Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) has called on FIFA to take action after accusing Serbia of an “aggressive” act with the display of a flag at the World Cup in Qatar. Images circulating on social media showed the flag hanging in the Serbian team’s locker room prior to their opening World Cup match against Brazil on Thursday. The banner showed a version of the Serbian flag with a map of the country including Kosovo as part of it. The slogan “there will be no surrender” was written on the banner. The FFK published a demand to FIFA on its website on Friday, railing…

Robert Lewandowski was on the scoresheet for the first time in a World Cup match as the forward helped Poland to a 2-0 win against Saudi Arabia in Qatar on Saturday. Lewandowski struck in the 82nd minute of the match at Education City Stadium, capitalizing on a defensive lapse to slot the ball past Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais. One of the most prolific forwards of his generation, the 34-year-old Lewandowski had not previously made his mark in four appearances at the World Cup finals – including three games at the Russia 2018 tournament. The goal was his 77th in 136…

At least 13 flights had to be diverted from Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Thursday after several eco-activists broke onto the runway and glued themselves to the tarmac to protest greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental group Last Generation has since claimed responsibility for the act and explained it as an attempt to persuade the public to stop traveling by air and force the government to stop subsidizing air travel. The group is also responsible for the recent string of attacks on priceless paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. “In an airport area that is not open to the public,…

Cristiano Ronaldo carved out another piece of history for himself when he opened the scoring in Portugal’s 3-2 Group H win against Ghana at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The former Manchester United star scored the 118th goal of a remarkable career in international football with a second-half penalty to break the deadlock, and Ghanian hearts, just after the hour mark. Already the top goalscorer in international football history, Ronaldo’s successful spot kick meant that he became the first male player to score at five different World Cups, and also the second-oldest goalscorer in World Cup finals. The 37-year-old…

Olympic cross-country skiing champion Veronika Stepanova has accused the Guardian newspaper of spreading “poison,” after she was named in an article which alleged that the Russian leadership is “indoctrinating” the nation’s youth.An opinion piece by Ian Garner – published on Wednesday under the headline “How Putin is preparing children to ‘die for the motherland’” – claimed that popular Russian athletes such as Stepanova and Olympic champion gymnast Nikita Nagornyy are using social media to boost support for the Russian military through its ‘Youth Army’.“The 21-year-old champion skier Veronika Stepanova… posts about her life as an athlete today, as a teen…

Russia may be absent from the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but Gael Ondoua, the Cameroonian international midfielder who holds dual Russian nationality, has made sure the country’s flag will at least be present at the tournament. Cameroon came up short in their first Group G encounter on Thursday, losing out to Switzerland through a single goal from the Cameroon-born Breel Embolo, but second-half substitute Ondoua took to the pitch with boots emblazoned with the flags of both Cameroon and Russia. Former CSKA Moscow and Anzhi Makhachkala player Ondoua previously spent several seasons in Russian football after emerging from the Lokomotiv…

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo arrived in the Qatari capital city of Doha on Thursday morning to attend his country’s match at the FIFA World Cup 2022 against Portugal.Upon his arrival, the president visited Ghana’s national team hotel to show his support for the “Black Stars” ahead of their anticipated first game at the tournament. The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is Ghana’s fourth in the history of the tournament. The Black Stars qualified to Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, and Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cups. Ghana’s opponent, Portugal, has qualified the FIFA World Cup seven times in 1966, 1986…

Saudi Arabia’s Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal has broken his silence on mounting speculation about Cristiano Ronaldo’s prospective move to the oil-rich nation.The minister was quipped about the chances of Ronaldo’s arrival in Saudi Arabia in an interview with a US news organization, to which he replied: “I don’t know, that’s a straight answer. I read the same thing as you read in the news. I don’t know what his future plans are.”However, when prodded further he added that he would love to see him playing in his country. Possible Scenarios for Ronaldo?Since CR7 parted ways with Manchester…

New hope has emerged for people afflicted with a form of kidney cancer known as renal cell carcinoma, as researchers in the United Kingdom point toward an existing drug they say can help patients suffering from this malady.A team from the Wellcome Sanger Institute at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has postulated that a type of white blood cell known as macrophages, of which some contain the gene IL1B, is “crucial in tumor development”.The authors of this new study, which has been published in Cancer Cell, argued that targeting these IL1B macrophages may help…

A team of astronomers led by Ioannis Liodakis from the University of Turku has managed to gain new insight into the nature of blazars – active galactic nuclei that emit jets of magnetized plasma pointing nearly towards the observer.Using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) – a space observatory that is a joint venture between NASA and the Italian Space Agency – Liodakis and his colleagues took a closer look at a blazar called Markarian 501 located over 300 million light years away.With the help of the IXPE, researchers managed to take a closer look at how particles in these…