- Just before Nintendo shut down the 3DS and Wii U servers, fans rallied together and gathered 23000 data dumps to preserve DLC that was nearly lost forever Gamesradar
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf completionists race against time to help each other finish their towns before Nintendo turns off 3DS and Wii U servers in 3 days Yahoo! Voices
- Pretendo saves the day after Wii U and 3DS server shut down — here’s how to keep your Nintendo games online Laptop Mag
- The bootleg Nintendo Network replacement no longer requires jailbreaking Engadget
- Nintendo Shuts Down Online Services for Wii U and 3DS, but Fan Project Pretendo Is Keeping Them Alive IGN
Tag Archives: rallied
The NCAA has rallied around its main priority for 2023: Get help from Congress
SAN ANTONIO — The future of the collegiate model has never been more uncertain.
So college sports leaders have decided to be clearer than ever about what they want, measures they believe are essential in order to preserve college sports as we know it. And, to them, the solution lies in Congress. Yes, the same Congress whose House of Representatives just required 15 painstaking votes to elect a speaker.
No one ever said it’d be easy to work with Congress. But it may be the only way forward, according to Baylor president Linda Livingstone, who chairs the NCAA Board of Governors, the organization’s highest governing body. Livingstone spent a great deal of time at the NCAA’s annual convention on Thursday detailing the need for Congressional help as the association faces myriad attacks from outside entities. Multiple lawsuits aimed at the economic structure of college athletics are working their way through the courts in a legal environment that appears more supportive of athletes’ rights than ever before. The National Labor Relations Board is proceeding with an unfair labor practice charge filed against USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA in a push to categorize athletes as employees.
Livingstone repeatedly said that the NCAA needs Congress to protect the categorization of athletes so that they cannot be classified as employees.
“We feel like there’s a great sense of urgency,” Livingstone said. “It’s related in some ways to some of the potential state laws that are out there that the state legislators are looking at. It’s related to some things that could be coming out of some of the federal agencies. So, we absolutely believe that it’s urgent, it’s essential and it’s something that we really need to lean into and make progress on in this legislative session.”
She characterized the threat the NCAA is facing as “imminent.”
“Several states are right now considering legislation that would mandate a vastly changed relationship between school and its students,” Livingstone said. “Congress is really the only entity that can affirm student-athletes’ unique status. We have to ensure that Congress understands what’s at stake and motivate them to act. Second, we need a safe harbor for a certain degree of antitrust complaints. We’re not looking for nor do we actually need broad antitrust exemption; we do need the ability to make common-sense rules without limitless threats of litigation.”
GO DEEPER
A governor gets the controls to the NCAA’s delicate politics game
Livingstone’s loud-and-clear message came on the same day that new NCAA president Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts, was introduced to the NCAA membership. His political background and history of bipartisan success were strong selling points in the hiring process.
It is clear that Baker will be spending a lot of his time in Washington, D.C., asking for help in the areas that Livingstone outlined. He will also rely on individual athletic directors and conference officials who have relationships with their own elected representatives. They will be asking for those elected representatives to jump in — even if only in the form of narrow legislation — to preserve the ideals some believe prop up college sports. They will be pulling on their heartstrings, talking about tailgating and campus camaraderie. Simply put, they will be asking for help.
“The challenges associated with moving any legislation are always significant,” Baker said. “I do believe, though, that there are serious issues associated with just letting this train run without doing something to deal with the consequences that are currently facing college sports. There are 1,100 universities and colleges in the U.S. that participate significantly in college athletics, and I think many of them were really concerned about their future. Most of those schools have really solid relationships with a lot of the people who serve in elected office.
“It’s going to take the people who are the leaders in a lot of those organizations and the alumni of a lot of those organizations targeting, frankly and directly, to their own way through officials about why this is going to be such a challenging time if they don’t do some things to create some framework around which this can operate going forward.
Livingstone’s (and the NCAA’s) argument is that a federal law is needed to preempt the patchwork of state laws that currently exist regarding athlete compensation in the name, image and likeness (NIL) space. She said that the problem is that state legislators will do whatever it takes to gain a competitive advantage over schools in neighbor states, which “is not sustainable and is destructive for everyone.”
“We need a federal legal framework that’s clear, fair and stable for student-athletes nationwide so they can take advantage of legitimate NIL opportunities,” Livingstone said. “We need to formalize federal laws that supersede state level legislation. Educating Congress on the issues and motivating them to take action on these critical priorities is going to be a central activity for the NCAA in 2023. My greatest fear is that people won’t understand the severity of the threats we face until living with the consequences.”
The NCAA has operated from a place of fear for much of the past 18 months, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the NCAA in the Alston case, which centered on the NCAA’s ability to cap education-related expenses. A scathing concurring opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh seemingly welcomed future challenges to the economic model of college sports.
