Per The Athletic’s Jay King, Hayward noted he is “basically 100 percent” healthy but is still working his way back into basketball shape.
“It’s so much fun to be able to play again,” Hayward told King. He also mentioned he’s been playing in five-on-five games for the past couple of weeks.
Per Chris Grenham of SB Nation, Hayward said his expectation is to be in the lineup when the Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers in the regular-season opener on Oct. 16.
After joining the Celtics as a free agent last summer, Hayward was injured five minutes into the opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers when he suffered a fracturedtibiaand dislocated ankle in his left leg after landing awkwardly on an alley-oop pass.
Haywardrevealedin a story on his own website that he needed a second surgery to remove the plate and screws in his ankle that were causing pain:
“As most of you probably know, I recently had surgery to remove the plate and screws that were put in my ankle after I broke it in the opener. It’s not something we were expecting to be a part of this recovery process, but I’m happy to report that I’ll be back out there resuming rehab soon, with my sights set firmly on being back to my usual self for the start of next season.
“The whole complication with the hardware in my ankle actually happened really, really fast.”
The Celtics have high expectations for the upcoming season after winning 55 games and reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017-18.
Prior to signing with Boston, Hayward had the best season of his career with the Utah Jazz in 2016-17. The 28-year-old averaged 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 39.8 percent from three-point range.
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has worsened “dramatically” in the last week since UN-sponsored peace talks collapsed and fighting resumed in the port city of Hodeidah.
Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator, said on Thursday that “hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance” in rebel-held Hodeidah, where “families are absolutely terrified by the bombardment, shelling and air strikes”.
The UN warned ongoing fighting in Hodeidah, the entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s commercial imports and aid supplies, could trigger famine in the impoverished nation where an estimated 8.4 million people are facing starvation.
“We’re particularly worried about the Red Sea mill, which currently has 45,000 metric tonnes of food inside, enough to feed 3.5 million people for a month. If the mills are damaged or disrupted, the human cost will be incalculable,” Grande said in a statement.
Battles rage
WATCH: Hunger as a weapon on the rise in conflict zones (1:56)
Yemeni forces, backed by a Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates-led coalition, seized the main road linking Hodeidah to the capital Sanaa, blocking a key supply route for the Houthi rebels in control of the country’s north.
“The main entrance in Hodeidah leading to Sanaa has been closed after forces backed by the UAE took control of the road,” a pro-coalition military source told Reuters news agency.
Residents said the city’s main eastern gate had been damaged in air strikes and fighting was continuing on secondary streets off the main road.
There was no immediate word from either side of the conflict on their casualties.
Doctors and medics in two hospitals in Hodeida province told the Associated Press news agency that 50 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.
Hundreds of civilians have fled their homes in Hodeidah to escape the fighting and heavy smoke was rising above parts of the city, AP quoted officials as saying.
The fighting in Hodeidah intensified following the collapse of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva last week after the Houthi delegation failed to show up.
‘Living hell’
Coalition forces – which aim to restore the internationally recognised government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled Yemen after the Houthi takeover – believe their control over Hodeidah by cutting off supply lines would force the rebels to join the negotiating table.
However, Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from neighbouring Djibouti, said there were “warnings from all quarters that this offensive is the last thing needed in the run-up to an attempt to get some sort of dialogue going”.
Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy on Yemen, is expected to meet Houthi representatives as well as Yemeni government officials living in exile in Saudi Arabia this week in a bid to revive talks.
Meanwhile, Meritxell Relano, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen, said more than 11 million children faced food shortages, disease, displacement, and lack of access to basic services.
“The conflict has made Yemen a living hell for its children,” she said. “An estimated 1.8 million children are malnourished in the country. Nearly 400,000 of them are severely acute malnourished, and they are fighting for their lives every day.”
According to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015. The death toll, however, has not been updated in years and is likely to be much higher.
A narwhal has been adopted by a pod of beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River, according to CBC, and please be warned, the wholesomeness of this story may be completely overwhelming.
The narwhal has been spotted in the same area for the past three years, according to Whales Online, over 1,000 kilometers south from its typical range — narwhals are typically found in the arctic, near countries like Canada and Russia.
