Benjamin Mendy, a defender for Manchester City, was cleared on six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
After a six-month trial, the judgement was announced at Chester Crown Court on Friday.
European fullback Six counts of rape against four women and a sixth case of sexual assault against a fifth woman were dropped against Mendy, who was found not guilty of both charges.
On one further case of rape and one more count of attempted rape, the jury was unable to come to a verdict.
Assaults allegedly committed against five women between October 2020 and August 2021 led to Mendy’s arrest and subsequent charges.
Three counts of rape against co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie were dismissed. Three allegations of rape and three counts of sexual assault against him were the subject of inconclusive jury decisions.
On the counts where the jury was deadlocked, the prosecution will request a new trial.
Premier League City champions suspended Mendy in August 2021 after he was placed on remand. In January of last year, the 28-year-old was let out of jail.
City said in a statement on Friday: “Manchester City FC notes the verdict from Chester Crown Court today, where a jury has found Benjamin Mendy not guilty of seven charges.
“The jury is hung on two charges and the trial is now over.
“Given there are open matters related to this case, the Club is not in a position to comment further at this time.”
When Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, held a press conference shortly after the results, he was questioned about Mendy.
The decision by the Football Association (FA) to classify the frequent use of the chant “rent boy” directed against Chelsea fans as a violation of the rules set forth by the governing body has been appreciated by Chelsea.
Opposition supporters have occasionally been heard singing the slogan at Chelsea games over the years, but it has drawn harsh criticism for its homophobic content.
The FA has stated that clubs may now face sanctions for singing the song after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) classified it as a hate crime.
In a statement released on Friday, Chelsea said: “The ‘rent boy’ chant is intolerable and has no place in football or anywhere else.
“That opposition clubs can now face disciplinary action if their supporters engage in this discriminatory and offensive behaviour is a step in the right direction.
“Everyone who chooses to participate in this chant must know their actions have consequences.
“Alongside our No To Hate campaign, we will continue to work with the FA, the CPS, opposition clubs, and our own LGBTQI+ supporter group Chelsea Pride in the pursuit of positive change.
“There is plenty more work to be done, but we won’t rest until football is a game where everyone feels welcome.”
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Shortly before 01:20am today, officers pulled over a vehicle in the Ponteland Road area of Newcastle and arrested the occupant.
“Joelinton Cassio, 26, of Ponteland, has since been charged with driving whilst above the prescribed limit for alcohol.”
On January 26, in between the first and second legs of United’s EFL Cup semifinal against Southampton, Joelinton will appear before magistrates in Newcastle.
Only five players have appeared in more games for Newcastle this season than the Brazilian, who has started 19 of Newcastle’s 23 games.
As the only child of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, singer Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away on January 12, spent the majority of her life hidden from the public view. But she added that having the King of Rock ‘n Roll as her father makes life “very exciting.”
“He’d always wake me up to sing in the middle of the night, get on the table and sing,” Lisa Marie recalled during an interview on Good Morning America in 2009, People reported. “I remember him as my dad, but he was a very exciting dad.”
Lisa was conceived by the famous couple nine months after their wedding and was born on February 1st, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
She recalled during an interview with The Associated Press in 2012 that he would take her about on golf carts in the neighborhood and that she enjoyed her time with Elvis at the house.
She also remembered watching him make grand entrances as he descended the stairs.
“He was always fully, fully geared up. You’d never see him in his pajamas coming down the steps, ever,” she told the outlet in 2012. “You’d never see him in anything but ‘ready to be seen’ attire.”
However, Lisa Marie’s parents separated in 1973, when she was 4 years old, and her mother and she went to Los Angeles.
When Lisa Marie was seven years old, she first encountered Michael Jackson in the West at one of her father’s Las Vegas performances. Later, she wed the King of Pop.
Years later, in August 1977, Elvis passed away. He was 42.
She spent the night at Graceland and recalled kissing her father goodnight before he passed away. The following morning, she discovered him on the bathroom floor.
“I just had a feeling,” she told Rolling Stone in 2003. “He wasn’t doing well. All I know is I had it (a feeling), and it happened. I was obsessed with death at a very early age.”
His death made her the joint heir to his estate, and, when her grandfather, Vernon Presley and great-grandmother, Minnie Mae Hood Presley passed away in 1979 and 1980, she became the sole heir to the Graceland residence.
Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley & Elvis Presley (Magma Agency/WireImage)
American rock legend Elvis Presley with his daughter Lisa-Marie Presley. (Frank Carroll/Sygma via Getty Images)
Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley & Elvis Presley (Magma Agency/WireImage)
Lisa Marie followed in her late father’s footsteps in picking up an interest in music and carried his legacy. Her father heavily influenced her music.
“It’s been all my life,” she told The Associated Press in 2012, referencing his influence. “It’s not something that I now listen to and it’s different. Although I might listen closer. I remain consistent on the fact that I’ve always been an admirer. He’s always influenced me.”
She married Danny Keough, a Chicago-based musician, in October 1988.
The two welcomed two children, daughter Riley in 1989 and son Benjamin in 1992, and divorced in May 1994.
Less than a month later, she and Jackson got married.
“I am very much in love with Michael, I dedicate my life to being his wife. I understand and support him,” she explained at the time, People reported. “We both look forward to raising a family.”
The relationship lasted two years.
This August 16, 1994 file photo shows US pop star Michael Jackson and his then wife Lisa-Marie Presley arriving at the airport in Budapest. (AFP via Getty Images)
Michael Jackson and wife Lisa Marie Presley in 1995 at Versailles, France. (Michel Dufour/WireImage)
“The one thing that correlates with Michael and with my father on this subject is that they had the luxury of creating whatever reality around them they wanted to create,” Lisa Marie told Oprah Winfrey in 2016, according to HuffPost. “They could have the kinds of people who were going to go with their program or not go with their program. If they weren’t, then they could be disposed of.”
Jackson died on June 25, 2009.
Lisa Marie also got engaged to musician John Oszajca in 2000, but broke it off when she met actor Nicolas Cage.
Two years later, Lisa Marie and Cage were married. They held a secret ceremony on the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ death in Hawaii but split up less than four months later.
“I’m sad about this, but we shouldn’t have been married in the first place,” Lisa Marie explained through her publicist, Paul Bloch.
Lisa Marie married again in 2006 to Michael Lockwood, and the two welcomed twin daughters, Harper and Finley, in 2008.
Singer Lisa Marie Presley (L) and musician Michael Lockwood arrive at the “Mad Max: Fury Road” Los Angeles Premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on May 7, 2015 in Hollywood, California. (Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
Lisa Marie Presley and performs on stage with husband and guitarist Michael Lockwood at the Triple Door Theater on August 28, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. (Mat Hayward/Getty Images)
Their relationship also ended when Marie filed for divorce in June 2016. The two separated, and the divorce was finalized in 2021. A lengthy custody battle was fought over the children.
Lisa Marie was “ferociously protective” of her children, she told Healthy Living in 2014.
“I just smother them in love,” she added. “They are my priority. That’s what I do. That’s what I care most about. I keep them close to me and make sure they are happy and healthy.”
In 2020, Lisa Marie lost her son Benjamin to suicide. It fundamentally changed her life.
“My beautiful, beautiful angel, I worshiped the ground you walked on, on this earth and now in Heaven,” she wrote on Instagram after his passing. “My heart and soul went with you. The depth of the pain is suffocating and bottomless without you every moment of every day.”
She expressed her grief openly in the years since, most recently in an essay for People Magazine in 2022.
“I’ve dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of 9 years old. I’ve had more than anyone’s fair share of it in my lifetime, and somehow, I’ve made it this far,” she wrote at the time.
“But this one, the death of my beautiful, beautiful son? The sweetest and most incredible being that I have ever had the privilege of knowing, who made me feel so honored every single day to be his mother? Who was so much like his grandfather on so many levels that he actually scared me? Which made me worry about him even more than I naturally would have?” her essay continued. “No. Just no … no, no, no, no…”
“It’s a real choice to keep going, one that I have to make every single day and one that is constantly challenging, to say the least … But I keep going for my girls,” she wrote. “I keep going because my son made it very clear in his final moments that taking care of his little sisters and looking out for them were on the forefront of his concerns and his mind. He absolutely adored them, and they him.”
Lisa Marie Presley and her children Benjamin Keough (R), Riley Keough (L), and her half-brother Navarone Garibaldi (back) attend the premiere of “Lilo and Stitch” at the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood on June 16, 2002. (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Lisa Marie died on Thursday, Jan. 12, after being transported to the hospital following a possible cardiac arrest. Priscilla confirmed the death that evening.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla said in a statement. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
Those across the country immediately felt the loss as Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, John Travolta and others mourned her death.
Debt exchange has recently emerged as one of the expressions that Ghana’s media uses the most frequently.
Government representatives, legislators, and financial experts frequently use this phrase while discussing how the Ghanaian government would manage the enormous debt it has accumulated over the previous few years, which many people believe is the root of the nation’s economic problems.
A debt exchange scheme known as the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) program was announced by the government through the Ministry of Finance.
Following threats of strikes in response to the announcement, the administration changed some DDE specifics. The announcement caused some controversy in the labor sector.
However, the average Ghanaian does not fully understand what this Debt Exchange scheme is, even if they can be affected by it.
This article aims to clarify all aspects of the Debt Exchange scheme.
Every government in the world, even those of developed nations like Germany and the United States, borrows money both domestically (from its people) and internationally to fund its economy.
By issuing debt instruments like bonds through financial intermediaries like banks and other financial institutions, it does this.
If a regular Ghanaian lends the government a specified sum of money (principal) after a specified amount of time, the government offers a profit (interest). This contract is an example of bonds (government bonds).
Debt Exchange:
Now, the government is attempting to modify the interest it promised the Ghanaian who lent it money (the bondholder) as well as the time period for which the lender is meant to receive his interest and principle back through its debt exchange program, or DDE.
In other terms, the debt exchange refers to the government replacing the original arrangement (the period and the guaranteed interest) it had with the bondholder with a new one.
For instance, if you had a government bond as of December 1, 2022, which was due to mature in 2025, the government is now promising you four new bonds (agreements) with maturities set for 2027, 2029, 2029, 2032, and 2037, respectively.
Additionally, you are anticipated to receive 0% interest in 2023, 5% interest in 2024, and 10% interest in 2025, which will continue until the bond’s expiration (when you are expected to get your investment with the promised interest).
Consequences of debt exchange:
Why are many bondholders protesting the government’s proposal, then? Will they suffer a financial loss?
Well, the time worth of money is the basis for the majority of these denials. In other words, even if bondholders will receive their investment back, doing so later means that due to inflationary pressures, the value of the money they receive will be lower.
In other words, you can buy a house with the GHC 100,000 you would earn in 2023, but you might not be able to do so in 2027.
Additionally, some bondholders depend on the interest payments they obtain from the government for their daily needs, therefore their way of life would be impacted.
Who will the DDE programme affect?
The government first claimed that the initiative would have an impact on private banks, investment firms, insurance plans, pension funds, and non-resident investors.
However, following pressure and strike threats from labor unions, the government disallowed pension funds that may have impacted organizations like the Health Services Workers’ Union, Mineworkers Union, Trades Union Congress, Ghana Medical Association, and Chamber of Corporate Trustee, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association Ghana National Association of Teachers Ghana National Association of Graduate
Individual bondholders have now been included by the government to the DDE program.
But many Ghanaians were already indirectly impacted by the program’s inclusion of financial institutions since they were unable to get their interest and principal payments. This was true even before the introduction of individual bonds.
What happens if you decide not to take the government’s DDE offer:
The DDE is a voluntary initiative, and the government has provided deadlines for domestic bondholders to join that it has repeatedly amended. According to reports, government bond intermediaries are urging holders to join the scheme by sending alerts to them.
There is a chance that government bondholders will experience some undesirable effects, even though the government has not specified any penalties for refusing to participate in the scheme.
For instance, if the bond’s maturity date has passed, it’s possible you won’t receive your money, in which case your sole recourse is to file a lawsuit against the government.
Another potential is that, like numerous Ghanaians who have invested in private bonds of financial organizations like Data Bank, you can lose all of the interest on your bond and perhaps even some of your investment.
According to head coach Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern Munich “have a duty to get another goalkeeper” in the current transfer window.
After Manuel Neuer fractured his leg while skiing, the German giants are in a difficult situation because Sven Ulreich, 34, their backup goalie, is the only seasoned alternative.
Johannes Schenk, a 19-year-old, is in second place behind Ulreich, and Nagelsmann has made it obvious that he is searching for a more seasoned veteran to challenge Ulreich for the top slot while Neuer is out.
But he explained to reporters on Thursday why it’s such a challenging prospect in the middle of the season.
