By Julia Simon | NEW YORK

NEW YORK Crude fell more than 1 percent on Friday, heading for a second straight week of losses, on worries that U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from an international climate accord will spur further domestic production and contribute to a persistent global oversupply.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 61 cents at $50.02 per barrel by 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 futures fell 62 cents to $47.74 per barrel.

Both contracts were on track for a weekly loss of about 4 percent.

Market analysts are troubled by a growth in U.S. crude production that is straining efforts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce global oversupply.

U.S. drillers this week added 11 rigs, in a record stretch of 20 straight weeks of additions, data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed. [RIG/U]

Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement, the landmark 2015 global pact to fight climate change, drew condemnation from Washington's allies and many in the energy industry - and sparked fears that U.S. oil production could expand more rapidly than it is currently.

Trump seems to be removing any barriers he can find that would obstruct growth of crude oil or natural gas, said Stewart Glickman, energy equity analyst at CFRA in New York.

"Its kind of ironic because by doing that youre encouraging more volumes to come out of the ground."

U.S. crude production last week was up by nearly 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from year-earlier levels and hit 9.34 million bpd, its highest since August 2015.[EIA/S]

U.S. output is expected to keep rising, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts production of about 10 million bpd next year.

Igor Sechin, chief of Russia's largest oil producer, Rosneft, said U.S. producers could add up to 1.5 million bpd to world oil output next year.

Last week OPEC and some non-OPEC producers extended a deal to cut 1.8 million bpd in supply until March 2018. Oil prices are down around 10 percent since the extension, and OPEC officials have since suggested they may deepen the cuts.

Investors have been edgy due to the slow decline in inventories worldwide. U.S. inventories, however, fell 6.4 million barrels last week, their eighth straight weekly drawdown. "That's relatively higher than the average draws weve seen, so you would have thought that crude would have fared a little better," said CFRA's Glickman.

(Additional reporting by Libby George and Sabina Zawadzki in London and Jane Chung in Seoul; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Adrian Croft)

WASHINGTON Several major U.S. companies, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc and IBM Corp , on Friday said their CEOs will remain in an influential presidential advisory group despite objecting to President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.

WASHINGTON U.S. job growth slowed in May and employment gains in the prior two months were not as strong as previously reported, suggesting the labor market was losing momentum despite the unemployment rate falling to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.

As Wall Street awaits President Donald Trump's vision for financial regulation, big U.S. banks are pushing for a lucrative change his appointees can execute without a legislative fight: easing annual stress tests.

Go here to see the original:
Oil drops on fears of more US drilling after climate deal withdrawal - Reuters

The proposed development site on 120 Street and 75A Avenue. (James Smith photo)

If approved, it would be the second such development along Scott Road after the 37-story Delta Rise.

A potential 35-storey residential development on Scott Road is advancing to public consultation after approval from council on Monday, May 29.

The application is for a 35-storey residential building with limited commercial space at ground level and several three-storey townhouse units at the northwest corner of 75A Avenue and Scott Road. The building would have underground parking, accessible from 119A Street.

Councils approval means the consultation process for the proposed development can begin; it does not necessarily mean the development will be approved for construction.

The public consultation process will include placing public notice signs along the properties on 120 Street, 75A Avenue and 119A street; sending notices to surround property owners; holding a public information meeting to introduce the proposed development; and holding a public hearing if the application proceeds past second reading.

Community planning and development director Jeff Day said the developers want to move this forward as quickly as possible.

I anticipate the public information meeting would happen before true summer comes in, he continued.

At the public information meeting, information on the buildings amenities will be brought forward. Currently, the development includes limited commercial spaces on the ground floor of the building, including a coffee shop and a business office because, Day said, we dont want to dilute the commercial along Scott Road.

If the development is approved, the six properties covered by the development would be rezoned from multi-unit residential properities and medium density residential properties to mixed use properties.

Its just at the preliminary stage right now, Day said. Theres a lot of things we need to go through in terms of the form and the character of [the development].

The developments design will be brought forward during first and second readings, giving council members and the public a chance to weigh in on what the building would look like.

At this point, were satisified that its developed to a mark that council would expect where we are able to take it out to the public, Delta CAO George Harvie said during the May 29 council meeting. But we always come back with some good additions and modifications based on public consultation.

