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Owen Hargreaves thinks Bayern Munich are the only team who “can stop” Manchester City from winning the Champions League this season.
Victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach in Budapest on Tuesday night saw City progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the fourth successive season.
City are still yet to reach the semi-finals under Pep Guardiola but with the Citizens still in the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and leading the Premier League, many are tipping them to in the quadruple.
OPINION: Utopia? Man City quadruple is no imaginary place
Brilliant goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan inside the first 18 minutes on Tuesday night sealed a 2-0 victory on the night and a 4-0 aggregate win over the Bundesliga side.
And Hargreaves can only see defending champions Bayern Munich being able to knock City out of the Champions League this season.
“I think you have to say it is [conceivable City can win the quadruple] just from the form they have,” Hargreaves told BT Sport before the victory over Gladbach. “They don’t really concede. Won 21 of the last 22.
“We all know the margins are so fine at that highest level and if you don’t get the details right, you can go out. I think Pep realises now that playing this way maybe he can control some of those little details.
“The only team I see that can stop them, is Bayern Munich. That’s probably the only one I see. But if they have a bad day then as we saw with United, they can be beaten.”
Fellow pundit Rio Ferdinand also warned how quickly the “wheels can fall off” due to a number of variables.
“The thing that can happen is it can be all rosy,” said Ferdinand.
“The team I was in in 2008/09 and we went a month longer being able to win the quadruple and still being in things. The wheels can fall off. You can get injuries, suspensions, a loss of form.
“You lose one game and it can destabilise everything. There’s a lot of variables that can dictate what can happen towards the end of the season. Calm and just take it game by game, which they’ll be saying in every interview.”
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BBC broadcaster Danny Baker has been fired over what he called a “stupid unthinking gag pic,” BBC News reported Thursday. Baker tweeted an image of a chimpanzee with a caption reading, “Royal Baby leaves hospital.”
Many Twitter users criticized Baker and the black and white image, which shows a woman holding the chimp’s hand. It was seen as racist and has since been deleted.A BBC spokesperson called it “a serious error of judgement.” The BBC said the tweet “goes against the values we as a station aim to embody” and said that while Baker is a “brilliant broadcaster,” he will no longer work for the network, BBC News reported.
Baker tweeted an apology after his initial tweet went viral. “Was supposed to be joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race, so rightly deleted,” he wrote. “Royal watching not my forte. Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel.”The 61-year-old, who hosted a weekend radio show, tweeted again after he was fired on Thursday. “Just got fired from @bbc5live. For the record – it was red sauce. Always,” he wrote.In another tweet, he called his firing “a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity.” He said the BBC “literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits’ knees knocking.”Baker reiterated that sentiment while speaking to reporters outside of his house, the BBC reported. He also reportedly said, “I’m annoyingly ebullient and if you’re accused of the kind of grotesque racism but you’re not, you don’t wring your hands. Ill advised, ill thought out and stupid. But racist? No, I’m aware how delicate that imagery is.” This the second time BBC Radio 5 Live has fired Baker and it marks the third time he has left the BBC, it reported. He was fired in 1997 for encouraging soccer fans to make a referee’s life “hell.” And in 2012 he resigned while on air and called his bosses “pinhead weasels,” BBC News reported.Meghan and Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, introduced their newborn son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the world on Wednesday in a tightly-controlled debut at Windsor Castle.
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A college in Australia cleared its library last week due to a suspected gas leak – which turned out to just be a smelly fruit stinking up the campus. University of Canberra Library announced that a mysterious stench was permeating the building.
Shortly after the building was evacuated, the Library posted some humorous details about the incident on Facebook: “And we’re open! Thanks to everyone for evacuating so quickly and safely — about 550 people left the building in under 6 minutes. Fortunately the suspected gas leak turned out to be a part of a durian — the offending fruit has now been removed.”For those unfamiliar with durian, that may be for the best. The spiky Southeast Asian fruit is banned from most public areas due to the horrendous smell it emits. Its tough exterior covers an edible fruit, but even before it’s cracked open, the durian’s stench can seep out.Food writer Richard Sterling described durian’s odor as a mix of “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock,” according to Smithsonian Magazine. “It can be smelled from yards away,” Sterling wrote. Apparently, its scent can also mimic the smell of gasoline, which caused the precautionary library evacuation in Canberra.
