₦airaland Forum

You can't have a beautiful lady sitting in front of you like that and assume your 'STARLINK'
settings won't change to 'WEAKLINK' settings.🤔

President of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis has made it clear that Galatasary must agree to a clause which bars them from selling Victor Osimhen to any other team in Italy in the future, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Both teams are locked in talks over his deal, which will cost €75m and as talks continue over the mode of payment for the fee, De Laurentiis has demanded for an ” anti-Serie A” clause.

The clause will bar Galatasary from reselling him to another team in Italy. A strange clause which Napoli want the Turkish side and Osimhen to agree to before the move.

It remains unclear if they will agree to the clause, which is a response to reports that Osimhen will want a return to the Serie A where Juventus have been his long time admirer

Source:Owngoal Nigeria

Former City striker Sergio Aguero has made a daring statement regarding the outcome of the tie, vowing to take extreme action should Real Madrid progress.

With the UEFA Champions League returning for the knockout play-off stage, Manchester City and Real Madrid are set for a high-stakes two-legged clash.

Former City striker Sergio Aguero has made a daring statement regarding the outcome of the tie, vowing to take extreme action should Real Madrid progress.

Both clubs have been dominant forces in European football in recent years, but this season has seen its share of struggles. Real Madrid finished the group stage in 11th place with five wins, while Manchester City only narrowly secured a play-off spot after defeating Club Brugge on the final matchday.

The two sides have met 12 times in Champions League history, with City holding the upper hand in recent encounters.

Ahead of their fourth knockout meeting, Aguero, widely regarded as a club legend, shared his thoughts on a podcast.

He expressed confidence in City's superiority over the reigning European champions. "Real Madrid cannot beat Man City; if they beat Man City, I'll cut off my testicles," he declared.

Both teams will be desperate to reach the round of 16, given their history in the competition. Real Madrid, however, will be without key players such as Lucas Vázquez and Antonio Rüdiger due to injuries, giving City a clear advantage for the first leg at the Etihad Stadium. Meanwhile, Ballon d'Or winner Rodri has been added to City's squad, providing a significant boost. However, his availability remains uncertain as he continues his recovery from an ACL injury.

Despite their injury concerns, Madrid will look to their star attackers to pose a serious threat. Pep Guardiola's side, on the other hand, will aim to capitalise on their opponent's absences, especially after facing questions over their recent form, which has seen them struggle in both the Premier League and Champions League.

Waiting for Sergio Aguero to fulfill his promise. After all,a promise made must be fulfilled.

In response to what Gasperini said about Ademola Lookman's penalty loss, Ademola Lookman has come out to state his own side of the story

This is what I call wisdom and I give my thumbs up for Governor Fubara for taking this latest step.

Looking at the portrait of this beautiful couple, you will not believe that they have been married for a whole 25years without having cause for any brawl, fight and misunderstanding. . Her husband has not even raised his voice on her too. As you can see, the wife is a very caring woman all along. What a beautiful couple to emulate.

Napoli forward, Victor Osimhen has been named one of the Most Valuable Players of the 2022/23 Serie A season.

This was made known on the league’s website on Friday.

“The rating system, patented in 2010 with K-Sport and scientifically validated, considers not only statistical data and technical events but also positional data. This makes it possible to analyse crucial aspects such as movement without the ball and thus optimal movements, game choices, and the contribution to the technical and physical efficiency of the team, which allow for an objective and qualitative evaluation of the performance. For the final calculation were considered all matches played in Serie A (except Round 38),” it added

Below is the list of the Serie A Most Valuable Players:

BEST UNDER 23: Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus)

BEST GOALKEEPER: Ivan Provedel (Lazio)

BEST DEFENDER: Minjae Kim (Napoli)

BEST MIDFIELDER: Nicolò Barella (Inter)

BEST STRIKER: Victor Osimhen (Napoli)

Meanwhile, “The best under-23, goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker will receive the trophy on the pitch on the final matchday of the season.”

