State Street and is focused on buying back its own stock rather than making deals. Its stock is off about 27 percent over the past year.
To be sure, Europe's largest banks may not be much interested in selling to Hooley, said Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk. But given new bank capital requirements, Purk would not rule out a deal or two.
"If anyone were to do a game-changing deal, State Street is the only company that can do it," Purk said. "State Street has more dry powder and is hungry for acquisitions."
State Street is likely at least to acquire a service or technological advancement from one of Europe's smaller banks so it can add to its operations immediately, Purk said.
One of State Street's largest shareholders, however, is likely working to curb any appetite for a big deal.
Billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP has said State Street paid too much for previous acquisitions, hurting profits and total shareholder returns. Trian is one of State Street's largest investors and has Hooley's ear.
As a result, Trian's influence is expected to keep State Street's possible bidding more constrained than in years past.
State Street has enough capital to do up to $2 billion in acquisitions, but any deal would require the bank to get the blessing of the Federal Reserve, Nomura's Schorr said.
The question remains whether the Europeans will sell.
HSBC declined to comment on a possible sale. BNP, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole did not respond to requests for comment.
At London-based HSBC, which has announced an unprecedented number of asset disposals over the past 12 months, the custody business generated $395 million in operating income in the first quarter and $1.7 billion in 2011.
Still, HSBC, the largest custody operator based in Europe, has only about $8 trillion in assets under custody and administration, compared with the leaders' more than $20 trillion. Like other global banks, HSBC has to meet the more stringent capital requirements of Basel III. Selling assets and returning to core banking activities are part of the calculus to make regulators happy.
The view inside BNP Paribas is that the bank's custody and trust operations are more valuable than ever because they produce steady profits and are a valuable source of liquidity, according to a high-level executive at the bank who declined to be identified. Those are welcome attributes as European banks race to reduce risk and leverage, the executive said.
Still, State Street's Hooley said he expects to see some opportunities emerge. "We think over time, as we have shown in the past 10 years, there's an opportunity to make acquisitions in this space, if they are smart, well-priced and strategically in the right place," he told the bank's annual meeting.
Green Bay Gamblers veterans get ready for Game 5 of Clark Cup finals - Green Bay Press-Gazette
Grant Arnold never will forget May 12, 2010.
Then a first-year forward for the Green Bay Gamblers, it was that day Arnold stood before a deafening crowd at the Resch Center moments after the Gamblers defeated the Fargo Force 5-3 to capture their first USHL Clark Cup postseason championship in a decade.
All told, it took 72 games and every minute of the best-of-five championship series to put the Force away, but finally capturing that elusive championship made it every bit as memorable.
"I'll remember that night for the rest of my life," said Arnold, now a team captain in his third year with the Gamblers. "With 8,500 here and a sellout (crowd), the moment that buzzer hit zero was awesome. Hopefully, we'll do that again."
Arnold is one of three players left from the 2010 Clark Cup championship team, along with defenseman Max Hartner and goaltender Ryan McKay, who was named the league's co-goaltender of the year Tuesday.
The trio looks to go out the same way it came in today when the Gamblers host the Waterloo Black Hawks in Game 5 of the Clark Cup finals series at the Resch Center.
For the last three seasons, Arnold, Hartner and McKay have had front-row seats to one of the greatest runs in league history with three consecutive Clark Cup finals appearances, two Anderson Cup regular-season titles and one postseason crown.
The Gamblers split their home series with the Black Hawks last weekend before winning Game 3 in Waterloo Friday. They had a shot to close it out last Saturday, but fell 5-3 to force Game 5.
"If it was easy, anyone could do it," said Hartner, who's in his second year as team captain. "We knew it was going to be a battle coming into this series and I wouldn't have it any other way ending my career in Green Bay than with Game 5 here at the Resch."
Despite having one of the deepest defensive units in league history, Green Bay could be without one of its most consistent blue-liners with Markus Lauridsen listed as a game-time decision after sparing his ACL last Saturday.
Highways investigation report delayed 'until council leaders return from China' (From Wirral Globe) - Wirral Globe
Breaking news Highways investigation report delayed 'until council leaders return from China'
11:04am Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in News Exclusive By Leigh Marles
BIRKENHEAD MP Frank Field is becoming increasingly exasperated as publication of a long-awaited investigation into a Wirral Council highways contract is delayed yet again.
It has been revealed the Audit Commission's examination of a multi-million pound outsourced contract is being kept under wraps until the leader of Wirral Council returns from a trade trip to China.
This is the latest in a string of hold-ups and false starts which has angered the MP.
The investigation was sparked last year when it was disclosed that the council was unable to define whether or not the contract represented “value for money".
Mr Field began campaigning for the watchdog’s inquiry to be conducted into the contract and later for its findings to be released when he was approached by a group of whistle-blowers who raised alleged "irregularities" with him.
It had been hoped the audit report would be published immediately following local elections of May 3.
Now the whistle-blowers have been told by the District Auditor that publication will be delayed for a further fortnight.
They have been informed the public will not be permitted to see the document until the council’s trade delegation, which includes town hall chief Cllr Phil Davies, opposition group leaders and senior officers, returns after signing a £200m Wirral Waters investement deal in China.
T Mr Field has written to communities and local government minister Bob Neill expressing his “increasing frustration” at the apparently endless delays.
A council spokeswoman said: "We are awaiting the report from the District Auditor. We have provided all information, and when we receive the report, we will make an announcement."
The council's director of highways and technical services, David Green, is currently suspended from work while an inquiry is conducted into the way the council handled the outsourced contract.
It has been explained by the council's interim chief executive Ian Coleman, standing in while chief executive Jim Wilkie is on sick leave, that suspension in these circumstances is a "neutral act."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Welcome to the Globe’s new cut-out and throw-away feature!
We've called it: 'This month’s excuse why the Audit Commission’s investigation cannot be published'
Just to recap on the story so far…
December: It wouldn’t be right to release the report until individuals named within it have responded
February: It wouldn’t be right to release the report while council officers are fact checking
March: It wouldn’t be right to release the report until ‘technical legal matters’ have been resolved
April: It wouldn’t be right to release the report until after local elections
May: It wouldn’t be right to release the report while the council leader is in China
June: To be announced
Comments(4)
reliant22 says...
11:42am Wed 23 May 12
PaulCa says...
11:53am Wed 23 May 12
Hon says...
11:56am Wed 23 May 12
council officer says...
12:50pm Wed 23 May 12
Pakistani doctor jailed for helping U.S. find bin Laden - CBC
A Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden was convicted of high treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, officials said, a verdict that is likely to further strain the country's relationship with Washington.
Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaeda chief last May. The operation outraged Pakistani officials because they were not told about it beforehand.
Senior U.S. officials have called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests. His conviction comes at a sensitive time because the U.S. is already frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The supply routes were closed six months ago in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Afridi also was ordered to pay a fine of about $3,500 and will spend an additional three and half years in prison if he does not, said Nasir Khan, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, where the doctor was arrested and tried.
Afridi was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, or FCR, the set of laws that govern Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region. Human rights organizations have criticized the FCR for not providing suspects due process of law. There is no right to legal representation, to present material evidence or cross-examine witnesses. Verdicts are normally handed down by a Khyber government official in consultation with a council of government elders.
Afridi has the right to appeal the verdict, said Iqbal Khan, another Khyber government official.
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