1 week agoNews TvComments Off on Is this the real reason behind Turki Alalshikh’s Man Utd takeover claims? French billionaire key to £2bn stadium plans
TURKI ALALSHIKH’S speculation about a potential sale of Manchester United is possibly linked to plans to rebuild Old Trafford.
Turki Alalshikh has been linked with a shock takeover bid at Old TraffordGettyHe has ties to businessman Rodolphe SaadeGetty
Alalshikh was linked with a possible takeover of French club Marseille two years ago and he has dealt with billionaire Rodolphe Saade, who also considered buying Marseille.
Saade is the chairman and chief executive of the CMA CGM Group, which recently acquired Freightliner.
Saade has met several times with Alalshikh, who was the owner of Spanish club Almeria until earlier this year and is best known in his country for bringing boxing bouts to Saudi.
Old Trafford taskforce leader Lord Seb Coe flew to New York as recently as July to sound out potential investors who could help foot the bill for the new stadium.
United have estimated that the cost for a new Old Trafford could be as high as £2billion.
Alalshikh resorted to a major climbdown on X after he sparked online hysteria about a possible takeover of United.
“My post about Manchester United’s potential sale meant one thing: the club is in an advanced negotiation phase with a new investor,” Alalshikh tweeted.
“Just to clarify, I am not the investor, nor are they from my nation. I’m posting this as a fan who wishes the deal to happen, though it might not necessarily happen.”
The Saudi government has been accused of sportswashing through its boxing ventures and ownership of Newcastle United.
Shutterstock EditorialSir Jim Ratcliffe opened up on his relationship with the Glazers[/caption]
Saudi officials have baselessly suggested a takeover was in the offing in the past. United sources suspected at the time it was an attempt to drive up the share price.
Ratcliffe discussed his relationship with United’s majority owners, the Glazer family, in an interview with The Business podcast that was broadcast on Wednesday.
“We’re local, and they’re the other side of the pond,” Ratcliffe said. “That’s a long way away to try and manage a football club as big and as complex as Manchester United. We’re here with feet on the ground.
“It’s just a good working relationship. They come to the board meetings. We sit down and we talk about things.
“There’s probably something written in the formal agreement (about who controls football operations) but I did say when we finally put those legal agreements to bed, ‘I hope that’s the last time we ever see them’.
“They were just put in the bottom drawer and I’ve never looked at them since to be honest.”
What we know about the 'new' Old Trafford
MANCHESTER UNITED plan to build a new stadium rather than redevelop Old Trafford.
The decision was made after a number of fact-finding missions to other stadiums including the Bernabeu and Nou Camp.
The cost of the project is expected to be a staggering £2billion.
A capacity of 100,000 is expected.
It is felt that a club of United’s standing should have a new state-of-the-art facility.
The new stadium will be built on land adjacent to the Red Devils’ current home.
United are looking to not only build a stadium but regenerate the area of Trafford where the ground will stand.
There had been plans to KEEP Old Trafford rather than demolish it, and use it as a scaled down second venue.
However, it’s looking increasing likely that it will in fact be entirely demolished.
The club consulted with 30,000 fans about what to do and believe there is roughly a 50-50 split on staying or moving.
The club have appointed the architects Foster + Partners to come up with a “masterplan”. The company were behind Wembley Stadium.
1 week agoNews TvComments Off on World Grand Prix Darts 2025 LIVE RESULTS: Latest as Littler wins CLASSIC against Price, Humphries THROUGH
IT is quarter-final day of the World Grand Prix, and Luke Littler is THROUGH to the semi-finals!
Littler and Gerwyn Price played out an instant classic, with the Iceman missing three match darts, and the Nuke finishing the clash with a massive 152 checkout.
World No1 Humphries has also booked his spot in the final four, beating Cameron Menzies in comfortable fashion to conclude the night.
And the line-up in Leicester was completed by Danny Noppert beating, Gary Anderson and Dirk Van Duijvenbode losing to Jonny Clayton.
1 week agoNews TvComments Off on Trump gives new details on Mideast trip as Hamas set to free hostages after reaching cease-fire deal
Trump is expected to participate in a formal peace-deal signing while in the Egyptian capital, formalizing the first phase of implementation of his 20-point peace plan.
1 week agoNews TvComments Off on New Jersey declares state of emergency as Nor’easter poses costal flooding threat
The combination of strong and persistent northeast winds and high astronomical tides will send pounding surf of 12–15-foot waves into the Atlantic coasts from Virginia to New England. But the brunt of the flooding appears focused on the New Jersey and Delaware coasts, along with Delaware Bay.
Trump has been snubbed and denied the Nobel Prize he so wantedGettyMaría Corina Machado – a Venezuelan politician – won the award[/caption]
He insisted the breakthrough was “signed, sealed and already started” — and hailed it as the crowning achievement of a presidency he says has stopped eight wars.
“It’s certainly, I think, to the mind of most, the most important deal ever made in terms of peace,” Trump said on Friday.
The president said the ceasefire marked “a great deal for Israel, but it’s a great deal for everybody — for Arabs, for Muslims, for the world,” and confirmed that the release of hostages would begin on Monday.
“We’re getting them now. They’re gathering them from some pretty rough places on earth,” he said.
The decision to snub Trump came the day after Israel and Hamas signed a peace deal that he engineered to end the war and return the hostages.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was instead awarded to María Corina Machado – a Venezuelan politician and activist – for her “tireless work” organising the democratic opposition to dictatorship in Venezuela.
The US President accused China of taking an “extraordinarily aggressive position” on trade, slamming what he called an “extremely hostile letter to the world” that outlined measures to control “virtually every product they make”.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump vowed to hit back hard, saying he would also impose US export controls on any critical software heading to China.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan politician Machado dedicated the Nobel Prize to the US President.
She wrote on X: “This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.
“We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
The Nobel Committee paid tribute to Machado’s “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.
It said the award was in recognition of her “tireless work” to protect rights and fight for a transition to democracy in Venezuela.
Announcing the winner, Jørgen Watne Frydnes lauded her as “a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness”.
He said: “When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognise courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist.”
He later explained why the US president was not given the award.
He said: “I think this committee has seen [every] type of campaign [and] media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people saying what, for them, leads to peace.”
“But this committee sits in a room with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So, we base only our decision on the work and will of Alfred Nobel.”
Machado has been living in hiding for the past year, after her fearless work incited “serious threats against her life”.
Troubled Venezuela is currently ruled by Nicolás Maduro, who is widely recognised as a dictator.
His government has routinely targeted its real or perceived opponents.
Machado, who turned 58 this week, was set to run against Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government disqualified her.
The election results announced by the Electoral Council sparked protests across the country to which the government responded with force that ended with more than 20 people dead.
Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since January.
Trump, who is in his second term as America’s president, has long wished for a Nobel Peace Prize.
He claims to have stopped seven conflicts in the world since his time in the office – and has made no secret of the fact that he believes he is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Last week, he teased the possibility of ending an eighth war if Israel and Hamas agree to his peace plan aimed at concluding the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
And just hours before the Nobel Peace Prize results were set to be announced, Don revealed to the world that the two warring factions had signed a peace deal – one that he engineered.
It is indeed a massive breakthrough that is set to reshape the face of the Middle East – and the world is praising the US leaders’ effort to broker the deal.
However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prestigious peace prize, held its final meeting on Monday, the Nobel Institute said.
AFPJorgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced the winner this morning[/caption]
APRelatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip celebrate after the announcement[/caption]
ReutersPalestinians celebrate on a street following the news that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of the peace deal[/caption]
This means that the decision to give the award to Machado was made before the conclusion of an agreement between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday night.
Historian Asle Sveen, a specialist in the Nobel Prize, said he was “one hundred per cent certain” that Trump will not win this year’s Nobel Prize.
He emphasised that the US president had long “given free rein” to Netanyahu to bomb Gaza and had provided significant military aid to Israel – something that the prize committee must have taken into account.
A global ‘peacemaker’
All eyes were on his nomination this year after the self-proclaimed peacemaker launched a campaign in a bid to win the award.
He has repeatedly asserted since his return to the White House in January that he deserves the nod, adding it would be “a big insult” to the United States if he were not given the prize.
In February this year, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
Even during his speech at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York, Trump said that “everyone” says he should get it.
X Benjamin Netanyahu’s office posted an AI-generated picture of Bibi awarding Trump the Nobel Prize[/caption]
He said: “Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements, but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers, because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and unglorious wars.
“What I care about is not winning prizes as much as saving lives.”
Numerous world leaders endorsed him for the honour, including Netanyahu, who posted an AI-generated image of him awarding Trump the Nobel Prize.
Olivier Nduhungirehe, the Rwandan foreign minister, credited Trump for how he helped end the 30-year conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pakistan also endorsed Trump for the prize this year. Though the Islamic Republic slammed him for bombing Iran in less than 24 hours.
Putin said Russia supported Trump’s nomination as long as Washington did not supply long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
Experts say the Nobel Prize committee may take Trump’s efforts to bring peace in Gaza – if it lasts – into consideration for next year’s award.
How is the Nobel Peace Prize winner decided?
By Patrick Harrington, Foreign News reporter
THE winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is chosen through a highly secretive deliberation process.
Every year since 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has met to discuss who is worthy of taking home prize.
Nominations close in January, and the Committee comes together throughout the next eight months to confer.
Its five members meet along with a secretary in the Committee Room of Oslo’s Nobel institute.
They read aloud the criteria set out by Alfred Nobel in his will.
It says the prize should be awarded to the person who has done the most for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, or for holding or promoting peace congresses.
Then, they enter intense discussions in order to thrash out the decision.
Committee chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes told the BBC: “We discuss, we argue, there is a high temperature.
“But also, of course, we are civilised, and we try to make a consensus-based decision every year.”
If there is no consensus over who should win, then it goes comes down to a simple majority vote.
