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With less than a month to go before the budget that is meant to draw a line under a decade of austerity and unleash Britains potential, Boris Johnson has taken back control of the Treasury.

No 10 cannot have known how Johnsons former leadership rival, Sajid Javid, would respond to the demand that he sack his key policy advisers and instead accept guidance from the PMs team.

But they knew there was a strong possibility he would decide to walk: and they had a ready-made, super-loyal successor on hand just in case, in the form of Rishi Sunak, already chief secretary to the Treasury.

Downing Street described the plan that was put to Javid, of a joint No 10-No 11 team of advisers from which almost all of his current team would be left out as a way of ensuring chancellor and PM rise and fall together. But it would also have been read as a humiliation.

Clashes between Javid and Johnsons advisers had been whispered about at Westminster for weeks.

Allies had insisted the two men themselves got on well at a personal level, and Javid also has close links to the PMs influential partner, Carrie Symonds, who once worked for him.

But Johnson and his team were irked at a series of briefings about Javids role in big decisions including pre-empting the announcement on HS2 by revealing the Treasury would back it.

And there have been some policy differences, too though Downing Street insists these formed no part of the conversation on Thursday morning.

Johnson wants to take the opportunity of a chunky majority to take some potentially controversial decisions, including on tax and spending and Javids instincts, insiders say, were more cautious.

He had made clear his willingness to be considerably more flexible in sanctioning big-ticket spending than his predecessor, Spreadsheet Phil Hammond.

In his one set-piece speech during the election campaign, he set out something like Gordon Browns golden rule, allowing long-term investment spending including the PMs beloved infrastructure projects to be funded by borrowing. That in itself is a revolution in Conservative thinking.

But Javid also stressed that he was determined to balance the current budget, as it is known funding day-to-day spending through tax receipts which would constrain how much Johnson has available for upfront spending pledges, unless the government is willing to raise more tax.

Radical plans have been floated in recent weeks: even including a mansion tax on the most expensive homes and perhaps more likely, a revaluation of council tax to ensure the wealthier pay a higher rate.

But perhaps remembering George Osbornes pasty tax omnishambles budget and more recently, Hammond being forced to ditch a modest increase in national insurance after a backbench backlash Javid, friends say, is more cautious.

His departure underlines the determination of No 10 to hold all the levers of power over economic policy, and will be seen as a coup by his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings.

But it may also suggest economic and tax policy is pointed in a more radical direction, as Johnson tries to make good on his promise to level up Britain.

More here:
Sajid Javid's exit leaves Boris Johnson in control of Treasury - The Guardian

What I'm Hearing: USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell spoke exclusively with the former NFL quarterback who said he's eager to reveal the many layers surrounding his public protests. USA TODAY

Colin Kaepernicks voice is getting stronger.

That much is clear as the former NFL quarterback plans to announceThursday he is writing a memoir to be released this year through his newly formedcompany, Kaepernick Publishing, in a partnership with Audible.

"I learned early on that in fighting against systematic oppression, dehumanization and colonization, who controls the narrative shapes the reality of how the world views society, Kaepernick said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports. It controls whos loved, whos hated, whos degraded and whos celebrated.

Kaepernick, 32, has been unsigned by NFL teams since 2017after he protested police brutality against African Americans and other social injustices by kneeling during the national anthem the previous season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

Colin Kaepernick is planning to release his memoir this year through a new publish company he is starting.(Photo: Amari Kenoly/Ra Vision Media)

His yet-to-be-named memoir should fill in the gaps of thepast few years, as well as provide more insight on themotivationand methods behindhis activism. Though Kaepernick hasbeen engaged in self-empowerment efforts for black and brown people through his Know Your Rights Camps, he has rarely conducted news media interviews or been available in other public forums.

Undoubtedly, many will want to hear from Kaepernick, who despite being shunned by NFL teams has become a prominent cultural figure especially amongAfrican Americans.

Ive had a lot of questions surrounding what got me to the point of protesting," he said. "Why did I do it? Why did I do it at that moment? Why wasnt it earlier in my career? A lot of questions surrounding what led me to that point. Which led me to wanting to share that story and give insight. SoI think theres a lot of interest around it, but time will tell when the book comes out.

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OPINION: Kaepernick doesn't exactly loom over the NFL at Super Bowl, but he's certainly not forgotten

To that point, Kaepernick demonstrated some humility. He chuckled when it wassuggested his book couldbe a bestseller.

I hope so, he said.

If only the demand from NFL teams wasso robust. After the fiasco of a hastily arranged NFL workout in Atlanta in November, Kaepernick isno closer to getting an NFL job which is still a shame for a quarterback-needy league that often touts the virtues of meritocracy as lesser-talented prospects get opportunities.

