Scotland delivered a spirited display against world champions the United States in Paisley, but were unable to avoid a first defeat in six games.

Shelley Kerr’s side performed stoutly against the world’s best, who had won the previous four meetings.

However, slack marking allowed Alex Morgan to volley in a Mallory Pugh cross from the right after 39 minutes.

Pugh won a penalty just after the hour, but Carli Lloyd scudded the spot kick against the bar in front of 3,790 fans.

Scotland’s best effort – as they chased an unlikely equaliser – was a Lana Clelland drive that was pushed past a post.

The Scots will now turn their attentions to the World Cup draw on 8 December as they wait to find out who they will face in their debut in the competition.

Composed Scots acquit themselves well

Scotland started boldly. Winger Claire Emslie surprising the visitors as she charged through the American defence to show the Scots were not just here for appearances.

But Morgan’s showed how dangerous the US can be with a weaving run, only for Pugh to hesitate slightly to spurn an effort at goal.

While the Scots were outplayed at times, they kept their composure and created chances of their own, with a Cuthbert corner nearly finding its way into the net when the US failed to clear.

Captain Rachel Corsie’s experience of playing in the American top flight showed alongside Jennifer Beattie at centre-back but they could not reach the break unscathed.

Pugh angled in a teasing cross from the right and Orlando Pride’s Morgan had far too much room to calmly side-foot in her 98th international goal.

Kerr’s side started the second half in a similarly energetic fashion, but Vittsjo’s Shannon Lynn – and interval replacement for Lee Alexander in goal – had to leap into action to fend off a Julie Ertz low shot.

A slight clip of Pugh’s heels by substitute Kirsty Smith almost gifted the US a second, but Lloyd struck the cross bar and let the Scots off the hook.

The world champions did not relent but found themselves fruitlessly battering off a stubborn and organised Scotland side, who looked increasingly optimistic in their attack.

Fiorentina’s Clelland came close to an equaliser, with the ball falling to her wrong foot as the Scots searched for an equaliser.

‘Scotland deserved a draw’ – analysis

Former Scotland captain Willie Miller on BBC Radio Scotland

I thought the last 15-20 minutes was fantastic. I wondered if Shelley Kerr would change the shape a little bit and get more bodies forward – and she certainly did – but could she have done it earlier?

On the evidence of what she’s seen, if she comes up against the USA in the future she might just do it a bit earlier because they looked a bit rattled at the back and weren’t comfortable handling the questions Scotland were posing in the last 20 minutes.

Scotland were really unlucky not to get something out of the game. On the second-half performance, they deserved a draw.

Former Scotland striker Julie Fleeting on BBC Radio Scotland

The biggest difference over the last few years is that we have a full squad of real athletes. The fact we were pushing the USA until the 90th minute proves that.

Every one of those players believes in Shelley. She has them all where she wants them and they listen to her and respect her. There’s an awful lot of hard work for that to happen.

After tonight’s performance the player can go into each game confident they can compete at that level and whoever Scotland get drawn against, they will be prepped and ready to go.

Just because you’re riding around on two wheels with a motor boosting you to 12 mph doesn’t mean you can stop paying attention. 

Just like distracted driving, distracted scooting is becoming a concern on the road. That’s why scooter-share company Bird says it joined AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign. Since 2010, the phone company has encouraged putting down the phone for texts, calls, and checking your email (and more), while driving. In 2018, the campaign includes all those behaviors — but on rentable e-scooters.

For confident scooter riders, the inclination to multitask while riding can be strong, as is the pull of the smartphone. The motorized devices may feel like a toy, but they’re considered a road vehicle, riding alongside cars, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, and other scooters. At least you better be off the sidewalk and in the bike lane, or riding along the edge of the road. 

PCI insurance group noted a recent study by Zendrive that found at least 69 million drivers in the U.S. use a phone while driving every day. What riders are willing to do behind the handlebars hasn’t been studied enough yet, but we can guess it’s just as pervasive a problem.

To promote safe scooting, Bird created a short video showing how that scooter selfie can result in a crash — or worse. The silent 7-second safety message is above.

Bird isn’t the only scooter company concerned about safe riding, or at least the liability of unsafe riding.

