Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline and which

The greatest evolutionary change in professional sports over the past decade has been the introduction of analytics.


In a nutshell cheap adidas superstar , this concept refers to the use of anti-traditional, hyper-specific statistical analyses to build teams and compensate players in a statistically rational manner.


Once upon a time, the field of sports analytics was considered a fringe endeavor. In 1977, a man named Bill James was viewed as a kook who self-published a quirky journal and sold it to a small, loyal, equally kooky group of subscribers.


Today adidas superstar sale , James works for the Boston Red Sox, a team that has won three World Series titles since 2003. Before the Red Sox hired James, the team had gone 86 years without winning MLB's ultimate prize.


Not surprisingly, James' protégées currently permeate baseball's front offices. Most famously, former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has recently been charged with the Herculean task of helping the hapless Chicago Cubs (0 for 106 years and counting) win the World Series.


Even more impressive is the impact James' research has had on other sports. Professional football and basketball, specifically adidas superstar shoes , have begun to follow baseball's lead, albeit reluctantly.


Innovative omelets aren't made without breaking more than a few philosophically entrenched eggs. Old school baseball scouts have - both figuratively and literally - spit tobacco onto the concept of Moneyball.


And NBA analyst Charles Barkley, whose bombastic delivery belies his thoughtful rhetorical mind-set, had this to say, "I've always believed analytics was crap."


While Barkley usually contributes a voice of reason to ridiculous public debates, he's probably wrong in this case.


Last week adidas superstar pink , the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference gave the San Antonio Spurs an award for essentially using analytics to win two of the past three NBA championships. (For whatever it's worth, effective free throw shooting would have made that number three-for-three.)


Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, a former US military member and current coaching legend, had this to say about the award, "I had no idea there was such a conference or such an award … the world is amazing."


Amazing? Yes. Data-driven? Yes. Here to stay? YES.


The United States has lifted the in-cabin ban on laptops and other large electronic devices on US-bound flights from Dubai and Istanbul, Emirates and Turkish Airlines said on Wednesday.


The announcements come three days after the ban was lifted on Etihad Airways' flights to the United States from Abu Dhabi International Airport.


The ban on US flights from Dubai International adidas superstar white , the world's busiest airport for international travel, has been lifted after new security measures announced by the US last week were implemented, an Emirates spokeswoman said in a statement.


Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline and which flies to 12 US cities, had blamed travel restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump's administration for a drop in demand on US flights.


The Dubai-based carrier cut flights to five US cities from May but had since said demand was starting to return on some routes.


Meanwhile Turkish Airlines said in a statement that passengers traveling to the United States could now take their laptops onboard.


Emirates and Turkish Airlines are the only airlines that operate direct flights from Dubai and Istanbul, respectively adidas superstar black , to the US.


Turkish Airlines Chief Executive Bilal Eksi also tweeted that the airline expected similar restrictions on flights to Britain would soon be lifted.


"A technical team will come from Britain for an assessment within one week," Turkey's Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan told reporters in the capital Ankara. "I'm sure they will lift that ban. There is no reason for the ban to continue."


US and British officials carried out inspections of security measures at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday, the Dogan news agency reported earlier.


There was no immediate comment available from US officials on the lifting of the ban in Dubai and Istanbul.


Security officials were seen examining passengers' laptops at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Wednesday following the lifting of restrictions.


"When I was buying the ticket I thought 'shall I buy one for the day after just in case', but I bought one for today when they said it was being lifted," Emre Tokmak, a passenger on a Turkish Airlines morning flight to New York traveling with his laptop adidas superstar gold , told reporters at the airport.


In March the United States imposed the ban on direct flights originating at 10 airports in eight countries - Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait adidas superstar rose gold , Qatar and Turkey - to address fears that bombs could be concealed in electronic devices taken aboard aircraft.


Some airlines affected by the ban tried to soften the impact of the restrictions by allowing passengers to check in banned devices shortly before boarding and offering to loan tablets for use during the flight to those travelling in first or business class.

A high-speed bullet train runs from Urumqi South Railway Station to Hami city, Xinjiang, in this Nov 16 file photo. [PhotoXinhua]

If confirmed, proposal would expand country's overseas market


China is in discussions with India to help it build the world's second-longest high-speed railroad with a price tag of 200 billion yuan ($32.6 billion), its latest efforts to push for a bigger share of the overseas high-speed market.


The Delhi-Chennai high-speed rail corridor will see trains running at 300 kmh, covering up to 1 adidas superstar ,754 kilometers.


The railway is proposed to be developed jointly with China, home to the world's longest high-speed rail line - between Beijing and Guangzhou - several Indian media organizations reported over the weekend, citing senior officials with India's Ministry of Railways.


Hindusta.