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April 26, 2024
London police investigating 'offensive banner' protesting Saudi takeover of Newcastle
Staff
October 25, 2021
London police are investigating an "offensive banner" unfurled by Crystal Palace fans at the football match against New Castle on Saturday, protesting the recent Saudi-led takeover of the Tyneside club.
"Police received a report of an offensive banner displayed by Crystal Palace fans," Croydon Metropolitan Police said in a tweet.
"Officers are assessing the information and carrying out enquiries. Any allegations of racist abuse will be taken very seriously."
The banner was displayed at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace’s home stadium. It showed a man in traditional Gulf Arab clothing with a bloody sword about to behead a magpie, which is the symbol of Newcastle club.
Next to the image, the banner listed multiple human rights abuses Saudi Arabia is accused of: terrorism, beheading, civil rights abuses, murder, censorship, and persecution.
Each line was ticked off, and the list was placed on a clipboard titled “Premier League Owners Test.”
Premier League chief executive Richard Masers was also on the banner, shown to be giving a thumbs-up to a bag of money while standing in a pool of blood.
Holmesdale Fanatics, Crystal Palace supporters' group, in a statement said the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle has "received widespread condemnation and anger."
"To give the thumbs up to this deal at a time when the Premier League is promoting the women's game and inclusive initiatives such as rainbow armbands, shows the total hypocrisy at play and demonstrates the league's soulless agenda where profits trump all," it said.
The press release added that "we are lucky to live in a country where we can display a banner such as this without repercussion."
The news is the latest in the long-running controversy over the takeover of Newcastle led by Saudi Arabia’s state sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which was completed earlier this month in a £300 million deal.
PIF is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been linked to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but has denied involvement./aa
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Former Chelsea and Galatasaray star Didier Drogba on Monday was announced as the World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for sport and health.
"His efforts off the pitch are equally impressive, including his role in promoting peace in Ivory Coast, and using his name, his profile and his own resources to promote health and fight poverty. I am delighted to welcome Didier Drogba as a WHO goodwill ambassador for sport and health," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a special event.
Drogba said that it was a "great honor" to be appointed as a WHO goodwill ambassador.
The former Ivory Coast international added that he is "determined to work in partnership with WHO, FIFA, civil society, the youth, the private sectors, and other stakeholders to reach out as many football fans as possible" to increase physical activity and provide healthy lifestyles particularly for youth.
In 2007, when he was an active football player, Drogba became UNDP goodwill ambassador to raise awareness for economic, infrastructural and development challenges in Africa and in the globe.
Drogba began his career in France where he played for Le Mans, Guingamp and Olympique Marseille. However, it was following his move to Chelsea that he started to establish himself as one of the greatest forwards of the 21st century.
He scored 164 goals in 381 appearances for Chelsea.
His most important strike was an equalizer in the 2012 UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich, which led to Chelsea winning this title for the first time.
The 43-year-old also played for Turkey's Galatasaray in 53 matches to score 20 goals between 2013 and 2014. He helped the Istanbul club reach the Champions League quarterfinals in 2013.
He won four English Premier League titles with Chelsea (2005, 2006, 2010, and 2015).
The two-time African Football of the Year was the Turkish champions with Galatasaray in 2013.
Drogba played for his native Ivory Coast in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup tournaments.
He scored 65 goals in 105 international caps for the Ivory Coast.
Drogba retired from playing the game in 2018./agencies
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Turkey’s Maarif Foundation educating over 17,000 students in Africa
Staff
October 19, 2021
Turkey’s Maarif Foundation is providing education to over 17,500 students through its 175 institutions in 25 countries in Africa.
With Turkey's Ministry of National Education, the foundation is the state's sole entity authorized to provide educational services abroad.
It has significantly increased the number of educational institutions in Africa in the last five years – from 18 in 2016 to 175 now.
Besides, it also operates 18 dormitories in the continent to meet the accommodation needs of the students.
According to the foundation, it has 45,000 students in 378 schools, one university, and 14 education centers in 47 countries around the world.
The foundation was established on June 17, 2016, but is moving beyond its original mission of running schools obtained from FETO, the group behind the defeated coup of July 2016 in Turkey, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.
Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary./aa
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Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino both racked up great performances in Liverpool’s thrashing of Watford 5-0 away on Saturday.
Sadio Mane scored the opener to, marking his 100th Premier League goal with an impressive assist by Salah.
The feat made Mane the third African player to reach this milestone in the league.
Firmino made a hat-trick and Salah scored a solo goal with a spectacular finish, giving the Reds a comfortable league win at Vicarage Road stadium.
Following this victory, Liverpool now have 18 points, while Watford has piled up seven points in eight matches./agencies
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Teacher shortage shatters dreams of Tanzania’s blind students
Staff
October 17, 2021
On a bright Monday, a dozen smartly dressed blind students slowly walked to their classroom after the morning assembly.
The students hand their canes on hooks outside a doorway to their classroom then adeptly touch wooden desks to identify their assigned spots.
These visually-impaired students at DCT-Mvumi secondary school located 36 kilometers (22 miles) from Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma City, seem to take advantage of the facilities, including braille textbooks perched on shelves and tablets loaded with specially designed apps to help those with partial blindness to see what is on the board.
Mvumi is the only school in Tanzania with requisite teaching materials and equipment for visually impaired students, thanks to the Lutheran Church’s Central Diocese.
At the school, visually impaired students can be spotted decoding texts on Braille machines or taking notes with the help of fellow students.
While the state-of-the-art facilities are cause for celebration for these students, it is a far cry for their counterparts elsewhere in Tanzania whose academic future is increasingly becoming bleak.
Shortage of special teachers
As nations mark White Cane Day, blind and visually impaired students in the East African country have been pushed on the wobbly edge of survival due to a shortage of teachers with special skills and requisite learning materials.
While children are entitled to better education, blind students in Tanzania face many hurdles due to deeply rooted and unfounded beliefs that being blind is a curse.
“We don’t have teachers with special skills to understand the needs of blind children,” said Lilian Ntunge, a visually impaired student at Nkuhungu secondary school in Dodoma.
A recent study by HakiElimu, a Tanzanian nonprofit education organization, found that even in schools deemed “inclusive,” the environment was not very friendly for students with visual impairment. Very few schools exist in Tanzania specifically for people with disabilities of any kind.
The report revealed that many students still face unqualified, incompetent teachers and inadequate teaching materials for visually-impaired learners.
The country joined a global movement to create inclusive, quality education for diverse learners, including students with disabilities. In 2004, it introduced a national disability policy emphasizing the need for a conducive learning environment for people with special needs, and the country’s Ministry of Education adopted it in 2009.
Yet, schools still face several challenges in terms of inclusive, quality education.
Cognitive skills
While special education activists in Tanzania call for inclusive mainstream education, some teachers for the blind who spoke with the Anadolu Agency are touting special classes to sharpen cognitive skills to understand teachers' instructions and control body movement to interact in the physical world.
“Blind children must learn how to use other sensory skills such as touch, smell and taste to understand classroom lessons,” said Mary Mokiwa, a special needs teacher.
She said classroom lessons are focused on developing a set of skills and the use of tools adapted for blindness.
“Verbal lessons on how to maneuver using a cane can greatly help break barriers of isolation for the blind,” Mokiwa told Anadolu Agency.
She said teachers need to work with parents to understand students' learning patterns.
Salome Lembeli, a 15-year-old student at Nkuhungu secondary school who was born blind, said she is disappointed by the learning condition at her school where students with special needs like her do not get the attention they deserve.
“I don’t like to be in a mixed classroom, because often teachers ignore us,” she told Anadolu Agency.
For 15-year-old Khalfan Ahmed, a visually impaired student at Dodoma Secondary School, following daily lessons is a constant struggle.
On cloudy days, it gets a little harder.
With the aid of a cane, he routinely walks to the front of the dimly lit classroom and peers intently at the blackboard, to read what his science teacher has written.
“When the writing is too small. I don’t see them no matter how close I am to the blackboard,” he said.
Ahmed, who was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma -- a condition making him unable to see in dim light, wears heavy eyeglasses which he said makes him dizzy at times.
He reads a book by holding it inches from his eyes./aa
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Cambridge University suspends £400M deal with UAE over phone hacking concerns
Staff
October 16, 2021
Britain’s Cambridge University has suspended a record £400 million deal with the United Arab Emirates over the latter’s alleged use of Pegasus spyware, The Guardian reported Thursday.
