SAN FRANCISCO — Top Silicon Valley executives will get grilled on Capitol Hill next week on how their companies police Russian interference in U.S. elections. Expect some pointed questions on how these companies police political speech, too.

Growing allegations that Facebook, Google and Twitter limit the reach of conservative voices and viewpoints on their platforms is the latest political crisis to engulf the technology industry.

Over the past year, censorship charges have become a conservative rallying cry, raised in multiple hearings on Capitol Hill. Now the attacks are ratcheting up, with some GOP leaders and now President Trump using the hashtag #stopthebias to target left-leaning Silicon Valley ahead of the November midterm elections.

Why? It hits a bull’s eye with supporters whose opinion of social media has sunk to the level of mainstream media. A new poll from the Media Research Center conducted by McLaughlin & Associates found that 65% of self-described conservatives believe that social media companies intentionally censor the political right. Some Republicans have started using bias claims in fundraising pitches.

“If you’re a staunch conservative Trump supporter and don’t like CNN, you can switch the channel to Fox. But where do you switch the channel from Facebook or Google?” said Dan Schnur, professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications.

“Fake social” and “fake search” is now on the tips of conservative tongues the way “fake news” has been for the last few years, reports Axios’ Mike Allen. Donald Trump Jr. told Allen that if a right-wing alternative to Facebook existed, he would urge Trump supporters to switch to it.

In such a tense, bitterly divided political climate, tech companies are taking these charges seriously. Facebook hired former Republican senator Jon Kyl to consider whether it suppresses conservative voices. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has met with prominent conservatives about bias.

More: Trump aide says president weighing regulations on Google search engine that he considers ‘rigged’

More: Is Facebook too liberal? It pledges to investigate charges it’s biased against conservatives

More: Twitter accused of political bias in right-wing crackdown

Regulatory threats, donor requests

These defensive measures could help them head off threats of regulation. This week the Trump administration raised the prospect of tightening the screws on Google as a growing number of proposals to regulate big tech make the rounds in Washington. There’s not much the White House could do without the cooperation of Congress, but Trump has a knack for normalizing political ideas that were not previously part of the public discussion, political observers say.

On Tuesday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the Trump administration was “taking a look” at whether Google searches should be monitored by the federal government. Trump seemed to walk back that threat Wednesday. “We’re just going to see,” he said. “You know what we want? Not regulation. Fairness.”

But on Thursday retiring Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked the Federal Trade Commission to reopen an antitrust investigation into “Google’s conduct in search and digital advertising.” The FTC ended a similar probe in 2013 before the big tech backlash in Washington. Google declined to comment.

And in a White House interview, Trump told Bloomberg that some people see an
“antitrust situation” with Facebook, Google and Amazon, but repeatedly denied to comment on whether he wants to break up these companies. “I mean, look, the conservatives have been treated very unfairly,” he said.

“The greater the uprising, the more likely there is to be some type of action to create some kind of competitive market in social media that now exists in cable TV,” Schnur said. “A generation ago, the morning newspaper and the evening news were seen more as public utilities than as partisan combatants. The people who run these social media companies very badly want to avoid that same fate.”

This week Trump used his Twitter bullhorn to amplify bias charges. Speaking to reporters at the White House Wednesday, he said Google and other companies “silence a very large part of this country.”

As proof, Trump posted a video claiming Google plugged President Obama’s State of the Union addresses on its home page but not his. Google denied it, backed up by screenshots showing it had promoted the speech.

The controversy touched off Tuesday after Trump sent early morning tweets accusing Google of manipulating search results to spread anti-Trump news and suppress pro-Trump news. Later Tuesday Trump told reporters that in favoring liberal views Google, Facebook and Twitter are “treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.” Google responded that “search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology.” Facebook and Twitter declined to comment.

More: Trump says Google ignored his State of the Union address; Google disagrees

More: These are the liberal memes Iran used to target Americans on Facebook

The Trump campaign shared the president’s tweets with supporters to drum up donations. House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who for months has slammed Silicon Valley for bias, is using the charged issue in fundraising appeals. He’s also pushing the #StopTheBias hashtag that the president tweeted this week.