Livingstone said the idea of turning college athletes into employees is “deeply misguided” and would have a “sprawling, staggered and potentially catastrophic impact on college sport broadly.” Asked later if there’s a way schools or conferences could put more money directly into athlete’s pockets or even perhaps collectively bargain with them without them being classified as employees, Livingstone said she and other leaders are working to find an answer.
“We’ve got to try to figure out what that kind of economic model might be going forward that’s different than what we’ve done in the past,” she said. “But to develop something that’s sustainable and that works — it is going to take some federal protection in some of these areas that are particularly challenging for us without some protection.”
Other attendees at the NCAA convention were far less confident in Congress swooping in to save the day and preserve the idea of a student-athlete. It hasn’t happened yet, but the walls do appear to be closing in on the model as it’s currently constructed — which could, in theory, prompt action.
“The fact that something is beloved does not make it permanent,” Livingstone said. “That’s very much the case with college sports. For all those working about college sports right now, we face challenges that are bigger, more complex and more urgent than at any time in generations, and maybe ever in the history of college sports.
“We face a choice in this moment in time. Either we can oversee college sports’ modernization ourselves, or others will modernize and transform it for us.”
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Buffett says market ‘almost totally a casino’ as it rallied in recent years
Warren Buffett on Saturday said US financial markets had become “almost totally a casino” as millions of new traders flooded into the financial system during the pandemic.
The billionaire and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, speaking in Omaha to thousands of shareholders gathered for the company’s annual meeting, added that “extraordinary” activity had been “encouraged by Wall Street because the money is in turning over stocks”.
The comments follow a dramatic shift in how people across the globe are interacting with their finances. Americans have opened millions of brokerage accounts since the start of the pandemic, with many turning to options markets to bet on the quick rise or fall in companies such as Apple and Tesla.
Buffett and his consigliere, Berkshire vice-chair Charlie Munger, credited the rapid pace of trading and the fact that many holders of some stocks were not long-term investors for the company’s ability to make their own large bets this year.
In the first quarter, the company spent $51.1bn buying shares of companies, including large bets on oil majors Chevron and Occidental Petroleum. Buffett said it was “incredible” that Berkshire had been able to buy more than 14 per cent of Occidental in a matter of weeks.
“But overwhelmingly large companies in America, they became poker chips and people were buying and selling like three-day calls, two-day calls,” he said, referring to derivatives that became the choice instrument for many new day traders in the market. “Wall Street makes money one way or another, catching the crumbs that fall off the table of capitalism.”
There are signs that much of the enthusiasm that pumped US stocks to records last year has evaporated. Trading in penny stocks has collapsed and the amount of borrowing investors are doing to trade has fallen, according to the US broker-dealer watchdog Finra.
Munger took aim specifically at Robinhood, the online brokerage that ushered many Americans to financial markets but whose valuation has tumbled from nearly $60bn last August to $8.5bn last week as trading activity has slowed.
“Short term gambling and big commissions . . . it was disgusting,” he said. “Now it’s unravelling. God is getting just.”
Saturday is the first time since 2019 that Berkshire shareholders have had the chance to hear directly from the billionaire investor and the company’s top management in person.
There were questions leading up to the annual meeting, often referred to as Woodstock for Capitalists, about whether the pandemic would affect attendance levels. Managers at several Berkshire subsidiaries said that turnout at the convention centre in Omaha on Friday, a day when shareholders can buy Fruit of the Loom underwear or get discount home goods at The Pampered Chef, had been lower than in recent memory.
But when Buffett opened the meeting, with his usual one-word line, “OK,” a packed audience at the CHI Health Center took to their feet.
Investors have several more hours to wait before they will hear the outcome of the day’s actual business — whether shareholders have succeeded in advancing proposals that would require Berkshire to disclose the environmental impact of its dozens of subsidiaries or if they will split the chair and chief executive title. Analysts expect the proposals will fail given Buffett’s ownership of high-class voting stock.
The company reported earlier on Saturday that its operating earnings were little changed from the previous year, with strength from its BNSF railroad and manufacturing units offsetting a sharp drop in profitability from its insurance business.
Overall, net income more than halved from the year before to $5.5bn. The drop was primarily due to changes in value of its investments, which Buffett laments as a “generally meaningless” metric given its stock portfolio has eclipsed $390bn in value.
Buffett was questioned over the spurt of recent stock buying after bemoaning the lack of appealing investments in his annual letter to investors in February. He said that during the market sell-off this year, a “few stocks got very interesting to us and we also spent a lot of money”.
