Tuesday, June 17, 2014

World Cup 2014: Daniel Sturridge ready for 'do or die' game


England striker Daniel Sturridge

England striker Daniel Sturridge is prepared to do almost anything to avoid an early World Cup exit in Thursday's "do or die" meeting with Uruguay.
Sturridge will be up against Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez, who infamously handled on the line in the closing seconds as Uruguay beat Ghana on penalties in South Africa in 2010.
While he insists he will stay within the rules, Sturridge said: "I'm going to do anything in my power to win.
"I'm talking anything. I'm serious."
Sturridge, 24, said he was feeling "hungry and confident" after scoring in England's 2-1 defeat by Italy on Saturday.
England's Daniel Sturridge
Daniel Sturridge not fixated on Luis Suarez
He added: "I'm prepared to do anything to win this next game. It's do or die. It's a World Cup."
Liverpool team-mate Suarez missed Uruguay's 3-1 defeat by Costa Rica following his recovery from a knee operation on 22 May but is ready to face England.
"I'm 100%, otherwise I wouldn't be here," he said. "I feel in good condition. I never thought I would miss the World Cup."
Sturridge has not been in touch with his club-mate, saying his focus is solely on Thursday's game in Sao Paulo.
He added that he would be "devastated" to exit the tournament at the group stage and said the England players would "work our socks off more than we've ever done before".
The former Chelsea player added: "I'm not saying I'm going to dive or do anything that's not within the laws of the game, but I will do anything - like my team-mates - to win this game."
In a reference to the 2010 World Cup, when Suarez denied quarter-final opponents Ghana a match-winning goal by stopping Dominic Adiyiah's header with his hand, Sturridge said he would never do the same thing.
"It's not in my nature," he said. "Within the rules of the game, I'll do anything, just like every Uruguayan player will. They're hungry and want to go through and we want to go through."

Last season with Liverpool (Premier League)

Daniel Sturridge, 24 Luis Suarez, 27
Appearances: 29
Appearances: 33
Goals: 21
Goals: 31
Assists: 7
Assists: 12
Sturridge insisted England want to maintain their reputation for fair play.
"We're an honest country and go about our business in an honest way," he said. "No disrespect to other countries, but we play within the laws of the game. We don't bend the rules. We play by the book.
"That's how I was brought up. We don't like to break the rules. We don't like to cheat to win."
England team-mate Danny Welbeck, meanwhile, agreed with comments from BBC Sport World Cup pundit Rio Ferdinand, a former Manchester United team-mate, that he should take more risks in front of goal.
Welbeck, 23, said: "I take what Rio says on board. He's seen me grow up and develop from a young kid, from 13. He's helped me a lot as a footballer. If he's telling me to take more risks, I will take more risks."
He said he had spoken to Ferdinand before and after the game against Italy, adding: "He just wants me to be the best I can. He says I need to be a bit more positive at times."

