Cassano thrilled to share in EURO carnival - UEFA
In a season in which his career almost came to a sudden and premature end, Italy striker Antonio Cassano is thrilled to be contesting a UEFA European Championship he once thought beyond him, telling UEFA.com: "I want to make the most of it."
Antonio Cassano has come a long way in eight months. In October last year, while flying back from a Serie A match against AS Roma, the AC Milan striker suffered an ischemic stroke. He was subsequently told he would have to undergo heart surgery and that his career might be over, so to find himself returning to the Rossoneri lineup in April and subsequently earning a place in Cesare Prandelli's UEFA EURO 2012 squad is not something he took for granted.
"I'll tell you the truth – at first I thought I would quit football for good," Cassano told UEFA.com. "Then, slowly but surely, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I hoped until the very end that I would make it to this EURO. It came true and now I want to really make the most of it. I'm going to give it everything I've got."
As Italy's top scorer with six goals during their unbeaten qualification campaign, Cassano has become a key player in a side committed to a more free-flowing brand of football, and 'Fant'Antonio' believes he is flourishing under Prandelli's tutelage. The Azzurri coach stuck by the former AS Bari and Real Madrid CF forward through the dark days, insisting he would wait as late as possible to give him every chance of coming to Poland and Ukraine.
"I like Prandelli a lot both as a coach and a person," said the 29-year-old. "He loves talking to you; he explains everything. He's a very well-prepared and well-organised coach and right from the start he made me feel a very important part of the team. When the person who is in charge places such great trust in you, it boosts your confidence and you always try to give your best."
Cassano gave his all for the 65 minutes he was allocated against Spain, coming close with a shot across goal in the first half, but with Antonio Di Natale coming on for Mario Balotelli and scoring, will the Cassano-Balotelli partnership be broken up Afor the match against Croatia? "The hierarchy is not decided in the press or anywhere else," said Cassano. "It's decided by the coach. Against Spain we played well, but the whole team did. Me, Mario, 'Totò' [Di Natale], even [Sebastian] Giovinco when he came on.
"We have five strikers who are important to the cause. Whoever plays must play well. Hierarchies mean nothing. Obviously, I always want to play for as many minutes as possible. But the coach is the one who decides and he is very good at seeing who is in good condition and who isn't."
With nine international goals, 30 Italy caps to his name and his 30th birthday less than a month away, Cassano is one of the elder statesmen of the side, but playing for Italy clearly remains a huge honour for the man who made his Azzurri debut in 2003 and whose wife and son were spotted in the crowd in Gdansk sporting Italy shirts and cheering him on.
"If I'm more mature now, it's because I'm [nearly] 30, but I still feel like a child inside," he said. "It's normal that things that happen to you along the way, like what happened to me at the end of October, leave a little mark, but they also really make you appreciate what's important in life."
For now, though, what is most important to Cassano is Thursday's Group C test against Croatia. Indeed, despite his recent travails, it is clear that the Milan striker has lost none of his competitive edge. "The match against Croatia is crucial for us, and it is for them too. We must try to find a way to win and continue the good work we started against Spain. After that match, we have realised we can take on anyone and go all the way."
Walters counts his blessings with Ireland - UEFA
Jon Walters does not feel under pressure. He knows he will be playing in front of 46,000 people tomorrow, knows he will be facing one of the greatest sides in the world – and possibly in history – and knows a defeat will deny the Republic of Ireland a chance to qualify for the UEFA EURO 2012 quarter-finals.
But pressure? He knows what real pressure is. Eight years ago his daughter, Scarlett, was born with her intestines outside her body. For the first two years of her life, Walters, his wife and their daughter were in and out of hospital. His football career, meanwhile, was meandering around in the fourth tier of the English league system, the polar opposite to where it is right now. Yet that did not matter. Scarlett's health did.
It was only as his daughter fully recovered that Walters' career moved forward too. Ipswich Town FC brought him to the English second division; Tony Pulis brought him to Stoke City FC and to prominence. And now, here he is, set for another promotion, a place in the Irish starting XI to face Spain with the eyes of the world upon him.
"I feel blessed to be in the position I am, and as footballers we all should," he said. "There are people losing their jobs all over the world at the moment. I do a lot of work in a children's hospice back home and when I see those kids, I know I am blessed. When I went down the leagues [playing for Wrexham AFC and Chester City FC], I made a lot of friends who are now going out of the game. An injury in one of those seasons could have finished my career permanently, so yes, I know I'm lucky to be here, but I'll take it all in my stride – I don't get overawed by anything really. I'm just ready to take in any situation that appears."
The situation appearing in front of Walters and Ireland now is difficult. With Italy and Spain drawing last Sunday, and Croatia collecting three points from the Poznan encounter, Ireland have to collect four points from their concluding two group games to qualify for the quarter-finals. The problem is, those two games are against Spain and Italy.
