New Zealand won the Bledisloe Cup for a 16th consecutive year with a 40-12 victory over Australia in Auckland.

Beauden Barrett scored four tries and kicked five conversions, while Joe Moody and Liam Squire crossed for the dominant All Blacks at Eden Park.

Will Genia and Reece Hodge scored tries for Australia, with Bernard Foley landing one conversion.

New Zealand added to their 38-13 win in Sydney, with the games also part of the Rugby Championship.

Like in Sydney, Australia were competitive until half-time when the score was 14-7 before the All Blacks pulled away after the interval.

Barrett’s four tries is a new All Blacks record in a match against Australia.

The Bledisloe Cup is an annual three-match series between New Zealand and Australia, with the third fixture taking place in Yokohama, Japan on October 27.

Argentina host South Africa on Saturday in Mendoza in the Rugby Championship.

New Zealand: J. Barrett, B. Smith, Goodhue, Laumape, Naholo, B. Barrett, A. Smith, Moody, Taylor, Franks, Retallick, S. Whitelock, Squire, Cane, Read.

Bench: Harris, Tuinukuafe, Tu’ungafasi, S. Barrett, Savea, Perenara, McKenzie, Liernert-Brown.

Australia: Haylett-Petty, Maddocks, Hodge, Beale, Koroibete, Foley, Genia, Sio, Polota-Nau, Alaalatoa, Rodda, Coleman, Tui, Hooper, Pocock.

Bench: Fainga’a, Robertson, Kepu, Simmons, Samu, Phipps, Toomua, Banks.

Nicole Winfield and Trisha Thomas, Associated Press
Published 5:58 a.m. ET Aug. 25, 2018 | Updated 6:12 a.m. ET Aug. 25, 2018

DUBLIN – Pope Francis arrived Saturday in Ireland, ground zero of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis, with the institution under fire across the globe for its systemic failures to protect children or to punish bishops who hid the crimes.

Francis was expected to meet with victims during his 36-hour trip, the first papal visit to Ireland in almost four decades, and will have “many opportunities” to speak out about abuse, the Vatican said.

But neither Francis’ words nor a new meeting with abuse victims is likely to calm the outrage among rank-and-file Catholics following new revelations of sexual misconduct and cover-up in the United States, an ongoing crisis in Chile and prosecutions of top clerics in Australia and France.

Ireland has had one of the worst records of abuse in the world, crimes that were revealed to the deeply Catholic nation’s 4.8 million people through a series of government-mandated inquiries over the past decade. The reviews concluded that thousands of children were raped or molested by priests and physically abused in church-run schools while bishops covered up for abusers.

After the Irish church atoned for its past and enacted tough new norms to fight abuse, it had been looking to the first visit by a pope in 40 years to show a different, more caring church that understands the problems of ordinary Catholic families today.

More than 37,000 people – most of them young Catholics – signed up to attend a Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families that started in Dublin on Tuesday and runs through Sunday, more than twice the number as for the last family rally held in Philadelphia three years ago.

And many faithful were hopeful.

“I see a lot of new life amongst young people who have a deep committed faith, Catholic faith,” said Sean Ascogh, a churchgoer at a recent service in Blessington southwest of Dublin. “Obviously, they are very disappointed by what has been happening in the church in the last few years, particularly the whole abuse scandals, but I think people can see beyond that.”

But Ireland’s tortured history of abuse has left its mark.

In a country where Catholic bishops held such sway that they advised the drafters of the republic’s constitution in the 1930s, voters in recent years have turned their backs on core Catholic teachings. They have overturned a constitutional ban on abortion and legalized divorce, contraception and same-sex marriage.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who will greet Francis at Dublin Castle on Saturday, is openly gay.

Francis was welcomed on the tarmac of Dublin International Airport by a small official delegation mostly composed of clergy, but no public crowd as would be the norm, especially in a Catholic country.

