Benzema and Di Maria top targets on Gunners' £80m shopping list

Benzema

Jeremy Wilson – 23 August 2013

Arsenal are preparing to launch a 10-day shopping spree that could bring them five players, including Real Madrid's Karim Benzema and Angel di Maria, at a total cost of £80m.

Benzema has emerged as Wenger's priority signing and, following an initial inquiry to Madrid, there is growing confidence that a £40m bid would be enough to secure the France striker.
Having failed with a controversial £40,000,001 offer for Liverpool's Luis Suarez, Wenger has now concluded that he must move on to other targets of "world-class" stature.
Benzema's ability to link the play and operate as a lone central striker has made him a long-term target of Wenger and, with Madrid close to completing the world-record transfer of Gareth Bale, there is a sense that they are prepared to make major sales.
Although Madrid have already sold one striker this summer in Gonzalo Higuain, there is a feeling that Spain U-21 forward Alvaro Morata is ready to step into a more senior starting role. Madrid could also still launch a bid for Suarez.
POTENTIAL
Arsenal are also keen on Di Maria, who is available and was previously put forward as a potential part of the Bale deal. Di Maria generally plays on the left wing and his arrival at Arsenal would place a major question mark over the future of Lukas Podolski, who is the subject of serious interest from Schalke, Wolfsburg and Galatasaray.
Podolski has failed to command a regular place in the team since his arrival last summer and, although he did score 16 goals last season, there were question marks over his work-rate and general contribution.
Benzema has been tracked by Wenger for many years, while chief scout Steve Rowley first began watching Di Maria before he moved to Madrid in 2010.
Although Arsenal have faced stinging criticism over a perceived lack of planning this summer, they have been working through a variety of lists that were drawn up by the club's scouting department.
Each of the club's scouts was asked to recommend two players in each position and, from that list, Wenger and Rowley have drawn up a top-five list of targets for each position.
They are also still actively looking to recruit a midfielder, goalkeeper and defender.

Bids were made this week for former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, who is now at Juventus, as well as Newcastle's Yohan Cabaye.

Arsenal have been told that Pogba is not for sale at any price but, with Cabaye keen to leave Newcastle, a new bid of around £15m is expected next week.

Paris Saint-Germain are also interested, with Newcastle having initially said that they would want at least £20m for their France midfielder.

Former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini has also been training with the Gunners and is increasingly likely to be signed on a free transfer.

Flamini's versatility is an added attraction for Wenger – as well as boosting his central-midfield options in the current absence of Mikel Arteta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, he can also cover at right-back.

Wenger has been seeking to add a right-sided defender and there has been tentative interest in Micah Richards, who has made little progress with contract talks at Manchester City and would cost around £10m. There has been no bid for Swansea City's Ashley Williams.

Arsenal also hope to add a goalkeeper before the transfer window shuts on September 2, with Wenger now focused on Valencia's Vicente Guaita. An initial bid of £6m has been rejected but Arsenal are expected to return with a new offer.

Buoyed by the 3-0 win over Fenerbahce on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League play-off, Wenger promised that the transfer window would start "now" for Arsenal and predicted that he would be very active.

Arsenal certainly do have substantial available resources. They renegotiated a shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates earlier this year and have also agreed, in principle, a new kit deal with Puma.

Arsenal were previously locked into 10-year commercial partnerships to secure the funding for the Emirates and will add around £70m of annual revenue from next year with their new deals.

They had also built up a transfer budget of around £70m following major player sales over the past three years.

Laurent Koscielny is confident of returning to the Arsenal team for the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur a week on Sunday after hospital tests showed that he suffered a deep cut rather than a fractured skull in Wednesday's 3-0 win against Fenerbahce.

