You’re likely familiar with Twitter’s suggestions on who to follow. Now, the company is asking some users if they want to unfollow people.
As first pointed out by Slate, the social media platform is testing unfollow suggestions.
“We know that people want a relevant Twitter timeline. One way to do this is by unfollowing people they don’t engage with regularly. We ran an incredibly limited test to surface accounts that people were not engaging with to check if they’d like to unfollow them,” a Twitter spokesperson told the publication.
The feature is reminiscent of Gmail’s unsubscribe suggestions, which prompts you when the algorithm detects you haven’t engaged with a particular sender in awhile.
People who were part of the test posted screenshots on Twitter, although the suggestions weren’t entirely welcome.
Twitter’s prompt tells users they “don’t need to follow everyone to know what’s happening.”
At the moment, Twitter’s explanation to users on why they should unfollow certain accounts seems pretty vague.
Gmail’s unsubscribe prompts at least make it clear that you haven’t been engaging much with its suggestions, leaving no room for perceived bias in its selections — an argument which Twitter would perhaps like to avoid right now.
Leigh Griffiths’ 100th goal for Celtic opened the scoring in the first half
Celtic salved some of their European disappointment by easing into the group stage of the Europa League.
The Scottish champions dropped into the continent’s second-tier competition after being knocked out of Champions League qualifying by AEK Athens.
But Leigh Griffiths’ 100th goal for the club, and strikes by Callum McGregor and Kristoffer Ajer, secured a 4-1 aggregate win over Lithuania’s Suduva.
Celtic will join Rangers in Friday’s group stage draw (12:00 BST).
This season will be the first time in over a decade that there have been two Scottish clubs in the league section of a European competition – the Old Firm clubs were both in the Champions League in 2007/08.
The Glasgow sides will meet on Sunday in their first derby of the campaign.
Revived Griffiths joins feted list
This always promised to be a comfortable night for Celtic – and so it proved.
The hubbub over striker Moussa Dembele – absent as he ponders life in the wake of Lyon’s rejected bid – was put to one side and his team-mates put the Lithuanian champions away without any fuss.
Having fallen down the pecking order, Griffiths hasn’t had the easiest time of it of late at Celtic, but his free-kick just before the half hour was the Griffiths of old.
He actually had two decent chances just before, but when he sized-up the dead ball it was Hampden versus England all over again. Up and over and in.
It earned Griffiths a place in the pantheon of Celtic’s goalscoring centurions. Some list, that. Jimmy McGrory, Bobby Lennox, Stevie Chalmers, Henrik Larsson and Kenny Dalglish to name just five.
Suduva tried to keep the score down, but couldn’t. McGregor, for one, was too much for them. Celtic wasted a few chances, but when Scott Sinclair squared for McGregor early in the second half, the midfielder all but guaranteed Celtic’s progress.
Ajer’s angled header made it three, a goal that did something to reflect Celtic’s total domination.
There could have been more – the impressive replacement Ryan Christie, Mikey Johnston, Sinclair and Ajer all went close – but this was a stroll for Celtic. The Europa League beckons.
Striking comparisons as derby looms – analysis
All thoughts now turn to Sunday and the much-anticipated meeting of Rodgers’ Celtic and Steven Gerrard’s Rangers.
There were signs here that Celtic are beginning to find their attacking mojo. And they’ll need it. Rangers are not the pushovers of last season. They look well-organised and robust in defence where previously they were accident-prone and demoralised even before they got off the bus at Celtic Park.
Rodgers and Gerrard have some decisions to make, principally up front. Can Gerrard trust Alfredo Morales, big on goal threat but woefully short in the fuse department, in the white heat of Parkhead?
The Celtic manager has a conundrum, too. Will Dembele still be a Celtic player? And if he is still in Glasgow what will his mood be like?
Questions about Dembele and about Odsonne Edouard. Is he fit enough to make it? In most of his marquee wins, Rodgers has one of the two Frenchmen starting. They’ve delivered them and again.