The president is taking aim at the very platforms credited with his political rise to the Oval Office. Even today, he’s the single biggest spender on Facebook political ads, according to a recent study by New York University.

But this week’s gripes about Google and social media were singularly effective for Trump, abruptly changing the conversation from one of the darkest periods of his presidency — Michael Cohen’s plea deal, Paul Manafort’s conviction, and Trump’s reaction to the death of John McCain.

The timing of Trump’s attacks couldn’t be worse for tech companies. On Wednesday lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee will question Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during a hearing focused on Russian interference in U.S. elections, almost one year after Facebook, Google and Twitter first testified before Congress on the meddling. Separately, Dorsey will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. 

The last time lower-level executives appeared before Congress, they were not well received, but the tech companies have a better story to tell this time. They’ve been aggressively rooting out foreign interference from Russia and Iran on their platforms, working closely with each other as well as security firms, law enforcement and intelligence officials to shut down threats. And after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was taken aback by repeated allegations of conservative censorship during April congressional hearings on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, they are preparing to field those questions, too.

With one notable exception. The Senate panel invited Google parent Alphabet CEO Larry Page and offered to accept Google CEO Sundar Pichai, but Google offered Kent Walker, its senior vice president for global affairs and a point person on election interference. 

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr turned down Google, saying Walker isn’t high ranking enough. Google says it has no plans to send anyone else, prompting both parties to criticize the no show. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the Intelligence panel’s top Democrat, said Google is making a grave mistake. Senators may hold the hearing with an empty chair.

More: Pro-Trump YouTube stars Diamond and Silk demand sit down with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

More: Republicans press social media giants on anti-conservative ‘bias’ that Dems call ‘nonsense’

 

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Nick Kyrgios, who has all the talent in the world but who can’t seem to harness it, keeps making tennis highlights for all the most bizarre and confounding reasons.

On Thursday, the Australian star let a couple of Pierre-Hugues Herbert serves go by in his opening 2018 U.S. Open match without even touching them. That’s when the chair umpire came down to have a pep talk in a weird scene:

This is hardly the first time we’ve seen this from Kyrgios. Let’s look back at some of his other on-court incidents:

1. Cincinnati Masters, 2018

Not only did he forget his shoes after walking on to the court for a match, but he apparently admitted in the middle of a showdown against Borna Coric that he would tank. He ended up winning the match and justifying what he did by saying it helped him with his momentum in a fresh third set.

2. Wimbledon, 2018

Here he talks to the umpire and gets a lesson on foot faults. At least he was open to the discussion.

3. Shanghai Masters, 2017

Kyrgios retired from his match with Steve Johnson after a fan heckled him and he got into it with an umpire. He blamed quitting on his a stomach bug.

4. Australian Open, 2017

Another meltdown with cursing, racket smashing and mid-point surprise tweeners (although it seems like sometimes that’s a move meant to throw off opponents).

5. U.S. Open, 2017

He let an F-bomb drop and then denied it during a first-round loss to John Millman.

6. Australian Open, 2016

Watch him scream at an umpire regarding music playing in the crowd. He’d lose to Tomas Berdych.

7. Wimbledon, 2015

He got booed in England for looking as if he tanked during a few points and unraveled against Richard Gasquet.

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

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.”

China has been accused of detaining more than a million Uighur Muslims in what UN human rights experts say resembles “a massive internment camp, shrouded in secrecy, a sort of no-rights zone”.

The camps are believed to be in the western region of Xinjiang. China denies such camps exist, but says criminals involved in minor offences are sent to what it calls “vocational education and employment training centres” to help with their reintegration into society.

About 10 million Uighur live mostly in Xinjiang. China says its crackdown there is to protect peace and prevent what it calls terrorism.

There have been ethnic riots in recent years and Uighur separatists have been blamed for several attacks, including one in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 2013.

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra

Guests:

Andrew Leung – international and independent China Strategist

Andreas Fulda – lecturer at the school of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham

Adrian Zenz – expert on China’s minority policy

Source: Al Jazeera News

Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

There’s long been murmurs about Apple making its own augmented reality glasses, like Google Glass, and its latest acquisition is another step towards that.