Walters said: "The result was obviously a kick in the teeth, but the majority of our players have had setbacks in our careers all the way through, and that's important, because it's not so much how you react after getting a result and winning; you see players' characters after a defeat. You see how much they want it, and hopefully we will want it more than Spain come the game.
"I'm fully confident we can go there and give it a right go," he added. "OK, they have got the world's best players, but you're going out there against 11 men, it's not 11 superheroes
. You look at games going on in the season. People said Barcelona were unbeatable in Europe, and Chelsea went and beat them in a semi-final of the Champions League and are now European champions.
"People always say Barcelona are the better team because they play through the pitch and they play attractive football, but in certain games you're not always going to play attractive football. You go out there to get the result, and in a couple of years' time it's not how well you play; you look back at results and that's all that matters."
Thousands in need of food, shelter after Myanmar clashes - Reuters UK
SITTWE |
SITTWE (Reuters) - Thousands of displaced Muslim Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists were in need of food, water and shelter in northwestern Myanmar on Thursday after fleeing the country's worst sectarian clashes in years.
Houses were burnt down late on Wednesday in two villages near the Bangladesh border, but there were no reports of further deaths. Scores of people are feared to have been killed in the rioting that broke out in Rakhine state on June 8.
Places that were flashpoints earlier in the week, including the state capital Sittwe, were quiet as violence started to subside after days of arson attacks and killing that have presented reformist President Thein Sein with one of his biggest challenges since taking office last year.
"Tensions between the two groups have eased. There are around 20,000 refugees in Sittwe. Most of them are from the villages where people fled in fear of the violence," Aung Myat Kyaw, a senator for Rakhine state, told Reuters.
"They are in need of food and, because of the heavy rain, there are concerns about the refugees' health and whether they have enough shelter," he added.
The violence had killed 21 people as of Monday, state media said, but activists fear the death toll could be much higher. At least 1,600 houses have been burnt down.
The army has taken hundreds of Rohingyas to Muslim villages outside Sittwe to ensure their safety.
"They are worried for their lives. The army is there so their life is secure," said Shwe Maung, a Muslim member of parliament for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. "There are still so many Rohingyas in downtown Sittwe and they are afraid of being attacked."
The United Nations and a medical aid group said this week they were pulling staff out of the area because of the violence. U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, travelled to the area on Wednesday.
DELICATE SITUATION
Speaking at an International Labour Organization conference in Geneva, the first stop on a five-nation European tour, Myanmar Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed concern about the unrest and said laws needed to be enforced to prevent such conflicts from taking place.
"Without the rule of law, such communal strife will only continue," she told a news conference.
"The present situation will have to be handled with delicacy and sensitivity and we need the cooperation of all people concerned to rebuild the peace that we want for our country."
Food shortages could last three to four days as poor roads and infrastructure delayed supplies from aid organisations, said Htun Myit Thein of the Wan Latt Foundation, which is managing three camps that together hold about 12,000 people in Sittwe.
"The camps aren't clean enough and some of the men are getting ill," he said. "So far there is no support from the government or international groups."
It is unclear what sparked the rioting. Relations between the two communities have been uneasy for generations and tension flared last month after the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman that was blamed on Muslims.
That led to the killing of 10 Muslims in reprisal on June 3, when a Buddhist mob stopped a bus they were travelling on. The passengers had no connection to the murdered woman. State media said three Muslims are on trial for the woman's death.
The violence follows a year of dramatic political change after nearly 50 years of repressive military rule, which includes the release of hundreds of political prisoners and truces with ethnic minority rebels.
The government has also allowed trade unions and promised to get rid of forced labour. Recognising this progress, the International Labour Organization lifted restrictions on Myanmar on Wednesday.
The communal violence in Rakhine state and the international reaction may prompt further change: the Rohingyas are not included among the officially recognised ethnic groups of Myanmar but Thein Sein may be forced to improve their plight.
Up to 800,000 Rohingyas live along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh in abject conditions. Neither country recognises them as citizens and the Bangladeshi authorities have turned away boats of Rohingyas fleeing the violence this week.
(Reporting by Reuters staff reporters; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Martin Petty and Robert Birsel)
Australia player strike threatens England tour - ESPN.co.uk
Australia's cricketers will fly out for a one-day tour of England and Ireland on Thursday knowing that time is running out for a new pay deal to be signed. Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) were due to resume negotiations on Thursday as they aim to find common ground on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the existing agreement to expire on June 30.
If a new MoU is not completed by then, Australia's players will need to decide whether to play on - they will have four ODIs remaining against England in early July - or call a strike. Australia's Twenty20 captain and one-day batsman George Bailey, who is also a member of the ACA executive committee, said the players remained hopeful that they would not be put in such a difficult position.
