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Why Turkey's currency is crashing after Erdogan got reelected
Why Turkey's currency is crashing after Erdogan got reelected
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed an internationally respected former banker as finance and treasury minister after winning reelection
2023-06-09 17:31
Who is Quinn? The first trans and non-binary player to feature at a World Cup
Who is Quinn? The first trans and non-binary player to feature at a World Cup
Canada midfielder Quinn made history when they became the first transgender and non-binary person to appear at either a men’s or women’s World Cup, playing 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Nigeria in Melbourne last week. The Ontario native, 27, is already a gold medallist for their country, part of the side that triumphed at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in summer 2021 and has designs on going all the way in Australia and New Zealand too. Hailing from a sporting family – Quinn’s father and mother played college rugby and basketball respectively – the midfielder quickly took to football as a child, rejecting all other after-school pursuits in favour of the beautiful game. They played at youth level for North Toronto, Richmond Hill and Erin Mills Eagles and briefly for Toronto Lady Lynx in 2013 before heading due south and enrolling as a biology major at prestigious Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. There, Quinn played for the Duke Blue Devils, making 69 appearances and scoring four between 2013 and 2017. Turning professional after graduation, they signed first for Washington Spirit in 2018 before a short-lived stint with Paris FC in France followed. Quinn subsequently transferred to OL Reign in Seattle in 2019, where they have played alongside US Women’s National Team greats Rose Lavelle and Megan Rapinoe ever since – outside of a brief loan spell with Swedish side Vittsjo GIK in 2020. For the Canadian national team, Quinn made their debut for the under-17s in 2012 and subsequently played for the under-20 and under-23 sides before graduating to the senior squad in 2014, subsequently picking up 89 caps and scoring five, as well as a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Quinn became known by the mononym in 2020 after coming out as transgender and non-binary, opting for gender-neutral pronouns. They were granted permission to continue playing professional women’s football based on a sex-assigned-at-birth basis. “I want to be a visible figure for young trans folks or people questioning their gender, people exploring their gender,” Quinn has said of their decision to come out. “Because unfortunately when I was growing up, and even going through that process of figuring out myself in college, I didn’t have those people in the public sphere to look up to. “There are several trans athletes and several trans people in media and politics, but I just think those faces are not common enough. “I want to be a visible trans person succeeding in my job, so that younger trans folks could see that they did have an avenue to go and that they would have a future and a career ahead of them.” Read More Women’s World Cup 2023 LIVE: Spain and Japan through before Ireland vs Canada Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today Tuesday at the World Cup: Philippines stun New Zealand as Norway are held New Jersey Governor keen to host Premier League and Champions League matches Vera Pauw ‘a bit concerned’ about Louise Quinn fitness for Republic-Canada game Denise O’Sullivan hails ‘unbelievable’ Ireland fans at World Cup
2023-07-26 18:50
Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again
Pep Guardiola ready to stare down his managerial nemesis once again
As Pep Guardiola sat down to begin working on the “Johan Cruyff box” that has only further released Erling Haaland in the last few weeks, one of the Catalan’s main concerns was the equation of marrying the Norwegian’s movement with maintaining control in the Champions League. They don’t always seem to fit. Even though he is now blessed with the best goalscorer in the world, “maintaining control in the Champions League’’ governs Guardiola’s thinking in almost everything, and has done for the last few seasons. The Catalan wouldn’t publicly admit that, of course, since he feels it feeds into an unhelpful public narrative about his “obsession” with the competition. That is precisely how senior figures at Manchester City have privately described it, though, and some feel it goes even further. They don’t just think Guardiola wants a third Champions League. They believe he wants the record for the most in history, as should befit someone viewed as perhaps the greatest coach of all time. There is also how much emotional energy he has put in, too. You only have to watch the footage of him theatrically crumpling to the ground as Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior tears down the wing after one minor slip in last season’s semi-final. There is naturally a significant amount of ego in this, but that isn’t said as a criticism. The intensity of the job means elite managers must almost by definition be self-absorbed. It’s close to a prerequisite of getting to the top and staying there. An inherent pride is why so many coaches stay wedded to a style even as the wider game moves past them, because it becomes about proving they still have it. It happened to Arsene Wenger. It happened to Jose Mourinho. It happened to almost everyone, except the figure whose record Guardiola is actually chasing. Carlo Ancelotti also happens to be the manager fittingly standing in the Catalan’s way. The Italian is aiming to extend his record with a fifth Champions League, as Guardiola looks for a long-awaited third. You could understand a certain amount of frustration at that, since it all seems to come so easy to Ancelotti at the same time as Guardiola endures so many long nights of the soul in the Champions League. Last season’s semi-final was another. The Real Madrid manager is frequently asked about the secret of all this by football people, and the answer is instructive. “You have to have no ego,” Ancelotti says. “Listen to your players, ask their opinion, trust them.” Even that seems to go against a lot of the system-led management that the Guardiola era has fostered. It is not the only way Ancelotti has defied the supposedly defining trends of the modern game. Far from obstructing managers like Guardiola, the Italian was supposed to be rendered obsolete. That isn’t just tactical theorising, either. It seemed the reality of their last few roles, especially at Bayern Munich. When Ancelotti succeeded Guardiola at the German club in 2016, the players were staggered at the drop-off in intensity and preparation. It all seemed so lax and lacking in tactical ideas. The seams began to come apart, leading to Ancelotti’s early sacking. This was the way of the game. System prevailed, all the more so when it was intensely applied. If you wanted to go to a higher level, you needed an idea that amplified the whole. Any stars had to subsume themselves to that. Ancelotti instead seemed to be following many other managers from the previous era in receding from the top end of the game. His jobs showed that. He went from the Champions League latter stages to just trying to get into the competition at Napoli and then floating around mid-table with Everton. And yet here he is back at the summit, with an historic Champions League record that Guardiola so wants, as well as the trophy itself. That has all come without wanting to leave any greater imprint on the game. All Ancelotti wants to do is get by, as they got past City last year, to ensure he has four Champions Leagues and Guardiola still only has two. It illustrates that, rather than both representing dividing lines in football history, they represent opposite approaches in a game that still has a lot of blurred lines. That applies to the jobs they both came into most recently. They weren’t the same. The current City football project was specifically constructed for Guardiola, according to his ideals. It is almost the perfect football setting for him. There would be a football symmetry if he was to win the Champions League again by finalising the most modern team with “the box” that won Barcelona their first European Cup in 1992. There was none of this lofty philosophising with Ancelotti’s last appointment. There was a grand project, sure, as the Madrid hierarchy decided they were going to play 4-3-3 for the next decade. Far from being the perfect fit for that, though, Ancelotti was brought back because club president Florentino Perez couldn’t get anyone else. It was little more than a compromise. So, while City were made for Guardiola, Madrid had to make do with Ancelotti. It just so happened he was able to work very well within those constraints. He could adapt superbly to what he was given, which was one of the best young squads in the world. This is another area where the picture is clouded. It isn’t completely wrong to say Ancelotti looked left behind. He didn’t excel at either Napoli or Everton. But he didn’t have what he has now at Madrid. It points to one of many contrasts in this game, one that may decide where the Champions League ends up. It is idealist against pragmatist, as well as collective control against individual moments. Similarly, while Guardiola sets a club’s entire identity, Ancelotti just makes it feel better about itself. The 4-3-3 wasn’t his idea so he just works to make it better as and when required. He knows how to talk to players, enabling them and ensuring they always feel involved. Ancelotti is also said to be the best in the world at the timing of substitutions. Some of that comes from an instinctive feel for how a match is going, “the sense of a game”. It could be seen in last year’s dramatic semi-final comeback, not least when Ancelotti consulted Marcelo and Toni Kroos on the sideline. This is exactly what he meant when he spoke about no ego and listening to players. There’s another blurred line here, though. Ancelotti still had sufficient pride to stop a question at a recent press conference and point out that he does a lot more than man-management. His record speaks to that. It is one that Guardiola would love to claim as his own. This semi-final may go someway to deciding that. Guardiola's "box" may actually bring his career full circle, as it could represent the completeness of his tactical idea and bring a first Champions League title since Barcelona. Such sophisticated re-interpretations of the past have moved football into the future. It's just that one of its most historic figures, in Ancelotti, remains a key part of it. Read More Why Man City vs Real Madrid is the ‘real’ Champions League final The six types of Pep Guardiola full-back, and what each says about Man City’s evolution Is Real Madrid vs Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch Champions League semi-final
