99jili casino real money Aston Villa president of football operations Monchi has broken his silence after Jhon Duran's red card appeal was rejected on Friday. The Colombia international was shown a red card in Villa's 3-0 loss at the hands of Newcastle United on Boxing Day. Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Joelinton were among the goals as the Magpies inflicted the sixth Premier League defeat on Unai Emery's side this season. Questions were raised during and after the match over the validity of Duran's sending off. The forward lost out in a tussle with Newcastle defender Fabian Schar and appeared to step on the Swiss international as they fell to the floor. While a painful challenge, Villa and Duran were insistent there was no intent and it was accidental. READ | Aston Villa learn outcome of Jhon Duran red card appeal after Newcastle controversy READ | What Jhon Duran did after leaving the pitch as the FA given perfect reason to overturn Aston Villa ban That was not the view of the FA, however, as the club announced on Friday evening that the ban will not be rescinded as the appeal was rejected by the governing body. As a result, the 21-year-old will now miss Villa's next two league games against Brighton and Leicester City, as well as their FA Cup meeting with West Ham. Duran will be available for selection again when Emery's side travel to take on Everton on January 15. In light of recent developments, Villa's president of football operations, Monchi, has shared his thoughts on the decision not to overturn Duran's red card. Speaking on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the 56-year-old said: "We can understand a mistake, because to err is human, but to insist on the mistake only creates doubts about the system. "I came from a place where the motto is NEVER SURRENDER. so here we say the same thing, we will not surrender and we will continue fighting for our club. Up the Villa." Villa are now ninth in the Premier League standings with 28 points. They are six points off top four as things stand, although Fulham and Manchester City also sit in the same position with 18 games played. Should Duran's ban have been overturned? Let us know in the comments section ...

Schmicko Melbourne Expands Premium Mobile Car Care Services Across Greater MelbourneGreg Gumbel, a longtime CBS sportscaster, has died from cancer, according to a statement from family released by CBS on Friday. He was 78. “He leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcast industry; and his iconic voice will never be forgotten,” his wife Marcy Gumbel and daughter Michelle Gumbel said in a statement. In March, Gumbel missed his first NCAA Tournament since 1997 due to what he said at the time were family health issues. Gumbel was the studio host for CBS since returning to the network from NBC in 1998. Gumbel signed an extension with CBS last year that allowed him to continue hosting college basketball while stepping back from NFL announcing duties. In 2001, he announced Super Bowl XXXV for CBS, becoming the first Black announcer in the U.S. to call play-by-play of a major sports championship. David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports, described Greg Gumbel as breaking barriers and setting standards for others during his years as a voice for fans in sports, including in the NFL and March Madness. “A tremendous broadcaster and gifted storyteller, Greg led one of the most remarkable and groundbreaking sports broadcasting careers of all time," said Berson. RELATED STORY | Richard Parsons, prominent executive who led Time Warner and Citigroup, dies at 76 Gumbel had two stints at CBS, leaving the network for NBC when it lost football in 1994 and returning when it regained the contract in 1998. He hosted CBS’ coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and called Major League Baseball games during its four-year run broadcasting the national pastime. But it was football and basketball where he was best known and made his biggest impact. Gumbel hosted CBS’ NFL studio show, “The NFL Today” from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2004. He also called NFL games as the network’s lead play-by-play announcer from 1998 to 2003, including Super Bowl XXXV and XXXVIII. He returned to the NFL booth in 2005, leaving that role after the 2022 season.

