Daily News Channel
If you just look at the balance sheets of Europe’s top football clubs, it’s no surprise that Barcelona and Manchester United are in the Champions League final. Let’s start first with United. In that past decade, The English Premier League has exploded in terms of world wide popularity and revenue
On a dusty pitch in the middle of the capital of Monrovia limbless young men play football as though their lives depended on it. They are members of the Liberian National Amputee Football Team and for the most part, victims of the war. Some participated in cruel acts against civilians during the fighting and face a daily struggle to live with both their disability and the past.
Chelsea have one foot in the Champions League semifinals after fighting back from going a goal down at Anfield to beat Premier League rivals Liverpool 3-1 in their quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday. The London side knocked Liverpool out of the competition at the last four stage last year and they look set to repeat that feat this season, despite going behind to an early goal from Fernando Torres
Cristiano Ronaldo has warned holders Manchester United that Champions League quarterfinal opponents Porto will be no pushovers, ahead of Tuesday’s first leg clash at Old Trafford. “Porto are a very good team,” said Portugal’s World Player of the Year. “They are top of the league back home, ahead of Sporting Lisbon and Benfica and we know how strong they can be.” But Ronaldo, who scored twice in the dramatic 3-2 win over Aston Villa that sent United back to the top of the Premier League, is confident enough to predict that United will reach the last four “The good thing is we have two games against them and I feel that will be enough to get us through,” he said.
Britain’s Jenson Button claimed pole position for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne — leading a sweep of the front row for Formula One new boys Brawn GP. Button edged out teammate Rubens Barrichello of Brazil by three hundredths of a second to claim the fourth pole of his stop start career. But Saturday’s qualifying provided little cheer for reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, who will start 15th on the grid as his McLaren again struggled for pace.
French workers on Thursday freed the manager of a factory run by U.S. company 3M held hostage for more than 24 hours in a labor dispute over terms for laid-off staff. Luc Rousselet was allowed to leave the plant in Pithiviers, central France, early on Thursday morning after talks between unions and officials from 3M France.
NATO countries must create a comprehensive approach to oust al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremists from Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday after a meeting with NATO members. “The imperative of a comprehensive approach with a strong civilian and diplomatic effort is necessary because we know there is no purely military solution to either Afghanistan or Pakistan,” Biden told reporters at a news conference after the sessions at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.