"The players still have full faith that the ACA and CA will be able to sort out the differences they have at the moment and come to a conclusion," Bailey said. "Whenever there's talk of a strike I think that's very much a last, last resort. It would be a disaster if both the ACA and CA got to the stage where that had to occur. I've still got full faith that both parties will be able to rectify that in the next few days."
It is not just the national players who could be affected by the ongoing failure to reach a deal. State cricketers have been left in limbo, not knowing whether they will have a contract for next season and unable to negotiate a move interstate, as Cricket Australia has banned any player movements until a new MoU is agreed.
That has left a number of domestic players with no choice but to train with their existing state in the knowledge that they might not be part of the squad next summer. Bailey, the captain of Tasmania, said it was a difficult situation for some players, particularly those on the fringes of the state system who did not know what their immediate future would hold.
"There's players who are in a position where they aren't sure whether they should be training because the reality is they might not be playing for Tassie in a few months," he said. "It's that balance of should they be looking for work or should they be talking to other states, who actually aren't allowed to talk to them at the moment. It's a bit of a challenge for those guys.
"They're probably the guys you feel for most, the guys at the domestic level who are in limbo, not knowing where they're going to be playing, who they're going to be playing for, and the state associations are looking at who they're going to recruit, who they're going to contract. At that level you can understand the state associations are starting to get pretty frustrated and players would be wanting to know what's going on. It's probably less so at the national level."
The Australians begin their tour with a one-off ODI against Ireland in Belfast on June 23, before a five-match series against England from June 29 to July 10. The squad features several men who are returning after spending time out of the national side, including the fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Johnson, neither of whom have played for Australia since the tour of South Africa last November due to injuries.
The allrounder Steven Smith is also back in the mix, having been overlooked since the one-day portion of the South African tour in October. The bowlers will be under the guidance of Ali de Winter, the Tasmania assistant coach, who has been seconded to the squad as temporary bowling coach.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
Westlife singer Shane Filan is declared bankrupt - BBC News
Westlife singer Shane Filan has been declared bankrupt in the UK.
The Irish band have sold millions of records but Mr Filan suffered enormous losses in his country's property crash.
In a statement, the 32-year-old said he had "worked long and hard" to tackle his debts and was devastated that his problems have come to this conclusion.
The pop star filed for bankruptcy in the UK which has a less onerous bankruptcy regime than the Republic of Ireland.
In the UK the period of bankruptcy typically lasts for a year but in the Republic of Ireland it is at least three years and more commonly 12 years.
Mr Filan owns a property company, Shafin Developments Limited, with his brother Finbarr.
It was established in 2004 and had been involved in developments in Counties Leitrim and Sligo in the west of Ireland.
Last month, the company was placed in receivership.
EscapeEarlier this week, the singer was declared bankrupt at Kingston-upon-Thames County Court and his name has been placed on the UK insolvency register.
The father-of-three is the latest in a steady stream of highly indebted Irish property developers who have filed for bankruptcy in the UK.
Ireland has agreed to liberalise its bankruptcy regime as one of the conditions of its EU/ IMF bailout.
However the country's banks are concerned that the reforms could lead to a flood of mortgage defaults as ordinary homeowners use bankruptcy to escape from negative equity.
Westlife is one of the most successful boy bands of the last decade, selling more than 44m records.
Last October, they announced they were splitting up.
The band is currently in the middle of a farewell tour and continues to fill major concert venues.
Survey into civic pride in Winchester on June 23 - This is Winchester
Survey into civic pride in Winchester on June 23
8:00am Thursday 14th June 2012 in News
Winchester people have the chance to express their pride, or not, in their city in the forthcoming Civic Day.
The City of Winchester Trust is taking part in a 2012 National Survey which asks the simple question: Are you proud of where you live?
Trust members will be on the High Street on Saturday June 23 asking the question.
It is a new survey launched by the charity Civic Voice under the title Civicwatch and is the civic movement's annual contribution to discovering how proud we are of our towns, villages and cities.
The survey will reveal trends over time and show how ‘civicness’ differs across the country. It will be a "civic snapshot" of the country and it will become an annual assessment.
Civic Voice will publish the results from each local survey so that people across the country can see how their town has scored compared to neighbouring areas.
Keith Leaman, chairman of City of Winchester Trust, said: “We hope as many people as possible will take part in the survey. The trust’s aim is to protect and promote the character of Winchester so it is important to know the views of local people about Winchester. What they value and what needs to improve.”
Everyone has until the end of June to complete the survey and can take part in several ways. Online they can visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JB65R2R or by following the link via the City of Winchester Trust’s web site www.cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk.
They can complete it on paper in the Reception of Winchester City Council or at the trust’s office at the Heritage Centre, 32 Upper Brook Street, on the mornings of Monday and Wednesday only.
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