If approved, this would be the second high rise along that stretch of Scott Road. Delta Rise, which was officially completed on May 6, 2017, is a 37-storey residential building on 120 Street and 80 Avenue.

The new proposed development is located within the area covered by the Scott Road revitalization bylaw, which has established reduced municipal fees and taxes to encourage commercial and high density residential development along the Delta/Surrey border.

However, the proposed development would not automatically qualify for those bylaw incentives: eligibilty has to be determined first.

The application for the building was put forward by developers Arzone Real Estate Investment Ltd. and Hari Homes Incorporated.

Both parties has been involved in other North Delta development proposals in the past, including a 20-unit townhouse development proposal on 84th Avenue and 115 Street.

An application for a 35-storey high rise on 120th Street was approved by council on Monday, May 29. The proposed development will no go through several stages of public consultation. (Council report photo)

An application for a 35-storey high rise on 120th Street was approved by council on Monday, May 29. The proposed development will no go through several stages of public consultation. (Council report photo)

Link:
35-story tower proposed in North Delta - Surrey Now-Leader

Final Fantasy 15 is strange. While the series has dabbled in online gaming with its two MMOs (most notably Final Fantasy 14, aka the greatest redemption story ever told), its single-player adventures have been decidedly offline affairs - up until now. In addition to receiving patches that added new story content (including a secondary path through the notorious Chapter 13), along with Episode Gladiolus from the season pass, Final Fantasy 15 has held a limited-time-only Chocobo Festival, added timed quests in the form of additional hunts, complete with special in-game rewards, and is holding monthly photo contests. Final Fantasy 15 has changed dramatically since its November launch, finding new ways to bridge the gap between its offline story and a larger online audience, and it'll probably change even more come the one-year anniversary. Strangest of all, I'm way more into the idea than I thought I'd be.

When I finished Final Fantasy 15 for my review in the days leading up to release, I had expected that, other than the occasional DLC mission or tech fix, my experience was generally going to be the state of Final Fantasy 15. This is how Square Enix has always approached its single-player RPGs: pop in a copy of Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1 and you'll find the same game you played 20 years ago, grammatical "this guy are sick" errors and all. Even the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy went largely unchanged, save for a handful of DLC packs you can buy. But the months following Final Fantasy 15's launch saw a host of tweaks and additions, like the ability to increase your character levels beyond 99, a New Game+ option, and even limited-time events and quests. The quests are particularly interesting, because they're curated battles in specific areas of the game's world, and completing them allows you to upload your score to an online leaderboard and redeem points for exclusive rewards. It's like turning Final Fantasy 7 on and finding another brand-new super-powerful Weapon to fight - but you only have a week to take it out.

It's weird, especially for someone who's been a fan of the series since the SNES days. For a while, I questioned why Square Enix was even bothering - it already has fans' money, and the story is essentially done, so why bother adding more stuff to it? Then I found myself playing these timed quests for hours, running to and fro, fighting enemies, and chasing high scores. I'd been planning on replaying Final Fantasy 15 at some point (as I always do with the games I like), but the constant stream of updates has ensured that I keep checking back in just to see what's new, and getting fresh stuff to mess with during a second playthrough of the game's story has made the draw to return more alluring.

And then it dawned on me: this is how Final Fantasy stays relevant in the modern era. Big games can no longer be released as one-and-done stories without either losing money or significantly shrinking their scope. Corporations don't want to do the former, and consumers hate when big-budget games do the latter. Instead, many publishers are opting to go the "games as service" route, arriving with a steady stream of free and paid updates so the games can constantly find itself as a part of the conversation. The problem with this is that it's easy to miss out on content if you're not following along every single day, and once the servers get shut down, most of what makes that game unique is gone - if you can even play it any more at all. While Final Fantasy 15's take on the model won't work for everyone, it certainly helps it to retain its offline identity while giving it new life in the months following release.

