Lionel Messi and Inter Miami capture first trophy in club history with nail-biting victory over Nashville FC in Leagues Cup final

 

Lionel Messi scored a signature goal Saturday to lead Inter Miami past Nashville FC in a penalty kick shootout to capture the Leagues Cup title and score the club’s first trophy.
With both clubs playing for their first ever trophy since joining MLS in 2020, it was Inter Miami’s captain Messi who opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, curling in a sensational left-footed strike past a wall of defenders and into the top left corner of the goal to put the team ahead 1-0 at Geodis Park in Tennessee.

Spain wins Women’s World Cup for the first time

 

History has been made. Against the odds and amid a backdrop of turmoil, Spain reached the pinnacle in Sydney on Sunday, beating England 1-0 to win the Women’s World Cup for the first time.
That Spain had progressed to the final, given the tumultuous year the national team had experienced, was remarkable. That La Roja triumphed against the reigning European champion and pre-match favorite in spite of the disputes and divisions which has clouded the national team throughout the tournament makes this achievement extraordinary.

Juventus fans storm pitch in training match to protest against potential Romelu Lukaku signing, chanting 'We don't want Lukaku'

 

Juventus fans on Wednesday, August 9,  stormed the pitch during a training match against Juventus Next Gen and chanted 'we don't want Lukaku' in protest against the club signing the Belgian striker.
 The Italian fans do not want the club to do a part-exchange deal that will see striker Dusan Vlahovic move to Chelsea while Lukaku move the other way.
 Juventus' fans consistently applauded Vlahovic during the game, which the senior team won 8-0. It comes after the Curva Sud ultra group unfurled a banner telling Lukaku to stay away, which read: 'Lukaku stay in Milan, we already have a second goalkeeper'.

Kylian Mbappe 'tells PSG he won't leave the club under any circumstances' as he is set to not play until the end of his contract in 2024

 

 French superstar, Kylian Mbappe has reportedly told Paris Saint-Germain that he will not be leaving this summer under any circumstances.
 The France captain remains in a stand-off with the club over his failure to sign a contract extension at the Ligue 1 champions.
 On Tuesday, the club brought down a large poster of the star at the Parc des Princes stadium, after he was demoted to play with the club's 'B team' and not selecting him to take part in PSG's pre-season tour of Asia.

Twitter fined $350,000 for delaying to grant search warrant for Trump's account in Jan. 6 probe

 

 The U.S. special counsel investigating former US president Donald Trump obtained a search warrant for his Twitter account in January and the company delayed complying, according to a U.S. appeals court opinion published on Wednesday, August 9.
 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the federal trial judge's decision to hold Twitter, now known as X, in contempt and fine it $350,000.
The ruling said that Twitter had raised First Amendment concerns about a nondisclosure order issued over the warrant, as the company wanted to notify Trump about it.

Microphone thrown by Cardi B fetches nearly $100K in auction

 

 
American Rapper Cardi B’s microphone that she threw during her club performance in Las Vegas has been sold for nearly $100,000 (Dh367,300).
 The Shure Axient digital mic, which belonged to an audio production company called The Wave in Sin City, was previously put on eBay by the company’s owner, Scott Fisher. A week and 122 bids later, someone had paid  $99,900 (Dh366,933.6) for it, according to reports.
The item was auctioned off for charity though. Scott initially told TMZ that the proceeds will be split with two charities, the Wounded Warrior Project and a local Vegas charity called Friendship Circle Las Vegas, which benefits teenagers with special needs

PSG tell Neymar he can leave the club this summer

 

 Brazilian superstar, Neymar has reportedly been told that he can leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer. The former Barcelona forward is one of five players who were informed that they are not needed, during meetings with manager Luis Enrique and sporting director Luis Campos.
It comes following reports earlier this week that the 31-year-old had told the club's management of his own desire to leave the club.
French publication RMC Sport now claims that Neymar, Marco Verratti, Hugo Ekitike, Juan Bernat, and Renato Sanches were told they are 'not part of PSG's project and should find a solution elsewhere'.
Neymar and Verratti have been absent from training for the last two days along with Kylian Mbappe. They were also not invited to the club's team photo day.

121-year-old Cadbury coronation chocolates to be sold at auction

 

 An untouched 121-year-old tin of chocolates is to be sold at auction.  The perfectly-preserved sweets were made by Cadbury to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902.
They were given to nine-year-old Mary Ann Blackmore at her school that year, but instead of eating them, she decided to keep them as a memento of the occasion. The vanilla chocolates were passed down through her family until her granddaughter, Jean Thompson, 72, brought the tin to Hanson's Auctioneers in Derby.

Benjamin Mendy is back in football as joins he French club Lorient just five days after he was cleared of rap!ng a woman and trying to rap3 another

 

Benjamin Mendy has made a quick return to football just five days after being cleared of rape and attempted rape, with the former Manchester City defender joining French club Lorient.
 The French footballer, 28, was accused of carrying out sex attacks on two women at his £4million mansion, only to be cleared after three hours of deliberation by a jury at Chester Crown Court last Friday.
Mendy had already been cleared of six counts of r3pe and one count of se3ual assault after a court case in January, yet faced a retrial on one count of rape and one count of attempted rape during lockdown-busting parties.
 And five days after being cleared as a free man, Mendy has already returned to football after signing with Lorient.

Lionel Messi’s brilliant free kick gives Inter Miami win in soccer legend’s debut with MLS club

 

Lionel Messi made his long-awaited debut with Major League Soccer side Inter Miami with a flourish only the world’s top player could produce.
Playing in the Leagues Cup match against Mexican side Cruz Azul, Messi scored the game-winning goal in the final moments of the second half, curling in a magnificent free-kick strike from outside the box to seal the 2-1 Inter Miami victory at sold-out DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“What I saw was the goal. I saw the goal, I knew that I had to score,” Messi told the Apple TV broadcast after the game. “It was the last play of the game and I wanted to score so we didn’t go to penalties. So it was very important for us to get this win, because it’s a new tournament this is going to give us confidence moving forward.”

