Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho said he has “no problems” with chief executive Ed Woodward, in a pre-match news conference missed by most of the media because the Portuguese arrived half an hour early.
Mourinho spoke for four minutes and 19 seconds – much shorter than is normal – and said he had not read reports of a falling out between the two.
“I don’t know 10% of what is written,” Mourinho said.
“I’m not the right guy to answer.”
When reminded that he had in the past always spoken about Woodward with respect, and asked if their relationship was still fine, he added: “Of course. No problems.”
He was also asked whether reports of conflict were part of an “overreaction” to United’s 3-2 defeat by Brighton in the Premier League last weekend, to which Mourinho replied: “You are pessimistic, I am not.”
What else did Mourinho say?
Q: When Paul Pogba says the attitude in the team is not right, how does it make you feel that you have a brilliant player who can be exceptional one week and the next week, so inconsistent?
JM: Paul has to answer by his words. If you want any explanation about Paul’s words you must get him and ask him.
Q: How do you feel about the way you are playing this season?
JM: I feel we played well against Leicester and we won. I feel we played bad against Brighton and we lost.
Q: What would you like to see against Spurs?
JM: I would like to play well and win.
Q: How do you do that?:
JM: To play well and win, don’t make mistakes, play well and win. That is what we want.
Q: Have Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof progressed the way you hoped?
JM: I don’t analyse with you my players.
Q: What about Spurs – how impressed are you with them, Mauricio Pochettino and how they go about their business?
JM: I’m not going to comment.
Q: Is the match against Tottenham the right game at the right time?
JM: You have to play against 19 opponents at Old Trafford and 19 away. You have to play against everyone – I don’t know when is the right time, the time is now. The fixtures were decided this way and we have to play Tottenham second match at Old Trafford before we go away, if I’m not wrong twice in a row against Burnley and Watford. This is what it is. Of course it is a difficult match, against a team that last season finished top four, so difficult match.
WASHINGTON – In the wake of an uproar from civil rights and voting rights groups, election officials in a small rural county in Georgia voted Friday not to close polling sites in the mostly black precincts less than three months before midterm elections.
Several groups, including the ACLU of Georgia, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, had threatened lawsuits. State and local groups launched a petition drive and held a rally to protest the proposal.
“This is a victory for African American voters across Georgia who are too often subject to a relentless campaign of voter suppression,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The right to vote is the most sacred civil right in our democracy and we stand fully prepared to defend that right throughout the midterm election cycle.”
The effort has galvanized national civil rights and voting rights groups aiming to block attempts to suppress minority voter turnout in Georgia and in other states ahead of critical midterm elections.
The Congressional Black Caucus urged county election officials Thursday to drop the plan, saying it would violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act to close the polling sites so close to an election.
“We are deeply concerned that the bedrock tenets of democracy would be under attack should this proposal be adopted and implemented,” the caucus wrote in a letter.
The two members of the Randolph County Board of Elections and Registration voted unanimously not to make changes. The board, which has one vacancy, held two hearings on the proposal.
Tommy Coleman, an attorney for for the county in southwest Georgia, said he doesn’t think the board members meant harm by considering the proposal, but that it might have been ill timed.
“It gives you the appearance that you’re trying to do something to alter the vote in November. I don’t that’s the case. I’m certain it isn’t,” he said. “The people who do this in rural Georgia – these two people – are just volunteers.”
The issue garnered national attention in part because of the historic nomination of Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who could make history as the first African-American woman governor in the country if she wins in November.
Abrams and Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is also running for governor, both called for officials to drop the plan.
The proposal was offered earlier this year after the county hired a consultant when the election superintendent quit three weeks before the May primary, Coleman said. The consultant recommended closing the polling sites because they didn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
But Coleman said, the proposal “doesn’t seem to be backed up with any real data.”
Critics of the proposal argue the sites were used for elections earlier in the year and in the years since the county has been called out in 2016 for not complying with the ADA.
“Why all of sudden do you want it to be ADA compliant when you haven’t complied in all of this time?” said Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda.
