Unai Emery watches Aaron Ramsey in training – the Welshman’s contract runs out next summer
Arsenal manager Unai Emery has told Aaron Ramsey to focus on his football amid ongoing contract talks with the club.
Ramsey’s deal ends next summer but Emery has challenged the midfielder to show his “capacity to help the team”.
“I only need his focus on training, the matches and on his performance each day,” said Emery.
The Welshman, 27, was left out of the starting XI against Chelsea, but could return to face West Ham on Saturday.
Asked whether he felt Ramsey lacked focus, Emery replied: “I don’t know, but I am thinking in the present.
“I spoke with him last week but now, today, my focus is on the match and I want the player to be focused only on Saturday.”
The Gunners have seen on-pitch matters overshadowed by drawn-out contract negotiations before, with the futures of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Jack Wilshere having proved a headache to former manager Arsene Wenger.
Sanchez and Wilshere have since moved elsewhere, while 29-year-old German midfielder Mesut Ozil – who announced his retirement from international football after this summer’s World Cup – became the highest-paid player in the club’s history when he signed fresh terms in January.
Ramsey joined the Gunners in 2008 in a £4.8m move from hometown club Cardiff City, and the midfielder has scored 36 goals in 234 Premier League appearances.
Former Arsenal defender and BBC pundit Martin Keown has said Arsenal should be “desperate” to keep hold of Ramsey, who has won three FA Cups with the club, scoring two match-winning goals at Wembley.
Urban Meyer whiffed on a question about Courtney Smith during his press conference, where all Ohio State personnel failed to issue her an apology. USA TODAY Sports
An apology to Courtney Smith is a step in the right direction for Urban Meyer and Ohio State, even if we ignore the fact that it took Meyer 48 hours to craft a statement he could have easily issued when directly asked for comment – like during Ohio State’s news conference Wednesday night. Meyer dodged the question in favor of a bland, meaningless response.
Meyer was asked Wednesday, during a news conference announcing his three-game suspension, whether he had any comment for Smith, the ex-wife of former Ohio State assistant coach Zach Smith. His answer could be described as tepid at best, and at worst callous and utterly unsympathetic.
“I have a message for everyone in this: I’m sorry we are in this situation,” Meyer replied, in the same tone that defined his emotionless opening statement.
He struck a more contrite tone in a statement posted Friday to his Twitter account, with a direct apology to Smith “and her children for what they have gone through.”
“My words and demeanor on Wednesday did not show how seriously I take relationship violence. I sincerely apologize,” read Meyer’s statement.
Ohio State’s football program has “worked hard to educate and remind our coaches and players of the seriousness of relationship violence,” he continued. “I understand my lack of more action in this situation has raised concerns about this commitment.”
It may be that a coach with noted memory issues – as detailed in the findings of a two-week independent investigation – finally, after deep deliberation, recollected that his statement on Wednesday only served to underline the idea that he failed to grasp the gravity of the situation.
It’s more likely the impetus behind Friday’s apology is that Meyer realized he had bungled yet another situation. Add it to the list, and the list keeps growing: Hiring Zach Smith in 2012, keeping Zach Smith on staff in 2015, lying at last month’s Big Ten media days and deleting text messages more than a year old from his phone, to name a few.
Yet there is a positive: Meyer apologized. His response on Wednesday implied that he didn’t view Courtney Smith’s allegations as credible, that he was attempting to steer clear of any culpability or, worse yet, that he didn’t feel he needed to apologize – that he’d done nothing wrong, a mentality that would be as frightening as it would be disgusting.
If long overdue, the apology now implies that Meyer is willing to accept his responsibility. And in doing so, Meyer added, he intends “to use my voice more effectively to be a part of the solution.”
We’ll see if that’s true. But Meyer becoming a voice for awareness on the topic of domestic abuse – or “relationship violence,” as he put it – would be a worthy takeaway for the Buckeyes’ embattled head coach, who may return to the sidelines in September but will always be dogged by his part in the scandal.
