Hempstead, L.I.: The Sergeants Benevolent Association wants to give a $500 reward to civilians who assist police in making an arrest. I think this is one of the more irresponsible suggestions that have come out of policing in decades.
Civilians should never...
ADAM Chicksen is the proud member of an exclusive club at Valley Parade.
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Cristiano Ronaldo is still waiting for his first competitive goal in Italy but the Portuguese superstar made a 2-0 winning home debut with Juventus as Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli came from two goals down to beat AC Milan 3-2 in the second round of Serie A action. Ronaldo, 33, unintentionally played a role in Mario Mandzukic’s […]
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LONDON — France’s World Cup-winning captain Hugo Lloris has been charged with drunken driving in London. The Metropolitan Police says the Tottenham goalkeeper was charged on Friday following a routine patrol stop. Lloris was released on police bail and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Sept. 11.
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The federal Department of Education is thinking of exploiting a legal loophole that would allow taxpayer money to pay for guns for teachers, reversing a longstanding policy, according to a New York Times report.
Though the DOE has a traditionally opposed using federal funding to purchase weapons...
Former England captain David Beckham is to receive the 2018 UEFA President’s Award in honor of his achievements in the game and his work since retiring as a player, European football’s governing body said on Tuesday. The ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, who is now 43, will receive the award in Monaco later this […]
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SOME pupils, and even parents, come out with the line that they are very sorry, but their child cannot take part in a school sports fixture or even practice because […]
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Linden, N.J.: When we exercise capital punishment, we kill people in an attempt to prove that killing people is wrong. But since killing people is wrong, then we’re wrong to kill people. Capital punishment says, “You can’t, but we can. It’s evil when you do it. It’s right when we do it.” We should...
IN 1998 Mark Taylor was the captain and opening batsman of the Australian cricket team playing against Pakistan in the Second Test match. At the end of day two, he […]
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Justifying an overhaul of its ethics code, FIFA asserted Tuesday that people who “tarnish the reputations of others” must be banned from soccer.
The Associated Press revealed Monday that a new offence of defamation had been added to the document governing the conduct of participants in soccer, with scope for a ban of up to five years from the game.
While the code provides no precise definition of defamation, FIFA has now provided further context in a statement, saying it is “the act of communicating false information that harms the reputation of an individual or a group.” The ethics committee would determine what constitutes “false information.”
Amid criticism from some football federation presidents of his decision to oust the organization’s ethics judge and prosecutor in 2017, FIFA President Gianni Infantino decried “fake news and alternative facts about FIFA” during a speech to member associations. When later asked to provide examples, Infantino backtracked, saying it was “my feeling … there are a lot of people spreading a lot of wrong and false information.”
FIFA said the new defamation offence “exists in most legal systems.”
“The world of football is not immune to conduct that aims to tarnish the reputations of others and … must be sanctioned accordingly,” the Zurich-based governing body said. “The article concerning defamation is not only there to protect FIFA, but also to protect any other person covered by the code who may be subjected to discriminatory or defamatory statements in the context of FIFA events.”
FIFA outlined the “landmark changes” in statement published a day after the AP disclosed how the new code, which was distributed without a public announcement to soccer officials, varied from the previous 2012 edition. FIFA did not provide any written explanation for the changes when the AP first posed a series of questions by email about the new code two weeks ago.
One of the most symbolically significant alterations is the word “corruption” being completed removed from the primary English version of the code. FIFA said this change has “no material impact on the actual infringements that are pursued.”
But cases of bribery, misappropriation of funds and manipulation of matches must now be prosecuted within 10 years of the offence. In the previous edition of the code, prosecution for “bribery and corruption” was not subject to a “limitation period.” American investigators uncovered corruption in soccer going back decades before dozens of officials and entities were indicted in 2015.