“In winter it is very, very difficult,” he said. “The market situation is complex because other clubs are also looking for certain positions.
“The goalkeeping market is generally complex – there aren’t that many players out there. The situation is not easy.
“We’re trying to do something. We have a duty to get another goalkeeper, regardless of whether he becomes number one or number two, because behind [Ulreich] we only have very young players.
“If [Ulreich] were to get injured, it would be a complex situation for a young player with no professional experience to be between the posts. I’m a friend of always keeping your eyes and ears open.”
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson is happy to have signed 18-year-old Socceroos forward Garang Kuol on a loan from Newcastle despite acknowledging that he is not the “finished thing.”
According to reports, the Edinburgh club beat out numerous Championship clubs to sign Kuol on a temporary basis from the Premier League team, subject to international clearance.
At the 2022 World Cup, Kuol made two cameo appearances for Australia, helping the Socceroos advance to the round of 16 for the second consecutive tournament.
The teenager signed a pre-contract agreement in September to transfer from A-League outfit Central Coast Mariners to Newcastle in January. The Magpies were eager to loan him out so he could gain first-team experience.
The Egypt-born talent only debuted for Central Coast in December 2021 and made just 22 first-team appearances – netting seven goals – before joining Newcastle.
“It’s fantastic news that Garang has committed himself to Hearts for the next six months,” Neilson said.
“It’s no secret that we were extremely interested in him and he came up for a look around last week. He was impressed with what he saw and what we’re trying to do here, which is pleasing.
“We’re getting a player who is by no means the finished article but there is a lot of talent there – you don’t get called up to and play in the World Cup for nothing.
“He’ll offer us new options going forward as we look to continue our good form and continue to make progress in the league and in the Scottish Cup, and we’re really looking forward to working with him.”
Kuol joins fellow Australians Kye Rowles, Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson at Hearts. All four were part of the Socceroos’ World Cup squad.
“The gaffer also persuaded me to come here with the plan that he put to me for my development,” Kuol said.
“Overall, the club has great ambitions and goals, and that was something I wanted to be involved in. I think it was a very good decision.”
Hearts are third in the Scottish Premiership with 32 points from 20 games, 26 points behind leaders Celtic.
✍️ Heart of Midlothian Football Club is delighted to confirm the loan signing of Australian forward Garang Kuol from @NUFC
🤝 Garang joins the Jambos until the end of the season, subject to international clearance.
Despite the Giallorossi’s 1-0 victory over Genoa on Thursday, Jose Mourinho, the head coach of Roma, has called the Coppa Italia “the worst cup in Europe.”
Paulo Dybala’s 64th-minute winner helped Mourinho’s team advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday, setting up a matchup with the victor of the Napoli-Cremonese round-of-16 match.
But in light of Torino’s shocking 1-0 victory over AC Milan in extra time on Wednesday, which advanced them to the round of eight where they will play Fiorentina on the road, the Portuguese star was critical of the Coppa Italia format.
“First of all, I’ll say I would love to win it, I won it once playing against Roma, I would love to win it playing with Roma in Rome,” Mourinho told Sportmediaset.
“I think it’s the worst cup in Europe, it doesn’t protect the smaller teams. It doesn’t put on a show.
“I’m talking about Torino for example who win on the pitch of the Italian champions Milan, then they have to play the next elimination game away from home, I don’t understand this structure of the Coppa Italia.
“We played against a Serie B team with a full stadium, if there are empty stadiums they must understand why we are full and the others are not.
“Last year we finished sixth, the year before we finished seventh and I want to invest in the Coppa Italia, but a lower team doesn’t want to play, what motivation do these people have?
“Torino won against the Italian champions, they made great history in the Round of 16 and they have to play away. Where is the beauty of the Coppa Italia? It would be nice to play on a Serie B or Serie C pitch, where is that? Because people accept it.
“The next elimination game will be either in Naples or at home with Cremonese, if we lose like last year, we’ll lose, but we’ll try to win. For a squad like ours, playing three competitions together is very hard.
“There’s too much build-up for people of more quality, it’s a big risk to play three or four players who don’t play all the time or to put so many kids together, I could have done Bove-Tahirovic but I didn’t.
“If we want to win the Coppa Italia I won’t say we want to, because everyone wants to, we will try to win the next game of the tournament.”
Roma, who have advanced to the Europa League knockout round playoffs, bowed out in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals last season to eventual winners Inter.
On his Chelsea debut, Joao Felix was dismissed after the Blues’ manager Graham Potter came under further pressure following the team’s 2-1 loss at Fulham.
The striker from Portugal, who had begun at Craven Cottage on loan from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, was sent off after just 58 minutes for a dangerous high-footed charge on Kenny Tete.
At that moment, Willian, a former Chelsea player, had scored the game’s first goal, but Kalidou Koulibaly had responded to tie the score. However, Carlos Vinicius’ header put Potter’s team in 10th place, one win away from the top four and nine games without a loss.
As a consequence of their fourth straight victory, Fulham moved up to sixth position, four points behind fourth-place Manchester United.
Felix was fast-tracked into the side and impressed throughout the first half but he will now miss three matches and join the lengthy list of unavailable players to Potter.
Felix almost had an instant impact, with some clever wide play to set up Kai Havertz and the ball fell to Lewis Hall after a rebound, but his shot was straight at Bernd Leno.
Chelsea dominated the ball in the early part of the first half but it was the home side who came closest to taking the lead, when Bobby Decordova-Reid found himself unmarked in the box and his strike rebounded off the crossbar.
Fulham broke the deadlock almost immediately afterwards when Willian, on the edge of the box, beat the defender and saw a shot deflect past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The former Chelsea player remained respectful to the club he previously represented by not celebrating only his second goal for Fulham.
Fulham kept the pressure on until the end of the first half, with Chelsea struggling to impose themselves in the same manner as they had before the goal.
Chelsea equalised early in the second half, when a Mason Mount free-kick was just bundled in by Koulibaly, with the technology confirming the ball had crossed the line before Leno was able to gather.
Felix’s debut came to a crashing end when he went flying into a challenge in the middle of the pitch, catching Tete mid-shin with his studs up and was shown the red card immediately by referee David Coote.
Fulham capitalised with the numerical advantage, when Vinicius beat the Chelsea defenders to head home an Andreas Pereira cross at the far post.
Vinicius was brought into the side in place of the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic — who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Leicester in the previous Premier League match — but made the most of his opportunity by restoring Fulham’s lead in the 73rd minute.
The three English nominees Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, and Keira Walsh are joined by Lionel Messi, the captain of Argentina’s World Cup-winning team, as nominees for the 2022 Fifa Best Awards.
Jude Bellingham, an English midfielder for Borussia Dortmund, and Karim Benzema and Luka Modric, both players for Real Madrid, are also on the men’s shortlist.
The nominees for the women’s prize include Alexia Putellas, who won last year, Sam Kerr, and Jessie Fleming of Chelsea.
For best coach, Sarina Wiegman, Emma Hayes, and Pep Guardiola are contenders.
Sarina Wiegman, Emma Hayes and Pep Guardiola are up for best coach.
Arsenal forward Mead’s nomination comes in a year in which she was named player of the tournament at Euro 2022, shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or and won BBC Sport’s Personality of the Year.
Lionesses manager Wiegman, who led the team to their first major tournament trophy at Euro 2022, is joined on the women’s coach list by Canada’s English-born manager Beverly Priestman, as well as Chelsea’s Hayes.
The Chelsea coach, who won the Fifa Best award last year, became the first manager to guide a side to three consecutive WSL titles in May.
Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti, France’s Didier Deschamps and Argentina’s World Cup-winning manager Lionel Scaloni are nominated for best men’s coach.
Morocco’s Walid Regragui also features on the shortlist after his side became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and Julian Alvarez are all nominated for best men’s player, as is Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool’s Alisson Becker, Manchester City’s Ederson and Aston Villa and Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez are up for the best men’s goalkeeper award.
England and Manchester United number one Mary Earps is on the women’s shortlist, alongside Chelsea’s Ann-Katrin Berger.
Alessia Russo’s backheeled finish in England’s Euro 2022 semi-final win over Sweden is among the contenders for the Fifa Puskas Award for the year’s best goal.
She will face competition from Kylian Mbappe’s stunning volley for France, which took the World Cup final to extra time.
Voting closes on 3 February, with the three finalists in each category to be announced later that month.
Best Women’s Player
Aitana Bonmati (Spain/Barcelona)
Debinha (Brazil/North Carolina Courage)
Jessie Fleming (Canada/Chelsea)
Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon)
Sam Kerr (Australia/Chelsea)
Beth Mead (England/Arsenal)
Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal)
Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave)
Lena Oberdorf (Germany/Wolfsburg)
Alexandra Popp (Germany/Wolfsburg)
Alexia Putellas (Spain/Barcelona)
Wendie Renard (France/Lyon)
Keira Walsh (England/Manchester City/Barcelona)
Leah Williamson (England/Arsenal)
Best Men’s Player
Julian Alvarez (Argentina/Club Atletico River Plate/Manchester City)
The dismissal of the eight female students from China Senior High School has been prevented by President Akufo-Addo.
The President took the action after it came to his attention, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Education on Friday.
Accordingly, the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) approval has been revised by the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, according to the release.
On Thursday, the GES dismissed the eight students in the Upper East Region for allegedly insulting President Akufo-Addo.
Prior to the dismissal, the students had been on suspension.
The GES says its investigation into the incident confirmed that the students used unsavoury language against the President in a viral video.
It thus described the actions of the students as “very undesirable, and contrary to the acceptable standards of the conduct generally required of any student in Ghana’s educational system”.
Prior to the dismissal of the students, the GES had earlier apologised to the President over the said conduct.
But the news of their dismissal generated a lot of reactions, with many people expressing mixed feelings about the development.
While some berated the GES, others praise the regulatory body.
According to the critics, the decision is simply untenable.
One of the critics, an advocate for children’s rights was unenthused about the decision.
The Country Director of the International Child Development Programme, Joyce Larnyoh said the Ghana Education Service should employ more appropriate means of punishment other than dismissal.
The Minority in Parliament also stated that the decision was uncalled for and had to be reviewed.
In a statement signed by ranking member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, the Minority described the decision as ‘harsh’ and ‘retrogressive’.
According to the Minority, even though the students who insulted President Akufo-Addo in a viral video acted out of order, their right to education should not be curtailed.
The statement said the right to education is guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution, hence the move by the GES must be reviewed.
“Whereas the Minority is against the misconduct of the eight students, and condemns same, we wish to state that the decision by the GES to dismiss them is harsh and retrogressive”, the statement emphasised.
Having criticised the decision by the GES, the Minority went ahead to plead with the President to intervene in the matter.
“The base pay has been increased by 30% for the 2023 financial year…As I said this brings to an end the 2022 COLA of 15% of base pay salary,” Employment Minister, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah announced shortly after the decision was taken.
Organized Labor initially requested a 60% percent increase and held firm to that demand despite numerous interactions with the government during the base wage discussions.
The public sector employees chose to lower their initial 60% demand to 58% after rejecting the government’s initial 18% offer.
Organized Labor did, however, agree to a 30% rise in the base wage after their meeting with the administration on Thursday, which also included Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who had skipped all previous meetings.
Dr. Yaw Baah, the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), thanked the government for this fresh step.
“The Leadership of organized Labour would like to express our sincere thanks to government for granting 30% increase in base pay for 2023 for public sector workers. We are happy that it has ended peacefully today.
“The 30% even though it is not what we want, it will create that opportunity for us to speak one language to work together.”
Executive Secretary of Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), Dr. Isaac Bampoe-Addo told the government delegation that, “we want to assure government that we will collaborate with them and come up with ideas to improve the revenue generation. We know the next time we meet for base pay negotiations, it will be a better story.”
The Finance Minister at the meeting noted that the increment will put a strain on the country’s finances.
“As I mentioned this will take a toll on the budget, but we are confident that we would enhance productivity and the commitment that we both have given to each other to make sure that there is peace in this country as we look at pension and labour issues.”
By this decision, the government said the 15% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for public sector workers has ceased.
Mavis Hawa Koomson, the minister of fisheries and aquaculture, has been named as acting minister for the ministry of food and agriculture by President Akufo-Addo.
This comes after Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto’s resignation.
The MP for Awutu Senya East will oversee the sector until a meaningful replacement is made, according to a news release released by the Presidency on January 12 by Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin.
He claims that the President has acknowledged the resignation and expressed appreciation for Mr. Afriyie Akoto’s contributions to the administration and the country.
On Tuesday, January 10, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto tendered in his resignation letter to President Akufo-Addo.
President accepted Dr Akoto’s resignation and wished him well in his endeavours.
Sources say this is to enable the former Agric Minister concentrate on his presidential ambition.