The idea to implement Final Fantasy 15's timed quests came from how players reacted to the Japan-only 'Judgement Disc' demo. We spoke to lead game designer and multiplayer DLC director Kazuya Takahashi, who explained its genesis: "The content of this demo was extremely restricted in that you could only play until the middle of Chapter One. Yet even then, it was popular among players who ended up finding the hidden Bandersnatch boss, spreading information regarding its location all over Twitter and uploading low-level quest and time attack videos online." The team looked at all this fan-generated content and decided to just implement it into the game, complete with exclusive, game-enhancing rewards.

"It is the development teams sincere belief that responding to these requests as much as possible is the best way to ensure that our players continue playing."

Now, when you boot up Final Fantasy 15, you're not just getting a single-player story; you're competing against everyone else in the world who's pursuing these timed quests. But unlike games like Destiny or larger MMOs like Final Fantasy 14, where these events are a core part of the experience, Final Fantasy 15's timed quests exist in the periphery. They're there for you to dig into if you want, or to ignore if you don't. Even January's limited-time Chocobo Festival, with its mini-games and exclusive dishes (which will unlock for use in the main game once you eat them) existed in a separate option on the title screen, acting as a special bonus for fans but completely invisible if you don't want to engage with that stuff. And if you missed it, well, you didn't miss out on anything that would fundamentally change your perception of Final Fantasy 15's story, and the special festival costumes are just free DLC that you can wear whenever you want anyway. Takahashi wants to host similar carnivals in the future, too, so you might have another shot to check out the next one.

There's even an off-road buggy coming - which sounds like all kinds of stupid fun.

I got to thinking why Square Enix would even bother updated their game with free, live content. The official line from Takahashi is that the team has "received many requests from fans saying that theyd like to know more about the stories that werent depicted in the game or that theyd like to explore other locations in Eos", and that responding to those requests will ensure people keep playing. But these live events aren't strictly DLC - many of them arrive in the form of patches automatically downloaded to your console for free.

And then, Final Fantasy 15 got an update late May, with a survey asking players what they want to see next.

Players could choose one option from the list, which included new story content about its villain, Ardyn Izunia, or the ability to spend more time in the World of Ruin in the game's last few chapters. But rather than feeling like a curveball thrown from a studio suddenly asking players what they want to play, it's a natural extension of the updates the team has already delivered.

Director Hajime Tabata has stated that there are currently no plans to make sequels to Final Fantasy 15 like Square Enix previously did with the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy - instead, it appears that new stories will simply be added to the base game as free or paid DLC. This survey is a declarative statement that Final Fantasy 15 isn't a game that's simply going to disappear once you finish it, but rather a game that will grow and flourish over time. The live events and hunts help to solidify that.

The real problem with trying to create single-player games as a "service" comes when the online functionality inevitably comes to a close. When everyone who played Destiny moves on to its sequel, Activision will eventually turn the game off, effectively destroying an entire virtual universe. Even a single-player game like Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain has a service model built into its online FOB system (allowing players to raid each others' bases for money and resources), and it's a core part of the game's balance and functionality. Take it out, and suddenly it becomes much more difficult to build up your arsenal and complete story missions without grinding (not to mention all the references to it in-game would need to be removed or altered - along with specific moments along the main storyline). These games' identities live online, and without that server-supported backbone, a large part of the experience is lost.

Final Fantasy 15 is different, though - its online hooks are additive, rather than cohesive. There are bonuses for engaging with the content, of course, and the future multiplayer DLC, in whatever form it takes, will probably represent the culmination of these additions. But if the online servers were to suddenly get switched off, you wouldn't be left with half a game - you'd just be missing a small portion of what made the game interesting in a specific moment in time. Players revisiting Final Fantasy 15 decades from now will still get a complete, original, and fully-balanced single-player experience, regardless of whether or not Square Enix is still doling out timed quests - which, given how quickly things move on the internet, might be unlikely even a couple years from now.

But that's still awhile away to worry about now. The question of how we preserve those online experiences continues to be a hotly contested debate, and it's a question we may never really have the answer to. In the meantime, I'm enjoying dipping back into Final Fantasy 15, fighting monsters and building up enough points to buy a magical greatsword that plays electronic music while I wait for the rest of the season pass content to arrive. In a sense, I'm enjoying the idea that Final Fantasy 15 doesn't really have to end - at least for now.

