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Ireland defeat reminiscent of end of my England era – Jones

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Mike Henson

BBC Sport rugby union news reporter
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Former head coach Eddie Jones says the scenes at the end of England’s defeat against Ireland on Saturday reminded him of the acrimonious end of his own time in charge at Twickenham.

England came into the Six Nations with hopes of winning a first title since 2020, but their campaign has been sunk by emphatic back-to-back defeats after they were overturned by Scotland in round two.

Some home fans left Allianz Stadium early in the Ireland match, while fly-half George Ford was ironically cheered for finding touch after two earlier botched efforts.

“I felt a bit sick at the end of the game,” Jones told his Rugby Unity podcast.

“I’ve had that feeling – the grey sky looks like it is coming down on you, there is this eerie feeling in the stadium, it’s only half full, and the ones that are there are looking for a bit of blood.”

Jones’ own tenure ended with a 27-13 loss to South Africa in November 2022, which concluded to a chorus of jeers.

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Jones believes that Steve Borthwick, who worked as his assistant during stints with England and Japan, made an error before the tournament starting in publicly stating his team’s aim to travel to Paris on the final weekend with the title in their sights.

The game had loomed as a meeting of the two pre-tournament favourites, but, while France have collected a maximum 15 points from their three opening fixtures, England could sink to the bottom of the standings if they lose to an impressive Italy in Rome in their next and penultimate match on 7 March.

“I thought Steve made some very uncharacteristic comments about a title decider against France,” Japan head coach Jones added.

“Steve is the most pragmatic, intelligent coach you could meet, but to look ahead for any team is fraught with danger. We all know that.

“The players read everything, right? Wives read everything, girlfriends read everything, boyfriends read everything.

“They all read it, right? And they hear that and they talk to them and they say, ‘we’ve got to get our tickets for France, where are we staying, where are we going the night before for dinner?’

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Jones said that the sharp dip in England’s performances after a run of 12 successive wins was down to “emotional control”.

“That comes down to the preparation for the game, the leadership on the field or one or two players not particularly buying into the team,” he added.

“It could be any one of those factors.”

The 66-year-old believes the solution lies with England’s on and off-field leaders bringing the team together, but also urged Borthwick to reconsider his decision to deploy Henry Pollock from the start.

The Northampton back row was included in the starting XV for the first time after seven enterprising cameos as a replacement.

While Pollock delivered some eye-catching moments, beating five defenders, winning a breakdown turnover, making the sixth-highest number of metres for the hosts and the most tackles of any England back row, Jones believes he makes more impact in short bursts off the bench.

“Pollock to me is like, if you go back, [former South Africa back row] Bobby Skinstad – good-looking, always got a suntan and he can play,” said Jones.

“He’s one of those blokes who is 20 minutes, who finds himself in the right position, but he’s not a ‘grind’ player.

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    • 26 November 2022

New Trump tariffs take effect days after Supreme Court decision

New tariffs on imported goods announced by United States President Donald Trump have come into effect, days after the country’s Supreme Court struck down most of his previous tariff regime.

‌Washington imposed an additional tariff from Tuesday of 10 percent on ⁠all goods not ⁠covered by exemptions, a notice issued by US Customs and Border Protection said.

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Trump has doubled down on imposing tariffs on trading partners since the top court on Friday struck down many of his sweeping and often arbitrary duties, in a rebuke of his signature economic policy.

Reacting to the court’s ruling, the US president initially announced a new ⁠temporary global tariff ⁠of 10 percent. He later said on Saturday he would increase that level ⁠to 15 percent.

The move added to confusion surrounding US trade policy, with no explanation offered for why the lower rate had been used.

Collection of the new tariffs began at midnight on Tuesday, while the collection of the ⁠tariffs annulled by the Supreme Court was halted. They had ⁠ranged from 10 percent to as much as 50 percent.

The conservative-majority court ruled six to three that Trump had exceeded his authority in using a 1977 law to impose sudden tariffs on individual countries.

But Trump says the tariffs are justified as a means “to deal with the large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits”, according to a White House press release.

The new duty, taking effect Tuesday, only lasts for 150 days unless extended by Congress and is widely seen as a bridge towards a more durable trade policy.

Trump’s tariff order argued that a serious balance of payments deficit existed in the form ⁠of a $1.2 trillion annual US goods trade deficit, ⁠a current account deficit of 4 percent of gross domestic product and a reversal of the US primary income surplus.

On Monday, Trump warned countries against backing away from recently negotiated trade deals with the US, saying that if they ‌did, he would hit them with much higher duties under different trade laws.

Meanwhile, Beijing ⁠has urged the US to ⁠abandon its “unilateral tariffs”, indicating ⁠also that it is willing to hold another round ‌of trade talks with the world’s largest economy, China’s Ministry of Commerce ⁠said in a statement on Tuesday.