What now? Griffiths didn’t look pin-sharp against Suduva, but he got his goal and regained some confidence. The tale of the Old Firm strikers will be a big theme in the coming days.
“A People’s Tribute to the Queen,” a concert honoring Aretha Franklin has started at Chene Park Ampitheater in Detroit.
The Four Tops and Johnny Gill headline a list of more than 40 artists expected to perform at the three-hour concert. The show, organized by Franklin’s family, will include R&B, jazz and gospel tributes, a dance sequence and a special family tribute featuring the singer’s son Eddie Franklin and her grandchildren. The finale will be an all-star performance of “Respect.”
“The Queen of Soul” died on Aug. 16 of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. She was 76.
Freep.com is providing live coverage of the concert. You can watch live in the player above starting at 6 p.m. ET Thursday.
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Four of the last five English sides to take part in Europa League qualification have failed to reach the main stage of the tournament (also West Ham in 16-17 & 15-16, and Southampton in 15-16)
Burnley rediscovered their identity despite crashing out of the Europa League, says manager Sean Dyche.
The Clarets failed to make it through to Friday’s group stage draw after wasting a string of chances in their play-off round second leg against Olympiakos at Turf Moor.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg in Greece, Sam Vokes spurned two great goalscoring opportunities before hitting the post, while Ashley Barnes and 18-year-old Dwight McNeil also went close.
The hosts were punished when Daniel Podence fired into the roof of the net after a counter-attack before substitute Matej Vydra scrambled an equaliser.
However, Burnley lost on 4-2 on aggregate and, after securing a return to European football for the first time in 51 years, are out after just 36 days and six games.
Dyche, who has seen his side make a stuttering start to the Premier League season, preferred to concentrate on the positives afterwards and insisted the club would learn from the experience.
“That performance was back to where we belong, it’s back to everything we are about,” he added.
“I wanted our team to get back to their identify and I felt that was clearly on show from the first whistle to the last.
“We mixed our play well, we created chances, there was energy – all the things you want from a performance.
“The result doesn’t get us through but it could have easily have turned our way.”
Clarets pay for first leg defeat
Burnley will be kicking themselves they will not be joining Arsenal, Chelsea, Rangers and Celtic in the group stage draw.
It was a case of so close yet so far as they created enough chances to turn the tie on its head inside the opening 45 minutes alone.
After the full-time whistle, Dyche applauded home fans who had encouraged their team throughout the tie, while Olympiakos’ players celebrated in front of their small band of travelling supporters.
Burnley dominated from start to finish but it was not to be.
Vokes was unfortunate to see his curling attempt rebound off a post early in the second half having earlier missed two golden opportunities.
He headed agonisingly wide after a super cross from the impressive McNeil, making his first competitive start, before putting a header from point-blank range over the bar.
Barnes saw a deflected first-time shot roll wide while McNeil, who was brought up in Manchester United’s youth academy, forced a one-handed save from Andreas Gianniotis.
Olympiakos used their vast European experience to progress, Podence’s away goal seven minutes from time making it 4-1 on aggregate to end Burnley’s realistic hopes of going through.
Czech Republic forward Vydra did manage to mark his first appearance since signing from Derby with a goal after a scramble inside the Olympiakos penalty area.
However, the goal came too late to prove significant.
Dyche’s side had overcome Aberdeen and Istanbul Basaksehir to reach the play-off round but their European adventure is over and Burnley are left to focus on the Premier League, where they are yet to win and host Manchester United (16:00 BST) on Sunday.
“The whole club will learn from this experience,” added Dyche. “It bodes well for the future but we have got to use it wisely because we want these players to continue growing and we want to get stronger as the season progresses.”
Why McNeil impressed – the stats
Dwight McNeil created more chances than other Burnley player against Olympiakos (four), on what was his first senior start aged 18 years and 281 days.
Excluding own goals, seven different players have already found the net for Burnley in all competitions this season (10 goals). The 40 goals they scored in 2017-18 were spread across just 11 players.
