Pep Guardiola insisted it was mission accomplished as Manchester City booked their place in the Champions League last 16 for a seventh successive season despite a lacklustre 1-1 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
Guardiola's side were well below their best at the Etihad Stadium, but Ilkay Gundogan's second half strike put them on course to wrap up first place in Group C with one game to spare.
Although Manor Solomon equalised for Shakhtar, Atalanta's win over Dinamo Zagreb ensured City can't be knocked off top spot.
"We have qualified. We played so good in second half. The group stage is always tricky but the target was to qualify and we have done it," Guardiola said.
"Now we have one competition already done - we play the last game qualified as first in the group - so we can focus on the Premier League until we arrive in the cups."
With the group clinched, Guardiola has the bonus of being able to rest players for the trip to Zagreb on December 11.
That is especially important .

Man City reach Champions League last 16 after Shakhtar draw

PTI Automatic

Jose Mourinho revelled in his role as Tottenham came from two goals down to beat Olympiakos 4-2 to reach the last 16 of the Champions League on his first home match in charge on Tuesday.
The Portuguese introduced Christian Eriksen for Eric Dier just 30 minutes in after seeing his side fall behind to goals from Youssef El Arabi and Ruben Semedo.
Dele Alli pounced on a horrible defensive mistake to breathe new life into Spurs before the break and a second-half double from Harry Kane either side of Serge Aurier's fine strike completed the comeback.
"My feeling was great, especially because it was one of these matches where I had to play," said Mourinho.
"Some matches you play before the match. You prepare the team, you work, you train, then the game starts and your action during the game is not very important. In other matches you have to play and I had to play.
"Apart from an awful feeling in relation to Eric, everything was great."
Last season's Champions League finalists can now look .

Mourinho revels in game-changing sub as Tottenham fight back to make last 16

Robert Lewandowski made Champions League history with four goals in 15 minutes as managerless Bayern Munich romped to a 6-0 win at Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.
It was the fastest four-goal haul in the competition's history and makes Lewandowski the top scorer in Europe this season with 10 goals in five games.
He also saw a first-half strike ruled out by VAR for a handball in the build-up.
"The most important thing is that we played really well, defensively and on the attack," Lewandowski told Sky.
"It doesn't matter who plays, we follow the same plan." "I am just as happy when I don't score and we win," he added having failed to score in Saturday's 4-0 win at Fortuna Duesseldorf for the first time in Bayern's 12 league games this season.
Leon Goretzka and Corentin Tolisso also got on the score-sheet in Belgrade, but the night belonged to Lewandowski.
His spectacular goal burst in Belgrade was reminiscent of the five goals he scored in nine minutes in Bayern's 5-1 Bundesliga home win .

Lewandowski makes history with four goals in 15 minutes

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's political future hangs in the balance as her floundering coalition partners, the SPD, elect new leaders on Saturday.
The choice could determine whether or not the SPD will stay in the coalition until 2021, when Merkel is planning to step down and retire from politics.
The vote was triggered by the departure of the Social Democrats' previous leader, Andrea Nahles, after the party's poor showing in European Parliament elections.
For the first time since the party was founded in 1890, a male-female duo will take over the party's leadership -- following a model adopted by the Greens.
Another novelty is that the vote is no longer reserved to the 1,000 delegates attending the party conference but is open to all of the party's 426,630 members, who have until Friday to vote online or by post.
The result will be announced on Saturday ahead of the party conference on December 6-8 in Berlin.
Despite its importance, the election has failed to generate much ...

Merkel's future in balance as SPD picks new leaders

virtual reality

In the virtual game, players use light sabers to slash oncoming, large cubes to the beat of music, sometimes twisting or ducking to avoid oncoming walls.

