Saudi Arabia is out to disrupt world football and Europe will cede its glamour if the emirate pulls it off
There are real fears that investing in the top four clubs will lead to a two-tier league. However, organisers are confident there will be a trickle-down effect, with players previously at the ‘big four’ moving to mid-tier sides as global superstars arrive. Plans for the 2023-24 season will see each of the four PIF-owned teams target a minimum of three world-renowned names per club. A smaller number of world-renowned players are expected to be distributed among the other sides in the league.
Great Grift: Full probe of Covid funds theft will decide whether Biden or Trump will be next US president
Fraud in pandemic unemployment assistance programmes stands at $76 billion, according to congressional testimony from Labor Department Inspector General Larry Turner. That’s a conservative estimate. Another $115 billion mistakenly went to people who should not have received the benefits, according to his testimony.
Probe labelled ‘Great Grift’ reveals how public servants and proxies in US stole $280 billion, misspent $123 billion Covid funds
The pilfering was wide but not always as deep as the eye-catching headlines about cases involving many millions of dollars. But all of the theft, big and small, illustrates an epidemic of scams and swindles at a time America was grappling with overrun hospitals, school closures and shuttered businesses. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 1.13 million people in the US have died from Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Influential former Italy prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi succumbs to leukaemia
Despite his health woes and the relentless court battles, Berlusconi refused to relinquish control of Forza Italia and returned to frontline politics, winning a seat in the European Parliament in 2019 and in the Italian Senate last year.
After President Museveni ‘created’ Banyarwanda ruling tribe, he embarked on virulent ethnic balkanisation of Uganda
Already, every sphere of human life and activity is now effectively dominated by people who belong to the ethnic group dominating power in Uganda. This is not surprising. During his long reign in Uganda, the president has made sure that power does not get out of his hands, or out of his family and ethnic group. This is exactly what racist South African supremacists did to exclude the majority Blacks from governing their country.
Ukraine announces recapture of villages in Kherson as Russia gloats over repulsion of enemy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukrainian counteroffensive actions were underway. But while the recapture of Blahodatne pointed to a small Ukrainian advance, Western and Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly cautioned that efforts to expel Russian troops more broadly are expected to take time. Russia has made much of how its troops have held their ground elsewhere.
Billionaire George Soros’ son vows to broaden Open Society Foundations’ scope after taking over empire
The foundation directs about $1.5 billion a year to groups such as those backing human rights around the world and helping build democracies, the Journal reported.
Fairytale: How cassava flour, fruit kept 4 children alive for 40 days after plane crash in Colombia’s forest
Sensing that they could be alive, Colombia’s army stepped up the hunt and flew 150 soldiers with dogs into the area, where mist and thick foliage greatly limited visibility. Dozens of volunteers from Indigenous tribes also joined the search.
Doctors tell of how governments and Big Pharma reduced medics to bystanders as drugs makers raked in ‘insane’ profits
As the names of pharmaceutical giants such as Novartis, Merck, Pfizer, GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others flashed across the screen, Lafay said: “It’s really tough because we’re all owned at this point. It’s easier for me to come on camera maybe and say some things like this because I am an independent practitioner now. If you don’t have your [own] practice, then you really can’t help people. And I think that is where a lot of [practitioners’] fear comes from, the fear of not being employed.”
Al Shaabab claims responsibility for restaurant attack in Mogadishu that killed 9 people
On Saturday, debris from the restaurant was strewn around the blood-stained street. Window panes were shattered. Hussein Mohamed, a waiter at another restaurant nearby, said he heard a blast followed by gunfire when the attack started.
