Alex Telles converted a VAR-awarded penalty deep into extra time as Porto defeated Roma 3-1 to reach the Champions League quarter-finals following a tense 4-3 win on aggregate.
Francisco Soares nudged Porto ahead with a simple tap-in on 26 minutes, but Daniele De Rossi equalised from the spot before half-time after Eder Militao chopped down Diego Perotti on Wednesday.
Moussa Marega restored the lead on the night for Porto early in the second half to level the tie as he struck in his sixth successive appearance in Europe.
An additional half-hour was required to settle an encounter that looked to be heading for a shootout before Telles tucked home from the spot on 117 minutes after a tug on Fernando by Alessandro Florenzi was spotted upon review.
"It was not just me that scored the penalty, it was the whole team. The Dragao, the full stadium, made me feel at ease. It was a very good energy," said Telles.
"We've got to accept it, even if the way it happened is terrible to accept," Roma ..

Telles penalty edges Porto past Roma in extra time

PTI Automatic

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his side "can go all the way" in the Champions League after Marcus Rashford's dramatic stoppage-time penalty gave them a stunning 3-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain as they improbably reached the quarter-finals on away goals.
A seriously depleted United looked to have given themselves too much to do after losing 2-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie last month, yet a Romelu Lukaku brace in the first half at the Parc des Princes gave them hope on Wednesday.
Even so, Juan Bernat had netted in between for PSG, and it looked as though the French side would stumble on until the drama at the death.
Slovenian referee Damir Skomina awarded a spot-kick after reviewing the images when he had been alerted of a possible handball by PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe in the box.
Rashford duly beat Gianluigi Buffon from 12 yards, as United won a European tie after losing the first leg at home for the first time in their history.
"We always ...

'We can go all the way,' says Solskjaer after United's last-gasp PSG stunner

Convicted Australian Cardinal George Pell faced a fresh legal challenge Thursday, after a civil suit was filed against him for further alleged abuse in the 1970s.
Pell -- the most senior Vatican official to be found guilty of child sex crimes -- is currently in detention awaiting sentencing for assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne in the 1990s.
He maintains his innocence and an appeal is scheduled for June.
Pell had also faced trial on charges of abusing boys in a swimming pool in his home town of Ballarat in Victoria state, decades before, but the case was dropped by Australian prosecutors after his conviction.
Local media had reported one alleged victim in the Ballarat case was upset the criminal case was dropped and planned to take civil action.
Victoria Supreme Court officials said Thursday that the plaintiff -- who cannot be named for legal reasons -- lodged the suit Wednesday against Pell, authorities in Victoria, child services and the Sisters of Nazareth which ran the boys' ..

Convicted Australian cardinal sued over alleged abuse

Iranian hackers working to penetrate systems, businesses and governments around the world have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, a report said Wednesday.
Researchers for tech giant Microsoft said the attackers stole secrets and wiped data from computer networks after targeting thousands of people at some 200 companies over the past two years, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to an AFP query on the report.
The Journal said Microsoft traced the attacks to Holmium, a group linked to Iran, and that some of the hacking was done for Holmium by another Iranian group known as APT33.
John Lambert, the head of Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center, told the newspaper the attacks were "massively destabilizing events." The report said the hackers notably targeted oil-and-gas companies, heavy-machinery manufacturers and international conglomerates in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Britain, India and the United States.
In 2017, the security firm .

Iranian hackers caused losses in hundreds of millions: report

Chinese telecom giant Huawei said Thursday it was suing the United States for barring government agencies from buying the telecom company's equipment and services.
Huawei said the suit was filed in a US District Court in Plano, Texas, challenging a 2019 US defence bill that prevents US government agencies from buying Huawei equipment and services, as well as working with third parties that are Huawei customers.
The lawsuit is Huawei's latest attempt to fight back against US warnings that the company could serve as a Trojan horse for China's intelligence services.
"The US Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products. We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort," Huawei's rotating chairman Guo Ping said in a statement.
"If this law is set aside, as it should be, Huawei can bring more advanced technologies to the United States and help it build the best 5G networks." The United States says Huawei ...