Apple has acquired Denver-based AR lens startup Akonia Holographics, according to a report by Reuters.

Founded in 2012, the startup focused on holographic data storage before shifting to smart glass technologies. 

Akonia’s HoloMirror smart glass utilises a single layer of media, and the company boasts “ultra-clear, full-color performance … [enabling] the thinnest, lightest head worn displays in the world.”

In a statement to Reuters, an Apple spokesperson (as per usual) didn’t give much away: “Apple buys smaller companies from time to time, and we generally don’t discuss our purpose or plans.”

An executive in the AR industry told the outlet that Akonia had become “very quiet” in the six months leading to the acquisition, indicating the deal happened earlier this year.

Back in April, CNET reported Apple was working on a combination AR/VR headset with the codename “T288,” supporting both AR and VR apps, that would launch by 2020.

Each lens would reportedly feature an 8K display per eye, for a total resolution of 16K. That would eclipse the likes of current VR rivals Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, which both only have 1,080 x 1,200 resolution per eye.

Of course, it’s still early days, and Apple’s headset dreams might just stay that way.

 

Hollywood is always on the hunt for movie ideas, all of which aren’t just based on books, reboots, or sequels. Whiplash, the film that put Oscar winner Damien Chazelle on the map, began as a short film he put out in 2013. Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, Andy Muschietti’s Mama, and Taika Waititi’s What We Do In the Shadows had similar journeys. This weekend, another one of these films-based-on-shorts, Kin, will be released in theaters.

For David F. Sandberg (Shazam!), the viral attention his short film “Lights Out” received made the feature film version a reality. For Jeremy Ungar (Ride), “Ride” was the proof of concept he needed to sell Hollywood on his idea. For others, it was an uphill journey to turn their shorts into movies.

Six directors across four movies tell EW how they did it and offer tips for how other aspiring filmmakers can do it, too.

Kin
Short film: “Bag Man”

Jonathan and Josh Baker, a.k.a. The Baker Brothers, didn’t see their 2014 short “Bag Man” as “simply a tool to get the feature made.” “It was very much its own thing, created to exist as a short film with a unique tone that contributes something original to the sci-fi genre,” they jointly wrote to EW in an email.

The 15-minute-long story chronicled an African-American boy who journeys upstate from New York City with a mysterious duffle bag containing what appears to be devastating alien weapon. The Bakers started outlining a potential feature-length story treatment, believing “Bag Man” would “lead to questions of a movie version.” They said “it wasn’t long before those questions began to be asked” by Hollywood.

The goal with the feature film, Kin, “was maintaining a specific tone,” the Bakers explained. “A restrained and sophisticated indie spirit, mashed with sci-fi wish fulfillment, somewhat reminiscent of the ’80s movies we grew up with. A gritty real-world aesthetic that also plays with some bigger genre ideas. And then at its heart, Kin became about an unconventional brother relationship — two completely different characters learning to love and relate to each other.”

Tips for filmmakers: “Be prepared for when opportunity knocks,” but also “don’t underestimate the mind-bending, soul-crushing challenges that lie ahead. It is an absolute uphill battle that a short film director needs to be fully prepared for. People aren’t just giving out movies to anybody with a short, despite it sometimes feeling that way. There are so many checkpoints where you need to prove your level of confidence, experience, enthusiasm, and craft, so be prepared to do a lot of convincing as a first-time feature director — to development partners, writers, financiers, actors, key crew.”

Prospect
Short film: “Prospect”

Directors Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell used the SXSW Film Festival in 2014 as a springboard for their short “Prospect,” a coming-of-age story about a father and daughter living on a toxic alien planet. According to the duo, “We always intended on turning ‘Prospect’ into a feature, so the first step was to make sure the short film strongly established a world, tone, and characters that would become a compelling sandbox for the feature.”

They put the short film online in its entirety to correspond with its SXSW premiere. It was this viral “excitement” that then allowed Earl and Caldwell to fly to Los Angeles to pitch a feature version. “In retrospect, I think the thing we were least prepared for was the emotional grind,” they recalled to EW via email. “It took three years, with multiple false starts, before we finally connected with the right partner to finance the movie. Every time it felt like the movie might happen, we were on the precipice of throwing our entire lives into it, so when it fell apart for any number of reasons, it was a rollercoaster.”