The France centre-back was rushed to hospital in Istanbul after being kicked in the head while challenging Pierre Webo for a high ball but was discharged within an hour and cleared to join his Arsenal team-mates on their flight home. ff @smoothmedia1 nd drop ur comments

Small spacecraft developed by private US company tested at California NASA facility

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A company developing a spaceship to take astronauts to the International Space Station has run the craft through a series of tests at a NASA facility in California.
The two-hour test of Dream Chaser spacecraft occurred Thursday at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. A helicopter picked a test version of the small spacecraft and flew it 3 miles at heights reaching 12,400 feet (3,780 metres).
The Dream Chaser followed its projected path, and its flight computer, guidance and navigation system were tested. The landing gear and nose skid also were deployed.
The test paves the way for further tests at Dryden this autumn as part of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s agreements with NASA.
The vehicle is designed to carry seven people and land like a plane. @smoothmedia1

Obadare’s burial gulped over N130m —Son

ABOUT N130 million may have been expended on the final burial of the founder of the World Soul Winning Evangelistic Ministry (WOSEM), Apostle Timothy Obadare, in Ilesa, Osun State, last Saturday.
Making the disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen at the WOSEM Shiloh Ground, Ileki, Ilesa, on Thursday, the first son of the deceased,  Pastor Paul Obadare, hinted that out of this amount, the Osun State government contributed N35 million.
Giving the details of the expenses at the burial, which attracted dignitaries, including the Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, he said the sum of N5 million was spent on casket; N61 million on the construction of the mausoleum, while N30 million was spent on entertainment of guests.
While commenting on the succession plan of the church, Pastor Obadare hinted that efforts were being intensified by the leadership of the church to appoint a new General Overseer for the church.
“A special meeting of the church executive board will hold very soon and the major issue that will be discussed at the meeting is the appointment of new General Overseer for the church.
“We have leaders in the church already, but there is the need to appoint a new overseer who will preside over the church,” he said.
Obadare, who is currently acting as the leader of WOSEM, contended that only the church executive board could name his father’s successor, while he assured that a successor would be announced by the leadership of the church soon @smoothmedia1

ASUU strike: Okonjo-Iweala’s comment, dangerous to education in Nigeria —Bauchi ASUU

THE statement credited to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the Federal Government cannot meet the demands of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been described as embarrassing and dangerous to the future of education in Nigeria.
This is even as Nigerians have been urged to prevail on the Federal Government to honour the agreement it freely entered into with the union in 2009 for the betterment of the education sector in the country.
This was stated on Thursday by members of the Bauchi zone of the union, comprising eight universities in the North-East zone and Plateau State, while addressing a press conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Bauchi, adding that the statement was a calculated attempt to blackmail the union.
ASUU zonal coordinator, Bauchi, Dr Usman M Abubakar, stated that the union in the zone “is dismayed at the uncoordinated and  highly embarrassing statements credited  to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that ‘the Federal Government cannot meet the demands of ASUU,’ which according to the minister is N92 billion.
“The union views these pronouncements as a deliberate and calculated attempt to cheaply blackmail it and confuse the Nigerian public by a deliberate attempt to reduce the noble and patriotic cause that ASUU is struggling for, to mere payment of allowances; allowances that are actually a debt on the Federal Government for the past four years and which are payable to all university staff. @smoothmedia1

Damascus suburbs bombed by regime after deadly gas attack

Activists:

Thursday, 22 August 2013

A man creates a placard next to mock corpses during a protest in front of the United Nations building in New York August 21, 2013. (Reuters)

