Simeone leaves Costa at home for Atletico's Chelsea trip

 The Spain international will not make the trip to Stamford Bridge as his current club meet his former employers in midweek

Diego Simeone has decided to leave Diego Costa in Spain as Atletico Madrid prepare for Tuesday's Champions League clash with the striker's former club Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Costa left Chelsea in September following a breakdown in relations with head coach Antonio Conte and returned to Atleti, having departed to join the Premier League champions in 2014.

The Spain international is not eligible to make his second Atletico debut until January and Simeone has opted to avoid the potential distraction of Costa returning to his old stomping ground.

Asked why the 29-year-old had not travelled to the London, Simeone told a pre-match news conference: "Because I am the manager. I made the best decision what I think was best for the team.

"I don't think we need to think about that too much. We need to think about our game tomorrow."

Costa was in the stands at the Wanda Metropolitano when Chelsea claimed a brilliant 2-1 away win in the immediate aftermath of his transfer being finalised.

Atletico remained winless in Group C until a spectacular volley from Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro's late second saw them beat Roma 2-0 last time out.

To progress, the 2014 and 2016 finalists must beat Chelsea and hope Qarabag are able to draw against Roma – a feat they managed twice versus Simeone's men.

"We don't have to be looking about what happens in Rome," the Argentinian added. "We just have to think about us.

"It's not going to be a simple game. We need to take the game to where we feel we can hurt Chelsea.

"It's a personal challenge to fight for everything we've worked for these last few years."

One ex-Chelsea man who is set to be involved on Tuesday is Filipe Luis and the left-back told reporters there is something of the caged animal about the match's most noted non-participant at present.

"Diego is a huge player. He is the best for me because he scores a lot of goals and important goals," he said.

"I think he came back to Atletico because it was his desire. He was happy here. He did his job really well. His most important desire was to come back.

"It is frustrating seeing him playing [in training] like an animal, but he can't play. It's just a month until he can play with us. He'll help us a lot. I don't have any doubts about it.

"He knows the club, he knows the way we play. He has already adapted. I know it was difficult times for him and for Chelsea. Now everybody's happy. We want to see him play and happy again."

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Get Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and World in Conflict free from Ubisoft this month

Get Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and World in Conflict free from Ubisoft this month

It’s the season for giving away free games. Following on from Blizzard’s decision to drop the price of StarCraft 2 to zero, Ubisoft is giving away two excellent titles from its back catalog: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and World in Conflict.

Ubisoft explains that the promotion is part of an anniversary celebration. It’s been ten years since both the real-time strategy and the very first Assassin’s Creed game were launched. If, like me, you can remember these releases, finding out it’s been a whole decade since they arrived will likely make you feel even older.

Before the arrival of Origins, most people’s favorite Assassin’s Creed title was either Black Flag or the second game in the series. The adventures of Edward Kenway and the fantastic naval battles make it my pick of the franchise. Just over four years since it launched, Black Flag still looks great and is a joy to play.

Word in Conflict is one of those games that, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews, is often missed when it comes to naming the all-time best RTS titles. Set in an alternate 1989 and taking place a few months after the start of World War III, it features one of the best tactical nuclear strike weapons in gaming history. Ubisoft’s giveaway also includes its Soviet Assault expansion.

To take advantage of this offer, simply log into Uplay, where you can download and permanently keep World In Conflict until the deal ends on December 11. Black Flag, meanwhile, is free from December 12 to December 18.

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Only 26 percent of Hurricane Harvey survivors had FEMA aid request approved, survey finds

A new survey of Southeast Texas residents shows that many survivors of Hurricane Harvey continue to suffer the effects — including financial losses and mental distress — of the historic late August storm, with the greatest hardship reported by Hispanics, African Americans and people with low income.

The survey found that, although the flooding in Houston received the bulk of the media coverage, residents in the state’s “Golden Triangle,” which includes Beaumont and Port Arthur, as well residents in the coastal areas of Corpus Christi and Rockport where Harvey made landfall, were most likely to report damage to their homes or ongoing problems getting their lives back on track.

