More than 11 years after he hit half a century of goals for arch-rivals Inter Milan, unstoppable striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has reached another milestone in his second spell at AC Milan, scoring his 50th goal for the Serie A club.
Sweden's all-time top scorer was considered to have been at his peak when he scored 57 times in 88 appearances for Inter between 2006 and 2009 and improved on that strike rate when he signed for AC Milan after a season at Barcelona.
Ibrahimovic's 42 goals in 61 matches earned him exalted status with the Rossoneri, although the chances of him scoring the required eight goals to reach 50 after he rejoined the club in December seemed slim given Milan's poor first half of the campaign.
Now Ibrahimovic has gone one better with a match of the season to spare, scoring his eighth and ninth goals in only his 17th game since his return to reach 50 across both of his spells in a red and black shirt at the San Siro.
"I'm like Benjamin Button," he told Milan TV after helping his side win 4-1 at Sampdoria, likening himself to the fictional character who ages backwards.
"I've always been young, never old. I still have the strength to score so I hope to continue like this. They tell me that I'm old and tired but I'm barely warming up.
"I have said that since I arrived and I keep it up. In a league like Serie A, it is difficult to find several scoring opportunities. You need to take advantage of what you have."
Milan secured Europa League football next season with a fourth win in five as part of a 12-match run since lockdown, capping a resurgence since the surprise signing of the 38-year-old that has seen them rise from the bottom half of the table to the top six.
The forward was voted man of the match by a landslide as he scored his second successive away double in an individual performance described as "complete" by Milan's website, which added: "Ibra dominated out on the pitch and pulled the whole squad towards the victory."
His header set up Hakan Calhanoglu for Milan's second and he created four chances while completing all of his dribbles, as well as scoring his quickest goal for the club – finding the net after little more than three minutes – and playing the least amount of games of any Serie A player to have scored at least eight times this season.
Ibrahimovic is now 40th position on the all-time scorers list in Serie A, although there is some doubt over his future in Italy with the likes of Premier League newcomers Leeds reportedly interested in his signature.
He was seen taking a helicopter from Milan's training ground to the home of agent Mino Raiola last week and modelled the club's new home shirt for next season alongside his teammates in a cinematic teaser filmed in the oldest shopping mall in Italy.
Ibrahimovic has admitted that he is more likely to stay after Milan coach Stefano Pioli signed a new contract. "I'm happy for him because he did a great job," he said after Milan's 18th win of the season.
"I can say only positive things. He worked under pressure without knowing the future. He deserved this – it was not an easy situation. The team believes in him a lot and I respect him.
"He did a great job and the renewal is deserved. When you work hard, you always get something back."
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University found the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which causes Covid-19 hiding in an unexpected place – inside and behind the human ear.
A team of otolaryngologists and pathologists discovered that the coronavirus can comfortably settle in the middle ear and the mastoid region of the head behind the ear, which contains several hollow spaces believed to cushion it against trauma and protect the middle and inner ear.
Doctors autopsied three patients who had tested positively for coronavirus and were symptomatic for Covid-19 prior to their death.
They noted that there may be many other factors and comorbidities that affect the colonization of the mastoid and middle ear with coronavirus and these may differ in the living host. “There may be significant differences between dying from COVID-19 vs dying with COVID-19,” they said.
The new discovery means that otolaryngologists, who might have previously been more relaxed when examining their patients, are at direct risk of catching the virus.
The study by the JH hospital research autopsy program lasted for six months and was published on July 23.
Despite admitting the limitations of their study, the researchers nevertheless advised that medical personnel take extra protection measures – like wearing masks or powered air-purifying respirators – when performing ear exams and ear surgery.
The JH researchers also urged their colleagues not to relax social distancing rules in the waiting rooms of clinics. Making sure the rooms are less crowded mitigates the risk of spread, they said.
Updated guidelines for otologic and neurotologic procedures will soon be published in the United States.
Cases of Covid-19 have started growing again, with many countries imposing new restrictions, while scientists around the world scramble for a vaccine.
Saudi Arabia booked a deficit of $29 billion for the second quarter of the year because of the continued slump in oil prices and oil demand, which affected revenues.
Reuters reports the Kingdom’s oil revenues for April to June were down 45 percent on the year, with total budget revenues down 49 percent from a year earlier.
Saudi Arabia has taken some austerity steps already in an attempt to rein in public spending and mitigate the impact of the oil crisis on its economy, but it seems more would be needed.