“What is the rush if it wasn’t a rush in all these years,” added Butler, who also serves on the Board of Elections in Morgan County, Ga.
Nse Ufot, executive director of the New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan civic engagement group, said county election officials could have moved polls to local churches and other sites that are ADA compliant.
“This is a blatant attempt at voter suppression,” she said Thursday. “Voter suppression in Georgia is a lot more sophisticated, I think, than people realize.”
Coleman described Randolph County, the sixth smallest in the state, as very poor and struggling with a declining population and economic base.
He said there have been discussions about the cost of polling sites because there were few voters there. For example, he said, one precinct had about 100 people.
But Coleman said the timing of proposing closures could have been better.
“It was probably ill timed. We certainly went through the primary and the runoff from the primary and why we would need to do it before November in the teeth of this kind of heightened political environment, I think, is what the problem was,” he said. “It needs to given more thought away from elections.”
There have been lawsuits in the past over the county’s noncompliance with the ADA, Coleman said. The county used a $200,000 grant to upgrade some buildings, including the courthouse. Coleman said he suspects there are some buildings, including some of the firehouses that have been used for polling sites, that are not in full compliance.
Coleman couldn’t say what steps the county will take to comply with the ADA, but he said, “I think they will now.”
Cancel all future award shows. Chrissy Teigen has crowned the single greatest episode in the history of television.
On Thursday night, Chrissy shared a video of her favorite episode of the popular NBC comedy, The Office: “Dinner Party,” which she dubbed the best episode of all time.
“Best episode of all time. Not only of The Office, but all of television: ‘Dinner Party’ at Michael and Jan’s,” she can be heard saying, while John Legend is heard giggling off camera.
Both a fan and cast favorite, “Dinner Party” (Season 4, Episode 13) gives viewers a rare glimpse at Dunder Mifflin employees outside the office.
Michael and Jan have Jim, Pam, Angela, Andy, Dwight, and Dwight’s plus one over for the most awkward night of food and games. And Chrissy is correct… the episode is truly perfect.
This in’t the first time Chrissy and John have shown their love for the comedy series on Twitter. Back in July the couple made several impressively deep cuts references to the show on Twitter.
The tweets referenced Season 5, Episode 23 of the show, titled, “Michael Scott Paper Company,” and Episode 9 of The Office‘s seventh season, titled “WUPHF.com,” which actually mentions John Legend.
The couple clearly knows their stuff when it comes to The Office, and now we know Chrissy and John also spend their nights re-watching old episodes just like us. Very relatable!
Wonder how they feel about a potential revival or Christmas special…
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Fernando Alonso (right) is ninth in the drivers’ championship with Daniel Ricciardo fifth
Fernando Alonso wants Red Bull to apologise after they denied his claim they offered him a drive for 2019.
The 37-year-old said Red Bull approached him about the seat being vacated by Daniel Ricciardo, who is joining Renault.
But two-time world champion Alonso has since said he would be leaving Formula 1 at the end of the season, with Pierre Gasly moving to Red Bull instead.
“It was not the case for me to join this adventure,” said Alonso.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the team “offered Fernando a contract in the past but that was back in 2007”.
Earlier this week, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko said Alonso “doesn’t fit with us” and told Red Bull’s Servus TV station: “We were negotiating with him in 2007 or 2008. His demands were very tedious back then.
“If you look at his history, in McLaren and Ferrari, it was always a one-man show.”
However, Alonso later claimed he had offers from Red Bull six times in his career.
“I had a couple of offers from Red Bull,” Alonso told Sky F1. “In fact I had one in 2007, in 2009, in 2011, 2013, and two this year, one in Monaco, and one in August.
“The comments of Christian Horner this summer and Mr Marko are completely out of context, surprise comments about me creating chaos and being a difficult man to work with.
“One, they never worked with me, and secondly they’ve been chasing me for five or six occasions in the last seven years, and now they say that, that they are loyal to their programme and their commitments and their junior drivers.
“It has been weird, it has been unfair to me. I wrote to Christian after his comments this summer, he apologised by email, and hopefully he’ll apologise again this weekend.”