But now, it appears that the lone narwhal has become a full fledged member of a beluga posse (or pod if you want to be scientific).
A video of the unlikely friend group was filmed by the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) in early August, but has just now begun to gain some traction online.
The narwhal participates in all of the regular beluga activities and appears to have gained complete acceptance amongst the belugas. “It behaves like it was one of the boys,” Robert Michaud, GREMM’s president and scientific director told CBC News.
Though the friendship seems unlikely, Martin Nweeia, a researcher and narwhal expert at Harvard University says he doesn’t think we should be too surprised.
“I don’t think it should surprise people,” Nweeia told CBC News. “I think it shows … the compassion and the openness of other species to welcome another member that may not look or act the same. And maybe that’s a good lesson for everyone.”
I haven’t been this scared of my phone since Drew Barrymore picked up the line in Scream.
Last night’s premiere episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse depicted the end of days in a pretty standard fashion—lots of screaming, running, crying, etc. But one cellular detail brought the campy series’ take on the world’s end to a very real and very 2018 place.
In the season’s opening scene, three main characters are casually discussing pressed juice and Instagram fame when a loud blaring noise fills the room. Instantly, they reach for their phones.
An emergency push notification heralds doomsday for the characters and audience. It reads: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Los Angeles. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”
If you’ve ever been in a crowded room when a local weather or missing persons alert has gone out, you know the eery reality of this notification experience. A sense of imminent danger suddenly radiates from your pocket. You grab your phone and quickly look around to watch your fellow citizens read the typically benign news. You breathe a collective sigh of relief.
“Ballistic missile threat inbound to Los Angeles. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”
Swapping out that moment of solace for a zing of terror, AHS capitalizes on this familiar shared experience to heighten the reality of its apocalypse.
One character (Leslie Grossman) reacts as many might to the promise of the world’s end and even reference’s the show’s very real source material. “No, it’s bullshit. It’s a hoax. It’s like that time in Hawaii,” she says. “They’re gonna text in like a minute with a retraction.”
In AHS, this is no false alarm. Ryan Murphy and his fellow creators use the Hawaii news item—not to mention the horrifying state of global politics—to inject a moment of real fear into their regularly cartoony show before launching into the end of mankind.
If any part of you is fearing World War 3 or the apocalypse in general, I promise this scene will permanently alter your relationship to your phone.
Seriously, no one text me. I don’t think I can take it.
New episodes of American Horror Story premiere Wednesdays at 10pm ET on FX.
Boston Celtics guard Jabari Bird was arraigned on charges of assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation and kidnapping Thursday.
According to Tom Westerholm of MassLive, Bird is accused of strangling his girlfriend until she lost consciousness and kicking her in the stomach multiple times.
He is currently being held on $50,000 bail. Under conditions of the bail, Bird is not allowed to consume alcohol or drugs and cannot possess a weapon. Bird will be allowed to travel with the Celtics while the case is ongoing.
The Celtics released a statement saying they are “deeply disturbed” by the allegations:
“Most importantly, our thoughts are with the victim of this incident. The Celtics organization deplores domestic violence of any kind, and we are deeply disturbed by the allegations against Jabari Bird. Pursuant to Domestic Violence Policy in the NBA‘s labor agreement, matters of this kind are handled by the League Office, not the team, and so the Celtics will be working with both the league and local authorities to assist in their ongoing investigations. The team will have no further comment at this time.”
Bird, 24, was placed in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston following his arrest, perCBS Boston.
Bird’s representative disputed the allegations, according to CBS Boston, but did not present Bird’s account of the events.
Bird signed a two-year contract with the Celtics this offseason. The 2017 second-round pick played in 13 games with the team as a rookie, splitting his time between the Celtics and the G League.
A super typhoon roared towards the Philippines on Thursday prompting thousands to evacuate ahead of its heavy rains and fierce winds set to strike at the weekend before moving on to China.
Typhoon Mangkhut, which has already blasted through the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, is speeding across the Pacific Ocean with winds that can gust as high as 255 kilometres per hour.
Authorities said some 10 million people in the Philippines are in the storm’s path, not including millions more in heavily populated coastal China.
The Philippine weather bureau warned the storm surge brought about by strong winds could be as high as six metres – the equivalent to a two-story building – endangering many coastal towns and lives.
