It all hinges on how Saudi Arabia performs against Japan.
If Saudi Arabia loses, the Socceroos are heading to Russia.
If they beat Japan, the Saudis will finish equal on points, but have Australia covered on goal difference and that means the Socceroos will have to qualify for the World Cup through the playoffs.
So, in short, we need to be barracking hard for Japan in the morning.
Source: Socceroos world cup 2018 what australia must do to qualify after beating thailand | Herald Sun
McLaren and Honda are set for either the messiest of divorces or the most uncomfortable of continued marriages. McLaren hopes that in the next few days it can confirm it has split with its engine partner of the last three years and arranged a supply of engines from Renault Sport for 2018.
But there are many complications. Since the last column on this subject – when Honda’s discussions with Red Bull for a supply to Toro Rosso had stalled – it looked like there was no alternative for McLaren but Honda. Having Honda supply Toro Rosso was, and remains, essential for McLaren’s Renault alternative to happen because Renault is simply not geared up to supply four teams. “We are open to the idea of supplying either Toro Rosso or McLaren,” said Renault special advisor Alain Prost at Monza, “but it is impossible for us to supply both. Also, I would point out that we do not expect to be able to supply a winning engine as early as next year and for a driver of Fernando Alonso’s stature, that might be a problem.”
The problems extend further than just whether McLaren can convince its star driver to stay around. Essentially, this boils down to who will pay – and how much. In addition to providing engines, Honda contributes £100 million per year to McLaren’s budget. While McLaren says it can forgo that, Red Bull initially played hardball in negotiations and is believed to have asked for a similar contribution to Toro Rosso’s budget. Although it’s the junior team in the Red Bull stable, Toro Rosso costs Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz more money than the senior team because it receives nothing like as much external commercial backing. The idea of an extra £100 million was very appealing.
Honda baulked at this and negotiations collapsed. They have recently been re-opened – and Liberty’s Ross Brawn and FIA President Jean Todt were both involved in the discussions between Honda, Red Bull and McLaren over the Monza weekend. Red Bull continues to ask for a significant budget contribution for a Toro Rosso supply and Honda continues to value such a partnership at less than Red Bull is asking for. Red Bull has – perhaps mischievously – suggested that if Honda won’t pay what it is asking for, then perhaps McLaren might contribute!
Honda’s preference is very much to stay with McLaren. McLaren’s is very much to split with Honda after three disastrous seasons. It has simply lost the faith.
But for Red Bull there is a logic beyond just the monetary considerations. It has long been dissatisfied with the motors provided by Renault. Honda is receiving help from a group of engineers from outside (ostensibly Ilmor, but including engineers who have worked on the standard-setting Mercedes motor) and there’s realistic hope that it will eventually produce a competitive motor. Should this become evident in the back of the Toro Rosso, it would seem a relatively simple matter to switch the supply over to the senior Red Bull team at some stage in the future.
Source: McLaren’s renewed Renault engine chase | Motor Sport Magazine
Porsche’s financial chief has confirmed that the Stuttgart manufacturer is seriously considering a return to Formula 1 as an engine supplier under the proposed 2021 regulations.Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Member of the Board for Finances and IT, met with Ross Brawn and the sport’s other bosses at the Italian Grand Prix.
Although it has not been directly involved with the sport since its disastrous relationship with the Footwork team in 1991, Porsche has retained a commercial involvement with the F1 organisation through the Supercup, paying for it to have a place on the support programme.
The F1 opportunity has opened up because Porsche stops its LMP1 project at the end of this season, having decided that it doesn’t get sufficient return for what is in effect an F1-size budget, but without the income and sponsorship that the likes of Mercedes enjoy.
The company has already made a commitment to Formula E with a works-backed team from the 2019/20 season. However, it has also sent representatives to the series of recent meetings about the 2021 F1 engine regulations.
It has been encouraged by the direction that is being taken, with a move to cheaper and simpler technology than is currently used.
“F1 could be one of the right places,” Meschke told Motorsport.com. “As you know Formula E is very important for us now, and F1 is always a good topic to think about. And I think we are in quite good discussions regarding the new engine.”
Source: Porsche confirms F1 interest after Italian GP visit
Police in Uruguay have arrested one of Italy’s most wanted fugitives — the so-called “cocaine king of Milan”— who had been hiding out in the South American country for more than a decade.
Rocco Morabito, a boss of the Calabria-based Ndrangheta crime group, which controls much of the world’s cocaine trade, had been on the run for 23 years in total, the Guardian reports. He is subject to a 30-year prison sentence in Italy after attempting to smuggle almost a tonne of cocaine into the country from Brazil in the 1990s.
Morabito’s arrest at a luxury Montevideo hotel on Monday follows a six-month investigation by Uruguayan police, who were reportedly alerted to his presence when he registered his daughter at a local school using his real name instead of an alias.
