Geezzyworld's Blog

Xavi Hernandez said he is open to being Qatar’s coach when it hosts the 2022 World Cup and rebuffed critics by claiming he is “very proud” to be in Doha. The Barcelona great, 37, who currently plays in Qatar for Al Sadd, told AFP he is “90 percent” certain to retire at the end of this season and then launch his coaching career. And the World Cup winner says he wants to coach on the biggest stage. Asked if that mean being Qatar’s coach in 2022, he replied: “Why not? I think it would be nice to be a coach here for the national team. “We will see. I need experience, I need staff, I need everything but at least I know the Qatari players, I know the environment here.” The Spanish 2010 World Cup winner added: “I am here to help them to be better, to compete well at this World Cup. “I think my aim is to be the head coach.” He added that he would initially like to get involved coaching Qatar’s under-19s or under-23s before working with the senior team. And he advocated a pla...

The Spanish government and the European Union warned Catalonia’s separatist leader Tuesday against declaring independence, just hours before he announces a possible split from Spain under intense domestic and European scrutiny. Whether or not Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will follow through on his threat to announce a full breakaway in defiance of the central government and Spanish courts is still unknown. Police increased security around the regional parliament in Barcelona where Puigdemont is due to address Catalan lawmakers at 1600 GMT, blocking public access to a park that houses the building. In Madrid, the Spanish government issued a sharp warning to Puigdemont as it grapples with the nation’s worst political crisis in a generation. “We call on Puigdemont not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration,” government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters. EU President Donald Tusk ...

Severe thunderstorms have lashed South Africa, leaving at least three people dead and many more injured. Damaging winds, destructive hail and torrential rain affected many parts of the country on Monday, with the area in and around Johannesburg seeing some of the worst damage. Those who died were killed in traffic incidents attributed to the storms, according to the South African News network News24. Among those injured were a man and his two children, who were wounded after their house collapsed in Bapsfontein, to the east of Johannesburg. Two other people were hurt when an external structure at the Cradlestone Mall in Krugersdorp collapsed. There were numerous reports of hail smashing windows and damaging cars, and torrential rain flooding roads, making them impassable. A number of tornadoes were also reported. A suspected twister injured six people in the small town of Delmas, east of Johannesburg. The severe weather brought heavy snow to Drakensberg. Residents re...

An autopsy report by a medical examiner has found that the death of Tagbo Umeike was caused by excessive alcohol consumption and drug overdose as earlier speculated. The 35-year-old was a mutual friend of singer Davido and actress Caroline Danjuma. Danjuma had accused Davido of being complicit in his death. The ‘IF’ singer had denied any involvement in the incident, saying only “God knows the truth“. The toxicology test detected that Umeike had 75.5 percent of Barcardi 151 in his system, placing his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.112, a number higher than 0.08, the legal limit for a human being. The result also showed that Umeike took a combination of alcohol and drugs. The drug found in his system, topiramate, is a medication for epilepsy and/or migraines. The coroner’s office said the drug can cause one to slip into early stages of hypothermia and eventual death and that the amount found in Umeike’s system was in the “therapeutic range”. According to a statement by...

Paris Saint-Germain are considering making a big offer for Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante next summer, reports in France have claimed. French outlet Le Parisien reported on Tuesday that the big spending Ligue 1 club are looking for a midfielder in the mould of Kante, who is in his second season at Chelsea. Le Parisien expects Kante to cost at least double the €36m Chelsea paid to buy him from Leicester City in the 2016 summer, but PSG would gladly pay up. There are also worries over Financial Fair play rules, but PSG have found a way around the rules in the past. PSG coughed up €220m to Barcelona for Neymar this summer to make the Brazi star the world’s most expensive player and followed that up with a huge loan deal for youngster Kylian Mbappe. Chelsea are however expected to reject any offer for their star midfielder who has won the Premier League title back-to-back with Leicester City and the Blues.

More than a dozen fast-moving wildfires tearing through through California’s wine country have killed at least 10 people, destroying hundreds of homes, authorities said Monday. Fanned by winds of over 50 miles (80 kilometers) an hour, the blazes have forced more than 20,000 people to evacuate in the country’s heaviest populated state since they began Sunday night. California’s fire service said about 73,000 acres (30,000 hectares) have been ravaged by the major infernos. “The Sheriff’s Office confirms seven fire-related deaths from the Sonoma Co. fires. Our condolences to their friends and families,” tweeted the sheriff of Sonoma County in the state’s north. The previous toll had stood at three. At least 1,500 buildings were destroyed as the state declared an emergency in three counties ravaged by intense fires, mostly in its famous wine-producing regions. Fourteen major fires are burning in total. Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties are covered by Governor Jerry Brown’s order. T...

Police in Italy have arrested the brother of a Tunisian man who stabbed to death two women in the French city of Marseille earlier this month. Police in the northern city of Ferrara said on Monday that the suspect, Anis Hanachi, was arrested over the weekend on an international warrant issued by French authorities accusing him of involvement in the attack and of international terrorism. The Italian news agency ANSA say the brother is suspected of having radicalised the attacker, and may have had a role in organising the attack. The attacker, 29-year-old Ahmed Hanachi, who was shot dead after the attack, had lived in Aprilia, south of Rome, from about 2006 to 2014, reports said. It was not immediately clear how long the brother had been in Italy.