Last week their competitor Lime released its “Respect the Ride” safety campaign. The program includes a rider pledge, educational videos about safe scooter use and proper parking, and a $3 million commitment from the company toward public safety and education plans.

A Lime spokesperson said this week that 75,000 people had signed the pledge. That might’ve been prompted by the lure of free helmets for the first 25,000 who pledged to ride safely. Lime plans to distribute 250,000 free helmets in cities across the globe in the next six months. The pledge helmets were mailed to signees.

In the fight against distracted scooting, Lime has plans to include a personalized screen with your user profile and info about your previous trips and saved locations on its next generation scooter. Maybe that’ll stave off the urge to connect to a smartphone. 

Lime last week also announced alongside e-scooter company Spin (which was just bought by Ford) an agreement with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to study how the scooters are used. So more data will be shared with cities, starting with LA, and hopefully improve the streets for scooter users.

Distracted scooting comes up alongside drunken or impaired scooting, another e-scooter no-no. While distracted scooter riders can be harder for police and public safety officials to track down, intoxicated scooting can lead to real arrests and DUI records, like the 28-year-old who crashed into a pedestrian while three times over the legal limit on a Bird scooter in Los Angeles back in September.

Like this wine supplier points out, it’s important to learn what’s legal while on an e-scooter and not to drink and drive. The legal limit is the same as when driving a car. While you’re at it, put down the phone and just scoot.

US intelligence officials believe a phone message to “tell your boss” after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered was a reference to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The New York Times has received a transcript of one of the recordings released by Turkey.

The newspaper says the telephone call was made by Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a security officer who frequently travelled with the crown prince.

Turkish intelligence believes Mutreb was speaking to one of the prince’s aides and also used words to the effect that “the deed was done”.

But officials in Ankara say the audio does not conclusively implicate Mohammed bin Salman.

So who is “the boss”? And will this new evidence lead somewhere? 

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Abdelwahab El-Affendi – Professor of politics at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Mehmet Celik – Political news editor at Daily Sabah newspaper

Bill Law – Journalist and analyst at The Gulf Matters

Source: Al Jazeera News

Back in 2016 — which might as well be 6,000 years ago at this point — Ariana Grande teamed up with Nicki Minaj for “Side to Side,” a wonderful trop-pop ode to knockin’ boots so vigorously that you wobble when you walk afterward. The song’s instantly iconic video took the playfulness of the title more literally though, placing the two leads on exercise bikes and letting them spin — a vision they also brought to the stage at that year’s VMAs.

The video’s director, Hannah Lux Davis, has a long history of partnership with Grande, helming the clips for several of her songs, including “Focus,” “Bang Bang,” and “Into You.” For “Side to Side,” she said the original idea came from a simple message from Grande herself. “I’m just thinking… spin bikes,” Ari told Davis, as she recently recalled to Billboard.

Earlier this month, Davis also helped bring Ari’s cathartic “Breathin” to life with a cloudy, mystical visual that helped illustrate the emotional opacity found in the song’s lyrics.

“She really let me take the reins for it,” Davis said later in the interview. “The song is obviously about anxiety, and feeling so out-of-touch and out-of-sync and out of alignment with everything in the world around you, and feeling like you’re just not connected. So I had this idea of doing motion control, which I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and I’m really glad that I ended up doing it on this project. It’s the effect that we did to shoot her in a different frame rate, in a different speed, and other people in the frame that are moving quickly around her. That was through the effect of motion control.”

Davis also shared some deep-in-the-trenches stories about the vid’s nearly impossible turnaround time, which she oversaw herself as, like she says, Davis edits “90 percent of my videos.” “Shot and delivered in two weeks, which is insane, considering that every single shot was an effects shot, and it’s Ariana Grande, so it has to be perfect,” she said. “I cut the video literally in a day, sent it to her on her phone, she loved it. The next day, she came over with all her friends to watch it, and we locked it down the cut then.”

Read the full interview over at Billboard. For more on Davis’s process and how her hard work comes together behind the scenes, watch MTV News’s 2018 doc Seen & Heard below.

Roger Federer recovered from his first-match nightmare to keep alive his hopes at the ATP Finals with a comfortable victory over Dominic Thiem.

Switzerland’s Federer, knowing defeat would mean he would not advance from his group, beat the Austrian 6-2 6-3.

