African World Cup qualifying results
Friday
• Ghana 0-0 Uganda
Saturday
• Gabon 0-0 Morocco
• DR Congo 4-0 Libya
• Burkina Faso 1-1 South Africa
• Ivory Coast 3-1 Mali
• Senegal 2-0 Cape Verde
Sunday
• Zambia 1-2 Nigeria
• Congo 1-2 Egypt
• Tunisia 2-0 Guinea
• Algeria 1-1 Cameroon
• For fixtures and TV info, click here
Sunday
Congo 1-2 Egypt
Hector Cuper-managed Egypt won their first third-round 2018 World Cup qualifier despite going down early to Republic of Congo in Brazzaville.
Ferebory Dore of Ligue 1’s Angers put the hosts ahead on 24minutes, but AS Roma’s Mohamed Salah equalised just before half-time.
Abdallah Said of Cairo giants Al Ahly fired in the winner on 58 minutes and the Pharaohs held on from there.
• Congo v Egypt preview: Hector Cuper, Mohamed salah and some points to prove for Pharaohs
Zambia 1-2 Nigeria
Nigeria opened their 2018 World Cup group-phase qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory in Zambia on Sunday thanks to goals from Premier League duo Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho
The 20-year-old strikers scored in the opening half before a capacity 40,000 crowd at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in central city Ndola that included President Edgar Lungu.
Zambia dominated the second half and veteran striker Collins Mbesuma set up a tense finish by halving the deficit 19 minutes from time.
• More: Nigeria starlets Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi could begin to leave mark on Super Eagles
But an equaliser eluded the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets), who are seeking a first World Cup appearance while the Super Eagles have already been to the finals five times.
The teams are in Group B – labelled the “group of death” as it contains three 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria.
Algeria host record seven-time African qualifiers Cameroon later on Sunday in Blida, a venue where the Desert Foxes are virtually invincible.
Iwobi of Arsenal pounced on a weak headed clearance to slam the ball past goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene from close range on 32 minutes.
Neat one-touch passing set Iheanacho of Manchester City free 10 minutes later and he rounded Mweene before calmly pushing the ball into the net.
A blunder from Nigeria defender Kenneth Omeruo allowed Mbesuma to score by firing past impressive goalkeeper Carl Ikeme from inside the penalty area.
Seven matches into the African group phase, Nigeria are the only country to win away after three home victories and three draws.
Saturday’s round-up
A three-goal blitz enabled Ivory Coast to whip Mali 3-1 Saturday in World Cup qualifying while Burkina Faso snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw with South Africa after wasting two penalties.
DR Congo thrashed Libya 4-0, Senegal overcame Cape Verde 2-0 and Gabon and Morocco drew 0-0 in other Matchday 1 African clashes.
Sambou Yatabare stunned reigning African champions Ivory Coast by racing on to a long pass and chipping the ball over slow-reacting goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo for an early lead in Bouake.
But the Ivorians responded by laying siege to the Mali goalmouth and Jonathan Kodjia and Gervinho scored in a dazzling nine-minute spell during which Salif Coulibaly conceded an own-goal.
Kodjia, a recent recruit by English second-tier club Aston Villa, levelled on 25 minutes by slamming the ball past goalkeeper Oumar Sissoko from outside the box.
Rattled Mali fell behind when Coulibaly turned a low cross into his net five minutes later and China-based Gervinho fired the third goal from just inside the penalty area.
It was a great start for three-time World Cup qualifiers Ivory Coast in Group C, especially as likely closest rivals Morocco were held 0-0 by 2017 Africa Cup of Nations hosts Gabon in Franceville.
Al Nasr’s Jonathan Pitroipa had an early penalty saved by Itumeleng Khune and Alain Traore blazed another spot-kick over before Banou Diawara snatched a stoppage-time draw for Burkina Faso in Group D.
Dean Furman put three-time World Cup participants South Africa ahead on 80 minutes, rifling a low shot through a crowd of players and past goalkeeper Herve Kouakou Koffi after a corner was not cleared.
When Traore failed to equalise from his penalty a minute before the end of regular time in front of a 40,000 Ouagadougou crowd, the hosts seemed doomed.
