Daily News Roundup

March 28, 2018

Wednesday, March 28

Cricket Australia says it is considering significant sanctions against Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, but Darren Lehman will remain Australian men’s cricket head coach, according to ABC News.

Smith, Warner and opener Bancroft have all been ordered home from South Africa in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal which has rocked the sport.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland insisted no other players or support staff had prior knowledge of the intention to tamper with the ball.

“This includes Darren Lehmann, who despite inaccurate media reports, has not resigned from his position,” he said.

“He will continue to coach the Australian men’s team under his current contract.”

Lehmann’s deal runs through to the 2019 Ashes series.

Wicket-keeper Tim Paine has been officially appointed as Test captain.

Sutherland said Smith, Warner and Bancroft had been officially reported for breaching article 2.3.5 of Cricket Australia’s Code of Conduct — for conduct contrary to the spirit of the game — with sanctions to be announced in the next 24 hours. All three are likely to face lengthy bans.

Batting trio Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns will be flown in as replacements for the team.

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America’s oldest gunmaker, Remington, has filed for bankruptcy protection and Donald Trump is partly to blame, Reuter reports.

The company’s problems started long before the recent calls for tighter gun control in the wake of the Parkland shooting in Florida last month.

The company said sales fell significantly in the year before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Some are calling it the “Trump slump”.

“When there is a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, there is more fear that gun control will pass and therefore firearms will be harder to obtain, as a result people rush out, they buy more guns,” said Polly Mosendz, firearms industry reporter for Bloomberg News.

“When there is a Republican Congress that fear-based buying largely disappears.”

Not only are people buying fewer firearms, some US gun stores have a backlog of stock.

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Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg will not answer questions from British lawmakers over how millions of users’ data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, according to a letter sent by the social network seen by Reuters.

Zuckerberg will instead send his Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer or Chief Product Officer Chris Cox to appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee.

The committee, which had asked for Zuckerberg or someone senior from Facebook to appear, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

Zuckerberg apologised last week for the mistakes Facebook had made and promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to such information in a scandal which has rocked the social media giant on both sides of the Atlantic.

The firm’s Head of UK Public Policy told lawmakers that Schroepfer or Cox were better placed to answer questions.

“Facebook fully recognises the level of public and parliamentary interest in these issues and support your belief that these issues must be addressed at the most senior levels of the company by those in an authoritative position,” wrote Rebecca Stimson.

“As such Mr Zuckerberg has personally asked one of his deputies to make themselves available to give evidence in person to the committee.”

 

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