But he added that the mood in the company’s headquarters had become more “lethargic”, particularly compared to the pace recorded between mid-February and mid-March when it spent more than $40bn on stocks.
Berkshire drew down a sizeable portion of its cash pile to execute those trades, with the value of its holdings of cash and Treasury bills falling to $106bn, its lowest level since 2018.
Buffett said that the company would always keep a sizeable amount of cash on hand, given its insurance operations need to be ready for large claims in the event of a catastrophe. He added that he wanted Berkshire Hathaway to be “in a position to operate if the economy stops and that can always happen”.
“We had plenty of money on March 20,” he said, referring to the days when the S&P 500 hit its lowest levels of the pandemic. “But we were not very, very far away from having something be a repeat of 2008 or even worse.”
Sage words from Omaha
Buffett on inflation
“Inflation swindles the bond investor, too. It swindles the person who keeps their cash under the mattress. It swindles almost everybody.”
“You print loads of money and money’s going to be worth less. Not worthless.”
Buffett on the Fed
“In my book Jay Powell is the hero . . . if he had done nothing he would be, it’d be very easy to do what you would call thumb sucking. The world would have fallen around it and no one would have blamed them.”
Buffett on political partisanship
“People are now behaving somewhat more tribal than they have in some time . . . It can get very dangerous when one group of people say 2 + 2 = 5 and one says 2 +2 = 3.”
”The interesting thing to me, partly because of my age, but I actually think that just from memory that the last time that the country was seen as this tribal was when I was a kid and Roosevelt was [president].”
Munger on a proposal to split Berkshire’s chair and CEO roles
“To me it’s the most ridiculous criticism I’ve ever heard. It’s like Odysseus would come back from winning the battle of Troy and some guy would say: ‘I don’t like the way you were holding that spear when you won.’”
Munger on investing in China
“There’s no question about the fact that the government of China has worried investors from the US . . . in recent months and years and did in earlier periods. There has been some tension. It’s affected Chinese stocks.”
Munger on bitcoin
“In my life I try to avoid things that are stupid and evil and make me look bad in comparison to somebody else. And bitcoin does all three.”
Ajit Jain, Berkshire vice-chair, on the threat of nuclear attacks
“The additional thing that concerns me about the nuclear situation is my lack of ability to really estimate what our real exposure is in the event of a nuclear event.”
“When it comes to nuclear, I sort of surrender.”
Texts show Trump allies pleaded on Jan. 6 and rallied after
A massive tranche of texts from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows obtained by CNN shows how former President Trump’s allies went from pleading for a stop to the violence on Jan. 6 to affirming their support for Trump in the aftermath.
Why it matters: The more than 2,300 texts offer a rare glimpse into the communications between the White House and a network of Trump associates, Fox hosts and lawmakers in the period after the 2020 election.
- Meadows turned over the texts to the Jan. 6 select committee before ceasing his cooperation, prompting the House to refer him to the DOJ for contempt of Congress.
A Jan. 6 committee spokesperson declined Axios’ request for comment.
Driving the news: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was in frequent contact with Meadows during this timeframe, the texts show.
- On Dec. 31, 2020 she texted him, “We have to get organized for the 6th.”
- On Jan. 6, 2021 she texted, “Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn’t the way to solve anything.”
- Later that day, however, she backtracked and began espousing an unfounded conspiracy theory about the rioters: “Mark we don’t think these attackers are our people. We think they are Antifa. Dressed like Trump supporters.”
By the next day, Greene had already integrated the “Antifa” narrative into her thinking and was apologizing to Meadows for failing to overturn the election.
- “I’m sorry nothing worked. I don’t think that President Trump caused the attack on the Capitol. It’s not his fault … He has been the greatest President. I will continue to defend him,” she texted.
- She said she denounced the violence, but “when people try everything and no one listens and nothing works, I guess they think they have no other choice.”
- On Jan. 17, Greene texted Meadows that “several” lawmakers said in a members-only chat said “the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law [sic],” calling for Trump to “declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
Other House members and Trump associates also texted Meadows on Jan. 6 to call for a stop to the violence.
- Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney: “Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?”
- Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: “TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!”
- Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.): “The president needs to stop this ASAP”
- Donald Trump Jr.: “This his one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to fuck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse.”
But some members took Greene’s route of quickly adapting their support for Trump to the new normal.
- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) texted on Jan. 6: “Cap Police told me last night they’d been warned that today there’d be a lot of Antifa dressed in red Trump shirts & hats & would likely get violent.”
- “I would like to pass to POTUS that we are still with him, I believe in him and I want to encourage him,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) texted on Jan. 9.
Editor’s note: This post was corrected to reflect that Rep. Andrew Clyde texted Meadows on Jan. 9, not Jan. 6.