Napoli are now 18 points clear at the top of the Serie A table with 62 points while their closest rival intermilan have 44points. Thanks to goals from Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen:Kvaratskhelia's run opened the scoring in the 12th minute, with no Sassuolo player able to stop him from advancing from the halfway line while Osimhen then made it two from the tightest of angles after he and Sassuolo's Lauriente had hit the post.
In the second half, both teams had goals disallowed, but Napoli were in cruise control throughout the second 45 minutes.

These are the top 10 goal scorers in Italia serie a

1. Victor Osimhen Napoli 18goals

2. Ademola Lookman Atalanta 12goals

3. Lautaro Martinez Inter 12goals

4. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Napoli 10goals

5. M'Bala Nzola Spezia 9goals

6. Boulaye Dia Salernitana 8goals

7. Dusan Vlahovic Juventus 8goals

8. Marko Arnautovic Bologna 8goals

9. Mattia Zaccagni Lazio 8goals

10. Paulo Dybala Roma 8goals

The height and physique differences are just too much and the El-Savadorian girls have already conceeded defeat to the Americans.

Rolexxxy:
Since I discovered that, he has been pleading with me for forgiveness. Should I forgive him or just move on?

He has been cheating behind you all this while. My advice is that you move on, he is not meant for you.

A lot of ladies and house wives out there and at home are always fond of peeping codedly and intentionally on their boyfriend and husband's phones to know who they are chatting with.

Boyfriends and husbands on the other hand do it in many aggressive/confrontational ways to know who their ladies and wives are chatting with but give it to our ladies; they are the best when it comes to this act. Examples are shown below.

Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari company died in 1988 on the 14th August. About 2 months later on 5th October 1988, Ozil was born. He was once an arsenal footballer. They have unbelievable resemblance

Source: Quora digest

Thomas Fuller, an African sold into slavery in 1724 at the age of 14, was sometimes known as the “Virginia Calculator” for his extraordinary ability to solve complex math problems in his head.

He was asked how many seconds there were in a year and a half, he answered in about two minutes, 47,304,000. Again he was asked how many seconds a man has lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old, he answered in a minute and a half 2,210,500,800.

One of the men was working out the problems on paper, and informed Fuller that he was wrong, because the answer was much smaller. Fuller hastily replied, "'Top, massa, you forget de leap year." When the leap year was added in, the sums matched.

Source: Black History- Jac King

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This is a scam. PLEASE BEWARE!!!

austinceasar:
In stock??...No

But there are pieces available

What is the price of the one you have if I want to buy? I mean the snapdragon variant

Good afternoon. Do you have Samsung note 10+ 128gb, Qualcomm version in stock. What's the price?

A Mexican mayor has married an alligator Wearing a wedding dress, sealing the odd couples union with a kiss.

It was part of an old-age indigenous tradition, conducted by Mayor Victor HUgo Sosa, and intended to bring abundance to the village of San Pedro Huamelula in southwestern Mexico.

The seven-year-old reptile is known as the little Princess, and is thought to be a deity representing mother earth; her to the local leader symbolizes the joining of humans with the divine.

The ceremony was colourful with traditional music with revellers dancing, while urging the indigenious leader to kiss his new bride.

Trumpets blared while the drum provided a festive beat as the Mayor carried the alligator bride in his arms through the streets as men fanned it with their hats

Elia Edith Aguilar,known as the godmother who organized the wedding, said 'it gives me so much happiness and makes me proud of my roots'

The small alligator's snout was tied shut to avoid unwanted biting as the mayor kissed it multiple times during the ceremony.[b][/b]

If given the opportunity of an open cheque of N30,000,000 just to date and fall in love with any of these female body builders ; which one will you go for 1,2,3 or 4?

KevMitnick:
This is a trans. A man who later decided to be a woman.

I don't think so. She Has been using steroids all throughout her professional bodybuilding career.

They say what a man can do a woman can do better and many female bodybuilders have proven this. Bodybuilding is not an easy task at all since it requires extreme hard work and patience. These female bodybuilders however have proven that nothing is too hard to achieve.