The turning point came when they connected with their financiers, Bron Studios. “There was definitely a lot of luck and fortuitous timing involved,” they said, “but when so many circumstances are out of your direct control, all you can do is patiently persist.” Now the film will be released by distributor DUST, date TBA, with Jay Duplass as a father, and Chicago Med‘s Sophie Thatcher his daughter, and with Wonder Woman 1984‘s Pedro Pascal playing a prospector

Tips for filmmakers: “Know your audience for the short… get as many eyes on it as possible… understand what you’re asking for [when pitching a feature]… prove to [financiers] that you are capable, both artistically and practically… make sure your plan is logistically sound… find good partners.”

Lights Out
Short film: “Lights Out”

In the case of David F. Sandberg, “going viral” allowed him to make his first feature film.

The director behind Annabelle: Creation and DC’s Shazam! remembers a time when he was coming up with short film ideas with his wife, Lotta Losten, for an online contest. “What’s the scariest thing we can do in our apartment with no money at all?” Sandberg remembers asking himself. That ended up being Lights Out, a less than three-minute short that takes your fears of the dark and makes a new kind of monster out of it.

“It just happened overnight,” he says over the phone. “It went viral and all of a sudden all these people wanted to talk to me — producers and agents and managers and studios — and it was really insane.”

Lights Out landed at Warner Bros. with producer James Wan, a professional relationship that would continue in The Conjuring universe. Because the initial short was so (for lack of a better word) short, that meant Sandberg could essentially do anything with the story. “I actually took an idea I had for another feature that began with this little kid waking up in the middle of the night because he hears his mom talking to someone who isn’t there,” he says. Though, he’s not quite sure how the rest of the script unfolded.

“It came pretty easily to me because I think it was all this bottled up creativity,” Sandberg adds. “I was like, ‘I’ll finally have my chance to actually make a movie.’ Before I wrote the story, I wrote down a whole list of gags you could do with the concepts of this creature who doesn’t exist in light. If you shoot a gun at her, she’ll disappear during the muscle flashes. I also came up with this idea of turning on the headlights of a car to save yourself.”

Tips for filmmakers: Sandberg remembers being very overwhelmed when he made the Lights Out feature, feeling like it was his “one shot at Hollywood.” The director says, “I had never even been on a film set before. The PAs had more experience than I did. I didn’t even know, when do you say action?” The big advice he got from Wan, however, was “just have fun with it because it gets crazy.

“I didn’t know how to have fun with it ‘cause I was freaking out,” he laughs.

Ride
Short film: “Ride”

For writer-director Jeremy Ungar, his short film “Ride” was more a “proof of concept” for a hoped-for movie. “I wrote the script to ‘Ride’ as a feature,” he says. “I sort of knew as a first-time filmmaker in this day and age you really need to have a proof of concept to get people to have the faith in you to invest in that first feature.”

The short introduces an Uber driver named James who starts to make a love connection with a passenger, Jessica, but things take a dark turn when his next pick-up, Bruno, turns out to be a manipulative psychopath with a gun, sending them on a psychological journey to survive the night. It was a concept Ungar wrote with Will Brill from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The OA, his “closest friend from college,” in mind for Bruno.

The short then served as a reference for every stage of the process, Ungar explains. He brought the short and a 15-minute version of the script to producers at Unified Pictures, who would eventually come aboard. “It became a way to get my [cinematographer] and my designers on the same page and really clearly show an initial aesthetic that we could build on.” Bella Thorne, who became one of the first actors cast for Ride the movie, then became an advocate for Brill playing Bruno after seeing the short.

The film, now starring Shaft‘s Jessie T. Usher, will be released on Oct. 5.

Tips for filmmakers: “Going into making the short, I think the clearer you can be about what you want your feature to be, the stronger of a position you’ll be in on the short. And the more you look at the short a chance to actualize your vision for the feature, the greater chance you have at success in both realms.”

Apple may be preparing to announce new iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches on Sept. 12, but it looks like someone has decided to share the images of the new products a bit early. 