More: Pope Francis blasts ‘atrocities’ by clergy: ‘We showed no care for the little ones

Related: Amid fallout from Pennsylvania report, Pope Francis to meet with abuse victims in Ireland

Irish abuse victims and their supporters were expected to hold a solidarity rally on Sunday in Dublin, at the same time Francis is celebrating his final Mass to close out the family conference.

Separately, survivors of Ireland’s wretched “mother and baby homes” – where children were exiled for the shame of having been born to unwed mothers – are holding their own demonstration Sunday. The location is Tuam, site of a mass grave of hundreds of babies who died over the years at a church-run home.

Francis will be nearby, visiting the Marian shrine at Knock, but has no plans to visit the grave site.

On the eve of Francis’ arrival in Dublin, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley – the pope’s top abuse counselor – said protecting children and vulnerable adults was now the single most crucial issue facing the church.

“All endeavors at evangelization and other great works will be dependent upon our ability to own our crimes and failings and to make the protection of children and vulnerable adults our No. 1 priority,” O’Malley said in a statement read out to a safeguarding panel at the World Meeting of Families.

O’Malley had been expected to headline the panel in person, but he backed out at the last minute, citing a new inquiry he launched into his diocesan seminary amid sexual misconduct allegations – one of three big U.S. seminaries that have launched such investigations in recent weeks.

Irish abuse survivor and advocate Marie Collins, who resigned in frustration from O’Malley’s board last year, told the safeguarding panel that if Francis claims to be on the side of victims, the Catholic Church should no longer lobby to block the ability of victims to sue and prosecute abusers after the statute of limitations expires.

“The actions of the church do not match the words, and they are in fact totally the opposite,” Collins said. She called for “robust structures” and strong sanctions to hold accountable bishops and even Vatican officials who fail protect children.

But Francis offered no such structures or sanctions in a letter he penned on the eve of his Irish visit to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, vowing only to spare no effort to fight the abuse problem. He has vowed “zero tolerance” since the start of his pontificate.

Francis’ first speech in Ireland on Saturday is an address to Irish government officials and civil society, where he will likely refer to the scandal. In the evening, he presides over a vigil. On Sunday, after praying at Knock, Francis celebrates the final Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park before returning to Rome.

When St. John Paul II visited Ireland in 1979, in the first-ever papal visit, some 1.25 million people turned out for his inaugural Mass in Phoenix Park, a third of the country’s population and the largest gathering in Irish history at the time.

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Tasmin Ara, Mustakima, Nur Akter, and Showkat Atu arrived at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, a year ago.

The girls, all of whom are 10 with the exception of 12-year-old Showkat Atu, have developed a system for surviving Kutupalong: They make friends with every new girl who’s forced to call the world’s largest refugee camp her home.

“It is hard when you first arrive, so we help by sharing food and clothes,” Mustakima recently told Plan International, a child rights and humanitarian organization that provides services in Kutupalong. (Plan Internernational identified the girls, who participate in the nonprofit’s programs, by only their first names.)

“We never eat alone,” said Tasmin Ara. “We eat every meal together, no matter what!”

The girls live with nearly a million Rohingya Muslim refugees who began fleeing state-sanctioned violence and religious persecution in neighboring Myanmar a year ago. With no end in sight to the crisis, girls like Tasmin Ara, Mustakima, Nur Akter, and Showkat Atu are finding hope in their improbable friendships. 

For Nermin Saydam, a 35-year-old Palestinian NGO worker, the United States’ decision to cut $200m of economic aid to the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip, is devastating.

“I never expected this to happen to me,” said the mother of two, who works as a project manager with the Gaza Envision 2020 USAID programme.

For many NGO workers, the announcement on Friday that President Donald Trump had ordered the State Department to “redirect” the funding to unspecified “high-priority projects elsewhere”, means no more work nor income.

According to Saydam, Gaza Envision 2020 is expected to close down by the end of August as one of several US-funded aid and development programmes that will be affected by the cut in US aid.

Now Saydam, who took out a large loan to buy a flat a few months before she signed a five-year contract with the project, faces being thousands of dollars in debt.