“A pullback in spending is essential for containing the deficit,” Reuters quoted Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, as saying. “The proactive stance of the government was already reflected in the austerity measures announced in April. However, these will dampen the recovery outlook.”
So far this year the Saudi government has announced a cut in 2020 budget expenditures of $13.2 billion through “a partial reduction in some items with the least social and economic impact,” along with a tripling of value-added tax to 15 percent from five percent and a suspension of the so-called cost-of-living allowances for all Saudi public servants, who are the majority of Saudis in employment.
The problem with these austerity measures is that they may slow down the economy’s recovery once the crisis is over. And the fact that the Kingdom also plans to borrow a lot to get through the worst of it is not helping, either, because loans need to be repaid. For now, there is a strong interest in Saudi debt, but if we are indeed past peak oil demand, this may change before long. So far this year, Riyadh has borrowed almost $13 billion on the international and domestic markets.
The IMF expects Saudi Arabia’s economy to contract by 6.8 percent this year. The Kingdom itself has called the figure pessimistic.
Khamzat Chimaev says a matchup with Conor McGregor would be an "easy fight" and that he'd finish the trash-talking Irishman inside ONE ROUND if they ever met inside the UFC octagon.
Chimaev may only be two fights into his fledgling UFC career, after picking up a pair of near-flawless victories over John Phillips and Rhys McKee on UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, but he certainly isn't lacking in confidence as he issued a clear challenge to the former two-division UFC champion, who mocked him on social media following the Chechen-born Swede's latest victory.
In a now-deleted tweet, McGregor mocked Chimaev's appearance, calling him "rat lip." But the tweet stayed live long enough for thousands of people to see. And one of those people was Chimaev himself.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, "Borz" he would love the opportunity to face "The Notorious" inside the octagon, where he said he would shut the Irishman's mouth with a devastating display.
"I can go smash [Conor McGregor]! If they give me, I would be so happy about that. It's an easy fight for me.
"I don't see somebody can stop me. I gonna finish everybody. I gonna finish [Conor] first round. I promise you, I can finish him in 1st round."
Then, Chimaev addressed McGregor directly, telling the Dubliner to man up, step away from social media, and meet him in the octagon.
"Lets fight! Don't talk, let's fight!" he said.
"If you're a real gangster, if you're a real man, don't talk on Instagram.
"Come in the cage, talk in the cage, say something to me. You sitting in Ireland and talk to me because I'm sitting in Sweden. We can meet in Abu Dhabi right now (or) Las Vegas.
"Send me location, like Khabib says! I'll come and smash your face!"
You didn't think they were going to make it too easy, did you? Russia's national airline has decided that if it's going to ferry international passengers into the country, they'll have to prove they are coronavirus-free first.
What's more, the test must be performed within 72 hours of departure. Which, in some countries is trickier than you may think, given the demand for tests versus the capacity to perform them.
Flights to and from Russia are set to resume on Saturday. The first routes to open connect with Britain, Turkey, and the rather more exotic destination of Tanzania.
“Foreign citizens planning to fly into Russia, including transit passengers, are required to provide a negative Covid-19 PCR-test result in order to check-in and board the flight," the company said. “Passengers must be tested within 72 hours of the flight departure. They will also be required to complete a special form during the flight.”
Earlier, TASS reported, citing the Federal Air Transport Agency, that Russian airlines have the right to refuse admission to foreigners without documents confirming the absence of coronavirus. The agency specified that the final decision would be made by the flight operator.
Aeroflot also noted that only the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method of Covid-19 testing would be deemed sufficient proof. “Please note that Aeroflot only accepts results from PCR-method Covid-19 tests. No other test results, including antibody tests, will be accepted. In Moscow, express PCR Covid-19 tests are available in Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports as well as in a number of state and private clinics,” the statement said. But these, of course, are rather useless unless you're flying out from Russia.
Madrid is trying to persuade the British government to put some Spanish regions on its safe travel list. Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya says the UK’s decision last weekend to require people arriving from Spain to self-isolate for 14 days was based on Spain’s recent national surge in coronavirus cases.
Gonzalez Laya told Radio Euskadi on Thursday that some Spanish regions are not badly affected, and suggested Britain could allow “travel corridors” between those regions and the UK.
On Wednesday, Spain reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus infections in almost three months, with 1,153. However, the Balearic Islands, including vacation hotspots such as Ibiza and Mallorca, had one new case while the Canary Islands, another popular destination for British tourists, had seven, AP reports.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University found the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which causes Covid-19 hiding in an unexpected place – inside and behind the human ear.
