Chicken wings test positive for Covid-19 in China, but there's no evidence of food transmission, experts say

A sample of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, authorities said Thursday, the latest in a series of reports of contaminated imported food products. The coronavirus was detected Wednesday on a surface sample taken from a batch of chicken wings during screening of imported frozen food in Longgang district of Shenzhen, the municipal government said in a statement. Officials did not name the brand. Health authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have said the possibility of catching the virus through food is low. Shenzhen health authorities immediately traced and tested people who might have come into contact with the product, and all results came back negative; all related products in stock have been sealed off and tested negative, the statement said. Content by CNN Underscored The best liquid eyeliners of 2020 We tested liquid eyeliners from Tarte and Revlon to Stila and NYX for precision, staying power, value and more to find the best liner for you. Authorities are now tracing related products from the same brand that have already been sold, and have disinfected the area where the contaminated chicken wings were stored. The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) said in a statement that it is analyzing the incident and reiterated that "there is no scientific evidence that meat transmits the virus." "It is not yet clear when the packaging was contaminated, and whether it occurred during the export transportation process," ABPA added. The Brazilian agriculture ministry released a note stating that it has not been officially notified by Chinese authorities of the incident. Brazil has so far reported more than 3.1 million coronavirus cases, the second highest in the world after the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally. News of the contaminated chicken wings comes a day after coronavirus was found on the packaging of shrimps imported from Ecuador, another South American country, at a restaurant in eastern Anhui province during a routine inspection, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported. Coronavirus has been detected on the packaging of imported seafood products across several cities in China. Coronavirus has been detected on the packaging of imported seafood products across several cities in China. Since July, there have been seven instances where the virus was detected on the packaging of imported seafood products across the country, from Shandong province on the eastern coast to the municipality of Chongqing in the west, according to state media reports. These incidents have sparked concerns over the safety of imported foods. Chinese health authorities have repeatedly told the public to be cautious about buying imported meat and seafood. On Chinese social media, some have called for the suspension of all frozen food imports. 'No evidence' of food transmission The WHO says it is "highly unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging." According to the CDC, the risk of infection by the virus from food products, food packaging, or bags is "thought to be very low." Both organizations point out that the coronavirus spreads mostly person to person through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. While it is possible to catch Covid-19 by touching a surface or object -- including food or food packaging that has the virus on it -- and then touching your mouth, nose, or possibly eyes, it is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, according to the CDC. "There is no evidence to date of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses being transmitted via food or food packaging. Coronaviruses cannot multiply in food; they need an animal or human host to multiply," the WHO says. David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the imported food products that tested positive in China were almost certain to have been contaminated during packaging. But he said it doesn't necessarily mean that they're infectious -- the nucleic acid tests could be picking up the RNA of dead virus. These remnants of the virus are known to have caused false positive results on patients who have recovered from the coronavirus, such as in South Korea. If the virus taken from the food products can be grown in labs, however, then they are infectious, he said, adding that the coronavirus can survive freezing temperatures and still be active when thawed. Stepped up screening Chinese authorities have increased screening of imported meat and seafood products since June, when a coronavirus outbreak in Beijing emerged from the city's largest wholesale food market. Beijing imposes soft lockdown citywide and tightens outbound travel as coronavirus infections spread Beijing imposes soft lockdown citywide and tightens outbound travel as coronavirus infections spread State media reported at the time that the virus was discovered on a chopping board used for imported salmon at the market, prompting supermarkets in the Chinese capital to remove salmon from their shelves. But officials at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention have tried to allay concerns. "We cannot conclude that salmon is the source of infection just because novel coronavirus was detected on a chopping board of a seller," Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese CDC, told the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Wu said the chopping board could instead have been contaminated by an infected owner or customers, or other products that carried the virus.

