The Juventus star is on fire in front of goal and that comes as no shock to his supposed rival
Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi isn’t surprised by Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent Serie A scoring streak for Juventus as he praised the striker’s ability to find the back of the net.
Ronaldo has scored in 11 straight league games for his Italian club despite turning 35 this month and has an impressive 24 goals to his name this season.
Messi, meanwhile, has gone four matches without a goal but has contributed six assists in his three most recent appearances for the Catalans.
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Though both players have always been prolific in front of goal, Messi believes Ronaldo has made scoring his obsession and isn’t surprised to see the Portuguese star continue to fire in the final third.
“It’s normal that he continues to score, he is a predatory striker, he loves to score, any day he plays he will score,” Messi told Mundo Deportivo when asked about Ronaldo’s recent performances.
“He has many good attributes as a forward and at the minimum he converts.”
Messi himself has struck 14 times across just 19 La Liga games this season for Barcelona as he also shows he still has an eye for goal at the age of 32.
Former teammate Carles Puyol recently backed the Argentina attacker to play on until he’s 38, with Messi himself admitting he’s feeling good despite his advancing age.
“The reality is that one is turning years old and does not know, but I feel very good, better than in previous years, and that I am not making goals, but on a physical level and legs I feel very good,” he said.
Asked if he could play on until he’s 40, Messi replied: “We will see, we will see.”
Barcelona are currently one point shy of Real Madrid in the race for the La Liga title this season and Messi believes the battle for first will go down to the wire.
“It is true that it is a year that in the league both Madrid and we are being very irregular, where we lost many points and in that sense I think we will be fighting until the end and that the league does not end after El Classico, whatever happens,” Messi said.
“There will be important matches. We have hard outings and they do too.
“Afterwards, it is true that if we want to qualify for the Champions League we have to continue growing a lot, because I think that today it is not enough for us to fight for the Champions League.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer speaks during a press conference to discuss a revised U.S. trade agreement with Mexico and Canada in the Rose Garden of the White House on October 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. U.S | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Charge of the Lighthizer brigade
US trade chief tears up rule book to wage battle for global dominance.
U.S. President Donald Trump may be waging a trade war, but Robert Lighthizer is fighting the new Cold War.
The U.S. trade representative and his crack troop of loyalists have been waiting years for an opportunity to go back to the glory days of Ronald Reagan, when America could swat off the Russians and the Japanese. Cruising beneath the chaos of the rest of the administration, the Lighthizer brigade are the well-oiled team that has a clear but ultra high-risk battle plan to smash China.
Their goal is to restore the U.S. to its position of economic and political dominance, even if that means tearing up the liberal rule book of global trade to get there and dynamiting the World Trade Organization in the process, according to trade experts, negotiating counterparts and associates who have known Lighthizer and his team for decades.
The world is now at a decisive moment. The Lighthizer brigade have charged past the point of no return and, in the coming months, it will become clear whether their gameplan is brilliant (for Americans), or suicidal folly.
Much of America sees the trade war as madness. Farmers and multinationals complain that they are the ones that will be shot to pieces by Washington’s desire to rescue moribund industries like steel. Even Lighthizer himself warns that America’s economic growth could take a short-term knock if Washington wants to deliver a long-term knockout blow against Beijing.
Then, there are the dangers of how the Chinese will react. Beijing is already warning ominously that it is out to defend its “national dignity,” not just its economy. This is bigger than a trade war.
Experts reckon that it is very unlikely that Beijing will limit its retaliation to tariffs and the realm of trade. Watch out for China to switch its offensive to asymmetrical warfare in the South China Sea and on the Korean peninsula in a broader battle for dominance with Washington.
“This fight is not just about who runs the world economy; it’s about who runs the world,” said Alicia García-Herrero, a China-based senior fellow at the think tank Bruegel and chief economist at the French bank NATIXIS.
Chinese business magnate Jack Ma also sounded the alarm. “It’s easy to launch a war but it’s difficult to stop the war,” Ma said at the WTO Public Forum.“When trade stops, sometimes the war starts … This thing, when it starts, it’s going to be difficult to stop.”
Many observers note that the Lighthizer Brigade have wrestled to focus Trump squarely on China rather than an all-out tariff offensive against almost every major trading partner. America’s WTO Deputy Director Alan Wolff, appointed shortly after Lighthizer took up his post, publicly noted that Trump is a wildcard who is alone among world leaders in saying “that all prior trade agreements are bad, and that he is unconcerned by the prospect of a trade war.”