A team of otolaryngologists and pathologists discovered that the coronavirus can comfortably settle in the middle ear and the mastoid region of the head behind the ear, which contains several hollow spaces believed to cushion it against trauma and protect the middle and inner ear.
Doctors autopsied three patients who had tested positively for coronavirus and were symptomatic for Covid-19 prior to their death.
They noted that there may be many other factors and comorbidities that affect the colonization of the mastoid and middle ear with coronavirus and these may differ in the living host. “There may be significant differences between dying from COVID-19 vs dying with COVID-19,” they said.
The new discovery means that otolaryngologists, who might have previously been more relaxed when examining their patients, are at direct risk of catching the virus.
The study by the JH hospital research autopsy program lasted for six months and was published on July 23.
Despite admitting the limitations of their study, the researchers nevertheless advised that medical personnel take extra protection measures – like wearing masks or powered air-purifying respirators – when performing ear exams and ear surgery.
The JH researchers also urged their colleagues not to relax social distancing rules in the waiting rooms of clinics. Making sure the rooms are less crowded mitigates the risk of spread, they said.
Updated guidelines for otologic and neurotologic procedures will soon be published in the United States.
Cases of Covid-19 have started growing again, with many countries imposing new restrictions, while scientists around the world scramble for a vaccine.
An upcoming documentary shows how US immigration agents deal with being viewed as the ‘bad guys’ for enforcing policies they don't necessarily endorse. Twitter’s collective reaction to a preview of the show? “They’re like Nazis!”
The docuseries ‘Immigration Nation’, by filmmakers Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, is the result of three years spent with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which gave them “unprecedented” access to its daily operations. Set to premiere on Netflix next month, the show follows individual agents and shows how they get “chewed up” in a “broken system,” according to a preview published by Newsweek.
“Really, this issue is grey, it's complicated,” Clusiau said, adding that the issues with the US' immigration system are “systematic in the sense that all sides, everybody, is kind of chewed up by this broken system.”
One agent told the filmmakers he simply refuses to arrest undocumented immigrants who have no criminal record, even though the current policy demands that officers hit higher arrest numbers by any means necessary. Another agent said he felt bad carrying out an arrest that broke up a family, while one interviewee complained that he and other ICE officers are branded Nazis by critics, when “all we're doing is enforcing the laws and doing our job.”
The sentiment, reflected in Newsweek’s headline, triggered a collective 'gotcha' moment on Twitter, as commenters pointed out that the same reasoning was used unsuccessfully by Nazi war criminals during their trial. “Nuremberg defense” trended on the platform as thousands reacted with various degrees of sarcasm and outrage, offered tidbits of historical knowledge about the criminal proceedings and shared hopes for a sequel featuring US federal agents on the bench.
This has to be a joke! They are using the “following orders” excuse as their answer to being compared to Nazis? Does no one read any history anymore?!?
A few lone voices cautioned against falling into the trap of Godwin's Law. However bad the current US policies are, the argument went, they don't include exterminating millions in death camps, so calling those enforcing them Nazis was disrespectful to victims of the actual Nazis.
Can we all agree that NO ONE should ever minimize what the Nazis did. Unless these families at the border were either forced to work (hard labor), while also being starved to death, OR were taken directly to the gas chamber for more immediate death, there is no comparison!
Some wondered if Newsweek's mentioning the ICE agent's complaints about being called Nazis in the headline and putting “only enforcing the laws” next to it was intended to provoke the reaction that followed.
Boy, the person who wrote this headline must've been thinking, "I don't usually get to write something that's this much of an obvious slamdunk, but it's 2020 and here we are."
— #BlackLivesMatter bit.ly/LocalBailFunds 🔞 (@bullet_farmer) July 30, 2020
The general public will be able to watch the docuseries on August 3 and judge for themselves whether the outrage was justified.
Huawei overtook Samsung and Apple in the second quarter of 2020 to become the biggest smartphone player in the world for the first time.
That’s according to a new report by Canalys which showed that the majority of sales came from China while its international business suffers as a result of US sanctions.
The Chinese vendor shipped 55.8 million devices, down five percent year on year. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Samsung (which is second in China sales) shipped 53.7 million smartphones, a 30 percent plunge versus the same period last year.
Overall, smartphone shipments in international markets plunged 27 percent year-on-year in the April to June quarter.