The book and publishing company he'll also release an audio versionand content from other authors through Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon dont signal that Kaepernick isready to give up hope of landing another opportunity with an NFL team. He said he sees the ventures as a parallel track to football.

After all, New England Patriots star Tom Brady has an enterprise with his TB12 book and training methods, and Seattle Seahawks phenom Russell Wilson has a production company (Why Not You Productions)with his wife, Ciara.

My desire to play football is still there, Kaepernicksaid. I still train five days a week. Im ready to go, Im ready for a phone call, tryout, workout at any point in time. Im still waiting on the owners and their partners to stop running from this situation. SoI hope I get a call this offseason. Ill be looking forward to it.

In the meantime, hes an impact player in a different form.

Part of his motivation for creating the publishing company, Kaepernick explained, is to create opportunities for black and brown writers, authors and creators to control their narratives and retain ownership.

Its not just my control over stories, Kaepernick said. We wanted to be able to put the power back into the hands of the people that are telling the stories and the people that are writing the stories and creating them. We didnt want to monopolize that and hold that to ourselves. Its something that should be distributed to the people who are putting in the work to be able to tell their stories and tell them in a genuine and authentic way."

Kaepernick mayhave commanded a seven-figure advance had he shopped his memoir on the market. That route would not have fulfilled Kaepernick's vision.

Ive always had an interest in books, he said. Ive had an interest in black literature. 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X'was a book that changed my life, so much that every Know Your Rights camp that we have, we give the book to all of the youth that attend. And black literature was something that was key to developing my own thoughts and ideas of how to navigate the spaces that I enter. SoI not only wanted to give insight into what led me to protest through my memoir, I wanted to make sure I was able to retain the ownership over my story in the process.

Why now?

I realized being able to control your narrative and tell your story the way you want to is very important, Kaepernick said. The manipulation, the colonization, the distortion of stories, narrative, history, has been done forever. This is a way for me to be able to counteract that and begin to decolonize that and centralize the narrative of not only myself but other black and brown writers and authors.

One of the quotes that comes to mind is Malcolm Xs quote, If youre not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people that are being oppressed and loving the people that are doing the oppressing. Hes speaking to the control of the narrative. Sofor me recognizing the importance of our community being able to control our own narratives and tell our own stories, this is something I thought had to be the next steppingstone for us to properly address and identify not only how we view ourselves, view our communities and how we tell our storiesbut also giving the world to view us in the way that we want them to as well.

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Colin Kaepernick speaks: On his new memoir and why he still wants to play in the NFL - USA TODAY

The Associated Press | AP

The Associated Press | AP

In this frame grab from video, an American military convoy is seen in the village of Khirbet Ammu, east of Qamishli city, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. Syrian media and activists say a Syrian was killed and another wounded in a rare clash between American troops and a group of government supporters in northeast Syria.

DAMASCUS A Syrian was killed and another was wounded when government supporters attacked American troops and tried to block their way as their convoy drove through an army checkpoint in northeastern Syria, prompting a rare clash, state media and activists reported.

The U.S. military said its force came under fire, and that troops responded in self-defense. It said an investigation of the incident was underway.

Syrian state-run media said the man killed was a civilian and that he was among residents of a village east of the town of Qamishli who had gathered at the checkpoint and pelted the U.S. convoy with stones.

A video posted on state news agency SANAs website showed angry men firing small arms at a convoy of several armored U.S. vehicles flying the U.S. flag. Some residents pelted the convoy with stones, while another dumped a bucket full of dirt on the back of one vehicle.

In one of the worst incidents of violence against U.S. troops deployed in northeastern Syria, a small fire appears to ignite on an armored vehicle, apparently from fire bombs lobbed at the convoy. U.S. soldiers were seen standing in the middle of the melee, trying to disperse the crowd.

Other videos showed another vehicle stuck in the dirt, apparently having veered into a ditch, while another had a flat tire. In one video, a resident walked up to U.S. soldiers at one of the vehicles, holding a U.S. flag, screaming: What do you want from our country? What is your business here? A soldier tells the shouting man to back off.

At that point, American troops fired live ammunition and smoke bombs at the residents, the reports said.

A U.S. military spokesman said coalition forces conducting a patrol near Qamishli encountered a checkpoint occupied by pro-Syrian government forces who ignored a series of warnings by coalition troops to de-escalate the situation. The patrol came under small-arms fire from unknown individuals, coalition spokesman Myles Caggins said, adding that coalition troops returned fire in self-defense.