World Cup 2014: Wayne Rooney will cope with drama - Gary Neville


Wayne Rooney of England

England coach Gary Neville has backed Wayne Rooney to cope with the "drama" surrounding his role at the 2014 Fifa World Cup.
Rooney's position in Roy Hodgson's team has been the subject of intense debate, which heightened after Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Italy.
BBC Pundits Rio Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry
BBC pundits on Rooney's best position after Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Italy
Neville told the BBC: "Our country love it, creating a drama around one player.
"This time it's Wayne Rooney but that comes with the territory of being an important player in a big nation."
Rooney, 28, was played in a wide left role by Hodgson in the Group D match with Italy.
Despite setting up Daniel Sturridge's equaliser, Rooney attracted criticism for his performance and was a largely peripheral figure.
The Football Association has confirmed that he had extra training  on Monday at his own request.
A number of the players involved against Italy completed two-day post-match recovery work but Rooney did a session with the rest of the squad.
BBC pundit and former England captain Alan Shearer and former England manager Graham Taylor have called for Rooney to be played in his preferred central position.
Wayne Rooney's touch map against Italy
Wayne Rooney's touch map against Italy
Former Manchester United defender Neville has been to seven major tournaments with England as a player or coach and said the scrutiny Rooney was facing was not new, comparing it to that received by Paul Gascoigne and David Beckham.
"I've never known there not be an obsession around one player," Neville told BBC Radio 5 live.
"It was Gascoigne from 1996 to 1998, Beckham from 2000 to 2006. From 2006, it was Rooney and Beckham. Now it's Rooney to 2014.
"Unfortunately - or fortunately, because he is a big player - this time it's Wayne Rooney."
Neville described his former team-mate, who has scored 39 goals in 92 games for England, as a "street footballer".
He added: "You can't get him to do a light day's training. That's his character. He just wants to play every second of every day.
"He has an enthusiasm for football that is incredible and he's been like that since the moment I played against him when he was a young Everton kid."
Defeat in their opening match increases the pressure on England ahead of Thursday's clash with Uruguay.
Rio Ferdinand wants Wayne Rooney to play up front
Play Wayne Rooney up front - Rio Ferdinand
Neville said the disappointment of the result was tempered by the quality of England's performance in Manaus, particularly when compared with the defeat they suffered against Italy in the 2012 European Championship.
The 39-year-old said: "Two years ago, we were on the ropes with our gloves up, defending for 12 rounds but losing on points.
"The other night, we won a few rounds. It doesn't win you the football match but, in terms of the bigger picture, we see where we're going.
"Some of the football was the best I've seen from England in 10 or 15 years in a World Cup or European Championship match.
"As we came off the pitch, we weren't thinking anything other than the team played pretty well, but we got the fine lines wrong."

Julian Draxler: Schalke midfielder turned down Arsenal move

Julian Draxler

Schalke midfielder Julian Draxler says he turned down a move to Arsenal in January and plans to remain with the Bundesliga club this summer.
The 20-year-old Germany international was linked with a move to the Gunners during the transfer window.
Draxler, who signed a five-year contract with Schalke in May, said: "In January, there was the offer of Arsenal, but I decided to stay.
"I will do the same this summer. I want to play one year more in Schalke."
Draxler's current contract reportedly contains a 45m euros (£38m) buyout clause. 
He has played on the left of midfield and in a central attacking midfield role, scoring 15 goals in more than 100 appearances.

Draxler factfile

Age: 20
Born: Gladbeck, Germany
Germany caps: 11 (1 goal)
Schalke appearances 2013-14: 38 (6 goals)
Draxler was an unused substitute as Germany beat Portugal 4-0 in their opening World Cup group game in Salvador on Monday and is confident his country can win the trophy for the first time since 1990.
"We were a little bit nervous before the game," said Draxler. "But we know we are very strong and we wanted to show the world we can win the title.
"There are many other great nations and teams here, but we are one of the favourites."
Thomas Muller scored a hat-tick to add to the five goals he scored in earning the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup.
"He is so dangerous in front of goal," said Draxler.
"He always knows where he has to be. That's his secret. He knows where he has to be to score goals."
Draxler said the 24-year-old Muller has the potential to become a Germany great given his striker rate and age.

