The old Trabant factory lies abandoned on a hill overlooking the east German city of Zwickau, plaster crumbling from its brickwork, and gaping holes in the windows where the glass is gone. It is a potent image: the factory where they built the car that became a symbol of communist East Germany, left to fall slowly into ruin.
But the factory tells a more complicated story. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany is still profoundly divided. The former communist East still lags behind economically, and its cities are emptying as young people head west in search of work. More than half of people in the East say they feel like second-class citizens in their own country.
China has shut down Marriott’s local website and mobile phone app after the hotel chain listed Hong Kong and Tibet as countries in an online survey.
Despite a series of apologies and a bizarre clarification that it does not support ‘separatism’ Marriott has become the latest international company to be punished by Beijing for apparently disrespecting China’s sovereignty.
In a move which is clearly intended to target bookings of the US hotel giant, authorities in Shanghai on Thursday ordered Marriott to close its website and “conduct a thorough check on all contents”.
Visitors to the website currently see a message which says: “We never support any separatist organisation that harms China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"We apologise profoundly for any behaviour that will cause misunderstanding about the above stance."
Marriott sparked anger on the Chinese Internet when it sent out a questionnaire in Chinese which asked members of its customer rewards programme to list their country of residence.
The options included Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Hong Kong and Macau, which were former British and Portuguese colonies respectively, are ruled as Special Administrative Regions (SAR) by the Beijing central government.
A deliveryman walks away from the entrance of a JW Marriott hotel in BeijingCredit:
AP
China considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province and not a ‘country’, while Tibet is ruled by Beijing as an autonomous region.
Marriott incensed Chinese Internet users further when the official Twitter account of Marriott Rewards ‘liked’ a tweet from "Friends of Tibet", an India-based group that supports Tibetan independence and congratulated the hotel chain for listing Tibet as a country.
Marriott has been frantically seeking to limit the fall out from the gaffe, amid reports that many Chinese have been cancelling their bookings with the hotel chain.
The company has made three online apologies this week, and president and chief executive Arne Sorenson issued a lengthy apology letter, which described the "like" as "careless".
“Marriott International respects and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. Unfortunately, twice this week, we had incidents that suggested the opposite," said Mr Sorenson.
Last year, South Korean companies were hit heavily by Chinese economic retaliation over Seoul’s deployment of a US missile shield system.
As previously reported, WWE is indeed building towards a Triple H vs. Kurt Angle match for SummerSlam.
As we may know, Triple H’s storylines are always kept top secret. The storyline was when Angle returned to WWE as the General Manager in April, he would eventually be wrestling again with the likely opponent being Triple H. The feud will start up after Stephanie McMahon would return and since she was the one initially running raw after she fired Mick Foley, this would create a problem between Angle and Stephanie McMahon.
As was initially noted, the plan for this match was to actually take place at next year’s WrestleMania but according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, several WWE officials feel it has to happen in SummerSlam because the company is looking to make SummerSlam as big as possible, that even includes bringing back other part-timers.
“The Hulkster” may be finally ready to get back in business with WWE. Fightful reports that Hulk Hogan and WWE are having ongoing talks at this very moment about a possible return to the company in the near future. They also report that apparently the wrestling company has decided that it would be alright with them if Hogan were to come back, and that it is now up to “the real American” to sign on the dotted line. Fightful states that WWE reached out to Hogan and proposed a “renewed working relationship” with him, and they claimed that Vince McMahon himself has spoken to Hogan about resuming their partnership. Could we be looking at a Hulk Hogan WWE return very soon?
WWE distanced themselves from Hulk Hogan for good reason back in 2015. A series of racist remarks were leaked in a video by online media site Gawker. This resulted in a widely-publicized trial between Hogan and Gawker, which luckily for Hogan, went his way when the website filed for bankruptcy and landed on a $31 million dollar settlement with him. Hulk Hogan had been working for WWE on-screen before the tape was leaked, and he was fired as a result. WWE also removed his profile from the Hall of Fame section on their website, although they never officially announced that Hogan had been removed from the WWE Hall of Fame. Hogan may not even want to return to the company due to his recent success.
Hogan is said to be in a “good place” right now and does not need any financial support, which he did need during his last WWE run. With Hogan now $31 million dollars richer, it’s being said that he may not even be too keen on the idea. With all of the injuries and weight that Hogan has gained over the last few years, that also may slow him down as well. However, he is supposedly being offered a deal to become an Ambassador for the company. It’s hard to imagine Hogan turning down a deal for the company to produce new merchandise, and to help continue his legacy in pro wrestling that he can never truly leave. If Hogan does come back, it should be interesting to see how fans react after returning from all of his latest scandals and controversies.
In a report by Ewrestlingnews.com, which credited contributor Philip Stamper, MCW Pro Wrestling announced appearances by various WWE Hall of Famers at its Shamrock Cup event on July 14-15 at MCW Arena in Joppa, Maryland.
Here’s more information on the event:
Doors open Friday at 6 pm, live action at 8 pm. Doors open Saturday at 5:30 pm, live action at 8 pm!