“Now that I have no more income, I’m facing a serious catastrophe,” she added, explaining that she will no longer be able to pay her monthly instalments of $550 to the bank.  

The move comes months after the US, which had been the largest donor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA, slashed its annual $360m contribution by more than 80 percent to $60m earlier this year.

It also follows Trump’s decision to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December. The move sparked global anger and undercut long-standing underpinnings of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks where the city’s status was to yet to be determined.

Palestinians have rejected calls from the Trump administration to return to the negotiating table, arguing that Washington gave up its status as a neutral mediator.

Like Saydam, Ruba Mohamed, 29, who was also employed by Gaza Envision 2020 as a field worker earlier this year, has been left in disbelief.

“I built high hopes and dreams for myself and for Gaza through this project,” says Mohamed, whose five-year contract with Gaza Envision 2020 USAID programme was put on hold when funds did not come through in May.

“I wanted to work and help myself and my people, especially the young graduates who cannot find employment,” she added, saying that the project aimed at helping create opportunities for people in Gaza.

Along with 100 other employees in the project, she hoped that by August, her work would resume, but the latest move has killed these prospects for good.

“This decision is a huge shock and disappointment for us,” said Mohamed. “There’s no way we will be getting back to work now,” she added.

‘Political blackmail’

Palestinian officials and analysts slammed the move, describing the decision as a form of political coercion and blackmail.

“This is flagrant declaration that the real aim of US aid is to interfere in the internal affairs of other peoples and affect their national rights,” Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a statement on Saturday.

Erekat said the US decision to cut aid “is a sign that [Washington] had abandoned its international obligations” adding that “the Palestinian people reject any conditional aid”.

Accusing Trump of using “cheap blackmail as a political tool,” Hanan Ashrawi, a top PLO official, said in a statement late Friday: “The US administration has already demonstrated meanness of spirit in its collusion with the Israeli occupation.”

“Now it is exercising economic meanness by punishing the Palestinian victims of this occupation,” she added, vowing that Palestinians would not be intimidated by the US move.

In a similar statement Hossam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) delegation to the US, said the move was confirmation that the Trump administration had adopted Israeli’s agenda on the peace process.

“The decision along with the cuts to UNRWA aid earlier this year underscore the Trump administration’s abandoning of the two-state solution and its full adoption of the agenda of Netanyahu.

“The use of humanitarian and development aid as a tool of political blackmail, will not work,” he added.

Commenting on the move, Omar Shaaban, a Palestinian economic expert told Al Jazeera, that while the move will have limited direct impact on the PLO, it will have a huge effect on development and aid projects and specifically employees working in that sector.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees announced in July that it will cut more than 250 jobs in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip after the US slashed its funding.

Mohsen Abu Ramadan, another economic expert from Gaza told Al Jazeera that the decision attempts to punish the PLO for not agreeing to the “deal of the century”, referring to the long-mulled peace plan which Trump and his team are preparing a rollout to end the decades-long conflict.

“This move is part of [a] series of decisions that have [the] aim to recognise Israeli settlements and limit funds to Palestinians.

“It [the decision] shows that the US government wishes to weaken the PLO and support the Netanyahu government’s approach to the peace process.”

Andy Murray is set to make his return to Grand Slam tennis at the US Open on Monday – his first Grand Slam appearance in 14 months after a hip injury led to surgery. In his regular BBC Sport column, the 31-year-old Scot talks about why the US Open is special to him, where he hangs out in New York during the tournament and becoming an Instagram ‘sensation’…

Playing at the US Open holds a special place in my heart and I’m pleased to be making my Grand Slam return here.

I still wish I was able to play at Wimbledon and not have to pull out on the eve of the tournament, but it is nice to be playing my first Slam in 14 months here in New York.

I enjoy the tournament because of the energy. When I was younger I used to love coming to visit the city and the tournament itself is very different to the other Slams.