Rock guitarist Jeff Beck, one of the genre’s most influential figures, has passed away at age 78.
Before he and Rod Stewart founded the Jeff Beck Group, the British guitarist first gained notoriety as a member of the Yardbirds, where he took Eric Clapton’s place.
He revolutionised guitar music in the 1960s with his tone, presence, and—most importantly—volume, which had an impact on punk, jazz-rock, and even heavy metal.
His official Twitter page posted a confirmation of Beck’s passing.
“On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing,” the statement said.
“After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”
Describing his playing style in 2009, Beck said: “I play the way I do because it allows me to come up with the sickest sounds possible.”
“That’s the point now, isn’t it? I don’t care about the rules.
“In fact, if I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song, then I’m not doing my job properly.”
The guitarist, who was named Geoffrey Arnold Beck and was born in Wallington, south London, fell in love with rock and roll as a young child and built his first guitar as a teenager.
He briefly attended Wimbledon Art College before leaving to perform with the Tridents, a band that plays shock-rock.
When Eric Clapton quit the Yardbirds in 1965, Jimmy Page proposed recruiting Beck; he later played on successes like “I’m A Man” and “Shapes of Things,” where his innovative use of feedback impacted artists like Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix.
“That [technique] came as an accident,” he later told BBC Radio 2’s Johnnie Walker.
“We played larger venues, around about ’64-’65, and the PA was inadequate. So we cranked up the level and then found out that feedback would happen.
“I started using it because it was controllable – you could play tunes with it. I did this once at Staines Town Hall with the Yardbirds and afterwards, this guy says, ‘You know that funny noise that wasn’t supposed to be there? I’d keep that in if I were you.’
“So I said, ‘It was deliberate mate. Go away’.”
‘Pink toilet seat’
The guitarist stayed with The Yardbirds for nearly two years, before declaring he was quitting music altogether… then releasing his first solo single Hi Ho Silver Lining.
Recorded in just three hours, the song was his only top 20 hit in the UK, charting in both 1967 and 1972. But the singer was famously ambivalent about it.
He was persuaded to record the song by producer Mickie Most who, Beck said, “wasn’t the slightest bit interested in recording my sort of music”.
“I couldn’t say to him, ‘Look, you don’t know what’s going on,’ because he had 20,000 gold disks on the wall saying ‘I do know what’s going on’,” he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1971. “So for a couple of years I wasted my career doing junk tunes.”
When he left the studio after cutting the track, the receptionist was already singing it. “That,” he said, “was when I knew it was a disaster”.
He went to describe the song as a “pink toilet seat around my neck”, but eventually made his peace with it, even performing it on Jools Holland’s TV show in 2015.
After that brief brush with fame, he formed the Jeff Beck Group, whose first two albums Truth (1968) and Beck-Ola (1969), took a ferocious approach to the blues that laid the groundwork for heavy metal.
But the band were unhappy – with a US tour regularly descending into arguments and physical fights.
Singer Rod Stewart and bassist Ronnie Wood quit in 1970 to join the Small Faces (later The Faces), and when Beck was injured in a car accident, he had to put his career on hold.
When he recovered, Beck assembled a second line-up of his band but their albums were commercially unsuccessful and Beck went solo in 1975.
Going instrumental
That year, he recorded an album, Blow By Blow, with Beatles producer George Martin. Entirely instrumental, Beck’s lyrical, mellifluous guitar playing essentially replaced the parts of a lead vocalist, an approach he would take for most of the rest of his career.
Blow By Blow made the US top 10 and was awarded a platinum disc, and Beck quickly followed it up with 1976’s Wired (also produced by George Martin) and the 1977 concert album Jeff Beck With The Jan Hammer Group Live.
After the tour documented on the album, the musician retired to his estate outside of London and remained quiet for three years.
“The pitch I play at is so intense that I just can’t do it every night,” he later explained.
The 1980s saw him collaborate with Nile Rodgers on an album called Flash, which contained his first hit single – a cover of Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready with Rod Stewart on lead vocals – and earned him a Grammy Award.
In 1987, he played on Mick Jagger’s solo album Primitive Cool, and continued to work with artists like Roger Waters and Jon Bon Jovi in the 1990s, as well as contributing to Hans Zimmer’s score for the Tom Cruise movie Days Of Thunder.
Image caption,Beck performing in a charity concert in New York in December 1983
But his solo output slowed down, until the release of 1999’s You Had It Coming, featuring Imogen Heap on vocals, followed in 2003 by an album he simply called Jeff.
Around this time, he started incorporating more electronic and hip-hop elements to his music; culminating in his fourth Grammy victory for the tempestuous, shape-shifting instrumental Plan B.
He toured extensively in the 2010s, including a joint-headline venture with Beach Boy Brian Wilson.
The duo had hoped to record together but those plans fell apart. Instead, Beck ended up befriending actor Johnny Depp, with whom he released a full-length album, 18, in 2022.
Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, in 1992 as a member of the Yardbirds, then as a solo artist in 2009.
His legacy lies in the balance between the fluidity and aggression of his playing, a technical brilliance equalled only by his love of ear-crunching dissonance.
“It’s like he’s saying, ‘I’m Jeff Beck. I’m right here. And you can’t ignore me’,” wrote Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers in an essay for Rolling Stone’s Greatest Guitar Players of All Time, where Beck placed seventh.
“Even in the Yardbirds, he had a tone that was melodic but in-your-face – bright, urgent and edgy, but sweet at the same time. You could tell he was a serious player, and he was going for it. He was not holding back.”
“He’d just keep getting better and better,” Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page once recalled. “And he leaves us, mere mortals”.
In preparation for a future beyond his tennis career, Nick Kyrgios has invested a portion of his tennis riches in the Australian basketball team South East Melbourne Phoenix.
The 27-year-old, who finished second to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year, suggested that if he felt up to it, he may even join the Phoenix on the playing side.
That may be optimistic thinking on the part of the longtime basketball supporter, who still has tennis goals, including the expectation that he will be a genuine prize contender at the Australian Open during the next two weeks.
Kyrgios joins Los Angeles Clippers star John Wall and a string of former NBA players in investing in the Phoenix, and he said on Thursday: “This is a big opportunity. Everyone knows my basketball roots, so to be a part of the NBL, it’s a massive move for me in my career.
“I feel I’ve got some great relationships within that team already. I’m one of the tennis players that doesn’t travel as often. I’m looking forward to being in Australia a bit more.”
He said he would be “quite hands on”, and it remains to be seen whether he does travel less in tennis, cutting down his tour commitments further. Of players ranked in the ATP top 25 – Kyrgios is number 21 – nobody has played fewer tournaments in the last year than the 14 events Kyrgios has entered.
“I’ve got a lot of things happening at the moment and this is one of the biggest,” Kyrgios added. “My tennis career’s not going to last forever. I’ve been on tour now for nine, 10 years and I feel I’m building that platform to have these experiences and relationships, so I’ve got to use it while I can.
“I’ll do anything for the team. I’d get out there, rebound, play with them. If my body’s up to it, I’ll get out there, 100 per cent.”
— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) January 12, 2023
Last January saw Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis roar to doubles glory in Melbourne, but this time around Kyrgios is making the singles a clear priority.
He will face Russian Roman Safiullin in round one, after the draw was revealed on Thursday. Novak Djokovic is a potential quarter-final opponent.
“I’m one of the best players in the world, so I’m definitely going into the Australian Open, or any tournament, with confidence,” Kyrgios said. “I’ve proven I can go deep in a grand slam, and with the support of the Phoenix and my team, and Australia on my back, hopefully it’s going to be a good couple of weeks.
“It’s a bit different for me, being one of the favourites. Usually I’m a dark horse.
“This is the first time I’ve gone into a slam feeling I’m one of the guys that can really take the trophy and knock on the door. Usually I’ve got a nothing-to-lose [attitude], just putting on a show, but I’ve got to really find that balance in the next two weeks.
“Obviously I’m capable, but there’s so many more players in the draw who are capable as well.”
Four out of the five accused persons arrested in connection with the Caprice robbery incident in Accra have pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them.
The four suspects are: Prince Anthony Chiobi, Izichuku Igwenagu, Martin Ahamafula and Emmanuella Chinwetalu.
All five have been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery.
Godfred Chukubuka, aka Caleb, one of the accused persons, who is now a serving convict, was not brought to court hence his plea was not taken.
Apart from Emmanuella who has been granted GH₵100,000 bail by an Accra Circuit Court, the rest have been remanded till the final determination of the case.
The prosecution, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emmanuel Haligah, said the Police were still on the heels of a sixth accused person, Yaw John Darko Ikenna, who is said to be at large.
“We need more time to get to the sixth accused person and some others we believe were part of the accused persons who perpetrated the crime. The prosecution is liaising with International Police (INTERPOL), Nigeria, to get the sixth accused person arrested and brought to Ghana to face justice,” the prosecution said.
It, therefore, prayed the court to take the pleas of the accused persons. The defence counsels pushed for bail again but it was not granted.
The matter has been adjourned to January 24, 2023.
The case of the prosecution is that on December 9, 2022, the Accra Regional Police Command had information that some armed men on motorbikes attacked, shot and robbed a Chinese woman at Caprice, a suburb of Accra.
The regional police, on receipt of the information, dispatched police personnel to the scene.
On reaching the scene, the victim informed the police that the robbers took her GH₵370,000, which she had earlier cashed from a bank at the West Hills Mall on the day of the incident.
The victim further stated that she also had cash in the sum of GH₵40,000 and $8,000 as well as two iPhones (iPhone 11 and 8+), which were all stolen.
After days of investigations, police intelligence revealed that the suspects and others were involved in the crime, and it emerged that they were at a hideout at Buduburam.
But when the police got to the hideout, the robbers engaged in a shootout resulting in the deaths of Nneji Harrison Ogbonna and another suspect.
The accused persons were later apprehended, while others escaped.
During investigations, it emerged that the suspects met at Igwenagu’s drinking spot at Buduburam and planned the crime.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that Ikenna, now at large, agreed with Godfred Chukubuka, who has been convicted for 10 years by another Circuit Court for a similar offence, to commit the crime.
The investigation also indicated that the accused persons entered Ghana through unapproved routes to commit crimes and go back.
The prosecution said the police had received information that Ikenna was hiding in Nigeria and that he had sent money – GH¢1,300 – as transportation for his wife (Emmanuella, the third accused person) to join him in Nigeria.
Real Madrid’s performance against Valencia was far from their best, but Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged that Los Blancos nevertheless advanced to the Supercopa de Espaa final.
After a commanding first 45 minutes, Karim Benzema’s first-half penalty appeared to put Los Blancos on the winning track, but a resurgent Valencia quickly equalized through Samuel Lino.
Giorgi Mamardashvili made several saves in extra time to keep Gennaro Gattuso’s team in the game, but Madrid won on penalties after Eray Comert and Jose Gaya missed their opportunities.
Ancelotti admitted Madrid’s flaws after the lackluster 1-1 draw and the 4-3 shootout triumph, speculating that the World Cup break may have contributed to a lack of focus.
The Madrid head coach told reporters: “It hasn’t been a physical problem because in extra time we’ve done better than them. We’re not at the top but it’s normal.
“There are players who started a little while after the World Cup. We’ve put players who were on the limit like [Ferland] Mendy and [Dani] Carvajal.
“We wanted to reach the final and that’s what we’ve done. It’s a different moment from last year but I think we’re going to fight hard to win the Super Cup.”
Benzema, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos all converted their spot-kicks, with Ancelotti preferring to go with experience for his first three takers before Marco Asensio found the net with Madrid’s fourth penalty.
“I put the three players with the most experience, the best,” he added. “The last one was Vinicius [Junior] and it is better that he did not shoot.”
The victory did seemingly come at a cost, though, as Eduardo Camavinga, Eder Militao and Lucas Vazquez all sustained injuries.
“Camavinga has had a blow to the knee, Militao is dizzy and is fine,” Ancelotti continued. “Lucas has a sprain, that is the most serious. I don’t know if he will be in Sunday’s game.”
LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who Madrid trail by three points, or Real Betis await in Sunday’s final after the second semi-final in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
A swift intervention by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) on Wednesday managed to save two electrical poles owned by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at Asankrangwa in the Western Region from ruins.
On January 11, 2023, about three electrical poles caught fire due to a bushfire at Kingston Town off the Asankra Odumase Road.
Firefighters from Asankrangwa Fire Station arrived at the scene and doused the flames in approximately 17 minutes.
The officers managed to rescue two electrical poles. Unfortunately, the third was burnt to a crisp while some parcels of vegetation were destroyed.
In a report on Facebook, the Ghana National Fire Service revealed that the cause of the incident is unknown and investigations are underway.