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Trump Opposes Funding for Postal Service, Says U.S. ‘Can’t Have’ Mail-In Voting Without It

The comments fueled allegations that Trump is blocking funding to the Postal Service to suppress voter participation in November.PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP said Thursday that he remains opposed to billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Postal Service, noting that his position would deprive the service of money needed to process mail-in ballots this November. Trump's comments, which linked his long-standing opposition to mail-in ballots with his refusal to OK more funding for the cash-strapped Postal Service, fueled accusations that he is manipulating the postal system for political gain and to suppress voter participation. Recommended Videos Powered by AnyClip An important video title message Play Video NOW PLAYINGU.S. postal service shakeup sparks election fears Harris makes debut with Biden, slams Trump Voting By Mail, Explained Harris an elusive election target for Trump Kamala Harris is a 'risky' vice president pick, Donald Trump says [ MORE: Trump Encourages Mail Voting in Florida, but Sues in Nevada ] The comments also come amid mounting concerns from Democrats over recent changes at the Postal Service and potential political interference at the agency ahead of the election. During an interview on Fox Business, Trump said Democrats' requests for $3.5 billion in funding for election resources and $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service were sticking points during negotiations over another coronavirus stimulus package. He also repeated allegations that mail-in voting will lead to voter fraud. Experts say there is not widespread voter fraud in the U.S., and there is no evidence that increased mail-in voting would lead to fraud. "Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trump said. "But if they don't get those two items that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it," Trump said. Trump has railed against mail-in voting for months, attempting to draw a distinction between mail-in voting and absentee voting, which he has encouraged. Though the phrases are often used interchangeably, there is a slight difference: Absentee voting requires voters to request a ballot, and in some cases provide an excuse, while a small number states automatically send voters ballots in the mail, a process sometimes dubbed "universal mail-in voting." A stimulus bill passed by the Democratic-controlled House earlier this summer approved $25 billion in funding for the Postal Service, which is facing massive budget shortfalls amid the coronavirus pandemic. That measure was dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate, and Democrats have since been pushing for $10 billion for the Postal Service in now-stalled negotiations over a compromise stimulus package. In July, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins from Maine, supported a bill to give the Postal Service $25 billion in funding. A spokesperson for former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump was "sabotaging" the Postal Service to deprive people of the right to vote. "The President of the United States is sabotaging a basic service that hundred of million of people rely upon, cutting a critical lifeline for rural economies and for delivery of medicines, because he wants to deprive Americans of their fundamental right to vote safely during the most catastrophic public health crisis in over 100 years," Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. Rep. Gerry Connolly, Virginia Democrat, said Trump's comments Thursday illustrate that the president is holding up funding to the Postal Service to limit voting in November. "The president amids his motive for holding USPS funding hostage is that he doesn't want Americans to vote by mail. Why? It hurts his electoral chances," Connolly, chairman of the House subcommittee on government operations, said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California responded to Trump's comments in an interview with MSNBC, noting that the $25 billion for the postal system was proposed by the agency's board of governors, not Democrats. Cartoons on the 2020 Election View All 227 Images Trump's comments came hours after Democratic lawmakers ratcheted up calls for greater oversight of the Postal Service and its new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy. DeJoy, a Trump ally and Republican donor, recently spearheaded a reorganization of the agency's top ranks, instituted a hiring freeze and enacted other operational changes. The money-saving measures are being blamed for a dramatic increase in recent mail delays. The agency also recently sparked fears over its handling of ballots when the Postal Service general counsel warned state election officials that usual classification practices for ballots would not ensure that the votes would be mailed in time to be counted. Officials advised states to use first-class postage on election mail instead of third-class postage, which typically has been used. Sending mail first-class is more than twice as expensive. In the past, postal workers have typically treated election mail as first-class mail even if it has third-class postage. Pelosi and House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York sent a letter to DeJoy on Wednesday laying out several concerns. The letter was signed by more than 170 Democratic lawmakers. "The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service, including directing Post Offices to no longer treat all election mail as First Class. If implemented now, as the election approaches, this policy will cause further delays to election mail that will disenfranchise voters and put significant financial pressure on election jurisdictions," the letter says. "We also remain concerned about a significant operational restructuring, done without any apparent analysis and consultation, which will weaken the ability of the Postal Service to respond to local needs," it says. Tags: Postal Service, Donald Trump, coronavirus, 2020 presidential election