The six-time champion had slumped to a shock defeat by Kei Nishikori on Sunday but he cut down on his errors to win.

Next up for Federer on Thursday is Kevin Anderson, who beat Nishikori 6-0 6-1 earlier in the day.

Federer rediscovers positive mindset

Just before walking on to the court, Federer spoke of the need to be “more positive” in his mindset.

He arrived with a little smile and a few waves before making his intentions clear from the very first game where he carved out a break point.

Although he failed to convert that one, he made no mistake in Thiem’s next service game and celebrated with a fist pump when the Austrian sent a forehand long.

This was a completely different Federer to the one who had looked frustrated and grouchy against Nishikori in his opening round-robin match on Sunday.

And it was not just his mood that had improved considerably; his statistics had too.

Gone were the 34 unforced errors – instead a much more disciplined 11 – and with that a superb rate of 86% of first-serve points won and 81% of second-serve points.

He looked more like his old self and was helped by Thiem’s errors, summed up when the Swiss sealed victory after the world number eight hit a forehand long.

“It feels good. I am very happy that I showed a reaction after the last match,” Federer told Sky Sports.

“Today I was more positive and happy on the court. I love playing in London and I had to remind myself what a privilege it is. I hope I showed it.”

Next up Anderson – and some maths

Had Federer lost to Thiem, he would have failed to reach the semi-finals at the season-ending event for just the second time in his record 16 appearances.

And while victory keeps him in the hunt in the Lleyton Hewitt group, his path to the last four is still far from certain.

With one match to play, all four players in the group can still mathematically qualify – and it has the potential to get very complicated.

It is possible that Federer could beat Anderson but still not advance if Nishikori beats Thiem, depending on who wins how many sets and games.

There is even a scenario whereby Federer can lose to Anderson in three sets but go through if Thiem beats Nishikori in two.

The meeting between 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer and world number six Anderson is a re-run of this year’s Wimbledon quarter-final, where the South African fought back from two sets down to record a famous victory.

And after his ruthless showing against Nishikori, Anderson is a tricky prospect.

“I hope it is not a match like Kevin Anderson played this afternoon,” Federer said. “It is never easy to play against him, especially indoors. I am happy I am getting a chance to play him again and have a re-match [from Wimbledon].”

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

This was another lacklustre performance by Thiem, but Federer looked slick and sharp: in short, a very different player to the one beaten by Kei Nishikori on Sunday evening.

Federer gave up very few points on serve and broke Thiem four times, and yet still has plenty of work to do to reach the semi-finals.

He has the unbeaten Kevin Anderson to worry about, as well as some advanced arithmetic.

In theory, Federer could win in straight sets on Thursday and still go out, but he could also lose in straight sets and still go through.

Google Assistant is already another handy way to distract the kids, and now Australian superstars The Wiggles are making their way onto the platform.

You can talk to Emma Wiggle on the Google Home, Google Home Mini, Google Home Max or compatible smartphone, just by asking, “Hey Google, talk to the Wiggles.” 

From there, you can use voice commands to help Emma to get to The Wiggles’ concert on time in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure, with the ability to dance, play games, and sing along with the rest of the band along the way.

The experience will allow kids to practice core skills, including decision making, counting, and naming colours, and it’s available to users in Australia, the UK, U.S. and Canada from Wednesday.

Google has been steadily expanding its range of family-friendly games and activities, which also includes a range of stories for kids.

Having the world’s most popular children’s act is a clearly good get for Google, as voice assistants become embraced by families, and rivals Amazon launch competing products like a kid-friendly version of the Echo Dot.

Swelling by 17 percent last year, hate crimes in the United States marked the largest increase in more than a decade, according to a new report by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Released on Tuesday, the FBI report documented 7,175 hate crimes – at least 15 resulting in murders – across the country in 2017, although the number is likely higher because many agencies do not report such incidents.

Of that total, nearly 60 percent of the incidents saw perpetrators target victims based on their race, ethnicity or ancestry, while one-fifth included individuals targeted owing to anti-religious bias.

Another 15.8 percent were targeted over their sexual orientation.

The total tally included a doubling of anti-Arab hate crimes and a large swell of anti-Semitic incidents.