Go deeper:
Cramer cites 3 reasons why the market rallied on a day it had no business doing so
Wall Street should have been down Tuesday, yet the stock market had a great run.
The usual suspects — tons of negative analyst notes, rising bond yields, mixed earnings, light housing data and spiking commodity prices — all lined up against the market Tuesday. Not to mention, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard’s comments a day earlier that a 75-basis point interest rate hike could be a possibility at an upcoming policy meeting to accelerate the central bank’s fight against inflation.
“If the usual suspects all have alibis, what can explain today’s unexpected rally,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Tuesday’s “Mad Money.” “I think we tend to underestimate our advantages,” he added.
Cramer listed three primary reasons for what he called the “bizarre action” in the market.
- The market was oversold, which makes it harder for stocks to plummet.
- Cramer recalled 1994 when the Fed doubled rates and stocks still rallied. If history is any indicator, Bullard’s tough talk might not be so bad after all, he said.
- Another reason for the market’s resilience Tuesday, according to Cramer, is the U.S. being in a better position than other countries, pointing to America’s reopening economy and reliable energy sources.
While inflation is admittedly a problem, Cramer’s got an answer for that, too.
“We got higher flank steak prices, more expensive corn flakes and bigger gasoline bill, but we also have much higher wages to combat the pain,” he said.
Jan 6 riot news live: Biden says Trump ‘rallied mob to attack’
Five moments from the Capitol riot that I’ll never forget
Joe Biden has given a his much-trailed speech marking the anniversary of the deadly riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 – a searing address in which he condemned Donald Trump for watching TV during the insurrection as his supporters attacked Congress.
He also dismissed the idea that the insurrectionists were “patriots”, declaring that “you cannot love your country only when you win. You cannot obey the law only when it is convenient. You cannot be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.
“Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America, at American democracy. They did not come here out of patriotism or principle. They came here in rage. Not in service of America, but rather, in service of one man.”
His speech comes as some Democrats are said to be quietly exploring how they could potentially ban Mr Trump from holding office again, following the deadly riot last year in which five people lost their lives.
Yesterday, Mr Trump called for the “MAGA nation” to “rise up” against the Biden administration over vaccine mandates.
“The government were the insurrectionists”: How right-wing outlets covered the Biden speech
While Fox News carried Joe Biden’s speech at the US Capitol, other outlets on the right of the media spectrum either ignored it altogether or radically miscast its content (intentionally or otherwise).
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 17:17
Pelosi speaks in House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi is addressing a session of the House of Representatives convened to commemorate the insurrection. You can watch the proceedings live here.
Watch live as House of Representatives marks January 6 with moment of silence
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 17:07
Ex-DC police officer Michael Fanone on “jacka**es” in Congress
Michael Fanone, the Washington police officer badly beaten and tased by rioters on the Capitol’s west front, has praised colleagues in his former department and the US Capitol Police who have to share the building with members who helped inspire and have defended or minimised the insurrection.
As he put it, they have to “walk the same halls as some of these insurrectionist members of Congress” – and “I couldn’t imagine sharing a workspace with those jacka**es”.
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 17:03
Biden’s speech wins praise from supporters
Supporters of Joe Biden and opponents of Donald Trump are heaping praise on the president’s “blistering” speech, which some have called the most passionate of his presidency.
Graig Graziosi and Oliver O’Connell round up the reaction here:
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 16:59
What will become of the 6 January committee?
With the Republican Party highly likely to regain control of the House of Representatives next year, the future of the select committee investigating the Capitol riot might be in the balance. But as John Bowden writes, the panel is motoring ahead with its work – and crucially, it seems there is little chance that Donald Trump will be able to stop its members from obtaining the records they have requested.
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 16:51
Congresswoman recalls being barricaded in House Chamber during riot
Representative Abigail Spanberger has posted a thread detailing her experience on 6 January 2021, when she was one of several members of the House of Representatives stranded in their chamber’s gallery.
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 16:34
Chuck Schumer warns of future violence and condemns McConnell plan
Speaking on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warns that with lies about the 2020 election still circulating and basic facts constantly contested by right-wing officeholders and media outlets, the events of the insurrection could yet come to seem like “the norm”.
He also argues that voting rights must be enacted – and that Mitch McConnell’s plan to reform the Electoral Count Act would “effectively guarantee that partisan state legislatures could overturn the election without fear of recourse. Look at what it does. It’s a cynical idea.”
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 16:10
Senate marks 6 January anniversary
At noon, the Senate will hold a moment of silence in memory of those who died on 6 January 2021 and in its aftermath.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer describes the day as “the best of times and the worst of times”. First, he learned 12 hours before the attack that the Democrats had a Senate majority because of their twin victories in Georgia; then within 45 minutes of the start of the vote-counting, a police officer grabbed him and took him out of the Senate chamber for his own safety.