But Horner, speaking on Friday, again insisted no offer had been made to the Spaniard for 2019.
“To be totally clear, there was no offer to Fernando Alonso for next year,” said Horner.
“He is a fantastic driver and a great talent, he has chosen his path. We had an inquiry from Flavio Briatore and from Liberty Media but the position within Red Bull has always been very clear.
“We invest in youth and have a talent pool through the Red Bull junior programme and as has been the case with Sebastian Vettel, (Daniil) Kvyat, (Daniel) Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, we were always going to draw on the talent we have.”
Fernando Alonso has nine more races in his Formula 1 career
Alonso is looking at other categories of motorsport as he seeks to complete the unofficial “triple crown”.
This is widely regarded to be victories in the Monaco Grand Prix, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indy 500, although some say the F1 world title rather than Monaco. Either way, only Graham Hill has ever achieved the feat.
Alonso added victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year with Toyota, for whom he is leading the World Endurance Championship this season in addition to his F1 commitments with McLaren, and led 27 of the 200 laps on a one-off attempt at the Indy 500 last year before retiring in the closing stages with engine failure.
Alonso did not confirm he would race in IndyCar next year, but said: “The triple crown is something I have been saying for a couple of years now.
“To be the best driver in the world there are two possibilities: winning eight world championships – quite unlikely now for me – and the second is to taste different series and different cars.
“In sports cars I am doing OK. On the Indy 500, I felt competitive last year and there are other series that can put you in a different level in motorsport.”
Alonso said he did not expect to return to F1.
“Right now, I am thinking it is goodbye,” he said. “Life changes very quickly. I don’t have a crystal ball to know what will happen. For me, it is bye-bye, but who knows in the future?”
But he said he might have stayed in F1 had he had a winning car.
“The possibilities for next year, there have been few, or a lot – depends on how you look at it,” Alonso added. “I did not stay because there are only two teams that can win and they continue with their drivers for the following years.
“And the F1 we see now is not the F1 I dreamed of when I was a kid or when I started in 2001.
“When you come to the same place for so many years and repeat the same thing, it is easier to be not so emotional about the challenges and that is the reason now.”
The second Ferrari seat alongside Sebastian Vettel is the only place at the top two teams that has not been announced at this stage but Alonso’s remarks seem to confirm the increasing impression in F1 that Kimi Raikkonen will be retained.
Ferrari had been planning before the sudden death of former president Sergio Marchionne last month to promote Monegasque Charles Leclerc from Sauber, but the new management is said to have had a rethink.
Tribute from Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were both at McLaren in 2007 and both finished on 109 points, one less than world champion Kimi Raikkonen
Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to Alonso as “one of the best drivers ever” in Formula 1, following the Spaniard’s decision to retire.
Alonso, twice a world champion and sixth in the all-time win list with 32 victories, announced last week that he would leave Formula 1 at the end of the season.
Speaking before this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton said: “It is a shame he is not as decorated as his ability [deserves].
“But sport is not just about being a good driver, it’s how you play the game, how you position yourself.”
Alonso has famously made a series of poor career decisions, including turning down a chance to join Red Bull in time for their domination of the early 2010s, and leaving Ferrari at the end of 2014 believing they would never produce a competitive car.
Hamilton, who was Alonso’s team-mate at McLaren in 2007 when they tied on points and number of wins, added: “He has been arguably the best driver I have ever driven against and I wish him all the best.”
Why Ricciardo went to Renault
Pierre Gasly (left) will race for Red Bull in 2019 with Daniel Ricciardo joining Renault
Alonso’s decision was one of a series of driver moves announced over the summer break, which ends with the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend.
The other big news was Ricciardo’s decision to leave Red Bull at the end of the season and join Renault.
He said: “It was by no means an easy decision. It got to a point when I felt I was ready for a change and a new challenge, just some fresh motivation.
“It sounds easy saying it like that but it wasn’t easy. There were a few sleepless nights but once I made the decision I feel comfortable with it.”
Ricciardo admitted that Renault, who are fourth this season after 12 races but a long way off Red Bull’s pace, would not be in a position to win next year but said he was confident in their ability to do so in the future.
