Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Physician Doom in a brand new “Avengers” film titled “Avengers: Doomsday,” which will likely be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo in their very own return to Marvel. The directing duo is on deck to helm two new “Avengers” film: “Doomsday,” which is able to introduce Victor von Doom/Physician Doom, and “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
Whereas Downey had mentioned in current interviews that he was open to returning to Marvel, followers naturally assumed that meant he would come again as Iron Man/Tony Stark. Downey’s return because the villainous Victor von Doom comes as a large shock to the fandom, together with the ecstatic viewers at Marvel’s presentation at San Diego Comedian-Con. Downey made a victorious look to Corridor H on Saturday night to disclose his return.
Downey’s very first look because the playboy super-genius Stark got here in 2008’s “Iron Man,” which was the primary installment within the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe devised by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Over the following 11 years, Downey would reprise the function in 10 Marvel movies, together with “Iron Man 2,” “Iron Man 3,” “The Unimaginable Hulk,” “The Avengers,” “Captian America: Civil Struggle,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Avengers: Infinity Struggle” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
“Endgame” featured the demise of Iron Man. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige harassed to Vainness Truthful final December that he had no real interest in messing with Downey’s emotional exit.
“We’re going to maintain that second and never contact that second once more,” Feige mentioned on the time about Iron Man’s demise. “All of us labored very onerous for a few years to get to that, and we’d by no means wish to magically undo it in any approach.”
Downey is now returning to Marvel, however not as Iron Man. The actor had been fairly open this yr about his curiosity in coming again to the franchise. Talking to Esquire journal after his Oscar win for “Oppenheimer,” the actor was requested if he would ever return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now that he’s formally an Academy Award winner. The actor didn’t hesitate to reply sure.
“Fortunately. It’s too integral part of my DNA,” Downey mentioned. “That function selected me. And look, I all the time say, ‘By no means, ever guess towards Kevin Feige.’ It’s a shedding guess. He’s the home. He’ll all the time win.”
The Victor von Doom information continues an enormous yr for the actor. His efficiency as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” received him the Academy Award win for greatest supporting actor in March. Most just lately, Downey was featured within the forged of Park Chan-wooks’ mini-series “The Sympathizer” on HBO, the place he performed CIA operative Claude and a number of other different roles. He earned an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a restricted sequence or anthology.
A 14-fight card at UFC 304 in Manchester, England, was headlined by a pair of title bout rematches. Belal Muhammad dethroned Leon Edwards to change into the brand new welterweight champion. Within the co-main occasion, Tom Aspinall made fast work of Curtis Blaydes, leaving little doubt that he is among the best strikers on this planet. To make sense of all of it, Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale and Jeff Wagenheim supply their remaining ideas.
The stage was set for Leon Edwards to placed on a starry efficiency. It was early into Sunday morning — with the solar nonetheless down — however the followers at Co-op Reside area have been absolutely awake and able to cheer on a present after simply having watched two different native heroes, Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett, rating rousing first-round finishes.
Edwards didn’t ship the locals house pleased, although. It wasn’t just because he misplaced his UFC welterweight championship to Belal Muhammad. By the point the choice was being learn, the solar was rising in Manchester, however the vitality within the constructing had already been deadened. The primary occasion had primarily performed out with the challenger in dominant positions on the canvas or in clinches, as he piled up over 12 minutes of management time. Muhammad by no means significantly threatened a end, however he gave Edwards little alternative for an enormous efficiency and the British followers little purpose to cheer.
This was exactly what Muhammad had stated he was going to do. But it surely appeared unlikely, on condition that Edwards’ previous three fights had been towards robust wrestlers — Kamaru Usman twice and Colby Covington — and the champ had principally saved these fights standing, the place he’s most harmful. Even when Edwards and Muhammad first met in 2021, in a bout that ended early in Spherical 2 as a no-contest after an eye fixed poke rendered Muhammad unable to proceed, Edwards had saved the struggle in positions the place he might get the higher of it.
Not this time. Though Edwards had an enormous third spherical, getting a takedown early and threatening a submission till the horn, and though he turned across the remaining spherical and landed a late elbow that left Muhammad’s face bloody, the soon-to-be-dethroned champ was unable to generate constant offense. His title reign simply petered out.
