Black Immigrant Daily News

Kylian Mbapp? and Erling Haaland took their high-flying scoring acts into Europe as the Champions League returned on Tuesday, while last season’s standout star Karim Benzema limped off with an injury after less than 30 minutes.

Mbapp? and Haaland both netted two goals as their respective clubs Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and Manchester City began their European campaigns with victories, underlining just why those two teams are again among the favourites for the title.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal. (AP Photo/Jose Breton).

Real Madrid’s chances of defending their crown probably depend largely on having a fully fit Benzema, but the France forward had to come off with an apparent knee injury in the 30th minute against Celtic. Second-half goals from Vin?cius J?nior, Luka Modric and Eden Hazard still secured a 3-0 win for the Spanish giant in Glasgow.

Benzema was in a league of his own in the competition last season, netting 15 goals in 12 games to lead Madrid to the title. But Mbapp? and Haaland look ready to challenge the Frenchman for the status of Europe’s top striker as they try to lead their clubs to an elusive first Champions League title.

The 23-year-old Mbapp?, who has seven goals in five league games so far, scored his double in the first 22 minutes of a 2-1 home win over Juventus to become the youngest player to reach 35 goals in the competition — beating the mark held by teammate Lionel Messi.

The 22-year-old Haaland has 25 goals in 20 Champions League games — also a record — after scoring once in each half of Man City’s 4-0 win at Sevilla. The Norway striker, who has 10 goals in six Premier League games this season, has now netted on his Champions League debut for three clubs — Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and City.

Also, Dinamo Zagreb upset Chelsea 1-0 at home while Serie A champion AC Milan were held to a 1-1 draw at Salzburg.

PSG’s Kylian Mbappe duels for the ball. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus).

MBAPP? SINKS JUVE

Mbapp?’s opening goal for PSG came after just five minutes following some audacious link-up play from Neymar.

Mbapp? played a short pass to the Brazilian before making a run into the area, with Neymar holding onto the ball just long enough before chipping it over a defender and into the path of the France striker, who volleyed it first-time past goalkeeper Mattia Perin.

The second came after he exchanged passes with Achraf Hakimi and beat Perin with another first-time finish. United States midfielder Weston McKennie pulled one back for Juventus in the 53rd, creating a tense finale in Paris.

In the other Group H match, Benfica defeated Maccabi Haifa 2-0.

CHELSEA STRUGGLES

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang couldn’t give Chelsea’s stuttering attack any kind of instant spark as the Blues failed to impress once again following an inconsistent start to the season.

Aubameyang made his Chelsea debut after his move from Barcelona, playing with a face mask to protect his injured jaw, and had one goal ruled out for offside while his teammates repeatedly failed to beat goalkeeper Dominik Livakovi?.

Instead it was Mislav Or?i? who continued his scoring streak against English teams, racing away from Wesley Fofana — another of Chelsea’s marquee signings — to score on a breakaway in the 13th minute.

“It’s an underperformance from us,” said Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, whose team has lost twice in the Premier League already. “We are clearly not there where we need to be. …. At the moment everything is missing.”

Noah Okafor put Salzburg ahead against Milan near the half-hour mark by shooting through the legs of goalkeeper Mike Maignan, but Alexis Saelemaekers equalized before the break.

Rafael Le?o then nearly won it for Milan in stoppage time when he had a shot deflected off the post.

U.S. international Sergi?o Dest came on in the 57th minute for his Milan debut following his transfer last week from Barcelona, one of six Americans in action on the night.

CITY ROLLS IN SPAIN

Haaland could well be the piece that Man City have been missing as they repeatedly came up short in Europe under Pep Guardiola.

The Norwegian again showed his uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time as he was on hand to steer in a cross from Kevin De Bruyne in the 21st minute and then tapped in a rebound for the third goal in the 67th. Phil Foden and Ruben Dias scored the other goals for City in a dominant performance at Estadio Ram?n S?nchez-Pizju?n.

Also in Group G, Marco Reus took his tally to 22 goals in 57 Champions League matches by opening the scoring in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win over Copenhagen. U.S. international Gio Reyna set up the other two goals for Dortmund, exchanging passes with English teenager Jude Bellingham in a slick move for the third.