The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Episcopal Health Foundation conducted the survey between Oct. 17 and Nov. 20, using cellphones and landlines to obtain responses from 1,635 randomly selected adults in 24 Texas counties hammered by Harvey. The survey’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

[ Federal aid claims jump tenfold in 2017, after series of record-breaking natural disasters ]

Two out of three respondents said they’d personally suffered property damage, lost income or job disruptions. About 4 in 10 hurricane survivors applied for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Small Business Administration.

But only 26 percent said they’d been approved, and 33 percent said they’d been denied. The remainder said their applications were pending or they simply didn’t know the status of their cases. About 4 in 10 of the people who had been denied assistance said they weren’t given a reason. About 6 in 10 said they were not given instructions on how to revise their applications.

Sixty-four percent of black residents said they weren’t getting the help they need, along with 44 percent of Hispanics and 37 percent of whites.

“A lot of people who were affected say they need more help,” said Liz Hamel, a researcher with Kaiser who worked on the study.

A FEMA spokesperson Monday afternoon said the agency had not yet seen the embargoed study, and pointed to a news release stating that more than $10 billion in federal and state assistance has helped Texans recover from Harvey. That includes $1.4 billion in federal money given to 350,000 homeowners and renters, and $2.6 billion in low-interest loans to businesses. Inspectors examined 580,000 damaged homes, FEMA said, and volunteers “mucked and gutted” 18,000 homes.

Jackie Chandler, spokeswoman for FEMA’s Hurricane Harvey response in Texas, said Monday night that people who are declared ineligible for assistance are always given specific reasons, in a letter, for that determination. “The reason is in their letter. Everybody should know why they are ineligible.”

There are a number of common reasons for such a decision by FEMA, she said. At the top of the list is that people already have insurance. Or they may have damage that is relatively minor; FEMA does not claim it will make people “whole” after a disaster. Another common reason: More than one person in the household files for disaster assistance.

Chandler said people have the right to appeal the decision. But she acknowledged that the bureaucratic hurdles can be difficult for people who have been through a natural disaster.

“There’s this whole process they have to go through, and I’m sure that can be frustrating and confusing. They call it a catastrophic disaster for a reason,” she said. “Yes, it’s hard to understand it. We go to them to help them through that process.”

The survey points to an enduring challenge for emergency management agencies: People with low levels of income often don’t have a “rainy day” fund. Of the people negatively affected by Harvey, nearly half — 48 percent — reported having no savings at all.

Nearly 2 in 3 Hispanics (65 percent) reported income losses, as did 46 percent of African Americans and 31 percent of whites.

“The people who were struggling before the storm — people with lower income — they were hit harder and they were having more trouble recovering as well,” Hamel said.

Eighteen percent of the people who suffered income or property losses said their mental health has declined since the hurricane. In the Golden Triangle, that number was higher — 33 percent. And 36 percent said they’d had trouble controlling their temper since the storm.

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'House of Cards' to resume production in early 2018, sans Kevin Spacey

Suspended by the sexual abuse scandal that led to Kevin Spacey's firing, House of Cards will resume production on its sixth and last season in early 2018, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said Monday.

Speaking at the Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, Sarandos said Netflix reached an agreement to finish up the last season with eight episodes instead of the usual 13, and without Spacey's character, malevolent ex-president Frank Underwood, reports The Wrap, Variety, and Deadline.

Instead, the final season will focus on Robin Wright's character, Claire Underwood, who's gone from being the first lady to vice president and then ascended to the presidency in Season 5 after her husband resigned.

“I can actually give you some news in the room today because we have been in arrangement to produce a sixth season of House of Cards. It’ll be an eight-episode season that’ll start production early ’18, and it will not involve Kevin Spacey,” Sarandos said. “It will star Robin Wright. And we’re really excited about bringing some closure to the show for fans.”

Sarandos said the lifting of the Cards suspension will not only bring closure but return 370 people who work for the show to their jobs. In addition, he said, about 2,000 people in the Baltimore area have jobs linked to Cards, which is filmed there. 

Last week, the production company, MRC, told the cast and crew the suspension of Netflix' first major original show would be extended through Dec. 8 but said the crew would be paid during the break. Now, production will remain on hiatus into the new year.