Working hard to take it easy

(Thinkstock)
(Thinkstock)
In 2007, Jeremy Askew left the UK practice where he was an independent financial advisor and set out to see the world.
During his 22-month sabbatical, he watched England play cricket in Sri Lanka, visited the part of India where his grandmother grew up and biked around London visiting various museums.
In the US, fewer than two in 10 employers offer sabbatical leave, and for two-thirds of those companies, it’s unpaid time off, according to US human resources company World At Work. In the UK, some 41% of employers offer the ability to take a sabbatical, but only 2% of employees take them up on the offer, according to UK human resources organization CIPD. In Japan, only 14% of companies provide personal maintenance leave, and only 8.5% provide volunteer leave, according to the Japanese Institute for Labour Policy and Training.
If you can make it work for you, however, experts agree that it can be a life-changing experience. Here’s how to take the leap:
Five Years to Go
Decide what you’d like to do, and what you hope to get out of it.
“Are you looking for down time? Personal development? Or improving your CV?,” asked Will Jones, marketing manager for i-to-i Volunteering in the UK.
You can boost your resume on a break in a variety of ways — by taking a class, interning for an overseas company, or volunteering. After all, managing people, working as part of a team, teaching, and organizing are all skills that are highly transferrable.
But don’t underestimate the benefits of travel for exploration’s sake, either. “Personal development is a by-product of traveling anyway,” Jones said. “The nature of having to budget, plan, scrimp, save—it’s often quite an extreme removal from your comfort zone.”
Set a time goal. How long will you be gone? How long can you be gone? If your company offers a sabbatical program you may have to work within the confines of what it provides.
And, you must consider your own limits. “A lot of my clients are in health- or technology-related professions, so they can take six months to a year off,” said Brian Frederick, a financial planner with Stillwater Financial Partners in Arizona in the US. “But if they take off longer than that, they run the risk that their skills start to atrophy.”
Diane Byrne took three trips to tour the US with her husband. They spent 30% more than anticipated. (Courtesy Diane Byrne)
Once you’ve got a handle on what you hope to do and how long you hope to do it, estimate how much money you will need. Check flights, lodging expenses, prices for things you hope to do, plus day-to-day expenses. And don’t forget about any costs you may incur while you’re away, such as mortgage payments, utilities, and loan payments. Then round up.
“We spent about 30% more than I had planned on,” said Diane Byrne, a financial planner in Wisconsin who took three extended trips in 2002 to tour the US with her husband in a motorhome. “It was the experience of a lifetime so we weren’t going to scrimp on things.”
Once you have a number, divide it by 60 months (five years) and start the five-year clock. Each month, put away 1/60th of your total number. Repeat.
Checklist: Five Years Before
  • Decide what you want to do
  • Think about how long you’d like to be gone
  • Create a budget
Four Years to Go
Begin this way of life: save first and spend second.
That means sending money to your savings account the moment you get paid. Have it transferred automatically each payday. You might consider taking on a seasonal job or freelance work for extra income to boost your sabbatical savings. Katie Erickson, a US financial planner who is taking a sabbatical in Jakarta, Indonesia, suggests taking that empty extra room and “renting out on AirBnB,” a site available in 192 countries that allows you to let a room in your home to guests, for bonus cash.
It’s also important to tackle debt before you go.
“You better not be carrying consumer debt that’s going to be enslaving your ability to be free and open,” said Mike Haubrich, a financial planner with Financial Service Group in Wisconsin. Make a plan to clear any credits cards while you still have a pay cheque.
Checklist: Four Years Before
  • Save, save, save
  • Pay down debt
  • Consider ways to earn extra cash
Two to Three Years to Go
So what are you actually going to do when you’re gone? If you have your heart set on a formal volunteer program in a particular country, start early to secure your spot. Or, if you're planning to attend a particular event like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup that occurs every four years, now is the time to start researching.