Iranian Forces Board Tanker in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran seized the ship, as reported by the U.S. military, in an apparent response to the Trump administration’s ‘maximum pressure campaign,’ analysts say. IRANIAN FORCES BOARDED a tanker near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the U.S. military command overseeing operations in the region says, though it's yet unclear what it expected to achieve with the provocative maneuver. [ READ: Military Chief: Iran Will ‘Destroy’ U.S. Ships If threatened ] US military says Iran seized, released oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz area: report Play Video NOW PLAYINGUS military says Iran seized, released oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz area: report China Avoids Top Trump Aides in Hong Kong Retaliatory Sanctions China to Sanction 11 Americans, Including Republican Senators Trump calls Israel, UAE deal a 'truly historic moment' U.S. weekly jobless claims fall below 1 million U.S. Central Command reported late Wednesday that two Iranian ships and a helicopter carrying Iranian troops boarded the "Wila" tanker and overtook it. The Liberian-flagged vessel is owned by a Greek company and had been operating in international waters near the middle of the contentious strait before sailing to Oman, where it remained as of Thursday morning, according to MarineTraffic, which tracks ships and their movement. Central Command, which posted a video on Twitter of a helicopter hovering over a ship, did not provide an explanation for why Iran may have tried to seize the vessel, and Tehran as of Thursday morning had not made any mention publicly of the incident

Air Force Helicopter Shot At Over Virginia, Injuring Crew Member

AN AIR FORCE HELICOPTER operating overn Virginia on Monday was reportedly shot at, injuring one member of the crew and prompting an FBI investigation. The UH-1N Huey helicopter, assigned to Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington, D.C., was conducting a routine training flight roughly 1,000 feet above the ground before it was forced to make an emergency landing at an airport in nearby Manassas, Virginia, after being struck by a bullet, an Air Force spokesperson tells U.S. News. The helicopter is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron, which supports the movement of the president and other senior government officials to and from Andrews, where Air Force One is also based. The FBI dispatched special agents and its Evidence Response Team to the airport after receiving reports about the shooting, its Washington Field Office said in a statement provided to U.S. News. It is currently conducting a joint investigation with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and local law enforcement agencies. McClatchy first reported the incident. Multiple officials at the Manassas Regional Airport told the news outlet that they received an emergency call shortly after noon on Monday before the helicopter made an emergency landing there, where it was met by paramedics to treat the injured crewman. The crewman, whose identity was not released, was taken to a local hospital for treatment for a non-life threatening injury and has subsequently been released. The aircraft also sustained damage, the Air Force said. The FBI is soliciting help from the public for its investigation. Anyone with information about the incident can call the Washington Field Office at 202-278-2000. Updated on Aug. 12, 2020: This story has been updated.

Anderson strikes against Pakistan as Fawad Alam's long wait ends with a duck

Anderson strikes against Pakistan as Fawad Alam's long wait ends with a duck AFPUpdated 13 Aug 2020Facebook Count Twitter Share 13 England great James Anderson returned to form with two wickets against Pakistan at Southampton on Thursday as Fawad Alam's long wait for a Test recall ended with a duck. Pakistan were 126-5 at stumps after a combination of rain and bad light cut short play on the first day of the second Test. Anderson had taken 2-35 from 15 overs to move to within eight wickets of becoming the first paceman with 600 in Tests. All of England's four quicks enjoyed success, with only Pakistan opener Abid Ali — dropped twice in the slips — offering prolonged resistance during an innings of 60. 

 ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD Fawad Alam walks back to the pavilion after being dismissed on the first day of the second Test. — AFP Anderson came into this match having taken just six wickets in three previous Tests this season, at an expensive average of over 41. By his own admission, he had not been at his best with a match haul of 1-67 during England's three-wicket win in the first Test at his Old Trafford home ground last week. But the 38-year-old denied rumours he was considering retirement, with England captain Joe Root saying on the eve of this match: “To question Jimmy's ability and his record — do that at your own peril.” And it was not long before England's all-time leading wicket-taker struck after Pakistan captain Azhar Ali won the toss. In humid conditions conducive to Anderson's bowling, he needed just eight balls to have Shan Masood, fresh from his Test-best 156, lbw for one with an inswinger to the left-hander. Masood was so clearly out, he did not bother to review the decision. Pakistan should have been 7-2 but Abid, on one, was reprieved when third slip Dom Sibley dropped an edge off Stuart Broad. Azhar, under pressure after a run of just one fifty in 10 innings since becoming skipper in November, was nearly out for seven when, playing defensively at in-form all-rounder Chris Woakes, the ball trickled onto his stumps without dislodging the bails. Woakes suffered again when Abid, on 21, got dropped by second slip Rory Burns. Luck runs out But Pakistan's luck ran out when Azhar, on 20, edged a full-length Anderson delivery and this time Burns held a good, low catch to leave Pakistan 78-2. The only bowlers to have taken more than Anderson's 592 Test wickets are a trio of retired spinners. Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan leads the way with 800, while Australia's Shane Warne has 708 and India's Anil Kumble 619. Abid completed a 99-ball fifty featuring six fours after tea. But left-arm seamer Sam Curran, recalled in place of fast bowler Jofra Archer, had Abid taken in the slips by Burns with a ball that angled across the right-hander following a couple of inswingers. Sibley, to his evident relief, held a slip catch off Broad as Asad Shafiq fell cheaply. Alam, a prolific run-scorer in Pakistan domestic cricket, played the last of his three previous Tests, in which he averages over 41, against New Zealand in Dunedin in November 2009. The 34-year-old was the only change to the side after replacing leg-spinning all-rounder Shadab Khan. But Alam lasted just five minutes at the crease. Batting with an extremely open stance, Alam was lbw for a four-ball nought to Woakes. Alam was initially given not out but an England review revealed the ball had pitched in line, with a squared-up Alam in front of his stumps. England, as well as recalling Curran, made an expected change when batsman Zak Crawley returned in place of Ben Stokes. Star all-rounder Stokes is missing the final two matches of this series for personal reasons after travelling to New Zealand to be with his ill father.

