Benzema says Deschamps 'bowed to racists' over Euro snub

Madrid (AFP) - France's top scorer Karim Benzema on Wednesday accused coach Didier Deschamps of bowing to pressure from a "racist" political party by not choosing him for the country's Euro 2016 squad.

The Real Madrid striker, who is being investigated over an alleged sex-tape blackmail case, questioned whether Deschamps left him out because of his Algerian descent.

The comments echo similar accusations from French legend Eric Cantona, who last week said Deschamps had excluded Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa because of their North African heritage -- drawing a threat of legal action from the coach's lawyer.

Benzema told Spanish daily Marca that Deschamps "bowed to pressure from a racist French party" in his selection, referencing the recent electoral success of France's far-right National Front. 

"I do not know if this decision was only down to Didier, because I get along with him, with the president (of the French Football Federation, Noel Le Graet) and everyone," he said.

Benzema was suspended from international duty in December over a legal investigation into an alleged attempt by one of his friends to blackmail his teammate Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape.

France's leading goal-scorer faces up to five years in jail over accusations he encouraged Valbuena to pay the blackmailers.

"They said I cannot be selected, fine. But on a sporting level, I don't understand why," he said. 

"At a legal level, I am still innocent until proven guilty. They should wait until the justice system has made its decision."

- Sex-tape inquiry -

Benzema remains France's top striker, with 27 goals in 81 appearances, despite the emergence of the younger Antoine Griezmann and Anthony Martial.

His path to the French Euro 2016 squad was cleared when legal restrictions stopping him playing on the same team as Valbuena were lifted.

But French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and other politicians have opposed any rehabilitation while the sex-tape inquiry goes on.

"The only person who knows what happened in this affair, who knows the truth, is Valbuena," Benzema told Marca.

"He played a role, he has not told the truth. I wanted to help him, nothing more, and the whole thing blew up in my face."

The exclusion of Ben Arfa and Benzema from the national squad has caused waves in France, which is struggling with racial tensions after two deadly terrorist attacks in Paris.

Ben Arfa, of Tunisian origin, had been hopeful of making the squad after relaunching his career at Nice, but instead had to settle for a place on Deschamps's standby list of eight players.

Adding to the controversy, Cantona said in fresh comments published in Le Journal du Dimanche that without the two players, the squad does not reflect the France he loves. 

Deschamps has refused to comment on Cantona's accusations, although his lawyer last week said he planned to take legal action.

FFF president Graet dismissed Cantona's initial comments as "stupid" and "pathetic".

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Saudi Arabia might pull a Qatar

Saudi Arabia might take a page right out of Qatar's playbook.

The Kingdom is thinking about a sale of as much as $15 billion of bonds this year in light of the investor demand for Qatar's recent issue, report Bloomberg's Ambereen Choudhury, Dinesh Nair, and Ruth David.

This would be Saudi Arabia's first bond sale in international capital markets.

People with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia may copy Qatar's $9 billion sale from earlier in May by issuing bonds with five-, 10-, and 30-year maturities.

They added that no final decision has yet been reached and that talks are still in early stages.

The kingdom has been struggling with the reality of lower-for-longer oil prices and has been looking for ways to generate funds. Even though the commodity's prices have rebounded this year to around $49-50 per barrel, they are still far below June 2014's peak of $100 a barrel.

Most notably, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently unveiled a plan, called Vision 2030, which aims to curtail the Saudis' "addiction" to oil.

Moreover, while some economists remain firm in their belief that the Saudis will not abandon their currency peg to the US dollar, Zach Schreiber, the CEO of PointState Capital who made $1 billion betting against oil two years ago, recently announced that he was short the riyal against the US dollar.

He thinks ongoing low oil prices and growing costs will ultimately lead the kingdom to abandon its three-decade-old peg. (And should that happen, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch global-commodities research team thinks oil will crash to $25 a barrel.)