Meanwhile, the Service is also looking into a fire incident at the RANA MOTORS off the graphic road in Accra on Tuesday, January 10.
A two-storey building was destroyed due to the fire outbreak. The ground floor and part of the first floor used as a warehouse, four apartments, two each on the first and second floors and their contents were totally burnt.
However, a warehouse containing an unspecified amount of rubber products including car tyres and adjoining buildings including a workshop and a Toyota Company garage and showroom were salvaged.
Seven water pumps were utilised by the GNFS to quench the flames. During the operation, a firefighter sustained injury and was transported to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for medical attention.
Per reports from the Service, the said officer is currently in a stable condition.
In an effort to turn around Chelsea’s poor form, Graham Potter met with four of his most seasoned players on Tuesday for crisis talks.
The Blues have only secured five points in their past seven Premier League games when they go to London rival Fulham today.
To make matters worse, Potter’s goal-shy team, who have only scored 20 goals in the top flight so far this season, are three points behind the seventh-placed Cottagers.
But as the pressure mounted, the former Brighton manager consulted club captain Cezar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Jorginho, and Mateo Kovacic as he planned the next course of action to bring the squad back on track.
Potter, 47, said: “I spoke at length on Tuesday with Thiago, with Azpi, with Jorgi, with Kova, a really good conversation.
Jorginho was one of the players Graham Potter sat down to talk with earlier this week
“They showed their qualities as people again. They’re honest. They articulate their concerns well, they articulate their positivity, they articulate their responsibility.
“That’s why I think we are in a place where we can move forward.”
Potter, who was boosted yesterday by the arrival of Atletico Madrid and Portugal star Joao Felix on loan, added: “It is an experienced team.
“The players are honest, they want to take their responsibilities. They want to improve, they want to win. There’s a lot there we are fortunate with.
Thiago Silva is one of the experienced heads Graham Potter is relying on
“At the same time, we are in a tough moment and these are challenges that affect the players as well. They are human beings.
“I know they’re paid to do their job but they’re not robots. They’re still affected by results and the transition phase at the club, but I’ve been really impressed.”
Tonight’s clash with Fulham is followed by another crunch London derby on Sunday, with Crystal Palace the visitors to Stamford Bridge.
Graham Potter will succeed at Chelsea once the former Brighton and Hove Albion manager has access to his finest players, according to Harry Redknapp.
Chelsea has dropped six of their last eight games, and Potter is having a tough time at Stamford Bridge.
During that bad run, the Blues have only managed one victory, a 2-0 home victory over Premier League underdog Bournemouth on December 27.
The FA Cup loss to Manchester City on Sunday illustrated the gap between 10th-placed Chelsea and clubs competing for the championship, but Redknapp maintains that Potter, who took over for Thomas Tuchel in September, just needs some time to adjust.
Chelsea’s injury list is a long one, with Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Christian Pulisic, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Edouard Mendy the first-team regulars out of action.
“You can’t sack the lad can you, he’s not been there 10 minutes – he’s got a million injuries you know, you’ve got injuries galore, both his full-backs, Chilwell, James, important players, Fofana came in unfit, they’ve got lots of injuries,” Redknapp told Stats Perform.
“They have still got a very, very strong squad. They’ve spent money like it’s going out of fashion but he needs time. He’s only as good as your players at the moment – it’s not rocket science. People seem to think you go in and show them how to play football. It doesn’t work like that.
“At the moment, he’s got his best players missing and they’re struggling to win. When they get back in the team, you’ll see a massive improvement.”
Chelsea have been active in the January transfer window, signing four players already, while they are also eager to land Benfica’s World Cup star Enzo Fernandez.
While that transfer appears to be on ice for now, the Blues confirmed the loan signing of Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
Redknapp does not think more signings are necessarily a silver bullet, however.
He said: “They’ve got enough players, they just need those back from injury – they need James back, they need Chilwell back. There’s no reason they can’t go on a run.”
Potter has won eight of his 18 games in charge at Chelsea (44.4 per cent), and Redknapp says it would be foolish for the club to show him the door.
“Five years – you just gave him a five-year contract, you can’t very well bring him in, give him a five-year contract and then sack him, surely to God,” Redknapp said.
“I know they’ve done it before, Chelsea, that is the way they’ve worked. Managers who’ve won the Champions League and then they’ve been sacked a couple of games later, it happens. But I don’t see that happening this time.”
The first leg of Bayern Munich’s Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain is expected to be played in Sadio Mane’s absence, but Julian Nagelsmann believes there is a chance he might play in the second.
Mane missed the World Cup in Qatar due to a fibula injury he sustained in November.
The Senegal forward underwent surgery and is now on the path to recovery after moving from Liverpool to Bundesliga champions Bayern last June.
Nagelsmann, the head coach of Bayern, does not anticipate Mane participating in the match against PSG on February 14 at Parc des Princes.
However, if Mane does not suffer any setbacks, Nagelsmann hopes he may be able to call upon the 30-year-old for the showdown with the Ligue 1 champions at the Allianz Arena on March 8.
Nagelsmann said during a press conference in Doha on Thursday: “He’s [Mane] an important player. If everything goes well, then it could be the case that he returns in time for PSG.
“We will see how he reacts to the workload. Personally, I’m not yet considering him for the first leg.”
Before beginning the Bundesliga season with a trip to RB Leipzig the next Friday, Bayern will play Salzburg on Friday in a friendly.
Due to an ankle injury, Matthijs de Ligt will not play against the Austrian team, but Daley Blind, a new addition after being released by Ajax and joining the Bavarian giants, will.
Nagelsmann said of the Netherlands full-back: “He will play tomorrow. He still needs some time, because the intensity in training is a bit higher.
“You can tell that he has a lot of experience and he looks confident on the ball. He will be the player that we imagined he’d be.”
Lionel Messi scored in Paris Saint-2-0 Germain’s victory over Angers on Wednesday, and Christophe Galtier was happy to see him back.
Hugo Ekitike’s early goal gave PSG a 1-0 lead over the bottom-place team in Ligue 1, but Messi’s goal in the 72nd minute gave PSG a 3-0 advantage, his first appearance back for his club since winning the trophy last month. Messi ran onto a pass from Nordi Mukiele and finished into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Galtier complimented the supporters for their celebration of Messi’s accomplishment in Qatar following the victory, despite Argentina defeating France in the World Cup final.
“Thank you to our supporters for welcoming him in the way that they did. That means a lot to him. Our fans also got behind him when the game was difficult,” the PSG head coach said.
“Messi has recovered well. He has had quite a few training sessions back with us now. He seemed lighter and in very good physical shape.
“Of course, the team is different with and without Messi. He also scored an important goal for us tonight and we all know that he loves scoring goals, he is the sort of player who needs goals.
“I spoke to him at half-time to see how he felt and he said he felt good… It is important to have Messi back at the heart of our game. The fact that he played 90 minutes is even better.”
Galtier also provided an explanation of his decision to use a 3-4-2-1 system, stressing the necessity for his team to be adaptable as they increased their advantage at the top of the standings to six points following Lens’ stalemate with Strasbourg.
“It was for this game, based on how we prepared,” he said. “I felt it was not going to work in the way we had prepared. I also spoke to my players and my staff in terms of our options, and we took a different one.
“The team performed very well in this system at the start of the season in big games. That is how it went tonight. It is important for a team like Paris Saint-Germain, for my players, and also, for me and the staff to have options, as well as the ability to switch from one system to another.”
Morocco, the reigning champion of the African Nations for Championships (CHAN), have withdrawn from the competition.
They withdraw just one day before the biennial competition, which will be held in Algeria, begins.
Ironically, their decision to leave the competition follows a dispute with the host nation over travel arrangements.
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FMRF) insisted on a direct flight from Rabat to Constantine notwithstanding the suspension of direct flights between the two nations due to tensions.
Due to Morocco’s departure, CAF will not have a defending champion for one of its premier events. Additionally, it makes the 2022 tournament’s three groups of just three competitors exclusively for “local” players.
Originally, Angola, Mali, and Mauritania were in groups D and E, while Cameroon, Congo, and Niger were in group E. However, Group C members Ghana, Madagascar, and Sudan have now joined the list.
If Manchester City exhibits the same level of play that saw them knocked from the Carabao Cup, Pep Guardiola claims they “don’t have a chance” to defeat rival Manchester United this weekend.
For Wednesday’s quarterfinal match at Southampton, City started with players like Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and Ederson among their replacements, and they paid the price with a 2-0 loss.
Sekou Mara gave the Saints the lead by beating Kyle Walker to a cross, and Moussa Djenepo added a second goal just before halftime by taking advantage of Stefan Ortega’s poor positioning.
De Bruyne and Haaland were substituted in during the break as part of a triple substitution, but City went the whole second half without a shot on goal for the first time this season.
Next up for City is a trip to in-form United in the league on Saturday, and Guardiola accepts a big improvement is needed from his side at Old Trafford.
“It’s a different competition, but of course if we perform in this way we don’t have a chance,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I know the momentum they have.
“For many years they’re looking forward to being in this position. We know exactly what to do to play better and we’re going to try to do it.”
Asked about his decision to leave out Haaland and De Bruyne for a second game running, Guardiola said: “Who knows if with Erling and Kevin it would have been different?
“But when you play for four competitions it’s important to use every player in the squad.”
For the third time in 30 games under Guardiola, who has won the EFL Cup four times in seven seasons, City was defeated before the end of the 90-minute mark.
The defeat, City’s fourth in 28 games this season, came just three days after an outstanding display that saw off Chelsea 4-0 in the FA Cup third round.
Guardiola acknowledges that his team’s two-goal loss at St. Mary’s Stadium could not be criticized.
“It was a bad night. I know them quite well. We didn’t get close to what we are,” he said. “Three days after facing Chelsea… I’ve nothing to say.
“They were better, we congratulate them and accept it. We have to be prepared every single game when you play for Manchester City. Today we were not.”
City defeated United 6-3 when the sides last met in October and are seeking a Premier League double over the Red Devils in a single season for the sixth time ever.
Ilkay Gundogan, who played the full 90 minutes against Southampton, is hoping the cup setback can spark some life into City heading into the derby.
“There’s no room for any mistakes [against United], or for any poor performances like today,” he told the club’s official website.
“Hopefully, if there is something good we can take out of this game today, it was something like a wake-up call at the right time.
“Even though it is sad and disappointing to be out of this cup, hopefully, at the end, in a few weeks we can at least look back and take something good out of this game.”
A strategy for getting more people to attend Ghana Premier League matches has been laid out by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Following a meeting with the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) on Wednesday to discuss the problem, this occurred.
Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak struggle to get more than 5,000 spectators to their games, which has become a pattern in recent days as fans have decided not to support local league games.
The Sports Ministry announced its plans to meet with important stakeholders in the coming days to determine how to stop the trend in a statement issued following the meeting.
There has been public concern in recent times regarding the low attendance of football fans at the various stadia across the country during local league matches involving the premier league clubs.
The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon Mustapha Ussif shares in these concerns and therefore convened a meeting on Wednesday 11th January, 2023 with the leadership of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) to strategize on how to attract fans to the various stadia to ensure massive attendance for our domestic league matches.
There were fruitful deliberations at the meeting and the outcome of decisions taken are as follows:
1. Further consultations would be made with all stakeholders including the Ghana Football Association (GFA), the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), the National Sports Authority (NSA) and supporters for their inputs on the strategy to be adopted to address the situation.
2. Meanwhile, the Minister would like to encourage supporters of the various clubs to patronise the local league matches to raise enough funds to manage the clubs and develop them to the level that we all desire.
Rafael Leao and Ismael Bennacer’s contracts can be renewed by AC Milan, according to technical director Paolo Maldini.
Rafael Leao, a forward for Portugal, has been mentioned in connection with a number of elite teams, including Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Manchester City.
The 23-year-contract old’s with Milan expires in 2024, and Maldini stated that they were close to reaching an extension since the player was eager to stay before Milan’s 1-0 Coppa Italia home loss to Torino.
“We are talking, there are videocalls too and not just in-person meetings,” Maldini told Mediaset. “We will try to reach an agreement. It seems like both parties want to continue together and we will try to close a deal.
“This team was largely built on the transfer campaign of 2019 and practically all of those who arrived have extended their contracts. I have to say, all those who wanted to renew their deals have done so.”
Bennacer, a 25-year-old defensive midfielder from Algeria, is under contract with the Rossoneri through 2024 as well, although Maldini claimed they are close to finalizing a renewal.
In the Carabao Cup semifinals, Manchester United will play Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle United will play Southampton.
Having defeated third-tier Charlton Athletic 3-0 in the round of eight, Erik ten Hag’s team will now head to the City Ground for the first leg of their two-game semifinal matchup as United looks to win its first trophy since 2017.