It has an amazing energy, it is a great place to play, I love the centre court and having played my first Grand Slam final here, and then winning my first Grand Slam here, I have some great memories.

My family came over to New York a few days ago, so I hadn’t seen them for three or four weeks.

Obviously the kids change a lot in that time, which is nice in some ways to see after a period because you’ve changed a bit, but also sad that maybe you’ve missed some stuff.

That was the best part about being injured, or the only good part about being injured, was I got to spend lots and lots of time with them growing up. That’s been nice.

I’m happy they’re here. We went to Central Park with Amelie Mauresmo and her kids which was nice. And we’ve got friends here with their children so you just find family-friendly things to do.

There is plenty going on in New York!

‘Posting on Instagram is fun and stops misinterpretation’

Recently I’ve been posting a lot on Instagram while I’ve been training in the States – videos of me and Nick Kyrgios on a rollercoaster, pictures of old haircuts and answering some ‘interesting’ questions from fans…

It is fun and something I enjoy.

I used to post on Twitter a lot, then stopped using it so much. I’m a very visual person myself and there is a bit less abuse on Instagram!

After beating Marius Copil in Washington, I put on a post with a caption saying ‘Boring, miserable, no personality’ – it was just something fun and not because I’m trying to change public perception of me.

That’s something I was branded as from a very young age just because in interviews I didn’t give much away.

I remember the very first time I played at Wimbledon people were saying ‘he’s absolutely brilliant, he’s a fresh of breath air, he says what he thinks, so different to Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman’.

Then I learned very quickly that all it takes is a couple of comments and a couple of jokes that get taken the wrong way.

Posting things from your own Instagram account is something that you’re ultimately able to control more than how someone interprets your words in an article.

‘UN visit was really cool’

As a long-time Unicef ambassador, I went to the offices here in New York which are next to the UN headquarters.

I had a tour of the Unicef building and met the team who co-ordinate the emergency response when disasters or war strikes around the world. They do an amazing job and are responsible for getting aid and relief to families and children in need.

We then walked over to the UN building, where most of the world leaders regularly gather.

It was interesting. One of the security guards showing us around had some funny stories but I’m not sure I am allowed tell them!

There are lots of artefacts around the grounds, which is considered to be on international territory even though it’s in the US, as all of the member states have donated something.

There is a piece of the Berlin Wall there from Germany, Slovenia had donated Slovenian bees so they have beehives in the garden, and all sorts of other things from the different nations.

‘Playing five-set matches again is positive – whatever happens’

Having not played a five-set match for a long time, I won’t know how my body will cope with that until I actually get there and do it.

I’m sure I’ll be able to tough it out if I need to – but it might not be particularly comfortable.

That’s something I will find out if I’m in that situation.

It is important for me to go through that and see exactly where I’m at, to see how I feel after playing an extremely long match.

That will inform what I do over the next few months as well, maybe show I need to adjust things building up to Australia next year.

I’m glad to be back competing in a Slam and it’s going to be positive for me putting myself in that position again.

Andy Murray was speaking to BBC Sport’s Jonathan Jurejko

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump may be following his predecessors, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, into the world of criminal law. 

The question both of them faced – and which Trump may confront – is whether a president can be indicted while in office.

The Constitution doesn’t say. Neither has Congress spoken by statute. The closest the Supreme Court has come was a narrow ruling in 1997 that a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton could proceed. 

That has left the Justice Department as arbiter on the question of whether a sitting president can be charged with a crime. No, it said, first in 1973 and again in 2000.
But some authorities on the separation of powers say: Not so fast.

Now that Trump has been implicated by his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in a possible violation of campaign finance laws, the question of his criminal culpability has resurfaced. Herewith, some answers:

Can a president be indicted?

From a 41-page memo issued in 1973 to a 39-pager written in 2000, the Justice Department has said no. The main reason: A criminal trial would interfere with the president’s unique duties under the Constitution. 

“The indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting president would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions,” assistant attorney general Randolph Moss wrote in 2000.