So far announced to appear:
– WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
– WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley
– WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather
– WWE Hall of Famers The Rock N’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson
– Former WWE RAW and SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero
– Former WWE wrestler Papa Shango
– MCW Pro Wrestling champion Sean Studd and more
Tonight, MCW Pro Wrestling will announce first round matches on social media for The Shane Shamrock Cup, including:
– Two-Time Shamrock Cup winner Lio Rush
– “MJF” Maxwell Jacob Friedman
– “LSG” Leon St. Giovanni
– Matt Macintosh
– Joey Janela
– Rob Locke
– Joe Keys
– Shaheem Ali
– Anthony Henry
– Brandon Scott
– Anthony Bowens
– Josh “The Goods” Woods
– Steve Diaz
Tickets available at missiontix.com, by calling 888-996-4774, and day of, at the door. Show support on Facebook at facebook.com/events/313205299116371
Aside from the fallout of AJ Styles winning the US Championship from Kevin Owens over the weekend at a House Show, WWE announced that Shinsuke Nakamura will take on Baron Corbin on Smackdown Live tonight.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Up until recently, Johnny Mundo and Taya Valkyrie held all the major titles for AAA in Mexico.
Mundo won the company’s triple crown (all at the same time) in March at the Rey de Reyes 2017 show. Taya Valkyrie had been the company’s Reina de Reinas champion for the most part since June of 2014.
Recently, Sexy Star returned to the company and won a multi-person match that was for the “vacated” Reina de Reinas championship. The storyline was that Taya used an illegal choke to regain her championship earlier in the year, so the title was vacated.
Vampiro is the Director of Talent for AAA. Evidently he did not discuss plans to bring Sexy Star back to the company with either Mundo or Taya. Neither Mundo or Taya knew she would be winning the Reina de Reinas title either.
Mundo Takes Shots at Vampiro
Keep in mind the communication here is from a company’s world champion to their booker:
The locker room thinks you, @vampiro_vampiro are a 2 faced lying douche bag who believes his own lies- #OfficeStooge -RT if you’re with us
— John Morrison (@TheRealMorrison) July 19, 2017
I’m a mark for pro wrestling, @TheTayaValkyrie is a mark for the hard work a title represents. @vampiro_vampiro, you are a mark for yourself https://t.co/yvqbKVpbm7
— John Morrison (@TheRealMorrison) July 19, 2017
Vampiro had posted a series of long tweets in regard to the situation which have since been deleted. In the posts he referred to Taya as a “mark” and that he was building an angle between Sexy Star and Taya. Vampiro did admit to never filling Taya in about the angle however.
Taya has stated she won’t be returning to the company. Ricochet, who has had issues with Lucha Underground, can be found in the comments section generally siding with Mundo and Taya but for the most part just cracking jokes. What AAA will do about their triple crown champion and his intense dislike for Vampirio remains unclear.
I promise you you’ll be fine hahaha so will I! https://t.co/x2HfOJsYzC
— Taya – Kira Forster (@TheTayaValkyrie) July 19, 2017
Viewership for this week’s episode of Smackdown Live slightly rises up drawing a total of 2.584 million viewers, this is up from last week’s 2.569 million viewers.
Smackdown Live has been extremely consistent for the past several weeks drawing between 2.535 and 2.584 million viewers. It seems that the viewership numbers has settled within that range for the rest of the summer. This week’s viewership numbers was actually higher than the August 9, 2016 episode which drew a total of 2.455 million viewers.
Overall on the night, Smackdown was #2 in total viewership but #1 in a number of demographics, including 18-49 and 25-54.
Skiers took to the steep streets of Montmartre as the heaviest snowfall in 30 years brought commuter misery to Paris, stranding travellers, delaying trains and flights, and bringing the bus network to a standstill.
The stunning scenes of the French capital coated in white powder delighted tourists but offered little consolation to the millions who struggled to get to work or school or catch a flight at the city’s airports.
Up to six inches of snow fell on the city and much of northern France after the clouds opened on Tuesday afternoon and kept the flakes falling until well after dawn on Wednesday.
The Paris region recorded a record number of traffic jams stretching 460 miles in total as commuters tired to make it home on Tuesday evening.
Dozens had to sleep in their cars while others abandoned their vehicles and continued the journey on foot.
A man looks at the snow-covered Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden), near the Eiffel Tower, following heavy snowfallCredit:
AFP
More than 200 people had to spend the night at Orly airport, while 700 people slept at Montparnasse and Austerlitz stations after their trains were cancelled on Tuesday evening.
Hundreds of other stranded commuters slept in 46 emergency shelters opened in the greater Paris region.
Heavy goods vehicles remained barred from the main routes in the region, leaving lorries stacked up along the motorways leading to Paris until the weather eases.
Temperatures were set to fall further overnight on Wednesday, dropping to -6CCredit:
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP
But temperatures were set to fall further overnight Wednesday, dropping to -6C, which is likely to freeze the heavy snow and make conditions even more treacherous.
On Wednesday police told drivers to leave their cars at home and take public transport if necessary.
But the transit system was thrown into chaos by the snow.
Several tram and commuter rail lines shut down completely, and almost all bus services were halted.
A rare coating of pristine snow delighted tourists at attractions like the Notre-Dame cathedralCredit:
THOMAS SAMSON/ AFP
The SNCF national rail company said it had been forced to reduce the speed of its high-speed TGV trains because of the snow and advised customers to postpone their journeys.
The Eiffel Tower, one of the world’s most visited tourists attractions, was closed for a second day in a row due to the weather.
But tourists were treated to the splendour of the French capital covered in a rare coating of pristine snow.
And the wintry weather was a delight for many schoolchildren as well as the handful of ski and snowboard fans who flocked to Sacre-Coeur basilica at the top of Montmartre hill.
They managed to get in about an hour of runs on Wednesday morning on the slopes of the park that descends from the church, as well as on some nearby streets, before being chased off by the police.
"The snow is good, a little powdery," a man who gave his name as Gilles told AFP news agency.
He said he was the founder and sole member of the "Montmartre Ski Club", and wore a sweatshirt with the club’s logo and altitude – 130 metres above sea level.