Frank Lampard insists he doesn't want to emulate Jose Mourinho's unique style as the Chelsea manager plots to out-wit his old boss in Sunday's crucial clash at Tottenham.
Lampard's first Premier League meeting with Mourinho is the headline act in a fascinating derby that will determine which of the London rivals spends Christmas Day in the top four.
Spurs manager Mourinho played a key role in Lampard's emergence as one of Chelsea's all-time greats during their time together at Stamford Bridge.
Yet while Mourinho's managerial credentials are well established after winning a host of trophies during his glittering 19-year career, Lampard is still carving out a name for himself in the coaching world.
The former England midfielder is in just his second season as a manager after leaving Championship side Derby to take charge at Chelsea in July.
Lampard acknowledges Mourinho was a big influence on him as a player but, now he is in the dug-out, he will follow his own path rather than copy the 

Lampard doesn't want to be seen as a Mourinho 'clone'

PTI Automatic

Surfing legend Kelly Slater, seen by many as the greatest of all time, won't be competing at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 47-year-old American was edged for a spot on the US squad for the sport's Olympic debut next July, with John John Florence returning from knee surgery to edge Slater for the final spot at an event in Hawaii on Thursday.
Slater, an 11-time world champion who became the youngest and oldest to win the crown, inspired a generation of surfing stars with videos of his amazing efforts becoming must-see viewing for fans and competitors.
Competing as an Olympian would have been an epic farewell for a 40-year career than began at age eight in a youth event but instead he will be watching the event.
"I'm going to enjoy it as a spectator," Slater told the New York Times, dismissing any notion he would end his career early after missing out on the Olympics.
"Be sure that in 2020, they will continue to see me at the top of a wave," he added.
Slater needed a victory at the Pipeline ...

Surfing legend Slater won't compete at Tokyo Olympics

Pep Guardiola insists he still has to earn a new contract at Manchester City despite winning five major trophies in the past two seasons.
City are keen for Guardiola to commit to a deal beyond the current one that ends in 2021.
But, in the midst of a frustrating season that sees City trailing Premier League leaders Liverpool by 14 points, the 48-year-old says there is no rush to agree an extension, partly because performance will be a factor in his future.
"I have one more year and always I have to deserve to extend my contract," Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
"Managers, we have to get results. At this club you have to win. In football, we spoke about this, the situation changed a lot, managers today, even in this country, they change a lot.
"In just four or five months, how many managers have been sacked? So that's why we have to be patient and do our job.
"We still have a lot of time. So we have patience, we have an incredible relationship with the board, with the people who ...

'I have to earn new deal', insists Guardiola

Sergis Adamyan and Andrej Kramaric scored late goals as Hoffenheim fought back for a 2-1 win to stop Borussia Dortmund from moving within a point of Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig on Friday.
Adamyan and Kramaric responded following the break after Mario Goetze, who was making his first start in over a month, opened the scoring in the first half.
Dortmund remain in fourth, four points behind Leipzig and second-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach, while Hoffenheim jump to sixth with the German top flight heading into a month-long winter break after this weekend.
"I'm not going to die from this game now. But every defeat hurts," Dortmund's Julian Brandt told broadcaster ZDF.
"If you have as many chances as that in the second half, it's hard to digest," he added.
With club captain Marco Reus ruled out until January with a muscular problem Dortmund coach Lucien Favre named Goetze in attack.
The hosts made four changes from the midweek victory at Union Berlin, a first win in five games, as ...

Late Hoffenheim comeback condemns Dortmund to defeat

Aleksandar Kolarov scored a magnificent free-kick as Roma bolstered their Champions League credentials in Italy with a 4-1 victory away to Fiorentina on Friday.
Edin Dzeko's seventh goal of the season put Roma ahead on 19 minutes in Florence against a side without a win at home since October 6.
Former Manchester City defender Kolarov curled in a terrific 20-yard strike to double Roma's lead before Milan Badelj pulled one back just past the half-hour.
Roma ensured they put some pressure on local rivals Lazio as Lorenzo Pellegrini's first-time effort from a Dzeko lay-off restored their two-goal cushion on 73 minutes.
The Bosnian forward then released Nicolo Zaniolo just inside the Fiorentina half, allowing the Italy international to sweep in a late fourth after a long run.
Paulo Fonseca's Roma have lost just once in Serie A since late September and a fourth win in five moved them six points clear of Cagliari in the race for the final Champions League spot.
Inter Milan will look to draw .

