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A week after being the victim of racist abuse by Bastia fans, Mario Balotelli sealed a straightforward win to lift Nice above Monaco with 49 points from 22 games. Monaco will return to the top if they avoid defeat at champions Paris St Germain later on Sunday. Alassane Plea put the hosts ahead after a fine one-two with Valentin Eysseric in the 11th minute. Jean Seri doubled the lead after being set up by Vincent Koziello seven minutes before the break....

“I’m not committing the murders and that’s what people need to understand,” the 65-year-old mayor said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “How can you fault leadership? This has been five years of 300-plus murders.” He added: “I don’t see it as a lack of leadership.” Young has been Baltimore’s mayor since being named acting mayor during a leave of absence by Catherine Pugh. Following her resignation in May amid investigations into her business dealings, Young was fully vested as mayor of the city....

MORE: Ranking all 31 NFL stadiums | NFL’s richest owners Among the most interesting: Ravens owner Art Modell tried to buy the “Colts” name for $5 million. And Jim Irsay actually considered it, according to a 1996 Baltimore Sun story re-discovered by CBSSports.com. Colts owner Robert Irsay had suffered a stroke in November 1995. Jim Irsay became concerned about being able to afford estate taxes in the event that his father died (1997)....

After a convincing win in the first T20I, the hosts got off to a positive start in the second match of the series. Opting to bat after winning the toss, the Bangladeshi openers added 59 runs for the first wicket in 57 balls before Liton Das was bowled by Rachin Ravindra. Rahim was dismissed on the very next ball without opening his account. Shakib Al Hasan did not last long either and lost his wicket to Cole McConchie....

Not many people believed we could do it. After all, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina–the project’s chief champion–took office in 2009, only 20 million Bangladeshis had mobile phones. But now more than 120 million Bangladeshis do, and millions more have access to high-speed connections even in remote villages. Countless lives have been improved and saved as a result. The ambitious Digital Bangladesh plan, launched in 2009, was designed to convert plodding, paper-based government services into easy-to-use internet and smartphone-based programs....

The relationship is back on the radar now that a judge has slapped Guo, who also uses the aliases Kwok Ho Wan and Miles Guo, with a hefty fine for leaving U.S. waters in a multi-million dollar yacht, the same vessel Bannon was arrested on for fraud charges in 2020. Bannon and Guo’s relationship commenced shortly after he left the White House in 2017. Though Bannon has constantly bashed China, that didn’t stop him from going into business with the Chinese billionaire....

Willian’s 62nd-minute strike was cancelled out by Lionel Messi as the teams played out a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. His Brazil team-mate Neymar may have left Barca for Paris Saint-Germain last year, but Willian said the LaLiga leaders were still hard to beat. “I think Barcelona are Barcelona, with or without Neymar,” Willian said. “Of course Neymar is a great player but they have Messi, they have [Andres] Iniesta, they have [Luis] Suarez....

B arca smash Sporting for six Luis Enrique opted for a 3-4-3 formation away to Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Sunday and Barca came out on top with a 2-1 win at the Vicente Calderon. That victory, however, owed more to the ever-excellent Lionel Messi than it did a polished performance as the Argentine netted a late winner in the capital. Asked after the game about the 3-4-3 system, Luis Enrique angrily corrected an Italian journalist, telling the reporter that Barca had played with four at the back when Atletico had the ball and suggesting he should watch the match again....

The Barcelona first team returned to training on Friday and every single player in the first team bar the injured Ousmane Dembélé was present at the Joan Gamper training ground. Barcelona training under social distancing guidelines All the first-team members of the squad underwent tests for COVID-19 except Dembélé who is set for the test on Monday as he is not part of Barcelona’s registered La Liga squad. Martin Braithwaite, their new signing from Leganés is the replacement for the injured Frenchman....

