Iraq's World Cup play-off decider later this month should be postponed amid the escalating US-Israeli war with Iran, says the team's head coach Graham Arnold. The Iraqis are set to face either Bolivia or Suriname in the Mexican city of Monterrey on 31 March, with the winner of the inter-continental play-off booking their place in the 2026 World Cup to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canad...
Iraq's World Cup play-off decider later this month should be postponed amid the escalating US-Israeli war with Iran, says the team's head coach Graham Arnold. The Iraqis are set to face either Bolivia or Suriname in the Mexican city of Monterrey on 31 March, with the winner of the inter-continental play-off booking their place in the 2026 World Cup to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada from 11 June. But Iraq are concerned they might not be able to get their players and staff over to Mexico for the match because of the travel disruption in the Middle East, triggered by the conflict in neighbouring Iran. Iraqi airspace has been closed since 28 February when the first US-Israeli strikes began and Iran responded by firing missiles and drones at Israel, Gulf states and other nearby countries. Arnold, who became Iraq manager in May 2025, said putting together a team solely with players based outside Iraq would hinder the country's chances of qualifying for their first World Cup since 1986. "It wouldn't be our best team and we need our best team for the country's biggest game in 40 years," the Australian said. "The Iraqi people are so passionate about the game that it is insane. The fact that they haven't qualified for 40 years is probably the main reason I took this job. "But at this stage with the airport being shut down we are working hard to try and find another alternative."
As a new report reveals career ‘apartheid’ in newsrooms, I and many others wonder if the fine promises will ever bring genuine change There’s a generally accepted ethical requirement for news organisations to reflect society, both in terms of the content they produce and the people who produce it. Unfortunately, this is just not happening. Look, for example, at the new study released this week by ...
As a new report reveals career ‘apartheid’ in newsrooms, I and many others wonder if the fine promises will ever bring genuine change There’s a generally accepted ethical requirement for news organisations to reflect society, both in terms of the content they produce and the people who produce it. Unfortunately, this is just not happening. Look, for example, at the new study released this week by the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity revealing a DEI backlash in British journalism , with one respondent describing their office as an “apartheid newsroom” . Look, too, at the Press Awards , said to showcase “the best of national journalism in the UK”, and notably the individual awards shortlists. Search for the Black journalists in them. You’ll struggle. Diversity was clearly not a priority: several categories, including news reporter of the year, feature only men. As the head of journalism and strategic communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, this all makes my heart sink. Dr Omega Douglas is an academic and writer. Her latest book The Racial Dynamics of Reporting Africa: Colonial and Decolonial Practices is Mainstream Western News Media is published by Routledge. Continue reading...
Defeat in Italy confirmed this is a fast-developing crisis with supporters watching a team stuck on the boulevard of broken dreams Even before the final weekend unfolds the 2026 Six Nations can be adjudged already as a vintage one. Three teams mathematically remain in the title race and all of them are still full of running. Whether it is France, Ireland or Scotland who ultimately pull clear, an e...
Defeat in Italy confirmed this is a fast-developing crisis with supporters watching a team stuck on the boulevard of broken dreams Even before the final weekend unfolds the 2026 Six Nations can be adjudged already as a vintage one. Three teams mathematically remain in the title race and all of them are still full of running. Whether it is France, Ireland or Scotland who ultimately pull clear, an eventful championship this year will be remembered fondly by almost everybody. For every beaming winner, though, there inevitably has to be a frustrated, bruised loser. And to put it mildly things have not unfolded in the way England were hoping just a few short weeks ago. “On 14 March in Paris we want to be in a position entering that game where we can achieve what we’re all aiming to achieve,” Steve Borthwick said on 23 January. “We want England fans flooding across the Channel to watch the team in a massive encounter in the final round with the opportunity to achieve what we want.” Continue reading...
Max Dowman and Rio Ngumoha staked their claim for more game time while Fulham paid for a lack of ambition Port Vale have only ever reached the last eight of the FA Cup once before in their entire history, in 1953-54, when they went one stage further, losing the semi-final at Villa Park 2-1 to West Brom thanks to a much-disputed winning goal. If only VAR had been present then, you might say. In the...
