Coral BarryTuesday 14 Jan 2020 10:31 pmShare this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messengerShare this with Share this article via emailShare this article via flipboardCopy link3.5kShares Advertisement Arsenal make transfer approach for former target Franck Kessie ‘We switched off’ – Mikel Arteta reacts to Crystal Palace drawTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Play VideoLoaded: 0%0:00Progress: 0%PlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration Time 3:38Fullscreen’We switched off’ – Mikel Arteta reacts to Crystal Palace drawhttps://metro.co.uk/video/we-switched-mikel-arteta-reacts-crystal-palace-draw-2085906/This is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window. Comment
Advertisement Kessie could be on the move this month (Picture: Getty)Arsenal have made enquiries about signing Franck Kessie this month, according to reports in Italy.The AC Milan midfielder has long been linked with a switch to the Premier League and was a transfer target of former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.Current head coach Mikel Arteta is keen to bring in reinforcements in January, but Arsenal are targeting loan deals rather than any permanent signings.Arsenal broke their transfer record to sign Nicolas Pepe last summer and the expenditure in the last window means the Gunners’ budget is tight this month.ADVERTISEMENT Kessie is available for £21m (Picture: Getty)However, Corriere Dello Sport claim Kessie could be snapped in a bargain £21million deal.AdvertisementAdvertisementKessie, 23, has struggled for consistency at Milan, but has stood out this season despite the Italian giants languishing in tenth place in Serie A.Arsenal have registered their interest in the Ivory Coast international, but will face competition from West Ham.More: FootballRio Ferdinand urges Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to drop Manchester United starChelsea defender Fikayo Tomori reveals why he made U-turn over transfer deadline day moveMikel Arteta rates Thomas Partey’s chances of making his Arsenal debut vs Man CityLike Arteta, David Moyes is desperate to strengthen his squad and Kessie could represent an excellent deal considering his price tag.Arteta has refused to be drawn into transfer speculation, but did reveal he was not expecting a busy month.‘At the moment there is nothing coming up,’ he said. ‘The club is working on a few things but you know how difficult this window is and I’m not expecting many things.’MORE: Bruno Guimaraes’ transfer fee drops after Arsenal make contactMORE: Ray Parlour backs Arsenal transfer move for Manchester City star John Stones
Columnist fell into liberal trap on ACA
E.J. Dionne on the Dec. 4 Gazette editorial page, in making a point, said the following: Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion “But when Congress did truly big things in the past — the Affordable Care Act, the major tax cuts of the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush eras, the tax increases under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — there was serious discussion over an extended time.”Serious discussion over an extended time in reference to the Affordable Care Act? Are you really serious? How does one, with a straight face, claim this? Does “We need to pass it in order to know what’s in it” by Nancy Pelosi ring any bells? This was possibly the most financially affected bill to the public of the 21st century, yet it was passed not only without serious discussion, but with no discussion.E.J. Dionne is, deservedly, a well known and respected columnist. Yet even he apparently has been affected by the liberal disease of “Let not the truth be told, for liberalism trumps all,” especially when it trumps Trump, in spite of the truth and facts. Arthur C. SalvatoreSaratogaMore from The Daily Gazette:EDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homesEDITORIAL: Thruway tax unfair to working motoristsSchenectady, Saratoga casinos say reopening has gone well; revenue down 30%Foss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?EDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidation
Orchard-Lisle to branch out
To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week. Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters
Hang the money- launderers out to dry
Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.
