"
LONDON Cheap Nike Air Force 1 Womens UK , Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- American Josh Harris and David Blitzer have bought a 36 percent stake in Crystal Palace, the English Premier league club announced on Saturday.


The pair, who own NBA team the Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL team New Jersey Devils, will own 18 percent of stake each.


""Crystal Palace Football Club is delighted to announce that it has today signed a deal with investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer,"" Palace said on Friday.


""The deal will see chairman Steve Parish, Josh Harris and David Blitzer take control of the club in a general partnership structure.""

" "

LONDON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- An English town where romance was banned because it upset an 18th century wealthy spinster is finally planning to welcome cupid onto its streets.


The narrow pavements in the northern England market town of Knutsford were deliberately made narrow to stop romantic couples walking hand-in-hand.


People walking along the main streets are forced to walk in a single line, or risk the danger of stepping into the roadway.


For more than 220 years the town in the rural county of Cheshire has had some of the narrowest pavements in England - because of the whims of its prudish aristocrat resident, Lady Jane Stanley.


Lady Jane, daughter of the 11th Earl of Derby, paid for the streets of Knutsford to be paved in the late 18th century.


But there was one condition. Lady Jane had an aversion to seeing men and women walking arm-in-arm, and decreed that Knutsford's pavements should be wide enough only for one person.


Those narrow pavements can still be seen today in King Street, the town's main shopping and eating out destination. But not for much longer.


The local administration authority, Cheshire East Council, has drawn up a scheme to upgrade the street with wider pavements.


The changes are intended to transform King Street into a more vibrant public space and improve access for people whose mobility is impaired, while retaining vehicle access at all times.


The leader of the council, Councillor Michael Jones said: ""I am all in favor of retaining our fantastic heritage, but this is one of those occasions when we can improve on the legacy of the past.


""We want to create a space which will be enjoyed by Knutsford residents - whether they are walking arm in arm or not - while also attracting visitors and enabling businesses in the locality to thrive.""


Just what Lady Jane would have thought of the pavement-widening scheme is impossible to say, but she was a formidable woman and had a robust way of making her views known.


An 1859 history of the town records that at least one countryman, who got in her way as she walked the narrow pavements gave him a firm tap with her gold-headed walking stick, to encourage him to move aside.


She usually avoided confrontations on the narrow pavements by traveling in her sedan chair, which is now exhibited in the town's heritage centre.


Ironically the narrow streets of Knutsford have been used as a backdrop during filming of several 19th century period romance dramas.


Meanwhile local residents are being asked for their views on the scheme, with many looking forward to the day when they can happily stroll arm-in-arm along their main street.

" A Berlin International Film Festival venue at the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden in Germany Photo: Li JingjingGT

The rise of US President Donald Trump, together with an increasingly troubled political environment around the globe, has weighed heavily on the shoulders of some film industry veterans. Fortunately, the ongoing Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) has offered a way for them to speak out by focusing on diversity.


LGBT obstacles


Lucy Mukerjee-Brown came to the Berlinale in search of good LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) films to bring back to the US. Mukerjee-Brown is the director of programming at Outfest, an organization based in LA that is dedicated to promoting LGBT equality by protecting, sharing and creating stories about this group on screen.


However, after US President Donald Trump, who may be reconsidering same-sex marriage and is believed to have a number of anti-gay staff in his cabinet, took office in January, the organization she works for has faced more obstacles.


"We get our funding through three ways: from national art organizations, sponsors and wealthy individuals. All of these three sources of money are getting smaller this year," Mukerjee-Brown told the Global Times on Wednesday.


With this funding, her organization arranges three film festivals in the US every year, as well as supports young LGBT people to achieve their filmmaking dreams.


"People from all three groups told us, 'We are really sorry. We have a smaller budget this year. We don't know what's gonna happen in the new administration, so we can't promise you the same amount as we promised last year,'" Mukerjee-Brown said.


Figuring out how to carry out the same activities with less funding has posed a major challenge for Outfest.


Mukerjee-Brown said she feels "it is more necessary" than ever for organizations like hers to exist and work in the face of potential threats to LGBT groups from the Trump administration.


By Wednesday, seven days into the 10-day festival, she had seen 12 films on LGBT subjects and pitched nearly half of them for their upcoming film festival in LA in July. And there are still plenty more films left for her to watch.


According to her, the long time gay-friendly environment makes Berlinale an ideal place for her to pitch qualified films.


Changing trends


The Berlinale's Panorama section has been a major program at the Berlinale since the 1970s. Dedicated to finding new films and new directions for art house films, it has had a reputation for being a great home to LGBT films since the 1980s.


Among the . Cheap Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Authentic Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Cheap Jerseys China Free Shipping Cheap NBA Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys