HANOI: A summit of Southeast Asian and other international leaders scheduled in Vietnam early next month has been postponed until end-June due to worries about coronavirus, Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has informed leaders of other Southeast Asian countries about the postponement, the ministry said.
The 36th summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had been scheduled to take place on April 6-9 in Vietnam, the group’s chair this year.
The postponement decision came after Vietnam announced on March 17 that it would introduce mandatory quarantine for all visitors from the United States, Europe and ASEAN countries and suspend the issue of new visas for all foreign nationals.
The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 9,000 people worldwide and infected 76 people in Vietnam as of late Thursday, already forced a meeting between ASEAN and the United States slated for March 14.
The ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN summit in Vietnam postponed until end-June over coronavirus
ASEAN summit in Vietnam postponed until end-June over coronavirus
- ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
Emotional Klopp tells fans ‘I love you to bits’ as his final match with Liverpool ends with a win
- Goals by Alexis Mac Allister and Jarell Quansah secured one last victory of the Klopp era
- They lined the streets outside Anfield to welcome Klopp and his players and produced a paper mosaic of the word “JURGEN”
LIVERPOOL: The last time as Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp ran over to The Kop and delivered those repeated fist pumps that have been his signature during his transformational spell at Anfield.
The Liverpool fans — many with tears in their eyes, just like some of the team’s players -responded with a series of deafening roars, and then cheered Klopp as he did a circuit of the field.
Soon enough, he had disappeared out of view down the tunnel.
Gone, but never forgotten.
“I’m one of you now — I love you to bits,” Klopp said among his last words as he addressed the crowd inside Anfield after his final game as Liverpool’s manager, a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton on Sunday.
The match on the final day of the Premier League season doubled as a tribute to a German coach who led Liverpool to seven major trophies in his nearly nine years at Anfield and forged such a connection with the city that he has been compared to Bill Shankly — the club’s legendary manager from 1959-74.
No wonder Klopp looked emotional throughout an afternoon that Liverpool fans never wanted to come.
They lined the streets outside Anfield to welcome Klopp and his players, and then produced a paper mosaic of the word “JURGEN” in the stand opposite the dugouts as he emerged for the game.
“People are calling it The Last Dance. So let’s dance,” Klopp told Sky Sports just off the field before kickoff – and Liverpool obliged by strolling to one final victory for Klopp thanks to goals by Alexis Mac Allister and Jarell Quansah.
In some ways, it was business as usual for Klopp.
He touched the “This is Anfield” sign in the tunnel on the way out to the pitch.
He patrolled the middle of the field with his hands behind his back during the warmups, watching his own team — and then, with that trademark glare, his opponents.
He waved to fans behind the Liverpool dugout and tapped his heart just ahead of kickoff, before soaking in an emotionally charged rendition of the club’s anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
“This morning I woke up,” Klopp said before the game, “and I was completely in game mode.”
The farewell party really started after the final whistle, which he marked by embracing each member of his backroom staff and also Wolves manager Gary O’Neil. Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was in tears as he hugged Klopp near the center circle.
The goodbye celebrations reached a crescendo as Klopp walked back out onto the field about 45 minutes after fulltime, wearing a red hoodie with the words “Thank You Luv” on the front and “I’ll Never Walk Alone” on the back, to speak to the crowd one last time.
“It doesn’t feel like an end. It feels like a start,” Klopp said. “Because I saw a football team full of youth, full of creativity, full of desire.
“For a few weeks, I got too much attention and it feels really uncomfortable but this time I realize a lot of things. People told me I turned them from doubters into believers. That’s not true. Believing is an act. You had to do it yourself. You did it. And nobody tells you now to stop believing.”
With Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold now in tears, Klopp continued in his speech to the home fans: “Because we have you, the super power of world football.”
He followed it up by chanting the name of Arne Slot, his likely successor.
“Arne Slot, la la la la la,” Klopp sang, to the tune of “Live is Life” by Austrian band Opus.
Liverpool finished third in the standings, nine points behind champion Manchester City, but at least won a trophy in Klopp’s final season — the English League Cup.
Abu Dhabi-backed MMA championship makes successful France debut
- Benoit Saint Denis, Espen Mathiesen, Ffion Davies, Khaled Al-Shehhi emerge as champions at ADXC in Paris
ABU DHABI: Some of the world’s best grapplers and jiu-jitsu athletes participated this past weekend in the ADXC 4 championships at the Dojo de Paris in France.
The Grappling Main Event at the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship featured the long-awaited duel between UFC powerhouses Benoit Saint Denis and Marc Diakiese go the way of the home favorite.