Forest has struggled in the Premier League as they fight to stay up, but they defeated Wolves on penalties on Wednesday following a 1-1 draw to move closer to the Wembley Stadium championship final.
Newcastle advanced to the competition’s semifinals for the first time since 1976 with a 2-0 victory over Leicester City. They will now travel to Southampton, the bottom team in the Premier League, for the first leg.
Only West Ham and Manchester United have defeated Pep Guardiola’s City in the EFL Cup, while Nathan Jones’ team defeated Manchester City in an improbable 2-0 quarterfinal victory (twice).
Midfielder Tyler Morton, who is currently on loan at Blackburn Rovers and making an impression, has been given a new long-term contract by Liverpool.
The 20-year-old participated in nine games for Liverpool in 2021–2022 and made notable appearances in games against Milan and Arsenal.
Morton then received a loan to Blackburn in order to gain more consistent first-team experience, and he has since made 28 appearances for the squad under Jon Dahl Tomasson, who is currently third in the Championship.
As Rovers attempt to gain promotion to the Premier League, he has so far appeared in every league game.
Morton revealed his pleasure on Wednesday after agreeing to new terms with Liverpool.
“I’m absolutely buzzing,” he said. “The little dream is coming true, so I couldn’t be happier.
“I’ve known for a little while and it’s been ongoing, and I couldn’t wait to get it over the line because this is the place I want to be and this is the club I want to be at.
“I’m absolutely buzzing and I can’t wait for the future.
“I’ve been extremely proud of myself for how I’ve handled the loan so far. Hopefully I carry that on and take it into the next half of the season.
“I feel like I’m progressing every day and learning new things on and off the pitch.
“It’s a lovely environment to learn and turn myself into a professional – and I think I’m doing that quite well. Hopefully it sets me up for what’s to come in the future.”
The completion date of the Takoradi PTC Interchange may not be realised as work on the project has halted due to unpaid claims to constructors.
General Secretary of the Construction and Material Workers’ Union of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Richard Asamoah – Mensah, revealed this while attributing the set back to some conditionalities being imposed on Ghana by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Mr Asamoah-Mensah said Sinohydro, the company working on the Takoradi Interchange, which is 80% complete, received a letter from the Ministry of Finance last year titled “Suspension of payment on selected external debt of the government of Ghana.”
“They explained that government has communicated to them that they won’t be honoring payments for work done because of the IMF deal the country is about signing.
They have gotten to see that there is a need for the government to have certain agreements with them. Because of that, the bankers over there are saying they are not going to release any money to them. This is bringing the project to a halt,” he told the media on Tuesday.
The Takoradi PTC Interchange was to be opened to traffic in May or June this year, according to Mr. Richard Asamoah-Mensah.
According to the union, a total of 3,145 constructors are being laid off as a result of the economic facility being discussed.
A breakdown reveals that Contracta, the company working on the Takoradi market circle, has laid off 121 workers in Takoradi; 339 workers in Kumasi.
Sinohydro has dismissed 453 workers in Takoradi, 109 workers in Sunyani; and 223 workers in Kumasi.
In the rail sector, Via Build has laid off 41 workers in Takoradi, with Amandi laying off 1,500 staff throughout the whole country. Rolider has also laid off 359 employees from their operation sites throughout the country.
“You can just imagine what is happening in the construction sector and the government has come out emphatically that it is a year of roads. We don’t know what is happening,” Richard Asamoah – Mensah bemoaned.
Takoradi PTC Interchange is the 4th Sinohydro project the Government is to execute in the country to accelerate social and infrastructural development.
In order to prevent a debt default, government is restructuring its debt . Debt restructuring has become relevant since without such an initiative, Ghana risks losing support from the IMF.
A federal inquiry into the organization has prompted Noel Le Graet to resign from his position as president of the French Football Federation (FFF).
Although Le Graet has been in the role since 2011, there is growing momentum for him to go.
Amelie Oudea-Castera, the French minister of sports, has called for change at the FFF’s leadership, and prominent agent Sonia Souid has accused Le Graet of acting improperly.
Souid explained in an interview with RMC how she thought Le Graet had been attracted to her sexually throughout their interactions between 2013 and 2017. Souid’s accusations went unanswered by Le Graet or the FFF right away.
The 81-year-old has also been accused of improper conduct in relation to female employees. The FFF filed a defamation suit against So Foot magazine, the publication in which these allegations were made.
The French government opened an investigation into the matter in September, but Le Graet caused further controversy week with his bizarre comments about Zinedine Zidane in the wake of confirming Didier Deschamps’ new contract as France coach.
Kylian Mbappe was among those to criticise Le Graet, who said he would not “give a toss” if Zidane called about the possibility of taking over Les Bleus.
Le Graet has since apologised but on Wednesday reports emerged that he had been suspended as president.
The FFF subsequently confirmed Le Graet had “chosen to withdraw from his duties as president” until the government investigation had been concluded.
Florence Hardouin, the FFF’s general manager, has also stepped down in what a statement called a “precautionary measure”.
Philippe Diallo, who was serving as deputy vice president, will fill both roles on an interim basis.
The door will always be open for the Argentina captain to participate in the 2026 World Cup, according to Lionel Scaloni.
Last month, Messi finally received the medal he had been yearning for, winning the World Cup in Qatar with a thrilling triumph over France.
Argentina defeated Les Bleus in a penalty shootout thanks to the PSG star, who scored twice in a 3-3 draw to bring his tournament total to seven goals.
As he motivated his side in what he declared would be his final World Cup, Messi, 35, also made history by becoming the first person to win two Golden Balls.
When Argentina defends their title at a tournament that will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2026, the mercurial Messi will be getting close to 40, but head coach Scaloni hasn’t given up hope of being able to use the striker.
“I think Messi can get to the next World Cup,” he told Radio Calvia. “It will depend a lot on what he wants, on whether he feels good.
“The door will always be open. He is happy on the pitch and it would be very nice for us.”
Scaloni does not think Argentina’s World Cup success was essential to secure Messi’s place among the best players of all time.
“I don’t think it was necessary to be one of the greatest or the greatest. You always ask for more. I don’t know what else you are going to ask for now,” he continued.
“I am happy for him and for the country. For the joy we gave him and we gave ourselves. The days we spent in Argentina were full of euphoria and affection. It was worth it.”
Speculation has continued over Scaloni’s future despite the 44-year-old becoming just the third boss to win both the World Cup and Copa America, after Mario Zagallo and Carlos Alberto Parreira achieved that feat for Brazil.
Argentinian Football Association president Claudio Tapia rubbished talk that Scaloni may not stay on and the head coach stated: “Today I am happy where I am.”
The Queen’s doctors expressed concern for her health on September 8, 2022, and her family hurried to her side in Balmoral, including Prince Harry, who just so happened to be in the UK with Meghan Markle for a number of events to promote charities. However, Queen Elizabeth passed away prior to his arrival.
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry admits his family did not inform him of the development. He had to find out online.
“When the plane started to descend I saw that my phone lit up. It was a message from Meg: ‘Call me when you get this,’” Harry reportedly writes. “I looked at the BBC website. My grandmother had died. My father was King.”
He promptly arrived at Balmoral to join the other royals, and he stayed in the UK to take part in the recognized days of mourning.
“Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings—from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren,” Prince Harry said in a tribute to his grandmother in September, referencing the Queen’s words: “Life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings.”
He concluded,”I cherish these times shared with you, and the many other special moments in between. You are already sorely missed, not just by us, but by the world over. And as it comes to first meetings, we now honour my father in his new role as King Charles III. Thank you for your commitment to service. Thank you for your sound advice. Thank you for your infectious smile. We, too, smile knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now, and both together in peace.”
Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, is certain that Phil Foden is capable of playing at the center of midfield.
Foden has frequently been compared to a future center midfielder despite playing primarily on the wing for both club and country.
He has occasionally filled the position for City, most recently in the 4-0 FA Cup thrashing of Chelsea on Sunday.
Foden looked crisp in a central role and completed an exquisite team move to give City a 3-0 lead. Three days previously, Foden struggled to get into the game while playing on the flank in City’s 1-0 Premier League victory at Stamford Bridge.
Guardiola believes Foden is learning the role, as he compared the 22-year-old’s ability to City great David Silva, who moved from the wing to midfield during his 10-year stint at the club.
“He can play inside, but inside you have more attributes to do more things and pay attention more because there are more people, it is not just ‘I am going to press and run’, it is when and where,” said Guardiola ahead of City’s EFL Cup tie with Southampton.
“The spaces are minor. Wider you have time but what is important is Phil has the quality to play in these small, small spaces, it is not easy to find.
“Bernardo [Silva] and David Silva can do it and Gundo goes close to the pockets of the central defenders – Phil has the quality and ability to do it.
“He is really good in small spaces, the goal he scored [against Chelsea], he is there. The action is good, the overlap from Kyle [Walker] and the right moment, the right tempo, the pass from Riyad [Mahrez], but in that moment he is there and to score a goal you have to be there.
“In that position, especially when they play five at the back it is important to have an extra player there. We maybe missed it a bit [in the draw] against Everton.
“Phil has these attributes. Of course he can play wider on both sides, he played top class in the last years playing wider but he can play in the middle.”
Foden had 45 touches against Chelsea, with 41 coming in open play.
That was the most he had managed in a City match since November 12, when he had 80 in a defeat to Brentford. Indeed, bar that game, the last time Foden had more touches was against Sevilla in the Champions League on November 2; he had 64 on that occasion, playing in central midfield.
Guardiola will want more creativity from the England international should he play in the role. Against Sevilla, Foden crafted three chances and had 10 touches in the opposition box – he only managed four in Sunday’s game, albeit one of those was that fine finish to put the game to bed, and did not create a goalscoring opportunity.
Foden attempted 34 passes, more than only Julian Alvarez (18) of City’s starters, completing 29 of those, while he won three of his six duels.
Thierry Henry has refuted claims that he has put himself forward to succeed Roberto Martinez as the head coach of Belgium.
After the Red Devils’ World Cup exit in Qatar, Martinez’s tenure came to an end, and the Spaniard was named Portugal manager on Monday.
The France great reportedly contacted the Royal Belgian Football Association to express his wish to become the head coach while Henry served as Martinez’s assistant.
The 45-year-old asserts such is not the case though.
He told Sky Sports News: “I would like to make it abundantly clear that contrary to written reports, I have never contacted the Belgian FA offering my services as the new first team coach.
“I think it’s vital that the truthful version of facts is always presented.”
Belgium’s all-time leading goalscorer Romelu Lukaku this month confidently stated that Henry will succeed Martinez.
“For me, Henry is the next coach of Belgium. There are no doubts. I say it openly: he will be the next coach,” Lukaku told Italian broadcaster Sky Sport.
“He has the respect of all the players, he has won everything. He knows how to coach, he knows what we have to do to get there.
“He knows the team, the league, the staff. For me, he is the ideal coach for our national team. Then I don’t know who they will take. But I don’t think Belgium should start from scratch.
“So far this generation hasn’t won, but we have to keep trying to win. He wants to win, and I don’t think the federation is going to get a coach who wants to change everything and start from scratch. It’s not worth it to me.”
A total of 25,000 people were evacuated from California on Monday as a result of the latest in a spate of Pacific storms that have been linked to at least 12 fatalities, including the whole town of Montecito and neighboring portions of the Santa Barbara coast.
Authorities in 17 California areas, including the Montecito evacuation zone, are concerned that a recent string of torrential downpours might unleash deadly cascades of mud, stones, and other debris in hillsides stripped bare of vegetation by previous wildfires.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered five years after Montecito, a wealthy coastal community 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles, was devastated by mudslides caused by heavy rains in January 2018, which resulted in extensive damage and the deaths of more than 20 people.
Raquel Zick, a Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokesperson, told Reuters that sheriff’s deputies were out navigating flooded roads in armored high-clearance BearCat SWAT vehicles to rescue residents stranded by high water.
Oprah Winfrey, the owner of Oprah Winfrey Network, and Prince Harry and his wife Meghan from the United Kingdom are just a few of the roughly 9,000 residents of Montecito, many of whom live in lavish houses in the lovely town.
If they were among those compelled to leave the area was not immediately evident. During the New Year’s vacation, Winfrey was rumored to have traveled to Hawaii.
Ellen DeGeneres, an actress and comedian who is also a well-known resident of Montecito, shared a video selfie on Twitter showing herself in the rain next to a torrent rushing through what she described as a typically dry creek bed close to her home.
The performer, garbed in a hooded jacket, tweeted that she had been advised to “shelter in place” rather than evacuate since her home was on higher ground.
“We need to be nicer to Mother Nature, because Mother Nature is not happy with us,” she said in the video. “Let’s all do our part. Stay safe, everybody. Yikes.”
