| Back on course
If I stray into football tactics it meets with a frosty response," reveals the chairman. But players and contracts are discussed, which is why, unlike some other clubs, the manager and his chairman are usually singing from the same hymn sheet. The message to predators is that it will take in excess of £1m, and maybe considerably more, to prise the 20-year-old Naismith out of Ayrshire. According to Johnston, Southampton made a seven-figure bid for the player at the start of the season. The striker, who has scored 17 goals this season, also attracted the interest of Arsene Wenger, who invited him down to Arsenal for an assessment which included a medical. There will be further offers this summer. "We've already had one or two informal approaches with figures mentioned," says Johnston, "but we've brushed them aside because Steven is under contract until 2010.
Madeleine McCann: What Shannon Matthews Is Worth, Asda And PR
Contrast the media-savvy McCann campaign with the brave efforts of Petra Jamieson, 30, a friend of Shannon's mother, who managed to persuade her local branch of Asda to donate 24 white T-shirts on which the girl's photograph had been printed. What happened to Shannon Matthews? Who can we blame? The parents? A deprived background, a dysfunctional family and a down-on-its-luck Yorkshire mill town: none of this is Shannon Matthews's fault, yet it seems that she is paying the price. No holiday scene. No excuse for hacks to go to hotter climes. Yorkshire in winter. Grey. Grim. GLASGOW DAILY RECORD: “Mother's Day Wish" THE distraught mum of missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews last night cried: "All I want for Mother's Day is my princess back." DAILY MIRROR: “ALL I WANT FOR MOTHER'S DAY IS MY PRINCESS BACK" Shannon Matthews' desperate mother last night movingly declared: "All I want for Mother's Day is my princess back."As police continued searching thousands of homes for the missing nine-year-old schoolgirl, mum Karen, 32, said: "It is a special family day and we would all spend it together.
Bodette column: Week's events have big impact
Good morning, St. Cloud area. What a week for state and local news. I can't resist the opportunity to add my comments to this week's major stories out of St. Paul and St. Cloud. Remember, the executive editor is a member of the Times Editorial Board. It has been a week of lively Editorial Board discussions. Lawmakers' decisions this week could have a profound impact on the lives of area residents. It's time to pay close attention to the news and get involved by talking or writing to your elected officials. Here we go: News item No. 1: Legislature overrides transportation bill veto. The Editorial Board has been encouraging lawmakers to work in a bipartisan manner to achieve the best solutions to the state's problems.
FSA and bankers' bonuses
Then the check and balance of the credit department wanted a slice and that was where the problem really started. Either you rewarded your credit people competitively and paid them bonuses or you got dullards. In either event you did not reinforce the fundamental requirement of a credit officer that a bank's greatest asset is its long-term stability. As you sow so shall you reap. .
THQ oils up Big Beach Sports
THQ has made a major push onto Nintendo's hot-commodity console the Wii in recent weeks. Two Thursdays ago, the publisher debuted its combative music rhythm game Band Mashups, where players arm themselves with sniper violins and flame-throwing guitars to best their opponents and change up the music style. Last Thursday, THQ continued to attack the underbelly of the Wii with the creepy-crawler action game Deadly Creatures. Today, THQ said it would be adding yet another title exclusively to the Wii's library with Big Beach Sports. Slated for a global release in summer 2008, Big Beach Sports plans to bring fun in the sun indoors with a variety of sand-friendly physical minigames. Aiming squarely at the casual Wii-gaming crowd, Big Beach Sports will include football, volleyball, soccer, cricket, disc golf, and bocce.
Canada: Government panel urges increased Canadian role in Afghan war
The panel further recommends that the Canadian government delay a promised House of Commons vote on extending the CAF mission in Afghanistan until after a NATO meeting in Bucharest in early April. Harper can be expected to use Manleys report to pressure NATO countriesespecially France, Germany and Italyto lift restrictions on the use of their troops in combat missions, with the claim that an increased willingness on the part of Canadas NATO partners to shoulder the fighting in Afghanistan is necessary to maintain public support for the pivotal CAF deployment in Kandahar. At the same time the panels condition is loosely enough worded that were the US to agree to deploy to Kandahar some of the 3,200 additional troops it recently announced it is sending to Afghanistan, the Harper government could argue it has been fulfilled.
Take Skyscraper for a spin
An insider told me that the owner had a thing for both Geauga (bought and closed) and Kings Island (bought and only he knows the plan). Now we know that he will also never sell an intact park that competes with his precious empire on the Point. Part of the plan was to remove the valuable rides (which together have an assessed value near the $26M figure provided). That is the Cliff Note version. Mr. Kinzel has successfully eliminated his closest competition and we have to live with that decision. " .
Ex-mobster warns of gambling's dangers
FAIRFAX, Va. | It's clear right away -- long before the woman sitting up front asks, "Did you shoot anyone?" -- that this guy with the straight-out-of-central-casting Brooklyn accent and gold chain is not your typical college lecturer.It's clear from Michael Franzese's life story -- the 17 years in the mafia, the millions upon millions of ill-gotten gains, the "Yuppie Don" nickname, the prison term -- that he is a breed apart from the professors usually addressing this crowd.And it's clear, from the wide eyes and dropped jaws in a George Mason University auditorium on a recent evening, that these kids in their gray hooded sweat shirts are listening intently, drawn in by Franzese's message and mien.They're hearing Franzese deliver the same, simple points he makes to college athletes and coaches, to NBA rookies and Major League Baseball players and umpires, to professional tennis players and NFL veterans.Know the dangers of gambling, because, he says, "If you don't have a gambling problem, you know somebody that does.
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