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Zimbabwe-born England star OUTED as player at centre of racial slur

Zimbabwe-born former England international Gary Ballance on Wednesday admitted using a racial slur against former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq in a row that has cost the county a host of sponsors.

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Ballance said in a statement: “I regret that I used this word in immature exchanges in my younger years.”

The 31-year-old, who played 23 Test matches for England, said: “It has been reported that I used a racial slur and, as I told the independent enquiry, I accept that I did so and I regret doing so.

“I do not wish to discredit Rafa by repeating the words and statements that he made about me and others but I have to be clear that this was a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other which, outside of that context, would be considered wholly inappropriate,” Ballance said.

Ballance added that “at no time did I believe or understand that it had caused Rafa distress” – he said that if he had realised, “then I would have stopped immediately”.

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Ballance’s admission came after publishing company Emerald ended their association with Yorkshire and their Headingley stadium in Leeds over the handling of a report that found Rafiq suffered “racial harassment and bullying” at the club.

On a troubled day for the club, local brand Yorkshire Tea followed shirt sponsor Anchor Butter in ending their partnership with Yorkshire.

Several other sponsors – including beer company Tetley’s – decided not to extend their deals.

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“We do not tolerate any form of racism or discriminatory behaviour and the damaging effects this has,” Emerald said in a statement.

“We hope YCCC will listen and respond with serious action to eradicate racism from the club and uphold the values we all expect.”

The county offered Rafiq, 30, “profound and unreserved apologies” when the report was published in September but last week said it would take no disciplinary action against any staff.

The story has unleashed a wave of criticism against Yorkshire, drawing in senior British politicians and governing body the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Rafiq, Yorkshire chairperson Roger Hutton and the county’s chief executive and director of cricket have been summoned to testify before a British parliamentary committee on November 16.

Committee chair Julian Knight has said Yorkshire’s board should quit over “endemic racism” and called the row “one of the most repellent and disturbing episodes in modern cricket history”.

Pakistan-born off-spinner Rafiq, who represented Yorkshire in two spells between 2008 and 2018, made 43 allegations and said he had been driven to suicidal thoughts by his treatment at the club.

Yorkshire’s redacted report upheld seven of his claims but concluded the club was not institutionally racist.

“No one believed me, no one listened everyone tried to protect themselves and left me all alone to fight,” Rafiq tweeted this week. “TIME FOR THE FULL TRUTH.”

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Three Algerians killed in strike blamed on Morocco: state media

The South African

Algeria said Wednesday three truck drivers had been killed in a bombing as they drove from Mauritania, an attack Algiers blamed on neighbouring Morocco, the official APS news agency said.

The reported strike comes as tensions ratchet up between Algeria and Morocco, particularly over the contested desert region of the Western Sahara.

ALGERIA, MOROCCO TENSIONS

“Three Algerians were assassinated… in a barbaric strike on their trucks,” Algeria’s presidency said in a statement, quoted by APS.

It reported they had been travelling between the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott and the Algerian city of Ouargla.

MOROCCO CONTROL

“Several factors indicate that the Moroccan occupation forces in the Western Sahara carried out this cowardly assassination with a sophisticated weapon,” the statement added.

The Western Sahara is 80% controlled by Morocco, which sees the former Spanish colony as an integral part of its own territory.

ALGERIA SEEKS INDEPENDANCE

But its regional arch-rival Algeria has long hosted and supported the Polisario Front, which seeks full independence there.

The reported killings took place on Monday, but few details had emerged, and there had been no immediate comment from Rabat or Algiers.

READ: United Nations repatriates 91 migrants from Libya to Niger

IN VIOLATION

The Algerian statement did not specify the exact location where the bombardment took place.

But Akram Kharief, editor of Algerian website Mena Defense, said that “the Algerian truckers were killed in Bir Lahlou”, on a highway through the part of the Western Sahara controlled by the Polisario Front.

The Polisario in November declared a three-decade ceasefire “null and void” after Moroccan forces broke up a blockade of a highway into Mauritania, that the independence movement said was built in violation of a 1991 truce.

ALGERIA SEVERED MOROCCO TIES

In August, Algeria broke off diplomatic ties with Morocco citing “hostile actions” – charges Rabat dismissed.

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council called for renewed peace talks, in a resolution Algeria slammed as “fundamentally unbalanced”.

WESTERN SAHARA SITUATION

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the situation in Western Sahara had “significantly deteriorated” over the past year.