Netflix fired Spacey in November after the first allegations of sexual misconduct against him surfaced in late October when Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp said Spacey had made sexual moves on him in his New York apartment in 1986, when Rapp was 14.

“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey," Netflix said in a statement on Nov. 3.

Since Rapp came forward, more than a dozen men have accused Spacey of misconduct ranging from groping to assault in episodes as recent as last year and as far back as three decades.

Spacey is currently under criminal investigation in Nantucket, Mass., in connection with an allegation that he groped a 19-year-old man in a bar in the summer of 2016.

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Netflix's Ted Sarandos Confirms 'House of Cards' Is Returning Without Kevin Spacey

On Monday, Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos confirmed the streaming service’s plans for ending its popular original series about (fictional) deception and criminal behavior in the White House. Speaking to analysts and investors at UBS’s Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, Sarandos announced that Netflix will resume production on House of Cards‘ sixth and final season in 2018 and that Spacey’s character Frank Underwood will not be a part of the show’s final season.

Sarandos did not offer a timeframe for when the final season of House of Cards will be available for streaming on Netflix, but he said the season will be comprised of eight episodes after the previous five seasons all featured 13 episodes each.

Sarandos reportedly said the series’ final bow will “bring closure of the show for fans,” many of whom had been concerned that Netflix would never wrap up the show after firing Spacey last month in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against the star. Netflix suspended production of the sixth season of House of Cards at the end of October after actor Anthony Rapp came forward to accuse Spacey of making unwanted sexual advances toward him more than three decades ago when Rapp was underage. In early November, Netflix went a step further, announcing that the service would no longer work with Spacey, also deciding to shelve the release of the actor’s Gore Vidal biopic, a Netflix original feature film that was already in post-production this fall.

(Spacey said he did not recall the incident described by Rapp, but apologized for what he said would have been “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”)

Sarandos added that resuming production on House of Cards also means that Netflix will be able to put the roughly 2,000 people in Baltimore, Md. (where the show is filmed) back to work. Rapp said recently that he’s experienced some backlash for going public with his accusations against Spacey, including from some House of Cards fans who had criticized Rapp for putting House of Cards‘ employees out of work indefinitely.

House of Cards was among Netflix’s first original series to become a breakout hit, earning a large following of fans along with critical acclaim after the first season of the David Fincher-produced political thriller debuted in 2013. That year, House of Cards became the first online-only series to earn an Emmy nomination and the show has since won seven Emmys in total, with Spacey nominated five times (but never winning) for his portrayal of Underwood.

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Newest stealth destroyer leaves BIW for at-sea trials

PHIPPSBURG — The second Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer built by Bath Iron Works cruised down the Kennebec River Monday afternoon for the ship’s first tests in the open ocean.

A crowd of several hundred people, including BIW employees and dozens of Navy crew members, waved and snapped pictures as the future USS Michael Monsoor passed the southern tip of Phippsburg just before 1 p.m. With its sharply angular hull and deckhouse, the futuristic-looking warship contrasted with the stone walls of Fort Popham as the 610-foot-long ship exited the Kennebec and headed toward the Gulf of Maine.

“It’s really exciting, and it’s breathtaking to see it,” said Carl Pinkham as he watched the guided missile destroyer he helped build steam toward the Gulf of Maine, accompanied by the Coast Guard, security boats and tugboats. Pinkham had gathered near Fort Popham with about a half-dozen other “preservation technicians” from BIW who perform the nonstop painting, sandblasting and other maintenance needed on destroyers under construction in Bath.

“It took awhile to get from where we started to where it is now,” Pinkham said.

Fabrication of the Monsoor began in 2010, with the keel-laying ceremony taking place in May 2013 and the christening held last June. Sea trials are the first major test of the high-tech ship before a Navy inspection team conducts additional at-sea testing early next year.

“Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) is currently on Builders Trials, testing the hull, mechanical and engineering components of the ship,” Bath Iron Works said in a statement. “While all these systems are tested pierside, there is no substitute for the real world testing taking place in the Gulf of Maine.”