As for Qatar, although the Gulf state has weathered lower oil prices far better than its OPEC peers, some analysts are now starting to see warning signs flashing. Specifically, folks are worried that Qatar's credit boom looks increasingly unsustainable and could lead to instability in the future.

Check out the full report at Bloomberg.

SEE ALSO: This is Saudi Arabia's "Achilles' heel"

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Gunman among at least 2 dead in Houston shooting

HOUSTON (AP) - A gunman and at least one other person were killed Sunday, authorities said, as many shots were fired in a Houston neighborhood where police had urged people to remain in their homes.

Police spokesman John Cannon says there were two armed suspects involved, one of whom was killed and one who was wounded and taken to a hospital. Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said police believe one suspect was shot by the other and the second was shot by a SWAT officer.

Cannon says the second person killed was found inside a vehicle, though the circumstances were not immediately available. Montalvo said two officers and three citizens were also shot, and a police helicopter was shot at with a "high-powered" weapon.

She said police were working to piece together what had spurred the shootings.

Houston Police Union President Ray Hunt says an officer who was hit several times in the chest was wearing both a metal breastplate and a bulletproof vest. The second officer was shot in the hand. Hunt says both officers hurt should be OK.

At least two drivers told KHOU their vehicles were shot at, and a police SUV could be seen with a shattered windshield and the back window broken out.

Stephen Dittoe, 55, lives in the house right behind the shooting scene, separated by a fence and tall shrubbery at the end of cul-de-sac. He said when he first heard the noise Sunday he thought it was a transformer. His wife, Ha, 41, said it went on too long for that and described the series of staccato sounds.

She took their two children into the bathroom, told them to eat breakfast in there, and called 911. She said police came to the door about two hours later and asked if anyone in the house was being held captive, and if they could walk around the backyard.

The streets were still blocked off late Sunday afternoon with many police cars and fire trucks on the scene.

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The Latest on Houston shooting: Neighbors heard shots, hid

HOUSTON (AP) - The Latest on shootings Sunday in a Houston neighborhood (all times local):

3:45 p.m.

Houston Police Union President Ray Hunt says an officer who was hit several times in the chest during a shooting was wearing both a metal breastplate and a bulletproof vest.

Hunt says both officers hurt during the neighborhood shootings Sunday should be OK. The second officer was shot in the hand.

Police have said there were two armed suspects involved, one of whom was killed. The other was wounded and taken to a hospital. Authorities say another person who was not a suspect or an officer was killed, and three other people were wounded.

___

3 p.m.

Neighbors near the scene of a Houston shooting Sunday that left two dead say they heard several shots and knew something was wrong.

Stephen Dittoe, who lives in the house right behind the shooting scene, says he thought it was a transformer. His wife, Ha, says it went on too long for that. She took their two children into the bathroom and told them to eat breakfast in there, and she called 911.

Police spokesman John Cannon says there were two armed suspects involved. One was killed; the other was wounded and taken to a hospital. Cannon says the second person killed was found inside a vehicle. The circumstances were not immediately available.

Stephen Dittoe says he had thought there were multiple shooters because of the number of gunshots.

___

2:30 p.m.

A gunman and at least one other person are dead in a shooting in a Houston neighborhood where police had urged people to remain in their homes for part of Sunday.

Police spokesman John Cannon says there were two armed suspects involved. One was killed; the other was wounded and taken to a hospital. Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said police believe one suspect was shot by the other and the second was shot by a SWAT officer.

Cannon says the second person killed was found inside a vehicle. The circumstances were not immediately available.

Montalvo said two officers and three citizens were also shot, and a police helicopter was shot at with a "high-powered" weapon. At least two drivers told KHOU their vehicles were shot at.

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Cleveland Cavaliers beat Toronto Raptors to reach NBA finals

New York (AFP) - LeBron James scored 33 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers booked their place in the NBA finals with a 113-87 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

James contributed six assists and 11 rebounds as the Cavs completed a 4-2 series victory to advance to the finals for a second year running.

The Cavaliers will face either the Golden State Warriors or the Oklahoma City Thunder in next week's finals. Oklahoma City currently lead the Western Conference series 3-2 ahead of Game Six on Saturday. 