The situation was de-escalated and is under investigation, he said in a statement. Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, traveling with the U.S. defense secretary in Brussels, said no Americans were killed in the incident.

Asked about the incident, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in Brussels he was told there was an altercation, without providing details.

As far as I know todays incident did not involve the Russians, he said.

In other violence in the countrys northwest, Syrian President Bashar Assads forces continued their advance in Idlib and Aleppo provinces near the border with Turkey. They took full control of a strategic highway that runs through the rebel-held territory and links the capital to northern Syria. The M5 highway had been under opposition control for most of the war.

Russias Defense Ministry said in a statement that Syrian troops fully cleared the M5.

Syrias most important transport artery the M5 highway linking the blocked northern capital of Aleppo with Hama, Homs and Damascus in the south has been freed from terrorists, the statement said.

With support from Russia, Syrian troops have been on the offensive for weeks in Idlib and parts of nearby Aleppo provinces, unleashing a humanitarian crisis with 700,000 people fleeing their homes and surging north toward the Turkish border.

The U.N. human rights office in Geneva recorded incidents between Feb. 1-10 in which at least 85 civilians were killed, including 20 women and 27 children with most casualties in the so-called de-escalation area in Idlib, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday.

The Syrian war, now in its ninth year, has pulled in international players including the U.S., Russia and Turkey. Russia has supported Assads government, while Turkey is the rebels main backer.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are stationed in northeastern Syria, working with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to fight against the Islamic State group. The U.S. carries out patrols in northeastern Syria, but it was not immediately clear why the convoy drove into a government-controlled area Wednesday.

The clash marked a rare confrontation involving U.S. and Syrian troops in the crowded region where Russian forces are also deployed and was certain to escalate tensions.

At one point during the incident, U.S., Russian and Syrian flags could be seen next to each other, reflecting the complicated terrain in northeastern Syria. Some reports said a Russian convoy arrived on the scene to defuse the tension.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said residents and armed pro-government militiamen in Khirbet Ammu blocked the path of a U.S. convoy. The militia fired in the air, prompting the American troops to fire smoke bombs. Tension escalated and U.S. troops killed one person, the Observatory said.

The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground, said it was not clear if the person killed was a civilian or a militia member. The Observatory also said a Russian convoy arrived on the scene to defuse the tension.

The Idlib offensive has also triggered clashes between Syrian and Turkish troops in which 13 Turkish soldiers have died in one week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Turkey could attack Syrian government forces anywhere in Syria if another Turkish soldier is hurt. He said Turkey is determined to force the Syrian military back from the gains it has made in Idlib, giving Syrian troops until the end of February to retreat.

As of today, in the event of any minor harm to our soldiers, I announce that we will strike regime forces everywhere without being bound to Idlib or the boundaries of the Sochi agreement, Erdogan told a ruling party meeting in Ankara.

Erdogan was referring to the 2018 agreement between Russia and Turkey in which the two countries troops would enforce a demilitarized zone in Idlib. As part of the agreement, Turkey established a dozen military observation posts in the province, where it backs some opposition groups. Several of these posts have been surrounded by government forces in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, opposition fighters, backed by Turkish artillery, launched an attack against new government positions along the highway.

Erdogan said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone about the situation in Idlib.

The Kremlin said the phone conversation underlined the need to fully implement the Russian-Turkish agreements.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said despite a pledge by Turkey, militants in Idlib have continued to launch attacks on Syrian troops and threaten Russian facilities in Syria. Its inadmissible and it runs contrary to the Sochi agreements, Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

Read more:
US troops clash with pro-government groups in northeast Syria - Bangor Daily News

The ad-tech sector of the media industry has, whether fair or not, a reputation for creepiness. And in light of seismic changes that affect their businesses (like Google eliminating third-party ad targeting and federal and state data privacy legislation), these companies are now piecing together an education campaign to explain the benefits they bring to the public.

This will include taking up ad space on consumer-facing websites to show how ad tech is undergoing a reboot, putting the consumer back in control. Perhaps more importantly, the campaign will tell readers how the data they collect subsequently funds online content.

The initiative forms part of the IAB Tech Labs last-ditch efforts to reform the online advertising industry, now that all of the industrys major internet browser providers have called time on the cookie, the software at the core of ad tech.

Although no timeline for the education campaign has been laid out, the campaign is part of the trade orgs plans to overhaul the very DNA of ad tech since Google planned to phase-out third-party cookies in its market-leading Chrome browser by 2022.

An outline of the planned campaign was laid out this week at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting where executives discussed efforts to use first-party publisher data, such as hashed email addresses, as the core tool for online audience targeting.