War on two fronts
Lighthizer’s war to Make America Great Again will be fought on two fronts.
The first line of attack is to punch China right in the face. America has now imposed tariffs on an eye-watering $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, almost half of all U.S. imports from China. In addition, three people working with U.S. business said the administration is telling them to reduce their manufacturing footprint in the Middle Kingdom.
The basic message is clear: America wants its companies to bring production back home and get out of the firing line. Many of the goods being hit with tariffs are made by U.S. producers that moved to China. The increasingly high tariffs are offsetting the advantage of lower labor costs. Lighthizer has made sure to signal markets that the tariffs will stay on for a while.
For Beijing, this is a terrifying scenario. Squeezing the export-led economy could threaten the far flimsier domestic financial economy, propped up by murky networks of shadow banking.
García-Herrero stressed that the U.S. is looking to unleash a one-two punch. First, urge American businesses to move home, then hit the Chinese economy.
“The $200 billion tariff package is all about reshoring. It’s all about reshoring to the U.S., or reshoring somewhere else, but not China. They first need to delink their businesses from China to get real about economic war.”
The second front of Lighthizer’s war is broader and is tied to his obsession with America’s yawning deficit. The goal here is to revive the strong-arm tactics he used as deputy USTR against Japan in the 1980s to get allies such as Mexico, Canada, Japan and the EU to impose restrictions on their own exports.
The overriding Lighthizer mantra is that the U.S.’s massive $800 billion deficit is a problem. “If you don’t accept that, then everything we’re doing doesn’t make sense,” he told a Senate hearing in July.
Changing the paradigm
The phrase that Lighthizer repeatedly uses to describe his plan is “changing the paradigm.”
This means exploding liberal economic orthodoxy, as defended by the WTO. In editorials over the past few years, he has argued that conservatives should not be scared of trade defense. His argument goes that bona fide conservatives under Reagan won the battle against the rising Asian superpower of its day: Japan. Lighthizer would know: he was the deputy USTR who took on Tokyo.
Back in 2011, Lighthizer saw Trump as the potential maverick who could give him an opportunity to challenge conventional thinking. Early on, he leapt to the defense of the presidential hopeful when he was accused of protectionism for wanting to hit back against China.
“The icon of modern conservatism, Ronald Reagan, imposed quotas on imported steel, protected Harley-Davidson from Japanese competition, restrained import of semiconductors and automobiles, and took myriad similar steps to keep American industry strong,” Lighthizer wrote in the opinion pages of the Washington Times.
Forged in the steel mills
The roots of Lighthizer’s desire to defend U.S. business run deep. The 70-year-old from Ohio and his team were molded by their careers as anti-dumping lawyers at New-York based law firm Skadden, where they represented U.S. steel companies and other manufacturers against bargain-basement Chinese competitors.
“They watched many of their steel clients go bankrupt. At the same time they saw the withering of manufacturing of the steel companies’ customers,” said Alan Price, a Washington trade attorney who has known Lighthizer for more than two decades.
Lighthizer has filled the most senior positions in America’s trade department with former employees and colleagues from that time. “Jeff Gerrish, his deputy trade representative, USTR General Counsel Stephen Vaughn, and Jamieson Greer, his chief of staff, worked with Bob for more than a decade at Skadden,” Price said.
That allows Lighthizer to run a well-oiled team, Price continued, “almost uniquely in this administration … There isn’t infighting or second-guessing. They have faith in Bob leading them in the right direction.”
Many economists are critical about Trump’s obsession with the deficit and argue that it is a product of market forces, such as a strong dollar, high consumption and low savings rates. But Lighthizer and his team have experienced first hand that China’s massive state-led economic model can distort those market forces.
Terry Stewart, another trade attorney, who has known him since the 1980s, said Lighthizer believes Beijing was unfairly widening the U.S. deficit, killing off businesses that may otherwise have been profitable.
“My understanding [of] where Bob has come from on these issues over time has been that there is a misnomer that there is free trade, that you have various levels of liberalization and various levels of distortions … and government actors who have got their hand on the scale,” said Stewart.
‘High stakes game of poker’
Lighthizer has made clear that he’s in it for the long haul and that he expects the fight to be painful, even accepting that the U.S. economy may take a short-term hit in resetting the balance with Beijing.
“On the specific question of China, the reality is it’s going to take time,” he told senators in July. “There clearly is pain associated with what we’re doing.”