The 26-year-old has been linked with several top clubs in the past and this summer is no different, particularly after a great season in Italy. He played an influential role for Gian Piero Gasperini’s men, contributing with a staggering 11 goals and six assists in 32 league games. With Barcelona set to compete across all fronts next season, they are believed to be on the lookout for another left-back. Jordi Alba is still in great touch but he recently turned 32 and could struggle to maintain his form and fitness for an entire season....

The win left the Blaugrana on 31 points through 11 matches, top of the league and tied with the club’s best-ever mark at this point of the season. Barcelona 13/2 to win UCL Barca reached the same mark in back-to-back seasons with both the 2012/13 and 2013/14 teams racing out of the blocks as well. While the strong start should leave fans optimistic about their chances of winning the league, history says it’s still 50/50, with the 12/13 team having won the title and 13/14 team having finished second behind Atletico Madrid....

BARCELONA, (Reuters) - Leaders Barcelona’s Anoeta Stadium jinx struck again when they lost 1-0 at Real Sociedad on Saturday, their second successive defeat in La Liga. Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to hit 30 La Liga goals in six consecutive seasons as he inspired Real Madrid to a 4-0 thrashing of Eibar while Fernando Torres was on target once more as Atletico Madrid triumphed 3-1 at Espanyol....

There was no stopping PV Sindhu who looked to be in sizzling form as she brushed aside the obstacles posed by her opponent from Japan, Takahashi Sayaka. The fourth-seeded shuttler did not face much trouble as she overthrew Sayaka in a straight-game victory in just 21-14, 21-7. With that, Sindhu has booked her spot in the pre-quarter-finals of the event and will be clashing against Indonesia’s Choirunnisa. On the other hand, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and seventh-seeded shuttler Saina Nehwal was made to go the stretch in her opening match....

Bakayoko’s protracted transfer from the Ligue 1 side was finally completed on Saturday, with the Premier League champions paying a reported £40million to bring in the midfielder. The 22-year-old subsequently watched Chelsea run riot in an 8-2 friendly win over Fulham at their Cobham training ground and he thanked Batshuayi - who scored twice in the rout - for his impact on the transfer. Bakayoko and Batshuayi had swapped a series of emoji-laden tweets late on Thursday, hinting that the deal could soon go through....

The U.S.-based think tank said Wednesday that there are several indicators that support the assessment that Russian forces and members of the Wagner Group around Bakhmut have culminated—the point at which an attacking military force can no longer continue its advance. On December 24, the ISW had said that the Wagner Group’s reported heavy losses in the area in recent weeks had likely “strained” Russian forces’ current operational capabilities in Bakhmut....

Baldur’s Gate 3 game director Swen Vincke recently spoke to PCGamesN regarding the Steam Deck. The outlet asked Vincke what his thoughts regarding the Steam Deck were, as well as how Larian’s games were running on the handheld console. In general terms, Vincke says that he’s a “big fan” of the Steam Deck. The handheld console was featured during Larian’s recent Baldur’s Gate 3 Panel from Hell event. Baldur’s Gate 3 was also featured in a recent Steam Deck trailer....

Bale has been booed and whistled at by Madrid fans unhappy with the Wales international’s performances this season. Los Blancos evens to beat Dortmund However, he netted the sealer in a 3-1 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday for his first goal in almost a month. Bale said the whistles were to be expected, preferring to focus on what he could do on the pitch. “It is normal, it happens in football....

Seamer Ball suffered a sprained right ankle while bowling his fourth over on day two of England’s warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide. His injury came shortly after Steven Finn was ruled out of the series with a knee injury, further limiting the options available to Joe Root, with Ben Stokes’ participation still shrouded in mystery. One of Ball or Craig Overton are expected to be selected in Stokes’ place at the Gabba, with Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali taking on more batting responsibility, and the Nottinghamshire man is confident he can fill the role....

For the last decade, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have made the awards unreachable for their contemporary superstars. Kaka was the last person to achieve the distinction of winning the Ballon d’Or apart from the duo. But this year, the scenario has changed as Luka Modric is emerging as the strongest contender for the award. That said, after doing a bit of analysis from the past, it can be concluded that the way the award has been handed in the past, needs to be revisited....