So now Muhammad is the newest everyman to personal a UFC belt, following within the footsteps of men resembling Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, fighters who placed on championship-winning performances however lack the star energy the UFC brass craves. Muhammad deserves all of the accolades for this victory, however will these accolades come his means?
The UFC star-building machine has by no means precisely embraced Edwards. So good luck to Muhammad, who had waited a very long time earlier than being given his shot. He needed to go on a 10-fight unbeaten run earlier than getting a date with Edwards. He made probably the most of it on this evening, however the smothering model through which he secured his title would have made this struggle a yawner even when it weren’t taking part in out in entrance of his opponent’s house followers and the sleepy hours of the evening. — Wagenheim
Is Jon Jones going to reply the cellphone for Tom Aspinall?
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Tom Aspinall delivers message to Jon Jones after title protection
Tom Aspinall tells Jon Jones he is higher than him after his fast win over Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304.
Hale: All Aspinall wanted was one minute to avenge the lone blemish on his UFC report by annihilating Blaydes. Exterior of Ciryl Gane, there’s no one else left for Aspinall to struggle who would current an inexpensive risk.
Other than the TKO loss because of harm, Aspinall has worn out the higher crust of the heavyweight division with little to no resistance. Aspinall’s previous three fights towards Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich and Marcin Tybura have lasted a grand whole of three minutes and 22 seconds, with none going longer than 90 seconds. Aspinall entered the Octagon with a median struggle time of two:10, the shortest in UFC historical past. The 60 seconds it took to dispatch Blaydes will lengthen his lead.
For what it is price, Jones has each proper to disregard the decision and trip off into the sundown when he presumably beats Stipe Miocic in November. It most likely will not diminish his stature as the best blended martial artist, contemplating that he has way more to lose than acquire in a struggle with Aspinall.
Nevertheless, if he needs to show that he is nonetheless one of the best fighter on this planet, Jones should reply the hardest problem of his UFC profession towards a person who is larger, sooner and extra highly effective than anyone he has ever shared an Octagon with.
As massive as a struggle between Jones and Francis Ngannou was regarded as, the specter of Aspinall has eclipsed that and made Jones-Aspinall the largest struggle that may be made within the UFC, outdoors of something Conor McGregor.
Paddy Pimblett was all the time this good
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Paddy Pimblett wakes up Manchester with big submission win
Paddy Pimblett electrifies the Manchester crowd with an unbelievable submission win at UFC 304.
Okamoto: Here is how you understand Pimblett has achieved his job with regards to getting individuals to care about him — the overreactions to his performances.
When he beat Jared Gordon, in a struggle many scored for Gordon, it appeared like followers and pundits alike could not wait to leap off the bandwagon. When he failed to complete a veteran in Tony Ferguson, the “overrated” narrative grew. After which, after one (albeit) improbable submission victory over King Inexperienced, abruptly social media is flooded with “Paddy is the actual deal” feedback?
The game as a complete is swinging means too extensive with each Pimblett efficiency. What did he do Saturday that we did not know he might do? We all know he has a harmful floor recreation. We all know he tends to stand up when the highlight is at its brightest. This is not to downplay his previous exploits. The precise reverse, really.
It was one of the best win of his UFC profession to this point. However why are we treating it prefer it confirmed us one thing we have been oblivious to? I knew Pimblett might carry out like this, and I feel the UFC knew it, too. The highest of the division continues to be going to be robust for Pimblett. It was all the time going to be. The query of how far he can go continues to be on the market. And maybe for some, this final efficiency reveals he is for actual, however I used to be below the impression we already knew he was.
The Toronto Marlies have signed ahead Alex Nylander to a one-year American Hockey League contract.
Nylander, whose brother William is a ahead with the Maple Leafs, started the 2023-24 season with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, recording 17 targets and 15 assists for 32 factors in 43 video games. He was acquired by Columbus on Feb. 22, 2024, and went on to put up 11 targets and 4 assists in 23 video games with the Blue Jackets.