China's Huawei sues US over federal ban on using its products

Arizona Senator Martha McSally, the first woman to fly in combat for the US Air Force, said Wednesday that she had been raped by a superior officer while in the service.
McSally, 52, who spent 26 years in the Air Force and commanded a fighter squadron, revealed the attack in emotional remarks during a Senate subcommittee hearing on sexual assault in the military.
"I am also a military sexual assault survivor but unlike so many brave survivors I didn't report being sexually assaulted," McSally said.
"Like so many women and men I didn't trust the system at the time," she said. "I blame myself. I was ashamed and confused. And I thought I was strong but felt powerless.
"The perpetrators abused their position of power in profound ways," the first-term Republican senator said. "And in one case I was preyed upon and then raped by a superior officer." McSally said she kept quiet about the assault for many years.
"But later in my career, as the military grappled with scandals and their wholly .

Arizona senator says she was raped while in Air Force

A father was on Wednesday jailed for 16 years for planning a "monstrous" acid attack on his three-year-old son, which left the child "scarred for life".
Five other men were also convicted over the attack which prosecutors say was an attempt by the father to show that his mother was unfit to take care of the little boy.
Passing sentence, Judge Robert Juckes said "even battle-hardened crown court judges were sickened when they heard the news that someone had attacked a three-year-old with sulphuric acid," said Juckes, calling it a "monstrous breach of trust".
The 40-year-old father, originally from Afghanistan, provided "obviously strong acid" and was the "the instigator and planner" of the attack, he said.
Prosecutors say the man, who has not been named to protect the identity of his son, was motivated by his wife walking out on him in 2016 and hired the other guilty men to attack the child at a shop in the city of Worcester in central England.
The attack happened in July 2018, when ...

UK father gets 16 years for 'monstrous' acid attack on son

Venezuela expelled Germany's ambassador Wednesday, hitting out at international support for opposition leader Juan Guaido as the US stepped up sanctions in a bid to force out his rival, President Nicolas Maduro, despite UN criticism.
The foreign ministry said Martin Kriener had 48 hours to leave for "interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs. He had greeted Guaido at Caracas airport on his return to the country on Monday.
Guaido said in a speech to opposition lawmakers that Kriener's expulsion will be seen "as a threat to the free world." Kriener was among more than a dozen foreign representatives to welcome the National Assembly leader -- recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries -- but so far the only one deemed "persona non grata".
Kriener had helped to try to bring humanitarian aid to the country, he said, adding: "It seems that the Maduro regime does not forgive anyone who wants to help Venezuela." Berlin protested the decision, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas ...

Venezuela expels German envoy for backing Guaido as US tightens

Zimbabwe on Wednesday slammed as a travesty of justice the "regrettable" year-long extension of sanctions targeted against selected government officials and institutions by the United States.
US President Donald Trump this week prolonged the sanctions, first imposed in 2003, on more than 100 individuals and entities -- including President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his predecessor Robert Mugabe -- over human rights abuses.
Trump also said the individuals posed "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to US foreign policy.
"Zimbabwe has no history of aggression against any nation, so the statement that 'Zimbabwe poses an extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States' is absurd," said Information Ministry Secretary Nick Mangwana in a statement cited by the state-media daily The Herald.
"The continued unilateral imposition of sanctions against Zimbabwe by the United States is a travesty of justice against the Zimbabwean people," said Mangwana.
Since the removal of longtime ...

Zimbabwe says US renewal of sanctions 'regrettable'

A Canadian court on Wednesday ordered Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese telecom executive at the center of an escalating row between Ottawa and Beijing, to return on May 8 for the next step in a long extradition process.
The chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, arrested on December 1, appeared briefly in the Vancouver court and did not speak to the media.

Huawei executive's next court date in Canada set for May 8

The United States is barring scores of Venezuelan officials and family members, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday, in the latest measure aimed at bringing down President Nicolas Maduro.
"The State Department is revoking 77 visas, including many officials of the Maduro regime and their families," Pence said in a speech in Washington, according to his prepared remarks.
"We will continue to hold all of the Maduro regime accountable until democracy and libertad (liberty) are fully restored," he said.
Last week, Washington revoked 49 visas from Venezuelan figures.