What happened with Nixon?

Accused in the cover-up of the 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington’s Watergate office complex, Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator by special prosecutor Leon Jaworski, who refused the grand jury’s unanimous recommendation to indict the president.

Nixon resigned in August 1974 amid impeachment proceedings and later was pardoned by President Gerald Ford, lest he face criminal proceedings.

Congress passed a law four years later establishing the office of independent counsel, giving unprecedented power to a court-appointed prosecutor not answerable to the president or Congress. 

What about Vice President Agnew?

The same protection from indictment in office did not extend to Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, who was investigated in 1973 for tax fraud and corruption from his days in Maryland politics.

Agnew at first argued that he could not be indicted but eventually offered his resignation in exchange for a plea bargain. He escaped with a $10,000 fine and three years’ probation.

What happened with Clinton?

The best-known independent counsel was Ken Starr, who expanded his original probe into Clinton’s Whitewater land deal in Arkansas to include the president’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 

A memorandum commissioned by Starr’s office contended in 1998 that he could indict and convict the president. But two years later, the Justice Department reaffirmed its opinion that indictment was out of bounds.

Clinton was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate. He paid a fine and had his law license suspended for lying under oath.

What is the current rule?

The 2000 memo is the latest official opinion, but it’s not ironclad. Trump’s counsel, Rudy Giuliani, claimed earlier this year that Mueller’s office has pledged to abide by it, meaning no indictment is forthcoming. 

But under Justice Department regulations written for future special counsels in 1999, Mueller could ask acting attorney general Rod Rosenstein for the authority to indict Trump. If he’s rebuffed, a report would go to Congress explaining the reasons.

Would it wind up in court?

Any effort to indict the president could end at the Supreme Court, making Trump’s nomination of federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh potentially significant.

Kavanaugh earned his stripes in Republican circles by pursuing Clinton as a member of Starr’s staff, even recommending that the president be asked explicit questions about his dalliance with Lewinsky. But in 2009, he wrote that he had changed his mind, and that presidents should be spared criminal investigation while in office.

Can Trump be charged later?

Nothing prevents criminal charges being brought once the president leaves office. But if he’s not indicted within several years of the alleged crime, the statute of limitations could run out. That’s why some experts argue for indicting presidents. 

“This is a matter that could be reconsidered by the department,” Walter Dellinger, who headed the Office of Legal Counsel early in Clinton’s first term, wrote recently. “The complex history of criminal proceedings against presidents and vice presidents suggests that these issues are not foreclosed.”

 

 

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Since the day President Trump announced conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee, liberals argued that giving him a lifetime appointment would be a terrible mistake. On Sunday, August 26, they’re taking their case to the streets with a national “Unite for Justice” day of action to demand the Senate reject Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Kavanaugh’s views suggest he’d be open to undermining the equal rights of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. He may also be hostile to voting rights, abortion rights, Obamacare, and net neutrality.

The progressive organizations NARAL Pro-Choice America and MoveOn oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination and are leading “Unite for Justice” protests this Sunday. With more than 75 organizations involved and more than 180 events set to take place in all 50 states, the efforts are expected to result in the largest single-day protest of a Supreme Court nominee in history.

Here’s everything you need to know about how you can join the fight against Kavanaugh’s confirmation, both on Sunday and beyond.

How to locate an event near you

Since every state has events planned for the day of action, you should be able to find a rally near you. The Unite for Justice website provides a map so you can see every event across the country, and it also has a helpful search tool that allows you to filter events by city, state, or zip code.

If you don’t find an event as close to you as you’d like, the website also offers information on how to host your own and register a Unite for Justice event such as a rally, press conference, and march, or even a petition delivery or potluck in your area.

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Why these protests are so important

After Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy — who often served as a swing vote when it came to issues related to gay rights and abortion — announced his retirement in June, Trump looked for someone he knew would give Republicans and his administration a 5-4 advantage in court decisions.

