Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggrafe has received a six-game ban for using discriminatory language towards a team-mate, it was revealed on Friday.
Reds manager Gareth Taylor explained Borggrafe accepted the sanction, following an investigation by the Football Association that began in September, and has served five of the six games already.
The incident, believed to involve Borggrafe making an allegedly racist remark, took place during Liverpool’s pre-season training camp.
The 25-year-old German joined Liverpool from SC Freiburg in the summer and has made three first-team appearances.
She will serve the final match of her ban when she misses Sunday’s Women’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against London Bees (13:00 GMT).
Borggrafe has also been enrolled in an education programme by the FA.
Liverpool followed FA protocols by reporting the incident and awaited details of the investigation, with Borggrafe’s punishment initially undecided, but the club have now been told the duration of her ban.
“The situation is the situation. The team and the club acted in the appropriate way,” said Taylor in a pre-match news conference.
“We supported the FA. It has dragged on a bit, which has been frustrating for everyone involved, particularly Rafaela.
US President Donald Trump says he may impose tariffs on countries that don’t back the United States’s claim to control Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, he has repeatedly insisted that the US control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable”.
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During an unrelated event at the White House about rural healthcare, he recounted on Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“I may do that for Greenland too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said.
Trump has said Greenland is vital to US security because of its strategic location and large supply of minerals, and has not ruled out the use of force to take it.
He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That encounter didn’t resolve the big differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.
European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland can decide matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.
A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers met the leaders of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen on Friday, seeking to “lower the temperature” with assurances of congressional support to recognise Greenland as an ally, not property, after Trump’s threats to seize the Arctic island.
European nations this week sent small numbers of military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request.
The 11-member US delegation, led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen, as well as Danish and Greenlandic parliamentarians.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric, but there’s not a lot of reality in the current discussion in Washington,” Coons told reporters following the meetings, saying the politicians would seek to “lower the temperature” on returning home.
Looking for a deal
Trump’s special envoy to Greenland also said on Friday he plans to visit the Danish territory in March and believes a deal can be made.
“I do believe that there’s a deal that should and will be made once this plays out,” Jeff Landry told Fox News in an interview on Friday, as the US delegation met the Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
As part of the petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Carranza family is seeking compensation and a stop to the US strikes.
But the commission’s powers are limited. It can investigate alleged violations, determine state responsibility and provide recommendations, but its decisions are non-binding, meaning that the US is not obligated to comply.
“It can provide a measure of justice, in that it would be a regional human rights body saying that the victims are right and deserve to be compensated,” said Pappier.
“But it would not immediately deliver reparations or full-fledged accountability.”
Bringing the case before a US court could ultimately be more productive, Pappier added, but it would also be significantly more challenging.
Kovalik, the family’s lawyer, told Al Jazeera he is currently weighing those challenges.
The fact that the alleged crime took place outside of US territory could be a barrier to litigation, he explained. So too could be the legal protections granted to the US government and top officials.
The US government enjoys sovereign immunity in most cases, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the president enjoys “presumptive immunity” for any “official acts” he engages in.
“We are still considering a possible court action,” Kovalik said.
Another challenge is that the US has shown no willingness to investigate the strikes or release information that would help others do so.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, the Colombian Attorney General’s Office confirmed that it has opened an inquiry into the US bombings, but experts warn that restricted access to information could limit its investigation.
Colombia would need insight into US decisions about the strikes to determine criminal responsibility, said Schuller, the expert from the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.
Without US cooperation, however, “it’s impossible to get the information necessary to say who could be put on trial for such a strike”, he explained.
For now, Kovalik said that the Carranza family takes some comfort in knowing that “at least something is being done”.
Since Carranza’s disappearance, relatives have been unable to hold a funeral without the fisherman’s remains. His family also is struggling financially because Carranza was the household’s breadwinner, and his wife has a disability that limits her ability to work.
Vega said that, if Carranza had been suspected of smuggling drugs, US authorities had a responsibility to arrest him, not kill him.
The burden of proof, he added, should be on the US government, not the family.
Morocco will look to end a 50-year wait for their second continental title when they face Senegal in the final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday.
But the Atlas Lions will also be looking to garner the ultimate return for their country’s huge investment in footballing infrastructure.
The game in Rabat (19:00 GMT) pits the continent’s top two teams against one another, with the North Africans ranked 11th in the world and the Teranga Lions eight places below them.
“We are waiting for this trophy for 50 years now,” Morocco defender Romain Saiss told the BBC World Service.