One of the most known female bodybuilders is Nataliya Kuznetsova. She is a Russian and a professional bodybuilder who has won herself so many titles. She was born on 1st July 1991 she is currently 29 years old. She stands tall at 5’7 ft and weighs approximately 200 pounds.

She is considered the heaviest female bodybuilder in the world. She has gained a massive following on social media with most people seeking to get more views of that incredible body. She has strong and incredible muscles.

She has been training for 15 years to achieve that incredible physique that most bodybuilders would dream of. She revealed that she started training at the young age of 14 when she weighed less than 40kgs and now she weighs more than double the weight.

She trains for several days a day and sticks to a regimented diet and instead of adding spices to her food, she adds protein powder. Bodybuilding involves a lot of weight lifting and cardio and it’s crazy to imagine that these female bodybuilders endure all that.

Apart from that, bodybuilders observe strict dieting that involves a lot of protein intake. This is for sure not for everyone. Most female bodybuilders have little to no breasts since the fat in this area is all shrunk. This makes them have a more unbelievable physique.

A young lady rejected a public proposal by her boyfriend slapping the guy only to regret her actions few minutes later.

While in a shopping mall with his girlfriend, the guy created a scene when he pulled out a ring to propose to his girlfriend.

In recent viral public proposal portraits, the lady rejected the proposal with anger and slapped the guy.

She ran out of the mall very mad at the guy and didn’t listen to friends of the guy trying to calm her down.

She got out of the mall in an angry mood only for one of the guy’s friend to tell her that her guy had actually bought a car for her which she could see outside.

The guy had parked the car at the mall’s car park with “will you marry me” posted on it.

Immediately the girl’s temper went down shouting ‘why didn’t he tell me’, .

Fear that Gender !!

*1.* "Never fight a man under GRACE, because the GRACE he carries will DISGRACE you!"

*2.* "No African girl will choose Six packs over six Cars.. So my sons stop the gym and work hard!"

*3.* "Beware of the naked man who offers you clothes!"

*4.* “The death of a lion cannot be announced by a goat”.

*5.* “When one’s goat gets missing, the aroma of a neighbor’s soup gets suspicious”.

*6.* “The future belongs to the Risk takers, Not the Comfort seekers!"

*7.* “The words of the elders do not lock all the doors, they leave the right door open”.

*8.* “A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple!"

*9.* “Coca-Cola only sold 25 bottles the first year but kept going. Never give up!"

*10.* “Let not what you cannot do tear you from what you can do”.

*11.* “A child who asks questions does not become a fool”.

*12.* “The first person you think of in the morning, or last person you think of at night, is either the cause of your happiness or your pain!"

*13.* “Be careful who you trust! Salt and Sugar are both white!"

*14.* “To Make A Difference In Life, You Don’t Have To Be Brilliant, Rich, Beautiful, Or Perfect. You Just Have To Care!"

*15.* “Kindness is like butter, it works best when you spread it around!"

*16.* “The walls don’t only have ears, they also see!"

*17.* “The leopard is beautiful, but has a bad heart!"

*18.* “Everybody is a nobody, trying to be somebody!"

*19.* “Fake hair, fake nails, fake eye lash, artificial face, and sometimes, fake behavior. Yet, a woman will say she needs a real man!"

*20.* “Never open the door for an Armed Robber. Let him break it, its part of his Job!"

*21.* “Sometimes, you have to play the role of a fool to fool the fools who think they are fooling you!"

*22.* “One Man’s food is every other man’s food. Just because one idiot refuses to eat it doesn’t make it a poison!"

*23.* “If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where her prayer has not already been!"

*24.* “The only person that reads the terms & conditions is the one who writes it!"

*25.* “The Chief who doesn’t know what to say, says that his friend has said what he would have said!"

*26.* “Just because you met them at the church doesn’t mean they’re the ones. Demons go to church too!"

*27.* “A foolish man tells a woman to stop talking, but a wise man tells her that her mouth is extremely beautiful, when her lips are closed!"

*28.* “No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come!"

*29.* “A woman’s greatest perfume is the fragrance of her man’s success!"