Nylander has performed 330 profession AHL video games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Rockford and Rochester, totaling 94 targets and 116 assists for 210 factors. He set profession highs in 2022-23 with 25 targets and 50 factors, and was chosen to take part within the 2023 AHL All-Star Traditional.
A primary-round selection (eighth total) by Buffalo within the 2016 NHL Draft, Nylander has performed 121 video games within the NHL with the Sabres, Blackhawks, Penguins and Blue Jackets, tallying 25 targets and 24 assists.
PARIS (AP) — Lee Kiefer gained back-to-back gold medals in foil fencing and her teammate Lauren Scruggs took the silver Sunday to make historical past as the primary Black fencer to win an Olympic medal in a person girls’s occasion for the US.
Kiefer gained 15-6 within the last towards Scruggs and celebrated by pirouetting down the piste in pleasure. Realizing the U.S. anthem would play after the ultimate it doesn’t matter what “took the strain off,” Kiefer mentioned.
The vocal crowd within the cavernous Grand Palais was an enormous distinction to the hushed, empty venue in Chiba, Japan, the place Kiefer gained her first Olympic gold three years in the past underneath pandemic restrictions.
Kiefer devoted her win to Buckie Leach, who coached her to gold in Tokyo however died 20 days later in a motorbike accident. “He could be so glad for me,” she mentioned. “This one’s for him. I also have a image of him on my wall within the village.”
Kiefer’s gold medal is the fifth in a person occasion for a U.S. fencer. She follows Mariel Zagunis in 2004 and 2008 as the one American fencers to win gold in the identical occasion twice.
“Mariel, who did it earlier than me, she has been supporting me and being a very necessary particular person to maintain me feeling necessary and seen and empowered these previous years, so I actually wish to thank her for being that particular person,” Kiefer mentioned.
There hadn’t been an all-U.S. last in an Olympic fencing occasion since 2008, when Zagunis beat Sada Jacobson in saber as a part of an American podium sweep. Earlier than that, the final time it occurred was in 1904.
“I’m positively extra glad than upset,” Scruggs mentioned. “I believe that it was surprising for me to be right here within the first place, so I don’t even assume I’ve had time to course of dropping, if I’m being trustworthy. Simply surprising and simply tremendous grateful.”
It continues a speedy rise to the highest of world fencing for Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard pupil from Queens, New York.
“Possibly two years in the past, I actually thought I might make the staff, till final 12 months, I made my first senior staff,” she mentioned. “So to return out right here and medal is simply insane.”
Scruggs mentioned she desires to encourage younger Black fencers and present “that they’ve a spot within the sport.”
Kiefer is a part of a embellished Olympic energy couple.
Kiefer’s husband, Gerek Meinhardt, is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in males’s foil who will compete in two occasions in Paris. Kiefer and Meinhardt are medical college students on the College of Kentucky who’ve taken go away from their research to pursue their Olympic desires.
Requested about her future, Kiefer reeled off her and Meinhardt’s remaining occasions in Paris. “That’s so far as we’re pondering for now,” she mentioned.
Eleanor Harvey turned the primary Canadian ever to win an Olympic fencing medal when she beat Alice Volpi of Italy 15-12 for the bronze.
Additionally Sunday, Japan’s Koki Kano beat France’s Yannick Borel 15-9 for the boys’s epee gold medal. It was Japan’s first gold in a person Olympic fencing occasion.
The vocal dwelling crowd needed to accept silver for the second day in a row after Auriane Mallo-Breton misplaced within the girls’s epee last Saturday.
Mohamed Elsayed gained the bronze for Egypt 8-7 in additional time towards Hungary’s Tibor Andrasfi.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
L’ambiance était survoltée au stade Paris La Défense Aréna lors de la première épreuve olympique de Léon Marchand, le nageur français que toute la France attendait. « Allez, Léon, Léon Marchand », scandaient en choeur les spectateurs. La France se faisait tellement nombreuse que les autres pays ne se distinguaient pas dans les gradins remplis par près de 15 000 spectateurs.