See more here:
Final Fantasy 15 wants to be a never-ending game, and I've made my peace with that - GamesRadar

Southern Utah's bench cheers during Monday's game against Coastal Carolina, Nov. 21, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)Buy Photo

Todd Simon will experience something for the first time this upcoming season. When the Southern Utah head coach looks down his bench, hell see a full roster of scholarship players at his disposal.

Itll be the first time Ill coach a college basketball game and have a full roster, Simon said. I'm excited to look down and not be short-handed. Thatll be fun.

It sometimes is the simple things that can lead to excitement.

During his first year at SUU, Simon chose not to hand out all the scholarships he had available. And when he was the interim coach at UNLV in 2016, he was down to just six scholarship players by seasons end. The 2017-18 season should be different.

The T-Birds 2017 class features seven new players, five of whom will be immediately eligible to take the court next season.

There are the freshmen: guard Dre Marin, forward Jordan Lyons and forward Jerell Springer. The graduate transfer: forward Jamal Aytes (BYU). And the junior college transfer: Jamil Jackson (Williston State).

SUU also signed Arizona State transfer Andre Adams and Boise State transfer Cameron Oluyitan. Those two players will have to sit out a year per NCAA transfer rules.

College Mens Basketball: Idaho vs Southern Utah, Saturday, Mar. 4, 2017, in Cedar City, Utah. Final score: UI 84, SUU 75.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)

We feel that it was a very good offseason for us, Simon said. We are filled up now. We are excited about it. I think we have a good mix. We have three freshmen, two transfers, a grad transfer and a junior college player. We feel that we balanced it pretty good.

So what can fans expect from the new additions?

Marin is a sniper from the outside. The 6-foot averaged 21.7 points his senior season at Apollo High (Arizona) while shooting 38 percent from deep. Lyons, a6-foot-7 wing, averaged 15.2 points and 9.4 rebounds last season for Athlete Institute Prep in Mono, Ontario. And Springer might just be the jewel of the class. Springer is a three-star prospect who didnt get to play his senior season in high school because of an eligibility battle. The 6-foot-6 wing averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and just under 1 block per game in his junior year.

Simon looks back at Year 1 and ahead to Year 2

Jackson was ranked as a top 100 junior college player by jucorecruiting.com and a top 50 junior college player by 247Sports.com. The 6-foot-6 wing averaged 15.4 points and 6 rebounds in over 27 minutes per game for Williston State.

Aytes began his career at UNLV before transferring to BYU for two seasons. The 6-foot-6 forward has had injury trouble throughout his career, but if he can stay healthy could provide SUU with an inside scoring presence the T-Birds lacked in Simon's first year.

College Mens Basketball: Montana vs Southern Utah, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in Cedar City, Utah. Final score: UM 70, SUU 55.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)

The T-Birds were an abysmal 6-27 last season and will have to replace four players who were mainstays in the lineup: guards John Marshall (7.6 points and over 30 minutes) and Race Parsons (7.8 points on 38 percent 3-point shooting) and big men Will Joyce (nearly 4 points and 4 rebounds) and Brayden Holker(4 points).

But its more than replacing that production, its improving it. And in some areas, improving it quite a lot. According to KenPom.com, the T-Birds ranked 349 out of 351 teams in defensive efficiency, giving up 119.6 points per 100 possessions.

We were not a good defensive team by any stretch of the imagination or by any metric last year, Simon said. Size, length, and inexperience are probably the three-headed monster that gets you and we missed all three of those things.

College Mens Basketball: Northern Arizona vs Southern Utah, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017, in Cedar City, Utah. Final score: SUU 84, NAU 68.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)

The newcomers should help check off some of those boxes. Lyons, Springer and Jackson are long and athletic wings. And Aytes will bring some much-needed experience to the young T-Birds down low. Even Marin, while not as long as his fellow newcomers, was considered one of the better defensive prep guards in Arizona. He averaged 2.8 steals per game during his senior season.

They are long, versatile and athletic, Simon said. They solve a lot of those issues that were highlighted last season.

While Simon admits that Aytes will have an advantage because of his experience, he anticipates each player in the 2017class will come in and immediately compete for minutes.