All 15 districts of Montecito were ordered to immediately evacuate along with portions of the city of Santa Barbara and adjacent areas of Carpinteria and Summerland where “burn scars” posed a threat of mudslides, the Montecito Fire Department said.
Social media video posted online by TMZ.com showed a man paddling his kayak in the middle of a flooded street in Santa Barbara. The Los Angeles Times reported numerous road closures from flooding and debris flows, including sections of U.S. highway route 101 in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Along the central California coast, some 14,000 people were ordered evacuated early on Monday from four Santa Cruz County communities inundated with flash floods, extreme tides and heavy runoff from local mountains, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the state Office of Emergency Services.
Nearly 4,000 more people in the town of Wilton remained under evacuation orders due to flood threats from breached levees along the Cosumnes River south of Sacramento, the state capital. Another 42,000 residents of roughly a dozen counties were under evacuation warnings, Ferguson said.
The torrential rains, along with heavy snow in mountain areas, were the product of yet another “atmospheric river” of dense moisture funneled into California from the tropical Pacific, powered by sprawling low-pressure systems churning offshore.
At least a dozen fatalities have been attributed to several back-to-back storms that have lashed California since Dec. 26, including a toddler killed when a redwood tree was blown over his family’s trailer home last week.
Experts say the growing frequency and intensity of such storms, interspersed with extreme dry spells, are symptoms of climate change, posing greater challenges to managing California’s precious water supplies while minimizing risks of floods, mudslides and wildfires.
The six storms since just after Christmas have been accompanied by pounding surf that has battered seaside communities, as well as fierce, gale-force winds that have uprooted thousands of trees weakened by prolonged drought.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned the latest onslaught would impact most of California’s 39 million residents, with up to 5 inches of additional rain expected to fall near the coast and more than a foot of snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains over the next few days.
The high winds have wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid, knocking out electricity to tens of thousands of Californians. As many as 120,000 homes and business were without electricity on Monday morning, according to data from Poweroutage.us.
U.S. President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts and mobilize emergency resources in California.
(Reporting by Erica Urech in Montecito, Calif.; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, Calif. and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Josie Kao and Christopher Cushing)
To overcome a deficit and defeat Bradford 2-1, struggling Rochdale struck twice in the second half.
After Abo Eisa gave them the lead, Mark Hughes’ team appeared to be on track to finish fourth in League Two with a third straight victory.
However, Rochdale’s solitary victory in 14 games in all competitions came from veteran striker Henderson, who will be 38 later this month. Henderson scored twice in the space of seven minutes.
In the 29th minute, Eisa skillfully finished off Bradford’s first shot on goal after flick-ons from Harry Chapman and Levi Sutton.
Devante Rodney came close to equalising five minutes into the second half with a low free-kick that caught out home keeper Harry Lewis and struck the base of a post.
They levelled after Rodney was brought down in the box by Brad Halliday. Lewis saved the striker’s penalty but Henderson converted the rebound.
He then clinched Dale’s first win since November 8 with a close-range finish after Rodney had got a touch on Danny Lloyd’s cross.
Football player Emmanuel Boateng of Ghana is the subject of an investigation by the Authority for the Prevention and Combating Violence in Sport (APCVD).
The event took place during a Liga Portugal 22/23 match between Vitória S.C. and Rio Ave in week 15. Boateng allegedly endured racial epithets from home supporters. André Narciso, the referee, was informed of it, and the game was briefly stopped as a result.
The incident has received extensive coverage in the Portuguese media, and the APCVD anti-discrimination organization is now formally looking into the story to determine its veracity. If proven guilty, they intend to take action against the perpetrators.
”In view of the news widely disseminated in the media regarding insults of a discriminatory nature and acts of racism in the match between Vitória Sport Clube – Rio Ave Futebol Clube, which took place last Saturday, January 7, at the D. Afonso Henriques stadium in Guimarães, counting for the 15th round of the 1st League, since the denunciation of the practice of illegal acts of a national contraordenature is at issue, the Authority for the Prevention and Combating of Violence in Sport (APCVD) has initiated proceedings for the commission of the commission in order to establish any perpetrators of the facts denounced and the responsibilities arising therefrom,” a statement from the APCVD reads.
It is important to the APCVD to prevent and combat any forms of discrimination in the sport and to make sure that the fair play is maintained during the games.
Dan Burn, a longtime Newcastle supporter, scored the team’s first goal as tenacious Leicester finally gave up to put Newcastle on the path to their first League Cup semi-final in 47 years.
In front of a jubilant crowd of 52,009 spectators at St James’ Park, the £13 million January signing’s 60th-minute goal and a nice finish from Joelinton were enough to secure a 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final victory and keep the Magpies’ hopes of winning their first domestic trophy since their 1955 FA Cup victory alive.
Eddie Howe’s side once again failed to take advantage of first-half opportunities but eventually did not pay the price in this instance, three days after a significantly altered team was eliminated from that competition by League One Sheffield Wednesday.
With substitute Jamie Vardy making two uncharacteristic errors late on, the Foxes may have clawed their way back into the game, but Newcastle deserved to win.
Within a minute of the game’s beginning, they might have taken the lead when Sean Longstaff missed a cross from Miguel Almiron after the midfielder had raced upfield from deep inside his own half and found Joe Willock on the left.
Two minutes later, with Almiron again the catalyst, Bruno Guimaraes blasted a long-range effort beyond goalkeeper Danny Ward’s right post as the Magpies looked to replicate the explosive start to their Boxing Day trip to Leicester, which created the groundwork for a 3-0 Premier League victory.
The visitors simply could not force their way into the game, with Patson Daka threatening sporadically on the break, although former Magpie Ayoze Perez did warm Nick Pope’s hands with a 14th-minute drive.
Guimaraes missed the target once again after Willock and Joelinton had linked well down the left, and it took a fine reaction save by Ward to deny Longstaff after his defence had failed to clear Kieran Trippier’s 19th-minute free-kick.
However, Trippier had to improvise to clear Daka’s low cross with a back-heeled flick after Timothy Castagne had countered and Pope raced from his line to prevent Harvey Barnes from connecting with Perez’s through-ball.
The home side rather lost their way as the first half drew to a close, although Almiron whipped a shot into Ward’s midriff and the keeper then palmed away another Guimaraes strike amid a late flurry.
Joelinton’s low drive come back off the foot of the post within seconds of the restart, but Youri Tielemans saw his 50th-minute shot deflected over as the visitors responded.
Burn headed Trippier’s free-kick over when he might have done better and Ward denied Longstaff once again, but Burn’s moment finally arrived as the clock reached the hour mark.
The 6’6” full-back burst into the penalty area from the left after the Foxes had conceded possession cheaply and fired across Ward and inside the fire post to send the home crowd into raptures.
It was 2-0 within 12 minutes when Joelinton provided the perfect finish to Almiron’s perfectly-weighted pass, although Vardy passed up two glorious opportunities to reduce the deficit in quick succession as the home side slept.
Inter Milan, the current Coppa Italia champions, advanced to the quarterfinals after overcoming a scare to defeat Parma of Serie B 2-1 in extra time at San Siro.
Before Lautaro Martinez scored the equalizer with Inter’s first chance on goal in the 88th minute, Stanko Juric’s fierce effort toward the conclusion of the first half appeared to be enough for Fabio Pecchia’s club.
Before Francesco Acerbi’s spectacular header gave the Nerazzurri the victory, they were struggling to hold on at times in extra time.
Danilo D’Ambrosio, Robin Gosens, and Denzel Dumfries were among the seven changes made by Simone Inzaghi to the team that drew 2-2 at Monza on Saturday. Gianluigi Buffon began in goal for Parma, although the 44-year-old had nothing to do for the first 87 minutes of the match.
After a quiet start, the Serie B team unexpectedly took the lead in the 38th minute when Adrian Bernabe’s forward ball was flicked by Simon Sohm into the path of Juric, who had only been on the field for 12 minutes after replacing the injured Dennis Man. Juric’s rocket of a shot went past Andre Onana’s vain dive.
Inzaghi turned to his substitutes, including Edin Dzeko, as Inter struggled to break down Parma in the second half. He went for it with an aggressive trio of the Bosnian alongside Martinez and Joaquin Correa, and it eventually paid off.
To the relief of the home crowd, a deep ball from Kristjan Asllani was only cleared as far as Martinez with just over two minutes of regulation time remaining. Martinez’s shot deflected off Yordan Osorio and past Buffon to force extra time, but not before the former Juventus goalkeeper made a deft save to prevent Dzeko from scoring in stoppage time.
The impressive visitors took the game to Inter in the extra 30 minutes, with Antoine Hainaut firing just wide after intercepting a loose pass from Roberto Gagliardini, but Inter stepped it up in the second period and won it thanks to Acerbi after Buffon punched a Federico Dimarco cross straight to the waiting centre-back, who headed it back over him and into the net.
What does it mean? Win all that matters for Inter
Inter are fourth in Serie A while Parma are sixth in Serie B, but the visitors had only one win from their previous six coming into this.
It was therefore quite surprising to see them come close to what would have been a deserved victory had Martinez not rescued his team.
While going through is all that matters, Inzaghi will be concerned with how slow and uninspired nature of his team, which despite the changes, still appeared far stronger on paper than most others in Italy.
Buffon rolls back the years
Granted, he had no save to make until Martinez’s deflected shot whizzed past him, but Buffon’s save from Dzeko shortly after kept his team in it and served as a reminder to anyone who needed one of his qualities.
The former Juventus and Italy stopper only made one other save all game, but it surely gave heart to anyone in their mid-40s that they too can still dream of performing to a high level in the Coppa Italia one day.
Blunt Inter close to crashing out
It was a particularly poor first half from Inter, who had just two shots despite having 73.5 per cent possession, failing to hit the target with either, while Parma had three of their own, all on target.
Not until Martinez equalised did the hosts had a shot on target, and despite winning, Inter still ended the game having had fewer attempts on target (four) than their second tier opponents (six).
What’s next?
Inter host Hellas Verona in Serie A on Saturday while Parma are away to Bari in Serie B on the same day.
Marcus Rashford kept up his impressive scoring pace as his two goals in stoppage time gave Manchester United a 3-0 Carabao Cup quarterfinal win over Charlton of the Sky Bet League One.
After Antony’s first-half goal gave United the lead, Rashford scored twice in stoppage time to end the game. This was his sixth consecutive encounter with a goal.
As of early November, it was their eighth straight victory, and they secured a spot in their third League Cup semifinal in four years.
Erik ten Hag, a demanding manager, won’t be lavishing praise after this performance, either, as his drastically altered team was pushed hard at Old Trafford by the third-tier Addicks.
In fact, they weren’t able to secure their triumph at the very end until Ten Hag had added big guns Rashford, Casemiro, and Christian Eriksen.
Although they have won eight of their last twelve games and 11 of their last 12, they will face a considerably tougher test on Saturday when they face off in the Manchester derby.
The Addicks, managed by diehard United fan Dean Holden, can take pride in their performance and as they now concentrate on mounting a League One play-off push in the second half of the season.
It might have been even more convincing for the hosts had they taken one of the early chances that the prodigious talent Alejandro Garnacho created.
The Spaniard made an opening for Diogo Dalot after cutting inside from the byline, but the defender blazed over from a good position.
Garnacho then twice tried to go on his own as he had his marker Sean Clare on toast, first cutting in and then fizzing a shot just wide before a jinking run into the penalty area ended with him dragging a shot wide.
But it was from the right where United forged their 21st-minute opener.
They worked the ball well out to Antony, who made space on his preferred left foot and then sent a curling effort past Ashley Maynard-Brewer and into the top corner.
The hosts were within inches of doubling their lead 10 minutes before the break when Fred’s 30-yard free-kick crashed into a post, with Maynard-Brewer a bystander.
Charlton, roared on by 10,000 travelling supporters, had battled hard and enjoyed their best period of the game heading into the interval as Albie Morgan whipped a free-kick wide and then Tom Heaton had to claim Clare’s low cross with Corey Blackett-Taylor waiting to pounce.
They started the second half strongly as well and their golden opportunity came 76 seconds after the restart as Scott Fraser latched on to Miles Leaburn’s flick-on but put his left-footed shot over.
Anthony Elanga had a goal ruled out for a clear offside but it was Charlton who continued to press their illustrious hosts and, such was their impact, Ten Hag introduced Rashford, Casemiro and Eriksen on the hour mark.
That experienced trio helped United gain control of the match and they created some chances to kill the game off as Garnacho brought a flying save from Maynard-Brewer, who also got down low to keep out Eriksen’s effort.
United eventually got the second that made the game safe in the 90th minute as debutant Facundo Pellistri teed up Rashford and the in-form forward added a second after being played through by Casemiro.