Roma beat Fiorentina to solidify Champions League push

The United States has met a mounting 21st century strategic challenge from Russia and China with the creation of a full-fledged US Space Force within the Department of Defense.
Acting on an ambition by President Donald Trump that had met resistance at first, the White House signalled its determination to not cede superiority in a Star Wars-like future of killer satellites and satellite-killer weapons.
Trump made the Space Force's creation real with the signing of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which set the initial budget for a Pentagon force that will stand equally with the military's five other branches.
"Going to be a lot of things happening in space, because space is the world's newest warfighting domain," Trump told members of the military gathered for the signing.
The Space Force will be the sixth formal force of the US military, after the Army, Air Force, Navy Marines, and Coast Guard.
"Our reliance on space-based capabilities has grown dramatically, and today ...

Challenged by China and Russia, US builds force for future space wars

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said she wanted to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, sparking a furious reaction from Israel and condemnation from the United States.
The Palestinians welcomed the move by the ICC as a "long overdue step" following a nearly five-year preliminary probe by the prosecutor into the situation since the 2014 war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision made the Hague-based court, which Israel has refused to sign up to since its creation in 2002, a "political tool" against the Jewish state.
"I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the situation in Palestine," ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement on Friday.
"In brief, I am satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip," she added, without specifying the perpetrators of the alleged ...

ICC to probe 'war crimes' in Palestinian territories

President Donald Trump on Friday signed off on US sanctions against companies building a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany that Congress fears will give the Kremlin dangerous leverage over European allies.
The sanctions, which are opposed by the European Union, were included in a sprawling defense spending bill Trump signed at a ceremony on Joint Base Andrews, an air force installation outside Washington, DC.
They target companies building the nearly USD 11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea with the aim of doubling deliveries of Russian natural gas to Europe's leading economy, Germany.
US lawmakers have warned the pipeline would enrich a hostile Russian government and vastly increase President Vladimir Putin's influence in Europe at a time of heightened tension across the continent.
Both houses of Congress overwhelmingly approved the sanctions, with the Senate voting Tuesday to send the measure to Trump's desk.
Trump, who has been accused by Democratic ...

Trump approves Russia-Europe gas pipeline sanctions

The United States is "firmly" opposed to an International Criminal Court probe into alleged Israeli war crimes, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
A move by the court's chief prosecutor to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories has sparked a furious reaction from Israel, Washington's top ally in the region.
"We firmly oppose this and any other action that seeks to target Israel unfairly," Pompeo said.
"We do not believe the Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state, and they therefore are not qualified to obtain full membership, or participate as a state in international organizations, entities, or conferences, including the ICC.

US 'firmly' opposes ICC probe into alleged Israeli war crimes: Pompeo

President Jair Bolsonaro announced Friday that his US counterpart Donald Trump was scrapping planned tariffs on Brazilian steel and aluminum, following a telephone call between the two leaders.
"(Trump) was persuaded by my arguments and decided... that our steel and aluminum would not be" subject to tariffs, Bolsonaro said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
Trump tweeted that he had a "great call" with Bolsonaro and that they had discussed trade, but did not mention any agreement on cancelling tariffs.
Earlier this month, the United States had reimposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, in a serious blow to Bolsonaro's plan to strengthen the alliance between the western hemisphere's two largest economies.
Bolsonaro said Trump had changed his mind in a phone call initiated by the US president.
"The Americans are our great partners. We have a lot in common. The personal friendship... that I feel for him and that he has for me are further strengthened," ...

Bolsonaro says US scrapping tariffs on Brazilian steel, aluminum

- Chinese President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday that US comments and actions regarding Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet are harming ties between the two economic giants, state media reported.
In a phone conversation with Trump, Xi "noted that the US behaviours have interfered in China's internal affairs and harmed China's interests, which is detrimental to the mutual trust and bilateral cooperation", state news agency Xinhua said.
China hopes Washington will "seriously implement the important consensus" that the two leaders have reached over various conversations, "pay high attention and attach great importance to China's concerns, and prevent bilateral relations and important agendas from being disturbed", Xi was reported as saying.

Xi told Trump US interference harming Chinese interests: Xinhua

Two soldiers and two civilians have been killed and another six people injured in separate roadside-bomb attacks this week in volatile central Mali, local government and security officials said on Friday.
The two civilian victims were women travelling by cart near the town of Mondoro in the West African country's central Mopti region, according to a local official.
The women were not far from the border with Burkina Faso on Thursday when their cart hit a roadside bomb.
Two children also aboard were "seriously injured" in the attack, a hospital worker said.
Two Malian soldiers were also killed on Wednesday about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Mondoro, a security official said, after they hit a roadside bomb near the town of Hombori.
Four soldiers were also wounded in the attack, the official added.  Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.
Despite some 4,500 ...

Two Malian troops, two civilians killed by roadside bombs

Brazil's right wing President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday slammed Rio de Janeiro's public prosecutor over a corruption investigation targeting his eldest son Flavio, a federal senator.
Bolsonaro said his family is the victim of a media campaign and accused the prosecutor of leaking information on the case, then blamed the situation on a possible move by Rio state governor Wilson Witzel, a former ally, "who wants to be president" in 2022.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 38, is suspected of money laundering during his time as a regional lawmaker in Rio.
"The investigation began last year and they've still found nothing," Bolsonaro said as he left his official residence in the capital Brasilia, where journalists mingled with his supporters.
"If Flavio did something wrong then it's up to him to respond, not me." Visibly flustered, Bolsonaro then turned to one of the reporters and said: "You have the face of a homosexual but that doesn't mean I'm going to accuse you of being a homosexual, even ...

Brazil's Bolsonaro slams corruption probe into son

Algerian demonstrators on Friday rejected a call for dialogue by the country's new president, insisting on a month-long protest movement's demands for sweeping reforms in the North African country.
Huge crowds flooded the streets of Algiers on the 44th consecutive Friday of anti-government protests, a day after establishment insider Abdelmadjid Tebboune was sworn in following his victory in last week's presidential election.
"It's you or us. We will never stop," protesters chanted.
"I don't accept this president... and I am against the dialogue the ruling establishment is offering," said Amar Alileche, a 66-year-old pensionwhatsoeverer protesting against Tebboune.
"Negotiations must lead to the departure of the old regime," he said.  Tebboune, 74, succeeds president Abdelaziz Bouteflika who resigned in April in the face of huge demonstrations after two decades in office.
A former prime minister who served under Bouteflika, Tebboune is seen as close to armed forces chief, Lieutenant ...

Algerians protest against new president, reject his offer of dialogue

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled from the southern Idlib region in northwestern Syria to the north of the province amid heavy bombardment this week, the UN humanitarian agency said Friday.
"Following the intensification of air strikes and shelling since 16 December in southern Idlib, tens of thousands of civilians are reportedly fleeing from Maaret al-Numan area in southern Idlib governorate to north," OCHA said, adding that thousands more are waiting for the bombardment to ease so that they can leave.
OCHA's statement came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Friday said clashes between Syrian regime forces and armed groups in Idlib, the country's last major opposition bastion, had killed more than 80 people in the past 24 hours.
The Observatory also reported that warplanes from Syrian regime ally Russia pounded areas around Maaret al-Numan and the nearby town of Saraqeb with a series of air strikes.
The flare-up triggered a wave of displacement from nearby areas, ...

Tens of thousands of civilians flee air strikes on Syria jihadist bastion: UN

Russia and China used their veto Friday to block a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended for a year cross-border humanitarian aid to four million Syrians.
Humanitarian aid currently flows into Syria across UN-designated checkpoints without the formal permission of the regime in Damascus, but that authority is due to expire on January 10.
Germany, Belgium and Kuwait presented a resolution extending that authority for a year, winning the support of 13 council members but drawing the vetoes from Russia and China.
A competing Russian resolution that would have granted a six month extension while reducing the number of UN crossing points was rejected, having failed to get the minimum nine votes.
Russia is a close ally and major supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has used its veto 14 times on Syrian issues since the start of the civil war in 2011.
It was the second time in four months that it has vetoed a resolution dealing with the humanitarian situation ..

