LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 10, 2023--

Raheem Sterling was the headline absentee as Gareth Southgate handed Eberechi Eze his first England call-up and ended Lewis Dunk’s time in the international wilderness. Having kicked off Euro 2024 qualification with wins over Italy and Ukraine, attention turns to June’s straightforward-looking doubleheader against Malta and North Macedonia. Sterling is the most eye-catching absentee for those games as a difficult first season since swapping Manchester City for Chelsea comes to a frustrating conclusion. The 28-year-old has not played for England since the World Cup quarter-final exit to France – when a burglary at home disrupted his preparations – as injury ruled him out of the March camp. “I spoke with him a week or so ago – a general catch-up,” England boss Southgate said. “He’s not happy physically with his condition, having been carrying a hamstring problem. He really wasn’t in consideration. “So, we didn’t get to the point of whether he should be in or out. He doesn’t think he is operating at the level he needs.” A representative for Sterling called it a “mutual decision” that allows the player to focus on “recuperating his body in preparation for the upcoming season”. The 28-year-old is determined to play a key role for England next term and Southgate says he can get back into the fold ahead of next year’s finals, as can omitted Tottenham defender Eric Dier. “As we’ve shown with Tyrone (Mings) coming back (this time) and other players like Trent (Alexander-Arnold) coming back in, the door is always open when players are playing well,” Southgate told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Eric and Raheem both have physical issues really at the moment that they’re dealing with, so there’s part of that is behind that decision as well. “But there’s another year to go before the Euros and it’s possible for everybody to get in that squad.” Mings, Alexander-Arnold, Callum Wilson and Sam Johnstone returned to the England squad as Southgate has largely stuck with the tried and tested for the Group C games, with Crystal Palace attacking midfielder Eze the only uncapped player named in the group. The 24-year-old finally get his shot with England after an Achilles injury cost him a place in the provisional Euro 2020 squad. “We have liked him for a long time,” Southgate said. “He was very unfortunate just before the Euros. We were going to call him into a prep camp to have a look at him and he got a bad injury. “I remember talking to Roy Hodgson about him then and Roy telling me he’d picked up an injury in training that day. “I think he has finished the season really strongly, he can play in a couple of positions across that attacking line. “He’s a goal threat, he’s got nice ability and bursts of speed to go past people and to take people out of the game with dribbling skills. “We’re looking forward to seeing him a bit closer and everybody I speak to talks brilliantly about him as a person as well.” Dunk has played for England but the Brighton captain has not been selected since winning his first cap against the United States in November 2018. “Brighton’s football this year has been exceptional and Lewis Dunk and Levi Cowell have been a big part of that,” Southgate said. “He’s shown great composure with the ball, he’s asked to defend very often one against one situations and he thoroughly deserves his call.” The squad also includes Marcus Rashford, who missed March’s fixtures and last featured for England in a qualifier in the run to the last Euros. “He’s a super player who’s had a really good season, so he’s an important player for us,” Southgate told talkSPORT. “We’ve not been blessed with having him to be able to put in the team too often but we’re hoping that’s different. And we’re looking forward to seeing him again.” There is no place for Ben White, who has not featured for England since leaving Qatar after the World Cup group stage due to personal reasons. “I spoke with Ben before the camp in March,” Southgate added. “But at the moment, we’ve got (Kieran) Trippier and (Kyle) Walker in that area of the pitch. “He’s had a very good season, as have the whole Arsenal team, but he’s not ahead of those guys at the moment.” Read More Eberechi Eze and Callum Wilson called up as England name squad for Euro 2024 qualifiers Gareth Southgate critical of Ivan Toney ban: ‘We’ve got to look after people’ Gareth Southgate hopes racist abuse suffered by Vinicius Jr forces change Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

'The Bachelor' star Becca Kufrin reveals that her 'Bachelor Happy Hour' podcast is ending and there have been 'no new recordings' of the show

Texas A&M quarterback Jaylen Henderson threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns and the Aggies defeated Abilene Christian 38-10 on Saturday to start the Elijah Robinson era

As the slump in public stock offerings drags on, Citigroup Inc. is seeing signs of life in the

By Francesca Landini and Giancarlo Navach MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's Enel will focus its investments on power grids in the next