Des bouchons « vos oreilles vous disent ouïe » étaient d’ailleurs disponibles à certains kiosques de l’amphithéâtre. Nécessaire si vous êtes fragiles des tympans puisque les cris de joie des Français faisaient littéralement trembler le plancher des gradins. On pouvait à peine entendre l’annonceur dire son nom lorsque le quintuple champion du monde a fait son entrée à la piscine olympique.
Vêtus des couleurs de leur pays, brandissant fièrement les pancartes à l’effigie de leur vedette montante, ils misaient beaucoup sur le jeune prodige de 22 ans, qui a pulvérisé le report de Michael Phelps aux championnats du monde de natation en juillet 2023 dans sa self-discipline fétiche, le 400 m quatre nage. Le report était détenu par le a number of médaillé olympique depuis 2008.
C’est d’ailleurs dans cette self-discipline que Léon Marchand entamait sa conquête olympique en remportant sans shock la médaille d’or. Avec un chrono de 4:02,95, on aurait cru qu’il nageait seul dans la piscine se détachant de tous ses adversaires avec une avance de près de 6 secondes. Il n’a laissé aucune likelihood à ses rivaux Tomoyuki Matsushita et Carson Foster, qui ont décroché respectivement la médaille d’argent et de bronze.
Il a ainsi battu encore une fois le report olympique détenu par nul autre que… Michael Phelps. Les comparaisons se font nombreuses avec le détenteur de 28 médailles olympiques. Les deux nageurs partagent d’ailleurs le même entraîneur, qui sait visiblement reconnaître les diamants bruts.
Chaque édition des Jeux olympiques a ses athlètes internationaux qui deviennent les incontournables. Cette année, ce sont la gymnaste Simone Biles, Noah Lyles en athlétisme ou encore le marathonien Eliud Kipchoge qui font tourner les têtes. Mais quand s’ajoute à ça une vedette locale, l’ambiance ne peut pas être plus électrisante.
C’est le sourire aux lèvres, visiblement ému, que Léon Marchand est allé chercher sa médaille d’or, sa première médaille olympique. Il était arrivé sixième dans la même self-discipline aux Jeux olympiques de Tokyo en 2021.
« J’ai envie de m’amuser et de me dépasser, on verra ce qu’il se passe », avait-il confié à son quotidien native, Actu Toulouse, avant son arrivée aux Jeux olympiques. Il lui reste encore trois programs individuelles à disputer, le 200 m papillon, le 200 m brasse et le 200 m quatre nages individuelles. Avec une médaille d’or au cou, c’est bien parti pour le dépassement. Il pourrait, selon les prédictions, repartir avec trois autres médailles d’or.
Ce reportage a été financé grâce au soutien du Fonds de journalisme worldwide Transat-Le Devoir.
PARIS − A pair of American ladies fencers on Sunday evening gained a pair of coveted Olympic medals – one gold and one silver.
Lee Kiefer beat teammate Lauren Scruggs on the Paris Video games within the ultimate bout of the ladies’s particular person foil competitors that showcased U.S. expertise.
Arguably, among the greatest fencing expertise the US has ever produced.
It was on show not solely within the golden medal bout – which Kiefer gained 15-6 – however in the course of the daylong competitors that ended with an All-American ultimate.
Kiefer stands solely 5-4 and 110 kilos. However she is a powerhouse.
2024 Olympic medals: Who’s main the medal rely? Observe alongside as we observe the medals for each sport.
She gained gold within the foil on the Tokyo Video games in 2021, and right here she defended that Olympic title whereas turning into solely the second U.S. fencer to win two Olympic gold medals in particular person competitors. She is married to Gerek Meinhardt, a five-time U.S. Olympic fencer who’s competing right here and was available to rejoice.
Contained in the cavernous Grand Palais Sunday evening, nonetheless, the second went past the 30-year-old Kiefer.
It marked the primary All-American ultimate within the particular person foil in Olympic historical past, and for that U.S. fencing additionally should thank Scruggs, the 21-year-old Harvard scholar from Queens, N.Y.
A primary-time Olympian, Scruggs was not anticipated to contend for gold. However when the competitors started Sunday, Scruggs dispatched one opponent after one other − 4 in whole.
Till she reached Kiefer.
