
Fast forward to today, and the global economic landscape looks significantly different. While the scars of the financial crisis are still visible, new challenges have emerged, including the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflationary pressures, and shifting dynamics in the global economy.
In conclusion, the case of the employee dismissed for sending a salary raise request email to their boss serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of respecting and adhering to company policies, especially those related to compensation confidentiality. While the incident has sparked controversy and debate, it also presents an opportunity for the organization to reassess and improve its practices to foster a more transparent and supportive work environment for all employees.In the bustling streets of Beijing, two of China's most beloved stars, Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin, recently had a chance encounter that set social media abuzz. What made this meeting even more intriguing was the fact that Zhao Liying was with her young son. The sight of the two stars crossing paths, while accompanied by a child, added an extra layer of intrigue and excitement to the encounter.
NJ/NY Gotham FC midfielder Yazmeen Ryan has been traded to Houston Dash in exchange for a record fee, per multiple reports. Ryan was sent to Houston for a reported transfer fee of $400,000, per The Equalizer's . The transfer fee is reportedly thought to be the largest cash intra-league transfer fee in NWSL history. Ryan will reportedly sign a new contract with the Dash, as her current deal with Gotham expires in 2026. The 25-year-old midfielder has had another breakout season on a talent Gotham roster, finishing the season with five goals and five assists. She caught the eye of USWNT coach Emma Hayes, ; since then, she has made four appearances with the USWNT. The NWSL has never been transparent about things like transfer fees, making it difficult to confirm how the amount stacks up against previous fees. But $400,000 is certainly an eye-catching number, and it proves how much Ryan's stock has gone up in the past few years: The Thorns sent the midfielder to Gotham in a three-team trade in 2023, and received $200,000 in allocation money from Angel City during the exchange. The only potentially higher transaction came last season, when Houston sent forward María Sánchez to the San Diego Wave, and received a $500,000 in allocation money in return. (Sánchez had after signing the then-biggest contract in NWSL history.) Ryan started her NWSL career with the Portland Thorns, earning a Supporters' Shield and an NWSL Championship in her first two years in the league. She was a key part of Gotham FC's championship-winning season in 2023. With the trade, the midfielder will be returning to Texas, where she played for TCU for four seasons. Per Kassouf, the trade took place before the transaction moratorium on Friday, Dec. 20. NWSL teams are not allowed to trade and sign players between Dec. 20 and Dec. 26 as part of a league-wide shutdown. The moratorium will lift on Friday, Dec. 27 to allow teams to start signing players again. The move for Ryan is big for the Dash, who finished the season dead last in the league with only five wins. Houston has shied away from big signings over the past few years, with their biggest player — Sánchez — leaving at the start of the season. Now, Houston is finally making some moves. Earlier this month, the Dash Ryan's Gotham teammate, free agent midfielder Delanie Sheehan. The two will be a good pair to shore up the Dash's midfield. As for Gotham, Ryan's departure marks a trend. This past season, Gotham's success has come from its big-name signings. The team signed four USWNT stars last January, in one go, while also bringing in international stars like Spanish forward Esther González, defender Jess Carter, German keeper Ann-Katrin Berger and many more. But the team has also relied on a deep bench, with lesser-known players like Ryan and Sheehan holding down the fort. However, part of having a deep bench is that those strong players sitting on the bench might get a little restless. The team only had one draft pick in the 2024 draft, defender Maycee Bell, and her to the North Carolina Courage halfway through the season because they frankly didn't need her. And now that the season is over, Gotham's players are starting to scatter. Besides Ryan and Sheehan heading to Houston, forward Lynn Williams . Players like defender Sam Hiatt and midfielder Maitane López with the team after getting less playing time. It's possible that Gotham has an overabundance of talent last year, and the players who didn't see as much time on the field want to go somewhere where they're more valued. Gotham, meanwhile, has continued looking towards outside talent. With the midfield a little sparser without Ryan and Sheehan, the team 19-year-old Ghananian midfielder Stella Nyamekye to a three-year contract.Donte DiVincenzo grabbed a defensive rebound under the hoop off a Max Christie air ball, took a couple of hard dribbles to the side of the floor and heaved the ball forward into the frontcourt, dropping his pass over Christie’s out-stretched arms and into the lap of Julius Randle. The result was an easy flush for Randle that extended Minnesota’s lead to 12 in the second quarter of the Wolves’ win over the Lakers on Monday night at the Target Center. ADVERTISEMENT As Randle was putting away the score, Wolves head coach Chris Finch looked back and pointed at DiVincenzo, his way of saying, “Thank you.” Minnesota scored 20 fast-break points Monday, marking just the fourth time this season it’s hit such a total. Nine of those points came off DiVincenzo dimes. “He did a really good job of igniting our break,” Finch said. “We’ve been emphasizing trying to kick ahead more, throw the pass wide, change the angle of the floor, all that. He did a really good job of getting off of it, he and Nickeil (Alexander-Walker) connected on a couple. His decision-making was really good tonight, getting off of it quick and finding the open guy and moving it.” DiVincenzo noted there’s a distinct trust factor in basketball, and it’s prevalent in several areas within the game. If you want your teammates to consistently do something, they need to believe you’ll hold up your end of the bargain. If the Wolves want Rudy Gobert to block a shot, they need to be checking the man he is leaving on the defensive glass. If you want your teammates to run the floor hard in transition, you had better be willing to kick the ball ahead. “That’s what we did tonight, everybody,” DiVincenzo said. “And when we do that, it deflates the other team.” Minnesota has infrequently been difficult to play against this season. A piece of that equation is the Wolves often leave the easy money on the table. Fast-break points sit atop that list. According to CleaningTheGlass.com, only 13.1% of Minnesota’s