Former Trade Minister, Alan Kyerematen, has finally informed Ghanaians the reason behind his decision to resign from post.
On Tuesday, Mr Kyerematen noted that he resigned last week Thursday in order to focus on his presidential ambition.
He hopes to run on the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2024.
Below is the full speech delivered by the former minister:
NATIONAL BROADCAST BY HON. ALAN KYEREMATEN, OUTGOING MINISTER FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY
• FELLOW COUNTRYMEN & WOMEN • FRIENDS OF GHANA
Let me start first by wishing you all a happy, healthy, productive and a prosperous New Year.
Secondly, I wish to express formally, my profound gratitude to His Excellency the President for the opportunity given me to serve the good people of Ghana in his Administration over the last six years, and for graciously accepting my resignation as Cabinet Minister responsible for Trade and Industry, with effect from 16th of January 2023.
Thirdly, I wish to use this platform to formally announce my decision to contest the flagbearership of the New Patriotic Party when the Party officially opens nominations for that purpose.
His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been a good friend of mine and will always remain so based on our shared commitment to the ideals and principles that inspired the founding fathers of our great Party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). We have competed in the past but have always worked together thereafter.
The President has laid a strong foundation for the socioeconomic development of our country, although I believe there are things that could have been done differently. My vision is to build a superstructure on this foundation that will bring prosperity to our nation.
The pre-COVID-19 performance of our economy, the flagship programmes including the Free SHS, the One District One Factory (1D1F) Initiative, the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, the Agenda 111 project and the COVID-19 Response initiatives, are all testimonies of the strong leadership that the President has provided over the last six years.
In spite of all of the above however, it is an undeniable fact that the combined effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war has stampeded our country into a crisis of unprecedent proportions, with its negative impacts on the economy, on businesses, and on our social lives.
I have no doubt that the anticipated International Monetary Fund (IMF) Support Package will restore confidence in our economy, and bring it back to the pre-COVID levels.
Fellow Countrymen and Women This is the seventeenth time that we have gone to the IMF over the last 57 years. We promised never to go back but we have gone back. One of the lessons that we have learnt from the recent developments is that Ghana’s economy is still fragile, vulnerable and susceptible to both external and domestic shocks.
This primarily is as a result of the fact that our economy is highly dependent on the export of commodities with little or no value addition. Indeed, the 5.1% projected GDP growth for the Ghanaian economy for 2023 is based on the anticipated increase in commodity prices.
To avoid going back to the IMF, we need a new Plan. A Plan that will lead us to a more self-reliant and resilient economy. That Plan must move Ghana from Stability and Growth to Transformation.
Fellow Countrymen and Women If by the will of God and through your goodwill, I am voted first, as the flagbearer of the NPP and subsequently as President of the Republic in the next general elections, I will become the transformational leader of our time, who will build on the foundations laid by successive leaders of our nation over the last sixty-five (65) years.
To achieve this strategic goal of transforming our dear country to become the shining star of the new Africa, I will as President, launch and lead the execution of the Great Transformational Plan (GTP) of Ghana which will span the period 2025 to 2030.
The Post-COVID Economic Recovery Programme (P-CERP) currently being implemented with the anticipated support from the IMF from 2023 to 2025, will be a transitional economic programme leading to the roll out of this Great Transformational Plan.
Fellow Countrymen and Women Before I proceed to provide a brief insight into the key elements of the Great Transformational Plan, seven critical considerations would need to be taken into account to guarantee the success of the Plan.
The primacy of the Private Sector in our national development agenda. The Private Sector, both domestic and foreign, formal and informal has to be at the centre of our transformational agenda. The Government’s focus must be to facilitate the process of making our private sector competitive, by creating an enabling environment for businesses.
Attitude to work and enforcement of discipline. We as a people should appreciate the need for discipline in all spheres of our national lives and change our attitude to work. Whether you are working for the Private sector or for Government, as a worker, you are not doing a favour to your employer. It is your duty to ensure that you earn your living from the efforts of your labour.
Corruption and petty theft or thievery, particularly from the public purse, deny our country the benefit of utilizing its tax revenue and other resources for the development of our country.
The arrogance of power has been a major obstruction to progress in our country. People in positions of authority must understand that leadership is an opportunity to serve the people, and not to lord over them. In servant leadership, humility is an asset and not a weakness.
Passion for excellence. As a country we must celebrate competence and excellence and not mediocrity.
As a people, we must focus more on getting things done than talking. Ghana is gradually becoming a NATO country – “No Action Talk Only”. We need to remember that the use of time is a zero-sum game. What Ghana needs now are solutions and actions not debates.
And last but not the least, our politics in Ghana is too divisive. This keeps out some of our best talents in offering themselves for political appointments. Yes, we pride ourselves as being the bastion of democracy in Africa, but that does not mean that we should allow partisan politics to destroy our collective interests.
These seven critical considerations outlined above, will provide what I will describe as the ‘soft power’ for the effective implementation of our Great Transformational Plan.
Fellow Countrymen and Women, Let me now provide a brief synopsis of the Great Transformational Plan (GTP). The GTP will be anchored on the following key pillars:
A Strong Macroeconomic Environment: The success of the GTP will depend primarily on strong macroeconomic fundamentals, which will include among other things, a stable currency, low inflation, sustainable debt levels, revenue optimization and tight expenditure control to guarantee fiscal balance, low competitive interest rates, strong external reserves backed by high levels of liquidity to support the financial sector. To a large extent, the IMF support programme when fully executed, will create the appropriate conditions that will underpin the Great Transformational Plan.
A New Agricultural Revolution (NAR) for Ghana: The NAR will be based on five critical elements. i. Optimizing Value to Farmers by the establishment of Farmer-owned Large Scale Commercial Farms and Processing Facilities which will bring the full benefits of the agriculture value chain to farmers. ii. Introducing Technology and Innovation into Agriculture, through Research & Development (R&D) in Agronomy, Mechanization, Irrigation, and Plantation Management. This will build on the foundation laid by the Planting for Food and Jobs and Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) Programmes. Our farmers cannot be competitive without technology and innovation. iii. The establishment of Licensed Food Distribution and Marketing companies by the Private Sector throughout the country at the district level, to be supported by the Government. These companies will constitute a vital link between farmers and Market Queens in the urban and peri-urban areas. It will be complemented by the introduction of a digitalized food distribution and marketing online platform which will connect producers to buyers and consumers. iv. The strengthening of the Ghana Commodity Exchange as the marketplace for all actors in the Agricultural value chain. v. Deepening the current regime for lending and financing for the agricultural sector. vi. Enhancing the de-regulation of the Cocoa sector by deepening private sector participation in the buying and marketing (including export) of Cocoa. vii. Mass Citizens participation in Agriculture by introducing an ‘Operation Own a Farm’ programme for the Ghanaian citizenry in general.
Industrial Transformation: This will build on the successes of Government’s Ten Point Industrial Transformation Programme including the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative; the establishment of Strategic Anchor Industries to diversify the economy beyond Cocoa and Gold e.g the Automobile assembly, Garment and Textiles, Pharmaceuticals and the Petrochemical industry; enhancing the growth and development of Small and Medium Enterprises; establishment of Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones; and supporting Domestic Retail Trade and Distribution.
Accelerated Infrastructure Development: Promoting Private sector financing for public infrastructure such as Roads, Railways, Ports and Harbours, Water Supply Systems, Public Housing etc, which will reduce Government’s exposure to the financing of such infrastructure projects.
Digital Mainstreaming: Digitalization will be mainstreamed in all Government and Public sector activities, building on the current work led by the Ministry of Communication and Digitalization.
Energy Security and Diversification: Greater emphasis to be placed on developing renewable sources of energy, by fast-tracking the execution of Government’s energy transition strategy, including but not limited to nuclear and hydrogen energy.
Decarbonization and Climate Resilience: Scaling up Government’s current efforts at reducing Ghana’s carbon footprints and facilitating access to the carbon trading markets, as well as establishing mechanisms to strengthen the country’s preparedness against the negative effects of climate change.
National Security and Defence Optimization: Deploying resources to strengthen National Security and Defence Mechanisms and Infrastructure, to deal substantively with emerging security threats and challenges, particularly in the Sahalian region.
Downsizing Government: The architecture of Government will be overhauled by consolidating some existing Ministries, Departments and Agencies. This will mean running a lean Government structure that will ensure operational efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of Government services.
Strategic Engagement with the International Community: Ghana’s diplomatic and economic relations with the International Community under the GTP will be predicated on the principle of ‘positive neutrality’, based on the strategic interests of Ghana, as well as our shared commitments for the preservation of peace around the world and respect for humanity. I will in the next several months provide further details of this Great Transformational Plan in the new ‘Alan K Prime Time Talk Show’ to be introduced. I will also seek inputs from the people of Ghana as I go round in the regions and districts on my campaign tours.
Fellow Countrymen and Women The execution of the GTP will require our collective efforts, irrespective of political orientation, ethnicity or religion. It will lead to a new dawn of Restoration, Rebuilding and Reward.
The future of our country is bright. I want you fellow countrymen and women, to make me your next President when the time comes, and you will see a significant difference in your lives.
Fellow Countrymen and Women, I want you to invest in your own future by supporting my campaign. I will therefore be launching a mass “Ketewa biara nsua” Campaign and “Adopt a Constituency Initiative”, which will afford Ghanaians from all walks of life the opportunity to be part of my campaign.
For all those who will have the honour and privilege of being Delegates to select the Flagbearer of our great Party, the NPP, please remember, Alan Kyerematen is your Candidate to win power for you in 2024.
Together We shall break the Eight!
As we do say in our local Ghanaian dialects: • #Akyea na emmui (symbolizing Hope) • #Mu sadaqa da yo; saboda anfaani go be! (Let’s Sacrifice for the future) • # Èkpè deka metuna hò(r) o! (a symbol of unity and collective effort) • # Mòfiaamò baaye nii! (we shall all enjoy)
God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong!!
The 86-year-old Owen Roizman, an Oscar-nominated cinematographer who worked with Sidney Lumet and William Friedkin to create films in the 1970s, has passed away.
The American Society of Cinematographers shared the information on its official social media platforms.
Roizman, who was born in Brooklyn in 1936, developed an early interest in photography. Roizman started working in a camera rental shop as a teenager before making his feature film debut as a cinematographer on Bill Gunn’s “Stop!” in 1970. His father was a camera operator for news broadcasts.
His filmography from the 1970s featured some of the most important pieces across several genres. The second feature film Roizman directed, “The French Connection,” by William Friedkin, is regarded as one of the all-time great car chase flicks.
Filmmakers continue to be influenced by Roizman and Friedkin’s ability to blend spectacle and realism in the film’s famous chase scenes through the streets of New York City.
When they reunited two years later for “The Exorcist,” a movie that still has some of the most recognized scenes in horror movie history, the two men saw comparable success in the horror genre.
Roizman continued to work steadily on some of the most popular films of the 1970s, including “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” and “Three Days of the Condor.” His career reached another artistic high point when he shot Sidney Lumet’s newsroom satire “Network” in 1976, famously juxtaposing the synthetic brightness of TV news studios with dark colors in a way that created a disorienting effect.
Roizman was an active member of the cinematography community throughout his life, serving on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and as president of the American Society of Cinematographers.
While Roizman did his most famous work in the 1970s, he continued to be a prominent cinematographer until his retirement in 1995. Some memorable credits in his later years included Sydney Pollack’s “Tootsie,” Barry Sonnenfeld’s “The Addams Family,” and Lawrence Kasdan’s “Wyatt Earp,” which earned him his fifth and final Oscar nomination. He received an honorary Academy Award in 2017.
Harry Maguire has been encouraged to leave Manchester United by Rio Ferdinand because he feels Erik ten Hag has treated him disrespectfully after the World Cup.
This season, the England international has made just six starts in all competitions, including just one out of every five games since making his comeback from the World Cup.
Instead, Ten Hag has chosen to play left-back Luke Shaw outside of his position in the center of defense amid rumors that Maguire is drawing attention from Aston Villa for a transfer.
Ferdinand expects the limited opportunities to continue, thus he thinks Maguire’s top aim in the mid-season window should be an escape.
“If you’re [Maguire], you have to leave now. Luke Shaw’s playing centre-back instead of him,” Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel, Vibe With Five.
“That’s like me going back after the World Cup, playing well, everyone saying he’s done really well, and Patrice Evra is playing centre-back.
“I’d want to strangle Patrice! I would’ve smashed Patrice in training to make sure he’s not available, and I’d be going to the manager and saying, ‘are you taking the p*** out of me, boss?’.
“I’d have walked straight into the manager’s office and said, ‘you’re disrespecting me’. Harry Maguire’s got to move.
