Category: General

The WNBA team Phoenix Mercury called on the US government to bring their player Brittney Griner home from Russia as the 31-year-old remains in custody for drug-related charges.

Amid a campaign to get Griner out of Russia, the Mercury said in a tweet on Monday: “123 days. Bring Brittney home.”

A 2014 WNBA champion and seven-time WNBA All-Star, Griner was arrested by Russian police on Feb. 17 for alleged cannabis oil possession in her luggage.

Last week, Russia extended Griner’s detention until July 2.

Griner has been playing for the Mercury since 2013.

In the meantime, she has made appearances for overseas teams in the WNBA off-seasons and recently played for Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg.

The NBA and WNBA community — including NBA superstars such as the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, and the Boston Celtics — have joined a campaign to support Griner and get her back to US.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Portuguese football club Benfica has strengthened their squad with Brazilian winger David Nere.

“Neres is a Benfica player! The winger penned a contract valid until 2027,” Benfica said in a statement on Monday.

Neres, 25, left the Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk which he moved to in January.

He previously played for Ajax in 2017-2022 to be the Dutch champion for three times.

Separately, he won the 2019 Copa America title with the Brazilian national team.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Ex-Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs, who has been charged with assaulting two women, resigned as the Wales head coach late Monday after the Welsh national team had qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in earlier June.

“After much consideration, I am standing down from my position as manager of the Wales men’s national team with immediate effect,” Giggs said in a statement.

The 48-year-old said that it was “an honor and a privilege” to manage his nation but he does not want that his case would affect Wales’ preparations for this year’s World Cup.

Giggs said he was happy to work at Wales national team since 2018, and wished the players and staff success at the World Cup and in the future tournaments.

“The FAW (Football Association of Wales) places on record its gratitude to Ryan Giggs for his tenure as manager of the Cymru Men’s National Team and appreciates the decision he has taken, which is in the best interests of Welsh football,” the football body said.

It added that the Welsh FA are in “full focus” on Qatar 2022.

In the 2022 World Cup group stage, Wales will face England, Iran, and the US. The tournament will start on Nov. 21.

Former Manchester United star Giggs has been charged with bodily harming his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville in November 2020, and assaulting Kate’s younger sister Emma.

Giggs denied the charges. His trial was postponed until Aug. 8.

In Giggs’ absence, Robert Page has been the caretaker head coach for Wales since Nov. 3, 2020.

Page’s men reached the last 16 in the UEFA EURO 2020 that was held in the 2021 summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also led Wales to a first World Cup finals since 1958.

Giggs, one of the most decorated Manchester United members and the English club’s longtime winger, amassed 64 international caps to score 12 goals for Wales.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former Cameroonian footballer Samuel Eto’o will avoid imprisonment after admitting to tax fraud of 3.8 million euros ($4 million) in Spain during his career with Barcelona between 2004 and 2009.

Eto’o received a 22-month suspended prison sentence by a Spanish court Monday and a 1.8 million euro ($1.9 million) fine after pleading guilty to failing to declare income from the transfer of image rights between 2006 and 2009.

“I will make the payment, but I only did what my father told me,” said the former player for Turkish club Antalyaspor.

The prosecutor initially requested a 10-year prison sentence for Eto’o, but it was reduced to 22 months after he paid his tax debt of about €2 million ($2.1 million).

Source: Anadolu Agency

QatarEnergy has selected Eni as a new international partner in the North Field East (NFE) expansion project, Eni announced on Sunday.

The Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi signed a partnership agreement for a new joint venture company during the official ceremony on Sunday.

QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest while Eni will hold the remaining 25% interest, the company said.

The joint venture will hold a 12.5% interest in the entire NFE project, including four mega LNG trains with a combined capacity of 32 million tons per annum (MTPA).

The NFE project will expand Qatar’s LNG export capacity from the current 77 MTPA to 110 MTPA.

‘A $28.75 billion investment, NFE is expected to start production before the end of 2025 and will deploy state-of-the-art technologies to minimize overall carbon footprint, including carbon capture and sequestration,’ Eni announced.

The agreement marks the completion of a competitive process that started in 2019 and which will run for 27 years.

The deal is seen as a strategic move for Eni, expanding its presence in the Middle East while gaining access to a world-leading LNG producer and detaining some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A Russian tennis player in women’s doubles, Natela Dzalamidze, has dodged the 2022 Wimbledon ban by changing her citizenship to Georgian to play at next week’s Grand Slam.

According to the Wimbledon’s entry list for this year’s tournament on Friday, Dzalamidze, 29, will represent Georgia at the Championships.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has changed Dzalamidze’s nationality to Georgia as well.

Moscow-born Dzalamidze was a Russian player from 2015-2022.

She ranked 44th in women’s doubles.

Russian and Belarusian tennis players cannot play at this year’s Wimbledon due to the Russia-Ukraine war, organizers had previously said.

The 2022 Wimbledon will begin on June 27 and run through July 10.

Founded in 1877, Wimbledon is one of the four majors in tennis and it is the only Grand Slam that is still played on grass, which is the game’s tradition.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Türkiye beat South Korea 3-1 in the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League on Sunday.

The Crescent-Stars defeated South Korea with sets of 20-25, 25-13, 25-19 and 25-15 in the Pool 3 – Week 2 game.

Ebrar Karakurt led her team to victory with 17 points while her teammate Zehra Gunes contributed 15 points.

Türkiye placed seventh with 13 points while South Korea is at the bottom of the Preliminary Phase standings with zero points.

Canada will host Türkiye in a Pool 5 – Week 3 game on June 29.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Czech Republic won the CEV Men’s Volleyball European Golden League 2022 on Sunday by beating Türkiye 3-1 in the final.

The Czechs won gold medal by beating the Crescent Stars with sets of 25-21, 25-22, 21-25 and 27-25.

Jan Galabov led his team to their second Golden League title with 21 points.

Separately, Croatia beat Ukraine 3-2 and won a bronze medal in the third-place game Sunday.

After bagging a silver medal, the Red Whites, who won the title twice in 2019 and 2021, are still the most successful team in the organization’s history with a total of seven medals.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Libya’s crude oil production dropped to less than 200,000 barrels per day amid a continued shutdown of ports and facilities, the country’s oil ministry said on Sunday.

In a statement, the Ministry of Oil and Gas said the closure has affected almost all Libya’s oil fields and ports.

“There are only a few number of operational fields that produce between 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day,” it added.

Since April 17, Libyan tribal groups shut down much of Libya’s oil facilities in southern and central Libya to pressure Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh to hand over power to the Parliament-appointed government of Fathi Bashagha.

Prior to the closure, Libya was producing around 1.2 million crude oil barrels a day.

Libya holds Africa’s largest crude reserves, but 11 years of conflict in the country since the 2011 ouster of ruler Muammar Gaddafi has hobbled production and exports.

Source: Anadolu Agency