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 28, 2023--

A train heading to Strasburg carrying hundreds of members and staff of the European Parliament ended up at Disneyland Paris on Monday after taking the wrong turn. The special train - which costs £90million a year to run - is chartered once a month to get European officials between parliaments in Brussels and Strasbourg. However, a signalling error on Monday meant that MEPs briefly ended up with a view of Disney princesses and animated attractions. After departing from Brussels, the train left Charles de Gaulle Airport and headed towards Disneyland because of the error. Officials on the train were told that the diversion was due to an “error in the route” and were quick to make light of their predicament on social media. German MEP, Daniel Freund joked on X: “We are NOT a Mickey Mouse Parliament.” Another Dutch lawmaker, Samira Rafaela, wrote “Team Disneyland”, in a photo posted on social media. Unfortunately, the stopover at Disneyland was not long enough for the MEPs to enjoy themselves at the theme park, as the delay was only 45 minutes. SNCF Networks, the railway company who charter the train, said the cause was a signalling error at the Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle TGV station. It apologised for the inconvenience, noting that the diversion caused only a 45-minute delay. “The passengers arrived at their destination at 12.50pm,” it told AFP news. It was eventually put back on to the correct track for Strasbourg. Read More Tell us if you think price is the biggest problem with electric cars EU to investigate X’s handling of disinformation over Hamas attack on Israel Electric cars will cost drivers £6,000 more if Sunak fails to get Brexit deal with EU

England's Harry Kane has made his official Bayern Munich debut, coming on as a substitute in the club's crushing 3-0 defeat to German Cup winners RB Leipzig in the Super Cup final in Munich on Saturday.

Jurgen Klopp cast himself as the philosophical opposite of his rival for Saturday’s crunch match. They have been pitted against each other for a decade now, Klopp and Pep Guardiola, over 28 meetings from the German Super Cup to the Community Shield, via the FA, Carabao and German cups, the Bundesliga, the Premier League and the Champions League. They will be in neighbouring technical areas at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday when Manchester City host Liverpool, just as they are side by side again in the league table, for a game Klopp said he “would watch wherever I was on the planet”. But, once again, he is up against the man he deems the finest in his business. “I don't know how often I have said it but he's the best manager in the world,” he said. And while he will willingly admit that Guardiola is an influence, he compared himself to his great rival by drawing a distinction between them. “Defending is an important part of the game,” he said. “That is where my philosophy starts and his maybe ends.” Guardiola may disagree on that point, given the importance he attaches to pressing. As Klopp accepted: “We are not that close that we have spoken about it.” But Klopp’s blueprint against Guardiola involves defending; which, in turn, is the basis of his attacking. Gegenpressing, after all, is his best playmaker. “I love preparing for a game when the opponent wants the ball because it gives you an opportunity to create something,” he said. Devastating transitions have been at the heart of his blueprint to beat Guardiola. It is one that no one else has been able to copy; not with any consistency. Only one manager has faced Guardiola at least eight times and has won more often than he has lost, and that is the man who has taken him on most often. Klopp’s 12 victories have been spread across Germany and England but have had certain common denominators. Klopp’s teams don’t dominate the ball, and nor do they try to. But nor do they give it up altogether: beating Manchester City with 20 per cent possession, he rationalised, “is really rare and your counterattacks have to be spot on”. And if Liverpool’s sometimes are, they had 37 per cent of the ball when they won 1-0 at Anfield last season, 32 per cent in the 2-1 Champions League victory at the Etihad Stadium, 36 per cent in 2018’s 4-3 triumph at Anfield. Klopp’s sides have to defend well, but the scorelines indicate that the games have not been defensive. Perhaps it is simply testament to the attacking quality on the pitch but those 28 matches have produced 93 goals, an average of 3.32 each. While winning more – 12 to 11 – Klopp’s teams have conceded more goals, 48 to 45; as he knows from 5-0, 4-0, 4-1 and 4-1 results, when City are on top, they can seem unstoppable. “If we can make it really uncomfortable for them, we have a chance,” Klopp said. “If they feel comfortable in their game, no team has a chance.” Arguably, no one else has made life uncomfortable for Guardiola as often as Klopp. Some of the unconventional decisions that have led to accusations that the Catalan overthinks things have come against Liverpool: Aymeric Laporte has played at left-back at Anfield, Ilkay Gundogan as a quasi-right-winger and Jack Grealish as a false nine, none with any conspicuous success. Klopp nevertheless argued that it will be hard for Guardiola to spring a surprise. “We are all kind of predictable so it is not that we have a rabbit in our pocket and pull it out,” he said. “It is football, all the pitches are the same size and it is super interesting.” He knows City want the ball and where they want it. The challenge lies in concentration and organisation, in when to try to take it off them, how and whether Liverpool can spring a break. “Now it is about each space on the pitch you give them on the pitch that they want to explore,” he said. “They really want to play. They are the one team who have four at the back and one of them is the goalkeeper. They don’t only play around their own box, they move slightly higher as well. If we have a solution for that, they will step back and adapt.” Guardiola can seem the control freak of the pair, Klopp the man with a brand of chaos theory. Yet he presented himself as the organiser, the defensive strategist, and the City manager as the ranter and raver. “I am not sure how deep you have to go into our personality to see what we are like,” he said. “I am 56 and I still don't know who I am but Pep is for sure this type of guy who likes to get angry with his boys if they don't want the ball. I have that a little bit. For me, I love to organise other things to get advantage from that and that is deep in my personality.” And that personality, over the years, has equipped him for the seemingly impossible task of facing Guardiola. Read More Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool can benefit from Alexis Mac Allister’s deeper role Jamie Carragher explains how new Trent Alexander-Arnold role can leave Liverpool vulnerable How Pep Guardiola borrowed from Jurgen Klopp to elevate Manchester City Pep Guardiola puts Jurgen Klopp on pedestal as ‘by far’ his biggest career rival Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool can benefit from Alexis Mac Allister’s deeper role Mohamed Salah ‘a completely different animal’ for Liverpool before Man City clash