Speaking at a town hall session at this weeks IAB conference conducted under the Chatham House Rule, executives described plans to articulate themselves to the public, including how the new proposals will put consumers at the center of control.

We have to work on the narrative as much as the solution, one executive leading these efforts said. Right now, as an industry, theres a little bit of demonization going on and its going to get worse.

The executives who have envisaged the campaign want to downplay notions of ad-tech players invading privacy and stealing data. Instead, they want to articulate the benefits they bring to the public, especially how they help fund quality journalism.

Right now, as an industry, we have a branding problem, continued the aforementioned executive.

The public education campaign is at the latter phase of a multi-tiered strategy to convince the public as well as key industry stakeholders such as Apple, Google and Firefox-provider-Mozilla that the new means of ad targeting are user-friendly.

At this point, those involved in the plans want to assemble a global coalition of companies with aligned interest (i.e. those outside of the walled gardens) to jointly fund research and developmentplus ad inventory for the planned public education campaignthat will result in a privacy-first version of the open web.

Up until now, cookies (both first- and third-party) have been the nexus that helped interconnect the multitude of players involved in online audience targeting.

However, now that the internets largest names are clamping down on practices that lawmakers deem dubious (such as fingerprinting plus certain data transfers used in online ad auctions), seismic changes are afoot. This means ad tech must reform itself. Leading voices in the space want to go public with how they operate, and the crucial role they play in funding online content.

Another executive said: Our plan is to talk to about 1,000 companies around the world in 90 days globally and get them to sign-up and support this in the form of real inventory and audience, and real dollars.

This effort to court support from the industry could come in the guise of open web players such as publishers donating media inventory, which could then be used to articulate the value exchange involved in audience profiling in exchange for free content.

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Read more:
The IAB Tech Lab Has a Campaign Strategy to Educate the Public About Ad Tech - Adweek

Taylor Rooks debuted the second season of her Bleacher Report show "Take It There" on Wednesday. ... [+] Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report

Its rare to land, keep and enjoy your dream job at 27 years of age, but thats exactly what Bleacher Reports Taylor Rooks has accomplished.

The second season of her Bleacher Report video interview series Take It There With Taylor Rooks premiered on Wednesday with an in-depth conversation with Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown. Even when she was an anchor or reporter at SNY or in the studio or on panels at Big Ten Network, there were always tightly controlled segments and time constraints. She doesnt have this issue with B/R.

We have these athletes for hours, she said on a rainy, gloomy Tuesday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan. And you can talk about whatever, and it makes them feel like they wanna talk about whatever.

Rooks is also the shows executive producer, and helps book the shows guest herself through personal relationships with athletes or their management teams. Its a sense of creative control that not many at her age in her position can attain.

I always tell people, I think life moved really quickly for me, Rooks said. I think I had a lot of advantages in terms of the fact that my first job was a national job. That kind of jump-started learning the things I needed to learn.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - OCTOBER 19: Taylor Rooks attends the B/Real Premiere Event at Kimpton La Peer ... [+] Hotel on October 19, 2018 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Bleacher Report)

Rooks was born in St. Louis but spent most of her childhood in Georgia, growing up in a household that loved football and basketball. Like her two parents, she enrolled at the University of Illinois, where her dad Thomas was a star running back in the 80s.

Rooks and quickly made a name for herself in Champaign-Urbana. During her freshman year, she started a blog called The Online Sideline that became so popular that Fox Sports took notice and asked her to work for them at Fox and Scout.com until she graduated. That included student broadcasts for the Big Ten Network and the NCAA womens NIT for CBS Sports Network when Rooks was just 19. Admittedly, Rooks thinks she definitely thrived because of the internet age she came up in and the compelling content she created.

I owe a lot of my career to social media, the internet era, Rooks said. And I feel no shame in saying that.

After graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2014, she worked at the Big Ten Network for two years. Rooks appeared on BTN Live, served as a social media correspondent and hosted an interview series called Court Convo. But she wanted a job with a bit more responsibility and a move to New York City. SNY offered her a job to host, report and anchor, take on more responsibility. She moved over in 2016.

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 24: Taylor Rooks attends 2019 NBA Awards at Barker Hangar on June ... [+] 24, 2019 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/WireImage)

That was, for me, the place where I learned what it was to really be a journalist, Rooks, who never had interest in sideline reporting, said. I saw what theyre looking at to produce a show, what makes it, what doesnt, how a newsroom works.

Sometimes Rooks wishes she started at a small local paper where she wouldve had to be a one-man band, where she wouldve had to do and learn everything on the job.