US revokes 77 visas from Venezuela government figures: Pence

Despite reporting solid growth in recent weeks, US manufacturers increasingly worry trade spats and other factors will dampen the outlook, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
At the same time widespread worker shortages are hampering growth nationwide and throughout industries, and wage increases are becoming more widespread as companies compete to fill open positions, according to the Fed's "beige book" survey of the economy.
But prices "continued to increase at a modest-to-moderate pace" as firms seeing higher input costs still cannot consistently pass them along to consumers, the report said.

Slow global growth weighing on US manufacturers: Fed report

Kagiso Rabada led a pace assault as South Africa defended a below-par total in the second one-day international against Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.
Rabada, bowling at more than 150 km/h at times, took three for 43 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 138 in reply to South Africa's 251.
Rabada was backed up by fellow fast bowlers Lungi Ngidi (two for 14) and Anrich Nortje (two for 25), while veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir picked up two for 39.
"The way we responded in the field was exactly what we wanted," said South Africa captain Faf du Plessis after what he said was a disappointing batting performance.
Man of the match Quinton de Kock hit a dazzling 94 off 70 balls, with 17 fours and a six, but the South African batting fell away after it looked as though they were set to make more than 300 on a ground which frequently yields high totals.
Thisara Perera dismissed De Kock and took three for 26 as the Sri Lankan bowlers fought back. The last six South African wickets fell .

Rabada hits 150 km/h to steer South Africa to victory over Sri Lanka

A dying fan of Donald Trump had a bucket list wish come true when his sister, a local  Democratic politician, arranged for the president to call him and chat.
Jay Barrett, a 44-year-old man from Connecticut, is terminally ill with cystic fibrosis and is receiving palliative care.
His sister Bridgette Hoskie, a local politician in New Haven, around 60 miles north of New York, organized the call for her dying brother, who once voted for Barack Obama but has since become a steadfast fan of the Republican president.
She posted a video on her Facebook page of her brother talking on the phone to the president for several minutes. "This is a big one," she wrote.
"You're my kind of man, Jay," Trump told him. "I'm very proud of you." "I'll talk to you again, Jay, OK? You keep that fight going. We both fight," the president added.
"Mr President, through thick and thin, you know there's been a lot of thicks, and there's been a lot of thins, I support you," said Barrett, who only recently became .

Donald Trump phones dying fan

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's leftist government and the opposition have agreed a "roadmap" for extended peace talks to resolve 10 months of crisis sparked by a deadly crackdown on dissent in which hundreds of people were killed.
The breakthrough was announced late Tuesday by Vatican ambassador to Nicaragua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, after five days of talks in the capital Managua between the government and the opposition Civic Alliance.
"The roadmap was approved," Sommertag, who participated in the talks, told a press conference alongside Foreign Minister Denis Moncada.
However, the talks were temporarily suspended on Wednesday pending the response of the Catholic Church to an invitation from both sides to participate as an observer at the talks, along with the Evangelical church.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Managua, Leopoldo Brenes, said he would respond to the invitation on Friday after consulting bishops. The Catholic Church mediated a previous round of peace talks that .

Nicaragua government, opposition agree on 'roadmap' for talks

The United States will impose sanctions on foreign institutions helping to finance embattled far-left Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the White House said Wednesday.
The measure, announced by President Donald Trump's national security advisor John Bolton, is the latest tightening of screws in Washington's campaign to force Maduro from power.
"The United States is putting foreign financial institutions on notice that they will face sanctions for being involved in facilitating illegitimate transactions that benefit Nicolas Maduro and his corrupt network," Bolton said in a statement.
Trump is leading international pressure to have Maduro replaced by opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom Washington recognizes as the official interim president.
The government is already trying to cripple Maduro's access to finances via sanctions on state oil company PDVSA and handing control to Guaido of Venezuelan bank accounts in the United States.
More than 50 other countries have recognized Guaido as ..