Olympiakos have now successfully qualified for the main tournament on each of their last two attempts (also 16-17), failing only in 2010-11.
Olympiakos midfielder Kostas Fortounis was directly involved in all four of Olympiakos’ goals over the two legs, scoring twice and assisting once in Greece, before setting up Daniel Podence’s opener at Turf Moor.
WASHINGTON – When Sen. John McCain left the nation’s capital in December to celebrate Christmas and battle brain cancer in Arizona, friends and colleagues vowed he would return.
For three tribute-filled days beginning Thursday night, their hopes will be realized – posthumously.
It will be a hero’s welcome for the former Navy pilot who spent 5½ years imprisoned in Vietnam and a public servant who spent 36 years in a political career that took him from the House to the Senate and nearly to the White House – twice.
The swashbuckling style that led to McCain’s label as a maverick will give way to more decorous forms of affection, first inside the U.S. Capitol, then at Washington National Cathedral, and finally overlooking the Severn River at his beloved U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
The 81-year-old’s belief in the need for bipartisanship will be on display at the ceremonies and services, including a full-dress memorial during which the two presidents who vanquished him – Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama – will speak.
But even as he settles those old scores, one will remain: President Donald Trump, who had called McCain a “dummy” rather than a hero, was not invited. Vice President Mike Pence will speak at one event, and three members of Trump’s administration will attend another.
The events will be an occasion to recall the many highlights, and perhaps even the low moments, of a career that both enriched and enraged McCain’s colleagues.
On the high side, there was his successful, bipartisan effort to regulate the financing of political campaigns. His winning the Republican nomination for president in 2008 after being written off. His chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
On the low side, there was his early entanglement in the “Keating Five,” a group of senators scandalized after intervening on behalf of a failing savings and loan. His frustrated efforts to solve the nation’s immigration crisis. His choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate and ultimate defeat in November.
The pomp and circumstance in the nation’s capital in essence started Thursday when McCain’s body departed Arizona from Goldwater Air National Guard Base, named for former Sen. Barry Goldwater, who McCain replaced in 1987. Earlier in the day, he was eulogized at a Baptist church by former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Beau died in 2015 from the same vicious disease.
From the Joint Base Andrews military facility in Maryland, McCain will be taken to the U.S. Capitol, where he began his public service career in 1983. There he will lie in State on Friday, becoming only the 31st person to be so honored in 166 years – a list that includes Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and unknown soldiers from the two world wars, Korea and Vietnam.
Following an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony at which Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan will speak, the public will be invited to pass by McCain’s casket from about 1 to 8 p.m. – and later if necessary.
On Saturday, a motorcade will take the late senator along Constitution Avenue to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where his widow, Cindy McCain, will lay a ceremonial wreath honoring those who lost their lives in the war that cost McCain his freedom.
Then it will continue to Washington National Cathedral, where funeral services have been held for 15 presidents dating to William McKinley in 1901, and where former president Woodrow Wilson is buried. Others eulogized there include Eleanor Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, Nelson Mandela and victims of the 9/11 attack.
In addition to Bush and Obama, speakers at Saturday’s service include former secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Sen. Joe Lieberman and television commentator Meghan McCain, the late senator’s daughter. The presidents and others are identified on McCain’s website first as “friend.”
Finally on Sunday, McCain will be moved not to Arlington National Cemetery – where his father and grandfather, both four-star Navy admirals, are buried – but to a spot overlooking the Severn River at the U.S. Naval Academy, beside his old Navy buddy, Charles “Chuck” Larson.
Services there will be private and will include tributes from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., McCain’s closest friend in the Senate; former CIA director David Petraeus; and McCain’s son Jack, a Navy helicopter pilot.
McCain’s last days in Washington included a stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Maryland, to treat an infection stemming from treatment for glioblastoma, the most deadly form of brain cancer. By January, however, his return was rumored.
“We need his voice now more than ever,” Graham mused.