Then again, Meyer’s apology marinated for two days before being dumped online in the early evening on a Friday. It doesn’t take a cynic to question whether Meyer is motivated by remorse or self-preservation.
The National Park Service says the adult female grizzly bear was defending its cub. Buzz60
A female grizzly bear acting in defense of its cub injured a 10-year-old boy in Yellowstone National Park on Thursday morning after the bear charged a family of four hikers from Washington state.
The boy ran away from the bear, which emerged from vegetation near the trail, officials said in a statement. The bear chased the boy and knocked him over.
The boy “suffered an injured wrist, puncture wounds to the back and wounds around the buttocks,” the statement says.
The family was able to drive off the animal using bear spray, officials report. Upon being sprayed, the bear shook its head and left.
The boy was taken to a clinic and transferred to a hospital in Big Sky, Montana.
Tracks indicate the grizzly bear was with at least one cub and was likely foraging next to the trail before the encounter, officials say. Since the incident was a surprise encounter and the bear was defending its cub, rangers do not plan on searching for the bear.
“This incident could have been more serious. We applaud the family for traveling in a group, carrying bear spray, and knowing how to effectively use it during their emergency,” Pat Kenney, Yellowstone National Park deputy superintendent, is quoted in a statement.
“We wish their son a full recovery from his injuries.”
Officials say the entire park is a bear habitat and report there is an average of one bear attack per year in the park. However, this is the first incident reported since 2015.
Officials recommend hikers carry bear spray, stay alert, make noise and hike in groups of three or more. If charged by a bear, officials say you should stand your ground.
The attack happened on the Divide Trail, southeast of Old Faithful, officials say. The Divide and Spring Creek trails are currently closed so officials can search for recent bear activity.
Cucuta, Colombia – Two months ago, 23-year-old Gregoris Suarez made a pact with three friends on his city block.
They promised each other they would join the massive exodus of people from their native Venezuela and make their way to Peru.
By mid-August, they had made contacts with Venezuelans in Peru who could help them get housing and jobs, sold off a few possessions and raised money from family members to make their trip.
But with announcement by Ecuadorian and Peruvian officials last week that their countries would begin denying entry to those crossing their borders without passports, the plans of many Venezuelans hoping to flee were suddenly put up in the air.
For Suarez and his friends, however, they never considered giving up.
“What choice to we have but to migrate?” he said, standing with his friends beside piled luggage at the bustling Venezuelan border on Friday.
Suarez stands with his suitcase at the Venezeula-Colombia border [Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]
Suarez, a former construction worker from Valencia, is an example of the thousands of Venezuelans who prefer to try their luck at freshly tightened borders over weathering the poverty and hunger of their own crumbling country.
“If they don’t let us through, we’ll find a way to get through,” Suarez told Al Jazeera.
According to the UN, there were more than 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad as of June. Nearly half a million entered Peru from 2017 through June of this year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
The mass exodus has been driven, in part, due to hyperinflation. The country continues to suffer from food and medicine shortages and a political crisis that has left much of the country polarised.
‘We’re going in search of a better life’
At the Simon Bolivar International Bridge connecting Colombia and Venezuela, tens of thousands of people cross every day. Most dip into Colombia to buy food or medicine then return home. The rest line the roadway, seated in the shade atop the heaps of luggage they packed to start a new life abroad.
Many Venezuelans who cross the border do so with no documents or only a paper id. Most can’t afford the more than $1,000 in bribes or several months of waiting required to get a passport as Venezuela’s bureaucracy crumbles.
“The price of the passport has gone up because it’s all controlled by mafias,” said Iren Garcia, a 37-year-old refinery worker from Lara state.
“The majority of Venezuelans want to leave but don’t have resources,” he told Al Jazeera.
According to the UN, there were more than 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad as of June [Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]
But for others, the desperation has driven them to make the journey without a passport in hopes of making it to their final destination.