I think I was spoiled a little bit with my first job at the Big Ten Network. It was such a good, easy place, Rooks said. I love Big Ten Network. But I took such a leap learning once I got to SNY.

It was her first real newsroom experience. SNY had a small team attitude, and Rooks stayed up late at times when news broke on air, especially with the Mets.

I was at Citi Field a lot.

What Rooks was best known for at SNY, and where she spread her wings as a precursor to her current B/R position, was with her podcast Timeout With Taylor Rooks. She also produced and booked talent for the show, which was also filmed for the networks YouTube page.

On Timeout, Rooks was able to bring on an impressive array of guests for a regional cable channel, including Dwyane Wade, Meek Mill and, most famously, former New York Knicks forward Michael Beasley.

The two famously argued about how much brainpower humans are really capable of using. The exchange, and the podcast, went viral.

We were arguing over something that wasnt even real, Rooks said. It was a ridiculous moment.

It was also a learning experience for the young host, who became more aware of how online narratives really work. Every viral moment, she realized, lacks all of the context necessary to completely judge a situation.

When that came out, a part of me felt a little bad for him, Rooks said. Because if you watch the whole entire thing, the jokes were about him smoking. If you listen to the whole thing, hes a great human being. You have to be cognizant whenever you do any social media moment, of what the viral thing will feel like to that person.

As an interviewer, your goal is to create something lasting, Rooks said, and thats what she did with Beasley. They even played a clip of it during his Knicks tribute video at Madison Square Garden, though its unclear why there was a tribute video for Beasley in the first place.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 29: Taylor Rooks speaks onstage during the PUMA SS20 Women's Event on ... [+] January 29, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for PUMA)

People in high places began to take notice of Rooks podcasting prowess, especially Dylan MacNamara, Bleacher Reports senior director of talent.

They said this is something that can be sustainable as a show, Rooks said We want to create this show. And we figured out a way to make it work.

She came over in September, 2018 specifically to launch Take It There. Rooks was able to bring on prolific guests in Season One that included Liverpool megastar Mo Salah, Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Saquon Barkley and Jimmy Butler. And they know when they come on her show, she said, theyre going to get questions that they may not like.

Im gonna ask stuff you probably are maybe uncomfortable with but people wanna know, Rooks said. But theyre fine with doing that because they know itll be in a way that isnt coming from a place of judgment. Its coming from a place of understanding. And theyre aware of that. And I think it definitely helps knowing that youre stepping into a space where you can say something you wanna say.

DeMar DeRozan said on Rooks' show that he was the "sacrificial lamb" in Toronto. Photo by Abbie ... [+] Parr/Getty Images

Thats how she was able to book DeMar DeRozan for the Season One finale, where she asked the questions on everyones minds after Kawhi Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to the 2019 NBA title.

I looked at DeMar and said, how come the Raptors won with Kawhi and not you? Because thats what everyone wanted to know, she said. And I think he appreciated me asking that because he wanted to answer it. That led to a very viral moment, with DeMar saying I was the sacrificial lamb.

Their interview for the show was the first time theyd ever had a conversation, and that Rooks has gained a reputation among players as a go-to spot for candid exchanges.

I could tell he wanted to talk, she said. I could tell people were talking about him so much.

The two episodes Rooks is most excited for in Season Two are Chris Paul and Kevin Durant, because viewers will see them in ways they havent experienced before. She and Durant have known each other for eight years now, and first met at the 2012 All-Star weekend in Orlando.

Rooks was a 19-year-old student at Illinois, and wasnt able to get any questions in with the then-Oklahoma City Thunder forward at the media scrum. When she asked him for a couple of minutes of his time afterward, Durant rebuffed his handlers and said yes.

He just wanted to help me, Rooks said. At that time in your career, youre hearing a lot of nos. But if someone says yes, its something you absolutely remember. And just because of that, we have been friends ever since.

Kevin Durant is making progress as he rehabs from a torn Achilles he famously sustained during last ... [+] year's NBA Finals. Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

With his burner accounts and Twitter clapbacks, Durant can come off as mean, angry or petty at times. Rooks said their interview shows different sides of the Brooklyn Nets superstar.

Hes smiling, joking, reading his old embarrassing tweets, she said. Theres some really nice, human moments in a way you dont really see KD.

Now in a nice groove at Bleacher Report, Rooks is doing what shes always wanted to do, long unfiltered talks with some of sports biggest names.

Theyve given me this platform that is just unthinkable, she said. What Im doing is what I wanna do, talking to people in a longform setting and really adding to the conversation.

See more here:
Bleacher Reports Taylor Rooks Discusses Take It There Season Two, Friendship With Kevin Durant - Forbes