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Discovery makes Bear Grylls Man Vs Wild, among other shows. Photograph: Discovery Channel

Bear Grylls is joining forces with the Barefoot Contessa in the latest of a series of major mergers to shakeup the media landscape.

Pay-TV giant Discovery, owner of Animal Planet and maker of Grylls Man Vs Wild, Naked and Afraid and other reality shows, will buy Food Network and lifestyle programme giant Scripps Networks for close to $12bn (9.1bn), tying together two powerful stables of TV shows.

Scripps also jointly controls Dave and Gold owner UKTV with the BBC, and the move will extend Discovery boss and cable tycoon John Malones control of UK media.

Discovery has sealed the $14.6bn (11.1bn) cash-and-shares deal days after rival Viacom, owner of MTV, Nickelodeon and Channel 5 in the UK, dropped its bid.

The deal, three years after previous merger talks fell through, will create $350m (266m) in cost savings, which are likely to include significant job cuts.

The deal comes as AT&T is trying to finalize its merger with Time Warner and the Sinclair Group pushes on with its controversial bid to take over Tribunes local TV networks across the US.

Media companies are also continuing to adjust to the shift to online media consumption. Online ads are still worth a fraction of TV ads but the audiences for the networks shows and the ways in which they can package their content has also grown enormously.

Discovery, which owns assets including Eurosport and spent almost 1bn on the rights to the Olympics across Europe, will add TV brands including Food Network, which airs shows such as Nigella Express.

In addition, Scripps owns a 50% stake in UKTV which runs 10 channels with shows including Red Dwarf, Only Fools and Horses, Dads Army and the magician Dynamo with the commercial arm of the BBC.

The deal will also increase the influence and control that Malone, the American cable tycoon challenging Rupert Murdochs dominance of pay-TV in Europe, has in the UK.

Malone is chairman of Liberty Global, which in 2013 acquired Virgin Media in a 15bn deal and owns a 10% stake in ITV, as well as a stake in Discovery Communications that gives him almost 30% of the voting power.

The UKTV business has grown tremendously in recent years: profits jumped 12% to 84.8m ($111m) last year, accounting for more than a third of the profits at BBC Worldwide.

The licence fee funded BBC relies on regular returns from BBC Worldwide, which top 200m ($263m) annually, to help top up its coffers.

David Zaslav, the deal-hungry chief executive of Discovery, said that the takeover would help the company compete better on the global stage.

Scripps is one of the best run media companies in the world with terrific assets, strong brands and popular talent and formats, he said. We believe that by coming together with Scripps we will create a stronger, more flexible and more dynamic media company with a global content engine.

Zaslav had eyed a 1bn ($1.3bn) bid for Channel 4 when the government considered a part or full sale of the state-owned broadcaster. Discovery has also considered finding partners to make tilt at Premier League rights. In 2014, Discovery was a contender to buy Channel 5 from Richard Desmond, but pulled out with rival Viacom eventually stumping up more than 450m ($591m).

In 2014, Discovery and Liberty Global teamed up to buy All3Media, the TV production giant behind shows including Skins, Midsomer Murders and The Only Way is Essex, for more than 500m ($657m).

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Discovery Communications to buy Scripps Networks for close to $12bn - The Guardian

Anthony Scaramucci, the brash New Yorker who was announced little more than a week ago as President Trump's White House communications director, was ousted Monday before he had even officially taken the job.

John F. Kelly, the newly sworn-in White House chief of staff, told Scaramucci around 9:30 a.m. EDT that he was going to be replaced, according to a person close to White House.

In a statement officially announcing the move, the White House said Scaramucci"felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team."

While Scaramucci's time at the center of the president's circlewas short, it was consequential, prompting the resignations of first Sean Spicer as White House press secretary and then Reince Priebus as chief of staff.

The most notable firings and resignations in the Trump administration >>

A former hedge fund executive on Wall Street, Scaramucci, who enjoyed media attention,also had come on strong stylistically, highlighted by a profane tirade against colleagues Priebusand Trump strategist Steve Bannonin an exchangelast week with a New Yorker reporter.

Theabrupt shift in Scaramucci'sstatus seemed to reflect Kelly's mission to bring order to the chainof command within the chaotic administration.

Ingetting Scaramuccito leave,Kelly was undoing Trump'sown hiring decision.Scaramuccihad told reporters when he was hired that he would be reporting directly to the president at Trump's request, bypassing the normal chain that would have the communications director -- like all staff -- report to the chief of staff.

Scaramucci's unusually short tenure reflects a moment of extreme turbulence in the White House, which has been embroiled in infighting as it confronts low poll numbers for the president, a floundering legislative agendaand the investigations involving Russian meddling in last year's presidential election.

After word spread of Scaramucci's ouster, Spicer, who resigned when Scaramucci took over but was still working in the White House, walked out of his office to a throng of reporters.

"Is this a surprise party?" he asked.

UPDATE

12:15 p.m.: This story has been updated throughout with additional details and background.

This article was originally published at11:49 a.m.

Link:
Scaramucci out as Trump communications director as new White House chief of staff takes control - Los Angeles Times

The theme of following the Partys command dominated Chinas massive military parade held on July 30.

By Charlotte Gao for The Diplomat

August 01, 2017

On July 30, China held a massive military parade to commemorate Chinas Army Day marking the day the Communist Party of China (CPC) founded the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in 1927 for the first time, in celebration of the PLAs 90th anniversary. Although China has conducted multiple military parades for various days, this parade is undoubtedly an unprecedented one to reaffirm the CPCs absolute control over the army. The theme of following the Partys command dominated the whole event.