Benefits are another concern to consider far in advance. What are you going to do for health insurance while you’re away? Can you get it through a spouse? Purchase a policy while you travel? If your health insurance won’t cover you in another country, consider a supplemental plan that will — the last thing you need is to be without insurance in a foreign country and get seriously ill.
David Leach wished he had saved more for retirement on sabbatical. (Courtesy David Leach)
As you get closer to two years before your sabbatical, start watching flight prices so you can snag the best deal when you see it. If you plan to rent your house while you’re gone, research in your local area and online to determine how soon you will need to list your property.
If you’re taking a sabbatical to do volunteer work, it never hurts to canvas local businesses to see if any of them would be interested in supporting you in your endeavour. In the UK, for instance, many large organizations have a corporate social responsibility budget.
“Send a letter out to local businesses and ask if they have any CSR budget” to help with your trip, said Jones. “Even if you get nothing from it, what you have is a story you can share [with future employers] about the money acumen you picked up through fundraising.”
If your company has a formal sabbatical program and other employees have done it before, talk to them about it.
“Find out what worked really well for them, and find out what their regrets are so you can learn from their experience,” Haubrich said. If you don’t have any colleagues who have taken the plunge, reach out to other contacts who have done it. If you have to change course based on someone’s recommendations, it’s far better to know it now.
Now is also the time to tell your employer your plans. The more notice they have, and the more you're able to sell the time away to them as beneficial, the better the results are likely to be.
Checklist: Two to Three Years Before
  • Find a volunteer program or must-see events and make arrangements
  • Fundraise with local businesses
  • Talk to people who have done it before
  • Tell your employer about your plans
One Year to Go
The last year is all about details. For instance, do you need any inoculations before you travel to a foreign country? If you’re traveling to Indonesia, for instance, you should make sure you’ve had vaccines for Hepatitis A and Typhoid, among other things.
Do you need a visa? Visit the embassy website of the country you hope to visit to find out exactly what you need and when you should apply for it. You may have to send in your passport to acquire one, so plan accordingly.
Don’t forget about the day-to-day minutia. For instance, what will happen to your mail while you are away? Will you be paying your bills remotely? And if no one is staying in your house while you’re away, do you have someone checking on it?
“Many home insurance policies require that your residence not be left vacant for any length of time, so check your policy terms,” said Cynthia Kett, a financial advisor with Stewart & Kett Financial Advisors in Toronto, Canada. If you plan to rent to a stranger, take prudent precautions, such as requesting a damage deposit and checking references
“One time we were gone for five months and we had a college student live in our house,” Byrne said. “He didn’t pay us rent but we didn’t have to pay a house sitter. He took care of snow removal and all the maintenance type things. It was a win-win.”
If you have to put any of your things in storage, take this opportunity to purge what you don’t need. “This is a perfect opportunity to pare down your personal belongings,” said Katie Erickson. “Have a garage sale. Sell on Amazon Marketplace and Craigslist. Paying for storage for things you never use is abysmal financial planning.”
Last, give yourself time to adjust once you’ve started your adventure. When Erickson left the US 11 months ago for Indonesia, she was nervous that she’d hate Jakarta and she worried about financial security.
“There were a lot of gut checks and questioning of the decision to shake up everything about my life,” Erickson said. “At this point, I feel that moving to Jakarta was one of the best major decisions I’ve ever made.”
Checklist: One Year Before
  • Get inoculations, apply for visa
  • Take care of day-to-day details
  • Store and sell your stuff