However, South Africa failed to deal with a bicycle kick in the first minute of additional time and Diawara got a touch that diverted the ball past Khune.
Striker Keita Balde from Italian Serie A outfit Lazio scored the first goal and created the second as dominant Senegal cruised to victory in Dakar and took a two-point lead over Burkina Faso and South Africa.
Balde beat Vozinha with a low, close-range shot during the opening half and his clever back-heel allowed recalled former Al Ahli striker Moussa Sow to slam the ball into the net with 10 minutes left.
Dieumerci Mbokani netted early in each half to power DR Congo to an emphatic triumph over Libya in Kinshasa with Jonathan Bolingi and Ndombe Mubele the other scorers.
The decisive Congolese victory sent an early warning to their other Group A rivals, Tunisia and Guinea, who meet Sunday.
Among the other three fixtures is Zambia against Nigeria in Ndola.
Friday
Uganda defender Nicholas Wadada was yellow-carded twice but not sent off as his team forced a shock 0-0 away draw against Ghana on Friday in a World Cup qualifier.
Although right-back Wadada was cautioned in each half at the Tamale Sports Stadium in northern Ghana, the Sudanese referee did not flash the expected red card after the second booking.
The Ugandan battled against the pace of winger Frank Acheampong until substituted soon after his lucky escape, and both cautions were the result of illegal tackles from behind.
A Fifa website report of the opening group-phase match in Africa confirmed that Wadada was yellow-carded after 23 and 55 minutes.
Ghana are ranked 22 places above Uganda in the world and were expected to make a winning start as they seek to emulate African record-holders Cameroon and reach four consecutive World Cup tournaments.
Following a slow start in 35 degrees C (95 F) heat, Ghana controlled possession and had the best chances to win the match in Group E, which includes Republic of Congo and Egypt.
Unmarked Jordan Ayew from English second-tier club Aston Villa blazed a far-post volley wide in the opening half and Christian Atsu was also off target after dribbling past several defenders.
Daniel Amartey from reigning Premier League champions Leicester City had a second-half header from a corner brilliantly tipped over by Uganda goalkeeper and captain Dennis Onyango.
*Agence France-Presse
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Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test Thursday-Monday at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
WORLD RECORD FEES FOR GOALKEEPERS
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga, Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea (£72m)
2) Alisson, Roma to Liverpool (£67m)
3) Ederson, Benfica to Manchester City (£35m)
4) Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus (£33m)
5) Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio (£15.7m
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%204-cylinder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20101hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20135Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Six-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh79%2C900%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDirect%20Debit%20System%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sept%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20with%20a%20subsidiary%20in%20the%20UK%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elaine%20Jones%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Thanksgiving meals to try
World Cut Steakhouse, Habtoor Palace Hotel, Dubai. On Thursday evening, head chef Diego Solis will be serving a high-end sounding four-course meal that features chestnut veloute with smoked duck breast, turkey roulade accompanied by winter vegetables and foie gras and pecan pie, cranberry compote and popcorn ice cream.
Jones the Grocer, various locations across the UAE. Jones’s take-home holiday menu delivers on the favourites: whole roast turkeys, an array of accompaniments (duck fat roast potatoes, sausages wrapped in beef bacon, honey-glazed parsnips and carrots) and more, as well as festive food platters, canapes and both apple and pumpkin pies.
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, The Address Hotel, Dubai. This New Orleans-style restaurant is keen to take the stress out of entertaining, so until December 25 you can order a full seasonal meal from its Takeaway Turkey Feast menu, which features turkey, homemade gravy and a selection of sides – think green beans with almond flakes, roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole and bread stuffing – to pick up and eat at home.
The Mattar Farm Kitchen, Dubai. From now until Christmas, Hattem Mattar and his team will be producing game- changing smoked turkeys that you can enjoy at home over the festive period.
Nolu’s, The Galleria Mall, Maryah Island Abu Dhabi. With much of the menu focused on a California inspired “farm to table” approach (with Afghani influence), it only seems right that Nolu’s will be serving their take on the Thanksgiving spread, with a brunch at the Downtown location from 12pm to 4pm on Friday.
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
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How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