Chelsea boss, Mauricio Pochettino omits Romelu Lukaku's name from the Club's USA pre-season tour

 

 Chelsea boss, Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Romelu Lukaku's career at the club will soon come to an end after he snubbed the club's USA pre-season tour.
 As part of their preparations for the 2023-24 Premier League campaign, the Blues will tour the USA and will play the likes of Wrexham, Fulham, Newcastle, and Brighton in the coming weeks.
 However, there was no space for Lukaku in Chelsea's 29-man squad heading to the States, with the Belgian expected to leave the club this summer.

AIU provisionally suspends Tobi Amusan

 

Hours after confirming that she has been charged with anti-doping violation, Nigerian athlete, Tobi Amusan has been handed a provisional suspension for allegedly missing three drug tests.
The announcement was made on Wednesday, July 19. He tweeted;
 “The AIU confirms that it has today charged and provisionally suspended Tobi Amusan (NGR) for 3 Whereabouts Failures. The Charge will be heard by the Disciplinary Tribunal and determined before the World Athletics Championships.”

Singapore overtakes Japan in ranking as most powerful passport in the world

 

Singapore now tops the ranking of the world’s most powerful passports, unseating Japan from the top spot. Singaporeans enjoy visa-free entry to 192 destinations, more than travellers of any other country, according to the latest Henley Passport Index.
The Southeast Asian country last held the top spot in 2021, before losing its position to Japan the following year.
Germany, Italy and Spain were tied in second place, with their passport holders enjoying access to 190 destinations.

Woman addicted to eating toilet paper reveals she eats up to four rolls a day and spends nearly $2,700 a year on it (video)

 

 
A woman who is addicted to eating toilet paper has claimed that she eats up to four rolls a day and spends almost $2,700 a year buying it.
'I eat toilet paper from the second I get up in the morning,' Kinah told My Strange Addiction: Still Addicted?, which airs on the network on TLC on Wednesdays.
According to TLC, the addict eats up to four toilet paper rolls a day, which is 'almost 14,000 lbs over the past 20 years'.
 She eats it 'everywhere - at work, in the car, at the nail salon'.
 The strange snacker added she does get a few 'weird stares' and has even seen someone pull their phone out to try and record her.

Ukraine war: Wheat prices soar after Russia warns shipping

 

 Wheat prices have risen sharply on global markets after Russia said it would treat ships heading for Ukrainian ports as potential military targets.
Moscow pulled out of a deal this week that had guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments through the Black Sea.
A White House spokesperson accused Russia of planning to blame Ukraine for attacks on civilian ships.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said he would return to the grain agreement immediately if his demands were met.

Tobi Amusan confirms she has been charged with anti-doping violation

 

World-record hurdler and Nigerian athlete, Tobi Amusan has confirmed that she has been charged with an anti-doping rules violation for missing three drug tests in the span of 12 months.
 Amusan made the announcement on her Instagram account on Tuesday, July 18, adding that she would fight the charges. She will be fighting the allegations in time to defend her title at the World Championships in Budapest next month.
"I am a clean athlete and I am regularly; (maybe more than the usual) tested by the AIU- I was tested within days of my third "missed test". I have faith that this will be resolved in my favor and that I will be competiting at the World Championships in August,"

Ten lions killed in Kenya as conflict between humans and wild animals worsens

 

 Ten lions have been killed in southern Kenya this past week, including six on Saturday alone, as human-wildlife conflict escalates in the region, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
This is “an unusually large number of lions to be killed at one go,” a spokesperson for the KWS told CNN on Sunday.
It comes after conservationists announced the killing of one of Africa’s oldest lions, Loonkiito, at the age of 19 earlier this week.

Error in signaling system led to train crash that killed 275 people in India: official

 

The derailment in eastern India that killed 275 people and injured hundreds was caused by an error in the electronic signaling system that led a train to wrongly change tracks and crash into a freight train, officials said Sunday.
Authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two passenger trains that derailed Friday night in Balasore district in Odisha state in one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters in decades.
An Odisha government statement revised the death toll to 275 after a top state officer put the number at over 300 on Sunday morning. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Karim Benzema joins Saudi Pro League champions Al Ittihad after 14-year Real Madrid tenure

 

 Karim Benzema has signed for Al Ittihad, the club announced Tuesday, becoming the latest star to join the Saudi Pro League.
Benzema, 35, left Real Madrid following the 2022-23 season after 14 years at the Bernabeu. He scored his final goal for the club in their season-ending 1-1 draw against Athletic Club on Sunday.
The former France striker was expected to sign for a further year with Madrid, but he has instead joined former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League. Sources told ESPN last Tuesday that Benzema was offered a two-year, €400 million contract by the Saudi champions.
"I am excited to experience a new football league in a different country. Al-Ittihad Club has an amazing history, incredibly passionate fans and big ambitions in football to be a force in Asia after winning the league," Benzema said in the club's announcement.

Nun’s body exhumed 4 years after death shows no signs of decay, sparks ‘miracle’ claims

The small rural Missouri town of Gower has become an unexpected pilgrimage destination after a nun’s exhumed body showed no visible signs of decomposition — four years after her burial.
Hundreds of people have been flocking to the town 40 miles north of Kansas City to marvel at the well-preserved body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, with many calling it a “miracle in Missouri.”
Lancaster, when she was 70, founded the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles.
She died in May 2019 at 95, according to the Catholic News Agency.