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Daily Mirror
30 minutes ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Benfica vs Auckland City prediction, odds and betting offer
The gulf in class showed when Auckland faced Bayern Munich and the bookies expect a similar outcome when the New Zealand side face Portuguese giants Benfica Auckland City's calamitous 10-goal thrashing to Bayern Munich are still being felt as the Kiwis gear up for their next Club World Cup clash against Benfica. The match starkly highlighted the chasm between the amateur New Zealand side and the world's football titans. Bayern Munich, without mercy, unleashed a goal storm last Sunday that left Auckland in disarray. However, it's not all doom and gloom for Auckland's financiers who are set to pocket a hefty sum from FIFA this summer. Yet, for Albert Riera and his squad, pride is at stake. They will be determined to bounce back and deliver a more commendable performance in their remaining fixtures. But here's the kicker - Benfica won't be pulling any punches in this encounter. The Portuguese giants are aware that goal difference could be a decisive factor in determining who progresses to the knockout phase. Bayern Munich is expected to dominate Group C, leaving Benfica and Boca Juniors vying for the runner-up position. Their opening match ended in a nail-biting 2-2 draw, with both teams showing resilience to recover from a 2-0 deficit amidst a game that witnessed three players sent off. This means the battle for second place could come down to who can rack up the most goals against Auckland City. Benfica vs Auckland City Odds Benfica - 1/100 Draw - 80/1 Auckland - 150/1 18+ | Gamble responsibly | | Odds subject to change Benfica vs Auckland City Betting Tips Over 6.5 goals - 7/5 Angel Di Maria to score anytime - 4/5 18+ | Gamble responsibly | | Odds subject to change Benfica vs Auckland City If you are on the lookout for the latest free bet offers, then look no further. Here, not only do we bring you numerous free bet offers, but all from the very best betting sites in the industry. Each bookie we recommend is fully licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, so you know you are always betting on a safe and trustworthy site. Check out the Mirror Betting Hubs Free Bets offers here. Gamble responsibly Article continues below Reach plc is committed to promoting safer gambling. All of our content and recommended bets are advised to those aged 18 or over. Odds are subject to change too. We strongly encourage our readers to only ever bet what they can afford to lose. For more information, please call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or visit
Asia Times
42 minutes ago
- Business
- Asia Times
How China got the US over a rare earth barrel
Who's gonna tell you when it's too late? Who's gonna tell you things aren't so great? You can't go on, thinking nothing's wrong, but now Who's gonna drive you home tonight? – The Cars 'Just when I thought I was out,' Michael Corleone lamented, 'They pull me back in.' This column was originally intended to be about the lamentable state of America's rare earths dependency and how decades of delusional thinking – 'Rare earths are not rare!', 'We taught China rare earth processing!' – led to the current predicament. But who cares about rare earths now; the Middle East is once again a conflagration likely to ruin all of US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby's best-laid pivot to Asia plans whether President Donald Trump drops that 30,000-pound bomb on Iran or not. The Persian Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean will tie down US naval assets for another decade. Michael Corleone's fatal flaw was that he did not understand what business he was in. He was a gangster, and there is no escape from murder, death and ruin in that line of work. Karma came for Philip Tattaglia, Barzini, Cuneo, Stracci, Moe Green and Hyman Roth. Why would it be any different for Michael and the Corleone family? Since the end of World War II, the United States has run a maritime empire and there is no escape from entanglement, overstretch and ruin in that line of work. Karma came for the Minoans, Phoenicians, Italian merchant states, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British and Japanese empires. Why would it be any different for America? The reason the US is dependent on China for rare earth elements is that ores with extractable concentrations are, in fact, rare and processing these ores into usable concentrates is, in fact, incredibly difficult. The purpose of maritime empires is to harvest wealth from far-flung imperial possessions – or, more palatably, a rules-based international order. This need not be as self-serving as it sounds. Japan was allowed to have a very nice four-decade-long run between 1945 and 1985. Europe got the Marshall Plan and eight decades of security, allowing the old country (literally) to fund generous pension and welfare programs. Nixon's rapprochement with Mao removed the US Seventh Fleet as a Pacific threat, paving the way for China's coastal industrialization. In return, the US got decades of Middle Eastern oil arguably for free (crude oil paid for in dollars recycled into US investments). America also got manufactured goods from Asia and Europe on the same trade and creamed off the best and brightest from all corners of the world to become the empire's minions. All of the above should be grounds for celebration. It's all America could have asked for as a maritime empire. And yet, we are all familiar with the downsides. Maritime empires contain the seeds of their own destruction, magnifying capitalism's iniquities as wealth concentrates in ever fewer hands. Karl Marx wrote 'Das Kapital'at the height of the British Empire, showcasing brutal exploitation in Britain's own factories. The Trump presidency (both