HAZARD STEPS UP

If Benzema has to miss significant time for Madrid, Hazard signalled that he may be ready to pick up some of the slack.

The Belgium playmaker — who was on the bench before replacing Benzema — set up the first two goals before scoring the third himself against Celtic. It was his first Champions League goal in 651 days and first in any competition since January.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was hopeful that Benzema will be back soon, though.

“It seems not so serious,” Ancelotti said about the striker’s injury.

Callum McGregor had nearly put Celtic ahead in the first half when he struck a fierce shot against the post in the 21st minute.

In the other Group F game, Maryan Shved scored twice as Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk beat RB Leipzig 4-1. Shakhtar’s domestic season only recently started after a lengthy break because of Russia’s invasion but the team got some help from Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi for the first goal.

Gulacsi made the blunder of the evening by giving the ball away to Shved as he stood well outside his own area, giving the midfielder a simple finish into an empty net.

Leipzig levelled with a goal by French defender Mohamed Simakan in the 57th but Shved restored the lead one minute later.

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News

David Lee File photo/Sureash Cholai

OPPOSITION MP David Lee compared the energy sector to a man who built his house on sand, placing its fate on high energy prices without any sustainable work, policy or vision.

Lee warned that the minute the high oil and gas prices linked to the war between Russia and Ukraine decreases, the entire economy and TT’s revenue stream will crumble as there are no incentives to sustain competitive production.

Addressing the United National Congress (UNC) Monday night virtual report meeting, Lee said not a single dollar in increased energy revenue was due to any policy or plan by this government, but as a result of the European war.

Government’s strategies to boost production has failed he said, pointing to the failure of to attract international players to the deep and shallow water bids or the promised Dragon Gas.

In the last seven years, he said, TT’s energy sector has plunged into chaos and crisis, registering its lowest oil and gas production in 18 years, witnessing the closure of many plants at Point Lisas, including Proman, which officials the Prime Minister has jetted off to Switzerland to meet.

Lee questioned if the PM’s trip was really about selling Clico’s Methanol Holdings share to Proman.

He accused both Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Energy Minister Stuart Young of not being honest on the true state of the energy sector. He said they had been boasting about the millions being earned by the energy sector when government crippled the down-stream sector and the budget was facing a $2 billion deficit.

He said TT would have been in a better position to earn billions more in revenue at this time of high oil and gas prices like other refineries around the world, had Government not shut down the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

Lee said, as refineries around the world cash in on profits from the European war, by as much as 600 per cent, the Prime Minister must be regretting his decision to shut down the Petrotrin refinery which is earning zero per cent and has transformed into a scrap iron heap.

Lee claimed that the refinery could have been treated as a going concern if Government wanted so badly to get it off its books as he claimed it was returning a profit up until its last year in operation.

On the other hand, he noted, that the company’s replacement, Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd, which recorded a $2.3 billion loss for 2019, is yet to produce financials to date.

He called on Government to state the true state of affairs at that company.

Turning to last Friday’s spotlight on the economy, Lee took Imbert to task for his optimism about taking this country on the path to recovery.

If the economy was this good, he said, government would not have put the country on alert for an increase in fuel prices, there would not have been headlines about the cost-of-living crisis, that the economy was on the decline, that teachers would not have had to rest and reflect on Monday and the protective services would have received an adequate pay package.

“This is the same man who promises you growth for seven years and he has not delivered a single year of growth.”

Touching on the upcoming budget, he accused business chambers of favouring Government’s fiscal packages, but appealed to them to open their eyes, use their intelligence and properly analyse the September 26 budget.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

After a two-year hiatus, the Caribbean’s biggest fundraising walk – CIBC First Caribbean Walk for the Cure – returns with promises to be bigger and better.

Annually held on the first Sunday in October, the streets of Barbados are flooded pink as thousands ready to show their support for breast cancer awareness.

Speaking recently, at the launch held at Sugar Bay Hotel, Dr Stephanie Date, committee member of the Breast Screening Programme, announced a new route for the walk which will be held on Sunday, October 3.

The walk will kick off from FirstCaribbean and Massy Car Park, along the ABC Highway of the Everton Weekes Roundabout to Clyde Walcott Roundabout and along Waterford Road and conclude at the National Botanical Gardens.