“It’s been a long time for everyone in the country. It’s the dream of all Moroccans.”
Morocco boast the best defence at the finals, with five clean sheets and the only goal conceded by Yassine Bounou coming from the penalty spot, but will face a stern examination from a Senegal side which has scored 12 times en route to booking their place at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.
The West Africans are also bidding for their second Afcon crown, having claimed their maiden trophy at the 2021 edition in Cameroon.
As well as the glory and the chance to call themselves the best team on the continent, the champions will pick up $10m in prize money – an increase of $3m from the last tournament.
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Trophy would cap years of Moroccan investment
Reuters
Winning Afcon has been a long-term project for Morocco – and one backed by King Mohammed VI, who first discussed his plan to use football as a tool for social and economic development in 2008.
Vast sums have been pumped into stadium construction and renovation, with an academy and a state-of-the art-training complex opened in 2009 and 2019 respectively.
Triumph has followed on the pitch, but most of their successes have been achieved by age-grade teams or Morocco’s ‘A’ side rather than the Atlas Lions – even if they did become the first African team to reach the Fifa World Cup semi-finals at Qatar 2022.
The Under-23s won bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Under-20s were crowned world champions after defeating Argentina in October last year.
Morocco have also won the past three editions of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) – a tournament for domestic-based players – in which they have participated (2018, 2020 and 2024) and that side also claimed the Fifa Arab Cup last month.
Yet Morocco have rarely come close to lifting the Afcon trophy since their sole triumph in Ethiopia in 1976, with this just their second appearance in the final since then.
“We’re reaping the rewards of the golden age of Moroccan football but we mustn’t forget where we come from,” said Regragui, who was part of the last Morocco team to play an Afcon final, appearing in their 2-1 defeat by Tunisia in 2004.
The 50-year-old has been under intense pressure to deliver the trophy, with his tactics often criticised, and now has one final hurdle to overcome.
“I am very happy for the players and for the Moroccan people who really deserve this,” he said after their semi-final win over Nigeria on penalties.
Mane looks to bow out in glory
Reuters
Senegal, meanwhile, progressed past record seven-time champions Egypt in the last four thanks to a second-half strike from talisman Sadio Mane.
The 33-year-old netted the winning penalty in the 2021 final, also against the Pharaohs, and proved once again that he is the man for the big occasion.
The former Liverpool forward is keen to pick up another winner’s medal, having seemingly announced that this will be his last appearance at Afcon.
“A final is meant to be won,” Mane said.
“I will be very happy to play my last Afcon final, to enjoy it and to make my country win.”
However, Senegal have an array of attacking talent alongside Mane, with Iliman Ndiaye, Nicolas Jackson, Habib Diallo, Ismaila Sarr and 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye all offering a goal threat.
The Teranga Lions will be without captain Kalidou Koulibaly and midfielder Habib Diarra through suspension, but goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye are among the survivors from their last triumph.
They will feature in the final for the fourth time, having lost the showpiece match in 2002 and 2019 before finally claiming the title four years ago.
Thiaw, like Regragui, has also tasted Afcon defeat as a player as part of the squad which was beaten on penalties by Cameroon 24 years ago.
Focus on the details
Reuters
Morocco have the tournament’s top scorer in their ranks, with Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz netting in the first five games at the finals before drawing a blank in the goalless draw against Nigeria.
Reigning African footballer of the year Achraf Hakimi captains the side and Bounou, named the best goalkeeper on the continent for a second time in November, displayed his prowess by saving two penalties in the shootout against the Super Eagles.
The hosts have not lost a competitive game on home soil since November 2009, a defeat by Cameroon in Fes, and the expected 69,500-capacity crowd in the capital will provide an intimidating atmosphere for their opponents.
Yet Saiss, who led the team in their opening match against Comoros before picking up an injury, knows they must not be overawed by the occasion.
“It’s the kind of game where the details will make the difference,” the centre-back said.
“We have to keep our concentration, our desire to win and our discipline and try to win on Sunday.”
A second Afcon title, and a place in the history books, beckons for one side.
Coleen Nolan says she’ll be financially worse off after the sweeping changes being made to ITV’s daytime schedule behind the scenes with Loose Women only airing during term time
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As the much-discussed cutbacks in ITV’s daytime schedule begin to bite, veteran Loose Women panellist Coleen Nolan – who has been with the show since its inception – has spoken frankly of her concerns about the changes.
“We’ll only be on during term time now,” she explained on the Not My Bagg podcast. “So all the holidays will be off.”