Carlos Brisuela , 41, sat with his friend on a Colombian street curb near the Venezuelan border, holding their luggage and pondering their next move. They are aiming to make it to Ecuador, where they hope friends will help get them a job.
Neither could feed their families, even though they full-time jobs in Puerto la Cruz in eastern Venezuela, so the two men sold Brisuela’s car and made the two-day travel to Colombia, sleeping in bus terminals along the way.
“We don’t have money. We don’t have anywhere to go. We came in the hands of God,” Brisuela told Al Jazeera. “We’re going in search of a better life.”
On Friday, Ecuador reportedly opened a humanitarian corridor to allow the hundreds of Venezuelans who had arrived at its borders to pass to Peru.
The reports surfaced as Ecuador’s public defender’s office, which had challenged the new passport rules, announced on Twitter that a judge had ruled against the restrictions because they “had no effect”. The news came just hours before Peru was set to tighten its borders.
Prior to that announcement, Colombian authorities said they feared the recent decisions by Ecuador and Peru to shut their borders to those without passports would only drive more migrants and refugees into the shadows.
“Asking for passports from a nation that doesn’t have them, and whose government doesn’t facilitation the issuance of such document, incentivises irregularity,” said Christian Kruger, head of Colombia’s migration authority, in a statement Thursday.
Since the announcement of the new passport rules last week, Colombia’s migration authority said it has recorded a decrease in traffic over official border crossings and an increase in use of irregular crossings. Detailed figures were not yet available.
Colombia on Monday will host immigration authorities from Ecuador and Peru with hopes of developing a collaborative approach.
“We should find common practices that allow for a documented, ordered and safe migration,” Kruger said.
Migration authorities in Ecuador and Peru did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
On Thursday, the UN and the International Organization for Migration urged Latin American countries to ease access for Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic and political crisis.
“We recognise the growing challenges associated with the large scale arrival of Venezuelans,” UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
Back at the border, Rafael Mantilla, a 35-year-old sushi chef from Caracas, waited with him son.
Mantilla, who, unlike most, had resources to flee to Colombia earlier this year, worked six months in Bogota to raise money to help pay for his family’s move.
Mantilla saved for six months in order to prepare for his and his son’s migration to Ecuador[Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]
Last week, he returned to Caracas to pick up his 12-year-old son, Daniel, and take him to Quito, Ecuador, where a contact has promised him work in a sushi kitchen.
Neither Mantilla nor his son has a passport. On Saturday night they’ll take a bus to the Ecuadorian border.
“I can’t pass up this opportunity,” he said. “I don’t believe they will stop me.”
Serena Williams has not worn the black catsuit since this year’s French Open
Serena Williams will be banned from wearing her black catsuit at the French Open in the future, with the tournament set to introduce a stricter dress code.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion said the outfit made her feel like a “superhero” at Roland Garros this year.
“It will no longer be accepted,” French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli told Tennis magazine.
“I believe we have sometimes gone too far. You have to respect the game and the place.”
Giudicelli did not reveal the new rules but said they will not be as restrictive as at Wimbledon, where players must wear all-white outfits.
He added that although most player uniforms for 2019 have already been planned, the FFT is asking manufacturers to share the designs.
Williams, 36, made her return to Grand Slam tennis at the French Open in May following the birth of her daughter last September.
The three-time winner wore the catsuit in each of the first three rounds but had to pull out of her fourth-round tie against Maria Sharapova because of injury.
She dedicated the outfit to new mothers and said it made her feel like a “queen from Wakanda” in reference to the Black Panther movie.
Williams is bidding for a seventh US Open title when the tournament starts on Monday and the 17th seed faces Poland’s world number 60 Magda Linette in the first round.
Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to apologize to Courtney Smith, the ex-wife of former assistant coach Zach Smith. Meyer apologized for his “words and demeanor” at Wednesday’s press conference, when the school announced he would be suspended three games for the way he handled domestic violence allegations against Zach Smith.