Stewart admitted the risks but stressed the U.S. has little choice left. “It’s a high stakes game of poker,” said Stewart. “Lots of lower-risk games of poker have been played for decades and we keep falling behind, the problems we have identified were not being addressed.”
Price, the other Washington trade attorney, said: “At this point you are seeing the U.S. basically say ‘we are going to push back on China, and guess what, it’s gonna be complicated to do, because our supply chains are fragile, our technology is increasingly fragile … but this is the last chance we have to do it.'” He added: “Bob can play that game very well.”
Tom Sneeringer, a trade attorney who worked with him at Skadden, said Lighthizer is used to opposition from businesses that have benefitted from cheaper Chinese imports.
“All of steel’s traditional opponents on these matters, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber, the Business Roundtable, all these organizations that had many, many multinational companies that had real strong interests in China. We constantly ran up against that wall and it became a matter of great frustration,” Sneeringer said. “I’m sure Bob must have said to himself, if I am ever able to be in a position of influence or power all this is coming back.”
Tough tactics
A European Commission trade official said Europe fears Lighthizer’s deficit fixation is leading to muscular tactics beyond China. Buoyed by his success forcing Japan to cap its own exports in the 1980s, he has also managed to impose the same kind of “voluntary” export restrictions on Mexico and Canada in NAFTA talks over the past few weeks. The fear is now that he will attempt the same in Europe.
“This is what Lighthizer likes,” the official said.
At the same time, the official said Lighthizer is an experienced negotiator, who is imposing a coherent plan while Washington is plunged into mayhem.
“Though we may not like his positions, it’s a guy who knows the trade world better than [Commerce Secretary] Wilbur Ross, for example. He’s been working on many anti-dumping cases, on trade defense, on negotiations. He knows what the WTO is.”
Another Commission official said that while Brussels opposes his confrontational methods, the EU still hopes Lighthizer would be successful in getting China to commit to real reform.
It’s still far from clear, however, who will win the Washington-Beijing encounter. U.S. midterm elections are due in November and Lighthizer is under no illusions about the pain that may be coming America’s way.
In a rare Fox News interview in June, Lighthizer admitted that the new tariffs would cut into economic growth. “Hopefully we can minimize that, but one thing I can tell you for sure … If we lose our technology, our innovation edge, we’re gonna have a serious problem long term and midterm with our economy.”
Glenn Hoddle is “concerned and a “little bit” worried after Tottenham lost 1-0 to RB Leipzig in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League clash on Wednesday night.
Spurs, without Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, struggled to create chances in the first leg of the last-16 tie and lost courtesy of Timo Werner’s second-half penalty.
Ben Davies gave the spot-kick away with a clumsy challenge on Konrad Laimer in the 56th minute and it leaves the Premier League top-four hopefuls with a deficit to wipe out in the second leg.
OPINION: Nobody expects perfection, but Spurs are better than that
“I’m concerned. I don’t know what they’re doing,” Hoddle said on BT Sport.
“I am a little bit [worried]. I don’t see a team pressing together, and I don’t see a team with good movement when they’ve got possession.
“You’ve got a problem there. And I think playing 4-4-2 in straight lines, there’s nothing wrong with it if you come off the lines and make a three in midfield and you have the strikers with the movement.
“I said it at half-time, they look like a team that are just hoping they’re going to play well, hoping they’ll get a break.
“I don’t see a team like Leipzig – they’ve got shape on the ball, they press, they knew both sides of the game, what they were all about, and you can see they were miles ahead of Tottenham on the night.”
Marcus Rashford’s season and Euro 2020 dreams could be over after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed the Manchester United star will be out for at least “another few months” with a back injury.
In a campaign of ups and downs at Old Trafford, the 22-year-old’s performances and goal had been one of the main positives.
But a fine end to the year has been followed by a galling start to 2020.
Solskjaer initially expected Rashford to miss six weeks with the double stress fracture to his back sustained in last month’s FA Cup replay against Wolves.
However, the United manager admits the England forward could miss the rest of the season – and perhaps even this summer’s European Championship.
“I would hope he’s playing this season but it’ll just be touch and go towards the end,” Solskjaer said ahead of the Europa League round of 32 first leg at Club Brugge.
“So hopefully we can go through and get through this tournament and prolong the season.
“It takes time. I’m not a doctor, but obviously I was hoping that he would recover quicker than it actually looks like he’s going to be out for. So, another few months definitely.”
Asked whether he would be in risk of missing Euro 2020, Solskjaer said: “Well, I would hope that he plays before then but we’re not sure, so if he’s not fit enough, he won’t go.”
