More than 700 million people don't know when — or if — they will eat again, UN food chief says
The head of the United Nations food agency says a global hunger crisis has left more than 700 million people not knowing when or if they will eat again
2023-09-15 13:40
Inflation in the US is improving, the public mood is still sour
By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON As families in the U.S. prepare to gather for their Thanksgiving dinners next week,
2023-11-15 19:08
Prosecutor asks Indiana State Police to investigate dog deaths in uncooled rear of truck
Prosecutors have asked Indiana State Police to investigate the recent deaths of at least eight dogs from heat-related injuries while being transported in an uncooled box truck
2023-09-01 07:55
What channel is Notre Dame playing on today, Sept. 16?
Notre Dame looks to gear up for next week's big game as they face Central Michigan in Week 3, but what channel are the Irish playing on?
2023-09-16 19:01
An ex-OceanGate employee once sent an ominous email raising safety concerns about the doomed Titan submersible, report says
A former OceanGate Expeditions employee emailed another ex-associate of the company years ago with concerns about the potential failings of its Titan submersible and an ominous warning about its CEO, who was killed last month with four others when the vessel imploded on a dive in the North Atlantic.
2023-07-03 23:27
US oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut heat-trapping pollution
United States domestic oil production has hit an all-time high last week, contrasting with efforts to slice heat-trapping carbon emissions by the Biden administration and world leaders
2023-10-14 01:23
Sir Bobby Charlton: England’s greatest ever player and the artist of 1966
Two elderly men were suited. In one case, he was much smarter than normal, dressed up for the occasion. He was the taller, more angular, with the more pronounced Northumbrian accent, but the resemblance was nonetheless apparent. He was the older, too, and had long referred to a knight of the realm as “Our Kid”. He adopted a slightly more formal approach, while seemingly choking up. “Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I’ve ever seen,” he said. “He’s me brother.” It was 15 years ago, when Jack Charlton presented his younger brother with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The clip has an added poignancy after Bobby’s death at 86; three years ago, a couple of months after his 85th birthday, Jack had died. The brothers were different players and very different characters – the wisecracking, outspoken Jack was more of a man of the people, but Bobby’s quiet dignity gave him a statesmanlike air. They were not always close but their achievements will live on. There have been 22 men’s football World Cups and only two sets of brothers have won the most prestigious of prizes: Fritz and Ottmar Walter for West Germany in 1954, Bobby and Jack Charlton at West Germany’s expense in 1966. It remains the most famous year in English football history; perhaps it always will. At the heart of it was Bobby Charlton: the 1966 FWA Footballer of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner, named by France Football – in the days before Fifa had an official award – as the best player at the World Cup. Gary Lineker, who was a goal away from equalling Charlton’s long-standing national record of 49 for his country, called him England’s greatest ever player, Gary Neville, one of his successors as Manchester United captain, deemed him the greatest ever English player. They are not necessarily the same: but in Charlton’s case, he could be both. Perhaps only the other immortal Bobby – Moore, the 1966 captain – can challenge him for the title of the finest in an England shirt. Charlton was the second English footballer, and just the third man, to reach 100 caps. His 106th and last, in the 1970 quarter-final against West Germany, set a world record that Moore – and then many others – subsequently passed. He straddled eras – his first cap came alongside Tom Finney, who debuted in England’s first match after the Second World War, and one of the last alongside Emlyn Hughes, who represented his country in the 1980s – but defined one, a time of glory. Thirty years before Frank Skinner and David Baddiel sang about football coming home, Charlton brought it back. Their lyric – “Bobby belting the ball” – conjured images, some in colour, some in black and white, of a figure with a combover hairstyle and the cannonball shot striking the ball with beautiful ferocity, often rising throughout its way into the net. Decades before the invention of expected goals, Charlton was scoring unexpected ones. Consider his opener against Mexico, England’s first of the 1966 World Cup, from such a distance that the chance of it going in was