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Category News

‘I could be Scotland’s best within months’ – Miller, 18

By in News, Sports News
SNS
Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller admits it was a “surreal” surprise to be called up into Scotland’s senior squad for the first time this week, but the 18-year-old believes “I could maybe in a couple of months be the best player there”.

Miller had been expecting to again be named in the Scotland Under-21 squad but is “confident” he is capable of starting next week’s Nations League play-off against Greece if called upon.

Motherwell manager Michael Wimmer also believes Miller “is ready” to grab a Scotland starting place.

Indeed, the self-assured teen is “more nervous” about the initiation song he and fellow squad newcomer James Wilson, the 18-year-old Heart of Midlothian striker, will be expected to perform and is “just trying to take it in my stride” despite recognising the quality with which he will be rubbing shoulders.

” I’m obviously not going to go in and be the best player there, but I believe that I could maybe in a couple of months be the best player there. I think that’s how you need to think as a football player – you need to want to be the best. “

While Miller’s call-up has not” sunk in yet “as” it’s kind of all happened so quickly”, he says it was” a proud moment “for himself and his family, especially father Lee, the former Aberdeen and Scotland striker.

” It was a surreal moment, because I thought 21s was what I was going to and then I obviously found out after training, “the teenager said.

” I was getting pictures with my Scotland flag expecting to be in the 21 squad and I just had that in my head. It probably helped that I didn’t expect it – it was just a proud moment to get in the A squad so young. “

Since breaking into the Motherwell first-team as a 16-year-old in 2022, he has played 68 times for the Scottish Premiership club and been linked with a number of top clubs around Europe, but says it will” be weird “to be rubbing shoulders with players he has watched on television playing in the Premier League and Champions League.

” There’s people in my position like your Billy Gilmours, your John McGinns, who’ve had excellent careers so far and taken wee bits from their game and you’ve also got the experienced players like Andy Robertson, and you want to take wee bits from him, “he said.

Well boss Wimmer thinks Miller” deserves “the call-up, adding:” He’s a brilliant player and a great talent. He would be ready to start for Scotland. I saw his quality and work ethic early on. “

Related topics

  • Scottish Premiership
  • Motherwell
  • Scottish Football
  • Football

Norwegian ski jumpers suspended over ‘cheat’ suits

By in News, Sports News
Getty Images

Three more Norwegian ski jumpers have been provisionally suspended over manipulated jumpsuits, the sport’s governing body has announced.

Olympic medallists Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang and three team officials were sanctioned on Wednesday for using manipulated suits to “cheat the system”.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has seized all Norwegian jumpsuits from the recent Nordic World Ski Championships for reinspection.

Robert Johansson, Robin Pedersen and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal were subsequently suspended on Thursday having competed at the event in Trondheim, Norway, last week with modified jumpsuits.

Lindvik and Forfang were both disqualified during Saturday’s men’s large hill event after an equipment inspection.

Lindvik, 26, had originally finished second while 29-year-old compatriot Forfang came fourth.

The FIS said Lindvik, Forfang, Johansson, Pedersen and Sundal are temporarily barred from participating in events under their auspices, as well as those organised by a national ski association, while an investigation is ongoing.

Three Norwegian team officials – including head coach Magnus Brevik – were also suspended by the FIS on Wednesday.

Norwegian Ski Federation general manager Jan-Erik Aalbu told a news conference that a reinforced thread was put in the jumpsuits of Lindvik and Forfang.

“This was done knowing that this is not within the regulations, but with a belief that it would not be discovered by FIS’s equipment controller”, Aalbu said.

Brevik and equipment manager Adrian Livelten were suspended by the Norwegian Ski Federation this week.

Brevik told local media he was “terribly sorry for what we did” while Livelten apologised for the situation Lindvik and Forfang “have found themselves in through no fault of their own”.

“What we did with the suits should never have happened and is an action I will regret for the rest of my life”, Livelten said.

“We have always done what we can to optimise the suits within the regulations, but cheating is completely unacceptable”.

FIS secretary general Michel Vion said the situation was “disturbing and disappointing”, and the investigation would “leave no stone unturned” to ensure “respect and fairness prevail”.

“Ski jumping is a discipline grounded in precision, in which equipment plays an important role”, Vion added.

“This is why, year after year, we have a strong focus on reviewing equipment regulations and controls, to ensure that competitors are on a level playing field”.

Lindvik won gold in the men’s large hill individual at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, while Forfang claimed a silver medal at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang in the normal hill individual.

Related topics

  • Winter Sports
  • Ski Jumping

Armenia and Azerbaijan finalise draft peace deal to resolve conflict

By in News, World News

Armenian and Azerbaijani officials have said that they had agreed on the text of a peace agreement to end nearly four decades of conflict between the South Caucasus countries, a sudden breakthrough in a fitful and often bitter peace process.

The two post-Soviet countries have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that a draft peace agreement with Azerbaijan had been finalised from its side.

“The peace agreement is ready for signing. The Republic of Armenia is ready to start consultations with the Republic of Azerbaijan on the date and place of signing the agreement”, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In its statement, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said: “We note with satisfaction that the negotiations on the text of the draft Agreement on Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been concluded”.