Facebook-owned Oculus acquires maker of 'Beat Saber', plans expansion

Press Trust of India

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has voiced alarm over Turkey's testing of its Russian missile defence system but said the NATO ally could still return to Washington's good graces.
"It's concerning," Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday when asked about reports that Turkey used US-developed F-16 fighter jets to test the S-400 system controversially purchased from Moscow.
But he added: "We are hopeful. We're still talking to the Turks. We're still trying to figure our way through this thing." "We have made very clear to the Turkish government our desire to see them move away from the putting into full operationalisation of the S-400 weapons system," he said.
Turkey defied US warnings to buy the weapons system from Russia, which culminated in Ankara's expulsion from the F-35 fighter-jet programme.
US officials fear that Turkey's purchase will let Russia fine-tune the S-400's ability to counter Western jets and missiles.
But US officials have said that Turkey can reverse course by returning 

Pompeo: Turkey test of Russian defence system 'concerning'

Anglo-Australian firm Rio Tinto's plan to expand a copper mine in Mongolia will go ahead, the country's mining minister said, according to the Financial Times newspaper.
The project has been disrupted by protests from locals worried about environmental damage and foreign influence.
However, Dolgorsurengiin Sumyaabazar said the plan to expand the partially state-owned  Oyu Tolgoi mine in the Gobi Desert would "not be stopped".
The plan "would proceed directly forward" he said at the Mines and Money conference in London, according to the FT.
The minister said the Mongolian national security council chaired by President Khaltmaa Battulga had accepted a parliamentary motion to do so, the FT reported on Tuesday.
Mongolia owns 34 percent of the mining project.
Rio Tinto was not immediately available for comment.
Rio Tinto and Mongolia reached an agreement in May 2015 to exploit vast copper and gold deposits in the Gobi desert.
But the project has been hampered by protests in a country that .

Rio Tinto's Mongolia mine plan will go ahead: minister

Russian athletes should not even be able to participate even as independents at next year's Tokyo Olympics, US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief executive Travis Tygart said.
Calling a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) committee recommendation  to punish Russian government-backed doping "inadequate," Tygart said on Tuesday, "WADA must get tougher and impose the full restriction on Russian athlete participation in the Olympics that the rules allow.

US anti-doping boss wants no Russians at Tokyo Olympics

The House Judiciary Committee said Tuesday it would begin hearings on December 4 in the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump -- inviting the US president and his lawyer to attend.
Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Democratic-controlled committee, said the first hearing would begin at 10:00 am (1500 GMT).
"The Committee looks forward to your participation in the impeachment inquiry as the Committee fulfils its constitutional duties," Nadler said.
He said the purpose of the hearing was to determine whether the committee would recommend articles of impeachment to the full House of Representatives.

Next phase of Trump impeachment hearings set for Dec 4

Six people were killed in near-simultaneous explosions across various Baghdad neighbourhoods late Tuesday, medics and a security source said, amid deadly anti-government protests in Iraq's capital and its restive south.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the three blasts, two of which were caused by explosives-laden motorcycles and the third by a roadside bomb, the medics and security source told AFP.

Six dead in 3 blasts in Iraqi capital: medics, security source

US President Donald Trump's wife Melania faced rare boos Tuesday when she gave a speech on the dangers of drug addiction in the east coast city of Baltimore.
First ladies are usually spared the rougher edges of US politics and Melania Trump has been no exception, despite the bruising nature of her husband's presidency.
Boos and shrieking erupted from the audience of mostly middle and high school students when she walked on stage at the Baltimore Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness.
Loud talking continued in the audience as she began her brief speech, in which she wished the children "a healthy and drug-free life." There were more boos, as well as cheers, at the end.
The president provoked a furious backlash in July when he took to Twitter to bash the historic port city of 600,000 people as a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" unfit for humans.
Democratic lawmakers described the provocative attacks as racist while Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young said the remarks were "completely ...