Fifa’s normalisation committee good for Pakistan football

Fifa’s normalisation committee good for Pakistan football: PFF president Hussain says outcome is positive, is happy world body listened to him KARACHI:After wasting four years, Fifa has finally decided to appoint the normalisation committee for the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) that has been controversially run by politician and spiritual guide from Jhang, Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, for the last 16 years. This is a step that Fifa could have taken in 2015 too, but after four years wait is over. The PFF controversy broke in 2015 when Hayat tried to tailor the PFF elections for his fourth term. He had been the PFF resident since 2003. FIFA appoints normalisation committee for the Pakistan Football Federation The PFF has had very slow progress compared to other countries in the region, when it came to the development of football, which included unfinished Fifa goal-projects, not having a single football stadium built for international fixtures, embezzlement of funds given by Fifa and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and mistreatment of footballers. Manipulating the elections in 2015 turned out to be the dividing factor for Hayat, who had enjoyed strong support from AFC, to the extent that the continental body's official, who supervised the PFF elections of 2015 in Changla Gali did not speak of the discrepancies in the process. Year 2015’s first quarter saw PFF break into two factions as Hayat saw his competition in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Football Association chief Zahir Ali Shah. "On 27 June 2019, the Bureau of the FIFA Council decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in accordance with art. 14 par. 1(a) and art. 8 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes,” read the Fifa press release. “The decision follows the recent FIFA/AFC fact-finding mission to Pakistan, which concluded that only free, fair and transparent elections of the PFF executive committee would reunite the football stakeholders in Pakistan and set the basis for the development of football which has been at a standstill since 2015," Fifa's statement added on their website. Hayat had manipulated the congress votes at provincial level first and then at the PFF congress that elected him for the fourth term in illegitimate elections without full quorum that even had a stay order from the Lahore High Court. Pakistan women’s football captain Hajra Khan to be part of world record match The legal battle had been a long one too, which saw LHC appointing an administrator, the case was then fought in Supreme Court and all the while Fifa managed to give extension to Hayat, despite their fact-finding mission seeing the problems in the way PFF has not updated its constitution according to Fifa statutes, and imbalance in the power when it came to disciplinary and ethical bodies of the federation. PFF also got banned after the two-year extension got expired in 2017, over 'third-party interference' for the LHC administrator being the in-charge of the PFF quarters. The suspension was overturned by Fifa in March 2018 with a court verdict in Hayat's favour, however, by December 2018, Supreme Court-ordered fresh PFF elections took place that saw Ashfaq Hussain Shah become the new PFF president. But Fifa did not recognise the new elections and continued to call it third-party interference. However, this time they sent another joint Fifa-AFC mission in May where according to Shah, he put out the case openly and requested for justice. "It is a very, very positive outcome," Shah told The Express Tribune. "This is just the first step and I'm happy that Fifa listened to us. I knew about this for more than a week, but we were waiting for Fifa to announce it. We should be getting the letter from them soon. "This is the end of the black regime, 16 years of it. This is the first step and from here onwards there is only betterment for Pakistan football. I requested the Fifa mission to do justice to our situation. I don't want anything for myself in this. But they should do justice, and normalisation committee is what we asked for. I'm more than satisfied with this decision." Shah added that the next step will be to go to Fifa Ethics Committee to investigate the corruption of funds, while the normalisation committee that should be formed will likely have two members each from both factions and one from Fifa. "We want it to be fair," said Shah. "The committee will be formed the new elections will take place from top to bottom, from district level to all the way to the top, and this should take six to nine months, however we would like it to be done in three to four months." Players welcome the decision Pakistan's former captain Kaleemullah, who was threatened and intimidated by the Hayat-run federation, believes that it is the best news that came for Pakistan football. "I welcome this whole-heartedly,” said Kaleemullah who is playing for Al-Najaf FC in Iraq. "Finally there is a resolution to a very bad situation where only players have suffered. We had no football for four years, no one, no youth teams, no women's team, no men's team, everyone has suffered. The fans too, since there has been so much frustration." Kaleemullah added that it is finally a dawn of a new era, and he believes that Fifa and AFC have considered the plight of the players. "We tried so hard to raise our voice for four years, all we wanted to see was change from Fifa and AFC, at least to do something for us. I'm sure they must have seen through what Hayat's body had done to PFF. I'm glad Fifa and AFC opened their eyes and they have finally appointed the normalisation committee. According to Fifa, there are 3 million footballers in Pakistan, that’s so much potential, how can we not progress? But this time Fifa wants to help football, maybe finally Fifa considered our plight," said Kaleemullah. The former Tulsa Roughneck player feels that it is time for the players as even after playing the 2022 World Cup qualifying round, where Pakistan lost to Cambodia 4-1 on aggregate on June 11, the second leg, the players have gone back to their homes and not have much to look forward to. "They don't have much, the domestic football leagues in Pakistan are not professional, there are no international matches for us for the next few years, they have nothing. So now is the time that normalisation committee takes steps for them," said Kaleemullah. The agenda for normalisation committee as defined in the Fifa statement is: "The mandate of the normalisation committee will include the following: To run the PFF’s daily affairs. To ensure the proper registration and scrutiny of the clubs in Pakistan. To draft and ratify, with the assistance of FIFA and the AFC, an electoral code for the PFF. To organise and conduct elections at district followed by provincial levels. To organise and conduct the elections of a new PFF executive committee. “The normalisation committee will be composed of an adequate number of members to be identified by the FIFA administration, in consultation with the AFC and relevant local stakeholders. In line with the FIFA Governance Regulations, all members of the normalisation committee will be subject to an eligibility check. “The normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee, whose decisions are final and binding, and the specified period of time during which it will perform its functions will expire as soon as it has fulfilled all of its tasks but no later than nine months after its members have been officially appointed by FIFA. FIFA and the AFC will now begin the task of identifying, interviewing and selecting the members of the normalisation committee — an update will be provided on that matter in due course."