One through the bottom of the roster, you are talking about some pretty good competition, Simon said. You bring in guys anticipating to add to the top. Im a big believer that iron sharpens iron. You put them in a competition and let the guys figure it out.

The T-Birds will also get to see what Seattle transfer Jadon Cohee can do in a game. Cohee couldn't play last season due to NCAA rules, but in practices showed he has the ability to be one of SUU's top players.

Hes a guy that can really impact the league in so many ways, Simon said of Cohee. Hes physical. Hes a guy that can take the scoring load off of Randy (Onwuasor) and build great plays. Hes a very smart guard, a very intelligent guard.

And with all those players adding to an improving core of Randy Onwuasor, James McGee, Jacob Calloway and Ivan Madunic, the SUU head coach has some options to play with.

College Mens Basketball: Sacramento State vs Southern Utah, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, in Cedar City, Utah. Final score: SAC 88, SUU 83.(Photo: Jordan Allred / The Spectrum & Daily News)

He could go for a lethal shooting lineup of Cohee, Onwuasor, McGee, Marin and Calloway.

A more traditional position lineup of Onwuasor, McGee, Springer, Aytes and Madunic

A near-positionless lineup of Cohee, Onwuasor, Jackson, Lyons and Calloway.

A lineup playing all three new wings (Jackson, Lyons and Springer) at the same time.

Or one of many other possibilities he didn't have his first season.

So if Todd Simon looks down his bench and smiles, youll know why.

Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter, @millerjryan.

The rest is here:
How the 2017 class will impact Todd Simon's second season - St. George Daily Spectrum

C.M. Russell High School is prepping for a facelift this summer.

Principal Kerry Parsons says the school will start the foundational building of a new athletic facility during that time. The new facilities will feature a wrestling room, a second basketball court, and a fitness room - as well as additions to the track.

CMR is currently the only AAschool without a second gym, which has forced student athletes to go to West Elementary for practices and sub-varsity games.

The district has talked about upgrading the athletic facility for more than 20 years.

Outside of sports, there will be a new science and math building. Principal Parsons says within the next year and a half, the Rustlers will finally see some much needed improvements that will benefit all.

"What this will do is it will help with our practices and not require our kids to be here so early in the morning and so late at night, which will improve their lives obviously - with academics and their family lives with them not having to be here," Principal Parsons explained."When you have restricted facilities and a lot of kids involved, it's nice to have more facilities particularly in one location, so our campus will enhance in a lot of ways with these improvements."

The public will have one final say in the project.If you have any input or concerns - there will be a meeting this coming Monday at Bill Williamson Hall on the campus of CMRfor officials to hear your feedback.At the meeting, whoever attends will also be able to see the design plans.

Continue reading here:
CMR Undergoing Construction for New Athletic Facility - KULR-TV

Forbes

Attendance Dilemmas Are Challenging The Yankees To Revisit The Fan Experience Forbes The New York Yankees have been a pleasant surprise at the outset of the 2017 baseball season. Most prognosticators and algorithms predicted the Yankees to be an unspectacular ball club who would win approximately 82 ball games this season. However ...

The rest is here:
Attendance Dilemmas Are Challenging The Yankees To Revisit The Fan Experience - Forbes

Riot Games, developer and publisher of League of Legends, has revealed details regarding its new franchising model for the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS). This includes an application process for teams, revenue sharing, a players' association and a retooling of the Challenger scene into the Academy League.

G2 Esports is the dominant force in the EU LCS, there's no doubt about that. Outside of the two new additions, we have some thoughts on what the other seven teams should focus on to beat them.

Brood War. A staple in the esports scene. Now, legendary Flash is going up against Shine in the finals, with Shine saying he has some special builds saved just for his opponent.

1 Related

Bloomberg reports that franchises will cost a flat $10 million for existing NA LCS organizations, with newcomers required to pay an extra $3 million to compensate teams not selected to the group of 10 for the 2018 season. Franchises will have the option to pay this fee over time, with the potential for some of the cost to be waived based on the league hitting financial goals over the next few years.

The European LCS does not plan to move to a franchise model "at this point," Riot announced. The announcement cited a "uniquely diverse region" as a reason for the decision and mentioned that more information on the future of the EU LCS would come later this year.

To become a franchise team in the NA LCS, organizations will need to work through three steps outlined in Riot's news release. First, teams that want to franchise in the league will need to apply to do so. Riot will work with "expert third parties" to scope out details about teams and organizations. Second, Riot will review the teams and their proposals, which will include an "in-person presentation and Q&A, as well as some deeper dives into finances, credit checks, and background checks for the owners." Riot's criteria include having a "stable, professional, well-funded and committed" organization. Lastly, teams will be selected and announced in the fourth quarter of 2017 for the 2018 season.

Teams will no longer have to worry about relegation. Currently, the LCS works on a relegation system in which the bottom two teams at the end of the spring and summer split must fight for their spot via a promotion tournament, fending off up-and-coming teams from the Challenger Series. With the abolishment of the Challenger Series, the 10 teams that are franchised will be able to field an Academy League team, which Riot hopes will meet a variety of needs to pro teams, such as housing deeper rosters to encourage faster development of younger players.

"Removing the uncertainty around relegation will enable teams to be able to better plan for their future, and to make long term bets and investments in the league," Riot said in its release.

Removing relegation, however, might disincentivize teams from performing at peak levels knowing they can't be dropped to Challenger. To mitigate this, Riot will give financial incentives for good performance and will disqualify teams that finish ninth or 10th five times over an eight-split span (four years).

Revenue sharing is another major part of the evolution of the league. Last year, Riot started making moves with the media deals and digital goods surrounding teams, and it is looking to build on that by requiring teams to "share a portion of their league-driven revenues as well (including things like sponsorships and merch sales)."

"This aligns the interests of all parties (while still granting considerable opportunity for motivated owners and superstar players to earn outsized revenues), creating a strong and competitive ecosystem," the release states.

Additionally, Bloomberg reports that teams may use revenue sharing to pay for franchise fees to help offset some of the $10 million cost of securing a spot in the league.

Lastly, Riot will be creating the NA LCS Players' Association, giving "pros a seat at the table in league decisions," as well as access to resources such as lawyers, financial advisers and agents.

Although Riot will initially fund the association, it hopes that one day players will take over financial responsibilities and make it a fully independent players' union.

Go here to see the original:
Riot releases details on NA LCS franchising with $10M flat-fee buy-in - ESPN

Mercury star Diana Taurasi comments on Kevin Durant's decision to sign with the Warriors and discusses how LeBron James continues to stand above the rest at Mercury practice on Tuesday. Rob Schumacher/azcentral sports

Phoenix Mercury Cayla George guards Dallas Wings Breanna Lewis in the first half on Saturday, May 27, 2017 at Taking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Ariz.(Photo: Rob Schumacher/azcentral sports)

The Sandy Brondello coaching era started the way she imagined, with the Phoenix Mercury massively improving on defense and winning the 2014 WNBA title.

The defenseeroded some in 2015, dipping from second in points allowed to fourth, then last season took a bigger fall to eighth, giving up 83.3 points per game.

But now the D is back with a retooled roster that leads the league in points allowed (67.2), opponent field-goal (37.0) and 3-point (19.2) percentage and is tied for third in forced turnovers (16.2).

Through five games, Mercury opponents have scored 20-plus points in only three of 20 quarters, opposed to16 quarters over the same period in 2016.

"Number1, we have athletic players; that helps," Brondello said. "We have intelligent players;that helps to put everything in. In the end, it's just people that want to buy in and do what's best for the team. They're committing to what we're asking them to do."

MORE: Taurasi breaks down Chapter 3 of Cavaliers-Warriors duel

In 6-9 Brittney Griner, the Mercury have a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year who at 26 is coming into her prime. What's dramatically changed is their perimeter defense, with additions of Danielle Robinson, Stephanie Talbot and others.

Starting point guard Robinson made the WNBA All-Defensive Team from 2012-14 while with San Antonio. The 6-2 Talbot is a WNBA rookie but at 22 already has played professionally since for six years in her native Australia and Poland and was a 2016 Olympian.

"We can be way more aggressive than we were last year purely because we have more athletic players," Brondello said. "It allows us to be real creative with how we want to defend each individual and guarding people differently. That's something we weren't able to do a hell of a lot last year because the personnel driven that way."