Philippines: Disaster Capitalism, Inc | 101 East
It said Mangkhut will be the strongest typhoon so far this year.
Thousands began evacuating seaside areas of the northern tip of the main Philippine island of Luzon, where the storm is expected to make landfall early Saturday.
Fleeing for safety
In some areas, local authorities will carry out forced evacuations.
“We are really frightened. They say it is so strong,” said Delaila Pasion who had fled her home. “We were too scared to remain.”
Flooding, landslides, and wind damage from the super typhoon were top concerns as authorities prepared equipment and personnel for rescue and relief operations.
“During the previous monsoon rains, half of our house was destroyed so I wanted to take my grandchildren to safety,” Pasion told journalists.
Rescuers in Manila ready their gear before Super Typhoon Mangkhut makes landfall [Reuters]
Schools were shuttered and some farmers took to their fields to start the early harvest of corn and rice that could be ruined by flooding.
Mangkhut, a Thai word for the mangosteen fruit, is the 15th storm this year to batter the Philippines, which is hit by about 20 a year and is considered one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
The country’s deadliest on record was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 7,350 people across the central Philippines in November 2013.
‘Considerable threat’
The typhoon is expected to boost the intensity of seasonal monsoon rains that have already caused widespread flooding in central Luzon, a mainly farming region north of the capital Manila.
Typhoons and climate change
Poor communities reliant on fishing are some of the most vulnerable to fierce typhoon winds and the storm surge that pounds the coast.
“It will bring destruction. They are the ones greatly affected. Even moderate winds can topple their houses,” regional civil defence official Dante Balao told AFP news agency.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it expects “substantial damage” in the Philippines.
Heavy rains could trigger landslides and flash floods, it said.
Authorities readied bulldozers for landslides and placed rescuers and soldiers on full alert in the country’s north.
Heading for China
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he’ll consider seeking assistance from the international community over Typhoon Mangkhut if it “flattens everything”.
Speaking at a news conference, Duterte said there is no need yet to seek foreign aid, and it would “depend on the severity of the crisis”.
Hong Kong is also in Mangkhut’s sights and preparations there were already under way Thursday, though the storm was not expected to hit until Sunday.
Social media users and radio commentators in Hong Kong said they were stocking up on food and supplies.
The Hong Kong Observatory warned residents to prepare for the typhoon saying it posed a “considerable threat”.
Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday made good on his Rosh Hashana promise to tell the public how he is approaching the toughest issues facing Facebook.
Zuckerberg published a very thorough 3,300 word post on Facebook detailing the company’s multi-pronged approach to combating election interference.
“These are incredibly complex and important problems, and this has been an intense year,” Zuckerberg wrote. “In 2016, we were not prepared for the coordinated information operations we now regularly face. But we have learned a lot since then and have developed sophisticated systems that combine technology and people to prevent election interference on our services.”
Zuckerberg stated that Facebook is now better prepared to prevent election interference than it was in 2016. He detailed all the steps Facebook was taking, but stressed that coordination with government agencies, security firms, and others outside Facebook would be crucial.
“No one tactic is going to prevent all of the abuse,” Zuckerberg wrote.
First, Zuckerberg explained how Facebook fights fake accounts. In six months between October and March, Facebook removed more than 1 billion — that’s billion with a “b” — fake accounts from its network. But he said that this was difficult because fake accounts can be automated and obvious, but also subtle and sophisticated. To that end, Facebook has doubled the size of the team that investigates fake accounts to 20,000.
“Fake accounts continue to slip through without detection — and we also err in the other direction mistakenly taking down people using our services legitimately,” Zuckerberg wrote. “These systems will never be perfect, but by investing in artificial intelligence and more people, we will continue to improve.”
Next, he tackled Facebook’s efforts to stymie misinformation. Spammers and fake accounts are the most obvious tools in the propagandist’s arsenal. But the difficulty comes when real people unknowingly spread false stories. Facebook has chosen to de-rank and ban advertising by fake news networks. It has also enlisted independent fact checkers to flag stories, which is a strategy that has come under some criticism.