offensive possessions are played in transition. That’s dead last in the NBA, even after Monday’s performance. Transition was a weak point of last year’s team, as well, but the additions of Randle and DiVincenzo were supposed to infuse some pace. But old habits die hard. The Wolves have rarely looked for opportunities to get out and run. They often don’t seem interested in the idea. It requires effort and intention. So, it’s a difficult switch to flip after it spent much of last year in the “off” position. ADVERTISEMENT “Just knowing you’ve got to run the floor at all times,” Wolves wing Jaden McDaniels said. “Even when you’re tired, or if the game is not going your way, just to get easy points and run the floor for your teammates.” Randle agreed that sometimes he’ll dribble up the floor and no one will be running alongside him, but added there are things he should do differently, as well. “I might get the rebound and I’m probing instead of just pushing and throwing the ball ahead and looking to flatten the defense out that way,” he said. “Or you’re probing instead of punching the gaps, or whatever it is, and you’re letting the defense catch up, so it’s just little things like that.” Minnesota’s best transition groups figure to be those that don’t include Gobert. But those lineups have been hindered by an inability to grab defensive rebounds. That has to be priority No. 1 in any instance; but once that’s secured, there needs to be more urgency to go. As Monday showed, transition offense can be a major feather in the cap of a team that sometimes struggles to score with consistency. For instance, in the first quarter, the Wolves scored just 22 points, but six came in transition. The positive sign for Minnesota is that when the issue was emphasized, players like DiVincenzo made a point to answer the call. “I think playing fast, making quick decisions, letting us use our athleticism and our quick decisions (helps),” DiVincenzo said. “I think when you slow down sometimes, guys kind of get out of rhythm. Playing fast, getting the early transition opportunities, gets everybody going, and then we can play both types of games.” ADVERTISEMENT ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. 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A forecaster says ripe avalanche conditions are expected to persist across much of British Columbia for the rest of the week. Large swaths of the province, stretching from the coast to the Alberta boundary, are under “considerable” or “moderate” avalanche danger warnings. Tyson Rettie with Avalanche Canada says the conditions are largely a result of a series of storms that have lead to temperature fluctuations and significant amounts of snow at high elevation points. “We’ve seen a pattern of a storm every 18 hours or so on the coast for over a week now,” Rettie said in an interview Tuesday. “Every time the storm comes through, it deposits significant amounts of snow, often with strong or extreme winds.” He said storms like these deposit wind and storm slabs, or layers of snow, on mountains. These deposits bond together on top of existing layers of snow, Rettie said, and when the top slab is stronger than the layer beneath it, the greater the risk for an avalanche. “We’re seeing formation of both storm and wind slabs that are large enough to justify a ‘considerable hazard’ (warning),” he said. “Even just the new snow itself can form what we call a storm slab problem or a wind slab problem.” As of Tuesday afternoon, Avalanche Canada had a “considerable hazard” warning covering Vancouver Island, a stretch of coastal B.C. from Powell River to Pemberton in the east, and more areas. There were also significant areas of the province covered under “moderate hazard” avalanche warnings. One of these moderate areas is east of Pemberton towards Lillooet, and Rettie noted a few avalanches have been reported in the area over the past week. On Monday, four backcountry skiers were buried in an avalanche on Ipsoot Mountain north of Whistler, B.C., and a fifth was partially buried. All were rescued. B.C. Emergency Health Services said in a statement that three of the skiers were transported to hospital in stable condition, while the other two didn’t require hospitalization. Premier David Eby shared his appreciation for the first responders in a social media post, calling it “an incredible rescue.” Const. Antoine Graebling with the Whistler RCMP detachment said the avalanche was a 2.5 on a five-point scale, which means it was large enough to seriously injure or kill people. Graebling said his detachment hasn’t been notified of any other avalanches. But he and Rettie both said conditions can change daily. “Each of these storms is bringing a significant amount of precipitation, often warmer temperatures and strong or extreme wind speeds,” Rettie said. “The more intense the storm, the higher the danger.” He said the storm pattern is expected to continue near the coast for the rest of this week. “The timing and intensity of it is a bit uncertain. But at least over the next three days, we’re expecting a couple of significant storms to impact the coast,” he said. He encouraged backcountry skiers to check the Avalanche Canada forecasts, which are updated daily, before they hit the slopes.
The exact cause of the singer's paralysis and subsequent death is still under investigation, but experts have pointed towards the potential risks of over-massaging as a contributing factor. While massages are generally considered safe and beneficial for overall well-being, excessive pressure or frequency can sometimes lead to unforeseen complications, especially when performed by an untrained or inexperienced individual.
SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is “alert” and conscious after being taken off the field on a stretcher during the team's 1-0 win at Southampton in the on Thursday, manager Julen Lopetegui said. The game was delayed for around eight minutes as Fabianski received treatment on the field at St Mary's Stadium. The 39-year-old Polish goalkeeper was hurt in a collision from a corner and was replaced by Alphonse Areola in the 36th minute. Southampton 'keeper Aaron Ramsdale had run the length of the field to check on Fabianski amid worrying scenes. Fabianski was then greeted by applause as he was taken off with an oxygen mask on, but did not need to go to the hospital. “He had one big knock around the head, around the neck and he was not very sure about his actions. Fortunately the news is he is talking, he is alert, he is conscious,” Lopetegui said. “I talk with him. The doctors say that he feels better and well. I am positive with him. He showed he more or less recovered his sense. I am not afraid. We feared but now he is better and it is a positive feeling because we were very worried.” West Ham, which also saw defender Max Kilman go off in the first half, scored through Jarrod Bowen in the 59th. AP soccer: