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Final Group B table

All over in the other game in this group - Iran 0-1 USA.

The Americans progress in second place and face the Dutch on Saturday.

For England, it is a Sunday evening date with Senegal.

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🇯🇵 play one day before 10th anniversary of thread

Balé

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Kolo Toure accepts Wigan Athletic role

England v Japan semi-final

China's former leader Jiang Zemin, who came to power after the Tiananmen Square protests, has died at 96.

State media said he had died just after 12:00 local time (04:00 GMT), in Shanghai, on Wednesday.

Jiang presided over a time when China opened up on a vast scale and saw high-speed growth.

His death comes as China sees some of its most serious protests since Tiananmen, with many demonstrating against Covid restrictions.

A Chinese Communist Party statement said he died of leukaemia and multiple organ failure.

It added that he was recognised "as an outstanding leader with high prestige" and "a long-tested Communist fighter".

State media outlets, including the Global Times and the Xinhua news agency, turned their websites black and white in tribute.

Jiang rose to power after the bloody 1989 crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, which led to China being ostracised internationally.

The event sparked a bitter power struggle at the top of the Communist Party between hard-line reactionaries and reformers.

It led to Jiang, who had originally been seen as a plodding bureaucrat, being elevated to high office. He was chosen as a compromise leader, in the hope he would unify hardliners and more liberal elements.

Under his stewardship, a formidable economy was forged, the Communists tightened their grip on power, and China took its place at the top table of world powers.

He oversaw the peaceful handover of Hong Kong in 1997, and China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 which intertwined the country with the global economy.

But political reforms were also put to one side and he crushed internal dissent while pursuing a hardline stance on Taiwan. He was criticised for the heavy-handed crackdown on the religious sect Falun Gong in 1999, which was seen as a threat to the Communist Party.

Jiang Zemin obituary:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-14041962

November 30: Saint Andrew's Day (Christianity)

HSBC has announced that it will close 114 branches across the UK from next April as it blames the Covid pandemic for a decline in footfall.

The banking giant said those branches closing are serving fewer than 250 people a week, confirming its remaining network will total 327 after the new wave of closures. 

The news today delivered yet another major blow to Britain's ailing high streets and follows the closures of hundreds of other banks including NatWest, Barclays, and Lloyds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQA8zv1ijE

comment by wingman (U20734)

posted on 1/10/18

I got trapped against a rock underwater and ran out of breath. The only thing that saved me was a moutfull of aeriated water

World Cup 2022: England face Senegal in last 16 - what you need to know

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63806803

Senegal is in West Africa, next to the Atlantic Ocean.

Brazil legend Pele has been admitted to hospital but his daughter has confirmed there was "no emergency" involved.

Earlier on Wednesday, ESPN Brasil reported

Pele had been taken to Sao Paulo's Hospital Albert Einstein with "general swelling".

But Pele's daughter Kely Nascimento posted on Instagram that there was "no new dire prediction".

Pele had a tumour removed from his colon in September 2021 and has since had regular treatment at the hospital.

"Lots of alarm in the media today concerning my dad's health," Nascimento said.

"He is in the hospital regulating medication.

"There is no emergency or new dire prediction. I will be there for New Years and promise to post some pictures."

ESPN Brasil also reported that the 82-year-old was having cardiac issues and there are concerns that his chemotherapy treatment is not having the expected effect.

Pele is Brazil's all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 games, and the former striker is one of only four players to have scored in four World Cup tournaments.

Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin has died aged 51 after a collision with a truck while training near Vicenza on Wednesday.

He became the first rider to win the Ardennes Classics treble in a highlight 2004 season, with victory in the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

His career spanned three decades before he retired earlier this year.

He also won an individual stage in the 1996 Giro d'Italia.

"This is an infinitely sad day for all those who follow cycling," Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said.

Lotto-Soudal general manager John Lelangue added: "I just can't believe it. He was with us Sunday night at the Monte Carlo Criterium dinner.

Seven-time Tour de France individual stage winner Richard Virenque said: "He was a lovely, loyal person and we shared some wonderful moments together."

Rebellin won silver in the men's road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before being ordered to return it after testing positive for a banned substance.

He produced a positive test for the blood-booster EPO Cera during a re-testing campaign after the Games and was subsequently banned for two years.

Rebellin raced in the lower divisions until last year and is remembered by his family as someone "who lived to ride his bike".

Democrats pick Hakeem Jeffries as Nancy Pelosi's replacement: New York congressman becomes first black American to lead major party as part of younger generation of leaders

Defender Ben White has left England's World Cup squad in Qatar to return home for personal reasons.

The Arsenal player is not expected to return for the remainder of the tournament, England said in a statement.

"We ask that the player's privacy is respected at this moment in time," it added.