“Their short to medium-term plan is encouraging,” the Australian said. “What they’re doing with their finances and the way they are doing it showed me they want to win.
“I saw some really good signs with what they showed me in their presentation, and also their honesty – not telling me they are going to win in Melbourne [the first race next year]. It is a process but one going forward pretty rapidly.”
How to follow on BBC Sport
BBC Sport has live coverage of all the season’s races on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, plus live online commentary on the BBC Sport website and mobile app – including audience interaction, expert analysis, debate, voting, features, interviews and video content.
All times BST and are subject to change at short notice.
Prosecutors have reportedly granted David Pecker Immunity. He owns the company that published National Enquirer. Veuer’s Sam Berman has the full story. Buzz60
The National Enquirer had a safe full of documents outlining its deals with President Donald Trump, including records of hush-money deals it handled to quash stories, according to a report from the Associated Press.
The report came on the heels of prosecutors reportedly offering the CEO of the tabloid magazine’s parent company, David Pecker, an immunity deal as investigators looked into campaign finance violations by Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, and Trump’s own role in those deals.
The details of how much content was inside the safe and whether the documents were now in the hands of prosecutors remained unclear.
The Associated Press reports the contents of the safe were removed before Trump’s inauguration after reports surfaced indicating American Media Inc., the National Enquirer’s parent company, had struck a deal with Trump to kill unfavorable stories.
It’s unclear whether the information was simply moved to another location or destroyed since the existence of the documents could have been viewed as a liability to the company, AP reported.
The news service said Trump and the Enquirer had deals dating back more than a decade.
The unflattering Trump documents were reportedly stored near other information on celebrities who had paid the tabloid to purchase rights to stories and not publish them, a process known as “catch and kill.”
Cohen admitted to a federal judge this week that he worked with the tabloid ahead of the 2016 presidential election to pay women who alleged affairs with Trump. He said the sole purpose of these secretive payments was to prevent such stories from “influencing the election.”
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including violating campaign finance laws due to the payments.
He faces years in federal prison.
It appears, though, that the investigations into the hush money agreements are nowhere near complete.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the Manhattan District Attorney was investigating possible charges against officials at the Trump Organization.
The investigation, the Times reported, centers on how the company accounted for the cash paid to Cohen as part of the payoff to women who claimed affairs with Trump.
The company wrote off the money paid to Cohen as legal expenses, but Cohen told a federal judge Tuesday the money was used for the hush agreements. Federal prosecutors say there “was no such retainer agreement,” meaning the payments weren’t connected with any legal services.
While the president has discussed the possibility of pardoning those charged in the ongoing probes, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the Times reports the Manhattan DA’s investigation could pose a new problem for Trump as he has no power to pardon those charged with state crimes.
Two men have been sentenced to prison for beating of a black man at a far-right rally in Charlottesvillelast year, local media reported.
Jacob Scott Goodwin and Alex Ramos were sentenced to eight and six years respectively on Thursday for the beating of DeAndre Harris at the Unite the Right rally in August 2017.
The confrontation took place after a friend of Harris attempted to take a Confederate flag away from one of the marchers.
Pictures and a video of Harris’s beating by a group of white nationalists were shared widely online, leading to attempts to identify the perpetrators.
Harris, 20, suffered a spinal injury and a broken arm in the attack, which took place in a car park close to a Charlottesville police station.
Goodwin, 23, was found guilty last May. During the trial, he claimed he beat Harris out of self-defence.
Ramos said he took a “cheap shot” at Harris, but said he was not a racist and just attended the rally to support some of his friends.
In total, four people were arrested for their involvement in the incident.
A third man, Daniel Borden, who was charged in connection to the beating of Harris, pleaded guilty last May. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 1.
Harris himself was charged with assault and battery, but a court in Charlottesville found him not guilty in March.
Last year’s Unite the Right was the largest white supremacist rally held in the US in decades. It turned deadly when a driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. James Alex Fields Jr, who was seen marching with the far right earlier in the day, has since been charged with a slew of crimes, including federal hate crimes.
