TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 19, 2023--

Qatar said it’s committed to following through on the billions of dollars in investments pledged to cash-strapped Egypt,

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

It’s a sad inevitability that the big names defending Russell Brand are some of the most influential in the world. Elon Musk and Andrew Tate – two of the most Googled people on the planet – have already publicly backed the 48-year-old comedian, as have those great champions of right-wing and conservative conspiracy theories: Alex Jones, Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson. And so it comes as no surprise that Pearl Davis, the woman who proudly owns the nickname “the female Andrew Tate”, is the latest red pill ideologist to throw her support behind Brand, who vehemently denies all the allegations made against him. In a YouTube video shared with her 1.8 million YouTube subscribers, Davis announced that “the Matrix is coming after him” and that he is the victim of a “mainstream media” witchhunt. And whilst many of us simply roll our eyes at such warcries from the internet’s self-styled “anti-establishment” fighters, Davis’s arguments in support of Brand should be a genuine cause of concern. She asks in her monologue: “Why would a man that is rich and famous need to rape anybody? [...] Why would a guy need to assault or rape anybody in order to get sex that's having it thrown at him 24/7?” Then, offering an analogy to hit home her point, she adds: “This is the equivalent of me being a billionaire and getting accused of robbing a bank.” Russell Brand Is Being Attacked... www.youtube.com Now, you may gape in horror and disbelief at such base and ignorant “reasoning”, this same logic is applied again and again, getting countless alledged predators off the hook. Indeed, Safe Horizon – the largest victim assistance charity in the US – addressed the issue in a poignant piece back in 2018 titled ‘Why Does the Myth That Attractive Men ‘Don't Have to Rape’ Persist?’ In the first-hand account, writer Jeena Sharma explains that her earliest memory of suffering sexual assault was at the hands of her piano teacher, who was “seemingly handsome, smart and kind, with a daughter of his own”. She said she never told her parents, “not because they wouldn’t care but because [she] felt ashamed and mostly confused”. After all, “how could this man [...] do something that I would only expect from a creepy stranger in an alley?” Sharma went on to cite the example of former NFL player Darren Sharper, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison and accused of drugging and raping as many as 16 women back in 2016. She pointed out that at the time, the judge sentencing Sharper expressed her disbelief at his crimes, saying she couldn’t understand how someone who was college-educated and had grown up “in one of the most loving households” could carry out such atrocities. Russell Brand has strongly denied the accusations against him. Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk.If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673). Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

France and Germany are ramping up efforts to find a joint agreement on new fiscal rules that could

TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to iBrave Cloud Web Hosting is on sale for £78.32, saving

Andrew Tate's ex-sponsor Daniel Knight states that Top G used to make videos for online views in the past

Adolis Garcia hit a home run in extra innings as the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the World Series.

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is slamming a fellow Republican in the Senate for waging an unprecedented attempt to change Pentagon abortion policy by holding up hundreds of military nominations and promotions

People shopping for electric vehicles starting next year will be able to get a $7,500 federal tax credit off the sticker price while at the dealership, rather than having to wait months to receive their tax returns.

Today's Google Doodle (12 July) is all about the South Asian street food pani puri. Head to the search engine’s home page and you’ll be greeted by a candy-colored cartoon, celebrating the dish which consists of a light, crisp deep-fried shell stuffed with potatoes, chickpeas, spices and flavoured waters. The interactive design then invites you to fill out hungry customers’ orders: choosing the puris that match their flavour and quantity preferences as quickly as you can. So why did Doodle choose this theme – sweet though it is – for a random Wednesday in July? Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Well, on this day back in 2015, in the Indian city of Indore, a restaurant called Indori Zayka and Dainik Bhaskar earned itself the world record for serving the most varieties of the treat. It offered punters a lip-smacking 51flavours, under the guidance of Masterchef Neha Shah, as Google notes in its blurb to the artistic homage. The snack will be familiar to many, but perhaps under a different name. This is because there are a plethora of regional variations that exist across India. In Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the name pani puri denotes the bite-sized street food which is commonly filled with boiled chickpeas, a white pea mixture, and sprouts dipped in tangy and spicy water (pani). In the northern Indian states of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and New Delhi, the potato and chickpea-filled delight is known as gol gappe or gol gappa, and is soaked in lemony-spiced jaljeera water. In West Bengal and parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, they call the treats puchkas or fuchkas, using tamarind pulp as their key ingredient. In a nutshell – or a delicate, fried puri shell, if you’d prefer – these beloved snacks take many iterations but all have one thing in common: they should be eaten quickly to avoid sogginess or leaking. Still, given how tasty they are, it’s hardly a tall order to make sure you devour them in one go. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