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

World Cup 2014: Messi & Ronaldo face career-defining moment

To claim that Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo are somehow lacking something as footballers seems almost perverse.
These are the twin tornados of today's football landscape, chasing each other in a statistical arms race, tearing up records, making the impossible mundane.
But as their third World Cups come around, there remains a sense of incompleteness, of a final summit still to climb.
What separates Argentina's Messi and Portugal's Ronaldo from footballing immortality? Certainly not goals, whether in quantity or style, or club honours, or individual accolades won. By those measures both match Pele and Maradona, arguably surpass Zinedine Zidane and Johan Cruyff.
What it is missing is a World Cup: not a brilliant solo goal, nor a single great win, but a tournament that they have dominated and defined.
Pele and Vava celebrate as Brazil beat Sweden in the 1958 World Cup final
100 great World Cup moments - Teenage Pele shines in 1958
Diego Maradona achieved that grail in 1986, dancing and driving Argentina to the title. Pele perhaps did it twice, as spearhead in 1958 and embodiment of his team's brilliance 12 years later. Even in defeat Cruyff (1974) and Roberto Baggio (1994) owned a tournament.
This is the power of a World Cup. Reputations are transformed. Legacies are gilded.
"Mexico changed my life, quite literally," says Gary Lineker, whose six goals won him the Golden Boot in 1986. "It made a massive difference to me - a player going from one who was not assured of a starting place in the England team to suddenly, after that World Cup, being known by everybody wherever I went."
Messi and Ronaldo have achieved far more in club football than Lineker. Between them they have five Champions League trophies and all six of the last Fifa World Player of the Year or Ballon D'Or awards.
Unlike Lineker they are already global superstars. Yet unlike the former England striker, or his successor as Golden Boot winner, Italy's Toto Schillaci, they lack such a clearly defined peak.
Deep into their careers, at an age where pace and influence are yet to fade, they will never have a better chance.
Lineker's verdict on Messi & Ronaldo
In 571 minutes at World Cup finals Messi has scored just one goal, the same number as Matthew Upson and Gary Breen. In 754 minutes, Ronaldo has only one more than the England and Ireland centre-halves. To put that into goalscoring context, Denmark's comparatively prosaic forward Jon Dahl Tomasson has five. Pele ended with 12, and the Brazilian Ronaldo had 15.
"For the true greats of all time, you have got to make a name for yourself at a World Cup, if you are lucky enough to have been born in a country where you can," says Lineker.
"If you are a great player for a country like Argentina, Italy, Germany or England you've got to prove it at a World Cup - not necessarily to win it, but to make yourself one of the greats of that tournament.
"It is probably the one thing that counts against Messi at the moment when set against the likes of Pele and Maradona. He has not got that World Cup under his belt - but neither had Maradona until he came to this stage of his career. Maybe Messi will now do the same."
In some ways it's a cruel yardstick. World Cups, by definition, are only a periodic barometer of greatness.
Some of the finest players in history have been denied the opportunity to display at the greatest expo of all, whether through nationality (George Best, Alfredo di Stefano, George Weah), injury and insult (Bernd Schuster) or tragedy (Duncan Edwards, Valentino Mazzola).
Others have peaked in intervening years, been dragged down by less liberated team-mates or found themselves neutered by the sort of dedicated on-field attention that the most dangerous opponent routinely attracts. All three could yet happen to Ronaldo and Messi.
In the 21st century, there is an argument that the Champions League is a more accurate gauge of a superstar's influence: more matches, more sustained pressure, a higher and more consistent calibre of opposition.
Diego Maradona powers through the England defence to score for Argentina
100 great World Cup moments - Maradona stuns England in 1986
Messi has three winner's medals from European club football's greatest competition, Ronaldo one each from two clubs. In each triumph, each man played a pivotal role; both have scored key goals in two separate finals.
These feats are not achieved by many, let alone the ordinary. And while the Champions League final attracts a far smaller global audience than the World Cup (the 2013 final had an average audience of 150 million, the 2010 World Cup final six times that) its cumulative reach across four years narrows the gap.
Then there is over-familiarity that modern media saturation can bring. Very few of us have seen Pele live, whether in person or on television. Even Maradona we know primarily from World Cups and video compilations.
You can watch Ronaldo and Messi every week, should you have the right satellite subscription. You can watch them at any moment via video-sharing sites on your mobile and tablet.
Has this removed the untouchable aura that surrounds their antecedents? Do we associate Pele with genius because 'best ofs', by definition, do not include the average or off-form?

