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Closing the annual general debate on Monday, General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said leaders had confronted a world of conflict, stalled development, deepening inequality and rapidly accelerating technological change. But amid sharply differing perspectives, he…
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Closing the annual general debate on Monday, General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said leaders had…
The family received a one-off cash grant from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on crossing…
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Professional Footballers’ Association Chief Executive Maheta Molango (right) says players suffering from workload crisis. * PFA chief says Palmer a victim of football’s overloaded calendar* Five England withdrawals should sound alarm bells, says Molango* Player welfare concerns grow as injuries mount Cole Palmer’s withdrawal from England’s Nations League squad is proof that football’s overloaded calendar is driving elite players beyond their limits, Professional Footballers’ Association Chief Executive Maheta Molango said on Tuesday.Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento pulled out of England’s squad ahead of the latest international window.”When we in England see five players need to withdraw from a call-up, which is the single most proud moment that you have as a player to be called up for the national team, then you just ask yourself: what’s wrong about the industry?” Molango told reporters at the Peak Performance & Health Summit in London.The PFA and global players’ union FIFPRO have repeatedly warned that the football calendar is unsustainable.The growing number of withdrawals and injuries during the current Nations League window has added urgency to a long-running dispute between players’ unions and competition organisers over the volume of games elite players are expected to play each season.”When you see someone like Cole Palmer, who would have played four consecutive summers (had he played in this year’s World Cup), then you wonder why he is missing?”, Molango said.”He’s missing because he is a victim of the calendar, and I think that’s something that needs to absolutely trigger the alarm bell.”Molango said England’s withdrawal list was part of a wider pattern affecting the sport’s biggest names, citing Nations League injuries to Germany’s Kai Havertz, Dutch striker Brian Brobbey and France captain Kylian Mbappe.”For those who think that it’s only a matter in England, then look at Havertz, look at Brobbey, look at Mbappe,” he said.”Is it a football where the people who make us dream just cannot perform? For me, it’s very worrying.”The debate over player welfare has intensified as an increasingly congested calendar stretches players’ commitments to club and country.”The solution is for governing bodies, who are here not to make money but to preserve the game, to refocus on what really matters,” Molango said. “It is a system that is sick, because the system ultimately revolved around obtaining votes and not for what is good for football.” SUPPORTERS DEPRIVEDMolango said football was depriving supporters of the stars they pay to watch.”It’s a defeat for football that people like Cole Palmer, people like Phil Foden, miss out,” he said.”I want to see Leah Williamson, Lucy Bronze, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer on the pitch. And I want to see them perform at their peak. It shouldn’t be the survival of the fittest.”England manager Thomas Tuchel responded with frustration to Palmer’s withdrawal, saying the forward “misses too many opportunities” to prove he belongs in his country’s shirt.Rejecting suggestions that injured players are less committed to international duty, Molango said the issue was physical limits.”They love to play for England. They love to play for their national team,” he said. “But unfortunately your body puts a limit to it. You cannot cheat biology.”Molango also rejected the notion of squad rotation.”There’s a lot of hypocrisy with this whole rotation argument,” he said. “If I go and watch a concert of Beyonce, I want to see Beyonce on stage. I don’t want to see the talented guitarist. I want to see the main actor.” Related Story Source…
France’s midfielder Michael Olise (in front) fights for the ball with Belgium’s defender Maxim De Cuyper during the…
A shop owner counts Iranian banknotes at a store in Tehran. The rial was trading on the black…
Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir will visit Tehran today to continue efforts to bring peace and security to the region, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Sunday, according to a statement by the ministry.Pakistan has taken on a mediator role in negotiations between Iran and the US aimed at ending the war which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.Two Pakistani government sources confirmed Munir’s visit to Reuters. The first source said that Iran and Pakistan were in direct contact.A second source said the talks would also address recent developments in the conflict, including US President Donald Trump’s threat of tougher sanctions on Iran.”He (Munir) will discuss peace under Islamabad’s MoU, Trump’s warning and the situation after the Pakistan-Turkiye-Saudi Arab Agreement and Houthi issues with Iranian leaders,” the source said.The visit comes amid heightened tensions as Iran threatens a military response to US plans for sanctions that could further put a strain on the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy.It will coincide with a Monday announcement on details related to the planned sanctions which US officials have said would be “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.Trump had warned of economic consequences against any country that provided “any type of lifeline to Iran” as he seeks to isolate the Islamic Republic.Oil shipments are at a virtual standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran threatening to strike any unauthorised oil tankers that try to transit the vital waterway, and Iran’s economy is already under immense pressure from sanctions. Source link
Jordan on Monday announced that it had hosted a meeting to discuss de-escalation between Syria and Israel.According to an official source cited by Jordan News Agency (Petra), the Sunday meeting came in response to a request from Syria following the Israeli bombardment of the Syrian territories last week, which targeted the Abu Al Duhur air base in Idlib, and the rising tensions in southern Syria.The source emphasized that Jordan condemned the Israeli assaults on Syria as flagrantly breaching international law and amounting to a grave escalation, adding that Jordan fully backs the Syrian government’s efforts to protect its security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity.In addition, the source further stressed the importance of halting the Israeli vicious attacks on Syria immediately, Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Syrian territories and respecting the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria.On the Syrian side, a diplomatic source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that a high-level Syrian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani and comprising the heads of General Intelligence and Military Intelligence, convened Sunday with a high-level Israeli delegation under US mediation and hosted by Jordan.The meeting was intended to work out de-escalation efforts and support stability in Syria and the region.The source added that the meeting came in the wake of the recent Israeli bombing of the Syrian territories, coupled with the rising tensions in southern Syria.Additionally, the meeting was laser-focused on setting practical mechanisms to cease the Israeli attacks, as well as detentions, in addition to reviving the path of negotiations with the objective of reaching a security deal as a groundwork for any more thoroughgoing future accord.The Syrian side reiterated its unwavering position that the occupied Golan is Syrian territory, stressing that discussing that Golan’s final status, along with the pathway to that matter, is still premature at the current time, stating that the direct priority includes the pullout of Israeli forces to the lines in place before Dec. 8, 2024, and the reactivation and full implementation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.The talks centered on the importance of supporting Syria’s stability and safeguarding the security of the region, including the ongoing endeavors to bridge the Turkiye-Israel viewpoints and ensure that this existing tension between both countries wouldn’t have repercussions on the Syrian territories.According to the source, the meeting focused on taking practical de-escalation steps concurrently with the exploration of avenues for returning to the negotiation path, with Syria confirming that any security arrangements must respect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and sovereign rights. Source link
ICC confirmed that both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Asitha Fernando have been sanctioned for breaching Level 1 of its…
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