*30.* “A wise person knows that there is something to learn from everyone!"

*31.* “It requires wisdom to understand wisdom. The music is nothing, if the audience is deaf”!

*32.* “No matter how rich you are, you cannot pay for your sins”!

*33.* “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win!"

*34.* “Give them a chair, if they can’t stand your success!"

*35.* “Be careful about the rumours you hear about a lady. It either comes from a man who can’t have her, or a lady who can’t compete with her”!

*36.* “None of us is as smart as all of us. Work together achieve more”.

After reading through, numbers 8,12,18,19,21, 24,27 & 33 gave me reasons to think about life

Good morning.

After six years of courtship, he tells you that he is no longer interested in the relationship and the wedding preparations.

It feels as if the world has come to an end for you. You explained all what happened to your younger brothers, out of love they went to his house to settle the matter and correct the errors for you.

The issue was settled and it all ended well.

About 30 years ago, just months after starting work as a prostitute, Maxine Doogan became pregnant.

She had been with a new client at a massage parlour in Anchorage, Alaska, when she realised he had removed his condom surreptitiously during intercourse. Shocked, she ran to the bathroom. When she returned the client was gone.

Doogan, then in her mid-twenties, went to a nearby health clinic for a round of tests for sexually transmitted infections and later gave a silent thanks for each negative result.

Six weeks later, Doogan sought an abortion. It cost her around $300 (about £220 at today's conversion rate) and after the procedure she couldn't work for a month.What the client did was wrong. But as far as she knew it wasn't illegal.

"There's just no recourse for something like that," she said.

Last Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bipartisan bill that outlaws non-consensual condom removal, known as "stealthing". The new legislation adds the act to the state's civil definition of sexual battery, making California the first US state to render stealthing illegal.

The law gives victims a clear legal remedy for the assault that Doogan, who now lives in San Francisco, suffered decades ago. And advocates say it marks a sea change for other survivors who, unlike Doogan, might now have their day in court.

"We wanted to make sure that it's not only immoral, but illegal," said California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia who introduced the bill.

Garcia has been working on some version of this legislation for years. In 2017 and again in 2018, she introduced a bill that would have made stealthing a criminal offence, and allowed prosecutors to seek jail time for perpetrators. These bills either died on the floor or did not get a hearing.

This new version, which amends just the civil code, passed in the California legislature with no opposition. Survivors can sue offenders for damages but no criminal charges can be brought forward.

"I still think this should be in the penal code," Garcia told the BBC. "If consent was broken, isn't that the definition of rape, or sexual assault?"

Legislative analysts have said that stealthing could be considered misdemeanour sexual battery, even though it is not explicitly named in the criminal code. But Garcia's new law removes any ambiguity for civil claims which, experts say, will make it easier for survivors to pursue their cases.

"We can start to talk about it in a way where we have a common language," Garcia said.

Garcia said she was inspired to bring the topic of stealthing to the House floor after reading a 2017 Yale Law School research paper by then-student Alexandra Brodsky - who is now widely credited with bringing the term into popular use.

Brodsky, who now works as a civil rights lawyer and is the author of Sexual Justice, which looks at how to respond fairly to sexual assault, detailed a number of stories in her paper from survivors in the context of otherwise consensual romantic or sexual relationships.

Their accounts often started the same way, Brodsky wrote. "I'm not sure this is rape but…"

They detailed their fear of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy, as well as intense feelings of violation and betrayal. But the survivors Brodsky spoke to - many of whom reported being raped previously - did not describe stealthing as equivalent to sexual assault.

People weren't making that connection yet, Brodsky said. "I think a big part of the problem was that a lot of people thought they were the only person this had happened to," she said.

But research shows stealthing is "depressingly common", according to analysis from California's Senate judiciary committee in assessing Garcia's bill.

A 2019 paper published in the National Library of Medicine found that 12% of women aged 21 to 30 reported experience with stealthing. That same year, researchers with Monash University in Australia, found that one in three women and one in five men who have sex with men had been subjected to the practice.

And another 2019 study found that almost 10% of men reported removing a condom during sex without consent.