Italian and Uruguayan authorities cited by the Guardian said that Morabito, 50, had long been living in Uruguay’s southern coastal resort of Punta del Esta under an assumed identity. He is thought to have arrived in Uruguay in 2002.
Source: Mafia Boss Arrested in Uruguay After 23 Years on the Run | Time.com
Reuters) – Hurricane Irma, barreling toward the Caribbean and the southern United States, was upgraded to a powerful Category 5 storm on Tuesday as islands in its path braced for a possible onslaught.
Hurricane advisories were issued for territories that dot the West Indies, including parts of the Leeward Islands, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, in preparation for the intensifying storm that could pummel the area with life-threatening wind, storm surges and torrential rain by Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Source: Hurricane Irma Strengthens To Category 5 Storm | HuffPost
Meghan Markle has opened up about her widely-speculated-upon relationship with Prince Harry for the first time, in a candid Vanity Fair interview during which she referred to the British royal repeatedly as “my boyfriend.”
The Suits star, who attended her first public event with Harry at the Coworth Park Polo Club in Ascot, England, in May, told the magazine that she met the prince for the first time in July 2016. “We’re a couple,” she said of their relationship. “We’re in love. I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time. This is for us.”
While Markle did not specifically comment on the official statement written by Harry’s communications secretary last year, which called out the “sexism and racism of social-media trolls” who had subjected her to a “wave of abuse and harassment,” she explained that their high-profile relationship “has its challenges,” with some days that “feel more challenging than others.”
The 36-year-old added that she is grateful for the support system around her, which includes “[her] boyfriend’s support.” Markle also admitted that she avoids reading about herself in the news. “I don’t read any press,” she said. “I haven’t even read press for Suits. The people who are close to me anchor me in knowing who I am. The rest is noise.”
Source: Meghan Markle Speaks Openly About Prince Harry Relationship | Time.com
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The giant sequoia trees that have stood for thousands of years in Yosemite National Park are under threat from a fire that is ripping across the western United States.
Several destructive fires have torn through California, driven by strong winds combined with high temperatures and dry conditions.
In the state’s north, a fire destroyed 72 homes and forced the evacuation of about 2,000 people from their houses.
A fire that destroyed four homes in Los Angeles and threatened hillside neighbourhoods is no longer actively burning, but firefighters remain at the scene in case the wind reignites the blaze.
The fires have disrupted holiday travel and hampered firefighters during a Labor Day weekend that capped a devastating summer in which an area larger than Rhode Island (3,140 square kilometres) has burned.
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At least 20 survivors and witnesses of the Grenfell Tower fire have attempted suicide, a charity has said.
Silence of Suicide founder Yvette Greenway told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme the number was based on conversations with those supporting residents.
Justice4Grenfell’s Judy Bolton also said volunteers working with survivors had told her of 20 suicide attempts.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify the figure.
Chelsea and Kensington Council has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Ms Greenway said many residents were unable to get images of the burning tower “out of their minds”.
“There is a lot of alcohol and drug dependency,” she said. “People are feeling isolated.”
Ms Greenway said there was little confidence in “council-led” mental health services.
“We’ve been told workers are going around putting leaflets under hotel doors and not actually speaking to people,” she said.
Source: Grenfell Tower: ‘Twenty suicide attempts’ since fire – BBC News
Hurricane Irma, which has strengthened to a Category 4 storm, is expected to slam the Caribbean and possibly the US mainland this week.
Source: Hurricane Irma: Florida and Puerto Rico brace for storm – CNN
The Argentine, who lifted the trophy in New York in 2009, has been a Flushing Meadows favorite and needed all the support he could get against Austrian sixth seed Dominic Thiem.
“I‘m getting good energy from the crowd in every match,” he had said before his 1-6 2-6 6-1 7-6(1) 6-4 win on Grandstand court.The 24th-seed, whose career has been plagued by multiple injuries, said he was about to retire when he drew some energy from the crowd as Thiem was cruising to victory.“I was thinking to retire in the middle of the second set because I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move well,” said Del Potro, who called the doctor twice during the opening set.
“Dominic was dominating the match so easy.”Del Potro started to play better, and a break early in the third set gave him the extra confidence he needed to believe in his chances.
Source: Flushing Meadows darling Del Potro thanks crowd for epic win
WARNING: Spoilers. If you aren’t up to date in the series, definitely stop reading.
THERE’S no denying we’re in for a suite of shocking deaths when Game of Thrones returns for its final run of six episodes.
And if a new fan theory proves true, Sansa Stark could be the first to go.
The season seven finale only aired a week ago, but if you need a refresher, she was ruling the north in Jon Snow’s absence and had just defeated her closeted enemy, Lord Baelish.
Oh, and a mammoth army of White Walkers had finally broken down The Wall and were on their way to Winterfell to wipe out Sansa and, eventually, all of humankind.
But a clue pointing to Sansa’s ultimate demise may have been dropped all the way back in season one.