She added: “On one hand, you go ‘quite nice time off.’ but then on the other hand, you go: ‘I’ve till got bills to pay.’”
Coleen believes that, given the scale of the cuts, Loose Women was lucky to have survived at all: “It could have been worse,” she said. “They could have said: ‘By the way, we’re not recommissioning it. See you later’.”
As part of the huge budget cuts, there have been major changes to shows such as Good Morning Britain (GMB), Lorraine, and This Morning as well as Loose Women. Production has been shifted out of ITV’s huge studio in west London and to a much smaller facility in Covent Garden – where there will no longer be room for Loose Women’s live studio audience.
Coleen said: “I love having the audience there. You know, you get all the feedback from the audience and the adrenaline from the audience. So that’s going to be really weird for us.”
The absence of a live audience has been noticed by viewers too, with Loose Women fans making comments on social media such as: “The audience makes a huge contribution to the atmosphere of the show. Bring them back.”
It’s not only the audience that have disappeared, but many of the show’s backstage staff too. While Coleen has complain that her income will be reduced, some 220 people have lost their livelihoods altogether.
Coleen, 60, says that while she understands the reasoning behind all the cost-cutting, she’s still been very sad to say goodbye to so many backstage personnel that she has known for years: “They’ve all got to find new jobs,” she said. “So there’s a sadness.
“I understand that it’s a business, and sometimes in business hard decisions have to be made and nowadays it is all about budgets.
“TV is so different now. I mean, if you think of how many channels there are, the competition… I can’t even count how many channels there are.
“It’s a different era now to what it was 25 years ago. When I was a kid, there was three channels. That’s how old I am!
“When I did the Cliff Richard series when I was nine, that went out on a Saturday night and there were 23 million every week watching that show.”
One venture that Coleen will be embarking on to replace the substantial dent that the ITV cuts have made in her life – and in her income – is a live tour. She’s following her hit 2024 show Naked with a new one-woman show called This Is Me which kicks off next month.
The show will take audiences through Coleen’s life story. It starts with her childhood in Blackpool and following the story of success that began before her ninth birthday with an appearance on The Cliff Richard show as part of the original six-strong Nolan Sisters.
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But Coleen will also touch on the more difficult aspects of her life, including her divorces from Shane Ritchie and Ray Fensome, as well as her shock basal-cell carcinoma diagnosis.
“People have asked me whether my honesty and openness has ever left me feeling vulnerable,” she told Woman’s Weekly. “I can only answer that I can sleep better knowing I’ve been honest.”
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Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter
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Michael Carrick has branded the noise generated around Manchester United by former players “irrelevant” and says Roy Keane’s personal comments “did not bother” him.
Carrick inherited Keane’s number 16 shirt when he joined United from Tottenham in 2006.
He went on to win five Premier League titles and the Champions League but United were at the start of their downward spiral when they were beaten by Olympiakos in Europe’s top-tier competition in 2014.
Carrick gave what Keane felt was a dour interview after that match and the Irishman’s assessment triggered a fierce response from Carrick’s wife Lisa at the time.
Although she quickly deleted an X-rated social media post, Keane has evidently not forgotten and branded her “a big mouth” when he assessed this week’s appointments at Old Trafford on the latest Stick to Football podcast.
Keane also criticised the appointment of Jonny Evans to Carrick’s coaching staff, in addition to that of ex-England assistant boss Steve Holland and Jonathan Woodgate, the former Leeds and Real Madrid defender, who previously managed Middlesbrough and was part of Carrick’s staff at the Riverside.
The former United skipper and Gary Neville will both be part of Sky Sports’ coverage of the Manchester derby on Saturday, providing another platform for controversy.
“They’re not putting more pressure on me,” Carrick said. “I don’t feel that.
“There are plenty of opinions around, some positive, some not too much. It’s totally irrelevant in terms of what I focus on.
“There’s a lot that can be said, it’s the way of the world. I’m not going to pay too much attention to that.
“For me, the players and staff, we focus on how we’re going to succeed.”
Asked about the personal attack by Keane, Carrick said: “It didn’t bother me.”
The Manchester United head coach said he had not been set any targets for his 17 games in charge but spoke about European qualification being a “step forward”.
He also said he had spoken to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and members of the Glazer family when they held their monthly board meeting at Carrington on Thursday, although his primary contact is with director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada.
“The ownership group were in and around it,” said Carrick. “It was nice to see them and meet them.