“Brett Kavanaugh will vote to end Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion, gut the Affordable Care Act, roll back LGBTQ rights, and decimate the Voting Rights Act and Affirmative Action,” Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement.

“Brett Kavanaugh will vote to end Roe v Wade…”

If Kavanaugh were to overturn Roe v. Wade and limit legal access to abortions, he would essentially send America back to a society that resembles The Handmaid’s Tale.

Though Kavanaugh recently told Sen. Susan Collins of Maine he feels Roe v. Wade is “settled law,” that doesn’t mean he’ll vote to uphold it in the future. Chief Justice Roberts once made the same claim and has since voted to undermine access to women’s healthcare and the right to abortion on several occasions.

<img class="" data-credit-name='unite for justice‘ data-credit-provider=”custom type” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/ChQER4wG6Tyloszbl7nj3zQ_wak=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F833980%2Fc36aff2c-0682-4ed7-acdc-4600758a2e65.jpg&#8221; data-fragment=”m!f1e7″ data-image=”https://ift.tt/2PyDBJj; data-micro=”1″>

Kavanaugh, who once suggested a sitting president can’t be indicted, also seems to believe the Supreme Court should put the president above the law — a viewpoint that seems immensely problematic, especially considering the legal drama currently surrounding Trump.

Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was recently found guilty on eight counts of tax fraud charges, bank fraud, and hiding foreign bank accounts, and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, implicating Trump in campaign finance crimes.

“There’s the threat that Kavanaugh could allow Trump to place himself above the law at a time when there is an active investigation into potentially criminal wrongdoing.”

“There’s the threat that Kavanaugh could allow Trump to place himself above the law at a time when there is an active investigation into potentially criminal wrongdoing by Trump and his associates,” Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn Civic Action, said in a statement.

By peacefully making their voices heard across the country, Unite for Justice participants hope their actions will speak to senators in each state and discourage them from moving forward with Kavanaugh’s nomination hearings. 

“Senators have tried to hide from their constituents all summer because they know Brett Kavanaugh is a deeply unpopular nominee,” Hogue said. They don’t want to have to look their constituents in the eye and tell them they are risking our lives and our freedoms…” 

Other ways to make a difference

Though the upcoming day of action will have nationwide participation, it’s far from the first step that’s been taken to fight Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Unite for Justice coalition previously organized around 400 events across the country to fight the SCOTUS pick, and other organizations like Planned Parenthood are also taking action.

If you can’t attend a Unite for Justice rally on Sunday, or simply want to do more to help, you can start by using the hashtag #StapKavanaugh on social media and visiting the website’s home page to download social graphics and posters to help raise awareness.

<img class="" data-credit-name='unite for justice‘ data-credit-provider=”custom type” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/ueRBNy66ZwWCYFJu3LJK6caxdT0=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F833984%2F11bf158d-9b45-4798-8177-c2030215ea3a.png&#8221; data-fragment=”m!3f7e” data-image=”https://ift.tt/2wnMfBC; data-micro=”1″>

You can also donate money to The People’s Defense, a coalition of grassroots organizations fighting Kavanaugh’s nomination, and sign up for text message alerts by scrolling to the bottom of the Unite for Justice website’s “About” page.

The People’s Defense also organized a petition you can sign to demand that senators vote no on Kavanaugh. CREDO Action, a group of activists dedicated to bringing about progressive change, also has a petition urging members of Congress to block Kavanaugh, particularly because he could rule on any Supreme Court case related to the special counsel’s investigation into Trump and Russian election interference.

You can also get involved with Planned Parenthood’s #DearSenators campaign by sharing the personal reasons you’re opposed to Kavanaugh’s appointment. And finally, check out our comprehensive guide to learn even more ways to participate.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has rejected a court ruling that threw out his election challenge to Emmerson Mnangagwa’s election victory, saying he has a legitimate claim to lead.

Chamisa’s opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance, had brought the legal challenge saying that July 30’s vote was marred by “mammoth theft and fraud”.