Third, Zuckerberg delved into the ad transparency initiatives Facebook has put in place since the 2016 election. He addressed the challenge of how to treat issue ads. Some companies, for example, complained that posts celebrating Pride Month were being flagged as political. But he explained that Facebook decided to keep both political and issue ads on the network in order to keep Facebook as a platform where everyone has a voice.
When deciding on this policy, we also discussed whether it would be better to ban political ads altogether. Initially, this seemed simple and attractive. But we decided against it — not due to money, as this new verification process is costly and so we no longer make any meaningful profit on political ads — but because we believe in giving people a voice. We didn’t want to take away an important tool many groups use to engage in the political process.
Fourth, Zuckerberg explained his thinking behind the way it is choosing to work with independent researchers. Facebook has opened its platform up to a group of researchers to learn how Facebook affects elections and politics, and Facebook won’t have control over their findings. However, Zuckerberg put the kibosh on researchers’ and journalists’ recent plea to create safe harbor for entities outside of Zuckerberg’s handpicked crew to still use Facebook for research.
Finally, Zuckerberg made a call to governments around the world to more closely collaborate on the fight against information. He shares how the aims of government agencies and Facebook are sometimes not aligned: Facebook wants to take down accounts, while the government wants to use social media to identify and charge bad actors, so taking down accounts is not always in the interest of law enforcement. But Zuckerberg calls for collaboration, and touts their common aim.
“The definition of success is that we stop cyberattacks and coordinated information operations before they can cause harm,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We need to create a culture where stopping these threats is what constitutes success — not where the information that uncovered the attack came from. For the complexity of the challenges ahead, this is the best way forward.”
A robotic bartender called Yanu will soon be fixing thousands of drinks at some major European airports. The AI-powered bar unit will be fully autonomous and capable of making 100-150 drinks per hour.
Surveillance programme was revealed by American whistleblower Edward Snowden [Roald Berit/EPA]
Britain’s mass surveillance programme has violated people’s right to privacy, Europe’s human rights court ruled on Thursday.
Judges voted six to one the effort by its intelligence agency GCHQ for obtaining data from communications providers was “not in accordance with the law”, and there were “insufficient safeguards in respect of confidential journalistic material”.
They also voted by five to two the mass trawling for information violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights guaranteeing the right to privacy.
The GCHQ programme was revealed by American whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) operative, as part of his sensational leaks on US spying.
The UK case, brought by civil liberties, human rights and journalism groups and campaigners, challenged British surveillance and intelligence-sharing practices revealed by Snowden.
The judges ruled against the 16 complainants on the question of whether Britain further violated their privacy by sharing intelligence with foreign governments, saying that did not constitute a breach of their rights.
The verdict is not final and can be appealed.
‘Major victory’
Corey Stoughton of human rights group Liberty described the ruling as “a major victory for those of us who think there ought to be balance in the government’s ability to engage in surveillance”.
Britain has changed its surveillance laws since the legal challenge began, passing new legislation the government says has more privacy safeguards.
A UK government spokesperson said the government would “give careful consideration to the court’s findings” while noting a new “double lock” oversight mechanism on spying had been enacted in 2016 – three years after the revelations first emerged.
Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents to the media in 2013 that revealed the vast scope of surveillance of private data that was put in place after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The documents showed Britain spied on foreign politicians at G20 summit meetings in London in 2009, and collected huge quantities of global email messages, Facebook posts, and internet histories and calls, which it shared with the NSA.
Focus groups show that Trump’s association with a Republican drags down a candidate’s support among Puerto Ricans. | Win McNamee/Getty Images
MIAMI — Florida Republicans are angered by President Donald Trump advancing a conspiracy theory casting doubt on Hurricane Maria’s estimated death toll in Puerto Rico. Even Trump’s two top Florida allies, Gov. Rick Scott and GOP gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, disagreed with his insensitive comments.
Exploding on Twitter two months before Election Day, Trump’s comments have the potential to intensify Boricua voter registration efforts and perhaps election turnout. And that, Republicans and Democrats say, could prove crucial in Florida’s hotly contested races for U.S. Senate and governor, which are essentially tied races.
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“3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much,” Trump wrote on Twitter, ignoring the fact that the island’s government paid for independent research to determine the death toll, which was impossible to measure after last year’s storm because it crippled every aspect of Puerto Rico’s government.