Nobody might get previous Kiefer.
Nonetheless, Scruggs gained a silver medal in a bout that shined a lightweight on two distinctive paths.
Kiefer grew up in Kentucky and developed world-class abilities in a state a bit of higher recognized for basketball than fencing. She is a four-time Olympian who has a call to make: hold fencing, or return to medical faculty after an prolonged break to chase these Olympic desires?
If Kiefer retires, Scruggs may be the star in ready.
She skilled on the Peter Westbrook Basis, well-known for introducing the game to kids of coloration in New York.
Scruggs, who’s Black, distinguished herself internationally on the youth circuit. She was adequate to make the group at Harvard in 2021. Adequate to win an NCAA championship in foil final yr. And resulted in an All-American embrace, with Kiefer and Scruggs hugging after the historic bout.
Editor’s notice: Observe the newest Olympics stay outcomes, medal depend and updates for Sunday, July 28.
PARIS – On a flawlessly sunny Sunday morning on the base of the Eiffel Tower, a convicted baby rapist performed and misplaced an Olympic seaside volleyball match.
Such an exquisite setting for such an unsightly sentence.
Those that don’t know the story of Dutch seaside volleyballer Steven van de Velde, I envy you. It’s the nastiest storyline going regarding the proud athletes of those Paris Video games, and it may have been averted had somebody stood up for what’s proper. However nobody has, all the best way from the Netherlands to the Worldwide Olympic Committee.
In 2014, van de Velde, then 19, traveled to Milton Keynes, England to see a 12-year-old woman he’d met on-line. In response to the MK Citizen’s 2016 account of the trial, van de Velde knew her age, took her virginity and authorities had been notified when she sought the morning-after capsule.
2024 Olympic medals: Who’s main the medal depend? Observe alongside as we monitor the medals for each sport.
Repeat: She was 12 years previous.
It was revealed in courtroom, too, that she had “since self-harmed and brought an overdose.”
Van de Velde hasn’t denied what occurred. In a 2018 interview with Dutch NOS Sport, he admitted his actions and expressed remorse for “the largest mistake of my life.”
“I made that snap determination,” he mentioned. “I booked that ticket within the morning and flew out within the afternoon. Yeah, and as you already know, issues occurred. We had intercourse, and I got here again the subsequent day. I can not get round it. I may also maintain blaming myself 100 thousand occasions for it occurring and the way it occurred.”
As van de Velde was sentenced in England to 4 years in jail (he served a few yr resulting from differing legal guidelines within the Netherlands), the choose Francis Sheridan instructed him (per the MK Citizen), “Previous to coming to this nation you had been coaching as a possible Olympian. Your hopes of representing your nation now lie as a shattered dream.”
You’d have thought so, huh?
Not solely is van de Velde being allowed to compete in Paris. He’s being given particular remedy. He’s not staying with different athletes or his teammate Matthew Immers within the Olympic Village. He’s permitted to skip necessary media availability and dodge the interview space after his matches.
He subsequently missed out on the uncomfortable questions that Immers confronted after Sunday’s loss to Italy’s Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri.
“He isn’t right here as a result of he simply needs to relaxation his thoughts and deal with the sport,” Immers mentioned.
“The primary cause is we need to speak about sports activities, particularly him,” mentioned John Van Vliet, press officer for the Netherlands workforce. “We’re very a lot conscious that if we convey out Steven right here, it will not (be) about his sport and his efficiency. … It is one thing that should not be introduced up by sports activities in a match which he certified for.”
Should not be introduced up by sports activities?
Then he shouldn’t be competing right here. Interval.
It is being introduced up continually. Sunday’s victorious Italian opponents even stormed off from a post-match interview session, scolding reporters for asking solely in regards to the controversy.
That Dutch officers really feel compelled to guard van de Velde and conceal him away from the world’s best sporting spectacle demonstrates why he mustn’t have been allowed to be part of it within the first place.
However nobody ever made that call. His inclusion was the results of the Netherlands Volleyball Federation (Nevobo) backing him publicly. So did the nation’s Olympics management, and IOC spokesperson Mark Adams deferred to that help Saturday when requested about van de Velde’s participation.