James will be playing in the NBA finals for the sixth straight year. The Cleveland star reached the finals for four years in a row with the Miami Heat before returning to Cleveland in 2014. 

The Cavaliers had taken a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series against Toronto before being jolted by back-to-back defeats as the Raptors leveled at 2-2. 

But Cleveland reasserted their superiority on Wednesday to regain the initiative with a win in Game Five before ramming home their advantage to silence the home crowd in Toronto on Friday. 

It was James's first 30-point game of the 2015 postseason, with the Cavaliers also benefiting from big contributions from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Irving finished with 30 points with Love adding 20 as well as 12 rebounds and four assists.

Toronto meanwhile brought the curtain down on their first ever appearance in the Eastern Conference finals with a 35-point display from Kyle Lowry, while DeMar DeRozan added 20 points.

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At least 1 dead, 3 missing in Texas flooding

BRENHAM, Texas (AP) - At least one person was dead and three others were missing after severe thunderstorms caused flooding and dropped at least one tornado in Texas in a storm system that closed roads and schools, prompted evacuations, damaged homes and forced dozens of students to spend the night on campus, officials said Friday as they braced for possibly more rain over the Memorial Day weekend.

"It's not going to take very much rain to get us in those flood stages again," said Washington County Judge John Brieden.

Brieden said that in Washington County, located between Austin and Houston, one person drowned and another person was missing after their vehicle was swept away. An Austin-area official has said two other people were missing from a vehicle there.

Brieden, who didn't release details on the circumstances of the drowning, said officials had not yet determined whether a second person who died in Washington County had died from drowning or a heart attack.

Mobile homes washed away in the flooding and multiple houses had water inside, he said. Brieden said there have been more than 50 water rescues from houses and vehicles since the rains started Thursday morning.

"We had one guy that got out of his vehicle and managed to hang on to a tree while the vehicle washed away," Brieden said, adding the man was in the tree for a couple of hours before being rescued by a boat crew.

He said some people in homes had to evacuate through windows to be rescued.

The county seat, Brenham, received 16.62 inches of rain on Thursday, breaking the city's daily rainfall record, said National Weather Service meteorologist Wendy Long.

Brieden said about 40 children spent the night at a Brenham elementary school after buses were unable to get them home. He said that in some areas buses couldn't get down flooded roads. A couple of buses had to be rescued as one broke down and another was trapped when waters rose nearby.

Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape said Friday that about 100 homes in the county near Austin were damaged. He said more than 100 county roads were barricaded and some roads had washed out. He said about 50 homes were evacuated overnight.

The damage prompted Pape to issue a disaster declaration for the county.

The National Weather Service said it determined that an EF-1 tornado damaged homes on Thursday in a neighborhood in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston. Bryan officials said 153 homes were damaged, including 53 with major damage.

"I didn't even know there was a tornado until I got here. Then I had no roof on top of my living room." Patty Ponzio told KHOU-TV.

Lisa Block, an emergency services spokeswoman in Travis County, which includes Austin, said up to 9 inches of rain fell in parts of the county overnight. Residents in one neighborhood were asked to evacuate, while those in another were advised to shelter in place, she said.

In Travis County, nine people were rescued by helicopter from homes and vehicles. Block said they included four adults and a child who climbed onto the roof of their Austin-area home as floodwaters rose. They were hoisted to safety.

Block said Friday evening the Travis County Sheriff's Office and a Department of Public Safety helicopter continued searching for the two people missing from a flooded roadway.

By Friday evening, most of the severe thunderstorms had moved out of Texas, into the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana.

The forecasts through the holiday weekend called for scattered or isolated thunderstorms in Central and Southeast Texas. But officials say they'll keep monitoring local rivers and waterways, which could rise out of their banks in the coming days due to the heavy rains.