Happily for his allies and to the chagrin of his opponents, McCain didn’t stop speaking out during his illness, even imparting a farewell statement delivered after his death Saturday afternoon.
“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our nationalism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe,” he said. “We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.”
Now it will be left to his wife and seven children, along with his Senate colleagues and friends, to keep John Sidney McCain III’s voice alive. They did so this week by urging well-wishers to send flowers to their local veterans hospital. By Wednesday, the Phoenix hospital had received four deliveries.
“His impact on America hasn’t ended. Not even close,” Biden said Saturday. “It will go on for many years to come.”
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First, there was Dallas and Los Angeles. Now Uber wants a third city to fly its air taxi service, and it’s looking internationally.
In what feels like Amazon’s search for a second headquarters location, Uber this week announced its shortlist for countries the ride-hailing app would work with to launch its aviation project UberAir, a flight-sharing network with electric vertical take-off and landing (e-VTOLs) aircraft. The planes are expected to cruise at about 150 mph and reach about 2,000 feet. The electric planes will go 60 miles on a charge.
The countries were announced during the Uber Elevate Asia Pacific Expo in Japan. The list includes Japan and the cities of Tokyo and Osaka; India with Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore; Australia in Melbourne or Sydney; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Paris, France, where Uber already announced an Advanced Technologies Center to study and develop flying cars.
Uber already announced that Los Angeles and Dallas would be the first American cities to demo its flying taxi system in 2020, with flights expected to be offered to commercial fliers by 2023. Last year, Uber produced a slick, futuristic video (above) to preview what that might look like.
But first, Uber has to determine which international city will join in the company’s ambitious plans.
During the expo in Japan, Uber presented potential flight paths for cities to show what it could look like when a customer orders a short plane ride from an app.
Here’s a proposed trip near Tokyo from Haneda to Narita airports:
What a flight with UberAir in Japan could look like.
Uber says its e-VTOLs would take under 20 minutes to cover about 40 miles (what is usually nearly two hours by car). Uber also showed potential routes in Delhi, Mumbai, Seoul, Sydney, and Taipei.
Here’s what the Sydney route could look like:
Preference is being given to high density metro areas with more than 2 million people so that pooled flights make sense. Uber says it also wants “polycentric” regions (urban areas made up of multiple cities), and would rather work with cities that already cooperate smoothly with Uber on the street. Uber has a full list that goes deep into its criteria.
Separate from Uber’s search, Bloomberg reports that Japanese government officials are moving ahead to develop a flying car system. The country is in talks with Uber and other aviation companies to bring short-haul, commuter flights to the country within the next 10 years.
No word yet on when the UberAir finalist cities will be announced, but if it’s anything like the Amazon search for a second headquarters, this might take a while.
Real Madrid won their third Champions League title in four years by beating Liverpool 3-1 in last year’s showpiece
Manchester United will face a reunion with Cristiano Ronaldo after drawing Serie A champions Juventus in the Champions League group stage.
Ronaldo, who was at United between 2003 and 2009, joined Juve for £99.2m in July after nine years at Real Madrid.
Valencia and Young Boys are the other teams in Group H.
Tottenham have been drawn in a tough group to face Barcelona, while last season’s runners-up Liverpool face Paris St-Germain and Napoli.
Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan complete the line-up in Spurs’ Group B and Red Star Belgrade are the other team to play Jurgen Klopp’s side in Group C.
Premier League champions Manchester City were drawn in Group F alongside Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon and Hoffenheim.
Last season’s winners Real Madrid, who have won the competition for the past three years, are in Group G with Roma, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen.
Group stage draw in full:
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Club Brugge.
Group B: Barcelona, Tottenham, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan.
Group C: Paris St-Germain, Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade.
Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, Schalke, Galatasaray.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens.
Group F: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Hoffenheim.
Group G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen.
Group H: Juventus, Manchester United, Valencia, Young Boys.
When are the group stage match days?