“I was within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists,” he says, recalling how one rioter reportedly shouted “there’s the big Jew” upon seeing him. “Bigotry against one is bigotry against all.”
Watch live as Senate Democrats mark one-year anniversary of Capitol riots
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 16:00
‘QAnon Shaman’ expresses regret about insurrection
Jacob Chansley, the so-called ‘QAnon Shaman’ who entered the Senate chamber wearing facepaint, horns, furs and no shirt, has said that he wishes he had conducted himself differently on the day of the insurrection.
Speaking to Inside Edition, Chansley mused: “In retrospect, one thing I can say that I regret is not working to ensure that there was far more peace on that day. Had I known what was going to happen, I would have stepped in before any barricades were breached.”
He is appealing his prison sentence, alleging “ineffective counsel”. During the run-up to his plea bargain and sentencing, his attorney called Capitol rioters “all f***ing short-bus people” and “people with brain damage”.
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 15:53
Why didn’t Biden use Trump’s name?
One of the subtler elements of Joe Biden’s speech was his decision not to use his predecessor’s name. PBS News’s Yamiche Alcindor relays the president’s explanation.
Andrew Naughtie6 January 2022 15:39
How the Monaco royal family rallied to support Jacques and Gabriella in Princess Charlene’s absence
Prince Albert of Monaco’s sisters Princess Caroline of Hanover and Princess Stephanie have rallied around to support his children Jacques and Gabriella in wife Princess Charlene’s absence – after admitting they had ‘suffered.’
The royal, 63, revealed on Friday that his wife Charlene, 43, has been admitted to a ‘treatment facility’ where she will remain for ‘at least several’ weeks after it became ‘evident she was unwell’ within hours of her return to Monaco following 10 months in South Africa.
Albert, who earlier this year said his wife was suffering from a sinus infection, did not reveal details of her illness but ruled out cancer and Covid. He hinted at mental health struggles, saying she ‘was overwhelmed and couldn’t face official duties, life in general or even family life’ and is suffering from ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’.
Discussing the impact their mother’s absence has had on the children, the Monaco royal spoke to French news outlet Monaco Matin and admitted that they had ‘suffered’, but that that they had ‘a family environment that made sure they weren’t lacking in affection’.
But it seems like they’re being well-looked after by Prince Albert’s sisters Princess Caroline of Hanover, 63, and Princess Stephanie, 56, who were seen holding their hands during celebrations for Monaco National Day on Friday.
Family members including Princess Caroline of Hanover (left) and Princess Stephanie (right, pictured on Monaco Day) are helping to care for Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques
Princess Gabriella (left) and Prince Jacques (right) with their father Prince Albert hold signs saying ‘We love you Mommy’ during celebrations marking Monaco’s National Day
Princess Charlene (pictured in October) has appeared increasingly frail in recent months. She is currently being treated for ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’
Princess Caroline of Hanover, dressed in a sparkly tweed jacket and skirt co-ord, could be seen bending down and reaching for the hand of Prince Jacques, before averting his eyes to something which caught her attention.
Meanwhile Princess Stephanie, who looked chic in a smart grey coat, walked closely alongside Gabriella before clutching the youngster’s hands firmly in front of hers.
During the big event, Prince Albert stood on the balcony of Monaco Palace with his children, who held signs that said: ‘We miss you Mommy’.
Speaking to Monaco Matin, Prince Albert said: ‘I cannot tell you more out of discretion. There is tiredness, not just physical, which can only be treated with a period of rest and monitoring.’
He continued: ‘For me, it’s pretty simple – my priority is my family. This is an extremely important time in [the children’s] life – the way they grow up helps them see the world.
‘And if one of the parents is away for medical reasons, the other parent has to be there.
‘I have heard too many friends and acquaintances telling me that they wish they had been there for their children, at a certain age, taken up by their work or their professional life. I don’t want to have these regrets.’
Gabriella was spotted holding her aunt Princess Stephanie’s hand on Monaco Day, amid her father’s claims ‘a loving family environment’ means the twins get enough affection
Princess Caroline of Hanover was snapped chatting to Prince Jacques during the celebrations, which mark one of the biggest events in the royal calendar
Princess Gabriella sent out a message to her mother who was unable to attend the Monaco Day event, via a sweet, handwritten sign
Speaking to People magazine, Prince Albert said his 43-year-old wife is suffering profound ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’ and will require clinical care lasting several weeks at a minimum following her return from a 10-month stay in South Africa.