terms) is a reaction to America's neglected working class. The reason the US is dependent on China for rare earth elements is because processing technology has advanced multiple generations in the past two decades. The majority of the world's rare earths are now processed in Baotou Inner Mongolia, largely using third-generation sulfuric acid roasting technology, having long ago abandoned polluting in-situ leaching. Because of unavoidable foreign entanglements, maritime empires are not able to enjoy what should be a major perk of hegemony – to not have to expend resources on the military. The spoils of maritime empires can only be collected with expensive navies and far-flung bases if not occasional (perhaps continual) spillage of blood. And America's collected spoils have, of late, not been well distributed among the citizenry, particularly among those asked to do the bleeding. Mischief is irresistible for empires with forward-deployed militaries. The US has conducted about 200 military interventions since the end of WWII, 50 since the end of the Cold War. The most significant of these have been abject disasters – Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan – draining the empire of blood, treasure, domestic vitality and international goodwill. Mischief is once again at work, enticing America back into the Middle East just a few short years after humiliatingly crashing out of Afghanistan. America's pivot to Asia will never happen, just like Michael Corleone could never extricate the family business from its criminal past. The empire has collected too many barnacles. This is the exact opposite of the domino theory. It does not get easier. At some point, foreign entanglements stop benefiting the empire and become, at best, leeches and, at worst, ruinous distractions. The US, bled dry by two decades of never-ending wars, can only pivot to Asia by abandoning the Middle East and Ukraine. But like bickering concubines, manipulative allies conspire for the emperor's favor. In every stable of concubines, there is always a favorite who outmaneuvers the rest and imposes her will on a besotted emperor. America's Wu Zetian just unleashed a surprise attack on Iran demanding the emperor's total attention, leaving beautiful, faithful, innocent and delicate Taiwan to twist in the wind. The US is dependent on China for rare earth elements because rare earth chemistry programs are offered at dozens of Chinese universities versus none in the US. China has produced over 50,000 rare earth patents in the past two decades versus a de minimis number anywhere else. Cutting-edge science in the field is published in a handful of dedicated Chinese rare earth journals. China does not do foreign entanglements. Historically, China expanded organically by incorporating different polities into the Chinese state. That is what makes China China. Unlike maritime empires, the entire purpose of the Chinese state is to harness the major perk of hegemony– not having to waste resources on the military and, instead, deploy them on public works projects, from Yellow River dykes to high-speed rail. In the early 15th century, after commissioning seven magnificent imperial treasure voyages over three decades, reaching as far west as the east coast of Africa and establishing China as the world's pre-eminent seafaring nation, the Ming Dynasty court suddenly turned its back on maritime power. Historians have asked why ever since. Whether it was economics, Confucian conservatism or banal power struggles, abandoning maritime power set China up for European and Japanese predation in the 19th and 20th centuries. In a full accounting of history, maritime empires have not fared much better. Competition for overseas assets led to the slaughter of two World Wars, immolating much of Europe's accumulated wealth. Imperial possessions, acquired over a span of four centuries, evaporated in the blink of a few decades. The reason the US is dependent on China for rare earth elements is because of a maddening inability to concentrate. The US has known of its risky reliance on China for rare earths for two decades. In 2010, China weaponized its rare earth stranglehold on Japan during an East China Sea border dispute. In 2019, after President Trump launched a trade and tech war, China State Television not so subtly broadcast President Xi Jinping's visit to a rare earth processing plant. And somehow, in 2025, China has become an even more dominant supplier of rare earth elements. In all these instances, the exact same narratives were parroted by the English media – rare earths are not actually rare, China dominates rare earth processing because it is polluting, the US transferred rare earth processing technology to China. These shibboleths, which fall apart on close scrutiny, have tied America's hands for two decades. Halfhearted efforts to resolve the problem fell by the wayside when China refrained from pulling the rare earth trigger – until now, in 2025, when China is putting the squeeze on rare earth exports for military use just as strategic competition with the US is entering its most intense phase and right when conflicts in Israel and Ukraine are consuming an inordinate amount of military hardware. Like Michael Corleone, the US tried to convince itself that it was in a different business. 'The Godfather' is a tragedy worthy of – and rhyming with – both 'Macbeth' and 'King Lear.' Michael was blinded by ambition, thought of himself as more than a gangster and ultimately brought ruin onto himself and the Corleone family. The US consciously chose to be a maritime empire, stationing troops in 800 bases across the world, and then convinced itself that it was more than just an extractive empire, above the nitty-gritty, dirty work of resource extraction and immune from manipulation by vassals. Let us hope that this does not end in a Godfather-esque tragedy.