Statistics showed that Huawei sold over 70 percent of its smartphones in mainland China in the second quarter. In Europe (a key region for Huawei) the company’s smartphone market share dropped sharply to 16 percent in the second quarter versus 22 percent in the same period in 2019. According to Counterpoint Research, Huawei is the third-largest smartphone maker in Europe behind Samsung and Apple.
Analysts say that given the massive population of China, success there often spurs companies to a large “global” market share.
“It will be hard for Huawei to maintain its lead in the long term,” said analyst at Canalys Mo Jia. “Its major channel partners in key regions, such as Europe, are increasingly wary of ranging Huawei devices, taking on fewer models, and bringing in new brands to reduce risk.”
The analyst added that “Strength in China alone will not be enough to sustain Huawei at the top once the global economy starts to recover.”
The growth in shipments comes as Huawei struggles to do international business amid pressure from the United States. In 2019, the Chinese tech company was placed on the US Entity List, which restricted its access to American technology.
Thus, Huawei could not use licensed Google Android on its latest flagship devices. The company was forced to release its own operating system called HarmonyOS last year.
The Japanese government will from next week lift a ban on the re-entry of some foreign residents, imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus, the Foreign Ministry has said.
Up to 90,000 foreign nationals with residence permits, including students, business people and trainees, are currently stuck outside Japan after re-entry was banned from over 100 countries.
From August 5, those who left Japan before their destination countries were added to the ban list will be able to apply to return, the ministry said.
Japan is bracing for a surge in the number of coronavirus infection after fresh cases exceeded the 1,000 mark for the first time. Tokyo confirmed 367 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, topping the previous record of 366 cases on July 23, NHK said. A week ago, Japan started a national travel campaign to revive the tourism industry.
US Democratic Party Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was blasted on Twitter for proposing that police officers be swapped with mental health staff at schools. Many argued online that the idea would make the schools even less safe.
Omar tweeted that “over-policing doesn’t make them safer – it criminalizes Black and brown students.” Along with fellow Representative Ayanna Pressley, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Murphy, she proposed a bill to replace police officers at schools with mental health professionals.
Over-policing our schools doesn’t make them safer — it criminalizes Black and brown students. That’s why I just introduced legislation with @AyannaPressley, @ewarren, and @ChrisMurphyCT to replace police officers in schools with mental health professionals to support students.
The idea drew mixed responses on Twitter. While some people welcomed the suggestion to bring mental health workers to schools, others were not okay with doing so at the expense of the officers assigned to protect the kids and teachers.
“Hey, I’m a staunch Democrat but pulling the police out of the schools is a mistake. I like the feeling knowing there is some protection for our kids when idiots and students are bringing weapons to school,” one person wrote.
I’m sorry I am deeply liberal Democrat, I cannot support removing school safety officers. We have too many school shootings, we need to add healthcare professionals not replace police.
Another argued that police officers are trained to “help kids with mental health problems & to prevent a school shooting from happening,” and the students and parents “feel safer” with their presence.
Commenters pointed out that removing police altogether would make the schools more dangerous, as mental health counselors would be helpless in case of shootings or student violence.
“When a mental health professional gets stabbed or beat up what will you do then?” one Twitter user asked. Another person recommended setting up “guidelines for police involvement,” instead of simply removing the officers.
Some, however, disagreed with the notion that mental health staff cannot “break up a fight.”
“Yes they will. Teachers do it all the time. Difference is they won’t follow it up with putting kids in handcuffs,” one Twitter user wrote. Another suggested that police should be replaced with security made up of “people who live in the community.”
Shootings have become alarmingly prevalent in American schools in recent decades, as well as incidents of students bringing weapons onto school grounds. Most recently, a student was fatally shot at Bellaire High School in Houston, Texas in January.
The deadliest attack on an American school over the past decade took place in 2012. A gunman murdered 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Australia will set up a US-funded military fuel reserve in the city of Darwin, authorities said on Thursday. The move is seen as a show of stronger co-operation between the allies who both face increasing tension with China.
The chief minister of Australia’s Northern Territory, of which Darwin is the capital, confirmed the plan was part of a wider agreement to boost defense ties following high-level talks in Washington.
“It will be thumpingly large, but the US government will be spending the money to see it built,” said a spokeswoman for the chief minister, Michael Gunner. The deal “recognizes the Territory as one of the nation’s most strategically important defense locations,” the spokeswoman added.
Darwin has hosted a contingent of 1,250 US Marines since 2011, under former President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia, Reuters said.