The palace confirmed that Charlene would be recovering for the foreseeable future, releasing a statement on Tuesday that said: ‘The Princess is currently convalescing and will continue to do so for the coming weeks, allowing Her time to recover from a state of profound general fatigue.’
The statement said the couple have ‘both decided that a period of calm and rest is necessary to ensure the very best recovery for Princess Charlene’s health.’
It continued: ‘In order to protect the comfort and privacy essential to Her recovery, the Princess’ location will remain strictly confidential.
‘As soon as her health permits, the Princess looks forward to once again carrying out her Princely duties and spending time with the Monegasques.’
On Thursday, the mother-of-two shared an Instagram post from the ‘secret location’ where she is recovering from a ‘fatigue that’s not just physical.’
Princess Charlene was reunited with her family on November 8, with images from a staged photo call shared on the palace’s official Instagram page
Despite persistent rumours about the state of their marriage, Prince Albert (pictured during his November 8 reunion with his wife) said her issues are not related to the relationship
Princess Charlene – whose frail appearance has sparked concerns – shared controversial photos of the couple hugging in South Africa earlier this year
The family were all spotted together in South Africa at the start of June, and official photos of the family shared on social media in August showing another visit had taken place after three months apart.
The royal couple have faced rumours about the state of their marriage for many years, but the prince stressed in the interview this week that the separation is not due to relationship issues.
He said: ‘I’m probably going to say this several times, but this has nothing to do with our relationship.
‘I want to make that very clear.
‘These are not problems within our relationship; not with the relationship between a husband and wife. It’s of a different nature.’
He also said her absence is not due to cancer, Covid, or plastic surgery.
However, the couple’s reunion photos were met with scepticism, with body language Judi James telling FEMAIL that Charlene was using exaggerated gestures of closeness with Albert and appeared ‘needy’ in the images – while Prince Albert did ‘not reflect’ his wife’s body language.
She added that in the family image, the princess was ‘clinging’ to her husband, saying: ‘Charlene’s announcement rituals here suggest she wants to send out a very emphatic message that she is now back with her family and that her love for her husband is stronger than ever.
‘Just as in South Africa when Prince Albert came to visit, Charlene performs what look rather like over-kill signals to make her message clear to the rest of the world, putting in much more effort than her husband to look excitedly re-united and joyous.’
The reunion was also met with scepticism by the French media, with respected French celebrity outlet Gala publishing an article with the headline: ‘Reunion of Albert and Charlene of Monaco: but where exactly do they sleep?’
And Voici – another popular magazine read widely across Monaco and France – ran with: ‘Charlene of Monaco back: the Princess breaks the silence and forgets to mention her husband’.
This was a reference to Charlene using a social media video to thank everybody who had helped her through months of ill-health, without name-checking Albert at all.
The video was shared by her foundation on Twitter as she returned to Monaco.
In it, she said: ‘It has been, obviously, a very challenging time to be here but at the same time it has been wonderful being back in South Africa.
‘I’d like to thank the doctors in South Africa who have done a fantastic job of helping me and I’m so looking forward to getting back to my children.
‘Thank you South Africa, and thank you everyone and god bless you.’
Speculation over the relationship dates back to the couple’s 2011 wedding, where Charlene was snapped crying.
The former Olympic swimmer even reportedly tried to flee Monaco for her native South Africa on three separate occasions before the royal wedding.
This was after she discovered Albert had fathered a love child while they were together.
In the years following his wedding, Albert reportedly rarely saw his love child – a son named Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, whose mother is Nicole Coste, a former Air France flight attendant from Togo.
In 2014, Nicole told the Mail On Sunday: ‘The truth is that, I’m sorry to say, Albert hasn’t seen Alexandre since a brief visit last September.
‘It has become impossible since he married that girl.
‘I suppose as a new wife, how would one feel? But she should think about my innocent child.
‘I don’t want to attack her but I think it is just jealousy and I don’t know why.
‘I have been through hell in my fight for my son’s name and future.’
Additionally, while Prince Albert is already supporting two illegitimate children he fathered, he is alleged to have been in a relationship with a Brazilian woman which resulted in a daughter in 2005.
The claim, which his lawyers dismissed as a ‘hoax’, is particularly painful as he was dating Charlene at the time, having met in 2000.
However, Charlene has continued to publicly support her husband.
The former swimmer, who represented the country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, spoke out on their relationship in January.
She told Point de Vue: ‘When my husband has problems, he tells me about it.
‘I often tell him, “No matter what, no matter what, I’m a thousand percent behind you. I’ll stand by you whatever you do, in good times or in bad”.’
The mother-of-two went on to say she also often tells her husband she will ‘protect him’ and will ‘always be by his side.’