“I’m grateful to the Dutch Volleyball Federation,” van de Velde mentioned in an earlier assertion launched by Nevobo, “as a result of they supplied me, with clear situations and agreements, a future on this stunning sport once more. However I additionally assume again to {the teenager} I used to be, who was insecure, not prepared for a life as a high class athlete and sad inside, as a result of I did not know who I used to be and what I needed.”
The entire state of affairs is disgusting.
Anybody who’d wish to view an Olympics as a unifying and inspirational drive on our sophisticated planet – and they’re – ought to be appalled at van de Velde’s inclusion. And appalled, too, at how these in van de Velde’s orbit maintain dealing with the worldwide controversy it has ignited, placing athletics capability over moral duty on the one place it ought to be probably the most paramount.
Perhaps one thing was misplaced within the transition to English, however I heard a variety of concern for van de Velde from Immers and Van Vliet on Sunday. Not a lot regard, although, for his sufferer or for advocates of sexual assualt victims who’ve been rightfully bothered by his presence in these Olympics.
Immers mentioned he was “dissatisfied” at how “large” the story has turn into. Requested if he was dissatisfied, although, by van de Velde’s motion, he replied, “No, under no circumstances. I don’t need to speak about (these) actions at this level and all the large consideration. I’ve recognized the man for 3 years, 4 years now, and we’ve performed each match, and proper now they make a very large dialogue of it.”
In clarifying that remark, Van Vliet mentioned, “(Immers) has been taking part in with (van de Velde) many, many tournaments the final three years. It has by no means been a problem.”
It’s not obscure why it is a problem now, although. The Olympics isn’t like these many, many tournaments, nor ought to it’s in comparison with them.
I am all for second probabilities, however any try to coerce sympathy for van de Velde or clarify his actions as some youthful mistake ought to stop proper right here:
She was 12 years previous.
Nothing else issues.
Besides, evidently, the Dutch successful a seaside volleyball match. On Sunday morning, they didn’t even do this.
They misplaced. And the Paris Olympics did, too.
Attain sports activities columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and on the X platform (previously generally known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential election, establishing a showdown with the federal government, which earlier declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner.
“The Venezuelans and your complete world know what occurred,” opposition candidate Edmundo González mentioned in his first remarks.
Opposition chief Maria Corina Machado mentioned the margin of González’s victory was “overwhelming” primarily based on voting tallies it had acquired from marketing campaign representatives from about 40% of poll containers nationwide.
The Nationwide Electoral Council, which is managed by Maduro loyalists, earlier mentioned Maduro had secured 51% of the vote to 44% for González. However it didn’t launch the tallies from every of the 30,000 polling cubicles nationwide, promising solely to take action within the “coming hours,” hampering the flexibility to confirm the outcomes.
International leaders held off recognizing the outcomes.
“The Maduro regime ought to perceive that the outcomes it revealed are troublesome to consider,” mentioned Gabriel Boric, the leftist chief of Chile. “We gained’t acknowledge any end result that’s not verifiable.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned the U.S. has “severe considerations that the end result introduced doesn’t mirror the need or the votes of the Venezuelan folks,” talking in Tokyo.
The delay in saying outcomes — six hours after polls have been supposed to shut — indicated a deep debate inside the federal government about how you can proceed after Maduro’s opponents got here out early within the night all however claiming victory.
When Maduro lastly got here out to have a good time the outcomes, he accused unidentified overseas enemies of making an attempt to hack the voting system.
“This isn’t the primary time that they’ve tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he mentioned to some hundred supporters on the presidential palace. He offered no proof to again the declare however promised “justice” for many who attempt to stir violence in Venezuela.
Opposition representatives mentioned tallies they collected from marketing campaign representatives on the polling stations confirmed González trouncing Maduro. In the meantime, the pinnacle of the electoral council mentioned it will launch the official voting acts within the coming hours.
Maduro celebrated the end result with just a few a whole lot supporters on the presidential palace.
Maduro, in looking for a 3rd time period, confronted his hardest problem but from the unlikeliest of opponents in González: a retired diplomat who was unknown to voters earlier than being tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado.