However, the timeline for signing the deal is uncertain as Azerbaijan has said a prerequisite for its signature is a change to Armenia’s constitution, which it says makes implicit claims to its territory.

Armenia denies such claims, but Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said repeatedly in recent months that the country’s founding document needs to be replaced and has called for a referendum to do so. No date has been set.

The outbreak of hostilities in the late 1980s prompted mass expulsions of hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Azeris from Armenia and Armenians, who are majority Christian, from Azerbaijan.

Peace talks began after Azerbaijan retook Karabakh by force in September 2023, prompting almost all of the territory’s 100, 000 Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides had said they wanted to sign a treaty to end the long-running conflict, but progress has been slow and relations tense.

The two countries ‘ 1, 000km (621-mile) shared border is closed and heavily militarised.

Syria’s al-Sharaa signs temporary constitution

By in News, World News

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has signed a temporary constitution that will be in force for a five-year transitional period, three months after his forces led a lightning offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Al-Sharaa said he hoped the constitutional declaration would mark the start of “a new history for Syria, where we replace oppression with justice”, as he signed the document on Thursday.

The temporary constitution retains some aspects of its predecessor, including the stipulation that the head of state has to be a Muslim and the establishment of Islamic law as the main source of jurisprudence, said Abdulhamid al-Awak, a member of the drafting committee.

Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar said the question of introducing rules on the religious affiliation of leaders had been a “disputed issue”.

“There were lots of questions over whether that was going to be one of the articles or not, but now it’s clear that the head of state has to be a Muslim”, he said.

The document also includes provisions enshrining freedom of expression and the press and women’s “social, political and economic rights”, said al-Awak, adding that it would serve to “balance between social security and freedom” during Syria’s shaky political situation.

Much of its focus will be on transitional justice, aiming to ensure that crimes committed under the previous al-Assad government are prosecuted.

Under the temporary constitution, executive power would also be restricted to the president, said al-Awak, pointing to the need for “rapid action to confront any difficulties”.

A people’s assembly, a third of which will be appointed by the president, would be tasked with all legislation “until the elections are held”, said Serdar. “That is perhaps going to take, according to the president, up to four to five years”.

“That assembly of people will have authority of … sacking the president himself as well. So theoretically that’s possible, but practically it’s going to be extremely difficult because]many of] the members … are going to be appointed directly by the president himself”.

A new committee to draft a permanent constitution will be formed, but it is unclear if it will be more inclusive of Syria’s political, religious, and ethnic groups.

Al-Sharaa on Monday reached a&nbsp, landmark pact with the US-backed Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria, including a ceasefire and a merging of their armed forces with the central government’s security agencies.

The agreement came after government forces and allied groups crushed a rebellion launched last week by gunmen loyal to al-Assad.

Rights groups say that hundreds of civilians – mostly from the Alawite minority sect to which al-Assad belongs – were killed in retaliatory attacks by factions in the counter-offensive.

Syria’s interim rulers are still trying to exert their authority across much of the country since al-Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led the assault that overthrew al-Assad in December.

Critics say that al-Sharaa’s national dialogue conference last month calling for the temporary constitution and holding interim parliamentary elections was not inclusive of Syria’s different ethnic and sectarian groups or civil society.

Israel strikes Damascus

The signing of the constitutional declaration came as the Israeli Air Force conducted an air strike in Damascus on Thursday.

“We heard two loud explosions almost at the same time the constitutional declaration was being signed”, said Al Jazeera’s Serdar, adding that reports that one person had been killed were still unconfirmed.

Syrian civil defence members stand at a damaged site in Damascus, after Israel carried out an air strike on March 13, 2025]Firas Makdesi/Reuters]

Israel’s military said in a statement it had targeted a “terrorist command centre” in Damascus belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which fought alongside Hamas in Gaza against Israel.

Islamic Jihad spokesperson Muhammad al-Haj Musa denied the targeted building was a command centre, writing on Telegram that it was an empty house.

Two Syrian security sources told the news agency Reuters that the target was a Palestinian person.

“This is a show of force definitely and Israelis just want to make sure the new leadership in the country is aware that Israel is monitoring them, is watching them”, said Serdar.

Joyce to fight replacement Hrgovic in Manchester

By in News, Sports News
Getty Images

British heavyweight Joe Joyce will face replacement opponent Filip Hrgovic on 5 April at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena.

Joyce, 39, was originally scheduled to fight Dillian Whyte before the Londoner withdrew because of an injured hand.

Croatian Hrgovic, 32, suffered a first career defeat in 18 bouts against Daniel Dubois in June.

“It’s a tough fight for both of them”, promoter Frank Warren told Ring Magazine.

“It’s exactly the same fight Joe had against Dillian. The winner goes on and the loser is going to have to think about what he does”.

Both men competed in the super-heavyweight category at the 2012 Olympics, with Joyce winning silver in London and Hrgovic claiming bronze.

Joyce, who beat Hrgovic when they were amateurs in 2013, is at a crossroads in his career. He was stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang in 2023 before losing to Derek Chisora in his last outing last July.

Former cruiserweight world champion Lawrence Okolie has been ruled out of his fight with Richard Riakporhe at heavyweight after suffering an injury in training.

Related topics

  • Boxing