Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has called for the Saudi Pro League transfer window to close in line with Europe’s – but refused to rule out selling players beyond September 1. Some of football’s top names have made the move to Saudi Arabia this summer as PIF investment in four of the country’s top clubs has allowed for a vast increase in transfer fees. Arsenal host Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday and, while the Gunners have not lost any of their squad to Saudi, their visitors will be without talismanic forward Aleksandar Mitrovic, who moved to Al-Hilal last week. Head coach Marco Silva rejected overtures from the Gulf before the start of the new season while winger Willian was also unsettled by transfer speculation. The Premier League window closes next Friday but Saudi clubs will be able to sign and register new players until September 20, something Arteta believes needs to be addressed. Asked if the extra two and a half weeks to conclude business was fair, the Spaniard replied: “No, because it is a competitor now. No, I think we have to change that.” Pushed on whether the Pro League deadline should fall in line with Europe, Arteta continued: “That is my opinion, yes. “It is another competitor and it brings other opportunities for players, for managers and for people that work in the industry to decide. “In the end, we are free to decide when clubs, players or whoever has to agree to something, you have to have the intention to go and find agreements, that is why there are contracts. It is another competitor and it brings other opportunities for players, for managers and for people that work in the industry to decide Mikel Arteta on the Saudi Pro League transfer window “If people agree to go it is because someone agrees to go there but that someone agreed to sell him, so it goes two or three different ways.” No Arsenal players have headed to the Middle East this summer but there has been reported interest from Saudi clubs in both Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey. While he wants to see a uniform transfer deadline, Arteta stopped short of saying Arsenal will refuse to sell players beyond the Premier League’s window closing on September 1. “Well, the principle would be that (we would not consider offers),” he said. “But I cannot make the decision for the club. It is a lot of people involved in that process and they would have for sure a say, the ownership, would do the same. “It would be on the table like with any offer and you have to look at it. The only thing I’m saying is it’s not ideal because they are a competitor.” Asked if losing a player after the window closed would be destabilising, he added: “Yes, very much. Yes.” Arsenal welcome their London rivals having won their first two league games and could welcome Gabriel Jesus back from knee surgery to play a part on Saturday. The Brazil forward went under the knife for a minor procedure before the start of the campaign but Arteta is hopeful he could feature against Fulham. “It was a big blow for him after the pre-season he had to have another surgery. He’s looking really sharp. He trained the full week good. He’s ready to go, that is great,” he added. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live ‘This is unacceptable’ – Alexia Putellas after Luis Rubiales refuses to resign Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag avoids questions about Mason Greenwood Kevin Sinfield says England’s pre-World Cup setbacks are bringing squad together

Michael O’Neill admitted poor defending cost Northern Ireland dear in a damaging 4-2 defeat to Slovenia but it was another game of fine margins in Ljubljana. Northern Ireland ended the night having created more chances than their hosts but on the wrong end of the scoreline as they struggled to contain Slovenia’s strike pairing of Benjamin Sesko and Andraz Sporar. Isaac Price’s first international goal had cancelled out Sporar’s third-minute strike but all too quickly Northern Ireland were behind again when Petar Stojanovic’s strike deflected off Jonny Evans in the 17th minute, with Sesko giving Slovenia breathing space before the break. Although Evans got O’Neill’s side back into it in the 53rd minute, almost immediately Sporar settled it to deliver what is surely a fatal blow to Northern Ireland’s hopes of progressing from Group H as they lost for a fourth straight match. But although they conceded four, O’Neill could be happy with the attacking intent showed by his side, with Conor McMenamin carrying the threat after getting the nod on the right wing. “It was a game full of incident clearly, six goals,” O’Neill said. “I thought we played very well in the game. We defended poorly at times, we struggled to deal with Sesko and Sporar who we knew would be the biggest threat and they proved to be that. “But we did a lot of good things in the game. Some of the attacking play was very very good, we created a lot of chances and that was the best attacking play we’ve had in the campaign so far. Playing with two wingers helped us with the chances we created. “The most disappointing thing in the game is how we managed the period in the game from 1-1 to 2-1, I think that was the period where we needed to be stable and we weren’t. Also from 3-2 to 4-2, we conceded too early after the game went to 3-2. “We were trying to find a way back in the last 15 minutes and asked some questions and again the goalkeeper makes two or three good saves. It was an open game. I was disappointed to lose the game but pleased with a lot of aspects, some of the younger players were terrific.” There were late chances for McMenamin and substitutes Josh Magennis and Paul Smyth, but although Northern Ireland had more possession and more chances than their hosts, they lacked the sort of firepower offered by RB Leipzig’s Sesko and Sporar of Panathinaikos. After coming out on the wrong end of three consecutive 1-0 defeats, this was a very different result, but a similar story of Northern Ireland not being outplayed. “The biggest difference in the game was probably the front two,” O’Neill said. “It’s a big part of the team. I don’t think we saw a lot between the teams on the night but they were clinical. “Both Sorpar and Sesko were a threat all night. Some of our players were excellent as well and the chances we created, we’re probably disappointed we only scored twice in the game. We have to accept the defeat and move on.” McMenamin was the brightest spark, with the 28-year-old showing the confidence gained from his summer move from Glentoran to St Mirren. “Conor had a great game, he was very, very positive from the outset,” O’Neill said. “He’s a player who has come late to international football, late to professional football. “In the summer he got his first move into the Scottish Premiership and I think he’s made great strides in the space of six to eight weeks he’s been in the there so there’s a lot more in Conor.”