Just hours after Apple sent out media invitations to its next big event, Apple blog 9to5Mac shared images purporting to be of the two new high-end iPhone X successors as well as the new Apple Watch. 

The site says it expects the new devices to be called the iPhone XS, following the “S” naming convention Apple has previously used during years it upgrades the internal specs of the phones without giving the devices any major makeovers.

The new iPhones in the images are similar in appearance to the iPhone X announced last year, complete with a “notch” along the top of the display for the phone’s front camera and Face ID sensors. New: A larger, potentially “plus” model that will have a 6.5-inch screen to go along with the updated 5.8-inch model.

Apple did not immediately respond to a USA TODAY request for comment. 

According to earlier reports displays are expected to be OLED – just like the iPhone X’s – and according to 9to5Mac’s leaked image, the new phones will also be available in a gold version. The iPhone X currently is only available in black or white. 

The images appear to be similar to the marketing materials Apple traditionally uses to show off its new devices. 

A third iPhone is also expected at Apple’s event in September. While it will resemble the iPhone X and new iPhone XS models, this third iPhone is said to have a 6.1-inch display and be available in multiple colors.

It is also expected to be more affordable than the iPhone X replacements, using less premium components such as LCD displays instead of the more vibrant OLED, according to Bloomberg. 

In addition to images of two of the new iPhones, the site also appears to have gotten ahold of an image of Apple’s new Apple Watch Series 4. As with the iPhone leak, it appears that the Watch image was also part of marketing materials.

While it is hard to tell too much from the image, the leak does appear to confirm earlier rumors that Apple will be giving the Apple Watch its first redesign, increasing the size of the display by shrinking the bezels around the screen.

While not a major overhaul, prior Apple Watch versions mostly featured internal updates such as faster processors, waterproofing and the ability to get 4G LTE cellular connectivity. 

Pricing, availability and full specs all still remain a mystery. Those details, as well as the rumored new iPads and Macs, should be revealed at Apple’s event on Sept. 12. Assuming they don’t leak out first. 

Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal

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Zach Smith says he has accepted there is not much he can say that will resurrect his coaching career, but he cannot accept why he was fired as an assistant coach at Ohio State.

Head coach Urban Meyer said when his three-game suspension was announced last week that he was guilty of protecting Smith amid a series of domestic abuse allegations over several years. Smith maintains the abuse allegations are false so Meyer had no reason to protect him.

“He never protected me,” Smith said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY Sports. “Urban knew the truth. That’s what’s lost in all this: the truth. Everything he’s said negatively about me, that’s all on Ohio State. That’s all from the pressure they put on him to keep his job because they are spineless. That’s why they fired Jim Tressel. They are absolutely spineless and that probably come from the board, the president – all of them.”

More: Documents show Ohio State official had concerns about Zach Smith allegations in 2015

More: What we learned from Ohio State’s investigation into Urban Meyer, Zach Smith

Ohio State spokesperson Chris Davey told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday that the school did not have a response to Smith’s statements. 

Meyer’s suspension came following an investigation by Ohio State that produced a 23-page report and resulted in the suspensions of Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith for their handling of the allegations made against Zach Smith.

Shortly before talking to USA TODAY Sports, new details from a 2015 alleged incident involving Smith and his then-wife, Courtney, were published by The Columbus Dispatch. The report was based off one page of a narrative from Powell (Ohio) police that was mailed anonymously to the Dispatch. According to the document, Courtney Smith called police to her home in October 2015 and told them about a history of violent acts, including choking and death threats, made by Smith. 

The document is one page among many that Powell city officials have declined to release to the news media.

Courtney Smith’s allegations were investigated by police and forwarded to prosecutors, who did not charge Smith.

Delaware County Prosecutor Carol O’Brien said her office typically only handles felonies, and under Ohio law a first-time domestic assault that does not result in serious injuries would be charged as a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor charge could have been pursued by the Powell city attorney’s office, but it also did not seek to prosecute Zach Smith.

“Looking back at this report, this was not felony domestic assault,” O’Brien told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday.

Megan Canavan, a spokesperson for the city of Powell, said the alleged incident was “investigated thoroughly” and police “did work with prosecutors to review” the allegations made by Courtney Smith.