Assets shed in Kent
To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week. Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters
USS buys 8% stake in Heathrow Airport
“Investment in UK infrastructure is a win-win – promoting economic growth and jobs whilst providing attractive investments for the trustee board in meeting its commitments to members,” he said.The wholly owned asset manager’s head of private markets, Michael Powell, said Heathrow had a “bright future” as the country’s only hub airport, and that USS looked forward to the outcome of the Davies Commission, set to recommend where runway capacity in the south-east of the country should be expanded.“We have confidence the right incentives will be set in place to encourage the investment Heathrow and the UK needs,” Powell added.USS has been active in the infrastructure market, buying Airtrain Holdings last year for AUD110m (€87m).The monopoly train provider is responsible for maintaining the rail link between Brisbane Airport and Brisbane centre.It has also repeatedly provided water utilities in the UK with debt funding, and was part of a consortium involved in a £5bn bid for water provider Severn Trent. The UK’s second-largest pension fund, the £37.9bn (€44.6bn) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), is to invest nearly £400m in Heathrow Airport.Under terms of the deal, USS will invest £392m in exchange for an 8.65% stake in FGP Topco, the London airport’s holding company.It marks the defined benefit fund’s single-largest domestic infrastructure investment to date.Roger Gray, chief executive at USS Investment Management, said the 8% stake represented a “premier” infrastructure asset.
Peace Boat Teams Up with Arctech Shipyard on Ecoship
Japan-based international non-profit NGO Peace Boat has inked a letter of intent (LOI) with Finnish shipbuilding company Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for the construction of Ecoship, “the world’s greenest cruise vessel”.The agreement was signed at Nor-Shipping 2017 in Oslo on May 30.“We have agreed with Arctech to build the Ecoship, the most innovative and ecologically friendly cruise vessel ever. We believe this ship will be a game changer for the shipping industry and will contribute to the protection of the environment. It will be a flagship for climate change,” Yoshioka Tatsuya, Director and Founder of Peace Boat, commented.“We are very excited to work with Peace Boat in the construction of this very special vessel… Ecoship will combine Arctech’s know-how in technically advanced and environmentally friendly vessels with the expertise of the Finnish shipbuilding network in designing and building of high-class cruise vessels,” Esko Mustamaki, CEO of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, pointed out.As disclosed, a final contract for the 2,000-passenger and 750-cabin 60,000 gross ton vessel is expected to be signed shortly. The new ship, which will have a length of 224 meters and a width of 31 meters, is scheduled for delivery in spring 2020.Designed by Spanish company Oliver Design, Ecoship will be the platform for Peace Boat’s round-the-world cruise carrying 6,000 people per year. The ship will host exhibitions on green technology in up to 100 ports per year and serve as a floating sustainability laboratory contributing to research on the ocean, climate and green marine technology.With Ecoship, the organization intends to address climate action via the responsibilities of maritime transport in carbon reduction and in preventing oceans and coastal areas degradation.
Debate continues on Senate reform
Prime Minister Harper has made Senate reform and/or abolition a federal election issue, and while acknowledging the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled his recent refusal to fill vacancies can’t continue indefinitely, he has declared a moratorium on Senate appointments.The Vancouver lawyer who launched a Federal court lawsuit hoping to compel the PM to fill the current 22 vacant seats, has now offered to drop that action, if Mr. Harper asks the high court to rule on the constitutionality of his moratorium.The high court has already ruled that both Senate reform & abolition would require unanimous provincial approval, and with the moratorium Mr. Harper appears to have picked up on that.- Advertisement -“I think it will force the provinces over time to either come up with a plan of comprehensive reform, or to conclude that the only way to deal with the status quo is abolition.”According to the latest Angus-Reid survey the countries’ most popular Premier is still Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall.“I hope provinces and territories respond. If we simply can’t come to an agreement on how this thing can be meaningfully reformed then surely we must be able to decide that in 2015, this country ought not to provide decision making authority to an appointed body however it’s constituted. That doesn’t make any sense.”Advertisement The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the Governor-General, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, with a great deal of the Senate reform debate in recent years has focussed on the lack of representation by population, and no province in the country is more under represented than this one.Nova Scotia, with a current population of fewer than one million, has ten Senate seats, but BC with a current population of four million, only six.Former Peace River North MLA Richard Neufeld is one of them, but when attempts to contact him failed, we turned to another Conservative BC Senator, Nancy Greene Raines.“Really the Senate of Canada is kind of in many ways the least of our worries as a country. It costs the average Canadian less than four dollars a day for the Senate total expenses so it’s not a big expenditure, but it should be doing its job better.”Advertisement