“My words and demeanor on Wednesday did not show how seriously I take relationship violence,” Meyer tweeted. “I sincerely apologize. I was taught at a very young age that if I ever hit a woman, I would be kicked out of the house and never welcomed back.
“I have the same rule in my house and in the Football Program at Ohio State. Over the years, we have worked hard to educate and remind our coaches and players of the seriousness of relationship violence.”
“Let me say here and now what I should have said on Wednesday: I sincerely apologize to Courtney Smith and her children for what they have gone through.”
Meyer, who will miss games against Oregon State, Rutgers and TCU, is suspended without pay. He has been on paid leave since Aug. 1.
He cannot work with the team at all through the Oregon State game. After that, he can coach practices but cannot be at the next two games.
“I appreciate the opportunity to learn from a mistake,” Meyer said at Wednesday’s press conference. “There were red flags (with Zach Smith). I wish I did a better job knowing things and finding out things. I wish people told me more things. . . . I wish I had known more.
“I want to apologize to the Buckeye Nation. I followed my heart and not my head. … At each juncture I gave Zach the benefit of the doubt.”
Athletic director Gene Smith also was suspended from Aug. 31 to Sept. 16. “I have ultimate authority and oversight and I’m accountable for the athletic department, and in particular, the football program,” Gene Smith said. “I could have done a better job in this particular instance.”
Foldable • lightweight design • Easy-to-use controls • Robust battery with 20-minute flight time • Great camera with a full gimbal
No obstacle avoidance • No internal storage • In-app purchases for traditional drone features • Hovering at low altitudes is tough
It’s disappointing that Parrot’s latest drone, the Anafi, lacks many features, including obstacle avoidance. But the camera and easy-to-use controls make up for a lot.
When you think of drones, chances are DJI comes to mind first. Among consumers and enthusiasts, it’s the biggest and most well-known brand.
However, you might also remember Parrot and the big splash it made with its original Bebop drone a few years back. Well, the company is still deep into the drone business, and it’s taking another step with the Anafi, which gets its name from a Greek island.
The Anafi’s design is similar to the DJI Spark or Mavic Pro, with foldable legs that make it compact. Despite the diminutive look, its eight blades give it impressive propulsion, and it includes a 4K HDR camera that can move to almost any angle.
However, considering the price, it’s missing some core features, the biggest being any sort of obstacle avoidance. On top of that, the Follow Me mode and Flight Plan tool are behind an in-app purchase. Both of these are typical out-of-the-box features for a drone at this price or lower.
So at $699, should you opt for a Parrot Anafi knowing it is blind and that core features require an in-app purchase?
Let’s unbox the Anafi
Parrot doesn’t include much in the box.
Image: jake krol/mashable
I normally skip over the box and what’s inside, but I think for a compact drone like this, the presentation is important.
Included accessories are pretty bare-bones. You get the carrying case (which is like an extra-large glasses case), the controller, spare propellers, and a quick start guide. Anafi’s carrying case also includes a USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and a microSD-card-to-SD-card adapter in a plastic case. A 16GB SanDisk microSD card is pre-installed inside the drone.
It’s pretty simple, and in a way it encourages the user to get out and start flying. The lack of complexity here (if not the price tag) should be appealing for those who have minimal experience flying a drone or are trying it for the first time. It will also appeal to photographers or videographers, thanks to the lens and gimbal setup.
A foldable design
The Anafi is impressively compact with the arms and legs folded in.
Image: jake krol/mashable
DJI was first to go full throttle behind the portable and foldable drone model. The Mavic Pro, while larger, had arms and legs that could fold in, allowing it to fit in a smaller case and making it easier to transport.
The Anafi is similar in concept. The drone itself is just shy of 10 inches in length, and the size is surprisingly small. Especially when you compare it to previous Parrot drones that stuck blade guards around the propellers and weren’t collapsible. When you think about a drone or the category more broadly, the initial thought is big, massive, and even possibly intimidating (looking at you, DJI Inspire). Parrot sticks with a more subdued approach but differs by positioning the Anafi more like a drone than a toy. It’s also super-light at just 11.3 ounces (0.7 pounds), which is helpful for bringing it with you but can also lead to some flight issues in the wind.