The decision was made public by Stephen Toope, the university’s outgoing vice-chancellor.
As recently as July, the proposed deal was praised as a potential “strategic partnership” aimed at helping resolve “some of the greatest challenges facing our planet.” A donation of over £310 million over a decade would have also been included. It would have been the biggest donation of its kind to the university.
This has now been undone by the UAE’s alleged use of Pegasus phone hacking spyware developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group. The Guardian claims that many of the UK phone numbers targeted by the spyware were at the apparent behest of the UAE. NSO Group has previously denied any wrongdoing.
In an interview with the student newspaper Varsity, Toole said: “There were further revelations about Pegasus that really caused us to decide that it’s not the right time to be pursuing these kinds of really ambitious plans with the UAE.”
“No one’s going to be rushing into this,” he added. “There will be no secret arrangements being made. I think we’re going to have to have a robust discussion at some point in the future. Or we may determine that it’s not worth raising again. I honestly don’t know.
“There are existing relationships across the university on a departmental and individual academic level, but there are no conversations about a big project,” he continued. “We’re aware of the risks in dealing with many states around the world, but we think it’s worth having the conversation,” he added.
The Guardian reported that according to documents it had seen, the proposed collaboration would have seen joint UAE and Cambridge University branding and new institutions being based in the UAE. It also reported that there were concerns over closer ties with the UAE due to its human rights record.
Varsity meanwhile reported that the deal was intended to upgrade the education system in the UAE and work on questions of climate and energy transition, adding it would have also focused on the exchange of Islamic and Western cultures.
A university spokesperson was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “The University of Cambridge has numerous partnerships with governments and organizations around the world. It approached the UAE as it does all potential partnerships: with an open mind, and rigorously weighing the opportunities to contribute to society – through collaborative research, education and innovation – against any challenges.”
“We will be reflecting over the next few months before further evaluating our long- term options with our partners and with the university community,” he added./agencies
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US: Back-to-school gun violence was highest on record. Active shooter drills may not be the answer.
Staff
October 11, 2021
Students adjusting to another school year disrupted by COVID-19 also face a different kind of public-health threat: record gun violence.
Between Aug.1 and Sept. 15, at least 30 instances of gunfire occurred on U.S. school grounds, according to data from the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. The shootings killed five people and wounded another 23.
That marks the highest number of campus shootings in a back-to-school season since Everytown began tracking data in 2013. All in all, there have been nearly twice as many shootings in schools so far this fall compared to pre-pandemic levels. From the beginning of August through the first week of October at least 36 shootings wreaked havoc in schools in 21 states, according to Gun Violence Archive data. Over the same time period from 2016 to 2019, the country averaged 17 shootings in schools.
Such violence has left countless other witnesses and community members traumatized – all at a time when students and educators are already struggling emotionally. In some cases, schools’ responses may unintentionally make the trauma worse.
Families depart a performing arts center Wednesday in Mansfield, Texas, after being united with students from Timberview High School. Police in Texas arrested a student suspected of opening fire during a fight at the Arlington-area high school, leaving four people injured.More
Last week, four people were injured in a shooting at a school in Arlington, Texas. The accused perpetrator, charged with opening fire during a fight at the high school, was a fellow student who’d reportedly been bullied.
The pandemic has fueled a mental-health crisis across the country. Schools are grappling with heightened levels of depression and anxiety among both students and staff. Frank Kitzerow, the police chief for Florida’s Palm Beach County School District, points to a possible correlation between this trend and the increase in school-based gun violence.
“Schools are a microcosm of their communities,” Kitzerow said, citing FBI data showing an uptick in homicides. “It should be a clue and a wake-up call for us. … What we see in the communities is coming into our schools.”
On Sept. 1, the eighth day of classes, one student fatally shot another inside a Winston-Salem, North Carolina, high school, causing campuses throughout the district to lock down for hours. Recovery from the shooting has been “long and difficult,” Laurie Schaefer, a teacher at Mount Tabor High School, told USA TODAY. And the school’s healing process became particularly difficult when a gun was found in a student's backpack late last month and another in a nearby middle school the following week, she said.
Active shooter drills could make trauma worse
Incidents like these are a reminder that schools ought to explore a suite of preventative measures that prioritize mental health, according to Kitzerow. Yet reactive, potentially traumatizing practices such as active shooter drills have grown in popularity.
In the most extreme version of these drills, the school stages an active shooting unannounced, leading students to believe they’re actually under attack. Research shows an association between the drills and significant, lasting increases in depression, stress and anxiety among students, parents and educators.
“As a high-school student, when we go through these drills, they’re really traumatizing – it’s hard for us to adapt to learning afterwards, for us to sit through the drill,” said Peren Tiemann, a volunteer with Lakeland High School Students Demand Action, a gun-control advocacy group in Oregon.
In Tiemann’s experience, miscommunication surrounding such drills can leave students feeling helpless and confused. Once her school staged a drill in which the hypothetical shooter was supposed to be off school grounds, but she and her peers were under the impression that person was on campus. Chaos ensued, she said, with different classrooms responding in different ways.
Tiemann has led efforts at her school to change its safety practices. Among the reforms: removing simulation-based drills, improving communication and ensuring students have a “breathing period” after a drill before resuming their learning.
Such reforms are especially urgent now, Tiemann said. “For so many of us, going back to school added a whole other level of stress,” she said. “Now, it’s possible to have school at home. … When we have these drills, it just reminds so many of (us) that there could have been another option if we had just stayed home.”
For Justin Funez, a University of Chicago student and volunteer with Students Demand Action, an organization that works to end gun violence, reforms should also extend beyond school grounds. Most of the gun violence that children experience occurs off-campus – and that’s particularly true in low-income communities, where students often learn in classrooms with the sounds of sirens in the background.
“How can you do your homework if you’re worried about that?” Funez posed. “How many clubs can you actually participate in if you know you have to be home before” the gunfire erupts?
USA TODAY.
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Greek teachers' unions protest new education law
Staff
October 03, 2021
Protesters clashed with police in Athens on Friday during a demonstration against a new education law, according to local media.
About 3,000 people affiliated with school teachers’ unions marched in protest of the legislation, according to the daily Kathimerini.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to stop the crowd, which was blocking a main road in the capital.
The unions are protesting the law, which makes teacher and school evaluations mandatory. They also voiced discontent at a court ruling Thursday that prohibited the strike.
Roadblocks were set up on several major streets in Athens to prevent demonstrators from blocking them.
No arrests have been reported.
On Thursday, Education Minister Niki Kerameus sued the two unions affiliated with private and public school teachers over the plan to strike, which she said was illegal./aa
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Legend Manny Pacquiao ends his boxing career at 42
Staff
September 30, 2021
Manny Pacquiao Wednesday announced ending his boxing career at the age of 42.
“To the greatest fans and the greatest sport in the world, thank you! Thank you for all the wonderful memories. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made, but I’m at peace with it,” he said on Twitter.
"Chase your dreams, work hard, and watch what happens. Goodbye boxing."
Pacquiao sealed 62 wins, eight losses and two draws during his 26-year career, becoming the only boxer to gain titles in eight different weight classes.
Pacquiao's retirement decision came shortly after he announced his candidacy for the country’s president. The Philippines is set to hold elections in May 2022.
He has been serving as a senator since 2016./agencies
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PSG secure 2-0 victory over Manchester City in Paris
Staff
September 29, 2021
Paris Saint-Germain beat Manchester City 2-0 Tuesday in a UEFA Champions League Group A match.
PSG took the lead in the eighth minute with a goal by Idrissa Gueye and Lionel Messi scored his first-ever goal for the team in the 74th minute at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
In another group A clash, Club Brugge KV claimed a 2-1 away victory over Leipzig.
Following the results, the Parisians are at the top of the group with four points while Club Brugge are in second spot with the same number of points.
Third placed Manchester City have three points and fourth placed Leipzig did not collect a point.
Also, Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Moldovan club Sheriff at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
- Tuesday results:
Group A:
Paris Saint-Germain - Manchester City: 2-0
Leipzig - Club Brugge KV: 1-2
Group B:
Porto - Liverpool: 1-5
Milan- Atletico Madrid: 1-2
Group C:
Ajax - Besiktas: 2-0
Borussia Dortmund - Sporting CP: 1-0
Group D:
Shakhtar Donetsk - Inter Milan: 0-0
Real Madrid - Sheriff: 1-2
aa
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PSG to take on Manchester City with Messi in squad
Staff
September 29, 2021
Paris Saint-Germain will face Manchester City on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League Group A match, with Argentine superstar Lionel Messi in the squad. The two sides meet for the sixth time in a European competition.
Manchester City claimed a 6-3 home win against RB Leipzig in the opener match. Ranked 2nd in the Premier League with 13 points, they remain unbeaten in their past 10 away games in the Champions League.
The PSG were held to a 1-1 away draw with Club Brugge in their opener, but dominate Ligue 1 with nine points, ahead of second-placed Lens with 24 points in eight matches.
Match of day to start at 1900 GMT
The PSG have claimed their last six competitive games at Parc des Princes since losing 2-1 to Manchester City on April 28.
Manchester City will be without some key players due to injury: Sergio Ramos and Ilkay Gundogan. Idrissa Gueye is suspended.
A total of six stars have played for both the teams: Nicolas Anelka, Ali Benarbia, Djamel Belmadi, Sylvain Distin, Alioune Toure, and George Weah.
The match of the day will kick off at 1900 GMT at Parc des Princes in Paris./aa
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Adola, Gebreslase win in Berlin Marathon 2021
Staff
September 27, 2021
Ethiopia’s Guye Adola and Gotytom Gebreslase won the men’s and women’s titles respectively in the 2021 Berlin Marathon on Sunday.
Adola bagged the men's title in 2:05:45, while Bethwel Yegon of Kenya placed second with 2:06:14 and another Ethiopian athlete Kenenisa Bekele took the third spot in 2:06:47.
In the women's event, Gebreslase finished in the first place in 2:20:09, while Ethiopian athletes Hiwot Gebrekidan took the second spot in 2:21:23 and Helen Tola placed third in 2:23:05.
Berlin Marathon, part of the World Athletics platinum label road races, is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September./BBC
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Dozens of girl students flee Afghanistan to settle in Canada
Staff
September 21, 2021
About 200 girl students and dancers made a daring escape from Afghanistan with the help of the Toronto, Canada Prince Charles charity, Canadian media reported Monday.
The girls and their families will resettle in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the next few weeks, said the Canadian immigration minister.
“(We will) exhaust all the options to help Afghan refugees get to safety in our country,” Marco Mendicino told the Canadian Press news service. "Offering refuge to women, girls and persecuted minorities is at the heart of Canada’s humanitarian response to the crisis in Afghanistan.”
The refugees fled Afghanistan to escape Afghanistan’s Taliban interim government, which issued a decree late last week that girls could not return to high school.
The refugees tried to get out via the airport in the capital Kabul but it was too dangerous. Rebuffed, the group spent weeks trying to find a safe passage by land and eventually did, reaching Pakistan. The exact route is being kept secret for security reasons.
In 2010, Britain’s Prince Charles set up Prince's Charities Canada, whose Toronto branch played a key role in planning the escape. The group expressed relief that the Afghans got out safely.
“They are a highly inspiring community and now they have an opportunity to grow and continue their education in Canada,” said Mark Fell, the chair of Prince’s Charities Canada.
In about three weeks, the girls and families will travel to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where they will settle after going through COVID-19 quarantine.
Saskatoon has a population of about 274,000. There is an Afghan community there. but the number of Afghans was not immediately available. However, some of the refugees who escaped reportedly have family there.
The country’s 2016 census shows there are about 76,000 Afghans living in Canada, according to Taylor and Francis, a UK-based company that publishes academic books and journals./aa
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Tottenham legendary goal-scorer Jimmy Greaves dies at 81
Staff
September 20, 2021
Jimmy Greaves, the legendary striker of England and Tottenham Hotspur, has died at the age of 81.
Tottenham on Sunday announced the death of the club's former player at his home.
With 266 goals in 379 appearances from 1961 to 1970, Greaves is the London club's record goal-scorer.
Greaves also netted 44 goals in 57 matches for England and he was also part of his nation’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad./agencies
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