“In order to be charged, you have to commit a crime and that’s the problem here,” Zach Smith said. “People on social media want to convict people for things that people really investigated and looked into. … What matters is that people who are paid to investigate, investigated and nothing came of it. People who are not paid to investigate want to convict me, but the problem is people were paid to investigate didn’t charge me. Here we are. We are dealing with social media idiots who want to convict someone on what?

“There’s nothing.”

Julia L. Leveridge, the attorney for Courtney Smith, did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Courtney Smith’s first publicly known accusation of domestic abuse by Zach Smith came in 2009 while she was pregnant with the couple’s first child and her husband was a graduate assistant under Meyer at Florida. Smith was arrested on two felony charges, but the case was not prosecuted. 

Courtney Smith said in an interview with Stadium that the alleged abuse continued when her husband was the wide receivers coach at Ohio State and that Meyer’s wife, Shelley, and Lindsey Voltolini, the wife of Ohio State’s director of football operations, had knowledge of Smith’s alleged abusive behavior.

Zach Smith was fired from Ohio State on July 23 after a trespassing summons issued to him was made public subsequent to Courtney Smith being granted a protective order. Courtney Smith detailed to college football reporter Brett McMurphy other allegations against Smith, including text messages and photos of injuries for which she says Smith was responsible.

Smith offered an explanation to USA TODAY Sports for one of the photos that showed Courtney Smith’s hand bleeding,

“That picture is real,” Smith said. “That picture of blood coming out of her hand is real. The story is was that I was asleep and she was irate for God knows what – I don’t even remember – and she was screaming and yelling while my son was in bed with me. He woke up crying and then I woke up. Then she tried to pour a can of tobacco on me. When she did, I reached out and grabbed the can of tobacco and shut it on her hand. The metal top cut her hand. It was completely unintentional.”

Zach Smith also disputed much of what was contained in Ohio State’s investigative report, including that he had a sexual relationship with a secretary on the football staff.

“I have never had sexual relations with anyone I worked with,” Smith said. “That’s my No. 1 rule in life. Not one human. Nobody.”

The OSU report also cited salacious accusations that were reported by Stadium, including that Smith had sent sexually explicit photos of himself from the White House during the football team’s 2015 visit, and that he had sex toys mailed to the football office.

“The independent investigators verified that information in the report prior to it being reported in the media,” Davey, the school spokesperson, said in an email to USA TODAY Sports. 

Smith said he met with OSU investigators for more than two hours and now questions their motives.

“The real question is what were they investigating?” Smith said. “I still don’t know the answer. From the questions they asked me, they were investigating me and my life. They were not investigating Ohio State, Urban Meyer or Gene Smith and if they handled it properly. They were investigating me. It felt like when I met with Powell police in 2015.”

He didn’t dispute compiling a $600 bill at a strip club while on a recruiting trip or that his marriage was volatile.

“Everyone has regrets,” Smith said. “I don’t regret the coach I’ve been for the last two years nor does anyone else. Nor does Urban, Gene Smith. I had a meeting with Urban in June where (Meyer) said I was one of his best coaches. We were talking about the next step toward becoming a head coach because things were going so well for me and my value on the staff. And here we are.”

 

Sam Curran salvaged England after their top order failed again on the first day of the fourth Test against India in Southampton.

Some fine India bowling coupled with woeful England batting left the hosts 86-6 after they won the toss.

But 20-year-old Curran, recalled to play only his fourth Test, made a spirited 78 to drag them to 246.

He shared stands of 81 with the returning Moeen Ali, who battled to 40, and 63 with Stuart Broad.

Curran was the last man to be dismissed, leaving India to survive four overs and close on 19-0, 227 behind.

Although the tourists are in the stronger position, England would have been in much deeper trouble had it not been for efforts of Curran, who kept them afloat on a day when the ball moved throughout.

Despite England not being at their best with the new ball, England still have a chance of fighting back into the contest if their bowlers can find similar assistance to that enjoyed by India.

England, who lead 2-1, will seal the five-match series with victory on the south coast.

Curran shines once more

Even though he is still new to international cricket, Curran is no stranger to rescuing England. His 63 in the second innings of the 31-run win in the first Test dragged them from 87-7 and helped earn him the man-of-the-match award.

