Peyton Manning set up a new instalment of his 15-year rivalry with Tom Brady on Sunday after steering the Denver Broncos to a hardfought NFL play-off victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 39-year-old Denver quarterback will face New England Patriots superstar Brady for the fourth time in an American Football Conference championship game after a gritty 23-16 win over the Steelers.
Manning’s experience proved crucial against Pittsburgh, as Denver mounted a late, time-consuming fourth quarter drive to score the game’s decisive touchdown through running back CJ Anderson.
“I think the best thing today was that we stayed patient,” Manning said. “But when we needed to we put together a big drive to get the touchdown that put us up.”
Read more: New England's Tom 'Terrific' Brady stands alone in ranking of NFL play-off quarterbacks
Manning has won two of his three previous AFC championship duels with Brady, with the most recent victory a 26-16 win in 2014.
Manning, who first faced Brady back in 2001 with the Indianapolis Colts, trails the New England quarterback 11-5 in the overall head-to-head record.
The Broncos signal-caller played down the significance of what will be his 17th meeting with Brady next week, when a place in Super Bowl 50 will be the prize for the victor.
“It’ll be the Broncos versus the Patriots,” Manning smiled.
Defeat was hard on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who made 24 completions from 37 passing attempts to pile up 339 yards against one of the best defences in the NFL.
Pittsburgh led 13-12 through a Fitzgerald Toussaint touchdown and two Chris Boswell field goals while Denver had been forced to settle for four Brandon McManus field goals.
The pivotal play came when Toussaint spilt the ball with less than 10 minutes left and Denver recovered.
Manning then marched the Broncos upfield on a 14-play, 65-yard drive which took nearly seven minutes off the clock for Anderson’s touchdown. A two-point conversion left Denver in the box seat and they duly closed out the win as Pittsburgh ran out of time.
In the day’s other NFL action, the No 1-seeded Carolina Panthers advanced to a National Football Conference championship game against the Arizona Cardinals after surviving a second-half fightback from the Seattle Seahawks to win 31-24 in Charlotte.
The Panthers looked to be romping to an easy victory after a devastating first-half points blitz saw them race into a 31-0 lead as Seattle’s vaunted defence was steamrollered by Carolina’s formidable attacking arsenal.
The Seahawks, however, staged a superb second-half rally with quarterback Russell Wilson throwing for three touchdowns and finishing with 366 yards.
Read more: Super Bowl come early? Seahawks-Panthers just might feature NFL's two best
Seattle ultimately fell short, and when Carolina safely recovered an onside kick with just over a minute remaining the contest was effectively over.
Carolina quarterback Cam Newton later conceded the Panthers had faced nervous moments as Seattle dominated the scoring in the second half.
“It was excruciating to watch,” Newton said. “It was a tale of two halves. We’ve got to be better than that,” added the MVP favourite, who went 16-for-22 for 161 yards.
The Panthers had scored on their very first possession with a four-play 75-yard drive that ended with Jonathan Stewart scoring with a four-yard run.
Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly then intercepted Wilson for a touchdown as the Panthers went 14-0 up before Stewart grabbed his second six-pointer.
Graham Gano kicked a field goal to stretch Carolina’s lead to 24-0 before Newton picked out Greg Olsen in the endzone to put the Panthers 31-0 ahead.
Seattle dominated after half time, quickly scoring touchdowns through Jermaine Kearse and Tyler Lockett to give coach Pete Carroll’s team hope.
Kearse grabbed another score in the fourth quarter but the Panthers survived.
“When you start like that, it’s going to be tough,” Seahawks wide receiver Kearse said. “We ran out of time.”
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Company%20profile
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The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
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You may remember …
Robbie Keane (Atletico de Kolkata) The Irish striker is, along with his former Spurs teammate Dimitar Berbatov, the headline figure in this season’s ISL, having joined defending champions ATK. His grand entrance after arrival from Major League Soccer in the US will be delayed by three games, though, due to a knee injury.
Dimitar Berbatov (Kerala Blasters) Word has it that Rene Meulensteen, the Kerala manager, plans to deploy his Bulgarian star in central midfield. The idea of Berbatov as an all-action, box-to-box midfielder, might jar with Spurs and Manchester United supporters, who more likely recall an always-languid, often-lazy striker.
Wes Brown (Kerala Blasters) Revived his playing career last season to help out at Blackburn Rovers, where he was also a coach. Since then, the 23-cap England centre back, who is now 38, has been reunited with the former Manchester United assistant coach Meulensteen, after signing for Kerala.
Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
Emiliano Alfaro (Pune City) The Uruguayan striker has played for Liverpool – the Montevideo one, rather than the better-known side in England – and Lazio in Italy. He was prolific for a season at Al Wasl in the Arabian Gulf League in 2012/13. He returned for one season with Fujairah, whom he left to join Pune.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
UFC%20FIGHT%20NIGHT%3A%20SAUDI%20ARABIA%20RESULTS
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PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