Source: Game of Thrones season eight theory: Will Sansa Stark die?
A JAPANESE airliner has made an emergency landing after flames were seen spewing from one of its engines after a possible bird strike.
The Boeing 777 JL Flight 6 aircraft returned to Haneda International Airport in Tokyo after departing on a long-haul flight to New York after fire was seen erupting from one of its two engines.
The Japanese Ministry of Transport says the incident was possibly the result of a birdstrike on takeoff.
The JAL Boeing 777 can carry up to 250 passengers.
News of the flames was relayed to the pilot by cabin crew, who in turn reported to air traffic controllers that a bird strike may have taken place.
Japanese media is showing footage of the aircraft taking off, with several jets of flame bursting from its left engine.
MORE TO COME
Source: JAL Boeing 777 forced into emergency landing after bird strike | Perth Now
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Russian teenager Andrey Rublev tamed ninth seed David Goffin 7-5 7-6(5) 6-3 on Monday to become the youngest man to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals since Andy Roddick in 2001.
Although Rublev betrayed his young age with a couple of outbursts, it was nonetheless a mature performance from the 19-year-old as he set up an intriguing last-eight showdown with world number one Rafa Nadal.
“Rafa is the real champion and I am going to just try and enjoy it,” said Rublev, looking ahead to facing one of his childhood idols. “This is the quarter-finals I have nothing to lose.”
While 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov was becoming the darling of this year’s U.S. Open, playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium to adoring crowds, it is the hardworking Rublev who is the last teenager standing.
Facing Goffin for the first time, Rublev broke open a tight opening set, breaking the Belgian at 6-5…
Source: Tennis: Rublev reaches quarters to be last teenager standing
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Increasingly, his presidency is defined by blatant lies, an empathy deficit and a frightful lack of ability to navigate through dire international crises. Each has been on display.
In the lies department, none quite measured up to his accusation that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. All but cloddish sycophants like Sean Hannity knew this was preposterous. On Friday evening (when else?) the Justice Department acknowledged in a court filing that there are no records “related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets.” Presumably, some taxpayer money and government personnel were diverted to track this down, which in and of itself is reprehensible.
In this case, Trump’s actions are unforgivable. Trump’s crude effort to throw the country and investigators off the trail in the Russia scandal (like his lie about tapes of conversations with James B. Comey) is indicative of a man for whom facts are fungible and no lie is too ridiculous to deploy to protect himself. He’s bluffed and blustered his way through decades of real-estate dealings where he was virtually never held to account. Now, lies upon lies (more than 1,000 in seven months) have piled up, rendering his utterances automatically suspect, at least for the more than 60 percent of voters who keep telling pollsters he is not honest. His lies now entail adverse political consequences and legal peril, both of which increase by the day.
Then we are reminded that Trump does not think and act like normal humans. He grins and mugs his way through a do-over visit to Texas to visit victims of Harvey. Soon things take a bizarre self-congratulatory tone. “It’s been very nice. It’s been a wonderful thing. As tough as this was, it’s been a wonderful thing,” Trump said. “I think even for the country to watch and for the world to watch. It’s been beautiful.” The word he was looking for, perhaps, is “heart-breaking.”
In the midst of a tragedy — in which the media behaved in exemplary fashion — he finds it necessary to denigrate reporters. (“Think of it, almost 11,000 people by going into winds that the media would not go into,” Trump said. “They will not go into those winds, unless it’s a really good story.”) The language of empathy is foreign to him. His unhinged narcissism deprives him of the ability to convey warmth or genuine emotion. (He is either furious or gleeful, the former when he feels victimized and the latter when he feels vindicated.) He remains the most tone-deaf modern president.
And most worrisome, we see in his reaction to North Korea’s possible hydrogen bomb test his inability to maintain for more than one scripted remark a serious, sober tone that inspires confidence among our allies. The Post reports:
In a pair of tweets issued Sunday morning, Trump wrote: “North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. … North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.”
Trump also delivered an admonishment of sorts to South Korea, saying that “appeasement with North Korea will not work” and suggesting that more severe steps must be taken to influence Kim’s regime.
In addition to threatening to pull out of a trade deal with South Korea (now of all times?), Trump seems unable to show solidarity with friends or avoid feeding the cycle of warnings and threats. His over-the-top public rhetoric does not intimidate Kim Jong Un; it appears to provoke him. Making empty, vague threats only diminishes America’s credibility and leads our allies to fret as to whether he’s so unstable and undisciplined that it will lead to a confrontation that does not stop with angry words.
One is left, still, agog at Trump’s dishonesty, narcissism and inability to project the calmness and discipline we expect from a president. Those who thought he’d grow in office or who perpetually think he’s “pivoting” or “becoming presidential” have engaged in dangerous delusion. One wonders how long we can muddle on with a president this unsuitable without provoking a constitutional or international calamity.
Source: Something is seriously off about this president – The Washington Post