“I have a legitimate claim that I should lead Zimbabwe,” Chamisa told reporters at a news conference in the capital Harare on Saturday.

The MCD president and MP took to Twitter on Friday, telling his supporters “I hear your cries and feel your pain. I know you feel cheated, but take heart – your victory is not lost.

“Your will is sacred and we’ll listen to you on the path of peace and course of action to be taken to rescue our beautiful Zimbabwe from the jaws of poverty, corruption and dishonesty.”

I hear your cries & feel your pain. I know you feel cheated, but take heart — your victory is not lost. Your will is sacred & we’ll listen to you on the path of peace & course of action to be taken to rescue our beautiful Zimbabwe from the jaws of poverty, corruption & dishonesty

— Nelson Chamisa (@nelsonchamisa) August 24, 2018

Chief Justice Luke Malaba said on Friday that the MDC alliance had failed to prove fraud accusations during last month’s vote.

“The application is dismissed with costs … Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is duly declared the winner of the presidential elections held on the 30th of July 2018,” Malaba said in his ruling.

Mnangagwa, 75, said he was “not surprised by the court’s decision” and called for unity and peace.

“Nelson Chamisa, my door is open and my arms are outstretched, we are one nation, and we must put our nation first. Let us all now put our differences behind us. It is time to move forward together,” Mnangagwa wrote on Twitter shortly after the court announced its ruling.

The MDC’s legal challenge cited a catalogue of alleged discrepancies, including incorrect counting and fake polling stations, as well as instances at voting centres where there were more ballots cast than registered voters.

“There has been a massive doctoring of evidence,” Thabani Mpofu, a lawyer representing the MDC, told the top court when it started sitting on Wednesday.

Mnangagwa, of the ruling ZANU-PF party, won the election with 50.8 percent of the vote – just enough to pass the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff against Chamisa, who finished second with 44.3 percent.

European Union observers said that the ZANU-PF candidate had benefitted from an “un-level playing field” and some voter intimidation, though international monitors largely praised the conduct of the election.

The legal challenge delayed Mnangagwa’s planned inauguration for August 12. It will now take place on Sunday.

Belgian Grand Prix final practice and qualifying live – Live – BBC Sport

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Despite the most successful run in franchise history, this decade’s Los Angeles Clippers have been frustrating underachievers.

Now the team finds itself facing something of a transition season. All the cornerstone pieces from six consecutive playoff appearances are gone. Chris Paul, Jamal Crawford and JJ Redick left last offseason. Blake Griffin was traded in January. DeAndre Jordan left this summer.

Those departures left behind a host of questions, namely: How could a team laden with so much talent always fall apart in the playoffs? A number of horribly timed injuries — particularly playoff injuries to Paul and Griffin — certainly played a role.

Redick, however, identifies another culprit: Pettiness. And not just normal pettiness, mind you. What he calls “Donald Trump-level pettiness.”

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“Doc (Rivers) used to always talk about how when one group was together for a long period of time, instead of getting closer together you end up pointing fingers at each other,” Redick said on a recent episode of the Pardon My Take podcast. “It was weird because separately everybody was really cool with each other, off the court everybody sort of got along. And then, there was just so much pettiness, it was just pettiness.

“It’s weird to think what we had the potential to accomplish and what ultimately derailed that was pettiness. Like, Donald Trump-level pettiness.”

Los Angeles made the playoffs six consecutive years from 2011-12 to 2016-17. After going 40-26 in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, the Clippers won at least 51 games in each of the next five.

However, they never advanced past the second round. Redick said the team got bogged down in “passive-aggressive bulls—” and didn’t exclude himself.

“I would rather a guy actually blow up at a teammate, whether it ends in a fight or just a verbal shouting match.” Redick said on Pardon My Take. “I think getting stuff out in the open is healthier than sort of holding it in and just whispering things in corners and never really addressing root issues.

“I’m throwing myself in this, in some ways I’m probably as guilty as other guys. We were just really passive-aggressive with each other.”