Category: Новини

A Pakistani immigrant who is now an American citizen is working hard to bring glory to U.S. professional squash in upcoming tournaments.  Training was especially hard for Shahjahan Khan during Ramadan, as Saba Shah Khan reports.Producer: Saba Shah Khan. Camera: Matt Dibble, Qazafi Babar.  
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The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on May 29 has been moved from Istanbul to Porto to allow English fans to travel under COVID-19 restrictions, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday.
The final was scheduled for Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, but Turkey was last week put on Britain’s travel ‘red list’, meaning that no English fans would be able to attend the game. It will now be held in FC Porto’s Estadio do Dragao.
UEFA said that each club would receive 6,000 tickets which are expected to go on sale from today. The final capacity for the match has yet to be confirmed.
There had been discussions over moving the final to London’s Wembley Stadium but UEFA said that despite “exhaustive efforts on the part of the (English) Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to achieve the necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.”
“I think we can all agree that we hope never to experience a year like the one we have just endured,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
“Fans have had to suffer more than twelve months without the ability to see their teams live and reaching a Champions League final is the pinnacle of club football.
“To deprive those supporters of the chance to see the match in person was not an option and I am delighted that this compromise has been found,” he added.
Portugal was placed on the UK government’s “green list” from May 17, which means fans of the English clubs will be free to travel to the game.
The country is in the last phase of easing a lockdown and expects to lift travel restrictions from May 17.
Turkish Football Federation officials told Reuters on Wednesday they expected to host the 2023 Champions League which would be part of the Republic’s centenary celebrations
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Eid al-Fitr is a special time of year for nearly half of Africa’s population, who are adherents of Islam. But this year’s celebration is different amid a continuing pandemic and the devastation it has caused across the continent. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Johannesburg.Camera: Zaheer Cassim, Amos Wangwa  Produced by: Marcus Harton 
 
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Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and the Go-Go’s were elected Wednesday to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame their first time on the ballot, leading a class that also includes Tina Turner, Carole King and Todd Rundgren.
Each will be honored during an induction ceremony in Cleveland on Oct. 30 before what organizers hope is a full house of fans enjoying live music again.
The hall will also welcome LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads with musical excellence awards, and honor Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton as early influencers.
With Jay-Z, the hall inducts a 23-time Grammy winner and the first rap artist in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His discography includes “Hard Knock Life,” “99 Problems” and “Empire State of Mind.” He has had 14 No. 1 albums to his credit.
After serving as Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl stepped to center stage with Foo Fighters, becoming one of the few modern rock bands comfortable in arenas. Their hard-hitting sound produced the hits “Best of You,” “Everlong” and “Times Like These.”
As an all-female band that played their own instruments, the Go-Go’s were a relative rarity in the early 1980s. Born from Los Angeles’ punk rock scene, they had a string of melodic hits that included “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “Vacation.”
Turner, recently celebrated in an HBO documentary,  was one of rock’s most stirring comeback stories. After escaping from an abusive relationship with husband and musical partner Ike Turner, she became a solo star in the 1980s behind the world-weary “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and scored other hits with “Private Dancer” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”
King’s life was celebrated in the Broadway musical “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” Stepping forward following a career writing songs for others, her 1971 album “Tapestry” became one of music’s best-selling albums of all time. Hits include “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”
A power pop pioneer, Rundgren is known for melodic hits like “Hello It’s Me,” “I Saw the Light” and “We Gotta Get You a Woman.” With “Bang the Drum All Day,” he’s also responsible for the song most celebrated by hooky players everywhere.
Clarence Avant, a former manager, label owner and concert organizer, is being given the Ahmet Ertegun Award as a non-performer. His impact on the music industry was highlighted in the 2019 Netflix documentary, “The Black Godfather.”
Grohl, King and Turner bring the number of artists inducted into the Rock Hall twice to 26. Prior to King and Turner, Stevie Nicks had been the only woman with that distinction.
Two new inductees — Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s and Pat Smear of Foo Fighters — were once members of the L.A. punk band the Germs before getting the jobs that led to later fame.
Before getting into the hall in their special categories, both LL Cool J and Kraftwerk had each been nominated six times as performers without being elected.
Five of the six inducted performers are still working artists. Only Turner is retired, and no doubt the hall will try recruiting Beyoncé — she should be in town anyway — to pay tribute onstage. Either way, the hall is hoping for one of the first big concerts since the live music business essentially shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We really see it as a true celebration of the reopening of music — not only in America but in the world,” John Sykes, chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The induction ceremony, to be held at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, will simulcast on SiriusXM and air later on HBO.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday said it supported Japanese measures to counter COVID-19 and was confident the Tokyo Olympics would be a “historic” event, despite wide public opposition. With less than three months to go before the games begin on July 23, Japan is battling a surge in coronavirus infections. A majority of its population wants the Olympics canceled or postponed for a second time, according to several polls, with about 70% of the 10,500 athletes — about 7,800 — already qualified for the games. “We are now very much in an implementation phase with 78 days to go and fully concentrated on delivering the games,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told an online news conference. “When the games happen and the Japanese people are proud hosts of an event that will be an historic moment, I think I am very confident we will see public opinion hugely in favor of the games.” FILE – People protest the Tokyo 2020 Olympics amid the coronavirus outbreak, around Olympic Stadium (National Stadium) as an Olympic test event for athletics is held inside the venue in Tokyo, Japan, May 9, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo.His online news conference, however, ended with a protester, who had signed up as a journalist to ask a question, unfurling a banner reading “No to Olympics” and shouting profanities and “No Olympics anywhere” before being cut off. Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas until the end of May as the number of cases rises daily, forcing IOC President Thomas Bach to postpone a visit to Japan in May. An opinion survey conducted from May 7-9 by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily showed 59% of respondents wanted the games canceled as opposed to 39% who said they should be held. “Postponement” was not offered as an option. Another poll conducted at the weekend by TBS News found 65% wanted the games canceled or postponed again. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition to cancel the games since it was launched about five days ago. “In terms of Japan and Tokyo we understand the caution,” Adams said. “We are fully in solidarity with them. People are very cautious. We have to fully trust Japanese authorities.” “There will be ups and downs (in public opinion).We have to take account of public opinion on a longer term. As things stand now we are moving full ahead. We continue to plan for full games. That’s the way it has to be for us.” 
 
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