statistically low, except for one factor: that Charlton, with such power on either foot, was hitting it. He was the master of the long-range hit: if most of Lineker’s 48 goals were predatory finishes, many of Charlton’s 49 were spectacular. Such a clean striker of a ball was not a striker at all: largely a left winger in his younger days, later the attacking-midfield fulcrum of Sir Alf Ramsey’s ‘Wingless Wonders’. He began in the old W-M formation, ended up as, in effect, the tip of a midfield diamond. It was a tactical shift, a belated move into modernity that Ramsey brought. If there was a pragmatism to England’s World Cup win, Charlton was the artist. With his brace against Portugal in the 1966 semi-final – like another double against Portuguese opposition, Benfica, in the 1968 European Cup final – he illustrated his talent could shine on the biggest of occasions. The 1966 semi-final was not seen by his father, Robert, a coal miner working a shift underground in his home town of Ashington; “his duty”, Bobby subsequently, and remarkably, reflected. On the grandest stage of all, the 1966 final, he was sacrificed, Charlton and Franz Beckenbauer deputed to man-mark each other. They received the same assignment in the 1970 quarter-final; England’s era of ascendency ended when Ramsey removed Charlton with 20 minutes remaining to save him for the semi-final, the 32-year-old distracted by the prospect of his withdrawal as Beckenbauer ran forward to reduce England’s lead to 2-1; without him, they lost 3-2. Ramsey thanked him for his service on the plane back from Mexico: Bobby knew his England career, like Jack’s, was over. It could have been still more glorious: keep Charlton on and maybe England would have prevailed in 1970. But for Garrincha’s brilliance, Charlton wondered if England would have been victorious in the 1962 quarter-final against Brazil, and then the tournament as a whole. He went to four World Cups in all, not taking the field in his first: time has rendered it more extraordinary that his England debut came in 1958, a couple of months after the Munich air disaster. He scored, too, but if a poorer performance on his third cap was understandable – it came in Belgrade, scene of the Busby Babes’ last game before Munich – it cost him his place in Walter Winterbottom’s starting 11 in Sweden. Were Duncan Edwards, Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor and Eddie Colman to have lived, perhaps England would have won more and sooner. But it was Charlton who became the emblem of English football; the face of what is now a bygone age. In its own way, it felt appropriate that a man who carried a huge responsibility for decades was the last survivor among the players at Munich; now it may be fitting that Geoff Hurst, who had the final say in 1966, is the last of Ramsey’s chosen 11, forever charged with paying tributes to his fallen comrades. And Bobby Charlton, the greatest player Jack ever saw, the greatest to have Three Lions on his shirt, took England to the summit of the global game. Read More Sir Bobby Charlton turned tragedy into triumph with unique style and perseverance Fans lay flowers and scarves at Old Trafford following death of Bobby Charlton Tributes paid to ‘giant of the game’ Sir Bobby Charlton after his death at 86 Fans lay flowers and scarves at Old Trafford following death of Bobby Charlton Manchester United fans head to Old Trafford to pay tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton Premier League managers pay tribute as Sir Bobby Charlton dies at 86
2023-10-22 22:42
As another cheetah dies in India, authorities try to get ambitious conservation project on track
An eighth cheetah death in India’s Kuno National Park last Friday has raised new questions about a project that reintroduced the big cats to the country 10 months ago and has been mired in controversy since its inception
2023-07-20 15:40
Kane scores on Bundesliga debut as Bayern beat Bremen
England striker Harry Kane scored one and assisted another in his starting debut as Bayern Munich won 4-0 away at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga...
2023-08-19 04:42
“Catastrophe” Bond Market Headed for Major Surge in Issuance
The market for catastrophe bonds, one of this year’s best-performing debt classes, is about to see a significant
2023-10-24 19:30
Who is Michael Keith Fine? Son arrested for killing parents after almost 50 years of discovery of decomposed bodies
Maryville's oldest cold case may finally be solved as Michael Fine is arrested for killing his parents
2023-11-11 20:28
Rich Strike, 80-1 winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby, is retired and to be sold as stallion prospect
The upset winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby has been retired
2023-11-10 03:23
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