Head to Head

Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Date of birth (age)
24 June, 1987 (26)
5 February, 1985 (29)
Clubs played for
Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid
Total league matches played
277
386
Total league goals scored
243
264
International debut
17 August, 2005 v Hungary
20 August, 2003 v Kazakhstan
Caps
84
110
International goals
37
49
Club honours
Six league titles, three Champions Leagues, two domestic cups, two Club World Cups
Four league titles, two Champions Leagues, three domestic cups, one Club World Cup
Individual honours
Four Ballon d'Or awards
Two Ballon d'Or awards
The caveat most often used by those wishing to contextualise the remarkable goal-scoring feats of today's two prodigies is that the currency of the Primera Liga is devalued, in part by the financial dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona and thus in part also their on-pitch supremacy.
In which case, Pele's famous 1,283 goals in 1,366 appearances for Santos, Brazil and New York Cosmos are the equivalent of old copper coins - some invaluable, some (like those accrued in endless friendlies and promotional matches) near worthless.
Were the defences that Pele came up against as organised and fit as those that face Messi and Ronaldo? Are those two free to work their magic in a way that the often brutalised Maradona never was?
Which is why we come back to the World Cup. You can only judge a man in his historical context. Pele and Maradona made tournaments their own. Messi and Ronaldo, deferential to their sport's past, understand instinctively.
"Messi would give all the medals he has won at Barcelona to win one World Cup," says Argentina's 1978 World Cup winner Osvaldo Ardiles. Ronaldo already has his own museum in which to house the greatest honour of them all.
Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo mural in Brazil
Could Messi, Ronaldo or home favourite Neymar prove the defining figure in Brazil?
Providence and history call for both.
For Ronaldo, his country's captain, the astonishingly dominant force in their qualification (all four goals in Portugal's play-off against Sweden came from their number seven), 29 years and 110 caps into his career arc, now is the time - not in 2018, never again.
For Messi, less adored at home than the ragamuffin talents of Maradona or even Carlos Tevez, serendipity is on his side.
Argentina coach Alex Sabella has built his team around the Barcelona man in a way that his predecessor in 2010, Maradona, never did.
And with the tournament hosted by his nation's arch-rivals, politics and culture are on his side too - not quite as they were for Zidane in 1998, when his ethnic origins as much as his two headers in the final made him the incarnation of the 'Black Blanc Beur' philosophy, but in a way that creates the perfect backstory for his deeds.
Only one, of course, could win the old gold pot. So what will be enough - a glorious but doomed soliloquy, as with Baggio two decades ago, or a semi-final, perhaps the Golden Boot?
Should one be crowned world champion, it might even be enough to swing the eternal argument about which is the superior player. That's what World Cups can do: complete careers, crown kings.

I have stabilized Lusaka-Mulenga Sata

Local Government Minister Emmanuel Chenda (left) listens to Lusaka Mayor Mulenga Sata during a tour of Lusaka town centre market
Local Government Minister Emmanuel Chenda (left) listens to Lusaka
Mayor Mulenga Sata during a tour of Lusaka town centre market
PF Lusaka District Chairperson Mulenga Sata has boasted that his responsive leadership is responsible for the stability that the ruling PF has enjoyed in Lusaka.
Mr. Sata who is also Lusaka Mayor said from the time he took over as Lusaka District PF Chairperson, there have been no unrests in the ruling party.
He said Lusaka residents deserved to live in a peaceful city without any trouble from the party cadres.
“Lusaka is traditionally a peaceful place and what was happening sometime back was a sign that leadership was failing. What I have tried to do is provide leadership and everyone in the party is following through,” Mr Sata said.
He said he does not expect a repeat of the leadership wrangles that rocked the party’s leadership in Lusaka.
Meanwhile, the Lusaka City Council (LCC) has sent a final warning to defaulters owing the Council close to K1 billion to pay up or face legal action.
The LCC is owed millions of Kwacha in rates, rent and billboards that has accumulated over a period of time.
Assistant Public Relations Manager, Brenda Katongola said the Council has since given tenants occupying its properties in Lusaka’s Ibex Hill, a 21-day ultimatum which elapses today (Tuesday, 10th June) to pay up or face eviction.
She said the Council has also sent warning letters to other defaulters to pay up or come 1st July, the civic authority will send bailiffs to help the institution recover the monies owed to it.
“The Council is owed a lot of money in unpaid rent and rates by various institutions and individuals and from billboards over a long period of time. Paying rent and rates is mandatory by law. This time we are not encouraging defaulters to pay, but we are warning them.
We sent out letters to tenants occupying the few remaining Council houses in Ibex Hill on 21st May, 2014 to pay up, failure to which they will be evicted. Some tenants are owing the Council more than K100,000 in unpaid rentals,” Ms. Katongola said.
Ms. Katongola said the Council will not allow illegalities to hamper its efforts of providing quality service delivery and warned defaulters with outstanding amounts in rates, rent and billboards to pay for the civic authority to deliver on its mandate.
“People need to honor their obligations and pay what they owe the Council for us to offer quality service delivery to the community and also for us to be able to function effectively.
“Come 1st July, bailiffs will pounce on the defaulters. This is in a bid to generate revenue for the council especially that people have failed to honor their obligations even after reminders were sent out.
Apart from sending bailiffs, we will also start taking defaulters to the courts of law for the necessary action to be taken,” she said.