“Although the new code has introduced new time limits for certain serious infringements, the ethics committee believes that ten years (or 15 years if an investigation is open) is a sufficient period of time in which to complete the investigation in cases of serious infringements,” FIFA said. “This change will bring more legal certainty to the world of football by ensuring that potential infringements to the code are dealt with in a swift manner.”
Officials now face a minimum five-year ban for bribery.
FIFA said changes to the ethics code “ensure more transparency.” The organization has declined to make ethics judge Vassilios Skouris or prosecutor Maria Claudia Rojas available to answer media questions since Infantino abruptly removed their predecessors from their posts in 2017 with hundreds of cases pending.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said in a report scrutinizing FIFA governance that Rojas “does not really meet the profile of a ‘prosecutor.”‘ The European lawmakers also said Infantino has removed independent officials who “might have embarrassed” him by doing their duty.
FIFA has officially eradicated corruption. All it took was pressing the delete key.
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TANGIER, Morocco — Lionel Messi won his 33rd title with Barcelona on Sunday to become the most successful player in the Catalan club’s history.
Barcelona beat Sevilla 2-1 in the Spanish Super Cup as Messi overtook Andres Iniesta, who had 32 titles when he left this summer for the Japanese league.
Ousmane Dembele scored a late winning goal with a blistering strike from outside the area. The 21-year-old France winger stunned Sevilla’s defence with a right-footed shot that hit the underside of the crossbar in the 78th minute.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen secured the win when he saved a penalty kick from Sevilla substitute Wissam Ben Yedder in the 89th after Ter Stegen fouled former Barcelona forward Aleix Vidal.
Pablo Sarabia opened for Sevilla in the ninth, when the video assistant referee overruled an offside call in the first use of VAR in Spanish competition.
Gerard Pique equalized three minutes before halftime when he finished off a free kick by Messi that hit the post and ricocheted off the back of goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik — and again off the upright — before falling to the Barcelona defender.
While Barcelona dominated possession, Sevilla went close to going back in front when Franco Vazquez’s glancing header hit the top of the goal-frame in the 62nd before Dembele took his winner.
A year ago, Barcelona broke their own transfer record to sign Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in August for a fee of 105 million euros (now $120 million) that could rise to 147 million euros. But his first season at Camp Nou was limited by injuries as Dembele struggled to replace the hole left by Neymar after he went to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said that he hoped that Dembele’s goal is a sign of better things to come this season.
"We have placed lots of hope (in Dembele)," Valverde said. "He has an amazing ability to break down defences with his speed. He is a very young player and we hope that little by little he makes progress."
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal debuted for Barcelona as a late substitute.
The Super Cup is played between the previous season’s league and Copa del Rey winners. Since Barcelona won both competitions, Sevilla played the match as the Copa runners-up after losing 5-0 in last season’s cup final to Barcelona.
Played in Tangier, Morocco, this was the first Spanish Super Cup held outside Spain and the first time it was played as a single match, instead of a two-leg series.
Sevilla played the match, which serves as a curtain raiser for the Spanish league season, in the middle of its playoff to qualify for the Europa League’s group phase. Sevilla faces Zalgiris on Thursday after winning their first match 1-0.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Kei Kamara and Cristian Techera each scored for the Vancouver Whitecaps in a 2-1 Cascadia Cup victory over the Timbers on Saturday night, snapping a 15-match unbeaten streak for Portland.
The Timbers (10-3-8) had not dropped a league match since losing 3-2 at Orlando City on April 8. The 15-match streak was the longest in MLS this season and equaled a franchise record for Portland.
The Whitecaps (9-9-6) were without 17-year-old midfielder Alphonso Davies because of a groin injury. Bayern Munich acquired Davies last month for a transfer fee that could, with bonuses, total an MLS record of $22 million. He’ll move to the German team after Vancouver’s season.
Diego Valeri scored on a second-half penalty kick for the Timbers, who lost at home for the first time this season.