In her paper, Brodsky quoted a well-known stealthing blogger, who used his now-defunct site to give advice to other men on how to secretly remove condoms without attracting attention.

It's a woman's duty to spread their legs, commenters wrote, and a man's right to "spread his seed".

But while awareness of stealthing has grown, the legislative response has lagged.

Even in countries where stealthing has been deemed sexual assault - including the UK, New Zealand and Germany - it's rarely prosecuted, in part because of difficulties in proving intent.

This is the advantage of civil suits. The burden of proof is lower than in criminal cases, and the decision to pursue a claim rests with survivors, not prosecutors.

And both Brodsky and Garcia said there's inherent significance in the state officially labelling stealthing as an illegal act.

"Imagine what it's going to feel like when they [survivors] see that the state of California thinks that they don't deserve to be treated this way," Brodsky said. "That it deserved a legal solution."

The bill was supported by the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Educational and Research Project (ESPLERP), an advocacy organisation founded and run by Doogan.

The law will allow sex workers to sue clients who remove condoms, she said, and hopefully pave the way for further legal protection for sex workers and other groups typically marginalised by the criminal justice system.

As shown in the images below,

Image 1:
Tyson Fury knocks down Wilder in round three

Image 2:
Deontay Wilder coming back after round three with a stunning right hand that sent Fury to the floor

Image 3:
Deontay Wilder sends Fury to the floor in a stunning comeback effort in round four.

Image 4:
All hail the Champion as Tyson Fury lands a huge right hand that sends Wilder plunging to the floor for a knockout in round 11.

His words: "i am the greatest heavyweight champion of my era, without a doubt. Number one. If you play with fire long enough you will get burned."

As shown in the images below,

Image 1:
Tyson Fury knocks down Wilder in round three

Image 2:
Deontay Wilder coming back after round three with a stunning right hand that sent Fury to the floor

Image 3:
Deontay Wilder sends Fury to the floor in a stunning comeback effort in round four.

Image 4:
All hail the Champion as Tyson Fury lands a huge right hand that sends Wilder plunging to the floor for a knockout in round 11.

His words: "i am the greatest heavyweight champion of my era, without a doubt. Number one. If you play with fire long enough you will get burned."

One of 2021's most anticipated bouts will roar into action in Las Vegas on Saturday as heavyweights Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder meet for a third time.

Britain's Fury will defend his WBC crown against the American, who he stopped in the seventh round during their second fight 20 months ago.

It was Wilder's first defeat of a 44-fight professional career and sparked him into accusing Fury of cheating.

"Deep down in his soul, he knows he lost and he'll lose again," said Fury.

"After this fight, he'll be back working in that fast food chain that he was working at earlier on in his career. It's retirement for him.

"You're in denial and you're getting knocked out. Do yourself a favour and retire - your legacy's in bits, all the excuses, you've been destroyed. No one's even believed you, everyone's laughing at you. You're a weak man."

In the weigh-in both were the heaviest they have been for a professional fight with Fury at 19st 11lb and Wilder coming in at 17st.

There was no face-off as usual, with promoter Bob Arum having said he felt the process treats fighters like "animals" and that he did not want them getting hurt before their bout.

The pair first met in December 2018 in a bout that ended in a controversial draw, but Fury was rewarded for taking the fight to his opponent last time out.

Afterwards, Wilder blamed the weight of his ring walk costume for draining his energy but also suggested Fury's gloves were tampered with.

Since then, the 35-year-old has parted ways with coach Mark Breland, who threw in the towel against Fury, and brought in former heavyweight opponent Malik Scott.

"I ask the question, if I only won because I cheated, what was the point of changing everything and doing all this other work?" said Fury in a heated final news conference.

"I don't care because obviously it's coming from an unwell person. He accused me of everything: His team, his trainer, the suit, injuries, the State Athletic Commission of Nevada, the referee.

"If he'd have come out with one of these excuses, it would have been believable but not 50 of them. He can believe what he wants, what it tells me is that he's a weak person who I'm going to knock spark out on Saturday night."