Match day one: 18-19 September
Match day two: 2-3 October
Match day three: 23-24 October
Match day four: 6-7 November
Match day five: 27-28 November
Match day six: 11-12 December
Ronaldo v United – the stats:
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in both of his previous Champions League appearances against Manchester United for Real Madrid in February and March 2013.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola faced Lyon with Barcelona in the last 16 in 2008-09 on the way to winning the first of his two Champions League titles as a manager.
Liverpool met Red Star Belgrade in the last 16 of the European Cup in 1973-74, with the Reds losing both the home and away legs.
Tottenham met Inter Milan in the 2010-11 group stage, losing 4-3 away from home (despite Gareth Bale’s hat-trick) and winning 3-1 at home.
Real Madrid clean up in Uefa awards
Former Manchester United and England midfielder David Beckham was awarded the Uefa President’s award before the draw
Real Madrid, who beat Liverpool 3-1 in last year’s final, cleaned up in the Uefa awards, with their players winning in all the categories.
Keylor Navas won the goalkeeper of the season award, Sergio Ramos was voted the best defender, while Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the forward of the season award.
Croatia international midfielder Luka Modric – a Champions League winner with his club and World Cup finalist with his country – won both the midfielder of the year and overall best player awards.
Meanwhile, former Manchester United and England midfielder David Beckham was awarded the Uefa President’s award.
“From winning the Champions League with Real Madrid, achieving a historic result with Croatia, now this, it is amazing,” said Modric. “They are great feelings and I am happy and proud of everything that I have achieved.
“This year I can say is the best year of my career, collectively and individually. Finally I achieved something I dreamed since I started playing for the national team. We reached the final of the World Cup and even without winning it was historic.”
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he would freeze the pay of federal workers next year, saying the nation can’t afford the 2.1% raises that would have gone into effect without presidential action.
In a notice to Congress Thursday, Trump cited “serious economic conditions” in cutting pay to civilian workers. “We must maintain efforts to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,” Trump said.
It would be the first pay freeze for civilian federal workers since 2011 to 2013, when President Barack Obama instituted a three-year pay freeze as the nation recovered from the recession.
Under federal law, federal employees get cost-of-living raises every new year – in addition to specific increases in high-cost cities called “locality pay” – unless the president determines those raises would be “inappropriate.”
Among the factors the president can consider: economic growth, unemployment, various measures of inflation and the budget deficit.
The federal budget deficit has grown 16 percent this fiscal year, the result of a combination of Trump-supported tax cuts and military spending, as well as increases in mandatory spending programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The national debt – the accumulation of those budget deficits – has increased nearly $1.6 trillion over the past year, to $21.4 trillion.
Congress can override the president’s pay freeze through legislation. This month, the Senate voted of 96-2 to approve its version of a spending bill that would fix across-the-board civilian raises next year at 1.9 percent.
Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, called Trump’s move “deeply disappointing” and an indication that the Trump administration “simply does not respect its own workforce.”
U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said Trump didn’t have the power to force changes to union contracts because they would violate the collective bargaining rights federal employees have under the law.
The gaming community has rallied together following the shooting at a Madden event in Jacksonville, and now Electronic Arts has made a sizeable monetary contribution.
EA will donate $1 million to support the victims of Sunday’s tragedy, which it’s called the Jacksonville Tribute.
“We’re also working to set up a fund where others can contribute alongside our donation, and we will come back very soon with further details,” the statement reads.
“Contributions will go to the victims, including the families of Taylor Robertson, Elijah Clayton, and all those who were affected.”
EA will also host a livestream in tribute on Sep. 6, allowing the wider community to join together and unite in play.
On Tuesday, EA cancelled three remaining qualifier events which were scheduled as part of the Madden Classic tournament. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said it would run “a comprehensive review of safety protocols for competitors and spectators.”
“We will work with our partners and our internal teams to establish a consistent level of security at all of our competitive gaming events,” the statement added.
Competitors Taylor “SpotMePlzzz” Robertson and Elijah “TrueBoy” Clayton died at the Jacksonville event, while 11 others were injured in the incident.
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