The front and rear legs fold in and hug the main hull of the drone. Equally as important, the eight plastic propellers (two per motor) fold in on top of each other for easy storage. While plastic might not seem like an optimal material, it helps the drone move faster when gliding through the skies. While I didn’t test it, I’m sure the blades are plenty sharp, and I would advise keeping your hands away while they’re moving.
Looking at the main body, the camera and gimbal are in the front. Moving backwards, you have the fan (for cooling), the drone’s processor (located under the Parrot logo), and the 2,700mAh battery is on the rear. The drone’s power button, four LED lights, and USB-C charging port can be found on the battery compartment, which easily slides out with the press of a button. The battery protects the microSD card slot, along with product information and wireless credentials.
It’s great to see a USB-C port as the connector slowly becomes more universal. It also allows for faster charging, but you can still expect it to take a few hours to reach a full charge.
The bottom of the drone has some sensors, a fan, and a blue LED light. There isn’t a full set of lights, so nighttime flights are at your own risk.
First flight and onward
The Anafi can easily glide through the air at low and high altitudes.
Image: jake krol/mashable
Simply, the Anafi is a joy to fly. There isn’t much of a learning curve, and the controls are pretty self-explanatory. It’s also simple to set up. First, you’ll want to charge the battery. In my testing, I got about 20-23 minutes of flight time on a full charge while using the camera and the slower speed setting. Moving it up to the faster one (while still filming) brought that down to about 15 minutes.
You’ll want to have the Parrot FreeFlight app installed on your iOS or Android device before you start; you’ll need it to fly the Anafi. You can plug your device into the controller or connect to the drone over Wi-Fi. The hardwire connection is more reliable and acts as a fail-safe if the Wi-Fi goes out. With the app open and my phone docked into the controller, I was ready to go.
The hovering technology can be hit or miss, especially at lower altitudes.
I set the Anafi on the ground in front of me, hit the power button, and the drone calibrated itself. You’ll see the gimbal adjust and the propellers do a small twitch. From there, the app will connect to the drone, tap “FLY,” and then a live view of the camera is presented with some other fight metrics.
Hit “Take Off,” and the Anafi will take to the air and hover above the ground. You’ll notice the hovering technology can be hit or miss, especially at lower altitudes. The sensors, along with the camera, look to single in on a point on the ground for reference. If you’re over a field of grass or a black asphalt driveway, the Anafi has a hard time picking up a point. At higher altitudes (above about 45 meters), the hovering experience becomes much more on-point. Because it’s lightweight, the Anafi also has a tough time dealing with strong gusts of wind, which cause it to sway at times.
On the controller, the right stick will let you ascend or descend, as well as turn the drone (which is helpful if you want to stay still but change the view) The left stick lets you pilot the drone left or right, as well as forward and backward. The two levers on the back control the camera. The right-hand one lets you move the camera up and down, while the left-hand side controls the digital zoom.
The FreeFlight app is pretty straightforward and works in part with the physical controller. You can see height, speed, and a live feed from the camera. There are also some GPS features and a return-to-home function — be careful when you use this as there is no obstacle avoidance. (The drone will simply take the fastest route back to you, regardless of what’s in the way.) You can also access CineShots and other modes that use preprogrammed patterns for the drone to capture shots or follow an individual.
You can also access a gallery of the footage you take, but the process of moving it over to your PC via the wireless connection is slow. It’s faster to remove the microSD card from the unit and slot it into a computer.
Controlling the Anafi becomes natural after just a few minutes of use.
The 21-megapixel camera on a three-axis gimbal is the star of the show.