The ship is named for Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, a Navy SEAL who was killed in Iraq in 2006 when he covered a grenade with his body to shield others from the blast. Monsoor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush.

Neither BIW nor the Navy released details of the Monsoor’s transit down the Kennebec or its travels around the Gulf of Maine for security purposes. The first Zumwalt-class destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, docked in Portland Harbor during its week-long sea trials in order to resupply and exchange passengers or crew.

Deborah Dow and Ed Cleary had no idea the ship would be passing by when they planned their traditional trip to Popham from Vassalboro on Monday. The two were impressed by the sight of the unusual ship.

“It’s amazing,” said Dow. “It was a nice surprise.”

It was sunny with temperatures in the upper 30s on Monday afternoon, although gusting winds gave the air a bite. There were noticeably fewer spectators at Popham on Monday for the Monsoor compared to the first transit of its predecessor, the USS Zumwalt, almost exactly two years earlier. But dozens of uniformed Monsoor crew members – who were not part of the first stage of the builder’s trials – gathered on the beach to pose for pictures of the passing ship and then wave to those on board.

BIW, which is owned by General Dynamics, currently has six destroyers at various stages of construction in its Bath shipyard: two Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers and four of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that have provided guided missile capabilities around the globe.

The Zumwalts are the largest and most technologically advanced destroyers ever built for the Navy. They are designed to appear as much smaller vessels on radar thanks to their smooth exterior surfaces, “tumblehome” hull and other design features. While they are significantly larger than Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, automation will allow the Zumwalts to operate with half the crew of the other class. Zumwalts are also regarded as technological showcases for future ships in terms of their all-electric powerhouse and weaponry.

All of that technology comes at a cost, however. The Congressional Research Service has estimated that each of the three ships will cost more than $4 billion to construct, compared to about $1.6 billion for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The first ship of the class, the USS Zumwalt, was delivered to the Navy in May 2016 but experienced several high-profile mechanical failures, including one incident while transiting the Panama Canal. Experts said mechanical and technological problems are anticipated in the first ship of a new class, however.

The USS Zumwalt is currently being outfitted with its weapons and other systems at its home base in San Diego.

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Exiled son of slain Yemen ex-leader calls for revenge: Saudi-owned TV

ADEN/DUBAI (Reuters) - The son of Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh has called for revenge against the armed Houthi movement that killed the veteran leader after he switched sides in the civil war.

The intervention by the exiled Ahmed Ali Saleh, if confirmed, could shift the balance of power yet again after a dramatic week that saw the elder Saleh abandon his Houthi allies, who responded by killing him and routing his family’s forces from the capital Sanaa in street battles.

Yemen’s civil war, pitting the Iran-allied Houthis who control Sanaa against a Saudi-led military alliance backing a government based in the south, has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the United Nations warning of a potential famine that could threaten the lives of millions.

Yemen’s capital Sanaa was quiet on Tuesday after five days of fighting and 25 airstrikes overnight, and U.N. and Red Cross aid flights had landed at the airport, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said. The funeral of Saleh was expected later on Tuesday.

Arab states, which mainly support the Saudi-backed government, condemned the killing of the veteran ex-leader, saying his death could cause an “explosion” in the country.

The death of Saleh, who once compared ruling Yemen to dancing on the heads of snakes, deepens the complexity of the multi-sided war.

Much is likely to depend on the future allegiances of his loyalists, who had helped the Houthis, a Shi‘ite insurgent movement, seize and hold of much of the country until he dramatically switched sides on Saturday.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the report of comments by his son, a former leader of the elite Republican Guards who has been exiled in the United Arab Emirates, a country that backs the Saudi-led coalition.

“I will lead the battle until the last Houthi is thrown out of Yemen ... the blood of my father will be hell ringing in the ears of Iran,” Ahmed Ali Saleh was quoted as saying.

He called for his father’s backers to “take back Yemen from the Iranian Houthi militias”.

The Arabian peninsula’s poorest country, Yemen is one of the most violent fronts in a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who have also backed opposing sides in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere across the Middle East.

The Arab League’s general secretariat condemned the Iran-aligned Houthi movement which killed Saleh as a “terrorist organisation” and demanded that the international community view it as such.

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