Why the long wait?

Following the coronavirus pandemic, Fury was set to take on Anthony Joshua - who has since lost his belts to Oleksandr Usyk - in an all-British undisputed contest in the summer.

But Wilder's team took their case for a rematch clause to court and an arbitration ruling stated Fury had to fight the Alabaman again.

The trilogy bout was then delayed in July after Fury contracted coronavirus, meaning one year, seven months and 18 days after they last entered the ring the pair will finally meet again on Saturday.

"Deontay's dream is to get this match and I don't usually act arrogant, but I do believe Deontay is going to knock him out this time," Wilder's manager Shelly Finkel told the BBC's 5 Live Boxing podcast.

"There is no rematch, this is it - anything is open to negotiation. After the fight, I don't think Fury will want any more of Deontay - but if he does and we can't get Joshua or Usyk because they are fighting each other, who knows? But my gut is we will have seen the last of each other."

Will Wilder's changes pay off?

In new trainer Scott, Wilder has brought in someone he says he "loves deeply" and makes it a "family team" but also someone he defeated in a first-round knockout in 2014.

"I am a student of boxing, Deontay ruled the division and was using one weapon but sometimes two or three," said Scott.

"I've watched him in the gym for 10 years, sparring guys from different walks of life stylistically, and watched him be creative but when he gets in the fight, he'll use just one or two tools.

"He got content using one weapon to knock people out - I went into his tool box and made sure we drilled it over and over again.

"I don't have him doing choreographed pad work, ducking down to the ground - he is fighting a tall guy. I don't want my fighter catching punches, I want him to slip punches, parry punches.

"He's more dynamic, more open-minded and this is the best Deontay Wilder people are going to see."

Chelsea's Jorginho, Paris St-Germain's Lionel Messi and and Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski are on the shortlist for the men's Ballon d'Or award.


Messi was the 2019 winner for a record sixth time.( )

The forward picked up a first major international title when he helped Argentina win the 2021 Copa America.

Italy midfielder Jorginho helped Chelsea win the Champions League last season before victory at Euro 2020 with his country in the summer.

Poland striker Lewandowski won the 2020-21 European Golden Shoe, having scored 41 Bundesliga goals as Bayern Munich won the German league title last season.

Manchester United's five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo ( ) and Real Madrid's Luka Modric - the only players other than Messi to win the award since 2008 - are both nominated.

There are 14 Premier League players on the 30-man 2021 shortlist and five members of Italy's European Championship-winning squad.

The Ballon d'Or, organised by France Football, is awarded annually to the world's best footballer.

The prize was not given out in 2020 - for the first time since 1956 - because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The winner of the award will be announced on 29 November at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet.

England's Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Mason Greenwood (Manchester United) and Bakayo Saka (Arsenal) are among the 10 nominees for the Kopa Trophy, which is for players under the age of 21.

The Yashin Trophy is for the best goalkeeper and the four Premier League players on the 10-man shortlist are Chelsea and Senegal's Edouard Mendy, Manchester City's Brazilian Ederson, Leicester City's Kasper Schmeichel, of Denmark, and Aston Villa's Argentine Emiliano Martinez.

Ballon d'Or nominees

b]Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea, Spain)

Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan, Italy)

[b]Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)

Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus, Italy)

Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium)

Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus, Italy)

Ruben Dias (Manchester City, Portugal)

Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG, Italy)

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, Portugal)

Phil Foden (Manchester City, England)

Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund, Norway)

[b]Jorginho (Chelsea, Italy)

Harry Kane (Tottenham, England)

N'Golo Kante (Chelsea, France)[/b]

Simon Kjaer (AC Milan, Denmark)

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, Poland)

Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea, Belgium)

[b]Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria)

[b]Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan, Argentina)

Kylian Mbappe (PSG, France)[/b]

Lionel Messi (PSG, Argentina)

[b]Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia)

Gerard Moreno (Villarreal, Spain)

Mason Mount (Chelsea, England)
[/b]
Neymar (PSG, Brazil)

[b]Pedri (Barcelona, Spain)

[b]Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt)

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City, England)

Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay)
[/b]

What is the Ballon d'Or?