But why does durian smell so bad? A study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry pinpointed 50 compounds in durian that could be responsible for the odor. Researchers found that it’s not a single compound that causes the smell, but a combination of chemicals in the fruit. It appears all of the chemicals have their own unique properties, and combined they form the horrendous durian smell.While the smell of durian can clear out an entire building, some people actually like the taste. Anthony Bourdain once tried durian and called it “indescribable, something you will either love or despise,” the Smithsonian reports. “Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother,” the late chef said.
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Kathmandu, Nepal — A Sherpa mountaineer extended his record for successful climbs of Mount Everest with his 24th ascent of the world’s highest peak on Tuesday. Kami Rita reached the 29,035-foot peak Tuesday, which was his second time on the summit in a week. He climbed to the top on May 15 then returned to base camp before climbing again this week.
Nepal Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said Rita reached the summit on Tuesday along with several other climbers taking advantage of favorable weather.There are 41 teams with a total of 378 climbers permitted to scale Everest during the spring climbing season. An equal number of Nepalese guides are helping them to get to the summit.
Several climbers have already, while dozens are expected to make their attempt this week.Only a few windows of good weather each May allow climbers the best chance of summiting Everest.Tuesday’s climb brings Rita, 49, closer to his target of 25 ascents of Everest before he retires from high mountain climbing.Rita’s two closest peers have climbed the peak 21 times each, but both of them have retired from mountain climbing.Rita first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since.His father was among the first Sherpa guides employed to help climbers reach the summit, and Rita followed in his footsteps and then some. In addition to his nearly two dozen summits of Everest, Rita has scaled some of the other highest mountains, K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.Sherpa tribespeople were mostly yak herders and traders living deep within the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders in the 1950s. Their stamina and familiarity with the mountains quickly made them sought-after guides and porters.
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Botswana has lifted a ban on elephant hunting that has been in place since 2014. The government said the growing conflict between humans and animals, and the destruction of crops, lead to the ban being lifted.
Botswana is home to the world’s largest population of elephants – with some 130,000 roaming the country. Critics of the ban believe it was causing problems for small farmers and others who benefited from hunting before the ban was imposed.Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi created a committee to review the ban last June. That committee recommended the country allow hunting again, and he accepted the ruling.
“The number and high levels of human-elephant conflict and the consequent impact on livelihoods was increasing,” the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism said in a statement.”Predators appear to have increased and were causing a lot of damage as they kill livestock in large numbers,” the statement continued. The statement ensured that the “re-instatement of hunting is done in an orderly and ethical manner.”One long-time wildlife conservationist in Africa told CBS News on Thursday that there may be more domestic politics behind the Botswana government’s decision than anything else. Dropping the ban could shore-up Masisi’s popularity in rural areas, as many farmers view the elephants as pests.Masisi has made reversed many laws passed by the previous administration, which banned elephant hunting. Research shows that elephants’ range of travel is expanding due in part to climate change, BBC News reports. They can be very destructive when they roam onto farmland and into villages, and can destroy crops and even kill people. The latest survey of wildlife shows what residents of Botswana’s rural areas suspected to be true – the number of elephants is increasing. Lifting the ban could damage the country’s international reputation for conservation, BBC News note, and tourism revenues, which are the second largest source of foreign income for the country, could suffer.
Hunting “integral part” of conservation?Meanwhile, Dr. Timothy Wittig, a wildlife trafficking expert and conservation scientist with the Basel Institute on Governance, told CBS News on Thursday that legal, well-managed hunting is not necessarily as harmful to the protection of vulnerable species as some people might think.”Effective wildlife conservation is a mix of hard protection of wildlife and habitat, as well as science-based sustainable use of nature,” Wittig told CBS News on Thursday. “Many consider hunting, if done legally and within a science-based framework of sustainable use, to be an integral part of the latter.”Wittig noted that the “human-wildlife conflict” cited by Botswana’s government on Thursday is in fact “an important driver of involvement in poaching and wildlife trafficking. People living close to wildlife must feel they have a stake in protecting it.””Organized criminal networks often prey on people in communities with unresolved human-wildlife conflict, offering them easy money to get involved in poaching or wildlife trafficking,” Wittig said.There are about 415,000 elephants in Africa, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The population took a hit, due mainly to poaching for ivory. While international campaigns to ban ivory sales have helped curb illegal poaching, there is disagreement over how to prevent destructive elephant populations from encroaching on humans.
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Iceland’s hand-knit “lopi” sweaters are adored by tourists and worn with pride by locals.But now some local manufacturers have successfully outsourced the labor to China.That has local knitters, who are self-employed and often retired, urging the government to ban sweaters not locally made.Reykjavik, Iceland – Trouble is rattling one of Iceland’s most distinctive industries: the production of the thick, hand-knitted “lopi” sweaters adored by tourists and worn with pride by locals. The individually produced, very warm sweaters have become a symbol of Iceland.
But local knitters are upset at seeing their profit margins diminished by the appearance of sweaters actually made in China, albeit from authentic Icelandic wool. The practice was started by some local manufacturers who have successfully outsourced the labor to China. Containers full of local yarn are shipped from the North Atlantic island nation, made into sweaters, then shipped back again, labeled as “hand-knitted from Icelandic wool”.Knitting co-ops around Iceland, struggling to compete, last month urged the government to ban companies from branding woolen sweaters as “Icelandic” unless they are made locally. “People buy the imported sweaters as the real thing,” said Thuridur Einarsdottir, founder of the Handknitting Association of Iceland. “But it is not.”The “lopi” yarn comes from Iceland’s 500,000 sheep, which have a fleece adapted to a rugged landscape with widely fluctuating temperatures. The thick sweaters are impossible to make by machine. One adult-size sweater takes between 14 and 25 hours to knit, depending on the numbers of colors used and extra features like zippers and buttons.
Icelandic women have traditionally subsidized household income with the work, and today many sweeten their retirement years with the extra cash. But with Chinese imports grabbing an estimated two-thirds market share — particularly among tourists — knitting co-ops around the country worry about the future.”The trade thrives on tourists because most locals already own a sweater, and they are very durable,” said Einarsdottir. She founded the Handknitting Association in the 1970s to increase women’s bargaining power against retailers.The quality of each garment ultimately comes down to the skill of the individual knitter, raising the question of what actually makes the sweater “Icelandic.” “What if the sweater is made by a Polish resident in Iceland?” asked Bjarni Jonsson, owner of Nordic Store, a company that makes roughly 20,000 sweaters a year in China for its local retail business in Iceland. “When does the sweater start — or stop — being Icelandic?”To domestically produce the number of sweaters it produces in China, Nordic Store estimates it would need 200 to 250 people working full-time, in a country of 350,000 people. “We don’t have that many knitters,” Jonsson said.Locally made sweaters retail for about $200, while the Chinese ones sell for around $170, reflecting the wage gap between the two nations. Nordic Store said its Chinese knitters are paid $3 to $5 per hour, depending on their skill and experience. The number could not be verified, and the company declined to identify the location of its operation, beyond that it’s in southern China.In Iceland, competitive pressures have pushed the knitting rate far below the hourly $14.50 minimum wage. Knitters, who are self-employed and often retired, claim the practice is a lifestyle as much as labor.”It gives me something to do while watching television or drinking coffee with friends,” said Heiddis Gunnarsdottir, a local knitter. The repetitive practice is taxing on the body, however, often leading sore wrists and shoulders.
Gunnarsdottir is about to complete a green sweater with a rainbow-colored pattern surrounding the neck opening. The circular yoke is the defining feature of the “lopi” sweaters.”Lopi” sweaters arrived in the ’60s
Contrary to popular belief, the sweater is not a tradition, but entirely modern. “No one really know where it comes from,” said Vedis Jonsdottir, a clothing designer who writes and edits “Lopi,” a best-selling magazine with wool sweater knitting recipes.The method spread around knitting groups in the 1960s after the arrival of the circular needle made the defining pattern possible. The design was most likely inspired — or plagiarized — from neighboring Greenland, where the female national dress has a beaded collar similar to the “lopi” yoke pattern.”It is amazing how quickly it began to resemble national pride and unity,” said Jonsdottir. “To us, the sweater is like a flag.”
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The 40th birthday of Ironman was always going to be a special race, and so it proved with the Kona debut of Javier Gomez, course records broken, emotional stories of redemption and some heavyweights showdowns between the world’s greatest long-course athletes.
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Grabbing the headlines in the men’s elite event was Patrick Lange, who broke the Ali’i Drive finish line tape in 7:52:39 to become the Ironman World Champion for the second time. Following the German home was Belgium’s Bart Aernouts in second and David McNamee of Scotland, who ran in his way to third in 8:01:09.
Brit Joe Skipper would come home in seventh, while Javier Gomez was 11th on debut in Hawaii. Tim Don, after his horrific bike crash just over a year ago, crossed the line in 36th in tear-jerking scenes.
BRIT EXPECTIONS
Not since the multiple Ironman world champ Chrissie Wellington went toe-to-toe with Julie Dibens, Rachel Joyce and Leanda Cave in 2011 have British elite athletes received some much focus in Kona (head here for the women’s report featuring Lucy Charles).