For a team whose first three fixtures back in League Two are MK Dons, AFC Wimbledon, and Walsall, it feels somewhat out of kilter that three of their last pre-season games saw them face Chelsea, LA Galaxy and Manchester United. Such is the Wrexham way. Fresh off a nail-biting National League campaign, Las Vegas promotion party and sell-out Stateside pre-season tour, Wrexham fans and players, if only momentarily, might be brought back down to earth by the prospect of a 46-game slog as they look to pick up where they left off back in the Football League for the first time since 2008. Perhaps if this were a Hollywood script, Wrexham’s journey under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney would continue unperturbed; the Welsh side coasting to League Two glory and continuing their march up the English football pyramid. But football isn’t always that straightforward. Ask Salford City. The Manchester club, owned by class of ‘92 teammates Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and David Beckham were the original celebrity-owned lower-league club and arrived in this very same league back in 2019 to similar fanfare. Four seasons and four managers later, they still remain. In their quartet of campaigns since promotion from the National League, their best finish has been last season, placing seventh before ultimately bowing out in the play-off semi-finals. Ask Mansfield Town. The Stags will now enter their 11th straight year in the division after their promotion from the then-Conference League. After four unsuccessful promotion challenges in the last six seasons as one of the league’s bigger spenders, Nigel Clough’s side have become part of League Two’s furniture, last year missing out on a spot in the play-offs to Salford courtesy of goal difference. Ask Stockport County. Last season’s shiny new toy, having pipped Wrexham to promotion in 2021, Stockport were many people’s favourite to achieve back-to-back promotions with their National League record and stellar squad. However, a play-off final penalty-shootout defeat to underdogs Carlisle means that Dave Challinor’s side will again compete in the fourth tier this season. None of this is to suggest that Wrexham can’t achieve back-to-back promotions for the first time in the club’s history. They are clear favourites with the bookmakers to do just that after their record-breaking points tally (111) last season in the fifth tier. But even with four promotion spots on offer, rather than the two in the National League, history has shown that nothing can be taken for granted in a league full of clubs looking to move up the pyramid. In that sense, Parkinson can be grateful that Wrexham’s riches and big-spending in the past gifts him a squad full of League Two know-how with no better example than talisman and last year’s Player of the Season, Paul Mullin. Although a punctured lung, suffered in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United, will see the striker miss the start of the season, the 28-year-old will need no time to acclimatise to the division. It was in League Two, after all, that he first caught the eye of Wrexham having fired 32 goals in 46 games to guide Cambridge United to an unlikely promotion in 2021. His move back down the pyramid to Wrexham was an early sign of Reynolds and McElhenney’s pull and pockets. Then there is Ben Tozer and Jordan Tunnicliffe. Tozer captained Cheltenham out of League Two the very same season that Mullin burst onto the scene while Tunnifcliffe made it into the division’s team of the season that same year for his performances at Crawley. This year, Tozer will be reunited with fellow centre-back, Will Boyle – Wrexham’s lone signing so far this window – with whom he formed a sturdy partnership at Cheltenham. Add to that Eoghan O’Connell, signed last January from League One Charlton Athletic, and recent Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster, who has postponed a second retirement to sign a new contract, and it’s clear to see the enviable quality that the Welsh side have in defence. The creativity of fan-favourite and former Luton Town midfielder Elliot Lee, alongside the goalscoring prowess of Ollie Palmer, who joined for a club-record £300,000, is further evidence of why Wrexham went on to smash the record points tally last season. It is perhaps also why, other than Boyle, the club have not made any signings in the transfer window. There is money available, especially after new, lucrative shirt and stadium sponsorship deals with United Airlines and US coffee brand, Stok, but it also points to a squad that was ready to compete with League Two’s best long before they reached this point. They are by no means out on their own, though. Wrexham’s great title rivals in the National League, Notts County, look likely to challenge them again, especially after the coveted signing of veteran striker David McGoldrick who scored 22 goals for Derby County last year in League One. And there is also Stockport, last year’s Wembley losers, who have recruited Nick Powell from Stoke City, the 29-year-old returning to the league where he first caught the eye of Manchester United aged 18. Gillingham, fresh off their own US investment, and those teams relegated from League One last season – MK Dons, Morecambe, Accrington Stanley and Forest Green – could all contend as well in what promises to be one of the most intriguing and high-quality seasons the league has ever seen. Wrexham will continue to attract global eyeballs and bring renewed pride to their local community, that much is assured. On the pitch, though, nothing is guaranteed. As League Two has shown before, no amount of money or high-profile ownership is a guarantee of success. Wrexham will be wary of that and Parkinson will have his work cut out against any number of fancied promotion rivals but with a squad built for the level, the Welsh club and its owners will surely be dreaming of another Hollywood ending. Read More Wrexham fume at Man Utd goalkeeper after striker Paul Mullin hospitalised with punctured lung Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham is on its way to the United States after being given the Hollywood treatment Why Wrexham? How Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney came to buy a club they’d never heard of Ryan Reynolds reaches out to Manchester United keeper after Paul Mullin injury Extraordinary – Wrexham director says reception in US has exceeded expectations Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest news and updates as England prepare for last-16