Earlier, opposition leaders celebrating, on-line and out of doors just a few voting facilities, what they assured was a landslide victory for González.
“I’m so completely satisfied,” mentioned Merling Fernández, a 31-year-old financial institution worker, as a consultant for the opposition marketing campaign walked out of 1 voting middle in a working class neighborhood of Caracas to announce outcomes exhibiting González greater than doubled Maduro’s vote rely. Dozens standing close by erupted in an impromptu rendition of the nationwide anthem.
“That is the trail towards a brand new Venezuela,” added Fernández, holding again tears. “We’re all uninterested in this yoke.”
Voters began lining up at some voting facilities throughout the nation earlier than daybreak Sunday, sharing water, espresso and snacks for a number of hours.
The election may have ripple results all through the Americas, with authorities opponents and supporters alike signaling their curiosity in becoming a member of the exodus of seven.7 million Venezuelans who’ve already left their houses for alternatives overseas ought to Maduro win one other six yr time period.
Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with what would have been the seventieth birthday of former President Hugo Chávez, the revered leftist firebrand who died of most cancers in 2013, leaving his Bolivarian revolution within the fingers of Maduro. However Maduro and his United Socialist Occasion of Venezuela are extra unpopular than ever amongst many citizens who blame his insurance policies for crushing wages, spurring starvation, crippling the oil business and separating households resulting from migration.
The opposition managed to line up behind a single candidate after years of intraparty divisions and election boycotts that torpedoed their ambitions to topple the ruling social gathering.
Machado was blocked by the Maduro-controlled supreme courtroom from operating for any workplace for 15 years. A former lawmaker, she swept the opposition’s October main with over 90% of the vote. After she was blocked from becoming a member of the presidential race, she selected a university professor as her substitute on the poll, however the Nationwide Electoral Council additionally barred her from registering. That’s when González, a political newcomer, was chosen.
Sunday’s poll additionally featured eight different candidates difficult Maduro, however solely González threatens Maduro’s rule.
After voting, Maduro mentioned he would acknowledge the election end result and urged all different candidates to publicly declare that they’d do the identical.
“Nobody goes to create chaos in Venezuela,” Maduro mentioned. “I acknowledge and can acknowledge the electoral referee, the official bulletins and I’ll ensure they’re acknowledged.”
Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves, and as soon as boasted Latin America’s most superior economic system. However it entered right into a free fall after Maduro took the helm. Plummeting oil costs, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared previous 130,000% led first to social unrest after which mass emigration.
Financial sanctions from the U.S. looking for to drive Maduro from energy after his 2018 reelection — which the U.S. and dozens of different nations condemned as illegitimate — solely deepened the disaster.
Maduro’s pitch to voters this election was one in every of financial safety, which he tried to promote with tales of entrepreneurship and references to a steady forex change and decrease inflation charges. The Worldwide Financial Fund forecasts the economic system will develop 4% this yr — one of many quickest in Latin America — after having shrunk 71% from 2012 to 2020.
However most Venezuelans haven’t seen any enchancment of their high quality of life. Many earn beneath $200 a month, which implies households wrestle to afford important objects. Some work second and third jobs. A basket of fundamental staples — enough to feed a household of 4 for a month — prices an estimated $385.
The opposition has tried to grab on the large inequalities arising from the disaster, throughout which Venezuelans deserted their nation’s forex, the bolivar, for the U.S. greenback.
González and Machado centered a lot of their campaigning on Venezuela’s huge hinterland, the place the financial exercise seen in Caracas lately didn’t materialize. They promised a authorities that might create enough jobs to draw Venezuelans residing overseas to return residence and reunite with their households.
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Related Press author Fabiola Sánchez contributed to this report.
PARIS — The evil that males do lives after them, wrote Shakespeare, and so forth Sunday morning there was some booing – some, however not a crescendo – when the Dutchman took the sand.
Above was the Eiffel Tower. Forward was a first-round match in Olympic seaside volleyball in opposition to two preening Italians. And behind Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands was a horror that may hang-out him each time he seems earlier than associates, Romans, and countrymen.