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Chinese developer Wanda opens theme park to take on Disney

NANCHANG, China (AP) - China's largest private property developer, the Wanda Group, has opened an entertainment complex it's positioning as competition for Disney and its $5.5 billion Shanghai theme park opening next month.

Wanda executives unveiled their $3 billion "Wanda City" in the southeastern provincial capital of Nanchang on Saturday to thundering music reminiscent of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme and hailed the center as a new experience that mixed culture and tourism.

The property group is investing heavily in the film and cinema business and has spoken openly about overtaking Disney as a leading entertainment brand.

The massive site includes an $800 million theme park, an indoor shopping mall with cinemas, restaurants, hotels and the world's largest ocean park.

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One Skill that Will Take Your Writing from Good to Great

Halfway through the writing course, our instructor - not known for being one to sugar-coat - threw out a challenge:

“Send me a favorite piece of your writing and I'll critique it; I'll tell you whether or not it's any good. The only catch is, I'll be critiquing it in front of the entire class.”

A surprising number of us (bristling with hope and hubris I suppose) took up the offer. The ensuing session was, to date, the most illuminating experience I've had as a writer.

The key message we all took away?

Not that we needed to self-edit more tightly or have better ideas. It was this:

If we wanted to be truly great writers, we had to first write many, many words. And then we had to be willing to walk away from the majority of them.

Back to the session …

Find the single, golden line

The first thing our instructor did was throw most of our work straight on the scrap heap:

“Completely vanilla. If you have nothing new to bring to this topic, don't add to the noise out there in the world about it.”

Next came her response to a 1,000-word piece of text. From it, she identified a single, golden line - the seed of a big idea:

“Start again with just that line. Throw away the rest.”

A rambling 900-word tribute to someone dearly departed? Ruthlessly whittled down to 250 emotion-laden words that cut the reader to the core.

At the end of the session, our instructor told us not to feel dismayed. She applied the same ruthlessness to her own work; three out of four blog posts she wrote never saw the light of day.

This was revolutionary to me. Previously, I assumed that if I'd spent any amount of time writing and editing it, then the content was worth publishing.

After? I discovered the truth in her lesson and found that throwing away words made the difference between simply creating content and creating content that resonated deeply with the world.

I also found that while my “throwing-away-words muscle” was pretty weak initially, the more I used it, the stronger it got.

So, how do you exercise that muscle? These three activities helped me.

1. Make time each day to free write

As someone with limited time on her hands, I always felt pressure to make the most of my precious writing hours.

While I was making time to write every single day via a daily Morning Pages habit, I'd spend that time writing first drafts. (Not really in the spirit of Morning Pages!)

I decided to stop with the “first drafting” and instead use Morning Pages the way they were intended - as an exercise for writing 750 stream-of-consciousness words.

It was astonishing to see the incredible thoughts and ideas that emerged from that pressure-free environment; they were ideas I'd never have accessed without the time, space, and permission to write hundreds of words I might never use elsewhere.

2. Write first drafts longhand

I always used to type first drafts on my computer … and I also would edit along the way.

This is bad form: Editing as you write is not terribly efficient, but worse than that, I was extra reluctant to let those words go - even if I knew they weren't working - because it had taken so much effort to produce them in the first place.

So, I tried writing my first drafts longhand, and one of three things started to happen:

1. I was more willing to let an idea go if I realized I couldn't effectively communicate it.


2. I'd start writing about one idea and then another, much better idea would emerge.


3. I'd write my first draft at night and my subconscious would ponder it while I slept. The next day, my second draft was always infinitely better than if I had typed the first draft.

3. Give yourself time to do complete rewrites

I remember reading a post by Leo Babauta about the iterative approach he took to writing Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change.

He initially wrote what he called a “minimum viable book,” put it out in beta to a select group of readers, and gathered their feedback. Then, after a considerable amount of editing based on their feedback, he started again from scratch.

He started again from scratch?

That sounded like a nightmare.

But then I started giving myself more lead-time when I wrote articles.

Having considerable breathing space between each draft helped me see when I needed to start again in order to communicate an idea more clearly.