Melania Trump gets booed at drugs speech

The US Air Force scrambled jets Tuesday after reports of an unidentified aircraft in restricted airspace over Washington forced a brief lockdown of the White House and Capitol.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that its jet fighters "are on site and responding." The plane that allegedly violated the airspace of the US capital city "is not considered hostile at this time," they said.
"The White House was locked down this morning due to a potential violation of the restricted airspace in the National Capital Region," the US Secret Service, which protects President Donald Trump, said in a statement.
"The lockdown has been lifted at this time," they said.
The alert lasted less than an hour. The Capitol Police said the report of a possible aircraft in restricted airspace came in at 8:27 AM (1327 GMT) and the situation was cleared at 9:12 AM "without incident".
There was no information about what Trump and his wife Melania did during the alert.
The alert ...

Washington airspace alert sparks White House lockdown

A Polish healthcare assistant accused of killing six people under his care with insulin overdoses went on trial in Germany on Tuesday.
The case has brought back memories of Niels Hoegel, a German nurse sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for murdering 85 patients.
The defendant on trial in Munich has been named by prosecutors only as Grzegorz Stanislaw W., 38.
He is also accused of three attempted murders and has been charged with stealing from his victims.
The court heard that the man had access to insulin because he has diabetes -- unlike his patients.
At the start of the hearing, the judge said he faced a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years in prison.
The man visited the homes of at least 69 patients between April 2017 and February 2018, leading to media speculation that more victims could be found.
His victims were in different parts of Germany from Bavaria in the south to Hanover in the north.
Prosecutors said the man hated his job and committed one of the murders .

Medical worker on trial in Germany for six murders

Palestinians burned effigies of US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday, as thousands protested against a shift in US policy on Israeli settlements.
Breaking with decades of international consensus, Pompeo on November 18 said the US would no longer consider Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal.
Prime Minister Netanyahu hailed the decision, but Palestinians were outraged and on Tuesday thousands gathered in the occupied territories to protest against the decision.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh led the protests in Ramallah in the central West Bank, telling the crowds they would never accept the US position.
"We are here to say with a loud and clear voice that we want to end the (Israeli) occupation," he said.
"These strangers in settlements have no place on our land." Ziad Barakat, a school teacher, told AFP in Ramallah "I have not taken part in a protest for a long time, but ..

Thousands of Palestinians protest US move on Israeli settlements

President Donald Trump branded his political enemies "wolves" on Tuesday ahead of leaving Washington for a campaign rally and Thanksgiving break at his Florida home already being spoiled by the growing threat of impeachment.
Before boarding Air Force One, the president was to act out the quirky annual ritual of pardoning two enormous turkeys, sparing them from the national day of feasting on Thursday.
Politics watchers, however, were less interested in the fates of the flightless birds, named Bread and Butter, than the perilous legal challenges facing Trump and his entourage as Democrats prepare to take the next step toward impeachment soon after the Thanksgiving vacation.
Trump was certainly not in a forgiving or thankful mood, lashing out on Twitter at "the D.C. Wolves and Fake News Media."
In keeping with his favored response to moments of crisis, Trump will hold a rally later in Sunrise, Florida, giving him a chance to get away from Washington politics and to reconnect to his ...

Impeachment cloud darkens Trump's Florida Thanksgiving break

Cries of anguish and joy wrench the Albanian city of Durres as relatives watch rescuers pull bodies out from the wreckage of a powerful earthquake. Some are dead, but others are alive.
"We saved a life... I'm happy," says Agim, a relieved paramedic who helped with the difficult rescue of one young man who was stuck inside a collapsed hotel bar on the city's beach.
It was a welcome moment of celebration for city reeling from the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Albania before dawn on Tuesday, knocking down buildings and trapping victims in the destruction.
Durres, a tourist destination on the Adriatic coast and home to around 400,000, was hit hard by the earthquake, which was said to be the most powerful in the Balkan state in decades.
Of the nearly 20 people found dead so far, including a young girl, many have been pulled from the rubble of buildings that crumbled in Durres and the neighbouring town of Thumane.
But dozens have also been rescued alive.
Teams of soldiers, police and 