Former US president Donald Trump broke with long-held diplomatic norms last year to recognise Morocco’s claim to the territory as part of a quid pro quo for Rabat’s normalisation of ties with Israel.

His successor Joe Biden’s administration has not yet confirmed or rescinded the decision.

© Agence France-Presse

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This iPhone feature lets you LISTEN to conversations metres away

The South African

Did you know that your iPhone has a setting that allows you to listen to conversations happening metres away? Well, many iPhone users have actress Elizabeth Hensridge to thank for finding out exactly how, The Sun reports.

Hensridge shared her shock on the social media site Tik Tok after she discovered Apple’s Listen Live feature on her device and said: “So basically we’re all spies now?!”

She is best known for starring as Jemma Simmons in the ABC superhero drama Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“When someone explains the ear button on your iPhone means you can listen to conversations happening by your phone from 15 metres away,” the star wrote.

Listen Live on iPhone – here how to activate it

The Listen Live feature was actually designed as a hearing aid tool, and can be added to your iPhone shortcuts: If you are metres away from your phone, you can still listen to the sound using bluetooth headphones. To activate, go to Settings and then to Accessibility, and then select Hearing Devices. You then tap the name of your hearing device under MFi Hearing Devices.

“Live Listen can help you hear a conversation in a noisy room or hear someone speaking across the room. With Live Listen, your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch becomes a remote microphone that sends sound to your Made for iPhone hearing aid,” the website explains.

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Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos gives blunt reasoning for Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa’s omission

The South African

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has given a swift explanation for the omission of Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa.

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Mabasa was called up to the previous Bafana Bafana squad by Hugo Broos as reward for his form at Pirates.

Broos has dropped Mabasa from Bafana Bafana squad

Broos has now decided to drop the Pirates man, a decision many may feel was a rather straightforward one, owing to how things panned out for Mabasa the last time he wore the Bafana Bafana jersey. Mabasa was substituted during the first half of the away leg of the back-to-back qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup.

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Not one to mince his words, Broos admitted soon after that he gave Mabasa the hook for tactical reasons, and that the player was not injured or anything. In giving his reasons for not selecting the 25 year-old the Belgian mentor again reiterated his stance on the player, which stems from that game in Addis Ababa.

Highlights where the decision stems from

“It was a little disappointing for him (Mabasa) that I changed him after 30 to 35 minutes in Ethiopia, but he was not in the game,” Broos said on SABC Sport during the squad announcement. “And I talked to him after the game and said ‘what is a problem’, he said ‘I didn’t feel good’. So when. I think he was too emotional, I think he was still nervous.” He continued.

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Broos also then highlighted that, had Mabasa redeemed himself with his Pirates form, his fortunes may have been different, but unfortunately he was playing like a man still affected by the Ethiopian incident.

Why it could be going wrong

“He wanted to prove how good he was, and you are too nervous and too focused on the game. And then It cuts your legs, and you saw it. He was there but he wasn’t there.So I had to do it and because of that, maybe now he didn’t have the confidence anymore. When I see him playing last game in his team, I saw it in the last game he had two good opportunities to score, normally it’s a goal or one or two certainly, now he missed more.” Said Broos

A worrying assessment of his current status

Broos then also gave a worrying assessment of Mabasa’s current situation, which should be one of grave concern to the player.

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“I think for the moment he is struggling with his confidence, he doesn’t have the confidence, and you see also in his way of playing he is not anymore the striker that I selected before Ethiopia because I think it was the type of player we should need in Ethiopia.He is not that player anymore for the moment. So I think it’s a matter of confidence and I hope that he will find this confidence as soon as possible.” He concluded.

Bafana Bafana will host Zimbabwe at FNB Stadium on Thursday, 11, before heading to Ghana three days later this month.

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Kaizer Chiefs legend Bernard Parker graduates… AGAIN – PICTURES

The South African

Kaizer Chiefs legend Bernard Parker isn’t only focusing on doing well for the team but he’s also preparing for life after football.

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And Parker is doing so by continuing to further his studies when he’s not on the pitch – and pictures of his latest graduation have surfaced.

At this stage, it’s unclear what qualification Parker recently bagged at Boston College but he shared his latest success with his fans on social media on Wednesday.

Bernard Parker of Kaizer Chiefs celebrates his latest qualification. Photo: Bernard Parker/LinkedIn

This isn’t the first time that Parker has graduated since arriving at Chiefs over a decade ago.

In fact, just last year, the Amakhosi captain bagged a Sport Management qualification from the same College.