In the men’s race, Scotland’s David McNamee was hoping to go even better than in 2017, when his third-placed finish was the best British male placing in Kona history. East Anglia’s Joe Skipper – second behind Jan Frodeno at Challenge Roth in 2016 – was also vying for his first top 10 finish in Hawaii, and there was the emotional appearance of Tim Don in the starting field, following a severe crash ahead of the 2017 edition of Hawaii.
Elsewhere on the starting pontoon was the five-time ITU World Champion, Javier Gomez, making his Kona racing debut, the reigning champion Patrick Lange, former winner Sebastian Kienle, and a Jan Frodeno-shaped hole after the two-time Kona champ pulled out ahead of the race.
In relatively cool and calm conditions for Kona, the men’s event saw Aussie athlete Josh Amberger first out of the water, closely followed by France’s Denis Chevrot. Gomez came out in 5th after 47:46mins and David McNamee was in 13th, 1:52mins down after a time of 49:31mins. Don would exit Kailua Bay in 50:34, 20th pro man overall
Some big names were already 2-3mins in arrears, including the reigning champion Patrick Lange and 2014 winner Sebastian Kienle. The 2017 second-place finisher and uber-biker Lionel Sanders was a further 3mins back.
.@JoshAmberger is in the lead and nearing the swim exit. #IMWC
Tune in to catch all the action from the @rokasports Swim Course via NBC Sports (US) and https://t.co/DRAL10Rxpg (Global). pic.twitter.com/sSGEq4Of2g
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) October 13, 2018
Onto the bike, and the major early news was that Kienle had suffered a puncture and was riding with a replacement wheel. But the German star had moved up to 14th by halfway through the 180km bike leg, with the field being led by biking powerhouses Andrew Starykowicz (USA) and Australia’s Cameron Wurf. Gomez was in ninth, Lange tenth, while the Brits of McNamee, Skipper, Don and Will Clarke were riding in proximity to each other in around 20th place.
Approaching transition two and Wurf’s bike course record of 4:12:54 from 2017 was in jeopardy, and the Australian would once again enter the Hawaii record books after a 4:09:36 split.
#IMWC @cameronwurf has come off the bike with the lead and established a new course record of 4:09:36! pic.twitter.com/koj3J5Y9Ee
— IRONMANLive (@IRONMANLive) October 13, 2018
Lange would enter T2 around 6mins back, with Gomez 8mins behind, and both in serious contention to see their run prowess move them to the front of the race. Kienle, meanwhile, would quit in T2.
THE 8HR BARRIER
With the 40 years of Ironman in Hawaii being celebrated in the build-up to the race, it was apt that major landmarks in the sport’s history would be broken in 2018. And that was the men’s course record and the magical eight hour barrier in Hawaii, a time that had eluded such greats as Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Craig Alexander and Jan Frodeno in Kona history.
#IMWC pic.twitter.com/a7KdM06IsT
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) October 14, 2018
Lange, who we interviewed earlier in the year about the sub-8hr record, moved to second almost instantly and was in control of the chase group on Cameron Wurf. He made the pass after 15km and gave Wurf a classy fist bump on the way, before taking off at 6min/mile pace to deliver a 2:41:32 marathon run that kicked the course record into touch. His 7:52:39 finish time was nearly 10mins faster than his 2017 course record of 8:01:40, and was scarily only his sixth-ever full Ironman race.
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Aernouts was next home in 7:56:41 to become the second man to dip under 8hrs in Hawaii, while McNamee was third in 8:01:09, which itself was the third-fastest Hawaii time in history. Skipper was seventh in 8:05:54.
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Arsenal legend Gilberto Silva has suggested that Thomas Partey is the player that the club were “missing” before his move.
After impressing at the 2002 World Cup, Silva joined Arsenal that summer ahead of the 2002/03 Premier League season.
The midfielder proved to be a great asset for the Gunners as he made just short of 250 appearances for them from his six years at the club.
FEATURE: Top ten players who’ve regressed this season…
The Brazillian was part of the invincible team that won the Premier League title in 2003/04. He is also a two-time winner of the FA Cup. He left Arsenal in 2008 and he retired with Atletico Mineiro in 2013.
The defensive midfield position has been a thorn in their side since Silva’s departure. But now it appears as they have successfully filled that spot.
Long-term target Thomas Partey joined the Gunners last summer from Atletico Madrid. The 27-year-old joined on deadline day after they activated his release clause of around £45m. He has played 18 times for the Londoners so far this season.