A Football league for Pakistan

Football: A league for Pakistan AUGUST 9 FOOTBALL: A LEAGUE FOR PAKISTAN BY EDITORIAL STAFFINNATIONWIDE NEWSNEWSPAKISTAN PREMIER LEAGUE by Sohail With a population of 220 million, most of them cricket crazy, football was always going to play second fiddle as a sport in Pakistan. But no one could have imagined that, one day, Pakistan would be the only nation among the 47 members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) without a single win in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. By comparison, even Bhutan — with just 700,000 inhabitants — has progressed to the second round of the FIFA World Cup qualification system. But why has Pakistan, a country which averaged two million viewers per game in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and which is ranked in the top 20 countries for its number of footballers, underperformed in such a fashion? The reasons range from chronic political disputes to a severe lack of funding. But take a deeper look and you realise the missing piece is a top-tier professional football league, which acts as a hub for the entire football ecosystem. Player development, infrastructure, funding, grassroots and clubs are the pillars on which countries have built footballing dynasties, but Pakistan has missed out badly here. The Pakistan Premier League (PPL) was revamped in 2003 upon Faisal Saleh Hayat’s election as president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), but it hasn’t changed much in the last 17 years. The league takes its roots from the National Championship that started in 1947 and, apart from a short revamping stint that saw Lifebuoy become the title sponsor under Hafiz Salman Butt (1990-93), it remains practically unchanged for the last 73 years. Departments rule the roost and teams include the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the Pakistan Army and other government entities, which use investment in sports as evidence of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with little desire to develop talent or professionalise their set-ups. The few clubs that are present are primarily from Balochistan, where the fierce Chaman derby between Afghan FC and Muslim FC commands crowds in the thousands. Most of the league, though, is played silently, without any fanfare. The entire system reeks of the Soviet Union era, where sports were essentially represented by various government entities competing against each other and offering jobs to athletes. The world moved on. Even state departments such as CSKA (Russian Army) and Lokomotiv (Railways) Moscow have become huge brands in their own right. But Pakistan has stayed put. In 2007, a breath of fresh air arrived in the shape of the Geo Super League, with teams based on cities and live broadcast of all the games. It gave live coverage to domestic footballers for the first time and merited a second attempt in partnership with K-Electric in 2010. But the league did not continue because the organisers and sponsors reportedly did not want to work with the PFF again. Subsequently, the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) has never bagged a regular sponsor (a five-year-deal with KASB fell through after a single season in 2009), runs on an ad-hoc basis for four to five months, and has never been broadcast on television. You needn’t look far for inspiration. Bangladesh, after their independence in 1971, has managed to professionalise legacy football clubs and mould them into the Bangladesh Premier League, where historical names such as Dhaka Mohammaden, Sheikh Russell and Sheikh Jamal are at home with newcomers such as Bashundhara Kings, who earned their first title in 2019. A corporate-owned team by a real estate group, the Bashundhara team has now turned their attention to the Bashundhara Sports Complex, which will be one of the first private sports infrastructure projects in the country, and can go a long way in developing grassroots talent and building up a sports eco-system. Such success stories were made possible because the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has consistently managed to rope in sponsors such as TVS and Grameenphone, while the games are shown live across multiple channels, with the latest being Bangla TV. On the other hand, our feisty rival, India, isn’t even our competition in terms of local progress. They are so far ahead in terms of their league development that the distance could be measured in decades. The Indian Super League (ISL), since its inception in 2014, has managed to capture the imagination of the public, bring hefty sponsorships into the game and produce a quality football broadcast that hasn’t been seen before in South Asia. But it too has had its fair share of problems. The ISL was thrust to the top of the Indian football pyramid just when the I-League (the old top tier in India) had started a revamping process with new, privately owned clubs. This led to massive differences with legacy institutions such as Mohun Bagan and East Bengal (the Kolkata derby between the two still attracts over 120,000 spectators), while others such as Pune FC and Minerva Punjab disbanded due to the ongoing tussle. This brings us to the key question: what should Pakistan’s league look like? Should it be a franchise-based model like the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in cricket, or should it take a route similar to Bangladesh’s? The answer is strategic and is based on the fact that Pakistan, unlike Bangladesh and India, does not have a strong football culture or legacy clubs — even the best players from historic hotspots Chaman and Lyari plied their trade in Kolkata and Dhaka before independence. This means that club culture needs to be created from scratch. However, a PSL-like franchise system will not do. Since a PSL team is extremely expensive ($6.2 million