Al Arabiya

Syrian forces bombarded rebel-held suburbs in Damascus on Thursday, Reuters reported activists as saying, after the opposition accused the army of gassing hundreds in a chemical weapons attack in the Ghouta district of the capital on Wednesday.
Speaking from Ghouta, activist Khaled Amer told Reuters that explosions from rockets hitting Zamalka were being heard. In Jobar, a Damascus neighborhood only three kilometers from the historic center of the ancient capital, explosions were heard at an army fortification and another compound housing tanks, apparently from a rebel attack on the facilities.
Fadi al-Shami of the Tahrir al-Sham Brigade, which operates in the eastern Ghouta area, said scattered fighting was taking place along the Jobar-Zamalka axis and that opposition forces have moved closer to loyalist lines, partly to be in safer positions in case of another chemical attack.
The fighting continued after Wednesday’s chemical weapon attack which killed an estimated 1,300 people including children and women while they were sleeping, according to opposition.
The assault could be considered the world’s most lethal chemical weapons attack since 1988 when thousands of Kurds were gassed in Halabcha, a town in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq, by Saddam Hussein’s forces.
The chemical assault prompted meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.
While Western and regional countries called for U.N. chemical weapons investigators, who arrived in Damascus four days ago, to be urgently dispatched to the scene, Syria’s two main allies, Iran and Russia denied such allegations against Assad’s regime.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday the Syrian government could not have been behind a possible chemical weapon attack as Assad’s forces had the upper hand in the fighting, Agence France-Presse reported.
“If the use of chemical weapons is true, it has definitely been carried out by terrorist ... groups, because they have proved in action that they refrain from no crime,” Iran’s Press TV quoted Zarif as telling his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, in a telephone conversation.
Meanwhile, Russia on Wednesday described the Syrian opposition claims of the Ghouta assault as “premeditated provocation.”
(With Reuters and AFP)

Usain Bolt anchors Jamaica to 4x100 relay gold

Left to right, Nickel Ashmeade, Kemar Bailey-Cole, Usain Bolt and Nesta Carter of Jamaica pose after the men's 4x100 metres final on August 18, 2013 in Moscow. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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Usain Bolt is, yet again, perfect.
And with three gold medals in Moscow, the Jamaican great became the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the world championships.
The 4x100-meter relay gold on Sunday erased the memories of the 100 title he missed out on in South Korea two years ago because of a false start. And, in combination with a similar 100-200-4x100 triple from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Bolt was instrumental in giving Jamaica the first ever sweep in those six sprint events.
Canada's team of Justyn Warner, Aaron Kingsley Brown, Dontae Richards-Kwok and Gavin Smellie won bronze in 37.92 seconds after Great Britain was disqualified.
The United States was second in 37.66.
The bronze is Canada's fifth medal at the event, the most successful in the country's history at the world championships.
Bolt was trailing Justin Gatlin when he got the baton on the anchor leg, but a botched U.S. handover and his superlative speed were enough to see him, and his country, win.
He gritted his teeth, dipped at the line, and then grinned with relief.
"I am very satisfied," Bolt said, perhaps understating his greatness on the track.
Bolt had already won the 100 and 200 metres. It was his second such sprint triple at the world championships, matching the two he has won at the Olympics.
With his victory, Bolt moved to the top of the all-time world championships medals table with eight gold and two silver, edging Carl Lewis, who has eight gold, one silver and one bronze.
And again the Luzhniki Stadium and its 40,000 fans were turned into a Bolt party.
With palpable relief after a week of all-business during his earlier races, Bolt finally let go. His arms across his chest, he kicked his legs as he went down lower and lower to imitate a traditional eastern European dance to the delight of the crowd.
"A lot of energy here today," Bolt said.
He threw he shoes into the crowd and struck his iconic "Lightning Bolt" pose again, knowing he finally could let go of the stress as Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" blared.
Twenty minutes earlier, Fraser-Pryce became the first woman in world championship history to sweep the sprint events, anchoring Jamaica to gold in the 4x100-meter relay.
Unlike Bolt, Fraser-Pryce got the baton with a big lead. With her pink hair extensions swaying in the air behind her, she kept on building on it to cross in a championship record of 41.29 seconds.

Jamaican women dominant too

Jamaica won the women's 4x100-meter relay Sunday at the world championships, giving Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce her third gold medal of the competition.
Carrie Russell, Kerron Stewart, Schillonie Calvert and Fraser-Pryce won in a championship record 41.29 seconds. Fraser-Pryce, who also won the 100 and 200, ran the anchor leg.
France took silver in 42.73 and the United States earned the bronze in 42.75.
Canada finished 7th in 43.28.