Still, he was left out of the third Test at Trent Bridge in favour of Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes, the latter after he been cleared of affray.

Restored to the team in Southampton because of an injury to Woakes, Curran played an innings full of the qualities that have characterised his short career: determination, sound judgement and no little flair.

With England struggling, Curran demonstrated the confidence and solidity lacked by some of his team-mates, rebuilding with Moeen, who himself showed patience in his first Test since March.

Initially strong square of the wicket, Curran opened his shoulders after Moeen fell, delighting the crowd by fetching off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin over mid-wicket for six and hitting the pace bowlers down the ground.

Only the danger of running out of partners made his batting more agricultural and by the time he was bowled by Ashwin, he was England’s second-highest run-scorer of the series.

England top order folds again

That England have a lead in this series is little to do with their top order – since the first innings of the first Test, where they slipped from 216-3 to 287 all out, they have found themselves 87-7, 89-4, 161 all out, 62-4 and now 86-6.

Joe Root’s decision to bat first on pitch that had its grass removed seemed a sound one, but his batsmen once again floundered.

Keaton Jennings was lbw in bizarre fashion, befuddled into playing no shot to a Jasprit Bumrah inswinger that would have hit middle and leg.

Root was lbw playing across an Ishant Sharma inswinger while Jonny Bairstow, promoted to number four despite a broken finger, poked at Bumrah to be caught behind.

Alastair Cook played nicely before guiding Hardik Pandya to Virat Kohli, while Jos Buttler played a loose drive to also be caught at third slip off Mohammed Shami.

Ben Stokes played with organisation and a straight bat until he was lbw by one that Shami nipped back.

Even Moeen, who showed restraint, undid his good work with a wild sweep that resulted in a top edge off Ashwin.

India impress before fading late

India outplayed England in the third Test at Trent Bridge and rewarded their successful team by fielding an unchanged XI for the first time in 46 matches.

For long periods, they picked up where they left off last week, carrying a consistent threat with the ball and catching well to take the chances England offered.

Their four fast bowlers once again bowled with pace, pushing the ball to a full length to take advantage of the movement on offer.

Only when Curran reversed the momentum did India wilt slightly. Pandya was expensive and Ashwin at times ineffective.

In addition, England’s cause was helped by 23 byes as wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant struggled behind the stumps.

However, dismissing England for such a modest total gave the tourists the upper hand and a potentially tricky period for openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan was made easier by England’s width.

‘India should have bowled England out for 150’

England’s Sam Curran: “A lot of the batsmen got some very good balls. It’s a team game so we worry about the end result, and we managed to get 246, which from 86-6 looks a decent score.

“It’s a massive positive for us going into tomorrow with a bit of momentum.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan on BBC Test Match Special: “Every single day of this series has had some fascinating periods. You feel there is going to be wickets tumbling and then you get a partnership from nowhere.

“The way Curran and Moeen played, India started to chase it. They got frustrated and a bit ragged in the field, so Virat will feel they lost intensity. They should have bowled England out for 150.”

Ex-England spinner Phil Tufnell on TMS: “Early wickets are the key for England in the morning. The pitch will still be doing a little and it is set up for a great Test match.”

More extras than runs for Jennings – the stats

• England’s 36-4 is their second lowest score when they have lost their fourth wicket at home against India, the other one being 34 in 1936 at Lord’s.
• Alastair Cook has faced more than 26,000 balls now in Test cricket and batted for more than 608 hours.
• There have been more extras for England (113) in this series than Keaton Jennings has scored runs (94)
• Ishant Sharma now has 251 wickets – and 51 against England. He is the seventh India bowler to reach 250 and only the third seamer.
• Ravichandran Ashwin has never bowled a no-ball. He has bowled more overs in Test cricket without bowling a no-ball than anyone else, going past Graeme Swann, who bowled 2,500 overs.

And finally…

Montreal, Canada – A Canadian federal court has quashed government permits to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, a decision that has been welcomed by Indigenous leaders and puts the future of the contentious $5bn project in limbo.