per year for Multan Sultans, for example) and while football will be cheaper, it is crucial that the money be spent on football and infrastructure development rather than paying team costs. An alternative route is revamping the PPL with an immediate phasing out of departmental teams and their replacement with city-based teams that can be acquired through one-off payments or low franchise fees with long-term installment plans. Most of the club identities would be freshly created in this scenario, but existing clubs including the two Chaman favourites, Baloch FC Nushki and even the well-run Karachi United can be used as vehicles for investment, and be given a chance to organically expand their fan-base. This approach allows for the marketing and hype associated with a franchise model but also prevents a completely new league from being at odds with the football pyramid. As a result, the entire system, including a second tier league and below, can be remodeled to ensure promotion and relegation, a fundamental principle of global football that the franchise model ignores. Even more important is ensuring that a league is indeed a league. What the ISL in India faced was its existence as a mere tournament in the books of FIFA and AFC, and thus it had to endure a long battle to attain top tier status as competition to the I-League. A revamped PPL will have no such problems, and allow it to qualify for the AFC Cup League criteria where Pakistan currently receives the lowest possible allowance. Pakistan has to start from the lowest level in that, a pre-playoff place in Asia’s second tier continental competition. Meeting requirements for the AFC Cup will require organic growth from clubs and the league, but the long-term aim should be qualification for the AFC Champions League (Asia’s equivalent of the UEFA Champions League). This requires a host of features, including 14-15 teams in a league, 27 minimum games for each side and a maximum of two teams sharing a single stadium. The list is extensive, covering everything from ticket pricing to club administration. It’s a lofty dream, but one which can be achieved with the right vision and strategic planning. A football league is a certainty in Pakistan in the next few years and the PFF recently made it clear that they hold the rights to such a venture, not any third party. However, for Pakistan to truly realise its potential, what’s needed is harmony between the private sector and the federation. Most importantly, it needs to have a league model, where the priority is football.FOOTBALL: A LEAGUE FOR PAKISTAN BY EDITORIAL STAFFINNATIONWIDE NEWSNEWSPAKISTAN PREMIER LEAGUE by Sohail With a population of 220 million, most of them cricket crazy, football was always going to play second fiddle as a sport in Pakistan. But no one could have imagined that, one day, Pakistan would be the only nation among the 47 members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) without a single win in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. By comparison, even Bhutan — with just 700,000 inhabitants — has progressed to the second round of the FIFA World Cup qualification system. But why has Pakistan, a country which averaged two million viewers per game in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and which is ranked in the top 20 countries for its number of footballers, underperformed in such a fashion? The reasons range from chronic political disputes to a severe lack of funding. But take a deeper look and you realise the missing piece is a top-tier professional football league, which acts as a hub for the entire football ecosystem. Player development, infrastructure, funding, grassroots and clubs are the pillars on which countries have built footballing dynasties, but Pakistan has missed out badly here. The Pakistan Premier League (PPL) was revamped in 2003 upon Faisal Saleh Hayat’s election as president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), but it hasn’t changed much in the last 17 years. The league takes its roots from the National Championship that started in 1947 and, apart from a short revamping stint that saw Lifebuoy become the title sponsor under Hafiz Salman Butt (1990-93), it remains practically unchanged for the last 73 years. Departments rule the roost and teams include the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the Pakistan Army and other government entities, which use investment in sports as evidence of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with little desire to develop talent or professionalise their set-ups. The few clubs that are present are primarily from Balochistan, where the fierce Chaman derby between Afghan FC and Muslim FC commands crowds in the thousands. Most of the league, though, is played silently, without any fanfare. The entire system reeks of the Soviet Union era, where sports were essentially represented by various government entities competing against each other and offering jobs to athletes. The world moved on. Even state departments such as CSKA (Russian Army) and Lokomotiv (Railways) Moscow have become huge brands in their own right. But Pakistan has stayed put. In 2007, a breath of fresh air arrived in the shape of the Geo Super League, with teams based on cities and live broadcast of all the games. It gave live coverage to domestic footballers for the first time and merited a second attempt in partnership with K-Electric in 2010. But the league did not continue because the organisers and sponsors reportedly did not want to work with the PFF again. Subsequently, the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) has never bagged a regular sponsor (a five-year-deal with KASB fell through after a single season in 2009), runs on an ad-hoc basis for four to five months, and has never been broadcast on television. You needn’t look far for inspiration. Bangladesh, after