Germany
Germany banking on victories to regain support
Germany will seek redemption for November’s humiliating thrashing against Spain as Joachim Loew’s squad look to get the fans back behind them by winning their first three World Cup qualifiers. Germany host Iceland in Duisburg on Thursday before facing Romania away on Sunday, then play North Macedonia three days later back in Duisburg. “We want to start the European championship year with an exclamation mark and please our fans again,” Loew said after naming teenagers Jamal Musiala, 18, and Florian Wirtz, 17, in his squad. “Our ambition and goal is to get ourselves into a good starting position with three wins.” A fortnight ago, Loew announced he will step down, after 15 years in charge, following the European championships, due to take place from June 11-July 11. He badly needs convincing ...
Ivory Coast names interim prime minister
Patrick Achi, secretary general to the presidency of the Ivory Coast, was appointed Monday interim prime minister while the country’s premier, Hamed Bakayoko, is in Europe receiving medical treatment, the president’s office said. “State minister Patrick Achi will take over the functions of prime minister and head of government in an interim capacity,” the presidency said in a statement. Tene Birahima Ouattara, presidential affairs minister and the younger brother of President Alassane Ouattara, was appointed interim defence minister, also replacing Bakayoko in that position. Bakayoko, 56, travelled to France on February 18 for health reasons and has just been transferred to a hospital in Germany, a source close to the presidency told AFP, without specifying exactly when. The nature of Baka...
Bundesliga: RB Leipzig knock Bayern Munich from top after romp at Freiburg
RB Leipzig climbed top of the Bundesliga on Saturday with a 3-0 romp at Freiburg to replace previous leaders Bayern Munich, who later host Dortmund in Germany’s ‘Klassiker’. Christopher Nkunku, Alexander Sorloth and Emil Forsberg scored the goals in Freiburg which lifted Leipzig one point ahead of Bayern, who are at home to Dortmund (1730GMT). “That was a mature performance,” Leipzig sports director Markus Kroesche told Sky. “Anything is possible,” he replied when asked if Leipzig can stop Bayern winning a ninth straight league title this season. Leipzig impressed in their final tune-up before facing Liverpool in Budapest next Wednesday in the last 16 of the Champions League having lost the first leg 2-0. Leipzig took the lead at Freiburg after a first-half blunder by home goalkeeper Flori...
Liverpool fans show full support for Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool fans have thrown their full support behind under-fire Reds boss Jurgen Klopp by hanging a heartfelt banner outside of Anfield The Reds slipped to their third consecutive Premier League defeat on Saturday as Leicester City fought from behind to claim a 3-1 victory at the King Power. And Liverpool have now fallen 13 points behind league leaders Manchester City, who still have a match in hand. Klopp, who has come under increasing pressure as Liverpool’s form has slipped, appeared on the verge of tears as he conceded that the title race is over for the Reds. The 53-year-old German has also dealt with heartbreak off the field after his mother, Elisabeth, passed away and he was unable to travel to Germany for the funeral. Liverpool fans have rallied around Klopp as a banner was spotted...
Russia issues arrest warrant for Alexei Navalny ally
Russia has issued an arrest warrant for Leonid Volkov, a close ally of poisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a media report. Mr Volkov had been organising protests from his base in Lithuania to demand the release of the opposition leader, who was detained last month as he entered Russia. A protest was planned for this Sunday, with Mr Volkov urging people to gather near their homes and light candles in heart shapes to flood social media. “You will raise your phone flashlights – and someone, maybe, will bring candles – and form a heart shape with them.. You will take a picture of it from above, from one of the apartments, and post it on Instagram,” he wrote in a Facebook post promoting the demonstration. His actions have angered Russian authorities, who have been granted an ar...
Iran won’t resume nuclear commitments until US lifts sanctions – supreme leader
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday the US must “completely lift” sanctions first, followed by verification by Tehran, before the Islamic republic returns to its nuclear deal commitments. “If they want Iran to return to its commitments … America must completely lift sanctions, and not just in words or on paper,” Khamenei said in a televised speech to air force commanders. “They must be lifted in action, and then we will verify and see if they have been properly lifted, and then return,” he added. The 2015 landmark deal has been hanging by a thread since US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it in 2018 and reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Tehran a year later suspended its compliance with most key nuclear commitments to the deal. The new administration of ...