Fighting in his homeland, Saint Denis used his grappling prowess to emerge victorious in the ADXC cage. Saint Denis almost submitted England’s Diakiese in the first round, but the latter managed to survive to go five rounds.
Norway’s Espen Mathiesen is now a two-time ADXC champion after defeating France’s Leon Larman in the Jiu-Jitsu Main Event. The Norwegian athlete played to his strength and defeated his opponent with a collar choke in the first round.
In the Grappling Co-Main Event, Wales’ Ffion Davies beat her opponent Morgan Black in the second round with an armbar, after intense pressure in the first round.
In the Jiu-Jitsu Co-Main Event, Khaled Al-Shehhi and Leonardo Mario found themselves evenly matched over the five rounds of three minutes each. Al-Shehhi started with a takedown, followed with a submission attempt and, when that did not work, used the single-leg to press Leonardo against the cage wall.
Mario applied pressure on Al-Shehhi’s guard, but the UAE powerhouse had a better run in the duel, using his technique to attack on top and even reach the side. Ultimately, Al-Shehhi did enough to convince the majority of the referees and won with a split decision.
In another matchup between MMA athletes, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady controlled Amin Youb throughout the first two rounds, even managing to mount in the third. Youb attempted to attack with a guillotine, but Al-Selwady managed to avoid the danger and convinced the referees, who unanimously decided in favor of the “Pride of Palestine.”
In a well-balanced fight between purple belts, the UAE’s Shamma Al-Kalbani took on Lina Grosset of France. The first round saw both athletes exchanging foot attacks while the following one brought a little more movement, with reversals and guard-passing attempts. The third and final round saw Grosset putting on pressure from the top, but Al-Kalbani dished out some sneaky attacks and won via split decision.
ADXC 4 results:
Main Event: Benoit Saint Denis defeated Marc Diakiese via unanimous decision.
Espen Mathiesen defeated Leon Larman via collar choke.
Co-Main Event: Ffion Davies defeated Morgan Black via armbar.
Khaled Al-Shehhi defeated Leonardo Mario via split decision.
Main Card
Abdul-Kareem Al-Sewady defeated Amin Youb via unanimous decision.
Cassio Silva defeated Marko Oikarainen via unanimous decision.
Nathiely de Jesus defeated Elizabeth Mitrovic via unanimous decision.
Nia Blackman defeated Magdalena Loska via split decision.
Steven Ray defeated Ibrahima Mane via guillotine.
Preliminary Card
Youness Bennouali defeated Florian Bayili via split decision.
Geo Martinez defeated Nicolas Renier via heel hook.
Kalim Mastouri defeated Luca Anacoreta via unanimous decision.
Kasper Larsen defeated Alexander Alexandrov via rear-naked choke.
Shamma Al-Kalbani defeated Lina Grosset via split decision.
Saudi Arabia hosts Red Bull Four 2 Score Championship
RIYADH: The Red Bull Four 2 Score Championship is returning to Saudi Arabia for its second edition from May 24 to June 7.
The tournament will feature teams of four players each competing in local qualifiers across three Saudi Arabia cities, culminating in a national final. The ultimate goal for participants is to win an all-inclusive trip to the world final in Germany later this year.
The event is being held in partnership with Red Bull Mobile, Subway and the Kingdom’s Ministry of Sports and Sports for All Federation.
Qualifiers will take place in five stages in Riyadh and Jeddah, with the national final scheduled for June 7 in Abha.
The tournament’s rules and concept are designed to showcase Red Bull’s “power football” philosophy. In the first and last 60 seconds of the 10-minute matches, goals are doubled. There are no breaks or goalies, emphasizing the importance of scoring at critical moments. Both male and female players aged 16 to 35 are eligible to participate.
The two winning teams from the female and male categories will represent Saudi Arabia alongside other international teams at the world final, hosted by RB Leipzig.
Pakistan PM declares day of mourning as Iran confirms Raisi’s death
- Iranian state media confirms President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister and other officials had died in a helicopter crash
- Raisi, 63, was traveling through Iran’s East Azerbaijan province when his helicopter crashed in northwestern part of country
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared a day of mourning today, Monday, after Iranian state media confirmed President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials of the country had been killed in a helicopter crash in the country’s northwest.
Iranian state media IRNA said Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and others had been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash after an hours-long search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest.
The Iranian president, 63, was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, state TV put it farther east near the village of Uzi, but details remained contradictory.
With Raisi were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province and other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. One local government official used the word “crash,” but others referred to either a “hard landing” or an “incident.”