Max Dowman and Rio Ngumoha staked their claim for more game time while Fulham paid for a lack of ambition Port Vale have only ever reached the last eight of the FA Cup once before in their entire history, in 1953-54, when they went one stage further, losing the semi-final at Villa Park 2-1 to West Brom thanks to a much-disputed winning goal. If only VAR had been present then, you might say. In their fifth-round victory over Sunderland this weekend, they were also unfortunate despite the presence of technology. Why was referee Anthony Taylor not asked to go and check the TV monitor when George Hall was cynically taken out by the Sunderland goalkeeper Melkor Ellberg, just outside the penalty area with the match on a knife-edge? Even if the striker’s run was going away from goal, he surely had the pace to have got a shot away. Let’s hope VAR give the remaining lower-division teams fair shrift when it comes to the rest of the competition. Peter Lansley Match report: Port Vale 1-0 Sunderland Match report: Mansfield Town 1-2 Arsenal Match report: Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City Match report: Wrexham 2-4 Chelsea (aet) Match report: Wolves 1-3 Liverpool Match report: Fulham 0-1 Southampton Continue reading...
The Bavarian band known for a love of tinkering embraced a fresh ethos, ditching remote collaboration for a collective recording done in a week ‘It all went so fast,” Markus Acher says. “We’ve never been this fast at making a record.” He is sitting at the far end of a sofa in the Notwist’s Munich studio. On the other end is his brother Micha Acher; next to them, Cico Beck, who joined the band in 2...
The Bavarian band known for a love of tinkering embraced a fresh ethos, ditching remote collaboration for a collective recording done in a week ‘It all went so fast,” Markus Acher says. “We’ve never been this fast at making a record.” He is sitting at the far end of a sofa in the Notwist’s Munich studio. On the other end is his brother Micha Acher; next to them, Cico Beck, who joined the band in 2014, balances on a stool. For a group known for meticulous studio craft, speed is an unfamiliar sensation. For most of their career, the Notwist have worked slowly, layering, revising, rethinking, as if wary of committing too soon to anything at all. Formed in 1989 in the Bavarian town of Weilheim, the Notwist began as a heavy metal trio before evolving, over the next decade, into one of Germany’s most distinctive bands. Their breakthrough album, Neon Golden (2002), married indie songwriting to electronic textures, shaped largely by then-member Martin Gretschmann, also known as Console or Acid Pauli, in a way that felt inward-looking and strangely expansive. Its influence travelled far beyond Germany, securing the band a place in the canon of early-2000s indie experimentalism. Pitchfork named Neon Golden one of the best albums of the 2000s. Continue reading...
With its meditative pace and sincere interest in moral questions, Clint Bentley’s film of a rudderless man cutting down trees in Idaho’s verdant vistas has the air of a Hollywood classic from another era Train Dreams is arguably the lowest-profile of all the Oscar best film nominees, and could have easily passed me by, destined instead to be lost in the sprawling Netflix library, if it weren’t for...
With its meditative pace and sincere interest in moral questions, Clint Bentley’s film of a rudderless man cutting down trees in Idaho’s verdant vistas has the air of a Hollywood classic from another era Train Dreams is arguably the lowest-profile of all the Oscar best film nominees, and could have easily passed me by, destined instead to be lost in the sprawling Netflix library, if it weren’t for a phone call with a friend last year. She had just watched one of last year’s big films – which carried famous names, plenty of hype, and promised to generate lots of debate – and emerged feeling despondent about it as well as the state of cinema. It was a film that, like so many she had recently encountered, contained only empty provocations that amounted to nothing. “I don’t want to sound like a cliche,” she said, “but I believe this was all better in the 1970s!” Train Dreams was one of the few films of the year she had enjoyed. So I came into Train Dreams, Clint Bentley’s adaptation of the Denis Johnson novella, with that idea in mind: that it was a thing out of step with our time and possibly better for it, too. Immediately, its use of a kindly voiced omniscient narrator recalled Hollywood classics of the late 20th century. Our voice of God drops us into Bonners Ferry, Idaho, in the early 1900s, to the life of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a man who drifts through his first two decades without much purpose before he falls in love with the free-spirited Gladys (Felicity Jones). Continue reading...