“I think he stays because of the games, and they can’t get someone else in. He plays in the cup games.”
United host Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup on Tuesday ahead of a huge clash against arch-rivals Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.
Adam Rich, best known for playing Nicholas Bradford on the hit TV show Eight Is Enough, passed away on Saturday at the age of 54.
In the adored series, which debuted on television in 1977, the actor achieved stardom.
Rich’s passing was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Office Coroner’s to Yahoo Entertainment on Sunday morning. Although the cause of death is now listed as “not available,” officials have said that the death occurred in a home.
According to Page Six, Rich was “discovered lifeless by an unnamed person who came to his apartment,” and there was “no foul play.”
Dick Van Patten played the head of the eight-child Bradford family in the 1980s television series Eight Is Enough. Nicholas, the youngest of the group, was portrayed by Rich, who is well-known for his shaggy hair.
Rich kept performing as he got older, making appearances in a number of sitcoms throughout the 1980s, including Silver Spoons and Small Wonder. He also contributed significantly to the voice-over industry, lending his voice to the animated Dungeons & Dragons series as Presto the Magician.
Acting credits were few and far between in later years, and the former child star struggled with substance abuse as an adult. But Rich continued to look back on his acting career fondly. In 2021, he took to his Instagram page to reflect on being included in CNN’s History of the Sitcom retrospective, a program that looked at the television shows that played a significant role in American culture.
“Honored to be included! Thanks CNN,” Rich captioned an Instagram video, in which he can be heard watching along with the show. “I’m grateful for the joy felt while working on [Eight Is Enough]! … I do hope it may have brought you some joy as well.”
The first of Prince Harry’s television interviews to promote his contentious new book, Spare, has already aired in the UK.
The prince and journalist Tom Bradby had a sit-down interview, which ITV aired on Sunday. Harry’s rift with the royal family, his learning of his mother Princess Diana’s passing in a 1997 car accident, and his hopes that he and wife Meghan Markle would collaborate closely with Prince William and Kate Middleton—a dream he admits was quickly dashed—were all topics of discussion during the men’s conversation.
Harry, 38, claimed that when accompanying his brother and sister-in-law on outings, he had occasionally been a “third wheel.”
“I had put a lot of hope in the idea that, you know, it’d be William and Kate and me and whoever,” he told Bradby. “I thought … the four of us would, you know, bring me and William closer together, we could go out and do work together, which I did a lot as the third wheel to them, which was fun at times but also, I guess, slightly awkward at times as well.”
But after meeting his future wife, then starring on the series Suits, he realized that things weren’t going to go quite so smoothly.
“I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get … into a relationship with someone like Meghan who had, you know, a very successful career,” Prince Charles’s younger son shared, adding that Meghan’s outsider status and fame led to a “a lot of stereotyping.”
“There was a lot of stereotyping that was happening, that I was guilty of as well, at the beginning,” Harry said, noting that this caused a “barrier” to his family “welcoming” the actress into their circle.
When asked to specify what stereotypes Meghan , who divorced producer Trevor Engelson in 2014, was subjected to, Harry responded: “American actress, divorced, biracial.”
“There’s all different parts to that and what that can mean but if you are, like a lot of my family do, if you are reading the press, the British tabloids, at the same time as living the life, then there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality,” he continued.
Prior to his 2018 wedding, Harry said that his older brother “aired some worries.”
It was the British press, he said, that branded the two royal couples as “the fab four,” something that bred “competition” rather than connection.
“The idea of the four of us being together was always a hope for me,” he said. “Before it was Meghan, whoever it was going to be, I always hoped that the four of us would get on. But very quickly it became Meghan versus Kate. And that, when it plays out so publicly, you can’t hide from that, right? Especially when within my family you have the newspapers laid out pretty much in every single palace and house that is around.”
The interview also saw Harry clarifying to longtime confidant Bradby that he and Meghan never accused the royal family of racism, despite revealing in their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey that there had been speculation as to what their son Archie’s skin color might be. “Having lived within that family,” Harry said, he attributed the comments to “unconscious bias” rather than racism.
Anna Kendrick is sharing her experience with enduring a terrible relationship.
The 37-year-old Alice, Darling actress revealed during an interview with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman for the podcast Armchair Expert that she had created embryos with an unnamed ex who was “for all intents and purposes, my husband.”
Speaking with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman on the podcast Armchair Expert, the Alice, Darling actress, 37, opened up about having made embryos with an unidentified ex, who was “for all intents and purposes, my husband.”
“I was with someone — this was somebody I lived with, for all intents and purposes my husband. We had embryos together, this was my person,’” she shared. “And then about six years in, about somewhere around there, I remember telling my brother, when things had first kind of gone down, ‘I’m living with a stranger. Like, I don’t know what’s happening.’”
Kendrick claimed that despite the continuous conduct, she persisted in trying to improve the relationship through couple’s counseling since she had noticed a personality difference and her partner had subsequently admitted to having emotions for someone else.
“It wasn’t just the, ‘Oh, I’m losing a relationship.’ It was that I believed that if we broke up or, you know, if he left basically, it was a confirmation that it’s because I’m impossible, I’m lucky that he’s even tolerating my b—–t.”
“There was an inherent thing of me being so rejectable that this person who loved me very deeply for six years, it suddenly occurred to him, how awful I was or something,” she continued. “The shame, that lingers much longer.”
In order to deal with the turbulent nature of the relationship and in the hopes that things might improve, Kendrick recalled how she “dismantled” her life.
“I did start going to Al-Anon while all this was going on. I mean, look, I truly dismantled my life, and at first, that was as a reaction to the accusation that I was crazy and I was the one causing the problem,” she explained. “So I had a conversation with CAA, my agency and said I need to take time off, I have a mental health problem.”
She continued, “I started seeing two therapists a week and I started trying to learn to meditate and I got into Al-Anon and all of these things ended up being very wonderful things for me in the long run, but initially went into them thinking, ‘Tell me how to stop being crazy. Tell me how to stop feeling anything.’ “
In September, Kendrick opened up to PEOPLE about how Alice’s story in her film Alice, Darling “resonated” with her for a specific reason.
“I was coming out of a personal experience with emotional abuse and psychological abuse,” she shared, recalling the time she first came across the screenplay. “I think my rep sent it to me, because he knew what I’d been dealing with and sent it along. Because he was like, ‘This sort of speaks to everything that you’ve been talking to me about.’ “
“It felt really distinct in that I had, frankly, seen a lot of movies about abusive or toxic relationships, and it didn’t really look like what was happening to me,” she added. “It kind of helped me normalize and minimize what was happening to me, because I thought, ‘Well, if I was in an abusive relationship, it would look like that.’ “
Describing her former relationship, Kendrick shares, “I was in a situation where I loved and trusted this person more than I trusted myself. So when that person is telling you that you have a distorted sense of reality and that you are impossible and that all the stuff that you think is going on is not going on, your life gets really confusing really quickly. And I was in a situation where, at the end, I had the unique experience of finding out that everything I thought was going on was in fact going on. So I had this kind of springboard for feeling and recovery that a lot of people don’t get.”
Sonia Souid, a player agent, has accused Noel Le Graet, head of the French Football Federation, of misconduct and has added her voice to growing calls for his resignation.
Souid stated Le Graet’s behavior toward her suggested he thought of her as “two breasts and an ass,” but she does not believe he will resign from his position.
Amelie Oudea-Castera, France’s minister of sports, has called for new leadership at the FFF, and Eric Thomas, president of the French Amateur Football Association (AFFA), agrees that Le Graet should step down.
Souid accuses Le Graet of abusing his position between 2013 and 2017, a time frame covered by her charges.
She told French broadcaster RMC of agreeing to meet with Le Graet at his home on one occasion.
“During this meeting, he told me clearly that if we were closer, my ideas would materialise,” she said. “In any case, he would be much more motivated to help me in this meaning.
“And there in fact, I take a huge slap. Because I have my president of the French Football Federation who sees me… while I feel competent and legitimate because I have managed to do things even in difficulty, excuse me for the term, but my president sees me as two breasts and an ass in fact.
“I was disappointed by my president. For me, my president must be exemplary. And he was not.”
She added: “I don’t think he’s brave enough to resign. Do I think he can stay at the helm of the FFF? Yes, he can. But should he? No. I honestly think he’s had his time.”
Stats Perform has asked the FFF for a response to the allegations made by Souid.
Le Graet apologised on Monday to being accused by Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid of disrespecting Zinedine Zidane, following comments made once it was confirmed Didier Deschamps would be staying on as France head coach.
Zidane c’est la France, on manque pas de respect à la légende comme ça… 🤦🏽♂️
The FFF president had said he would not pick up the phone if former France playmaker and Ballon d’Or winner Zidane called him to discuss coaching the national team.
Oudea-Castera said on Monday: “Our great players deserve better than what they have at the head of their federation.”
AFFA president Thomas said the remarks about Zidane marked a tipping point. They came before the allegations from Souid.
Thomas said: “These comments towards Zinedine Zidane are inexcusable, inadmissible and irresponsible.
“A president of a federation should not say that. These speeches flout the values of sport, that is why the AFFA demands the resignation of the president of the FFF.
According to reports, Manchester United and Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia have agreed to loan out striker Vincent Aboubakar for the rest of the season.
After terminating Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract in November of last year, Man United is looking to add a new center forward. Ronaldo has since teamed up with Aboubakar at Al-Nassr.
Aboubakar has been with Al-Nassr for the past 18 months and has scored 13 goals in 39 appearances for the Middle Eastern club in all competitions, including four goals in 12 games so far this season.
Aboubakar’s availability has ‘alarmed’ Man United, and Al-Nassr is willing to let the 30-year-old player go on loan.
Following Ronaldo’s arrival, Al-Nassr reached the number of non-Saudi Arabian players allowed in their first-team squad, and they are unable to sign the five-time Ballon d’Or winner until one of their remaining seven foreign players leaves the club.
Man United and Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce have an agreement in place to sign Aboubakar on loan in January, according to Saudi Arabian news site OKAZ. The Cameroonian is anticipated to prefer a move to the Premier League.
Gareth Bale, a former world-class player for Wales, announced the end of his playing career on Monday, and Real Madrid has paid respect to the former superstar.
Bale spent nine years in Spain after leaving Tottenham to join Real Madrid in 2013, though he returned to Spurs on loan in 2020–21.
During his tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu, the 33-year-old won three LaLiga championships, a Copa dey Rey, five Champions League championships, and three Club World Cups.
He was not always universally popular with the fans despite scoring 106 goals in 258 games for the club, particularly after being pictured with a flag while on international duty that read: “Wales, golf, Madrid. In that order.”
“Following Gareth Bale’s announcement that he will retire from professional football, Real Madrid C. F. would like to express its gratitude, admiration and affection for a true legend of our club and the world game,” it read.
“Gareth Bale was part of our team during one of the most successful periods in our history. He will long be remembered for his involvement in some of the most remarkable moments of the past decade, including his unforgettable run in the 2014 Copa del Rey final in Valencia [v Barcelona], his crucial goal in the 2014 Champions League final in Lisbon [v Atletico Madrid], and his brace in the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv [v Liverpool], most notably the bicycle kick which will live forever in the minds of football lovers around the globe.
“His name will be forever bound to our club’s history and its legend.
“Good luck, Gareth, and all the best to you and your family.”
Following Arsenal’s 3-0 FA Cup victory over Oxford United, Mikel Arteta allayed fears regarding Bukayo Saka’s injury and predicted more incisive performances from Fabio Vieira.
On Monday, a victory at the Kassam Stadium led to a match at Manchester City for the fourth round, but Saka was taken off in the second half.
The image of Saka staggering off was concerning for the leaders as Arsenal will play fierce rivals Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday.
But ahead of this weekend’s quick journey to face Spurs, Gunners manager Arteta said the England winger is “OK.”
After a lackluster first half, Arsenal overwhelmed League One team Oxford, with goals from Mohamed Elneny and Eddie Nketiah, who was in fine form, who added a swift double.
One of Arteta’s seven lineup adjustments saw Vieira start. He then assisted Nketiah in scoring the second goal by sending in a superb free kick that Elneny headed in to break the tie.
Due to injuries, the midfielder has had a difficult start to his Arsenal career, but Arteta is certain that he will turn out to be a wise acquisition.
Arteta told ITV Sport: “He has the quality. He is a really creative player, and he can decide games in the final third. He made a difference.”
Nketiah has scored four goals in as many games since the World Cup in the absence of the injured Gabriel Jesus, taking his tally for the season to seven.
Arteta said of the striker’s form: “It is what we want from every player. I am delighted. You have to be scoring goals, and he is doing it.”
He added: “We have only one [striker]. And to cope for that many months until Gabby’s back is not easy. We have to make the most out of the players we’ve got.”
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