Author: INDEPENDENT

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Selangor FC have withdrawn from their season-opening Charity Shield match against Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) due to safety concerns following a series of attacks on players in Malaysia over the last week.Selangor’s Faisal Halim was left in critical condition after being splashed with acid, JDT’s Safiq Rahim had his car windscreen smashed by unknown assailants, while national team player Akhyar Rashid was injured in a robbery outside his home.Selangor called for Friday’s match to be postponed but…

Manhattan Associates is a Business Reporter client.2024 European retail benchmark highlights Unified Commerce, emphasising personalised experiences, streamlined checkout, reliable fulfilment and exceptional customer service.The challenges facing European retailers have always been complicated, requiring a tailored approach to strategies that accommodate the unique cultural tastes and nuances within each country, all the while, balancing the diverse economic backdrops and priorities of their markets.Unified Commerce allows retailers to operate across diverse retail landscapes, connecting diverse consumer preferences with integrated shopping experiences in a way that creates one continuous, seamless customer journey and goes far beyond simply selling products.With global ecommerce sales forecast…

Vladimir Putin left flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on Thursday 9 May, as Russia marked Victory Day.The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in the Second World War, but eventually pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender came into force at 11:01 pm on 8 May 1945, marked as “Victory in Europe Day” by France, Britain and the United States.In Moscow, it was already 9 May, which became the Soviet Union’s “Victory Day” in what Russians…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Jude Bellingham will go head-to-head against Jadon Sancho and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens for Champions League glory at Wembley on June 1.Sancho played a starring role in Borussia Dortmund’s semi-final success against Paris St Germain, with Bynoe-Gittens an unused substitute in both legs, while Bellingham helped Real Madrid to a dramatic 4-3 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich.At least one of the English trio will join an elite group of British male players to have lifted the Champions League trophy…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsFrank Bainimarama, former prime minister of Fiji, has been sentenced to a year in prison for seeking to pervert the course of justice in the University of the South Pacific corruption case. The Pacific island nation’s acting chief justice, Salesi Temo, overturned Bainimarama’s acquittal by magistrate Seini Puamau last month and imposed the sentence on Wednesday.Supporters of the former prime minister’s Fiji First party were gathered outside the Suva High Court and they joined in…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter “It’s something unexplainable,” Carlo Ancelotti said, more than once, on a night when he could have been talking about any number of elements. The Real Madrid manager was of course talking about his team’s astonishing capacity for victory in this competition. On the other side, looking at such relentless winners, Harry Kane was struggling to work out another high-profile defeat. And that was the thing – he really looked beaten. It was impossible not to feel sorry…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsUkraine is enlisting convicted prisoners in its army fighting the Russian invasion as the Volodymyr Zelensky regime struggles to replenish manpower on the frontline.Reeling under an intensifying Russian offensive, Kyiv is running out of manpower and material to continue waging the war after over two years and rotate out its exhausted and outnumbered frontline soldiers. To make up some of this shortfall, the Ukrainian parliament now passed a bill on Wednesday to raise several thousand…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter West Ham announced they would not appeal against the record £5.5million fine imposed by the Premier League’s independent commission over the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano on this day in 2007.The top-flight side were hit with the massive penalty following a two-day hearing at the end of April 2007, eight months after they stunned the football world with the recruitment of the Argentinian duo.The commission concluded that Tevez and Mascherano were part-owned by Media Sports…

Tanks seen near Gaza border as Israel vows to press ahead with Rafah ground operationFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsUS president Joe Biden for the first time publicly vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a ground offensive into Rafah in southern Gaza.“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah …, I’m not supplying the weapons,” Mr Biden, whose administration has repeatedly asked Israel for its plan to protect civilians in Rafah, said in an…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Thomas Tuchel claimed he received an apology from the assistant referee who raised his flag early and potentially denied Bayern Munich a late equaliser in their Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid.Hosts Madrid pulled off a stunning late comeback at the Bernabeu as substitute Joselu came off the bench to turn the tie around in the final minutes, after Bayern had led thanks to a Alphonso Davies strike.But Bayern had the ball in the net again…