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Microsoft has been given approval to buy Call of Duty developer Activision, clearing the way for one of the biggest ever tech deals. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the Xbox owner could go ahead with the takeover after agreeing to buy Activision without cloud gaming rights. It puts an end to a half-year long battle between the watchdog and Microsoft, having moved to block the deal in April. But businesses and their advisors should be in no doubt that the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA Sarah Cardell, CMA's chief executive The new deal, which was initially worth 69 billion US dollars (£56.6 billion at the current exchange rate), will stop Microsoft from having a “stranglehold” over the UK cloud gaming market, the CMA said. The regulator said it would preserve competitive prices for gamers and make sure consumers get more choice. Assassin’s Creed video game maker Ubisoft is set to buy Activision’s cloud gaming rights instead. But the CMA criticised Microsoft for “dragging out” proceedings during its investigation into the merger. Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said: “With the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, we’ve made sure Microsoft can’t have a stranglehold over this important and rapidly developing market. “But businesses and their advisors should be in no doubt that the tactics employed by Microsoft are no way to engage with the CMA. “Microsoft had the chance to restructure during our initial investigation but instead continued to insist on a package of measures that we told them simply wouldn’t work. “Dragging out proceedings in this way only wastes time and money.” Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, said the group is “grateful” for the decision to approve the acquisition which he believes will “benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide”. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Incels using TikTok to spread ‘hateful beliefs’, research suggests Duke and Duchess of Sussex call for overhaul of social media Google to trial AI in UK traffic light systems to reduce stop-and-go emissions Broadband customers face £150 hikes because of ‘outrageous’ rises – Which? Rise of AI chatbots ‘worrying’ after man urged to kill Queen, psychologist warns William hails ‘amazing’ eco-friendly start-up businesses

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 5, 2023--

An hours-long outage that left people in the UK unable to call each other has now been resolved, according to the networks involved. Around lunchtime on Monday, many people found they were unable to make phone calls. Attempting to ring certain numbers just showed the call as failing. It was initially unclear what the problem was, and who was responsible. Tracking website Down Detector showed issues at a range of UK networks, and indicated that customers across the country were experiencing them. It soon became clear that the problem affected Vodafone numbers when they tried to call EE numbers. But it also affected people with Vodafone who attempted to call people who ported their number from EE – since the number remains the same, and so EE is still involved in the process, routing those calls to people’s new network. Vodafone indicated that the problem was with EE. It said that the problem was “an issue with the EE network”, and that the network was seeking to fix it. EE then said that it was aware of the problem and working to fix it. Now EE has said that the issue has been resolved, though it gave little information on what happened or whether it might be able to happen again. It also stressed that the issue only affected calls from Vodafone customers, and that mobile data and text messages had stayed functional throughout the outage. “The issue impacting some customers’ calls to and from a Vodafone number has been resolved,” a spokesperson said. “We’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Calls to other networks, mobile data and text messages were not affected.” Customers at some other networks reported problems, including those on O2, which said that users might experience issues when connecting with customers on EE. Those problems were presumably the result of those ported numbers. Read More Vodafone users say they can’t call people SpaceX abandons YouTube for live streams of launches in favour of X/Twitter Spy attire: US investing $22m in surveillance socks and other wearable tech

Working-class British employees face a 12% salary penalty. That means they effectively work for free from 17th November