their independence in 1971, has managed to professionalise legacy football clubs and mould them into the Bangladesh Premier League, where historical names such as Dhaka Mohammaden, Sheikh Russell and Sheikh Jamal are at home with newcomers such as Bashundhara Kings, who earned their first title in 2019. A corporate-owned team by a real estate group, the Bashundhara team has now turned their attention to the Bashundhara Sports Complex, which will be one of the first private sports infrastructure projects in the country, and can go a long way in developing grassroots talent and building up a sports eco-system. Such success stories were made possible because the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has consistently managed to rope in sponsors such as TVS and Grameenphone, while the games are shown live across multiple channels, with the latest being Bangla TV. On the other hand, our feisty rival, India, isn’t even our competition in terms of local progress. They are so far ahead in terms of their league development that the distance could be measured in decades. The Indian Super League (ISL), since its inception in 2014, has managed to capture the imagination of the public, bring hefty sponsorships into the game and produce a quality football broadcast that hasn’t been seen before in South Asia. But it too has had its fair share of problems. The ISL was thrust to the top of the Indian football pyramid just when the I-League (the old top tier in India) had started a revamping process with new, privately owned clubs. This led to massive differences with legacy institutions such as Mohun Bagan and East Bengal (the Kolkata derby between the two still attracts over 120,000 spectators), while others such as Pune FC and Minerva Punjab disbanded due to the ongoing tussle. This brings us to the key question: what should Pakistan’s league look like? Should it be a franchise-based model like the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in cricket, or should it take a route similar to Bangladesh’s? The answer is strategic and is based on the fact that Pakistan, unlike Bangladesh and India, does not have a strong football culture or legacy clubs — even the best players from historic hotspots Chaman and Lyari plied their trade in Kolkata and Dhaka before independence. This means that club culture needs to be created from scratch. However, a PSL-like franchise system will not do. Since a PSL team is extremely expensive ($6.2 million per year for Multan Sultans, for example) and while football will be cheaper, it is crucial that the money be spent on football and infrastructure development rather than paying team costs. An alternative route is revamping the PPL with an immediate phasing out of departmental teams and their replacement with city-based teams that can be acquired through one-off payments or low franchise fees with long-term installment plans. Most of the club identities would be freshly created in this scenario, but existing clubs including the two Chaman favourites, Baloch FC Nushki and even the well-run Karachi United can be used as vehicles for investment, and be given a chance to organically expand their fan-base. This approach allows for the marketing and hype associated with a franchise model but also prevents a completely new league from being at odds with the football pyramid. As a result, the entire system, including a second tier league and below, can be remodeled to ensure promotion and relegation, a fundamental principle of global football that the franchise model ignores. Even more important is ensuring that a league is indeed a league. What the ISL in India faced was its existence as a mere tournament in the books of FIFA and AFC, and thus it had to endure a long battle to attain top tier status as competition to the I-League. A revamped PPL will have no such problems, and allow it to qualify for the AFC Cup League criteria where Pakistan currently receives the lowest possible allowance. Pakistan has to start from the lowest level in that, a pre-playoff place in Asia’s second tier continental competition. Meeting requirements for the AFC Cup will require organic growth from clubs and the league, but the long-term aim should be qualification for the AFC Champions League (Asia’s equivalent of the UEFA Champions League). This requires a host of features, including 14-15 teams in a league, 27 minimum games for each side and a maximum of two teams sharing a single stadium. The list is extensive, covering everything from ticket pricing to club administration. It’s a lofty dream, but one which can be achieved with the right vision and strategic planning. A football league is a certainty in Pakistan in the next few years and the PFF recently made it clear that they hold the rights to such a venture, not any third party. However, for Pakistan to truly realise its potential, what’s needed is harmony between the private sector and the federation. Most importantly, it needs to have a league model, where the priority is football.

New York City July 4th Fireworks Spectacular Like Never Before

 

ROAD TRIP MANHATTAN NEW YORK TO PATTERSON GREAT FALLS NEW JERSEY

ROAD TRIP MANHATTAN NEW YORK TO PATTERSON GREAT FALLS NEW JERSEY

A Belief and Spirit - Pleasing day tour at the Great Falls of Passaic Stream in Paterson is a must-watch for the folks residing in Tri-States and people who can't go there, I made this brief videotape to relish the unseen treasure in the major manufacturing city; the Paterson. This videotape is a comprehensive road journey compilation from Queens, New York to Patterson the Great Falls, New Jersey on Aug 09, 2020 - all taped in time-lapse at 4fps (nearly 1,000 frames total). Of the 30 miles driven, about 5 miles of this drive is omitted, mostly in New York near Queens. All this drive videotaped in the daytime; the weather was decent for the most part.