Global private wealth rises to $152tn

A trader on a stock market floor The rise in global stock markets has boosted private wealth held by households
The amount of private wealth held by households globally surged more than 14% to $152 trillion (£90tn) last year, boosted mainly by rising stock markets.
Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, led the surge with a 31% jump to $37tn, a report by Boston Consulting Group says.
The number of millionaire households also rose sharply.
The report takes into account cash, deposits, shares and other assets held by households. But businesses, real estate and luxury goods are excluded.
"In nearly all countries, the growth of private wealth was driven by the strong rebound in equity markets that began in the second half of 2012," the firm said in its report.
"This performance was spurred by relative economic stability in Europe and the US and signs of recovery in some European countries, such as Ireland, Spain and Portugal."
The amount of wealth held in equities globally grew by 28% during the year, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said.
Asia-Pacific growth Economies in Asia have been key drivers of global growth in the recent years. And households in the region have benefitted from this growth.
Within the region, China has been the biggest driver - with private wealth in the country surging more than 49% in 2013.
High saving rates in countries such as China and India has also been a key contributing factor to this surge.
The wealth held in the region is expected to rise further, to nearly $61tn by the end of 2018.
"At this pace, the region is expected to overtake Western Europe as the second-wealthiest region in 2014, and North America as the wealthiest in 2018," BCG said.
The pace of wealth creation in China was also evident in the growth in the number of millionaire households - in US dollar terms - in the country, rising to 2.4 million in 2013, from 1.5 million a year ago.
Overall, the total number of millionaire households in the world rose to 16.3 million in 2013, from 13.7 million in 2012.
According to the report, private wealth in:
  • North America rose by 15.6% to $50.3tn
  • Western Europe, which includes UK, Germany and France, rose by 5.2% to $37.9tn
  • Eastern Europe, which includes Russia, Poland and Czech Republic, jumped by 17.2% to $2.7tn
  • Latin America rose by 11.1% to $3.9tn
  • Middle East region increased by 11.6% to reach $5.2tn

Monday, June 9, 2014

Queen's 2014: Dan Evans and James Ward earn first-round wins

Aegon Championships
  • Venue: Queen's Club, London
  • Date: 9-15 June
Coverage: Live on BBC TV, HD, Red Button, online, mobile, the BBC Sport app and Connected TV. TV coverage: Monday-Friday 13:00-18:00 on BBC Two, Saturday 13:15-16:00 BBC One & 16:00-17:30 BBC Two, Sunday 14:00-17:30 on BBC Two (all times BST)
British pair Dan Evans and James Ward both earned opening-day wins to move into the second round of the Aegon Championships at Queen's.
British number two Evans won 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-2) against Austria's world number 51 Jurgen Melzer.

Match stats

Melzer Evans
Match time: 2 hr 11 mins
11
Aces
18
4
Double faults
7
67%
1st serve %
58%
78%
1st serve win %
89%
39%
2nd serve win %
43%
2/6
Break points
3/6
Ward also beat a higher-ranked opponent, winning 7-5 6-4 against Slovenia's Blaz Rola.
Third seed Andy Murray plays Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second round on Wednesday.
The British number one, who was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the French Open semi-finals on Friday, was given a first-round bye.
Murray took part in two practice sessions on Monday, but it was the performances of Evans and Ward on Centre Court which caught the eye of the home spectators.
Evans, ranked 112th in the world, fought back from a break down in the final set to beat Melzer and set up a second-round match against South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Briton started impressively against the former world number eight, going a break up in the third game to race into a 4-1 lead, eventually serving out at 6-3.
The pair exchanged breaks in successive games in the second, before 33-year-old Melzer took advantage of two double faults from Evans in the tie-break to take the match into a deciding set.
Austria's Jurgen Melzer, who lost to Dan Evans, reached a career-high ranking of eighth in April 2011.
Austria's Jurgen Melzer, who lost to Dan Evans, reached a career-high ranking of eighth in April 2011.
Melzer made a breakthrough in the opening game of the third, but Evans hit back instantly as both players regained composure to hold serve in the next 10 games and go to a final set tie-break.
Evans secured an early mini-break and, after a wild shot by Melzer, secured victory with a thunderous ace.
He is joined in the second round by compatriot Ward, who started the tournament with a straight-sets success over world number 91 Rola.