In a ruling issued on Thursday morning, the Federal Court of Appeal said the National Energy Board of Canada (NEB) made a “critical error” in issuing a report the federal government relied on to give the project the green light in 2016.

The court said the NEB – an independent regulatory body that oversees permits for oil and gas projects – did not take into account an increase in tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia as a result of the pipeline’s expansion.

Its report to the government failed to give Ottawa the information “it needed in order to properly assess the public interest, including the project’s environmental effects – matters it was legally obligated to assess,” the ruling states.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the project in November 2016, saying that it would bolster the Canadian economy and create jobs, and that it is in Canada’s national interest to get it built.

The Trans Mountain project involves twinning an existing 1,150km pipeline to ship up to 890,000 barrels of oil every day from the Alberta tar sands to Canada‘s west coast, for export overseas.

In its decision, the court also said the federal government failed to meet the minimum standard required in its consultations with Indigenous people.

Under the Constitution, Canada has a “duty to consult” and accommodate Indigenous people when a project may impact their Aboriginal or treaty rights.

The Duty to Consult has been a constitutional obligation for the Crown for over a decade and is still routinely neglected, fumbled and outsourced to Crown-like agencies for rubber-stamp approval. As was the case in Tsleil-Waututh Nation et al. v. Attorney General of Canada.

— Yellowhead Institute (@Yellowhead_) August 30, 2018

The government did not engage in “responsive, considered and meaningful dialogue” with the Indigenous applicants in the case, which included the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Squamish Nation, and the Coldwater Indian Band, among others.

“The law requires Canada to do more than receive and record concerns and complaints,” the court said.

‘It’s a great day’

Indigenous leaders across Canada welcomed the court’s decision.

For several years, they have been leading a growing protest movement against the pipeline, which they say threatens the water and land their communities depend on. 

They have long argued they weren’t adequately consulted, and never gave their consent on the pipeline as well.

“It’s a great day today. We won!” said Chief Lee Spahan, of the Coldwater Indian Band, at a press conference in Vancouver.

“Right from the beginning, we always said water is life. Water is sacred. They can say they consulted, but they never, ever, ever got our consent,” he added.

Chief Bob Chamberlin, vice-president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), said the ruling is “a major win with impacts that will be felt across the country”.

“The project should never have been approved, and we are greatly encouraged that the Federal Court of Appeal has recognised the need for Canada to uphold Indigenous Title and Rights on projects on their territories, and fulfil their commitments to true reconciliation,” Chamberlin said in a statement.

Bill Morneau, Canada’s finance minister, said the government is reviewing the court’s decision carefully, but it has not yet decided what its exact response will be.

“We’re going to review today’s decision to ensure that we’re meeting high standards when it comes to both protecting the environment and meeting our obligations to consult with Indigenous peoples,” Morneau said during a news conference.

“As a government, we take our responsibilities seriously. While we want to make sure that the project proceeds, we also want to make sure it moves ahead in the right way.”

Kinder Morgan approves pipeline’s sale to Ottawa

Also on Thursday, the shareholders of Kinder Morgan, the company responsible for Trans Mountain, voted overwhelming in favour of selling the pipeline to the Canadian government. 

In late May, Canada announced it would spend $3.5bn to buy the pipeline from Kinder Morgan, in essence nationalising the project.

Morneau said the government expects to close on the acquisition of the project as early as Friday.

In its ruling, the court instructed Ottawa to remedy the two problems its decision was based on – including restarting the consultation process with Indigenous people – and come to a “fresh decision”.

Morneau said the government remains committed to the project.

“This is a project that’s in Canada’s national interest, a project that means thousands of good, well-paying jobs for the middle-class, that will help us to get a fair price for Canadian resources,” he said.

But the government still faces an uphill battle, as Indigenous leaders, environmental groups, and several municipalities in BC have vowed they won’t allow the project to be built.

Mike Hudema, a spokesperson for Greenpeace Canada, said Justin Trudeau should “read the writing on the wall”.

“Dump this pipeline and shift the billions of public dollars slated for this problem-plagued project into Canada’s renewable energy economy,” Hudema said in a statement.

“While we will all celebrate this massive win tonight we will be ready to continue the fight should this project ever try to endanger these lands, waters or our collective climate again.”