What Mario Cristobal said after Oregon Ducks rallied past Cal
EUGENE — No. 9 Oregon beat Cal, 24-17, Friday at Autzen Stadium.
Mario Cristobal recapped the Ducks’ second conference win.
Below is a transcript of Cristobal’s postgame press conference.
MARIO CRISTOBAL
Q. Talk about the performance in the fourth quarter and finding a way to win…
CRISTOBAL: Well it was just a really gutsy performance. Again it was a battle. I think all conference games are battles and with Cal its been some really tight football games. This was another one. I think we started off doing some of the self-inflicted stuff and then we found our rhythm offensively. The defense found their rhythm in the first half and our offense got it going more in the second half when they started moving the ball a bit more on us as well when it came down to those last couple of drives. There were some difficult situations for some guys, but all in all we just found a way to close out a game, which was an improvement from the week before when we were trying to close out a game and came up short. So all in all I’m proud of the effort and the toughness to play a game like that and see it through because when you’re backed up that far and they had multiple opportunities to punch it in our defense found a way to get it done. There’s a lot to be commended on that and a lot we have to work on as well.
Q. On Anthony Brown’s performance…
CRISTOBAL: He did a lot of really good things and was very resilient. They’ve got a couple really good edge rushers and those guys are very hard to block. I think the little things like stepping up in the pocket, his pocket presence and avoiding some issues. On paper there are a few sacks on there, but there were also a few high-difficulty protections against some pressures and movement stuff our guys accomplished when they needed it most. Overall, hats off to all of those guys. They all played really hard and Anthony did some good things tonight.
Q. On Travis Dye playing as the lone feature back…
CRISTOBAL: He did [play with heart] and he always does. And he probably got a few more touches tonight than he usually does but his style of play, his energy, his leadership – which really stood out all week long and made a tremendous impact – he was the guy who spoke to the team before the game as well and his message was strong and from the heart. I think it really carried through and showed up in the fourth quarter.
Q. Noah Sewell had 11 tackles and 1 TFL. Talk about his ability…
CRISTOBAL: I think he’s the best. He’s the best I’ve been around at that position. I mean it’s almost deja vu with when Penei was here and I felt that way. I feel the same way about Noah. That’s a guy that last year didn’t get a lot of time to train and only played in 6 or 7 games. Now we’re in this season and every single game he is taking over. He’s doing so many great things and he does it in a physical manner. He is a knock back tackler who changes the game at the line of scrimmage, he can rush the passer, he covers a lot of ground from sideline to sideline and makes up for sometimes when there is a missed tackle. He’s an elite player and elite human being.
Q. On the young guys growing up on defense…
CRISTOBAL: We’re trying. We have to grow up faster. That’s the bottom line. We have some moments where we have some great 3-and-outs and some great defensive stops and some other ones with eye discipline here, mental alignment there and all the sudden we have an extended drive. Those are some things we’re working on. And we need to work on it better. We need to coach it better. We’ve got to teach it better. Hopefully, we will have Mace Funa back next week. He certainly is different when it comes to setting edges. And if we can get some of our front-line guys back – hopefully Alex Forsyth is back as well. It was good to see Bradyn Swinson back as well. It was his first action since he started practicing fully this week. All in all, we had some progress but there is some work to be done.
Q. Talk about coming out of a game with no major injuries…
CRISTOBAL: You always want to see guys come out with as little injury as possible. You really don’t know sometimes until the next day. That’s the honest truth. It seems that way on the surface and I hope that it’s that way tomorrow when we wake up.
Q. How do you think Anthony Brown handled the criticism?
CRISTOBAL: I think Anthony played a really good game and did a lot of good stuff. I know you have a job from a media standpoint with narratives or whatnot, but I think over here it’s always going to be about turning up the volume and intensity on what we do as opposed to anything on the outside. Things like that sometimes happen in sports and it has to be irrelevant in terms of our process and how we go forward. It never has played a part in what we do or how we do it and it can’t be. But in terms of Anthony handling himself in the game, he made a lot of good plays tonight, a lot of big plays. He showed a lot of poise. He made some plays with his feet, with his arm. I thought we stretched the field better in the first half and then a couple in the second half. I thought our passing game improved a bunch. Obviously, a lot of those throws were good and he used his feet. Overall a really good performance.
Q. How significant did the stop at the end feel after the Stanford game?
CRISTOBAL: Without a doubt [it felt good]. In our conference there are so many strong passing teams that you have to be able to affect the quarterback. That certainly was the case tonight. To close out a game like that where there were multiple possessions inside the 10-yard-line not to mention in our territory, I’m just really proud of the effort, resiliency and toughness because you see that it’s hard to get it done down there and they did. They just kept playing and found a way to get it done. It’s a great opportunity to build momentum of off. Because along the way there are some really good moments and others that you have to improve upon but all in all you have the opportunity to build on a really gutsy finish to a game that was a real battle, a real dogfight. It seems that every time we play this opponent it is [a battle] and that’s what conference play should be.