Match stats

Ward Rola
Match time: 1 hr 28 mins
2
Aces
5
3
Double faults
2
71%
1st serve %
64%
67%
1st serve win %
76%
62%
2nd serve win %
30%
3/4
Break points
1/3
The British number three, ranked 64 places below Rola, broke his opponent's serve to lead 6-5 before holding his own to clinch the opening set.
A double fault from Rola, who was playing his first professional match on grass, in the ninth game of the second set allowed Ward to serve out for the win.
It was the Briton's second victory in three weeks against Rola after a gruelling French Open qualifier last month.
The 27-year-old wildcard will now face Bulgarian world number 13 Grigor Dimitrov, the number four seed, on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, France's Mathieu earned a 7-6 6-4 win over Aljaz Bedene to set up a second-round meeting with defending champion Murray.
Australia's Bernard Tomic, who could meet Murray in the third round, started his Queen's campaign with a 6-4 3-6 7-5 success against Tim Smyczek of the United States.
Elsewhere, four-time Queen's champion Lleyton Hewitt needed just one hour and nine minutes to win 6-3 6-3 against Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

'World's smallest' pacemaker fitted for first time in England

Prof John Morgan Prof John Morgan (left) called the new device a "milestone for cardiac rhythm management in the UK"
The world's smallest pacemaker has been fitted inside the heart of a UK patient, medics have said.
The Micra Transcatheter Pacing System was fitted for the first time in England at Southampton General Hospital.
Consultant cardiologist Prof John Morgan said the procedure was a "landmark moment".
He said the device was "not much larger than an antibiotic pill" and was one tenth the size of traditional models.

A brief history of the pacemaker

  • Electrical activity within the heart was discovered in the 1800s
  • The first artificial pacemaker, built by Albert Hyman in 1932, was powered by a hand-cranked motor
  • Post World War 2 smaller devices were pioneered, with some worn like a necklace
  • In 1958 the first implanted pacemaker was given to Arne Larsson in Sweden, but the device failed after three hours
  • Early pacemaker batteries had short lifetimes until Wilson Greatbatch pioneered long-life lithium batteries in the 1970s
Source: The Science Museum, London
Currently, pacemakers, which use electrical impulses to regulate the beating of the heart, are inserted under the skin and connected to the heart via a lead.
The lead carries electrical signals to correct slow or irregular heartbeats, but they can require replacement due to broken or dislodged wires.
The new device can be implanted directly in the heart and delivers electrical impulses from an electrode, removing the need for a lead.
Prof Morgan said: "In addition to the advantages of the device's size and wireless technology, the procedure reduces the risk of infection and extended recovery time associated with traditional, more invasive surgical pacemaker implants.
"This a big step forward in patient treatment and a milestone for cardiac rhythm management in the UK."
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Analysis By Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical correspondent
This new technology has several potential advantages.
Most important is the absence of a wire or lead which carries the electrical impulse from conventional pacemakers to the heart. These wires can come under immense pressure and can be a source of complications.
Standard pacemakers are implanted under the skin in the chest which can be a potential infection risk. By contrast, the tiny pacemaker used in these trials is inserted via a catheter from the groin and sits in the heart.
At 26mm long and weighing 2g, the Micra TM used in Southampton can claim to be the world's smallest pacemaker.
Southampton General is the only UK hospital which is taking part in a global clinical trial of the device.
A patient in Austria was the first to have the device implanted in December 2013. A rival system called Nanostim from St Jude Medical is also undergoing trials. It is 41mm long.
A third technology under development by EBR Systems combines a pacemaker implanted under the skin which wirelessly sends ultrasound energy to a receiving electrode - about the size of a grain of rice - implanted in the left ventricle.