In a post on social media platform X, Sharif extended his “deepest condolences” and sypathies to the people of Iran, hoping they would recover from the tragedy with courage.
“Pakistan will observe a day of mourning and the flag will fly at half mast as a mark of respect for President Raisi and his companions and in solidarity with Brotherly Iran,” Sharif wrote on X.
The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by Israel’s war on Gaza, during which Raisi under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month. Under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region.
Raisi was elected president at the second attempt in 2021, and since taking office ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
In Iran’s dual political system, split between the clerical establishment and the government, it is the supreme leader rather than the president who has the final say on all major policies.
In April, Raisi arrived in Islamabad on a three-day official visit to Pakistan as the two Muslim neighbors sought to mend ties after unprecedented tit-for-tat military strikes earlier this year.
The Iranian president had held delegation-level meetings in the Pakistani capital as well as one-on-one discussions with Pakistan’s prime minister, president, army chief, Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker.
During the visit, Raisi had also overseen the signing of eight agreements between the two countries that covered different fields, including trade, science technology, agriculture, health, culture, and judicial matters.
Timberwolves knock out defending champion Nuggets, Pacers oust Knicks
- Timberwolves became the first team to come back from a halftime deficit of more than 11 points to win a Game 7
- Minnesota will play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals while the Pacers booked an Eastern Conference finals showdown with the top-seeded Boston Celtics
LOS ANGELES: The Minnesota Timberwolves erased a 20-point deficit to stun Denver 98-90, knocking the defending NBA champions out of the playoffs Sunday as Indiana ousted the New York Knicks.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Jaden McDaniels added 23 points and Anthony Edwards hit his stride late as the Timberwolves became the first team to come back from a halftime deficit of more than 11 points to win a Game 7.
The Pacers connected on an NBA playoff record 67.1 percent of their shots — making 53 of their 79 attempts from the floor — in a 130-109 Game 7 triumph over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Edwards, who has emerged as a star for the Timberwolves at 22, said poise was the key to Minnesota’s latest unlikely victory over three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
Down by 15 at halftime, Minnesota trailed by 20 early in the third. But Denver went cold as Edwards found his range and the Timberwolves cut the deficit to one point going into the fourth quarter.
Edwards, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, said coach Chris Finch told him at the break to “play quicker.”
“If they’re going to continue to trap you, you got to make the right play and trust your teammates,” Edwards said. “We was just poised throughout the entire game. We just fought, fought.
“And KAT played spectacular tonight,” Edwards added of Towns. “He carried us tonight.”
Minnesota had pulled within one point going into the fourth quarter and took the lead for good on Rudy Gobert’s driving layup in the first minute of the final period.
Jokic scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter. He added 19 rebounds and seven assists and Jamal Murray scored 35 points but both said the Nuggets just missed too many shots.
“I felt like we got the shots we wanted and the opportunities were there,” Murray said.
The Timberwolves, who had rocked the Nuggets with two wins in Denver to open the series before dropping three straight games, closed it out with a blowout Game 6 win and their final comeback triumph.
“It’s a special moment,” Finch said. “This is a hell of a team with the best player on the planet. The series was wild, and this game was just a microcosm of the series.”
Minnesota will play the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals while the Pacers booked an Eastern Conference finals showdown with the top-seeded Boston Celtics.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 26 points while Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard added 20 apiece as six Pacers players scored in double figures.
Donte DiVincenzo made nine three-pointers on the way to 39 points for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson scored 17 and handed out nine assists before departing with a broken left hand at the start of the fourth quarter — a final injury blow for the ravaged Knicks.
The Pacers broke through for their first road win of the series with a breathtaking offensive display in the first half, when they made 29 of their 38 shots for a 76.3 shooting percentage.
The Knicks cut a 15-point halftime deficit to six early in the third, but the Pacers had all the answers.
“Just a great game overall, top to bottom for us,” Haliburton said. “We hadn’t won on the road all series — we just found a way.”
The Knicks, chasing a first Eastern Conference finals berth since 2000, hurt their own cause with two costly turnovers on inbounds plays and the Pacers quickly pushed the lead back to 19 points.
The Knicks had hoped for a boost from forward OG Anunoby, who returned to the starting lineup after missing four games with a hamstring injury.
But Anunoby was clearly limited and departed in the first quarter as hurting teammate Josh Hart soldiered on despite an abdominal strain.
“Guys gave everything they had, and that’s all you could ask,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who was without Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic for the playoffs.
“It was a battle all year and there was nothing left to give at the end.”