The key was, I now had time to do a complete rewrite instead of trying to edit the existing piece into something workable.

The path to great words

Many writers I know don't complete their final drafts until the last moment, fooling themselves into thinking they work better under pressure. I used to think that too.

And, certainly, I've always been able to produce work that is “good enough” while under pressure.

But I want certain content I write (like this article for Copyblogger) to be better than “good enough.” I want my writing to change how people think and move them to take action that makes their lives better or easier - or makes the world a better place.

For those pieces of writing, I make sure I set aside enough time to write thousands of words to start.

Because I know that's the surest path to the words I really want. The ones that are great.

The post One Skill that Will Take Your Writing from Good to Great appeared first on Copyblogger.

'Game of Thrones' actress Sophie Turner on what it was like growing up in the public eye

Sophie Turner is known for her role on HBO's megahit "Game of Thrones." She was only 13 years old when she landed the part, and it hasn't always been easy for the young star.

In an interview with InStyle UK, the 20-year-old opened up about growing up in the public eye.

She said it was initially difficult because of the criticisms her character, Sansa Stark, received.

"At first, it was the character, people hating on her because she was a 13-year-old girl, and she should have a smart head on her shoulders and make good decisions. But, at the end of the day - blinded by love - she didn't," Turner explained.

But as the show grew in popularity, and Turner received more recognition, the fame got even harder to handle. She said that the years between the ages of 16 and 19 "were quite hard."

"You're in the prime of puberty; your body is changing, your face is changing, and people still saw me as that 13-year-old girl, with no body, and thought that's how I should look forever," she said. "So, growing up and having my body transform, and my hormones, and people watching and commenting on that - that was tricky. Even my friends were having a hard time with that stuff, but when people are printing photos of your bad skin, that's really difficult."

"Game of Thrones" is currently in its sixth season, and Turner is starring in "X-Men: Apocalypse."

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Pentagon: US airstrike targets Taliban leader Mullah Mansour

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. conducted an airstrike Saturday against Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, the Pentagon said, and a U.S. official said Mansour was believed to have been killed.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the attack occurred in a remote region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He said the U.S. was studying the results of the attack.

But a U.S. official not authorized to discuss the operation publicly said Mansour and a second male combatant accompanying him in a vehicle were probably killed.

The official said the attack was carried out by unmanned aircraft operated by U.S. Special Operations Forces. The official said the operation occurred at about 6 a.m. EDT southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal, and was authorized by President Barack Obama.

Mansour was chosen to take the helm of the Afghan Taliban last summer after the death several years earlier of the organization's founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, became public. Mullah Omar's longtime deputy, Mansour had actually been the Taliban's de facto leader for years, according to the Afghan government.

His formal ascension was divisive in the Taliban, handing him the challenge of uniting a fractured - but still lethal - insurgency that has seen fighters desert for more extreme groups such as the Islamic State.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan according to a harsh interpretation of Islamic law until the group was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

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Westbrook leads Thunder past Spurs, 95-91, for 3-2 lead

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Russell Westbrook had 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the San Antonio Spurs 95-91 on Tuesday night and take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Kevin Durant added 23 points as the Thunder won for the second time in San Antonio in the series. Oklahoma City can close out the series Thursday in Game 6 at home.

Westbrook sealed the victory with a three-point play with 6.3 seconds remaining, scoring after the Spurs weren't able to foul him intentionally and he drove for a layup while being fouled.

Kawhi Leonard finished with 26 points for San Antonio, which lost at home once in the regular season and has dropped two straight there now.

The Thunder took a 92-90 lead with 54 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws by Durant after Spurs guard Danny Green fell into his legs when he appeared to be tripped by Steven Adams on an attempted screen.

Tony Parker missed the second of free throws to make it to 92-91. Parker also missed a 12-foot jumper.

Westbrook settled in after an erratic first half in which he committed six of the Thunder's 13 first-half turnovers. He only had two turnovers after halftime.

Westbrook was 12 for 27 from the field in scoring a personal series high.

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