Silva recently told Stadium Astro that Partey makes his teammates look better:
“He’s a good player. He’s the type of player Arsenal were missing, I’ve spoken a couple of times about it.
“They have good players in the [central midfield] position but not to sit and give Arsenal the stability they have.
“Look at the game [against Spurs] it was great to see how he managed his game, how he managed that position, helping.
“You know what is very important about this particular position? This is a very particular position because not every time you get the credit you deserve.
“That’s okay, it’s fine, because you have to understand that. But this guy, when he understands the position like Partey, look at his game: he made the others a lot better.
“He makes [Granit] Xhaka look better in the game, he made the defenders look a lot better and comfortable when the ball was against them.
“I think the way he manages games, the way he positions himself, is very important for Arsenal.
“He is the kind of player Arsenal have needed for quite a long time in my opinion.”
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ESPN pundit Steve Nicol thinks Liverpool will be “terrified” to play at home now following their recent performances at Anfield.
The Reds have lost six matches in a row at home with defeats to Burnley, Brighton, Manchester City, Everton, Chelsea and Fulham seeing them drop to sixth in the Premier League table.
They did beat Wolves 1-0 on Monday evening thanks to a goal from Diogo Jota on his return to Molineux but the performance still wasn’t what we’re used to from Jurgen Klopp’s side.
F365 SAYS: Five touches of the old Liverpool amid the new
It boosted their chances of a top-four finish, with Liverpool five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, while leaders Manchester City, Manchester United and Leicester City occupy the other Champions League spots.
When asked if the current top four would remain the top four, Nicol told ESPN: “I’m not so sure, I think West Ham and Leicester are actually vying for that last place.
“I don’t see how Liverpool can put a run of wins together. Yes they did win today but my goodness – as the boys have said – they couldn’t keep the ball, didn’t really create an awful lot.
“And of course they’ve actually got some home games [coming up] , so they must be terrified to play at home, they probably wish they were playing away from home every week.
“So, yeah, I don’t see Liverpool in the top four.”
Meanwhile, Gary Neville disagrees that anyone has a chance of breaking into the top four as it is now.
When asked who will finish in the top four, Neville told Sky Sports: “I think it is [fixed]. Leicester are the one team you’d be most nervous about, because they did blow up last season. But I think there’s just enough this year.
“I don’t see West Ham catching Leicester, and the teams below them are so inconsistent and seem to be all over the place. I’m not sure which one of them is going to put a run together.
“They’re capable of it, some of them, but I would think this Leicester team would hang on, and would cement the fact Brendan Rodgers has done a brilliant job two years on the bounce.
“Last year, they were so unlucky to miss out on the last day to Manchester United, whereas this year I think they’ll make top four, with Chelsea third and Leicester fourth.”
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Jamie Carragher has praised Liverpool youngster Nat Phillips for being a “monster” in the air against Wolves.
After spending last season on loan with VfB Stuttgart, Phillips has come into the Liverpool first team this term. Injuries to Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip have afforded him more opportunities.
The 23-year-old has made ten appearances this campaign, with his latest outing coming on Monday night against Wolves.
FEATURE: Kabak and the Bolton Baresi making a difference for Liverpool…
Alongside Ozan Kabak, Phillips performed well as he helped his side keep a clean sheet at Molineux. After the game on Monday Night Football, as cited by The Mirror, Carragher lauded Phillips for his quality in the air:
“He played a huge role in the game and he [Phillips] is a monster in the air.
“So when you talk about what Liverpool lack when other ones are playing, they get a great deal in terms of defending set-pieces and his ability in the air. He’s a real monster in that position.”
Jurgen Klopp was impressed by Phillips and Kabak, as he suggested that the Wolves game was a “massive task” for the duo:
“They played really, really well and I liked it a lot. It was a massive task from a concentration point of view, but they did really well and I’m really happy.”
Carragher then praised the centre-backs for looking after one another against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side:
He added: “[Klopp] mentioned the centre-backs there, two clean sheets on the bounce. I think the last three they’ve played together, all three have been clean sheets.
“I think being in that position myself as a young player, when you’re a young centre-back, you don’t want the fella next to you to be a young centre-back.
“It’s the same when you’re talking about old players as well, you want a nice balance. Certainly in that position, you want experience when you can get it, but Liverpool are not in a position to have that and I though the two of them were really good tonight.
“What they did was they helped each other out. Now because they’re young, they’re going to make mistakes.
“Just little things that maybe I see through my experience and mistakes I made myself as a young player. But like I said, the great thing was the other one was always there to help them out.”
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