The showpiece festival is a key indicator of the state of racing and leading storylines can offer timely lift amid concern over health of the sport In the long-forgotten time, about 30 years or so ago, when the Cheltenham festival was a three-day get-together for country types, no one gave much thought to attendance figures, the price of beer or maximising the customer experience. It was a coming ...
The showpiece festival is a key indicator of the state of racing and leading storylines can offer timely lift amid concern over health of the sport In the long-forgotten time, about 30 years or so ago, when the Cheltenham festival was a three-day get-together for country types, no one gave much thought to attendance figures, the price of beer or maximising the customer experience. It was a coming together of the National Hunt clans, much anticipated and hugely enjoyed but not, in the grand scheme, an event with a story to tell about the overall health of the sport. But not any more. The state of the Cheltenham festival is a key indicator of the state of the racing nation as a whole, and perhaps more so than ever this year, as the sport heads to Gloucestershire rudderless after Lord Allen, who took over as chair of the British Horseracing Authority just six months ago, turned out to be a temporary hire. There is even talk of schism in the dysfunctional racing family, as the showpiece tracks, Cheltenham included, demand change “to ensure that significant views from key racecourses can influence outcomes”. Continue reading...
With the prospect of National Rugby League investment in Super League – however that may look, and with whatever level of control the Australian authorities want to overhaul the British game – now at boiling point, there has been a lot of discussion lately about what Super League does, and perhaps does not, need. That debate will rage in the coming weeks but what is surely beyond doubt is that, fo...
With the prospect of National Rugby League investment in Super League – however that may look, and with whatever level of control the Australian authorities want to overhaul the British game – now at boiling point, there has been a lot of discussion lately about what Super League does, and perhaps does not, need. That debate will rage in the coming weeks but what is surely beyond doubt is that, for the competition to be at its most appealing, it needs its strongest clubs to thrive. Underdog stories are compelling, and we have had plenty of those in the past few years; they create great sporting drama and fresh narratives for the powerbrokers to sell. But what will drive Super League forward – with or without NRL investment – is the might of its heavyweight sides. Few fit that billing quite like Leeds who, after a fairly tepid few seasons, are beginning to show they could be in a position to reclaim their spot at the summit of the British game, both on and off the field. For more than 10 years Leeds were the team to beat. Having won eight Super League titles in 13 years, however, around the turn of the decade their influence began to wane. But with Super League going through a set of rule changes in the off-season, with quicker and better policed rucks designed to make for a faster, free‑flowing game, it looks to be Leeds and Wigan who are flourishing the most, illustrated best by the Rhinos’ dismantling of the champions, Hull KR, in Las Vegas last week. The game on Sunday was not at the same heights as the match at Allegiant Stadium, as Leeds muscled their way past a spirited Castleford thanks largely to a hat-trick from Maika Sivo. There was undoubtedly an element of Vegas fatigue in this performance but, under Brad Arthur, Leeds have the hallmark of a side ready to compete for silverware again. Last season was a year of progression; having missed the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons, Leeds returned to the top four before a surprise home defeat...
‘I wish that by plucking a single hair you would get more to grow back,” says Desmond Tobin, professor of dermatological science at University College Dublin. “It would be a great solution for people who are thinning and unhappy about it.” Unfortunately, it’s a myth. Our scalp is covered in follicles – essentially tiny hair factories – and each one produces just a single hair shaft. Plucking a hai...