Dr Date indicated that the new route was introduced out of an abundance of caution, to ensure that participants have “more space and a safer atmosphere”.

The BSP committee member revealed that this year’s donations will go toward purchasing a stereotactic biopsy machine which will work along with the 3D mammogram machine to “very accurately pin-point small microcalcifications and abnormalities in the breast” and “take biopsies of these abnormal tissue areas”.

“This walk has helped us purchase a state-of-the-art 3D mammogram machine that is functioning in our clinic and is already aiding in more accurate, reliable and early detection of breast cancer in Barbados. Every day, we are able to screen both men and women for this disease, which unfortunately continues to be the most common cancer in the world, with more aggressive subtypes being found in people of African Descent.

This year, when you come out to Walk for the Cure, we will be raising funds to maintain our clinic and our equipment but also to research this disease in our population and we are shifting our sights onto raising money to purchase a special add-on piece of equipment that will further enhance this already incredible 3D tomosynthesis machine,” said Dr Date.

The Breast Screening Programme is hoping achieve a minimum of $170, 000 to purchase the machine. Also honouring the 20th anniversary of the programme, there will be a limited number of customised anniversary shirts available to patrons.

Dr Date expressed that they hoped to see up to 15, 000 persons in attendance.

Shakira Grant, walk manager of CIBC FirstCaribbean, shared that several activities are planned for September and October to commence the celebrations.

“We have planned a number of fundraisers during September and October including our popular Paint for the Cure, Denim Days, a raffle and the dollar drives at the bank halls,” Grant shared.

She stated that their bank with the Breast Screening Programme was a year-round endeavour. In June, the bank surpassed its target of $50, 000 at Golf for the Cure.

Grant commended Barbadians for their unwavering support over ten years, noting that Barbados’ national interest was unrivalled in the region.

“We still have a way to go sometimes to match the fundraising for my counterparts in the Cayman Islands, but they can’t match us in the numbers and the national attention for our combined walk here,” she said.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

PUBLIC STATEMENT 

Today marks five years since Hurricane Irma hit Barbuda and forced islanders to relocate. When they returned, they found their land being privatised through a development scheme that threatens both human rights and the environment. Developers are destroying important wetlands, clearing untouched forests and putting Barbudans at risk of more extreme climate disasters. All to build expensive resorts that will only be accessible to the ultra-wealthy and their private jets. A pattern that is being repeated across the Caribbean region. 

GLAN, on the instruction of the Barbuda Council, submitted extensive evidence to the Geneva-based Ramsar Secretariat, the body responsible for ensuring protection for listed wetlands including Barbuda’s Codrington Lagoon National Park. So far, our calls for action and an international inspection mission have gone unanswered. 

Earlier this year, a group of UN legal experts expressed deep concern about the human rights implications of developments on the island catering for ultra-wealthy tourists, but this appeal has been ignored by both the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and the parties to the Ramsar Convention. 

Five years on, GLAN considers that the Government, developers and their enablers, investors, customers and contractors have failed to respect the human rights of Barbudans if not actively impacted them. We call on the international community, and in particular the Commonwealth and the United States as the country of origin of several investors and contractors, to ensure these actors’ respect for human rights and the environment. We urge multinational enterprises to take their obligations seriously and immediately halt their activities.  

GLAN is particularly concerned by the intimidation of environmental rights defenders on the island. More than 20 islanders who investigated the sites of construction in 2020, have been summoned to appear in court later this month on charges of trespassing. Such charges effectively silence dissent against the ongoing confiscation of land.  

In times of a heightened global climate crisis, luxury tourism projects on the ecosystems of a low-lying island are the exact opposite of what is needed. The situation in Barbuda is representative of a worldwide phenomenon of land grabbing in the name of economic growth and provision of service for the elite. 

Read GLAN’s full statement in attachment or here.  

You might find it helpful to note that there are several videos circulating to mark this day: 

GLAN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iuU9gGfRoY. 
SaveBarbuda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5D2NRFwjJA. 
Newsy + Bellingcat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bd8wM0ECwc&t=12s. 

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