With skipper Harry Kane also lied low, Solskjaer’s update will be the last thing England manager Gareth Southgate would want to hear.
The news is also a gut punch for a United side still in the hunt for FA Cup and Europa League glory, as well as a fight for the Champions League places.
Rashford had been confident of being “back before the season ends” after sustaining the injury at Wolves, just days after coming off against Norwich with a back complaint.
Asked if there had been a setback, Solskjaer said: “He had a scan and it was maybe more severe, that fracture, than what we hoped for and expected because he felt fine the few days before that.
“I’ve never had anatomy (classes) in school so I didn’t know it just takes that time to recover.
“But when he recovers, when he’s healed, he’ll be stronger for it, so it’s important that we don’t rush him. And we won’t do that.”
Rashford is among a number of absentees for the Europa League trip to Bruges.
Mason Greenwood, Axel Tuanzebe and Scott McTominay, who trained with the squad before flying to Belgium, will not fit to feature, nor will club-record signing Paul Pogba.
The World Cup winner’s recovery from an ankle injury continues slowly to background noise about his future, fuelled in recent days by divisive agent Mino Raiola.
“He’s not been part of team training yet, so it’ll depend on how he feels or when he feels ready to do that,” Solskjaer said. “He’s not anywhere near that yet.”
The role of Raiola is also understood to have played a part in Erling Haaland favouring Borussia Dortmund rather than Old Trafford.
The 19-year-old striker has underlined his position as one of the world’s greatest young talents since making the switch to Germany, netting twice as Paris St Germain were beaten 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“I normally never comment on opposition players,” Solskjaer, who coached Haaland at Molde, said. “But since I’ve had Erling, I’m just delighted for him.
“He’s a top boy, an absolutely fantastic kid you want the best for and he’s started fantastically with Dortmund, so we just watch him.
“For Norway, it’s brilliant for us that we have a striker who can score a goal again.”
Jose Mourinho bemoaned Tottenham’s injury problems in a spiky post-match interview after his side’s 1-0 loss to RB Leipzig.
Spurs were outplayed for the vast majority of the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and were perhaps fortunate to come away from the game with just a one-goal deficit.
OPINION: Nobody expects perfection, but Spurs are better than that
Eric Lamela and Tanguy Ndombele made a big difference to the home side when they came on for the last 20 minutes.
And Mourinho was asked by BT Sport whether the ‘real Spurs’ only really became apparent after the late substitutions.
He said: “What do you mean by the real Spurs? Come on, let’s be loyal to the boys and tell them they did everything they could do.
“Lamela [one of the substitutes] – you know how many training sessions with the team? Zero. Direct from injury to recovery with physios and then direct to 20 minutes in the Champions League.
“There are two perspectives – an amazing group and amazing guys but another side you see how we are at the moment.
“It’s a situation like going to fight with a gun without bullets.
“You can say we had luck in some moments, but a great goalkeeper made two magnificent saves.
“I’m not worried with the 1-0 – we can go there and win. What worries me is that these are our players for the next however many matches.
“Moura was absolutely dead, Bergwijn was absolutely dead, Lo Celso was absolutely dead.
“We are really in trouble. If it was just this game I’d say no problem but we have FA Cup and Premier League games.
“I know Lamela could only give us 20 minutes and I knew Ndombele could not play for 90 minutes. I tried to manage the pieces I had.
“Don’t tell me Lamela and Ndombele could have started the game, they couldn’t have started the game.
“Here we go Chelsea [who they are playing on Saturday at 12:30 GMT] drinking sparkling water with lemon. Saturday morning [looking at the interviewer – the game was moved for BT Sport coverage] – thank you very much for the choice.”
Some of Hollywood’s most politically active and vocal figures reacted to the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday by blaming Republicans and President Donald Trump and calling on Congress to pass more laws restricting the Second Amendment right of law-abiding gun owners.
“I’m sick of: ‘my thoughts and prayers’ they do nothing to stop the slaughter of innocent Americans at work and play. We need to have gun control now!! Not one more life should be lost to senseless preventable gun shootings!” actor John Leguizamo said.
“I blame trump! His hate speech is triggering all this violence against Latinx in America! Shameful and horrorful!” the John Wick actor later added.
“Another mass shooting. Another White Nationalist. There are not “fine people on both sides”. The President of the United States bears responsibility.” director Rob Reiner said.
“This is a public health crisis. Hold your lawmakers responsible,” actress Julianne Moore said.