More than 4,000 hate crimes were against people, while upwards of 3,000 were against property, including vandalism, arson and robbery, according to the FBI report.

Acting attorney general Matthew G Whitaker, who was recently appointed by President Donald Trump, described the new statistics as a “call to action”.

“The Department of Justice’s top priority is to reduce violent crime in America, and hate crimes are violent crimes,” Whitaker said.

“They are also despicable violations of our core values as Americans.”

Whitaker said he was “particularly troubled” by the increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes, which grew by 37 percent last year and made up the majority of crimes religious-motivated crimes.

Africans Americans made up nearly half of all hate crimes victims last year, according to the FBI.

‘Shocking’ 

On Twitter, the NAACP civil rights group described the report’s findings as “shocking”, saying that it “requires Congress’s full attention”. 

This is shocking & requires Congress’s full attention. Shouldn’t this urgent crisis be subject of first post-recess Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, instead of ramming through more Trump judges? Our lives are at stake. https://t.co/4gBEWqNDHn

— NAACP (@NAACP) November 13, 2018

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an Alabama-based hate monitor, documented a sharp rise in hate incidents following Trump’s election in November 2016, with nearly 900 incidents in the 10 days following his victory.

Last month, the Trump administration reportedly moved to discontinue funding for a programme that combats domestic “terrorism”, including allocating funds to groups that work to prevent and track right-wing violence.

Throughout 2018, a spate of apparent hate crimes has gripped the country, among them the deadly assault on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, last month.

During that attack, a gunman stormed the synagogue and shot dead 11 worshipers. Police arrested Robert Bowers, who had posted a string of anti-Semitic and racist comments on the social media outlet Gab before allegedly carrying out the massacre.

Days before that attack, a gunman in Louisville, Kentucky killed two elderly African Americans at a grocery store in what officials are investigating as a hate crime. 

Britain’s Jamie Murray reached the doubles semi-finals of the ATP Finals in London for a third successive year.

The Scot and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares beat Colombia’s Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4 6-3.

Breaks in the 10th game of the first set and fourth game of the second proved decisive as the fourth seeds sealed victory in one hour 13 minutes.

Murray served out the match, sealing victory when Cabal sent a forehand into the net.

The pair had also won a tight opening match against Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus on Sunday, meaning they make sure of progressing with a match to spare.

Analysis

Mike Dickson of the Mail on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

It was a really excellent performance. They weathered that storm in the first set when the Colombians came back at them and won it at the end. It was then plain sailing in the second set.

You have to think, is this going to be their year? You could not have asked for more than that in this game.

Image: Moment Editorial/Getty Images

Not everyone is happy with the deals Amazon made when it picked the multiple locations for its so-called second headquarters.

Some residents and representatives of New York’s Long Island City and Virginia’s Arlington reacted to Tuesday’s announcement with concerns over how the offices will impact their communities and the various incentives (mostly financial) that Amazon cultivated. Among them: just how Amazon’s move to the neighborhood will effect the cost of living and strain already struggling infrastructure. 

In a tweet thread, U.S. Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes Long Island City, criticized New York state’s decision to provide Amazon with big tax breaks and questioned whether current residents would end up being displaced as a result of rising rent.

Other local elected officials in New York City voiced criticism as well. NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson and State Senator Mike Gianaris both specifically knocked the deal for excluding input from those living in the community.

It’s not just talk from New York elected officials either. According to journalist David Sirota, New York Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim is looking to block the Amazon deal.

Some Amazon critics point out that all 50,000 jobs and investment from the company was originally touted as going towards one location. Amazon later split HQ2 up between New York and Virginia. Furthermore, Amazon announced a third non-HQ location in its HQ2 announcement in Nashville, where the company will be receiving tax subsidies as well.

One Twitter user uncovered that some of the investment Amazon says they will be providing for the local community had already been planned for the site.

Over in Virginia, many were confused over Amazon’s reference to “National Landing” when discussing the Arlington H2 location. It turns out that Amazon and city officials have decided to rebrand an area of the community that encompasses Crystal City as “National Landing.”

In an unusual move, Amazon will also receive a heads up regarding any FOIA requests concerning the company.