Kim Petras has made history by becoming the second transgender woman to model on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As part of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's annual issue, the popstar was picked as one of the four cover stars including Megan Fox, Brooks Nader and Martha Stewart. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In her cover photo which was shot by Yu Tsai in Los Angeles, Petras wore a gold bikini as she stood in a pool and had her armed posed above her head. The Grammy Award winner is the second transgender woman cover star, with actress Leyna Bloom being the first to grace the cover back in July 2021. "It’s very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before, so [it was a] big dream come true for me," Petras told the publication. Fans of Petras flocked to her post and congratulated her on this achievement. One person wrote: "So so proud of you Kim this is iconic @kimpetras KEEP BUSTING DOWN THEM DOORS" "Beautiful!!! Congrats!!!! I wish you the best and many more of these," another person said. Someone else added: "And the photo credits being colored as the trans flag? Iconic. @sportsillustrated really focusing all in those details. Congrats, mama!!!" The 30-year-old German singer also acknowledged what it means to be part of the transgender community amid a wave of anti-trans laws being introduced in states and the pressure she feels to represent it in an interview with the magazine. "It’s definitely a scary time to be transgender in America, but there’s also so much more representation than there’s ever been, and there’s so many things on the bright side," she added. “I do feel a pressure sometimes to represent the trans community with everything I do because I feel very blessed that I am at this point where I have all these amazing opportunities that I’ve worked really hard for and feel so happy when I hear from trans people in general that they’re inspired by me.” Though she also noted that everything she does is "definitely not about being transgender." “I always try to remember that everything I do is definitely not about being transgender. It’s a part of me, but there are so many other parts of me. And I think that’s really important for me to show that to people,” she said. “No matter what your gender or sexuality or any of that stuff is, it’s about what you make of life and it’s about what’s inside of you, so I hope that can be inspiring to people.” It's not the first time Petras has made history, as she became the first trans woman to win Grammy for Best Pop Duo for her collaboration with Sam Smith on the hit song 'Unholy.' Petras's new highly-anticipated major label debut album, Feed the Beast is out on June 23. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Thousands of people are marching in Colombia to voice their frustration with President Gustavo Petro’s government and its attempts to make sweeping changes to the nation’s health and pension systems, and its labor laws