NBC reports that at least 19 people have been killed and another 40 have been injured.
Breitbart News reports:
Nevertheless, left-wing Hollywood stars took a horrific and deadly massacre and made it about politics. Below is the latest Hollywood hate.
British comedian Ricky Gervais called out the hypocrisy of milkshake-throwing leftists, pointing out that those who endorse such violent acts are often the same people who believe that words and speech can equate to violence.
The concept of “milkshaking” has gained significant media attention in recent weeks amid multiple cases on both sides of the Atlantic of “anti-fascist” activists throwing milkshakes at conservative politicians, journalists, or ordinary members of the public.
Many on the left have sought to legitimize such behavior, arguing that it does not amount to violence or the common standard of assault. But not Ricky Gervais.
The 58-year-old comedian pointed out how those defending the throwing of milkshakes are often the same people who believe certain forms of speech should be classed as violence.
“It’s interesting that the people who believe that throwing a milkshake in someone’s face shouldn’t be considered assault are often the same people who believe that ‘saying things’ should be,” he said.
His comments came just after journalist Andy Ngo was brutally beaten by Antifa members in Portland, Oregon. The far-left Antifa thugs through punches and milkshakes on Ngo.
Gervais’ comments drew immediate anger from some of his fans, with reactions including jibes at his skin color to claims he was siding with “literal Nazis.”
Despite describing himself as a “champagne socialist,” Gervais has won plaudits in conservative and libertarian circles for his vociferous defense of free speech, something he says has led him to be branded an “alt-right Nazi.”
“I’m an old fashioned liberal lefty, champagne socialist type of guy,” he said in January. “A pro-equality, opportunity-for-all, welfare state snowflake. But, if I ever defend freedom of speech on here, I’m suddenly an alt right nazi. How did that happen?”
In 2016, Ricky Gervais correctly predicted the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, arguing that Donald Trump represented the “antidote” to an era of “peak political correctness.”
“People are tired of being told they can’t say things, so he’s suddenly this poster boy for saying what’s on your mind, however terrible it is,” The Office creator wrote at the time. “And it’s going to go the other way. Trump’s going to get in, and suddenly there’s going to be 32 Jon Stewarts. It’s cyclical; people build their different armies.”
Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at [email protected].
Vials containing biological samples at the Cancer Research U.K. Institute in Cambridge. | Dan Kitwood via Getty Images
Brainstorm white paper
5 questions for the future of cancer research
Personalized medicine makes evaluating new treatments even more difficult.
This article is part of the Global Policy Lab: Decoding Cancer.
Cancer research — especially when it comes to new treatments — is high risk, high reward. Fewer than four out of 100 drugs that enter the first stage of clinical trials ultimately make it to the market, but those that do can command high prices.
The risks are high for patients, too. Treatments like chemotherapy are essentially poisoning the body, hoping the tumors disappear before the whole body wastes away, and new immunotherapies come with a range of a debilitating side effects. And the reward is sometimes questionable: sometimes just a few more months of life. And occasionally the cure becomes the cause: a therapy that results in full remission of one cancer can cause others down the line.
As researchers get more ambitious about treating rare cancers and designing bespoke treatments based on an individual’s genes and cells, the picture only gets more complicated. Regulators and scientists are grappling with how to prove that a medicine works when it’s only meant to treat a tiny fraction of cases.
The POLITICO Global Policy Lab has been looking at ways to turbocharge cancer research in Europe while unraveling the thorny issues of prevention and personalized medicine. In this brainstorm white paper, we lay out the key questions facing policymakers and industry leaders as they look for new ways of treating cancer.
The problem: Europe is behind the U.S. when it comes to getting new drugs to the market. Researchers and investors say brainpower is not the problem. But fragmentation, confusion about data rules and limited public funding make it hard to get new therapies off the ground. German researchers say the challenge of getting public funding for clinical trials amounts to a “valley of death.” The question: What are the biggest barriers facing cancer researchers today?
The problem: Randomized controlled trials have historically been considered the gold standard for testing a new therapy. However, designing a valid study is much harder when only a few patients have a disease. When there’s no established treatment for a particular cancer, there’s heavy pressure to provide access to experimental medicines, even if their safety and efficacy is unproven. The question: Are clinical trials, authorization and pricing and reimbursement processes up to the task in an era of increasingly personalized treatments? What is the role of so-called real-world data, collected after patients start using a drug?
