Barca politics is like real politics: Catalans top brass are always useless and everything that goes wrong is their fault
The club’s financial report in October 2021 was terrifying. It included £236 million in impairments and provisions – write-offs, in other words – related to bad contracts, legal fees and tax disputes. Barca’s net financial debt – its bank borrowings and bonds, minus cash in the bank – had sailed past £400 million and most of that was expensive, short-term debt. The club paid £36 million in interest that year.
Bust to back: Financial hamstringing of Spanish giants Barcelona, puffing and purring back to life
For the man himself, however, perhaps the biggest disappointment came the previous December, when he finished fifth in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, a prize given to the player a panel of international journalists believes is the best on the planet. Having been third in 2014, Neymar was going backwards, and he was beaten in 2016 by team-mates Messi and Suarez.
NASA finalising ‘Son of Concorde’ aircraft that can fly from New York to Nairobi in 90 minutes
Engineers are aiming to reduce the sound of the typical sonic boom to a sonic thump to minimise disruption to people on the ground. NASA said in August they have identified potential passenger markets in about 50 established routes that connect cities.
Death toll from floods in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia rises to 130 as thousands rendered homeless
Emergency workers fear the death toll could rise since there were many people still unaccounted for. Parts of the country remained cut off and inaccessible after roads and bridges were washed away, marooning thousands of residents.
Kennedy assassination: 60th anniversary finds family apathetic as Kennedys choose other paths to public service
During JFK’s 1960-63 presidency, governing was decidedly a family affair. Robert Kennedy was attorney general and the president’s closest adviser, brother-in-law Sargent Shriver was heading the newly formed Peace Corps and brother-in-law Stephen Smith was White House chief of staff. Youngest brother Ted Kennedy was elected to John F. Kennedy’s former Senate seat in Massachusetts.
Australia’s Fortescue sets aside $750 million for investment green projects in Kenya, Brazil and Norway
About $550 million will be used for developing an electrolyser and liquefaction facility in Phoenix, where first production of liquid green hydrogen is targeted for 2026.
Former defender sues ‘bemused’ Man City for £10m for ‘unauthorised deductions’ from wages
HM Revenue and Customs is seeking a bankruptcy order against the French left-back over a tax debt of nearly £800,000, a specialist judge was told. In a statement, Nick De Marco KC confirmed he is acting for Mendy, who now plays for French club Lorient.
Hamas hopeful of agreement with Israel is near, US cautions ‘sensitive negotiations can fall apart at last minute’
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that he hoped for an agreement “in the coming days” while Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said that the remaining sticking points were “very minor.”
British government has ‘the most invasive network surveillance programme anywhere in the world – Edward Snowden
The principles of “know your customer” will be imposed on everybody for everything, and anything that doesn’t have that will be made illegal under National Security justifications. Essentially, what we’re looking at is a cyber Patriot Act, which will allow for the unfettered surveillance of everyone’s online activities, and the ability to restrict or block access to the internet.
Technology: In US the balance of power between the citizenry and government has become that of the ruling and the ruled
The US government implemented Stellar Wind, a programme to actively – and illegally – spy on all Americans within days of the 2001 9/11 attack. Ten years later, in 2011, construction began on an NSA data centre in the Utah desert. It’s now the largest surveillance storehouse in the US.