Russia, China veto UN extending Syria cross-border aid

Moscow and Kiev have signed a preliminary deal on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, after months of difficult talks but ahead of the looming New Year deadline.
The current gas transit contract between the two ex-Soviet countries expires at the end of the year and ties between them have been shredded since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
"The Russian and Ukrainian sides have signed  a memorandum of understanding," a spokesman for Russian gas giant Gazprom was cited as saying by Russian agencies, while giving no details of the deal.
Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said it was a five-year deal which would be signed off before the end of the month.
The Ukraine presidency confirmed the deal on Facebook, adding that details would be made public on Saturday.
Last year Gazprom supplied Europe with 200.8 billion cubic metres of natural gas, with about 40 percent going through Ukraine, earning the country around ...

Russia and Ukraine reach gas transit deal

British authorities on Friday charged the wife of a US diplomat who returned home after being involved in a car accident that killed a teenager.
The case of Anna Sacoolas has been a thorn in London's close relations with Washington, stirring up debates over the limits of diplomatic immunity in cases unrelated to national security.
It has been a political headache for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is cultivating trade relations with Washington in a bid to offset the potential damage of Britain's withdrawal from the EU.
Briton Harry Dunn, 19, died on August 27 when his motorbike and a car driving on the wrong side of the road collided.
Sacoolas admitted in October to being the driver, but has cited diplomatic immunity while refusing to return to Britain to face justice, as Dunn's parents demand.
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said it has now authorised police in Northamptonshire, a central England region where the accident occurred, to charge Sacoolas in absentia with causing ..

UK charges wife of US diplomat over teen's death

The Pentagon's top general said Friday the US military is ready for anything from North Korea in the face of Pyongyang's ominous promise of a "Christmas gift" if Washington does not act to ease tensions.
"Korea is one of those places in the world where we've always maintained high levels of readiness," said General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The US alliance with Japan and South Korea is "rock-solid," he said.
"I think it's prepared to defend the interests of the United States, Japan and South Korea at a moment's notice," he told reporters.
Milley declined to say whether US and allied forces in the region had stepped up readiness in the face of the possibility that North Korea could test a new nuclear-capable missile in the near future.
"North Korea has indicated a variety of things. And I think you're aware of all those. So we are prepared for whatever," he said.
Speaking next to Milley, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US was ready "to fight ...

US 'prepared for whatever' from N Korea: Top Pentagon general

Gianni Infantino is determined to make his new, expanded Club World Cup "the best club competition in the world" as well as the most lucrative, as he revealed that FIFA have had nine offers to buy the commercial rights to the tournament.
The president of world football's governing body is in Qatar for the final of this year's Club World Cup, with Liverpool facing Flamengo on Saturday in what will be the penultimate edition of the tournament in its current format.
It will return here next year, before a new, 24-team tournament begins in June and July 2021, with China having already been awarded hosting rights.
"I want the Club World Cup to be the best in terms of quality on the pitch but also in terms of revenues," Infantino told journalists in Doha on Friday, adding: "Whatever FIFA is doing has to be the best, that's clear."
While the existing Club World Cup features only the six continental champions as well as the champions of the host nation, the new event will see many of the ...

AFP

AFP

Page 254 - Afp/pti

Lampard doesn't want to be seen as a Mourinho 'clone'

Surfing legend Slater won't compete at Tokyo Olympics

'I have to earn new deal', insists Guardiola

Late Hoffenheim comeback condemns Dortmund to defeat

Roma beat Fiorentina to solidify Champions League push

Challenged by China and Russia, US builds force for future space wars

ICC to probe 'war crimes' in Palestinian territories

Trump approves Russia-Europe gas pipeline sanctions

US 'firmly' opposes ICC probe into alleged Israeli war crimes: Pompeo

Bolsonaro says US scrapping tariffs on Brazilian steel, aluminum

Bolsonaro says US scrapping tariffs on Brazilian steel, aluminum

Xi told Trump US interference harming Chinese interests: Xinhua

Two Malian troops, two civilians killed by roadside bombs

Brazil's Bolsonaro slams corruption probe into son

Algerians protest against new president, reject his offer of dialogue

Tens of thousands of civilians flee air strikes on Syria jihadist bastion: UN

Russia, China veto UN extending Syria cross-border aid

Russia and Ukraine reach gas transit deal

UK charges wife of US diplomat over teen's death

US 'prepared for whatever' from N Korea: Top Pentagon general