China joins calls for IWF to publish list of election candidates
Nations from around the world have written to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) to express their dismay at the governing body’s failure to publish the list of candidates for forthcoming elections. There have been complaints of poor governance, a lack of transparency, and giving an unfair advantage to certain candidates on the current IWF Executive Board who have the information that is denied to others. For the last elections in 2017 the list was published five days after the nominations deadline. This year, eight days have passed already and there is no sign of the IWF naming the candidates for President, first vice-president, vice-president, and a place on the Executive Board. The IWF is entitled, under current regulations, to wait until 30 days before the elections – Febr...
Liverpool complete loan deal for Schalke defender
Liverpool have completed the deadline-day signing of Ozan Kabak from Schalke, subject to international clearance. The 20-year-old defender will move to Anfield on loan until the end of the season, with the Reds having the option to make the move permanent in the summer for a fee of £18 million ($25m). Kabak, a Turkey international who moved to Schalke from Stuttgart in 2019, will be the first of two signings on a busy day on Merseyside. He will be joined by Preston centre-back Ben Davies, who finalised his switch earlier on Monday. Goal understands that Liverpool will pay an initial loan fee of around £1m ($1.4m) for Kabak, while the deal for Davies could be worth in excess of £1.6m, should all performance-related add-ons be triggered. The Reds had been insistent that it would be a quiet w...
Shkodran Mustafi joins Schalke from Arsenal
Arsenal’s squad trimming has continued, with Shkodran Mustafi joining Schalke on a deal until the end of the season. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said prior to the January transfer window that he was keen to trim some flab from his squad. Mesut Ozil has been the highest-profile departure, with the former Germany international joining Fenerbahce and in so doing the club cleared a sizeable chunk of wages from the monthly bill. Sokratis Papastathopoulos joined Olympiakos earlier this month after being released from his contract, William Saliba, Sead Kolasinac and Matt Smith have left on loan, while Matt Macey joined Hibernian on a permanent basis. World Cup winner Mustafi emerged as a possible departure towards the end of January, and he was linked with a shock move to Liverpool. Premier League ...
Bishop Kaigama: It’s time to give youths chance in governance
The Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, His Grace Ignatius Kaigama, has said time has come for youths to take active part in governance. Kaigama, who insisted that “it is the right time now to give our youths a chance to express their leadership skills”, tasked authorities to expand the political space to allow more youths involved in decision making. Kaigama particularly advised Nigerian youths to seize the opportunity to bring to an end, decades of recycling political leaders by taking up leadership positions in the country. Speaking Saturday, during the 9th convocation lecture of Veritas University, Abuja,where he is the Chancellor, Kaigama said:”Recent events in our country show that there is the urgent need to expand the political space and allow our youths to be more inv...
UK worried about Alexei Navalny’s safety after Russia detains him – minister
Britain is worried about the safety of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after he was detained on return to Moscow, British Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday. Russian police detained Navalny on arrival in Moscow on Sunday after he flew home to Russia from Germany for the first time since he was poisoned last summer. “The Foreign Secretary will say more about this, but we are very worried about the wellbeing and safety of Alexei Navalny. And of course, we have to make sure that the Russian government answers why a poison was used against Alexei Navalny,” Zahawi told Sky. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton, editing by Sarah Young Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a d...
WHO: 90 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide
The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 90 million, reaching 90,054,813 as of Wednesday, according to the latest numbers from the World Health Organisation (WHO) Globally, as of 9:47 am CET (0847 GMT) on Wednesday, there have been 90,054,813 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,945,610 deaths, reported to WHO. The U.S. has remained at the top in both infection cases and fatalities, with 22,428,591 confirmed cases and 373,329 deaths reported to WHO. It’s followed by India with 10,495,147 cases and 151,529 deaths, and then Brazil, with 8,131,612 cases and 203,580 deaths. Also severely affected were Russia with 3,448,203 cases, Britain with 3,118,522 cases, France with 2,740,656 cases, Italy with 2,289,021 cases, and Spain with 2,111,782 cases. On the list of death tolls afte...