During the parade, as Xi Jinping, Chinese president, the current general secretary of the CPC, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, was driven past ranks of troops, the troops shouted out loudly: [We] follow the Partys command; [we] can win the battle; [we] have excellent behavior! This is actually the newest goal and slogan for all the military to memorize and following the Partys command is obviously the priority.

The most striking and iconic signal on the day was that as shown in the picture the banner team held the flags sothat the Partys flag went right in the front of Chinese national flag, and the national flag was in front of the armys flag.

As if the scene itself was not clear enough, the host of China Central Television (CCTV) , which live-broadcasted the parade, made a further elaboration to the whole world:

Following the Partys command is the soul of the military The Partys banner is the armys banner; the Partys will is the armys will; the direction the Party leads is the direction the army advances Wherever the Party points, the army will attack

The next day, the picture depicting that the Partys flag leading the way was also widely publishedon the front page of most Chinese national media websites.

In addition to the theme of following the Partys command, following Chairman Xi was another significant agenda of the parade.

As The Diplomat notedregardingthe Hong Kongs military parade, held on June 30, the previous tradition insuch military parades was that the CMC chairmanwouldshout Greetings, comrades! to the troops and the troops would shout Greetings, leader! in return. Yetat the Hong Kong military parade, the protocol was slightly changed, rather unprecedentedly. Instead of shouting Greetings, leader! the comrades shouted Greetings, chairman! to Xi.

At that time, it was still unclear if the unusual change of wording was specifically designed for the Hong Kong parade or not. Now we know thatits a more long-term change, as the troops in the Army Day Parade also shouted Greetings, chairman! to Xi.

In this case, the Hong Kong commentator Ma Dingshengs analysis during the Hong Kongs military parade is proved right: Chairman demonstrated Xis paramount status, since there are many leaders, but only one chairman.

In other words, according to a Chinese national media commentator,[Greetings, chairman] embodies that the chairman of the Central Military Commission takes full responsibility [of the army] it highlights the important identity of the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Charlotte Gao holds a MA degree in Asian Studies. Her research interests center around East Asian topics. She has worked in the past as a news editor, reporter, and writer for multiple traditional, online, and new media outlets.

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China's Military Parade Reaffirms Communist Party's Absolute Control Over Army - The Diplomat

In stumping against increased acceptance of concealed carry permits nationwide, gun control advocates tapped in George Zimmermans CWL and a $20 BB gun. (Photo: Everytown)

Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety over the weekend began running a meme showing a Florida state concealed weapon license purportedly owned by George Zimmerman layered over a person with a Marksman air pistol shoved haphazardly into the waistband of their jeans.

Some states have low or no standards for who can carry a concealed weapon in public, says the text over the ad.

The NRAs latest pet policy would make the weakest state gun laws the law of the land, allowing dangerous people to carry concealed guns in every state in the country, said Moms Demand Action in the post urging lawmakers to decline support for a pair of national concealed carry reciprocity bills.

The measures, the H.R. 38 and S.446, respectively, would expand carry rights nationwide, in effect forcing states and local jurisdictions to respect all valid concealed carry permits, a move the advocates feel is a mistake which would lead to a race to the bottom to recognize permits from states with no training requirements and slim vetting.

The groups, backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have retained a big-name Washington, D.C.-based advocacy firm to help with future legislative pushes and has promised to spend as much as $25 million to defeat the push.

Ironically, despite the one-two punch of the meme, Florida once seen as the leader for concealed carry law reform now has one of the more demanding processes in the country to obtain such a permit, especially among other shall-issue states.

Applicants have to prove they have had prior firearms training, pay as much as $112 in fingerprinting, licensing and convenience fees for initial licenses, and wait up to 90 days for a permit. The state denied 6,470 licenses in the year between July 2016-June 2017, about half for incomplete documentation, and half for ineligible applicants.

Further, Florida law prohibits both concealed carry without a license and open carry altogether except under narrow circumstances. By comparison, licenses in neighboring Georgia and Alabama are both generally cheaper and do not require training. Meanwhile, at least a dozen states, including Mississippi just an hour away from the West Florida line have adopted permitless carry laws, and 45 states allow for open carry.

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Gun control groups cite Zimmerman as reason to block national reciprocity - Guns.com

Morgan & Morgan, one of Orlandos biggest law firms, is partnering with civil-rights attorney Ben Crump to launch a new firm, Ben Crump Law PLLC.

Crump represented the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Corey Jones, and Tamir Rice black males who were gunned down in high-profile incidents that sparked anger and protest.

John Morgan, founder of Morgan & Morgan, called Crump a modern-day Johnnie Cochran in the announcement of the new firm.

Martins shooter, George Zimmerman, beat a charge of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting. At the time, Crump was credited with bringing about the charges against Zimmerman. He said in 2013 that the Martin case was very personal to many people. And that's why the whole world is watching this case. You cannot have people kill unarmed teenagers walking home legally."

Crump's new firm will have offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Tallahassee, where he is based half the year. It will focus on civil rights, personal injury, workers' compensation, medical malpractice, mesothelioma and class actions.

Morgan & Morgan has 350 attorneys and a support staff of 1,500, one of the largest plaintiff firms in the U.S. With those resources, Crump is expected to take on cases nationwide. The firm pledged a 24-hour response time for new clients.

Among numerous recognitions, Crump has been named to the National Trial Lawyers' Top 100 Lawyers and Ebony magazine's 100 Most Influential African-Americans.

Crump, 47, went to Florida State University for undergraduate and law degrees, according to his bio. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1996.

He was the first black president of the Federal Bar Association for the Northern District of Florida and was the first black chairman of the Florida State University College of Law Board of Directors.

Got a news tip? pbrinkmann@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5660; Twitter, @PaulBrinkmann

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Morgan & Morgan helps launch new firm for Ben Crump - Orlando Sentinel