‘I wish that by plucking a single hair you would get more to grow back,” says Desmond Tobin, professor of dermatological science at University College Dublin. “It would be a great solution for people who are thinning and unhappy about it.” Unfortunately, it’s a myth. Our scalp is covered in follicles – essentially tiny hair factories – and each one produces just a single hair shaft. Plucking a hair won’t cause multiple hairs to grow from the same follicle. In fact, repeatedly pulling hairs out can have the opposite effect. Over time, the damage may mean the hair never grows back at all. Tobin points to the ultra-thin eyebrow trend of the 1990s and early 2000s, when many people overplucked and found their follicles simply stopped producing hair. “They weren’t getting two for every one,” he says. “They were actually getting none.” double quotation mark Grey hair isn’t necessarily a negative development. It often grows just as well as – and sometimes better than – pigmented hair Damage is the key issue. “You may fracture the hair as you pluck it, or pull it out by the root,” Tobin explains. “Sometimes when you see tiny blood droplets on the skin, you know you’ve removed the entire follicle and it will not recover.” Is there anything you can do to discourage grey hairs from appearing? It is largely genetic, says Tobin. Looking at close relatives can give you a sense of what to expect. That said, chronic stress, poor sleep and nutritional deficiencies may accelerate aspects of biological ageing, including changes in the hair. Still, grey hair isn’t necessarily a negative development. It often grows just as well as – and sometimes better than – pigmented hair. Men with salt-and-pepper beards, for example, frequently notice that white hairs grow longer between shaves. “There seems to be a preferential growth-rate advantage to white and grey hair,” says Tobin.
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter Last year, we had Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on the podcast to talk to us about his company's plans to tokenize shares of private companies. The idea is that retail investors want to participate in hot names like OpenAI and SpaceX, and that tokenizing private equity would allow th...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter Last year, we had Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on the podcast to talk to us about his company's plans to tokenize shares of private companies. The idea is that retail investors want to participate in hot names like OpenAI and SpaceX, and that tokenizing private equity would allow this to happen. Right after our episode though, a number of companies expressed frustration at the idea, saying that they were not voluntarily participating in the plan. So where do things stand now? And how is Robinhood thinking about how it will play in the red hot prediction market space? On this episode, Vlad returns to talk about where things stand, and all of the company's new efforts to give retail traders even more instruments to use.
(RTTNews) - IMI plc (IMI.L, IMIAF, IMIUY), an engineering company, on Monday announced the launch of a share buyback programme of up to 500 million pounds to reduce its share capital. The company said the programme is expected to run until no later than December 31. The company said it entered into an agreement with JPMorgan Securities plc to manage the first tranche of the programme worth up to 2...
(RTTNews) - IMI plc (IMI.L, IMIAF, IMIUY), an engineering company, on Monday announced the launch of a share buyback programme of up to 500 million pounds to reduce its share capital. The company said the programme is expected to run until no later than December 31. The company said it entered into an agreement with JPMorgan Securities plc to manage the first tranche of the programme worth up to 250 million pounds. On Friday, IMI.L closed trading 2.25% higher at GBp 2,1814 on the London Stock Exchange. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Pornpimone Audkamkong/iStock via Getty Images “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill in a speech to the House of Commons in 1948 “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” Mark Twain I saw quite a bit of commentary last week about the similarities between the events of today and the early 1970s, specifically pointing to the Yom Kippur War and A...
Pornpimone Audkamkong/iStock via Getty Images “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill in a speech to the House of Commons in 1948 “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” Mark Twain I saw quite a bit of commentary last week about the similarities between the events of today and the early 1970s, specifically pointing to the Yom Kippur War and Arab oil embargo of 1973. I lived through that time, but I can’t claim to have much memory of the embargo, or inflation, for that matter. I was 12 years old in 1973, and while I’m sure the price of baseball cards and comic books went up, I don’t remember it. Even when we experience history directly, our memory of events can diverge from reality. The comparison to today seems straightforward. We had had a bout of rising inflation in the late '60s, but it had come back down, and things seemed to be improving. But then, Syria and Egypt attacked Israel on October 6th, 1973 (Yom Kippur), in retaliation for the 1967 war. The US provided support to Israel, and in response the Gulf states imposed an oil embargo on the US. Crude prices shot up from around $3.50 at the start of the war to over $10 by the time the embargo ended in March of 1974. Today, just as in the early '70s, the inflation rate has come down after a bout of inflation but not back to where it was before the COVID inflation. And now, with the start of the war with Iran and the closing of the Straits of Hormuz (for now), we seem to have replicated the embargo of 1973. I can see how this analogy is appealing, but there is a minor problem. The oil embargo was not the spark that lit the inflation of the 1970s. The price of oil did nearly triple after the 1973 war and embargo started, but inflation was already rising rapidly before that. The year-over-year change in the CPI had fallen from about 6.5% in early 1970 to 3% by the summer of 1972. But inflation rose from there, and by the start of the war over a year later, the...