US to punish foreign entities funding Venezuela's Maduro

Venezuela's government has ordered the expulsion of Germany's ambassador over his backing of opposition leader Juan Guaido in a political struggle with President Nicolas Maduro.
The foreign ministry said Martin Kriener had 48 hours to leave following "interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs after he greeted Guaido at Caracas airport on his return to the country on Monday.
Guaido, the 35-year-old National Assembly leader who is recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries including Germany, defied a government travel ban to slip out of the country on February 23.
He returned Monday to call for fresh demonstrations against Maduro, facing down threats of arrest after a tour of friendly Latin American capitals.
A government statement said Kriener "showed up at Maiquetia international airport to witness the arrival of the deputy in contempt of the country, Juan Guaido."
Venezuela said it was "unacceptable" that the ambassador acted in "clear alignment with the conspiracy 

Venezuela expels German ambassador for backing Guaido

European Union and British negotiators conceded Wednesday that talks aimed at getting their Brexit agreement through parliament in London have been "difficult" as a solution remained elusive three weeks before Britain's exit.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier reported the continued deadlock to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, after meeting his British counterparts late Tuesday.
Barnier informed the commissioners that "while the talks take place in a constructive atmosphere, discussions have been difficult," spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.
Barnier added that "no solution has been identified at this point that is consistent with the withdrawal agreement," Schinas told a press conference.
Prime Minister Theresa May struck the withdrawal deal with the EU in November, but the British parliament overwhelmingly voted it down in January.
MPs continue to challenge the agreement, especially the "backstop" designed to keep the border open between EU-member Ireland and British 

EU says 'no solution' yet to Brexit deadlock

All-rounder Thisara Perera sparked a turnaround for Sri Lanka in the second one-day international against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.
Perera took three for 26 as South Africa were bowled out for 251 after being sent in.
South Africa seemed set for a huge total when Quinton de Kock gave them a blazing start, hitting 94 off 70 balls.
But the innings changed dramatically when Perera, playing in his 150th one-day international, had De Kock caught behind when the batsman tried to flick a ball outside his leg stump and the ball looped off a leading edge to wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella.
De Kock, who made 83 and 81 in his previous two one-day internationals, and had innings of 86 and 80 in two Tests against Sri Lanka, hung his head in disappointment after missing another chance of making a century.
At that stage South Africa were 131 for two in the 21st over, scoring at better than six runs an over.
De Kock was in sublime form, striking 17 fours and a six.
As Perera said .

Thisara Perera sparks turnaround for Sri Lanka

Real Madrid have confirmed Vinicius Junior has ruptured ligaments in his right ankle, with the striker expected out for around two months.
Vinicius left the field in tears after sustaining the injury in the first half of Madrid's 4-1 defeat by Ajax in the Champions League on Tuesday.
A Real Madrid statement on Wednesday read: "Vinicius has been diagnosed with a ligament rupture of the right ankle."
The club did not include a timeframe for recovery but reports in the Spanish press suggested Vinicius, who has enjoyed an impressive debut season, could be sidelined for two months.
The injury will likely mean Vinicius is unable to play for Brazil against Panama and the Czech Republic later this month, after he had received his first call-up to the national squad.
It could also mean the 18-year-old misses the rest of the campaign for Madrid, although they have little to play for after their shock Champions League exit followed defeats to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and La Liga.
Madrid ...

Vinicius tears ankle ligaments in Madrid defeat by Ajax

Britain's knife-crime epidemic should be treated "like a disease", interior minister Sajid Javid said Tuesday, as the government announced a summit following another weekend of stabbings.
The issue was top of the news agenda again after 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed in an east London park as she sat with friends, and Yousef Ghaleb Makki, also 17, died near Manchester -- the ninth and 10th teenagers to be knifed to death this year.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would hold a "summit... in the coming days... to explore what more we can do as a whole society to tackle to this problem.
"A growing number of young people have lost their lives in a cycle of mindless violence that has shocked us all," she told MPs.
"We will only defeat the scourge of violence if we understand and address the complex root causes," she added, under pressure from main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He blames cuts to police forces for making the problem worse.
"If there are sufficient ...

AFP

AFP

Page 715 - Afp