The problem: An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure to health systems, but with industry funding a high proportion of R&D, there’s not much profit motive to study ways to catch cancer early or improve patients lives short of a cure. A recent analysis of published cancer research argued that the EU’s largest countries — including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland — under performed on research into screening and palliative care. Research into genomics and epidemiology, however, is robust. The question: What’s the right balance of research emphasis between prevention and treatment?
The problem: Medicine is often a competitive, market-driven industry, with companies and even academic institutions reluctant to pool resources and cooperate on a common goal. Governments may be in the best position to bring together the best minds to focus on a major societal problem, independent of its money-making potential. With this in mind, European Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas has proposed a series of “missions” in the EU’s post-2020 budget for research funding, and he said cancer would be a logical domain. The question: When it comes to cancer, what’s the best target for a “moonshot” in Europe?
The problem: For many cancers, the ability to participate in clinical trials is tantamount to access to treatment. But European citizens who don’t live near a major academic hospital or affiliated clinic may be out of luck. Kids are also at a disadvantage: A European Commission report last year found that incentives to get drug developers to test cancer drugs made for adults in children aren’t working — even though many rare childhood cancers are treated with medicines made for a completely different cancer in adults. The question: What are the unique sources of disparities in cancer research, treatment and long-term care, and how do we address them?
The POLITICO Global Policy Lab is a collaborative journalism project seeking solutions to pressing policy problems. Join the community.
Former 2016 Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton spent nearly an hour sifting through emails as part of an art exhibit in Venice, Italy.
The former Democrat nominee is shown looking through more than 60,000 pages of emails printed out and placed in large stacks on a makeshift presidential resolute desk for an exhibit called, “HILLARY: The Hillary Clinton Emails,” by artist Kenneth Goldsmith.
Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, the exhibit’s curator, said in a statement that Clinton visited the Venetian Teatro Italia in Venice where the exhibit was being held on Tuesday and sat down at the resolute desk to look through the thousands of pages of emails.
Goldsmith told HuffPost Clinton’s visit to the exhibit was a complete surprise, while Ragazzi and other organizers thought her showing up was a joke.
“Someone close to Mrs. Clinton contacted us very informally a few days before her visit. We realized that it wasn’t a joke only when we saw the security service inside the exhibition space at 9 am on Tuesday,” exhibit organizers told HuffPost via email.
All the emails on the desk were sent in printed format from the domain name clintonemail.com between 2009 and 2013, according to a description of the exhibit from the co-organizer Zuecca Projects.
“It makes them accessible to everyone and allows everyone to read them,” Clinton reportedly told a local news outlet in Italy, adding that “they are just a bunch of boring emails.”
Clinton also tweeted about the exhibit on Thursday, saying, “Someone alert the House GOP”:
The exhibition, which started in May, runs until November 24.
At least 33 people were killed and dozens more injured after an arsonist allegedly set fire to a three-story animation studio in Kyoto, Japan, on Thursday.
Local police confirmed that 70 people were inside Kyoto’s Animation studio when a 41-year-old man threw what appeared to be gasoline, before setting fire to the building at around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.
At least 33 people have died as a result of the blaze and dozens more taken to hospital, many of whom were in life-threatening condition. The suspect survived the fire but was also taken to hospital for his injuries, meaning police were unable to question him.
The precise motives behind the believed attack currently remain unclear, although various reports indicate that he may have had a vendetta against the studio.
“A person with singed hair was lying down and there were bloody footprints,” a 59-year-old woman told local news agency Kyodo. “He seemed to be in pain, irritated and suffering, but also angry as if he was resentful. I heard him saying something like ‘you copied it.’”
Kyoto Animation Director Hideaki Hatta told local media that the company had recently been receiving threatening emails.
“They were addressed to our office and sales department and told us to die,” he said. “It is unbearable that the people who helped carry Japan’s animation industry were hurt and lost their lives in this way.”
The tragedy has sent shockwaves among the animation world, with fans around the world expressing their grief at the loss of one of Japan’s most successful animation studios.
Since its foundation in 1981, the studio, most commonly known as KyoAni, has produced dozens of popular animé series such as K-On and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. One of their most recent series, Violet Evergarden, was picked up by Netflix for global distribution, receiving significant praise from viewers and critics alike.
Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo took to Twitter to offer his condolences, saying he was left “speechless” by the gruesomeness of the crime.
“There are a lot of casualties following today’s arson murder spree in Kyoto,” he wrote. “I’m speechless. I pray for the souls of those who have passed away. I would like to express my condolences to all of the injured and wish them a speedy recovery.”
Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at [email protected]