The Ballon d'Or has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956, with England's Stanley Matthews the first winner.

It was only for European players until 1995, when it expanded to become open for any player at a European club. From 2007 it opened up to the rest of the world.

The 30-man list of nominees is compiled by the editorial staff of the French magazine, with the winner voted for by journalists from around the world, with one representative per nation.

From 2010 to 2015 it merged with Fifa's awards, but they split and the world governing body set up its own awards again in 2016.

Chelsea's Jorginho, Paris St-Germain's Lionel Messi and and Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski are on the shortlist for the men's Ballon d'Or award.


Messi was the 2019 winner for a record sixth time.

The forward picked up a first major international title when he helped Argentina win the 2021 Copa America.

Italy midfielder Jorginho helped Chelsea win the Champions League last season before victory at Euro 2020 with his country in the summer.

Poland striker Lewandowski won the 2020-21 European Golden Shoe, having scored 41 Bundesliga goals as Bayern Munich won the German league title last season.

Manchester United's five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid's Luka Modric - the only players other than Messi to win the award since 2008 - are both nominated.

There are 14 Premier League players on the 30-man 2021 shortlist and five members of Italy's European Championship-winning squad.

The Ballon d'Or, organised by France Football, is awarded annually to the world's best footballer.

The prize was not given out in 2020 - for the first time since 1956 - because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The winner of the award will be announced on 29 November at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet.

England's Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Mason Greenwood (Manchester United) and Bakayo Saka (Arsenal) are among the 10 nominees for the Kopa Trophy, which is for players under the age of 21.

The Yashin Trophy is for the best goalkeeper and the four Premier League players on the 10-man shortlist are Chelsea and Senegal's Edouard Mendy, Manchester City's Brazilian Ederson, Leicester City's Kasper Schmeichel, of Denmark, and Aston Villa's Argentine Emiliano Martinez.

Ballon d'Or nominees

Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea, Spain)

[b]Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan, Italy)

[b]Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)

Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus, Italy)

Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium)

Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus, Italy)

Ruben Dias (Manchester City, Portugal)

Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG, Italy)

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, Portugal)

Phil Foden (Manchester City, England)

Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund, Norway)

[b]Jorginho (Chelsea, Italy)

Harry Kane (Tottenham, England)

N'Golo Kante (Chelsea, France)[/b]

Simon Kjaer (AC Milan, Denmark)

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, Poland)

Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea, Belgium)

[b]Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria)

[b]Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan, Argentina)

Kylian Mbappe (PSG, France)[/b]

Lionel Messi (PSG, Argentina)

[b]Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia)

Gerard Moreno (Villarreal, Spain)

Mason Mount (Chelsea, England)[/b]

Neymar (PSG, Brazil)

[b]Pedri (Barcelona, Spain)

[b]Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt)

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City, England)

Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay)[/b]

What is the Ballon d'Or?

The Ballon d'Or has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956, with England's Stanley Matthews the first winner.

It was only for European players until 1995, when it expanded to become open for any player at a European club. From 2007 it opened up to the rest of the world.

The 30-man list of nominees is compiled by the editorial staff of the French magazine, with the winner voted for by journalists from around the world, with one representative per nation.

From 2010 to 2015 it merged with Fifa's awards, but they split and the world governing body set up its own awards again in 2016.

Facebook has apologised after it stopped working for users around the world for several hours on Monday.

WhatsApp and Instagram - which are owned by the company - were also down.

What was the problem?
In a nutshell, Facebook's systems stopped talking to the wider internet.

It was as if "someone had pulled the cables from their data centres all at once and disconnected them from the internet", explained web infrastructure firm Cloudflare.

Facebook's explanation was a little more technical.

It said "configuration changes on the backbone routers that co-ordinate network traffic between our data centres caused issues that interrupted this communication". This had a "cascading effect... bringing our services to a halt".

So why couldn't people access Facebook?
The internet breaks down into hundreds of thousands of networks. Big firms like Facebook have their own larger networks - known as autonomous systems.