Kamara gave the Whitecaps the early lead with a header off a free kick in the 14th minute. He celebrated his team-leading 10th goal of the season by doing a little dance in front of the Timbers Army supporters’ section with teammate Kendall Waston.
The Timbers had a good opportunity to pull even in the 41st minute, but Valeri’s penalty kick went just wide. The reigning league MVP and Portland’s top scorer buried his head in his hands after missing the shot.
In the 43rd minute, Techera scored from close range in his 100th MLS appearance to put the Whitecaps up 2-0.
Valeri got another chance in the 71st minute, this time scoring on a penalty kick against Stefan Marinovic for his ninth goal of the season. His free kick in the 89th minute was slapped away by Marinovic.
Portland was coming off a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union last weekend that gave the Timbers their longest MLS undefeated streak since they also went a record 15 games without a loss in 2013. Portland is the only team with two streaks that long. The longest unbeaten streak is 19 games, set in 2010 by Dallas.
The Timbers had not lost at home in 16 regular-season matches dating back to last season.
Earlier this week, the Timbers acquired defender Jorge Villafana from Santos Laguna of Liga MX. The team also saw the return of forward Lucas Melano from loan to Argentina club Estudiantes. Neither player was available for the match.
The Cascadia Cup is the three-way rivalry between the Timbers, Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders that was started by rivalry groups before the teams joined MLS. It was the first meeting between the Timbers and Whitecaps this season.
The Whitecaps were coming off a 2-2 road draw to NYCFC in MLS play. Vancouver played Toronto FC to a 2-2 draw for the first leg of the Canadian Championship final on Wednesday night. The final moves to Toronto next week.
ZIMBABWE international midfielder Marvelous Nakamba has reportedly caught the attention of English Premier League side West Ham United, as his football profile continues to grow after a memorable debut season […]
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The ousted-president of a shuttered Temple University fraternity has been charged for sexually assaulting a woman, the second to claim she was attacked by the college student leader.
Ari Goldstein, 21, former head of Jewish frat Alpha Epsilon Pi, was arraigned on rape and involuntary deviate sex...
SINGAPORE—With its title on the line, Ceres-Negros faces a daunting challenge of overcoming a team that it has yet to beat this year in the AFC Cup Asean zonal final on Wednesday night here.
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With players banned from travel, executives sacked and a national squad that just withdrew from the Asian Games, Iraqi football is paying the price for a string of age fraud scandals. Nearly five months ago, FIFA breathed life back into Iraqi football by lifting a three-decade ban on the country’s hosting of international matches. But […]
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LOS ANGELES — Canadian midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye will be out four to six months following surgery scheduled for next Monday to repair a fractured ankle.
Los Angeles FC says the 23-year-old from Toronto, who was having a breakthrough rookie season in MLS, sustained a medial malleolus fracture in his left ankle.
"Mark has shown great progress this year and has been a key contributor throughout the first half of the season," LAFC GM John Thorrington said in a release. "We know he will work hard to come back and build on what has been a fantastic start to his LAFC career."
The Canadian international had started all but one regular-season contest for LAFC with two goals and five assists in 1,582 minutes.
Kaye was hurt 16 minutes into LAFC’s 2-2 tie with the Los Angeles Galaxy on July 26. Advancing on the Galaxy penalty box, he tried to pull the ball back to avoid Galaxy midfielder Perry Kitchen. The Galaxy player appeared to clip his leg and Kaye’s ankle rolled on the turf.
Kaye went down in obvious pain clutching his lower left leg. A foul was called on the play.
The young Canadian, not putting any weight on his left leg, was eventually helped off the field in near tears by two trainers.
The former York University player spent time with Toronto FC II in its inaugural USL season in 2015 before playing the next two seasons with Louisville City FC of the USL.
He signed with expansion LAFC in February.
MACAULEY Bonne is out to prove his stellar football season with Leyton Orient was no fluke — and has set his sights on playing in the English Championship (equivalent of […]
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