In addition to her defense, Talbot is second among WNBA rookies with 4.6 rebounds per game. She and Camille Little are double teaming effectively on the perimeter while Robinson and Leilani Mitchell are stopping guards from getting to the basket like they did seemingly at will much of last season.

"We have a lot of depth on our perimeter," Talbot said. "We can get after it, we can hustle and we can reset and get new players in. Camille and Emma (Cannon) are great at trapping the guards coming off on balls and making them hesitate. That's helpful knowing they're going to be there or knowingthat BG (Griner) is there with her hand up. We don't have to foul, we can just let BG come across and block it. She's always going to be there."

Griner has not fouled out and largely remainedout of foul trouble this early season, averaging 31 minutes. That gives Brondello the ability to play backup Cayla George when she chooses instead of out of necessity, helping to turn the bench into a force like in last week's 63-point contribution (out of 107 total) against Dallas.

"BG became real disciplined from the start of this year," said Brondello, referring back to the 2017 part of Griner's Russian season. "Her maturity on that side of the ball, knowing she can impact shots without fouling and having a little bit more poise if they're trying to make her go crazy certainly helps.

"We're able to defend better 1-on-1 on the perimeter, so she doesn't have to over-help. That's when we gave up offensive rebounds because no one else would block out. Now we have so much more team defense."

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

When: 5 p.m. Thursday.

Where:Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill.

Mercury:Diana Taurasi needs one more 3-pointer to become the WNBA career leader, breaking a tie with Katie Smith at 906. She is 36 points away from surpassing Tamika Catchings as the league's No. 2 career scorer. Mercury rookie Sophie Brunner is from nearby Freeport, Ill., with family and friends turning out in force to support her during her Arizona State career. Brunner has played briefly in two games.Phoenix remains on the road for games against New York on Sunday and Indiana on June 7.

Sky:Chicago (1-5) is on a three-game losing streak including a 97-79 loss to Connecticut on Sunday. The Sky's only win was 75-71 over Atlanta on May 21. Chicago is adjusting to life without Elena Delle Donne, traded to Washington for Stefanie Dolson, Kahleah Copper and the No. 2 overall draft pick. The Sky used the pick on South Carolina 6-4 center Alaina Coates, who is out with an ankle injury suffered during the SEC Tournament before the Gamecocks went on their NCAA title run. F Tamera Young is averaging 15.2 points and G Cappie Pondexter 14.7 points/8.3 assists.

See the original post here:
Phoenix Mercury regaining elite defensive form - AZCentral.com

SEOUL South Korean President Moon Jae-in has ordered a probe after his Defence Ministry failed to inform him that four more launchers for the controversial U.S. THAAD anti-missile system had been brought into the country, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system battery was initially deployed in March in the southeastern region of Seongju with just two of its maximum load of six launchers to counter a growing North Korean missile threat.

During his successful campaign for the May 9 presidential election, Moon called for a parliamentary review of the system, the deployment of which infuriated China, North Korea's lone major ally.

"President Moon said it was very shocking" to hear the four additional launchers had been installed without being reported to the new government or to the public, presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan told a media briefing.

Moon had campaigned on a more moderate approach to Pyongyang, calling for engagement even as the reclusive state pursues nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and threats of more sanctions.

The Pentagon said it had been "very transparent" with South Korea's government about THAAD deployment. "We continue to work very closely with the Republic of Korea government and we have been very transparent in all of our actions throughout this process," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told a news briefing.

Separately on Tuesday, the U.S. military cheered a successful, first-ever missile defense test involving a simulated attack by an intercontinental ballistic missile, a major milestone for a program meant to defend the United States against North Korea.

The Missile Defense Agency said it was the first live-fire test against a simulated ICBM for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), a separate system from THAAD, and called it an "incredible accomplishment." [L1N1IW1MM]

CHINA TENSIONS EASING

Moon's order of a probe into the THAAD launchers came amid signs of easing tensions between South Korea and China, a major trading partner.

China has been incensed over the THAAD deployment, fearing it could enable the U.S. military to see into its own missile systems and open the door to wider deployment, possibly in Japan and elsewhere, military analysts say.

South Korean companies have faced product boycotts and bans on Chinese tourists visiting South Korea, although China has denied discrimination against them.