Trump also blamed Democrats for releasing the casualty numbers to make him look bad.
“I disagree with @POTUS– an independent study said thousands were lost and Gov. Rosselló agreed. I’ve been to Puerto Rico 7 times & saw devastation firsthand,” Scott, the Republican nominee for Senate, wrote hours later on Twitter. “The loss of any life is tragic; the extent of lives lost as a result of Maria is heart wrenching. I’ll continue to help PR.”
Facing Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Scott has increasingly put some distance between himself and Trump. But DeSantis, who owes his Aug. 28 gubernatorial primary win to Trump, hadn’t criticized the president publicly. That changed Thursday.
“Ron DeSantis is committed to standing with the Puerto Rican community, especially after such a tragic loss of life. He doesn’t believe any loss of life has been inflated,” DeSantis’ campaign said.
Scott, whose Senate bid was encouraged by Trump and who raised money for Trump’s 2016 super PAC, had no comment through his office or Senate campaign. Both Scott and DeSantis have campaigned for Boricua votes in Florida and traveled to the island.
But Alan Levine, a Republican appointed Scott to Florida’s university governing board, couldn’t keep quiet.
“Mr. President. SHUT UP,” Levine replied to Trump on Twitter. “Any death, whether one or 3,000 is a tragedy. That doesn’t mean you caused it, and its not about you. Show compassion for the families,” Levine wrote. “Learn what we can so future response can improve. Honestly….”
Levine told POLITICO he was shocked the president was focusing on this rather than Hurricane Florence as it takes aim at the Carolinas. Levine is one of the top government experts in hurricane response. He was hospital agency director under Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, when eight hurricanes damaged the state in 2004 and 2005. And he led Louisiana’s hospital agency under Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal when hurricanes Gustav and Ike damaged that state.
Florida state Rep. Bob Cortes, a Republican of Puerto Rican descent who heads DeSantis’ Boricua outreach, fretted at the comments from Trump.
“Every morning there is something new that the president tweets,” Cortes told WFTV. “I have no reason to doubt the number of 2,975 deaths in Puerto Rico.”
Earlier in the week, Trump reignited a feud with Puerto Rican officials over what he felt was a lack of credit for his administration’s storm response, which was widely panned.
Florida has more than 1.1 million Puerto Rican residents, and as many as 500,000 could be registered to vote among the 13 million active registered voters. Thousands flocked to Florida after the hurricane. While as many as eight in 10 Puerto Ricans often vote Democratic, a higher number register as independents, and polls suggest Republicans can make big inroads this year.
But Trump might be an impediment.
A recent poll of 1,000 Florida Puerto Ricans found only 18 percent approve of the president, and 72 percent disapprove. His net rating is a negative 53 percent. By contrast, Scott’s net approval rating is a positive 57 percent — so he’s running 104 percentage points better than the president. Scott has held his own with Puerto Rican voters in a head-to-head poll against Nelson, whose campaign got off to a late start in reaching out to Puerto Ricans while Scott figuratively opened Florida’s doors to them.
Nelson today called Trump‘s comments “shameful.”
Focus groups show, however, that Trump’s association with a Republican drags down a candidate’s support among Puerto Ricans.
To that end, Nelson’s campaign the day before began running a new Spanish-language ad called “amigos” that links Scott with Nelson.
“Dime con quien andas y te diré quiten eres,” the ad says, meaning “tell me who you are with and I’ll tell you what you are.”
Democratic state Rep. Amy Mercado, who’s also of Puerto Rican descent and who has deep roots in the Central Florida Boricua community, said she took little pleasure out of the “disgusting” comments made by Trump. She called the Republicans who support Trump “enablers.”
“As for outreach,” she said via text message, “the Prez and his supporters have shown their true colors, so what they are doing is actually empowering the people on the ground especially evacuees to pay attention and organize.”
Scott’s appointee, Levine, did not want to discuss the politics of it. But, when asked about the potential political damage, Levine said via text message that “I can’t imagine it helps. Rick Scott genuinely earned their trust and faith through his work I helping Puerto Rico … The President’s crass statements about himself are so disgraceful and hurtful to people who did die.”
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