Defending champ Asbel Kiprop takes 1,500m

Asbel Kiprop of Kenya retained his title in the men's 1,500 metres Sunday at the world championships.
Matthew Centrowitz of the United States earned the silver and Johan Cronje of South Africa took the bronze.
Kiprop, the 2008 Olympic champion, surged ahead in the home straight and crossed the line in 3 minutes, 36.28 seconds.
Centrowitz clocked 3:36.78, and Cronje finished in 3:36.83.
Canadian Nathan Brannen was 10th in 3.38.09.

France's Teddy Tamgho wins men's triple jump

Teddy Tamgho of France won the men's triple jump at the world championships on Sunday, edging Pedro Pichardo of Cuba.
Will Claye of the United States took bronze.
Tamgho and Pichardo were even at 17.68 metres but Tamgho made the difference on his last jump when he leapt 18.04 for gold.
Claye was third with a jump of 17.52.
Olympic and defending champion Christian Taylor of the United States took fourth place with a leap of 17.20.

Kenya's Eunice Sum victorious in women's 800m

Eunice Sum of Kenya held off Olympic champion Mariya Savinova at the end to win the women's 800 metres Sunday at the world championships.
Sum won in 1 minute, 57.38 seconds. Savinova, who was also the defending champion, was second in 1:57.80.
Brenda Martinez of the United States took bronze in 1:57.91.

Obergfoell of Germany wins women's javelin

Christina Obergfoell of Germany won her first major javelin title at 31, beating Kimberley Mickle of Australia to clinch the world championship gold medal on Sunday.
Defending champion Maria Abakumova of Russia took bronze.
Obergfoell threw 69.05 metres on her second attempt, while Mickle settled for second with a toss of 66.25.
Abakumova, who holds the season's top mark, disappointed with a throw of 65.09.
Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova missed the championships because of maternity leave.

British police are examining new information about the death of Diana, princess of Wales, reportedly including an allegation that she was murdered by a member of the British military.

British police are examining new information about the death of Diana, princess of Wales, reportedly including an allegation that she was murdered by a member of the British military.

Scotland Yard says detectives are checking the "relevance and credibility" of information received recently about the deaths of the princess and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed in Paris on August 31, 1997.
They were killed in a car crash in an underpass, along with their driver, Henri Paul, when the Mercedes he was driving crashed as it was being pursued by photographers.
Citing a military source, the Sunday Telegraph said the allegation came from the estranged parents-in-law of a member of Britain's special forces, who gave evidence in the trial this year of Danny Nightingale, an SAS soldier convicted of illegally possessing a weapon.
The man said to be the source of the allegations, known only as "Soldier N" in the trial, was himself convicted of illegal weapons possession.
The newspaper reported that his estranged wife's parents wrote to the SAS's commanding officer claiming the soldier had told his wife that the unit had "arranged" Diana's death and that this had been "covered up".
The information was passed to the police by the Royal Military Police, according to several reports.
Scotland Yard says it is looking into the matter but that it's not a re-investigation and doesn't come under Operation Paget.
Operation Paget was the initial British investigation into claims of a conspiracy to murder Diana and Dodi Fayed that were made by his father, the former owner of the Harrods department store, Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Led by John Stevens, formerly Britain's top policeman, it concluded in 2006 that all the allegations it assessed were without foundation.
The car that Diana was travelling in smashed into a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel and spun around.
Dodi Fayed, 42, and driver Paul - the deputy head of security at Al-Fayed's plush Hotel Ritz in Paris - were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
Diana, 36, the ex-wife of Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and the mother of Princes William and Harry, died later in hospital.
Trevor Rees-Jones, a member of the Al-Fayed family's protection team, survived. He had been the only person in the car wearing a seatbelt.
Seeking to outrun chasing paparazzi photographers, Paul was found to have been speeding, while his blood alcohol level was found to have been more than three times over the French limit.
The longest-running and most expensive inquest in British history concluded in 2008 with a jury finding Diana and Fayed had been "unlawfully killed" by the grossly negligent driving of Paul and following vehicles.