1970-01-01 08:00
Tom Sandoval ejects fan from his concert after they hold up #TeamAriana sign in support of his scorned ex Ariana Madix
Tom Sandoval ejects fan from his concert after they hold up #TeamAriana sign in support of his scorned ex Ariana Madix
Sandoval was recently caught speaking to his mistress Raquel Leviss on the phone while heading to Pennsylvania by a fan
2023-05-31 20:27
The Best On-Ear/Over-Ear Headphones for 2023
The Best On-Ear/Over-Ear Headphones for 2023
If you're serious about music, a quality pair of headphones can make a huge difference
2023-10-20 04:50
US Open 2023: Here's how to watch on TV, betting odds and more you should know
US Open 2023: Here's how to watch on TV, betting odds and more you should know
Play in the year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament is set to begin at the U.S. Open on Monday
2023-08-23 21:59
Happ's 4 RBIs lead Cubs over Pirates 11-3 after rain delay
Happ's 4 RBIs lead Cubs over Pirates 11-3 after rain delay
Ian Happ hit a three-run, first-inning drive for his first home run since May 5, Christopher Morel added a three run homer in the eighth and the Chicago Cubs routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-3
2023-06-14 12:30
Natixis’s Frankfurt, Munich Offices Raided in German Tax Dividend Investigation
Natixis’s Frankfurt, Munich Offices Raided in German Tax Dividend Investigation
Natixis SA’s offices in Frankfurt and Munich were raided as part of the sprawling German probe into the
2023-06-13 19:27
AI-generated faces now look more real than ever. Can you spot the fake ones?
AI-generated faces now look more real than ever. Can you spot the fake ones?
AI-generated faces of white people now seem more real than actual ones, according to a new study which raises concerns that the technology may be used to fool people. More people thought AI-generated white faces were human than the faces of real people, while the same wasn’t true for the images of people of colour, according to research published recently in the journal Psychological Science. “If white AI faces are consistently perceived as more realistic, this technology could have serious implications for people of colour by ultimately reinforcing racial biases online,” study co-author Amy Dawel from the Australian National University, said. One of the reasons for this discrepancy, according to researchers, is that AI algorithms are being trained disproportionately on white faces. “This problem is already apparent in current AI technologies that are being used to create professional-looking headshots. When used for people of colour, the AI is altering their skin and eye colour to those of white people,” Dr Dawel explained. The study also found that the people who identified AI faces as real were most often confident that their judgements were correct, indicating people may not know they are tricked using such images. This kind of AI “hyper-realism” when misused may lead to people not realising they’re being fooled, scientists warn. While there are still physical differences between AI and human faces, researchers say people tend to misinterpret them. For instance, the study found that white AI faces tend to be more in proportion which people mistake as a sign of humanness. However, we can’t rely on these kinds of physical cues for long, researchers say. With AI technology advancing rapidly, they say the differences between AI and human faces could “disappear soon”. When that happens, scientists warn that it could have serious implications for the proliferation of misinformation and identity theft, urging for action to be taken seriously. “AI technology can’t become sectioned off so only tech companies know what’s going on behind the scenes. There needs to be greater transparency around AI so researchers and civil society can identify issues before they become a major problem,” Dr Dawel said. “Educating people about the perceived realism of AI faces could help make the public appropriately sceptical about the images they’re seeing online,” she added. Read More Trump’s Truth Social warns company may be forced to shut down amid huge losses Solar panel world record smashed with ‘miracle material’ AI among biggest threats to next UK election, cyber security agency warns Trump’s Truth Social warns company may be forced to shut down amid huge losses Solar panel world record smashed with ‘miracle material’ AI among biggest threats to next UK election, cyber security agency warns
2023-11-14 17:09
Voting enters second day in Zimbabwe polls amid fraud fears
Voting enters second day in Zimbabwe polls amid fraud fears
Zimbabweans queued at polling stations on Thursday as general elections stretched into an unprecedented second day, sparked by delays that...
2023-08-24 18:32
A modest Buddhist ceremony marks the anniversary of a day care center massacre in Thailand
A modest Buddhist ceremony marks the anniversary of a day care center massacre in Thailand
A quiet ceremony has been attended by about 200 people in a small town in northeastern Thailand marking the one-year anniversary of the country's deadliest mass killing
2023-10-06 15:25
Dodgers' Syndergaard leaves after 1 inning with cut finger
Dodgers' Syndergaard leaves after 1 inning with cut finger
Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Noah Syndergaard left Tuesday’s game with the Milwaukee Brewers after dealing with a cut on the index finger of his pitching hand in his one inning of work
1970-01-01 08:00