Hope and fear in Albania as rescuers scour post-quake wreckage

Lebanon's outgoing prime minister said Tuesday he will not head the next government, in a move intended to speed up the formation of a new cabinet in the protest-swept country.
Street protests demanding an overhaul of Lebanon's entire political system have rocked the small Mediterranean country since mid-October, forcing Saad Hariri to announce his cabinet's resignation on October 29.
Its bitterly divided political leaders have yet to form a new cabinet, with the United Nations on Monday urging the process be accelerated after supporters of Lebanon's two main Shiite parties attacked protesters.
In response to the "irresponsible practises" of the political leadership, Hariri said he felt compelled to make his position known.
"I strongly adhere to the rule of 'not me, but someone else' to form a government to fulfil the ambitions of the youth," the driving force of the protest movement, Hariri said.
He hoped his move would "open doors to a solution" and swiftly lead to a presidential ...

Lebanon's Hariri steps aside to speed up new govt

Albanian rescuers scoured rubble into the night on Tuesday in search of survivors trapped in buildings toppled by the strongest earthquake in decades, with at least 20 lives lost and hundreds of people injured.
Tormented families watched with trepidation as soldiers, police and emergency workers sift through the debris of shredded apartment blocks and hotels in towns near Albania's northwest Adriatic coast, close to the epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that hit the country before dawn.
By evening the toll was 20 dead, according to the defence ministry.
Most were pulled from wreckage in the coastal city of Durres and Thumane, a town north of the capital Tirana.
In neighbouring Kurbin a man in his fifties died after jumping from his building in panic. Another perished in a car accident after the earthquake tore open parts of the road, the ministry said.
Some 42 people have been rescued alive in efforts that continued after the sun went down with headlamps and ...

20 dead, hundreds hurt as Albania searches for earthquake survivors

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Tuesday on close ally Egypt to respect freedom of the press after a crackdown that followed protests.
Pompeo made the call unprompted at a news conference after more robust criticism of adversary Iran, which has severed internet access as it also clamps down on demonstrators.
"As part of our longstanding strategic relationship with Egypt, we continue to raise the fundamental importance of respect for human rights, universal freedoms and the need for a robust civil society," Pompeo said.
"We call on the Egyptian government to respect freedom of the press and release journalists detained during a raid last weekend," he said.
Egypt jails more journalists than any country other than China and Turkey, according to the New York-based watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists.
In one of the most recent episodes, plain-clothed officers raided the Cairo office of news outlet Mada Masr, demanding that journalists unlock and hand over their phones and ...

Pompeo calls on Egypt to respect press freedom after crackdown

President Donald Trump offered lukewarm support to Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters Tuesday, saying he trusts President Xi Jinping to resolve the crisis, as US-Chinese trade talks enter their "final throes."
"We're with them," Trump said of the protesters who delivered a landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates in local elections and have battled police for weeks in street demonstrations.
But Trump immediately backpedalled, emphasizing his close ties to Xi and efforts to secure a long-delayed resolution to the trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
"We're in the final throes of a very important deal, I guess you could say one of the most important deals in trade ever," Trump said.
"It's going very well but at the same time we want to see it go well in Hong Kong. I think it will. I think that President Xi can make that happen. I know him and I know he'd like to make it happen," he said.
Washington and Beijing have delivered a series of positive signals in the last 

Trump lukewarm on Hong Kong as trade talks enter 'final' stage

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that his country interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, rubbishing a conspiracy theory promoted by some allies of US President Donald Trump.
Zelensky, elected in April, told reporters that Ukraine did not interfere in the elections or the geopolitics of the United States.
Trump has been dogged by allegations that Russia helped him to win the 2016 election.
While various investigations have found evidence of Russian meddling, none has linked those actions directly to the US president.
Some in Trump's inner circle have promoted an alternative theory that -- contrary to the findings of US intelligence services -- it was Ukraine that interfered in the election to support Trump's rival Hillary Clinton.
This theory has been debunked by intelligence officials -- the latest being White House adviser Fiona Hill who said the Ukraine allegations were a "fiction" created by Russia.
"We do not interfere in the ...

AFP

AFP

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