Only a handful of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other members of the far right attended this year’s Unite the Right, held in Washington, DC on August 12, the anniversary of Heyer’s death. They were far outnumbered by counterprotesters, who held marches and rallies throughout the day.
Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who was fifth, will start from the back because of engine penalties.
Mick Schumacher – My dad is my idol
Both Mercedes drivers have new, upgraded engines for this weekend and that has taken the Finn over the permitted number of some parts for the season.
Mercedes will expect him to be able to fight through the field into a strong points position on a track on which it is relatively easy to overtake.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg will also start from the back for the same reason.
Ferrari also have their final, upgraded new-spec engine in both cars this weekend.
It was a relatively uneventful session, although Verstappen ran wide through the ultra-fast double-left Pouhon corner towards the end of the session, without causing any damage.
Behind Hamilton, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, the early pace-setter in the session on a track where he always goes well, was fourth, ahead of Bottas and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who managed only one flying lap at the end of the session as a result of engine injector problems.
Further back, Lando Norris made an apparently accomplished race weekend debut for McLaren, driving Fernando Alonso’s car for this first session.
The 18-year-old Briton had an incident-free session on his way to 18th fastest time on the slowest medium tyre, just under 0.1secs quicker than team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne on the faster soft.
At 7.004km long, Spa is the longest current F1 circuit
However, McLaren’s hopes of forming an impression of their relative pace – as they assess who to employ as their second driver following the signing of Carlos Sainz to replace Alonso next season – were dashed because Vandoorne had a session troubled by technical problems.
McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran said: “We have been investing in Lando for a fair few years and we are trying to give him as much exposure as possible.
“This is an opportunity for him to drive on a grand prix weekend, with a lot more people on the track, a lot of track evolution and a completely different downforce level. We keep walking the development road.”
Esteban Ocon, driving for a Force India team under new ownership after being rescued from administration earlier this month, was best of the rest in seventh.
Hulkenberg, the second Force India of Sergio Perez and Sainz completed the top 10.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has won four times at the Spa-Francorchamps
The rift between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions explodes into a public smackdown as Trump complains Sessions “never took control of the Justice Department”. AP Reporter Eric Tucker explains. (Aug. 23) AP
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump escalated the feud between himself and his own attorney general Friday, firing back at Jeff Sessions with a series of tweets seeming to mock Sessions for not investigating his opponents.
The president pleaded for a number of investigations and quoted a statement offered by Sessions on Thursday, in which the attorney general defended the Justice Department and said it wouldn’t be influenced by politics.
“‘Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.’ Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side’ including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr,” the president posted early Friday.
“Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the “other side” including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr……
He continued listing off others who he believes Sessions should investigate in another tweet and offered another request: “Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!”
….FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems – and so much more. Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!
The mention of documents and redactions is an apparent reference to Trump’s wish that the FISA surveillance warrants of his former aide Carter Page be declassified and released without redactions.
House Republicans have requested the measure, but the White House has yet to get involved in the matter.
In another tweet, Trump also pointed to the Justice Department’s sentencing a former U.S. intelligence contractor to 63 months for leaking information about Russian meddling. Trump said this was “small potatoes” compared to Hillary Clinton.
“So unfair Jeff, Double Standard,” he said.
Ex-NSA contractor to spend 63 months in jail over “classified” information. Gee, this is “small potatoes” compared to what Hillary Clinton did! So unfair Jeff, Double Standard.
In a Fox News interview that aired Thursday, the president suggested he might release the material after the midterm elections.
“At the right time, I think I’m going to have to do the documents. I didn’t want to. But I think I’m going to have to,” Trump said. “There’s such corruption.”
It’s not new for Trump to rail against Sessions. The two have had a tumultuous relationship with since Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from heading the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
But matters escalated this week with the conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the guilty plea entered by former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen.
Sessions issued a statement Thursday saying his office would “not be improperly influenced by political considerations” just hours after the airing of the Fox interview where the president railed against Sessions. When asked, Trump didn’t dismiss the notion of firing the attorney general.
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