On Tuesday, South Korea's Jeju Air said China had approved a plan for it to double its flights to the Chinese city of Weihai from June 2.

Also, a Korean-Chinese joint drama production My Goddess, My Mom" starring South Korean actress Lee Da-hae was told by its Chinese partner recently that it will soon be aired, according to Lee's agent JS Pictures. Previously its broadcast had been indefinitely delayed.

An official at South Korean tour agency Mode Tour told Reuters it hoped China may lift a ban on selling trips to South Korea, which had been in place since March 15, as early as the second week of June. Although there had been no official orders from the Chinese government to lift the ban, a few Chinese travel agencies have sent inquiries about package tours, he said. However, South Korea's Lotte Group has yet to reopen any of the 74 retail stores in China it was forced to close in March after the group allowed the installation of the THAAD system on land it owned.

BOMBER DRILL

The United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, has a mutual defence treaty with Seoul dating back to the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce that has left the peninsula in a technical state of war.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it had conducted a joint drill with a U.S. supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber on Monday, which North Korea's state media earlier described as "a nuclear bomb-dropping drill".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talked to Moon by phone on Tuesday and told him that dialogue for dialogue's sake with North Korea would be meaningless, and that China's role in exerting pressure on the North was important, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

North Korea's KCNA news agency reported that leader Kim Jong Un supervised the country's latest missile test on Monday. It said the missile had a new precision guidance system and a new mobile launch vehicle.

Kim said North Korea would develop more powerful weapons to defend against the United States.

"He expressed the conviction that it would make a greater leap forward in this spirit to send a bigger 'gift package' to the Yankees" in retaliation for American military provocation, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim, Hyunjoo Jin, Christine Kim and Suyeong Lee in Seoul, Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Phil Stewart and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Nick Macfie and James Dalgleish)

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said he would announce on Thursday his decision whether to keep the United States in a global pact to fight climate change, as a source close to the matter said he was preparing to pull out of the Paris accord.

WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump talked trade with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during a White House visit on Wednesday and welcomed the signing of business deals worth billions of dollars and the jobs they would create.

CARACAS Venezuelan security forces used water cannons and teargas to disperse tens of thousands of opposition protesters heading toward the foreign ministry on Wednesday as the Organization of American States held another meeting on the crisis.

See original here:
'Shocked' South Korea leader orders probe into US THAAD additions - Reuters

This freestanding Victorian, built in 1860, was actually dubbed the neighborhoods most charming house by the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper. Located at 211 Vanderbilt Street, in Windsor Terrace, it is still clad with cedar clapboard and fronted by a covered porch. The fully detached home is also set back from the street, offering the rare front lawn, plus a side walkway that leads to a truly massive backyard. Although the interior has mostly been upgraded, it still holds a few historic surprises. It is plenty charming, but youll have to judge for yourself if the home deserves the title of most charming in all of Windsor Terrace.

This home is on the market for the first time in decades. Its located on a large lot, which leaves room for the front garden and a backyard big enough to hold everything from a vegetable garden to an in-ground swimming pool. And of course, you cant beat that mahogany porch.

The three-story home, with an English basement, is currently configured as two duplex apartments. It could be converted back to a single-family, or theres extra FAR on the lot to add an additionalthough itd be a shame to tacka new construction onto its historic facade.

Both kitchens were renovated with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. New additions sit along historic details like pine floors, five panel doors, bullseye moldings and wainscoting. Reproduction lighting was added in the renovation.

Stairs leading to the second floor boast a beautiful stained glass skyline.

The upper bedrooms, four in total, come with views out onto leafy Vanderbilt Street.

Heres a look at the massive backyard, just waiting to be built out into an outdoor paradise. A pool would look pretty good alongside such a well preserved Victorian pad, dont you think?

[Listing: 211 Vanderbilt Street by Marie Parker for Corcoran]

RELATED:

Photos courtesy of Corcoran

Tags : 211 Vanderbilt Street

Neighborhoods : windsor terrace

See the original post here:
Dubbed 'the neighborhood's most charming house' by the Brooklyn Eagle, this Victorian asks $1.825M - 6Sqft (blog)