Article content material
Most Olympian bios say “Enjoys listening to music.” Steven van de Velde’s says “Admitted to a few counts of rape.”
It was in 2014 and the Hollander was nineteen, tall, and well-muscled, a rising star in his sport. He had met a British lady on Fb and issues developed digitally as, within the twenty first century, this stuff do. On Skype and Snapchat, they storyboarded a rendezvous on the lady’s residence within the metropolis of Milton Keynes.
The lady was twelve years previous, and the person from The Hague nicely knew it.
“Van de Velde had intensive contact with the sufferer on social media previous to the offences being dedicated and was totally conscious of her age,” a Detective Constable of the Milton Keynes police acknowledged when the crime got here to gentle.
“Throughout that night, he gave her alcohol earlier than raping her close to Furzton Lake. On the next day he dedicated additional sexual offences in opposition to her earlier than leaving for Luton Airport to journey again to the Netherlands,” an area newspaper reported.
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Van de Velde turned himself in.
“Your hopes of representing your nation now lie as a shattered dream,” thundered a British decide, imposing a four-year sentence.
“His profession now lies in ruins,” the Bucks Herald predicted.
Van de Velde served twelve months in a British jail and was despatched again residence to Holland. A month later, he was free.
“I’ve been branded as a intercourse monster, as a pedophile. That I’m not — actually not,” he advised the Algemeen Dagblad.
He returned to seaside volleyball and some years later, with a accomplice named Matthew Immers, rose by way of the ranks of his countrymen. This 12 months, they certified for the Olympic Video games and the non permanent stadium that the Parisians, with their customary éclat, had constructed beneath the Eiffel Tower.
Steven van de Velde of Workforce Netherlands reacts throughout the Males’s Preliminary Section – Pool B match between Workforce Netherlands and Workforce Italy on Day 2 of the Olympic Video games.Picture by Cameron Spencer /Getty Photos
Ninety thousand individuals signed a web-based petition to the Worldwide Olympic Committee looking for to have van de Velde banned from the competitors. There actually was ample precedent. Boxing champion Mike Tyson had served three years of a six-year sentence for raping an 18-year-old lady in a resort room in Indianapolis. Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens slugged his fiancée within the face in a drunken melée and by no means performed within the Nationwide Soccer League once more. Wunderkind shortstop Wander Franco of the Tampa Bay Rays, a married father of two, has been charged with sexual assault in opposition to a 14-year-old within the Dominican Republic and hasn’t swung a bat this season.
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The IOC volleyed the potato again to the Dutch; we don’t intervene with particular person accreditations, shrugged the sovereigns. (Apartheid South Africa, Talibani Afghanistan, Putin’s Russia, solely these fall inside their purview.)
The Nationwide Olympic Committee of the Netherlands decreed that Steven van de Velde, who now’s reported to have a home accomplice and a child daughter, had totally paid his debt.
And so, Paris.
On Sunday morning, in sensible sunshine, the non permanent stadium beneath the tower was a raucous setting for the Dutchman’s Olympic debut. Van de Velde and Immers could be going through the taunting, flexing, Alex (“Tower of Terror”) Ranghieri and Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich, AKA “The World’s Most Entertaining Participant,” AKA “Mister Skyball,” the practitioner of a improbable, inconceivable, backhanded serve that flies fifty, sixty, seventy metres straight into the sky, daring to be returned.
In the course of the introductions, supporters of the Italianos within the metallic grandstand out-screamed the orange-clad twenty to at least one. When van de Velde’s title was referred to as, there was sufficient hooting across the quadrangle to be worthy of reporting, however it was hardly a cauldron of disgrace.
Coolly, unemotionally, the Dutch held their very own on each level.
Within the first set, a service ace and a leaping block by van de Velde tied the match at 20, however the Italians scored the following two factors.
Within the second set, the Dutch got here from behind to even the match. However the Italians prevailed, 15-13, within the deciding set and the morning ended with Matthew Immers face down within the mud.
A couple of minutes later, Steven van de Velde had been led away by way of a non-public tunnel and Immers got here to the microphones and advised us, “He’s not right here as a result of he simply needs to relaxation his thoughts.”
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