Al Etihad
an hour ago
- Sport
- Al Etihad
UAE Cycling Team continues to shine in Switzerland, Belgium tours
20 June 2025 15:04 GENEVA (WAM)João Almeida produced another admirable performance at the Tour de Suisse, with the Portuguese going on the front foot to take second place on stage 5 and move up to third pipped to the line by Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man benefited from the work of his teammates to make further inroads in the general classification an infernal pace on the Passo del San Bernardino, the Emirati squad whittled the peloton down in size, thereby eliminating the possibility of the breakaway taking the day's honours. With two ascents of the savagely steep Castaneda to come, it would be up to Almeida to make the Almeida doing the brunt of the work, Onley was able to round the 26-year-old in the final few hundred metres, thereby denying UAE Team Emirates-XRG of a second win in succession. Not to be concerned by Onley's moment of glory, Almeida battled to the line and ensured that he would move up to third place in the general over at the Baloise Belgium Tour, Sebastián Molano claimed a second runner-up spot in as many days, propelling the Colombian sprinter into the lead of the race. Taking over the purple leader's jersey from Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Molano delivered another consistent performance in Belgium, only being pipped to the stage victory by Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck. Earlier in the stage, a six-man breakaway had gone clear of the peloton, but led by the might of Soudal Quick-Step and Alpecin-Deceuninck, the final lap of a local circuit beckoned to decide the stage winner.
Scroll.in
2 hours ago
- General
- Scroll.in
Ahmedabad plane crash: DNA confirms identities of 223 of those killed
Eight days after the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, the identities of 220 persons who died have been confirmed through DNA testing, The New Indian Express reported on Friday. The bodies of 204 persons have been handed over to their families as of 11.50 am on Friday, Civil Hospital Superintendent Rakesh Joshi told the newspaper. This includes the bodies of two persons who succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital. On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, which was en route to London's Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad, crashed just 33 seconds after taking off. This is being viewed as the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. There were 242 people aboard the aircraft. One passenger survived with ' impact injuries '. Thirty-four persons were also killed on the ground after the plane crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College and Hospital in Ahmedabad, according to Air India. Rakesh Joshi, the civil hospital superintendent, told The New Indian Express that among the 223 bodies that have been identified, 168 were Indians, 36 British citizens, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. Another 11 persons were those who were not in the aircraft, but were in buildings into which it crashed. The remains of 15 victims were transported by air, while 189 were sent via road, the doctor added. Meanwhile, India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is yet to decide whether flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the aircraft that crashed will be sent overseas for analysis, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Thursday. The decision will be taken 'after due assessment of all technical, safety, and security considerations'. The ministry issued the clarification after certain media outlets reported that the recorders were being sent abroad for analysis. 'The Ministry of Civil Aviation urge all stakeholders to refrain from speculation on such sensitive matters and to allow the investigative process to proceed with the seriousness and professionalism it warrants,' the statement added. The Tata Group's chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday told Times Now that one of the engines of the Air India plane that crashed was new and installed in March, while the other was installed in 2023 and was not due for servicing until December.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Why are India, England players wearing black armbands on Day 1 of ENG vs IND Test at Headingley?
The Indian cricket team and England players wore black armbands on Friday when they came out for the national anthem before the start of Day 1 of the first Test at Headingley in Leeds, as a tribute and mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash last week in Ahmedabad. The players from both teams also observed a minute of silence prior to the respective national anthems. An Air India flight from Ahmedabad bound for London Gatwick Airport crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people and leaving only one survivor. There were 242 passengers and crew aboard. According to the official passenger list, there were 169 Indians, 53 from the United Kingdom, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. FOLLOW: IND vs ENG LIVE SCORE, 1st Test Day 1 Earlier, players from the South African and Australian teams also wore black armbands and observed a minute of silence during their World Test Championship final. On Friday, Tamil Nadu sensation Sai Sudharsan also marked his Test debut. Sudharsan was seen receiving the Test cap from Cheteshwar Pujara in a team huddle ahead of the toss that went in Ben Stokes' favour, with England opting to bowl first. Sudharsan is the 317th man to receive the India Test cap and will likely mark his first innings as India's new No. 3 in the line-up. The left-hander's batting technique received several plaudits after a record-breaking IPL 2025 season, where he finished as the highest run-getter with 759 runs. Sudharsan has previously featured in two County stints with Surrey in 2023 and 2024, averaging 35. In his last outing for the side, Sudharsan cracked his maiden First-Class century in English conditions, while batting at No. 6. Overall, the 23-year-old averages 39.93 for 1957 runs in 29 FC outings since his debut in 2022. Joining Sudharsan in the XI is Karun Nair, making his comeback to the Test fold for his first appearance in eight years since his last match against Australia in March 2017 in Dharamsala. Nair made waves on the domestic circuit this season, including his career-best Ranji Trophy season, ending with a title triumph in Vidarbha. The 33-year-old shone in the knockout matches, slamming three centuries, including a century in the final against Kerala.