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BENNINGTON — The Mount Anthony boys basketball team is looking to return to the playoffs this winter after missing out on the postseason a year ago. To achieve that goal, they will have to improve on last year’s 2-18 showing while also replacing their two most impactful players from a season ago: outgoing senior guards Carter Thompson and Shemar Sookdar. “Those guys are just special players,” second-year MAU coach DeShawn Hamlet said. The Patriots coach acknowledged it will take a total team effort in order for them to be successful this winter. Part of that formula is relying on a pair of seniors in Drelend Carey and Tatum Stratton, as well as junior Kelly Callanan. The trio bring the most varsity experience to the team, and each have evolved as players during the offseason. Hamlet praised Carey’s athleticism and sees the senior attacking the paint a lot this season. “He came in ready to play, he’s in great shape,” Hamlet said. Stratton projects as one of the Patriots' better shooters, while Callanan will facilitate the offense from the point guard spot. A pass-first player, Hamlet said the coaching staff is encouraging the junior to look for his own shot more this season. “Just trying to get him to pick his poison of like ‘Hey, you can shoot here. You can do your floater,’” Hamlet explained. “Just trying to have [all three of them] score in that aspect, as well.” MAU will also look for added contributions from players rising the ranks from junior varsity to varsity, including Reilly Granger and Colby Hill. Granger was elevated to varsity toward the end of last season, giving the Patriots some added height at the center position. Hamlet enters year two in charge of the MAU program, and said he was able to take away a lot of valuable lessons in his first year at the helm. “I learned some things might not go as planned, you’ve got to be able to adjust on the fly,” he said. “And just try to gather the troops and make sure everybody is ready.” MAU opens its season Saturday in the North-South Classic in Rutland, facing off against Spaulding at 1 p.m. What does Hamlet expect to see out of his team? “A lot of intensity,” he said. “Teamwork as well. We don’t really have a natural scorer, but guys are working as a unit to try to get stops and try to score as fast as we can.” The second-year coach said he will not measure success in wins and losses, but rather whether or not this season is an enjoyable experience for everyone within the program. “We want to try to get back to the playoffs and actually get a home game, but the first thing is just making sure these guys are having fun,” Hamlet said. The Patriots will make their home debut Dec. 27 against Fair Haven at 7 p.m. inside Kates Gymnasium.Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the PKK terrorist group's members in the YPG must leave Syria as the country tries to form a new, unified administration, which he said needs to be inclusive and tolerant. "Elimination of YPG is Türkiye's strategic goal," Fidan told a live broadcast on NTV channel Friday. He highlighted that the PKK's Syrian offshoots have no place in the country's future while noting that the safety of the Kurdish population must be ensured. "Syria now has a national ruling government," Fidan said, adding that the new administration would not recognize the YPG or others. "They will take their land and sovereignty back," he added. YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a terrorist group that has waged a bloody terror campaign in Türkiye since 1984 and has killed at least 40,000 people. Washington backs the PKK/YPG under the guise of a fight against the Daesh terrorist group. The outgoing Biden administration is particularly concerned that a power vacuum in Syria could exacerbate already heightened tensions in the region, which is already wracked by multiple conflicts, and create conditions for the Daesh terror group to regain territory and influence. Ankara, meanwhile, is concerned the PKK/YPG could exploit the security vacuum to push its agenda for a terror corridor along Turkish borders. The NATO allies are at loggerheads over Washington’s support for the PKK/YPG. The top Turkish diplomat said Türkiye always foresaw risks in Syria since the beginning of the uprising over a decade ago, but the Assad regime disregarded political processes that Ankara proposed to launch. Regarding the ouster of Bashar Assad, Fidan said Ankara had urged Russia and Iran not to intervene militarily to support regime forces, which have been weakened in the past two to three years. "The most vital thing to do was to talk to the Russians and Iranians to ensure that they didn't enter the equation militarily," Fidan said, adding that they had meetings with the Russians and Iranians and they understood. "If the regime had their support, things would've turned rather bloody," he said. Noting that the anti-regime forces served a population of 4 million people in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, Fidan said they have experience and are aware of the fact that their primary obligation is to fulfill the needs of the people. He added that they also needed to be inclusive and tolerant, but the facilitation of unity was a priority for the new administration. "We want a Syria without terrorism, a Syria where minorities are not discriminated. We want a country that does not own chemical weapons and does not threaten neighboring countries," Fidan said, adding that Ankara is currently conveying these messages to Damascus. In response to a question about when Türkiye's embassy would open in Damascus, Fidan said diplomatic staff were already on their way. "Our embassy will start operating as of tomorrow [Saturday]," Fidan said. Türkiye appointed a charge d'affairs to Syria after 12 years. The embassy was closed in March 2012 following clashes between Assad regime forces and pro-democracy protestors. The appointment of Burhan Köroğlu came shortly after Türkiye's top intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın visited the Syrian capital on Thursday. Syria's anti-regime forces entered the capital Damascus early Sunday ending the Bashar Assad regime's decadeslong rule. The capture also overthrew the Baath Party, the Arab socialist group that had come to power in Syria in a 1963 coup. The anti-regime forces also dealt a major blow to the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria in the heart of the region, allies who propped up Assad during critical periods in the conflict.

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Prepare for uncertain, shock-prone future, Bank of Canada head tells B.C. crowdHe bought a KFC store in Australia for $100,000 in 1969. Today, his fast food company is worth over $3 billion

Wake Forest still experimenting ahead of Detroit Mercy gameBank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the central bank is preparing for a future that looks more uncertain and more prone to shocks. In a speech to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, he said Monday structural changes are underway in the world including demographic shifts, technological changes, decarbonization and a move away from globalization. “We need to use the pandemic experience to prepare for future crises,” Macklem said in a prepared text of his speech. To that end, Macklem says the Bank of Canada is working to learn what it can from how the economy reacted to the pandemic and in its aftermath. The Bank of Canada is conducting a review of the policy actions it took to restore financial stability and support the economy during the pandemic that it plans to publish along with an assessment of an independent panel of experts. Macklem said the spike in inflation in 2022 was a reminder that even though inflation was relatively low and stable for 30 years leading up to the pandemic, central banks cannot take public trust for granted. “All of a sudden, people couldn’t afford the things they need. And while inflation is low once again, many prices are still a lot higher than they were before the pandemic. So people feel ripped off. And that erodes public trust in our economic system,” he said in his speech. The Bank of Canada has cut its key policy interest rate five times this year including last week when it reduced the benchmark by a half a percentage point to 3.25 per cent. Macklem says the bank will be evaluating the need for further reductions in the policy rate one decision at a time and anticipates a more gradual approach to monetary policy if the economy evolves as expected. Statistics Canada reported last month that the annual inflation rate was two per cent in Ontario, hitting the Bank of Canada’s target. The speech by Macklem came ahead of the release of the November inflation report on Tuesday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2024. The Canadian Press

Stock market today: Wall Street gains ground as it notches a winning week and another Dow record