Switzerland defeated Bulgaria 4-0 Monday and finished at the top of the UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group C table while Italy surprised everyone with a goalless draw against Northern Ireland and will go to playoffs. 

Before the matches, both sides had the chance to take the lead in Group C with 15 points each and Italy was at the top of the group and ahead of Switzerland by two goals.

The Nati have now directly qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, finishing at the top of Group C with 18 points, while Azurri finished the group second with 16 points and will wait for their chance to qualify in the playoff round.

The Swiss regularly qualified for the last four World Cups and have grabbed a ticket for the fifth one with this success.

They reached the last 16 three times, in the 2006, 2014 and 2018 World Cups, but were eliminated in the group stage in 2010.

Four-time World Cup champions in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006, Italy shocked the whole nation as they failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The European football powerhouse were under fire for their previous fiasco, but Italy won the UEFA EURO 2020 in the summer of 2021 to the delight of their fans.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup may be another shock for the nation if they fail in the coming playoffs.

- Kane scores 4 times as England secure World Cup qualification

England defeated San Marino 10-0 in a UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group I match Monday.

Undefeated England finished the group in the top spot with 26 points and directly qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup while Poland will wait for the playoffs as second in the group with 20 points.

Tottenham forward Harry Kane scored four goals in the match and became third in the all-time top English National Team scorers with 48 goals.

Wayne Rooney tops the all-time list with 53 goals while English legend Bobby Charlton is in second spot with 49 goals.

- Monday Results:

Scotland-Denmark: 2-0

Switzerland-Bulgaria: 4-0

San Marino-England: 0-10

Northern Ireland-Italy: 0-0

Israel-Faroe Islands: 3-2

Austria-Moldova: 4-1

Albania-Andorra: 1-0

Poland-Hungary: 1-2

//agencies//

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Monday that the incidence rate of coronavirus cases has declined in a number of regions but the situation with the virus in the country is still tense. 

The number of cases has been declining after the introduction of non-working days in the country “on the instructions of the head of state,” Mishustin said.

However, the situation remains tense as daily figures are still high, he said at a government meeting in Moscow.

Mishustin blamed the low level of vaccination for the higher coronavirus figures, noting that at the moment, Russia's collective immunity is only 45%.

He noted that most of those who suffer severe illness from the virus are those who did not get vaccinated.

"We need to convince people to get vaccinated. This is the only way to break the chain of morbidity. It is especially important that older people are vaccinated, and the president also pays attention to this.

"Today, a vaccine is an opportunity to save a life, especially if there are already health problems. Only a doctor can tell about contraindications. It is best to consult him before refusing vaccination," he added.

For his part, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that over 246,000 people are being treated for the virus in hospitals at the moment and more than 7,000 of them are in serious condition.

Anna Popova, the head of Russia’s sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said there has been no growth in incidence rates in 43 regions but slight growth in 33 other regions and only one region -- Amurskaya Oblast -- has disturbing dynamics.

Over the past day, 38,420 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Russia, taking the overall count to 9.1 million and active cases to over 1.03 million.

Over the same period, 1,211 people died, taking the death toll to 256,597, while 27,972 won their battle against the virus, bringing recoveries to 7.81 million.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 5.1 million lives in 192 countries and regions with over 253.7 million cases reported worldwide, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University./agencies

US President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order to improve public safety and justice for Native Americans.

The order directs US federal agencies and departments to develop a coordinated law enforcement strategy that would prevent and respond to violence against Native Americans, including the missing and murdered Indigenous people where the federal government has jurisdiction.

"My Administration will work hand in hand with Tribal Nations and Tribal partners to build safe and healthy Tribal communities and to support comprehensive law enforcement, prevention, intervention, and support services," the executive order said.

"The safety and well-being of all Native Americans is a top priority for my Administration," it added.

Biden later said during the first-ever Tribal Leaders Summit held at the White House that the federal agencies and departments' jurisdiction will expand to include sex trafficking, sexual assault and child abuse involving Native Americans.

The White House said in a statement that the Biden administration has prioritized Tribes in economic recovery, devoting $32 billion to tribal communities and Native people, which included $20 billion in emergency funding to help tribal governments rebuild economies devastated by the coronavirus pandemic./agencies

The true identity of Bitcoin's inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, could be revealed in a lawsuit taking place in the US state of Florida, according to reports on Monday.

The family of David Kleiman has claimed that he and his former business partner Craig Wright invented Bitcoin in 2008 by using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Kleiman's family is suing Australian programmer Wright for his share of Nakamoto's assets of around 1.1 million Bitcoins, which are worth more than $70 billion today.

The defense, however, argues that Wright is the sole creator of today's most popular and largest cryptocurrency.

If a jury rules in favor of the Kleiman family, Wright could be forced to present the wallet that holds the 1.1 million Bitcoins. If Wright refuses, or unable to, share the wallet, Nakamoto's identity will remain a mystery.

The true identity of Nakamoto has remained a secret since he had written the white paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" in October 2008 and released the first version of Bitcoin in January 2009.

After working on Bitcoin's development for almost two years, Nakamoto disappeared from communicating in online message boards in December 2010, as the crypto community still wonders whether the inventor is an individual or a group using the pseudonym./agencies

A young Somali man who died trying to prevent the “attempted murder” of an 82-year-old British woman in London has been hailed as a hero.

Ali Abucar Ali, 20, was stabbed by the attacker last Friday in Brentford as he tried to stop him from attacking Betty Walsh, who was also stabbed during the incident and taken to hospital.

Walsh remains in hospital with a serious but not life-threatening condition, according to a police statement.

“We send our deepest, sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Ali Abucar Ali,” Tell Mama, a group registering hate crime in the UK, said in a statement on Monday.

“His heroism and kindness are truly, truly remarkable. It’s a deep, tragic loss.”

Marie and James Walsh wrote on a GoFundMe page for Ali that he was a “hero – he died trying to save our mum/mother-in-law.”

Norris Henry, 37, was arrested following the incident on suspicion of the murder of Ali and attempted murder of Walsh and later charged with both.

Reaction to lack of coverage

Meanwhile, the coverage of the incident by the British mainstream media, especially ignoring the Somalian origin of the hero victim, has been criticized mainly on social media.

“When the killing of (MP) David Amess took place, the word Somali was heavily emphasized in all news reports,” Kareem Dennis, better known by his stage name Lowkey, wrote on Twitter.

“Less than a month later, Ali Abucar Ali saves an 84-year-old woman and is killed in the process. The word Somali is not being mentioned at all let alone emphasized anywhere,” the London-based musician and peace activist wrote.

Khaled Beydoun, a prominent academic whose researches include Islamophobia also joined the criticism of the lack of coverage by the mainstream media.

“The young Muslim man is a Hero. I wish the media were as keen to cover the stories of Muslim heroes like Ali as they are (keen to cover) the “terrorists”,” he wrote on Twitter.

The professor was referring to heavy emphasis by many British media outlets on the Somali background of Ali Harbi Ali who murdered MP David Amess on Oct. 15 during a meeting with his constituents./aa

The 27-member EU posted a decline in agricultural output in 2020, when pandemic measures hit the economy hard.

Last year, EU countries' total agricultural output totaled €414.1 billion ($472 billion), down 1.1% on a yearly basis, the union's statistical office said on Monday.

France posted the highest agricultural output with €76.3 billion, or about 18.4% of the union’s total output, said Eurostat.

Next came Germany (€57.6 billion in output), Italy (€56.9 billion), Spain (€52.3 billion), and the Netherlands ($28.2 billion).

Last year 11 members posted declines in agricultural output, with the biggest drops seen in Romania (-11.3%), Malta and Bulgaria (both -4.5%), Finland (-3.9%), and Hungary and the Netherlands (both -3.1%).

In contrast, the highest increases, in relative terms, were seen in Lithuania (+8.6%), Ireland (+4.6%), Slovakia (+3.8%), Latvia (+3.1%), and Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus (+2.8%), Eurostat said./aa