Amid discussion of how the influx of Amazon employees will affect an already overcrowded bus and subway system in New York City, one nugget of information from the deal is receiving some extra anger from critics. Lena Afridi of the non-profit affordable housing organization Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development noticed that public money will go towards building a helipad for Amazon. This detail was part of both New York and Virginia’s legal agreements with Amazon.

Obviously, the outrage over subsidizing a company as rich as Amazon is only exacerbated by the fact CEO Jeff Bezos is the richest man on the planet.

If your city wasn’t declared as one of the “winners” of Amazon’s HQ2, you might feel good after reading some of these critiques. But, as MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle points out, even if your city submitted a proposal for HQ2, Jeff Bezos likely extracted something out of your community too. 

When Amazon first invited cities to vie for the company’s new headquarters, critics labeled the competition as a marketing ploy early on. However, it seems like it could have been more of a data collection scheme than just an advertising gimmick.

Amazon may very well deliver on all of its promises to the two HQ2 cities. The move could mean tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and millions in community investments, which would be a boon to any city. But only time will tell if the bargain is ultimately worth it.

Palermo, Italy – An international conference on Libya has ended in the Italian city of Palermo with commitments but no binding agreement by warring factions to a United Nations-led road map envisaging elections next year.

In a joint press conference on Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the two-day summit as a “success” and a “first step in the right direction” – but walked away with no more than verbal pledges.

“Palermo was a milestone for Libyans to set a common framework,” Salame said, referring to the plan for a national conference and subsequent elections to be held in the first months of 2019.

The UN envoy said renegade General Khalifa Haftar, the most reluctant to engage in the UN-led process, was “committed to support” the proposed road map.

However, the summit ended without a written agreement and with no clear timetable either for the national conference or the election process.

It was also unclear whether the parties found any common ground with regards to the additional economic and security measures needed to stabilise war-wracked Libya and give respite to its languishing economy in view of the upcoming consultations.

‘You don’t change a horse in midstream’

More than seven years since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Libya remains deeply fragmented along tribal and ethnic lines and caught up in a spiral of violence at the hands of rival militias.

In addition, the difficulties to enact reforms is exacerbated by the existence of two rival parliaments – the internationally recognised Government of National Accord in the capital, Tripoli, and the eastern-based House of Representatives (HOR).

The UN and most of the international community support Fayez al-Serraj, the head of GNA. Al-Serraj, whose administration has been grappling with a prolonged security and economic crisis, has attempted to broaden the base of his political consensus in a bid to salvage his executive.

The other front, led by HOR and Haftar, whose self-styled Libyan National Army controls much of eastern Libya, perceives al-Sarraj as incapable of bringing back security to Tripoli as well as to the rest of the country, where rival militias and criminal gangs continue to rule undisturbed.

However, Haftar on Tuesday apparently expressed his intention to wait for the national conference and elections to take place, before seeking a forcible change in Tripoli.

“You don’t change a horse in midstream,” he was reported as saying to his rival al-Serraj at an informal meeting on the sidelines of the conference.

If confirmed, Haftar’s decision may buy time for GNA and the UN mission to improve security measures in Tripoli and across Libya in view of the proposed elections in the spring. 

“We need to support the current ceasefire and extend it if we are to move the political process forward,” Salame said in Tuesday’s press conference. In September, the envoy brokered a ceasefire after weeks of clashes between militias in and outside of the capital.

Turkey delegation walks out

For his part, Conte said he regretted that some of the delegates decided to walk out of the the conference, referring to Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay’s withdrawal from the plenary meeting.

The Turkish delegation was apparently disappointed at not being invited to join the informal meeting between Haftar and al-Serraj.

While the Turkish delegation was reportedly excluded from the session, French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and various others were in the room.

“I am sorry the Turkish delegation decided to leave,” said Conte.

“Bringing together 30 countries with a direct or indirect involvement in Libya, means exposing the meeting to different sensitivities. This doesn’t change the positive atmosphere we registered overall.”

Sources close to Haftar – believed to be backed by Russia, Egypt and France – had expressed his disappointment at the presence of Turkish and Qatari officials at the conference.

Conte said his government is ready to assist the stabilisation process both financially and with capacity-building initiatives like the training of security and police forces. He added that Rome Italy had already pledged 1.5m euros ($1.7m) for elections.