READ | HUGE INTEREST IN MAMELODI SUNDOWNS CO-COACH RHULANI MOKWENA BUT…

Parker also has qualifications in Sport Marketing, Sport Psychology and Life Coaching, and this can only be motivation to his peers and fans.

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US ‘gravely concerned’ by escalating violence in Ethiopia ahead of envoy’s visit

Africa

The United States is “gravely concerned” about escalating violence in Ethiopia and the expansion of hostilities and has repeated on Wednesday its call to all parties in the conflict to stop military operations and begin ceasefire talks.

Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday with forces from the northern region of Tigray threatening to advance on the capital Addis Ababa.

Speaking at a press briefing, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman, who is heading to Ethiopia on Thursday, will have a chance to discuss the situation with Ethiopian government.

Feltman was heading to Ethiopia amid an escalation in the conflict in Africa’s second most populous country that has killed thousands of people, forced more than two million from their homes, and left 400 000 people in Tigray facing famine.

“We are gravely concerned by the escalating violence, by the expansion of fighting that we’ve seen in northern Ethiopia and in regions throughout the country,” Price said.

“Continued fighting only prolongs the humanitarian crisis that is afflicting far too many people in Ethiopia today,” Price said, adding that the Washington was talking to other nations, the United Nations and the African Union to address the crisis.

“All parties must stop military operations and begin ceasefire negotiations without precondition,” he said.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in a speech on Wednesday pledged to bury his government’s enemies “with our blood” as he marked the start of the war in the Tigray region one year ago.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would strip Ethiopia of duty-free access to the United States over alleged human rights abuses in Tigray, which the Ethiopian government has said it will investigate.

The post US ‘gravely concerned’ by escalating violence in Ethiopia ahead of envoy’s visit appeared first on SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader..

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DStv Premiership 2021/22: Latest updated top 10 goal scorers list

The South African

The 2021/22 DStv Premiership season is in full swing and the race is on for bragging rights as Mzansi’s top goal scorer.

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While it’s still early days it’s better to have already found the back of the net than still be waiting to do so.

READ | KAIZER CHIEFS RETIRE SECOND JERSEY WHILE ORLANDO PIRATES HAVE RETIRED FOUR

Will SuperSport United’s Bradley Grobler defend his Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot award?

Time will tell!

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LEADING GOAL SCORERS IN THE 2021/22 DSTV PREMIERSHIP SEASON

1 – Victor Letsoalo (Royal AM) – 6

T1 – Peter Shalulile (Mamelodi Sundowns) – 6

3 – Chibuike Ohizu (Sekhukhune United) – 5

T4 – Ashley du Preez (Stellenbosch FC) – 4

T4 – Thamsanqa Gabuza (SuperSport United) – 4

T6 – Keagan Dolly (Kaizer Chiefs) – 3

T6 – Judas Moseamedi (Stellenbosch FC) – 3

T6 – Evidence Makgopa (Baroka FC) – 3

T6 – Mduduzi Mdantsane (Cape Town City FC) – 3

T10 – Bongi Ntuli (AmaZulu) – 2

T10 – Amigo Mamela (AmaZulu) – 2

T10 – Tshegofatso Mabasa (Orlando Pirates) – 2

T10 – Ghampani Lungu (SuperSport United) – 2

T10 – Knox Mutizwa (Golden Arrows) – 2

T10 – Goodman Mosele (Orlando Pirates) – 2

T10 – Bernard Parker (Kaizer Chiefs) – 2

T10 – Mxolisi Macuphu (TS Galaxy) – 2

T10 – Teboho Mokoena (SuperSport United) – 2

T10 – Nkosinathi Sibisi (Golden Arrows) – 2

T10 – Linda Mntambo (Orlando Pirates) – 2

T10 – Michael Gumede (Golden Arrows) – 2

T10 – Khama Billiat (Kaizer Chiefs) – 2

T10 – Siphamandla Sabelo (Golden Arrows) – 2

T10. Sinethemba Mngomezulu (TS Galaxy) – 2

T10 – Levy Mashiane (Royal AM) – 2

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Pages

ALGERIA, MOROCCO TENSIONS

MOROCCO CONTROL

ALGERIA SEEKS INDEPENDANCE

IN VIOLATION

ALGERIA SEVERED MOROCCO TIES

WESTERN SAHARA SITUATION

Listen Live on iPhone – here how to activate it

Broos has dropped Mabasa from Bafana Bafana squad

Highlights where the decision stems from

Why it could be going wrong

A worrying assessment of his current status