Absentee XI: Gareth Bale, Alexis Sanchez, David Alaba and others not going to the 2018 World Cup


Steve Luckings
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While most of Wednesday's headlines focussed on Lionel Messi hauling Argentina out of trouble at the last with a hat-trick against Ecuador to seal a World Cup spot, there are plenty of  big names who will not be joining the mercurial No 10 in Russia next summer.

The Chile of Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal were pipped at the post by Messi and co as Peru's draw with Colombia meant they finished fifth in the 10-team Conmebol group to take the play-off spot. They will face New Zealand in a two-legged play-off to punch their tickets to Russia.

In Europe, Gareth Bale could only watch from the sidelines as Wales lost 1-0 to Republic of Ireland to miss out on a play-off spot.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be relatively happy knowing key players will get some much needed rest at the end of a long, hard Premier League season.

Defender Daley Blind will get an extended summer break after the Netherlands, still reeling from Sweden's 8-0 thrashing of Luxembourg, a result their manager Dick Advocaat had predicted "will not happen", missed out on second in European qualifying Group A to the Swedes on goal difference. Maybe he can plan a summer holiday with fellow teammates Henrik Mkhitaryan (Armenia) and Antonio Valencia (Ecuador) after their respective country's failed to negotiate their way through qualifying also.

Other high-profile absentees from next year's global showpiece will be Bayern Munich's Austrian defender David Alaba, Roma's Bosnian-Herzegovina striker Edin Dzeko and Atletico Madrid's Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

The new darling of the United States national team, Christian Pulisic, will also be able to rest his weary bones at the end of a slog in the Bundesliga after the US contrived to somehow not even finish fourth in the six-team Concacaf region that would have guaranteed them a play-off against Australia, who ended Syria's fairy-tale campaign in Sydney on Tuesday.

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Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule

1st Test July 26-30 in Galle

2nd Test August 3-7 in Colombo

3rd Test August 12-16 in Pallekele

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

INFO

Schools can register for the Abu Dhabi Schools Championships at www.champions.adsc.ae

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Infobox

Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman

The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August

Results

UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets

Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets

Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets

Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs

Monday fixtures

UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain

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Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

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From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Ways to control drones

Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.

"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.

New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.

It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.

The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.

The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.

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Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

 

 

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MATCH INFO

Everton 2 (Tosun 9', Doucoure 93')

Rotherham United 1 (Olosunde 56')

Man of the Match Olosunde  (Rotherham)

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Scoreline:

Everton 4

Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', ​​​​​​​Digne 56', Walcott 64'

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)

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WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5