China will decide at ⁠the right time ⁠on adjusting ⁠countermeasures to the latest US tariff ‌adjustments, the ministry added.

Japan also said it had asked Washington to ensure its treatment under a new tariff regime would be ⁠as favourable as in an existing agreement, treading carefully to avoid rocking the boat before the Japanese prime minister’s US visit next month.

‘Tragic beauty’ as Zyw battles MND to make Winter Paralympics history

Edinburgh’s Davy Zyw has spoken of “the tragic beauty” of becoming what is believed to be the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease (MND) to compete at the Winter Paralympics.

The 38-year-old snowboarder has just been confirmed in the Paralympics GB squad to compete at the Milan-Cortina Games, which start on 6 March.

In a video posted by Team GB on Instagram, Zyw explains that he was diagnosed with the incurable life-shortening disease in 2018 at the age of 30.

“Essentially, I was told I had two or three years to live,” Zyw said. “I’m seven years on and I’ve just fought my way up the ladder to get on the team at the Paralympics.

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Wine merchant Zyw explained that injury denied him the able-bodied snowboarding career he had craved since taking up the sport at the dry slope in the north of Edinburgh.

“I’ve been a snowboarder all my life,” he said. “Me and my twin brother, we started on a Hillend dry slope when we were 12 or 13.

“I’ve been obsessed with snowboarding my entire life. A knee injury took me away from the slopes and into a career in wine.

“But the fact my diagnosis of being with an incurable degenerative neurological condition has brought me back to my childhood dream of being a snowboarder.”

Zyw only decided to put himself forward for the Games in winter 2024 and has financed competing through crowdfunding and support of his employer.

“There’s like a tragic beauty in this situation,” he added.

“Above all, what I love about being on my board, being on the slopes, being in that competition mind zone is, you know, the disability, the daily challenges of MND, of living with this disease are gone and there’s so much freedom in there.

“When I’m dropping in, when I’m strapping, when I’m in the starting gate, MND is, it might be the reason I’m there, but it couldn’t be further removed from what I’m thinking about in that moment.

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Residents raise alarm as violence-hit Guadalajara to host World Cup games

The city of Guadalajara erupted with cartel violence this past weekend, alongside other parts of Mexico, after a notorious drug lord was killed in an army raid.

Now, Guadalajara is looking ahead nervously to the FIFA World Cup this June and July, during which it will host four games.

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Authorities are turning to technology to keep their slice of the planet’s premier sporting event safe, as Mexico is cohosting the tournament with the United States and Canada.

Drones, anti-drone equipment and AI-driven video surveillance systems are some of the tools the government of Jalisco state, of which Guadalajara is the capital, will deploy to provide security.

The preparations come as Jalisco endures an epidemic of disappearances and the discovery of clandestine graves, with Guadalajara having more of its residents go missing due to brutal drug-related violence than any other city in Mexico.

On Sunday, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and one of the most wanted men in Mexico and the US, was killed in a military operation some 130km (80 miles) from Guadalajara.

The cartel reacted with fury, triggering gunfire with security forces that killed at least 57 people across Mexico, including soldiers and cartel members, as well as highway blockades in 20 states.

Following the burning of buses and businesses, authorities suspended football games in Guadalajara and the central state of Queretaro.

Football’s world governing body, FIFA, declined to comment on the violence in one of the cup’s host cities.

On Monday, the streets of Guadalajara remained almost empty, as businesses stayed shut and classes were suspended in Jalisco. Schools were also shut down in a dozen other states.

Days before, state security officials had reported that Guadalajara was “peaceful”.

‘Grotesque situation’

Jalisco is one of the states with the most disappeared people in Mexico, with 12,575 reported missing, according to official statistics. More than half of the cases come from Guadalajara’s metropolitan area. Disappearances are driven by forced recruitment for criminal groups, experts say.

Family members of disappeared people have unearthed hundreds of clandestine graves as they look for their loved ones.

Some activists have expressed dismay over Guadalajara’s hosting of the World Cup.

“I don’t think there is anything to celebrate. It seems like a pretty grotesque situation to me,” 26-year-old Carmen Ponce, whose brother Victor Hugo was disappeared in 2020, told the AFP news agency.

“The country celebrates goals while we are here searching,” she said at a field where last September she and her mother found buried plastic bags containing the remains of five people.

People are also jittery about hosting World Cup games in a city that has been through so much.

Juan Carlos Contreras, who oversees the city’s security camera network, told AFP there could be protests by residents furious with the government as they search for their missing loved ones.

Missael Robles, a 31-year-old tour guide from Guadalajara, told AFP that he has cancelled as many as 25 tours since the violence erupted on Sunday.