Q. Did you know Travis Dye’s performance would be this important tonight?
CRISTOBAL: We all did. We knew the whole time anyways. If you look over the years, Travis has always been a tremendous offensive weapon for us in everything. Certainly, we are going to miss CJ [Verdell]. CJ is a tremendous player as well, but these two guys together did so much and maybe some of it gets lost because of some of the attention that goes to different players. But Travis has always been the complete, ultimate teammate and competitor. Tonight, he got some more opportunities and just played really, really tough and physical. His hard work in the offseason really showed up and paid off in different ways. He was all over the place tonight, so he will keep getting those opportunities as long as it works out for him.
Q. What was behind the decision to play with more tempo in the first half?
CRISTOBAL: I don’t know if there was much difference in the play clock when the ball was actually snapped, but you could say there we definitely moved faster. We wanted to move faster last week, we were in third downs and just in more difficult situations. Our first down success was higher this week so it allows you to move a bit faster. That probably dictated a lot of it.
Q. What’s your message to your players to clean up penalties?
CRISTOBAL: We have worked it really hard, and it has not paid off like we expected it to. I have to look at myself because I preach a really aggressive brand of football. We work it that way, we also work to avoid penalties – we have officials at every practice – but it is just not getting through. On certain counts we had nine and they had ten. While our penalty count has gone up, we have also forced opponents to have more penalties against us. There is a clear line that we can not cross, and some of these penalties are unavoidable but some are just selfish. I have to find a way to get through in some way, shape or form, and I am going to do that.
Q. What areas did you improve in after the bye week? Where do you want to see more growth?
CRISTOBAL: We saw some growth in the passing game, getting the ball down the field. We threw the ball better. We thought that our big plays, our big runs, were more explosive this week than we had the previous week. We got to the passer better, obviously Kayvon [Thibodeaux] was a big factor in that as well. We did not see the type of improvement in the penalty department. We saw improvement in finishing the game and attempting a 50-yard field goal is something that we had been working on for a long time. Again, [Lewis] just continues to make a difference for us. We worked on the return game a bunch, that kickoff return by Kris Hutson certainly gave us a spark, and we were able to score on that. I thought with our red-zone defense there were a couple opportunities that we had a pretty good feel after settling down after the second drive. There is some more stuff to evaluate on tape.
Q. How did Travis prove his durability over the last two weeks?
CRISTOBAL: I don’t know if it’s a matter of asking him, but I think that there is one football, and a lot of different people touch it. He has been close to that number of counts, in games where it has been 12 and 15 or whatnot. His durability has never been a question to us. Football is football. People get nicked up, people get banged up. He is a tough guy. You saw him in. He went an extended series, and made big plays and just kept going. If he came out to catch his breath he went right back in. I don’t have any concerns there. I am proud of Byron going in there. I thought he hit that one split-zone really well, it was a really good run by him. Trey is really, really close and a really good player, and so is Seven [McGee]. Just the touches today went with Travis, and a few with Byron, and Anthony [Brown] ran the ball a few times as well and had success. There is no concern about his durability. We only had 62 offensive plays tonight. They really ran some of that time off the clock down, they ran the shot clock to 4-5 seconds, so we did not get to get as many snaps as we wanted to. But if we did, Travis would have carried.
Q. What’s changed for Devon Williams since the Arizona game where he didn’t see the ball at all?
CRISTOBAL: Him. Taking more accountability in his approach to practice. Allowing [Bryan McClendon} to push him, and push him hard. It is really important that he fully entrench and invest himself into being the very best that he could be. Because he could be a real special player. He has come a long way, and has done really good things, and he showed up tonight. We expect him to take another step and make a tremendous difference for us in the pass game.
Q. How much does Anthony’s experience factor into his ability to come through in the fourth quarter?
CRISTOBAL: He’s really resilient. I wish you could see on tape some of the things that he did that I saw with my own eyes. Dealing with some of the things that were coming at him, some of the coverages that were being thrown at him. With the injuries he’s had, the number of games he’s played in and the stadiums he’s played in, it means a lot. It means he’s not going to be shaken. He’s not gonna flinch. I think the best thing a guy like that has is the ability to – like all of us should – if you don’t have your best day to look your teammates, your coaches right in the eye and say ‘I’ve got to do better because that commands respect and the trust of people. Because they know how much it means to you. He wants to play well all the time but he wanted to make sure he did everything he could to make his teammates successful. He did that tonight. I’m proud of him.