When you want to visit Facebook (or Instagram or WhatsApp), the back-end system that allows computers to connect with their network uses the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) - a kind of postal service for the internet.

In order to direct people to the websites they want to visit, BGP looks at all of the available paths that data could travel and picks the best route.

On Monday Facebook suddenly stopped providing the information the system needed to function.

It meant nobody's computers had any way of connecting to Facebook or its other sites.

What effect did the outage have?
The failure of such key internet players had a knock-on effect on individuals and businesses across the globe.

Downdetector, which tracks outages, said some 10.6 million problems were reported around the world - the largest number ever recorded.

For many, losing access to Facebook's services was just an inconvenience. But for some small businesses in the developing world without other reliable ways to communicate with customers, it may have been a serious problem.

Likewise, some organisations where staff are still working remotely after the pandemic, now rely on WhatsApp to keep colleagues in touch.

How was this allowed to happen?
A flurry of reports began around 16:45 BST on Monday that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp weren't working.

At first, this caused the usual jokes about how people would cope, and jibes from rivals such as Twitter.

But it soon became clear that this was a more serious issue - with reports of mayhem at Facebook's California headquarters.

Sheera Frenkel, a tech reporter for the New York Times, told the BBC part of the reason it took so long to fix was because "the people trying to figure out what this problem was couldn't even physically get into the building" to work out what had gone wrong.

We don't yet know whether the issue was due to a software bug or simple human error.

However, the conspiracy theories are already circulating - deliberate foul play from a Facebook insider being just one of many.

How has Facebook reacted?
Facebook's apology, rather embarrassingly, was posted on rival network Twitter.

Mike Proulx - an analyst for research company Forrester - says the incident raises questions about the way Facebook brought lots of its technical operations together in recent years.

He says it made them more efficient but means that if one thing goes wrong there can be "a cascading effect, like old-school Christmas lights where one goes out, they all go out".

Facebook has experienced outages before but they've generally been fixed within an hour or so.

A longer and more disruptive blackout like this one demonstrates the problem of so much of the world's communications being concentrated in Silicon Valley.

And this in turn raises questions whether the working of the internet should be in the hands of just a few big companies.

How much money has Facebook lost?
Perhaps the biggest issue for Facebook itself will have been the effect it had on its revenue and stock price. The shutdown meant ads weren't served for over six hours across its platforms.

According to some, the outage could have wiped as much as $6bn (£4.4bn) from Mr Zuckerberg's personal wealth, with its shares dropping nearly 5%.

Others estimate that the loss of revenue to the company could amount to more than $60m.

And this blow to Facebook's reputation comes at a difficult time.

A whistle-blower responsible for leaking many internal documents, takes the stand at a US Senate hearing today.

It is also under scrutiny from regulators around the world who have questioned whether it's responding appropriately to issues such as misinformation, hate speech and handling user data, or whether - as the whistleblower says - it's putting "growth over safety".

Now its technical abilities are also in question.

Source: BBC news

Social media services Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram have been hit by an outage lasting more than an hour.

All three services are owned by Facebook and could not be accessed over the web or smartphone apps.
Downdetector, which tracks outages, logged nearly 80,000 reports for WhatsApp and more than 50,000 for Facebook.
Data from the website suggests the outage is affecting user accounts across the world.

Some people also reported problems using Facebook’s virtual reality headset platform, Oculus.
Facebook said: “We are aware some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience.”

No official reason for the problem was given.
Facebook whistleblower reveals identity
One customer triggered internet meltdown
Online network experts speculated it may involve an error with DNS, or the domain name system, for Facebook sites.

4DNS is often compared to an address book or phone book for the internet, pointing web browsers to the computer system which serves the website they are looking for.
Previous issues with DNS led to widespread outages of several major sites earlier this year.
In one of those instances, it emerged that the blackout was caused by a single customer of a widely-used service who changed their settings, triggering a software bug affecting a huge number of websites.

It is rare for such problems to affect a single tech giant such as Facebook, or for the issue to remain unfixed for a long time.

Source: BBC news.