“The economic blow is a big deal,” he added.

Authorities have discovered properties used by criminal groups just a few kilometres from the Akron Stadium, which is due to host World Cup games.

Less than 2km (1.2 miles) from the sporting complex, state prosecution officials raided a house and arrested two people on kidnapping charges.

AFP saw chains wrapped around metal bars in the abandoned building, with the Akron Stadium visible in the distance.

Jose Raul Servin, who has been looking for his son Raul since he disappeared in April 2018, fears that tourists coming for the World Cup could be preyed upon by criminal gangs.

“We don’t want anything to happen,” he said, “like what’s happened to us.”

Servin remembers with nostalgia that his son was a football fan.

JUST IN: Bayelsa Assembly Confirms Peter Akpe As Deputy Governor

The Bayelsa State House of Assembly has confirmed the appointment of Peter Akpe as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State.

Akpe, who until his confirmation served as Chief of Staff at Government House, Yenagoa, was nominated by Governor Douye Diri following the vacancy created by the death of the former deputy governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.

A seasoned public administrator and politician, Akpe is a former two-term member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.

He rose through the civil service to the rank of Director before moving into senior political roles, including Deputy Chief of Staff and Acting Chief of Staff.

He holds a PhD and is also known as a Christian minister, often addressed as Hon. (Dr) or Pastor Peter Akpe.

READ ALSO: Diri Orders Autopsy To Reveal Cause Of Deputy Governor’s Death

Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo. Credit: Sen. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo/ Facebook.

Akpe’s confirmation follows the death of Ewhrudjakpo in December 2025.

In a statement issued by the state government, the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, announced the passing with “deep regret and profound shock”.

“The Deputy Governor was active and carrying out official duties earlier in the day. He collapsed while proceeding to a scheduled meeting within his office and was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, where he was later confirmed dead,” the statement read.

Governor Diri subsequently declared three days of mourning, directing that flags be flown at half-mast and describing the loss as “a great loss to the Government and people of Bayelsa State and the nation”.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan signs a condolence register in honour of the late Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, at the Government House in Yenagoa on December 11, 2025. Credit: X/@govdouyediri

He also directed that an autopsy be carried out to reveal the cause of the death of the state’s deputy governor.

Diri extended condolences to the late deputy governor’s wife, Beatrice, his children, the Ewhrudjakpo family, the Ofoni Federated Community, former governor Henry Seriake Dickson, and the people of the state, praying for comfort and strength for them.

Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo. Credit: Sen. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo/ Facebook.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also described Ewhrudjakpo as “a principled and consistent politician… a person of conviction, not convenience; a leader whose life was anchored on belief, integrity and strength of character”.

Russia Recruiting Nigerians, Other Africans For Ukraine War, EU Envoy Alleges

On the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, the EU ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, voiced concern over what he described as a disturbing development — Russia’s recruitment of Nigerians and other Africans to fight in the war.

Mignot, speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Tuesday, said reports from civil society organisations indicate that the recruitment is becoming a growing phenomenon.

“There is another important phenomenon which is impacting Africa, which is recruitment of African men and women by Russia. Women to be sent and work in military plants in Russia and men to be sent as cannon fodder on the front. Of course they are being lured with job promises,” Mignot said.

READ ALSO: Five Key Moments Four Years Into The Russia-Ukraine War

The EU ambassador stated that Russia is recruiting from Africa because it is running out of soldiers, describing the practice as crude and harmful to individuals with no connection to the conflict.

“Russia is running out of soldiers, so they have been growingly doing that including with Nigerians, and it’s extremely crude sending these people who have absolutely nothing to do with this war to die on the front.

“Some of them have been captured by the Ukrainian army, and this is something I think African countries have started to react to. We have seen even the Nigerian government publish a communique on this phenomenon of recruitment into war — they did not mention Russia,” he added.

On perceptions that Russia is winning the war, Mignot dismissed the claim, calling it a false impression.

“There are other false perceptions about this war, the impression that Russia is winning the war little by little — no, it is not. There is a stalemate at the front. Actually in the last few weeks it is Ukraine which has reclaimed a few hundred square kilometres of territory,” he said.

He noted, however, that the war is unlikely to be resolved by military means soon and argued that lasting peace requires international pressure on Russia to engage in dialogue.

Russia has denied reports of recruiting Africans for the war in Ukraine, describing the allegations as unfounded.

Mignot maintained that testimonies from Africans recruited for the war support the reports and dismissed Russia’s denial as untrue, saying it reflects an unwillingness to stop the practice.

On February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognises the independence of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.

Three days later at dawn, Putin announces a major military offensive in Ukraine, which he calls a “special military operation” to “de-Nazify” and “demilitarise” its neighbour.