Image: jake krol/mashable
Drone photography and videography can be quite tricky, but Anafi makes them easy. Besides the ease of use, my other favorite thing about the Anafi is the camera. Parrot chose a 21-megapixel camera with a 1/2.4-inch CMOS Sony sensor and wide-angle f/2.4 ASPH lens working in unison. It can handle 4K HDR video.
The ANAFI gave us a birds eye view of the front and back yards in New Jersey.
Image: jake krol/mashable
A view before sunset with a clear sky and tree tops.
Image: jake krol/mashable
The lens setup on its own is nice, but you also have a three-axis gimbal for stabilization and the ability to vertically tilt up to 180 degrees. This makes it easy for even a novice user to get a good shot. While there is not a physical moveable lens, there is up to 2.8x digital zoom for video and 3X zoom for photos. With digital zoom, a certain amount of softness and graininess tends to appear. Without the zoom, though, photos are sharp, and video is stable with no noticeable hiccups.
For those epic shots that you see professionals posting on Instagram or YouTube, Parrot has preprogrammed “CineShots” into the companion app. These live on the bottom left-hand corner and are easy to use. This feature is fun to play with and can help drone users of all experience levels get a good shot with minimal legwork. There’s also an option to shoot in hyperlapse, or slow motion, to get a neat visual effect. Epic mode will shoot the Anafi backward by 30 meters to get a wide-angle video.
Anafi is blind in the sky
The sensors on the Anafi don’t provide obstacle avoidance.
Image: jake krol/mashable
A significant missing feature is obstacle avoidance, which combines sensors and cameras to make sure you don’t crash the drone. This is a huge miss for the Anafi, especially considering its $700 price. The $399 DJI Spark has obstacle avoidance for a fraction of the price.
A representative from Parrot said the omission was to encourage safe line-of-sight flying. But while using the Anafi, we found the lack of obstacle avoidance to be a safety issue: At times it hovered dangerously close to tree branches, or, even worse, myself. Needless to say, you’ll want to be careful when flying the Anafi. I never had a full-on crash, but there were a few close calls.
Not adding obstacle avoidance was also meant to keep the price down, although DJI was able to add the feature to a $399 drone
In-app purchase required
Parrot’s Free Flight app for iOS and Android pairs well with the Anafi’s physical controller.
When you’re spending $699 on a drone, there’s a certain hope that you won’t have to make any incremental purchases in order to use it. Parrot includes a lot for the price, but two key features —Follow Me and Flight Plan — don’t come with it. These two features can make a drone easier to use and show off. Follow Me allows you to lock onto yourself, another person, or a moving object and have the drone follow it. While it does keep a safe distance, the drone’s lack of obstacle avoidance makes following, say, a car in a town with power lines pretty hard.
Flight Plan allows you to craft a map for the drone to fly and mark out actions, like an taking a photo, for it to perform along the way. While you still have the obstacle-avoidance issue, this is a really nice feature to have. More importantly, if you’re not the best pilot, flight map lets you watch your grand plan happen.
Each of the in-app purchases costs $19.99. The company does occasionally put them on sale, and until mid-September, you can get them for 99 cents.
While Parrot does include Cameraman along with several CineShots for free, it feels a little cheap to charge for these two — especially because Follow Me is probably one of the most known and requested drone features.
Still a thoroughly enjoyable drone
In the end, a few missteps don’t get in the way of a great drone.
Image: jake krol/mashable
Parrot’s Anafi is not a perfect drone, but it’s fun to use and has an incredibly easy learning curve.
At $699, it’s not cheap, plus if you factor in the in-app purchases and $99 for an extra battery (which we recommend picking up), it can get even more expensive. But it has an awesome camera for shooting both still images and video, along with a three-axis gimbal and 180-degree tilt. For a novice, I think the Anafi is worth a go if you want a great camera, even with missing features like obstacle avoidance. However, if camera quality isn’t important to you, go for the DJI Spark since it’s cheaper and has features the Anafi lacks.
Just be careful when you’re flying the Anafi. Keep it in sight at all times — and away from anyone and everyone (including yourself).
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